With a groan, Sam stretched, the light of the new day stinging her closed eyes as it penetrated her eyelids. She had passed out while reading the short book about halfway through the night. She had read the ‘Beginner Guide to Manipulating Mana’ cover to cover twice, trying her best to understand concepts about magic that were utterly foreign to her. The book read more like mystical teachings, an order of space wizards would have written rather than an actual textbook.
After rereading the book, Sam's best guess was that every individual under the System's control felt and used Mana slightly differently. A few classes couldn’t even use Mana, instead relying on stamina or even, in some rare cases, vitality to activate their skills and abilities. A lesson that stood out to Sam said that to truly understand how Mana affected each individual and the world as a whole, the individual had to 'experience' the flow of Mana around them and how it interacted with reality. The book assumed this would have already happened to the reader as a child, using the example of watching an injury slowly heal, aided by Mana, from a scuffed knee. The author suggested that a simple act, even if the individual couldn't actually see the Mana but only how it interacted with the body, would be enough for the individual to activate the manipulation ability and have the Mana Manipulation option granted by the System. Apparently, everyone had the potential for Mana Manipulation, but only some learned the ability because of a lack of Mana sight; even those few that were given the option usually turned it down because the System enforced class restrictions on Mana manipulators. Most individuals, when given the option to have a mana manipulator class, opted for a more standard class instead, choosing to learn spells from skill books and teachers as opposed to the difficult task of having to create their own spells, which, for some, could sometimes take decades, or in rare cases even longer.
Sam had one skill she knew used Mana automatically: Recovery. She didn't like the idea but knew she would have to cut herself and observe the skill through her Mana Sight, which she kicked herself for not activating yesterday. Apparently, all she had to do was focus on the skill which would activate it; it was no different than how her spatial storage worked; everything seemed to be activated mentally with this System. Thinking about it, Sam realized she had never had to speak out loud when using her abilities, so it made sense to her. Still, for some unknown reason, Mana Manipulation needed a kickstart.
Not putting it off, Sam got up, and after a sip of water from the canteen she found in her backpack, she stepped out of the clearing. She noted a countdown timer began ticking down in one corner of her vision when she stepped out of the circle of blue grass. She was worried about what would happen if she harmed herself while in the safe zone and didn't want to take any chances, so she planned to cut herself for her experiment outside the clearing. “Don’t want to get trapped like those other two just because the system sees me as self-harming.”
Sam psyched herself a little, "okay, you must do this to survive! Don't chicken out; it's just an experiment! A really painful and gross experiment…crap, this is going hurt, isn't it…I hope it works. Well, no use delaying it any longer.” Placing one of the daggers on the back of her forearm, she gritted her teeth and cut deep; the dagger was so sharp she barely felt the cut, which went much deeper than she had intended. "Damn, that was stupid," dropping the dagger, Sam grabbed her arm above the deep cut as blood started pouring from the wound. She gritted her teeth, but the pain was surprisingly tolerable, "I guess when compared to getting nearly burned to death, most things are less painful," she thought wryly and was surprised when the blood stopped flowing from the deep gash almost immediately. Looking closer, Sam could see the wound started visibly closing. Quickly activating Mana Sight with a thought, she instantly saw her Mana flowing down her arm and into the wound. Purple threads so numerous they looked like cobwebs were slowly closing the wound. Watching in fascination, Sam realized the Mana was eating away at damaged muscle and nerves and then replacing them anew, “so it is not so much healing as repairing and replacing damaged tissue, interesting, I think I understand now.”
Sam tried again to activate her manipulation ability. Now, she was sure she understood how her Mana interacted with her body to "repair" the wound. She was elated when she felt the ability activate in her mind and could instantly sense her mana pool inside her body. Tentatively, Sam, remembering the book's instructions, reached out to her Mana in her mind's eye and 'pushed' her Mana using her will while visualizing her wound closing. She felt a strange feeling of something flowing through her body toward her wound, and it sealed shut almost instantly. A wave of vertigo washed over her when the wound closed, and her mana reserves dropped by half. She also noticed a large amount of Mana had puffed out into the atmosphere and dissipated when the wound closed.
Once she recovered enough from the light attack of dizziness, Sam analytically thought about what she had just done. “So, I need to regulate the amount of Mana I push into a wound; otherwise, it will be wasted. Also, it seems I need to keep from using so much Mana at once, or I will get dizzy. Was it the amount of Mana I used or my speed that got me dizzy? Something to experiment with later. But for now—" Sam did an excited dance, singing, "I can use magic, I can use magic, I can use magic! Who can use magic? ME! I can use magic!"
Her celebration complete; Sam turned off her Mana Sight and checked her mana pool using her interface. It was refilling slowly, and she watched the numbers climb for precisely one minute, noting that her Mana had risen 44 points in that one minute, around one-fifth of her max. She started doing math in her head, “Hmm, 44 points per minute…if that stays consistent, then I recover around 2640 mana per hour? However, with meditation active, I can increase that number to 66 mana per minute, which would be 3960 per hour; that's over one point per second!" Sam wasn't sure, but she assumed her crystal mana channels probably assisted in her mana regeneration. "I am definitely overpowered!” She thought. Even though she had used over a hundred mana to heal herself. Sam estimated she had wasted at least half of it, if not more, by the density of the purple mana cloud that escaped her wound. However, her mana pool was almost back to full capacity after only a few minutes.
