The ride back to Silva Statio was relatively uneventful, with the most eventful bit being when they made it back the main forest trail. That was when Amias took a seat opposite Sylvia, who was sitting at the back with only Mikhail next to her.
Before either she or Mikhail could ask what he wanted, Amias sighed and stretched out a hand. “Sorry about earlier. I shouldn’t have lashed out at you like that. Just because I have had some less than stellar experiences with people who have a medium Earth affinity doesn’t make it right to target you over that.
As he spoke, Sylvia noticed him glance towards the front of the wagon, from where Aywin was controlling the wagon, a couple of times. When adding in that Mikhail seemed slightly surprised at the beginning, but soon seemed to understand the situation, it wasn’t hard for her to put two and two together.
Figuring that a somewhat forced apology was still better than none, she took the hand with a soft smile. “No worries; besides, your advice did help me beat it in the end, so thank you for that.” ‘Though maybe it would’ve been best for me to not win that way.’ She added mentally, still unable to shake her unease of having done it the wrong way. “Though, now that I have you here; you said that you’d expound upon medium affinities.”
Changing the topic seemed like the best move she could’ve done, as he immediately appeared more relaxed. “Ah yes, I did say that. Well, the most obvious difference, which you’ve likely noticed yourself, is just the sheer difference in scale, be it regarding power, size, efficiency, or anything else. Let’s take the hole me and Halaetain made earlier for Gremory and the wagon.” He gestured to the slimus as he said its name.
“Making that hole took the two of us 10 minutes of working together to do it with minimal mana consumption, which is already a pretty good time for people at our levels.” Sylvia could hear the satisfaction in his voice as he spoke, but as he continued, she noticed that it seemed to turn into some bitterness. “But if I had had a medium Earth affinity, then I would’ve been able to do it by myself in less than half a minute with a smaller mana cost.
“And as you saw, the hole we made included raising the ground above a fair bit to avoid the mana cost of compressing it, but this fictive version of me would’ve just needed a couple of minutes and slightly more mana than we used, and then you wouldn’t even have been able to see that the hole had been made.”
Sylvia could only nod along as it dawned on her how small-scale she had been keeping her magic. “I think I can understand your frustration at watching me just take my affinity for granted and not know what I’m capable off.” The moment she mentioned understanding him, she saw that he was clearly about to roll his eyes, but he paused when she mentioned her conclusion before switching over to a vague shrug.
“Eh, close enough. That’s at least a large part of it. Anyhow, as I was about to say; this is just when it comes to basic applications of magic. The moment you begin to touch upon the other practices, the innate advantages of stronger affinities begin to play a much larger role. Some of the noteworthy mentions are transformation, transfiguration, freeform movement, and all kinds of manifestation.
“Based on your confused look, I take it that most of these terms are foreign to you. Regardless, the one that’s most relevant for you right now is the freeform movement. The simplest way to explain the difference between a minor and medium affinity would be that we have to use our will to force the mana to do as we wish, while you should only need to lightly push for it to happen and it will do most of the work for you.”
Seeing Sylvia nod, he continued. “But this is where you will need to not become over reliant on your affinity. I think that most of us” -he gestured at the rest of the party- “have either met or heard of the adventurer type we call mages.” The moment he mentioned them, a couple of those who had been following their conversation groaned slightly.
“A mage usually has a medium affinity and is generally somewhere in the B rank. Since a medium affinity is essentially both a shortcut and a powerup, then it’s not uncommon for some to just rely solely on that overwhelming power which can carry them to B rank with little effort. A typical end for them is running into a powerful creature that can either counter or overpower their magic, before ending them with its superior physical body.”
As he talked, it became clear to Sylvia that he had become quite heated about it and would continue for some time, so she just let him, taking in what relevant info he had about mages.
To summarize, mages are those who rely on their affinity and forsake their skills beyond mana control and possibly physical enhancement. Due to easily dealing with what would be problematic for most during D, C, and sometimes early B rank, they get overconfident and arrogant, thinking themselves better than their peers.
As they’re not particularly well liked and have a tendency to die at the upper end of B rank, the guild actively attempts to keep them in low-mid B rank, where they can survive solo. If it weren’t because they were quite powerful and beneficial for cleaning up certain types of quests, then the guild likely wouldn’t have tolerated their arrogance and unwillingness to improve to the extent it currently does.
