Friday, December 5, 2014

SEO CH 2

I couldn't find a point to break this up, so I waited until I finished the whole thing instead of forcing it into different parts.

Chapter 2 - Training to Hunt

I decided to go to the restaurant and tell the Chef I was going on a short leave of absence so that I could train. He said he expected it sooner or later as that's what Blessed do, and that I was welcome to come back anytime as I did great work. He also handed me the recipes for the restaurant so and told me to study them so I can work the line next time I come. I immediately recognize 75% of the menu as it came straight from the restaurant I work in real life. I headed over to the market place, and bought some cheap bread, 20 copper worth which was enough for 40 loaves. I then headed over to the training hall, got a room and rented a scarecrow which totaled to 12 copper. This left me with 19 copper.  I found out earlier that the limit to a rented room and equipment was whenever you left the room. The reason being that users don't spend long periods of time in the hall as they only tried out their new skills, and get the timing right on them. I went for a completely unique reason, to level up my known skills and to use what information I have in my codex to develop new ones. First to look through the codex and read about mana. Quite simply, it all boiled down to manipulating it through will and imagination. So if I wanted to change the element of the mana I'm using all I had to do was imagine my mana changing to match the attributes of that element. I just need to know what the attributes are, the codex giving the example of water being moisture gathering into each bit of mana, and ice just drawing heat out of water. This way of mana manipulation is limited as it doesn't hold shape very well and that a firm image must be maintained in my mind. To shoot out mana I just need to use more mana to push it in the direction I want. The problem is, that once I do mana tends to diffuse quickly back into its natural state without anything binding it together. To bind it I have to hold it together into a shape in my mind until it hits the target. The more advance way was to hold it together using words of power or runes, however I skip that part for now I just want the basics at the moment. By keeping in mind these concepts I can gather mana outside my body, which is how modern mages are able to shoot magic from in-front of them and not from their body parts. This is also why mages can use staves or wands to cast spells, which have been inscribed with runes to further enhance spell casting. I decide for now that using mana for ranged attacks is out until I can actually start hunting as it's too much to learn. Another reason is that if it's correct, it might actually be easier to use -Item Enchant- on some sort of projectile. However, I think if I can expel the mana from -Body Part Enhancement- or -Item Enchant- at point of contact would it further enhance the attack? I decide to try it out on the scarecrow. The first time I do so however I push out -Body Part Enhancement- too soon and the mana just dissipates. I do however level up -Body Part Enchantment-, -Internal Mana Control-, and -External Mana Control- (I use external mana for the enchantment and internal to push it out). The next time I try it, I manage to push the mana out right as I made contact with the scarecrow.
Skill level up
-Fast Learner- has increased to level 6
[MND] has increased by 2
You have leveled up!
15 stat points acquired.
Level 2 skill acquired
-Mana Blast-
lvl 1
By pushing out an enchantment right at point of contact attack is enhanced by 50% of [M. ATK]. Consumes 10 mana.
Skill requirements: Any enchantment and 2 levels of any mana control abilities
This skill requires consumes 2 levels of any mana control ability to be learned, what would you like to sacrifice?
 "One point of -Internal Mana Control- and one point of -External Mana Control-" I could barely hold my excitement, as the multitude of messages popped up. I'm now level 2 too! I got 15 stat points from leveling up instead of the usual 5? No wonder I had a tough time beating a level 4 rabbit. So this is a level 2 skill huh? So awesome I attack with both physical and magical attacks at the same time! So my 11 physical attack plus half my 22 magic attack, puts it at 22 damage before factoring in my enchantment and the opponents defense. So basically double damage! The downside is the lowered level of skills; I guess this is why nobody strives to get all the skills. Oh I'm so excited to start experimenting, but I have to get the timing right on this. I spend quite a while perfecting the timing, and figuring out it definitely can't be used rapid fire manually. After perfecting the timing I did however try out the skill shouting, and found it much easier to release the skill rapidly. I kept going until I needed to eat some bread. I ended up leveling up leveling -Body Part Enhancement- to level 12, -Internal Mana Control- to level 10, -External Mana Control- to level 14, and -Mana Blast- to level 5. -External Mana Control- would be level 15, but once -Mana Blast- hit 3 it required another level of a mana control skill to be sacrificed. After training so much my [END] increased by one and my [SPD] went up when I was trying my rapid-fire -Mana Blast-. Next I tried changing my mana into a different element. This one was fairly simple, and I decided to go with the codex's example of water. I got it on the first try and got:
Skill acquired
-Elemental Enchantment-
lvl 1
By changing mana into a particular element it changes the enchantment to give a bonus damage or resistance of a given element. Uses 10% of [M. ATK] or [M. DEF]
Current Elements: Water
Consumes 5 mana per minute
 Next I try putting it on top of -Body Part Enhancement-, but all it did was replace it. The mana for the enhancement would just change its affinity to water and become -Elemental Enchantment-. I wonder if I could put some sort of layer in-between or something. Maybe if I harden the mana so it has some sort of physical aspect to it? I try it, as I do it forces the mana to stay in shape. I keep concentrating and put -Elemental Enchantment- on and as I do it explodes and I get drenched in water and I seem to have taken damage.
 
