4) The Persistence of Memory ( Well Hello, Dali )

  So of course, mere moments after making a rule for myself, I found myself breaking it.

  All in a good cause, of course. I needed fingers.

  Page by page, my Summons turned the pages of the Mediation book. The Undine was a fish like being with a head, legs, and arms, complete with a set of hands that included disposable thumbs.

  As I tried to get to the actual information about Meditation, I first had to work my way through the title page, an author’s introduction, both forewords, the preface, and finally, for some reason, an entire page dedicated to the express purpose of telling me what typeface was used in the book.

  Although I had to consider the possibility that the typesetter may have added that page.

  Then I had to force myself to get past the chapter about the flow of Magic, which was interesting enough that I wanted to come back to it. Then I skimmed through a chapter about internal energy flow circulation along internal structures like veins, nerves, muscles, and bones. None of which was at all useful to someone whose body was a solid chunk of crystal.

  Finally, I got to the part of the book that concerned Meditation.

  Which I found out worked a lot like my Beacon.

  Basically, you focused your mind on sensing the magic in the air around you, the ground beneath you, and any Magically charged items in your hands, which the book assumed its reader would have, then you just sort of sucked it in along those very same bits like veins, nerves, muscles, and bones I didn’t have.

  The writer Loa Chi suggested this was a way of double dipping, but it appeared I could still pull Magic for my use without doing any of that nonsense.

  And like my Beacon, there was some risk of pulling in so much Magic that Beasts might follow it in, like you were advancing from the Child class and would be easy prey.

  Or someone with a higher Rank advancing to a higher Rank and undergoing the ‘Test.’

  Hrmmm… They capitalized Test for a reason. I’m guessing it's a significant reason, but since I’m well away from going to Rank two, I have some time to find out why the word Test was capitalized.

  It should be easy enough to remember to ask someone, Unity, about it. I mean, it sounds really important, even I can’t forget to ask my Liaison about it.

  ...Why am I lying to myself? I already know I’m going to forget all about it until it’s too late. It’s what I do. What could I possibly do to try to remember this?

  “Remember to ask about the Test. Remember about the Test. Remember to ask about the Test.”

  Viola suddenly shouted from somewhere down the hall. “Hey Fell! Remember to ask about the Test!”

  “Thank you!” At least ‘someone’ is trying to help me. Good on the Fairy.

  What was I… Oh, yes. Before I go for Rank two. Before I even get close, I need to ask Unity about what the Test was. And, I’m studying Meditation.

  It seemed that how much Magic you can call to yourself through Meditation is based on a formula of your Spirit score, with a percentage bonus equal to your Meditation skill score.

  Which is simple enough.

  And, according to Master Loa, or is it Master Chi, there is little danger of Medication calling a Beast to follow the Magic in toward you, since even adding a percentage of someone's Spirit score to measure how much Magic they pull is hardly comparable to the amount of Magic which gets pulled in by someone gaining a Rank.

  ...Except I have a Spirit score of something like a hundred and… something.

  Anyway, what are my Ability scores right now Blinky?

  Name: Fell

  Titles: First Born, Bane of the Dead, Least Stronghold Defender, Moderate Stronghold Defender: More-

  Race: Living Core: Instinctive Knowledge

  Classes:

  Rank 0: Child 1-

  Rank 1: Core Summoner 6-

  Might: Not applicable

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  Agility: Not applicable

  Memory: 6

  Wit: 12

  Spirit: 100+6

  Unspent Merit: 6340

  Unspent Free points: 6

  And I have to ask myself why I haven’t spent any of those free points to improve my Memory, but the answer, obviously, is that my Memory is a six.

  I forgot that I had Free points.

  Alright, so let’s fix that.

  “Blinky, put all six…” Wait a moment, I’m altering my mind here. The last time I pushed things by trying to refuse to bring my mind back from the Tower of Ascension until I had the chance to ask Unity one last question, I ended up cracking my Core from the strain.

  I don’t want to do that again. So. “Blinky, add one Free point to my Memory.”

  There was the sound of a ping, like someone ringing a small, glass bell.

  [ Memory is now 7 ]

  And suddenly… Absolutely nothing seemed to change. But that included an absence of any cracks appearing in my Core.

  So… All good?

  My Guardian Fairy suddenly came flying into the room, a look of concern, even panic, on Viola’s face.

  “Fell! What are you- Nemo!”

  Nemo? What, or rather who is… Oh. She named the Undine Nemo, or did I? I don’t remember, but I do remember that at some point the Undine somehow ended up with the name Nemo.

  As the Fairy hugged the Undine, I decided to find out what putting another point in Memory would do for me.

  “Blinky, put another Free Point into Memory.”

