by Peter John
You have reached level 14. Your diligence, your search for truth, and your steadfast approach to challenges have improved all your skills across the board. Each skill will increase between 3 to 5 points, depending on their use. In addition, you have acquired new skills.
Animal Husbandry
Caring for critters has costly demands, but as this skill improves, perhaps you will find the rewards you seek. Starting skill Level 10. Increased to level 13.
Alchemy
An interest in the world around you has enhanced your ability to identify animal and plant life constituents. You are more able to combine these items to create something advantageous and beneficial, or detrimental and destructive. Starting skill level 6. Increased to level 11.
Lucid Languages
An ability to communicate in multiple languages. This talent will grow as you meet new languages.
Weapon Specialization
Your chosen weapon appears to be the Katana. Your previous knowledge and training combined with its abundant use in your current training regime has brought this skill to the fore. Increased to level 17.
*Take note: You have been now been limited to 3 weapon slots - use them wisely
Inwardly I sighed, I knew this was an ever-changing list of skills that tried to attribute points to depict abilities I had gained. It was tedious that almost every single skill had to be listed and individually tallied. How would I ever be able to select skills and upgrade them according to what I needed? It seemed as if the points were attributed automatically though. The prompts continued:
You have magical skill points to distribute. Would you like to add them now?
Y/N
The words “Magical skill points” were highlighted and so when I looked at them more intensely a pop-up appeared with a description.
Magical skill/attribute points are a numerical value of your ability within each area of magical craft.
I was quite surprised that I had leveled up nine levels since Nico Sim. It had been a steep learning curve, but I had had a lot of help along the way. I would have to discuss this situation with Grant. I didn’t want to be given the streamlined version of training just for the expediency of the situation. It was not my intention to shirk any of the challenges and I wanted to get the most benefit I could in any given Sim that could translate into real life benefits.
I looked at the avatar I had become in the Level-up room. The figure no longer pulsed from one type of class to another to signify a Prodigy. Instead, it was a replica of myself as I was now. Denims, cloak, boots. Beneath the cloak was a down parka jacket. The eye of Horus symbol pulsed goldenly on my forehead. I really hoped it wasn’t visible on my real forehead. I reached for the pillar before the effigy and as my hand conformed to the handle, the pentagon symbol appeared. All this time in the back of my mind I had been wondering why it was a pentagon instead of a pentagram, but then realized that the pentagram would interfere with the yin-yang symbol within the pentagon. So I guessed it was an issue of functionality over form.
Each corner of the pentagon had the color corresponding to the five colors of magic. At those corners was a number, which I guessed was my ability score in that particular magic school. Additionally, within the yin-yang symbol were other numbers. The white tear, the black tear shape and each dot within those tears had a number. It was all quite confusing. Below the pictogram was the list of spells I knew and since nothing had changed there, I focused on the pictogram of the pentagon. Willing it to form a list. With a swirl and a chime, it adjusted to my preference. I loved this interface. Windows and Apple could learn a lot from these guys, I thought wistfully.
Fire (Red Ruby Lodestone affinity)
Fire is the essence of combustion. Fire magic will spring from this font.
Your fire magical skill has been enhanced from 0 to level 13
Nature (Green Emerald Lodestone affinity)
Nature is the essence of growth. Natural Druid magic will spring from this font.
Your Druid magical skill has been enhanced from level 0 to level 11
Air (Saffron Lodestone affinity)
The Air is the essence of gas and weather cycles. Air magic will spring from this font.
Your Air skill has been enhanced from level 0 to level 8
Aqua (Blue Sapphire Lodestone affinity)
Water is the essence of life, Aqua magic will spring from this font.
Your Aqua magical skill has been enhanced from level 0 to level 7
Metal (Mercurial Lodestone affinity)
Metal is the essence of resilience. Metal, mining, power and forge Magic will spring from this font.
Metal is the essence of resilience. Metal, mining and forge Magic will spring from this font
Your metal power magic has been enhanced from level 0 to level 3
Secondary Tier Magics
Light Magic (External)
A unique combination of the five primary magical elements. Healing magic springs from this font.
Your light magic ability has been enhanced from level 0 to level 10
Light Magic (Internal)
An intuitive combination of the five primary magical elements based exclusively on internal Mana pool size and willpower. There are no definitive spells within the realm of your mind, only results. Your intelligence and wisdom feature strongly in this ability.
Your Internal light magical ability has been enhanced from level 0 to level 25.
