An Unbound Soul

ding

Endurance increased by 1

Argg, really not what I wanted right now. Now I'd have to run for even longer! This was a stupid idea in the first place. My initial logic from a few years ago was perfectly sound; if repeatedly running your mana pool dry unlocks a skill to give you more mana, then maybe the same is true for other pools. It wouldn't work for health, since you generally didn't get a chance to run that dry more than once, but it would be worth it for stamina if it solved my random naps problem. I just needed to stay awake until it hit zero. I tried it a bunch of times but never managed to unlock a skill. Then, in a lesson with Kari, it turned out that the conditions for getting [Enlarged Mana Pool] had an extra little rule that she hadn't mentioned the first time around. You had to run the pool dry while having positive regeneration. I didn't have that for stamina at the time, so my attempts were doomed to failure to begin with.

Which brought us to today. I was four years old, by the local calendar, and had recently hit six endurance, which was the point at which regeneration tipped positive. That meant I no longer had the spontaneous nap problem that I wanted extra stamina to avoid, but another perfectly sound bit of logic suggested that I may want to get the skill later in life for some other reason, and it would be far easier to unlock it now—while my pool was small and regeneration slow—than it would after I'd grown some more and my endurance was higher. I didn't have any skills that drained stamina, though, so emptying the pool was harder than with mana. Cue a final bit of logic, that I could combine this effort with some physical training by sprinting until my pool emptied.

Now here I was, running laps around a quiet patch of grassland outside the village while Kari grinned at me. I'd made the mistake of explaining my thinking to her, and much to my surprise, she was highly enthusiastic about the whole thing and brought me out here immediately. Silly me for thinking she was being altruistic. She just wanted a target on which to practise her life affinity [Rejuvenation] spell, which restores the target's stamina. So now I was running myself ragged, and each time I dropped unconscious, she just gave me a refill and set me off again. It was blatant child abuse!

I suddenly realised that I was not, in fact, running anymore, but was face down on the grass. My nose hurt. Rolling over, I saw Kari looming over me, still grinning.

"Aww, your cute little nose is bleeding. Here."

She waved a hand and cast [Heal], and the pain faded away. The memory of the pain did not. I still maintained this was child abuse! If it wasn't the fact that this plan was mine in the first place, I came here of my own accord, was continuing to do this without complaint and child protective services were a thing that existed, I'd be calling child protective services. Let's see if I'd done enough cycles yet.

Skills available for purchase:

2 points: [Basic Cooking] [Basic Tailoring] [Foraging] [Basic Farming] [Enlarged Stamina Pool]

"Yes, got it!"

"Aww, but I haven't levelled any of my spells yet."

"Stop enjoying child abuse!"

"Oh? Wasn't this all your idea, though?"

I pouted, wishing she would just accept the blame and stop being logical at me. I already regretted everything as it was. I wasn't going to buy the skill right now, anyway; I was on the cusp of mage-hood, so I needed to save up all my soul points so that I could be ready for all the new skills and spells. My current status was much improved compared to three years ago.

Name: Peter

Species: Human

Class: Commoner (Level 9)

Soul Points: 6

Health: 12/12

Stamina: 12/12

Mana: 23/23

Strength: 5

Dexterity: 9

Endurance: 7

Intelligence: 12

Wisdom: 11

Charisma: 11

Skills: [Inspection 8] [Mana Sense 8] [Meditation 6] [Enlarged Mana Pool 4]

Traits: [Abnormal Soul] [Early Bloomer] [Curious] [Xenophilia]

Titles: None

The levelling to commoner largely came from helping with chores, both around the house and outdoors, hence the other skills I had available for purchase. That gave six more soul points, four of which I spent, and I'd picked up a further three from [Curious]. [Enlarged Mana Pool] granted a ten percent increase to mana pool size per level, and [Meditation] a ten percent increase to regeneration per level.

I figured both skills would pay for themselves soon enough—better regeneration meant more time training and less time sitting around waiting for pools to refill, and a bigger pool meant less wastage from such necessities as sleep.

