FORCED EXPLORATION
Peak of Autumn, Week 4, Day 3
Maria stayed for a while, adjusting my body until I could be trusted to inch slowly by myself. Until the afternoon came and she had to go. She helped me into the bed and wished me luck.
And then I was alone again. This time with ten hours left to meditate.
Well. Time would pass whether I meditated or slept, I thought. So I attempted to do just that.
Sleep never came. Not after ten minutes or two hours or even at the five hour mark. And it was boring. It dawned on me, later, that being bored was a feeling I hadn’t truly felt since arriving. But at the time I simply thought that even though I could have used the time to plan my future or plot against my siblings, those things were useless in the now. So instead I thought of ways to use my skills.
They were all I had that were mine after all. Everything else belonged to the Dawns. There wasn’t a piece of copper that I could lawfully claim.
[Silent as a Shadow: You are noticed, yet ignored. You lurk, yet no one cares. Like a shadow, your presence is taken as fact. This skill allows you to blend in plain sight. So long as you do not draw undue attention to yourself, it is harder to be found suspicious. This skill requires mana to maintain. Ability to mute your aura increased per level. Decreased relative perception per level. Duration limited. Cooldown applies.]
This seemed mostly a foil to [Otherworldly], if I was honest. In moments where I needed to hide from the eyes of others, to be of this world, I could mute my aura and stifle the presence [Otherworldly] gave me. In the frustration and coldness that often overwhelms me in this new world, there is something warm in this Skill. As if it was Eunora who gifted it to me rather than the System. As if she knew her chains and wanted to help unburden me, if only for a moment.
If I leave my rooms, this is the Skill I will have active. [Quick Calculation] told me with my new well of magic, I would have plenty of fuel to dedicate to it. I have yet to actually use it, but at Level 1 I felt its limits within me. Though—
“[Inspect]”
[Silent as a Shadow: 1st Tier Skill. Duration of 5 minutes. Cooldown of 2 hours. Current level of [1] out of [40].]
Without another thought, I decided to pull up [Inspect] for the first time since receiving the skill all those months ago.
[Inspect: Through accessing your Status for the first time, you have been granted the universal skill Inspect. Based on your Perception, knowledge, and Skills, you can examine both physical and metaphysical objects and receive data relating to the item in question. Increased information displayed per level.]
“[Inspect]”
[Inspect: 0th Tier Skill. Immediate activation. No cooldown. Current information display: detailed personal status, public information of sapients at or below your level, basic name for known items. Current level [2] out of [20].]
Unbidden, a memory of a memory surfaced.
“Inspect is the great equalizer, at a high enough tier it can penetrate the mask that individuals put around themselves. But until the third tier, there is hardly a chance to see more than an individual's class category. Noble, mage, warrior, ranger, cleric, the basics. Unless of course they set their status to public —but outside of time limited commands, it’s a rare person who would invite such trouble.”
I recoiled at the memory of Lina’s tutoring and fortunately was free of being near anything easily destroyed —as my hand swatted roughly down into my mattress. After deciding [Inspect] is predictably useful and likely tedious to level, I decided the first step would be continuing to use it on the rest of my active Skills.
[Weave of Darkness: Through dedicated practice of your craft, you have been rewarded with the ability to turn shadow into wool. This skill requires mana to maintain. Increased darkness affinity per level. Increased durability per level. Decreased cost per level.]
[Weave of Darkness: 1st Tier Skill. Continuous activation. No cooldown. Current length able to produce on a full mana pool: 770 yards. Current maximum tensile strength: 572. Current Weave color options: A Shadowless Night, A Shadowless Day. Current level [4] out of [40].]
In truth, the strength rating meant nothing to me. I had heard the phrase in passing, but whether it was an impressive grade or not was beyond me. However, I took a sharp breath when I realized the exponential growth of my mana pool. Before, with regeneration, I could do 100 yards in a day. Now I could produce seven times that immediately. That’s enough to make a dozen knit animals. Several scarves. A sweater —for a toddler, but still. [Weaving] filled me with low level ideas as I stared at the verdant green screen hovering in my eyesight.
I stared at the system prompt, attempting to dissect it before it occurred to me that the Weave of Darkness I currently made was either a black so deep it was void or so bright it was iridescent. This implied there were other shades of the Weave I could use. If I—
Another wave of power rolled through my body, shaking my thoughts. Strength surged through my muscles as more details came into focus, and a new layer of the world formed before my very eyes —it was too much. I had to re-focus and move on in order to maintain a semi meditative state.
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[Steal Nerves: You have attracted the attention of the God of Chaos, Grel. For his entertainment, Grel has gifted you with the ability to thrive on chaos. Whenever you are in an unsatisfactory situation and you are plagued with anxiety and self-doubt, you may siphon confidence from the party you are up against. Grel often uses this when someone confronts him over his many, many pranks. Total effectiveness is increased per level. This Skill cannot be used on inanimate objects. This Skill is dependent on your Divinity attribute being above 0.]
[Steal Nerves: REDACTED TIER. REDACTED ACTIVATION. REDACTED LIMITATIONS. Current level [1] out of [REDACTED].]
What a divine pain in my ass.
