Chương 7: Chapter 6- The Shape of Power

Eli leaned forward in anticipation, and fumbled around trying to emulate the same feeling from before. After a little trial and error he was able to trigger the descriptions for the other attributes too. Ding [Stamina - The resource pool responsible for feats physical exertion for an initialized entity in the system. When under physical stress this resource will be consumed to supplement natural biochemical and physiological processes to extend the duration of action for the entity. WARNING: Depletion of this resource can exacerbate physical exhaustion, as a small amount is required to sustain an initialized entity at all times full depletion may result in a loss of consciousness and extended depletion may cause you to expire. Current Pool: 110/110] Ding [Mana - The resource pool responsible for feats magical exertion for an initialized entity in the system. This resource represents an initialized entity's internal mana supply and will be expended to facilitate skill use. WARNING: Depletion of this resource can exacerbate mental exhaustion, as a small amount is required to sustain an initialized entity at all times full depletion may result in a loss of consciousness and extended depletion may cause you to expire. Current Pool: 150/150] Eli shrugged, About what I expected, falls in line with most tropes I've heard off. Although the thought of the health pool healing you sounds pretty wild, I'll have to try it out in the morning. Let's see what else we can find…

Ding [Strength- This attribute represents the holistic strength of an initialized entity's form and the quality and quantity of physical force you can exert with the correct application of force. Minor effect on Health Regeneration] Ding [Dexterity- This attribute represents the holistic agility of an initialized entity's form and the speed and accuracy with which you can exert physical force. Minor effect on Stamina Regeneration] Ding [Vitality- This attribute represents the holistic integrity of an initialized entity's form and the quantity of disruption you can withstand. Major effect on Health Pool] Ding [Endurance- This attribute represents the holistic integrity of an initialized entity's form and the duration of physical exertion you can exert. Major effect on Stamina Pool] Ding [Intelligence- This attribute represents the holistic strength of an initialized entity's energetic system and the quality and quantity of energetic force you can project. Major effect on Mana Pool] Ding [Wisdom- This attribute represents the holistic agility of an initialized entity's energetic system and the speed and accuracy with which you can exert energetic force. Minor effect on Mana Regeneration] Ding [Willpower- This attribute represents the holistic strength of an initialized entity's spiritual form and the quality and quantity of spiritual force you can project. Major effect on Spiritual Stability] Ding [Charisma- This attribute represents the holistic agility of an initialized entity's spiritual form and the speed and accuracy with which you can exert spiritual force. Minor effect on Spiritual Regeneration] Elias wrinkled his brow in confusion panning back and forth through descriptions. These are kinda vague and jumbled, I get some of the basics Intelligence times ten is my mana pool and so on but why are they out of order?

Class: [Child of Void] Lv 1] ============ Health: 90/90 Stamina: 110/110 Mana: 160/160 ============ Vitality: 9 Strength: 11 Endurance: 11 Dexterity: 10 Intelligence: 15 Wisdom: 9 Willpower: 16 Charisma: 7 Eli laughs out loud, Ok well that was easy enough, what about this… Ding [Strength- This attribute represents the holistic strength of an initialized entity's form and the quality and quantity of physical force you can exert with the correct application of force. Minor effect on Health Regeneration 1. 1 HP/hr] Eli squinted and focused again. Class: [Child of Void] Lv 1] ============ Health: 90/90 Stamina: 110/110 Mana: 160/160 ============ HP Regen: 1. 1 HP/hr SP Regen: 1 SP/s MP Regen:. 9 MP/min ============ Vitality: 9 Strength: 11 Endurance: 11 Dexterity: 10 Intelligence: 15 Wisdom: 9 Willpower: 16 Charisma: 7 Ok that's a little better. Eli whistles under his breath, I guess I need to be really careful with my health pool.

That's crazy slow, but depending on the effectiveness of the healing it could be great, who knows? Also do these literally compare to muscle strength and intelligence? No matter how he strained and squinted at the status screen he couldn't get the system to cough up any better descriptions. Also as soon as his focus slipped the screen reverted back. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

Class: [Child of Void] Lv 1] ============ Health: 90/90 Stamina: 110/110 Mana: 160/160 ============ Vitality: 9 Strength: 11 Endurance: 11 Dexterity: 10 Intelligence: 15 Wisdom: 9 Willpower: 16 Charisma: 7 Huh. Weird, for some reason it doesn't automatically show the regen I wonder why? Also, there is no "spiritual force" resource pool either, and no matter how I work at it, it doesn't generate one either, strange… I really hope I can make it to civilization at some point, I doubt I'll figure this out on my own.

Although there is no way I don't out myself as an alien, if everyone has this system a lot of this has to be common knowledge. Clapping his hands together, Let's do the skills next… Ding [Observant: Lv 1 - You have demonstrated a heightened awareness of your surroundings, paying close attention to minor details and the information it can provide you. This skill passively heightens your senses. Increased perception and awareness per level.] Ding [Tracking: Lv 1 - You have demonstrated a proficiency at detecting the passage of others through your environment. When in use this skill heightens your sense of sight and smell while drawing your attention to any context clues that may be present at a minor stamina cost. Increased perception and contextual inference per level.] Ding [Stealth: Lv 4 - You have demonstrated a proficiency at concealing your presence from others, passing without detection through care and subtlety. When in use this skill provides guidance to your movements to help minimize your profile and avoid actions that can draw attention to your presence at a moderate stamina cost. Increased dexterity bonus, proprioception guidance and reduced stamina cost per level.] Ding [Eagle's Eye: Lv 1 - You yearn to see beyond the horizon to discover what's beyond the limits of your perception, with this skill now you can. When in use this skill increases your perception by creating a variable lensing effect with ambient mana at a moderate mana cost. Increased perception bonus and reduced mana cost per level.] Eli's brows rose with every description eventually breaking into another grin as he felt an innate baseline knowledge enter his mind when he focused on each description individually. It was a strange sensation, almost like gaining an extra limb and then retroactively remembering how to use it as if he had the limb from birth.

