Fragment of Divinity

by Jamey Sultan

  + Incoming spells do 50% more damage

  - Your Stamina stat has been absorbed into the Essence stat

  James closed his eyes and tried to feel for any changes to his body, but didn’t feel anything. He still felt like a normal Human, albeit a Human who’d just been hit in the head with a hammer.

  You have gained the ability: Solar Powered

  Solar Powered (1/1):

  Your body needs energy to survive. Luckily, there’s a huge source of it in the sky. While in sunlight your essence will passively recharge at a rate of one per minute.

  You have gained the ability: Absorb

  Absorb (1/1):

  Your body needs energy to survive. Although you don’t need food or drink, you can still absorb essence by consuming mana-rich food or drink.

  James was too tired to even begin to comprehend what he’d just read. Insufficient blood, combined with the bodily stress of recent surgery had addled his mind so much that when he was done reading through the prompts, his body crashed and he fell into a restless sleep filled with dreams of death and bloodshed.

  When James woke up, he felt much better. His head had stopped hurting and he didn’t vomit immediately when he tried to stand up. Both good signs. Waking up and not feeling the slightest urge to eat or drink was an off-putting sensation and reminded him of his prompts. To see what had happened to him, James pulled up his character sheet along with his Skills, Spells, and Abilities, paying special attention to what had changed.

  James

  Human (Warrior of Darkness)

  Level: 15

  Essence: 1500/1500

  Stats

  Strength: 33Dexterity: 33Constitution: 34

  Intelligence: 38Wisdom: 43Endurance: 33

  Charisma: 1Luck: 5Resilience: 4

  Spells

  Shadow Step (Level 1)

  Syreus’ Wrath (na)

  Slick Skin (n/a)

  Abilities

  Death’s Stare (1/7)

  Death’s Stare (1/7)

  Imbue Darkness (4/10)

  Arcane Armor (3/10)

  Pierce the Veil (1/10)

  Stronger Shadows (2/5)

  Knife in the Dark (1/10)

  Dying Will (n/a)

  Spirit of the Sword (n/a)

  Of Body and Mind (n/a)

  Blood of the Mountain (1/1)

  Solar Powered (1/1)

  Absorb (1/1)

  Brands

  Mark of Sytar

  Divine Quest (Minor)

  Liberator

  Achievements

  Dumb Luck

  Clumsy I

  Solo Dungeoneer

  Mad Dash

  Why Not?

  Dumb Luck II

  Ancient Mysteries

  James was a bit confused. He’d assumed his Spells and Abilities would have changed when his Mana type upgraded, but it didn’t look like that had happened. Maybe he would see Arcane options with his next class choice.

  As James puzzled over his character sheet, Ozure approached. “How are you feeling? You’ve been asleep for almost a week now.”

  “A week! I need to go!” In all the excitement, James had totally forgotten that he needed to get to his friends. They were probably worried sick. He needed to warn them about Danforth. If Danforth hadn’t gotten to them, they were almost certainly looking for him.

  “You can’t leave yet.” Ozure handed him a quill and a pad of parchment. “Before we talk about leaving, I need to write down everything you experienced and all the prompts that you received.”

  James didn’t want to, but he knew that Ozure wouldn’t let him leave and arguing with him would end in a stalemate. “Fine. But once I finish writing everything down, do you give me your word that you’ll let me leave?”

  “Of course.” Ozure grinned at him with a smile that never quite reached his eyes. “I would never keep you here against your will.”

  “Mhm,” James grunted, getting to work. He could reasonably assume that Ozure had a way to detect most of the changes already, but not all of them. Otherwise, why would he be so pressed about James writing everything down. Big things like the race change were obvious, and James would have to write them down, but he didn’t want to tell Ozure everything, which begged the question.

  What can I leave out?

  In the end, James decided to write down everything except for his newfound transition to Arcane magic.

  Once James had finished writing, he handed the parchment to Ozure, who quickly skimmed through it. “Can I leave now? My friends might be in danger.”

  “Of course. But the dungeon might be dangerous for you on your own. Surely you could take me with you, and I can protect you from all the nasty undead.”

  There was no way James was letting Ozure out of the dungeon, even if he’d fixed James’ Mana core. “No, I think I’ll be fine.” He didn’t really, but he was hopeful that he’d be able to escape with a combination of Teleport and Stealth. “I’ll be fine,” he repeated, more to reassure himself than anything else.

  “If you say so. I know you think I’m evil, but I’m really not. As a gesture of good faith, you can take my sword. It should help you through the dungeon, even if you aren’t nearly strong enough to make your way through it on your own.” Ozure pulled a masterfully crafted sword from under his desk. Even before he saw the telltale purple of a Mythic rarity item, James knew that it was powerful. He could almost feel the energy coming off of the sword.

