16 First skill

It was time to get serious and power up! Mandy made a pose of full motivation as she arrived at the Elemental magic section.

Even more than other places, the section was brimming with people with wild hair colors, yet Mandy noticed an interesting pattern - similar shades bunched together at the same shelves and those with natural hair colors had also gathered away at certain locations. There was probably a reason for that.

Mandy approached the Catalogue in this section and after making sure no one else was too close to her, she opened it.

[A pure dark alignment, huh?]

'Huh?' Mandy pursed her lips, this book had a personality? Wouldn't August have problems if the book could read elemental alignments? Had he tried? Mandy wished to ask. More lines appeared below.

[Undead, what do you wish to do?

Hide?

Influence?

Cause harm?

Protect?]

Numbers appeared by each option. Mandy didn't like the way 'undead' sounded, but… she was one, so she let out a sigh. It seemed like only undead had pure dark alignment, but other than telling the general type the book might not be able to specify further?

Mandy approved of the practical way the Catalogue was set up, though. It gave you options based on your desires. Mandy would flip through them all, of course. She started with the first one.

Under the title of 'Hide' there was a list with elaborations.

<Presence manipulation> A skillset to erase, solidify or alter your presence, useful for blending into surroundings or appearing weaker/more intimidating. Description and training methods found in "Basics of your new life as a litch" by Roald Herring.

… New life? Mandy snorted. She shouldn't laugh, but the book title was something. Previously most book titles either matched the content or seemed to be about something bigger in general, this one popped out.

Mandy had only read about ghosts, so she didn't know the specifics of other undead, but would an undead life really count as life? The skill did sound useful, though. It was the same thing Tia and August did, wasn't it? Perhaps even the thing Sarah had used to sneak up on her? Picking that as her first thing to learn didn't seem like a bad idea, but… better see your options before picking.

Right under it was -

<Astral modification> A skillset to change and alter astral bodies slowly over time for permanent results. Most useful for purely astral life forms especially ghosts who wish to hide their dying wounds.

Basically plastic surgery. There wasn't anything she particularly hated about her body and she didn't have dying wounds. Mandy had wished to be taller when alive, but right now she could float to get whatever and could look down on others rather than being looked down on so that was no longer an issue.

<Astral shapeshifting> A skillset to temporarily change and alter astral bodies, especially useful for purely astral life forms, who might even pretend to be a different species.

Mandy zoomed in on this one. This was even better than the presence manipulation one. She could turn into a bird or a cat and lie on August's head or something. She had always dreamed of flying like a bird-- or maybe she could even grow angel wings with this ability! Mandy felt tempted to look up the book right away, doubting there would be anything better than this, but it was best not to rush, she read further.

<Illusory arts> A skillset to create aether illusions to trick seeing eyes or normie eyes or both at the same time. Having this skill almost guarantees getting a job with the guild.

Hmm, this was good too. Didn't beat astral shapeshifting, but it was the next best thing. Although… if it could trick normie eyes as well didn't that almost mean she could pretend to have a real body? Mandy gasped. She could use telekinesis for all the lifting and touching and while she might not be able to mask things if someone touched her, this ability would allow her to go to real stores and buy real things…

Mandy felt glad she didn't run off after reading about Astral shapeshifting. It had abilities this good in the intermediate section, just what sort of miracles would advanced section have?

The comment about guild was an odd thing to have in a Catalogue book, but it made sense. Somehow the 'huh' at the beginning of the book came to mind. This book really felt like it had a personality.

Mandy flipped a page and read the abilities under the 'Influence' title, there were only two items.

<Charm> Ability to induce positive emotions towards the user - goodwill, affection or even lust. Recommended as the first skillset for the undead to learn for self-preservation.

Mandy had somewhat expected this one, all fictional vampires had it after all, but to think it was the first recommendation. Wouldn't hiding make more sense? Although... that only applied if you didn't need other people for anything. Even ghosts could get lonely, and what if other undead types needed to eat something. Human blood or flesh, for example… that wasn't a comforting idea. Mandy had sudden regrets about not reading anything on other undead types. Since it was the first recommendation Mandy felt an obligation to check this ability out, but it was low on her list of priorities.

<Rule> Ability to strongly suggest others to do something the user desires, especially effective in combination with charm.

