《Unending soul》 Chapter 1 - End of the line As I''m looking at the numerous pages placed on my hospital bed I''m taken by doubt. I don''t really want to die, and yet I''m considering signing some document to authorize a group of private scientists to basically kill me. Well, to quote the guy that made me the offer: "To satisfy the theory of those religious nut-job from the other department, we will do the standard experiment, but torture you a lot while doing it. If you''re lucky, your brain will shut down before too long, and then you will die." I may need to re-contextualize: I''m Jessica Malone, I''m 24 years old, and I''m dying. I was sick for most of my life, living in the hospital since I was 18 and my parents could legally get rid of me. I got an incurable disease that will shut down all my organs, the ''taking her time to kill you'' type of disease. It''s started with my immune system: goodbye social life, and outside, and pets. I have only a few years left to enjoy hospital meals. And apparently, I''m not the only one that doesn''t want to die, since a lot of rich guys gave loads of money to fund the "Institute of Digital Life", with the goal of uploading a complete human mind inside a computer. From what the guy ¡ª Hector by the way ¡ª said to me they have been trying for a while, but it doesn''t work; the file with the brain doesn''t compute or something, and as more and more of his colleagues started thinking it was because they were only uploading the mind and not the soul. This is where I''m entering into play : Since no rich guy wants to suffer the risk of eternal nothingness, they need a test subject to try to upload the soul and I got chosen for the honor. Apparently they will try to digitize my mind while I''m alive and conscious, so that my soul get taken in the process¡­ And then I will be uploaded. If it works it might prove that souls are real which may have crazy philosophical implications, and I will live forever with the richest bastards of all, yay¡­ More realistically, it won''t work: I will suffer a lot, die, and then nothing. But the institute promised a shit-ton of money. A shitty deal, but the best one I will get. And my dad will have to use my real name to get the money otherwise it all goes to my little sister. Well, even if he recognizes the papers most of the reward will go to her but I can''t stop myself from a bit of pettiness. I sign the form, doing my best to write Jessica with a lot of calligraphy. It comes a little bit scrambled, but it''s legible, best I can hope with the shaking. I''m prepared to enjoy my last meal: orange juice. Apparently having food in me could ruin the experiment ? Not really sure how some pastas could affect my brain but I''m not a scientist, just a part-time writer.
The operating room is very different from what I saw on TV drama: there is a big metal slab, lot of screens and cables all around. Half the people aren''t even in doctor clothing, wearing suits and smartwatches. Ugh, engineers. At one end of the slab there is what I can only guess to be the machine: some big dark box with multiple robotic-looking arms, at the end of which what''s look like needles and other sharp pointy tools. God, I really hope not gonna use it on me and it''s just a random thing they store in this room for no particular reason. One of the doctors make me lay on the slab, and it''s very cold, I guess none of the very smart people around realized that my hospital gown is open at the back and cold metal on naked skin is not the best experience. Or they realized and didn''t care ¡­ They start connecting me to the lot of monitoring equipment; the standard hospital one, I''m used to it, and then the not so standards : a sort of glass that sends light flashes to my eyes. So I close my eyes, that thing burns a little. "The eye scanner is sending an error?!" One of the engineers said from my left. "Oh, they seem to have closed their eyes, hey, you have to stay awake, it''s in the contract", They finally address me, it''s not like I''ve been in this room for 5 minutes without anyone acknowledging me. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. "It hurt my eyes, could you maybe reduce the intensity or something ? " "Oh yeah, didn''t think of that, it''s the problem at working with a conscious subject." "We got the restraint for that chief" I don''t think I will like where they are going. Yeah, really don''t like it. They attached my arms and legs and face in place so I can''t move around.And they used some adhesive tape to keep my eyes open so that the goggles can keep blasting my eyes away. Well at least I can''t see the machine moving behind me, the arms doing robotic noise, like a bus door, with pssscht ? There''s go my hope it was there for something else. "We are ready to begin the experiment !" Yeah, and I just remember reading that the brain doesn''t have a pain sensor, so it shouldn''t hurt when they dig into it.
OK, I underestimated the pain, I felt like they were pressing my brain like an orange, while putting it on fire. At least it''s over and I''m still thinking, so I guess that I am ? Did they succeed ? Maybe I should have gone to church a bit more ? Nah, computer simulations for dead people don''t have heaven. OK, weird, I can "see", like not see see, but perceive ? There''s lot of blobs, they look shiny, they float in the void, I float in the void, in what looks like a river toward something. Something that look like a spiral, resembling those drawing of the galaxy ? And I''m drawn to it too, and unless the guy that made the computer simulation was high as fuck, I think I''m dead. And I guess soul exists ? Is that what I am ? A soul ? I think I''m really too chill about it. I guess the hormones and all the body chemistry that I don''t have anymore were responsible for producing an appropriate reaction to that kind of situation. Oh I''m a blob too. I guess that make sense, but never really thought of myself as blob material. At least I look different from all the other blobs. Maybe it''s a perspective thing ? I''m not vain to the point of thinking my soul is that distinct, it must be me looking at it giving me a different angle. I don''t think I like looking different, I was already that for all my life. And it doesn''t feel that fair to be in death too. To try to describe it: my blob form is a lot sharper ? Like with angles and flat surfaces instead of bubbling light ? It''s really hard to describe what I can only guess are souls, not surprising that we didn''t manage to prove their existences before. I have some time before that spiral thing, and if I''m looking very carefully at the souls I can see differences even between the normal blob ones. For once, they are not all as much active, I can see some light moving a little in everyone, but some have a lot of light that moves around fast, like me, but a lot have only a few slow moving lights. I said like me, but my lights are moving in coherent fashion, flowing some arbitrary lines, and the other have their lights all over the place going randomly. Also, even if they are all blobby and shiny, the inside seems to have different forms made of variable density ? Probably the difference between individuals ? I never had the chance to be a scientist, but studying Souls seems very interesting.
I finally arrive at the spiral. From there it look like there is different flux going into it, but too far to see correctly. I''m guessing other worlds ? Aliens exist???? Maybe I will have an Alien friend in heaven: a nice fun alien friend, like Ford, not the big scary Xenomorph. And I''m approaching a big gate, a bit clich¨¦ but I guess there''s not a lot of way to symbolize an entrance ? Death system initialization for universe EARTH Oh shit, it''s weird, like text I can read and hear at the same time, but with no ear or eyes. Shit. What is it saying. User soul type inconsistent with originating universes Possible worlds crosser detected, processing to soul identification "What ? I don''t understand, hello ?" Oh shit, that hurt a lot. I wish I had a mouth to be able to scream.
-I think we should start by the end -Audacious strategy, most start at the beginning. -Haha, I mean, what happens after death ? We need to manage that as it''s kind of the end line for everyone. And one of the motivations for most people. -Well, soul leave material realm, disappears, what more to it ? -Yeah, but that''s boring ¡­ We should do something about it. I don''t know, maybe we can reuse the souls, or offer a nice reward for those who did well ? -That sounds like a lot of work, but also a good motivation for the living ¡­ Talk next to the coffee machine.
Chapter 2 - Death System Soul identification complete, user soul 82% similar to world 44456 inhabitants. Transfer to gate 44456 The pain finally ended, and it''s really unfair ! I don''t have a body, I shouldn''t feel pain¡­ And I''m flying, around the spiral. It seems very fast, crossing several "soul river" that goes into the spiral. I don''t understand anything, and it''s starting to become worrying. Oh, but away from earth the souls seems different, like the blob form and color are a bit not the same ? Fun. And I''m in another river, the flying around ended. Well, not really, I''m still technically floating in the void, but like at a normal speed and following other blob. Maybe I didn''t have the correct ticket, and I''m at the correct gate ? Oh, in this river the blob are different. They have a different color and form than those from Earth. But even between them, a few look different from each other. And one or two that look just like me. Was I not from earth originally ? That seems weird, but I think I''m way pass the point where ''weird'' is not an option. And I''m back in line, so I guess I will have time to think about it.
I thought about it: either I came from another universe ¡ªmy soul I mean, I was definitely born on earth¡ª and it didn''t even give me superpowers. Or whatever the scientists did to me kinda worked, but in a fuck-up way, and now the heaven don''t think I''m human. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. I really hope whatever that Death System is, that they have protocols for those kinds of things. Or maybe a help line I could call ? One of the things I noticed by looking at everyone else, is that they all have a sort of distinct light on them. A little like what we are made of, but obviously from something else. And from my point of view, everyone got the extra stuff from the same place. The weird thing is that I don''t have that on me, and no one from earth had it either. I''m a bit scared I will be sent back to another river again. But not a lot I can do about it, I tried, and I can move or speak to anyone. And I''m finally at the Gate again. Death system initialization for universe Olonir Access soul scan from gate 55895 Soul identified as Robot-Core from this universe Soul not registered in system Analyses of possibility Soul spontaneously created : low probability System registry erroneous : low probability Soul redirected to the spiral before incarnation : high probability Directly redirecting the soul to universe Olonir for immediate incarnation into new body. "What now ?" I''m feeling myself falling, with no gravity it feels really weird. And then darkness.
-Ok, I worked on your place for the dead soul for a while. We have a problem: too many worlds, each with their own rules and stuffs. I had to fix so many bugs emerging from incompatible souls arriving in our ''after life'' -I mean, nobody does anything with the souls yeah ? We could make a single place for all the souls of the universe. And then filter them by place of origin and go from there, so you won''t have wire crossing ? -Oh, that could work. Late night musing.
Chapter 3 - Born anew Robot-Core subsystem initializing Detecting Robot-core compatible hardware and configuration Downloading into User basic robot-core knowledge and personality Error, mind detected Initialization interrupted Detection of System ¡­ System missing Fallback to default Main System initializing Analyzing mind, soul and body Adult mind, unidentified soul, robot-core body Attaching robot-core subsystem to user System. Use of main system Warning, Phase interruption input detected Title acquired [Isekai / World traveler/ Born elsewhere] Title acquisition out of phase, delaying effects until end of System initialization Isekai protocol activating Initialization of the System initialization tutorial IA Phase controls send to the tutorial IA "Hello, I really could use some help, what''s happening ? All the text based dialog is really putting water in the whole computer simulation theory !" - Hello ! Do not worry, I''m here to help ! Hmm, robotic voice in my head, really reassuring. Generating tutorial IA personality based on user memory ¡­ Personality chosen, helpful and smart-ass End of tutorial IA initialization - OK, sorry about before, I was not finished. Hello ! I''m your personal tutorial IA, I''m here to explain things to you, as to not cause you excessive panic in the unfortunate situation you find yourself in. "OK, really dig the smooth voice, and also, ew, did you go in my mind ?" - OK, sorry, to start, as a tutorial IA I can''t access your mind except for the thought you consciously think as talking, like what you just did, you still don''t technically have a body, and while I''m not certain how you don''t have a body yet, at least we can talk. The System have access to everything you think, does, or did, and if you listen to some people, what you will do. You''re going to need to be OK with it, or not, but it won''t change, and I doubt you can do anything about it. If it can reassure you, it''s the same for literally everyone and everything in this universe, always has been, and the System is trying very hard to be fair to everyone, so that''s that. "Still no body, so don''t really certain on anything emotion related, but I don''t think I''m reassured. This universe ? You know I''m not from around here ? Is it because of the Isekai thing that appeared earlier, who chose the name ?" Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. - Yeah, exactly, the System updates himself every time a problem occurs, and from time to time peoples arrives from other worlds without any System, and they are usually very confuses, scared, and lost. So they added the tutorial IA, my job is to teach you everything a young adult born in this world should have learned about the system when his or her initialization occurs. Basically, when you turn adult, the system compiles everything you did when you were a kid and generate skills and classes options that you can choose, so they have a few years to think about what they will do when the moment come. "Didn''t you said everyone is monitored by the System ? How does that work for kid ? And I''m still feeling lost." - I''m going at it as fast as I can, everyone get connected to the System when they are born, but get to access it and make choice only when they become adults, for humans, around 16 years old. I''m waiting for you to awake or something to see what we are dealing with, usually this discussion doesn''t occur in the soul realm but in body, so advantage to you, you will be able to make choice by yourself. Now I will resume the initialization and it should generate your attributes and tell us what you are. "Oh OK, I don''t think I have that much agency anyway ¡­" System initialization resumed Specie detected : Robot-Core, integrating sub-system robot-core Robot-Core trait selection downloaded from User mind Error, incompatible mind detected, no traits selected Generating superior attribute : {Free Will} User, please select your traits Number of traits : 4 - OK what ? "That''s my line, what is happening, what are traits ? Why does it show me a list of like thousands of things with not explanation anywhere ? Some of those even repeats ¡­ And I have already selected something name eternal body ? Why is one is already selected on the 8th page ? " - Hmmm, let me think. Normally every individual in a species is born with a set of traits, like elves have goods eyes, long live, high magical affinity for example. I''m not familiar with Robot-core, because I was generated for you, and you identified as a human adjacent species, so I have all the information needed for the basic system initialization, and not that sub-system¡­ "Meaning ?" - I''m not certain what is happening, and since knowing what''s happening is my whole reason to exist, I''m freaking out a little. If I had to guess and based on the limited information I have, Robot-Core are described as a rare and powerful humanoid species, able to do more or less anything and living forever, as the system doesn''t play favorite and everything is as balance as could be it should be an exaggeration, sorry, but the rumor could have originated from the specificity of this sub-system. I would say that when a robot-core is born, it''s immediately adult, which explain the system initialization before you awaken, and they get to choose from a list of traits to be able to do what they want to do. And if I''m checking your logs, I can access that also, sorry, I think when they are born some knowledge are downloaded. With maybe a goal or a task, and they get the traits that work best for that. But since you came here with a mind, and the system work very hard to not hurt users, the download was canceled. "All that to say I can choose bonus to be born with, and I''m not an elf ? " - Yeah, I don''t know a lot about robot core, but maybe there is an option to get long ears if that what you want? "I don''t really know, the options don''t have descriptions, and the names are very vague, And they could use a search bar or something ¡­ I see "elf eye" here, so I guess you are right, but they also have "fire body" and I would appreciate being really hot, but I don''t think that''s what that mean. - Yeah, it''s weird, wait a second, I will try something. Error detected, tutorial IA unable to complete its task Error confirmed Analyzing error The tutorial IA is made for humanoid system initialization and does not contain information concerning robot-core subsystem. Updating tutorial IA Update error, system initialization unfinished, tutorial IA can''t be restarted Calculating error effects Robot-Core subsystem incompatible with humanoid general System. Trait selection should not be selected in the subsystem and is chosen at Sub-system initialization. Sub-system initialization crashed. Auto resolution failed, calling for moderator Generating Moderator IA "Your ''something'' was filling a ticket ? " - I mean, that should do something, and the system is doing it''s best to be fair, so it should make thing easier for you. And as a policy, if it makes an error to your advantage, it doesn''t apply the fix to you. "I guess I will trust you, since I''m starting to think I''m stuck until the System manage to initialize me. But I must say, for a system that existed forever, there are a lot of bugs everywhere still¡­" Chapter 4 - Lot of bugs Moderator IA initialized Hello user. Due to special circumstances, your System incorporates some additional components that are incompatible. - The ability to choose your trait is a benefit. It can''t be removed. Your User System is the Main System because the specific Sub-system assigned to you failed to initialize, the Main system is more capable of adapting to special circumstances. - The robot-core subsystem will be updated to include provisions for the Isekai protocol, so that this error does not reoccur. - For the current users, the difficulties generated by the System errors are as follows : The user must choose blindly from a list of traits, with no guidance from her tutorial IA. The trait selection includes traits from the Main system instead of the limited options from the Robot-core subsystem. - Updating the tutorial IA is impossible because the System Initialization is not finished. Updating traits to add descriptions will create unbalance to the Main system. Forced trait selection ignores Free Will. - Calculating User System debt. Debt positive. - Alternative found : Activation of the GodLing subsystem Godling subsystem added Congratulation! You managed to climb the first step to godhood and are now able to adapt and change your species. Initializing godling tutorial IA Error, existing tutorial IA detected. Merging IA System initialization in progress, merging IA paused Godling subsystem caused error with Isekai protocol, applying correction to IA Systems. Disadvantageous situations persist. Satisfying resolution unfounded Entering compensation protocol. Awarded [Bug Finder] title. Awarded [Blind choice, reduction of luck aspect] rules to godling subsystem You will select traits using the godling subsystem instead of the robot-core Subsystem. The godling subsystem includes all traits available to classic species. The godling subsystem comes with 4 trait selection points, as some traits have prerequisites, their cost can be higher than 1 point, but they will generate the optimal trait component necessary for their use. The godling subsystem will stay active after the System Initialization. Specials rules have been awarded; your initial godling trait selection points are doubled; you can select your trait and wait before validating. While a trait is selected, you are aware of all the traits that become unavailable if you keep that trait. Free Will attribute effect : While a trait is selected, you are aware of all the traits that become unavailable suboptimal if you keep that trait. For example, a fire vulnerability and a fire resistance won''t work correctly together. You can still take conflicting traits. Sorry for the troubles, and thanks you for your patience. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. "Uh, if I may miss IA ? Could it be possible to cancel all that and just make me human ? " - Request registered. The System can''t change your born species without user action. Alternative found. Generating trait bundle {Human aspect (cost : 2 godling trait points)}. - Good luck in your endeavor. Removing of Moderator IA "Oh, cool, I see it in the list, and the list includes a search bar, nice. But still no description and multiple traits with the same name... By the way, do you know what they meant by removing ? It''s weird instead of disconnecting or something." - I have some ideas to help you choose your traits, but I guess that''s what they meant by blind choice. As for removing, when one of us IA finishes our task, we disappear; a new one is created when needed. "Oh god, that terrible! You can stay with me if you want instead ? " - Don''t worry about it. Returning to your traits, I know the effects of all the Humanoid traits, as I''m supposed to explain them if you were born with it initially. A lot of your options seem to be from monsters and things, but I guess we can try to work around those. "You will tell me before you disappear, OK ? I want us to talk about it later. You have no info at all on monster traits ? Are they more powerful ? " - They are not less powerful; traits are not really balanced against each other, because you are not supposed to choose them, and the species are balanced, kind of. So I guess a few traits could be strong, but there is no way to know what does what other than their name. And some traits come with drawbacks, like some kind of night vision that makes you blind in sunlight. "But you have descriptions for humanoid traits? So if it''s like the video games I played, it will have contextual clues? Like a light ability that helps against the night vision weakness of a monster or something? And also, why did you pretend you knew nothing about the trait before?" - If I said I knew things, you may have gotten a lesser compensation, and I didn''t have enough information to do my job, which was enough to call for an error inspection. I can find some clue, like you said. Apparently trolls'' regeneration is stopped by fire and acid? "Wait, I can have regeneration ??! Oh, there are a lot of traits named regeneration, where does it come from? I think I want that. I died young in my previous life, and I don''t want to die again for as long as I can, so maybe traits to make myself durable? " - I''m guessing you have choices of different types of regeneration, because different species have their own, with each their own weakness and efficiency. The eternal body you got auto-selected seems to be a longevity one, so we should focus on healing and health things. "But wait, the rule change makes us able to see what doesn''t work with traits, so if I take a regeneration, and it''s incompatible with something like Fire Immunity, it will probably be the troll''s one ? So with your info and trial and error, we should be able to have some idea of what does what and make a specie that will help me to live a long and happy life." - That could work, let''s try that.
