Chapter 14.5: Sickness and Senses

They never did run into his pursuers. Those men didn’t know Trint’s secrets and were just some of the many trying to rob or take advantage of the freshly ascended. By the time Trint hit the city’s outskirts, he was sensing about 3 feet beyond himself with no issues. When they passed the first appearance of level 5 instances, he had reached 7 feet. Then when they finally came to a level 17 instance, Trint perceived about 15 feet from himself.

‘Stop here. Your ability is barely passable for use in close quarters battle. But you are doing well for day one.’ Pneuma admonished.

‘Pneuma, how far can you sense? It seems you can do that even when I’m unaware of it.’ Trint wondered.

‘Yes, I can sense further and without your awareness. I am a creature of Spirit and Soul. If I were to share my awareness, the stimulus would likely cause your mind and spirit to explode, and your brain would leak out your ears.’

‘Are you serious?’ Trint was horrified by the image.

‘No, Trint, can’t you tell when I’m joking yet?’ Pneuma said matter-of-factly. He kept his lecture rolling, though.

‘We are bound together, but I can still use our Spirit more efficiently to reach further than you.’ Pneuma continued. ‘I am using your spirit and combining some of my own to get to about 100 yards away almost continually. When I stretch to see further, I can see about 1000 yards or maybe a mile if the density of matter is low. In a crowded group of people, it becomes taxing to perceive and process the information. Your Mind stats are too low for me to borrow from you. And access to my own is limited. Especially from what I am truly capable of. When we progress and more fully unlock your Spirit stats, we can splash deeply into the waves of an army, see attacks coming from great distances, and account for everyone around us. At that time, we will be unhindered by enemies near and far in battle. An unstoppable force of destruction. Then our enemies will fear us, and monsters and tyrants will bow before you.’ A smile accompanied Pneuma’s dreams of their future that Trint’s mind perceived. Not evil but knowing and happy. Like only a king whose knights were genuinely loyal and whose armies would gladly die for him. None would betray him, and his victory was assured.

’Wow, why do your shared thoughts keep reminding me of a king?’ Trint asked.

‘Oh, Trint, haven’t I told you? I am a king. My kingdom is not of this iteration. And king is a rather weak title for what I am and do. But now I am here to help you, not talk about my past. So focus.’

‘Ok,’ Trint paused, collecting his thought and trying to remember the details of Pneuma’s dropped bread crumbs to his past. ‘So you were saying, you can currently see everything around us for about a mile away in all directions in wide-open spaces. That and you seem confident in what your abilities can do in the future. I don’t know whether to be impressed or just ask you to tone it down.’ Trint half-joked. ‘

‘Yes, every direction. Even up and down. Though through the ground is much harder to perceive, decreasing distance greatly. I ignore 95% of the stimulus, only looking at movement or other occurrences of Spirit, and of course, a heartbeat is easy to watch for. I bother with more focus through the ground if we run into subterranean creatures. Water and fluids are difficult to perceive. Not impossible, just different things to focus on and many things to ignore.’ Pneuma explained.

‘Ok, feel free to look at your stats if you need to, grab some food, and rest for a bit.’ Pneuma directed. ‘Then run this level 17 instance. If it is a good one, I’ll have you repeat it for a while till you reach level 17, or I might make you wait till 18. That’s only if you get lazy.’ Pneuma directed. Trint reviewed the most recent update to his stats since he was previously occupied with running from the ‘Crimson recruiters.’

‘Pneuma, I’m excited to see the stats increase.’ Trint started saying, ‘I’m not exactly happy a lot of the Exp came from killing those men. Even if it was necessary and ultimately self-defense. My question is, why did I have such a strong reaction to the increase. Also, that power pulse seemed important, or at least different.’

‘Trint, first,’ Pneuma paused; you must prepare for more death and killing. But you make a good observation.’ Pneuma began explaining, ‘I have seen many things in my existence. There are still things I haven’t seen or don’t yet understand. If I had to guess, I would assume it has something to do with your benefactor. But there is also a chance that it has to do with you. I have been wondering why. Why did your benefactor choose you? I have been considering a few reasons, and now my primary hypothesis is that you are uniquely you. Not just that, you are special and therefore picked for adoption. You became special when you were adopted and also adopted because you are special. I know that doesn’t sound very clear. It is both. Not one or the other. My concern now is parsing out what makes Trint special. Because we are tied and bound together. I need to know you, Trint. The problem is you don’t know yourself. Not really. Not before and not now. But you are not alone, and we will find the truth together.

