My most recent kill fell apart before it was within ten feet of me. It was a weird creature resembling a cross between a bipedal lizard and a peacock. Only its feathers were broken bones. It was also about ten feet tall and released a weird mental attack. I wasn't sure if it being a zombie changed how the attack was supposed to work since it flared out its tail and released a darkness that felt like it would absorb everything. Either way, it also died and it advanced that quest. The timer for the quest was below half an hour and I had run out of zombies to kill. The mindless ones would eventually as long as they had some of their body left but the special ones were one and done. I gave the area around me another glance before settling into the trunk of a tree. Once the Psychic Mastery quest was finished a dim glow highlighted it which further made me think something was off with it.
I settled into my whole and confirmed the quest's completion. The familiar surge of energy filled me as the new spell sigil was formed. I closed my eyes intending to review it when I felt my mind being swept away. For a moment my mind was floating freely in endless darkness. When the light returned I was seated at the base of a massive tree. From my vantage, the tree might as well have been a bridge from the heavens to the earth. It took me another moment to realize that it wasn't me who sat under the tree. I was inside the body of a four-armed monk in dark brown robes. I wasn't sure how long we sat underneath the shade of this tree. The world around us was covered in deep shadows as if the entire world was obscured. The fact didn't seem to bother my host. Instead, he acted as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Every so often we would release a pulse of white light that pressed against the obscuring darkness. Every pulse revealed a little more about the world. A tree here, a pond there, strange beast but no matter how many pulses we did the world around us stayed obscured. Peaceful content turned into irritation and frustration. The white pulses turned dark red as we forced our will on the world. The darkness seemed to feed on our anger growing even worse until one day a radiant beam of light pierced the center of our head. The light burned away everything. The pain was immense and every instinct we had told us to hide. That the light would only hurt us. That the only way to be safe would be to retreat into the safety of the darkness.
It was that last thought that triggered something primordial inside us. Neither of us was sure if it was anger or hatred that became our catalyst. Perhaps it was a desire more powerful than either. Regardless we would rather die than turn to darkness. Which left only the light. We reached for it light a man dying of thirst. Our pain grew and grew until reached a point where there was only pain. Still, we didn't flinch away, we didn't hide from it. Neither of us was sure when the light left us. Perhaps it was never truly there. When the pain faded we slowly got to our feet. Our bones creaked and ached as we did. A serenity passed over us as we opened our eyes. Suddenly a golden pulse of light washed out from us and spread in every direction. The light wiped away the darkness and for the first time, the world was finally available. We could see everything from the smallest of bugs to the largest of cities. From the humblest of shopkeepers to the proudest of lords. I could see them all.
Just as I was coming to terms with the new bright world I felt myself being pulled away. I railed against whatever it was, every part of me felt that there was an opportunity here if I could just hold on to it. My protest fell on deaf ears my mind was yanked back from its home and into the darkness. I railed against the unjust fate. I had just defeated the darkness. I had won. I had— the thought was lost when I found myself in my body once again. I crawled out from the base of three and scanned the world around me. I was in the swamp again. I checked myself over and I was in my body. The man from the vision was nowhere to be seen. Even the world around me felt dreary. It wasn't the same darkness from the vision, it was more like I had just been shown what a 4k TV looked like and now I was stuck watching 720p. I pulled up my status screen and found a new option waiting for me. I had just gotten my first Tao!
Tao Strand of Lucidity — Comprehension: Low. Perception +10, Wisdom +10
Tao Strand of Adamance — Comprehension: Low. Wisdom +15, Constitution +5
Just like that, the good times continue to roll. I wasn't sure how useful those two Tao would be but that didn't matter. What mattered was that I had gotten two of them. The System agreed with me since I also got two new titles.
Beloved by Tao: First in the World to gain understanding and form a Tao Strand. All stats +15, All stats +15%.
Perfect 100: Get 100 points in all attributes while in the 1st Realm. Reward: Potency of Attributes +5%
My attributes were getting pretty scary. I still had nothing to compare them to but I had to be head and shoulders above the average by now. It was a bit amusing how little balance the System seemed to provide. There had to be some kind of upper limit on the power I could have in the first realm. Either way, it wasn't my problem. I would keep getting stronger no matter what. I rolled my shoulders and pulled up the new Tao menu but it didn't explain what it was that they did. I placed it on the back burner while I reviewed my newest spell.
