《A World Away》


 Chapter 1: Eye of the Skeleton

    Lor awoke in the dark, and groped about for his phone. In his half asleep state, it took him around a minute to realize that not only was he not in his bed, he was also not wearing anything. Now, not having any pants or a shirt was how he normally slept, but no underwear? Now that was unexpected.


    After the realization that he was naked, he also realized that he was sitting on bare stones. And that it was truly dark. Not the dark of a closed room, where there was a little background light. No, this was the pure darkness of the blind and underground. Sitting there in the dark, Lor tried to think of how he got there.


    The last think he remembered, he collapsed into his bed after a day of arguing with lawyers as his siblings wheedled their way through inheritance laws to leave him with nothing.


    ¡°Did they have me kidnapped or something?¡±


    The echo of his own voice startled him, coming back far louder than he expected. Standing up carefully, he discovered that while he could feel the rough wall behind him, he could not reach the ceiling of whatever place he was in.


    ¡°Well, standing around won¡¯t get me anywhere. Just keep moving Lor, if you got in here, you should be able to get out. Probably.¡±


    With those words of encouragement Lor began staggering through the dark cave, occasionally bonking his head on the walls and ceiling. His feet also failed to escape punishment, getting painfully scraped on the floor and banged into various ridges and rocks.


    He had no idea how long he groped through the dark, possibly going in circles, before he found something different. Or that something different found him. All Lor could see was a pair of glowing red eyes, about two feet off the ground. After a few seconds of standing frozen, the eyes suddenly dashed towards him, covering the intervening distance faster than he could process. Whatever the creature was, it was furry, heavy, and had sharp teeth and claws.


    Lor screamed as the creature tore into his skin. In a panic, he turned and ran, scrabbling away from the eyes in the dark as blood streamed down his arms and chest. He didn¡¯t go far before the ground gave out under him and he fell, a second of falling before a jarring pain which stole his consciousness.


    When he awoke for the second time since his arrival in these caves, Lor awoke. This time, however, not only did he have a splitting headache, but he could see. Blinking rapidly, he looked around, finding himself at the bottom of a pit about five feet wide. Groaning with pain, he slowly stood up and found that the creature that had attacked him had also fallen into the pit. It was not as lucky, however, as it appeared to have broken its neck from the impact. The creature, which he could see now was some form of oversized rat with metal claws, was very dead.


    Glancing behind him, Lor let out a startled shout and jumped back, tripped over the rat and scraped his back on the wall. What had startled him turned out to be a human skeleton, in ancient armor and holding a strangely pristine dagger. Rubbing first his right eye then his left, he suddenly froze. When he closed his left eye, everything suddenly became dark again. Rapidly closing one eye then the other, he worked out that he could only see out of one eye, at least in the dark.


    Having made that discovery, he carefully moved over to the skeleton and picked up the dagger. Immediately he jumped back, as his acquisition had cause the head to fall off. When the skull hit the ground, something round and wet looking rolled out of it. Bending down, Lor carefully poked it, only to yell when it was revealed to be a human eye. Looking closely at it, he nearly fainted when he realized that it was his eye, his left one to be exact. The strange purple patch in the otherwise brown iris a dead giveaway.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Quickly holding the dagger up to his face, Lor attempted to look at his reflection in the blade, but discovered that while he could see in the dark he did not shed light and thus there was no reflection in the blade. While he was looking closely at the blade, however, sudden words entered his head.


    Highsteel Dagger


    Tier 3 Rank 4


    It took Lor a moment to realize that the words were referring to the dagger he was holding. He also realized that there was other knowledge in his mind, aside from the information about the dagger. Concentrating, he found more words, forming something he had only seen in games in the past. A character sheet.


    Name: Lor Telmrin


    Tier: 0


    Rank: 1


    Stats:


    Power: Kinetic (T0 R1)


    Body: Dimension (T0 R1)


    Mind: Space (T0 R1)


    Energy: Time (T0 R1)


    Skills:


    Active


    Discharge (Power) (T0 R1)


    Inventory (Body) (T0 R1)


    Blink (Mind) (T0 R1)


    Time Stop (Energy) (T0 R1)


    Passive


    Absorb (Power) (T0 R1)


    Dimensional Body (Body) (T0 R1)


    Spacial Awareness (Mind) (T0 R1)


    Looped Energy (Energy) (T0 R1)


    Artifacts:


    Eye of the Traveler (Bound)


    Over the next hour, Lor experimented. He discovered that if he focused on something, be it material or part of his status, more information would appear in his mind. He also discovered that for each of these Skills he had an intuitive understanding of how to use it. He was also able to get a grasp of how much ''energy'' he had, though no numeric representation. He also had no idea what the four stats were, or why they each had an element of some kind attached. The Tier and Rank part also confused him, but he assumed they functioned like a level would in a video game.


    "So I''m in some place that has a video game like level system, in a cave, with something called the Eye of the Traveler instead of my left eye. And I am at the lowest level. Either that or I am hallucinating all of this and I am really in my room or a mental institute. I think it would be a good idea to treat this as reality just in case it is. If it isn''t, I''ll find out sooner or later and deal with it then. Whatever the case, I need to find food and water. Though I think I can eat that rat."


    With those words of self encouragement, Lor fell into an exhausted sleep, filled with dreams of floating eyes, rats, and falling.


    ~~~~~


    Discharge (Active): Release stored kinetic energy in a single blast targeted with a touch. Precision increases with Rank. Cost: Minor energy


    Inventory (Active): You have an extra-dimensional space capable of storing inanimate objects. Size increases with Rank. Cost: Free


    Blink (Active): You are able to teleport a short distance. There is a short period of time between uses of Blink. Distance increases with Rank. Cost: Minor energy


    Time Stop (Active): You pause time for a short moment. There is a period of time between uses of Time Stop. Duration increases with Rank. Cost: Highenergy.


    Absorb (Passive): Every impact, both attacks and getting attacked, stored kinetic energy. Maximum capacity increases with Rank.


    Dimensional Body (Passive): Your body is not of this dimension. You are immune to lower Ranked poisons and critical attacks.


    Spacial Awareness (Passive): You understand the location of everything within a short distance of you. Distance and accuracy increases with Rank.


    Looped Energy (Passive): After a time, any energy you expend it returned at the rate you spent it. Time before reset decreases with Rank.


    Blade Rat (Tier 1): A large and fierce rodent often found in caves on the northwestern continent. They are known for their long metal claws, glowing red eyes, and suicidal ferocity.

 Chapter 2: What Cooldown?

    Lor awoke in the pit, covered in a cold sweat. His exhaustion driven sleep had not saved him from dreams and those he had were not of the pleasant variety. Slowly stretching as he stood, he was surprised by how little his injuries from earlier hurt. Looking down, he saw that the cuts across his abdomen had mostly closed, a scab having formed on each one. Mid stretch his stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn¡¯t eaten at all earlier.


    Looking at the dead rat, he knew he could eat it, but did not want to eat it raw. He decided to use it as a test of his Inventory skill. Concentrating, he focused on the decision to store the rat and watched as the rat winked out of existence. Concentrating again, he found that he had an innate understanding of what was in his Inventory and how much space it took up. Another moment of focus and the rat reappeared. Quickly storing it again, Lor looked around the pit.


    The pit appeared to be about five feet wide and 15 feet deep, with shear sides and no real protrusions. Feeling the walls, he found them to be rough stone, sharp enough to cut him, but not jagged enough to allow him to climb. Thinking of something he had seen in movies, he took his new dagger and attempted to stab it into the wall. The wall chipped slightly, but the force of the rebound nearly knocked the dagger out of his hand. With the failure of using the dagger to climb, Lor attempted several other movie based climbing methods including running up the wall and jumping from one wall to the other. Sadly, neither worked as Lor lacked the physical ability to move that way.


    Slumping back against the wall, Lor tried to think of a way out. He considered what he had available and realized that he hadn¡¯t considered his new Skills at all. Focusing on his Skills, his head was filled with understanding of what they could do. He realized that even with his Blink skill, the range was only five feet. Adding that to his 5¡¯8¡± height, he was still about five feet short of the lip of the hole. He noticed that Blink said it had ¡°a short period of time between uses¡±. Thinking about it, was it possible to use Blink again before he hit the ground?


    Standing up, Lor focused and activated Blink, feeling a slight drain of energy followed by a lurching sensation in his gut as he was suddenly five feet off the ground. The sensation of moving instantly through space was so jarring that he forgot to activate Blink again and fell awkwardly back to the rock and skeleton below. Legs flailing, he failed to land upright and sprawled into the skeleton with a crash.


    ¡°Sorry about that Bones,¡± Lor groaned, ¡°Looks like I need to practice a bit.¡±


    Slowly standing up, Lor readied himself and Blinked again, this time aiming simply for the other side of the pit. The lurching sensation was just as bad as before, but this time he was expecting it, only staggering slightly upon arrival. When he activated the ability, once again he felt a slight drain of energy. Concentrating, he noticed that he could feel how much energy he had. Not only that, he also noticed that it was not coming back.


    ¡°So how do I get more? Do I just wait? Do I need to eat something?¡± He asked the skeleton. Bones did not respond.


