Anti-Mage

“Warning! You have Suffered Soul Damage.”

What in the actual Fu… was the only thing Anton had a chance to think before the pain hit and he collapsed to the ground into a fetal position. He hadn’t felt anything while he’d been a Specter but as soon as he resumed his physical form the pain had hit. Anton tried to push through the pain but it felt like his insides were shifting as muscle and bone reconfigured themselves. He didn’t feel like his physical appearance was changing but his bones seemed to be thickening while his muscles shifted and condensed. Unlike normal physical pain, which he’d become used to, this pain came from within as he was forcibly changed.

As the pain began to recede a little bit, Anton focused his will and pulled up his notifications to see if he could figure out what was going on.

Vampiric Transformation Begun

ERROR!

Ability Immortality NOT compatible with Vampiric Transformation

Soul Transformation initiated

ERROR!

New Soul Configuration NOT compatible with Immortal Body

New Soul Configuration requires Magical Matrix

ERROR!

Ability Anti-Mage prevents Magical Matrix

ERROR!

Magical Matrix Mutation Imminent

Psychic Matrix Established

Psychic Vampiric Matrix Establishment incompatible.

Soul Damage detected.

SYSTEM Override, Race, and Class Evolution Required.

Ability, Immortal cannot be superseded by Race Evolution, No mana present.

Vampiric Transformation Adjusted. Race: Human has been changed to Human Vampiric Specter

Class Evolution required

Rare Class Specter has evolved to Mythical Class Vampiric Psuedo-Specter due to Race Evolution.

Initiating Class Evolution

Earned XP adjusted to new Class Rarity

Rare Level 37 Specter converted to Mythical Level 22 Vampiric Pseudo-Specter

SYSTEM NOTE: Legendary and Mythical Rarities have been swaped. Mythical Rarity is now the last Rarity category.

Before Anton continued reading the notifications he couldn’t help but think, What the hell was a Vampiric Pseudo-Specter? Which promptly pulled up a tooltip that described his new class.

Vampiric Pseudo-Specter (Unique, Mythical) – Vampiric Pseudo-Specters are a culmination of random unique occurrences. The result of a vampire attempting to kill and convert someone with the Legendary abilities, Immortal and Anti-Mage, Vampiric Pseudo-Specters are a Unique Mythical creature. As a being with no mana present to allow the conversion of the individual into a “normal” vampire, the individual instead mutates into a being that relies on Psychic Energy to survive and thrive. Additionally, because the being was already Immortal before the metamorphosis, physical changes required by a normal Vampiric Specter were not required. The qualifier “Pseudo” is given to indicate that the being in question meets the requirements of being both undead and alive.

Unlike a True Specter, you are corporeal. You do not gain any more sustenance from feeding on the blood of others that you would not gain normally. Nor do you need to feed on the psychic energies of others to survive. You do, however, receive a special Racial Skill that will allow you to draw the energies of others into yourself and replenish your resource pools.

Syphon – Upon touch, resources from the target may be drawn into yourself to replace your spent resources at a rate equal to your willpower minus the target's willpower up to the skill level of Syphon per turn. If the target's willpower is greater than your willpower, the skill fails. For example, if the target had a willpower of 10 and you had a willpower of 20, at skill level 1 you would be able to transfer 1 point of energy per turn. If you were skill level 11 you would only be able to transfer 10 points of energy per turn.

Additionally, all resource pools of the target contain psychic energy and are absorbed in the following order with the following conversion rate.

First, Psychic Energy (PE) 1 for 1

Second, Mana 2 for 1

Third, Stamina 5 to 1

Fourth, Hit Points 10 to 1.

Resources are absorbed in this order. Also, resources may not be absorbed if doing so would cause your Psychic Energy to exceed its maximum.

You may not replenish Hit Points, Mana, or Stamina with this skill.

NOTE: As a Non-Corporeal Entity you may NOT regenerate Psychic Energy…Error…You are a corporeal Entity. Psychic Energy regenerates normally.

NOTE: YOU are unable to absorb or convert Mana from a target into Psychic Energy.

WARNING! If a target is reduced to mana only, unforeseen complications can arise as the physical matrix that holds individuals together becomes compromised.

Well, that seemed pretty straightforward. He could now touch others and replenish his Psychic Energy if he had to as long as he had higher willpower than others. However, he couldn’t use the skill if his Psychic Energy was topped off. If he had been turned into a normal Vampiric Specter, that would have sucked as he would have had to continuously feed to replenish his Psychic Energy.

