The Manaverse

Slatewell Safe Zone

Granite City

After they had performed the ritual many more times, Kyle learned some important things.

They had to do the rituals in exact quantities of chips or fragments or any of the mana items they wanted to convert to get the ritual to work. Putting twenty chips didn't give them two fragments. It gave them a fragment and ten chips.

The color of the fragment was determined by the color of the chips that were consumed during the ritual. If Kyle used five green chips and one chip of every other color, the fragment turned out to be green. However, the chip expended to activate the ritual seemed to count as one towards the final product's color as well. Brick was aiming for a blue color but had used a red chip to power the ritual, making the number of blue chips and red chips equal. His fragment turned out to be red.

To make a mana gem, it was going to cost over a thousand chips in total. At the current chip drop rate, they would have to kill over two hundred and fifty monsters for each gem.

Kyle could activate the ritual of ascension with his mana for about the same cost as the harvesting ritual. He did so whenever he had enough of his blue bar to spare, which was only once during their stretch of rituals. The rest were activated by consuming chips, thus increasing the total number of times Kyle would have to kill something to make one of the gems.

Kyle didn't share his growing concerns with Brick. The soldier was just too positive for Kyle to want to burden the guy any further. Yet, Kyle couldn't help but feel like he was going end up enjoying killing things at this rate.

"We should turn the quests in all at once. So, lets head back to the Safe Zone first." Kyle suggested. He was reconsidering the amount of time he spent in his menus while they were marching to the Safe Zone initially and how stupid it actually was.

Brick quickly agreed, saying he wanted to rest since he would be killing monsters with his squad tomorrow. Kyle was surprised at the small spark of jealousy he felt, knowing he wasn't likely allowed to join in. He wanted to collect more chips too.

They traveled back to the Safe Zone pretty quickly. Brick and Kyle turned in the extra materials they looted and were disappointed in the reaction they got.

"Eww. We wont take rat tails. Gross." The attendant wouldn't even pick up the dismembered tail to give it back to Brick. Instead, she made him retrieve it.

They waited until they were out of earshot to complain.

"What the Hell, man? Didn't the quest say they would take all monster materials?" Brick made an obvious show of rolling his eyes.

"If I remember correctly, they never specified how much they would or wouldn't take despite the language of the quest. I get the feeling they will regret their choice if alchemy is a thing. Aren't rat tails usually used in witch's brews? At least we got rid of some of the other items. Now I have room in my inventory," Kyle tried to look on the bright side.

He had never expected to be the one to try and cheer Brick up. They had gotten a few days of free food for the handfuls of other materials the attendant actually did take, like the fangs and claws. It was better than nothing. Especially as Kyle had no use for the materials just then.

"I guess that's true... I'm heading back to the room." Brick relented then left. Kyle was going to catch up to him, but decided to people watch for a little bit and practice using his menus while doing so. The idea that he could be so caught up in his own status screens while in a dangerous situation, without even thinking about the risk, bothered him deeply. He wanted to see if he could still observe what was going on while reading his notifications.

The first notification was as he expected, the completion of the ritual quest.

Congratulations!

You have completed a [Quest].

Quest Basic Rituals

Objective Perform the [Monster Harvest Ritual] 1/1 and [Ritual of Ascension] 1/1

Rank

Abundant

Difficulty

Easy

Description The [System] has granted every [System Guide] the basic knowledge of the [Monster Harvest Ritual] and [Ritual of Ascension]. Perform these Rituals.

Status

[Monster Harvest Ritual] performed - 1/1

[Ritual of Ascension] performed - 1/1

Reward

[Skill Orb]. Type: Random

Kyle expected the next screen to be the next step in the involuntary quest chain as he placed the newly appeared skill orb into his pouch. Despite there not being any indication in the text, he was pretty sure he remembered the system telling him it would guide him to "copper rank", whatever that meant, and he was pretty sure these quests were how to get there. He was not entirely shocked the next notification was the completion of the safe zone quest, though, guessing the next step wouldn't activate until he had completed the ritual quest and read the notification.

You have completed a [Safe Zone] [Quest].

Quest Gathering for the Zone

Objective Turn over any system generated food or materials from the slaying of monsters.

Rank

Normal

Rarity

Common

Time Limit

Open Ended

Difficulty

Unknown

Repeatable

Yes

Description

Gather system generated goods and turn them over to the Slatewell [Safe Zone] Staff

Reward

Based on items presented. 5 Days worth of food for one person = 1 days worth of meal credits at the Slatewell Food Court. This Quest was not generated by the [System].

The last line was new and made Kyle even more curious about how the Safe Zones worked. Why did the system go out of its way to inform everyone the quest was not system generated? Did it believe the rewards were insufficient, or too good? Was it not satisfied with the way the quest was worded when created by a system feature? Kyle shrugged internally and moved on.

As he had anticipated, the next window was the new quest.

You have been granted a [Quest].

Quest Mana Stones

Objective Perform the [Ritual of Ascension] on three [Mana Stones]

Rank

None

Rarity

None

Difficulty

Medium

Description Gather enough [Mana Chips] and perform the [Ritual of Ascension] enough times until you receive a [Mana Gem]

Status

Mana Gem - 0/1

Reward

3 [Skill Orb]s. Type: Random

This [Quest] is not voluntary and has been accepted on your behalf.

