Loran started by just putting a single point into INT to see what would change. His MP pool remained the same, so that was probably controlled by SPT, but he just couldn't see any change from the menu.

'Okay, but what about manipulation?'

Concentrating, Loran formed a ball of 5 MP. He was able to summon it slightly faster this time, not by much but it was slightly easier than before. Feeling this was a good sign, Loran then tried to increase the ball to 6 MP.

He was able to do it without issue.

'Alright, so INT controls how much mana I can manipulate,' he thought as he raised his INT to 10. 'I'll probably want that to be decently high.'

Since he had formed the spell, Loran decided to test how much better his control over the mana was. He began mashing the mana like he was playing with a lump of clay, applying pressure to different spots. Similar to before the individual beads of mana would squish, but now he could flatten them more and stretch them slightly as well, turning the half-inch-wide beads into roughly two-inch wide disks. He sent the disk towards the water and slipped in without a splash.

*DING*

'Making them flat counts as a spell? Does it make them sharper?'

It didn't seem likely. The system classed the damage done by Mana Dart as Magic damage as opposed to one of the physical damage types, so it probably wasn't going to do Slashing damage now.

He went into the menu to see the new spell, careful to not lose his control over the mana as he did so. The new spell had an INT requirement of 10, and after letting the system do its job he was shown the description.

[ _ _ _ ]

(Cost 1 MP) The caster fires a small blade of mana at a target dealing 2 Magic damage.

"So changing the shape made it stronger?"

Focusing his attention on a single flattened bead of mana, Loran realized that the energy around the edge of the disk felt...different.

'I still can't call that sharp, but what else would it be?' He reached out to touch the edge of the disk. The instant he made contact pain began shooting through his finger and he pulled back instinctively, losing concentration and letting the mana dissipate.

The wound on his finger was strange. It almost looked like it had been cut, but the flesh around it was torn and slightly jagged. The pain had almost felt like it was burning, but his finger showed no signs of heat damage and was bleeding quite a bit. He knew it would stop soon, but that didn't make it look any more pleasant.

"So a normal bead of mana can be touched, but flattening it makes it more dangerous. Good to know."

It at least gave an explanation as to why it dealt more damage. Changing the mana's shape also gave it a qualitative change, turning it from a harmless semisolid to something more volatile. After taking a moment to steady his breathing, he summoned up more mana to continue his experiments.

Moving the mana around some more, he realized that he could spread the beads further apart than he could before without separating them completely. Previously, they practically needed to be touching to still be part of the same spell, but now he had maybe an inch of space to spread them out, and when he flattened them into disks he could make a plate of mana about a foot wide in diameter.

'Not quite as large as I would like, but I guess this is a somewhat decent magic shield.'

Letting the mana disperse, Loran looked at his menu as he wondered how much he should put into SPT.

'Don't they usually have wisdom as the secondary spellcasting stat?' He had been wondering about it for a while. INT was a fairly common abbreviation for intelligence, which was frequently used as a stat for magic, but he had never seen SPT before. 'What does that stand for anyway? I guess it would be spirit or something?'

Loran shook his head, reminding himself to focus, before noticing that his MP bar had refilled more than it should have.

'Is it faster now? It was definitely something like 1 point every thirty seconds earlier.'

Watching it carefully now, Loran counted between the increases and the rate was now 1 point every fifteen seconds. Mildly surprised, Loran glanced down at his INT stat, the only thing that had changed since earlier.

'So more INT also increases my MP regen? This is almost starting to feel broken.'

If raising his INT increased his MP usage limit, his ability to manipulate mana, and how quickly it regenerated, it almost seemed like it would be a waste of time to try raising his SPT. It would raise his total MP and there would probably be more requirements to perform certain spells or learn magic-related Skills, but unless it also had some extra benefits he would probably treat it like Alexx treats his END stat.

