Daniel sat back in his chair and wanted to scream for what felt like the hundredth time. Even with the internet helping out he was still making very slow progress on making any sense of this skill book. Sometime during his editing process the AI informed Daniel that the other AI’s had finished whatever they had needed to do, and provided him with a tablet to use the messaging application on. He was told that all of the the Hero's would be provided an identical tablet and be informed of its function.

Minutes later the first couple of messages started to come in and Daniel had stopped what he was doing to read what was being posted. He ended up making some of his own posts and replied to some others. Many of the first posts were just tests to see if the messaging system actually worked and did what the AI’s claimed. After that a new stream of messages came flooding in asking if anyone really knew what was going on and if they were going crazy. It seemed that many of these so-called heroes that gained early access to the system hadn’t even leveled up at all yet and were still completely clueless about how anything in the system truly worked. Daniel tried to answer some questions, but quickly got fed up with many of the disbelieving responses he got back. How could he help people that wouldn't even believe what he was saying to them. Not to mention that with the flood of messages his answers were quickly lost when new posts streamed in asking questions that he had already answered previously.

After that he ignored the messages that were still coming in and made a mental note to check on it later. Daniel had also seen Steve answering some questions as well. The messaging program had allowed you to put in a name when first accessing it. Like Daniel, Steve had also used his real name. Daniel hoped some of the confusion going on in the messaging program would be cleared up by then.

About four hours later Daniel left his room and did his daily exercises required to gain the ‘Physical Fitness’ skill. Steve and John also joined Daniel when he began his workouts and together they completed their hour and a half workout. Daniel hoped that when he got more familiar with some of the exercises he asked them to do he could speed up how long it took him to finish all of the exercises for any given day.

After the workout was finished Daniel talked to Steve and John for a bit about some of the progress John was making and what was going on in the messaging app. John had managed to finish the first three floors of the Solo dungeon and with the coins purchased some armor and a weapon to use as well. Like Steve he was a mage, but he still wanted a back up weapon if things got up close and personal. They had also bought some books for Miranda, but only a little over an hour had passed outside of the training room thus far, so Daniel doubted that she had made any real progress yet.

Steve also let Daniel know that the messaging program which people were now calling system chat had organized a bit after a few other heroes including Steve asked the AI’s to add a feature that allowed them to make different threads instead of having a single feed which all posts went onto. People had made several new threads with titles describing what they were used for or what type of information they contained. There was also a private messaging option which allowed Steve to privately talk to several other heroes based close to North and South America.

Some people did give away information about their classes to ask for advice and such, but from what Daniel saw after he checked back on the system chat is that very few people were doing even that. Most information was general stuff about how stats, skill, and other system functions worked like the Training room, but it was mostly completely bare of specific class information.

~~~~~

It ended up taking Daniel two more days to finish rewriting the skill book for ‘Mental Library.’ During that time he would also take several breaks throughout the day to do the stealth obstacle course and his training for the ‘Physical Fitness’ skill. When he was finally finished he was relieved. His mind was exhausted and he needed a break, but now wasn’t the time for that yet. He could rest in a minute. The skill book had been about fifty pages long when he had started. By the time he was done rewriting the whole thing and removing parts that he felt were pointless or added unneeded complication or didn’t add anything to learning the skill like random philosophy about the nature of consciousness that had just been unneeded fluff. After all of those types of things were done the skill book had been brought down to thirty one pages in total.

Once he had added the final touches Daniel set down his pen and layed down on his bed. He was out when his head hit his pillow. When he woke up the AI informed him that he had slept for twelve hour when Daniel had asked.

Daniel left his room, ate and did his daily workout with Steve and John. Once done he took a shower in his room then sat back down at his desk where he had left the finished skill book before he had slept. He read through his newly written skill book to make sure he had everything memorized. Once done he sat on his bed and entered meditation; a moment later he entered his mental space.