  There was another sound of a glass bell, and…

  [ Memory is now 8 ]

  Oh, I named Nemo. The name was some kind of traditional moniker that was often used by underwater villains or monsters to make themselves sound more dangerous than they were. Although, to be fair, at least a few of them may have just been giving fair warning about their character. Somehow, I had pulled the name out of my Instinctive Knowledge without even thinking about it.

  This. Is. Great. “Blinky, put another-”

  Viola was rather abruptly pressed up against my Core as she air-jetted across the room. The Fairy had slammed into my Core, where it sat on a shelf, hard enough to rock it up against the back of the shelf with a loud thudding sound.

  And I was worried about me putting a crack in it.

  “Fell! Stop! You're going to crack yourself again!”

  And, I wasn’t the only one worried about it. “Please explain?”

  The Fairy got to her tiny lavender feet from where she had ended up flattened against my Core. From her position, which was already bent over due to being taller than the shelf, Viola glared down at my Core and began waving a finger at it.

  “You’re not supposed to raise your Ability score that fast. In fact, you are supposed to wait something like a whole week after your score goes up, even from leveling before you spend a Free Point on it.”

  My Guardian slapped one of her hands on top of my Core. “You're going to crack yourself again.”

  Viola’s eyes were watering at the edges. “And then I’m going to have to fix you. Again. All the while wondering if I can do it, or if you’re going to die right in front of me! Stupid Fell! I know I complained about having to take a Core healing power, but making me use it more isn’t suddenly going to make me decide it was all worth it.” She sniffled. “You, you. Stupid, dumb, sunburned, kickball!”

  Thanks to my newly increased memory, I could now remember that I had to grunt in an agreeable way now and then, as well as slip in a few apologies, to keep the Fairy from getting even madder at me as she went on for a while about how stupid I was.

  Which was fair. I’m not all that bright. But to be fair, I’m something like a week or so old. So really it's more like…” I grunted and agreed with Viola again. “Yes, you’re right.” Then I realized something.

  “Viola?” The Fairy stopped mid rant and gave my Core a surprised look. “I’ve leveled up six, maybe seven, times if we count getting my one level in Child. All over the course of several days. And my Spirit has gone up on six of those times. So was I at risk each time, or is there something else going on here?”

  I was guessing that the dangers of increasing Ability score were different when it was from Leveling, but getting the Fairy to lecture me about something other than my mistakes had worked to calm her down in the past.

  It was so nice being able to remember things like that.

  Viola’s brow furrowed in thought. “I think it’s different when you level. It’s like your whole body and mind are getting changed all at once. So it all kind of evens out the stress. But when you spend a free point…”

  The Fairy waved her hands around in frustration. “It's like filling an empty pitcher with water or dumping a glass into one that is already nearly filled up. Leveling up is a whole new thing all over, while adding Free Points is risking overfilling things.” Her eyes lit up. “You got to slosh around a bit for a while, or let some of the water dry up a little before you add more.”

  My Domain Guardian set her hands to her hips with a look of triumph on her face.

  To be fair, she did kind of get her point across. I was the one changing things piecemeal about myself within a system that had already established a method for doing so. Like the Free Points had been something added to an already existing setup, and didn’t quite work right with it.

  [ +1 System Lore ]

  Oh yes. Skills were something I should check in on as well. And now, I might even remember to do that.

  Hrmmm. And come to think of it, I should also check in on what Titles were all about, especially that “More” Title. Some of the Titles seem to have been based on what I am and what I’d done, but I have no clue how I got that one. Am I just “More” in general?

  But first, paying my dues to someone who cares enough about me to get upset when I’m in danger.

  “Thank you Viola. That was very helpful, and I will hold off spending any more Free Points… I guess at least until those adventurers show up again, and I need the edge. Or if they fail to show up at all, and at that point, it will have been a week, and it should be safe to raise my Memory again.”

  The Fairy grinned, then frowned a little, as if she was trying to remember something, before she finally shrugged. “Ah, thanks Fell. Always glad to help.” Then she fluttered away on her materialized gossamer wings before heading off to… Supervise the Skeleton who was carving at the bottom of one of the doors out in the hallway with the edge of the snapped off remains of a long, thin sword that had once belonged to an intruder, a Fetch.

  One of the only intruders that had actually died when he tried to invade my home.

  “Well, at least that’s one person who I don’t have… to see… again.”

  I remembered that I had gotten a message shortly after the Fetch had begun to turn into goo. Renaldo Hawkins had gotten to come to life again by losing a level. Which meant that they were out there, somewhere, and knew about me.

  Or rather, something about me. It wasn’t like they knew I was a Core. They hadn't gotten all that far into my Domain.

  “So I have at least four threats that might come after me. Stick boys and his friends, the Cloacoteers, and the pot thief, who are all possible dangers. And I also have a Fetch who has every reason in the world to wish me ill.”

  Maybe being able to remember things, including everything I now have to worry about, isn’t all it's cracked up to be.

  Or rather failed to crack.