I woke up with a splitting headache. The blue bar in the edge of my vision was blinking. I knew this was the mana and that my familiar drained it all. I was unsure what attribute governed mana recovery, but I needed to raise that stat. Seeing the mushroom laying there, I sighed. It was supposed to help recover my mana faster. To bad I didn’t have access to fresh shrooms, the boost to mana was twice as much as the aged ones. After eating more than I probably should had I just sat there waiting for my head to stop pounding.
“Note to self; always leave some mana in the bar.”
After what seemed like forever, the blue bar stopped its excessive blinking, though the bar stayed visible. Mana was extremely slow to recover, even with the shrooms. I didn’t understand why this bar stayed visible when the others didn’t. Thinking of my yellow bar had it re-appear. It still wasn’t full. I had thought the mana bar was slow, but whatever this one is, was on an entirely different level of slowness. With a thought, the bar closed. Thinking of the red bar, it appeared. It was completely full.
“Let’s see, red for health, blue for mana. Yellow for stamina. No, that’s not right: green was stamina.” I had seen it appear when running from the wolves. No time like the present to go over my stat pages. I was not trying to distract myself from the fact I had summoned a human, nope not at all.
{Stats*} {Titles} {Racial gifts} {Blessings} {Class spells} {Skills} {Quests}
Days remaining ~358
Name: Arthur Nutsy
Race: Tree Squirrel
Class: Cryomancer
Level- 1
Essence to next level- 250
Essence available- 679
Health- 43
Stamina-28
Mana- 189
Vitality: 5
Endurance: 8
Strength: 2
Agility: 29
Intelligence: 18
Wisdom 7
Luck: 23
Charisma: 16
A couple of things immediately jumped out at me. The first was the days. I hadn’t looked over my stat page since I arrived, but I know for a fact it hadn’t been seven days! The only thing I could think of was I must have had stayed in that healing flower pod for longer than I had realized.
The second thing was I now had essence. This was from the eagle, I was sure. I was honestly surprised that I got anything from it. It’s not like I was the one that killed it. The eagle basically killed its self. But I wasn’t about to complain. I could actually gain a level or two.
First, I wanted to look over the other tabs. Focusing on the titles, it opened.
{Stats} {Titles*} {Racial gifts} {Blessings} {Class spells} {Skills} {Quests}
Title Name: Alpha Neuterer
Title Rarity- Unique
Effect- Boost all attributes by 23%
~Even the mightiest of alpha’s has their weakness. Sometimes it just takes one to stoop low enough to exploit it.~
It was annoying that the boost wasn’t calculated into my stat page. I would just have to do it manually if I wanted to know what my actual stats were. Also, which boost was calculated first my racial gift or my title? That would affect my over all stats. Maybe they were both calculated off my base stats. Sighing, I moved on, while briefly wondering how hard titles were to gain. Going in the order of the tabs, I opened racial gifts next.
{Stats} {Titles} {Racial gifts*} {Blessings} {Class spells} {Skills} {Quests}
1) Racial gift- Natural habitat: 15% boost to all stats while in a forest, or in contact with a still living tree.
2) Undiscovered
3) Undiscovered
Nothing new here, however, it did remind me that there were two other racial gifts I could unlock, though I had absolutely no clue how. Glancing at a still sleeping Ben, I decided it would be best to just ask the Mother Tree after the dungeon. Moving to the blessings page, it opened with a thought.
{Stats} {Titles} {Racial gifts} {Blessings*} {Class spells} {Skills} {Quests}
Blessing of the System:
Effect- Time manipulation.
Blessing of the Mother Tree:
Effect- Summon familiar.
This page was interesting and also lacking in information. I wonder if there was a way to gain more information. After all, I couldn’t access any of this before completing the quest of meeting the Mother Tree, and it wasn’t even listed in the rewards.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
However, this explained the yellow bar as the yellow bar was manipulating time. I definitely had to ask the Mother Tree about the system’s blessing and about the system in general. It would be nice to get more information about it. And If there was a way to increase that bar, I would do so without hesitation. If not for the yellow bar, I would be dead many times over. I also needed to pay attention to how long it took to fill back up exactly. Next I opened class spells, this one I was quite excited about.
