Minute Mage: A Time-Traveling LitRPG

Chapter 25: Talented

I opened my Status.

Name:

Arlan Nota

Age:

20

Strength:

10

Class:

Minute Mage

Level:

5

Endurance:

16

Class Type:

Magic

XP:

21/300

Dexterity:

10

Health:

71/160

Health/Minute:

0.06

Conjuration:

24

Stamina:

39/78

Stamina/Minute:

0.504

Intelligence:

5

Mana:

11/265

Mana/Minute:

5.07

Stat Points:

6

Spells:

Talents:

Titles:

Crippling Chill 3 - XP 0/20

[Talent Choice Available]

Trailblazer

Noxious Grasp 7 - XP 87/94

Time Loop 5

I smiled at all of the changes I saw. From that last fight with the Anacaps, I could tell that I absolutely needed more Mana; I’d only survived the second time through because I memorized my Anacap’s Health total by looking through my System notifications and counting up all the damage it’d taken to kill it. And then I did the math and portioned out my Mana perfectly to be able to fit in four total casts of Crippling Chill alongside enough Noxious Grasp to get it low enough for me to kill. And even then, I still had to get my hands dirty.

So, every extra point of maximum Mana I got counted. Both Conjuration and Intelligence increased that, so I was excited to see them both go up so much. And speaking of Intelligence, when I reached Level 4, I’d gotten a notification about reaching an Intelligence threshold and getting some sort of extra information related to my Class. I ignored it at the time because of the battle, but now I was interested. I went ahead and looked back at it.

Intelligence threshold reached. 4 Intelligence.

Your Intelligence information rank has increased.

Due to increasing your Intelligence information rank, you have been granted the following benefits:

-When choosing Spells or Talents, you may now see the names of the Spells and Talents that will be offered to you the next time you get to choose one of them if you pick any given option.

That… was certainly interesting. The way that Spells and Talents worked was that all of your options were influenced by the Spells and Talents you’d chosen in the past. It was often visualized as a ‘Spell Tree’ where each Spell and Talent Choice was a branch with three other branches growing out of it. And each of those three branches had three branches growing out of them, and so on. This would essentially allow me to see one Choice ahead, so I’d know what options I’d be given in the future if I picked any given Spell or Talent I was being offered right then.

Really, compared to the wealth of information people with every other Class had, it was barely anything. Not only could they know the names of Spells in the future, they’d also know their effects, and they’d probably know way more than just one choice ahead. And they had experts giving out advice and information about certain combinations and paths down the trees, like how Erani had specifically chosen Firebolt because she knew she would get Explosive Firebolt at Rank 10. Still, it was better than nothing, and it seemed like this would only get better the more Intelligence I got, so maybe one day I would have information on my Spell and Talent Choices to rival everyone else’s.

And speaking of Spells, Crippling Chill had ranked up during the battle, as well. I looked at the notification I had gotten for that.

Threshold reached. Crippling Chill XP has reached 14.

Crippling Chill Rank has increased to 3.

Due to Crippling Chill Rank reaching 3, it has undergone the following changes:

Mana Cost: From 47.3 to 48.5

Health Drain: From 5.51 to 5.79

Stamina Drain: From 4.41 to 4.63

Dexterity Debuff: From 11 to 11.6

It was always nice to see those numbers go up. Especially the Dexterity Debuff part; eventually, I would be fighting monsters of a high enough Level that a simple 10 or so Dexterity wouldn’t be a big deal to lose, so I wanted to ensure I kept it high enough to be impactful.

Well, with all of that dealt with, I’d been meditating for enough time that I could actually start making changes to my Status by now. So I went ahead and looked at my Talent choices.

Choose one Talent to obtain:

Time Dilation

Type: Toggle

—

While this Talent is active, you perceive time as if it were moving at 50% speed. Your bodily control is slowed accordingly, but your mental abilities are not.

You may not have this Talent active for more than one minute per day.

