“Begin.” Declan agreed, still lying on the ground. The little notice in the corner of his vision had turned an angry red, and he was definitely out of mana, whatever that was. The notice was shaped like a spiral inside a profile of a human head, and flashed with occasional pulses of light.
In your past life, you practiced many mundane skills. Some of these are eligible to become Path Skills, allowing you to progress them beyond human limits. However, you only have have six Free Slots for Skills and Passives outside of your Class. In addition, many Skills that were suitable to your past life are not suitable to your new one.
To begin your new life unburdened, the High Command will allow you to exchange unwanted past-life Skills for new ones, drawing from a pool of General Skills and Spells available to all players. By the time this explanation is finished, we will be done analyzing your current knowledge pool to determine which Skills are eligible.
There was a soft ding as the cool, calm voice ceased speaking, and then it resumed:
The following skills have been determined as eligible for reassignment:
Commanding Voice (Basic) Lv. 6.0
Explosive Assembly/Disassembly (Mundane) Lv. 10
Electronics (Basic) Lv. 7
Firearms Handling (Mundane) Lv. 4
Military Training (Mundane) Lv. 4
Mental Fortitude (Mundane) Lv. 3
Athletics (Mundane) Lv. 2
First Aid (Mundane) Lv. 2
Each Mundane Skill converted will repay 10 Local Credits per level, with a 10 credit bonus assigned at levels 5 and 10. Basic Skills reward double this amount.
In addition the following skills have been deemed compatible with your current Class Skills, and integrated:
Anger Management (Mundane) Lv. 3 → Weave-Gathering Meditation (Advanced) Lv. 2
Straightening up onto his hands, he pushed his way off the floor and began to move deeper into the ship. The section that had been breached and flooded behind him must have been the engines, because most of what he saw was living quarters: a pair of bunk beds built into the wall, a pair of lockers, a small open bathroom with no privacy. There were wetsuits hanging on hooks by the lockers, which he was grateful for, but he didn’t see any breathing equipment.
For that matter, I should be half-deafened by the engine. What’s keeping those lights on?
Thinking for a moment, Declan asked, “Can I see what local credits will buy me before I make my decision?”
A point of blue opened in front of his eyes, expanding into a window that rippled like a flat screen made out of flowing water. Written in glowing golden runes was a strange language that slowly began to make sense to him: the more he looked the more he discovered he could read it.
Reaching out, he touched the window and flicked it casually downwards like a touchscreen. The text flew past, an enormously long list flowing by before the rolling motion stopped.
And even then, the first set of options he was looking at were categories, not individual skills.
“I reckon every skill you could possibly learn on Earth is here somewhere.”
Correct. This is a database formed from examining your world. Additionally, a small selection of useful Spells from more advanced worlds is on offer at high exchange rates.
“Show me those.”
The screen warped and reformed.
Any of the following are available for 200 Local Credits.
Water Manipulation (Basic)
Earth Manipulation (Basic)
Fire Manipulation (Basic)
Air Manipulation (Basic)
Mana Siphon (Basic)
Body Reinforcement (Basic)
Tool Reinforcement (Basic)
Enhance Reflexes (Basic)
Enhance Cognition (Basic)
Aura Sight (Basic)
“Tell me about Air Manipulation.” Declan sighed. If it allows me to make oxygen, I have to take it. Giving up my explosives skills, that’s gonna sting, but I’d rather be breathing and dumb than a talented corpse.
Air Manipulation (Basic)
Elemental control over air, allowing you to shape, direct, and control air in your environment. Improving this skill improves the mana efficiency and fine control.
“So… Nothing in an environment without magic. What does a level one in any of these manipulation skills look like? Say, the water one. Will I be able to cut someone in half with an water? Paralyze that shark by controlling the water around it? Swim at double speed?”
These Spells represent simple principles of energy and mana. They exist to allow you to develop understandings of these principles, then apply them to develop more advanced Spells. While all of those are possible with a high level manipulation skill, a basic understanding of Spells is that they are more efficient the more specific they are. Your current mana reserves would not enable any of those uses even if you dedicated all your stat increases to mana-generation for the next ten levels.
So following that logic, general skills like manipulation are almost uselessly expensive. But a specialized skill might let me scrape by…
“If I have levels, do I have a stat sheet?”
[Declan Wright]
Class – Fire Mage (Advanced) Lv. 1.33
Bloodline – Dawnlight Human (Fading) Lv. 1.0
Affiliation – Ring of Cinders and Embers.
