A moment after making his choice, the dark elf's head felt like it was about to crack as a torrent of knowledge filled his mind regarding the subtle differences between the enchantments he infused into other items before and the ones he would have to form on the accessories he’d work with. He even received the basic rune structure’s diagram, coupled with three simple jewellery related runes. With the new knowledge settling in, he hardly noticed the shaking of his soul-space.

Looking up, he noticed that the constellation of the apprentice was glowing like a beating heart, small motes of golden light raining down on the tome in front of him. The book rose from the altar, its pages furling about at a high speed before it spat out a single parchment. As the tome fell back on the pedestal, only the sheet of paper was still in the air, a strange symbol appearing on it. It depicted four circles connected by lines, forming a ‘Z’ shape, making it even more obvious that it was the star chart meant to represent enchanting. Regis grabbed the parchment, his lips curling into a wide smile as golden words appeared in front of his eyes.

{You have reached ‘novice’ rank in the craft of infusion enchanting. Your mind and spirit got permanently increased by 1.}

‘My attributes increased purely from craft advancement, even without a constellation? Amanda should have mentioned that before. I’m pretty sure she and Sophie had reached novice rank back in Hunor.’ He grumbled to himself as he looked at the unexpected news. Although he wanted to immediately jump into the creation of his new craft related constellation, Regis calmed his mind and turned his attention back on his soul-tome. It opened back up on its own, he ink of the page stirring again, revealing the results of his decision clearly.

{Infusion enchanting}

{Graft lasting runic enchantments into objects by focusing your will and arcana to infuse the items with elemental energy or the essence of raw materials. Every level decreases arcana cost by 0.25 %. Every tenth rank grants a minor perk. Every twenty-fifth rank allows you to choose a specialization.}

{Arcana cost: varying}

{Cost reduction: 6, 5%}

{Specialization: accessories}

{Perks: efficiency 1, speed 1}

{Skill mastery: 26/100}

{Mastery progression: 1/30}

The mastery level went up to 26, but more importantly, the perks he’d get for every 10 levels were also present as he expected them to be. They were the lesser versions of the skill paths he discarded in favour of the accessories, just as it happened with his lore skill. A 5% decrease in cost and crafting time was a welcome addition, but he had little time to muse about it as he still had his main combat skill to take care of. He focused on the ‘Staves’ skill-line, making it reveal its possible paths as well.

{Staves}{Specialization pending}

{You are capable of wielding ordinary staves and their sub-variants such as bladestaves, spears etc. Each rank gained in the mastery of staves shall lower the effort it takes to wield it by 0.25 %. Every fifth rank increased the harm you cause by 1. Every tenth rank grants a minor perk. Every twenty-fifth rank allows you to choose a specialization.}

{Skill mastery: 25/100}

{Stamina cost reduction: 6.25%}

{Damage bonus: 5}

{Mastery progression: 30/30}

{Efficient strikes}

{In battle, the one who lasts longer will have the upper hand. Preserve your strength and keep pushing on till the very last moment. Tire out your enemies to make them sloppy and vulnerable. Last 20% longer than those with a physique similar to yours.}

{Heavy handed}

{In battle, one must make every hit count. Do not give your opponent the chance for another attack. Strike with as much force as possible every time you can, causing more damage with each attack. Cause 20% greater harm than those with might similar to yours.}

{Precise movement}

{In battle, there’s no place for errors. A step that’s wider than needed can put you at a disadvantage. A swing or jab in the wrong time could leave you open to attacks. A precise fighter knows when to move and when to stay still; their movements measured and controlled to their greatest efficiency. Control your body 20% better than those with deftness similar to yours.}

This time, the choices were all equally tempting for Regis, making the decision harder. Despite the strange wording of the descriptions, it was easy to understand that one path would give a flat damage bonus while another would decrease the stamina he’d spend while fighting. The third one would give him a greater control over his movements, allowing him to aim and strike more precisely during combat.

