Essence Wave Book 2 Chapter 6 (Patreon)

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

Someday, I will remember to post the mid-week chapter, but it is not this day! (Insert Aragorn meme). Sorry, y'all, work got stupid busy yesterday, and I got home late. So I forgot to make a post. Here it is! I'll do better next week. I hope.

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

Attempting Artificial Skill Merge of Minor Self Healing (U) and Health Regeneration (U). Provide resources and direction to proceed.

The notification forced itself into his vision only a few seconds after he spoke. “Okay, resources are Mana and Energy,” he told himself, then reconnected the streamers to their respective cores, pushing more of his prodigious quantities of each to fuel the transformation. Nothing seemed to happen. “Direction, what is direction?” The System didn’t helpfully answer his question.

“Well, what do I want the Skill to do? Heal me, using whatever I give it, whether Mana or Energy or both,” he said, and the Skill remains seemed to resonate with his words. He pictured it, both resources pouring out of their cores, wrapping around each other in a spiral that flowed into his veins. He imagined his body shattered, remembering what he felt like when the Kraken hit him through trees. The image he projected towards the Skill had his wounds healing Wolverine fast, enabling him to get up only seconds after he hit the ground.

The Skill, which had started to stabilize, started to break apart again. “Okay, too much,” he said, then repeated the mental movie. Only this time, his wounds healed much slower, but still at a visible rate. Rather than seconds, he got up only a few minutes after hitting the ground, rather than the hours it took him the first time. “Come on, this is good,” David forced the image at the nascent Skill, pushing with every drop of his Presence and Nerve.

The ball of Energy and Mana spun, slowly at first, then faster, and David poured every drop out of his Cores, pulling even more out of the air around him and shoving it into the Skill. “Form, damn you!” He screamed at it, and crushed down. The ball of Energy, Mana, and rune fragments collapsed. Seconds later, an explosion of bright light formed, blinding his mental projection.

He was stunned for a few seconds, then a new window made its presence known.

Congratulations! You are the first on your world to forcefully merge two Skills!

Reward: Increase the rarity of the resultant skill by two and 500 Essence!

Skill created: Advanced Bodily Repair (Scarce). Level retained! Essence enhancements retained!

Level: Beginner 1

Description: Direct Mana, Energy, or both to repair any physical injuries you have taken. Mentally directing resources gives significant bonuses. Using both resources in equal amounts gives significant bonuses. Increase effectiveness and bonuses per Skill Level, Wisdom, and Constitution. (Add bonuses from Essences and skill level)

He immediately jumped out of his center, then out of his chair. Fist up into the sky, he shouted, “Yes!”

“So, it worked,” Aly said sardonically.

Wordlessly, David shared the reward and Skill description with her.

“Uh, Summer, go tell Blake to find Colin and Liz. Have them come here immediately,” Aly said after staring wordlessly at the window for almost thirty seconds. “Okay, walk me through what you did. Wait, no, can you draw the new rune?”

“I haven’t looked at it yet, let me check,” he said, then sat back down. His vision fell inward, and he looked up at where the new rune was floating. It was maybe a third bigger than the Health Regeneration rune, but infinitely more complex. “Okay, so that line goes, no, wait, uh, maybe, no.” He examined it for longer, trying to trace just a single stroke of the structure, but he lost it every time. “Maybe I can just draw the front?” He looked at it closely, then popped out of his core and tried. It came out a jumbled mess.

“I take it that’s a no,” Aly said.

“I’ve never seen a shape this complex, and I’m fairly certain it’s rotating or changing with time,” he said. “I couldn’t follow any part of it for more than a few seconds before losing them.”

“Well, do you remember what you used to make it?” She asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “Benefits of a hundred fifteen Intelligence. Near photographic memory, even if it doesn’t help with that.” He waved his hand at the board where he’d drawn the mess. “Or maybe I need to get my Drawing Skill higher. Both need to be higher, probably.”

Aly just gave him a pointed look, and he smiled sheepishly at her. “Drawing now,” he said, then quickly but carefully recreating the shapes from his memory on the board. He drew six perspectives, front, top, bottom, back, left, and right, trying to capture the essence of the rune utilizing the chalk. Over and over, he erased a small portion and redrew it, seeking perfection to help everyone else.

Unconsciously, he directed a tiny trickle of Energy to his fingers and a miniscule amount of Mana to his brain. The memory crystallized for him, and the precision of his hands seemed to triple. Finally, after nearly twenty minutes of work, he’d recreated the rune in his thoughts as perfectly as he could.

