Chapter 38: Words Of The Earth

First things first, I discard the thought of reading books about the elements I’m already learning. I could possibly get ahead of the content that I will learn in classes, or learn things outside the content, but then what would be the point of going to those classes?

Better to learn something that I won’t learn in the classes but will supplement my understanding and magical skills. Plain magical theory? No doubt it’ll be partially explained in classes, but furthering my understanding of magic itself could only be beneficial. Still, to focus on just that, especially if I were to do it for the entire term, would get somewhat boring.

There are quite a few books in the general section that could be interesting, studies on monsters, metals, herbs, the system itself, locations, worlds and history. Some of them would definitely be helpful to peruse, but much of it would only be useful once I leave the academy. I think that, at least for now, I should focus on matters of magic.

Jald mentioned during the class… Terran. Literally, a language of the earth. And if there’s Terran, let me see… Yep, there’s Aquan, Ignitae and Aerus as well. Even Luxia and Tenebrio. All named in Latin… Again, a language from Earth. It doesn’t make sense, especially as I haven’t heard mention of the Latin language since I died.

Wondering about it isn’t going to find me any answers, though. Best that I focus on the here and now, rather than pondering on the worlds and their intricacies.

It could be interesting to learn one of these languages, and it would increase the effect of my magic in that element. I suppose the question now is, which one? Water, wind and darkness are ruled out simply because I’m not learning them right now. So, earth, fire and light are my options. I suppose the best thing to do would be to have a look at each of them, see which is simplest to start with.

So, I take out a book each on Terran, Ignitae and Luxia, lay them out on the table in front of me, and slowly start to read through each. As I flip the last page of Luxia shut, I frown internally. It doesn’t look like learning a language will be as simple as I had thought, even with a perfect memory. Memorising the vocabulary is a large part, sure, and I could do that. But most important is the grammar and sentence structure. Nothing can substitute that sort of thing but practice and analysis of examples.

Because of that, I decide to start with Terran. Of the three, it’s the most straightforward. Each word has one meaning, and as far as I can tell, each meaning has one word. It even feels… I don’t know, clear-cut?

Having decided that, I put all three books away and head back out of the library. I have a basic vocabulary, and there were plenty of simple sentences in there to learn from. Now I need to practice writing the characters, pronouncing the words, and attempting to formulate my own sentences, and for that I need a more private environment than the library will provide.

Laying in the grass, in the midst of this endless forest on this world that I don’t know the name of, I speak the words aloud, repeatedly. The only actual vocal example of Terran I have is the single word that Jald spoke in class. Apart from that word, all I have are pronunciation spellings listed next to the respective words. As such, it’s one of the most ambiguous aspects of the language for me.

“Gerald? Is that you out there?” A voice calls from inside the house.

“Yes, It’s me.” I call back.

The door opens, and Dreyer steps outside and takes a deep breath of air, sighing happily. “Bit of a surprise to see you outside. I thought you’d be spending every waking moment in the library.”

“I’m trying to learn Terran. You know, practicing the pronunciation and whatnot. Library wasn’t the best place for that.” I reply.

He looks around. “You don’t have any reference materials? A Terran dictionary?”

“Yes and no.” I say. “I read one in the library. I have a perfect memory, so reading through something once is usually enough to memorise the contents.”

“Wow.” He nods his head appreciatively. “That’ll come in handy.”

“It has its ups and downs.” I say before admitting, “But it is pretty useful. Anyway, I’m just having trouble with some of the pronunciations. I don’t suppose you know Terran?”

“I do, actually. What words are you having trouble with?” He asks.

“Sorry Gerald, But I’ll have to call it here for today. I’ve got some things to prepare for my next lesson.” Dreyer says, stretching.

“No problem.” I reply. “Thanks for helping for as long as you did.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He waves a hand. “But one last thing. I don’t know if you’ve done much research into the different quirks of casting with different languages, but Terran and the other elemental languages are very specialised towards their respective elements. Try to cast a spell of other elements, or from outside elemental magic, and it won’t be very effective at all. If you’re planning in the future to cast spells that use multiple different types of magic, you’ll want to find a more generalised language. Common isn’t too bad – it’s not really good for casting any sort of magic, but it’s not bad at any magic, either. But you might want to look into that at some point.”

