Jake’s smile got bigger as each notification popped up. Even though he had no idea what most of them meant exactly, the gamer in him was still excited about gaining so much at once.
“Lets see what you got for papa!”
With a big smile and greedy gleam in his eye he started to go through each of the notifications. First up: his level notification.
Congratulations you have leveled!
You are now level 1.
You have received 4 stat points.
You have received 1 skill point.
“Let’s see, four stat points and one skill point. I wonder if this is something that I get every level or not, or even if it is going to be the same each time. I have an idea what the stat points can be used for but I am not sure about the skill points since I didn’t have access to that screen yet. Let’s look at the rest of the notifications before digging deeper.” Jake pondered as he started to scratch at his chin.
Congratulations you have received The First title!
The First
You are the first entity to be affected by the clashing of two worlds. Not only has this saved your life but this has forever changed you.
Titles Effects:
* All of your affinities have been raised or lowered to 50%.
* All of your affinities will now grow with use.
* You will now receive 1 affinity point every 5 levels.
”Affinities? I atleast know how I survived.”
He didn't really understand what affinities were but, piecing together the clues from the title he got he was able to understand a few things. From the first effect he assumed that most people's affinities weren’t all the same, either being higher in some cases and lower in others.
“It’s awesome that some got raised but kind of sucks that others got lowered… Though that second effect kind of makes up for it.”
The second effect allowed him to raise his affinities. The fact that it was from a title told him that it wasn’t normal for people's affinities to change. Again, he wasn’t sure how significant this was as he didn’t understand what affinities were, but he still understood that this was a good thing. He kind of glossed over the last effect. Not knowing what affinities were or what the point would do, he decided to not worry about it just yet.
Congratulations you have received the Dungeon Explorer title!
Dungeon Explorer
You are a self-professed Dungeon explorer!
Title Effects:
* + .20% to perception when locating traps or treasure in dungeons.
Congratulations your Dungeon Explorer title has evolved to Dungeon Adventurer!
Dungeon Adventurer
Congratulations you are no longer just a self proclaimed but are now officially a Dungeon Adventurer!
Title Effects:
* + .30% to perception when locating traps or treasure in dungeons.
* + .10% damage to dungeon mobs.
Congratulations your Dungeon Explorer title has evolved to Dungeon Conqueror!
Dungeon Conqueror
Congratulations you are no longer just a Dungeon Adventurer but are now a Dungeon Conqueror! You have not only adventured but have conquered!
Basic boons:
* + .30% class level to perception to finding traps and treasures while in a Dungeon
* + .10% to damage to Dungeon mobs
* + .20% XP to level and skills while in dungeons
“Well that’ll come in handy and it seems that titles can evolve. Good to know. If only I knew the requirements to evolve them.”
Congratulations you have received The Soul Heir title!
The Soul Heir
You have been chosen either by fate or luck to be the heir of the legendary creator Emmir Ilric. This will have far reaching consequences.
Title Effects:
* Receive the Magical Research skill.
* Receive the Mana Manipulation skill.
* Receive the Inspection Skill.
* All Magic affinities raised by 30% up to 100%.
* Unknown(Hibernating)
“Sweet skills!”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
He had to almost physically hold himself back from jumping straight to his skills to check them out. After taking a moment, he looked at the rest of the title effects.
“Hmmm so I gained 3 skills and my magical affinities have raised by 30 so they should be at 80 now. Whatever that means… That last effect, though, I wonder what it means by hibernating?”
Staring at it wasn’t going to answer his questions... probably.
Congratulations you have met the prerequisites for the Marriage of the Souls Quest!
Marriage of the Souls
You are part of a lucky few. You have found your soulmate. Your other half may be in trouble and needs you. Her call to you has been heard.
Difficulty - Medium
Success Conditions - Locate Miranda
Rewards - The true bonding, 6,000 XP
Failure Conditions - The death of either you or Miranda
This quest can not be refused.
“Mare! Ufff.”
Jake shot up and then promptly fell on his face. Sitting back up, he rubbed his head and he was able to calm down a little bit.
“Dammit, that hurt. I was hoping that all this hadn’t reached her… Though now that I think about it I guess that’s wishful thinking. I need to get to her...But I need to do it alive. I can’t help her if I die. Plus she’s one of the strongest women I know.”
After thinking about it, he realized that he had to escape in one piece and get stronger if he wanted to help her. He also knew Mare well enough to know that she wouldn’t take all this lying down.
“She’s strong and resilient, she’ll probably handle all this better than me.” he laughed.
Jake giggled thinking of Mare tossing monsters around. After calming down a bit, he went over the quest again.
