“Well then, mister pure-blooded, bloodless, shapeless bloodshaper. Thanks for the laugh!”
When I told her the skill was aptly named Shapeless, she once again rolled down to the floor into a burst of laughter. And I didn't blame her for it.
The system. I was inclined to believe it was a dwarf behind a metal box pulling jokes at me. How else would my skills make any sense?
I let her calm down, twice, as the first one was a failed attempt. Meanwhile, I thought about the implications of what just happened. The fact that I could make my imagination a reality, as long as it appeased the system, was a groundbreaking discovery.
As was that I could easily tune down my glitter effect. My initial picture was that of a constellation of bright particles, and the system just complied.
“Okay, okay. You stop it now!” She finally managed to say. “Next step is actually using your energy to sense around you.”
“That was actually my starting point. Solid forms are lacking to explore around, so my idea was that each of these intangible particles would be a probe. Is that something I could do?”
“Certainly! Skills to identify things, and people, are quite common after all. They are usually based on sight, but that shouldn’t be a pro-everything alright?”
I was listening to her, but not processing the words she was throwing at me. Not at all.
“I would say it's safe to assume you have one of those skills. Yet you asked me about my class?”
“Oh, that! Well you are a summon, and one of the very first things they do with you guys is setting this kind of information to private. It's a good thing, mostly.“
“Mostly?”
“Well, there are places that will ask you to show them your class. Failing to do so might have an answer ranging from suspicion to kill party. And you will certainly fail to do so. For now, at least.”
“Great…“ Just some more added difficulty, why not? “And when I find a group that wants to kill me?”
“Then you tell them, of course! You are a mage and your class is Light Shaper.”
“Sure! I'm a blind kid with no parents and no home who just happens to be a mage! Didn't you tell me it was reserved for the very best?”
“Maybe you just have an erudite master who taught you?” She surely didn't seem convinced at all.
“Nervemind!” I rolled my eyes, or tried. Perhaps I did? Who cares. “You were saying something about identification being base on sight?”
“Ah, yes. Most identification skills work through the eyes, but that's just because it is convenient. The only thing they do is read the tiny bits of surface information that the system leaves everywhere. Even if your shapeless energy can't really touch anything, I think you should be able to pick on that.”
I didn't answer, save from some meditative grunt in acknowledgement.
The tiny bits of system information… I do have Charlotte right in front of me, so…
I hard pressed my imagination.
I want to know Charlotte's class. No, that's not only it. I want to know Charlotte's power. I need to know her shape. Every particle in contact with her has to know.
Bit by bit, a greyish shape started forming on my ever white image of the world. Tall, several times my own height. Dressed in… a farmed attire, hight boots, overalls, and even hat.
“You really wanted to stick to the farmer role, didn't you?”
“Aye! I couldn't have my subject running away due to some obvious flaw.”
I focused back on the sensation, which faded briefly when I lost my concentration to speak with Charlotte. I wanted to know everything around me, not only her. I examined every particle and every feeling they reported back. Thick natural ground. Wooden wall to my left. Table and two chair. Bit by bit everything came to me.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
[You have learned the skill <[passive] Area identify>]
[passive] Area identify
Whenever the energy that defines your very essence comes into contact with an entity, it will attempt to extract its information.
The success rate will depend on your knowledge and power balance.
Short and concise, with no hidden second meanings. Simply put, trying to get the Charlotte's class would be impossible.
[]
My theory was quickly confirmed by a system popup.
Nonetheless, the whole experiment had been a great success. I could now see how her hands were fastly moving together to form a single sharp and loud clap.
That would have caught me by surprise before. I quickly assessed, realizing how really handicapped I had been before.
“Well then, my last gift to you is simple. Information.“
She took a short pause to let me focus on the conversation.
“You are in Fixun, continent of Herion and within the Sacred Empire of Tsulim. Remember these, don't expose your class unnecessarily, and you will live a long and successful life.”
“And… that’s it?”
“Just be grateful you are still alive, little punk! I only had mercy of you because I saw a little lost boy!”
“Thank you!”
I was not about to say, oh no, I'm 33, and I really hoped my bullet-fast answer to her question didn't come across as that. As long as she thought I was just afraid of a change of mind—which I was—all was fine!
“If you grow to be a strong man, reach out for Charlotte of the Second Sanctum Division.”
“Oh thank y-”
“Because you owe me one, and I will by all Saints make sure you pay me.”
And as soon as she said that, age was gone from my identification area. No sound, no wind left by her wake. Just, nothing.
It was then when I realized that my [passive] Area identify, as cool as it was, did have a fairly constraining limitation. I could barely see beyond two arm length.
I was almost hugging the wall, the table was cramped in the small space I was in, and Charlotte must have been standing at a kissing distance of me. Huh, I didn't even notice some of the chairs don't fully appear on my vision?
That was troublesome. Better than blind, but troublesome nonetheless. I would at least not trip with obvious things, but having my vision so limited meant I would not know what lied ahead.
I am unconsciously limiting it?
Well, if I could move it when it was solid, why wouldn't I be able to do so now?
Aha! the chairs became whole, I got to see the other end of the room, and even the door that would let me get outsid-
“Something's wrong,” I said after half a minute of analyzing the room and my newfound powers.
“Something's very wrong!”
Immediately, without thinking twice about it, I stopped. I shut myself down. No shapeless energy whatsoever. Back to seeing nothing.
“STATUS!” I didn't exactly have to shout it, thinking was enough, but the situation demanded it.
Status: {
Name: Darian
Class: {
Name: Error #46
Level: 10
Energy: 6/360
Skills: {
Bloodshaping
[passive] Bloodless
[passive] Pure-blooded
[passive] Enemy sight
[passive] Shapeless
[passive] Area identify
}
}
General: {
Skills: {
[passive] Lingua franca
}
}
}
“Saints!” I somehow caught that from Charlotte, “I almost died trying to see a room!”
The daylight coming in from the window was enough to, slowly, top me up to safer numbers. But that didn’t take away even a tiny bit of the scare. The system wouldn’t tell me I was losing energy, because it was me making the decision to use it.
Something prickled inside me, though. That feeling that you are forgetting something, but you are not quite sure what that is. Did I leave home without actually locking the door? Did I forget using my abilities uses my own life essence? Yes.
Clearly it was unsustainable to keep my range extended like that. I hadn't checked how much energy I had when I started, but it would only make a difference of a few seconds.
I rested for a few minutes before trying the next best option. I didn't need to be fully recovered, but I also didn't want to risk it.
Now, 234 should be more than enough
I put more energy for a brief moment, and sent a pulse of energy outwards, immediately retracting it as soon as I covered the room.
That's… weird.
The fact that a simple pulse used 6 energy was acceptable. It meant that at full energy, if I didn't use any other skill and I didn't recharge, I would be able to send 60 pulses. A whole minute at one per second.
The weirdness came from the sonar-like aspect of the skill. Nothing was there, then gradually things appeared, and then gradually faded out. All of that within a second.
And, somehow, my brain was able to process it. The system sure is powerful.
The normal limited range of my passive didn't consume any active energy. Perhaps it was close enough that I could properly get a hold of every single particle.
It was important that the pulses wouldn't exhaust me either. Even gradually running out of energy was not an option.
Some tests here and there quickly showed that I recovered about 1 energy every 2 seconds. So, even if I was not good at math, I knew that was 1 pulse every 12 seconds to keep a perfect balance.
I guess I'll make do with that. It's not like I cannot increase it if the situation demands it.
“Off we go!”