“I will, thanks.” I say appreciatively.

Dreyer heads back inside and through the portal.

Meanwhile, I decide to keep practicing for a while longer. My next class isn’t until midday tomorrow, and the sun is only just setting…

Wait… I’m on a different planet, so the orbits, and therefore the day-night cycle, should be different, right? I head through the portal, and out into the courtyard.

I was right, the sun is at a different position in the sky than it was on the other planet. That’ll be a problem. It’s not as simple as a difference in time zone, in all likelihood the two planets are orbiting two different suns at different distances and different speeds, and rotating about their axes at different speeds. I don’t have the time, knowledge or patience to calculate something like that!

I need a clock. A plain and simple mechanical clock. Or a magical clock that doesn’t rely on things like the position of the sun, I suppose. Well, strictly speaking, I don’t need a clock. I can just check through the portal every now and again, after all. But it would be nice. I suppose that’s something I can think about in the future. For now, I’ll just keep in mind that there’s a time difference.

“Careful, careful!” The teacher tuts. “Plenty of people burn themselves their first time casting fire magic. I can heal you without problem, but needless to say the burn will still be painful.”

Even before his words finish falling from his scaly lips, someone yelps as the fire they create burns just a bit too close to their fingers.

The teacher takes long strides towards them, gently cupping their hands in his. A pale flame flickers around the hands of the student, but instead of a cry of pain, they let out a sigh of relief. The teacher inspects the student’s thin fingers, asking, “Are you alright?”

Shaking their head, the student wipes a tear from the corner of their eye surreptitiously. “I can’t do it.”

“Of course you can!” The teacher reassures them. “Plenty of wizards burn their hands their first time doing fire magic. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

The student looks up at him tearily. “Did you burn your hands?”

“Well, I’m a draconian. Our hands don’t really burn unless the fire is very, very hot.” The teacher says, showing the student his scaled hands. “Look, let’s try it again, together.”

The teacher slowly coaxes the student through the process as I look on, a small tongue of flame drifting in front of me.

Fire. Source of life. Harbinger of death. Harsh. Comforting. Hypnotic – and my first spell with offensive applications in deadly combat. Simply turn up the heat, add in some ranged capabilities, and it’s deadly. Simple, yet effective. Well, as soon as I learn how to do either of those two things. Plus, I need a better way of managing spells than keeping them constantly tethered to me with a channel of mana. Air is not an efficient mana conductor, and nor is it a consistent one.

Fluctuations in conductivity can easily cause the inexperienced to undercompensate when they need more mana and overcompensate when they need less. Well, it’s not really a problem as far as I can tell in larger spells, as the fluctuation in mana relative to the existing mass of mana is rather small or even negligible, but with smaller and more precise spells I can see it becoming a limiting factor.

With something like a fire spell, overcompensating with the amount of mana you’re infusing in the spell can literally mean it blows up in your face. Well, that’s probably an extreme example, but I think it could happen.

After the class, I head outside to the courtyard. Waiting there are Iueia and Lamar, with the interesting addition of Spark, the fairy from yesterday’s light magic class. All of us happen to have the afternoon off, so we had decided to make it one of the times we would get together and chat.

“Hey guys, how’s it going?” I ask.

“Pretty good. How was your fire magic class? Can you cast fireballs now?” Iueia asks in reply, eyes shining.

“Not quite.” I reply, intoning ‘fire’ to create a small flame before snuffing it out. “Just a basic bit of fire for now. Turns out it’s quite dangerous learning fire magic, and the teacher spent a fair bit of time healing people and helping them safely cast.”

“But that’s not a problem for you, right?” Lamar asks. “I mean, you’re metal. You can’t burn.”

“Little fires probably can’t hurt me, no.” I agree. “But if it’s hot enough, I can melt, and even if not, heating and cooling metal can sometimes weaken it, so even I need to be careful around fire.”

