Exile hummed as he navigated to his stat page to use up the remaining thirty stat points from his reward. ‘What’s this?’ His eyes narrowed when he saw there was an extra four points. He had no idea where they had come from. He quickly checked the logs to see if he had missed something. ‘I see!
After the changes to Tier 2, he received four free stat points. ‘Right now I have one hundred and six points of divinity in my stats. I’m guessing the game must bring the base up to the nearest ten. So my base points for this Tier should be one hundred and ten points! Exile stroked his beard as he glanced out the window.
‘If it weren’t for the dwarves my base would have been much lower. So any god that ascends to Tier 2 without another race will essentially have a weaker foundation. Exile shook his head at that thought. ‘It seems we need to seek out other races. The officers at least should become custom races to increase our power!
‘I’ll need to think carefully about what race I choose for my next Oracle. That will be difficult: Exile slowly made plans to have Harik launch trade ships to build friendly relations. ‘Maybe he knows where we can find a decent race!
His attention turned back to his stats at that point. “Thirty-four points. Where will I put you! He eyed his stats carefully as he tried to figure out what his new playstyle would be. ‘Paul said there were better versions of the Domain technique. From his fights with Arthur and Merlin, I can guess I have to perfect both my mind and body!
Exile sighed as he realised what that meant. ‘I have to become a hybrid build: Personally, he hated hybrid builds. They were unpredictable and had many variations. One wrong choice in stat points could ruin their potential.
?
“There hasn’t been any weapons that strictly needed strength to even equip them yet! Exile’s eyes narrowed when he realised that. ‘I doubt that will stay the same.
Exile placed five points each in Strength and Speed. ‘Now the base points of Strength, Endurance, and Speed are the same. Twenty-six points to go! He immediately chose to place another eight points each in those three stats to solidify his foundation before placing the remaining two points in Authority.
When he was done, he had gained another three levels, and a broad grin spread on his face. ‘I haven’t lost too much now!
[Name: Exile]
[Pantheon: Ragnarok]
[Title: King of the Gods (Ragnarok), God of Lightning (Incomplete: 1/3), God of Runes]
[Race: True Royal Deity (Custom Race)]
[Tier: 2]
[Level: 4]
[HP: 285/285 (160+125)]
[DP: 90/90 (46+44)]
[Strength: 32]
[Endurance: 57 (32+25)]
[Speed: 39 (32+7)]
[Authority: 90 (46+44)]
Exile suddenly noticed that his Authority over Runes had an effect on his followers. “The choice never mentioned this! He chuckled at the pleasant surprise.
[God of Runes: Any of your followers whose written language comes in the form of runes can now learn Rune Magic. These races believe that Runes are the language of the Gods and that nothing existed before a runic name for them was created. Your followers now believe you embody everything in existence.]
‘It’s like I’ve become the God of Creation. That should make Ania and the others happy! He thought. ‘At least I didn’t lose my spells or my Authority over Lightning! A glimmer appeared in his eyes as he left his room to head for the workshop.
Exile had not stopped trying to understand his new power. In doing so, he finally learned how to go about experimenting with it. He headed directly for the stone table set against one of the walls. It was marked with runes, and the last time he was here he did not understand what it was for.
‘So this is used for enchanting while the book on the stand over there is for creating personal spells. I wonder if this means at Tier 2 everyone will have to create their own spells from now on!’ Exile frowned as he placed his spear on the table. ‘For now, I should see how my power works!
However, nothing happened even after a few moments passed. ‘Hmm, there must be a trick to it. I’m sure my Authority can work with this. He studied the runes carved on the table and he understood their meanings and what each one was for. ‘I see, these two are for injecting my Divine Power!
Exile placed a palm on each of the two runes. ‘I should just have to imagine my power flowing into it! He focused on how he felt when he controlled his spells during his training with Paul. He imagined threads coming from his body and flowing into those runes. Suddenly, a menu appeared in front of his eyes!
