Once we’d managed to get a solid source of food for the camp, and once we’d convinced the rest of the leaders that it was something that could be done reasonably consistently, I was free to go off and do some testing on my mana.
From what I could tell, my mana had gotten more potent. Using the same amount of mana in a mana bolt as I had before produced a greater effect. That wasn’t too surprising though, since my focus for my mind stat was the potency of my mana.
What was surprising was that I felt like I was getting more skilled at wielding my mana. At first I had just been assuming that my ability to manipulate it was based off of my stats, but I was slowly coming to the realization that it was a skill that could be practiced.
Okay, maybe I should have realized that by the fact that I literally had a skill called mana manipulation, but it was still a discovery to me.
I spent the rest of the night practicing with my mana. I tried making shapes with it, making strings with it, trying and failing to knit with said strings, making plates of mana, and all kinds of other things. I even got to learn a bit more about how my mana shield spell worked. It caused mana to seep out of my body in a shell of magic that encased me. It was nearly flush against my skin, but it moved with me and never impeded my movements.
I had even thrown myself against a tree with it active, and while I felt the forces of sudden deceleration, I had just bounced off of it with little pain. I had gotten a questioning look from somebody who’d been passing by, but I had decided to just ignore it. They were definitely just jealous that they didn’t have a cool magical shield.
My experimenting for the night finally came to an end after my mana manipulation skill reached uncommon rarity. The description had been changed only slightly, but what came after was something that I both hadn’t expected and been very pleased to see.
Mana Manipulation (Common) has been upgraded to Mana manipulation (Uncommon)
Mana Manipulation (Uncommon)
Manipulate your mana to perform various tasks. Gives a minor increase to the effect of your mind stat while manipulating your mana.
I’d gone from a slight to a minor increase in my mind stats effectiveness, but that was nothing compared to what was next.
*You are now level 10*
You have reached level 10 and now qualify for your first evolution. Would you like to evolve now?
“Yes!” I say, excited. As soon as the word leaves my mouth, everything goes black.
My eyes take a moment to refocus on my new surroundings. When my eyes finally adjust and I get my bearings, I see that I am standing on a floor that stretches on for, well actually I can’t really see how far. It just seems to go on and on, eventually being so far that I couldn’t make it out. The void is occupied by glowing orbs high in the sky, each slowly moving in a circle above my head.
I squint my eyes, trying to make out the designs each of them seemed to have engraved on them.
One of them, the biggest, I can make out fairly easily. It has “S+” carved into it. The only other two that I can make out each have a design that looks reminiscent of an explosion. The rest are all too small for me to read what is on them.
A blue screen hovers in front of me, and I begin reading it.
Tutorial information
S+ Pioneer title unlocks all available information regarding evolution.
Evolution is a massive milestone at every stage in a being life. Each evolution is harder to reach than the one before it, but is exponentially more powerful.
Evolution not only increases ones stats, but makes them more powerful on a fundamental level. Evolution scrubs the impurities from one’s being, leaving only what is right.
Well, so far evolution was sounding kinda iffy, especially that bit about scrubbing impurities. I just shrugged it off and kept reading, because what else was I going to do.
The quality of your evolution is dependent on many things. The feats accomplished in your life, your skills, spell, and titles, and several other factors are all taken into account when selecting a new class.
The path you walk is entirely up to you. The path well traveled is one easily navigated, while one less so may lead to greater rewards.
Please select your next class, and after you have finished you will be automatically granted a subclass.
The screen disappears immediately after I am done reading it.
“That’s it?” I ask the air. What kind of information is everyone else getting if they don’t have it all unlocked?
A loud grinding noise fills the empty void as pillars rise up from the ground all around me. Each one holds has writing on it, and despite not having a blue screen, I understand that each of these holds the same level of authority over me as the my status menu.
There were four of these pillars in total. Each one had a class written on it, and a description of the class. I walked up to the first one, the one right in front of me. I read over it, and my eyes widen with every word.
Mana Master
The Mana Master sees mana as not just a resource, but a tool to be exploited to it’s absolute maximum. A Mana Master exercises not just control over their mana, but pure and total authority over it. Grants the Mana Control (Rare) skill upon selection.
That seemed... awesome. From the sound of it, picking this class would mean having a level of control over my mana that was just on another level from what I could do now. I couldn’t say for sure, but I had a feeling that the mana control skill would completely overwrite my mana manipulation skill. That wasn’t super appealing, but it would definitely be a boost in power. I moved on to the next pillar, hoping it would be as interesting as this one.
