It was almost a full-mark later before my headache abated enough for me to think clearly again. I decided that it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to meddle with the system any further before getting some rest.
As I fell asleep, I wondered what nightmare would await me. I had forgotten about the subfeature I had turned on that morning.
I was once more fleeing from the large gray monster that had attacked me earlier that day. I was preparing my second fire bolt, after my first had struck the creature in the eye. Unlike when I had lived through this even the first time, everything was moving in slow motion.
I watched the beast recoil slowly as the last of the flames from my first firebolt faded away. Even before the beast had finished flinching away, the mana inside its body had already started to make its way towards its ruined eye.
The mana formed itself into patterns that I had been too preoccupied to appreciate before. It was difficult to make out the exact mana forms, but I was able to make some intriguing impressions.
As I turned away from the beast’s swinging claw, time rushed forwards to the next point where I had looked at the horrific being. The world slowed once more as I focused upon the creature’s writhing mana forms. While they held some similarities to the spells I knew, there was more to them that I couldn’t recognize.
The scene lurched forwards again as I dived away from another claw strike. As things slowed again, I watched the beast prepare to leap towards me. Mana still flowed to the creature’s rapidly healing eye, but it was the mana in its legs that held my attention. It wove itself into large mana forms, radiating power through the already mighty legs of the monster. Unlike the creature’s arcane healing, this mana was easier to decipher.
Despite my distance from the brutish being, the size and relative simplicity of these mana forms made them far easier to examine. A portion of the spell’s formation took a similar form to my invisible force spell. Another segment was somewhat akin to the final conversion in either my mana sight or mana sense spells.
When the spell finished forming, its mana rapidly dispersed into the creature’s limbs. The result was simultaneously explosive and focused. Part of the mana reinforced the creature’s already sturdy muscles. The other portion shot outwards through the creature’s feet.
By the time the creature sailed past me, the excess mana in its legs had mostly been expended. Time reversed itself back to the point where I had just injured the beast and the scenes played out again.
After watching the same scenes dozens of times, I awoke. I found the entire experience quite strange. I wasn’t particularly capable of rational thought while I was experiencing the odd visions, but I was full of ideas afterwards.
Unfortunately, I didn’t feel particularly well rested. My nightmare stricken nights may have taken their toll, but they didn’t tire me in quite the same way. I wouldn’t be able to utilize the dream study every night, to my dismay.
I definitely preferred the string of memories over the chaotic nonsense I faced most nights. I already had ideas of how I could try to replicate some of the mana forms from the monster’s leaping spell.
Before I could get lost in my spell craft, I paused. I didn’t intentionally record anything while I was facing the horrific creature the previous day. How did such clear images find their way into my codex?
Automatic Recording: Enabled
Automatically records information deemed useful or appealing to the user by the user characterisation subfeature. Subfeature of the codex recording boon. Enabled by default.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
I took another glance at my interface.
Name: Kyo —-----
Class: System Initiate
(8/10, 100%)
Mana Pool: 97/100
Codex: 99.98%
Boons: 8
New boon available
Environmental Conditions: Unchanged
MR:237
TPEL:10
My codex was very slowly filling, even though I hadn’t been intentionally recording very much. The system had been recording things that it thought I might one day want. I was a little concerned about how exactly the user characterization thing worked, but I had to see for myself.
User Characterization: Enabled
Automatically examines the user’s behavior, senses and memories to generate a predictive model of the user’s preferences. Subfeature of system codex boon. Enabled by default.
Yet another instance of the system rummaging around in my head. I was starting to grow jaded to the mental invasions, but I still grimaced a bit. The fact that I now knew that I could instruct the system to stop did make me feel a little better. I still didn’t want to think about it more than I had to.
Dismissing the information about the subfeature, I called up my available boon.
Codex Link
Allows the user to draw information from the codexes of other nearby system users.
Despite the earlier message informing me that I would have a total of ten boons from my class, I was still only presented with one. Resigned to the useless boon, I almost selected it immediately. Just before doing so, I paused. Perhaps I could at least learn something from this useless boon.
Codex Link
Allows the user to draw information from the codexes of other nearby system users.
Subfeatures
Codex distribution: Enabled by default
Codex retrieval: Enabled by default
Communal computation: Enabled by default
Communal system updates: Enabled by default
Communal mana distribution: Enabled by default
Critical information caching: Enabled by default
Legacy codex assimilation: Enabled by default
Dream projection: Disabled by default
Dream reception: Disabled by default
Selective dissemination: Disabled by default
Evidently I could view the subfeatures of a boon prior to selecting it. While not very helpful when I only was being offered one option, I could see it factoring heavily into any future decisions.
I hoped I would have future choices to make. It was entirely possible that I would only be offered one final boon.
Packing a bit more clay beneath my foraged food, I prepared myself for another long day of walking. As I took my first step, I paused to marvel at the lack of pain in my leg. The wound was already scabbed over and no longer painful at all.
With a pack full of provisions and a body mostly free of pain, I followed the riverbank north towards the Three Sisters.