"OK, so I take {Human aspect} for two points, because it should make me look human" - And probably come with a lot of typical organic beings vulnerabilities. "Probably yes, but that''s why I take the others ones to compensate "Then {regeneration}, the one that is incompatible with mana void, because it probably means it doesn''t have a big drawback, just needs mana to work. "Same logic for the {night vision}, the {Mana blood} one to have more Mana." - And this specific one because it doesn''t seem to be linked with spellcasting, contrary to the elfic ones. "Because you don''t think I will have access to mages class, since my world has no magic. I will trust you on that, but it''s a little bit unfair, I think. "Then {Perfect body}, because how could I not take something named like that. "{Eidetic memory} that way I could remember things from my world and introduce some technological miracle or something. "And {Connectivity}, because it may help me to connect to people and make friends. And it sounds like a robot trait, maybe they need this one to talk to each other, and I don''t want to appear in a robot city and not be able to talk to anyone. "And I have {eternal body} auto-selected for free, which must be a longevity trait. "So that makes 8 points, and I should be able to survive anything a weird magical world will send to me !" - Please don''t call the world weird in front of peoples¡­ Do you validate your selection ? "That''s my last word!"
Trait selection for specie Godling (robot-core) Default trait : {eternal body} Selected traits : {Human aspect (bundle : cost 2 points)}, {regeneration (Light archon)}, {night vision (Light archon)}, {Mana blood (Irishak )}, {Perfect body (Hive worker)}, {eidetic memory (Robot-core)}, {connectivity (Robot-core)} Traits compatibility discovered Fusing regeneration (archon) + eternal body (robot-core) + Physiology (Human) => {Unending Life} Fusing eidetic memory (robot-core) + connectivity (robot-core) => {digitized mind}
- Honestly, I like the trait idea, but I''m a bit confused. Every species gets between 3 and 5 traits, right? - Yeah, that''s about right. We have some idea for something that will allow having a bit more, but it would be special to some individual, not the whole species. - But how do you put everything in so little traits ? Some species will be carnivorous, or omnivorous, some will breathe air and other water, some will be tall, we have the number of limbs, all the organ working specificity, that like a lot? - How, well, those will be mainly hidden in the back-end, the traits would be what make the species really special, or unique. All the boring normal stuff will be by default - I''m afraid that will be confusing, there are abilities that allow to change aspects of the body, how do they work ? - Those are details for the people in charge of abilities to figures out, for the traits, we only mention what is important. Lost conversation
Chapter 5 - Attributes sheet Generating attribute sheet, applying traits bonus :
Attribute Default Value Trait bonus Total
Strength 1 1 2
Agility 1 1 2
Constitution 1 3 4
Perception 1 1 2
Reasoning 1 1 2
Magicus 1 0 1
Mana 1 1 1
Will (Free) 1 1 2
Traits : {Unending life} : Your body naturally converts mana to healing aspects; you don''t age, you passively heal wounds and remove diseases and poisons, and you can regrow limbs. You can decrease your mana regeneration to increase the speed of healing. Base mana regeneration reduced by 5%. +2 constitution. {Digitized mind} : Your mind is digital, you remember everything you want to memorize, you can connect to a compatible digital interface to exchange knowledge and memory. +1 Reasoning and Will {Perfect body (Hive worker)} : The body of the worker is strong and efficient : +1 to Strength, agility, constitution, perception. Any hive leader can take control of your mind using their pheromone. Error : Superior attribute Free Will conflict with Perfect Body. Conflict resolution in progress ¡­. {Perfect body (Hive rebel )} : Your body is strong and efficient : +1 to Strength, agility, constitution, perception. You are susceptible to the hive mind control by pheromone; the effect is reduced by a contest of Will. {Human adaptability} : Humans are able to use more skills and knowledge, gaining and raising skills is 10% easier. {Free Will} : Superior attribute, in addition of the effects of the Will attribute, you are immune to basic forms of mind control, and your Will attribute is doubled in case of contest of will to resist mind control. {Human compatibility} : Humans are able to cross-breed with any species, and can learn most skills and classes usually restricted by race, and all traits originating from other races are more effective. {Mana blood (Irishak )} : Your blood naturally flows with mana, +1 Mana, any abilities that reduce magic points regeneration to calculate their effect have their effect increase by 30% {Night vision (Light archon)} : You can see in natural darkness. You can reduce your magic point regeneration by 5% to be able to see in magical darkness. For every 10 reduced manas, your perception attribute increases by 1. {Godling }: For a reason, the system chooses you to prove your potential to birth a new species; you are able to gain new traits and change your species as you progress. Each time you gain a class after the first, you gain 1 godling point that you can use to buy traits to acquire, which become hereditary. Calculating life experience : Title acquired [Isekai / World traveler/ Born elsewhere] : You were born in another world, and you are now lost here. You have a tutorial AI to help you with the system initialization, and you gain +1 Will. Title acquired [Bug Finder 2] : You found trouble in your usage of the system, we are aiming for a high level of quality, and your experience will be watched with attention by one of our Moderation AI. Each level of that title increases all experience gain by 1% Title acquired: [Death Witness] You saw the flux of souls and talk to the Death System, additional class options are available; you gain +1 Will. Title acquired: [Reincarnated] You died, and you came back to life in another body while retaining your memory. You retain some of your previous life skills. Error: The previous life didn''t include a System, generating skills based on previous life experiences. Title increase: [Bug Finder 3]. Title acquired: [Unique species ] Your species traits composition is unique, increase your trait bonus by 10%. Based on your previous life, you gain: Reasoning +2, will +2, perception +2. Based on your previous life, you gain the following skills : ''Medical knowledge 2'', ''calculus 2'', ''visualization 1'',''science 1'', and ''writing'' 5. Based on your previous life experience, those skills are generated : ''Magical knowledge 1'', ''basic magic 1'', ''unarmed combat 1'', ''poison resistance 1'', ''pain resistance 1''.
Attribute Default Value Trait bonus Title bonus Life experience Total
Strength 1 1 2
Agility 1 1 2
Constitution 1 3 4
Perception 1 1 2 4
Reasoning 1 1 2 4
Magicus 1 0 1
Mana 1 1 2
Will (Free) 1 1 2 2 6
"Wait, magical knowledge ? Where does it come from? The only magic in my world was from games? " The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. - The System generated that skill based on your life experience, so it may have transcribed some unusable knowledge, like things you knew, but that didn''t work there. The malus from {perfect body} was unexpected, but with the value of your will attribute, you should be safe from the bugs as long as you don''t go inside their hive. "Yeah, lucky for that, and the unending life seems more powerful than expected, but I hope the mana point regen reduction won''t have too much of an impact. How much magic point do I regenerate, by the way ? " -Oh, it''s based mostly on your mana attribute, you have 100 times your Mana in Magic points and 10 times the attribute in MP regen. Depending on your class, it can go up fast, and some mages skills increase one or the others. "OK, and I will need some explanation on the others attributes, those are a bit different from the rpgs I played." - You''re right, Strength makes you stronger, obviously. You can carry more; you can hit things harder, those kinds of things. 1 to 5 is normal people strength in your world. More than that, and you can do incredible things. 20 and you can carry 5 time your weight with no efforts. 50 and you can bend steel as if it were paper. 100 and you must be careful not to break the ground when you walk around. - Agility is speed and precision. With more, you can react faster; it''s a lot of increased muscle control, so it also helps with precision stuff like watchmaking or other crafts. At 20 you can run as fast as a horse. Well, a level 1 horse, of course. At 50 you can dodge arrows or bullets. At 100 you have to be careful of breaking the sound barrier. - Constitution is health and endurance. It makes you more healthy in all aspects. It helps to resist diseases and toxins, make you need fewer foods and sleep, make you harder to hurt, and reduce the bad effects of pain. At 20 most bugs can''t bite you, you can go a week without offer effect than hunger. At 50 most people won''t be able to cut you with a knife; you basically can''t be sick regardless of what you eat or what you come in contact with. - A bit redundant for you, unending life covers all of that, except for resistance. - Perception enhances your senses, all of them, but doesn''t give you more. You can hear from afar, you can see more details and better, you can distinguish between smells, and your taste is more precise. - Reasoning makes you ''smarter''; you can think faster, remember things better ¡ªagain redundant for you ¡ª, better connect information together. - Magicus increases your control over mana, if you do spell, your magic point usage is more efficient, and the spells are more effective. That''s one of the most important attributes for a mage. - Mana like I said, increases magic point regeneration and maximum. - And finally, Will help you stay on course and resist outside influence. It helps resist magic, social skills, and push back bad thoughts to help you keep going. Your Will attribute evolved, so it''s way better at protecting you against mind control. - That''s the basic effect of each attribute, but some abilities or traits scale out of them, for example, the range of some magical ability depends on your Mana attribute. All attributes can evolve, but it''s usually pretty rare, dependent on having abilities that have synergies with one of your attributes. "Ok, so if my goal is to stay healthy and live a long time, I need to increase my Constitution, or my Mana since I have ? If I want to do cool magic, I could go with Magicus. Agility and Strength is for if I want to be some sort of superhero. "By the way, what does this world look like ? The System told me I was a robot-core, and you are an AI, so I''m guessing pretty advanced ?" - Not really, that''s a bit outside my area of expertise, but I think most places have pre-industrial technology, with a lot of things based on magic and Skills. They may exist more technologically advanced places, but I''m not aware of them. "Oh, sad. Was hoping for futuristic video games... Well, what next ? " First class initialization : Choose a class. - OK, class: It''s define a lot of things for your progression. - Your options should be based on basically all that you are : everything you have done, and every trait title, attribute, and skills can give you something.
