Overpowered Wizard

<Achievements opened!>

<You Got a Friend in Me (Epic): This is an achievement for accomplishing your quests of doing nice things for your friends and seeing them get developed. Thus, you get this: Scroll of Friendship Revival.>

Zarian blinked after rereading the achievement and realizing he had forgotten how incredible this reward was. He reached into Para’s pocket dimension and pulled out the scroll that the System had delivered to him last night.

He hadn’t aura-identified the scroll until now.

<Scroll of Friendship Revival (Epic): Evoke the power of this scroll by unrolling it and inserting your aura for a onetime use. Revive a recently killed friend with the power of this scroll, but you must sacrifice some of your life energy to do so. Beware of having low life energy or this would kill you. Concentrate for expanded details.>

Before Zarian concentrated, he thought how funny it was that they had two people with plenty of ways to use and abuse life energy. Zarian had his Bloody Lifesteal, and Gilbert had a new trait after upgrading the uncommon Extra Life to something epic, Life Wellspring.

Now that I think about it, it might be time I look at upgrading Bloody Lifesteal somehow. It’s falling behind a little.

That sounded like a no-brainer, but it actually required some major brainstorming. Zarian was thinking of upgrading the uncommon spell himself, which was something he’d never done before.

It was a simple enough spell. It only had basic symbols and runic text. There were even some blank spots where he could fill in stuff. Maybe he could pull it off. Maybe.

It was like the other scrolls. They were a foot and a half long, made of leathery parchment, and had a thick rawhide cord keeping it rolled up and pinched at the middle.

Each one was dark yellowish while the cords were brown.

Under Zarian’s aura perception, each scroll shone with their own mystical power colors and shapes based on their unique runes and arrays. The death blight scroll was dark and harrowing, while the friendship revival scroll was illuminating and welcoming.

The scrolls also had deeply ingrained runes that were special and guarded by the System.

Zarian could feel the Star System actively shielding the special runes. He assumed these were runes for the game mechanics that kept scrolls as special items.

Zarian pushed hard just to stress test the Star System, and the System resisted all the way successfully. This was definitely a hard-coded mechanic, so Zarian left it alone for now.

He found it novel that he and his friends reached the point where super high-quality items, such as scrolls of immense power, were now available.

The weapons and armors were nice, but they were more useful to Hannah. The flasks filled with dangerous concoctions could go to Gilbert.

But the scrolls? Those were definitely in Zarian’s wheelhouse.

<Scroll of Friendship Revival (Expanded Details): The making of scrolls requires an ability or two and some special materials, such as the hide of legendary beasts or monsters. Scrolls only go as low as epic quality if they come with some sacrifice. If not, then they are legendary and above.>

Zarian grabbed up all the scrolls with his aura and placed them into Para’s pocket dimension. He moved onto the next achievement.

<Make a God Cry (Divine): You’ve made Sinfeast cry. Here’s a vial of his tears.>

Zarian snorted and reached into the pocket dimension again.

He pulled out the dark, leather bound vial with a bulging hand-sized belly and a cork on top. Something awful and tragic roiled inside of the vial.

<Vial of Sinfeast Tears (Divine): This vial contains the tears of Evil God Sinfeast. This can be used for some heinous alchemy. Concentrate for expanded details.>

<Vial of Sinfeast Tears (Expanded Details): Evil Goddess Shadowfell would bend over backwards to have the tears of Sinfeast. You can trade this to her for immense favor instead of abusing your dark marital power over her.>

“Damn, System, when you really want to be ruthless, you really can be,” Zarian said, putting the vial back into the pocket dimension. “Much appreciated. I’ll keep this for a really rainy day.”

<Keep Infinita Safe (Divine): You are keeping Infinita safe, which involves one of your quests! Hooray! As a reward, the Star System will deliver a favor soon without you having to think about it too hard. You will see.>

“Huh, that sounds cool. I would wonder what that favor could be, but apparently I don’t need to think hard about it. Thanks.”

Zarian already had a lot to think about. So the less thinking he could do, the better.

<Legendary Lair Conquest (Legendary): You can’t help but be an overachiever and have your first officially conquered lair be a legendary one! Most people start with uncommon or rare, if they’re really lucky/unlucky! So here is your reward for being the finest of growing conquerors, more stats: +10 Willpower, +10 Strength, +10 Agility, +10 Wonder, +10 Mysticism, and +25 Free points.>

“I’m really not an overachiever, but I guess I owe my thanks to the gnolls for stealing what could’ve been my first lair,” Zarian said, nodding. “You know what? I’ll even scratch behind some of their ears to show my appreciation.”

