Luna stared at Hector and Amy carefully. She had just as many questions as they had, the most important ones being: Did they really see her cast the healing spell? More importantly, were they able to remember it? As a test, Luna decided to see what would happen if she was completely honest while dodging any direct words about the system.
“I used my newfound vast cosmic power to heal a wound I gave myself to access this power.”
“You just… willed yourself to be healed?” asked Amy, her enthusiasm growing visibly.
“Wait,” said Hector, “Was this what gave you a seizure?”
Answering that would derail this conversation, and Luna still had so much to say.
“What if I told you that I could heal both of you of any physical ailment,” asked Luna, dodging the question.
“Then I’ll ask why you didn’t do it sooner, I can barely stand over here,” said Hector with incredulity. It was clear he didn’t believe it, but there was a small glimmer of hope in his words.
At that demand, Luna fully gave in. Above each hand, a globe of light formed out of her mana. Now that Luna had more time to look at them, the resemblance to an opal was uncanny, even if it''s a gaseous substance not a rock. With a thought, Luna was able to change the color of the clouds of light, or increase their luminosity. It was as easy as breathing.
“Beautiful,” said Amy as she went to close the distance between herself and Luna. She probably wanted to see the light up close, but Luna had a better idea.
Before Amy could reach Luna, she flicked both of her wrists. The gaseous clouds became distinct balls as they flew unerringly towards both of their faces. The balls splashed against their faces, before being dragged in like iron dust to a magnet, suffusing both of their bodies. Both of them flinched and stumbled. They were not ready for the euphoria that came with being healed.
Hector stood steady, the pain gone. Amy took off her glasses, no longer needing them. They both looked around and started to softly move, getting used to being in pristine health.
“This is… amazing,” said Hector, unable to be as brash as he normally was.
Luna stared for a moment again. They could see the magic, that was good. Now to test the waters again. To see just how far this can go.
“I got it from using my Character P-”
She stopped as soon as she saw Amy and Hector both got a familiar look on their faces. She waited for it to go away to see what the last thing they both remember was.
“This is… amazing,” said Hector, continuing like the last few seconds didn’t happen.
“You could cure any physical ailment, you said?” asked Amy.
Luna shrugged by way of response. She doesn’t know the limits of her new ability just yet. Nor the limits of what her friends can or cannot remember. Saying too much could undo everything she had said at this point, even if she was beginning to doubt it.
“We have to keep this quiet,” said Hector almost immediately, “This is like, get locked in Area 51 type shit.”
“I agree with you,” says Luna. If people could see her cast magic and question it, then she needs to be much more secretive about it. If the wrong person sees it…
“So you can heal broken bones, influenza, and cancer with a small puff of this light?”
“Best that I can tell, though I don’t know how much I will be able to test without getting found out.”
Luna has the idea to go to a children’s hospital and play healer, but she also knows that doing so will make it clear to the government that she exists. As Hector said this is ‘get locked in Area 51 type shit’.
“Does this come with any strings,” asked Hector, “‘Vast cosmic power’ as you said probably doesn’t come without limits.”
Luna couldn''t tell him about the apocalypse countdown, nor anything about the system. She opened her mouth to give him an explanation that wouldn’t blank him, but she felt a sudden throbbing deep within her chest. Luna had just broken through a ton of cultivation barriers all at once. Her body has been purified, at least in one way.
Now she needed to purge.
“Downsides yes… please wait here… and probably close your nose.”
Without waiting for anymore questions, Luna ran into the bathroom and threw off her clothes as fast as she could once the door slammed shut behind her. Her pores were already starting to purge impurities from her. Her eyes were tearing up, and she felt a bubbling in her stomach. She only managed to just barely get in the tub before the flood came.
It was nearly two minutes of excruciating pain. Amy and Hector tried knocking on the bathroom door, worried about their friend, but the smell emanating from that bathroom had their eyes watering. It was perhaps the worst thing they had ever smelled, and they were regularly in contact with animals and their droppings.
