Suddenly Jam's screaming stopped and the bright light exploded outward causing a ripple in the air of the room. Jam slowly floated to the ground; the moment he touched down, his back arched with the force of the huge gasp of air he sucked in. He sat up spastically.
"What. .. the hell. . ." he breathed out in between lungfuls of air.
"Sorry about that. Most magic users ae born with the ability so their magic grows as they do. You apparently didn't, Universa had to force your magic pathways open. You do have great potential though. That was quite the display. I've never seen it quite that intense before." Voodoo Priestess attempted reassurance, but the monotone of her voice caused it to fail miserably.
"A little warning would have been nice. I'd like to go five minutes without having my body ripped apart." Jam complained, looking in the corner where his HP and SP bars were. He saw a new blue bar that showed his MP now as well.
{ HP: 75/150 }
{ MP: 20/20 }
{ SP: 200/200 }
"Are you shitting me? All that for 20 MP?" Jam fussed petulantly.
"MP?" Voodoo Priestess asked with a raised eyebrow and a slight head tilt.
"Never mind." Jam dismissed.
"Your magical aptitude is still at level 1.. You'll have to level it to get more MP." Audrey clarified in his ear.
Jam got to his feet. "So, what's next? Do you teach me some super god level spells? Can I summon familiars to fight for me?"
"The first step is to learn of your nature; to know what magic you are strongest with." Universa recommended, leading him back to the meeting table.
"Firstly, you should know what magic actually is." Voodoo Priestess pointed out.
"Very true." Universa agreed.
"There is a reason that not everyone can use magic."
"And there is a reason that not everyone has the same level of magic."
"Mana, the power behind magic, is not naturally found in this dimension." Voodoo Priestess explained, her fingers dancing in the air. Black dust that sporadically sparkled with white light danced in the air above her fingers.
[ Skill Learned: Magical Knowledge Lvl 1 ]
[ Skill Notice: +5 MP ]
[ Skill Fusion: Magical Knowledge Lvl 1 and Magical Aptitude Lvl 1 have fused to become Art of Magic Lvl 1 ]
[ Skill Notice: +5 MP ]
Jam looked over to find a total of 10 extra MP points added to his MP line.
{ HP: 150/150 }
{ MP: 30/30 }
{ SP: 200/200 }
"The magical pathways in your body connects to the mana rich dimension that overlays ours and uses your body as a catalyst for the mana to flow through. Your body and magics affect the form in which the mana takes."
"And your body's strengths affect the amount of mana you can control and pull through."
"So, shouldn't MIght Guy be an incredible magician? His body is strong and resilient." Jam asked.
"Good question." Voodoo Priestess nodded. "Simple answer is, he doesn't have any magical pathways."
"We have found that the stronger the natural superpowers in a person, the less likely they are to have magical pathways. Most heroes who are not casters have none." Universa spoke.
"A good amount of people in general don't have any as well, but those who have no powers and magical pathways tend to be stronger in magic than those who do."
"However, those who do have powers and magic tend to be more well rounded in combat." Universa included. "It is similar to Cyprus' psionic abilities. As he has abilities to affect the mind, while also having the ability to attack physically, he is more well rounded of a fighter than a person who can only do one."
"It's like fighting with a sword and a gun. Close range and long range." Voodoo Priestess suggested as Universa nodded along.
"I see, so basically it's a level of checks and balances. No one ability can completely dwarf the others." Jam inferred.
"Exactly right. The balance must always be maintained. Nature maintains its balance and I am its avatar." Voodoo Priestess answered.
"Sweet." Jam noticed that Universa seemed to be scrutinizing him heavily. "Is there something wrong?" He asked her.
"Your magical pathways. They're different than we're used to. She sees everything of course but it's different seeing something in the moment and seeing something that will, or has, happen." Voodoo Priestess answered.
"Different how?" Jam asked with a reflexive tilt of the head.
"They are irises. Most pathways work like a muscle. The more you stretch them the stronger they become over time. Yours, they look as if they already have great power but they need to be opened somehow."
"Unlocked." Universa added.
"Leveled up." Jam nodded.
"So you do understand how they work." Universa suggested with a raise of the eyebrow.
"Not in the least. It's just how everything seems to work with me. So does that mean I'll be able to use omni-magic like you voodoo priestess?"
"Probably not. My original magic skill was magic mimicry. I could use lesser versions of anyone else's magic. Magic types are as vast and different as there are casters, mine was unique amongst even those. Decades of dedicated study and practice has allowed me the use of omnimagic, but I can only mainly use my powers to teach others how their own work."
"So how do I know what magic I can use?" Jam asked.
