by Kyle Johnson
His focus was on the figures moving below, though. It seemed the humans and elves had taken it upon themselves to train together, which both gratified him and made him nervous. He remembered how poorly the Travelers in Eredain had taken to training with the NPCs, and he didn’t need any discord like that in his party. To his relief, though, it seemed like things here were progressing much more smoothly.
He saw Phil and Saphielle standing side-by-side in a shield formation, the elf instructing the human, who seemed to be following patiently along. Geltheriel was moving between Longfellow and McBane, giving the first pointers in Archery and working on blade forms with the second. Rhys and Meridian sat off to the side, each in a partial lotus position, their eyes closed as they undoubtedly practiced cycling their mana and meditating. All-in-all, it looked like the humans had taken well to the elves’ instruction; that relieved him greatly, since friction between the two parties was one of his greatest concerns.
Fortunately, that concern seemed unnecessary, and after watching for a few moments, Aranos turned away in satisfaction. They seem to be getting along, he thought to Silma.
I think it’s safe to say the humans were suitably impressed by our prowess, she answered with a mental shrug. Having seen our pack in combat, they’re well disposed toward instruction. I think one of the humans also made mention of how much they’d grown using the tips you’d already given their leader, and how you’d learned those from the elves.
That would have been Phil, using his superior people skills to herd everyone in the same direction. It was a talent Aranos didn’t have and was, frankly, a bit jealous of, but there wasn’t much point in worrying about things out of his control.
I’m going to work on Spells and do some Enchanting, he told his Companion. You can rest, if you want.
I’ll go scout the area. I can do it safely, and if there are more places like this, I imagine you’ll want to take them. I’ll let you know if anything’s coming, now that I know I can wake you from your meditations. The fenrin turned and padded silently down the stairs, and Aranos sat down on the folded blanket Saphielle had apparently given him for a pillow and withdrew a handful of jewelry.
The first thing he needed to do was check his notifications, which were blinking almost insistently at him:
You have slain jangshie x 87! 287 XP gained (Base 2294 divided among party members, split between two parties)
You have slain unknown undead x21! 124 XP gained (Base 991 divided among party members)
Skill Boost: Inspection (T) has gained a Level!
New Rank: Student 3
Student Level Ability: Inspection functions against Uncommon creatures. You can roughly estimate how badly a creature is wounded:
Label Current LP
Unwounded 90% - 100%
Slightly Wounded 75% - 90%
Wounded 50% - 75%
Badly Wounded 25% - 50%
Gravely Wounded 1% - 25%
Special: Typically, a Student in Inspection can judge a creature’s level compared to their own; however, a special action on your part has altered the standard development of this Skill.
New Ability Gained!
Ability: Final Rest (Evolved, Redeemed)
You can use your Soulmending Skill on undead creatures.
Description: You can use your Soulmending Skill to instantly kill undead creatures. This requires the use of soul mana and is damaging to your body. It also requires an Opposed Check to be successful, as detailed below. If this check succeeds, the affected undead dies instantly, and you receive a bonus to Soul Points received for using the Skill, as described under the Opposed Check.
Opposed Check: To use this Ability successfully, you must make an Opposed Check. Your base value for this check is your [(Wis-10) + (Cha-10) + Soulmending Skill level]. You gain a +5 bonus to this check for every SP of soul mana added, with a minimum of one SP required. The target’s base value is their [(Int-10) + (Cha-10) + (Class Level x 10)]. They receive adjustments to this value as listed below:
Target IsAdjustmentSoul Point Adjustment
Helpless -50 +25%
Stunned -30 +10%
Engaged in combat +50 -10%
In melee with caster +100 -20%
Less than 1% LP -30 +25%
1 – 10% LP -20 +20%
11 – 25% LP -10 +10%
25 – 50% LP none none
51 – 60% LP +20 -10%
61 – 70% LP +40 -20%
71 – 80% LP +60 -30%
81 – 90% LP +100 -40%
91 – 95% LP +150 -50%
96 – 100% LP +250 -60%
Unseen +30 -10%
> 10’ distant +10 per 10’ of distance none
If this check fails, it cannot be attempted again for one minute or unless the modifiers to the Check change somehow. For example, a caster is attempting this on an undead at 75% LP, engaged in combat, 20’ distant, the undead receives a +130 bonus to the check, and the caster fails. They must wait one minute to try again. If the undead drops to 68% LP, the check’s bonus drops to +110, though, and the caster can immediately make another attempt.
