The barrow felt comfortable, though the airflow was reduced with the thickened vegetation around the entrance. It was hot, it was humid, but it felt oddly comfortable. He settled back, trying to find a comfortable position to meditate in, he was going to have to dig the barrow out if he remained here, it was way too cramped!
Eventually, he managed to settle in, not as comfortable as he would have liked, but it would do. He felt for his mana center, then pushed his will out, seeking the whisps that he had barely felt earlier, trying to match them to what he felt within.
He focused, his mind loosening, and slowly he began to see the whisps floating in the air. He could feel the itch of a notification from the mana records, but ignored it, concentrating on what was before him. Carefully, he reached out, his own mana grabbing hold of what he found, drawing it within. But the soul technique directed him to another point in his body, not to his mana center. He drew the energy whisp in, pushing it into an amorphous blob that seemed to hover between his eyes. It collapsed inwards, and felt as if it was dropping, sinking, settling down, pushing into his head. He drew more in, pushed more in, and slowly the blob started to coalesce. It went from an amorphous blob to an orb which was small and indistinct and grew as he continued to push more of the external energy in.
Soul Cultivation skill awarded Tier 0 Level 1.
Soul Core Formed. Foundation achieved. Foundation purity, poor 11/50.
‘Well done, kid’ Midkar’s voice jarred Mosh out of his cultivation. ‘Though before continuing, you gotta learn to filter what comes in. Poor purity will handicap you in the long run.’ Mosh listened as Midkar spoke, explained more about his “Soul Eye” and how to purify it. He examined his new Soul Eye. Observing the Soul stuff roiling within, realizing how much was mana and not what he thought of as Soul Stuff. He leant back against the barrow wall and closed his eyes, imagining the Soul eye rotating, flinging off the impurities as Midkar had instructed. It seemed to work, he could feel the mana leaving, almost like a centrifuge separating layers, sending the undesired away. He continued for, perhaps, half an hour before he was forced to stop, a headache from the expulsion of the impure mana too much to continue. A glance at his status showed that he had not achieved much, purity remained poor and Midkar had advised him to not continue cultivating his soul until that was improved, and to be mindful in the future to try and strip the impurities out before they entered.
Soul Purification skill awarded, Tier 0 Level 1
Another skill! Mosh felt elated. He knew skills would come, but he hadn’t expected them this fast. Hopefully, he would increase his spear skill soon, it remained absent, he was not sure what was needed.
He concentrated, looking at the notification he had ignored earlier.
Energy Sight skill awarded Tier 0 Level 1. Observable energy types: Soul. Further types will be added as Skill advances.
In the meantime, while waiting for his headache to pass, he felt it a good time to start expanding the barrow. He had no digging tools, and his spear was too large to use, his knife, not designed for this kind of work and would be blunted and damaged. He smiled as looked at his fingers and his claws came out with a barely audible “snikt”. They dug into the wall, displacing balls of mud. He frowned as the wall fell, worried that he would cause a collapse and trap himself.
‘Nice thinking kid but wait until you can use your mana again. Then, as you dig out the wall and strengthen what remains with mana, its better than even having posts to shore things up. But as you progress, you will need to absorb the mana, remove the old wall, then strengthen the new wall and the roof. Welcome to the world of mana building!’
Mosh grunted and followed Midkar’s advice and relaxed, waiting for his headache to pass so he could continue safely.
Mosh was brought out of his meditation by nuzzling of the tigermouse. It poked at his closed hand, most likely seeking more food. He smiled down at it, absentmindedly stroking it, and retrieved some of his preserved meat to present to the little one. It nibbled at it, holding it between its front paws, until it decided it was good to eat, and then its jaw loosened, and a large bit was ripped off by its sharp teeth. Mosh watched Silky Two, examining it as it ate. It was undoubtedly a terror to other little creatures in its tier, but it was too weak to be a threat to anything larger. That said, he wondered if it could grow and advance. His mind showed him images of Silky at the size of a large dog, and he had to laugh at the image conjured up. He took some food out for his own breakfast and started digging again, strengthening the wall and ceiling with mana as the cavity grew. It made for slow going, but he was more concerned with safety that with speed.
Throughout the day he returned to the entrance to scatter the excavated contents. He needed the breaks, his mana capacity was still too low, and he kept running out and needed to recover. He did not intend to make the barrow too elaborate, it was a temporary shelter, just for while he was on the outer ring. When he was stronger, and it was safe he would move on. He needed to grow his power, advance more, or he would never be a match for the higher tier beasts in the inner rings. Until he could leave that would be his goal. Advance and grow strong, and the barrow would be his safe-haven to which he could retreat, a place of refuge in a Crucible designed to test and mold him.
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Earth Mileu Council Offices. Kilthek
Davos looked at Milev who sat opposite his desk. Piles of paper were being sorted through.
“So, the question is, how do we decide who gets the Merchant Guild license. We have already gone through a hundred applications, and looks like there are even more to go through, and more are coming in.” Milev looked frustrated, the two of them had drawn the short straw of having to decide which of the potential Guilds would get the license. It looked like overseeing the construction of the platform, seemingly the less than desirable task, was the better one, just needing to sit there passively and watch others work. Boring, but not as frustrating as going through these applications and trying to filter out the self-aggrandizement from fact.