Dark Magic (External)
Dark magic is a powerful and in some places forbidden ability that concerns the realm of death and the energies associated with pain and rituals in the world around you. It combines the five primary elements as well as the sixth element of magical properties called the dark or shadow.
Your dark magical ability has been enhanced from level 0 to level 3.
Dark Magic (Internal)
An intuitive combination of all primary magic’s that concerns the realm of death and the energies associated with pain and suffering internally. During your life you have met with much suffering and pain. Your ability to harness it internally and manipulate the outcome will increase this ability.
Your Internal dark magical ability has been enhanced from level 0 to level 6
After reading through the list, a notification chimed, and a voice rang out.
You have reached the Apprentice level in Light Magic (Internal).
Congratulations!
The notifications continued:
You have leveled up nine levels, thus accruing 18 skill points to distribute across your magical levels plus an additional bonus of 15 magical skill points for reaching Apprentice level in one of the Secondary Tier magic.
Please note that Secondary Tier Levels cost two points per skill level.
I willed the superfluous explanations away to see the raw data.
Tier 1 Magical ability
Fire
13
Nature
11
Air
8
Aqua
7
Metal
3
Tier 2 Magical ability
Light (External)
10
Light (Internal)
25
Dark (External)
3
Dark (Internal)
6
Points to distribute: 18 (+Bonus 15 points) Total 33
(*Note: Tier 2 magic requires 2 points per level)
I thought about the spells I knew and what would be useful in various environments. If I had more of a choice, I would learn more offensive spells. You just can’t have enough firepower. On the other hand, more powerful spells meant more Mana drain. I was lacking in the Metal magical skills and the Dark magical skills. Both of which could prove useful. Especially considering that the enemy would most likely be students of dark energy, it would be a good idea to know what they could do.
I thought about it for a while and did some adjustments. Realizing that I didn’t have enough to bal
ance out my scores much, so I tried to be tricky and take a gamble to see if it worked. I adjusted Fire to level 25 in the hope to get an additional 15 points bonus for reaching Apprentice level and ding-ding, sure enough, it awarded me not the 15 points I expected, but 10 points. I had given 12 points to Fire and now had an additional 10 points, giving me a total of 31 points to distribute. It turned out I got less because Tier 1 is not as difficult to level up as Tier 2.
I took some more time to distribute the points. While the gamble hadn’t worked out exactly as I wanted, it did give me some extra points to play with. At last satisfied with the changes and the fact that I had not been given any pain during the process I had a last glance over the table:
Tier 1 Magical ability
Fire
25
Nature
15
Air
15
Aqua
11
Metal
11
Tier 2 Magical ability
Light (External)
10
Light (Internal)
25
Dark (External)
5
Dark (Internal)
8
Your abilities have been adjusted.
Logout Y/N?
I chose yes and darkness shrouded my vision. Only to appear in my prison upon Grant’s alien ship.
CHAPTER 18
Freedom
As the whitewashed walls came into focus, I felt a crazy sense of vertigo. In my mind, Grant intoned, “Please relax Petros, this won’t take long.”
“What are you doing to me, Grant?” I enquired, trying to keep calm. I had had way too many bad experiences in this position to feel comfortable with any new sensations.
“You will be glad to know that you can come off the table and walk around free of constraints in a few minutes” I sensed Grant's enthusiasm and also noticed that the pipe that usually fed me directly into my stomach was no longer present. Additional tubes that must have dealt with my waste were also no longer attached. After a while, I felt movement and then gravity as I was swung from a horizontal position to a vertical one.
“Please step off the platform, be aware that you may feel dizzy, but it will pass.” instructed Grant.
I craned my neck and found I could move. My neck and body were responding to me. It was the newly enhanced body and nothing like the elder middle-aged man I had been when they first abducted me. Excited at my unexpected freedom I stumbled off the platform and found the gravity to be lighter than expected. That didn’t stop me stumbling to my knees and intuitively I summoned my staff to support me. Exactly as in the Sim, it appeared. I hadn’t believed that magic could work in the real until now. I clothed myself in a t-shirt and camo pants with a thought. Boots and cloak followed, and I turned around to look at the environment that had enslaved me since I left Earth.
