Bastion left first thing in the morning in his official carriage, making his way to Brightstone, specifically to the Mages Guild. It didn't particularly matter which guild he visited, whether in Brightstone or in the capital, since the Mages Guild across the kingdom maintained a unified inventory. The only difference was the number of people each location was built to accommodate, with the capital's guild designed for significantly more visitors than those in smaller cities or towns.
When Bastion arrived, he stood before a typical mage's tower, significantly smaller, about 5 stories tall, than the mall-like guild bases in the capital, much like the Adventurers Guild in this city, which was only as large as a wide two-story tavern. The tower was constructed from interlocked stone blocks with a smooth finish, topped with a pointed, sloped roof. Faint currents of magic radiated from the enchantments that were etched into the structure, giving off a subtle, otherworldly glow.
He entered and was met with a familiar scene, a clerk's desk with a distracted mage on duty, wooden bookshelves filled with books available for perusal, floating magical lights providing soft illumination, comfortable chairs and couches beneath them occupied by prospective mages, and stairs circling the perimeter that likely led to libraries, shops, workshops, and offices.
This time, he wore his regal attire with his crest on full display, indicating his noble status to ensure he would be taken seriously. Not because the kingdom had granted him authority, but because he had the wealth taken from its people.
"You Grace," the clerk said, standing at attention as he recognized Bastion's Diamondhart crest. "What can we do for you?"
"I'm interested in perusing your Rank 2 skill library."
"Congratulations on reaching Rank 2, Your Grace. It is an amazing achievement for someone your age."
"Truly? You don't happen to have statistics for impressive growth, do you?" Bastion asked, a flicker of hope in his tone. "I'm looking for information that generalizes the typical age at which a certain Rank is commonly achieved across the continent, or at least within the Central Empire, even if the collection methods are questionable."
The clerk shook his head. "Only the records kept by the kingdom. By its history, any Rank 2 achieved in under two centuries is exceptionally impressive, and you are a quarter of that age."
"Just for the kingdom, huh?" Bastion said with mild disappointment.
He was starving for information about the power systems of this world. He realized he had been spoiled by the internet in his previous life, which could provide immediate answers to any question, answers that would give him a major advantage here with his modern insight. Alas, he was in what barely qualified as a backwater kingdom, more akin to a starting village in a game world. He would have to leave first before he could begin satisfying his thirst for knowledge.
"That's a shame, then. Carry on."
The clerk bowed before leading Bastion to the second floor, where he was shown to a comfortable seating area and handed a large, leather-bound book. It was noticeably smaller than the one he had been given for Apprentice Rank skills or the one Seraphina received for Rank 1 skills, which made sense given that Rank 2 skills required someone of equal rank to create them. There were also far fewer Rank 2 individuals to copy skills from compared to the abundance of Apprentices.
He took the book, settled into a comfortable chair, and began to peruse it. Immediately, the skills from common Classes appeared, giving him plenty of options to shift in a completely different direction from his current build.
Rank 2 was known as the utility Rank, offering the largest variety of occupational skills such as Forge, Map, Brew, Track, Embroider, and Stitch, among many others he could pick up and start from scratch. Of course, for each one he added, he would need to invest a significant amount of time to level it up; otherwise, the skills would simply sit unused in his skill panel.
For most of these skills, the corresponding arts were also required, as they determined the quality of output. This meant Bastion couldn't simply take Stitch and expect to be as proficient as Seraphina. He would need to actually put in the work and understand the process to the point of mastery before he could use the skills at the requisite arts level.
For this reason, Bastion only selected Forge, Temper, Hammer, Weld, Engrave, Repair, Quench, and Assemble to supplement his Smithing arts. These skills would allow him to streamline his forging process, producing work with minimal time and effort, requiring only stamina or mana for the most part.
The downside was that using the skills wouldn't improve his arts, forcing him to perform the tasks by hand if he wanted the requisite experience. For that reason, he hesitated to confirm the purchase and set the book aside before asking the clerk, who was patiently waiting with a smile at the side.
"How much for each skill?" Bastion asked.
"100 mithril coins, Your Grace," the clerk replied.
Bastion nodded, accepting the exorbitant price. Apprentice Rank skills cost 1 mithril coin each, Rank 1 skills 10 coins, and Rank 2 skills, as expected, were 100 mithril coins each or 1 magic crystal. It was a scale that perfectly reflected the maximum a person of that Rank could pay if they invested a tremendous amount of time and effort into earning it.
