User has utilized a larger number of Affinity Crystals than is permitted by the users tier. Please select seven Affinites to retain, the remainder will be stripped.

"Can't say I didn't see that coming," Bob sighed. "Thoughts, Trebor?"

'You should keep the Arcane Affinities you have, as you'll be using them,' Trebor replied.

"Summoning, Conjuration, Abjuration, Transmutation and Dimension," Bob muttered. "I suppose I could keep Earth and Plant. I wish I'd been able to get my hands on Shadowmancy and Animancy Affinity Crystals."

'Life is messy,' Trebor replied. 'Ideally you would always wait until you had exactly what you needed, but events seldom conspire to allow that.'

"True," Bob agreed, and mentally projected his selections.

User has lost the Elemental Air, Elemental Water, Elemental Fire, and Animal Affinities. User has been stripped of more than a third of their Affinities. User will be compensated. User may select any Affinity as a Natural Affinity, or the user may select any Affinity they possess and convert it to an Enduring Affinity.

Bob took a moment to consider the screen in front of him. Since when had the System offered to compensate anyone for anything? Then again, it was handing out a achievements now. And quests. And apparently putting people into stasis so they didn't die during integration, which was awesome, and something he felt like he could be proud of.

"Short term, getting access to an Affinity I don't have, like Animancy, would be great," Bob muttered thoughtfully. "I'd be able to deliver serious healing with just a point for the School, assuming that whole Academic reward works they way I think it does."

'It does,' Trebor confirmed. 'By allocating a skill point to the Divine School of Animancy, you would be able to select a single skill or spell without allocating another point. The increase from an Affinity, in conjunction with the bonus from your Savior Achievement, would work to provide you with potent healing.'

Bob nodded. He wasn't planning on becoming a healer, but his original advice to Eddi, that in a System where you could heal, choosing not to was stupid, still stood. Even a minor investment would prove valuable. Boosting that minor investment for free was tempting. If he freed up enough points, and given the bonuses from Academic and Pedagogue it might be possible, he could max out Animancy and reincarnate with that as a Natural Affinity.

On the other hand, planning for the long term, converting one of his existing Affinities to an Enduring Affinity was the smarter play. He wouldn't gain anything from it immediately, as Affinities were Affinities, but it would give him a head start on the jump to tier eight.

He was going to loop one of his capped skills into a Natural Affinity when he reincarnated, and then use an Affinity Crystal, effectively doubling down. If he converted an Affinity to an Enduring Affinity, he could effectively triple down on that skill.

Of course, leveling that skill would be incredibly tedious.

Still, the choice was clear. He liked Summoning, and it was they style of combat with which he was most familiar.

"Convert Summoning Affinity to Enduring Summoning Affinity," he stated.

Users Summoning Affinity has been converted to Enduring Summoning Affinity. Revised user data has been processed. Would you like to see the Path's recommended by the System?

The System had provided quite a few recommendations, three for each of his affinities. The problem was that none of those paths fully utilized the restrictions and requirements to obtain bonuses. Ultimately, Bob, after acknowledging several warnings, was able to use his interface to navigate to the Path Building option.

Custom Path Building.

Users are warned that it is possible to reduce their efficiency below survivable standards. For paths with a guaranteed degree of survivability, please return to the System Path Recommendation.

Bonuses and Penalties listed include all those available given your current tier, Enduring Attributes, Enduring Schools, Enduring Skills, and Affinities.

Minor - 1% bonus/penalty to a skill

Lesser - (tier)% bonus/penalty to a skill

Lesser - 1% per Threshold bonus/Penalty to a skill

Greater - Threshold bonus impacts an additional skill

Greater - Additional skill may be chosen without skill point allocation

Major - (tier²)% bonus/penalty to a skill

Major - (tier²)% bonus/penalty to a skill capstone

Massive - All threshold advancements for a skill are unlocked

Requirement bonuses.

Skill Requirements: School + skill in school required = Minor School + two skills in school required = Lesser School + three skills in school required = Greater School + four skills in school required = Major School + five skills in school required = Massive Attribute Requirements Single Attribute Value over Sixty = Greater Combined Attribute Value over One Hundred = Major Single Attribute Value over One Hundred = Massive Restriction bonuses: Cannot take other spells in already purchased school = Lesser Cannot take other schools in sphere = Greater Cannot take another school in another sphere = Major Additional requirement bonuses: Must take a non-school related skill - Minor Must take two non-related skills - Lesser Must take three non-related skills - Greater Must take four non-related skills - Major Affinity Crystal bonus: Affinity required - Major Attribute Affinity required - Massive

User may only select a number of requirements or restrictions equal to or less than their tier.