Skill level up
-Body Part Enhancement- is now level 13
Skill level up
-Internal Mana Control- is now level 11
Skill level up
-External Mana Control- is now 15
Level 2 Skill acquired
-Hardening-
Hardens mana giving adding 10% of [ATK] and [DEF] to it. Consumes 2 mana.
Skill requirements: -Internal Mana Control- lvl 10 and -External Mana Control- lvl 10
A level of -Internal Mana Control- and -External Mana Control will be consumed to acquire this skill.
Error Level 3 Skill -Layering- requirements not met
[MND] up by 4
 Oh a level 3 skill! I don't meet the requirements? Well looking at the levels of my skills and what I used it would have to be -Hardening-, and off chance of it being -Elemental Enchantment-. Still, that was dangerous; I could have killed myself messing with skills. I better level up what I can, so with that I concentrate on the skills my lower leveled skills. I again train to the limits of my SAT, concentrating on -Hardening-, -Elemental Enchantment-, and -Physical Enchant-. I also fooled around with -Mana Blast- with -Elemental Enchantment-, I try different elements, and I add fire, ice, lightning, wind, and earth to my repertoire. I got a little too into the fire element and started acting like some of my favorite anime characters. That being said, it made me question why fire is so often used, the blow back from -Mana Blast- with -Fire Enchantment- was ridiculously hot. How did the characters stand using it so much? Well I ended up getting -Internal Mana Control- to level 18, -External Mana Control- to level 27, -Mana Blast- to 9, which required a sacrifice of 5 levels of mana control skills, -Hardening went up to level 10 sacrificing 3 levels each of mana control abilities, -Elemental Enchantment- went up to level 10, and -Physical Enchant- to level 12. When -Physical Enchant- leveled to 10 it told me it was consuming another point in mana regen, what the hell? I'll have to check up on my skills later for now I need to train. I got another point of [END] and 3 points in [AGI] and now I feel so OP for my level, though I have no doubt one hit from any other user and I will be a goner.  The more I play around the more I feel that messing around here is actually so rewarding, jumping around like an idiot and doing flips with -Physical Enchant- on gave me stat points after a while and I'm getting new skills by messing around with mana. Such a free form of skills, absolute freedom! Now let's see if I can't try to do -Layering Again-. I try the exact same way of manipulating mana the first time, this time I get a successful message.
You have leveled up!
15 stat points acquired.
You now have 30 unused stat points.
Level 3 skill acquired
-Layering-
lvl 1
Allows automatic overlay of buffs on each other adding an extra 1% on effects per layer. Consumes 12 mana per layer
Skill requirements: -Hardening- lvl 5 and two buffs at level 5.
2 levels of enchant and 2 levels of two buffs will needs to be consumed to acquire skill. What would you like to sacrifice?
 "-Elemental Enchantment- and -Body Part Enhancement-" I also saw something when I was running around after my boost in [AGI]; I sometimes left faint outlines of mana of myself. It's like I was starting to develop a skill, I wondered if I pumped mana in and hardened it what would happen? I kept running and running, the first time around I tried several times, but I just wasn’t fast enough. As I did so I got a message that my [SPD] increased by 1 and got a skill.
Level 2 skill acquired
-After Image-
lvl 1
Passive: While using -Physical Enchant- you have a 10% chance ever 10 yards to leave an image made of mana of yourself, this draws the attention of anything targeting you. Current duration of image 1 second. Consumes 1 mana.
Skill requirements: Level 5 -Physical Enchant- and either [SPD +7] or [AGI 15]
 I still feel like there's something else there, but I better level the new skills up first. Though -After Image- is a passive, but it says it’s a passive. The only other skill I have that specifically says it’s a passive is -Physical Enchant-, and that has an active portion to it, so there might be a way to make it an active. I don't even know where to start on making that happen though, or how to train it other than running around. I guess I could just leave it with just these skills and level up the rest of the time until I run out of bread, but I still feel like I need a trump card just in case I run into a boss monster or something. And so another round of training until my [SAT] decreased and I needed to eat again. Like last time it increased my [END] by another point, I ended up focusing on -After Image- the first half gaining 2 extra [AGI] points and an extra point in [SPD]. The 10 yards seems to include any direction, meaning if I jumped up and down each yard I went up and down counted. I left after images in the air, even while I tried flipping around. After half of the time, -After Image- still wouldn't level, then I remembered I wasn't activating it manually. I got mad and tried forcing it out by pushing out my -Physical Enchant-, which worked and I got:
Skill has leveled up
-After Image- is now level 2
Skill has been updated
-After Image-
lvl 2
Passive: While using -Physical Enchant- you have a 10% chance ever 10 yards to leave an image made of mana of yourself, this draws the attention of anything targeting you. Current duration of image 1 second. Consumes 1 mana.
Skill requirements: Level 5 -Physical Enchant- and either [SPD +7] or [AGI 15]
Active: By pushing out mana enveloping your body a duplicate image of the user is created temporarily which attracts anything targeting the user. Lasts 3 seconds, Consumes 25 mana.
Skill requirements: Any mana manipulation abilities level 10.
 So I kept training, and after working on -After Image- I worked on -Layering-. At the end of the session I got -Physical Enchant- up to level 18, -After Image- to level 6, -Layering- up to level 10, -Internal Mana Control- up to level 28 and -External Mana Control- to level 39. I also ended up getting a point in [STR] after a while after hitting the scarecrow so often I guess. Now to try the last two things that came to my mind as I was hardening my -After Image-, which was simple enough to do. I then keep it connected with mana, thinking I can create a sort of puppet as I do. As soon as I do more mana is sucked into it, until the image starts to not looking like an image made of mana, but an exact duplicate of myself. The connection then just becomes a steady drain of my mana, and I get a new skill message!
Level 3 skill acquired
-Doppelganger-
lvl 1
A solidified after image that obeys all mental and vocal commands, otherwise just mimics your actions. Consumes 75 mana and 20 mana per minute
Currently -Doppelganger- has 10% of your attack and 10% of your HP.
Extra: -Hardening- boosts hp by 1% per level and also adds its current [ATK] and [DEF] increase by 10%
Skill requirements: level 5 -After Image-
Two levels of -After Image- will be consumed to acquire the skill.
 