Granted, an Apprentice couldn't realistically earn a mithril coin even if they spent their entire 200-year lifespan working for it, but their wealthy parents could probably afford it. A Rank 1 also wouldn't be able to realistically earn 10 mithril coins, yet the institution they worked for could likely pay comfortably as an investment in their employees. A Rank 2, however, would finally begin to afford it themselves, given the lifespan, capability, materials, and resources available to them, so it only made sense to set the price high to encourage them to reach for the stars if they wanted an advantage over their peers.
Bastion hesitated, thinking deeply about his options. He had wanted the Forge skill for the longest time to streamline his forging process, but that was before he was able to get the golems working. Now, he had an assembly line at his disposal that performed the exact same tasks as the skills themselves. Why would he need skills when he already had a viable alternative? Sure, the assembly line was slower and prone to accidents, but he didn't have to pay for it, nor did he need to invest time and energy to level up the skills.
In the end, he decided against the occupational skills and focused instead on the combat skills, his mind racing with possibilities as he examined them.
Immediately, he eliminated any physical skills since they relied on stamina instead of mana. He also removed any elemental skills for which he didn't plan to train the corresponding arts, focusing only on Earth, Light, and their derivatives. This was because elemental skills, like occupational skills, improved the element's effects based on their requisite arts, and the same applied to physical skills. It was a system that combined knowledge, talent, experience, and ease of use through repetition, forming the foundation of the gods' system for their people.
Despite the reduction, this still left him with plenty of options to leverage his Arcane Corruption Ability, too many options, in fact. So many that even with his enhanced Intelligence and Wisdom, he couldn't decide on the optimal selection that balanced cost, usage, time, and effort to raise and utilize them.
To remedy this, he brought his focus back to necessity. What challenges had he faced so far that would have been trivial if he had possessed the necessary skills at the time?
Against the harpies, his Arcane Lockdown and Arcane Pulse would have been more than sufficient. Against Varyn, Arcane Lockdown, Arcane Shackles, and Arcane Sentry would have held him in place long enough for Bastion to pummel him. Against the Chief, however, nothing came to mind, as he had general resistances to magic. Against the goblins, Bastion already had all the tools he needed.
Against the basilisks, similar to the earth wyrm, he required piercing or armor-breaking attacks; against the plague troll, continuous damage like Seraphina's; and against any army, horde, or cavalry, his guns would suffice.
Bastion chuckled briefly, deciding that Diamond Rain and Diamond Shatter were already more than enough. Everything else was easily manageable with his current build.
"So, armor destruction, piercing, and continuous damage over time," he muttered.
He flipped through the options and found several that matched his requirements perfectly.
[Earth Quake]: Creates a localized tremor that destabilizes armor or structures.
[Light Lance]: Fires a sharp ray of concentrated light that pierces defenses.
[Light Burn]: Inflicts lingering light energy on a target, dealing continuous damage over time.
Earth Quake would destroy any armor he encountered, so long as he was within touching distance, which he often was as the tank of the party. Light Lance was specifically enhanced for piercing defenses, but it was considered a construct, so it didn't travel at the speed of light. It did, however, linger, draining the mana of those it penetrated. As for Light Burn, it was the best option available to him, perfectly complementing his Arcane Corruption by dealing continuous damage, draining mana, and using that mana to prolong its effects.
Since he was already in the Earth and Light section, he went ahead and added a few more skills to round out his build, specifically one for accuracy and two for enhanced defenses.
[Light Missiles]: Fires homing light projectiles at the target. Increases the number of missiles with each skill level.
[Light Barrier]: Creates a light-based barrier around the user that provides enhanced defenses against projectiles.
[Earth Rampart]: Conjures a wall or dome of earth at a designated location to block or obstruct enemies.
Light Missiles was a Rank 2 Light version of the Rank 1 Magic Missile skill Seraphina had, granting tracking capabilities with near-perfect accuracy. Light Barrier was a defensive skill that reduced incoming damage, prolonging his survivability. Earth Barrier was stronger, but it would obstruct his vision, so he scrapped that option. Besides, Earth Rampart was a better choice, as it was an Earth version of Elyra's Shadow Rampart, which had powerful isolation capabilities he wanted to pair with Arcane Lockdown.
"That'll be 600 mithril coins or 6 magic crystals," the clerk said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"Ahaha, you don't happen to take corpses, raw materials, enchanted weapons, or armor in exchange, do you?" Bastion asked nervously, finally realizing how much his little impulse buy would cost him.
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