Anton turned back to his Notifications and continued going over them.

Vampiric Pseudo-Specters receive the following benefits:

Attributes: 50 per level

Hit Points 25 per level

Stamina: 25 per level

Psychic Energy: 50 per level

The conversion had cost him 15 levels but it looked like he’d gained significantly. At level 37 he’d had 444 attributes at 12 per level. At level 22, receiving 50 attributes per level netted him 1,100 attributes. Anton glanced at his status screen and looked over his new attributes.

Strength: 238 / 100% / 119

Agility: 240 / 100% / 120

Dexterity: 196 / 100% / 98

Endurance: 398 / 100% / 199

Constitution: 336 / 200% / 112

Perception: 240 / 100% / 120

Intelligence: 236 / 100% / 118

Wisdom: 192 / 100% / 96

Willpower: 684 / 200% / 228

Charisma: 236 / 100% / 118

Luck: 324 / 100% / 108

Chaos: 0

Order: 0

Hit Points: 1,046

Stamina: 4,530

Mana: 0

Psychic Energy: 1,250

Running Speed: 155 MPH

Flying Speed: 466 MPH

Weight: 225

Carrying Capacity: 2,678 lbs.

His level had decreased but his available attributes had more than doubled as had his Psychic Energy. As Anton explored the pain that had been running through his body he realized that most of it was due to the forceable change to all of his attributes at once. While his body could handle it, the changes being made suddenly had been quite painful.

As his mind started to clear, something he saw in his notifications drew his attention. He could fly? Anton moved into a sitting position and then stood slowly. He brushed himself off and looked around. He willed himself to float and immediately lifted off the ground. He checked his status and noticed that he was only spending 1 PE per turn while he floated. Anton shot straight up and began increasing his speed and watched as the PE cost increased. Additionally, because he was physical he could feel the wind resistance and was forced to slow down a bit. He found a comfortable cruising speed at around 10 PE per turn, which after he checked his Status was right around 350 miles per hour. He could go faster but started having a hard time keeping his eyes open. If he was being truthful, anything over 100 miles per hour was a bit too much but he could endure it.

Anton activated Specter and flashed back down to the ground as he looked over his status. The maximum speed he could currently attain was right around 450 miles per hour which cost him about 13 PE per turn. In the five minutes he’d been in the air he’d burnt through 306 PE. So, yes, he could fly normally now but it was quite expensive. Or, he could become a Specter and fly from one place to the next at a much higher speed.

Anton deactivated Specter and sat down as he allowed his Psychic Energy to recharge. As he waited he looked through his Status and noticed that he’d gained a new Perk, Pseudo-Undead.

Perk: Pseudo-Undead - Neither Living nor Dead, your existence threads that area between both. Undead do not recognize you as living while Living may or may not recognize you as being alive as you no longer have a heartbeat unless you wish to. You are sustained by your ability Immortal. You may still eat and drink normally.

That didn’t seem like that big of a deal. That is until he started looking through his skills and noticed a change in his Mental Shield skill. He kept forgetting to activate that defensive skill. Shit, if he had had it active, Azre’el might not have been able to keep him suppressed as long as she did, if at all. Now he wouldn’t need to worry about forgetting, the skill was automatically always on.

Psychic Skill: Mental Shield – By Default, Mind Shield is always active. +25% +1% per Willpower bonus + 1% Mental Defense against any mind-altering magics including illusions

Additionally, All mental attacks are automatically absorbed and converted to Psychic Energy at a ratio of 1 PE to 1 PE. For every PE spent to fuel the attack you gain 1 PE. Psychic Energy may not be absorbed above your maximum PE. Any absorption in excess of your maximum PE is lost with no further effect.

Mana-based mental attacks affect you normally.

The skill was not the same after all. It looked like he was now immune to mental attacks like his Mind Bolt but if there was a spell that mimicked that attack it would still affect him. Still, that was a hell of an upgrade and would have been really useful over the last….How long had it been again? Anton searched through his Notifications that had been automatically archived and found a few that were somewhat worrying. His claim to Minneapolis had been contested and he'd lost control of the City Node. Not that he was anywhere near that world, but it would make it a lot harder to get back to now. Anton checked the time stamp on the message from his transfer into this section of the Labyrinth and then looked at the current time stamp and paused.

