Ethan eyed the two options at the bottom of the list and hummed.

  He was very much interested in both. Considering regular wands’ traits were called unique, he assumed he could only have one active at a time so even though he was very happy with [Wand of the Lesser Fire Elemental], he wanted to see what else he could get. Then he could upgrade his current unique trait.

  Though once I get the new unique trait, would I be able to immediately upgrade it? Or is it going to be the same thing as spells and I’d need time and experience before it’s ready to be evolved?

  Ethan hummed. Well, he was about to find out soon enough and with that, he purchased the new unique trait and rubbed his hand as the interface loaded up the wand traits available to him.

  After taking account of your performance, three options have been unlocked.

  Select a unique trait from the list below.

  Wand of Claws: Only the spell Claws and its upgrades as well as compatible modifiers can be used on this wand. In return, the Claws spell is empowered.

  Wand of Forms: The wand supports one additional form over the limit. In exchange, no general-spells can be cast or slotted into the wand.

  Lesser Prime Auxiliary: The wand attaches itself to the Prime wand, boosting all of the latter’s capabilities, capacity, forms, mana regeneration, and stats, but rendering this wand inert. Rate of transfer 50%.

  Ethan eyed the three unique traits and whistled.

  These are powerful…

  He recalled the [Wand of Claws] trait, and he wasn’t too interested in it right now. But the other two were pretty great, though each had their downside.

  The Wand of Forms would allow him one more form, which was amazing. But he wouldn’t be able to cast general spells. So no [Small Fireball], no [Detect Life], and no [Whisper.]

  Ethan grimaced. Every time he remembered that last spell, it hurt a little. He was sure he’d get some good use of it eventually, but that had happened just yet.

  He shook his head and eyed the description of [Wand of Forms] once more. He might be able to work something out around the restriction, he believed. He could focus on boosting the Prime wand’s capacity and cast his general spells from there. Only problem was, that would delay the tier-2 upgrade a bit more as all Prime wand upgrades cost Essence.

  Hmm… I guess I’ll mull it over, he told himself before he turned his attention to the third proposed trait.

  It was possibly one of the best traits he was being offered, but not as it was right this moment. Ethan was more interested in its future potential. It was not giving him any bonus as far as he could see, but it would take away the headache of managing multiple wands. It wasn’t bad now, but what would happen when he had two regular wands on top of the Prime one? What about three or four? What was the limit?

  His gut told him an overpowered Prime wand was much better than 3 separate, regular wands, but only time would tell. Plus, the fact that only half of the wand’s potential would transfer was too big of a downside at this junction, but if this trait could get better in the future, if it could be improved until somehow all 100% capabilities of a wand could be merged into the Prime wand? That’d be amazing. He wouldn’t have to juggle multiple wands and he could just focus on just one.

  And who knew, maybe there was a way to push it above the 100% mark.

  Ethan eyed the three options one more time, then selected the Wand of Forms and waited for the process to finish up. It was just the best option at the moment, and even though it might cut into his spells, it would allow him an extra slot for the next spellform a lot faster than waiting for a tier upgrade in either wands.

  Once the process was finished, Ethan checked the available wand upgrades and grimaced. For two reasons.

  The first was that there was no option to acquire a new trait. Which meant he’d have to wait to the next tier, at the very least. It wasn’t the end of the world, as he wasn’t in a rush to get the auxiliary trait, but the second detail told him he had to get [Lesser Prime Auxiliary] and start getting familiar with it.

  Because the fact that there was no trait upgrade available for [Wand of Forms] made it clear that a unique trait could not be upgraded as soon as it was purchased.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Alright. No need to dwell on this for long. Let’s move on.

  Next, he triggered the upgrade option.

  Wand of the Lesser Fire Elemental -> Wand of the Fire Elemental:

  Allows the user stronger control over fire and provides a greater fire resistance.

  Ethan read the description with a raised brow. It seemed like the restriction limiting his control to spell-generated fire had been lifted, and that he might have some measure of control over all fires? The resistance was heightened as well.

  Not bad, all in all. He would still need to do a couple of tests, but it seemed like a solid upgrade.