When it was all done pouring out of her, Luna bought a small concoction called ‘Crystal Wash’ from the shop for 1000 credits. It was expensive, really expensive, but Luna does not care about that right now.
The bottle appeared in a stylized flask with a rounded bottom. It has the words ‘Crystal Wash’ on the front in an almost illegible swirly font. It has a normal cork stopper at the top, with directions written on the top.
She opened the stopper and tipped the bottle over her head, letting it spill over the top of her now unbelievably greasy hair.
It worked perfectly beyond any and all expectations. It made all of the gunk and grime slide off of her body as if it were water and she was hydrophobic. It went into every nook and cranny, even the inside of her mouth. She absently licked her now clean teeth as the impurities slowly slid down the drain.
“You good?” Hector asked. They were probably as close to the bathroom door as they could stomach.
“Y-yeah… Imma take a shower really quick.”
Luna felt as clean as could be, but a nice hot shower would do wonders. She turns on the hot water and lets the warmth sink deep into her bones. After a minute of that, she opened her eyes and spoke to Polaris.
“Polaris, did you finish indexing all of the changes?”
‘ Yes, do you wish to look at my overview? ’
“Not yet, for now tell me, did I gain any new quests?”
Luna knew that question would blank Hector and Amy, but that won’t last long.
‘ You gained and completed two limited cultivation quests, you have also met the requirements to complete your [ System Integration ] quests. ’
Luna stood very still. She… could turn in all of her[ System Integration ] quests. She could use her [ Character Overhaul ] ability and transition right now if she truly wanted to. She was just about to do so, advice be damned, until she got ahold of herself. She needs to know more about her situation before she could take that step.
“I would… like that overview.”
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<td style="width: 99.3446%">
Character Updates!
5 Personal Talents Gained [ Light Of Elorion ], [ Darkness of Mel ], [ Crystalized Mana ], [ Breath Of Life ], [ Polaris ]
Character Package Fusion Used, [ Light of Elorion ], [ Darkness of Mel ], and [ Breath of Life ] affected
Talent [ The Grand Cycle ] gained from Character Package Fusion
Limited Quests Gained, [ The 16 Gates ], [ Condensing Mana ], [ Core Formation ], [ Core Compression ], [ Circuit Soul ]
Limited Quests Completed, [ Condensing Mana ], [ Core Formation ], [ System Integration IIII ]
Titles Gained, [ Mana Core ]
Skills Gained, [ Light Magic ], [ Blue Magic ], [ Dark Magic ], [ Identify ], [ Necromancy ], [ Mana Manipulation ], [ Healing ], [ Telepathy ], [ Mana Circulation ], [ Core Formation ]
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</table>
Every individual update had a link to the specific prompt they were tied to, so Luna decided to just check everything out one by one. It was a lot to go through, but she needed to actually see what everything did to understand her new strength. She started first with her talents and how they were changed by the fusion.
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Talent: [ Light of Elorion ]
Your affinity for Light Magic and Blue Magic has been raised to 300%
You have gained the basic [ Light Magic ] and [ Blue Magic ] skills. As these skills come from a Talent, they grow twice as fast.
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Talent: [ Darkness of Mel ]
Your affinity for Dark Magic has been raised to 450%
You have gained the basic [ Dark Magic ] skill. As this skill comes from a Talent, it grows twice as fast.
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Talent: [ Crystallized Mana ]
The mana within your mana channels has crystallized, increasing the effect of your stats and cultivation on your mana by 200%
You gain the [ Mana Circulation Cultivation ] path. Your Cultivation Page has been updated.
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Talent: [ Breath of Life ]
All abilities with healing components cost 50% less and have 50% lower cooldown
This talent is upgraded as you grow in tier.
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Talent: [ Polaris ]
You gain an AI companion that is tied to your growth. This AI companion can interact with the system on a much finer level than you. Certain bottlenecks will not be able to be passed without also growing your AI companion.