User may combine two bonuses to receive a higher bonus. Two Minors may be combined to become a Lesser, two Lessers to a Greater, two Greaters to a Major, and two Majors to a Massive.

Bob frowned. That was not at all straightforward.

"Ok, so we've done some planning on this, although the Achievements have given us some flexibility. Dimension and Portal have to be capped," Bob said. That would have been nine skill points, but thanks to Academic and Pedagogue, it was only seven now.

"Summoning, Summon Mana-Infused Creature, Abjuration, Eldritch Shield, Transmutation, and Repair are all in the same situation. I need those to fight, and keep the Freedom going. That would have put me at forty-five points, or more depending on if I boosted their levels with the Affinities, but it's only thirty five now."

"I need the magic skills, Barrage, Effect over Time, Persistent Effect, Ritual Magic, and Permanency. That's another five points, bringing me up to forty," he mused, mentally going over his list. He had basic healing covered with a single point for Animancy, as Academic would give him Anima Blast for free.

Picking up Armor allowed him to choose Medium Armor as a free skill. Choosing Defense allowed him to pick up Parry for free as well, which left him at forty three points spent, with six remaining. Of course, he was only level thirty seven, so he was spending points he didn't yet have. He thought that he would likely place those points into Armor, and then Medium armor, giving him both Thresholds in the School, and another four thresholds in the skill. It was the attacks he couldn't see coming that worried him.

From what he could see, his best bet would be burning all his requirements on the Affinity and Attribute Affinity bonuses. He could convert the six major bonuses to three massive, and then combined with the massive from the Attribute Affinity, he'd have four massive bonuses.

"Trebor, when the System says that a massive bonus unlocks all threshold advancements for a skill, does that include the threshold advancements passed the tier cap if you're using an Affinity to increase the level of the skill?" Bob asked.

'It does,' Trebor replied.

"So that would be Portal, Summon Mana-Infused Creature, Anima Blast, and Eldritch Shield. That's a lot of points saved, especially if I boost their levels," Bob murmured.

'Initially it would save you six points, which would allow you to take the modifying skills as well as Armor and Defense,' Trebor advised.

"Let's look this over," Bob said as he pulled up his status window.

Name Bob Level 7 Str 14 Dimensional Familar Bond - 'Monroe' Cord 14 Mirror Protocol Process - 'Trebor' End 21 Int 84 Wis 56 Stamina 17 Stamina Regen 1 Health 256 Mana 70 Armor 81 Mana Regen 14 Damage 63 Spell Casting 77

He winced. He'd gone for three points per level in Intelligence and Wisdom, with his first threshold bonus going into Intelligence, and his Wisdom Affinity making the difference. The single point per level in Endurance made him grateful that when he did reincarnate, that he'd be enjoying an Endurance Affinity as well.

The less said about his Strength and Coordination the better. Apparently the enchantments on his armor didn't apply while building his Path.

Losing out on a free point to every attribute, every level, was a hell of a nerf. He was basically down a hundred and fifty points.

He looked over his skills.

School Level Spell Level Spell Level Spell Level Abjuration 7 Eldritch Shield 14 Conjuration 7 Eldritch Blast 14 Charm 1 Command Creature 1 Chronomancy 7 Stasis 7 Dimension 7 Portal 14 Illusion 1 Create Illusion 1 Summoning 7 Summon Mana-Infused Creature 21 Transmutation 7 Repair 14 Shadowmancy 7 Mana Sight 7 Mana Manipulation 7 Mana Drain 7

He wasn't going to complain about that. Pedagogue had been great, but Academic was doing even more work.

Bob immediately grabbed his casting skills. Barrage, Effect Over Time, Persistent Effect, Ritual Casting, and Permanency. He finished allocating his last two skill points to Animancy, picking up Anima Blast for free, and then Armor, which netted him Medium Armor.

With his points allocated, it was time to double check the Path he'd built. The System had helpfully generated the text after he'd selected his bonuses.

Path of the Dimensional Savior. The Path of the Dimensional Savior is obtained by having the following Affinities: Magical School of Abjuration, Magical School of Conjuration, Magical School of Transmutation, Magical School of Summoning, Divine School of Elemental Earth, Divine School of Plant, Wisdom Attribute. This Path focuses on traveling between dimensions while bringing other users with them, while fighting monsters with summoned monsters of their own. Only the most dedicated could utlize this path, as locating the required Affinity Crystals could be difficult. This path fully unlocks the threshold advancement for the Skills Eldritch Shield, Portal, Anima Blast, and Summon Mana-Infused Creature. This Path allows the user to choose their threshold bonuses for each School and Skill.

It was short and sweet.

