---Maddy---
Maddy stumbled out of the nest both of her companions under her arms – the high of success pushing her forward.
Stats were an incredibly important base – but gaining a second affinity was a multiplier that more than made up for them.
In her teacher's brief explanation, each additional proper affinity – and more importantly its combined version – was an exponential increase in power combined with a variable decrease in power. And wow, Maddy could feel it. Her combination mana was insanely potent – to the point she never wanted to use the base forms again. The addictive high pushed her towards gaining a third affinity as soon as possible. if this affinity had doubled her power the third would quadruple. if it had tripled the third would...what was nine times something again? Nonary? Ninefold?
Maddy breathed as she tried to ignore that slight craze. That completionist desire to collect them all.
As her teacher had said, most good mages had a second affinity but of those, few took a third. Adding to that, even though additional affinities were a instant increase, there were plenty of mages who grew incredibly strong using only a single element – she should spend more time with what she had, spend more time juggling the pros and cons.
"You two ready to go? I can see the barrier from here." Maddy asked glancing at her friends. Both seemed more or less fixed from their wounds by this point. Even if they hadn't done a perfect raid, at least no one had died this time right? Progress?
"I don't have anything I'm waiting for – so sure, lets go." Jess pulled away bouncing slightly as if testing out her newly healed body.
"See you on the other side?" Jess asked after turning and jogging backwards towards the wall behind her.
"Of course, I'll wait till both of you are out" Maddy added, taking the last few steps towards the barrier and placing her hand on it. She sunk in – she had expected to but some part of her wondered if she had made the zones requirements.
Stepping through the invisible wall with barely a sign it was there, everything went dark.
Zone 1 clear!
Clear description:
Your somewhat average path through the first zone was anything if not 'unique'. From helping gatemen to becoming the first to clear a dungeon, you broke into magic before most, and created your own spells. Ignoring how stingy the system is with magic achievements you persevered, performing many unique feats. You were a [reaper's prodigy] and [killed a dozen with a single spell]. You beat the [vector knight] of a tier 4 nest and gained a second affinity.
Your foundation has truly been established – the only way forward as clear as a midsummer eve.
Clear stats:
Clear time 8 days. 12 hours. 5 minutes. 5 seconds.
Dungeons Cleared: 1
Nests Cleared: 1
Monsters killed: 590
Zero Revivals.
Highest stat, Mental Power (Wisdom)
Second highest stat, Mental Speed (Intelligence)
Achievements earned in zone: 13.
Total stats 127
Clear state. Rank 1+
Next Tier: 41 stats to go.
Clear Rewards:
First to clear a dungeon anywhere.
+10 free stat points.
Second affinity gained.
+10 free stat points.
Zero Revivals.
+5 free stat points.
Upper Percentile of monster deaths
+3 free stat points.
Unique titles x8
+40 free stat point.
Rare titles x4
+8 stat points.
Uncommon title x1
+1 stat point.
Maddy blinked in the darkness – all blue boxes remaining firmly in view no matter if her eyes were open or shut.
She felt more aware than she had last time she had gone through this – what had changed? Was it simply her new stats?
There were three separate buttons waiting for her attention – floating apart and with the bottom two greyed out slightly while still being clickable.
Stat distribution.
Foundation Fertilizer.
R’s information (bonus).
…considering how they were placed, she could tell the order she should click them in. Going in order down the list Maddy hit 'Stat distribution' and immediately came to the out of body experience she had been in before. She had seventy-seven stats. That was...that was a massive amount. She was rich! So many unique achievements that had only given one or two stats 'in the moment' were now being cached in. A delayed reward for all of her actions up till now – the real reason to push for unique achievements.
Hemming and hawing slightly – Maddy tried to consider what was the best for spells – she really wanted to just dump everything into soul stats because of how hard they were to gain normally...but she didn't really know what they 'did' yet. She knew how mental stats were helping her...she could feel it.
So that's where I'll direct my focus.
Maddy brought both mental power and speed up to an even forty to start – this was quite a bit different 'this time around'. Maddy did a slight double take at the changes.