Intelligence information:

If you choose this option, your next Talent options will be:

Meditation

Live in the Past

Slow Consideration

Reflexive Speed

Type: Activated

Cost: Stamina equal to your Dexterity Stat (Currently 10 Stamina)

—

You can move your body 65% more quickly and have 65% faster reflexes for the next six seconds.

Intelligence information:

If you choose this option, your next Talent options will be:

Fluctuate

Increment

Overwhelming Strength

Recursive Growth

Type: Passive

—

Whenever your Level increases, you gain 2 additional Stat increases, chosen at random.

This Talent improves every tenth Level you reach, incrementing the number of random Stat increases you gain each Level by 2.

Intelligence information:

If you choose this option, your next Talent options will be:

Temporal Fold

Expedited Reclamation

Regenerate

I looked over the three options presented to me. Time Dilation seemed like it would be really useful in a fight, especially for a Magic-Type Classer like myself. Since my mind was essentially moving at twice the speed as everyone else’s, I’d be able to fire off Spells twice as quickly too. Plus, in hand-to-hand combat, I’d be able to have twice as much time to think and examine my opponents.

It could help in non-combat situations, too. I could imagine having twice as much time to think when trying to talk my way out of a bad situation, for example. Of course, it was limited to a single minute of usage per day, but a minute was a lot of time, especially when that one minute felt like two.

The main point against Time Dilation that I could see was that its main benefit – being able to cast more quickly – could be accomplished just by training more. My speed in casting Crippling Chill was absolutely not currently to standard, but instead of speeding it up by taking this Talent, I could just practice it some more. Sure, it’d take time, but Talent Choices were few and far between, and it would take much more time to get another. Of course, there were other benefits, too, and making it so that I wouldn’t have to worry as much about practicing any Spells I took in the future was something to be considered.

Reflexive Speed was also tempting. It was much more focused than Time Dilation; it would be incredibly useful during fast-paced hand-to-hand combat, but not much else. Its cost was pretty significant – 10 Stamina was a lot when you also needed that Stamina for fighting – and the cost would grow even more if I tried to add to my Dexterity and make myself even faster.

However, that much additional speed in a fight, even if it was just for a few seconds, could let me get multiple surprise hits on an opponent, retreat to a safe distance, or break out of a tackle. If I wanted to focus on a closer fighting style, I could see Reflexive Speed helping out a great deal.

Finally, there was the odd one out of the three Talents. Recursive Growth was… strange. I’d heard of Talents that gave you Stats, sure, but normally it was a lump sum that came up front – the Abundant Vigor Talent, for example, was one for the Swordsman Class that gave you 10 points in your Strength Stat when you took it. But Recursive Growth technically did absolutely nothing upon taking it. Instead, as time went on and I Leveled up more, it would get better and better.

Comparing it to Abundant Vigor, Recursive Growth could possibly get me infinitely more benefit. Once I reached Level 9, I would have gotten two points in random Stats for each Level from 6 to 9 – which would be eight points of Stats – making it slightly worse than Abundant Vigor. But after that, I’d continue getting more. So, for example, once I reached Level 19, that would be the eight I got for getting to Level 9, plus an additional four per Level from 10 to 19 – the number of Stats I got increased every tenth Level – which would be forty-eight total points of Stats. That was incredible value for a single Talent.

And, of course, it would only continue to get better and better from there. Levels 20 through 29 would get six points per Level, and so on.

…That said, I wasn’t a huge fan of taking a Talent that would literally do nothing for me right now, and would only barely be worth it when I was double my current Level. I also had to remember that these were random Stats being increased, not ones of my choice. Increasing my Dexterity, for example, was much less valuable than increasing my Conjuration or Endurance. So even once I’d gotten ten Stats from Recursive Growth, it still wouldn’t be equivalent to Abundant Vigor for Swordsman; Swordsmen needed Strength above all else, and so taking a Talent that increased it by ten was much better than a Talent that increased Stats randomly.

