《idealized re-existence》 Chapter 1 A horrid, metallic grinding filled my ears as I blearily opened my eyes, my vision filled with a slowly caving sheet of metal. Trying to move, I felt a pinching tightness on my arms and legs as I found myself unable to move them. The pain began to set in as the shock wore off. My arms, radiating slowly increasing pain, could not move from where I could now tell the crushed metal was pinning them down, blood beginning to seep out from where they were held, a similar situation with my legs. My eyes snapped back up as I heard an ominous grinding from the metal, the sheet pushing inwards forming an edge as it slowly moved closer to my head as I slowly began to panic, before pushing that back down. My thoughts focused on the descending edge of metal hoping, wishing, fervently that it would stop moving, that whatever is pushing it would catch and stop moving, that it would slide back up, anything, that would stop it from moving towards my head. My heart began to beat erratically as the cold edge of the metal pushed against my now sweat-beaded forehead, I began to hyperventilate as I felt it began to mount pressure against my skull, beginning to lose hope that it would stop caving inwards. As the pressure begun to hurt, my mind began to clear again however, apparently accepting the hopelessness of the situation, as I resigned myself to my death. As the pain began to grow too much to bear, one last thought ran through my mind, ¡°Please, I don¡¯t mind if I¡¯m disfigured, I want to live¡±, before I heard a heavy thunk from something above the grinding metal, and the metal spiked down, instantly crushing through my skull and shearing through the grey matter beneath, splitting my head apart from the neck up.
I shot up with a start, gasping for breath as I frantically touched my arms and forehead to check if they were intact, thankfully they were, before I noticed a floating, backlit, black screen hovering before me blank. I focused on the screen and watched as white writing began to appear upon the floating pane, capturing my attention.
Ideal: -Calculating-
Stats:
Skills:
I marveled at the screen as it floated there, wondering what an Ideal meant and what it was calculating, as a few thoughts ran through my mind. I knew about LitRPG¡¯s and other such stories, having read a couple of them online, but nothing really prepares you to be sat in front of a floating screen, faced with a system that you don¡¯t understand, and given the realization that you will have to make decisions with a severe lack of information. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Hoping for some explanation, I mentally prodded at the Stats title, causing a foreign thought to appear within my mind, ¡®Stats beget power¡¯, but unfortunately nothing more came forth about stats. Next, I turned my attention to Skills, receiving ¡®Skills denote strength¡¯ instead, leaving me to wonder how these worked as I suddenly heard, or rather felt, a bell like alert ring within my mind. Turning my attention back to the screen, I saw that it had updated, showing me what was calculated for the ideal as well as more information on the other parts of the menu.
Ideal: Thrivation
Level: 1 Stats: Strength: 5 Vitality: 5 Intelligence: 5 Wisdom: 5 Luck: 5
Skills: Fate-Subversion: Lv.1 Telekinesis: Lv.1
A few things caught my attention on the updated status, particularly my Ideal, Thrivation, whatever that meant, and my skills. I prodded Thrivation, only to receive the once again curt, ¡®The desire to thrive¡¯ for my effort, giving little information. Prodding Ideal gave a bit more of an explanation however, the sentence: ¡®your Ideal encapsulates what drives you, what you aspire to, and affects all parts of your being¡¯ appearing within my thoughts, still however vague on the actual effects of what my ideal did. Each stat gave a bit better of an explanation however, with strength giving ¡®the power of the physical body, governing physical strength and speed, and ability to leverage both.¡¯ Vitality giving ¡®the resilience of the physical body, governing vitality, endurance, and your ability to resist physical and magical effects as well as the size of physical resource pools..¡¯ Intelligence giving ¡®the power of the mind, governing the strength and acuity of mental processes.¡¯, Wisdom giving ¡®the resilience of the mind, governing the power of ones will, and the size of ones ethereal resource pools.¡¯ And finally luck giving ¡®affects ones luck in a more abstract form, governing luck, fate and all else in a minor way.