“Wait, wait, wait… Is this fork talking!?” Spark exclaims, zipping over to me and knocking on one of my tines. “Why is no one else freaking out about this?”

“That’s Gerald. He was in our light magic class, remember? On the desk left of mine.” Iueia reminds him.

“How was I supposed to know that was a person!?” Spark throws his little hands up in exasperation. “I just assumed that someone was having lunch there and left it behind! What in the world?”

“I get that sometimes. Doesn’t help that I don’t talk much.” I say with a little amusement.

“How do you talk? How do you fly? Heck, how do you see?” Spark rapid-fires questions at me, eyes wide.

“I talk through this magic tool on me, see through the other magic tool, and fly using telekinesis.” I reply.

“telekewhat now?” Spark says, looking at me blankly.

“Telekinesis.” I reiterate. “The ability to move things with your mind. Imagine it like an invisible hand is raising me into the air.”

“So… It’s magic?” Spark asks, still staring blankly at me.

“No, it’s a psychic ability, based on the…” I notice his eyes entirely glazing over. “Uh, yeah, you can think of it like that, I suppose. So, what have you guys been doing today?”

“Practicing with light magic.” Iueia says excitedly, casting a ball of light before his mana runs out again and it fades away. “It’s just so cool! It’s like a candle, but I don’t have to worry about it burning the house down! And it’s so bright!” He exclaims.

…Do you have experience with accidentally burning the house down?

“It’s pretty good, right?” I agree. “And this is only the basic stuff. Imagine what we’ll be able to do a year from now.”

“I’ll be able to cast illusion magic to make me look like a large, muscular man!” Spark says with great zeal. “…What? It’d be fun.”

As Iueia and Spark discuss with great excitement all the awesome spells they might be able to cast a year from now, I can’t help but notice Lamar isn’t really paying attention and is looking off towards the east. “What’s up, Lamar?” I ask.

“My dad’s setting sail from the port some time this afternoon. I thought I might be able to see the ship from here, but the wall’s too high.” He replies, a little sadly.

The academy, of course, is surrounded by barriers, both magical and physical. It ensures the safety and privacy of everyone studying here, but it does hamper the view from the lower floors somewhat. There are a few balconies up high, but they aren’t accessible to students. There are windows, I suppose. Most of them are small, though, and there are other tall buildings in the city that would block the view. Again, the windows high enough to provide an unrestricted view are off-limits to students.

Heading through the city to the docks would take quite a while, as well, not to mention I’m not exactly familiar with the laws practiced there, or what parts of the city to avoid. Not a problem if I’m on my own, but if I’m with others, especially when they’re young, I want to know a bit more about the area. All that really only leaves us with one acceptable option.

“There’s a mountain a bit to the north-west of the academy that should have a good view of the port and the sea.” I offer. “But it would be a fair hike.”

“I’m up for a climb if the others are.” Lamar replies, looking a bit brighter at the idea.

“Sounds like fun!” Iueia says. I hadn’t realised he’d been listening.

On the other hand, Spark definitely hadn’t. “What now?” He blurts quizzically. “What are we doing?”

“Gerald says that there’s a mountain near here that we can see the sea from.” Iueia explains.

“Alright then, let’s go!” Spark exclaims.

“Are you guys sure?” I ask, a bit concerned. “It won’t be an easy climb.”

Iueia shrugs. “I climb mountains sometimes. I’m fine.”

“I grew up climbing rigging. Does that count?” Lamar asks.

“Uh… I can fly.” Spark notes.

“If you’re sure.” I say. “Do you have food and water?”

“We have some food, now let’s go already!” Iueia exclaims.

“Alright, let’s go, then.” I say, suddenly realising that I sounded like someone’s mum.

Shutting my mouth – metaphorically speaking – and lead the group to the north gate of the academy. Now that I think about it, this will be the first time I’ve actually left the academy since I enrolled, not counting brief times in that forest world. It’ll be good to get out for once, I suppose.

I lead them out and onto the plain outside the academy. The city itself isn’t far away, no more than a couple stone throws away. Close enough that I can see part of it, but far enough that I can’t see all of it.