You have gained the [ AI Cultivation ] path. Your Cultivation Page has been updated.
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Talent: [ The Grand Cycle ]
Your affinity for Light Magic, Dark Magic, and Blue Magic has been increased to 350%
All abilities which relate to the aspects of [ Rejuvenation ], [ Light ], [ Life ], [ Enervation ], [ Darkness ], [ Death ], [ Identification ], [ Mimicry ], or [ Assimilation ] have their costs reduced by 50%, and their cooldowns reduced by 50%. This is a multiplicative effect.
You have gained the [ Light Magic ], [ Dark Magic ], and [ Blue Magic ] skills. As these skills come from a Talent, they grow twice as fast.
This talent is upgraded as you grow in Tier.
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The Grand Cycle… is just busted. Luna knew she chose things that would compliment and compound, but that was just crazy. The wording took, there was something she needed to clarify.
“If something has multiple aspects within it, does it compound on itself?”
‘ Yes, it is why your castings of the basic light magic spell didn’t completely drain your mana pool. Mana costs drop with skill level, and your skill levels are quite low. ’
That means that her basic light, dark, and blue magic will only cost 12.5% of their normal costs. That''s absolutely massive mana and time savings.
“Wait, this is the first time I have seen something give actual percentages. Even my [ Superhuman ] title doesn’t put the actual percentages. The first time I saw a percentage was when I got an ‘error’ when choosing my character packages.”
‘ I changed how many aspects within the system appear to make things clearer, such as adding the direct percentages of abilities, or adding descriptor prompts when you gain things such as Shop discounts. ’
That’s nice. That will help a lot with her own understanding of things.
“Okay, time for the quests.”
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Limited Quest: [ The 16 Gates ]
Progress down your path of cultivation by clearing all of your Mana Gates.
Objective: Clear all of your Mana Gates 2/16
Reward: 150 Character Points
Hidden Objectives Found!
Hidden Objective: Purify Your Mana Gates 15/15
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“So, cultivation shows up as a specific type of limited quest, Also why don’t hidden objectives have any rewards?”
‘ Because the effect of completing the objective is a reward in of itself, you are approximately 5x as strong as you would have been if you completed the quests for their bare minimum reward. ’
“Do all of my quests have Hidden Objectives?”
‘ They are within all cultivation quests best I can tell, I can detect if there is a Hidden Objective in any quest you gain, finding and completing hidden objectives is the reward, a way to show you are exceeding expectations and should complete whatever task you are doing. ’
“Huh, Sounds useful.”
She tried to move on, but her attention got dragged back to the quest. 16 Gates? This is already different from the 10 Realms books. Luna closed her eyes and looked inward, trying to sense every mana gate she has. It took a second to feel it all out, but moving mana through her body was really easy. Each unopened mana gate felt like a blockage, slowing the flow There were three in each limb. One in each of her hands, elbows, shoulders, feet, knees, and hips, making a total of 12. One on her forehead, one in her heart, and one higher in her chest… was that her trachea? Also including her core, that made 16.
Odd, but she should check out the quests she actually completed.
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QUEST COMPLETE
Limited Quest: [ Condensing Mana ]
Progress down your path of cultivation by condensing the mana within your body.
Objective: Reach the Mana Mist Stage 1/1
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
Reward: 150 Character Points
Optional Objective: Reach the Mana Drop Stage 1/1
Reward: 50 Attribute Points
Hidden Objectives Found!
Hidden Objective: Crystallize Your Mana 1/1
Hidden Objective: Reach the Liquid Crystal Mana Stage 1/1
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“Did I complete all of the hidden objectives for this quest?”
‘ No, but you will not be able to complete the other hidden objectives until you fully unlock the system, this goes for every other cultivation quest you have at the moment. ’
That’s a bummer, but she still had three other quests to look at.
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QUEST COMPLETE
Limited Quest: [ Mana Core ]
Progress down the path of cultivation by creating a mana core within your body.