¡¯ Looking further down, I prodded at my two skills, hoping for information on what they did, only for the first to return no information, and the second to simply return ¡®the ability to use ones will to apply force upon the world¡¯. Nothing useful for me at the moment it seemed, as I lay there pondering on what my Ideal meant for me, and what the Fate-Subversion skill meant, alongside how I had gotten it. The Telekinesis skill kind of made sense, but I couldn¡¯t think of how I received that mysterious second skill. At least stats seemed straightforward to me, Strength was how strong, Vitality was how tough, Intelligence was how smart, Wisdom however was particularly interesting to me given the Telekinesis skill mentioned my will, and Luck seeming to be a small impact on how lucky you were, I was surprised it wasn¡¯t lower given I had died, but maybe my continued existence balanced it out. I noticed I was strangely calm about my death, but maybe that''s a result of the resigned acceptance I had felt at the end there, alongside the calming knowledge that I survived such a horrific accident, although I got the feeling that i might react a bit more strongly when the fact i was no longer on earth properly kicked in. Chapter 2 I took a moment to properly calm down and focus, preparing to see how my skills worked, and focused on my blanket thinking ¡®telekinesis¡¯, expecting to see it rise into the air, but nothing happened. ¡°cant be that easy huh¡± I muttered to myself, before trying again, instead just thinking about the blanket rising into the air, to no avail unfortunately, with the blanket still refusing to move. This clearly wasn¡¯t working, so I stopped and decided to try another method, as I clearly couldn¡¯t just move things with my mind on a whim. Instead I focused inwards, deciding to see if my whim was a more physical, or rather ethereal, force that I could use if I sort of mentally tapped into it. As I focused inwards, I felt a strange sensation, almost as if my mind had slid slightly outside of my head and could feel the stale air around me, so I tried to extend this sensation outwards manually towards the blanket. I felt the sensation slide across the blanket and tried to grab hold of it, and lift it up into the air, only for it to rise a couple of centimeters before a bout of lightheadedness swept through and broke my concentration. Not quite ready to give up, I waited for it to pass and decided to try again. This time I lifted the blanket less before a darkness began to cover my vision, and I fell unconscious as I noticed a notification flash across my vision. Skill Telekinesis: Lv.1->2 Skill Mental fortitude: Learnt I regained consciousness as I heard a voice calling into my room, ¡°Ecrais, are you awake?¡± before the door to my room began to open and a woman, who looked about in her mid 20¡¯s, walked in visibly excited upon seeing me awake. She rushed forward and wrapped me in a hug, saying ¡°thank Asverin you¡¯re awake, what were you thinking? Just because your awakening was today, that doesn¡¯t mean you should do something so dangerous, what if you hadn¡¯t woken up?¡± while squeezing me tightly. It didn¡¯t ring a bell. I have no clue what shes talking about. I don¡¯t even know who she is. Taking a moment, I realised I may not have quite processed everything that has happened to me so far, realising this, I take a deep breath to center myself and think. I have a few names and some other memories floating around from this Ecrais I¡¯ve inhabited, but I cant place her to any. ¡°uh, who are you?¡± I asked, I figured she was my mother from context, but it would be easier to pass off my ignorance as total amnesia, not that that was too far from the truth. She looked at me with a sad gaze, ¡°my name is Sapheris, I¡¯m your mother¡± she explained, ¡°you hit your head hard yesterday while playing with your friends and haven¡¯t woken up until now. Your father¡¯s out getting a low level beast for you to kill, and should be back soon, we cant have you conscripted without any levels can we now?¡± she continued, ending with another squeeze before letting go. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°wait a second, conscripted?¡± I asked, stunned, as she dropped something I thought was kind of important, they have a draft? Isn''t this body like, twelve? ¡°Oh right, you wouldn¡¯t remember, whenever a child awakens, the kingdom sends a couple of inspectors to retrieve them, and bring them back one of the adventurer guild¡¯s training camps, as everyone is required to do two years of adventuring before they can choose to either stay as an adventurer or go back to a more normal life.¡± she explained patiently. Suddenly I heard a door shut elsewhere in the house. And quickly followed my, my body¡¯s mother out into the main area of th e house where I found a tall, broad man with brown hair and tanned skin holding a cage containing0 what looks like a rabbit on steroids inside, with a pair of longer canine teeth sticking out the sides of its mouth. ¡°I gotchya a vampire bunny for your first kill son, should give a couple levels fer ya¡± he chuckled, ¡°lets get you a knife shall we?