Quest Updated: Race to Get Ahead!
For creating an Evolved Ability, you receive: +250 XP
Completing this Quest has removed 1 Corruption Point.
Skill Gained: Lore (Undead, Untrained)
Rank: Novice 3
You are knowledgeable about the undead.
Effect: You gain a bonus of 1% per Skill level to damage versus undead creatures. Any undead you create gain a bonus of 1% per Skill level to their Stats.
+1 Int
Evolved Aspect Discovered!
Aspect: Necrotic
Necrotic mana is an Evolved mana type comprised of soul, life, and void mana. It is the mana of the undead, and as such it is dangerous for the living to use.
Requirements: Wis 75+, Lore (Undead), Soul and Death mana aspects unlocked, Mana Manipulation Expert+.
Using Necrotic Mana: Necrotic mana can be used to animate dead bodies or to bind souls to this world in undeath. Because of this, it is highly damaging to living spellcasters: a Spell containing necrotic mana drains 1 point of Wis per 25 SP of necrotic mana used. This damage is reduced to one point per 50 SP if the caster has Expert-ranked Mana Control and eliminated entirely if the caster’s Mana Control is Master-ranked or higher. This damage is cumulative: casting two Spells with 15 SP necrotic mana each will cause damage the same as casting a single Spell of 30 SP. Rest and meditation heal Wisdom damage at a rate of 1 point per hour; a full rest will also clear any accumulated damage from Spells cast before the rest.
Necrotic Mana Damage: Necrotic mana is deadly to living things, as it attacks the connection between their physical bodies and their souls. This means that, rather than taking LP damage, a living being affected by necrotic mana takes End or Wis damage instead: a spellcaster takes Wis damage, a non-caster takes End damage, and a hybrid type takes damage from whichever Stat is naturally higher (not counting existing necrotic damage). This damage will not heal normally and can only be restored by magical means. Necrotic mana heals both physical and Stat damage to undead.
Necrotic Mana and Corruption: Using necrotic mana to bind souls into undeath is an inherently Corrupt act. Creating any form of undead with necrotic mana gives the caster 2 Corruption Points per Class level of the undead created.
+500 XP
Evolved Aspects
Evolved aspects combine Enhanced mana with one or more Primary or Composite mana types. They are often more powerful than either Enhanced or Primary mana alone but are more difficult to master.
Requirements: Evolved aspects usually require the caster to have at least 75 in the Enhanced aspect’s associated Stat. Wizards generally need Spell Mastery of the specific Primary aspects involved, as well, while Sorcerers must usually have Mana Manipulation in the Expert ranks to meld these mana types together.
Resistances: Resistance or immunity to an Evolved aspect’s Primary mana types does not grant res
istance to the Evolved aspect. Resistance to the associated Enhanced aspect is only half as effective against the Evolved aspect, meaning immunity to the Enhanced aspect only grants 50% resistance to the Evolved form. Immunity or Resistance to the Enhanced and Primary aspects associated with the Evolved aspect functions normally but at the lowest level of resistance. For example, if a creature is immune to soul mana and 50% resistant to death mana, it is 50% resistant to necrotic mana.
You have slain vangolor! 355 XP gained.
Spell Evolution!
Compassionate Renewal has become Needful Reclamation!
