Unmoving from his sitting position, Dei closed his eyes and drew his sight close to his soul, finding a new connection.
Rather than only the newest moment, his connection to Fortitude drew upon every moment in his life where he showed such resilience. While it was only the most recent of his achievements that garnered its attention, he could see the effects of Fortitude all along his life in a way that was not obvious before.
Again, he was reminded of why Natural Affinities were so much more intimate than Unnatural Affinities.
The new affinity was also much more personal than his other three, a companion to stand behind him, helping him along the way. Kindness and Wrath were born with him, a part of his very being. Soul was disconnected, closer to a tool than a part of who he was.
Fortitude was neither, instead choosing to be a friend and defender of him. While he’d yet to earn any Skills in fortitude, it wrapped his entire being in a warm barrier, defending him from the world. It further suppressed the effects of his connection to Soul and alleviated the onsetting insanity from his loneliness.
He also noticed his mind accelerate, taking him off guard.
Unbeknownst to him, he was subconsciously dedicating processing power to various useless tasks, such as looking forward to his meeting with the Korgonda, anxiously worrying about whether his enemies would find him, and holding his previous grudges.
Fortitude gently pried these thoughts from his grasp, allowing him to rest as it muffled their draw on his mind
He shuddered as his muscles fully relaxed, slumped over, and passed out.
* * *
[Since the Fall: 9/13/809 - 6:07:39]
Slowly waking from his dreamless sleep, Dei yawned and sat up.
He felt better than he had in a long time, and his new affinity was to thank for it. He’d shown Fortitude ever since his mother was forced to abandon him, and he was now changed from the experience.
His connection to Fortitude proved that his mind was irrevocably different, strengthening him for surviving the furnace of living in the cruel caves.
He’d slept for around seventeen hours after Fortitude helped to relax his mind, and was ready to tackle the next step: checking his notifications.
[Skill Leveled Up: Pandora’s Box (Contained) (99) -> (100)]
[Skill: Pandora’s Box (Contained) (100) has reached an evolution threshold]
[Skill: Meditation has undergone a manual evolution]
Three extraordinary notifications, proof of his efforts.
He would look at the evolution options for [Pandora’s Box] soon, but he checked on his [Meditation] Skill first
[Meditation - Level 65 - Mana Affinity
The self, everything that ones identity is comprised of, is not entirely unique when considered in parts. Each moment is shared by an uncountable amount of other beings, separated by either time or perspective. The plants, insects, and even microbes experience the same moments as any human, yet ones identity itself is entirely unique. Despite sharing moments with so many others, no entity shares every moment with you. Your identity is the sum of so many parts, yet greater than every single one individually. Even still, there is an unbreakable link between every singular person and the grand cosmos that rotates around their unique perspective. Using that link, draw aspects of yourself into the open, showing all what it means to be you.
Gain the ability to create a Visible Presence, declaring aspects of yourself to those you project it towards.
Level 65 manual evolutionary upgrade - Cuts appear upon your skin, but you do not flinch. Whips strike you, yet you do not falter. Marching forward endlessly to the future, anything that stands in your way will either move or break, for you will not. Gain the ability to resist all disruptions to your mental faculties. Resistance becomes stronger with each successive level.]
He was glad it was only an addition to his already existing Skill, rather than a change to the Skill itself. If it had changed, he would have been slightly screwed, as he needed to earn Presence to make up for his broken soul. Looking back, he might have actually been playing with fire… except he sort of knew it wasn’t that easy to change a Skill. It really wasn’t chance at all, as he felt the change he was pushing into the Skill would not have changed its fundamental abilities.
Next, it was time for him to look at how he could evolve his [Pandora’s Box (Contained)] ability.
[Diverging paths for evolution open:
Size
Adaptivity
Sectioning]
He first started with Size
[Size:
Oceans of mana are channeled through you, affinities granting you more than you can reasonably contain. This evolution doubles the amount of mana per level within the spell]
Simple upgrade, and one he’d already chosen in his previous life.
He felt there was something wrong with it though, a path thoroughly trodden in his minds eye. He’d already picked this once, and he wasn’t supposed to be able to pick it again… If he did, Dei felt like something bad would happen.
The analogy of pathways was not a fully accurate one, and the [Size] upgrade was closer to a portal, straight to the end of the pathway, rather than an upgrade.
