Mana Sickness V (2:24:18)

The first thing I see when I wake is the painful reminder of my own changing body. I can't have helped my body's effort in altering itself by forcing that new perk, which explains the fresh hell descended on my muscles specifically. At least it's not the deep pain of the mana death that I could swear I felt in my soul... But this isn't much better.

And as I always seem to be when I wake up in this village, I'm starving. I can't have been in this new body for even a week yet, but the need for nourishment has never been far.

I know that if I can gather up the sheer effort required to sit up and even crawl out of this hut, that I can get some wonderful life-giving meat and equally wonderful forest water.

My inner demons, and the limbs they possess fight valiantly. But I prevail against their fiery bonds and emerge from my hut a new man!

Despite the semi-heroic pose, I'm in, I snicker. It's healthy to let my mind wander and act a little silly from time to time. Especially since this new world has forced me to hop from stressful situation to stressful situation like a pixelated frog.

Watching the emergence of computer technology was like watching another industrial revolution. I'm not going to be there to see what happens, but I'm sure they'll have all kinds of cool things people could only have dreamt of.

But enough useless wondering. In a world of mana, I doubt electrical technology will ever really take off. The realm of computing might be something unique to earth. A necessity borne of a lack of magic.

Syzslic breaks my very whimsical thoughts by gliding into view.

(You look to be in a good mood this morning.)

I causally begin stretching and flexing my body. For some reason, the aching has spread to my wings; an issue that hasn't been present since last night.

I feel good. You know, my body doesn't, but I feel like I achieved something big yesterday.

(In a way, you did. I hoped you would pose more of a threat to my hunters, but your second victory against Danis was enough to ruffle their scales. I've not seen a style of fighting like yours.)

I debate hiding the details of my martial experience, but for a reclusive tribe that's probably had little to no contact with humans, I can afford to pay them back with some information.

I used two different styles. In the first fight, I used simple counter from the Judo style. Mostly throws and counters, it's a style that capitalises on your opponent being stronger but slower than you. I managed to use the counter by surprising Danis. But because the hunters were all faster than me and probably expecting a counter, I couldn't use another.

The second type I used was a combination of moves from the Krav M'ga Style. The mid-air feint, grip and resulting downward punches are all part of the most versatile style I know. Mostly because its a bastardised version of a dozen other styles.

Syzslic nods along, seemingly thinking over what I say. While I haven't given the entire truth, I haven't really lied either. Nothing bad can come of this, I'm sure.

(As a favour to me, can you teach my hunters some of the Krav M'ga style? I can set it up so that the system will reward you too.)

I'm immediately eager to teach the hunters. From unrequited hostility to begrudging respect, this might be the next step to burying the hatchet with them. I'm curious what kind of favour I can get from the chief alongside how he can get the system itself to reward me.

I will teach them what I can, though I'm far from a master of the style. How will the system reward me though?

(Assuming you haven't led many lessons before, using the training ring as an official instructor can grant you experience and stats. Do you not utilise this in the human cities?)

I shrug, playing it off as if it's not unexpected.

Probably. I've never taught though. It explains how my teachers could always stay above the rest of the classes.

He nods, smiling knowingly. At this point, I'm warmed up and I've worked most of the knots out of my joints. It might just be the tightness I can still feel in my bigger muscles, but I'm sure they're a bit bigger. Such a difference in just two days is unprecedented.

There's a moment of awkward silence as Syzslic watches me admiring my own body.

So, is there anything on the itinerary today?

(Until you can use your mana again, there is no point in pitting you against anyone. Do what you would like until your body is healed. We will practice infusing your body with mana, and then you should be able to compete with my hunters physically.)

It's a welcome change as far as I can tell nowhere does it seem that I'll end up too hurt today. I'd like to try and push myself to increase my body by another point before my mana sickness runs out. My body is the only place that is causing me issues. With my high mind and incredible soul stats, I'll soon be able to hold my own against an army singlehandedly. All I have to do is bump up that stat and get some perks.