“If I learn how to control my mana output better, I will be able to heal from some serious injuries rather quickly,” Sam mused as she stepped back into the clearing after scooping up the knife she had dropped, happy she was now able to use her Mana Manipulation ability.
***
“Okay, now for the scary part,” Sam thought, staring at the suspended Imp and Panther. She began figuring out how to use her manipulation ability to kill the two monsters before her. She activated her Mana Sight again and was at once blinded by the bright blue glow of the seemingly inert grass; it was impossible to see anything else. Although she wanted to, Sam didn't deactivate the skill. The book had instructed the reader to “look past the things you wish not to see,” which Sam understood meant 'try to deselect the shit that is blinding you’. To Sam's surprise, it was much easier than she had expected. Within a few minutes, she was back to staring at the two other occupants in the clearing with her mana sight. Without the annoying blue glow from the magical grass, it was easy to see what was happening with the paralyzed monsters. What Sam could only describe as a spring of dense Mana was tethering the two creatures in place. The spring of Mana rose from the ground under each of them, like water from a fountain, and completely enveloped the two beings, creating a skintight bubble around them.
“No wonder I couldn’t harm them. I bet that bubble keeps me out just as much as it keeps them in,” Sam thought as she stepped up to the Imp, readying one of her daggers; its weight in her hand felt heavy, the reality of what she was about to do created a sense of dread, "this is going to be gross isn’t it,” pushing past the thought she began coating the dagger in her Mana making sure to carefully regulate how much she used careful not to waste it.
It took a little while to get her Mana to react as she wanted; envisioning the dagger coated in her Mana didn't work like imagining her wound closing. After struggling, the blade finally began to glow slightly purple in her Mana Sight. She finally succeeded when she traced a wire frame around the blade of the dagger in her mind, imagining she was creating a model framework for a sculpture; she then connected the 'wires' of the framework with a thin layer of Mana between them to 'form' her sculpture. "Hmm, my way of manipulating Mana requires me to visualize the form it will take first, outline it, and then fill it in. It makes sense; that's what I usually did when sculpting with clay in my free time back on Earth. But it could also be I'm subconsciously trying to restrict how much Mana I use so I don't overexpend myself again like when I healed a minute ago, and this is the best way my brain can think of to do it…time will tell," promising herself she would focus on it later Sam turned her attention back on the dagger and decided the blade was ready when the construct she had formed around it started leaking Mana into the atmosphere indicating her construct had reached a limit of sorts.
Before she could lose her nerve, Sam quickly drew the mana-coated blade across the Imp’s throat. She felt little resistance as her mana-coated blade sliced through the blue Mana holding the Imp in place easily before digging deep into its throat with a revolting tearing sound. Hot black blood started spraying Sam's hand as she cut; not letting up, she followed through, cutting open the ugly creature's throat. She was leaning in too close, and blood sprayed into her eyes, causing her to stumble back in shock and revulsion, wiping her eyes while trying not to vomit from the terrible taste and smell of the fetid black blood.
Clearing her vision, she watched as the Mana holding the Imp in place dissolved, and the Imp fell to the ground with a wet thump, landing in a pool of its blood. But instead of lying there and bleeding out on the grass, as Sam expected, the Imp stood slowly to its feet, glaring at Sam with unbridled rage. Locking eyes with a terrified Sam, the Imp put a hand to its neck. Sam could hear sizzling and smell burned flesh as the Imp cauterized the wound in its own throat with a look of pure evil in its eyes.
Shit, shit, shit! What do I do? Do I run? No fuck that! The little demon cherub will blast me in the back, and I refuse to take another one of those fireballs to the back again!
Sam watched as the Imp's Mana flared in her mana sight. A streak of red magic flowed to its free hand and formed a sphere. An evil grin lit the little creature's features as it prepared another fireball for attack.
Sam realized with surprise that she was much calmer than the situation demanded. She wasn't the same person this little fucker attacked yesterday; she was an Arcane Pathfinder now, and that realization had changed her whole outlook on what was happening in front of her. Her only thoughts were, “This little asshole tried to kill me without provocation yesterday. Well, it’s payback time, you little shit!” Sam quickly thought of a plan, and now it was her turn to grin wickedly; dropping the bloodied dagger, she dashed forward. She had an idea.
***
The Stunted Imp stared at the pathetic creature that had attacked him, “Stupid human, level 0, how is that even possible? It matters not; she will burn as all the others before her. But how is she standing before me now, though? Didn't I burn her a moment ago? And how did she get close enough to cut my throat—”
The Imp's thoughts were interrupted when the level 0 human grinned at him, her purple eyes beginning to glow. His confusion only deepened when the foolish human dropped the dagger in her hand and charged weaponless toward him. Why she did it mattered little, though; the stupid human had just made killing her that much easier.
Finally, his fireball finished its charge, and he threw it at the stupid human to melt that grin off her disgusting face.
***
Sam was thinking in overdrive. She knew she had to act fast if she was going to have a chance of surviving this encounter. The little demon cherub seemed intelligent but overconfident. She knew she had just drained at least half of his blood, and even though he had stopped the external bleeding, it didn't mean the internal damage was healed; at least, that was what she hoped. When she looked closely, Sam could see how dim the mana flow was going through his small body; using her mana sight, it was nothing compared to her own mana flow. So, she devised the desperate and insane idea of going on the offensive.
