Even though the cost for blood demon as a race was going to be 25 points, it was still almost as much as the cambion species itself. In order to be able to afford it and still get everything else he wanted would mean he had to sell 25 points worth of memories. It was totally worth it as far as he was concerned based on how strong it seemed, though. He sighed as he backed out again to start looking through the store for memories he could sell. After a while he finally managed to sell off a decent amount of memories and had made 28 points from it. Three extra points wasn't bad so he bought his species and races to make sure that was done before looking through the traits again.
As he bought the two traits he had already decided on he absentmindedly looked across the rest of the traits as he considered what to use the remaining points on. He didn't know how things would go after all of this but he wanted to try and be ready for whatever he could. Obviously magic was a thing he had to think about now but there were apparently prerequisites needed to be able to use it and he didn't know what they were yet so he had to consider the other things that he might need. He noticed a certain trait as he was scrolling through that he had seen before but not really checked on the details of as he was lost in thought.
Farsight: An improved version of colored sight. Allows the individual to focus their vision slightly and see further as if their vision were zoomed in by 2 times. Multiple instances of this trait are possible, each allowing the individual to zoom in their sight by up to another 2 times. Cost: 2 points.
That seemed like a good pick that could be useful in a lot of situations. He wondered what other traits there were that could help. He thought about looking through the traits to find out when a thought occurred. Being able to see more things and better was great but how would he know what he was looking at? Didn't most of those novels and games usually have some kind of appraisal skill or something? He had wanted to stay away from buying skills but maybe trying to get that one skill that always seemed to make such a big difference in an understandable way would be a good idea after all. He swapped over and looked at the skill list as he searched for Appraisal while noting the little line of text underneath it.
Note: Skill costs have been reduced during character creation.
Appraisal: The evolved form of the Analyze skill. Allows an individual to swiftly gain as much information about a target as possible. Cost: 65 points.
Analyze: The evolved form of the Identify skill. Allows an individual to swiftly gain some simple information about a target. Continued observation can improve upon the knowledge known. Cost: 30 points.
Identify: Allows an individual to gain some simple information about a target through observation. Cost: 1 point.
If these were reduced costs then he had to wonder just how much they would have cost normally. He decided that he wouldn't worry about it for now and bought the general skill and the vision trait and looked over his status. As far as he could tell he was satisfied with how he had done things. What he wasn't satisfied with was how the status screen looked, though. Before he bothered to try and figure out what to do next, he went ahead and began customizing it to make it easier to go through.
Name: -
Sex: M
Age: 17
Lvl: 0
Exp: 0/5
SP: 0
Species: Cambion
Race: Etherai, Blood Demon
Role: N/A
Sta: 146.3/146.3
(Vig/2)
Sta Reg: 62.6/hour
(Dex/5)
Mana: 170.2/170.2
(Mag/2)
Mana Reg: 42/hour
(Mind/10 +50%+1%)
--- Vig Dex
Vit: 95.8
(94+2%)
Con: 104
(102+2%)
Str: 92.8
(91+2%) Fin: 101.4
(88+10+1.5+2%) Agi: 106.5
(93+10+1.5+2%) Spd: 105.5
(92+10+1.5+2%) Mind Mag Int: 88.7
(87+2%) Wis: 97.9
(96+2%)
Will: 91.8
(90+2%)
For: 113.2
(95+10+5+1+2%) Pow: 111.1
(93+10+5+1+2%) Spi: 116.2
(98+10+5+1+2%) --- Class: N/A Lvl: 0 Exp: 0/0 Skills: 1. ---
Traits:
Angel Blood, Bidirectional Hearing, Blindsight(ground sense, hearing, water)(5 meters), Blood Domain, Blood Magic Affinity, Glossophobia, Bloodhound, Carnivorous, Curse Absorbent(blood), Dark Magic Affinity, Demon Blood, Dragon Blood, Endoskeleton, Farsight, Four-limbed(bipedal), Night Vision, Nosocomephobia, Trypanophobia(minor)
Racial Skills:
1. Blood Magic (1) 3. Detect Life (1) 2. Minor Regeneration (1) 4. Meditation (1) 5.
General Skills:
1. Identify (1) 4. 2. 5. 3. Ultimate Skills: Titles:
Abilities(Hidden):
Blood Manipulation, Draconic Might, Enduring Mana, Mana Burst, Unholy Intimidation
Would you like to use this customization to view all future status windows? Yes/No
He went ahead and chose yes to the little prompt at the bottom of his window and stared happily at his handiwork. It wasn't perfect, sure, but he had put in a lot of work to make it much easier to look at and understand. The best part, in his current opinion, was when he found out he could have his abilities listed as well. All in all, he thought his status looked pretty good for a level 0. Of course, he didn't have anything to really compare it to but that wasn't the point. The real question for the moment was: what now?
