Left alone Bronson was glad for his focus on his Kol pool. He expected it was probably still a bit smaller than most of the other students, but it was growing quite fast. This was good because he was fairly sure that without it he be stuck in a less than ideal situation. Thankfully, despite a few collisions with furniture, his improvised incantations were suitable for moving around, even if it essentially manifested as using magic to throw himself.

It was a relief because he couldn’t imagine anything worse than being cooped up in just one room all day. It also meant he could give Abrax privacy while praying. He’d managed to stay away so far and didn’t want to intrude. It seemed like the kind of activity that required reverence.

Locomotion sorted and bladder emptied Bronson made his way to his loveseat-esque armchair, and used a further collection of incantations to draw the skills book over. He maneuvered the book into a comfortable position on his lap. Reminded, Bronson made sure to turn his emulated Kol manipulation skill into a true class skill. [Deft Kol Touch] filled up his current class skill slots and brought the total of class skills to four.

Bronson read the skill description: Deft Kol Touch - You can interact with and direct Kol more easily. Higher levels in the skill improve proficiency and reduce spell costs.

It wasn’t clear how significant the growth effects would be, but reduced spell costs couldn’t hurt

Bronson sighed, he’d been neglecting his system notifications. Nothing big just lots of little skill level ups, from what he could tell, a sign that his system presence was still high. Checking it: 1801, it had actually gone up. Though Bronson wasn’t sure why. Just in case he cast [Self Aware].

The dimensional mark was at 8 percent. Panic flared through him. But no it was as expected. It would take a bit over two years for the mark to fully charge he’d been on Dari for a couple of months. It didn’t seem as though it was charging any faster so the system wasn’t interested because of dimensional energies. It must have been something else.

Checking the mark had roused the gnawing anxieties but it wasn’t getting any worse. In a way it was a relief but it also drove home how important it was to not slack. Even if he could take more muscle tinctures it wouldn’t be worth the risk. Despite the pain the brooch was his best option.

It also meant he couldn’t afford to be inefficient in his studies and hopefully the book of skills would help with that. But first he needed to go over any changes to his skills and assess whether they were actually valuable for dealing with the dimensional mark. If they weren’t they might have to go.

Bronson used a pair of incantations to draw a notebook over and used another to singe words into the first clear page.

Necessary Skill (strikethrough)

I Want to Keep

Damage Smammage (Lv2) +1 maybe its not my fault im getting knocked out?

Attention Regulation (lvl5)+5

Thought management(Lvl10) +9

I dont get a choice grr

Altered presence (Lvl 5) +2

Probably Required

Stable hoofing (Lvl7) +1 maybe I tripped

Meditation (Lvl0) I should probably start doing this

Debatable

Unflinching (Lvl1)

Analyse skill (Lvl1)

Identify (Lv4)

Self aware (Lvl3)

Flame retardant (Lvl6)

Lightning resistant (Lvl 5)

Two of his skills [Attention Regulation] and [Thought Management] gained quite a lot of skill levels, though it wasn’t surprising given that he was using one of them almost constantly and the other frequently too. A couple of the other skills had also gained levels, but lots of them didn’t. It raised the question of whether they were actually worthwhile.

He’d gained all of his resistance to fire and lightning on his first day, but he wasn’t sure how likely he was to need it. Resistance to it probably meant less likely to die from it if exposed, and he definitely wanted to stay alive but there was opportunity cost. Even if he had to delve dungeons, were the skills worth it right now?

There were also the other skills in the debatable section. How likely was he to use those.

Bronson shook his head. He couldn’t make an informed choice until he knew more and until he started dungeon delving again, because lots of his skills were useful for that. Especially things like Unflinching or Stable Hooofing, though that one also had non combat applications.

Maybe it was best to use skill slots for the things magic couldn’t do well, like be fast, or for the things he couldn’t do yet in magic. A skill to make remembering or recalling things easier seemed like it might be a good idea.

Ultimately he had one free slot and probably a few skills that could be swapped out at least for a little while if he found better options.

