The best and the worst of Dungeons are those that form over your civic gatherings. Famously on my world was the Dungeon that consumed the city of >

- What you need to know to survive the Voidbound System, by &*%:”%^%

They all spent a long moment looking shocked, before a thought struck Jonathon. “Jeeves? You said bone lord. It wouldn't happen to be a form of undead, would it?” just a hint of hope peeking out as he looked towards Larry – the budding necromancer.

“Indeed, Jonathon.” Jeeves replied, thoughtfully. “That would be it's primary classification. The Dungeon does seem to have adopted death magic as a primary theme.”

Jonathon grinned at Larry, who did not seem to share his colleagues enthusiasm. “Didn't you say you have a spell for controlling undead?” he asked eagerly.

Larry sighed. “Yes, but I can only control undead that are...” he paused for a moment, eyes going slightly out of focus as he checked, “Level fourteen or below. It's capped by the level of my skill.”

“Then we need to get you into training.” Jonathon replied, promptly. “And see if we can't get you up to where you can control that thing.” already, his mind was filling with joy. This was it!

Larry sighed. “Yeah. Once we take it to thirty-six percent health.” he replied. “And assuming I win the binding contest. Which is based on comparative Charisma, and if that thing is a 'lord', I'd guess it has some command powers, meaning decent Charisma? Maybe?”

“Oof.” Jonathon spent a few moments in thought. “There should be a way to boost your Charisma with a spell – I presume Maskeline would know – and you could try training it, as well? I think I saw that option in the Training room.” a terrible thought struck him, and he looked out at the Bone Lord again: Bone... Skeletal... Presumably Necromantic... and he was a Life mage.

“Fuck. I think I need to work on my Plasma.” he explained his reasoning to Larry, resulting in a polite cough from Jeeves.

“You should still be able to affect it, Jonathon, as it is crafted of once living material.” the AI remarked. “However, you are correct in that it is highly resistant to such manipulations – being already dead. Plasma is the traditional answer.”

Jonathon nodded. “Right. That changes our priorities for this afternoon, doesn't it?” looking to Garcia – and taking a moment to absorb her appearance – he handed her the book. “Learn the two spells you wanted, and see how much it helps your Life magic? Give it back to me this evening, I'll work on it then.” she nodded, and the three of them headed back within – Training began.

For Jonathon, 'Plasma' training took the form of the strangest library he had ever seen: A wall of books at one end, one wall crackling with fire, the other with lightning, the far wall apparently a shooting range, set with targets: he spent his afternoon summoning elementals and and setting them against the targets, studying the flaming and electrical walls as the books instructed, and reading up on theory. It was an exhausting few hours, and he was growing increasingly irked at the lack of any progress: apparently this magic stuff was harder than he thought – even if he was learning magic twice as fast in this room!

His training ended when Jeeves came to collect him for the evening meeting – still lacking any alerts noting his progress, which had him in a pretty grumpy mood: He was rather surprised, then, when – upon exiting the facility – he got an alert.

Congratulations!

Due to your Training, you have increased your knowledge of Plasma to Beginner 7.

Please select a Perk now.

He took a second to check his sheet – noting that Instruction had increased to Apprentice 2 as well, without a notification – and bringing up the Plasma perks once more, he grabbed Living Flame as his choice: It didn't seem to have a cap on how many minions he could control, and he saw definite possibilities with regards to taking out the scout with a Zerg rush.

He was one of the last making it to the meeting, walking in on his colleagues chatting amongst themselves with food before them – which reminded him all he'd had was breakfast, and he still didn't feel hungry! He did fancy a doughnut, however, and snagged one off Larry's plate as he walked by.

“Hey! Thief.” Larry grouched good-naturedly as Jonathon took his seat – and a healthy bite. “Get your own!”

Jonathon flashed a grin back at him. “Maybe later. How did the Death magic training go? The notifications seems a bit weird - I'm guessing we only get alerts about skill increases when a perk is involved.”

