The Fool's Freedom

Alan’s brain nearly short-circuited as he read over the skills. He was confused as to why the first was there again.

Pact (Epic)

Borrow strength from those who stand at the top.

He was not doing that for now, or maybe ever. Pact just sounded like more than a simple trade and a permanent connection to some unknown being was a terrifyingly bad idea for someone with his personality. Alan wondered if that meant he had commitment issues. Whatever.

The next choice was much more interesting and thematic.

Shadow Puppet (Epic)

Create a shadow puppet using the remains of a slain foe.

The pluses of such a skill were countless, especially if the puppet received some of the characteristics of the being it was created from. Being an epic skill, Alan expected a lot. It was versatile and strong and it would be certainly a good addition to the shadow theme he was going for.

However, the third choice made even it pale in comparison.

Curse: Stolen Life (Epic)

Mark your targets and let their vital energy become yours until the curse is released or destroyed.

Holy fuck. Was this going to patch up his Vitality leakage problems? Was he about to have a body that could handle his new stats and all the strain? Alan tried to calm down and think about it logically. Technically, [Pact] could also offer a solution in the form of assistance from a higher power. He was sure of that, but it wasn’t worth it unless things got way out of hand.

[Shadow Puppet] sounded amazing, but he had to branch out and today was the day.

He was not quite sure how the curse would work, but he figured that it would not raise his combat abilities very much if at all. It was a slow skill that would pay dividends when he managed to use it properly. Hopefully.

With a thought he chose it.

Congratulations! You have learned a new skill: Curse: Stolen Life (Epic)

Curse: Stolen Life (Epic)

All life is there for the taking. Why else would it exist, if not to enrich your existence and make your strength grow?

Perform a spell ahead of time and prepare up to three curse marks that need to be used within 24 hours or they will disperse. Place them on your unknowing foes and steal their life, making them weaker and more prone to fatigue.

Only three marks can exist at a time.

Each mark can only be placed upon a target by the touch of the user.

The placed marks disappear only when dismissed, dispelled, or when the target dies.

The marks are painless and invisible. They integrate with the target's body and transfer vital energy over to the caster as a constant stream.

The strength of the curse can be controlled by the user.

The curse is not limited by distance.

A very dark skill, but also an amazing one. It was most certainly not a permanent solution unless he wanted to spend an eternity searching for suitable targets to curse. Alan decided to save three of the attribute points just in case he needed them. Hopefully, there would be some blind, slow but ancient and powerful creature he could curse and never meet again.

As if I would be that lucky.

The more he thought about it, the more he got back down to earth. The skill was strong, but the problems were evident too. Where would he search for such targets? Would they know something is wrong or did that depend on their levels and competence? Would the curse work on plants? That would resolve a lot of the issues.

The silver lining was that it could probably be used in a fight too if he prepared the curse marks ahead of time. Couldn’t he just place one and then drain his target of life? It did say that the strength of the curse would be determined by him.

The details of the spell were engraved in Alan’s mind too and it made him grind his teeth for a second. He would need to sacrifice some of his blood and mana to create a mark, which was not ideal with his Vitality situation. It didn’t seem much, but if he did it every day and didn’t succeed in placing the mark, then that would be an issue.

He was also unsure how the stolen vital energy as the skill called it would affect him. Maybe it would allow him to heal faster. Placing semi-dormant curse marks was another option too. He would just drain vitality when he needed it, instead of making it a constant thing. That would lessen the chance of the curse being discovered and removed, and also give him a lifeline.

So many possibilities. I hope I don’t get too obsessed.

Alan sighed in contentment and took a few minutes to mull over the Skill Stones. They all paled compared to the curse, but they couldn’t all be amazing.

From the first selection, he chose [Last Glimpse]. It wasn’t the best, but it could be very useful in the right situation. He decided to save it for the time being and not learn it. It was rare and could probably be traded for quite a few useful things.

A black rectangular crystal appeared in Alan’s hand in a flash of mana. Its surface was etched with a complicated weave of lines and shapes, creating a sense of beauty and mystery. There was a soft glow to the thing and Alan felt a weak draw. Instinctively he knew that if he willed it, the skill would be his.

He easily resisted the urge and put away the crystal, while mulling over the second choice. He had passed on [Water Pellet] despite his need for a sustainable ranged attack because of it.

A crystal of iridescent light blue appeared in his hand similar to the first time. It was also engraved and ethereal looking. This time though, Alan didn't hesitate to give in to the urge and learn the skill. The process took a while and was not as instantaneous as when he simply picked a skill from those offered by the System.

Congratulations! You have learned a new skill: Mana Zap

Mana Zap

Create a tiny concentrated explosion of mana. It does minimal damage and can disrupt channeling effects if used wisely.

The range increases with the user’s Mind attribute.

Alan pointed at the mountainside opposite him, on the other side of the road, and cast the skill. It took a minute amount of mana that barely affected his current mana pool. There was a flash of blue, and then nothing.

He frowned. It was much weaker than he had hoped for, but he hadn’t picked it for its damage anyway. Once advancement came it would be much stronger. He grinned as he was reminded of the way Davis had instantly advanced [Efficient Basic Movement]. The man’s death by his hand was a sad thing, but there was nothing to be done.

