CHAPTER 15: TO PLAY WITH MAGIC
Arcanis whirled around while materializing the sword from his inventory. This allowed the young adventurer to barely make it in time to interpose the blade between himself and the swipe of a cat not quite as small as the previous feline monsters. He noted the green & brown stripes on the fur of the paw before he was sent flying, crashing against a tree before tumbling into a bush, barely managing to hang onto the weapon.
Jumping to his feet he ignored the pain from his left arm, the injury not appreciating the sudden shaking, and looked back to where he had come from. He found himself being inspected by a massive cat, being the size of a small horse, but more massive, completely covered in striped fur - green and brown - offering great camouflage in the forest. Having found whatever it had been looking for, the creature retreated behind the trees and vanished from sight, completely fading into the background. Looking around nervously, Arcanis felt a vibration on the ground as if something heavy had impacted it, but was unable to locate the source of the vibrations. Following his instincts he turned to his left, interposed his blade and jumped back, barely avoiding the next swipe as the predator went after him.
This time there was no reprieve and the monster directly pushed for a follow-up attack, trying to go for his leg. Dodging to one side, he used his blade to redirect the of the beast to the other side. He got the same skill assist feeling as from the training and accepted the help, barely managing to divert the massive head. While he managed to avoid being mangled, the young adventurer was still imparted with plenty of momentum and crashed against another tree, shaking his broken arm and triggering another scream of pain. I need to get away!
There was no way he was going to win that fight, barely able to keep to monster from tearing him up any worse than he already was. Jumping up, he rushed straight towards the stone, but the monster leaped ahead and placed itself straight between Arcanis and any hope for escape. I need to prevent it from pushing me back again! The cat lunged at him, both front paws extended and claws exposed and with but a split second to decide, the young adventurer went all in, moving to one side and attempting to use his Riposte maneuver. Barely deflecting the right claw, his blade got caught and the momentum of the massive predator spun the young man around his own axis before he managed to pass on energy right back at the exposed hind-leg as the monster passed him by.
"YEEOOOWWWWWLLLLLLLLLLLLLL"
"ARRRGGHHHHH!!"
A cry of pain and rage crossed a cry of ... well, just pain. Arcanis almost blacked out from the stabbing pain in his left arm, complaining about the sudden jostling of that maneuver - the cast was still holding on, but the fight had obviously loosened it quite a bit. On the other hand, the predator did not appreciate having its hind leg cut and turned on the human in its territory. Slowed by the injury, it was slower to follow up on the intruder, but that took none of the weight out of its swipes. Swish after swish did it attack the youngster and he kept trying his best to dodge and redirect each of the moves, giving ground each time, stumbling towards the stone.
Arcanis did not have it all his way too - a few more scratches got through, having his blood flow freely. He barely held on each time his left arm complained and his health was dropping dangerously, but at least with its hind leg injured, the cat was unable - or unwilling - to pounce or maneuver around him. Still, he was almost to his goal when he stumbled and a swiped from its right claw finally connected, his right arm broke, more cuts and blood and he was thrown through a bush, hurting his ribs as he broke through its trunk and kept rolling over the floor ... and barely across the invisible barrier.
His sword flobbed uselessly to the ground, the hand no longer having the strength to hold on to it. The young adventurer himself laid sprawled on the grass, no longer able to stand up, his consciousness barely holding on as he watched the monster approach him.
As it reached the invisible line it growled and used one of its paws to claw it as if it were a physical wall. Frustrated, it gave a deep hiss, its massive chest converting the utterly feline sound to a basso rumbling that could almost be felt physically.
Exhausted, Arcanis laid back and let the system notifications take him.
