As they were heading out in the morning, Saelak noticed new signs on a bulletin board near the inn’s entrance, “Resh your abyssal luck, Aster.” He covered all three of them in an illusion again as their faces stared back at them from the illusory posters saying they were wanted “for questioning”, it didn’t seem like they were being charged with a crime… yet. “We need to get out of town quickly, holding this spell drains my mana pretty fast and some mages might be able to see through it.” The other two nodded at him silently and quickly made their escape from Ahtil.

They breathed a bit easier when they made it out of the city gates and on the road south, now in Rudná Ríša, the homeland of the Mountain Dwarves.

“How far ta da next town? We didn’t ‘ave much chance ta stock up on provisions.” Donoma asked the others.

Aster finished swapping out his title again, hoping for some more experience as they travelled, before pulling out his map and finding Ahtil and the road they were travelling down.

“We can follow this road south west and hit Chiplewich in about a week and a half. We’ll have to cut back east though if we want to take a ferry across the Dundal Sound though, going around it would probably add another 6 months.” Aster didn’t look pleased at the idea of an extra half year before they reached their destination. “From Chiplewich to the next town, Havewesbo, will take about a month on foot then another 3 weeks south to Hatford where the ferry crossing is. If we skip going all the way to Chiplewich via the road and cut across the wilderness we could cut off about two weeks though.” Aster explained and pondered for a bit.

“That’s assuming we don’t run into any bad luck.” Saelak spoke up as he kept trodding down the road.

“It’d prolly be fer da better goin’ through da wilderness though, ya? We might get better huntin’ ta eat and sell.” Donoma suggested.

Saelak paused and came back to look over Aster’s shoulder at the map, “Look if we follow the road to Chiplewich and keep heading south west into the mountains we’ll reach Domov, the Dwarven capital. From there we could probably charter a ride to Hatford where we’ll catch the ferry. That’ll easily cut our total time in half. Or, if we’re lucky, they’ll have a Spacial Gate setup. I don’t know much about the Dwarven Nation’s relationship with others though.”

“Well I’m down for anything that’ll save us time.” Aster affirmed, looking at Donoma to get her opinion.

She shrugged at him, “It be a good plan and it’ll help us provision sooner.”

“Alright then, let’s follow the yellow brick road!” Aster said, putting his map away in its scroll case.

Saelak gave him a puzzled look, “It’s brown dirt.”

“Mayhaps a lil green grass or grey rocks…” Donoma added.

Aster put his face in his palm and shook it, “Never mind… let’s just get moving, we’re wasting sunlight.” He led the way down the brown dirt road.

A few days later Aster got a welcomed message when practicing his Air Bending.

Congratulations!

Skill Rank Up: Magic (Air) (Novice 1, 0%)

Your Intelligence increased by 1.

New spells are unlocked.

New technique is unlocked.

You gained 240 experience.

Crimson Destiny gained 120 experience.

Aster gave a little cheer, “Woot! I ranked up Air Magic!”

Saelak gave him a look of surprise, “Already?”

“Well I think it was already pretty close since Kanati seemed to max out the Beginner rank. Looks like it unlocked some spells for me.” Aster explained.

Howling Gale

Effect: Create a loud wind that slows and deafens enemies within 50 meters of you.

Duration: 1 minute

Cooldown: None

Cost: 50 mana

Requires: Novice Magic (Air)

Wind Wall

Effect: Create a 10 x 10 x 0.1 meter wall of wind that will deflect objects trying to pass through it.

Duration: 5 minutes

Cooldown: None

Cost: 30 mana

Requires: Novice Magic (Air)

Donoma gave a cheerful nod, “Ya, ye’ll gain two new spells at every rank fer a magic skill and a new technique at every even rank.”

He checked out his technique which he thought might come in handy.

Wind Armor

Effect: Imbue air into your armor causing it to increase your defense with a chance to knock back your attacker when struck.