  I’ll just need to be smart about switching the wand traits around. For now, there’s no rush. I still need my control over fire more than I need an extra form on the regular wand. So let’s look into some general upgrades here before I move to the Prime wand.

  After those two purchases, Ethan still had 303 fragments in the regular wand, which would be enough for a mana regeneration upgrade and a stat upgrade for a combined 240 fragments. There would be some left-over fragments, but he wasn’t in a rush to spend those.

  [Mana regeneration: Increase by 1 - 120 fragments]

  [Form Bonus: Increase by 6 - 120 fragments]

  Ethan closed his eyes as the modification took place as the newly gained stat points were divided between his Toughness, Might, and Spirit through the wand’s current forms. One might think the handful of points wouldn’t make a difference, but he felt them, and it only stoked his desire to get back out there.

  Almost done. Now, the Prime wand. Do I get the capacity right now or wait until I unlock tier-2?

  The capacity would allow him to use the Wand of Forms trait on his other wand, as he’d be able to slot [Small Fireball] in the Prime wand. On the other hand, waiting until he unlocked tier-2 would mean he’d have access to all of his Prime forms at the same time, and maybe more.

  Mana Heart would stop being such a pain, too.

  With reticence, Ethan decided to wait. He really wanted to upgrade the Prime wand first and in any case, he had to test and use the freshly upgraded elemental trait first. As for all of the fragments in the Prime wand, they would be eventually useful. He wouldn’t mind spending them right now but unfortunately, all of the Prime wand upgrade cost Essence as well as fragments, and he had to hoard the former until he could upgrade to tier-2.

  This only leaves the tier-3 spell token. Everything else either is done or needs waiting.

  Ethan eyed the token, and revisited his earlier question. Was an enhancement-spell the best option here?

  He leaned against the stone wall, and felt a luminescent mushroom squish against his back.

  A tier-3 modifier or spell could be pretty amazing. The problem was, he didn’t really know the pool of options and possibilities.

  But neither would fix the weight issue. I need to get heavier. And I’ve seen something like that in the enhancement spells.

  Ethan sighed, then activated the token. Once this was over, he resolved to do everything he could to try and find a list of spells somewhere. He hoped he wasn’t missing out on some amazing spells in the other categories but maybe once he fixed the weight issue—and maybe also wings—he would seriously branch into other types of spells.

  Select a enhancement-class tier-3 spell from the list below:

  Ripper’s Tail: Summon a tail lined with flesh-ripping spines.

  Draconic Wings: Summon powerful scaled wings to fly and shield yourself from spells.

  Banshee’s Eyes: Alter your eyes to perceive your opponents’ fears and weaknesses.

  Giant’s Hide: Summon a thick and resilient hide to defend against physical and magical attacks. (Inert)

  Rock Rhino’s Skeleton: Empower your bone structure to greatly increase its weight and resilience (Inert).

  Ethan inhaled, held his breath in his chest, then slowly exhaled and looked up. I hate you so much, he thought at whatever created the list of options.

  Not everything was that amazing, thankfully. But two options called to him and even though he was very much aware he needed to increase his weight, it felt awful knowing he might be walking away from the wings.

  They were defensive. They’d allow flight. And they were ‘draconic’ as well. Was there a bonus of some sorts if he had two enhancement-spells from the same family? Was he missing out on something?

  I’d sort of have the momentum to use the lance from high above. I could carpet bomb the water monitors. I could go check the rift without getting bogged down with monsters.

  Ethan bit his lip. He still needed the weight and the system had come through for that part, but it also had to dangle another spell he really wanted.

  He looked from one spell to the next for a few moments, hesitating.

  “This sucks,” he grumbled. Behind him, three of his companions were on their backs, going through the body upgrading process. Liz was the latest, but considering the rippling air around her, she’d join them soon.

  Ethan turned his attention back to his impossible choice and couldn’t help but shake his head and smile.

  Wings or Skeleton?

  Whatever he picked, he would still be leaving something amazing on the table. He just had to live with the fact that it might be a while until he got what he needed once more. Because, after all, he was not guaranteed to see the same options ever again.

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