Alan shook his head and pointed again. He cast the skill a few times observing the process and how everything worked. For some reason, everything was much clearer than before and he quickly got used to the few intricacies of the skill and the flow of mana.

On his next cast, he started charging it, like he had done with [Shadow Slash], before he tried to turn the charged mana into shadow attributed one.

The following explosion happened right on top of his finger and nearly blew it off, making Alan stumble backward and hold his hand while cursing.

His finger was charred and numb, but other than that it was nothing serious.

This time, he tried to convert the mana to shadow mana while it was still flowing through his body and toward the finish line of the skill’s determined path. The process was much smoother but he didn’t let the mana build or obstruct its path.

What followed was an explosion similar to the first one, only this time instead of attributeless mana it was dark shadows that attacked the mountainside. Alan was not satisfied at all with that and kept experimenting, having forgotten that he was in an alien world.

Despite the skill having a low cost, constant spamming started hurting his mana. He still had most of his pool, but playing on the safe side was probably smarter.

There were also a whole 21 attribute points to put to use. He considered the attribute effects so far. Apart from the initial growth the effect now was much more subtle, although it was there. The most obvious improvement was the capacity of his mana pull and the control he had over his skills. The latter was slowly growing with all three attributes and seemed to have many different sides.

Mind did help a lot with understanding the skills too, while Will helped shape them. Other than that, he didn’t feel much smarter, although he could perceive information at a much faster rate which was probably one of the effects of the attribute.

He wondered if the Manifest Will thing referred to the attribute itself or a more conceptual definition of will. Like his most cherished desire, why he was pushing forward or something? Try as he may he had yet to manifest anything. Hopefully, when he finally figured it out wouldn’t be too late.

For now, boosting his Will and Mind to a hundred and dumping the rest into Magic seemed like the best route. While Will and Mind helped with his physical attributes a few points didn’t make that much difference, but the faster mana regeneration and larger amount did. Alan hesitated a bit more but Xil interrupted him.

“Hey, human.” Xil suddenly spoke in his mind.

“I thought we were past that,” Alan replied.

“No time for hurt feelings. Something’s coming.”

Here we go again. It could’ve at least waited for him to figure out his attributes.

“Where?”

“Above. It’s dropping slowly!”

Alan looked up just in time and saw a humanoid with long gangly limbs that looked more like twigs, and a body that was also quite thin and had the color of dried-out tree bark. It was dropping slowly backward, in a surprising show of intelligence. It was certainly avoiding any risk of falling.

If it continued like that the creature would pass by his hiding spot with a few meters to spare. It was focused on its task and didn’t seem to care much about its surroundings.

Alan held his breath.

“Won’t you fight it?” Xil asked.

“What do you mean to fight it? If I can get away without making a ruckus I should.”

“But this is an opportunity to test their strength and see what this world is all about. You are bound to fight. Better soon than later, especially if it is against a single lone opponent instead of a horde of whatever those are. Think about it, stupid.”

Alan grunted but didn’t respond. The demon had a point. It was much better to fight one on one now, instead of waiting for a worse match-up later. That was assuming there was only one species of risen on this Fractal.

The creature took its time making it down the mountainside. Alan considered sending a shadow blade into the rock itself and making it fall, assuming the skill would be able to break the stone at all.

“Fuck.” Alan cursed.

“What? Are you getting cold feet?”

“I don’t know how much time has passed. I feel fine and much of the fatigue is gone, but it might be the System’s doing or the effect of the healing charm I used earlier. If I don’t have my armor I am fucked.”

“You need to stop relying on a single goddamn skill and get creative. My… well… someone I don’t remember from my past used to say, as long as you got mana, you got tools.”

That was easy to say, but Alan wasn’t exactly the greatest of casters in the world. Still, there was good reasoning in the demon’s words. Alan hesitated. He had enough time with the creature going as slow as it was.

“What are you doing now?”

“Not relying on only one skill. I need to try this. Watch where this thing is going.”

Alan took out the cat pommel dagger and cut his wrist as the spell suggested. Half of his mana was instantly sucked away and a strange dark mark started forming above Alan’s open hand. It resembled his shadow skills, but it also didn’t. The black was darker, more oily, more sinister. Alan almost felt his eyes water as he stared at it, but he made sure not to look away.

“I am the thief of life, and in this mark, I leave my blood. Let it become the tool of my salvation.” He whispered the strange words as quietly as possible. The spell was almost like the ritual he performed to enchant his bones, only it didn’t require a circle or such a large amount of mana. It still took around thirty seconds for the mark to form.

The blood pouring out of his cut wrist flew in ropes and entered the mark, adding some red to the swirling darkness. It looked like a rune and it sank in his hand. The wound on his wrist instantly closed as if it never was, leaving only a black line on one side of his wrist. One of three possible.

Alan took a deep breath and looked up. The creature was gone.

“Relax, it just passed this place. It has a bit more to go.” The ever-helpful Xil said.

“Good. Time to see how my new evil shit works.”

He swore he could hear the demon laugh in his cube.