Greg woke up with a…well not much of taste in his mouth. He complained at the world for disrupting his normal morning ritual. It was day two in Hestheria, and he was still sober, meaning he has now been sober for a full day. A travesty really, he felt like he needed to attend counseling, join a reverse AA meeting. “Hi, my name is Gregory, but you can call me Grump, I recently went through a full 24-hour period of not drinking…it was awful.”

Laughing at the idea he still found it odd, he had been drinking and smoking pretty much non-stop, yet his bodies constitution was too high. He knew that his flask should be able to fix that with some levels, but he was loath to level up without fully appreciating the taste. Deciding to do just that he lit up a smoke and took a “healthy” drink and dismissed the warning that must have came up while he slept letting him know that the buffs where “timed out”.

Opening the hatch to check the weather Greg decided it was still too cold for his old bones as the first sun only just started to light up the morning sky not even peeking out yet. Retreating back to the cellar he finished his last smoke and drained the last of the dram he had. The flask was quite the interesting thing, bottomless meant several things. One it could be refilled with mana was obvious, but two was that it contained a lot more spirit inside than one could tell from the outside. Easily more than a standard 750ml bottle of scotch. Closer to 900ml if he had to guess, and Greg was very accurate with those types of measurements. The flask itself looked like it would be able to hold at most 200ml. He knew the amount of goods both his flask and tobacco box could hold would go up with levels. He decided on what he would do now while waiting for the morning suns to warm up the region. He brought up his resources with a sigh.

Health: 100% Stamina: 100% Mana: 81%

His mana didn’t even budge a single number and [Ravaged by Arcane] went up to 4877% making him realize that he would need to be constantly fighting against it to bring it down. But he had another mission at the moment, one of utmost importance. He could consider the other minor problems later. He finished the dram and smokes, but he hasn’t taken the time to really take it all in. He wanted to fully experience it before leveling again.

Taking the flask in his hand he started pouring stamina and trickle of mana into it, filling up the flask a good portion. Enough for four regular men and maybe one Greg. Setting the flask inside his coat pocket he took out his tobacco box and with a look of determination started pouring in his mana with a trickle of stamina into the box gritting his teeth from the pain as he was sure [Ravaged by Arcane] was having a field day going up in number. No matter, sacrifices had to be made for the greater good. Greg created 5 cigars this time instead of cigarettes bringing his mana down to 40% and worsening his [Ravaged by Arcane] condition by an additional 30%. Not as bad this time but that’s because this time it was a controlled stream of mana and into his own Soul-Bound item.

Greg quickly slipped into [Arcane Meditation] and focused on fully centering himself. Thirty minutes later he opened up his eyes. A rare look of seriousness was evident on his face.

“First the spirit” he spoke aloud adding to the unusuality of Greg’s demeanor. Taking the flask, he opened it up and took in the smells, clear spirits didn’t have much of a smell but he could still smell a little bit of the botanicals, reminding him of a gin he tried many years ago. Taking a sip, he fully devoted his senses to the experience, taking in each flavor and committing it to memory with a force unbecoming of his character. Taking another deeper gulp, he closed his eyes almost slipping into meditation again, but he didn’t pay attention to that, instead he enjoyed each note. Elderflower, rose, basil, and fig where the prominent notes. A combination most delectable, taking more gulps he concentrated on committing each aspect to his memory. A notification flashed but he ignored it, nothing in the world would take this moment away from him.

The system as if sensing his mood quickly went silent. After some time, Greg put away his flask and summoned his tobacco box. He took out a cigar that was already cut perfectly with a V cut style. He puffed on it dry without it being lit a slight pencil and dry hay flavor notes were present. Willing it be lit he tasted more of the hay flavor but lots of leather was present as he smoked further down the cigar. Greg repeated this exercise ignoring everything else for a prolonged amount of time.

Finally done Greg sighed with contentment, thinking on the experience he felt a stab of regret again for leveling too early. He would never be able to find out what that original level 1 flavor profiles would be. It was a great mistake, but he would learn from this and renewed his vows to never repeat that mistake.

But still it was a great session one fully committed to his memory that was improved with the higher intelligence he possessed. As he thought of that he remembered the notifications and they immediately came up.