  Tyrfing:

  Rank: Mythic

  Forged from pure mithril and enchanted by the first Elders, this sword can cut through anything. It will never dull, rust, or break.

  The sword was made to be wielded with a single hand and had a straight blade with glowing blue runes running down it’s center. The entire sword was made from a blue metal that looked almost purple when it caught the light. Its handle was embossed with gold and carved masterfully into the shape of a wolf’s head.

  James took the sword reverently and was immediately hit by a wave of thoughts and emotions that threatened to overwhelm him. He saw himself as a powerful warrior clad in gleaming armor, standing in a clearing in the center of a battlefield surrounded by corpses. He watched in horrified fascination as he raised his arm and swung Tyrfing, sending an arc of crackling blue energy across the battlefield. The energy impacted a group of approaching enemies and incinerated them instantly.

  He blinked, and suddenly James was in a heavily forested area, approaching a castle. He raised Tyrfing into the sky and a bolt of pure darkness exited the sword and flew into the air like a beacon. The sky darkened until there was no ambient light anywhere. That was when the screams started. James’ vision took on a green hue and everything came back into view. People ran along the ramparts, frantically trying to escape. There was no thought of fighting back against him; he was a force of nature.

  James blinked again and with a shuddering gasp he was back in the library with Ozure staring at him with a raised eyebrow. “What was that?” James asked, hesitantly strapping the sword to his belt.

  Ozure shrugged. “It was probably one of your Skills or Abilities interacting with the sword.” He stopped speaking for a second, tapping his chin in thought. “Maybe your Spirit of the Sword Ability?”

  James shuddered. “But it’s never given me visions of a sword’s previous owner before.”

  Ozure shrugged. “No idea then. Either way, you’re free to leave.” He held his hand out, gesturing towards the door for James to exit.

  “That’s it?” James asked, surprised that Ozure was going to keep his word. “You aren’t going to keep me here forever or anything like that?”

  “Nope. I got what I needed from you.” Ozure smiled. “I look forward to meeting again.”

  James hoped not. If he could avoid Ozure for the rest of his life, he’d die happy. He walked to the exit, but when he tried to leave the room, nothing happened.

  “Sorry about that.” Ozure approached, holding a glowing sphere filled wit
h dancing shadows. “Let me get that for you.” He placed the sphere close to the door.

  The door opened silently and Ozure stepped to the side, holding out his hand to let James leave.

  Chapter 42

  James stepped into the darkness of the hallway and breathed a sigh of relief. Finally free from the Library. James grinned. He was armed with the ability to cast spells again, and hope of an escape bloomed in his chest.

  The first order of business was testing out his Spells and Abilities, to see how they’d been affected by his change from Mana to Essence. Strangely, when he pulled up a window to view his skills, the window still showed that they cost Mana and not Essence, which made no sense. He didn’t have Mana anymore.

  His Essence pool was much larger than his Mana pool, which meant he could cast more spells, but since it was also his health pool, he would die if he spent it all.

  James knew the first skill he should test out was Meditation. He’d need a way to recover Essence if he used too much.

  With a deep breath, James dropped into a meditative state and concentrated on using the skill like he had before, by circulating Mana through his body.

  He didn’t feel anything.

  He was missing something. Whatever he’d used previously to move the Mana through his body wasn’t there. James remembered what Ozure had said about removing his Mana core and realized that it had probably been what was circulating the Mana before.

  Ozure had explained the procedure to him—how he’d set up James’ system to transport Mana using blood. So, James focused on his Body and Mind Ability, because it had boosted his healing before. To his surprise, it worked.

  As James meditated, he felt the currents of energy flow through his body, and he let his mind sink into a relaxed state as he drifted along with the current. He was startled by a soft electric-blue light that brightened under his skin, following his vascular system. It surprised him so much that James lost hold of his meditation. The light faded away, and a notification popped up.

  Your skill Meditation has evolved into a new skill:

  Essence Circulation.

  Essence Circulation (Skill Rank 26):

  Cost: 10 Essence/second

  Using this skill, you speed up your Essence circulation to bring essence to your cells much faster. While in a state of Essence Circulation your body expends much more Essence to do normal tasks, but you will have a 32% boost to all stats.

  Interesting.

  This skill wasn’t the Essence recovery skill he was hoping for, but it was still powerful. If he could maintain his concentration while fighting, he’d be able to perform at a much higher level. It could give him the edge in a fight.

  To test out his new skill, James ran around the cavern while concentrating on circulating his Essence. He’d originally worried that he wouldn’t be able to adapt to the quick movement, but his increase in Dexterity allowed him to nimbly run around the room and hop off the walls. After a few minutes, he checked his Essence—he was down almost a quarter already. If he wanted to use the skill in combat, he’d need to keep an eye on it or risk dying from overuse.

