Whispers of a Dead Empire

We both teleported back to Aaron, who was in the middle of admiring his new weapons. “Lieutenant!” I called out to him as we approached him. The courtyard was mostly empty, with the undead doing who knows what right now.

The skeleton tore his gaze from his gloves and looked over at us, and chittered something. “He said he appreciates the gloves. They make hitting things easier for his fist.”

“Well, I am glad that you like them, Aaron. But anyway, would you be interested in training with me? I want to learn some close-quarter combat techniques.” I crossed my arms and shifted my weight to my left hip.

He bobbed his head and clenched his fist, which was a bit of a comical considering that he was a skeleton that was completely in the nude outside of wearing a pair of gloves. “He said that is fine with him. His only issue is that you look weak, and he wouldn’t want to hurt you.”

I glared at the skeleton for a moment, feeling slightly offended at that comment. “I’m a big girl; I can take care of myself.” I huffed back at him. Just cause I was a girl didn’t mean that I was weak.

Aaron tilted his head, and a cascade of chittering escaped from his mouth, and Kharon bobbed his hooded head. “He said he knows that, but he has a class milestone on you, and you are still level one. So he was just trying to look out after you, is all.”

A defeated sigh escaped from my lips. “You have a point. I just don’t want anyone looking down on me cause I am a girl is all.”

Aaron made a noise akin to laughter and bent over. I threw a glance over towards Kharon, curious to know what the buzz was all about. “He thinks you are funny. Genders don’t have meaning to undead the way they do to the living. It's all the same to us.”

Ahh, that made sense. At least I didn’t have to worry about getting sexually discriminated against here. “I see. Well, anyway, would you be willing to teach me some skills?

Aaron vehemently bobbed his head. “He said it would honor him to do so. So what do you want to learn specifically?”

What did I want to learn? I thought back to the orange light that seemed to radiate from his bones; it was called Ki or something like that. “I want to learn a movement technique if you know one, and I want to learn how to manipulate Ki.”

Aaron bobbed his head and gestured towards the center of the courtyard. The two of us followed along behind him quietly, and a well of anticipation filled my stomach. I was beyond excited to learn new skills, especially since I haven’t really taken the time lately to learn anything new.

A few undead were milling about on the perimeter of the outpost, stumbling across a well-worn path and around the ruined fountain. It must be a sad life to repeat the same action. One day I hope to free them all from their fate. I tore my gaze from some of the undead and glanced at Aaron.

He stood straight and chittered something towards Kharon. My companion bobbed his head and replied. I wish I could understand what the two were saying. I felt a little left out and slightly perturbed at the fact that I had to use Kharon as an intermediatory. “So, Aaron has agreed to train you. However, for the sake of making this easier, I will be explaining base concepts to you, and Aaron will be your partner.”

“Yeah, that’s fair. It would get a bit confusing otherwise. What will I be taught first?” I asked as I created a hair tie and began pulling my hair back into a tight ponytail.”

“So I am going to get you started with Ki manipulation since you need it for other skills. Luckily for you, Ki manipulation doesn’t count towards active skills and instead gets folded into your passives tree.” I finished with my hair and nodded, intrigued by his words.

“Why doesn’t it count as an auxiliary skill?”

“Well, that’s a complicated question, without a straightforward answer. The system doesn’t categorize certain things as skills and instead sees them as amplifiers or as passives. For example, if I were to give you a sword, and you learn how to use it, it wouldn’t be a skill. It would be seen as a cumulative effect as the system stores progress. Outwardly, it doesn’t affect too much, but it paves the way for skills and titles.” Kharon pulled back his hood and sat down on the ground.

“I think I understand it. It’s strange, where I come from, we don’t have a system, so I’m not used to everything having a qualitative value to it.” I ran through some stretches that I haven’t used since I graduated from high school, trying to get ready for what was to come.

“How odd. I didn’t realize that there would be worlds like that out there. But I wish I could explain it better. But even as a system companion, there are some things that I don’t have answers for. So I apologize, mistress.” Kharon gave me a small bow and sounded disappointed.

