Chapter 10

Reviewing the Basics

Janus could not seem to get a clean hit on Pella with anything. It was almost worse than fighting Devon.

It was like she knew where his attack would come from. It didn’t seem to matter if it was just a flash of light or a mana explosion. She would always narrowly avoid the worst of it.

Defeat after defeat was starting to get on his nerves. Not to mention he was basically out of mana at this point.

“I can’t keep going. My mana is basically spent.” Janus said. He still had a bit of mana left, but he didn’t want to risk mana exhaustion.

“If you say so. You’ve got some tricks up your sleeve now, but I have more.” Pella responded, stepping off of the sparring platform and placing her training weapons back on the rack.

Janus did the same and headed for a nearby bench. It was now that he noticed most of the benches were occupied.

Were these delvers watching us spar this entire time? It must be pretty obvious that we’re Dario’s students at this point.

The attention was off-putting. Janus was embarrassed that a dozen people just watched him get trounced for nearly two hours. At least he took a lot less hits compares to his very first spar with Devon.

Taking a seat on the empty bench ahead of him, he turned back to watch Devon and Dario. Devon was close up, trying his best to hit Dario. But, Dario would simply step out of the way of the blade, or turn in such a way that the blow did not land.

Even the usually stoic Devon was beginning to look frustrated.

-

About a week passed with Janus sparring against Pella, Devon, and even Dario. He was starting to win a bit more often against Devon. It wasn’t even by any means, but it was still satisfying to know he could do it.

Pella was another story. Even as his [Mana Manipulation] and [Mana Reinforcement] began gaining levels, none of his strategies would work against her. She had the uncanny ability to avoid most of the damage Janus could dish out.

Janus spent a few nights with his dad during the weekend. Construction on the rail line was going well. The [Rath Rohen] dungeon had been basically completely cleared out and was being sealed up by earth manipulators from Bear and Crow Station.

Dario had learned that Janus wasn’t pushing his mana all the way to the limit. He told Janus that using all of his mana was part of the point. Janus hated the mana exhaustion, but began pushing through it. Janus couldn’t fault Dario for making him do it, especially after the day before.

He had gained a new skill, [Mana Burn]. Sitting in his room, Janus brought up his status and reviewed the changes from the past week of sparring.

Status Name Janus Alamy Class Enhancer Level 16 Guild None Life 348 Max Life 348 Mana 508 Max Mana 508 Stamina 388 Max Stam 388 Stat Total Base Class Skill Item Strength 32 16 0 16 0 Endurance 22 16 0 6 0 Dexterity 16 16 0 0 0 Intelligence 83 16 32 35 0 Wisdom 62 16 16 30 0 Skill Level Bonus Bravery 2 5 Wis / Lvl Writing 8 1 Wis / 5 Lvl Sprinting 7 1 End / 5 Lvl Mana Manipulation 19 1 Int, 1 Wis / Lvl Str. Enhancement 16 1 Int, 1 Str / Lvl Mana Reinforcement 5 1 End / Lvl Mana Burn 3 1 Wis / 5 Lvl Empty --- --- Empty --- --- Empty --- ---

He willed for the new skill, [Mana Burn], to appear in his mind’s eye.

[Mana Burn]

Cost: None

Cooldown: Always active

Description: You have experienced the effects of mana exhaustion many times. You are no longer affected by the mana exhaustion ailment for reaching low mana. However, you can now spend mana beyond your maximum. Doing so causes a much stronger mana exhaustion ailment than before.

Bonus Stats: 1 Wis per 5 levels

He learned just what it meant by “much stronger mana exhaustion ailment” shortly after learning the skill. It had been one of the worst experiences of Janus’ life. The negative mana seemed to regenerate much more slowly too, causing the mana exhaustion to last even longer.

But, that wasn’t the only benefit he had gained.

Even beyond the two extra levels Janus had earned, he could really feel the difference that the intelligence stat made.

Many people liked to joke that strength can make you stronger, sure, but intelligence can’t fix a stupid mind. And, that was sort of true. Janus didn’t feel any smarter, but it was like his brain was just working faster.

But, that was the least of the benefits. Compared to when Janus had just started, it was night and day. Even the eight extra points he had gained since learning [Mana Reinforcement] had noticeably increased the strength of his mana explosions.

[Str. Enhancement] had fallen behind a little bit. Janus struggled to find ways to use it effectively during the spars. The System didn’t seem to like giving out too many skill levels unless Janus was in some sort of combat. It happened occasionally with lower level skills, but he hadn’t gotten a skill level while practicing on his own in a while.

-

The next day, Dario told them to gather at a table inside the Delver’s Guild. Janus had gotten so used to practicing in sparring area that he stood outside for a few minutes before remembering where he was actually supposed to go.

Surprisingly, he wasn’t the last one to arrive. Pella was missing. Almost half an hour later, Pella stepped through the front doors of the guild. She did not look happy.

“Sorry for the delay, I missed the first sub-train coming to Crow Station.” She said.

Her expression seemed a little severe to Janus. It was just a small delay, after all.

“Don’t worry about it.” Dario said, “We’re going to be leaving here soon anyway.”

“Are we going to a dungeon?” asked Devon.

Devon rarely spoke, other than his countdowns when he sparred. But, he had been asking Dario when they would be heading to a dungeon nearly every day.

