Chapter Three: A Sorceress is Born

My Stamina, Mana, and Health ticked back to full as my level climbed.

My mangled arm, which probably would've been permanently damaged back on Earth, mended quickly. Apparently, in this new world, healing was just a numbers game—like a video game.

Of course, that did nothing for the--now ruined--simple white tunic the System had provided me with. Thankfully the black fantasy-style breeches I wore were only mildly mud-stained, but otherwise intact. And the leather boots on my feet were fine as well.

I almost found it funny that it System had even given me socks. No food--and it'd stolen what might have well been Heaven from me, but hey... socks.

Character Sheet, I thought, sitting up as adrenaline and phantom pain lingered.

The familiar display appeared:

>>

[Clarissa Ardent, Level 12]

Class: Sorceress

Health: 25 [3 regen/per-minute].

• Baseline Health = [(Endurance/2 + Strength/2) x 10 rounded down].

• Baseline Regen = [3 + (Endurance/2 rounded down)].

Mana: 380 [43 regen/per-minute].

• Baseline Mana = [Charisma x 10].

• Baseline Regen = [3 + (Charisma/2 rounded down)].

• Modifiers: [Elder Blood +120], [System Bonus +100].

Stamina: 25 [3 regen/per-minute].

• Baseline Stamina = [(Endurance/2 + Strength/2) x 10 rounded down].

• Baseline Regen = [3 + (Endurance/2 rounded down)].

Armor Class: 1 [Base: 1 | Armor: 0].

• Base Armor Class = [Endurance/10, but can not be less than 1.]

• Governs what class of weapons, spells, and unarmed attacks can damage you.

Unarmed-Class: 3 [Base: 3 | Mods: 0]

• Unarmed Class = [(Strength/4 rounded down) + Unarmed Fighting rounded down].

• Governs what Armor-Class your unarmed strikes can penetrate.

Resource Points: 110

[Stats]

Strength: 4

Physical might.

• If Strength is greater than your melee weapon's Weapon-Class add +1 to it.

Endurance: 1

Resiliency and the ability to keep moving.

Agility: 1

Speed of movement. Flexibility of body. Speed of reactions.

• Each level of Agility = 10% increase in the progression speed of physical proficiencies.

Charisma: 4

Amplifies physical attractiveness, pleasantness of voice, and ability to read social-interactions

• Governs how long it takes you to learn new spells from spell-matrixes and the results of spell-forging. (Sorceress Class)

• Spell-Class gains +1 for every 10 points of Charisma you have. (Sorceress Class)

Perception: 1

Increases awareness range.

• Sight and hearing range are multiplied by your Perception score.

Intelligence: 1

Speed of cognition.

• Each point in Intelligence = 10% increase in the progression speed of mental proficiencies.

Willpower: 1

Your ability to reduce pain and contain mystical energies.

• Mana increases by +10 for every point of Willpower you have.

• Divide your perception of pain by your total Willpower.

Stat Points: 13

[Proficiencies]

One-Handed: Competent 2 (0/45)

Acrobatics: Competent 2 (0/45)

Grappling: Competent 2 (0/45)

Unarmed-Fighting: Competent 2 (0/45)

Writing: Competent 2 (0/50)

Fire-Manipulation: Novice 1 (0/22)

Spell-Attack: Novice 1 (0/22)

Spell-Control: Novice 1 (0/22)

Spell-Efficiency: Novice 1 (0/22)

Proficiency Points: 22

[Spells Known]

Raging Blade [1st] - Summon a fiery blade. [Fire] [Attack]

• Spell-Class = 5 [Spell-Attack + (1/4 Charisma + One-Handed + Fire-Manipulation) rounded down].

• Mana-Cost = 20 Mana.

[Skills]

N/A

[Perks]

Elder Blood I [B] – As a member of the Caliban race, mana flows through your veins. Your baseline mana is increased and your regeneration increases in tandem with your maximum mana.

• Your baseline mana is increased. [+10 Mana per level.]

• Your mana regeneration increases in tandem with your maximum mana. [Mana regeneration per minute +1 per 10 points of Mana.]

Sorceress's Soul I [C] - You cast and fight with force of personality, not breadth of knowledge.

• You level both physical and magical stats at a moderately faster rate than others. [10% Leveling Increase After Buffs.]

• Charisma now provides all the magic-related bonuses that Intelligence does by default.

• Moments of high-emotional intensity may occasionally provide you with new spells.

• +10 Mana Per Level, +1 Strength Per Level, +1 Charisma Per Level.

Trailblazer I [R] - Accelerated proficiency growth for pioneering achievements.

• All proficiencies tier with half of the effort that would otherwise be required.

• Skills and spells are easier to learn.