* * *
You have raised the skill: Swords: Wall of Blades to level 2
+1 Strength, +1 Constitution, +1 Dexterity, +5% Maneuver Strength
You have raised the skill: Swords: Wall of Blades to level 3
+1 Strength, +1 Constitution, +1 Dexterity, +5% Maneuver Strength
You have raised the skill: Swords: Riposte to level 5
+1 Strength, +1 Constitution, +1 Dexterity, +5% Maneuver Strength
You have raised the skill: Swords: Riposte to level 6
+1 Strength, +1 Constitution, +1 Dexterity, +5% Maneuver Strength
You have raised the skill: Swords to level 11
+1 Strength, +1 Constitution, +1 Dexterity, +1% Damage with Swords
You have raised the skill: Dodge to level 20
+1 Agility, +5% Speed for the purpose of evading attacks
You have raised the skill: Acrobatics to level 4
+2 Agility, Improved Jumping Power and control while maneuvering in mid-air
You have raised the skill: Pain Tolerance to level 8
+1 Constitution, -5% perceived pain
You have raised the skill: Pain Tolerance to level 9
+1 Constitution, -5% perceived pain
* * *
Realizing he was actually bleeding out on the forest floor, Arcanis faced one major problem to his recovery: With both arms broken, meeting the touch requirement of his Healing Touch spell would be ... difficult.
Accepting a massive, stabbing pain, he forced his right arm across his torso to touch his left arm - the spell after all did not require direct contact to the injury to be healed. It took dozens of casts and almost his entire mana pool, but the aspiring wizard managed to patch himself up - minus the torn up clothing and armor. Or the blood stains.
You have raised the skill: Healer to level 10
+1 Mana, +1% Power of benevolent healing magic effects
You have raised the skill: Magic for Dummies to level 8
+1 Power, -2% Spell Cost of Simplified Spells
Mentally and physically exhausted, he laid there and reflected on the fight that just concluded. I should be dead. Looking back, the sheer size and mass of the monster should have utterly outclassed him, even the speed way beyond what he used to be capable of. "But I managed to escape. Handily even, considering my state." Arcanis held his right hand above him and stared at the tree canopy through his fingers, then clenched them into a fist. Inspecting his arm in the crystal light, he noticed how he had recently almost been adding on an entire layer of muscles. "I'm more and more turning into a monster myself, huh?" And if Thomas is to be believed, that's the absolute minimum baseline for them all.
"Come to think of it, did I not aim to be a Magic Researcher? I should probably investigate this new sense more deeply." The aspiring wizard yawned deeply. Tomorrow.
Forcing himself up, Arcanis looked around, finding himself still in front of the runed stone and the barrier that had saved him. Now to find the way back...
He still had no idea just where he had come from, but probably somewhere in the opposite direction to the barrier. If only there were a reliable way to backtrack the way he had come. I'm a failure as an adventurer. Tiredly he rubbed his face and got started tracking his own trail. At least there are no witnesses.
It took him quite a while and he had to deal with another of the smaller felines, but ultimately he earned another level to tracking and made it back to the lake the "day" - impossible as actual days were to track inside the dungeon - had started at.
* * *
Back at the lake, he stocked up on water and then faced the greater problem: Food. The red fruits he had found would only last so long - not much more than a day or two - and were apparently quite rare. Can't be helped, guess I will find out, whether the meat is edible.
Gathering enough wood for a fire, putting it together, creating wooden skewers for the meat ... it all was an unmitigated pain with but a single usable arm. There were no stones at hand to create a fireplace, so the young adventurer spent yet more time removing grass and trampling the ground to shape a rough firebreak around the place he planned the fire on. Without the Firebolt spell, there would have been no way to light it, but its lightly explosive nature did add some spice to the venture. All said, it probably took him on the dark side of two to three exhausting hours to get everything set up on the shore.
Dead tired, he watched the skewers roast, turning them around as needed but otherwise doing his best to imitate a rock, trying to relax and recover from the accumulated stress. When was the last time I truly was alone? He scratched his head in puzzlement, sifting through his memories - not a simple task, given how much he had experienced and forgotten over the last few millennia. "Must have been years - before the warband, probably." However long it had actually been, he did not really care for the experience. Whatever, food. Declaring the cooking to be finished, he took the first skewer ...
