8

It took Hunter a solid hour of wandering around to finally admit he was utterly and totally lost. He was supposed to be moving towards that large clearing he’d spied from his perch on the crag–hell, he probably was supposed to have reached it already. Instead, he was no longer even certain which way was north. To make things worse, willing some kind of map to appear did nothing but make him feel like a fool. He was getting both impatient and frustrated. He needed a break, something to take his mind off things for a while. He almost considered calling it a day and logging out of Elderpyre, but then he remembered the new abilities he’d gained access to earlier.

Unlike Skills–stiff like Survival, Polearm Master, or Evasion–Hunter couldn’t use his available Abilities from the get-go. He actually had to learn them first, like he’d done with Low-Light Vision back in the cave he’d first found himself in. Doing so required something called Inspiration, which was probably Elderpyre’s version of ability points or something. It might be a good idea to check how many of those he had before making any choices. In fact, it might be a good idea to take the time and learn more about his character.

Most games had some kind of character sheet or status screen where all the relevant information could be found, and Hunter expected Elderpyre to be not much different. He tried to will some kind of character sheet in existence and, a semi-transparent window full of neatly organized words and numbers popped up before him.

Well, at least that worked.

Character Information:

Name: Hunter

Class: Transient

Qualities:

Aether 0

Élan 10

Insight 1

Inspiration 2

Serendipity 0

Wow, the developers had really taken obscure stat names to a new level of crazy, Hunter thought. Plus, there were absolutely no explanations available about which Quality did what. Great. He’d have to figure them out on his own, then.

Also, his class was Transient–whatever that meant.

He had an Inspiration of two, which probably meant he could choose and learn up to two new abilities. With no more data to go on, the rest of his so-called Qualities would still have to remain a mystery. He willed the sheet to scroll further down, and read the next section.

Attributes:

Health 100

Mana 100

Stamina 100

Strength 10

Dexterity 10

Intellect 10

Willpower 10

Presence 10

Unlike the Qualities on the previous section of the screen, Hunter’s Attributes were pretty much the same as in every other game out of there, it seemed. To a veteran gamer like himself, they were more or less self-explanatory. He’d have to take a closer look at some point, of course, but for now a cursory glance was enough. Judging from the perfectly decimal values, he suspected he was average at everything–the very definition of a baseline human being.

There was still more to the character sheet, so he scrolled even further down, to the part where his known Skills and Abilities were listed.

Skills:

Close Combat 8

Evasion 2

Polearm Mastery 8

Survival 3

Abilities:

Low-Light Vision 2

So that was that, a snapshot of the man known as Hunter. Even without any additional descriptions and explanations, he felt he had a basic grasp of his character’s ins and outs–minus the Qualities, of course. That left him with two more Abilities he could choose to pick up.

When it came to resources in games–stat points, skill points, healing items, consumables, you name it–there were two types of players. The first type was the hoarders–players who’d hold on to everything and not spend a single skill point for fear of making the wrong choice. Up until now, Hunter had clearly been the second type–the upgrade now, ask questions later kind of player.

He briefly considered holding on to his Inspiration and waiting until he could learn more about his options. He didn’t even know whether Inspiration was something he could routinely gained as he progressed through the game, or it was super rare and worth hoarding. In the end, however, he knew himself pretty well. Even if he’d already spent one point of Inspiration on an ability of niche usefulness, the other two he still had were burning a hole in his proverbial pocket. Curious to review his options, he pulled up a list with his available abilities and their brief descriptions.

Make Contact allows you to tap into your Insight quality and commune with a supernatural being or place of power. Higher ranks increase the chance of success and reduce risks.

Mystic’s Eye allows you to tap into your Insight quality and glean information about an item, a creature, your surroundings, a piece of lore, or even a game term. Higher ranks reveal obscure knowledge with increased rates of success and less intense side effects.

Conjure Familiar allows you tap into your Insight quality and form a bond with a spirit of aether, which takes the form of an animal companion. Higher ranks strengthen the bond and allow the use of more advanced familiar abilities.

Eldritch Power allows you to tap into your Insight quality and attack your foes with eldritch magic. Higher ranks grant access to additional forms of magical attacks.

Hunter went through the descriptions again and weighted his options. Make Contact, the first one on the list, sounded really cool on paper. In practice, however, he had to learn more about the world around him to be able to make an informed decision. He didn’t like to stockpile his ability points, yes, but he didn’t want to end up with a marginally useless ability either. Plus, that “reduce risks” part at the end of the description somehow gave him the impression that making contact with supernatural beings and the like was a bit more complicated than hitting them up and saying howdy.

Mystic’s Eye, on the other hand, sounded perfect for his situation. It was versatile, too; the description stated in no uncertain terms that it could be used to gain information about items, creatures, the users’ surroundings, and more. The description mentioned some kind of side effects here, too, but in this case Hunter wasn’t too worried. Mystic’s Eye, useful as it would probably prove to be, sounded like little more than a glorified Inspect-type ability. How bad could side effects be?

Conjure Familiar sounded both like a safe choice and a gamble. There was no mention of risks or side effects there. Its usefulness probably depended on said familiar’s kind and abilities, and the description didn’t offer a whole lot of information on those.

