Inside-Outside-In

Shay

Elna and Merrin ended up staying in the village for nine days. Reshaping the mangled mess that Shay’s body had been had taken out even more of her than she had expected. The more significant a change was, the more it wore on the flesh mage casting the spell.

She was actually still feeling awful by the time they left the village, but she had at least recovered enough to move around and not be tired all the time.

During those days and afterward, Shay worked hard to learn the language and everything about the world that he could.

As far as stats went, having a score of 10 was generally the peak of what a level 1 human was capable of achieving. 10 wasn’t a hard limit, though. That number could be surpassed with effort, though the higher it was, the more diminishing returns a person would experience with the amount of effort required to raise it another point higher.

Stats were normally raised by leveling up, as he had expected. It’s one point in each of the three stats per level, with one additional point to spend freely.

The fact that his Body and Dexterity stats were both 14 and 8 respectively was quite a shock to everyone, as even 8 was difficult to achieve. Shay estimated that if he had had stats on Earth, his Body score there would’ve been around 7 or 8 as well. Elna had done some serious work, so it was no wonder she was so burned out.

His [Mental] adaptation was proving itself to be immensely valuable. Even if he hadn’t ended up in a different body, it would’ve been helpful, but with all the dysphoria he was experiencing, it had become a lifesaver, and was skyrocketing in its percentage. Little by little, his days gradually became easier.

This whole experience has also given me an even bigger respect for Vicky. I’m the one who got into fights for fun, but she was the real fighter of the two of us.

He tried not to think about his little sister too much, as it was just too hard, knowing she was out there suffering alone.

Shay did have a silver lining, though. A capable enough space mage can teleport to any place they’ve been before. The chances of finding a powerful space mage from Earth were quite slim, but he might be able to become that person himself.

Unfortunately, he had to prioritize his current situation first. He had no idea how long that might take, and learning the things necessary for surviving in this world took priority.

He wouldn’t be able to select his [Space] sub-skill for a long time yet, but he still practiced it when he could. His mana was quite limited, however. Thankfully, like the Body and Dexterity scores, his Flow score could increase without leveling up as well.

Leveling up could be achieved through training and study, but it was faster to get into real fights. The more difficult the fight, the more efficient the level-ups.

Surprisingly, the chief—whose name he learned was Leanor—was an amazing fighter, using daggers as her weapons. She was also level 326, which fucking terrified him when he found out. Being beaten up by a little old lady was humbling.

As ridiculous as that level sounded, though, it actually wasn’t. Most people reached level 250 by around 40 years old just by going about their daily lives. They didn’t have to fight at all, but their power would still increase on its own.

Level 500 is where people really started to be considered strong, as that wasn’t something that could be achieved without effort. With that in mind, Shay quickly realized that Leanor wasn’t very good actually very good at fighting, but just had a raw power advantage.

It was one day after a spar with her that he despaired. He had gotten a nasty cut on a rock when he fell, and when Leanor used healing magic on him, he gained a [Healing] sub-skill.

That wasn’t the bad part, though. That part was actually great. What was bad was the fact that the only flesh mage in the area had already left the village. He wouldn’t be reshaping himself any time soon.

He had heard of his arrival in this world from Elna and Merrin before they left, and with the revelation that he just had to experience magic to gain an adaptation for it, he wondered why he didn’t have one for flesh magic when he did have one for space magic.

After a conversation with Leanor, he guessed that it was because his soul had been inundated with it, and it lingered for some time even after the rift had closed. The flesh magic was already done affecting him before he had even woken up.

—

[Healing Adaptation]: With a little injury, you gained a little help. It was healed, and you remembered the sensation and the flow of healing magic.
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[Passive]: Your body now cycles healing magic through itself on its own, albeit at a slow rate. Your natural recovery rate is now slightly faster.
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[Active]: Focus your mana to boost your healing speed. This includes regenerating missing limbs and removing foreign materials from the body.

—

After living in the village for three months, he decided it was time to leave, and he had a few goals in mind.

First, he needed to find either Elna or another flesh mage. Unfortunately, finding her would be difficult, as she was continuing her travel plans from before she had gotten held up at the village.

Second, save up money. He didn’t know if a [Flesh] sub-skill would allow him to reshape someone else or even himself, so he needed to save up money for it. This was actually for Victoria.

Third, become a mercenary. He really wasn’t sure how he felt about this one. The idea of going out to hunt monsters and sometimes even people didn’t excite him.

But he did enjoy fighting, even against Leanor and her daggers, so he hoped it might work out. His reasoning for becoming a mercenary was that the live combat would raise his level and improve his sub-skills much faster than going about things safely.

All I have to do is kill a bunch of monsters to save up money and increase my level while also honing my space magic so I can just casually travel back to Earth, rescue my sister, and get her the transition she deserves. Easy, right?

When he decided to leave, his status looked like this:

—

Shay Bryant Williams

Level: 9

 

Points: 0

Body: 23
Dexterity: 17
Flow: 22

Health: 63 / 63
Stamina: 57 / 57
Mana: 64 / 64

 

 

Skills:
[Adaptation]

 

[Adaptation] Sub-skills:
[Earth]: 0.1%
[Fire]: 0.4%
[Healing]: 1.3%
[Mental]: 38.9% (Main, change available.)
[Pain]: 0.9%
[Poison]: 1.1%
[Space]: 4.0%
[Water]: 2.0%

—

Shay had found that as his Body and Flow stats increased, increasing Dexterity also became necessary. He had wondered how going beyond the supposed limit of the human body might necessitate it, and basically, it allowed his mind to keep up with his body.

He had dumped all nine of his points from the level-ups into Flow. The more mana he had available to him, the sooner he could rescue Victoria. He had also increased that stat’s base by 3 just by practicing with his mana, bringing it up to 4.