‘Hmm, Refine, Enchant, Remove Enchantment… Exile scanned his options before choosing the Enchant option.
[Exchantments: 1/3]
?
Exile’s eyes went wide when he saw the Authority boost was considered an enchantment. He licked his lips as he chose a slot for a new enchantment. ‘Nothing is happening! He sighed when he noticed no menu of available enchantments appeared. ‘What do I need to do?’
He tried to think of the word speed and so on to see if it would trigger anything. However, every approach he tried yielded no result. ‘Maybe…
Exile closed his eyes as he focused on his mind. This time, he focused on the Rune that meant Speed. An image of the rune appeared in his mind. ‘What do I do now? Do I have to recreate it with my control?’
Exile frowned as he imagined threads spreading from his palms to the spear’s shaft. This is harder than I thought… His concentration kept slipping as he tried to manipulate the threads into the form of the rune. However, he felt like something was fighting against that process.
Minutes passed, then hours. However, Exile was so focused that he did not realise the passing of time. ‘Finally!’ One of the threads had turned golden and was now visible. He did not completely understand how it had happened but he suspected the process would be easier the more he practised. ‘It’s almost like a skill check! Exile chuckled as the other threads making up the rune turned golden one after the other.
Sweat ran down his forehead when he felt released his concentration. He understood that he had succeeded and no longer had to control the process.
[Rune Enchantment: Speed]
[Current Base Speed Stat: 32]
[Please choose between 0 and 32 points of Speed to enchant this weapon with. Each point between 1 and 9 will cost 1 DP. 10 to 19 will cost 2 DP each. 20 to 29 will cost 3 DP each…]
The explanation continued on until it covered up to one hundred stat points. “The cost accumulates with every point: Exile grinned at the thought of his superior Authority stat. ‘Let’s see how far I can take it!’
Exile nodded in satisfaction when he noticed he could choose the maximum at the cost of 71 DP. ‘I can replenish it quickly so it won’t be a waste. But this could be a good benefit. We could sell superior enchanted weapons within the Pantheon, and I could make weaker versions to sell to the other Pantheons!’
Exile chuckled at the thought as he completed the enchantment. He studied the weapon’s stats.
[Dwarven Royal Spear]
[+7 Authority, +32 Speed]
‘It’s no wonder Tier 2 is seen as True Gods. If I upgrade all of my equipment, I’ll be far stronger than even the peak of Tier 1!’ Exile laughed to himself in the silence of the workshop. As he finally calmed down, he understood the drawback of those weapons. 𝐞𝗼𝐯𝐞𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
‘I can’t be complacent about my base stats. Every increase will allow me to add additional benefits to my enchantments. Exile replenished his DP using his religious symbol. ‘It’ll take an hour before I can use it again. Now that I know how to enchant equipment with runes, I should try something else!
His eyes wandered to the book. ‘I guess I can start attempting to create personal spells! He approached the book with a glimmer in his eyes. The cover was made of ancient brown leather with golden runes arranged in a strange way on it.
As he opened the cover, he noticed the pages were blank. ‘Well, after the enchantments I should have guessed this would not be easy! He had a hunch that he should fill it with his divine power.
?
Exile used the same method as he did with the enchantments, making sure his hands never broke contact with the book.
[Analysing Authority…]
Exile frowned as he waited for the menu to appear.
[Create Rune]
[Create Spell]
[Create Array]
Exile’s eyes narrowed when he looked at his options. ‘Create Rune should be unique to me. It’s either that or others have to learn runes on their own. Exile considered that possibility seriously. ‘It might be possible. I can’t be sure. He sighed when he realised his authority over runes may just give him a head start since he already understood the runes. Only time would tell if it would require specific Authorities to be able to craft anything or if those Authorities just gave out superior results!
Exile chose the create spell option. He wanted to understand the process of each aspect of his new power before getting serious about upgrading everything. ‘Come to think of it, would a runestone come under enchanting then?’ A grin suddenly appeared across his face as the menu for spell creation appeared before his eyes. ‘Now, this is interesting…