When I came to the man was still calmly sitting there and staring off in space his face showed an expression of one distracted by other thoughts until he noticed me starting to sit up.
“Ah good you have awoken. I was starting to get worried since my control over this place has started to waver but no matter, it still should be relatively safe enough for me to assist you in accessing the system.” With one flick of his wrist I felt a tingling sensation near my navel and a screen popped up in front of my face.
The screen wasn’t too obstructive to my vision as it was somewhat translucent. I went to try and touch it but found I couldn’t. Frowning I realized that the screen must not be a physical object and instead a manifestation of some sort. Once I get over the fact that it isn’t actually there I start looking at my stats and find that I have ten stat points I can distribute and five skill points?
[Name-Clyde Pendragon]
[Race-Human]
[Title-none]
[Age-25]
[Class-Magus]
[Level-1]
[Health] [78/78]
[Stamina] [84/84]
[Mana] [212]
[Mana Regen] [.64 M/S]
[Stamina Regen] [ .6S/S]
[Health Regen] [ .8 H/Minute]
[Charisma] [12]
[Constitution] [8]
[Dexterity] [13]
[Endurance] [6]
[Intelligence] [18]
[Luck] [13]
[Perception] [11]
[Strength] [4]
[Willpower] [16]
[Stat points available:10]
[Affinities] [????]
[Traits] [High Mana Affinity] [Human Growth]
Noticing a little up arrow near each word I mentally clicked on one and the system gave me a more detailed report on what each stat did. I then clicked on all of them at once and they all popped up for me.
[Charisma- Increases persuasion, likeability, and decreased prices at shops]
[Constitution- Increases toughness of body and stamina]
[Dexterity- increases mobility and reflexes]
[Endurance- Increases stamina and health regeneration, and affects total health.]
[Intelligence- increases memory, critical thinking, and total mana pool]
[Luck- Affects critical hit chance, Rare events, and ????]
[Perception- Increases awareness, the six senses, and comprehension]
[Strength- Increases maximum speed, physical power, and carry weight]
[Willpower- increases internal motivation, mana regeneration, and Mental Resistance]
Interesting, it looks like my stats reflect what I’ve done in real life and systemized it. The high intelligence is most definitely from my four long years learning about the different reactions of certain chemicals and applying them with engineering to create a system for refining products. Before I took up the challenge of being a Pro-Gamer, I was actually mildly successful working as an ore processor technician. I basically made sure the machines processing the ores were running and fixed any problems. It was pretty boring so I quit after a few months. It seems that an average human has a stat of ten and anything above that is considered super-human.
The other stats for instance make sense like my low endurance and constitution are definitely because I haven’t worked out in years since I stopped playing soccer in high school. Sure I look fit because I don’t eat much but I can tell you I would have to quit halfway through a 5k before I collapse. The high willpower is not very startling since I once broke my big toe during a soccer game but kept playing for twenty more minutes before it ended. I told my coach and he asked why I didn’t get subbed off and I simply reminded him that we didn’t have any subs to take my place so I decided to suck it up despite the pain. The somewhat above average charisma is attributed to the fact that I lead my own guild in most games and in the recent one I was playing. We were only a small guild consisting of around thirty members but we were the elite of the elite. No one could match our prowess on the battlefield so when the top players of a game needed a leader that could act correctly, I put on a great show. The only reason it is not higher is because I am quite a lazy person and mostly made my second in command give orders. The above average dexterity and perception are basically because of my skill as a gamer before virtual reality was invented and instead used keyboards and mouses to play. Not sure why my luck is so high though.
“Wow, those are some very impressive stats for someone of your age. This high mana Affinity is interesting too. You are one of a few people on your world that has such an excellent affinity toward magic.” The old man said almost cheerfully, as if he is happy with how lucky I am.
“I’m confused sir, why do I have my high mana affinity in my traits section of my status screen if there is an Affinity section?” I ask since this was quite puzzling to me.
