Two towers [an unknown location in the new world], local time [1793.04.27]
He opened his eyes.
Whoa! Wha… oh… I lost consciousness? he stopped his wild movements at this realization.
I need to get used to being fully aware immediately after waking up, he thought sitting up. Delicate light was piercing through the bushes he set up at the entrance. He could hear some birds chirping with the first light. Ugh, what did I do, again? he thought, scratching his head. Zeph didn’t know where to start to get back yesterday’s notifications. After a moment of hesitation, he started for the top. Name ‘Zeph Einar’–oh, there it is! Shit, I need someone to teach me those things! There it was, a whole list of past notifications.
After reading the first three, he was confused. Did I use my Will to manipulate Mana? I did feel kind of euphoric, but I thought it was just my feelings? Wait, what is that? I can increase my Soul contamination with Will? No way… oh, Tabu, of course. Yes yes…
“Garuan, what the hell have you done?!” he exclaimed loudly, looking down at his armored stomach. “You little shit! If you made problems for me, I will make sure to cut you out!”
Suddenly, his chest vibrated slightly, and he got an impression of a sad dog gaze. He paused.
“Did you just make a sad dog face?”
“Grrrrrrouuw,” his chest sang.
“At least I now know why they called your race Garuan… Wait, how can we even communicate?!”
Then, something moved around him. Or was it in him? He knew this feeling… So he moved that unknown part in the same way.
Congratulations! [Tier 2] [Will manipulation] is now [Level 7]!
My Will?
“No way we are communicating through Will! The System said clearly it’s quite useless, and the mind reading is impossible in normal circumstances,” he said, and immediately something nudged him deep inside.
Isn’t that… Soul pain? Soul-bond?!
“Aaaaah…” he sighed loudly, falling to his back with arms outstretched. “Why is everything happening so fast! Can I have a moment to know what is what first, please?!” he screamed.
But nobody listened.
After lying there for a moment, looking at the ceiling with empty eyes, he decided it was enough of self-pity.
He sat back up. “We have a lot to do… hey! Why have you even given me this contamination? This isotope alloy is not stable in Mana environments,” he continued to talk with his stomach.
His chest vibrated again, and he got an impression of smugness.
Confused, he asked, “you can do something with it?” An affirming vibration. And now I am able to differentiate between vibrations. Great, just great.
Who would have thought that having a living, half-intelligent Soul-bond would be so problematic? Definitely not choosing-his-upgrades Zeph.
He didn’t feel like checking his General Skills. Especially the ‘Tabu’, if it even was a normal General Skill. He meditated enough yesterday and didn’t even manage to go deeper into his Will Diagnostics. This shit requires a lot of time, and there is a more pressing matter. I need to get the last point in Intuition and get a Class. But I also need to check what happened to Garuan and my Willpower Perk… Haaah.
He started with the Perk. ‘Mana and Will control training assist’. Well, no surprises here. I wonder why it changed, though? Shouldn’t it be this way from the beginning? Hmmm, in the case of General Skills I will get access to more knowledge as I progress in them, maybe this works similarly? Only affecting stuff I am familiar with?
Next was his Garuan. He was unable to view its Interface, though, no matter what he tried. Stupid User Protection Policy. There was no other way than reading the notifications.
Warning! [Parasite] behavior detected! 1.39% of [Will, type: H1] [Soul contamination] was consumed!
Warning! Unauthorized [Soul transplantation] of 1.39% of [Instable Iron Alloy, type: ZW1] [Soul contamination] detected! [Soul-bond] confirmed, counter-measures impossible!
Warning! Your [Symbiotic Parasite] is growing!
[Garuan] gains new [General Skills]: [Will manipulation], [Will powered Mana Manipulation], and [Soul manipulation] from the [Knowledge Base]!
[Garuan] exchanged 6,95% [Instable Iron Alloy, type: ZW1] [Soul contamination] for 6.95% [Will, type: H1] [Soul contamination].
[Tabu] hidden skill added to the list of the [Garuan].
[Garuan] gains new [Trait]: [Resonating].
[Garuan] [Trait] [Sentience potential] evolved into [Lesser sentience].
Why are you showing me its new Skills if I can’t see the overall list? Is it a bug?
“Can I send a ticket and a complaint?” he asked, looking up.
