Fork This Life!

Chapter 44: Answers

Finding Joe isn’t too difficult – I just have to wait for one of the classes we’re both in - advanced water creation magic, to be specific. It was between that or alteration, and chances were I’d need both – water is everywhere, but I can’t be sure which is more mana-efficient between gathering water from the atmosphere around me or just making it.

Anyway, I go up to him at the end of class. As per usual, he’s sitting there looking at my hovering form, as if he’d already known I was going to talk to him.

“I have questions.” I state simply.

Joe shrugs, getting up. “You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t. Best we talk in private, though. Follow me.”

I follow him as he leaves the classroom. Thing is, as paranoid as I am and as strange as Joe is, he’s had plenty of opportunities before to harm, capture, or do whatever else to me.

He hasn’t.

I’m not entirely sure that he’s a friend, but I’m fairly sure he doesn’t have any bad intentions. That, or he’s just mad, and completely unpredictable. But as far as I can tell, he’s not. He’s odd, but it’s weird odd, not crazy odd.

To my surprise, he leads me to the dorms, to a single person room. A bit more expensive than my shared room, but still quite simple living.

“What, did you think I slept in an alley in the city or something?” Joe shakes his head.

After an awkward pause I reluctantly admit, “Well, kind of, yes.”

“Well… The thought did tempt me.” His eyes shift to the side momentarily before he diverts the topic. “But you’re here to ask questions, not admire the décor. Ask away.”

“First of all, I need to know how I can trust your information. You’re almost always vague or indirect when you say things, and it’s usually things that are impossible to confirm.” I start, bluntly.

“If you like, I can also say things like, ‘the grass is green’ and ‘the sky is blue’.” He offers unhelpfully in a tone as if he is being helpful.

I groan, “How do you get your information, then?”

Joe looks at me for a long moment, then shakes his head, sighing. “Fine. I’ll throw you a bit of a bone. In the most basic of senses, I know some people who know a lot of things. We talk sometimes, and some of that knowledge is occasionally exchanged. Thus, I know a bit about many different things, both that are happening and have already happened.”

“Alright, that’s better than nothing.” I concede. “But you also seem to know about the future.”

He frowns. “I don’t know about THE future.” He says, stressing the word. “THE future, technically speaking, doesn’t exist.”

“Imagine time is like a tree: a single root, branching out more and more as it ascends. Each point at which it branches is an instant in time, all things that are.” Joe continues. “Now imagine that there’s an ant or something on the tree, climbing up it – the ant is you, by the way, or me, depending on your perspective. It’s simplicity itself to know where the ant is: just look at where the ant is.”

“Sure.” I reply. “Assuming you can see the ant.”

“Indeed, and speaking realistically that is actually a big assumption.” Joe nods. “But we’re speaking hypothetically here. So we know where the ant is, and it’s not much more difficult to figure out where the ant was, we just track back down the branches from the ant towards the root of the tree. That is to say, for the ant, there is only one possible present, and one possible past. But to know where the ant will be?”

“It could go up any of the branches.” I say, understanding where he is going with this. “Maybe you could get lucky at the first branch and guess right, but at the next, or the one after… The chances are against you.”

“Exactly.” Joe exclaims. “The future is infinite. That is to say, even if somebody found a method to look up that tree from where they currently were and look at one of the branches above, that future may never come to pass for them. So no, I don’t know all of what will be. I know some of what may be.”

Pondering that for a moment, I accept it as fairly believable. “Alright, I can understand that. For now, I think I can accept that you’re at least somewhat believable.”

“I’m hurt,” Joe says in mock sadness, holding his hand to his chest, “I’ve never spoken anything but the truth to you.”

“Forgive me if I don’t take the… Eccentric… old man at face value.” Is my dry reply.

He shrugs.

“So… What’s going on?” I ask, finally.

He sighs. “Assuming you mean with the academy and the kidnapping, that’d be level eighty.”

Exasperated, I ask, “Why is it always eighty and ninety? Why can’t it be something a little lower?”

“Because you technically surpass most of the lower milestones.” Joe states, much to my surprise.

“But I’m only level…” I trail off in confusion. “Wait, so there’s some other criteria you didn’t mention?”

“Sure.” He shrugs. “But levels are easier, much easier. You have enough money, you can practically buy your way to level fifty or so. Past that point it gets a lot harder, sure, but it’s still easier than the alternative.”

