Author’s Corner: Yes, there is a second chapter today! Blame my boredom. Or thank it, if you like the story.

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After introducing me to Jarl, Rita went back to town. I may have been a bit scared now that she was gone, I’ll admit. Getting here was easy with her, but getting back… well, I guess dying counts as easy, right? Well, I haven’t really taken a good look at my character info since I got my class, and I guess I should take care of that.

NameFalenelRaceHalf-Elf(Woodland)TitlesVengeful HeartFame0Level 1020.0%ClassDruidSub-ClassNoneDeityMalthanHealth100/100Health Regen0.17Mana360/360Mana Regen0.33Strength12Wisdom55Agility20Intelligence36Dexterity17Charisma9Vitality10Luck14Points Remaining0

So, I’m now getting back a mana point every three seconds, which is nice. And there is a new entry, for Sub-Classes… not really sure what that’s for. Maybe that’s like what it listed before, with the Xeno-Shifter? But that was called an Advanced Class.

“So, you already know my name, but what is yours?” It took me a moment to realize that Jarl had spoken, but soon I looked up and saw him waiting for my answer.

“Ah, sorry. My name is Falenel.” I had long since given up trying to introduce myself with my real name, and by now was just going with the flow.

“I see, and you were accepted as a druid, then? Well, I guess that means I should teach you our most fundamental skill.” Jarl chuckled slightly, slowly rising to his feet. The wolf next to him looked up sadly at the loss of his hand on its head. “Keep in mind, just because you chose to represent the druids does not mean you are the only one able to learn the skills. Anyone is able to learn any type of skills, if they put in the effort. The trick is what you specialize in.”

I nodded my head, indicating I understood as he continued. “The first, and most important skill in a druid’s arsenal, is known as World Casting. Think of it as a mix between divine and arcane magic. While we are not beseeching any god to grant us power, we are borrowing power from the world itself. This grants us a number of different abilities, such as increased mana and health regeneration, and more flexible control over the elements. However, this only lasts while we are in the presence of elements we have familiarized ourselves with. This process is known as ‘gaining an affinity’.”

“Every creature born capable of manipulating mana is also born with a natural affinity. Though, they don’t tend to exceed a very small amount except for in the cases of beasts naturally able to control an element. In the old days, it was a matter of trial and error to figure out someone’s affinities, but thankfully we have tech that can tell us.” He digs around in his pockets for a few moments, until he pulls out a thin metal strip.

“This will be the first real upgrade for your companion, assuming you weren’t rich enough to buy something already.” He gave me a knowing smile. I guess it’s not an uncommon thing to hope for addons to the companion early on. “It gives your companion the ability to read how your aura interacts with the elements, in order to determine how high your affinity is with them.” After he hands me the metal strip, I look at it confused for a moment, not sure how I am supposed to upgrade Celeste. “Just hold it over the display, and your companion will scan the data.”

I nodded, doing as he said, and there was a brief light from Celeste, before she displayed another holographic screen. This one floated several inches above her display, and looked like a three dimensional chart. On the chart were hundreds of tiny bumps of various colors, which I was completely unable to make out at all. “That’s a lot of elements…”

Jarl raised an eyebrow, and then looked at the display, before chuckling. “Oh, yeah. Sorry, we call them elements, but really there are affinities for anything. Sound, light, dark, even emotions have an affinity. Tell your companion to only list the ‘big seven’, and your three strongest lesser affinities.”

I looked down to my wristband. “Uh… do… whatever he just said.”

There was a slight beep, before almost all of the little bumps on the chart disappeared, leaving only ten remaining. Now that there was more space for the ten there, more information about each was displayed. Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Lightning… those are all pretty much expected… Light and Dark, not uncommon.. Then my eyes looked at the three ‘lesser affinities’. Plants, understandable. I’ve done most of my training in game with plants… Luck… well… okay, I’m not that surprised. I did get a Wild Luck skill, after all. And the third is…Madness. Why do I feel like I’m being trolled right now?

Sadly, each of these affinities were just one or two percent, with Plant Affinity being the highest at three. As if having expected that, Jarl nodded his head. “Like I said, the affinities will be naturally low to start with. The fact that you have one at 3% already shows that you are either really lucky, or have been accidentally training in the right way. Once you reach 5% in any affinity, you will start to be able to control that element with your magic. This will in most ways act the same as an arcane magic caster, but you will not need nearly as much mana, since you are just influencing what is already there.

“The downside is the amount of time it takes to train an affinity, as well as the requirement that it needs to be present in your surroundings. For example, if you’re on a spaceship, the Plant Affinity will not do you much good. That’s the difference between World Casting and Arcane Casting. One controls, and the other creates. Once I go over the other skills a druid needs, I’ll teach you how to cultivate your affinities.”

I couldn’t help but groan slightly as he said cultivate. I played a Xianxia style VR once, and cultivation took ages. If they didn’t have a fast forward option, I would never have been able to do it. “Oh, don’t give me that. Once you practice for a little while, you’ll be able to do it as easy as breathing. Now, the other big skills of a druid would naturally be their control over nature.”

