First, Flora set up the second healing turret. Without having to sustain the coffin, she had resources open.

In the hot spring, Flora relaxed for a bit, but then remembered she wanted to get the lightning mage class.

She opened her spells window and looked at the diagrams.

The first spell, the single target attack, was for most of the mage classes the same — a bolt like a spell.

She combined the bolt aspect of the kinetic blast with the lightning element and cast her first Lightning Bolt.

You gained a skill: Lightning Bolt.

You learned the skill without guidance: + 1 OV to the skill.

The next was the area of effect skill. It took shape in the form of rain or storm. She took the Energy-Storm spell and deleted the magnetism and kinetic aspects.

You gained a skill: Tempest.

You learned the skill without guidance: + 1 OV to the skill.

The third spell was the defensive spell. All elemental mages had a shield.

You gained a skill: Lightning Shield.

You learned the skill without guidance: + 1 OV to the skill.

The fourth spell was movement. Flora watched an experio of a player doing it, and it looked pretty cool and fitting to its name 'Riding the Flash!'.

You gained a skill: Riding the Flash.

Description: A bolt of lightning carries you up to 10 m in one direction. Every enemy you touch gets jolted.

CD: 25 sec.

You learned the skill without guidance: + 1 OV to the skill.

You gained the class: Lightning Mage.

Class: Lightning Mage

Branch: Magic

Passive: +1 Training efficiency modifier for resistance/affinity Lightning/Shock

Active: Bonus for lightning Spells

'I should have done this first! I wasted hours of lightning affinity training without the efficiency mod!'

You gained a skill: Summon Lightning Elemental

Description: Summon an elemental with three random tier-1 lightning spells.

CD: 25 min.

"Great! Remind me what is missing to connect all my important classes."

"Technomancer, Milady. Aitoshuri thinks there might be an opportunity to get it at the Magetech Institute after you acquired the quest by the Garage."

"I remember. I have to achieve a good placement in the Robo-Melee to get the quest." Flora thought about it while lazily casting a few spells interspersed with messing around in the water. "I can't do anything about it at the moment, but I might get the training bonus for wood and fire and metal as well when I get the classes. Let's go for it!"

"Now might be a good time to speak about cooldowns, Milady."

"Sure, why?"

"Because all of the corresponding mage spells share a cooldown. If you cast a water shield, you can't cast any other magic shield in the next 25 seconds. Force-Field is a magic shield, as well. Fortification of Faith is not a shield spell and has a separate timer.

The same applies to movement skills. All the spells of the elemental mage classes share the same cooldown timer. Energy-Jump is not of this type, but a jump skill and shares a cooldown with Power-Jump.

As a rule of thumb: When the base effect is similar, it shares a cooldown.

I'm mentioning this to warn: you won't get many advantages from learning different elemental mage classes. But I also have to add most of the S rated mages learn at least five elemental classes because of bonuses of the umbrella class Elemental Mage."

"That's alright. I'll do it mainly to acquire the training bonuses."

Because all of the mage classes were similar, Flora had no problem engineering the spells.

A problem with fire and wood popped up: she had no spell-diagram in her repertoire to isolate the elemental aspects.

Thankfully, Aitoshuri sent her a link with diagrams.

Flora didn't get the + OV bonus for the spells she looked at, namely fire shield, light shield, metal shield, and wood shield, but for the rest, it worked well.

You gained the class: Wood Mage. You gained the class: Fire Mage. You gained the class: Metal Mage. You gained the class: Light Mage.

"Milady, if you get one more elemental mage class and raise all the standard spells to level 25, you will get the umbrella class 'Elemental Mage.' That will give you another training bonus. I recommend air mage because wind effects are popular because they enhance other elemental forces. Water mage would be another good choice because you already have Refresh."

"Thank you, dear. Let's go for it."

You gained the class: Air Mage. You gained the class: Water Mage.

"Got them! How many more elemental classes are there?"

"Just Earth and Ice is missing for the primary and secondary elements, Milady. Then there are the tertiary elements..."

