When Zeno next woke up, he found himself in yet more darkness. He also noticed that he no longer had arms, or legs, or any other extremities for that matter. From what he could feel his body was a small floating island of indeterminate composition about 10 meters in diameter.
Zeno also found that said sphere lacked a mouth to verbalize the terrified screeching that he was emitting internally. He had no clue what had happened, at least until he checked his status.
Zeno
1
Class: none
Willpower
10
focus
15
Confidence
5
Attunement
64.5
Control
29
Mana
100
Memory
16.5
Capacity
21
learning
12
Strength
52.5
Power
96
Dexterity
9
Vitality
102.5
Endurance
110
Fortitude
95
Perception
10
senses
10
Recognition
10
luck
10
Affinity
10
Primal chaos
10
Hp
102.5
Mp
100
Skills:
knowledge (research 5, physics 1, arcane 3, biology 1, history 1, chemistry 1)
spells (prestidigitation 3, analysis 3, genesis 1)
mundane (cleaning 1)
production (cooking 1)
[Perks: dimensional lord, primal chaos mana]
Zeno saw that he was sent back to level 1 from the 27 he was before the experiment. Even worse, several of his skills were of a much lower level than they were before, some even straight up disappearing due to his level and memory stat restricting the skill levels he could obtain. Before, he had 15 levels in research, several different spells, and the lowest leveled knowledge skill he had was at least level 2. Zeno barely even noticed the increases to stats such as his mana control and capacity, or his power, endurance and fortitude since his mind was consumed by how he lost his origin research perk.
Of course having his skill list cleared up allowed him to notice the new genesis spell, as well as the two new perks.
[genesis: allows the creation of objects from mana. Mana cost dependent on object]
[dimensional sovereign: a title awarded to those who conquer a pocket dimension is dimensional lord. Dimensional sovereigns are those who create the pocket dimension themselves. The sentient host has merged with the nascent plane of existence, evolving into a nascent world. Attunement, vitality and power stats boosted. While within pocket dimension, host will recover health at a rate equal to endurance every second, and will recover mana at a rate equal to mana control every second. The mana inside the miniature space is extremely beneficial to host, and will enhance all aspects of host actions. Host may create an avatar at the cost of mana. Creatures exposed to the mana of the miniature world will be slightly influenced to serve the host. +10 attunement, will, memory, vitality, strength and perception per level]
[primal chaos mana: grants primal chaos affinity. Boosts magical abilities and powers by 10% per point of affinity. +10 primal chaos affinity. +1 primal chaos affinity per level]
Zeno’s immediate reaction was to create an avatar that resembled his original body down to what he was wearing in the lab (plus a few cosmetic alterations). The body actually cost quite a bit, taking almost an hour of constantly channeling mana to actually materialize it. Inside the miniature space, his mana regeneration equaled his mana control stat, which measured how fast he could output mana, meaning he was recovering any mana he spent as soon as he spent it.
Even then, it took almost an hour before he found himself back in his body. It felt weird, like instead of being there, he was just driving an RC car or a character in a VR game. He still felt as if he was the 10 meter diameter floating island.
Those two perks were… interesting to say the least. The extreme versatility of primal chaos mana was incredible, while the stat gains from dimensional sovereign were incredible for a perk at that level.
Stepping outside of the mini space for a moment, Zeno teleported back to the lab, still empty save for the scorch mark where the array was. From there, he grabbed a nearby notepad to write down his observations, along with several measuring tools.
[integrating object functionality with space]
Once Zeno was back in the space, the tools he brought seemed to dissolve and dissipate into the space. The very complicated and expensive tools.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Fuck”
On the bright side, a small structure appeared on top of the floating island with several of the more advanced measurement systems built into it, while he suddenly found he could measure distances by eye and intuitively quantify weight, time and temperature. Besides that, a small screen appeared in front of him, complete with a holographic keyboard for writing.
