To keep his mind occupied as he walked, he decided to go through some of his skill descriptions. There was an instinctual knowledge of the skills, and how they worked, but he was hoping he’d get more out of the actual descriptions. After Thunk’s disparaging comments, the first skills he looked at were his Enhanced Attacks. He’d made the skills in a bit of a hurry and without any real idea what the hell he was doing, but he was still positive that they had come together correctly. His first glance, however, showed some differences from what he had expected.

Enhanced Strike

Skill level: Novice: 1

Enhanced Strike is a modified melee attacking skill. One or more modifiers can be applied to any attack made using this skill. Increased familiarity with this skill will unlock new modifiers.

Novice: Power, Precise, Quick

Practitioner: Crescent, Seeking, Multi

Adept: Wrecking, Ricochet, Piercing

Master: Unknown

While he recognized most of the names of the modifiers for the skill, as they were at least similar to what he had been calling them in his own head, there were two that were completely different, to say nothing of the unknown listed under Master. Furthermore, he had imagined the skill as being a ladder to the top, one using only two legs. This skill obviously used three. The only explanation was that the system had helped him, or these skills had already existed. He quickly checked, and he could only get more information on the Novice level modifiers of the skill. None of their description panels were extensive.

Power:

A melee attack with increased force.

Precise:

A melee attack with increased accuracy.

Quick:

A melee attack with increased speed.

He had been hoping for more information, but there were still plenty of things to unpack. The most important thing to note was that it specified “one or more modifiers”, which meant that he could mix and match them together. He was curious if there was a maximum number of modifiers he could apply, as well as if he could use the same modifier more than once. Stacking multiples of Power seemed like a good way to really pack on the pain. Experimentation would be necessary. And he just so happened to be headed for a dungeon full of monsters.

Just to make sure there were no other surprises, he also checked Enhanced Shot and Throw as well. It was immediately obvious that the three skills were almost identical except for what type of attack they applied to. In fact, Throw and Shot were perfectly identical in all aspects other than weapon type. The strangest difference he noticed was that all three skills had Piercing as a modifier, but it was in different locations between melee and ranged.

Enhanced Throw

Skill level: Novice: 1

Enhanced Throw is a modified thrown weapon attacking skill. One or more modifiers can be applied to any attack made using this skill. Increased familiarity with this skill will unlock new modifiers.

Novice: Power, Precise, Rapid

Practitioner: Aimed, Seeking, Multi

Adept: Piercing, Ricochet, Split

Master: Unknown

Enhanced Shot

Skill level: Novice: 1

Enhanced Shot is a modified shooting weapon attacking skill. One or more modifiers can be applied to any attack made using this skill. Increased familiarity with this skill will unlock new modifiers.

Novice: Power, Precise, Rapid

Practitioner: Aimed, Seeking, Multi

Adept: Piercing, Ricochet, Split

Master: Unknown

Power:

A thrown attack with increased force.

Precise:

A thrown attack with increased accuracy.

Quick:

A thrown attack with increased speed.

His best guess so far on why his Enhanced attacks couldn’t evolve further was that they actually mentioned what their higher versions did, other than Master. Maybe that meant that the skills couldn’t really change. Personally, he thought that having a dedicated evolutionary path wasn’t a bad thing. For one, he could plan ahead. Two, sometimes evolution can take a negative, or unwanted path. Even paths that increased the power of a skill significantly could take the skill outside of the realm of usability, or leave it functioning in a manner that doesn’t work with someone’s current combat style. Finally, his Enhanced skills would eventually be ten skills in one, all of which were specifically created to work together as one.

Despite their obvious, to him, power, looking them over Dix couldn’t help but be pissed with himself. If he had put more effort into making the Enhanced skills, could he have combined Throw and Shot? Sure they used different weapons, but they were both ranged attacks. As the skills were perfect clones, he felt he had missed out on the opportunity to merge them during the Testing when things were easier to do. There was no telling when he would be able to do it on Mantra, or if it was even possible. Sighing, he moved down the list.

Channeling

Skill Level: 1

Allows the user to continue streaming mana into a spell construct. Not all spells will react the same. Some spells are designed with this skill in mind, such as Flamethrower. When used with spells of this type, they will continue to function until the mana flow stops. Other spells will react differently. Experimentation holds the key to understanding. Increased levels will smooth out the mana flow, reducing costs to maintain spells.

Overload

Skill Level: 1

Using this skill you can massively increase the amount of mana forced into a spell construct. This will increase all aspects of the spell. Some spells will interact better with overload than others. Be warned that repeated use will cause damage to casting tools of all types, including the caster. Increased levels will reduce casting time of Overloaded spells, raise the cap on maximum mana allowed, and lower damage to casting tools.