As for Eldritch Power, well…

For many, Eldritch Power would be the obvious choice. Not for Hunter, though. In almost every game he had ever played, he had chosen the up-close-and-personal playstyle warrior classes offered. He wasn’t above picking a magical ability or two to complement his build, but Eldritch Power sounded more of a full-time caster thing.

In the end, Hunter went on and spent his remaining Inspiration on Mystic’s Eye and Conjure Familiar. The first because, as the saying went, knowledge is power. The second because he thought that having a magical pet around sounded like too much fun for Hunter to pass up. He’d grown up consuming a rich diet of Pokémon-related media, so there was no surprise there.

Your Mystic’s Eye has increased to 1. Your Inspiration quality is now 1.

Your Conjure Familiar has increased to 1. Your Inspiration quality is now 0.

Much like when he’d learned Low-Light Vision, Hunter instantly became aware of a newfound innate understanding of his new abilities. To his surprise, Mystic’s Eye was even more useful than he had anticipated. Besides items, creatures, and the like, he could also focus its knowledge-revealing effect on game terms, general concepts, or even other skills and abilities. It felt like a search engine and knowledge base had a magical baby, and that baby had now taken up permanent residence in his head. Eager to try it, he used it on his other new skill, Conjure Familiar.

He felt the ability tug at something behind his eyeballs–his mana, he realized–and shivers ran up his spine as a coldness seeped into him. Knowledge flooded his mind out of nowhere, hitting him like a sudden slap in the face. It was unpleasant, painful, like saltwater and copper burning his sinuses from the inside.

“Motherf-!” he groaned, too numb to ever finish the word.

Moments later, a string of notifications popped up before his eyes.

Your Mystic’s Eye has increased to 2.

Your Occultism has increased to 1.

A pact as powerful as it is simple, this ability has roots as old as the world itself. The conjurer acts as a medium for a primal spirit of the aether, offering it the chance to manifest in their native world. In turn, the spirit proves to be a loyal and steadfast companion, sharing with the conjurer a telepathic bond, as well as many of its new form’s unique abilities.

The description went on to list a couple dozen animal forms the familiar could assume, as well as their advantages and abilities. Most of them were small critters, no larger than a housecat. Hunter ended up choosing the Twin Ravens. According to the Mystic’s Eye, they could become the conjurer’s eyes and ears, proving to be excellent scouts and spies. Plus, they were two-for-one–and, as hundreds of funny animal videos he’d watched on YouTube over the years, ravens were wicked smart.

Unlike using his Mystic’s Eye ability, conjuring a familiar was by no means instantaneous. It required a ritual that, despite not being complicated, would take Hunter some time. He considered focusing his efforts on finding his bearings in the forest and leaving the ritual for later, but quickly changed his mind. If two pairs of eyes in the sky couldn’t help him figure out where the hell he was, nothing could.

As if following instructions streamed directly in the back of his mind, Hunter found a flat and bare patch of ground, picked up a stick, and went on to etch a conjuration circle in the dirt. He’d never even seen one before, but right then he had the whole thing in his mind as clear as a bell: occult symbols with triangles around them and curlicues over them, special circles to hold the whole shebang together… two or three of those, overlapping for extra strength.

In the beginning, Hunter was unsure of what he was doing. A couple of minutes in, he just stopped thinking and let the coldness seeping into him take over completely. He braced himself for another shock of copper and saltwater, but this time it never came. Maybe that was the side-effect mentioned in the description for Mystic’s Eye, and not something that happened with every Ability. He certainly hoped it was, because it really, really sucked.

For the better part of five minutes, Hunter drew and carved and etched as if his life depended on it, relying on pure, primal instinct. It had to be just right. No–more than just right; it had to be perfect. He knew his work was almost done when he felt an invisible energy–his mana–pour out of him and slowly fill the lines and shapes and curves of the conjuration circle, bringing it to life. When it was finally complete, he touched it with his mind and sent out some kind of wordless message, infinitely short and infinitely complex and infinitely inhuman. Someone–something–responded. A deal was struck. A pact was sealed. Power washed over him, and the tension that had been building up inside him reached critical mass and burst. A ghostly shape materialized out of the circle like steam seeping out of a manhole in winter, and Hunter watched it take the form of two identical ravens, big and plump and black as tar.

Your Conjure Familiar has increased to 2.

Your familiar has learned the Summon/Unsummon ability.

Your familiar has learned the Mental Link ability.

Your Occultism has increased to 2.

Your Occultism has increased to 3.

Your Occultism has increased to 4.

Your Occultism has increased to 5.

Your Mana is dangerously low.

Exhausted from the effort, Hunter simply sat down on the ground and rubbed at his eyes. He felt empty and dizzy and his head was throbbing, the way it did after a long and difficult raiding session, or when he concentrated on something far too hard for far too long. He felt like he was going to be sick… but he still also felt exhilarated. Feeling all that power funnel through him felt… right.

All around him, the forest–which he’d just realized had fallen silent as he was performing the ritual–was once again buzzing with the sounds of nature. A few feet away, the ravens were watching him with solemn interest, tilting their black heads to the side. Hunter started laughing, and he didn’t even know why. This game was crazier than even his wildest expectations.

And he was beginning to really, really like it.