NOVEL WEB Chapter 9 - Aspected Magic
“Ah, I found it,” Joselin announced. She had spent almost half an hour reviewing the various System Guide menus to find the sections marked for the Achievement System.
She coughed to clear her throat and then read the passage out loud. “The Achievement System mirrors the Quest System granted to most mortals, opposite and the same. Unlike Quests, which have clearly defined goals and rewards, Spirit Cores can achieve a limited number of achievements, but they are a way to empower their perks beyond normal means. See the Tier Upgrades for More Information.”
Joselin moved the prompt screen she was reading and moved on. “There is no way to know the various Achievements before unlocking them. Some Achievements are based on the type of Core, some on the environment the Core is based in, and maybe some are specific to monsters or people. The best way to use the Achievement System is to explore, complete projects, and live.”
“Oh,” Rhamiel said, pausing awkwardly. “That is helpful and unhelpful at the same time.”
“Yeah,” Joselin agreed. “Let’s see the Tier Upgrades section.” She paused to read the description and nodded her head. “Oh… Oh, that’s interesting.”
“What? What?” Rhamiel was practically begging.
“Tier upgrades are a way to increase the potency or the utility of perks. Once you use a Tier Upgrade on a Perk, you need the next higher Tier Upgrade to power it up again. Huh, that’s rather short.”
“Why, is that it?” Mom asked, quirking an eyebrow.
“No, but it was pretty short. It gave an example from a Dungeon Core using a Tier 1 Upgrade on their ability to magically produce materials, making it more Mana efficient and cheaper to get new materials,” Joselin shrugged. “It sounds like it’s different for every Perk you choose.”
Then, her entire tone changed suddenly. She looked at her Mom excitedly, “Do you know what Perk you want to use it on?”
Rhamiel reviewed its choices.
Blueprint Manipulation Perk (Passive) - This Perk gives you the power to scan, create, alter, and store blueprints in your Structured Mindset. When you have a blueprint in your Structured Mindset, you can start an automated building process using already processed resources and your Drones. The more Drones you have, the faster the building process
Summon Drone Perk (Active then Passive) - You spend ten Mana to summon a basic worker who fulfills tasks that require little Skill to perform and can form basic tools to complete them. These Drones can complete tier 1 building blueprints and simple gathering tasks within your Domain. If they leave your Domain, the Mana that was used to create them will leak away, and they will fall apart.
This Basic Perk will only allow you to summon Basic Drones that can accomplish a large number of basic tasks.
They may last outside your Domain for one hour/ point in Core Mana Supply. If struck with enough force, they can be destroyed; they have five durability per point you have in Core Structure. You can summon 1 Basic Drone/ Core Strength.
System Guide(Active then passive) - The world is a dangerous place, this world especially. A Core’s Life begins with terror and confusion, so a helper and guide from the System usually assists them with knowledge, guidance, and company. A Civilization Core is unique in its approach to Life, by working directly with the Civilized Races, they form a symbiotic relationship with them to progress. This Perk allows you to designate one person within your Domain as your System Guide, granting the Subclass of the same name.
A System Guide is a companion, scholar, diplomat, defender, and the voice of the Civilization Core that gives it to them. This can grant them several Perks to assist them in this function, including one to allow them to see the Core’s System Screens. Choose carefully who you make your System Guide; you can get one System Guide, and if they die, your soul will suffer for the loss.
Your System Guide is Joselin Setalla.
Beacon of Hope(Passive) - Let all who see you have their worries and fears calmed and replaced with the undying candle flame of hope.
All new Civilians gain a temporary bonus for their resistance to all negative mental effects and find it easier to overcome their woes for the future that you offer.
This Perk will grow stronger as you gain Citizens who wish to stay in your Civilization.s
Population Growth(Passive) - For every Civilization, there is a point that a hamlet becomes a village, a village becomes a town, and so on. Whenever you meet the threshold of civilians in your settlement and achieve specific benchmarks, you can evolve your settlement into the next stage—granting you and your civilians bonuses and rewards.
You are currently a Level 0 settlement: Isolated Dwelling. This is now displayed in your Character Profile.
With a quick thought, Rhamiel pulled up another Prompt.
You have a Tier 1 Upgrade to spend on a Perk. Which Perk would you like to spend it on?
In its mind, the choice was hard. Several of its perks would be helpful with an upgrade to their abilities. It was especially curious what would happen if it used it on the System Guide Perk. Would Joselin get more System Guide powers or more information?