Voodoo Priestess made a circular motion in the air with her fingers and a small portal opened. She reached her hand in and pulled out a small pouch; out of the pouch came a small clear orb. She held it tightly in her hand with her eyes closed and whispered words too quietly to be heard. A shining white light leaked out through her fingers, and she opened them, puling her hand away from the orb that floated in place. Jam couldn't help but shield his eyes from the light.
"Look at the orb Jam. Concentrate on it." Universa requested.
Jam did as requested, staring at the orb unblinking. The more he stared the easier it got to see it; he got lost in the light of the orb until it encompassed his senses. All he could see was the light and all he could hear was his own breath, calm and even.
"Jam! Come on! Let's play. I haven't seen you in WoH in weeks now." He heard what sounded like Audrey's voice say.
"I can't Amara, I already promised Sarah and everyone that I would go out tonight. Azmith should be on tonight shouldn't he? Play with him." He heard his voice say.
"But we're a duo. We're supposed to play together but it's like I never see you anymore." Amara agonized, hurt evident in her voice.
"Calm down Amara, it's just a game." His voice replied.
Then Jam blinked and the light was gone. Replaced by Universa's face crinkled in a mixture of concern and curiosity.
"What happened?" Jam asked blinking slowly, trying to shake off his confusion.
"Jam, you got a notification. I don't think you saw it. Seemed like you were somewhere else." Audrey informed him.
"It looks like you had quite the experience. Did you see your magic at all?" Universa inquired.
"Show me the notifcation." He sent Audrey.
[ Magic Class Unlock: Battle Mage Lvl Novice ]
[ Class Description: You've unlocked the ability to use battle magic spells. Enhance your body. Heal your party. Rain hellfire upon your enemies. The battlefield is your playground. ]
[ Class Note: Spell Book Unlocked ]
[ Class Specialty: Speed Casting ]
"Battle magic." Jam answered still trying to shake off the memories.
"Hmm." Voodoo Priestess mused. "Are you a spell caster? Or maybe sigils? Runic? Wordsmith? Hand seals?"
"Spell caster."
"Interesting. Kind of vague, but hopefully it'll be helpful to you."
"Yeah, I can work with this. If you don't mind, I'd like to go back to my room and check out my magic." Jam excused himself, rising to his feet, before turning to go.
"No problem. I'd suggest going to the simulation room though. No chance of destroying anything permanently." Voodoo Priestess suggested.
"Tell Mr. Probably I said hello." Universa solicited but Jam was too preoccupied to hear, trying to get his thoughts together.
Jam walked to the elevator and entered when the doors opened for him.
"You okay?" Audrey asked him as the doors closed and Jam leaned against the back wall.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." Jam replied unconvincingly.
"It seemed like something happened when you looked at that orb. Did you see something?"
"No. I don't know. I don't think so. I don't want to talk about that right now."
The elevator doors open and he walked through the lab to the open door of the simulation room. He grabbed the tablet; deciding to forego a scenario, he just placed a number of training dummies around in a wide mostly empty room.
Status Screen
{ Character Sheet }
{ Character Type: Player
Real Name: Jam
Alias: None
Race: African American {Human}
Country of Origin: United States
Level: 10
Exp: 75%
HP: 150/150
MP: 30/30
SP: 200/200 }
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
The familiar blue screen popped up showing his character sheet, at the top was a new tab that was marked under spell book.
They should have called it a grimoire.
Spell Book
The screen changed but only five spells were up there.
"Yep the magic system in World of Heroes still sucks." He complained.
"What's wrong?" Audrey asked.
"They don't tell you what you can learn just what you already have. It unlocks the higher you level your abilities and new spells show up. Or you can learn some with spell books but they were boss drops. You remember, I played a magic character when I first joined WoH. It was interesting but not very conducive to survival mode. Whoever made this game really hated magic."
Jam checked out his spell book.
{ Spell Book
Spells Available: 5 }
{ Firefist 1 - Mastery: 0%
Description: Flames encase fists for +%40 punch damage. %10 Chance of causing burns. %5 Chance of igniting enemies for continuous burn damage lasting 45 seconds.
MP Cost: 5 MP per punch }
{ Air Shot 1 - Mastery 0%
Description: Projectile explosion of air pressure. Each shot does %30 of total attack damage. Air Shot can be charged to increase damage or shot in rapid succession.
MP Cost: 2 MP +1 MP for every second charged.}
{ Boost 1 - Mastery 0%
Description: 2 point boost to all attributes.
Effect lasts one hour.
MP Cost: 15 MP }
{ Purify 1 - Mastery 0%
Descrption: Purify the body of negative status effects.
Area of effect: Single person per use.
