《Accidents Happen》
Chapter 1
¡°What is essence? Most alchemists would tell you that essence is not a literal substance, that when we say earth essence or soul essence, we refer to two different things, that essence is just another word for stuff or matter. I will tell you that this is wrong. I will tell you that essence is the foundation of all reality. Everything from the air you breathe to the space in which you stand is merely a different form, a different element, of one single substance, and that substance is essence.¡±
From ¡°The True Structure of the World¡± By Simon Relkweist
12th Waril, Summer, 374th Year, 84th Era, 2nd Age
Joseph stood in his garden at the top of the Ashbourne family tower. Paths of pale, yellow stone flowed out from a central court through wildly varied beds of flowers, bushes and trees. Some were chosen for rarity, some for their significance in bio-alchemy and some for their magical properties, the one consistent feature of the vast collection of flora was their exquisite beauty. The garden had been his mother¡¯s project, assembled over a period of 97 years.
Abigail Ashbourne hadn¡¯t been especially powerful, she had barely stepped into the adept realm, but her compassion and ability to find an acceptable compromise in almost any debate had earned her a great deal of respect among the high councillors. Of course, there were few left on the council who remembered her, 400 years was far beyond an adept¡¯s lifetime and three of Kathresh¡¯s six elders had been born after her death. Joseph remembered though, and maintained the garden as a way to keep just a little of his mother alive. One of many small things he did in memory of those lost to time.
On this night however, the garden¡¯s beauty was disturbed by the ritual he had set up in the central courtyard. Walking around, he compared his setup to the translated notes in his hand. 378 candles of varied size and shape and colour littered the patio. Thousands of tiny symbols, drawn in everything from salt water to blood, wove between the candles combining to form yet more symbols. Three small, silver vases each containing specific flower arrangements and three dozen millilitres of warm honey, were positioned at the three points of a trigram, which itself was within a circle drawn in the blood of a new-born goat slaughtered under the shadow of a summer night. And, of course, all this was prepared mere minutes before the alignment of Athrikos. A celestial alignment of several dozen stars, supposedly in the shape of an ancient warrior, which happened but twice a millennium.
Joseph chuckled quietly at the absurdity of it. Witchcraft was the most bizarre school of magic. Its rules were almost completely arbitrary, empowered by collective belief and reinforced through use over countless millennia. He wouldn¡¯t have even bothered with this had he not spent several hours a day for the last five years translating the ancient aelthiri text containing the ritual. Especially given that witchcraft was technically illegal in Kathresh.
In truth, he did it more for the challenge of the translation than any tangible gain. All the ritual really did was summon a random object to its location. The interesting part was that said object came from beyond the void. On the off chance he didn¡¯t blow up his own tower, the chance to study an entirely different set of physical laws was too fascinating to pass up.
Seeing that all was in order, Joseph stood in a circular space formed by some of the runes and faced the distant blur that was Wyrmhold, the tallest mountain in Kelric. With the ritual¡¯s centre placed between him and it, he began to recite the first High Vethrali passage. It had taken months to get the pronunciation right; aelthiri languages had such strange, breathy words. Something to do with their lungs if memory served.
¡°I call on the mighty spirit of Athrikos.¡±
At this pronouncement the formerly still air was filled with swirling eddies of wind. They started off weak, but in the 17 seconds between the first and second passage they grew in strength, pulling leaves from branches and petals from stems. The candles remained strangely unaffected.
¡°I call on the lost souls of Fer¡¯sandus.¡±
With the second passage spoken the flames of all the candles turned deep purple and the winds, now even stronger, drew the fires up into the air to form a second collection of runes several times the size and complexity of those on the ground. Joseph watched the impossible tongues of flame stretch and flicker for almost a minute before speaking the third passage.
¡°I call on the powers of space and void and crazed ambition.¡±
A series of immense cracking sounds began as gaps in the world appeared all around and pure nothing made mind bending patterns across the ground and sky. Supporting enchantments held everything important together but the damage would cost him several crowns with the Fairgraves.
The cracks grew in both number and volume as they spread, eventually affecting the neighbouring towers several hundred metres away. Joseph frowned at that, had he known this was coming he would have performed the ritual somewhere more isolated; he¡¯d have to go and offer to cover the repairs tomorrow as an apology.
¡°Let the immutable void be torn asunder and the relics of the mysterious beyond answer to my call.¡±
As he spoke the fourth and final passage, dozens of spacial tears converged in the centre of the original ritual circle. The vases of flowers burst into amber flames which surged through the holes in reality, spreading light through the cracks, and reaching out to somewhere else.
Seconds, then minutes passed as more and more of the strange honey coloured fire flew into the cracks, spreading and lighting an ever-greater proportion of them. Just before the light reached his neighbours, everything, the purple flames above, amber flames all around and the spacial tears themselves, collapsed down into the ritual¡¯s heart with a resounding bang and plunged the garden into shadow.
Visibility returned moments later when Joseph willed the garden¡¯s lighting enchantments to activate, revealing a scene of devastation. Cracks littered the pathways, most of the plants had been shredded, and lying unconscious in the centre of it all was what appeared to be a young human male.
Joseph had barely a moment to observe the being¡¯s strange facial features before his rising guilt for tearing someone out of their world transformed into abject horror.
The smell of burning flesh filled the courtyard as bursts of white, blue and violet lightning began ripping out of the creature¡¯s body, growing as they consumed the surrounding air, before being suppressed by the garden¡¯s enchantments.
Joseph reached out and grasped as much of the surrounding mana as he could. He transmuted it to restoration and funnelled it into the dying creature¡¯s body, even as it continued to collapse. He was using so much mana that the ambient levels started to drop. He¡¯d be alright for a dozen minutes or so, but not much more.
¡°Marius! Marius, fetch Maria Haelend, NOW!¡± he yelled, projecting as much urgency through his aura as he could. Moments later he felt a burst of active mana as one of his flying carpets left the tower. With help on the way, the panicked elder turned all of his energy to keeping the person he had summoned alive.
12th Waril, Summer, 374th Year, 84th Era, 2nd Age (same day)
Darkness blanketed the streets of Kathresh¡¯s inner city. The grand towers lay in shadow, the streetlights reaching no higher than the fifth floor of the buildings. Few people walked the streets, but those who did could see the occasional lit window standing out from the otherwise black monoliths. Above the towers they could see the swirling mess of multi-coloured stars crowding the sky, some so tightly packed as to be more blurs of colour than distinct points.
Were they looking at just the right moment, they would see a tiny black spot disappearing for only a moment in the gaping void of Lunas, before shooting across the sky on its breakneck journey toward the heart of the inner city.
As she clung to the edge of the speeding carpet, Maria briefly regretted putting so few stat points in strength. Marius was pushing the carpet hard enough that the barrier enchantment which was supposed to surround it had failed. Maria had been forced to lay flat on the offending lump of platinum thread, holding onto the front tassels with every scrap of her pitiful 37 strength. She was fairly sure that the clasp holding her hair together had been ripped away by the wind at some point as the grey strands were whipping around as if possessed.
She didn¡¯t really know what had happened yet, Marius had just shown up and dragged her out of a tenth-floor window of her family¡¯s tower with only the barest mutterings about an emergency. It wasn¡¯t quite the worst summons she had received. That prize went to Elder Varith teleporting her halfway across the city into a chamber full of monster guts. It came very close though, given how hurried Marius was she doubted this would be a minor problem. If the brilliant light that had radiated out from the city centre was an indication, she imagined that the problem would be worse than a slightly cracked soul.
Maria¡¯s absentminded musings cut short as they drew close enough to Elder Ashbourne¡¯s tower that she could both see and feel the enormous whirlpool of mana indicative of an elder sorcerer wielding their full might. She used a rudimentary meditation technique that she had picked up decades ago to keep her mind calm and ready. Few things called for the kind of power on display and Maria wasn¡¯t foolish enough to be less than fully prepared.
As the carpet landed, she took in the devastated garden with cold eyes. Shards of wood, leaves and petals lay strewn among the broken stone and earth. Elder Ashbourne stood at the centre of a circle of burnt-out candles and smoking symbols. His formerly pale green robes were covered in burn marks and his, white, waist length hair was a bedraggled mess. Lying before him, being pumped with enough mana each second to heal a hundred men, was a body that rapidly alternated between a healthy human, albeit one of neither the northern nor southern race, and a charred corpse. Thick gouts of lightning tore out of his body before being dissipated by one of the tower¡¯s many enchantments.
The elder turned to them as they stepped off the carpet, ¡°Marius, go fetch the lightning templates, all of them. Maria, try to find out why the restoration efficiency is so poor, I don¡¯t have any attention spare to look.¡±
The panic in his dark blue eyes and the urgency in his aura would have moved her into motion had she not already been halfway across the garden.
¡°Is his body node damaged?¡± She asked as she placed her hands on either side of his head, the contact triggering a passive class power to give her better access to his mind and soul.
¡°I can¡¯t find it, he was summoned by the ritual, for all I know his species may not have a soul,¡± he responded, the strain of controlling so much mana clear in his voice.
Even as the elder spoke she reached the same conclusion herself. The being clearly had a mind, though it was a cluttered mess with far too many nuclei, but he had no spirit and no soul. That seemed to be part of the problem; several tethers of mind essence directly connected his mind and brain despite not having anywhere near enough power to breach the barrier between the material and spiritual planes.
The resulting holes in the murum were, in turn, generating bursts of spiritual and material lightning which ate into his mind and body. Although, there seemed to be a third unknown form of lightning coming from the body itself.
The driving force of his mind seemed to be coming from the brain, so she would have to sever the cross-planar tethers and then maintain pressure on his mind¡¯s flow while stopping the whole thing from dissipating due to lacking an anchor.
¡°He definitely has no soul. I can preserve the mind but I won¡¯t be able to help with the body at the same time,¡± she told the elder as she healed the damage that the lightning was doing to her. She¡¯d numbed her own pain, but that power was useless on her patient since it targeted the spirit.
¡°Do what you can. When Marius returns, I will stabilise the body and surrounding space, and then make enchantments based on your magic. I should have enough platinum in my storage orb.¡±
With Elder Ashbourne¡¯s acknowledgement Maria set about cutting the tethers causing the lightning. That was immediately complicated by new tethers reaching out from the creature¡¯s head to make even more holes in the murum.
Dedicating part of her focus to keeping the tethers in check, she set about keeping the creature¡¯s mind flowing. As the rivulets of animus spilled out from the tethers that should have connected to his brain, she grasped them and fed them into those that should have been taking animus in.
She had to change the flows around several times as different combinations caused various problems from nuclei collapsing, taking gods knew what information with them, to discs spinning wildly out of control in ways usually only seen in deranged minds. She found the right combination in the end, though there was no way to know what damage had been done to get there and any information that would have come from the brain and body would be missing.
As time went on, the lack of a soul to anchor the creature¡¯s mind became more and more of a problem and the structures of his mind started to drift apart and dissipate. Eventually, Maria found herself supporting the entire structure herself. She still had no idea what half of it did, but there was no better option.
Finally, just after she started having to restore her own mind from the damage caused by overuse and exhaustion, enchantments started stepping in to take over. Beginning with the simpler tasks of holding various clusters of nuclei and discs together before seizing control of the loose flows of animus. By the time she could stop severing the ever-forming tethers that reached out from the creature¡¯s brain, Maria felt like she¡¯d climbed Wyrmhold. She had just enough time to read the first system notification to pop into her mind before she slipped into blissful unconsciousness.
[You have restored, maintained and helped to fully support the mind of a soulless creature from beyond the void. You have attained a Grand Achievement: +10 Achievement Points.]
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
3rd April 2019
Nathan was confused. He focused on that, studied the feeling, observed it, analysed it with more focus than he had ever given anything. It beat thinking about the pain. Christ it hurt.
It wasn¡¯t like a papercut or stubbing his toe, it was like every instant of pain in his life, every scrape, every bruise, every cut and that one time he¡¯d dropped a cabinet on his toe while helping Uncle Bob move house. All of it rolled into one giant ball of pain and magnified by some unreasonably huge number, like pi without the decimal. Actually that would be infinity, which wasn¡¯t a number, but the point was that it hurt. A lot.
Everything burned and ached and stung, and cutting right through all that was an awful throbbing emptiness that was somehow worse than everything else.
The fact that he could think through it was a big part of the reason for his confusion. There was, however, another significant source of bemusement.
A game-like message hung in the back of his mind waiting to be acknowledged. This was confusing for several reasons, not least of which was: how did something immaterial hang? More importantly, how did he get to this state of total sensory deprivation, discounting pain and litRPG flags. The last thing he remembered was stacking tins of mushroom soup then utter, all-consuming agony followed by utter, not-so-all-consuming agony. It still hurt just as much, but he could think through it, albeit with difficulty.
One thing he¡¯d noticed pretty quickly was that while he remembered stacking soup tins, he didn¡¯t remember where or why. Was he working in a supermarket, a village grocery shop or just putting them away at his parents¡¯ house? And in that vein, what did his parents look like? He knew what his sister looked like, that she could be both annoying and good company at seemingly random intervals. But he had no idea what her name was. Best friend: Steve of unknown appearance, though he definitely had blue eyes. Favourite food: nothing. Colour of the sky: ¡ green?
If he had to guess, Nathan would say that he¡¯d been hit in the head and this was probably some kind of near-death hallucination or a lucid coma dream (if that was even a thing). He didn¡¯t know if indulging a delusion was a good idea in this situation, but if the choice was pain, confusion and boredom or pain, confusion and not-boredom, he figured the answer was fairly obvious. That could have been the inexplicable calm talking though. He was fairly sure that he should have been in headless chicken mode rather than pondering whether or not to acknowledge a probable hallucination.
[Sapient being detected, updating user files.]
[Error, user id not found.]
[Emergency protocol EP74,829 triggered.]
[Creating user id.]
[Welcome to the system Nathan Emmanuel Fellwood. Please read and sign the Host-User Contract at your earliest convenience. If you wish to withdraw consent, please do so in the settings menu. No skills, abilities or other bonuses gained will be removed unless you request it.]
[You have gained the Pain Tolerance ability.]
[Pain Tolerance 1st Lvl 1: Your capacity to endure pain is increased.]
[You have gained a level in Pain Tolerance.]x9
[You have gained the 1st tier bonus for Pain Tolerance. Increase your realm to level further.]
[Pain Tolerance 1st Lvl 10: Your capacity to endure pain is increased. Pain is no longer debilitating.]
[You have gained the Lightning Resistance ability.]
[Lightning Resistance 1st Lvl 1: You are less affected by harmful reactions and transmutations with lightning essence.]
[You have gained a level in Lightning Resistance]x9
[You have gained the 1st tier bonus for Lightning Resistance. Increase your realm to level further.]
[Lightning Resistance 1st Lvl 10: You are less affected by harmful reactions and transmutations with lightning essence. Harmful reactions and transmutations with lightning essence occur at a slower rate.]
[You have endured and recovered from extreme damage. Vitality +1.]x8
Well, that explained how he could think. Assuming that he wasn¡¯t delusional of course.
Nathan didn¡¯t know anything about realms or transmutations and he had no idea where the lightning resistance came from; maybe God hated mushroom soup. Regardless, one of the messages mentioned the ¡°Host-User Contract¡± which conveniently popped up to replace the previous wall of text with wall of text 2.0 (now with more text).
It would probably just be a random jumble of legalese that his deranged mind had assembled to look like a terms and conditions document. Still, he imagined that reading it would be more interesting than doing nothing.
Nathan took it back. In spite of the odd word that he didn¡¯t understand in context, this thing was a masterpiece. Maybe more people would read the terms and conditions if they included things like ¡°The user will not burn people to death in the name of the Host,¡± or ¡°The user will not create depictions of the Host for the purpose of dropping them off of cliffs.¡±
Admittedly, most of it was fairly sensible stuff like not interrupting the system¡¯s operation while it was warping reality, or not intentionally altering system mechanisms to gain unearned power. Every now and then though there would be something completely nuts and for a brief moment the horrifying agony would be forgotten in a gale of mental laughter.