But nobody listened.
“Of course.”
He was quite curious, so before reading further, he tried to check the Soul manipulation. Immediately, censorship ruthlessly hit him in the head. Oi! Don’t show me things I cannot read, you bugged fucker! he screamed internally. What is even the purpose of these notifications?! Useless shit.
He spent a moment to cool down. Then, finished reading. Why is it 6,95% Soul contamination for the Garuan? It was 1,39% for me… My Soul is bigger, or something?
…I think I need to visit the Library God. The question list is getting longer with every interaction with the Interface.
He ignored the Tabu for the time being and concentrated on Resonating and Sentience. It seemed this creature was capable of strengthening his output from any resource that it also had. Resonation Mana Manipulation increase… Resonation Will manipulation… Will contamination. I hope it doesn’t do it to take over my body at some point, that would be fucked up. The fact that it now has a 2-years-old kid awareness is not helping… Or is it? Can I just ask?
“Hey, Garuan, what exactly are you trying to grow into?” he asked, even using some Will to better communicate. Not like he was able to tell if it worked.
His chest started vibrating in a sing-song manner. He got an impression of impenetrable armor, supplementing its host from inside and outside. All opposition was being crushed; regeneration was…
Stop! Stop right now! he sent. I don’t want to change into a fucking Dreadnought! You want to cooperate with me? You need to adapt! You are a separate being, my partner. We will not become one, but we will complement each other. I want you to go in that direction. As a separate entity, you can become anything you want, just remember we are partners.
Confused pulses were sent as an answer. So he tried again, and again. There was no way he would allow his 2 years old kid… Ahem, Symbiont to consume his body in the process of growing. He needed to steer its imagination in the right direction. He even started to send images of superheroes and anime characters that had a hidden but inseparable partner. A scene from ‘The Twelve Kingdoms’ finally got to it. No wonder, it was quite an epic depiction. He wasn’t even sure when he saw the show, but that wasn’t important.
Yes, yes. Like that, no matter what happens, we would take care of each other. Affirming vibration. Good, good! Just don’t forget!
Sighing deeply, he decided it was enough for now. He mindlessly ate a bird breakfast and started playing with his Perk. It was an assistant, alright. It corrected mistakes he made while trying to manipulate his Will. Or rather, move his Will. From all I know, moving a Will should be impossible… Am I OP or something? he mused while testing. He even tried some General Skills to have a context. They were just like the System messages in the mind space. A lot of information to read, but nothing beyond his level of understanding. I think I have to practically use this knowledge to get more… like with moving the Will around. Anyway, how should I train my Intuition?
He checked again the list of Classes. Mana Manipulation seemed like the most promising option; Intuition was present in all of them to some degree. Internal Mana Manipulation is the easiest to use without Willpower, it seems. After getting a vague confirmation from his Perk, he decided on his training regime.
Breakfast finished, it was time to see what happened to Alana and Alex. Weapons and gears ready, he scanned the surroundings from behind his bushes. Nothing changed, he could see his old camp on the far left, but everything stayed as it was. He removed the bush and got to the camp. Except for birds’ traces, there was nothing of notice. Again, I am surprised how peaceful is this place. I really hope I am not missing something.
He shrugged. There was no point in questioning everything. He moved to the tower on the right side of the boulder. After circling it two times, he found a steep, downward entrance. The strange rock formation at the base was quite irregular, so it took some time to find it. The stones were overgrown, too, in contrast to the tower. I will need some light… My dear armor, why aren’t you glowing yet? he asked an unresponsive Phleya in his armor. How are you, my LED friend, he instead asked his torch.
…I really need someone to talk to. Give me a few weeks and I will start speaking with the trees. His LED torch worked alright. It evidently lost some battery power, but would last for a day or two.
Good, I really don’t have materials to make a real torch, he mused when wrapping the rope around one of the irregularly protruding rocks. No animals means no fat. If it continues, I won’t be able to even make a soap… I wonder if Phleya can clean my body too. Although, it seems somewhat risky and uncomfortable.
After making sure the boulder wasn’t moving, he got closer to the entrance. He flashed downwards but didn’t see the end. At least I don’t have to use the climbing equipment, that would take too much time.
