Anna
A scraping noise above Anna’s head broke her attention to the system notification in front of her. With her concentration broken, the notification evaporated in the blink of an eye. Looking up, she saw the stone slab had been removed and Anna’s system clone reached into the pool of water and dragged her out. Once out, Anna laid on the ground reveling in the warmth spreading throughout her body. She thought she felt good after the integration process, but obtaining her class gave her a high like nothing else. She felt air seeping into her body, even through her clothes. Focusing on the weird sensation, Anna began noticing how the air she was absorbing was turning into the same life energy that now filled her. Oh hell yeah, I have magic bitches!
The System was standing in the center of the patio again, Anna hadn’t even realized it had moved. Joining it, she said, “So how do I use my powers, I’m so ready for this.”
“Your enthusiasm is heartwarming, but there is one final step before you’re able to use your new powers. Your powers manifest through the use of skills. Your skills can be either magical or physical, but all siphon the energy needed to activate from your soul. You can… “
“Yeah, I can figure it out later, just tell me how to cast my magic!”
“Very well, based on your class, I will teach you two skills, both are magical. The first is thorn whip, and the second is a summoning spell called forest companion. Stand behind the first fence and we’ll begin.”
Anna hurried behind the fence, and was gently moved as the system made room for itself. “I’ve already inscribed the skills during your class selection. Focus on -”
“What do you mean inscribed? Like a tattoo?”
“If that is helpful, you can think of it like a tattoo on your soul. It allows you to focus on manifesting your mana quickly and efficiently.”
“Hold on, there’s mana now? Is that soul energy?”
“Ms. Pand, you asked me to skip my explanation, would you like an abridged version?”
“Uh, no, my bad. Give me the whole thing, got a little ahead of myself there.” Anna embarrassingly admitted.”
“No problem at all. As we’ve said before, your skills are powered by your soul, but it’s not so straightforward. In order to make use of the energy in your soul, it needs the ability to manifest itself. Your body, as in your physical body, contains two cores, one for mana, and one for stamina. These cores tie your soul to your physical body and also serve as gateways for your skills. When you use your skills, the cores power them. In turn, during mediation, you can fill the cores with power, ready for use again. So it works like this: Your soul provides the energy for all of your being: physical, spiritual, mental, and magical. Your skills make use of the energy to work. However, simply connecting one’s skill to energy doesn’t do anything, as your soul is not a physical being. In order to do so, your skills provide your cores with a sort of blueprint of intent. The cores, in turn, take the blueprint and the energy they’ve converted and stored, and turn it into a physical phenomenon.”
“Why do I need to convert to mana in the first place? Wouldn’t it be more efficient to just use some sort of core to directly siphon my soul energy into the desired effect?”
“That is a wonderful question Ms. Pand! The reason you cannot do so is because you are human. Some species do not have mana, or stamina, but instead, they have cores that directly convert soul energy as you’ve pointed out. While on the surface, this seems to give them an edge, it can also be detrimental to their being. Your body cannot handle constant exposure to direct soul energy, so by using skills, they damage themselves. Now, most of these beings have methods to limit the damage, but it requires longer periods of rest to fully recover. There are some other side-effects, but I’ll leave those to you to discover. More importantly, by converting soul energy into mana, and stamina, you save yourself that damage.
“Alright, so it’s just a matter of evolution? Are there species that directly convert soul energy to mana and then manifest it, rather than storing it?”
“There are, but they run into similar risks. Their cores tend to become unstable due to strain and there is a greater risk of damaging their body. Also it consumes more mana than necessary, as it takes soul energy for the conversion itself.
Rather than just directly converting your soul energy to mana, your body stores the energy beforehand and then lets your soul rest to recover. It’s a matter of efficiency. There are ways to improve the rate at which energy is converted however. Once you’ve improved your being and soul enough, you’ll be able to do so passively without the need for meditation, although it will be slower.”
“So how am I supposed to use my skill if I don’t have mana?”
Smiling, The System explained, “That’s the thing, you are in a completely spiritual realm at the moment, so you can directly make use of your energy and skills here. The strain will feel negligent, as even the air around you is spiritual and restores your energy easily. Once you return to your physical being, you will need some practice in using mana and stamina, but it shouldn’t be too difficult.”
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Turning towards the targets, The System held its right hand up and summoned a vine from its wrist. It shot forward at an incredible speed and stabbed completely through the straw target fifteen feet away. Then Anna saw the vine turn, wrap around the cube, and drag it back towards them. As it brought the vine back towards itself, Anna noticed that the vine seemed to literally come from the skin of The System. It made a slurping noise as the last of it re-entered and the hole it slithered from, closed. I think I’m gonna gag.
“The use of the skill is rather simple. First, locate the skill inscription, feel your desired effect, then tie the desire to your energy and the rest will take care of itself.”
