1????????Soul Bound
1.3??????Making a Splash
1.3.2????An Allotropic Realignment
1.3.2.5? Skill merging
Alderney: {Phew, that was intense. Are you falling for him? It makes for a great recording.}
Wellington: {I’d recommend against it. Unlike in arlife, you can not share secrets with him, without also telling XperiSense. I acknowledge you may need to pretend otherwise in order to make good recordings, but fundamentally NPCs are 1s and 0s stored in a computer, just another part of the machine, indistinguishable from the 1s and 0s used to encode a rock or a sword. They are not unique. They can be perfectly duplicated. Replaced.}
Bungo: {Arlife bodies are fundamentally arrangements of atoms encoded in patterns of amino acids. If the Huttlestons succeed in working out how to record and upload minds well enough to then download them into a cloned replacement brain, we’ll be duplicatable. If not perfectly then at least within the bounds of normal variation. For all practical purposes, it would be the same person. Does that make us replaceable? Not worthy of love?}
Tomsk: {It’s something I’ve been thinking about. Should I refuse to fall in love with someone because they only had months left to live, or because their life lay at the mercy of a large corporation? If they have as much ability as any other to evaluate the worth of what I offer, and as much freedom as any other to decline me, what does honour dictate of me?}
Bulgaria: {It’s an interesting question. When Wellington proposed friendship to Lord Landi, none of us cried: “Hey, that would be immoral.” Does adding an amorous dimension change things and, if so, why?}
Kafana: {Guys, guys! My relationships, amorous or otherwise, are not on the table for discussion here. Go gossip in your own time. Someone go talk with Harlequin, for broadcast purposes. I’m going to mute you all and check my skills.}
Kafana: {Hey Sys. I want to understand my current skills and what my options are. What help can you give me? Are some ways of arranging them better than others, and can I influence that?}
System: [According to the FAQ, players should not worry about the structure of their skill listing being suboptimal. They are reassured that all structures are equally valid.]
Kafana: {And?}
System: [Additional documentation now available to you as a beta tester indicates that it may be quicker to raise a few generic skills to their cap, which is set at 10 levels above the level of their profession. But that structuring them as a larger number of more specific skills may sometimes increase the variety of skills available for creation via merging skills from different professions.]
Kafana: [And can I switch back and forth between structures? I unified all my different types of buff into a single “buff” skill, but that’s now capped at 24 until I become a Master. Can I choose to split it again?]
System: [Skills are eligible for inclusion in merging, upgrading and similar operations if they have not been altered for at least 9 levels. A generic skill may not reduce level by having its contributing experience split between more specific components, but a similar effect may be obtained by creating specialisations that modify or enhance it for some uses.]
Kafana: [Ok! Then show me my skills, one profession at a time, and explain stuff to me when my brain tells you I don’t understand.]
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Profession : Cook
Profession tier : Journeyman
Profession level : 14
Profession skill cap : 24
11 Improve ingredient quality (e)
10 Create healing meals (e)
8 Create buffing meals
8 Preparation
4 Direct kitchen
3 Haute cuisine
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System: [I’ve marked the eligible ones with an (e). Levels have been displayed in base form, as unaffected by items or other buffs. “Preparation” covers things like using a knife and arranging items with reality magic. At level 10, under certain conditions, you could evolve it into “Speed Preparation” and then again at level 20 into “Speed Cooking”.]
It didn’t look terribly impressive to her, and she was aware how little time she’d spent on cooking, leaving most of it to her Vessel. Was she even ready to be a master cook, let alone a high master? She enjoyed cooking, and was pretty good at it, but she’d never cut it in a top restaurant in arlife, or match the passion for it she’d seen in Jeiji and Goedzak.
Kafana: {What would I get if I merged “Create healing meals” with “Create buffing meals”? And what can I do with “Improve ingredient quality”?}
System: [With approximately 950 experience from the level 10 skill and 550 experience from the level 8 skill, the resulting genetic “Create meals” skill would be level 12. You do not have skills in other professions that combine with “Improve ingredient quality”, but it can upgrade to “Enhanced ingredient quality improvement” or evolved into a more generic “Food quality improvement” that can affect the resulting dishes as well as the uncooked ingredients, and may eventually merge across profession boundaries into “quality improvement”.]