“We continue doing what we are doing, go through them, short list some, and create a list.” Davos grinned, “Then we upset all their plans by using some of that authority we have to use the Mana records to highlight the outright lies from the exaggerations. That will lead to the last, and most frustrating bit, interviewing the shortlist and trying to parse who is just an opportunist versus finding those who may be sympathetic to our aims.” Davis chuckled as he threw another application onto the rejected pile. Many were overly enthused with praise for the Greater Mileu, either they meant it or were mere opportunists. Neither was desirable.
They worked through the pile, the rejected pile towering and threatening to spill over, those to be further investigated a much smaller and modest pile. Eventually, the influx of new applications was halted. Plenty more wanted to submit but the deadline was closed. They split the pile in half, each going through them far more carefully, verifying the information against the mana records. The accepted pile from these was even slimmer, only three remaining, the rest victims of their own hubris, narcissism or just plain outright lies. Three left, and one with an absentee leader, a participant in the Game.
Combat Craft Consortium: Guild Master: Almir Prower, Molder, mana and mind aspect, Level 72, abode: Kilthek, current location: Crucible. Number of members 19400 crafters, 5700 merchants. Internal focus: Weapon smithing, Armor forging, Alchemy, Enchanting. Trade focus: Alchemy, Weapons, Armour, enchanted items, materials, luxury goods.
Golden Shield: Guild Master: Vivian Westro, Combat Enchanter, body and mana aspect, Level 40, abode: Kilthek, current location: Dimaro Plains, Monster subjugation. Number of members: 17000 crafters, 20000 mercenaries, 7000 merchants/officers. Internal focus: Smithing, Repair, combat training, magic training. Trade focus: Weapons, armor, potions, protection, mercenaries.
Higgen’s Tower: Guild Master: Higgen Windren, mana aspect, shaping potential, Level 43. Abode: Chilion, current location: Chilion. Number of members 18700 mages, 4000 merchants. Internal focus: Magic research, magic application, psi research, psi application, magical devices, psi tools, alchemy, enchanting. Trade focus: Magic techniques, magical devices, psi tools, potions and pills. Summoned creatures.
The two looked at the list, each would be useful and advance their aims, but they had only one license.
Crucible, Third ring, Shiel
Shiel moved between the treetops, swinging on the woven vines that had been hung between platforms for movement. The floor of the forest here too dangerous for walking. She arrived at the central pylon, a tower that had been sunk from above, penetrating the ground below. Grahem awaited her, his leather armor long ago upgraded with the hides from the creatures found within the Crucible. He smiled and nodded at her, grinning as she came forward and hugged him.
“You have a good break?” His voice was soft, carefully modulated. He had accepted an evolution from some kind of bat, and if he lost control, his voice became a sonic weapon.
“Interesting,” Shield relaxed, feeling him tense. “They recruited me to help train a new victim of the lottery.”
“Another one! Any idea who died that they decided to select more?”
“No, there was nothing in the news. It must have been one of the eldest, probably deeper inside and not shown too often. They tend to shy away from exposing the most evolved of us that have become too animalistic. But that was just the start of what made it interesting.” Shiel paused, teasing her deputy who was also her husband. “The Greater Mileu broke a Mana contract, one of the ones they selected should have been on ‘DO NOT SELECT’ list. It also happened to be the boy I trained, though they never confirmed that. He was naïve, way too trusting, and told me his Awakening stats. He may just be the one to let us break through, get into the inner rings.”
Grahem leaned back, staring into the canopy, preparing a bow as he saw movement overhead, and the head of one of the more common monsters in these parts, a large rodent that bored through tree, and loved fresh mana saturated meat, such as that on the bones of the unfortunate Crucile participants ducked out of sight. “So, what makes him so important?”
“I’ll tell but you have to promise you won’t spread it. He is too naïve and trusting, but if he grows as I suspect he will, better to have him on our side.”
Grahem grunted, indicating to her to continue.
“To start with, aside from his Evolution potential being at Tier 10, he also has a soul stat and shaping potential. But it gets better!” She stopped, amused at the flabbergasted look on her husband’s face. “Close your mouth, or I’ll set those beaver teeth of yours to shaping some trees!”
Grahem clamped his mouth shut with a chuckle. Yeah, he had evolved teeth that resembled a beaver’s, but with his other mutations, they were far more efficient than any beaver had ever been. “So, aside from the impossible, what is there?”
“Contrition from the Mileu and gifts as apology.” She paused. “We finally know what Soul and Shaping truly are and have introductory texts! No codex for either, but if any of the latest lottery batch arrive who have Soul or Shaping, they were given a Codex for whichever one they have at the stat starting tier!” She grinned, “We can start trying to develop our own techniques, it should be possible now that we have the introduction and guidance as to what we are trying to achieve. Her grin widened as she brought forth a few booklets. “The new information, not enough for all those of us with a Soul stat, but enough that some can start learning, and then pass the book on to others. I have the shaping information as well, but no one here has admitted to having the Shaping Stat.”
Grahem looked sheepish and held out his hand. “Forgive me for not telling you? It just looked like useless information, junk with no purpose or explanation.”
Shiel slapped the book down into his hand, refraining from comment. She was disappointed, but until now Shaping had appeared to just useless trash. “Anything else to tell me?”
Grahem just looked down, embarrassed, his face reddening. He shook his head, then bent to start reading the book.