Lookie! Another stereotypical vampire ability. Count Dracula saying 'Come' in an old movie came to Mandy's mind. It did seem useful for movie vampires, yet that wasn't an ability Mandy felt good about learning. Wasn't it like hypnotizing others to do something regardless of their will?

Mandy flipped a page.

'Cause harm' was above a full page of abilities and judging from the number difference between this title and the next, there would be five more pages like this. This did tell something about undead… or perhaps attacking abilities were more common in general compared to those of stealth and manipulation?

<Chilling fog> The most basic undead skill to cause a zone to be surrounded by a thick chilling fog. While it feels comfortable for the undead, it drains aether from non-undead, eventually killing them if they stay for too long. If the zone has enough living visiting, undead might gather enough nutrition from it to sustain a comfortable existence.

Ahahaha, like some old cemeteries huh? This skill too was found in the 'your new life as a litch' book. Sustaining an existence did hint at the fact that other types of undead needed to eat something and considering the fog could gather 'enough nutrition', that thing was aether.

That said, maybe undead dryads were also called so because they made a fog as well, and it looked like this chilling fog was an inferior version to that one as the dryad one granted not only nutrition but 'life' and there was no implication that it needed to have mortals wander in.

<Energy drain> Another basic undead skill to drain aether from the living, while a particular method of it is instinctual for most undead, learning different ways can add various benefits.

Yep, an expected skill. If vampires were called vampires, then sucking blood was a thing and the mummy-like draining of moisture might be a thing too, and perhaps zombie-like flesh eating was… Mandy felt fickle. The fact that her potential attacks were defined as 'causing harm' and that their descriptions perfectly matched that title made her depressed.

Wait, perhaps she was going about this the wrong way? Mandy quit reading and flipped over to 'Protect'. If she really was to learn something she could use, then a good sounding title might lead to better things.

<Enchantment> The ability to add properties to objects, for undead types it is only possible to add dark element enchants, example, inducing discomfort, fear or dread just by looking at some object - makes a good normie deterrent (although lately it is also used as a means to mislead paladins or exorcists aiming for the undead's head hence I included it in the 'causing harm' list too).

Mandy felt depressed about this one being awful as well, but those brackets… This Catalogue not only had a personality, it was also a learned individual. Just what in heck where these Catalogues? They wouldn't be other ghosts, would they?

Mandy felt silly about talking with a book, but she had to ask. "Are you a ghost?"

In response, in the free space by the title some text appeared.

[Hmpf! I'm a living book!]

Mandy's eyes widened in realization. The book really was one-- living books were kind of ghosts! Mandy didn't feel like arguing, though. She didn't enjoy being called undead either, 'ghost' was better, but if she could classify as something else, better sounding, then she would happily abandon those names.

"Is there skill for protecting others that isn't… uh, spooky?" Mandy asked, in the middle of her question realizing that she was wishing for something difficult. It was true that you could protect someone by scaring others away, but it was not a good way to go about it.

The Catalogue's previous line faded and a new reply came.

[Intermediate class dark alignment magic is, by definition, creepy. Why do you think undead have a bad rep?]

Mandy's eyes and mouth became lines again. The book had a point. This also explained why it was upset at being called a ghost rather than a living book. Yet, it also hinted that advanced skills weren't necessarily so, but… if the school system had taught Mandy anything then it was that skills built upon one another. It was likely that for any non-creepy skill she would first need to learn a creepy one here.

Fine. Mandy decided to give up for now and flipped back to <Astral shapeshifting>. If by some lucky break she managed to learn to turn into a small animal she could both appear non-threatening and be able to flee easily or climb into August's pocket to hide there. If they didn't have a big mission coming, Mandy would undoubtedly go for <Illusory arts> as her first skill, but… she had a feeling that she would get a chance to come back after the mission. She would try to learn that one then!

"Thank you!" Mandy said as she closed the Catalogue after mentally noting down the location of the book she had chosen. Knowing that these books had a mind made her feel a bit guilty for not thanking the other one, but that was something she would do next time, and - if they had a mind, Mandy could ask questions! Seeing how huge this floor was Mandy might have wondered why it was fine with so few librarians, but this answered it.

Mandy floated towards the dark alignment magic shelves, yet-- even those in it cast vary looks in her direction. Was there no undead solidarity? Or were there any undead here at all? Everyone looked normal. Mandy had expected to spot a skeleton or zombie among these folks, but no matter how she looked at them, they all appeared human, although pale. A few looked very pretty, but most were like your everyday people one could easily pass in a street - people of all ages too, from school-age kids to silver-haired elderly.

