Beacon from Beyond

[Meditate - Level 1 - Mana Affinity

Balance. Everyone and everything must be brought into balance to survive. An invasive species will collapse an ecosystem not by devouring everything in it, but by simply unbalancing small yet vital parts of it until the delicate system collapses. The same is true for body, mind, soul, and magic, each portion of oneself must unite in harmony with the others in order to make a cohesive and sturdy system.

Grants a recognition of imbalances of the body, diverting power from the excess to the atrophy, taking points from your highest stats and diverting them into your lowest stats.

When full balance is achieved, grants the [Harmony] buff and draws mana from the environment 300% faster]

[Harmony - Buff

Stats are 20% more effective]

It was very interesting, and he might actually have to worry about the implications of his soul being unbalanced.

He assumed that he was unable to form this Skill in his previous life as there was no magic or mana to draw from in the world, so a part of his body's “ecosystem” so to speak was utterly unbalanced. He wondered what that meant for everyone in the entire world. Were they all born with some defect that nobody even knew was a defect? He couldn’t be sure.

He also didn’t particularly like that it was going to take stats from one and give them to another, but he supposed that it was for the best. He already realized that his mental reaction speed would probably be much faster than what his body could physically respond to, making all the extra stats in Mental utterly useless in combat, so it was for the best that they become more balanced.

He wasn’t really doing anything right now, so got a bit more comfortable sitting down, and tried to activate his new [Meditate] Skill.

Unsurprisingly, he couldn’t just click a button and have it activate, so it failed. Instead, he followed the teachings of his previous father and closed his eyes, slowing his breathing and emptying his mind. Slowly, like he was slipping into a dream, the image of his soul appeared. It focused on specific parts, the connections between his stats that showed how messed up things were.

He could see clearly how his mind tried desperately to force the body to move faster, but the body couldn’t give anymore. There was also strain on the magical pathways that caused him to waste a significant amount of mana from simply existing, much less using any Skills, and a tension in his muscles that never quite went away from the excess mana exciting them ever so slightly.

He watched, fascinated, as some of the metaphorical “ground” between his Magical and Physical stats were changed. His Magical stat receded, and his Physical stat expanded into the unoccupied portion of his soul.

It happened slowly, very, very slowly, but eventually they would be brought into balance. Trying to estimate how long it would take for even a single stat point to reallocate, he had to say it was around a month or two before one point would change on his Interface. That was a crazy long time, especially since he only had like two weeks of food at best.

Slowly bringing himself out of his meditation, he felt a little bit better. Not from the change in stats, just that the act of meditating helped center himself a bit better. He wasn’t as scared from the presence that had descended upon him, and he didn’t feel as lonely from his mother being forced to leave him.

Now that his stomach wasn’t in knots though, he realized he was very hungry. He made his way over to his mothers satchel and struggled to move anything. There was a massive bundle of all the wrapped tools and rations at the bottom, but there was also tons of cleanly cut plants and mosses that had been stored in the bag that his mom had supposedly intended to sell.

Slowly, over the course of fifteen minutes, he strained and struggled to pull all the plants out and lay them in a pile on the ground next to the bag. When he was done, he could finally see the fabric at the bottom that separated all the herbs from the tools and rations his mom used when they left the village.

She would always wrap the bundle tightly in the morning, then slowly get sloppier as the day went on. Apparently, at the end, she just placed the cloth on top, because he just lifted it straight off, dragging it to the side to sit next to the herbs he had already pulled from the pack.

At last, his prize was before him in the form of all his mothers tools and rations. He ignored the tools for now, focusing on the rations of many dried meats and veggies, unleavened bread, and even the smallest bit of cheese wrapped in a type of paper he had never seen before but had a weird texture.

“Hmm” he hummed aloud. What if he could identify this stuff? He knew that it was all dead and didn’t have any soul, but his Identify didn’t scan the soul. Reading over it again, he looked at the exact line in the description.

[Gives the ability to glean information from the subject's soul signature.]

