Since she finally achieved her year-long objective and got a new specialization card for her trouble, Ember decided it was time to capitalize on that sudden momentum before hitting yet another wall in her progression.
Ember knew it wasn't rational and that rushing to learn more now would not help her skip or alleviate the pain she would have to go through later, but she could not help it. She loved to race, and she hated walls. And so it was without a second thought that she dived into the fascinating idea of combining cantrips to create new ones.
Akashic sight and whisper seem too valuable to risk them. As they were Enhancing her sense, those were her primary line of defense. Critical Thinking could be dangerous if she ever tried to use it several times in a row. And the benefits were least evident. So she might consider combining it with something else. Retroactive Override sound like fair game to be combined with something, as it was a very situational cantrip with highly undesirable side effects. Disarming Tail Wagging and Mind Tracking were good utility cantrips she would rather keep as it was. Food for thought was even more nebulous than Critical Thinking and sounded quite disturbing, so she was considering exchanging it for something else. Mind Fortress was something undesirable for her. She hated walls and would rather die than start building some in her mind. Debilitating Bite was her utmost priority since she could not use it. And Balanced Mind was the best cantrip, and she would not risk it either.
So, all in all, Ember had four cantrips that she would not have any regret trading, one more that might be a maybe, and five she wanted to keep no matter what. And the first she was going to repurpose was definitely going to be Debilitating Bite. The question was: which cantrip was best to combine with that one?
Food for Thought and Debilitating Bite appeared to be anatomically compatible but mechanically could not be more different. And Ember did not want to receive information on her enemy each time she would Bite them or have to relive her diner's most frightening memories.
Mind Fortress and Debilitating Bite were the two cantrips she wanted to get rid of the most, but too much of a bad thing together, and their clashing mechanics regarding defense and offense did not feel like a good idea. Again, Ember did not want to assault her target mind each time she would Bite them or somehow turn her only real weapon into a defense mechanism.
So it left her with Retroactive Override and Debilitating Bite, which by the description of it, she could picture evolving into a massively powerful bite attack that might also hurt her, a Retroactive Bite ramped up to eleven with an equally massive drawback. This last combination felt like something that might work for her. Correction: She could feel in her gut that something good should come from combining those two. But it would probably be a high-stake gamble last resort wild card she would rather not use at all. Which already described Retroactive Override perfectly and was the reason it was on her to-trade list.
She wondered for a few seconds if she would feel any better combining Retroactive Override with any of the other two but quickly dismissed the idea. She would rather not turn her overall satisfying meals into a potential hazard or chance her mental health on this one.
'Okay, I'm going to combine Retroactive Override and Debilitating Bite.'
'Yeah, I'm sure.'
'Wow,' Ember exclaimed, missing for words.
Ember knew she had to keep pushing while luck was on her side! It was absolute proof that her gut feeling had been right all along.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
'What about Mind Fortress and Food for Thoughts' She wondered.
'So, it's actually worse than Mind Fortress?'
'Humans are sapients, right?'
'That's what I thought. If sapients are anything like humans, then they must be crazy too,' Ember concluded, really proud of her indisputable logic.
'What?' Ember exclaimed, outraged.
Ember just let go of the breath she did not realize she had been holding before barking:
'Don't you dare frightening me like that anymore!'
'Good,' She concluded, satisfied.
Before her curiosity and work ethic got the best of her:
'So, what's next?'
★☆★
So far, Ember has been using Akashic Sight constantly. Which also means she never bothered to try anything else since she could only use one cantrip at a time. But her system assistant had advised her to finish her slot allocation and get used to all of them, even if she had no practical way to train any of them yet.
Ember decided that she would keep Akashic Sight as her free magical ability as it was her go-to default option whenever she would not be using anything else. She already had Akashic Whisper in her first slot, though she could not hear any errand thoughts at the moment, as no mind magic practitioner was trying to manipulate anyone else nearby. Just in case, Ember kept activating it for a split second each time she met a new person. But so far, it had been to no avail.
Which left her with three empty slots. And some of her cantrips were very situational. Sure, Ember could swap them if needed, but only once a day, so in the meantime, she needed to decide what should be her default options. She wanted Disarming Tail Wagging, Mind Tracking, Balanced Mind, and Nerve Snap. But those were already four cantrips, and she could only pick three.
Tracking Mind was a must-have cause her assistant had already promised Ember would be doing the tracking in exchange for their freedom. And Ember did not know how she was supposed to hurt an AIR elemental, but she guessed she needed one attack anyway, so Nerve Snap was top of her list.
Then, it was all about Disarming Tail Wagging versus Balanced Mind. One was essential for living around humans, while the other was a must-have once diplomacy failed. Both felt essential to her, but she could only have one.
In comparison, Akashic Whisper felt useless to her right now. But that was only until it proved helpful. One day somebody was bound to try to manipulate someone she cared about. While Tracking Mind was the one she needed the less. But she could have a need for it any day from now because of her companion.
But well, she needed Tracking Mind because it was already a given she would do the job. Then she required Nerve Snap and Balanced Mind cause they would factually seek trouble. And she could not discount the threat of brainwashing just because it had yet to happen.
So Ember had made her choice, and she opened her menu, adding her chosen cantrips one by one.
The moment Ember had slotted Nerve Snap, the window started shaking like her system assistant sometimes did. Only it lasted more than a few seconds and kept vibrating some more until the window closed on her own, replaced by another one.
What should I do with the main screen?
