Golden Experience

Chapter 66: “Choices”

“We sure made a lot of them. With this many, we can just burn them on whatever we want and it won’t be a big deal.”

Both Rare and Remy were able to craft Philosopher’s Stones that weren’t significantly different. However, when the ingredients included formic acid from weaker engineer ants, or normal Treant Ashes, then there was a big difference: They didn’t shine when using [Athanor] to heat them up. The marbled product did glow slightly, but that was the normal, expected reaction based on all their previous trials. In other words, it probably meant that the result wouldn’t be a “great success.” The differences were also clear once all the finished products were lined up next to each other; the ones made with Ashes of the World Tree were more vibrantly red, and they also faintly sparkled.

“You can tell right away when you hold one in your hands, but the dull-colored ones only improve their targets by one stage. Which means that Ashes of the World Tree essentially double the resulting effect.”

They tried synthesizing different combinations of ingredients, first always using low-rank formic acid, then always Treant Ashes, but the results in all those cases were the dull-colored stone. Only when both ingredients were the high-rank version did they get the vibrant Philosopher’s Stone that sparkled from the start.

“First, I want to try the ones that raise a stage by one. If I’m to be the final test, then ideally we’d want to try it on a character who’s close to me in stats first, not a material or item. The possible candidates are…”

<If that is the case, then I should be the test subject. Since I am already dead, even as I age, I do not experience any growth. If there is a chance for us to strengthen ourselves, then that would lead to an increase in our war power,> Deas volunteered.

“Hmm, I would have wanted to use the sparkly ones on our top brass, but… From what the instructions say, using two one-stage items should have the same result… However, if there’s a maximum number of stones that can be used on an individual, that would be problematic…”

This time, Sieg responded. <In that case, how about one of my skeletal knights? We would discover the same information about undead that Sir Deas described, but since it is just a skeletal knight, then you will not feel any obligation to use this item on each and every one of them. In addition, if it is an item that can only be used once per individual, then there would be no problem.>

“Good idea; worst case, I can still use him as a boss monster. Let’s do it. Call one up, if you would.”

A single skeletal knight was summoned into the queen’s chamber. After Sieg gave an explanation, the knight nodded his head. The two of them almost seemed like a manager and employee at a normal office.

“Great; take this. Once you’re holding it, you should automatically understand how to use it. Whenever you’re ready, use it on yourself.”

The skeletal knight immediately raised the egg. The crystal shone as it broke apart, and the red liquid inside poured down as though it were a powder. Rather than simply falling due to gravity, the powder seemed to be drawn to the knight instead. Wherever it touched the skeletal knight, it was absorbed into his bones, like how powder snow melted. Once all the powder had dissolved into its body, the skeletal knight began to shine. This was the same light Rare saw with World Tree.

“It looks like he’s reincarnating. So I was right, raising a character’s stage really does mean reincarnating into a higher-ranked form.”

Before long, the light settled down and the skeleton standing before them wore not the rotted, decayed equipment it had on before, but a splendid suit of armor fit for a knight. The bones of his body had become much more stout, and he had grown in height as well.

<He appears to have reincarnated into a… Skeletal Leader. If he was previously considered a standard soldier, then now he has become promoted to a captain.>

“I see. Good, then he did go up a rank.”

Right now, there weren’t very many leader-level units in their forces, so it might be good to fill out those numbers a bit using these Philosopher’s Stones. Or she could use them on skeletal mages to have them reincarnate into a more advanced type of mage, in order for Rare’s forces as a whole to strengthen their magical firepower. There were countless ways to make use of this item.

“We can try using it on materials and items whenever we want, so let’s leave that for later. Next is to see whether he can keep using more Philosopher’s Stones.”

Rare handed another egg to him. The skeletal leader took it and stared at it for a time, but eventually gave it back while shaking his head.

<It appears that he cannot use it for another day.>

“So there’s a cooldown of twenty-four hours for the power-up effect. It’s good to know that there isn’t a limit to the number of times an individual can use it, though. Does this mean that as long as we can procure all the materials, we can keep reincarnating over and over again? It’s hard to believe they would allow something as ridiculous as that, but…”

The devs would absolutely hate bugs that led to infinite power-ups. There was no question that the system AI was always running its automatic bugfix function. For the time being, once the cooldown was up, she would have this skeletal leader come back and try reincarnating into a skeletal general or something.

“All right, next we should try the sparkly Philosopher’s Stone. Deas, would you like to take the plunge?”

<If that is your wish, Princess, it would be my honor.>

Just like before, the Philosopher’s Stone Deas received flared with light before breaking apart. While Deas hadn’t raised it up, the liquid inside turned into a red powder and got sucked into him from the front as it slowly fell.

