Aegaeon woke up for the second time not knowing where he was. Sore, tired, and now also hungry; another new sensation; Aegaeon lifted himself from the ground and looked around him. The river he fought the moss in seemed to be an inlet to a massive lake. The lake was nestled in a forested valley, the typography of the ground only deduced from the slope in the tops of the trees. A heavy mist hung in the air that blocked out his view of the other end of the lake, the length indeterminable. The crisp air carried a slight chill, the brightness of the sky slowly fading as Aegaeon went to where the river peacefully merged with the lake and stooped down, finally having a refreshing drink of water as he marveled at the sight before him. He must have slept throughout the day not knowing how long that could have been, there was no sun in the sky that Aegaeon could see and he wasn't sure what time he 'woke up' earlier that day. Not knowing why he tried looking for a sun, or why he knew about day and night, Aegaeon thought of what preparations he'd need for the night ahead.
To start preparing, Aegaeon first needed to take stock of himself after the battle with the moss. The linens he wore, still offering no protection to the chill in the air, were surprisingly undamaged. He also checked himself for signs of injury he could have overlooked or ignored in the intensity of the fight and didn't notice anything wrong, not even a scratch. Weird. Aegaeon tried to remember the words that flashed across his vision when he defeated the moss and couldn't remember anything, he got a little too carried away in shredding the moss. But while trying to recall the words he felt a slight nudge in his mind and words started floating before him.
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Congratulations, you figured out how to recall messages from the System! The System is what gives you your status screen and messages about what you've done and the considerable steps you've taken in growth. The goal of the System is to mainly watch you as you walk down the Noble Path. Fighting Monsters results in experience that leads to gaining levels, as does other actions that are in the scope of your Path. Bonus experience is gained from killing monsters above your Level or by performing actions that exceed expectations. Your Will can carry your forward; if you allow it.
Recalled Messages:
Congratulations: You have Slain (The Moss: LVL 4)
Congratulations: You have gained a Level!
Congratulations: You have gained a Level!
Warning! You are attempting to forcefully attune yourself to an element: Doing so is highly inadvisable. Expected Result: Death.
Congratulations: You have Forcefully Attuned yourself to Water! Trait Acquired: Attunement to Water.
Attunement to Water: Your Will can much more easily influence water. And the nature of water shapes you.
Congratulations: Skill Gained! Water Manipulation
Water Manipulation: Water moves at your Will.
Congratulations: You are the first in your Tutorial to gain a skill! Trait Acquired: Prodigious Will.
Prodigious Will: You have learned that through your Will you can influence the world around you. The application of your Will comes easier for you than for others.
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The wall of text was a bit much but at least it pointed out a few things; firstly Aegaeon's Will is what affected the water and caused it to help him. He now had a skill for controlling water and that would be interesting to mess with. Hopefully using the skill isn't as difficult as it was during the fight with... The Moss? That's the name? Couldn't have been more original? What's next, a stick named 'The Stick' is going to pick a fight with me? It was at this moment that a branch snapped off of one of the trees next to Aegaeon and crashed to the floor. The shock and anxiety about an upcoming fight quickly wore off as nothing happened further and Aegaeon couldn't help but to feel annoyed. REAL FUNNY world, great comedic timing! Aegaeon wasn't as weak as he was before and even felt stronger seeing he was LVL 3 now. It was with a cursory glance at the branch that fell to ensure that there wasn't another fight that Aegaeon started to try and control the water close to him.
At first he tried to lift some water up and hold it in the air, and well, that failed. All he achieved was creating a rippling effect that spread across the water, breaking the placid surface. Trying to do the same again led to a similar result, although the ripples this time were maybe a bit bigger? Aegaeon was frustrated as he failed time and again to move the water how he wanted, why had it been easier while fighting The Moss? Was it how he called to the water? No that felt the same although less desperate or intense. Did he just imagine the water helping him? That didn't feel right either. Aegaeon kept trying to make the water do different things as he puzzled out what was going on.
When he tried to push or pull the water it seemed to work alright with a noticeable current either running towards or away from him; a wave indicating the direction of the flow. Was it because the water moving into the air caused issues? That felt closer but not quite right. Aegaeon sat down and tried to really feel the water with his mind as he manipulated it, he felt himself willing some water to move away from him and it readily obeyed. Aegaeon then willed some water to come back towards him and he started to notice something; pushing and pulling the water for a couple minutes confirmed his thinking. Aegaeon realized that the water that he could manipulate was limited in scope. He couldn't push all of the water that was in front of him away and leave a spot of dry ground, it was more that a small amount of water he could manipulate and actually push with and more water around it would obviously get caught in the flow and follow. It seemed that the amount of water that he could manipulate at a time was close to a gallon or so.
