Loran had looked for Zed near his shelter but the older player had already woken up by then. He then checked The Pit for him, only to find the others sitting and eating. Realizing that Zed was also either eating or just waking up, Loran decided to wait a while before asking for a spar, after all, he was in no rush.

“So is everyone enjoying the update?” Loran said sarcastically as he sat down with Soze, Yin, and Yang.

“No,” Yin said, glaring at him with bags under her eyes.

“How are you not absolutely miserable right now?” Yang asked as she rubbed her face. “You’re always tired and you couldn’t have gotten any more sleep than the rest of us.”

“The benefits of chronic exhaustion, having more or less sleep doesn’t change how tired I feel. Although,” Loran blinked, rubbing his face, “I do feel less tired than I normally would right now.”

“I don’t believe sleep works like that,” Yin said skeptically.

“It does for me.”

“Weren’t you complaining about us not letting you sleep last week?” Soze asked, his eyes narrowing. “If it doesn’t matter how much you sleep then what was that about?”

“I always want to sleep, always,” he emphasized. “If I don’t have anything better to do I can sleep for whole days.”

“...And you’re like this in reality too?”

“Yep.”

The three players exchanged a look, somewhere between astonishment, concern, and resignation.

“...There’s something wrong with you,” Soze said, with Yin nodding in agreement.

“Ha, if I had a nickel for every time I heard that… well, it wouldn’t be much, but you get the point.

“Yeah,” Yang said while the other two were still staring at Loran. “So if you’d rather be asleep right now why are you up?”

“Couldn’t stop thinking about the update, I wanted to see what features got picked. Then when I saw that magic was added I spent the last two hours messing around with that.”

“Oh? And how is it?” Yin asked, her lack of gaming experience making her curious.

“Honestly, this might just be the most interesting magic system I've ever seen.”

“Really?” Yang asked. “Better than Ancient Tome 5?”

“AT5 was an awesome game when it didn’t bug out and launch you into orbit but the magic system wasn’t that special,” Loran said dismissively. “Even ShatterCaster was more creative, and that was just a battle royale game.”

“Do you kiddos mind not leaving us out of the loop?” Soze asked, looking between them unamused.

“The point is I’ve played a ton of games with magic systems, everything from the triple-A giants to the experimental Indie titles, and while I can’t call this the best just yet I’m very curious to see where it goes.”

Loran went on to explain the mechanics he discovered through his experimentation. Yang was surprised to hear how close it was to direct thought control, while all of them agreed that the setup was very interesting.

“It certainly seems flexible,” Soze said.

“Anything other than attack spells?” Yang asked.

“Not yet, that’s either going to be higher-level magic or I need to figure out how to change the mana quality.” Loran shrugged. “I’ve only had it for a few hours, this stuff is going to take time.”

“True, there’s no need to rush this sort of thing,” Yin said. “You’ve already managed to hurt yourself with that flattening spell.”

Loran waved his hand dismissively. “I’ll be fine. I’ve only ever blown myself up twice.”

“Then maybe we shouldn’t tempt fate alright?” Yang said with a slight smirk. “Still, I’m glad I’m not learning magic, needing to use AP to learn spells seems a little harsh.”

“Is it?” Yin seemed skeptical. Players used Ability Points to learn Skills all the time, why would spells be any different?

“Being a spellcaster in most games is entirely different from being a melee fighter,” Yang explained. “For a melee build, Skills are usually like a bonus. A way to do a lot of damage at once or something. But for spellcasters, magic is their only effective method of attack. Imagine if I was only allowed to attack with a big downward ax chop.” She shrugged, picking up her bowl of soup. “I guess I could pull it off, but not having any flexibility is a huge downside.”

Yin nodded, understanding the situation better.

“So I’m guessing that would be one of your nitpicks with the setup?” Soze asked Loran.

“Actually, I kind of like it.”

Yang lurched forward as she nearly spat out her soup in surprise. “What the fuck?”

