Jonah
Camp, Feather-branch Forest, Savriâ
The glow of the fire through the tan tent wall danced and spun merrily, entirely unnoticed by the sole occupant. Jonah sat with his eyes staring into the middle distance, eyes scanning his updated status.
JONAH LOCKE
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Level: 6 Experience: 105.98212991488 /1098.00907150453
RESOURCES
GSM (Gaming Systems Mana) 33/60 MP (Mana Points) 26/34 Stamina 10/10 [80-70]
ATTRIBUTES
Body Strength 8 Dexterity (Macro/Micro) 6/6 Agility 7 Resilience 10 Endurance 10 Perception 11 Mind Memory 13 Processing 16 Ideation 11 Spirit Ego 8 Will 9 Resolve 8 Focus 18 Presence 4 Connection 3 Soul
Note: Insight and related mana aspects lack conceptual linkage with the soul. This section cannot be managed by your ‘Gaming (life is) System’ ability.
SPELLS
* Predator Vision [Buff] - 2 MP
* Trick [Debuff] - 3 MP
* Creature Comforts [Utility] - 10 MP
* HP Siphon [Debuff] - 5 MP
ABILITIES
* Gaming (life is) System
* Overwatch (User Tag: RTS View)
* Party Up
* Character Interface
* Settlment/Camp Interface
* … ?
He spent the six stat points available after spending as much xp as possible to level himself. He hadn’t seen his xp numbers go down. It seemed that, unlike Willow and Naomi, and even himself before his insight, he kept all of his xp. After leveling, increasing his endurance by 2 had been an obvious choice, given the cold. It had made an immediate difference, the bone-deep chill feeling somewhat further away. No less powerful, but less impactful. He’d also put 2 points into resolve, intending to test his hypothesis that it essentially increased metal stability and stubbornness. Today had been rough, to put it lightly. He could use some more stability. Lastly, he’d wanted more mana.
At first, he had spent a while struggling with which stat, or stats, he thought would govern mana. His max stamina seemed to go up by ten with each level. Mana, on the other hand, appeared to increase up by 2 each level. He couldn’t really attribute any of the attributes to either mana or stamina gain per level.
After a bit of waffling he’d realized mana and stamina didn’t necessarily have to be calculated values, they could be their own kind of stats. Not to mention, the interface simply said 6 points available for assignment, it didn’t say the points could only be used on stats. With that revelation, Jonah had mentally pushed the stat into MP. Instantly, the interface had updated - giving him 10 additional mana. He’d put his last point of mana into the stat without a second thought.
Of course, all stat allocation had come after choosing his new spells. He’d leveled up after Naomi had asked him if he had a spell to help with the fire, after all. He sighed, thinking of Naomi reminding him of the rest of the weird evening. Willow had been injured badly, he’d been worried. Then she’d been fine and teasing him, followed immediately by her rejecting him in no uncertain terms, and finally resulted in her passing back out. Clearly she hadn’t been as okay as she’d been acting. Maybe the whole ‘I see you as a brother’ thing was due to her injuries? Maybe she just wasn’t in her right mind? A quiet, hopeful, voice floated the idea by him. He crushed it ruthlessly. He should assume she had been speaking honestly, not second guess her. If she changed her mind… Well, she could tell him. Until then they’d just be friends.
He nodded to himself and then turned back to his interface, opening the spells page to avoid arguing with himself. It was a cycle he was familiar with: doubt and uncertainty warring against logic and reason.
JONAH LOCKE - SPELLBOOK
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PREDATOR VISION
Cost: 2 MP Type: Buff School: Divination
Targeting
May target any non-resisting being with the ability to both think and plan within caster’s view.
Note: May be cast remotely through secondary viewpoints.
Duration
[1s per caster level + 1s per sum(resolve,will,processing,ego)] + [1s per focus*(presence/10)] + [1s per focus*(connection/10)] + [1s per target ego]
Current est against target of equal ego: 67.6s = ([6] + [41] + [7.2] + [5.4] + 8)
Description
Increase the target’s focus when in battle, or when hunting prey.
Competency Addition 1: Provides visual hints regarding enemy weak points. Weak point detection is more likely to succeed based on both the spell caster and spell target’s cumulative understanding of their enemy. Weak point detection is adjusted based on weaponry equipped by spell target.
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TRICK
Cost: 3 MP Type: Debuff School: Illusion
Targeting
May target any being within view with a primary sensory reliance from the following list: Visual, Auditory, Ollfactory, or physical micro particular.
Note: May be cast remotely through secondary viewpoints.
Duration
[1s per caster level + 1s per avg(resolve,will)] + [1s per focus*(presence/10)] + [1s per (caster ego - target ego)]
Current est against target of equal ego: 19.9s = ([6] + [8.5] + [5.4] + 0)
Resistance
Target may resist if their Perception is significantly higher than caster’s Focus.
