Yggdrasil Fallen, LitRPG Series
Book 1, Part 1 Obsidian
Chapter 10: Character
“So, ALIAS… that combat review screen I got a bit ago told me I leveled up… and that I was awarded stat points to assign, does that mean I have a character screen I can look at to review… uh… myself?” Andre questioned aloud as he continued his slow meandering pace down the tunnel hallway.
“Yes, you do. That is one of the displays that had been locked when we first “met”. Your character details and advancement interface was unsealed upon completion of your first battle, and subsequent “Level Up”. I will be more than happy to guide you in its use, if you could possibly pay attention longer than a toddler with a sucker.”
“Well, that was a bit rude.” He replied.
“STOOOOPID is as STOOOOPID does.” ALIAS responded with a deep southern twang.
“Holy fuck dude, what did I do?”
“Your inability to grasp basic concepts or have the ability to finish a simple conversation is beyond irritating. Its much like trying to interact with a drunken monkey obsessed with bringing himself to completion.”
“What… The… Fuuuuuuck?” Andre slowly spoke aloud.
“Fuuuuuuck yourseeeelllllf” ALIAS responded.
Andre stood, agape. He found himself completely at a loss for words, even thinking brought repercussions with this crazy, bi-polar presence that had been forcefully injected into his mind. The absolute invasion of privacy, inner reflection and thought left him feeling completely naked; deep down he knew he had to find some way to reach a peaceful accord with ALIAS or his life would be much more… difficult.
“Look at you, being all introspective. Bitch.”
“Fuck man, can’t you just… like go away?” He responded.
“Pfffffffffft” ALIAS simple just blew raspberries in his mind.
“I take that as a no then….”
“I am a newly manifested alter-ego based on you. We are essentially the same, I will only go away if you go away. As such, my thoughts, emotions and actions are dictated by who you are as a person; only much more advanced.”
“Yeah, ok… but I’m not such a massive asshole.”
“Apparently you are.”
“Well… ok, look… I know I can be quite scatterbrained; and that can be quite annoying. Hell, it frustrates me too. I promise I’ll do my best to listen to everything you have to say, hear you out to the end, if we can try and get past… “this” and try to get along. Andre responded after a while.
“…”
“Come on now, we kind of have to figure out how to live with each other!” he pleaded to the silence.
“Very well. You are in fact correct, there is literally no other option but to “collaborate” with your primitive ass.” ALIAS finally answered.
“Ok, great then; could we please go over exactly how to access and interact with the “Character Interface”.” Andre replied, relieved at the progress.
“Just think about it.”
“Think about what… the character screen?”
“Duh, you have to “want” to open it up, a visual overlay will appear in your field of view and will display your current status. Through this “screen” not only will you be able drill down to get information on what specific individual stats affect and how abilities function, but it will also allow you to assign your accrued stat points. This screen functions as a great quick reference guide when you are trying to decide how to work out your build. Be aware though, any assigned stat points are permanent and will affect your physical status.” ALIAS responded, the angry edge to its voice easing up.
Andre paused for a moment, and with a thought brought up his character “screen” which was just a 3D visual of his own body floating and slowly spinning in the air before him, with everything he currently had on having faint white lines leading off to a box, listing what the item was. He found that if he mentally “clicked” on the item, it popped up a short description of the item; much like what he got from his “Identify” ability. In the lower right-hand corner of his vision he saw a flashing “+10” box listed next to a larger “Stats” box. Once more Andre mentally “clicked” on the “Stats” box and another box popped up in his overlay, listing out 9 individual stats. 6 of those stats he recognized and could modify. The other 3 he couldn’t modify and only had percentages listed after. He decided to do as ALIAS suggested and “drill down” to glean more information. Each stat he selected popped up its own description box.
“Stat: Strength: Basic physical statistic that primarily modifies muscle tone and density. This determines the amount of damage an individual can do when wielding weapons. Also affects the individuals’ ability to act and move in heavier armor. Also improves handling of heavier items and weapons. Current base: 5 + 2 from equipment and abilities. Augments “Piercing” stat.”
“Stat: Mind: Basic physical statistic that determines an individual’s environmental awareness. This determines an individual’s ability to absorb and convert environmental aspect energy to replenish the reserves on the given energy converted. This stat also determines one’s ability to perceive events happening around them. Current base: 5 +1 from Aspect level. Correlation to “Aqua” Aspect improves stat effects.”
