“Sooooo,” Mark started once he stopped snickering at Mia caressing her forming bump. “Did you check your stats yet? What are they? I have 4 in Body, 3 in Mind and 1 for my Spirit.”
Mia stared at him for a few long seconds.
“I’ll take that as a no,” he gave her a sage nod, and Mia eyed the baseball bat longingly. Noticing her gaze, Mark quickly continued. “Just think ‘status’, though almost anything works from what I tested if your intention is to pull up your User interface.”
Biting back the dozen stupid questions already forming on her tongue, Mia focused. Just checking out her Status would probably answer most of her questions.
‘Status’ she thought, focusing hard at the word. It surprisingly worked.
***
[User Interface]
[User Data]
[Attributes]
[Skills]
[Traits]
***
After a moment of thought, she mentally clicked on ‘attributes’. She wanted to compare her own with Mark’s.
***
[Body: 4]
[Mind: 3]
[Spirit: 1]
***
“4, 3, 1,” she read. “That’s body, mind and spirit. Weird stats.”
“Ah damn,” Mark grumbled. “How do you have 4 in body when my biceps are thicker than your waist?”
Mia raised a dubious eyebrow, but her eyes widened as Mark flexed his new muscles. He could barely lift the sofa when they had to move it to the other side of the room just a month ago. It seemed this awakening wasn’t as ruthless to him as she’d thought.
“I don’t know,” Mia shrugged, then went back to checking out this system thingy.
***
[User Data]
[Name: Maria Vexley]
[Age: 24]
[Ancestry: Halvyr (Arcane)]
[Integration Location: Cosmic Realm / Planet: ’Earth’ / Europe Sector / Central Region]
[Rank: 0]
[Level: 1]
[Titles: {Newcomer}]
[Affinities: Arcane (Superior)]
***
“What the hell is a Halvyr?” Mia asked aloud, then stopped as she noticed someone standing at the door of their apartment, the door Mark didn’t close when she asked him to.
Also, that someone was about two metres tall, with muscles straining against his skin. Speaking of, his skin was dark grey, and he also had a pair of goat horns curling back towards his ears.
His face felt vaguely familiar to Mia though. “Jeff?”
The towering man blinked at her slowly, then squinted. “Maria?” He stared silently for a second, then quirked his lips. She didn’t even get the chance to tell him off for using her stupid full name again. Maria was the name of her grandmother. She was Mia, or Marie. Being called ‘Maria’ made her feel like a side character from a historical documentary. “You did something to your hair? It suits you.”
Mia groaned. If even the cranky old Jeff was making fun of her, the world was really ending.
“I assume that thing that looks like a hairy ass in human shape is Mark, then?” He kept his eyebrow raised. Mia just nodded, not trusting herself not to snicker. “I see. The building will be closed until we know what’s going on better. I think people are already at each other's throats out on the street. Also, no looting, fighting, or robbing in my building, or you are getting booted out of a balcony, understood?”
It was rather clear he didn’t expect either of them to go around breaking into other apartments and beating up old people for their food, so he was probably just resolved to say that to everyone.
Mia nodded and Mark followed along, though the giant man’s gaze lingered on the dwarf for a bit. “Good. Don’t panic, everything will go to shit if people panic. We will get food and water. Just don’t make trouble.”
With that, he was off and Mia quickly closed the door behind him. “Well, that was something.”
“Of course the old man would luck out,” Mark grumbled. “Anyway, what were you asking before he barged in?”
“Ah,” Mia squinted, trying to remember. “Halvyr? Yeah. Apparently, that’s what I am. Do you know what that is?”
“Could be just a fancy name for elf,” he shrugged. “Though it just says ‘Dwarf’ for me. Hmmm, let me see … oh, you can expand it. Just focus on that specific line. Damn, now I gotta go over it all again.”
Mia sat down next to the grumpy dwarf. She pulled up her status again and glared at her ‘Race’.
***
[Race: Halvyr (Arcane)]
* Desc: This race is proof that something can be more than the sum of its parts. Part human and part Fae, the Halvyr are said to get the best of both worlds. Not to be confused with half-elves, who are a mix of the Fae’s lesser descendants — the elves — and humans.
The Halvyr inherited their Fae ancestor’s gift for magic and the spiritual arts, while their human blood anchors them firmly to the physical realms. This means, aside from the sorcerers and elves, they are the only ones of Faen blood who can live outside of Alfheim and the Spirit Realm in perpetuity.