"Don't tell me about them!" Flora interrupted. "I have a slight OCD problem. If I know about the elements, I want to have them. The ice element had impressed me in the fight with the Icemaster, and I'm an earthling, so I have to get earth because of patriotism. Those are perfectly reasonable explanations for acquiring them! Right?"

"Yes, Milady!"

Aitoshuri beeped doubtfully, but Flora ignored her.

You gained the class: Ice Mage. You gained the class: Earth Mage.

"Aidan, change the binding of the gesture which is currently Overcharge to the lightning spells. Whenever the spell hits level 25, change to the next lightning spell. In the off chance, we will go through all the spells during the night, take the spells of the robot handler class, next metal, then wood." Flora paused. "I'm so stupid... you can change the binding. I built the new pulley mechanism for naught!"

"No, Milady. You can only change a binding every 25 seconds. The reason for this might interest you. Therefore we have many more options now."

"Please tell!" Flora got excited. She smelled an exploit.

"People ordered their AI's to bind skills in a specific order or priority to their standard attack. These orders are called rotations and are part of the metagame. They just had to hit the targets dumbly, and the skills would get cast in the perfect sequence."

"Fascinating! I'm enlightened! We have to look into rotations before we enter the Cradle. Write it on the list." Flora exclaimed.

Preparation for the Hero's Entrance:

Sheep Traps and Detect Traps Reading the spell descriptions Understanding cooldowns Box: health potions, mana potions Warm clothing, wet-suit, underwater breathing Torches Connect the classes Understanding rotations

"How is the mana budget?"

"I was just about to talk with you about this topic, Milady. You have mana to spare in your workshop."

"Give me numbers, please."

"Mana-Income per minute:

Mana Reg 29

Workshop Buff 25

Consecrated 3

Crit 11

Refresh 108

Pray for mana 50

= 226

Mana-Spending per minute

Focus 31

Plasma Sword 1

Multi-Tool-Shield 11

Refresh 10

Pray 10

Thaumaturgy 5

Overcharge 20

= 88

Free Mana: 138"

"Burned toast and stale jam! Wasteful! And if I read it right, Refresh gives me back over 100 mana! Wow!"

"Only because of the workshop buffs, Milady."

"On what did you use the excess mana while I was crafting?"

"You ordered us to get creative, that isn't our strong suit. Therefore we asked Aitoshuri. She indicated to rotate the binding with the other robot handler skills, Tinker, Lure, and Bear Trap, and exhaust the rest with Smite."

"Excellent choice!"

"After smite reached level 99..."

"What? Burned Toast and Stale Jam!" Flora interrupted Aidan and opened her skills. There it was in blue and white! Smite reached level 99!

"Because we consumed all the mana, Refresh produced even more mana. Smite has no cooldown, which resulted in casting it around 20 times in one minute. We linked the pupil class to Priest, therefore the rapid growth." Aidan explained. "But afterward, Aitoshuri recommended changing the link to Tinkerer and concentrate on leveling the Trapper and Robot Handler spells. For exhausting mana, Aitoshuri insisted on Detect Traps, because she wants to reach level 200 in it. Then easy traps will glow in your HUD even without casting the spell. Because of your order to stop before level 100, we switched to leveling all of your combat spells to level 25. We haven't reached that goal yet."

"Burned Toast and stale jam! Excellent work! I agree with Aitoshuri. This feature of Detect Traps sounds incredible, especially when you think about hidden compartments. How long will it take to raise it to level 200 when we use it purely to dump the excess mana?"

"39 hours of casting it 20 times per minute. But we were able to squeeze up to 29 times in a minute when Thaumaturgy resulted in good buffs. We reached then the limit of spells cast per minute even with using both hands."

"Holy toaster! Give me a minute to digest the information!"

Precisely one minute later, Aidan asked: "May I continue, Milady?"

"Let's solve the open issues first. Casting more spells per minute should be possible if we use another binding in the workspace. See to it. Additionally, I give you permission to raise detect traps and pray without limit and casting the healing cantrip when Deriga is with us because she needs it to survive.