Duration: ∞

Cooldown: None

Cost: 10 qi per minute

Requires: Novice Magic (Air)

Saelak added, “For multiple magic skills, I unlocked a combination spell when I hit the third rank in both.”

Donoma gave him a wide-eyed look, “Seriously? Makes me wish I got tested fer da others now,” she pouted.

Hitsuki’s voice interrupted Aster’s thoughts, “Hey, Master! Why don’t you, like, try using your Soul Sight ability to see their affinities?”

Aster smacked his forehead, “I forgot about that.”

“Running for your life tends to do that” Hitsuki said sarcastically.

Aster ignored the jab and focused on activating his Soul Sight. It was… weird. Aside from seeing his friends literally glowing with their elemental affinity colors, he saw their names above their heads, just like one of his favorite MMORPGs from Earth. He saw the silver words: floating above his best friend with the note (Level 17, Shimmer Knight) underneath it. He was glowing mostly shades of blue with a smaller sphere of magenta near his core.

His newer friend also had (Level 19 Bright Archer) above her head and glowed with a bright white light. He focused on her a bit harder, squinting slightly, and saw another color closer to her center: gold. After about 20 seconds of staring at her, a screen popped up in front of him and he almost choked on his shock. It was her profile.

You used a Class Ability: Soul Sight.

As the target is friendly towards you, their soul is laid bare and all is revealed:

Name: Donoma

Surname: Tine Gréine

Title: Party Goer

Age: 20

Gender: Woman

Race: Summer Elf

Level: 19 (89,687 / 97,000)

Class: Bright Archer [ Scarce ]

Attributes

Strength: 25

[+5 from Equipment]

Dexterity: 52

[+6 from Equipment]

Constitution: 30

[+1 from Equipment]

Intelligence: 52

[+1 from Equipment]

Wisdom: 44

[+3 from Equipment]

Charisma: 23

Luck: 56

Willpower: 10

Karma: -2

Resources

Health: 300/300

Regen: 2.5/minute [+0.5]

Stamina: 580/520 [+60]

Regen: 3.0/minute [+0.1]

Mana: 530/520 [+10]

Regen: 4.4/minute[+0.3]

Qi: 470/440 [+30]

Inspiration: 10/250 [+50]

Favor: 24/230

Affinities

Air: 0%

Earth: 0%

Fire: 0%

Water: 0%

Ice: 0%

Lightning: 0%

Metal: 0%

Wood: 0%

Dark: 0%

Death: 0%

Life: 0%

Light: 100%

Blood: 0%

Illusion: 0%

Song: 25%

Covenant: 0%

Gravity: 0%

Spacial: 0%

Spirit: 0%

Time: 0%

Skills

Name

Rank

Level

Progress

Acrobatics

Tyro

34

27%

Armor (Leather)

Beginner

57

80%

Athletics

Initiate

78

56%

Combat (Bow)

Amateur

97

86%

Combat (Dagger)

Novice

41

10%

Combat (Unarmed)

Beginner

2

93%

Cooking

Beginner

9

80%

Dancing

Beginner

23

16%

Diplomacy

Novice

70

86%

Fishing

Novice

78

87%

Information Gathering

Tyro

84

43%

Insight

Initiate

38

13%

Language (Common)

Tyro

41

73%

Language (Dwarvish)

Novice

43

48%

Language (Elvish)

Tyro

88

35%

Lore (Magic)

Beginner

83

79%

Lore (Selesolan)

Beginner

12

55%

Magic (Light)

Apprentice

92

23%

Magic (Song)

Beginner

1

1%

Mathematics

Beginner

70

12%

Meditation

Beginner

99

65%

Perception

Initiate

98

54%

Persuasion

Tyro

1

9%

Reading

Beginner

35

49%

Resistance (Light)

Tyro

89

3%

Resistance (Song)

Beginner

1

1%

Riding

Novice

20

53%

Singing

Beginner

5

10%

Skinning

Novice

52

13%

Trading

Tyro

32

64%

Trapping

Novice

64

77%

Writing

Beginner

21

46%

Abilities

Light Bending

Effect: Manipulate light with mana cost being dynamically based on the amount, duration and complexity of the desired task.