Sam was betting everything on the Imp's magic being weaker than hers, hopefully allowing her to block the fireball with the shield construct she franticly created in her left hand as she leaped toward the Imp. She had dropped the dagger because she didn't need it. Her mana sight had told her earlier that the dagger had been something to form her mana frame around. She hadn't infused the dagger with the Mana, nor had she used the blade to cut; instead, she had created a shell of Mana around it using the blade as a template to form the initial framework of her construct. It hadn't been the dagger holding the Mana but the Mana holding the dagger. Back on Earth, she enjoyed sculpting in her free time, so creating a tangible piece of art out of a formless block was second nature. So, using her experience as an artist, she made a weapon of pure Mana in her right hand as she lunged toward the Imp, going entirely on the offensive. Her smile never faltered. Sam thought randomly, “Why am I enjoying this? I should be terrified.” But there was no more time to think, only act.
Sam didn’t have the first idea of how to fight with a dagger. She instead formed a twenty-centimeter-long spike of Mana at the end of her right fist, "Let's see how you like a mana spike in the face, you little shit." Sam swung her fist, punching at the Imp's face.
Before her blow could connect, the Imp launched its fireball at her just a moment before her mana spike hit him. Sam was prepared; pulling back her right hand, she swung her fully formed shield of Mana in her left hand in front of her face to block the attack as it hurled toward her. She nearly didn't react in time even though she was prepared for the attack, only getting her shield in front of her at the last second. The fireball hit her shield with an impact so hard it arrested her forward momentum and threatened to knock her off her feet like getting hit with a water balloon launched from a cannon. The flame splashed across her shield, and she stumbled back from the impact, instinctively pushing the Mana, infusing her shield outward in a short blast of force. The fireball exploded in a shower of flames, throwing it back toward the Imp. Some of the flaming droplets landed on her exposed arms burning through her leather shirt. Still, thanks to the adrenalin and new resistances, Sam remained steady on her feet and barely felt the sharp spikes of pain as the burning rain fell.
When the flaming rain splashed back, it surprised the Imp and caused him to shield his face with his arms. Sam didn't give him time to recover from his surprise and quickly closed the gap between them again, running from where she had been pushed back by his attack, getting in range with a quick lunge. She switched her attack from his covered face to his chest and thrust the spike of hardened Mana on her fist into his chest right at the point where his Mana seemed to originate. Her only thought was, "I hope this is something vital.”
The mana spike, shaped like a thin bayonet, hit resistance as it touched the surprisingly dense flesh of the Imp's chest but, nevertheless, slowly penetrated deeper into his body as Sam pushed with all her strength. She hadn't been idle with her shield hand either; she released the Mana holding the shield together. Instead, she formed vicious claws of purple Mana at her fingertips, using them to rake at the Imp's cauterized throat where she had cut him only moments earlier. The wound in his neck reopened quickly as her fingers dug into the small throat, her claws sinking deep into the recently cauterized flesh. She was thankful the Imp wasn't immune to its own fire, judging by the fact it had shielded its face with its arms, presenting her with the opening she was currently exploiting. Distracted or not, the Imp quickly reacted when she stabbed it and removed his hands from his face, using them to lash out with his clawed hands at Sam’s face.
Jumping back, Sam tried to avoid the black claws but still managed to take a swipe across her face, leaving streaks of burning pain in her cheek and a renewed scent of burning flesh from the Imp's claws, having been coated in flame when they hit her. The two stared at each other with caution when they disengaged. Sam could feel the skin on her cheek burning from the liquid fire on the Imp's claws. A few tense moments passed as they calculated their next move. Then, to Sam's relief, the Imp, still bleeding out of the reopened wound in his throat and the new wound in his chest, collapsed to the clearing floor, staining the blue grass black with more of his fetid blood. Seeing this, Sam stopped channeling her Mana and allowed her constructs to dissipate as she watched the Imp twitch several times and then lay still.
‘Bing’ You have defeated Stunted Imp [Level 16]. Bonus experience has been granted for defeating an enemy at least 10 levels above your own.
‘Bing’ Race Human has leveled up to Level 1, 5 free stat points received.
‘Bing’ Race Human has leveled up to Level 2, 5 free stat points received.
‘Bing’ Race Human has leveled up to Level 3, 5 free stat points received.
‘Bing’ Class Arcane Pathfinder has leveled up to Level 2, 10 free stat points received.
'Bing' You have learned a new skill, Mana Crafting [Level 1]: you have learned how to craft crude tools from your Mana using Mana Manipulation. When channeling the Mana Crafting skill, all created constructs will require less Mana to create and maintain.
"Dumbass!" Sam slapped her forehead, "Stat points; I forgot to assign my free points last night! I need to be more careful in the future!" Her self-admonishment was complete, Sam felt better and started to calm down.
"Okay, deep breath, first assign my points, then recover before moving to the Blade Tail Panth— shit, where is the fucking panther!?"
***
A sick feeling of terror filled Sam's stomach when she realized the large black panther was no longer held in place by the System mana. "Did some fire splash on it, causing the system to recognize it as an attack and release it like it did the Imp?" She didn’t know and had no time to think about why the panther wasn’t there, only that it was free now.