Arcane Enhancer
The Arcane enhancer focuses on using their magic to improve their physical power, and nothing else. An Arcane Enhancer infuses their body with mana, boosting their physical abilities beyond what they could normally achieve. Grants the Empower (Rare) skill upon selection.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Well, that definitely interesting. It didn’t quite line up with what I wanted to do though, as it seemed like casting spells would be almost entirely out of the picture in favor of burning mana for fuel within my body. Something told me that some of the fighters would also receive this option upon evolving. I once more oved on to the next pillar.
Energetic Manipulator
Recognizing mana as just another form of energy, the Energetic Manipulator can convert it to different energy types on demand. Despite walking a harder path than most, an Energetic Manipulator can reach great heights with discipline and skill. Grants the Mana Conversion (Epic) skill upon selection.
My thoughts start to kick up a storm within my mind as they race through it at hundreds of kilometers per hour. This class seemed to be almost hand tailored to fit me. I’d spent all this time attempting to learn more about the characteristics of mana and what exactly it is, and this class would only help me in that pursuit.
I only really saw two issues with it. The first was that I couldn’t really know just how useful the mana conversion skill would be. It might be great for researching mana, but in actual combat would it be helpful?
The second issue was the part about a harder path mentioned by the description. From the sounds of it, leveling this class wouldn’t exactly be easy compared to if I picked any of the other classes.
I decided to read the last of the classes while I mulled over my other choices.
Battle Mage
A Battle Mage does not cower in the back ranks of their team, instead leading the charge against the enemy. A battle mage has a variety of spells in their arsenal to facilitate close quarters combat, and is far from helpless when backed into a corner. Grants the Flash Heal (Rare) spell and Burst (Uncommon) skill upon selection.
This class was pretty much the solution to the two problems I had with the energetic manipulator class. It was built around combat, and from the sounds of it wasn’t too hard to level. If I hadn’t been neck deep in trying to uncover the secrets of mana ever since learning of its existence, I would have picked this class in a heartbeat. It provided two skills, which boosted its value just that much more.
Rereading each one of these, I began to see that each had their own focus, each serving a different purpose and allowing a different path to power. Mana master focused on control over all else. Arcane enhancer was for the fighters that wanted that extra boost in physical prowess, not caring much about casting spells. Energetic manipulator was all about learning more about mana and potentially finding powerful uses for it. Battle Mage just sounded like a stronger version of what I was already doing, fighting enemies head on and not relying on others for protection.
It was a tough decision. The only one I could rule out right away was arcane enhancer, but the rest all appealed to me in some way. It had felt really good to get better at controlling my mana, and that would only be enhanced by picking mana master.
If I was being completely honest with myself, I had absolutely loved the rush of fighting. I had never been an adrenaline junky, but walking that line of life and death had been surprisingly entertaining while fighting. Battle mage just called to me like a siren at sea.
Meanwhile, learning the secrets of magic had been fun. It was frustrating at times, actually it was frustrating most of the time. The inconsistent rules and odd properties made it a pain to work with, and my preconceived notions of how reality worked were constantly undermined by the energy. It would be a long and tough battle with a non existent opponent if I chose energetic manipulator.
The choice was beginning to seem more and more obvious to me. One class above all the others would give me a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment if I proved to be well suited for it, and so I selected it by placing my palm on it’s pillar and willing it to be my new class.
Class selected!
Energetic Manipulator
Recognizing mana as just another form of energy, the Energetic Manipulator can convert it to different energy types on demand. Despite walking a harder path than most, an Energetic Manipulator can reach great heights with discipline and skill. +10 to mind per level. +6 to body and soul per level.
Skill gained! Mana Conversion (Epic)
Mana Conversion (Epic)
Using your will and skill, convert mana into various forms of energy. Efficiency of this conversion is determined by your mind stat and your proficiency with this skill.
My eyes felt like they were about to pop out of my skull upon reading that. I quickly tried to open my status sheet, only to find that I was completely unable to within this void. I wanted to know what my stats were at now. Would these stats be retroactively applied to the levels I already have? If so a quick bit of mental math told me each of my stats should be well over a hundred now.
My desperation to learn more about my newfound skill was cut short when a new screen appeared in front of me.
Generating subclass...
New subclass obtained!
Arcane Artificer
An Artificer is a creator, dabbling in whatever field of crafting they desire to make whatever they please. An Arcane Artificer takes this to the magical extreme, creating temporary items made of their own mana. Grants the Mana-festation (Rare) skill.