¡± he finished, putting down the cage and drawing the knife he kept on his waist, handing it to me before reaching into the cage and grabbing hold of the rabbit so that it could resist or escape, and the back of its neck was left exposed. ¡°stab into it son, it should die quickly¡±. ¡°yes dad¡± I responded, gripping the knife in a reverse grip, and waiting a moment with my eyes closed. I hesitated, not sure entirely how to go about this, however I was surprised by my lack of issue with stabbing this rabbit - don¡¯t people usually have a hard time with their first kill? Coming up with an idea, I stepped forwards towards the rabbit and swung down with the knife, giving a mental Oomph and focusing on pushing against the back of the knife. I felt it slip in with a hint of resistance, next catching for a brief moment, before slipping in further with a higher resistance for every milimetre.. I quickly felt a wave of dizziness again as the knife stuck halfway into the rabbit, severing its spinal cord as it went limp. ¡°good job son, that stab was deeper than I expected¡± he nodded approvingly as he pulled the knife out, pressing a hand over the wound to prevent blood spurting out everywhere, ¡°check your screen¡± he suggested, smiling. Level: 1->4 Skill Telekinesis: Lv.2->5 Skill Mental Fortitude: Lv.1->2 Stat Points Earned: 18 ¡°you should have gained a couple levels, each level gives five stat points, I would suggest using them equally until you learn how you want to fight, and your Ideal solidifies. Don¡¯t tell me, or anyone, what your Ideal is by the way, some people boast about theirs, but it¡¯s best kept secret, and no one can force you to divulge yours without breaking the law, except the kings inquisitors.¡± he explained, before continuing, ¡°now your mother and I have to go, but tomorrow the inspectors will arrive. I would suggest you try train a little before they arrive, as the better they evaluate you the better the trainers that will be given to you.¡± before he and mom left, taking the dead rabbit with them, leaving me alone wondering what I should do. Chapter 3 I blearily rubbed the sleep out of my eyes as I woke up, the whole overuse of will knocking you out is great for insomnia it turns out, before checking the results I didn¡¯t get to look at yesterday due to my decisions of sitting around doing nothing for half the day, indecisive on what do to, and trying to increase my mental fortitude until it eventually knocked me out. I brought up the screen with a quick thought, and smiled at what I saw
Level: 4 Str: 5 Vit: 5 Int: 5 Wis: 5 Luck: 5 Unspent: 18
Fate-Subversion: Lv.1 Telekinesis: Lv.8 Mental Fortitude: Lv.3 Meditation: Lv.2
Seeing those numbers go up is pretty motivating, and I felt like trying to raise it further, but I don¡¯t want to be tired for when the inspectors arrive. I had just finished my breakfast when I heard a couple of sharp knocks at the door. I quickly got up and opened the door, coming face to face with a man and a woman, the man rather muscular with brown hair and blue eyes, and the woman had black hair and brown arms. From the woman I felt a strange aura surrounding her, one that left a slight tingling sensation on your skin. ¡°We¡¯re inspectors from the Adventurer¡¯s guild of Lansair, I¡¯m guessing that you¡¯re Ecrais?¡± the male one asked, continuing on after I nodded, ¡°good, we¡¯re here to collect you and accompany you to the closest guild training location. First, before you grab your stuff, we need your level and skills so the guild knows what training to prepare for you¡± he explained in an instructive tone, ¡°also your Ideal would help-¡± he started before being cut off with a sharp tone from his companion. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°John¡± she said in a warning inflection, ¡°that¡¯s too far¡± she said glaring at him, ¡°I¡¯m not forcing him, he can choose not to if he wants¡± he responded, glaring right back at her, ¡°are you willing to tell us boy?¡± he asked, turning back to me. ¡°n-no¡± I got out, ¡°I¡¯d rather not share my Ideal, the other things are fine though. I¡¯m level four, with three skills: Telekinesis at level eight, Mental Fortitude at level three, and Meditation at Level two.¡± I listed, slightly proud at my progress in the day or so since I had awakened. I left out the fate-Subversion, feeling that I probably wasn¡¯t meant to have that at 12 years old. ¡°hmm, Mentalist locked, decent progress, parents got him a decent beast to level it seems¡± the woman noted, turning back to me, ¡°congratulations, you¡¯ve got a lot of sitting around in your future¡± she chuckled, before the man, John, added ¡°now go grab your change of clothes and come with us¡± before turning around and heading back to the wagon that I could now see parked a little away from the house. I quickly grabbed some clothes from my room and shoved them into a small cloth bundle, tying it up, before running back outside and loading them up in the wagon. Hopping into the back alongside the still unnamed woman, john hopped in the front, and urged the horses to get moving. ¡°i suppose I haven¡¯t introduced myself¡± the woman mused, ¡°my name is Crystal, and I¡¯m an inspector for the Adventurers guild, well I am for now, after this run I¡¯m going to become a teacher¡± she explained in a friendly tone. ¡°For most of this