Jack was a bit apprehensive about starting Circus school but for some reason his Uncle and cousin both seemed to be holding his hands and chivvying him along. So he felt he had to take the plunge. He was rather confused at the attention as both had been as remote as the outer Hebrides prior to this juncture. What had happened to the aloof Simon and holidaying Kingsley!? He had no idea.
Still he wouldn’t feel able to put tomorrow out of his mind until he’d had a go at at least a few preliminary warm up exercises that his uncle had given him.
So he set forth on his studies with vigour. He was looking at a glistening artefact on the table, a [Training Artefact], albeit a very low ranked one at that.
To Jack it looked like every other artefact in the shop – complete junk. But apparently it was a very item indeed capable of allowing an apprentice level bean like himself to learn a skill without thought or effort. Just the job.
If he was to stand any chance of venturing into Tent City and living to tell the tale he saw now that he would need to level up, somewhat as it were. After visiting that Circus place he had a totally different perspective on this whole circus world shenanigans and didn’t want to die or wet himself next time round.
He couldn’t make head or tale of the gibberish scratched into the artefact but it was a basic skill of some kind. One thing of note that old Kingsley had confided to him was that he was a very uncommon fellow. Not just any old Magician as Purlbright had originally though but a Ringmaster. Pulbright himself hadn’t been bright enough to figure this out but Hat was shrewd enough to put it together. No Magician has ever been able to summon his hat first time, much less teleport with it, right off the bat.
Jack wasn’t sure which he’d prefer top of his class Magician or common or garden Ringmaster? Ringmasters had the advantage of being able to choose any form they wished to perform. This was all very well but made it all the more confusing when learning the craft. A Ringmaster also had far, far more responsibility than a lowly Magician. Who probably just had to worry about his rabbit being fed and getting his cloak back from the dry cleaners and so forth.
A Ringmaster however was in charge of whole bally circus, from painting and decorating to ticket sales and plumbing. Jack was not altogether a happy chap. His only consolation right now was he got to keep the hat.
Hats were annoying that was true. But apart from teleporting you to your potential demise they could actually be useful Jack found out. A Hat could not just be used for storing, rabbits, scarves and flowers, the usual Magician’s paraphernalia. The storage capacity of the hat was almost limitless.
Jack had tried shoving most things small enough to fit inside the room into it. Most of his flat in fact. He was rather worried that everything would get messed up, ending with toothpaste on his shoes and so forth. But nothing of the kind. It was like a kind of inventory where everything was placed in its own individual slot and nothing got mashed up as a result. Brilliant!
He had played with it for far to long until even the Hat got bored and reminded him of his much needed study.
A skill that only the most lowly of beginners would actually use. But this skill artefact took a majority of his wages. Yes his uncle had become attentive to an unnatural degree but not downright philanthropic. Also he had managed to pile up a large debt with Simon. It must have been the breakage he guessed. And all of his savings.
What would it be? He was excited and worried at the same time. It was like blowing your whole pay savings on a gacha pull. Hmm not so much like as this was the real thing.
It was gacha as they had pulled an training artefact from the bargain basement and it could be anything at all.
In the best-case scenario, as planned, he would consume this training artefact and hope for a semi-decent talent when started on the ladder as they called it. Getting this training artefact was not easy, his uncle reminded him. Contortionist and others had risk their lives to bring it back to the present. But it was the only way to get on the first rung of the ladder by not using hard graft. The rich had no with this, their children, and their children's children. So I looked at the training artefact again before steeling my resolve and picking it up.
When absorbing a skill artefact into your body, the experience is unlike anything you have ever felt before. As you hold the artefact in your hands, you can feel a tingling sensation coursing through your body, almost like tiny electric shocks pulsating through your veins. The artefact glows with a soft, ethereal light as you bring it closer to your chest, and the air around you seems to hum with energy.
As you begin to absorb the artefact, you feel a rush of knowledge flood your mind, as though a thousand ancient voices are whispering secrets directly into your consciousness. The information is overwhelming at first, but you slowly begin to make sense of it as it settles into your thoughts. Your body feels as though it is being reshaped from the inside out, as if the artefact is reconfiguring your very essence to accommodate the newfound skill. You can feel the magic coursing through your veins, intertwining with your own energy and becoming a part of you in a way you could never have imagined.