Rank: Novice 4
Reclaim any place of importance to the Light
Effect: You can remove Corruption, Blight, and Darkness from an area up to [(Wis + Cha) + Spell Level] ft in radius. Nonliving objects cannot resist this Spell; creatures who are unwilling can resist by making an opposed check as detailed below. This Spell cannot Redeem a sapient creature; these are automatically treated as having succeeded at their opposed check, below. Willing creatures or creatures who fail their opposed check are fully Redeemed, brought to 100% Redemption and returned to the Light. Renewed ground is fertile and begins growing plants appropriate to the area immediately. Any normal, non-Enchanted structures within the area are fully repaired by the Spell using Common or Abundant materials. Renewed ground is anathema to creatures of Darkness, and these will avoid it if at all possible.
Cost: 90% of current LP, 90% of current SP, Caster is Exhausted for two hours after casting.
Opposable Spell: An unwilling, non-sapient creature affected by this Spell can resist it by making an opposed check: the caster’s [(Int + Cha) + Spell Level + 20] versus the creature’s [Wis Stat + Class Level]. Succeeding the opposed check means the creature takes [Int Stat x 20] points of light mana damage and gains [Int Stat + Spell Level] Redemption Points instead of being Redeemed. Any sapient creature, willing or unwilling, is considered to always pass this check and suffers neither damage nor Redemption points.
Special: This Spell may only be cast in an area of Corrupted Land. The caster must feel overwhelming need for the area or creatures to be affected to be returned to the Light. This Spell may be cast in combat or against creatures the caster considers enemies, but only if the caster’s need is exceptional.
To everything, there is a season…
You have Redeemed the location: Antas, Southwest Watchtower
This location is now a designated safe zone and will remain so until it is no longer Redeemed. You may set this location as your spawn point.
Do you wish to make this location your spawn point (Yes/No)?
Aranos almost negligently made the tower his spawn point, assuming that the other players had done the same. Silma was right; if they could find and Redeem more places like this, it would make the assault on Antas much simpler. Before, his spawn point had been almost a day’s travel away at the East Cendarta Waystation, while he guessed the other players probably spawned a similar distance down the High Road toward the human city of Stoneleague. Coordinating an assault when they’d be respawning so far away would have been problematic.
The Spell Evolution would help a lot with that, of course. He could technically cast it in combat now, although he wasn’t sure what would qualify as an ‘exceptional’ need, but more importantly, he could cast it because he needed to. Having to feel sorrow and compassion was a big limiting factor. It was a lot easier to need something done than to be sad that it wasn’t.
He examined his new Ability closely, quickly seeing that the AIs had balanced it to be more of a finishing move and less of a combat Ability. If he tried to use it on an undamaged, level 5 undead 30’ away in the midst of combat, he’d have to make an Opposed Check against a bonus of +380. With his current Stats and Soulmending Skill – which had jumped to Student 4, no doubt thanks to his creative use of it – he’d have to spend something like 35 SP of soul mana just to have a chance of success, closer to 40 taking the creature’s Stats into account. That felt like a waste of mana to him when he could probably take the same creature out with a Composite Bullet or two, especially if he channeled them.
But, if he had the chance to incapacitate a powerful undead and use this Ability on them, then it would be worth it. He’d gotten a 50% bonus to his Soul Points for that vangolor, since it was helpless and under 1% of its LP. That was the sort of boost he needed if he wanted to be able to handle whatever was in Antas. And for that to be possible, he needed to work on some Spells.
He closed his eyes and descended into his mindscape, looking around at the space with a wry smile. It had come a long way since he’d first imagined a 10’ radius, dome-shaped dojo. The training dummy that he’d once used constantly to relax his mind had been ignored for some time; he always had something else to do, and spending time on his Staff Mastery felt like a waste when there were so many other things that took precedence.
For example, his mana spirals. They swirled and rotated in nearly pristine condition, although as his mind slipped over them searchingly, he found a few spots where his channels had started to thin or become ragged. That was normal, he’d come to realize; the AIs were apparently believers in entropy and made his hourglasses suffer normal wear and tear whenever he used his mana. So long as he didn’t let it get ahead of him, it was a trivial matter and only took a minute or two to fix.