    ¡°Wait! I have that Looped Energy passive. So I just need to wait. Hopefully it isn¡¯t too long.¡±


    Waiting for his energy to return, Lor continued to Blink from one side of the pit to the other, slowly getting used to the sensation of instant travel. By his best guess, each Blink took about 1% of his maximum energy. It also took around one second before he could use another Blink, meaning that unless his distance changed or he could lower the cooldown, he was still stuck. When he ran out of energy, he started thinking of how he could combine abilities. The first idea he had was using Discharge to launch himself, but quickly dismissed it since if the ability returned that much force to him it would destroy whatever limb he used it with.


    The second one he thought of, and this time was determined to try, was using Time Stop to recharge Blink. The problem was, he had no idea if using Time Stop in the air would cause him to fall, whether he would be able to stay put, or if time was even stopped for long enough to recharge Blink. Still thinking about what to do, he waited in the cold, absently moving the dagger into and out of his Inventory.


    With nothing to do but wait, and only his hunger, thirst, and knife to stay occupied, time blended together into a lump of forgettable discomfort. With his fiddling with the knife, he worked out that his Inventory had about four cubic feet of space. He also discovered that the knife seemed to take up more space than its physical form, some kind of energy emitted by the knife interfered with the Inventory space. The feeling of a bell ringing in his mind startled him out of his stupor. He had heard it previously, but had been too busy falling from a failed Blink to think about it. Turning his focus inward, he discovered that he had received a notification of some kind.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    Blink has reached Tier 0 Rank 2


    Blink has reached Tier 0 Rank 3


    Absorb has reached Tier 0 Rank 2


    Inventory has reached Tier 0 Rank 2


    ¡°So that¡¯s what the bell did¡± Lor muttered without much enthusiasm. ¡°Wait, does that mean that Blink can reach further?¡±


    Quickly focusing on his Skills, he determined that Blink could indeed reach further, just not too much further. The new maximum distance ended up being around six feet, meaning around a six inch increase per Rank. Looking over Inventory, he found the space had increased to about five cubic feet, a decent amount for simply messing with a knife.


    ¡°Now why has Absorb Ranked up. Did it absorb the impact of my falling to the ground? When I have energy and rest I¡¯ll need to test that.¡±


    As he waited for his energy to return, he slipped into a dreamless sleep fueled by hunger, thirst, and a bone deep exhaustion unlike anything he had ever felt before. Unbeknownst to Lor, the use of Skills, especially by those who have never done so before, is an exhausting experience made even worse when all of their energy is used up.


    ~~~~~


    "Are you kidding me! Our exam is in the Shambling Woods?!" Almer shouted in frustration, turning to Elise. "Can''t you do something about it?"


    "Just because my family is nobility doesn''t mean I have any influence here." Elise sighed, putting down her book. "Besides, you need to overcome your fear of spiders at some point anyway. Might as well be now."


    "I can overcome my fears with regular sized ones. I don''t need to jump in the deep end with spiders the size of my torso."


    "Oh, is the oh so strong Almer afraid of little spiders?" A new voice came from behind Elise, causing her to turn around. "Don''t worry, I''m sure you won''t make it past the first part." Selma continued, drawing a glare from both Almer and Elise. "You won''t even see the spiders. I mean, seriously, what''s your Power and Body at, two eight? To join you''ll need at least three five. Good luck getting them to accept a warrior below that."


    "How the hell do you know my Stats Selma!?" Almer yelled in frustration, "Those are supposed to be confidential with the school!"


    "Oh, some people like being in the good graces of the Fordin family." Selma replied with a smug smile and a condescending glance at Elise. "Unlike some people, I know how to use my influence."


    "Using family influence within the school is strictly forbidden," Elise retorted, "And unlike some people I value my integrity"


    "Oh, I didn''t do it. Someone else did and just happened to tell me. Anyway, I wish you the best of luck." With the smug smile still on her face, Selma turned and walked across the room towards her usual crowd.


    "Did I ever tell you I hate her?" Almer asked quietly, slowly releasing the white knuckled grip he had on the back of his chair.


    "Only every day. Don''t worry too much, we''ll get your Stats up enough in the next few months. My father found a Place of Power that spawns up to Tier 4''s. We can train there as much as we want. We do have all summer off."


    "Are you serious? That is great! With access to a place like that, Selma won''t stand a chance!" Almer''s mood changed from one of frustration to excitement at the news. "Even though her family boosted her Stats with adventurers, she''s not too far ahead. And with my defense and your damage output, we can fight anything in that Spot!"


    "Calm down, we still have to finish today before we can go there. Also, we will need to get my father''s permission."


    Almer''s face fell a little at that, but he perked right up again as he thought about the possibilities. Elise sighed and as she went back to reading her book couldn''t help but smile. She was looking forward to getting one up on Selma after all these years.


    ~~~~~


    Lor snapped awake as he felt energy start to flow back into him in small bursts. Slowly climbing to his feet, his stomach protesting its lack of contents, he leaned against the wall. As his energy came back, he went over his plan to escape the pit. First, Blink up as high as he could and try to grab the wall. Second, use Time Stop to hopefully recharge Blink. Third, Blink again and grab the lip of the pit. Simple.


    Looped Energy has reached Tier 0 Rank 2


    Looped Energy has reached Tier 0 Rank 3


    With his energy fully recharged, Lor crouched down and leapt as high as he could. Activating Blink at the apex of his jump, he instantly appeared half way up the side of the pit. He activated Time Stop as his hands scrabbled at the wall.


    The energy drain from Time Stop surprised him. Fully 70% of his energy disappeared in that one instant, leaving him feeling slightly sick. He did however discover that in Time Stop he could decide if he wanted to move or not. Staying frozen in place, he waited the one second that Time Stop lasted, and instantly activated Blink again. Appearing at the edge, he scrabbled madly and managed to pull himself over the edge of the pit.


    Lying on the ground, gasping for air, Lor smiled at the ceiling as he thought "Blink? Cooldown? What cooldown?"


    ~~~~~


    Name: Almer Ytell


    Tier: 2


    Rank: 7


    Power: Iron (T2 R8)


    Body: Earth (T2 R8)


    Mind (T2 R5)


    Energy (T2 R3)


    Name: Elise Sorenta


    Tier: 3


    Rank: 1


    Power: Storm (T3 R3)


    Body (T2 R8)


    Mind (T3 R0)


    Energy: Fire (T3 R2)


    Name: Selma Fordin


    Tier: 3


    Rank: 4

 Chapter 3: Discharge!

    After lying on the rough stone floor for a few minutes, Lor slowly stood up. The cave, now that he could see, wasn¡¯t as terrifying. Dull grey rock, rough floor with some loose stones, with the ceiling being about ten feet from the ground. Looking around, he realized that he had no idea where he had started. The cave before him had no similarities to what he could remember of the dark he had stumbled through before. Driven by his hunger and even more prevalent thirst, he chose the path with a slight upward slope, and started walking.


    A few minutes into his walk, a sound other than his footsteps greeted Lor¡¯s ears. A sound so beautiful that he nearly cried. The sound of trickling water. Breaking into a run, he rounded a corner of the cave and came to a stop. About twenty feet before him, a pool sat against the base of the wall. The reason he had stopped, however, was between him and the pool. A snake was coiled up in the middle of the large room. The fact that it was a snake wasn¡¯t why Lor had stopped. The fact that coiled up it was over eight feet tall was.


    Slowly backpedaling, Lor retreated around the corner, only poking his head out to look at the snake. Concentrating, he tried to use his new eye to gain some information about the snake. After a couple of moments, information made its way into his mind.


    Stoneskin Serpent (Tier 3)


    ¡®What, no more info? I got so much more information on the rat.¡¯ Lor thought indignantly. Suddenly more information entered his mind.


    Eye of the Traveler: Identify: Can provide basic information on living creatures. Further information available after death or with creature permission.


    ¡®Oh. That explains it then. So, the snake is Tier 3, the same tier as my knife. I wonder if that means I can do more damage to it. I guess I¡¯ll find out if it notices me. First I should try to sneak around it. Maybe it is a sound sleeper.¡¯


    Slowly creeping back into the room, Lor started slowly working his way around the edge of the room. He was about halfway there when his foot brushed a pile of stones, causing them to clatter over the floor. Immediately he froze, looking at the snake. The noise had woken it up, and its head slowly lifted from the coil. Tongue flicking the air, it turned its head slowly before its eyes locked onto Lor. They stayed like that, staring at each other, for only a moment before both bolted into action.


    Lor immediately used Blink to move to the right, barely avoiding the snake as it bit where he was, moving so fast it only registered as a blur. The knife appeared in his hand and he slashed out at the side of the snake. The knife left a shallow cut in the stony skin of the snake, Lor¡¯s strength not sufficient to truly cut it. The time spent on his cutting attempt cost him though, as the tail whipped around and slammed into his chest, launching him across the room into the far wall. His knife was knocked from his hand, skidding to a stop a few feet from him.