trip, I would suggest that you train your Telekinesis until you start to get light headed, and meditate until that passes, I wasn¡¯t joking about the sitting around part¡± she jokes at the end, before fishing out a book and leaning back to read. Seeing that she had taken her attention off of me, I decided I should probably follow her advice, being stronger would probably impress the other recruits, and I personally had begun to love the feeling of visibly seeing your power rise. I closed my eyes, and began to focus inwards, grabbing that wellspring of power I could feel in my consciousness, before reaching out with my eyes still closed to where I remembered putting my bundle of clothes. I attempting to roll it over towards me by mentally grabbing the top of the bag while directing a force upwards against the back. I re-opened my eyes as I felt a slight dizziness, only to see both the cloth bundle by my foot, and Crystal watching me with a smile. ¡°you¡¯ve got some talent there, be sure to keep at it and I expect ill see you on the rankings in no time¡± she encouragingly said, before returning to her book. I pulled myself inwards again, but this time I didn¡¯t use my will to reach out, instead keeping my awareness inwards, and pulling at the will inwards, swirling it around in the hopes that it would so something. I realized it was doing nothing when I felt another wave of dizziness and instead decided to do the smart thing and simply sit there without trying anything. After I felt back at my best, I opened my eyes and checked my notifications, being able to keep them at bay until I wanted to look at them, and smiled again at what I saw. Skill Telekinesis: Lv.8->10 Skill Meditation: Lv.2->4 ¡®Isn¡¯t that levelling a bit quickly?¡¯ I thought to myself, before settling in to repeat the process for the long trip. Chapter 4 I was snapped out of my meditation as I heard my name called out from the front of the wagon. ¡°Low level Grurl abominations incoming, Crystal get out here and kill them while I keep the horses safe, let the kid fight one.¡± John shouted back as Crystal put down her book and jumped out the back of the wagon. I followed her, only to be greeted by the sight of multiple small green beings that looked like a cross between a standard fantasy goblin and a scruffy dog. They had only three legs, and had a chitinous horn on their foreheads that almost looked like it pierced its way through the skin. Crystal began to hum, and I watched in awe as multiple ice bolts formed in the air surrounding her, before shooting out and spearing the monsters through their mouths into their necks. The deaths didn¡¯t cow the Grurl, merely enraging them and causing them to rush faster towards us. I pulled my knife out of my belt, as Crystal left one alive that was rushing at me, killing the others with well timed ice spikes. I focused on reaching into my will while keeping my eyes open, taking a little longer than with my eyes closed but faster than it would have before before my practicing, and prepared myself for the risky maneuver I was planning. I watched its gait as its muscular front legs controlled its movements while its back leg kicked off the ground for speed, waited until it was directly in front of me, and pushed a blast of Telekinesis at the side of its back leg, causing it to slide out to the side, tripping it and causing it to roll as its momentum carried it toward me. Unfortunately I misjudged its speed a bit, and as I brought down my dagger down into its neck it bowled my legs out from under me, leading me to almost miss the stab before I urgently flexed my will around my dagger to re-adjust its course, stabbing into it¡¯s back and catching against what I assumed was it¡¯s spine before I pressed down again while it flailed, tensing both my mind and muscles to stab into the spine and sever it. Scrambling back, I watched it¡¯s front legs desperately jerk about as it died. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Level: 4->5 Skill: Telekinesis: Lv.10->11 Skill Mental Fortitude: Lv.3->4 Stat Points Earned: 6 ¡°congratulations, you nearly died to a level 4 Grurl¡± a sarcastic voice called out, John slowly clapping as he walked over, ¡°although to be fair that¡¯s expected, that was your first fight after all¡± he chuckled. ¡°Good job kid, that was clean kill. I¡¯ve had to save a few from their first fight, even the martial ones.¡± he finished, pulling out the knife and handing it to me, I sheathed it. ¡°we should get moving again¡± called Crystal as she climbed back into the wagon, ¡°if anything else comes deal with it yourself, we have a schedule to keep¡±. ¡°yes yes princess, you can have your beauty sleep while I protect you¡± John remarked back, only getting a muffled ¡°asshole¡± from within the wagon as a reply, prompting another chuckle. ¡°Don¡¯t mind him¡± Crystal told me as I re-entered the wagon, ¡°that was impressive for a first fight for someone who isn¡¯t on a martial path, he just doesn¡¯t want you to get an ego from it. Which I agree with by the way, don¡¯t get cocky.