Chapter 11: Ch 11 - Grace

“Don’t Suffer. We need a plan to escape in case things get bad. Don’t Die. See ‘escape plan’. Also use attributes and train our skills. Self-Care. I was thinking we could do some Tai Chi; with this slightly different body and constantly changing stats, it could help us stay in practice just moving around. Hobbies. Hmm… We could try drawing? Maybe request some books? Break Systems. I don’t think we have any leads on this, this is the most stable system we’ve encountered so far.” Kente summed up his thoughts on their priorities as Marke ate his breakfast porridge. The porridge needed some salt.

“This porridge needs salt.” Marke said.

“Hobbies could include food critic, I suppose.” Kente said helpfully.

Marke chuckled. “Escape plan. We have no experience with that. Going off of movies I would say there are three basic plans: Fight your way out; Trick your way out; and Stealth your way out.”

“What about dig your way out?” Kente asked.

“You have to dig stealthily, so it’s covered.” Marke replied. “We have no experience with fighting, no clue about how this society works so we don’t know how to trick anyone, and we have no skill in stealth.” Marke scraped the last of the porridge into his mouth and swallowed. “But I think we can gain skill in stealth while we are in this cell. Let’s check out the new skills in the list. Assign Skill.” The skill list box popped up. Kente pulled up his own copy of the list and began to scroll through. They opened a new log and wrote notes on the skills they read through.

> Stealth Skill Notes:

>

> ‘Grace’ – might be a movement skill

>

> ‘Climb’ – not stealthy but useful

>

> ‘Open Door’ – is this lockpicking? At face value this skill is stupid. Lockpicking would be difficult to practice.

Kente spoke up when they finished reading the skill list. “Not very fruitful. Some of the unlock requirements for skills are weird, but it’s mostly ‘try and do this skill without this skill’. I think if we practice being stealthy, then new skills will show up for stealth.”

Marke nodded. “I think so too. Also, Hobbies: basket weaving. We should request some straw or something to practice basket weaving.”

“Oh yeah! They probably let us have rope, but what else is good for baskets?” Kente asked.

Marke shrugged. “Let’s try out ‘Grace’. Can you pick it in the list?” Marke wanted to know if Kente could control their System in addition to viewing it.

Marke felt something shift in his mind. Kente spoke up. “Looks like the answer is yes. Mwahaha!” Kent cackled melodramatically. “Stand up and give it a try.”

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Marke stood. “How?” He asked.

“I don’t know. Try just focusing on the skill in your head. It does nothing for me, but you have a body.” Kent said.

Marke tried to focus on the ‘Grace’ skill. Nothing happened. “I’m gonna do that ‘identify’ thing that showed us the poison water. Maybe it’s the same mental trick and I just need practice.” Marke focused on the water bucket. A box popped up.

> Bucket (water)

Incredible. I see the fundamental truths of the universe. Marke thought sarcastically. He focused on the cot.

> Cot

Marke focused on every item in the room and then his clothes. He tried to focus on the moon in the sky but nothing happened. When there was nothing left to identify, he tried to focus on ‘Grace’ again. Nothing seemed to happen.

“Try moving while focusing?” Kent suggested.

Marke focused on ‘Grace’ and took a small step forward. It was the most difficult step he had ever taken. Every muscle in his body seemed to cycle through tense and slack with every millimeter his foot moved forward. Marke’s concentration broke and he tripped and fell to the floor.

“Woah. That looked odd.” Kente said. Marke struggled to breathe through immense exhaustion. What happened? He thought. Kente replied in thought. Your skin seemed to ripple and your body moved like you were on ice skates. It was weird and cool. Marke’s vision started to grey out. Kente, I can’t breathe! Marke thought desperately.

Uh, I don’t know what to do! Should I put stat points somewhere? Strength? Are you too weak to breath? Maybe endurance? Are you too tired? Kente’s thought voice was full of panic. Marke’s mind was too fuzzy to respond. He passed out.

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Marke woke up when the guard pushed the lunch porridge into the cell. Marke ached all over. He immediately reached out to Kente. Kente, what happened?

“You passed out, dummy. You still weren’t breathing, and I wasn’t sure which stat would help most so I put one in Strength and one in Endurance. That helped but you were still struggling. I had to pick your last trait to try and save you.” Kente’s voice was slightly scolding but mostly relieved.

Stats. Traits. Marke thought. The boxes popped up.

> Strength: 3

>

> Agility: 2

>

> Endurance: 4

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> Intelligence: 1

>

> Soul: 1

> Traits: 4/4

>

> True Soul – See the Truth

>

> Eclipse Sight – See the light and the dark

>

> Second Soul – Divide the nature of your soul

>

> Mortal Rally – Return to your feet

Marke pushed himself up on hands and knees. “Thank you Kente. You saved me. Twice. Saved me twice already.”

“You are welcome. I could try and be all cool and distant and say I just did it to protect myself, but we both know that would be a lie.” Kente’s voice was near the ceiling.

After a lunch of too-salty porridge, Marke and Kente revised their plan: Try Grace again after a week of attribute points. Do mundane Tai Chi to prepare for Grace. Basket weaving. Books. The revised plan hit a setback immediately when the guards refused to forward a request for books. One guard half-heartedly said he would pass on the request for straw specifically for ‘Basket Weaving’. Marke tried to do a bit of Tai Chi but his muscles were still wobbly and weak. He ended up doing stretches on the stone floor until the afternoon eclipse.

> Level + 1

>

> New traits available

>

> New skills available

>

> Stat points available

Marke put the stat point into Strength to make it even with Endurance. “Why are there new traits available if all four slots are filled?” Marke wondered aloud. Kente grunted. They looked at the new skills. There was only one: ‘Walking’

“Sick burn, man.” Kente remarked. Marke laid face down on the cot and tried to resist the urges to scream and laugh himself silly.