Markus?
The voice, felt more than heard, reaches me even in Deep Meditation. I don’t want to leave – I sense that I’m almost there.
Just give me a minute, I send back to wherever the voice came from. It must have worked – the speaker doesn’t bother me again. I continue drawing Energy in, packing it tightly into my Core. It’s almost full. Just a little longer.
Between one moment and the next, I realise that it’s done. My Core is full. It could take a little more without damage, I know that, but there is little point in doing so. When the Pure Energy packed my Core so tightly that it cracked, I didn’t get extra points because of it. Nor did the points have more effect on my body. If anything, I lost that Energy as waste.
Pulling out of my Meditation, I tuck my much-reduced Energy Heart away into my Inventory so as not to waste any of it. Then I focus on my surroundings – we’ve stopped moving. I blink – it’s dark, and the mountains are a lot closer than they were this morning. In fact, they’re around us now. How long was I meditating for?
The whole day, Bastet answers my unspoken question. She yawns, hopping down from the wagon bench. Come on – I’m hungry!
You could have got food without me, I point out, though my stomach growls at the welcome thought of food. I’m hungry enough to consider pulling out a chunk of meat from my Inventory, but decide that the situation isn’t desperate enough for emergency rations. Not when we have carcasses with us that have been stored in specially-designed containers so they stay in perfect condition. Their only downside is that their spatial enchantments can’t be too good – the space of one can only hold four carcasses in total. As if that’s not something that would revolutionise transportation back on Earth, I comment wryly to myself, amused at how my own standards have changed.
You didn’t eat lunch, Bastet tells me again, curling her tail and looking at me chidingly. I wasn’t going to let you miss dinner as well.
“Fair enough,” I sigh, then follow her into the centre of the camp to receive my bowl of stew. I sit down on a bench next to Nicholas who’s eating thoughtfully. “Made any progress?” I ask him vaguely, aware that we’re not under a Seal.
“Some, perhaps. Your suggestion of borrowing from my Bonded seems to have potential. I would like you to view what I am doing – perhaps you will be able to more accurately determine if it’s having any effects. I considered approaching you earlier but you seemed rather occupied; I didn’t want to disturb you,” he comments.
“Sorry about that,” I apologise. “And sure, I can take a look. I need to level up first, though.”
Nicholas’ eyebrows rise noticeably.
“Already?” he exclaims, though quietly.
I just shrug and nod. He stares at me for a long moment and then shakes his head, returning to his meal without a word.
“I’ll see you later then,” I say a few minutes later when I’ve cleared my bowl. I mentally thank Bastet – even if I didn’t recognise it when in Deep Meditation, I needed this.
“Don’t use the stream directly to clean up,” Nicholas warns. “Too many people use it for drinking water downstream.”
“I’ll bear that in mind,” I acknowledge, scratching that option off the list. A little time thinking gives me an alternative. I head out of the circle of wagons, accompanied by Bastet, Catch, and Pride who insist that I don’t leave the firelight alone. Well, Pride just comes along because Catch is there, but I accept their companionship willingly – I’ve learned my lesson about levelling up alone if there are other options.
Concentrating, I send my magic into the ground at my feet. With a rumbling sound, a hole grows in the space in front of me. Once the rumbling has stopped, I climb down the rough steps I set into the wall, reaching the bottom when the top is shoulder level.
With my privacy assured – yes, now I’m back in human lands, I have to be concerned about that again – I undress and place my clothes next to the hole. Then, activating the level up, I choose to place all of my points in Willpower.
That’s what I did the last two times as well, and I expect I’ll keep doing so. The fact is that most of my Class Skills depend on Willpower. Up until now, that has been less of a consideration except when I sensed that I was reaching my limits with the number of Bonds my soul could support, or whether I had the Willpower to Dominate the beings I needed to. But with some of the Class Skills I saw in the treasure room that I now have access to, Willpower is very clearly my most influential stat.
After reaching level thirty, I might think about raising other stats manually before aiming to level up again – assuming I have the Energy to spare for it. Energy Hearts aren’t endless, and the average beast Core is less effective for me than my element-specific Energy Hearts. Still, I’m already ahead of most of my new family’s ancestors in the other stats, so even if I stick to Willpower from now on, it shouldn’t cause any problems. Not unless I end up separated from my companions and facing a powerful enemy.
Nicholas says that specialisation is normal. Mages pour points into Intelligence and Wisdom; Warriors into Strength and either Dexterity or Constitution; Craftsmen into whatever helps their craft; and Tamers generally focus on Willpower. Though there are some odd Tamer-Gladiator Classes that are very much based in physical strength, requiring them to physically beat the beasts they want to Tame.
