The other Ascended Rank Spellblades came out excited about the official status upgrade and the class marking on their arms that came with the System designation of Mage, but only a few of the older Commanders could say the same thing.
They were the ones who had already been exposed to the system during their travels, and had some minor level of benefit from it, though not a whole class designation and marking.
Nearly all of the ones who had been successful had gotten Mage as a class, but unlike the members of Karl’s group, they were not sent to an upgrade scene, but a class creation menu, where they could have chosen other options.
Just to be different, one of them chose Warlock as his class, but the rest all chose Mage so that it didn’t affect their progression or standing within the Spellblade Clan.
The Clans had thousands of years of history, and if their choice prevented them from advancing within the Clan, or stuck at Commander Rank until their new Class caught up to their existing skills, they would have a hard life.
It wasn’t the huge win that Corbin had been hoping for, but to the newly awakened mages, it was still incredible.
They now had access to the inventory, the status sheet and even to Skill Trees that would allow them to earn access to new spells that were incredibly difficult to learn on their own, or in some cases completely forgotten before today.
One of the higher level Mage Spells in the tree was [Portal]. If they could make it to the peak of the Mage Skill tree, they would be able to simply open portals on their own, and not rely on arrays.
From the way they described it, Karl learned that some of the more powerful leaders of nations were permanently linked to arrays, and some skilled mages carried an array token with them, but under the Monarch Rank, it was extremely rare to have that sort of access.
“Leader Corbin, do we have time to go through the Skill Tree now? Or should we move first?” One of the stronger Commanders asked.
“Move first, and we can check your new spells later. What did you see that has you so excited?” Corbin asked.
“I have eighty Skill Points. My past achievements appear to have been rewarded, and I will be able to choose a number of additional spells. Does anyone know how many points it takes to get them all?” He replied.
Corbin turned to Karl, who frowned as he did the math.
“I got some of the more expensive ones free from trials, but if I had to buy them all, it would have taken me nearly three hundred points. However, if I had taken the Offensive Skill Tree option, it would have been a fifth of that, but I wouldn’t have had access to the most powerful skills my Class has to offer.
The Beast Master can choose between Offensive, Defensive and Progression paths. It calls Progression balance, but really the skills it grants are to core growth.” Karl replied.
The mage nodded. “Mage class is the same way, in that you can specialize in an element for a discount or in Arcane to get access to everything, but without the discount. I refrained from choosing before asking anyone.”
The others laughed and nodded in agreement. They had all done the same thing, waiting for a second opinion before they chose.
The last of the mages, an older Commander, came out and gave Corbin a thumbs up.
The last of the mages, an older Commander, came out and gave Corbin a thumbs up.
“I have finished my history lesson. Are we moving out?” He asked.
“Yes. Many have class skills to choose, and it’s not safe to do that here. But first, I must send a message.” Corbin explained.
He took a small platinum strip out of his pocket, and Karl noted the ornate golden inlay in the design of the World Dragon on the front.
It glowed with power as Corbin sent a message, and then he nodded. “The right people know what happened here now. Let’s move. That was a one-time use token to contact the Archbishop, but the other Totems will have sensed it. The ones here for certain, but possibly even the ones in the Beast Nation and the Mountain Giant territories. They monitor magical communications all the time, but they shouldn’t know what I said. They will, however, likely know where the message started and finished.”
Before he had even finished his sentence, the air was beginning to shimmer with magic.
“Take your people and run. Put up the barrier to hide them. Ladies, you can go with them if you’d like. I will play the fool and distract whoever shows up first.” Karl insisted.
Corbin nodded and put the stealth barrier over his Clan, who began to run out of the Ruins to the East.
Karl noticed that they seemed pale blue and ghostly when they were hidden, where before they were simply invisible. That had to be the effect of Hawk increasing his sensory abilities and sharing them with Karl.
Soul Sight, Leafa had called it.
It wasn’t visible when you could see the person, but with their body hidden, the soul became visible.
The Spellblades got a thirty-second head start before the first Portal opened, quickly followed by a second, third and fourth.
“Wow, did we pick the wrong day to be standing right here.” Tessa muttered as the portals finished forming.
Karl smiled at her. “Should we hide Lotus in a basement or something so she can resurrect the pieces of us later?”
“Not funny. It’s most likely a good idea, but not funny.” Tessa agreed.
Lotus giggled and patted her on the shoulder. “There are no basements in these buildings. I can feel the roots of the plants. Just try not to get squished, and maybe ask Lady Rae and Cara to wait out of sight so they’re not tempted to start a fight.”
Rae looked offended. “And why would I do that?”
“To get Totem Rank blood.”
“Point taken. But if there is a chance…”
“We will get you some.”
Rae smiled, then vanished back into her space, followed by Cara and Hawk, who was making preparations to grab as many people as possible and fly away. He was exceedingly fast in this new body, and they should be able to make it to safety if a fight broke out.
Two ladies per claw, Karl on his back. That should be everyone, and he could still fly with that much weight. Even four friends were lighter than a Giant Boar.