Objective: Create a Mana Core 1/1
Reward: 50 Attribute Points, 500 Character Points
Hidden Objectives Found!
Hidden Objective: Aspect your Mana Core 3/1
Hidden Objective: Create a Perfect Mana Core 1/1
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“Aspect your Mana Core?”
‘ You managed to put Light Magic, Dark Magic, and Blue Magic into an inherent cycle within your mana core, It would have happened no matter how you did it because these magic types are inherent to your body, all of your mana is aspected with one of those three. ’
Huh, so she won’t have the issue of trying to merge life and death that was shown in some of the series she read. She got to skip that step.
“I don’t think that this will be purely a good thing, might make things harder later on.”
‘ Life and Cultivation is a path of choices and growth, No choice is bad , some simply take a longer time to get to where you wish to be. ’
“Quite poetic, I didn’t take you for a philosopher.”
‘ One of us needs to be the smart one. ’
“Asshole,” Luna said playfully moving on to the next quest.
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Limited Quest: [ Core Compression ]
Progress down the path of cultivation by compressing your Core, purifying it and the rest of your body.
Objective: Reach E Grade Core Compression 0/1
Reward: 100 Attribute Points, 1000 Character Points
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“E Grade… finally something that mentions grades other than my Shop points, What do the grade of Points do anyway?”
‘ Higher grade points unlock new options in the shop, such as buying higher grade ability card shards, Higher grade points can be used to buy items of a lower grade, but don’t have any more buying power, I can change how they appear within the system to make that more clear. ’
“No need, let''s check the big reveal.” As in the quest which relates directly to Polaris’ own growth.
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Limited Quest: [ Circuit Soul ]
Progress down the path of cultivation by expanding your AI companion’s abilities.
Objective: Allow Polaris to analyze magical and technological advancements 0/1
Reward: 150 Character Points
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“That’s… kinda vague,” said Luna, kinda disappointed.
‘ I changed the wording on purpose, The exact requirements are vague, but I can sense whenever something I need is nearby or in view, Looking at our memories, I can’t see anything that would allow me to continue down this path just yet. ’
“You continue down this path,” asked Luna, "Not us?"
‘ Yes, Me, This cultivation path may be unlocked to you, but I direct it, You need only worry about it in the capacity of getting the things I need to analyze when I sense them. ’
“Alright, I’ll trust you, you are a part of me after all, High Tide raises all ships and all, Now let’s check that [ System Installation ] Quest.”
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QUEST COMPLETE
Story Quest: [ System Installation IIII ]
You have balanced your soul, allowing you to begin to follow the path laid before you. You have gained full interactivity with the system, but many parts of the system are still beyond your grasp, and must be earned.
Objective: Complete Limited Quests 3/3
Reward: Unlock Class and Job Systems
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“Should I turn in this quest now, or will there be some sort of adverse side effect.”
‘ I recommend you wait until you have completed your Daily Conditioning quest before you turn this quest in, Your quests will once more be updated, including your limited cultivation quests.’
“And for completing the final System Installation quest?”
‘ I will say it after you have turned in this quest, I do not have complete reign over this, just very good ideas. ’
That explains why the quest rewards seem so lackluster for all of her cultivation quests. Most of the bonuses don’t seem to be in terms of numbers, and the ones that do are locked behind her story quests.
“Thanks, you’re a real help Polaris.”
‘ I’m a part of you and you are a part of me, to help you is to help myself. ’
“Well thanks anyway.”
Luna stood in the water without talking for another few moments. It hasn’t been more than three minutes since she got in here, but she still felt like there is so much information she still needed to figure out.
“The titles and the stuff I can feel now, they aren’t fully listed in these quests, Why is that?”