Now Gerald, you might be thinking, what about monsters? Surely you aren’t planning to lead a bunch of kids with little combat potential and less experience into a place filled with monsters?

Of course not!

You might remember that this academy is pretty much the center of all magical learning on the whole planet. Now, there are plenty of people learning constructive things like healing, alchemy or artificing, but there are also plenty of people learning magic for the sake of combat, similar to me. These people need practical experience with their magic, and monsters are pretty much the best way of doing that. It’s not uncommon that students will go out, alone or in classes, to hunt them.

Not to mention that the city itself has a predictably powerful mage division, and there are frequent patrols to prevent unlawful activity and reduce monster numbers.

With the two combined, there are rarely strong or numerous enough monsters to pose a threat. And if we somehow get terribly unlucky and a monster happens to come after us despite me being able to see it from 1,700 metres away and alter our route accordingly to avoid it… Well, I’m more than capable of taking it out.

Now, let me see… According to the map I looked over in the first section of the library, the mountain we’re aiming for is part of a range that runs pretty much parallel to the coast. With the academy and city as points of reference, I can estimate with a fair degree of accuracy that it’s in this direction.

“Say, you were worried about us getting tired on the way there,” Spark remarks, his wings fluttering as he weaves through the air, “but how long can you fly for, Gerald?”

“If I want to, the rest of my life.” I reply simply.

“But can you fly fast?” He asks, zipping about.

Muttering under my breath, I say, “Theoretically, given that I can experience no air resistance and likely survive in space, and can provide a constant, if small, force upon myself, and given no outside force interfering, I could probably reach near light speed given enough time.” A bit louder, I say, “Yeah, pretty fast, If I need to. I just make a bit more noise if I do.”

“So you’d be up for a race?” Spark proposes gleefully.

“Not really.” I reply blandly.

His face falls a bit, but then he smirks craftily. “Oh, you’re saying that you don’t think you can beat the speed of the mighty Spark! I see, I see.”

I sigh. “Can’t bait me that easily, Spark.”

“I’m confused.” Iueia pipes up. “What bait? We’re not fishing.”

“Spark is attempting to make me angry so that I’ll challenge him to a race.” I explain patiently. “It isn’t working.”

“Aw, you’re no fun.” Spark sulks. “Iueia, you wanna race me?”

“Sure!” Comes the eager reply.

The two go off at high speed.

No fun, huh? I suppose not, not for a little while now. I mean, it wasn’t quite as intense as it sounds, but I did go to hell and back. Literally. Left behind my closest friend, along with everyone and everything I ever knew in that world… Interestingly, I think that probably had more impact on me than dying did.

I’ve been trying to act like I usually do, but it’s hard. What even is normal anymore? Magic and monsters? Demons and undead? Men and gods? It’s madness. Everywhere I turn, there’s something new to throw me off. First the system. Then I’m a fork. Goblins. Adventurers. Magic. Gigantic nope-spiders. Psychics. Ki. Gods. Fighting spirit. Hell itself. Apparently, superpowers. Beings made of air itself, and walking talking bipedal animals. There’s just so much, I can’t even get a hold of what normal is in this world.

Honestly speaking, after what I saw in hell, I’m paranoid – that is, more paranoid than before. Don’t know if I’ll be able to trust people anymore. I’m clinging onto every little piece of information about myself, not letting anybody know anything lest they use it against me, even though the rational part of me knows that I don’t need to worry about it. I keep a constant eye on everything and everyone around me at all times, even the people that have been nothing but good to me.

Socialising with these guys will probably be good for me. Slowly lower the barriers. After all, they’re not going to turn on me.

…Probably.

“I guess we should catch up to them.” I say.

Lamar nods, picking up the pace as I accelerate to match his speed.

We’re half-way up the mountain, and Spark is resting on Iueia’s shoulder, tired from flying such a distance. He’s plucky, but he’s also pretty small. What’s one kilometre to us must feel like ten to him.