¡± she warned, ¡°unless you develop into a path that requires an ego I guess, but that comes later. Get some rest, actual rest not meditation, we should arrive tomorrow¡±. I nodded and leant back, eyes closing as the adrenaline from the fight slowly drained out, leaving me tired. ¡®Perhaps I would get some sleep¡¯ I thought, as I drifted off into the first natural sleep I¡¯ve had for the past two days. Interlude - King Skill Persuasive Presence: 94->95 Skill Beguiling Words: 83->84 Skill Social Impact: 76 -> 77 Skill Loyal Subordinates: 88->89 ¡®Finally, that obstinate bitch listened to me, at least she gave me a level in my path skill¡¯ I thought as the pretty elf walked away, the business meeting concluded. She would make me a lot of money in my house¡¯s dealings with the elven kingdom in the future, further securing my rise. I had heard that the current kings daughter was extremely pretty. Maybe I could leverage my soon-to-begin rapid wealth accretion to try for an arranged marriage? my skills may not work on him but I can be pretty persuasive without them I¡¯d like to think. I tried to remember what else I had to do today, standing up as one of my maids curtsied to me, asking ¡°what are you after my lord¡±, a fervent look in her eyes. ¡°has any news come in on the minor houses?¡± I asked back, interested if there were any chances to expand my influence. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°House Illumvere recently had one of their gold shipments stolen by pirates, rumors are that they¡¯re in rather dire straits as a result. Spies have reported that they may be looking to take a loan from someone¡± she listed, near worship glowing in her eyes. ¡°Perfect, thank you, Lilias was it?¡± I answered, full well remembering her name, ¡°I suppose I will have to pay them a visit, I did just come into a windfall it turns out¡±. Walking up to the mirror, i held my arms out, allowing the two maids to pull my winter cloak over my arms and back. Stopping to admire myself in the mirror, i gazed upon my chiselled jaw, my high cheekbones, as amazed as always that my skills could even affect myself. Gathering myself, I stepped back, both maids scurrying to the sides deferentially. I swept past the maid as she blushed, leaving the room and heading out of my house. Lord Illumvere was probably getting desperate, and I needed to be the first to reach out to him to ensure my skills worked, it is a lot harder to get those with higher levels, and Lord Illumvere, like all Lords, focused on his skills often and left running his house to his administrators. Chuckling to myself, I thought about how they would be useful to me, perhaps some weighted precious metals trade deals would be sufficient. I always loved watching the rabble part before me as I walked, seeing them part for me to walk forwards, and that only got better as my skills increased. What rabble had the skills to resist? Let alone the willpower, or god forbid, intelligence, to resist, and the awed looks always grew more satisfying with each level. The smell was getting better, I mused, perks of growing to a proper town, a far cry from the village my brothers conspired to make me rot away in, but their schemes are secondary. Their abilities weak. Without struggle they would never grow to the heights I will reach.
Ideal: King Chapter Five I shocked awake as the carriage rolled to a stop, blearily rubbing at my eyes as sounds of civilisation bled through the carriage, signalling that we had, at least, arrived somewhere inhabited. As I clambered out of the back of the carriage I looked around me at the area, taking in our destination and why we stopped. The people bustling around were mostly a mix of twelve to 15 year olds, with the occasional older instructors appearing every so often heading somewhere or teaching a kid. ¡°Lively eh kid?¡± A voice called out from behind me, revealing itself to be John as I turned around and looked at him, ¡°don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll be one of them soon enough, have fun finding somewhere quiet to meditate though¡± he guffawed, walking off and leaving me to crystal for her to deal with me again. ¡°I¡¯ve half a mind to report him¡± Crystal grumbled under her breath, climbing out of the carriage, ¡° well, lets get you registered¡± she continued and began to walk off. Quickly following her, I kept looking around as we walked, trying to see if there were any tells that someone was particularly strong. There wasn¡¯t, although the nobles were easy to pick out, what with their fawning crowds of kids surrounding them. We came to a large tent, strangely serene, where crystal called out a ¡°reporting¡± into the tent entrance before we promptly entered. The first thing that popped into my mind was that this man was old, with his long white beard, wrinkles, and both his aura and demeanour that spoke of years of experience. The second was ¡°rude brat¡±. My reasonable reaction was to suddenly flick my head to both sides, much to the amusement of both the old man and Crystal, before he ¡°spoke¡± again. ¡°You wont find much there, try thinking a bit, what could we have in common?