The feeling was not like a foreign power entering his mind, but more like running into a friend on the street and then remembering a half forgotten dream of the event resulting in a sense of deja vu. Almost as if it wasn't a power granted to him but one that he always had and just could not remember the specifics of until prompted to.

Excited to try some of the new powers that this strange system presumably granted him, Eli focused on one of the distant arboreal behemoths in the deep forest and flexed the mental trigger that the [Eagle's Eye] skill guided him to use.

As he triggered the power he could feel a faint trickle of an effervescent sensation flow from deep within his chest up to his eyes suffusing the organs, the ocular nerves, and the surrounding tissue in a gentle flow of power somewhere between the tingle of a static shock and a warm flow of heat. It was a unique sensation, strange but pleasant, and almost as if switching the zoom mode on a camera the distance tree popped into sharp relief in his vision.

The tree which was most likely a mile distant suddenly was much more clear as if it was no more than a couple hundred yards away. While he wasn't able to pick out minute details, he was able to watch a small flock of birds with bright green plumage descend across the canopy settling in for the night with the fading of the sunlight. He could even see a distant tiny figure with a shiny iridescent green plumage and rainbow colored wings, darting through the trees towards the river. Man the wildlife here is gorgeous.

After panning around and spotting some more creatures, Eli examined the river flowing through the foothills that his stream joined, before eventually feeling a draining sensation. Glancing at the status window he left open he noticed his mana had been appreciably drained. [Mana: 98/160] He had only been using the skill for a few minutes, but that gave him an idea of what moderate cost might mean.

Given how new he was to all this, Eli was hoping that there would not be an active component to replenishing his mana and watched it like a hawk for a minute or two before releasing a tense breath. [Mana: 99/160] So moderate most likely means only a few uses or a short duration before resource depletion, but even so this is amazing! This is practically a superpower, and it was granted on a whim because I squinted a bit?

I mean I know it's no x-ray vision or anything, but if I was able to pick up something this awesome so easily what else is out there? Visions of exploding fireballs and soaring dragons flit through Elias's mind for a moment as he envisioned a world of childhood fantasies.

Epic tales of wizards casting arcane magic in delicately embroidered robes, valiant knights in shining armor with glowing eldritch swords, and a frankly embarrassing number or ridiculous anime style kaiju battle scenes before realizing that a fireball is really not all that different from a grenade. The thought pulled him from his fantasy and painted a grim expression on Eli's face.

Damn that would actually be a huge problem, as much fun as it is to dream about fantastic cosmic power, I really hope such power isn't quite so easy to access. If civilization here exists, and it is anything like back home, there probably are a shocking number of people with the critical thinking skills and moral fiber of a toddler. A chill ran down Elias's spine at the thought of some of the dirt bags he had met in his life getting access to such power. Snorting to himself, Eli winced. Fuck me I really hope not.

Eli settled in to try and get some sleep, trying to recapture his earlier excitement but failing. Elias found himself tossing and turning in his tree perch, doing his best to push the thought of toddlers with grenade launchers running wild out of his mind as he drifted off to a fitful sleep.

Elias's POV A gentle warmth wraps around me as I float weightlessly in the void as I come to consciousness. In this expanse of nothingness I try to open my eyes only to find I either have none, or they don't work, and as I come to I struggle to find myself unable to touch myself or move at all in an endless void. Panic rises in me as I find that I am insensate and I remember the horrific pain of my previous moments, the flash of heat and searing pain as my body was dissolved in an instant.

In a blind rush I frantically reach out around me. There is no darkness, because there is no shadow. There is simply nothing around me but an empty void. I appear to have no form, but as I attempt to focus through my rising panic I realize that is not quite right. I force myself to calm down, and remind myself that panic will solve nothing, I need to remember my survival training. I need to focus on what I can detect, on what I can change.

As I calm I realize I can feel something, a comforting warmth surrounding me, and something of a drifting movement or current brushing against me. It is faint but by straining whatever senses I have in this blank void I can feel some kind of eddies or at least density changes of some kind in whatever medium I find myself drifting in.

Otherwise though, there is nothing, just a quiet warmth and a sense of movement like floating on a warm river the temperature of bathwater with the occasional gentle bump or nudge against my extremities like I was brushing past an obstacle, one soft and giving. I was never very religious, but I guess this is a pretty terrible way to find out that not only is the afterlife real, but it is incredibly boring.

At least I assume I'm dead, I doubt a nuclear weapon of unknown size is survivable from such a close distance, but it's doubtful. At least I hope it is not the end, I felt like I was just getting started in life. For a while I drift on the current, and I reflect on my life. While I had found satisfaction in most things I found myself wishing I had done more.

Everyone wishes to live a fulfilling life and they all find it in different ways, most often wanting a comfortable, slow life, a couple of kids and a yard, in a quiet neighborhood, maybe taking a trip to the beach on the weekend. As I think back I find myself dwelling on the few moments of comfortable camaraderie with friends and family, dinner out with my parents and siblings, beers at sunset on the beach with my friends. Wait, what the fuck? Since when do I cherish quiet moments with family?

Also most of my family is dead. Except for my sister, my family was just a couple estranged Uncles and a handful of cousins. Who were those people I was seeing?