Duration: ∞

Cooldown: None

Cost: X mana per minute

Requires: Light Blessing

Song Weaving

Effect: Manipulate sounds with mana cost being dynamically based on the amount, duration and complexity of the desired task.

Duration: ∞

Cooldown: None

Cost: X mana per minute

Requires: Song Blessing

Spells

Lantern

Effect: Create a small beacon of light that will follow your movement relative to where you place it.

Duration: 10 Minutes

Cooldown: None

Cost: 5 mana

Requires: Beginner Magic (Light)

Blinding Light

Effect: Create a bright flash of light from your palm that will blind creatures in a 10 meter range.

Duration: Instant

Cooldown: 1 minute

Cost: 5 mana

Requires: Beginner Magic (Light)

Detect Invisibility

Effect: See if an area is bending light.

Duration: ∞

Cooldown: None

Cost: 5 mana per minute

Requires: Novice Magic (Light)

Bright Barrier

Effect: Create a 10 x 10 x 0.1 meter wall of solid light that will block objects trying to pass through it and has a chance to blind.

Duration: 5 minutes

Cooldown: None

Cost: 30 mana

Requires: Novice Magic (Light)

Reflect Radiance

Effect: Create a shield that redirects Light-based spells targeted at you and amplifies them towards a new target of your choice.

Duration: 10 seconds

Cooldown: None

Cost: 10 mana

Requires: Tyro Magic (Light)

Child’s Pen

Effect: Create a 5 meter diameter cage of solid light around a target location within 30 meters of you that will block objects trying to pass through it and blinds any creature trapped within it.

Duration: 30 minutes

Cooldown: None

Cost: 20 mana

Requires: Tyro Magic (Light)

Disintegration Blade

Effect: Create a blade of solid light able to ignore armor and deal Light damage with increased critical strike chance.

Duration: 10 minutes

Cooldown: 1 hour

Cost: 30 mana

Requires: Initiate Magic (Light)

Flash Bombs

Effect: Create a dazzling spectacle in the area with bright flashes of light in random locations and random intervals within a 30 meter area causing blindness and a chance to cause confusion.

Duration: 5 minutes

Cooldown: 25 minutes

Cost: 50 mana

Requires: Initiate Magic (Light)

Etch

Effect: Condense and concentrate light into a singular point, cutting into most materials.

Duration: ∞

Cooldown: None

Cost: 10 mana per minute

Requires: Apprentice Magic (Light)

Invisibility

Effect: Bend waves of light around the target making it invisible.

Duration: ∞

Cooldown: 15 minutes

Cost: 50 mana per minute

Requires: Apprentice Magic (Light)

Lullaby

Effect: Fill the area with a gentle lullaby putting all living creatures who hear it to sleep.

Duration: ∞

Cooldown: None

Cost: 5 mana per minute

Requires: Beginner Magic (Song)

Rally

Effect: Fill the area with a rally song that empowers your allies with +5% willpower and +5% constitution.

Duration: ∞

Cooldown: 1 minute

Cost: 5 mana per minute

Requires: Beginner Magic (Song)

Techniques

Blessing Origin

Empowering Glow

Effect: Imbue light into your unarmed strikes and kicks for additional Light damage and a chance on hit to blind.

Duration: ∞

Cooldown: None

Cost: 5 qi per minute

Requires: Light Blessing

Light Armor

Effect: Imbue light into your armor causing it to glow and increase your defense with a chance to daze your attacker when struck.

Duration: ∞

Cooldown: None

Cost: 10 qi per minute

Requires: Novice Magic (Light)

Bright Weapon

Effect: Imbue light into your weapons for additional Light damage and a chance on hit to blind.

Duration: ∞

Cooldown: None

Cost: 30 qi per minute

Requires: Initiate Magic (Light)

Empowering Song

Effect: Imbue sound into your unarmed strikes and kicks for additional Sound damage and a chance on hit to deafen.

