As the dogman’s head rolled to a stop, my body began to feel revitalized. Tons of information flowed into my mind, so I stepped out of the house glanced around, and pulled my Shard from my pocket. The Shard glowed a dim dark blue, with little streaks of orange as it caught the light of the flames still roaring through the house I had set the trap up in, and the text on it was a soft gray.
[Level 10 Achieved + 5 Bonus Stats, +2 Skill Points]
[World First Level 10- +10 Bonus Stats, +3 Skill Points]
[Group Finder unlocked – For Use in Gates only: to use for a Gate you’re near, say, ‘I wish to find help’ and the number of people you’d like to summon. To be summoned, get to a safe place and say, 'I wish to help,’ and enter any regular door. When doing this, all languages will be automatically translated inside of the dive.]
“World first, huh?” I said proudly.
Yes. Congratulations.
“That’s all?”
What? Do you expect me to throw you a party? Bake you a cake?
“Well...no.”
What were you expecting?
“I don’t know, but for whatever reason when you say, ‘congratulations,’ it read as sarcastic.”
It’s one milestone of many. But sincerely, congratulations. And thank you for not dying.
I had leveled up twice, and in addition to that, I got 15 extra stat points and 5 skill points. That means I had 21 stats and 6 skill points.
“Put 10 points in Magic.” I say, “5 points in Creativity, and...3 points into Charm, and 3 points into Endurance.”
I want to begin lessening the debuffs my weight has on my stats: and Endurance seemed like a good place to start, so I would stop getting so winded all of the time. After I get that to 16 to counteract the -6, I would start on Speed.
I affirmed my decision, and Magic increased to 25, Creativity increased to 22, Charm increased to 7, and Endurance increased to 14. My core, the front of my head, the top of my head, and my chest began to burn. Once the pain settled I had to take a seat.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
“So what is that pain that accompanies the increase in stats?”
Oh. That’s your body being rapidly deconstructed, and knitted with magic to strengthen you.
I wish I hadn’t asked. I took a deep breath.
“So I have...6 skill points to use? Including the one I got for getting to level 9, right?”
Right.
“Can you unlock Familiar Contract and Clairvoyance then?”
Will do. What about the other four?
I tapped my finger on my thigh. I would like to learn the structure of the other elemental skills as well, but I would also like to begin crafting things that I could use: clothes, weapons, potions, and the like.
“How would I go about making like wands and stuff?”
You need to get Enchanting. It will give you the basic knowledge.
“Can’t you just tell me?”
I don’t know how to enchant.
“I thought you knew everything.”
No. That’s impossible.
“Okay...can you unlock the first spell in the Wind section? The first spell in water, and enchanting, then?”
Which Domain would you like to enter, in terms of the wind spells?
Right. It was split into four domains.
“Which is for things like...tornadoes and storms and stuff like that? I figure that would be useful.”
Paimon.
“Then Paimon’s domain.”
You have three more skill points.
“I know…Herbal Medicine, how about that?”
Two more.
I groaned and looked through the list of spells available on my Shard. In the ‘Earth,’ section, there was the spell, Earthen Spike available.
I pulled out my wand. How would that incantation go?
“Gnomes, servants of Gob the Magnanimous, I beseech thee to impale my enemies.”
The upside-down triangle glowed yellow, and an arm-width spike of stone jutted out from the ground a few feet from me.
Earthen Spike Unlocked. +1 Creativity
“Oh...that’s actually incredibly useful.”
I feel like this is cheating.
“Cheating? Who cares. I want to live."
I looked down to the next.
“Dig, huh?”
How would that go?
“Gnomes, thou servants of Gob the Magnanimous, I beseech the to…” I don’t know. I sighed. This was good progress. When I get back, I’ll try to unlock more spells through this method. Therefore, any extra spells unlocked now would be superfluous. At the edge of the respective schools, however, there were Passives that looked useful:
“Can I get more information about, ‘Earth Affinity,’ what exactly does it do?”
It helps purify earth mana coming into your body from the earth elemental you call, thus increasing the power of the spell. It also makes it easier to contact higher-grade elementals.
“So that would be true about all of the other affinity types, right?”
Right.
“Can I get...Earth and Fire affinity, then?”
Of course. And that’s all?
“That’s all.”
Once I confirmed my decision, a rush of information flooded into my mind, leaving me dizzy as if I were drunk. The dizziness faded, and I pushed myself up and pointed my wand toward the sky.
“From the domain of Paimon, I call for you, thou daughters of the wind, dance around me.”
After I incanted, the upwards-facing triangle with a line going through its apex glowed a bright green. The wind picked up in a dome-like shape around me and howled as it blustered around and kicked up the dust. In the wind, I could make out the faint outlines of winged figures within the dome of wind.
How would this be useful, and what one word could I change? Let’s focus on that...around to through? No. I imagine my body being torn apart from the inside out. How about…I pointed my wand forward and incanted:
“From the domain of Paimon, I call for you, o thou daughters of the wind, dance before me.”
The rune glowed green once again, as the winged dancers formed a small circle in front of me, and followed the path my wand drew through the air, only to die a couple seconds later.
Dervish unlocked +1 Creativity.
Now…
“Oh you that dwell within the waters of the seas and the waters of the skies, form for me a bead before mine eyes..”
Blue light glowed from the upside-down triangle on my wand, as a few small bluish lights gathered together into beads of glimmering water no bigger than my thumbnail formed in the air in front of me. I whipped it around and into my mouth. It was tasteless, but it helped quench my thirst. Perfectly pure and distilled.
I tapped my wand to my pocket and cast Repel, and checked my phone: 12:43 AM, December 24th. It was time to get out of here.