Bronson used another quick incantation to flip open the first page. Bronson grinned. Abrax would love this.

There was no table of contents, the book just launched straight in Bronson read the first entry.

Abrasive Buffing

Skill Description: Hold an object with intent to buff out roughness and imperfections. Higher levels increase buffing rate and resulting smoothness.

How to obtain: Start with rough material/object and go through the stages of sanding it down. Wood is recommended as it is faster, but stone, metal, pottery, or any other material that can be buffed to a smooth finish may also work.

While going through the process, intend for the buffing to happen faster than you can do it alone. The best mental image will differ for different people but a mental image of the object being buffed out is important for this process.

For further insight on how the skill can be used and obtained please see further reference materials: Mason’s Institute Manual 7, Apprentice Level Bow Construction, Damian Nettle’s guide to Homemade Perfect Pottery, …and Rare and Unusual Dungeon Rewards Volume 3.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

Bronson stared at the thick book. This is going to take a while.

Bronson cranked [Thought Management] up to 4 times speed on both threads and then used [Attention Regulation] he set one thread to be fully focused and left the other to be reset every 20 minutes.

[Attention Regulation] was weird. During the duration of its activation nothing actually felt wrong. It felt like it was entirely natural to have no threads of thought trail off or to notice nothing else going on around him. But once the skill elapsed everything came crashing back, the stiff feeling in his neck, the hunger pawing at his empty stomach or the weight of the boredom from pouring through page after page.

He was about half way through the book, though admittedly most of the time he wasn’t reading the full entry, just the skill name and description before moving on. But he quite liked the list he had so far.

Extra Sensory Stimulus. It was out of reach for now, because according to the book the best way to obtain it was to combine a group of skills together but a sub skill seemed quite appealing.

Night Warden’s Eagle Eye. Night vision and the ability to see further with improved detail. Which would improve with level.

The question was how good it would be before it was levelled up and whether he would actually have the chance to use it.

There was also Greater Elemental Resistance, which seemed to be a good path to try to progress the resistance to fire and lightning down though that would need to be built into Elemental Resistance first.

Bronson settled down in his chair, once more making liberal use of incantations and reactivated [Attention Regulation].

The following hours passed in a blur and Bronson’s list grew. There was only a small portion of the book left, so instead of setting the same 20 minute break and reset he changed the ending trigger for the end of the book and started reading once more.

When he finished he felt an odd weight on his antlers and he looked up. Berrioux let out an indignant caw.

While Bronson was looking up Abrax crossed the room. “You shouldn’t use skills like that. They’re dangerous.”

Bronson slowed thought management for usual conversation.

“I’m safe. Abrax I’m in our room.”

Abrax levelled a scrutinising look at him. “Fine. So what have you been working on?”

“Listing out some skills I might take.”

Abrax gently picked up the notebook. Abrax gave him a weird look. “Why do you have [Antler Glossing] on here?”

“It looked interesting?”

Abrax raised an eyebrow. “Okay Bronson.”

Abrax held the notebook out for Bronson to take it, and then placed it down in his lap.

“How did you get over here anyway?”

Bronson smirked. “I can show you.”

Flight… But on a budget.

Two invisible hands grabbed hold of him and flung him towards the study/dining room. Before he could hit the ground Abrax lunged over and caught him.

“Bronson.”

Bronson looked up at him. “Yes?”

“That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“It works.”

Abrax’s chest depressed in a sigh. “Have you eaten yet?”

“No.” Bronson coughed lightly. ”I didn’t feel confident in using incantations with the stove.”

“Sorry what was that? Incantations can’t do everything?”

Bronson poked Abrax softly. “I uh, wasn’t hungry?”

“Well we can’t be having that. Bronson, hold on.”

Without warning Abrax turned so that they were facing the door.

“No.”

Abrax grinned. “Come on Bronson hold on tight.”

“I hate you.”

Abrax took away the arm that was supporting Bronson’s back forcing him to lock his shaking arms around Abrax’s neck. “Abrax, I’m going to fall.”

“You’re fine.”

