I awoke to a burning, throbbing pain over every inch of my body, completely incapable of seeing anything but from my own two eyes, my Mind Sight completely inactive. I felt oddly disconnected without it letting me see everything around me.
Due to over-burning your Mana, you are now suffering from Mana Exhaustion - all Abilities suppressed for 1 hour. 30 minutes remaining
“Raz, you alright?”, I heard Mark grumble, “You took a heavy beating there”
“I’m good”, I croaked, “Just in pain, everywhere”
“We’ve got you on a stretcher, there was an upturned ambulance a bit down the road. We’re skirting around the edge of town now”
“Thank you”, I whispered, struggling to remain conscious as I finally became aware of the bumps and jolts from bouncing along on the stretcher.
After what felt like an absolute eternity of sickening up-and-down motion, a notification slid across my vision.
Mana Exhaustion over.
Mana regeneration reduced for 6 hours.
“Hey, Mark, my Abilities are back now, let’s stop so I can get my bearings”, I coughed out, my Mind Sight flickering back into view around me.
As Mark helped me sit up, I felt at my face, seeing the grisly sight of it from my Mind Sight.
“I’m screwed Mark, I don’t think I’m going to be able to heal this away”, I grimaced, pulling up my Character Sheet so I could see what had changed.
Razael Blackwell - Level 1 (20%)
Species: Homo Magus - Dual Deity Enhanced Bloodline
Class: Potentia Candidate
Titles
Extreme Pioneer: +20% Stat Increase on Level Up
Deities
Thoth, Elder God of Knowledge
Morrigan, Tri-Goddess of Magic
Stats
Mind - 32 Mana (1)
Body - 20 Health (2)
Spirit
Intelligence: 12
Strength: 7
Charisma: 6
Wisdom: 9
Agility: 6
Willpower: 9
Perception: 11
Endurance: 7
Luck: 10
Skills
Skill
Description
Level
Cost
Healing Touch
Imbue your hands with healing energy that passes into the one you are touching.
Bleed Removal: when Healing Touch heals bleeds greater than Health Recovery, increased Mana Cost applied
Battle Touch: when Healing Touch is used to heal an ally, at the same time as your other hand is on an enemy, you can shift the healed damage from your ally to the enemy for double the Mana cost
Beginner - 6
1 Mana per 1.5x Health restored where x is Skill Level
Fae Charm
Cycle Mana through your eyes, causing all who see them to fall under the Fae Charm, effectively doubling Charisma score for duration of cost.
Beginner - 2
(Mana * Charisma) / Skill Level per second cast
Abilities
Ability
Description
Level
Effect
Mind Sight
See everything in a full sphere around you. Nothing within that sphere, as long as it would normally be visible to your eyes, can escape this sight. Although colour and sound are completely absent.
Advanced - 4
Beginner - 3 feet radius
Advanced - 10 feet radius
Healing Trance
Enter a meditative state where ailments, injuries and debuffs are healed and removed at a much-accelerated rate. Cannot be used in combat.
Beginner - 7
Beginner - heal up to 10% per hour
Enhanced Mind (Battle)
Cognitive abilities are enhanced, allowing you to process information more effectively. Further enhanced when in active combat.
Advanced - 1
Beginner - enhanced cognition
Advanced - further enhanced cognition, enhanced memory
"My Mana is still bottomed out, says there's a 2-hour regeneration time so we need to be careful. I think I'll suffer worse than that Mana Exhaustion if I try and do that again"
"How did you get Mana Exhaustion?", Viv asked, concern writ upon her face.
"I was healing you two, saw that Lisa was clear of anything visible and switched to Mark, the minute I did that, there was this blinding pain in my head and I blacked out”
“Well, we’ve got some news for you now you’re awake and functional. I don’t understand how you’ve missed it with that weird sight thing”, grimaced Viv, “But you’ve got a metal bar stuck in your ribs”
The minute she said it, I locked onto it, finally feeling the suppressed pain emanating from it.
“One of you needs to pull it out. I need to try and heal myself”, I spluttered, my brain kicking into overdrive as I tried to roughly calculate what I thought the cost was going to be.
“You don’t need to heal it yourself, Raz. We’ve been fighting creatures our entire walk here. I hit Level 3 and got a new Skill called Mana Battery. It lets me share my Mana with those in my party who are within 10 feet, so I’ll help you do it”, Viv smiled, just before Mark yanked the bar out of my side.
All the pain of before came slamming back into my mind and I fought to stay conscious even as I willed Healing Touch to trigger. Not knowing if it had or not, I pushed my hands near where I could feel the pain and continued willing it out.
