December 21, 12:03 AM
Cloud Sector, Plane: Earth
Finishing the second Paths to Power quest was not a fun experience. Maybe it was leveling up twice in a short succession, or something else, but Claire’s head was killing her, and her spirit felt like it’d been stretched and torn a hundred time.
It did have its reward, though. As soon as her spirit felt better and her headache improved, she touched a hand to her spellbook and opened the system notifications that had accumulated.
[Class leveled! Statistics have been enhanced.]
[You have gained a School of Magic feature: Mental Model. Once per hour, you may form a mental model of past experiences, the present moment, or a projection of potential future events. Your Intelligence and capacity to handle Intelligence is greatly increased during this time. Duration of Mental Model scales according to your Intelligence and Spirit.]
Dismissing the notifications, Claire opened her full status which had grown, substantially.
Full Status:
Tier: 1-0-2 Name: Claire Wright
Level: 4
Class: Wizard Abilities:
Spellcasting, Arcane Recovery, Preparing Spells, Ritual Casting
School of Magic: Order of Mind
Primacy of Intellect, Mental Model
Spells Known:
Cantrips (3/3)
Lvl. 1 Energy Bolt - Speed
- You conjure and project a mote of energy from an extended finger. Damage and range is determined by Spirit and Intelligence levels. Components: Verbal, Somatic.
- Subspells: Spark, Icicle
Lvl. 1 Words of Warding - Flexible
- You extend your hands and chant, tracing runic sigils in the air around you and invoking words of power. Attacks are stopped by a barrier, which is extremely durable while components are being supplied. Duration and strength after this point is determined by Spirit and Intelligence. Components: Verbal, Somatic
- Subspells: Blade Ward
Lvl. 1 Spirit Spike
- You drive an invisible spike of energy into the spirit of another creature you can see. Effects are determined by your Spirit, contested by the target’s Spirit and Wisdom. Components: N/A
- Subspells: Mind Spike
First Circle (4/6 prepared)
Lvl. 1 Spiritual Shield
- You conjure an opaque shield that protects you, also granting you positive effects. Shield strength, duration, and type of buff is determined by Spirit. Components: Verbal.
- Subspells: Shield
Lvl. 1 Energy Infusion
- You inject energy into and project a physical object in your hands, dealing damage to an enemy on a hit. The object then explodes, dealing damage in an area. Damage, distance, and area of effect are determined by Spirit and quality of material component. Components: Somatic, Material (a fist-sized or smaller physical object)
- Subspells: Ice Shard
Lvl. 1 Energy Blast
- You conjure and project a number of energy bolts from an extended palm. Damage, range and quantity is determined by Spirit level. Components: Verbal, Somatic.
Lvl. 1 Minor Healing
- You chant and channel energy through your hands, and heal the target equal to the energy expended. Efficiency is determined by Spirit level. Components: Verbal, Somatic.
Second Circle (1/0 prepared)
Personal Sphere
- You flood a spherical area with energy that follows you. Other beings in this area may be aided or hindered at your will. Hostile attacks will be less effective if they enter the sphere. While the sphere is active, you enjoy a buff to attacks made with Spirit as their base and a buff to your physical durability. Effectiveness is determined by energy consumed.
Statistics: 2.03
Physical: 0.91 (…)
Mental: 1.42 (…)
Spiritual: 3.76 (…)
Quests Active: 6
Paths to Power (III)
Level up cantrips. (3/30)
Level up First Circle spells. (4/20)
Level up Second Circle spells. (0/5)
Absorb energy. (0/1)
Rewards: Spirit Seeding Pill x2 OR Spirit Hardening Pill x2 depending on Path, Variable
Eye of the Storm (Limited)
Find reliable shelter.
Find a renewable source of food and water.
Survive the night, until 8:00 AM.
Rewards: Spatial Pouch, Variable
Monster Slayer (I)
Slay 10 monsters. (1/10)
Rewards: Gear Upgrade Token
* Do this immediately!!
Learn how to meditate and level the skill to 11.