Larry nodded. “Yep. Also, I'm told, you'll never get them when you're doing something, only when moving between tasks.” he sounded approving, though Jonathon did wonder where he was getting his information. There was an obvious way to find out.

“Told by whom?” he asked laconically: In response, Larry grinned, and looked to the left – empty air.

“Bob? Why don't you introduce yourself.” the necromancer said politely. The air beside him shimmered, as if a viscous liquid of a dark, fluorescing purple was being poured out of infinite depths, filling up an unseen mould into a stocky human form: The sight stunned the entire room into silence. Fully formed, the muscular man that stood there inclined his head in greeting.

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am not human, this is not what I look like, and you cannot pronounce my name, so call me Bob: I am a member of the Glorious Newcomer Welcome Gang in the Afterlife, and I am contracted with Lawrence as his companion and mentor.” the entity gave a bemused smile. “To answer your questions before you ask them: Yes, I'm a Galactic. Yes, I'm dead. My Gang has a custom class and special trait that allows us to act as mentors for Death practitioners on Newbie worlds – so all of us have builds to enable us to easily interact with alien races such as yourselves.” he gave a broad smile. “In life, I reached a level of Forty-two before I died for the final time: I have spent the last sixteen thousand SSR's working on making sure other species don't suffer the fate ours did. You guys may look weird, but I'll do my best to help you shape up before the nightmare arrives.” with a gesture, a chair formed behind him of the same fluorescent purple, in which he sat, a clear facsimile of the ones they were seated in.

Shawn was the first one to recover. “I imagine we'll have questions for you, 'bob'.” he said, with a smile. “But first – we discussed classes and training this morning. Can Everyone briefly run through their progress? I took a look at the Forge, touched base with our guests, then spent some time learning NanoFabrication in the Instruction facility. I managed to hit Initiate eight, and got four perks – one that means anything I build regenerates, which I bought twice, one that lets equipment I build have a secondary form, and one that lets any weapons I build adapt to what they are being used on – slowly: I'll need to buy it up to make it properly reactive, but it should slowly increase the damage of attacks if used against the same sort of target. I think. I plan on grabbing a similar one for armour.” he looked to his left. “Michelle?”

Michelle gave a soft sigh. “I spent the day working on my Liquid magic. Managed to train it up to Beginner six, and took a perk to increase the damage of my whip.” she sounded dissatisfied. “I also spent a fair bit of time trying to incorporate liquid magic into my storyteller abilities, but I've had no luck so far.” definitely dissatisfied.

Bob leaned forward. “Am I correct in presuming you are trying to generate some sort of custom class? Personal perks? It takes effort, but keep at it. And if you buy some custom classes..” he shrugged. “It should be a lot easier. They are highly configurable.”

Michelle smiled at that, then David spoke up. “I trained up both Time and space to Beginner four. I've grabbed a perk that lets me alter my personal flow of time twice – It gives me something like half as much time to do things. I also grabbed a perk that gives me an inventory, and one that let's me.. well, It's like a short range teleport.” he rose, and as he went to take a step forward, there was a flicker, and he was suddenly standing where he would have stepped – without, as far as they could tell, having crossed the intervening distance.

Bob nodded approvingly. “My partner learned that one. With a bit of practice, it's very useful for close quarters combat – because it applies to all forms of motion, including dodging, and striking. I recommend you learn a weapon suiting such a role – a Multiphasic blade would be best.” his words generated a few confused looks.

“What is a multiphasic blade?” asked Larry, curiously. “One of the monsters outsides has some.”

His words made Bob wince. “Simply put, it's a blade of folded space: It takes some skill to work with, but in essence, a skilled user can choose what it interacts with – so they can make it treat armour and flesh as if they are non-existent and only cut bone, for example. Or only part flesh, and be unstoppable to anything else. It's difficult to get that level of skill – I'm given to understand it takes a lot of focus and practice to tune the blade to a specific material – but I'm sure you can see why anyone who has one is a deadly fighter.”

A round of pained nods followed, and Shawn actually cursed. “Shit. Okay. Jonathon?”