Nathan¡¯s favourite after reading the whole thing, and it was a difficult choice, was ¡°The Host reserves the right to feed the user¡¯s reproductive organ/s to a nest of venomous scravels should the user, while of adult age and sound mind, refer to the Host as a ¡°stupid poopy head¡± more than once.¡± He didn¡¯t know what a scravel was, but he¡¯d make damn sure to use his one chance to insult what seemed to be God at the most ridiculous time possible.
There were some slightly worrying parts about the user accepting that the system would read their mind and a corresponding ¡°The Host agrees not to access mental records except if it is necessary for the protection of the system or Kelric.¡±
A mind-reading system would have been less of a concern if he hadn¡¯t received a demonstration that this might not be a delusion after all in the form of another system message that came just before he finished reading the contract.
[You have gained the Reading skill.]
[Reading 1st Lvl 1: You are better at reading and learning to read.]
The message itself wasn¡¯t proof of anything, but by the time he¡¯d finished the last dozen or so clauses Nathan was sure he was reading ¡ better? He couldn¡¯t tell if it was faster, but it felt noticeably easier than before.
If he took that to mean that the system wasn¡¯t a delusion (which was still technically on the table) it raised a few important issues. For one had he been isekai-ed or was this a system apocalypse? If it was the latter, was his family okay? Actually, if it was the former, could he go home?
After stewing in questions he couldn¡¯t answer for a while Nathan eventually concluded that regardless of the situation, the best thing to do was prepare for the future in the only way he could: grinding like a madman. Jumping back to the start of the contract he began to read through the enormous document all over again.
The second time around wasn¡¯t quite as fun as the first, although since he¡¯d forgotten most of the content (agony and memory didn¡¯t mix well) he still got some enjoyment out of it. Strangely, he got his second skill update much sooner than the first, barely over halfway. After thinking about that for a while, the best explanation Nathan could come up with was that since he was actually trying to get better, he was progressing faster.
Giving the question a mental shrug, Nathan got back to reading and received another level several clauses after he passed where he¡¯d gotten the last one. Then, he got the next level at a different point entirely, detailing how the Host would get a 1% cut of all of his ¡°sentiment¡±, whatever that was.
After that, he gave up on figuring out how the levelling worked and focused on reading the contract, only stopping for the occasional spike in pain.
It felt like he¡¯d read through the contract at least a hundred times before getting to level 10. Although, he couldn¡¯t be sure since he had barely been keeping track.
By the end, he was very glad to be finished with his self-imposed task. No one could read the same thing that many times and not get sick of it. Excited to see what bonus he would get for level 10 Nathan brought his unread notifications into focus.
[You have gained a level in Reading]x9
[You have reached level 10 in Reading. Increase your realm to level further.]
[Possible instance of glitch G4392 detected.]
[User has not signed the Host-User Contract.]
[Possible instance of system abuse SA26 detected.]
[If you are not guilty of system abuse, please remain calm. An administrator will contact you shortly to review your case.]
[If you are guilty of system abuse, please remain calm. An administrator will contact you shortly to review your case and enforce the appropriate penalty.]
Huh. So, not only had he not gotten a bonus for getting Reading to level 10, but he might have been abusing the system. Fantastic. The part about penalties reminded him of the venomous scravels. While he didn¡¯t know what they were, he didn¡¯t particularly want to find out. Another important question was: how soon was ¡°shortly¡±? What period of time would an apparently world altering system consider sh¡
[Administrator Fariel: Alright let¡¯s see what we¡¯ve got here the¡ REALMS ABOVE THAT¡¯S¡ Just give me a second. I''m going to read through your files. If you can even hear me.]
Unlike the previous notifications, this one practically bludgeoned its way into his mind¡¯s eye, writing itself out as he watched. With his newly minted level 10 Reading skill, it didn¡¯t exactly take long to read.
Nathan wasn¡¯t really sure if the administrator being surprised was a good thing, but he was more concerned about whether he¡¯d be able to talk to them. He didn¡¯t exactly have a mouth.
[Administrator Fariel: Yeah, I can hear you, you read the mind reading bit didn¡¯t you? So, after looking through your files there are a couple of things I need to tell you. First, you are technically guilty of SA26 since you deliberately used the system without signing the contract, thus avoiding giving the Host their 1% share of sentiment. However, given the very obvious extenuating circumstances and your lack of knowledge on the subject, no penalties will be levied against you. We¡¯re supposed to extract the owed sentiment even though it¡¯s ludicrously inefficient, but I doubt anyone will care if I waive that in your case. Second, you need to sign the contract before levelling any other skills or abilities.]
Well that was a positive, he¡¯d been worried for a second there. The notification shoving itself in his ¡®face¡¯ was still annoying, but it was a step up from mysterious penalties.
[Administrator Fariel: Oh. Sorry about that, it¡¯s standard procedure for SA26 since most of the time the people who do it are kids who think they¡¯ve found something new. We just give them a good scare and most of them stick to the rules. I¡¯ll change the settings.]
This time the message hovered around until he focused on it, like the other ones. So¡ I have a few questions about what¡¯s happening. By the way, are most people really fine with the mind reading? Nathan thought, addressing the administrator as best he could while disembodied.
[Administrator Fariel: The system is older than some species. Most people don¡¯t even think about it. It¡¯s not as if you care.]
Well sure, but I¡¯ve clearly suffered some kind of brain damage. I hardly make a good case study. In that vein, what is actually wrong with me?
[Administrator Fariel: You¡¯re in a different reality. Our physical laws don¡¯t really agree with yours. If you look at your status, you¡¯ll see that you even have a racial ability for it, which is its own problem. The name¡¯s pretentious as anything but that¡¯s because Vashniel was given free reign when she created the void-walker algorithms. She¡¯s a bit weird.]
So, it was isekai then. Nathan thought about seeing his status, expecting an RPG-like menu, and a large notification appeared before him.
[Status]
Name: Nathan Emmanuel Fellwood
Age: N/A
Species: Void-walker
Realm: Mortal
Level: 0
Strength: 3 (3/10)
Agility: 2 (2/10)
Vitality: 10 (10/10)
Tempus: 4 (4/10)
Scope: 4 (4/10)
Stat Points: 0 (0)
Achievement Points: 0
[Class/es]
N/A
[Skills 1]
Reading 1st Lvl 10
[Abilities 3]
Echoes of the Barren Cosmos 1st (Innate)
Lightning Resistance 1st Lvl 10
Pain Tolerance 1st Lvl 10
[Echoes of the Barren Cosmos 1st (Innate): You are the sole origin point for an entire universe¡¯s sentiment. All sentiment that you produce is 10 times more intense.]
The status notification was made up of four tabs, which Nathan opened all of. Reading through the notification, it occurred to Nathan that trying to find some form of status should have been one of the first things he tried. It was almost its own cliche. Then again, he had a pretty good excuse for being distracted.
I don¡¯t know what half of this means, especially not in this context. Also, and I definitely should have asked this sooner, what the hell is going on?
[Administrator Fariel: I¡¯m sorry, but I honestly don¡¯t have time to explain it. I¡¯ve already delayed filing my report too long, we aren¡¯t really supposed to interfere much. I¡¯m going to register you as ¡°in need of monitoring¡± which will give me an excuse to check in later. Just know that you have a chance of recovery, and maybe try to train some more skills. Memory Technique and Multitasking are great choices if you can find a way to get them. Look at the mental stats as well, the status will give you definitions for most things if you ask.]
Fariel?...
¡
¡
Nothing.
[Status]
Name: Nathan Emmanuel Fellwood
Age: N/A
Species: Void-walker
Realm: Mortal
Level: 0
Strength: 3 (3/10)
Agility: 2 (2/10)
Vitality: 10 (10/10)
Tempus: 4 (4/10)
Scope: 4 (4/10)
Stat Points: 0 (0)
Achievement Points: 0
[Class/es]
N/A
[Skills 1]
Reading 1st Lvl 10
[Abilities 3]
Echoes of the Barren Cosmos 1st (Innate)
Lightning Resistance 1st Lvl 10
Pain Tolerance 1st Lvl 10
Chapter 2
¡°Thomas curled into a ball at the base of the cliff, tears streaming down his face. The low growls of the dire wolves echoed through the trees as they closed in.
He¡¯d only wanted to see what was so special about the forest. How could a child live so close to the fabled Geistwood and not be curious? His grandfather always said ¡°Curiosity killed the cat, boy. Learn from its mistake.¡± Now he knew why.
The boy whimpered as he felt the breath of one of the wolves against his back. He squeezed his shut; maybe if he couldn¡¯t see them, they wouldn¡¯t be able to see him.
Suddenly, for just a moment, a flash of purple light filled the clearing. It was so bright that, even facing away from it with his eyes closed, Thomas could still see it.
Slowly, fearfully, the boy raised his head. As he did, he saw that where there once had been wolves, there now floated a gently glowing ball of purple light. Of the wolves, there was not so much as a single hair.
¡°Are you lost little one?¡± the ball asked in a voice like a symphony. ¡°Come, let¡¯s get you home. Your parents must be worried sick.¡±¡±
From an old Fer¡¯sandi folk tale
13th Teril, Summer, 374th Year, 84th Era, 2nd Age (5 days later)
The fifty seventh floor of Elder Ashbourne¡¯s tower was, quite unlike the other floors, a cluttered, disorganised mess. Despite spatial enchantments more than doubling its floorspace from 400 to 900 metres squared, the room still felt too small.
In one corner, a small statue of a snake spat out a stream of water which flowed through the air. It spiralling around several nearby projects, before abruptly ending several metres off the ground and falling into a bucket that never quite filled all the way up.
Elsewhere, a group of small, purple birds staged an escape from their cages. Filing away at the bars with their claws before bursting out in complete silence and flying around the room. Then, at some indecipherable cue, they would fly at one of the windows and burst into multicoloured dust, only to reappear back in their now pristine cages moments later.
Wherever one looked there was something bizarre. Whether it was a group of opening and closing boxes with too much space inside, a set of beakers mixing and moving strange liquids on their own, or a collection of antique guns being cleaned by floating cloths. It was impossible to avoid the fantastical.
At the center of it all, Joseph stood with his eyes closed, wearing a thick woollen lab-robe, as a cluster of platinum discs flickered with purple light under his left hand.
In his mind¡¯s eye he formed the mana around himself into discs of the same shape, size and essential intensity as those before him. Then, with precision born from five centuries of practice, he slowly passed the mana discs through the corresponding ones beneath his palm.
As they passed through, each circle of energy took on the nature and intent of the enchanting templates they shared space with, held back from warping the world by the logic Joseph impressed upon them.
After a few final tweaks to the slivers of mana, he picked up the first blank disc from a tray to his right. With a twist of his will, he bound one of the clumps of mana to the piece of metal in his hand before doing the same with the others.
When he had completed the process for the last one, he released his grip on the room¡¯s mana and stepped back, collapsing into the leather armchair behind him with a sigh. Lamenting the headache growing behind his eyes, he glanced at the finished set of array markers.
This was the fifty fourth set he had made in five days. The effort required, while quite small under normal circumstances, was almost too much for him after the damage he had done to his mind a week ago.
Controlling that much essence was for young elders; he tried to avoid doing it now that he was in the final sixth of his lifespan. His stats wouldn¡¯t decay until the very end but everything took more energy than it should. With his agility as high as it was, he could feel himself getting worse every week. He had decades left of course, but that didn¡¯t make him any less tired.
¡°Everyone has arrived, Lord Elder,¡± said Marius from behind him. With another sigh Joseph got back up and took off his lab-robe, leaving it draped over the chair before picking up the array markers and transferring them into his storage orb.
¡°So, who do we have?¡± he asked as he navigated around the various tables, heading to the small antechamber in one corner of the room.
¡°Lord Adepts Robert Carius and Luke Felran who specialise in soul and mind research respectively. High Initiates Julian and Fiona Haelend who both specialise in mental healing. High Initiate Sophia Barthas who specialises in faunic research. Lady Adept Hannah Kerril, a warrior who dual cultivates the bodies of spirit and soul, is also present as a guest of Lady Adept Julianna, who is currently entertaining them,¡± Marius said, listing the small group he had put together at Joseph¡¯s request.
¡°So few?¡± The elder asked, as he smiled slightly at the thought of his daughter trying to entertain a room full of non-combatants.
¡°Unfortunately, the number of high-level mages who are skilled with soul and mind is vanishingly small. Even smaller when those who have no ability beyond combat are removed. Non-combatant fauna mages specialising in obscure biology are even rarer.¡±
¡°I suppose it will have to do then,¡± Joseph said. He picked up his formal robes from the stand just outside the antechamber and put them on, tying them at the waist with a sash of the same pale green as the robe itself. Once more dressed in his family colours, he stepped through the small room and into the lift contained within. ¡°How much have you told them?¡± he asked as he pressed the button for the fifth floor.
¡°Only that you require help on a project involving their respective fields.¡±
¡°Good, good. It will be easier to show them than to try and explain. This entire situation is utterly ridiculous, it¡¯s hard to accept without seeing it in person.¡±
After the lift stopped moving Joseph stepped through the fifth-floor antechamber and into a corridor that ran along one side of the tower. Pausing in front of the first door he turned to Marius and asked him to inform Maria that they would come in soon. Then he took a moment to straighten his robes before walking through the door and into the sitting room.
Like most of his tower, the colour scheme was built around the pale green that represented House Ashbourne. At the far end of the room, a dozen armchairs were positioned in a semi-circle facing the large windows opposite the door. The main fire pit sat between them, controlled by enchantments of course.
There were several paintings on the left and right walls depicting the deserts around Kathresh. Bookcases were placed in the gaps between them, filled with hundreds of tomes copied from his private library and bound in matching covers. Several dozen more chairs and sofas were spread throughout the room, clustered around tables or one of the three smaller fire pits.
The room was meant for entertaining far larger groups really, but the person he had summoned was in the workroom next door so meeting here was simpler than one of the smaller sitting rooms.
As he had expected when Marius told him the composition of those present, the people in the room were divided into two groups. To his left a group of five, with the long hair and flowing robes of non-combatant seekers, were engaged in an intense debate about the interaction of the mind and soul, several books lying open between them.
Meanwhile, his daughter stood by the windows, dressed in the more minimalistic, form-fitting robes of a combatant. Her hair, which was cut short, seemed to be made of fire as a consequence of her sixth-grade class. She was talking to Adept Hannah, who was similarly dressed and had slightly translucent quality common among body cultivators who used immaterial elements.
Joseph was pleased to see that the lowest levelled seeker in the room, whom he assumed to be Fiona Haelend from her resemblance to Maria, was at level 32 and Adept Hannah had reached level 83.
He coughed quietly to draw everyone¡¯s attention before speaking. ¡°I am sure you are all wondering what this is about. If you follow me, I will show you.¡± Joseph paused for a moment before adding, ¡°Be warned, what you are about to see is rather disturbing.¡±
Turning, he led the now silent group down the hallway and into the next room. The workroom was a similar size to the sitting room. The walls were lined with blackboards in place of paintings, and the windows opposite the door were small and high. Workbenches were laid out in a grid, leaving plenty of room for movement, and racks of lab-robes lined the wall either side of the door.
None of that was of interest to the assembled mages however. All of their attention was drawn by two large tables at the far end of the room where Maria and Marius stood.
On the left table lay a body from which a constant sizzling noise emanated. Four clusters of array markers sat on the table around it, though only one set glowed with the purple light of active enchantments.
The second table on the other hand had several hundred markers scattered across it, though again, only a few were active. It was this table which drew the most attention as, for those who could perceive minds, a monstrosity floated above it.
A normal mind consisted of a dozen nuclei, to store the information a mind needed to function, with two or three in a state of change as memories were copied from the soul and discarded once used. Besides the nuclei there would be two dozen or so disks slowly spinning around their centres, shifting the points at which the flows of animus entered them to change how information was processed. Tying all this together would be thirty-eight tethers carrying animus from the various nuclei and disks to the central nucleus, which in turn linked to the soul, spirit and body.
What hung above the table however didn¡¯t come close to resembling that standard. Countless thousands of nuclei hovered in the spiritual plane, dwarfing the still excessive hundreds of disks.