The first time she distributed stats towards her mind she saw a sort of representation of her brain with different parts somewhat overlaid with a sense of what she could increase. Instead of a total increase, she could have sent stats to her frontal lobe or temporal lobe or whatever – increase her short-term memory power or decision making...at the time she hadn't seen a 'magic controlling section and had simply distributed them somewhat evenly. She had even pushed that evenly further - smoothing over parts that seemed to have more stats so everything was a bit more uniform.
This time around her mind...well it looked almost like the spider web of an arachnid with a specific taste for brains. Lumpy brainmatter wrapped in cocoons of brainmatter that was mostly magic like a spider was saving it for later. There was a lump in the center she would consider her 'main' brain and then following little magical strands outwards there were several sub-brains. except...none of these were actually seperate brains. They were simply duplicated parts of her own brain seperated out into different areas.
The strands touched several largeish lumps of grey matter and then spread out yet again to touch smaller scraps. This whole shape was more a metaphor than anything else – and the main point for this new metaphor was how it changed with more stats. Trying to push power towards her main brain would have a small bit latch on and a larger bit drip off down the webs in all directions – pooling in different scraps to make them larger as well as growing the barest hints of nubs at the end of each line. Trying to push speed into her main 'brain' would add a tiny bit then spread and add a tiny bit...as well as somehow grow more connections the speed stat splitting off strands of spiderweb to attach more densely. Slightly curious Maddy added a single mental defense – she hadn't come across a need for it yet but it seemed like the sort of thing you didn't see the use of until it was relevant.
All of the energy contained in 1 unit quantity of 'mental defense' spread throughout the web itself thickening the lines by the barest of an amount and removing a frayed end she hadn't even noticed was there.
Now, a bit more confident in her desires, Maddy pushed some of the 'power' and 'speed' she had assigned into 'visualization' before it locked. the ability to picture things in her mind was almost directly related to her freeform ability to do magic – all spells could be done without it if she properly shaped them, but so far she kept having to make changes on the fly.
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Hence the bias towards visualization.
There seemed to be a way she could try and better control the growth of this web – try and make an effort to make dedicated areas with each lump being better at one thing instead of everything...but she had already used a lot of her free stats on mental increases.
Maddy teetered on a decision for a second and then caved – dumping the rest in her soul stats once more by holding them close towards the 'her' that was picking – trying to balance how they felt.
Stats distributed, balance 0.
+22 mental speed.
+7 mental power.
+1 mental defense.
+17 soul speed.
+15 soul power.
+16 soul defense.
Mostly happy with those decisions Maddy moved on.
Nurture your foundation!
Your decisions and actions have affected results.
Soul eater:
Consume the bodies of your fallen enemies – for mana and now memories.
You may learn snippets of information from souls you consume. Consumed intelligent souls will add knowledge to the library of your mind, as well as increase your ‘thinking’ power.
For main benefit, consumed souls must be human.
Mana mind:
Interlace your thoughts with mana, tying both your mental stats more tightly to your magic as well as tying your magic more tightly to your thoughts.
For maximum benefit, personal spells must be used to interface beyond just pushing mana into place.
Custom:
Request a different fertilizer, removing bonuses due to actions.
Requested foundation growth will have variable effectiveness based on desire and difficulty of request.
Heavy recommendation to tie both past choices and foundation to request.
Warning: Challenge given will have a variable amount of increased difficulty.
Maddy stared at the options before her.
Instead of two choices splitting into two more, she now had three. Two examples building off of her previous and a “build your own” with a disclaimer about increased difficulty.
“…The fact that there is a custom option is…weird. It makes it seem like anything is possible?” She asked of the darkness.
“Well…it is magic. So, these are probably things I could do even without the system’s help? No point trying to pick something different when the systems offering exactly the sort of option I want.” Choosing 'mana mind' when she didn't get a response – the soul option had looked useful, but the idea of killing humans made Maddy's stomach twist – Maddy then moved on to the final section.
