The example given in the information download I’d received on the game was in the nature sphere. The spell example Assess was cast to allow the caster to judge an opponent, or even a berry bush, or a mushroom or other food or potion ingredient or flora.
At the initiate level, it merely returned a feeling such as, this creature will stomp you hard, or this creature will fall before you, or in the case of the berry, this berry is poisonous, or this berry is safe to eat, and so on. At the apprentice level, it might include the mana, stamina, health, and level of the creature, or in the case of flora if it was healing what kind, or what kind of poison it was. All the way up at Grandmaster level, where it would reveal everything about the opponent, as if you had access to their character, skills, and spells sheet. Of course, that spell only worked on living matter.
Skills and spells both went through six major levels of competence. Initiate, apprentice, journeyman, expert, master, and grandmaster. Each major level unlocked new magical concepts to incorporate into spells, and even more new advanced spells and applications. At master and grandmaster, it was even possible to create new spells and applications that combined several spheres. Each major level was split up into ten levels, meaning there were sixty levels of improvement altogether.
The major catch was that all jumps in sphere and weapon skill level were limited. Each level I gained would increase the three skills used the most, and any one skill level was also limited to character level. So, a level five character could have three weapon skills or three magic spheres, or a mix of the two, all at level five. Adding in more, would add diversity but also start to weaken the character. If I went ahead with using five, then at level fifty I’d have all five at level thirty, which would make me weaker than if I had three at level fifty.
Of course, once I hit sixty, and the skills could be maxed out, I could add more at that point for when I hit level sixty-one, but the growth would be very slow at that point.
Skill proficiencies that were non-weapon related didn’t count. They were still limited to character level, but they didn’t count against the weapon skill and magical sphere count limitation. Things like fishing, swimming, riding, crafting, potion making, hunting, and other such skills that don’t directly help in a fight.
Maybe I’d just stick to three magic spheres then, or two and a weapon? I wasn’t entirely sure at that point what I was going to do, but it seemed prudent to stick to just three main choices. Nature was one of the ones I wanted, it would make a lot of things easier. Admittedly, not so much battle, not at first anyway, which is why my second one would be fire. I was still internally debating if I wanted a third magical sphere, or a weapon.
From what I understood, it should be easy enough to start out. If I simply meditated on a sphere of magic, like life, and tried to feel the flora and fauna around me it should grant me the sphere and starting knowledge and basic concepts to create a spell or two. That made it much easier than starting with a weapon, considering I was alone in the middle of a forest, in a grove, with no one and nothing in sight except for trees, bushes, and wildlife.
I took a seat on the ground, and my stomach gurgled. The quicker I did this the easier it would be to hunt. I’d never hunted in my life, but I imagined with the nature sphere it would be a lot easier. I closed my eyes, crossed my legs, and opened myself to my surroundings. Being in a forest should make it easier as well, I was after all, completely surrounded by nature. I also had enough book knowledge from the real world to become a doctor, botanist, or microbiologist.
Fifteen hundred years is a long ass time.
The ability to find my center and my magic was almost instinctive in this new world, and I reached out to the nature around me, even as I studied my own body. The slow steady beat of my heart, the feel of the grass underneath me, the shade of the trees. I admitted to myself, it wasn’t as bad as I’d feared, peaceful even.
A dialog box popped up and startled me.
Congratulations! You have with your lackadaisical attempt at meditation earned the Sphere of Life (Initiate Level 1). You have earned Ten Experience Points.
As soon as I mentally closed the box, my head felt like someone stabbed it with a needle, and my heart fluttered in my chest as information flooded my mind. I wasn’t expecting something so intense, and I stared at nothing for a few minutes as my mind sorted and went through the information.
I brought up my status again.
Character:
Name:
Jason
Classes:
None.
HP:
65
Regeneration 1.3/sec.
Race:
Half-Elven / Half Human
Mana:
80
Regeneration 1.8/sec.
Platinum:
0
Stamina:
75
Regeneration 1.4/sec
Gold:
0
Level:
1
TNL: 990
Silver:
0
Strength:
15
Bronze:
0
Agility:
14
Intelligence:
18
Willpower
13
Wisdom:
16
Magical Spheres:
Fire:
Initiate level 0
Water:
Initiate level 0
Air:
Initiate level 0
Earth:
Initiate level 0
Light:
Initiate level 0
Darkness:
Initiate level 0
Life:
Initiate level 1
Death:
Initiate level 0
There were several concepts about life in the information my meditation had granted me. Besides that, there was also information on how to form spells, and how to cast them. Casting spells required great concentration and focus. To cast a life spell, I would need to align my mind with life magic before casting the spell, and it wouldn’t work if I didn’t. Creating spells was a function of simply marrying several concepts. Technically, I could do it manually without ever building one spell, and just make up stuff on the fly. A spell was much like a simple macro of concepts building up on each other until the spell was formed and cast.