I try it out, experimenting making it move around with my mind. I use -Analyze-, and start having telling the doppelganger to use skills. I see the mana flow increase a bit to my double, and it didn't use any mana from the environment at all. I try telling it to gather mana using -External Mana Control-, and it just looks at me confused. I guess it can't use mana other than mine. I guess right now it's not much of a skill as it consumes too much mana and my stats aren't nearly high enough. I'll just have to monitor how it levels. I run out of mana, and the doppelganger dissipates and I'm left having to gathering more mana. Next thing I wanted to try was -Mana Blast- while I had two buffs on. I use my -Body Part Enhancement- and -Fire Enchantment-. I then concentrate on using -Mana Blast- at the point of impact, the result was not so spectacular. It seems all my mana pushed out the -Body Part Enhancement- and it turn pushed the -Fire Enchantment- on top, cause the fire to spread over the scarecrow, and then a -Mana Blast- was unleashed as the -Body Part Enhancement- Exploded on, causing a fiery explosion. The -Mana Blast- seemed to be enhanced with an added fire effect, but I didn't get a skill out of it. Maybe if I concentrate on pushing both buffs? I reset my mana to full and try again, this time I was rewarded with two explosions. The first was a regular explosion from -Mana Blast- with the -Fire Enchantment-, it was a small burst of flame, the second was an explosion like when I use -Mana Blast- with -Body Part Enhancement-, an explosion with just sheer mana, but it was far from ordinary. The Second explosion was much bigger than the first! I was just amazed, when the message popped up and I was even more awestruck.
[MND] increased by 5
Skill Level up
-Fast Learner- is now level 7
Skill Level up
-Fast Learner- is now level 8
You have leveled up!
15 stat points acquired.
You now have 45 unused stat points.
You have leveled up!
15 stat points acquired.
You now have 50 unused stat points.
Level 5 Skill acquired
-Multi Blast-
lvl 1
By pushing out all enchantment right at point of contact causes explosions equal to the number of enchantments. This has a synergistic effect causing extra damage. Each explosion does 100% damage of -Mana Blast- and each consecutive blast after the first gains an extra 10% of [M. ATK] each. Consumes 100 mana plus 10 mana per enchantment
Note: Synergy may be increased or decreased depending on buffs
Skill requirements:  -Mana Blast- level 6 and -Layering- level 10
5 levels of -Mana Blast- and -Layering- will be consumed to acquire this skill.
 Wow.... I just skipped a level and got a level 5 skill, and what a skill. To use -Layering- each layer except the top needs to be hardened thus gets 10% [ATK], add the -Layering-'s extra 1% to that, plus the damage from the actual hit with all the buffs enhanced by -Layering-. Then you add the multiple -Mana Blast-s and an extra bit of damage for each enhancement! By itself -Multi Blast- seems like it isn't cost effective as -Mana Blast- only uses 10 mana, but it definitely is a true gem. The keyword at the end is each, so the second blast may gain 10% extra, but the third gains 20% extra damage so the total would be 30% in all such a huge rolling amount adds up quickly! This is what I was looking for, something that will definitely help me if I encounter something powerful. I also have -After Image- to help me run away if it proves to be too much. Now enough with the experimenting, time to really train! With that I continued to train until I had only 2 bread left and no [SAT] and then calling it a day and going to the inn for food and a room for 5 copper and logging out.

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