Chapter 470: Recruitment - Markets and Multiverses

Now that the chaos had finally settled, I took a few moments to look over the System messages I had ignored during the fighting. I had stopped paying attention to my System notifications after I got my new Skill, but now I had time to process all of the rewards I had missed while trying to figure out the dangers of the current situation. Especially now that I knew how tenuous our dimensional cluster’s safety might be, I wanted to gather as much power as possible.

The first thing I checked was the local System notifications.

You have leveled up!

Ice Mage has advanced from level 29 to level 33!

+5 Free Stat Points (X4)

+2 Sense (X4)

+2 Mind (X4)

+2 Vitality (X4)

+4 Mana (X4)

I had snuck in a few more kills of the rocs during the battle, even though I hadn’t killed very many of them directly. Due to the fact that this world’s levelling rewards were mostly allocated to the person who dealt the last hit, that meant I hadn’t gotten very many kills. Still, I was pleased to see that I had gotten another one or two kills - it wasn’t enough to propel me all the way to the next spark, but it was still quite a noticeable reward.

I also couldn’t help but notice that the rocs had rather rich levelling related rewards. Especially after I had gotten my second spark, I had noticed that my levelling speed had decreased significantly. To get seven levels out of a single fight was incredible.

I assigned all of the stat points to Mana, as usual, and then took at look at the next reward I had earned - and the most important one I had gotten from this fight.

I had reached level 30. That meant I could choose my next feat.

Level 30 Feat Choice (Pick 1)

Mixed Magic:

Somehow, you have acquired access to magic of a completely different branch than the types of magic innately tied to your Spark.

This Feat allows you to select one type of magic that is outside of your regular, class-given Skills, and then create a Skill for it.

Mana Maniac

You have settled almost every battle through the application of more magic.

For every level, gain +2 more stat points in the Magic stat (this Feat applies retroactively, and will give you 66 stat points in magic immediately).

Lightning Lacerations

You have found a way to add lightning magic into your combat style, and used that to harm or kill multiple foes far beyond your current strength.

All magic spells you cast will now be imbued with subtle traces of the concept of ‘lightning.’ This will do two things - it will accelerate the speed at which all spells you unleash reach their target, and apply a very mild amount of electricity to anything your spells hit, stunning weaker enemies.

Market note: This would apply to spells derived from the local magic System, and would not apply to any spells cast using alteration or absorption essence.

Greater Ambitions

You have fought against an extraplanar invader and won.

When you kill an enemy from outside of your home plane, gain a drastically increased amount of levels and any other rewards (such as the extra skill-level rewards from {Above your Weight Class}.

In total, I had four reward options for my level 30 feat - and all of them were appealing, at least to some extent.

The first two that I dismissed were {Greater Ambitions} and {Mana Maniac}. Both of them were honestly quite good, at least in certain contexts. {Greater Ambitions} would be incredibly potent if I fought with other extraplanar invaders, for example. The problem was that I had no idea when I would next fight extraplanar invaders, and devoting a Feat to an occurrence I had no control over felt silly. I had some thoughts about joining the main battlefield eventually in this world, but to do that, I would first need to hit Heroic-grade in at least one skill, or reach level 120. I still wasn’t completely sure I could do that this life, even if I thought my odds were decent.

{Mana Maniac} was also all right, but it wasn’t a Feat that did that much. I already got 15 stat points per level, so {Mana Maniac} was basically the equivalent of getting four levels of stat points for free. However, I had other ways to raise my magic stat too, such as levelling up my skills, or just acquiring more levels. Raw stat points were certainly helpful, but I didn’t think they were my biggest limiting factor in battles right now.

Ultimately, I decided to pick {Lightning Lacerations}. I didn’t think that {Mixed Magic} would work with my Market-based skills and spells, such as extinguish, and without the ability to attach one of my most powerful spells such as {Extinguish} to this world’s System, I wasn’t that interested in the Feat. Being able to learn stronger lightning magic by increasing a related skill would be useful, but not essential - and {Lightning Lacerations} required far less training time and mana to improve my combat efficiency.

After that, I looked through my Market notifications. They were a lot less exciting - just some Achievement rewards.

Slaughter: Assist in killing a Lightning Roc for the first time, Assist in killing a lightning roc for the fifth time

Influence: Help defend your village’s Ember

Achievement +1200, Achievement +1800, Achievement +500

Combined, these System rewards gave me 3,500. That brought me from 133,024 to 136,524 Achievement. It was still very little Achievement compared to the amount I had left our last world with, but I was starting to see a noticeable increase in Achievement total over time. I felt that was quite normal - after all, it wasn’t like I could save a civilization in every world. Right now I needed time, circumstances, and a bunch of other factors to work out perfectly in order to get such a massive opportunity.

After I finished going over my System related rewards, I spent the next few hours observing the village as it bustled about and prepared to meet the extraplanar warrior’s demands.