“Well, let's hope this works…”
Zeno wrote down how the space seemed to absorb and integrate the tools before experimenting with the genesis spell, trying to recreate the tools his little pocket dimension absorbed. First up was a simple ruler, a small piece of wood with marked measurements should be a fairly simple starting point.
It took about 15 minutes of channeling, taking more mana in total than the average mana pool of someone at level 50. A small pair of calipers took 30 minutes, showing that the cost of the item scaled with complexity and prediction rather than size or mass. Next he tried constructing a microscope, which took so long Zeno decided to try something else. Making a lump of gold.
This took a few minutes for a few dozen grams of gold, so he decided to leave the gold where the microscope was and go find his professor, copying over his observations and the amounts of mana each object required onto paper before giving them over and heading to his next class.
Which is where he learned that he still remembered most of the information from his skills, just finding it a lot fuzzier than before.
He was busy trying to do basic algebra in his calculus class when the professor he gave his notes to barged in the room.
“Zeno, could you come with me for a moment?”
Theodore Apollo was a tall and lanky man, dressed in the standard violet robes of the arcane arts faculty, with the golden green embroidery of the generation magic faculty. The bottom half of his wrinkled face was covered by a magnificent beard whitened with age. His eyes were scrunched in consternation as he learned what happened to Zeno, though what worried him most was how his research magic registered Zeno as a “dimensional avatar”
“You seem to be taking your transformation into a floating island in a pocket dimension very well…”
Zeno didn’t actually react very strongly to his transformation. It was a slight scare, but his ability to create an avatar meant that he could get back to relative normalcy very quickly.
“Well, if I was stuck in that position for a longer period of time, I might have gotten worried, but luckily I found a way out very quickly”
Theodore would have assumed that the person in front of him was some kind of alien creature that replaced Zeno if he didn’t already get used to his student’s eccentricities and his magic confirming that it was Zeno. Of course it helped that Zeno felt more and more like it was natural for him to be a floating island, while his avatar was just a character in a game.
Zeno’s slight neural divergence was only part of the reason he adapted so readily to the change, the new mana also altering his thought process so that the actual processing of the events happened slowly in the background. Sure it may have been a backdoor for mind magic attacks, but that was safer and healthier in the short term than breaking down into madness, er, madderness…
“So Zeno, you say you lost most of your skill ranks, but still have the basic memory?”
“That is correct?”
At that point Theodore had Zeno grab a bunch of books from the library and begin studying them. His plan was to raise Zeno’s skills, and therefore his level, back to what they were before. He also gave Zeno books and documents related to other subjects, wanting to see what effects they would have under the influence of the “enhanced mana” of the mini space. It also served a double purpose of quarantining Zeno, making sure any mana he gave off wouldn't enslave the people around him.
In the meantime, Theodore would try and find a way to counteract the effect of the mana. He was worried about that ability the most, since it seemed like an inherent quality of the mana. If others were to learn of it Zeno could be hunted down for it, as well as everyone related to him.
In the meantime, Zeno went into the space to begin his studies.
[unlocked mage hand spell]
[unlocked runecraft skill]
[Level up x2!!]
Zeno gained skills and leveled up fairly quickly, the memory from when he got those skills the first time and the enhancing mana of the mini space allowing him to gain several skill levels in mere hours rather than months or years. The skills came back to him so easily that he quickly started approaching his previous abilities, at least within the enhancing mana of the space. After a couple of days refresher, his skills were already back to what they were before he transformed into a floating island, though his level was a bit lower.
