Beacon from Beyond

He expected the [Fine-Tooth Comb] level up, but the [High Mind] level increase was a nice surprise. He supposed that it was most likely making it easier to process the vibrations. Despite them getting muddled, [High Mind] would use more power in trying to separate each unique wave.

He had confirmed how [Fine-Tooth Comb] worked, and touched upon [High Mind], so he pulled up his interface to see which Skill would be next to test

[Name: Dei Grrata

Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant)

Class: Prodigal Detector (Level 34)

Profession: Pondering Sage (Level 1)

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: 13

Mental: 27

Spiritual: 19

Magical: 28

Affinities:

Kindness: Mid-Rare, 34%

Wrath: Low-Uncommon: 99%

Soul: Low-Uncommon: 40%

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)

Mana: Meditation (1)

Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (1)

Outer Skills:

How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (2), Vigilance (1), In Tune (1), Commune with the Universe (1), High Mind (2)].

[Vigilance] was crossed out until further notice, as it required his life to be in danger, and [In Tune] required other people to function, so he couldn't test that either. Next on the list was [Commune with the Universe], causing him to sweat a little bit.

It would most likely be a big moment if a force of nature accepted communication with him, so he decided to think about questions to ask them. He didn’t want to be all caught up in unsurity, stammering his questions until the entity got bored and left. Though he couldn’t be too specific with it, as he couldn’t predict what he would be talking to.

He decided to settle on two simple questions: “What force do you represent?” and “If you had to give a single piece of advice to me, what would it be?”

The second was a bit cliche, seemingly asking for guidance from beings beyond his imagination, but he thought whatever he would be talking to would probably know better than him what he needed to know.

He sat cross legged within the center of his cave, and closed his eyes. Mentally activating his [Commune with the Universe] Skill, he felt as the Identity portion of his soul was cast off in a direction he couldn’t perceive.

He saw nothing, felt nothing, yet sensed something. It wasn’t like the Void he had traveled after the death of his former identity, this was something within reality, but he couldn’t quite put into words where he was.

He didn’t have a body to look at this time, instead just feeling the forces around him. He was certainly somewhere within the material world, he just didn’t understand where.

It was peaceful. The nothingness wasn’t some sort of sensory deprivation chamber, it was just a quiet journey through somewhere he couldn’t understand, yet felt the beauty of. All around him, harmony rang out like a trillion clockwork gears working in perfect synchrony.

Before he could properly understand what was going on, the trance ended, and he gently settled back into his body.

He gasped for air when he came to again, clutching his chest as pain rang out across his soul. The seams of [Connection] holding it together pulled tighter as his soul attempted to force itself apart, crushed under the weight of something he couldn’t see.

Slowly, the effect lessened, and the pain he felt receded. It wasn’t long, perhaps a minute or so, but it felt like he had reached full-body muscle failure, except all across his soul. He had overextended himself in some way he didn’t understand, and he spiritually collapsed to the floor.

Breathing heavily while laying on the grass, Dei tried to carefully study his soul. There wasn’t any lasting damage, but using the Skill had required an extensive workout from his soul that it simply could not give. While it hadn’t taken any mana, there seemed to be an intangible limit to how many times his soul could use Skills before it started to flag.

He laid there for a while, simply letting the world come back into focus, before opening his notification.

[Skill Leveled Up: Commune with the Universe (1) -> (2)]

Even though no entity had actually contacted him, simply using the Skill had given him a level. It was probably for the best that he didn’t talk to anything either, as his [Connection] Skill might not have withstood it.

He tried thinking about what, exactly, happened. He didn’t want to say that the strain was exclusively from communing with some higher being, because it wasn’t the first time it had happened. He remembered when he pushed his [Growing Pains] Skill too far, and his soul felt some similar version of what he felt now.

It seemed that there was more than one cost to using Skills. One was, of course, the mana, but that wasn’t everything. Even passive Skills or Skills that cost negligible mana would put stress on his soul, eventually dealing some serious damage to him.

He could also tell that different Skills put different levels of strain on him. Was it the concepts being used in the Skills? His [Growing Pains] Skill was absurdly simple, being a surface level concept of just working out because he was mad. [Commune with the Universe] on the other hand tapped into some ancient forces, most likely related to what his mom called Deep Concepts.

Assuming he was right, that meant the Skills which would affect him the most were going to be his [Identify of the Stout Protector] and [Pandora’s Box (Contained)]

Kindness, the avatar for the affinity, told him that his [Identify] was a rare-grade Skill, and [Pandora’s Box (Contained)] was uncommon. When he identified the beetle before, it wasn’t difficult, but that might be because he barely used it. His [(Contained)] Skill wasn’t giving him any trouble either, but there was also no pressure on the walls of the Skill in his soul. Would he face agonizing pain when it filled up fully, and was forced to try and grow? He did not want to find out, but he might have to. He wasn’t sure how fast his soul was going to heal.