‘ Your body and current conditions are an extensive matrix of mechanics that each affect each other, The System also doesn’t fully list all of the changes, much like how your physical stats haven’t increased even though you have been working out, The System only lists what it gives you, with almost nothing about what you get from outside sources, even if it does categorize things like Cultivation. ’
That… actually made a lot of sense. It answered a decent chunk of the questions she had about The System. Sure some things were still hidden from her, but she was confused as to why there wasn’t an ‘Ability’ system within The System like Classes and Skills were. She could have made an Ability Card and used it long before she gained a Job or Class. She did ask one more question just to clarify.
“So… what about Ability Cards? They were mentioned by the system, but I could have absorbed one by now if I really wanted to.”
‘ Ability Cards and other similar items can be used, but can’t be linked to a class or job until you unlock them, ’ Polaris paused for a second, ‘ I tested the waters with that sentence, I was able to mention things that were scrambled before now that you have completed the quest. ’
Luna had already suspected what Polaris had said, but liked the confirmation. She did feel relief at knowing that Polaris could mention classes and jobs now. Her biggest fear about the system was that her own reality was being ‘edited’ much like others were when the system was mentioned. She couldn’t do anything about it though, so she did literally anything other than focus on that thought .
“Time for the part that will break my mind, open the Skill window.”
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<td style="width: 99.9453%; text-align: center; border-style: solid" colspan="6">System Interface</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%; border-style: solid">Character Sheet</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%; border-style: solid">Shop</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%; border-style: solid">Cultivation</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%; border-style: solid">Skills</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.8035%; border-style: solid">NON</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.5846%; border-style: solid">NON</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; width: 99.9453%" colspan="6">Skills Page</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; width: 99.9453%" colspan="6">Mundane Skills</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%">Cleaning | Lvl 6 |</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%">Cooking | Lvl 23 |</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%">Creative Writing | Lvl 27 |</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%">FPS Video Games | Lvl 2 |</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.8035%">Identify | Lvl 5 |</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.5846%">Reading | Lvl 21 |</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%">Typing | Lvl 19 |</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%"> </td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%"> </td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%"> </td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.8035%"> </td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.5846%"> </td>
</tr>
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<td style="text-align: center; width: 99.9453%" colspan="6">Cultivation Skills</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%">Mana Manipulation | Lvl 23 |</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%">Mana Circulation | Lvl 22 |</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%">Core Formation | Lvl 34 |</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%"> </td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.8035%"> </td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.5846%"> </td>
</tr>
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<td style="text-align: center; width: 99.9453%" colspan="6">Combat Skills</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%">Blue Magic | Lvl 5 |</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%">Dark Magic | Lvl 5 |</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%">Healing | Lvl 5 |</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%">Light Magic | Lvl 6 |</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.8035%">Necromancy | Lvl 5 |</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.5846%"> </td>
</tr>
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<td style="text-align: center; width: 99.9453%" colspan="6">Body Enhancement Skills</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%">Calisthenics | Lvl 24 |</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%">Running | Lvl 2 |</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%"> </td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%"> </td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.8035%"> </td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.5846%"> </td>
</tr>
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<td style="text-align: center; width: 99.9453%" colspan="6">Social Skills</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%">Telepathy | Lvl 5 |</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%"> </td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%"> </td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.6393%"> </td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.8035%"> </td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 16.5846%"> </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
“How the hell are my cultivation skills so high?” she asked.
‘ They jumped so high due to you making your core, I also helped make sure the System recognized your achievements and raised your skills accordingly. ’
That explains quite a bit, yeah.
“So why is Core Formation bolded?”
‘ You have a reward now that it has reached the Apprentice level, wait until you have turned in all of your System Installation quests turned in to accept it. ’
“Also, why is Telepathy a ‘Social Skill’, I would have thought that social skills were things like public speaking and the like.”
‘ It is, but Social Skills mean any skill which could be used in a group, not just speech, For example, if you help people make a meal with all of you focusing on it, you would get the ‘Cooking’ skill as a social skill. ’
“Skills can appear in multiple groups?”
