Name: Nicole Silberschmidt
Race: Human (Riftwalker)
First Class: MacTinker
First Class Level: 1
Age: 34
Health: 110
Stamina: 110
Mana: 105
Resilients: 20
Flexibility: 10
Magic: 15
Skills. Rank
Class Skills
Eyedentify D - 29%
Wondering Pather E - 58%
Mana Explosives F - 27%General Skills
Mana Manipulation E - 46%
I was sitting back at my basecamp reviewing my skills and letting my mana recover, checking my stats every so often.
Health: 110/110
Stamina: 110/110
Mana: 97/105
I felt at this point I had recovered enough to experiment with my Mana Explosives skill. I grabbed a handy (maybe footy) chair leg, shoved about 30 points of mana into it and threw it down the hallway. Just like the last few it exploded into splinters, I started to suspect that was not the most efficient use of mana or chair legs but I had some to spare. I then checked my skills again.
Skills. Rank
Class Skills
Eyedentify D - 29%
Wondering Pather E - 58%
Mana Explosives F - 38%General Skills
Mana Manipulation E - 47%
So I understood how to grind Mana Explosives which was great, my concern with that skill was the collateral damage when used as a weapon. My Mana Manipulation moved up a little bit at least but that had slowed down quite a bit. I was also starting to get a feel for how much mana an object would take to make it unstable, I just hoped I didn't lose any fingers or anything when practicing. I took a look at my stats again.
Health: 110/110
Stamina: 110/110
Mana: 68/105
That felt about right but seemed so slow, I found the regeneration speed a little frustrating. I then grabbed one of the metal trinkets which looked like some sort of puzzle you had to disassemble to solve. I infused that with as much mana as I felt comfortable with. I could feel the object really vibrating and rattling, then just like with the chair legs I tossed it down the hallway. This explosion I felt as much as heard, with little pings of fragmented metal bouncing off the stone walls. I checked my stats as I didn't pay too much attention to how much I had put in.
Mana 24/105
“Ok… way too much... Well me let’s take a look at the damage.” I told myself out loud. I was wondering if the too quiet of a possibly underground office complex was starting to get to me.
Looking at the walls I found chips of broken stone all over the place with some spots closest to the blast still having metal fragments embedded in the walls. That definitely could have killed someone due to the shrapnel. I then took a look at my skills again.
Skills. Rank
Class Skills
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Eyedentify D - 29%
Wondering Pather E - 58%
Mana Explosives F - 63%General Skills
Mana Manipulation E - 60%
“Ok, that is way more progress. Just like everything else so far it appears that doing ‘new’ things seems to give higher jumps.” I voiced to myself.
I decided to call it a day and focus on just Mana Manipulation control until I wore myself out. I spent maybe a good three or four hours working on that to see what gains I could make. By the time I was ready to go to sleep for my second night I was already at 87%. I topped up several of the magic desk lamps then barricaded the door with desks with a chair balanced to fall over if anything tried to move the door. I then took my tee shirt off and balled it up into a makeshift pillow and promptly fell asleep.
I was abruptly awakened by the sound of a falling chair. Adrenalin surged as I knew I was in danger, I pressed mana into the closest lamp and pointed it towards whatever was trying to get in. Using my identity skill I got a list of all the stuff near the door. It really was not necessary as what I could see was more Green colored snot trying to slip under the door. I did pay attention to the level of the Green Slime trying to break in however.
Hungry Green Slime, big boi (level: ?)
“What the hell does a question mark mean? Is the level gap too high to register?” I almost shouted out in panic. The thing trying to get into the room was a lot bigger than what I had faced yesterday, still smaller than me but not by much.
Its acid was doing a number to the door and barricade and I knew they could not hold long. I grabbed one of the knives I had found and shoved as much energy into it as I felt was safe then reached over the barricade and dropped it. Before I had a chance to pull my hand back a pseudopod grabbed my wrist. I could feel the powerful acid burn my skin but I was luckily able to pull away after only a second. I then dove behind my makeshift desk barrier to where I had been sleeping and waited for the boom.
5 Second and nothing.
10 seconds still nothing.
I was starting to get worried that something had gone wrong before finally the explosion went off.
Part of the room was also splattered with green sizzling acrid snot, and I was sure I heard at least one of the desks get knocked over. My vision was also bombarded with several notifications which I was ignoring for the moment. I slowly poked my head above my barrier to review the destruction. The two desks acting as a barrier at the door had tumbled backwards into the room, both smoking and sizzling from green slime guts. The green slime was everywhere as well and very clearly dead. I also realized too I had no method of neutralizing the leftover acid and would need to play the game the floor is lava to escape. Seeing as I was out of immediate danger I looked at my wrist where the pseudopod had grabbed me. It was red and a bit blistered but less severe than I expected. I took a moment to rinse the burn with some water which stung a bit. I would need to tend to it more later but it was not remotely life threatening. I then took a moment to look at all the new notifications.\
Ding!
Congratulations, you detonated ‘Hungry Green Slime’ Level 4 to a lumpy veneer! Bonus Exp was granted for splattering a monster above your level!
Ding!
Congratulations! Through repeated actions your Mana Explosives skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!
Rank E is a free rank!
Mana Explosives
Rank F - 100%
Your explosives are now more efficient in the use of mana. You get more bang for your buck as the saying goes.
This ability is ready to rank up. Do you wish to increase Mana Explosives to Rank E?
Ding!
Congratulations! Through repeated actions your Mana Manipulation skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!
Rank D is a free rank!
Mana Manipulation
Rank E - 100%
You have developed fining control of your mana both inside and outside of your body. You can now anchor strands of mana to more distant objects.
This ability is ready to rank up. Do you wish to increase Mana Manipulation to Rank D?
“Ok… a level 4 was question marks… that is not really all that helpful… at least I know now.” I muttered to myself. I then accepted the two skill ranks and took a look at my current stats.
Health: 107/110
Stamina: 108/110
Mana: 28/105
“Fuck me… that was almost 80 points worth of mana… then again this was a rank F skill…” I said to myself, then after a pause “WHAT THE FUCK would a Rank A do?” I all but shouted.
I needed to get out of this office complex, I gathered every useful thing I could imagine then I lowered the desks to make a platform over the still sizzling Green Slime remains.
Finding the exit took what I suspected was about four hours of searching. While this place was in generally good repair there were still spots that had caved in at some point. It still made navigation more like a maze.
When I finally reached outside I was greeted by an overcast view of what appeared to be some sort of valley town. The complex I had just exited appeared to be cut into a massive mountain from where I was standing.
The town also looked abandoned with some of the buildings partially collapsed in. At least I was out of the oppressive underground complex. Just as I started down the long large set of stone stairs to the village proper the sun managed to poke its way out from behind the overcast clouds.
I knew what this meant in my heart and what I had to do next. I faced myself towards the sun, placed my arms above my head forming a 'Y' shape, then shouted.
"Praise the Sun!"
With the very important and appropriate game reference out of the way I ventured down into the town.