Healing Touch - major injury (18 Health, severe bleed, -2 Health per second) - Mana Cost: 4 Mana
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“It’s going to cost me 4 Mana”, I screeched, seeing that the next second would completely deprive me of Health just as I felt a soothing energy slam into me, burrowing its way into my core and topping my Mana up to 16.
Willing all of the energy into Healing Touch, I felt a burning as the healing energy washed through me, taking me from nearly 0 Health and a severe injury to bouncing out of my seated position.
Slamming into Viv, I lifted her from her feet and spun around, screaming the entire time.
“I was nearly dead Viv. If you’d not got that Skill, I would be!”
“Well, good job Lisa accidentally bottomed out while we were fighting some Jackals and you were snoozing”, she laughed
I could hear my friends laughing as I sheepishly put Viv back on her feet and turned around, grabbing Mark and Lisa and pulling everyone into a group hug.
“We’ve got this if we’re careful and smart about what we do. I trust us”, I gushed, my euphoria at not being dead completely eradicating my panic at my impending demise.
I looked between my friends and felt a wave of gratitude. I knew that together, we would be capable of surviving whatever was coming.
“Let’s get going now anyway, we’re almost to the lakeside of town so we should start seeing other people soon”, Mark said, drawing all of our attention back to the smoke billowing in the distance and the scenes of panic we had seen on our drive into town.
We all started walking, briskly, in the direction of the lake and the joviality of before was gone again, Mark having brought us back to earth.
With ever-increasing speed, until we were flat-out running, we soon came around the final bend in the road. We could see the lake in the distance and the two dozen of Jackal-Dogs in between us and the citizens of our town.
Looking at Mark, I saw him nod his head and then unsheathe his crossbow, “Here”, he said as he handed over my bow and quivers. Thank god someone had saved them from the car.
“Same as before, we work as a team, focus on one, then the next until they’re all dead”, I said, standing alongside my friends.
We all aimed and fired, hitting the back-most Jackal and pounding it into the ground, Mana Bolts impacting it from above as bolt and arrow hit it from behind.
As quickly as the first was dead, we moved on to the next, hitting it with everything we had.
30% to Level 2
Four more died as quickly before the others noticed.
50% to Level 2
Then a howl broke out across all the Jackals, picked up by the next in line until all were howling, heads raised upwards as their misshapen forms turned and locked eyes on us.
Yet we did not stop. With accuracy born from years of my dad’s teaching, me and Mark loaded and fired as quickly as we could, stopping three from moving before the girls’ Mana Bolts even hit the first.
60% to Level 2 - a bonus for exceptional teamwork against multiple higher Levelled enemies
“I’ve just hit Level 3”, Mark crowed, “You Raz?”
“No, 60% to Level 2”, I shouted back, already lining up another target.
Just as Mana Bolts impacted the second beast, the back five Jackals began moving towards us at a speed their forms didn’t seem to possess.
Working as quickly as we could, we pinned one more before they were too close for Mark to reload his crossbow.
He dropped it and slapped his hands together, the glow reappearing as he readied himself to fight with his hands.
The instant the first Jackal got to him, wrapped his arms around it and pulled it close, letting it scratch at his legs and chest as he pinned its head from moving. Dropping my bow, I ran alongside him and triggered Healing Touch.
Healing Touch - minor injury (1 Health, bleeding, -1 Health per second) - Mana Cost: 2
Healing Touch - minor injury (2 Health, bleeding, -1 Health per second) - Mana Cost: 2
Healing Touch - minor injury (3 Health, bleeding, -1 Health per second) - Mana Cost: 2
Healing Touch - minor injury (4 Health, bleeding, -1 Health per second) - Mana Cost: 2
Healing Touch - minor injury (5 Health, bleeding, -2 Health per second) - Mana Cost: 2
And then I slammed the damage from Mark into the Jackal, its howl of pain causing Mark to drop it. “Hit it, Mark, it’s almost gone”, I yelled, grabbing my quiver and pulling the hunting knife strapped to the inside of it.
As Mark finished the Jackal beneath him, the girls attacked one of the still-running Jackals, the pinned beasts already finished.
90% to Level 2
The girls were running towards us, aiming their Mana Bolts as they moved.
Mark looked at me, a grin plastered across his face, “I’m going to try my Level 3 Skill on the next one, don’t heal me”, as he shot off.
I waited, arrow drawn as the girls came alongside me.
“What’s he doing?”
“Not the foggiest. Said he’s going to try a new Skill”, I grimaced, knowing my friend was prone to being rash at times.
