Chapter 18: Caution goes two ways.

“It is not really accurate to call us a society.” Talos explained. “If not for the knowledge and context we are born with in Universal Language Comprehension, we would probably just be a stronger and smarter version of Lost Velders. And since we are blocked from going lower than this on the slope, we would be far too weak to face any of the high-tier monsters found around here. Especially since all of them attack us on sight.” He held up his hand. “However, the ability to communicate and ally together allowed us to survive and thrive.

“With the time and work afforded by cooperation, we can learn many more spells than the simple fireball used by the Lost. Oh, by the way, there isn’t any known way for a Velder to turn into a Lost Velder. It’s more like the Lost are a prototype for creating us.”

“So you also believe that the godly presence created the creatures here? Even you?” Trent interrupted. During the retelling of his journey, he had learned that Velders were also healed by the wave of dark energy and used it to mark ‘days’. And it turned out that the time in between was four minutes longer than 24 hours.

Trent had mentioned that this was around what actual days were as well, but they had figured that out from the definition of leap days. Universal Language Comprehension seemed like quite the OP Ability. How universal was it? Did it give headaches when they tried ‘looking up’ too much information? What were its limits?

“Yeah, the general idea is that we are created for something like a test of how some aspect of society works, or an attempt to mimic other realms by a creature that doesn’t understand mortal affairs. That one I think is silly. If it can give us Universal Language Comprehension, then surely it can use the same Ability to fix the obvious flaws with its creation.”

“Anyway, all Velders are born with five Abilities: Universal Language Comprehension, Basic Element Talent, Mana Sense, Identify, and Demon Physiology. The elemental talent one allows us to create and use Spells from all the basic elements: Water, fire, earth, and wind. Mana Sense allows our magical Perception to sense things outside of our body far more easily, which is nice. Identify is basically useless though, it just gives us the race and level of anything we use it on, and its range is short. Although apparently it also shows Titles.”

“Demon Physiology is the subject of a lot of controversy. Most of the things associated with the word demon are quite bad and objectively false when describing Velders, but the system feels it is the word that best describes us. Anyway, the actual Ability is kind of boring. It makes us more resistant to disease, which we don’t encounter anyways, and basically improves our constitution and such like. Not all that useful with the daily renewal.”

“You probably haven’t encountered this, but Spells normally need you to have an Affinity to cast or create any Spells of that Affinity. But… I’m pretty sure only weak races get Affinities. So Spells aren’t widely used unless something has an ability like Basic Element Talent.” Talos explained.

“Wait, can you tell anything about humans through your language comprehension?” Trent asked. He watched Talos concentrate for a second, then answer. “No, the Skill doesn’t work on the names of different species, there’s actually a lot of stuff it doesn’t cover.”

Trent nodded and smiled. “Well, now I’m a bit more tempted to find some way to use magic. Abyssal Affinity Spells sound powerful.” Talos’s eyes widened. “You have an Affinity? That can’t be, you’re so strong. Wait, what are your stats like? I mean, the total, not specifics.” He hurriedly added.

Trent chuckled. “Around 160 total. But 90% of my stats per level come from my Affinity and Sub-affinity.” Talos blanched. “Your race gets ONE stat point per level?! Affinities aren’t guaranteed for races like yours. Let alone two that give 9 stats in total.”

Trent raised an eyebrow. “You figured that out quick.” Talos huffed. “I have 44 points in Mind you know.” That left Trent a little stunned. “Are you slowing down your conversation to match with my speed?” Talos laughed nervously. “Well, it sort of happens naturally. It’s not a conscious effort on my part.”

“Anyway, the Spells afforded to Velders via Basic Element Talent can cover the general ‘mage lifestyle’. Oh, do you have that phrase where you come from? It’s like… a way to simplify basic living using magically created buildings, magical plumbing and water creation, and some form of telekinesis or pseudo-telekinesis for chores. And heating things with fire magic, I guess.”

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“All of that combined with the seemingly high level we are born at allows us to maintain something fairly accurate to the definition of civilization even in this inhospitable landscape. Oh, but birth might not be the right word. We appear out of nowhere like any other being in this place, but instead of happening out of sight of any sapient creatures, we ‘spawn’ in already established communities of Velders. It might have been different before the first villages were established though.”