Regis liked the idea of hitting harder with each strike. Lasting longer was also a tempting choice as he was severely lacking in fortitude, but if he was able to take control during the fight, he could end it a lot faster than otherwise. Sometimes, a precise stab was all it took to end a fight, and having a better control over one’s body would allow them to be even more unpredictable as they could change direction faster. In the end, Dana’s words regarding him being too predictable made him choose the third option. This time, there was no fanfare when he made his decision; his soul-space stayed dead silent as another set of golden words burned through the air in front of his eyes.

{You have reached ‘novice’ rank in the martial skill-line of staves, becoming more proficient at wielding this weapon type and its sub forms. You have gained the 'Novice staff wielder' title. Your deftness and might got permanently increased by 1.}

‘It seems that reaching the novice rank in any greater skill-line grants an increase to the related attributes. That’s good to know. Still; I think lore only gave an increase to my erudition and it did that even before the rank up. Also, not every skill rank up seems to hand out titles. Oh well; nothing’s perfect, but at least it’s a free attribute upgrade.’ The dark elf mused as the golden words faded away from the air and the ink of the page stirred once again, revealing the consequences of his choice.

{Staves}

{You are capable of wielding ordinary staves and their sub-variants such as bladestaves, spears etc. Each rank gained in the mastery of staves shall lower the effort it takes to wield it by 0.25 %. Every fifth rank increased the harm you cause by 1. Every tenth rank grants a minor perk. Every twenty-fifth rank allows you to choose a specialization.}

{Skill mastery: 26/100}

{Specialization: precision}

{Perks: damage 1, efficiency 1}

{Stamina cost reduction: 6.5%}

{Damage bonus: 5}

{Mastery progression: 1/30}

As expected, the other two paths returned as perks, granting him 5% to his damage and lowering the stamina cost of his movements while holding a staff. It wasn’t directly apparent on the skill description, but he assumed that was due to the records only showing the unaltered direct effects of the skill-line. With his weapon skill out of the way, Regis rummaged through the rest of his skills, but none of them were ready to tier up. His heavy strike skill was nearing the 5th level, meaning that it would reach complete mastery soon, along with his transmutation alchemy that reached a bit beyond level 23.

It was a bit surprising how fast his craft was levelling, but then again, all crafts were supposed to be like that at the beginning. Especially if one would keep creating high difficulty stuff right from the get go. The dark elf suspected that if he kept tinkering during his night shifts, he might reach the ranking threshold before they’d reach East Fork. He furled the pages to his list of spells, grinning like a child on Christmas as he noticed several faintly glowing notifications greeting him. Three of his initiate ranked spells reached complete mastery, waiting for their one time specialization to be selected. Regis looked at the first one, willing the possibilities to appear.

{Lesser heal}{Specialization pending}

{Rank: initiate}

{Spell class: arcane/elemental}

{Spell type: verbal}

{Spend 10 points of arcana to cure diseases and mend wounds worth 2.5 points of health by guiding light element infused energy into them. Every level of mastery increases the amount of health restored by 0.5 points. Having innate light affinity will decrease spell cost by 1 point of arcana. Use lesser heal repeatedly on mutilated body parts and missing organs to regrow them. Permanent health loss due to said injuries must be healed in a 100:1 ratio for small limbs and organs or 200:1 ratio for large limbs and organs. Lesser heal only works on living creatures.}

{Arcana cost: 9}

{Healing done: 5}

{Cast time: 5 seconds}

{Range: touch}

{Spell mastery: 5/5}

{Mastery progression: 50/50}

{Rapid healing}

{When lives are at stake, every second counts. Cast your magic 1 second faster than most would.}

{Efficient healing}

{When lives are at stake, being efficient counts. Cast your magic for 1 less arcane than most would.}

{Flawless healing}

{Wounds heal and scars fade. Some wounds however leave too large a scar to fade away. Learn the ways of flawless healing and leave no scars behind, or erase already existing ones.}

There was no choice that would increase the healing power itself, so the dark elf went with the one he believed to be the most useful. Once the ink stirred again, a renewed description greeted him from the page.

