It turns out that my increased Strength isn’t just numbers on a screen. While River and I working together aren’t able to move the tree trunk as a whole, nor do I manage to get it into my Inventory, we actually end up only needing to cut it into two parts. They end up being unequal in size but relatively equal in weight, given how the tree’s trunk is thicker down at its base than at its crown.
We don’t carry the pieces, exactly, but are able to part-lift, part-drag the trunk sufficiently to get it back. We do strip off the branches, but even so, I’m left surprised at just how much strength the two of us are able to bring to bear. The branches, I do put in my Inventory – I don’t think we’re going to have any issues with firewood for a while.
Though, I suppose that this is technically green wood, so not ideal for using on a fire. Ah well: a bit of time baking in the sun will help dry it out, though if it rains like it did the day after we came back with Lathani, that won’t help much. On the other hand, perhaps it might wash out some of the sap which wouldn’t be a bad thing.
By the time we’ve made our slow progress back to the plateau with the bottom third of the tree in tow, we’re both exhausted and the sun has almost completely dipped below the horizon.
“Shall we go back for the other part of the tree in the morning?” I groan more than say, wanting nothing more than to just flop down on the ground and never move again.
Please, River responds, sounding just as exhausted as I feel.
“Alright then,” I give in, not putting up too much of a fight. It’s probably not a good idea for us to go out into the forest as tired as we are: we’ve been lucky so far to avoid any attack, but that won’t necessarily hold. Between us we probably couldn’t fight off a kitten right now. “Do you need some meat? To eat, that is.”
I ate sufficiently while we were out this morning. Besides, we brought back some carcasses which I can feed from if I’m hungry.
“OK,” I accept, then wave vaguely in his direction and shuffle towards the alcove.
Making myself comfortable on my mess of jackets and coats – I really need to make a proper bed – I pull out a soup I made earlier from my Inventory. I sip the all-too-familiar taste with a grimace. It fills my stomach, but it’s just so boring. Two months on these rations has been a bit too much even for me.
Still, with my new Inspect Flora Skill, I should be able to identify some more plants which are edible, and thereby expand my diet a little. The time needed to be dedicated to testing each plant is the main reason why I haven’t expanded my diet up until now. At least the salt helps season it all a bit.
While I eat, I check my notifications, suspecting that I know what’s been nagging at me for a while.
Congratulations!
You have worked hard on your Strength (Power) and have earned a point. Would you like to apply this to your status?
Y/N?
Bingo. I smile in satisfaction as I accept the point. Curious to see what happens as I accept a point like that, I slip into my Core space and watch. I see Energy expand out of my Core, my internal matrix lighting up in a Mexican wave that rushes out from the centre to the extremities.
It doesn’t head out to the threads which have their ends dangling in mid-air, but instead rushes around my internal matrix, like a wave which clashes against the pool wall on the opposite side and returns in the direction from whence it came.
As it returns to the Core, it doesn’t actually enter the crystalline structure. Instead, it once more changes direction and heads out again. My focus narrows as I realise that the wave which is travelling around is becoming weaker; the light it emits is less than when it started. I try to work out why.
Focussing on the wave doesn’t help – I only start understanding a little when I start looking at where the wave has passed. The area just behind the wave stays bright for a little bit of time before it fades back to its normal light level. Focussing on one of these spots reveals that the light isn’t just disappearing; it’s seeping away.
The process rather reminds me of what I had to do when I healed the small cut on myself with Flesh-Shaping. It’s different, though – what I did was I moved the mana from the nearest Energy channel to the wound itself, concentrating the mana in that one spot. This is more like diffusing the mana through my body.
The changes are completed before I’ve finished watching, unfortunately, but this wasn’t the only notification waiting for me. With any luck, I’ve got another point I can add and observe how it works some more.
Congratulations!
You have worked hard on your Strength (Endurance) and have earned a point. Would you like to apply this to your status?
Y/N?
A pleasant surprise, though not exactly hard to work out why: the pain in my muscles would certainly explain it. Happily, I accept the point and then dive back into my inner Core space.
The process starts exactly the same, and this time I focus more quickly on the changes to the space after the wave has passed, more than the wave itself. I watch how the Energy, or mana, or whatever it is feeds into the black area around the Energy channels making them all so infinitesimally slightly more luminous. If black can be luminous.
But it can, as I remember all too soon. Why? Because there is one area that remains stubbornly black. The area which was damaged by the Pure Energy two weeks ago or so. As the Energy from this stat point starts to wind down, I pay particular attention to what’s happening in the space eaten away by the Pure Energy.
When the process stops once more, I return to my notifications and the next message waiting for me.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Congratulations!
You have worked hard on your Constitution and have earned a point. Would you like to apply this to your status?
Y/N?
Barely reading it enough to realise that Constitution has finally taken the final step to maxing out its natural growth, I accept the point and dive back into my Core space, navigating directly to the section of void-black.
As I watch, my fears grow. The same process is happening here as in all other parts of my internal matrix: the Energy is pouring down my channels, leaving a little in its wake which then seeps into the space around the channels. That’s where it ends, though.