<<Your follower has fulfilled a condition for reincarnation.>>

<<Permit reincarnation into Death Knight?>>

<<Permit spending 100 XP for reincarnation into Death Lord?>>

“So when going up two stages, I can choose which one I want, huh.”

Since Deas was her direct follower, Rare received a system message requesting her approval. He was able to reincarnate from Terror Knight to Death Knight, then Death Knight to Death Lord.

“Unlike with me becoming a High Elf, this is more of a job change than a race change. I guess that’s just how monsters work.”

Anyway, since Deas had used one of the good Philosopher’s Stones, Rare spent the XP and allowed him to reincarnate into a [Death Lord]. His entire body shone as his appearance began to change. The armor he wore became less sinister-looking but thicker and more ornate. His skeletal body gained a layer of skin, making him look more like a mummy. Red lights flicked around then flashed on and off in his eye sockets; he must have been blinking his new eyes.

<Ooh… Incredible… I am overflowing with power, far more than I ever had while I was alive…>

“Your appearance certainly got an upgrade, although now you’ll make children cry as soon as they lay eyes on you. Your skills… You can learn many more now. This [Miasma] is the same one that Sieg has. It’s a skill tree that has buff and debuff auras; you can buff ally undead while debuffing enemy forces, it seems. I wonder how it determines what’s an enemy?”

On the whole, she felt confident saying that the testing was a success. Now she wanted all her top brass characters to reincarnate into higher ranks.

“But reincarnating often seems to require XP, so it might not be possible for everyone to do it together.”

Furthermore, just like it was possible to learn new skills this time, it was also possible for some skills to no longer be learnable after reincarnation. When Rare became a High Elf, she unlocked a bunch of new skills like [Light Magic], so if possible it would be best to learn all available skills before reincarnating.

“Let’s switch to stockpiling XP for now. We’re in no particular hurry, after all.”

<No, it would be best for the princess to reincarnate forthwith. As with when you became a High Elf, it is possible that there will be an effect with a direct benefit to all of our forces, as well as the fact that an increase in Your Highness’s stats raises the floor of our military might.>

“Ah, indeed… You have a point. Then first, let me see what skills I have left to get…”

When Rare had reincarnated into a High Elf, she unlocked the skill trees for [Light Magic] and [Ruler]. The [Ruler] skill tree was packed with skills that buffed all characters under her control, such as the [Enhance Subordinate] grouping, and another one called [Castling] which let her switch locations with a subordinate once per day. [Enhance Subordinate] had the same kind of effect as [Enhance Follower], except that the description of “all characters under your rule” was very broad. It seemed like it would affect a follower’s followers as well. That nuance implied that it could even apply to characters that were under the influence of [Control] and [Necromancy].

Learning [Light Magic] led to unlocking [Plant Magic]; it probably required [Light Magic] and something else as its prerequisites. The likely contenders were [Earth Magic] or [Water Magic], but this wasn’t something she could easily find out anymore. She had also unlocked and learned [Holy Magic], which she had no idea what the prerequisites for it were. Every time she learned a new skill, more got unlocked, seemingly without end. However, now that Rare had come this far, she wanted to learn them all. She thought it would be more constructive to just plan to earn more XP in the future than to skip taking a skill now and later regretting that decision. Plus, even if she were to learn everything she could, the amount of XP it cost was still a drop in the bucket compared to the 5,000 she had paid to get World Tree. Rare and Remy also earned XP from crafting all these Philosopher’s Stones. They must be the highest quality of crafted item considering that even Rare, with all the XP she had invested in herself, could still earn XP from crafting them.

“And that about does it. With how much XP I’ve got left, I should still be able to pay whatever amount it asks for in order to reincarnate.”

Rare picked up a sparkly Philosopher’s Stone and spoke its activation keyword. She briefly wondered how races that couldn’t speak could use the item, but since Deas had no problem, there must be a way to switch from a spoken activation if one were mute.

“Activate [Philosopher’s Stone].”

Just like what happened every time before, the crystal melted into light, and the red liquid inside got sucked into Rare. As she absorbed all of the red light, she could hear a flurry of system messages.

<<[Greater Philosopher’s Stone] has been used.>>

<<A reincarnation condition has been met. You may reincarnate into a Living Spirit.>>

<<A reincarnation condition has been met. You may spend 3,000 XP to reincarnate into a Spirit Lord.>>

<<A special condition has been met. You may reincarnate into a Dark Elf.>>

<<A special condition has been met. You may reincarnate into a Demonic Spirit.>>

<<A special condition has been met. You may spend 3,000 XP to reincarnate into a Demon Lord.>>