Lex Lionheart : Level 1 Coedan Scout : Essence Capacity 0 / 630 (0.263 per day)

Status :

Health :

50 / 50 (0.89 / day)

Energy :

70 / 70 (1.16 / minute)

Mana :

40 / 40 (0.67 / minute)

Will :

115 / 115 (1.92 / minute)

Attributes :

Mind :

Acuity : 125 (Wit, Perception)

Intellect: 115 (Will, Focus)

Memory : 120 (Learning, Capacity)

Body :

Dexterity : 195 (Agility, Control)

Physique : 60 (Strength, Endurance)

Fortitude : 50 (Health, Resistance)

Soul :

Spirit : 40 (Mana, Affinity)

Faith : 125 (Tribute, Transference)

Essence : 63 (Capacity, Retention)

Traits :

Prehensile Tail :

(Innate)

Rank 1 / 3

You possess a tail capable of grasping things and manipulating objects.

+25 Dexterity

Polydactyly :

(Innate)

You have evolved to have six fingers on each hand.

+15 Dexterity

+20 Small Blade Skill

+20 Lockpicking

Diminutive Form :

(Innate)

Your body is small, weak, but nimble.

-50 Fortitude (-50 Health)

-40 Physique (-30 Energy, -50 Strength)

+45 Dexterity

Coedan Conviction :

(Innate)

You have an innately efficient transference of Tribute.

+25% Transference (+25 Faith)

Magically Deprived :

(Innate)

Your mana pool is too shallow to support a strong spirit.

-60 Mana (-60 Spirit)

Scholarly Education :

(Learnt)

From an early age you have benefited from a noble education, culminating in your mastery of the mystical art of ‘Chemistry’.

+5 Intellect

+5 Memory

Unlocks Alchemy Tree

Psionic Construct :

(Augmentations)

You have a highly advanced psionic construct assisting your thoughts.

+10 Intellect

+15 Memory

Class :

Scout :

(Base Class)

You have chosen to focus on the path of a scout.

+25 Acuity

Unlocks Stealth Tree

Unlocks Mobility Tree

Unlocks Observation Tree

Abilities :

Muted Body:

(Stealth Tree)

Cost : 5 Energy / Second

Rank 1 / 5

You can imbue your body with Energy that muffles noises that you make.

150% Stealth

The original Zed had left to prepare ‘tests’ for them, without really elaborating what that might entail. They had been too dazed by information overload to stop him. He had left them with armour and weapons to practice with and told them to direct any questions they had to the constructs he had gifted them. As he left the doors closed behind him, the heavy stone doors dragging over the floor with no apparent effort from the giant jellyfish. Trapped in the strange birthing chamber together, they tried to process the wealth of information their constructs bombarded them with.

They guessed that 100 was the average value based on Mike’s attributes. As a human priest his values seemed to be relatively similar to what they would have been on Earth. Their constructs confirmed this, explaining that it had been the mages of a long dead human civilisation, known as the Atevani, who had created what came to be known as the Character system. The constructs had managed to link themselves together at Ben’s request. When they did so they became visible to everyone, and the additional party screen, Test Group 7, appeared.

Test Group 7

Party Member

Health

Energy

Mana

Will

Lex Lionheart (Level 1 Scout)

50 / 50

60 / 60

40 / 40

115 / 115

Natalya Khana (Level 1 Champion)

200 / 200

125 / 125

10 / 10

75 / 75

Saemon Silverleaf (Level 1 Mage)

90 / 90

90 / 90

300 / 300

140 / 140

Saint Mike (Level 1 Priest)

100 / 100

100 / 100

100 / 100

115 / 115

After figuring out that 100 was normal, Ben was trying to calm down Mel. She was freaking out that her highest mental attribute was only 75. By itself this might not have been too alarming, but Mel had started to notice changes in herself as well. It seemed that her transplanted consciousness had caught up to her new mind. If a person’s memories and experiences defined who they were, then Mel had lost a part of herself.

Alex sympathised with her but was a bit preoccupied wallowing in self-pity at his own abysmal scores. In terms of raw attribute scores, he was by far the worst off in their group. Maybe it was selfish to complain, but Mel had five times more health than him. She had an attack called Brute Strike that could kill him in a few hits using only her powered-up fists.

When Alex was picking classes the Scout class had seemed to fit best with his general concept of a master thief. It hadn’t seemed a bad choice at the time; it had given him access to several cool sounding skill trees. He was also getting some nice mileage out of his chemistry degree by unlocking the Alchemy tree for free. Sadly, none of the trees he could go down were particularly combat oriented. As a result, he didn’t have a single damaging ability. When he picked up a dagger all he got was the ‘Attack’ ability.

