Chapter Eleven - Rank Up

The trio of boys decided to take a small break before returning to the forest. Timothy declared that he needed to find some more lamp oil for the torch and Jack wanted to go find Blake and Tatum. The two left the cabin, leaving Jaricko alone sitting on his bed. For some reason, he considered they were abandoning him, but he dismissed the small worming concern.

Jack and Timothy weren’t like his previous friends. They wouldn’t betray him at the first opportunity.

What if they do?

Something whispered in the back of his mind. He pursued his lips and dispelled the thought. It would serve no purpose to think about such things. His time and energy were better spent thinking of ways to better acquire essence and level up his attributes.

The fact that the System wasn't the generic ‘gain levels and increase your stats’ left Jaricko a bit lost. There were no true levels in this world, or at least he hadn’t run across something that could be described as so. The closest thing he could think of as a level would be his [Tier 0 - Human] portion on his status sheet.

He had an inkling of what it meant, but nothing to justify his reasoning.

Jaricko had a sudden urge to bring up his status sheet.

Status

Name: Jaricko Peterson – Tier 0 Human [1/20]

Class: Locked – Essence Required [0/10,000] (+)

Profession: Locked - Essence Required [0/1,000] (+)

Attributes

Tier 0 Mind – Rank 1 [0/50] (+)

Tier 0 Body – Rank 2 [0/100] (+)

Tier 0 Fortitude - Rank 1 [0/50] (+)

Tier 0 Spirit – Rank 1 [0/50] (+)

Tier 0 Capacity - Rank 1 [0/50] (+)

Essence: 100

Fae [1/3]

Pocket Watch Fae [Purple - Tier 0] [Spirit]

Variable Capacity cost, instant. Go back in time up to a number of minutes equal to the user’s Spirit (1). The user can interact with a summoned pocket watch to control how far back in time they wish to travel. Pocket watch construct can be adjusted to the user's preference.

His eyes roamed over the floating words. He noted that the box next to his tier had gone up by one. This likely counted how many rank-ups he had completed. He also realized that the cost to upgrade his Body rank had doubled, requiring one hundred essence compared to the previous fifty.

With one hundred essence to burn, he planned where to distribute it. The obvious choice was to dump it into Capacity and Spirit since those two tied directly into his [Pocket Watch] fae. He had been soft-capped on the ability by his lack of Capacity to fully utilize it. He imagined that ranking up Capacity would solve that problem.

Spirit was a little less clear. Jaricko’s fae was intrinsically tied to his Spirit, the higher the attribute the further back in time he could travel. The teenager understood his current limit wasn’t on his Spirit, but his ability to utilize his fae. He needed a higher Capacity. It was just a simple fact.

He poured the essence required into his Capacity attribute. He pressed down on the (+) next to the prompt. A tingling sensation flooded his body and Jaricko felt like a seal had been unlocked on his soul. He could tell it had…grown? Condensed? Jaricko tried to put his finger on the sensation but it was too bizarre to pin down.

He understood that Capacity was tied to Spirit, in the same way he believed Body was connected to Mind. Fortitude was the odd one out, but Jaricko guessed that it had something to do with either vitality or resistance.

When Jaricko had raised his Body attribute, he felt like his every movement was just as fast as his every thought. Previously, there had been a disconnect between his physical self and the ability to move. Sort of how there was lag in a game. Jaricko knew what he wanted to do, but the flesh wasn’t up to par.

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His rank up in the Body attribute had eliminated that gap instantly, but Jaricko theorized that going too far up in Body would leave him living in a shell that was too capable for his feeble mind. There had to be a gradual increase in connected attributes. Going too high in one or the other might lead to unforeseen consequences.

Jaricko had the sudden urge to convince someone to specialize only in Body to see what would happen. The cruel thought stayed in the back of his mind, not willing to retreat like the others had.

The teenager dragged himself back to the original topic.

He had just improved his Capacity attribute up a rank and felt a swell of mystical energy flow into his core. Jaricko was starting to grow annoyed at calling the strange power mystical energy and decided to dub it with gamer terms: mana.

Mana made more sense than the vague words of mystical power.

Usually, mana would be shown on the status sheet in a normal game, so Jaricko was confused as to why that wasn’t the case with the System. The design appeared to replicate human entertainment, but there was a disconnect in it. It seemed like the bare minimum.

Is there more hiding that I just can’t access yet? Perhaps hidden in the tiers?

Jaricko thought the line of thought was reasonable. The current System seemed too barebones for his gamer experience. There was little point in trying to guess now, and Jaricko would simply have to wait until something emerged.

He put the theoretical out of his mind and focused on his [Pocket Watch] fae. He summoned the silver purple device in his hand, marveling at its splendor. He could instinctively tell that he could change it to a wristwatch at will, but he found the original design to be easier to use after his brush with death.

