You have earned 15 Merit Points.
Jeff saw the screen appear before his eyes. He had to earn 500 points to complete his quest. That may be quite challenging. He got 3 points for each level of creature part that he delivered to the Pillar. He took a moment to do the math.
If the average monster he killed was level 5 then he’d get 15 merit points per kill. That would mean he’d need to kill just over 30 level 5 monsters. Of course he hadn’t killed anything that was level 5 yet. He would really have to dedicate himself if he wanted to finish before the 10 days were up.
“Kazi,” he asked, “can you pull up my Character Screen?”
“Sure, but we call it your ID Badge or ID Screen in the Boschyan Empire.” Then a blue screen popped into view.
He thought a moment about what to do then placed his 3 new attribute points. He put 2 into Sense and 1 into Processing.
Name: Jeff Kazi
Spore Suit: Chosen Trainee
Titles: Locked
Renown: Locked
Merit Points: 327
Myst Connections:
Disc
Abilities:
Disc Throw
Stats: Level 3
Body: Tier 1
Strength: 3
Dexterity: 2
Vitality: 4
Mind Tier 1
Cognition: 1
Processing: 2
Imagination: 1
Spirit Tier 1
Might: 1
Sense: 3
*Depth: 4
Available Points: 0
He wasn’t sure if Sense was the right attribute to put points into. He was just guessing at everything right now. All he knew was that his spiritual senses had saved him against that last caterpillar. It seemed silly not to improve the thing helping you stay alive.
As for Processing, he just figured thinking faster was never a bad idea. He wanted to know if improving it would slow the world down around him and let him make better decisions. Jeff tried to feel the changes he made in his body. He could feel the running thoughts in his head start moving just a bit faster. He tried out his newly improved spiritual senses but couldn’t tell a difference right away. He was on the rocky outcropping again and didn’t have any living organisms to sense.
He sat down and checked his leg. His 4 points in Vitality seemed to be a huge help. The wound was already scabbed over and only left a twinge of pain when he pressed his finger to it. Vitality seemed to help him with both pain tolerance and recovery. According to Kazi it also helped with overall bodily functionality, especially when it got higher.
“I think while we wait for your leg to fully heal we can try to get you a new Ability,” Kazi stated thoughtfully. Jeff’s heart started pumping again in excitement at learning more magic. He would likely never get tired of sentences like that.
“Yeah, okay, what should I think about? Other sports? Athletics? I used to love jumping on the trampoline and doing tricks. Can that give me some new acrobatics connection?” Jeff said in a rush.
“That’s a good idea for later, but that would be to get you another Connection,” the Spore corrected. “Right now lets just get you another Ability. Your afinity for Discs is so high that I’m positive we can get you another one right now.”
Kazi continued his instructions, “try focusing on how you have used your Throw Disc ability so far and think of any other abilites that might work with it.”
Surprised by the request Jeff started thinking about what Kazi might be wanting. He was still amazed by his new ability. He knew it was built off of a mental and spiritual connection, but he truly felt a love of sorts for his new ability. The way the discs flew out of his hand. The way they followed his envisioned path so well. He wasn’t nearly as accurate with a frisbee before as he felt he was now. He had a sense of gratitude wash over him for all the throws that hit their targets today. He would probably not be alive now without the ability to direct the discs as he desired.
“That’s it! I got it!” Kazi said. “Here is your new Ability.”
“What? How?”
A blue screen popped into view before him.
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New Disc Ability:
Disc Manipulation
You can control the discs you create.
Jeff was excited to see how this ability was different from what he could already do. He could already direct the disc along his envisioned path, maybe now he could make it do whatever he wanted?
He decided to put his ability to the test. Still sitting near the System Pillar he created a disc and, with a smile, he started spinning the disc on the tip of one finger. He already felt like he had much more control than he typically did. He had tried this trick on a number of occasions and was usually mediocre at best. Now the spinning disc felt like a part of him and he could move it like he did a finger.
He pushed his finger up in a bounce and willed the disc to stay there in the air. The disc floated there still spinning and completely under his control. Jeff’s smile turned into a wide grin. With a thought he envisioned a path for the disc to follow. The disc flew around him in a cirlce twice and then shot out on a path low to the ground. Jeff could feel his control weaken the further the disc flew. He pushed the limit a bit and found he nearly lost control when the disc was about 30 meters out. He had the disc curve straight up and into a large arc that brought the disc back to spin on his waiting finger.
He felt a slight strain somewhere within him, but Jeff’s grin couldn't be wider. Now it was time for some experiments.
He had the disc float horizontally up and down, he changed the spin direction with his will, he tried pushing a rock on the ground with the disc and had surprising success considering the circular nature of the golden object. Then with a thought he stood up and brought the disc in front of him and about knee high. With a little trepidation he stepped up onto the disc.
Pain racked through Jeff and the disc he had stepped on broke apart into golden sparkles. He hit the ground feet first then tumbled over clutching his hands over his heart. The slight strain he had felt before now throbbed within him. His head also pounded with an intense migraine.
It took several painful minutes for the intense throbbing to subside.
