Mosh hefted his pack as Silky walked by his side. They had come to the border of the First Ring, a bridge across a deep chasm, which disappeared into darkness as your eyes were swallowed in its depths. No sound drifted up, and the light from the sun overhead was swallowed by its darkness. On the other side, he could see a looming figure, it appeared bipedal, but it was too far to make out the details. He strained his eyes, pushing mana, chi and aether into them simultaneously. He had enhanced senses in each energy form individually, but he was unable to boost any to the level he needed to learn what he needed about the distant figure.
As always when he pushed himself, a headache started. It felt as if a man stood behind him with a hammer, occasionally pounding at his head, but with no rhythm or pattern, just a burst of pain, leaving him to fear when the next bout would happen. He pushed the pain aside, tried to ignore the apprehension that came with not knowing when it would strike again and concentrated on his task of a combined vision skill.
10% of Psi, Chi, Soul, Mana and Aether reserves consumed.
The notification flashed and he ignored it. He briefly cursed the Mana Records for a non-critical notification at this point, but he supposed it was borderline, He wasn’t in combat or under threat.
10% of Psi, Chi, Soul, Mana and Aether reserves consumed.
10% of Psi, Chi, Soul, Mana and Aether reserves consumed.
Time passed, he pushed, and he felt his reserves dwindling, but no skill or enhancement came. His head felt like mush, his eyes ached, and Silky whined and pawed at him. He lifted his hand to wipe the sweat dripping down his forehead from his oversaturated sweatband and saw it was red; his eyes were dripping blood! He panicked for a moment but relaxed as he could still see. It was just pressure, just superficial.
10% of Psi, Chi, Soul, Mana and Aether reserves consumed.
10% of Psi, Chi, Soul, Mana and Aether reserves consumed.
Half his reserves were consumed. He felt drained, and exhausted and Silky lay with his distended snout on his lap looking at him in concern. The sun had peaked and was going down, and still nothing had changed.
10% of Psi, Chi, Soul, Mana and Aether reserves consumed.
10% of Psi, Chi, Soul, Mana and Aether reserves consumed.
10% of Psi, Chi, Soul, Mana and Aether reserves consumed.
And then it happened, for a moment a curtain across his eyes and the world changed. It wasn’t as if the different sensory types overlaid each other, but they merged into a new form of vision. He could see the world as it was, but everything was suffused with the tint of its mana which he watched and could see move and interact with the environment. He could concentrate and it was as if distance dissolved as aether collapsed the space between.
Evolve Energy Sight to True Vision Tier 0 Level 1. Any energy Type:5 to activate 5/hour of Psi, Chi, Soul, Mana to maintain. Accept Skill evolution?
‘Goal Achieved!’ Mosh gleefully thought to himself and heard a ‘Humpf’ from Midkar. He ignored him and quickly accepted the offered skill evolution.
He looked towards the distant figure, focussing on it with his new True Vision. It was almost like he had jumped to stand before the figure, the aether component of his vision cancelling the distance. He had nothing to reference, but from the distance and its size, he was certain it would tower over him. It was almost the look of the classical minotaur with the legs of a bull, and torso, arms and hands of a man, but the head was that of a snake atop a long neck. He could see scales embedded within the normal scales, rows of scales that looked like they were edged with blades. A forked tongue flickered in its mouth beneath two small, beady eyes inset into its skull, He glanced down its arms, seeing them likewise armoured with the scales and rows of blades. Though its hands ended with sharp claws, it gripped a massive axe in its hand, the shaft across its shoulder and the blade lying behind it.
He shut off the vision, it was as costly to maintain as the information it provided was useful. He leaned up against a tree at the edge of the forest, hiding within the shrubbery as he waited for his energy to recover and darkness to fall. He didn’t know what its night vision was like, but he hoped it was not as acute as its daylight vision and crossing at night, with all his stealth skills active would give him a greater chance of arriving unseen. Silky lay against him, enjoying the scratches he absentmindedly gave to Silky’s head lying across his lap.
Watching the sunset over the chasm was surprisingly beautiful. It became a fiery red globe as it sank creating a stylistic silhouette of a tree on the hilltop, slightly behind the creature, with the creature facing towards the chasm. He waited for the dark and for the shadows to disappear, and only the scant light of the canopy of stars shining down would light the night. Moonrise would not be for some hours, and he intended to be across long before then.
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Barmenash House
All the family sat and watched; they knew the importance of this battle. The promotion to the First ring was always shown, and far too many failed. Defeat was death, very few managed to flee to try another time. Sarah and Avrami looked at the younger children, wondering if they should remove them, but Avi, the eldest son, hugged them, pulling them in and whispered. “He is their brother, this may be the last they see of him, do not deny them.”
Sarah and Avrami turned, looking at him in horror, but saw their tears mirrored in his eyes. It was not callousness, but an older brother having to watch and not be able to help. They reached out, their arms going across his shoulders, and as if a switch had been flipped it spread across the room, a group hug encompassing all the family, including those who had rushed from the city and the ports, knowing the importance of the moment.