“Which is...?” I prompt.

“Skill proficiency. Although they’re not exactly the hardest to advance in, the rarest or very powerful, you do still have a few skills at master. Combined with your actual level, I figure that puts you around level fifty-five, level sixty for what you’re qualified to know.” He muses, scratching his chin.

“Wait, how do you know about my skills and level?” I ask with alarm. Like 90% of my current combat strategy relies on my opponents not understanding what I can do, if there’s a way for them to see my status I’ll be at a severe disadvantage.

“Ah, well…” His eyes shift awkwardly, “It’s not really something you’re supposed to be able to know about yet… It’s a pretty well-kept secret, you know. Suffice to say, there’s a title. And don’t worry – the kind of people that can get the title aren’t the kind of people you’ll ever be fighting. Not unless everything really goes to hell, figuratively speaking.”

I mentally breath a sigh of relief. “Have I ever met someone with this title? Apart from you, I mean.”

“Met?” He considers. “Just once, I think. Kleio has it. Apart from that, you’ve probably seen a few here and there.”

“Kleio? Huh.” I muse. “Wait, then when I was called up to her office when I enrolled…”

“Yeah, she was confirming everything that she had heard about you and checking your titles and skills for anything suspicious.” Joe shrugs.

“Huh. I thought she just had some sort of skill to determine intentions, but – wait, I’m getting side-tracked.” I break off my current train of thought as it occurs to me, returning to my original objective. “Isn’t there anything you can tell me about what’s happening? Is the whole thing with those kidnappers really over, what were they after?”

“Wait, that’s all you wanted to know?” Joe responds with a chuckle, shaking his head at himself. “And here I was trying to be all secretive. Nah, it’s not over. Course not, they’re not giving up so easily. As for what they’re after, knowledge is and always has been the academy’s most precious resource.”

“The library. That’s what they’re going for.” I think for a moment. “It’s probably the most defended place in the academy, and I doubt I can see anything more than the surface layer. It’s divided into sections – I’ve heard students have access to the first three, no matter how long they’ve been here. Rumour has it that only teachers can access the fourth. They would’ve tried to infiltrate via a student first, it would be stupid not to. So either the infiltration was unsuccessful, or what they want is deeper than section 3. Or they got impatient, I guess.” I add as an afterthought, less talking to Joe at this point than speaking my thoughts aloud.

“It would be much more difficult to plant a teacher in the academy. An institution this important, they must vet their staff thoroughly.” My train of thought continues to run, new information falling into place with previous thoughts and other information formerly considered unrelated. “Theoretically, it’s possible given enough time, skilled agents and resources. From the facilities and means I saw when we got kidnapped, they have the latter two at least. They were clearly well prepared. Well-funded, too, if that wasn’t even their main facility… Wait.”

Well-funded. Skilled. Probable insider information. Probable many years invested into this. And yet they were taken by surprise by the academy response? Sure, Simon’s grandfather was the one to destroy them, but our teacher seemed certain that the academy could deal with them, even after seeing what they were capable of, and Simon’s grandfather seemed to similarly think that he wasn’t particularly required to be there.

Doesn’t add up. Either they’re a bunch of idiots or something else was at play. Something… Bigger?

“How old is the Academy?” I ask, running on a wild theory.

Joe tilts his head. “About two and a half millennia, give or take a few decades.”

“And it’s been here the whole time? Not destroyed, taken over, anything like that?” I ask another question running in a similar vein.

“Nothing like that, stood strong the whole time. Not for lack of trying on some people’s part.” One of Joe’s eyebrows raises. “You know, there should be some history book you could read for this.”

“No, can’t break my chain of thought.” I rebut. “And it’s always been at the forefront in terms of magic?”

“Pretty much.” Joe confirms, his second eyebrow joining the first.

“Impossible.” His eyebrows hike further up his forehead with my blatant rejection. “With magic, knowledge is power. With power comes the envy of others. With enough power, enough envy, comes conflict. This is an educational institution. It might be a fortress magically, but in terms of getting inside, any sufficiently determined and skilled enemy could do so and compromise the defences. The very fact that it’s never happened strongly suggests the existence of a higher power protecting the academy. One that can’t be contested. A god.”

