Reincarnation

by Timothy McGowen

  Name: Cow, Level 1

  I did so and could barely make out the number Level 1. The color of the number was a dull grey. That, combined with the size of the digits floating in my field of vision, made seeing it extremely difficult.

  “Am I at least stronger than the beast of burden?” I asked.

  “Well, kind of stronger. Most living creatures will only show a fraction of their true potential when sleeping or if they have learned to deliberately suppress their power. I think when that cow is awake, it is closer to Level 2. Also, it has zero Spiritual Potential, so it is completely Physical Potential.”

  I focused on the cow, activating my skill again.

  Name: Cow, Level 1, Spirit: 0, Physical 85

  So the cow had a Physical of 85, what had mine been again? Right, ten. Damn, I really was weak.

  “You do have a decent starting Spiritual Potential! A score of 40 is unusually high for a newborn…I think…actually, I have zero frame of reference to make that judgment call so never mind.”

  “Focus!” A voice yelled, pulling me back to reality. “You daydream like that in the blighted lands and yo-“

  “Die,” I said, finishing his thought and jogging to catch up, “I’m sorry,” I added, seeing his eyes narrow down at me as I approached. “Let’s get to this training. I need to get stronger.”

  “Well now,” Aetex said his grin returning, “this is the kind of attitude I could get used to. Before we go any further in your training, you need to pick your path.”

  Path refers to the direction of Sri specialization tree you are going to take. As a Sri blessed, you can specialize in a narrow type of training; Sri Shielding, Sri Manipulation, or Sri Projections.

  “There are three main paths that you can walk,” Aetex began to say, but I held up a hand.

  “Shielding, manipulation, or projection?” I said and watched Aetex’s emotions shift about like newly turned sand. First anger, then surprise, and lastly, a broad grin on his face.

  “Knowledge is power,” he said, clapping me against my shoulder. I had to grab hold of the building to keep myself from falling over. “Do you also know the core uses of each and which you’d prefer to pick?”

  I glanced down at my book and thought, “Well?”

  “Just a second, I’ll throw it up on your viewing plane, and you can look it over.”

  Three icons appeared in my field of vision; a round shield, a small stick figure shooting something from his hands, and a little person their hands pressed against their head like they were experiencing a bad headache. I looked at each in turn and read the information.

  Sri Shielding: The art of channeling Sri in a layer around yourself, creating a protective barrier, and instilling your attacks with minor additional damage. Best used by Erusha with high Physical Potential as it requires less Energy Potential to maintain the small amount of Sri that covers your body.

  Sri Manipulation: The art of manipulating the flows of Sri in the air around you to move objects. This requires a balance between Physical Potential and Energy Potential. It has less of a requirement of Sri because of its ability to use foreign Sri, the strain on the body when leveraging other items can be immense.

  Sri Projections: The art of projecting concentrated Sri out of your body at a target. This requires a high level of Energy Potential as you are throwing concentrated Sri from your body to be used as an attack.

  It didn’t take me long after I finished reading the three main paths to see which one I preferred.

  “I pick Sri Projections,” I said, meeting Aetex’s eyes. He nodded and grinned. He didn’t seem surprised at all. My high amount of Spiritual Potential wasn’t the only reason I had chosen the Sri Projections. If I was throwing something from my body, I would be able to keep my distance from whatever dangerous foe might be looking to kill me, and that suited me just fine.

  “That is a fine choice,” Aetex said, stepping forward, “I am a master at Sri Shielding personally, but I can teach you the first steps on the path of Projections. Close your eyes and listen to my voice.”

  I closed my eyes and tried to clear my mind of my thoughts.

  Path of the Sri Projector Chosen. Concentration centers aligned. Sri Projectors get +10 to Base Sri Energy per Level.

  One ability point granted. (2)

  Ability points can be used in Sri Blessed Specialization trees (Unlocked at level 5) or applied to abilities to increase them by 1 level.