Skill breakthrough! Your Skill: Drawing has experienced a significant breakthrough and jumped in level! New Skill level: Beginner 3

Beginner bonus: Increased precision when drawing runes.

“How’s that?” He asked, suddenly exhausted. His Mana and Energy had bottomed out again, leaving him tired and irritable. Another notice let him know he’d overstrained his system again, and would need to rest overnight to recover.

“That is very good,” she said, her voice hushed and reverent.

“Thanks babe,” he said. “Not that I could do anything else tonight. I’m beat.”

“Well, you should probably explain what had us run here so quickly,” Liz said. “I was just examining the Farms at the base to see how much damage they took from the storm.”

David quickly explained his new Skill and what he did to get it. “Imaging what you wanted the Skill to do was key, as well as not going overboard in your desire. There are probably hidden variables and requirements, but I didn’t see anything about it.”

“Most likely limits on compatible Skills,” Colin said. “Both Skills basically did the same thing, so picturing the combined Skill was easy-ish. Trying to combine two attack Skills would probably be much harder.”

“Good point,” David said. “But that should be helpful even if you don’t combine them.” He pointed to the Minor Self Healing rune. “Maybe we can make some Inscriptions of that too? I’d try, but I can’t use Skills until tomorrow.”

“Go, rest,” Liz said, looking at him critically. “We have a mission in the morning, and you need to be ready.”

“I was going to spend some Essence,” David said with a huge yawn.

Aly took him by the hand, “Come on, let’s go to bed.” She supported him up the stairs to their room, where he was delighted to find a king size bed.

Throwing back the curtains, he pulled his armor into his skin. His clothes appeared on him, jeans and a long sleeve shirt, and he quickly changed into a pair of shorts and t-shirt before stumbling into the sheets. Aly wrapped her arms around him, and they both fell asleep quickly.

It was still dark when he woke up, his high stats dropping his need for sleep drastically. He lay there, enjoying the closeness with his wife, then brought up his Status. (Link). Looking good. With the bonus from my Skill merge, I have over three thousand Free Essence. I need four thousand each into Ways and stats. Let’s walk a Way or two. What’re my options?

Protector (0/500), Lifter (0/500), Runner (0/500), Unrelenting (0/1000), Berserker (0/500), Scout (0/500), Tireless II (0/1000),  Fire Mage (0/500), Air Mage (0/500), Water Mage (0/500), Nature Mage (0/500), Metal Mage (0/500), Mage II (0/500) Shield Beginner (0/1000), Multicaster (0/1000), Leader III (0/3000), City Knight (0/3000), Augmented (0/10000), Frontliner (0/1000), Shieldwall (0/1000), Scholar III (0/2000), Vanguard III (0/1500), Regenerator (0/2500), Earth Mage III (0/1500), Body Temperer (0/2000)

Not many new ones. Earth Mage III might be interesting, or Regenerator. Still no Forefront II, must need to do more things before everyone else, or there is a level limit on it or something. I could walk Protector to get some more Skills, or Metal Mage.  I’ve got enough Essence, though, to finish three Apprentice Ways of a thousand each. Then all I’ve got to do is grind up some Skills, or buy Knowledge Stones in the Market.

David took a deep breath, clearing his mind. There’s no rush on Ways. One at a time, and go from there. Tireless has done me right, so let’s drop the first bit there. He started to push Essence into the Tireless II Way. Every hundred, he got a stat. At five hundred, he got two stats, no Skill bonus at all. In total, four Constitution, three Nerve, and three Presence.  Finally, on completing the Way, he got something besides stats.

Congratulations! You have Walked the Way of the Tireless a second time! You are the second person on your world to Walk this Way! Receive bonus effectiveness! Skill Tireless Earth’s Relentlessness will now level at a moderately faster pace through Journeyman!

Skill upgraded!

Earth’s Relentlessness [R]

Level: Beginner 1

Description:  All sources of stamina drain will be reduced by a small amount. Reduces sleep needs by a tiny amount. Increased skill level increases reduction and may have other effects. Increased effectiveness when closer to unworked Earth (dirt, rocks, stone). Miniscule increases to Strength and Constitution when standing on unworked Earth. Increases stamina regeneration, Energy regeneration, and Hit Point regeneration by a small amount when below half. Increased when touching unworked Earth.