The concepts in the book were supposed to guide a person through making a mental library weren't complicated in theory, but when put into practice was where things got complicated. The most unfortunate part about this whole endeavor he had undertaken was that this skill wouldn’t give a real solution to his problem. For starters he was using the skill in a different method than the skill book taught. The skill was supposed to be utilized as a way to organize a person's mind and thought for information they already intimately knew. This could keep someone from forgetting important information overtime. This skill would have been great when he was still in school, but that was sadly not the case.

How he was trying to use the skill was much different. He wanted to organize information from a skill gem or his feat before it entered his mind. This way he would be able to directly access the information instead of it being locked away in some recess of his mind like what was currently happening.

In his mindscape Daniel walked to the same window he had been at before and looked out at the cloud of swirling paper that was still outside of his tower looking for a way in. Daniel materialized a chair for him to sit in, and continued to look out at the cloud of swirling paper from the arrow slit on the second floor of the tower. Daniel had feared that the knowledge he had absorbed from the skill gem might dissipate over time if he didn't immediately absorb it, but he was glad that his fears were unfounded. Before trying to do anything in the mindscape he first wanted to use the ‘Mental Library' skill in its intended method.

The library the skill book wanted him to make was a metaphorical library, but he had made a material library with his ‘Mental Fortress’ skill. Though he did not currently have any books in the library he had made in his mindscape, its intended purpose was to eventually hold books. He sat cross legged on his chair and cleared his mind to enter meditation. This felt weird to Daniel's mind since he was already in meditation. He had entered meditation before he had entered his mindscape, but now he was attempting to meditate in his mindscape as well. As these thoughts began to grow more distant It felt like he was in an even deeper mental trance and before too long all of his stray thoughts were brushed away and he got to work on making a new ‘Mental Library.’

The first step recommended by the book was for Daniel to make an object that was related to a specific memory event or information he had learned in his life that he could remember most vividly. With the recent conversation Daniel had had with Steve, John and Miranda his father was the first thing to come to mind. A specific memory of his father came to the surface, so he decided to start with that one. The skill book recommended making a picture that encompassed a scene from the memory. When looking at the picture you could be able to recall the whole memory the picture represented and relive that memory from that moment onward. The only problem with this that Daniel quickly found is that he could just pick any image for the picture; it had to be the most memorable moment or the rest of the details would become slightly hazy.

Some of the easiest things to form objects for were facts and information. They took the form of books that he could read. This process would strengthen the information within his mind.

Time passed without Daniel's knowledge he worked endlessly and tirelessly to make this mental library. Some things he couldn’t make into objects he would try, but the memory was either too old and he could remember the details distinctly or it was mostly forgotten and he could dig up the details anymore. One of those half remembered events being the belt forms from when he had taken karate as a kid. Even after all of these years he still had most of the muscle memory though he wasn't as flexible as he had once been, but the exact details of the belts' forms was lost to him; he could only remember one out of ten moves.

He worked until he gained a basic understanding of the skill. Daniel had to admit that the skill did work though there were still several aspects of the skill that he was struggling on. The main thing he couldn't wrap his mind around was that he was making this mental library in his mind as the skill said, but he already had a library in his mindscape. He didn't know how they were different though they were both theoretically constructs that existed in his mind. Though Daniel did have to admit that the space in the mental fortress seemed much more real than this dream-like place he was currently crafting in his mind. He stopped and thought about that for a little while.

‘How were these two spaces even different? Were they even different?’

That thought gave him an idea. If he already had a library in his ‘Mental Fortress’ . Why couldn't he put this library he had created in there. Why did these two spaces need to be separated? Before he tried to combine the two spaces he rearranged the space he had made to match the dimensions of the library in his ‘Mental Fortress.’ Once rearranged he tried to make his ‘Mental Library’ appear in his mindscape the same way he entered his mindscape when in meditation. Nothing happened at first, but then he began to feel an overwhelming pressure on his mind which forced him to stop the attempt before that overwhelming pressure overpowered his mind.

Daniels' head still throbbed with the effort of whatever he had just attempted. It had felt like whatever he had been attempting had been possible; he just didn't have the mental will power to pull it off.