You have raised the skill: Cooking to level 11
+1 Dexterity, +1 Power, Improved Cooking Result
You have raised the skill: Cooking to level 12
+1 Dexterity, +1 Power, Improved Cooking Result
... and it appeared the system agreed with him. Lacking proper utensils and constrained to one hand, he discarded table manners and ate the meat right off the improvised cooking implement. Its taste was ok-ish for meat grilled without any spices, if a bit stringy. Lets not tell Martha about this part of the adventure, shall we? He swallowed down the first bite, the hot meat warming him up from the inside. Thus triggered, his ravenous hunger took over and in no time he had wolfed down the first few pieces of meat.
With the edge taken off, Arcanis laid back again, relaxed and gave his new senses another spin while giving the other skewer a bit more time. Still unused to the signals received, he noticed how the fire gave off some presence, but he was unable to make sense of what he felt, other than to confirm its existence. Probably means that the fire contains magical energy. He temporarily tried to take in everything around him, but had to shut that down after a few moments before it started overwhelming him again. "Still, other signals appear somehow different ... I wonder, what else can I discern with enough practice?" And how much of that can make sense before I finally get a handle on spellcasting beyond the system-given spells.
Suddenly, a burning pain developed in his belly, eliciting a scream from him as he doubled over, his stomach cramping and his bile rising. The young adventurer barely managed to turn away before his meal came up again and he left a right smelly mess on the grass. The agony was not over however, as he felt the burning spread throughout his body while a system notification made itself known.
The status effect [Monster Corruption] has been inflicted.
Monster Corruption
"You should have known better."
Cause:
Consuming unpurified Monster Meat
You have been corrupted
-2% HP / Second
It took Arcanis a moment to truly understand what was happening to him, then he immediately started casting one "Healing Touch" after another. 796. 752. 716. He frantically kept chain-casting his one chance to survive, could feel the pain expand through his body, then retreat with the next healing spell before expanding once again.
560 / 912
The draining feeling kept ramping up and he found it harder and harder to focus, to the point where he almost fumbled a spell catastrophically, but he persevered. His body burned and his mana dropped almost as fast as his health. More and more he had to fight through a mental fog to keep up the magic.
302 / 912
His heart hammered like wild, repelling the burning veins, while his legs buckled under him and he crumbled to the floor, managing to hang onto his spell despite the agony. Again and again, Arcanis tried to push back the inner fire with his spell, but it kept mercilessly at it and he closed his eyes, focusing everything he had on the struggle, the entire world reduced to the fire burning within and the soothing magic pushing it back.
208 / 912
To no avail. He would have screamed in agony, were he not busy casting one consecutive "Healing Touch" after the other. But as his energy left him and he strugged with the magic, he noticed that while the fire progressed through his body, it also appeared to become 'thinner', less concentrated. It still hurt like hell, but maybe ...
110 / 912
Encouraged by that last hopeful observation he struggled on and kept going. The fire continued spreading, the light pushed it back, it grew thinner but kept on spreading, almost reaching his heart ... and then, finally it was over, the fire burning him completely dissolved and a system message broke the aspiring wizard out of his extreme focus.
The status effect [Monster Corruption] has expired.
Utterly spent he checked out his remaining health, which confirmed what he felt from inside using his new senses:
12 / 912
He might have won the struggle, but his internal structure was in disarray. Huh? Since when can I read my internals like this? Tired, beaten and enervated, he still managed a few more casts to raise his health and reduce the fullbody-ache plaguing him somewhat before dropping off to sleep. Neither his returning hunger nor the pending system messages were enough to keep him conscious anymore.
* * *
You have raised the skill: Pain Tolerance to level 10
+1 Constitution, -5% perceived pain
You have raised the skill: Magic for Dummies to level 9
+1 Power, -2% Spell Cost of Simplified Spells
You have raised the skill: Magic for Dummies to level 10
+1 Power, -2% Spell Cost of Simplified Spells
You have raised the skill: Healer to level 11
+1 Mana, +1% Power of benevolent healing magic effects
You have raised the skill: Healer to level 12
+1 Mana, +1% Power of benevolent healing magic effects
You have raised the skill: Healer to level 13
+1 Mana, +1% Power of benevolent healing magic effects
You have unlocked the skill: Concentration!
Concentration (Level: 1) [General]
"[...] when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully."