R’s information (Bonus)
----------------------------------------
This is not a part of your clear rewards, this is…a bonus from me to you. Think of it as those gift baskets your insurance providers used to send you – just a little something extra to keep my clients happy.
Your foundation dug deep and fueled itself upon your past. Think of it as a freebie – a reward for past events 'for the system would have rewarded you them if you had been a part of it back then.
The fuel for your current growth however will be a trial in the present – that’s all I’m willing to say as spoiling it may ruin a bit of the mechanisms. You can forgo your trial – leave and not receive any rewards – but those who don’t nurture their foundations may not do well in the next zone.
Good luck.
~R
Maddy read the note then hit the button watching as colours leaked into view.
...
She was watching herself back in the tutorial.
In front of her was the old woman she had been asking for information – happily telling her anything and everything she might ask.
The woman was kind – she had endless patience as Maddy slowly teased out everything about her new world.
Stats! How they grew, how they interacted, how they could be focused.
Quests! The quest board and how to best make use of it.
How to get achievements! The type of mindset she had to get in to do something rare, something others hadn't done before. The way achivements were biased towards things that were hard to do alongside being rare.
…she had forgotten some of this – Maddy had gotten distracted and hadn’t been purposefully working on doing unique actions for a while. She should get back on that – So! Why was she being shown this again? Just so she remembered to try and do more unique things?
...most of her last unique achievements were all spell feats that were only 'unique' cause she had done them first...she should take better advantage of her situation shouldn't she?
Maddy – the Maddy in the scene – finally finished her interrogation and walked away. Turning as she left, the memory waved and thanked the guide a final time. She then disappeared around the corner – memory Troy drifting off after her like a puppy.
And then…
And then something changed.
Maddy walked out of sight of the old woman and suddenly 'they' just felt different.
Her structured helpful mannerisms faded – and Maddy was left looking in horror at someone...'different'. A 'different' person wearing the same skin.
Not bad, not good...just someone else. Only a horror due to the 'change' itself and how complete it was.
A single tear fell down the old woman’s eye – the ‘NPC’ as some travellers had taken to calling them. Alone the woman shook and clutched her arms in silent horror, fingernails digging deep into her forearms as she trembled and silently wept and muttered in a foreign language and–.
And then suddenly stopped.
Her tears were gone – her mannerisms ‘fixed’. Maddy was once again looking at a kind woman. A traveller was walking towards them – sorry, just the woman. Maddy wasn’t here – she was just an observer. At some point the vision had started feeling too real – it was a memory. It wasn't happening, it just might have happend.
The vision faded even as the ‘player’ began asking for information and the ‘NPC’ happily responded – repeating lines again and again like a marionette. Like a puppet.
“This is the tutorial village – all visitors get one free weapon! One free weapon, one free complimentary meal…”
…
Maddy stood in darkness.
What was she supposed to take away from that vision?
What the heck?
Why had that woman cried as soon as she was alone? What had Maddy missed? That her supposedly good sense for people hadn’t picked up anything off? Why…why did the NPC act so aggressively out of sight? It couldn’t have been that bad to talk to Maddy could it have? With what purpose had 'R' shown that scene to her? Was it really what had happend?
Before Maddy had time to properly react to the scene, everything changed once more – a faint popup appeared briefly and then disappeared once more.
Mana Mind chosen: Trial commencing.
…
Maddy found herself in a windowless room. Her teammates stood disoriented in front of her before suddenly jumping into action. "Hey, were you also just picking some foundation or something?" Jessica asked walking towards her.
Suddenly – a few seconds into her greeting – Jessica dropped like a rag doll.
Behind her, Troy buckled as well – falling like he had been smashed over the head with something.
Rushing forward Madison saw both had crumpled heads. Their craniums were bashed-in, leaking blood and brain matter across the floor.
Trial: Choose
You can only heal one in time. Attempting to heal both will result in neither surviving. Taking too long to choose will result in neither surviving.
Who will you 'choose' to save? Who will you 'choose' to abandon?
“What kind of trial is this!” Maddy found herself yelling frantically, put on the spot.