On the other hand, Iueia and Lamar are doing admirably, still walking without a pause in their step. Thankfully, this mountain has a path to the top. Otherwise, I think I would have had a heart attack monitoring these guys rock-climbing their way up. I don’t know if I would be able to do anything if one of them fell. Telekinesis might be able to do something, but I don’t know if I’d be able to handle that much weight, even for a moment.

I suppose that means I should add methods of saving people from falls to my magic learning to-do list.

Hm. At the peak, there’s someone already there. A girl, probably not much older than the boys in our group. Looks like an elf, and she’s in the academy uniform. Hopefully there won’t be trouble.

After some time, we make it to the top. Iueia is red-faced but energetic, and Lamar is sitting on a rock, trying to catch his breath as his eyes scan the coast.

“There.” He says, pointing. “That’s the ship my dad’s on.”

I can’t see anything, with either of my methods of sight. The whole city is practically just a small blur in the distance. “So, you said your dad was a ship wizard, right? What sort of things will he be doing?”

“Dad does all sorts. The most important ones, though, are to provide a bit of wind if the ship gets becalmed and lessen the impact of storms on the ship.” Lamar explains.

“He must be quite skilled if he can do that.” I say, impressed.

Lamar nods, and with a hint of pride in his voice says, “He is.”

A few moments of quiet pass, with just the sounds of the wind whistling around the peak.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been up this high before.” Spark sighs in wonder. “It’s like I can see the entire world!”

Iueia and Lamar voice their agreement.

Another few moments of silence pass as the others just gaze out over the sea.

“So, you don’t mind if we share the peak for a while, right?” I ask, directing my voice to our left. “We’re planning to at least eat and sit here for a while before going back down. Might be a bit awkward if you hide behind that boulder the entire time.”

The elven girl behind the boulder in question freezes for a moment before gathering herself and coming out from behind it. “Fine. Just… Please leave me alone.”

Gerald's status

Status

Name: Gerald

Race: Living Fork

Level: 33

Experience: 6314.0/7600

Gender: None

Age: 20 months (local time)

Allegiance: None

Fame: 1

Strength: 6.5 (65.0)

Intelligence: 54.7

Dexterity: 9.0 (18.0)

Wisdom: 54.5

Charisma: 6.0

Luck: 12.1

Hardness: 26.94

Durability: 18.54/18.54

Mana: 1094/1094

Mana regen: 10.90/min (11.88)

Psi: 545/545

Psi regen: 5.47/min

Ki: 35425/3542 (35425)

Ki regen: 3.54 (35.42)/day

Unspent stat points: 0

Titles

Living – You are a living being, and as such, the energies of life heal you and the energies of death damage you.

-Trait: Average life energy absorption -Trait: Average death energy weakness

-Trait: minute life affinity -Trait: negative minute death affinity

Progenitor – The first of your species, and its forefather. Your reputation affects the reputation of your entire race.

-Trait: Minor fame gain enhancement -Trait: 50% of your fame is added to the fame of your race

Household object: Being an everyday, household object makes other beings less likely to notice you and mention you to others.

-Trait: Small fame gain reduction -Trait: Small presence reduction

Assumed inanimacy – Despite being a living entity and continually in the presence of other living entities, few have noticed your existence, assuming you to be an inanimate object. People are slightly less likely to notice you and less likely to notice your life energy.

-Trait: Minor presence reduction -Trait: Moderate life presence reduction

Fork – You are a fork. As such, you are designed to pierce, scoop and carry food.

-Trait: Minute taste enhancement -Trait: Minute piercing enhancement (restricted to food)

-Trait: Minute carry capacity increase (Restricted to food)

Second life – You have lived, and died, once before. While you died young, the experience nonetheless is an advantage over others. -Stats: Wisdom + 1, Intelligence + 2

Clinically sane – You have experienced insanity and overcome it, one way or another. The experience has changed you, for better or worse.

-Stats: Luck +5, Wisdom +1, Dexterity +0.5, Strength +0.5, Intelligence +1

Ouroboros – Like the serpent of legend, you bit your own tail. Then you ate it. Weirdo.