More than “2 YEARS” As a popsicle to that bitch? No wonder he’d lost control of his city. What was worse was he could remember what he’d been doing which was a whole lot of nothing. Though he had to admit a couple of his skills had seen some heavy use as he was used as a sparring partner. Both his Short Blades and Long Blades skills had increased to level 38. In addition to those two skills, three other skills had increased; Personal Storage, Maggen’s Exceptional Storage, and Maggen’s Gift. Anton reviewed the number of earned skill points versus the time in question and realized that he’d only earned one-tenth the number of skill points he’d have earned if a skill had been active for two years. Then again, that made sense. It would be completely broken if all he had to do to level a skill automatically was earn the skill and let it run in the background while he effectively did nothing with it. In this case the result was that all three skills had increased to level 46.

As he looked over the descriptions of each skill he realized that the space and how much could be held had changed both with his level and because of the SYSTEM update.

Personal Storage - Personal Storage is an extra-dimensional storage area. The weight that can be held and the area available for storage increase with each skill level. Current Weight that may be stored: 71,119 lbs. Current Area: 41 Cubic Feet.

Maggen’s Exceptional Storage - This Skill provides a second Personal Storage area that acts as the Primary Storage Area for the individual. This Storage Area follows the same criteria as Personal Storage. Additionally, other skills provided by Maggen may be linked to this skill that will help keep all stored items safe. Current Weight that may be stored: 71,119 lbs. Current Area: 41 Cubic Feet.

Maggen’s Gift

Prerequisite: The user must also have Maggen’s Exceptional Storage

This Skill is linked to both Personal Storage and Maggen’s Exceptional Gift. Any skill that attempts to pilfer or steal from the user's Personal Storage receives a pre-chosen item of the user's choosing. If no items chosen by the user are present the thief's skill, ability, or perk works normally, if successful.

Current Treasure Designation: 1 Copper Coin. Copper Coins available 547.

Damn, it looked like someone had been trying to steal from him over the last two years and had over 400 copper coins to show for it. How nice for them. Anton quickly went through his inventory and noticed that everything else he had in inventory was still there. How had those damn Vampires failed to check his inventory or even wonder what other special skills he had. Had they been so arrogant as to completely disregard him as a threat?

Well, that was the first, and last mistake the Vampire ruling class of Dravul would ever make. Almost all of the other Vampires used magic while he’d been completely unluckily to run into Azre’el first. Mental attacks had been his one bane and he hadn’t even had his defense skill active. Now it was active all the time and he was also immune to any attacks that utilized Psychic Energy.

So, to recap, he’d been a prisoner of vampires for two years until some idiot finally killed him. For that waste of two years, the idiot that had tried to turn him instead caused his race and class to evolve into something so unique that it had never been seen before which now made him immune to mental attacks, immune to magical attacks, and while he wasn’t immune to physical attacks, anything that killed him only slowed him down for 20 seconds. Yeah, there was a group of Vampires he needed to go kill, Right Now!

Anton activated Specter, floated up into the sky, and headed back toward the city of Dravul. He considered the various ways he could take out the vampires, Azre’el in particular, and decided to go with what he knew would work; Sunlight. They’d had control of him and his mind for over two years and they’d had no idea what he could do. Now it was time to show them what being an Anti-Mage truly meant. He could break down one pound of material per hour per point of willpower. At 684 willpower, he could destroy 684 pounds in 60 minutes or 1.9 pounds per turn if the ability would let him focus it. He’d never tried before but right now….in the early morning, while the sun was up? He had the perfect place to remove material to allow sunlight into a location it would not normally reach.

Anton slowed down for a moment and began looking around along the ground. He just needed a log or large rock…Anton noticed a fallen tree and floated down beside it. He checked the area and while he didn’t see anything he decided to remain in his Specter Form as he activated Spectral Reach and touched the log. Two things he’d never done before; Utilize the ability to break down physical matter and try to break down matter using his skill Spectral Reach.

It was a lot simpler than he’d thought it would be. He focused on the shape he wanted to create which was a round hole and willed it to happen. Anton was pleasantly surprised as a circle began to appear directly where he wanted it to. A minute later there was a half-foot circle completely through the trunk of the tree. So he’d be able to remain a Specter and burn a hole through the ceiling into their crypt. His idea could work.

Anton launched himself back into the air and continued on toward Dravul. The trip back only took about an hour which gave Anton plenty of time to figure out how he was going to destroy the Vampire leadership. Once they were gone, it would be relatively easy to clean up all the low level vampires with a Mind Bolt, a stake or more sunlight. As he thought about how to take out Azre’el and her direct subordinates, he could help but consider the irony. For safety reasons, Azre’el and her top five lieutenants all slept in the same chamber. Anton knew that there was one way into the vault but he’d have to check and make sure there wasn’t a secret path he didn’t know about. He’d found out about their sleeping arrangements when Azre’el had chained him to a wall in the chamber during the day while she slept. That first six months, she’d kept him close to her at all times.