Some new notifications popped up in front of Zarian. His eyes widened at the messages.

<Gnolls live a mainly brutal and cruel life. Affection is only given to the best of the best of gnolls, but even that is a tool of manipulation. Show them the power of freedom and free affection for being friends!>

<Side Quest 6 (Rare): Give The Gnolls Some Ear Scratches and Head Pats!>

“Star System, now I know you are acting wild,” Zarian said. “There are a lot of gnolls. A lot, a lot. How many ear scratches and head pats am I supposed to give to accomplish the side quest?”

The Star System didn’t respond.

Para gave a happy impression in the back of Zarian’s mind. Technically, she was a part of him. She could accomplish the quest for him once they reached the central home of the Blood Prairie Savages.

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I have a bunch of leftover quests don’t I? Zarian checked.

<Main Quest (Legendary): Defeat the hellish Grimrock Warlock. Decide the fate of the Mythical Indomitable Cook.>

<Side Quest (Epic): Find the Forgotten Kingdom!>

<Side Quest 2 (Rare): Develop your community at the Ride-or-Die Fort.>

<Side Quest 3 (Legendary): Find the gnomes!>

<Side Quest 4 (Rare): Give The Gnolls Some Ear Scratches and Head Pats!>

Yeah, I cleared out some of the older side quests, but now I have new ones, Zarian thought.

Either way, the rewards were pouring in heavily. The stats had gone up because of the Legendary Lair Conquest achievement.

Zarian could feel the difference in Strength and Agility especially since those were low compared to everything else.

However, Zarian was physically the second most capable person overall right now because of his Thematic Law/Floridian Mindset. That divine trait buffed Para by a lot, which buffed Zarian’s body by a lot.

Still, building up the base Strength and Agility without having to use Free points was always nice.

Now onto the last achievement, which had given him a slightly ridiculous and troublesome reward.

<Greater Boon Avatar Domination (Divine): Few adventurers have ever defeated a Lesser World Boss. Fewer even have defeated one that multiple god boons enhanced while serving as a direct avatar of a major god. Yet, not only did you win, you dominated. Hence, the reward for this achievement boils down to something you can’t resist. A new soul bound skill called Grimoire of Weird Morphs.>

Zarian sighed. “Oh, Christian God of Gilbert, damn it all. Isn’t my plate full enough?”

<Grimoire of Weird Morphs (Level 1): Through study and practice, you can evoke some weird spells from this accident of spellcraft and odd magic. The grimoire must be summoned as a medium, even if it can act a little difficult. You currently have 0 learned spells.>

Zarian summoned the grimoire. He waited as something shifted around under the cloak from behind him. The grimoire crept out from under Para slowly while flat with the bed.

Humanoid fingers and centipede legs extended from the back cover. Yellow-white patches of fur and horns covered the front cover. Beady eyes of different sizes and types blinked, clicked, and lolled about from the spine.

Zarian blinked slowly at the thing.

The grimoire was certainly weird as it moved skittishly across the bed. Then it turned to Zarian and emitted a gurgling screech before scurrying back under Para’s cloak.

Zarian sighed again. “How am I supposed to learn spells when the grimoire is all timid? Am I supposed to force it?”

Para formed a feminine hand, the palm splitting into a mouth. “I can help there, Zarian. I know you are busy, but since this is a basic grimoire, I should be able to read its initial spells quickly and pass the knowledge to you.”

“Uh, sure, thanks.” Zarian hesitated, then asked, “Is everything okay, Para?”

“I have been thinking about existence and choice and the meaning of life. I have been thinking of many things I haven’t thought too deeply about outside of morality and what I am in the grand scheme of everything,” Para said.

Zarian opened and closed his mouth. He didn’t know what to say, so he nodded.

Para turned her attention to the Grimoire of Weird Morphs. She gently caressed the bristly and horned top cover.

The grimoire made phlegmy purring sounds that sounded like someone’s clogged up drainage pipe. The grimoire seemed to like the parasite more than the actual host.

I feel like summoning the other grimoires and letting them toughen this one up. Especially the hell gator grimoire, Zarian thought mischievously.