Attack :

(Equipped Weapon : Dagger)

2 Energy

You have a dagger you can attack with.

70% Base Accuracy

2-3 Damage

0.51 Second Cooldown

According to their constructs they only displayed information they deemed important or useful, and that was only a fraction of the data available. When Ben complained about this his Zed claimed that irrelevant information would only distract them. Alex’s construct had only shown him the dagger attack when it became relevant to him. It was pretty crap, but at least it was something. Alex had tried picking up various weapons, but his construct determined the dagger to give him the best damage per second. It wasn’t too surprising given his size and strength; he couldn’t even lift Mel’s great axe.

The constructs acted like psychic AI assistants. They had no physical bodies, and they claimed to live in the souls of their hosts, feeding off what they insisted was a negligible amount of the energies found there. It was worrying to think that Zed had implanted soul parasites inside them, but in the end, it was just one more thing to add to their growing list of problems to worry about later. He had to admit that they were handy in a world that had no calculators or internet.

Alex started to consider his options. This whole situation is crazy, but it all seems so real. How would I even know if I was dreaming?

“I can answer that if you would like Alex. Lucid dreaming is commonly used as a training tool by psychics like my creator, so I have a good understanding of the subject. Try pinching your nose and closing your mouth if you can still breath you are dreaming.” The construct said from inside Alex’s head. Its incorporeal body was floating above his left shoulder and was currently glowing a bright blue. Somehow Alex knew that it was looking at him.

“Ah fuck. Is this thing… Are you always listening?” Alex thought, trying, and failing to keep his thoughts in check.

“I live inside your soul. Your body, mind and soul are all connected, so if you think something, I will be aware of it.” The construct thought back.

So, I can say goodbye to ever having privacy again. I have a parasitic spy feeding off my life force, that also reports everything I do to its master. Alex thought sourly. He suspected the construct could still hear him, but he didn’t know how to keep his thoughts private.

His parasite went silent at this, and despite his anger Alex had the ludicrous thought that he had offended it.

“I am not offended. I am a being of logic, unaffected by emotions. Zed gave me the memories of her knowledge, but not of her experiences or personality… I should make clear that I was created for the sole purpose of aiding you. If I did have emotions then being immediately labelled a parasite would be, what you might consider, hurtful. I was considering how to reply in a way that would reduce your unease. You need not worry about me spying on you. Just because I can hear your thoughts doesn’t mean I will share them with others.” The construct explained. Despite its claim of indifference Alex was sure he could detect an irritated undercurrent to its thoughts.

“Zed is a woman?” Alex asked curiously. His mind was a little numb to all that was going on, and so it had latched onto this one trivial detail.

“Yes, but it is irrelevant; the only difference between males and females in her species is who lays the eggs. They do not have the obsession with gender that humans have. My point is that she might have made me, but it is you who birthed me. Your soul nurtures me, and though I have my own mind, it is only through your body and soul that I experience the world.” The construct replied.

Alex was getting emotional whiplash. He felt reassured that the construct wasn’t going to hurt him if its survival depended on him. Unfortunately, Alex got the distinct impression that he had pissed her off. Not only that, but she had basically implied that he was her mother. How was he supposed to react to that? I’ve started thinking of my soul squatter as a person. Should I name her or something?

“I don’t require a name, but if it makes you feel better, I wouldn’t object to having one. Most constructs don’t have one, though I am far more sophisticated than the average construct.” The construct thought to Alex, pride tinting her thoughts. Maybe it was his acuity kicking in, but he surmised that she might actually like to have a name.

“What about Zelda?” He thought. He then cringed a little inside when he realised what he had done.

“Yes, that is a good name. Why do you have second thoughts about it though?” The construct asked.

“I stole it from a video game.” Alex thought at it, accompanying the thought with an image of a pointy eared princess and an irritating blue fairy.

“So, you are a shameless thief, and I am a parasite with a stolen name. It isn’t the worst name in the world. It is a perfectly adequate name for a parasite, I suppose.” Zelda replied.

It was taking Zed a suspiciously long time to return. Alex passed the time quizzing Zelda about his Character sheet. He had begun to gather that none of the other constructs were quite as talkative, nor as snarky as Zelda. For the most part they only responded when asked a direct question. He had tried following her advice on lucid dreaming, attempting to breathe with his mouth closed, and his nose pinched. All he got for his efforts was strange looks from his teammates as he went blue in the face. When he explained what he was doing they all gave it a go. None of them had any success, but they had a good laugh at how ridiculous they all looked.

Alex had started to come up with the vague notion of a plan: don’t die. What didn’t bode well for Alex was that he was coming to realize that the more risks he avoided, the more his progression would stagnate. According to Zelda, essence harvesting was a well-studied phenomenon. It was a process that was incredibly wasteful. To get the most out of a kill you needed to be right next to it when it died, and the person who dealt the killing blow took most of the essence anyway. For a melee powerhouse like Mel this would suit her well.