It felt like if he chose that upgrade, then the Skill would instantly return to its previous, very high level.
He now understood what the System meant when it said the wrong upgrade would make him “explode.” The individual levels were already painful when the Skill was repairing itself, gaining over a hundred more in a single moment? It would kill him.
He also noted that Concentration was not an option with this upgrade. Were some evolutions only eligible at higher tiers?
Size and Concentration out, that left [Adaptivity] and [Sectioning].
[Adaptivity:
The box was never meant to contain mana that would fight it, any mana that had goals of its own. Your mana enters the box of your accord, but others easily break from its grasp. This evolution gives the box the ability to fight will-imbued mana, pulling it into the box despite its efforts. Strength of pull becomes stronger with each successive level.]
He whistled, thinking ‘that is one nice level up. It would have helped to contain the Convection mana, but thats not all. I could do it to a foreign influence, such as a mind controller, invading my body only to have its mana stolen from it. I might even be able to use that mana, casting tons of different spells for my own purpose…
‘Wait, is that why its called adaptivity? Because I’ll be able to cast many different types of spells with the foreign mana, but I won't have a stable source of the mana?’
The text about it “pulling” also made him think of how the Melder could pull Spirit and Soul mana from the air. This upgrade never said it could only pull the mana from his body, did that mean he could perhaps learn to take mana from his surroundings? He didn’t even need to wonder, as he could pick this upgrade, test it out, then change paths if he wanted to, as long as he didn’t level up with it.
Firing off a few Soul-powered Identifies, just to ensure his box didn’t fill up all the way, he picked Adaptivity. He felt that shift where the blockage in his way was removed, and he gained a new section to his Skill.
Activating it, Dei focused on pulling the plant-mana from the grass under him, and found that it could.
Now, the mana was putting up a hell of a fight, and he was unlikely to gain anything for a few hours with its current strength, but the option was there; he could genuinely pull any kind of mana straight from the environment around him.
Excited about the potential of his new upgrade, Dei wondered what the next one would hold in store.
[Sectioning:
The box was always intended to either be contained, or used all at once. Never was it meant to be used slowly, in small amounts, but you’ve found a way to do so. This evolution grants the ability for you to form certain sub-boxes within your Skill, allowing for the full release of smaller, pre-designated pools of mana. Accelerates how fast the user can section off portions of their mana with each successive level]
His brows scrunched at the description of [Sectioning]. When it said he was supposed to use all of it at once, what did that mean? He’d never drawn mana from the box in his previous life, allowing for it to continuously fill up, but was it a recognition of that fact?
While possible, Dei sensed that it wasn’t the case.
‘Hold on. Hold on. HOLD ON!’
His eyes widened and he turned his soul sight towards the pandora’s box with half his mind. Using the other half, he cast a Soul powered Identify, and watched closely.
The mana escaped the box, pulled from the walls… but no, it wasn’t.
He focused closer, casting again, and watched as the mana was pulled from the cracks in the box!.
‘Ah, shit. I’m only able to use the mana because the Skill is slightly broken, allowing a small amount to escape if it is pulled through by an outside force.’ Frowning at the realization, he tried to think of how this would affect the future.
If he didn’t have this evolution by the time the Skill was level two hundred and fifty four, his box would fully repair itself, locking him out of its mana completely.
Something else to consider was how he might have to specialize his constitution into [HP], like Gargeth said, which would half his [MP]. Once his Skill was rehealed fully, Dei would be relying on his MP for all of his mundane spells, unless he chose [Sectioning] to correct that. If he specialized his constitution, and didn’t evolve [Sectioning], Dei wouldn’t even be able to cast [Astral Projection], as it required four hundred and fifty mana, and he would need four hundred and fifty Physical to go along with that. While it wasn’t impossible to gain that much, how many decades of work would that be?
There was still another evolution to go, though, so he might be able to pick it next time. The only thing to ask himself was whether he could pick it next time, or would he be locked out of it as an option.
He’d never reached a second evolution in his time spent living under a new System, so the only clue he had was the second evolution to his [Pandora’s Box (Contained)] he’d taken last time.
In his previous life and first evolution to the Skill, he doubled how much mana it could contain, earning another ten mana per level in the Skill. During the second evolution, he chose to concentrate it down, earning six times the effective capacity of the Skill.
It was a further specialization, an increase of how much mana the Skill could contain. Was that the only option in his previous life? Would further evolutions allow for him to pick unused paths, or would he have to pick again which way to specialize the Skill?