“Well–” Joe starts, but my train of thought hasn’t yet reached the last station.

“They were overly confident despite knowingly having lesser forces. Assuming my former assumption is correct, it follows that there was a god on their side as well. But for there to have been a god assisting them, that god must have thought themselves capable of opposing the god protecting the academy, and yet there was no interference from them when their forces were being decimated?” I continue.

“Uh…” Joe raises a finger.

“Unless they weren’t expecting opposition in the first place?” My voice powers forward, ignoring Joe’s objection. “Perhaps they were more powerful than the god protecting the academy, but the god protecting the academy had an unexpected ally? Or they expected the academy’s god to not notice? The academy’s god was elsewhere, distracted, preoccupied in some way or another? But unbeknownst to the opposing god, the academy’s god had asked an ally to protect the academy in their absence?”

Joe just stares at me.

“Or something like that. Impossible to say which.” I finish.

“What… The fuck.” Joe swears.

Thunder rumbles down from the sky through the window despite the clouds there being perfectly white and puffy.

Jabbing a finger in the general direction of the sky, Joe exclaims, “Oh, piss off. I barely gave him anything! Cat’s out of the bag now, he’s well within his rights to figure stuff out if he wants to be such a smart aleck.”

A spark of electricity jolts down from the stone of the window to zap the offending fingertip.

Joe waves his finger in shock. “Cheeky bugger.” He shakes his head and turns back to me. “It’s official: I suck at keeping secrets. Now get out of here before I let something else slip. Never should have suggested this game.”

Joe shoos me out the door and slams it behind me.

…I was mostly bluffing to make him get angry at the sheer inaccuracy of my words and correct me out of pure annoyance, but okay. Okaaay.

Gods.

This means… I don’t know what this means. Back on Earth, if you were to talk about a god, you’d picture some almighty, mysterious being. Indescribable. Unfathomable. And as far as most people are concerned, far-off. Not having much, or any, impact in one’s life that couldn’t be attributed to something else: luck, happenstance.

I’ve known for a while now that the beings that the people in these worlds call ‘gods’ aren’t like that. They’re powerful, sure, though exactly how powerful I haven’t the slightest idea. Mysterious, sure. Far-off, maybe – who knows exactly where the gods reside. But there is never any argument over whether they exist or not.

On Earth, someone might say, ‘I believe the god of this religion exists,’ and another will likely refute their claim.

Here, it is accepted as common sense that the gods exist. All of them. Full stop. No question. No argument. It just is.

I’ve also known for a while that the gods are paying some sort of attention to these worlds. Their priests and paladins act as their arms and legs, carrying out their will on the worlds. And, sometimes, I don’t know how often, the gods speak to at least their priests, probably their paladins too.

What I didn’t realise is that the gods themselves are also acting in the worlds. How much, how often, I don’t know. Hard to know anything about beings known as gods besides what they want to be known. But it makes me wonder: has this second life of mine been moulded by the gods, beyond just my creation? How many of the times when I got ‘lucky’ were really due to luck?

Me dropping directly on a robot and gaining just the trait I needed to break free of insanity? Ferdinand’s party just happening to notice the hole I’d made, in a cave in the middle of nowhere? Me killing the spider matriarch? Getting summoned by Dreyer? All of the skills and traits that I’ve accumulated to this point…

The gods went so far as to bring me back from death. It wouldn’t be a stretch to think that they might be interested in my new life for some reason. Maybe that’s what Joe is: an agent of the gods, tasked to watch me for when they’re busy with something else. It’s clear at this point that he has at least some link to a god or gods. Whether he’s a priest, paladin, or something else… Well, it would explain some of he strange abilities he’s shown, and how he got into the academy – if he is an agent of a god or gods that are friendly with the god of this academy, it would be simple for them to arrange his enrolment.

Then again, I’ve met and seen priests and paladins. They had mana. He doesn’t. Unless it’s a quirk of the specific god he follows… He’s something different again. Or maybe he’s some weird species that just doesn’t have mana, or their bodies block out things like mana sight. I mean, he looks human, but who knows? There’s plenty of ways to change your appearance, and there are some races that don’t look too different from humans.

Well, whatever and whoever he is, it looks like I’ll have to look into the gods soon. Doubt I’ll find anything relevant to myself, but it won’t hurt to learn some common knowledge about them.