Both were exactly as he had thought, and sadly, fit Thunk’s description of his skills perfectly. They were basic. They were the type of skills every single mage needed, to the point that he was confused they were listed in the Class skills section. Why they weren’t general skills was beyond his understanding, but he added the question to his list.

When he brought up the next skill he cursed, and immediately turned around to head back to the cathedral. He had forgotten that he had Return. A room specifically assigned to him, and inside a giant church, seemed like the safest place he was likely to find for some time in which to lay down a Beacon. Shaking his head at his continued stupidity he read over the skill description.

Return

Skill Level: 1

Plant a Beacon at a location, and then Return at your leisure. Increased levels will reduce casting cost, casting time, and cool down.

Short but sweet, as he had expected from the skill. There was less information in the skill description than he had gotten from the gods. Although, perhaps the best of things could be described so simply. He was briefly curious what the description would look like for Anamnesis, before realizing it would likely be more complex than an explanation on Einstein’s theories on time. More importantly, he was curious where the descriptions came from in the first place. There were so many differences from one to the next. Tone, length, general language. It was as though each was written by different people. Another question to add to his list at some point. For now it wasn’t all that important.

Skipping the necromancy skills, he looked next at Empower. He was curious if it gave any hint about how it may evolve. At a guess, it may evolve to actually have Regen as well, or other boosts. Maybe if he got really lucky it would also increase his mental stats.

Empower

Skill Level: 1

Combining the effects of the spells Might, Speed, and Toughness, this skill actually surpasses them all. As a combination of these effects, they are perfectly balanced to enhance not just their own aspect but also that of the others. In addition, as it has its own built in mana supply, Empower can be activated for as long as the supply lasts. Levels gained in this skill will increase the effect and maximum mana supply, while cost remains the same.

Quickly using the skill, he noticed some oddities. Activation worked the same as it had when he was still in the testing section, but he could more clearly recognize how his mana was affected. There was an initial large mana cost to activate the skill, but after that it was just a small maintenance cost. It seemed that it was just a trickle flow to refill the battery. If he turned the skill off, it really just shut down the maintenance cost, but the empowerment lasted until the mana supply was emptied. Reactivating it while the mana supply still had some charge simply reinstated the maintenance cost, although it would be higher in an attempt to reach full charge again quickly. He would have to see what the mana cost difference was between letting it run on maintenance versus recasting the skill. There might be tactical reasons to do either in the future, but for the moment it simply meant that running out of mana wouldn’t turn empower off immediately.

Raise Dead

Skill Level: 1

Using the magic of Death itself, you can bring the recently deceased back to life. Of a sort. Those raised are complete slaves to their new master. Power of a Risen is determined by many factors including the body itself, its condition, and the level of this skill. Stats and skill levels will be reduced from those the body had while living, although reduction can be minimized raising the body immediately. Risen remain until destroyed, or released from their master. Increased levels of this skill will raise the number of Risen it can support, the level of power they can maintain, and the level of fine detail control over their existence.

Touch of Death

Skill Level: 1

Those who have died and returned will always carry a Touch of Death. As Death is ever hungry for life, this Touch steals it from the living. Half of the life stolen is paid to Death as a tithe, the rest is kept for oneself. Increased skill levels will raise the damage done, and the percentage of life recovered.

Before he had the chance to do anything other than read through his necromancy skills, Dix was back at the cathedral. Shrugging at the odd looks of the guards, he simply popped down to his room, and called up a Beacon. Watching the rune filled circle sink into the stone of the floor, he was briefly curious as to what he could learn from studying it. After a few seconds he shook his head, and walked for the exit, once more lost in thought over his skills.

Necromancy wasn’t something he had had any thoughts about using, but the two skills he had gained from his title were quite useful. Particularly Touch of Death. A life stealing skill was probably the best thing he could get from Necromancy. The only real downside was that it was literally a touch based skill, but with his tendency towards knives, this would not be likely to cause a problem.

Raise Dead was a whole other matter. It wasn’t that he didn’t see the benefits to it, simply that its accompanying difficulties didn’t balance out as well. Having an easy to maintain mini army around all the time would be great, but having every city try to kill you for doing so tended to change things. Much like all of his other skills he would need to experiment a little to find the best way to make use of it. He already had quite a few ideas, most of which would greatly help his intention of running around solo most of the time. Trap clearing was number one on the list.