Stranger still were the tethers, of which there were quite possibly millions. Dozens attached to each disk and nucleus before leading off in seemingly random directions. There may have been a central nucleus, but the whole thing was such an indecipherable mess that it was nearly impossible to tell.
¡°What¡ what exactly are we looking at, Lord Elder?¡± asked Adept Luke, the highest-level mind mage in the group.
¡°This,¡± Joseph began, stepping further into the room so that he could turn and fix each of those present with the stern gaze he had perfected over the centuries, ¡°is what the ritual I performed last week brought into this world.
¡°He has no soul, no spirit and, if left unattended, his mind and body attempt to link, tearing a hole in the murum between the material and spiritual planes. Our goal is to find a way to allow him to live in our world unsupported for more than a few seconds without dying.¡±
???
After Fariel disappeared, Nathan¡¯s mind drifted for a time before the pain started eating at the edges of his clarity. Trying to ignore the fact that he was alone again, he opened the Host-User Contract and jumped to the dotted line at the bottom.
When he focused on it a copy of his name appeared in his handwriting, along with a notification asking him to confirm his consent. After selecting [Yes], he brought his status up again and looked through the stat definitions.
[Strength: The amount of force your body can exert.]
[Agility: The speed and efficacy of your nerves.]
[Vitality: The capacity of your body, mind, spirit and soul to stay alive.]
[Tempus: The speed at which you can think.]
[Scope: The maximum amount of information you can conceptualise at once.]
Hmm¡ if the notification he had gotten about his vitality increasing was an indication, he should be able to raise his other stats by pushing them beyond some limit. Being disembodied, he couldn¡¯t really do anything for his strength and agility, but he was fairly confident he could try to increase tempus and scope.
Of course, before he could try, he would need to come up with some kind of method. Easier said than done while feeling like the assembled hordes of Genghis Khan were trampling over the soul that he apparently had. Nevertheless, he pushed through the pain to assemble a plan.
Training tempus would be more luck than anything, since he had no way to track time. He could probably still try to push himself to go faster at a repetitive task, but Nathan felt that scope would be an easier place to start.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
He seemed to remember that the human mind could only picture something like five things at once. It seemed reasonable that there would be a limit, even if it was either more or less than he thought.
Assuming he was somewhere close to right, Nathan figured he should be able to raise his scope by picturing more than five things at once. Not really being in the mood for extreme creativity, he decided to start with six rocks and go from there.
Plan made, Nathan set about the complex and perilous task of imagining rocks. Almost immediately though, he realised that he wasn¡¯t actually picturing six rocks, but rather two blurry lines which his brain claimed were two sets of three rocks. When he tried to make them more distinct, two or three would come into focus while the rest actually became fuzzier.
Now that he had something simple to focus on, the pain faded into background noise, albeit extremely unpleasant background noise. Focusing on the, frankly quite ridiculous, challenge of imagining six distinct rocks, Nathan lost track of what little sense of time he had.
From moment to moment the image in his mind changed and morphed. At the start, the six rocks were all uniform blurs. However, over time he found his focus staying on the bottom four and the upper blurs shrank in size. When a set of notifications broke his concentration, he had honestly forgotten that he hadn¡¯t started with four.
[You have pushed upon the boundaries of your mind, Scope +1.]
[You have gained the Visualisation skill.]
[Visualisation 1st Lvl 1: You are better at imagining sensations and learning to imagine sensations.]
It was certainly nice to know that he was on the right track. Nathan supposed that he should have expected to get some kind of skill but he didn¡¯t exactly have much information to draw on.
For all he knew, the two skills he had, and the two that Fariel mentioned, were the only skills available. It didn¡¯t seem very likely but it would be kind of funny if he managed to max out all of the skills that existed so easily. Setting those thoughts aside, Nathan returned to what was really important: picturing rocks.
With his new skill, and increased scope, the four brown blurs in his mind¡¯s eye became much clearer. Rather than blurs they were closer to spheres. Ironically, this left Nathan with a problem. His original plan had been to picture increasingly large numbers of rocks until he reached ten scope.
Now however, he was faced with the question of how detailed the rocks should be. Would it even make a difference? More detail would still be more information. What made the decision for him in the end was a far simpler question. What would be more fun?
And so, Nathan set about adding detail to his rocks. One changed from brown to green as he decided it would be an emerald. Another turned white with vague lines across it as he turned it to marble and the third he made the shiny black of obsidian. When he came to the fourth, he ended up leaving it as a generic brown because he realised that his emerald had become a blur again while he was thinking about the other rocks.
Falling once again into the rhythm of holding and losing his focus, Nathan let time drift past him. As he received more levels and stats the images in his mind became increasingly complex. The emerald gained facets and distinct edges, the lines in the marble became clearer and it slowly changed into a pillar rather than a ball. The obsidian lump developed a wavy pattern, based on Nathan¡¯s faint memories of seeing it in a gift store somewhere, and the generic rock became vaguely conical as he formed it into a little mountain.
[You have pushed upon the boundaries of your mind. Scope +1.]x5
[You have gained a level in Visualisation.]x3
Even after he reached his goal of ten scope, Nathan decided to keep going until he reached level ten in Visualisation. Although he didn¡¯t understand why it was easier to improve his mind than his ability to visualise.
In the process of reaching the level cap for his latest skill the images in his mind eventually developed into more than just detailed rocks. The emerald became the head of a silver staff with long, Chinese dragons carved into the metal. He probably got some of the details wrong but he was so far from caring that the thought barely crossed his mind.
The marble pillar morphed into an entire temple, vaguely reminiscent of the Parthenon but with fewer columns, and the chunk of obsidian grew into a shining, black sword.
Just before he got the final level he needed, he placed the temple on top of the mountain, which had gained snow, steps to the summit, and a ring of clouds around the middle. A statue he had put in the temple¡¯s center stood tall, armed with a dragon staff and obsidian sword, its majesty only offset by its tiny, baby-like head. Nathan had used his recently born cousin as a model and, although it did look ridiculous, he was pleasantly surprised by how realistic he had been able to make it.
[You have gained a level in Visualisation.]x6
[You have reached level 10 in Visualisation. Increase your realm to level further.]
His target reached, Nathan took a moment to bask in how much better his mind felt. He could clearly picture ten objects at once, which he assumed was directly related to his ten scope. Thanks to Visualisation those ten objects were much larger and more detailed than they might have otherwise been. So long as he didn¡¯t get too bogged down in extreme detail anyway.
His mountain, for example, only seemed detailed if seen from far away. He couldn¡¯t picture the whole thing at once as it would look up close. Still, in spite of the pain he was in, he felt such a visceral sense of improvement that it almost made his absurd predicament worth it.
Eventually though, he turned his mind to improving tempus. The way he looked at it, he needed something that he could already do fairly well, which was both simple and had a series of concrete goals to reach. Obviously, speed visualisation wouldn¡¯t work, it was too hard to set a target. And while speed reading was possible, Nathan really didn¡¯t want to re-read the host-user contract again.
Finally, after considering everything from reciting the alphabet to just straight speed thinking, he hit upon an idea so obvious that he felt like a bit of an idiot for not thinking of it sooner: maths. It was simple enough. It had easily definable targets: finish x number of calculations. And, while he wasn¡¯t anything special, he had the basic ability to do mental arithmetic.
That only left the question of keeping track of where he was and how fast he was going. For that, Nathan used an aspect of Visualisation that he¡¯d discovered when he gave the mountain snow; The skill helped him picture any sensation, such as the cold, wet feeling of snow or, more relevantly, the sound of a (mostly) regular ticking.
Once he was confident that the ticking sound was consistent enough, he created an image of a two by five grid. His scope meant that for picturing actual separate numbers, he was stuck at around ten, though he had some wiggle room since detail wasn¡¯t that important.
He filled the top line of the grid with one to five, then added a one just outside the table to the left. His plan was to do 1 times 1 to 1 times 5, then clear the second row and do two, then three and so on. At the same time, he would count the number of ticks each row took.
He wouldn¡¯t be repeating the same calculations because, while the pain put a bit of a damper on his mathematical ability, that seemed like it would be too easy.
Consequently, he would soon be dealing with something slightly more difficult than the one times table. Nathan was hoping that having to count the ticks per row and do maths at the same time would also get him the multitasking skill that Fariel had mentioned.
Once everything was ready, he set to it with the same focus as everything else he¡¯d done in the void in which he had found himself. Nothing provided motivation like unimaginable agony. 1x1 is 1, 1x2 is 2, 1x3 is 3¡
15th Thoril, Summer, 374th Year, 84th Era, 2nd Age (14 days later)
Maria sat in the back corner of Elder Ashbourne¡¯s fifth floor workroom, keeping watch over Voidling, the name they had given to the being whom they were working to save. They had been rotating around tasks so that someone was always monitoring him.
Most of her time over the last couple of weeks had been spent mapping out Voidling¡¯s mind with the other mind mages and trying to design a soul that would match it with Adept Robert, the only other soul mage.
Adept Hannah, the sole combatant in the group, wasn¡¯t much use from a theoretical perspective, but she had the second-tier bonus for Enhanced Aethereoception, which allowed her to see Voidling¡¯s mind as clearly as Maria herself. That, coupled with her experience predicting her opponents¡¯ actions from their minds and souls, had led the cultivator to identify the purpose of more than a few of Voidling¡¯s mental structures.
Overall, things were going about as well as could be expected. They had spent the first few days throwing out and shooting down possible solutions before settling on the only one with even the faintest chance of succeeding: creating an artificial soul, spirit, and body to bind to Voidling¡¯s mind. It was extremely unlikely to succeed, but it was the best option they had.
The most significant problem with the plan was that soul was a third-tier element and thus they needed a third-tier creation sorcerer to actually make the soul that they designed. Unfortunately, only ancients could take a skill up to the third tier and, of the few ancients that existed, most lived far to the east on the continent of Eurus.
There were, thankfully, some exceptions to that rule. Most notably Ledal Ancient Dantor Elin, an archon of creation who lived in the Fairy Isles. Elder Ashbourne had left the day before to request his help in their attempt to save Voidling, though how successful he would be remained to be seen.
Regardless of whether their work would bear fruit or not, they had ploughed on in the elder¡¯s absence. In truth, most of the design was quite easy; they had used the same basic structure as an ordinary human soul. One problem was ironing out the details of the body so that Voidling¡¯s mind would know what it was controlling once attached. It wouldn¡¯t be much good if his mind just let his heart stop beating the moment it was given control.
The main issue however, was designing the mind node of Voidling¡¯s soul. Since any serious attempt to alter his mind would cause it to collapse due to its extreme instability, they would have to make a mind node that fit to his mind. The sheer size and complexity of Voidling¡¯s mind made that task an utter nightmare.
In just the first day, Maria and Adept Robert had filled every blackboard in the room with calculations and diagrams. Most of the nuclei in Voidling¡¯s mind were storing memories. If their plan worked, those memories would be stored in the history node of his soul like a normal person. That meant that his memories didn¡¯t need to be recorded in his mind node, which neatly sidestepped that issue.
The problem came from the tethers and disks. Unsurprisingly, Voidling¡¯s mind was not optimised to work with the mind essence of their world. This showed in how ludicrously inefficient his mind was.
In a normal mind, each disk was a complex network of tubes, with only the thinnest walls of neta essence separating them. This complexity allowed the full processes of a sapient mind to fit into fewer than thirty disks.
On the other hand, each disk of Voidling¡¯s mind had exactly one passage, fulfilling one purpose, forcing them to store information on huge clumps of redundant neta. That in turn made the mind node far larger than the other nodes, causing the soul to be unbalanced, leading to inevitable soul collapse.
They had ended up only storing the processes themselves and hoping that the natural tendency of neta to form disk shapes would fill in the blanks. Unfortunately, the trials they had done using ambient mind and soul essence suggested that it wouldn¡¯t be so simple.
Even now, they had only made a small amount of progress towards making the disks both self-completing and functional, though they had managed to get one or the other consistently.
Meanwhile, they also had to find a way to streamline the storage of the tethers. A fortnight of studying the tangled mess of connections had revealed that there were so many because every individual node and disk in Voidling¡¯s mind was linked to 94 nuclei, which then routed the flow of animus to its destination. They hadn¡¯t seen these pseudo-central nuclei at first because they were buried under so many tethers that they were almost impossible to sense.
When Adept Hannah had noticed them, everyone had spent a few minutes just staring into space, unable to comprehend how such a ludicrously inefficient mind could exist.
The plan at the moment was to only record one of the 94 pseudo-central nuclei and use that as an actual central nucleus to link in the soul.
Maria¡¯s descendants, Julian and Fiona, had spent the last week and a half, mapping out the 94 nuclei and their connections to ensure that they were actually identical. They weren¡¯t even a quarter of the way through yet, but the fact that they hadn¡¯t found anything so far was reassuring.
If there was a problem, that would mean potentially seasons of extra preparation before they could make an attempt to save Voidling. Maria wasn¡¯t sure there would be anything to save if they took that long.
Even now, the only reason they believed that he would stay sane was the huge amount of regeneration mana that passed through his mind every second. Although the enchantments they were using far exceed the normal restrictions for mana use, Maria wasn¡¯t sure it was enough.
???
The first few sets, naturally, only took Nathan a few ticks to work through. As he got to the teens, he started needing dozens of ticks per set, which he may or may not have been embarrassed by if he actually knew how much time that was. Eventually, as he finished 23x3, he received a set of notifications.
[You have pushed your mind to work faster. Tempus +1.]
[You have gained the Enhanced Time Perception ability.]
[Enhanced Time Perception 1st Lvl 1: Your perception of time is improved.]
[You have gained the Mathematics skill.]
[Mathematics 1st Lvl 1: You are better at doing and learning to do maths.]
[You have gained the Multitasking skill.]
[Multitasking 1st Lvl 1: You are better at multitasking and learning to multitask.]
That was more than he was expecting. The Maths skill he probably should have seen coming, but the Time Perception just wasn¡¯t something he could have foreseen. Not that he was complaining, he had already altered his ticking to be a little more consistent.
Regardless, he didn¡¯t see the point in pondering the intricacies of the system when he could be training four things at once. He did take the time to adjust his table so that he was doing times 3 to times 7. There wasn¡¯t much point in multiplying anything by 1 or 2. But after that he was back to the crazy thrill ride that was grinding.
Over time he noticed that not only was his tempus increasing faster than the skills, like his scope had, but the time sense ability was faster as well. When he got to 159x3 he had maxed out both his tempus and time sense. That, as it turned out, may have been a mistake.
[You have gained a level in Mathematics.]x3
[You have gained a level in Multitasking]x3
[You have pushed your mind to work faster. Tempus +1.]x5
[You have gained a level in Enhanced Time Perception.]x9
[You have gained the 1st tier bonus for Enhanced Time Perception. Increase your realm to level further.]
[Enhanced Time Perception 1st Lvl 10: Your Perception of time is improved. Your perception of time is not affected by your mental state.]
Nathan would have expected to be experiencing time slower than it was actually passing. The tendency for unpleasant situations to feel longer was pretty widely acknowledged after all. However, after getting the bonus for enhanced time perception, it was very clear that the opposite was true.
Because he could think through the pain, Nathan had assumed that he was thinking normally. With his latest ability though, he realised that what he would have previously guessed to be seconds, might actually be closer to minutes, though he had no real frame of reference.
Obviously, it was significantly more unpleasant to be thinking as if through treacle when you could feel how slow it was. It took Nathan a while to move past this new and unusual form of torture, not helped by the fact that he could feel exactly how long that was.