As the absorption process nears its completion, a surge of power rushes through your body, filling you with a sense of invincibility. You feel as though you could conquer any challenge, overcome any obstacle, with the skill now firmly rooted within you. Which must just be part of the process of accepting the skill rather than the truth of the matter.
Once the artefact has fully merged with your being, you open your eyes to find that the world around you has taken on a new clarity and vibrancy. For a time colors seem brighter, sounds are sharper, and you can sense the magic that hums beneath the surface of everything around you.
Absorbing a skill artefact is not just a physical process, but a deeply spiritual and transformative experience. You are forever changed by the magic now residing within you, and the possibilities that lie ahead seem endless and boundless. Very trippy indeed.
The artefact in my hands had disappeared, and at the corner of my eyes something else had appeared [Jack] [Fame: 0][Tents: 1] [Performers: 1] [Skill(s): Spark]
The Shining with blue light, the words brought confusion more than relief to me. Was this a game?
Cool. But Performers 1? He guessed that was himself.
As the artefact activated a trick name appeared, fortunately also in English – Spark.
Skill [Spark]: allows the fire breather to create small bursts of flames from their mouth, creating a dazzling and mesmerizing display of fiery sparks. These sparks can be used to enhance the overall performance and add a visually stunning element to the fire breathing routine. The fire breather has precise control over the size, intensity, and direction of the sparks, allowing for a dynamic and captivating performance.
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Maybe [Spark] wasn’t the greatest investment but his was assured that even with that he could start recouping some of his money. He felt he had most probably joined the line of the suckers born every minute.
But Jack figured the way things were going if he didn’t learn a few tricks he would probably been dead soon anyways. So his capital could just go up in flames for all he cared. And hopefully it would. Here goes nothing he thought.
His Hat had told him that people that were on the ladder appeared and others could also become laddered artifically through the [Training Artefact] that have been collected. But how exactly they were made was a closely guarded secret. Yes, the past. And not just the past but other realms and dimensions. What kind of training artefact you ended up depended on where the contortionist had been. The more powerful the contortionist the further through time and space they could travel in search of such relics.
They were held by Magical beings that most commonly resided what to Jack could only be considered dungeons. But Hat had corrected him as apparently they were called domains.
Hat gave him the basics of domains. Beast domains were created by a high tier beast’s aura. As the aura got more powerful mana would naturally become more dense in the surrounding area. This caused other beasts to flock there to feed on the mana but also gave the dominate beast a food source, composed of these smaller beasts. Thus creating a feedback loop of sorts where the rate of evolution of the dominate beast was greatly multiplied, in the end become exponential. Being anywhere a beast domain was dangerous to say the least.
Occasionally when the beast went through what was called adversity it would tier-up. I guess the saying growing from adversity wasn’t a fib. But at the same time unprecedented amounts of mana would be released into the area. This caused a stampede of beasts and was called a gathering. Since more than the early days of circus, it became common knowledge that those who were on the ladder were able to use skills, whether inherently gained or from training artefacts, to perform amazing feats and vanquish beasts
Those on the ladder could also increase their own personal stats by using other artefacts gained from beasts. Such as strength, by killing more beasts and absorbing the [Common Artefacts] they drop, which add to their attributes. This meant that if he found the right artefacts he could add to his new attributes of Fame, Tents and Performers?
It sounded strange. Well of course it did, it all sounded bloomin strange from start to finish of the whole bally performance. But there it was, he would just have to lap it all up if he was to survive this circus.
Ok, now to try out the skill. But not in my apartment. Unless maybe in the bath. Would that be safe? Definitely not in the tenancy agreement.
So he asked Hat to take him somewhere quiet that wasn’t going to kill him.
He took him to some waste ground in god knows where. Still there was no one to be seen. So he took a deep breath and just went with his intuition or rather the knowledge he’d absorbed.
Jack raised his hands, and a faint blue glow emanated from his fingertips. Gas? With a deep breath, he focused all his energy on the task at hand and uttered the incantation for the spark skill - Spark. Suddenly, a small ball of crackling electricity formed in the palm of his hand, making him jump, but it did not hurt so he continued letting it grow in intensity until it was a dazzling display of energy.
Jack's eyes widened in wonder as they felt the power of the spark crackling through his veins. He could feel the sheer force of the magic coursing through them, making him feel both invigorated and slightly overwhelmed. With a determined look on his face, Jack aimed his hand towards a nearby target and released the spark. The bolt of electricity shot forth, crackling and hissing as it struck its mark with precision. The impact was immediate - the rubbish bin burst into flames, engulfed in a brilliant blaze that illuminated the surrounding area.