But moving back to current events - If gods are involved, doesn’t that mean that… There’s nothing I can do? I mean, regardless of what our side or the other does, whichever of the gods comes out on top can just sweep away any resistance.

…Things like these are the reason I generally prefer to stay unnoticed. Just another person in the background. The less people think about me, the better. My heart goes out to the visionaries, the heroes, those who spend their lives bettering other’s.

Because I know the world needs people like them.

And because I know that I could never do what they do.

Not because I wasn’t strong enough, or smart enough. It may sound a bit boastful, but I think I was born with a pretty good body – I’m talking about my old life, of course – and I was always pretty quick to learn. If I put my mind to it, I probably could’ve been successful in many different careers, careers where I could’ve made a positive difference on the world.

There was only one reason why that never happened – well, maybe not just one reason. But it was certainly one of the largest ones: fear.

I feared what would happen if it turned out that actually, I wasn’t good enough. What if I stepped up to the plate, but I failed, and I had taken the place of someone better who could’ve succeeded? What if people ended up hating me for my failures? What if I ended up hating myself?

I feared what would happen if I tried to do something good, but I got steamrolled by some company trying to make some quick bucks on someone’s misfortune. I never had been optimistic; I knew that people were capable of doing some very dark things. I don’t expect it, but I’m aware of the possibility. Even if people didn’t directly try to stop what I was doing, too many people are willing to turn a blind eye if the alternative is to their deficit… To my shame, myself included.

And what I think I feared most of all, was that no matter how hard I tried, no matter what I did, it wouldn’t make a difference. I had seen people, intelligent, brilliant people, who warned of things to come, displaying facts, lengthy analysis, studies, simply… Ignored. Nobody cared that people were starving to death, ravaged by drought or disease. Nobody cared that slavery still thrived in the world. Nobody cared about businesses selling absurd amounts of information about people to who knows where. Nobody cared that politicians and other big names commit serious crimes and simply get away with it. Nobody cared that the number of species going extinct was only increasing year by year, because of us. Nobody cared that the world was burning. Nobody cared.

Or at least, not enough people or not the right people cared to make a difference.

I knew, from a young age, that I wasn’t in control of my life, and probably never would be. It was the leaders of the country I was in, the big businesses. They made the laws. They could influence the public’s opinion on what was right and what was wrong, if they wanted to. Twist morals, beliefs. And heck, even the ordinary people around me. If I were walking down the street, and someone passing me suddenly pulled out a knife and stabbed me, there would simply have been nothing I could do.

It’s like they say, ignorance is bliss. I saw the world; I’m not arrogant enough to say I saw and knew everything that was going wrong, but I saw enough to know that there was a lot more going wrong than was being done to rectify it. And it scared me. A whole lot.

So, I avoided attention from anyone, big or small. The methods I used… I don’t know if I could put a name to all of them, whether I even knew about all the things I did. A human in fear can do extraordinary things. Sometimes stupid things, too, to be fair. But also, extraordinary. I never made any conscious decision, never really thought about it, to be honest.

But by the time I realised it, my footsteps grew soft. Later in life, I found it difficult when trying to approach someone, because I had to consciously try and make noise, so as not to startle them when they finally noticed me standing right beside them.

I never spoke louder than I needed to. If you were to ask even my mother to give an example of a time I shouted, I doubt she would remember one. I could count those occasions on one hand – could count them on my tines, actually.

My clothes – no pictures, no logos. Plain, unpatterned. Soft fabrics that wouldn’t rustle or make noise. You would think it would make it easy to buy clothes, but it’s surprisingly difficult to find good shirts that are just… Grey. Or blue. But nothing too bright.

I never made gestures while speaking, and always thought at least twice about what I was saying before opening my mouth – especially about whether doing so was necessary in the first place. I always waited for others to give their opinions before voicing mine – and if mine conflicted, then, generally speaking, I kept my mouth shut.

If I was in a public space, my face was almost always neutral, with no particular expression. People who didn’t know me very well probably thought I was practically emotionless. Some days, I wished they were right.

Leadership roles I avoided like the plague, although somehow they still found their way to me. I learned that it was best to pre-empt the role from defaulting to me by recommending someone else, particularly if I could give reasons why they were a good idea. Nobody likes it if you give reasons why you aren’t a good idea. They take them as excuses, as you trying to shirk the responsibility. And well, yes, I was, but there was no reason to lower their impression of me. Better for them to think that I acknowledge and appreciate the efforts of others.