Grant was standing at a doorway. He was taller than me, lanky, skinny, and buck-naked. His grey moist-looking skin seemed to glisten in the stark laboratory light. His torso appeared to be extra long, with the ribs showing through as if he had spent time in Ethiopia. Stringy arms and legs lead to four digits, the four digits seemed to form two pairs that acted together, giving the hands and feet the appearance of pincers. His genitalia seemed to be absent as if he never had any, which immediately made me consider his gender or if it was even applicable. The large upside-down pear shaped head with compound eyes, nose slits, and purple lips were the typical looks expected of aliens. One I was familiar with. I guess some of those UFO stories must have been true. The door was open leading to a corridor behind him. Within the room were all the tools you would expect in a dentist or plastic surgeon's office, except that the platform I had been lying on was made of a force field and was translucent. Grant beckoned to me to walk out the door. Every fiber in my being wanted to conjure my sword and chop him to bits. It was with considerable effort I resisted the urge and fought my repulsion of Grant's appearance. He had been good to me but I owed him at least a punch to the face. The electric pulses he had used to gain my compliance, in the beginning, were not easily forgotten. I had to behave myself. I still had a lot to learn and discover.
I adjusted my walk to compensate for the low gravity, making small steps and trying not to use too much force as I stepped. I noticed as I passed Grant that he had a silver ring on his one finger that had a glowing red setting that was facing inwards to his palm, making it easy for him to press by closing his fingers should he have a need. He was poised to press it.
I smiled at him and using thought speak said, “Is that the kill switch?”
“Not a kill switch, but an immobilizer should you be unstable.” His honest reply caught me off guard. I was expecting him to make an excuse, but he was being consistently honest with me. I kept walking into the corridor.
“Where to?”
“Walk to the end of the passage and at the fork go left, although I suggest you cloth yourself in something more formal.” Grant followed me, his gait like a spider, each step careful and strange.
With a thought and a gentle tug on my Mana I clothed myself in denim and a polo shirt. I then followed the directions and passed several doorways, all closed. Eventually coming to a doorway at the end of the left passage.
“Place your palm on the interface and it will give you access” I did as Grant's mental prompt suggested and with a swish, the door like an iris opened and I entered a spacious room with a large group of humans and Absinthe sitting and lounging around in various places.
“This is the relaxation room where your people gather to socialize and relax. You may mingle freely and refreshments and various food items are available along the wall at the back. I will be here for a short while before I attend my duties. When you are ready to go back to your training, reach out to me with your mind.” I felt his mind recede from our connection and he left me on my own at the threshold.
I was feeling like the new kid on the block again and had no idea where to turn. Hardly anyone took notice of me as I moved tentatively into the room, so I made straight for the back wall. When in doubt, hit the buffet I thought to myself.
One of the first things I made for was the coffee machine. The smell of coffee was strong and proved irresistible. They even had cream and little sugar cubes. It was a 5-star service, and those snacks looked so good. I grabbed some pastries and a couple of sausage rolls.
“There he is!” said a voice I recognized, and I turned to see Raúl Sánchez pushing his way through the crowd towards me. “Come on Colonel. Come sit with us.”
I followed him while stuffing one of the pastries into my salivating maw and found the team all gathered around a table. Different bottles of alcohol were in various states of depletion, including a bottle of Absinthe, a bottle of Scotch and the merriest of them all, Tequila. The slices of lime, shot glasses, and a salt dispenser spoke of some hard drinking. I looked at my coffee and felt conflicted. The situation demanded something stronger, but the smell and taste of something familiar and comforting had the strongest pull.
After swallowing the pastry with relish and pushing the flakes that had gathered on my unshaven stubbly face I exclaimed, “Hugo!” The huge Norwegian was slumped in a comfortable lounge chair. He looked at me with a somewhat inebriated grin. His rosy face beaming in happiness.
“Armpit Colonel!” he greeted back. Stone, Sánchez, John and Charlie all tipped their glasses to me and threw back another shot.
“Welcome Colonel to our Officers deck,” said Stone. I slurped my coffee noisily and with relish. It was the first time I had imbibed something in reality since my capture. Let me tell you that first sip was heavenly washing down those last flakes of the crispy pastry. The earthy dark aromas of the coffee, enhanced by the fat from the cream, gave me a small shudder of appreciation. My eyes might have even closed for a second, transported down memory lane of moments past where coffee usually meant the end of a difficult mission or a quiet solitary moment of luxury. The slam of
several shot glasses on the table brought me back to the moment. Sánchez was leaning towards me and I caught the last part of what he said “….level are you now?”
“I’m up to level 14 at the moment. When did you guys get back?”
John was busy pouring himself another dram of Scotch whiskey while he answered me. “The mission went well. Although at the end there it nearly went to hell. All thanks to Major Stone, we made it out with the objective complete. Sánchez you cocky bastard, you nearly killed me with that stunt you pulled.”
