Moonlight filtered through a glass window, barely illuminating a room within the student center. Sylas slowly opened his eyes as he remembered the moments before he fell unconscious.
Brock holding his leg, being struck by the fireball, the black void, an ancient… Sylas wasn't sure what he was just thinking about. It was like trying to remember a dream. The more he tried to remember the vaguer it became until he couldn't remember anything about the voice. He shook his head and went back to the memories.
The void, his tier and level up, his class, and then using his class to kill Brock before passing out from his injuries and lack of mana.
'Necromancer, huh.' Sylas smiled to himself as he took a look around the room.
He was laid across two bean bags with his arms crossed over his chest like a mummy. There were two other bodies on bean bags which he could tell were Sam and Swain.
What surprised him were the five bodies standing around the room in a protective circle. It didn't take him more than a second to realize they were the goblins he.. Rose? Raised? Reanimated? Called back?
'Summoned. I might not have summoned their bodies, but I certainly summoned something to inhabit the bodies. Maybe souls?' Sylas contemplated
He glanced at the System clock, '1 am… I should go back to sleep.' His grin widened, 'But not before exploring my class!'
[Necromancer]
[Necromancers are students of Death Aura. They manipulate Death Aura to control the dead, spread disease, and decay life.]
[Skills granted by class: Raise Dead, A Summon's Thanks, Grave Pact]
Sylas had already seen and used [Raise Dead] so he skipped past it and expanded the view on the next skill.
[A Summon's Thanks]
[Grade: Epic]
[5% of a summon's stats are given to the summoner.]
'A feedback system? I get stronger as they get stronger and I add more summons to my ranks?'
Sylas clenched his fist, feeling the extra power his summons gave him. It wasn't much, but he could feel a change. Wanting to check the effects of [A Summon's Thanks], he opened his stats.
[Name: Sylas Redstone]
[Race: Human]
[Class: ]
[Level: 10]
[Tier: 0]
[Rank: Commoner]
[Strength: 17{5}]
[Vitality: 16{5}]
[Dexterity: 17{5}]
[Agility: 17{5}]
[Intelligence: 52{6}(6)]
[Equipped: Rotting Wand, Cloak of Death]
Sylas understood why he could feel a difference from just clenching his fist and flexing. Four of his stats had roughly a 50% increase from his new undead.
All except Intelligence. Int had raised by an extra point, which he assumed came from the Goblin Shaman having a higher Int stat and being able to provide the extra point.
Stopping to think about the stats, each undead likely gave less than a full point to each stat since they gave 5% and would need at least 20 points in a stat to give a full point. The System rounded the given stat point to one for each undead.
His stat screen became a little more confusing, but he understood the distinction quickly.
The first number was the overall stat after all bonuses were applied.
{x} represents buffs from skills. So, right now it would be showing the stats from [A Summon's Thanks].
(x) represents increases from equipped items.
With quick mental math, Sylas realized his cloak's new 10% buff to Int was calculated after the other buffs were applied leaving the equation of his total Int to look like: Total = (Base + Skills + Fixed Item Increase) * Percent Item Increase.
Satisfied with the increase in his stats, Sylas moved on to the last skill he gained from his new class.
[Grave Pact]
[Grade: Epic]
[User forms a pact with their summons. The summons willingly give their stats to the user.]
[Warning: The user may be unable to handle the stats given by their summons. In this case, the User's body will crumble from the inside out. Caution is advised for all uses of this skill and particularly towards frequent and/or back-to-back uses.]
Sylas wanted to use [Grave Pact] immediately to feel his ultimate power, but the warning quickly doused his flame. He could still feel the soreness from the fight earlier and didn't want to risk hurting himself further.
Being honest with himself, Sylas wasn't afraid of the possible pain or side effects from the skill. He was actually worried about Sam yelling at him if he hurt himself again.
He smiled at his thoughts as he brought out a thick tome with no actual pages.
[Use [Mana Manipulation for Dummies]?]
The tome dissolved in his hands as he agreed to the tome's use. Sylas could feel the tome turn into mana, approach his head, and then seep into his brain.
The normal warmth from the movement of mana within his body was multiplied. His brain felt like it was melting for a second before Sylas lost consciousness.
****
Sylas's eyes shot open as his hands snapped to his head. He cradled his head in pain for a moment before realizing there was no pain.
He recalled his previous actions of using the [Mana Manipulation for Dummies] tome, the tome's mana entering his head, and then the immense heat and pain, but his next thought remembered no pain.
Then the foreign, yet familiar, memories started to surface. Sylas was remembering the information from [Mana Manipulation for Dummies].
The first memories were the basics of what was known as the Mana System. The tome made an important differentiation that the Mana System was not part of The System which introduced mana to Earth. Instead, it was only a name to reference how mana worked.