Sarah watched as her daughter-in-laws corralled screaming toddlers and kept everyone fed and watered. Inactive fieldhands came in and took over washing the dishes and tidying everything up. The room remained tense, waiting for the moment. They watched Mosh as he rested, taking in his new features whenever the camera panned to him. The younger children stared at him wide-eyed, the teenagers and adults grimly. He would need support when he returned. He would get it and woe betide the person who uttered a negative word!
The fiery sunset cast its red light across the landscape and the shadows thickened, lengthened and then disappeared into the night. The screen switched to show the picture in low light vision, but it still lost Mosh as he faded into the night. Mich sat up and pumped her fist. “Yes! He got some scout skills; he’s going to sneak up on that monster!” Her excitement and grin were contagious, and people relaxed a bit. Her next words came out, forgetting that she was not watching with her academy mates, “Get the whoreson bastard!”
The room went silent, and she felt the icy chill of Aunty Sarah’s gaze on the back of her neck, and it only got worse, almost feeling like daggers in her back when the voice of Simo repeated from the front of the room, “Get the whoreson bastard!”
Mich turned, cringing as she bowed her head in apology. But she noticed how Avi was trying not to laugh even as Loni shushed Simo and told him not to use such language!
It helped to ease the tension, a normal break in family discipline, but the ease did not last long. This was the battle to go from the Outer Ring into the first ring, the first true challenge of the Game.
Crucible, Mosh
Mosh crawled forward and activated his aether blend skill. He felt the shadows gather around him, mana moving to mask his presence. Aether wisps floated around him and through him. He passed through the night, and nothing noticed his passage. His speed was constrained as he could only move as fast as the floating aether whisps did. He hoped they would be able to be coaxed to a higher speed as the skill advanced.
He moved across the bridge, evading the creature as it swivelled its head, searching. It had picked something up, some hint of approaching danger, but it had yet to detect him. Mosh continued his approach. At least ten minutes had passed, and he was not yet off the bridge. He started to worry that his Aether would run out before he got under cover and he started to push on the Aether whisps, trying to hurry them along.
Skill Aether Blend advanced to Tier 0 Level 2. Cost to activate: unchanged, cost per minute, unchanged.
Mosh read the message, noticing that everything seemed unchanged, but he tried to speed up and he was happy to see a marginal increase. Did the Mana Records take his wishes into account and evolve it how he wished?
With the increased speed, he managed to cross the bridge and move into the shadowed verges of the trees lining the clearing in which the monster sat. He relaxed, activating mana camouflage as he felt the last of his Aether dissipate.
Mosh wasn’t sure what to call the creature, so he just called it a Chimeric man in his mind. It was pacing and looking frantic. It must have felt that something was wrong, but it couldn’t detect anything. Mosh made sure his mana camouflage was active and carefully stepped away. He wanted to wait until he had recovered enough Aether to activate Blend again. He moved away and found a secluded and hidden spot. He sat, his spear across his legs and relaxed into himself. He let his mind drift and felt for the motes of energy around him.
He did not have a rapid recovery technique, but he had to wait for over an hour, perhaps it was time to try for a rapid recovery skill. His eyes took on a faint glow as they attuned themselves to see Aether. The whisps floated before and he opened his Aether core, trying to reach out and attract the floating whisps to him. They seemed to notice and change their trajectory, floating closer, but sedately. He felt some go in, and then more. A trickle, faster than before, but still too slow. He concentrated, trying to more aggressively reach out now that he had a bit of Aether within his core. Spinning what he had, trying to create a whirlpool with a suction effect.
Energy Absorption skill gained: Aether Tier 0 Level 1
Synergy with skill Absorption. Energy Absorption operates at +1 level. Absorption skill will gain +1 operative level when skill Energy Absorption reaches level 5.
Mosh watched the Aether whisps coming faster, filling him up faster. He wondered how much faster it was and was happy when Midkar replied.
‘Glad you figured that out, kid. Damn restrictions on Mentors wouldn’t allow me to even mention it. Yeah, it makes no sense, I could teach Absorption but not Energy Absorption. I sometimes think the Elders throw darts at a board and just let fate decide what rules to set. Either that or they look for ways to frustrate us and give themselves a good chuckle.
Well, the perversity of the Elders aside, I can finally tell you about Energy Absorption. Each level offers a 5% increase in efficiency. Moving up to the next tier packs a wallop, so you end up with a 100% increase in its efficiency calculated from your base amount at the end of each Tier. Tier 1, double, Tier 2, triple, and so on. Well done on getting it. Now get your aether back and let’s get that Ring Border Guardian and go on vacation back at your home.’
Mosh did just that. It had taken forty-five minutes to gain the skill, and with a ten per cent increase since it operated at one level higher, he hit 10 Aether at the hour mark, plus the notification of level up. He activated his Aether Blend skill and moved forward. With his current Aether, he only had two minutes of being hidden and he could not waste it. He hoped Silky was ready and would come running as soon as the battle started, but he was going to have to start the battle alone and he did not want to start as a target, but as what his class promised, as an assassin!