The Wanderer's Rebirth: Other Paths

Joram took a deep breath as the door closed behind him. He had a lot to think about now, as well as to plan out. He’d surely need to get back to practicing again, working on learning and developing his Skills further. That, and he would also need to experiment with [Irymis’ Staff]. He’d been just using the [Teleport] from the repository in his brain, so he might as well get to trying out the [Spatial Manipulation] from the staff.

Nodding to himself, he went back to the lobby/reception area and stopped as everyone turned to look at him. Then he remembered what had brought him to Celys’ office in the first place, and wilted under their combined stares.

To him, they seemed full of reproach and hurt; wondering who he truly was. Was he going to be one of those terrible people who bought young slaves? Would he continue to hurt them? Do worse things to them?

As he wondered all that, his eyes landed on Arise, the dark elf, and found that she had a particularly pained smile on her face. That the normally stoic dark elf had such an expression on her face told him volumes. He then glanced around quickly and found measuring look after measuring look staring back at him.

That was just too much for him, to he quickly pulled up, then pumped power into [Teleport], quickly blurting out an “I’m sorry!” before he was gone, now retreated to his office. His safe place. A place where he could be alone, away from all their stares.

* * *

“Whaaaa…?” Qyress asked, trailing off as she couldn’t manage to formulate the question properly.

“What, indeed,” Fyrellia said, nodding to herself. “I wasn’t aware that the young master could use [Teleport],” she said, sounding very impressed. “Though, I’m sure it was Arise’s attempt at smiling that scared off the young master so thoroughly.”

*Whack!*

“I’m not that scary,” Arise said, looking almost like she was pouting as Asami Miki emerged from the hallway that the young master had just vacated, looking around with a frown on her face.

“You’re super nice, Arise,” Pryte said, looking up to the dark elf seriously, causing said dark elf to shift uncomfortably at the praise.

“I’m a super mean demon, brat,” Arise said, then flicked her in the forehead, though not too hard.

“Eh-heh-heh-heh~,” Pryte laughed as she started walking towards Asami Miki and Myra who were already talking.

“Do you know why he [Teleport]’d away like that?” Myra asked worriedly.

“Hmm, he felt… guilty. Did anyone say anything to him when he came out?” Asami asked, looking around again.

“No,” Myra said, shaking her head. “He came out, everyone turned to him, then he quickly yelled that he was sorry before [Teleport]’ing away.”

“Hmm,” Asami Miki hummed as she rubbed her chin just like how she’d seen the young master do sometimes when he was thinking. “I don’t feel any animosity…. Maybe he was just overthinking things again,” she said, then shrugged. “Anyways, get everyone properly registered. We’ll head home after that. I’m sure that a good lunch will help everyone.”

“Joram doesn’t eat…” Myra said, looking uncomfortable while completely blowing Pryte’s mind.

“What?” she asked, eyes going wide at the crazy talk.

“Hmm?” Asami Miki hummed again as she looked down at her. “Oh, that’s normal. That’s just how he is. Hmm, in fact, I think we’ll all be more like him soon,” she said, confusing Pryte quite a lot, but then turned and went back down the hall.

“What?” she asked again, but Myra just shook her head at her before stepping away to get things moving again.

“What?!” she asked louder, stomping a foot that everyone but Ruva ignored.

“What?” Ruva asked curiously.

“That’s what I’m asking!” she said, now incredibly frustrated at everything.

* * *

‘You need to work on that,’ Avi said, shaking her head at him.

“…”

‘You can’t just run away when it’s too much for you. You need to start getting used to working things out sooner, rather than later.’

“I’ll take that under advisement,” he said with a sigh as he retrieved [Irymis’ Staff] so that he could start inspecting it.

He could feel the disapproval practically radiating off Avi, but she kept quiet, surprising him more than a little bit.

He then dismissed those thoughts as he [Delve]’d the staff once more, while also having M2 use [Manipulate Mana] to get a sense of what was there. He’d rather have something like [See Mana] or [Mana Sight] or some such, as that would likely make the whole process easier on him. But he would work with what he had.

Then a thought occurred to him, one that had him looking around a bit nervously at his collectables. If he really screwed up, then he was likely to destroy much of his surroundings. So, he got up and made his way to the new dungeon.

Though, once there, he decided to not go in, for the same reasons that he’d left his office. So, he hopped the wall, once again impressed with just how high he could jump now, then made his way further west into the forest. As he walked, he assigned M2 to keep using [Delve] while he re-tasked M3 to keep messing around with [Mana Manipulation].

When he stopped, he realized that he’d veered south, enough to arrive at the site of his old house. Smiling a bit bitterly, he used [Terrakinesis] and pulled a rock closer that was then shaped into a bucket chair, not dissimilar to a racing chair you’d find in an arcade. Then he sat, still pondering the staff.

He then concentrated on [Spatial Manipulation] in the staff and found that… it was surprisingly intuitive to understand. Was that a feature of the staff, or was it due to his understanding of Nomad-type Powers? Then, recalling the thought he’d had in Celys’ office, he called upon [Legacy of Creation], the Class Ability he’d gotten at 10th Level as a [Creationist].