- Why are we bothering with classes, by the way ? It''s the same as the specie, we could just put some level requirement on the traits and be done with it - The goal is that individual personalities allow more options than being what you are born as. Yeah, most creatures will keep the species class at first , but as time goes on and some of them experiment, we are hoping that they will be able to diversify. - The personality influence isn''t what you put in the ability generator ? Why put it elsewhere too ? Adding more and more things to the System will only make it bloated and less stable. - Choice and User agenda are literally the foundation of our work; more in that direction is always worth it. And we are making the classes compatible together, so that a higher tier User can fuse or use multiple classes, going as far from their initial species and instinct as they want. Designing meeting notes
Chapter 6 : Class OK, that''s a lot of classes, what''s the distinction between common, uncommon, rare and epic ? -It''s mostly those that are harder to get. People often considers that rarer is better, but it''s more that class synergizes with their prerequisite, and rarer classes have more specific prerequisites. What does it offer you? Choose a class : Common: Worker, Fighter, Scribe, Wizard. Uncommon: Paladin (Will attribute > 2), Attribute expert (Have a superior attribute), Berzerker (Cons > 2 ) Rare: Space mage (World Crosser), Innovator (Isekai), Death knight (Death witness, reincarnate, will >4 ), Necromancer (Death Witness, Magical knowledge) Epic: Soul mage (Death witness, life affinity, Basic magic ), Soul warrior (Death witness, life affinity, mana blood ) -Wow, a lot of fancy options, I won''t recommend the necromancer and death knight: your unending life is based on life affinity, and it could alter it in the opposite direction of what you want. Attribute expert could allow you to specialize on your Free Will, maybe evolve it to a legendary attribute at a high level, but it could take a while to work. Space mage could be your best bet to go back to your world, and Innovator is for making this world a little bit more like your old one. Berserker will use your regeneration and pain resistance to go in battle, but lacks a bit in subtlety. Soul mage and soul warrior seem to originate from your death witness title, and any skills or class associated with souls are generally powerful, especially at low level. "Are you telling me that the class options can affect my traits ? I thought those were what people are born with ? I don''t really want to lose my immortality ! " -They can mutate and affect traits; Berserker for example, can have a synergy with your perfect body trait, increasing again its bonus, and Paladin has a good chance to alter unending life and allow you to heal other peoples. "I''d very much like to go back to my world, but becoming a mage seems a bit risky. I have almost no Magicus and Mana, and my regeneration won''t help if I get killed when someone gets to me. I think I will go with Soul Warrior, I came here as a soul, maybe it will allow me to go back as one ? Like, of all the not wizard ones, I feel like it''s the most logical. " Class chosen : Soul Warrior. New trait acquired : Superior attribute Mana (Soul), you have affinity with life and death mana, and your traits and abilities using life and death mana are more effective. Traits fusing : Unending life + mana blood + human compatibility + night vision + perfect body + digitized mind => Unending soul.
: Your soul make your body. Your memory is in your soul, and you can''t forget something you don''t want to forget, you are immune to any effect targeting your mind and not your soul. Any abilities or trait reducing your magic point regeneration and any traits have increased effect. Your magic point regeneration is reduce by 5%, your body can rebuild itself as long as your soul is on the mortal realm and you possess this trait. You can reduce your magic point regeneration to increase your body reconstruction. You can slowly change your body to alter his appearance, and its capability. You can see in total darkness, and you can''t be blinded. For every 10 magic point regeneration reduced by an ability, you increase your strength, constitution, agility and perception attribute by 1 1.1 .
New ability : : You can reduce your magic point regeneration by 1% to be able to perceive souls, that ability has a 1 m 1.5 m range for every point of magic regeneration reduced. New ability : : You can use your mana to increase your physical ability, you can reduce your magic point regeneration, you increase your strength and agility by 1 for each 10% 9% reduction. The increased value is equal to 1/10 of your level. Experience increase : Your Soul warrior class gain exp when you kills creatures with a soul, when you heal a creature with a soul, and any time your action help the cycle of souls to function. Attribute increase : You gain +2 Mana, +1 Strength, +1 Agility, +1 Magicus. Each level up of this class increase one of those attributes. Favored skills : You lose access to basic magic, you gain basic life magic*, basic death magic*, unarmed combat*, soul knowledge* Title acquired : [Legendary trait] : One of your trait evolved to legendary, it''s an apex specie legacy and will make you and your descendant more powerful. You gain one additional godling points when you increase your tier. You can buy legendary traits with your godling points. Attribute Sheet summary : Name : Jessica Malone Classes : Soul warrior 1 Species : Godling (Soul body manifestation ) Titles : Isekai / World traveler/ Born elsewhere, Bug Finder 3, Death witness, Reincarnate, Unique specie, Legendary trait.
Attribute Default Value Class effects Total
Strength 2 1 3
Agility 2 1 3
Constitution 4 0 4
Perception 4 0 4
Reasoning 4 0 4
Magicus 1 1 2
Mana 2 2 4
Will (Free) 6 0 6
Magic point : 400, The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Magic point regeneration : 40 / min Traits : Unending soul, Human adaptability, Godling , free will, soul mana Abilities : Soul sight, Warrior magic Skills : Medical knowledge 2, calculus 2, visualization 1, science 1, Magical knowledge 1,basic life magic* 1, basic death magic* 1, unarmed combat* 2, soul knowledge* 1, poison resistance 1, pain resistance 1, Writing 5. "OK, that seems very good no ? Like, I am immortal ? I really like that" - I won''t go as far to say immortal yet, a lot of thing can hit souls directly, they are not exactly common, but you will have time to stumble upon that kind of dangers. And their is no mentions of your soul being anchored to the material realm, so I fear that if your body perish, your soul will be ejected and you won''t be able to heal. So if you run out of magic points while sustaining a deadly injury, you probably will die "So, not immortal, but a lot less mortal than usual. And maybe those bonus godling points will get me something to fix that down the line" - I can only hope that will be the case for you, but in any cases, if you are prudent you should live a long life. "Yeah no, no sad goodbye, I''m still feeling lost, I will definitely be confuse and lost when I wake up in that other world, and I don''t let my friend die on me." "Hey ! Main System, that AI is my friend, and you will not remove him. I will even name him ! " Hmm, why did I say that, I suck at name ¡­ I really need to say something, even if time don''t really exist here from what my tutorial AI told me, it''s still awkward. - Uh Jessica ? Are you okay ? "Yeah yeah, I was thinking you should choose your own name that''s all." Skill acquired - Hmm, yeah definitely, I''m not really certain what you think you are doing, but I will indulge you, I''m helpful after all. I will name myself Toriel. - Is it helping you ? I will end the Initialization now and you will be by yourself for some time I guess, until you find someone to talk to. I''m hoping you will be OK, Tutorial AI acquired concept of self Tutorial AI named itself Error, tutorial AI will be removed at the end of the System Initialization. System can''t remove living entity System Error Your [Bug Finder] title increase to level 4 Error resolution is in progress - Are you kidding me, it worked ??? New title [Rule breaker] acquired : Your actions often goes against the way the system is designed, sometime accidentally, sometime voluntary. Your rule breaking gave you precious advantages, and dangerous circumstances. You gain the trait Willful New trait acquired : Willful : You will is your drive, and you will continue against all odds. You gain +1 Will attribute point for each level you obtain in your main class. Current bonus +1 Will Integrating the companion sub-system Error : No class feature allowing companion sub-system Companion sub-system is inaccessible until the User acquired a required class or ability Tutorial AI process is stopped Tutorial AI changed into Companion AI Companion sub-system unavailable at the moment, companion initialization postponed. Congratulation you acquired a new Companion ! You now have a companion : Toriel.
The attribute sheet is one of the most important aspect of civilized world, and a one of the reasons intelligent species can manage to get ahead of the more primitives races. For once, the attribute sheet like all Systems prompt is understandable by everyone no matter your language. Second, the sheet will show you details on your build which will help you to determine where you should put your focus and exactly what are your weakness. Most of the humanoids traits and basic superiors attributes have been recorded in the numerous study on the system, but some time you will have access to something new or rare enough that you would have nobody to ask for more information, luckily the attribute sheet will give you a description that will help you understand better what that new ability, title or trait mean, and assist you in finding a way to use it at its maximum potential. Sadly, the attribute sheet is still missing on a number of information, including a few hidden attributes like speed, healing factor, and some description lack of details that could be useful, that''s why you choose to join an University, so that you can better understand and make usage of the wonderful tool that is the attribute sheet. - University of Carthage - introductory class on the System
Chapter 7 : Finally some fresh air When I open my eyes, the first thing I notice is the light, so much light, and sound, and smells, and touch¡ªand yeah, I have a body again. And I understand what the attribute increase means; 4 perception does not kid. I feel a lot of everything, and it''s not fun. How do dogs do it? Smell is terrible. It takes me maybe a minute or two before I open my eyes again, and start looking around. It appears I''m in a room; a large window is responsible for the light, and I was standing inside some sort of pod? The floor looks metallic, like steel or silver ? Very clean, very clinic; under the windows is a long metallic table. Next to a wall is a sort of cabinet. I take a look at the window; I''m apparently at ground level, with a rocky clearing. And it appears there is trees on the right of the building I''m in, and more trees a bit farther. I don''t see skyscraper or other building from down there. Maybe a cabin in the woods? Or I was born in a tree people city? Or the city is on the other side of the building I''m in? Oh, and there is a door, that probably doesn''t go outside if the outside is by the window¡­ No mirror, but from touching around, I''m human; my ears are rounds, my hair go to the middle of my back, two of each thing, except for the nose. I have a lot of muscles everywhere, which I never had, so cool. And yeah, I''m a girl, nice. And all my scars are gone too; it makes sense if it''s a new body, but I can only appreciate the situation. I''m wearing some sort of light synthetic clothing, like an hospital gown but with pants, and no shoes. - OK that''s weird "What, who, how! Wait, Toriel ? " Hearing a voice inside my head is so weird; I technically did while I was dead, but alive well, strange. - Yeah, I''m a companion AI now, and it''s weird. I should have access to my own interface if I were a companion, or you should have something in yours, I can see your interface, by the way, but still only talkative thoughts. "The system did say I needed a class to have a companion, so maybe it''s because of that? And while nobody is around, I think I prefer to talk out loud. And what is an interface? Like a video game? " - In the same way you talk to me in your head, when you want to, you can will your interface to appear. And talking out loud all the time will get you in trouble at a moment or another. "Oh, sweet, I can see it! Same thing I had before waking up except for the {willful} and [rule-breaker] thing, I think the system must be susceptible¡­" - And yeah, a lot of classes allow you to have some form or another of companion, and yours is definitely not it. Maybe later. I''m inspecting what can only be described as a power outlet, "Didn''t you say that it was a medieval world ? That room looks a lot futuristic." - Don''t know what to say, my job is to know about the System and explain it to you, not to explain the world and the places you end up in. "I guess ¡­ I''m going to open that door now, and hope that I will find someone to explain to me where I am and find out where I can go from there." I am a bit nervous, want to make a good impression, didn''t have a lot of friends in my last life, this time it will be different ! As I touch the handle, my hand feels immediately stuck as I get an instant migraine. Mental connection attempt Trait check : Digitize mind detected Master Node of the Network is attempting to take control of your mind Will contest to resist mind control : Your will : 14 vs Master Node of the Network : 115 Failed Will contest, you are under mind control. Receive instruction from the network, overriding goals and personality Missing trait {Part of the network}, overriding impossible. Receive self-delete instructions from the network Missing trait {Part of the network}, overriding impossible. I got a feeling of surprise, and the migraine recessed a little as the hold on my brain released itself for a moment. I immediately jump back and manage to remove my hand from the handle. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. "Holy shit, what was that. What do they mean, self-delete!?" - Oh shit, I think robot cores are being controlled by that Master node thing ? If you didn''t choose your traits you would probably have the {part of the network} and that thing will have taken you over completely, and we almost took it before going for connect, you got lucky. "Yeah lucky, I thought I was immune to mind attack, let me check my status." - There, look, you are immune to effects that target your mind but not your soul, and since they connected to you using your digitized mind, which is now part of your soul, it was a direct soul connection. "Oh incredible. I added a backdoor to my soul to get killed by the robot leader. Do you think the node is in the building? Should I run? Where to? It was the only door, and I don''t really want to see if she can find a way to go around the error. " - You can always go through the window "It''s a big ass window, and I don''t really want to break something or cut myself; we are not in a movie, Toriel" - Do I need to remind you that you have increased attributes, and if you don''t want to take risks, you have an ability to give you temporary strength. "Oh, OK, how do I activate it?" I open my interface and look intensely at my , and I feel some kind of reaction inside my body, the weird tingling feeling that was all over my body, which is very strange that I hadn''t noticed it earlier, goes toward my muscles, and I feel, stronger, faster, the smells and sound get stronger, and I can feel my blood pumping. And I can feel my a bit of interface that seems just outside my vision, I focus a little, and I can see the notification.
Current magic point regeneration : -2 mp/min. Warrior magic reducing magic point regeneration by 100%, +11 strength/agility, Unending soul bonus active : +4 strength/agility/perception/constitution. Total strength : 18
"Wait, why is my magic point regeneration negative ? I only reduce by 100% ? " - have a 5% base cost for your regeneration, so you reduce your regeneration by 105%, so -42 mp/min I guess. "I can go below zeros ???" I focus, and I feel the tingling, my mana, I guess, go to my muscle, and when I push more, I feel it flow from my core, faster and faster, my senses become better, I feel my muscles budges, and I''m feeling amazing ! And then it all stops; I''m feeling like I''m back in my hospital bed with all the medicine giving me nausea, and it''s only luck I don''t empty my stomach on the ground. Or the fact I didn''t eat yet ?
Current magic points : 2, current mp regeneration : 38
"So I can reduce by as much as I want, but no more magic points and I feel like dying, and I need something like 11 minutes to get back to full, not optimal." - I think you are going to need to get used to it, especially since your abilities are percent based, and unless you get some abilities or skills, your max magic point and mp regeneration will scale together, so always 11 minutes to get back to full. "Yeah, well it sucks, and I''m gonna find a way to have more mana and last longer and stronger. I''m just going to sit a little bit here, hope nobody comes to kill me, and then destroy that window !" - That sounds like a good plan.
"OK, take two. If I only reduce my mp regen by 90, I can maintain the boost for, like, forever, no? " - Yeah, I guess
Warrior magic reducing magic point regeneration by 90%, +10 strength/agility, Unending soul bonus active : +4 strength/agility/perception/constitution. Total strength : 17
OK, I''m ready. Definitely ready, just need to believe in my new-found magical abilities, and jump through glass. - Whenever you want "aaaaaah" I didn''t expect the glass to be in my face so fast. Holy shit, holy shit I''m fast, the glass broke around me, I feel some shard try, and fail to pierce my skin, so I guess high Constitution makes you a little bit harder? "Oh shit that hurt." That shard did manage, 8 constitution is not enough to totally be immune to cut, I guess. Oh! that hurt a lot, and yeah, it''s a big shard of glass the size of my hand directly inside my belly. Oh, that''s a lot of blood too, and good news, it''s still red. "Well, that was fun while it last, thank you Toriel for your advice, and I want you to know that" - Dumbass, you got a regeneration trait just for that if you need a reminder. "Oh" For my defense, I had a very weird and packed last fifteen minutes, and magic is very much new to me. I just have time to throw the shard away than the wound has already disappeared. "OK, now I''m almost sad it''s gone so fast. I was looking forward to seeing what feels with more magic points pump into the regeneration ¡­" Achievement: You faced an enemy more than 5 times your level, and survived. Exp awarded Your soul warrior class level increases. Your soul warrior class level increases.