You have shown a tenacity and focus in the pursuit of your goals.
The less said about the quality of those goals the better ...
You are less distracted when concentrating.
Reduced impact of distractions
You have raised the skill: Concentration to level 2
Reduced impact of distractions
You have raised the skill: Concentration to level 3
Reduced impact of distractions
You have raised the skill: Concentration to level 4
Reduced impact of distractions
You have unlocked the skill: Poison Resistance!
Poison Resistance (Level: 1) [Nature]
"What does not kill us, makes us stronger"
If only you had not levelled your resistance to learning from painful experiences first.
Oh well, at least your odds of survival just increased - keep it up and the percentage may yet reach double digits!
Reduces effect of poisons.
+1 Constitution, +1 Luck, Reduced effect of poisons
* * *
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"So, with the upper Astral Channels in flux, the main channel stable and the ethereal spectrograph having odd resonances ..." The young man shrugged helplessly "... we need somebody on-site to investigate."
The older woman on the other side gathered all the patience she was able to muster and looked around, buying time to - hopefully - not explode at the nerd in front of her. Her office was the same as always - austere and regulation, with minimal personalization. A few books on the cupboard - a tactical manual she had been studying, the Book of Mia, Roderik's Guide to Field Research, a prayer book gathering more dust than it really should ... . A simple office table, a couple of extra chairs - with emphasis on utility, not comfort - her armor stand with her full plate armor, her weapon stand, a simple window with actual glass, unadorned but fairly clear. The capital was busy as always outside, the passersby busy with their own agendas, their own problems, not giving much thought to the administrative building they were skipping by.
With a loud sigh she finished gathering her calm and pinned the person facing her across the table with a glare that had intimidated generations of recruits. "Now." The youngster almost vibrated with enthusiasm, too lost in his own discoveries to even realize her mood. "How about you step back for a moment, pretend that not actually everybody is a deep expert in theoretic astral mechanics and Tell. Me. What. You. Are. Doing. In. My. Office!"
Her rising voice levels appeared to finally get through to him and the fragile-looking man blinked several times, to the point she was almost able to see the cogs turning in his head. "Whenever you are ready. Maybe start with who you are, while you are at it."
Blushing, he scratched his head before finally responding. "Sorry ma'am, Roto Baldwell at your service, I am one of the researchers in the Royal Institute for Astral Mechanics and work in the leyline observatory, here in the capital. We work with and report to General von Neustein on matters related to astral security.
"As you may know, there are large veins of magical energy flowing deep underground, forming a large, powerful and interconnected web of energy - across the entire world we assume, under Heranis for certain. We monitor it, as any shift in energy flow could have catastrophic consequences."
Knight Command Alisia de Vega nodded along with his explanation, so far learning nothing new. Not like I'd interrupt an egghead that actually starts at the beginning.
"Now, what we usually do not admit is that we don't actually understand the deeper details of leylines or their interaction with dungeons." The young man continued after a minimal pause. "Part of that is that we cannot directly observe them and have to rely on complex tools, that we cannot assume capture everything or interpret information correctly. We do know a few things however:
"First of all, what we call leylines is actually more than just a massive flow of energy that can be tapped into with caution. It is ... difficult to put into layman terms, but ... think of it like a large river that is also accompanied by a lot of small creeks flowing in perfect parallel. Now this is only a partially useful analogy, because only the main flow actually contains transmitted energy. The smaller streams - or Astral Channels - can show ... different kinds of activity."
He took a deep breath and obviously pondered just how to continue his narrative. "From a direct energetics perspective, only the main stream matters, however activity on the channels can be an indicator of what is to come. These channels can then be further grouped in different categories and while there are a lot of detailed differentiations and categories, for convenience we usually group them into four categories: Upper, Lower, Outer and Inner Channels. The terminology is based of the placement in the astra..." he interrupted himself with a cough before continuing "... in the tools used to observe them."
Alisia lightly knocked on her table with a knuckle while giving him a stare. Get to the point!