An hour later Anton flew into Dravul and toward the building at the center that best resembled a cathedral. The ceiling over the main chamber was made out of painted glass with depictions of Azre’el as she subjugated Dravul. The floor beneath the glass ceiling was marbled black stone with red streaks running through it. Beneath the floor fifty feet down was the chamber they slept in. It wasn’t directly beneath the main chamber but as Anton explored he noticed that one corner of the sleeping chamber did reach under the main chamber.

Anton slid through the ceiling and floors to make sure there were no hidden passages or watchers nearby. As he did a quick search around the room they slept in he did find a secret passage. With little effort, Anton began melting a one-foot diameter hole through the ceiling in the direction of the setting sun. Luckily the whole did not go through any occupied areas. His plan was to make it so sunlight was flooding both the main entrance and the escape tunnel and then time the sunlight coming through the roof of the chamber with direct sunlight shining down on the two exits from the room. He might not be able to get all of the vampires at once, but the sunlight should make it harder for them to move around and try to escape if he could do this before the sun set.

One hour later the hole to the secret exit was completed and he began creating one just outside the main door into the chamber. He made sure to angle the holes toward where the sun should be in about three hours. He wanted to make sure direct sunlight came into the hallway. Another hour passed and the main entrance was flooded with sunlight. Luckily there were two sets of doors which prevented anyone outside the outer set of doors from knowing what he was up to. Luckily, Anto knew that no one would enter the chamber during the day, as to do so was to invite immediate death.

Now that the exits were blocked with sunlight, Anton began creating a bigger hole in the ceiling. This one was two feet in diameter and angled so the sunlight would enter the room opposite Azre’el’s coffin. He wanted to save her for last. He was also using Spectral Reach to direct the area that was being broken down so there was even less chance that he’d be interrupted.

Anton believed if he had mana he’d be getting some mana back while he broke down materials but since he didn’t have mana, this portion of his ability was worthless to him, well except for the fact that he could break down barriers.

This time the hole he was creating took almost two hours to create as he worked from the chamber outward. He didn’t want to alarm anyone inside before he was ready. He’d been lucky with the first two holes as they’d opened into empty corridors. The hole directly above the chamber would open into the main hall which would be visible to anyone that happened to step into the room. Luckily, no one was in the main room at the moment but Anton knew it was just a matter of time before someone came along to prepare the chamber for the nightly routine.

Do you know what sucks about making someone that is immortal your popsicle for over two years and feeding off of them repeatedly, these mother fuckers were about to find out?

Anton broke through the last barrier into open sunlight which flooded the chamber below. Anton floated back down into the chamber and activated Spectral Reach. He reached out and touched the coffin farthest from Azre’el and focused on breaking down the lid of the coffin simultaneously. Anton estimated that it probably weighed about 100 pounds so it should take about eight minutes. Eight minutes later the coffin lid disappeared and direct sunlight struck the vampire. It was quite cathartic to see the lid disappear, the rays of the sun hit the vampire and watch it flash right before it turned to dust. Maybe it had died too quickly?

Congratulations! You have killed a level 41 Master Vampire. You have earned 2,563 XP and 41 Gold

So, the SYSTEM did register his actions as having killed the Vampires, Nice! He was worried that the SYSTEM might have considered that an environmental factor. Sucked to be them then cause he was going to kill them all. Though, only 2,563 XP for a level 41 Master Vampire? Then Anton remembered that his class was now considered Mythical. That meant he would almost always receive reduced XP. Though he couldn’t complain too loudly, 50 attributes per level was awesome.

Anton looked at the other coffins. He had five more to open before the sun set and only about two hours remaining, if he was lucky. Anton sighed and went to work. He destroyed the next coffin lid with no issue and the second, and then the third vampires were destroyed in the next 20 minutes.

Congratulations! You have killed a level 53 Epic Vampire. You have earned 3,975 XP and 106 Gold

Congratulations! You have killed a level 64 Epic Vampire. You have earned 5,600 XP and 128 Platinum.

Anton read the notifications and then checked to see how much XP he needed to level.