Rewards: Basic competence, 1 level up
* Stop being weak (I)
Raise your Body statistic to 1.00 (0.91/1.00)
Raise your Mind statistic to 1.50 (1.42/1.50)
Rewards: Average physique, acceptable intelligence, 3x Body Refining Pill
* Prove yourself (I)
Kill monsters higher than your level. (1/25)
3x Spell Upgrade Token (1st Circle)
Paths of Power (II) was, unsurprisingly replaced by the third quest in that chain. As the last one had required her to learn spells, this one was telling her to level them up. Cantrips and First Circle ones wouldn’t be that difficult, she hoped, but it also had her leveling up Second Circle spells— meaning that unless she could figure out a loophole, she wouldn’t be getting that quest done for quite a while.
It also was the first time that she saw two different options for the quest reward. Pills for spirit seeding and spirit hardening… depending on Path? Intersting, for sure, but definitely a problem for future-Claire.
Looking around, she could tell that there were still a few hours until sundown. By then, she hoped, she would be out of the suburbs completely by sundown if she kept at her current pace. Hopefully she would be able to finish a few quests in the kill monsters category, stacking up upgrade tokens that would surely be helpful. The physical excercise would probably level up her Body statistic enough to fulfill one of the categories of her other quest, too.
The thought of upgrade tokens reminded Claire of the things she had looted off of the wizard. Not wanting to wear the items of the dead man, she had left the enchanted robe and magical jewelry stashed in her pack. Not wanting to make a decision yet, she resolved to kill some monsters until she had enough things to sell to the shop, then decide what to do with the items— be that to use them or to sell them also.
After she killed some monsters, hopefully making her stronger, she would have time to look for food and shelter. Worst come to worst, she would hole up in a tree at night and blast away at the monsters below from cover. Ideally, she would find an abandoned mansion complete with food and water supplies, and maybe a swimming pool and gym, if she was to dream big.
Quests and spells aside, the best change in Claire’s opinion was how much easier doing things were. She could actually sense her spirit now, in a dim white sphere around her navel. She couldn’t do much to it besides take energy out at this point, but she was sure she could learn to manipulate it more with practice. The energy flowed from her core to her hands when she called for it, as smoothly as water did through a straw, but more like honey.
When she controlled this energy, drawing it up from her core and writing the rune for an energy bolt with her hands, she felt her reserves dip as the spell formed. It was extremely bright from the overfilled spell glyph. It launched itself forward, blasting a small hole in the sidewalk. Claire felt her reserves inch back up as she cast the spell without using energy from her core.
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Using a bit of energy that was in her finger, she felt it coat her fingertips as she drew the glyph. The spell formed normally this time, not doing any damage to the ground she aimed it at.
The first time, she had carved a spiritual hole in the world in the shape of the glyph, then filled it with her energy. All of the energy she filled the mold with was used by the spell that formed. The second, all she did was trail energy in the shape of the rune in the air. There was no deep mold to fill with her energy, only the tiniest bit of energy that formed spiritual lines. So the spell wasn’t nearly as powerful as the first— nor was it as costly.
Claire repeated this process with all of her cantrips: getting a sense of how the spell would work if she used her core’s energy in a mold, or just a normal casting from manipulating ambient energy with her hand. She switched to offensive methods as soon as monsters appeared, the regular castings doing decent damage to the beasts. Whenever she used energy rom her core though, they would die instantly.
Her quest counter ticked up, killing enough monsters to satisfy Monster Slayer (I) after five or ten minutes of walking. Unfortunately, Prove yourself (I) didn’t change, the monster’s apparantly being too weak for them to count as monsters higher than her in level. It made sense, she supposed. Her cantrips would kill these things, often oversized squirrels or dogs, in just a few shots. The corpses disappeared from the ground, turning into shimmering specks of rainbow light a few seconds after their death each time, occasionally leaving a chunk of meat, skin, bone, or other animal part. She had been putting these into a separate compartment of her bag to sell later.
As a gray slate token appeared in her hand, a hammer inscribed on one side and a stylized helmet on the other, her quest updated. Not too much different— the reward was the same— except this time the number of kills required was bumped up from ten to twenty five.
Claire was about halfway through Monster Slayer (II) when something interesting happened. The encounter started off just like all those earlier with something popping up and preparing to rush her. But this was a bit different, in that it wasn’t some kind of dog or squirrel with dangerous-looking fangs and claws, but rather it was a normal-looking cat.