That’s bullying and hazing and hypocritical of you. Why not build trust first before we add pressure gradually? Para directed through their mental bond.

Oof, damn, you are not holding back when you act like a mother. Fine, fine, use your gentle parenting and see how far that goes, Zarian returned.

At the very least, Para would take a short time to learn the first two or three spells once she could get the weird morph grimoire to cooperate. It was a basic grimoire, too, so it had plenty of growing to do before it advanced like the others.

Leaving Para to tame their new grimoire, Zarian moved on to the juicy stuff. Actual levels, advancements, and new gains.

<You’ve leveled up from 85 to 92! Stat points dispensed!>

<Your skill, Overwhelming Darkness, leveled up from 5 to 9!>

<Your skill, Parasite Cloak +2, leveled up from 42 to 49!>

<Your skill, Spectral Spider Network +2, leveled up from 32 to 43!>

<Your skill, Summon Wizard Hat +2, leveled up from 36 to 48!>

<Your skill, High Rune Mindframe, leveled up from 6 to 19!>

<Your skill has advanced! From High Rune Mindframe to High Rune Mindframe +1!>

<Your skill, Advanced Grimoire of the Voidling Exile, leveled up from 9 to 18!>

<Your skill has advanced! From Advanced Grimoire of the Voidling Exile to Advanced Grimoire of the Voidling Exile +1!>

<Your skill, Advanced Grimoire of Black Magic, leveled up from 1 to 13!>

<Your skill has advanced! From Advanced Grimoire of Black Magic to Advanced Grimoire of Black Magic +1!>

<Your skill, Advanced Grimoire of the Hell Gator, leveled up from 1 to 10!>

<Your skill has advanced! From Advanced Grimoire of the Hell Gator to Advanced Grimoire of the Hell Gator +1!>

“Oh, yeah, that’s that good, good stuff. I’d snort it if I could,” Zarian said, chuckling. “I’m eight more levels away from the big Level 100 and all the cool stuff that comes with it.”

More importantly, these advancements came with one skill upgrade and some new features that were unique to grimoires.

High Rune Mindframe +1 was more incredible now.

<High Rune Mindframe +1 (Level 19): Use this skill to conduct mental workloads faster, easier, and safer. Your mind is more structured, like the runes of high-speed magical intelligence. Scales with Mysticism. Advancement: +1 can provide the same benefits to others mentally linked to you, but the aura cost will get steeper depending on the amount of additional workload.>

That includes the spiders and everyone who has a mind spider in their head, Zarian thought, amazed. This means everyone can have their brains structured and in sync like a bunch of computers on a network.

Hannah would lose it once she heard about this.

The only problem was that the aura cost would get heavy if he tried to boost and maintain too many mental workloads at once. It would probably work best when used against extreme problems.

“Still a very nice upgrade,” Zarian said. “But wait, there’s more.”

<Which skill would you like to turn into a spell for the Advanced Grimoire of the Voidling Exile +1?>

<Which skill would you like to turn into a spell for the Advanced Grimoire of Black Magic +1?>

<Which skill would you like to turn into a spell for the Advanced Grimoire of the Hell Gator +1?>

There it is, Zarian thought. A new element to the game. Apparently, the advanced grimoires can do more than upgrade spells. They can turn skills into spells, which gives me more access to the runes and designs of those skills. Better yet, they’ll grow stronger with the grimoires rather than individually, making it all more efficient for me as a wizard.

This also played into Zarian’s new theory. He should be able to advance spells on his own without the Star System’s direct help. Ruvaria hadn’t mentioned it, but Zarian was sure she left it as something for him to realize on his own.

Bloody Lifesteal was the perfect candidate for a DIY upgrade. After all, Zarian had loads of new inspiration from all the bloody magic stuff he’d experienced recently.

Other than that, he had some choices to make for turning skills into spells. Hence why he had gone skill hunting before returning to the lake.

Before Zarian made any permanent choices, he checked the new gains from waking up this morning. He was already smiling before he read it.

<You’ve grown, earning +3 Willpower, +1 Strength, +1 Agility, +2 Wonder, +3 Mysticism. You’ve also earned the trait Warp Adaptation (Epic).>

<Warp Adaptation (Epic): With this trait, you have adapted to warp magic and can catch on to its particular nature quickly. This can show in your aura when exposed to warp energy.>

“About damn time,” Zarian said.