As night started to approach Aegaeon decided to check out the lake and play with his water manipulation ability. He’d been excited to try it but hadn’t had time. His patience was wearing thin. With a quick explanation to Clarissa, Aegaeon excused himself and walked shortly over to the edge of the water.

The lake looked peaceful reflecting the sunset across its surface. Looking into the spot where the sun dipped below mountains on the surface, Aegaeon concentrated on moving the water. He pushed with all the mental energy he had, but nothing happened. Frustrated he tried again.

Instead of a large movement, Aegaeon was going for a simple ripple. He visualized the surface of the water just barely curling as if he’d dipped his finger in. The water sluggishly obeyed slowly rippled out. With excitement Aegaeon tried again.

Over the next few hours Aegaeon was capable of getting the water to ripple at any point he concentrated on. He wasn’t able to move a lot of water at all, but it was a start. What surprised him the most were the notifications he was treated to afterward.

Congratulations! You have been the first to successfully manipulate water in this world! As a reward you have been granted a new skill.

New Skill: Water’s Emissary, as you work with water based abilities your understanding of water deepens. As a result of this, all water abilities are easier to use and progress. Effect increases with level. Lvl 1

Water Manipulation up 9

Water’s Emissary up 2

Deep Thought up 3

Swimming up 1

Status Screen: Aegaeon

Class: N/A

Level: N/A

Skills:

Sprinting Lvl:10, Deep Thought Lvl:18, Water Blast Lvl:3, Careful Climbing Lvl:7 Swimming Lvl:8, Holding Breath Lvl:4 Dagger Work Lvl:10, Water Manipulation Lvl:10, Water’s Emissary Lvl:3

PP: 15

Paths:

Path of the Racer 0/10, Path of Ideologies 0/25, Forest Traveler 0/20, Path of Bloodshed 21/45, Path of the Stream 0/40

Completed Paths:

Path of Water 30/30, Path of the Initiate Mage 10/10,

Aegaeon was happy, but he was mostly curious how much of an impact Water’s Emissary had on his other skills. Trying to move water again, Aegaeon was pleased to find that he could easily make the ripples now across the whole lake and that it required minimal concentration. This was progress, slowly but surely.

Taking another look at his skills Aegaeon considered his swimming skill. If he was going to be water based he might as well boost it now. Aegaeon took off his shirt and pants and walked into the water of the lake. It was cool against his skin and he went chest deep. Taking a leap, Aegaeon began to paddle back and forth.

He worked on the small problems he could feel in his technique and was quite pleased with how much faster he already seemed than when he dove for Neptune’s Wrath. Aegaeon felt the cool water slip over his head each time he dove into the water and basked in the peaceful serenity that came from the activity. The cool water against his entire body felt right as the world turned to silence underwater.

Upon breaking the water each time he took in the sounds around him. After a while paddling around in the shallower water, Aegaeon felt and heard a soft growling vibration. He wasn’t alone in the water. Diving down under to get a look, Aegaeon was shocked to see what looked like a barracuda swimming his way. But it was at least twice the normal size.

While Aegaeon was summoning Neptune’s Wrath the barracuda swam expertly around him and struck his side. Twirling in the water Aegaeon had a moment of panic as he couldn’t orient himself. The barracuda was swimming back with rows of razor sharp teeth chomping. The snap of its jaws was more felt than heard through the water.

Aegaeon spun in the water in his best guess of up and down and prepared himself for the next attack. As the barracuda launched at him he swung with Neptune’s Wrath but the blade just cut through water as the barracuda twisted out of the way. It but down on Aegaeon’s left leg and he let out a muffled shout in the water.

He took the opportunity of the barracuda biting him to swing again with his dagger. Once again the barracuda dodged the attack and Aegaeon was left with a cold sense of dread. If he couldn’t win against this creature, he would die. Pulling into himself Aegaeon prepared what he hoped would work as an attack before he ran out of breath.

The adrenaline rush of battle prevented him from feeling the burning in his lungs. Darkness started to enter his vision and Aegaeon feared passing out like he did in the pond. He didn’t figure he’d be lucky enough to survive again.

Pulling on his Water Manipulation Aegaeon dragged the water around the barracuda towards himself while simultaneously swinging with Neptune’s Wrath. The blade sunk deeply into its side and the barracuda started to seize.

Aegaeon took the opportunity of the thing being stunned to break the surface of the water and grab a fresh breath of air. Diving back down he was disappointed to see that the barracuda was back to normal and was preparing to launch another attack. Aegaeon tried to pull the water towards him again hoping that the same trick would work twice. Unfortunately it didn’t.

The barracuda took advantage of being pulled towards Aegaeon and added its speed to shoot its way across their distance. The barracuda reached for Aegaeon’s throat with a snap that would surely decapitate him. Aegaon couldn’t swing with Neptune’s Wrath in enough time, so throwing out his hands in defense he also instinctively activated Water Burst.

The Barracuda was cut clean through with a jet of water strong enough to slice boulders. It’s blood and guts sprayed all over the place but holding back a gag Aegaeon collected the pieces of the oversized fish and took them to shore so that he and Clarissa could eat something besides berries and mushrooms.

Checking his notifications left Aegaeon astounded.

Swimming up 8

Water Burst up 4

Dagger Work up 5

Water Manipulation up 6

Water’s Emissary up 5

Holding breath up 11

Warning! Skills can evolve. Doing so drains a lot of energy from oneself. Insufficient energy can render a person unconscious for days and may even result in death.

Warning, Holding Breath skill has a chance to evolve. Skill levels will transfer to new skill. Would you like to proceed? Y or N?

Selecting yes made Aegaeon’s eyes black out for a moment and he had a massive headache. It felt as if that barracuda had switched places with him and he was the one in pieces on the ground. Maybe he should have waited until he was rested before upgrading a skill? Looking at the new skill made Aegaeon’s eyes open wide with excitement and wonder.

Congratulations! Holding Breath has evolved into Water’s Respite due to synergy with other skills.

New Skill: Water’s Respite, this skill enables the user to breath underwater. Being in water strengthens and heals user. This effect is increased with skill level.