XP to Next Level: 136,861

Well shit, at this rate he’d have to kill at least 35 master-level vampires to level. Well, these little assholes were enslaving and eating everyone that came through the portal so guess what, they could become the fuel for his levels, literally because they were on fire. Yeah that joke sucked, but it was true!

Anton laughed at his own terrible joke and then redirected his attention toward the fourth coffin and went to work. While he was concentrating and destroying the coffin lid he double-checked his Psychic Energy. He still had 343 Psychic Energy left so he should be fine for a bit longer. Anton concentrated on the fourth coffin lid. Eight minutes later it disintegrated into nothingness and showed an empty coffin. Anton looked around but didn’t see anything. Did the vampire teleport away or turn into mist? Well, he could be in this room somewhere so…

Anton deactivated Specter and allowed his Anti-Mage aura to expand out to the size of the room. A moment later a vampire near the roof became visible and dropped to the ground. Short-range teleportation and invisibility? Anton watched as the Vampire began to scream as he ran toward the entryway. Unlike the last three vampires, he didn’t immediately burst into flames, though his skin started to glow red. It also looked like the lack of magic was increasing the damage from the sun. As the vampire made it to the door, it burst into flames and exploded into a cloud of dust.

Anton was about to look at his notifications when the last two coffin lids exploded upward as the Vampires within exploded out of the coffins and focused their attention on him. Anton saw Azre’el look at him and declare “You!” right before she moved to attack him. Anton wasn’t surprised by the sudden attack, he just wasn’t expecting it so he wasn’t ready for it. He watched as she ignored the sunlight and the lack of magic and jumped toward him. She was able to make it to him and attack before he even considered taking a defensive action.

He'd also been distracted because he was watching the fifth Vampire burn and try to escape out of the entrance only to step into direct sunlight and explode as the amount of sunlight affecting him doubled. Anton was able to mutter, “Damn, that’s gotta hurt,” just as Azre’el made it to him. In moments she performed two claw-based attacks which ripped his head off and caused his transformation into a Specter.

You have died! Transformation into Specter complete

You may wait for two full turns and respawn as normal or you may expend PE equal to your body weight to respawn early.

He could immediately transform back into his physical form? That was an awesome change. Anton floated through the wall Azre’el had turned toward, turned around, and respawned. He 225 points of his 315 Psychic Energy to respawn

Azre’el was still taking damage from the sunlight and was seeking shelter from the Sun when she stepped into her fully sun lit escape tunnel. The look of surprise on her face was only made better when shock crossed her features as she found Anton standing on the other side of circle of sunlight which flooded this corridor from above. Anton smiled as a P90 appeared in his hand as he said, “Did you miss me?” and pulled the trigger. He had no illusion that the gun would do anything but piss her off but he was hoping that it would slow her down long enough for the sunlight to do its thing.

Anton watched as the bullets pushed Azre’el back into the room with the coffins. He watched as flames started to burst from her skin. Just as Anton’s clip ran out, Azre’el focused her intent and launched herself at him as she screamed, “I Will Kill You!”

Anton didn’t even dignify her declaration as he stored the P90 in his inventory and activated Specter as she flew through him and exploded into dust. Anton looked around and noticed for the first time that there was no loot to grab from these vampires. Only dust remained where each of them had died. The only thing he received was the gold and platinum from the Labyrinth.

For killing the last three vampires, he received 20,950 XP and 436 platinum.

Why wasn’t he getting any of their gear? There was no way all of their gear was summoned. As he was thinking about what he should do next a new notification appeared.

Congratulations! You have completed the Hidden Quest, Kill a Progenitor

Reward: 10,000 XP

You have destroyed the Progenitor Azre’el. All vampires spawned from her have also died.

Congratulations! You have completed a Hidden Quest, Free Dravul from the Vampires

Reward: 25,000 XP

Your actions have destroyed all vampires in the city of Dravul.

There had been over 500 vampires in this city, and they were all dead? It kind of sucked that he wasn’t going to get any XP all those extra deaths but the bonus XP was nice and probably amounted to more than he could have earned if he’d killed each vampire individually. Anton’s attention was drawn back to his notifications as one of his Titles activated.

Fate’s Arbiter

You have left the city of Dravul leaderless and in shambles.

Quest: Restore Order to Dravul

Restore leadership to the citizens of Dravul. City ownership is NOT required to meet this goal.

Reward: Dependent on Performance.

Consequences of Failure:

Loss of Reputation with Citizens of Dravul

Loss of Reputation with Labyrinth.

Well then, It looked like he had some work to do.