I open up my message screen and stare. Fortunately, it’s possible to read my messages regardless of the light level around me. My message area looks a bit like a mail-box, but each entry is just labelled as ‘message’, nothing more helpful than that. I can scroll down to see all the messages I’ve received since the beginning, but these days actually finding something in the list is a bit of a trial. Read messages are slightly grey meaning that unread ones are highlighted by being white. It shouldn’t really be a surprise considering how urgent the nagging feeling had been getting, but I’m still shocked at the number of unread messages.
Well, no time like the present. I scroll down to the oldest message – I actually have to do that, which shows just how many messages I have to read – and select it mentally.
Congratulations!
You have gathered enough Energy to push your body to the next level. Would you like to level up?
Y/N
My eyebrows almost disappear into my hair-line. I can level up again? But I only levelled like...two days ago? That’s fast. Choosing ‘no’ for now, I navigate to my status screen first, half-disbelieving the notification.
Name: Markus Wolfe
Race: Human
Class: Tamer
Level: 3
Energy to next level: 100%
Energy absorption rate: 94u/hr
Energy towards debt: 4%
Intelligence
18
Mana: 180/180
Wisdom
16
Mana regeneration rate: 400u/hr
Willpower
21+4 (+20%)
Health regeneration rate: 25u/hr
Constitution
16
Health: 160/160
Strength
14
Stamina: 80/80
Dexterity
14
Stamina regeneration rate: 140u/hr
Class skills
Dominate – Novice 1
Tame – Beginner 5
Fade – Initiate 1
Non-Class skills
Lay-on-hands – Journeyman 1
Stealth – Novice 1
Animal Empathy – Novice 5
Meditation – Beginner 7
I mean, the notification was right. I’m sitting at one hundred percent in terms of Energy gathered. But the surprises don’t stop there.
Starting from the top, the first number that sticks out to me is the Energy absorption rate. That’s a crazy number. Kalanthia’s den is in an area where I get thirteen units of Energy per hour. More to the point, River’s village is in an area further into the valley than we are now, but I was only getting twenty-five units of Energy per hour.
To have such a dramatic difference between absorption rates within just a few hours… there’s got to be something wrong. Or right. Or maybe it’s normal. What do I know? Regardless, I mentally switch my Energy absorption to going towards my Energy debt: right now, I’m just wasting the opportunity. I wonder how long I’ve been at the point of being able to level up and curse myself for not checking my notifications sooner.
Well, nothing I can do about it now… Next, I note that my Wisdom, Willpower, and Constitution have each increased by a point. I’ve got to guess that that is because of my experience just now with the poison, but I might be wrong. Given that I didn’t have to assent to the points, they must be ones I fully earned rather than needing to shortcut the system with a bit of Energy.
Finally, I look at my Skills list and the number of changes there. Dominate has actually ranked up interestingly enough. Considering that I haven’t actually Dominated any creatures recently, I can only think it’s linked with my current Bonds – maybe drawing mana from River is the cause? That’ll be one of the messages waiting for me; perhaps whatever new feature of the Skill I’ve got will explain where I got it from.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
I’m also curious as to why Lay-on-hands is suddenly in italics when it never has been before...maybe there will be a message about that? I know I haven’t lost the Skill or anything because I’ve been using it, so at least I don’t have to worry about that. It’s also ranked up, though that’s not entirely surprising considering I’ve never cleared out poison in the way I just did.
Animal Empathy has increased a little and Meditation a lot – also not really surprising considering what I’ve been doing recently. Still, nothing ground-breaking there. I decide to clear out all my notifications before levelling up since there may be information in them which could change my allocation of stat points.
Congratulations!
You have made progress on your quest.
You have discovered the centre of the Vine-Strangler Copse and encountered a guardian of unusual size and strength. Investigation of the guardian beast’s lair may yield additional clues.
Quest: The Vine-Strangler Copse
Quest type: Regional
Description: You have encountered Vine-Strangler trees in an unusual location, at an unusual stage of development and with an unusual level of Energy in the area.
You have sought the centre of the Vine-Strangler Copse and have had an encounter with a powerful beast.
Primary objective: Discover why Vine-Strangler trees are growing in this location and the reason for the unusual level of Energy.
Secondary objective: Investigate the guardian beast’s lair.
Time to complete quest: Unlimited
Suggested difficulty: Initiate
Reward: Rare Bronze chest
Apparently, despite not being sure about attempting to complete this quest at all, and most definitely not wanting to do it before delivering Lathani back to her mother, I’ve been sucked into it nonetheless. Could the quest have been given by the vine-strangler trees themselves? It seems strange to consider trees giving a person a quest, but it’s also strange to think of trees herding me to battle with a giant fire-breathing salamander.
On second thoughts, though, that same salamander is considered a ‘guardian’ in the quest – something I doubt the trees would consider it. Unless it was guarding something else? I dismiss the thoughts with a shake of my head. Either way, it doesn’t make much difference. The situation hasn’t changed and that hole in the centre of the clearing still potentially offers our best chance of getting out of here, since we can’t fly like the bird. It just gives me a warning that the tunnel might be even more dangerous than I thought. Dangerous...or lucrative.
Being called a ‘guardian beast’ really makes me wonder what exactly the salamander was guarding – and whether it might be any use to me or mine. Deciding to think about that later, I move on to the next notification. This one is pretty surprising too.
You have discovered a use of your Skill: Lay-on-hands which is not compatible with its originating school: the Way of the Healer. Skills from this school are explicitly focused on doing no harm. You have used your Skill: Lay-on-hands in a combat situation to kill your opponent. You therefore have a choice to either Evolve your Skill or Split it.