With his current stats, his Mana actually came out at 42.5, but it was rounded down in the display. It was supposedly still there, just invisible. The sub-skills still showed their decimals, but this was apparently just how the System displayed percentages.

Part of the increase was from activating his [Mental] ability, allowing him to react faster in his bouts with Leanor. He was also using it to practice space magic, though he could hardly do anything at all with it just yet.

Despite his burning desire to return to Earth, he hadn’t dared to change his main sub-skill from [Mental] to [Space]. He needed it far too much just to be able to function.

Halving its adaptation speed by switching it to something else was a terrifying thought. The active ability would be halved as well, though that wasn’t as important in his current situation.

An even more terrifying thought had crept up in the past week, though. As his [Mental] sub-skill increased in percentage, he noticed that his perception of his body had shifted slightly.

He didn’t suddenly love his body or anything like that—he still hated it, in fact—but now… he just cared about it a little less. It felt slightly less awful to have to exist in it.

He was suspicious that if that percentage reached a high enough number, then his new body would just feel normal. He knew that even if he did reach that point, he could still get reshaped afterward.

It was just the thought that he might change mentally that scared him. He didn’t want to lose himself. He did have some small comfort in the fact that it probably was only his level of comfort in this body that was changing, and not an actual desire to inhabit it in its current state.

He had gone around the village, seeing what other adaptations he might be able to pick up, but there wasn’t a whole lot.

[Pain], he had gotten from his spars with Leanor. [Poison], he had gotten from excessively drinking one night. He just didn’t want to deal with this situation and ended up going too far. He felt ashamed that it had happened.

He was glad no one judged him for it, though. Everyone in the whole village knew who he was and where he had come from by that point. He vowed not to touch alcohol again for a long time.

The other new ones were the rest he had managed to get. [Water] and [Fire] would certainly be useful on the road. [Earth] likely would, too, but he had decided to focus his efforts on his more immediately useful sub-skills first. He hadn’t bothered to do anything with it at all since the moment he acquired it.

One thing he and others noted was how weird his [Adaptation] Skill was. Most Skills had levels to indicate their mastery over them, but his instead gave him access to potentially an endless amount of sub-skills, allowing him to use all kinds of magic, albeit weakened versions of them. He could only manipulate things though, not actually create anything.

Some Skills just had an advantage over others, and he had been lucky enough to get this one with so much potential. As he had found out, the initial Skills everyone gets are almost entirely situational and somewhat random. Despite being random, it has the general pattern of giving people something that suits them, though.

People usually get their first Skill around the age of 15, and it’s frequently the case that whatever they happen to be doing at that moment will greatly influence what Skill they get. He had been worried that that might lead to some pretty messed up Skills existing, but everything he heard of seemed to be related to some kind of magic, at least tangentially.

An example he learned of was a specific swordsmanship Skill. At first glance, it seemed to use no magic at all. Where mana came into play when it was used to enhance the user’s movements with the sword and body, and even imbue the blade with mana, allowing it to cut more easily.

It was even possible for a person to learn magic they didn’t get a Skill for, though its effect would be minuscule, and it wouldn’t even show up in a person’s Status. If someone were to learn fire magic without a relevant Skill, the most they would be able to do is create a candle-sized flame.

Another thing about his Status that he was glad for was that all his sub-skills didn’t have that introductory text every time he looked at them. That only showed up the first time, and would then vanish thereafter. It could be viewed again at will, though.

It was something he hadn’t actually minded at first until he got his [Poison] sub-skill. Constantly being reminded of how he had gotten pathetically wasted drunk wouldn’t have been pleasant.

All his new sub-skills looked like this fully expanded:

—

[Earth Adaptation]: A friendly, albeit slightly confused, farmer decided to help you out upon your request, and you gained this sub-skill as a result.
|
[Passive]: Your body has become a little tougher. Impacts against you won’t injure you as much, and anything trying to pierce or cut your flesh will meet more resistance.
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[Active]: With a spell, you can manipulate the soil and rocks around you.

 

[Fire Adaptation]: Your amused benefactor burned you upon your request, earning you this sub-skill.
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[Passive]: The heat you can endure has increased.
|
[Active]: You may manipulate flames.

 

[Pain Adaptation]: A cocky spar with an elderly woman who was overwhelmingly stronger than yourself resulted in a cut and a lesson.
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[Passive]: The pain you endure will not decrease, but it will no longer affect you as much.
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[Active]: You may temporarily dull your sense of pain.

 

[Poison Adaptation]: On a night filled with overwhelming grief, you tried to forget. You didn’t.
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[Passive]: Your body now remembers harmful substances it’s experienced before, and will resist their effects. This passive ability does not apply to poisons you’ve never been afflicted with.
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[Active]: When poisoned, you can focus your mana inward to reduce its effects on you.

 

[Water Adaptation]: Being splashed in the face with water by a trio of bored teens pranking some villagers isn’t the way you had expected to gain this adaptation, but that’s exactly what happened.
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[Passive]: Your natural ability to withstand high-pressure water is increased.
|
[Active]: You may manipulate water.

—

Space itself was found pretty much everywhere, though there were supposedly some places where it didn’t exist, which were referred to as Void.

But as for manipulating space; it was difficult. It wasn’t condensed or anything like it had been when the rift formed. It was similar to water vapor in the air; it was certainly there, but it was thin and hard to grasp. Another of Shay’s goals was to find a place with plenty of space magic for him to work with.

He had, of course, tried teleporting to Earth, but nothing happened. For now, he had to make do with moving around small objects to practice his manipulation.

I’ll get you out of there, Vicky. Just wait.