-How will the system balance traits if User can get new one and their descendant inherited them ? After something like two generations their natural advantage will make them so much more powerful than the natural species ? - Yeah, that was a point that we worked on a lot, the system will add debuffs on new born while they are ahead of the curve. Depending on the specie, the debuff will vary. The same for the same specie, but different from advanced specie to another. - Do you have some examples of theses kind of debuff? - Of course, the first lever is to add a negative System debt, they are starting with a leg up, so it''s only fair that they don''t get as much attention from the system. Another lever is the reproduction capabilities: slow grows, high cost to create descendant, difficulty to create new life. That lever is more about limiting the potential of the specie to replace the rest of the native population, as they may have powerful individual power, but low number. - I understand, thanks for your answers. Press conference
Chapter 8 - Testing regeneration You gain two attributes points to allocates as you like You gain the following abilities : : you can add death mana to your strike, you can spend magic point up to your magic point regeneration by minutes to add half that value to your next strike. : you can reduce your magic point regeneration by up to 15%, all damage you receive is reduce by 1.1% for each 1% magic point regeneration reduce. As long as this ability is active, your unarmed strike can affect incorporeal entity "Oh nice, everything into Mana baby" I take a quick look around, some trees on my right, the building behind me, look like a big cube, more forest farther. And far away looks a little weird, I think I''m high up ? The ground is rock and dirt, so mountain ? Anyway, I got new magic powers ! As I''m reading my new abilities'' description, I feel like my whole body freeze, some cold sweet cover my back. In the corner of my eye I can see a new System notification : Failed will check What ? And then the pain, I feel like my body was torn in two as I''ve been sent flying through the air. I''m at least a meter above ground, tumbling, and catch a glimbse of what happen. A bear happened, I can see it where I was standing, as big as an ambulance, his right claw covered in a red liquid, a second later I realized it must be blood. Oh, shit. I''m bleeding a lot, I''m going to need to heal myself and start running as soon as I hit the ground. Where is the ground gone ? I turn a bit and can see the cliff behind me, oh. Shit. My hearth is pounding and everything seems slow, A couple idea crosses my mind, I read about falls examples of peoples surviving terrible falls, and a lot more about how peoples don''t survived them, damn, why did I love so much having villains throw from a cliff and never my heroes. Everything in my new ability I guess, and as much as I can in warrior body
15% magic point regeneration put into soul body, damage reduction set to 16%
The ground is almost there, I try to put my leg under me, and then contact. Falling is like really fast you know, one second the wind blow on my face, the next the sound of my broken legs echoes in the canyon like thunder. Apparently not enough because I feel my left arm explode in pain a second later. I''m in so much pain, I can''t fucking think. - You need to stay conscious, you have to start your healing, I can''t do it for you. "Aaarrgh!" What is that voice I hear, I''m crying and moaning. I can''t do anything. - Focus just a second and you will be feeling better in no time. I''m calling the mana, with the pain I forgot to keep the buffs actives, and send it flowing everywhere, I''m not really certain where it''s needed, but I feel like every single one of my cells are in pain. And I can feel my flesh trying to stitch herself, my bones moving under my skin. Ew. At least if I started to heal, I can go to sleep.
I have a memory that I come back to often, those night when I''m crying myself to sleep, or when I''m in one of the big hospital scanners and must stay perfectly still. It''s when I was twelve, I was at my friend Jeffrey house, in the basement. On the table was his GM screen, all the little figurines in position for the final fight of the campaign. I can see the boss in the throne room, standing in front of his oversize barbie chair, his minions by his side. On the other side of the room our party, the orc barbarian of Tom, the halfling wizard of James, Billy the tripe wrencher the Minotaur rogue of Julie, and in the middle of the party my priest of Alseta, a changeling Kitsune. I''m explaining to Jeffrey that I would probably have to stop participating in the Campaign, as my sickness is getting worse and social contact could become dangerous. That when my immune system was starting to break down. I remember Jeffrey listening with attention, and after a thoughtful moment, he opens a cabinet behind him, and get a box of medical masks, antibacterial spay, and others. "I don''t know if it will be enough, but we will make sure that you are safe for as along as you want to play with us !" I didn''t though they''d follow through, remembering how my parent''s efforts last for a whole two months before deciding that if I could make medical decision by myself I was in charge of my own health and should not put on them to be careful. But the next week, and the week after that, they put the masks, they bought an air purifier for the basement, the figurines were cleaned with gel. I was able to finish the campaign, after vanquishing the bad guy, we put in place infrastructures and councils to make the country better and make sure a tyrant will never come back. It was probably the happiest summer I got. Until my father told me we were moving to the other end of the country. A mutation he said, nothing he could do, even if my friends, my doctors, my therapist were all here. He didn''t even try to hide the paperwork that much he had to fill to ask for the mutation. Again, a punishment for being me, but subtle enough for not bringing the attention of the socials services. Sometimes I really regret using them as a menace, but at eight I didn''t though that much ahead. I try to push back the end of the summer, the tears, the goodbyes, to the back of my mind, and only remember the happy summer, the last happy summer, where I had friends and fun. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
When I wake up I still feel terrible, I can''t feel my legs, my side seems to be still open, and my arms is sending spike of pain across my all body. My mana returned to normal, not finish friend, a little more work.
I think I wake up a few more times until I managed to stay awake more than a few seconds. I feel swore everywhere, but I can feel everything, and it seems I can move. Quick look at my interface seems to indicate I can do math while in a world of pains, or that I tried a lot more that I though.
Magic point regeneration reduce by {Unending soul} Current magic point regeneration 0.1 mp/minute. Current magic points : 1.3/600
I focus for a moment on the mana leaving my soul, diffusing slowly across my whole body, I can perceive where it''s doing something and where it''s just splashing. I can take part of the mana, and bring it to where it''s useful. My control is not good enough and a lot of it is still getting wasted, but I can feel my last internal wounds and brittle bones fixing themselves a little faster. - Are you awake ? You got me worried about a moment there. "Yeah, me too, and of course it''s night. How long was I out ?" My face is in the dirt, but I would see if the sun was shinning - Not a clue, I perceive the world through you, but when you wake up sporadically I don''t think I noticed another night, so less than a day I guess. "Great, now I just need to find civilization, and be careful of ninja bears, the countryside of your world is nice Toriel." - I''m not certain we are in the countryside honestly, that bear was a level 10 hunter bear, and if it''s attacking humans that easily, it would have been hunted down long before it could be that level if there was any village or city around. "Oh, I got beaten to a sliver from death by a beast that won''t stand a chance if he was close to any civilization, great ego check" - He has 7 levels on you, good chance he''s going with strength as a bear, and he may have some ambush abilities, the fact you survived a direct blow is really impressive. "I will make sure to brag when I find someone, I think my bones won''t break under my weight, let get moving" - There is a good chance he got a territory abilities or something, so I will recommend lying low while we understand a little more about where we are. "I really don''t want to get lower than where I''m laying right now" I turn on my back, and my hairs are all sticky, so out for long enough for blood to dry, interesting. It seems that I fell into some sort of canyon, vertical cliff on both side, 4 meters in the middle. And there is a cavern a little farther. I start to rise, it will do for a hideout, but I should regain my magic point before I guess¡­ Reducing the amount of magic point send to unending soul is not as painful as I would have guessed, my regeneration probably doesn''t reduce pain, good to know I guess. And my next trait I will definitely find something like that. It''s something to read you can rebuild your body, it''s another to feel it. As soon as my magic point are back at 600, I''m entering the cavern, and it''s relatively small, and luckily empty, with a little bit of moss on the back to sit on. I should probably check my log, in case there is something useful. You survived against a creature three time your level, bonus exp awarded Your pain resistance skill increased to level 2 Your pain resistance skill increased to level 3 You healed a dying creature, awarding exp You are now level 4 New ability : Warrior speed : Your agility increase by 2. You increase your evasion by 5% "Neat, I guess I will be a little faster if the bear find me again. And one more point in Mana, which bring me to" Attributes interface
Attribute Default Value Class effects Total
Strength 2 1 3
Agility 2 3 5
Constitution 4 0 4
Perception 4 0 4
Reasoning 4 0 4
Magicus 1 1 2
Mana 2 5 7
Will (Free) 6 4 10
Magic point : Max : 700 70 pm/ min
"I think I will try to manage a bit more carefully my magic point regeneration and then go to sleep, and tomorrow I will go explore and hopefully find someone" - OK, you tell me if you need help with the math or anything "Thanks" Calculus increase to level 2
Unending life reduce mp regen by 5%, soul body by 15%, Soul sight by 1, warrior magic by 78%. Current mp regen : 0.7. Unending life : +7 cons,str,agi,perc Warrior magic : +8 str,agi Soul body : Reduce damage by 16%
- I can see a lot of abilities you showed us talk about damage, but what does that mean for the Users ? Is there some sort of hit points you didn''t talked about before ? - Ah yes, I can understand the confusion. There is no hit point or that kind of things. The exact calculation of damages and there effect is taking into account thousands of variables. The simplest one is a calculation from the attack perspective, the amount of strength or value of the ability is the initial aspect, multiply it by any bonus the user can have. That value is then affected by the relative size of the attack and the target, where the target is hit, what kind of attack it is, what the target is resistant to. In practice, it mean someone with a lot of damage will, well, do a lot of damage. How theses damages would manifest is subject to the situation, a sword with a 100 damage will cut in half most peoples, while a fist with the same amount will push and probably pierce a squishy target. But if the fist hit the head of a man, he would definitely die, if it hit the leg of a horse, the leg will probably broke, but the horse would still have a lot of capabilities. - Are you not afraid that it will complicated the balance of power between individual ? - Yeah probably, but that''s why there is Skills and personal abilities. That''s a tight balance, but we think we managed to do it. Press conference
Side-story : A very good horse - Chapter 1 - Doggy Doggy was a young horse, his life started normally: He was bought by a blind man and his daughter that wanted a puppy, was named doggy by the kid and went to live in their house. It took two weeks and the return of the family''s mother to notice that their new dog was in fact a baby horse. By that time the young girl was already fond of hey friend, bringing him to sleep in her bed. A month later, her parents said they couldn''t keep a horse in a house. Doggy didn''t really understand, he was in the house and everything was alright. Finally, some months later, the little girl hugged him while crying. Doggy was sad to see her be sad, but he had no idea why she was sad or how to fix it. The father took Doggy to a new place, with a very big building, way larger than the house of the family, and next to the building a prairie where a dozen horses were running around. And not small horses like Doggy, no. Adults horses running as fast as birds ! The father and a man that smelled like a horse talked for a bit, and then shake their hands. The blind man took a pouch of coins, counting every single one, before leaving smiling. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. The horse man took Doggy leash and brought him inside the building, more horses were there, Doggy didn''t remember seeing that many horses since the father had bought him ! "Freddy ! I got a new one for processing, check him good and find him a stable!" Oh, the man is way louder than even the girl. The voice that respond from a box with hay is way nicer "Yes Mr Paddy, I''m on it". Oh, there is another little girl in the box ! Not the little girl, she isn''t allowed to play in dirt and grass like that. That little girl has a hat and short hairs, probably because of all the dirt. "Hello beautiful, I''m going to take care of you for now on OK ? " Doggy didn''t really have a choice, he followed the new little girl toward a room at the back, where she cleaned him, look at his feet and his teeth, inspecting him from all side. And then finally she brought him to a new box. That box had hay and grain, hay on the ground and grain in a big trail on the wall. The box was quite big, because Doggy was small, but hay isn''t as comfortable as a nice bed. But the little girl closed the door after her, that''s annoying, where is doggy supposed to go if he needs the bathroom ? His little girl always leaves the door open so he can go to the little backyard of the house. He will have to wait for the morning now. He really hopes he won''t have to stay in this new place too long, he already misses his bed. Side-story : A very good horse - Chapter 2 - A horse decision Doggy really don''t like that new place, for once, it smells. He had to resolve himself to do his business in a corner of the box, and it''s really not fun. Luckily, that little girl doesn''t seem to mind when he goes inside. Maybe because that place is already dirty ? And she doesn''t play with him either ! She comes, bring him outside with the other horses, where all the horses only runs around the prairie. And there is a fence, he can''t leave like that. And when he comes back to the box, the little girl always clean the box and refill his food when he''s outside. And with that routine, days passed, then months, then years. Doggy grew and run. And every night, back in his box, he plotted a clever escape. His 5 lasts plans failed, the stable had guards and locks. But he discovered something new: The strong guard that keep catching him is apparently high level and that mean that he became stronger and stronger. So he waited, until it was time, and while he waited, he was attentive and listened. As a horse, he had some difficulty understanding human speech, but he knew that the time was coming. The little girl, that grew a lot and wasn''t so little anymore. Or maybe since he grew too, she was still little relative to him ? "That the one, he should get his System initialization today, and since the bastard keep trying to run away since he arrived, there is no chance he gets ridding horse. It will be my pleasure to eat him tonight." Rude.
System initialization
Oh, word in head. Weird.
Name : Doggy Age : 5 years old Specie detected : Horse Traits: {Horse endurance}, {Running speed}, {Donkey will}, {Humanity best friend} {Horse endurance}: You exhaust yourself 50% slower while running or walking. You can carry more without affecting your moving speed. +1 Constitution If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. {Running speed}: You are made for running. Your agility is doubled to calculate your moving speed. It''s halved to calculate your precision. {Donkey will}: You are as stubborn as a Donkey, you gain +2 Will. {Humanity best friend}: You are friend with humankind. Any collaborative ability is 50% stronger when use on a humanoid creature, and 25% stronger when received from a humanoid creature. You are better at understanding humanoid creature''s meaning. +1 reasoning.
Calculating attributes based on life experience : +1 Strength, +2 agility, +2 Constitution, + 1 Reasoning, +1 Will. Calculating Skills based on life experience : Running 6, Plotting 5, Acting 3, Catching 2, Evaluating Titles New title generated : [Loyal] [Loyal]: You are loyal to who you consider your master. Your Will attribute evolve. +1 Will. {Loyal Will} : Your will attribute is double when resisting effects intending to make you betray your master, or making you forget your loyalty.
Available class :
  • Running horse, Riding horse, Prairie ruminant,
  • Charging warrior, war horse.
  • Rogue, Mastermind, Pretender.
The horse read all of this, twice, to be sure. Of course, he is loyal and a friend. What''s weird is the donkey thing, the met donkey before, and he looks nothing like them¡­ The classes things are important ! He needs something that will help him escape and find the little girl. The warrior thing may make him stronger, but would it be strong enough to beat the tall man looking at him ? They want him to take riding horse, so if he takes something else they probably won''t let him train until he can escape. That mean rogue and mastermind are out, they are keeping an eye on him, and they will notice if he tries to stealth away. And no need for mastermind, he already is smart enough to make plans. Pretender is weird, he gets a distinct feeling it will help him pretend to be something else. That could be nice to play catch again with the little girl, or when they play the unicorn and the princess. But will that be enough to make the mean man think he''s a riding horse ? He''s already a horse, so it should be easy. And he gets the feeling that it''s a bit rarer than the other choices, that must mean it''s a good idea ?
Class selected : Pretender
Side-story : A very good horse - Chapter 3 - The horse pretending to be a horse
Attributes increase : +1 agility, +3 reasoning, +1 perception This class award 1 attribute point each level. Your Skill ''Acting'' evolved into the Skill ''Pretending'', the pretending skill includes the effects of the skills ''Acting'', ''Lie'', ''Disguise''. This class favored skills are: Pretending, plotting, evaluating. Your skills level increases : Pretending 4*, Plotting 6*, evaluating 1* You gain the following abilities : : You are able to influence people using socials skills, to make them believe something, or to understand what is motivating them. Your Reasoning attribute is evolving. Your Social skills progress 5% faster. You gain the following trait : {Social Reasoning} {Social reasoning}: You increase the effect of all socials skills by 1% per reasoning attribute point : You are able to pretend to be something else. Your pretending Skill can affect people perception, including through magic and the System. Your pretending Skill effect are a Tier higher that they should be when you are pretending to be something people expect you to be.