Kazi groaned and muttered, “Let’s, please, not do that again. I felt that in your bones.”
“Yeah, me too,” Jeff agreed. “Why did that happen?”
“That was a mix of a few things, but mostly, Myst exhaustion.”
“Why did it come so suddenly?”
The thing inside of him groaned again and answered, “What do you think would happen to your physical muscles if you had the weight of a train suddenly straining them? That’s basically what you did to your ‘Myst muscles’ with that little maneuver.”
“Oh, only that?” He said sarcastically. "Still he really wanted to be able to step on his discs. “I felt it hold for a small moment. How do I build up my Myst powers so I can do it?”
The pain had receded enough that he sat back up against a large rock. His head ache receded faster than the gut retching pain he assumed came from his soul.
Kazi spoke up again, “the simple answer is; more Might, Mastery, and Imagination. I supposed increasing your Depth would help too.”
It took Jeff a moment to remember the Spore was talking about actual attributes he could change. “Might, Mastery, and Imagination,” he muttered. “I know how to put points into Might and Imagination, but what exactly do you mean by Mastery?”
His Character Screen popped back into his vision and he saw a portion of it light up with a golden highlight.
Myst Connections:
Disc Low Mastery
Abilities:
Throw Disc Low Mastery
Disc Manipulation Low Mastery
Kazi answered after creating the visual aid. “As you can see, you have Low Mastery for each of these. You can improve your Mastery by using an ability often and by growing your spiritual connection to it. There’s not really a quantifiable way to define how close you are to a Mastery threshold, but you will probably be able to Sense it as you get use to it.
“Mastery is also connected to Depth. It’s hard to know exactly what improves your Depth score, but improving your Mastery is one of the most consistent ways to do so. I’m not sure if having a high Depth score would make doing such heavy lifting easier if it was still with a Low Mastery Ability.”
Jeff mulled over the Spore’s words. So Mastery would come through experience and practice. He would have to keep pushing himself. Just maybe with something a little safer next time.
His insides were finally feeling whole again and he glanced around himself to make sure his pained noises didn’t attract any unwanted attention. The screen intuitively disappeared and he confimed there was no monsters about. With his fearful thoughts resolved he turned back to his mishap.
“How can I improve my Might and Imagination outside of attribute points? I know you said working out my body could still affect my strength even outside of my Strength stat. Is there an equivalent of doing push-ups for Might?” Jeff asked Kazi.
Kazi laughed at the idea, “Push-ups for your baseline Might? Yes, I suppose there are ways to do that. Consistantly pushing yourself near Myst exhaustion can help you in the same way running can. Also, trying to find your limits and increasing them incrementally can be accomplished the same way for Might as with Strength. Reps and sets.”
He had done plenty of reps and sets to build his frame throughout his youth. Since he and Emily had kids though, well, that was a different story. He knew how to push himself to his limits, but pushing beyond the limits was dangerous. He needed to experiment and find where the line was.
“What about Imagination? Isn’t it just a stat for my minds functionality?”
“Each of the functionality attributes have more depth to them…wait sorry, not the stat Depth. There’s more to Vitality, and Imagination than you might…imagine.” The Spore paused and chuckled. “Wow, I never thought talking about these would end up being this hard.”
“What does Imagination actually do?” Jeff prodded his counterpart along.
“Imagination allows you to do things outside of the box. Now that you are in the Boschyan System, many things are more defined than they were before. You have an ability called Throw Disc. Your Imagination helps power how complex your understanding of ‘Throw Disc’ can be.”
“So, if I wanted to kick the disc and still have it use the Throw Disc ability that would need Imagination?” Jeff puzzled out.
The Spore sighed in relief for Jeff seeming to grasp the concept. “Yes, and if you want to use Disc Manipulation to allow for lifting you into the air that requires enough strength in Might, Mastery or Imagination.”
“Wait, when did the Strength stat become apart of this?” Jeff teased the Spore.
“Ugh, you know what I mean. It requires improved, increased, practiced levels of Might, Mastery, and Imagination.” Kazi continued on despite Jeff’s laughing. “Lifting yourself into the air with a disc might fall under a different Disc ability. Like Disc Flight or Disc Transport. Trying to do it with a low mastery Disc Manipulation requires more stats and mastery than you currently have.”
“Got it,” Jeff claimed and putting his companion out of his misery having to explain the stats.
That was the first time Jeff had laughed in a while. It was nice and the light ribbing actually made Kazi seem like more of a friend than an alien parasite that invaded his brain. He was aware of the logic of his situation, but it was moments like these that let it feel more okay.
He did another glance around to make sure nothing would attack. The sun was starting to set. He called the way it was setting West and decided to be okay with that.
Jeff resigned himself to being stuck out here on the rock near the System Pillar. His new Vitality would probably protect him from the cold and he seriously doubted he could feel safe enough to sleep in the monster filled forest.
He thought a moment and set a plan. Find a mostly hidden place in the rock. Practice Disc Manipulation to help me build a little fort. Then do his best to sleep, if at all possible. Then he could kill more monsters tomorrow.