Anything public I also stayed away from. Social media, even discussion boards – I was a ghost, sometimes observing, but, for the most part, unobserved.

In a word, I was plain, from my looks to my actions. Not handsome, not ugly. Nothing to stand out. Nothing to notice.

Perhaps it was fitting, then, that in my new life I was a fork. The most common of household utensils. Nobody would notice if they had one extra, or one less than usual.

I would’ve continued to live my life as I had before death. I had, pretty much, up until now. But now I know, for better or for worse. There are beings out there, with power beyond my understanding, that have shaped this new life. That may continue to shape it. And I don’t trust that their intentions are good.

Or even if they were – it’s my life. It’s my path. I want to be able to dictate the direction of that path myself. There’s no way to hide anymore. Hell, Joe was practically here waiting for me, when even I didn’t know beforehand that I was coming to this world.

I need knowledge. Of the gods, of their intentions for me. I need power, enough that they can’t ignore me, if need be.

…Then again, that was pretty much my plan originally. The stakes are just higher.

Sometimes, I wish that I could forget things. I detest not knowing things, but sometimes that knowledge turns out to be more of a curse than a blessing.

Status

Name: Gerald

Race: Living Fork

Level: 33

Experience: 6419.0/7600

Gender: None

Age: 2 years (local time)

Allegiance: None

Fame: 1

Strength: 6.5 (65.0)

Intelligence: 54.7

Dexterity: 9.0 (18.0)

Wisdom: 54.5

Charisma: 6.0

Luck: 12.1

Hardness: 26.94

Durability: 18.54/18.54

Mana: 1094/1094

Mana regen: 10.90/min (11.88)

Psi: 545/545

Psi regen: 5.47/min

Ki: 35425/3542 (35425)

Ki regen: 3.54 (35.42)/day

Unspent stat points: 0

Living – You are a living being, and as such, the energies of life heal you and the energies of death damage you.

-Trait: Average life energy absorption -Trait: Average death energy weakness

-Trait: minute life affinity -Trait: negative minute death affinity

Progenitor – The first of your species, and its forefather. Your reputation affects the reputation of your entire race.

-Trait: Minor fame gain enhancement -Trait: 50% of your fame is added to the fame of your race

Household object: Being an everyday, household object makes other beings less likely to notice you and mention you to others.

-Trait: Small fame gain reduction -Trait: Small presence reduction

Assumed inanimacy – Despite being a living entity and continually in the presence of other living entities, few have noticed your existence, assuming you to be an inanimate object. People are slightly less likely to notice you and less likely to notice your life energy.

-Trait: Minor presence reduction -Trait: Moderate life presence reduction

Fork – You are a fork. As such, you are designed to pierce, scoop and carry food.

-Trait: Minute taste enhancement -Trait: Minute piercing enhancement (restricted to food)

-Trait: Minute carry capacity increase (Restricted to food)

Second life – You have lived, and died, once before. While you died young, the experience nonetheless is an advantage over others. -Stats: Wisdom + 1, Intelligence + 2

Clinically sane – You have experienced insanity and overcome it, one way or another. The experience has changed you, for better or worse.

-Stats: Luck +5, Wisdom +1, Dexterity +0.5, Strength +0.5, Intelligence +1

Ouroboros – Like the serpent of legend, you bit your own tail. Then you ate it. Weirdo.

Stat – Luck +2, Charisma +1, Wisdom -1, Wisdom +2

Undead slaughterer – Killer of many horrors of the night, you can instinctively sense nearby undead, especially those harmful to you. All stats increased by 2 when attacking undead.

Life energy absorption (Average) – life energy heals you, causing you to regain durability.

Death energy weakness (Average) – death energy damages you, reducing your durability.

Life affinity (Minute) – You find it easier to gain life related skills and proficiencies than if you did not have this trait.

Negative death affinity (Minute) – You find it harder to gain death related skills and proficiencies than if you did not have this trait.

Fame gain reduction (Minor) – The amount of fame you gain is reduced.

Presence reduction (Small +1) – Others are less likely to notice you.

