The next day was spent packing as many calories as I could while I laid on the couch at the outpost and during the ride back to the archives. The brothers had dropped off in bed with a giant selection of foods and a promise to check up on the next day. I once again had no idea what I would have done without them. Our chance first eting was turning into one of the most important events of my life.
I had just finished my second roast chicken when I decided my core had enough energy to unlock Sling, and while I likely had enough for Lesser Regeneration as well, there was no sense in wasting the mana until I had my bones into the proper places before I turned it on. I put four of my pending skill points into it as well, bringing it up to five ranks. Imdiately, I felt so relief as a shwork of mana ford around both of my legs, with a much stronger presence on my right one. The pain was in no way gone, but it felt like the bones were no longer grinding against each other for the mont. A new System ssage popped into my view.
Estimated Ti Until Bone Repair
9 Days
My jaw almost dropped as I read that. Only nine days to repair the level of damage my ankle had suffered was sothing amazing. I knew this wouldn’t do much for the bursa tears, but that was what regeneration would be for. It seed I also had a few new completed and uncompleted quests. I clicked into the nu to see just what I had done.
Rank 5 Reached in a Mana Skill!
Second Tier Mana Skill Unlocked!
Rank 5 Reached in a Second Tier Mana Skill!
Reach a Combined 30 Ranks in Mana Skills
Rank 10 Reached in a Mana Skill
Third Tier Mana Skill Unlocked
Rank 10 Reached in a Second Tier Mana Skill
Each one of the completed quests had given five skill ranks, as well as enough experience to push to level thirty-five, which in turn boosted my available skill ranks again by another two per level gained. This had created a bit of a feedback loop as I was reasonably sure I could now complete the rest of the skill quests I had available and further add skill points and experience. I quickly started clicking through things, dumping my available skills into Inner Vitality and Sling as rapidly as I could and checking new quests as they appeared to see just how far this loop could take .
I was able to easily finish off all the new quests besides the third-tier mana skill by increasing my Sling and Inner Vitality skills, which in turn unlocked three more quests and pushed up to level thirty-nine.
Rank 50 Reached in a Mana Skill
Rank 50 Reached in a Second Tier Mana Skill
Reach a Combined 100 Ranks in Mana Skills
I invested more skill points into Sling only to find I wasn’t able to go beyond twenty-five, locking out of reaching any further quest completions at the mont. At least with these, the System Inford how to increase my ranks further. Every rank increase on the mana orb itself raised the skill cap by five points for the corresponding tier. It did the sa for each lower tier, with the added effect of granting one extra point above the base increase for every tier down. For example, once I hit rank two on the Life orb, it would increase my skill cap by six points for tier one, and once I hit rank three, it would increase the sa tier by seven points. This ant it was always easier to max out lower-level mana skills than it was higher ones.
I invested the rest of my skill points into bumping Soul-Core Bonding up to Twenty-Five and Inner Vitality up to Seven. I was reasonably sure that the Soul-Core Bonding skill would help rank up my mana orbs faster, so that was a priority if I wanted to push my healing. The good news was even with the maximum I was stuck at for the mont, my bone repair ti had dropped to seven days. That was a lot of progress for thirty minutes of work.
I spent the next hour chowing down on more food and relaxing my body as much as I could. I still hadn’t put anything into Pain Managent as I only had enough skill points left to max out Lesser Regeneration, and that seed the way I should go. Pain Managent would be most useful in the middle of combat in keeping myself focused, I reasoned.
Checking my core reserves before I progressed any further, I was glad to see I was back up to about half, and the drain from Sling wasn’t as impactful as I had worried it would be. So, I unlocked Lesser Regeneration and put all my remaining skill points into it. I had no idea if I was hurting my growth long term in doing this, but it was sothing I had to do. I felt a strange sensation spread across my body, almost like a million tiny fingers touching . It lasted about ten minutes, and I was glad when it was over. Initially, I wasn’t sure I could stay sane with that feeling if it was going to last that way forever.
My bone repair ti was now down to two days, and my Inner Vitality was showing that all my issues were now being worked on, and assuming no further damage, I would be in pri health again in about six months. I wasn’t even sure what that would feel like anymore, as it had been so long since my twenties, and I had gotten used to various parts of my body creaking as I moved. Sure, I woke up with a little back pain every morning, but that was a sign of age. Now, I’d have to get used to the idea of that aning that sothing was really wrong instead of being a thing I took a couple of pain pills for and ignored.
How far did this go, was my lifespan increased as well? I knew Sanquar was incredibly old, but for all I knew, that was also his average lifespan. Wait, had he always had the bird form, or was that part of his banishnt? I realized as I thought these new questions that I really knew nothing about the man who had sent here. Pryte and Elody had both given stories, but with so much ti having passed, who knew how much was true? Elody herself said she hadn’t been alive at the ti. I needed to know about the history of the Arena Spiral, and since I still had a couple of days of recovery ahead of , that was just how I would spend them: reading.