Zeno
3
Class: none
Willpower
30
focus
35
Confidence
25
Attunement
84.5
Control
49
Mana
120
Memory
36.5
Capacity
41
learning
32
Strength
72.5
Power
116
Dexterity
29
Vitality
122.5
Endurance
130
Fortitude
115
Perception
30
senses
30
Recognition
30
luck
10
Affinity
12
Primal chaos
12
Hp
367.5
Mp
360
Skills:
knowledge (research 10, physics 6, arcane 10, biology 6, history 3, chemistry 6, mathematics 6)
spells (prestidigitation 9, analysis 9, genesis 1, mage hand 4, observation 3)
mundane (cleaning 1, programming 4)
production (cooking 1, runecraft 5, spellwork 2)
[Perks: dimensional lord, primal chaos mana]
Of course even with his much lower level, his stats still approached and exceeded his previous stats due to the fact that his perks gave him so many more stat points per level than normal perks. While most of the early level perks only gave 1 or two stat points to a single stat every couple levels, dimensional lord alone gave over 60 stat points per level.
At this point, Zeno began looking around the miniature space. The floating island’s surface began to take a kind of stony and sculpted texture, similar to the building that made up the university. The small room on top of the floating island with all of the measuring equipment matched the architecture almost perfectly, as if the room was built to make the tools look as if at home. The room had pillars built into marbleline walls with a domed roof.
Zeno wanted to make sure of something, so he quickly stepped out of the mini space, grabbed as much dirt, rock and assorted biomass as he could before bringing it all into the mini space. He also went and grabbed a few more books from the library, on architecture and aesthetics.
[level up]
When he went back to the mini space, the floating island had small patches of dirt with tufts of grass growing out of them. Meanwhile, he managed to figure out that both the architectural style of the room on his floating island and the general style of the university were identical. He even gained a level in the aesthetics knowledge skill after a couple hours of research rather than a couple weeks.
“Note, objects brought into miniature space will change the environment to become more familiar to them…”
Both the dirt and the tools made the floating island change to become more similar to their home environments. As for what effect this had? Zeno had no idea. So instead, he planned to try to grab more things and see how they affected the pocket space.
Of course, not attending classes while he was relearning his skills brought a bit of suspicion to Zeno, but Theodore had already given the excuse of needing Zeno to help study a new phenomenon that meant he needed to be separated from the rest of the students. So far he’s tried to counteract the effect of Zeno’s mana by what is effectively a software diagnostic spell for his mind, to fix whatever the mana messes with. Of course casting something like that on everyone Zeno knows is entirely impractical, not to mention the work of calibrating the spell to each of their individual minds. He knew that if people learned of Zeno’s ability, Zeno and everyone he knew would be hunted. And he was one of the people that Zeno knew.
The best solution would be a way to make sure Zeno didn't emit mana. A person capable of using mana always gave off trace amounts of mana relative to their mana pools, unless they had a skill specifically for making sure they didn't. Several of these skills didn't even make sure the person didn't emit mana, just made the mana difficult to detect…
Most of the abilities that made it so one didn't emit mana were power type skills, skills that manipulated the mana inside the body instead of controlling it outwardly like a spell would. Of course he wasn't very well versed in powers, so he would need to ask a colleague for a favor…
So while Zeno was off gallivanting through the woods, Theodore was drafting a letter to one of his colleagues in the department of powers.
A power like Zeno’s was especially dangerous with the tensions between Aris and Taarak to the west. Best case scenario, Zeno is drafted and sent deep into enemy territory. Worst case scenario, the entire university is purged.
Taarak was actually a pretty small territory. When the planet earth shattered along with all of the nearby planets, each fragment was of a different size, and while Aris stood on a void island over 300 km across, Taarak was barely 30 km from one end to the other. The problem was the opening to the abyss smackdab in the middle of the void island.
Unlike Aris which was mainly comprised of humans with the occasional angelic spirit, Taarak was inhabited by fiends like devils and demons. Their presence on the island warped it into a hellscape, springs of boiling blood and molten rock rising up from the ground, gothic fortresses built from rough bloodstone dotting the landscape.
So to specifically make sure that neither he nor Zeno were dragged off into that hellscape, Theodore went to his old friend Yvonne, one of the professors in the departments of magical powers that he worked with on a project based on heat emission.