Elemental Mastery

 Elemental Mastery, the skill I'd received for apparently the same reason, was a bit more complicated in how it worked—but even more valuable. The first effect was similar to my physical Mastery skills; a percentage increase to attack and defense and such. Both seemed based on my Affinities as much as the skill's level, though, producing some interesting results and implications. I couldn't be sure, but if I got the skill to a hundred and an Affinity to a hundred…would I be immune to the Element in question? The multiplier I received towards attack was much greater than the damage reduction, but gaining immunity to specific elements wasn't unusual in games by any means. Generally there was a bit more balance, except with really powerful, hard to acquire items but…with my ability…well, I really wouldn't be surprised. Between that and Physical Endurance, I just had to shrug. Maybe I'd be immune to harm if I could get all my defensive skills maxed out, maybe not. I'd know the truth someday, probably, but I had a long, long way to go before then.

Its other ability, however, was what made it truly powerful—Elemental Mastery effected how the skill which had produced it functioned, improving Summon Elemental. Summon Elemental worked in a very specific way as it leveled up; rather than a percentage based increase per level, roughly every five or six levels I became able to summon another elemental. For example, when the skill had been level twenty, I'd been able to summon three Air Elementals. Instead of doing that, however, I could also just summon one, and it would have the power of all three combined. While there were situations where quantity surpassed quality and a small number of carefully positioned Elementals might be preferably, I generally just made the strongest ones I could because of the expansion to range, versatility, and power. Summoning different Elementals worked rather similarly, dependent on my 'pool.'

That is, when I summoned Crocea Mors and Levant to aid me with the White Whale, I'd had a pool of eight possible Elementals and had split that between them because I'd needed the skills of both. Generally, I made each level four, though depending on the situation I could go all in for one or the other or any combination of the two.

But Elemental Mastery changed that. Because of it, I could maintain completely different spells for individual Elementals, using multiple Summons that each allowed for a full 'pool', up to a limit determined by my Elemental Mastery. I couldn't use multiple castings to summon many versions of the same Elemental, but I could summon Crocea Mors at full power with one spell and then Levant with another, paying the cost to maintain them separately—an added cost, perhaps, but one far below the additional benefit.