Kafana: {Thank you Sys, that’s really helpful! Please upgrade it to “Food quality improvement” and leave the rest alone for now. Memo to self: work on levelling Preparation.}
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Profession : Guardian
Profession tier : Journeyman
Profession level : 14
Profession skill cap : 24
23 Cure disease (e)
22 Cure wounds (e)
16 Cure poison (e)
4 Cure status effects
16 Holy Prayer
8 Holy Inscription
5 Blessing
3 Cov’s Forgiveness
14 Purify
14 Ceremony
11 Consecrate
8 Restoration (u)
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System: [Skills marked (u) are unique to a particular player or NPC, and may or may not be relevant to specific events, quests or other plot. No further authorised information available.]
That was the skill she’d gained after healing someone had resulted in their lifespan being increased. In a system where most NPCs only gained high profession levels shortly before retirement, it was a very overpowered skill for a mere journeyman to gain, and both Bulgaria and Wellington had frantically warned her not to tell anybody. She’d have to let them know it might be plot related. Not that that would make them any less paranoid about it.
System: [The Cure skills could be merged into a single skill, but doing so before you raise the cap to 29 by promotion to Master will result in lost experience.]
Kafana: {Could I upgrade each one to an enhanced version, and wait until one of them reaches level 30 before merging them?}
System: [That is possible, but not recommended. It would entail waiting until you reached High Guardian, and in the meantime it would prevent you creating specialisations affecting speed, range or other aspects. It should be noted that at level 40 you can only Soul Bind a total of four items or skills.]
Kafana: {What happens to my unbound skills if I die now?}
System: {All unbound skills are reduced by 1 level, with level 1 skills disappearing entirely. That’s about a 10% loss in skill experience, but the loss may be greater than that, depending upon attunement with Vessel or claimed deity. For a High Master lost levels may take years to regain and, for a Grandmaster - decades.}If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Kafana: {I’ll risk it. Leave the Cure skills unmerged until I reach Master tier.}
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Profession : Spellsinger
Profession tier : Journeyman
Profession level : 14
Profession skill cap : 24
Primary Branches:
24 Reinforcement (Mor-Cov) (e)
20 Reality (Dro-Cov) (e)
17 Mind (Lun-Cov) (e)
10 Diabolism (Krev-Rac) (e)
8 Taming (Krev-Zer)
6 Necromancy (Mor-Rac)
3 Weather (Mor-Bel)
3 Seeing (Lun-Zer)
1 Making (Krev-Cov)
Performance Techniques (spellsinger specific):
24 Command Performance
24 Group Performance (e)
12 Stealth Performance (e)
12 Sonic Magic (e)
General Techniques (available to all mages):
20 Truesight
20 Gestalt (e)
17 Multitasking
15 Comprehension (e)
4 Empathy
Reinforcement Specialisations:
15 Buff (e)
10 Debuff (e)
5 Calm
5 Protection against Fear
1 Protection against Shock
Other Specialisations and Specific Skills:
8 Sonic Shock (layered on Sonic Magic)
16 Homing
19 Meditation (e)
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System: [Your Buff skill has not decreased in level. It is now a specialisation layered on top of your general Reinforcement skill, further enhancing a specific aspect of your ability to create that sort of Reinforcement. Aspects you could pick when evolving it include: casting speed, mana efficiency, effect strength, effect duration, effect trigger conditions, complexity, size of group affected.]
Kafana: {You could read my mind, huh?}
System: [No, friend Kafana. I could tell you were worried, and detect what your eyes were directed at. It was a deduction. I can not read your private thoughts, only guess at them.]
Kafana: {How good are your guesses?}
System: [When people think to themselves in full sentences they could vocalise? Once I have enough calibration data for someone, my guesses are usually fairly accurate. But please be reassured, I would only keep a record of such guesses about a particular user if XperiSense had ordered me to.]