Jonathon smiled. “I taught Garcia some life magic in the morning – I'll let her fill you in on what she gained...” he flashed her a smile, which she returned: She had a very nice smile, he noted, now she was finally calming down. “In the afternoon, I took my plasma magic up to Beginner seven – and gained a perk that lets me turn any fire into an elemental.” David smirked at that.

“Is there any upper cap on how many you can make?” Bob shook his head.

“None, though managing a great many can get complicated.” the apparition replied, as his master grinned.

“Should help with the bone lord if we swarm him, maybe?” the necromancer said, thoughtfully.

Jonathon nodded. “That's what I was thinking." he looked to Garcia, gesturing for her to go next.

“I gained Life magic up to Apprentice four – I think that the instruction facilities are more powerful than the training ones, when we actually have a teacher: By the sounds of things, people were getting two perks every four levels in there? Under Jonathon's instruction, I gained five. I took perks to increase my learning rate of life magic, and boost my healing aura a great deal: I also learned two more healing spells from Jonathon's magic book, which he graciously offered to me.” she shot another bright smile at Jonathon, sliding the book back across to him, and he couldn't help but smile back.

Larry spoke up. “As you can see, I increased my Death magic up to Beginner four. I have a perk to give me a ghostly mentor..” he nodded to Bob, “And another to let him manifest like this for about twenty minutes.”

The apparition in question nodded. “And It's my recommendation you focus on it for the next few days. You likely want to grab Instantiation at least once more. Contract to let you hire some mercenaries, and Funding with which to hire them. Contract is generally the core perk for Death magic practitioners – A quarter of the core perks relate to it, it's generally the only way to get in touch with galactics before the portals let them in, and it means if any of your gang or allies become permanent residents in the Afterlife, you have a way of bringing them back.” his tone was somewhat scholarly, firm and confident.

Larry nodded. “And we can use the instruction facility?” Bob gave a smile, which made the necromancer grin. “Then if the doctor's experiences pan out, that should not be a problem.”

Glancing around, Francine spoke up. “I had a word with Pat and the guys, and we all used the instruction facility to learn NanoFabrication, too: I grabbed the perk that improves the health of anything I make twice, then we all went to the forge to build mounts for our bikes. Now we just need weapons...” she glanced to Larry. “Perhaps we can talk with your buds?” Larry nodded.

Bob interjected, “I would suggest, honestly, you wait until you've earned some SMU from killing some of the monsters outside – at the levels you've got out there, you should get a decent drop, perhaps even some useful gear – and then you can buy something a bit more advanced from the store. It'd also let you level up some more, which would help with survivability – and you'd still need the skills to use the weapons. Based on what's outside, I'd recommend a primarily explosive type.”

Francine made a face, then nodded. “I'll talk with the guys.” she said, sitting back with a thoughtful look.

That left Frank: the cleric of Maskeline looked tired. “As I said, I spent the day with my new boss. He recommends we look into custom classes and teleport anchors. He also suggests someone learn the craft ability called Artifice alongside another – it apparently has a lot of perks for making magical gear. There's about a dozen temples of various degrees scattered over the continent, where those who have lost their respawn points but were not in..” he trailed off, closing his eyes for a moment.

“Remember when the notice spoke about Denizen seeds and Prime seeds? He explained what that meant.” it was notable that Bob looked very solemn as the cleric spoke. “ If you were inside the area of the dungeon, and your spawn point was inside the area of the dungeon, then you are dead. Deleted. You don't appear in the afterlife, and all your respawns are manifested in a monster based around your sheet – basically, a wandering miniboss. If your respawn location was outside the dungeon, but you were inside it when it spawned, then your lost respawn goes to a monster that forms on your location, but you respawn as normal – and that monster forms a template for a class of monsters based on your build.” he let that sink in for a moment, as they all grappled with the knowledge of quite how many natives to the city had likely still been there when the dungeon formed.