    Stunned from the impact, Lor didn¡¯t see the snake lunge at him again, only sensing it when it was a scant few feet from his head. Lunging to the side, Lor managed to keep his head, but only barely. Instead, he felt the fangs sink into his shoulder with a searing pain. The snake whipped its head to the side and flung Lor into the wall once again, causing him to bounce off and land next to his knife.


    Grabbing the knife with his still functioning left hand, Lor sat up only to see the snake¡¯s open mouth rushing at him. Activating Blink, Lor dodged once again, only to be hit by the tail a split second later. The force of the blow flung him against the wall, where he slid to the ground. Barely able to move, propped up against the wall, he saw the snake''s open mouth rushing towards him.


    Absorb has reached Tier 0 Rank 3


    That alert reminded him that he had not used all of his Skills. As the snake rushed at him, he pushed the knife forward. When the snake entered his area of awareness and was about to collide with the knife he shouted at the top of his lungs and activated his Skill.


    "DISCHARGE!"


    All of the stored force in Absorb was released into the knife, causing it to shoot out of his hand and straight into the head of the snake. Unlike Lor''s earlier attempt to cut it, the knife now had enough strength behind it to penetrate not only the stony skin, but also the solid skull beneath. The snake, instead of biting Lor, thrashed around the room, breaking into the walls and splashing water when it collided with the pool. After nearly a minute, its death throws ended and the snake lay still. As Lor watched, the snake started to dissolve, transforming from stony flesh in a glowing grey mist that slowly dissipated. As the mist faded, Lor felt some form of energy, different from what he himself used, enter his body.


    Discharge has reached Tier 0 Rank 2


    Discharge has reached Tier 0 Rank 3


    As the adrenaline of the fight started to wear off, the extent of his injuries became noticeable. His ribs hurt every time he took a breath, his right shoulder burned yet he could also feel a numb cold beginning to radiate out from the wound.


    Dimensional Body has reached Tier 0 Rank 2


    ''Shit, poison? I need to clean this fast!''


    As quickly as he could, Lor dragged himself over to the pool and began splashing water on the wound. As the numbing cold continued to spread, Lor began to shiver uncontrollably. Lying down with his shoulder in the cold water, he tried to think of something that could help him.


    ''Do I have anything I can use? Do I have any Skills besides Dimensional Body that could help?''


    Dimensional Body has reached Tier 0 Rank 3


    ''What about that new energy, what can I use that for? Maybe I can use it to fuel my Skill''


    Still lying on the ground, Lor closed his eyes and began concentrating, focusing on the second blob of energy he could now sense inside him. Slowly he managed to pull some of it off and tried to think about shoving it into Dimensional Body. Nothing happened at first, but then the energy seemed to slip past his imagined location of Dimensional Body and sunk into his Body Stat.


    Body: Dimension has reached Tier 0 Rank 2


    ''I can''t use it for my Skills, but I can use it for my base Stats.'' Lor thought, already concentrating on moving all of the energy into Body. He could feel his breathing becoming more labored, his mind slowing down as the poison expanded. Focusing all his will on moving the energy, he lost all sense of how long he lay there, partially in the pool, before his senses came back in a rush, no trace of the cold poison remaining. Concentrating, he checked what alerts he had gotten in his stupor.


    Dimensional Body has reached Tier 0 Rank 3


    Dimensional Body has reached Tier 0 Rank 4


    Dimensional Body has reached Tier 0 Rank 5


    Body: Dimension has reached Tier 0 Rank 3


    Body: Dimension has reached Tier 0 Rank 4


    Body: Dimension has reached Tier 0 Rank 5


    Body: Dimension has reached Tier 0 Rank 6


    Body: Dimension has reached Tier 0 Rank 7


    Spacial Awareness has reached Tier 0 Rank 2You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    Sitting up out of the water slowly, Lor realized how much better he felt. Even though he had not eaten anything, his hunger felt lessened slightly. Looking down at himself, he saw that not only had all the wounds from the rat completely healed leaving only small scars, but the bite wound from the snake had also closed. He also noticed that his broken ribs had healed as well, with only some bruising remaining. Standing up he realized that while he felt healthier, he did not feel stronger at all.


    ''So Body is only physical health, not strength. Power must be related to strength then. I wonder what the other Stats are connected to. I know Energy has something to do with the stuff I use for my Skills, but does Mind make me smarter? Better defense against mental attacks? Think faster? All of the above? I need to put some energy into the others to see what happens next time I get the chance.''


    While thinking about his options Lor crouched down and began greedily gulping down handfuls of water. After drinking his fill and spilling all over himself, he turned and walked over to where the snake had died to collect his dagger. When he got there he noticed that there was something else on the floor as well. Bending down, he stored his dagger and picked up the other items. Due to where he had found them, it took him a couple seconds to work out what they were.


    "Why the fuck did a snake drop pants? The steak I can slightly understand, but pants?"


    ~~~~~


    ¡°Are we able to go the the Place today?¡± Almer asked impatiently, staring up at the ceiling from his position on the couch. ¡°Summer started a week ago and we still have¡¯s been able to go.¡±


    ¡°Actually, yes we can. Father finally got the Place evaluated and decided that any Tier 4s that it does spawn would be of a type we can run from if needed.¡± Elise answered with a smile. ¡°So go grab your bag and lets raise our Ranks.¡±


    ¡°Finally!¡± Almer exclaimed as he raced out of the room, coming back a minute later with a small pouch hanging from his belt. ¡°When do we leave?¡±


    Laughing at his enthusiasm Elise gestured towards the door. ¡°After you my enthusiastic friend. Time to surprise everyone.¡±


    Exiting the manor, they acquired horses from the stable and set off riding towards the nearby mountains. The horses, being Tier 3 focused in speed, made the journey quite short, the miles eaten up at an astounding pace. As they came up to the base of the mountains, they slowed down, eventually coming to a stop at a small lodge. A young servant came to collect the horses, leaving them to travel on foot the rest of the way to the Place.


    The journey took them the rest of the day, as they arrived with the sun just beginning to set, at the start of the Place of Power, a cave mouth in the side of the mountain.


    ¡°Let¡¯s set up a camp here, we can truly begin tomorrow.¡± Elise said as she removed a camping set from her bag. The tent looked simple from the outside, appearing to be a piece of cloth stretched over two poles, but when entered contained a small house complete with running water.


    Entering the tent, they both found a place to sleep as quickly as they could, exited for the opportunities of tomorrow.


    ~~~~~


    After getting over his initial confusion, Lor wasted no time in identifying the strange pants he had found, learning that they were Tier 3 Stoneskin slacks and worked as light leg armor, providing the same defense as the snake had boasted. Slipping them on, he discovered that not only were they soft on the inside despite the rough exterior, they were comfortable and easy to move in, the tough snakeskin feeling closer to cloth than leather.


    Satisfied with the pants, Lor dug in to what he viewed as the true reward, Stoneskin Serpent jerky. He quickly devoured all eight pieces he had obtained washed them down with some water from the pool, his hunger and thirst finally lessened. Standing up, he decided to continue to look for an exit from the cave. Preparing to leave, he tried to store some water from the pool in his Inventory. To his surprise, the water filled in the gaps between the items inside without coming in contact. With this discovery, he quickly filled the remainder of the space with water and started towards the other entrance to the room, the ground sloping slightly up under foot.


    Inventory has reached Tier 0 Rank 3


    Sensing that he had gained another cubic foot of space, Lor contemplated going back to the pool but ultimately decided against it. If he couldn''t find the way out before he got low on water, he could find his way back to restock. While traveling through the cave, he experimented with Absorb and Discharge. He discovered that he could charge up Absorb by punching his palm or clapping, really anything that caused some form of impact with him. He also discovered that, at least for now, the impact was not reduced in any way, some of the energy simply duplicated and stored. As for Discharge, he found that at most he could choose the general direction of the force, but not the exact vector. He tested launching rocks with it and found that at a distance of around ten feet he could hit within a three foot circle. Any further away and he could only choose what wall he hit.


    Discharge has reached Tier 0 Rank 4


    Absorb has reached Tier 0 Rank 4


    Spacial Awareness has reached Tier 0 Rank 3


    He stopped practicing when his energy hit about 75%, leaving enough for a Time Stop and a few Blinks or Discharges. Coming around a corner, Lor came to a stop, noticing an unnatural smoothness to the open section of the cave ahead. Slowly sneaking forward, he peered into the room. At first nothing seemed to be there, but then he noticed movement off to one side. A large shape was pressed up against the wall, only a small portion near the middle moving. Taking it in, he realized that it was a giant crab, fully 8 feet across, chewing on something that looked an awful lot like the torso of a human. Concentrating, Lor waited for the identification to happen before ducking back around the corner.


    Furnace Crab (Tier 2)


    ''Well, at least its not another Tier 3. I should be able to take it. Since it is a crab, slashing it should be pretty ineffective and I don''t have enough strength to pierce it by myself. I should charge up Absorb to the max and attempt to surprise it with Blink. I''ll try aiming for above the mouth I saw, that should be a decent target.''


