“Do you have a phone?”, I asked, looking critically at Eddie.

The kid reached into a pocket and pulled out a rather expensive-looking iPhone. He frowned at it and said, “It’s worthless. The phone was ghosted with me. I can’t make phone calls and the apps don't work. I can’t even google stuff on the internet.”

Kalli was witnessing only half of the conversation so she asked, “What is a phone?”

Having her hear only half of the conversation was getting tiresome. I stopped to think about how I could solve the problem. I asked her, “How do you tell what skills you have?”

The redhead looked confused for a moment before replying, “I don’t know. I just know what I know. Oh, right, you can scan people. I guess if you can tell what class and level I have then you might be able to see more. Why do you want to know?”

I pulled up my character sheet hoping to find a clue about my skills, particularly the one that was letting me interact with Eddie.

Name

Melvin Murphy

Class

Manipulator (Unlocked)

Level

2

Hitpoints

200

Mana

200

Stamina

200

Strength

25

Dexterity

25

Agility

25

Constitution

50

Intelligence

85

Wisdom

30

Charisma

10

Luck

20

When did I level up?

I was distracted for a moment, looking over my stats for the new level. Usually, in a video game, my stats would increase when I gained a level. In real life, only my core stats like health, mana, and stamina went up. The question I now had was where was the skill menu? I focused on myself, which was much harder without a mirror.

I must have stared at my hand for a good 10 minutes before I made progress. A tiny triangle materialized at the bottom of the character sheet. I focused on that and revealed a new window.

Skills

Traits

World Editor

Bloodline M

Manipulation

True Sight

Enhanced Regeneration

Enhanced Mana Regeneration

Absorption

Looking at the new menu, I was a bit confused as to what most of my skills did. I was fairly sure that the True Sight skill helped me see Eddie, but how did that account for being able to touch him? Was there a True Touch skill? This wasn’t the time to be worrying about what things did. I was on a mission.

How do I make Kalliphae see?

I focused on True Sight and tried to will it on Kalli. The only thing that seemed to happen was the feeling that a blood vessel was about to pop in my head from concentrating too hard. Suddenly a familiar red message appeared.

Would you like to assign yourself the skill: Buff?

I blinked at the question obscuring my vision. Kalli waved a hand in front of my face and asked, “What are you doing? You look kind of weird.”

I ignored her and thought yes.

Buff added.

The next step was to figure out how to use the new skill. I focused on Kalli again. First I looked at her closely, but that just pulled up her character sheet. I tried saying the words, “Buff Kalli. Buff Kalliphae. Buff the person I am touching right now.”

Kalli yanked her arm from my hand and asked, “What on Amaralia do you think you’re doing?”

I groaned, pulling my hand back, “You wouldn’t happen to know how to apply buffs to another person would you?”

She thought for a moment and shook her head, “I don’t know. All of my skills are for me only. I can’t share them. Buffs are more of a healer thing.”

“Oh”, I said absentmindedly as I resumed staring at the redhead.

After a few minutes of this, she pushed me back, saying, “You’re making me uncomfortable.”

I was at a loss for once and grumbled, “What’s the point of getting a new skill if I can’t figure out how to use it?”

Would you like a tutorial?

This was new. I suddenly found myself worried that there was some entity out there watching me and controlling the events in my life. It really was beginning to feel like a video game. Was there a computer governing the system or was there a group of people in some super-secret Illuminati controlling the world? If so, did they offer customer support?

Not having time to think about that line of thought, I mentally selected yes once again and vaguely felt myself slip to the floor as a sudden dream replaced my consciousness.

“Welcome to the skills and traits tutorial, sir. My name is Aya and I will be your instructor for today.”, a voice greeted me and I turned to see a dark-haired girl wearing cat ears and a tail.

She greeted me with a weary smile and asked “Are you ready to learn how to use your new skill?”

I gaped at her and asked, “Who are you? Do you know why the world suddenly has menus and is more like a video game?”

