Chương 14: A Tier 2 Skill

She thought through her options.

"You can bite and blink," she said, thinking it through as she spoke.

"But you need to have a target to lock on to first." She began.

"And I can…" She trailed off "Feel things." It sounded kind of pathetic when put that way. Here her mouse could teleport, resurrect, and inflict some proper damage. She could however, 'feel things' as it were. If she were able to find and, at least slow, or reveal the stealthy creature, Maus could take it down. Only, while she was sure she could find it, she had no confidence in being able to harm it or hold it down long enough for Maus to take advantage. It then occurred to her that not all bats roosted alone.

Much like the carrion thing, Scarlet had no idea which side of the community spectrum a shadow bat fell. Considering her recent luck, she'd be grateful if there was just the one. She called up her status, her attention going straight to her skills. She had both Bond Communication and Empathy, and neither of them, for all their usefulness, were going to help her deal with the shadow bats once she located them.

"I need a combat-oriented skill," she told Maus. Only, how did one gain a skill, and what skills could she get? She queried the Guide about what types of combat skills were available and received no response, which was not unexpected. Then she queried about how to gain a skill. [Skill formation occurs when compatibility or execution thresholds are met] Compatibility, how? Thresholds of what, and what counted as 'execution'? Scarlet pursed her lips and stared at the floating words.

She'd mistakenly thought that if something were clear, it couldn't also be vague. System wonders never cease; the Guide was both. Well, if nothing else, it appeared that some level of lowercase 's' skilled action was required in order gain a Skill. In the words of the adorable nerd she'd met at the convention, and who she'd been affectionately referring to as the Conman in her head (short for convention-man, because she hadn't actually received his name): If she wanted 'sick skillz' she'd have to 'git gud'.

"It's a crude little phrase, but it does describe what I believe the Guide is telling us. If we just do something well enough… Only what Skills could I even get. I'm obviously not a good enough shot to get a gun skill. Or maybe I'm incompatible?" She trailed off, allowing her mind to drift when she thought back to the footage she had seen earlier. The maniac with a knife. He'd stabbed a car with that glowing blade, and the car had lost.

The man had just stood there with what was obviously an average kitchen tool – outside of the glow, his hand clutching the weapon that was still inside the driver's door when the car drove off. His arm didn't even jerk forwards. That had to be mana, she figured, thinking back on the clip.

"That had to be mana, right?" She asked Maus, delighted she could now send simple thoughts and images to him. He just sent her back feelings of confusion, which was fair. He was a mouse, though he did have mana. It's how he used Blink. Was she using mana when she used Empathy? She didn't think so. So how was she meant to access her own? Her mind reached back through her memories, sorting, filtering, retrieving with that unnatural clarity that had become increasingly familiar over the past few hours. The convention.

The noise. What was it the Conman had said about this? The memory surfaced intact, clean, and complete, her mind retrieving the conversation effortlessly. Meditation. He had gone on about it. About focus, and breathing, about just how important it was to magical or spiritual development. She figured it was worth a shot. Worst case, she calms and centers herself and nothing else happens. Best case, she would have access to her mana. Real access. Time to get a combat skill.

She relaxed slightly, letting out a slow breath as she settled. The process of meditation was not new to Scarlet.

"I suppose that school counsellor did one decent thing for me," she said under her breath, the words bitter as she adjusted so she was sitting cross-legged on her office chair. One of her favourite perks of being a small person. Then she closed her eyes, centred herself and began to breathe very intentionally. In, two, three, four. Hold. Out, two, three, four, five. And again, and again, until breathing was the only thing she was really focused on.

She'd found this rhythm worked best for her to stay engaged without getting lightheaded or losing focus. As she began to meditate, she did not empty her mind. That had never been the goal. Instead, she focused on her presence, on her body. She flexed every muscle from her toes to her forehead. Then she switched to her senses. From sight to sound, to the feel of the bulky coat around her. Yeah, she unzipped that and hung it over the chair. Then she switched to smell, and the taste of the air around her.

Finally, she prodded at her new sense, this 'Empathy' she was still getting used to. She focused on the now, on the sheer weight of sensation pressing in from every direction. As she settled into the rhythm, errant thoughts began to trickle back in. She allowed these stray thoughts to drift, acknowledging and then releasing each one. Imagining them like feathers in the wind or leaves on a river, drifting away in a current she chose not to follow.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. In, two, three, four. Hold. Out, two, three, four, five. The world did not go quiet. It became louder. Her perception, already heightened, stretched further, deepened, sharpened. She felt things like she never had before. Like a new limb she was only just beginning to understand she flexed her Skills.

The bond between her and Maus flared in response, the connection strengthening until she could feel him with a clarity she didn't know was possible. Feeling her reach out, Maus scampered over and crawled up to her shoulder. Tiny paws pressed against the top of her ear, as he stood on his hind legs and began to groom the baby hairs above it. The smile that bloomed on her face was impossible to stop. Maus was so small, and warm, and she could literally feel his contentment radiating out of him.

He was just happy to be there, and the sensation was so alien, so foreign to her that she knew without a doubt it was not her own. With the assistance of Bond Communication, she let herself drift in the simple, uncomplicated presence of him. Communication did not do the skill justice. This felt like more than mere 'communication'. Perhaps the sensations were a byproduct of the bond itself? What the hell is this if not magic, she thought.