It’s mostly because of limited points – Common and Uncommon Classes in particular simply don’t have the points to be good at everything. And even Rare and above Classers generally don’t choose mediocrity in everything over excellence in a specific area.
I’ve been more of a jack-of-all-trades out of necessity in the other world. If I’d concentrated on Willpower since the beginning, I’d have never become the leader of the samuran village – I wouldn’t have had the personal strength to beat them without involving my Bonded. And there are many times when I would have died if I had had less health or mana. It’s also what allowed me to win the battle with Valence – because of the points I’ve added to ‘unusual’ stats, I’m strong enough to handle most opponents near my level, especially those with narrow specialisations and weaknesses I can take advantage of.
However, I’ve been lucky because I haven’t suffered setbacks to my main Class as a result of my choices thanks to one particular reason: the percentage bonuses I’ve earned—especially Kalanthia’s gift. The extra Willpower point for every three I add and initial gift of Willpower were far more useful than I thought they’d be. Now that I understand how the internal matrix works, I realise just how much she sacrificed to expand my Core-space by a full fifth, even if at level zero, it was far less than it would take now. It was still an amazing gift, and one that truly shows how grateful she was for my help.
Once I reach level thirty, there’s a Class Skill that I’ll be able to use to leverage my Willpower to cover gaps across my other stats, which makes Willpower the priority. And since raising it manually would drain over half my Energy pool per point, it makes more sense to level up with Willpower and manually raise the other stats later if I choose.
The usual bliss and then agony goes through me, though I feel that both sensations have lessened since the first time I felt them. Or that could just be my memory playing tricks on me.
Either way, I’m coated with a thin layer of unpleasant material, though not that much of it. Using my water-magic and soap from my Inventory, I give myself a shower. With a touch of fire-magic, I even make it a warm one – who needs plumbing?
Clean, I pull the remnants of water away from my skin and absorb it into the ground under my feet. Then, after getting dressed, I climb out. My last task is to refill the hole. Soon enough, there’s no sign that anything ever happened except a suspiciously bare circular patch. Unfortunately, since I don’t have Flower’s skill with plants, I can’t replace those.
Done? Catch asks, giving me a once over. You don’t look any different.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
“I wasn’t focussing on anything physical this time, so I doubt I would,” I reply with a shrug.
Feel stronger, is Pride’s unexpected contribution. I glance over at the scalla with raised eyebrows.
“You can feel a difference?”
Pride ignores my question and nudges Catch’s shoulder for a stroke, his uncomfortably long tongue flicking out of his mouth. The samuran gives me an apologetic look on behalf of his companion. I just give him a half-smile to let him know I’m not going to hold it against him.
Back in the firelight, I head straight for the wagon, my other companions following me and then settling down with those who have already returned to sleep. Nicholas isn’t there yet so I pull up my stats to see how things are going on. Today’s level combined with the practice I’ve done over the last couple of weeks means that I’m finally seeing some movement.
Name: Markus Wolfe
Race: Human
Class: Tamer
Level: 28
Energy to next level: 0%
Energy absorption rate: 60u/hr
Intelligence: 56+8 (+15%)
Mana: 960/960 (15u/IP)
Wisdom: 50+5 (+10%)
Mana regeneration rate: 1375u/hr
Willpower: 114+41 (+36%)
Health regeneration rate: 155u/hr
Constitution: 40+4 (+10%)
Health: 650/650 (650) (15u/CP)
Strength (Power): 20+1
Damage bonus: 210% increase
Strength (Endurance): 24+1 (+5%)
Stamina regeneration rate: 250u/hr
Dexterity: 37+3 (+10%)
Stamina: 600/600 (15u/DP)
Special: Fire Affinity (25%)
Class Skills:
Dominate – Master 4
*Companion Bond
Tame – Journeyman 9
* Alliance
Fade – Journeyman 6 -> 7
* Darkvision
Inspect – Initiate 5 -> 8
Elemental Bonding – Beginner 4 -> 9
Management – Journeyman 8 -> 9
Transformation – Initiate 3 -> 6
Non-Class Skills:
Flesh-Shaping – Master 3
*Fluid Fabrication
Stealth – Initiate 8 -> Journeyman 3
Animal Empathy – Journeyman 9
Meditation – Journeyman 9
Energy Manipulation – Master 6
Sensation Management – Novice 8 -> Initiate 2
Spearmanship – Journeyman 2 -> 5
Archery – Initiate 9 -> Journeyman 2
Blunt Weaponry – Journeyman 1 -> 2
Knife-work – Initiate 5 -> 9
Fire-Shaping – Journeyman 7 -> 9
Earth-Shaping – Journeyman 9
Energy Crystallisation – Initiate 3
Teaching – Initiate 1 -> 3
Rune-Carving – Beginner 6 -> 8
Enchanting – Beginner 9
Lava-Shaping – Novice 3
Alchemy – Beginner 5 -> 6
Metal-Shaping – Beginner 9 -> Novice 2
Air-Shaping – Beginner 9 -> Novice 5
Water-Shaping - Beginner 7 -> Novice 2
Imprinting – Beginner 1
Inspect Item – Novice 1 -> 7
Seal – Beginner 1 -> 4
Clubs – Beginner 2 -> 4
All my weapon Skills are improving steadily thanks to regular sparring and focused training, though I’ve been prioritising Spearmanship and Archery for their balance of melee and ranged combat. I’ve done some work with knives and maces, but Laeman and Reagan agree they aren’t really my style – they’re fine as backups, but not worth specialising in. Perhaps I’ll even remove Clubs Skill entirely; its low level would mean I produce a fragment at best, but that might be useful for someone.