As if hearing her thoughts he jumped onwards. "Anyway, with the information gained, while we can't 'read' it, we can predict quite a few things from it. Most notably dungeon breaks or collapses, but also mana flares and field disruptions. The key part - and why I'm in your office, ma'am - is that the upper Astral Channels have almost no activity, ever. In fact, some of our observers actually ignore them because of that. The only time we have on record where those channels are in use is when a new dungeon forms."
Now that got a reaction out of the Knight Command and she sat up straight. But the nerd kept on going, his eyes shining with excitement.
"But this time is different! We have ripples across the upper Astral Channels that are unlike anything we have ever seen! It started a few days ago and - cooperating with two fellow observatories in neighboring cities - we have managed to isolate the originating nexus, from which - and to which - those ripples come."
Fully caught in his own narrative he slammed his hand on her table - to very little effect - and came to his conclusion, conviction burning in his eyes. "And that is why I need a librarian to go and investigate what is happening there!"
The woman leant back in her chair, the fingers of her hands touching against each other in her trademark gesture for thinking things through. "I see." She drummed with her fingers on the table for a few seconds, until finally coming to a conclusion. "I see" she repeated. "I can see why von Neustein sent you to me. This does sound like something that needs investigating, and I think I already have a librarian in mind for this."
She stood up and moved over to her window, looking out into the city. "I'll check with a friendly priest of Mia - they might want to get in on this one." Then she turned back to the young man and gave him a malicious grin. "Of course, we dare not stint them the best expertise on the topic that the crown can provide ..." She looked at the bookish man who probably had not left the city in his entire life and looked like someone for whom lifting a book would be a major exercise. "... you will be accompanying them on this trip."
All color left him and her stammered "bu- bu- but I am needed here"
She shrugged. "I am sure someone can take over for you."
"but..."
"I'll clear it with the General of course, but it's your discovery ... you would not want someone else steal the opportunity from you, would you?"
That shut young Baldwell up and got him thinking.
"Good." She nodded at him as he ceased his protests. "I will put together the details, you will be informed where to be and when to be so. One last thing though: Where exactly is the originating nexus?"
He looked at her with a sheepish expression at his own oversight. "Erfurt ma'am. It's in Erfurt."
* * *
Arcanis woke up, his entire body complaining loudly about yesterdays abuse. With some effort he managed to top himself off with more "Healing Touch" casts. Other than his left arm, the burning pain in his stomach and his lingering weakness anyway. He checked his status, finding the 'Tortured' effect still present, which explained why the left arm remained broken. Still he performed a few more casts, hoping to deal with the other remaining issues, but nothing would help.
"Nothing for it." The aspiring wizard got up from the ground he was resting at, weakness or no weakness. A low grumbling could be heard and Arcanis swiftly looked around, withdrawing the sword from inventory as he inspected the treeline, looking for the source of the noise.
Another low grumble rang through the area, almost a roar. That sounded close. He inspected the grass when the sound repeated again and he noticed it came from below and really close. Finally he realized the source, the tension leaving him as he stored the sword and collapsed back onto the grass.
"Huuuungryyy"
With the meat not an option, he retrieved the fruits he collected the day before and started devouring them. Fruit after fruit vanished, until at least he was sated and his inventory was cleared out.
Done for the moment, the urge to move, to just stop being still, overcame him and he stood up and started pacing. Alright, thinking back over the last day. "What went well, what could I have done better?"
He circled the improvised fireplace from the day before thinking, nobody answering the question hanging in the air. "Navigation." Need to find some way to figure out direction without having to trace back my own steps. Another turn and another passed as he walked and scratched his chin in thought. "Maybe I can use my sense magic ability to navigate using particular notable loci from the storm of signals." Something to try out later.
"The fight was stupid but ... funny." I probably should have considered the possibility of that magic field actually keeping things out. "On the other hand, I was not as outclassed as I would have expected - that beast was large and powerful enough that survival should have been impossible, barrier or no barrier, but it ... was doable. Without the tortured status and the broken arm, I might even have won." It was rather ridiculous, but his recent meteoric rise in stats obviously did interesting things, even if the difference in mass and sheer muscle had still been quite present. Need to practice Wall of Blades more - that has some interesting potential, and against a massive monster like that my staff just lacks punch anyway, even if I can get my second arm back.