50% Fame added to racial fame – The fame of your race is equal to 50% of your fame plus the added fame of all other members of the species divided by the number of members in your species.

Life presence reduction (Moderate) – Others are less likely to notice that you are alive.

Taste enhancement (Minute) – All food that touches you tastes slightly better.

Piercing enhancement (Minute) (Restricted to food) – It is slightly easier for you to pierce food.

Carry capacity enhancement (Minute) (Restricted to food) – You can carry slightly more food than appearances would suggest.

Mana touched (Minor) – Mana permeates your body, changing it in some ways.

Herculean Strength (Large) – In possession of the ability to exert strength far beyond that of your peers. Multiplies base strength (Before using passive or active skills) by 10.

Structured sanity (Moderate) – a well-structured mind is a strong mind. You are resistant to mind affecting or altering affects, such as fear, charm and hypnosis.

Magic metal – You have gained the properties of the magic metal, Mithril. Your body conducts mana at twice the normal rate. Your passive mana absorption is doubled. Your maximum mana is now equal to Intelligence multiplied by 20 instead of Intelligence multiplied by 10. Your maximum durability is increased by your maximum mana divided by 100. Your hardness is increased by max mana divided by 100.

Psychic – You have unlocked the hidden potential of your mind. Stat unlock: psi.

Poison Resistance (Huge) – You are completely immune to weak and ordinary poisons. The effects of more potent poisons on you are greatly reduced.

Flea-bitten (Minor) – Fleas instinctively move towards you.

Physical damage reduction (Minute) – Damage taken that would do under 5% of your total durability as damage is reduced by 5%.

Ki Practitioner: You have gained the ability to control the energy within you, and to reinforce it with the energy around you, enabling you to perform far beyond the normal limits of your body.

Stat unlock: Ki.

Water-Proof (Minor) – Water, and many water based fluids, will slip from your surface with great ease.

Feather-weight (Minute) – You feel light as a feather. A feather that weighs slightly less than you originally did, that is. 1% weight reduction.

Cat’s flexibility (Minor) – Base Dexterity is multiplied by 2. Range of movement of joints increased by 1.1 times.

Curse resistance (Minor) – You have developed an innate resistance to curses. Reduces the effect of weak curses on you.

Heat resistance (Minor) – You have developed an innate resistance to heat. Reduces discomfort and damage inflicted upon you by high temperatures. Slightly increases your melting point.

Absorb (Advanced) (Racial, Low Unique) 34.17% - Allows the absorption of energy, or substances through the surface of the body or at a distance of (Int*Wis)/10mm. Rate of absorption can be controlled. Although this ability is magical in nature, as it is a form of mana control, and mana is also absorbed, mana cost is 0. Currently the only form of energy able to be absorbed is mana. Absorbing substances has a minor chance of giving traits, abilities and skills relating to the substance.

Mana sight (Expert) (Low Unique, Passive/Toggled) 5.38% - You are capable of seeing smaller congregations of mana than before within (Intelligence*Wisdom)/1.75m. Their forms are now distinct. You can now differentiate mana by type.

Self-repair (Master) (Low Unique, Active) 10.95% - By expending a type of energy available to you, you can repair your own durability and recover your original form. Current energies able to be used: Mana, Psi, Ki. Exchange ratio: 5 mana: 0.1 durability, 10 Psi: 0.1 durability, 10 Ki: 0.1 durability.

Telepathy (Advanced) (High Rare, Active) 41.15% - Allows one to communicate with other beings in exchange for 0.5 Psi/sec*distance between user and target in meters, to a maximum range of (Wisdom*Intelligence)/5m. Allows the user to share emotions and thoughts with the recipient.

Body of deadly poison (Advanced) (Low Unique, Passive/Toggled) 0.10% – Deadly poison courses throughout your entire body. So potent is this poison that even touching you will cause great sickness and partial paralysis for a short period of time. Potency of poison scales a small amount with proficiency.

Flee (Basic) (Low Uncommon, Passive/Conditional) 3.28% - Multiplies base dexterity by 1.5 when running away from something. Will deactivate if offensive action is taken. Will not activate if you do not perceive the thing you are running away from as a threat.

Body of weak acid (Advanced) (Mid Uncommon, Passive/Toggled) 2.07% - A weak acid courses throughout your body and on your skin. So weak is this acid that it acts better as a cleaning agent than a weapon. Acidity scales minutely with proficiency.