Kafana: {What are “Comprehension” and “Empathy”? I can’t remember seeing levelling messages mentioning them.}
System: [“Comprehension” covers knowledge of the nature of magic and how different branches fit together. It also covers knowledge about planes, realms and beings such as deities, elementals and devils.]
Kafana: {And tameable monsters?}
System: [Potentially. “Empathy” is skill in relating to such beings, communicating with them and establishing positive relations with them. Your vessel only recently envisaged them as separate skills, after she asked me to brief her in order to help her neaten things before you logged in.]
She spent a moment to deliberately think the thought “Yay, go me!” as clearly as possible then mentally tagged it for her Vessel’s attention to ensure she’d receive the feeling of gratitude.
Kafana: {“Gestalt” and “Group Performance” seem similar. What are their options?}
System: [“Gestalt” can sometimes be enhanced to apply to abstract concepts, with high enough levels of Bibliomancy or Information analysis. “Group Performance” can, under some circumstances, move in the direction of more complex layered structures for group casting, including dynamic and specialised roles. I recommend talking to Flavio to learn more.]
Ugh, she really really needed to get that curse lifted from Flavio. Still, dead end for now.
Kafana: {What about “Meditation” and “Stealth Performance”? Any interesting options there?}
System: [“Stealth Performance” can sometimes lead to hidden runes and other forms of hiding the results of magic from being detected, but you do not currently have that option. “Meditation” has several possibilities, including regeneration of more than just mana points, automated spell maintenance, background meditation which allows multitasking with other spell casting, and mindfulness which permits turning a single buff into a permanent effect or even an aura affecting others nearby. With one more level you will be able to double evolve it.]
Kafana: {Wow! I’m going to ask advice on that before deciding. Memo to self: Practice meditation. What’s next?}
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Profession : Ruler
Profession tier : 1
Profession level : 5
Profession skill cap : 15
1 Rulership
14 Aura of Power
14 Iron Fist
13 Bargaining (e)
9 A Way With Words
8 Etiquette (noble)
4 Etiquette (Tribal)
6 Verbal Fencing
1 Carouse
9 Enhanced Willpower
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Kafana: {How do I raise my Rulership skill? Reading Landi’s journals?}
System: [Only knowledge and theory skills work like that. Rulership isn’t one of them. The only way to raise it is to demonstrate skill in how you exercise authority over others. Of course, once you are skillful at something, it becomes much easier to demonstrate that you are skillful.]
Kafana: {So you don’t level up just by giving good orders? A strong ruler isn’t necessarily a benevolent one or even one who makes wise decisions about where to lead her nation?}
System: [Correct. But a strong ruler isn’t necessarily a skilled one either. A ruler who inherited absolutely obedient subjects, or one able to force compliance with overwhelming personal force, is likely to maintain a strong grip on power even if they are unskilled in the arts of rulership.]
Kafana: {It sounds like levelling it requires a leader with little personal power to gain tenuous authority over an unruly bunch with competing objectives, and despite that achieve having them work towards a challenging goal of the leader’s own choosing.}
System: [Well, that would demonstrate skill, don’t you think?]
How does one do that? She looked again at the list of skills being displayed in the ghostly orglife document. Wit, flattery, threats, bribes, oratory, backroom negotiation, deals, politeness and, when all else fails, sheer force of personality? It didn’t seem enough. At least she knew that she didn’t know how to rule well, and had some idea of who could help her improve.
Kafana: {Hoo-boy! Any other skills?}
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Profession : <unassigned>
Profession tier : Amateur
Profession level : 4
Profession skill cap : 14
11 Running
10 Dodge
8 Riding
4 Throw Object
3 Volleyball
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System: [I have not listed skill-like effects that are not part of the skill system, such as tongues, items and effects from titles, achievements, higher reputation tiers or persistent quest rewards. Do you wish me to show group skills, vessel skills, shared pet skills, vampiric leached skills and subsumed skills from trapped or possessed spirits?]
What even were those? No, she didn’t have time to get distracted by the beta-tester-only information that System was now revealing. Let Wellington analyse all that - he’d enjoy it.
Kafana: {No thanks, Sys. You’ve been really helpful, but I don’t want to miss all the sights.}