“New ‘children’ don’t spawn often, but it generally happens more often after a lot of people get killed—we don’t age as far as I know—which keeps the population fairly steady. We also aren’t equipped for reproduction. So… moving on!”

“I’m quite young, and really bad at learning Spells, so I shouldn’t really be out here. I just took a dumb bet and tried to fight an Abyssal grunt.” He hesitated. “I’d never seen one up close before, so I just knew they were way too overinvested into Vitality. Nothing spawns around our village, and anything that wanders in gets killed pretty quick.”

Trent nodded. “That makes sense. Should we start heading back there then? No problems with bringing a weird being that’s a lot stronger than you into your home?” Talos shook his head, then nodded. “Not at all! I mean, no problem at all! You can definitely come with me.”

He paused, then looked at Trent peevishly. “I’m not that much weaker than you!” Trent stared back calmly, before sighing. “I’m not going to try and prove you wrong. I don’t want to reveal all my cards.” Talos crossed his arms. “You are making me feel immature. I’m not immature!”

Trent nodded seriously. “Yes, the fact that you are stating so is a great indicator that you are very mature.” He said with full seriousness. Talos looked away with a sigh. “Let’s just go…”

“Uh… do you know which direction your village is in?” Trent asked. Talos froze. “Um… I think that way?” He hesitantly pointed back towards the crater where the Abyssal grunt had been obliterated. Trent snorted. “That’s a good start, I guess. Let’s go and I’ll send out my beholders to try and look for signs of life.”

Talos watched curiously as the little black orbs flitted out. “Is this one of the Skills you made? What are they for? Wait, can you see through them?! That’s really advanced…” Talos trailed off. Trent lifted into the air. He grinned at the demon. “Can you keep up?” He shot off into the air.

He had modulated his speed to be well within Talos’ comfortable running speed, but Talos still looked quite surprised at the speed he could fly. “Can you keep that up?” Trent responded with a bit of pride. “Until the next renewal.” Talos gaped at his words. “I guess willpower is a lot more efficient than mana…”

They continued travelling for a couple of hours until one of Trent’s drones caught sight of another Velder. They headed in that direction to meet up with him. Due to all of them having high Perception, they were able to analyze each other long before they got within socially appropriate talking distance. It also just happened to be Identifying distance, for reasons that didn’t go over Trent’s head.

Velder (Lv. 45)

One level higher, and that’s it. It was a multiple of five, so it could mean more than that. But that probably wasn’t indicative of the difference between Talos and this new guy. The level likely meant that he had killed do many monsters that even their shit levels of experience cumulated into enough to bring him up a level, even as high level as he already was. That not only meant having lived a lot longer, but also actually having combat experience and powerful Spells. So there wasn’t any reason in comparing the two in that regard.

The new Velder spoke first. “Talos! You're worrying everyone! First you leave the cleared zone to try and fight a grunt, and now you come back with an entirely unknown sentient species who flies suspiciously fast for his low level.” He crossed his arms and marched up to Trent. “And you, who and what are you? How did you get those Titles and why can you fly at all, let alone that fast.” His irritation made him speak a bit faster than Trent was comfortable with, but his Perception made it manageable to keep up.

“I got two of my Titles from modifying the runes that make up my Skills and creating entirely new Skills. Skills are somewhere between Abilities and Spells. The Prodigy Title was a bonus for getting any Title while under level ten.” “Wait.” The demon held up a hand. “You are far above level ten. How could you have gotten your Titles before it then?” Trent responded quickly. “It takes far less experience to level up at lower levels. So I have a much easier time leveling than you.”

The still unnamed man squinted. “Hm. How are you strong enough to kill anything for the experience, then?” Trent created a void orb using Create, then paused. “Can I show a demonstration? I’ll just throw this over there while using some of my Skills.” The man nodded and threw a glance to the still silent Talos.

Trent used the basic combo of Power Throw and Flurry Throw to launch the rock away from the small group. It was angled down a bit, so it hit the ground and skimmed off it leaving a cloud of debris. His inquisitor raised an eyebrow at the power behind it. “So that’s why you said they were like Abilities. They don’t use mana, and you can even stack them together. Impressive.” Trent nodded. “Also, my name is Trent. What's yours?”