Magic edge (Advanced) (Mid Uncommon, Active) 7.14% – You have discovered how to clad the edge of your blade in magic power, increasing the power of your strikes. Increase in power varies depending on mana spent.

Gaming – Minesweeper (Expert) (Mid rare, Passive) 13.30% - You’ve sunk way too much time into this game. And despite the statistics saying 0 wins, 308 losses, you are way better at this than almost everyone else. Slightly increased analytical abilities. Slight instinctive ability to correctly guess the outcome of a 50/50 gamble.

Meditation (Master) (High Rare, Active) 19.35%: Enter into a state unburdened by the worries of the physical world. There is only you, and your thoughts that exist in this world. While in this state, mana regeneration multiplied by 3.0, Psi regeneration multiplied by 3.0, Ki generated at 25 times the normal rate. User is also calmed and receives slight resistance to mind affecting or altering affects.

Ki blast (Advanced) (Mid Rare, Active) 47.28%: Expel Ki from your body in a concentrated blast. Power varies with ki infused. With your lack of experience, you are not able to accurately control the amount of ki you infuse into the skill, it may vary by up to 10 points.

Form manipulation – Self (Expert) (Low Unique, Active) 49.28% - Through the use of mana, you can manipulate your own form at will. Cannot change density or mass. Costs 3.5 mana/second while changing form, costs 6 mana/minute while in a form not your original.

WARNING! Do not use this ability if you are of a race with aspects that could result in death if you were to change them E.G. internal organs, mana pathways, et cetera.

Lip reading (Advanced) (Mid Uncommon, Passive) 84.26% - You have learned how to understand what people are saying by the movement of their lips. Doesn’t hurt that you can see their tongue and jaw movement, either. Rarely inaccurate, you can usually tell what people are saying, unless they have some crazy accent. Good luck with those.

Nine lives (Static) (Passive) – You will avoid the next eight attacks that would be deadly to you, seemingly by accident. After avoiding eight attacks, this skill will disappear.

Charges remaining: 8

Telekinesis (Expert) (Mid Rare, Active) 24.83% - Through Psi, your mind pushes at the world around you, moving objects without the need for physical contact. More Psi is required to produce greater forces. Currently slightly inefficient.

External Ki manipulation (Basic) (Low Rare, Active) 0.51% - You have discovered how to manipulate Ki outside of your body. Doesn’t mean you’re any good at it. Difficulty of control increases drastically with distance and quantity of Ki.

Magic missile (Expert) (Mid Uncommon, Active) 91.50% - Fires a projectile of mana. Power scales with mana consumption, unable to exceed 50 mana per shot. Maximum range = Intelligence*1.75/metres. If remotely controlling, there is an additional mana cost of 0.65 mana/sec, otherwise direction of travel is set at initial creation of shot.

Mana control (Expert) (High Uncommon, Passive) 99.39% - Your practice with magic has led to a great familiarity with handling mana. Maximum quantity of mana able to be controlled reliably: 100 mana. Minimum quantity of mana able to be controlled reliably: 0.2 mana.

Power stab (Advanced) (High Common, Active) 13.12% - Multiplies the speed and power of a stab by 1.2. Cooldown: 4 minutes

Mud bath (Basic) (Low Uncommon, Passive) 0.00% - Your injuries heal faster when they are covered with mud, by 1.2 times. Slightly lowered chance of contracting infection and parasites from this activity.

…However, as you are for most purposes an object, this skill does not affect you.

Climbing (Advanced) (Low Uncommon, Passive) 0.00% - You have a slightly increased ability to find handholds and footholds when climbing something, as well as a slightly increased ability to maintain grip on smaller handholds.

Melee weaponry – Spear (Advanced) (Mid Common, Passive) 0.00% - You have some experience using a standard spear. Minor increased grip strength when wielding this weapon, and +1 to Strength and Dexterity while wielding this weapon. Maintaining this type of weapon is easier for you.

Doppelganger (Static) (High Unique, Active) – Switch between your original appearance and that of a Human Male. Costs 1000 mana/min.

Psychic translation (Static) (Low Unique, Passive) – Through subconscious psychic analysis of thought waves and language patterns, allows you to understand (and temporarily speak) any spoken language as if it is your native tongue. Does not apply to non-vocal languages.