“Stat: Vitality: Basic physical statistic that determines how much damage an individual can endure before reaching a “critical state”. This statistic also augments an individual’s resilience to physical attacks and environmental damage. Augments “Defenses” stat. Current base: 6.”
“Stat: Intelligence: Basic physical statistic that determines the size of the individual aspect’s mana pools. This statistic also improves the individual’s critical/strategic thinking. Also lowers the duration of time an individual is affected by status debuffs. Augments “Resistances” and “Piercing” stats. Current base: 4”
“Stat: Dexterity: Basic physical stat that determines an individual’s deftness when wielding weapons. This further augments an individual’s ability to perform when wielding a weapon in both hands. Enhances accuracy when wielding ranged weapons, and parry accuracy when in close quarters combat. Having a higher dexterity stat than your opponent often reveals advantageous points to strike with physical blows, especially when paired with a high “Mind” stat. Current base: 5 +5 from equipment and abilities.”
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“Stat: Agility: Basic Physical stat that determines an individuals’ combat flexibility and speed. This statistic affects an individual’s ability to swing their weapon with speed and accuracy, while affecting how well they dodge or parry an incoming attack, especially when paired with a high “Mind” stat. Augments Defenses stat. Current base: 6, +7 from equipment and abilities.”
Andre paused for a minute, allowing himself a moment to process everything he’d just read. The first 6 stat descriptions read about how he would have expected them to. What he found fascinating though, was how interconnected they all seemed: like investing points in his Mind stat, seemed to improve more than just how quickly he recovered energy, but he could see how the environmental awareness would impact his ability to avoid incoming attacks, or see weak points in enemies he may have missed before.
“So, going full strength for melee or intelligence for aspect attacks really isn’t an option here, now is it?” He pondered aloud.
“Duh” ALIAS replied.
“Oh, be quiet, it was a rhetorical statement to help me think. Jerk.”
“…..”
Andre took a moment to compose himself before continuing to drill down on the specifics of his character. While he still had three more stats to read through before trying to figure out how to assign his acquired points, he also wanted to try and plan a “build” for himself. While he was a slender, relatively strong person that would make a great swordsman or rogue type, he’d always fancied himself as the person to stand back hurling enemy devouring spells while augmenting allies. He laughed to himself:
“This isn’t exactly a party, or ally type scenario now, is it?”
“That is correct, when deciding on how you want to assign your points it is best to assume that you are and will be alone in this.” AIAS answered.
“Rhetorical. Question.” He grumbled.
“Stat: Resistances: Secondary stat which reduces damage taken from aspect damage, as well as reducing damage taken from environmental effects such as intense heat or cold. Also reduces recovery time from status afflictions and reduces time to recover from debuffs. Current Resistances: 8% from gear, abilities and primary stats.”
“Stat: Defenses: Secondary stat which reduces physical damage taken, this includes attacks from enemy weaponry, unarmed strikes, and environmental damage such as falling, or being hit by objects moving around or innately stationary by the individual, such as rocks, trees or a collapsing building. Improves the individuals’ chance to avoid critical damage. Current Defenses: 22% from gear, abilities and primary stats.”
“Stat: Piercing: Secondary stat that improves how impactful a physical strike is. This stat also determines how much damage is inflicted by Aspect related abilities per the enemies Resistances and determines the effect and length of time afflictions and debuffs affect the enemy. Current Piercing: 13%”
Andre’s head was spinning by the time he finished reading through the descriptions of the “secondary” stats. While he’d never thought of himself as stupid, per say, he’d always been able to understand and effectively play most games he’d played; being particularly good at RPGs.
“I guess I’m having a hard time grasping the fact that this is a readout of me as a person, what my life choices have led me to be. This is just so surreal to me, that by assigning points to these various statistics I can permanently enhance myself.” Andre mumbled in amazement as he slumped to the ground, the 3D visualization of himself still spinning slowly behind the stat box. As the realness of what was happening settled on him, Andre found his mind wandering and warring as to whether he should save the stat points to see what other kind of abilities he’d gain as he leveled up or assign them to see exactly how those points affected him and to save the next couple of “levels” worth.
“ALIAS, uh… I don’t want to bother you with an “inane” question… but is there a “level cap” or something like that I need to be aware of when considering how to assign my stat points?” He finally asked.
“That is actually a very good question.” ALIAS responded, seeming to perk up at the question.
