Why had he not looked at his notifications and stats since entering the Intertwining Path event? He knew the effect increasing his attributes had on his body. He knew he’d seen several notifications, as he’d always prided himself on his ability to dig down into the numbers, to be the one who knew the most about a given piece of work. All he could put it down to was that he’d been too focused on the actual events, and it had simply slipped his mind.
“If it helps,” Al said mildly, “most people don’t survive long enough to regret ignoring their stats.”
Ignoring Al’s dry humour, he found he had, missed the level-ups he’d received from the fight with Rafe — two whole levels — and the fact he’d gained a new skill for all his efforts, he decided to go through his status in detail.
ENTITY STATUS – Path of Intellect
Name: Isaac Vane
Race: Humanoid — Rank F
Class: Savant
Profession: N/A
Level: 7
Experience: 329 / 6400
Attributes
Strength: 6
Dexterity: 8
Vitality: 4
Intelligence: 13 + 1
Wisdom: 5
Perception: 4
Unassigned Stat Points: 4
HP: 194 / 200
Titles and Achievements
Epic 1st
You stand where none has stood before. The first to obtain an Epic foundational skill. To achieve such understanding of one’s path before walking it is no small feat.
Effect: +10% all stats
Skills
Mana Manipulation – Lesser Level 2
Draw on your own mana to shape and use at will.
Cost: 1 mana per second
Duration: Not applicable
Infusion Bomb – Lesser Level 1
Infuse your natural mana into an item to release on contact. On impact, all stored mana is released in an explosion. Explosive force calculated by attack power multiplied by Intelligence and Wisdom modifiers. Durability of the item may affect usefulness.
Cost: Variable (based on amount of mana used)
Duration: 3 mins
He did indeed have four free attribute points to use, and he could see his intellect had gone up by two points as well. He needed to start paying more attention; using these free points would no doubt give him a better chance of survival and actually holding his own when fighting.
Mana Manipulation had also gained a level. It didn’t change any of the description, and he couldn’t really tell if it had any effect. The most likely cause of the increase was him using his mana. He was by no means great at controlling it, but he had made some progress.
The skill Infusion Bomb was the most interesting. Not only was it new, but reading it, a memory — for lack of a better word — flashed in his mind. A memory of how the skill worked in its basic form, like he’d known it all along: the process of feeding his mana into an object.
Again, this skill was a direct response to him trying to fuse his mana into his pole when he fought that goblin. The system must have recognised he was doing something close to possible and rewarded him with the skill. The cost also had him thinking — could he use less mana for more attacks?
Something he could try with the training Seshka was insisting he do. He didn’t think she was wrong either. Using this skill in combat could increase his fighting potential no end.
Deciding not to let his Wisdom drop too far behind — it was a key attribute for this new skill after all — he distributed his four free points. Two into Wisdom, one into Strength, and one into Vitality. That feeling of strength and power flooded his body as it changed on a fundamental level. He also saw his maximum health jump up to 250.
To be thorough, Tyler decided to check out the slightly greyed-out tab that reflected his Path of Insight. It felt like code that had been commented out — something that had been extremely useful at one time, but was no longer meant to be interacted with in the same way.
ENTITY STATUS – Path of Insight
Name: Isaac Vane
Race: Humanoid — Rank Error
Class: Error
Profession: N/A
Level: Error
Experience: Error
Attributes
Strength: 6
Base Force Output: 112 N
Explosive Force Peak: 146 N
Sustained Load Capacity: 38 kg
Grip Strength: 5%
Joint Stability: 58%
Muscle Density: 1.03× baseline
Force Transfer Efficiency: 14%
Impact Resistance: 9%
Overexertion Threshold: Low
Dexterity: 8
Movement Speed Modifier: +6.4%
Acceleration Rate: +5.1%
Deceleration Control: 41%
Reaction Time Reduction: ?42 ms
Balance Stability: 71%
Flexibility Index: 28%
Dodge Window: 0.18 s
Recovery Delay: 0.62 s
Parry Timing Margin: ±0.06 s
Fine Motor Precision: 74%
Vitality: 4
Maximum Health: 100%
Health Regeneration: 0.21% / min
Stamina Pool: 82%
Stamina Regeneration: 0.48% / s
Fatigue Accumulation Rate: +12%
Pain Suppression: 7%
Bleed Resistance: 9%
Shock Resistance: 14%
Disease Resistance: 11%
Healing Efficiency: 32%
Intelligence: 14
Mana Capacity: 146
Mana Regeneration: 1.9 / s
Spell Power Modifier: +18%
Spell Control Precision: 19%
Spell Stability: 17%
Spell Crit Chance: 4.6%
Spell Crit Multiplier: 1.38×
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
Casting Speed Modifier: +9.2%
Mana Efficiency: 24%
Overchannel Tolerance: Low
Spell Complexity Limit: Tier I–II
Cognitive Processing Speed: +22%
Wisdom: 5
Mana Control Precision: 8%
Backlash Resistance: 16%
Mental Stability: 64%
Focus Sustain Duration: +11%
Status Effect Resistance: 13%
Charm Resistance: 19%
Fear Resistance: 21%
Illusion Resistance: 17%
Emotional Regulation: Moderate
Long-Term Risk Assessment: 52%
Perception: 4
Visual Acuity: 84%
Peripheral Awareness: 61%
Motion Detection: 0.31 s
Depth Perception Accuracy: 73%
Auditory Sensitivity: 67%
Sound Discrimination: 58%
Environmental Awareness Radius: 9.4 m
Threat Detection Latency: 0.42 s
Hidden Object Detection: 12%
Trap Awareness: 9%
Derived Combat Metrics
Initiative Modifier: +5.8%
Evasion Rating: 7.4
Block Efficiency: 12%
Parry Success Chance (predictable): 18%
Interrupt Resistance: Low
Engagement Recovery Time: 1.4 s
System Notes
Attribute Distribution: Uneven
Cognitive Load: Elevated
Physical Bottleneck Detected
Mana–Somatic Desynchronisation: Minor
Growth Vector Suggested: Dexterity / Vitality
Anomaly Flag: Persistent
Titles and Achievements
Epic 1st
You stand where none has stood before. The first to obtain an Epic foundational skill. To achieve such understanding of one’s path before walking it is no small feat.