Aegaeon kept swirling the water around as he considered more of what he knew. It was his Will that manipulated the water, so shouldn't it just do as he wills? There was more to it and Aegaeon struggled to figure out the nuance of his line of thinking. In another attempt to figure out the extent of his manipulation, Aegaeon tried swirling the water around to make a whirlpool; this also worked out from the first try. Aegaeon tried again to life some water out of the lake and once again met failure. WHY?!? This doesn't make any sense! Aegaeon pictured water swirling around and it immediately obeyed, he willed the swirling water to move out from him and again met no resistance. Is that why? Is it really that simple? More than just trying to accomplish a generic task, Aegaeon felt he needed to have intent in the control of the water. While trying to just generally lift water into the air he didn't put that much focus or intent into what the water would do beyond lifting it up. However in his testing he was intentionally seeing what he could do; and there was an inherent will in his actions.
Willing for some water to rise up and congeal around his hand, Aegaeon was shocked to find how easily the water obeyed him as he now felt the water swirling around his hand. He stopped focusing on what he wanted the water to do as he marveled at what it did and it immediately fell and splashed over his linen clothing. Not focusing on his soaked clothing, Aegaeon excitedly began pulling water from the lake and sending it back again to grab some more. Getting more familiar with his control, Aegaeon began to focus on the direction he needed to take this. Can I use water as a weapon against monsters? I beat the Moss by having the water help me out but it's not like water hitting it was the game changer; it was already hitting us both. Water just not being antagonistic to me gave me the edge I needed. Can I only fight then in water?
Aegaeon considered this while continuing to experiment with his control over water. The idea of using water as a weapon seemed almost right to him, but he needed to figure out how. Maybe if he could use enough force or have enough precision he could deal some damage; but what if he fought against something in an area without water? Would he be helpless? The thought was unsettling as Aegaeon tried to think of ways to avoid that possibility. Luckily he wasn't away from water for now and he saw no reason to do too much before getting a better grasp of his water manipulation. Aegaeon focused on trying new things with the water to hopefully turn it into a tool to fight.
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Aegaeon started his training by focusing on throwing water quickly, in an attempt to increase the overall force. Aegaeon gathered water to his hand, focusing on making the water swirl around as he prepared to launch it. He willed for the water to fly off of his hand as he punched and strike the target he was aiming for; hopefully dealing some damage. His first target was a tree not far from where he was and as he willed for the water to launch forward it did just that. The water flew through the air heading towards the tree, and splashed uselessly on the roots to the side. Gathering water again Aegaeon prepared his water bolt and thought of keeping the water close and tight as it launched at the tree; he especially focused on a knotted spot in the tree's bark that he wanted the water to hit, willing for it to follow a trajectory from his hand to that spot. The water blasted forth and struck the knot; and for all that effort he gave the tree a bit of a drink. There wasn't any noticeable impact from the water bolt and Aegaeon tried not to be discouraged. He at least hit the tree right?
The hours blended as night began to fall in the Valley of the Lake. The gradual change from light to dark barely registered with Aegaeon as he got so lost in his training trying to hone his control and potential damage output. By the time it was completely dark out Aegaeon had made some decent progress and prepared to test the results of his training. Gathering a bolt of water to his hand, Aegaeon focused on condensing the water and pooling it around his fist. He willed for the water to spin and to rotate faster and faster; he learned early on that throwing out a blob of water resulted in the water just spreading out or splashing harmlessly. The water swirled as Aegaeon's will forced it to go faster and faster, his focus on almost drilling with the water into a tree. With his target in mind; a tree he hadn't already been practicing on, he launched his water bolt and watched as it crashed into the trunk. Bark was ripped off and thrown to the sides as some of the wood was indented and twisted as the bolt struck the tree with a resounding thud.
Aegaeon celebrated to himself before looking around and finally noticed the darkness settling over the valley. Aegaeon, having already slept quite a bit after fighting The Moss, decided to go a little further, he wanted to see more of the layout of this valley and the Lake. Walking along the water's edge, Aegaeon continued to move the water around making swirls and twists dance on the top of the water. The night wasn't too dark with enough ambient light to make his way around and notice the details of objects ahead of him. Aegaeon didn't stop walking forward until he noticed what looked like a bush ahead of him on the shore of the lake. Having seen only trees and boulders this was different enough to garner his attention as Aegaeon made his way over, that is of course until a rock came flying at him. Barely dodging this opening salvo from what Aegaeon assumed to be another moss creature, hopefully with a different name, he couldn't help but to feel a little rush of excitement and adrenaline. Leveled up and with a skill Aegaeon felt more confident in taking on another one of these moss creatures and immediately tried out his new water bolt.