    His plan made, Lor retreated back down the tunnel a ways before he started punching his palm repeatedly. It took him a few minutes, but once he sensed that Absorb was full, he snuck back into the chamber until he was six feet from the crab. Activating Blink, he teleported across the intervening space, quickly placing the knife against the shell of the crab before activating Discharge. With the sound of shattering stone, the knife broke through the shell, sending pieces flying from the force.


    Before Blink had recharged, Lor sensed something huge coming at him from both sides at high speeds. Activating Time Stop he once again felt the enormous drain of energy as time froze around him. This time however, he chose to move, ducking out of the way and retreating from the crab. As time resumed, the crab''s claws snapped shut on the place where Lor had been with enough force to create a breeze that could be felt from where Lor stood. That desperate attack of the crab, however, was the last thing it did, for Lor had gotten lucky with his attack. The knife had broken the casing of the organ the crab used to melt its food, coating the insides of the creature in molten metal, cooking it from the inside out.


    After a couple of minutes, the crab dissipated into glowing mist, some of which flowed into Lor. Concentrating, he realized that it was significantly less than what he had gotten from the snake, which made some sense based on the Tier of each creature. Walking over to where the crab had been, Lor bent down and picked up the items the crab had dropped, identifying each. He discovered that he had gained six perfectly cooked crab legs, a Furnace Crab cooking pot, and something called a heat elemental crystal. Focusing on the crystal, additional information appeared.


    Elemental Crystal: Heat (Minor): This crystal contains some Energy with the Affinity of Heat. It can be used to replace an Affinity with a minor Heat one before the age of 10, as an ingredient in creating items, or as a source of Heat until the Energy runs out.


    Holding it in his hand, Lor concentrated on heat. Suddenly he dropped the crystal, as it had quickly become too hot to hold. Concentrating again, this time on the crystal not outputting heat, he bent down and picked it up. The crystal had become cool again, no trace of the blistering heat from before. Lor stored the items, thinking he would come up with a use for them at a later date.


    With the items taken care of, he concentrated and reviewed the alerts from his most recent conquest.


    Discharge has reached Tier 0 Rank 5


    Absorb has reached Tier 0 Rank 5


    Blink has reached Tier 0 Rank 4


    Time Stop has reached Tier 0 Rank 2


    Spacial Awareness has reached Tier 0 Rank 4


    To Lor''s surprise, Time Stop had increased in rank, only taking two uses to go up. ''Maybe it has something to do with how much energy it uses, or what situation I am in when I use it.'' he thought, looking around the chamber. The entire room was strangely smooth, possibly due to the Furnace Crab. Four different openings in the walls lead out of it. One Lor had come in from, one leading upwards, and two more leading to unexplored depths. Leaning back against the smooth wall, Lor concentrated on moving the energy he had just received into Body, thinking that the more durable he was, the better chance he had of surviving this place. He was also curious to see what would happen if he managed to go up a Tier.


    Body: Dimension has reached Tier 0 Rank 8


    Body: Dimension has reached Tier 0 Rank 9


    Lor smiled as he fell asleep, vaguely comfortable for the first time since his arrival in this world, and exhausted from expending so much energy.


    Looped Energy has reached Tier 0 Rank 4


    Looped Energy has reached Tier 0 Rank 5


    ~~~~~


    Name: Lor Telmrin


    Tier: 0


    Rank: 3


    Stats:


    Power: Kinetic (T0 R1)


    Body: Dimension (T0 R9)


    Mind: Space (T0 R1)


    Energy: Time (T0 R1)


    Skills:


    Active


    Discharge (P) (T0 R5)


    Inventory (B) (T0 R3)


    Blink (M) (T0 R4)


    Time Stop (E) (T0 R2)


    Passive


    Absorb (P) (T0 R5)


    Dimensional Body (B) (T0 R5)


    Spacial Awareness (M) (T0 R4)


    Looped Energy (E) (T0 R3)


    Artifacts:


    Eye of the Traveler (Bound)


    Stoneskin Serpent (Tier 3): Known for its durable skin and quick movements, the Stoneskin Serpent also possesses a mid Tier 0 venom capable of paralyzing anyone without the Skill to resist it.


    Furnace Crab (Tier 2): Known for their smooth shell and molten spit, Furnace Crabs will eat any solid matter they can melt in their mouth. Their large claws are capable of cutting even Tier 4 materials with strength alone.

 Chapter 4: Reasonable Fear

    Coming awake from what had been his most restful sleep since coming to this cave, Lor slowly stood up and stretched. Looking around the chamber, he pulled the crab legs from his Inventory and went to work eating them. He was pleasantly surprised to find that they were still perfectly warm, even after sitting all night. At least he decided to call it night.


    ¡®Maybe Inventory has some sort of stasis function. That would be useful.¡¯


    After his breakfast of crab legs with a side of water, Lor examined the passages out of the chamber. Just as he had originally observed, there were three passages in addition to the one he had come in through. Two led deeper underground while one led upwards. Making the obvious decision, Lor began making his way up the sloping passage towards what he hoped was the surface.


    By his best guess it was around ten minutes of walking before he encountered the next chamber. Carefully poking his head into the chamber, at first he didn¡¯t quite realize what he was looking at. The chamber appeared to be a large room with an enormous pile of something in the middle. When Identify triggered he immediately backed away from the room as fast as he could while still being quiet.


    Iron Bear (Tier 4)


    ¡®Tier 4!? How can I fight a Tier 4? I know it is stronger than the snake, but how much? What kind of spawn point is this shit. Maybe Discharge and the knife will work but what if it doesn¡¯t? Is there another way out? Will I be stuck here until I can kill it? Should I try to sneak past? I¡¯ll try Discharge first, I can Blink away if I need to.¡¯


    His mind made up, Lor retreated down the passage a ways and began filling Absorb.


    Absorb has reached Tier 0 Rank 6


    With Absorb fully charged, he snuck back into the room, creeping around the edge until he could see the head of the bear. Creeping closer, he positioned the knife before thrusting downward and activating Discharge. Even with being at full power, the knife barely pierced the thick hide and the bear awoke with a roar. Lor turned and ran as fast as he could, Blinking when he sensed something swinging at him with immense force. Stumbling in the entrance, another blow caught him in the back, sending him sprawling into the passage, luckily just out of reach of the angry bear.


    Discharge has reached Tier 0 Rank 6


    Spacial Awareness has reached Tier 0 Rank 5


    Dimensional Body has reached Tier 0 Rank 6


    ¡°Fuck that hits hard.¡± Lor swore, feeling blood begin to leak from his back. Climbing slowly to his feet, he began to limp back down the passage towards the crab room.


    ¡®It must be that my Tier 3 weapon can damage it, but not very much. I should be able to beat it if I raise my Skills and Stats, but to raise my Stats I need monsters I can beat. I can just practice to raise my Skills. I need to find a reliable source of food though. I have water but the only things I have found to eat have been what dropped from the crab and snake. Right now though, I need to find a place to recover.¡¯


    Upon reaching the crab room, Lor froze. The crab was back. It appeared to be the exact same crab in the exact same position as before, almost hidden against the wall. Backing into the tunnel, Lor charged Absorb until it was full again. He knew the spot to hit the crab, and how to get out. Time Stop for the win.


    Absorb has reached Tier 0 Rank 7


    Discharge has reached Tier 0 Rank 7


    Time Stop has reached Tier 0 Rank 3


    Blink has reached Tier 0 Rank 5


    Sorting his spoils, Lor found that this time he had gained a Tier 2 chest plate made of the crab¡¯s armor, as well as a half dozen crab legs. Sitting down, Lor ate the legs and focused on increasing his Body Rank one more time.


    Body: Dimension has reached Tier 1 Rank 0


    Body: Dimension has increased in Tier. New Skill gained


    Dimensional Shield (Active) (Tier 0 Rank 1): You conjure a shield of dimensional fabric. Capable of blocking most attacks. Area and durability increase with Rank. Cost: Minor energy


    As the energy poured into the stat, Lor felt the wound on his back close, in addition to a sudden surge of vitality, much greater than when it had increased previously.


    ¡®So I gain a new Skill at an increase in Tier. And they start at Tier 0 Rank 1. I wonder what stat I should focus on next. Probably Power since I have been using Discharge and Absorb a lot. That should be good.¡¯


    Power: Kinetic has reached Tier 0 Rank 2


    Flexing his arm, Lor felt stronger than before and he could swear his muscles were more defined. The rush was different than Body, a more addictive feeling of being unstoppable that quickly passed.


    ¡®I need to restock on water next, but if the crab is anything to go by, the snake will be back.¡¯


    Returning back through the tunnels, Lor cautiously approached the chamber with the water. Poking his head around the corner, he looked on with dismay as a swirl of dark mist floated in the middle of the room. As he watched, it slowly began to take on a snake shape, forming long twisting coils of vapor that grew more defined every second.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Wasting no time, Lor sprinted across the room, shoved as much water as he could into his Inventory, then ran back out of the room towards the crab chamber. With water take care of and with no interest in facing the snake again any time soon, he decided that the best course of action would be to check one of the other passages from the crab chamber.