‘I have ten free stat points. I could put them all into willpower.’

He was hesitant to do such a thing. He currently didn't have a strategy for putting his points into his stats. He had only even used them when he saw a use for them. The first time had been when the whispers told him to dump his points into the constitution. The next time had been when he had noticed that his low dexterity was holding him back while fighting, unable to hit the critical spot of the elementals they had fought in the Team Dungeon. He currently had ten free stat points, and he had just come across a situation where his lack of willpower was preventing him from accomplishing whatever it was he was attempting. Should he use the points? That was the question.

‘Screw it, Psionic Custodian will also start putting points into willpower every level, no reason I can't get a head start on that now in increasing my willpower now.’

Daniel put all ten of his free points into will power and tried to once again merged this ‘Mental Library’ with the library he had made underground in mindscape. After about ten second Daniel started to feel the pressure again. However this time it wasn't as overwhelming and he was able to fight against it. As if sensing his resistance the mental pressure increased again. He continued to hold on as the pressure continued to increase in strength. This struggle went on for an unknown amount of time for Daniel, and after a while his grip on whatever was happening began to slip. With one last effort of will he pushed forward with everything he had left. Willing the two libraries to merge together. There was a faint pop then all of the pressure that had been holding Daniel back vanished as if a bubble had popped. With nothing for his willpower to fight against, Daniels' resolve crumbled and he collapsed to the ground. Around him he saw the library. The shelves immediately around his prone form were filled with various books. Daniel somehow knew he was in the library within his ‘ Mental Fortress.’ Everything around him was so much clearer and crisp than it had been before. The library no longer had that misty dream-like quality from before and now everything looked so real without the ethereal nature that had been there before.

He rested for several minutes before he finally stood and climbed the stairs back to the second floor of the tower. He sat back in his chair and saw the cloud of paper just as he had left it. It wasn't obvious to him what had changed. He had a few new notifications he had not yet checked and he hoped that they would provide the information he was after.

Congratulations, you have combined two general skills together. When combining general skills the skill levels of both skills will be reset back to one and any skill points used to boost the skill level of either of both general skills will be returned.

You have combined the skill ‘Mental Fortress’ and ‘Mental Library’ into the skill ‘Stronghold of the Mental Archive’

Stronghold of the Mental Archive ( 1/5 ): you are a defender of knowledge and should any try to raid your mind to destroy such knowledge they shall discover the fortress you have made to protect your mental library. Passive. Cost to increase 2 Skill Points.

Level 1 (Passive): Greatly enhanced mental fortitude and gain access to your mindscape. You are able to make objects out of mental energy at will that represent knowledge or experiences you have undergone. These objects can only be made while within your mindscape. Any of these objects that are stored in your mental library can be recalled with perfect accuracy.

Level 2 (Passive): Greatly reduce the mental energy cost when creating objects out of mental energy.

The skill in all honesty was amazing and Daniel was very pleased about the effects of the new skill though he could see some drawbacks with the skill. The first being the perfect memory effect of the skill only applied to objects within the library, it wouldn't give him an eidetic memory though the effect was still amazing. It also didn't really help him with the problem he was having with his feat. His feat gave him access to insane amounts of information, but he had no way to access that knowledge consciously at the moment, and because of that he couldn’t make an object containing the information. The other problem he saw that he wasn't even sure was a problem was the mention of mental energy. He didn't know what that was, so he wasn't sure if that was a problem or not or something he should be aware of for the future.

After all of the effort Daniel had put into trying to find a real solution for his crafting legacy feat he had still come up short which irritated him to no end. He had gained an amazing skill certainly, but he still had no way to fix the underlying problem. He hoped the Psionic Custodian would help, but he was still hesitant about directly absorbing the knowledge from the ‘Party Interface’ skill.

Daniel looked out at the cloud of paper and resolved himself to directly absorb the skill, but before he did he would attempt one last thing and if he failed then he would absorb the skill.