Duration: ∞

Cooldown: None

Cost: 5 qi per minute

Requires: Song Blessing

Combat Origin

Sprint

Effect: Increase your max speed while running.

Duration: 15 seconds

Cooldown: 3 minutes

Cost: 5 qi

Requires: Novice Athletics

Adrenaline Rush

Effect: A burst of adrenaline courses through you, increasing your strength and dexterity by 5% and making you immune to pain and fear effects.

Duration: 30 seconds

Cooldown: 10 minutes

Cost: 50 qi

Requires: Initiate Athletics

Wall Run

Effect: Scale walls by running up them.

Duration: N/A

Cooldown: None

Cost: 10 qi per meter

Requires: Novice Acrobatics

Piercing Shot

Effect: Fire a projectile that ignores armor defenses.

Duration: N/A

Cooldown: None

Cost: 10 qi

Requires: Novice Combat (Bow)

Multishot

Effect: Fire an additional projectile concurrently.

Duration: N/A

Cooldown: None

Cost: 10 qi per projectile

Requires: Initiate Combat (Bow)

Rapid Fire

Effect: Quickly fire additional projectiles, gaining speed with each consecutive projectile.

Duration: 1 minute

Cooldown: 5 minutes

Cost: 1 qi per second

Requires: Amatuer Combat (Bow)

Quick Draw

Effect: Draw your weapon instantly.

Duration: N/A

Cooldown: None

Cost: 10 qi

Requires: Novice Combat (Dagger)

Craft Origin

Enticing Lure

Effect: Empower your lure with qi causing creatures to become more attracted to it.

Duration: N/A

Cooldown: None

Cost: 10 qi

Requires: Novice Fishing

Minimize Cuts

Effect: Analyze and minimize the amount of cuts needed to skin a creature.

Duration: ∞

Cooldown: None

Cost: 10 qi er minute

Requires: Novice Skinning

Market Value

Effect: Detect the fair market price of an object you touch.

Duration: ∞N/A

Cooldown: None

Cost: 5 qi per minute

Requires: Novice Trading

Interpersonal Origin

Diffuse

Effect: Quickly diffuse tension or aggression in a situation, calming people within 10 meters.

Duration: ∞

Cooldown: None

Cost: 10 qi per minute

Requires: Novice Diplomacy

Bribe

Effect: People are more open to bribes and will accept less than normal to give you information you seek.

Duration: N/A

Cooldown: 1 minute

Cost: 10 qi

Requires: Novice Information Gathering

Sense Motive

Effect: Detect a person’s disposition towards you and the situation.

Duration: N/A

Cooldown: 1 minute

Cost: 10 qi

Requires: Novice Insight

Detect Deceit

Effect: Detect when a person is intentionally deceiving someone.

Duration: ∞

Cooldown: None

Cost: 10 qi per minute

Requires: Initiate Insight

Sense Danger

Effect: While active, highlights areas of danger and interest.

Duration: ∞

Cooldown: None

Cost: 10 qi per minute

Requires: Novice Perception

Heightened Senses

Effect: Amplify your sense of sight, hearing, and smell

Duration: ∞

Cooldown: None

Cost: 20 qi per minute

Requires: Initiate Perception

MARIE

Effect: Detect what motivates a person: Money, Addiction, Religion, Ideology, or Ego.

Duration: N/A

Cooldown: 5 minutes

Cost: 10 qi

Requires: Novice Persuasion

Disarm Traps

Effect: While active, highlights traps and indicates how to disarm them.

Duration: ∞

Cooldown: None

Cost: 10 qi per minute

Requires: Novice Trapping

Class

Bright Archer [ Scarce ]

Specialize in range weapon based Combat and Light Magic. Blind your enemies and enlighten your friends.

Requires: Initiate rank in a ranged combat skill and light magic.