Ah, before I go for a run, I have a question about your body stat.

(Hmmm. I won't tell you what my stat is; such a thing is private.)

That's fine, I just wanted to know how effectively the old guardians used their perks, especially early on.

(Ah, I understand. It is only natural that given the option, you would try to replicate their success. For the most part, every perk we selected would be one that focused on increasing the total health or regeneration. With great magic at our fingertips, base physical strength was never an issue. We would always enhance what we had to a greater degree if needed.)

It makes sense... sort of. I understand that as a community, they could focus on magic while the other races focused on strength. But it leaves a massive flaw. Regardless of how great their magic is, as soon as they run out of mana, they would have become little more than bloody punching bags.

I think that I'll have to take a slightly more balanced approach. Enhancements to my health beyond the base stat are less important than fighting potential because of my regeneration. No matter what my total health is, I'll be able to fully regenerate that in less than six minutes.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Seems broken...

(Haha! In a way, it was. There are a few ways to manipulate the effectiveness of perks depending on intention and combination. Now, I have meditation to get to, and you have to plan how to win over my most stubborn people.)

I nod with a smile, my mind preoccupied with the potential of increasing my health through perks.

The more I can boost my regeneration, the more staying power I'll hold in any bout. But increasing my maximum health will make it harder for anyone or anything to instantly kill me.

I wonder if I can get to the point where decapitation won't even work?

Deciding to at least see what I'm going to be working with, I open my status and select the plus next to my body stat which has reached an impressive 28. Considering I was only at 2 or three when I first came here, that's a pretty impressive jump for about a weeks worth.

10 base Body reached. Rank 1 body perks unlocked. Available perks: (1) Healthy body (Increase maximum health by 5% of base maximum.)

Strong body (Increase body stats effectiveness in physical strength by 5%)

25 base Body reached. Rank 1 body perks unlocked. Available perks: (1) Healthier body (Increase maximum health by 10% of base maximum)

Stronger body (Increase body stats effectiveness in physical strength by 10%)

Healing body (Increase health regeneration by 7.5%)

Immediately, I want to choose healthy body due to the easily measurable increase, but considering how I've already increased my health pool by fourteen times my previous maximum, I decide to go with both strong and stronger body.

I don't feel any sort of immediate increase in strength, but since I've only really increased my strength by 15%, it's as if I got another four or so body stats. Not really enough of an increase to immediately notice. I've definitely become far stronger in the past week, but I've neglected to test any sort of brute strength or endurance to use as a reference.

I shrug away the needless theory. Hopefully, the 15% counts towards the strength of my wings. And hopefully, there are perks that make my body itself tougher.

Thinking over possible ways to allow myself flight in the near future, I launch into a rapid pace, quickly leaving the village behind as I follow the cliff edge.

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I finally shake off the mana sickness debuff while I'm trying to do pull-ups on a low tree branch on the village outskirts. Sadly enough, I didn't manage to bully myself into earning another body stat, but the return of my magic is more than enough to send my mood soaring.

I relish in the feeling of channelling my mana throughout my body, a process that seems almost as easy as moving my own limbs now.

Hanging from the tree in an endurance hold, I close my eyes and focus on my improved mana control.

Before I could channel my mana to specific locations by almost carving out a temporary path throughout a mental representation of my body. Casting fast was far easier due to the casting itself doing most of the work.

Now, I'm sure I'll be able to cast any of my spells on or from anywhere on my body. The multiple barriers I suspended over vital parts of my body during training was a technique I could only pull off after practising each location individually for hours.

Now though... Now it all seems so easy.

The mana no longer acts like it's flowing through my body as much as spreading through it. With only a little bit of tweaking my technique, I can simultaneously draw mana to a dozen random places in my body without straining my focus. Under Syzslics tutelage, I'm sure I'll be able to flood my body with mana, hopefully letting me cast my elusive hard spell. No matter how I tried to channel my mana, I couldn't cast it.

