The Power of Ten Book Four: Dynamo

I woke up during the descent, seemingly just a moment after I managed to get off the Sending XI to Aelryinth. At XI, even if it couldn’t reach him instantly, the second he hit an interplanar causeway, it should be able to make contact...

The world was coming up below me, and I was falling. I was sheathed in a shield of hard air, instinctively Repulsed away from me so as to keep things frictionless, although heat was still rising as I came down.

No problems breathing. I’d worked my Necklace of Adaptation and various Periapts into my skeleton a long time ago. Less bulges in the uniform.

I didn’t have a lot of internal energy, I noticed. Actually, I had almost nothing at all. I was running on basically pure force of soul and ki at this point. It was a good thing air didn’t weigh anything.

I had nothing on me but Vier. That meant I could still grab one spell a day off his Wall of Spells and have him Cast it for me, which could get me out of the situation of colliding with the planet below me.

That... was very inelegant. I also still had my Permanent Spells, which, if not flashy, also had their effects.

No Spider Totem Pact. That was completely gone, as was my link to the Underweb. That meant there was no Underweb here.

It matched what my ki could feel of magic. There was no Underweb here.

That meant-!

Shadows of Runes on my soul, overwritten and long suppressed by the Widow of the Web and the Underweb Totem connection, flared to life, set free once more.

“I agree to serve the Will of Heaven!

“I will defend the weak, and protect the innocent!

“I will Defy the Diabolic, I will Hurl Back the Demonic, and I will Thwart the Daemonic!

“I will Embrace Virtue, and Scorn Sin!

“I will be Shield and Sword, Spear and Hammer, Hand and Foot, Word and Song of the Empyrean Sphere!

“I will seek out those that serve Evil and stand between them and their ambitions upon this mortal world!”

The Light rose up in response, and a Hymn of comfort and reassurance sounded behind my ear. It was so damn welcome I felt tears coming from my eyes.

I’d never felt it, but I’d missed it so much. I had... I had so much I would need to be judged for...

I just sighed and closed my eyes, the Arms of the Angels closing around me as all the very, very empty places in my Warlock Pacts filled in. I looked at my Assay.

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Dynamo; The Sage of Focus, Courtier of Death, Ringlord (Legendary*), Last Survivor; Champion of Creation

Neutral Good Female Augmented Powered Human/30 (Exemplar)*, Base Spider Totem Template; Heavenbound Warlock*

Arcane Fist/4, Warshaper/5;....

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Strength: (14) 18->49/56*

Dexterity: 18->51

Constitution: (16) 18->51

Intelligence: 20->70 (74 Cold)***

Wisdom: (12) 18->47***

Charisma: (12) 18->49***

Height: 5’9 - - Weight: 140 lbs. - - Hair: White - - Eyes: Silver (Warlock Sign) - - Age: 43

Health: 1275 (30d8 (240) (Maximum/Exemplar) + 600 Con + 30 Feat + 360 Exemplar + 45 Various)

Soak: 448 (9d8 (72) (Maximum/Exemplar) + 180 Con + 67 Feats + 108 Exemplar + 21 Various)

Movement: 495 (base 55, x3 Lightfoot, x3 Exemplar)

Arcane Pool/Ki: 38 (3+ ki (35))

Warlock Rank: 25

Theurgic Caster Levels: ....

Notable Talents/Traits: Naturally Focused, Dauntless; Favored by Fate, Spell Affinity, Magical Tradition, Undead Slayer, Weird Scientist, Valiant Reputation; Soul of Le Fey; Born Eldritch Blade; Slayer: Ninja, Tong, Werewolf, Skrull/Dire Wraith, Brood, Badoon, Fiends, Mutates, Deviants, Constructs (robots, cyborgs), Gene-born (acquired), Pirates, Crux, Askar; Patient, Protective; Born to Shadows, Seductive, Manhunter, Independent; Widow of the Red Room; True Believer, Faithful; Romantic, Artistic; Sealed Identity; Master of Four Dragons (Sun, Moon, Shadow, Ocean); Master of Night Rose; Scholarly, Dedicated Engineer; Ice Queen, Organized; Silver Tongue, Perfect Pitch, Musical, Gifted Vocalist; Brewmaster; Chef Artiste; Scrupulous, Dedicated Researcher; Tempestuous, Diva; Authoritative, Ambitious; Wheelman; Inquisitive; Bold; Money is Important; Green Thumb, Verdant Soul; Lineage of Thunder, Lineage of Rain

Templated Powers: Poison Resistance and Acquired Immunity; Radiation Immunity; Perfect Balance; Enhanced Speed and Jumping; Impact Resistance; Enhanced Climbing

Warlock Powers (Heavenbound Totem Pact, Active): Warlock Blast (Legendary)*; Covalent Bonding/Repulsion*; Damage Reduction Increase*; Increased Healing Factor*; Manifest Eldritch Mindblade*; Wards of Heaven; Whims of Heaven

Widow Training: Enhanced Healing, Enhanced Memory, Combat Instincts, Fast Learner, Steady Mindset, Increased Longevity

True Exemplar Template (Human/8*) Powers: Exemplar Foundation Stats (+12); Exemplar Vitality (Health and Soak Max, Longevity, Fast Healing); Blessed by Fate (Insight Bonuses); Blessed by Chaos (Luck Bonuses); Exemplar Talent (Competence bonuses to Skills); Exemplar Resistances (Energy); Exemplar Defenses (Physical, Damage Reduction); Exemplar Speed (triple all modes)

