For the Record

And then the display goes dead, and the book catches fire. The teacher smothers the flames with a quickly-incanted water spell, but I’m guessing this one’s going in the ‘replace’ stack.

(Unquestionably,) my Assistant confirms.

Huh.

But I still don’t care. I take this opportunity to leave, since it looks like most of my classmates already did once their Magic Attributes were read. Outside of the lecture hall, Idiots One through Three are waiting and looking around. I opt to be casual and not give them the time of day, and instead head to the cafeteria that definitely isn’t a food court early. I don’t have third period today, so there’s no reason not to. Other than a handful of students probably with the same situation, I’m by myself; my paladin and her party apparently do have another lecture today. Well, or another something. Not all classwork here is lectures.

Just like that, I’m bored again. At least I’m not standing in a line I guess. But, that makes me want to fill it with something, so I may as well experiment some more. And so, I visualize dispersing my will in the same way I disperse my body when I’m in my true form… err, my real form? My truer true other form? Whatever. My elemental form. As my will expands around me, I realize I can feel ripples in it… points that are moving differently, outside of my control.

[Available Skill: Will Detection used for the first time!]

[Will Detection added to Skills!]

I guess that answers that.

(You really should try unlocking Skills more often. Time spent not using them means it’ll take you that much longer to develop them to usable levels,) Nyx chides me.

And, she’s not wrong. But in the meantime, I just got a shiny new toy, and I want to try it out! So I activate it, and leave it on. The area around me expands in my mind, as though I’m seeing stars in the night sky. The range is kind of short though… Eh, it’ll probably get better as I use it. Hey, how does the mana use look?

(It’s… literally not using mana. It looks like this Skill just commits part of your will to it, which will make your other Skills weaker in the meantime.)

Is that normal? Don’t Skills normally use mana?

She looks at me blankly for a moment and then simply says, (Yes.)

Huh. Is it just me or are my Skills all really good?

Another dead stare. Okay, whatever. I bet I can do more with this though… hmmm what if I just… focus a little bit more of my will over there, on maybe… that one.

Someone in the room gasps audibly, and I overhear them ask the other humans at their table if they felt a chill. Interesting. I play with it a bit longer, curious what I can do with this. Maybe I can use it to torment-ERR, I mean carefully correct the idiot brigade.

[Available Skill: Will Surge used for the first time!]

[Will Surge added to Skills!]

Huh. Wonder what that does. I should probably –

(DO NOT TEST IT ON THESE PEOPLE,) my Assistant interrupts.

Okay. Why?

(I can see the description. Unless you are very careful with it, this is an outright mental attack. Think like Dominate, except instead of forcing them to follow your will for some amount of time, you just stab them in the brain. You could do permanent damage to a magic user with this!)

Ooooh. That’s good. I need to practice this one. Also, Nyx facepalm number eleventy-bajillion and three!

[Verum Corpus has reached Level 7!]

Uh. Where did that come from?

(It’s probably because the Skill is active as long as you’re holding this form,) she explains.

It’s about now that third period must have let out, or a few minutes earlier, because the cafeteria has started to fill up. I leave Will Detection running despite the weakening blah blah whatever, and manage to get a first level in it before Izahne and her party show up.

The party scatters to their usual stands, other than my paladin who instead makes a beeline for me before throwing her arms around me.

…

(Hug her back. Idiot.)

Fine. I put my arms around her as well. She leans her head in to whisper in my ear.

“Did it taste good?” she quietly asks.

I parrot a response Nyx feeds me, something about the aging of fine wine or something, and my paladin blushes and giggles in my ear in return. Then she finally detaches and gives me a meaningful gaze before running off to fetch a meal, bouncing like the literal schoolgirl she is. I have no idea what just happened, but whatever. She seems happy, that’s good enough for now.

They all gather at my table a few moments later, Izahne sitting a little closer to me than usual. I feel conflict from her now and then, but I respond to it with another gentle touch of Consume since she responded so positively to it before.

“I got a level in the Mind Magic Resistance Skill,” she finally says.

“Good for you. That sounds useful.”

She blushes from my praise, while Pearl looks like she’s squealing so hard internally it’s close to leaking out. In fact, it might be just a little bit. Meanwhile, Abaris and Omorth are focused on their food, and Elobahn is pretending to be the same while covertly keeping a hand on at least one of his weapons at all times. Some things never change I guess.