Raging Sorcery I [RU] – You can channel strong emotions into your fire spells to condense and propel them towards a target, causing the condensed spell to explode in a violent burst of mana that deals extra damage.

• When this perk is activated, any fire spell can be converted into an explosive blast. The base Spell-Class of the blast is equal to the original spell's Spell-Class x (Charisma/4).

• Casting range of converted spells is equal to your Charisma attribute in feet.

• +1 Spell-Class for fire spells converted to an explosive blast for every 10 points of Charisma you have.

• +1 Spell-Class of all fire spells in general with the [explosive] tag for every 10 points of Charisma you have.

[Equipped]

> Simple Traveler's Tunic. (Tattered.)

> Simple Traveler's Breeches. (Dirty.)

> Simple Traveler's Socks.

> Simple Traveler's Boots. (Dirty.)

[Inventory (0/50)]

N/A.

>>

Several things caught my eye. I'd jumped eleven levels just from defeating the already-wounded skulker. That couldn't be normal—but clearly, this dungeon rewarded punching above my weight.

The amount of points available was staggering. It seemed each level granted ten points to level my Health, Mana, or Stamina. Along with two proficiency points. And I guess each level only gave one Skill-Point for my attributes?

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

The hundred mana the System had gifted me earlier was equal to ten full levels worth of Willpower investment. Likewise, the Charisma and Strength boosts I'd received represented four levels of gains. My class had also leveled my Strength and Charisma by one each--which was less, but still nice.

Not to mention my [Elder Blood] perk had given me another one-hundred and ten mana just for leveling up. And my mana regeneration rate didn't seem too shabby thanks to the same perk. It honestly felt kind of broken.

If I hadn't sacrificed being a human to get the perk, I might feel like I was cheating.

Glancing nervously around the shadowy, crimson-tinged forest, I quickly started to decide how I wanted to allocate my points.

My highest priority was survival.

My Mana seemed solid thanks to the System bonuses, but my measly twenty-five--then ten--health had proven dangerously low against the Skulker.

With no current Stamina-based abilities, investing there also felt pointless for now.

Resolute, I placed all one-hundred-ten resource points into Health, bringing me up to a reassuring total of one-hundred-forty.

That was nearly fourteen times my original pool. Being able to survive fifteen hits instead of one meant a lot more breathing room.

Next, Stats. To decide, I asked the System for clarity. Hoping I could get more than the brief descriptions gave me.

"System, how do Stats work?"

>>

Strength: Determines physical might, influencing your Unarmed-Class, effectiveness with melee weapons lacking the [finesse] tag, and partially determining your total Health and Stamina. When Strength is your highest stat upon leveling, you receive additional bonuses for melee-oriented skills and proficiencies.

Endurance: Represents your physical resilience, increasing your baseline Health and Stamina, health regeneration, and determining your baseline Armor Class. When Endurance is your highest stat upon leveling, you receive enhanced health points and regeneration each level.

Agility: Governs speed, flexibility, reaction time, and damage dealt by weapons with the [finesse] tag. If Agility is your highest stat upon leveling, proficiency growth for agility-related skills and proficiencies accelerates at double the speed.

Charisma: Influences your attractiveness, social aptitude, and effectiveness in social interactions and trade skills. For the Sorceress class specifically, Charisma replaces Intelligence for determining spell-casting ability, spell-class potency, and spell-forging proficiency. When Charisma is your highest stat upon leveling, social skills and proficiencies improve at double the speed.

Perception: Enhances sensory awareness, extending sight and hearing range, and provides resistance against spells carrying the [illusion] tag. When Perception is your highest stat upon leveling, perception-based proficiencies and skills grow at double the speed, and you gain increased resistance against illusions.

Intelligence: Measures cognitive speed and learning efficiency, accelerating mental proficiency growth. Normally, Intelligence governs spell-related mechanics, but as a Sorceress, it no longer influences mana or spell-casting. When Intelligence is your highest stat upon leveling, mental proficiencies and skills improve at double the speed..

Willpower: Strengthens mental resilience, reduces perceived pain, and directly increases your Mana pool. When Willpower is your highest stat upon leveling, your resistance to spells with the [mind] tag increases, and you gain additional bonuses when casting spells with the [sustained] tag.

>>

There was a lot of useful information in the System's explanation. Mainly that whatever your highest Stat was decided what bonuses you'd get upon leveling.

A part of me honestly thought that the Stats that granted additional Mana, Stamina, or Health permanently were better. It meant you couldn't lose the bonuses you'd already gotten.

Then again, my Sorceress class pretty much locked me into needing to level Charisma. It simply offered too many benefits to my magic now to ignore.

As I'd read my Character Sheet, I'd already decided I'd rely primarily on magic. With Mana being my highest stat, and the one my racial Perk and Class buffed, it'd be a waste not to.