“It says she may be in trouble but that doesn’t necessarily mean that she is in danger. Even if she was, there’s nothing I can do at the moment. I have to focus on surviving this so I can get to her and just have faith that she can handle herself. The fact that the quest will fail if either of us die will at least let me know she’s still alive.”
Not knowing what a true bond was, he skipped over the rewards and continued onto the last of his notifications.
Congratulations you have received the random skill Analyze! Lucky!
Congratulations you have learned the Magical Research, Magical Control, and Inspection Skill!
Congratulations your Inspection and Analyze skills have merged and evolved into Examine!
Someone must be looking out for you!
After finishing the notifications he went straight to his skills menu to check out the details on the skills he currently had.
Examine
You have learned to discern what was once hidden of not just creatures but of items as well. The combination of analyze and inspection and something else.
Current Level: Initiate 1
Effects:
* Able to see the name and level of creatures no more than 5 levels higher than you.
* Able to see limited information about some items.
* Unknown
Range: 10 meters
Cost: 10 m/min
If you stare hard enough you might find out something useful… or not.
Mana Manipulation
You have the skills to finely manipulate mana. Controlling the world around you.
Current Level: Initiate 1
Effects:
* Able to control mana and cast spells without the need to verbalize or use hand gestures.
* - .5% mana required to cast spells or skills.
Who wants to have to scream out a spell's name. I mean really.
Magical Research
You have a knack for sensing how magic works. Able to learn and create the mystical.
Current Level: Initiate 1
Effects:
* Easier to create your own spells.
* Easier to sense mana at a core level.
You think you are smarter than everyone else huh? Well say that after you survive.
“I can do magic‽ Awesome!”
A loud growl echoed through the core room. Jake looked around the core room with a slightly embarrassed expression.
“I guess I’ll figure that stuff out later. I need to get moving soon. I really need to eat.”
Deciding that he needed to hurry up and head out so he could find some food, he continued on. He figured that analyze was probably some sort of skill for creatures where inspection was for items but without being able to see the actual skills there was no way to know for sure. Not that it really mattered at all with Examine.
“It’s awesome that I ended up getting that skill. That’ll make life so much easier. I can check out what sweet loot I got now.”
He knew that it would take too long to figure out his attributes and points so he skipped over that for now until he was able to get some food. Closing the screens, he saw some changes in front of him. The main one that drew his attention, though, was the golden chest sitting next to the podium. Jake almost ran to the chest. A look of extreme excitement showed on his face. It was every gamers favorite part: Loot. Opening the chest there were several items laying inside. He picked up each item one by one and looking at it before putting it down beside him, his smile slowly turned to a frown.
“I have no idea what any of these things are…”
Sitting next to him was:
A vial of liquid.
A leatherbound book.
A dark purple ring.
Once the rush of excitement he got from seeing the chest calmed down, he smacked his forehead.
“Dammit, one of these days I’m going to get myself killed. This isn’t the normal world anymore there is magic and shit. So traps probably exist as well. I need to think before I act.”
Aggravated with himself he decided to try his new skill Examine. Looking at the items in front of him he went one by one to figure out what he had. He was worried that he wouldn’t know how to utilize the skill but it seemed that him having it automatically ingrained what he needed to do instinctively. He could feel the mana flow into his eyes as he activated the skill.
Cure All Potion
Higher skill level required.
Unknown Skill Book
Higher skill level required.
Unknown Magical Ring
Higher skill level required.
“Well shit..”
Another growl echoed out from his stomach. Shaking his head, he took off his hoodie and tied a knot at the bottom while tieing the arms together, creating a makeshift sling pack. Placing the items into the makeshift bag and then he slid it over his head and shoulder.
“Alright let’s get out of this room….. How do I do that?”
Taking a closer look at what he assumed was the teleport node he was able to see the details much clearer. The gem looked exactly like the core but was much smaller, maybe the size of a softball. The gem was in the grasp of a claw carved out of black stone on the top of an intricately carved pillar. The sides had carvings of different kinds of monsters. Most he couldn’t identify. Taking a breath, he reached out and placed his hand on the orb completely expecting the claw to grab his arm. It didn’t.
Move to the first floor?
Yes/No
“Yes”
Shadow so thick it almost seemed liquid started to swirl around his feet. He attempted to break away and escape but was unable to move. The shadows swirled up his legs and in seconds he was covered and then was gone, leaving the core room empty.
----------------------------------------
At another location outside of the dungeon sat a small cabin with a forested valley spread out in front of it. Random quakes continued to shake the valley. The large cliff behind seemed to be growing.
The valley was changing.