But, in reality, the choice was obvious.
You have installed the Tier 1 Upgrade into the ‘Summon Drone Perk.’ The Perk has been improved, and the description has been altered.
Summon Drone Perk (Active then Passive) - You spend ten Mana to summon a worker who fulfills tasks and can form basic tools to complete them.
At Tier 0, you could summon Basic Drones that could complete tasks requiring minimal Skill or no mana. Such as Tier 1 construction projects, gathering tasks, and processing.
At Tier 1, you can summon the same Basic Drone as above, but now you can summon Builder Drones and Gatherer Drones. Builder Drones move faster when put on construction, deconstruction Tasks, or basic assembly tasks. Gatherer Drones move faster when placed on the gathering of natural resources like unprocessed wood, berries, or crop harvesting.
If they leave your Domain, the Mana used to create them will drip away, and they will slowly fall apart.
They may last outside your Domain for two hours/ point in Core Mana Supply. If struck with enough force, they can be destroyed; they have five durabilities per point you have in Core Structure. You can summon 2 Drones/ Core Strength.
“Yes!” Rhamiel Cheered. “I can now summon double my Drone Maximum!”
He barely waited seconds for his words to sink in before summoning two Builder Drones.
The basic Drones looked like what Joselin called Will-of-the-Wisp, a small white-blue orb covered in sparks and embers of silver flames hovering a foot off the ground. These two Builder Drones followed a similar theme, only in sunset gold and orange shades. Motes of sparkly dust fell from the sunset wisps in ways that caught the light elegantly.
“Wow, why are these different?” Joselin asked, looking between the new and old ones that were still working.
“So,” Rhamiel started excitedly. “When I applied the Tier 1 Upgrade to my Summon Drones Perk, it doubled the amount I could summon with every point of Core Strength I have, and it let me summon two more types of Drones! Builder and Gatherer Drones!”
“Which are these?” Mom asked, raising a glowing hand close to the Drones. “Their essence is fascinating. Mostly Mana with some Anima, but no Ego whatsoever,” she marveled. “No Warrior Drones or Defensing Mobs like Dungeon Cores?”
“No,” Rhamiel and Joselin said at the same time.
“Go ahead,” Joselin said a little bashfully.
“No, I cannot. Dungeon Cores work to create dungeons filled with challenges that kill people. I am a Civilization Core; I am meant to work with people. Wait!” Rhamiel paused. “Does… does that make all of you my Mobs! You said Mob; is Mobs correct? Sounds weird.”
“Yes, Mob is correct for Soul Core creatures,” Mom explained succinctly. “I believe it generally means a hostile creature made by a Soul Core because they ‘Mob’ intruders.”
“Oh, that’s good to know,” Rhamiel chirped. He took a moment to order the Builder Drones to assist with the construction of the Library and was already happy with their movement speed. He took another moment to order the Basic Drones to focus on preparing the building materials. They dropped what they held to his delight and immediately moved toward the piles of unprepared logs.
Rhamiel returned to Mom and asked, “What did you mean when you said all Mana and Anima but no ego?”
Mom’s face lit up with joy, “oh! Well, that goes into the subcategories of ManaCrafting and Magic Potential. You see-”
“What have you done?” Joselin moaned. “You excited her; she loves teaching deep magic knowledge and mystic lore. Mom, if you are gonna talk Rhamiels ear off, I am walking away. I would rather not be too close when the stuff breaks his sanity and makes him want to eat you.”
“Oh, you won’t eat me, right?!” she questioned the air. “This feels super awkward, talking to the air.”
“You get used to it,” Joselin told her, turning away. “Good Luck, Rhamiel. You may need it to keep your sanity after this!”
Mom seemed undeterred by Joselin’s words and exit. “That’s okay. Come on, Rhamiel. Allow me to explain. Maybe you’ll get lucky and earn a new Perk after this!” she said gleefully.
“Wait, I’m more interested in that. What does that mean, ‘earn a new Perk’? You can earn Perks?” Rhamiel asked eagerly.
“Well, yes,” she answered. “Normally, you can only unlock Perks through leveling, but you can sometimes perform special actions and earn Skills or Perks.” She shrugged, “It’s a little random and sometimes specific to you, your races, your class, or other skills and Perks you have.”
“Oh, that’s cool to know,” Rhamiel excitedly brimmed. He learned something new and exciting about himself, the System, and his potential daily. The System encouraged him to explore every avenue, express himself, learn, and be. It was exciting and engaging, making him want nothing more than to go and get it.
