EPISODE 115: VITALITY 3_[Born To Be King] S5 - Imperius Grand Summit

EPISODE 115: VITALITY 3

— Hall of Attributes, Year: 7291. Season: Color Fading.

“Status,” I called, pulling up my sheet to overview it. Madria sat off to one side and did the same. I focused on the six attributes and their values.

Lawruthian Imperius Koltius Edryani – Level 41

HP: 825/825

SP: 795/795

MP: 840/1050

Base Atk: 145

Base Def: 84

HP Regen: 36/Hour

SP Regen: 35/Hour

‎ MP Regen: 45/Hour

Bloodline:

‎ [+]

Race:

‎ Magi-Human

Main Class:

[Imperius Golemlord] — 30

Perks:

Codex of Earth

Power: 290

2nd Class:

[Holy Prince of Edryan] — 11

Core Skills: [+]

Vitality: 275

3rd Class: [LOCKED]

Racial Skills: [+]

Endurance: 265

Faith: Goddess Madris

Status Effects: [+]

Mind: 350

Faction:

‎ Imperius

Equipped:

Basic Linens

Self: 207

Faction Benefits:

Skills: [+]

Intent: 220

Achievements: [+]

Active Quest: [+]

Magic Affinity: -

Attribute Points: 0

The numbers displayed appeared to be hard locked to their respective attributes. I reached a finger forward and pressed at the Vitality attribute. Of course, nothing happened beside my finger firmly pausing instead of going through the status sheet. I didn’t know whether it was a mental block or a feature of the Prime System, but to the user, their system notifications would be considered physically present.

For several more moments, I played around to no avail. Eventually, I sighed, then dismissed the notification as it was clear attempting to adjust the values that way wouldn’t work.

I turned my attention to the puppets next. Standing up, I moved to one that seemed similar in height to me. The puppet stood tall—its body appeared armored, but it remained faceless. The puppet was constructed from a dull black material and seemed like it hadn’t been touched in ages. Small designs covered it, giving the puppet an artistic style that appeared Asian in nature.

I moved closer as I surveyed it carefully. It was only as I drew close did I notice that the small designs were small runes written throughout the puppet. I studied them quietly, doing my best to decipher what I could. I could understand runic combinations up to the fifth tier with ease, it was when they grew complex and beyond, that I began to stumble.

“This is…,” I said thoughtfully.

My words attracted the attention of Madria as she came to stand next to me.

“Have you found something,” she questioned, bright rustic gold eyes looking curiously. She leaned forward slightly, a few strands of hair falling in front of her face.

My attention turned from the puppet to her as I silently watched. A smile crossed my face and I responded. “Maybe, it seems to be some sort of runic spell-work, but I’ve only managed to make out a few words.”

My attention returned to the puppet and I began to slowly circle it. Madria stayed in the front, still curiously leaning forward to read the runes on its chest and arms.

I paused once I arrived to the back, I held a tenuous understanding of the runes upon the puppet. The ones back at my academy seemed similar, but greatly watered down. I wasn’t involved in their construction.

I placed my hand on the circular indentation each of the puppets held. “Step back.”

Madria did as instructed, rustic gold eyes watching me curiously.

Mana began to drain from me, at first, it was in small quantities. Only a point or two per second. Then, like a dried plain receiving life bringing water for the first time, the puppet began to voraciously suck in mana, draining me by half before it was satiated.

As my mana drained, the puppet began to glow a blue-golden hue. It began from the circular indentation where my hand was placed until it completed at the front. I removed my palm as the puppet began to shift. Its joints began to creak as it moved for the first time in years.

“Greetings, Activator. You may refer to me as Puppet. This Puppet has imbued enough mana to last for six hours.”

A lifeless voice spoke into the air, yet Madria and I jumped back, startled from it. The puppet turned and faced me as if waiting for orders.

“What is your purpose,” I asked. I could tell it wasn’t a golem, but it was far smarter than anything I’d seen in Edrya outside my Hero Golems.

“This puppet’s purpose is to help Activators understand and utilize their Vitality better. It is a far more dangerous attribute to understand and thus, the Council of Union deemed it necessary for the creation of puppets.”

I glanced at Madria over the puppet’s shoulder before back at it. “In what ways can you help me?”

“This puppet has three primary functions. The first function is to simulate your attributes and show what a transfer of Vitality into Power shall accomplish. The second function is combat capabilities, allowing the Activator to gain greater understanding of how their Power evolves through the sacrifice of Vitality. The third function is to prevent any life ending mistakes an Activator may make when attempting to transfer Vitality,” the puppet's lifeless voice said.

It continued quickly after a short pause. “Many have died when understanding the Vitality Attribute, and the Council of Union has initiated this puppet’s construction as a resolution to prevent young talents from further expiration.”

Madria moved from the golems behind to my side. “Perhaps this is part of the guidance Lady Alidra was mentioning.”

I nodded, still looking at the golem. “How do I transfer Vitality?”