MP Cost: 30 MP }
{ Blink 1 - Mastery 0%
Description: Move to anywhere within line of sight instantly.
MP Cost: 30 MP }
"Wait a second. I only have 30 MP. Two of my spells will completely drain my MP? What's my MP regen rate?"
"1 MP every 30 seconds."
"You've got to be shitting me."
"Also, a warning, some spells like blink have a high failure rate with low mastery levels. Luckily, failures will increase your mastery level and any spell failure will only use half the MP a success would."
"Fantastic. So these failures, will the spell just not activate or am I risking blinking half my body to one spot while the other half stays where it is?"
"I think the former, it looks like spell failures are just like skill failures. They just don't activate at all. The only way to hurt yourself would be human error."
"Great, because that doesn't happen."
"Well, until you can start leveling. I think it would be best to at least train your magic and skills in here." Audrey insisted.
"Yeah, might as well."
He rolled his shoulders and neck, then stretched the rest of his body to loosen his muscles. He lightly bounced from one foot to the other to get himself ready then took on a fighting stance his fists up like a boxer. Jam pushed off his back foot quickly sprinting toward the first practice dummy and threw a punch at it with all his strength. The dummy slid back a few inches but didn't fall.
"Good lord, these things are heavy weight. Ow." Jam cried switching between opening and closing his hand and shaking it to relieve the vibration moving through it.
"You put the simulation settings up too high. You basically just punched the equivilant couple of brick walls."
"I need to know my limits. They have to be high." Jam explained walking back to his previous position and taking up the stance again. "Firefist" He chanted before closing his fists around a growing flame that completely encased them. The flame roared with power but he didn't feel any of the heat. He pushed off again and went for the same training dummy, but moments before his fist connected the flames dispersed.
[ Spell: Firefist - Failure ]
[ Failure Condition: Spell timer expired ]
"Ok Audrey, mark test #1 as a failure. Apparently there is a timer between when I activate the spell and when I need to use it."
"Got it. Logged in your logbook."
[ Skill Level Up: Art of Magic Lvl 3 has become Art of Magic Lvl 4 ]
[ Skill Notice: +5 MP ]
Sweet
Jam waited one minute for his 2 MP points to recover.
"Ok, for test #2 I want to try something radical. It's going to use up all my MP though, so hopefully it doesn't go horribly wrong."
"I'll notify the other heroes if you die." Audrey deadpanned
"Appreciated."
Jam took off running again except this time to the left circling around the training dummy. Qucikly he turned and began running toward the training dummy but halfway he looked up above the dummy's head.
"Blink!" he casted and when his eyes opened again he was falling out the sky 15 feet above the training dummy's head. The only problem was, the conservation of momentum had caused him to fall quicker than he was expecting. Before he could trigger his firefist like he intended he was crashing down feet first into the training dummy and then tumbling to the ground.
"Ahhhh." He screamed.
"That was really stupid." Audrey pointed out mercilessly.
"I know!" He hissed through clenched teeth that had locked from the pain. He looked down to find his ankle was turned in an unnatural angle. He clutched the ankle in both hands.
[ Skill Used: Heal Lvl 3 - Successful ]
The injured ankle turned back in the right direction and Jam could feel as the bones reconnected themselves. He laid sprawled out on the ground.
[ Skill Level Up: Heal Lvl 3 has become Heal Lvl 4 ]
"Why did you let me do that?"
"I didn't know about it so I didn't let you do anything."
"I still blame you. There is good news though!" Jam popped up happily looking at the silver orb floating near him. He held up two fingers and ticked both points off. "I learned that I can blink into the air, and I learned that my speed remains constant. This deductive reasoning skill is pretty boss."
"Too bad it couldn't have given you a less stupid way to figure that out."
"Good point." Jam agreed rising to his feet and brushing himself off. "Well, it's still only level 10, plus I think that's more of an intelligence attribute."
"Universa was right. I did want to see that." Jam heard a monotone voice say from behind him. He turned to find a small portal with Voodoo Priestess' face showing from the other side.
Universa pushed her face into frame against Voodo Priestess' and waved. "Hello again Jam."
"Hi Universa." Jam replied listlessly.
Voodoo Priestess pushed Universa's face out of the way. "Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that if you find yourself running low on mana it's a good idea to meditate. It won't help you during battle obviously but while you're practicing magic. It should help with your mana manipulation too, which can help with your spell timing. Just something to think about. Bye."
"Bye again Jam." Universa waved from out of frame before Voodoo Priestess closed the portal.
"I really can't figure those two out."
"What's there to figure out. I find them adorable." Audrey snickered cheerfully, her orb glowing yellow.