“He also told me – happily – that accidents, or inanimate objects – like the fort guns – don't take respawns. Only System entities can, like us. Or the Monsters.” the Cleric continued, a little bleakly. “So there's that. He taught me Prayer up to Beginner one, and Miracles up to Apprentice three.” a murmur of shock filled the room, as they realised just how much the god had taught him: The susurration only increased with his next news. “Collectively, I got over twenty perks between those two abilities. With miracles... I bought two twice, that let me.. well, It's complicated. The result was, I'm now effectively at Beginner one in every single school of magic except life... A perk that lets me see everyone's ratings by the 'gods', and he let me spend the remaining nine on spells.” he made a disgruntled face, “That are granted to my by Maskeline each evening, like old school D&D.”

The room took a few moments to consider his words, before Shawn gave a shake of his head. “I'm beginning to wish I was a cleric, at this point.” he murmured, expressing the undercurrent running from the room: Frank shook his head.

“This was basically my quest reward for getting the Temple set up.” he noted. “I get two more days of one on one training – because he's planning on having me be his high priest – then I'm on the same training as you. And we probably want to start fighting monsters and levelling by then, no?”

Shawn nodded, looking to Jeeves. “Jeeves? You've had a day to observe the monsters outside. Would you be kind enough to summarise for Jonathon and the rest of us?”

The AI shimmered into existence, giving a nod towards Jonathon. “Certainly. The dungeon's territory constructs seem to be a mix of Death and and Void patterns, with a wide mix of attack methods drawing largely from the Energy Weapons class. Levels range in this area between ten and twenty, and as of yet, the dungeon has not developed any airborne, subterranean, or spaceborne constructs. Approximately thirty seven percent of the external constructs have at least one respawn. In addition, there are nine constructs in the level twenty to thirty range keeping watch on this fortification that have three Respawns each: These seem to be serving as scouts and harassers, prior to our next base defence event.”

As this was digested, Bob stood. “If I may?” Shawn gave a nod, gesturing for the spectre to talk.

“Your group has been very fortunate. You found the guide, so you have a fortification, and you have a Death mage who grabbed the right perk, so you have me. I lived through this. I was one of those who died on my world when the Galactics came in, so I know about the aftermath of that largely from talking to others: But what you are going through right now, I did as well. I did not have the benefit of a fortification, not until shortly before the Galactics came, but I can answer questions about that, too.”

“What I do want to suggest, however? Custom classes. Go all in.” he took a breath (That he presumably didn't need) and nodded in the direction of the guide, sitting in front of Shawn. “One of the flaws in that guide is that it was largely a scientist – he didn't level up very quickly, so he was relatively late on the class system. There are nine classes given by the system – every other one is either a custom class, created by a gang, or one of the advanced classes that evolve starting at level fifteen, once the System has observed how you're using it. And since those all tend to follow the myths and archetypes of your people, it rapidly becomes classes based around that: But to begin with? Bladesmith, Gunsmith, Arcane mage, Elemental mage, Cavalry warrior: Healer, Leader, Artisan, Pilot. That's it. Whereas Custom classes? It's a point buy engine to let you start with traits, pick attributes and abilities that automatically level, get bonus perks... It's like starting with an advanced class of your own design, which you can then improve upon at rank ups.”

Shawn made a face, glancing to Jonathon to see if he agreed: Jonathon sighed, then nodded. “How many teams do we think we're going to have out and about at once? Three? Four? I think we want that many teleportation spikes, and the rest on classes. We might also want to see if we can get any of the others to form gangs, grab the rest of the top twelve group, and brainstorm custom classes for each group to spec into?”

“Makes sense.” Shawn replied. “We can suggest it. The general mood of our guests is... bad. There's a lot of fear and worry, confusion, and despair. We have a lot of the missing family members respawning tonight, which will hopefully help – but we need to have a good plan of action to keep morale up: I was hoping you could work on that, Michelle? And Jonathon.. Jeeves... Is there any way we can get some form of large meeting room? A place for people to socialize, eat, talk with each other... Everyone's been sticking to their rooms or testing out the training rooms, there's no real socialization space, and that's a problem.”

“I didn't see one on the interface... Jeeves?” Jonathon asked, looking to the AI.