“Where is it?” The motion to her left caught her attention; turning quickly, she saw the panther crouched within lunging distance, eyeing her with a hungry gaze. It had apparently been trying to circle behind her the way it had with the Imp the day before, and she had turned just in time to catch it before it attacked.
Sam was now entirely out of her depth; keeping eye contact with the panther, she thought, “Okay, so now what do I do?” Thinking fast, Sam kept her eyes locked on the creature. It was apparently treating her as a valid threat since she had just killed the Imp and didn't seem inclined to attack her as long as she stared at it. A quick check of her mana reserves showed them down to less than half, "200% efficiency, my ass, I just made a couple of little constructs, and it took that much, Mana? I was being careful, too! I guess I did feel a drain when the fireball hit the shield. I didn't regulate when I reacted and pushed the fire back at the Imp…but still, that took a lot of Mana for someone with zero entropy and crystal mana channels… at least, I assume it was a lot of Mana. It doesn't matter right now; I need to focus on how to kill this panther."
After the quick mana check and her inner monologue, the panther still didn't strike. Sam took a risk and pulled up her stat sheet while still trying to stare down the big cat to keep it from attacking. Without time to think it through, she quickly started assigning her free attribute points. 10 points into intelligence, 10 points into wisdom, 5 points into agility, 5 points into vitality, and 5 points into strength…nothing happened. “Shit,” risking a quick glance at why nothing happened, Sam saw a flashing text box floating in her vision.
Assign Points Yes/No
“Yes!” she mentally shouted. The word "Yes" was highlighted in her vision, and the box disappeared. A feeling of pure power and mental clarity she didn't think possible washed over her, infusing her entire body with euphoria.
***
Sam's decision may have been hasty, but it was logical; she owned her own law firm back on Earth and was the firm's best trial lawyer. Fast, logical decisions were her bread and butter. Her thought process had been simple in choosing where to assign her free points. However, she had also based everything on the risky assumption this world operated on similar mechanics as the RPGs she had played in the past. Intelligence and wisdom received the most points because of her mana-based class. Those two attributes would influence her mana abilities the most, with intelligence increasing the power of her magical abilities and wisdom expanding the size of her mana pool. Her book from the System said that much, at least. Agility had received points because she had not been able to even see the blade tail move when it attacked the Imp the previous day, so she would need to increase her reaction time if she had any hope of surviving an attack from the beast; you cannot block or dodge what you cannot see after all, she hoped 5 points would be enough. Vitality was obviously her life force, which was dangerously low compared to her Mana so that needed some points. Finally, strength needed a boost because of how hard it had been to penetrate the Imp's body with her mana spike just a moment ago; it was like she was stabbing a block of rubber instead of a flesh and blood body. Sam also hoped strength and vitality together would help her resist physical damage from things like the bladed tail that was now darting toward her almost faster than she could track.
***
Sam’s purple pupils dilated as she tracked the blurry image of the black blade streaking toward her chest. The Blade Tail had reacted as soon as she had selected ‘Yes,’ probably realizing what she had done and wanting to stop her as quickly as possible. But the creature's attack was too late. Sam's crystal mana channels made the level-up transition 200% more efficient, and her body changed nearly instantaneously.
Sam jerked her body back and to one side, spinning out of the path of the bladed tail. Although superhuman compared to what it had been only a second ago, her reaction speed wasn't quite fast enough to avoid the blade. Still, it was enough to miss hitting her vitals, instead cutting a deep gash in her left side as the blade skipped off and cracked two ribs from its impact. Sam focused; everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. Thinking faster than she ever had, she formed a blade of Mana extending from her hand as the tail whipped by her. Using the blade, she sliced down onto the tail as it traveled past, using all her strength trying to sever the tail completely. Her blade didn't cut through the tail, which was nearly as thick as her wrist, unfortunately stopping when it hit something hard. However, her strike was accompanied by a satisfying crack and a yowl from the beast as it yanked its tail back, spraying red blood across the blue grass of the clearing.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
***
Taking a step back from Sam, the cat looked back at its tail, the bladed tip now hanging limply, Sam's attack having broken something internal. As it viewed the damaged tail, it let out a deep, menacing growl. Turning back to its prey, the cat stopped growling. Sam was right in front of it, punching directly at its face.
***
Sam knew she didn't have much time; she was running out of Mana and was starting to feel woozy from the gash in her side, which was gushing blood. So, as she had with the Imp, she went on the offensive and dashed toward the panther when it looked back at its tail. Dismissing her blade, she formed a mana spike on her fist again, intent on plunging it into the creature's brain through its eye socket. The second she was close enough, the panther looked back toward her. Seeing her opening, she put everything she had into a punch with the mana spike aiming at the panther's eye just as it turned its head to her, "god, I hope this works; I don't want to be cat food," she thoughtfully committing to the attack putting the weight of her entire body into the punch.