It was a classic problem of right weapon for the job: Blunt weapons are quite useless once the opponent is too tough to break bones - with a bladed weapon it was at least still possible to bleed them. As long as the enemy had blood, anyway.
"Eating the meat." That was risky, to say the least. Getting into the flow, his steps accelerated and he added more cycles around the fireplace. "Still, there was no way to know and food is getting tight with no idea how long I'm stuck here." A shudder went through him at the memory of that particular fiasco. The sensation shown was interesting however ...
With some concentration Arcanis re-opened his inner eye and focused on the signals from within. No fire to be found, but the paths it had taken vaguely stood out and he was now able to somewhat track the way mana flowed within his body. "Probably a long way until I have this perception truly mastered, but probably worth it." One more thing he would need to talk about with his Dwarven teacher, once he got out of this dungeon - while he did not know for sure, the assumption that the ability to observe mana would be a core requirement for mastering magic did seem likely.
"While I'm at it ..." Following a thought he stopped, raised his right arm and pointed at the water of the lake while focusing his magic sense immediately in front of him. "Firebolt" His eyes reported nothing unexpected - a bolt of fire erupted from his index finger and flew straight into the lake, impacting with an eruption of steam that quickly dissolved. His new sense however reported a different picture - something had formed at his finger, then energy rushed from his body into it over the course of a bit more than two seconds, then the projectile of energy rushed out.
Repeating the cast several times, he noticed how the finished projectile had a distinct ... 'taste' to it. A few more and he managed to observe how his own mana changed its 'taste' as it filled out that something he had felt being formed at the beginning of his cast. Trying again and again, he focused on that 'something', but no matter how he tried, it just would not make any sense.
"I wonder if that taste is related to fire ... or whether it is just how my mana feels as it is formed into a spell ..." Simple enough to test, I suppose. Moving his right hand to his left he went back to his more useful spell. "Healing Touch"
Watching with care, the aspiring wizard was overwhelmed by what he perceived this time: Again something formed, but it was far more slippery, to the point he almost missed it. His mana fed into the spell - and he was running low on mana by now - but with an odd flicker of mana the spell finished casting, the usual white light shone and mana - with an incredibly complex 'taste', very different from the Firebolt spell - coursed through him. "Lets say the 'taste' really is the school of magic - fire versus healing - provisionally. Need more samples to really judge, something to get back to I suppose."
Giving himself a light cut on the left shoulder, he tried once more and again that odd flicker happened. This time however the complex-flavored mana did not just pass through his body - a fair portion focused on his shoulder, patching up the cut. Curious, Arcanis repeatedly cast the spell, each time focusing on that flicker with all his mental might. At first, not much changed, but after several repetitions he realized that it actually was sending out a very weak ... 'pulse'? 'wave'? of mana. It was so faint and fast, he barely noticed a thing, but it passed through his entire body from the location touched.
He kept at it a few more times but no more insights were forthcoming until his final attempt flat out failed: The 'something' ... need to find a better name for that ... formed but the aspiring wizard's stream of mana ebbed and stopped before the construct was fully filled out, causing the spell to just vanish in a cloud of unfocused mana.
Surprised Arcanis looked up and realized he had managed to empty his entire mana pool. His legs were complaining about having been stiff for too long and he noticed he had missed a system notification.
You have raised the skill: Concentration to level 5
Reduced impact of distractions
Damn, that skill is scary! "Come to think of it ..." Arcanis reflected back to the day before and how some things were ... curious. Most skills appear to be either weapon maneuvers or very simple, very low impact improvements. More like a confirmation of what I have learned to do myself, rather than granting new abilities. "But then there are Dodge, Pain Tolerance and Concentration, with each having a major impact per level."
Considering it for a bit he withdrew his writing tools from inventory and added it to the list of questions to ask. "While I am at it, that status effect message had an interesting line: 'Consuming unpurified Monster Meat'. Would that not imply monster meat can be purified? Martha should know how that works ..." Adding that too to his list of questions, he finished up and put away his tools.
