Now that I had found the source of the Psi energy and was reasonably confident that it wouldn’t disappear on me, there were a few things I wanted to handle before messing with it.

First was the level-up I had achieved after the fight. After letting Linnea know I would be out of it for a few minutes, I initiated the level-up sequence. As I expected, a screen appeared in front of me, showing a list of general skills.

As this was an even level, I wouldn’t be able to get a class skill, which was why I was leveling up before trying to mess with the rift. If it was level seven, I would have waited to choose an appropriate skill. As it was, I wanted the bonus stat points in case something dangerous happened with the rift.

After reading through the list for some time, I eventually decided on the skill Packmaster.

Packmaster Skill Level 1

Increases the maximum weight the user can carry by five percent.

As I continued to expand the amount of gear that I was bringing on missions and the amount of loot I found during them, the weight of my pack was becoming a serious issue. While I could push through it to an extent because of my high Toughness, there would eventually come a point where I wouldn’t be able to lift the pack at all.

The Packmaster skill would hopefully help manage that in the future. While five percent wasn’t a massive amount, to begin with, it should increase by an additional five percent at each level, like my other skills.

Better yet, I expected to be training it whenever I had my pack on, which was most of the time when I was out on these expeditions. If I could train a few levels fairly quickly, it would make a significant difference.

After that, I had two free stat points to allocate, both of which I placed in Mind since it was by far my lowest class attribute. Since I had found that it improved the rate at which I got Psi Energy back, I felt that improving it was quite important.

While increasing my capacity was just as important, I got two points in Toughness for free at every level compared to one point in Mind. Perhaps after Mind had caught up somewhat, I would go back to putting points in Toughness or even in Will.

With the level-up complete, I pulled up my character screen to see where I was at.

Jared Hope

Class: Psion

Level: 6

XP: 130/2100

Statistics:

Brawn: 0

Toughness: 20

Agility: 0

Perception: 0

Mind: 10

Will: 12

Free points: 0

Skills:

Archeology level 1

Translation level 2

Pistols level 2

Psi Sense Level 2

Light Blades Level 1

Item Attunement Level 2

Packmaster Level 1

Traits:

General:

Database of Alien Languages

Psionic Abilities:

Item Attunement (Acolyte)

Status:

Mildly Injured

Mostly Full Energy Well

Satisfied that everything was as I expected, I moved on to my next objective, gathering the Beast core of the Grand Worm. I wasn’t entirely sure what would happen when I tried to use the Psi rift and I wanted to gather that valuable resource in case the entire cavern became destabilized.

As I moved back toward the head, I could already feel a minor difference in the weight of my pack. It felt like I was a little stronger than I had been before, however, a few tests showed it was only in relation to my pack and anything else I carried. It felt like a conditional Brawn improvement more than anything and I was quite happy with the result.

While the corpse of the worm was massive and quite tough, it was only a matter of time before I was able to cut through to the core. I was glad that my scanner could locate it on the Beast, as otherwise butchering the entire carcass would have taken forever.

It was a shame that the meat from Beasts was usually inedible, otherwise, this would have been a significant food source for the city. As it was, the rest of it was just a stinking mess that I would be glad to move away from.

I briefly considered moving back to the pool of water to wash off the grime from retrieving the core, however, I decided against it for now due to the danger of encountering more fish or worse. If we left the same way, I could always wash off then.

Placing the massive core into the very top of my pack, which barely had enough space for it, I moved back toward the rift. It looked like Linnea had been having a look around while I butcher the Beast as she was gesturing me toward the right side of the cavern.

“Have a look at this,” she said as she gestured toward the hole in the wall.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

It looked very similar to the tunnel the worm had created back to the pool of water, except that it was barely half the size. For a moment, I was worried that there might be more worms around before I realized what else might have happened.

“Do you think it’s been growing in size?” I asked as I glance over at her. I’d already had a hunch that the reason the worm was so protective of the Psi rift was due because it was benefitting from the source of energy. It would make sense that it was the energy that had caused it to reach this massive size.

Linnea nodded in response. “Yep, there are even smaller holes dotted around the back of the cavern here. I figure it was digging through the walls to explore for something and the water tunnel was either the latest one or a place that it kept returning to.”

It’s probably a good thing we came by and took it out, I thought with a shudder. Who knows how big it would have gotten eventually or what abilities it might have gained? The situation made me wonder what else might be out there, what terrifying Beasts might be hidden away.

Still, it wasn’t something I had to worry about right now, instead, it was time to use the Psi Rift for my own purposes. I paused for a moment to warn Linnea to be ready to flee in case something catastrophic happened, before moving over to near the rift.