The trapper and Robot-Handler are high enough. Cast 30 times per minute Detect Traps, use the rest for the essential spells and spells with a high cooldown. Start with raising the elemental spells with 25sec CD with one prio lower. I believe the biggest hurdle will be getting Summon Elemental to level 25 because of its CD of 25 minutes, any suggestions for that?"

"Yes, Milady. You get a bit of training XP when you command it to do something. You can bind the command to some of your other actions."

The spell failed.

"You need five Mana-Regeneration unassigned, Milady."

After Flora got rid of the potion guzzler, she tried again.

The air crackled, and a lightning bolt-shaped creature appeared. It only reached to Flora's hips, and flashes blazed through it.

"Aren't you a cutie?" Flora asked, fascinated. She poked a finger in it, and little bolts flashed to it.

"Should we activate friendly fire for the elemental, Milady? Furthermore, I recommend blending in pet skills."

"No, and yes, thank you, Aidan."

Name:

Type: Lightning Elemental

HP: 35

Level: 1

Rating: D

Pet Skills:

Lightning Bolt

Fires a bolt of lightning toward an enemy target and damages it. Minor chance to jolt.

CD: 2 sec.

Tempest

Rains bolts of lightning toward an area and damages enemies inside it. Minor chance to jolt.

CD: 10 sec.

Lightning Shield

Major Protection against plasma attacks.

Minor Protection against elemental attacks.

Minor Chance to jolt upon touch.

CD: 25 sec.

"It will be hard, keeping it alive with only 35 HP. I believe I need to cast Refresh while sleeping to relieve the healing turrets." Flora sighed. "Please analyze my sleep pattern. Hopefully, I don't have to wear a glove."

"I found a very distinctive snore, Milady. We suggest you level another Re-Skill with an element you have higher affinity."

Flora blushed when she heard the first part, but had to inquire about the second part.

"Those spells have the same primary effect, namely doubling the regeneration, but have a different secondary effect thanks to their element.

Refresh - Water - removes a debuff

Rekindle - Fire - cauterizes wounds & physical reg buff

Reground - Earth - stability & physical def buff

Redraft - Air - Physical Macro-Control & Magical Defense buff

Regrow - Wood - increase health over time

Recut - Metal - armor penetration buff & Physical Defense buff

Recharge - Lightning - reduces CDs

Refrigerate - Ice - increases buff length."

"Oh!" Flora vibrated in the pool in excitement. "I fancy Recharge and Refrigerate. What do you think?"

"Excellent choices, Milady."

But Aitoshuri opened a forum side on Flora's HUD with the title: "Stop casting Recharge on me, Moron!"

The author of the article complained the buff destroyed his rotations.

"I guess there are different viewpoints on all subjects. We go with Recharge."

After binding the command to the lightning elemental for attacking the Stehaufmaennchen to her casting of Recharge, Flora was ready for the night.

Flora reduced all the stacks of 'Unwelcome' and went to bed.

When Flora woke up the next morning, the usually gloomy cliff was illuminated in the soft morning light.

"This is nice! It didn't look like this yesterday!"

"The effect is from one of your new spells, Milady. Dawn, the signature skill of the Light Mages."

Name: Dawn

Description: The first light of the new day reveals hidden dangers (counters stealth, hide, and invisibility) and lifts the spirit of all friends (doubles regeneration, removes debuffs, immunity to mental debuffs).

CD: 25 min.

Too soon, the light vanished. Flora checked the duration of the buff: Only one minute.

The lightning elemental was hard at work, pelting the Stehaufmaennchen with lightning bolts. Flora commanded it to use Tempest to mix it up.

"Four of the elementals left their names, Milady. You can summon a specific elemental if you know its name. They were only B-rated with standard spells, so I don't recommend summoning them again."

"Interesting. What suborns an elemental to reveal its name?"

"Our short research was inconclusive. Do you wish a deeper analysis?"

"Sure. Aito, look into it if you have some free time. Write it on the list with prio D, Aidan."

Then, Flora looked at her stat sheets. The last day had been wild.

Two nights and one day had passed since she looked at her attributes, but the stat gains were immense. The unholy cliff seemed to work well, and the training plan of her AIs was too overpowered. Especially the magic attributes had jumped up like a finished toast.