Eventually, after adjusting the accuracy of the ticking, as well as adding an entirely pointless grandfather clock to the background of his mental image, he managed to wrangle himself back on task. 159x4 is 636, 159x5 is 795, 159x6 is 954¡
[Status]
Name: Nathan Emmanuel Fellwood
Age: N/A
Species: Void-walker
Realm: Mortal
Level: 0
Strength: 3 (3/10)
Agility: 2 (2/10)
Vitality: 10 (10/10)
Tempus: 10 (10/10)
Scope: 10 (10/10)
Stat Points: 0 (0)
Achievement Points: 0
[Class/es]
N/A
[Skills 4]
Mathematics 1st Lvl 4
Multitasking 1st Lvl 4
Reading 1st Lvl 10
Visualisation 1st Lvl 10
[Abilities 4]
Echoes of the Barren Cosmos 1st (Innate)
Enhanced Time Perception 1st Lvl 10
Lightning Resistance 1st Lvl 10
Pain Tolerance 1st Lvl 10
Chapter 3
¡°There is in this world, a universal principal of cause and effect. If an object is pushed, it will move. If an object is thrown, it will fall. But this concept is not restricted to the physical, it extends to sentiment as well. If an Eye of Kalef is drawn on a door, a shrieking sound will be heard when that door is opened by an intruder. If the Felcan Mantra is chanted at midnight on the 5th Maril of Spring, the chanter¡¯s fertility will increase. Simple cause and effect.
¡°Veran is merely an extension of this principle. When a person performs an act of kindness, they accrue veran, and that veran in turn increases their fortune. A kind word could be the difference between levelling in ten years or nine. It could be the difference between a slight bump and a broken neck. In this way, it is not merely right to be kind, but actively beneficial.¡±
From ¡°The Book of Veran¡± By Nocteus
1st Waril, Autumn, 374th Year, 84th Era, 2nd Age (6 days later)
A great cacophony of shouting filled the deck of the Silver Bass as its crew eased it into the port of Elinara. The harbour floor was only just deep enough to take the massive cargo ship. Normally it would only have sailed to the much bigger port on Miotara but Joseph had paid an exorbitant sum to add this stretch to their journey.
He could have sought passage on a different ship after reaching Miotara, but that would have brought the risk of needing to wait for a captain sailing in the right direction. With how precious each moment was, he couldn¡¯t take the chance.
Even as it was, the journey from Kathresh had taken six days, a full week. Though he knew that Voidling was in good hands, he was still anxious to return. Having such a grievous mistake hanging over him was not a pleasant feeling. Worse was that he would never be able to repay his debt to Voidling if he could not be saved. Both his conscience and his honour demanded he give everything necessary to this task, regardless of the cost.
¡°We¡¯re ready to disembark, Lord Elder Sir.¡± Said one of the Silver Bass¡¯s crew, shaking him from his thoughts.
¡°Very good, I shouldn¡¯t be more than a few hours. I trust you will be ready to leave as soon as I return?¡±
The sailor stared at him for a few moments before replying. ¡°Right you are sir. Ready soon as y¡¯ get back.¡±
Joseph smiled to himself as he strode off to the gangplank. He could hear the sailor muttering behind him after he seemed to be out of earshot.
¡°S¡¯ a bloody steam ship, can¡¯t jus¡¯ set off like some magic bloody carpet.¡± He regretted not travelling more, this would have been fun without the time crunch.
The port town of Elinara, named for the island that it was built on, was a tiny place. The fairies had set up the city of Tiran Sollis on Miotara, where elixir from the font of essence was collected and shipped off, but the other eleven fairy islands were almost without urbanisation. They each had a small harbour with a few hundred buildings; but beyond the creation arrays, which made cala essence to refuel the ships, there was nothing of note.
Fairies were creatures of mana and spirit. They had no real needs beyond sufficient ambient mana and a few hours of sleep. Naturally, they had little use for trade.
Their entire culture revolved around using sorcery to create art. It had always amused Joseph that the grand magic which most humans viewed with awe and fear had been created for lack of a paintbrush.
After walking along a street lined by elaborate, hexagonal buildings, Joseph came to a large, platinum arch where the paved road became a grassy plain, stretching off until it was covered by forest. To the side of the arch a fist sized ball of purple light rested on an inactive flying carpet, with four tendrils spread out across it.
¡°Greetings, I am Elder Verar Elin. What brings you to Elinara?¡± asked the fairy in Nocturnal, the most widespread human language, their voice like someone singing. Their tendrils dangled beneath them as they floated up so that their orb-like body was level with Joseph¡¯s eyes.
¡°Greetings Elder Verar, I am Elder Joseph Ashbourne. I seek the aid of Ledal Ancient Dantor Elin.¡± he replied. He might have been more surprised that an elder at level 296 was guarding a tiny port were he not aware that each of the fairy isles was surrounded by a massive destruction enchantment. This was the only entrance to the island.
¡°For what purpose do you require an ancient¡¯s strength?¡±
¡°I summoned a person from beyond the void, whose nature contradicts our reality. To save him I need to create a soul that can support his mind. Only an ancient can create such a soul.¡±
Joseph was taken aback by the sudden wave of annoyance and resignation he briefly felt from the fairy¡¯s aura before it was brought back under control. ¡°Get on,¡± the fairy said as their carpet began to float up.
Joseph released a small amount of his confusion through his aura as he stepped on to the carpet. He assumed that the fairy elder had as much trouble reading his expression as he had understanding their shifting lights.
¡°I don¡¯t need to ask you any more questions because I already know what Ledal Ancient Dantor will say,¡± the fairy elder explained.
While they spoke, the carpet shot off over the forest.
¡°The crazy old git takes any excuse they can to get off the island. And I have to go with them because if I don¡¯t, those fools on the council will be wittering on at me constantly. As if anything west of Eurus could harm them¡¡±
Joseph¡¯s attention was divided between listening to Elder Verar¡¯s strangely musical rant, and taking in the sights below. Every now and then, there would be a clearing in the forest containing a small collection of artwork.
Some held statues, some paintings, he even saw one that held a group of fountains. As they flew deeper into the island, the art grew in both complexity and quality. Possession of fairy artwork was one of the ultimate status symbols, as so few were ever sold. The dozen or so pieces that he had seen paled to even the glimpses he caught as they passed above the more central clearings.
After half an hour or so they drew near to the center of Elinara and Joseph caught a glimpse of several massive, domed fortresses. He assumed that they were built by the fairies to protect their nurseries. From what he recalled, the need to protect their children was one of the few instincts that the fairies possessed.
He lost sight of them moments later when they dropped down to the ground in front of a large mound in the forest. Even then Elder Verar was still complaining.
¡°It¡¯s not like I can¡¯t compose while traveling, but why would I want to compose while protecting some old fart when I could compose while protecting the children? It¡¯s so stup¡ ah, we¡¯re here.¡± The irritable fairy shook their tendrils out before floating into the cave in the mound, gesturing for Joseph to follow.
The cave was lit by little studs of platinum embedded in the walls. However, unlike the lighting enchantments in Joseph¡¯s tower, these created an uneven light that threw shadows across the walls. It seemed intended to enhance the murals painted onto them, though Joseph had a few levels of dark sight which mitigated the effect.
The scenes depicted were from various human, geist and nereid legends about wandering fairies helping lost and endangered children find their way home. The cave spiralled around and up, the stories advancing as they climbed, reaching scenes of reunited families just before they arrived at a small room at the top.
An enchantment on the ceiling created a copy of the swirling colours of the night sky, and various landscapes from all over the world of Kelric were painted on the walls. In the center of the room a fairy, almost indistinguishable from Elder Verar hovered over a mostly blank canvas, small patches of paint appearing every few moments.
Flickers of mana and aura filled the room for a few moments as the two fairies talked in Sioran, the silent language of their species. The unfinished painting disappeared and the ancient fairy started heading for the entrance. ¡°Come along child,¡± they said, waving a tendril at Joseph.
¡°With,¡± Joseph paused to clear his throat, ¡°With all due respect Ledal Ancient Dantor, I am over 500 years old.¡±
¡°Exactly. You might as well have been born yesterday,¡± the shameless ancient said. ¡°Now hurry up, mysterious creatures from beyond the void won¡¯t save themselves.¡±
Joseph stared into space for a few moments before shrugging and following the others out of the cave. That had not been nearly as difficult as he¡¯d expected.
???
[You have gained a level in Mathematics.]x6
[You have gained a level in Multitasking.]x6
[You have reached level 10 in Mathematics. Increase your realm to level further.]
[You have reached level 10 in Multitasking. Increase your realm to level further.]
Nathan was confused. Again. This time it was for a slightly less nebulous reason, but he was confused nonetheless. It took until 3231 for him to get level ten in maths and multitasking. That was over 3000 sets more than enhanced time sense.
Why was there such a disparity? If anything, he should have levelled time sense slower since he was hardly doing anything to train it. With a mental sigh, Nathan gave up on figuring out the answer. Maybe skills were just much harder to level up.
Regardless, now that he had maxed out everything he had available, he needed something else to do. Memory was the only thing that he knew could definitely be trained, since Fariel had mentioned it.
With level ten visualisation he could probably create a mind palace. If he was remembering right, you just created images associated with your memories to help you remember them and he felt fairly confident in his ability to create images.
The only problem was finding something to remember. He didn¡¯t want to memorise the host user contract for the same reason he didn¡¯t use it to train tempus. And he didn¡¯t think creating a mind palace of things he already remembered would be that useful. Maybe he cou¡
[Administrator Fariel: Hello again. I have a few minutes before I¡¯ll have to go again. I¡¯m sure you have a lot of questions, but I only really have time for one or two.]
Think of the devil. The moment he finished reading the message he asked the first question that came to mind. Why do skills level up so much slower?
[Administrator Fariel: Really? That¡¯s your question? Not ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± or ¡°Where am I?¡± Seriously?]
Are the answers to those both confusing and incredibly depressing?
[Administrator Fariel: ¡ yes. Yes, they are.]
Then why would I want to know. I have enough trouble staying focused without knowing just how screwed I am. So: why do skills level so much slower?
[Administrator Fariel: Right¡ Well, it¡¯s rather complicated, but to summarise it: as you train abilities or stats or skills, you generate training-type sentiment, which is what the system uses to raise your various attributes. Challenge, danger and pain each increase the rate at which sentiment gets produced which in turn raises levelling speed. However, for reasons I don¡¯t really have time to go into, challenge, danger and pain affect skills less, and that disparity increases as the level of challenge, etc increases. You are dealing with so much pain, danger and challenge that the disparity is incredibly pronounced. You may have actually set some sort of record.]
So the skills are actually levelling much faster than normal. Just not as much as the abilities and stats.
[Administrator Fariel: Exactly. Now I¡¯ve got to go, but I¡¯m going to send you a series of notifications I made on my day off. Make sure you read them in order, and don¡¯t mess with your settings until you¡¯ve worked through them all. It will probably be quite a while before I can check in again, so¡ hang in there, I guess.]
Fariel?
Honestly, how hard was it to say goodbye? No manners that¡ woman? Man? Obscenely powerful, godlike being? Whatever. Nathan put aside his completely, 100% real irritation and brought up the first notification.
[Fariel¡¯s Comprehensive Guide to Nocturnal and its Various Dialects.]
Holy admin privileges, this thing was huge. It was even bigger than the Host-User Contract, which was saying something. From what he could tell it was a series of small dictionaries, interspersed with grammar tutorials and passages in what was presumably Nocturnal. As he skimmed through it Nathan realised what Fariel had meant about the settings; a voice would speak every word that wasn¡¯t in English as he read it.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Well. This would certainly give him something to put in his mind palace.
2nd Teril, Autumn, 374th Year, 84th Era, 2nd Age (5 days later)
Joseph watched the flickering lights pass by through the window of the private carriage he had booked for the trip back from Palraith. Many of the lighting enchantments in the tunnels between the cities of the Elder Federation were in dire need of repair.
Fortunately, the next scheduled maintenance was only a year or so away, even low mana enchantments like those used for light wore out after almost a decade of use. The tracks would be fine of course. They hadn¡¯t needed changing since Joseph was still in his two hundreds, such was the nature of callosium.
Opposite his armchair, Dantor was painting on a large table that had been added to the carriage at their request. What had been an almost blank canvas on Elinara, had become a clear image of the Tiran Sollis harbour, though without any people.
From the back of the carriage, the whistling sounds of Atlantean issued forth from Verar. Why the fairy chose to compose in the nereid tongue was beyond Joseph, but he couldn¡¯t complain. Atlantean was supposed to sound better underwater, but he thought the music sounded just fine as it was.
Eventually, stronger light filled the carriage as they exited the tunnel into King¡¯s Gate station. Their train slowed down, winding through the maze of tracks until it reached their destination at platform 47. Dantor put his painting away as they rose to leave; literally in the case of the fairies.
As he stepped onto the platform, he took a moment to look around the enormous cavern. The ceiling, dozens of meters above, rested on towering pillars. Lampposts on the platforms and connecting bridges lit the ground while hundreds of interconnected illusion enchantments on the ceiling mimicked the sky almost a kilometre above.
Every surface, from the platforms, to the pillars, to even the rails beneath the trains, were covered in carvings and murals produced by great artists from throughout Kathresh¡¯s long history. Woven through it all, purification enchantments kept everything, from the trains to the air itself, perfectly clean. King¡¯s Gate was the first part of Kathresh that most people saw and it was built to impress.
The trio of higher beings made their way through the crowds to the central pillar, which had a surface exit, where they boarded one of the elevators within.
As the elevator rose, stability enchantments kept its passengers from feeling the rapid ascent. Joseph maintained a calm expression and aura with practiced ease as the other passengers of the large high-bronze box took furtive glances at him and the fairies.
Joseph had long become used to the attention his level brought. He was just thankful that, unlike with famous artists or actors, no one would ever approach an elder. His power brought him respect and fear in equal measure, though none on the high council would allow someone who would abuse their power to continue living. The elders of the federation were beholden only to the judgement of their peers, but that was a difficult standard to live up to for some.
The other passengers stepped out of the lift once it reached the underground rail network, just dozens of meters below the surface. Joseph and the fairies, meanwhile, continued up, to leave from the main entrance of King¡¯s Gate. From there it was only a few minutes carpet ride to Joseph¡¯s tower in the inner city.
¡°I don¡¯t know how much progress has been made in my absence but I¡¯m sure someone will be able to walk you through what needs doing. I¡¯ll be checking over the enchantments if you need me for anything.
¡°Elder Verar, there is a sitting room just next door to the workroom, if you are content to leave Ledal Ancient Dantor alone.¡± Joseph said as they rode the lift to the fifth floor of his tower.
The perpetually disgruntled elder created a snort, using sorcery in place of a nose. ¡°Somehow, I think the level 600 ancient will be in little danger here. Unless you''re hiding a dragon under your robes.¡±
¡°You can rest assured then, as I am no space mage.¡± Joseph replied, chuckling as his fellow elder created another snort.
Once the lift reached the fifth floor, Verar disappeared through the first door, while Joseph and Ancient Dantor made their way into the workroom. They found the group of mages gathered around a table covered by a large pool of red sludge, which slowly dripped onto the floor.
¡°It doesn¡¯t make sense. The body is as close to a perfect copy as is possible. Are you sure it isn¡¯t the connection?¡± said Sophia Barthas, the fauna mage.
The soul mage, Adept Robert, gave her a frustrated look, as he replied, ¡°I checked it three times before each attempt. It must be the body.¡±
¡°Could it be a problem with the spirit?¡± Adept Hannah asked. The gathered mages just looked at her. ¡°I¡¯m only trying to help,¡± the woman said, completely indifferent.
The group turned to the door as Julianna¡¯s voice sounded from the far end of the room, where she was watching over Voidling. ¡°Welcome back father.¡± she said, though her eyes were fixed on the ancient at his side.
With everyone¡¯s attention on him Joseph introduced Dantor and asked the wide-eyed group to explain their current problem, mentioning to speak in Nocturnal rather than Kathreshi.
¡°Well you see,¡± High Initiate Sophia began, ¡°the designs for the soul, spirit and body are as perfect as we can feasibly make them. However, in every trial we run something causes the body to collapse. As you can see. The spirit,¡± she threw a meaningful glance at Adept Hannah, ¡°is completely fine, but severe damage is done to the connection between the soul and spirit. Nothing we change seems to make a difference to the result.¡±
¡°Hmm¡ let me take a look.¡± Ancient Dantor said. At this pronouncement, a ripple spread through the room¡¯s mana, originating from the fairy.
Joseph assumed that they were using a technique reminiscent of echolocation. He could do something similar but, with his lower stats, it would reveal little more than he could already see.