He hadn’t yet really looked at it beyond seeing that it would allow him to make a Skill Book from any Skill that “he had access to”. Which was what had triggered the thought.

Could he make a Skill Book from a Skill in an item?

Well, why not try?

He activated the Class Ability, then blinked as a new window, or screen, popped up in front of his eyes. On it was listed his many Skills, each showing their rarity as well as how much it would cost to make a Skill Book for that Skill. Then he remembered just how expensive it could get as he looked at [Create Dungeon], his only “Transcendent” Skill. It would cost 10 Grade SSS Crystal Cores to make, of which he had none…. But why wasn’t it greyed out, then?

He looked at the counter beside it and saw that he could currently make 96 of those Skill Books if he wanted, and just about fell over. He quickly navigated to his Inventory and saw that he really didn’t have any SSS Crystal Cores, but he did have the Dust Crystals... which now had their own section in his currency section.

“What?”

‘What?’

“Sorry,” he said, shaking his head. “The System just decided that the Dust Crystals are now in their own section in the currency section of my Inventory,” he said, shaking his head as he turned his attention back to [Legacy of Creation].

Well, he had absolutely no intention of making a Skill Book for [Create Dungeon], so he scrolled by that and found [Dimensional Manipulation], a Mythic Grade Skill, which would cost him 10 SS Crystal Cores, or 700 Units of Dust, or UD. Which only translated to 7 full Dust Crystals, which wasn’t too bad. [Spatial Manipulation] would cost 450, or 4.5 Dust Crystals, which wasn’t bad either.

So, he quickly paid the price and watched, grinning, as two books came into being in front of his eyes. What really caught his attention, was that they came into being in a very similar way to how things came into being when he used his Metacreation Powers.

He quickly pulled up his Skill List and then used the two books. It was something to watch as they popped into the list, erasing the [Temporary] tag that they’d had a moment ago. Looking at the Skills, he sort of mentally prodded at them, getting a feel for them like he did for every other Skill when he concentrated on it.

As a general sort of understanding settled on his mind, he could summarize [Spatial Manipulation] as basically that: manipulating the fabric of space. He could take himself, something else, or someone else, and place them… elsewhere. Not only that, but he felt that he could create two connected areas that could either take the form of two circles, or two portals. He could also pull a Time Lord and alter the internal space of an object, room, or space and make it larger or smaller if he wanted.

Neat.

As for [Dimensional Manipulation], well, that was much weirder. It very much dealt with dimensional boundaries and dimensional spaces. He got the feeling that he could create… spaces, or just tear open the dimensional boundary and step somewhere else. Which was all sorts of freaky. What would happen if he couldn’t find his way back?

Shudder.

Maybe he’d hold off on the latter for a bit until he got a better feel for [Planeshift]. At least then he’d have a better chance of getting home afterwards. Though….

He rechecked [Anchored Navigation] and facepalmed. He’d forgotten a couple of things, it seemed.

“Welp, I won’t have to worry about getting home then,” he muttered, then explained it to Avi when she gave him a look. “Having not cared about how much it would ‘cost’, I just made the [Anchored Navigation] attached to all of their rings at full power. Meaning that I won’t have to worry about finding my way home while experimenting with [Dimensional Manipulation],” he explained with a smile.

‘Just be careful. You never know what environmental conditions may be present when you travel to another realm,’ Avi said, reminding him of [Adapt Body]. He could also use [Energy Adaptation] if things got particularly hairy, like landing in lava, or acid, or the elemental plain of lightning or something equally ridiculous….

“I need to make a few items,” he muttered, resolving himself to do that after a bit of experimentation as Avi nodded beside him.

“Welp, first I guess I’ll play with [Spatial Manipulation],” he said, then pulled up the Skill in his mind. He retrieved a block of stone, placing it beside him. Looking at it, he idly wondered just how heavy a 5^3m block of stone actually weighed, reminded of weight limitations. Well, the weight limitations he’d read about in various RPGs and such. Sometimes the limitation was volume.

A quick few uses of [Terrakinesis] and [Telekinesis] later, and he had several blocks of stone, each one smaller than the next until he had one the size of a Rubik’s Cube. He was getting pretty good with [Terrakinesis], as it was now allowing him to not just move earth and stone, but also allowed him to shape it now. Probably because it was “Improved”.

Then began the testing, sending increasingly larger cubes set distances as he had M2 pay attention with [Mana Manipulation] and M3 striving to see or feel the flows of Mana as he worked. He was still bent on getting [Mana Sight] or whatever it would be called.

* * *

“Do you feel that?” she asked, turning to look west with a frown on her face.

“Feel what?” Arise said, turning to look west with her.

“I think I might feel something… but I’m not sure what it is,” Qyress said as she, too, frowned slightly.

“I think that the young master is… doing something,” she said, then got up from the table they were sitting as and started walking to the doors of the mess hall.

“We can’t go yet,” Arise said, latching onto her arm. “Lunch is almost ready!”

“It’ll be fine,” Qyress said, then proceeded to pick up Arise under the armpits.

“Thanks,” Fyrellia said with a smile as she led the way out of the mess hall, then turned left, then left again as Arise proceeded to quietly cuss them out in her native tongue.

