Core Talent: The Passivist
Pacifist? No! You are uniquely inclined to only develop passive skills. You will be unable to attain or develop active skills, but passives you acquire are twice as powerful, and grow twice as fast. Prerequisites to acquire passive skills are much lower for you.
The disbelief gave Ben pause for awhile before he dismissed the intrusive popup. After doing so a smaller popup appeared in the bottom left of his vision, this time not taking up his entire minds eye.
100 Points awarded for integration. Advised to spend in The Weave to establish Starter build.
Ben remained on his knees, body shaking slightly as he looked out over the valley below him. Slowly, he leaned backward to lay himself flat, back to the hard stone and dirt that made up the cliff. Staring up at the sky, it appeared to be midafternoon, around 2 or 3 by his estimates. Luckily the weather was decent, not to hot or cold, so shelter and sustenance weren’t such a pressing need as they could have been.
Shaking his head, Ben felt a tear roll down his face. “What the actual fuck…”, he muttered to himself.
“Status”, he whispered. Still not believing his situation.
First use of status detected! Stat breakdown:
Strength: A measure of the body’s capacity to exert energy.
Fortitude: A measure of the body’s capacity to endure harm, as well as regenerate from it.
Dexterity: A measure of the body’s ability to exert energy explosively and in a coordinated manner.
Wisdom: A measure of the mind/soul’s capacity to store knowledge/energy
Intelligence: A measure of the mind/soul’s ability to exert knowledge/energy
Willpower: A measure of the mind/soul’s ability to maintain equilibrium
(Note: Stat evolutions, and hidden stats exist. Stats are not universal, as some races have fewer or more than others by default. Stats are also relative, a titan with 10 strength will be significantly stronger than a human with 10 strength. 10 is the starting average for the race in each stat, previous life events will impact starting values for individuals.)
With a small nod of understanding Ben dismissed the prompt.
Status
Name: Benjamin October
Core Talent: The Passivist
Level: 1
Grade: 1
Points: 100
HP: 100/100
Mana: 100/100
Strength: 8
Fortitude: 12
Dexterity: 11
Wisdom: 10
Intelligence: 11
Willpower: 15
Skills
Actives: N/A
Passives: N/A
That’s life I guess… All that school amounted to 1 point over the average in intelligence… But all the crap in life added up to 15 Willpower. Great, I’m perfectly prepped for more crap-sandwiches… Ben couldn’t help but smile a little at the thought, the tears flowing down his face tasting of salt on his lips.
Right as I was getting my life together, and things started looking up. Shit. Well… No time like the present. Ben thought as he pulled himself together, and to his feet, as he had many times before.
“Right! ‘The Weave’” Ben said out loud to no one.
The Weave
Items
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Skills
Talents
Level Up (10 Points)
Skills. Ben thought, thinking to test whether intention was enough for the system to accept it as input. Sure enough another window followed.
Skills
Passives
Actives
Right. Gimped build already, Passives. Ben thought with a mental shrug.
Passives
Hardened Skin (40 Points)
Reinforced Fists (40 Points)
Unarmed Combat (70 points)
Swordsmanship (90 points)
Keen Sight (110 points)
Keen Smell (130 points)
(Note: These are recommended skills from a pseudo-infinite list. Specific skills can be searched with intent.)
On viewing each of the skills in the list Ben got a basic understanding instinctively of what each would do. Hardened Skin increased skin’s toughness marginally and scaled with Fortitude. Reinforced Fists did something similar but worked on the skin, bones, and muscles in the fists. Unarmed Combat was a general instinct enhancer for unarmed combat, imbuing fighting ability into the soul of the recipient. Swordsmanship did something similar for sword fighting. Keen Sight and Keen Smell were general sense enhancements for their respective senses.
Hm, Items. Ben thought. It was only right to evaluate all his possibilities, or so he believed.
Weapons
Degraded Dagger(10 Points)
Degraded Sword (20 Points)
Degraded Mace (30 Points)
Rough Iron Dagger (25 Points)
Rough Iron Sword (50 Points)
Rough Mace (50 Points)
Armor
Degraded Iron Chestplate (40 Points)
Degraded Leather Jerkin (40 Points)
Rough Iron Chestplate (80 Points)
Rough Leather Jerkin (80 Points)
Consumables
Minor Health Potion (50 points)
Minor Mana Potion (50 points)
(Note: These are recommended items from a pseudo-infinite list. Specific items can be searched with intent.)
Instinctively Ben understood the implications of the varying descriptors. Degraded implied a weapon was a little use away from breaking. Rough meant that an item wasn’t made well, dull or dented, but functional.
Search: Passive skill that allows the absorption of other entities skills. Ben had to try one of the old novel staples.
Query
Soul Eater (10,000,000 Points; Grade 5 Required)
Gluttonous One (200,000,000,000 Points; Grade 7 Required)
Right… So not happening, at least anytime soon. Ben though. Soul Eater modified the users soul, editing in parts of the consumed bits, causing unforeseeable mutations. Gluttonous One was closer to what Ben thought of as the overpowered novel ability with no downsides, but took the consumption of multiple holders of a skill to attain a level 1 version of an ability.
Time was ticking by, the sun slowly creeping overhead, and Ben could hear a myriad of noises coming from the forested area around him and lower in the valley.
Right. Purchase Hardened Skin, Purchase Reinforced Fists, Purchase level up. He mentally issued the command to the interface.
Skill Hardened Skin Level 1 Acquired
Skill Reinforced Fists Level 1 Acquired
Level 2 Acquired (2 Stat Points Awarded)
A sudden itching feeling blanketed Ben’s body, especially concentrating in his hands. Ben immediately drew a pocket knife he kept attached to his keys from his pocket. Drawing a breath he slashed at the back of his hand, and then higher on his forearm. The slash on the back of his hand left a small raised red streak. The slash on his forearm left a cut less than an inch wide that bled a small amount.
That was all I had… Ben considered in wonder. He quickly deposited his 2 Stat Points into Strength, instantly being overwhelmed by an intoxicating pulse.
I guess increasing my physical power by 25% will do that, I’ll need to consider things before making massive boosts, I’d hate to get addicted. He thought to himself, the addict parents he never knew coming to mind.
With that Ben looked around for a way down into the valley, and quickly spotted a wash that could lead him down into it.
Soon he found himself at the bottom of the wash, body beginning to sleek with sweat and the sun a bit lower in the sky for his effort.
Right, the water was this way. He thought to himself as he continued on with purpose.
He made it about 15 feet into the tree line near the wash he’d climbed down before he heard a low rumbling growl. Turning slowly toward where he heard the noise emanating from he saw a hunched form half jutting from a nearby bush. What appeared to be a large, Koala like animal with sharp needle-like teeth peered back at him, large eyes seemingly glowing in the dim light filtering through the canopy above.