Stat – Luck +2, Charisma +1, Wisdom -1, Wisdom +2

Undead slaughterer – Killer of many horrors of the night, you can instinctively sense nearby undead, especially those harmful to you. All stats increased by 2 when attacking undead.

Traits

Life energy absorption (Average) – life energy heals you, causing you to regain durability.

Death energy weakness (Average) – death energy damages you, reducing your durability.

Life affinity (Minute) – You find it easier to gain life related skills and proficiencies than if you did not have this trait.

Negative death affinity (Minute) – You find it harder to gain death related skills and proficiencies than if you did not have this trait.

Fame gain reduction (Minor) – The amount of fame you gain is reduced.

Presence reduction (Small +1) – Others are less likely to notice you.

50% Fame added to racial fame – The fame of your race is equal to 50% of your fame plus the added fame of all other members of the species divided by the number of members in your species.

Life presence reduction (Moderate) – Others are less likely to notice that you are alive.

Taste enhancement (Minute) – All food that touches you tastes slightly better.

Piercing enhancement (Minute) (Restricted to food) – It is slightly easier for you to pierce food.

Carry capacity enhancement (Minute) (Restricted to food) – You can carry slightly more food than appearances would suggest.

Mana touched (Minor) – Mana permeates your body, changing it in some ways.

Herculean Strength (Large) – In possession of the ability to exert strength far beyond that of your peers. Multiplies base strength (Before using passive or active skills) by 10.

Structured sanity (Moderate) – a well-structured mind is a strong mind. You are resistant to mind affecting or altering affects, such as fear, charm and hypnosis.

Magic metal – You have gained the properties of the magic metal, Mithril. Your body conducts mana at twice the normal rate. Your passive mana absorption is doubled. Your maximum mana is now equal to Intelligence multiplied by 20 instead of Intelligence multiplied by 10. Your maximum durability is increased by your maximum mana divided by 100. Your hardness is increased by max mana divided by 100.

Psychic – You have unlocked the hidden potential of your mind. Stat unlock: psi.

Poison Resistance (Huge) – You are completely immune to weak and ordinary poisons. The effects of more potent poisons on you are greatly reduced.

Flea-bitten (Minor) – Fleas instinctively move towards you.

Physical damage reduction (Minute) – Damage taken that would do under 5% of your total durability as damage is reduced by 5%.

Ki Practitioner: You have gained the ability to control the energy within you, and to reinforce it with the energy around you, enabling you to perform far beyond the normal limits of your body.

Stat unlock: Ki.

Water-Proof (Minor) – Water, and many water based fluids, will slip from your surface with great ease.

Feather-weight (Minute) – You feel light as a feather. A feather that weighs slightly less than you originally did, that is. 1% weight reduction.

Cat’s flexibility (Minor) – Base Dexterity is multiplied by 2. Range of movement of joints increased by 1.1 times.

Curse resistance (Minor) – You have developed an innate resistance to curses. Reduces the effect of weak curses on you.

Heat resistance (Minor) – You have developed an innate resistance to heat. Reduces discomfort and damage inflicted upon you by high temperatures. Slightly increases your melting point.

Skills

Absorb (Advanced) (Racial, Low Unique) 34.17% - Allows the absorption of energy, or substances through the surface of the body or at a distance of (Int*Wis)/10mm. Rate of absorption can be controlled. Although this ability is magical in nature, as it is a form of mana control, and mana is also absorbed, mana cost is 0. Currently the only form of energy able to be absorbed is mana. Absorbing substances has a minor chance of giving traits, abilities and skills relating to the substance.

Mana sight (Expert) (Low Unique, Passive/Toggled) 2.84% - You are capable of seeing smaller congregations of mana than before within (Intelligence*Wisdom)/1.75m. Their forms are now distinct. You can now differentiate mana by type.

Self-repair (Master) (Low Unique, Active) 10.95% - By expending a type of energy available to you, you can repair your own durability and recover your original form. Current energies able to be used: Mana, Psi, Ki. Exchange ratio: 5 mana: 0.1 durability, 10 Psi: 0.1 durability, 10 Ki: 0.1 durability.

