In a small room in the basent of the Administration Building, a crystal orb, resting in a tallic stand, flashed twice with a blue light. A box shaped device built into the stand displayed the na, 'Michael Rasmussen' twice in succession, before going dark. A little while later the process repeated.
Ordinarily, this would have caused a small stir amongst the guards whose job it was to monitor these devices, since it represented an unusual anomaly in the detection system. However, recent events had prevented them from doing so.
"You know what that thing does?" A man dressed in black leathers asked as he cleaned the blade of his dagger.
"Not sure. I think it's so kind of security system." His partner replied as she stripped the uniform from the guard she'd dispatched earlier.
"Heh. I guess it doesn't work that well, then." He started doing the sa with his own target. "When's their relief supposed to be arriving?"
"These two were on the night shift. The next crew isn't supposed to be arriving until early tomorrow morning, but by that point they should have been replaced by our other agents. You should know all this. It was covered in the briefing." Ca the terse reply.
"You know I barely pay attention at those things. As soon as they tell where to go and who to kill, I just blank on the rest." By this point he had the guard's tunic most of the way off, but frowned when he saw the amount of blood staining its front. A quick application of Lifestyle Magic cleaned it up quickly enough.
The woman dropped the boot she was trying to pull off her victim's foot. "And that's why you are always screwing up the important bits. If I wasn't here to stop you from doing stupid shit every few minutes, you would have gotten yourself killed a long ti ago!"
He just smiled at the familiar exchange. "That's why I keep you around, rabbit. You always got my back."
Scoffing at the old nickna, she went back to the task at hand. "Yeah, yeah. Soone has to."
"So when are the others supposed to be coming through?"
The woman grimaced at her partner's complete lack of concern. "They should be moving now. I sent the ssage just a few minutes ago. Gods! You are so irresponsible!"
"Haha. What can I say. It takes real talent to be like ."
Issuing an inarticulate sound which could only be called disgusted rage, the woman lit into her partner a second ti. They were so distracted by their argunt, that they completely failed to notice when the crystal ball began flashing quickly, this ti in red. Dozens of ssages started popping up on the attached box. Each of them reading 'UNKNOWN.'
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Mike snuck back into the quiet dorm. It seed like the residents had largely gone to sleep by this point, although he did run into a maid who was working late. She gave him a respectful bow before continuing on with her duties.
He slipped into his room as quietly as he could, wishing he had gotten his hands on so kind of stealth related skill. Apparently, he hadn't been spending enough ti and energy avoiding attention just yet. Judging from the soft snores, Brenden was soundly asleep. Mike guessed they must have had another difficult day of training. Hopefully, their efforts would show results.
Slipping into bed, Mike considered the events of the day as he drifted off himself. His run in with the princess had been a close call. Luckily, it looked like he had gotten away with it.
The next morning he got up early again. This ti he waited in the living room, wanting to speak to the others about a few of the things going on, and relay the news about the event taking place tomorrow.
Not surprisingly Tal was the first one up, and after brewing her customary pot of tea, she sat in a chair across from Mike.
"Up early. Ca in late." She comnted in a monotone. Mike sensed she was a little displeased about it.
He sighed. "Had an issue to take care of in the Magic Departnt. I needed to limit the chances of being seen while I did so. Besides, I'm not the only one waking up early and coming late."
"Suspicious. Only training."
"I'm aware you're only training with the other two. Anyway, I'm not trying to keep it from you, but I was hoping it would be a surprise. If we end up going to Sera's initial request this weekend, I'll show you what I'm talking about."
The elf lapsed into a slightly awkward silence, as if she didn't know how to respond before finally giving a simple nod.
"Anyway, I was hoping you could pass a ssage off to the others. We have a couple of things going on in the next couple of days, and I was hoping that you plan accordingly. Tomorrow, there is going to be so kind of initial welcoming party for the whole University. It's not required, but it might be a good chance to take a break from training and get to know so of the other students."
Tal nodded again, but didn't seem too enthused.
"I've been told that there is so kind of naval demonstration going on at the sa ti, and it might involve one of their airships. I was planning on going for that much at least, since I'm interested in seeing one."
"Never seen one up close, either. They're only really available to the super-rich and the military." Brenden comnted as he sleepily joined the conversation, fully clothed this ti. "It might be fun to see what all the fuss is about."
"Speaking of the super-rich, we were invited to Broderick's place for a small gathering this weekend. Assuming Sera's request doesn't take too long, we should aim to attend."
"Fair enough." He yawned. "Anyway, Tal, it's ti to wake our student, don't you think?"
"Indeed." Was the simple response.
While Tal got the half-asleep Oracle up and moving, Brenden spoke, "If you have ti after class, you should swing by the Martial Arts departnt's north east training yard. Sera's been making so pretty significant progress. I think you'll be impressed."
