“Did you want to make a list or just wing it?” Trista flipped on a light switch, illuminating a large room with a perimeter about the same size as a standard running track.
“I think we’ve established the fact that I don’t know all that much. Can you help me put together a list before I mess something up?”
“Oh yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”
Trista snapped her fingers and a notepad appeared in her hand. She snapped again after a moment and a pen appeared in the other.
“Okay, ready. Question one: What are your views on preemptive attacks?”
Cael blinked. “Well, I’d rather not, but if it seems completely necessary… I’d have to think about it?”
“Alright, so no fighting unless something attacks first?”
Cael nodded and Trista wrote that down. “Question two: Do you have a preferred form that you wish your familiar to take?”
“Uh,” While a shadow wolf or something like that would be pretty cool, Cael didn’t really care. “Can I ask the elemental if it has any preferences?”
“You may, but give it parameters to prevent amorphous nightmare creatures.” Trista wrinkled her nose at the idea and wrote that down too.
“Question three: Property damage?”
“Preferably not.”
“Okay, then that’s really it. If you give your familiar too many commands, they may be overly restricted.” She finished writing that last point and handed Cael the notepad. "I would suggest giving it the commands before asking it to choose a form.”
Cael read over her short list and nodded.
“So do I just summon it now?”
“You could try, but I think we should work with your stat points first.”
Cael checked his System information, “I have twenty.”
“Stop. That’s the kind of stuff you’re not supposed to tell people.” Trista frowned at him seriously. “While we’re at it, also assume you shouldn’t tell people what skills you have or any of the levels attributed to anything. No stat sharing either.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s alright. You couldn’t have known, but most people just don’t do that.”
“Can I ask why?”
“Of course.” Trista waved away her pen. It vanished back into… wherever it had come from. “In your specific case, it indicates that you have a Class and two Titles at high ranks at the bare minimum. At your level, it can even lead people to believe you have a [Legendary] rank Class or greater. Some idiots get it in their heads that if they kill someone who has a Class like that, they can take it for themselves.” She gave Cael a look that communicated exactly what she thought of those kinds of people.
“What is the difference between the different ranks of Classes and Titles?”
“Right, so the rank of a Class or Title decides the number of stat points you will receive per level. Because of this, you can also estimate ranks if you know the stat points. Make sense? On average, an individual with a higher rank class will have better skills and higher stats.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Cael resolved not to tell anyone anything anymore. Knowing his [Luck], anyone he told would be exactly the kind of person Trista was warning him about. “Since you already know though, can you help me figure out where to put my stats?”
She sighed and nodded. “Well, a Mage type getting ten stat points each level would likely distribute it like,” She closed her eyes to think for a moment.
“Two points into [Intelligence] and [Focus], with one for all the rest. That’s for every odd level. For the even levels, I think it was four each for [Intelligence] and [Focus], and one to [Vitality] and [Perception].”
Cael had to think about that for a second. “So with twenty points, it should be six [Intelligence] and [Focus], two [Vitality] and [Perception], and one in everything else?”
“Exactly.” She nodded enthusiastically. “Of course, if this particular build doesn’t fit your needs, you can always tweak it, but this is the standard for most Mages.”
Cael turned his attention to the System and did as advised.
Attributes
Vitality
3
Perception
3
Strength
2
Intelligence
7
Endurance
2
Focus
7
Dexterity
2
Luck
0
Agility
2
Free Attribute Points
0
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“It didn’t let me put any points into [Luck].”
Trista’s face blanked before she turned to Cael with an intense stare. “Let’s add that to the list of things you shouldn’t tell anyone about. For my part, I’m going to assume you learned about it because you met with one of the gods and will not be asking further. Neither of us will be telling anyone about this. Understood?”
Somehow, the existence of this stat was more confidential than a Class rank that could get him killed.
“Can I ask-”
“No. You cannot.” And so, he didn’t
Trista sighed again, this one sounded more tired than anything he had heard from the bubbly woman up to this point.
“Let’s finish up this whole thing so you can go check on Flint at the orphanage.” She shook her head and glanced at the notepad in her hand. “So, do you know what each of the stats does in your System terminal?”
System terminal. He was going to have to remember that. And he did know this one. Kind of. He’d seen it when he was picking his permanent debuff. However, that was three days ago, and he’d lost a lot of blood since then. He requested the information from the System again so he wouldn’t look stupid.
Vitality
Represents resistance to damage of all kinds.
Strength
Represents the power of physical abilities and the body.
Endurance
Represents resistance to physical damage and exhaustion.
Dexterity
Represents fine motor control.
Agility
Represents movement speed and reaction time.
Perception
Represents the depth, distance, and processing speed of the senses.
Intelligence
Represents the power of non-physical abilities and memory.
Focus
Represents the ease with which you can manipulate energies.
[Additional Note]
Vitality, Endurance, and Intelligence determine the size of your health, stamina, and energy pools.
Vitality, Agility, and Focus determine the rate at which your health, stamina, and external energies replenish.
He recited the page for her.
“That’s what The System says. Do you know what the last part means?” She was not impressed.
“Not in practice,” Cael admitted.