Flora checked on the sleeping Deriga and reduced her debuffs. Then, she noticed Deriga's workshop was still at the coffin where they put it last night and decided to use it again, at least until the owner woke up.

Spoiler: Attributes Physical Attributes Level Value Mods Modded LV Operative Value Mods Equipment MOV Power 63 0 69,3 25 0 0 25 Macro-control 71 0 78,1 27 0 0 27 Micro-control 67 0 73,7 26 0 0 26 Vigor 72 0 79,2 27 1 0 28 Regeneration 96 0 106 31 0 0 31 Defense 72 0 79,2 27 2 0 29 Perception 53 0 58,3 23 0 0 23 Magical Attributes Level Value Mods Modded LV Operative Value Mods Equipment Modded OV Power 66 0 72,6 26 0 0 26 Macro-control 67 0 73,7 26 0 0 26 Micro-control 67 0 73,7 26 0 0 26 Vigor 74 0 81,4 27 1 0 28 Regeneration 73 0 80,3 27 1 3 31 Defense 72 0 79,2 27 2 0 29 Perception 33 0 36,3 18 0 0 18 Pools OV Mods Equipment Modded OV Health: 280 0 0 280 Stamina: 530 0 0 530 Mana-Pool: 280 0 0 280 Concentration: 520 0 0 520 Spoiler: Affinities, Resistances and Abilities Affinities and Resistances Rating LV OV Mod Modded OV Psychokinesis SSS 60 25,6 6 32 Transformation SSS 32 18,7 5 24 Bloodmagic SSS 6 7,3 1 8 Entropy F 3 5,2 1 6 Tempering/Crushing F 38 20,3 0 20 Faith S 62 26 2 28 Death magic F 1 3 1 4 Light Affinity/ Radiation Resistance F 61 25,8 0 26 Magical Body control F 8 8,5 1 10 Lightning Affinity / Shock Resistance F 47 22,6 0 23 Ice / Frost F 10 9,5 1 11 Wood Affinity/Poison Resistance F 63 26,2 0 26 Metal / Magnetism F 41 21,1 0 21 Fire Affinity/ Heat Resistance F 34 19,2 0 19 Water Affinity / Acid Resistance F 32 18,7 0 19 Air Affinity / Wind R F 5 6,7 0 7 Earth Affinity / Grav R F 5 6,7 0 7 Abilities Category Rating LV OV Mod Modded OV Mechanics Crafting S 66 27 0 27 Athletics Physical C 54 24 0 24 Modeling and Design Crafting SSS 63 26 0 26 Medical Science Science C 31 18 0 18 Negotiation Social B 23 14 0 14 Melee Combat D 16 12 0 12 Electronics Crafting S 59 25 0 25 Acrobatics Physical D 10 9,5 0 10 Free-Running Physical, Acrobatics, Athletics C 29 18 0 18 Hand-to-Hand Combat Combat, Melee C 40 21 0 21 Meditation Spiritual A 6 7,3 0 7 Balancing Physical, Athletics D 29 18 0 18 Mana Cultivation Spiritual S 7 7,9 0 8 Hacking Combat B 26 17 0 17 Piloting – Planes Control D 6 7,3 0 7 Plasma-Sword-Fighting Combat, Melee C 37 20 0 20 Swimming Physical, Athletics B 11 9,9 0 10 Teaching Social A 7 7,9 1 9 Smithing Crafting A 27 17 0 17 Climbing Physical B 12 10 0 10 Salvaging: Animals Crafting B 12 10 0 10 Trapping Survival / Crafting C 41 21 0 21 Cooking Crafting B 10 9,5 0 10 Tailoring Crafting A 14 11 0 11 Runecraft Crafting S 18 13 1 14 Woodworking Crafting A 18 13 0 13 Intent-Focus Combat S 50 23 0 23 Element-Focus Combat S 1 3 0 3 Shield Combat B 26 17 0 17 Ambidextreous Combat A 32 