He also suspected that his new [Meditation] Skill would be ranked as Uncommon if it was measured, as he felt it upgrade when the two parent Skills merged, but he had no way to know that.

If his [Commune with the Universe] Skill had to be measured, Dei could almost guarantee it would be Epic or Legendary. It was so unbelievably esoteric that he failed to even remotely grasp what it was doing to his soul when he used it. His mother said that the deeper concepts were harder to grasp, more “idea” than “reality,” and there could be little deeper than directly talking to forces of nature.

Putting it like that, actually, perhaps it was Mythical? If it was, that would definitely explain the instant agony.

The version of [Meditation] he received from his class was Common, he felt what it was before the merge. His [High Mind] Skill remained to be seen though, as he had done very little to actively use it. It was looking like he needed to though, to at least test whether it would hurt him badly.

Deciding that it was next on the list anyway, he thought about what he could do with his [High Mind] Skill that wouldn’t push the ability to its limits, lest he incur harsh backlash, but something that would push it just enough to give a little backlash.

The Skill would make his mind more malleable as it leveled up, but it was only level two right now. He suspected that increased speed of thought came passively, but the part of the description that gave malleability was an active part. He might be able to reshape his mind, however that would look.

The obvious way, which he always read about in stories, would be some sort of split-mind Skill, but he thought that would be too far out of reach right now. Instead, he had to keep it within his natural human bounds, yet pushing his personal bounds enough to require the Skills intervention.

He tried imagining something that humans could naturally do with their minds yet was difficult. Quickly, an idea was forming in his head.

‘Multitasking! That could be it. Some people are better at multitasking than others, but humans naturally struggle to do so well. Perhaps even full multitasking would be asking for too much. Maybe just thinking about multitasking, like making myself ambidextrous?’

New plan in mind, he was about to ready himself to try making himself ambidextrous when a notification surprised him.

[Profession Leveled Up: Pondering Sage (Level 1) -> (Level 2)]

[Stats Gained: +5 Spiritual]

He grinned. ‘Even thinking about my Skills and how they work is enough to earn experience. Piece of cake!’

With the new stats, he also felt that his Soul would be able to take a bit more of the pressure than it had last time.

He focused back onto the task at hand. Picking up one of the sticks made from the stalks of foliage dotting the cave, he looked around for somewhere to write, realizing that there was pretty much nothing to mark using the stick.

He would have to settle for imagining writing on something. The stick in his right hand, he was about to pretend to write on the ground, when he almost slapped himself for being an idiot.

Quickly opening up his notepad using his Interface, he found the list he previously wrote using a rock was still there, then actually did slap himself in the face. He was about to pretend to write on the ground, forgetting he had a notepad that didn’t need ink.

Sighing, he opened a new page within the notepad of the System, and tried writing out his own name ‘Dei’ using the English language. Phonetically, it would be ‘D E I,’ and three letters were not very hard.

Using the dominant right hand to write his name out first, it was easy. Switching to his left hand, he tried to make it so he was just as good at using his left hand as he was his right hand. He felt [High Mind] kick into gear, and a slight pressure was exerted on his soul as it did something to him. The pressure stopped increasing after a few moments, then took a bit longer to settle down enough for him to actively focus on writing.

When he did end up writing his name out, he saw that it was a neat copy of what he had used his right hand for. Putting the stick back into his right hand to compare the feeling to, he realized that it didn’t feel natural anymore.

Attempting to use his right hand now, he awkwardly wobbled his way through writing his name, making an unrecognizable chicken scratch.

It seemed, as of right now, that becoming ambidextrous was out of the picture for him. Instead, [High Mind] had switched his dominant hand from his right hand to his left hand. He didn’t really like it though, so he focused on switching back to his right hand and, after suffering the pressure again, went back to normal.

He was surprised there was no level up this time, but he supposed it most likely got harder to level them up the higher leveled they were. Finally, it was time to test his [Meditation] Skill. He reviewed the effects it was supposed to have on him one last time before activating it

[Meditate - Level 1 - Mana Affinity

The self, everything that ones identity is comprised of, is not entirely unique when considered in parts. Each moment is shared by an uncountable amount of other beings, separated by either time or perspective. The plants, insects, and even microbes experience the same moments as any human, yet ones identity itself is entirely unique. Despite sharing moments with so many others, no entity shares every moment with you. Your identity is the sum of so many parts, yet greater than every single one individually. Even still, there is an unbreakable link between every singular person and the grand cosmos that rotates around their unique perspective. Using that link, draw aspects of yourself into the open, showing all what it means to be you.

Gain the ability to create a Visible Presence, declaring aspects of yourself to those you project it towards.]

It would give him something called a Visible Presence. Without further adieu, he sat down cross legged, and began to meditate.

A similar scene to before played out. Slowly, the vision of his soul was brought into focus, but instead of specific parts becoming clearer for him to focus on, the entirety of it was shown before him. His entire life, from the start of Levens life to the current moment, were before him.

