After all those messages, Isa realized that she had a lot that she had to think about, not to mention a lot to figure out.
For starters, Isa needed to figure out what all the messages meant for her. Did it increase her power, abilities, toolbox, etc.? Isa brought up the messages again and tried to parse through them one at a time.
Be Aware: This dungeon has now been quarantined by Avatar Ladisifur. This dungeon is not connected to the game world and will float in the subspace.
Okay, so this dungeon and all that it has to offer, Isa and Evie, primarily referring to the Training Room, will not be going away for now.
Be Aware: Anchor to the game world has been set in subspace linking to game world. Anchor cannot be deleted as it is in the subspace.
Isa was unsure about this; she didn't understand what that meant. What was subspace? What does an anchor mean? Those type of questions.
To Isa, it sounded like the subspace was the matrix that the game world was attached to, and the anchor was what made sure a detached piece stayed attached somehow. But that was just her guessing. Isa would have to ask her handler to find someone who worked at the company that made the game to find out what all this meant… or that is what Isa thought she should do.
Be Aware: Well of Connection has been created and placed in a ritual room connected to dungeon proper.
Well, this is pretty self-explanatory.
I will just have to go to this ritual room and see what the Well of Connection is.
Be Aware: You have been deemed an Avatar and, therefore, cannot be altered or deleted by the game world.
Isa had no idea how to take this; this was a question for that same person from the game company. Either that or Lady when she came back. Isa would have to keep an eye out on the Wiki to see if anything came up on it about an Avatar.
Isa was glad she was an Avatar; if only it kept her character from being deleted by the game.
Be Aware: As an Avatar, you are considered [Suspicious] by all others.
Wonder why that is.
Be Aware: Your familiar, Evie, is considered an Avatar’s aide and cannot be altered or deleted by the game world.
Oh, good. I wondered if I would lose my soul bound, soul melded familiar. Would that hurt?
Isa looked around for Evie and saw her just watching her. Isa didn't know how to take that but thought that maybe Evie was just waiting for her to say something. Not that she needed to say anything out loud; she could just think it.
Well that’s an issue for another time. Not that it’s really an issue.
Be Aware: You now have the power to alter time's flow speed up to 10x real-world speed. Be aware that that will affect how drained you are once you log out.
This one didn't make sense to Isa because she needed a way to slow down game time, not speed it up.
Wait, isn't that saying I can just control time up to a limit of 10x? So if normal game time runs 10 times the real world's speed, can I slow it down to whatever I want? What a weird way to phrase it…
Be Aware: You will always appear in Luck’s Folly when logging in. However you may teleport to last location once logged in.
This made sense to Isa since she was in a space untouchable by the game. If she had been logging in to where she had last been, who knows what would have happened if anything?
Better safe than sorry, I suppose.
Be Aware: Francis now has stealth training available. Francis is considered Grandmaster in Stealth.
I wonder why Francis isn’t considered Divinity in Stealth. Oh well, Grandmaster is still much further than what I am. But I have to work on swordsmanship as well. I wonder which one would be more helpful.
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Be Aware: You have been given Authority. You may not use it in its current form.
Now this one's interesting. I have no idea what Authority is, but it sounds uber important for some reason. It's like my mind is trying to touch on something it can't quite understand. An aspect of the game that I'm not supposed to know?
Be Aware: You have been given 2 Abilities and 2 Talents.
I wonder what abilities and Talents I have been given now. I have to say that I have been super lucky so far… besides the numerous deaths that I have had. But let’s call that the learning curve of the game. I’ll have to check on these as soon as I get through these messages.
Be Aware: You have been awarded 2000 Attribute Points. Attribute Points outvalue current maximum. Highest possible holding value given. 100 Attribute Points given. Attribute Points to Soul Points conversion now set at 1:1 until Mark is taken.
This Mark seems important. I don't know what it is, but it looks like a boon, no matter how I think. Even with the whole Avatar thing making me [Suspicious].
Be Aware: Well of Connection has tried to Soul Meld with you. Will you allow it to Soul Meld?
