Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Erick Flatt

Human, age 48

Level 7, Class: None

Exp: 1823/2100

Class: -/-

Points: 4

HP

80/80

150 per day

MP

510/510

532 per day

Strength

8

+0

[8]

Vitality

15

+0

[15]

Willpower

20

+0

[20]

Focus

20

+0

[20]

Concentration 7

Multiply your base MP regen by 2.66

Requirements: 20 Focus

Exp: 48/2100

Discipline 6

Multiply your base MP by 2.55

Requirements: 20 Willpower

Exp: 76/1300The roots of this story extend from novell bìn origin.

Ward 5, instant, short range, 24 hours,

Create a Small Ward that can have Minor Effects, or prevent Z damage from attackers. 10 MP + Z

Create a Small Ward that can have Small Effects, or prevent Z damage from attackers. 15 MP + Z

Create a Special Ward. Variable Cost

Create a Medium Ward that can have Small Effects, or prevent Z damage from attackers. 20 MP + Z

Create a Medium Ward that can have Medium Effects, or prevent Z damage from attackers. 25 MP + Z

Minor Effects: Bug Ward, Temperature Ward, Alarm Ward

Small Effects: Visual Disruption, Audio Disruption, Weather Ward

Medium Effects: Area Hostile Visual Disruption, Area Hostile Audio Disruption

Special Ward: Eschew all other effects in order to shape, color, and illuminate a ward however you can. Skill at mana manipulation determines final outcome.

Exp: 150/800

Mana Shaping 3

Alter spell AOE in better, subtle ways, 10 MP + spellcost

Alter spell AOE in moderate ways, 30 MP + spellcost

Requirements: 10 Willpower

Exp: 10/300

Cleanse 5, instant, short range, 10 mana.

Purge an area equal to the level of the spell in meters of all Toxins, Disease, Filth, and Corruption.

Exp: 170/800

Mend 4, instant, touch, 10 mana

Touch a non-magical medium sized object, or small complicated, and restore it to its prime.

Exp: 50/500

Meditation 5

You are at Rest while Meditating.

Afflicted ailments: Slow movement

Requirements: 10 Willpower

Exp: 543/800

Erick woke up early. He couldn’t sleep. He could only stare at his skills, wondering where he had gone wrong.

One [Ward] last night was all he was good for, and it was eaten by one attack.

No, wait. Not one attack. The [Ward] was eaten by the decay damage of one attack. If it was his [Ward] up there instead of Bacci’s at the beginning, they would have all died.

No. That’s not right either.

He would have died. Just him. Jane has over 500 HP. Savral for sure has more than that. Bacci might, too? No way of knowing and it was rude to ask.

And the enemy threw... Like 5 of those green fireballs. Erick couldn’t remember. It was probably 5. If Savral had cast those drops of light faster, maybe the first green fireball would never have happened. Then Erick would have been completely useless.

“Hey, Dad.” Jane was looking at him from the other couch. “You’re awake too, huh?”

Erick sat up. “I’m awake.”

“I was completely useless.” Jane stared up at the darkened room. There were a lot of things broken in the attack, and the specialized wards that were the light orbs were one of them. Al replaced some of them, but not the one in this room; not yet. “I don’t even have [Mend] or [Cleanse], so I was useless on cleanup, too.”

Erick didn’t want to argue with that. She was right.

No. Wait. She was wrong.

“You saved my life jumping me into that river. I could never have done that on my own.” Erick stressed, “You’re good at this, Jane. This fighting, this protecting. You’re a shield, and you’re damn good at it. You just need some time to adjust to a world with magic and murderers.” He added, “Well. More murderers than Earth. Maybe. Maybe not. I’m not solid on the actual numbers, but I’m pretty sure that earthling bank robbers try not to kill anyone.”

Jane looked at him. She smiled. She whispered, “Thank you, Dad.”

A minute passed in the darkness. Erick thought Jane might want to say something else, so he left space open for her, and he was still concentrating on how to fix his HP. Did he really want to dump almost 7 levels into getting his Strength to 20? He could. But should he?

Unlocking a Scion skill took a base stat of 50. Which meant levels in the 30s, at least, which would be the level of a proper adventurer; someone who goes out into the countryside and rids the world of threats to civilization. Erick did not think that was a realistic goal for him. He didn’t want to go out and kill wolves, no matter how much experience they granted, but he would have to if he didn’t want to be stuck at 18.

Apparently, skills only gave you experience until they hit level 10.