* Can food be found in dungeons?
* How does starvation work, and how do skills and attributes factor in?
* Spatial Storage - is that a thing?
* Different kinds of skills. How? What else? Small Incremental, Maneuver, Odd (Dodge, Concentration, Pain Tolerance)
* Purify Monster Meat
Come to think of it, the first question is mostly answered by now. "Still ... better keep it for now, might be a surprise in the answer."
Switching back from his train of thought, Arcanis realized he was pacing rather aggressively, his focus shattered and old habits telling him to just go. Not resisting the impulse any longer, he moved out and went searching for more fruits or other edible plants. Stepping back into the forest he turned back on his new senses, concentrating on his surroundings, trying to establish a way to navigate through the signals perceived.
In the distance - beyond where he had gone the day before, if he got his directions right - there was a fairly strong presence, that would work well as a navigation anchor. The other direction offered little to focus on, but by keeping track of some of the crystals in the roof with their own distinct presence that would probably work out. Thus feeling no longer quite as lost he moved on, circling the lake from within the forest, only infrequently establishing direct line of sight to test his perception.
You have unlocked the skill: Navigation!
Navigation (Level: 1) [Nature]
"Without a destination, every direction is the wrong direction"
The secret to finding your way lies in careful observation.
Of piecing together small facts into a coherent picture.
Kind of like a detective, really.
You have grown better at collecting those details and are less likely to be influenced by bad information.
Improved resistance to being mislead, Improved perception of navigational markers
Neat.
The search took quite a while, but satisfied his need to move. He did manage to find two more of the yellow-colored fruit trees and restock to keep him fed for another day. This close to the lake, even the smaller cat-monsters did not approach him, raising memories of peaceful hiking trips of his past. Will need to go out and do one of those, once I get out of here.
* * *
Returning from his round trip, Arcanis gave in to temptation and decided to keep practicing his new sense - throughout the trip it had become more and more reflexive to ignore the constant background 'noise' and pick out pattern. Keeping it up became less and less of a pain and it was bound to be useful - maybe it might even help with in combat if he got it to the point where it would not distract. Besides, with my left arm as it is, I probably should try avoid risking another encounter with one of the big ones anyway.
Dumping his entire mana pool into unneeded healing spells did not grant him any additional insights into the nature of spells themselves, but he managed to better track the energy as it circulated within him - and passed through his hand as it left him. There too were no real revelations to be found, but the aspiring wizard did find it easier to track his internal flow.
Almost empty of energy, there we few distractions and he was able to observe how new energy signals - particles? - just suddenly started appearing in his head and then spread out through the entire body. "Interesting. Apparently the outside environment has no effect on regeneration - at least none that I can observe." Which of course raises the question, of whether it is possible to absorb the ambient energy in some way ...
Following this impulse, Arcanis moved to one of the glowing crystals, touched it, and willed for some of its energy to move over to him. "Come on!" He focused hard on the movement, mentally shouted at it, commanded it. Pressing harder against the crystal as he tried to force his will upon it.
Neither the crystal nor its energy appeared impressed. As if to mock him, the light did not even flicker.
Sliding down a trunk to dejectedly sit down on the forest floor, he leant back and looked up at the canopy. "Damn." Would have been neat. To distract himself, he cast another Healing Touch and watched his magical energy flow down his right arm and leave through his hand.
I wonder ...
Following his thought, he waited until the spell was completed, then willed one fragment of the energy cycling inside himself to slightly divert in its path when reaching his left shoulder. It did not follow his command, but this time there was a slight mental feedback, like some kind of pushback or unwillingness to obey. Motivated by getting at least some response he tried again and again, feeling some slight progress each time, until after a few more tries one mana fragment slightly changed its path in the direction he willed before returning to its cycle.
There was a slight itching in his left shoulder, but nothing more than that, so the aspiring wizard was not deterred and he continued again and again. Losing track of time, he kept at it and with each run it was slightly easier to do until his musings were interrupted by another system message.
You have unlocked the skill: Manipulate Magic!