Without a thought, I chewed on my lip —only for it to split at my strength and begin oozing hot blood. The taste of copper filled my mouth. The moment I released the pressure, I could feel the wound stitching itself back together with my new Vitality. It itched.
I had to bite back the irritation as another prompt flicked up.
[System Notice: Warning! A large amount of experience was applied! The System advises taking a meditative state as soon as possible. It is estimated that your body will acclimate to the new attributes in: 2 Hours 53 Minutes 45 Seconds]
So close, yet so far. I wanted to scream. Instead, I let myself imagine a world of darkness. The element that so often soothed me in my past life. The very thing that now helped keep me grounded.
I focused on the Shadow skills.
[Shadow Conjuration: As a Young Lady of Darkness, you will become a master of the unseen. Whether you wield the darkness offensively, defensively, or passively is dependent on your will. With this Skill, you will be able to summon a hardy Shadow that can become corporeal. Total effectiveness is dependent on your Perception, Magic, and Divinity stats. Additional effects unlocked upon level up.]
[Shadow Conjuration: 2nd Tier Skill. Continuous activation. No cooldown. Current volume of Shadow able to be summoned: 3 CY. This Skill requires mana to maintain. Current level [1] out of [60].]
Inside me, I felt emotion stir. Never again would I be alone without darkness. Without the comfort of shadow. Without the ability to act. The Skill itself only allowed me to conjure shadows —not control or shape them. But the knowledge that the brightest day couldn’t stop me from wielding Shadow was a soft comfort in the cold reality of this world.
Three cubic yards. That is my height more than twice over. A space of solace in the dark.
Immediately I flicked up the other half of the equation.
[Shadow Manipulation: As a Young Lady of Darkness, the world of the nightstalker shall be yours to command. Whether you animate the shadows to do your bidding, wrap yourself in the comfort only darkness can bring, or simply wish to obscure yourself -this Skill will allow you to manipulate Shadows according to your will. Total effectiveness is dependent on your Perception, Magic, and Divinity stats. Additional effects unlocked upon level up.]
[Shadow Manipulation: 2nd Tier Skill. Continuous activation. No cooldown. Current volume of Shadow able to be manipulated: 3 CY. This Skill requires mana to maintain. Current level [1] out of [60].]
I felt something in me start to stitch back together.
Darkness. My darkness.
I closed my eyes. Darkness and Shadow are not the same, but in this moment they are everything. They are two parts of a whole. No, something inside of me whispered, they are two parts of a larger whole. The dark is of the Abyss. It is of the Void. The dark is Shadow and Darkness, yes. But it is more.
And the Skills were only Level 1, but all of them were impacted by 3 of my ability scores. The Divinity score most important of all. I was reminded of what [Inspect] had shown when it first activated: The Gods decreed, “Rend the Earth. Steam the Seas. Contort the Very World.”
Become Divine. It was the purpose of the ability score. It had to be. I felt the weight of [Sophism] and [Steal Nerves] on my Status. Skills granted by the Divine. Divine intervention that brought me here. An ability score of 82 Divinity.
My stomach rolled and I pushed onward to my last Skill.
[Shadow Animation: As a Young Lady of Darkness, you have summoned the unseen and commanded the world of the stalker. Now the unseen will use your soul to fuel a creation of your own shadow. Through your strength of will your shadows will begin to act of their own accord in line with your commands. No two shadow animations will be exactly the same. Additional animations unlocked upon level up. Duration increased upon level up. Cooldown decreased upon level up. Command comprehension increased upon level up.]
[Shadow Animation: 3rd Tier Skill. Immediate activation. Duration of 10 minutes. Cooldown of 10 minutes. Current animation options: Wisp, Infusion. Current level of command comprehension: simple. Current number of commands able to be issued: 1. Current number of animations on a single summon: 1. Current level [1] out of [80].]
Infusion?
[Animation Option 2: Infusion. Create a Shadow and infuse it into an existing construct of Shadow. Limited to Darkness and Shadow created by your own hand.]
I flicked my eyes down towards the end of the bed, thinking about the knit bunny I had gripped so intently before. The one made of [Weave of Darkness]. Made of me.
I could bring it alive. I waited a moment before— Maybe.
The ice of mana flooded my veins involuntarily and I gasped. My body was still alternating between the heat of my enhanced body and the ice of my new magical prowess. At eight, my body and soul would be stronger than most young adults. A single level of a Tier 1 Rare class granted four times the stats of a Common, and twice as much as an Uncommon. At Level 5, that was the equivalent of a maxed Level 20 Common, and a Level 10 Uncommon. At Level 10, that was a max Level 20 Uncommon. And I was Level 12. On pure stats alone I outclassed most below the age of thirty. At three months Awakened most children were Level 1 —or 2 if they were ambitious.
All children start with Common class options, but 1 out of 100 are offered Uncommon. And 1 out of 10,000 are offered Rare.
As my body settled once more I felt resignation weigh me down. And right as I started to drift to sleep, I gently brushed a hair out of my face.
[System Notice: Congratulations! A large amount of experience was successfully applied! It is estimated your body has substantially acclimated to the increased attributes.]