Deciding to be cautious, Loran put a single point into SPT. Sure enough, his total MP grew to 60, but there was no other immediate change. Although, it wasn't as if the bonuses from INT were outwardly advertised either, so Loran summoned some mana to play with. After a few minutes, there didn't seem to be any change here either. Deciding to gamble a bit, Loran raised his SPT to 10, thinking that the bonuses might be too small to notice with a single point difference.

And he turned out to be right. As he raised the stat, he began to notice a change in the mana he was holding as well as the mana in his body. He didn't notice it at first, but the feeling the energy gave off was different in a way he struggled to describe.

'It almost feels...more excited? It's sort of similar to the flattened mana, but not as volatile.' It wasn't any harder to control, and the change was so minor he wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't been concentrating on holding the mana, but it definitely changed.

Unable to find another way to understand the change, Loran sent the spell flying at a fish in the river. Everything seemed the same up until the point where the bolt hit the water, creating a larger splash despite having the same amount of mana as the earlier spell. After a moment, blood began to pool in the river, and two halves of a fish surfaced.

"Hm, maybe potent is the right word."

Curious, Loran opened the spell page and saw that the description for Mana Dart had been changed.

[MANA DART]

(Cost 1 MP) The caster fires a dart of mana at a target dealing 2 Magic damage.

'The damage scaled with SPT that quickly?' Loran stared wide-eyed.

One level's worth of Ability Points was enough to double his damage! Additionally, since it was also increasing his total MP, that meant he could use more spells which would increase his overall damage output as well as the effectiveness of each spell. He would need stronger spells to see if the pace remained the same, but this was astonishing. Loran immediately discarded any thoughts of putting fewer points into SPT.

'That much damage scaling is too much to pass up on. Honestly, maybe I should focus more on that instead of INT.'

Loran was deep in thought as he stared at his stats. After raising both INT and SPT to 10 he now had 21 Ability Points to distribute, the question now was how. A part of him simply wanted to keep the two stats even, both for simplicity in addition to knowing that both stats would be crucial going forward, but he knew that these were going to be the last Ability Points he was going to have for quite some time since he can't afford to level up before they find a new source of EXP.

Raising INT would not only let him last longer by giving him more MP regen, but INT also seemed to be the sole stat required to learn new spells. Mana Dart hadn't needed any SPT, and checking his notifications showed that this was the same for the other spells he had triggered. Greater INT was a necessity if he wanted to explore this magic system.

Meanwhile, more SPT would greatly increase his damage output both by increasing his MP pool, but also by increasing its potency. INT could also raise his damage but would require more concentration. Doing some quick maths, Loran realized that raising SPT to 25 would give him over 1200 damage that he can deal with a full MP bar, and that was just with the basic Mana Dart!

Eventually, he decided to raise INT to 15 and SPT to 20, leaving 6 AP unspent. That much SPT should be enough for his damage to be relevant, the extra MP regen from the INT should help for long hunting trips, and he still has some room for more experimentation. A part of him was hesitant to leave that much AP unspent, but with two new stats, there was an increased possibility of him discovering a new Skill or even a spell that he would want to be able to cast quickly.

"There's still so much I need to test out," Loran said, thoughts racing from one idea to the next. "Can I increase the piercing power of my bolts by shaping them more like arrows? What about a CC spell? A net is probably too much for me right now, but maybe some kind of magic rope to trip up an enemy? Can I do telekinesis, or will that be something higher level?"

Just as many players had been enamored by their ability to create Skills with the Pioneer System, Loran was abnormally excited to research and discover new spells. As much as he understood how impressive the Pioneer System was, it was a little too random for his tastes; too out of player control.

Very few games gave their players the ability to directly create their own abilities, and while Loran had played a few Indie titles that let him do that they mostly worked by breaking things into interchangeable pieces. Although this still had some limitations put on it for the sake of balance, it was far more organic and engaging than anything he had experienced before.

Loran forced himself to calm down before getting up to go looking for Zed. As much as he wanted to continue experimenting, he knew that every magic system was different, and it was time to see what magic combat looked like in New Eden Online.