An entry in the journal of a traveling member of the Molokai Order

I awoke this morning unsure of my purpose and now I fall asleep more content than I have been in decades. I set out exploring this morning and happened to stumble onto a group of peoples who called themselves the Biwa Hoshi. They were all unarmed and carried nothing but string instruments. Their music though … if anyone could bring peace to this troubled Universe it is these strange and wonderful Biwa Hoshi.

The ball of morphing Motion Mana hovers above my hand as I stare at it with a furrowed brow. What to try and create first? The ball seems to twist and turn as my thoughts go down different paths, imagining combinations that I could use in battle to gain an advantage. Ice? Too static, it only truly experiences motion during growth and expansion. Earth? Too rigid. Fire is a decent possibility… I shake my head after a few seconds of thought. Fire is too chaotic and uncontrollable to try and mix with the Higher Energy on my first try.

Air it is then. Drawing out Mana from my Well, I transform it into Air Mana in my other hand, staring at the two of them. Despite their difference in power, they are quite similar in nature. The Air spirals in my hand while the Motion endlessly morphs, unable to deny its true nature.

Taking a deep breath, I bring my palms together and watch as the two come into contact. They initially resist my movement, a barrier forming in my mind that commands I stop, but I’m able to break it down with my superior willpower. Keeping my focus entirely on the two energies, I push them together until they’ve merged, the Motion becoming more dense and sinking into the center while the Air encapsulates it, the winds picking up speed to spiral in more chaotic movements. I make a mental note to consider the implications of this after the experiment.

I then split the combination into two parts, both hands holding a smaller core of Motion Mana surrounded by the Air. Imposing my will, I begin to shape the Motion cores into small vortexes that spiral downwards. It takes me a few minutes to coerce the Higher Energy into the specific shape, its restless nature resisting the attempt to define it, but I eventually emerge victorious and slam my palms down onto my thighs. The little cores enter into my legs and then I begin the second part.

Feeding more and more Mana into the Air portion, I watch as the little winds evolve into small tornadoes that rage around my lower body. They continue to build in intensity, whipping my clothes around and tussling my hair all over my face, and I begin to get worried. The amount of Mana I’ve put into the Air alone would be enough to throw me to my death and that doesn’t even account for the Motion. The last time that I tried to speed up my movements with Air resulted in me nearly being thrown to my death. What if the idea doesn’t work?

My worry is wiped away as the Motion cores finally activate, a beacon lighting up in my mind as they begin to absorb the speed of the Air around them. The two forces reach an equilibrium after a few seconds, small tornadoes still continuing around my legs but lessened in force to the point where they barely bother me. More importantly, the stolen Motion from the winds is absorbed by the cores and then released into my legs. A little notification ping lets me know that my idea worked but I brush it to the side, elated with my discovery and wanting to test out the limits immediately.

I hop off the tree and land on the ground with a lighter step, the tornadoes around my legs evidently lessening my weight slightly. Grinning in excitement, I let out a little whoop and begin to run around the clearing. The speed with which I move is … breathtaking! It isn’t just that my legs move faster, they also seem to carry me further with each movement, each step carrying me twice or three times the distance that they had before.

After a few moments of running I realize that without Effortless Presence and my increased Perception I wouldn’t be able to comprehend my surroundings at the increased speed. As it is, I’m barely able to maintain control within the time dilation, using it to react to each movement so that I don’t throw myself against a tree and damage myself.

After a few minutes of running around the clearing, happy and elated beyond belief, I plant my feet and dig deep rivets into the ground as I skid to a stop. The speed that I can achieve while using this Skill is exhilarating, filling me with the desire to run through the forest and never stop. Brushing aside the urge brought upon by adrenaline and excitement, I let the notification fill my vision.

You have discovered the Skill Fleet Feet of Air (R-3) Lvl 1! You steal motion from the wind and imbue your legs with an unnatural speed. Run past your obstacles, leap over those in your path, and dodge all those who seek to hinder your way. Cost: 410 Mana. Duration: 5 minutes. Increased skill level increases movement absorbed and duration time.

I wince when I read the cost, a little under a third of my entire Well, but it doesn’t surprise me. It seems as if there is a hierarchy of cost in creating Mana Skills. Raw Mana and Condensed Mana don’t seem to cost that much, Elemental Mana costs a bit more, and now it appears as if Higher Energies cost significantly more. I wonder what Universal Constants will cost… 2000 or 3000 Mana for a single cast? Well now I have another reason to try and increase the size of my well.

A quick glance at the sky lets me know that creating the Skill took a large chunk of the day and that night is not far away. I don’t have the time to try and create anything else but I have just enough to finally allocate the Way Points that have been sitting in my Status screen for a few weeks now. I’d been holding onto all the spare points, having just reached 137 in total, until I discovered my first Higher Energy, wanting to see what Ways opened up. My eyes widen as I take in all the different options available to me.