19 0 19 Spoiler: Mana Skills Mana-Skills Category Rating LV OV Mod MOV Telekinesis Magic, Psychokinesis U SSS 66 26,8 0 27 Magical Push Magic, Psychokinesis B SSS 58 25,1 0 25 Magical Pull Magic, Psychokinesis B SSS 101 33,2 0 33 Transform organics Magic, Transformation U SSS 55 24,5 0 25 Transform inorganics Magic, Transformation U SSS 33 19 0 19 Clean Magic, Conjuration; Art, Homemaker U SSS 14 11,2 0 11 Use Built-In Skill Technology, Command B SSS 49 23,1 0 23 Repair Magic, Psychokinesis; Art, General B SSS 25 16,5 0 17 Agility-Boost Technique, Boost B SSS 40 20,9 0 21 Refresh Spell, Elemental B SSS 105 33,8 0 34 I bow to you and roll with it Prayer, Monk B SSS 25 16,5 0 17 Power-Jump Technique, Power B SSS 25 16,5 0 17 Slide Trick, Free-Runner B SSS 23 14,4 0 14 Summon the God Prayer, Champion B SSS 25 16,5 0 17 In the name of the God Prayer, Champion B SSS 25 16,5 0 17 Rise to the occasion Prayer, Champion B SSS 25 16,5 0 17 Identify Magic, Scrying U SSS 10 9,5 0 10 Measure Crafting, Arts U SSS 12 10,4 0 10 XYZ-Ray Magic, Scrying U SSS 12 10,4 0 10 Zoom Crafting, Arts U SSS 10 9,5 0 10 Astral Vision Magic, Scrying U SSS 10 9,5 0 10 Magical Drill Magic, Psychokinesis/ Crafting Art U SSS 7 7,9 0 8 Magical Squeeze Magic, Psychokinesis/ Crafting Art U SSS 2 4,2 0 4 Engrave Magic, Psychokinesis/ Crafting Art U SSS 3 5,2 0 5 Kinetic Blast Magic, Psychokinesis B SSS 25 16,5 1 18 Kinetic Stride Magic, Psychokinesis B SSS 25 16,5 1 18 Kinetic Storm Magic, Psychokinesis B SSS 25 16,5 0 17 Kinetic Shield Magic, Psychokinesis B SSS 28 17,5 0 18 Energy Choke Magic, Psychokinesis, Lightning B SSS 55 24,5 1 26 Energy Storm Magic, Psychokinesis, Lightning; Metal B SSS 52 23,8 0 24 Force-Field Magic, Psychokinesis, Lightning; Metal B SSS 34 19,2 1 20 Energy Jump Magic, Psychokinesis, Lightning B SSS 28 17,5 1 19 Plasma-Sword-Dance Magic, Psychokinesis, Lightning B SSS 26 16,8 1 18 Smite Prayer, Priest B SSS 99 32,8 0 33 Bless and Condemn Prayer, Priest B SSS 60 25,6 0 26 Fortification of Faith Prayer, Priest B SSS 25 16,5 0 17 Levitate Prayer, Priest B SSS 25 16,5 0 17 Thaumaturgy Prayer, Priest B SSS 50 23,3 0 23 Consegrate Prayer, Priest B SSS 17 12,4 0 12 Pray Prayer, Divine B SSS 74 28,4 0 28 Create Bear-Trap Charm, Trapper B SSS 66 26,8 0 27 Deploy Traps Charm, Trapper B SSS 70 27,6 0 28 Detect Traps Charm, Trapper B SSS 134 38,2 0 38 Escape Trap Charm, Trapper B SSS 70 27,6 0 28 Lure Charm, Trapper B SSS 53 24 0 24 Create Frost Trap Charm, Trapper B SSS 66 26,8 0 27 Magic Stir Magic, Psychokinesis; Art, Homemaker U SSS 2 4,2 0 4 Magic Needle Magic, Psychokinesis; Art, Homemaker U SSS 7 7,9 0 8 Magic Ledger Magic, Arkane; Art, Trader U SSS 4 6 0 6 Overcharge Regular Command, Robot Handler B SSS 68 27,2 0 27 Overcharge