Janus wasn’t quite as eager, but he was excited to try out his new abilities.

“No, we’re visiting a metamage. Information about the System is pretty hard to get, and that’s after you’ve sifted through all the lies.” Dario said. “I know a metamage who can help you guys get a better understanding. I’d just tell you myself. But I can’t help with some things, like Janus’ [Mana Manipulation].”

Janus had learned most of what he knew about the System from school. The schools in the stations seemed to have a decent grasp of the System. Most information came from books that metamages had written. Janus heard that the schools in Eagle Station even had a metamage of their own.

Metamages were mages that directly interacted with the System in some way. Their class gave them information about the system that wasn’t readily available to others. Unfortunately, they didn’t tend to get very many combat skills.

“My friend doesn’t live too far from here. We won’t even have to leave to Backwash to see her.” Dario said, standing from the table. He motioned for the others to follow him.

Dario continued as they walked, “A lot of stuff is pretty simple. There are a few basic formulas that govern how much HP or Mana capacity someone has. The metamage can give you the specifics on that.”

Dario explained some basics until the arrived. The group quickly found themselves standing in front of a squat domed building. It seemed almost carved from the ground itself. It matched several other buildings nearby.

Dario rapped his knuckles on the stone near the opening.

“Come in.”

The doorway was not very tall, and the group had to crouch to make their way inside.

Inside was a mess. Papers were strewn everywhere, and charms hung from the ceiling in a riot of colors. A pile of books was haphazardly standing to Janus’ left. A stiff breeze might have brought the pile crashing down.

Thankfully, the ground inside was depressed so that they could stand at their full height.

One the other side of the building was a woman. Her hair was jet black and ended just past her ears, framing a coppery face. Her eyes were as black as her hair and Janus almost felt like she was looking past him instead of at him. She wore almost a dozen cords and strings of beads from her neck. A dress of deerskin hung from her shoulders. Janus was familiar with the clothing and knew that it was incredibly expensive.

There weren’t any deer underground, so most deerskin clothing was from before the stations had been created. Janus knew that many of the tribes that had moved below ground held deerskin clothing in high regard.

It was a strange to see such expensive clothing after walking through the Backwash to get here.

“These are your students?” The woman asked.

“Yeah, I’d appreciate it if you could help them out. We’ll start with Devon. Janus, Pella, and I will be outside.” Responded Dario.

-

It was a few hours before Janus got his opportunity to speak with the metamage. Both Pella and Devon went before him. He spent the time waiting playing with the ambient mana. Dario didn’t seem very interested in conversation and Janus had no desire to start one.

Pella had just left the building. Whatever she had been told, she had a satisfied air about her.

Nobody said anything, but Janus knew he was next so he crouched into the entrance.

“This would have been easier if Dario had all of you in the room together, at least for a while. I will have to repeat a lot of what I already told the others.” The woman spoke.

“Ah, sorry about that. I, uh, yeah.” Janus replied.

“It does not matter now. My name is Tsula. Make yourself comfortable.”

Janus looked around for a place to sit. He hadn’t really noticed the lack of chairs when he was inside earlier. He opted to just sit on the floor in front of the low desk Tsula was behind.

“I will start from the basics because the System is not very complicated before skills and classes get involved.” Tsula said. “The stats are the simplest. You have likely learned about this already, but I must cover all bases. It will not take much time.”

Much of the basics were covered in his early schooling, but he assumed that there were subtleties involved.

“Strength. It makes you stronger, but it also can increase the power of certain skills. The other stats follow this basic premise.” She began. “Intelligence allows you to think more, in less time. Dexterity makes you faster, but also increases your grace. Endurance lends you more health points, health recovery, and resistance to disease or poison. Finally, Wisdom is like endurance for your mana. Both endurance and wisdom grant you extra stamina, but endurance is much more effective for that use.”

Janus was aware of most of this. He didn’t know that wisdom gave him more stamina, or that endurance could make him resistant to poison and disease.

“These statistics can become much more complicated with certain classes and skills. A skill might cause your endurance to apply to your mana, or your strength to increase the hardness of your skin. There does not seem to be very many limits.” Tsula continued.

This was completely new to Janus. It meant that you couldn’t judge someone exclusively off of their stats.

“The standard formulas are also rather simple. I’ve written them down on a sheet of paper.” Tsula shifted one of the many papers on her desk towards Janus.

Janus took the paper and looked at the hastily scribbled notes.

Health points - 100+(Level*10)+(4*Endurance)

Mana - 100+(Level*10)+(4*Wisdom)

Stamina - 100+(Level*10)+(3*Endurance)+Wisdom

He was aware of the basic formulas, other than wisdom affecting stamina, but pocketed the paper anyway.

Tsula nodded and began speaking again, “Just like everything else in the system, these formulas do not tend to stay relevant. Classes and skills can change the ratios involved. The System appears to be simple on a cursory examination, but as a person grows in level, so too will they collect skills and classes that can significantly change how the System applies to them.”

“Yeah, I’ve read that skills can even be personalized to the person who learns them.” Janus said. “Like someone with my [Str. Enhancement] skill might be able to do something that I can’t, even though it’s the same skill.”

“That is true, but I would like to talk about your [Mana Manipulation] Skill.” Tsula replied.