He slowly slid down while holding the rope. The tunnel was at around a 45-degree angle, but he soon found small recesses in a shape of a ladder. That simplified the process, it was difficult enough when the stone was this smooth.
He landed in ankle-deep water. Just great. Blisters, here I come! he complained. In reality, it was just unpleasant, not harmful. Their suits weren’t that bad. Probably.
He scanned the whole cavern using his LED light. After five minutes, he finally found something besides the debris. Words engraved on a boulder, half-hidden under the water. It took him almost 20 minutes to position it properly and clean it.
"Dear Zeph,
If you are reading this, you are finally up. I and Alex wanted to be awake at the same time, and the System complied. It wanted to take our UP if we were to wait for you, though…"
Typical.
You can imagine how we reacted. According to the System message it’s 1786 21 02."
No way… 7 years ago? I mean, I can guess why, but still…
We were waiting for you for almost three months now, but the Mana density is as wild as always. We fear being Mana poisoned."
Yea, adapting to Mana isn’t enough. Good thing I caught that before getting my upgrades. But was Mana density this wild? I am not sure…
Alex is kind of strange after he woke up, he doesn’t want to leave you a message, but he also didn’t stop me. I am not sure where we will be when you wake up. There is a path west from here. We plan to go south after descending.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
See ya soon!"
Descending? Alana, you are as informative as always. I don’t have half the information you have, stupid! He sighed. This message at least cheered him up. He would visit Alex’s site later, even if the chances of finding anything were close to zero. He scanned the cave once again, this time checking random stuff from under the water. Nothing was left, he just sullied his gloves. Changing tactics, he checked walls once again. He found a hole in the ceiling, but it was impossible to even try to get there. How did they even get inside? I am sure as hell they didn’t dig under the tower. There must be another entrance.
He decided to leave it for now. Even if he found a way into the tower, he was sure it was left bare after they plundered it.
He got back to his cave and concentrated on the first thing from his ‘to-do list’. He needed a Class. But before that, he needed his Intuition at 100. He created a day-to-day plan for himself. He wasn’t in a rush, even if the Mana was fluctuating wildly, he had his Garuan. Besides, even Alex and Alana were able to stay here for three months.
He would train for 3-5 hours per day with his Perk. He also needed some time to read his General Skills. He already knew how it worked, but looking at them in the Interface had given him a small surprise still.
[https://i.imgur.com/e1iZuXE.jpg]
I need to pay that much in Mana for Tier 2? Whatever, let’s check Tabu and Will contamination. He tried cursorily reading both. Tabu returned nothing. Or rather, he was absolutely unable to understand the output. Will contamination returned his memories from yesterday. He cut both of them prematurely, it was clear there was more to them, but it wasn’t important right now. Instead, he decided to read Manipulation-related General Skills for around 4 hours each day.
Then, he would need to take care of his basic needs. 3 hours a day for preparing water and food. Next was scouting, he would do that in the mornings. Depending on the distance, he will cut hours from what he planned previously. First were the two towers and Alex’s cave, then the vicinity. Finally, he will check each major direction. He already knew that a vantage point won’t be of much help, he would need to travel.
The last thing was to find a suitable Class. The Wizard was in need of being visited.
All in all, it was 10-12 hours per day on predictable activities, and 6 to 8 hours on scouting and Wizarding. He was sure that 6 hours of sleep would be enough for him now, seeing how he awakened from black-out today.
“Heh, good old discipline days.”
“Gorrrrroww!” his chest answered.
“Training is training, don’t be so negative.”
===============================
Congratulations! You have gained 1 [Intuition]!
Congratulations! [HT Intuition] [Achievement] is complete! [Perk] list updated!
Congratulations! Third [Intuition] milestones achieved! You have gained access to new [Perks]!
“Finally!” he said, sighing and lying down. He was sprawled on the grass near his camp, for the last hour he was focusing on Mana Manipulation alone. It took almost two weeks, he thought. The training, predictably, didn’t go as planned. He had to sacrifice his scouting and sleeping hours to even the timetable. As such, he was only able to visit the ruined city.
‘Mana Manipulation’, the mundane one, not ‘Will-powered Mana Manipulation’, was a lot harder than he thought possible. His Perk insisted it was the best way to train Intuition, except for learning advanced utility skills concerning it. Not ‘Skills’ but the lowercase skills, or techniques, or whatever one wants to call them, that were not even available for him.