Where in all other situations, the Energy had illuminated the blackness even if only slightly, here it does nothing. It…vanishes. Perhaps the comparison I made to it being a ‘void’ is more apt than I’d thought: it acts like a consuming void, a black hole. Like it could take all this Energy and more and still not be satisfied.
I suppose I can only be glad that it’s not acting like a black hole in other ways: it doesn’t seem to have taken more than its fair share of Energy; its gravity doesn’t seem to be any greater than other parts of my internal matrix. Thinking about what might have happened if it had been able to draw more Energy towards it than it should have makes me shudder, despite not having a physical body to move with.
When the process winds down again, I return to my notifications, selecting the last one to read.
Congratulations!
You have worked hard on your Dexterity and have earned a point. Would you like to apply this to your status?
Y/N?
I should be happy, and I am. Suddenly, I’m glad that I chose to take the tree down the old-fashioned way rather than trying to do it with Flesh-Shaping. The whole exhausting ordeal has certainly meant a windfall of points. I must have been close to earning them even before starting the task. Still, I can’t help but also be a bit concerned.
Knowing that the percentage of damage to my Soul hasn’t changed is a different thing from seeing that damage in action. Plus, I can’t help but wonder what the issue with that black space means.
Accepting the point, I return back into my Core space to check that nothing is different this time around, my mind only half on my observations. My theory is that the black space is in some way representative of my body.
When I touched the Pure Energy, I did so with a finger, and it spread into my hand and would have continued spreading up my arm. As I saw afterwards, that was shown in my Core space as if someone had taken an ice-cream scoop and dug out a chunk from the edge of it all. Now, the internal matrix is intact again, but the damage is still evident in that the blackness around the new Energy channels is as dark as ever.
Another point of evidence to my mind is the fact that when I wanted to heal my flesh wound, I had to let the mana seep into the blackness before I could direct it to the cut. If the blackness wasn’t intrinsically linked to my flesh, why would I have had to do that?
Clearly, I’m not looking at the flesh itself – the shape of my Core space is most definitely either a sphere or ovoid, but certainly not the shape of my body. However, they are clearly linked and what is done to one is done to the other.
This makes the black space worrying. I’ve just increased my Strength stat twice – Power and Endurance – my Constitution stat once, and my Dexterity stat once. As I saw in my Core space, those changes necessitated Energy – or mana – being fed into my body. Yet, there was one space where that Energy didn’t reach: my left hand.
Does this mean that although my right hand is now stronger, my left is not? Or that my left hand is more vulnerable than my right? Less dextrous? And what about if I accidentally injure that hand, or something bites it – will I find myself unable to heal it? Or does it mean that there’s a weakness to the whole system rather than just that one area?
The questions are endless and concerning, reducing the excitement I should otherwise be feeling about having increased three stats at once. Reluctantly deciding that I need to investigate more, and soon, I open my status screen, my anticipation returning despite my worries.
Name: Markus Wolfe
Race: Human
Class: Tamer
Level: 12
Energy to next level: 91%
Energy absorption rate: 29u/hr
Energy towards debt: 85%
Intelligence
36
Mana: 360/360
Wisdom
34
Mana regeneration rate: 850u/hr
Willpower
42+8 (+20%)
Health regeneration rate: 40u/hr (-20%)
Constitution
20
Health: 200/200
Strength
20
Stamina: 120/120
Dexterity
17
Stamina regeneration rate: 170u/hr
Class skills
Dominate – Novice 2
*Companion Bond
Tame – Beginner 9
Fade – Initiate 1
Inspect Fauna – Beginner 1
Inspect Flora – Beginner 1
Inspect Environment – Beginner 1
Non-Class skills
Flesh-Shaping – Novice 5
Stealth – Novice 1
Animal Empathy – Novice 6
Meditation – Initiate 3
Energy Manipulation – Initiate 7
Sensation Management – Beginner 5
Sure enough, Constitution and Strength have both hit twenty points, meaning that the only way I’m going to be able to increase them in the future will be via level-ups. Only three points are now needed to bring Dexterity up to join them. And then I’ll have all my stats above twenty, rather an achievement considering what my status screen looked like the first time I called it up!
Leaning back, I frown. I feel a bit…different. I’ve only just noticed it because of the distraction I’d had from the questions about my soul damage. It’s hard to describe, but I’m pretty sure that it originates from when I accepted the Constitution point and the Energy poured through me. I feel…steadier. More stable. More…grounded.
I hadn’t realised how adrift I’d been feeling, like a paper bag blowing in the wind. Is this the source of my mood swings? I wonder. Something tells me that I’m not quite right, but that it’s linked. Is it to do with my Constitution being below twenty points when everything else was above? Or to do with my soul damage? Or both?
Unfortunately, I suspect I won’t know the answer to those questions for sure until I manage to repair the soul damage. At least, I hope I can repair the soul damage; the alternative seems rather grim, given what I’ve just observed.
Some ideas are percolating in my head, but they will all require good Energy control, something which I know I’m getting better at, but which still isn’t perfect by any means. I have another idea of how to practise it, though, and it comes with the side benefit of helping me to stop aching: Flesh-Shaping.