At first, the darkness was silent. I swam alone, red and blue mana dancing around me, filling what could only be my soul while I floated. The sensation was familiar … though with one exception.
Unlike the previous time, when I found myself floating in a black emptiness, I was in control. I didn't know the reason for the difference. Maybe it was my budding magical talent, or maybe it was the fact that I wasn't forcibly dragged here by a god.
Either way, I used silence to focus on the flow of energy.
Without my body to distract me, I could feel many discrete sources of said energy. At the center of my soul, where I could identify easily, I had my stats, their structure distinctive enough to recognize after my interventions with the stat stones.
However, unlike their solid, singular structures, each stat was a single, growing entity, their potential displayed by their size as they throbbed like tiny hearts. I could see Charisma and Strength thumping steadily, one sharp one ephemeral, while the Attunement was like a small fawn among the herd, shifty yet small.
Fascinating…
I didn't stay focused on them much before I brought my attention to the higher level, where a singular sea surrounded them, mashing with them successfully. I recognized my sole ability immediately. Unfortunately, I had no idea whether every single ability worked like that, or it was unique to its comprehensive nature.
Regardless, I could see the my ability working on my stats to enhance them further. Pushing more mana toward it in the hopes of enhancing the ability even further.
it was an option, not a smart one. I rather not fiddle too much with a process I did not understand as long as there was any other choice.
Outside that, there was a small red energy that was orbiting the core. My skill. Its distinctive hue was hard to be mistaken for anything else.
And, even if I were to miss that, it was hard not to recognize the long line of ethereal energy stretching to the horizon. I instinctively knew that the other end reached the god of destruction. Interestingly, he didn't follow it to my location … though whether he couldn't or didn't want to for some reason was a mystery I could only guess.
I was tempted to destroy it, but it was a risky proposition, especially under the current circumstances. I might fail and alert him to my increasing abilities … or even succeed, and trigger other messy situations.
Instead, I focused on tracking the changes, trying to understand what was going on. I didn't rush it as I knew that time didn't mean much in this unique space I found myself in.
Though, as the time passed and no god suddenly appeared to harass me, I had a better guess about why the god of destruction didn't appear despite his potential to track me through his connection.
He didn't want to alert the other gods. Unlike me, his presence in this astral plane was unmistakable, and I had no doubt that many gods had been tracking his presence while he was in the process of invading the planet we were on.
No wonder Zolast's old friends were doing their best to find the hero. That was the only way for them to find me.
I stayed motionless as I watched the two types of mana continuing to infuse my soul — or my proxy soul, the System, or whatever else it was — still examining the discrete parts … when I noticed something else.
Another container, buried between the stats.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't mana. I reached it mentally, feeling curious about its source. However, the moment I touched it, I received an instinctive understanding.
It was the Experience I had in storage, which, under the circumstances, I could manipulate like mana. Wanting to test it, I channeled a bit of it to my sole ability, finding it the safest target.
A second later — or what passed for a second in this confusing location — all of it was gone, absorbed by the Ability. A loss, but as I felt the Ability starting to grow, its intensity getting stronger, I decided to write it off as a successful tradeoff.
The force multiplier of that ability was important enough to potentially waste some Experience. I could always collect more experience, while the potential to enhance it was undoubtedly rarer.
Pity I didn't know whether it was successful or not. I had more than eighty million experience before I triggered the promotion, and it was all now gone.
I could only hope that my unwitting gamble was a success.
Just to make sure, once my soul stopped draining the available mana, I channeled the rest to my ability as well, trying to fill it more … only to realize mana was far less effective in enhancing it.
Or maybe it was due to the transformation it had already experienced.
Still, I channeled all available mana just in case. However, rather than channeling to the target, the energy flooded into a specific point in the sea … and a new entity awakened, whose function was a mystery to me.
If I still had my body, I would have felt my hands sweating … but without it, it was just the awareness of panic. Still, it wasn't like I could actually do anything. Whatever was done was done, with no chance for a takeback.
I gave the mental command, and the darkness around me dissolved, and I found myself in the cave once more.
[Promotion Complete
Alignment: Unaligned
Reward: Ability (Elevated Life - Intermediate - Human)
Reward: Ability (Heroic Party)]
"Fascinating," I murmured even as I felt the power filling me, pausing for a moment to reorient myself after the sensation of floating without a body. I might have written off the sudden sense of improved power due to my earlier floating, but the lines of text that appeared in my vision were enough to prove otherwise.
My elevated life ability had been improved, and along with it, the effectiveness of my stats.
Considerably so, if the feeling was indicator enough.
I would have loved to stay and examine the System to understand the full impact, but my situation was dangerous enough, and not even my new ability, Heroic Party, was enough to change my mind.
No god appeared next to me, but that didn't mean none could track my location.
I slipped out of the cave and started running among the trees — the cave I had picked sufficiently concealed — carefully observing my surroundings in case of an accident. I was getting even farther away from the Town Yoentia in case I was being followed.
A smart decision, it seemed, as while I was running away, I glanced toward the wall and noticed the signs of movement getting even more intense, coinciding perfectly with my Promotion. A sudden rush of red mana rained down, empowering every single creature on the other side of the wall I could see.
Ironically, that sight gave me some hope. Why would he attack the wall with such intensity on the other side if he could have detected my presence accurately?
Of course, that didn't mean I stopped running. I wasn't ready to write off the possibility that the attack was just a bluff, and he knew my exact location and was using it as a diversion while he sent more covert forces to detect my presence.
I continued running, two boxes, both empty, in my hands.
Ten minutes later, I buried two empty boxes into a pit, leaving them behind, but continued to run. Only when I was confident that I left the mess behind, after an hour of desperate rush did I find another cave, and called the System.
[Class: Hero
Level: 30
Experience (0/12,526,812)]
[Health (540/800)
Mana (60/80)]
[ Experience: 0]
[STATS
Resilience: 50
Vitality: 40
Strength: 35
Agility: 35
Speed: 20
Perception: 50
Memory: 10
Charisma: 50
Attunement: 3
Concealment: 7
LOCKED…]
[Stat Points: 0]
[SKILLS: Archery of Destruction (0\X)]
[ABILITIES: Elevated Life - Intermediate - Human
Heroic Party (0) ]
[Alignment: Unaligned]
"Double the effect, not bad." I went through the results, happy with the unexpected outcome. "Pity," I added. It was not a big loss under the current circumstances. I might have collected even more mana and experience if I had known that enhancing the ability directly was a possibility.
A note for the next time.
With my quick analysis done, I started my journey back, using the full range of my improved speed, the river once again functioning as a liquid highway just to be on the safe side.