It only took a little more effort to summon and condense the bolt while dodging rocks than it did previously and within short order Aegaeon had water flowing around his hand; as soon as he felt it was ready he launched his first attack. The water bolt flew towards the moss and was about to hit its target when the moss launched another rock which collided with the water bolt. Aegaeon was surprised to see rock break to pieces and fall to the ground, the attacks nullifying one another. Aegaeon continued to circle around the moss while dodging its occasional shots while concentrating another bolt in his hand. Rocks almost hit him as he kept running around and ducking down when the moss aimed a little further ahead. Aegaeon waited after the bolt had been condensed for the moss to attack again and after jumping back to avoid another rock that would have struck him he launched his second attack. This one struck true and blasted the moss creature back while shredding it up in the process.
The moss lost over a quarter of its mass when the water bolt collided with it as the force of the projectile ripped the amalgamation of moss to pieces. Slowly moving the moss attempted to launch another rock while moving toward Aegaeon to shorten the distance. Aegaeon found his ability to dodge severely hampered by this as the moss struck him with a rock that knocked the wind out of him, barely staying on his feet he prepared for more attacks. Calling water to his hand Aegaeon tried to strike the moss but hit another rock that was launched at him at the same moment. Before he could make another bolt the moss attacked again, requiring Aegaeon to kneel down to avoid getting pelted. Trying to stay ahead of the moss, Aegaeon called water not just to one hand, but to both hands as he tried to get the edge on the faster attacking moss creature. The moss had attacked on a consistent basis and if anything was picking up speed as it tried to finish Aegaeon off.
Aegaeon started spinning the water around his hands while trying to get some distance between himself and the moss creature but wasn't able to make much progress there. After getting the water where he wanted it Aegaeon turned and faced the moss instead of try to get away, the moss could attack faster than him and from a distance it was too easy for the moss to block his bolts with more rocks. Resolve filled him as Aegaeon stepped to the moss and willed for the water to rotate faster and faster around his hand. A rock came flying out and Aegaeon tried to hit it with his hand wrapped in water and while he lost a bit of it from the collision he was able to deflect the shot! It was also much easier to add some water to the already spinning mass in his hand as he took another step. Excitement filled him as he got closer and closer to the moss which started inching away while attacking. Aegaeon was able to get closer and closer as the attacks from the moss only served to slow him down. Another mass came hurtling from the moss and Aegaeon prepared to block once again, but what Aegaeon didn't realize was that the moss launched itself, leaving the rocks it had gathered behind.
Aegaeon hit the moss with his water bolt encased hand expecting it to be another rock and watched as it gave way a bit too easily. another chunk of the moss was blasted off but most of it landed past his arm on his torso. The moss used the strength it had to lift and throw rocks to grab onto and try to constrict Aegaeon, hopefully squeezing the life out of him. Aegaeon was shocked and fell over, losing control of both water bolts as the liquid splashed into the rocks on the shore around them as the fight went to the ground. The moss was squeezing tightly and Aegaeon could hardly breath and he tried to roll around and get the moss off of him.
Aegaeon gasped for air as he struggled against the moss to break free from it's suffocating embrace. The pressure seemed to only intensify over time, getting closer to crushing him to death. With the last vestiges of strength Aegaeon had, he willed for the water from the lake next to him to bring them both into the water. A wave surged out and closed over the two wrestling on the ground and pulled them back from to the water's edge. Aegaeon pulled the water to his hands again and spun them with desperation as the moss wriggled around him malevolently squeezing, his lungs burning from the lack of breath and exertion. With the water surrounding his hands he tore into this moss much like the last. Its hold was stronger on him than The Moss he fought previously but Aegaeon had also gotten stronger and a similar end came about with the moss shredded and Aegaeon heaving air trying to recuperate.
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Congratulations: You have slain (The Moss: LVL 6)
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Really? 'The Moss' again? I hope other creatures have better names than this, this is just sad. Aegaeon sat down in the water for a moment while recovering. I need to get stronger, it's embarrassing to almost die to moss, TWICE! New ideas were coming to mind on how Aegaeon could manipulate water and he was excited to try them out, both in testing and also on other moss creatures he finds around. It's time for a moss genocide.