Congratulations! ‘You have created a unique skill! “A Connoisseur’s Memories!”’ Congratulations! ‘You have created a brand-new system skill! You have earned the title “Skill Progenitor”!’

It followed up with a couple more levels into his new skill bringing it up to level 3. Maybe it wasn’t the higher intelligence after all? Curious about his gains he took a closer look with the system.

A Connoisseur’s Memories: Memories and memory is what allows a sentient being to remain sentient. This will help you retain the memories of experiences you value most. Level: 3 Effect: Gives you perfect recollection of anything you drink or smoke.

Effect: Increases duration of buffs gained from [Grump’s prized bottomless flask] and [Grump’s prized bottomless flask] [Grump’s prized replenishing tobacco-box]. Duration increases with level. Skill Progenitor: Across the multi-realm an innumerable amount of beings exists. Every so often a being will make a unique ability that separates them from the mundane. This title will help you do that again! Tier: II+ Effect: Increases chances at creating new skills.

[LOCKED] Stat Effect: +15 willpower +5 to all stats Gained By: Title gained by creating a new skill using sheer willpower. [Partially LOCKED] – Requires a class.

Greg read through the passive skill he created again and closed his eyes to test it. Sure enough, he could almost taste the tobacco and spirit just thinking about the experience. With joy in his eyes he muttered a thank you. Though he felt a little odd at giving “thanks” to a system.

Greg suspected having his items being acknowledged by the system through a skill was important, if he had to guess he would assume that maybe after enough levels this skill could upgrade the items themselves, and by extension, himself.

With a sigh he brought up the option to level and selected yes. Greg felt once more the effects of the leveling process as warm energy swept through his body. The system also let him know he was ready for another level up. A prompt he quickly dismissed with a thought. It did confirm his earlier theory that experience gained after hitting 100% was deferred.

Double checking his stats, he nodded at seeing his resources topped off again. Then of course he sampled the goods that improved again and were stronger too. He would do a true analysis later though.

The stats hadn’t increased from his to buffs though, he guessed they wouldn’t until he would level a class up. His attribute stats from his title and level, however, did increase and Greg felt even more powerful and healthy than ever before. At this stage he was quite certain he would win every Olympic event. Seeing as humans would only get a point every level in their stats, he would assume most stats would peak around 20 in the physical stats and maybe 50 in the mental ones. All of this was of course pure conjecture, Greg didn’t fancy himself to be a theorist.

Opening the hatch after all this, it looked like the second sun was about to come out, the first almost a quarter away from reaching the zenith. Having no idea where to go Greg climbed to the top of the tower to pick a direction. Reaching the top, he looked out the windows in each section, his vision was improved greatly from his stats giving him back his 20/20 vision. Greg didn’t know which attribute was responsible for vision but if he had to guess it was Constitution, his biggest stat by far sitting at 274.5 after the 50% modifier. Yet he didn’t think he had super vision making him think that stats would only take his human senses so far.

Peering into the distance he thought he saw some larger elevation changes that suggested more than just dunes as they seemed to be tinged with green. Not having a better option Greg calculated if he could make it on time before the hottest part of the day. The second sun was mostly out at this point and he knew it was a bad timing to try to make the distance, he should have left much earlier for that.

He decided he would attempt it tomorrow early in the morning while it was still dark. He could handle the cold for a couple hours before the first sun would rise and he could stay out while their where only 2 suns out. Three suns however he felt was still beyond him at this point, even with such a high constitution.

Having nothing better to do Greg scouted around the tower even using [Arcane Insight] on the tower itself, which beyond saying [Tower] didn’t give anything away. His instincts though gave him a pretty strong clue. The feeling he got was something akin to a safe-house or more accurately a shelter. Which would explain the cellar situation to him.

After several more hours of scouting and seeing nothing of interest around the tower as well as the heat starting to build to unbearable levels. Which was evidence that the third sun was about to rise. He decided to head back into the tower especially when Greg observed that when standing in the light directly, he could see a sunburn developing with the naked eye.

Drenched in sweat he received another level bringing heat resistance to 3 he felt immediate benefits and the heat was much more bearable. The third sun was almost fully out when the heat rose to even higher levels. He felt it was shortly before this point yesterday he discovered the cellar and took refuge in it. He could still bear it and a few minutes later he heard another ping letting him know the resistance went up to 4 giving Greg confidence that maybe he could stick it out in the shade all day!