Still, that concept, infinite potential for growth, really spoke to me. Sure, it would be harder for now, but taking the Talent would pay off in time. Extra Stats – even if they were random – meant extra maximum Mana, extra Spell XP, extra Health, Stamina, I could move faster, I’d be stronger, and more. With enough of those effects piled on top of each other, I’d be unstoppable.

The main contender against Recursive Growth in my mind was Time Dilation. I liked its utility, and the fact that it didn’t have a cost was another great upside. It could help in a ranged fight, melee combat, social situations… but all of that utility meant that it wouldn’t truly excel anywhere. Sure, I probably wouldn’t ever feel like it was useless, but I probably would feel like it was mediocre all the time.

And I didn’t want to settle for mediocrity.

I made my choice.

You have obtained the Talent Recursive Growth.

Your next Talent options will be:

Temporal Fold

Expedited Reclamation

Regenerate

I took a breath. I knew for a fact that there would be times I regretted taking Recursive Growth, and that those times would probably be sooner rather than later. The Talent did nothing for now, and did next to nothing for a while after. But if I worked hard and increased my Level enough, the Stats I got would more than make up for it.

Also, speaking of Stats, the information I got from my Intelligence Stat was interesting, but not very useful. Unfortunately, unlike Spells, Talents were always unique to each Class, so if there truly was no information out there on Minute Mage, there would be no information out there on the names of its Talents, either. I’d definitely try looking into what all Spells I could research once I started seeing their names, but for Talents, all I could do was speculate.

Some of the names seemed interesting; Live in the Past sounded like some sort of time traveling Talent, maybe, and Regenerate – which I would apparently be offered later on, now that I’d taken Recursive Growth – sounded like it might heal me, but I couldn’t really base any decisions on any of that. I hoped that the info I’d get in the future would be more helpful.

But anyway, it was time to assign my Stat Points now. I had six in total from the two Levels I’d gained, so it would be a big boost in power to wherever I assigned them. Considering the Mana issues I’d faced in that fight beforehand, I felt like Conjuration would be my best bet. It would help me in fights, and the extra regeneration would allow me to continue Ranking my Spells even faster.

You have used 6 Stat Points to increase Conjuration.

Your Conjuration value is now 30.

I smiled at the number. Thirty was high, especially when I was just Level 5. Most people split their Stat points between different Stats – even Magic-Type Classers would occasionally put some points into Strength to help them with more mundane activities – but I was going all-in on combat. On power.

I opened my Status, looking at the changes made.

Name:

Arlan Nota

Age:

20

Strength:

10

Class:

Minute Mage

Level:

5

Endurance:

16

Class Type:

Magic

XP:

21/300

Dexterity:

10

Health:

71/160

Health/Minute:

0.06

Conjuration:

30

Stamina:

44/78

Stamina/Minute:

0.504

Intelligence:

5

Mana:

61/325

Mana/Minute:

6.15

Spells:

Talents:

Titles:

Crippling Chill 3 - XP 0/20

Recursive Growth

Trailblazer

Noxious Grasp 7 - XP 87/94

Time Loop 5

I liked the amount of extra Mana available to me. At 6 Mana/Minute, I was making about 360 Mana per hour, which meant 3.6 Spell XP per hour while practicing. If I slept for eight hours, that would be almost 30 Spell XP every night while I practiced in my sleep.

And, other than the regeneration, I now also had 325 maximum Mana, which was over 100 more than my previous total at Level 3 of 215. That was a couple extra casts of Crippling Chill, or a whole lot of damage with Noxious Grasp.

I went ahead and opened my eyes, cutting off my meditation session. Erani was sitting across from me, a half-eaten sandwich in her hand.

“You done with all of your stuff? Took you a bit of time.”

“Yeah,” I picked up my own sandwich, tearing off a bite and washing it down with a gulp of water. “The main thing that took so long was my Talent Choice.”