“Yeah, I’m going to need an explanation for that one kiddo.”

Loran shrugged. “Don’t get me wrong, it makes playing as a spellcaster harder, but it doesn’t seem like an impossible hurdle. Besides, I think the system is balanced for that high AP cost.”

“In what way?”

“Remember how I mentioned that the damage was scaling quickly? That was with only three or four levels worth of AP, and my damage output is enough to burn through even Yang’s HP at level 18.”

Yin and Soze were both surprised by this information, but Yang practically flinched at the idea. While player skill was the most important factor in combat, a large level gap was something that eventually became too large for any amount of talent to beat. The difference between level 5 and level 18 wasn’t too great, but that gap wasn’t being closed by strategy or skill, it was just the system making one objectively better.

‘No, not quite,’ she calmed herself. “That’s not with burst damage, right? Just continuous low-level spells?”

“Yeah, don’t worry,” Loran chuckled, “you’re not going to get one-shoted anytime soon.”

That made a bit more sense, if it was just wearing her down she would probably take a lot of damage, but she would eventually close in and be able to take down their weaker body. Such was the case with magic users in most games.

Still, having that kind of damage output would be relevant even ten or twenty levels later. Just as Loran said the damage scaling was impressive, but manageable if the bulk of a spellcaster’s AP were being used to learn new spells.

“But didn’t you say you refused to learn several spells?” Yin realized. “Why pass up on them if you don’t think they’re too expensive?”

Loran’s mouth curved into an ambitious grin. “The same reason Alexx barely raises his AGI.”

Yang’s eyes widened. “You’re going to try min-maxing?”

“Basically. Learning the spells makes them easier to cast, but it’s also limiting. The change from attacking with 1 MP and 5 MP isn’t that difficult, and definitely not worth a whole Ability Point.”

“That’s true,” Soze nodded. “Maybe if you could know what spells to learn ahead of time it would be worth it, but there’s going to be a lot of trial and error with the current setup.”

“Exactly. If any spell I learn can just be outpaced by a little practice then I’ll just learn without the system. Besides,” Loran held up a hand and caused three beads of mana to appear, floating in a circle. “Discovering new spells is going to require having better control over mana. I can’t get better by letting the system do it for me.” He then clenched his fist, letting go of the mana as it escaped through his fingers.

The others were paying attention to Loran as best they could but were still somewhat distracted by their friend’s casual display of magic. He hadn’t thought to show off any magic during his explanation earlier, so this was their first time seeing it. Yin was the most mesmerized by the lights, having never experienced something so supernatural through VR before. Even Soze was distracted, as he was more familiar with hyper-realistic nature sims than anything that would include magic.

Yang, the most experienced with RPGs, was more surprised to see how easily Loran was now controlling the beads. He had said that when he learned the multi-shot spell it had been with the barest amount of control possible, but now the three beads were gliding smoothly around the palm of his hand. Another thought then occurred to her. “Hey, instead of just letting the mana fade, do you think you could reabsorb it?”

Loran glanced at her before his face scrunched up, considering the idea. “...I don’t see why not.”

Forming another bead of mana above his hand, Loran focused on it before letting the mana lose its shape. However, as the mana turned to mist, some of it clearly faded into his palm. Loran closed his eyes to concentrate on something for a moment before the corner of his mouth turned up in a slight smile.

“I’ll need to practice that more, but it should work.” He turned to Yang. “Thanks for the idea. You sure you don’t want to try learning magic?”

She shook her head. “Maybe if you ever learn a healing spell, but I’ll pass for now.”

“Right, healing spells....” Loran began muttering to himself as he became distracted by more spell ideas. He was so distracted that he didn’t notice the others trying to get his attention until he felt someone lightly kick him in the back. Looking upwards, Loran saw Zed standing over him with Alexx right next to him.

“Hey there magic man,” Zed said, a hungry look in his eyes.

“...Looks like we’re on the same page then.”

Zed blinked before a grin slowly spread across his face. “I guess so.”