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Skill Unlocked : Space Mana Manipulation
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I immediately add the unlocked skill into one of my skill slots.
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Space Mana Manipulation
Grade : Rare
Mastery : Beginner
Level : 1
Ability to manipulate space mana. Ease and proficiency in manipulating it increase along with its level.
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Is it supposed to be this easy?
Let me try a few other spells to check that assumption.
The magic book does describe a few skills that most space mages are known for. Those are Locate, Blink, Spatial Slash, Spatial Storage, and Spatial Shield. It also mentions Spatial Armor and Teleportation but it requires a lot of mana which I don't have.
Okay, let me see whether having a Perfect affinity helps with gaining skills.
The first one mentioned is Locate, it seems that this the basic skill any space mage has to know. It should be easy enough to gain.
It seems like the skill collects the coordinates of the exact position of where the person using the skill is standing so that they can be used at a later date to transport directly to that exact place with the help of Teleportation.
According to the book, I should concentrate on the space fabric and try to place a mark right where I'm standing like I normally do on any map and the element does the rest.
I start meditating to concentrate on the spatial fabric and try to mark my exact position like I used to do on google maps back on Earth and I got the skill.
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Skill Unlocked : Locate
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Looks like gaining space spells would be easier than I imagined. Must be my Otherworlder perk superimposing with Perfect rank affinity.
Lucky me.
I don't have enough mana to unlock any of the other skills except for Blink and Spatial Slash. I'll unlock Blink for now. I need a bladed weapon to unlock Spatial Slash and the rest will just have to wait until I have enough mana to unlock them.
To unlock the Blink skill, I have to connect the spatial fabric in two different points and move from one point to another. These points have to be near for it to work.
I feel the spatial fabric with my mana and try to stretch it in the form of the tunnel to connect to itself at a short distance away, no more than a few feet. I keep trying and failing, it takes about two hours before I can get it done. The moment I connect the two points of space, I moved from one position to another. It seems I was successful.
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Skill Unlocked : Blink
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As I need a movement skill for my class requirement, I add Blink into one of my skill slots.
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Blink
Grade : Heroic
Mastery : Beginner
Level : 1
Ability to travel small distances instantly. Distance that can be traveled each time increases along with its level.
Cost : 20 Mana
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First skill's grade is Rare and this one is Heroic grade.
That's two more types of rarities added to what I know and these grades don't seem to be common either. I need to find the order in them.
But to think that I can gain these skills this easily and I was only lucky to get two rare perks. If two perks can help me this much, there are beings out there that are born with even more powerful perks and skills and they have lived longer than I have.
Thinking about them gaining an interest in me makes me shudder. I need to be very careful when I face other people, maybe there are more freaks out there that are far more powerful than I can think of.
This once again confirms my choice of class. I may be losing out on some other class that offers better healing or defense but those aren't very important to me right now, being inconspicuous is.
It's already dark outside and I still can't see in the dark. Instead, I start practicing my skills in hopes of increasing their levels until my mana is in single digits. That's when I start feeling a slight headache so I settle down and start meditating until my mana regenerates and repeat the same process until I'm exhausted and then go to sleep.
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After another night of uneventful sleep, the first thing I need to do after my daily training is to explore the basement at last.
As I still don't have any skill related to seeing in the dark, I would use the torches I made. Lighting them with the help of stones and tinder isn't that much of an issue.
As I mentioned before the basement was covered in an array of blue runes as far as I can see but these aren't similar to the one above. These don't cause a headache just by looking at them.
The basement's size is similar to the floor above and as for its height, it looks to be more than double my height. I'm not a hundred percent sure in this low vision.
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As I can only see as far as the light from the torch brightens, I carefully and slowly move around so as to not miss anything.
The steps that lead into the basement start at the back right corner of the building. I start my exploration from there and follow along the wall to the front.
As I follow along the wall, although completely covered by dust, I could see the blue runes that are everywhere, under those laters. These runes are present from the start to the end of the wall.
The wall on the other end, which is to the front of the building is covered with a large assortment of magical stones of different colors and shapes.
As I said before, the length of the wall is similar to the one above and the height is more than double of mine and all of it is littered with different magic stones. If I start counting them, it would take a few hours and that's if I don't get confused and lose count before that.
What are they here for?
I may have thought of it as a decorations if there were only few of them but as the whole wall is littered with them, thete must be some use coming out of it.
After observing them for a while, I follow along the front wall to the opposite side and once again follow along the left wall towards the stairs at the back.
While I was following the left wall, I suddenly didn't feel the wall beneath my fingers. When I look at it more closely while focusing the torch towards the wall, there is a large opening in it . I stop before it and look around first, I didn't find anything other than the blue runes which are everywhere.
I slowly move into the opening and find what looks like a huge room with rotted wood all over the floor. The room's size would be triple that of normal rooms back home. I carefully looked around to see if there is anything useful. There aren't any blue runes in the room.
As I was looking around, I found two metal plates one small and one big embedded into the right side wall just beside the opening. There is something written on the smaller plate. As they were covered with a lot of dust, I couldn't read them so I cleared them to see that it says light in Aizic.
I immediately tried pushing it as I'm used to on or off switches back home. But the metal plates are flat, there are no indentations to push them.
Hmm.
How do I switch them on?
Do they even work?
This is a magical word so maybe I should try magic?