‘My new skill said that I can make objects out of mental energy while in my mindscape. The cloud of paper was made out of knowledge and is within my mindscape. Can I reshape it into a usable object that would satisfy the requirements of my skill? Only one way I can find out.’

Daniel reached out and just like he had done while in the ‘Mental Library’ he tried to shape the cloud of paper into a book. He had tried to do this once before, but back then it hadn't worked. It didn't initially work this time as well, so he refocused his mind and decided to start smaller. He put his attention on one small part of the massive cloud of paper and instead of making it into a book tried to stack the floating paper into a pile of paper on the ground. It worked surprisingly well and after several minutes there was a neat stack of paper lying on the ground. After the first success he continued the process and after two hours he had the entire cloud of paper in neat and orderly stacks on the ground which were scattered all around the tower.

After all the paper was grounded he deemed that it was safe to leave his tower. He approached the first stack of paper he had made and without touching it read the top page on the stack. The whole page talked about the importance of teamwork while in a party. Walking to the next stack its top page talked about the theory of psionic resonance and how this concept was used by other telepaths to determine who was psionically awakened. It was interesting but not currently useful to Daniel.

After reading several more pages Daniel finally realized that the pages weren't in any particular order, which posed a new issue for Daniel. How in the world could he possibly organize all of this information to how it was supposed to be. He pondered several options. With the perfect recall effect of his new skill, if he managed to make these pages into books it wouldn't matter if it was out of order or at least that's what he hoped, but the perfectionist blacksmith part of Daniel wasn't satisfied with the easy solution. His dad had always told him that if he was going to do something he would do it right the first time which will save you from a headache later. That saying had always stuck with Daniel and he truly believed in it, but he currently had no way to organize the pages, so he decided to test out what would happen when he shelved the pages that were out of order.

Daniel bound each of the stacks of paper in leather before touching the pages. He could do this several times depending on how large the stacks of paper were. After that was finished and all of the pages were bound together Daniel carried the new books down into his library and shelved them. This process took him over half an hour and most of the time was how long it took to climb the spiral staircase that led into the library from the tower. With each bookshelves he knew what information the books contained, but it was jumbled and miss matched and even with his perfect recall it was difficult for him to understand any of the information the books contained. He could still understand what was in the book if he went page by page, but it took an incredible amount of concentration to do that. It wasn't as effortless to recall as the other books he had made before he had combined his two mental skills. It took him active concentration to recall the information, and Daniel found this unacceptable. After Daniel had finished bringing all of the books to the metal library though he left them unshelved for the time being Daniel checked his notification and skill page and saw that he had gained the ‘Party Interface’ skill. Something about the process of turning the information into books had not allowed him to gain the skill. He winced and now that the information was in such a jumbled mess there was no way he would be able to figure out how to gain the skill on his own. Not unless he wanted to sort thousands of pages of paper and Daniel didn't have that kind to waste.

It was quite disappointing even though he had succeeded in gaining a new skill and turning the paper clod of information into books the outcome was unusable to him, basically a failure. Daniel exited his mindscape, he didn't know how much time had passed, but he was surprisingly not as hungry as he thought he would be. Daniel decided to ask the AI how long he had been in meditation before leaving his room to get some food.

“AI, how long have I been in meditation?”

“Daniel Martin you have been in meditation for two days, eleven hours, fifty four minutes and eleven seconds.”

Daniel was shocked by the answer. The last time he had entered meditation for any length of time it had been about twelve hours and he had been forced out because of the growing hunger pains that had interrupted his mental tranquility while in his mindscape. This time he had been in meditation for almost five times that amount of time. What had changed he wasn't even hungry in all honesty, only mildly peckish in all honesty. Daniel pulled up the unread notification he had ignored and read.

Congratulations, you have unlocked a hidden benefit of the ‘Meditation’ skill. You have reached the second layer of meditation. When achieving a new layer you retain all of the benefits of the previous layer while gaining the benefits of the next layer.

First layer: reduced need for sleep while in meditation. Lower bodily energy requirements.

