Chapter 15

Beginning of a Foundation

Wondering how long he had to wait, Jay felt it best to spend his time productively. He opened the gray book, looking for any Spells or Skills he might want, but mostly for the ones he had already chosen. Even though he had already told the man he wanted to buy those, he needed to have a look at their description before making the final decision.

Before long, he found one of the Spells he wanted. The book read,

Magic Rope Spell

By using Mana to reinforce the inner structure of a rope suited for this Spell you can move the rope. With high enough Spell Level you can move the rope as if it was an extension of your own body.

Mana consumption varies according to rope weight and type, and Spell Level.

Hm, simple enough, Jay thought. The Magic Rope Spell seemed like it had really good potential. If he could learn how to manipulate a rope well enough he might be able to use it to snare monsters in the future.

Haste Skill

By enhancing your legs' inner workings you gain the ability to use your Mana to increase your Movement Speed by a minimum of 5%.

Haste can be interrupted if you are attacked.

Haste can evolve into Great Haste if the requisite Skill Level and Attributes are obtained.

It seemed like Haste also had great potential, though only if you used it enough, which wasn't something Jay was certain he would do, but it didn't hurt to have the Skill right now since he didn't have any Skills for increasing his Movement Speed.

He continued looking through the book. But before Jay could find another of the Skills or Spells he had chosen, the grumpy man walked into the room again holding a tray; on it lay four straps of some braided leather, a little brown bottle with a long tube protruding from its neck, two even smaller bottles, one dark red and one black, a wide piece of thin black cloth with two weird circular patterns embroidered on it, and a scroll made from yellow parchment.

“You're back too soon,” Jay said. “I didn't have time to read through all the Skills and Spells I chose. Would you mind waiting until I'm done?”

“No,” the man said. “Let's do this now. You'll have time to read the book when you integrate the Skills into your body. Which would you like to get first? Maybe the Spellscroll? It won't need your Mana because it's already infused with the Mana needed to learn it. Or maybe Haste? It takes 1600 Mana before you've gained the Skill. That will give you some time to read while you infuse the Construct with the 1600 Mana.”

“Ehm?” Jay said, confused. He didn't know what the man was talking about. “What do you mean by that?”

“You'll see. It's easier to just show you than actually explain,” the man said, his gruff voice becoming slightly angry. “I don't have time for your dawdling, choose what you want to do now, or go downstairs to read about whatever you want to learn.”

“Fine,” Jay said, knowing it wouldn't be a mistake to getting Haste at first. “Let me get the Skill Haste first, you said something about infusing Mana? How do I gain the Skill?”

“Here, look at these,” the man showed Jay four leather straps braided in a complex pattern. When he looked closely, Jay could see that there were small dark red geometrical patterns repeated on the leather strips; it looked as if the patterns were tattooed into the leather. “We strap these around your calves and thighs. Then you infuse 400 Mana into each belt-strap with your Mana Manipulation and the straps will restructure the inner parts of your legs, giving you the Skill Haste. Easy enough, right?”

“Easy enough, true,” Jay said. “Is that how you get all Skills? It's a bit different from Spellscrolls, but it seems too easy. Can I learn any Skill that way? I just need to infuse Mana into the correct Construct and I gain the Skill? Seems too easy.”

“Not all Skills can be learned with Constructs, and anyway, Haste is one of the least taxing Skills to learn,” the man explained. “To learn the more powerful Skills you'll need a high enough Strength, Dexterity, Endurance and Vitality to be able to learn and use the Skill. If you try to learn a Skill you don't have the Attributes for you'll cripple yourself. And if you can't heal your crippled body, you'll suffer greatly. Your Stats will be reduced and your Skills will either be impossible to use or greatly reduced in efficiency. Now, I've explained enough. Choose! I don't have time for this. Do you even know how many people come through here in a day?” the man started muttering in a low voice. Jay couldn't hear what was said, but the tone spoke volumes about how aggrieved the man felt.

“Okay, okay...” Jay said. “Let's do this. In which order would you get the Spells and Skills? To be most efficient with your time.” Jay felt a bit sorry for the fellow now. However gruff and unpleasant the man was, it had to take its toll to always have newbies come and ask questions they could read about in the book.

