Savage Awakening 542. Buff Stack

There were no other clues than that.

He had no issues with his Red Moon Pagoda. The Spirit was a bit cranky, but he didn’t mind. It had held up to all of his soul defense needs so far and then some.

Most of the time, it worked quietly in the background. Whenever an attack had a soul component, that Aegis of Infinity tanked everything—to the point where most of the time, he barely even felt it.

It was pretty extraordinary in that respect, pretty much nullifying an entire aspect of attack. As far as he knew, most folks’ soul defenses felt like taking a blow on a shield. You’d still be jarred, even if you didn’t take the worst of it.

His Aegis was rated to last all the way up until Empyrean. Haxorax wasn’t much of a soul attack fellow—probably wouldn’t even have been able to muster one in his state—so it hadn’t really been tested at this level. But Zane had been tanking peak True Gods and half-steps without much trouble.

Though now that he reconsidered things, it was true it was nearing its expiry date. He was pretty sure he could still tank most beginner Empyreans. He didn’t think he was at the point he had to worry. It was kind of like driving an old, trusty car whose mileage was getting a little up there.

…He wasn’t sure his Red Moon Pagoda could go any higher. It didn’t have a better shielding Skill than the Aegis, as far as he knew. And the only thing he could do to strengthen it would be to level it up.

Which wasn’t an option, since—

Aegis of Infinity [Common (D)] X

The Skill had quietly maxed itself out. He remembered seeing the notification mid-fight a while back, around when he was working the golems in the Lost Library. He hadn’t thought much more about it at the time—he figured he’d been busy trying not to get smashed.

That meant his Pagoda was maxed out defensively too.

If he did end up having to upgrade, so be it, he supposed… he felt a little torn on it.

Some part of him would miss the Pagoda Spirit, which surprised him. The cranky fellow had grown on him a bit.

This was all assuming that pagoda was a soul treasure in the first place. …Were all pagodas soul treasures? It could just be a very expensive house for all he knew.

With that, he finished his round-up.

***

He finished up his time in the World Tree not long after.

He met up with Evan, Avery, and Reina one last time for a picnic on the grand bough. It was quite nice today, drenched in sunshine and birdsong, and the view was still stunning, no matter how many times he saw it—a spread showing most of the World Tree, all that hustle and bustle shown in colorful dots.

They went over some of their plans over ham-and-egg sandwiches and muffins. Muffins were a new area of exploration for Evan.

“I ate some cheat meals while I was here,” Avery declared. This included drinking a few diet sodas. She also said she spent too much time on MMOs—there was a span of a few days in there where she never knew if the sun was up or down.

“But I’m gonna be back on the grind now.” Avery was quite excited to start her new workout program.

“You’ve got this!” Reina cheered.

Evan, meanwhile, was off to go explore the upper levels of the tower.

“I think I just needed some time to think things through,” he said, munching on a sandwich. “At first, I thought maybe I just wasn’t ready…”

Evan had really struggled with that. He’d still been beating himself up a bit for losing Chomper for a bit, though Zane thought it wasn’t his fault. That kind of thing just happened in tough close fights. 

“But then… if I didn’t go out there, I just know even more folks would get hurt!” Evan said. “And maybe no one who tries to be a hero really gets it right… maybe no one’s really ready, y’know? You only get ready for that kind of stuff by doing it.”

He looked to Reina hopefully, who nodded. Zane got the sense they’d had a heart-to-heart behind the scenes at some point.

“That’s just what you’ve got to do,” Evan continued happily. “I just know what’s stayed the same is, I still really want to make friends and help all the folks I can! All anyone can do is do their best, and that’s what I’m gonna do.”

“Neat,” said Zane.

“I think that’s just wonderful,” said Reina.

Reina, meanwhile, had a host of spells and buffs to work on—mass buffs she hoped to use on her armies in battle, and also single-target ones just for their duo fights.

“There are a few dexterity and speed buffs I think could really make a difference,” she said. “There’s this spell that’ll infuse your tendons with Creation lightning.” She brightened. “Since your body’s filled with Steel Laws, it’s just the perfect base—”

She animatedly explained the mechanics to Zane for the next five minutes. Its name was ‘Blitz Sinews.’ 

Right now, she felt he didn’t need much buffing in terms of sheer firepower. His problem was often simply that he couldn’t get his hands on enemies. Even in the Haxorax fight this was the case, and the prince wasn’t even in the right mind to dodge half the time. She felt it’d add more to his fighting strength to shore up a weakness.