Kyle was learning to get over his annoyance at these quests being accepted on his behalf once he thought about how they were intended to guide him in surviving the Integration. As the new quest was the last of his notifications, he realized one thing. He was never going to check his notifications in the field again unless he had no other choice. He hadn't been able to register anything that happened around him, evidenced by the fact that not a single person nearby was the same as he had seen before starting his review.

Just as Brick had said the night before, he had left their room early to meet up with his squad. It appeared all of the military personnel were instructed to do the same, because over half the people bunked up with Kyle followed Brick out, waking Kyle up in the process. The only other person left was a blonde man who was facing away, still asleep.

The night before, Kyle had discovered that his temporary roommates liked dogs. Gunther ate up the attention happily while Lily stayed in the pets room. None of his bunk mates had any issues with Kyle having his animals in there and the only other pet, a German Shepard named Nox, was well behaved and got along with both of his pets. The Shepard had left with his owner to go to the squad meeting.

Kyle couldn't get back to sleep, so he dressed and let his animals out. Both were more than willing to go out to do their morning business. While he waited, Kyle examined his currency counters.

Copper Coins 0

Silver Coins 0

Gold Coins 0

Mana Chips 6

Mana Fragments 0

Mana Shards 2

Mana Stones 1

Mana Gems 0

When all was said and done the night before, Kyle had managed to condense enough mana chips to get two entire mana shards. Despite their names, mana shards looked like six sided dice. He was beginning to see a trend. He had done his best to keep the two cubes green and blue, in which he was successful.

After more mental math than he wanted to perform, Kyle figured out that he needed around five hundred and fifty four chips to complete his quest, thanks to the system providing the single Mana Stone. If the monsters stayed more or less consistent when leaving behind mana chips, he would have to kill somewhere around one hundred and forty more monsters or so.

When he realized the sheer volume of monsters he was going to have to kill, Kyle almost went back inside. Instead, he pulled out his new skill orb. This one was different than the last. Instead of a tiny galaxy in the middle, this one had a red mist flowing around inside it that he couldn't see through. It reminded him of the bad sandstorms they used to get when the area around Granite City had been a desert, only blood red.

As before, he was able to trigger the orb by thinking he wanted to absorb it. It melted into him just like the last one and caused the same sensation, like something was being pushed into his mind. Suddenly, he understood his new skill, but he read the notification too, just in case he was wrong.

Congratulations!

You have learned a [Skill].

Skill Magical Strikes

Rank Normal

Type Special Attack

Cost Extremely Low Mana Per Second

Cast Time Variable

Cool Down None

Duration Channeled

Range Self

Effect You gain the effect of [Magical Strikes] while this skill is active

[Magical Strikes] Effect: Every strike you make against an opponent is considered a [Special Attack]. [Special Attacks] made by you deal a very low amount of extra [Magical Damage] to the target. Half the mana expended on this skill is refunded when a monster is killed by you when this effect is active.

Kyle noticed the difference between his new skill and the one Brick had described. Didn't Brick's skill make his attacks do extra physical damage? Kyle wasn't sure if damage being magical or physical made a difference, but he guessed it was dependent on which type of monster he was fighting. He also noticed that his skill was continuous, while Brick's had to be triggered each time the man wanted to use it. Kyle would have to experiment with it later.

Why not equip your new skill?

His guide asked, the chat window popping forward.

Kyle furled an eye brow. I can, but why not Monster Harvest instead? Is there a reason to use Magical Strikes?

Lore Locked.

However, as the skill that is equipped will be erased if you equip another, I assume Magical Strikes can easily be replaced whereas your harvesting skill will remain useful.

Okay. That doesn't explain why we should equip a skill in the first place. Kyle knew that if he had access to the Lore he required, his guide would have provided it. As they had not, he did not bother his guide more on the subject. Instead he pulled up his Skill window.

This window was the same pleasant green color Kyle liked, with complimentary text. The top read SKILLS in bold font. There was an empty square under the title that looked sunk into the window. Below the empty square were two squares with images in them and their names underneath. These looked like they popped out of the window.

The first was Monster Harvest. It was the image of a dead monster breaking down. Kind of gruesome to have it be so...on the nose...but Kyle guessed it made sense.

The square next to it was a picture of a club glowing called Magical Strikes. As soon as the window had opened, Magical Strikes glowed faintly as the chat window moved forward once again.

You can either use your finger to drag the skill to the box, or will it to happen.

Kyle would normally have just willed the action to happen, but he wanted to experience doing so physically. Kyle didn't feel a flat surface when he placed his finger on the Magical Strikes square. Instead his finger just felt warm. If he moved the skill icon anywhere and let go, it flew back to its place in line. Once he let go of the skill icon when it was hovering over the empty square, it plopped into place and a new window opened.

Are you sure you wish to equip [Magical Strikes] to your [Skill Bar]?

Caution: You will not be able to unequip the [Skill] once it have been equipped. The only way to remove it will be to equip a new [Skill] over it, destroying the original [Skill] in the process.

Yes/No

Kyle confirmed and the text vanished with the notification. All that was left was for him to test it out. Kyle pulled his bat from his inventory and swung it a few times. Gunther was looking at him, his little nub wagging slowly.

"Wanna go fight some monsters?" Kyle asked.

Both Lily and Gunther started to act like they were excited for a treat. Kyle laughed and led his pets towards the edge of the safe zone.