Aya tutted at me and continued, “I already told you, sir. My name is Aya. I am here to instruct you on the mechanics of your new skill. Would you like me to continue or do you wish to cancel the tutorial?”

I groaned at the apparition. It must not be sentient. I conceded, “Fine. Continue the tutorial.”

“Very good sir”, she began, “The first thing I am going to do is invite you to a group. You can only do this with the initiated. Those who have not received the blessing of the world cannot join magical groups.”

A system message popped up with an invitation.

Would you like to join a group with: Aya?

I opted in once again. I immediately felt the connection to the girl with the cat ears that I now knew weren’t just for show. She was actually part cat. At least as much of a cat as I dream could be. I also had a vague sense of her overall health, mana reserves, and even if she was feeling fatigued. While I had expected to see these statistics in a window hidden somewhere in my peripheral vision, my brain decided that it just knew how she was feeling.

I suppose that’s useful for healers to not have to look at health bars all the time.

Seeming to notice I was ready to proceed, she continued, “Each person receives system notifications in unique ways in relation to how they see the world. What appears to you as red text floating in the air might be a disembodied voice to someone else. Please bear this in mind when you interact with others.”

I nodded dutifully to signify that I was paying attention. Aya went on, “You may use the buff ability to share some of your skills and traits with select members of the party. The person that you are trying to buff must have joined the group of their own free will and accept the fact that you are using the buff on them. Attempting to break these rules will result in skill failure. Skills and traits that cannot be shared will give you an error.”

I raised my hand quietly. Aya raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. I decided to just ask my question, “When I buff my group can I select individual group members to buff, or do I have to buff the whole party?”

The girl paused for a moment to consider the question and replied, “Your skill only allows you to buff one group member at a time. If you wish to apply a buff to more than a single person, you must select them one at a time. Bear in mind that there is a mana cost associated with using this skill. The result of this is that there is a finite amount of group members that can be buffed at any given time.”

That made sense, but I still had a question, “Won’t my mana regenerate, allowing me to buff more people?”

She shook her head, “Sharing your skills and traits with a group member will continue to absorb your mana until you break the connection. This means that a constant mana feed will be required to maintain the effect.”

“I think I get it”, I said at least, ready to try out my new skill.

She nodded and instructed me, “You may now test your new ability by trying it out on me. If you use your buff on a skill, it will give me the selected ability to use for myself one time. If you share a trait, I will be given temporary access to that trait. This effect will be lost when you leave the group or withdraw your mana. Keep in mind that some buffs and traits cannot be shared in this manner.”

She waited patiently when she finished speaking. I looked at her and decided that I wanted to share my True Sight trait with her. Aya winked at me and cheered, “Success. You have now completed the tutorial. Do you have any further questions for me?”

I did have a question which happened to be a rather important one, “Where have you been all this time? I unlocked the world several days ago and you let me wander around blind with no help at all.”

Aya purred at me, “You neither required nor requested assistance during that time. If that will be all, I would like to thank you for using the tutorial. Please enjoy your new skill.”

She vanished before I had the chance to say anything else. Just at the moment I spluttered and gasped as I was doused in water. Still choking, I sat up and looked around at Kalli and Eddie, desperate to see who did it. Of course, it was Kalliphae, holding a bottle of water that she had just emptied over my head.

She backed off, a little surprised that I woke up so quickly. I roared, “Why the hell did you do that? Now I'm soaking wet.”

It was lucky I couldn’t afford a cell phone because she would have just ruined it. She held out a hand and attempted to soothe me, “Do you trust me? I can dry you off if you like?”

I smiled widely as I imagined her gently drying me off with a towel and quickly told her, “Yes, I trust you.”

What she did, however, was not quite so gentle. She called out a very familiar spell.

“Pvruzth”

The dancing red flames enveloped both of her hands this time and she leaned over me with her arms out in front of her. I was terrified, so I screamed in a very high-pitched voice, “No! Don’t touch me. Help. Wait. Stop. Hey, that tickles. What are you doing?”