"All right. So let's get this meditation going." Jam plopped down in the seiza position he saw on the martial arts demonstrations he used to simulate.
"Sure you don't want to go full lotus like Voodoo Priestess?"
"Nah, this feels right. Now hush." Jam admonished without opening his eyes. He breathed in and out evenly, in through his nose and out through his mouth.
[ Skill Learned: Meditation Lvl 1 ]
[ Skill Type: Active ]
[ Skill Notice: Regenerate 1 MP per minute meditating. Meditation also temporarily boosts intelligence attribute 1 point every 20 minutes and permentally boosts intelligence 1 point every hour. ]
Ok, then if I'm getting 3 MP per minute when meditating. At least I don't have to wait around too much. I could be a super genius if I spent a few weeks just meditating. Then I would be able to build an instakill Lunar King button or something. But, can't win the game too easily.
[ Skill Level UP: Meditate Lvl 1 has become Meditate Lvl 2 ]
[ Skill Notice: Regenerate 1 MP every 45 seconds meditating. ]
[ Skill Level Up Art of Magic Lvl 4 has become Art of Magic Lvl 5 ]
[ Skill Notice: +5 MP ]
Jam sat and meditated until well past when his MP had fully replenished. The calmness of the skill easing things and finally taking some time to think things through. He breathed out one long final exhale and eased his eyes open.
[ Skill Level Up: Meditate Lvl 2 has become Meditate Lvl 4 ]
[ Skill Notice: Regenerate 1 MP every 35 seconds. ]
[ Attribute Notice: +1 permanently added to Intelligence. +3 temporarily added to intelligence. ]
"I need to get stronger. I need to do it quickly." Jam proclaimed, getting to his feet. "No matter how much I think it over, there's no way to do that in here. My only choice is to go out there but I can't yet. If I fought crime without a permit I'd be a vigilante and wouldn't be able to come back into the Hall of Destiny. Might Guy hates me and will never grant me a permit. I think I'll have to leave eventually, find another team."
"How?" Audrey wondered.
"I have to max out my skills and train my magic. Maybe gather more skills. I have to be strong enough to prove myself to another team and show that I'm worth the risk. I need to use one of my power lock tokens too. Eventually, but I can't use it until I know I can get another one. I think it'd be best until I get a second power lock token to use it but I can't do that without leveling." He elaborated scratching the back of his head.
"So focus on what you can do. Increase your magic mastery. Train your newer skills. Work with the heroes here and learn as much as you can. You know how to beat a hero, now figure out how to be a hero."
CLOCK
Jam looked at the clock with the giant 4:20 PM that popped up completely taking over his field of vision in his left eye.
"Hey Audrey, can you fix my heads up display. It's annoying have to make sure everything is sized correctly whenever I try to access the screens."
"Let me check with the system."
Moments later the vision in Jam's left eye changed slightly. His HP, MP and SP bars were easier to see at all times without blocking his vision and had moved to the bottom left corner. The clock moved from completely blocking his view to a small display in the upper left corner and under it was the countdown timer for his power cycle. In the upper right hand corner was a small translucent compass. In the compass he could see small red dots marking the locations of the training dummies.
"Sweet, that's perfect."
"I also found an auto analyze function. It should allow you to see the HP bars of anyone who has it. If you want more detailed info you're going to have to use the skill though."
"That works. I'd hate to have that information popping up unwarranted during a fight or something."
Jam scanned the time again.
"I've only been on this planet for 26 hours and it already feels like a life time." He mused.
"You've only been awake for 26 hours. You've been here a week now. You just slept most of the time."
"Right. I forget. So does that mean I've already gone through 6 power cycles? What were the powers I missed?"
"You're level is still low, you're not going to get any of the more advanced powers yet. Your body can't handle it. They were more than likely more of the same thing you've been using."
"So you don't remember."
"Ugh, I didn't look to begin with. Like I said I was trying to wake you up as well as figure out what in the world was happening."
Spell Book
{ Spell Book
Spells: 5 }
{ Firefist 1 - Mastery: 10% }
{ Air Shot 1 - Mastery: 0% }
{ Boost 1 - Mastery: 0% }
{ Purify 1 - Mastery: 0% }
{ Blink 1 - Mastery 25% }
Ok, so failed attempts get you at least %10 and successful attempts get you %25. Well for those particular spells at least.
Jam held his hands out clutched together in the a finger gun position. He aimed at the closest training dummy.
[ Skill Used: Deadeye Lvl 10 - successful ]
His view zoomed in to focus on the training dummy.
"Air shot" he chanted. Suddenly an immense pressure blew his clutched hands apart from each other.