Congratulations! [Tier 1] [Mana Manipulation] is now [Level 21]!
Jeeee, thanks, he thought indifferently.
It was hell, but he learned one good thing about General Skills. He didn’t have to use the Skills in their full capacity. He could, for example, learn from his ‘Tier 3 Ancient Civilizations’ Skill when only utilizing its Tier 1 level 1 knowledge, basically decreasing the required Mana input to 2 per second. Or cut all knowledge except for one topic. Which he had to abuse. His Mana capacity was still at 10, he had to depend on his Mana regeneration.
He sighed deeply, ok, Ms. System, show me the rest. Summary please, he commanded. It was another feature he discovered, a summary of progress. There were a lot of sorting functions hidden within the Interface. Another reason to reach a civilization and get some useful knowledge.
Up to now, he ignored notifications about General Skills leveling up. Each level gave him access to more knowledge, but that was it. He had to learn that knowledge himself and make practical use of it to level up the Skill again. It meant nothing; just marking his progress in the field.
Training-montage v.1.3 summary!
[Corora herbarium] [T1][L1] is now [T1][L3]. (+2)
[Corora lifeforms] [T1][L1] is now [T1][L2]. (+1)
[Soul] [T1][L1] is now [T1][L29]. (+28)
[Will] [T2][L1] is now [T2][L2]. (+1)
[Will manipulation] [T2][L7] is now [T2][L9]. (+2)
[Will-powered Mana Manipulation] [T2][L10] is now [T2][L13]. (+3)
NEW! [Mana Manipulation] [T1][L21]. (+21)
The fact that notifications were creating some random, non-editable titles still pissed him off. ‘Training montage’ my ass! It was a fucking two weeks of non-stop training! TWO, CONTINUOUS, WEEKS! Fuck the military discipline, I want to sleep, he thought, curling up.
But nobody cared.
Indeed, it took much longer than he anticipated. On the plus side, it gave him time to look into the Professions. He was concentrated on getting a Class too much. A Profession also would allow him to level up, it was a little different, though. Initially, it looked like a scam. A Profession could only give 3 points, at least 2 free, which was half of what a Class could give. Moreover, it had a much smaller effect on Mana regeneration and capacity. He wasn’t able to tell the exact difference, but it was big. Instead, a Profession could give him two things he needed more.
He decided to protect his Soul and Will. Doing so with only Passive Enhancements? It wasn’t possible. At least from what he knew. A Profession would give him additional Matrix space, much more than a Class could, as well as access to more upgrades.
He wasn’t able to read more into it, but decided to choose his Profession first anyway. He wanted to mix a few chosen Classes, the Profession would limit this choice, which was actually good. The number of possible Class combinations he could accept was too much.
He was in a pinch, though.
‘Bio-magi-tech engineer’, ‘Internal Soul-smith’, and most importantly ‘Shaman’, he once again looked at these three choices.
He stood up and started preparing dinner. This repetitive activity gave him a much-needed sense of normality. After two weeks of speaking with an alien lifeform in his guts, the Interface, and himself, he started to question his sanity. It’s not like the lack of a speaking partner, an intelligent one, was that draining. He just soaked up too much new knowledge at once, was too detached from reality. Heck, he didn’t even know his new reality that much.
Before making life-changing decisions, he needed to relax. And so he did, observing the surroundings idly while eating.
One thing was for sure, he was not going to leave this safe heaven without being ready.
Back to Professions, he decided after an hour.
The first two were quite self-explanatory. The third one was a surprise. It was a Profession of the same name as the Class. Its description was almost identical, too. It suited him on many levels, but had a glaring weakness. It didn’t give that many upgrades, which were the staple of Professions.
On the other hand, it was basically a substitute for a Class he could not afford. It also had the potential to shield his Soul, and maybe even the Will, in the future. Maybe. And this was its main problem.
Would I gamble? Or go with the known?
He couldn’t decide. So he asked the only intelligent… semi-intelligent being around. He sent his emotions to the Garuan. Yes, they could only communicate with emotions. The strange understanding between them was more of an effector of the Garuan mimicking his thought process than anything else. They could share short ‘memories’ through the Soul-bond, they could influence the Will of another in miniscule amounts. But that was the limit. And the Garuan was still quite… stupid.