{Stats} {Titles} {Racial gifts} {Blessings} {Class spells*} {Skills} {Quests}
Spell name: Ice touch
Spell Rank: Lesser
Mana cost: low
Effect- Slow enemy by 25%. Time slowed is based on targets Endurance and Intelligence attributes.
Note: Must be in physical contact to activate spell.
This brought a smile to my face. I had to find a way to gain more spells. Maybe there were scrolls or books or something that would allow me to learn more. Or did I have to complete quests, also how did I get more quests? The quests I got before simply appeared. Just another thing to ask the Mother Tree. I really needed to write down my questions.
I couldn’t wait to reach level ten, so I could use this spell. Next, I open the skills tab.
{Stats} {Titles} {Racial gifts} {Blessings} {Class spells} {Skills*} {Quests}
Hard Climber-
Skill Rank: Basic
+12% easier to climb hard surfaces.
+10% less stamina exertion when climbing hard surfaces.
+10% to speed when climbing hard surfaces.
Swim-
Skill Rank: Basic
8% to swimming speed.
6% less stamina consumption when swimming.
6% increase to time holding breath under water.
Identify-
Skill Rank: Basic
You can now identify basic information.
Nothing new here either, but it was nice to see them all in a single spot. This was also something I needed to learn how to get more of. Seeing the Identify ability, I realized I should have used it on my familiar.
My very human familiar, this soured my mood as turning back into a human was my main goal. Getting a human as a familiar was like some sort of twisted joke. To make it even worse, the human couldn’t even understand me.
I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to even give it orders. Not to mention I couldn’t even have it summoned longer than a few minutes. I paused. Did I really just refer to a human as an it? Was this form affecting my thoughts?
Pushing those particular thoughts down. I considered where the human even came from, likely from some village in this world somewhere. Although, it was more likely that it was just some beast that was in a human body to taunt me or something. The system seemed to have it out for me. It turned me into a squirrel, after all. Then gave me a ridiculous name, threw me in a cave with a bunch of wolves and then sends me off on an adventure with a rabbit that likes to do shrooms.
The sheer ridiculousness of forest creatures going off on an adventure was just flitter stickling stupid. Oh yeah, and for some reason, I couldn’t curse! Sighing and doing my best to push down my growing frustrations, I opened up the last tab.
{Stats} {Titles} {Racial gifts} {Blessings} {Class spells} {Skills} {Quests*}
New Quest: Bring 3 male and 3 female squirrels to the Mother Tree for repopulation.
-0 of 3 Males
-0 of 3 Females
Quest Type: Legendary
Time limit: 358 days
Failure to complete: Unknown
Reward: A single request from the Mother Tree.
This was straightforward, and I didn’t think it would be that hard. Although that six-legged cat dashed my hopes of randomly coming across any squirrels around here.
I really didn’t want to go across the water. But I would just have to suck it up if I wanted to turn back into a human and start my life in this new world.
The time counting down also concerned me. Whatever this count down was for, the Mother Tree was sure it was just for the people from earth. I reopened my stat page. I couldn’t be stressing about things I couldn’t control. Getting stronger would likely deal with whatever it was. Maybe it was just like a class reunion or something to see how everyone was acclimating to this new world. Though I didn’t think that would be the case. Pushing the thoughts aside, I focused on spending the required essence. No sooner than I did, a prompt appeared.
Would you like to spend 250 essence to reach level two Yess/No?
Selecting yes, there was a quick flash of white light and the stat page closed, then I received another prompt.
Congratulations: Through hard work, determination and just a dash of luck, you have reached level 2.
For reaching a new level you have been awarded with 1 attribute point. Due to being a unique race you have been awarded 3 attribute points. And for being a contestant in the Primordial games, you have been awarded 3 attribute points.
7 free attribute points available.
“Contestant in the primordial games? What in the dog loving hairless mammal twisted tail dung eater is that?” I shook my head at the absurdity of the words that just came out of my mouth.