The old man merely nodded and replied, “Well that’s simple really, you see the Affinity section of the status screen shows what element of magic your body is capable of producing easier. It is usually tied with personality traits and such so a very reserved type of person might have a high affinity with earth while someone who is very virtuous at heart might have a high affinity with light. This is not entirely true though as sometimes bloodline can determine affinities but it is mostly assumed that affinities are due to someone's true nature. The difference between having a High affinity with a certain element as opposed to mana is that mana is the basis for all spells. Affinities effect how powerful certain types of spells are, this would mean anyone could cast a spell but depending on someone's affinity it would either make the spell more powerful or it could make it to where they couldn’t even cast the spell. What having a High mana affinity means though is that for you all of your spells would be more powerful even if you didn't have an affinity towards an element. It also means that to an extent you could use any spell you wish the only drawback is that if you have a particular negative affinity then it will cost more mana for you to cast it instead of you not being able to cast it.” Finishing his second speech of the night he sits down and simply says, “alright now that I said that let’s wrap up by getting your skills situated and then you’re on your own.” He then waves his hands again and my stat screen transitions into something akin to a menu. “To see this simply think system menu and it will appear.” I then look at what the system menu consists of.
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[System menu]
[Status Screen]
[Skill list]
[Skill store(Only available until initial skills are purchased, afterwards must see store shop to acquire specific ones.)]
{Innate Skills}
[???????????]
Wondering why there are two skill lists I open up Innate Skills and now see why I have it, Skills such as walking, running, jogging, English, talking, and mundane things of that matter are appearing before me. There are plenty of them all with grey text which makes me think they are all considered common skills. Then before I was going to open up the skill store I saw two skills that were in a dark green. Pulling them up I gasp at their desciptions.
[Arthur's holy radiance - Unique]
[Description- By being a direct descendant of the deceased Arthur Pendragon his aura of righteousness is passed down to you. The user is able to active this power once every hour. Effect-The creatures inside the radius of this aura that are of dark affinity will instantly be damaged half of their total health due to the power of Arthur Pendragons descendant. Radius-10 Meters (effective on undead, dark magic casters, and anything with the affinity of darkness)]
As overpowered as it sounds an hour cooldown time makes it seem like a last resort type measure. What really made my jaw drop was the next one though.
[Ethereal Shift -Unique]
[Description- Due to your contempt and need of wanting to be hidden your whole life, a unique skill was generated for you. Temporarily shift into the Ethereal Plane, a plane that exists right alongside the one you exist in but where nothing can damage you. Effects- Allows user to shift into the Ethereal Plane. While in the plane one cannot be harmed but likewise one cannot harm another. The user is also completely undetectable unless enemy is able to also shift into the Ethereal plane. Cost- 20 Mana per Second]
This skill is unbelievable. Not only am I invincible I am also undetectable. The cost is a problem though, with my current mana pool I am only able to maintain the shift for about ten seconds. There is of course good news as well. Since this ability was generated just for me, this means that no one else has it which means no one could detect me in the plane. No Human at least. I gulped, what if abilities like this are common for monsters? No they can’t be, quickly I shut down that thought. If skills like the one I was gifted is the same as a common mob then we would stand no chance but I am pretty sure only a few more powerful monsters actually are given skills such as these since they are indeed very special. One thing I did note though was that this skill came with a cost and my bloodline skill didn’t which means it doesn’t cost anything so the only thing really worrisome about it is the crazy long cooldown.
Once I had my Innate skills sorted out I then went to look at the skill store. Opening it up I see a long list with lots of different skills ranging from useful things such as cooking and cleaning to crazy things such as Novice Enchanting or Basic Fireball. Looking at the top of the screen I notice a search bar, A filter option, and a little box showing me I can pick five starting skills. Before I go to pick cooking since I will obviously need it the old man stops me and says.
“Just so you know you can learn any skills from that list without having to buy it. I would recommend getting something like a basic attack spell and maybe a defensive one as well.”
“Couldn’t I just use my Innate Skill instead of another defense ability?” I ask since it seems to make sense however once the old man heard that I had some uncommon Innate Skills he immediately asked to see them. Showing him my two unique skills he smiled greatly at me and just said,
“Do you know how rare it is to get a unique innate skill let alone two of them? Very slim i tell you, about one in a billion have them in fact Only you and six others on your planet have two innate skills. It also seems that one of them is a descendant of merlin. It might be interesting to see if you can find that individual. I’ll give you a hint, she lives in your city. Oh and your Ethereal Shift is one of a kind I can assure you that, in fact it would definitely replace a basic shielding spell.” He then stopped again and almost stuttered as he looked back to my status page. “Your class is m-m-magus? How can this be?”