¡°Now that is fascinating.¡± Dantor said, ¡°Your problem is indeed the body. Voidling¡¯s original body, as I¡¯m sure you have noticed, is not made from essence. However, when you look at it on an extremely small scale it is not even solid. The problem is that his body is constructed from tiny balls of matter. When you link your test mind to a body made from solid essence it causes the new body to go haywire, and break down.¡±
¡°Tiny balls? You mean like minimum partition theory?¡± asked Sophia.
¡°Precisely.¡±
¡°But minimum partition theory was disproved millennia ago.¡±
Dantor raised their tendrils in the fairy equivalent of a shrug. ¡°We are dealing with a being from outside our reality, are we not? There are no limits to what is possible.¡±
???
[You have gained the Language skill.]
[Language 1st Lvl 1: You are better at using and learning languages.]
[You have gained the Memory Technique skill.]
[Memory Technique 1st Lvl 1: You are better at using and learning memory techniques.]
[You have gained the Enhanced Memory ability.]
[Enhanced Memory 1st Lvl 1: Your memory is improved.]
[You have gained a level in Language.]x9
[You have gained a level in Memory Technique.]x9
[You have gained a level in Enhanced Memory.]x9
[You have reached level 10 in Language. Increase your realm to level further.]
[You have trained five skills to level 10. You have attained an Achievement: +1 Achievement Point.]
[You have reached level 10 in Memory Technique. Increase your realm to level further.]
[You have gained the 1st tier bonus for Enhanced Memory. Increase your realm to level further.]
[Enhanced Memory 1st Lvl 10: Your memory is improved. Your mind''s ability to locate memories that have been retrieved previously is greatly improved.]
It amazed Nathan how easily he had learned Nocturnal. It had been slow going at first but, as his new skills and ability grew in level, he started to make progress at an increasingly ridiculous pace. He couldn¡¯t be sure, but his time perception gave him the impression that it had only taken a few weeks for him to reach the end of Fariel¡¯s guide.
In that time his fumbling attempts at creating a mind palace advanced by leaps and bounds. In the beginning, he hadn¡¯t really known what he was doing and mostly just learned words through repetition.
However, when he got the first level of memory technique, he felt an instinct guiding him that had been almost unnoticeable in the other skills. Nathan assumed that he hadn¡¯t noticed with the other skills because reading and maths were things that he already had some basic ability at, whereas he knew almost nothing about memory techniques.
Regardless, his skill guided him to create and memorise a location, he used corridors to start with. Then, once he had a location clear in his mind, he tied a given word and it¡¯s meaning to part of that location. Some he attached to pillars, some to doors, windows, paintings, anything really.
His palace had slowly grown from a little corridor of a few dozen words, to a sprawling mess of corridors, stairways and even a few garden paths. All told, the Nocturnal palace contained just shy of 10,000 words, with various common dialectic versions and grammar rules sprinkled in amongst them.
After finishing Nocturnal, Nathan took a quick break to investigate the achievement point he had gotten after maxing out language.
[Achievement Points: Sentiment generated by the historical consciousness, which can be used for one of six purposes: increasing your realm, increasing your stats up to the realm cap, increasing your skill levels, increasing your ability levels, increasing your power levels, increasing a class¡¯s grade.]
Interesting as it was, the explanation left him with more questions than before. While it was interesting that he could raise his skill and ability levels instantly, it would be horribly inefficient. Fifty skill levels gave him one achievement point, which in turn bought one skill level. On the other hand, it could be a good way to level something like pain tolerance without torturing yourself.
The stat points seemed a bit better with one achievement point providing ten stat points, but training still seemed better to him. Setting aside his unanswerable questions about classes, powers and realms, Nathan moved on to the next language.
After the guide to Nocturnal there was a guide to the ¡°Federal Tongues¡± which was a set of six languages that were just barely different enough to be separate languages. He still gave them each their own palaces in the end, even though they only took up a third of the space that Nocturnal did.
After that had been guides for Albic and Atlantean, which both had dozens of dialects and filled four full sized palaces each. Nathan was almost certain that Atlantean wasn¡¯t a human language, since he was sure he couldn¡¯t have made the sounds needed to speak it even if he still had his mouth.
As he looked down the street he had made to connect his palaces together, Nathan marvelled at the sheer scale of his progress. The view didn¡¯t have the crystal clarity that he could maintain in a single corridor, there was too much to picture, but even blurry it was impressive.
His only real concern was that he seemed to have been disembodied for months, his time perception put the total somewhere between three to nine. Not the most specific, but it was based on guesswork and memory. Nathan was fairly confident he could do better with an example unit of time to work from.
After what felt like a month, he¡¯d started to wonder how he was still alive. He hadn¡¯t slept at all in the time he had spent in the void, and since Fariel¡¯s last message he hadn¡¯t spoken to another person. After Fariel¡¯s explanation of how the system worked, vague as it was, he had wondered why he hadn¡¯t gotten abilities from being alone or not sleeping and other things like that.
When the thought first occurred to him, he assumed that there weren¡¯t abilities like that. But a while later, he got two new ability notifications.
[You have gained the Isolation Tolerance ability.]
[Isolation Tolerance 1st Lvl 1: Your ability to endure isolation is increased.]
[You have gained the Insomnia ability.]
[Insomnia 1st Lvl 1: You require less sleep.]
After that, he thought that he had to believe that something was possible to train for him to get an ability for it. In that vein he had thought about everything from starvation to boredom, and, eventually, his persistence was rewarded
[You have gained the Trauma Tolerance ability.]
[Trauma Tolerance 1st Lvl 1: Your ability to endure trauma is increased.]
That was one theory near enough confirmed. There could be some other reason for him getting the new abilities now, but it was good enough proof for him. Question answered, he put the information in the tiny shed between the Nocturnal and Palraithi palaces where he kept his system knowledge, and moved on. Of course, he eventually got the 1st tier bonuses for his new abilities.
[You have gained a level in Isolation Tolerance.]x9
[You have trained five abilities to level 10. You have attained an Achievement: +1 Achievement Point.]
[You have gained the 1st tier bonus for Isolation tolerance. Increase your realm to level further.]
[Isolation Tolerance 1st Lvl 10: Your ability to endure isolation is increased. You cannot go truly mad from isolation.]
[You have gained a level in Insomnia.]x9
[You have gained the 1st tier bonus for Insomnia. Increase your realm to level further.]
[Insomnia 1st Lvl 10: You require less sleep. You do not experience tiredness. This effect is togglable.]
[You have gained a level in Trauma Tolerance.]x9
[You have gained the 1st tier bonus for Trauma Tolerance. Increase your realm to level further.]
[Trauma Tolerance 1st Lvl 10: Your ability to endure trauma is increased. You cannot be driven truly mad by trauma.]
They weren¡¯t as immediately applicable as the other bonuses he had gotten. He wasn¡¯t tired before he received the bonuses, but the isolation and trauma ones were probably good. He didn¡¯t know what ¡°truly mad¡± meant and, to be honest, he wasn¡¯t sure why he hadn¡¯t already gone mad. Although¡ he was constantly seeing things that weren¡¯t there.
After contemplating the mysteries of his current life for a while longer he turned away from the finished palaces and looked out into the swirling, purple clouds which the street faded into. Originally, it had abruptly ended in an empty black void, but Nathan eventually changed it to the clouds because he liked the idea that there was a whole world of knowledge out there, and he was slowly revealing it.
With a flex of his will, he cleared a new section of clouds in preparation for building his fifteenth palace. The next guide covered something called Sioran, which was unbelievably weird to experience.
The written part was normal enough, but the ¡®spoken¡¯ version was a collection of strange sensations that were unlike anything he¡¯d ever experienced. Nathan had enjoyed the random insights the previous guides had given him into the world he now knew was called Kelric, but this promised to be a whole different level of interesting.
4th Faril, Spring, 375th Year, 84th Era, 2nd Age (2 seasons, 15 days later)
195 days. Just over 32 weeks. Half a gods-damned year.
As they struggled to design a body that stood a chance of working, their team of eight had grown, bit by bit, until they occupied a dozen different floors of Ashbourne tower. The number of mages working to save Voidling had grown so large that Elder Ashbourne had needed to employ dedicated administrators to keep everything straight.
There were experts from all across the Elder Federation, specialising in everything from fundamental alchemy to divination. Collectively they had run hundreds of tests, trials and experiments. They had tried everything they could think of only taking the odd, often accidental, step forwards.
Maria was truly glad that she didn¡¯t know the cost of it all. House Ashbourne was older than the federation itself so she had no doubt that Joseph could stand the cost. But it would still be a horrendous figure.
While their progress towards saving Voidling had slowly inched along, they had made massive strides in almost a dozen tangentially related fields. With this much collective expertise, and near unlimited funding, they had all pushed their own specialisations forward at least a little.
The biggest prize for many however, was the levels; between the 116 people working on the project, they had gained almost 200. Several people had reached the peak of their realm, with two actually advancing to become adepts.
By far the greatest beneficiary of the situation though, was Maria herself. She had gained three levels in the first six weeks, and with the grand achievement she had gotten for stabilising Voidling in the beginning, she had been able to advance straight to elder.
The long-term ramifications of becoming one of the most powerful people in Kathresh were put on the back burner however; much to the annoyance of her more self-interested family members. Just days after ascending, she had thrown herself back into the research, the extra stats and her new class¡¯s powers helping her push things forward very slightly faster than before.
As it transpired, re-joining the project had been an excellent choice from a personal perspective, though she would have done it regardless. Unlike her first class, Maria¡¯s new class was more geared towards research. So, despite the increase in level cost that came with a second class, she gained seven additional levels while she worked.
And now, at last, they had done it. The 17th floor lab was crammed full of people watching in exhausted excitement as the various fauna mages ran the last few tests.
On a table in the middle of the room, lay a fully functioning, completely stable body. Two whole seasons of work had finally culminated in a living system capable of simulating Voidling¡¯s world just well enough to not immediately fall apart. It wasn¡¯t actually functional of course. But the amalgam of ambient spirit, soul, mind and fauna essence was sufficient to show them that they had a plan that would work.
They were finally ready.
[Status]
Name: Nathan Emmanuel Fellwood
Age: N/A
Species: Void-walker
Realm: Mortal
Level: 0
Strength: 3 (3/10)
Agility: 2 (2/10)
Vitality: 10 (10/10)
Tempus: 10 (10/10)
Scope: 10 (10/10)
Stat Points: 0 (0)
Achievement Points: 2
[Class/es]
N/A
[Skills 6]
Language 1st Lvl 10
Mathematics 1st Lvl 10
Memory Technique 1st Lvl 10
Multitasking 1st Lvl 10
Reading 1st Lvl 10
Visualisation 1st Lvl 10
[Abilities 8]
Echoes of the Barren Cosmos 1st (Innate)
Enhanced Memory 1st Lvl 10
Enhanced Time Perception 1st Lvl 10
Insomnia 1st Lvl 10
Isolation Tolerance 1st Lvl 10
Lightning Resistance 1st Lvl 10
Pain Tolerance 1st Lvl 10
Trauma Tolerance 1st Lvl 10
Chapter 4
¡°The Accords of Fae and Unfae are known throughout the world but little of their content is common knowledge. For example, it is widely accepted that all major population centers must have a divine embassy. However, this stipulation is not present anywhere in The Accords.
Various sources suggest that the belief originates from during the reign of Emperor Lothril. Some may argue that the history of the embassies is not important. Personally, I feel that the more information we can gather on them the better.
Every day, hundreds of people make deals with Lady Mhyrra, and dozens offer blood to Lord Nocteus for some minor boon. Every week someone exchanges a coin of Lord Valeon with varying levels of effect. Nations have risen and fallen because of the gods and ignoring one of their most potent avenues to manipulate the world is plain foolishness.¡±
From ¡°A History of the Gods¡± By Humphrey Miller
5th Maril, Spring, 375th Year, 84th Era, 2nd Age (2 days later)
The original plan had been for several different mind and soul mages to coordinate in connecting Voidling¡¯s mind to his new soul. However, after Maria ascended to elder, that was no longer necessary. Any additional mages would provide more hindrance than help. New as she was, an elder was still an elder.
Maria, Elder Ashbourne and Ancient Dantor stood, or floated, in the fifth-floor work room. All of the tables had been moved to the edge of the room and Voidling¡¯s mind now hovered in the center.
Ancient Dantor would create the soul, body and spirit as one, connected unit, which Maria would then link to Voidling, while Elder Ashbourne kept him alive.
One of the few ways that Voidling¡¯s utter mess of a mind resembled a normal one was its shape. The mind, being only one part of a person¡¯s spiritual body, would usually take the shape of a hollow egg.
The spirit would then sit within. A complex tracery of aether essence forming a copy of the person¡¯s nervous system, with a large clump at the top for the brain.
Resting in gaps within the spirit, would be the six nodes of the soul, which were connected to the mind, the spirit and each other by strands of sethir essence.
Needless to say, that Voidling did not have a spirit or soul within his mind, but it did form the same egg-like structure as any other person¡¯s. The central nucleus of a person¡¯s mind would typically be at the tip of the egg, linking down to the mind node within the head of their spirit.
The pseudo-central node they had selected to treat as a central nucleus sat in a similar place within Voidling¡¯s mind, albeit very slightly off center. All Maria had to do was connect that nucleus with the strands of sethir which Ancient Dantor would provide.
¡°Are you both ready?¡± Ancient Dantor asked the two elders. Maria took a brief moment to calm her mind before replying. The massive tide of mana that would pour through the room when they began could very easily be a distraction. As could the watching crowd of mages.
They had removed the dividing wall between the two rooms on the fifth floor to avoid crowding. It would be unreasonable to bar the people who had worked on the project from watching after all.
¡°Then I shall begin.¡± the fairy said after the two elders had replied. He took a hold over about a tenth of the mana in the room, drawing it in to occupy the same space as Voidling¡¯s mind. There it twisted and warped as it slowly changed into various soul, spirit and fauna essences, forming the living system that Maria would link to Voidling.
To the naked eye, a body slowly built itself up from tendrils of marrow, to bones, organs and muscles until it was finally covered by skin. For those watching though, it was an even more impressive feat. They knew that each and every sliver of flesh contained thousands of tiny balls of essence that had to be formed in just the right way. It was the sort of feat that only an ancient, with tens of thousands of stat points, could perform.
On the spiritual plane, the work was both more delicate and more hurried. Any mistake in the construction of the spirit or soul could cause the same cascading destruction they had seen in the early tests. Even if it didn¡¯t, a faulty spirit could have deeply unpleasant long term side effects, a faulty soul even more so.
The most difficult part of the spiritual work was that the various parts of the spirit and soul each had to be created in balance. Where the physical body could be built up piecemeal, the spirit and soul would fall apart if the same were done with them.
The only blessing was that neither the soul nor the spirit needed to be made in accordance with Voidling¡¯s physical laws. Not even the body node required the same complexity. The soul mages had worked with Ancient Dantor to design a method of creating a body node based on that of a new-born¡¯s, which would take an impression of Voidling¡¯s body before its structure became fixed.
When the ancient fairy was close to finishing, Elder Ashbourne grasped the majority of the remaining mana, and began channelling regeneration mana into both the newly formed living system and Voidling¡¯s mind. At the same time, he deactivated the enchantments supporting his mind, allowing Maria to take up some of the slack, though most of the support was simply abandoned. Maria only held the soon to be central nucleus and its tethers together, allowing the rest to crumble and reform in the sea of restoration mana.
Moments later Ancient Dantor completed his work, allowing Maria to seize the three strands of sethir essence reaching out from the mind node, and begin the process of forming the connection. Naturally, it was not as simple as just plugging the sethir into the central nucleus.
First, Maria had to take pieces of filum essence from the collapsing tethers elsewhere in Voidling¡¯s mind. Then she fashioned them into half a dozen new tethers, which were connected to the central nucleus and brought down to meet the three strands of sethir.
Using ambient fragments of the three spiritual elements, Maria then created a series of compound essences along both the tethers and the sethir strands. After several minutes of delicate fusion, she connected two tethers to each filament of sethir, the progression of compounds forming a smooth transition from mind to soul.