Attributes : Strength : 2 Agility : 4 Constitution : 4 Perception : 2 Reasoning : 5 Will : 5 This class gain exp by making people believe you are something you aren''t. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
"Oh, shit, he got ridding horse. Smarter than I would have taken him for. And he got good agility and Constitution too. Reasoning a little bit higher than usual, but that would explain all the weird comportment. "OK, Freddy, bring that one to the training stables, he''s almost ready for training ! " His voice is even more annoying with a high perception to Doggy. Doggy had a lot more mental power now, and he understands what his new class mean. He would have to pretend to be a ridding horse, until he was sold to someone, and then he will be brought to the outside, and he will be able to run for it! He was sent to the training center, where they started to teach him to wear a saddle and stuffs. They even put things in his mouth ! But Doggy was patient and listened attentively, studying his foes and making himself inconspicuous. He needs for them to let their guard down so his escape could be a success. He understood that the stable owner want money, and the more a horse is good, the more he gets. And from what he heard, apparently peoples with the most money are also the stupider. So Doggy would need to be sold at a high price and that way he will have a stupid owner that wouldn''t be able to stop his brilliant plan! In the following months he gained three level as he was trained to be ridden. Doggy was not really fond of having those random humans on his back. Freddy was ok, he was quite liking the girl, even if all the humans seems to think she was a boy for some reason ? He added a point in agility because he had to be fast to pretend to be a fast ridding horse, but then he got one ability that completely resolve that problem ! So he put more in reasoning, for plotting reason.
Attribute allocation : +1 Agility, +2 Reasoning Skills increased : Running 8, Plotting 8*, Pretending 7*, riding 2, evaluating 5* New abilities : , , : You have to know what things are to pretend you are able to do these things. You can Inspect other creatures to know their abilities, class and attribute. The amount of information from this ability is scaling with your perception attribute and your evaluating Skill. : While you are pretending to be something, you can increase your attributes to better trick peoples. You have X pretending points, you can increase your attributes by spending your pretending points in one of the three higher attribute of the class you are pretending to be. You can move those pretending points around at any time and when you start pretending to be something else. Your number of pretending points is equal to the value of your Reasoning attribute, you cannot have an attribute value higher than the highest individual with that class you have Inspected. If observers resist your pretending, the amount of pretending points decrease: the value is halved for each observer that do not believe, if no one believe in what you are pretending to be you lose all pretending points. : When you pretend to be from a class, you can use one ability of that class. You can change the ability you take at any time.
With these he was not the fastest horse in the stable, but he was close. Most of the time he took the ability, that allow to gain back stamina quicker to compensate for his relatively low Constitution. Apparently, the ridding horse class give a lot of attributes points in Agility and Constitution. And the when he had to be ridden, that was the level 1 ability, and they would notice if he didn''t have it. Apparently, he''s almost ready to be sold, and they think he''s one of their best riding horse. Next step, to the market, and then as soon as his new owner take his eyes off him, he''s out. Nothing could go wrong with a plan like that. Side-story : A very good horse - Chapter 4 - Boat Like when he was sent from the growing stables to the training stables, they put him into a wooden box and charged him in a chariot. It was not the most comfortable, but he really didn''t have a choice, the day of market the guard were particularly aware. He waited patiently, feeling his plan coming to fruition. These long years of waiting were finally coming to an end, and he will see the little girl again! He hears the voice of different man outside the box, and some cry from birds. Those were the sound of the white birds he saw a lot around the river next to the training ground. The box moved and shakes a bit, as he was brought out of the chariot and inside a room. There was a smell around, weird, nothing like that of the market. But he did smell something similar, in the kitchen with the little girl. What was it? Probably not important for now, probably the merchant making lunch. He heard some wood noise, cracking and all. And then some feeling of movement that made him a little bit sick. What is happening outside ? Did something hit his box ? After what felt like hours, maybe more, he slept a bit. He was starting to get a bit annoyed and a tiny little bit worried. So he did what any stressed horse do: kicking the box. After a few minutes a man went down shooting for him to shut up, or he would taste the whip. So Doggy stopped kicking, and the man went back. He didn''t need kicking anymore, he broke a few planks of his box and was able to look outside. He was in some sort of wood building, and the smell was worse. Outside, he saw a rat running around. With a bit of analysis, he was able to see it was level 6! 3 more level than Doggy, impressive rat. And it was not stuck in a box him. That made him think, maybe he could pretend to be a rat? He looked at the rat and start focusing, trying to imitate the noise, and posture of the little beast. Lowering his head to appear smaller. The rat stop his movement and rise up on his hinge leg to look at Doggy. He''s trying his hardest, pushing all his will and thought in it, to become a rat, to be free to run around, to be capable of going anywhere and be in a house with humans. Your Pretender class level increase to 5 Your pretend class level increase to 6 Your Pretend skill increase to level 10* He could feel his outline shift and change, he was still Doggy, a horse, but to the rest of the world, he was now a rat. "What are you doing inside the box, friend ? It''s for the horsey. You need to get out of here before getting stomp." The rate address Doggy, and he understood! Probably because of the new ability :
''Allow you to understand the language spoken by what you are pretending to be. Getting mute wouldn''t go well at all as a disguise.''
He''s hesitating a bit, the horse is still too big to get inside the hole. But also, if he has to follow the laws of Man and Nature, how will he be able to escape and find the little girl. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. So he squeezes, and to any observer, it is not strange, as he is just a simple rat trying to get out. If the observer was able to pierce the still basic effect of Pretend, he would see reality shift around the horse, as the box and the hole in it aren''t able to correctly identify that it is a big horse and not a small rat that try to get out.
: Your Pretender Skill can also affect in a measure the surrounding reality. How could you pretend to be something if the world was trying to stop you from interpreting your role as you wish.
Doggy sneak around with the rats, go steal some grain in a bag, and finally go take a look-up the stair. And what he found was shocking : He was on a wooden plank in the middle of the water ! Men were moving around, they were pulling on ropes that were attached to big squares of clothing ! Doggy was shaken by that view, what happened to the city ? Did the river flood? He can only see a bit farther away a chunk of grass and weird tree. A man on a roof a bit higher up looked down at Doggy, and he felt his attributes diminish, the pretender attributes getting affected by the disbelief of the man. With analyzing, doggy noticed the man was a ''Sailor /Captain of ship''. Oh! That must be it, they are on a ship ! The little girl talked about ships, these bad men were on then stealing things, and then princess would go and stop them! Doggy didn''t have a princess for now, and he was almost certain that he was being stolen by theses strange ''Sailor''. "Hoy ! What is that horse doing on the deck !" The men turned around like they were noticing Doggy for the first time, they probably were. Doggy got a bit of hesitation, get back in the box, and the men would watch him with more attention, or start running. He didn''t really know where he is, or where he''s supposed to go if he runs. But as he looks around, he notices something, that ''Boat'' thing is moving really fast ! The chunk of grass is starting to get out of view already ! With panic pushing him, he decided to improvise, and with a fast movement, jumped outside the boat directly into the water. The water is strangely warm, way more than what he is used to, but he doesn''t really have time to understand why as the water try to catch him. He starts to move around, getting his head out of the water, his legs moving like a frantic gallop. And then he notices a creature, she got small flat arms, s shiny body, and a weird face, but she is able to move under the water like it is nothing. In desperation, Doggy focus on the creature, analyzing it as a ''Salmon level 1'', and trying his hardest to convince the water that he is a Salmon also and to let him alone. He focuses his will toward that goal, he can see that the creature is calm, so he tries to calm himself, breathing calmly. The water under his throat and he feels like he''s dying, but he keeps pretending it doesn''t inconvenience him, so that the water gets bored and let him live. And then the water cease to drown him, and he gets a slight control over his movement.
Your Pretender class level increase You gain the ability : : When you pretend to be another specie, you also take the underlying trait of the creature, like the type of respiration, feeding, or temperature. You can deactivate that ability You copy the trait {Adaptable to fresh and salt water }
OK, he is now free, and the boat seems to have disappeared into the distance. Now to find his way home. Chapter 9 - Forest trip I''m awake by my stomach. Damn. "It''s bullshit that I can literally regrow flesh and do magic, and I still need to eat¡­" - I mean, it''s kinda standard for living things to need to eat, and sleep, and breath one way or another. You probably could have skipped that with the basic robot-core body, but you took the human aspect, those basic needs must be the reason for the cheap price. "Yeah, would not have liked to be all machine. I guess I need to find food and water" Outside the canyon looked the same as last night, rocky vertical cliff for something like 40 meters up. It continues in two directions. If the sun works the same as on earth, I''m guessing north that way, so. "Two directions, East or West ?" - Three, you can go up "It may have seen fun from your side, but believe me when I say I don''t want a repeat of last night, plus I have no idea how to climb" ¡ª You have 20 effective agility and 19 cons, you probably don''t need a climbing skill to go up a rocky cliff like that one, believe me. But still, probably not the best idea right now, don''t think a repeat with the bear would end well. "Yeah, I''m saying west, it seems to go down a bit, so more chance to find water maybe ? I knew I should have looked at more survival show ¡­ " I start walking toward the West, the rocky ground uncomfortable on my bare feet, but not cutting me thanks to my Constitution. "What are skills anyway ? How do they work ? " - Skills condensate your knowledge and abilities, to progress a Skill you have to practice and increase your understanding of it. Skill don''t seem to have a cap, but each ten of levels are big step up in the power of a Skill, but only rare experts are able to attain level 20 in a Skill. "OK, so if I''m looking for food and water a lot, I will become better at it ? Like supernaturally better ? " - At low level, it''s more about fixing your skills, making you more consistent with it, and level up are usually coming with some knowledge. While we''re talking I''m approaching the end of the canyon, opening on a massive valley, full of greenery and a central lake. A 15 m drop is in front of me, probably an old waterfall descending into the valley. I can see birds flying around the hidden valley. "I''m guessing I will find food and water down there, but I will have to climb to get out, and I don''t see any smoke or something, so probably no civilization. Or do I go East ? I don''t know what''s safer " - Like I said, you shouldn''t have too much problem climbing back up, and we have no clue if there is anything in the other end of the canyon. From up there we didn''t see a lot more than rocks¡­ With a sight, I approach the cliff, and start trying to climb down, there are a lot of rocks to grab, and my superhuman strength and endurance help me to take it slow. I have to take a detour in my climb, as there is a cavern at the base of the cliff. Finally, I''m at the bottom.
New skill acquired : Climbing
The cavern seems a bit bigger than the one from last night, I will probably take a look later when it''s time to find a place to sleep, for now, I will go toward the lake. I''m entering the forest, and it seems almost peaceful, I never had the chance to leave the city, and nature seems nice like that. Aaaaah, fuck, why is that thing biting my leg ! I kick, and the beast went flying against a tree, releasing a squeak. It looks like a fox, with orange fur and a long face, blood, my blood, all over its face. It''s going up, visibly, with difficulty. - OK, it''s a bloodhunter Fox, level 1. You should be alright. While keeping an eye on the fox, I check my leg, the wound is already closing. OK, I can do it, let''s go. I charge the fox, and kick it in the face, I hear a loud snap, and the body of the fox fall on the ground behind a bush.
Blood hunter Fox killed, exp awarded.
"Oh, I think I felt the Skill thing you said, I wanted to kick it and my leg almost moved by itself, going the right angle for the kill." "But killing a little beast like that doesn''t seem so nice, it''s the size of a cat. I will probably need to level up, but I will really prefer to find peoples to heal for that. " - The amount of exp is increasing exponentially with the level of your target, for killing at least, otherwise it depends, but generally to level up quickly you should challenge yourself. Your class should allow you to face higher level foes, and gain more exp, at least on the beginning. The area doesn''t seem to be particularly high level, the bear could be the higher level around. Which mean even if you''re lost, you should be more or less safe. "Yeah, that''s that at least. A bit sad I don''t have anything with me, I don''t really want to eat that raw ¡­" - Your unending soul includes poison suppression, so you can eat it without fear. "Yeah, not going to do that, there should be some fruit or something somewhere, it feels like spring. "
OK, that forest suck, in the two hours it took for me to reach the lake, I was attacked by fox 6 times, all between first and third level, the third level one was pretty fast, but with my passive boost I still have more agility than them and can catch them pretty easily. And with my strength they are as brittle as sticks. From that side the lake has a little dirt beach, I can see a few deerlike creatures and a few little critters drinking water while eyeing me carefully. - Be careful, none of them have a dangerous name, but the big deer is level 8. I watch a little bit carefully the deer, its woods seem particularly sharp, and I can feel his attention never leaving me. I make a show to seems as unmenacing as possible, and I drink the fresh water, cupping it with my hands. I may need less water with that body, but it feels wonderful anyway. The deer scream makes me rise up just in time, the jaw of a beast jumping out of the water, closing on my right arm instead of my face. Oh shit, can''t I go 5 minutes without something trying to kill me. The beast looks a lot like an alligator, maybe a bit longer ? Half my arm is inside his jaw and when I try to back away I can feel my flesh coming apart. "Leave me alone, bastard !" I hit it once or twice, but I can''t manage enough strength, and he seems to ignore me totally. His claw start to slash my thighs, and his weight is dragging me to the ground. - It''s level 8, you need to hit it harder ! I punch it a few more times when his tail hit my ankle, sending me to the ground, and it still didn''t let go of my arm. I feel the pressure increase and my bone crack. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. And now his rear claw are tearing apart my leg and his front are going at my belly. The pain make it very hard to concentrate, and I panic completely, I keep punching and screaming but fighting with my left arm is harder and the Skill don''t give me any clue.
Your pain resistance increase to 4
Ouh, that hit me like morphine. OH I''m so stupid, I have magic. I double the mana into warrior magic, feeling my magic point starting to drain, and my strength increasing, the increase in constitution make me a bit more resistant to the pain. And before hitting again, I put as much as I can in Soul strike, feeling the death mana covering my hand. This time my punch does something, my fist pierces the flesh and I can feel his blood on my hand. He keeps clawing and biting me, and I keep punching. After what feel like hours, but maybe more like one minute, I feel the force on my right arm reduce, and the beast go limp.
Congratulation, you manage to kill an adversary twice your level You killed level 8 lurking Gator Your level increase to 5 Your unarmed combat skill increase to 3
One more point to Mana, and a new ability. I will need a few minutes to get up, but at least I can feel my regeneration hard at work fixing me up.