I nodded my head, trying to keep my voice even. I really didn’t want to learn how to cultivate like that again. “Yeah, I learned Nature Magic, or at least started to.”

He smiled at that. “Good, good. That’ll make this easier. No matter which path you want to take as a druid, you will need to practice that. You can have an army of animal companions, or turn into animals yourself, or even cause plants to poison enemies. It’d be a good idea to think about what kind of druid you want to be early on, so that you can start developing towards that path.”

My mind naturally went towards the Xeno-Shifter. It couldn’t be as easy as choosing an Advanced Class right away, could it? “I want to be able to take on the properties of other creatures, maybe learn more about the alien races.”

Again, Jarl chuckled knowingly. “I take it you were shown information on the Xeno-Shifters. Yes, most who see that information tend to want to pursue it. And, if that is your decision, I would suggest focusing on the bestial portions of Nature Magic, and maybe some more alchemy. Rita brought you here, so if you have Nature Magic, she likely made you learn that too. Knowing alchemy will help, once you learn how things react together. For instance, if you learn how to combine twenty different plants to form a single spell, you’ll have enough mastery over your mana to start mimicking the special abilities of alien races.”

I blinked a bit at his requirement. Twenty plants? Here I thought I was doing good to have so many spells for sets of two plants. Nevertheless, I nodded to him. “Alright. How exactly do I train the beast magic? I can’t exactly study the animals like I would plants… they seem to be more interested in eating me than anything else.”

Jarl smirked slightly. “Well, you could try studying a dead one, but sitting in front of a rotting corpse and having to focus on it for long periods just doesn’t sit well with most. The other option is to try to make nice with an animal. This is why most druids are seen with at least one animal companion. If you can keep a single animal by your side, you can practice your magic together with it. You can release the animal any time you want, but if they have grown fond of you they may still try to follow. At the same time, if you are cruel to your animal, they will turn on you like anything else.”

Not getting a bunny. “Okay.. so how do I make nice with an animal? Just give it some food?” I had never really owned a pet, so I wasn’t sure what I was doing here.

“Well, depends on the animal. If you were taming a rabbit, I’d say feed it some blood weed. For a wolf, giving it some meat would help. As long as they don’t see you as a threat, and are willing to get close enough, you can establish a link with them. Just send your mana into their body, and focus on connecting to their mind. That will allow for basic communication. No, you won’t be able to use words to speak to each other, but emotions and feelings can still get a meaning across.”

Still not getting a bunny. “I think I understand. Not really, but I’ll give it a shot. Now, what was it you said about… cultivating?”

“Right. It’s really easy, honestly. With enough practice, you can do it without even thinking, while you go about your normal day. Basically, just send your mana out to connect to an element. That’s the first step. Then, try to attune your mana to match that element. Finally, try to cycle the mana. What I mean by that is pulling just a little bit of the mana from your element and assimilating it with your own mana. This is also what gives us increased health and mana regeneration, since we can resupply our own mana with elements we have a good affinity with.”

I nodded my head again, thinking that this was definitely not as bad as I had first imagined. As long as I wasn’t channeling the mana through my veins or whatever, it was fine. I shuddered at the memory of that game. “Okay, I think I’ll work on that for a little bit. I can grab an animal companion afterwards.”

He shrugged his shoulders, not really caring either way. “Up to you. The more you experience with an animal companion, the stronger it will grow. Since you don’t plan to use the companion for more than practicing your magic, it’s not really necessary, but if you cultivate affinities with it, then it’s possible your animal will learn to cultivate as well. Just remember to treat your animal well when you have it, or it may turn on you.”

I nodded again, sitting down and closing my eyes. Out of my affinities with the ‘big seven’, one of the highest was earth. So, I placed my hand on the ground and began sending mana out into it in much the same way as I had been doing with the plants. Except, there was no circuit this time keeping my mana contained, so I was steadily losing energy as I was doing this. I soon learned that there was a thick layer of energy just below the surface of the ground, and assumed that was what I was looking for.

Since I had practiced so much with plants, it didn’t take me too long to match my mana to that of the earth. There were just a few properties that were new to me, but not unexpected. For instance, how stubborn the energy was, reflecting its real nature. Once I was done with that, I tried pulling the mana back into me, which didn’t go so well. Did I mention that earth mana was stubborn? I had to dump over fifty mana into the connection before even a steady trickle of it started coming back to me.

Now that I had the mana coming back to me, I just focused on maintaining that sensation. Thankfully it cost a lot less mana to hold the connection than to establish it, but I was still steadily losing energy. By the time my focus lapsed and I lost the mana, I was already down to 30% mana.

After resting to recover my mana, I started the process all over again. I was eagerly anticipating the part where he said I’d be able to do this effortlessly… But I figured once I got the skill to control earth, I would go hunting for an animal test subject-- I mean companion.

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Author’s Basement: Hey there people! No poll this time, but I want to ask, what do YOU think Falenel should have as his animal companion? Feel free to mention animals that haven’t shown up yet, as he has only explored the area just around the village. There is still much left for him to find.