Now, he didn’t know exactly what the difference between a soul and a soul signature was, but it didn’t hurt to try.

Scanning the meat first, deciding he would have the best chances there, he was met with success!

[Barkgrub Chomper Meat

Meat of a Barkgrub Chomper monster that has been dried and had its calories and nutrients magically condensed into a hyper-compact chunk meant for ease of transportation.]

He hummed thoughtfully at the description. Did this mean that he actually had more food than he first assumed? Perhaps he would have more time than he suspected.

He tried lifting it up, but was utterly unable to. He wasn’t able to shift the bag either to knock it over. Sighing, he resolved himself to an embarrassing display and leaned down. He started gnawing on the edge of the meat a bit with his new, very sensitive teeth, but had to stop when it hurt so bad.

He looked at his moms knife, just a finger in length (one of her fingers, not one of his) and carefully lifted it up. He saw it cut through some very sturdy stalks like butter, so he knew it had to be sharp, and gently pressed it into the side of the ration.

There was barely any resistance at all as a tiny speck was sheared off the meat and fell to the side. Shocked, he carefully placed the knife as far from the food as he could while still keeping it in the bag, and lifted up the little speck of meat. It was about the size of one of his fingernails, and he thought it was too small to make any sort of difference, but he should at least test the compactness of the rations.

Throwing it in his mouth, he tried to chew it yet utterly failed. He could only gently teeth on it while it slowly softened up from his saliva, and he continuously swallowed small pieces of it he was sure were flaking off.

He tried to not swallow the entire thing, unsure of what would happen, but he wasn’t feeling very cautious towards his own food and felt it slip down his throat.

‘Oops. Ah, oh well. Whats the worst that could happen?’ He thought, and fate responded.

Seconds after the food hit his stomach, a burning sensation emanated from it. And spread outwards across his body and through his muscles. Instantly, he jumped up, pumped full of power. In his previous life, he loved working out, and he remembered trying out creatine a few times. It was never for him, as he was already brimming with energy 24/7, but the feeling came back to him now tenfold.

He didn't even hesitate to drop down and start doing pushups, the energy from his stomach burning hotter and hotter.

He also felt his [Growing Pains] Skill kick into overdrive, pulling as much of the energy into itself as it could and redirecting it properly through his muscles.

The pushups weren’t cutting it anymore, just not enough of a full body workout as more energy built up unevenly in different parts of his body. Instead he transitioned into an exercise he had never used in his previous life called burpees.

He would do a pushup, then get into a squatting position and jump as high as he could, squatting back down and transitioning into another pushup.

It used to feel terrible, but now it brought some relief to his legs as the energy just kept circulating.

The worked furiously, burning with relief and pain in equal portions. He couldn’t say it was pleasant, but the satisfaction of the work brought a cooling sensation that helped keep his mind clear.

When he could, he would occasionally stop to sip some water from the stream before continuing his impromptu workout. Hours went by before the burning sensation calmed down, and Dei was panting hard. He made sure to do a few less strenuous motions to calm himself rather than immediately sitting down, otherwise there would be a buildup of lactic acids and he did not want to feel the full brunt of soreness that would come along with the workout he was just doing.

Despite working harder than ever before, Dei felt good. He felt some solid yet rapid improvements to his muscles, and quickly checked over his notifications, getting even happier.

[Stat Gained: +1 Physical]

[Stat Gained: +1 Physical]

[Stat Gained: +1 Physical]

[Skill Leveled Up: Growing pains (18) -> (19)]

[Stat Gained: +1 Physical]

He gained four Physical despite only working for…

‘Six hours!’ he realized after checking his clock.