Some time after they had gotten out of the forest, Sylvia nudged Mikhail. “You said you’d explain the essence messages I got.”
“Oh yeah, you didn’t know that; I wanted to mention it when we got to the trail, but then Amias came and apologized and all that, so I ended up forgetting. First of all, I’m slightly concerned that you don’t know about them, seeing as even those who live in the safe boonies are familiar with them.” Rather than make her defend herself, he just continued.
“Regardless, just be aware that at certain milestones, there is a high likelihood of you obtaining one or more titles from your ‘essence’ having grown. Now, don’t ask me what essence is, because my only guess is the common one; that it’s something that relates to you growing in level, which doesn’t explain anything. Regardless, at the very least when you reach level 101, 251, and 501 is when it grows.
“Occasionally you’ll hear of someone who just told that their essence had grown, but without gaining anything.” Spotting the slight concern in her eyes, her quickly added: “This is fairly rare though, so you shouldn’t worry about that.”
Having spent enough time online in spaces where stories were talked about back on Earth, it wasn’t as if Sylvia was unfamiliar with the term ‘flags’, and the way Mikhail just dismissed her concern reminded her of them. Thus, while she did her best to hide her concern, the truth was that it had actually grown, though she did recognize that there was little to gain from fearing something she couldn’t control.
“However, it is not all titles gained during this time that have the essence message. That would only be when either an inherent title is strengthened or when you gain a new one. Worldly titles are granted during the series of notifications for you leveling up, like usual though they are more likely during this time. Lastly, blessed titles are granted by the gods, usually through some small message from the god who blessed you.”
After deciding to just ask Enelise about the two unclear title types, though she did have an idea about them, Sylvia actually had something to bring up. “I actually got a blessing during at that point, which is what made me stumble when I tried to use my mana.”
The sudden curiosity in Mikhail’s eyes didn’t escape her notice, and she just nodded softly when he asked if he could hear which god. “Sure, but you’ll have to tell me if you’re familiar with them afterwards, because I’m certainly not. I was blessed by Heku, the Personification of Magic, whoever that is.”
With creased brows, clearly in deep thought, Mikhail looked around at the others who would’ve likely overheard the conversation, but they all shrugged or shook their heads. “Can’t help you, none of us recognize the name. If you give me their rank, then I can ask around for you.”
“Their rank?” Sylvia’s question brought an astonished expression to all those who heard her.
“You know, the color of the notification?” Her own confused look cleared up a fair bit with that clarification, and she immediately told him that it was blue with golden text and a similar border. “Ah, so a medium ranked god; then you likely got some good effects. Also, since you told me one of your titles at my request, then it’s only fair that I do the same. I got a blessing when I reached level 251, and it was from Hermes, the Messenger, who’s also a medium ranked god.”
As others got involved, their conversation gradually faded and suddenly Mikhail was making plans with the others about something, Sylvia took the relaxed atmosphere as a good chance to look through the remaining new titles, including her new clothes, [Person of Many Faces], and [Unusual Mana Growth], and see if there was anything of particular interest.
[Unusually Good Hand-Eye Coordination] Rating: Epic
The user's title [Unusual Mana Growth] has forcefully influenced this title, strengthening it beyond its original definition.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Your affinity for making your hands do as you wish, even with foreign tools is already quite high, and will be enhanced to an unusual degree.
- Besides being able to place their hands where they wish, the user's ability to intuitively understand where to place their hands is greatly increased.
- Slightly increase reaction speed. [Sneaky Orc Hunter] Rating: Rare
Despite being way under-leveled and having already failed multiple attacks against weaker orcs, the user used their cunning to outwit an orc with traps and slay it.
- Orcs are less likely to notice traps set by the user.
- Orcs will find it slightly harder to break out of the user's traps.
- Deal 20% extra damage when striking Orcs. Sylvia’s Clothing Se
Name: Sylvia’s Clothing Set
Rating: Title effect
Quality: Rare (Mythical)
Restriction: Can only be equipped by Sylvia Hisprit.
A clothing set made for Sylvia Hisprit through the owner’s title’s effect. It will always fit Sylvia and if damaged or destroyed, it will slowly repair itself over time (roughly 12 hours). Any individual part of the clothing-set can at any time be reequipped through thought, as long as the relevant body part is free, though with a cooldown of 12 hours. As long as a single piece of the set is worn, then every stat will be increased by 5.
