V.V. was right about the poisonous berries, but Alex ate them anyway. The burnt meat wasn’t exactly edible either, but he wolfed down everything his companions placed in front of him. With Emerald’s constant aura washing over him, Alex wasn’t too bothered by the slight discomfort the foods applied to his stomach.
BURP
“Oh, I needed that… Thanks so much.” Alex said to both V.V. and the other orbs. He rested his head on his favorite tree once again and for probably the last time. After closing his eyes for a few minutes and trying to keep his mind from flickering off in unhelpful directions, Alex abruptly opened his eyes and stood.
“There are so many things I want to understand about myself, the System and the world… or worlds… but I have to get somewhere safe first.” Alex said and felt himself get woozy at acknowledging that there was indeed more than one celestial body hanging above his head now. He still wasn’t ready to take a long look at the sky just yet, but not passing out at the thought was a nice step forward.
“That seems like an acceptable approach to your current situation.” V.V. acknowledged as she floated a few charred and discarded bones through the air.
“What are you doing?” Alex asked as he watched V.V. spin squirrel bones around their body in tight loops. Her shenanigans were a great excuse for his mind to not dwell on uncomfortable thoughts.
“Practicing.” V.V. dropped the bones to the ground and floated over to Alex.
“You should practice as well. Also, you should distribute all your experience points before we move forward. Unused experience is like a bottle of water in a desert. It’s better to consume it all now and look for more of it later.”
“I was thinking of saving them up so I could see which of my classes categories would be the most useful.”
“They all have their uses but if we enter a battle that we cannot win and you have thousands of unspent experience, what will you be thinking then?
“Uh… yeah… Ok, spending the points.” Alex said, suddenly bombarded with images of jumbo jet sized bunnies hopping towards him.
User: Alexander Ingram
Race: Human (Other)
Age/Sex: 19 / Male
Titles: First Among Many, The Sky Is My Kingdom, Lonely Warden
Class: Orb Caller
Orbs: Ruby, Emerald, Sapphire, Opal
Level 1: 400/1000
Profession: None
Exp: 2255
Companion: Vibrant Void
System Credits: 57327
System Tokens*: 3 X-Grade Tokens, 8 A-Grade Tokens, 6 B-Grade Tokens, 9 C-Grade Tokens
Skills: Mana Tolerance (1), Mana Absorption (1)
Attribute Points: 10
Skill Points: 1
“Damn… That’s a wall of information. I haven’t even used anymore of my tokens, or even my credits for that matter. I’m actually bad at this…” Alex said as he called up his full status page.
“Given the circumstances that you’ve been enduring, it’s acceptable that you’ve put off a few things.” V.V. said in defense of Alex’s lack of attention to his status.
“Thanks… I appreciate that but I do really need to run through all of this information. I feel like this is the first time I’ve really gotten a moment to breathe after all the running and fighting. Emerald’s aura is so much more helpful than I thought It’d be.” Alex said and started slowly scanning down his status page.
“Alex, I know you want time to go over everything but once it becomes night once more, things aren’t going to go as smoothly as they have been.” V.V. said, seeing that Alex was beginning to settle in against his tree to focus on his status.
“Things have been going smoothly? Alex asked, almost feeling a chuckle rise up from inside himself but V.V.’s lack emotion in their voice made him realize that they were serious.
“How the hell can you call what’s been happening, smooth?” Alex went from almost laughing to feeling panic tingling his brain yet again.
“Everything we’ve faced so far is nothing compared to what will be coming out at night. All these small creatures are just prey. Predators enjoy the night far more than the day in most cases.”
“It was night when all of this happened though. The rabbit was horrifying but we handled it somehow.”
“The hare was no different than the squirrels or lizards. It may have been larger but it was probably chasing the lizards due to being Mana Crazed rather than because it wanted to eat them. The things that are hungry for flesh are what you need to worry about.”
“Those squirrels and lizards seemed plenty hungry for my flesh…”
“No, they just wanted to kill you. There’s a difference.”
“Right… But again, it was night when the world ended so why weren’t these flesh eaters out then?”
“Stronger entities take longer to acclimate to the System and Mana. It most likely took so long for them to recover from being changed that daylight had already arrived.”
“But if they’re all trying to kill me anyway, what does it matter if one wants my flesh and the other just wants me dead?”
“You’ll just have to experience it for yourself I suppose. You’ll definitely notice a difference.”
“I’d… rather not…”
“Inevitable things are funny like that. They happen whether you want them to or not.”
“You’re not very comforting… do we need to move right now? Alex said, feeling like his moment of reprieve was rapidly coming to an end.
“Hmm… We should start moving to find some form of shelter within the next few minutes, probably. The dome is useful if you need to rest during the day with no other viable shelter around, but it won’t be much use when night falls.” V.V. said as she floated off towards a clump of bushes to inspect something Alex was sure were more poisonous berries.
Sigh…
“I don’t even know where to head though…” Alex said but V.V. seemed thoroughly engrossed in whatever had drawn their attention. Alex looked back to his status, his eyes glancing over the multiple important tidbits of information but yet again was forced to focus on one small portion.