He had no way to know for sure, but drew comfort from a recent development: His [Meditation] Skill.
He’d just proved that the chances for evolution the System gave every hundred levels was not the only option. If he focused hard enough, he could manually evolve himself. While it would not be pleasant, Dei had over a hundred and fifty Skill levels to figure out a solution, some way to draw mana from his Skill without choosing a less-interesting ability.
Dei would choose [Adaptivity], as it would increase his chances of survival, and he would just have to live with the consequences later if he never got the chance to change his Skill.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Decision made, Dei still wanted to try out [Sectioning], to see if there was something he was missing.
He chose a small piece of Wrath mana, just a single point, and began forming a personal box around it.
Slowly but surely, the Wrath mana was encased in the box. It took five minutes, but Dei now had a small, reserved Wrath mana.
Looking at his [Pandora’s Box] using soul sight, Dei noticed a small door on the side of the wooden box, representing the segmented piece of Wrath mana.
Something else Dei wanted to try involved his [Growing Pains]. When Dei was working out, the Skill would draw Wrath Concentrate from the box, making it a lighter shade. Dei suspected that, when there was no more Wrath mana in it, the mana would turn into MP, but it was difficult to prove. Every time new Wrath mana entered the box, it would further taint the pool.
Right now, Dei had the perfect chance to instead use [Growing Pains] and draw from a small, very exclusive pool of Wrath mana in order to test his theory. Putting his conundrum about the evolutions aside Dei decided to use the chance he was given. It was only around six in the morning, but Dei started his daily routing of checking on the plants, eating, drinking, and looking outside of his cave.
On top of checking whether the frog who attacked him was still alive, Dei started checking on his Korgonda friend while he was hiding in his Garden too. The Korgonda continued to grow rapidly, emerging as one of the strongest opponents in his particular biosphere. Dei noticed two other Korgonda’s that were growing as fast as his was, but they didn't have an anchor and concentrated Soul mana to back them, so he doubted they were as strong.
Morning routine done, Dei activated training mode and began working out, focusing his Skill into drawing Wrath Concentration from the singular point of mana.
Immediately, he felt the Skill kick into overdrive, straining hard. When Dei overused a Skill, it always put the extra effort on his soul, leading to the pressure he felt. Normally, Dei wouldn’t feel the effort from [Growing Pains] at all, but he sure was feeling it now.
Quickly, the sectioned off Wrath mana turned from a light red to almost clear, getting exponentially harder to pull from as time went on.
‘There was no way I could do this without the Sectioning ability’ he thought to himself.
* * *
[Since the Fall: 9/13/809 - 8:42:19]
A little over two hours later, Dei felt his Skill hit a brick wall, completely unable to pull any more concentration from the singular point of mana.
He was drenched in sweat at this point, despite the fact that his workout was the lightest he’d done in months. He wasn’t used to how many breaks were needed when he wasn’t constantly regenerating, and regularly overextended his body in a single go. [Growing Pains] just didn’t heal very well without a larger pool of Wrath mana to draw on.
At long last, though, he was done. He’d successfully pulled all the Wrath Concentration from a point of Wrath mana, and opened his [Pandora’s Box (Contained)] summary, expecting to see Neutral Mana or MP as a new section in the menu.
[Pandora’s Box:
1669/4000 Wrath
628/4000 Kindness
1636/4000 Soul
4/4000 Fortitude
1/4000 [NULL] ]
‘Woah woah woah, hold on a second!’ he thought excitedly, ‘Null mana? I like the sound of that!’
He was proven wrong, and clear mana was not MP, but something else entirely.
He released it from its box, allowing the latch to open and feeling a clear ball of energy come out.
‘Huh, at least with this Sectioning thing, I don't need to do something special to retrieve mana from my box.’
Taking hold of it, he moved it around, seeing if it would do anything special, but it just kinda… existed. Floating around, doing nothing much.
Could he turn it into another type of mana?
Using Sectioning, he was able to single out and remove a point of Soul mana from his box. Controlling the Soul and Null mana, he moved them towards each other, hoping to somehow gain two Soul mana, each with half concentration.
‘Now kiss.’
When they touched though, the Soul mana was pushed far back, almost flying from his control.