“Grwwwwiii” his chest answered.
“I know it’s an unknown, but what are your instincts telling you?”
“Gru.”
…I should be the one deciding? “Why—”
“Gru!”
My Intuition? No way it’s working like that! “Look, Parasite, you are basically a predator. What would you choose?”
“Wiiii….”
“… Can you use my Intuition then?”
“GRAW!”
“Ye ye, the System and its Parasite warnings. Look, just use the resonance and it should be g… Oh, ok, I need to use Intuition first, then…”
He wasn’t sure what he was doing even. It was one of the advanced skills the Perk told him about. And he was about to use it improperly.
Let’s concentrate… or not, it’s not really how Intuition works. Hmmm… Let’s imagine the best outcome? It would be…
He started imagining, seconds passed, then minutes…
Unknowingly, he immersed himself in the possibilities.
“Grrrrrrr….”
And the possibilities resonated with the other variable.
Isn’t it… too much? his brain asked.
It’s the beginning, his Soul answered.
And the vision become on%(^)$%...
“Aaaahhhh!” he screamed, pain flooding his mind. “Not again!” he was ready to intimately meet the floor again.
But it didn’t happen.
“Huh…” he looked around. “H-hey Garuan, what just happened?” There was no longer any pain to perceive.
“Grrrrrrrrrr….”
Congra#$*($#(#)$###)% Tabu] is now [Level 2]!
We are sorry for inconvenience!
[Resonation] process was [Interrupted]!
Make sure to not allow [Direct] access to your [Passive Enhancements] by the [Soul-bond]!
Scanning the [Error] …
[Soul-bond] [Passive Enhancements] exchange not working!
[Advanced Scan] recommended! Please visit the closest [System Shrine]!
“Hey… Garuan… aren’t you the one making problems for me here?” he asked in the arctic tone.
“fruu…” came the soft pleading.
“If you didn’t manage to read anything… even after I gave you MINE Intuition to work with…” he paused. “Oi! Do you want to be cut?!”
“Frrraaaaaa! Grrrrrr, grru!” the frantic vibrations came immediately.
Indeed, the Parasite side of the Gru… Ahem, Garuan, liked the ‘Shaman’. For many reasons. But the potential of this Profession seemed to be cut in half for some reason. Still better than the two others that the Garuan didn’t understand.
So, either way, it’s a gamble in the end… He meditated on it for a moment. Potential… If it has potential AND my Soul-bond can understand it… Haaah, be it, then.
You have chosen the [Profession] [Shaman]. Are you sure?
Ye ye, that’s the one.
You have only one ch—
YES!
Congratulation! You have a new [Profession]! The [Framework] will be applied during your sleep.
Do you want to integrate banked [Soul fragments]?
“No, not yet. Show me the available Classes without the ‘Shaman’ component,” he said, behaving more and more like a cheap RPG player.
…
Possible [Mixed Classes] by choice:
[Generalist] + [Internal Soul Specialist] + [Regenerator] = [Mystic Generalist]
[Generalist] + [Regenerator] + [Internal Soul Specialist] = [Regenerating Ghost]
[Generalist] + [Speed Shooter] + [Internal Soul Specialist] = [Mana-bender]
[Generalist] + [Internal Soul Specialist] + [Speed Shooter] = [Manalogist]
…
He chose Generalist as a must for the Mixing. He would need all the upgrades. He checked all the possibilities one by one. Until he saw something new.
...
[External Soul Specialist] + [Generalist] + [Willpower master] = [Force Generalist]
...
Why is this here, the ‘Willpower master’? What changed to the point of… oh! Garuan leveled up some Skills. A shame I don’t see what exactly… And I just got a Profession. It changed the search results. That would mean the synergy is good, right?
He read the Class. 5 points, 2 free. Two automatically invested in Intuition, which now has a multiplier of 2. One automatically invested into Willpower. All of the Generalist upgrades, plus some…
It’s OP as fuck… The only problem is with the level resets, 3 from level 7. Should I take it?
It was a rhetoric question, of course he would take this one.
You have chosen the [Mixed Class] [Force Generalist]. Are you sure?
To his later dismay.
Yes.