“Hmm… “ Alex remembered that V.V. considered the order of usefulness to be Utility and then Enhance before either Summoning or Elements. He decided to put nine-hundred into each to boost them both to level two.
Orb Caller: Class Options
Summon Level 1: 100/1000
Enhance Level 2: 1000/2500
Elements Level 1: 100/1000
Utility Level 2: 1000/2500
Orb Caller: Class Options
Utility Level 2: 1000/2500
Orb Skill: 1/1: Dome of Protection: Can create a dome to protect the User from minor environmental elements. The dome can be constructed up to 6ft high and 6ft in diameter.
Durability: 200
Defense: 7
Orb Passive: 1/1: Wound Care Aura: A togglable aura that will slowly clean wounds of both debris and disease.
Range: 1.5ft
Orb Skill: 0/2: Summon Sustenance: After targeting a User, the orb can summon acceptable nutritious sustenance for that individual.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Quality: 2
Enhance Level 2: 1000/2500
Orb Skill: 1/1: Boost Defense: Target self or other for a minor boost to defense.
Defense Increase: 10
Range: 6ft
Duration: 6 minutes.
Orb Skill: 1/1: Boost Attack: Target self or other for a minor boost to defense.
Attack Increase: 10
Range: 6ft
Duration: 6 minutes.
Orb Skill: 0/1: Boost Speed: Target self or other for a minor boost to speed.
Speed Increase: 10
Range: 6ft
Duration: 6 minutes.
Orb Passive: 0/1: Focus Aura: A togglable aura that will slightly boost the focus of entities within its reach.
Quality: 2
Range: 1.5ft
“Oh come on… I ate poison berries and charcoal squirrel when I could have had one of you guys create food? Dangit…” Alex said to no one in particular. He looked over his newly acquired class skills and decided on who to pass them out to.
“Ok guys, line up.” Although his little followers were already moving before he spoke the words, Alex enjoyed saying them regardless. After contemplating over whether he should have each orb have varied skillsets or specializations, Alex decided he’d try to specialize but vary things up as needed. Boost Speed went to Sapphire, Focus Aura went to Emerald and Summon Sustenance went to both Ruby and Opal.
Ingram’s Orb (Murky Red)
Name: Ruby
Age: 0
Class: None
Profession: None
Abilities: Link, Flame Aura 1
Skills: None
Spells: Summon Sustenance
Ingram’s Orb (Dark Green)
Name: Emerald
Age: 0
Class: None
Profession: None
Abilities: Link, Wound Care Aura 1, Focus Aura 1
Skills: Sight Beyond 1
Spells: None
Ingram’s Orb (Light Blue)
Name: Sapphire
Age: 0
Class: None
Profession: None
Abilities: Link
Skills: Dark Vision 1, Boost Attack 1, Boost Defense 1, Boost Speed 1
Spells: None
Ingram’s Orb (Off-White)
Name: Opal
Age: 0
Class: None
Profession: None
Abilities: Link, Gaze Upon Prey
Skills: None
Spells: Dome of Protection, Summon Sustenance
“Uh… Is there a limit to how many skills you can use before your Mana runs out or something? I don’t even know how much Mana you, the orbs or I have.” Alex asked V.V. as they plucked one little greenish berry after another, which then promptly disappeared into what Alex could only assume was V.V.’s inventory.
“Most beings have some level of Mana or Health. Many have other stats like Energy, Stamina and Focus. As you grow stronger, the System will be able to display more accurate information. There are also skills and abilities that can display that information for you. As for whether Sapphire will be able to cast all those boost skills, probably.” V.V. said while diving in and out of the berry bush.
“How did you know I was wondering about Sapphire’s ability to cast multiple boosts?” Alex asked, his eyebrows raised in surprise at V.V.’s pinpoint accuracy guess.
“Hmm… Not sure… I just felt like that’s what you were wondering about. On a more important note, these berries might make a great addition to the poisons I’m thinking of making.”
“Uh… Ok. How do you know if something is poisonous. You didn’t seem to be sure the berries I ate earlier were poisonous.” Alex asked, caught a bit off guard by the shift in conversation.
“Those were up in the air. They didn’t give me a strong vibe either direction.”
“Vibe? What do you mean by direction?
“Emerald gives off a good vibe because of that aura, I think. These berries give off a slightly uncomfortable feeling. Some of the mushrooms I’ve collected give off very negative feelings. It’s fascinating.”
“So, you can tell if something has restorative or debilitating effects?
“Hmm… Essentially.”
“That’s extremely helpful. Could you do that before my class?
“Not in the same way as I’m able to now. Before the class acquisition, the System would notify me of most Mana Touched things in the area. I no longer feel that strong connection with the System and consequently; I no longer receive streams of information. It’s a lot less to filter but there are pros and cons to that.” V.V. explained as she finished up with her task and returned to hover over Alex’s right shoulder.
“Ok, there’s so much more I want to talk about and things I need to do with my status page, but I think it’s been more than a few minutes at this point.”
“Correct. We should start moving.”
“Which way should we go?”