I moved up to within a few inches, roughly the same distance I had been at when using the Arkathian throne in the ritual chamber. This close, I could feel the energies swirl around me in a far more chaotic manner than back then.

A thought hit me and I pulled my settings up to reduce my pain threshold down to zero, just in case something horrible happened. After confirming the warning, I felt myself become somewhat jerky in my movements, almost like there was a lag time between when I wanted to move and when it actually happened.

It was definitely something I wouldn’t be able to manage in combat, but it shouldn’t pose an issue while simply sitting here. With that done, I focused my senses on the rift itself.

While there was certainly the same kind of energy present as back in the ritual chamber, I wasn’t sure how to bring it into me. Back then, I had the injection from the throne to help, with it both lowering my defenses and guiding the energy.

Without that assistance, all I could do was visualize the same effect, with my defenses lowering and allowing the energy in. It was a slow process, however, as the minutes passed, I could feel it working.

Tendrils of the chaotic energy stretched out toward me and, upon contact, began entering my body. Once the first couple fully pierced my defenses, it was like a signal had been sent to the rest of the energy around me as it surged forward.

It took all my focus to keep the same sense of open, invitingness going as the tide fell upon me, and I was glad that I had disabled the pain settings for this. It was a far rougher process than back at the ritual chamber, and I could see why the Arkathians had gone to so much effort to build it.

Still I managed to hold on as the energy surged through me, warping my very being as it went. With nothing to guide it, I wasn’t sure what would happen and all I could do was to think of a desired outcome and hope that the energy would respond.

The image I focused on was one of defense, of blocking enemy attacks and staying strong in the face of danger. While my high Toughness had helped me to survive so far, seeing an enemy on the scale of the Grand Worm showed me it wouldn’t be enough forever.

If we had fought something with the same level of power but focused on speed, then we would have died for sure. I needed some method of surviving attacks long enough to strike back, preferably one that wouldn’t leave me injured afterward.

At first, I wasn’t sure if it was working, however, as more time passed, it felt like the surge of energy was shifting somewhat. While it still wasn’t nearly as ordered as the last time, it at least wasn’t running rampant anymore, either.

Eventually, minutes turned into hours, and the energy began to subside before finally leaving my body. While the process had taken about the same length of time as in the Ritual chamber, it seemed far less efficient.

The quantity of energy within the room had dropped noticeably, and I was confident that I wouldn’t be able to just keep using it to gain more abilities. Perhaps it would restore itself in time, however, for now, I was done.

Opening my eyes showed that the pop-ups I was hoping for were floating in front of my face.

Trait Gained

You have gained a new Psionic Ability trait

Skin Hardening(Initiate) has been added to your character sheet.

Skin Hardening(Initiate)

A Psionic Ability that hardens the skin of the user to protect from attacks.

Warning: As you lack the skill to utilize this Ability its effects will be greatly decreased.

Huh, I thought as I looked over the limited information available. It had a far shorter description compared to my Item Attunement ability, and it also felt like a less refined ability.

While it was indeed a defensive ability, I had been hoping for something more like an energy shield. Instead, this felt more like something a Beast would get.

I guess that’s the difference between a well-tailored ability produced from a ritual chamber and some wild mutation I pick up in a cave. I mused with a smile. In the end, I couldn’t be too annoyed since it still fulfilled the role that I had wanted it to.

The only real problem was the warning in the ability description. It was the same one as when I had first received Item Attunement and this time I didn’t have a class skill ready to spend on it. I would just have to deal with the reduced effect until I reached level 7.

Groaning, I pulled myself to my feet before opening my settings page as the lag almost caused me to topple over. A moment later, my pain settings were restored to fifty percent, the minimum level required to have maximum compatibility with this body.

Thankfully, there wasn’t much pain now, just a lingering soreness through most of my body. I paused for a moment to stretch, before moving over to where Linnea sat on her sleeping mat.

“All done?” she asked, looking up from a screen on her watch as I approached.

“Yep,” I nodded in response. “I don’t think I can get anything else from this right now, so I just want to have a look around to see if there are any mineral deposits.”

Since the cave hadn’t collapsed like in my worst worries, we were free to explore the network of tunnels that the worm had created. While it would be uncomfortable for me with my claustrophobia, I still felt it was worth doing.

Besides helping with my responsibility to the guild, more exposure would hopefully help me continue pushing past the fear. If I could overcome it entirely, or at least to the point where it was only a discomfort, it would open up a lot more avenues for exploration in the future.

With a nod, Linnea packed her stuff up before we moved along the wall. It was time to explore.