  “Should you tell him that I have already made the modification to allow you to go down the Sri Projections path? I mean, we might learn something from him, but all it required was increasing the flows into your hands and dampening the other paths slightly.”

  I opened my eyes and clenched my teeth in frustration. Aetex stood in front of me with his hands outstretched and eyes closed.

  “Imagine the flows of power inside of you,” He said, and I decided to listen regardless of Sumahon’s claims to have finished it already. “You need to focus on the points where you want to project your Sri. Strengthen those flows. If you fail at first, you need to tighten the flows to your other points of power. Reel them in and make sure you can transfer large amounts of Sri to wherever you decide to project from.”

  I closed my eyes and felt out with my mind to the lines of power inside of myself. Sure enough, somehow, Sumahon had strengthened the flows to my hands, fingers, and oddly enough my mouth. Whereas everywhere else, the flows were smaller and much more controlled.

  “How did you do this for me?” I asked Sumahon.

  “So, it turns out we are basically the same. If you die, I die. I think if I really wanted to, I could even take control!” He began to make grunting noises but eventually stopped. “Well, I guess I can’t take control, but you need to NOT get yourself killed, alright?”

  Something about Sumahon having any kind of control over me made me uncomfortable, and a part of me wanted to throw the book aside. It was bad enough that my thoughts were no longer my own, now he was doing things without even asking me.

  I looked back up towards Aetex, who had lowered his hands and had a smirk on his face. “You did it,” he said, “Now for the hard part. Let’s test it.”

  He grabbed my arm, and half pulled, half guided me further away from his houses, and to an open field that had been cleared of vegetation.

  “When I say go, I want you to imagine you are pushing Sri from your core into your hands. It won’t be that easy, but it will be a start. When you feel your hands begin to tingle, you need to give the Sri a form. We will start with the purest form, a sphere. Picture a perfect sphere and fill it with Sri. Go!”

  I looked down at my hands and then at Aetex standing just in front of me. Here it goes. I felt out for the power and commanded it to move. Nothing happened. Then I flexed my arms, hoping that might do it, still nothing. Finally, I tried to remember how I had made those connections from the Sri coming from deep within me.

  It had been instinct before, I hadn’t thought about it, I had just done it. So, closing my eyes, I stopped trying and just did. The Sri pulsed and rushed towards my hands. In my rush to ‘not think’ I totally neglected thinking of a sphere or any shape. The energy hit my hands and burst out of me in wild beams of light. Several traveled towards Aetex’s houses but stopped short, dissipating before making contact.

  I watched in horror as a large portion of my energy smacked into Aetex and a strange mist irrupted on contact. I stemmed the flow of power and rushed forward to check on Aetex.

  Before I made it two steps, the mist cleared, and I saw Aetex standing in the exact spot with his arms folded. Not even his vest had been damaged. But the grass around him and wherever my energy had hit was scorched and burnt.

  “A worthy first try,” Aetex said, “I am glad you aren’t adept at everything! Next time try to picture a sphere.”

  The number in the corner of the sc
reen caught my eye. It was different, now I could see my Level and my Energy Potential by default.

  Ability Learned: Sri Projecting. You are now able to channel Sri into powerful attacks. Unlocking this skill is the first step in mastering the abilities needed to be an effective Sri Projector.

  Name: Neak’o

  Current Path: Sri Projector

  Level 1, 60/100 Exp, Energy: 150/150, Spirit: 40, Phys: 10

  2 AP

  Abilities:

  Lesser Sturdy ( Racial Passive )

  Sri Projecting

  Skills:

  None

  Chapter Seven

  It was the first day of my training and I’d been given some basic gear by Aetex.

  Erusha Training Outfit: Provides 10% increase experience while wearing, but slows movement and Sri channeling by 10%.

  It was a dull gray skintight bodysuit that covered me from ankle to wrist and all the way to the tip of my neck. Aetex had also provided me with several soul wraps made of a similar material.