I staggered back to my feet. Kari's spells might restore my pools to full, but they did nothing for the mental fatigue.

"Since I'm out here already, I guess I might as well go foraging for a bit. Hopefully I can find some mushrooms. Are you sticking around?"

"Nah, my work here is done. See you around, kiddo."

I waved to Kari as she left, not commenting on the way she'd just abandoned a four-year-old child a fair distance from the village. Even in Earth years, I wouldn't be much more than five, but despite that, I didn't think she saw me as anything other than an adult. It wasn't as if I needed watching over, though, so I headed over to the scrubland. The forest was best for finding mushrooms, but I was on the wrong side of the village, and wasn't allowed in there on my own anyway; the plains apparently had no dangerous wildlife, but the forest was home to a population of kornakouneli, which were about the same size as me, with big horns on their forehead, and could apparently be dangerous to a child if spooked. Ooo, I saw berries! As ever, let's check they were what I thought they were. Safety first!

Blackberry

They were indeed. Nice. Shame I had nothing to carry them home in other than pockets, and putting squishy berries in there was just asking for a mess. Nothing stopped me from eating a few now, though. Nom.

ding

Skill [Inspection] advanced to level 9

Class [Commoner] advanced to level 10

Seriously? From identifying and eating a blackberry? After Kari's hellish training, I'd gained my final level from a berry? Well, who was I to argue. Forget foraging; now I needed to get home as quickly as possible. By walking. I'd done more than enough sprinting today.

A quarter hour later, I was rushing through our front door and sitting at the table.

"What's up, little one? You seem excited."

"I hit level ten!"

"I expected nothing less. Give me a call if you want any advice. Your father isn't home yet."

Nothing I'd done since that time I made her cry had phased her. I think maybe I really did break her back then, just not quite in the way that I thought... Anyway, how did I see my potential class options? Presumably just by willing it, the same as everything else.

Available classes:

[Apprentice Mage] [Monk]

Sorry, but what the heck? Monk? I'd ask about that one, but my status was still showing in English and I had no idea how to translate 'monk'. There wasn't any sort of religion here that anyone had ever mentioned, outside of children's bedtime stories, so how could there be monks? Gods wouldn't be out of place in this fantasy world, so maybe this village just wasn't particularly religious.

"Mum, are any of the gods real?"

"None that I know of, aside from the earth mother. Why?"

Oh, I'd assumed the earth mother was one of the children's bedtime stories. Some wannabe goddess popped up, created the world, then buggered off to leave everyone to their own devices. I suppose it was no stranger than any other creation myth. I was pretty sure we had more than one on Earth that involved one god cutting intimate bits off another, which somehow sprouted into humans.

"No reason. I had an available class I didn't expect and was trying to work out where it came from. Doesn't matter, I'm still going mage."

Maybe it came from meditation? Could I check the details like I could in the skill shop?

[Apprentice Mage] - One who has started to tread the path of mana. Unlocks related skills. Skills related to mana sense or manipulation gain a small bonus to levelling. (Rank 1)

[Monk] - One who searches for inner peace. Unlocks related skills. Skills related to meditation gain a bonus to levelling. Levelling boosts wisdom. (Rank 2)

Looks like it was indeed from meditation, so not really a monk in the religious sense. I also noted that it provided a 'bonus to levelling' while [Apprentice Mage] only provided a 'small bonus to levelling'. Possibly because it was higher rank? I wonder if any of this stuff was written down in a textbook somewhere. I'd spoken to plenty of people in the village, but most only had knowledge about things that directly affected them, and didn't ask questions about other paths. I suppose I wasn't given [Curious] for no reason. Anyway, there was no decision to be made here; I was always going to take the mage route.

Class changed to [Apprentice Mage]

I didn't feel any different, but what new skills did I have available?

Skills available for purchase:

1 point: [Minor Strength] [Minor Dexterity] [Minor Endurance] [Minor Intelligence] [Minor Wisdom] [Minor Charisma] [Far Step] [Far Reach] [Minor Speed] [Minor Slow]

2 points: [Basic Cooking] [Basic Tailoring] [Foraging] [Basic Farming] [Enlarged Stamina Pool] [Mana Control]

Huh? Where were my fireballs? Icicle storms of death? Earthquakes? None of those names looked like anything related to the common affinities of mana.

