“Hun, do you mind cooking tonight?” I asked, wincing as I closed up our hideout once again.

“Sure. Channel a bit too much magic today?” Elendria asked.

“Yeah. That lightning bolt was nearly twice my max by the time I was done with it.” I said, flopping down onto my bedroll. “Unnnggg.” I groaned in pain, the sudden movement sending a spike of pain through my head.

“Sure. Let’s do those bacon sandwiches you love so much.” She said, taking out a frying pan and starting it heating over the fire. “And no major spells for at least 12 hours, preferably 24.” She scolded, sitting next to me and rubbing small circles as she traced the ridge of bone over my eyes.

“Ohhhh yeaaaahhhhh.” I mumbled, eyes rolling back in bliss at her touch, getting a giggle from her.

“So what’s our plan for tomorrow? I assume you already have one, since you took the time to launch a bit of an assault on the city.” She said, though I could tell there was a bit of admonishment in her tone.

“Not my fault. Had to kick the hornet’s nest.” I mumbled. “I figure tomorrow we can work together to take down the rest of the assault platforms. Easiest way is to drop the outer tower back onto the platform. I’ll provide the shielding, you freeze the tower on the inside, and the SMASH!” I said, pantomiming the angry green bringer of destruction.

“Smash?”

“Yep. Very technical term.” I grinned, nodding my head and getting a gentle slap in return.

“Well, we can try it your way at first. I do admit that having someone else focusing on shielding from attacks will be a lot better than trying to do it myself.”

“I was hoping so. Hey, do you think that pan is hot enough yet? I think the smell of bacon cooking might help my headache.”

“I’ll check. Are you going to assign your points tonight?”

“I suppose. Probably just split them evenly between agility and dexterity, with maybe a few thrown to strength.” I said, looking over my sheet.

“Oh? Deviating already?” She asked.

“Yeah. I don’t think I really need to put anything into wisdom anymore. I get far more mana regen from the 20 spirit I gain every level, and thanks to Stalwart Soul II my resistance gets stronger with spirit twice as fast as well. I will need intelligence to boost my spells eventually, so I’ll keep dropping points into that but right now we are using a lot of aerial skills. That means I need the agility and dexterity. I’ll need a bit of strength and endurance as well to keep my recovery rate up, but other than that I think we are fine.”

“Sounds like a plan to me. Go ahead and get a start on the strength and endurance though. When we have to go into the city, you may have to defend yourself.”

“Good point.” I said, thinking things through. I ended up splitting it with three going to strength, seven to endurance, and twenty five each for agility and dexterity. As I dropped in the points, I could feel tremors running through my arms and legs as my muscles adapted. I pulled a coin out of my inventory to practice and get used to my new abilities, as I had almost doubled both attributes. A bit of mental math let me know that I would take just over a day and a half to fully recover my health, which wasn’t sitting too well with me. “Hey Elendria, how quick should I keep my HP recovery?”

“Hmm? That’s a tough one. Most people go for between a day to three days to fully recover, depending on if they are front line fighters or not. Even if you aren’t a front line fighter, I think you should keep that recovery fairly high.”

“Oh?”

“Divine spells. You said they cost health as well as mana and spirit, right? Right now your health pool is limiting your access to divine spells. What if you have to cast some two days in a row?”

“Damn, that’s a point I hadn’t thought of. Hopefully I can find an adaptation that can boost recovery.” Elendria nodded, going back to make sure that the bacon didn’t burn. While she was doing that, I looked through the list of modifications, limiting them to upgrades to what I already had or new ones that would boost recoveries.

Upgrades

Name

Description

Efficient Wings

Alter the shape of your wings to specialize. Broad wings to enhance soaring, sharp wings to enhance diving actions, or rough edges to make your flight quieter. There are drawbacks to each upgrade

Stalwart Soul III

Defense against mental control increased by (Stalwart Soul X) x Sprit + WIS

Lesser Shapeshifting

Increase the amount of your body you are able to change. You are able to develop protoscales and protofeathers. A jointless limb with a two pronged manipulator at the end is possible. A lesser shapeshifter may have 2 shapeshifting identities in addition to their natural form.