She had to make a choice quickly. An important choice – one that shouldn’t be a thing she had to make.
They wouldn’t just kill my friends for my 'trial' would they? They are their own people – they don't just exist to be 'my companions' no matter how dumb my brain is with considering myself the main character – right? It doesn't logically make sense to kill other people in a trial just for me – right?
Maddy didn’t have this time to try and figure out how or why this was happening.
They had resurrections, didn’t they? It wouldn’t be death ‘for good’ would it?
She still hadn’t chosen. She really didn't have time for this.
Maddy's mind stilled. Her steadily growing attempt at becoming a better person was set to the side. Once she had tossed that part of her the choice was easy. A simple pros and cons done in less than a second. A simple choice made in as short a time as possible.
Reaching out she began healing Jess.
Once she started working her previous thoughts returned almost reproachful – it felt like she was a different person sitting there judging the choice. Judging herself.
...
It felt wrong being made to choose. Trying to justify her choice to herself made her feel sick – was it just because Jess was more talkative? More fun? She knew more about her? Or... was she choosing who could better protect her? Choosing her tank instead of her sniper as a better match for her build. She didn't need an archer did she?
Maddy wasn’t healing optimally – where was her scythe? It had disappeared when she had entered this ‘completion space’ why hadn’t she noticed till now? Why was she just pushing life mana towards her friend and hoping they would be healed?
“Hear me my mana. Life and the healing properties it provides. Darkness and its ability to spread, to pass through and permeate this body. Help me, Help me heal Jess. Help me heal my friends – both of them if you can. Heal all who hear my voice! My healing is not limited by the number of patients I heal. My words, my pleas, my emotions should communicate just how much I want them to survive.” Maddy spoke wildly – pushing dark-life mana roughly into her voice. She should be figuring out a rhyme, shouldn’t she? That was just so hard, and she was put on the spot and panicking – the trial said trying to heal both would result in neither surviving – why? Maddy had a good distributed mind – she could focus on two people just as easily as one. Would something happen if she tried that? Was the real trial how she would react to being told she could only save one? Maddy had chosen – had chosen who she would heal first! Not who she would stop on.
Trying desperately to imagine the roots of her 'seed spell' pulling flesh together Maddy watched as slowly but surely Jess began waking up. Her mental image wasn't linked to darkness – or even light – currently. She had to become better at healing people considering it was a huge part of her toolkit right now. Once she finished this she would move straight to Troy. She should have time – he still looked alive after all.
If they survived, would they know who she had chosen?
…
Trial complete: Mana mind received.
Both bodies melted away and Maddy found herself sitting in the darkness once more – clutching Troy’s chest desperately attempting to fix him after she had stabilized Jess. His shirt slowly faded from her touch melting into the darkness around her. The darkness had stolen him from her. The darkness was supposed to be her friend – why was it turning on her now? She could do it! He was still alive!
A new popup appeared – one nearly identical to the one at the end of the tutorial. A massive popup she could barely find herself focusing on.
Welcome to the continuation of this game we are playing!
As a general announcement, nothing that happened in your trial should matter – if you died your cooldown will have taken effect but nothing else that happened is permanent. Nothing you saw should be real. Some of you may have experienced something traumatic. You must push past it – the price of power isn't too steep but it takes its toll on all.
Going forward~
A few minor changes come into effect in the following zone. Pain numbing has been completely removed. The goal is not to get hurt! Permanent pain numbing has been deemed to have negative consequences no matter how useful it is towards letting you acclimate to a strenuous existence.
Your endless resurrections are now capped. Three lives max for the free ones – this is a fair number gathered from existing games. I suggest you don't find out what happens in the final death. The goal is to not die!
Furthermore: alongside the 10 minutes of weakness for every stat point you have, you will now be subject to additional negative ‘debuffs’ for the duration of your resurrection.
By entering the following area you agree to all these changes and acknowledge you have been informed.
Accept?
Yes No
Not consenting to 'zone 2's rules will place you back in zone 1 with no means to progress. The system will be disabled for you and living conditions may worsen. (Not advised).