Feeling like a new man...well a new old man, Greg felt ready to explore a bit. Hoping that one of the suns set Greg slightly opened the door and felt a burst of heat. This time it was somewhat manageable, taking a sip from his flask for a little bit of luck he walked back up into the tower.

The heat was bad but now with his resources topped off, his level 2 heat resistance, and some extra constitution it was manageable. Peaking outside the tower from the entrance he saw that the first of the three suns was close to setting. Deciding to explore a little more he walked up to the top of the tower and saw nothing of interest during his inspection, except some very fainted runes scattered throughout the tower. He used [Arcane Insight] several times and he got a similar feeling as the freshly named “Maintenance” rune he discovered on his soul bound items. Though these where not tied to any other runes and seemed a little different in both form and function. He supposed that they where out of order as clearly the tower was in pretty rough shape and no amount of trying to put mana into them helped. He couldn’t even form a connection to attempt such action.

Cursing at the blasted heat and seeing nothing else to do he walked back to the cellar deciding to see if he saw any similar runes and as he opened the hatch and the light spilled into the room he realized that their was a giant rune right in the middle of the cellar floor. He didn’t notice it before because of the dark and the last time he came in he was in a desperate situation trying to escape the heat.

Finding some rubble, he propped the hatch door open and used his ability on the giant center rune. The insight itself again only identified it as [Rune] his instincts however gave him the usual sense of purpose. This time it was quite puzzling the rune gave a sense of “itself” almost like his Soul-Bound rune gave him a sense of himself.

Putting the two together he realized that it was referring to the tower itself. This was the “soul” of the tower. Inspired by his discovery he quickly tried to connect to the rune by sending some mana into the Rune sitting down to put his hands on it. This time it took an exceptionally large amount and with a painful yelp Greg quickly lifted his hands away and curled up from the pain. After a couple minutes of writhing pain, he dismissed a notification with a curse, it notified Greg of his latest passive ability.

Congratulations! ‘You have gained a new passive “Pain Tolerance”! Experience gained!’

The pain was already winding down when he got the new ability and now it was mostly a dull ache. He cursed at the system as he frowned seeing that his mana dropped to 72% even some of his health was taken going down to 94%. It took almost 30 percent of his entire mana pool. Worse yet [Ravaged by Arcane] went up to 5056%, looks like forcing his body to use mana was worsening his state. Just like he messed up his ankles from running improperly back in his youth. With a sigh he took a swig and lit up a cigarette contemplating his next course of actions. He didn’t believe the rune to be malevolent it just required a huge amount of mana to…do something he wasn’t sure. As curious as he was, he couldn’t try again, he didn’t want to leave the safety of the tower though as he still didn’t know anything about Hestheria, and he already almost died not even a full day in. The problem was this damn regeneration issue. At least he understood in theory that using mana would worsen the condition so he would have to keep that in mind.

As far as sustenance was concerned, he felt like got all the needed nutrition from his cigarettes and spirits. Though eventually he would need to refill his stash of smokes, he understood that he needed both to have a proper “diet”. He could always level as well to refill his mana resource. The effect to [Ravaged by Arcane] seemed minimal, seeing that it only worsened by 2 percent last time. But that would only stall things and besides, he still wanted to eat normal food, and as much as he disliked people, he needed find out more about this world.

Deciding to stay here for the night Greg settled down after closing the hatch letting his eyes slowly adjust to the darkness. He didn’t feel too tired or sleepy, so he read through his notifications again contemplating on what to do about finding other people. When he came across his other active ability, the system responded to his thoughts and opened up the more detailed view.

Meditation: Every sentient being has a soul and body that needs Mana and Health resources to properly operate. By connecting mind and body this will help you restore these resources in a healthy way. Effectiveness increases with level. Level 8 Effect: increases all Health resource regeneration by 180%

Effect: increases all Mana resource regeneration by 180%

Effect: provides slight healing to many harmful statuses.

This was is his answer! Greg took a few celebratory gulps and a couple of puffs, before flicking his cigarette away from him that vanished into thin air and storing his flask. Then Greg sat down cross-legged and grit his teeth in preparation already having a good idea of what was about to transpire.

Mentally willing the ability to activate he felt the usual stab of pain aware of a slight notification that no doubt upgraded his ability.

Instinctually closing his eyes, he fell into a state of complete relaxation, almost like what it felt to be right at the cusp of falling asleep. Staying in this state he felt a slight warmth but felt it was insufficient. His Vitality and Wisdom was not normal so this skill would have limited benefits. Willing himself out of the state Greg pulled up the notification with a frown. He expected the level to reset but still wasn’t too thrilled about it, clearly it was still an upgrade though, so he didn’t complain too much. Especially when seeing the last line being modified to “most statuses” including hidden ones, and the last new effect that hinted at some other esoteric benefit.