It wasn’t that the Null mana forced it away, Dei sensed that the Null mana took on the role of “Immovable Object” in this scenario, the malleable nature of Soul mana causing it to act as a sort of bouncy ball. Since the Null mana resisted absorbing any of the force of impact, the Soul mana went flying.
He likened it to a rubber ball hitting concrete, where it would bounce much higher than if it hit something soft, like grass, that would absorb the impact.
The Null mana didn’t turn into Soul mana, it rejected the very existence of affinity mana entirely.
Dei suddenly had a much different idea to what he could use Sectioning for. What if he managed to flood an area with Null mana, which would cause any affinity mana to go haywire? Normally, he noticed that different affinities would just pass through one another harmlessly; with Null mana though, simply existing in the area would shield him from all incoming spells, as it would push out everything else, same as it did with Soul mana.
Imagination running wild now, he thought of all the possibilities of mana rejection tactics, perhaps producing a shield of null mana that would perfectly resist all spells.
Dei first thought that Sectioning would be the only way to cast spells if he specialized his Constitution, a stopgap measure that would be worse than what he already had. He considered it a total downgrade to the current condition of his [Pandora’s Box], allowing only for less flexibility in his spell usage.
Now, he realized that it provided a new, very interesting tactic. If Dei couldn’t use any spells, Null mana would ensure that nobody else could either!
Groaning, he realized that his decision of where to evolve his Skills to wasn’t so clear cut anymore. [Adaptivity] and [Sectioning] both had incredible uses, but if he was being honest, [Sectioning] suddenly outclassed [Adaptivity] by a lot.
Initially, he thought it was as simple as “Adaptivity grants better short term survival, Sectioning is the long term solution,” except Sectioning now gives both. By instantly providing a new tool and being the smart option that would ensure he could continue his chosen path of casting, Sectioning was just the smart option.
Adaptivity would be useful and help him in endless situations, but there were too many counters to every affinity. It was a complicated evolution that promised success if he carefully crafted different spells for all his weaknesses.
Adaptivity was a chess grandmaster's tool, endlessly preparing for the future, accounting for every interaction, while Null mana let him lunge across the board.
Null mana wouldn’t ensure victory in every situation, but neither would a better adaptability. Both had their ups and downs, but Dei thought Sectioning would have both short and long term benefits.
After he chose [Sectioning], Dei closed the screens and prepared to use [Astral Projection], finally ready to leave his Garden.
* * *
POV: The Korgonda
The Korgonda was never named, but he called himself “the Clever!” Because he was clever indeed! When he hatched, his mother dropped him and his brood mates here, in these hot tunnels, so they would fight and grow stronger. While they didn’t need to kill each other to succeed, the Clever oftentimes found himself fighting those he’d come here with. For resources, the best heating spots, or just to hone his Skills, the Clever fought much with his siblings.
Heat was the lifeblood of all things, the Clever knew that. His heat sense allowed him to see the biggest heat in these tunnels when he first got here, an Anchor.
His siblings saw this too, this big heat, and all of them wanted it. They knew, instinctually, that the one to reach it would have their heat become better, so they all rushed forwards from their mother to be the first to reach it.
The Clever was smart though. He suspected it would not be so easy. He was not the fastest, and for that he was lucky. Him and his siblings sensed the heat of the first batch of Korgonda’s quickly snuffed out, and many began re-thinking their strategies. They all sensed the guardian, that which they first thought was a big hot rock, and tried finding ways to get around it.
The Clever worried at first, his sneaky siblings getting closer than all the rest, but they too were snuffed out. Some tried to swarm the prize, yet the numbers never mattered.
Only those who didn’t attack survived for longer, and there were many who gave up on the prize.
Not the Clever though, he was determined. For a time he thought it was foolish of him to waste time in trying to gain access to something that would maybe kill him, but by the time he realized it wasn’t very smart, his siblings were too strong for him to catch up. He needed this big heat if he was going to get stronger than them all.
So he planned. He chose a place with little heat, so his siblings wouldn’t find it. He would hide the big heat here when he got it. Then, he noticed that the guardian stopped watching the big heat when it was fighting, because another of his brothers got very very close when it was distracted, but came from the wrong angle, not waiting for the perfect time.
He would wait. He would wait for the perfect time.
Finding a hole near the big heat filled with magma, he drank it to stay fed, and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
* * *
Three weeks went by since his mother left him and his siblings here.