The power of the spells were also a trade off in mana cost, and I had some control over that. The more mana the more powerful the spell, but there were diminishing returns.
There were six basic concepts for the initiate levels in the life sphere. Those concepts would be further fleshed out, as I gained experience and knowledge. I took a couple of minutes to create six spells using the interface, one for each of the basic concepts I’d learned.
Spell list, I thought.
Spells:
Spell Name
Sphere
Description
Mana Cost
Growth
Life
Accelerate natural growth. The simpler the life form, the faster the growth. Ineffective against sentient life.
5 mana/second
Heal
Life
Accelerate natural healing. One HP per mana spent.
5 mana + one HP per Mana spent toward healing.
Detect life
Life
Detect creatures or flora nearby. (30 + Level) feet radius.
5 initial + 1 mana / second
Commune
Life
Sense of a creature's attitude toward you.
5 initial + 1 mana / second
Assess life
Life
Assess creature or flora.
5 mana
Life Stasis
Life
Freezes life function within area of effect. Range of spell is thirty feet + level. Ineffective unless AOE completely contains a creature.
5 mana + 1 mana per cubic foot per second
Well, I�
��d been right about it helping me hunt at least, life stasis looked interesting as well for during battle, but very limited. The mana cost was exorbitant, at my current level of one, I’d be lucky to hold a creature still for more than two seconds, unless it was very small.
The six concepts also didn’t limit me to six spells. The same concept that let me detect life, would allow me to detect a specific type of life only, but having six spells seemed like a good start.
I repeated the process for access to the fire sphere. There was no fire nearby, but that didn’t stop me from reviewing what I knew about it, or from focusing on the heat of the sun on my skin, and exploring that heat with my magic. It didn’t take long before it happened again.
Congratulations! You have with your pitiful attempt at meditation on thermodynamics, earned the Sphere of Fire (Initiate Level 1). You have earned Ten Experience Points.
After the blinding pain in my mind cleared, and the information was sorted, I built six fire spells.
I commanded, “List fire spells.”
Spell Name
Sphere
Description
Mana Cost
Control Flames
Fire
Control normal flames, good for starting a campfire, lighting a candle, or creating a wall of flames. Minimal damage against an enemy first five seconds.
5 mana + (Cubic Feet Effected) mana per second
Heat
Fire
Add or remove heat from inanimate matter.
5 mana
Light
Fire
Create a heatless ball of flame.
5 mana + 1 mana per second
Summon
Fire
Summons a fire elemental at caster's level for one minute per level.
5 mana
Infrared
Fire
See heat levels.
5 mana + 1 mana per second
Fire Blast
Fire
Fire a ball of intense fire to damage an enemy. Secondary damage possible if creature’s clothes or items catch on fire.
5 mana
I considered the idea of stopping there, but what happened if I didn’t have three active spheres, or a weapon when I reached level two? Would I lose the third skill point simply because there was nothing to apply it to? I wasn’t sure, and I didn’t want to take the chance.
That left me pondering, and I decided that hitting things didn’t really appeal to me at all. I’d be an all magic character. If that didn’t work for me at some point, I could always gain a weapon later and leave off on one of the magical spheres.
I was in somewhat of a conundrum. Air or earth would complement fire, but if I ran into a creature with fire resistance the best sphere to have would be water, wouldn’t it? But later on I wasn’t sure how successfully I could blend those two opposing spheres of magic. Although, water and nature might combine in interesting ways. Water fed life.
I meditated on the sphere of water. The babbling of the nearby brook helped with that. Water took the path of least resistance, but over time could defeat stone. Water flowed and moved, fed life, and… I clutched my head as the concepts slammed into my mind.
Congratulations! That was pathetic, you weren’t even trying, you’ve earned the Sphere of Water (Initiate Level 1) out of pity. You have earned Ten Experience Points.
That was kind of snarky. I shook my head and got to work sorting out the concepts, and building six spells. Then thought, list water spells.
Spell Name
Sphere
Description
Mana Cost
Spring
Water
Creates a spring of water.
5 mana
Ice Spike
Water
Create and send a spike of ice to damage an enemy.
5 mana
Summon
Water
Summons a water elemental at caster's level for one minute per level.
5 mana
Ice Wall
Water
Creates a wall of ice.
5 mana + 1 mana per cubic foot.
Breathe water
Water
Breathe under water.
5 mana + 1 mana per second.
Control Water
Water
Manipulate water, one cubic foot per level. Ineffective for water in living creatures.
5 mana + 1 mana per cubic foot per second.
