In moments of life and death, very often does one man's mind drift to better days long past. They relive or reminisce on the times where they did not suffer pain as they currently did. When a man’s mind seeks for this solace but has none to find comfort in, where does his mind go? When there isn’t a memory in his mind he wishes to see moments before his death, what does his mind drift to?
Sorrow.
Kayn took heavy, shallow breaths, feeling weakly at the gape that had formed in his stomach. He knew it wasn't the only one; the shock from the bat’s assault had worn off, the adrenaline dispersed, so he could feel every ache that wracked his body. How many places he bled from, he did not know, how much time till he bled out, he did not care.
In the distance were muffled sounds, all of which Kayn couldn’t make out. His vision had blurred at the peripherals such that the events to his left were but a mystery.
Did they continue on fighting? The fiery girl and her company.
Whatever. This was better. He would make sure to keep them from reincarnating this time.
YOU CANNOT DIE. THIS WAS NOT HOW THINGS WERE SUPPOSED TO GO.
Ah…the guide could still speak with him. Kayn felt no resentment to her intrusion this time around. Her presence, while obnoxious, was pleasant in a way for the shortness of his time with her.
He then felt a warmth spread through him, starting from his stomach and pulsating through his flesh and bones, traveling through his blood from one limb to the next, one organ to the other. It was pleasant and inviting, and he believed it death, ready to accept it with open arms.
But it wasn't anything of the sort.
“On your feet, you foolish bastard!” the steadfast flame roared as she yanked him from the ground. “You can’t bail out on us that easily. We still got nine lives in the tank.”
She fired off a round and grabbed Kayn by the shoulder, rolling with him to avoid the charging beast. All the pain he expected to feel in the sudden and abrupt movement was nowhere to be found.
In fact….he felt more alive than before. Looking at his body, glossing over the now closed wounds and lively feeling, he noticed bulbs of green filtering about him like little fireflies. They did not scatter in his presence but relished in it, clinging to him when they got the chance.
“You can thank Maverick for that when you get the chance,” the flame said, nodding her head in the red-robed man still protecting the other two in the distance. “We planned on saving that for one of the others when their bodies allowed the healing again, but Maverick demanded we use it on you. Pious bastard. Always preaching God’s will like a smitten lunatic.”
“Good practice it is, being pious. Keeps a man anchored to something when he has nothing to ground him.”
“And that’s the problem with you spineless cowards. Always looking for something or someone to rely on so you can pass your burdens onto them.”
The temptress looked him square in the eyes, gaze unbreaking. Emeralds were her eyes, nestled upon her oval face as if placed by a craftsman.
“I said it was good practice. Not everyone can handle the burdens life throws at them. Speaking the way you do shows me you haven’t experienced enough to know that.”
Kayn shoved the woman aside as he leapt back in tandem. Flying in between their now separated bodies was a ball of green slime. It collided with the rock of the wall and sizzled furiously, corroding it with each passing second.
“That’s the problem with passionate people,” Kayn said. “They lose focus too easily and get themselves killed. On your feet.”
Without standing, the woman fired off two rounds from separate mahogany pistols, knocking the bat to the ground with a groan.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
“Kayn. And yours?”
“Strange name you got there,” she said, grabbing his outstretched hand. “Just call me Lucia. You seem awfully unfazed for someone just brought back from the brink of death. Have you experienced healing before?”
“Lucia it is. And yeah, I’ve experienced something of the sort, I suppose. Although it felt a little different back then. So, tell me. You know how to beat this thing? Your pistol shots seem to be doing a hell of a lot more to it than whatever stunt I tried pulling.”
The bat stood back to its feet, shaking the bullet strikes off with a jerk of its head. Still unharmed in every way of the word.
“Is it even killable?” Kayn said again.
“Of course it is. If I hadn’t been out of mana this entire time, I would’ve already taken it down. We can scrape by with enhanced attacks, though. So next time! Don’t go attacking it without coating the blasted sword, you hear me?”
There it was again. Mana. What hell did she mean when she said that? She spoke as if it was something of common sense.
“Sounds like a plan and all, but mind telling me what mana is?” he said.
Lucia looked at him with disdain. “You think this is a time to be fucking around?” she said.
“I’m serious! I don’t know what you’re talking about. What the hell is mana?”
“Both of you, watch out!” Maverick called from the side. He spread his hands out with a flourish, chain linked rings jostling around his frail fingers.
“[Cross Protect]” he shouted.
Golden light sparkled around the two of them before condensing, connecting like constellations in the night sky and forming a solid sheet of light in the shape of a half circle. The mutant bat slammed its massive wings against the golden light hard, but it simply shook, absorbing the force and dimming ever so slightly.
The bat grew enraged, gnawing and slamming the shield over and over.
“We have roughly a minute left under here, and I’m pretty sure that was the last of his mana. Curses….if only Maverick had more brawn than brains. He needs to get those two out of here, and now's the perfect time! But he doesn’t! So that means we need to kill this thing and haul ass out of here, together. So enough dicking around and use your mana to help me out here. I got nothing left and have been tickling this thing with enhanced attacks,” Lucia said.
Kayn sighed and ran a hand through his hair, which he now noted was black. His body changed again from his last life; his hair was blonde in that one.