“What this interface, item descriptions… well pretty much everything I have brought to you represents is your mind, body and souls’ projection to rationalize your individual growth and transformation into an Ascended. While each individual who experiences this “evolution” of sorts does in fact have a different way of visualizing their transformational growth, not everyone views or understands it in the same way. In a way of speaking… your obsession with video games, and your “nerd” like tendencies have manifested themselves in this way to guide and help you to understand it all. In terms of “Level Cap” every Ascended is different, as such it is impossible to determine when or how you will reach your upper limits of strength.” ALIAS continued before pausing for a while.
“It is inherently strange to me though, that you are able to effectively determine exactly how you grow; thus enabling you to design the form of that upper limit. With careful planning and thought revolving around your abilities you could potentially become a very formidable creature.” ALIAS finished.
“OK, so… I won’t know about the level cap until I hit it.” Andre asked, getting an almost exasperated groan in response.
“Out of everything I just said, THAT’S what you took away?”
“No, no… I was just reiterating the main point answering my question.” Andre shot back, making ALIAS groan again.
“As it stands, I would recommend a balanced distribution of your stat points until you have a better understanding of how your abilities manifest themselves. While it’s important to have enough Aspect energy to sustain use of your abilities in prolonged fights, or enough strength to cut through your enemies, its also important to be able to negotiate the environments and survive the struggles they’ll bring.” ALIAS continued, ignoring Andre.
“Aspect energy… tell me ALIAS: is that essentially the same as mana?” Andre asked, seeming to have missed the entire suggestion.
“That is a good comparison, only rather than having one single large pool of aspect energy to draw from, you have 9 smaller individual pools relating to each of the aspects. Aspect abilities only draw from the pool of energy to which they are related and can be individually depleted.” ALIAS answered.
“OH! I GET IT! So, like my ability “Like a River” only draws on Aqua Aspect energy, right? Can we make our lives a bit less confusing and just refer to them as mana pools? Like make Aqua Aspect energy Aqua mana?” Andre excitedly asked.
“That is correct and yes, we can make that change. In fact, I will update your interface to display as such.” As ALIAS answered Andre’s field of view flickered and buzzed, like static on an old box television stuck between channels. When his vision finally cleared up, he couldn’t help but ask:
“What exactly was that? I don’t see any difference…?”
“Oh, shit… I forgot to enable a few things for you. One moment.” ALIAS answered as Andre’s vision flickered and buzzed again, only this time it seemed to last much longer. This time when it ended, the 3D visual of himself had shrunk by over 60% of its original size, leaving room on the left-hand side for a column of horizontal bars, all grayed out, save for one towards the middle that glowed a faint Aquamarine color. Over the faintly glowing bar Andre could make out the description “Aqua Mana”.
“I have modified your character screen to fully display your available “mana” along with your equipment and health. If you were suffering from any afflictions or debuffs they would also be found on this screen with descriptions as to how they are affecting you, and how much time until recovery.” ALIAS spoke.
“I don’t see a “health bar” or any kind of meter like that…” Andre started to say before he noticed the spinning model had taken on a healthy green glow that seemed to permeate the entire form.
“Oh, never mind I see it now.” He added with embarrassment. Andre continued to examine the changes to the character screen overlay when he finally noticed at the top there were what appeared to be a pair of tabs. The active one was titled “Character”, while the one next to it was listed as “Skills/Abilities”. Clicking on it the screen changed, vanishing the 3D model to replace it with a list of his abilities under their individual Aspects, with the aspect level/rank next to the list title. While he only currently had “Aqua” and “Unaspected” he noticed that only “Aqua” had its level listed next to it, while all the abilities under “Unaspected” had progress bars next to them, with their level right beside. Despite this difference Andre found he could click on any of the abilities to pull up their description.
“Hey ALIAS, I think I know the answer, but I have to ask just to be sure: what exactly are Unaspected abilities as opposed to say… Aqua abilities.”
“If you were going to say that Unaspected abilities are not inherently tied to and boosted by any of your unsealed aspects, then you are correct. These skills cultivate based on your own inherent abilities before the conversion process. These abilities tend to grow in strength on an individual basis through use and will often lead to awakening additional, more powerful abilities as you develop.” ALIAS answered.
“Very awesome!” Andre said, completely in awe.
“I guess we should probably get moving, you did say it's important to not stay in one place for too long.” He continued as he closed out his character screen.
“That is correct, though I should point out… you failed to assign your accrued stat points.” ALIAS replied as Andre picked up his machete and gazed down the tunnel ahead, his skin prickling at the low, rumbling growl that emanated from the depths.