Book 2 Chapter 3_Chronicler’s Tale

New World Day 30

I began the new day by taking care of what I considered my daily chores. I used the pistol to kill some geyser crayfish for lunch and dinner. I gathered water from the same cow pond, and I examined the borders of what I considered my territory. The old unknown footprints atop the orchard hill remained there, but I didn’t see any new ones. New smooth trails by the big barn indicated the python was still around. No sign of the frog or hawk though. The only new addition to my morning routine was that I picked up some logs from near the old fire pit for my rune practice and the fire. I used up the last logs from my stash the previous night.

I returned to the house after finishing my daily chores and recorded the previous day’s events in my journals. Just like the alarm runes, I forgot to work on them before I went to bed. You would think that a flawless memory meant that I couldn’t forget anything, but that wasn’t the case. Everything I saw and experienced remained in my memory, but I had to think of a specific time, image, or event to recall a memory. It didn’t function as an alarm clock or automated reminder system.

The day’s physical training started when I completed my work on the journals. Grumbling to myself about my shoddy memory, I picked up my rune axe and climbed up on to the roof. I danced across the uneven rooftop while swinging, slashing, and chopping away with the rune axe. I activated the Quick Thinking skill and experimented with my Mana Vision while I flowed from one part of the roof to another. When my body grew too exhausted to go on, I activated my Mana Enhancement skill. The boost from the mana allowed me to continue on past the point that even my regen skills would allow.

When noon rolled around, clouds began to gather in the sky. A storm was brewing and I didn’t want be on the roof when the lightning started. I cut my training on the roof short and retreated to the basement. I cooked lunch and whittled some of the new alarm runes into a few logs while I waited for the crayfish tails to cook. There were five runes to the set. The first rune connected the alarm to the master of the alarm, the second detected any energy used in the area, the third recorded changes in nearby energy levels, the fourth determined the threshold for the alarm to go off, and the fifth emitted a light as a silent alarm. I learned the last four runes after just a few tries.

All of my practice with the barrier runes made it easy to carve them, but the first rune from the set was different. It was the first rune I had encountered that didn’t rely on physical circuits to work. It created a mental link with its designated master. The mental link was the reason why the rune set couldn’t be purchased until I unlocked the mind stat. No matter what I tried I couldn’t get it to work. The information I received from the System about that rune didn’t say there was a need to do anything special when carving it. Hmm, could that mean that it wasn’t the rune itself that was the issue? Maybe I carved the rune correctly but my mental abilities were too weak to connect to the rune.

The smell of burning crayfish roused me from my thoughts. I pulled the burning crayfish off of the fire before they were burnt to ash, but the extra time over the fire charred the bottom of the crayfish tails. I tried to eat even the charred portions, but the taste made me gag. The charred areas were as disgusting as the rest was delicious. I cut the charred portions off of the second two tails. I refused to try and choke down any more of that crap. It tasted worse than the mana water. I didn’t think that was even possible.

That incredible taste helped me forget my failure with the alarm rune long enough that it no longer weighed upon my mind. I resolved to attempt to get it to work at a later time. For now, I continued working on the precision of my carving. Maybe if I improved in that area it would make it easier to create that mental link.

The pitter patter of rain drops broke my concentration as I began to resume my practice. Flashes of lightning and peels of thunder followed not long after. The screech of the thunderwind hawk reached my ears as well. Good thing I came inside when I did. Since I was stuck inside, I wondered how I should order my training. Daylight no longer dictated the order anymore after all. Pain decided the issue. I would be incapable of undertaking any training after my work on creating a spiritual body.

I alternated between dancing around the garage and hallways practicing my footwork and axe skills and doing push ups and sit ups, and all the while I tinkered with my Mana Vision skill. The results from the tinkering over the last couple of weeks started to show up today. I found that creating multiple facets within the lens gave me slight glimpses of color within the mana, but there were a few unwelcome side effects. The facets caused my eyes to resemble those of an insect and strained my eyes. I could deal with that if I got more than just a glimpse of color, but that was the best I could do at first. I reduced the number of facets and altered the thickness and curve until I saw more than just a glimpse of color. The final result made my eyes resemble a gem instead of a bug. The look should be second to the effectiveness, but relief spread through my body anyways.