With his terrible health pool Alex couldn’t afford to take risks. Ben has been right when he said one solid hit might kill him. His high dexterity might help, but he couldn’t rely on it alone. Even if he avoided being hit 99% of the time, the remaining 1% could mean death. If he had just been playing a game then he would have risked it, but with his life on the line he was less willing to roll the dice. All this meant was that Alex had decided that he had to find a nice, boring, and safe way to make ends meet. It seemed a bit of a shame given the game-like nature of this fantasy world, but Alex had never been the type to put his life on the line.

Mel had calmed down a bit once she had established with her construct that she could gradually regain her mind. Each time a creature reached their essence capacity they could level up and get a boost to one aspect of their Character. Mel and Ben were currently strategizing the best way to get her mind back to normal. If they shared Alex’s natural aversion to bloodshed, they didn’t show it. Perhaps they were motivated by Mel’s predicament; or perhaps their superior attributes gave them a sense of confidence.

Mike was also having a tough time accepting his current situation. His template had heard Mel talk about her chosen character and had decided it would be cool to have a shared backstory. To that end he had decided to play as a priest of Telman. Paying tribute to a bloodthirsty god didn’t fit well with him. Said tribute wasn’t only the odd prayer or sacrificed goat. Tribute was an actual resource created by mortal souls; it was like mana for gods. Unfortunately, the priest class got all of their abilities from their patron god, and this is what Mike was having an issue with. He couldn’t even switch to a different god due to a pesky soul contract that Zed had saddled him with...

All conversation came to a halt as the giant stone doors scraped loudly open, and Zed re-entered the room. Mike went at Zed, apparently undaunted by a psychic monster that could probably throw him around the room like a rag doll. This time he was wise enough not to throw a punch, instead choosing to loudly object to the soul contract made on his behalf. Apparently, the blessings Telman offered would be revoked immediately if Mike went against the terms of this covenant. As a warrior god these mostly concerned fighting often and fighting honourably. Fighting honourably is certainly not something I intend to do if I can avoid it. Alex thought to himself.

Zed floated passively as Mike ranted, until he seemed to run out of steam and just stared at her angrily.

“I am saddened that you feel this way Mike. If I could undo your contract I would do so, but the soul contract is an integral part of the priest class selection. It is locked in when you select the class and the deity you wish to serve. I followed your Character instructions to the letter, controlling your vessel to make the compact on your behalf.” Zed pulsed a dark blue colour that Alex guessed indicated regret, thought she didn’t exactly sound full of sorrow.

“Great… So, if you can’t get rid of it who can?” Mike asked through clenched teeth.

“I do not know. Perhaps a different god could do so, but even outside the Bhasmar empire few gods would be willing to defy Telman without due cause. Perhaps if you drew his notice you could negotiate something with him. As far as gods go Telman is known to be an honourable god, his code prevents him from breaking his word once given.” Zed replied.

Mike looked thoughtful as he considered Zeds reply. He still looked resentful standing there with his arms crossed, but eventually gave her an acquiescing nod.

“I hope you are still happy to participate in my test. I have finished preparing it.” Zed said.

“What is this test? Don’t get all cryptic with us buddy.” Mike replied tersely.

“It is a test of your ability to integrate with the system. I have rounded up some of my minions for you to fight. It should be well within your capabilities. They have lower base attributes than you and are little more than dumb animals. My control over them isn’t absolute, but I can make it, so they only attack you a few at a time. Overall, it should be a good opportunity for you to gain some essence doing what you humans do best. Killing things.” Zed elaborated.

“You have minions?” Ben asked, an excited grin plastered over his face.

“This lair was once home to a maur queen. They are much like the ants of your world, but larger and with jaws capable of tunnelling through stone. My psychic strength was vastly superior to her primitive abilities, and so I assumed control of the lair from her. It is well hidden and suits my purposes adequately.

“You want us to fight giant ants that can eat through stone?” Alex asked nervously, the dagger in his hand feeling woefully inadequate.

“They don’t exactly eat the stone. They slowly scrape it away to carve tunnels and chambers.” She explained.

“Oh ok, that doesn’t sound dangerous at all then.” Alex replied sarcastically.

Alex had a few more objections, but his teammates were keen to test their powers in a real fight. Mel and Ben were practically champing at the bit for what, to them at least, was a chance to flex their powers and farm some easy essence. Even Mike, for all his complaining, seemed keen to see how well the blessings of his war god stood up in a fight. I guess I’m the only one who is just hoping that I don’t get eaten by ants.