Chapter 10: A friend

It’s been five years now. A lot has happened, but at the same time, not much. I gained new breakthroughs in [Sense Mana]. Met with the Guardian dragon a few more times—actually, I apparently have a meeting with her again soon. Gained a breakthrough in charm. Trained a lot with my Bond and figured out a lot. Carefully experimented and trained with [Astral Projection]. And gained new race evolutions on my fifth birthday.

I think I’ve figured out how leveling skills work. It’s not as simple as gaining EXP: it’s about improvements. It’s not necessarily that expanding the scope of the skill raises the level cap; it’s that there’s now another facet to master.

If level one is a total noob, then level ten is a master at that facet of the skill. There seem to be five levels you gain by action, by doing the skill, and five levels by understanding, by knowing the skill. In short, levels are a measurement of your mastery of the skill.

I’ve spent the last year testing my hypothesis, and the results speak for themselves. Once I began ignoring trying to raise the actual levels themselves and instead focusing on truly understanding the skills, did I start gaining a lot of levels.

It’s handy, really, to know that there’s more to improve. And even at level ten, I’m sure there’s more to learn, but I’ve hamstringed myself with too many breakthroughs. It’s hard to tell when I’ve maxed out one of the breakthroughs.

Name: AlysaraAge: 5Sex: Female

Race: Myrou Blessed RunalymoRace Trait 1: Mana GenerationRace Trait 2: Spirit SightRace Trait 3: Nutritional MilkRace Trait 4: Heightened SensesRace Trait 5: Mana SustenanceRace Trait 6: Runalymo’s CleanlinessRace Trait 7: Perfectionist’s EyeRace Trait 8: Nexus AdaptationRace Trait 9: Inspirational GreatnessRace Trait 10: Myrou’s Children

ClassActive Skill 1:Active Skill 2:Active Skill 3:Active Skill 4:Active Skill 5:Passive Skill 1:Passive Skill 2:Passive Skill 3:Passive Skill 4:Passive Skill 5:

Bond –Beauty: Level 51Skill: Beauty EnhancementSkill: Beauty BeamSkill: Aura of EleganceSkill: Grace of WholenessSkill: Shape Beauty

General Skill 1: Sense Mana 63/70General Skill 2: Pain Tolerance 17/30General Skill 3: Soul Damage Reduction 1/10General Skill 4: Mana Toxicity Tolerance 17/20General Skill 5: Charm 22/30General Skill 6:General Skill 7:General Skill 8:General Skill 9:General Skill 10:

Cursed Skill 1: Astral Projection 16/20Cursed Skill 2: True Sight 1/10

Mana: 200Mana Regeneration (/hour): 200 (+200)Vitality: 100Strength: 9 (-5)Agility: 12 (-6)Endurance: 10 (-3)Intelligence: 32 (+16)Wisdom: 28 (+14)Charisma: 20 (+10)

Sense Mana: You have opened your mind to one of the energies that fuels this world. You can now sense mana in its raw form.1ˢᵗ Breakthrough: You have sensed an overwhelming pressure of mana, and now you will be able to better sense mana in such quantity and better see slight differences in mana levels.2ⁿᵈ Breakthrough: You have learned to perceive different containers of mana, letting you see the general shapes of mana containing objects around you.3ʳᵈ Breakthrough: You have learned to differentiate the types of mana, letting you see elemental mana.4ᵗʰ Breakthrough: You have learned how to differentiate mana essences, letting you see the many types of essences.5ᵗʰ Breakthrough: You have learned to see different amounts of mana within objects, letting you better see how much mana is within certain parts of things and people.6ᵗʰ Breakthrough: You have learned how to expand your aura of sense mana, letting you see farther.

Charm: You have used words or actions to significantly change someone’s course of action. This skill will help you charm people easier.1ˢᵗ Breakthrough: You have convinced someone to give you something they normally would not have, and this will help you master the manipulative ways to get what you want.2ⁿᵈ Breakthrough: You have used your cute wiles to avoid punishment. This will help you master getting and keeping away from the consequences of your actions.

No one believes me when I say I have over sixty levels in [Sense Mana]—well, my parents believe me, but they think I’m a super genius or something.

My baby bonuses to my mental stats are slowly dwindling, but on the plus side, my baby negatives are also lessening.

Onto my Bond.

Aura of Elegance: An aura is exuded from you that permeates your surroundings with beauty essence, allowing you to channel your other skills into your surroundings at a steep cost of effectiveness. Area is up to 5 meters + ¼ᵗʰ / level. Uses 10 mana per minute

Has a ton of potential, but sadly, my other skills aren’t up to par. If I want to use a beauty beam, that twenty mana needs to overcome the present beauty essence, and then damage gets spread out over the aura, making it so weak it can’t even overcome the ambient beauty essence.

Grace of Wholeness: Beauty is wholeness; by channeling your beauty, you can return objects and beings to a state of wholeness, should they be damaged. Uses up to 20 + 1 point / level points of mana per minute.