My Fire-Shaping has also reached the cusp of Master, joining a growing list of Skills stuck at the first bottleneck. I used to assume that reaching Journeyman nine meant it was pointless to practise further, but Nicholas corrected me. Skill ranks never drop, but actual performance can: anyone who stops practising loses sharpness, muscle memory, and technique. Thankfully, regaining old proficiency is easier the second time around – more like refreshing a memory than relearning from scratch. Similar to riding a bicycle or driving a car.
And even if they’re bottlenecked, Skills can still improve. Techniques become smoother, reactions faster, and overall effectiveness higher. Breaking through the bottleneck requires doing something ground-breaking – for the person in question. Which is why it was easier for me in the samurans’ world. Almost everything I did there was unfamiliar to me beyond what little I knew from Earth and the knowledge stones Nicholas sent me.
That lack of guidance gave me bad habits – which is why my weapon Skills were previously stalled at Initiate nine – but it also allowed me to make discoveries more easily, pushing several Skills into Master.
Classer crafters here have the opposite problem: training and established techniques makes it easier to reach Journeyman, but harder to create something ‘new’ to them. Which is why I’ve been careful not to rely too heavily on the library at the manor. I’m hoping the journey to the Lost Continent will give me the right mix of challenge and unfamiliarity to break through my remaining bottlenecks.
Another interesting discovery I made that I probably shouldn’t be surprised at is that it’s actually possible for my low-level Skills to advance just by watching a Master at work. I haven’t done any rune-crafting or alchemy myself, but I earned two levels in Rune-Carving and one in Alchemy just by being present while Master Mirena worked on preparing and using ink to create tattoos. Unfortunately, it seems Enchanting is too high at Beginner nine to level up.
Otherwise, my practice with my magic Skills is showing as all of my Shaping Skills are now into Novice or above. The only one I haven’t practised with is Lava-Shaping – I didn’t want to damage Nicholas’ training grounds too much, nor did I want to truly put anyone in danger.
Of course, the Skill that’s gone up the most number of ranks is Inspect Item – given how low it started and how frequently I’ve been using it, that’s unsurprising.
Overall, I’m pleased with my progress – though I was making faster progress in the other world, I feel that I’ve been improving my foundations ever since I arrived here and that now it’s starting to show.
Speaking of foundations, movement through my status screen prompts me to wave it away to see Nicholas settling into the wagon. He gazes at me expectantly.
“Have you levelled up?”
“I have,” I confirm. He nods and looks at me critically.
“Willpower?” he asks. I nod. “Good. Since it seems like you might actually achieve your unbelievable deadline, I must warn you that when you reach level thirty, if you want to choose from the Class stones in the treasury, you must not check the Skills available to you.”
My eyebrows rise in surprise.
“Why is that?” I ask curiously.
“Because then you won’t be able to have the Class Skills replace them,” Nicholas answers. “Why this is the case, I cannot answer, but experience has proven that once you have viewed your available Skills list post level up, those are the only Skills you can take with your Class points. Absorbing a Class stone after that is a waste as the best it will do is reduce the price of the Skill when it’s offered at the appropriate level.”
“Huh,” I comment thoughtfully. Then I push that question to one side – it’s not relevant right now, but just as well for Nicholas to tell me ahead of time. “Alright, what did you want to show me?”
here!
here!
here!
here!
here