While that was a great plan for tomorrow, today, I was still stuck in bed, and my brain wasn’t nearly ready to shut off for so more sleep. I began looking through the visible mana skills that hadn’t yet unlocked. Sling had a line that combined with dical Teletry to a new skill that I couldn’t see yet. I followed the second line instead and looked at the locked orb.
Mana Orb
Life
Tier
3
Orb Rank
Skill
Cast
Requirent
Sling (15)
Cast further refines the Sling skill, allowing the host to better immobilize bone damage. This skill allows even the worst of comminuted fractures to be healed with Sling. Further ranks increase how much destruction of bone that Sling is able to repair.
Skill Rank
That was certainly sothing else I’d want to put points in as soon as I could. I imagine the more powerful the monsters beca, the more that was bound to be needed. I moved over to Lesser Regeneration and checked both of its new nodes.
Mana Orb
Life
Tier
3
Orb Rank
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Skill
Regeneration Efficiency
Requirent
Lesser Regeneration (15)
Regeneration efficiency decreases the rate of mana needed for lesser regeneration. Further ranks will allow for even less mana expenditure.
Skill Rank
Mana Orb
Life
Tier
3
Orb Rank
Skill
Regeneration Efficacy
Requirent
Lesser Regeneration (15)
Through the use of Regeneration Efficacy, the host is able to direct which parts of the body to focus their regeneration on at triple the speed. This halts regeneration effects on the rest of the body while repairing the singular location. Further ranks increase how many pieces of the body can be selected at one ti.
Skill Rank
Both of these were useful in their own ways. As it was, the use of my Lesser Regeneration had to be turned off every couple of hours to make sure Sling didn’t run out of mana. Using the first, I could likely get to a point where I never had to shut it off. The second also ant that if I wanted to, I could focus only on the worst parts first. Based on the wording, I had a feeling it would slow down the healing of my whole body in the long run, but in tis where I imdiately needed a hand to work again, it could be a life-saving skill.
Core Projection had two nodes to check, and I went through those next.
Mana Orb
Imbuing
Tier
2
Orb Rank
Skill
Elental Affinity
Requirent
Core Projection (10)
Elental Affinity allows the host to permanently align an item with an elental source. Further ranks in this skill increase the strength of the elent within the item.
Skill Rank
Mana Orb
Imbuing
Tier
2
Orb Rank
Skill
Magical Durability
Requirent
Core Projection (10)
Magical Durability allows the host to infuse their own mana into an item, greatly increasing its ability to resist damage. Further ranks in this skill increase how much damage an item can absorb before it is destroyed.
Skill Rank
These both seed like great skills if I wanted to pursue any crafting, and that was likely the case if I decided to further improve on my core system, which I would like to, given the chance. So, these were both high on my list of future investnts. I moved on to Soul-Core Bonding and the three nodes that branched off of it.
Mana Orb
Body-Enhancing Orb
Tier
2
Orb Rank
Skill
Strength Training
Requirent
Soul-Core Bonding (25)
Strength Training allows the host to use their mana to increase muscle strength well beyond normal levels during training. Further ranks in this skill increase the effectiveness.
Skill Rank
Mana Orb
Body-Enhancing Orb
Tier
2
Orb Rank
Skill
ntal Training
Requirent
Soul-Core Bonding (25)
ntal Training allows the host to use their mana to increase their ntal retention well beyond normal levels as they expand their mind. Further ranks in this skill increase the effectiveness.
Skill Rank
Mana Orb
Body-Enhancing Orb
Tier
2
Orb Rank
Skill
Lesser Mutation
Requirent
Soul-Core Bonding (25)
Mutation allows the host to mutate their body in a permanent way. The amount of mana used directly impacts the strength of the mutation. Each rank in this allows for a new mutation with a maximum of 10.
Skill Rank
The first two were more or less sothing I had expected to see from this orb. Mutation, on the other hand, I didn’t know what to make of. There was no further description of what exactly a mutation would be, and I wasn’t sure that was sothing I wanted to try without knowing just what I was getting myself into. While I liked the brothers a lot, I certainly didn’t want a second Dave head arguing with about all our decisions. Now, if this was just sothing like mutating parts of my genetics to give an extra finger or even webbed toes that helped swim faster, that was sothing I could get behind, but this would require a lot more study before I risked any points being placed into it.
I yawned loudly; my mind had finally caught up to what my body felt. Hopefully, I really did heal as fast as my skills claid I would. I wanted to find more dungeons as soon as possible. The more levels I could pack in, the better.
The negatives of aging are now symptoms belonging only to the poor. Those most capable of escaping their beginnings can soon find themselves in a world of immortals, where age is but a costu worn to convince others of their years of built-up wisdom. Often, though, the offered wisdom is just another disguise for sothing else. The gatherings of truly ancient beings have started to grate on . Is this all we chose to live for?
The Last Recorded Words of Zhrole
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