Fyrellia followed the faint feeling of… weird mana, heading further west than she ever had before. It took them almost twenty minutes of walking before they came upon two scenes that both confused her, and excited her.

In the distance, over a hundred yards away was a solid, if small, Moss Stone building with a very sturdy-looking metal portcullis. Then, off to the left, or south, another hundred or so yards further away was a massive stack of Moss Stone. Well, “stacks” would describe it better. Though, she wondered why each block of stone was a cube of varying sizes.

That question was soon forgotten as another wave of strange mana reached her at the same time that one of the blocks vanished from sight, only to reappear a short distance away. She blinked, now recognizing a teleportation effect when she saw it. Though, she wondered why it felt so… different to what she was used to feeling from someone using [Teleport].

“What’s that building?” Arise asked in a whisper as she scrutinized the small stone building.

“No clue,” Qyress said with a shrugged, also whispering. “I’m more interested in why he’s messing around with [Teleport] out here. Isn’t he good enough to [Teleport] himself already?”

“He is,” Fyrellia said, thinking hard as she remembered the incident from not too long ago. “But I’m not sure that he’s using the same… Skill?” she said, trying to figure out what was up.

“Is there more than one way to [Teleport]?” Qyress asked, looking a bit confused.

“There definitely are more ways to [Teleport] than just using that Skill,” Fyrellia confirmed. “Well, you might think that they’re all related. But, from what I know, there’re at least four other Skills in the [Teleport] Skill Tree that you can use, though some are very specific with what they do,” she said, then proceeded to explain more.

“[Teleport: Circle] will allow the user to create a circle on the ground that can continually be activated until the user runs out of mana. The destination is pre-set so everyone, and everything, will be sent to the same destination. [Teleport: Object] allows you to just send an unliving object somewhere without the user needing to go along for the ride. [Teleport: Other] is pretty much the same, but allows you to [Teleport] another being.

“Then there’s [Teleport: Portal]. That one sets up a portal that can be travelled through in either direction for a time. I’d say that it’s the most versatile of the [Teleport] Tree, as it allows for 2-way transportation,” she finished, still staring at what the young master was doing.

“So, what’s he doing right now? [Teleport: Object]?” Arise asked, finally turning away from the stone structure.

“That’s what it looks like,” she said, shaking her head a bit as she tried to figure out just what in the hells the young master was doing.

“’Looks like’?” Qyress asked, sounding a bit annoyed at her vague answer.

“Well,” Fyrellia started, then paused a moment to collect and organize her thoughts. “I’m no [Wizard], but I do have a decent foundation in magical theory. But what I’m feeling from my [Sense Mana] Skill isn’t… doesn’t quite line up with what I’ve felt before when I felt others using the [Teleport] Tree of Skills,” she said, now getting annoyed that she couldn’t quite answer the questions of her friends.

Arise was about to ask another question when she just shushed her so that she could focus on what was going on. Arise silently grumped, but also took to watching silently with Qyress.

Fyrellia watched and took mental notes for what seemed like just a few minutes before the young master stopped and rubbed his temples as though he had a headache. It was then that she noticed that the sun had very much changed positions, now showing it to be early evening.

Both Arise and Qyress were napping beside her, having fallen asleep at some point. She was about to shake them awake when the young master appeared in front of her, not a trace of mana to be felt that time, causing her to jump back in surprise as she stifled a very girlish squeal of fright.

“Hi,” he said with a half-raised hand in greeting. “What’s up?”

Fyrellia took a moment to calm her heartrate before speaking, wondering just what he’d used to get there so quickly.

“We-I, felt a disturbance in the mana, so we came to investigate,” she said faintly, silently cursing her rebellious heart and its refusal to calm down all the way.

“Ah,” the young master said, nodding. “Is my… technique that bad?” he asked, tilting his head to the right slightly.

“I… am not proficient with [Teleport], so I would be loath to comment on your technique,” she hedged, not wanting to speak ill of the young master’s obvious inefficiencies when using mana.

“Ah, so my techniques does suck,” he said, nodding to himself, making her wonder if he was reading her mind or something.

“I wouldn’t say that,” she hastened to reassure him, though mostly to try and assure him that she didn’t think ill of him.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, waving her off. “My ego isn’t so fragile that I can’t take instruction on something that I’m trying for the first time,” he said, shaking his head and making her wonder if he was crazy, or just lying.

He sighed, then shrugged again before a very dark grey staff with an amazingly black gem trapped at its top appeared in his hand. He looked at it for a moment before turning to her, giving her a very obviously appraising look, causing her heartrate to increase again, before finally speaking.

“What’s your class?” he asked, though she noticed that he didn’t use his authority as her master to force her to speak, which earned him even more respect from her.

“I’m a [Sorceress],” she said, then just went all-in. “Level 27,” she finished, a bit uncomfortably, though it was surprisingly… easy.

“Huh, 10 Levels higher than me,” he said, sounding impressed as his words nearly blew her mind.

“How are you 10 Levels lower than me?!” she asked incredulously as she felt her eyes widen and her jaw drop.