But then he remembered something else about the System, the final message from a person who remains unknown—someone who once sent an amused comment that annoyed him to this day.
‘Good Luck,’ was all it said, and while the anger caused him to burst out at the System had faded, he still wanted to know about this mysterious person.
“Now, can I tell you about it?!” Mom asked, in a hurry to begin.
“Ye-”
“Great, now let us begin with the concept that all things have certain aspects about them. The Skill I used on your Drone made me sense with some accuracy their aspected makeup. Normal sentient creatures have a somewhat equal balance of the Anima, Mana, and Ego aspects. Or Vitality, Magic, and Mind Aspects, to put it in a more plebian term. Mana creates your Drones and has some semblance of Life but no mind at all.”
“Well, yeah,” Rhamiel agreed. “I create them using a Perk.”
“Yeah, but it is interesting that the Builder Drones also had them put in simple terms, Skilled Aspect, which means that it was particularly good at something. This knowledge is not particularly useful unless you have pertinent skills to manipulate aspects, but even knowing about them can be useful. Because-”
And off Mom went. Her lecture on aspects went on for over three hours, during which time Rhamiel wished he could use the knowledge given. Her descriptions ranged from living things to items to monsters and magic. Everything had one aspect or another, even if it had no element—that was an aspect in itself.
Between the babbling of what Rhamiel could only call maddened ravings, he heard a few phrases that rang a cord in his soul.
“It is an interesting train of thought that the many aspects of the world line up with at least one of the Outer Gods. It was the thesis for my main study point, why the Outer God’s Madness, Love, and War are all attributed to Fire and Pain Aspects.”
She just kept going on and on, and Rhamiel could understand why Joselin had made her comments about his sanity. There were moments when he felt the twinge in his Core with the words she spoke. A particular comment on how ‘Destiny the Outer God and Destiny as an Aspect are so indelibly intertwined’ made him take a point of damage.
She made an idle comment that all Boss Monsters have an Aspect of Destiny that caught his attention, but he was almost glad they were interrupted.
A screeching, chittering howl caught Rhamiel and Mom’s attention away from the topic. The creature that invaded Rhamiel’s Domain was almost half the size of Mom on all fours, slender in body but with short red-brown, mangy fur and pitch-black eyes. It had a tail longer than its overall body and swished around randomly. Claws sprouted from each of its ruddy paws, and disturbingly, three multi-jointed appendages were planted firmly into the ground around it, like bleached white bone mostly covered by sinuous black fibers.
“Oh goody,” Mom groaned. “An Infested Giant Squirrel.”
“Is that a good ‘Oh Goody’ or a bad ‘Oh Goody’?” Rhamiel asked. “If ‘Oh goody bad, I must get Joselin over here. I can’t kill anything yet.”
“It’s goody annoying,” Mom sighed, showing her displeasure again. “Giant Squirrels are not very tough, but they are fast. And the fact that it’s Infested makes it worse; it will be a little faster, more agile, and dangerous. I better kill it because-”
She stopped mid-sentence as the Giant Squirrel’s attention focused on Mom; it let loose a growl and lowered its stance. Claws lengthened as its tail swished back and forth, the strange appendages on its back slamming into the ground.
Mom walked towards the beast, pulling out a stick and a small clump of stone in one hand. With a wave of the wand to her side, a flash of light flashed from the wand’s tip. The light danced, arced, and cycled around Mom’s hand. In the span of one moment to the next, the energy elongated into a hissing shaft made of violent energy.
The Infested Giant Squirrel sprinted towards Mom with a mighty roar, claws digging furrows into the ground in its haste. It only took moments for the monster to close the distance, but Mom did not wait for it to attack. She took a stance, drew her arm back, and threw the spell spear at the Squirrel.
The creature dove into a roll, dodging past the magic Mom threw at it, then sprinting again towards her.
“Gotcha!” Mom announced. The small clump of stone in her other hand glowed with pale-white light that elongated into a sharp blade-like weapon. Three seconds passed, and white light became a horn made of light that she thrust into the beast.
It took the hit, screeching with the pain, before retreating away from the attack and hissing at Mom. It raised the still glowing idol to eye level, and a gross green vapor blew out from the held item. Then, while the Giant Squirrel slowly approached through the mist, Rhamiel got a prompt.
A Poison Cloud has been conjured in your Domain. Keep your enemies close and your citizens far from the magic!