It didn't work. Seeing Sam's attack, the blade tail opened its mouth and lunged, swallowing Sam's arm up to the elbow before clamping its massive jaws shut, its fangs sinking to the bone. The big cat's eyes widened when the spike hit its throat, but it clamped down harder when it felt the mana spike stab into it, the pressure of its bite wrenching a pained scream from Sam. Even through the pain, Sam managed to form mana claws on her left hand and dig them into the monster's throat, holding herself in place as the big cat shook its head back and forth, trying to sever her arm. Sam held on long enough to summon the last of her dwindling Mana into the hand buried in the panther's mouth and use it to blast the spike off her fist, launching it deeper into the panther's throat. The mana blast caused the panther to bite down even harder. Sam heard a sickening pop, and suddenly, she was free of the creature's grasp, her arm now completely severed just above the elbow.
Releasing her grip with her other hand, Sam stumbled back a couple of steps before collapsing onto her back; the trauma of having her arm bitten off and the exhaustion of completely emptying her mana pool left her on the verge of passing out. She stared at the panther through bleary eyes. It had fallen to its stomach, its head lolling to one side on the ground; dark red blood was oozing from its throat where her mana claws had dug deep furrows in the softer flesh. Blood was pooling in the blue grass from the wound in its throat, and its open mouth as its breath came in ragged gasps. "What the fuck? I didn’t do nearly enough damage to bring that thing down,” Sam thought as her head swam.
Sam was in a bad way; her health was less than 1% for the second time in 24 hours. However, thanks to her accelerated natural regeneration, she had already stabilized; even the bloody stump of her right arm had stopped bleeding. Thinking about her arm made her look at it; she vomited at the sight. Her flesh and muscle were hanging down in ribbons from the severed limb, and she could see some bone exposed, the white of the bone stained red with her blood, "or is that the panther's blood? Does it even matter? I'm so fucked; no way will I ever survive alone with only one arm in this freaking fantasy land filled with monsters." Tears welled up in her eyes. This wasn't supposed to happen. She was supposed to be an explorer, an Arcane Pathfinder exploring worlds, forging new paths to places forgotten by time. She was now a crippled and helpless girl who would likely be killed within her first few days of exploring her new reality. "What was I thinking?” The hard thoughts came, "I'm no warrior, no fighter. I'm just a single female in her late twenties whose only fighting experience was a few martial arts classes I took every now and then; hell, even that was more for exercise than anything else…well, exercise and the cute instructor… Meh, who am I kidding? I only took the classes for the instructor, but I did get exercise too!"
As a distraction from her current situation, Sam argued with herself about the real reason she had taken martial arts, as she thought back to the 'private' lessons she had received from Kate, the beautiful redhead instructor who so enamored Sam with her strength and confidence, brought a smile to her lips. What would Kate say about my situation now? She would say something like, "The only true failure is not trying in the first place," or something sappy like that.” The thoughts helped Sam get over the terror of the giant panther lying a few meters away. She sighed through her pain and tears, thinking, “Kate was always right about one thing, though, people will never know what their true potential is until they get off their ass and try."
The thoughts of Kate helped pull Sam from her self-pity, and looking at the stump of her right arm again, she decided, “I have to get it together! I have freaking magic! I’ll make a new arm if I have to, I’ll—” Her thoughts trailed off as she stared at the bone of her arm; it was ever so slowly regrowing. "I'm a fucking idiot! I just healed from being nearly burned alive less than twenty-four hours ago; of course, my limbs will regrow…seriously though, there was no way I could have really known that." Channeling a small amount of her recovered Mana into her bloody stump, Sam was rewarded with a centimeter of rapid growth. First, her bone regenerated, closely followed by her muscles and skin. Her Mana dropped back to zero, and the splitting headache of mana depletion hit her, but Sam barely registered the pain now that she knew there was still hope. "I can do this; I can repair lost limbs! Why didn’t I think about that earlier? Probably because it should be impossible. I had just gotten my arm bitten off by a panther right after fighting off a freaking flame throwing Imp. That is not something I was taught to handle growing up in suburban America.” Laughing out loud, Sam couldn't help but feel giddy; she would survive this. "Now get off your ass and kill that stinking cat before it kills you!” She told herself with determination.
Blinking her tears away, Sam was glad no one was around to watch her little breakdown. Struggling to her feet using her one good arm, she shuffled over to the panther slowly, still a little dizzy from the blood loss and physical trauma. She only took a step when she kicked the backpack she had left out as a pillow. Stumbling to her knees next to it with a grunt of pain, she heard the clinking sound of glass, "what was that?” Looking at the backpack, Sam saw a small vial with a dark green liquid inside that had fallen onto the grass; it looked like a test tube with a stopper on the top. Picking up the vial, Sam examined it with Identify.
Small Stamina Potion: Restores a small amount of stamina.
"Yes! Please have a health and mana potion in there too!" Sam grabbed the backpack with her left hand and tipped it upside down. A small hard leather case fell out of the backpack. Its top was open, the securing cords holding it closed having come undone, and it spilled several more vials out as it struck the grass. "Man, I really suck at this adventurer explorer thing. I'm pretty sure anyone else in their right mind would have assigned their free attribute points immediately and gone through this bag with a fine-tooth comb before doing anything else." Despite her frustration at herself, Sam was still elated as there were vials of red, green, and blue liquid; each color corresponded with the colors of her health, stamina, and Mana in her HUD. She picked up a red and blue vial and identified them.
Small Health Potion: Restores a small amount of health.
Small Mana Potion: Restores a small amount of Mana.