His Capacity had recovered from using the fae earlier, so he decided to test it out further. With the increase in mana in his core, he believed he would be able to utilize the fae to its full capacity. His Spirit limited him to only going one minute back in time, but his Capacity had been too low to use it. Now Jaricko expected it would be different.

The teenager slowly twisted the metal knob on the side of the pocket watch and felt his mana being drained from his core. Before Jaricko had upgraded his Capacity, this feeling had felt like pouring water from a cup, without stemming the tide. Now it was the same, except the cup was a jug instead. The same mana cost, just now Jaricko had more to give.

Jaricko twisted the fae to the full minute mark and held it there for a few seconds, letting his energy flow out of his core. With a deep breath, Jaricko activated the fae and watched as the world spun in reverse. Shadows jumped up and down and the young man examined his twisting fingers spinning backwards.

When the ride had gone its full course, Jaricko leaned back on his bed and caught his breath. A wild grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. His eyes danced with joy.

That was great! I probably only used around seventy-five percent of my maximum mana to do that. I could maybe even go back another ten seconds or so.

Jaricko moved to test it, but no matter how much he willed the [Pocket Watch] fae to appear, it did not summon. He frowned and narrowed his eyes. After a moment he realized that he couldn’t use the fae in quick succession. If he used it to go back a minute in time, he couldn’t use it again for another minute.

Seems I can’t go too far back in the past.

Jaricko mulled over the realization. The time-traveling fae was already powerful enough with its current abilities, so he understood why it had this limitation. It wouldn’t affect him in a fight, thankfully. At least, Jaricko didn’t believe it would hinder him.

The teenager toyed around with the fae for a few more minutes, using it to test out a few of his more outlandish theories. Jaricko already knew that his injuries would heal themselves if he went back in time to before they were inflicted. What didn’t make sense was why his Capacity didn’t refill itself.

I mean, if I’m reversing time, then everything should be going back too, right?

Reality differed from what Jaricko wanted and he was forced to acknowledge that Capacity and the strange energy dubbed mana was more esoteric than he had originally considered. He now wanted to experiment to see if others would retain their Capacity when he went back in time.

So many possibilities, but no way to find the answers without risking my secret.

Jaricko put the rest of his ideas on the back burner. There would be opportunities to see how far his fae could go but now was not the time.

His musing was interrupted by the sound of screams and the hurried blast of a rifle. Jaricko walked over to the window and saw the students scattering to their cabins while a forest arachnid revealed itself near the tree line.

The monster looked apprehensive, rubbing its legs together and pacing outside. It flinched slightly at the noise but continued to stare into the camp. Its beady eyes flickered across the running bodies and a stream of saliva sank from its mandibles.

Jaricko narrowed his eyes and studied the creature, watching as it never stepped a single claw over the perimeter of the camp. There was something weird going on with the camp. Last night the spiders hadn’t been afraid of stepping foot over the perimeter, but now they were reluctant.

The first arachnid to appear had made it as far as the campfires, the second had been shot down after it entered the camp, and this third one didn’t even try to leave the forest. Jaricko was sure there was something strange going on, and his mind immediately went to the powers of a fae.

The System didn’t seem like it particularly cared about the human race. Unleashing its powers in what was possibly the entire world, and then allowing monsters to roam free. Those weren’t the acts of an entity that wanted humanity to thrive.

The only variable that Jaricko might have argued on was the existence of fae. The supernatural powers hadn’t been seen being used by the monsters, although one had formed from the claws of a deceased spider.

Jaricko had only seen two fae so far, so he didn’t even try to limit what others might be able to accomplish. How far-fetched was making a safe zone in the camp compared to turning back time? Not very, Jaricko decided.

The young man felt the urge to inspect every corner of the camp for more fae. One had been hiding in a clock and another had been discovered in a claw. Where else could they be? He continued to scan the camp, making note of possible locations that might have manifested a fae.

He had a hint of an idea of how they might form, but it was too soon to put it into words.

Another shot went off and Jaricko watched Beck, the counselor that had slain the previous spider earlier this morning, walk up to the now-dead arachnid. She laid her hand on the corpse and closed her eyes. The young man recognized the act as drawing the residual essence out of the body.

He grimaced to himself. The counselors would soon eclipse everyone in power with their weaponry. All it took was a well-placed shot for them to slay the beasts, all within relative safety of the camp.

Jaricko couldn’t sit around and let himself fall behind.

He brought out his duffel bag from under his bed and tossed it onto the mattress. He dug within the pile of clothes and pulled out a can of hairspray. He fingered the lighter in his back pocket.

The teenager smiled, the ghost of a plan floating in his mind.