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Would you like to move into the next stage of character creation? Yes/No
This system was pretty convenient, being able to read his mind and do stuff like that. He went ahead and chose to move on and was greeted with a whole new convoluted window with what looked like his old self standing out in the open. It was kind of a surreal experience to see himself standing in front of him without a mirror. As he looked closer he could see that, compared to his old self, the person in front of him looked a lot younger, likely attributed to his regression to age 17, and had slight points on the ears and slight slants to the eyes. As he looked over what he assumed was the body he was supposed to be customizing, he realized that it was a bit strange that he could remember what he looked like at all much less at that age since it had been one of the memories he had sold.
He thought about it for a little bit and finally determined that it must be because he still wasn't done with the character creation. After all, if he decided to change his mind about something and wanted to buy back the memories, it would be difficult if he couldn't remember them anymore. Satisfied he had found the right answer, he took a look at his countdown timer and drew back a little.
5:10:14:23
Somehow he had spent more than a day and a half up to this point. He hadn't even taken his time to read through everything yet he still had somehow spent so much time already. Strangely, he didn't feel tired at all but that was likely attributed to him being a soul instead of a living being. Still, even without having to worry about time for sleep he could see how he easily could have spent another day or two working on his status. He checked on the timer again and told himself that he would finish this part in ten hours or less no matter what. There weren't a whole lot of changes he actually wanted to make, anyways, so just doing a few small things here and there while paying attention to the clock should be good enough.
After an hour or two fiddling with the various controls and options in the windows, another five or six hours to make the main adjustments he he wanted, and then another hour or two to fix all the tiny little things he was finally done. It looked a little different from his past life's teenage self, enough to be seen as a different person, but was still close enough that he would probably feel comfortable enough. He checked the time and saw he still had a little less than half an hour before the 5 day mark came so he decided to call it done enough and mentally announced to the system that he was done. A new prompt appeared in front of him.
Would you like to finalize your character creation and move onto the bonus tutorials? Yes/No
Bonus tutorials? As in multiples of them? Hopefully having 5 days left would allow him to take them slower, then. He chose 'yes' and was met with another prompt full of option. Unfortunately, no matter how he tried he couldn't get any other information other than what was shown.
Please choose a scenario: Arena Gauntlet, Beast Hunt, Companion Care, Crafter's Apprentice, Dungeon Delver, Mage School, Target Range, Warrior Training, Wildlands Survival. Rewards are given for the 12 hour checkpoint, completing the scenario, and achieving the bonus objective.
He thought through the choices for a little bit before finally deciding that he would choose Mage School. He had a magic skill already but he couldn't use it because magic had some requirement he didn't know about yet. Mage School sounded like a pretty good way to learn about whatever he was missing. He chose the Mage School option and suddenly felt different. He looked around a little and soon realized that the different feeling was that of being in his body. After two days of being a soul, the feeling of having an actual body affected by gravity was a little jarring. He came out of his thoughts in time to see the last ticks of a countdown in front of him.
He was suddenly standing in a hallway made of stone. It kind of reminded him of depictions of medieval castle hallways, complete with torches on the walls. The hallway was wide enough for almost six people to walk next to each other and the ceiling was more than twice his height above him. A prompt appeared in front of him, the letter glowing slightly to make it easier to read in the torchlight of the hallway.
Objectives: You have 12 hours to attend a minimum of 5 classes. Tests will be given in the second 12 hours. Complete the tests of all classes attended with passing grades before 24 hours are up.
Bonus Objective: Score higher than 90% on all tests taken.
23:58:47
He wasn't sure where exactly he was supposed to go since he couldn't see anybody around but he was on a timer so he decided to just start walking down the hallway until he found either something that looked like a classroom or someone he could ask for directions. The hallways soon led to what looked like a reception area where a lady who looked like an elf was calmly sitting behind a desk and doing paperwork. He decided to try and use his identify skill on her before he approached any closer.
[Elf][Worker]
That was a lot less helpful than he expected. At least he got the guess about her being an elf correct. He let out a light sigh and approached her in hopes that she would be able to help him find some classes to attend. As walked up to her desk, she looked up at him with a surprised look on her face. She suddenly sifted through some of the papers on her desk in a flustered manner before finding the paper she was seemingly looking for and looked back up at him. He decided to kindly wait for her through all of that since apparently he had surprised her for some reason and he felt a little sorry about it.
"Am I right in assuming your one of the new arrivals?"
He thought about how to answer that for a moment. It was true he was newly arrived at this school but he wasn't sure if that's what she was asking about. There was even a possibility that in this scenario he was supposed to be an established student here or something. Then again, he needed information and he didn't have time to try and play pretend too much so truth was probably the best course of action.