* Arcane Bloodline: Members of this bloodline have innate Superior grade arcane affinity and the {Archon Body Constitution}. This allows them to hold their positive and negative energy in perfect equilibrium without harming themselves while their Spirit is capable of suppressing the arcane’s ferocious nature.
***
“Huh,” Mia blinked. Then reread the entire thing to make sure she understood as much of it as possible — which wasn’t much. Affinity? Constitution? Superior grade? Fae? Elves?
She could assume the meaning of most of those from the context in which the words were used, but that was hardly enough to fully grasp the meaning of the description.
“Oh wow,” Mark said next to her, staring into space with his eyes crossed. “Classes. That’s cool.”
Mia was just about to ask what he was talking about, but a new window of glowing letters popped up in front of her eyes.
[Do you wish to select a class?]
[Yes / No]
{Newcomer}’s tip: At Rank 0 you have a single Primary Skill Slot which will be taken up by your Class once you select it. Classes usually grant knowledge where regular Core Skills would not. The number and rarity of the choosable classes might increase if you get more Feats under your belt.
“Did you choose a Class already?” She asked Mark. She was partly wanting to use him as a guinea pig, but she also felt he might have a better idea of how to work this system with the number of RPGs he played and novels he read with a very similar setting to their situation.
“Nah,” he snorted. “Gotta pick the best. I’ll draw up a table with all the pros and cons and stuff … be right back.”
He dashed off to his room and Mia was left alone, once again left to wonder what the hell was going to happen to her. So many things were uncertain, and she was sure her overactive imagination was coming up with far worse possible futures than what was going to happen.
“Yeah,” she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. In and out. In, out. “The clouds are already gone. The police guys are probably already getting ready to hold back the looters and the rioters. Food might be rationed, but we won’t starve. Water and electricity will be back in a few weeks when they fix the power plants and the cables. Everything is going to be alright.”
In, out. In, out. Classes. Wasn’t it better to play with this magical system that somehow turned her into a half-fae than to worry about the future? Yes, it was.
She hit ‘yes’.
[Composing Class Selection: … ]
[Arcane Mage (Rare)]
* [Type: Runic / Elemental]
* Prerequisites: HIDDEN
* Desc: The first step of an aspiring mage walking the path of the pure arcane. Bending the arcane to your will is a long and arduous journey, but the reward is more than worth the increased chance of blowing yourself up. Unlike other elements, arcane is always in flux, cycling between chaos and order. It has aspects of both Light and Dark, yet is neither and both at the same time. Should you be one of the select few talented and capable enough to tame its wild powers and take them for yourself, power unlike any other shall be at your fingertips.
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Mia almost chose the class on the spot. Magic. Magic. It appealed to both the rational part of her that wanted a tool to keep herself safe should the metaphorical excrement hit the fan and the childish part of her squealing in joy at the idea of throwing fireballs.
Maybe she would have been more dubious about this system if it just turned up one day and offered her magic, but she saw some strange stuff these last few hours.
I should at least read through the rest. She reasoned, then quickly checked the name of each class along with their rarity.
[Mageling (Common)]
* [Type: Student / Magic]
* Prerequisites: An Affinity of Minor or above.
* Desc: The first step down the path of many a mage. This class assists in gaining mage oriented classes and helps the User in getting familiar with the basics of magic.
[Student (Common)]
* [Type: Student / General]
* Prerequisites: Having spent a month under the guidance of a ‘Teacher’.
* Desc: Assists with gaining Secondary Skills and is the preceding Class for many Apprentice Classes.
[Chef Apprentice (Uncommon)]
* [Type: Student / Cooking]
* Prerequisites: Having spent a month under the guidance of a Chef. Having experimented with recipes. Having served ten dishes to at least two people.
* Desc: You hold your cooking to a higher standard than most others. It is not only a means to sustenance, but an art. Still, there is much more to be learned and this Class will help you grow into a more formidable chef.
Well, that made the choice rather easy, didn’t it? Still, with some reluctance, she skimmed through the three classes.
Only Mageling left her somewhat curious. Based on the description, it was the kindergarten phase of being a mage. Just from these little tidbits, she guessed one usually became a Mageling, then went on to become an Apprentice before turning into a fully fledged Mage.
In the end, it might have been interesting, but it was an obviously inferior choice compared to Arcane Mage. The system even graded it to make that apparent. Superior affinity must have been awesome for the system to jump over apprenticeship and studying wholesale and just offer her up what seemed to be an advanced class.