As he examined his spirals more closely, he saw that the misty, ephemeral soul mana was finally distinct from the other types to his mental perception. That meant that he needed to organize it, and fortunately, he already had an orientation picked out for the hourglasses he needed. The difficulty was getting the soul mana to separate out and follow the path he wanted it to. Just like the energy of his Soul Points, the mana wouldn’t move as a coherent mass. Instead, he had to laboriously shift individual strands, placing them carefully and orienting them so that they flowed in parallel with one another and didn’t approach too closely. That took a long time for his first hourglass, but once he developed a workable pattern the other twelve went much faster.
The next step was getting the separate hourglasses to connect, which wasn’t as simple as he’d thought it would be. A strand from one hourglass would deflect if it approached another at the wrong angle, which meant that he had to match the rotations of each hourglass perfectly and connect them as if they were incredibly fine-toothed gears. That took another hour, but at the end, he had thirteen new hourglasses, each of them spinning slowly and precisely, with soul mana flowing smoothly between them.
He sighed as he finally withdrew from his spirals; that had been a major effort, but it was a necessary one. If he wanted to craft Spells with soul mana, he first needed that mana to be separated in his hourglasses. Otherwise, using it would cost far more SP and would ultimately disrupt the rest of his flows. Now, though, he was ready to create some Spells, and he closed his eyes and started to picture what he wanted.
The first thing he considered was a Spell that was specifically designed to damage undead. The description of necrotic mana said that it was basically death and soul mana twined together; that must have been the repellent, black mana he’d sensed binding the vangolor’s soul. He could clearly remember how those mana types had been wound together, and how the life and void mana had encased the soul mana, drawing power from it and allowing the combined thread to affect the vangolor’s body and soul simultaneously. He knew that, if he wanted to, he could weave a similar thread and use it to craft his own undead, but the very idea of it sickened him. In some games, necromancy wasn’t good or bad, it was simply animating soulless corpses. In Singularity, it was apparently fairly evil, and he wanted no part of it.
However, he thought he could use that pattern just as effectively to weaken or even shatter the bindings that held the souls of the undead in this world. All he had to do was remove the void mana from the pattern and leave the life and soul mana present; theoretically, when this mix contacted necrotic mana, the life and death aspects should cancel, freeing the
soul mana and thus the soul beneath it.
At least, that was Aranos’ theory. In practice, it didn’t quite work that way. It turned out, the pattern was dependent on all three mana types; removing one made the construct unstable and caused the remaining life and soul mana to unravel. Fortunately, though, it didn’t take massive adjustments to resolve this; Aranos simply needed to replace the void mana with another strand of life mana, which stabilized the pattern and allowed it to flow coherently.
Unfortunately, when he called up a vision of a wave of his new mana type washing over one of the bent, twisted jangshie, the energy cascaded over the creature almost harmlessly, inflicting only minor life damage to it. The core of necrotic energy wasn’t affected at all. He tried adding more power to the attack, but it was clear that whatever he’d created wasn’t going to work as he’d intended. In fact, since he hadn’t received any notifications, his creation probably wasn’t even an actual mana type.
He let the mental construct go, feeling mildly frustrated. He put his aggravation aside, though, and let his mind drift, not focusing on the problem but just thinking about necrotic mana in general.
Necrotic mana didn’t exactly look or feel the way he’d expected necromantic energy to, in all honesty. He’d had this image that it would be chains of pure darkness, gripping the soul and holding it tightly despite its frantic attempts to escape. Instead, it was an extremely complex and ordered pattern, more like a tightly woven net than a chain; if he hadn’t seen it when he’d freed the vangolor, it would have taken him weeks of trial-and-error to figure it out. The structure wasn’t just created from a specific ordering of the individual elements. They had to be laid in the correct orientation and rotated about the soul mana core in a specific fashion…
As he considered that, he felt a tinge of excitement race through him. The necrotic energy wasn’t just a collection of life, void, and soul mana; each of those was moving in a very specific way relative to the others. When he’d replicated the pattern, he’d also replicated those movements. However, that wasn’t really reversing the energy; to do that, he also needed to reverse those motions.