“Oh,” the man said, looking up. The corner of the man's lips twitched, but stilled a moment later. “I'd get the Skills in this order. First, get the Null Presence: Scent, because you need to infuse 600 Mana into your lungs in one breath without exhaling, and it will be easiest to do that when you have full Mana. Second, I would get the Haste Skill, because you wanted some time to read the gray book, and I can go do something else until you're done infusing the Mana to get that Skill. Third, either Scope Sight or Nightsight; they both make it impossible for you to use your eyes while you're infusing Mana into the Construct that gives those Skills, so you can't read the book while you get those Skills.”

“Null Presence: Scent?” Jay asked. He thought the Skill he was getting was Null Presence, but the man said something slightly different. “Wasn't the Skill's name Null Presence?”

“Yes, but the complete Null Presence Skill is a Composite Skill, and is made up from many different more specific Skills. One of which we sell here at the Beginner's Guild, the Null Presence: Scent Skill. It gives you the ability to mask your scent and breathe out a menacing cloud of smoke that creatures with a lower Level than you will feel threatened by, which makes them unable to find the courage to attack you.”

“Okay... thanks for the explanation, even though you said you didn't have time for explanations, it's nice of you. What about the Spellscroll?” Jay asked. The man hadn't mentioned those.

“Unimportant. Just take the Spellscroll and read it whenever you have time,” the man said, laying down the tray, only holding on to the brown bottle with a long tube protruding from its neck. “Here, smoke this,” the man motioned toward Jay with the tube coming out of the brown bottle. “Hold your breath after you've inhaled the fumes and infuse your lungs with 600 Mana using your Mana Manipulation.”

Jay was a little puzzled, but took the brown bottle, putting the tube in his mouth and drew in a deep breath. As he inhaled, the brown bottle turned bright red, the tube glowed with silvery white inscriptions, and a feeling of scorching pain spread in his chest; but in a second the pain dulled, turning into the feeling of having a million ants crawling inside his chest. It was disturbing.

He closed his eyes, focused his thoughts on his lungs, activated Mana Manipulation and sent a thick torrent of translucent white Mana into his chest-area. As he did, he felt his Mana drain quickly, dulling the itchy feeling. And in another second he had used over 600 Mana, but since he could infuse more, he thought it was a good idea to keep infusing more Mana. It couldn't be a bad idea to try and get as much out of the fumes he had inhaled as possible. The itchy feeling turned into a numb feeling and soon he couldn't hold his breath anymore; he breathed out after using a bit over 900 Mana. Ping!

By incorporating the fumes from several different herbs with your own Mana and body you have changed the structure of your lungs, making your lungs able to produce fumes that can scare lower Level creatures and make it difficult for creatures that track by scent to find your trail. You have learned the Skill 'Null Presence: Scent'

“Good,” the old man said. “That's the first Skill learned. Now the Haste Skill,” the man lay down the brown bottle and picked up the four leather straps. Jay now noticed they looked like thin belts, with a clasp of some brown wooden material. “Here, let me put these on you.” The man bent down and with quick, skilled hands, fastened the four leather straps on Jay's legs. It felt a bit weird, but Jay didn't have time to squirm because the straps were pulled tight in less time than it took Jay to actually feel what was happening. It seemed the grumpy man was actually quite strong as well. Jay didn't seem to meet anything but strong people. Once more, he felt that he needed to get stronger quickly. Only power would make him feel less like a hunted animal, and more like he was in control.

“Use four threads of Mana with your Mana Manipulation and touch the buckles of each leather strap,” the man said. “The Construct will pull your Mana out of you until you've gotten the Skill. I'll leave now. Just ring the bell when you're done and I'll come back.” The man pointed to a small bronze bell hanging on the door that Jay hadn't noticed earlier.

“Thanks,” Jay said, directly using his Mana Manipulation to do as the man had said.

The four strands of Mana Manipulation touched the four buckles and an abnormal suction sprang forth, feeding on Jay's Mana in a rapid pace until his Mana bottomed out, leaving him without any Mana at all. Jay could only use the Mana he gained from his Mana Regeneration now. He left the chair and sat down on the floor, positioning himself to start Meditating to get a higher amount of Mana Regeneration.