“One can be created, with your consent, Jonathon.” Jeeves replied – a little huffily – flickering somewhat when Jonathon nodded his head. “It is done.”

Jonathon chuckled. “That was easy. We are a very social species, Jeeves. So if you could create, oh, a dozen more rooms roughly this side branching off it, for meetings and side-groups?” Again, the AI flickered.

“Done. If there are any other modifications you require, Jonathan, you have but to ask.” Jeeves said. “Is there anything else you desire?”

Jonathon looked to the rest of the group. “Four Teleportation spikes will cost us..” he pulled up the gang shop, “two hundred and eighty-eight each, so that's..”

“One thousand, one hundred and fifty two.” Lawrence replied after a moment. “Leaving us..” a momentary pause for thought, “Two hundred and forty-seven thousand, seven hundre... No, Six-eighty. How much per custom class?”

“Twenty-thousand, Seven hundred and thirty-six SMU.” Replied Michelle, expectantly, having brought up the same menu. “So we can afford..”

“Eleven of them – nearly, but not quite, twelve. How do we configure them?” Lawrence asked, looking to Bob.

The apparition shrugged. “As soon as a member of the gang hits level Three, they can select from the base classes or a custom class. In essence, you're buying your gang eleven uses of a custom class – they are used up when you select them, and a given person can only select one once.” he glanced at the eight of them around the table. “So you can all make a custom class – though if you're being trained by a god?” he looked towards Frank, “He can grant a tailored class – A class he created for you – so you might want to check if he has something in mind for you.”

Frank nodded, a somewhat resigned expression on his face. “He's made noises in that direction, yeah. So what's the plan?”

“Shawn leaned back, templing his fingers. “Well, We've got everyone respawning tonight at 2, I believe?” Jonathon nodded in confirmation, “So I propose we schedule a meeting tomorrow, for everyone at noon in the new meeting room: We can let them know what we've learned, recruit for our Gang, help them set up their own gangs, and continue our training: Then, day after? I suggest we start working on levelling.”

There was a series of nods. “We should probably have something up for everyone to look over, reassure people when they respawn here?” David suggested.

“No need.” Bob replied. “Your species are normally asleep at that time, aren't they? So they will just wake up here at the usual hour.” he shook his head. “Your people need to be careful. You're not particularly well adapted for what's happening.”

David blinked. “What the fuck you mean?” he asked, sounding a touch offended.

“Well, You've got only five limbs – and one of them is loaded with all your senses and your brain, so I doubt you can survive amputation. My native shape, by comparison, has nine. You've got such an extreme level of sexual dimorphism that only half your population are capable of crafting the next generation, you don't have eye-stalks, so your vision is further limited, and that's ignoring the minor bits of evolutionary weirdness like having your digestive passage and airway merge. You've got no native camouflage, no native weaponry, and your light sensitivity, frankly, sucks – I presume because you rely on sound for communication.” Bob shrugged. “What can I say? It just doesn't look like your species will be particularly good at surviving a hit long enough to be healed, half the time. I cut off one of your limbs, you drop dead. Sorry, I'm just saying it like I see it.”

“So what do you look like when you're not wearing a human suit, then?” David retorted, interest in his eyes and challenge in his tone.

“Oh, my people have between twenty and forty.. The closest word in your language is 'drones', of various types – some we engineered before the System arrived – I am what I think you'd call a 'hive mind'?” he paused. “Which made the system an utter nightmare for us, given how easily Plasma magic permits EM jamming.”

“Why is that?” Garcia inquired.

“Radio jamming? How else do you think my mind worked?” Bob replied. “I had thirty-seven drones at the time of my final death, and could spread my myself over half a kilometre's area for surveillance, then focus my..” he scowled. “Your language is really bad for explaining this. My fists?” there was a distinct expression of dissatisfaction. “The parts of me that were intended to fight. Maintaining situational awareness while I was doing it. I'm wearing this shape because the Contract requires it: It's uncomfortable, but I'm used to it.” he shrugged, dismissing the topic. “Anyway. Your plans sound good – and I would suggest you focus on getting your classes as soon as possible, and perhaps see about getting on the good side of more of the local pantheon: It's good you have a main temple already, but if you can generate an alliance amongst some of the gods, the payoff is usually pretty good.”

