[Tainted Lands] 3 – My…Path

[Please select a class!]

[You will be unable to progress beyond level 5 if a class is not chosen!]

[Please select a class!]

[Please select a class!]

[Please select a class!]

[Please...]

As a literal tidal wave of notifications 'Dinged' and appeared before me.

Quickly growing annoyed and knowing that this was not the time, I just 'thought' about selecting a class, and I felt my world go black.

Suddenly, I was in a completely black expanse where I couldn't see anything.

Before I could panic, figures began to appear in the darkness, dozens in number, then hundreds, and then thousands. Before I could even react, I was surrounded by countless shadowy figures.

[Please select a class!]

[Sorting by best suited]

Slowly, one by one, the figures once shrouded in darkness revealed themselves. Figures of strange and unknown people began to appear before me, the closest to me appearing to be a strangely tall man wrapped in hooded robes and featuring a long white beard, golden eyes, and pointed ears.

[Arcanist - Compatibility: 100% - System Notes: Most compatible class to entity: John Constantine. Highest Recommended Class for selection]

When I reached out to touch it, I was met with a new scene, like a distant memory that I had forgotten.

I was met with a scene that rapidly shifted and changed. The hooded figure was shown flying above in the air, summoning grand magic circles as they fought an army by their lonesome before summing elemental creatures, undead, and so much more to their side to fight the army before them.

[Masters of Magic. Arcanists seek the secrets of all magic, magic phenomena, and magical creatures. They are noted to be some of the best Mages in existence, capable of easily creating spells and magic while also being able to learn and understand it]

Then, I was thrust away from the memory, finding myself surrounded by countless figures once more.

Not wasting a moment, I moved on to the second closest. This figure seemed to be a woman covered in tribalistic glowing tattoos and bearing very, very little clothing.

[Rune Warrior - 78% Compatability - System Notes: Due to the nature of this class, it is highly advised that this class not be chosen, as necessary resources and services are not available in your location, stunting class progress]

I touched these figures one by one, learning over a dozen classes before the compatibility percentages began hitting below 50%. By then, I had long since made my decision, and it seemed the System agreed.

I soon found myself standing before the first figure that I approached, [Arcanist].

I felt a strange allure to this figure, like a hidden desire that I had never known before, one that I now knew about; I could not ignore it. 

Reaching out, I grabbed the figure and willed it to be my choice, feeling strangely calm after the hour I spent in this void.

[Class: Arcanist has been chosen!]

[Class Level Benefits: +5 HP, +5 SP, and +10 MP Per Level]

[You have obtained: Mana Manipulation, Mana Perception, Meditation, and Mana Bolt]

[You have gained +15 HP, +15 SP, and +30 MP]

Finding myself back in my front yard, I couldn't help but freeze.

The world was so...beautiful.

A myriad of strange colors covered the world, vibrant and full of life. Then I noticed a strange miasma wafting off of the eldritch monster that lay at my feet.

Disgusted, I kicked the carcass.

Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I looked down at the monster, soon realizing that I had to do something with the carcass.

After a few moments of thought, I dropped the axe and began dragging it to my backyard, where I got a shovel and began digging a shallow grave.

 …

Hours later, I was sitting in my cabin's living room, multiple holographic screens floating before me.

[Sprint - Level 3 - Active - Bring forth a burst of speed at the cost of stamina for a short duration. With each level, the fatigue brought forth from this skill will be lessened, and the better control you will have over the muscles within your legs]

[Mana Manipulation - Level 1 - Passive - Mana, a fundamental natural energy of the multiverse that is produced by nearly everything in existence, coming in countless different forms and appearances, this esoteric energy can be manipulated by few across reality, and you, are now one of them. With each level, you wield, manipulate, and twist mana easier than before, allowing you to feel the mana in the air]

[Mana Perception - Level 1 - Passive - While many can manipulate and feel the mana around them, you can see the mana around you. With each level, you can better see the mana around you]