Enhanced neurons I

Your neurons have been altered to better remove waste, decreasing recovery time by 5%. Higher levels may have additional bonuses.

Renewing Body I

Your body has been enhanced to increase recovery. This comes with a cost. Your recovery rate will be multiplied by (2.5-1/Renewing Body X). Your CON will be reduced by (10/Renewing Body X)%

Self healing

You must have medical knowledge of your body and unlocked healing. Using your knowledge of injuries, you can use your mana to speed up healing within your body. As this is not affecting a different body, this does not require spirit. Healing rate increased by 0.004 x WIS. Can’t be used while unconscious, in combat, or asleep.

I looked over the options with a critical eye, though it was obvious which one I would be forced into taking. Enhanced neurons was out, as 5% recovery wasn’t much, and I didn’t know how high of a level I would need to obtain before I got some good bonuses. I mean, enhancing neurons might give me more intelligence, but if I had to use three or four upgrades on it, then it wouldn’t be worth it. Renewing body would increase the rate, but at the cost of constitution. Whether that reduced my available hp or not I wasn’t willing to risk. That left self healing. So long as I was awake and knew what I wanted to heal, I could direct my magic to heal myself. With my wisdom where it was, I could double my out of combat regeneration. Even with just basic anatomy and physiology, I was more than prepared for the majority of injuries.

“Did you find what you needed?” Elendria’s question broke through my thoughts just before I selected the option.

“Kinda. Self healing would be the best option, letting me double my out of combat recovery as long as I was awake.” I explained.

She turned to look at me, a slight frown on her face. “I don’t know about that. I mean, what are the chances of you being awake when you need healing that badly?”

“That’s a good point, especially since I have to know what is wrong with me for it to work. If I am low on hp because I cast a bunch of divine spells, how am I to know what is wrong?” I muttered, looking at it again. How could I have missed such a glaring detriment? Oh yeah, my brain was hurting from channeling too many spells.

“Ugh, this sucks.” I complained, gently laying my head down. “There are major drawbacks to everything I look at. Some of them I didn’t even realize until you pointed it out. One seems to work on the mind only, one might lower my hp, and one would be completely useless for recovering from divine spells, which is what I was wanting to use it for in the first place!”

Elendria chuckled as she slid a piece of freshly cooked bacon my way. “Rule one, the bacon must be sampled while cooking. Now, while you chew I need you to remember something. Hp is the least understood of the status page. People have survived it running out, people have died from one blow while at full health. Even the gods refuse to explain it. Are you really going to act all put upon because you can’t find some way to make yourself perfect?”

I sighed, enjoying my bacon. “I suppose you are right. If none of them will truly work, then do you have any opinions on what I should do with my upgrade?”

“What kind of options are we looking at?”

“An insane amount. Acid blood, changing my muscle types, altering ligaments to boost agility, adding muscles to my hands to increase dexterity, altering bones, bone armor, the list goes on. And on. And on.”

She smiled, “Well, I’m out of my league then. Just nothing that would change you too much. I kinda like the way you are.”

I nodded, letting her get back to cooking. I started searching for random things, hoping to find things that were absolutely broken, but having no luck. No way to get perpetual mana, no way to create invincible armor, no way to become immortal. Maybe I was going about this the wrong way. There was a boon I had passed up a while ago that would have given me some boosted senses. Perhaps there was a way I could do that. If I could sense danger coming my way and avoid it, then it wouldn’t matter if it took me days to recover. Wait, no, that still wouldn’t fix the issue of casting divine spells.

“Ugh, I guess there is nothing I can do except dump points into endurance. Seven points per level will keep my recover to full time the same, though that is rather annoying.” I muttered.

“Just drop it for now hun.” Elendria said, sliding a plate with a BLT on it in front of me. “Let’s save that upgrade, and worry about stats tomorrow. You never know when an adaptation can come in handy.”