[Minor Strength] - Body affinity spell that provides a small and temporary boost to casters strength. Higher levels increase size and duration of the buff. (Rank 1)

[Minor Dexterity] - Body affinity spell that provides a small and temporary boost to casters dexterity. Higher levels increase size and duration of the buff. (Rank 1)

[Minor Endurance] - Body affinity spell that provides a small and temporary boost to casters endurance. Higher levels increase size and duration of the buff. (Rank 1)

[Minor Intelligence] - Soul affinity spell that provides a small and temporary boost to casters intelligence. Higher levels increase size and duration of the buff. (Rank 1)

[Minor Wisdom] - Soul affinity spell that provides a small and temporary boost to casters wisdom. Higher levels increase size and duration of the buff. (Rank 1)

[Minor Charisma] - Soul affinity spell that provides a small and temporary boost to casters charisma. Higher levels increase size and duration of the buff. (Rank 1)

[Far Step] - Space affinity spell that twists space as you take a step forwards, increasing the length of your stride. Higher levels increase maximum distance travelled. (Rank 1)

[Far Reach] - Space affinity spell that twists space as you reach forwards, allowing you to grasp at something out of arm's reach. Higher levels increase range. (Rank 1)

[Minor Speed] - Time affinity spell that slightly slows your personal passage of time. Higher levels increase duration of the buff. (Rank 1)

[Minor Slow] - Time affinity spell that slightly speeds the passage of time of a target. Higher levels increase duration of the debuff. (Rank 1)

[Mana Control] - Grasp and manipulate raw mana. Higher levels increase fidelity and range. (Rank 1)

That flew in the face of everything Kari had ever taught me. I had rare affinities. I only had rare affinities. I had opposing affinities. I was apparently attuned to soul affinity, which no sentient being was ever supposed to have access to. But Kari said that affinity attunement was a function of the soul, so I guess I have [Abnormal Soul] to blame for this, too. But she was right about one thing; I really didn't care about what I was attuned to. I was still going for a mage build.

I had seven soul points available. I wanted [Mana Control], which let me pick five spells, but all my education had been in the common affinities or things that Kari had personal experience with. Out of these spells, the body reinforcement three were the only ones I'd even heard of. Strength was currently my lowest stat, so [Minor Strength] was tempting. It might be less useful later on, but I'd move to higher rank spells by then, anyway. [Minor Speed] sounded awesome for rank one and [Far Step] was also kinda tempting, as long as it didn't turn out to cost a point of mana per step or something ridiculous. Taking soul spells would be a gamble; I didn't know what would happen if someone found out I possessed them, given that I wasn't supposed to be able to. Luckily, nothing there was anything I immediately wanted. There was no-one else in the village who could help out here.

After weighing up my options, I decided I'd take the three most interesting options for now, then follow Kari's advice and save my remaining points for [Mana Finesse].

ding

New skill acquired: [Mana Control]

New skill acquired: [Minor Strength]

New skill acquired: [Far Step]

New skill acquired: [Minor Speed]

What I didn't have anywhere in that list were attack spells. My current abilities were no more suited for becoming a delver than my parents. There was still plenty of time; it wasn't as if I could sign up at my age anyway, and I'd probably change class once or twice more before adulthood. On the other hand, if I was stuck as some sort of utility mage, what sort of career options were available? I couldn't think of anything with these spells. I could be a one person logistics machine if higher rank space affinity gave me teleportation and storage, though, with the added bonus that I could carry on living in this village, sparing Mum a bit of heartache. Speaking of Mum, she did tell me to chime in if I needed advice.

"Mum, I've got a couple of rare affinities that Kari couldn't tell me much about. How could I find out more information?"

"I would suggest a visit to the library in Dawnhold. I'm sure we can arrange a trip at some point later this summer."

"Really? That would be awesome!"