{Flawless lesser heal}

{Rank: initiate}

{Spell class: arcane/elemental}

{Spell type: verbal}

{Spend 10 points of arcana to cure diseases and mend wounds worth 2.5 points of health by guiding light element infused energy into them, leaving no scars behind. Every level of mastery increases the amount of health restored by 0.5 points. Having innate light affinity will decrease spell cost by 1 point of arcana. Use lesser heal repeatedly on mutilated body parts and missing organs to regrow them. Permanent health loss due to said injuries must be healed in a 100:1 ratio for small limbs and organs or 200:1 ratio for large limbs and organs. Lesser heal only works on living creatures.}

{Arcana cost: 9}

{Healing done: 5}

{Cast time: 5 seconds}

{Range: touch}

{Spell mastery: 5/5}

{Mastery progression: 50/50}

Looking at the second spell, it was no surprise that he reached mastery after so heavily relying on it for his crafting needs. It had three paths beneath it just like all the rest.

{Grow cluster}{Specialization pending}

{Rank: initiate}

{Spell class: elemental}

{Spell type: verbal}

{Spend 10 points of arcana to grow a 4cm long and 1cm wide quartz piece in 10 seconds. Each level of mastery increases the size of the crystal by 1 centimetre in length and half a centimetre in width. The quartz crumbles away if the spell fails or you cancel it before completion. You can cast grow cluster on the same quartz piece to increase its size.}

{Arcana cost: 10}

{Cast time: 10 seconds}

{Range: touch}

{Spell mastery: 5/5}

{Mastery progression: 50/50}

{Efficient growth}

{As a proof of your mastery over this spell, you can achieve the results with the less effort. Grow crystals for 20% less arcana than before.}

{Enhanced growth}

{As a proof of your mastery over this spell, you can achieve greater results with the same effort. Increase the mass and size of the crystals you create by 20% for each time the spell is cast.}

{Infused cluster}

{The elements of nature and magic are ever present around us. As a proof of your mastery over this spell, you can subtly infuse the crystals you’re growing, creating different variants of them. Although not entirely arcane, the crystal variants will be more accepting towards the element that was used in their creation.}

‘Well, shit.’ Was Regis’ first thought as he read the descriptions of the possible choices. Was this even a question? Grow cluster was already a fairly cheap spell and he could always just re-cast it on the same crystal if he wanted to make it grow larger. The possibility of creating crystal variants was simply bonkers. It was simply broken from a financial standpoint.

Ordinary quartz was cheap and had little value for spell weavers as it had little arcane conductivity and would take a great effort for most alchemists and wizards to turn them into something useful. Any crystal that was born as an elemental variant however was a different story. Even amidst all the war and what-not, jewellers would be on the lookout for semi-precious gems and magical resources were always in high demand.

He could have made a fair sum of coin or exchange the different quartz variants for other resources. The dark elf didn’t know how much the arcana cost of the spell would increase, but he was willing to pay the price. He chose the third option without hesitation. The ink of his soul-tome stirred, revealing the altered description.

{Infused grow cluster}

{Rank: initiate}

{Spell class: elemental}

{Spell type: verbal}

{Spend 10 points of arcana to grow a 4cm long and 1cm wide quartz piece in 10 seconds. Each level of mastery increases the size of the crystal by 1 centimetre in length and half a centimetre in width. The quartz crumbles away if the spell fails or you cancel it before completion. You can cast grow cluster on the same quartz piece to increase its size. For a doubled price of arcana you can infuse the crystal you’re growing with an element you have an affinity with.}

{Arcana cost: 10-20}

{Cast time: 10 seconds}

{Range: touch}

{Spell mastery: 5/5}

{Mastery progression: 50/50}

It now had a simple yet comprehensive explanation regarding his chosen specialization, although the cost of arcana became a bit steeper than he expected. Not minding the altered price, he turned his attention towards his third spell.