    ~~~~~


    After exiting and packing up the tent, Almer and Elise checked their equipment and entered the cave. Conjuring a bright flame above her staff, Elise lit up the interior of the cave as they journeyed inside, Almer leading the way. The cave stayed as a singular path, winding through the rock before opening up into a large chamber. With a gesture of her staff, Elise sent the flame to float near the ceiling, where it expanded into a roaring blaze, lighting up the entire chamber.


    The center of the chamber contained a large circular pool of thick dark liquid. As Almer entered the room, a tendril coated in the substance whipped out of the pool and lashed towards him. Reacting quickly, he raised his shield and braced for impact.


    As the tendril slammed into his shield, pushing him back slightly, Almer adjusted and lashed out with his sword, the high Tier 3 blade biting into the coated tendril, splattering the substance all over and revealing a dark purple flesh beneath. Reacting quickly, Elise sent a bolt of lighting from her staff into the pool, the resulting explosion coating everything in thick, black goop. Gesturing again, she threw a ball of fire this time, causing the pool to catch fire. The blaze spread rapidly, the gunk apparently highly flammable.


    Noticing that everything was catching on fire, and that they would catch on fire as well if they stayed put, both Elise and Almer turned and ran. Stumbling out of the chamber, both quickly retrieved thin crystalline bottles from their bags, upending the contents over their heads. A wave of light washed over them from head to toe, leaving them perfectly clean and slightly sparkling.


    ¡°Maybe I should try to remember what kind of monster I am attacking before I throw a fireball at it.¡± Elise quipped, smiling ruefully at Almer.


    ¡°You don¡¯t say.¡± Almer replied, a wide grin on his face. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure you killed it though, we should go check what it dropped. That should also tell us what Tier it was. I don¡¯t need too much more to raise my Power and Body to three.¡±


    Elise walked over to the burnt pit, finding it completely clear of the sludge it previously held. Activating Wind Walk, she stepped lightly to the bottom on the pit, finding a small pile of items. Carefully picking them up, she walked back through the air to where Almer leaned against the wall and flopped down next to him.


    ¡°We didn¡¯t get too lucky. Only Tier 2. Something called an Oily Assassin Vine. Dropped some vials of the oil and permanently oily short sword. Might be worth something to someone. Want to spend the energy now or wait until we stop for the day?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s keep going. I need to find something I can hit properly before I stop.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good to me.¡± Elise replied, standing up and stretching. Almer stood up as well and soon they both walked deeper into the cave.


    ~~~~~


    Lor was decently pleased with the side tunnels. The first one contained a string of five chambers, each containing between one to three Tier 1 monsters. They were like the Blade Rat, in fact some of them were, none of them getting bigger than the average dog. With his new abilities, they didn¡¯t stand a chance. They only dropped dried meat and tanned hide the first time he fought them, but the second time, one of them dropped a small glass vial containing a thick red liquid. Identification told him it was a Tier 1 Vial of Recovery, but other than that he had no idea how to use it. He assumed it was by drinking it, but it could just as easily be topical.


    At the back of the last chamber, he found a large crack in the wall, that when he squeezed through it, opened up into a small room. Water flowed from the back of the chamber down a miniature waterfall and disappeared into a hole in the floor. The room also had the first light he had seen since he came down here, in the form of glowing moss around the waterfall.


    Using the light of the moss and the reflection of his knife, Lor finally got to look at himself. His short brown hair was full of dirt and small rocks, forming a nest on top of his head. His right eye was almost normal, but looking closer he realized that the normal dark brown appeared to be slowly becoming purple, around half of the iris having changed. His left eye, however, was completely different. Gone was his normal eye and in its place was an eye that appeared to be made of incredibly intricate clockwork. The white of the eye was a silvery metal while the iris appeared to be pure gold.


    ¡®So that is the Eye of the Traveler. At least it looks neat.¡¯ Lor also noticed that the iris seemed slightly luminous.


    After quickly deciding to make this chamber his new sleeping area, Lor returned to the crab''s chamber to examine the other exit. The crab had not returned yet, so he guessed that the monsters would take longer to return based on their Tier. Wasting no time, he entered the far passage.


    The first chamber contained a Quicksilver Slider (Tier 2), a dog sized lizard with scales that looked like liquid metal. Its fighting tactic revolved around incredibly fast attacks in rapid succession, followed by a short period of resting and more attacks. At the start of the fight Lor was forced to use Time Stop to avoid being hit, after which he was able to use Blink and Spacial Awareness to avoid the fast dashes. When it stopped its blitz, a single strike with the dagger was enough to kill it. Lucky for Lor, it dropped boxers made of a strange liquid silver cloth, fitting well and apparently increasing his speed slightly.


    After catching his breath, Lor decided to at least take a look at the next chamber before returning to his new bedroom. Peaking into the chamber, at first he could see nothing aside from the stone room. Just as he was about to enter the room, he Identified the contents; Phase Spider (Tier 3). Quickly backing away, he decided to return to his room and rest until his energy had returned. He did not want to try and fight whatever a Phase Spider was without the energy for Time Stop and being unable to see it.


    Quickly returning to his room, fighting the Tier 1 creatures that had returned, Lor practiced activating his skills until he was almost out of energy, saving just enough for a Blink and Discharge. Sitting down on the moss next to the river, he cupped his hands and scooped some up, drinking it greedily. It felt cold and crisp as it slid down his throat, but when it hit his stomach, he doubled over in pain. He could feel the wounds he had experienced fighting the slider and the small creatures heal, while at the same time he felt like his stomach was being melted by acid.


    Collapsing on the ground, Lor writhed in pain as Dimensional Body began increasing in Rank at a rapid pace. Finally, the burning, melting feeling died down and Lor returned to a sitting up position. After checking himself as best he could, he began concentrating on spending the energy he had earned that day.


    Power: Kinetic has reached Tier 1 Rank 0


    Power: Kinetic has increased in Tier. New Skill gained


    Telekinesis (Active) (Tier 0 Rank 1): Using your stored kinetic energy, you can move objects with your mind. Efficiency and range increase with Rank. Cost: Minor energy


    After receiving the alert, Lor thought for a minute before deciding to start increasing his Mind next. The Skill it had granted, Blink, had been one of his most used so far and he was looking forward to what else he may acquire.


    Relaxing after, Lor grinned as he examined his status. If he couldn''t beat the bear as he was, he would farm the monsters he could until he was strong enough.


    "Your days are numbered, you fat bastard" he called to the empty chamber before drifting off to sleep on his new bed of soft moss.


    ~~~~~


    Name: Lor Telmrin


    Tier: 0


    Rank: 7


    Stats:


    Power: Kinetic (T1 R0)


    Body: Dimension (T1 R0)


    Mind: Space (T0 R2)


    Energy: Time (T0 R1)


    Skills:


    Active


    Discharge (P) (T0 R9)


    Telekinesis(P) (T0 R1)


    Inventory (B) (T0 R5)


    Dimensional Shield (B) (T0 R3)


    Blink (M) (T0 R8)


    Time Stop (E) (T0 R4)


    Passive


    Absorb (P) (T0 R9)


    Dimensional Body (B) (T0 R9)


    Spacial Awareness (M) (T0 R7)


    Looped Energy (E) (T0 R7)


    Artifacts:


    Eye of the Traveler (Bound)

 Chapter 5: The Acid of Life

    After a breakfast of jerky and water from his Inventory, Lor made his way back through the chambers to the room the spider was apparently in. On the way, all of the Tier 1 monsters had reformed, along with the crab. Acquiring a snack of crab legs, he moved on through the slider¡¯s cavern and approached the spider¡¯s chamber.


    Carefully peaking inside, he still could not see the spider, so he carefully entered the room. Suddenly he sensed something thin and sharp rapidly approaching the back of his neck. Activating Blink, he instantly moved into the center of the chamber. Looking back, he still couldn¡¯t see the spider, even though he knew where it was. Deciding the rely on his skills, he closed his eyes and focused on Spacial Awareness. Even with his eyes closed he knew the exact location and shape of everything within seven feet of himself. Crouching slightly, he readied himself for the next attack.


    The moment it came, he sensed a long thin object enter his field of perception from behind, moving incredibly fast. Activating Blink, he teleported in the direction the attack came from, instantly arriving at the origin. Suddenly within his view he found a large spider. The body itself wasn¡¯t too big, only the size of a large cat or small dog, but the legs were easily eight feet long and ended in sharp points that it had been using to attack him.


    As soon as he found the spider, he lashed out with the knife, only to have it struck from his hand. In a panic, he lashed out with his foot, activating Discharge as it collided. The kick caused the spider to appear to explode, while at the same time, one of the legs pierced through his chest, just above his heart.


    At first, he didn¡¯t register the pain of the injury. Vaguely, he realized that he was in shock, and started moving as fast as he could back to his room. Staggering into the next chamber, his vision beginning to fade, he remembered the Vial of Recovery he had sitting in his Inventory. As he summoned it into his hand, his fingers felt stiff and the vial slipped from them, dropping towards the floor. In a panic, he made a feeble grasp in the air and felt a sudden drain on his stored kinetic energy. The vial stopped falling, and instead began floating back towards him. In his mentally foggy state, Lor didn¡¯t really think of how this was happening, instead he opened his mouth and willed the vial to open and pour. The thick liquid slurped out of the vial into his mouth and he swallowed.


