It was clear to us that almost everyone in our class was dead, most likely eaten by that plant. Maybe a few escaped out the door, but who knows where they were now or if they were even still alive. We hadn't seen them by now, so unless they escaped outside, it was unlikely. There was a band of small, vicious, black-robed humanoids running around with powerful magic and a gryphon under their control, which I was now tasked with setting free. This World Evolution, although mirroring an RPG, was no game. This was a life and death struggle, and I refused to lose.
I was rapidly realizing my shortcomings under this Evolution, and I had a few more questions for Bardon, including the level system. I had taken a peek at my status and skill windows earlier, but they now looked like this:
Status Window NamePeregrine BellAlignmentNeutralLevel1GenderMaleRaceHumanInventory Spaces44TitlesQuick Learner: minus 10% exp needed to learn all new skills.Fame0Infamy0Health (HP)630 / 630Health Regen rate0.5/secMana610 / 610Mana Regen rate0.2/secStamina320 / 320Stamina Regen rate0.2/secSustenance100% / 100%Strength 12Wisdom23Agility12Intelligence41Dexterity10Vitality13Luck6 - -Mark of the Gryphon: + 20% to all stats when Health is below 20%Credits: 38.42
As a Level 2 human, I knew I was weak, although I had received a few stat boosts from my achievements and from the Mark of the Gryphon. Speaking of, it did mention that there was a mark. I started to look at my body to see if there was an actual mark somewhere, and I found that on my chest, over my heart, there was a small figure of a gryphon tattooed there. It had such realism and detail it seemed almost alive, and it looked like the gryphon who had died almost an hour earlier and a tear came to my eyes yet again. Blinking them back, I went and asked Dee to show me her stat window as well.
In comparing her stats to mine, mine were mostly slightly higher, but my physique was much better than hers, and while we were about as smart as each other, I had a significant boost to my Intelligence just now as well. I wasn't clear on what these stats did, exactly, and I would have to get clearer on that and soon. Reviewing the User Guide again, it pointed out that stats and skills could be raised in a variety of ways. After comparing stats with Dee, I plied Bardon with questions on training, stats and status information, and if there was any way to view levels of other Users.
Viewing ones level required Identify to reach Beginner 5. Once there it would happen automatically unless the other person was over 50 levels higher. At Intermediate 1 that cap was removed and it would show everyone's level. Physical training would increase stats, but only when one reached near exhaustion. Stamina would have to be maintained during this process to prevent incapacitation, starvation, and ultimately death. The problem was that I had no steady food source, and thus no reliable way to restore lost stamina. I had a few pieces of meat from the grey wolf, and Bardon said he would cook the old meat, but that was the extent of our food supply.
However . . . I had a hunch. In my limited experience practicing Qigong, a form of Chinese energy meditation, I had heard of masters who literally lived on life-energy. They were called Breatharians, because they lived on breath and sunlight, not needing to eat or drink. If it was possible for them to do it, and this was supposedly an evolutionary change, maybe mana was a more condensed or upgraded version of qi.
Bardon stated he couldn't really tell me any information on it, but from what he didn't say, I gathered a lot. It appears there is some sort of rule system in place that even he wasn't willing to break. He did mention that he didn't know how to do what I was suggesting, and that he had never tried. The way he looked at me and the tone of his voice as he said this was odd--he clearly was telling me there was more than at face value, confirming my suspicions.
From what I could gather, what wanted to do was difficult, poorly understood, or both. The way he answered my questions, or rather didn't answer them, indicated I might be missing something though. I decided to look up all I could on Chinese meridians and Qigong, as well as Breatharian practices. The Internet was down, so that option was out. I was left with books.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Denise was happy to hole herself up and read for now, and I wasn't really into hanging out with the newcomers at the moment, so I found myself a stack of books related to Chinese medicine. Unfortunately the one book I wish I had was at home, but it was a book I had kept for reference, not one I memorized. As a high-schooler, practicing acupuncture or other Chinese medicine was out of my range, even though I was planning to be a doctor of some kind in the future. Or at least it had been before the Evolution, but anything was possible now. What I could find between a few books on aromatherapy, one on shiatsu massage, one on tui-na and another two on Qigong gave me a basic outline of the 12 main energy meridians and a large number of acupuncture points. It was a good starting point. Additionally, after reading through three of the six books I got the Bookworm Skill as well, and gained 1 stat point in Intelligence from the reading.