I began looking through all the tabs for any more information on what the primordial games were, but found absolutely nothing. This seemed bad, and I had a feeling it had something to do with the days counting down. “Hey Ben. Ben! Get up. I have a question.”
Ben did the equivalent of a rabbit groan and rolled over onto his stomach. “Hey. This is important. I need to know what the primordial games are?” I began poking the rabbit to get his attention. “Do you know what the primordial games are?”
“Stop poking me! I don’t know what that is. Probably something to do with the Primordials.”
“Primordials?”
“Yea. Maybe, I’m not sure, ask the Mother Tree when we return.” Ben said as he scooted away from me and towards the fire.
I sighed. This was a big deal, at least it seemed like it was. I wanted to go back and ask the Mother tree now, but this would just have to wait. It’s not like knowing would change what I was doing. There was a lot I didn’t know about this world. Re-opening my stat page as a distraction, I saw that I was now level two. The only thing any different was that I now had seven free attribute points, and it cost three hundred and forty to level up again. Focusing on spending the essence, a prompt appeared.
Would you like to spend 340 essence to reach level two Yess/No?
Selecting yes, it was the same as last time, a quick flash of white light and the stat page closed, then I received another prompt.
Congratulations: Through hard work, determination and just a dash of luck, you have reached level 3.
For reaching a new level you have been awarded with 1 attribute point. Due to being a unique race you have been awarded 3 attribute points. And for being a contestant in the Primordial games, you have been awarded 3 attribute points.
7 free attribute points available.
I had to figure out what this primordial game was. Paying more attention to the prompt this time, I realized I only gained one attribute for gaining a level. Three for my race and three for bing in some game. I couldn’t help but wonder how many attribute points was the normal. Surely it wasn’t only one point. Just another thing to ask the Mother Tree it seemed.
Opening my stat page again, I had fourteen attribute points to spend. “Okay, where to start?”
Placing one point into intelligence, I watched as my mana went from one eighty-nine to two-thirteen. That was twenty-four points. I wasn’t sure if that would be the same every time, but I did know I would have to focus on intelligence if I was going to be a mage. I wasn’t sure what wisdom did, but I had a feeling it had to do with mana recovery.
Glancing at the rabbit, I decided I would just figure this out on my own. I then went to place six more into intelligence, but it wouldn’t let me. Seemed I would have to do this one at a time. Placing another point into intelligence, my eyes widened. my mana pool just went from two-thirteen to two ninety-eight. An eighty-five point increase. There was no way it was that random. Then I noticed I was at twenty in the intelligence stat. There must be some sort of boost when you hit twenty. That was good to know, or maybe it was at every tens.
I wanted to dump the remaining twelve into intelligence. But this wasn’t a game and my other stats needed some attention. Especially my health pool, it was pathetic. Placing one point into vitality, my health went from forty-three to fifty-one. To my surprise, I only gained eight health points. I wasn’t sure if this was because I was a squirrel or health points were just really hard to get in this world. Deciding I needed to at least get that stat up to ten, I began placing points into it. Then placed the remaining points into intelligence before I looked over my new stat page.
{Stats*} {Titles} {Racial gifts} {Blessings} {Class spells} {Skills} {Quests}
Days remaining ~358
Name: Arthur Nutsy
Race: Tree Squirrel
Class: Cryomancer
Level- 3
Available attributes: 0
Essence to next level- 468
Essence available- 89
Health- 118
Stamina-28
Mana- 463
Vitality: 10
Endurance: 8
Strength: 2
Agility: 29
Intelligence: 27
Wisdom 7
Luck: 23
Charisma: 16
I looked over my stats with appreciation. I more than doubled my mana pool. Which was fantastic! However, my health points were a bit concerning. If I could get some sort of mana barrier, I would be golden. After looking over my stat page for a while and the excitement wore off, I got tired. Moving closer to the fire, I curled up with my bushy tail. My last thought before sleep took me was if I could keep the tail when I turned back into a human.