The storm outside proved to be a perfect way to test my upgraded skill. I theorized that the storm contained wind, water, and lightning mana within it. When I stared at it with my new gem lenses, I didn’t see any colors in the storm at first, but the mana leaking from the plants on the ground had a tint of emerald green to it. I could see the same green tint to the mana leaking from my body as well. That tint was what convinced me that I was on to something, but the mana in the storm remained all white. I refused to take the failure to heart. I adjusted the size, thickness, and angle of the facets. All of my other training fell to the away as I threw my full concentration into this experiment. Hours passed until I caught a flash of lime green. I held the parameters of the main facet steady and adjusted the the smaller facets until I saw a tint of lime green in the sky. It matched up with the wind screaming through the trees. Emerald green for life and lime green for wind. That thought floated through my mind. I couldn’t see both at the same time yet, but progress was still progress.

I didn’t stop there either. I threw away the setting that allowed me to see wind mana and searched for a way to see lightning or water mana. The storm raged throughout the day and into the night. I had settings that allowed me to see purple lightning mana and blue water mana by the time it finished passing through the area. I failed to find a way to see more than one color at a time though.

My stomach rumbled and reminded me that I hadn’t eaten dinner yet. I attempted and failed to find a setting for fire mana as I sat in front of the fire cooking three crayfish tails. I stopped the attempt after I gobbled down the crayfish tails. I decided that I had spent enough time focusing on my Mana Vision. I switched back to my footwork and axe training mixed with mana enhancement. The only mana vision training I continued with was switching between the four settings that I had learned so far. I sat in my spot and tortured myself by working on creating a spiritual body when I was too tired to continue with any physical training. I stopped that training only when I received the warning from the System about the same two status effects. This time I remembered to spend an hour carving runes and another hour writing in my journal before I cleaned up and went to bed.

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Endurance increased by 1!

Strength increased by 1!

Speed increased by 1!

Agility increased by 2!

Mind increased by 3!

Beginner Axe Mastery © * leveled up!

Minor Poison Resist (Passive) © * leveled up!

Lesser Mana Control (UC) * leveled up!

Pain Control (B) *** leveled up!

Beginner Close Combat Footwork (Active) © * leveled up!

Beginner Ranged Combat Footwork (Active) © * leveled up!

Beginner Barrier Runes (Active) © * leveled up!

Basic Alarm Runes (Active) (B) * leveled up!

Minor Mana Enhancement (Active) © * leveled up!

Minor Mana Vision (Active) © * leveled up!

Flawless Memory (Passive) (B) ***** leveled up!

Quick Thinking (Active) (B) ***** leveled up!

Name: Jason Silver

Job Name: Amateur Chronicler

LVL:11 51%

Job LVL: 1 99%

Job Points:

N/A

*****

Titles:

Survivor © LVL 3 13%

Fool © LVL 1 93%

Horde Killer © LVL 1 79%

Beast Killer © LVL 1 85%

Risk Taker © LVL 1 92%

Repeated Risk Taker © LVL 9 99%

Compassionate Fool © LVL 5 26%

Curious Fool © LVL 5 97%

Stupid Fool © LVL 7 96%

Extremely Stubborn Fool © LVL 5 85%

Greater Mana Wielder ® LVL N/A

Title Points:

***

*****

Stats:

HP:

MP:

Psi:

Mana Regen:

Psi Regen:

Endurance:

Strength:

Speed:

Agility:

Spirit:

Mind:

Bonus Points:

146/175

126/126

28/28

22 per min (-2.75)

2 per min (-1)

Status Effects:

Regen, Spirit Regen, Disease Resist, Parasite Resist,

Poison Resist, Mild Mental Break, Physical Deterioration

Skills:

Basic Gun Mastery (B) LVL 7 83%

Lesser Regen (Passive) (UC) LVL 2 74%

Basic Regen (Active) (B) LVL 1 0%

Lesser Spirit Regen (Passive) (UC) LVL 1 94%

Lesser Mana Control (UC) LVL 3 92%

Greater Mana Veins (Passive) ( R ) LVL 1 75%

Flexible Mana Lake (Passive) (B) LVL 6 91%

Pain Control (B) LVL 8 46%

Fear Control (B) LVL 5 63%

Basic Alarm Runes (Active) (B) LVL 4 77%

Flawless Memory (Passive) (B) LVL 2 8%

Quick Thinking (Active) (B) LVL 2 59%

*****

***

*****

Book 2 Chapter 3

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