The new skill was minimally helpful at finishing the books, but it would eventually be much more useful. In the meantime I was hungry, I am sure Dee was too, and I hadn't unraveled any of the mysteries of mana Breatharianism either.
I sought out Dee and we put our heads together on what to do. We were quite far from the cafeteria and who knew if there was even any food left, or if the lasagna from last week had mutated into a meat-eating lasagna-creating pasta dish. We were in a bind, so we asked Bardon if he was going to cook the wolf anytime soon. He was, and his offer to teach us the Cooking skill held firm.
You have entered The Warden's Kitchen. A 5% increase in experience is received for all cooking, alchemy, or other food-and-meal-related skills while in this area.
Bardon made some midair finger movements.
You have been invited to Bardon's Cooking Party.
Accept/Reject
I accepted, slightly confused. "We're just Cooking. Why are we forming a party?"
"Don't you know?" He asked, puzzled. "You can share experience when crafting in a party. This way, I can cook the majority of it so you don't mess it up, but you will gain some cooking experience for it, and with the extra 5% bonus you should get your Cooking skill as well. It's the least I can do, considering you killed the beast for me.
"Thank you very much!" I exclaimed. Bardon showed us around his kitchen, then he showed us how to drain the blood, skin the animal, and remove the meat from the bones. Bardon was very skilled and it was apparent he had done this many times before. We watched as he cooked pounds and pounds of meat to juicy perfection. The aroma was heavenly, and Bardon used extravagant-looking seasonings I had never heard of. Incidentally, using my Identify on the herbs gained the additional 5% exp. gain due to their cooking-related use. When I discovered that, I identified every herb and cooking utensil in the kitchen, bringing me just up to Beginner Level 2 at 1.6%. Bardon gave me the skin and teeth and claws from the wolf and instructed me to store them in my Inventory for another time. I rolled the teeth and claws into the skin and stuffed it into an empty bookbag, then placed it into an Inventory slot.
Bardon invited the other 6 who had come in before, and another dozen or so who arrived sometime in the afternoon as well, and we ate heartily.
After a very enjoyable dinner, I thanked Bardon again and began training my skills in earnest. I began by Identifying books and other library materials. Each time my mana ran out I would meditate until it refilled, which even with my Regeneration Ring took about 20 minutes. Over the course of a few boring hours, whereby I also took reading breaks at times when my mana was empty and I was bored with meditating, I managed to get my Identify skill to Beginner 4 at 12.7%, Meditate to Beginner 2 at 27%, and Bookworm to Beginner 2 at 3.6%. I also found that if I focused quite hard during meditation, I could just barely start to sense the existence of my meridians. It was around 10pm, but having nothing better to do than sit around, read, or sleep, I decided to continue.
I hit Beginner 6 at around 1:30 am, but since I was still awake and only had a few bookshelves left, I kept going and reached 72% before I ran out of books and other items to identify, which with all my meditating and reading put me at Beginner 3 and 19% in Meditation and Bookworm just obtained Beginner Level 3 at 8%. With the upgrades is Meditation I found I was now able to clearly sense each of my 12 meridians, and also the 8 lesser vessels. I hadn't been able to find any books on them, but as I meditated more and gained awareness of the 12 main meridians, I found my awareness of the 8 slowly grew. I decided to try an experiment before calling it a night at 2:40 am. I began to meditate again, but this time I Absorbed mana instead of just meditating. I sent the extra mana cycling through my meridians instead of just holding it in my mana core, also known as the dantien.
As I did this, I found it flowed quite naturally, and my meridians accepted the energy quite readily. When I reached a certain point I heard another status notification sound. Instead of ignoring it, I learned my lesson, opened my eyes, and read it.
Warning: You have reached maximum mana capacity. Further mana absorption will be dangerous.
I stopped absorbing, but continued to meditate and observe the mana flow in my body. After a while, I noticed my mana channels imperceptibly enlarge ever so slightly, as though the absorption had exercised them and they had responded just a little. Curious, I opened my status window and looked at my stats. While my base stats had all remained the same, my mana pool grew by 2 points and my stamina by 1. I had done it! I did a celebration happy-dance inside then settled down on one of the empty armchairs to sleep.