The two Bog Witches make their excuses and head out as soon as they believe is polite, returning to give the good news to the boss that she won't be on the hook for a fourth advancement class.
That gives Cain to really think about his new class and how he's going to use it. If he can upgrade one skill for now with another coming to him every twenty levels, he can slowly make his way through all of his summoning skills until he has his full army again. Doing things that way, he can use his Spell Crafting to create the buffs and attack spells to complement them, bringing his combat potential back up to the level that it was before awakening.
The only real difference would be that Awakened attack spells grant much more damage increase than Awakened defensive spells do armor. It's very uncommon to be able to tank more than a few direct hits as a Mythic Awakened. This makes both the weight of numbers and healing ability much more important in the grand scheme of things.
Actual Mythic Quality creatures have it a little easier, not getting one-shotted by ten thousand damage Mythic [Fireball]s, but even then a half dozen of them will take down most Mythic beings if they don't have a shield or healer.
That makes it much more worth it to simply assign everyone a Mythic attack skill and resummon them when they die, with only a few durable targets among his forces. Then he can focus on defensive abilities and area attacks to mitigate the losses.
"What about seeing how a lower grade ability scales? Maybe a lower level damage absorption shield with an area effect?" Evangeline suggests, having a few of them herself.
There is one in particular that she has in mind, it's an S Ranked shield, that self-repairs every second. Bumping it up through Legendary and Ancient to Mythic should make both the total damage capacity and the refresh rate pretty impressive.
Cain takes out the inscription desk and starts writing out her skill, hoping that his change of class didn't mess with his ability to use books. Again it didn't specify what he can use, so he's in a 'make the book and hope for the best' type situation. With the spell book complete a few hours later, Cain uses the book and looks over his new skill.
[Indomitable Barrier] Grants damage absorption equal to ten percent of the Caster's Maximum Health to all friendly targets within [Users Level] Meters. Recovers 3 percent of lost capacity per second. Lasts 5 minutes.
Evangeline uses this one all the time because you only need 30 seconds without taking damage for it to be back at full capacity without being cast over again, which was a big help when her mana pool was smaller and more targets needed actual healing after the barriers were down.
Cain uses [Versatility] to enhance it and casts the skill.
[Impenetrable Barrier] Grants Damage absorption equal to Caster's Maximum HP to all friendly targets within [User's Level] Meters. Recovers 3 Percent of lost capacity per second. Lasts until Cancelled, even if fully depleted.
With Cain's current health pool, that's over two thousand damage absorption per second that can be recovered. But if he uses some of the enchantments from Spell Crafting, he should be able to increase his health pool even further, until he reaches the point where even a Mythic Fireball a second wouldn't be a real concern for his summons.
There might be a similar spell in his Spell Crafting textbook, but Cain hasn't gotten nearly that far yet. Barriers are in with the holy magic and healing, which are at the end of the book.
"Good call, Evangeline. With this everything will be able to take a hit or two, even the lowest rank summons." Cain congratulates her.
The lowest grade of his summons at the moment are the Epic Quality ones from [Summon Pet], the upgraded form of [Summon Lesser Golem]. Adding another 75,000hp worth of durability to them is a huge thing.
They should go visit one of the vortexes again, and see what they can do to neutralize it, or hopefully reverse the effects. Cain hasn't quite gotten through every part of what he wanted to study, but he has enough to get a few ideas that will help guide the rest of his studies. There is one not too far from here. It was outside of the Quest area, but that isn't important now that the Quest is ending and the road work is beginning.
Wait, he forgot to sign up for road work. Oh well, he can do that later.
Cain calls a pair of Forest Dragons and they take off in the direction of the vortex. It is in the middle of a rock pile, not a spot where too many people will cross voluntarily. But it is an intersection of two very minor Ley Lines, and Cain can feel the unstable power when he focuses.
This one doesn't have the power and presence that the one under the temple does, but going by the square cut of the boulders here, it looks like at one point there was a rather grand structure constructed on top of the intersection, with the ruins forming the rock field.
Nothing about the weathered stones gives a hint at what they once were assembled for, but the spot where the vortex is remained totally clear of plant life, the smooth white stone looking undamaged by the years, or worn smooth by use, which Cain knows can't be right, or this vortex would be more powerful due to the transfers trapped in it.
Looking with Mana Sight, this one is less damaged than the other one as well, with a much smaller section missing.
"Alright, we can do this. I know enough of the theory now that I can repair this." Cain gives himself a quick pep talk, then gets to work repairing the edges of the damaged spell, mending them back into a cohesive enchantment.