She rubbed the flames all over me like it was some kind of massage oil. I could feel the flame seep through the fabric of my shirt without damaging the fibers and caress my skin, devouring the water in its path. It wasn’t hot at all. I felt a soothing warmth that filled my core with a comfy sensation similar to sipping a bowl of steaming chicken soup when you have a cold.

She didn’t just stop at the water damage. I leaned back as she towered over me, her flames racing up and down my body. It covered my head and weaved its way through my hair, feeling like a blow dryer. The fire also flowed down, through my pants, glancing over my nether regions and down my legs. It even got into my shoes and tickled my toes.

I only realized I had been holding my breath when she pulled the flames off of me. They retracted back into her hands like she was holding a vacuum. From there she made a fist and the flames were snuffed out. I sat there panting, looking up at her before I realized what she had just done to me. I stammered, “Hey, you didn’t tell me you were going to do all that. You even put the fire downstairs on my family jewels. What would you have done if you had burnt them off?”

She raised an eyebrow at me and said, “You need to trust me. I may not be able to summon an inferno yet, but doing something simple like a little personal fire is child’s play. There was no risk of me burning you. Unless I wanted to of course.”

I didn’t like the look in her eye when she added that last part. I pressed her, “You didn’t feel my, you know, when you put the fire down there did you? Oh, and why did you even do that? It’s not like my pants were wet.”

She turned red when she realized what I was implying and moved away from me, “Is that what you were worried about? I can’t feel things through my fire. There’s no way I would have gone near that if I could actually feel it. I ran the fire over your whole body to clean you. My fire can remove any impurities including dirt and sweat. Besides, I just wanted to see the look on your face when I did it. Let’s call it a little payback for summoning me without permission.”

I chuckled to myself as I suddenly realized why Kalli didn't need me to tell her about toilet paper. She had her own self-cleaning magic.

Wait a second. Did she use magical fire to clean up my barf back at home?

Eddie, who had been trying to run away, asked, “What is she talking about? You summoned her? It looked like she was burning you alive. She’s scary.”

I nodded to Eddie but ignored him otherwise. I needed to buff Kalli before having more one-sided dialog with the boy. I grinned, “Okay Kalli, now it's your turn to trust me.”

“Really?”, she asked skeptically, looking me up and down, “This isn’t some trick to get revenge for what I just did to you is it?”

I shook my head, “No, but I need your cooperation to give you the buff.”

She settled down and replied, “Fine. What do you need me to do?”

I decided it was better safe than sorry, “Okay, give me your hand.”

Kalliphae reached out and took my extended hand. I focused on her and willed her to join my group. She looked up for a second and then suddenly I felt her. I could feel her essence sitting next to me. While I had felt a similar feeling when Aya was in my party, Kalliphae’s essence felt like sleeping next to a warm fire while it snowed outside. I could get used to this. She startled me by asking, “Is what all you needed my hand for? You don’t need to hold hands to make a group.”

She tried to reclaim her hand, but I held fast, saying, “No. I wasn’t sure about that part, but give me a second to use the buff.”

I focused on her essence that I felt through the group. It was easy to latch onto. I don’t know if she felt the connection, but she smiled when I selected her. Then I willed my new skill to apply True Sight to her.

Then Kalli screamed. It was louder than I imagined her tiny frame was capable of producing. My ears rang as she pulled her hand from my grip and backed into the corner yelling, “Where in the Seven Sages did that kid come from?”

“Pvruzth”

She readied a flame in both hands with her back to the door and poor Eddie looked terrified. He just realized she could now see him. He begged, “Please don’t let her burn me alive.”

I noticed she had calmed down and introduced them, “Kalli meet Eddie. Eddie this is Kalliphae.”

Kalli looked at me incredulously, “How am I able to see someone who’s ghosted?”

I grinned, “I figured out the skill I was using to see him and shared it with you by using my buff skill?”

She opened her mouth to say something, but never got the chance because the door burst open and a uniformed security guard shouted at us, “Ah hah. I’ve found the ghost thieves. Stay right there.”

Of course, we didn’t listen. We made a run for it.