My heart hammered in my chest. Hope surged through me, pushing back the guilt and horror. I focused, drawing on the strange connection I felt with Aether. "{Skill Bank}" I mentally commanded.
A new window sprang open in my mind, a vast, shimmering space filled with what looked like glowing threads of light. Each thread pulsed with energy, some dim and weak, others bright and vibrant. An interface floated in front of me, displaying labels above each category of threads. I saw categories like "Combat," "Crafting," "Knowledge" "add ons" and, significantly, "Healing."
["Now I really shouldn''t have to say this but go ahead and select healing, and begin looking for a skill called {Life Essence Infusion}"]
My eyes ran down the multitude of options for what felt like hours looking for the skill. Finally I found it. The skill was greyed out, I couldn''t get it.
["Before you start freaking out again look over at the cost. You see that number next to it? Look at the top of the window and see how much you have available? You don''t have enough life essence. You will in due time though. For now you will have to stay a leech until you can get the resources you need in order to kick start your abilities. "]
Somehow I feel like this is always going to be an issue. Looking over the skill in the skill bank and the associated cost of unlocking the skill some skills were costing in the hundreds of millions of LE. without becoming someone horrible I had no idea how I would ever be able to afford these skills not to mention the length of time it would take. I would die thousands of lives before I could afford a skill like {Minor Resurrection} I''m not really sure how bringing back the dead could ever be a minor thing. Especially not with the price of over 100 Million LE. The skill I needed to get in order to fix what I already messed up was still an astronomical amount at 1 Million LE.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
"Hey Aether?" I thought his direction. " How the flying fuck am I going to get anywhere close to the amount I need in order to buy the skill. From what you told me I know I used most of what we took in, but still I only have twenty seven at this point."
["Not to worry at all. The normal way you acquire LE is not through being an energy vampire. Its just necessary in the beginning. All you need is a couple of cheap skills and we can start making our own LE with everyone else none the wiser."]
Given our recent track record I doubt that we will pull of anything remotely approaching information security." Okay partner what do we need and whats it going to cost?"
["To start you really only need two skills, {Invigorate Growth}, and {Drain Life}. Now I know what your thinking you already feel bad about stealing a few months from Gwen but this is not to take from Gwen this is to use in conjunction with your last starting skill {Living Spacial Ring}."]
That skill sounds dangerous or at least not something I want to mess with lightly. If the ring is alive will I have another voice in my head? I could really do without M.P.D. its already bade enough with just Aether. I tell Aether my thoughts about the skill.
["Ha ha, I can see what you mean, but thats not really how it works, at least not right away. I mean eventually you will have another entity but it will be more like a Jeeves and trust me you will want someone to help you manage what will at first be a broom closet green house but eventually will be the core of everything you are able to do."]
That doesn''t really make sense to me. If its so integral to how my skills and power works then why is this the first time I''m really hearing about it? I mean I have been here for. . . . oh right, its only been a few hours since I was born. I haven''t even seen my family again since I was being delivered. I wonder what they are up to right now?