She tried to trace the sensation, to 'just look within' as so many social media gurus would tell you. Only, when she followed the sensation back to its source, she was astonished. It felt as though she had lived underground all her life and was seeing the sun for the first time and now had to make sense of what that meant, of its warmth on her skin and its light in the sky, and now she had to figure out how to interpret it. It was that overwhelming, and that wonderful.

Then a bout of nausea nearly brought her out of her meditation, as she wrestled with the overload of information and sensation. To try and parse through it to find what she was looking for. It took her a while, but eventually, she felt something. Mana. It was just there inside her. It was radiant, and so elusive. Trying to trace its passage through her body was like trying to follow the thin wisps of steam that floated above a cup of hot water. The moments stretched on as she focused.

She was trying to understand what she was sensing and how it connected to everything else she was beginning to perceive. It seemed that there was something in her body that processed mana the way the heart processed blood. Only it didn't just push mana around the body, it accumulated and stored it. For lack of a better term, she called it her mana heart. She wondered if everyone had one, and how it got into her body.

Had it always been there, only on a level or frequency that pre-Integration humans couldn't perceive? Those were thoughts for later, for now Scarlet had just managed to follow a whisp of mana around her body once. She followed that unit of mana from her heart, through pathways that were similar to, but not the same as her veins, watched as it collected other units of mana that seeped into her body as she just…

existed, then traced this now larger unit of mana back to where the mana heart was cycling and accumulating the stuff. Fascinating. Was she able to do anything to speed up the 'collection' process? Or increase the rate at which mana flowed into her body? She tried it, reaching out into the world with her newly enhanced senses, finding these motes of mana just drifting about in the air, and instead of passively waiting for her body to attract them, she pulled. To her delight it worked! The sensation was incredible.

She could do this for hours. She wouldn't but she could. For now, though, she'd just sit a little longer and– [Skill Available: Meditation – Tier 2] [Yes | No] Her eyes snapped open. She stared at the notification. So, this was how it worked. Pressing her lips together as she thought, she tried to dismiss the words without choosing either way. The prompt faded from immediate view, though the option itself remained. She was sure if she wanted to take the skill later, she could.

The question was if she wanted to take the skill now. It wasn't exactly the combat option she'd been looking for. Then there was the fact that it was Tier 2. That meant it couldn't be as simple as it appeared. Scarlet exhaled slowly. If it helped her optimize the process of gathering and attracting mana, then the skill did seem promising. She plucked Maus off her shoulder and cupped him in her hands.

"What do you think?" she asked, sending the image of the notification along the bond. He did not seem to feel anything apart from curiosity. Though he did send over a wave of warmth that put a faint smile on Scarlet's face. Stroking along his head and back she firmed her resolve.

"We should get it," she said. Mind made up. She pulled the skill notification back up. [Skill Available: Meditation – Tier 2] [Yes | No] She mentally selected Yes. She wasn't sure what she had expected, but all she felt was a sort of tingling in her chest that radiated out through her body in a quick wave that lasted no more than a single second before the prompt disappeared. That brought up a different problem.

If a single System prompt or notification was enough to drag her out of her meditation like that, what else could it distract her from in the middle of something important. At least the Log kept things like battle notifications tucked away until she deliberately sought them out, however System notifications, and now skill prompts it appeared, had no such restriction. She would need to fix that. She turned her attention to the Guide.

"Is there a way to stop notifications from appearing directly in front of me?" The response came quickly. [Basic interface customization is possible through focused intent. Additional customization options may require sufficient advancement and associated costs] Scarlet's brows rose slightly.

"And what," she asked, "qualifies as advancement?" [Tier insufficient. Advancement required for additional information]"Of course it is." She let that go for now, as her original question had been answered. She tinkered with the Interface settings until she had something she was happy with. Now, in the upper left corner of her vision was a small, unobtrusive circle. When she focused on it, her action log opened at once. When she looked away, it resumed its quiet place at the edge of her sight.

Even better if it was glowing that indicated she had an unread notification. New notifications would automatically be added to a different log, and if more than one had piled up, the glowing dot would get brighter. The best part was that because she wasn't 'seeing' it, with her eyes, there was no risk of retinal damage if she somehow got one hundred notifications at once. Scarlet considered the setup for a moment, then nodded faintly to herself. That would do for now. Stroking Maus she explored Meditation.

Drawing in mana and sinking deep into herself. Unfortunately, Meditation was not a combat skill… that she could tell. However, now, that she knew what mana felt like, she just needed to learn how to use it. Of course, there was no reason she needed to struggle on her own. Opening up the STAR forum page she created a new thread. @OfMiceAmen (OP): Can anyone help me with Meditation?

She gave no additional information, did not even mention mana, or that it was a skill, and set her backend program to tag anyone who made a comment that did. Those users' comments would then be invisible to anyone who didn't have that tag. It was the most secure she could really make the information without completely hindering the exchange of ideas and that she was looking to capitalise on.

Oh well, for now, she needed to figure out a way to turn her new awareness of mana into a skill that would let her get her loot or take more than a step outside her door without being murdered by the local wildlife. Just then the little circle in the corner of her vision lit up. Curious about what the System was trying to tell her, she opened the notification. [Quest: Establish a Safe Zone] [Would you like to accept this quest?] [Yes | No] Scarlet blinked. Well, this was new.