Effect: +10% all stats
Skills
Insight — Lesser Level 12
Use: Looks deeper into a person or object, revealing the hidden information behind them
Cost: 5 mana
Cast Time: Instant
Substrate View Entity — Lesser Level 3
Passive: Lets the user see hidden variables of all attributes. Limited to entities within observable stability thresholds.
Tyler stood staring at that space behind his eyes for a long while, trying to take in all the information he was now seeing. It looked like each attribute he had in his Path of Intellect was being broken down into further categories. There was no way to directly link a stat point to all of these other values, but from the skill entries he had a strong feeling he was now actively using Substrate View Entity.
The skill was only a Lesser Level 3, which sounded pretty low, and increasing it would hopefully give him more understanding of all these numbers — understanding that could help when deciding where to add his free stat points.
Another thing he noticed was that he’d had no notifications for any of this. He didn’t seem to get experience, levels, or ranks in this path at all. It was as if it were running alongside his Path of Intellect, and once some hidden threshold had been achieved, a new skill was simply granted.
He could understand Insight raising to Lesser Level 12 — that was the skill he had used the most. Maybe becoming more frequent and adept at a skill was all it took to improve it.
“For someone who likes understanding how things work,” Al said, “you left an awful lot of yourself unexplored.”
“I think you’re right on this one,” Tyler replied. “Do you have any idea what the system notes are?” he asked, hoping to glean a little more from the AI while it seemed in a chatty mood.
“Those aren’t instructions,” Al said. “They’re what the system notices when it stops pretending you’re fine. And before you ask — no, they don’t go away. They might change. Yeah, definitely change, I think.”
Tyler decided to think on this for a while. For some reason, he was seeing parts of the system others most likely were not privy to. He should work out how to use this to his advantage, but for now he’d just monitor the situation, and probably check his status more frequently.
With nothing much left in the tent — or in fact, of the tent — Tyler made his way back outside, feeling rather good with himself and his recent upgrades. He was looking forward to testing himself against Seshka. Having a spar where his life was not on the line would give him the chance to properly test out his abilities.
Seshka had been busy. She had cleared a large area of dead goblins, erected a small tent about the size of a family car, and had a small fire going with a pot of something stewing above it. She noticed Tyler coming back out of the ruined tent.
“Did that old duster leave us anything of use? I see you’ve changed again. Is this a culture thing in your world? After every little scuffle one must bathe and change clothes?”
Tyler smiled awkwardly at Seshka’s words and simply held the bag up, not so much in a triumphant gesture as a resigned one.
“He did leave this — a special sack. It’s got a fair amount of food in it, like barrels of the stuff. A few books and a couple of odd bits. I’m honestly surprised at how much this damn thing can hold.”
Seshka’s eyes widened as she inspected the bag.
“What? He didn’t have it soulbound? He really was an old fool. I’d suggest you soulbind it right now. You don’t want some random walking off with it. What capacity is it?”
“Not sure. All I know is it’s a spatial sack, rare, with moderate capacity. Says something about it being able to keep things fresh,” Tyler said, thinking back to what his Insight had told him about the sack. “Soulbind? What is that? How do I?”
“More funds than sense, that Unending Accord. I have a lesser spatial sack. It doesn’t keep things fresh longer than a week and can only hold about our combined weight. It was made by a Grand Elder and was likely the most expensive thing my sect owned. And here we have what would be classed as a jewel in the entire empire, just left for anyone to pick up.”
“You bind it to your soul. Even at your level — which is below ten — you should be able to bind at least a few items. It means it can’t be looted from you. Well… while you’re still alive, that is. The connection does put a little strain on the soul, but for that prize it’s definitely worth it.”
“My soul. I need to bind it to my soul,” Tyler said. “I don’t think we have souls where I come from?” He honestly had no idea if he did or didn’t, but either way he wouldn’t have the slightest idea where it was.
Seshka walked over to Tyler and placed her hand on his chest, moving it slowly down to just below his ribcage and pressing firmly.
“It is just here. I saw you use the mana from within on that goblin, so you do have one. Just think of opening the sack like normal, but at the same time think of opening your soul.”
Tyler did as Seshka suggested, opening the bag while imagining opening that space filled with twirling energy. When he did, a notification appeared.
Soulbind Spatial Sack — Rare
Yes or No
Tyler mentally selected yes, and felt a pull start deep within him — what he now recognised as his soul — spreading throughout his body. The pull never stopped; it simply remained constant, as if he were wearing clothes made of lead.
The bag shimmered at the same time and shrank slightly, hanging from the rope holding his trousers up like a small purse. Very similar to the one Seshka had hanging from her waist.
“There you go. You can still use it as normal, but it cannot be looted while soulbound.”
“I feel a constant pull all over me.”
“You’ll get used to it. That’s just the bag pulling on your soul, and your soul pulling back. It’s the bond that keeps it tied to you. Right — I have something cooking, and we’ve got time. Let’s start lessons.”