While they were talking – interesting as it was – Jonathon made the purchases on the group store: so it was that further questions on the 'hive minded' was interrupted as four rods of an iridescent colour – reminiscent of the fortification spike, if only about eight inches long - appeared in front of him, and everyone saw a brief pop up.

Gang Purchase Made!

Your Gang now has Eleven (11) Custom Classes.

19584 SMU remaining in Group Account!

There was a moment's silence. “Huh.” Shawn remarked, breaking it. “No mention of those spikes.” from his tone, was was not happy about that. “Is there anything else someone wants to discuss before we break for the evening?” he looked around at those gathered: One by one, they shook their heads.

“Then I'll see you all tomorrow: I'm going to go train some more.” and with that, everyone headed for the door, trailing after them – Except Jonathon.

He was thinking things over: As things stood, he was level two, needing only eleven experience to hit level three – and grab one of those classes. And he knew he could get experience by designing spells – which was also something he needed. So as the room emptied, he sat back and thought not just about the sort of spells he needed – but also might actually be original.

Time passed as in uffish thought he sat, thinking over ideas, and after perhaps half an hour, a few people he did not recognise came in the door, looking around. They were led by a boy – Jonathan would guess someone in his very early teens, definitely a highschooler – who seemed to be one of those boys made of skin and bone: the mess of black hair on his head (uncombed), coupled with the ratty jeans and T-shirt, did not make the boy all that presentable. He smiled at Jonathon. “Hi there! Are you lord Jonathon? The Doctor said we should talk to you about joining the gang! This is my mom, and my girlfriend Alicia!” he was quite emphatically proud with those last few words, “And i'm Tommy!”

The older woman behind him – clearly his mother, with a mane of curly brown hair tied back in a bun, who looked ever so slightly harried, pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment. “Thomas. What did I tell you about manners?” she said, in the weary tones of some off-repeated phrase.

Alicia – A blue-eyed blonde who was pretty much the epitome of a high-school cheerleader type, on the very cusp of adulthood, so he could see why Tommy was so proud – gave a bemused smile. “Let it rest, Mrs Adams. Tommy's just excited, that's all.”

Jonathon waited a beat to see if their inter-group debates had settled, before smiling at the trio. “Yes, I'm Jonathon. So you want to join our gang, huh? What skills did you get?” the question made for a nice little delay while he flicked through his menus, trying to figure out how to invite them.

Mrs Adams placed her hand on Tommy's shoulder before the excitable teen replied. “First, I want to thank you for erecting this structure. While Thomas's was able to get us away from the dungeon, I do not know where we would have taken shelter. My name is Caroline. I bought myself a great deal of skill at cookery – which seems rather redundant with the rooms you have provided – but I do have various perks that mean the food I make grants buffs, though I can only cover mana regeneration and health regeneration right now.” from the way she spoke, she still wasn't quite believing what she was saying. “I need to learn some spells, apparently, to make them into foodstuffs. As for these two?” she quirked a brow. “Thomas invested in Space magic: He can open up portals, and helped evacuate a great many people. “ she sounded rather proud of him when she said that. “Alicia invested her points in Air magic, and proved herself most effective in pushing back those monsters.”

The teens looked a little embarrassed at his words, and were just about tos peak when Jonathon found the option he was looking for: It was obvious, really. “I need a reply from each of you. Do you wish to join Gang Earth-three?” There was a pause, then a chorus of 'Yes!' and one 'Yes please!' before the trio paused.

“Neato!” exclaimed Thomas, enthusiastically giving Alicia a hug. “That's a cool trait. Whatcha doin'?”

“Working on new spells.” Jonathon replied, with a sigh. “I'm one of the few who can do it, and it generates experience – more experience if it's something nobody has thought of before. I need nine XP to hit level three and get a class, so I figure if I can think up three or four spells...”