“What do you mean? I assumed that was just the word people will use to describe a mage.” I reply confused. Is being a magus really that important?
“No the main starting class for magic users is a non-descript class called mage. It encompasses all of the basic spells. A Magus on the other hand is one that i have never heard of in all of the decades I have lived. Click on the description to see what it entails.” By clicking on the arrow I now noticed near the class name a small description popped out.
[Magus]
[Definition- A mage that has the ability to become something that the world has never seen. Bonuses- Any type of magic is now twice as easy to learn, 25% bonus damage with any spell, Unlocks special skill eyes of the magus.] As I was reading off the description to God? I’m still not sure what to call him he seemed interested when I told him I unlocked a skill.
“Make sure to get the skill since it seems to be powerful. Also get some type of meditation to help you recover mana faster.” I then went into the skill store and purchased the eye of the magus, a basic fireball spell, a skill called novice meditation, Novice Alchemy, and Novice one handed-sword mastery. As soon as I clicked the accept button my brain is flooded with a large amount of information. First off the skill eye of the magus can later be something ridiculously powerful. The basic fireball was made instinctive to me as if I just knew how to create one. I then pulled up the description for each skill I just obtained.
[Eye of the Magus- level 1/4 (000%)]
[Description- Able to see past the reality that you dwell in and peer into the mysteries of the universe itself. Cost- 10 Mana per second.]
[Basic Fireball- level 1 (000%)]
[Description- A basic ball of fire that when casted is shot out of the user's hand at may somewhat be guided. Upon impact has a chance to set creatures or objects on fire. Range- 0-50 Meters Cost- 40 Mana Effects- 10 points of fire damage]
[Novice meditation- level 1 (000%)]
[Description- User is able to concentrate and forcefully inject more ambient mana into themselves, causing a slight increase in mana regen. Current regen increase, 5%]
[Novice Alchemy- level 1 (000%)]
[Description- Unlocks novice tier potion recipes along with ability to create them.]
[Novice one handed sword mastery- level 1 (000%)]
[Description- Allows the user to know how to somewhat handle a sword. Effect-Increases damage dealt with swords by 10%]
While not great I could only assume they get better as I level them up. Then I remember that I still have ten unallocated stat points so I decide to put two into Constitution, five in Willpower and three in Intelligence. My new stats now look like this.
[Name-Clyde Pendragon]
[Race-Human]
[Title-none]
[Age-25]
[Class-Magus]
[Level-1]
[Health] [80/80]
[Stamina] [84/84]
[Mana] [252]
[Mana Regen] [.84 M/S]
[Stamina Regen] [.6 S/S]
[Health Regen] [ 1 H/Minute]
[Charisma] [12]
[Constitution] [10]
[Dexterity] [13]
[Endurance] [6]
[Intelligence] [21]
[Luck] [13]
[Perception] [11]
[Strength] [4]
[Willpower] [21]
[Stat points available:0]
[Affinities] [????]
[Traits] [High Mana Affinity] [Human Growth]
Satisfied with my choice I decide I am finished and start walking out towards the door when God? Tells me to stop.
“Just a minute, let me gift you with some starting gear.” He then proceeds to give me a copper looking sword with a proper scabbard and belt and some itchy looking clothing. “Please wear the clothing, it might look bad but it is actually better than your current clothes because they are system made clothes which have a built in defense attribute.” I then take the clothes and sword in its scabbard around the belt and I was about to put them on when suddenly I had an idea, by focusing on the item I heard a ding and was happy to see a notification.
[Skill acquired! Inspect]
[Inspect- level 1 (25%)]
[Description- At current level able to give person who inspects a creature within their level range their name, level, and health. Able to identify equipment at the same level as the user.]
Noting that there is no cost for the skill I quickly inspect my items.
[Starters clothes- level 1]
[Description-A pair of clothes for beginners. 5 Armor. Durability 100/100]
[Copper sword- level 1]
[Description-A beginner sword. 5 slashing damage. Durability 100/100]
After quickly thanking the man I open the door and walk back into my apartment anticipating the chaos that is sure to ensue.