It didn’t take our clan a very long time to compile a list of people who met the recruitment requirements. There were only twelve people in total who fit the criteria of having a Skill at Tier 6 or above, or a level above 120, which surprised me a bit. With how much easier it was to advance skill tiers in this world, an environment that constantly encouraged combat, and a population of over five thousand, there were still only about one in five hundred people who managed to advance to Heroic grade. The first major bottleneck in skill growth was absolutely brutal. 

Four hours later, the extraplanar man returned to our clan, just as he had said he would.

“Have you compiled a list of recruits?” He asked our mayor.

The mayor nodded. “We have a list of everyone who hits the skill or level requirement. In total, there are twelve people in our clan who reach the minimum threshold you mentioned.”

“Twelve?” The man stroked his chin thoughtfully. “That’s about average for a clan of your size. Very well.” He hesitated for a moment, before he shook his head. “Choose two people who will stay back and safeguard your clan against monsters and other dangers. I won’t leave you completely unprotected, even if we really do need the manpower.”

The mayor of our current town nodded, and the mayor of each town in our clan converged to discuss things. The twelve people who were qualified to join the extraplanar battlefield also stepped into the conversation to weigh in. I quickly realized that some people were truly eager to leave and see a wider world - the extraplanar battlefield was dangerous, but it was also heaven for people who yearned to see broader horizons, grow stronger, and pursue a longer lifespan. Of course, there were also some people who didn’t want to leave, because they had families or friends they cared about in the clan and didn’t want to part with.

Eventually, the two people who were most reluctant to leave were singled out as the two who would remain behind. One of them was a trainer for the hero program that I got along quite well with, and the other was one of the commanders who was good at managing the front lines when we stopped.

The extraplanar warrior eyed the new recruits, and then grinned.

“All right, the ten of you will be brothers and sisters in arms with me soon. I’ll give you a day to say a final goodbye to your families, friends, and make any final arrangements you need to make. Tomorrow, I’ll bring you to the training camp. It’s going to suck - but it’ll also get you ready for the challenges ahead. The extraplanar battlefields are the only path forward once you get strong enough that the local wildlife in a weaker plane like this no longer threaten you. I promise, those if you who wish to grow stronger will love it. I’ll see you tomorrow two hours after sunrise.” Then, the man turned around and left.

I couldn’t help but glance at the warriors who were leaving our clan. Some of them looked excited, and some of them looked reluctant. The villagers quickly dispersed, while I fell into thought.

<If all of the strongest warriors in our Clan leave, this might also be an opportunity for more growth,> I said. <We’ll have way more chances to actually fight once our stronger members leave. It’ll make the front lines more dangerous, but it’ll also give us more space to really level up. I just hope that the people who are leaving also find space to grow, and don’t get killed or injured during the fighting.> I felt a hint of regret. I knew that on battlefields, deaths were common. I had seen plenty of that during our time in the alchemy world. Even so, there wasn’t much I could do about it.

<I kind of envy them. I know that’s not the right emotion - a few of them don’t want to leave. But I really want to see what a real interdimensional battlefield looks like,> said Sallia. <The thought of fighting so many unusual and powerful enemy monsters and combatants just sounds so interesting.>

<If things continue to go poorly for the front lines, perhaps we’ll have a chance to see it for ourselves later,> said Felix. <We’ll have to see when the time comes. For now, we should say final goodbyes to the trainers we know.>

The four of us walked up to the trainers who were leaving, and gave them all solemn farewells.

The next day, most of our trainers, as well as our clan’s strongest warriors, left the clan for the extraplanar training camp, leaving the clan with most of its strongest protectors missing.

Author’s Note:

Scheduling Notice for the rest of the year: Those of you who have been around for a while probably already know this, but I take the last week of each year and the first week of each new year off as vacation time. Basically, the week of Christmas and the week of New Year’s. I also need time to rest and recharge, okay XD. This year I intend to do the same thing as usual. I will also be taking the day of Thanksgiving off, since I live in the US and I’d like to spend some time with my family and eat some turkey. As a result:

On November 27th, there will be no Markets chapter. Expect two chapters for that week, not three.

Then, from December 19th to January 5th, I will be taking my yearly vacation. The first chapter for next year will probably be up on January 6th, unless I see a reason to make some kind of scheduling change to what days of the week I release Markets and Multiverses chapters. I currently tend to mostly release chapters on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, but I might swap these dates around if I think of a compelling reason to do so during my vacation. I’m not saying it will happen, just that it might. Vacation is a good time to look at my schedule, my plotlines for each story, and spend some time thinking about how I organize things and do things without the imminent pressure of ‘gotta release another chapter soon.’ I have no idea whether I’ll actually implement any changes, just noting that some might happen post vacation. Anyway, chapter releases will continue (as usual) up until my vacation. I just like to give people extremely advanced forewarning when I plan to take time off. Consider yourself forewarned!

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