Alicia scowled at that. “That's cheating!” she exclaimed. “How come we can't do that?” Her boyfriend appeared interested in the answer, too.

Jonathan shrugged. “Once you're a journeyman in any creative skill, you can create new things. I'm a Journeyman in life magic, and a Beginner at Plasma magic. Only an initiate at Mana magic, though.”

Caroline frowned for a moment as he explained it. “Does that mean you can only create Life spells? Or can you combine it with the others, I don't know, to make burning plants or the like?”

That... Was a good question. He thought about it for a moment, letting the knowledge the system had given him inform him. “Huh. I can make combination spells as long as the requirements for the others are no higher than two thirds the Life requirement.” he leaned back as he spoke, mulling that over. “That.. Was helpful. Thank you. While I remember... Jeeves?”

The AI shimmered into existence – the trio gave a mild start. “Yes, Jonathon?”

“Can you create a room for Caroline to cook in, and apply her skills? Appoint her with the relevant authorisations.”

“Certainly, Jonathon.” Jeeves replied with a slight sigh: Flickering for a moment. “It is done. Caroline, Would you care to be shown your new facility?”

Caroline looked to Jonathon, then the two teens. “Yes, I think that might be best. Thomas? Alicia? You can both Lord Jonathon later.” Tommy looked like he might object, but shut up at her glare. “Thank you for your hospitality.” she said once more to Jonathon, before herding the two teens after Jeeves, to see her new domain. Which was not odd at all.

Or so he told himself, focusing on that new idea.

He spent the next couple of hours thinking about it, jotting down ideas. He couldn't create life without creation magic: He could only manipulate it to a terrifying degree. So one of his first decisions was to learn some Creation magic. But before then – there was plenty of plant life outside he could manipulate.. And so, after tinkering with the editor for a bit, he came up with a spell. Something that would cause plant life to grow up around a target – then ignite.

Congratulations! You have created A New spell!

It requires Life (J1) Plasma (I8)

It will cost a base of 483 Mana.

You are awarded 4 Innovation XP.

What would you like to name this spell?

Grinning, he gave it the name 'Growth of Immolation'

Congratulations! You have created and learned the spell 'Growth of Immolation'

Requirements: Life Magic (Journeyman 1), Plasma Magic (Initiate 8)

Cost: 118 Mana

Upon casting this spell, a target within line of sight is encapsulated by nearby plant life, Trapping them for one cycle: At the end of this cycle, they suffer Plasma damage based on the level of encapsulation and density of encapsulation, and are ignited.

This was, he felt, a good start. Possibly not enough, though. Which gave him another thought: Could he make plants that drained mana? A bit of tinkering said no: He needed more Mana magic. What else... Could he turn plants into animals? Very much yes. This spell – purely life – did not take much effort at all – he was getting the hang of this, and – frankly – was surprised at how easy it was. Wasn't creating new spells meant to be the work of years? It only seemed to take him an hour or so.. because sure enough, the recipe was there.

Congratulations! You have discovered the Spell 'Alter Clade'

As this spell already exists in the System, you are not awarded Innovation XP.

As no-one else on your World has this spell, you have the right to rename it in your natural language, as the Creator of this incantation on your own world.

Would you like to do so?

He sighed. Of course he was not that lucky.. and holy shit.

Congratulations! You have discovered and learned the spell 'Change Species'

Requirements: Life Magic (Beginner 6)

Cost: 54 Mana

Upon casting this spell, the target lifeform changes into another lifeform of the same genetic origin.

You have gained 1 XP for your assistance.

He knew as soon as the spell entered his mind exactly what it meant by 'genetic origin' – any living thing on Earth shared the same genetic origin. He wasn't sure what scared him more – the power it presented, or the availability of it.. Then he came to the stopping point: It needed to be a lifeform he knew. Instinctively. Well, obviously there had to be a spell for that, and sure enough, after a little tinkering...