Abrax pulled open the door and moved out into the hall. The twist of Abrax’s body as he reached out to close the door spelled the end of Bronson’s tenuous hold on his neck and Bronson slipped. Bronson sped his thoughts up again and threw his hand out trying to grab onto anything. Two fingers caught Abrax’s collar but the fabric ripped under Bronson’s weight. Even if he was skinny right now, Alcans were far larger than humans.

His catch gave Berrioux the time to launch off his antlers but Bronson tipped. In slow motion Bronson saw Abrax abandon the door handle and reach down towards him. But it wasn’t fast enough. His antlers smashed into the polished stone floor, one of them snapped somewhere, and the impact travelled down into his skull, rattling his brain.

With thought management he had plenty of time to recover from it and watch Victoria’s door at the far end of the door close shut behind her. Her eyes locked on them, unblinking.

Abrax’s hand grabbed onto Bronson’s waistband to stop him falling further and Bronson’s shirt rode up his chest, falling over his face.

He knew it was because of [Thought Manipulation] but the moment seemed to hold out for an eternity. When Victoria started to speak Bronson toned it down to normal levels.

“Abrax you really shouldn’t be doing things in the hall.” said Victoria. He could hear the smile on her lips.

Bronson’s mind flashed back to the day before and Victoria’s exit from the hospital room. Oh my god, the mark killed me. I’m dead. I am in hell.

He heard footsteps coming over. Abrax was still motionless. Victoria reached under him and lifted him upright, or as upright as he could be while his legs were still hooked over one of Abrax’s arms.

Abrax released Bronson’s waistband and pulled his shirt down to cover him again, then put his arm back under Bronson to support him.

“I hate you so much.” Bronson was sure his face was red like a tomato.

Abrax’s eyes were wide like saucers. “I’m so sorry Bronson. I didn’t mean for you to get hurt – your antlers. I–”

“Not that.”

Abrax froze. “So you’re not going to report me?”

“No?”

Both Vic and Abrax looked relieved.

Vic reached down and picked up the tip of Bronson’s bloodied broken Antler. “But what are we going to do about this?”

Bronson could feel a trickle of blood on his scalp. “It’s fine. After I have something to eat, I can fix it.”

Abrax shook his head and laughed nervously. “Of course you can.”

Bronson reflected on how they looked. He had a chipped and bleeding antler, Victoria was holding it. Abrax had a ripped shirt and was holding a body that was for most intents and purposes quite limp.

Vic ushered them back into their room and took charge. “Abrax go and get a new shirt on and then go get some food to bring back. I’ll stay here and watch over Bronson.”

Before Abrax left Bronson called out. “Take some of my credits, they should be in my shirt from yesterday.”

Abrax left mouthing, ‘thanks’ as he passed through the door.

Victoria sat in the armchair opposite Bronson and asked what happened. As he told her about his day she started laughing. “I told him to take you out to dinner, not take you out on the way to dinner.”

Bronson opened his mouth in shock. “That’s what that was?” Why didn’t he ask, why did he just pick me up?”

Victoria grinned. “I think it’s a fae thing.”

Bronson went stock still. “What?

She blinked at him. “He’s from Thalsa? They worship some fae. Emulate them…”

“Oh right yeah.”

Vic pointed at the notepad. “You want some feedback on skill options?”

“Uh yeah.”

While they waited for Abrax to come back they went through some of the skill options. Victoria agreed that greater resistance was probably a good option to work towards long term and talked pros and cons of some of the different memory skills.

She didn’t recognise all of the skills on his list, but lots of them she did.

With her help he worked out that his immediate goal over the next few days would be to get [Memory Enhancement] a mixture of [Improved Recall] and [Memory Detail] which could later be melded with [Connectivity Enhancment] for [Cerebral Enhancement] if he wanted it. His secondary goal would be to get [Mental Library].

Mental library would be less useful for immediate recall, but Vic said that it was very good for very precise topics, with a much larger capacity than his brain even with stats.

They were just discussing the merits of a storage skill when Abrax came back through the door delicious smelling food in cardboard boxes.

Bronson’s stomach growled. He was famished.