  He tried Shadow Step. When he concentrated on his Essence, his veins glowed again with the electric blue light, but he shrugged it off as a side effect of his new race. For a second, nothing happened, then the world froze around him. A bright blue 3D grid appeared in a thirty-foot dome around him.

  Slowly, James through the grid. He passed easily through the blue bars and wondered what they were for. There was a small timer counting down from five in the corner of his vision. When he got to the end of the grid, he turned around and walked back. On his way back his foot caught on a small rock and he tripped, instinctively grabbing at one of the grid lines. Instead of passing through it, the bar solidified in his grasp and he managed to steady himself.

  Interesting.

  He was able to interact with the bars if he wanted to. To test his theory, James gripped the bar with both hands and clambered up. When the timer hit zero, the grid disappeared and James fell, hitting the ground with a dull thud. He didn’t care. His new spell was amazing.

  Your spell Shadow Step has evolved into a new skill:

  Arcane Teleport.

  Arcane Teleport (Spell Rank 4):

  Allows the caster to teleport anywhere within 30 feet.

  Cost: 200 Essence

  Cast Time: Instant

  Cooldown: None

  James grimaced at the Essence cost of his new spell. It wasn’t cheap. When he’d stopped time with the spell he’d hoped that he could use it during fights to position himself better, but with a 200 Essence cost he wouldn’t be able to cast it more than five or six times.

  James checked his Essence levels to make sure he’d have enough to test out a few more abilities, but all of his abilities were gone. Instead, he was greeted by a deep red notification.

  ERROR: Unknown Mana type. Resetting class.

  Your Warrior of Darkness class has been removed due to a lack of necessary prerequisites.

  ERROR: You have skill points assigned to skills you no longer have. These skill points can’t be reassigned.

  You have gained a new class: Arcane Warrior

  Current level up bonus (Arcane Warrior):

  + 3 Intelligence per level

  + 3 Wisdom per level

  + 1 Strength per level

  + 2 Endurance per level

  + 1 Dexterity per level

  + 9 Free points per level

  + 3 Ability points per level

  James couldn’t decide whether he was upset or not. He’d just lost all of his Warrior of Darkness skills, and the points he’d assigned to them wouldn’t be refunded. That was a huge blow. On the other hand, he’d just gotten a much more powerful class.

  With a start, he realized that he’d forgotten to assign two of his points, which meant that he still had two Ability points left. Excited, James opened up the Ability tree to see his new Abilities. Just like with the Warrior of Darkness tree, there were three Tier I abilities. Unlocking them would reveal some of the higher-tier abilities.

  ARCANE WARRIOR I

  Arcane Mastery (0/30):

  Your control of Arcane magic increases, granting increased control, damage, and casting speed when using arcane spells.

  ARCANE WARRIOR I

  Arcane Missile (0/5):

  You let loose a bolt of pure magical energy.

  ARCANE WARRIOR I

  Mage Armor (0/10):

  You surround yourself with armor created from hardened magical energies.

  The average cost to master of any of the Tier I abilities in this new class was much higher than the cost to master similar abilities in the last class. He briefly wondered why, but figured it was probably because the class was much more powerful and gave him more Ability points per level. The higher cost would actually penalize him in the long run because he had just lost a ton of Ability points.

  His options were Arcane Mastery, which would help him with his existing spells, Arcane Missile, which would grant him a new attack spell, and Mage Armor, which would help him defensively. James was so excited at the possibility of using magic again that he immediately dumped all three points into Arcane Missile.

  Arcane Warrior I

  Arcane Missile (3/5):

  Range: 100-feet

  Cost: 70 Essence

  Cast Time: 1 Second

  Shoot 1 missile of Arcane energy at your opponent. The Arcane Missile can adjust its direction to follow enemies within range.

  Overall, he was happy with his choice once he saw the spell. He’d be able to fight from much further away and would have less of a chance of getting injured. Currently he was a close-range fighter, but maybe he could transition to more of a long-range fighter if he assigned his points right.

  Putting the point into Arcane Missile also revealed more of the Ability tree. Three nodes branched off of the Arcane Missile tree.

  Arcane Warrior II

  Longer Ranged Arcane M
issile (0/20):

  *Requires Arcane Missile 1

  Increases the range of the Arcane Missile Spell.

  Arcane Warrior II

  More Powerful Arcane Missile (0/20):

  *Requires Arcane Missile 1

  Increases the power of each individual missile in the Arcane Missile spell.

  Arcane Warrior II

  More Missiles (0/15):

  *Requires Arcane Missile 5

  Each point in this Ability adds an extra missile to your Arcane Missile spell.

  James really wanted the More Missiles Ability. He could see himself filling the air with missiles, obliterating his enemies. It would be awesome.