Effects:

The effects of your Light Spells and Abilities are increased by 10% while costs are decreased by 10%. You can imbue your ranged weapons with Light magic

Special Abilities:

Veil Shot

Effect: Bend light around your arrows to make them invisible. +100% chance to critically strike your target.

Duration: Instant

Cooldown: None

Cost: 10 Mana

Rays of Sunlight

Effect: Fire multiple beams of light from your bow. Current number of beams equals your level plus rank in light magic. Each beam deals 3-6 damage and has a chance on hit to blind your target.

Duration: Instant

Cooldown: 5 minutes

Cost: 100 mana

“Aster, why are ya starin’ at me like-” Her voice cut off as a notification filled her vision.

Congratulations!

You discovered an Elemental Affinity!

You are Blessed by the Artist with an affinity for Song!

Your Song Affinity reached 25%!

Skill Acquired: Magic (Song) (Beginner 1, 5%)

Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent. Your whispers can change minds and your songs can change hearts.

Your Intelligence increased by 1.

Skill Acquired: Resistance (Song) (Beginner 1, 1%)

Remain in control and don’t let the notes sway you.

Your Constitution increased by 1.

New Ability is unlocked.

New Technique is unlocked.

New Spells are unlocked.

New Party Ability is unlocked.

“Aster? What is this? What… What did ya do?” She almost whispered. She and Saelak were both staring at him now.

He also got his own notification about the new party ability and he quickly went to his party page to see it and verify that he wasn’t just hallucinating.

Party

Leader:

Saelak, Maker of Myths

Level 17 Shimmer Knight

Health:420/380 [+40]

Stamina:350/290 [+60]

Mana: 710/610 [+100]

Qi:48/340 [+40]

Inspiration:410/360 [+60]

Favor:165/520 [+80]

Members:

Artifact of the Age Aster

Level 20 Soul Tamer

Health: 610/510

[+50] (+50)

Stamina: 690/460

[+160] (+70)

Mana: 550/520

(+30)

Qi: 396/500 (+30)

Inspiration: 150/500 (+60)

Favor: 75/450 (+40)

Party Goer Donoma

Level 19 Bright Archer

Health: 300/300

Stamina: 580/520 [+60]

Mana: 530/520 [+10]

Qi: 470/440 [+30]

Inspiration: 10/250 [+50]

Favor: 24/230

Roles

Tank

Healer

Support

Magic Damage

Physical Damage

Saelak

+3% Defense

& Threat

None

None

Donoma

+3% Magic Damage

Aster

+3% Physical Damage

Party Abilities

Friendly Fire

Effect: Party members are immune to spells and abilities from other party members.

Requires: 2 party members

Tundra Traveler

Effect: Party members do not suffer from cold environment damage.

Requires: an Ice Blessed party member

Mini Map

Effect: Party members can see the direction and distance from one another.

Requires: an Illusion Blessed party member

Refill

Effect: Drink containers refill over time.

Requires: a Water Blessed party member

Share the Load

Effect: Storage containers weigh 30% less.

Requires: 3 members party members

Light Step

Effect: Party members are light on their feet; they don’t leave tracks and move 15% faster.

Requires: a Light Blessed party member

Whisper

Effect: Communicate telepathically between party members within 15 kilometers.

Requires: a Spirit Blessed party member

Torch

Effect: Summon a lit torch into an empty hand that lasts 15 minutes or until dropped.

Requires: a Fire Blessed party member

Tailwind

Effect: Riding speed is increased by 15%.

Requires: an Air Blessed party member

Traveling Band

Effect: Party members that join together in song gain an hour-long buff that increases each member’s experience and attributes by 1% for each minute of the song up to 5%.

Requires: a Song Blessed party member

Note: More Party Abilities may become available with more party members and their contributing levels and abilities.

And there it was; “Traveling Band” meant he wasn’t making this up. Aster seemed slightly at a loss for words before finally admitting, “I… I can see your profile. This Soul Sight ability lets me see that as well as the glow of your elemental affinities... your Blessings are visible to me.”