Even Syzslic had little to say about it when I mentioned it, making me suspect the spells granted by shapeless magic is something he isn't certain on. For one thing, I doubt he has the specific perk, and I'm pretty sure he was never explicit about whether it was normal for one of the court guardians to have it.

Regardless of his knowledge on the matter, the day is getting on and I have to both receive training in mana infusion and teach the basics of martial art to a group of brutally strong hunters.

It's time to find Syzslic and continue my training.

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Just like usual, the village chief is sitting in the darkness of his hut. It amazes me how dark the small building appears to be despite the clear flaws in the woven walls and the harsh sun outside. A type of darkening magic perhaps? Though I'm not sure which school it fits into.

(I presume your body has reached balance?)

"Huh?"

Oh, yeah. The effect ran out a couple of minutes ago.

(Have you tried to push your new potential?)

Not much. I noticed I could manipulate my own mana easier and in greater volume.

(That is a good first step. You will find that you no longer lose health when releasing rogue mana inside you, your spells can be much larger as you can hold a higher concentration of mana in one place when casting. That will be the primary portion of your next phase of training. The rest will consist of a basic lesson in mana infusion. How you use the infusion is up to you.)

Standing from his meditative position, he leads me back to the training ring. All the flaws that were beaten into it during the competition have been repaired.

With both of us standing near the centre of the ring, Syzslic forms half a dozen spheres of compressed earth from the surface of the ground and they surround me in a ring.

(First, I want you to defend against this attack. We will repeat until you can successfully block every projectile. Then I will increase the number of attacks, then the strength. You may use your offensive spell to intercept the earth if you wish.)

Oh?

Letting me use fast to destroy the spheres of earth is a new twist. I'll have to only use it from parts of me that I can use to aim, but if I focus my defences on my rear and my offence at the front, I should be able to take some of the strain off my shields.

I'm no professional, so I cast barrier on eight spots around my body, protecting the places I think he will aim for. I also charge mana into my palms, getting ready to intercept at least one of the balls of earth in front of me.

Ready!

With my upper back and spine protected as well as my shoulders and stomach, I'm confident that-

-31hp

-16hp

-40hp

Almost faster than I can see, the balls of earth fire towards me, some effortlessly shattering three of my shields. The rest hit me in the back, thigh and chest respectively.

The ones against my shields are broken up and lose enough momentum to not be harmful anymore.

I still fall to my knees as the pain in my leg and chest cause me to keel over.

I manage to gasp out a harsh curse aimed at my teacher before he begins to heal me and lecture me at the same time.

+50hp

(Do you understand the limits to what you have learnt so far? The fantastic defence of your barrier spell is only useful if you know where someone is aiming. While that is a perfectly viable tactic if they are in front of you, you are vulnerable to attacks you cannot see.)

+37hp

(You must learn to predict where the attack land, but that is a far off goal. For now, prepare adequate defences.)

I stand, taking a deep breath from my all-too-recently bruised chest.

Do you mean...

I almost ask, but I know what he means. Against someone of far superior ability, I need to focus on my own strengths. Right now, I have almost none, but solid defence and the ability to cast more spells than usual at once.

Instead of only casting shields on the weakest parts of my back, I imagine the shape and size of each individual barrier and try to cast them in an interlocking hexagon pattern.

Multiple spells cast (9)

-90mp

My entire back, most of my head and the tops of my legs are covered, resulting in what probably looks like a shimmering blue carapace.

My wings are wrapped around my waist, curving up to my chest. Try as I might, I can't seem to cast spells from my wings. I hoped that having part of my soul infused with my magic would help, but the feathery appendages are proving to be more and more of a nuisance.

Seeing that my shields are ready, Syzslic forms more spheres of earth that begin to orbit me again.

I raise my hands, watching whichever two projectiles are the most likely to go for my front. I'm sure I'll still take one or two hits, but I'm already using more spells than I could before, so in terms of improving my spell limits, I see this as an absolute win.

Ready.