Ways: Way of Latent Talent (0/???), Way of the Motionless (0/300), Way of the Gunslinger (0/250), Way of the Novice Psionic Mind (0/200), Way of the Arcane Weapon (0/150), Way of Elemental Destruction (0/150), Way of Elemental Creation (0/150), Way of the Randomly Chosen (0/100), Way of Discovery (0/100), Way of the First Evolution (0/100), Way of the Traveler (0/50), Way of the Staff (0/25), Way of Intelligence (0/25)

I’m taken aback by all the options. Following the same thinking as the last time I invested the points, I immediately disregard Intelligence, Staff, Randomly Chosen, and Traveler. Traveler is too ambiguous, most likely relating to my placement on Helldarvin, and I imagine that the benefits would be limited in nature. Randomly Chosen still confuses me and I’m not willing to spend my precious points on something I don’t understand. Intelligence and Staff are both good as they serve as the foundational bases of my fighting style, Staff less so in recent months, but their point totals make me suspect that the reward would be quite paltry.

I also force myself to take Gunslinger off the list of options. Mana Bullet has become my most used combat Skill but I remember the limitations of the Arcane Gunslinger Class and I have no desire to force those growth limitations upon myself. Arcane Weapon is also an interesting path but I unlocked that one when I first used Weapon Imbuement, a Skill that, if I’m being completely honest, hasn’t been particularly useful since discovery. It could be powerful but if I never used it then it would be a useless investment.

Novice Psionic Mind is interesting but I’m not willing to invest all my points into it before my training with Albasalas. My understanding of the strengths and limitations of the Skill will expand with her teaching and only then will I be able to make an educated decision on whether or not the Skill will become central to my survival.

Then there are the other new Ways. Elemental Destruction and Creation are obviously the Diverging Ways mentioned upon my completion of the Way of the Elements but I can’t decide if they are worth it. While I want nothing more than to put my points into Creation, I know that the destructive ability of my Elemental Skills have single-handedly saved my life on multiple occasions, the battle with Shssiss and the Trainees coming to mind. It takes all my willpower but I manage to hold off on investing in Elemental Destruction, not wanting to walk down the Way of someone who leaves destruction and ruin in their wake. Motionless is also interesting, a strange antithesis to my Higher Energy, but the cost is simply too prohibitive at the moment.

That leaves Discovery, First Evolution, and Latent Talent. Discovery is most likely related to my discovery of the Higher Energy and, given its total cost, I’d be able to finish it off in one large investment. I don’t know what the reward would be but it could help me discover more Higher Energies, building up my repertoire of Skills and giving me more options when creating. First Evolution is also interesting. I assume that it relates to the fact that I was the first of my species to unlock the Telepathic Mind… would the reward be further evolution or would it strengthen the Skill that unlocked the Way?

I shake my head in frustration. There are too many uncertainties when considering how to invest my Way Points. Each time has been a complete guess and I’ve been lucky to get the results that I have. Or I could have been incredibly unlucky, I have no idea as I can’t compare my rewards to anyone else.

Closing my eyes, I consider my options for a few seconds and then go with my gut feeling. When all the rewards are unknown, apart from my personal hypothesis, the only thing that I can do is choose the one that I think will help me best. With that in mind, I put 100 points into Way of the Latent Talent, opening my eyes when I see the notification appear at the 100 point mark.

The potential within you begins to mold itself around your desires and your actions. Every action you take, word you say, Skill you create, and stray thought you entertain affects your growth. Your Way solidifies the potential, allowing it to grow and reach forward. Reward: Delayed

I let out a quick yell of frustration, sitting down on the ground and considering the words in front of me. A quick check of the Ways screen shows me that Latent Talent still has the mysterious ??? amount as the total, the only change being the 100 points invested into it. Regret fills me for a few seconds but it manages to fade away as I truly think about what the notification says. Will investment in this Way increase the power of my Class in the future? Is investing in this Way is the only way to evolve my Temporary Class into a Permanent one or will it unlock different options once I reach Lvl 50? It is possible that my final class may depend on the total amount of points that I invest in the Way…

It also seems as if my actions will determine my final reward. While the thought might scare some people, it actively excites me. The idea of a class unlocked due to my actions, my ethics, my thoughts, my goals, my desires, and my curiosity is perfect for me.

I hold onto the other 37 points, deciding to wait until I’m a little bit more sure on how I want to invest them.

Staring up into the sky, I see the sun beginning to come downwards toward the horizon and I decide to get an early night, knowing that tomorrow will be the beginning of my training with Albasalas.