9. Skill Level Ups

4 SKP Skills

Elemental Magic Spell/Technique Tier 1 Level 1 Passive Effect: None 0/4 Sub Skills Completed Allows the player to manipulate Domhain's elements at will Activation Cost N/A Cooldown N/A Stamina Cost N/A Requirements Elf Heritage

A powerful racial magic that can only be learnt by elves. Split into four sub-skills; Water Manipulation, Fire Manipulation, Earth Manipulation and Air Manipulation.

4 SKP Skills

Water Manipulation Spell/Technique Tier 1 Level 1 Passive Effect: None 0/1000 SXP Allows the player to manipulate water once a connection is established Activation Cost N/A Cooldown N/A Stamina Cost 2/min Requirements Elf Heritage, [Element Sense] must be activated

Enables manipulation of one of the four elements, water. The higher the level, the more control over the element. Stamina cost may vary.

+ - + - + - +

Ardan sat on the edge of the bathtub, naked apart from his undergarments. After successfully performing the first method of water manipulation, he had gained confidence and two new skills. Instead of trying out the rest of the elements, he opted to continue learning water manipulation.

Two hours later and Ardan had just about gotten the hang of ‘burst’. At first, it took about thirty seconds to ‘charge’, but after performing it repeatedly, he could cut it down to fifteen. After that, he’d taken a quick lunch break.

Thankfully, the bathroom had dried a little, and was no longer a slipping hazard. Ardan brought out the manual, which somehow survived the showers. It was time to start on ‘bend’.

The second method of water manipulation is called ‘bend’, for obvious reasons. Non elemental magic users often think water manipulation consists of nothing more than ‘bend’. Start off in the same position as before, palm just above the water. As you dip your hand in, feel how the water rises and falls in one motion. Think of it as separate pieces, all coming together to form one giant puzzle. Or should I say puddle?

Ardan cringed and shook his head. Whoever wrote the book was good at explaining things, but must’ve made a terrible comedian with terrible puns like that.

Concentrate on your hand and imagine a sphere of water around it. The size depends on how much you’re planning to bend at once. The more you try to control, the harder it becomes, and more concentration is needed. Unlike ‘burst’, do not imagine or try to create a disturbance in the water. For ‘bend’ to be successfully performed, you must be calm and controlled. For this reason, water is the easiest element to bend. Move your hand up slowly, away from the water. When you do, imagine a sphere moving along with your hand. The water should react to your movement, but you may not be able to form the perfect sphere first try.

Cracking his knuckles and neck, Ardan returned his palm to the ready position for water manipulation. This time, he used his right hand. Ardan released a deep sigh before dipping his hand into the bathtub. Pushing away the stray thoughts, Ardan did exactly as the book instructed, picturing a sphere of water wrapping around his hand.

Once Ardan was satisfied with the image in his mind, he steadily retracted his arm, away from the water. As his wrist broke the surface, the water seemed to lift, forming a little incline at the wrist joint. The further his hand moved, the further the water followed. But just as the tip of his fingers left the water, the perfect sphere surrounding Ardan’s hand broke and the contents splashed into the pool below.

So close, yet so far.

Magic was proving a hard task.

Ardan dried his hand on a nearby towel and looked at a clock on the wall. It was just past one, meaning he had about two hours before Sandria came home. It had taken him around two hours to master - or get to a comfortable level of mastery - ‘burst’, but then again he’d managed to do it on the first try. Who knew how long ‘bend’ would take him?

Procrastination finished, Ardan turned back to the task at hand.

He had magic to learn, after all.

The pool had stilled once more, ready to be bent yet again. Dipping his hand once again into the pool, Ardan formed another image of a sphere inside his head. This time, he made it smaller, less perfect. Really, it wasn’t much more than a blob of water encircling his palm. Drawing his hand from the pool, he remembered one of the more suppressed memories from his childhood in the orphanage. Many years ago, back when there were more kids around, they had a claw machine, nestled in a corner of the cafeteria. Inside was perhaps the largest pile of stuffed animals Ardan had ever seen, rabbits of all shades of pink, elephants blue like the ocean. Ardan had tried many times for a toy, yet to no avail, every time he slotted in a token, pushed all the buttons, directed a claw, picked up a stuffed animal, it would always slip from his grasp and back into the pile.

Dismissing the memory, Ardan resumed his task. Lifting his arm, the water rose as well, until the little floating sphere had almost split from the main body.

Ardan sat in silence, hoping the ball of water wouldn’t break and rejoin the pool, as it had before. He hadn’t realised, but by now the blob had completely separated itself and was now clinging onto his hand like slime.

Maintaining his concentration, he slowly stood up, keeping the water as still as possible. If he could sustain its form across to the sink, he would count this attempt as a success.

A fluorescent screen materialized in his vision, blocking Ardan’s line of sight. He yelped in surprise, breaking his concentration.

The water lost form and splashed onto the tiled floor, chilling Ardan’s feet.

“Damn it! I was so close!”

He sighed in frustration and read the screen. What was so important that it had to screw him over like that?

- Alert! -

Skill: [Elemental Magic] has leveled up!

Skill: [Water Manipulation] has leveled up!