Even then she wasn¡¯t done. With the link made, Maria turned her focus back to the central nucleus. She slowly carved out the pathways needed for animus to flow down towards the soul, bearing a record of Voidling¡¯s mind, before returning after it reached the point where soul and mind met. It was difficult work, taking all of her recently improved mental stats to complete.
As time passed, she grew increasingly weary, the effort just slightly too much for her. However, in accordance with the plan, the tenth of mana that Ancient Dantor had been using was seized by Elder Ashbourne, once they were done with it, and used to restore Maria¡¯s mind. The ancient fairy, meanwhile, drew in mana from further away than any elder could reach and released it, easing the process of the ambient mana redistributing itself.
Eventually, Maria finished carving the pathways, left only with breaking the thin barriers of arca essence, from which the nucleus was made, and allowing animus to flow down the new pathways to the soul. After taking a moment to check everything was right, she did just that.
Everyone present watched with bated breath as the flows started. Slowly, the parts of Voidling¡¯s mind that were contained in his new mind node stabilised and Elder Ashbourne began to ease off the restoration mana.
As the last of the redundant pseudo-central nuclei crumbled away, a resounding cheer echoed through the room. They had actually done it. They had saved an impossible creature.
They would need to run a huge battery of tests to make sure everything was working. But for now, a celebration was very much in order.
Then, just as Maria was about to turn away, she noticed a tiny fragment of a tether appear from nothing. It didn¡¯t form from ambient mind essence, it wasn¡¯t created from mana, it just popped into existence. From that fragment grew a full tether, which formed a nucleus and even more tethers sprung out from there.
By that point, most of the other people in the room had noticed. They all watched in horror as ever more tethers sprung from nothing, growing and combining until they had reformed every part of Voidling¡¯s mind that had fallen apart.
Then they tried to link back to the existing mind. The attempts at reconnection created a cascading failure through his mind which spread and grew until it reached the connection to the soul.
Elder Ashbourne had restarted the flow of restoration mana by that point, but it didn¡¯t seem to make a difference. The link to the soul collapsed. That in turn, caused the soul, then the spirit to crumble.
In mere seconds, everything but the mind and body dissipated into ambient essence and they were left right back where they started. All they had to show for their work was a lump of body shaped fauna essence that barely counted as alive.
Stunned silence blanketed the room as they all stared at the utter failure with the same question in their eyes: what the Maw had happened?
???
Learning Sioran had been a challenge. And not just in the way that learning any new language was.
Sioran didn¡¯t use anything resembling speech at all. Nathan was certain that he didn¡¯t even have the senses to detect whatever the crazy language was using.
Fortunately, Fariel seemed to have accounted for this, so the first sections of the guide focused on the written language before moving on to how the weirdly detailed hieroglyphics related to the ¡®spoken¡¯ language.
Even then it was a struggle. The first few dozen words took as long to learn as the whole of Kathreshi. But Nathan struggled on.
As he slowly worked his way through the guide, he got better at interpreting the swirling, shifting motions of what he eventually found out were aura and mana.
He knew that they were called that from comparing the words for them to words from the earlier guides. In the first guide, on Nocturnal, there had been a brief definition of what they meant, since there was no perfect equivalent in English.
Mana was a kind of ambient energy that was used in a branch of magic called sorcery, and aura was a mass of spiritual essence attuned to a given person¡¯s spiritual body.
Neither explanation really helped much but Nathan supposed it was better than nothing. They did raise some questions though. Did he not have a spiritual body and thus couldn¡¯t feel auras, or did spiritual bodies, or souls or whatever, from his world work differently? The definition of vitality seemed to imply that he did have a soul, but he couldn¡¯t really be sure.
Regardless, Nathan pressed on with Sioran, slowly learning more and more words until, after getting several hundred words in, something strange happened.
[You have gained the Mana Control skill.]
[Mana Magic 1st Lvl 1: You are better at manipulating and learning to manipulate mana.]
[You have gained the Aura Perception skill.]
[Aura Perception 1st Lvl 1: You are better at perceiving and learning to perceive auras.]
That was strange for various reasons, not least of which was that he had never manipulated mana in his life. But also because the skills had taken far longer to manifest than he had gotten used to.
After giving it some thought, Nathan suspected that interpreting aura and mana were part of perceiving auras and manipulating mana. That had allowed him to get the skills by just interpreting the sensations from the guide.
His guess for why they took so long to get was that since interpretation was only one component of the skills, it took him longer to generate the right kinds of sentiment.
He didn¡¯t know for sure of course, so he stuck his questions and hypotheses in a small shack that he threw together on his mind street. Then he realised that he had a huge number of unanswered questions, and the shack grew into a small, still dilapidated, mansion before he finally got back to learning Sioran.
Armed with his new skills, he made better progress. And his speed only grew as the skills levelled up. However, by the time he reached the end of the Sioran guide, he was still two levels short of level ten.
Annoyingly, while the next guide was written in Sioran, it didn¡¯t trigger the corresponding sensations of mana and aura when he read it. Offended by the idea of having skills that weren¡¯t maxed out, Nathan set about rereading the Sioran guide.
Thankfully, he only had to read it through once more before he maxed both skills out. A quick bit of maths showed him that the tenth level of the skills had taken slightly longer to get than the first eight levels combined.
While he had known the later levels were much harder to get than the earlier ones, he¡¯d never taken the time to work out just how much, though he really should have noticed after the maths training. It made him wonder how long it took to level skills while not in unbelievable agony.
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Dumping the question in the question shack, Nathan moved on to the next guide. As he skimmed over it, slightly disappointed by the more mundane nature of the language, he wondered how high Fariel¡¯s stats would need to be for him to make so many guides in one day.
The next language was called Eternal, which seemed a little pompous to Nathan. Strangely, it had some similarities to Nocturnal, though they were more in the structure of the language rather than anything obvious.
Presumably he only noticed because of his language skill. It certainly wasn¡¯t the sort of thing he would have picked up on before. Musings set aside for later, he rolled up his non-existent sleeves and got to work.
By comparison to Sioran, learning Eternal was a breeze. In the time it took him to learn one Sioran word, even with high level mana and aura skills, he could learn a dozen words of Eternal. It was actually kind of exhilarating. It was almost as revelatory as when his time perception had reached level ten.
He had been so focused on the weirdness of the Sioran words that he hadn¡¯t realised how obscenely complex they were. It was like the difference between learning to fly a plane and learning to ride a bike.
Revelling in the sheer simplicity, Nathan worked through the Eternal guide like a man possessed. Over time, a small corridor of nouns became an expansive ground floor, with wings of verbs and grammar rules. One floor became two, then three, and just as he was putting the finishing touches on a portrait of wet bark, which was distinct from dry bark and burnt bark (who didn¡¯t need three words for bark), something strange happened.
For one thing, the pain was worse, it had been so consistent for so long that he¡¯d almost stopped noticing it. It was still there of course; it had just become so familiar that he didn¡¯t think about it much. But in that moment, the pain was far worse than he remembered it ever being, to the point that it almost overwhelmed his 1st tier pain tolerance bonus.
Beside the pain though, his thoughts kept being disrupted. The most obvious effect was that parts of the corridor would flicker in and out of existence. It was as if the memory of their presence was gone for a moment before returning.
The biggest problem though, was how difficult it was to think. It seemed to take minutes just for him to understand that his thoughts were stuttering. But even that estimate could have been wrong; his time perception wasn¡¯t working properly either.
Then, as he was slowly getting used to thinking through the disruptions, the pain grew to such a level that Nathan couldn¡¯t even comprehend how bad it was. The only reason he wasn¡¯t a mindless ball of agony was his pain tolerance ability.
He tried everything he could to distract himself, but the pain was too overwhelming. Images he conjured up crumbled away as the pain fluctuated wildly, drawing his attention back to it again and again. He tried doing simple calculations but it wasn¡¯t monotonous enough to hold his focus against the pain. Not even running through words from the various languages he¡¯d learned worked for long.
Just when he reached the point of cursing his pain tolerance for allowing him to experience this hell with any degree of coherent thought, he noticed something. Three tiny sensations. Next to the tsunami that was the pain they were almost nothing, but Nathan latched on to them like a drowning man to driftwood.
With the focus that he had cultivated over his time in the void, he gave the three little threads as much of his attention as he could. The pain never truly faded from notice, but with something mindless to concentrate on, it became slightly more tolerable.
As he followed the threads, Nathan could feel them more and more clearly. He was receiving system notifications at a rate that he hadn¡¯t ever come close to before. He assumed that they had something to do with his increased clarity, but he didn¡¯t want to check. Reading was beyond him.
Eventually, the threads connected to a ball made from slightly different stuff to the threads. After watching it swirl for a while, Nathan picked one of the threads leading further away from where he started and kept going. By the time he reached the next ball, he could vaguely feel the place where the threads had begun, as well as a total of six balls, including the two he had already found.
Not having the capacity to focus on more than a tiny segment of thread, he picked one that led away from the balls and followed that. That thread eventually took him to a massive network of strands which were made from something completely new.
It was as he meandered his way through that network that it happened. For just a few seconds, the pain completely disappeared. He could feel again, actual normal touch. The memory of laying on a smooth, tiled floor burned itself into his mind. Partly due to his enhanced memory, but mostly just from how unfamiliar it felt.
But, when he went to open the eyes that he suddenly had, the pain returned in full force. It was so extreme that he couldn¡¯t focus on anything.
He was reduced to a tiny blip of awareness drifting in an ocean of pain. His time perception told him that it only lasted for several seconds, but evidently, his first-tier bonus had limits, because it certainly felt longer to him.
Regardless of how long it took, the pain eventually faded back to the normal level and Nathan regained his capacity for thought. He spent a while just luxuriating in the relatively lower level of pain, before he realised how depressing that was.
After taking a while to ¡®look¡¯ at all the weird stuff he could see floating around himself with whatever new skill or ability he had gotten, he decided to actually check his notifications
[You have gained the Enhanced Aethereoception ability.]
[Enhanced Aethereoception 1st Lvl 1: Your sense of the spiritual plane is improved.]
[You have gained a level in Enhanced Aethereoception]x6
[Grade Error sentiment spike detected. Contacting Administrator.]
Well, that was completely insane. If his time perception was right, he had gotten seven skill levels in a few minutes. No wonder his pain tolerance couldn¡¯t keep up. Maybe it would be a good idea to finally ask Fariel what was happening.
[Administrator Fariel: What did you do now?]
I didn¡¯t do anything. Don¡¯t you have access to files or something?
[Administrator Fariel: Yeah, yeah, I¡¯m looking.]
[Administrator Fariel: Ok, so it looks like you experienced a level of pain that shouldn¡¯t be possible, which in turn generated so much sentiment that you managed to exceed the grading for sentiment spikes.]
You do realise that I have very little idea what you¡¯re talking about right?
[Administrator Fariel: Right. Ok. So, you can feel your mind now, yes?]
The weird tangle of shapes and threads, made of magical gubbins? That¡¯s my mind?
[Administrator Fariel: It¡¯s mostly made from mind essence, but yes. Your world doesn¡¯t have anything like that. At least as far as I can tell. But when you got summoned to Kelric and the respective natures of our worlds butted heads, you spontaneously generated a mind.]
I was summoned?
[Administrator Fariel: Not intentionally. The ritual used was designed to summon inanimate objects from beyond the void. Unfortunately, since you don¡¯t have a soul, you registered as inanimate.]
Well that¡¯s one question answered at least. That¡¯s why I can¡¯t use aura perception even though it¡¯s level ten.
[Administrator Fariel: How could you not know whether you had a soul or not? You have level seven Enhanced Aethereoception.]
Aside from the fact that I only got the ability a few minutes ago, having eyes is irrelevant if you don¡¯t know what you¡¯re looking at.
[Administrator Fariel: Fair enough. Anyway, the mind that you generated is, to be blunt, complete shit. It¡¯s an inefficient, pointlessly complex mess. But its worst feature by far is that it experiences any direct interaction with itself as pain. Normally, only actual damage would hurt.]
So the constant pain is my mind rubbing against all this other stuff drifting around it?
[Administrator Fariel: Essentially. Normally it wouldn¡¯t make a difference. One of the functions of the soul is to maintain a barrier that protects the spiritual body, which your mind is part of, from external influence, similar to your skin. Since you don¡¯t have a soul though, nothing is protecting you.]
Lovely. Where did the spike in pain come from then?
[Administrator Fariel: That was the people who have been keeping you alive trying to save you. Unfortunately, that necessitated the creation of several new pathways in one of your nuclei, the balls, and as I mentioned, any interaction causes pain. The only explanation I have for the extreme degree of pain, is cross-reality nonsense. It really shouldn''t be possible.]
I¡¯m guessing that, whatever they tried, it didn¡¯t work.
[Administrator Fariel: No. No, it did not. Your mind is too complex to fully record in a soul of the same level. And, as long as part of your mind exists in a stable form, the rest will constantly reform, which will collapse anything that they use to stabilise it.]
And you wondered why I didn¡¯t want to know before.
[Administrator Fariel: I know that this probably isn¡¯t what you want to hear, but it actually gets worse.]
How could it possibly get worse than almost certain death?
[Administrator Fariel: Do you remember the ability that multiplies your sentiment generation by ten?]
Echoes of the Barren Cosmos, right? I¡¯m guessing that¡¯s part of why I level so fast.
[Administrator Fariel: It is yes. It does increase the training sentiment that you generate. But it also increases all other sentiment. For example, your blood would be worth far more to a vampire than your level would suggest. The important sentiment though is existence sentiment.]
Wait, you have vampires?
[Administrator Fariel: What? Yes. Look, let me finish. Existence sentiment is the foundation of memory, but it also causes aging. It builds up in a part of the soul called the history node until the node gets too big and causes the soul to collapse. The only reason you haven¡¯t had trouble already is because you don¡¯t have a soul. The sentiment doesn¡¯t have anything to latch on to and just drifts off.]
So even if I did get saved, I¡¯d only have a tenth of the lifespan I should have because this history node would fill up ten times faster?
[Administrator Fariel: It wouldn¡¯t necessarily be too bad. If you levelled a class high enough and trained your vitality, you could still live for a century or two. With ten times the sentiment generation, you would actually stand a decent chance of success.]
Doesn¡¯t that mean that I should be able to live for millennia at that level?
[Administrator Fariel: Yes, well¡ to live for two centuries you would need to reach the pinnacle of the elder realm, and have your vitality trained to the limit for that realm.]
And how many people actually manage that?
[Administrator Fariel: To be blunt, almost no one. From a human population of one billion, there are 43 elders currently living. Excluding vampires.]
Those are some slim odds. What about becoming a vampire, would that work?
[Administrator Fariel: It wouldn¡¯t be easy. The standards are quite high and nine out of ten turnings fail, but it¡¯s definitely an option. Now that I think about it, you could become the servant of a Dominari vampire. They can make their servants ageless, though you would be bound to them for the rest of your life.]
So even that isn¡¯t exactly a get out of jail free card. At least I have options, small mercies and all that.
[Administrator Fariel: What¡¯s a¡ never mind. How are you getting on with the languages by the way?]
Hmm? Oh, it¡¯s been going well. Eternal is a bit dull after learning Sioran, but being back at a normal speed is nice.
[Administrator Fariel: HOW ARE YOU ALREADY ON ETERNAL?]
All caps? Really? Didn¡¯t you read my files? Aren¡¯t you also reading my mind? That¡¯s still weird by the way.
[Administrator Fariel: The status is in a different section. Let me just check... oh. I knew you had Enhanced Aethereoception levelled up, but the rest of this¡ this is insane.]
I have literally no frame of reference for the sanity of my status.
[Administrator Fariel: A normal, mortal person will have around six to ten skills and abilities, and maybe one skill will reach level ten before they die. Even most seekers would only have two or three level ten skills and abilities by the end of their life. You already have 15.]
What normal person would be in this situation? What normal person would be able to take advantage of it? Actually, that reminds me, how am I even remotely close to sane?
[Administrator Fariel: You have a point. There have only been four other void-walkers, and they all died within minutes. You are impressively anomalous. As for your sanity, one of the things keeping you alive is an enchantment that pumps huge amounts of restoration mana into your mind at all times. That both stops your mind collapsing and keeps you sane. Well, mostly sane. I¡¯ve got to go now. The extreme nature of the incident gave me a bit of wiggle room on the time, but I can only push things so far. Bye.]