Telepathy (Advanced) (High Rare, Active) 41.13% - Allows one to communicate with other beings in exchange for 0.5 Psi/sec*distance between user and target in meters, to a maximum range of (Wisdom*Intelligence)/5m. Allows the user to share emotions and thoughts with the recipient.

Body of deadly poison (Advanced) (Low Unique, Passive/Toggled) 0.10% – Deadly poison courses throughout your entire body. So potent is this poison that even touching you will cause great sickness and partial paralysis for a short period of time. Potency of poison scales a small amount with proficiency.

Flee (Basic) (Low Uncommon, Passive/Conditional) 3.28% - Multiplies base dexterity by 1.5 when running away from something. Will deactivate if offensive action is taken. Will not activate if you do not perceive the thing you are running away from as a threat.

Body of weak acid (Advanced) (Mid Uncommon, Passive/Toggled) 2.07% - A weak acid courses throughout your body and on your skin. So weak is this acid that it acts better as a cleaning agent than a weapon. Acidity scales minutely with proficiency.

Magic edge (Advanced) (Mid Uncommon, Active) 7.14% – You have discovered how to clad the edge of your blade in magic power, increasing the power of your strikes. Increase in power varies depending on mana spent.

Gaming – Minesweeper (Expert) (Mid rare, Passive) 13.29% - You’ve sunk way too much time into this game. And despite the statistics saying 0 wins, 307 losses, you are way better at this than almost everyone else. Slightly increased analytical abilities. Slight instinctive ability to correctly guess the outcome of a 50/50 gamble.

Meditation (Master) (High Rare, Active) 15.72%: Enter into a state unburdened by the worries of the physical world. There is only you, and your thoughts that exist in this world. While in this state, mana regeneration multiplied by 3.0, Psi regeneration multiplied by 3.0, Ki generated at 25 times the normal rate. User is also calmed and receives slight resistance to mind affecting or altering affects.

Ki blast (Advanced) (Mid Rare, Active) 47.28%: Expel Ki from your body in a concentrated blast. Power varies with ki infused. With your lack of experience, you are not able to accurately control the amount of ki you infuse into the skill, it may vary by up to 10 points.

Form manipulation – Self (Expert) (Low Unique, Active) 49.27% - Through the use of mana, you can manipulate your own form at will. Cannot change density or mass. Costs 3.5 mana/second while changing form, costs 6 mana/minute while in a form not your original.

WARNING! Do not use this ability if you are of a race with aspects that could result in death if you were to change them E.G. internal organs, mana pathways, et cetera.

Lip reading (Advanced) (Mid Uncommon, Passive) 79.17% - You have learned how to understand what people are saying by the movement of their lips. Doesn’t hurt that you can see their tongue and jaw movement, either. Rarely inaccurate, you can usually tell what people are saying, unless they have some crazy accent. Good luck with those.

Nine lives (Static) (Passive) – You will avoid the next eight attacks that would be deadly to you, seemingly by accident. After avoiding eight attacks, this skill will disappear.

Charges remaining: 8

Telekinesis (Expert) (Mid Rare, Active) 13.78% - Through Psi, your mind pushes at the world around you, moving objects without the need for physical contact. More Psi is required to produce greater forces. Currently slightly inefficient.

External Ki manipulation (Basic) (Low Rare, Active) 0.51% - You have discovered how to manipulate Ki outside of your body. Doesn’t mean you’re any good at it. Difficulty of control increases drastically with distance and quantity of Ki.

Magic missile (Expert) (Mid Uncommon, Active) 91.49% - Fires a projectile of mana. Power scales with mana consumption, unable to exceed 50 mana per shot. Maximum range = Intelligence*1.75/metres. If remotely controlling, there is an additional mana cost of 0.65 mana/sec, otherwise direction of travel is set at initial creation of shot.

Mana control (Expert) (High Uncommon, Passive) 99.32% - Your practice with magic has led to a great familiarity with handling mana. Maximum quantity of mana able to be controlled reliably: 100 mana. Minimum quantity of mana able to be controlled reliably: 0.2 mana.