But before he started Meditating, he brought out the gray book and put it in his lap so he easily could look at it while moving only his hands slightly, making it possible to keep up the Meditation and read at the same time. He flipped through the book again, searching for Nightsight and Scope Sight, and he found one quickly,

Nightsight Skill

By infusing your eyes with Mana your Visual Acuity is increased when the environment around you is dark enough. However, if used in too bright a place the Skill will decrease your Visual Acuity, making you feel Blinded.

Interesting, Jay thought. This Skill could be useful, but I'll only know that when I've tried it out. But this is another Skill with potential to grow into something really useful. Are all the Skills and Spells from the Beginner's Guild like these?

No, Jay, Claudine promptly answered. All Skills and Spells hold great potential if used correctly and often enough. It is best to not use too many different Skills or Spells if you want to excel in any of them.

You're right, Jay thought back to Claudine's insightful comment. Thanks Claudine, I'll remember that. I need to prioritize training the Skills and Spells that seem most useful to me.

Jay kept infusing Mana into the leather straps, not keeping track of how much Mana he used; he didn't care if he used too much Mana since he needed time to find out about the last Skill he had already chosen, and maybe find a few more Skills or Spells to learn.

Flipping through the pages, a little time later he found the last Skill he had chosen,

Scope Sight Skill

By focusing Mana into one of your eyes while closing the other, your eye doubles its Visual Acuity and makes it possible to focus your sight as if using a telescope.

Beware! This Skill makes it possible for you to lose focus on your surroundings. Use with caution.

The two visual Skills seemed like they would be useful; being as cautious as possible was something he truly strove for, it was his only way feel reasonably safe. Hm, Scope Sight might be really good actually, he thought. If I use Scope Sight and my home-made Fling Shot Spell I will be able to shoot things accurately from a greater distance. Nice!

Yes, Jay, Claudine said. Combining Spells and Skills is a way to increase their efficiency and usefulness.

Jay didn't take the time to comment on the obvious statement from Claudine. He knew that if he could use his Spells and Skills in synergy he would improve his attack and defense power greatly. How he could use his Skills and Spells with each other, though, was something he had to figure out by trial and error.

Oh, he thought. I almost forgot. Jay went back to the first page of the gray book and began a more in-depth study of each Skill and Spell. He had to find a better Skill to use instead of his Observe Skill; it was letting him down too often lately.

It didn't take long before he found what he was looking for,

Identify Spell

By using your eyes as the information source, connecting to the Watchers' Great Library with your mind, your Mana imprints your mind with insight into the properties of whatever you try to Identify.

The possibility to Identify something is wholly dependent on how your Level and Perception compares to the item you're trying to Identify.

The Identify Spell is only able to Identify items of Relic class and lower.

Even though the Identify Spell wasn't as great as he had hoped when he first read the name, Jay figured it would still be much greater than his Observe Skill.

Hastily going through more pages, Jay found no more really interesting Skills or Spells. The Detect Danger Skill was only able to give hints about when a creature showed its hostility. And if he was close enough to have a creature show hostility, wasn't it too late to care about how dangerous it was? He could just use Observe and get an inclination about how dangerous the creature was. It wasn't a Skill worth spending money on.

The Detect Trap Spell was even worse. Jay started reading through the description, but stopped when he read that it only showed a slight distortion in the air where there was a trap, but only if the trap was made by someone on a Level below Jay's own. That meant the Detect Trap Spell could at most let him avoid traps that wouldn't insta-kill him. What he needed was a way to detect traps that would be lethal, not those that he could survive. But he couldn't find such a convenient Spell or Skill in the whole gray book.

“Pssshhh,” sounded out in the room. A burnt smell wafted up from Jay's legs. He looked down and saw that the leather straps had begun smoking and was quickly disintegrating into ash.

Maybe I should have stopped infusing Mana after I reached 1600 Mana? Jay thought. He had no idea how much Mana he had infused in the leather straps, but it must have been more than 1600 Mana, since he had taken a fairly long time to read through the gray book. He hoped he didn't have to pay for the Magic Construct.