Evolve
If you choose to Evolve your Skill, you will gain access to a new area of magic: Flesh-Shaping. Having moved away from the original Skill you may, however, lose access to potential aspects of your original Skill. Aspects of which you have gained personal knowledge will remain intact.
Split
If you choose to Split your Skill, you will retain your original Skill: Lay-on-hands with all previous progress remaining intact. You will also gain a second Skill: Body-Invasion. This new Skill will allow you to influence an opponent’s body while fighting by invading their flesh with your own mana. Invasions with foreign mana are automatically resisted by the enemy and this resistance must be overcome in order for the Skill to be used successfully.
Until you make a choice, you will be unable to use any combat applications of flesh-magic.
Do you wish to choose now or go to the next message? Choose/Next message
I stare at the message for a long moment, reading and rereading it. I still don’t understand it. So, I could kill the salamander by invading its brain with my magic, but now I can’t? Because some people in this ‘Way of the Healer’ school say I can’t? How on earth – or off it – can they enforce that? But apparently they can.
Is this why Lay-on-hands was written in italics on my status sheet? Because I could lose it entirely, replace it with ‘Flesh-Shaping’? My being shrinks away from that option, especially since it says I could lose aspects of Lay-on-hands. ‘Potential’ aspects, whatever that means. Lay-on-hands has kept me alive, it’s kept Bastet alive – twice – and in no way do I want to lose anything about it.
However... I can’t say that ‘Body-Invasion’ sounds very appealing. Yes, it’s what I did, but… In the end, I decide that I need to talk to Kalanthia about it. And maybe River too. They might have heard of either Flesh-Shaping or Body-Invasion before and have an idea of whether one Skill would be better than the other. I mentally select the next message option.
Congratulations!
You have advanced a Class Skill past Beginner. Dominate is now Novice 1. Due to your unusual uses of this Skill, two new effects have been discovered.
Effect 1: You have used this Skill to negotiate rather than crush your opponent’s Will during Battles of Wills. Henceforth, you are able to impose a sense of peace on the Battle of Will’s space. This sense will increase slightly with each level that you gain in the Skill and will calm and pacify strong emotions, allowing reason to prevail. Note that this effect can only take place when you yourself are calm and you are attempting to negotiate. If you attempt to forcefully overcome your opponent in this space, the sense of peace will be replaced with a sense of aggression of equivalent strength.
Effect 2: You have discovered that more than just thoughts and emotions can pass along the Bond. You are now able to draw mana from your Bound. Experiment with this capacity to discover new aspects. Be wary, however, of the effect this has on your Bound – and yourself.
Next message? Y/N
I click away, feeling a little troubled. The fact that negotiations will become easier is great; it’s the second effect that worries me a little. That the system box even warns me about the effects is a red flag for me. I’m going to have to be very, very careful with this, I decide.
But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to investigate it at all. If I could draw on my Bound when I’m low in mana? That could be a life-saver. And what if it’s not only mana? What if I could draw on health? Or Energy? Even better, what if it could be a two-way street and I could share my own health with a heavily injured companion? I may be reading more into the possibilities than actually exists, but if any of these are potential discoveries waiting to be made? Game-changer would be the least of it.
The next three messages are the expected notifications about having gained points in Wisdom, Willpower, and Constitution. It doesn’t say why, but I can guess. The following message is actually an offered point.
Congratulations!
You have worked hard on your Constitution and have earned a point. Would you like to apply this to your status?
Y/N
With regret, I choose to reject it. I think levelling up is more important. If I accept the point now, it’ll take a chunk from my Energy store and I won’t be able to level up for a while. Besides, since I’ve already half-earned the point, it’ll either be offered to me again later or I’ll gain it outright through another dangerous encounter – by this point, I’m not foolish enough to think that I won’t have any more of those. Plus, I’ve already earned a point in Constitution outright, so I don’t regret missing this one as much.
Lastly, is my rank-up message for Lay-on-hands. Clearly, until I make the decision about whether to Evolve or Split the Skill, it’s considered as business as usual. I suppose I should be grateful that not making the choice hasn't frozen my Skill's ability to progress or something.
Congratulations!
You have advanced a Skill past Initiate. Lay-on-hands is now Journeyman 1. You have shown an understanding of the body’s anatomy on multiple occasions. Healing magic that is directed according to the body’s natural rhythms is now more efficient. You use approximately 5% less mana for channeled healing that works with the body for every Journeyman level in Lay-on-hands you have.
Close messages? Y/N
Nothing particularly ground-breaking, but useful enough. Like the extra absorption of mana while in Meditation, it’s the kind of thing that shows its use over time. However, by the point that I reach Journeyman nine, I’ll have a forty-five percent reduction in mana costs – that’s big. Given that my most recent issues have been to do with not having enough mana to deal with the gravity of the injuries, it feels a little like an answer to my prayers. Actually, how come I’ve had two Skills in two days offer me something that’s effectively a percentage increase in mana? Is there a reason, or is it just coincidence? Sighing, I push the question out of my mind – perhaps I’ll discover the reason later, but if another Skill suddenly starts affecting my mana, I’ll conclude that it’s not just pure coincidence.
With all the messages dealt with, it’s now time to consider where I’m going to put my level-up points. Not having been expecting to level up for a good while yet, I haven’t exactly put a lot of thought into it. Not that I’m complaining, of course – the quicker I level up, the stronger I get. But now, instead of just putting points in wherever seems best in the short term, it’s time to seriously consider what kind of fighter I want to become.