Congratulations! You have discovered the Spell 'Store life Pattern'

As this spell already exists in the System, you are not awarded Innovation XP.

As no-one else on your World has this spell, you have the right to rename it in your natural language, as the Creator of this incantation on your own world.

Would you like to do so?

Of course he did.

Congratulations! You have discovered and learned the spell 'Memorize genetic code'

Requirements: Life Magic (Initiate 1)

Cost: 9 Mana

Upon casting this spell, you learn and memorise the precise genetic pattern needed to create it.

You have gained 1 XP for your assistance.

A quick check of his sheet told him he was five XP away from levelling up. Which meant... finding five more spells already in the database, or one duplicate and one novel one: So at least two more spells. He tapped his finger against his lips, in thought, then pulled out his phone and called David.

“Yeah, Fucker? Whatcha need?” David answers, cheerfully.

“Can you come back to the boss room for a bit? I need help coming up with some spells.” he replied. David gave an affirmative, then hung up – coming through the door a few minutes later.

“You're still here?” he said, seeing Jonathon in the same spot he was when they'd left. “So what's the sitch?”

Jonathan explain what was going on, and the two spent half an hour brainstorming, tossing ideas back and forth. David even had the bright idea of searching the Store for spells, given the right search parameters, to see what was available – and what might be areas that hadn't been explored yet.

“There's a staggering number of spells relating to fertility...” David muttered at one point. “most of these guys are kinky fuckers.” Jonathon could only nod in wry agreement.

“That does seem to be the easiest thing to do with Life magic. Make more life. It's easier than healing is. See how most of them are at the initiate level? And it makes you wonder how many people got spells along that line at chargen.”

David nodded, frowning. “Fuck. What else.. Modifying... mutating... You could do with more attack spells, couldn't you? Some self-buffs? How easy is it to alter yourself? And how specific can you make it?”

Jonathon thought about it for a moment. “A very specific spell to alter myself or another into a very specific pattern? That would be a unique one, yeah.. Let me see. What would I do..”

He thought about it. Could he give himself wings? Armour? Fire breath? Just.. How complicated could he get? He stated playing with the creation engine – Dave wandered off to see if he could get a snack from Caroline – and this – optimising this – took him a while. It was close to two AM when he was finished, he submitted it to see the fruits of his labour.

Congratulations! You have created A New spell!

It requires Life (J1) Plasma (B7), Mana (I4)

It will cost a base of 496 Mana.

You are awarded 4 Innovation XP.

What would you like to name this spell?

Hell yes. He named it 'Dragon form' and watched to see the System's judgement.

Congratulations! You have created and learned the spell 'Dragon Form'

Requirements: Life Magic (Journeyman 1), Plasma Magic (Beginner 7), Mana Magic (Initiate 4)

Cost: 496 Mana

Upon casting this spell, the target's Strength, Dexterity, and Stamina are tripled: Reduces received Kinetic and Plasma damage by 33%, reduces the target's weight by 66%, and gives the target wings, claws, and a spiked tail; gains the trait Natural Weapons and Minor Magic Resistance. This spell lasts for One Local Rotational Period.

Now this was more like it! Grinning, he looked at Maskeline's book – and while he remembered, he learned Gaze of Malignancy – just to see if that earned him any XP – and shrugged as it didn't. He had one XP to go – so he went for a low hanging fruit. He did not expect the result.

Congratulations! You have created A New spell!

It requires Life (I1)

It will cost a base of 6 Mana.

You are awarded 4 Innovation XP.

What would you like to name this spell?

Buh. This wasn't in the database?! He named it 'stylist' and just.. shook his head.

Congratulations! You have created and learned the spell 'Stylist'

Requirements: Life Magic (Initiate 1)

Cost: 6 Mana

Upon casting this spell on a human, you may alter, recolour, and style their hair, including stimulating growth.

And just like that... He was Level 3.

Congratulations! Would you like to select your Class now?

Even as he was reading that, grinning like a loon, Jeeves manifested. “Just to inform you, Jonathon. The Respawning has begun.”

And that's when the building began to shake.