As the last bit of the leather straps turned into ash a sound rang out in Jay's mind. Ping!

By creating new paths for Mana to flow inside your legs, enhancing their inner structure, you have increased your ability to move your legs in hurried bursts of speed. You have learned the Skill 'Haste'

Jay felt sorry for destroying the magic Construct that gave him Haste, and hoped that that was how it was supposed to be. Standing, he went up to the door and rang the bell.

A minute or so later the grumpy man came back. “Took your time, didn't you?” he asked, looking at Jay's legs. “Where are the straps?”

“Ehm...” Jay said, now knowing they weren't supposed to turn into ash after all. “They sort of turned into ash when I infused Mana into them.”

“What do you mean?” the man asked, anger clearly showing on his face. “Those straps had more than ten uses before they were spent. What did you do to them? You haven't tried to steal them, have you? They aren't worth anything after you've used them once. Just bring them out and we'll have no trouble.”

“Sorry, can't do that,” Jay said. “The straps turned into ash, I'm not lying.”

“Then you'll have to pay twenty times the amount for Haste since you've broken the Construct before it should have been spent,” the man said, growing more disgruntled with every word. “You won't have any trouble paying, right?”

“Why?” Jay asked. He didn't want to spend more money than he had to, but he couldn't refute that he had broken the Magic Construct that gave Haste. “Please let me off the hook, I didn't mean to destroy the leather straps. It was an accident.”

“So what?” the man asked. “You destroyed them before they should have been used up. So you're responsible. Pay up, or else...”

Jay really didn't like how the man ended that sentence. He felt a slight oppressive force in the air all around him. “Or else what?” he just had to ask...

“If you can't pay you'll work here until you've paid enough. And if you leave, you die,” the old man said, the normally grumpy face turned placid, looking all the more grim because it held no emotion.

“Fine... fine, I'll pay,” Jay said. He knew that the Spells and Skills from the Beginner's Guild were cheap anyway, so he hoped the price wasn't too large. “Is that why you haven't told me to pay you yet? You want to rope in workers for this place?”

“Of course,” the man said. “I don't want to work here. If I can get someone to be forced to work here, I can do something else.”

“Ehm, okay?” Jay was a bit confused. “Anyway, it doesn't matter, I'll pay, okay? I also want the Identify Spellscroll.”

“Sure, here you go,” the man said, taking out a scroll from the inside of his loose right sleeve, tossing it on the tray on the floor where the other Spellscroll lay. “It's one of the most popular Spellscrolls. I always keep one or two on me just in case someone needs one. Now, the last two Skills, which would you prefer first. Nightsight or Scope Sight?”

“Is it possible to get both at the same time?” Jay asked. He had spent too much time here already. More than an hour had passed already, and he believed Bluth would contact him very soon about the new equipment and items for killing the Black Ooze. He had not thought it would take this long to get the Skills he wanted, but it felt worth the time since they would improve his over-all basic performance.

“No, you can only get one of the visual Skills at once since they both use eye-drops as a medium to create the Magic Construct inside your eye and on your eye's lens,” the man said. “Do the Scope Sight first, it's quicker. After you've taken the eye-drops, you only need to infuse 400 Mana into your the eye you want the Skill in.”

“Great, then I can get it right away. I'll soon have more than 400 Mana again.” Jay was really glad his Mana Regeneration was high enough to Regenerate his Mana at least quickly enough for him to not have to wait for a long while. He could only imagine how long it would take for Warriors or other fighter Professions when they wanted to get a new Skill. Since they didn't focus on Mana their Mana Regeneration would be very low and it would probably take more than ten times as long for them to infuse the Magic Constructs with Mana.

“Fine,” the man said, bending down, taking the dark red vial from the tray and opening the cork. “Sit down and lean back your head. Close one of your eyes and force the other to stay open with your fingers. I'll put a few drops of liquid in the eye after that and then you just need to infuse 400 Mana into the surface of your eye. Understand?”

“Yes,” Jay said, sitting back on the chair, leaning his head back, looking up into the ceiling. After he closed his right eye and forced his left eye to stay opened by pushing away his eye-lid with his fingers, he waited. The wait was not fun, the anticipation getting some weird liquid in his eye wasn't a great one. It felt like it took longer than it should have before the man's hand came into view, holding a small pipette, dropping the transparent red liquid into Jay's eye.