The clothing set has three slots where pieces of different outfits can be stored, which the set can transform into at will. These slots are not shared between forms.
Slot 1 (LOCKED):
- Green tunic set.
Slot 2:
- Empty.
Slot 2:
- Empty.
This status can only be seen if the title is visible, and the viewing person has the ability to see the title.
[Person of Many Faces] Rating: Mythical
Created from a synergy between Geb, the fertile destruction’s gift, the user’s unnatural mana, and the transfer of the soul through different worlds.
The user has the ability to gain multiple forms to swap between at will. Each form shares the level, base stats, and titles, as each other, but the class, racial ability, and appearance will differ from one form to the other.
- The user can manipulate the status shown when being appraised for each form. Titles and skills can be hidden/shown and the level and stats can be shown as lower than they are.
- Skill exp is multiplied by 1.5.
- The desired features of each form will become gradually more defined.
List of available forms:
- Frank Carter, Male, Human, 18, Intermediate Mason Trainee
- Sylvia Hisprit, Female, Elf, 24, Advanced Spearwoman Trainee
- Calysta Björn, Female, Beastfolk (bearfolk), 21, Novice Tracker Trainee [Unusual Mana Growth] Rating: Impossible
The user managed to awaken mana in a world where it shouldn’t exist at all.
Somehow, the source of the user's mana growths stronger together with their essence, slowly growing its influence on other titles, though at the moment not to the extent of making new titles, like it did with [Person of Many Faces]. It has currently grown its sphere of influence to the part of the user's essence that handles inherent titles.
- Mana increases by one each level.
- Any mana gain multiplied by 2.
- The mana pool is multiplied by 2.3 and will increase with the user’s growth.
- The quality of the mana is increased and will increase with the growth of the user.
- The user's affinity for mana itself is sharply raised.
Pretty much as she had expected, the new titles were of far less interest when compared to the changes that had happened. The first thing she noticed about the clothes was that they were now treated as a complete set, rather than individual pieces, though it was clear that she’d still be able to treat them like individual pieces.
The second was that they had a pretty good stat boost, at least enough that she didn’t feel a need to go look for clothes with a higher boost. The third was that the transforming aspect of title had influenced the clothes, and she could now make them look different, as long as she filled the other slots with different outfits. As for how she did that, or how much could actually be considered an outfit, she figured that she just had to learn that the hard way.
In addition to that, it seemed that the tunic outfit she had grown used to would stay, since it was locked; not that she really minded, it was both comfortable and practical. ‘Though I wouldn’t say no to something a little more refined or expressive; this tunic set is fairly plain to look it.’ After, without realizing it, having had some actual thoughts on her clothing for the first time since arriving in this world, she turned her attention to [Unusual Mana Growth] and its weird description.
It was written in a way that made it feel like even the system didn’t know what was going on but was only reporting on what it observed. This brought up the question of whether the system is purely an observer and informer, or if it’s the one actually facilitating leveling up and everything else. Of which the latter had been her instinctual assumption until now.
It also brought something else to her attention; her [Unusual Mana Growth] title itself wasn’t the source of her unique mana situation but was most likely just the observable effects from that source. If she had to guess, then this mysterious source would partially be the cause of the Impossible rating, since not only should the feat itself have been impossible, but the system also found it impossible to understand the source of the power.
Since this was something that nobody should have heard of, she figured that it’d be best if no who didn’t know her secret were to learn of it. Thus, rather than mess around with that right where the party might notice, she decided to just do it at a later time when she didn’t have too much important stuff on her plate.
However, she did have another thing she could experiment with even when together with everyone, the strengthened concealment aspect of her status. To try it out, she pulled up her status window and thought to make her level 25, mana 50, and MP 600, and for her spearmanship skill and bear title to be hidden. For the numbers, the original one appeared in a parenthesis behind the one she wanted, while the hidden title and skill were grayed out.