Well¡ Fariel was as abrupt as always. Alone in the void again, Nathan decided to do the only reasonable thing: train his new ability to level ten and then get back to learning languages.
Hmm¡ I think I see what he meant by mostly sane.
5th Saril, Spring, 375th Year, 84th Era, 2nd Age (5 days later)
Joseph stood in his garden, looking over the city. The damage had been repaired and the plants had been restored, but his aura filled the space with misery and frustration.
It was over. They had made three more attempts. For the first two they had tried to reinforce Voidling¡¯s mind to prevent the rest of it from reconnecting.
Before the final attempt, in a last-ditch effort, they had destroyed his body, hoping that the regenerating mind was originating there. It didn¡¯t work.
¡°You need to let it go, Joseph. Half the council think you¡¯ve gone mad.¡± Arthur Maxim said from beside him. The elderly councillor leaned heavily on his cane as they looked over the city below. ¡°You have done more than anyone could ever ask of you. The longer you wait, the more the poor creature will suffer.¡±
Joseph smiled sadly at his old mentor, ¡°It doesn¡¯t feel like enough. he didn¡¯t ask to come here, but now he¡¯ll die because of our technological incompetence.¡±
Arthur gave him a flat look, ¡°You aren¡¯t some newly ascended adept, Joseph. You¡¯re old enough to look past your emotions. It¡¯s one thing to all in your power to fix a mistake, but it is another thing entirely to pursue that to the point of causing additional harm.¡±
¡°I wish I¡¯d never translated that ritual.¡± Joseph muttered with a sigh, ¡°But, when you¡¯re right, you¡¯re right. Come on, let¡¯s go turn off the enchantment.¡± As he made to turn away from the city, the voice of Ancient Dantor sounded from behind him.
¡°There is one thing no one has suggested yet.¡± The fairy floated over to the edge of the garden, where they were stood.
¡°I fail to see what could have been missed in two seasons of discussion,¡± said Arthur, shooting a frustrated look at the hovering ancient.
Amusement filled the garden through the fairy¡¯s aura, ¡°Most humans would not dare be so blunt with an ancient.¡±
¡°Most humans aren¡¯t eight hundred and eighty-six years old. Spit it out.¡± the grumpy elder said, gesturing at Dantor with his cane, before having to catch himself on it.
Dantor chuckled briefly, before forming a single word, ¡°Mhyrra.¡±
Joseph stared at the fairy in shock, ¡°What could I possibly have that would interest a god?¡±
¡°I knew the Kathreshi didn¡¯t put much stock in witchcraft, but I didn¡¯t know it was this bad. You really should educate yourselves better.¡±
Arthur glared at Dantor, ¡°Are you here to insult my city, or to help?¡±
¡°I suppose that was a bit far,¡± they replied in the same jovial tone. ¡°You may indeed, not have anything she wants, but if you never ask, you will never know. How hard is it to visit the divine embassy?¡±
Joseph found himself suddenly fascinated by the floor as Arthur coughed awkwardly before answering, ¡°Kathresh, ah¡ Kathresh doesn¡¯t have a divine embassy.¡±
The wave of utter bewilderment in the fairy¡¯s aura spoke for itself.
[Status]
Name: Nathan Emmanuel Fellwood
Age: N/A
Species: Void-walker
Realm: Mortal
Level: 0
Strength: 3 (3/10)
Agility: 2 (2/10)
Vitality: 10 (10/10)
Tempus: 10 (10/10)
Scope: 10 (10/10)
Stat Points: 0 (0)
Achievement Points: 2
[Class/es]
N/A
[Skills 8]
Aura Perception 1st Lvl 10
Language 1st Lvl 10
Mathematics 1st Lvl 10
Mana Control 1st Lvl 10
Memory Technique 1st Lvl 10
Multitasking 1st Lvl 10
Reading 1st Lvl 10
Visualisation 1st Lvl 10
[Abilities 9]
Echoes of the Barren Cosmos 1st (Innate)
Enhanced Aethereoception 1st Lvl 7
Enhanced Memory 1st Lvl 10
Enhanced Time Perception 1st Lvl 10
Insomnia 1st Lvl 10
Isolation Tolerance 1st Lvl 10
Lightning Resistance 1st Lvl 10
Pain Tolerance 1st Lvl 10
Trauma Tolerance 1st Lvl 10
Chapter 5
¡°When we refer to a person¡¯s progress within the system, their accumulation of skills, abilities and levels, we typically use the term strength. This is flawed. Is a healer strong? What about an elder architect or an ancient scholar? Seekers with little strength may still have many skills and abilities.
As such I propose a tripartite terminology. First, strength as a measure of combat power explicitly. Second, utility as a measure of capability outside of combat. And third, versatility as a measure of a powerset¡¯s applicability to a wide range of disciplines. I propose that these three be collectively referred to as advancement, for we all seek to advance within the system.¡±
From ¡°The Flaws of Modern Systemology¡± By Simon Relkweist
6th Thoril, Spring, 375th Year, 84th Era, 2nd Age (4 days later)
Joseph stood on platform one of King¡¯s Gate station with Dantor and Maria. All three of them were showing signs of nervousness. Even the ancient fairy was fidgeting in the air. There weren¡¯t many things that could make higher beings nervous, not in the elder belt at least, but meeting a god definitely qualified. The possibility of the curse acting up only made it worse.
12 millennia ago, in the wake of a particularly destructive attack by the blood cult, the high council went very slightly mad. In an attempt to prevent such an attack from ever happening again, they bound a curse into the foundations of the city.
Any witch who spent more than a few hours in Kathresh would begin to slowly waste away, becoming increasingly weak until they died exactly twenty hours after crossing the border. Since breaking the curse required the entire high council to sign legislation repealing the slew of anti-witchcraft laws that had accompanied it, and signing such legislation would place the curse on any signee, it remained in place even after thousands of years.
As Margaret Almarin, the vessel of Mhyrra from Fethaal¡¯s divine embassy, was a mortal contracted to her goddess, rather than a true witch, her presence was just illegal rather than cursed. Not that anyone would actually enforce that law. Unfortunately, no one had ever tested the theory before. If the curse did affect vessels they would truly be out of options because moving Voidling too far would be almost certain to kill him.
As Joseph adjusted his robes for the third time in ten minutes, a train pulling a single passenger car made its way through the station, stopping at their platform. Several moments later, an elderly woman was slowly helped onto the platform by another who could have been the same woman in her early twenties.
¡°Now that is a rare sight.¡± the aging vessel said, looking at the welcoming party of two elders and an ancient with an amused expression. ¡°Lord Elder Ashbourne, I assume.¡± she added, looking at Joseph.
¡°Yes¡ well, we thought it best to be present, on the off chance that the curse affected you.¡± Joseph replied, slightly thrown by how indifferent the woman¡¯s aura felt. Few mortals were truly calm in the presence of an elder, let alone an ancient.
¡°I wouldn¡¯t worry too much about that. If I were in any danger Lady Mhyrra would have warned me.¡±
¡°That is something at least. This is Elder Haelend and Ledal Ancient Dantor.¡± he said, gesturing to each of his companions in turn. ¡°If you and your daughter would follow us, we will escort you to my tower.¡±
The two women chuckled at that. ¡°Violet isn¡¯t my daughter, just my successor. You wouldn¡¯t know I suppose, but as vessels we take the appearance of the Fair Lady. It makes the possession more efficient.¡± Margret explained.
¡°...I see, my apologies. Regardless, we had best get going.¡±
The group made small talk as they rode the elevator up the central pillar. Dantor told a story about a time he had saved a village in northern Albion from a rampaging vorshal and Margaret told them about her experiences as a vessel.
She was apparently aware of her surroundings when inhabited by Lady Mhyrra, but had no control over her body. Not a particularly enjoyable experience, but something that many people would put up with to live for a hundred years rather than a normal mortal¡¯s fifty.
Marius met them outside with a flying carpet and, as they flew through the inner city, Maria asked a question that had weighed on Joseph for the last four days. ¡°Do you know what sort of price Lady Mhyrra is likely to ask for?¡±
¡°It would depend on how difficult the issue is to resolve. Lord Elder Ashbourne¡¯s letter mentioned a patient in need of saving, but little else. The price could range from a handful of rings to breaking the curse of Kathresh. Though, of course, it will most likely be somewhere between the two. I find it helps to remember that Mhyrra is not only the lady of exchange and contracts, but also of fairness. Whatever price she asks will be no more than is reasonable.¡±
Unfortunately, the vessel¡¯s answer did little to set Joseph at ease. What price could not be requested for aligning a person from beyond the void with their reality. The comment about the curse was especially concerning. There was a reason that the fae were feared and respected in equal measure.
After that, the rest of the trip passed in tense silence. Eventually, they landed in front of Ashbourne tower, and made their way up to the fifth floor sitting room. The dividing wall had been replaced and the various decorations put back. The room, once again, was too big for the group it contained, though perhaps it was more appropriate than before as it would soon host a goddess.
They sat around one of the small fire pits, with Margaret opposite Joseph, everyone taking a moment to prepare themselves before the servant of Mhyrra spoke.
¡°I will call upon Lady Mhyrra now. Don¡¯t worry too much, she won¡¯t smite you for looking at her wrong. Although, she has been known to charge extra for rudeness.¡±
Smiling slightly as she made her last comment, Margaret closed her eyes and sank back into her chair.
Joseph and Maria waited with baited breath, while Dantor¡¯s aura radiated anticipation from his spot atop the back of his chair. After a few moments had passed, Margaret straightened up and looked around. Where before there had been a normal pair of dark red eyes, sat two orbs of parchment, covered in slowly shifting words.
The possessed woman stretched her arms, seemingly no longer affected by the lethargy of old age. Relaxing back into her chair, she spent a moment flexing her fingers in silence, before turning to Violet.
¡°Send for a healer when you return to Fethaal, Margaret¡¯s arthritis is coming back.¡± After pausing for a moment, she turned to look at Joseph. ¡°Do you know, it¡¯s been almost 400 years since I last made a deal with an elder? I can¡¯t imagine what illness could be so grave that a true grandmaster of restoration can¡¯t remedy it.¡±
¡°Yes¡ Well.¡± Joseph coughed uncomfortably, ¡°It is rather¡ unusual.¡±
The goddess sighed and gave him an exasperated look. ¡°If it makes you feel any better Elder Ashbourne, I am extremely unlikely to ask that you break the curse of Kathresh. Assuming you somehow persuaded the entire high council to commit suicide, the impact on others would make the deal unfair and I would gain almost no sentiment. On the other hand, if I were to artificially concentrate the curse¡¯s effect onto you alone, I would waste an enormous amount of sentiment doing so and thus, I would gain almost no sentiment. I am far more likely to ask that you push through legislation making it technically legal for some form of divine embassy to be built within the city.¡±
¡°Right¡¡± Joseph said, feeling slightly ridiculous. ¡°I suppose I should explain why we need your help.¡±
¡°That would be useful, yes.¡± Mhyrra replied with a wry smile.
Joseph took a moment to compose himself before he began. ¡°Around five and a half years ago, I bought an old, aelthiri notebook at an auction. I originally made the purchase on a whim, but I ended up translating it over the last half a decade. It became something of a hobby. Regardless, after I finished translating it, I decided to perform the ritual within and¡¡±
¡°Why?¡± the goddess asked, interrupting him. ¡°Why in the name of sanity, would an elder of Kathresh, a city renowned throughout the world for its distaste for witchcraft, perform any ritual? Let alone one found in a random notebook. And why would no one find their decision strange?¡±
¡°I¡ I never even thought about it.¡± Joseph said, a frown forming on his face. He could feel confusion in the auras of Dantor, Maria and Marius as well.
¡°Might I see this notebook?¡±
At a glance from Joseph, Marius left to fulfil Mhyrra¡¯s request. They spent a tense few minutes in silence as they waited. Looking back, he realised that he didn¡¯t truly have a good reason for performing the ritual. He¡¯d just¡ done it.
Eventually, Marius returned with the notebook and handed it to the goddess¡¯ vessel. She took her time examining it, flipping through the pages, bringing it close to her eyes, even sniffing the cover a few times. After several minutes of inspection, she gave her verdict. ¡°Well, it¡¯s definitely cursed. I can¡¯t be completely sure with the limited senses of this vessel, but I think it¡¯s a third-tier death curse.¡±
¡°A death curse?¡± Joseph asked, alarmed.
Mhyrra glanced at him for a moment before continuing to inspect the notebook.
¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s just a curse fuelled by the death of its creator. Not whatever you were thinking. It seems to create an obsessive need to study the notebook and perform the ritual. And I think¡
¡°Yes, it has a secondary effect that prevents the people around the owner from noticing their unusual behaviour. Not permanent, but quite elaborate. It¡¯s very well done really. And it seems like¡¡±
They watched, bemused, as the third most powerful being in all the realms licked one of the pages. ¡°It¡¯s optimised for vampires. That¡¯s why the effect on you was so mild. We could add breaking the curse to the deal if you¡¯d like. As it stands, you¡¯ll probably perform the ritual again in another few years, and no one will stop you.¡±
Even with over two thousand tempus, it took Joseph a moment to process what Mhyrra had said. ¡°That seems like it would be a good idea, yes.¡±
¡°Why would anyone create a curse like that?¡± Maria asked.
¡°Given that even the slightest mistake when setting up the ritual could have ripped a permanent hole in the framework of space, I would say it¡¯s a rather clever form of revenge.¡± the goddess replied, setting the book down on a small table beside her chair. ¡°This sort of thing is why you need witches. Any 1st tier analysis ritual could have picked that curse up. Now then, please continue your story.¡±
¡°Right, where was I?¡± Joseph said, slightly paler than before. ¡°Ah yes, I performed the ritual from the notebook which, as you now know, was supposed to summon an inanimate object. However, I believe that the ritual defined inanimate as without a soul. I imagine that you can offer some insight there.¡±
¡°You¡¯re half right. But it¡¯s not the ritual that defines inanimate that way. It¡¯s the historic consciousness. The equivalence of inanimate and soulless is one of the oldest principles of magic. Literally every ritual concerning inanimate objects uses that definition.¡± Mhyrra explained, leaning forward slightly.
¡°Well, in this particular instance, it didn¡¯t work. The ritual summoned a living, sapient being. We managed to keep them alive but, after two seasons of trying, we have run out of ideas to save them. Which is why we have turned to you.¡±
The goddess went so still as he was speaking that, for a moment, Joseph thought the possession had gone wrong. Then she got up, walked around the firepit to his chair and leaned in until their noses were almost touching.
In a voice so quiet that he could barely hear it she said ¡°I am going to ask you a question, and you will answer honestly. I will know if you lie. Understood?¡±
¡°Perfectly, yes.¡± he replied, more than a little disturbed.
¡°You have, in your possession, a living, sentient creature from beyond the void, a living void-walker?¡± she asked in the same barely audible voice.
¡°Yes.¡±
At his response, Mhyrra moved away from him and returned to her chair. She sat there, unmoving, for a few moments, staring into space, before speaking again.
¡°There is not enough sentiment in the whole of Kathresh to pay for the alignment of a void-walker with our reality. Fortunately for them, they have something worth infinitely more than all the sentiment in Kathresh.¡±
???
Getting enhanced aethereoception to level 10 ended up being much easier than Nathan first anticipated. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t for a good reason. The people who Fariel said were trying to save him had made three more attempts since the first. The second alone was enough for him to max out his latest ability.
[You have gained a level in Enhanced Aethereoception.]x3
[You have gained the first-tier bonus for Enhanced Aethereoception. Increase your realm to level further.]
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
[Enhanced Aethereoception 1st Lvl 10: Your sense of the spiritual plane is improved. You can perceive your own soul, mind and spirit with far greater clarity.]
With the boost he got from the 1st tier bonus, he was able to see the blurry tangle of lines, balls and discs properly. The lines were tubes carrying a strange not quite liquid to the various balls and discs. There the liquid would interact with the walls of passages within the structures, changing in ways Nathan didn¡¯t understand, before moving on to other areas. Presumably carrying information.