It felt cold, nothing more. Jay's vision blurred and turned darker. Quickly, he used Mana Manipulation to infuse the liquid with his Mana with almost 400 Mana; and as he did, a sharp chill penetrated his eye, burrowing itself into his head with a 'thud-thud' sound permeating his head as the cold seeped deeper into his skull. It didn't feel unpleasant, only weird. Soon, he had used 400 Mana and his vision cleared quickly, the dull chill disappearing as if it had never existed. Ping!

Your left eye, by being integrated with a crystalline substance, has remade its inner and outer structure slightly, making it possible for you to use your left eye as a telescope when your right eye is closed. You have learned the Skill 'Scope Sight'

“Good,” the man said. “Now only the Nightsight Skill is left. You will need to infuse your eyes with 1200 Mana each before the liquid Construct reorganizes the structure of your eyes. That will take some time, and I don't want to wait, so before you get the Skill, pay me for these Skills and Spells. The price is one silver coin because you destroyed the Haste Construct.”

“Seriously?” Jay asked. He knew the Skills and Spells wouldn't cost more than a few iron coins each from their descriptions and because he was lower than Level 20. “That feels a bit steep. Can't you give me a better price?”

“One silver coin, or ten days of work here. You choose,” the man said, shrugging. “You destroyed something that would make us more money. You've taken up my time needlessly with all your questions. And most importantly, I say it's 1 silver coin, so that's the price. Take it or leave it. You're not leaving here before compensating us.”

Wow, Jay thought sarcastically. Why does it sometime feel like the game itself is against me?

I don't know, Claudine chimed in. Maybe you angered God?

Say what? Jay was startled. Angered God? How? When? No, wait... How? Is there even such a thing, and if so, why would it be against me?

I don't know, Claudine said, not elaborating on her weird comment.

Okay? Jay thought. He didn't know what that was about, but could it really be possible for the game itself to make things more difficult for him? No... that couldn't be possible, right?

Maybe, Claudine said, once again not elaborating.

Thanks... Jay thought, discontinuing that disturbing line of thought, and said, “Fine, I'll pay. Here.” He gave the man a silver coin from his Inventory. “Now let's do this. I want the Nightsight Skill so I can leave this place.”

“Thank you for your patronage,” the man said, his lips slightly twitching at their corners. “Now I'll put two drops into both your eyes and then cover them with this black strip of cloth. Use your Mana Manipulation to funnel Mana through the patterns in the cloth and into your eyes. Do you understand?”

“Yes, yes, let's get on with this,” Jay was feeling a bit cheated, but couldn't complain. There was no choice but to pay, because he really didn't want to spend a lot of time inside the Beginner's Guild working for nothing. He also didn't believe he had the ability to leave the Beginner's Guild without paying with his meager power. Once again, it all came down to that, he had to get more powerful if he wanted to have more options.

“Good, just relax and lean back your head again. You can close your eyes after I've put the drops of liquid in your eyes this time. This time it doesn't matter as much as the Scope Sight Skill Construct if you keep your eyes open or not. It's better if they are open though, the liquid can spread more evenly. But do as you wish.”

Jay pulled open his eye-lids with both his hands and waited for the drops to land in his eyes. Moments later his left eye was filled with a black liquid, blocking out all light. A second later his right eye was also blinded. There was no feeling of discomfort, or of anything at all, actually. It felt like he didn't have eyes anymore. A strange feeling.

Then the black cloth was laid on his face, covering his eyes. He started infusing Mana through the black cloth into his eyes. With the flow of Mana, his sensation of having eyes slowly came back. While lying there, he tried getting into the right mindset to Meditate and soon he was feeling the effects of Meditation, speeding up his Mana Regeneration. Without Meditation it would have taken more than an hour for his Mana Regeneration to pour 2400 Mana into his eyes, but now it wouldn't take as much time. Ping!

Your eyes have become accustomed to seeing through darkness with the infusion of a dark liquid substance that can be activated with Mana to create more light-sensitive eyes. You have learned the Skill 'Nightsight'

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