Then the third sun fully emerged shattering his confidence. The heat spiked much higher, he felt the drain on his health and quickly started feeling his consciousness slip away. Half kneeling half falling he grabbed the cellar door and right before he opened it, he felt another spike of heat increasing and without hesitation he opened the door diving in hitting the ground. Before he let himself fully slip away, he rolled over making sure the hatch was shut and let himself fall asleep into fevered dreams, but not before he cursed the “damned alien planet” and hearing another ping sound of a level up.

He woke up several hours later peeking out the hatch door to make sure it was still day. The blast of heat assured him it was. With a sigh he looked at his resources. His stamina and mana where more or less topped off with one being at 100% and the latter at 99%. His health though was down to 68 percent. Letting him know that trying to scout out the area with the three suns in the sky was a complete impossibility. Seeing no other choice Greg alternated between enjoying his vices and [Arcane Meditation].

He progressed quite a bit lowering his [Ravaged by Arcane] condition to 4515%. His health was up to 88%. He would have continued to meditate longer but even brining it up to level 6 he was too mentally strained after spending what felt like 12 hours meditating. He was quite certain with enough levels he could go almost a full day non-stop. The progress would be good too as the bonus regeneration was now up to 260%. With his bonuses from his smokes and spirits his regeneration was at about 310% now. Though Greg had a sneaking suspicion that [Arcane Meditation] specifically the “Arcane” part of it was a perfect counter to the regeneration penalty. Though the system didn’t shed any light on it.

After all he meditated yesterday for nearly 5 hours and restored 9% of his mana. And today after well over 12 hours he restored 20% of his health. The stats where quite similar too with Wisdom at 49 and Vitality at 45. Yet sleeping all night did not yield a single percentage of change to his mana making him guess that without the special meditation he got he wouldn’t be able to restore his Health or Mana resources. This also told him that the system wouldn’t spell everything out to him, he had to use his instincts to fully understand what was happening around him.

With a long sigh he decided he would get up first thing in the morning and explore the distant green hills he had seen from the top of the tower. If that yielded nothing he would level up until he had no more experience and go from there. Of course, he would spend at least an entire day in debauchery while leveling making sure to utilize his newest skill to its utmost capability, making sure he would never forget the experiences he would create.

Going outside Greg enjoyed a smoke while looking at the last sun setting. Greg stayed around well after dark until he heard a ping letting him know [Cold Resistance] went up to level 3. He briefly wondered if the cold would get as intense as the heat did during the day, but he already had plans for the next day. The mental strain from mediating all day was also getting to him. So with that, Greg went down to the cellar and fell asleep after looking over his status.

Full Status:

Name: Gregory Stone (Grump)

Class: [LOCKED] – Requires Level 10.

Race: Human (unclassed) Level: 3

Experience: 100% + Titles: Changed by Arcane, Embraced by the Void, Unwilling Realm Sojourner, Primordial Being, Late Initiator, Skill Progenitor

Stats:

Vitality: 45

Constitution: 176; 183 [50% Modifier] 274.5

Strength: 44

Dexterity: 41

Wisdom: 49

Intelligence: 47

Willpower: 116; 121 [50% Modifier] 181.5

Free Stats: 2

Strength: 44

Dexterity: 41

Wisdom: 49

Intelligence: 47

Willpower: 116; 121 [50% Modifier] 181.5

Condition(s): [Critical status] [Ravaged by Arcane – health and mana regeneration slowed down by 4515%] [Greg’s Elixir – Constitution & Willpower +5, Vitality +2] [Greg’s Addiction – Vitality & Intelligence & Wisdom +5, Constitution +2]

Health: 88%

Stamina: 100%

Mana: 100% Generic Skills:

-Active: Arcane Insight level 1

-Active: Arcane Meditation 6

-Passive: Battle-Worn level 4

-Passive: Embraced by the Void level 1

-Passive: Arcane Resistance Tier II level 1

-Passive: Void Resistance Tier II level 2

-Passive: Heat resistance level 5

-Passive: Cold resistance level 3

-Passive: A Connoisseur’s Memories level 3