Name : Jessica Malone Classes : Soul warrior 5 Species : Godling (Soul body manifestation) Titles : Isekai / World traveler/ Born elsewhere, Bug Finder 3, Death witness, Reincarnate, Unique specie, Legendary trait, Rule breaker Traits : Unending soul, Human adaptability, Godling , free will, soul mana
Attribute Default Value Class effects Total
Strength 2 1 3
Agility 2 3 5
Constitution 4 0 4
Perception 4 0 4
Reasoning 4 0 4
Magicus 1 1 2
Mana 2 6 8
Will (Free) 6 5 11
Magic point : Max : 800 80 pm/ min
Abilities
Soul perception Warrior magic Soul strike Soul body
Warrior speed Soul projection
Skills
Medical knowledge 2 Calculus 2 Visualization 1 Science 1
Magical knowledge 1 Basic life magic* 1 Basic death magic* 1 Unarmed combat* 3
Soul knowledge* 1 Poison resistance 1 Pain resistance 4, Lie 1,
Climbing 1 Writing 5
Experience increase : Your Soul warrior class gain exp when you kill creatures with a soul, when you heal a creature with a soul, and any time your action help the cycle of souls to function.
It is knows that some particular achievement are recognized by the System, giving an ''achievement'' and awarding experiences. These specials way of acquiring experience seems to be proportional to the experience needed for the current level. It''s also given equally to all the classes. Most Build maker tend to split into one of two opinions regarding achievement : Either to get them early to pass some hard level of difficult classes, or to get them as late as possible so to get a significant boost to as many classes as possible. Which philosophy I adhere to is not the subject of this class, and books detailing the advantage of each strategy are available at the university library. - Course on experience acquisition. Carthage University.
Chapter 10 - Barbecue I finally push the lizard to the side, and start slowing rising up. My arm is still out of order, but the wounds on my legs are better and I can stand. I look at the blood covering me, and the water, I can manage to be dirty for a little longer, I don''t think I would have like fighting that beast in the water. I really didn''t though of that, I should have taken a breathing trait or something. To the list for the future I guess¡­ "Oh, my new ability seems to fix my problem, I think ?"
Soul projection : You are able to let your soul leave your body, entering into soul form. While you are in soul form, you can use any ability based on soul affinity mana. You can stay in soul form for 1 minute per total level. Each second after that maximum time, your soul starts getting damaged. In soul form you can move at a speed equal to your Magicus meter per seconds, you are incorporeal, and have your ability activated.
- Yeah, it''s definitely not the primary function of the ability, but if you die, it will allow you to stay in soul form for a while, and regenerate your body. I would still discourage you to die, I don''t think you can rebuild it very fast, and staying in soul form will cost you your exp. "Yeah, almost dying is very much not something I enjoy, I don''t intend of dying soon. This one will be my lunch, maybe they have fruit somewhere, but he made me angry." I drag the gator a bit farther from the lake, and look for a good rock. There is a nice rock, after smashing it against another rock a bit I get a kinda sharp knife, and then, with some help from superhuman strength, I manage to cut out some pieces of meat. A few pieces, I managed to demolish the body, I have a lot more of blood on me and everywhere. I don''t think I will be a great butcher anytime soon.
New skill acquired : Survival
The system notifications are definitely neutral, I know it, but also, this one feel sarcastic. I use my flint and a few sticks to start a fire, and I had flames before I remember I had no idea how to do it 5 minutes ago. Skills are cool. Charred meat from a gator is not very good, or easy to eat, or filling. My unending soul seems to be removing the toxins from my stomach as fast as I eat, so I won''t be sick at least. "OK, I think I will explore all around the lake for a few hours, see if there is a shallow bit for washing myself, and maybe some fruits. And I think I will try camping in the cave tonight ? " - Seems like a good plan, be careful. "Hey, I was wondering, the crazy Matrix from the other day had more than a hundred in Will, how did it get that high ? With one point per level I would need like eighty level to get to that point, or forty if I focus everything in it, and I have a pretty neat trait for it too" - Well, it was the Matrix Node of the Network, and it seems to be able to mind-control robot-core, who can get pretty powerful, so it won''t surprise me that it focus it''s Will attribute. But to answer your questions, to get more attributes, you usually get more classes, that and a lot of classes give multiples attributes points per level. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. "So my epic class is rationing my attributes points, fun. How do I get more classes ? " - Your class first ability give you a burst of like ten times the attributes that someone your level should have, so I wouldn''t complain that much if I was you. For more class, you get some options every ten level of your first class, so once you get to level ten, you will be prompt to choose a new class from a list depending on your actions and met prerequisite, usually second classes are stronger than your first, but it may not be the case for you. Then you can choose if you get the two classes in parallel, or if you fuse both together. "Oh, what''s the difference ? " - If you get two parallels classes, they each get their own exp pool, so if they have different exp gain for each, you will have to pause your progression to catch up with the second, and then rise your first again. Your second class can never be higher than your first, and your third can''t be higher than your second, you get the idea. If they gain exp the same way, they share it, so you gain less exp with your first class, and usually need more since the exp cost of leveling increase with level. "Outch, and if you start splitting your exp or your exp time in two, three or more, I''m guessing you will rapidly start to slow down and stop leveling efficiently. What''s considerate as high level ? And why peoples are fusing their class ? " - For humanoid, high level peoples have multiples classes in their forty, monster and solo classer can go to sixty or seventy and be crazy strong, but this kind of power stay rare, most cities rarely have someone at thirty. When you get multiples classes, you get everything from all the classes, every ability and attributes points. When you fuse, you get attributes points from both classes and your new class first abilities, but then when you got to level 11 for example, you have to choose between the lvl 11 abilities of your fuses classes. And you get exp progression for the two classes in one. And there''s the fact that every Tier up, when you get a new class, you gain an attribute bonus to everything, so going very high make your attributes higher too. People usually fuse when their first class is hard to exp, really weak, or really strong. If it''s weak it allows you to kinda change it into something better at the price of a second class, and if it''s strong or hard to exp, it becomes a bit easier to exp, you can rise it higher that you would with two classes, and you don''t have to sacrifice times or resources to a second class. But even if you are particularly strong, it will still be years until you get to 10, most people take 4 to 8 years to get there, and while you are not most people, you still have limitation. "Yeah, but if there is something that I have, it''s time, what I would like to have now is some fucking civilization !" I probably shouldn''t have said that out loud, if I am to believe the noise I''m hearing from the forest, something heard me ¡­
Fusing two classes is always a very personal choice. Some of you that will follow an imperial build made that choice when they choose to put their faith in the empire. For the other, the choice is simple : Either you gain very fast progression at the cost of later power, or you take risks and time to cultivate two separate classes, gaining more and more power. Abilities are powerful, everyone knows that, and fusing allow someone to get access to high level one potentially dozen of times faster than usual, generally by taking a very fast grows first class to get in a few years to Tier 2. But the choice of taking multiples classes, each working together, and having twice then trice as much abilities as a solo classer will make you more powerful in the long run. But a lot of peoples aren''t able to get to the long run, and you need to balance your ambition with your potential. As a reminder, the higher person in the empire Redrick the terraformer is level 67. He never won any spar against our emperor since the emperor got to the third Tier. - University of Carthage lecture.
Chapter 11 - Cave woman The lake is almost idyllic, a lot of really great views. And I even found a little stream in the north, where I managed to clean myself up a bit and dry in the sun. On the return I found a few trees with nice looking fruits: look like apple, taste more like oranges. And from the drain on my magic, apparently very poisonous; I had to increase the magic point regeneration reduction from unending soul as I was starting to feel weak. When I came back to the cave, the day was coming to an end. It was probably very dark, but I can''t really notice with my night vision. It could be a problem if I want to pretend to be a normal human woman when I will finally find a city. "By the way, how do you see the race and level of things ? Each time before, I was a bit of a panic, but I don''t think I can ? " - Probably because of my connection to the System ? The identify ability is not very rare. The power vary for each individual of course, but it''s usually pretty limited, name, level, specie. More often on guard or scholar type class. But since the System connect to the soul, you may get something like that down the line. "Good to know.I''m not really on top of what is or is not normal, but my specie name should like something that could be a little noticeable." - Definitely, from what I know, the only way to get the Godling specie name is to have already invested a lot of Godling points. That imply that you got access to the Godling sub-System for a while, and it''s extremely rare to see someone get that before Tier 3 at least. At ground level, the cave is made of two distinct caverns: a small one on the side, and a big one, opening on the old waterfall. At the other end, what I can only describe as a spooky dark hole. I''m still guessing about the darkness, I would look very stupid if in fact there was some kind of bio-luminescence from the moss on the wall or something. Maybe with some kind of mirror, I could see if it''s dark or not ? Like, my trait says I can see in perfect darkness, so it''s clearly magic. But if there is no light, a mirror couldn''t work, unless the magic sight also works with them ? A puzzle for another time. "OK, does it look safe to sleep ? " - The creatures that live underground are frequently a bit higher level, the level 10 bear may be the more dangerous thing on the surface, but there, you could find some nasty things. The pressure of the limited resources normally mean more competition and more exp. If things came to the surface, I think you could see some tracks or something. "Yeah, I think I won''t try spelunking just yet, enough new experiences for the day" It took me a little over an hour, I guess, to bring some branches and leaves to hide the corridor to the second cavern. I also put a big log, more like a tree trunk, in the way to the underground. It won''t stop little things, and I guess if I''m able to carry it a big beasty could do it too, but at least it will serve as an early warning. I made a bed ¡ªout of leaves, moss, and a few sticks¡ª hidden in the corner of the smaller cavern, it''s the safest I''m able to make my new (temporary) home, and the bed isn''t even that uncomfortable ! Well, it beat ground, which was my goal. I sit cross-legged, and start to concentrate on my new ability.
Soul projection : You are able to let your soul leave your body, entering into soul form. While you are in soul form, you can use any ability based on soul affinity mana. You can stay in soul form for 1 minute per total level. Each second after that maximum time, your soul starts getting damaged. In soul form you can move at a speed equal to your Magicus meter per seconds, you are incorporeal, and have your ability activated.
It takes me a while to manage it, it''s a bit the opposite of my other abilities: instead of bringing the mana outside of my soul to my body, I reabsorb all my mana and feel myself disconnect from my body. After a few seconds I''m able to see myself, and damn I changed. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. I look about 1.7 meters, red hairs, some little red spot on my cheeks, I seem athletic, but not as much as I should be considering I carried a tree trunk a few minutes ago on my shoulder ¡­ My skin is white, I don''t appear to have any of the scar that I should have from all the fighting. From the outside I can see how much my clothes are destroyed, I''m wearing the same kinda synthetic material from when I wake up, and it''s in pieces. Enough peeping, I have only 5 minutes, at 2 m/s, some quick mental math tell me I can go explore around 150 m, I Will myself to move, and I go flying toward the ground, passing through. After a few terrifying seconds of nothingness, I emerge into a massive cave system. The main cave is about 10 meters high, with some little cliffs and platform close to the walls. The bottom has some enormous mushrooms, the size of trees. I can see massive bats hanging next to me, those could eat a cat in one bite ! And that kinda answers one of my questions, I''m invisible in Soul form, good. At the other end of the cavern, maybe 15 meters from me, I can see a very very big snake sleeping next to a little pond on an elevated surface. I can see tunnels shooting out of the grotto, some leaving down, some up, and about half of them could let the snake pass. Which is quite impressive since he looks as beefy as a city bus. And he may be longer, I think his tail is under the water. "What am I seeing ?" I''m doing my best to talk to Toriel using my inside voice, it''s a bit easier when I don''t have a mouth. - The mushroom is called noxious killer shroom, level 6. The bats are closes to level 10. The snake is called King of the dead kingdom, lvl 24. Oh, do not get close to him, even in soul form. I don''t know if I have the normal , but a creature with a title has something about him. "OK, do not come close to the scary big snake that appeared to be sleeping on a pile of bones, thanks." - Based on the whole two days I know you, you have a bad tendency to finish half dead the moment I''m starting to believe you will become someone incredible¡­ And I''m starting to get the feeling in the back of my head, so be careful. "Noted, thanks for the vote of encouragement." ¡ªI only got munch on three times since yesterday. Hmm. Yeah, I see it now. But it''s not my fault I''m tasty ! ¡ª "What about him having a title ? I have like 5 of them" - Yeah, and you''re a freak, you killed something that had 4 level on you, survived a sneak attack that sent you in a 15 m free fall, and bullied half that forest in the afternoon you spend there. "Didn''t though of it like that, I think I will go now" I think up, and up I go, by counting I think the snake is like 20 meters below me. I didn''t see a tunnel going stray for my cave. I should be outside his hunting ground. Hopefully. And a big thing like that must be slow: I have like a ton of agility, and he must have none. So even if he comes for me I will just run away. Going back in my body was incredibly easy, which is reassuring. And what''s that feeling !? It feels like a lot of bugs are crawling all over my skin ! I look down and oh. Sometimes the answer is the easiest one. I let an undignified yelp, and run outside to throw the bug away. What the fuck ! I made sure to check my leaves for bugs before making the bed ! Is it why we''re not supposed to place the bed directly on the ground ? I will try that, don''t want any bug in my bed. Making an out of ground bed is more difficult that I could have guessed. Well, option number two then. After a quick run across the forest, ¡ª probably not the more safe or prudent¡ª if I boost my agility a bit I''m quite fast. I grab a dozen of ''not apple'', while I''m here, may as well, and go back to the cave. While I was gone, the bugs seems to have mostly left the cave, but I do not trust them enough as it is. I rip one of the fruit in two, and spray its juice across the ground and walls of the tunnel leading to my little room. If it''s strong enough to stress my standard regeneration rate with my high constitution, some puny little bugs will have no chances ! Now to sleep a bit, and tomorrow more exploring, maybe training my skills a little. Chapter 12 - King of the dead kingdom The giant snake was lazily digesting his latest meal when he noticed something watching him. It took him a few moments to perceive a little soul floating to the east of his kingdom, not one of his servants, they won''t dare to fly higher than he is. Focusing his inside gaze , he called on the System to answer his question, he knows that the system is not subservient to him, but he listens to the Snake, and that''s enough.
Jessica - Soul Warrior level 5 - Godling (Soul body manifestation )
Weak, wouldn''t even make a dent in his progression, he let her go back to the surface. The Godling part is interesting, the snake call, and a few of his ghosts come to him, he doesn''t have to ask, his servant would have to be undeserving of a King if he needed to speak to get an answer. "My liege, Godling, like I was, are chosen by the system as being who could ascend to godhood and create a new specie to populate your realm. How and when the System judge someone deserving of that power is mysterious, even for me. "I received it when I obtained my second class ''Artisan of the dead'', which allowed me to change the traits of my undead creations. Godlings are powerful on their own, and I managed to take over my kingdom, gaining in power until the day I died" The snake open lazily one eye, and the ghost cease to speak, understanding that his blabbering is enough. That Jessica is weak, but she will become more powerful, and when she becomes a deserving meal, then she will come back to face the snake, and she will join his kingdom, and the snake will become more powerful. He can feel her setting down high up where the ground and the damn sun is, she runs away slowly, and without spatial abilities, a shame, and when she comes back she seems to be busy poisoning littles bugs, the snake can feel dozens of soul go to higher realms as the night go on. Truly vicious, that hunt will be fun. The snake is not a Godling, he is a king, and he does not care that the System hadn''t offered that power, as he has no interest in creating a new species, and does not need new debts. The snake''s kingdom does not have a library or a school, but He knows the system does not give anything freely, and every bit of power must be earned with effort and bravery. And the snake is waiting for his next evolution, as he would like the ability to slither between the space, as he noticed that sneaky mammal do years ago, but if anything, the snake is patient. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
The Ghost of the Architect went back to his tower. The Snake isn''t the micromanagement type of King, and the Architect was able to take back his home when he was alive. He faces all the calculations, notes on necromancy and research of the last century. The Snake magic bind his victims into servitude, making them practically incapable of plotting against him. The keyword there is practically. He took a new piece of paper, and start writing, that new Godling is an opportunity. The Snake think of himself too powerful to fail, but the Architect was a Godling once, and he knows what kind of potential it entails. Once he was powerful, building a new form of unlive to serve his goals, accessing a form of eternal life. But his country was destroyed by the Snake when he was absent. When he came back, the ghost had converted the people of the dead Kingdom in an army of ghosts, and the Architect lost the fight. But where he failed because his mastery was over the bodies, that young woman may vanquish the Snake with her mastery over the Soul. One can only hope.