[Meditation - Level 1 - Passive - Mana is naturally produced within the living, but this generation can be slow. Your body has adapted to intake the mana around it to make it your own, gathering it within your body. However, this method of adaptation requires you to be still for a period of time, as movements will interfere with the process]

[Mana Bolt - Level 1 - Active - One of the most basic of spells gifted to users by the system, with a simple mental command, mana will pool out of your body to form a sphere that can be launched as a projectile. Sphere’s size, speed, and durability are dependent on the user’s skill with the spell and the mana put into the spell]

As I read through the descriptions of my skills, I couldn’t help but mentally call forth [Mana Bolt], feeling a strange warmth pool out from my body into my hands.

I watched as a swirl of blue energy flowed out from my hands and condensed into a ball within my hands. The ball was around the size of a baseball, and the Bolt seemed to stay connected to my hand as if waiting for me to launch it away.

Strangely, I could see that the mana that connected my palm to the Bolt seemed to take up the shape of a coiled spring, ready to launch the Bolt at a moment’s notice.

[Skill: Mana Perception has leveled up!]

Interesting…

Could I cancel the skill? Seemingly at the mere thought, the Bolt in my palm collapsed and seeped back into my body.

I watched my status, noticing that just having the bolt outside of my body made my Mana capacity drop by 15 points before restoring to full when I canceled the spell. 

Interestingly, I wonder if I could cast the spell myself without assistance from the system. If the description of Mana Bolt was anything to go by, it meant that the System was somehow helping me cast the spell automatically, only requiring a simple mental command to activate the spell. Surely, that would mean that if I could somehow learn to manipulate the mana myself, I could create my own spells and skills. 

[You have reached 10 Path Points! Your first path has been unlocked!]

Path? Opening my status screen, I noticed the small section near the bottom. What’s a path? How did I get these points? That’s when I noticed it. Did I obtain Path Points from leveling up skills? I got seven from Pain Tolerance, two more from Sprint, and the last point I must have gotten from [Mana Perception] leveling up, all for a total of ten skill level-ups.

Tapping on Paths, I was surprised to find that my surroundings once again changed.

I was standing in a clearing before a dirt road that led into a dense forest. The path was dark, and I couldn’t see very far down the road. I was frozen, unable to move…except forward.

[This road represents the path in which you will take in life. You do not know where the path will take you, nor do you know when it will end, but you know it will lead you to both Paths that others have taken before and paths none have crossed before, but it is your path, one that you may stumble or stride through, but ultimately will lead you to your goals. The question is, will you walk it with courage or with fear?]

[Completed Paths: N/A]

[Unlocked Paths: Novice Mage (0/10)]

That’s…strange. I felt the cool breeze on my skin and the smell of old wood, both fresh and rotten. I felt the dirt and stones beneath my feet and the sun on my skin.

I looked to see the paths I had unlocked and placed all ten of my points straight into the only path I had available, and I found myself moving.

Strangely enough, I found that the world around the path rapidly shifted between countless different scenes: an academy, a village, a church, a library, and so much more.

[1/10: You are but a novice of the Arcane; countless have taken this path before you, and countless more will take this path after you. +5 Mana]

[2/10: +2.5 Mana Regeneration]

[3/10: +5 Mana]

[4/10: +2.5 Mana Regeneration]

[5/10: As you continue down your path as a Novice, you realize that the world of Magic is a complex world, one filled with countless mysteries that could take countless lifetimes to solve and understand. +5 Wisdom and +5 Mana]

[6/10: +2.5 Mana Regeneration]

[7/10: +5 Mana]

[8/10: +2.5 Mana Regeneration]

[9/10: +5 Mana]

[10/10: As you near the end of your journey as a Novice, you realize that many of your peers choose between a defensive spell and an offensive spell as one of the first spells to learn and eventually master; what do you choose?]

[Mana Shield - Active]

[Or]

[Fire Bolt - Active]