Chapter 6

I left the tents behind, along with the teeming mass of confused newbies like me. Then I took a brief walk to clear my mind and take in my surroundings properly.

It hadn’t escaped me that Will said their encampment lay beyond the wall. Now, I started to get around to understanding why that was. It appeared that the original encampment had outgrown the wall. Now, everything inside was dedicated to either the reception and procession of new arrivals like me… or to war!

A few groups were running drills on one of the larger watch towers attached to one wall. Several different impromptu tents held Crafters. The hammering from one place fought for dominance with the sound of a grindstone elsewhere, while the sweet smell of meat cooking from a huge cookpot blended horribly with the vile stench accompanying dark plumes from a small enclosed tent. And whoever was lurking up in that tall tower right next to the portal seemed to never stay still. There was constant movement up there.

As I walked, I saw barrels of spearheads, oddly dull. Bundles of arrows. Armor being made, oil cooking, food being dried. Yeah. It looked to me like they were ready for action, stocking up in case things went south. Humanity had come to stay.

I chuckled as I noticed a recurring experience. Every now and again, somebody would leave the recruiter tents, start walking, and then just… stop, in the middle of the well-trodden muddy pathways and not move for several minutes. Honestly, it was just like being back in Sunderland, with the damn ket addicts out of their minds. Only, this was slightly different. Because I was about to join them.

I decided to move over a bit until I was out of the way of the most traversed avenues. Then I took a deep breath and gave in. Now. I was finally going to go beyond being a regular human and become something else. Something more.

That tiny blinking spot at the edge of my vision expanded. It swirled into being, a rush of multi-coloured clouds adding several different layers in front of the world as I could see it. For a moment, I had the impression that there was something more beyond the actual world. Another layer, something just out of my reach. Then the clouds solidified and turned into text, floating right in front of my vision.

Welcome to Ademia, Liam Berg

Congratulations. You have managed to enter an essence-rich realm. In response, your kismet has unlocked. New paths are now available to you.

Attention: Due to years spent in an essence-starved realm, your body is devoid of essence, drinking in more than normal. As a result, you gain the Starved Growth trait.

Starved Growth

Trait (Temporary)

You have been lacking a natural element for your entire life. Now, your body will adjust, soaking in essence faster than average, as it attempts to absorb what it has been missing. Your skills will increase faster than it will for natives in this realm.

Time remaining: 399 days, 25 hours, 59 minutes

Huh. An essence-starved realm? And what the fuck was Kismet? Sounded like a cat name. The trait was nice, though. Sounded like a freebie to catch us earthlings up to speed or something.

Current overview:

Liam Berg

Level: 0. Progress to next level 0%

Class: Undergoing class selection

Path: Undergoing class selection

Quirks: Undergoing class selection

Traits: Starved Growth (Temporary)

Health: 140/140

Stamina: 140/140

Mana: 70

Health regeneration: 1.4 health/hour

Mana regeneration: 63 mana/hour

Stamina regeneration: 14 stamina/hour

Attributes:

Strength: 13

Agility: 12

Dexterity: 8

Fortitude: 14

Perception: 11

Mental Power: 7

Mental Control: 9

Free attribute points: 3

Apply attribute points now? Y/N?

I blinked, trying to take it all in. Ignoring what they were saying about Earth being essence-starved and the implications that might have about, oh, let’s see, the entire universe except Earth having access to magic, things weren’t actually looking too shabby. Or, at least, so I guessed, based on the vague notion that ten was a regular average. I could be way off. But if I was right, I was a bit above average and feeling okay about myself. This was solid proof that all those hours in the gym paid off. Way better than flexing in front of a mirror.

The regeneration stuff was a bit weird. If I’d get myself hurt near to death, I would heal in a hundred hours. Yet, my mana would regenerate in a bit above an hour? Oh, and my stamina would take ten hours to recoup fully.

A few questions emerged, and I tried focusing on some of the details. An explanation emerged instantly.

Agility

Your agility defines the speed and precision of your entire body. It affects your running speed, your ability to dodge, and partially affects many other aspects of your body.

Huh. That made sense, I supposed. Even with my size, I had to be quick to dodge in the ring, and I had worked quite a bit on fast, explosive movement. But what was dexterity about then?

Dexterity

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Your dexterity defines the speed and precision of your fine motor control. It affects your ability for quick, precise movements, in particular the more refined movements of your fingers, hands and feet.

Yeah. Okay. It wasn’t like I’d spent a whole lot of time knitting or… knife throwing or something. Now that it was out in the open, I could vaguely see a bunch of applications in a world like this that’d be harder for me. I shrugged and moved on. Strength, Fortitude and Perception were straightforward. Liam smash. Liam tough. Liam see stuff. Well. I could mostly see stuff. My long-range vision wasn’t 20/20. Fortitude did have an added detail, where it also marginally impacted the ability to protect from damage. Meaning, a ton of added Fortitude would let you shrug off damage that hurt others. Nifty.

I moved on for the two final attributes.

Mental Power

Your Mental Power is the force with which you may imbue your mental skills and talents. It is the muscle imparting your magic with force, deciding how effectively your mind will impact the world. It also affects your mana pool.

That was a downer. There was no denying that. Not only were they saying that I was going to suck at magic, they also pretty much implied that my mind was weak. Of course, countless report cards from a dozen different schools over the years would agree with the system. Still hurtful!

Mental Control

Your Mental Control defines the precision with which you may apply your Mental Power. It is the ability to refine and steer that which your mind unleashes. It also affects how well you may defend from anybody attacking you with Mental Power and talents and skills based on such and your mana regeneration.