The Squirrel growled at Mom for several long seconds. Standing up on its three back appendages, its howl generated a smoky red aura around its torso. Its eyes turned midnight black to bright red as its appendages lifted it higher.
That was when Mom struck again. Another of that same dancing energy spells manifested in her wand hand. It extended into a spear, and she threw it towards the preparing Squirrel. The spell collided with the monster mid-pounce, knocking it out of the air, twitching and bleeding. She was passed as the creature tried to rise, becoming visibly weaker with every moment.
And then it just… died. Muscles are spasming, charred fur is sizzling, and a gross-looking green gas comes off its body.
A Citizen has slain a monster in your Domain.
For listening to an expert in Aspected and Analysis Magic and seeing her in action, you have gained the Perk; Aspected Analysis!
Aspected Analysis Perk (Active): With a small exercise of will, you can convert your Mana into aspects of knowledge that you channel at a target. Doing this allows you to see an abbreviated copy of the target’s Character or Profile Page. This Perk cannot be used on items, plants, or enchantments. This Perk may not get the complete Profile of people if they are much stronger than you.
“Huh, neat,” Rhamiel stated, immediately finding Joselin to use his new Perk. She was still in his Domain, so it only took a few seconds to find her, as she was watching the proceedings from afar. She must have seen the whole thing and neglected to help. Rhamiel was not sure how to take that thought. Maybe she knew Mom could handle it?
Ignoring that little idea, Rhamiel used his Perk on her.
Name: Joselin Setalla.
Species: Elf. Aspects: Destiny, Woodland, Light.
Class: Ranger Level 10. Subclass: System Guide.
Attributes: Health: 12. Mana: 11. Stamina: 13. Might: 12. Dexterity: 16. Mind: 9. Spirit: 8. Luck: 8.
Skills: Forest Lore Level 1, Bow Proficiency Level 2, Dagger Proficiency Level 2, ArrowCraft Level 1, BowCraft Level 1, Uncanny Strike Level 1,
Perks: Heightened Senses, Woodland Stride, Scout’s Rush, System Guide, Perk Spells, Core Guardian.
“Rhamiel?” Mom called out. “Where are you? I thought you could hear everything?”
Turning his attention back to Mom, He said, “Sorry, I was checking something.”
Mom smiled knowingly, “Did you get a new skill? Please tell me you got a new skill?”
“No?” Rhamiel asked, confused. I got a Perk. It lets me see people’s Profile Pages. Why did you want it to be a skill?”
“Skills grow naturally through use and practice. Perks only evolve with specific means or when certain thresholds are met. Skills are always better, but all power gained can be useful.”
Curious again, Rhamiel used the Aspected Analysis Perk to see Mom’s Profile Page.
Name:Elgeia Setalla.
Species: Elf. Aspects: Magic, Woodland, Love.
Class: Aetheric Scholar Level 85.
Attributes: Health:20. Mana:50.Stamina:17. Might:8. Dexterity:12. Mind:41. Spirit:29. Luck:22.
Skills: Unknown.
Perks: Unknown.
“Well, that’s unfair,” Rhamiel groaned. “Mom, the System let me see all of Joselin’s Profile, but it won’t let me see yours.”
“First, looking at other people’s profiles is considered rude. If you have to do so, please do not inform them; I feel a little annoyed hearing that you did it to me,” she pursed her lips and seemed to force something back that she wanted to say. “But, with that said, some Perks don’t work as well if the opponent is stronger than them. Does it say that in the Perk description?”
Rhamiel took a moment to reread the new Perk. “Yes, yes, it does.”
“Well, there you go. Now you know where your Perks weakness is,” Mom stated very matter of factly. She grumbled, “a perk that may as well have let you see my underthings.”
Rhamiel had no idea what she meant by underthings but could tell she was upset. So he took a moment to distract and flatter the woman. “Wow, but you are level 85. That sounds pretty powerful! I bet you could fight some of these Boss Monsters I have heard about!”
“What? Oh, no, maybe some weak ones, but no. I’m not a fighter. I can’t just fight monsters, especially not bosses. Level 85 is middling for fighting bosses unless you’re desperate.”
“Wait, Level 85 is weak?” Rhamiel questioned intently. This was new information, and if level 85 was weak, what did that make him?
“Yes and no,” Mom shrugged noncommittally. “Level 85 is pretty good, but the level is not all that matters. It’s pretty low on the list of things that matter in fighting. Mostly, it all comes down to one thing.” She paused.