“I got two new Skills myself while I was waiting. One lets me sense creatures around me that have a will, and the other lets me punch them in the brain according to Nyx. I’m not supposed to use the second one or something.”

Abaris pauses, then sets down his eating tools and levels a focused gaze at me. “You have mind magic Skills? Is that why Izzy learned a resistance Skill? Are they Class or General? Ah, or Inherent? Are you able to control the intensity? Were they newly learned or availa –“

I cut him off. “Woah woah woah there. Too many questions. Uhhhh yes, mind magic Skills, probably, all Class… I haven’t tried, and they were available Skills.”

“You’re a mind mage!?” Pearl asks excitedly through a bite of whatever that is she’s eating.

I laugh cynically, a habit I learned from Nyx for situations like these. “Yes, but also no. I’m a priest, remember? Dominate is a Class Skill too though. Oh, and I learned I can force people into agreeing to Blood Pact with Dominate.”

This time I receive stares of mute horror.

…

“That’s good, right? Strong?” I ask, breaking the silence.

“Too strong. You did that to someone here?” my paladin asks, her expression unchanged.

“Yes – BUT WAIT, before you get all worried or whatever, they didn’t know who I was but were talking about slaying me for the experience. I acted in self-defense! The headmaster said that was fine, so it’s fine! See? No problems!”

(Yes problems,) Nyx says.

Izahne furrows her brow. “I’m fairly sure he meant for killing students who attack you. Mind control is… it’s taboo, s-sweetie.”

I sigh. More taboos.

(Your entire Skill build is a taboo, tbh.)

“So you’re saying I should release them?”

“You should definitely release them. But, maybe you should talk to the headmaster about it first? Just in case there could be repercussions,” she says.

“Ugh, fine. I don’t know how to do that.”

“I just did, your appointment is today after fourth period,” Abaris interjects while holding up a tablet with a number of runes moving across the surface. “Don’t worry about your lecture, appointments like this take precedence. Considering how quickly the request was approved and scheduled, I’m fairly certain that he was anticipating issues.”

“It’s not my fault humans are dumb and want to attack me. Oh, that reminds me,” I say while glancing at his tablet. “I apparently broke some book display thing, the teacher was reading my Magic Attributes. Parties share this stuff, right? I’m apparently Time, Dark, and Infernal.”

“Dark and Infernal make sense, considering your vitality drain and mind magic,” Abaris says. “I wasn’t aware that you had the Time element though. Do you have any Skills that demonstrate it?”

Instead of answering, I point at the remains of his meal and activate The Ravages of Time. He sits transfixed as the contents of his plate wither and eventually collapse into dust. Hmmm dust… elemental… I have an idea. I reach with my will toward his plate and pull, and the remains on it swirl momentarily before drifting toward me and joining into my body. Huh.

(You can probably heal like that,) Nyx suggests.

That makes sense.

“Do undead usually have the Infernal Attribute?” I ask, since I may as well.

(Thank you for asking someone else for a change,) Nyx says.

“Generally, yes. Most creatures born undead have it, and those who become undead often lose the Attributes they had before in exchange,” Abaris answers. “Why do you ask?”

“Because I thought that’s why I’d have that one.”

“You’re undead?” Izahne cuts in. “You don’t feel undead though… I can usually sense them, to some extent.”

“Let’s just say I’m ‘a powerful enough undead to not only possess sentience but are in fact’ blah blah whatever the teacher said quiet earlier. Maybe I don’t show up like normal ones. I’m extra strong and extra scary.”

He probably didn’t mean to be heard, but I still manage to pick up Elobahn mutter, “Terrifying. I’m fucking right, mark my words. We’re all going to die to this thing.”

But, I choose to ignore him. Considering how weak his will presence is, I could probably squash him flat, so I move on instead.

“Oh right, uhhh the thing broke. So there was this loud noise and it caught fire.”

Abaris furrows his brow while I feel confusion from Izahne. The looks on everyone’s faces seem to be asking me to continue.

…

“Please, go on,” my paladin prompts.

“The display said something about trying to appraise a Domain and some god saying no, not really sure who because it said unknown. And then it broke.”