“Ah, yeah, I guess you have to make your decisions in the moment for your Class, right? I’m used to going in already knowing exactly what I’ll be offered and what I’m going to select. What’d you end up choosing?”

“It was a Talent called ‘Recursive Growth.’” I went ahead and read off the Talent’s effects to her, as well as those of my other options.

“Really? You picked that one? Seems a bit risky. You’re basically denying yourself a Talent in a gamble that you’ll be able to survive and get stronger without it.”

“Well, it’s not like I’m in any sort of immediate danger or anything.” I looked around myself at the hostile forest surrounding me. “Well, okay, technically, at this very moment I’m in danger, but once I get to Carth, I won’t be. From then on, I can take my Leveling a bit slower, and be sure to only fight monsters that I know I can kill. It’s not like someone’s hunting me down and I need to get stronger as quickly as possible or whatever.”

“I guess I understand that. I still just feel like it’s better to pick something that immediately benefits you, rather than something that only might pay off in the future. What happens if something goes wrong and you can’t be an adventurer anymore? Then your access to monsters will be cut off, and Recursive Growth will be useless. At least if you had the Time Dilation Talent or Reflexive Speed it’d do something outside of this very specific profession.”

“Well, truth be told, I don’t think a life without adventuring is one worth considering. At least, not for a long time. I’m confident I’ll grow stronger because I’m confident I’ll always want to grow stronger. I’ll find a way. And when I do, Recursive Growth will pay off.”

“Huh, well then, you’re much more dedicated to this than I am,” Erani laughed. “I’m always worried that I’ll change my mind about adventuring and that all of this work will have been for nothing. Plus, I’d be nervous that the very next day I’d need that additional boost in power, and die without it.”

“Ah, well yeah, I guess I could understand not wanting to take something like Recursive Growth in your case.”

The conversation died off, and we kept eating in silence, still trying to calm our nerves from the recent fight.

After we finished eating and resting from the interruption we had with the Anacap ambush, we continued on our journey. A bit into our walking, enough time had passed that I had regenerated my Mana to full, so I began practicing Noxious Grasp once again. I actually got a bit of a headache from doing so, which was unusual. It seemed like casting Crippling Chill so much in such a short timeframe put a good bit of strain on my mind, and Noxious Grasp was irritating that magical strain into an ache. It wasn’t anything unbearable though – just another indicator that I probably needed to start working on Crippling Chill once I finished getting Noxious Grasp to Rank 10 – so I continued with my practice. A couple hours of casting later, I got a notification.

Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 94.

Noxious Grasp Rank has increased to 8.

Due to Noxious Grasp Rank reaching 8, it has undergone the following changes:

Mana Cost: From 3.58 to 3.67

Health Drain: From 14.1 to 14.8

Stamina Drain: From 7.04 to 7.39

I was even closer to my goal! The next Rank would need 130 Spell XP, which would take a while, but hopefully my boosted Mana/Minute would help that along.

Many hours of walking later, noon passed to evening, and evening passed to night. Once it was too dark to continue, we set up a rudimentary camp and slept through the night, each of us taking turns watching for monsters while the other was asleep. Once again, I ended up casting Noxious Grasp through my slumber, and by the time I woke up, Noxious Grasp’s Spell XP was already at 70/130.

We continued our journey without major incident. We continued along the path, taking occasional breaks along the way, and eventually, a few hours after we ate lunch, I saw a massive circular wall appear in the distance as I ascended a hill. The thick, tall barricades didn't do much to block my sight of the city, though. With my vantage point, I could see the countless buildings and structures within the stone encirclement. Specifically, one particular tower rose far, far above the already large walls. It was easily fifteen stories high – maybe more. Its rectangular, weathered metal exterior shone in the sunlight, almost blinding me, but I still didn’t look away from the beautiful structure.

“We’re here,” Erani said, smiling at my wide eyes. “Welcome to Carth.”

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