A new screen appeared before my eyes, flickering and twitching before stabilising into a large, wide, translucent screen with ornate gold details.
At the very top of the screen sat multiple columns, each inscribed with a number from one to twenty. Though I had to swipe through them a few times to reach the higher numbers. Within each column, sat five Aspects, gleaming in a subtle gold colour.
'There's so many,' I thought with a grimace, moving through each of the columns to preview the available Aspects. Out of pure curiosity, I even checked out the level twenty Aspects, finding two that would help me largely with my Mana Point problem.
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|| [Aspect]: [Sapphire Star] ||
|| [Level N/A]: [Progression: N/A] ||
|| [Omphalos Designation]: [Passive] ||
|| [Description]: [Within your body burns a brilliant sapphire star, forged of sheer will and the energy of the divine. This star grants you multiple benefits, such as decreasing the time for your [MP] stat to start regenerating by [-100%], increasing the regeneration rate of your [MP] stat by [+50%] and the ability to imbue your fire with Mana itself, increasing the potency, power, and control of the flames] ||
|| [Cost]: [20]-[Aspect Points] ||
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|| [Legacy of Hecate] ||
|| [Level N/A]: [Progression: N/A] ||
|| [Omphalos Designation]: [Passive] ||
|| [Description]: [Within you is a drop of blood which comes directly from the Titaness of Witchcraft and Sorcery. Because of her intrinsic connection to all that is mystical, you receive a permanent increase of [+20,000] to your [MP] stat, and an added regeneration rate of [+100%] ||
|| [Cost]: [20]-[Aspect Points] ||
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Either one of these Aspect would solve my Mana Point problem within an instant. Unfortunately, to be able to afford any of them, I'd probably have to sell both of my kidneys and a lung to the System.
'Which is quite a tempting thought.' I silently mused. What was that famous saying…? Desperate times call for desperate measures? Yeah, that's what it was, and I was feeling quite desperate right now.
[-][===][-]
|| [I do not accept kidneys or any other human body parts as payments, user. Only Aspect Points] ||
[-][===][-]
"There goes that plan." I muttered, rolling my eyes again. "Spoilsport."
Knowing I couldn't afford either of the two Aspects with my pitiful number of seven Aspect Points, I went back down the list, mulling and debating which to pick as my body healed and the corpse of the Leshy began to finally stop burning.
In the end, I settled on two separate Aspects.
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|| [Aspect]: [Triple Goddesses Blessing] ||
|| [Level N/A]: [Progression: N/A] ||
|| [Omphalos Designation]: [Passive] ||
|| [Description]: [Your soul, the very source of your mystical abilities, has received a personal blessing from the Titaness of Sorcery, which grants your [MP] stat an increased regeneration rate of [+20%] ||
|| [Cost]: [2]-[Aspect Points] ||
[-][===][-]
|| [Aspect Purchased!] ||
[-][===][-]
There were multiple reasons I had specifically chosen this Aspect.
The first, was due to its similarity to [Legacy of Hecate], one of the two level twenty Aspects I had viewed earlier. If its name was anything to go by, they were both undoubtedly linked together, even if one was noticeable weaker than the other.
A part of my decision was made to see what would happen to this Aspect once I did purchase [Legacy of Hecate]. Though I still had a long way to go before that ever happened, so for now, it was more of a future investment to satisfy my own curiosity.
Of course, the third and final reason behind my purchase of this Aspect, was for the boon it granted me. A twenty percent increase was nothing to scoff at, after all. It turned my two hundred Mana Point recovery rate into one thousand, in just a single hour, at that.
For someone like me, who only had a little over a thousand Mana Points total currently, it was an invaluable purchase. Within an hour, most—if not all, of my points would be recovered to their max.
This choice of mine also influenced the next Aspect I had purchased.
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|| [Aspect]: [Nebulous Polarizer] ||
|| [Level N/A]: [Progression: N/A] ||
|| [Omphalos Designation]: [Passive] ||
|| [Description]: [Mana is the sacred right of all that is divine, and of all that is born from the divine. From the air in your lungs, to the grass at your feet, to the soul deep within you. The cost of all your Mana related abilities is reduced by [-10%] and you receive a permanent increase of [+1000] points to your [MP] stat] ||
|| [Cost]: [3]-[Aspect Points] ||
[-][===][-]
|| [Aspect Purchased!] ||
[-][===][-]
This purchase should be self-explanatory. With it, my Mana Points would, and already had increased by a thousand points, reaching two thousand three hundred points all together, with the extra thousand points becoming available for me to use right away.
Then, of course, there was the changes to all of my Aspects that required Mana Points to be used by them.
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|| [Alert!] ||
|| [Because of Aspect…[Designation]: [Nebulous Polarizer]…Multiple Aspects require recalibration…] ||
|| […Recalibrating…Calculating…Changes Noted!] ||
|| [Aspect]: [Pyrokinesis]-[75MP/S > 7MP/S] ||
|| [Aspect]: [Dendrokinesis]: [75MP/S > 7MP/S] ||
|| [Aspect]: [Wraith Soul]: [100MP/S + 150EP/S > 10MP/S + 150EP/S] ||
[-][===][-]
"And just like that, my Mana problem is solved." I didn't bother hiding the grin on my face as I viewed the new changes. I was finally beginning to understand why Aspect Points were so hard to come across.
Even the Aspects held within the lower levels of the Aspect Shop were insanely powerful, and from what I had glimpsed of the higher tiers, they only grew stronger.
Far stronger.
Of course, I could have easily chosen a singular, overpowered Aspect at the sixth or seventh tier. But it simply wasn't in my style to do so, especially when I was overall, still so weak.
As of right now, versatility, and having multiple smaller boons working together provided me more of a benefit than any singular overpowered Aspect really could.
In the future, once I grew to be stronger, that would undoubtedly change, but for now, it would just have to be how I spent my limited amount of Aspect Points.
'Now then, what to buy with the remaining two Aspect Points that I have?'