Just past the door was a set of stairs that curved along the outside wall of the tower, leading both up and down. Wyatt decided to head upstairs first, assuming from the limited size of the tower that he would reach a dead end here before he would the other direction.
The next floor up was what appeared to be a training area. There was a large open space with something akin to a soft sparring matt in the center of it. Lined along the walls were numerous wooden weapons, along with training dummies and targets for ranged practice. Wyatt even saw a couple barrels of arrows and bolts. Being primarily a magic user, Wyatt ignored this floor and continued up the stairs.
The floor above the training room was what appeared to be a living area, equipped with a primitive kitchen, dining room, and study. The kitchen had a fireplace, with various pots and utensils for cooking. There were shelves for storing food, and Wyatt could see numerous small glass bottles, some of which were already full of various spices. At the end of the counter was a massive barrel, held up on its side by four large wooden legs. There was a tap on the front of it, and upon inspection Wyatt found it contained water.
The dining room was rather plain, having a large table and eight wooden chairs, with a few chairs in the corners that were more comfortable. He even saw what looked like a couch, though it was made of a rougher material than he was used to. Against the curved outer wall of the room was a small door which, to Wyatt’s delight, contained a small primitive toilet, no more than a wooden seat with a hole in the center.
The last part of this floor was the study. In the small room were several smaller desks against the walls closest to the doorway, and one larger one in the center. It even had a comfortable chair behind it. Against the back walls, behind the main desk, were several bookshelves, though Wyatt was disappointed to find they were devoid of any books.
All three rooms were sizeable, and he started coming to a conclusion as to what the point of this tower was. It was a staging area, where large parties of adventurers could gather and recoup from their forays into what he assumed was a dangerous dungeon below. He had no idea how large the dungeon would be, or how long it would take to get through it, but he had nothing better to do with his time.
He assumed, based loosely on video game logic, that the end of the dungeon would be some kind of item he could use. At the very least, he would be able to level up in a controlled environment. Based on the fact that the elves didn’t chase him into this tower in the hours he had been in it, he assumed only one party could enter at a time.
Saved by game mechanics.
The topmost floor of the tower was what saddened the mage the most.
Beds.
There were roughly twenty or so beds lined up along the walls, each with a chest at the end for personal storage. Wyatt checked one of these chests, finding it empty, then quickly turned back down the stairs. He didn’t need any more reminders of how alone he was.
The tower rooms were windowless, lit with what appeared to be old lanterns spaced evenly along the walls. He examined them closer and saw that they did not contain any actual fire, each simply housed a ball of light with the same symbol inscribed into the top of each. He tried touching one, only to have his finger pass through as if nothing was there.
Wyatt sat down on the couch, placing his backpack at his feet to look at the contents. He had enough jerky and bread to last him about four days if he ate sparingly. He would have to find a source of food before long.
With his meager supplies checked, he decided to learn what he could about his cloak. It had stated that it could be used for storage, which would undoubtedly be useful in the days to come. It took him a few tries to figure it out, but eventually the knife in his hand disappeared as he pressed it against the inside of his cloak. When he placed his hand against the fabric, he only needed to think of the item he wanted while infusing a little mana into it, then it would appear in his hand. It cost three mana to place his dagger into it, and another three to take it out.
He tried putting his backpack into it but found he didn’t have enough mana. He looked at his resource pools and was surprised at what he saw. Wyatt’s mana was almost empty, and his health had dropped to only ten, after the arrow he had taken to his leg and his one-sided fight with the wall. His stamina was also almost depleted, owing to his Fatigued status which still plagued him. It had gone from level three to level two after he had passed out, but he didn’t think it would recover anymore until he had properly rested.
Wyatt opened his status menu to look at where he was at. He had gained the Last of your Kind title, and with it came two additional free attribute points per level. He realized that this was retroactive, which meant he now had 21 free stat points to distribute after the additional levels he had gained.
He also had a new skill: Spatial Magic. He looked at it more closely.
Skill:
Spatial Magic
Level:
1
Attribute:
Intelligence
Description:
Spatial Magic governs abilities that focus on manipulation of object position and physical dimensions. Effectiveness of abilities in this field are based on level of Spatial Magic and intelligence.
That would certainly come in handy, but it didn’t come with any abilities.
He knew not all abilities – or spells as he sometimes called the mana-based abilities – required hand gestures or phrases, his Subtle Manipulation spell being a prime example, but he assumed that was rare. This was probably due to the spell in question being more reactive and required a fast activation. The rest of his spells, however, did require more than just mana input.
Suffice it to say, while he could probably make use of spatial magic – and had a few ideas on how he would go about this – he would need to learn abilities in the field before it became truly useful.
That’s when Wyatt noticed another status effect in the upper corner of his screen.
Status: Safe Zone
You are in an area marked as safe. All regeneration increased by 100%. Engaging in combat in this zone will negate this effect.
At least there is some good news.
Safe zone aside, Wyatt still had to address his exhaustion, and decided it would be a good idea to do so before making any decisions on his attributes. He lied down on the couch, wrapping his cloak around him like a blanket, and slept.
Wyatt didn’t have any way of measuring time, so he initially had no way of knowing how long he slept. When he looked at his health, however, he noticed it was at 48 of 80. His health regen per minute was 0.06, which, factoring in the increased regeneration, means he was asleep for about five hours, the longest he had slept since the integration. His mana and stamina were full, having a significantly higher regen in those two categories.
Wyatt ate some of his food and took a drink of the waterskin in the backpack. When he did, he noticed a status icon appear in his vision. He focused on it.