Name: Sylvia Hisprit
Race: Elf
Age: 24
Gender: Female Level: 25 (102)
Class: [Advanced Spearwoman Trainee]
MP: 600/600 (9423/18989)
Titles: [Blessed by Geb, the Fertile Destruction], [Blessed by Heku, the Personification of Magic], [Determined Will], [Great Bear Hunter], [Person of Many Faces], [Sneaky Orc Hunter], [Unusually Good Hand-Eye Coordination], [Unusual Mana Growth] Strength: 193
Vitality: 292
Endurance: 183
Mana: 50 (688)
Wisdom: 290
Perception: 145 Skills: |Basic Masonry| lv. 39, |Basic Spearmanship| lv. 63, |Basic Tracking| lv. 20, |External Mana Control| lv. 40, |Internal Mana Control| lv. 33, |Physical Enhancement| lv. 1, {Spear Skills: |Elemental Emission| lv. 38, |Spear Enhancement| lv. 52, |Spearhead Explosion| lv. 49}
Though the moment she did this, she noticed that Aywin, the ranger, seemed to have noticed something so she quickly undid it, making Aywin look towards her, before eventually shaking his head and changing focus.
Semi-confirming that she could indeed manipulate how her status would be read, though some could apparently notice the change, she began to ponder whether or not it was really necessary to tell others about her shapeshifting. The main reason she had been considering telling it to guild, was due to having learnt of how unique her mana situation was, so she knew that if she were to try something in another form and her mana was appraised, then it wouldn’t be long before someone had put two and two together and drawn a connection between her and one of her forms.
But now, it’d be possible to completely avoid that issue, so she could stick around in the town while still improving the skills of all her forms without really having to worry about anyone discovering her shapeshifting. Though that’s not to say that she wanted to keep it a secret forever; she just wanted to wait until she knew more about this world and if revealing it openly would not be an extremely stupid decision.
Regardless of what the eventual decision would be, she knew that it’d be best to talk with both Enelise and Philip about this first, since they’d definitely have some perspective to add to this. Thus, she spent the remainder of the trip messing around with her status while pondering further about this situation.
Once back at the guild, Halaetain handled the stuff with the receptionist delightfully fast and soon returned with a small pouch of coins. They went over to one of the tables; the guild hall had number of different kinds of table and they picked one of the small but tall circular ones that they could all stand around.
After pouring the large brown coins out, she began to sort them first into two piles in a 3:1 ratio, before sliding the smaller one over to Sylvia. “’less someone has a complaint, these are now yers. It’s our thanks for ye allowing us to take the mission instead of having it put up.” No one raised an issue with the amount.
While she counted up her amount, which totaled to a grand total of 30 panis, Halaetain had moved on to splitting the remaining pile into tens. She then grouped three of them and stashed them back in the bag. “A’ight folks, take a pile each and we’re done for the day. It’s a good payday, so let’s rest tomorrow and meet up the day after.”
She took one of the piles for herself and put in a separate bag to the other coins and left the building, followed shortly by most of the others. As Mikhail was about to leave, Sylvia tapped his shoulder. “Mind if I pick your brain for a bit while we go for a walk?”
With his agreement, they went for a walk. “I’m a little curious about the amount of money gained. I recall that you guys only got a few panis for the level 150-something creature you brought back a while ago, so 120 for roughly 40 orcs feels quite on the high end, especially with how only pieces were brought back rather than everything.”
“Your surprise is understandable, but if you recall, then I previously said that the guild considers orcs as an active threat, so they pay for the eradication in addition to what’s been brought back. In this case it was also a sizable group, so a bonus was added due to their threat being quite sizable if they were to attack an unprepared party.”
Sensing another question about to pop up, he beat her to the punch. “In case you’re curious about the split of gold then I can explain that.” Her nod showed him that he’d hit the nail on its head. “Alright. The amount that the quest provider like you gets varies a lot, be it from quest to quest or party to party. In this case, the payout was quite sizable compared to a regular day’s work, so Halaetain probably decided that it wouldn’t hurt to give you a good share as appreciation.
“And in case you wondered about her taking the larger pile afterwards, then those are for party expenses and not her own profit, so stuff like maintaining the wagon, caring for Gremory, etc. I think that should give you a base idea for how money is often split amongst a party. Though do keep in mind that it doesn’t always work this way.”
As she gave him a thankful smile, she decided that it was time to go back to the inn and work on her physical enhancement until the others would come home. “Thank you for the explanations; you’re great at figuring out what I want to learn. I think it’ll be best if I return to the inn for some time; I’m pretty mentally tired from today. See you around.” With their goodbyes said, she headed back with a mind that was racing a mile a minute.