    Suddenly his mind was clear. Dropping the vial, which he realized he had grabbed with Telekinesis, Lor began moving towards his home as fast as he could, Blinking to simply bypass all of the low Tier creatures. Something he did not notice in the moment, but would realize later, was the creatures did not leave their rooms, even though they could. The vial, Lor quickly realized, did not heal him at all, but functioned more like adrenaline allowing him to function through blood loss and what should be debilitating pain.


    Entering his home, Lor dropped to his knees at the edge of the water and began drinking as fast as he could. He managed to get only a half dozen gulps before the melting sensation in his stomach began, causing him to begin rolling on the ground, the pain overwhelming the effects of the vial. Through the pain he did feel some relief, as he noticed that his wound seemed to be closing, albeit slowly. As the burning started to die down, he gulped down some more water, summarily passing out from the pain.


    Awakening to pain, Lor repeated the process of drinking the water then passing out. He repeated this an unknown amount of times, the repetitions blending together in a haze of pain. Eventually he awoke without the feeling of missing a piece of his chest, and slowly sat up.


    He carefully patted himself down, finding no problems with his body anywhere. Closing his eyes, he focused inward, using the energy from the creatures he had defeated to increase his Mind stat, hoping that gaining a new skill in it would help him at least make progress towards leaving. It wasn''t long before an intoxicating feeling of knowing he was smarter than anything else flooded over him before quickly fading.


    Mind: Space has reached Tier 1 Rank 0


    Mind: Space has increased in Tier. New Skill gained


    Scry (Active) (Tier 0 Rank 1): You are able to view a location remotely. You must have at least some knowledge of the target beforehand, or have something from the target. Range and accuracy increase with Rank. Cost: Low energy.


    "Maybe I can use this to get a better look at that bear? I wonder what the range is at least." Lor muttered to himself before looking back over the messages he had gotten in the fight and healing delirium shortly after.


    Spacial Awareness has reached Tier 0 Rank 8


    Spacial Awareness has reached Tier 0 Rank 9This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Time Stop has reached  Tier 0 Rank 5


    Blink has reached Tier 0 Rank 9


    Telekinesis has reached Tier 0 Rank 2


    Dimensional Body has reached Tier 1 Rank 0


    ¡­


    Dimensional Body has reached Tier 2 Rank 1


    Discharge has reached Tier 1 Rank 0


    Absorb has reached Tier 1 Rank 0


    Looped Energy has reached Tier 0 Rank 8


    Looped Energy has reached Tier 0 Rank 9


    Looped Energy has reached Tier 1 Rank 0


    "Holy shit Dimensional Body ranked up. Just how high tier is that water?" Lor exclaimed, slowly standing up and stretching. "That spider was way more difficult than that snake. Also, I now have an answer for the question of can Skills be raised higher than their stats. This means that I can practice and raise my skills until I can take on that bear. I wonder if there is diminishing returns for fighting something weaker than yourself or can I farm the weaker creatures for energy. Something else to look into."


    Finished with his musings and feeling well rested, Lor decided to practice his skills as much as he could. He also decided to store some of the strange water in his Inventory for emergencies. He was pleased to see that it remained separate from the regular water he still had.


    Before beginning his training marathon, Lor decided to try and make a cooked meal with the pot, crystal, and jerky he had. Taking out the pot, he carefully placed it on top of the crystal, and proceeded to fill it with water and jerky pieces. Concentrating, he willed the crystal to heat up and soon the water was bubbling. It was only at this point that he realized he had nothing to eat it with. After waiting for it to cool down to edible temperatures, he formed a Dimensional Shield in the form of a bowl, and carefully poured some of the weak soup into it. Concentrating, he maneuvered the makeshift bowl to his mouth and drank. It tasted awful but he still made sure to consume it all before packing up his pot and crystal.


    Something he had realized while he was eating, was that he had left his knife in the spider''s room. Steeling himself, he made his way back there. Without his knife, he opted to simply dodge and avoid the Tier 1 creatures and sneak around the reformed slider. Arriving at the entrance, he quickly spotted his knife lying on the ground where it had been knocked by the spider. Examining the room carefully, he crept forward, Spacial Awareness stretching over as much of the room as he could manage. As soon as the knife was in range of Telekinesis, he pulled it to his hand and Blinked out of the room.


    Returning to his room, dispatching all of the monsters on the way, Lor contemplated his future course of action. Without a doubt he needed to get stronger, and the best way he could see to do that would be to practice his Skills as much as possible before attempting to make it past the bear. Satisfied with his decision, he began practicing.


    ~~~~~


    After finishing their training for the day, Elise and Almer retired to their tent to concentrate the energy they had gained that day. Sitting cross-legged on her bed, Elise focused inward, pushing the energy she had gained towards her Mind stat. After a few minutes, the amount of energy she had collected ran dry and she stretched before climbing off the bed. Walking over to her dresser, she reached out her hand towards the blue crystal in an ornate golden stand and concentrated, closing her eyes.


    As she focused on the crystal, she could suddenly feel some information in her mind, allowing her to know how much she had progressed in the week they had been there.


    Name: Elise Sorenta


    Tier: 3


    Rank: 4


    Power: Storm (T3 R5)


    Body: Wind (T3 R0)


    Mind: Stone (T3 R1)


    Energy: Fire (T3 R5)


    Elise was quite pleased to see where she was at. She had managed to get all of her stats into Tier 3, making her a true Tier 3 in the eyes of her father, unlike some people who only focused on three of their stats to rapidly increase their overall Tier and Rank. Something people had discovered very quickly was that all identification devices only counted the average of your three highest Stats when determining your Tier and Rank. This meant that unless you had some Skill for identifying weaknesses, you had no way to know if the person you were examining had a lagging stat or not.


    She was also quite happy to see that her overall Tier and Rank was 3 and 4, almost guaranteeing her a place in the Arcanin Magesterium should she not terribly fail any of the starting exams. Satisfied with her results, Elise left her room and went to check on Almer.


    She found him sitting on the couch, concentrating on a smaller identification crystal. As soon as he saw her, His face split into a wide grin. "So, how are you looking? Did you get to Tier 3?" She asked, already guessing the answer.


    "You bet I did!" Almer exclaimed, "True Tier 3, actually. All of my Stats are Tier 3 Rank 0. Last one was Mind. I didn''t have enough energy by a small margin, but I just gathered for a few minutes and managed to get enough. The energy in this area is pretty dense."


    "That¡¯s good to hear. Now we just need you to reach Rank 4 in your primaries and we''ll be set for the exam." Elise replied with a smile. "I did receive a letter from my father today. It contained the usual ''hope you are well'' stuff as well as some good and bad news about the exams."


    "Lets hear the good news first. I''m still hoping for no spiders."


    "Well, in that case you are in luck. No spider extermination is scheduled at this point. A high Tier went through the forest on a drunken walk and eliminated almost all of them."


    "Yes!" Almer exclaimed pumping his fist. "Fuck you spiders!"


    "The bad news is instead of spider extermination they are having a team Dungeon dive. Teams need three people at a minimum. Coupled with that, apparently Selma has gone out of her way to paint us as incompetent, meaning no one else will want to team with us."


    At this news Almer''s face fell and he slumped back onto the couch. "We need to find someone as soon as we are done here then. Preferably a rogue or a healer. We will most likely end up with a rogue and will need to pay them a large sum to join. Fucking hell this isn''t looking good."


    Flopping into the chair across from him, Elise sighed, "Let''s forget about that for now. Just focus on getting to the right Rank, we can worry about our team member later. Let''s get some sleep, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Make sure to show me your new ability at some point."


    After locking the front of the tent and saying goodnight, Almer and Elise drifted into an exhausted sleep.


    ~~~~~


    Name: Lor Telmrin


    Tier: 1


    Rank: 0


    Stats:


    Power: Kinetic (T1 R0)


    Body: Dimension (T1 R0)


    Mind: Space (T1 R0)


    Energy: Time (T0 R1)


    Skills:


    Active


    Discharge (P) (T1 R0)


    Telekinesis(P) (T0 R2)


    Inventory (B) (T0 R5)


    Dimensional Shield (B) (T0 R3)


    Blink (M) (T0 R9)


    Scry (M) (T0 R1)


    Time Stop (E) (T0 R5)


    Passive


    Absorb (P) (T1 R0)


    Dimensional Body (B) (T2 R1)


    Spacial Awareness (M) (T0 R9)


    Looped Energy (E) (T0 R8)


    Artifacts:


    Eye of the Traveler (Bound)

 Chapter 6: Bearable Company

    Putting his knife away as the body of the snake dissipated, Lor looked around the cave he had just cleared. Over the past week of practice, the snake had become trivial to defeat. Gathering some water with a small use of Telekinesis coupled with a cup made of Dimensional Shield, he sat down and focused on using the energy from the snake.