Mana-festation (Rare)
Using magic and willpower alone, manifest a temporary item into existence made wholly by your mana. Initial mana cost and upkeep are determined by the size and complexity of the item created. Grants a small boost to the effectiveness of the Mind stat while manifesting an item.
Well, I’d been expecting to be able to pick my subclass instead of just being assigned one. I wasn’t about to start complaining though, as this subclass probably would have been exactly what I would have picked. My head was already swirling with ideas of how this and my mana conversion skill could synergize, but I was forced to focus once more on the present when another screen appeared in front of me.
Would you like to reassign your stat focuses?
“No.” I say allowed. My current focuses had worked pretty well for me so far, and I wasn’t about to switch it up. One final screen appears before me, the last one I’d be seeing before my evolution was complete.
One last thing to note after evolving. Once you evolve, experience can no longer be gained from defeating enemies of a lower evolution tier than yourself aside from a few rare exceptions. The amount of experience gained for progressing the skills in your class in drastically increased.
Congratulations on your first evolution, and good luck reaching the next one.
Echoes of power reverberate through you as your trait gets one step closer to awakening.
The black void around me disappears almost instantly, and the forest I’d been in once more surrounds me. The sounds that had been absent begin to fill my senses again, and I can feel the newfound strength running through my body. I don’t feel like the strength is unnatural, instead it feels like this is as strong as I should be. I was already used to it. Perhaps the system had provided some assistance with getting used to the absolutely massive jump in stats.
Speaking of which...
Name: River Banks
Race: Human (Tier 1)
Level: 10
Class: Energetic Manipulator
Displayed title: S+ tier pioneer
Statistics:
Body: 72 (Agility-Strength-Constitution)
Mind: 98 (Potency-Capacity-Recovery)
Spirit: 72 (Perception-Aura-Soul)
Class Skills: Mana Conversion (Epic), Mana-festation (Rare)
Class Spells: Mana Blast (Uncommon), Mana Shield (Uncommon)
Personal Skills: Basic Mana Manipulation (Common)
Personal Spells: N/A
Titles: S+ tier pioneer, S tier populous
My stats had jumped significantly. My body stat alone had jumped from 55 to 72, a solid 30% increase from just the single level. A quick glance at the stats I would be gaining also revealed that my strength would over double after 7 levels. The sheer difference in power was astonishing to say the least. I had been lucky that the goblin warrior I’d fought was only level 10, as if it had been even two or three levels higher it would have outclassed my by a far greater margin.
Another feeling fills me, one of something swirling within me. It didn’t feel like my mana, but as if something was trying to escape a cage that I had within me. It fills my entire body for a moment, feeling just on the edge of escaping, but after a few moments it mellows out. I have a feeling that must be what the part about my trait coming closer to awakening had meant. A part of the initial tutorial menu came back to my memory, and I recalled how it said my trait would be awakened by my third evolution if I hadn’t already awakened it. I doubted I could force the issue, so I decided to move on from it, even if the thoughts of it did stay in the back of my mind.
With all these new stats and new skills, I saw no reason to not have a little fun and try them out.
I hold out my hand, having an almost instinctual knowledge of how my new mana-festation skill worked. After an uncomfortably large sum of mana exited my body, a blue dagger rested in my hand, slowly leaking energy that my own body supplied to keep it together. I rubbed my finger against it’s edge, feeling how sharp it was.
“Damn.” I mutter to myself, twirling the blade a bit. I swing it at a nearby tree, and it cleaves halfway through before it’s momentum is halted. Next I try my other new skill, mana conversion. I will a part of the blade to be dispersed into energy as the blade blasts forward, cleaving the rest of the way through the thick tree. I wince when I realize how expensive that skill had also been. If I had known how costly all of my skills would be from my evolution I would have been far more likely to pick the mana regeneration skill back at level 5.
I try slicing through the tree again a few more times, intent on knocking it down. The dagger wasn’t particularly long, only about 15 centimeters at most, so I had to slash through the trunk at a few different angles before the remaining material holding it up gave in to the weight of the tree.
Once it fell over and I’d had my fun, I cut off the flow of mana to the dagger. It disappeared almost instantly, the mana dispersing into the atmosphere.
I should probably go let Ben know that I’d evolved. He’d probably like to find out sooner rather than later about evolution. I sigh and begin making my way back to camp, knowing that as soon as I got the chance I’d be headed straight for floor 3.