Chapter 60: Chosen, Chapter 59: Miracles

Zurai

Chosen, book 1 of the Paths of the Chosen series, is drawing to an end. The final chapter of Chosen will be posted on Saturday, 9/12, at the usual Saturday time. Following the end of Chosen there will be a short pause in official chapter postings (length TBD, most likely between 2 weeks and 1 month), but there will still be some content posted.

Among that content will be an in-character Question and Answer session. In essence, I will write a non-canon chapter where all the characters are gathered together to answer reader questions in an in-character manner. These answers will be canon as far as they go, but the chapter itself obviously will not. If you wish to have your question answered, send me a PM here or on Discord with the question and which character it's addressed to. You can ask your question of any character, living or dead, seen or unseen. Restrictions: answers are limited to the character's in-character knowledge and their personality, and I will not spoil the story with the answers.

Depending on the volume of questions, I will do my best to answer them all. If there's an overwhelming response, I'll pick the ones that are (in my opinion) the most interesting to answer in the Q&A and will answer the others OOC via PM.

In addition to the above, I have made the following addition to the description of this story, in response to comments on past chapters and in consideration of potential future plot events:

"I prefer my stories to have happy endings, and especially in these uncertain times I feel that it is important to maintain hope. While this tale will reach some dark places, I promise to you that, when all is said and done, the villains will be justly punished and the heroes will prevail and prosper. Remember: it is darkest before dawn, but dawn always comes."

Aidan

The Realms

Fifthday, 2nd week of the 8th month, Age of the Chosen 1

Dusk

Starchaser Village, Mistvale Highlands

Okay, now onto my levels, Aidan decided. With six levels worth of points to distribute, there was a lot to consider. First, and most straightforward, were the Skill bonuses. He had 150% to distribute and not many viable places to put them. Aidan only had a bare handful of Skills on the verge of a rank increase: Magical Theory, Parrying, Persuasion, Smithing, and Swords were all within two levels of ranking up. Of those, he discarded Magical Theory and Smithing; whichever apprenticeship he took would cover his Magical Theory needs, and with Brighid around, he didn't need to level Smithing. Parrying wouldn't quite get enough to level with what he had, while Persuasion didn't need the entire amount, so he split the difference. Aidan invested four levels worth of Skill advancement into Persuasion, with the rest going to Parrying.

Function follows form, eh? I'll take it. Attributes next. Aidan considered how to balance the mental stats for a while before deciding to devote one point per level into the Attributes governing each of his magic Skills: Intuition, Willpower, and Charisma. With the other half of his points, he invested a little into Toughness and Endurance—the latter mainly for Stamina to fuel Pulse of Life—as well as five each into Agility and Speed. They were the linked Attributes to Evasion, which Aidan considered his primary defensive Skill, and Agility was also linked to a couple of his other Skills. His final two points went to Luck; he didn't know how much of a role that Attribute had played so far, but it couldn't hurt.

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Talents were next on Aidan's list, and this required considerably more thought on his part. His gut told him that ignoring his Courtesan Talents to focus on Exalted Mage would not work out well. He needed to keep them relatively balanced. His purchases earlier had eased the uneasy feeling that had lurked in the back of his head, but some quick math told him that he was still under-invested in Courtesan. When he opened his Talent web to rectify that, he found a trio of new Talents waiting for him.

Those were all attractive for different reasons. Huffin' and Puffin' provided the clearest benefit, and Aidan bought the first two ranks without further thought, doubling both the cap on the bonus and the duration of the effect. All of Your Love further enhanced the non-sexual utility of Magic Hands by letting him use it as a remote listening device. If he could figure out how to add sight to the list of shared senses, it would make a perfect scout. Either way, it was an automatic purchase. Extra Versatile had the lowest direct impact, especially since the Concentration cost wasn't a concern for him, but the increased malleability made Aidan curious, so he went ahead and bought two ranks of it as well. Unfortunately, none of them unlocked new Talents yet, so Aidan was forced to consider his existing set.