"The snake of ouroboros is a classic example of a creature or class that operate outside the usual expectation of power for his level, those creatures were originally estimated to be apex beasts, because of their advanced intelligence and their kingdom toppling power, further investigation indicate that they do not possess a legendary trait, which is the criteria for an apex beast or specie. What they have instead been a few synergistic traits, leading some experts to believes they are the result of a failed attempted to make a new apex beast, that allow the creature to increase his strength passively as it age. They are, comparatively to a creature of their level, weaker or stronger, and the only way to know is their age and by extension their size. A 200 years old snake in captivity will grow to around level 15, it will have attributes about half that of a creature the same level, except for a few things : his size will give him a boost to Str approximating 20, and a boost to speed similar which if you remember your classes on average stat progression is a lot of passives boosts but not really the reason they are on most kingdom kill on sight list : The snake in this study was kept in captivity and fed at a minimum, and rise to a level most of you may never attain in their lifetime. That''s the thing making them dangerous, they can grow to a dangerous power while hiding away, and smart enough to not attack civilization while they are weaker. That''s why people though they were apex, because they seem to appear from nowhere with a terrible power, but they were just waiting for their time." University of Carthage class ''Of expectation of power''
Chapter 13 - The lay of the land I took a week to explore the valley and the canyon.
Skill increase : Climbing 3 Skill increase : Survival 2 Skill increase : Unarmed combat 4 Level increase, Soul warrior level 6 Skill increase : basic death magic 2 New ability : Soul attack : Your sight can damage soul, you inflict soul damage (Will based) to any target you can see with your soul sight. This ability has a fix cost of 100 mana/second
In the valley the top dog are the weird deer, their leader is the one I notice next to the lake, level 8, in the lake there is a lot of fish, and a few gators, but none lvl 10. I noticed a few more caverns in the cliff around the valley, some of them have bears and bats, but none as strong as Big bear or the kind underground. I also explored a bit of the underground, but I''m still limited in range, I saw a few beasts that Toriel identified as mid 15, and what appear to be the ruins of some sort of city ? And I climbed back to the top of the canyon, and I think most of the area is the territory of the bear, this time I managed to notice him with soul sight at the last moment, and I''m faster than him. Well, I''m more agile, a lot more, but he has some kind of charge ability, in straight line he went faster and faster crushing a few trees, I got a level in unarmed combat for the last minute dodge I managed to do. The rest of the exploration of his territory was done in soul form, and the bear definitely can''t see my soul, and I can''t manage to notice him without soul sight. All the area on top of the canyon is his, and he has some sort of magical sense, as he is always walking around where my soul is. So logically, I decided to climb the cliff of the valley, the side opposite to the canyon. In that part of the cliff, like 30 meters higher than the ground, are nesting some kind of giants birds. I learned a few things that day : The birds see me as food, I may be quite capable in a fight, but that don''t apply when I''m hanging for my life 20 meters off the ground, the big birds are approaching level 15 so Toriel think there is a high level area on the other side of the valley, maybe some kind of plain or something, trees are way better to land on than rock. Since I''m kinda stuck here until I''m able to fight the bird or the bear, so I trained a bit against the creatures in the valley, to eat and exp. I managed to manipulate my death mana to hurt creature at a range, in the hope to be able to kill the bird from cover, as they don''t seem to want to go under the tree. Based on my test, the mana disperse rapidly with distance, and I can kill a level 2 fox at 10m, using half my total magic points. Toriel says it''s because of my low Magicus. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. The level 6 give me kinda exactly what I want to do with my magic, but as an ability. It''s very effective, beasts don''t even seem to notice the soul attack, but it''s also very expensive and with my current magic point regeneration it''s on a 1.5m range. I will need a dozen level to use it on the bird at least, and that if I continue to focus increasing my Mana attribute. I decided to stay in the cavern, I took a few hours each night to decorate it, putting walls toward the tunnel of the scary snake, adding some sort of bed made of grass, putting my food away from the ground, they seem to have a lot of bugs in this forest, and they all want to go in my cavern to eat my food, even thought half of it is poisonous. My third survival level came from some kind of fire pit I managed to remember seeing in a tv show about Native Americans.
Skill acquired : Crafting
I''m busy digging a hole, I made a shovel out of wood, I think I should be able to make a trap for one of the bear in the valley, it''s only level 8, but fighting it would need me to be way closer than I''m comfortable with, and that seems like the human way to hunt. "So, how high level do you think I should be to face the bear ?" - It''s actually a bit difficult to say, we don''t really know the hunter bear abilities and attributes. From what we saw, he definitely has a territory power, a stealth one, a kind of terror aura, and probably some sort of damage amplifier on either surprise attack or attacks by behind. His attributes seems geared toward strength, and probably constitution, seeing how he managed to break down those trees the other day without stopping. And while you increase your Mana each level, you basically gain 1 in each physical attribute for each level or two for a ten-minute fight thanks to unending soul. "So what do your math tells you ?" - That for 10 minutes, right now, you should be faster and stronger than the bear, so with no magic to amplify your damage, that''s the window you need to be able to kill him or at least hurt him more than he hurt you. The problem is that your abilities are really all over the place, with a lot of scaling, and he probably has a lot of things focus on combat. You may be able to kill it if you manage to fight him in equal standing, but if he managed to get you down, he will kill you, and I don''t think your magic point regeneration is enough to rebuild your entire body before your level get low enough that you can''t stay on this realm. "You told me that each level take longer than the other, and it already took a week from 5 to 6, so at least a month to 7, and a lot more for each after that" - Yeah, honestly, I would feel confident in your change at level 10, you may be able to wing it at 8 or 9 if you train your Skills a lot. I told you most peoples take a decade to reach 10, and even if you are going very fast, because you can hunt things higher level than you and you are constantly fighting since you got there, I think it would take you a year to level 8, and probably three to 10. "I''m not really looking forward to spending years living in the wood eating half burned lizards, I will have to find a faster way to level up, or another route to leave the valley ¡­" Chapter 14 - A faster way In the name of efficiency, I made very little progress in my leveling up in the next three months. I made a lot of progress on my situation, and I''m sure that it will start paying dividends later. For starter, I move out of my cave, as fancy as it was, the snake just under me made me a bit uneasy at night, and walking to the stream each day was becoming a chore. I built myself a treehouse in one of the not apple tree, I learned that the bark of that specie of tree is also poisonous, and while I''m resistant enough to not be impacted, the bugs that keep coming in my bed are not. That side progress increased my Crafting to level 2 and gave me Construction at level 1, the effect of the Skills are really impressive, for my shovel I just shaped vaguely the wood in a shovel like form, but after getting the skill I was able to craft myself hammer and axe with stone head like a pro. I thought a lot about where the System get his knowledge ? Toriel wasn''t able to answer me, but for me there are two options, either the System is kinda omniscient and can just give people knowledge about anything, which I doubt seeing how many troubles he got when I first got there, or it learns back from people, someone somewhere made a basic stone axe, so now everyone that get the same Skill know how to do it. That would mean there is a top limit for skills, it can''t teach you something nobody figure out, and maybe that''s why it''s there ? To make people invent new things and techniques to create a bigger database ? Musing about the raison d''¨ºtre of the system is fun and all, but I won''t find answers while stuck in the woods if everyone in the vast civilization didn''t, and since Toriel is made to teach me everything someone growing up should know about the system, which by itself almost prove that the system learn from peoples, and he doesn''t know, I guess that still a mystery for the wider world. Maybe I will find a library or a school when I finally find a city. On other news, I made a lot of progress on soul magic, more like accidentally that I would like, but still. I was trying to increase the duration I''m able to be out of my body, make a spell to protect it or something, but my life and death magic didn''t do it. So I reread my trait, and I have technically soul mana affinity, which gave me basic life and death magic. So I tried to mix the two magic together to try to reproduce the effect of my ability , and it didn''t work. Like it did something, but not what I was trying to do, I lost basic death and basic life magic, and instead got basic soul magic*, with which I can do all I could with either of the two before, so not a lot, but my soul magic can''t protect my soul from erosion, or maybe it can, but not for long enough for me to notice. To make it better, I have three options : increase my Magicus, increase my Skill level, or wait until level 10 and take Soul mage. Soul mage is a nice potential future option, I was a bit scared that it would give me similar abilities as Soul warrior and that it wouldn''t work together, but apparently abilities can fuse like traits, making them more powerful or versatile, and with two class similar it would probably happen a lot. We talked about class a lot, as I decided to wait until level 10 to face the bear, and I would have the option to choose a new one at that point. To come back to basic soul magic, I managed to do a nice thing, I call it a spell even if Toriel insist that if it was, it would have been recognized by the System. I think the System is being snobbing and won''t give me the spell interface, since I''m not a mage. I call my Spell ''eye of the soul'', and it allows me to look at my soul with my soul, it''s a bit trippy, and I feel like it has a lot of future potential, but it allows me to see the system around my Soul. Like, literally the magic or something of the System is like a web around my soul and does things, changing it and pushing it in direction when I use my abilities or interact with my Interface. And by looking a lot and thinking a lot, I''m pretty patient like that, and meditation is kinda fun, even if my first try was interrupted by the system telling me that I got the meditation skill. I was angry for like 5 seconds before I realize that the skill increase my magic point regeneration when I meditate, which allow me to get a bit more perception, which allow me to look at my soul better, however it works ? If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. I managed to comprehend how some of the system stuffs works, I can''t touch it directly or anything, but I found what I believe is the exp stuff, so now I''m able to monitor how far from the next level I am, and how much my actions are rewarded. So I know I''m halfway to level 7, which is not very fast, but I also found some very interesting things that should allow me to rush trough levels. The system seems to take all your actions and all the consequences of those into account, probably because it''s connected to all living, or unliving things. I will come back to undead things later, it''s worrying. The more philosophical distance between your cause and the consequence, the way less the system attribute it to you, but I can gain exp if by my actions things dies, or get healed, even if I''m not the one doing it directly. For example, my bear trap didn''t work, I mean, maybe if the bear was drunk at night it may have missed my trap, but it didn''t happen, so I left the experiment and went to do more productive things, but like a week later, I got this notification : You have assisted in the killing of young deer, some exp has been awarded It took me a while to figure out that while chased by a fox, a baby deer fell into my hole, and the fox managed to drain it while it was stuck. With a bit of testing I realize that it could be a way to fast progression, if I burn down the valley, I should get some exp from anything that die, I won''t do that, for obvious reasons, but traps and the like is a way to get passive exp, and I guess maybe kings and the like get exp from their army fighting ? That have some scary implication but whatever. And I thought I found a new error in the system, but I got no notification, so I must be missing something, I''m getting exp from all the bug that die climbing the tree to get into my treehouse, I''m not doing anything to get them to do that, but I''m still responsible apparently ¡­ That''s like nothing, but I won''t say no to free stuff. The second way to gain fast exp I found was abusing my soul projection, I can use my abilities while in soul form, and that include soul attack, the creatures in the valley aren''t able to see souls, so I can get very close to them and blast them for a few minutes. Not very effective, as I''m not doing enough damage to kill a bigger beast, and the system seems to be fixing people soul, faster the higher level you are. But it''s a no risk, fast way to gain a little. The third way include healing, the easy way is to catch something, hurt it a lot, and then heal it, again and again, to get some exp. I found out that I gain more exp the more the wound is important, and with my soul magic I can''t fix a lot. So trying that on animals is not only distasteful, but also not very effective. The effective way is to hurt myself, as unending soul can fix any kind of wound and is not dependent on my Magicus or Skill level. And as Toriel put it, ''it can also help increase your pain resistance skill, very smart !'', but yeah, not a big fan of self harming, I''m no longer a teen. I finally made a big progress last week, and a lot of my current exp come from it, I''m able to control my body while I''m soul projecting. It''s not part of the ability, but I can manage it with soul magic, it''s apparently necromancy and I shouldn''t tell everyone I can do it, it''s pretty taboo. So my current method of cheesing the System is to get out of my body, and manipulate my body to stab herself with a pointy stick. I think a therapist would have a lot to say about that, but it''s working, no body no pains, but a lot of gains ! Well, not a lot, without my soul my body don''t have magic point regeneration, or unending soul and does not fix itself, the realization came with a lot of pains. But I can manage to be just enough outside to not feel anything and be totally disconnected, but not enough for my body to not be recognized as it, and I can let it fix itself, I got a few skills levels from that technique and Toriel think I will gain some interesting class options from that. But a few hours each day give me as much exp as killing a lvl 6 something, so that''s a win in my book. Must do it away from my home, because that''s a lot of blood and I don''t want to stink up the place. Chapter 15 - A clever fox The bloodsucker fox was living his ordinary life ordinarily, he wakes up with the sun, find some beast, bite them and drink their blood, and then go find a sun spot to nap. From time to time, he plays with others foxes, or with the bigger creatures living in the forest, of course no bloodsucker fox ever managed to catch one of the deer, and those that tried bears or the strange monkey that came some moons ago don''t come back to tell the tale. So the fox was really surprise when the young deer he was chasing fell down a hole in the ground, and was helplessly stuck. Foxes don''t really have an interest in topology, but he was certain that there wasn''t a hole in the ground the size of the bear here before, and he never noticed new holes appearing anywhere before. He was starting to leave to go inquire his fellow foxes on the nature of holes, when he came to a clever realization : If the deer can''t run, doesn''t that mean that he could catch it ? In retrospect, jumping in the hole was not the more though out idea, he managed to bite the deer on the neck, and as the beast trashed around the fox got throw against the side of the hole, drop between the legs of the deer, and almost got trampled. Luckily, foxes are agile and fast, and he managed to get out of the way, and he was able to lick the blood that was flowing to the ground. When the deer finally calm down and fell prone, he was able to finish his meal in a more dignified fashion, and even got a level up from that. It took a nap there and then, but then he got hungry again and noticed that the hole was still there, and he was kinda stuck at the bottom. Luckily for him, foxes are smart, and he finally remembered that he was able to dig, and made a little tunnel to the surface, with a skill increase, really a great day for a fox. For the following month, the fox kept getting back to the hole, and it got him thinking a lot more than ever before: That hole is too noticeable, with all the fly and the smell of decay from the deer, but if he makes another somewhere else, maybe he will be able to catch big meal like that again, and then he wouldn''t have to run that much. And he would have more time to nap. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. It took a lot of try, but one of his ankle deep hole managed to trip another deer, breaking it and making the beast incapable of running away, the fox had a hard time to bite correctly the beast, but after a few nab there and there, the deer fell asleep, and the fox was able to have a full meal.