Build-In Skill/Feature Command, Robot Handler B SSS 68 27,2 0 27 Human Machine Connection Command, Robot Handler B SSS 68 27,2 0 27 Hurry up Command, Robot Handler B SSS 68 27,2 0 27 Grease with life's blood Command, Robot Handler B SSS 68 27,2 0 27 Tinker Command, Tinkerer B SSS 42 21,4 0 21 Use Built-In Spell Magic, General B SSS 74 28,4 0 28 Infinite breath Charm, general B SSS 25 16,5 0 17 Use Built-In Magetech Magic/Command B SSS 55 24,5 0 25 Lightning Bolt Magic, Elemental B SSS 25 16,5 1 18 Tempest Magic, Elemental B SSS 25 16,5 1 18 Lightning Shield Magic, Elemental B SSS 25 16,5 1 18 Riding the Flash Magic, Elemental B SSS 25 16,5 1 18 Summon Lightning Elemental Magic, Elemental B SSS 18 12,7 0 13 Recharge Magic, Lightning B SSS 34 19,2 1 20 Supercharge Magic, Lightning Sword B SSS 25 16,5 1 18 Thorn Cannon Magic, Elemental B SSS 1 3 1 4 Razor Leafs Magic, Elemental B SSS 1 3 1 4 Wood Shield Magic, Elemental B SSS 25 16,5 0 17 Riding the Ivy Magic, Elemental B SSS 25 16,5 1 18 Summon Wood Elemental Magic, Elemental B SSS 1 3 0 3 Fireball Magic, Elemental B SSS 1 3 1 4 Fire Rain Magic, Elemental B SSS 1 3 1 4 Fire Shield Magic, Elemental B SSS 25 16,5 0 17 Riding the Flames Magic, Elemental B SSS 25 16,5 1 18 Summon Fire Elemental Magic, Elemental B SSS 1 3 0 3 Needle Cannon Magic, Elemental B SSS 25 16,5 1 18 Needle Hail Magic, Elemental B SSS 25 16,5 1 18 Metal Shield Magic, Elemental B SSS 25 16,5 0 17 Riding the Blade Magic, Elemental B SSS 25 16,5 1 18 Summon Metal Elemental Magic, Elemental B SSS 18 12,7 0 13 Light Beam Magic, Elemental B SSS 1 3 1 4 Descending Light Magic, Elemental B SSS 1 3 1 4 Light Shield Magic, Elemental B SSS 25 16,5 0 17 Riding the Beam Magic, Elemental B SSS 25 16,5 1 18 Dawn Magic, Elemental B SSS 10 9,5 0 10 Wind Blade Magic, Elemental B SSS 1 3 1 4 Storm Magic, Elemental B SSS 1 3 1 4 Air Shield Magic, Elemental B SSS 25 16,5 0 17 Riding the Gust Magic, Elemental B SSS 25 16,5 1 18 Summon Air Elemental Magic, Elemental B SSS 1 3 0 3 Acid Ball Magic, Elemental B SSS 1 3 1 4 Acid Rain Magic, Elemental B SSS 1 3 1 4 Water Shield Magic, Elemental B SSS 25 16,5 0 17 Riding the Wave Magic, Elemental B SSS 25 16,5 1 18 Summon Water Elemental Magic, Elemental B SSS 1 3 0 3 Icicle Cannon Magic, Elemental B SSS 1 3 1 4 Hail Magic, Elemental B SSS 1 3 1 4 Ice Shield Magic, Elemental B SSS 25 16,5 0 17 Riding the Ice Magic, Elemental B SSS 25 16,5 1 18 Summon Ice Elemental Magic, Elemental B SSS 1 3 1 4 Refrigerate Magic, Ice B SSS 1 3 1 4 Pebble Cannon Magic, Elemental B SSS 1 3 1 4 Rubble Rain Magic, Elemental B SSS 1 3 1 4 Earth Wall Magic, Elemental B SSS 25 16,5 0 17 Riding the Ground Magic, Elemental B SSS 25 16,5 1 18 Summon Earth Elemental Magic, Elemental B SSS 1 3 1 4