Second layer: reduced need for food while in meditation. Increased mental focus and control. Decreased need to use bodily function. While in the second layer of meditation you no longer require sleep while in this state.

Daniel only had an idea of how he had gained this hidden benefit, but when checking his meditation skill he also saw that it was now level two in the skill as well. It wasn't a huge boot by any means, but he was still grateful for the progress of his skill.

Daniel was about to leave his room when he realized something else. If he had been in meditation for over two day that meant he had lost his progress towards gaining the ‘Physical Fitness’ skill. Daniel cursed at his misfortune.

‘Just another nail in the coffin, but nothing that can’t be fixed with time.’

He left his room and even though he wasn't hungry decided he would buy some food from the shop. When he entered the main room of the Training Room Daniel saw Steve and John talking animatedly on a pair of sofas. When they saw Daniel enter the room their conversation immediately stopped.

"Daniel, you're finally out of your meditation. Were you successful in gaining the skill you were working on?" Steve asked.

Daniel let out a breath before explaining, "Sort of. I managed to combine two of my general skills into a new one. It's definitely useful, but I still haven't managed to fix the main problem. At least I don't think it will fix the problem at this point there's just too many unknowns. I did manage to put the knowledge contained in the 'Party Interface' skill gem into a book form that I can read over, however the books are completely out of order and are unusable in their current state, so that's just another problem I will have to try and fix. Also whatever I did to change how I absorbed the knowledge also prevented me from gaining the skill. I need a loan so that I can purchase another skill gem for the ‘Party Interface’ skill so that I can directly absorb it this time and actually get the skill."

"That does sound like a problem." Remarked Steve, "I can definitely purchase you another skill stone. I have cleared up to floor eight in the Solo Dungeon, so I currently have the coins to spare, and John has just beaten the goblin mini-boss on floor five."

"Congratulations, to both of you. John, did you get anything interesting as a reward for defeating the boss?"

"I actually did. I got a staff made out of some kind of stone. It has enchantment that reduces the amount of mana I use per second when channeling my earth manipulation skill and spells.”

“That reminds me I still don’t know anything about your class.”

“Ah, well the basics are that I am an earth mage that manipulates earth defensively with some minor offensive capabilities. I can make constructs out of stone with my mana to help man any defensive fortifications I make.”

“That's very interesting, though that does remind me. Steve, have you looked at any of the structures in the shop yet?”

“I have and there are a few interesting ones picked out. We could even buy full castles if we wanted, which could be a good option.”

“You know I own all of this land. We could get John to build walls out of stone so that we can save money to buy other structures.”

“You know that's not a bad idea, what do you think John? could you do it?”

John thought for a minute before he smiled at them. “That I can. I have a skill tree I haven't put any points into yet which is based on the first spell in the tree and the name of the skill tree itself seems to be about building grand fortifications and the like. Though based on the mana cost of this first spell even though it doesn't give exact numbers it says the mana cost to cast the spell is extreme so I don't know if I have the mana pool to cast a spell like that.”

Daniel hummed to himself and thought about that possible problem. “Is ritual casting a thing?”

“What do you mean?” Steve asked.

“Would it be possible to get multiple mages together to combine their mana pools to cast a single grand spell like that John is talking about. It's something I have read before in books. A cabal of arch mages come together to cast some grand magic that changes the very shape of the world.”

“I am not sure something like that is possible, but John and I can research more about that later. For now let me purchase you that skill gem. You need to get your specialization before you challenge the boss and just so you know John and I are thinking about entering the Team Dungeon again.”

Daniel and Steve walked to the shop together and Steve purchased him another ‘Party Interface’ skill gem. “Thanks, I plan on unlocking my specialization now. I should hopefully only be gone for about an hour”

“Good luck.”

“Thanks, I will probably need it.”