Skill acquired Trap
The fox then tried to convince his fellow foxes of the great technique of trapping, but apparently there is a new spot in the forest where tasty blood is placed every night, and that seems an even easier meal than what he''s trying to explain. They didn''t even listen when he said he was level 6, the highest level bloodhunter fox of the forest. He would prove to them how smart his plan is, and become the stronger fox the valley ever saw !
Where no User ever laid eyes, the System logs record everything.
Anomalous comportment detected on universe 44456 User from specie ''bloodhunter fox'' discovers the use of traps Analyzing records. First occurrence of ''bloodhunter fox'' hunting strategy Evaluating the User intent The User understand that his actions are a change a of way The User want to convert his specie to his new way The User appear to desire the elevation of his specie New path for specie ''Bloohunter fox'' Offerings [Pioneer] title to the User Engaging new civilization protocols Assigning new class options to the User outside the ''Beast'' sub-system Awarding 2 System Coins to the User. New way discovery connected to another User, establishing a fateful meeting possibility.
Chapter 16 - Sightseeing So using soul projection, I was able to map the surrounding pretty well during the last months, since I''m able to flight in soul form. We appear to be at the top of a mountain, but weirdly, the top is flat and not pointy, it look a little like there was a normal mountain and someone cut the top off ? The higher point in the mountain is the complex where I came from, some sort of metallic block around thirty meter from the canyon, I stayed away from it even in soul form, if the Node can connect directly with my soul, I don''t want to risk it. The all area around the canyon is the hunter bear territory, the other end of the canyon is cover by a small forest at the top, with some kind of little monkey living there, there is also a lake up top, where the bear go fishing, he can also swim, which is good to know. In the East and north I can see a vast forest extending kilometer away from the mountain, no sign of smoke or anything that would imply someone was living down there, maybe this winter ? To the west is the territory of the birds, which include most of the sky over the valley, they don''t go down so I''m safe, and they don''t seems to go in the canyon either, I saw a few birds skeleton at the bottom of the canyon, so maybe it''s dangerous for them ? Anyways, it mean I would be able to leave the valley without having to fight off big meat eating bird. A big plain is to the west and south west. To the south, more mountain, many of them are higher than mine so I don''t know what''s on the other side, and the chain going to the west a bit, bordering the plain. Maybe there is someone living just the other side of the mountain, or under it, dwarfs are a thing after all. Speaking of underground, I stopped my exploration that way a while back. The vast city is not the only thing down there, in the cave network under the valley their seems to had been a whole country, I found a few more city , with the biggest being the one next to the snake lair. What stop my exploration was the discovery that the old cities are haunted, I almost collided with the first ghost I found, a level 3 lowly servant, the thing attacked me, and I will tell you that : getting a soul wound hurt a lot more than a body wound. My soul attack seems to have hurt him a lot more, and I was able to destroy it quickly. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. But with a more careful inspection, I realized that the city is overflowing with them, they simply stay close to the ground and don''t seem to notice me earlier. They definitely are very aggressive when they do. They probably have a limited soul sight too, but I won''t risk it while my soul attack does so little damage with that expensive magic point cost. It''s enough against a single low level ghost, multiples could overwhelm me and kill me for real. The lake at the center of the valley is quite deep, with some fish and gators, more fish and less gators since I arrived I will admit. I was surprised to find what appear to be an underground tunnel linking the lake to the one at the top of the canyon. There are also a few other tunnels going to the underground, one of them probably alimenting the pond of the snake, but again, I didn''t look too closely.
"The last expedition that explored the region knows as "the divider" was almost two centuries ago, I think it should be way higher in the priority of the Cartography association to finance and send a new one there." "With all due respect, you are thinking like an academic, not a politic." "I am an academic !" "That''s what I''m saying. You want us to update our map of that area, and I agree, the information is old and poor. If we are comparing them to the maps of the lower Frodan where new maps are published every year, the difference in treatment is obvious." "Exactly, as a council member, surely you could allocate some found to that situation ?" "My poor young boy, you don''t understand. What is of interest in the divider ? The last expedition told us enough : It''s a chain of mountains in the middle of the continent, far from any country, hard to traverse, full of dangerous beasts, and potentially a nesting ground for dragons. They lost half their member, and used massive amount of magical and costly expedition material. There is nothing to gain except knowledge by sending a new expedition, and that particular kind of knowledge doesn''t participate in the budget of the association. While the merchant of the south are more than happy to pay massive amounts for the map of the glaciers of Frodan. So I won''t try to convince the Council, because I already know it won''t work. If you manage to gather the found, I will make sure your expedition is sponsored by the association, but that''s all that can be done as of now." Discussion at the headquarter of the exploration association.
Chapter 17 - Idle toughs It took me half a month more to get to level 7, gaining the ability to inspect creatures,
7th ability : Soul scan : inflicting damage with soul attack allow you to pry into their interface. Amount of information is depending on your reasoning attribute and soul magic level.
And I managed to get a few more Skills level :
Medical knowledge 2, calculus 3, visualization 1, science 1, Magical knowledge 1,basic soul magic*3, unarmed combat* 4, soul knowledge* 3, poison resistance 2, pain resistance 4, Lie 1, Climbing 3, Survival 3, Crafting 3, Construction 3, Meditation 3, Running 1
At the moment, I''m not getting a lot more information than what Toriel can get, I can get the class and level of a creature and a sense of their attributes'' distribution. Like most morning lately, I''m touring the valley, collecting wound and fruits while Toriel teach me about the way the system is working. "So, what do you think I should take at level 10 ? We talked about the way the Soul mage class should combine a lot with my Souls abilities, help me increased soul magic, and probably help to increase my magicus and by extension the range of my soul projection" - Yeah, that''s one of the most logical options, for a lot of aspects of your build, what I fear is that like Soul warrior, it won''t give a lot of attributes points, and you already have a very low Magicus for a magical class which would make most of the Mage abilities took a long time to be useful, if you want to leave the valley quickly, it won''t help you a lot to that. That''s the same problem with all the mage options, space mage would definitely allow you to teleport, but how many years you would have to train before you can leave the mountain ? Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. "Yeah, so, maybe something warrior like, to make me stronger, even if level 10 is enough to get past the bear I don''t think there will be no other dangers on the way to civilization" - From what we could see, you would have a lot of forest to cross if you go East, or a lot of plain West, but the plain is the hunting ground of the birds. "Yeah, so I can even become strong enough to beat anything that will try to eat me on the way, and the birds can go to level 15, so a warrior class may not be enough until I get a few more levels in it. I could go with some kind of Scout or something ? To be better at moving through forest and being stealthier ? " - The stealth route would give you a definite advantage, especially with the massive agility you can gain with warrior magic, I don''t think it''s the best choice for you, but you should be able to get at least one companion class, and it should give me some abilities, and it could even synergize with your souls abilities to increase the amount of information or controls you have on the interface. "Yeah, I guess so, I would have to see what new options I will have gained with everything I think."
"There are fewer deer no ? I was careful in my hunting, but I have the feeling I saw a lot more before¡­" - It''s possible, I didn''t really count the deer, but they may change their habit with the changes in seasons ? "Maybe, but that doesn''t explain all the holes everywhere, I thought it was from squirrel hiding caches, but all the holes are empty, except for a few with stick in them. " - Yeah, theses are weird, maybe some of the monkey descend from the forest at the top of the canyon ? They seem smarts, they may do some trapping ? "Maybe. It''s still weird, I think. I will stop eating deer for the time, as to not takes the risk of depleting the population. There is also less gator because of me, but the increase in fish mean I could start fishing"
Skill acquired fishing 1
Chapter 18 - An annoyed bear The bear is clearly annoyed, first, the back wall of his cave start vibrating and making noise, the wall was all flat and smooth and the reason why the bear choose that cave to sleep all those years ago. Then after the wall thing, a new monkey appeared, contrary to the small monkey the bear eat and catch from their trees, that monkey was bigger with red fur. It was chipping like a bird, and didn''t notice the bear approaching, and he managed to hit it hard, sending it flying. Unluckily, the monkey has fallen down the hole in the middle of his territory, and he was unable to get to hit. One day he will be so big, he will be able to got down the large hole, explore the hidden valley and finally catch the big bird that live at the edge of his territory. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. And then after that, the monkey came back, and managed to run away after taunting him, which would be bad enough, if for now months he was not feeling through his territory ability that something was lurking in his land, and being totally invisible when the bear came to look for it. The annoyance was after all a powerful motivator and maybe the bear took it a bit too easy lately, he would have to go back to hunting, maybe leave his territory a bit and catch some big things further down the mountain. Chapter 19 - Winter is coming It felt like a shift, a month after I began fishing, from a day to the other the air got more wet, the wind colder, and some kind of weird feeling all around. I did my little investigation, took a bit of my magic training time, I will call it a vacation. For the occasion I climb up the canyon once again, the bear took almost half an hour before coming charging at me, and up there it''s freezing, the tree lost most of their leaves already, and I haven''t noticed. While climbing down I can feel the layer of air, and I''m guessing the valley configuration keep the warm down there longer, until it finally drop ? I''m almost certain I learn a physic fact that contradict this, but it''s a bit vague. "Hey Toriel, what do you think of the weather ? " - The weather ? It''s nice I guess, not really having an opinion in a direction or another about that I''m sorry. "Nah, I mean, it got colder suddenly, and I have a weird feeling ? Like with my magic, it likes tingle ? " - Tingle ? With the cold ? You may be just sensible ? It''s a new body, and we didn''t look for temperature resistance since we didn''t know where you were going to appear. That may be something to look at next time you get trait points ? "No, I know cold, I mean it''s something different ¡­" I try to make my mana flow outside my body, the mana tingle outside too, it takes me a bit of time to finally find it "ahah ! There is magic in the air ! Something different from my soul mana, but affecting it a little bit anyway !"
Skill acquired : Basic mana sense 1
- Oh, that will be the cold mana, it''s the beginning of winter after all "Oh, now you know what I''m talking about and act all smart" This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. - I didn''t though of that, it''s normal ? When winter come, there is cold mana that flood the world, and it gets colder. "Well, that''s not normal, I guess because we didn''t have mana back home, but the cold came from a totally different reason, that I won''t explain to you because you are very smug today."
Skill increase Lie 2
- Yeah for that reason, anyway I didn''t expect you to notice it, mana sense is a mage skill, but I guess with 15 perception and never used to the change of mana you are more aware of your surrounding than the average warrior. "Oh yeah I''m above average ! Anyway, what does mana sense does ? And does the fact there is mana in the air will affect my spells ? " - Thoses are still not spells, just free casting, mana sense synergize with your Magicus to increase the precision of your spellcasting and magical abilities, and the cold mana should not affect your spellcasting, as you use soul mana, but it will affect peoples using elemental or nature mana. You will see that when spring is around, but the valley is normally flooded with nature mana, that''s why winter took longer to came down there. "I bet you the System will finally realize my talent and add them to his list of spells. I guess it update on new year and haven''t had time to notice them !" - Yeah, that must be it ¡­
Magic training is fun, I do magic, but also, so boring ! I take the mana, make it flow and fly and try to push it toward a goal with all my intent and everything. Apparently my high will help to make mana do what I want, but my low Magicus make it be very messy and inefficient¡­ I manage to make ''free casting'' to heal animals, hurt animals at a distance, send some of my exp to a mouse, I won''t do that again, it set me back 3 days, and is so inefficient I would have to give it half my total for the mouse to get to level 1. I can make plants grow a little, but again very inefficient, I can do it because life is close to nature, but it''s not really that and that''s interfering. Apparently when my attribute change to Mana (Soul) I got restrictions, normal people can use any affinity, but it''s harder for each. I managed to make an ice attack, apparently cold is close to death, and with the winter it makes it a lot easier, it''s almost as effective as my death bolt, the name of my death mana affinity attack.
Basic soul magic increase to level 5 Basic mana sense increase to level 3
Chapter 20 - Close to a year Winter came to an end, in the hidden valley it was a lot milder than everywhere else on the mountain. The bear didn''t hibernate, or wake up when I went to check, and the birds are still there as if nothing. Winter lasted about 6 months, apparently this area doesn''t really have fall, and I keep my little routine : Wake up, collect wood while doing my morning ablution, fishing until midday, fish cooked on fire for lunch, two hours of meditation and soul inspecting, a little bit of sport, running around the valley, collecting some dead deer to get leather and keep working on improvising leather-working. I will manage to make cloths and a backpack ! Then an hour of exp farming, and feeding the foxes I guess, the critters started to come around every night to lick the blood on my spot, don''t know how to feel about that, but at least they don''t level up. And then a bit of managing the little tree house, a bit more of tool making and things. My skills increased nicely :
Medical knowledge 4, calculus 2, visualization 1, science 1, Magical knowledge 3,basic soul magic*6, unarmed combat* 4, soul knowledge* 4, poison resistance 3, pain resistance 4, Lie 2, Climbing 4, Survival 4, Crafting 4, Construction 4, Meditation 5, Running 2, basic mana sense 4, stealth 2, fishing 3.
I''m also half way to level 9, I choose to increase my magicus to 3 with my free attribute point, mainly to get a higher range of exploring with my soul projection, but it helped a bit with my progress in magic. Especially since the new ability I got will help me regenerate my mana. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
: When you inflict damage using a soul affinity abilities you stole magic point equal to half of the damage inflicted
Bit annoying that half my attacks abilities are very expensive but it technically reduce my soul strike cost by 25%, so it should help a bit against the bear. And since it stole the magic points, I guess it will be useful against caster if I find monster that use magic. And if I wait long enough, I could get to a point where my soul attack steal more magic point than what it cost, but yeah, I did a bit of calculus and it will be a while. Based on my current rate of progression, I think I will be able to get to level 10 in a year and a half, level 1 to 10 in a little more than 2 years is apparently very impressive, so as soon as I find someone to tell, I will be sure to brag. What''s annoying is that the bear also got a level up, bringing him to 11. He fused his class, as most animals do, so he''s not gaining two abilities, but it''s still annoying. Especially since he can now better pinpoint my presence when I use my soul form to watch him. He can''t hurt me as a soul, but I can''t do enough damage either. I was hoping the drain in magic point may be enough to get him unconscious, but it apparently doesn''t work like that.It''s more of a me thing, where my regeneration keep me awake until a run out of magic point.
With the spring coming back, the now usual weight of cold mana start to leave the air, and as the tree come back to life I can feel the nature mana feeling the valley. I''m looking forward to train my soul magic on growing plants and things, maybe make a little garden ? What I was not looking forward was all the bugs that came back and that continue to crawl all around my space. Which gave me an idea.