Acquired Powers: Immune to Fire and Cold extremes, affinity for Fire and Cold Magic; Pheromonal Control; Sunstone Attunement (Crystal Bones); Rune-Carved Bones (+5 to Physical Stats**, Unbreakable, Adaptation, Wound Closure, Health, Anti-Poison); Godstone Attunement; Master of Kiai-jitsu; Inspired Intellect+2 (Grand Discovery); Nog Perfect Stats; Second Sorcerer Bloodline (Dark Phoenix, Fire/Cold), Prepared Archmage (Wizard Spells); Fey Caster; Asgardian Sorcery; Heavy Gravity Training/5*; Moondragon Mysteries Psion (telepathy)

Road of the Eternal: Exceed Mortality; Exceed Mortal Limits; Legendary Sorcerer*, Legendary Warlock*, Legendary Ringlord; Legendary Alchemist

Spells per day: ------.

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I stared at the inside of my head for long minutes, and at the last two Titles and what they meant.

Last Survivor... meant I was an Elder of the Universe by default?

And there it was, that bittersweet Title Aelryinth had been so proud of, and so exhausted by, and how true that was proving again. Champion of Creation!...

Complete magical disruption on every level, so much so that I’d lost my existing Class Levels. The only things that had survived were my Arcane Fist and Warshaper Levels, which were now stacking to what felt like the edge of a hard limit...

I had thirty Human Levels... which made me a True Human Exemplar on its own, up yours to Law and Chaos having a hand in it!

The lack of my Ultra Core was a sucking emptiness inside me, a fall from power of incredible heights. On the other hand, my lack of ability to see the cosmos... was not something I missed so much. I had music to listen to behind my ear to keep me at peace, I didn’t need to see All That Was and the limits of this existence... and all the things that threatened it.

Which didn’t mean the power wasn’t there. I could totally sense that if I wanted it back, with the power of Heaven pumping power into me, there was no reason I couldn’t access it if I wanted to. It just wouldn’t be quite as easy and constant as before.

Which was totally fine with me.

Thirty Human Levels came with fifteen potential Levels of Spellcaster Advances, and the ability to take ten Levels in three Tranches: Combat, Magic/Skill, and Ranged Combat. It was basically the obverse of taking the Racial Class, which only had three true Levels to it, the rest being advancing Templates...

It looked like nine Levels had already been taken for me in my Combat Tranche, with room for... one more, hmm.

Ten each in Magic and Ranged. The latter would almost certainly devolve to just straight Archer, focusing on Shards and Rays... Ranged Combat tended to be pretty straightforward in many ways, eh.

How I chose the Magic Tranche would affect which spellcaster Classes I could take and advance. That... wasn’t as bad as it seemed, since 20 was the limit of any Class as far as Spell Slots and stuff. Anything after that was Legendary Feats if you wanted access to more or higher Spells. So, it came down to which Classes I wanted in Theurgy, and I’d be even more limited than I had been back in Marvel.

If I was allowed to take any magic at all. I had no Matrix at all...

My Heavenbound Pact pulsed once, and I sighed, and watched as parts of my Assay greyed out further, inaccessible to me. Basically, everything to do with actively wielding magic from my life faded to transparent, politely warded away by my Pact as a threat to me.

Any straight use of magic was likely going to incite my Underweb Casting and do Bad Things. I got it.

I guess I’d just have to be content with full Purity of a Legendary Warlock Pact and developing my ki going forwards. Oh, well. Spell Penetration and Girding Masteries were going to be important...

Mmm. I looked at my Pact, then at Exemplar.

+15 Insight bonus to Caster Level of Spell-Like Abilities. Hah, wasn’t that interesting... Warlock abilities were SLA’s!...

Artificer and Minstrel it was. Use Magical Device abuse and Heartsong, making magic items and using them like nobody else in the service of Heaven! I could access the key Alchemist stuff through Artificer as I needed it...

The ground was coming up on me as I began to quickly design where I was going with this. I’d have Vier Cast a Psychic Reformation and complete all of this at one go, instead of one day at a time...

----

While I came down in a burning line, I hit with a polite whoomph just above the ground, glowing mists exploding in every direction as they took my inertia and dispersed it harmlessly into my surroundings.

Cantriping up a set of comfortable cotton clothes was within Vier’s default minor abilities as an Item Familiar. I sat up slowly, taking stock of my surroundings, and slowly stood up.

Someone might be coming to try and find the meteor crater, so best to get out of here. My lightfoot still worked fine, and I could Angel Walk and I still had my Tats, so leaving no tracks was fine.

Wow, I had not worn anything less comfortable than silk for a very long time. Totally different than the nanowoven fibers I was used to.

I eyed the dark brown of my skin, pulled at the white locks of my hair, and noted the Bloodline of Rain inherited from Storm was still active. With nothing on the other side to forestall it, I looked like a Balobedu heiress now...

Sylune would be laughing, no doubt.

I was an order of magnitude or two weaker than I had been, at least, but that was still insanely strong from the perspective of a normal human, so I couldn’t complain. I could probably use the lightning aspect of being Heavenbound to power Repulse and be able to fly, but I was so totally not in a hurry right now.

I was pretty sure I was on yet another alternate Earth, in yet another multiverse, but where, what, and when, or what the Rules of Reality were, I had no idea of.

Desert area here, sandstone. At first glance, like the Sierra Nevadas, or the western edge of the Rockies.

I didn’t know where I was going, so I headed in its direction casually. I’d get there when I got there.