“Magic?” Rhamiel guessed.
“Skill and talent,” Mom stated. “Corinth can tell you that there is no substitute for skill and being able to trust and follow your instincts.” Sighing, Mom shook her head, “Instincts that I sadly lack. Hence why I focus on my research and study.”
“What about Joselin?” Rhamiel asked curiously.
Mom took several long seconds to consider her words. “Maybe it’s hard to know until push comes to shove.”
Rhamiel did not mention the Destiny Aspect listed on Joselin’s Profile page.
A few hours passed with little discussion. Mom continued to observe and comment on the usefulness of the Drones, and Joselin Summoned more to help with the construction as soon as her previous ones expired. With Rhamiel’s increased capabilities, she could now summon Builder Drones, too, and she did so to help him. With their combined efforts, the building dropped from two days and four hours left to 20 hours. She was only slowing down when she let her summons expire.
He continued to support the construction with additional processed pieces that took minutes per piece. Watching the timer tick down every time it finished a wooden board or made gravel was satisfying. Three minutes here, five minutes there, it was great to see its Mana going to good use building within its Domain.
The new Builder Drones were much faster with building than their more basic counterparts. They were much quicker at taking the pieces that Rhamiel and the Basic Drones provided and putting them in their proper place. Now that Rhamiel knew what nails and screws were and their intended purpose, it wondered how they were staying together and how come they did not need them. But that was more of a curiosity; it was just glad it worked; if it required iron, then a smith would make the iron into nails, and anything else it needed would be hindered until now.
The new Rhamiel felt someone enter its domain, registered as a citizen of his settlement. It was not a System Message or anything obvious, but a good feeling, an idea of something popping into his awareness and senses. Dad was back in his Domain.
Rhamiel immediately searched his Domain to find the man and was delighted to see him with over thirty other people in tow.
Excitedly, he looked them over, unsure what he was looking at. A few looked like Joselin, Mom, and Dad but had rounded ears and more bland features. A few were shorter, with much more hair on their hands and arms. Several were children hiding behind their parents as they entered Rhamiel’s Domain.
“Hello, Dad,” Rhamiel whispered to him. A few people around him looked about in confusion at the whisper, and several covered their ears in fear. They ducked low as they tried to avert their gaze from everything while simultaneously trying to find the source of the voice. Many of the others only took a moment of initial shock to mimic their actions—a quiet panic spread through the group of people. No, refugees from the jackal attack several days ago.
He smiled, looking up at the sky as he spoke, “Hello, Rhamiel. I don’t know how fast I expected you to notice we were here, but this was fast. Has Elgeia been behaving herself?”
At the mention of Mom, two people winced and took a step further away from Dad.
“Yeah, I got a long lecture on Aspected Magic, and she defeated an Infested Giant Squirrel. It was cool!” Rhamiel told him excitedly. “I wish I could do magic.”
“Who says you can’t,” Dad told him with a shrug. “We have no idea if you can or can not use magic for spells. Let’s give it a little longer before you begin lamenting that you can’t do something.”
“Ranger Corinth, who is that speaking to you?” A young man asked, holding a sword in his right hand. He wore a burgundy tunic, dirty-looking pants tucked into leather boots, and a thick piece of leather strapped to his arms in place of bracers. He had long brown hair that curled near the tips and piercing blue eyes that contrasted with his light skin tone.
“That, Apprentice Keane, is the Core I told you about. It’s friendly enough, and frankly, we have no choice but to trust it. So I expect you all to be nice to it. Understand?” he turned to the Apprentice and looked directly into his eyes.
“Yes, Sir,” Apprentice Keane said, nodding and lowering his eyes.
“Good,” he turned to the rest of the group. “I am not joking when I think this Core is being honest with me and Joselin. It wants nothing more than to be friends, but that does not mean we can behave however we want. This thing might seriously be our last chance to survive in this world.”
One of the children, a preteen elf boy, spoke up, saying, “What do you mean?”
“The Age of Decline is coming for us all,” he told them seriously. “The monsters are getting stronger, the forces of the Outer Gods are acting upon us, and the Core may be our last shred of luck to keep them away.”
Dad turned away from the group. " Come on now. I already warned you that we were going to have to work, all of us, to survive. You will all get the night to meet the Core and rest, but in the morning, the work begins. And we are going to be busy, aren’t we, Rhamiel?”
“Yep!” the Core chirped. “But the City is going to be awesome!”
“City?” the same elf preteen asked. “You have a city?”