Description
Plays a trick on the target. The target experiences a near-real hallucination with its primary sensory detection organ(s).
Note: Targets with particularly balanced reliance upon multiple senses are more likely to detect the illusion for what it is; even if they fail to resist the spell.
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CREATURE COMFORTS
Cost: 10 MP Type: Utility School: Conjuration, Abjuration, Illusion
Targeting
May target any non-resisting area. Spell will effect a circular area no larger than 5 meters per caster level (current = 30 meters).
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Duration
[1 hour per caster level] + [5 min per sum(focus,presence,resilience,endurance)]
Current est duration: 9hr 50m = ([6] + [3hr & 50m])
Description
Caster creates a mental image of one or more affects which would cause the target area to become more comfortable. These environmental affects will be applied for the duration of the spell.
Competency 1: Enhancing existing environmental comforts is significantly easier than creating comforts from nothing.
Note: The mental image must be Detailed. The more detailed the user’s imagined affect, the more perfectly it will be enacted within the creature comfort spell perimeter.
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HP SIPHON
Cost: 5 MP Type: Debuff School: Abjuration
Targeting
May target any being within view with life-force.
Note: May be cast remotely through secondary viewpoints.
Duration
[1s per caster level + 1s per avg(ideation,will)] + [1s per focus*(presence/10)] + [1s per (caster ego - (target ego*3))]
Current est against target of equal ego: 5.4s = ([6] + [10] + [5.4] + [-16])
Resistance
Target may resist if their Resilience+Resolve+Ego is significantly higher than caster’s Resolve+Will+Presence+Ego.
Description
Creates a magical siphon between the target and the caster. When the target is harmed, (0.1*Caster focus+Connection) of the target’s lost vitality is sent to the caster.
Competency 1: Overflow HP will be converted into MP or Stamina, depending on which resource is lower, at a 1/3 ratio.
Note: Targets with corrupted vitality may poison the caster.
Dismissing the windows, Jonah took a moment to enjoy the cheery shadows cast by the previously struggling fire. Creature Comforts had allowed him to enhance the fire to the point it would easily keep him and his party warm within their tents. It would also, hopefully, warn off any predators or pop-hoppers nearby. He wasn’t sure about that last part. The last thing he’d tried to inject into the mental image he’d used when casting the spell was the idea that the fire could not catch anything on fire. The last thing he wanted was to wake up with his tent on fire because a stray feather-branch frond had fallen and scattered the magically enhanced fire.
Thinking of that last part of the spell, he realized the now much-stronger fire was at risk of damaging Willow and Noami’s jumpsuits. The idea of them having to trek through the wilderness naked was, honestly, a little amusing. It would be anything but enjoyable for them, though, so Jonah forced himself to open his tent and face the chill once more.
Stepping into the night air was far more bearable now that the fire was providing a consistent, and strong heat source. He grabbed the girl’s jumpsuits, noting that they were fully dried, and proceeded to take the makeshift drying line down. Curious as to just how well the “don’t burn” part of his Creature Comforts spell was working, he hung one of the pieces of rope over the fire and waited. And waited. A smile flitted across his lips, as he saw that he’d managed to- the tip of the rope caught fire.
He sighed and quickly pulled it back, dropping the stick the rope was tied to an stomping the fire out in the dirt. Experiments done, he pulled the rope and the thin branches Naomi had used to stand the drying line up, away from the fire beside the tents. Next, he turned toward the girls’ tents. He was trying to decide what to do with the suits, when he realized that Naomi’s tent was open. Briefly, a stab of worry ran through him at the idea that she may have somehow been carried off as a pop-hopper prisoner. That thought bubble popped the instant he realized how loud those stupid things were. There was no chance they’d come and gone without him noticing. More likely, she’d decided to sleep in Willow’s tent for the extra warmth.
A harsh slap of determined wind broke through the warmth provided by the fire, spurring him to action. He had to do something with the clothes, and they wouldn’t be very useful to the girls if they got cold and dirty out here. He did his best to be quiet as he approached Willow’s tent and slipped a finger in through the small gap at the bottom of the tent-flap where the fasteners didn’t quite cinch the material. He was about to undo the flap to put the clothes in the tent, when he realized he wouldn’t be able to close the tent properly following that. Another few moments of contemplation, before he finally just sighed and tossed them in Naomi’s open tent. They’d hopefully stay warm enough.
Finally, Jonah returned to his tent and closed it. He was tired. Exhausted, actually. Just looking at his game interface was enough to confirm that much with his max stamina down to 10 out of his natural maximum of 80. He wasn’t sure what happened if the max hit 0. He didn’t particularly want to know either. However, he was hesitant to go to sleep.