"Umm...I think so?"
"Right, sorry. That question might have been a little strange. I wasn't expecting any of the new arrivals to start doing the bonus tutorials this soon. You just completed your transfer, correct? I believe it was call character creation or something?"
"Oh, right. Yes, I finished that. Wait. Does that mean you aren't part of the scenario or something? I expected something like NPCs to be here or something."
"Ah. I've heard that some of your kind call us residents that. You must have completed your transfer quite quickly and chosen this as your first bonus tutorial, then. Well, while I send a notification to the teachers to make sure they're ready for classes to start I'll go ahead and explain things for you. I'm sure you'll want to take The Basics of Magic as your first class, unless you come from a world that already had magic. Usually those who come from such a world don't bother to come here for one of their bonus tutorials but there are always exceptions..."
"No. There was no magic in my world as far as I know."
"Alright. While that teacher prepares her class for you, I'll try and explain some of the common knowledge that I'm sure you want to know. This isn't the first time I've done this for new arrivals so I'm sure I can explain the most important things. First off, there are two kinds of people here: residents and salients. There are technically methods for one to become the other but in general residents are born here and salients are people who either died on other worlds or got lost between dimensions somehow. Most of the people you'll meet during the bonus tutorials will likely be residents or salients who arrived at the same time as you and are doing the same tutorial at the same time. Does that make sense?"
He nodded. There were definitely still plenty of questions to be asked but she had concisely explained the big ones he had at the moment.
"Great. I'm sure you have plenty of other questions and as much as I would love to help you by answering them, you are currently on a timer and it's probably best if you use your tutorial time to accomplish what you can. Questions about why you're here, what to do with your life, how things are, or other similar things will be answered eventually once you're finally finished with the seven arrival days. So, let's get you signed up for some classes. I believe you need 5, right? My recommendations for someone from a world without magic would be the basics, which you already agreed to, Magic Skill Acquisition, Introduction to Magical Items, Magical Methods and Support, and then a basics class on whichever of the methods you fancy most after Magic Skill Acquisition of Magic Circles, Arias, or Signs. Does that sound okay?"
"Um, sure? Should I just come back here after Magic Skill Acquisition to sign up for the last class, then?"
"That'll be fine. Here's a map of where the classes are that you can take with you. Each classroom should have paper and writing utensils if you need to take notes already. Good luck!"
"Uh, thanks."
He looked at the map and sped away to try and get to the class as soon as possible. There was no actual door into the room, just an arched doorway, and the room itself reminded him of a college classroom. There was a podium and blackboard at one end of the room and rows of counters with benches to act as desks and seats that got higher the further they were from the teacher. Behind the podium stood a short man, which he tried to use identify on as he moved to a front row seat.
[Gnome][Teacher]
As soon as he sat down, the teacher glanced at him before starting the lesson. There was no introduction or moving carefully into things, which he kind of appreciated due to his 24 hour timer. He scrambled to try and take notes on everything he thought would be difficult to remember or that sounded the most important. He was never the most studious of people, though, and even when he was still in school all those years ago he had trouble retaining all of the knowledge from the teaching. At least the idea of magic was interesting to him, so that helped him pay a little more attention than he might have otherwise.
As soon as the class was over he sprinted off to the next one with his notes in hand without thinking too much about the things he had been taught. Supposedly the next class would help clarify some things he hadn't fully understood so he wanted to get through that first. After identifying his next teacher and sitting through another class he quickly left and headed back to the nice receptionist lady to adjust his class schedule. A quick look at his countdown timer told him that each class was taking about an hour and a half. The past three hours had actually taught him more than he expected and now he wanted to drop one of his previous choices because of it.
Being able to use magic required learning at least one of three skills first: Magic Circles, Aria, or Magic Sign. Circles were considered the best way because you could prepare as many as you needed ahead of time to cast them almost instantly when they were needed. There were even some support skills that could be learned to draw the skills during combat situations as well and even though doing it that way was typically slower than the other two ways, it was still considered completely viable. Arias were great for those who could memorize lines or wanted to get into musical magic, neither of which seemed like his kind of thing, and was considered the top method for back line combat casting without preparation. Magic signing could also be used for combat casting but with the right support skills it would make it the top choice for using magic at shorter ranges, such as during melee combat.
Having learned all of that, along with some of the simpler ways to get the necessary and desired skills as well as what a lot of the skills were, he had decided that he wanted to get more into both circles and signs. Unfortunately, with his current class lineup it would mean he had seven classes and he wasn't sure if he was quite ready to push himself that hard. Dropping one of the classes he was currently signed up for to make room for both of them would still put him at six but that was still doable, or so he thought.