Sam popped the stopper from the red vial with her teeth and brought the rim of the vial to her lips. She stopped herself with a thought, "What if I can only drink one potion and then have to wait an hour or even a day before I can drink another?" This thought made Sam pause. She had read something like that in a fantasy book years ago, and although she knew it had been fictitious, the similarities between the fantasy stories back on Earth and what she was currently experiencing were too great to dismiss out of hand. "The System said I'm the first one here from Earth, and it doesn't know where Earth is, but did someone from here go to Earth? There are too many similarities between how this System works and the RPGs back on Earth for there not to be some connection." Sam returned to the moment, intent on exploring that line of reasoning at a future date, "I have to survive the next five minutes first, then I can get lost in thought once I’m safe.”
Sam put the health potion down reluctantly. She really wanted her arm back, but she knew what she needed to do, and that was to take care of the panther. Having her arm wouldn't help much if she was still bottomed out on Mana. Without further delay, she grabbed the mana potion, popped the stopper, and knocked it back like a shot of tequila. "Yum, tastes like blueberry, nice,” she enjoyed the taste almost as much as the sudden rush of energy that came with her mana reserves replenishing. Her mana headache instantly disappeared, to her relief, and she regained her clarity. She was tempted to regenerate her arm using her Mana. Still, she resisted the urge and instead made sure the wound wasn't bleeding anymore and closed the wound in her side that was still oozing, realizing almost too late the hit to her side had been a lot worse than she initially thought, "either that or the blade on that tail has an anticoagulant property.”
Struggling back to her feet, Sam approached the still-motionless feline. She noted it had also stopped bleeding but, thankfully, was still lying in the same place motionless. This made her even more cautious. "What kind of game are you playing, little kitty? Will you ambush me as soon as I get in range?" As she drew closer to the panther with slow, cautious steps, she finally realized why the panther wasn't moving. "Oh, you poor unlucky bastard,” she thought, looking at the cat. The mana spike she had launched off her hand before the panther had bitten through her arm had exited out its neck right in front of its shoulder blades, completely severing its spine. She could see where the bone was pushed outward from the impact. Some of the panther's wounds may have healed, but its spine had not repaired itself. "I'm not sure if it will ever actually heal from that, but I am definitely not going to find out."
Sam knelt beside the Blade Tail's basketball-sized head, listening to its labored breathing and seeing the fear and anger in its eyes as it stared at her. She whispered quietly to the large animal, "I'm sorry for this; I know you were just following your instincts, but so am I," not wanting to use too much Mana, Sam summoned one of the iron daggers gifted by the System into her left hand and placed the tip of the blade at the opening of the panther's ear while building up a small ball of compressed Mana in her palm at the hilt of the dagger and releasing the Mana as she stabbed the dagger into the panther's ear. The boost from the mana blast in her palm and her newfound strength buried the blade of the dagger in the panther's brain with a nauseating pop. Sam watched the life fading from the creature's eyes and felt the tears well up in her own again. She shook her head, angry at herself, "None of that, Sam! Either you toughen up, or you fucking die! That panther was going to kill you. Now snap out of your freaking self-pity!" Sam felt something fall into place at that moment. She realized she desperately wanted to live, explore this new world, and escape the freaking clearing for god's sake. With a new resolve, Sam stood up, checking her notifications.
You have defeated Blade Tail Panther [Level 15]. Bonus experience earned for defeating an enemy at least 10 levels above your own.
'Bing' Race Human has leveled up to level 4. 5 free attribute points have been awarded.
‘Bing’ Class Arcane Pathfinder has leveled up to level 3. 10 free attribute points awarded.
'Bing' Class Arcane Pathfinder has leveled up to level 4. 10 free attribute points were awarded.
Sam distributed her free points right away, not wanting to make the same mistake of forgetting about them. She thought hard about what to do with her points before deciding to keep her stats as even as possible while still focusing on her magical abilities the most, seeing as that was to be the focus of her class. She knew from her class description that she would rely on herself more often than not, so she would have to be balanced with strength and endurance. So, she added 2 points each to STR, VIT, and AGL. Then a whopping 7 points into END. Lastly, she added 5 points to INT and 6 points to WIS. She kept one point in reserve just in case. Accepting the changes, Sam reveled in the feeling of clarity and power as it washed over her. “I could get used to this,” she thought, “this feeling is better than an orgasm!”
Sitting on her butt next to her defeated foe, Sam checked her status:
Samantha Alecto Moura [S.A.M.]
Race: Human; Mortal [Level 4]
Class: Arcane Pathfinder [Level 4]
Health: 23 / 158
Stamina: 68 / 207
Mana: 37 / 767
Attributes:
STR – 12
VIT – 10
END – 13
AGL – 14
INT – 25
WIS – 23 [46]
Free Attribute Points 1.
Abilities:
Spatial Inventory
Loot
Linguistics
Cartography
Mana Manipulation
Mana Sight [Level 2]
Class Skills:
Mana Crafting [Level 1]
Racial/General Skills:
Identify [Level 2]
Recovery [Level 2]
Meditation [Level 1]
Class Spells:
None
Racial/General Spells:
None
Resistance(s):
Pain [Level 6]
Heat [Level 5]
Satisfied with what she saw, besides her low health, Sam looked at the stump of her arm, "Okay, now to heal this arm.”
