Experimentation

I looked at the time as I walked in the street. The few other players I passed by were already running everywhere, completing errands, or rushing toward the town's exit.

11h30... I had all of the afternoon to kill. The game time was sped up 3 times. 24 hours here corresponded to 8 in the real world. Most people were already used to such rates as some other nodes of the weave already used time compression or dilatation of varying intensities.

I bought something that looked like a crêpe with blueberry jam at a nearby stall for 2 coppers and made my way to the southern gate. The large gates were wide open, a few guards were controlling people that wanted to get inside. There were a few scarecrows lined up against the wall in a makeshift training range. I still didn't know how to use my spells, it wouldn't hurt to first try them on something that doesn't hit back.

I walked to the nearest guard, waving at him to get his attention, pointing at the training dummies. He nodded and shrugged, yelling so that his voice reached my ears.

"Suit yourself but if you break one, go and get another one in the reserve to replace it before leaving."

I chose a dummy and placed myself in front of it, a few meters away. I took my staff out, pointing it toward the dummy, and thought about my mana bolt spell. A warm sensation emerged from my stomach, energy rushed toward my arms and staff, forming a small blue ball at its end. I felt the pull on my mana pool with a very slight feeling of emptiness, similar to hunger. The blue bolt shot forward with a pang and hit the scarecrow's head. A blood-red number appeared above my target as its head rolled on the floor.

'32!'

32? My damage was supposed to be 16 per bolt... Was that a critical hit?

I fired another bolt, this time aiming for the body.

'16!'

Yes, that was it. Hitting a weak spot doubled the damage... I supposed the same would happen if I got hit in the head or throat...

Let's try something else. I focused on another mana bolt but tried to keep it in a ball at the tip of my staff without shooting it. I managed to keep it for a few seconds before I heard cracking noises coming from the tip of my staff. I discharged the bolt, letting it hit the ground.

I sat down, taking a breather, letting my mana regenerate, looking at the tip of my apprentice staff. There were small cracks in the wood where the mana sphere formed. The damage wasn't too bad, but there was damage, nonetheless. I called my inventory and checked the staff.

Apprentice staff: durability 99/100 (can be repaired)

I'd better experiment with this one. I won't miss it too much, even if I break it.

I waited for my mana to fill up completely and stood up. I concentrated another ball of energy at the tip of my staff and quickly tried to prepare another one without shooting. The staff cracked once more, and the sphere grew, its volume doubling. I aimed quickly and shot toward the scarecrow, my staff cracking once more, the pang of the shot much louder than the previous ones.

'31!'

I couldn't aim at its head that was still on the floor, so this was a body shot. Logically enough, double the mana, nearly double the damage. The staff bonus was only counted once. There were pros and cons, I had to focus more so it wouldn't be easy to do in the middle of combat, and my equipment couldn't reliably handle it, but casting a double mana bolt was faster than casting two single ones.

"Ding! Skill unlocked: Mana flow intensity. You've learned to modify the default intensity of your spells. You can now tune the quantity of mana you use with each spell.

I opened my skill windows and looked at the details of the skill.

Mana flow intensity (lvl 0): You can increase or decrease the effect and mana cost of a spell by increments of 100% of the base values. Increases/decreases casting time by 50% per increment.

I walked toward the training dummy, picked its head up, and nailed it on the wooden shaft its body was built around. I sat on the ground, waiting for my mana to regen again, tapping on the floor impatiently for 2 minutes, a mischievous smile appearing on my face.

I aimed for the dummy again, gathering as much mana as I could on the tip of my staff, pointing it toward the scarecrow's head, close enough to be sure not to miss it. The blue sphere grew and became denser, emitting a faint smell of ozone as its color got more intense. My staff began to splinter, shards of woods flew in every direction, some of them cutting into my hands. It took me 4 seconds to gather 140 of my 150 points of mana into this mana bolt. Trembling in excitement, I stopped holding it and let it shoot into the poor strawman's head.

'212!'

The bolt ran through the imitation of a head, leaving a fist-sized hole under its eyes, where a nose was drawn. It kept going on its course, hitting the city wall behind it, barely scratching it, letting a light grey mark on the white stone.

Instantly I felt light-headed and had to sit down again. I lazily laid onto the ground, laughing like a maniac. Catching the attention of the nearby guards and other NPCs that were passing by. I caught my breath and sat up after 30 seconds, reflecting on the result of this experiment. This shot would have been enough to one-shot me even if it wasn't a critical hit. I didn't think many things at my level would be able to resist it.