[ Spell: Air Shot - Failure ]
[ Failure Condition: Smothered Spell ]
The vibration in his arms from the sudden explosion of pressure caused his hands to go numb. His pain dampening and tolerance skills fought away any pain that he may have felt but did little to cure the uncomfortable numbness.
"Ok, I guess just because it's called shot doesn't mean I use it like a gun."
He opened and closed his hands trying to get the feeling back. When he could feel them again he instead turned his body with his left hand extended in front of him and his fingers fully splayed out.
"Air shot!" he casted again.
A gust of air shot from his hands but quickly dispersed in a wide ring never reaching the training dummy.
That doesn't seem right. Hmm.
He bent his fingers in just a little as if holding a basketball.
"Air Shot!"
This time the air flew from his hand in a ball shaped and slapped against the training dummy but with too much surface area to do any damage. He tried bending his fingers in more, like he was palming a softball.
"Air shot!"
This time the ball flew hard and fast hitting the training dummy with a loud smack. It wasn't enough to move the heavy object but for a normal person, that would have knocked them off their feet.
Ok, remember that size. Now how do I charge it?
Jam looked to see he had 32 MP left, he closed his hand leaving an ample amount of space as if he was gripping a baseball.
"Air Shot!"
He could feel air revolving around in his palm, the surrounding air was being sucked in and condensed. His MP was quickly dropping, he then splayed his hand open and the condensed ball of air flew out of his hand slammed into the training dummy, the dummy knocked back falling over.
[ Spell Mastered: Air Shot 1 ]
[ Spell Upgrade: Air Shot 1 has become Air Shot 2 ]
[ Skill Level Up: Art of Magic Lvl 5 has become Art of Magic Lvl 7 ]
[ Skill Notice: +10 MP ]
[ Congratulations: First Spell Mastered ]
"Ok, I know how to use air shot now. I can't master purify yet because I don't have any status ailments."
"True, and you would need someone else to fully master it as well probably. Although it's only Purify 1 so you could probably do it alone."
"I'll get to boost in a second. I want to try something with firefist."
"Seems pretty straight forward besides the spell timer. What else is there to try?"
"Well I still don't know if I can dual cast spells. Can I cast blink and firefist or boost and firefist? But before that. . ." Jam started then pulled his bow out and nocked an arrow. "It's magical fire right? Which means it doesn't need an accelerant to burn. Firefist!" He chanted, his hands encasing in flames again. He willed the fire to move and cover the tip of the arrow. It did just that and he loosed it, sending the flaming arrow straight into the training dummy. The arrow exploded with flames upon impact."
[ Skill Level Up: Art of Magic Lvl 7 has become Art of Magic Lvl
8 ]
[ Skill Learned: Ingenuity Lvl 1 ]
[ Skill Fusion: Reactive Adaptation Lvl 1 and Ingenuity Lvl 1 combined to become Creativty Lvl 2 ]
[ Skill Notice: +2 Leadership Skill. +1 Intelligence. +2 Charisma ]
Hmm. I was expecting a magical spell like enchant or something.
Show Firefist
{ Spell Book }
{ Fire First 1 - Mastery: 60% }
Whoa a 50% jump from one use?
Jam pulled his bow back again, except this time instead of nocking an arrow he held the empty bow up aiming it.
"Fire Fist." He casted again and his hand lit aflame. This time he tried to completely make up an arrow of solidified fire.
[ Spell: Firefist - Failure ]
[ Failure Condition - Spell Timer Depleted ]
Ok, so I can only add fire to an arrow, I can't make the fire fist into a projectile by itself. What about something that's already a projectile.
Still holding his bow aimed at the training dummy Jam casted, "Air shot!" He then began to form the air that was collecting into the form of an arrow. He noticed that his MP bar was quickly draining again. The spell must have been charging as he was going along. Before his MP could hit zero, he let it go and the arrow of air flew true and punched a tiny hole straight through the training dummy. "Damn." Jam snorted running up to inspect the damage.
[ Skill Level Up: Creativity Lvl 2 has become Creativity Lvl 3. ]
"Art of magic didn't level up and I didn't get another magic spell?"
"Well, you got a subset skill of Art of Magic, which was mana manipulation, when you shot the flame arrow. You upgraded the skill when you used the air shot arrow but it wasn't enough to level up art of magic."
"Makes sense, it does eliminate redundancies. It'd be easier if I knew how much I needed to do to level up my skills."
"I'm sorry, I wish I could help."
"It's cool." Jam rolled his shoulders. He clapped his hands together and dropped down in his seiza position again to meditate and regain his MP. "All right. If all I can do is train, then that's what I'm going to do."