Daniel walked back to his room, skill gem and a plate of food in hand. Daniel quickly ate his eggs, toast and sausage. Then he once again entered meditation re-entering his mindscape. Once he appeared in his tower as normal he quickly left his tower. Then controlling his body in the physical world in that separated and distant way he first experienced during the boss fight in the Team Dungeon he put the skill gem to his forehead. Once again wisps of white fog began to emerge from the ground, but this time as soon as enough fog emerged it would coalesce into a page of paper. Daniel waisted for the massive cloud of paper to completely form before he took a breath and walked into the roiling cloud of paper.

As soon as he walked into the cloud the paper began to rush at his body. He tried to remain calm as the paper began to turn back into the white fog and enter his body. This wasn't the same type of information influx he had experienced with his feat; he could handle this. Or at least that's what he was telling himself. After several minutes of the white fog entering his body it was finally over and he felt a change over take his body. He felt a pulsing sensation in his mind. It wasn't painful or even unpleasant, but it also wasn't something he had even felt or experienced before. That feeling continued for several more minutes, intensifying with each additional pulse then just as suddenly as the feeling started it vanished. Daniel pulled up his notifications and read over what had changed.

Congratulations you have undergone a minor psionic awakening and have gained limited telepathy and access to select psionic specializations. Perform more advanced psionic awakening rituals to unlock the full potential of your mind.

Party Interface ( 1/5 ): With your companions by your side their every thought becomes your own and your thoughts theirs. With your teamwork even demons should fear you. Passive. Cost to increase two Skill Points.

Level 1: You are able to bind your telepathic abilities to others with the same skill. You get a sense of their current status and position. Limited ranged telepathy (30 feet) with those you are bound to. Party size limit 5.

Level 2: Limited ranged telepathy (60 feet) with those you are bound to. You or a member of the party with this skill level can make a psionic contract with others of the party. Should anyone break the terms of the contract shall experience psionic whiplash and all other members will know that a member of the party had broken the contract. Party size limit 10.

Daniel was pleased with the skill and could see the benefit that Steve had talked about with getting the skill to level 2. When working with strangers with unknown motives it was good to have some insurance against betrayal. Now that Daniel had awakened psionically though he didn't know how to do more advanced psionic awakenings it would have to be something to look into at a later date. Daniel pulled up his specialization window and made sure that nothing had changed from the last time he had checked it. When he had confirmed that nothing had changed he chose to gain the ‘Psionic Custodian’ specialization from the available options.

Daniel had braced himself for something to happen to him physically when he chose the specialization, but when nothing did happen for several long minutes he opened up his new skill tree and read what new skills the tree had to offer to him, and the first skill surprised Daniel.

Psionic Custodian ( 0/5 ): You are a custodian and protect your minds. To you the greatest sin that can be committed against an individual is for their minds to be violated and tampered with. You are not alone in this way of thinking. Passive/Active. Cost to increase one Skill Point.

Level 1 (Passive): You gain a psionic matriarch. This is a type of elemental that will exist and live in your mind and feed off of excess mental energy. This elemental is fully sentient and will help protect and manage your mind. Talk to your psionic matriarch to learn more about the benefits she can provide. When a Psionic Matriarch or any of her children will unlock a mindscape for their bonded individual if they do not already have one unlocked.

Level 1 (Active): Psionic matriarchs are very unique in the world of elementals. When a matriarch has gained enough excess mental energy she can make a clone of herself that is still connected to the original and can give or receive information though it will start with the intelligence of a child and grow in power and intelligence over time. You can ceremonially give one of these copies to another individual. If a person accepts they will agree to allow you and by extension the Psionic matriarch to be the custodian of their mind. Should their mind ever come under attack you shall have a direct link to their mind though the matriarchs copy and will be able to actively defend their mind. Talk to the Psionic matriarch to learn about what other benefits an individual could expect when they allow you to become their custodian.

Daniel was definitely intrigued by the skill, and since this was the reason he had saved his skill points he purchased the first level of the skill. Minutes later Daniel felt a new presence enter his mindscape which was a feeling Daniel had never experienced before, but he instantly knew that there was a new presence within his mind. Daniel decided to approach where he felt this new presence within his mindscape. To greet his new Psionic Matriarch as the skill called her. No reason he couldn’t be polite; she would be living in his mind from now on.