***
Regenerating her arm went surprisingly fast to Sam, which is to say, it only took around two hours instead of…well, never. She had gotten the hang of it quite quickly, learning to 'push' the Mana from her natural regeneration and using a little extra from her reserves to speed the healing process. There was a limit to the amount the repair would accept, and any extra mana she tried to pump into it dissipated into the atmosphere. She didn't use a healing potion, wanting to save her potions for an emergency, so she was forced to stop and meditate twice during the repair process when her Mana dropped to less than ten points, causing a headache. Each time she meditated, Sam quickly refilled her meager reserves with her bonuses on top of the meditation bonus. In the end, she received two levels in meditation.
Once healed, she turned her attention to the corpses in the clearing, no longer able to stand the smell. Beginning with the Imp, Sam walked over to it and gagged. It had defecated itself when it died, and the smell of blood mixed with fecal matter was almost too much for her stomach to handle. But she managed, reaching down and touching one of the creature's wings. She thought, “Loot!” She was not disappointed.
Stunted Imp items:
1-Silver; 15-Copper; Monster core [Stunted Imp]; Vial of Imp blood x 2; Imp wing x 2; Imp horns x 2; 10kg Imp meat; Small Health Potion x 1. Take all Yes/No
Selecting 'Yes,' Sam noticed the Imp's wings and horns vanish, but other than that, nothing seemed to change. Checking her inventory, she found everything listed floating in the void of her personal storage. Walking over to the Blade Tail Panther, she looted it as well.
Blade Tail Panther Items:
2-Silver; 47-Copper; Monster core [Blade Tail Panther]; Blade Tail Panther hide [Level 15]; Blade Tail Panther tail; Blade Tail Panther eye x 2; 50kg Blade Tail Panther meat; Small Mana Potion x 1. Take all Yes/No
Selecting 'Yes' again, Sam thought, “Wow, that was a lot of stuff. I'm just glad my arm wasn't one of the options." The thought made her snort out a laugh. She wasn’t sure how she would have reacted to that as a loot option.
Still chuckling to herself, she started back to her bedroll but stopped and looked back at the panther with a thoughtful expression. She had received a hide, but the panther's hide hadn't disappeared. The tail was missing, as well as both of its eyes, but not the hide. Does this mean I can double the amount of certain types of loot? If I learn how to skin animals, I should be able to get two hides off everything I kill. Assuming this is the case, this Loot skill is way awesome. Also, what's so special about that thing's eyes? I get why I received the tail because of the blade, but the eyes?" Looking at the panther, she asked, “What do your eyes do?”
Sam looked at the panther, but when it didn't answer, she plucked one of the eyes out of her inventory with a thought. With all the nerves attached, it landed with a squishy plop in her palm. With a squeal of disgust, she quickly dropped the eye on the ground, shaking her hand free of the slimy feeling. "Gross, that’s disgusting!” She thought as she watched the eye roll on the grass of the clearing, "Aww, now it's dirty." Sighing and picking the eye up with a look of disgust on her face, she examined it.
Eye of a Blade Tail Panther: Consuming this eye will grant you night vision for 8 hours.
Sam had no intention of putting the thing anywhere near her mouth but realized she might be able to sell or trade the eye, ‘it could be valuable to someone desperate enough to eat an eye so they can see in the dark. Well, assuming I ever get out of this forest and find someone to trade with, that is," she thought sullenly before shrugging it off. Putting the eye back in her inventory, she had an idea. Reaching down and touching the panther again, she tried to put it in her inventory, and it worked! Running over, she did the same with the Imp's body. Waste not want not after all, plus it remedied the smell of gore and death permeating the air of the clearing.
With her attribute allotment, healing, and looting complete, Sam looked up at the sun; it was already past its zenith high overhead. While healing herself, she had decided to wait until the next day to leave the clearing. The Safe Zone timer still had over 24 hours on it, so she intended to take advantage of the safety while it lasted. The backpack had rations, and a canteen was hooked to it, so she wasn't in immediate danger of running out of water or food. Plus, she had those 50kgs of cat meat sitting in her inventory after all; there was no way she would eat the Imp meat, though, not after how its blood smelled. Staring at the canteen she had just taken a swig from, she mumbled to it, "I better start rationing you though; I have no idea where or how far the nearest water source will be," she started to put the canteen back into her inventory when she stopped and identified it on a whim.
Cold Spring Canteen [Rare]: An enchanted canteen that will never run dry, if you have enough Mana.
Huh, it seems the System didn't want her to die of thirst or starvation, only deadly monsters, "well, that’s reassuring,” Sam thought, taking a long drink of the cold refreshing water, looking at the canteen with Mana Sight active. The canteen's sides lit up with glowing runes in her sight, and after a couple of tries, she could push her Mana into the runes. The water in the canteen replenished and started overflowing, splashing over her hand, and, to her delight, as long as she kept her Mana channeling into the runes, the water kept coming.
"Yes!" Sam shouted, pumping her fist in the air and stripping off her clothes. She tipped the canteen over her head; the water was ice cold, but she didn't care as long as she got clean. She did her best to rinse the blood and grime off from the past day with one hand while the other held her canteen. Once she felt sufficiently clean, she looked at the clothes the System had provided her and held up her leather shirt with a sigh, "that didn't last long," she said to herself while looking at the burns from the Imp and the cut in the leather left by the Blade Tail, “maybe I can repair it later.” With that thought, she dug through the backpack, hoping to find some repair kit she may have missed, but she found nothing. She continued cleaning her clothing in silence.