[1] Psychic Mastery - Proficiency: Low. Mastery is born through experience. Upgradeable.
The sigil for it was strange. I couldn't put my finger on what it was supposed to be. In truth, it reminded me a bit of an MC Escher painting where the more I looked at it the more the meaning changed. I could tell that it was connected to my new strands but I wasn't sure what that meant. Would I need to advance the spell to advance the strands? I sent a bit of spiritual energy into the sigil and the entire world became grey. I flinched away from the sigil like I had touched a hot stove. I scanned the world around me expecting a new zombie to rush me but there was nothing. The swamp was eerily silent. My danger sense hadn't even gone off. I bit back my hesitation and the nagging voice in my head that said I should wait until I was somewhere safe and sat down. I took a breath and pushed energy back into the sigil.
When the world turned grey again I realized that it wasn't grey. It was just muted when a pair of glowing hand marks appeared in front of me. I stared at them before gently poking at them. My fingers went right through. They weren't real. Honestly, they reminded me a bit of— that thought faded as a grin spread across my face. They reminded me of training markers. Like from a video game. I placed both hands into the spots and waited. A 3-D image of a sphere slowly formed in front of me as if someone was pulling the thread out of a spindle I couldn't see. The outline of the "thread" led away from the slowly forming ball and to my right temple. I stared at the image for a second not understanding what it wanted me to do. At first, I thought it wanted me to manipulate spiritual energy into a ball but spiritual energy didn't come from my head. Just to be sure I pushed spiritual energy through my channels and into my head. After that, there was nothing I could do but forcibly push against my temple. A sensation that burned like a bitch.
I stopped and tried to figure something else out. I took a deep breath and tried to pull psychic energy through my temple the same way. It was a bit weird and if both of my offensive spells didn't require a small amount of this energy I wouldn't have known it existed. Trying to manipulate it on my own felt like trying to control an involuntary muscle. I wasn't sure how long it took before I managed it. Dull indigo energy flowed out of my temple and down toward the space between my hands. I wished I could say that it worked like the training image but that would be a lie. Trying to control required control over my mind to a degree that I had never considered before. The further it got from my head the harder it was for me to control. I lost it several times and had to restart the process. I had only managed to form a knot barely bigger than my fingernail when I was forced to give up.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Mental exhaustion filled me to the point it felt like I was drunk. I stumbled to my feet as the quest timer hit five minutes. I hadn't been attacked by any more zombies which was good. Even the thought of unleashing a new attack made my head hurt. I still had several more questions but it wasn't hard to piece together what my new spell or I guess skill was. It was designed to teach me how to manipulate psychic energy. Which made me wonder if I would be able to form psychic weapons like my other spells and if so why would I need the original spell? Ultimately all of those were questions for another time. Right now I needed to make sure I was ready to go.
The quest was effectively over and I was around 70% of the way to my next level. Cultivation was a big no in this environment. I wasn't sure how or why but the death in the swamp almost felt alive. I couldn't be sure but it seemed like there was a Tao of death here and that it would enter my channels if I pulled energy inside. Now that I had a Tao I understood a bit more about the feeling. Either way, it wasn't important now. I suppressed my aura and killing intent again and waited for the countdown.
Tutorial Quest has concluded. Commencing teleportation.
As soon as I heard the System's voice I smiled and let the teleportation take me away. When I could see again I was standing in the plaza. I couldn't remember the last time I was pulled back here conscious which was pretty nice. Based on the other people teleporting the amount of deaths had decreased. A lot of people were sporting wounds of all kinds but that was better than the alternative. Still, there were more than a few who had a blank look of loss on their faces. It was another reminder of why I didn't want to partner up with other people. Would I have been able to keep pushing forward into harder and harder quests if I had to walk over the bodies of people I knew? I was pulled out of my self-reflection by another message from the System.
The tutorial title was upgraded. Tutorial- Quest 8: Survive The Tutorial. Reward: All Attributes +10, All Attributes +10%, Potency of Attributes +10%
Choose Reward: High-Grade Wisdom Fruit, High-Grade Agility Fruit, High-Grade Intelligence Fruit
I rubbed my hands together as I reviewed my options. All three options had strong arguments for them. Wisdom and Intelligence were the pillars of my class so more points in either of them would be helpful. Of course that was also a solid argument against either one of those. Every level would give me a boost to those which meant any boosts to any other attribute would need to come from outside sources. I went back and forth on each one for another few minutes before making my selection. A white box appeared at my feet a second later and I quickly collected it. There was no reason to reveal the fruit in front of all these other people so I placed it in my bag and headed toward my apartment.