“That’s sound logic,” he said.

Then she showed him a list of a few more buff Skills she was thinking about learning for when they fought as a duo. 

Blitz Sinews [Common (D)]

Greater Blessing of the Mistress: Lifemend V [Mythic (P)]

Greater Blessing of the Mistress: Sanctified Physique [Common (D)]

Greater Blessing of the Mistress: Aura Guard [Common (D)]

Buff of Endless Vigor [Common (D)]

She also had a list of other candidates. She was still finalizing things. 

She’d pick four or five to invest in, then drop them all on him when a fight began. 

“It’s a buff stack,” she said brightly.

“You really don’t have to do all this,” he told her, amused. “I can handle myself.”

“I know,” she said. “It’s just that my buffs do seem to work unusually well on you for… whatever reason.” She reddened a little at that. “It’d be a waste not to take advantage of it, especially if we’ll be fighting together.”

“I just don’t want you spending too much time on it, with how busy you are.”

She lifted her chin. “I’ll be working on my own Skills too, Zane Walker. You seem to think I’d spend all day on you!”

He hid a grin and gave the list a scan. She gave him a run-down, looking quite pleased with herself. “Lifemend makes it so cuts regenerate three times as fast so you don’t bleed out, even Destruction scars. Sanctified Physique boosts the quality of your muscles and skin up to two rarity grades—it works up to halfway through Origin! And as long as it’s active Buff of Endless Vigor diminishes physical energy loss to less than 1% per hour, even fighting at full capacity.”

They all seemed sensible on their own, but…

“What do you think?” she said, sidling up to him.

“It seems a little…” he wasn’t sure how to put it. “Defensive?”

“Really?” She seemed surprised.

“I just don’t know if I need all of it.” 

He couldn’t recall the last time he struggled with vigor. “Maybe take out the density and the stamina one, and put in something else?”

He considered her candidate list. “Like this one.” 

He pointed to a buff simply called ‘Aura Fuel,’ which simply let him use all aura like gasoline, including his enemy’s. 

“But they’re covering different aspects of defense,” Reina said. “It’s regeneration, pure defense, and endurance. They’re all valuable in their own right.”

“I’m already strong there, though,” he told her. “You said shoring up weaknesses was better bang for your buck, right?”

Reina looked perplexed. “I didn’t mean it like that…” 

Evan had gone off to the side to look up some maps of the next few Tower floors. He’d been trying to find information on this villain called The Scribbler who was quite active there. But he perked up after hearing them go back and forth a few times on it.

“Hey!” said Avery. She pulled Evan to the side. “Psst! What do you think?”

“Umm…” Evan looked a little put on the spot. “I think maybe Miss Reina just doesn’t want Zane to get hurt! So there’s more defense buffs in her list. And maybe Zane just wants to punch things, so he wants more offense ones? I’m not sure…”

Reina overheard and flushed a bit.

She clearly wanted to say something, but she had to pretend she hadn’t heard.

Zane felt that sounded about right.

They ended up agreeing on a balanced buff stack that satisfied them both—Blitz Sinews, Sanctified Physique, Lifemend, and Aura Fuel. Making him more explosive speed-wise, harder to bleed, and more explosive literally.  

After Reina finished up Skill learning, she’d be off to do her final World Tree ritual. She still hoped to mass as much Creation as she could, the same way that Zane had massed Destruction.

She wouldn’t say it, but Zane got the sense every time he raised the bar, she raised her own standards for herself. It might’ve been crushing for some, he felt, but it only lit the fire in her fiercer. 

They said their goodbyes at the teleporter hub on the grand bough.

Then it was off for all of them.

***

With a new Azure Flame Patriarch in town, Zane wasn’t sure what to expect. He knew very little about the King Phoenix—just that the fellow tended to rule in tandem with the Queen Phoenix. He landed without trouble.

There wasn’t often much traffic here. This teleporter hub was only used for Azure Flame’s direct disciples, along with Elders and other VIPs—that numbered only a few hundred.

He headed to the farthest teleporter there, the one leading to Noughtfire’s Lightning Constellation. He could go months without seeing someone else come through. If he did, it was often a chance run-in with Lin Rai, who’d gotten a lot nicer since they’d first met. He sometimes met Burnwater here too, though not lately. As the teleporter lit up as he neared he figured it’d be one of the two.

Instead a man in a straw hat stepped through, chewing on a piece of straw.