As the flames died down, eventually. It was lucky the bin wasn’t one of those dog poop affairs and was just a wire mesh affair and empty.
Though Jack stood there in awe of what he had just accomplished. He had tapped into a power he had never felt before, and it was exhilarating. With a newfound confidence in his abilities, he knew that the spark skill was just the beginning of his magical journey.
He instinctively cast the skill he’d just learned. Could he do it again? He’d been told all skills came with some limitations. A kind of basic physics of trickcasting. There was a mana cost and a cool-down time for each skill. The higher the tier of skill the greater the mana required.
Why wasn’t mana listed somewhere? Not very helpful. Hat where can I see how much mana I’ve used?
“I wondered when you’d stop and think? Mana should be shown on your hud at the bottom of the display. Though you can move items around as you wish.” Said Hat boredly.
“I can see Fame, Tents and Performers listed nothing else” said Jack patiently feeling like he was talking to a technical helpline in Birmingham.
“You’re just not looking properly. There should be a little spin-y wheel next to the skill cool-down as well. Mine is a red colour then changes to blue when its finished refreshing and is ready to use again, off cool-down its termed.” Hat exasperatedly replied.
“I do know a bit about RPG games as it goes. I’m not a total noob. Is there some other stats page I can flick to or something.” Said Jack heatedly.
“You can’t move it off the front page, unless you make everything super transparent or something but then you wouldn’t be able to see any other text either. Noob” exploded Hat.
“It’s not there I tell you!” Jack thought this was much too realistic a gamer experience.
“Hardy Har, you just don’t want to admit your wrong do you. Fine. I will humour you. I’m used to it by now” was Hat’s smug reply.
“What’s that supposed to mean? Don’t Hat on me” said Jack immediately hitting the spot and shutting Hat up. Thus argument won in Jack’s eyes.
Why the hell is there no number though? His exhilaration of getting on the ladder was slowly fading away as he couldn't figure out the numbers, or lack of thereof, on the blue screen in front of him.
Ok, easy way to find out was to just try and cast it again concluded Jack.
Simon had told him that since high tier laddered performers are extremely powerful, they actually require [Mana Artefacts] to even use their higher tier skills more than a few times in a row. But maybe he’d be fine, lowest tier and most basic of skills.
He had to move quite a distance to get away from anything that might go the way of the now molten metal mess that had been the bin. Before he could begin testing his first skill some more.
Taking a few deep breaths. As he was getting a bit flustered after his short altercation with Hat and the thought of the minutes ticking away before he had to give it up and go to bed.
He raised his hand in front of himself and called out, power ranger style, just for the fun of it [Spark]. He also thought this would make anyone who might be about just think he was mad and not a mage.
A small ball of flames came to light in front of him, far quicker this time, much to his shock and disbelief. Along with the shock came exhilaration. Thank god for that! I can use it again within a few minutes of the first time. Not bad.
And regardless of not being able to see his mana he obviously, durrr had mana still. Let’s find out how much. He commanded the Spark to move forward before it exploded a few meters from him wanting to test to see if he could at least cast it a few more times.
He didn’t bother to wait as he had know idea what the cooldown was [Spark]. A new spark bolt appeared in his now trembling outstretched hand. Ok…Ok…No cool-down. Well it’s the most basic of basic skills. So cool-down zero. Neat. Let’s have some fun.
[Spark]...[Spark]....[Spark] Three more Sparks were shot as Jack waved his arm in an arc sending mini fireballs flying across the park to land creating small black marks of destruction as they ate up what little grass remained.
Quite impressed with his little light show, he continued. Boom…Boom…Boom…Boom the little fireballs were sent hurtling around the old park making it look like a army minefield test ground. Jack stopped coughing to admire his handiwork and wipe his eyes. Maybe standing down wind hadn’t been the best of ideas. He needed goggles. Were they a thing? Well if not he’d set a new fashion trend in the performing world.
He moved to the other end of the muddy field and used the old broken climbing frames and roundabout as targets for his destruction. He was becoming a pyromaniac!
It was then that he remembered something that Hat had said about mana starvation. And took a breather on a park bench. He looked around at the devastation and craned his head to see if anyone had been watching. *phew* Nobody, no man with a dog, no police, nothing. Just what appeared to be a half built housing estate in the middle of completely nowhere.
He wondered what house prices around here were like?