¡± he cryptically spoke, lips not moving, and it struck me a moment later. ¡°telepathy?¡± I exclaimed, eyes widening, I had been wondering how I could get that, given I was apparently on a ¡°Mentalist¡° path, and telepathy is basically the butter in the bread and butter combo of any mind based power set. I immediately tried to feel my mind out as I awaited his response, not willing anything to happen as a result, just trying to feel, as I felt a tendril of through connect to my mind. Immediately paying full attention to it, I passively felt around the tendril, examining it and attempting to form my own toward Crystal to test. ¡°hmmm, gifted. We¡¯ll assign with a gilded brat, hopefully they¡¯ll both learn something from that¡± the old man snorted in my head as he returned to writing something on the papers on his desk. ¡°party him with Seris and a couple of her friends, lucky brat¡± he chuckled, ignoring us further as Crystal grabbed my shoulder and led me out. As we walked out, I formed an attempt at a tendril of my own thoughts, each strand braiding itself with the others in order to keep coherence as I touched Crystal¡¯s mind with it. ¡®Hello? Can you hear me?¡¯ If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Skill Telepathy: Learnt Crystal flinched, before turning to me with a weird look on her face. ¡° did you just learn how to do that?¡± she asked, ¡®yes?¡¯ I responded, tilting my head a little as I looked up at her surprised expression. ¡°I suppose he saw you beginning to learn that while he spoke with us, explains why he decided to place you with Seris of all people¡± she responded, making me worry a little. Just who was this ¡°Seris¡± to warrant that ¡°of all people¡± at the end of her sentence I wondered, noticing we were moving toward a larger tent. As we entered the tent, I looked around at the rows of bunk beds, with other boys my age occupying about half of them, and almost every top bunk was naturally taken. ¡°You¡¯ll be collected tomorrow morning to meet your new party, good luck kid, you show promise¡± she left behind her as she turned around and left me there in the tent, with a bunch of people I don¡¯t know, in a foreign place. Lovely. ¡°Sooo, hey?¡± I awkwardly called out, looking at the other boys who were now watching my every move, as one walked over to me. ¡°Yo brother, welcome, don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re all friends here¡± he called out as he swung an arm around my shoulder and led me to a bunk in the corner of the room. ¡°Name¡¯s James, I¡¯m on my second year here, almost out of this place and on the road to riches hey¡±, he explained, elbowing me in the side. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I''ll help guide you while I¡¯m still around, here, this top bunk¡¯s still free¡± he finished as we stepped up to the corner bunk bed. ¡°The chest on the right is the top bunk, not that you have anything just yet, but when you do remember that¡± he explained, gesturing to the two chests at the foot of the bunk bed. ¡°thanks man¡± I said, climbing up onto the top bunk and laying back on it, ¡°my names Ecrais by the way¡± I called back down to him, relaxing into the surprisingly decently soft bedding. ¡°Ecrais? You a noble or just got a fancy ass name?¡± he responded, ¡°Nah, I¡¯m not a noble, although I think my dad may have been somewhat of a big shot adventurer¡± I rolled over to look over the edge of the bed and responded, ¡°Heh, everyone''s is around here it seems¡± he smiled back, ¡°oh well, I¡¯m heading off, feel free to hang out, an instructor will fetch you tomorrow as that woman said, so there¡¯s nothing you really need to do.¡± he called, heading over to his bed somewhere on the other side of the large tent, other guys moving to let him pass with a hint of respect in their eyes, it seemed he was looked up to by most people here, wasn¡¯t hard to figure out why, he seemed pretty nice overall. Chapter Six As I lay on my bunk, my mind expanded out, this time trying to passively feel where the others were with just my mind. It felt¡­ kind of like rubbing my cheek against felt, navigating a fuzzy grey expanse to find the swirling threads of colour that made up the minds around me. Skill Mind Sense: Learnt I don¡¯t know why I always expect to suddenly grow better at whatever skill I just learnt whenever that message pops up, it just feels, like it should. I spent the next couple hours trying to expand how much I could feel, luckily it took a good while to start feeling lightheaded with this skill, I supposed it made sense, I¡¯m just feeling around, not really doing anything. Mind Sense: Lv.1->4 Mental Fortitude: Lv.4->5 Something told me that Mental Fortitude was going to be rather important. Perhaps it was that it seemed to level whenever I started getting lightheaded, although after trying a bit more Telekinesis, It didn¡¯t seem to increase how much I could use it for, it had some effect, but not to such a significant effect. Which did make sense in hindsight, getting a bit tired doesn¡¯t just give you a bunch more mental stamina. Pausing my experimentation, I looked around the room. One boy was doing an impressive amount of push-ups, another was pointing forwards and releasing a couple sparks from his finger. It felt like the second should be able to produce more than that, but he was likely holding back, given the whole flammable tent situation. Relaxing back again, I kept practicing for a while, before continuing my new tradition of knocking myself out. Telekinesis: Lv.11->12 Mind Sense: Lv.4->5