At the edge of the grassy field before the edges of the mindscape became foggy and indistinct floated a cloud of purple mist. Daniel knew that this was the matriarch from the skill description, but in all honesty this hadn't been what he had expected. He expected something humanoid like the earth elementals he had encountered before. Not knowing what to do next Daniel decided to greet the purple mist. “Hello, Matriarch I am Daniel Martin. I guess we will be working together from now on.” Daniel waved lamely at the mist and in all honesty he felt kind of foolish. The description had said the Matriarch was sentient, but he didn't even know if they would speak the same language. Daniel stood awkwardly in front of the mist for several minutes and was growing increasingly uncomfortable with the silence. Just when he was contemplating saying something else a voice began to speak originating from the mist. It started out hesitant choppy, its words only barely formed and slightly slurred, but as it spoke it got more confident, its worlds coming out more fluidly and distinct. Daniel wasn't sure what it was. After another minute of the mist sounding out various words it spoke clearly without any of its earlier hesitation.

“Thank you, Daniel Martin. I am Psionic Matriarch Ulgatha. I have been sent by the system to assist you as a part of the skill you have just gained.”

Daniel somehow got a sense that the mist was bowing to him which was weird, but he decided he would roll with whatever was currently happening. “What were you doing with your speech earlier? I could recognize some of the words, but it was choppy.”

“I was skimming your memories so I could piece together an understanding of your language so that we could communicate.”

“Wait, you were digging through my memories. I thought some of my skills protected me against that kind of thing?” Daniel was panicked this creature had been digging though his mind. He was starting to regret picking the skill and this specialization path.

The mist seemed to pick up on his agitation and tried to assuage his concerns. “That would normally be true yes, however we are now bonded by the system, so I have direct access to your mind. Others would have to break your defenses here in your mindscape to get access to your mind in a similar way as I just did.”

Daniel found that even less comforting. “If you looked through my memories could you take a form I could more easily talk to?”

“Of course.”

a second later the cloud of mist began to condense into a humanoid form. When it was finished a purple skinned woman stood in front of Daniel. Her hair was a slightly darker purple than her skin and she had blue freckles across her cheeks under her golden eyes. Her lips were a darker shade than her skin, but they were more blue than purple and also had slightly pointed ears. She had on a white formal button up collared shirt as well as a pencil skirt and three inch high heels. All told it seemed like the look she had been going for was a sexy receptionist look and Daniel had to admit it was throwing him off especially since she was more than ample in the chest region. Daniel immediately regretted asking her to take a human form.

“Is this better?” she asked, smiling at Daniel revealing her longer than normal canines as she did.

“Yes?” Daniel said with an upward inflection to his voice as if asking his own question in return. Daniel coughed into his hand and cleared his throat. “Well, Ulgatha, what can you tell me about yourself or this bond that we share? The skill description didn’t give too many specifics.”

“What would you like to learn more about first? Me or our bond?”

“I guess I would like to learn more about the person that is going to be living in my mind for the foreseeable future first.”

“That's agreeable.” Ulgatha tapped her lips with one slightly too long pointed nail before she seemed to come to a decision, “I guess I should start by telling you more about my specific race of elementals. As the skill is not likely said much, I am a Psionic Matriarch. My race is a bit unique in many aspects compared to other elementals. Most other elementals are spawned from mana. This means that some types of mages can also summon elementals in use for combat. Psionic elementals are not the same. There is only one way for more of us to come into being and that is for a matriarch to create them and Matriarchs must have a bonded companion to sustain herself or some other source of psionic or mental energy the two words are interchangeable. All creations of a matriarch are considered female though we don't truly have a gender this is just what we are referred to by others and don't mind the distinction as a matter of fact many embrace this identity, but that is not true for all of us. I myself was created of course by a Matriarch however I am different. Extremely rarely when a matriarch makes a copy of herself there is a chance that a new matriarch will be created. Newly created Matriarchs are unique and gain a portion of their mothers memories. This allows us to start out much smarter than others of our kind that are just created who don't receive such memories. There is a problem with a new Matriarch being born however. A Matriarch, even a young one, can not be a part of or interact with another Matriarch's psionic network. All other psionic elementals when created get a direct connection with their Matriarch. I as a Matriarch did not receive such a link to my mother and so I would have to go out on my own if I wanted to create my own network. I decided I would make my own kingdom, so I made a contract with the system to be sent to a person who gains a skill such as yours that gives them a companion or some other reward that I would be suitable for. Your case is more unique. I was expecting to be rewarded as a random companion not as a part of a skill tree specifically designed for a Psionic Matriarch. “

“So how long did you wait before I gained you as a part of my skill?”