“This puppet is not permitted to give Activators such information. However, there is one hint given to all Activators, would you like to receive yours now?”

“Yes.”

“ The soul is the key to all things. ”

I nodded before turning to Madria. “I think I’ve figured it out… but I’ll have to test it first.”

Madria appeared concerned, and she let her thoughts be known. “It is dangerous Law, do not do anything forceful. Vitality also governs our lifespan. It is understandable why the Council of Union would provide these puppets as help.”

“I’ll be careful,” I said, smiling.

I closed my eyes and searched for that feeling, blocking all sounds and distractions from the outside as I solely looked within. Slowly, I sank to the floor in a meditative position.

I opened my eyes to my old apartment. On the walls were the posters of my favorite superheroes, alongside other things I’d once greatly admired. The place was beginning to look worn down and out of it. It was not in the same pristine condition when I entered here for the very first time. I glanced at the desktop, which served as Minerva’s presence in my soul. The computer was off—screen black but radiating light as it signified Minerva’s connection with me still existed.

I closed my eyes once again, and pulled back until I wasn’t inside my soulscape, but outside, gazing directly at my soul.

I could only describe it as the birth of a universe. The brilliant hues of light radiating from it reminded me of those science shows that explained the Big Bang. It was beautiful… it signified my potential.

It signified much more than just that. Ever since I was reincarnated into the Genesis Realm, I’d always wondered how the Six Great Attributes interacted with the soul. Now, as I learned more and more about them, a small but crazy thought entered my mind.

“What if the soul is a puzzle and the Six Great Attributes are pieces slotted into that puzzle. Vitality would be a wild card… one that could shift shape and size to fit properly with the rest,” I theorized.

“What part of my soul governs Vitality.”

I looked at the brilliant outer hues of red’s and golds. At the center of my soul was a core that shined with an ebony-gradient light. There wasn’t much that differentiated my soul as it appeared as one single unified whole.

“Perhaps I’m looking at this the wrong way. When controlling my Power, the system used runes to dim the light coming from my soul—halting the amount of attack I did with just basic actions… Maybe the soul works in layers, and not like different pieces of a puzzle, but layers of a whole stacked on top of one another. ”

Just before I could continue that thought, I felt a surge of energy invade my body. Startled, I immediately withdrew from my soulscape and back to the outside world. The moment I did, I understood what occurred.

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The Prime System has bestowed you with three levels for your understanding.

I blinked, several times and rapidly as I read the notification. “This is…”

That was a direct acknowledgment that my thoughts were on the right path. I closed my eyes and returned to my soulscape. It was different from my previous entry. This time I noticed a startling change.

Small wisp of… something floated around my soul as tiny balls of light. I moved closer to one of the wisps, curious but wary at the same time. I didn’t know what it was and if it could hurt me, although I held doubts as it was station within my soul. They were tiny motes of lights, reminiscent of bright stars in the night sky. They were beautiful and gave me strength as I neared one.

Carefully, I pulled closer to one of the motes of light—drawing it within my palm as I neared to study it. It hovered there as it shined with a steady off-white light. It reminded me of unattributed mana particles that floated within the air.

“There’s a rune… in… here…,” I muttered, squinting my eyes to see what it said as I drew it closer to my face.

“ Be, ” I gasped aloud.

The mote of light floated back and rejoined the other’s as they revolved around my soul. It left me in a state of shock and wonder. I floated there silently, a thoughtful expression on my face.

“|Be| is a simple tier one connection rune that is mainly used to form sentences. However, it seems there is far more to it than I understand.”

It was first introduced to me through Eliana when teaching me the basics of magic. The rune held several advance forms that were used to connect higher tiered runes together. Yet, they were all similar to one another, which allowed me to understand the rune no matter the tier it was at.

The one on the gate the Aspect of Knowledge — Rasheed, showed to me, happened to be considered its final form. It was a circular rune, with three connecting triangular parts that created a single solid circle within its center. Within that center, the outter core of the rune repeated. There triangular parts, with their internals empty until the met and formed a filled in circle.

I held a small hunch about the wisp and I began to count how many were present. It totaled at seventy-eight… which happened to be the exact number of attribute points I’d gain with three levels. It was beginning to make sense now.

“These are attribute points in their natural element… What happens if I assign some to Vitality… or the rest of the Great Six?”

If I could figure out the piece of the ‘puzzle’ Vitality was stationed at, I knew I could use it as a reference to complete the trial. I withdrew for the second time from my soulscape, quickly activating my status sheet.

Madria was off to the side, a puppet activated in front of her as she sat in a praying position. Quietly, she prayed to the Goddess. I studied her as she did, vast amounts of faith energy emerged from her head and into the air. It began to disperse, rising higher and higher before eventually it halted. I watched, surprised, when that vast amount of divinity split—a third left the cloud and came toward me…

Slowly, the faith infused into my body. A content smiled showed on my face, it was Madria’s belief in me. A pure and unfiltered representation of that belief in me.