“True. I was thinking of getting advanced senses though. It would increase my current senses by 10%, with the option for more upgrades in the future. What do you think?”

“I think you should sleep on it.” She said, prodding me toward the food. “Eat and rest. I’ll even clean up so you don’t have to worry about it tonight.”

“Thanks hun.” I said, digging into my sandwich. It seemed as soon as I finished and my head hit the pillow I was out like a light.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

I woke up the next morning refreshed, though something was niggling at the back of my brain. Something about the dream I had. There was a monk, that I remember. He was saying something about balance, but mine was odd. I had earned? Learned? One, but two others remained. As I was looking at my current upgrades, and the ones I had first requested last night, it hit me. Monks were always looking to balance body and soul, but with magic I had to balance the mind as well! It was Stalwart Soul that gave it away, as it provided a link between my soul and my mind. I immediately searched the system for ways to increase the bond between my soul and body, and between my mind and body. I grinned when I saw the results.

Name

Description

Eidolon reinforcement I

Your soul has increased the bond it has to your body, increasing your resistance to forced separation as well as reducing the chance of your Astral Tether severing. Resistance increased by (Eidolon reinforcement X) x (Average of STR, DEX, and AGI) + Spirit and compared against enemy INT

Secondary effect from Stalwart Soul: Your soul is now connected to both mind and body. You enjoy increased soul attributes. See note on calculations*

CON + (INT + STR)/(6 – Average of Stalwart Soul X and Eidolon Reinforcement X)

END + (WIS + Average of DEX and AGI)/(6 – Average of Stalwart Soul X and Eidolon Reinforcement X)

Mystical body I

Use your mind to reinforce your body. Mana can be channeled to increase STR, AGI, or DEX. Each odd level increases the number of attributes you can reinforce. Each point of increase requires 50 x (5 – Mystical body X) mana per minute. Every ten points in one stat doubles this calculation.

Secondary effect from Stalwart Soul: Your mind is now connected to both your soul and your body. You enjoy increased mind attributes.

INT + (CON + STR)/(6 – Average of Stalwart Soul X and Mystical Body X)

WIS + (END+ (Average of DEX and AGI)/(6 – Average of Stalwart Soul X and Mystical Body X)

Calculation note*

Attribute increase will be determined by base attributes only. Secondary calculations such as recovery rate and pool size will be determined by enhanced attribute

“HA!” I cried, starling Elendria from her slumber. “I knew there was a way to game the system! You just had to ask the right questions!”

“Sean, what the hell are you going on about so damn early in the morning?” Elendria grumped. I couldn’t tell if she was trying to glare or if her eyes just weren’t opening yet, but I still explained with a smile.

“I found it! I found the way to increase my regeneration!” I said, pulling her into a hug. “Thanks for making me wait.”

“You’re welcome.” She mumbled, pushing me away. “Now, why don’t you do your whatever, and cook me breakfast while I get some more sleep.”

“Sorry hun.” I said, lowering her down and kissing her forehead. Once she was down, I selected my choice.

Eidolon reinforcement I selected!

Your soul has increased the bond it has to your body, increasing your resistance to forced separation as well as reducing the chance of your Astral Tether severing. Resistance increased by (Eidolon reinforcement X) x (Average of STR, DEX, and AGI) + Spirit and compared against enemy INT

Secondary effect from Stalwart Soul: Your soul is now connected to both mind and body. You enjoy increased soul attributes. See note on calculations*

CON + (INT + STR)/(6 – Average of Stalwart Soul X and Eidolon Reinforcement X)

END + (WIS + Average of DEX and AGI)/(6 – Average of Stalwart Soul X and Eidolon Reinforcement X)

I felt energy course through me, and I almost felt, healthier? Yeah, healthier. It was like I had been breathing in a low oxygen environment for so long before suddenly walking into a patch of fresh air. While I got used to the feeling, I grilled up some bacon and eggs, trying not to start whistle so I didn’t wake Elendria again. When she eventually roused, we ate a quick breakfast before heading out to continue our assault on the city.