When I stepped into my apartment I took a deep breath. The odd rustic smell was like ambrosia when compared to the horrid swamp. I was more than happy to just breathe it in. I absentmindedly wondered if there was a magical air freshener available. After a few more minutes I made my way over to a chair and sat down. I pulled out the attribute fruit and bit into it. My jaw tightened as the sweetness flooded my mouth. I grimaced and forced myself to keep chewing. The sustenance pills they provided were enough to keep us alive but it was not the same as actually eating. Once the fruit was finished off I pulled up my status screen to review my new attribute total.
Name Amari Jackson Level 20 Class [1-Epic]Psionic Paragon Species [2]Human Affiliation Earth Manual [1]Ethereal Codex(22%) Titles Beloved by Tao, Big Game, Chosen, First to Ten, Leader of the Pack, Monstersbane, Overlord Slayer, Overpowered, Perfect 100, Prime Hunter, Voyager, Limited Titles Tutorial-Eighth Assignment Tao Strand of Adamance — Comprehension: Low, Strand of Lucidity — Comprehension: Low Agility 111 (Increase:65%. Potency:115%) Constitution 124 (Increase:65%. Potency:115%) Intelligence 117 (Increase:70%. Potency:115%) Luck 112 (Increase:65%. Potency:115%) Perception 117 (Increase:65%. Potency:115%) Strength 101 (Increase:65%. Potency:115%) Wisdom 221 (Increase:75%. Potency:115%) Free Points 0 System Credits 00
The Intelligence fruit was finally enough to bring Intelligence ahead of Agility. Of course, it was still second to Constitution which was amusing. My Attention was drawn to the tutorial title. Eight assignments were done which meant this gauntlet was almost over. For some reason, that idea tied my stomach up in a knot. It didn't take a psychology degree to know what I was feeling. A part of me didn't want the current situation to end. This was so so simple. Despite the dangers, the consistency was oddly comforting. Either way, there was nothing I could do about it. There was also a weird feeling that had been brewing inside me. It was like I knew that the tutorial didn't have much more to give me. It was a bit like my danger sense but not as powerful. I got to my feet and rolled my shoulders. I needed to figure out how my new Tao worked but before that, I needed to recover more of my mental energy. I made my way into my cultivation chamber and sealed the door. I made a mental note to learn how to make one of these rooms as soon as possible. I took a deep breath and began circulating the Ethereal Codex.
The rest of the day was a practice in patience for me. I was close to getting my next level but I was also close to getting how the tao worked. It was odd it wasn't quite the same as manipulating energy nor was it a spell. I could control it at the cost of my mental energy. The problem was that it didn't seem to do anything. I could assume that Adamance was going to be more about protecting my mind and maybe making my effects more powerful. I had figured out how to pass it through my body though so that was pretty cool. It wasn't the same as what the other monster did nor did it make my punches harder but it felt nice. As for lucidity I either had no way to test it or it didn't do anything. The fact that it boosted Perception made me think it was meant for observation or seeing through other effects. So that was filed away for later. Adamance had also proven a theory I had. I could push the tao into a spell sigil. The process was a bit tricky. It was like splitting your focus in two where half focused on the spiritual energy and half did the mental. The result was more than worth it. Psychic Aegis grew more durable. I didn't have any method to test how much stronger it got but it was beautiful. The improved barrier didn't even consume more spiritual energy which upgraded my defenses to a whole new tier.
Lastly, I had experimented with combining the two as well and it had mixed results. The actual combining was fairly straightforward but the two were a bit like oil and water. I could manipulate them separately but forcing them together was a pain. What made it worse was that I didn't have any mental energy to keep up the training. Which was why I was stuck in my cultivation chamber trying to focus on my technique. It was a bit like being told to eat my broccoli while a nice cake was just sitting in the fridge. There was nothing I could do though even cultivating while low on mental energy was hard. Once I couldn't take the strain any longer I headed to bed. Tomorrow should be a very interesting day.