The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. I blearily rubbed my eyes with my arm as I woke up to the sounds of a bunch or grumbling teenagers moving around half awake, you could swear their feet were magnetically attracted to the storage chests. Rolling off the bed, and flexing my will a little to prevent myself from face-planting on the floor, I got up and began to file out of the tent with the others, joining the chorus of resonating yawns that seemed to circle around the tent. Walking out, I looked around and found the boys heading off to various areas, some being brought away by instructors as well. As I stood there, Crystal approached me again, ¡°Hey kid, follow me¡± she commanded, turning on her heel and walking away as I quickly chased after her. Following her, she brought me to a clearing which half extended into the treeline before stopping and turning back to me. ¡°We¡¯re a bit early, they should be here soon¡± she said, taking a seat over on a nearby log. Following her example I sat down as well and began to wait. Looking up, I watched as three girls approached the clearing. The lead girl had long, brown hair and held herself in a graceful stride, assured of each step she took. The girl on her left seemed to hold a more confident swagger as she walked, her similarly brown, however short, hair stood out, along with her pronounced muscles. The third trailed a bit back, and to her right, the third woman held a chain-connected strange ornament, a yellow tinted sphere with metal surrounding it, running around it along each plane, extending out into a metal spike in each direction. Looking at the girl herself, she seemed to hunch herself inwards a bit, seemingly a bit shy. ¡°So you¡¯re the fourth set to join us huh? Are you sure you can keep up with us?¡± the girl on the left asked, raising an eyebrow and moving to step forward before the girl in the lead held out a hand before her. ¡°No need to be antagonistic, I¡¯m sure that the esteemed camp head placed him with us for a reason¡± she rebuked with a mix of an imperious and a light tone, tilting her head as she looked at me. ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Ecrais¡± I offered, taking the chance to introduce myself, ¡°I¡¯m not sure, the head said he¡¯d place me with a ¡°gilded brat¡±, so I assume there''s been a mix up¡± I joked, trying to lighten the mood, getting a small chuckle from the shy girl with long black hair. ¡°I¡¯m Seris, main scion of house Illumvere¡± the obviously noble girl announced, quickly followed by her two friends. ¡°Saph, and I''ll hit you if you try anything funny¡± the fit one replied, glaring at me after my joke, before the final one spoke up. ¡°Nerissa¡± she said, not elaborating further than that, managing to keep eye contact at least. Crystal took this opportunity to speak up, ¡° Now that introductions are out of the way, the four of you will be put in a party together for the two years you all are required to be here, so you¡¯d all better get used to each other¡± she bellowed out suddenly, ¡°today there won¡¯t be any training, but I expect you here around the same time tomorrow got it?¡± she finished, to a chorus of ¡°Yes¡¯s" from the four of us. ¡°Good, dismissed¡± she said as she walked back off, leading to the other three walking off as well. Who knows how my first impression went honestly, I suppose it didn¡¯t matter that much, two years¡¯ll wipe away any bad first impression. I hope. Chapter Seven Left alone, I looked around, peering through the trees and watching the camp behind me as I wondered what I should do next. Training right? That sounds right, no reason to slack of when my hard work is actually, tangibly rewarded with those sweet notifications. Jolting into motion, I leisurely made my way into the treeline as I decided to explore further into the trees, looking for something interesting to try my telekinesis on or something I can detect with my mind sense. I spent a while wandering through the trees, unable to tell the time with the thick canopy blocking my view of the sun, before I eventually felt my mind brush up against a blip of swirling black and maroon, receiving a couple fragmented notions of hunger and hate from it. Skill Telepathy: Lv.1->2 Skill Mind Sense: Lv.5->6 I froze, pressing myself against a tree