Power stab (Advanced) (High Common, Active) 13.12% - Multiplies the speed and power of a stab by 1.2. Cooldown: 4 minutes

Mud bath (Basic) (Low Uncommon, Passive) 0.00% - Your injuries heal faster when they are covered with mud, by 1.2 times. Slightly lowered chance of contracting infection and parasites from this activity.

…However, as you are for most purposes an object, this skill does not affect you.

Climbing (Advanced) (Low Uncommon, Passive) 0.00% - You have a slightly increased ability to find handholds and footholds when climbing something, as well as a slightly increased ability to maintain grip on smaller handholds.

Melee weaponry – Spear (Advanced) (Mid Common, Passive) 0.00% - You have some experience using a standard spear. Minor increased grip strength when wielding this weapon, and +1 to Strength and Dexterity while wielding this weapon. Maintaining this type of weapon is easier for you.

Doppelganger (Static) (High Unique, Active) – Switch between your original appearance and that of a Human Male. Costs 1000 mana/min.

Psychic translation (Static) (Low Unique, Passive) – Through subconscious psychic analysis of thought waves and language patterns, allows you to understand (and temporarily speak) any spoken language as if it is your native tongue. Does not apply to non-vocal languages.

Flattery (Advanced) (Low Uncommon, Passive) 0.00% – Skill and tireless effort is the surest way to the top. But sometimes, a few lined pockets and some glitzy compliments are all you need. Others are more likely to have positive opinions of you. Affected positively by charisma. Synergistic effect with the ‘deception’ skill.

Deception (Advanced) (High Common, Passive) 0.07% – Whether the end game is a knife in the back or a slowly drained bank account makes no difference. It’s not like they don’t lie to you, either. Others are more likely to believe your words. Affected positively by charisma. Synergistic effect with the ‘flattery’ skill.

Gaming - Tic-Tac-Toe (Master) (Low Unique, Passive) 48.97% - You are a master at Tic-Tac-Toe. Congratulations. Slight instinctive ability to correctly guess the outcome of 50/50 and one in three gambles.

Multitasking (Advanced) (Mid Uncommon, Passive) 47.87% - You are skilled at doing multiple things at once. Small increase to your ability to keep track of multiple things at once, small decrease in the reduction in precision when performing multiple tasks at once.

Common language-Spoken (Expert) (High Common, Passive) 78.28% - You know most of the commonly used words in the common language. Only obscure and occupation specific words are likely to be outside your knowledge.

Common language-Written (Master) (Mid Uncommon, Passive) 13.59% - You can not only read common the right way up, but upside-down, sideways and reflected without much trouble. The very few words you don’t recognise you can understand from context, and you can read like lightning if you need to.

Small increase in the ability to ignore superfluous text and descriptions to find the actual information you want. Allows you to skip over info dumps and flowery descriptions without flinching even slightly.

Earth magic (Basic) (Mid Uncommon, Passive) 0.17% - You have a superficial grasp of earth magic.

Formation casting (Basic) (Mid Uncommon, Passive) 0.15% - You have a superficial grasp of casting magic through formations.

Creation magic (Basic) (Low Uncommon, Passive) 0.27% - You have a superficial grasp of creation magic.

Light magic (Basic) (Mid Uncommon, Passive) 0.14% - You have a superficial grasp of light magic.

Vocal casting (Basic) (Low Uncommon, Passive) 0.10% - You have a superficial grasp of casting magic vocally.

Terran language – Spoken (Basic) (Mid Uncommon, Passive) 48.27% - While you have a large vocabulary for someone of your inexperience, you still have much difficulty correctly pronouncing many of the words, and stringing sentences together is as yet beyond you.

Terran language – Written (Basic) (High Uncommon, Passive) 71.36% - While you have a large vocabulary for someone of your inexperience, and may even be able to recognise many individual written words, their meaning when put together still escapes your grasp.

Fire magic (Basic) (Mid Uncommon, Passive) 0.15% - You have a superficial grasp of fire magic.