Even if a person only took skills that gained them experience, they’d cap out at level 23.

All of this was explained in the math on the papers Al wrote up. Those had mostly survived the attack, and when Erick [Mend]ed them, he took a minute to read the underlined TL;DRs at the bottom.

Jane had correctly deduced that the numbers behind the Script’s experience requirements was the Fibonacci Sequence. Jane was happy about that —because vindication— but also worried because of massively compounding leveling requirements. Most everyone who was not an adventurer got their necessary skills then dumped points into the base stats to get them to 20, and then budgeted one or two more points for the 2x – 3x HP, MP, or the recovery skills, and then called it a life. Usually sticking to the 20 strength one, or the 20 willpower one. Jane getting three base stats up to 20 and then taking the multiplier skills, all before she was a rookie adventurer, was a path only for those who started off with high numbers in every stat. Which she had.

Or a path for those who got some extra points. Which she also had. Thank you Irogh.

... And that crash in the desert, I guess. In a way.

In an unkind and traumatizing way. Seriously though. I think I might have a thing against heights now. I completely froze at the river room ledge. I had just seen Bacci jump. Why couldn’t I?

Jane said, “What are you thinking about?”

“Numbers and stats and how abysmal my HP is.”

“You can get that up to 12 or 14 Strength without spending points, you know.”

“No. I didn’t know that.” Erick asked, “How?”

“The healers at the Guildhouse thought I might have had monster-meat poisoning because I was trouncing level 25s in the training ring, but they cleared me for combat after an examination. Apparently, one of the big reasons those monster meat sandwiches we bought were so popular is because eating most monsters gives the body a natural, permanent boost in Strength. You just can’t overdo it or you’ll poison yourself, and it only works till 20 strength, though 20 would take decades so most people don’t do that. It works best when you’re below 14 Strength, anyway. Part of the dragonkin culture —of all Veird culture, actually— is adding a little bit of monster meat to children’s meals.”

That was really good news. Erick smiled in the darkness. “Is that 20 Strength how you were able to treat me like a 40 pound sack of potatoes?”

“That was mostly adrenaline.” She laughed, small and happy. “Maybe a bit of it was the 20 Strength.”

“So what you’re saying, is I should go and buy some dragonkin children’s lunchables.”

Jane laughed again, louder this time. “God! Do you remember when I was 12 and you filled the fridge with those things? Those were terrible!”

“I only bought one package of them on a lark, but then you went and grabbed a box every day for a week, rushing out of the door, barely saying ‘hi’ to me as you ran to the bus stop. I thought you loved them.” Erick laughed. “You’re the reason you ended up eating those for a year.”

“I don’t remember that. What I remember is you looking happy stuffing one in my backpack.”

“Right! Them. The reason we came downstairs.” Savral strode to the front door and opened it wide. “Sorry about that. We got distracted in the front room.”

Two dragonkin in well tailored clothes walked into the sewerhouse, both of them with leather shoulderbags wrapped around their torsos. It was a jarring look, but it seemed like they moved comfortably. Both immediately gawked at the light orbs.

Savral added, “The male human is working on his light orbs.”

“They’re quite...” The bluescale male dragonkin said, “Something.”

Yellowscale said—

“Oh! I know you.” Erick smiled. “Hello, Hera.”

Hera smiled wide at Erick. “Are these yours?”

“This is attempt 1 through 24 of making a light orb. I kinda deviated into art somewhere along the line, and a few were too ugly or too bright so they had to go. I thought you were a prosecutor?”

“I am.” She stepped over to the blue-mirage light orb. She said, “Nearly invisible light. I like it.”

Bluescale grunted at her.

She said, “Right. Right. Let’s get down to it. Felair will be casting [Witness] while I [Scry]. When we’re done we will have some words for you all.” She looked around. “Where is Miss Kygron?”

Savral spoke with an edge to his voice. “Bacci is at her house preparing for a vacation. The sewerhouse is closing for a month and a lot of us are going our separate ways for a while.”

Hera frowned. “This looks bad on her.”

“She didn’t do shit.” Savral said, “No one here did.”

“We’ll determine that for ourselves.” Bluescale said, “Thanks for greeting us —eventually— but you can go away now until we need you. Stand in your corners. Whatever. Just don’t get in the way.”

“Don’t vanish just yet.” Hera said, “I need to see all of your Statuses. You can show me now, or—”

Savral said, “Where’s your warrant.”

