5) The stability of your imbued field has greatly increased. You will be able to imbue a great deal more mana into your arrows before risking instability.
Know This! Your familiar’s advanced level has increased the potency of your Psychic attack. The following effects will now be added to your imbued shots:
Psi Damage: Net Strength of Imbued shots increased by 1% per familiar level. Total increase: +35%.
Level 1 familiar: Chance to cause Mind Fog. Requires 25 mana invested.
Level 5 familiar: Increased chance to cause Mind Fog. Requires 50 mana invested.
Level 10 familiar: Greatly increased chance to cause Mind Fog. Requires 75 mana invested. Psychic attack now has AoE of 3 feet. AoE independent of mana invested.
Level 15 familiar: Up to 100% chance to cause Mind Fog and chance to cause Stun. Requires 100 mana invested.
Level 20 familiar: Up to 100% chance to cause Mind Fog and increased chance to cause Stun. Requires 125 mana invested.
Level 25 familiar: Up to 100% chance to cause Mind Fog and greatly increased chance to cause Stun. Requires 150 mana invested. Psychic attack now has AoE of 6 feet. AoE independent of mana invested.
Level 30 familiar: Up to 100% chance to cause Mind Fog and Stun. Chance to cause Psi Crystallization. Requires 175 mana invested.
Richter read through the prompts, his heart beating faster in excitement as he devoured the words. There were more to read, but he needed to understand what these first ones meant first. The initial message was clear enough. His shots would be stronger! With a 35% bonus to damage he would be bringing the pain with every imbued arrow he fired. Some of the extra effects he didn’t understand though. His eyes lingered on “Mind Fog” and more information appeared.
Mind Fog: Your target becomes disorientated and cannot focus on the task at hand. The target will randomly act. Actions include but are not limited to attacking you, attacking others around the him, fleeing, or simply do nothing.
Well that’s clear enough, Richter though. Not too different from a standard Confusion spell that was in every RPG since the beginning of time. It was a staple of gaming and, in his opinion, had always been underrated. Turning an enemy’s strength against them was a good way to win a war. It wasn’t as good as mind control, but it looked like his psychic attacks had an AoE now. If he hit a cluster of enemies, it was a good bet at least one or two would start attacking the others. Besides, he thought with a smile, I’m a lucky sonofabitch!
Richter’s eyes moved to “Stun.”
Stun: Target is rendered senseless. In effect, he is stunned.
Well, ask a stupid question, Richter thought. The real question he had was about the last effect. His eyes widened as he read the description.
Psi Crystallization: A successful attack using this ability will concentrate the psychic energy in the target and crystalize it as a floating gem for a short time. This gem is insubstantial and cannot be affected except by psychic energy or strong magic. It will make the target more susceptible to psychic attacks. If the target dies while the gem is present, it will crystalize and can be claimed as loot. These crystals can have… interesting effects if used by psychic creatures.
Interesting effects? Gahhhh. Why couldn’t it be more clear? More importantly, why couldn’t he have one now? Whatever. He wanted one!
There was one more prompt waiting for him to examine.
Know This! Your connection with your familiar has deepened through investing in Psi Bond. By giving your familiar the ability to better know herself, you have, in turn, increased your own power. Never forget, the only thing that makes the journey worthwhile is each other. All psychic effects from Imbue Arrow are increased in likelihood and power by the depth of your Psi Bond as well as her level. Factoring in your familiar’s Psi Bond level 5 and personal level of 35, add 17.5% to the chances of Mind Fog, Stun or Psi Crystallization occurring when you use Enhanced Imbue Arrow.
And the hits just keep coming, Richter thought with jubilation. He let Alma know about everything that had just happened and she agreed with him. She wanted a psi crystal immediately. The fact that the higher-level effects were dependent on how much mana he invested meant the skill was limited somewhat, but again, the new AoE should make up for it. He did some quick calculations.
At subskill level one, his Enhance Imbued Arrow subskill allowed him to invest twenty points of mana per second. Every level that he had gained now apparently let him imbue the arrow 10% faster. Since he was at level seventeen, he should be able to place more than fifty mana into his shots per second! The sprites had always been powerful allies, but Enhanced Imbue Arrow made the meidon sprites a force of to be reckoned with! It also meant they would burn through mana faster than penicillin during frat week. Richter sighed, there were always checks and balances He was about to walk away when he considered one more thing. A quick casting later, he had summoned a mist worker. Richter sent it to stand by the cliff face. With a short, “Sorry, bud,” he drew a specific arrow from his quiver and began to imbue it. A gold aura surrounded both the shaft and the enchanted arrowhead.
“What are you doing?” Sion shouted in alarm. The first thing all sprites learned was not to imbue already enchanted arrows. The results could be explosive.
Richter ignored him. Faster than ever before, black swirls began to flow over the golden aura. Two seconds later, the swirls moved so fast that they stabilized into a barbershop pole appearance. Meanwhile, the fine white and blue line of energy began to crackle around the imbued arrow faster and faster, a mini-lightning storm around his weapon. He continued to pour mana into his arrow and a smile made its way onto his face. There was no instability.
Sion had backed away, but seeing Richter in complete control, he just watched with a shocked expression on his face. Fifty, one hundred, one hundred fifty… the chaos seed kept pouring mana into his arrow. He didn’t start feeling the instability until he had invested five hundred mana into the shot! The aura around his arrow had transitioned to a state he had never seen before. The two colors had split completely like oil and water, each occupying a longitudinal half of the aura. The intensities of both ebbed and flowed as if they battled one another. Holding that much power in his hands sent a giddy feeling of jubilation through him. Nearly emptying his mana pool also made him feel as if he was going to faint. Before he completely lost control, he released.
A moment later, Richter was glad the mist worker was twenty yards away.