Reading the screen, Ardan’s frustration became excitement, and he grinned from ear to ear. His first skill level up! That must mean that he was getting better at magic. But wait a minute. Would it be easier to do water manipulation now?

Shaking the water from his hands, Ardan turned back to the bathtub. Would doing it feel any different?

Establishing a connection felt the same. However, when he tried to bend it again, the water seemed to follow his intentions a little more, bobbing almost joyfully at his attempt at bending. Ardan managed to lift the sphere of water out of the bathtub again and held it precariously in his hand when an idea popped into his head.

What if he used both hands?

Theoretically, that would definitely help with controlling the water.

Ardan tilted his hand vertically and mentally commanded the water to slide down his hand. If this didn’t work, his feet would become as soggy as his hands were. His left hand was resting below the other, ready to catch the water as it fell. If that was even possible. The blob of water slithered down Ardan’s palm until it was barely touching the tip of his middle finger.

This feels so wrong.

Readying himself, Ardan let the water drop, still sending the mental command to keep the water in a ball shape. His left arm tensed, expecting the icy impact at any second.

But it never came.

Ardan’s every thought was directed towards that little ball of water, to keep it from falling. And it worked. The blob of water hovered in between his hands, dripping only slightly. Ardan froze and simply stared at the floating water in amazement. He trudged very, very slowly towards the sink, still concentrating on keeping it afloat. Just as he reached the sink, Ardan’s concentration lapsed and he blinked, only to find the ball of water had splashed into the sink.

The adrenaline drained from Ardan’s body and he sagged, feeling accomplished and exhilarated. He had managed to learn two out of the three water manipulation techniques, and even managed to float an actual ball of water. Those things only happened in superhero movies!

It hadn’t felt any different to normally doing water manipulation. Was it because of his skill level ups?

Sighing, Ardan collapsed onto the floor and leant against the wall. Why was he feeling so drained? It wasn’t like he’d gone out for a five kilometre run or anything.

A quick glance to his status window told him all he needed to know.

#8911 Ardan Boone PR: Insane Offline Lvl. 5 - 11324/15000EXP HP 200/200 MP 100/100 Fatigue 87 (To open menu say menu)

“Why the hell is my fatigue at eighty-seven?”

Wait. If this system can heal my body, couldn’t it make my body more tired? But why would it do that? Suddenly, it hit him. This game was intended to help people progress, right? In RPG games, if you grinded for long enough, your character would get tired. Since Ardan was getting SXP from practicing his magic, the system could detect that as some sort of training and slowly drain energy, even though he wasn’t directly using it.

Like the other elements of the game, Ardan assumed a hundred was the base amount for fatigue. If his fatigue hit a hundred, would he start losing health or just faint?

Ardan’s head lolled forward and he yawned loudly.

“This is too much thinking…”

He was fast asleep before he could even finish his sentence.

+ - + - + - +

Clink.

“Ardan! I’m home!” Sandria’s voice floated from the living room.

“Huh? What?” Ardan said loudly.

He bolted upright, whacking his head on the edge of the bathtub in the process. It took a second for him to remember what he was doing in the bathroom.

“Ardan? Are you home?” Sandria’s voice was getting closer now.

“Ye-” He stopped himself before replying. There was no way he’d let a ten year girl - not to mention she was now his little sister - see him for all his naked glory. Scrambling to his feet, he slammed the bathroom door close and frantically dressed into damp clothes.

“Ardan?”

The padding footsteps in the hall stopped outside the bathroom door, which Ardan swung open hurriedly.

“Yep, yep! I’m here. I just… showered.” Ardan gulped.

Sandria stood at half Ardan’s height, dressed in a checkered blue school uniform. She rolled her eyes and gave Ardan a strange look.

“You’re a really bad liar, you know?” Sandria said.

With that, she skipped off into her own room, leaving Ardan stunned at her response.

“W-wait!” He called out.

“Hm? What is it?” Sandria asked.

Ardan hesitated before answering. “I wanna show you something.”

He beckoned for her to follow him into the bathroom.

“Ok…? How long is this going to take?”

Rather than respond, Ardan sat on the edge of the bathtub for the who-knows-how-manyth-time and mentally prepared himself. It just wouldn’t do to fail in front of his little sister.

He went through the familiar motion of calming himself and activating element sense. Ardan opted to perform ‘bend’, due to ‘burst’ being slightly out of control. By this time, Sandria had stopped talking and was merely observing his behaviour.

Taking a deep breath, Ardan laid his palm parallel with the water’s surface. Instead of forming the blob of water around his hand, this time, he would pull the water away without it touching him.

Surely enough, the water rippled and bent upwards, towards Ardan’s hand. Since he was so concentrated on water manipulation, he didn’t see Sandria’s eyes boggle at his performance. Moments later, the water had formed a mountain shape in the pool and was beginning to tear at the edges. Ardan slowly flipped his palm upwards, the water forming a perfect sphere while floating at least a few centimetres above his hand.

Marvelling at his own actions, he held the ball still for a few more seconds before allowing it to disintegrate back into the bathtub.

“Ta-da!” He declared.

Ardan beamed wildly and turned, wanting to see Sandria’s reaction. What he didn’t expect to see was her just millimetres away from his own face, red eyes wide in excitement.

“That was so cool! Can you teach me? Please? Please?”