That was some useful stuff, but some of it was very limited for now. Like Ice Wall, it would take all my mana to make a wall of ice just five by four feet in size. Or ten by eight, if I only made it six inches thick.
I stood and stretched, thoughtful as I considered the possibilities. I looked around the small grove and listened for the movements of animals. I bit my lip as my stomach growled, setting up the three spheres I chose and the spells had taken a while. I was suddenly wondering if I could kill a creature and actually eat it. Building a fire was no longer a problem, and I loved bacon, but I’d never actually needed to kill to eat before.
Even if I did find a rabbit, I hadn’t a clue how to skin and clean one. Maybe I needed to start small, I started off toward the babbling brook right by the grove. I had no moral qualms or inability to drink water, and maybe I’d get lucky and find myself a nice bush filled with berries nearby?
Chapter Two
Hunger, pain, and no easy life. Perhaps this world was even more real than the one I’d previously been in. Still, the sun, breeze, and sounds of the forest inundated my senses and made me feel alive. I was fairly confident I’d done an okay job at preparing myself for this world with the three spheres, hopefully I wasn’t fooling myself.
I knelt down, and cast detect life. Which… didn’t work.
I shook my head, and concentrated on the nature around me, the feel of it. Then ran the concepts of the spell through my mind. There were no words, and no gestures, it was all knowledge, concentration, and force of will. When the spell worked, I was overwhelmed with the life around me. It was like a sixth sense, a new sense that filled my mind with information. Plants, bushes, trees, squirrels up in the trees, and a few rabbits further into the woods on the other side of the brook. I felt all of it in a thirty-one-foot radius around me.
My mana slowly restored in about twelve seconds. The spell took one mana a second to maintain, I recouped somewhere around one point four mana a second. In essence, I could maintain the spell forever, though it would be prudent to drop it in battle so I got mana back faster, I decided to leave it going for now to let my mind get used to a new sense and strange input.
The brook was cool as I dipped my cupped hands into it, and I took a drink. I drank my fill as my mind wandered, I wasn’t worried about something sneaking up on me, at least not within thirty-one feet of me anyway. No town, no store, no weapons, no other people. No water skin, or a flint and steel for fires, or… anything. All I really had was a tunic, breeches, and a pair of soft leather sandals on my feet.
Maybe Gaia was totally insane, or maybe this was a challenge of some kind.
I’d never gone camping in my life, but over fifteen hundred years I’d read a whole lot about a great number of subjects, including wilderness survival. Of course, experience was different from knowledge, but I could learn. I needed to build a shelter, a fire, and hunt. I’d need to create a bag from skins perhaps, and…
My mental planning was cut off by a feminine scream of fury and fear, followed by loud guttural grunts and laughing. It was hard to judge the distance, but it wasn’t more than a hundred yards away to the south-west, assuming the sun rose in the east on this crazy new world.
I was frozen while looking that way, my mind considering the options. This wasn’t real, any more real than the simulation of an Earthen paradise. I’m ashamed to admit that I gave thought to retreating back to my glade, but my mind rejected that approach. Real or not, the pain was real, and so would the feeling of dying be. It felt real, more than real, an
d perception was really all that counted, wasn’t it? I couldn’t just leave her to her fate.
My heart hammered at the idea of getting involved, even as I quietly got to my feet, and headed that way. I felt like a bull in a china shop as I tried to quietly approach. Every scratch of dirt, the crunch of a leaf, and even my hammering heart seemed insanely loud. Yet, the woman was still yelling and screaming, and the sounds of the struggle and the guttural laughing would cover the sounds of my clumsy approach to silent movement.
Congratulations! Your bumbling attempts to quiet your movements has had a limited impact. You gain the skill Sneak. You have earned Ten Experience Points!
I shut the window with an annoyed thought, and picked up my pace a little bit, the sounds of struggling were very loud, but I maintained my silence the best I could and watched my step. When I got into the thirty-one-foot range I could feel the woman and two creatures in front of me. Intelligent creatures felt different than animals through the spell, as did humans from whatever the creatures were, and I squatted down and crept forward a few more feet and leaned around a tree to see what was going on.
There was a woman dressed similarly to me with her hands tied behind her back, and her legs were hobbled with a tied rope as well to prevent her from running. She was about five foot six, with reddish brown curly hair, and an athletic build. She was struggling mightily to get out of the ropes.
The two creatures were just over five feet, with green tinged gray skin. Their faces were hideous, sharp angles, long jutting canine teeth, and beady brown eyes. They were wiry, but obviously strong. They wore leather armor and had bows and quivers over their shoulders. They were laughing at the woman who was desperately struggling to escape her bonds, presumable so she could kill them. Nothing in her stance or actions indicated escape was her goal.
Gaia's Gambit: Evolution Online I (A LitRPG) Page 2