He found himself getting lost in just watching his mind work. Over time he found that certain parts of the egg-shaped structure behaved differently depending on whether he was doing maths, using visualisation or learning more of Eternal. Thanks to his multitasking skill, he could look at his mind while doing something else, which let him spot the differences in how it operated.
Some things were obvious like the set of three discs that always span slightly faster when he did calculations or the one disc that all but stopped when he was learning a new word.
Other things though, were more subtle. The majority of the changes were in the exact composition of the liquid flowing through his mind. He didn¡¯t know nearly enough to tell what he was feeling, but he could differentiate between the various sensations.
The harder a task required him to think, the runnier the liquid became, and when he compared picturing a blank piece of paper to picturing one of his mind palaces, it felt almost bitty, like something was floating in it.
During the third and fourth attempts to save him he got a better look at what he assumed were a soul and spirit based on the definitions from the nocturnal guide. Until the pain truly ramped up at least.
The spirit looked vaguely like a body formed from a collection of threads so tightly packed that they were almost solid. Tucked into that network was his soul. Six balls linked by a different kind of thread. The ball connected to his mind sat in the head, which made sense to him. Of the remaining five, three formed a triangle in the chest and the last two were in the hands.
By far the most interesting consequence of his enhanced aethereoception though, was his ability to see the spiritual plane in general. It wasn¡¯t nearly as clear as his mind, but it somehow managed to be even weirder.
His immediate surroundings looked like a strange, washed-out version of a classroom. There were desks around the outside and blackboards on the walls. He couldn¡¯t read what was written on the boards as they were both too blurry and too far away. Although he could just about make out several diagrams which resembled the spirit that had been linked to him.
He could tell that everything from the tables to the air itself was made from the same stuff as ¡®his¡¯ spirit. It had a slightly different feel to it, but it was definitely the same basic substance. Nathan¡¯s guess was that the spiritual plane formed an imperfect copy of the physical world. More questions for later.
However, that was merely the first layer of weirdness. It took him a while to notice, but everything (including the air, somehow) was slowly expanding and contracting. Parts of the floor would lift up slightly, several tables were always slightly taller than the rest and the blackboards would bulge, distorting the already illegible writing even further.
Drifting through everything were a variety of small creatures. Some were little balls that reminded him of Pac-man, floating around while hinging open and closed, presumably eating whatever made up the air.
Others looked like butterflies, fluttering around feeding from small patches of liquid that littered the floor. He hadn¡¯t even noticed them until he saw one of the butterfly-like creatures land next to one. They felt like they were made from the stuff that flowed through his mind.
By far the most pervasive creatures though, were the worms. They were everywhere, poking out of the walls, the ceiling and the tables. There were even a few drifting through the air.
He did eventually get back to learning Eternal in earnest, but he always had some of his focus on the spiritual plane. One of the things that held his attention were the people who were always in the room. At least he assumed they were people.
They had spirits and souls, and the same egg-shaped tangle of a mind as him. Though their minds were much smaller and less messy. The most notable thing about them was how dense they felt. Comparing the stuff in the surroundings to them was like comparing pyjamas to a suit of armour.
There were three in particular that were leagues above the rest. Even the weakest of the three was around twice the density of the next one down. The strongest though, was truly insane. They didn¡¯t even seem close to the other two. The difference was so extreme that he couldn¡¯t really tell how big it was, his aethereoception wasn¡¯t good enough.
They definitely weren¡¯t human though. Their spirit looked like a jellyfish with only four tentacles. It was also solid, rather than being made from threads.
Interestingly, he actually managed to feel the auras of the people who come close to him. Without aethereoception he hadn¡¯t really noticed because the aura was always accompanied by a spike of pain. It didn¡¯t happen that often but, even with the small amount of practice that he got, he managed to become good enough to get a vague impression of what a given person was feeling. Usually a mix of tension and sadness. It made sense, finding out that six-ish months of work were for nothing couldn¡¯t have been fun.
Watching the spiritual plane ended up giving him so many questions that his question shack grew to the size of a full palace. He kept its dilapidated design though, mostly because he thought it was funny.
A few days after the fourth attempt, he noticed something weird. Well, weirder. Normally, he couldn¡¯t feel anything outside the room he was in. Some of the stronger people he could sense a bit further out, but not that far.
Suddenly though, he could feel something extremely dense on the other side of one of the walls. It dwarfed anything else that he had detected by such a huge margin that it was almost scary. If looking at the jellyfish person had been like looking into a muddy lake and not knowing how deep it was, this was like looking at a well-lit, bottomless pit. You still couldn¡¯t see the bottom, but you could see it drop off into infinity.
The new thing moved around a bit in what was presumably the next room over, before moving until it stood outside his room. As it entered, the three strongest of the people helping him, as well as one of the weaker ones and someone as weak as himself, entered with it.
Now that it was closer, he could see it more clearly. It didn¡¯t look anything like a person. There was actually a person there, if he squinted his metaphorical eyes, but the source of overwhelming power he could feel was more like a hole in the world leading to something he couldn¡¯t see. Except there was no discernible hole, it almost seemed like an echo. It was the sort of thing that Nathan would have put aside for later if it weren¡¯t coming closer.
It approached until he could directly feel the aura of the person inside the power, which made him wonder why he¡¯d never felt anything from other people. They felt bored, strangely. Bored and slightly uncomfortable. But he didn¡¯t pay much attention to that as the new thing reached out to his mind and did... something.
Hello, it sent. A feeling of greeting more than an actual word.
Hello, he sent back in Nocturnal. Hopefully that language was first because it was the most widely spoken.
You speak Nocturnal. Are you from Kelric? It replied in Nocturnal, which answered that question.
Nope. I was given a textbook by an administrator. I didn¡¯t have a lot to do other than study.
True, it makes sense that Fariel would notice you.
How did you know it was Fariel?
He is the administrator in charge of fixing glitches. He also has a reputation for interfering with mortal affairs. Now then, I believe introductions are in order. I am Mhyrra, goddess of exchange, contracts and fairness.
Nathan Fellwood, god of shit luck. Random question, would you be able to see an image that I was picturing, and can you project an image into my mind, or just words?
Yes to both, but I fail to see how tha¡ Oh.
The goddess trailed off as Nathan conjured up an appropriate room from one of his mind palaces. It wasn¡¯t massive, but it had a good-sized table in the middle with the Fethaali word for table carved onto it. As he cobbled together a roughly human shaped body, a woman with caramel skin appeared in the middle of the room.
Dressed in a flowing, pale-yellow robe, she looked mostly human. She had unusually prominent cheekbones and a chin that could be used as a weapon. The eyes, though, definitely suggested that she wasn¡¯t human. He¡¯d never seen anyone with eyes made from paper and words. Then again, it would be weirder if he was transported into a new world and it was inhabited by the exact same species of humans as earth.
¡°This is quite impressive for a mortal.¡± Mhyrra said, creating a chair and sitting down. ¡°You do realise that it serves little purpose though. I¡¯m seeing this from your perspective as well.¡±
¡°You¡¯ll have to forgive me a few eccentricities. An extended period of sensory deprivation and pain will do that.¡± Nathan replied as his avatar sat down; it was a poor showing compared to Mhyrra¡¯s but using a deity as a standard for comparison seemed foolish.
¡°Fair enough. How much do you know about your situation?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve been pulled into another reality which doesn¡¯t mesh well with rules governing mine. My mind is a mess and can¡¯t fit with a soul, which I apparently need. And even if those problems are fixed, I¡¯ll only have ten years to live because I produce ten times the sentiment that I should.¡± He replied, summarising what Fariel had told him.
¡°Everything relevant then, good,¡± the goddess said, nodding to herself. ¡°Then I can get straight to why I¡¯m here. Do you know anything about the fae?¡±
¡°Not a thing.¡±
¡°To skip a lot of the details, we are creatures of sentiment. We make trades with other beings to acquire sentiment from them in return for fulfilling requests. And I would like to offer you a deal.¡±
¡°What¡¯s the catch? There''s always a catch, in stories at least.¡± Nathan said, who knew, maybe he¡¯d be given life but have to spend it as a slug. Admittedly, that would still be an improvement.
¡°You don¡¯t even know what the deal is and you are already suspicious. Were I any other fae, your caution might be warranted but I am something of an exception.¡± Mhyrra said with an amused smile. ¡°As the lady of fairness, every deal I make is more beneficial to me if it is fair. As such, I am always as open and clear as possible.¡±
¡°I suppose I have no choice but to take your word for it. So, how does this work?¡±
¡°It¡¯s quite simple really,¡± she said, as a sheet of paper appeared on the table in front of him, the terms of the deal writing themselves onto it. ¡°I will expend several millennia of accumulated sentiment to align you with our reality. In return, you will give me the right to take your sentiment magnifying ability from you after you die, and you will agree to not seek ways of extending your life beyond the ten years you would currently have.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t suppose that there¡¯s room for negotiation?¡± Nathan said looking at the rather grim terms. He¡¯d take it if it was all he could get, but nothing was stopping him from trying to improve them.
¡°I struggle to imagine that you could offer different terms that I would actually accept, but you are welcome to try.¡± Mhyrra said, her avatar settling back into its seat.
The room, and Nathan¡¯s avatar faded away as he tried to think of something he could change. He didn¡¯t have anything to offer beyond echoes of the barren cosmos, not anything a goddess would want anyway. Actually, wait¡ ¡°What¡¯s the technology like in Kelric?¡± he asked, his avatar popping back into existence.
¡°Well, it¡¯s not an easy thing to quantify, but a combination of steam engines, witchcraft, sorcery and elemental magic have resolved most needs. There hasn¡¯t been any significant level of poverty for hundreds of thousands of years, though my perspective on such things is rather different from that of a mortal.¡±
¡°What about uhh¡ lightning?¡± He had only just realised that there was no word for electricity. Though the more he thought about it, the more he realised that he didn¡¯t have much insight to offer regarding technology. He didn¡¯t even know how to make a generator, let alone something that could use the power it produced.
¡°Lightning manifests when the barriers between planes are damaged or broken, it consumes everything around it, expanding and growing until the wound in space heals. What use could it have as anything but a weapon?¡± the goddess responded, seeming genuinely confused.
So that was a bust. What else could he offer? He could remember a good banana bread recipe, but somehow he imagined that wouldn¡¯t be enough.
Ok¡ If he couldn¡¯t offer something in place of the ability, could he at least give himself a chance?
The more he thought about it the more certain he was that he had no way out. Eventually he started randomly skimming through the stranger words he had learned from Fariel¡¯s guides. Just as he was starting to get desperate, he finally hit upon a decent idea.
¡°How difficult is it to become ageless?¡± he asked. He would have gone with immortal but immortals didn¡¯t exist according to the guides.
¡°Extremely difficult. Discounting vampires, there are only five ageless beings who were not born ageless. Even including vampirism, only one person becomes a vampire a year, and most die within a century. The servants of the Dominari face similar attrition, though the standards there are somewhat lower.¡±
¡°And what about the chances of a mortal becoming ageless?¡±
¡°The only possible way I can think of would be to become the servant of a Dominari, but few would take a mortal servant.¡± Mhyrra said, a small smile forming on her avatar¡¯s face.
¡°Good. As the goddess of exchange and contracts would you get sentiment from someone paying off a debt by fulfilling a series of requests over time?¡± he asked, his avatar becoming blurry again as he tried to put his thoughts together.
¡°Of course I would.¡± She replied, openly grinning.
¡°And what would happen if you made a small concession in light of the fact that it¡¯s incredibly unfair to take advantage of someone who has been cosmically screwed over, and has very little of the information necessary to make an informed deal with you?¡±
¡°The cost of aligning you with reality would decrease by as much as a third.¡± the goddess replied, before she started laughing. It was a strange experience to not just hear laughter, but to also feel an echo of the amusement behind it.
¡°I genuinely can¡¯t remember the last time someone found a way of leveraging my nature that I, myself, had missed. You must realise though, that what you are going to attempt is impossible. You barely gain anything.¡±
¡°I get a chance. Tiny as it may be, it¡¯s better than nothing.¡± Nathan said, once again restoring the room to clarity.
¡°So, I would like to propose a new deal. You still agree to align me with your reality, and I still agree to let you take echoes of the barren cosmos from me after I die. But in addition, I will agree not to take a class within ten years of you fulfilling your end of the bargain, I will agree not to become the servant of a Dominari vampire, and I will agree to repay my debt of sentiment by performing various tasks, if I by some miracle become ageless. Although, I reserve the right to reject tasks that I consider to be immoral.¡±
¡°You will also be prohibited from increasing your lifespan with the species system,¡± Mhyrra added. ¡°And now that I think about it, I should also give you an extra point of strength, otherwise you won¡¯t be able to move due to your high vitality. But other than that, I have no problems with your proposal. If you would sign the amended contract, I can begin immediately.¡±
¡°What is the species system? Also, what do you mean I won¡¯t be able to move?¡±
¡°The system used by non-sapient beings. It¡¯s worse than the class system in almost every way, but it would still be a viable method for you to increase your lifespan. As for the second question, vitality and strength both increase your mass but vitality has more of an impact. If your vitality is too much higher than your strength you¡¯ll struggle to move. Strength at 40% of your vitality is the sweet spot to be functional, though the closer you are to 100% the better.
¡°Fair enough.¡± he said, conjuring a pen and signing on the dotted line, ¡°I assume this is a symbolism thing?¡± The contract wasn¡¯t real after all.
¡°Indeed, symbolism is important.¡± Mhyrra replied, tucking the contract into one of her sleeves. ¡°I¡¯ll put you to sleep for this next part. I doubt you would enjoy the experience.¡±
And moments later, for the first time in months, Nathan fell asleep.
[Status]
Name: Nathan Emmanuel Fellwood
Age: 0
Species: Human (Void-walker)
Realm: Mortal
Level: 0
Strength: 4 (4/10)
Agility: 2 (2/10)
Vitality: 10 (10/10)
Tempus: 10 (10/10)
Scope: 10 (10/10)
Stat Points: 0 (0)
Achievement Points: 2
[Class/es]
Grade 3 Available
[Skills 8]
Aura Perception 1st Lvl 10
Language 1st Lvl 10
Mathematics 1st Lvl 10
Mana Control 1st Lvl 10
Memory Technique 1st Lvl 10
Multitasking 1st Lvl 10
Reading 1st Lvl 10
Visualisation 1st Lvl 10
[Abilities 9]
Echoes of the Barren Cosmos 1st (Innate)
Enhanced Aethereoception 1st Lvl 10
Enhanced Memory 1st Lvl 10
Enhanced Time Perception 1st Lvl 10
Insomnia 1st Lvl 10
Isolation Tolerance 1st Lvl 10
Lightning Resistance 1st Lvl 10
Pain Tolerance 1st Lvl 10
Trauma Tolerance 1st Lvl 10
Im Back
Summary
Elder Joseph Ashbourne performs a ritual which accidentally summons a person (Nathan Fellwood) from another reality. The conflict between the physical laws of Nathan¡¯s world (Earth) and those of Kelric immediately begin killing him. Elder Ashbourne stabilises Nathan¡¯s condition with the help of Adept Maria Haelend.
Nathan finds himself in a state of total sensory deprivation and extreme pain. He distracts himself by reading the contract of a game-like system, which appears in his mind. This attracts the attention of one of the system¡¯s administrators (Fariel).
Elder Ashbourne recruits the help of Maria Haelend and the fairy Dantor Elin. Together they make an attempt to create a new body for Nathan, which fails.
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Nathan gains various skills/abilities/stats through training and a little help from Fariel. He learns more about the nature of his situation and is told that even if he is saved, he will only live for ten years.
Elder Ashbourne turns to the Faen goddess Mhyrra to save Nathan, finally succeeding.
Changes
Elder Ashbourne no longer recruits any additional help besides Maria Haelend until after the 6 month time skip. The scene introducing the old team has been removed. Any retained dialogue has been divided between Maria and Marius.
The scene in Chapter 2 where the difficulties saving Nathan are exposited has been changed from Maria''s thoughts to a more concise conversation between Maria and Marius.
Elder Ashbourne''s daughter, Julianna, has been cut.