He wasn't sure what the threshold bonus options would be, but it managed to provide him with the free points to do what he needed to do. He'd been more than a little worried that he'd end up with the ability to open portals, shield himself, and summon Jake.

He accepted the Path.

User has selected the Path of the Dimensional Savior.

User level has been restored. User School and Skill levels may now be advanced past the first threshold. User skill levels will be restored through the threshold which has been locked.

After unlocking a threshold, user must select a threshold bonus.

User has unlocked thirty-one threshold bonuses. Please select one of the following skills to begin selecting threshold bonuses.

Eldritch Shield

Portal

Summon Mana-Infused Creature

Mana Sight

Mana Manipulation

Anima Blast

"Eldritch Shield," Bob stated.

Please select from the following bonuses for your first threshold.

Increase spell casting value by one percent.

Decrease resource requirements by one percent.

Apply Eldritch Shield effect to another skill.

Overcharge Eldritch Shield by seven percent for one point of mana.

Of the four options, the first two didn't require any further investigation.

Bob was well aware of the fact that for each school and skill, he would be losing a point of regeneration. He'd hoped to pull that out of Stamina, but with the drastic reduction in attributes, that didn't appear to viable. He was currently down twenty-six points of mana regeneration out of a total of forty two. While cost reduction hadn't been useful before, except for saving on crystals during rituals, it had become a lot more attractive. If he cast an Eldritch Shield, Barraged out to a party of six and with Effect Over Time with a duration of ten seconds, he would be spending sixty mana. When he regenerated that much it hadn't mattered, but things had changed.

"How does the Eldritch Shield effect another skill?" Bob asked. He was surprised when the reply came from the System rather than Trebor.

Eldritch Shield reduces damage to another skills effect for a value equaling seven percent of the spells normal casting value at the cost of one additional mana.

"How would Eldritch Sheild effect Summon Mana-Infused Creature?"

The Mana-Infused Creature would gain an Eldritch Shield with a casting value equal to seven percent of the normal casting value of the Eldrtich Sheild spell. This would refresh each second, while increasing the cost of the Summon Mana-Infused Creature skill by one mana.

"Are the threshold bonus options the same for each Threshold?" Bob asked.

Theshold Bonus options remain the same until the capstone. Selections made for the previous threshold options will impact the capstone.

"That's an Eldritch Shield at forty-nine percent strength, refreshing every round," Bob mused. "I suppose I should ask though. Do the effects or the costs increase if you select the same bonus?"

Both the effect and the costs are increased.

That was tempting. Of course, so was the option to increase the value of the spell by forty-nine percent, although the seven points of mana was a bit pricey.

Ultimately, he was planning to fight as a summoner, so the having a shield that automatically refreshed itself on his summons was the most advantageous option. Although, if he wound up adding all of the threshold bonuses from the various skills to his summons, he'd might end up with a spell he couldn't afford to maintain indefinitely.

Something to watch out for.

He applied all of his threshold bonuses for Elritch Shield toward enhancing his summons.

"Show me the threshold options for the Portal spell," Bob said.

Please select from the following bonuses for your first threshold.

Increase spell casting value by one percent.

Decrease resource requirements by one percent.

Increase the diameter of the Portal by seven percent.

Apply a Portal effect to another skill.

"Show me the options for the Portal effect on other skills," Bob said.

Eldritch Shield - Shield becomes dimensional, allowing seven percent of the damage the shield suffers to be redirected. User should be cautious when choosing where to redirect said damage.

Eldritch Blast - Blast originates from a micro-portal within a range of seven percent of the Portal spells casting value.

Command Creature - Range of spell increased by seven percent of the Portal spells casting value.

Stasis - Target with stasis field may now be moved within a range of seven percent of the Portal spells casting value.

Create Illusion - Range of spell increased by seven percent of the Portal spells casting value.

Summon Mana-Infused Creature - Range of spell increased by seven percent of the Portal spells casting value.

Repair - Increases the value of the Repair spell by seven percent of the Portal spells casting value if repairing dimensional damage.

Mana Sight - Range of spell increased by seven percent of the Portal spells casting value.

Mana Manipulation - Range of spell increased by seven percent of the Portalspells casting value.

Mana Drain - Range of spell increased by seven percent of the Portal spells casting value.

Anima Blast - Increases the value of the Anima Blast spell by seven percent of the Portal spells casting value if repairing dimensional damage.

Medium Armor - Armor becomes dimensional, allowing seven percent of the damage the armor mitigates to be redirected. User should be cautious when choosing where to redirect said damage.

Bob shook his head. Portal probably wasn't the best spell to use to modify another, and honestly the six percent reduction in cost meant that every seventeenth portal he cast to jump the Freedom wouldn't cost anything.