“Oh, it's only been about an hour since I was created by my mother. In a place as large as the universe people gain such rewards every minute.”

Daniel struggled to wrap his mind around the scale that Ulgatha was talking about. “How are you to speak and such if you were only born an hour ago.”

“The inherited memories I gained from my mother like I mentioned before, all new matriarchs gain such memories and this gives us a basis for starting our own kingdom. I was actually very lucky my mother has lived and grown her kingdom for eons. Her companion is an ancient spider known as The Trillion Eyed Spider. The spider has the most vast information network that spans the entire universe and uses my mother and her children to instantly transfer information anywhere in the universe using their Psionic link with the Matriarch. I have gained much information from the spider and my mother and many of their secrets as well. Though I did have to make a vow to not reveal such information that might affect the spider or my mother if I wanted to continue my existence. There are many people in the universe that would like to kill The Trillion Eyed Spider, so making such an oath was not only for my own safety but theirs as well.”

The scale Ulgatha continued to talk about still boggled Daniel's mind, but he decided he wouldn't worry about what didn't affect him at the moment. “Okay if that's all you have to say about yourself what benefits do you provide to me?”

“Oh, that's the easy part. I can provide you with knowledge and as our network begins to spread I will gain access to new minds that will give us more knowledge and information. I will organize your mind to make it more efficient over time. You have already started this process with your mental library so it will make my job easier. I will also actively protect your mind from any external attacks. One of the biggest benefits I or any of my children will provide is that I can feed mental energy back into your mind to continue to psionically awaken you over a long period of time. This process can be sped up with items and natural treasures, but you don't technically need them; they would only be necessary if you wanted to speed up the natural rate at which you psionically awaken. My children would be even slower since the newly born psionic elementals will have to grow and learn like children of your own species. I can also add my own willpower behind any spells you cast or if the spell requires active concentration to maintain I can hold the spell for you to free up your mind which would allow you to cast an additional spell that requires active concentration. It can also be used as a spell focus though only for psionic spells; though any spells cast that use me as a focus would have their power increased.”

“Very useful though I probably won't have any spells until I reach level 11 and get my next specialization, but how do you make these copies of yourself?”

“I feed off of any excess mental energy that you generate. When I have enough I can make a copy. Though this process can also be sped up with items and the like.”

“So, how often can you make a copy?”

“Well, that's determined by how much mental energy you generate. This is determined by Willpower, but there are also other ways to generate it as well, one of which is how much knowledge you possess. You seem to generate an abnormally large amount of mental energy and I am not sure why yet.”

“Oh, that's probably because of my Feat.”

“What Feat?”

“I have a feat called ‘The Crafters Legacy’ . It's kind of a pain in my ass right now and likes to just dump a whole bunch of information into my brain and try to kill me.” Ulgatha got very quiet after his statement before she asked her own question of him.

“Do You mean The crafters legacy?”

She emphasized the word The when she spoke. “I mean I know of no other feat by that name. I am kind of new to the system, so I wouldn't know if there is more than one crafters legacy or not.” She was silent for another long minute as if looking for something then spoke in a whisper.

“I’m dead, I had such high hopes, but to be given such a death sentence before I have even truly begun.” Ulgatha muttered to herself, but Daniel heard what she said, and he had to say he was truly baffled at her words.