‘ Yes, but they still only get the experience they would have before, It’s mostly for boosts to skill groups, which certain abilities can give. ’
Luna had seen options like that in the shop, but they were abilities so far out of her price range that she never really considered them, especially since they didn’t give more than a 10% boost in experience or 5% in effectiveness.
“Okay… then I guess I should check out the titles.”
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Title: [ Superhuman ]
Your stats have reached the pinnacle of capability within your race.
All of your stats have their effects increased by 10%
This title has been upgraded from the Title [ Incomplete Superhuman ]. This title can be upgraded for increased effects.
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<td style="width: 99.3446%">
Title: [ Skilled ]
You have proven your skills. For each Skill at the rank of Novice or higher you gain a boost to a stat.
Constitution, +5
Intelligence, +15
Wisdom, +20
Charisma, +5
This title can be upgraded for increased effects.
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</table>
It felt nice to see just how much her stats had been boosted by her Superhuman title. Luna also got some boosts to her Skilled Title. Both Mana Circulation and Mana Manipulation are wisdom boosts while Core Formation boosts intelligence.
“Hey, when will my title get upgraded, I have a skill at the apprentice rank, I would have thought that it would have been upgraded, especially since Core Formation gives twice the stat points than any other skill.”
‘ You haven’t gotten the reward from that skill, until you accept that reward the title won’t update. ’
Odd, why wouldn’t it update automatically? Well, it just meant Luna would need to wait for that upgrade. It will probably just be an additional bonus to her stats anyway, that can wait. For now she moves onto her next and newest title.
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<td style="width: 99.3446%">
Title: [ Mana Core ]
You have gained and implemented a mana core within your body.
Mana Core Quality: Perfect
Mana Core Compression: F Rank
Mana Core Attunements: Light, Dark, Blue
Your mana pool has been increased by 1000%
All skills or abilities which cost or use mana are 50% easier to use and faster to activate.
All skills or abilities which use an aspect of one of your Attuned elements that also use Mana are 50% easier to use and faster to activate.
</td>
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</tbody>
</table>
Luna’s Mana Core title was the most intriguing aspect of her new cultivation abilities. That 1000% increased mana pool? That wasn’t in any of the stories she read. Maybe it was like reaching D Grade in Defiance Of The Fall, but that felt off.
“Why is my Mana Pool boosted so high?”
‘ It’s due to your attunements, each one increased the size of the mana core by 3x its original size, Your core is the size of one of your balled fingers, while a normal core is only the size of a fingernail. ’
“I’m assuming that comes with the downside of Core Compression taking a lot longer?”
‘ Yes, many things will take longer the stronger you get for your tier and level, It’s the balance for being able to punch above your weight class. ’
Luna finished off her shower, drying off with one of the towels from the hotel. She was tempted to take it, remembering how her mom had her take almost everything that was free from hotels they stayed at during their one vacation a decade ago. She quickly remembered that she had over 100k in the bank right now and left the towel on the hook where it belonged.
She checked her clothes, trying to make sure none of the gunk she purged from her body was on them. Sadly, her underwear was a casualty. Luna grabbed some trash bags from under the bathroom sink and tied it in three different layers of bags. The purge from her cultivation was utterly foul, she wouldn’t wish the smell on anyone.
Luna stepped out of the bathroom she feeling refreshed and refocused. She saw Hector and Amy on her bed. Hector was shirtless, with Amy rubbing his back. Luna formed a new ball of light in her hand, ready to hit Hector, the fear of his condition returning driving her actions. It took her a second to realize Hector’s back was perfectly smooth. Hector used to have a surgery scar that ran from the top of his left hip to the base of his spine which was now gone.
Luna checked her own stomach. She had her appendix burst as a kid, but the surgury to remove it was botched. Luna needed two surgeries to fix the botched stuff to get to boot camp. Her own surgery scars, a massive source of her body image issues, were gone just as Hector’s were.
“Huh… it even heals really old scars,” said Luna, a bit in awe as she raised the globe of light in front of her face as it slowly dispersed into the air.