as I focused on the swirling emotion slowly moving perpendicular to myself, the node jerking forwards slightly over and over again before it suddenly stopped, and the hate spiked. Peering around the tree I was keeping between us, I locked eyes with the creature and finally saw what it was, a small emaciated wolf with a bleeding hind leg and a couple patches of fur missing, sporting a hateful grimace. Given the fact that it¡¯s moving towards me, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s too friendly, so I lower my body as I draw my knife while reaching out to it¡¯s mind again to try something. Watching it intently I feel its anger, hate, hunger and now violent desire as I established the frail link between our minds, and as I saw it¡¯s legs bend to start its pounce towards me, I screamed. Well Screamed, sending the best impression of a piercing shriek into its mind as it began to pounce towards me, thankfully successfully shocking it and causing it to jump, messing up it¡¯s pounce and buckling its wounded leg halfway through. Not wasting a moment, I rush forwards and push down on the wolf¡¯s weak hindquarters, resisting it¡¯s attempts to get back up as I swung down with my knife onto the neck of the pinned animal, feeling the sharp blade pierce into the throat before I let go of the knife and jumped backwards to avoid the desperate snap of the wounded canine¡¯s jaw. Level: 5>6 Skill Telepathy: Lv.2->5 Skill Telekinesis Lv.12->13 Stat Points Earned: 6 Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. A smile tugged at my lips as I watched the notifications pop up, confirming that the finally died after struggling for a bit on the ground, although I wasn¡¯t quite sure what to do with it now, eventually settling on retrieving my knife and leaving it there for scavengers to feast on. Deciding that was enough for today, I backtracked my path through the forest until I eventually made it back to the clearing I entered from earlier, and made my way back to the tent sluggishly, tired out after the excitement earlier with the wounded wolf. Sweeping the flap aside, I nodded to the other boys I passed, acknowledging them as I bee-lined to my bunk and wrapped myself in the blankets to relax as I focused on feeling the room around me with my mind sense as a nice way to relax while still training my mind. I didn¡¯t exactly know how to feel about, well, everything. Here I am, lying in another world, surrounded my might, magic and wonder but I can¡¯t help but listen to the soft breathing of everyone else asleep around me as I wonder whether I truly prefer this bunk or my bed and blanket back on earth. Swinging my legs off the bunk, I hopped down while grabbing myself with a flex of will and telekinesis to avoid making a sound, swaying slightly as I landed softly before making my way out into the cool night air. Absorbed in thought, I looked around, realising I returned to the clearing from earlier as I moved to sit down on a log and think back. I was returning from my lunch break, heading back in through the garage when I felt the ground begin to shake, stumbling I grabbed the aluminium pipe next to be to stabilise myself as it grew stronger, the ground visibly shaking. ¡®an earthquake?¡¯ I thought, they were rather rare where I lived, in Adelaide, before I heard a horrid grinding sound, compounded by the shrill sound of metal tearing, looking up to see a chunk of metal drop towards me. My eyes opened as I felt Goosebumps erupt along my arms, shaking myself out of remembering what happened that day, looking up to find Nerissa hesitantly walking into the clearing before jumping slightly as she noticed me. ¡°H, Hi¡± she stammered as she recovered herself, curiosity worming itself slightly onto her expression as she looked at me. ¡°hey, sorry if I¡¯m interrupting your routine¡± I replied, guessing she came here often, ¡° I just needed some cool air and found myself here¡± I explained to an understanding nod from her. ¡°It¡¯s okay¡± she said, awkwardly moving to sit on another log across the clearing from me. Deciding to take the chance to learn some things about my new party, I began to ask a couple questions. ¡°So, Whats up with the tomboy?¡± I asked, perhaps slightly bluntly as I looked at her, noticing she didn¡¯t have the strange pendant/weapon she held yesterday. ¡°Saph, she, she¡¯s just protective¡± Nerissa answered, ¡°Please don¡¯t hate her, she has issues trusting new people¡± she asked, almost begged earnestly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I can understand that¡± I responded, noticing the small smile she wore at that. ¡°Well, I¡¯ll let you meditate, or think, or whatever you do here, Goodnight¡± I said, getting up and dusting myself off as I began to return to the tent, ¡°G, Goodnight Ecrais¡± Nerissa called as I left, out of the three, at least Nerissa was nice regardless of however she felt about me. Perhaps this would be at least bearable I though as I clambered back into my bunk and drifted off into proper sleep.