She really wanted to ask about that part, but… she also had a feeling that she might understand it a bit better if she read more on other undead too. Perhaps ghosts were some wild card elements and other types weren't so bad? Perhaps undead didn't look any different from the living? Perhaps all undead used illusory skills to look normal, so she was the only 'naked' one - flaunting her ghostdom (if there was such a thing) and only weirdos flaunted things like that. Flaunting your manhood or womanhood would also result in wary looks (and a call to an officer).

Cough.

But if that really was the case, then the current skill she would learn might fix it. You wouldn't look oddly towards a naked bird, would you? Especially something small like a robin or a tit; willow tits were especially cute! Mhm! If she can, she would try to become something like that!

Mandy found the right shelf and pulled out the book. It was a medium sized one, from the looks of it - around 250 to 300 pages, fine print. Had it been a novel Mandy would say it would take three hours at most for her to read, but textbooks seldom read that easily. But fine, she had a week to learn this one, even if it takes the whole night, she would go for it. Reading the entirety first was a good way to ensure she knew all she could before attempting anything ( if this book had any practice problems, that is). Often practice problems or questions were hinted at or answered if only you read a little bit further.

Mandy floated up to the top of the shelf, lied the book down and placed August's phone and all the power cells down next to it. While at it, she checked the time and battery levels. After that Mandy mimicked laying on her stomach on the shelf-top as well - like this she wouldn't be visible from below. Only then she started reading, this time from the very first page without skipping a thing.

Like Kenneth had said, the introduction part of the book mentioned aether exhaustion - a thing that happens if you spend aether that is meant to sustain your own existence. Spend too much and your astral form (or soul) sustains damage. Luckily, it can usually be repaired by hibernating, yet unless you can secure a safe space for doing so - you will be in a very vulnerable state while in hibernation.

Reading on it only made Mandy feel like Sarah and Gerald deserved being locked up for a week, as that was the time August would lose from his life due to their spooking. Mandy pursed her lips and continued reading. There was no way she would tell Sarah about August's location in other times.

Aether levels are something you learn to sense with time, for embodied lifeforms your eyes start to lose focus when you are low on it and for astral lifeforms - your body becomes more transparent than it is normally. The book recommended not to shapeshift more than three times a day for beginning users.

Curiously enough shapeshifting to a smaller body than your own actually helped to preserve more aether than your normal form, while a larger form drained your aether reserves quickly just by being there. This was a bonus for Mandy who aimed to shapeshift into small things.

For astral lifeforms, the book also recommended learning shared vision familiars from the exorcism section as how can you properly shapeshift if you have no idea how you look. But - it did also helpfully include a bookmark, embedded into a page, that could be used as a mirror of sorts with brief instructions on use. Mandy was tempted to stop there and use it just to take a look at herself but refrained for now keeping up her initial read-through.

If it was recommended for astral life-forms, though, did that mean that regular mirrors showed the astral parts of non-normies? Like the bunny ears on the librarians? Or were there other methods or perhaps special mirrors for seeing people. there was no way for Mandy to find out, so she kept reading.

The method to transform could be summed up as learning to disperse your astral body first, then condensing it into a different form. With practice, you'd be able to disperse bigger amounts of your astral body and thus have more material to work with to cause changes. It started with small changes like making your hair curly if it was straight and making your nails have sharp edges and ended with complete dispersal to form a different body altogether. Shifting color was also found at the end as it turned out to be a difficult thing to adjust. The book recommended shapeshifting into things with colors that matched your own colors to avoid being told apart.

It wasn't said outright, but at the point following after transforming ears and fingers, the book shifted into being completely meant for astral lifeforms. All mentions of 'for embodied' and 'for purely astral' disappeared. If Mandy had to guess, then it was impossible to alter your astral body that was within a body, you could only shapeshift the parts that weren't 'tied down' so to say, the book was called 'Astral shapeshifting' not 'Shapeshifting' after all.

As Mandy finished reading the book, she took a look at August's phone just to check battery levels and plugged it in as it had approached halfway mark. Since she hadn't done any practice problems, she had finished the book in just six hours - a very speedy pace for a textbook.