Well, not exactly normal looking. Its light grey fur shimmered green, and its eyes looked like it had a spark of intelligence. It looked down on Claire from the lamp post it stood on, licking at its paw. She paused to look at the cat, not sure whether to blast it with energy or to keep going.
She made her decision when the cat pointed a little paw at her and meowed, a faint green blade zipping towards her. She paused, surprised enough that a literal animal had cast a spell to attack her that the spell in question made contact, cutting a line through her about a foot long. It sliced open a cut in her jeans, drawing a thin line of blood along both of her upper thighs.
“What the hell, cat?” Claire said, frustrated. “Why my pants?”
She then saw the cat jump off of the lamp post, floating in the air like a goddamn hang glider. It launched a series of wind blades at her while flying, cutting Claire in a few more spots before she managed to react with a spiritual shield. The wind blades couldn’t pierce through the First Circle spell, and Claire retaliated with a barrage of energy bolts, five of them soaring through the air at the cat.
The monster did a backflip midair, stepping on some kind of conjured platform of wind that took it well out of range of the energy bolts. It stayed there, hovering about fifteen feet in the air sending wind blades at Claire like there was no tomorrow. There wouldn’t be a tomorrow for the mage-cat, certainly.
Claire furrowed her brows as her shield weakened slightly. Bending down to pick up a loose rock, she began to infuse energy into the stone. When she was done, she launched the stone just below the cat, which stepped off of its platform in the air to glide down to earth. Seeing the stone would miss, Claire commanded it to explode. The rock burst in a cloud of dust, obscuring the cat for a moment— then the dust shot outwards, propelled by a quaquaversal burst of wind with the cat at its center. Almost smirking, the cat floated gently to the ground without a scratch on it.
The hell? Does this goddamn cat have a shield, too?
The green shimmer had disappeared from the cats fur, so that was probably what had caused the burst of wind. Some kind of pre-cast defense that would trigger in a dangerous moment? Regardless of how cool the spell was, Claire was forced take a step backwards as three miniature tornados formed on the ground. Each about a cubic foot in size, they launched themselves towards her spiritual shield which was dispelled by the cutting winds. Two tornados were exhausted by her defenses, but the other one connected, gifting Claire more tiny cuts for her trouble.
The thousand cut approach was certainly annoying. It might have even been dangerous if Claire had not had a healing spell. A single casting of minor healing sealed up all of the cuts on her skin, unfortunately not doing the same to her clothes. The cat’s smug look faded as it saw its hard work reverted almost instantly. It turned tail to run, the intelligent cat realizing that it was far outmatched. It gathered green energy around it for a few seconds, then launched itself at least thirty feet into the air. As it began to glide, Claire ran after it, imbuing stones with energy as she did. Two magic rocks flew into the air, exploding in clouds of dust and splinters. Another set followed those, then more. She interspersed regular energy bolts between the energy infusion attacks. Her core had dipped to about three-quarters of what it was initially before Claire saw a little gray blob fall out of the sky.
The wind-cat managed to fall with grace, as much as a dead cat could manage, at least. It dissolved into rainbow light, leaving behind a little loop of gold chain.
Necklace of Flowing Wind
Rarity: Common
This necklace creates a small, localized gust of wind when worn, giving the wearer’s clothes and hair the impression that they are flowing in a calm breeze. The air is either pleasantly cool or pleasantly warm, wearer’s choice.
She opened the clasp, looping it around her neck and shutting it. True to the description, a pleasantly warm wind surrounded her, blowing into her face. Her hair and clothes gently flowed in the magical breeze, somewhat dramatically.
With nothing else to do, Claire took the upgrade token from earlier and pressed it into the thin necklace, accepting the upgrade when the System prompted it.
Necklace of Flowing Wind
Rarity: Uncommon
This necklace creates a small, localized gust of wind when worn, giving the wearer’s clothes and hair the impression that they are flowing in a calm breeze. The air is either pleasantly cool or pleasantly warm, wearer’s choice.
Once a day for free, you may create a platform of hardened air below your feet to jump off of. Alternatively, you may use energy to replicate this effect, the platform’s duration depending on energy used. Spells and attacks pass through this platform.