"Sounds good. There shouldn't be any problem with that."
Mike watched as Tal pushed a groggy Sera out the door, and Brenden trailed behind, only stopping to grab his sword.
Once the three of them had departed, Mike got ready himself, and went down to breakfast. On impulse, he grabbed the history book before leaving. He planned to make use of the extra ti afforded by his Chanting class, since the lessons were basically useless to him.
After a leisurely al he made his way to his Elental Magic class. He was the first to arrive, and for once, wasn't accosted by anything in the process.
A notice was posted on the door stating that class was canceled for today due to unforeseen circumstances. Students were asked to attend the rest of their usual classes and resu their normal schedule at the start of next week. Judging from the tone of the ssage, it definitely wasn't posted by Instructor Johnathan.
Shrugging, Mike decided to take the opportunity to practice on his own. He felt close to a breakthrough with Air Magic, and wanted to focus on it. The feeling of riding on the back of a dragon had inspired a desire to fly through the air under his own power.
He wandered through the semi-deserted part of the departnt's training area until he found a good clearing.
Sitting in a shady spot, he started focusing on his mana. For a while now he'd been feeling a kind of imbalance in his Air Magic, almost as if he were using it improperly. When he focused on it, he was capable of so very intricate work. However, he usually found himself simply using it as a brute force tool of either distraction or transportation. When he did so, he felt a kind of resistance, almost as if he was working against himself.
At first, he'd assud this disturbance would vanish once he improved the skill, but the more he thought about it, the more it felt like he was missing sothing fundantal to the process. Since he had the ti to concentrate now, he wanted to explore this aspect.
With a surge of will, he summoned a tiny cyclone in the palm of his hand. Instead of observing the effects visually, however, he tried to feel the mana as if flowed through him.
An unusual change was occurring to the energy once it exited his hand. He could sense it clearly up to that point, but afterwards it felt..distant and fuzzy.
Unsure of what it would accomplish, he tried forcibly expanding his perception to incorporate the tiny cyclone. He felt a level of resistance, like he was trying to press against so kind of limitation.
[Well, I've had good luck pushing through these kinds of things in the past, let's just give it a shot.]
Unbeknownst to him, as he forced his mind against the barrier, a powerful wind started blowing around Mike, forming a small tornado that began to strip nearby trees of their leaves. The harder he pushed, the stronger the winds beca.
Growing frustrated with the barrier, Mike unconsciously channeled so mana into his Water Magic, and allowed it to seep into head. His eyes turned blue under their closed lids, as his mind stilled. With surprisingly little effort he ntally shredded his limitations, expanding his consciousness beyond his own body. The wind that had been whipping around him stilled completely, allowing the suspended greenery to fall back towards the ground.
The world seed to stand still for a mont, as he suddenly comprehended his surroundings with perfect clarity. He could feel each of the falling leaves, and could even count them despite having his eyes closed.
He realized he had a perfect grasp of everything the air touched, as a part of his mind sohow translated the subtle air currents traveling through the clearing.
The mont was broken as soon the wind returned. A sudden burst of motion in the air made him feel dizzy and slightly overwheld by sensory overload. He opened his eyes, took a few breaths and waited for the vertigo to pass.
[Looks like I accidentally unlocked so new skill again.]
He pulled up his [Status] briefly, only to shake his head at the information revealed. Evidently the last few days had been eventful, since his newly acquired skill was only one in a long line of changes that had taken place since the last ti he'd looked.
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Status update below. Please feel free to skip to the next chapter.