    Name: Lor Telmrin


    Tier: 2


    Rank: 5


    Stats:


    Power: Kinetic (T2 R0)


    Body: Dimension (T2 R5)


    Mind: Space (T2 R0)


    Energy: Time (T3 R0)


    Skills:


    Active


    Discharge (P) (T3 R2)


    Telekinesis(P) (T1 R8)


    Inventory (B) (T2 R5)


    Dimensional Shield (B) (T1 R4)


    Blink (M) (T3 R5)


    Scry (M) (T1 R2)


    Time Stop (E) (T2 R1)


    Time Dilation (E) (T1 R4)


    Revision (E) (T0 R7)


    Passive


    Absorb (P) (T3 R6)


    Redirection (P) (T0 R8)


    Dimensional Body (B) (T5 R2)


    Out of Phase (B) (T0 R1)


    Spacial Awareness (M) (T3 R2)


    Disjointed (M) (T0 R4)


    Looped Energy (E) (T3 R8)


    Thought Acceleration (E) (T1 R0)


    Artifacts:


    Eye of the Traveler (Bound)


    Over the last week, Lor had been fighting as often as he could. When he ran out of monsters to practice on, he trained his Skills in his small room. Something he had worked out, was what each of his Stats corresponded to in the real world. Power was tied to physical strength and ability damage. Through some testing he worked out that the same amount of energy from Discharge did more damage after he increased his Power than before. Body was tied to the physical state of his body, including its ability to withstand the force of his own abilities. Lor had a feeling that if he greatly increased his Power without increasing Body, the next time he swung his knife he would break his arm. Mind was tied to how he processed information. Even without his skill of Thought Acceleration, he could react far faster than before. He was fairly confident that increasing Power without Mind would make him unable to properly move, his capabilities exceeding his ability to process. Energy was tied to how much energy he had to use, and that was all as far as he could tell.


    Every day, Lor had spent some time drinking the water in his room, followed by writhing on the floor in pain as he healed and Dimensional Body increased in Rank. Eventually Dimensional Body stopped increasing and he no longer experienced pain from the water. Sadly, he no longer healed anywhere near as fast from the water as well.


    This increase in the Rank of Dimensional Body saved him the next time he attempted to fight the spider. He had already cleared out every other monster in the caves, and felt confident enough in his new strength to brave the spider again. The fight had been quick, and without having raised Dimensional Body above the Tier of the spider, he would have died. Coming out of Time Stop, the spider reacted faster than he thought possible, managing to spear him through the center of his forehead before being destroyed by Discharge. Lor staggered away from the monster before bringing his hands to his head. What he found was a hole going straight through, but not bleeding in the slightest. Carefully poking it, he found that the inside felt like smooth glass to the touch, and conveyed no sensation.


    Immediately after inserting his finger into a hole in his head, Lor proceeded to vomit up his lunch of crab legs in followed by his breakfast of jerky. After that experience, he decided that he was very glad the healing water counted as a poison, for without Dimensional Body''s ability to ignore lower Ranked critical hits, he would have died in that instant.


    One of his new Skills also happened to compensate well for the reduced healing of the water. Revision allowed him, for a considerable amount of energy, to undo wounds he had received, as long as they had happened within the last few seconds. Something else he had discovered during his training, was that the type of Skill received was determined by what Tier you were receiving it for. Tiers 1 and 3 had given him a new active skill while Tier 2 had given him a new passive. He had also learned that what Stat the Skill came from only determined what type of effect it had, not what aspect it affected. For instance, his new Energy passive, Thought Acceleration, affected his mind not his energy but was in the type of time.


    Finished with the snakes energy, Lor bent over the pool and spent some time attempting to clean up. He hoped that after defeating the bear he would be able to leave the cave and he didn''t want to seem like someone uncivilized. After a decently successful bath, Lor redressed in his monster drop clothes and began making his way towards the chamber containing the bear, charging Absorb as he went. He had gotten some new clothes during his week of slaughter, including another pair of stoneskin pants, two more pairs of boxers, and a phase silk shirt which made his upper half slightly hard to see.


    Arriving at the bear''s chamber, Lor closed his eyes and focused on Spacial Awareness, instantly gaining a perfect understanding of most of the bear''s room. The bear was facing away from him, and was large enough that he couldn''t see all of it. Switching his focus, Lor activated Scry and focused his view on the chamber ahead of him. Suddenly he was looking at the front of the bear. The surprise of seeing the bear seemingly staring back at him caused Lor to stop concentrating on Scry and take an involuntary step back.


    Steeling himself, Lor prepared to attack the bear with everything he had. Since the bear was awake and watching the exit, he couldn''t simply slip by it. Taking a deep breath, Lor activated Blink, appearing behind the head of the bear. Holding the knife forward, he activated Discharge, the blade springing from his hand to lodge itself in the thick neck of the bear. Landing on its neck, he leapt backwards to avoid the retaliatory claw swipe before Blinking to the side of the room.


    Whirling, the bear found him quickly and lashed out with a paw. Burning energy, time slowed down around Lor as he ducked under the swipe before time resumed its normal speed. Suddenly Lor twisted and raised his arms over his head as the left claw of a second set of legs collided with him. Without Spacial Awareness'' warning and Thought Acceleration''s processing, he would not have been able to react in time to turn, let alone block. Lor felt the force of the blow ripple over him, causing the ground below him to indent in a circle around him as his forearms shattered.


    Rolling to the side, Lor burned more of his energy, using Revision to repair his arms before creating a shield above himself just in time to block another overhead swipe. The shield shattered in one hit, but bought him enough time to teleport to the far side of the chamber. Upon arriving, Lor immediately had to slow time to allow himself to block the kick the bear unleashed. Once again he felt the attack ripple over him as the wall behind him crumpled in a circle and his arms shattered. Using Revision, Lor repaired his arms before teleporting near the top of the chamber. Forming a shield, he kicked off, activating Time Stop in a gamble as he saw one of the bear''s paws moving to intercept him. Flying past the paw, Time Stop expired just before he collided with the knife he had embedded in the neck of the bear and activated Discharge, expending the energy he had gathered from blocking the attacks of the bear into the handle.


    The knife disappeared and Lor felt a shudder pass through the bear before it began to dissolve. Lor collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily, as a rush of energy flowed into him. Concentrating immediately, he focused on his Body Stat, feeling gratified when it increased twice. He quickly looked over his notifications before rolling over.


    Body: Dimension has reached Tier 2 Rank 6


    Body: Dimension has reached Tier 2 Rank 7


    Blink has reached Tier 3 Rank 6


    Scry has reached Tier 1 Rank 3


    Time Stop has reached Tier 2 Rank 2


    Time Dilation has reached Tier 1 Rank 5


    Time Dilation has reached Tier 1 Rank 6


    Absorb has reached Tier 3 Rank 7


    Discharge has reached Tier 3 Rank 3


    Dimensional Shield has reached Tier 1 Rank 5


    Redirection has reached Tier 0 Rank 9


    Redirection has reached Tier 1 Rank 0


    Redirection has reached Tier 1 Rank 1


    Revision has reached Tier 0 Rank 8


    Revision has reached Tier 0 Rank 9Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    Looking around, he found that he was still lying on top of the bear¡¯s fur. Carefully standing up, he dusted himself off and picked up the fur, discovering that it was a soft leather cape, the dark grey fur giving it the appearance of hard metal. Swinging it around to his back, Lor fastened it around his neck with the clasps that seemed to be made of the bear¡¯s claws. Walking around the chamber, he found that the cape weighed him down noticeably and decided to store it in his Inventory for the moment.


    After his quick perusal of the chamber, Lor exited and carefully began making his way through the caverns beyond. Sneaking as quietly as he could, he made his way through empty chamber after strangely empty chamber. Just as he was starting to wonder where all the monsters were, he saw a light from around the corner ahead.


    Creeping forward carefully, Lor peered around the corner, his eyes widening in surprise. Ahead of him was a torch lit tunnel that was clearly cut from the stone, not formed naturally like the rest of the cave. He carefully crept down the tunnel, listening for the slightest sound. He picked up his pace, losing some stealth when he heard chanting from ahead. Turning a corner, the tunnel opened up into a large cavern lit by flickering torches and a strange red glow. That was all he managed to see before something collided with the back of his head, somehow bypassing his Spacial Awareness, and his vision went dark.


    ~~~~~


    Elise and Almer had not been having a good week. For some strange reason, the creatures in the cave were taking far longer than they should to reform, it was as if someone was constantly killing all of the creatures below the midway point. Due to this their progress slowed dramatically, only resulting in a small increase in Rank. Even with Tier 3 taking twice as much energy as Tier 2, it should not have been this slow.


    At the end of the week, after a day of boring battles and terrible progress, they began to make their way back to their tent. As soon as they exited the cave, Almer suddenly lunged forward in front of Elise, activating a skill that turned his skin to metal as a spear collided with him pushing him back ever so slightly.


    Elise tried to react by conjuring a wall of stone, but found that she was strangely low on energy. Looking past Almer, she saw several robed figures, one of which was holding an orb pulsing with a strange red light. Every time the orb pulsed, she felt a little more of her energy leave her.