As he came alongside the first Jackal, he slipped past it and ran at the second, allowing me and the girls to finish the one before us with a shot from each.
95% to Level 2
The minute Mark came head-to-head with the third-to-last Jackal, he launched his arms out wide and then slammed his hands together. Right on the Jackals’ head.
He stumbled, almost going down before spinning around and sprinting back towards us. Obviously confident in our ability to keep the others from getting him. We barely managed it.
As he came within distance of us, he dived forward and rolled, slipping mid-roll and stumbling across the floor, he slid to a stop just before us.
Only two Jackals left now and we did the only thing we could.
As a Mana Bolt hit the left-most one, my arrow took it through the eye. It also slid to a stop and feebly tried to rise.
Then the last hit us. It barrelled into Mark just as he was getting to his feet and they rolled end over end, none of us were able to get a clear shot at the creature, we ran after them.
Until they came to a stop and Mark rocketed upwards, the Jackal in his hands as he lifted it above his head and slammed it back down, breaking its spine.
“I got some weird bonus and jumped to Level 4, got a Skill called Break the Charge. Lets me do that”, Mark laughed, even as he went running forward to the last Jackal.
But not before Lisa fired off a Mana Bolt and finished it.
Level 2 achieved, see Character Status for updates
Razael Blackwell - Level 2 (20%)
Species: Homo Magus - Dual Deity Enhanced Bloodline
Class: Potentia Candidate
Titles
Extreme Pioneer: +20% Stat Increase on Level Up
Deities
Thoth, Elder God of Knowledge
Morrigan, Tri-Goddess of Magic
Stats
Mind - 35 Mana
Body - 23 Health
Spirit
Intelligence: 13
Strength: 8
Charisma: 7
Wisdom: 10
Agility: 7
Willpower: 10
Perception: 12
Endurance: 8
Luck: 10
Skills
Skill
Description
Level
Cost
Healing Touch
Imbue your hands with healing energy that passes into the one you are touching.
Bleed Removal: when Healing Touch heals bleeds greater than Health Recovery, increased Mana Cost applied
Battle Touch: when Healing Touch is used to heal an ally, at the same time as your other hand is on an enemy, you can shift the healed damage from your ally to the enemy for double the Mana cost
Beginner - 8
1 Mana per 1.5x Health restored where x is Skill Level
Fae Charm
Cycle Mana through your eyes, causing all who see them to fall under the Fae Charm, effectively doubling Charisma score for duration of cost.
Beginner - 2
(Mana * Charisma) / Skill Level per second cast
Abilities
Ability
Description
Level
Effect
Mind Sight
See everything in a full sphere around you. Nothing within that sphere, as long as it would normally be visible to your eyes, can escape this sight. Although colour and sound are completely absent.
Advanced - 4
Beginner - 3 feet radius
Advanced - 10 feet radius
Healing Trance
Enter a meditative state where ailments, injuries and debuffs are healed and removed at a much-accelerated rate. Cannot be used in combat.
Beginner - 7
Beginner - heal up to 10% per hour
Enhanced Mind (Battle)
Cognitive abilities are enhanced, allowing you to process information more effectively. Further enhanced when in active combat.
Advanced - 3
Beginner - enhanced cognition
Advanced - further enhanced cognition, enhanced memory
“Level 2 for me now”, I laughed, realising again how hard Levelling was going to be for me, “We need to get a move on and see if we can help anyone”
“We’re fine now you’ve taken those ones out”, bellowed a familiar voice from just over the hill we’d run onto in our dash after the Jackals, “You got any idea what’s going on Raz?” he asked.
“Not really, Billy, we just need to get the townsfolk somewhere safe. The town will be crawling with worse things than this before long. How many are there?”
“A couple hundred. We can feed them out to our farmlands?”, he grimaced, this time of year being his most profitable.
“Sounds like a plan, can you round them all up and bring them? A long distance to walk but we could make it by nightfall”
“Yeah, I can do that”, he shouted again, turning around to the crowds behind him who were now cresting the hill, “We’re going to have a walk to the farmsteads of young Raz over there and myself. There’s plenty of land around us and plenty of spaces and buildings that you can be somewhat comfortable in. But you need to come now. Who knows what will be out there in the dark”
About half of the people assembled turned around and started heading back towards the town and in a dozen different directions, but the other half all walked closer to us, injuries and wounds clear on them all.
“I think I can speak for all of us when I say that between what we saw you kids do, and what Billy here did while we were all running away, we’re going to be staying with you”