[Affinity Gained: Patience]
There were many fights, the guardian constantly becoming distracted, but it was never perfect. It was either just a little too angled, or the monster was just a little too weak to distract it for as long as the Clever wanted. So he continued to wait.
Until…
‘Here! Its perfect!’ the Clever thought. The guardian was perfectly facing away from him, fighting a monster with BIG heat to it. Clever could hardly stand near its presence, too hot for even him behind a stone wall! It would distract the guardian for long enough!
Watching through his heat sense, the Clever watched the guardian strike first, tearing at the challenger, but he ignored them. Quickly, he darted from his hiding spot, snatching the big heat prize.
The guardian let out an ear splitting scream the moment he touched the anchor, but the Clever ignored it, running as fast as he could through the crack in the wall.
In his heat sense, the Clever watched the guardian expend a massive amount of heat to instantly vaporize its enemy.
‘Oh, I didn’t know it could do that!’ the Clever started to panic. He’d watched it for so long! But he’d never seen it react like that.
Through the walls, he saw his siblings watching him, learning from his mistakes, planning the next attempt to take it when he failed.
But he wouldn’t fail! He would not be snuffed out like the others, he would live.
Despite his desires, the guardian quickly gained on him. Seeing a crack deeper than the others, the Clever quickly scaled the wall, hiding.
The guardian found him immediately, tearing into the wall with ferocity he’d never seen it express, quickly digging him out.
The Clever began to panic, what could he do?
He tried digging through the stone as well, but his hands were made for sticking, not digging.
He quickly looked over his Interface
[Nickname: The Clever
Race: Korgonda (Level 23)
Titles: N/A
HP: 36/36
MP: 36/36
SP: 32/36
Stats:
Physical: 18
Mental:19
Spiritual: 13
Magical: 13
Affinities:
Heat: Low-Treasured: 12%
Patience: Low-Uncommon: 5%
Inner Skills:
Heat: Channel Heat (17), Flesh to Rock (5),
Patience: Poised to Strike (12)
Outer Skills:
None]
No no no! Nothing there!
[Racial Bonuses:
Heat Sense (Greater)
Adaptable Body (Greater)
Sticky Grasp]
Nothing?
The Clever started to panic, squishing himself as far back into the cave as possible. Terror overcame his being as he realized that he was going to die. Even if he gave the stone back, the Clever realized this guardian was not going to let him live, so he was forced to wait, feeling the stone around him crack and constrict, jostling and crushing his tiny body.
He despaired, knowing that it would soon be his turn to be snuffed out, when there was suddenly a commotion in front of the cave.
The Clever watched his hunter turn to look at something beside him, before suddenly disappearing as a massive form rammed into him.
Many massive forms rammed into him.
Suddenly, something spoke to him in a way he could understand “Run quickly before it's too late,” and he did not hesitate to do so. It requested some information from him too and he quickly accepted, not caring about it, as long as he could live.
A ways from the guardian, though, his traitorous brothers surrounded him. They promised to share it among the six of them, so all six could get a good evolution, but it was his. The Clever was the one that almost died! He was the one that risked his life! He was not going to give it up, he was not going to give them a single bite!
Right as they started getting braver, closing in and barking at him to surrender it, the Clever felt a massive wave of Convection and Soul mana approaching behind him. The Convection mana was in the shape of a giant, but the Soul mana flaking off that giant screamed of a powerful monster. Such pure mana could only be found deep, deep below.
His brothers feared, scattering before the wave, and the Clever again thanked his protector.
He sensed it follow behind him, slowly expelling Convection mana and slowing the leak of Soul mana, before it was made to be absent entirely.
Despite the lack of Convection mana and Soul cloud, the Clever could still clearly see his protector in the form of absent heat.
The caves around them were hot, comfortable. But his protector was cold, a perfect blindspot in his [Heat Sense (Greater)].
His brothers and sisters sensed this as well, seeing how he was protected by the cold guardian! They feared to get close, and the Clever knew that he would be able to consume his anchor in peace.
Making it back to his hiding spot, he traveled deep within. He noticed now that many of his kin were gathered close by, having followed him from the anchor. He’d chosen this place to hide, but realized now that it would have failed without the cold protector following behind.
Happily, he noticed that it waited outside for him, not beckoning him to come back out, and set about consuming his anchor quickly so he could meet his new friend.
‘Friends! Mother told us of those.’