'If the System felt the need to differentiate, does it mean mana is independent of the System? The System only 'gifted' us mana, but didn't create it?' Sylas shook his head as he went back to the tome's knowledge instead of wild conjecture.
Next was the information of the fundamentals of mana: the mana core, mana channels, and mana control.
The core was used as mana storage, dictating one's total Mana Capacity, served as a mana generator, contributing to Mana Regeneration, and worked as a Mana Purifier.
Mana cores were ranked by their abilities on a color scale. Red cores were the weakest and most nascent cores. Most beings started at the red level when mana is introduced to them, but those born in mana infused worlds were able to be born with higher levels due to their talent.
The color scale followed the rainbow by starting with Red and ending at Violet. The tome hinted at possible mutations, but didn't go in depth on the subject as it was for beginners.
The next focus was on Mana Channels. These channels were used to efficiently distribute mana from the user's mana core to appropriate location while using skills and to guide mana from the environment to the user's mana core when meditating or recovering spent mana.
The mana channels could be improved through natural use, the focused movement of large amounts of mana to expand them, or through specialized items from the System.
The final major part of the mana system was Mana Control. Mana control was the overarching term for the user's control over any aspect of mana.
Mana Control included the ability to empower skills, manipulate mana inside one's mana channels, manipulate mana in the environment, and the precision of mana manipulation.
The tome went on to explain Intelligence was the core of the System's representation of all aspects of mana. Sylas had previously learned that each stat had many sub-stats that formed the stat which the System then simplified into a single stat and number.
Each portion of mana was a sub-stat of Intelligence. There were many sub-stats mentioned so far: Mana Capacity, Mana Regeneration, Mana Purification, Mana Channel Efficiency, and so much more.
The tome went into the two major mana usage systems: Warriors and Mages.
Warriors were mana users who focused on the enhancement of their own bodies and their weapons. They typically only used mana within their body unless they used a System provided skill, such as Swain's [Challenger's Call], the AOE taunt he had earned during the hellhound dungeon.
Mages, in stark contrast to Warriors, primarily wield mana externally. They utilize the mana within their core as a catalyst or anchor, allowing them to draw upon and influence the vast reserves of ambient mana in the environment to cast potent skills.
While capable of augmenting their own bodies, Mages typically focus their development on manipulating these external mana fields, only strengthening their physical forms as much as necessary to withstand the rigorous demands of channeling increasingly powerful external energies.
The tome declared the most efficient training methods for all mana elements were specific to each user. Each user had a different set of mana channels, different locations of their mana core and channels, and different neurological paths.
"Start by finding your mana core, coax your mana out, and the areas the mana flows through easily are your mana channels." Sylas whispered to himself. "So, I was doing it right."
Falling back into his new memories, he remembered the key to getting stronger was experimenting with one's own limits. If an action or training felt like it was right, he should trust his body.
The last line of the tome was somewhat cryptic, yet exhilarating.
Skills are the beginning and, yet, the end for many.
Sylas lightly shook his head at the last line. He had a couple of guesses at what the meaning could be, but he didn't have enough information to make any decent decisions.
He glanced at the System clock. "Three hours for that small amount of information. I'm glad I didn't use it in the final rest period of the Hellhound Dungeon. I would've been a sitting duck for over two hours." Sylas thought back to when he first got the tome.
He knew the information wasn't going to be in depth because it had For Dummies in the name, but he was a little disappointed there wasn't an overpowered skill or training method within.
Overall, he was satisfied. At least he knew he was on the right track and he could spread the knowledge within his group.
With several more hours before the rest of the team would be waking up, Sylas closed his eyes and focused on his mana core, continuing his previous efforts of pulling mana out of the core and expanding it.
The hours flew by as Sylas realized the impact of being Tier 1 and the increase of his Intelligence stat had on his training. The mana was much more receptive to his intentions.
He watched as mana easily spread beyond the original inch diameter from the previous morning's training.
He felt the warm sensation as his mana traveled smoothly along his mana channels, easily redirecting it when the channels had a twist or turn.
In half the time it took Sylas to spread his mana an inch away from his core, he could now get the mana to reach his right pointer finger.
At first, he was guiding his mana towards his eyes, but rethought his decision as he didn't want to be blind if something went wrong.
Sylas continued for hours as the mana in his core was exhausted. He shifted his focus to trying to pull ambient mana from the surroundings into his body.
Unfortunately, this act turned out to be much harder than controlling the mana within himself. Sylas could feel the scarce mana around him after an hour of meditating on his surroundings, but after another hour, he still couldn't influence that mana.
He thought he was succeeding for a moment, but realized it was just his mana core passively refilling and refining mana. Sylas wasn't able to control the mana at all until his core refined it.
He tried speeding it up as it traveled to his core, diverting it, and adding more mana to the slow passive stream, but he had no luck at all.