He’d always had a problem with nightmares. While he’d been going to school, Jonah had quickly learned that any obvious social faux pas during the day would inevitably cause him to replay the horror in his dreams. After being almost entirely worthless to Willow for the majority of that last fight, he’d then been flustered by her and Naomi’s nudity, and to top it all off being rejected, had all turned him into a mess. He did his best to give people the impression he was looking them in the eyes when they spoke to him, as that’s what most people seemed to like. Generally he focused on people’s noses, eyebrows, sometimes even eye lashes. He did try to look into their eyes for real as often as he could force himself to. It just made him nervous and tended to derail his train of thought thoroughly. He hadn’t even managed that much for most of the night, though.
To make the matter worse, he hated himself for being more worried about how Naomi and Willow thought of him, than he was about their health. He was worried about how they were doing, intellectually. Emotionally, though? His mind simply kept pointing back toward how stupid he’d acted, how they must think he was an idiot now.
Groaning, Jonah scrubbed his hands across his face and slapped his cheeks. He wasn’t looking forward to whatever dramatized versions of tonight his unruly mind would present him.
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Madrick
Atop a Mountain, Savriâ
The strange world below was almost uniform. Nearly every inch of it was covered in the exact same kind of tree, which were all nearly the same height and width. They even generally had about the same number of branches. It was eerie in a way Madrick had rarely experienced. When he arrived, he’d used his domain and a few of his mana types to launch himself into the air and hover well above the planet’s surface. He’d seen nothing of note, despite his eyes being able to pierce hundreds of kilometers of distance from such a high vantage.
The only change he’d noted was what appeared to be a structure in the distance. Deciding not to exhaust himself, Madrick hadn’t expended the energy required to fly over the forest. Instead, he’d simply set out at a jog. Of course, his jog was nearer to the sprint of a lesser being of a similar rank. He tore through the forest at an extraordinary pace and made it to what ended up being a cliff face just an hour before night fell.
Once again taking advantage of his superior mana composition and experience, he simply leapt from ledge to ledge until he made it to the top of the sheer mountain. What he found was disappointing. So far as he could tell, the glorified chunk of rock was little more than a spur of pure granite jutting from the earth hundreds a few dozen kilometers into the air. There was nothing of note at its peak and the view it provided was frustratingly similar to what he’d seen previously. At least here he didn’t have to expend any mana to maintain his altitude.
Planning to scout as much as he could using his height advantage, Madrick activated his Eyes of Conquest and began to scan the forest. As he looked he noticed only a few things of interest. First, there were a lot of areas where the trees appeared to have been cleared out in a somewhat circular pattern. The diameter of each of these clearings was almost entirely identical. Impossibly so. Furthermore, the cleared areas were all in lines with each other. They intersected and crossed such that it wasn’t immediately noticeable, but given a brief thought Madrick was able to determine they were clearly aligned with each other in a predictable and standard pattern.
The other thing he noticed was that many of the lines of cleared areas appeared to lead to the same central points. Each of these points had a squat, but wide, tree at its center. He hadn’t noticed any of those weird trees before due to the wide feathered fronds from the “normal” trees casting coverage over most of them. Only the piercing properties of his Eyes of Conquest allowed him to notice them at all.
Before he could decide which of the trees to head toward, the light suddenly went out. The light had steadily decreased, as was normal with any sunned planet, only to suddenly vanish. The mist in the air wasn’t anything his Eyes of Conquest couldn’t pierce, but he hadn’t been interested in anything above before. Normal planetary events being circumvented was just enough to change that and he looked up.
Above the mist, he saw the ships. An entire armada of vessels which, to his experienced eyes, appeared to be a mix of military and mining models. The light had gone out suddenly due to the last of the three suns falling behind the huge cluster of metal and technology. Curious, Madrick queried his UICI for any registered atmospheric blockades, mining ventures, or other events that might explain the oddly huge investment of time and money it would require to bring such a large number of spacecraft to the distant planet. He found nothing of note.
Although… Is it more likely that my quarry is holed up somewhere on this planet like a ground squirrel, or that they’re up aboard one of those vessels… It wasn’t an easy question to answer. Either was entirely possible. After all, this had all started on another weird planet - though that was weird due to the excessive number and frequency of wars fought on it - where his target was holed up in a crumbling tower with little in the way of comfort.
Madrick sighed deeply, as he realized he’d either need to go up and request an audience with the leader of the flotilla, or he’d need to begin scouring the planet directly.
The wind suddenly howled up from one side of the mountain he stood atop and struck him. It fought to penetrate his skin, wishing to taste the warmth of his blood. He snorted at the weak environment. A real planet would have at least put up a bit of a fight. He ignored the ‘cold’ wind and began to plan out his search pattern. He’d start with a search and go talk to the, undoubtedly, stuffy military type in charge of the orbiting ships if he failed to find anything.