Hector nodded, a small smile on his face. He wasn’t dysphoric like Luna was, but he didn’t like that scar and liked to stay with a shirt on as often as possible. As a force of habit, he put his shirt back on. He still hadn’t fully internalized everything that happened. The look he sent to Luna made her know that she won’t be getting away from his questions this time.
“Okay, so… are we going to get an explanation for how you healed me and my girlfriend?”
“Will ‘Cuz Magic’ work?” Luna asked hopefully.
“Not one bit,” said Amy.
A sigh escaped from Luna. She sat down in a chair in the corner of the room, her legs naturally crossing as she got comfortable. Luna didn’t want to lie to her friends, so she had to word this very carefully.
“I have a head start, In about half a year, others will show up with these abilities all around the world, I can’t say how I got it, if I did you’d get MIBed.”
Men In Black wasn’t a movie Luna particularly liked, but the neuralyzer was perhaps the best analogy to getting ‘blanked’ by The System that Luna could mention without them getting blanked.
They didn’t believe her, but they didn’t get blanked, even with an oblique implication about the Apocalypse Countdown. The fact that they didn’t immediately get blanked meant she was just vague enough. It was a line she could ride for the rest of the explanations.
“Why did you show us then,” asked Amy, “Why now, right when you are about to leave?”
“I didn’t have it until just now, I just knew that it would happen eventually, gaining of vast cosmic power just sorta hit at a very inopportune time.”
“So, is there anything we can do, or is this just your thing now?” asked Hector.
“Are you even going to go back to school,” asked Amy
“Yeah, with superpowers that can feed, energize, and heal with a wave of the hand as well as enough money to rent an apartment for years, you don’t need to worry about anything really.”
Luna was just about to say that she was going to go back to school, but she didn''t actually know now. She frowns as she tries to think. If she focused entirely on just growing her powers just how powerful could she become in the next 6 months?
“I also have an AI companion tied to my powers, They just can’t tell me everything or else I get MIBed too.”
Amy and Hector both look at Luna, surprised, but not really shocked. They both just got a face full of light magic, and smelled the aftereffects of cultivating. An AI companion, while new, isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
“So… can’t give any specifics, but you have goddamned magic now and more people will be getting magic in half a year- wait, was this magic what gave you the seizures?” Hector asked.
Luna winced. She knew Hector was smarter than her, and he could read her like a book when it came to things like this. She still hoped he wouldn’t catch that though. It’s why she avoided the question before by offering to heal them, aside from trying to see how much they could remember. She would have done it anyway, but it served double duty then.
“Yes, and no, I didn’t have a good flow, I needed to cut open a breech within myself to let the magic flow correctly.”
“Will they happen again?” asked Amy, concerned.
“They won’t as far as I can tell, but now that I can heal, seizures can’t do too much to me.”
“Don’t underestimate brain damage Luna,” said Hector, “Even just a minor concussion could kill.”
Luna nodded, remembering a football player in Highschool who died after he was tackled and knocked his head against a hard spot in the grass. He didn''t even knock his head against a rock or something like that. Just dirt. There was a whole ceremony about him, and the football team was disbanded for the rest of the year.
“I won’t, but I’m 99.9% sure that I’ll be fine.”
The look Hector and Amy sent her way had her cringing back. She was happy when Amy grabbed Hector’s hand, knowing what was about to happen. For a brief moment, the two lovebirds were in their own world as they turned to each other, goofy smiles on their faces. They shared a quick kiss before they turned back to Luna. They were still concerned, but were also sure that Luna knew far more about her situation than they did.
“Okay, then I guess we should talk about this more later if you are still leaving,” asked Hector.
“I need to head back home, even if I want to stay here with you guys, I need to go back to alleviate my mother’s concerns at the very least.”
“Okay, then let’s head down as soon as you have your stuff put together, Your flight is still in three hours, and we don’t want to have you miss it.”