One of my most useful bond skills. Again, my aura spreads out the mana over a wide area, meaning if I want the same effectiveness, I’ll need a whole day for the same one minute. It’s able to regrow limbs, but it takes months of treatments as regrowing limbs is unsurprisingly very mana intensive. Apparently, limb restoring is fairly rare, but it’s not like there aren’t any advanced healers in any one of the villages.

Skill: Shape Beauty. You can freely summon beauty mana in any shape you want; size is limited on the amount of mana you use.

This one’s neat! I’m able to make any shapes I want. My own planetarium? Yup! A mini copy of me? Sure, can! Make fairies? One of my favorites!

I’ve finally learned what essences do! Essences influence things. For example, creativity essence helps inspire people and helps them focus on their art or craft. Kind of like helping put you in the zone. Beauty essence helps make you more beautiful when growing up, preventing flaws and the like. When older, it helps you keep your youthful appearance, making you age gracefully.

Nature essence helps plants grow, and metal essence helps harden things and make them tougher. Gold and silver essence is mostly tied to value. We don’t use gold as currency, but true gold, gold with high amounts of gold essence, is rare and valuable. Naturally, Myrou gold in this society is seen as the most valuable, but it’s also incredibly rare since the gold needs high amounts of both beauty and creativity essence.

Spirits are basically elementals, but with essence mana instead of elemental mana. They’re also weak, usually, as opposed to their more powerful elemental kin. The difference being that, essence isn’t a tangible form of mana, not usually anyway, and mostly has a weak influence on the world. It requires a lot of essences to get significant bonuses from them. The elements have a direct effect on the world. It requires relatively few amounts to get results. That’s why elementals are super strong, or so the myths tell.

Although my Bond is highly praised because it's essence-based, it’s not very strong. Apparently, a bond is like having a mage class. For example, Mom’s Bond is water; she can easily carve intricate patterns into her jewelry with high-pressure water jets. Dad’s Bond is fire; she can easily work with metals. Dad also changed jobs from a gemcutter to a smith—she wants to become a jewel-smith. Apparently, one can make better enchanted things with inlaid jewels. Dad had to work in a gemcutting workshop to learn the trade, and then learn metalworking, which she’s doing right now.

Now, onto my race Evolution options.

Myrou’s Adorable Runalymo:(Adept)Requirements: Myrou Bless Runalymo; have charm at level 20 or higher, age five or higher.This Adorable blessed Runalymo cannot possibly do any wrong. Mixed with cuteness essence so that no one could think bad of you.Note: No skills will be lost or merged.

Although I like the thought of cuteness essence, I’m going to hold off on this one—maybe I’ll get something better.

Mana Blessed Runalymo Seer:(Adept)Requirements: Myrou Bless Runalymo; have Sense Mana at level 60 or higher, before the age of five, age of five or higher.This Runalymo has mana sensing capabilities beyond what most would consider possible. Able to see beyond their limits to places unknown.Note: Skills may be replaced or merged.

It seems like I can “cash-in” on my skill, which means I really should keep raising it higher.

Beauty Blessed Runalymo:(Adept)Requirements: Myrou Bless Runalymo; have Bond at level 50 or higher, before the age of five, age of five or higher.A master of beauty magic and her Bond, this Runalymo has reached heights in power that some would be envious of at an age where the rest of her kin are still playing with toys and living carefree. The dedication will lead to great heights, for this Runalymo is bound for greatness.Note: No skills will be lost or merged.

The Bond evolution. No doubt this will set me up with synergy with my Bond. My Bond is weak, though—probably why it’s trying so hard to sell me on this idea.

All three sound good and none involve any cursed skills, so that’s a plus, but I have a feeling I have until the age of ten to get something better.

Being five years old, I’m now old enough to start wandering outside as long as I’m with others. This town is a very close-knit community, so no one worries about me, and everyone is at least acquainted with each other,—also, I’m known as the blind child, and everyone knows who I am, especially after my Kyhosa controversy.

I hum to myself as I walk down a jetty street—finally, true freedom! I’m wearing my Hair Ornament of Duality. Most people don’t really like me wearing my Kyhosa as it’s controversial, and the hair ornament easily substitutes for it. I also wear a black cloth over my eyes—the last time something caused me to open my eyes was agony, also bright enough light still gets through my eyelids and can still cause pain.

“Alysara!” I’d turn to see who it is, but my [Sense Mana] sphere is large enough that I can see Aunt coming up behind me. Well, I still can’t differentiate people, so they still look like silhouettes, but it’s easy enough since she’s fast walking toward me.

“Laeso, Aunty,” I say, turning around.

“Laeso. Do you plan on going anywhere, Aly?”

“Nowhere in particular.”

“Then do you mind playing with Tanafyam? She’s around your age, and you know how Nyam is.”