I am not some trinket, magic skill, or simply a companion. It is our job to determine what makes you unique, primarily how that works with who you are now, post-adoption, and after bonding with me. The higher you ascend, the more the mana density increases. I foresee more surprises are to be revealed. But we won’t know till they happen or the system shows you something.’

‘For the time being, you must focus on your skills. The Mana density increased from i11 to i10, but your Body and Mind will adapt, and utilizing the new power you can exert requires more resources for each skill you use and burns through the mana for your channeled skills. Maintaining your active skills will be a constant drain. But with higher stat totals, you are much more powerful than before. You won’t be able to run your skills infinitely with your current pools. Now you need to adjust and balance your new power with the SP and MP pools.’ Pneuma lectured.

‘When you get to level 21, you will be ready to go to i9, but you will be weak in i9 because your pool becomes less efficient the higher you go. The only way to powerfully use your Mind and Body resources more efficiently is to supplement their use with Spirit and Soul. It’s like getting stronger and stronger but being forced to carry heavier weights as you level up. But you are only eating the same quantity of food. Eventually, you won’t have enough fuel to keep up with your needs. In higher iterations, the increased density of resources and the increased pool of your resources keep most people relatively equal to the tasks of matched-level progression through instances. That forces most to slowly progress a level at a time. Until one day, they access Spirit. That is a qualitative increase that can’t easily be quantified. Spirit is like that same weight lifter realizing the heaviest weight is nothing more than styrofoam if he uses his spirit. The fuel he used before was inferior. Spirit will allow you to use Mind and Body stats in powerful ways without burning up your Mana or Stamina. It can catalyze them, though, and make your Stamina Spirit infused, and your Order of magic can guide your Mana. That is why the power gained in harnessing Spirit multiplies your power. When we used our pairing to harness Spirit, that made our power against those men several multiples of what they could do, they were like toddlers before a bear. Their toy swords couldn’t scratch you. They couldn’t comprehend the threat before them.’

‘You said Order,” Trint stopped Pneuma ‘What is magic order?”

‘You caught that?’ Pneuma asked. ‘I will explain that soon. Not yet, though. One last thing about Spirit. Most of those who harness Spirit won’t be that effective with it till reaching the Ancient Realms. You, on the other hand, will have me. We will work together, and I will introduce you to friends who can show you how to cultivate your spirit in ways even I can’t. Hopefully, you don’t break your Spirit before then.’

‘Time for you to figure out i10, but let’s see how fast you can get to i9. I want you to be level 21 and be ready to ascend again in 40 days, or 1 iteration month,’ Pneuma challenged. ‘That will require work and minimal rest. That’s why we packed extra food.’

Trint pulled up his notes on the iterations:

I10: Levels 1-20 (1-year life span starting at arrival)

I9: Levels 21-30 (10 years life span starting at arrival)

‘Pneuma, you think it is possible to grow six levels in 40 days?’ Trint asked. ‘I have a year to get to level 21 to ascend. And you are saying 40 days without using our combined forms?’

‘That all depends on you. How much sleep you want, how many silly questions you ask, and how much pain you’re willing to take. If you cut your sleeping and comfort down by staying out here and sleeping in the finished instances, then my best calculation is that you can do it in a week. If you are willing to fight above your level. Besides, there isn’t anything in i10 cities that there won’t be better options for in i9. In a couple more iterations, we will start you in a profession and prioritize cultivating your spirit in i7. Right now, there isn’t time. So, I suggest we avoid other people and keep pushing deeper into the wilderness as you level and focus on your fighting skills.’

‘What about our hunting form?’ Trint wondered about learning to fight in the combined form.

‘That will come later. Just focus on your skills for now. They are good practice, even if you don’t end up using them down the road. The higher we get, the easier to maintain the forms, and the better it will be for you to practice without me taking control. Learning the basics of skill use will help you harness system-given powers. Eventually, we will be able to fight in our shared state and many other things you never dreamed of.’

‘What does that even mean?’ Trint was curious. ‘You constantly throw out those teasers. It’s a little annoying.’ Trint was also a bit frustrated.

‘Don’t worry about that right now.’ Pneuma redirected. ‘Skills are your focus. And resource management. Your gear is now mostly under-leveled, so don’t treat them like armor anymore. They are just there to provide cover for your body. And I don’t want you asking for better gear. I will let you upgrade if these completely fall apart. Besides, you must learn to avoid getting hit and not depend on armor to protect you. That is just lazy. And I refuse to let you be lazy anymore. Time to work.’