Sam lay on her back on the bed roll that had been spared from blood splashes while she waited for her clothes to dry in the warm sun. She investigated the surrounding forest. It seemed slightly less scary than it had before. Maybe it was because she felt much more powerful than she did just a day ago, she had, after all, fought and survived a fireball-throwing Imp and a freaking panther with a blade coming out of its tail. One thing she was sure of was her desire to feel the power of those added stat points from leveling again. Those points had improved her body and mind enough to let her kill a creature she knew she had no business fighting. She closed her eyes and thought, "I think I will like this new world. Having magic sure doesn't hurt, either. I am worried I will become addicted to this feeling of power, though; I'll have to be careful not to let it go to my head."
After resting for a little while, Sam spent the rest of the day preparing for her upcoming journey through the forest and, hopefully, to civilization. She spent her time storing everything in her inventory, including the empty backpack, and gathering any dead wood lying around the area just outside of the clearing. As she worked, she kept her mana sight active and did not stray too far from the clearing for too long, just in case more monsters lurked nearby.
Before dusk, Sam climbed the tallest tree that bordered the clearing, staying within the ten-minute timer that started in one corner of her vision every time she walked out of the safe zone. Scanning her surroundings from as high up in the tree as she dared to climb, Sam realized this forest was immense. To the south and east was more forest, although she thought there may have been what looked like the beginnings of grasslands to the east; she couldn't be sure. There was a mountain range that looked like it began in the distance to the west and continued to the north, the peaks getting progressively taller the farther north they went, with the tallest ones due north disappearing into the clouds. There was what looked to be a winding river to the west, maybe halfway between where she was and where the mountain range began in the southwest. It likely found its origins in the mountains to the north. She decided following the river south would be her best bet if she wanted to find civilization.
While she was in the tree, Sam found out her mini map turned out to not be just mini; she could make it fill her entire visual range by focusing on it in her mind and willing it to expand. It acted like a map application on her cell phone with options to zoom in and scroll around. There weren't actually 'zoom' or 'scroll' buttons, so it took a little bit to get used to moving the map with her thoughts. Most of the map was obscured; even the areas she could see from her perch in the tree needed to be more detailed when she zoomed in on the map. That is except the area around the clearing, where she could zoom in and count the blades of blue grass if she wanted to. She figured that meant she needed to be physically near an area for the map to get its details updated, which didn't bother her much as the map was a fantastic tool, and she was glad she had it. After playing with the map for a while longer, she found no other functions, so minimizing it with a thought, Sam climbed out of the tree, returning to the safe zone with less than three minutes to spare.
Sam decided not to leave the safe zone after that, having already picked the river to the west as her destination for the next day and prepared as much as she thought possible for her upcoming journey. There was only one thing left to do. She needed to figure out how she truly wanted to continue to assign her stat points as she progressed. She had been thinking long and hard about this as she prepared to travel. And settling down for the night, she started thinking through her thought processes as she lay on her bedroll. "My class is obviously Mana intensive, but it also requires me to be a wanderer, likely a loner most of the time. That means I will have to be strong enough to fight by myself, and if the creatures in this forest are the norm on this planet, I will need every attribute I have as high as I can get them. I need to bolster every weakness. In gaming terms, I will have to be a warrior, rogue, mage, ranger, and healer all in one to truly survive on my own in what I assume is going to be a medieval game-like world," Sam shook her head a little at the thought, “There is really no way to know that this world is medieval, apart from the leather clothes and daggers which seem to be positive clues this world is medieval in nature.” She had noted she hadn't heard a single mechanical noise since she arrived, no cars, train horns, or airplanes, not a single sign of modern technology, which helped solidify her assumption of the planet's medieval or at least non-mechanical nature. It went against her inner gamer to continue distributing her points as she had been with a focus on Mana but keeping all her stats moving up steadily so nothing fell too far behind; “I really want to dump everything into intelligence and wisdom and see how much power I can wield…I mean, I've only put 31 out of the 60 free points I've received into those two attributes, and my Mana has gone up, to…”; she checked her status screen, "SEVEN HUNDRED SIXTY SEVEN!" Sam screamed out loud. "What the actual fuck? I'm only level 4 in both my classes. I'm regenerating," she did some quick math, "nearly two mana per second with meditation active."
Before she could get too excited, though, Sam checked her health and stamina and cringed at the numbers. Apparently, her mana channels didn't assist with those attributes, with health being at a paltry 158 points and stamina barely any better at 207 points. "Okay, that decides it. I definitely have to focus more on vitality the next time I level up," she mumbled, "otherwise, I'll wind up overpowered but underdefended. Hell, that damn panther could have easily one-shotted me if I hadn’t managed to dodge that blade in time.”
Thinking about how there were no automatically added attribute points when her class or race leveled made her wonder if it was like this for all individuals in this verse, "does everyone have to manage their level progression themselves, or is it just because I am a System experiment? No, I think the healer class description said it automatically added points to some attributes. Maybe my class should have been called Jack of All Trades or Jill of All Trades. Laughing at herself, Sam looked around and, seeing nothing else to do, she tried to get some sleep. “Maybe I’ll find someone to ask soon,” was her final thought before drifting off to sleep.