The other two classes were about what she expected. Student seemed like a somewhat useful Class. Though, not to her. It would help her learn and get a specialised Class based on teachings. It was interesting and the Class’ existence gave her another glimpse into how classes worked, but that was it.
She doubted Earth had any secret mage academies hidden away, so it was just about useless.
Same for Chef Apprentice. She might enjoy cooking, but she would not give up magic for a cooking class of all things.
Still, her gaze lingered on the Prerequisites. For a moment, the gleeful voice of her little brother praising her simple mac and cheese drifted through her mind. Her eyes teared up a little as the all too familiar feeling of her stomach twisting into a knot made an appearance.
Why would I choose a chef class when there isn’t even anyone to enjoy my cooking anymore? Mia sniffed, blinking away the tears while she mentally hit the only viable Class for her.
[Class Selected: Arcane Mage]
Gained Primary Skill: [Novice Arcane Mage’s Compendium (Tier 1)]
Gained Trait: [Novice Arcane Mage (Tier 1)]
When no further explanation came, she focused on the Skill. Glaring away problems seemed to work for once.
***
[Novice Arcane Mage’s Compendium (Tier 1)]
[Type: Runic / Elemental]
Subskills:
Runic Model: Arcane — Simple, streamlined, elegant. The crystallisation of modern rune theory come to fruition.
* Grants the User the [Novice Arcane Mage (Tier 1)] Trait.
* Grants the User an arcane element runic model that increases in complexity as User adds more runes to it. Current progress: 1% towards Junior Mage.
Arcane Spell Tome — Because what is a mage without a Spell Tome? Nothing, that’s what.
* Allows the User to store spell circles in this Tome and grants the User access to the following spells based on current runes in the runic model: Arcane Bolt, Arcane Shield, Arcane Blast, Arcane Explosion, Mage Hand.
* Grants the User access to the basic runic theorem knowledge of an average Novice mage.
Empty Subskill Slots: 3
***
“Damn,” Mia mumbled. “Wait, but I don’t know any runic theor-“
Mia blinked, the darkness slowly receding from her sight. She blinked again and shook her head a little. She blacked out while in the meantime Mark came back and sat at the kitchen table, wildly scribbling away while mumbling under his beard.
When she tried to think back to what might have knocked her out, new and alien knowledge slammed into her mind. She let out a groan and massaged her temples, but couldn’t suppress the forming grin on her face. And why would she?
None of the stuff made sense. Yet, she took it in a stride. The three foundational laws of magic? Yep, that was basic knowledge. The core elements of magic and their interactions? Middle school stuff. Runic theory and spell construction? That was hardcore stuff, but she knew the basics of it too.
It was all magical mumbo jumbo and what would be called techno babble if this was a science fiction novel? Still. If it worked …
Did it work, though? Or did that lightning just turn her into a raving lunatic?
It was time to test it.
The academic knowledge came easily to her, almost like she knew all of it for years. The practical did not. She knew, intellectually, what steps she had to take to make that Arcane Bolt described in the Skill appear, but it was like trying to teach herself to ride a horse just from reading a book about it and seeing some illustrations.
First was to grab a hold of some mana from her mana pool — where her new runic model should be — and pull it to the tips of her fingers.
It proved harder than she thought, especially when she realised that she was already using most of her focus to keep her rebellious mana from going wild in her body.
There was no mention of anything like that. She should barely have enough mana to feel it as a baby mage.
Probably that damned lightning. Now that she thought back to it, didn’t the system say she reached some minimum saturation point just before it started doing its thing? I should probably expel some of it.
Mia did just that. She carefully loosened her hold on her mana and guided it to her palm. Controlling it was instinctual, like a third hand she never realised she had. She didn’t have to know how each muscle or tendon worked in her fingers to grab something. She just did it. It was the same for her mana.
Though the mana itself was like a feral cat, she had to grip tightly and carefully, while at times it was more like an oiled up snake, trying to slip out of her control and sink its venomous fangs into her flesh.
Slowly, she nudged the glob of vicious energy into her palm … then pushed it out. That’s where her inexperience — or rather, non existent experience — showed.
She knew mana was much harder to control outside of her own body, but she didn’t account for it right then. As such, the mana slipped from her hold and lashed out.
Mia yelped and jumped back as she felt like a firecracker went off in her palm. The glob of roiling pink energy pulsed mid air, arcs of mana pushing out of it like tiny solar flares before it dimmed and disappeared with a hiss.