Manipulate Magic (Level: 1) [Magic]
"To touch upon the wonders of the world."
Having played with fire just was not enough.
You have learned to directly touch upon the magic within and without.
Orphanages of the world, beware!
You are no longer constrained to channel magic through the artificial constructs of spells.
Improved throughput and control
"Heureka!"
Reenergized by his sudden success, Arcanis jumped up again, then tried again. This time, his mana was responsive enough and stopped its resistance, even if he was still constrained to a manipulating a single 'particle'. Grinning he scratched his itching shoulder and ceased his manipulation attempts for the moment as he reflected on one part of the message just know. 'Within and Without', eh? "Kind of implies that I should also be able to move magical energies that are not my own, I'd think."
Turning back to the crystal, he touched it once again and willed for some of its energy to move over to him. "Come on!" Concentrating and projecting his will, trying to obtain the same sensation as with his own mana he mentally commanded it to move.
Neither the crystal nor its energy appeared impressed. Again.
"Aaaargh!" Raising his fists towards canopy and yelling in frustration helped. Somewhat, anyways.
Despirited he moved back to the lake, removed his boots and let his feet hang into the refreshing water. "I wonder ... how does that work?" Thinking through it, the description clearly said within and without, so it should be possible. But the crystal did not give any feedback - not a high resistance or anything like his own mana gave, just ... nothing. My own mana...
Focusing on his new sense, Arcanis took control over one mana particle in his right arm and willed it to pass along the usual path to his hand and to leave his body, as his energy did when casting a spell. Without any resistance, it obeyed, leading to the particle hovering above his open palm. With some more focus it would fly around in circles or settle on his hand - even having it return to inside his hand worked.
Grinning at his success, he could not help himself - he raised his right hand, pointed across the lake and- "Firebolt!" He watched the construct form and fill out, the fiery projectile erupt and blast forward as the spell was wont to do.
The projectile fizzled out and extinguished, its maximum range insufficient to cross the entire lake.
Looking at it go, a thought struck him that would not let go: Can I somehow modify this spell?
Trying the cast again, he watched it start filling out and with an act of will ... decided to command his mana to move. Not able to fully grasp the construct, his directions were arbitrary and the spellform distorted, stretched to one side and then ... ruptured. Time slowed down as the aspiring wizard noted how some of his energy scattered, then stopped and finally rushed back, with plenty of foreign fragments of energy joining in. The construct crumbled inwards as energy from all around joined it and a blinding pure white light started the emit from its locus.
"Shit."
* * *
Name: Arcanis
Classes
None
Attributes
Strength: 90
Agility: 85
Dexterity: 100
Constitution: 100
Mana: 35
Power: 45
Luck: 35
Derived Attributes
HP: 1165
EP: 885
MP: 580
Skills
General
Acrobatics 4
Athletics 6
Balance 7
Cleaning 11
Concentration 5
Cooking 12
Gaming 8
Writing 2
Magic
Combat Casting 3
Healer 13
Magic for Dummies 10
Manipulate Magic 1
Martial
Ambush 3
Dodge 20
Unarmed Combat 4
Weapon: Dagger 7
Daggers: Coup-de-Grace 2
Weapon: Staff 18
Staff: Sweeping Strike 8
Staff: Redirect 10
Weapon: Sword 11
Swords: Riposte 6
Swords: Wall of Blades 3
Weapon: Mace 7
Maces: Smash 3
Weapon: Axe 7
Axes: Disarm 3
Weapon: Spear 7
Spears: Pinning Strike 3
Nature
Animal Husbandry 2
Butchering 3
Dismantle 1
First Aid 4
Navigation 1
Night Vision 10
Pain Tolerance 10
Poison Resistance 1
Tracking 3
Social
Dissembling 2
Gambling 5
Languages
Herani (Mother language)
Spells
Firebolt*
Healing Touch*
Titles
-
Traits
-
Innate Abilities
Gift of Magic
Magic Researcher
Linguist
Sense Magic
Status Effects
Blessing of Zara
Fae Touched
Tortured
Broken Arm (x2 left arm)