He observed as, slowly, lines of power became clearer. Tens, hundreds, thousands of lines linked to various aspects of himself. In order to gain a sense for what was happening, he brought up a more recent memory.

Going back to the time when he identified the [Greengrow Beetle], he watched as he moved the bug from one location to another. One of the lines originated from the memory, shooting outwards. He knew, instinctually, that the line would end in the real life version of this little beetle.

He decided his first activation of the Skill would be to focus on this link.

Taking hold of the link he did… something with his [Meditation]. It felt as if something was drawn from the link, pouring out and covering his soul. It was a thin film right now, but more power poured from it the longer he maintained the connection.

Weirdly, there was no pressure on him from using the Skill, but he would look into it later. Right now, Dei watched as a rising tide of thin fog covered his soul. It was melancholic to watch, and before he knew it, hours had gone by. He was only awoken by the rumble of his stomach, slowly bringing an end to his trance.

He opened his eyes, centered again and feeling well-rested. It didn’t feel like work or that he was gaining power, just that he was connecting to something out in the world.

Looking down at his body, he didn’t notice anything different. He was going to study it more, but his growling stomach got louder, so he stood up and quickly had a speck of food. It, of course, rejuvenated him fully, and he was back in a state to continue studying.

Closing his eyes to study his soul again without bringing up meditation, he saw that the fog around it was still there. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to glean something. The fog had no color per se, but it was colored by an idea. The idea of [Greenglow Beetle].

He could sense that there was a thin Beetle-based film around his soul. It would supposedly affect his presence, but he didn’t know what that looked like. He tried shaping it, and found that it responded readily, moving to his whims.

Opening his eyes, he used [Fine-Tooth Comb] to find his beetle friend again easily, then sent out another [Identify] towards it. This time, instead of offering him something Dei tried to project his fog towards it to convey the idea of ‘I like you! We’re friends!’

It might be his lonely self talking, but he really did like the little guy, even if the beetle was barely smart enough to think.

This time, the beetle didn’t immediately reject him, hesitating for a moment.

And then it rejected him.

It took a few seconds though! So Dei would consider it a score. He now had some way to better attune himself to the wildlife around the cave. How was that helpful? It wasn’t! But he could do it.

Well fed, Dei checked his clock

[Since the Fall: 4/23/809 - 12:23:42]

He woke up around seven, ate, spent two hours testing his abilities, then started his meditation. He had meditated for three hours before he had to eat, so he was only halfway through his day.

He found that time passed slowly in that he thought it would be later in the day, yet faster in that he hadn’t really felt the time pass at all. He was so actively busy that he could hardly track time.

He kind of wanted to keep meditating, but decided on a new course of action. There would always be a bazillion different things to do, and he needed to train all of his Skills, not just one. As such, his first priority for leveling up would be [High Mind], that way he could multitask better. It would be significantly faster if he could use [Meditation] and [Astral Projection] while also using [Fine-Tooth Comb] to look through all the information he could see while projecting, and doing so would train his [High Mind] even more.

He was getting rather excited at being able to cast tons of different spells and abilities, so he got right to work. Looking between his two hands, he switched dominance from his right to his left hand. He didn’t necessarily need to write anything, he could just feel when [High Mind] had completed its task.

He felt something different though. The pressure on his soul that caused him pain when overextending Skills didn’t land on him alone. A negligible portion of the force was dispersed among the fog created by his [Meditation] and, only when he felt the fog couldn’t take any more pressure on it, did it press further down into his soul.

His eyes widened when he realized what this meant. The visible presence created by meditating was more than just a way to communicate, it worked as an extension of his soul. Putting [High Mind] into analyzing what just happened, he felt as his mind studied the different spiritual forces acting on him, getting a neat little packet. The analysis wasn’t some in-depth review, it just gave him some information about his subconscious self that [High Mind] was able to scan, and he consciously wasn't.

Using Skills was like working out a muscle, as he suspected. He was in a perpetual state of spiritual muscle failure, metaphorically wheelchair bound. Normally, it would take a significant amount of effort to bring himself to the brink where Skills caused soul damage, but right now he’s heavily damaged. He subconsciously tried to force his presence, an undamaged portion of his soul, to take on as much of the effort put into activating Skills as he could in order to prevent further damage. He also didn’t notice his soul healing anymore, which made him nervous, but he would watch carefully over time to see if he was wrong.

The pressure he felt wasn’t damage to him, luckily, it was his soul sending a warning to not push any further, or else it would turn into damage.

‘So what im seeing is that this Presence thing will let me use my Skills more, despite having a damaged soul. Meaning more training for High Mind. New plan?’

He wasn’t strapped for time, and he had food for who knew how long. He would guess months of food had been stocked up.

As such… he felt like training Presence might be more important right now. It was pleasant too, so he didn’t feel like he’d get bored of meditating. At least not quickly.

Sitting back down in the spot he had before, he closed his eyes, slowed his breathing, and got to work.