Before Nick was ready to invest his final tutorial knowledge points, an invaluable resource that wouldn’t be available going forward, he decided to organize his thoughts using his brand-new journal. He wanted to copy all the entries that he had already unlocked during the tutorial now, while he was able to create a perfect word-for-word record instead of having to rely on memory.
He smiled as he opened his travel journal, satisfied that he had used his basic item picks wisely, as he began searching the room for something that he could use as a pencil or pen. He eventually found a likely candidate while rooting around in the pile of objects he had been using to train his throwing skill; a tapered length of wood a bit longer than his finger with a core of dark material that reminded Nick of a graphite pencil.
It hadn’t made a mark when he ran it along his skin, but when he tried drawing a line in his journal, the stick left a liquid trail of ink behind, which glistened for a few seconds before drying. He shrugged at the sight, as there was clearly magic at work. Or maybe the core is made from some alien substance. Either way, it would suit his needs just fine, as the ink refused to smudge once dry.
After trying and failing to store the pen inside his pack, just in case the System was willing to let him keep it, Nick went to work. He began by copying all the unlocked kp entries like he had planned. By the time that he reached the end of the list, he realized there was more that he wanted to write.
After all, he had lived through a pivotal moment in human history. If he survived long enough to share it, his story could help shed light on what had happened during those terrible and transformative days. A record of the apocalypse. The end of the old world and the beginning of the new.
So, starting from the beginning, he recorded his tale into the journal. From the arrival of the System, all the way to the present day. The changes that the System had made to his body, and what Pax had revealed before the Mad God arrived to claim the Earth for his own. Nick’s interactions with the beasts on the Searing Isle, and the story of Trell the ratman foreman and the calamity that had befallen his people.
The better part of an hour later, Nick had caught up to his battle in the Grand Arena of Papillion, the arrival of the Herald of Slaughter, and the mutation that had created the fallen rhinoceros. He put in as many details as he could remember, annotating his record of events with his speculations about Taltos and the System, along with everything he had learned regarding strategy, tactics, and the fey force known as magic.
He concluded his account with his brief experiences of sensing health, mana, and stamina, then sat back with a sigh, stretching out his wrist while contemplating the story of his adventures. As he went to grab a glass of water, Nick realized that he felt better than before. That committing his memories and feelings to ink had helped him to process what had happened. To come to grips with the intense stress and other powerful emotions he had been grappling with over the last month and some change.
His impromptu journaling session had also given him ample time to decide how he wanted to spend his final knowledge points. After playing around with the custom kp prompt to check out the cost of various queries, Nick was ready to cash in the final knowledge points he had earned for completing the tutorial. He had been hoping to learn more about the ??? field in his profile, but that entry cost a whopping 25 points.
Spending his first point was easy. Nick wanted to learn everything about the mysterious force known as mana that he could. He knew that it was one of the vital energies mentioned by the System, along with health and stamina, but he was eager to discover more of the details. His decision made, he sent his intentions into the display and began to read.
Mana
Mana is the vital force powering spells, beast abilities, and magical constructs. An individual’s mana pool grows with every level, along with increases to the magic attribute. The quality and quantity of internal mana scales with energetic attributes, increasing the potency and efficiency of spells.
In addition to being consumed when casting spells, the mana residing within an energetic core creates what is known as the arcane barrier. The arcane barrier is a shield that protects all living creatures, creating an innate resistance to hostile magic that directly alters their bodies and minds. The strength of the arcane barrier is proportional to the size of an individual’s mana pool and mana is automatically expended when defending against such attacks.
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Mana is a catchall term encompassing all forms of spell-compatible energy, which comes in countless varieties known as aspects. Mana can resonate with the natural energies of an environment over time, becoming what is known as elemental or elemental-aspected mana. Elemental mana has unique properties that can aid or hinder certain spells based on a wide range of variables. There are numerous aspects of non-elemental mana as well, such as the pure and force varieties.
While most of this entry was in line with Nick’s expectations, it was incredibly useful information that would give him a great deal to ponder over the days ahead. For one thing, it confirmed the existence of other aspects of mana that were non-elemental in nature, beyond the pure and force aspects that he had already perceived.
While he had closed the door forever on manipulating elemental energies, there was still a range of mana subtypes out there that he could one day learn to control, adding some versatility to the pair of aspects that Nick could use right now.
Equally interesting was the material regarding the arcane barrier. It made sense that creatures that had evolved on worlds where magic was an everyday occurrence would develop an innate resistance to hostile spells and abilities, even if they were not specialized in its use. Otherwise, a simple fire or frost spell targeting the inside of an opponent’s body could kill creatures that were vastly more powerful than the caster.
It also explained why disabling spells were less effective on high level beasts. Their large mana pools created a powerful arcane barrier, reducing the effect of the spell. He had a sense that this was an oversimplification and that the details would prove to be far more nuanced, but it was still a major step forward in broadening his horizons.
In the future, Nick would have to take the existence of arcane barriers into account, both when anticipating the effect of various spells on creatures with large pools of mana, and as a potent form of defense to protect himself against potentially lethal abilities.
He wasn’t sure what the full range of powers that could affect the inside of his body or mental state was yet, but he was completely certain that getting hit by most of them would lead to catastrophic consequences, especially in the middle of a fight. Maybe once he made it back to civilization, the survivors of Earth could begin researching the issue under controlled conditions, broadening humanity’s understanding of magic and reducing their vulnerability to spell-wielding opponents over time.
I wonder if my mana darts are an exception to that rule, since instead of altering my target’s physical form or mental state, they attack their vital energy directly. If so, they’re even better than I thought.
Before he spent his last ten kp unlocking a major entry, it was time to redeem the voucher from the chest he had found in the bonecrunchers’ lair on the Searing Isle, since there was a chance that it would influence his final pick. Nick voiced his request to the open air. “I’d like to turn in that voucher for a free unlock if you don’t mind.”
Responding to his query, a new menu opened on his display.
Acknowledged. Redeeming high value kp unlock voucher. The topic it has unlocked is: bloodlines.
Great. That’s perfect. Nick really wanted to know more about bloodlines, since he had already acquired two permanent traits and only had room for one more. Thus, he was immensely satisfied with his voucher reward. He eagerly read the block of text, recording each word into his journal.
Bloodlines
Bloodline traits are unique to individuals and their descendants, although they may be imparted or stolen in rare cases.
The capacity of a bloodline is determined by a contestant’s species grade, commonly referred to as bloodline points. Most E-grade species have a capacity of three bloodline points.
Bloodline traits can be acquired in a number of ways. Some class traits include mandatory trait permanence, which are bound to an individual’s bloodline and retained after the class is lost. They can also be rewarded for completing difficult quests.
Acquiring bloodline traits can offer powerful advantages, but they can also lock the user out of certain classes going forward (and can open them as well).
Bloodline traits can be enhanced, evolved, and merged in rare cases, in a process similar to abilities.
Enhanced bloodline traits are generally more powerful and cost effective than their prior forms, although some offer entirely novel features as well. They are highly sought after and usually can only be obtained in top-tier quest rewards.
Fascinating. This is all good news. Now Nick knew for certain that he would be able to expand his bloodline later, and that his enhanced Survivor trait really was a rare and powerful reward. The part about abilities being able to evolve in a similar matter was intriguing, and something that he would try to learn more about when he had the chance.
After jotting down the entry word for word, Nick was ready to blow the rest of his kp in a single go. He had thought long and hard about this choice, eventually deciding to learn about something advanced, rather than unlocking the primers on the rest of his attributes and other basic aspects of advancement mentioned in his profile.