0/0 Advancement Points
[Stats]
0 Free Stat Points
Physical: 0.9
Mental: 1.2
Magical: 1.2
[Spells]
Summon Flame (Basic) Lv. 1.0
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Scorching Spear (Advanced) Lv. 1.72
[Skills]
Spellbinding (Basic) Lv. 1.29
Weave-Gathering Meditation (Advanced) Lv. 2.0
[Free Slot x 6]
[Passives]
Passive Granted: Pyroclasm (Basic) Lv. 1
Fire Ichor (Advanced) Lv. 1
[Free Slot x 6]
[Merits]
0 Local Credits
23 Faction Tokens
“Hmm. Physical, Mental, Magical… Going by the decimal, this isn’t an absolute count, but percentage. Of what, human average?”
Average efficiency throughout all known species. A score of 1 represents a standard at-birth ability to absorb, convert, and use Quintessence into personal power for the associated abilities.
Most creatures will begin with a score close to 1, as they cannot begin training their body to absorb Quintessence until the Supreme Conflict arrives on their world. Each full number beyond 1 represents a 100% increase in efficiency for that task.
As creatures develop more powerful Bloodlines, they will also develop more specific stats: Physical frequently splits into Endurance and Strength, or Finesse and Strength.
“Heard.” Declan gave the world around him a wary glance, but it genuinely didn’t seem dangerous in here, like the messages had promised. He sat down and leaned his back against one of the beds, not wanting to drip seawater onto the sheets. It was oddly well-preserved for being an underwater wreck.
The cold… it was beginning to add up. He could faintly feel wind in here, and there was some lingering heat to it, but there was no avoiding the fact that he’d been soaked bone-deep in ice-cold seawater. The shivers were setting in, and his fingers felt numb and stiff, like the skin had hardened around the still-hot core of muscle and bone.
Well, my fire magic might not be a offensive tool down here, but it lets me move fast – and it will solve this problem for me too once I’m not shit out of luck for mana. The moment I don’t feel like someone took my guts out with an icecream scoop, I’ll conjure some flame…
No.
Shit.
I have no way of knowing how pure the oxygen in here is… I’ll go outside and use the skill to heat up a stone in the water, then bring it in, I guess. Best I can do without potentially blowing myself skyhigh.
“Alright, question number two, oh unknowable and mysterious voice of the high command. I’m assuming Scorching Spear has advanced because I’ve used it. Is Spellbinding going to rise any time I use magic?”
Spellbind (Basic) Lv. 1.29
The fundamental skill of all magi. Confers the ability to slightly alter the use of your spells from their basic intent, gradually expanding its limits and eventually resulting in a new spell splintering off from the original. In this way a mage’s spellbook can continually grow with specific solutions for specific problems.
“Fuck. That’s a hell of a skill. If the thing that determines a spell’s power is how specific it is… Shit, can I make a spell that gets one specific guy, and only that guy, and pop him like a grape halfway across a planet?”
With enough practice and determination, yes.
“Heh. Okay. If I ever have the time…” He shook his head. Probably not even a thing on his radar, but he sure liked the idea. But if that octopus keeps following me…
“And my Class Level advances with my Spells, Skills, and Passives?” It was the only reason he could see why the Class would already be partway leveled. “What does my Bloodline level with?”
Class is your accumulation of the High Order’s powers. Bloodline is your accumulation of the negative energy within monsters. To increase your level, seek the High Order and destroy its enemies.
“Hhhm.” He chewed on the nail of his thumb, then said. “Show me that Skills list again. Show me Skills useful for underwater.”
As the list returned, he scrolled through, choosing carefully. He could afford to lose his expertise disarming bombs, but not his electronics experience. He was in a run-down battleship, after all.
Unfortunately, the exchange rate wasn’t good at all. Not only did Mundane Skills cost 20 for a level, but only pay off 10, but Basic abilities were ten times the price as Mundane, but only sold for twice as much.
In the end, he came down to a list of five choices. The top of that list was Diving (Mundane), which covered both swimming and holding his breath for long periods of time. He cashed out his Explosives to buy it up to Lv. 5 immediately.
Got a pretty good deal. Down here being able to hold your breathe is worth an arm and a leg.
Athletics and Diving have middling overlap, allowing the conversion of one to the other at a rate of 1:2. Convert Athletics to Diving at this rate?