“What the fuck was that?” Mark asked, wide eyed.
“Magic?” Mia asked, her voice uncertain. Nonetheless, on the inside she was grinning like a loon, another glob of mana already on its way to her palm.
“You already chose a Class?”
“Yep,” Mia grinned then. “Arcane Mage.”
“What were its prerequisites? Do you remember?” He asked, eyes glinting hungrily.
“It was hidden? I think?” She went to look it up again, and found a new row just under her User Data tab which just said ‘Class: Arcane Mage (Tier 1)’ and when she opened it, she saw the now revealed prerequisites. “Superior Arcane Affinity, it says.”
“Hmmm,” he tapped his pen. “So a Superior affinity would be where it grants specialised elemental mage classes? Or is this just a special case? Arcane tends to be an advanced element in most settings. Interesting …”
Mia decided to ignore him. By the time he decided what class would be the best choice and how to min-max it, she might as well be an archmage. That was why she never played any MMORPGs with him.
She quickly repeated the previous mana-dumping two more times, each feeling like an enormous weight off of her metaphorical shoulders. Probably my Spirit. Didn’t the class say something about having to suppress my wild mana with my Spirit? That thing I have a measly 1 point of?
Once she was done, that uncomfortable fullness she had to contend with ever since the lightning bolt struck her was entirely gone, leaving her with a pleasant feeling.
Her newly gained knowledge told her it was the feeling of her mana pool being full. It made her feel energetic and comfy, like a soft blanket wrapped around her soul and a mug of hot coffee in her hands.
Also, her mana went from being a feral tiger to a purring tabby cat snuggling up to her. It was about a fifth of what she originally had in her body, but at least she didn’t have to fear becoming a modern art piece when the mana exploded from inside her chest.
Anyway, back to doing magic.
She carefully pulled another little globule of mana from her pool. This time, it came eagerly and obediently followed her every little mental nudge. It wasn’t as easy to control as the mental hand that she used to guide it, but it did its best to accommodate her.
When it reached the tip of her index finger, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. The next part was where the real magic happened.
She reached for her runic model, housed in the centre of her mana pool. It was an intricate construct of geometric shapes and about a dozen lesser arcane runes.
All I should have to do is to imagine the shape of the magic circle and it should realign itself? That’s what her implanted knowledge told her at least. So she tried it. Thankfully, the spell circle for all of her available spells was included in the knowledge dump she got from her Spell Tome Subskill.
Mia held the image in her hand, feeling a little foolish. It reminded her of when she attempted to use the force to telekinetically grab the TV remote as a kid. She failed back then, of course.
She didn’t now. Mia watched in mild awe as the runic model languidly shifted, lines, circles, hexagons and angles shifting and morphing to replicate the image she was envisioning.
Not the entirety of the structure was needed to do so, which left seven runes and some other shapes unused.
In what felt like a few seconds, the circle was ready. For the next step, she had to … manifest it? Resonate her inner mana to mould the little ball of it in her fingertip?
She poked and prodded at the runic matrix with her mental fingers, trying to get it to resonate or something. Her knowledge dump described it as moving a muscle you didn't know you had.
Like moving your ears. It was supposedly effortless once you manage to find that muscle.
Well, Mia couldn’t do so. No matter how she pushed and pulled. How she meditated, tried to shake the runic model up and down, or how she tried to mould the mana in her fingertip to resemble the circle.
The last one … would have theoretically worked. Maybe. If her mana control was up to par. Just like you couldn’t teach a newborn pup how to do the hardest tricks, her mana was entirely incapable of following her instructions.
Or more likely, her instructions were shit. Her control also bottomed out at guiding chunks of mana around and moulding them into vague shapes.
She could make something that resembled an orb … if you squinted. She even managed a rectangle. Sort of.
A magic circle needed thread-thin lines of straight mana, perfectly angled channels, artistically inscribed runes and so on. For the foreseeable future, her runic model would be her only hope to cast any spells that were more complicated than throwing mana at people.
While she was still busy testing, an unnerving feeling ran through her body. It was what the sound of glass shattering or metal being torn apart would feel if it was a feeling.
Then came a notification from the system.
[Ambient mana levels beyond acceptable parameters … ]
[No nearby Dungeon detected to siphon ambient mana]
[Activating the Riftmaker Protocol]
[WARNING! New Level 10 Rift ‘Greentide Fortress’ formed within your immediate vicinity!]