Well, that worked out. All the bonuses increased, get better regens, and it levels faster. Good! Now what? Double down on it with Unrelenting? Maybe it’ll remove my need to sleep, or reduce it even more. More time to train then. And I’ve talked myself into it.

Eight stats, four Constitution, two Strength, and two Presence, were his reward for every hundred Essence but five hundred and a thousand. At five hundred, he got a notice that every Skill that uses Energy would have its costs decreased by a tiny amount. At a thousand, he got the reward.

Congratulations! You have Walked the Way of the Unrelenting! You are the fifth in your world to Walk this Way! Receive bonus effectiveness! Skill Synergy detected. Skill Unrelenting and Earth’s Relentlessness will be merged! Extreme synergy, Forerunner Title, three top five rewards on Skills! First Lord Title! All bonuses maintained, Skill Level maintained, rarity upgraded significantly!

Skill gained: Earth’s Unrelenting Motion [Arcane]

Level: Beginner 1

Description: You are unstoppable and unfailing. All sources of stamina or Energy drain reduced by a large amount. Stamina and Energy regeneration increased by a moderate amount. Hit Point regeneration increased by a small amount. Reduces sleep needs by a large amount. Small increase to all physical statistics and effectiveness of Energy Skills while touching unworked Earth. Increased effectiveness when closer to unworked Earth. Increased Skill Level increases reduction or improvement and may have other effects.

Whoa, David thought, staring at the notification. Another popped up just after.

Congratulations! You are the first in your world to receive an Arcane Skill!

Reward: Increased leveling speed of all Skills you currently possess by a tiny amount!

Arcane, huh. Advanced Bodily Repair was only Scarce, which I’m guessing is higher than Rare. Arcane has to be above that. I wonder where Epic sits in the rarity scheme. Eh, not important. Increased level speed of all my Skills! And that Skill. Now I need something like it for Mana, and I’ll be the Energizer Bunny and never run out of resources ever. Maybe I’ll have to do the Mage II Way for that, though. I wonder why every stat besides Constitution only had a single Way associated with it? Yet another thing about the System I don’t understand. Not going to worry about it now.

Man, that new Skill is already working. I’m wide awake and full of energy, but I’m not going to wake up Aly. I’ll have to encourage her to get Tireless or Unrelenting soon too. Okay, focus, no ADD now. What next? While I’d like to finish the Way requirements for Apprentice Tier, I’m not sure that’s the best move forward for the next fight. I don’t have enough left to walk anything over one thousand, so my options are the stat Ways, Protector, a Mage Way, or the Apprentice ones.

Since I’m going to be on the frontline of our group, and potentially ahead of it to break up the enemy, I want to focus on defense now. Scratch everything that I don’t think will increase my survivability, so I’m down to Metal Mage, Mage II, Shield Beginner, Frontliner, or Shieldwall. No to Shieldwall, that one will probably require everyone else to have the same Skills, and I don’t want to build towards working in larger groups. Aly, Colin, Liz, and I need to be able to act as a strike force in addition to leading the town.

Metal Mage, see if I can get an armor Skill or something. At one hundred and two hundred Essence added he received one Intelligence. The Skill improvement at the halfway point was interesting.

Your Skill Mana Bolt is upgraded with Metal Mana! It gains increased armor and shield penetration and a chance to cause Bleeding!

Okay, not what I wanted, but whatever, he thought once he read the popup. He hurriedly finished the Way. At three and four hundred he got one Wisdom. The final Skill, though, was what he wanted.

Congratulations! You have Walked the Way of the Metal Mage! Synergy detected: Mana Shield, Mana-Augmented Power Suit - Choose which to combine Metal Mana Armor with?

I can combine it with my suit? I though incredulously,

Choice detected: Mana-Augmented Power Suit!

Your Mana-Augmented Power Suit is now impregnated with Metal Mana! You may choose to activate the Mana Armor in the Suit at any time. When active, half of all damage that goes through your Suit will be absorbed by your Mana instead of your Hit Points!

Yeah, definitely need to get more Mana regen now. Holy cow, I get bonus Energy regen and can use that to heal and use my Mana to prevent damage in the first place. I’m liking this build. Okay, now what are my options? Huh, the other elemental mages are gone, all I’ve got left is Mage II at the 500 Essence price point. I did gain Mana Bolt Beginner too, I wonder why? I don’t really have a good idea of what I’d want out of Mage II right now, so not that to finish off my Essence. With defense sorted, maybe something that’ll give more damage? Only ones there would maybe be Lifter and Berserker. Lifter it is.