  Soul Wraps: A traditional Ki’darthian accessory that are meant to remind their champions of the oaths that constraint them.

  As far as I could tell they didn’t really do anything, but I wore them all the same.

  Hearing footsteps outside, I quickly pushed through the cloth doorway and into the bright light of the sun. The day was still early, and the sunsets filled the horizon with wonderfully beautiful blues, purples, and reds. Being so close to the edge of the blight, I hadn’t heard the sound of birds, but I found other sounds to appreciate. Several species of insects still dared to live close to the edge. If I focused hard enough, I could hear the subtle chirps of bugs.

  The air shifted from pleasantly warm to bitter cold. The wind was sparse here, but if it did blow and came from the direction of the blight, the air was always unbelievably cold and stank of death.

  “I’m here,” I announced as I approached Aetex. He was bent down by a tree, and I couldn’t make out what he was doing.

  “Good morning lazy bones!” Aetex said with a chuckle on his lips.

  I got a clear view of what he was working on, he had tied some kind of wooden branched contraption to the tree. It branched into four arms that held platforms, and on each was some fruit. Two red pears and two green. I knew by experience that the red ones were sweet and lovely, while the green tended to be tart and sour.

  “This is a small breakfast,” I said, walking forward to grab one of the pears. I never got the chance, Aetex grabbed my hand and shoved me back lightly.

  “Not for eating,” Aetex said, “Today we will be working on unlocking your first skill. Stand back by the smaller tree, the one that looks like it’ll fall over any day now.”

  I walked to the tree and made a point to stand several feet from the puddle of mud that still hadn’t dried up. A sudden rush of wind brought cold air against my skin, my pores prickled in surprise. I had a sudden urge to find a thick fur coat of some kind. I felt naked wearing the clothing provided me.

  “What now?” I asked.

  “Try to hit one of the pears with your Sri Projecting,” Aetex shouted to me.

  “Here goes nothing,” I muttered under my breath.

  “Would it help if I told you the exact distance and height? Maybe the wind speed?” Sumahon said with his usual nasally voice.

  “No.” I thought the word with more force than I had meant, and I heard Sumahon humph in my head in response.

  I focused on the red pear to the left. It sat on the end and if I could summon any kind of attack, it should be the easiest to hit. I scanned my overlay for any kind of helpful prompts, but nothing appeared. How did he expect me to learn something when he didn’t even take the time to teach me anything. I stood awkwardly with my hands at my side for a few moments longer before deciding on a plan of action. Holding my hands out in front of me I focused on what I had felt when I learned the Sri Projecting ability. Power began to coalesce at my finger tips.

  “Ahhhhh!” I screamed as I forced the energies into my palms. My hands flickered with light and I did my best to contain it. Picturing in my mind what I wanted, a sphere, and to my surprise it began to form. No sooner than I thought I’d finally made a breakthrough the power cracked and dissipated in my hands. This went on for nearly an hour, before Aetex spoke up.

  “Okay, okay” Aetex said, coming over, “I’m going to let you in on a little secret that I was hoping you’d be able to figure out yourself, but I can’t wait any longer.”

  “You see my shielding?” He asked putting a hand on my shoulder.

  I could, but just barely. It was like a thin reflective layer that I felt more than saw covering Aetex entirely from head to toe.

  “Yes,” I said slowly, confused at what this had to do with me performing an attack.

  “When I was first learning, I could barely block a leaf from entering a square inch section of air, much less the skill required to mask my body so perfectly.”

  “He thinks highly of himself,” I got a mental image of Sumahon but with eyebrows raised. I couldn’t help myself, and I let out a laugh.

  “You think my struggles funny, do you?” Aetex’s grip tightened on my shoulder, and I suppressed a yelp of pain. The pressure was gone as fast as it had come.

  “No,” I managed to say through gritted teeth.

  “Good. A technique my master taught me, and something that most early learners find out on their own, is manipulating Sri is done best when following a pre-defined pattern, usually called a skill. For instance, I have an ability called Sri Shielding, just as I know, even though I can’t see, you have an ability called Sri Projecting. These abilities can be shaped and give skills, like this, for instance.”