Next, I need to try splitting a bolt to hit two different targets. Could I control the bolt's flying path? Could I cast multiple bolts at once? That would be the same as casting a bigger one and splitting it, wouldn't it? Would it still be considered as only one bolt or multiple ones for the staff's damage bonus? Aaaah, there were still so many things I wanted to test... but I was going to need a quicker way to fill up my mana bar. I couldn't wait 10 minutes between each test. I would also need to get a sturdier staff. This one had already lost 25% of its durability. If I kept going, it wouldn't hold for long. About that, without a staff, would I hurt my hands? Soo many questions... I couldn't wait. After all, what were the chances I could get a reliable way to recharge my mana quickly and with no money... I stood up with half of my mana back and spent the afternoon hitting training dummies.

"Ding! Skill unlocked: Spell splitting. You've learned to split your spells between multiple targets."

"Ding! Skill unlocked: Multicasting. You've learned to cast multiple spells at once."

"Ding! Mana flow intensity reached level 1!

"Ding! Skill unlocked: Mana hands. You've learned to use your hands as a focus to cast your spells.

"Ding! Skill unlocked: Spell manipulation. You've learned to alter your spells as they are being cast.

"Ding! Mana hands reached level 1!

"Ding! Mana hands reached level 2!

"Ding! Speciality acquired: Mana shaping. You didn't find normal spells flexible enough and strived to modify them to suit your needs. You developed an affinity toward mana and can more easily bend it to your will.

I stopped shooting mana bolts, my hands covered in blood, my staff had long been broken and been discarded. Its remains were lying on the ground next to 5 tattered training dummies. Seeing the state of my hands, I was glad the game didn't really include pain. It was reduced so much that it was just enough to know when you were hurt and feel the nature of what happened to you. I wanted to check my new skills and, more specifically, the specialty but was interrupted by a young guard, a new recruit visibly, that had been waiting on the side since after I riddled my third scarecrow with holes.

"Ahem... Miss? Are you done with the dummies? Even if you're not, please take a moment and listen to me. We didn't think anyone would spend an entire afternoon here, and we didn't think you'd destroy so many of them. The captain sent me to help you replace the destroyed ones... but could you please stop for today? We don't have many more spares left..."

I glared toward him, conveying my annoyance at being interrupted. I smirked as he took a step back, imagining how I looked after an entire afternoon of casting bolts through my hands. I couldn't help but tease him.

"Yeah, I'm done. Even though I'd love to do more practice with moving targets. By the way, do you know what specialties are?"

"I can explain.. but I'd rather do it while we replace the dummies. My shift should have been over 1 hour ago..."

"Fine, lead the way. And explain."

We walked to a tower 50 meters farther. He guided me to the underground reserve, where all the training devices were stocked. I struggled, feeling how low my strength was for the first time when I tried to pick a dummy up. He began his explanation while I dragged my load slowly behind him.

"Specialties are obtained after learning specific sets of skills. A specialty will help you learn related skills and increase their effects. Having a specialty can be a requirement to join an academy or learn under a mentor."

He stopped and painfully watched me struggle.

"Drop this one here. I'll be faster by myself."

I insisted on bringing at least this one to the training ground. He shrugged and sped up, not waiting for me anymore. He replaced three scarecrows in the time it took me to replace mine. I breathed heavily and watched him bringing the last one.

"Thanks for the info and for the help too. It would have taken me soo long to move 5 of these things alone..."

"No troubles... the captain ordered me too. If we're done here, I'll get back home, it's getting late."

I watched him leave and opened my character sheet, looking at my new skills.

Skills:

Mana flow intensity (lvl 1): You can increase or decrease the effect and mana cost of a spell by increments of 90 to 100% of the base values. Increases/decreases casting time by 50% per increment.

Spell splitting (lvl 0): Split a spell into two weaker versions of it that can be targeted at the same or multiple targets. Cast time is increased by 50%

Multicasting (lvl 0): You can cast two spells at once, each spells mana cost and casting times are increased by 50%.

Mana hands (lvl 2): You reduce the damage you inflict to yourself by casting spells through your bare hands by 20%.

Spell manipulation (lvl 0): You can slightly alter the shape and trajectory of your spells. Altering spells increase their mana cost proportionally to the importance of the alteration.

Specialties

Mana shaping: You can conjure pure mana and give it shape at will. Improves the leveling speed of all mana manipulation related skills and adds special effects when they reach level 5 and 10.