Having gotten the overall idea, Mandy flipped back to the part with shared vision familiar and studied up on using it. In short, hold the paper by your eye and strongly visualize your eye moving over to the paper when it succeeds you will start seeing your own eyelid from outside.

It took Mandy a good two hours of attempting before she managed to do this without breaking the spell. It was just too freaky to have a multiple-point vision. Do snails see this way? It was better if she closed her other eye when looking through the familiar, otherwise she felt like she had become some weird creature. If exorcists normally used familiars like this, then they had some advanced level perception ability.

Mandy moved the paper piece using telekinesis and finally had a solid look at herself and boy - she looked ghastly! Rather than being straight out transparent like holograms in movies she was weirdly translucent, differing levels of transparency at different parts. While her base looks hadn't changed one bit since the day she passed away, there was an unnatrual stillness to her appearance, the cast shadows looked as soft as those in da Vinci's paintings and she had an unmistakable air of death surrounding her. Her hair and dress too were floating like under water. There was no other way she could describe it - she looked like something that shouldn't exist. Something that induced fear just by its presence alone. It might not look as horrid in the darkness, where shadows faded just like those on her ghastly skin, but bright light didn't do her any favors, making her pop out in an unnatural manner.

Mandy made a wry despairing smile. Rather than being surprised about the wary looks she should have been surprised about no one outright fleeing, and even more surprised by the normal unphased reactions August's family and Gerald showed her. And to think August's father fell in love at first sight with someone of her kind. But fine, Mandy doubted she looked more frightening than the spider monster August had dated once.

Since getting the shared vision familiar to work was messy work for her, Mandy didn't switch back to her own vision and used it as her eyes to read practice problems in the book.

Seeing how hard it had been to get the knack in using the familiar, Mandy expected learning this to be troublesome, yet-- it turned out to be easier than she had expected. While the first problems took dozens of attempts, as she advanced through the book, it took less and less time to get each problem right.

Not needing to eat or even sleep, Mandy solved each problem as it came and to her own surprise, she didn't reach the point of Aether exhaustion even once despite continuously practicing. She had expected to run out at least a few times and use that time to look up other things that interested her, but as it didn't happen, she kept practicing. The only breaks she had were those of charging the phone and checking the time.

By the end of the sixth day, she managed to shapeshift into a tit. The color was off and it was one hell of a ghastly little bird with dead blue eyes, but it was a tit nevertheless. Mandy spent the last day trying to adjust the color (that turned out to be the hardest part after all) and like that the phone started to ring.

Mandy undid her transformation and scrambled to stop the ringing. An elderly man cast a judging look at her, spotting her on top of the shelf due to the noise.

'Sorry' Mandy mouthed without making a sound and floated down to put the book away. Mandy felt a tinge of regret about not choosing to read something more over getting caught up in color adjustments (which she hadn't even managed to nail down), but it couldn't be helped now so she looked for the exit.

Mandy floated over to the reception. "Excuse me, how do I…?" Mandy lifted up her wrist with the tattoo.

"It will disappear once you get to the wardrobe," the librarian explained with a polite smile.

"Thank you," Mandy said. So it was automatic… well, she wasn't nearly as knowledgeable on magic to understand how it worked and sadly she had no time to find out.

And really, like the librarian had said, as she reached the wardrobe, the tattoo disappeared. Yet, as soon as Mandy got to the staircase leading away from it, she realized it had been a mistake not to choose illusion arts.

People could see the floating phone and power cells--!

"Magic," a kid said as he pulled his mother's sleeve.

"No, there's probably some trick to it," the lady said.

Mandy barely recovered from her shock enough to quickly rush past the mother-son pair and get outside. More people spotted the floating phone and feeling frantic all the while, Mandy floated up to get out of their sight. Some pics got taken, but there wasn't any panic much to her surprise, it seemed like most people were like the little kid's mother judging it to be a prank or a trick.

Just how much had pranks and tricks advanced for this obviously supernatural phenomenon to appear like one? It would have made the headlines back in her day! Mandy felt both silly for feeling so panicked and grateful for advancements in the science of pranking.

Mandy got home floating over the rooftops and while she did spot some odd creatures on her way, luckily none choose to chase her. Being aware of the phone Mandy didn't attempt to enter through the roof and choose to sneakily use the normal entrances.

Only when she unlocked the door and entered the apartment, Mandy let out a sigh of relief. Yet the feeling didn't last, something was off in here.