  Aetex lifted his hand. A semi blue colored shield appeared several feet in front of him. It stood in direct contrast to the shielding that Aetex kept on himself at all times, whereas his body shield was hardly noticeable to the naked eye, this shield was clearly visible at all angles and appeared thick and crude.

  “This is the most basic of Sri Shielding skills, simply called Shield. Something that you will learn is that the very name of these abilities have power. We need to discover the name of your first skill, and you can verbalize it to help your body, spirit, and Sri to align themselves.

  “The most basic skill is called Sri Blast,” Sumahon said. I was surprised that it hadn’t been his forced robotic voice, but his snarky nasally tone. That meant Sumahon had given that information freely and not by the forced will of the system, which was very strange. Was he beginning to like me, perhaps? I quickly pushed the silly thought from my mind and decided to test the name.

  “Okay, I think I am ready to try again,” I announced to Aetex, and he moved away giving me space.

  I raised my right hand, leaving my left holding Sumahon at my side.

  “Sri Blast,” I said awkwardly quiet. Nothing happened.

  “You still have to activate your Sri Projecting ability if you hope to use the subset skill!” Aetex said from a distance, leaning on a half dead tree to my left.

  I nodded silently and began to summon my Sri to my hands. I didn’t let the sphere form though, I just let the power infuse my right hand and focused on the words, Sri Blast. Heat rose in my hand, and I felt the power building to overflowing.

  “Sriiii Blaaaast!” I shouted. An irregular sphere shape popped into existence and sped away towards the tree. The ball of energy missed completely and shot off towards the blighted lands. I watched it explode into a small puff of light out into the blighted land. I felt a small dip in my energy levels and quickly focused on that point to see how much it had cost me, but a few notifications filled my vision as I looked.

  Congratulations! You learned a skill under the Ability set of Sri Projecting. Skill name: Sri Blast.

  Sri Blast Level 1: Shoots out a ball of condens
ed Sri energy that will damage any that come into contact with it. Damage increased by Skill Level times n, where n is the base damage calculated from the amount of Sri Energy infused into the ball against targets resistance to Sri Energy.

  First core skill unlocked, experience gained 300!

  Congratulations! You have increased your Sri Projector Level. You are now Level 2, experience gained from previous level added to next Level and requirement for next Level shown below. 5 Base Points to be applied to either base Spiritual or Physical Potentials.

  Neak’o, Level 2, 360/500 Experience

  I had done it! I scanned the prompt quickly before willing it away. It appeared the experience gained was accumulative, so for first level I had only needed 100 expereience and now for level 3 I would need 500, but really that was only 400 new experience needed to improve to the next level. Awesome!

  I checked the amount of energy it had taken for that poorly aimed shot. It took five of my energy to use that skill, but the system wording made it seem like I could invest any amount I wanted. Aetex’s words jumped me out of my contemplating.

  “Again, and don’t stop till you hit something,” Aetex shouted, folding his arms and setting his chin. He appeared pleased that I had been able to finally make a proper attack.

  This time I entered a lower stance, my knees out and legs bent. My breathing steadied, and I reached back and tucked away Sumahon into my belt. I held my left hand under my right to support the energy gathering and prepared to send a single quick blast.

  “Sri Blast!”

  I didn’t let the energy gather much more than a slight warming and watched as a smaller ball of energy shot from me towards the tree. The small sphere shot forward much faster than the first blasts. It also appeared more well-formed and tightly condensed.

  It approached the pear and shot past it, leaving it untouched by several feet.

  “Again!”

  Hundreds of shots later, I began to feel the strain of using so much Sri without rest, but Aetex didn’t relent like he had in the past. So, with sweat dripping down my face and my body beginning to ache, I began to channel another blast. This time I was able to activate the skill without calling out its name, the form of it was solidifying in my mind every time I used it.