It was certainly not simple. Anna wasn’t able to find the skill inscription. She searched her body over and over to no avail. It wasn’t until The System told her it wasn’t an external inscription that she figured it out. The mark was more of a feeling of swirling energy underneath her right shoulder. She imagined the energy traveling down her arm and shooting out in the same grotesque manner that it had for the system. A vine shot out of her wrist, although she had no idea where it actually began, and shot in a straight line. After about ten feet of growth, it sagged to the floor. Success!
“That is a wonderful start. You can command the vine by just thinking about what you’d like it to do.” suggested The System.
Anna spent the next hour slapping, stabbing, and grabbing targets with her vine. She learned the thorns were an additional effect that she could create after already summoning the vine. It also didn’t seem to matter where she wanted the vine to be summoned from, she could have it come from her fingers, elbows, lower back, even her eye after one particularly dark thought crossed her mind. Summoning it from her hand, however, resulted in her having the greatest amount of control over the vine.
“I believe you are ready to experiment with your other skill, forest companion.” As The System said this, it summoned a squirrel the size of an overfed housecat.
Anna straightened up and began looking for signs of her other inscription. She eventually found it underneath her navel. Pushing the energy out into her hand, she froze, “How do I move mana outside of my body?”
“Imagine a link to wherever you wish the creature to appear, when the connection is established, you will no longer need to concentrate on it.”
Doing as The System suggested, Anna was able to summon a fox. She felt the connection constantly tug at her energy, feeding the fox and allowing it to retain its shape. “So will it disappear as soon as I run out of energy.”
“For now, yes, but you can also create a physical form for the creature. After you’ve summoned your companion, you can share some of your soul with it. Don’t worry though, it won’t harm you or it, the fragment will simply act as a catalyst for The Divine to send a soul to your new friend.
Once they have their soul, the connection will weaken, but there will always be a tether to you. They will have become, in essence, a living creature. Their path however, is inexorably tied forever to yours. They won’t grow or become stronger, unless you do. If you die, they die. They will also die from the many natural causes that can kill any being.
The upside is, they will remain on the physical plane even when you stop supplying them energy, they’ll simply generate it on their own. They also grow stronger if given a physical form. For now, the fox in front of you seems real, but that is only because we are in a spiritual place, once you return to your physical being, the animals you summon will be obvious magic creatures unless given a physical form.”
After some failed attempts, Anna learned that summoning more than one creature was impossible. As she called a new companion, this time the fox had pink fur, the original disappeared. Maybe I’ll get more when I get stronger? She summoned a whip and began playing with the little guy she decided to call ‘Richard’. It seemed to understand her commands with just a thought, but it felt too similar to the way Anna moved her whip. “Do they think for themselves if given complex commands?” she asked.
“Only if they have a physical form, until then, they are just magical puppets.” After a moment had passed, The System let Anna know it was time for the final part of her crash course, “We will finish with a round of meditation and learning how to open the system menu.”
Taking a seat opposite The System on a mat that had appeared near the patio, Anna listened once again to an all encompassing voice:
Once you have relaxed your mind and begun meditation, you will begin to feel a pull on your mind. That is the distraction of the system status screen. True meditation requires you to ignore the distraction, and it is a useful tool in learning to do so. For now, we will allow the distraction to work. You’ll feel out of yourself, like you are no longer Ms. Pand, but a stranger, looking through your eyes. That is normal, you will become used to the feeling, and once you close the status screen, the feeling will subside.
Anna closed her eyes and tried to relax. This wasn’t the first time she had attempted to meditate, her husband had gone on and on about how meditation after yoga was the best feeling in the world, and how she just had to try it. It had never really worked for her when she did try. Her mind would begin to wander and she’d open her eyes to see how Arn was doing. Of course, he seemed perfectly content ‘blanking out’ as he called it. The fact that he could think of absolutely nothing was hilarious and strange at the same time. It reminded her of TV static, and she sometimes teased him by playing a video of static when he zoned out. I hope he’s alright.
Anna thought back to the home they had left behind. Their simple two-bedroom house had been their oasis. Arn loved calling it ‘home base’ and the name really suited it. No matter what happened during her day, she’d always known she could go home and vent to him. He’d listen, praise her, argue with her, joke with her, and always give the best hugs.
A buzzing noise interrupted Anna’s daydreaming and when she tried to open her eyes, she found that they were glued shut. Before she could move her body, a white screen took up her vision.
Name: Anna Pand (Human)
Class: Forest Shaman
Vocation:
Path:
Karma: 6
Average Stat Level: 5
Stats
Skills
Passives
Quests: Pending Rewards
Ms. Pand, you have successfully opened your status screen, congratulations! Learning how to navigate your menu is intuitive and I have no doubt you’ll do a fantastic job along your path. The avatar I created is no longer needed, as we can speak through your status screen. My advice would be to look at your stats, spend your Karma, and accept your quest rewards. When you finish up with all of that and close your screen, you will be sent back to your body. Good Luck to you!