Status: Food – Stale Bread
You have eaten enough food to regenerate health. +0.5 HP/min for 5 minutes.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Wyatt realized that this was the first time he had eaten anything while at less than full health. The 2.5 health he would gain was negligible, but knowing the mechanic existed could be useful. Wyatt also noticed that the 0.5 was before he factored in the increase from the safe zone.
When he was done eating, the mage put everything he had into his cloak. He realized that the mana amount required did change depending on the size of the item. He also found out that if he put his entire backpack into his storage, that he could pull out individual items that were inside of the bag. A quick round of experimenting proved that it wasn’t so much the size of the item placed into his storage – the empty backpack taking significantly less mana than when it was full – but the mass.
Glancing at his status menus, he saw that he was no longer fatigued. With that taken care of, he needed to focus on distributing his attributes. He still needed to wait for his health to regenerate, so he had plenty of time to decide what his build should be moving forward.
Previously, he had focused on building his intelligence and willpower, intent on being a supporting mage. Now that he was alone, there was no one between him and the enemy, and no one to deal damage while he held targets in place. Thinking back on his gaming days, he knew he would have to spec for solo combat, even potentially engaging in melee fighting.
Looking at his attributes, he immediately ignored placing any points in charisma, for obvious reasons. He knew he had to increase his toughness and endurance to keep him alive and fighting, and his agility would be useful in dodging attacks, so he placed four points into each, allowing himself to be able to survive close combat, without dedicating his entire strategy to it.
Strength was not as useful for him in combat since most of his damage would not come from brute force. He knew he needed his physical stats to increase for when enemies came too close, but most of his damage would still be from his magic. He placed one point into strength to bring it to an even five.
That left him eight points to distribute between intelligence and willpower. With his current build being the way it was, he decided to continue leaning slightly more towards increasing his willpower. He placed five there, leaving him three more for intelligence.
When Wyatt accepted the distribution, he immediately felt a difference come over him. The feeling was intense, especially given most of his physical stats were so low that he almost doubled them. The effects on his mental attributes were still readily apparent, though less profound since they were higher already.
Wyatt, still needing several hours of healing before he could continue, decided to try to increase his magic knowledge. More specifically, his spatial magic. He assumed the reason the system gave the skill to him was because of the hand he had played in the creation of his cloak, which had similarities to spatial magic.
The problem Wyatt now faced was that he didn’t know how to feel spatial mana, unlike his air or earth mana, and he didn’t have any abilities in the area. This was the same problem he had when trying to access his chrono magic, he just didn’t know how to change his internal mana to properly represent it. He thought back to how he felt when trying to save Marlene, choking back tears in the process as he pushed away the lingering feelings of loss and loneliness.
He had built up enchantment mana in an effort to affect her mind. When he released his magic, he could feel the magic of the target, but with his hand on the cloak, he felt the magic with that as well. The cloak was originally used for storing mana, a form of spatial magic, Wyatt assumed.
The magic in the cloak felt unstable, like a shape with more faces than was normal, shifting its structure and size continuously in an effort to exist as a multidimensional object in a three-dimensional universe.
Wyatt tried to replicate this mana within himself, attempting for long minutes to feel the structure of the mana in his core. The mana was much more difficult to conceptualize than the others he had learned, and it took every ounce of brainpower to even visualize it, much less apply it.
After several failed attempts, he finally had an idea. When his mana had refilled itself, he began the process again. This time, just as he was about to lose the concept of the shape in his mind, and the accompanying feel of the mana, he exerted his willpower. He willed the shape to stabilize, pushing each of the infinite yet finite edges to connect, until the shape resembled what he had felt in the cloak.
Finally, with one last push of his willpower, he forced the mana out of him in every direction. Simultaneously, he pulled the mana back inside, but not where he was standing. He pulled it into himself somewhere else, and his body shifted to accommodate.
Wyatt’s vision shifted ever so slightly. He looked down at his feet and saw that he was about a foot farther from where he had been previously. He had teleported! The distance was minuscule, but for his first time, and without any actual ability to guide him, he felt like this was a success. He opened his notifications to see the fruits of his labor.
You have gained a new ability:
Shift
Ability:
Shift
Cost:
20 MP
Skill:
Spatial Magic
Cast Time:
Instant
Description:
Shifts the user’s body a short distance. Distance is based on the Spatial Magic skill.
Wyatt looked at his mana pool, seeing that it had taken him almost 100 MP to gain this ability. He experimented with the spell, first by simply using it to shift two feet to the side. He figured this small amount would be useful in avoiding danger.
Next, he focused more mana into the ability in an attempt to teleport farther. With the last 60 mana channeled into the ability, he teleported about four feet. This meant an exponential increase in mana expenditure with distance. For now, the ability was primarily defensive, but it should be more useful as he got stronger and his spatial magic skill leveled up, which he was glad to see did so now in response to learning a new ability.
With his newfound skills and attributes now firmly understood, Wyatt took one final appraisal of his stats.
Name: Wyatt
Class: Mage 6
HP: 120
MP: 180
SP: 110
HP/Min: 0.08
MP/Min: 2.5
SP/Min: 3.67
Attributes: (0 Free)
Attribute
Base
Total Adjusted
Strength:
5
5
Agility:
9
9
Endurance:
11
11
Toughness:
9
12
Intelligence:
18
18
Willpower:
25
25
Charisma:
8
8
Skills
Skill
Level
Attribute
Enchantment Magic:
6
Willpower
Earth Magic
4
Intelligence
Air Magic
4
Intelligence
Spatial Magic
2
Intelligence
Chrono Magic
1
Intelligence
Staff Mastery
2
Agility
Dagger Mastery
1
Agility
Squad Tactics
1
Charisma
Perception
3
Willpower
Analyze
2
Intelligence
Titles
Last of Your Kind
Passive Abilities
Ability
Skill
Attribute
Force of Will
-
Willpower