Taking a quick look at his General skills, he felt he didn’t need to go over their descriptions for the moment, the instinctual knowledge would be fine, and he had a good grasp on them all. Meditation seemed to help with regen rates for just about everything, but required him to actually meditate on the condition of his pools while sitting still. Mana Sight and Mana Sense hadn’t changed at all with his arrival on Mantra. He already had a few things he needed to work on using both skills, but it was on his mental to do list. Mana Manipulation was just for moving his mana around, a skill he would mostly improve with time. It was something he was planning to work with when he made it to the dungeon. Not to improve it specifically, but to work through what he could remember of the spells he had already known. As for his weapon skills, they didn’t really need a lot of describing. And sex… well, that was for later.

Dix walked through light crowding on the streets made of what looked to be concrete. He noticed that most women took more than a single glance at him, and assumed it was because of the title that Lust had given him. He was mostly right. The second glance was almost always to judge his level. No matter how attractive the man, a woman still wanted one who could take care of himself. Sadly, Dix was not only classless, but still level zero. All who checked his level were happy to see that he was heading in the direction of the local training dungeon. Maybe in another couple years he could be a real prospect.

For his part, Dix never really bothered with a second glance at anyone. He wasn’t looking for anything in particular, simply cataloging everything he could. His subconscious was being a bit demanding in its desire to start figuring out what was happening on Mantra. There was no telling when a tiny piece of information could be useful, so he was trying to gather as much as he could even while following his necessary tasks. Material of the road surface, construction techniques, shop and street names, clothing fabrics, fashions, and more were the things he was scanning through. He took more time when he came across adventurers, using Appraisal, which only gave level and role, as the guard had recommended, and intently studying their armor and weapons.

Most seemed to favor small sections of plate or chain over leather. The slightly lighter weight, and reduced coverage at joints meant they could still move pretty well, but also take a hit or two. Levels that he could actually see were mostly around ten to a maximum of fifteen. Dix assumed that this was due to some sort of limit to Appraisal. Almost all of them seemed to be coming along the same path, heading past him. He assumed that they were either leaving the dungeon, or returning from somewhere else that was in the same direction. For the number of adventurers there were, he guessed that the dungeon, the guild, the gate, or a great bar were in a direct line along the path he was walking. He would figure it out eventually, for now he already had a task.

The area immediately surrounding the dungeon was interesting. He had been expecting just a small guardpost and toll booth, mainly just for collecting revenue. Nothing could be further from the truth. Apparently he should have paid more attention when Thunk had called it the ‘training’ dungeon. There were guards at the entrance, but they were watching for people returning, rather than collecting fees. Furthermore, directly behind them were a group of stretcher carriers ready to haul anyone injured off to the nearby healer tents. On the other side of those tents were the training areas where teams of classless people fought monsters that had been captured, presumably, from the dungeon. The cages, ropes, and shackles behind the entrance guards suggested that monster capturing wasn’t an easy skill. Clustered near the entrance were a number of pens containing monsters, as well as basic services. Things like blacksmiths, tailors, and street food vendors. No matter the direction you were heading, if it involved the dungeon you’d be passing these people.

Despite the yells of the vendors, Dix walked right on past them headed for the entrance. As Dix walked up, one of the medics tapped an older, better equipped guard to look back. The man looked Dix up and down, judging his gear, stance, level, and actual experience without bothering to use appraisal. He’d seen all types of people come and go from this dungeon, and had become quite adept at knowing everything that they wanted, needed, or could accomplish before they even opened their mouths. Dix wasn’t an enigma, or even that difficult to figure out. He wanted to work inside, alone, and wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

“Hmph. Hand him the work slips. Don’t try to go past the first floor until you are a minimum of level three, five is better. Traps start on the third. Transportation skills are fine to use to get out, just make sure to have someone notify us that you made it out alive before we send people to look for you. Failure to notify us will result in fines. And probably an ass whooping. Understand?” The guard's voice was a bored monotone. He’d likely given this speech thousands of times, having condensed it down to just the basics by this point.

Dix scratched at his chin for a second. “Better to place my marker for transport at the healers nearby, or back in my rooms?” Asking the opinion of an actual expert was never a bad idea, particularly one so concise.

“Most places that have rooms have a quick message relay to get us your name pretty fast, and healing should also be available there. If you’re healthy enough to cast a transport skill, you’re healthy enough to track down a healer. If you insist on coming out here, then do it along the wall so you don’t show up in someone's way.” A stack of papers was suddenly thrust out at Dix from the side. “I need your name on the top one, the rest are the requests for resources from inside.” Dix quickly scribbled in his name and passed back the top sheet, tucking the others into a handy pocket of his jacket. Without looking, the guard smacked one of those still watching the entrance on the shoulder. That man lashed out a leg, kicking the door open just far enough that it was fully open, but didn’t spring back from the interior wall. “Good luck.”

Dix nodded to the guards, and entered without another word.