Of the Talents he hadn't invested in yet, Ease the Burden was the only one that Aidan was interested in. Increased pleasure and decreased discomfort weren't something Aidan felt he needed with Brighid, and he didn't feel a pressing need to reduce his refractory period, either. However, he intended to fulfill his promise to his Soulmate, so Ease the Burden was something that he would buy at some point. Given the low cost and the need to balance his Talent spending, Aidan decided that he might as well invest in a couple of ranks now. He considered taking Submission to Erudition II because it allowed him to share his Skill affinity cheats, but the 20-point price tag was too high for the moment.

He only had 52 Talent points remaining, so he turned to his Exalted Mage talents next. Right away, he bought Fire Link I and Life Link I; the purring familiar in his lap was high enough level to contribute to combat now, so the extra buffs were worthwhile. He also purchased the first rank in Altered Beast and Soul Caliber, which opened up the expected Talents for Riama:

Those were both no-brainers, and Aidan purchased them immediately. Beast Link worked perfectly with Summon Obsidian Salamander, while Soul Link synergized with his new Fortify Soul spell. He spent several minutes considering where to spend his remaining 28 points, or even whether to spend them at all. In the end, Aidan decided to save them. He was tempted by Blending of Schools since he created his first multi-school spell, but he had Deific help to do so. He wanted to learn more about the process and the consequences of failure before spending five valuable points on it.

The final item on his agenda was those Paragon points. Aidan had no idea what to expect from them. Would they be another Talent-like system, a reputation store for his Patron, or something else entirely? Well, only one way to find out. He opened the interface.

The first two sections were about what Aidan expected. The option to purchase large quantities of Attribute and Talent points for relatively few Paragon points meant he could correct build problems if needed. The temporary options were a bit random—Aidan had no need of gems or enchanting materials—but he intended to purchase all five spellbooks and maybe see if Brighid could make good use of the Adamantite. The Special Offers section froze Aidan's blood in his veins, however.

An extra life. Extra. That means I don't have infinite lives. What happens if I die without extra lives? Would I get sent back to Earth or... He bought it without further thought and resolved to leave at least 25 Paragon points free to purchase any other extra lives that might pop up in the Temporary Options stock.

That wasn't the only shock in the Special Offers, though; the 'dream visit from his Patron' was almost as startling. That couldn't be a random selection. It was placed there with intent, and its cost was a conspicuous sign. Further, the unique Profession Specialization and Prestige Class options were beacons in the night. He had no doubt that those, too, were placed there by his Patron. For all that, however, he had no problem with the Brighaid. Aidan could blame them for his deaths, but he had been the one to choose the Mistvale Highlands as his starting zone, and he could have abandoned the quest once he'd convinced Brighid to warn the Starchasers.

It's only one point, Aidan decided, and they've been helpful so far. I might as well follow the yellow brick road for now. He bought the dream, then the five spellbooks. Nothing happened for the first purchase, but when he confirmed the 25 points for the spellbooks, the bed before him shimmered like pavement at noon in July. After a moment, the heat haze effect vanished, leaving behind five slim tomes. Aidan examined each in turn.

"Holy shit!" Aidan yelped. Brighid's arms tightened around him, and she muttered in her sleep; Aidan stroked her hand in silent apology. He had expected the spells to be ones he could learn right away, and three of them were. Origination of Species and fucking Resurrection, however, blew his mind. Sitting in front of him on a rustic bed in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere were the means to learn how to create entirely new species and to steal lives from Death's grasp. Moving with care born of trembling limbs, Aidan gathered Riama into his arms and placed her on the bed, then stood. He collected the Spellbooks one by one, walked over to his Handy Haversack, and slid them inside. Only when all five were sealed in an extra-dimensional space that only he could access was Aidan able to relax for a moment.

It was only a moment, however. Behind him, Brighid screamed, "AIDANNNN!"

Zurai

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