Four points of Strength later and a bonus to Power Attack leveling, he got a different Skill than Steve had.

Congratulations! You have walked the way of the Lifter!

Received Skill: Minor Muscle Efficiency

Level: Novice 1

Description: Increase the effect of each point of Strength by a negligible amount. Increased effectiveness with Skill Level.

Huh, negligible is a new descritor. Guess it’s less than miniscule.  Not quite what I was hoping for, but I guess, long term, that’ll be a great Skill. Especially if I can increase the rarity or remove the ‘Minor’ from its name. He opened his Status, but didn’t see anything that indicated an actual numerical increase. Aly still wasn’t stirring, and the night was completely black outside still. No idea what time it is, he thought. Guess I’ll work on some Inscription stuff?

He pulled his consciousness into his core cave again. He looked up at the Skill runes. Minor Muscle Efficiency was nearly as complex as Advanced Bodily Repair. It was shaped vaguely like a person, with dozens of squiggly lines that wove throughout the inside. “Not going to try to mess with that for a while,” he said to himself. A flash of silver distracted him and pulled his view to his Mana core. The blue-white of Mana was now shot through with streaks of silver and brown. “Whoa, I guess that’s why I lost access to the other elements. I wonder if that means the rest of my Mana Skills will start to get flavored by Earth and Metal. Ooh, that would be awesome for Mana-Weapon Creation. Use Earth on the Shield and Metal for the sword?”

He thought for a minute, then shrugged. “Something to work on before we leave, I guess. But now, runes and Inscriptions.” The study room that had appeared in his cave with the Inscribing Scholar’s Focus Skill was furnished with two bookshelves, a large table, and a comfortable chair. His mental projection pulled one of the few books that made up the entirety of his knowledge of runes and started to research. Every one of his Skill runes was in the book, and he was looking for more of the commonalities that Summer had pointed out. He quickly lost himself in the research.

Shaking interrupted his studies, and he popped back out into the real world. “Good morning, babe,” he said.

“Good morning,” she leaned in and kissed him. “Ready for breakfast?”

His stomach gurgled at the thought of food, “Totally. Oh, check this out,” he said, then shared his new Arcane Skill with her. “You need to Walk Tireless and Unrelenting. Even if you only get Unstoppable like Colin, the decrease in sleep need is super important. We just don’t have enough time.”

“That is awesome,” she said. “How long were you just laying there?”

“Uh, couple of hours probably,” he responded. “You were too cute to wake up.” She lightly slugged him on the shoulder, then they both got dressed before pulling their armor out over their clothes. After a hurried breakfast of recovered instant oatmeal and venison, Josiah directed them to the arena.

“Alright folks,” Josiah said once everyone was gathered. “You all will be leaving in half-an-hour to let the sun fully rise.” He paused for a second. “Stay safe and watch out for each other. No getting stabbed in the gut to win a fight.”

“No promises!” David yelled back, causing everyone to laugh. After turning to the others, he said, “Okay. We’ve got a few hour’s hike to get there, so you can spend a bunch of Mana and Energy now. Try to grind out one more Skill level in something useful.” Putting action to words, he summoned his shield, feeling at the Mana that went into its creation.

Over the next ten minutes, he released and created it anew a dozen times before he finally figured out the trick to pulling Earth Mana from his core. Just gotta picture the effect I want, and push my willpower into forming it. The shield shimmered its blue-white color, but the outer edge turned brown. It grew heavy, suddenly having a significant amount of mass. “I’ll have to get used to that a bit,” he said, moving it around to see how it affected his style of fighting. “Hey Colin. Hit this.”

“Sure,” Colin said, a massive halberd in his hands. With a grunt of effort, he stabbed David’s shield.

David rocked backwards, but the shield didn’t destabilize. He resummoned it without the Earth Mana. “Now again.”

Colin shrugged, then repeated the motion. The point of the halberd dug into the shield, and it punctured through.

“Yes! Using aspected Mana is stronger than non-aspected Mana,” he said. “Though, I wonder if there is a limit to how much Mana can be aspected this way? Ooh, two levels in Mana-Weapon Creation for that, getting closer to Apprentice.”

“Alright everyone,” Aly yelled out. “It’s time to go. Follow me, and keep watch for Daemons or aggressive animals on the way there.”

David turned and walked towards the gate, absent-mindedly trying to get Metal Mana in his sword. He looked over the procession, hoping that everyone would be in it on the way back.