Still, that was extraordinary progress. He opened his Interface again

[Name: Dei Grrata

Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant)

Class: Prodigal Detector (Level 34)

Profession: N/A

Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Mountains

Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII)

HP: 26/26

MP: 26/26

SP: 26/26

Stats:

Physical: 9 -> 13

Mental: 27

Spiritual: 14

Magical: 28

Affinities:

Kindness: Mid-Rare, 34%

Wrath: Low-Uncommon: 99%

Soul: Low-Uncommon: 37% -> 40%

Mana: Meditate

Inner Skills:

Kindness: Pandora’s Box (Contained) (50) (592/2000), Call for Help (9), Good Samaritan (1)

Wrath: Pandora’s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (19)

Soul: Astral Projection (1), Connection (1)

Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (1)

Outer Skills:

How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (1), Vigilance (1), In Tune (1)]

He noticed that Meditate had an affinity for mana. Not a specific mana, just mana in general. The same was true for the [Meditate] offered from the [Pondering Sage] profession, it was listed as an affinity for mana. Perhaps that was a commonality of the Meditate line? There were obviously different ways to meditate and the two he was offered now gave unique boons each, but were they the same in that they all had an affinity for mana? He wasn't sure, and knowing wouldn’t benefit him immediately, so he had to move on.

More directly impressive was his thirteen in his Physical stat! His [Growing Pain] Skill stated that it allowed for him to naturally surpass 14 for his Physical stat, so he assumed that the natural limit for humans was 14. Did this mean that he was now as strong as an adult?

Going back over to his moms satchel, he lifted the flap again and tried hoisting out one of the chunks of meat, straining to do so.

While he could now lift it slightly off the ground, he could by no means carry it around for days without effort like his mom seemed to be able to do. But perhaps his mom had a high Physical stat, and these were actually super heavy?

He turned towards the pile of plants leftover after his moms foraging venture, and lifted one up. Previously, he could drag them around, so they weren’t too heavy. Now that he had a higher Physical stat, he bent down and hoisted as hard as he could.

Holding the plant over his head like a mighty sword, he let out an “Ah-ha!” in success. It was still a bit difficult, so he had to drop it right away, but he could lift it now! That also gave him a good frame for how much he had improved. He wouldn't say he was twice as strong as before, but maybe half that? Like one point five times as strong?

Doing some mental math, he realized that his Physical stat had gone up by thirty percent, so maybe he was just overestimating his own abilities and he was actually thirty percent stronger. He really wished there was some automatic calculator that would tell him.

He looked down at his muscles too, and he realized that he had lost some of his chub. He still had a healthy amount of baby fat, but he was just a bit more defined now, which looked weird on his tiny body.

‘I wonder what mom would say.’ The thought came unbidden, throwing a damper on his joy. He knew he had been distracting himself from his entire situation so far, taking small joys in the progress he was making to not think about the distant future.

He realized it was close to when night was supposed to come over the cave systems and sighed. He didn’t want to stop just yet, but he also felt strained after his workout. While his Skill had ensured he was healed up fully, each use of his Skills put pressure on his soul. Normally it wouldn’t be a huge deal, but he felt that some of the stitches holding him together were put under strain as well. He couldn’t push himself like he had today, not with the crippling wound he suffered from Iora.

That could be his temporary deadline. When the wound he suffered from Iora was fully healed, or at least workably healed, he would start venturing out of his cave to survive on fresher food. He realized now that his mom had given him a massive cushion to work with, one that he couldn’t take for granted. He would need to use even smaller portions of the food than he had today, and it would potentially take him months to finish off the stock that he had.

While it seemed like it was so far away, he wasn’t willing to gamble his life. He needed to build up enough strength to survive in these caves. Not just that though… he needed the strength to get back home.

He missed his mom. He missed how she made him feel like everything would be okay, and she would take care of him. He wanted to give her another hug, and to be hugged in turn.

He felt cold, despite the pleasant warmth of the cave, and made a promise in his head to his mother.

‘I will make it back. I don’t care if I have to get strong enough to fight every single Shaman. I don’t care about their legendary strength or heroics. One day, I will make it back to my family.’

He curled into a fetal position, shaking with fear and indignation at the task before him, and fell into an unsteady sleep filled with Shamans and Monsters.