Arcane energy detected with [Meditation]. Skill [Meditation] upgraded to [Arcane Meditation]. Arcane Meditation: Every sentient being has a soul and body that needs Mana and Health resources to properly operate. By connecting mind and body this will help you restore these resources in the healthy way aided by powerful primordial energies of Arcane. Effectiveness increases with level. Level 1 Effect: increases all arcane aligned Health resource regeneration by 210%

Effect: increases all arcane aligned Mana resource regeneration by 210%

Effect: provides slight arcane healing to most harmful statuses, hidden or not.

Effect: provides very slight purification of both body and soul aided by arcane energies.

Happy with the results Greg shifted slightly before trying out his new skill, feeling a similar amount of mana drain as his [arcane insight] cost, a negligible amount thankfully.

Once again eyes closed, he fell into a similar state this time however, he got a distinct flavor of something else along with the sensation of peace. He could almost see purple undulations around him even with his eyes tightly shut. He felt his mind and body relax as if he sat down in a hot tub. He was never one for meditation before, but Greg doubted that without some aid of drugs this state could be achieved on earth.

He wished he could somehow take a sip from his flask though he knew that he would snap out of this state if he moved around too much. As the hours passed every now and then the undulations and warmth would increase making him guess these where level ups for the skill it would appear “recasting” the spell was not necessary as the effect was obviously felt with each level. He also felt what he could only describe as tingles similar to a head scratch that would spread slight shivers throughout his body. He guessed it was either healing or the purification, possibly both.

After many hours Greg felt his attention starting to wane significantly. Trying to refocus his efforts he felt a sudden decrease in energy followed up by a second drop. Having a good idea what transpired he shook himself out of the state and started reading the notifications feeling surprisingly tired. Though the meditation was restorative it looked like there was still a cost. His stamina resource was still topped off since he didn’t do anything physically and supposed daily usage was not enough to counter his high constitution.

There was still a mental strain he felt, like he just spent hours reading a philosophy book outside his intellectual ability to comprehend fully. The notifications where indeed level ups showing his progress reaching all the way to level 4 surprising him. Insight hasn’t leveled a single time, yet meditation leveled up quite easily. The last two notifications where his custom notifications he set up letting him know that his buffs have expired.

Rectifying the situation Greg released some smoke with a contented sigh. Feeling some of the mental strain disappear. Though at this point he was feeling quite sleepy. It felt like the days here in Hestheria where longer. With a yawn and a stretch Greg walked up the stairs and opened the hatch walking up to the first floor. The final sun was mostly set sending only a few rays through the darkened sky painting it with colors. If he didn’t know any better, he would have thought it to be a sunset on earth but as he saw a myriad of celestial lights from the stars and constellations everything was clearly foreign. Though he rarely saw the night sky living in a metropolis it still looked distinctly alien, reminding himself of one his titles; that of a sojourner. The several moons were also a giveaway as well as a clear outline of rings spiraling out into endless space.

Lighting up another cigarette and taking another sip, he no longer felt it was necessary to be super conservative with his “real resources” or vices depending on who you asked. Not that he would be conservative anyway, he was never one to be overly careful. But the meditation proved to be a major success. Seeing his mana sitting at 81 percent and his health topped off was encouraging but the biggest benefit was the effect to [Ravaged by Arcane] that now dropped to 4843%. He still had much further to go, especially since this session was at least 5 hours long. He at least had a way to heal himself. As his skill leveled, he was confident he would heal himself fully given enough time.

Enjoying the night sky, the temperature suddenly started to plummet before long he was shivering. With a silent curse at this realm Greg left to the cellar happy to find the runes where now sending out waves of heat. Deciding to call it Greg was about to descend down when he decided to stick it out a bit longer. Going back outside he zipped up his coat some more, cold he could handle a lot better than heat. An hour or so longer he finally heard a satisfying ping as a notification came up.

Congratulations! ‘You have gained “Cold resistance”! Experience gained!’

Wondering why the system now decided to have an audible element he realized that it was slowly starting to adjust to him now. The system seemed to be integrating with him more and more. Before it would take only a little bit of mental direction to have it respond. Now however the system seemed to be implementing changes that Greg didn’t even think of but clearly would have preferred. Opening and closing before he had a chance to even direct it.

It was a concerning thought, and if Greg was a deeper thinker in the slightest, he might have pontificated the implications of a super all-knowing powerful system that behaved like a computer yet somehow dictated his life; physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Instead Greg took a deep draw from his precious flask and continued puffing away occasionally making a ring of smoke. A second ping was heard, and Greg called it a night. Going back down the cellar he enjoyed the warmth of the walls, balling up his coat as a makeshift pillow he promptly fell asleep.