“We are very near the edge of this land mass but whether you want to stay near what amounts to a cliff or start heading inland is up to you. I suspect that the further we move towards the center the stronger the beasts will become. That being said, if we stay on the periphery, we won’t be able to acquire more strength.”
“I’m kind of Ok with just staying on the edges and only killing things that are trying to kill me…”
“That would be fine if we didn’t need to worry about predators. The coming night will teach you that strength is necessary in worlds where Mana is abundant.”
“Can’t we just fight off what we need to when night comes and then level during the day?”
“Soon, squirrels and lizards aren’t going to provide much experience to us. There should already be substantial diminishing returns at this point. A fatal flaw in your desire to stay near here will be that predators will continue to grow stronger. Stronger predators will hunt prey to the edges of this land mass over time.”
“And I’ll be sitting here when a strong predator that’s hunting for prey appears?”
“Correct. I believe the best course of action is to become a dominant force. Depending on the size of the predators territories, you may only need to control a certain amount of land to be safe from most threats.”
“So, you think there are stronger and stronger monsters the closer to the center of this… island?”
“I was knocked quite high into the air by the hare in our battle and although we’re not touching a body of water, island is an apt description for this land mass.”
“You could see the entire thing. How big is it?”
“For the most part, yes. It’s approximately 10 square miles in size.”
“Whaa… what!? Holy shit, that’s massive. Is it a big circle?”
“It is relatively circular, yes.”
“How are there no other humans here then?”
“Were you in a populated area when the System arrived? It didn’t seem especially populated to me.”
“I… I’m not exactly sure where I was when the explosion stopped me. I was about an hour outside my home town, which isn’t very populated. I was in a densely packed forested area with nothing around but the interstate… The area is or was mostly large hills and woods but it still seems unlikely that I'd be the only human to end up being shot into the sky.”
“It's intriguing and something we should explore, but ultimately it should be a question for another time. Would you like to seek shelter around here or try to head inland?”
“You said the monsters will be stronger the further in we go. Is there a good reason to go in when it’s almost dark as opposed to staying closer to the edge for the night?”
“How much water do you have? Do you see any good places to shelter?”
“Uh… None and no… not really?”
“Do you have a source of water I don’t know about?”
“No. But how do we know there’s going to be water if we head towards the center?”
“There are at least three sources of water that I spotted during my travels in the sky. One larger body of water and two smaller sources.”
“You could have mentioned that earlier… Why are you so sure the monsters will become stronger towards the center?”
“Ah, the energy that caused this island to form in the first place is the reason. The gravitational forces being exerted by this world’s sister planet have started to pull it apart in places, but Mana is holding things together. Concentrated Mana will gather in certain areas and form what you can refer to as Mana Crystals. The reason this whole island is staying together and not just one big dirt cloud is because there is a substantial amount of Mana at the center of this land mass.” V.V. explained while moving back in forth in front of Alex as if she were attempting to explain with hands she didn’t have.
“The closer a beast is to a Mana Crystal, the stronger they will become if they don’t die from exposure. For what were essentially basic forest creatures before the return of Mana to encounter such potent forces is essentially a death sentence. I imagine most of the wildlife that lived here before, died out quite quickly. The squirrels seemed so prolific because they were far enough away from the core to not be killed and instead were simply driven mad.”
“Well then… I don’t see why we have to go all the way to the center then. We can go in enough to find water and shelter.”
“As I’ve said before, if you don’t become stronger, the beasts will grow so strong after a period of time that you will have no way to protect yourself. The best course of action is to take the center of the island for yourself and prevent any other beast from growing stronger than yourself.”
“How does me taking the center keep them from growing stronger than me? Do they have to be right beside the Mana Crystal to be affected?”
“The closer they are, the stronger and faster they’ll grow.”
“So even if I take the center, they’ll still grow but slightly slower and maybe less powerful?”
“Yes, but the absorption will be much slower and much less powerful.”
“This sucks…”
Alex got to his feet and lifted his backpack to sling it over his shoulder, but the strap snapped as he lifted it.
Sigh…
“Great…” Alex said while looking over the backpack. The plastic connector that attached to the strap had broken into several pieces. Thinking it was odd that it would break apart into so many pieces, Alex attempted to lift the other strap, only to have it break apart as well.
“Woah, what’s happening to this thing?”
“It appears that parts of your satchel aren’t compatible with Mana. Certain material combinations break down when exposed to Mana. Just like anything else, there are ways to preserve or even force Mana to bind to such materials, but we don’t have anything like that at the moment.”
“Well crap, can you carry some of my clothes? I’m maxed out on my inventory.”
“Even after you leveled up? The System should have expanded twice since you have leveled your class twice.”
“Uh… Let me check.”
User Inventory
“Oh, hell yeah. Space!” Alex exclaimed as he shoved the contents of his backpack which mostly consisted of extra clothes into his new inventory spaces. After he collected everything that looked remotely useful from his degraded sack, he left it lying by the tree and turned to V.V.
“So which way is towards the center?” He asked V.V. and his little companion left his shoulder to float ahead of him in the direction of the setting sun.