“I am with my son on this.” Al stood firm. “I’m going to need to see the warrant before I show you my status, and it will be done in private.”

Hera produced a slip of paper from her shoulderbag then handed it to Al. While he read the paper, Erick wondered at how easy it was to counterfeit things in this world, like coins, or identifications, or government search warrants. Savral and Jane craned their necks to look at the paper in Al’s hands.

Al handed the warrant back to Hera. “Fine. Come to my office when you’re ready to read mine.”

“I’ll be upstairs,” Savral said.

“I’ll be downstairs,” Jane said, and then left, following Al.

“Well here’s mine.” Erick said, “Status: Reveal All.”

Erick Flatt

Human, age 48

Level 9, Class: None

Exp: 247/5500

Class: -/-

Points: 8

HP

80/80

150 per day

MP

532/532

532 per day

Strength

8

+0

[8]

Vitality

15

+0

[15]

Willpower

20

+0

[20]

Focus

20

+0

[20]

Concentration 7

Multiply your base MP regen by 2.66

Requirements: 20 Focus

Exp: 2060/2100

Discipline 7

Multiply your base MP by 2.66

Requirements: 20 Willpower

Exp: 788/2100

Ward 6, instant, short range, 24 hours,

Create a Small Ward that can have Minor Effects, or prevent Z damage from attackers. 10 MP + Z

Create a Small Ward that can have Small Effects, or prevent Z damage from attackers. 15 MP + Z

Create a Special Ward. Variable Cost

Create a Medium Ward that can have Small Effects, or prevent Z damage from attackers. 20 MP + Z

Create a Medium Ward that can have Medium Effects, or prevent Z damage from attackers. 25 MP + Z

Personal Ward: Any Ward of any type can be made Personal, to move with you. Original Cost x2

Minor Effects: Bug Ward, Temperature Ward, Alarm Ward

Small Effects: Visual Disruption, Audio Disruption, Weather Ward

Medium Effects: Area Hostile Visual Disruption, Area Hostile Audio Disruption

Special Ward: Eschew all other effects in order to shape, color, and illuminate a ward however you can. Skill at mana manipulation determines final outcome.

Exp: 642/1300

Mana Shaping 4

Alter spell AOE in better, subtle ways, 10 MP + spellcost

Alter spell AOE in better, moderate ways, 30 MP + spellcost

Requirements: 10 Willpower

Exp: 430/500

Cleanse 5, instant, short range, 10 mana.

Purge an area equal to the level of the spell in meters of all Toxins, Disease, Filth, and Corruption.

Exp: 170/800

Mend 4, instant, touch, 10 mana

Touch a non-magical medium sized object, or small complicated, and restore it to its prime.

Exp: 50/500

Meditation 7

You are at Rest while Meditating.

Afflicted ailments: Normal movement, small actions/spells.

Requirements: 10 Willpower

Exp: 455/2100

Huh. He leveled quite a bit. No wonder [Meditation] felt so much better. He could even cast ‘small spells’ and take ‘small actions’ when meditating, whatever that meant. And look at that [Ward], it was up to 6! He could make a personal [Ward] now. Cool. And he wasn’t feeling quite so bad about spending so much... mana...

Nope. No, that wasn’t true. Mana Exhaustion was creeping on strong. He could use a nap.

He probably wouldn’t get a nap, today.

Hera swiped her hands through the floating blue boxes, dismissing them. She looked at him oddly, then the scales on her face tinted pink. She looked away, saying, “Sorry. Terribly sorry.”

He laughed. “That bad, huh! I’m the one who should be embarrassed, but I’d like to know what is so embarrassing.”

Hera looked like she didn’t want to speak but she couldn’t help herself. She blurted out, “You’re still leveling basic skills?”

“Ahh... Yeah. I’m not from around here. Still getting used to the Script. Human, yes. Extra planar, too. Or something. Irogh said something along those lines.”

“Oh?” Hera’s blush faded. She nodded. “That explains a lot.” She eyed him up and down. “Nothing bad... You are a human, but not like any of the ones I’ve ever met. This explains a lot. Including how easily you got a Silver Star.”

“So what next? Do I... spit in a cup? You touch my forehead and experience the last week of my life? You do a Deep Scan on me, whatever that means.”

“A Deep Scan? ... No.” She frowned, like Erick was a child needing guidance. “You really are new to Veird.” She pulled a small glass stone from her shoulder bag. “I’m going to ask you some questions...”