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[Status]
Michael Rasmussen
Race: Human
Age: 15
Class: Skill Master
Tier: 3 (High)
Title: None
Multiverse Traveler
Blessed One
Hunter of Renown
Battlefield Healer
Kal'Thel
Philanderer
Hero
Dungeon Savior
Undinekath
Saint of Healing
Nesis of Demons
Antagonist
Wyrmkin
Fortuitous Alchemist (NEW)
Known to the Other (NEW)
Dragonknight Aspirant (NEW)
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Skills:
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Primary Skills:
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Communication Magic (Rank 3)
Interdiate Healing Magic (Rank 5)
Analyze (Rank 2)
Journeyman Almiran Military Swordsmanship (Rank 2)
Interdiate Water Magic (Rank 3)
Interdiate Fire Magic (Rank 3)
Basic Air Magic (Rank 5) (RANK UP)
Basic Earth Magic (Rank 5)
Basic Light Magic (Rank 1)
Basic Dark Magic (Rank 2) (NEW)
Basic Conjuration Magic (Rank 2) (NEW)
Basic Calling Magic (Rank 1) (NEW)
Basic Alchemy (Rank 2) (NEW)
Bind Familiar (Rank 2) (RANK UP)
Blood Collector (Rank 1)
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Secondary Skills:
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Lifestyle Magic (Rank 0)
Advanced Lovemaking (Rank 3)
Athletics (Rank 2)
Interdiate Evasion (Rank 3)
Basic Dagger Fighting (Rank 2)
Interdiate Spear Fighting (Rank 1) (TIER UP)
Interdiate Sword Fighting (Rank 2)
Interdiate Elental Magic (Rank 3)
Basic Summoning Magic (Rank 2) (NEW)
Basic Riding (Rank 4) (RANK UP)
Basic Haggling (Rank 3)
Basic Musical Performance (Wind Instrunt) (Rank 2)
Basic Unard Fighting (Rank 4)
Basic Chanting (Rank 2) (RANK UP)
Dual Casting (Rank 2) (RANK UP)
Aerosense (Rank 1) (NEW)
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Passive Skills:
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Interdiate Fear Resistance (Rank 2)
Interdiate Physiological Resistance (Rank 1) (TIER UP)
Interdiate Poison Resistance (Rank 5)
Basic Heat Resistance (Rank 4)
Basic ntal Resistance (Rank 5) (RANK UP)
Moderate Mana Enhancent (Rank 3) (RANK UP)
Moderate Mana Regeneration Enhancent (Rank 3) (RANK UP)
Moderate Endurance Enhancent (Rank 2)
Moderate Agility Enhancent (Rank 2) (RANK UP)
Moderate Strength Enhancent (Rank 1)
Basic Willpower Enhancent (Rank 3) (RANK UP)
Limit Break (Rank 1)
Detect Hostile Intent (Rank 3)
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Inherent Skills:
Traveler's Luck
Fate-Touched
(BC) Vampiric Regeneration, Lesser
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Titles:
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- Fortuitous Alchemist -
By virtue of your exceptional curiosity and luck, you have a created a rare alchemical item from common materials. Minor increase to material efficiency when performing alchemy. Positive mutation rate increased by 1%.
- Known to the Other -
You have stared into the Abyss and the Abyss has stared back. By communing with the source of Elental Darkness, you have garnered the attention of an entity that inhabits a realm beyond the bounds of reality. For good or ill, you will bear the weight of its gaze in both life and death. Moderate increase to the effectiveness of Dark Elental Magic.
- Dragonknight Aspirant-
You have cleared the most fundantal condition required to ascend to the lofty ranks of the Dragonknights, a bond with a true dragon willing to serve as your mount. With ti and proper training, you may one day join their ranks.
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Skills:
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Primary Skills:
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- Basic Dark Magic (Tier 2, Rank 2) -
One of the advanced forms of Elental Magic. Dark magic allows the user to create, manipulate, and give substance to darkness. Characterized by versatility, it lacks the explosive power of other elents. Higher skill levels increase the mana efficiency and power of the magic produced.
- Basic Conjuration Magic (Tier 1, Rank 2)
The most basic form of Conjuration Magic. Allows the user to conjure objects and creatures based on ntal images, summoning them into existence for a limited duration. Higher levels of skill improve mana efficiency.
- Basic Calling Magic (Tier 1, Rank 1) -
The most basic form of Calling Magic. Allows users to permanently call objects and creatures to their locations. Can be used to recreate things that currently exist or once existed in exchange for a requisite amount of mana. Higher levels of skill improve mana efficiency.
- Basic Alchemy (Tier 1, Rank 2)-
A production skill. Alchemy is the process of altering magic and mundane materials into finished products. Although the thods vary based on the particular recipe, all alchemical products bear so trace of magical influence. Allows user to create basic alchemical items, retain mories of recipes, and develop an intuitive understanding of the subtle aspects of the craft. Current mutation rate: 0.01%.
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Secondary Skills:
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- Interdiate Spear Fighting (Tier 2, Rank 1) -
A more advanced skill of the Spear Fighting tree. Provides users with fundantal understanding of using spears and other, similar weapons in combat. Minor system correction to the usage of spears in combat.
- Basic Summoning Magic (Tier 1, Rank 2)
The most basic form of Summoning Magic. It allows users access magic skills for the three primary forms of Summoning Magic: Conjuration, Calling, and Binding. Higher levels of skill provide a bonus on mana efficiency and potency. This is a Prerequisite and Limiter skill for all other Summoning Magic skills.
- Aerosense (Tier 3, Rank 1) -
Only available to practitioners of Air Magic. Allows users to sense the subtle vibrations in the air, and use them to understand their surroundings with near perfect clarity. Higher levels of skill increase sensing range, reduces disorientation caused by over stimulation, and increases cognitive understanding of nearby space.
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Passive Skills:
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- Interdiate Physiological Resistance (Tier 2, Rank 1) -
You have developed the ability to control your body's physiological responses to a large degree. Provides moderate resistance to the negative effects of physiological responses.
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