But my only spell for the time being was melee-focused. Strength didn't decide the Spell-Class of my [raging blade]--Charisma and my Proficiencies did. So other than needing those, that pretty much just meant I needed to make sure I had the Agility to get hits to land.

The System had mentioned something called spell-forging though.

"System, how do I get new spells?"

[New spells are gained through combining soul shards via Spell-Forging, deciphering Spell-Matrixes acquired via looting and trade, or by creating them with a Class perk.]

I frowned. "What's a soul shard?"

[Soul shards are acquired from slain enemies.]

I groaned. "Can't you just send me home?"

No response.

"System?"

Still nothing.

"Do you only answer when I ask you something about how you work?"

Not a word.

"So you're not a person, you're a fucking wiki..."

That was disappointing. Didn't mean a wiki wasn't useful, but it did make me feel a little more alone. And a lot more trapped than before.

"What is spell-forging?"

[Spell-forging is the process of combining soul shards to create spells. It will become available to you once you have acquired your first soul shard.]

So new spells would have to wait. Right now I needed to focus on my strengths.

Charisma would boost my [raging blade]'s strength. And Agility would make sure I could hit and not be hit--something I knew was important from my years in the ring.

Balancing these factors, I increased Charisma to ten. And Agility to eight.

Almost instantly, a pleasant warmth tingled across my skin. My body loosened, my posture changed subtly in a way that felt natural. And my bone structure shifted painlessly and ever so slightly beneath my face.

I reached up and touched my cheek. It felt... so smooth. Pleasant to feel.

My hair felt less... flat on my head as well. I ran my hands through it, bringing a few strands in front of my eyes. I noticed for the first time that I wasn't blonde anymore, but a raven-haired brunette. Weird choice for the System to make for me, but okay. My hair was really silky now though.

I let my hair fall back down through my blemishless, pale fingers.

Had I just gotten more attractive?

What did that even mean for a Caliban? Was the Charisma Stat going off human standards or my new race's? Ugh... too confusing.

I'd only favored Charisma in the allocation of my Stat points to get the plus one bonus to Spell-Class. Being able to damage stronger enemies seemed really important in this dungeon.

At least leveling Agility brought less existential dread with it. My body felt looser and less tense. I just felt more overall balanced. More relaxed.

Whatever. I resolved to find a mirror or something like it whenever I could to see what the hell the System was doing to me.

But I still had to distribute my proficiency points.

Consulting the System again clarified:

[Fire Manipulation greatly enhances fire spells, boosting potency, control, and efficiency exclusively for fire magic.]

[One-Handed increases effectiveness with single-handed weapons both conjured and material.]

[Spell Attack tier determines the baseline Spell-Class for spells with the [attack] tag.]

[Spell Control can provide new abilities for spells depending on its tier.]

[Spell Efficiency reduces mana costs for all spells, dividing their Mana Cost by its tier level, and is especially beneficial for sustained spells.]

Though general spell proficiencies offered versatility, Fire Manipulation's specialized boost matched perfectly with my only spell.

Without hesitation, I invested all of my points into Fire Manipulation, raising it almost all the way to Competent. The [trailblazer] perk had halved the points needed to tier proficiencies--which was insane to me. My [sorceress's soul] perk also didn't hurt to have--as it further lowered the requirement by a bit.

I was banking on my fencing skills, Stats, and boosted Mana to carry me. Maybe not the best plan, but it was the one I had.

It felt risky—I couldn't test any of this safely right now. My choices would either save me or doom me.

At least my odds felt better now. I'd barely survived my first encounter, and I was determined not to waste that luck.

There was only one thing that still bothered me. I focused on the now damaged shirt I'd gotten.

Another pop-up appeared.

>>

Simple Traveler's Tunic

A simple white tunic, spun from ekimo wool. Fit for traveling.

Rarity: Common.

Condition: Tattered.

Bonuses: None.

>>

Well. I'd definitely need new gear--disregarding whatever an ekimo was.

I closed my menus, taking a calming breath.

I'd have to do whatever it took to make it back to my family and friends. But despite the fear and uncertainty, excitement stirred beneath my breast.

I had magic. Real, actual magic.

And killing the skulker? Well... as much as it might say about me.. the adrenaline of overcoming genuine danger eclipsed any thrill I'd ever felt in the boxing ring or fencing square.

Leveling up was also addictive—and I couldn't wait for more, provided my current choices didn't prove catastrophic.

But first: safety. I had to find shelter.

Before I could move, however, a glow from the fallen and smoking corpse of the Skulker caught my eye. It'd been blow back when I'd killed it--a dozen feet at least. I'd almost forgotten it existed.

The Skulker's body dissolved into blue light. Light that condensed and formed into a luminous orb that hovered a foot or so off the ground.

The System had mentioned loot...