    Suddenly one of the figures finished activating some form of skill, and the cave entrance became absolutely silent. In the silence, neither Elise nor Almer noticed someone sneaking up behind them until a rag was pushed in each of their faces. Inhaling the mid Tier poison caused them both to collapse immediately.


    Elise awoke in the dark with the feeling of cold metal against her back. Groggily, she attempted to conjure a light, only to find that she had no energy at all. Fumbling around in the dark, she quickly discovered that not only did she have no energy, but she was only wearing her undergarments and had a thick metal collar around her neck. Reaching up to touch it, the feeling the collar gave off almost made her throw up. Shivering with revulsion and fear, she backed up against what she now realized were the bars of a cage and sat down heavily.


    A groan came from under her and she quickly scooted to the side, no longer sitting on Almer. Almer slowly sat up and rubbed his head, groaning again. His hands found the collar and he doubled over retching before looking around. "What is this?" he asked, barely managing to make out Elise in the dark.


    "Suppression collar. Prevents energy recovery. If we still had energy we could use skills but we would not gain any back. Do you have any idea who those people were? I didn''t get a good look."


    "Not really, though the attack that hit me was around Tier 4, it managed to overwhelm my Skill. Not Tier 5 though, that would have outright killed me even with Iron Skin. Do you know how long we have been here?"


    "No idea, I woke up only a minute before you. What do you think they want us for? And how did they know about this area?"


    "I''m guessing they heard about the Place from someone, possibly someone we know, and are planning on draining it. Now that I think about it, one of them did have the Mark of Consumption on his face. Possibly they plan on absorbing the Place."


    "Isn''t that the sort of thing you need sacrifices for? I really hope that isn''t something you need sacrifices for. What if they plan on sacrificing us!?" Elise was beginning to panic when the door to the chamber they were in swung open and they both shielded their eyes from the bright light. The door to their cell was opened and someone was thrown in before the door was locked again and the captor left, leaving the torch this time.


    Using the new light, Elise and Almer got a good look at their new cell mate. He had shoulder length brown hair that looked like it had not been properly cared for in a month, a plain face with a slightly pointed chin, and was wearing only what appeared to be silver boxers. Like them, he was wearing a suppression collar. Using his foot, Almer poked him in the side a few times. With a groan, their new cell mate came to, opening his eyes and staring at them. His gaze unsettled Elise for a moment before she shook herself. His right iris was almost entirely purple, with a small sliver of brown remaining at the top, while his left eye was golden and almost seemed to glow.


    Seeing them, he scrambled away from them and back against the bars of the cage. He opened his mouth and said something, but neither Elise nor Almer could understand him. "Do you speak Corninth?" Elise asked, sitting back.


    As the words left her mouth, he let out a cry of pain and pushed his fingers into his temples as if he had a headache. It seemed to last only a moment before he raised his head and said, this time in Corninth, "What did you say?" before looking incredibly confused and saying something in the strange language from before.


    "I asked if you speak Corninth, which you just did so that answers my question." Elise said before holding out her hand. "My name is Elise, this is my friend and bodyguard Almer. What is your name?"


    "My name is Lor," he replied, shaking her hand, "and to answer your question about speaking Corninth, the answer was no until you asked. Nice to meet you. Do you have any idea who these people are? They appear to have dug out a huge space in the caves here."


    "Our guess is Consumer cultists. They plan on consuming this Place of Power." Almer said, scratching his head. "We also think they might need sacrifices."


    "Wait, like human sacrifices?" Lor asked incredulously. "Why haven''t you broken out yet? You''re both Tier 3."


    "Yeah, human sacrifices." Elise replied, pausing before seeming to do a verbal double take. "Wait, how do you know our Tiers? I don¡¯t see an identification crystal on you and if they have managed to create a lens I would have heard about it."


    Lor looked a little surprised at this. "I thought everyone would have an item that let them do that. Huh. Well, I have an artifact in place of my left eye that lets me use identification. I''m also pretty sure it is allowing me to speak this language as well." He leaned back against the cage and some crab legs appeared in his hands.


    "You have an artifact!?" Elise and Almer exclaimed simultaneously. "And how the hell do you have crab legs?"


    "I have a Skill called Inventory that lets me store stuff." Lor replied. "Also, yeah I have an Artifact, I found it on my first day here."


    "How can you use your Skill with a suppression collar? If you have enough energy for that you should be trying to break out, not get food. Also, what do you mean by first day here? How long have you been in these caves?" Elise rapidly questioned.


    "Slow down." Lor held up his hands placatingly. "Why wouldn''t I be able to use my Skill? What''s a suppression collar? As for breaking out, I''m waiting for my energy to come back before I try anything. I''ll tell you how long I''ve been here when we get out."


    "A suppression collar prevents you from gathering energy, thus preventing you from using Skills." Elise explained, gesturing to the collar around her neck, identical to the ones on Lor and Almer. "You can''t gain any more energy than you have already, and your ''Inventory'' Skill should cost energy."


    Lor looked at both of them with a puzzled expression. "My Inventory Skill is free. Is that weird?" he asked. "Are free skills something that doesn¡¯t exist?"


    Elise was a little stunned, sitting for a moment before replying. "Free Skills aren''t unheard of, but a free storage Skill is exceedingly rare."


    Lor looked a little relieved, before asking a question the stunned Elise and Almer. "So the suppression collars stop you from gathering energy? Good thing I don''t do that. I just need to wait for it to come back. It should start coming back in about an hour, though only about twenty percent."


    Elise and Almer just looked at him with their mouths hanging open. Lor looked at them before holding out his hand. "Want some crab?" he asked with a grin.


    ~~~~~


    Name: Lor Telmrin


    Tier: 2


    Rank: 5


    Stats:


    Power: Kinetic (T2 R0)


    Body: Dimension (T2 R7)


    Mind: Space (T2 R0)


    Energy: Time (T3 R0)


    Skills:


    Active


    Discharge (P) (T3 R3)


    Telekinesis(P) (T1 R8)


    Inventory (B) (T2 R5)


    Dimensional Shield (B) (T1 R5)


    Blink (M) (T3 R6)


    Scry (M) (T1 R3)


    Time Stop (E) (T2 R2)


    Time Dilation (E) (T1 R6)


    Revision (E) (T0 R9)


    Passive


    Absorb (P) (T3 R6)


    Redirection (P) (T1 R1)


    Dimensional Body (B) (T5 R2)


    Out of Phase (B) (T0 R1)


    Spacial Awareness (M) (T3 R2)


    Disjointed (M) (T0 R4)


    Looped Energy (E) (T3 R8)


    Thought Acceleration (E) (T1 R0)


    Artifacts:


    Eye of the Traveler (Bound)


    Inventory:


    Stoneskin slacks Tier 3 x2


    Vial of Recovery Tier 1 x3


    Water x4 gallons


    Healing Water x4 gallons


    Quicksilver boxers Tier 2 x3


    Phase silk shirt Tier 3 x1


    Quicksilver mirror x1


    Discharge (Active): Release stored kinetic energy in a single blast targeted with a touch. Precision increases with Rank. Cost: Minor energy


    Telekinesis (Active): Using your stored kinetic energy, you can move objects with your mind. Efficiency and range increase with Rank. Cost: Minor energy


    Inventory (Active): You have an extra-dimensional space capable of storing inanimate objects. Size increases with Rank. Cost: Free


    Dimensional Shield (Active): You conjure a shield of dimensional fabric. Capable of blocking most attacks. Area and durability increase with Rank. Cost: Minor energy


    Blink (Active): You are able to teleport a short distance. There is a short period of time between uses of Blink. Distance increases with Rank. Cost: Minor energy


    Scry (Active): You are able to view a location remotely. You must have at least some knowledge of the target beforehand, or have something from the target. Range and accuracy increase with Rank. Cost: Low energy.


    Time Stop (Active): You pause time for a short moment. There is a period of time between uses of Time Stop. Cost: Moderate energy.


    Time Dilation (Active): You slow down time. You can interact with the world while time is slowed. Dilation scale increases with Rank. Cost: Low energy.


    Revision (Active): You rewind time, undoing damage done. Efficiency and duration rewound increase with Rank. Cost: Moderate energy.


    Absorb (Passive): Every impact, both attacks and getting attacked, store kinetic energy. Maximum capacity increases with Rank.


    Redirection (Passive): Some portion of the kinetic energy you receive from any impact is redirected around you to any surface you are in contact with. Does not interfere with Absorb. Amount redirected increases with Rank.


    Dimensional Body (Passive): Your body is not of this dimension. You are immune to lower Ranked poisons and critical attacks.


    Out of Phase (Passive): You are slightly out of phase with this dimension. You are harder to affect with crowd control abilities. Difficulty increases with Rank.


    Spacial Awareness (Passive): You understand the location of everything within a short distance of you. Distance and accuracy increases with Rank.


    Disjointed (Passive): The space around you is slightly warped. Single target abilities have a chance to miss you. This chance can be adjusted between never and the maximum. Chance increases with Rank.


    Looped Energy (Passive): After a time, any energy you expend is returned at the rate you spent it. Time before reset decreases with Rank.


    Thought Acceleration (Passive): You can think faster than normal. Speed increases with Rank.