“I thought not. So, a stat point in [Vitality], [Endurance], and [Intelligence] will increase the maximum of that resource pool by ten. Pretty easy to remember.
“On the other hand, [Vitality], [Agility], and [Focus] do indeed represent regeneration, but they aren’t all on the same clocks. A stat point in [Focus] equates to one point regenerated for every ten minutes. This means that so long as your values are equal for [Intelligence] and [Focus], then you will fully recover your mana pool in a hundred minutes. Make sense?”
Cael nodded. “You said they were different for each pool. What are the others?”
“Not different for each pool.” Trista shook her head. “As long as stat points are evenly distributed, stamina and mana will regenerate at the same rate. The difference lies in your health pool. Health pool size and regeneration are both affected by [Vitality]. Health is on a ten-day regen clock. Unless you have a Condition or an unhealable injury, you will heal back to full after ten days.
“This is also why Healers like Mercy are necessary at higher levels. If a team is in a bad fight, it could take a week for them to get back in the field. A healer can also deal with those Conditions and even ‘unhealable’ wounds once they get to high enough levels. My advice to you; grab a healing Skill if you can. If not, grab a healer.”
Trista handed Cael the notepad as she finished her lecture, seemingly ready to get back on the topic of the elemental summoning.
“A familiar at such a low level should only cost a hundred mana to summon initially. Additional mana can be spent to empower its abilities or heal it.”
A shiny silver ring dropped into her newly emptied hands, It had a shiny crystal flower on it.
“I don’t have a hundred mana?” Cael only had seventy at the moment.
“Correct. However, what you do have, is a shadow magic affinity of ten percent.”
Cael sensed another lecture incoming. He hoped this one would be really short. He still hadn’t finished digesting the last one.
“That means all shadow magic will be ten percent cheaper to cast and be ten percent more effective. This ring gives you an additional five points in intelligence. Altogether, you should be able to summon your elemental without passing out from mana overexertion.”
Was that it? It was looking like it was.
Trista handed him the flowery ring, which he slipped on, moving it between different fingers until it fit one properly. His thumb. It was a pretty big ring.
“So, do I just..?”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
Cael focussed on the [Spirit of Darkness] Skill in his System terminal and waited. Nothing happened for a few seconds.
“Uh.”
“Try imagining your mana pool connecting to the Skill.” She instructed patiently.
Right. He’d never actually used any of his abilities except for [Read], which was always on without his input.
Supposedly, he must have also used [Mana Sight] for it to have leveled so highly, but he didn’t remember doing that.
He nodded to Trista and visualized his mana feeding into the Skill, a connection to the feeling of mana in his soul. A moment later, a shadowy elemental blob coalesced on the floor in front of him. Cael was sure this wasn’t the most effective way to do it, but it worked well enough.
The concept of shadow smacked him across the brain full force. Unlike heat, this concept was perfectly neutral in temperature. It reminded him of dark caves and deep oceans, of a solar eclipse, and the vast endless darkness of space. Shadow was as endless and all-encompassing as the universe surrounding every planet, moon, star, and galaxy.
It existed before the radiant stars had brought their light and would be waiting after they all died and plunged the universe into shadow once more.
Shadow was curious and quiet, creeping and analytical. It was-
“Ho-woly shitt.” It was intense. Cael was left reeling from the simple act of connecting to some greater existence of pure shadow. It felt like it was everywhere but not really present at all. More alarmingly, it felt more dangerous than Arx, a literal god.
“The first time you connect with an elemental plane is always intense, but it shouldn’t give you any more trouble going forward.”
Cael looked back up at Trista. In front of her floated a pitch-black ball of elemental shadow. He blinked a few times until his vision cleared up.
“Is that the familiar?” He asked apprehensively.
“Yes. It appears to be the same elemental that attacked you, but drastically less powerful.”
It really did remind Cael of the consuming darkness that had almost killed him only a day before.
“Can it hear me?”
“It can. Go ahead and give it the commands.”
“Right.” Cael cleared his throat and stepped closer to the elemental. He couldn’t really be scared of something that couldn’t hurt him, right? Well, he was, but he shouldn’t be. “Elemental. Do not harm any person, animal, or thing without cause or direct instruction from me to do so.”
He read the next part of the list.
“Wait, it can read my mind?”
“It can catch the thoughts you send its way. It wouldn’t be a very good familiar if it couldn’t. Just try thinking something with the intention for it to hear that thought.”
That kind of made sense. From his interaction with the elemental plane of shadow, it didn’t seem like they were big on talking, so it was probably a good thing he could get direct feedback straight from its soul. He tried to talk to it with his mind, which Cael thought was just the coolest thing ever. Telepathy was just awesome.
‘Please select a non-human form from my knowledge of existing animals.’ Cael didn’t know how, but he had the distinct feeling that it was paging through his memories. It wasn’t even as discomfiting as it sounded. It felt a bit like… companionship? It was almost comforting in a way.
“Ah. I think it wants to be released so it can transform.” Telepathy was so cool.
Trista nodded and popped her magic bubble.
Cael thought he felt the elemental staring at him with amusement for a moment. Then it became a pitch-black cat.
Hold on. Weren’t black cats a symbol of bad luck?
The elemental’s growing amusement told him that was exactly the point.