I try infusing my mana into the smaller plate but it doesn't absorb any but the big one does. It doesn't absorb much, just around ten points of mana and the place slowly starts getting brighter.
There aren't any lights. The walls themselves slightly start glowing. They glow enough to brighten the whole place. It's not just the room but the whole basement that starts glowing.
Whew
Now I don't have to grope around in limited visibility.
But how?
It just took ten points of mana from me, that shouldn't be enough to light this place.
Where is the rest of mana coming from?
And can I switch it off?
I couldn't find the answer to the first two questions. But it seems I can switch it off similar to how I switched it on. I need to infuse my mana again into the big metal plate.
I look around the now brightly lit room and all I can find are rotted remains of what should have been a bed, a chair, a few shelves, a pile of books and few other unknown rotten remains.
I carefully look through the remains and I found a single book that wasn't destroyed in the book pile. I open the book and skim through it. It looks like some kind of manual to use this place.
I could settle down and read it right now, but the place is dirty. And if I can clean this place, then I can shift my residence from beside the statue to this room. It looks more secure and there is light if I need it during the nights.
Acting on that plan, I start cleaning the basement little by little.
As its size is similar to the floor above, it took three days to clean everything. As there is light in the basement due to the glowing walls, I could work through the night until I'm exhausted. That's the reason it took less time compared to the ground floor.
As I was cleaning the basement, I went through every nook and cranny. Except for the wall of magical stones and the blue runes that cover everywhere except for the room, there is nothing here.
After cleaning the place up, I shifted all my belongings from the top to this living room. After that, I start going through the book.
According to it, these blue runes that are everywhere in the basement is a runic array. It is a type of transportation array. It's linked to all the places or structures that are meticulously hidden all around the continent that the Imperial Family felt are very precious and useful. They set this array for the personal use of their family and all those who vowed and bound their lives to them.
It seems there is a mana vein deep underground here that provides the purest form of mana. It also boasts how that this place was designed to bear the test of time. The transportation array directly links this building to the mana vein which continuously provides mana to this place. And that mana is used to maintain the integrity of this building and everything inside it.
Mana vein?
Purest form of mana?
What are these?
Is that the reason that lighting up the whole basement took only needs ten points of mana to light up this large place?
There isn't any explanation about them.
As this place was used to perform mainly as a transportation hub for the Imperial Family, the blue runic array is set to transport anyone standing at its center according to the location set.
In order to not make any mistakes and also to stop any kind of misusage, the array is always locked. And to transport to the correct location, it needs a specific combination of that location to unlock it. This can be done by infusing mana in a specific way into the large assortment of magical stones that are embedded into the back wall. Every place is locked under a different combination and the manual has all the combinations recorded in it.
I don't know why does anyone leave this kind of valuable manual in the open like that.
From what is written in the manual, the pool of alchemical mixture that I need to immerse myself in, in order to gain that particular class is also maintained deep underground somewhere. Its coordinates are present in the manual. I need to set the right coordinates of the place where the mixture is stored and then I need to stand at the center of the array and infuse my mana into it.
Then it will transport me directly to the structure where the mixture is stored.
I really hope the boast about this place withstanding time is correct or I would be teleporting myself somewhere underground without a way out.
After learning about how important this place was, I started double-checking every foot of this place to see if there are any problems and as far as my novice perception can tell, there isn't.
I guess I'll find out the truth during my class upgrade. But that's for later.
What do I do now?
Although I have an idea on how to gain a class, it isn't that urgent. I can do it slowly.
I'll just have to make sure that my level isn't increased so that the base level of elite monster I need to fight will also be lower.
I could always practice my skills. I need to improve them anyway if I want to fight with elite monsters.
And also there was that issue of corruption. I do need some way of fighting against it but I don't think I'll get any help for that. I do have an idea but for that to work, I need to find a corrupted monster first and that can wait for a while.
After deciding on the plan, I start practicing my skills daily. Apart from the lights, there is another advantage in the basement, my mana regeneration is insane.
It's almost double. I now take half the time I required before to fill my mana. That helps as I can increase the rate of my skill usage without worrying about the mana.
I spent two weeks working on my skills.
Of all the skills, the one that improved the most was Space Mana Manipulation and then Meditation. But after gaining these levels, the growth became slow. The others didn't so much as level. It seems like there is some relation between combat and skill increase.
If there is, I'll like to found out sooner rather than later.
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Space Mana Manipulation reaches level 2
Space Mana Manipulation reaches level 3
Space Mana Manipulation reaches level 4
Mediation reaches level 4
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Now that the skill level increases have gone down, I plan on exploring again. I do need to find a corrupted monster for the plan I had in mind and also I need to explore the rest of the buildings in this ruin.
Of these two I don't know where I can find a corrupted monster but if I keep on exploring, I may come across them naturally.
Name : Janus Arthridge
Race : Human
Level : 1
Bloodline : N / A
Class : N / A
Level : 1
Health : 100 / 100
Stamina : 150 / 150
Mana : 100 / 100
Attributes
Strength : 10
Dexterity : 15
Vitality : 10
Endurance : 15
Resilience : 10
Perception : 10
Intelligence : 10
Wisdom : 10
Willpower : 10
Attribute Points : 0
Skills
Appraisal Lv.1
Stealth Lv.2
Meditation Lv.4
Space Mana Manipulation Lv.4
Blink Lv.1
Skill Slots : 5
Perks
Otherworlder
Summoned Being
Polyglot