The ability was what the cat had used in their brief fight though obviously not as strong. The monster was able to fly, while this item would only give Claire a double-jump, maybe. Still, with a few more upgrades there might be a possibility of the item getting an ability for flight.
Claire decided this as good a point as any to take a break. Her legs felt tired, and her spirit was slightly strained after using all of those spells to bring the magic cat down. Spotting a Seven-Eleven a short ways down the road, she decided to set up camp there.
The surroundings had greatly changed in the hours she had walked. The road was wide, and some stopped cars were stuck in the middle. There was a crash up ahead, the fires having long died and the twisted metal of the cars’ frames interlocked with each other. The road’s edges had the occasional tree, the sparse coverage turning into true forest at the edge of her range of vision.
Some monsters emerged from the woods, easy to take care of but not enough to give her quest the last bump it needed. They made for good practice for her more powerful spells, albeit very energy-exhaustive. She made sure to gather the parts they dropped, but it was the normal stuff— meat and bones, and no gear. Claire looked at her quest progress as she approached the doors of the store. Slay 10 monsters. (22/25)
The windows on the doors were boarded, and they not give way immediately when Claire pushed. Trying again harder, she heard a painfully loud scraping sound on the ground as the door opened, slowly.
Standing behind were three people, weapons drawn. A family, it seemed. A thin man wearing a sweater and a Roman-style helmet had a large metal shield raised, which he impositioned between himself and the door. Behind him was a scared little boy clutching onto his father’s leg, a discarded staff behind him. And standing with a bow pointed right at Claire’s head was a woman, who spoke up.
“Hands up in the air.”
Claire exhaled sharply, complying with the order. “Don’t, don’t shoot!” she said, waving her hands in the air.
The little boy peeked around his father’s shield, looking at Claire. “Is she on the same team as those bad people, dad?”
“Shhh,” he breathed. The man changed his position so his shield would keep covering his son, “I don’t know, buddy.”
“I’m not, I’m not.” Claire interjected. Looking to the woman still holding her bow up, she shot her a pleading look. “What people are you talking about? Please put that bow down, I swear I’m not here to hurt you.”
I have to be more careful taking risks. If my wards were up, the archer wouldn’t have been able to do anything. I’ve gotten too arrogant, killing all of these weak monsters.
Seeing the woman nod, she continued talking. “I came from the city. I’ve been walking out here all day. I need… I’ve been looking for somewhere to set up for the night. I’m pretty powerful! Those, uh, bad people your son mentioned won’t be able to do anything to us if I’m here. I just need somewhere to stay. Please.”
The man stood up. “Lindy, she’s telling the truth. My skill says so, at least, and it ain’t do us wrong so far.”
Lindy lowered her bow, gently pulling the arrow off of the string. “Come in.”
Relieved, Claire squeezed through the gap in the door. Setting her bag on the ground near one of the half-empty shelves, she saw the man put his shield down to move the barricade back behind the door. The shelves were stacked with crate after crate of water, the liquid being the weight behind the barricade, it seemed.
Claire opened her pack, taking a sip of water. Hoping to diffuse the tension, she threw out a lopsided grin. “Hey guys, I’m Claire! I’m a wizard, what about your classes?”
“I’m Lindy. Ranger.” Lindy shot Claire a look that she couldn’t decipher before sitting down in a camp chair she had set up.
“Hey Claire, I’m Rich. I’m a, uh, Paladin.” He thunked his heavy shield on the ground. “This here is James.”
“Hi Claire!” James said. “Are you going to help us with the bad people?”
“I don’t know, James. But your parents and I are going to deal with the bad people together, okay?”
“Okay!” He exclaimed, scampering off into another aisle.
“He’s a little something, isn’t he?” James offered.
“Yeah, so cute!” Claire replied. “How’s he dealing with all of… this stuff here?”
“He’s honestly loving it. He was living his dream, up until a few hours ago.”
“Was that what he meant by the bad people?”
“Yes. A group of people came over around noontime. They tried to come into the store, but we… well.” His voice dropped, expression pensive. “There were a lot more of us in here before.”
Claire swallowed. “I’m sorry.”
He brought himself out of his thoughts, forcing out a chuckle. “There were enough of those types before. This… just made it so much worse.”
Claire looked at the torn shoulder of her shirt.
“All too true.”