Declan just nodded, and the skill shot up to 6.
But as he converted Firearms Handling down to Credits, he discovered there was a hard cap.
Skills cannot be raised beyond Level 5 via Credit purchase. Seek advancement in the world around you.
Instead, he paid out 20 for the Passives of Cold Resistance (Mundane) and Eye for Danger (Mundane). Down here, it was so cold and so dangerous that he was sure to level them fast.
If everything out there wants me dead, I might as well get some experience out of the deal. Like a nice dinner before getting royally fucked.
Cold Resistance and Diving have strong overlap, allowing them to merge into a new skill at the rate of 1:2. Merge at this rate?
“Mhm!” It opened up a slot, which was the number one scarcity here.
Deep-Water Diving (Mundane) Lv. 3.5
Covers all skills necessary to survive in the deep, including swimming, holding your breathe for long periods, adapting to pressure, and resisting cold underwater conditions.
That left two more. Mechanical Engineering and Disease Resistance.
Those are both essential. I have no idea what kind of diseases this new world has, but there’s no reason to assume they aren’t as deadly as the wildlife. Having no access to medicine and no Disease Resistance could be a death sentence. As for Mechanical Engineering, the game sent me to this ship. It’s still pretty functional so – maybe I’m meant to fix it up?
Sadly, he had no good choices left. Ditching his First Aid in this situation was a madman’s move. Losing Electronics was likely to cancel out gaining Mechanical Engineering. He could throw away Electronics, give up on fixing the vessel, and grab Disease Resistance…
Or.
My one Basic Skill is Commanding Voice. I don’t know why that’s the only one given Basic rank, but it is. The question being, do I cash it out for 130 Credits or keep it…
Keep. Basic is the game telling me it has value. The fact that I don’t understand that value is enough reason not to toss it unless I have a very good reason.
Military Training and Mental Fortitude were the last on the chopping block. Military Training was useful, alright, but if he had to quantify the benefits beyond basic fitness and weapons handling, both of which he could cover elsewhere, it was the ability to keep calm under fire and obey orders without question. Mental Fortitude covered ‘keep calm’ and then some – he didn't’ want to think how someone with no mental fortitude would be holding up here, under the ocean, surrounded by long-toothed terrors and the endless dark of the open water…
Knock it off. He cut in on himself before his imagination could get started, and that was all he needed to know. Mental Fortitude was staying.
People always ask if I regret my time…
Fuck yeah I do.
He consigned Military Training to the dustbin of history. A mistake, maybe, but one that had somehow taken over the course of his entire life and even reshaped his body.
Time for a new start.
As he bought Mechanical Engineering, a prompt popped. It was the prompt he’d been hoping for…
Electronics and Mechanical Engineering have strong overlap, allowing them to merge into a new skill at the rate of 1:2. Merge at this rate?
“You got it.”
Practical Engineering (Mundane) Lv. 4
Covers the repair and maintenance of large machines, including their component electronics. Can be used to repair a wide variety of machines without issue.
With that… Every Free Slot he had to his name was gone. All that was left was to pump his last 30 points into raising Deep Sea Diving back to 5 after the merge.
But he had the following Path Skills and Passives to his name:
Commanding (Basic) Voice Lv. 6.0
Deep Sea Diving (Mundane) Lv. 5.0
Practical Engineering (Mundane) Lv. 4.0
Mental Fortitude (Mundane) Lv. 3.0
First Aid (Mundane) Lv 2.0
Disease Resistance (Mundane) Lv. 1.0
Hey, a straight flush. Voice-in-my-head, do I get a bonus for that?
No bonuses will be assigned this time.
Declan rolled his eyes. Guess robot-voice doesn’t have a sense of humor…
While he’d been working on this, the red warning sign at the edge of his vision had faded back to white, then vanished. It was a bittersweet moment – on one hand, his magic had come back in a short time, rather than leaving him useless for potentially days while it slowly refreshed.
But not such a short time that he could still assume the people he’d left behind were still alive. Their ten minutes were long ago up.
Looking down at the screen, Declan realized he’d cashed in nearly all of his previous life, spending months and years like they meant nothing. Maybe they did. As far as he was concerned…
New world meant a new him. And if ‘new him’ got to throw fire in the face of everyone who pissed him off, then yeah, that was a damn happier Declan than the last model.
Time to go out and face the new world.