“Don’t worry about it. Shit happens, but anyway, before we start, I have a question about stats. Can I only level them up with points, or can I train them?”

“Yes. You can train each stat and increase it. The system is inherently organic, but eventually, you will reach a plateau that can’t be breached without the use of stat points.” Now that it was on a topic he was much more versed in, and he seemed as happy as a skeleton could be.

“I see; how do I get more stat points outside of leveling up?” I sat on the ground and reached towards my toe, slightly embarrassed that I was already sweating, and could feel my heart pounding roughly in my chest.

“You can get them through class milestones, titles, and even some gear give innate passives towards stats.” There really was so much to keep track of, and most of it was almost alien to me. I only knew of some of this stuff through my Wikia diving. I never actually thought that I would live with it.

“Thank you, Kharon. I think I should be ready to go. I got limbered up, so I am ready to learn whatever it is you have to teach.” I stood up and dusted off the dirt off my pants. I really need to create some more clothing for myself. I just didn’t want to spend the essence to do it just yet. Not with everything that has to be done still.

“Good. The first thing will be Ki manipulation, which will require you to meditate and get to your Ki level. However, there are a few things to note about it. The first major thing is that excluding a few exceptions, it can not be pulled from the environment. Most Ki is generated from you and is stored within your body.” His eyes dimmed for a moment as he talked. I think when that happens, he is usually consulting something. But I wasn’t too sure.

I sat down and crossed my legs, getting ready to meditate once more. “So what is Ki exactly? I know in my world there are various definitions of it, so I’m not sure what it means here.” I sat back on my hands and watched my companion. In the corner of my vision, I saw Aaron was making his way over to us.

“Ki is a bit like mana. Where mana has to do with altering the physical environment, Ki affects the user’s self. It amplifies various things, including strength, health, bone density, and whatnot.” Ah, that made sense. But there was a disconnect that I was curious about.

“So why do some classes have no access to mana if they use Ki?” Aaron made it over to use and sat down next to me, and crossed his legs. It seems he was just as interested in the conversation as I was.

“That is also a hard question. But it comes down to the user. The more you train in one field, the harder it is to find the others. Let’s take Aaron, for example. He holds a monk-style class. The path that a living being would take to get to that class and class milestone would slowly sever the connection they had with the physical world as they focus inward. To negate this, you would want to train both, though it’s hard to balance.” His jaw clicked together as he talked, directed towards my skeletal friend to my right. What a strange language they shared.

“I think I understand, and it’s like a mind and body thing. But where does the soul come into play? Why did using it sever my connection to mana?” I wish I had my notebook, but I dropped it off in my office. I would just have to do my best to make sure that I could remember it all.

“That’s a question I may not answer at the moment, for I am forbidden from giving you that answer, at least until you figure it out for yourself.” He bowed once more, and I got more annoyed.

Why the hell couldn’t he tell me? How do they expect me to figure that out with such little information? I glared at Kharon for a few moments, thoroughly angry that he couldn’t tell me. “Whatever, I guess. I’ll figure it out eventually, and I won’t push you to tell me. Can we get back on the topic at hand? How do I manipulate my Ki, and what are those exceptions you talked about earlier?”

Kharon straightened up and ran his boney hands down his cloak. “Thank you, Mistress. But to answer your questions, once you are in your Ki realm, meditate once more on whatever your foundation is, and figure out how to get your Ki to circulate through your body. Once you do that, it becomes much easier to manipulate it to your desire. As for the exceptions, some skills steal Ki from targets. First, however, you must learn how to filter it and turn it into yours. Otherwise, it poisons you.”

I stared at a rock on the ground as I processed his words. So I have to meditate on my foundation, which in my case, would be that stone platform that I saw when I visited it last. As for the rest, it really made me think. Ki relies on the body, mana falls in line with the mind and the outward environment, and the soul is, well, the soul. It was all so much to take it, and some of it made little sense.

“Thank you, Kharon, anyway, and I am going to dive in now and get to work; I will let you know when I am ready.” I bit my lip as a wave of anxiety washed over me as I closed my eyes and meditated.