Little great flame in the sky? Little Sun. It’s not common for someone to have a long name, but it’s not rare either. My name could be considered long too. Normally, since the subject is the “flame,” her name should be Fynataam, since you always start at the subject or noun, but names don’t always follow that rule.

I nod and follow Aunty to a playground. Some balls are being thrown around, and some older kids are playing with their Bonds.

There’s one child sitting lonely off to the side. Clearly boyish. Some recessive traits might have resurfaced with him, I think. More technical knowledge from my past life has come back to me over the years. Evolution, vestigial and recessive traits, material hardness, electricity, and many others. A few personal memories have come to me; I have no idea who and what I was. I remember sitting in a classroom—it’s very fuzzy, though. I also remember having greasy hands and not liking the grimey, slippery feeling, again, it’s fuzzy.

“Tanafyam, this is Alysara. You can play with her today.”

“O-Okay,” Tanafyam replies meekly but doesn’t get up.

“Laeso,” I greet. He nods and mumbles the same.

Aunty trots off, busy with something. I sigh and sit down next to Tanafyam.

“Mind if I call you Tana? You can call me Aly if you want.”

Tana shakes his head. “I don’t mind.”

“What do you want to play?”

Tana just shrugs his shoulders.

“Why do you wear that over your eyes?” Tana asks. “You won’t be able to see.”

Thanks, Captain Obvious. I’ll forgive him since he’s just a child.

“I’m blind, can’t see anyway.” It’s not quite the truth. I’m technically not blind.

“We can’t play with the ball if you can’t see.”

Captain Obvious strikes again! Sadly, this villain’s power level is too high for him.

“Those kids over there are playing with their Bond—why can’t we?” I ask.

“What kid our age knows how to use their bond?” Tana retorts with a scoff.

“Ehmm hmm hmm!” I hum a haughty laugh. And with a smug smile, I summon a fairy of beauty essence, having it twirl around. Yeah, when I’m not trying to unravel the mysteries of mana, I’ve been mastering my control of beauty essence. If I can’t be powerful in my Bond, then I’ll have masterful control over it. It also helps that it being weak means I don’t have to limit it and worry about it blowing up in my face. My control is the reason why my bond level is so high, averaging about ten levels a year. And it’ll slow down, but I’m constantly pushing and fine-tuning my control.

Three more fairies appear and start chasing the first, zipping around Tana in a game of tag.

“T-th-that’s amazing!” Tana nearly shouts. A few kids look over and notice the spectacle.

I’ll be able to summon up to ten if I wear my Kyhosa as I’m limited on mana. My Kyhosa boosting beauty means I can use much less mana per fairy.

Soon, a crowd of children and even teenagers form around us.

“How are you doing that?!”

“Is it really that girl? She’s too young—must be an adult nearby.”

“Is this because of that hair tie she has? Has to be.”

A lot of people don’t believe what they’re seeing. Seriously, who’d believe a child half their age can outperform them with their Bond?

“If you don’t think I can do this, then why are you here? Go look for the real caster,” I say to a random girl, making the fairies spin around her head. Admittedly, I was a tad hostile. I worked hard to get this good.

A girl, maybe seven years old, tries to sneak up behind me, probably for a prank, but I can see her and make the fairies block her path.

“I can see you,” I tell the girl.

I grab Tana’s hand and lift him up. “Let’s get out of here. It’s too crowded.” I drag him through the crowd. Once we’re far enough away, at the edge of the town, I sit down and dangle my legs above the water. Tana does the same.

“Can you teach me how to use my bond?” Tana asks.

I smile. “Sure, first you need to focus on your mana. Try pushing it out.”

I show Tana by stretching out my hand and forming a ball of essence in front of my palm.

Tana tries, really, really, hard. Focusing so hard he shakes, but nothing comes out. I don’t even see an ounce of mana forming.

“You have to send it up to your arm first.” I giggle. “Focus on your bond element—push only that mana out.”

Tana tries again, and I can see fire mana slowly welling up in his chest.

“Keep going, Tana, don’t let up!”

Soon, the mana is flowing up his arm, building up at his palm.

“Push it out of your hand now!”

A tiny jet of flame shoots out, barely seeable in the daylight.

“You did it!” I cheer.

Tana lets out his breath.

“Ugghh—that was so hard! You make it look so easy!”

“Was it really that hard?” I ask, genuinely surprised. It’s actually fairly easy for me. But that might have been because of my baby bonuses to wisdom and intelligence. Maybe he just has low wisdom? “Well, just keep practicing, and it’ll get easier.”

“Easy for you to say,” Tana mutters.

“Hey! I’ve spent years practicing—I wasn’t born this good!”

Tana looks at me enviously, I think. Still kinda hard to tell facial expressions.

“Anyway, don’t use too much mana at once,” I say with a cough.

I spend a few hours with Tana, helping him with his Bond, then playing a ball game with him. I return home to get some [Sense Mana] training in before the after-work baths.