Flattery (Advanced) (Low Uncommon, Passive) 0.00% – Skill and tireless effort is the surest way to the top. But sometimes, a few lined pockets and some glitzy compliments are all you need. Others are more likely to have positive opinions of you. Affected positively by charisma. Synergistic effect with the ‘deception’ skill.

Deception (Advanced) (High Common, Passive) 0.07% – Whether the end game is a knife in the back or a slowly drained bank account makes no difference. It’s not like they don’t lie to you, either. Others are more likely to believe your words. Affected positively by charisma. Synergistic effect with the ‘flattery’ skill.

Gaming - Tic-Tac-Toe (Master) (Low Unique, Passive) 48.97% - You are a master at Tic-Tac-Toe. Congratulations. Slight instinctive ability to correctly guess the outcome of 50/50 and one in three gambles.

Multitasking (Advanced) (Mid Uncommon, Passive) 73.93% - You are skilled at doing multiple things at once. Small increase to your ability to keep track of multiple things at once, small decrease in the reduction in precision when performing multiple tasks at once.

Common language-Spoken (Expert) (High Common, Passive) 78.31% - You know most of the commonly used words in the common language. Only obscure and occupation specific words are likely to be outside your knowledge.

Common language-Written (Master) (Mid Uncommon, Passive) 13.62% - You can not only read common the right way up, but upside-down, sideways and reflected without much trouble. The very few words you don’t recognise you can understand from context, and you can read like lightning if you need to.

Small increase in the ability to ignore superfluous text and descriptions to find the actual information you want. Allows you to skip over info dumps and flowery descriptions without flinching even slightly.

Earth magic (Advanced) (High Uncommon, Passive) 37.19% - You have a good grasp of multiple aspects of earth magic, including creation and summoning. Slight increase in mana efficiency and spell control when casting earth magic spells.

Formation casting (Advanced) (Mid Uncommon, Passive) 68.06% - You have a firm grasp of casting magic through formations. Slight increase in speed and precision when casting magic through formations.

Creation magic (Advanced) (Mid Uncommon, Passive) 24.67% - You have a good grasp of creation magic. Slight increase in mana efficiency and spell control when casting creation magic spells.

Light magic (Advanced) (High Uncommon, Passive) 31.10% - You have a good grasp of multiple aspects of light magic, including creation and illusion. Slight increase in mana efficiency and spell control when casting light magic.

Vocal casting (Basic) (Low Uncommon, Passive) 23.12% - You have a basic grasp of casting magic vocally.

Terran language – Spoken (Expert) (High Uncommon, Passive) 4.18% - You have a large vocabulary, and have no problem engaging in simple conversation.

Terran language – Written (Expert) (High Uncommon, Passive) 14.16% - You have a large vocabulary and can understand most writing.

Fire magic (Advanced) (Mid Uncommon, Passive) 42.42% - You have a good grasp of fire magic, particularly creation and destruction magic. Slight increase in mana efficiency and spell control when casting fire magic.

Destruction magic (Advanced) (Mid Uncommon, Passive) 23.84% - You have a good grasp of destruction magic. Slight increase in mana efficiency and spell control when casting destruction magic.

Ignitae language – Written (Expert) (High Uncommon, Passive), 8.04% - You have a large vocabulary and can understand most writing.

Metallurgy (Basic) (Low Uncommon, Passive) 92.75% - You have decent theoretical knowledge of metals and alloys, but lack practical experience.

Herbalism (Basic) (Mid Common, Passive) 59.11% - You have some knowledge about the names, appearances and uses of common and even rarer herbs, but lack practical experience.

Water magic (Advanced) (Mid Uncommon, Passive) 19.09% - You have a good grasp of water magic, particularly creation magic. Slight increase in mana efficiency and spell control when casting water magic.

Darkness magic (Advanced) (High Uncommon, Passive) 3.94% - You have a good grasp of darkness magic, particularly creation magic. Slight increase in mana efficiency and spell control when casting darkness magic.

Summoning magic (Basic) (Mid Uncommon, Passive) 96.72% - You have a basic grasp of summoning magic.

Aquan language – Written (Advanced) (High Uncommon, Passive), 64.32% - You have a good vocabulary and can understand most things written in this language, although in some cases it may take some time.