“I don’t know how else to say this, but I have no idea what you’re talking about. At all. What benefit do I get from messing with you like this? You and I are both in danger here.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense! How could you be on the surface if you don’t even know what mana is? What level are you?”
“Surface? You need to start making some sense….wait, did you say level?”
A memory triggered in that moment. Kayn struggled hard to focus on it, recalling his dismissal of the event when it occurred.
That screen, the one with all those numbers on it. That must be what she’s referring to, he thought. A grimace whisked across his face.
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“I can already tell this isn’t a good thing, but I think I’m level 1.”
Lucia simply laughed.
“Ok, now you’re messing with me.”
…….
“Y-you’re messing with me, right?”
The bat's beratement slowly weakened the shield of light above as Kayn shook his head.
“I’m afraid not,” he said.
“You can’t be down here….who sanctioned you coming to the surface? Viren guide me, how in God’s name have you survived down here so far? You should’ve been killed the second you stepped out of one of the camps. I-I’m losing my mind here. We’re all going to die.”
Another recent event popped back into Kayn’s head.
“Just a question, but do you know about skill trees? Because I’m pretty sure I just recently gained access to one. ‘The Basics of Combat’, if I’m not mistaken.”
Lucia perked her head at that. Her emerald eyes turned to pierce through Kayn, full of prowess.
“Now, that’s something we can work with,” she said, unhinging the sword at her waist and sliding it over to him.
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“You got fifteen seconds max here, Kayn. Hurry and do as I said!” Lucia shouted.
“What do you think I’ve been doing?”
In front of Kayn’s face hovered the same status screen from before. Lucia had told him that he could open it by visualizing it in his mind, and as he did just that it appeared right in front of him.
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Equips | Quests | Inventory
Status [Personal] Name: Kayn Vallis Age: 18 (Current) Level: 1 Race: Human Class: N/A Exp: 0/10 [Stats] {Points Available: 0} SP: 60/60 MP: 20/20 Power: 13 Endurance: 10 Agility: 7 Perception: 7 Dexterity: 7 Wisdom: 6 Willpower: 5 Control: 2 Arcane: 4 [Skill Trees]
The Basics of Combat:
1 skill available
Mana Enhance-
Coat your body and objects in your mana, empowering them and allowing your strikes to break through the magic shields.
Cost- 0 MP, Deals 10 Dmg
[Perk Trees] {N/A}
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So the mana she was referring to was this MP number, which I have twenty of. And the SP next to it, this refers to the shield points something has, which can only be chipped away at with mana fuelled attacks. A little convoluted if you ask me, Kayn thought.
The pieces were beginning to fall into place. The reason the sword shattered against the beast’s neck is because its shield reflected the non-mana attack.
“Hurry up!” Lucia shouted.
The barrier around them began crumbling; connected constellations falling apart like the seams of a dress.
Kayn clicked on the Basics of Combat skill tree.
[Would you like to Accept this Skill Tree? | Y/N]
Yes.
The message burst into shards of light and spun like a holographic whirlpool before zipping into his body.
[Skill Tree Accepted | New Skill Obtained: Mana Enhance]
“There! All finished,” Kayn said.
“Good. Let’s do this. To activate your skill, you just gotta visualize it coming alive, same as the system screen. Okay?”
The barrier finally dissipated. Lucia dove to the side preemptively, rushing with her loaded pistols as far from the bat as possible.
Kayn did not move.
The beast spread its wings wide, red eyes filled with rage focused on the daring bastard who foolishly stood his ground against it.
“You idiot!” Lucia called. “Get out of there!”
The beast smashed its wings shut.
[Mana Enhance], Kayn thought.
And everything seemed to slow down.
From somewhere deep inside, Kayn felt surges of energy pulsing through him. Much like when Maverick healed him but with more….authenticity. He could FEEL that this energy was his. This mana.
Everything became clear to him as it spread through his body. The feeling was so familiar; one that he’d felt a thousand times before.
This….is magic, he thought.
Raising his head to see the beast’s approaching attack, he could now see what he couldn’t before. Covering the creature from wing to wing, head to toe, was a thin blue layer of energy. Next to its head was a number: 560/1000. Its SP, shield points. They still had a long way to go.
But he finally felt at home. All these sensations that surged through him and into Lucia’s sword in his grip made him feel in control.
The beast's wings slammed down with ridiculous force, breaking stone and kicking up a storm of dust. But when the dust settled, Kayn was no longer there.
“This doesn’t simply enhance your attacks. It enhances your entire body, doesn’t it? So this is what I was missing out on.”
Lucia watched from the side, her face a mess of confusion. Kayn shouldn’t have been able to move as fast as he did, it could be read on her expression. But he did. He dashed in the blink of an eye.
The mutant bat thrashed at the space where Kayn once stood in a flurry of anger for an escaped prey that should’ve been within its clutches.
“Confused, are we? You should be worried, too, because right now….I’m in my element,” he said, smirk forming on his face.
What Kayn didn’t notice when he activated the skill was the sudden change in one of his stats. His status page was open, but his attention was everywhere but on it.
His control, an original measly number of 2, had shot up to 46 in an instant.