“Thank you,” I whispered softly.

My attention returned to the status sheet. I didn’t hesitate to assign ten points into Vitality before confirming. The moment I did, I dove into my soulscape. The rise in attributes wasn’t immediate, but it usually all occurred within the span of seconds. Seconds, that was enough for me to be there when it happened, hopefully.

I returned to my soulscape just as ten of the off-white wisps began to move. The attribute points began to shift and change color. Together, they formed a ring around my soul as they began to spin, each point now dyed the same color as my soul. Then, one by one, they shot forward and directly toward the core. One by one, they passed through the red-gold light that surrounded the core until they shifted to match the same color as the core. Then, without pause, they crashed into the core and merged seamlessly.

I squinted at the core, “If I’m not mistaken… it looks… bigger?”

What I believed to be the core of my soul grew a size larger. It wasn’t a great quantity, but it was enough to be visibly noticed.

I left my soulscape twice more, each time I would add another ten points into Vitality and watch the process. Afterward, I did the same once more to see how attribute points entered Power.

I came to understand one thing nearly immediately. “It looks like I was right about the ‘puzzle pieces’ or dimensions of the soul. The process is for Power is the same, only the points never penetrate the core. They merge into the light—which then grows in length into the vast void surrounding it.”

I paced around the void in the outskirts of my soul. Outside the light and where most of the remaining wisp resided.

“How do I reverse the process?”

I understood how it worked, but I didn’t know how to reverse it. “Could I manually insert the attribute points into…”

My voice trailed off as I looked at the remaining thirty plus wisp. I approached one and carefully held it between my palms.

“Come on buddy, let’s see if I can turn you into Power.”

I began to guide the wisp toward the shining core and the light that surrounded it. Previously, it flew haphazardly around, but now guided by me, the light flew with purpose. Only the closer I brought it toward the red-gold light that represented Power, the more the wisp began to struggle. Still, I persisted and brought it closer, it was only when I was a few feet away that the wisp violently broke free of my grasp and quickly flew backward.

“Ok, so that won’t work,” I said, sighing.

I still held the option of watching the puppet to show me how a transfer of Vitality into Power would change my strength. However, I didn’t leave my soulscape. I felt I was close, but trying to manually convert and attribute points was the wrong path. It was just an experiment I wished to see.

“Maybe I should try to change everything from within. If it truly doesn’t work… the Goddess is guiding Madria… perhaps,” my voice trailed off.

I sat, hovered, floated? A fist on my cheek as I leaned forward. Eventually, I closed my eyes and focused. It was a… funny experience closing your eyes with them already close. But… this experienced allowed me to fully concentrate on what I wanted to do. The light from my soul seemed to still penetrate through my eyelids.

I felt that connection with Power and dimmed that light. I continued to dim it until there were only the core and traces of the light left. Barely enough to do damage to anything in the Mortal Realm.

The entire time, I kept my eyes closed as I focused—taking slow deep breaths to keep my calm.

“The core represents Vitality… it grows as I add more into it. Recall that feeling of when your attributes grow… when your Vitality grows,” I said to myself.

It wasn’t difficult to picture, as I’d just increased the attribute by thirty points.

“Good, hold on to that feeling, remember it… now, recall the feeling of increasing Power.”

My concentration solidified on each attribute as I spoke aloud. Everything around me seemed to fade until a mental photo of my soul emerged in my mind.

“Yes, that’s it… now pull on your Vitality… and push it into Power… not too much… I don’t want to die on the first try,” I spoke to myself.

A burst of intense, hot energy filled my body. It felt like I just emerged from an extremely hot shower as my eyes, first in the soulscape, and then reality, shot open.

A single notification showed itself before me before quickly being followed by a large warning. I expected the first notification, but not the second nor third. I swallowed as steam emerged from my body and my skin continued to feel hot.

Congratulations!

You have passed the Trial of Vitality.

WARNING:

When injecting Vitality into Power, your Base Attack will increase and receive an additional multiplier for five minutes. This multiplier will increase depending on the amount of Vitality sacrificed. If one hundred points of Vitality are sacrificed, your Base Attack will double. If two hundred points of Vitality are sacrificed, your Base Attack will triple, and so on. SKILLS MAY HAVE ABNORMAL EFFECTS DURING THIS INCREASE. ANY CHANGE TO VITALITY IS PERMANENT.

{Vitality Sacrifice}

00:04:49

So… that explained the devastation caused by the Lord of Vitality. This was an extremely powerful ability that could change the course of a battle. It’s no wonder Vitraio caused the destruction it did. Just based off the two glances we received of its attributes as it began the process of conversion… the Lord experienced at least a six times increase to its Base Attack. From the destruction it created, I doubt it halted at only sacrificing five hundred points.

I pulled up my status as to overview the changes. I’d only sacrificed ten points of my Vitality to Power. Quick calculations told me that my Base Attack experienced a .10% increase.

Lawruthian Imperius Koltius Edryani – Level 44

HP: 885/885