Chapter 13: Wind Down

“Hey Mark!”

“Oh! Lillia! You’ve also logged in earlier?”

“Yees! I want to explore the city, I feel like we have only seen the main avenue.”

“True! I actually have…”

“What are you gonna do?”

“I have to see my progress and spells and maybe arrange my thoughts a bit.”

“Oh! You look so cool with that Mana Drain thing!”

“Cool? What do you mean?”

“You haven’t noticed?” Her words come accompanied by a playful giggle. “I’ll let you discover it by yourself!” She winks at me and turns back, decidedly taking one of the side streets.

Huh? I am cool? Driven by childish energy, I decide to find out. What could it be? Is it some kind of glow? Now I need a mirror! Wait, do mirrors exist in this world? If they do, I have yet to find one. Maybe Isha knows about it? She might even have one.

While running to her house, I quickly check yesterday’s last gains.

[Status]

Name: Mark

Health: 100

Mana: 107

Physical Defence: 1%

Magic Damage: 3%

Magic Effects: 2%

Inquisitor [10]

Materialize [4] +50% mp cost, +1(+2 L)%dmg/eff

Heal [5] 25mp, +20hp, 10(-4)s cd

Mana Drain [3] -5hp/s, target -5(+0.05 I)mp/s, +50(+2 L)% mp/abs

My health is still stuck at 100, but at least my mana has started growing linearly with my levels. I’m 10. I sigh. Isha told me to come back once I was level 10, so I was secretly hiding the hope that something would happen. But, nothing at all.

My legs, on autopilot, bring me closer to Isha’s house. My mind, once all my progress is sorted, goes back to worrying about Isha’s words. Cool? Me?

“Isha? Can I come in? I’m already level 10.”

For lack of a better answer, the door opens itself to let me in.

“By reaching level 10, you have proven your commitment. However,” she raises one finger to the air, “further teachings will have to wait until the kobolds affair is closed.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Good. This house’s doors will always open before you.”

“Does this mean I can come whenever I want?”

“Yes, but do not disturb me unless necessary.”

“Thank you!” Hesitantly, I ask for what I’ve really come looking for. “Isha… would you happen to have a mirror?”

“A. Mirror?” She repeats, astonished by my sudden and nonsensical question.

“Yeees?” I pretend to be innocent by rubbing my hands together and acting nervous.

“Last room on your right. I will not ask why; it is probably for the better.”

“Thank you!” And yes, it is better that you don’t know; I say only to myself.

I reach for that room, nothing more and nothing less than a dressing room. Fitting. Right in the middle of it, a standing mirror the size of myself reflects my image. I position myself right in front of it and mentally prepare to start the show. Let’s hope I don’t need an actual alive target to cast Mana Drain.

Materialize! Specter form locked in. It’s more or less how I envisioned it, a ghost of my former self. Clothed with whatever I am wearing at the moment, I give the impression of being there and not being there at the same time. I retain my former body’s appearance; not the best, considering I fell into a ravine. A few scars are visible on my face, but I bet my other hidden parts are likewise battered.

Mana Drain! “Oh my! Cool!” The words leave me as soon as I see myself. Until now, I hadn’t noticed, but whenever I cast it, I half-raise my arms and extend my hands, with palms facing upwards. From them, a red semi-gaseous substance emerges. If I had to guess, I’d say that’s my own blood.

However, that is not what shocks me the most. I am fucking levitating. Levitating! My legs are closed tight. My feet pointing downwards. And I believe there is at least one hand span from my tiptoe to the floor.

How the fuck hadn’t I noticed it until now? Is the game somehow suppressing it? Or is it so deeply ingrained in my mind, as part of its mechanics, that I didn’t even bother to check? My health! I hurriedly stop the cast when I notice it is rapidly dipping. Sitting down, I cast a Heal to recover. Ah, heals are not as cool. That black energy that shoots out of my hands is the only thing worth mentioning.

Wait. I mean, I was levitating, right? Can I maybe move while casting it? Mana Drain!

As I see myself floating, I command my legs to move. As I would do if I was actually standing on the floor. No such luck. Then again, how would I even walk in the air? I’d look like a dog trying to swim in the air while his owner holds him.