[Yes] or [No]
What is this Well of Connection. I need to check this out before I decide one way or another. But I wonder if it will act like my bond with Evie and allow me to do something from any distance. I need to go to this room and look into this right now.
Isa started walking in a random direction and realized she was walking right to the new room. It was like her body just knew this space and knew exactly where everything was located in Luck's Folly. Once Isa got there she decided to look up what those abilities were.
Drain
Drains health (settler or NPC) points or mana (structure) points in the amount of up to 50% or up to 25%, respectively, on a shield. Will overcharge your health or mana points depending on the situation. Overcharge lasts until used up or 15 seconds, whichever comes first.
Cost: 15 mana/ sec
Cooldown: As long as it takes to recover 50% of mana capacity.
Limits: Must have 50% of mana capacity left to activate spell.
Jump & Glide
Jump: This is an upgrade from the normal jump feature. You can Jump up to a maximum of 800 feet in the air. You will suffer no fall damage from this action. This is a levelable skill. As you level height increases and chaining becomes available.
Glide: For a mana cost, gliding is available to increase movement distance and limit fall damage.
Cost: 10/mana/second at heights greater than 50 feet. 5/mana/second at heights less than 50 feet.
Limit: Must have 25% of mana capacity available to start using.
Death magic: Resurrect NPC
Resurrects an NPC to do your bidding. Resurrection has no time limit. NPC retains knowledge from pre-death. NPC health halved compared to pre-death value. Mana doubled compared to the pre-death value. Stamina tripled compared to the pre-death value. The level of NPC pre-death does not matter; all resurrected NPCs come back at level 1 with all skills intact at the level at the death. Abilities reset to level [1].
Cost: Entire mana capacity
Cooldown: 1 day
Isa looked through the Abilities and Talents that she had gotten. These seemed overpowered to her. The Jump and Glide combo would be a devastating one if used correctly.
Interesting… I will have to thank Lady when I see her next.
Isa reminisced on her journey in this virtual world so far. First, it was pretty bland, and then it became less bland and painful. After that everything seemed to go her way, in one way or another. She started by dying a lot, not really going her way, but then she figured out how to exploit the game system. Once she did that she was golden until the strange amalgamation that appeared. Ever since then she has just gotten stronger abnormally fast.
Granted, Isa knew that a lot of it was because of the sacrifice of Lady, but still, without her, she would've had a much different fate.
Isa decided it was time to check on the Well of Connection. Isa walked to the ritual room and stepped up to the Well. It had some inky black tar-like substance in it. Isa reached out, not really thinking, and the substance jumped toward her and crawled up her arm. Isa obviously freaked out and tried to tear it off with her other hand, but it spread to her other arm as well. Isa became immobile and, eventually, after what seemed like an hour but was probably seconds, the substance went into her eyes.
“MASTER??”
When Isa came to, it was like nothing had happened. She stood up and rubbed the back of her head, where there was a lingering ache. Once she took stock of her surroundings and saw nothing amiss, she looked back at the Well. It was still sitting there, unmoving; there were slight movements now. Isa reached out again. She knew it was stupid, but nothing happened. Then, she noticed a notification.
Be Aware: Well of Connection has forcefully soul melded with you. This soul meld allows you to travel between Luck's Folly and the rest of the game world. Without this connection you would only be able to go one way. Logging out and back in would be your only way to return to Luck's Folly. This soul meld will not affect you in any way except that you will have a sense of where the dungeon is in the subspace as it drifts. This does not affect your ability to teleport to it.
Evie came rushing around the corner still yelling in Isa’s mind,
“MASTER, MASTER, IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT?”
Isa turned toward Evie and said,
“Oh… yeah, everything is fine. How long was I out?”
"I came here as fast as I could, and I was just in the other room, almost right outside this room; you couldn't have been out more than a few seconds.
"Oh… okay, well, that's good. Nothing happened, it seems; I just gained a new Talent. Against my will, but still.
“I think it’s time you and I trained a bit more.”, Isa said as she left the ritual room and walked toward the Training Room.
A notice came in just then…
Be Aware: Your ability to use Glass' Edge has been removed. You are now downgraded to Wind Blade.
"Sorry," a voice said in Isa’s head.