No. I must go at it from another angle. This is a game, after all. Maybe I already know. Maybe, hidden somewhere inside me resides the key that opens the door to this ability. Taking my own advice, I force my mind to think I am being pushed from behind.

“It works!” I scream as I’m pushed to the front. It works too well! I reflect as I come too close to my double on the mirror. Too we- The sound of a shattered mirror, a loud and raucous crash, spreads throughout the chamber.

“What was that noise!” Fuck. Isha heard it.

“I accidentally smashed the mirror. I’ll pay you a new one in full!”

“You better do!”

There go the earnings, if any, from the mines. At least not everything has gone terribly, I shrug.

[You have learned Levitate]

While in Specter form, you can choose to float above the terrain. Doing so costs 1 mana per second.

Your speed is limited by that at which your mind can process and your form can withstand.

The first part is crystal clear. I have to spend mana to levitate. But that piece about my mind and my form… this will require a lot of testing. Most importantly, this just now has a lot of implications. Our spells are not limited to the ones the system gives us. If we can think out of the box, we can further learn.

Actually, I ponder, that’s exactly how I got my class. By trying to heal my dead body. By challenging the system. Why haven’t I tried to heal any more dead bodies? Argh! Now I want to go back to the mines!

I take a look at the time and realize my friends are about to log in. “Isha! My friends are about to come.” Should I say log in? Would she understand it? “We’ll go sell all the trash we gathered, and then we can go to the Governor. Shall we meet here?”

“Yes! Don’t forget what’s at stake, don’t take any more time than necessary!”

“Understood!”

Without forgetting to materialize first, I go to where we logged off and wait for them to come online. One by one, they appear at the exact spot.

“Guys listen! I can’t show you now, but I’ve learned to levitate!”

“Levitate? Come on! What?” All their responses come at the same time. Except for Lillia, who remains quiet with a smile on her face.

“Yes! Yes! But the important part here is that I learned it by myself. Lillia just told me how co-” Ah fuck! “-how I looked while casting Mana Drain. I tried to move while in that state, and voila! maybe you can do something similar?”

“We will have to try; that much is clear.” Dorian takes the initiative to answer for us all.

“Indeed! I’ll have to try some more things too. Next time, leave me some dead kobolds.”

“Better not to ask, right?” Uh, I’m hearing this a lot lately. It’s not like I’m a weirdo, right? I briefly evaluate and come to the conclusion that it’s not that.

“Well then, shall we go sale?”

There is no precise mechanic on how one is supposed to sell. The games I used to play had some kind of system where you would put a stall anywhere, and people could come and buy. Here, however, seeing that everything is much more realistic, I don’t think that is the case. Maybe there are auction houses?

“Ah…”, I try to find the right words to voice my concern, “I was just thinking... Are there any kinds of regulations? Do we have to register, pay, or do something else to sell?”

Oh man, their faces. They have as many clues as I have. “Maybe we could go to the Governor first and ask him?”

“Ah yes, let’s do that!”

Switching our priorities, which maybe should have been like that since the start, we find Isha and head for the Governor. The city is as astonishing as always, a pity we can’t follow any other route to get there.

“Lillia, did you discover anything interesting on your walk?”

“Oh yes! There are some narrow streets with buildings that must date from ages ago. You must see them! I mean, they are not grandiose, like most in this avenue, but they have their own beauty.”

“Aah,” I let a long sigh, “how wonderful! I must find some time for it.”

The conversation, if it can be called that, dies as we approach the mansion. Like the last time, Isha guides us through the halls and rooms until we meet with him. We let her do the talking.

“Let me see those documents, please.” The Governor demands with evident worry in his voice.

She unloads all the relevant maps and information we found in the mines and lets him take a quick look through them.

“Indeed… Our situation is…”, he pauses for a moment, seemingly at a loss for words, “excuse me for the expression, fucked.” It’s strange hearing a person of his caliber saying such a swearword. Yet, at this moment, seeing our circumstances, there might be no better way to express it. “I must beg of you to continue exploring the cave and decimating their numbers.”

Do I have to talk? I look left and right. Yes. Everyone is looking at me. “You can count on us, Governor.”

“Perfect. Anything you would need?”

“Yes. Ehem,” I clear my voice, “do we have to follow any special regulations to sell goods in the city?”