Chapter 8: Magic

Agni’s options when it came to learning abilities were varied. Ultimately she decided to obtain skills for each mastery. Ultimately she decided on acquiring a magical skill called “Element Manipulation” under the General Skills.

[Element Manipulation *Active* – Use mana to directly manipulate the properties of ambient magic particles. Cost : 5]

” I can always switch it out if I want something different…” Agni remarked to herself as she clicked on the skill and was greeted with a confirmation prompt.

[Learn ‘Elemental Manipulation’? Y/N]

After acquiring the skill it was like the knowledge to use it properly was downloaded directly to her brain.

Agni lifted her right hand and closed her eyes, she could feel the mana core within her reacting as she summoned forth a fraction of its power. The energy surged forth, traveling to her hand and forming into a flickering flame no larger than a marble.

“Ha! I did it!” She exclaimed joyously.

She next checked out her Skills and Growth page, the skill was a new addition on her status menu as well, which listed her mastery of the skill:

[Skills-

Elemental Manipulation – (0.25%)]

“Good, I can get a few more tries out of it before deciding whether I’d like to keep it.” Agni said to herself. She next conjured lightning sparks, then a swirling orb of water.

“Mhmm. This could be nice.” Agni said as she folded her arms and gave an affirmative nod.

With the acquisition of the skill Agni learned the basics of how magic worked. Magic particles exist all around, in the air, land and even living creatures. By using one’s own mana core, a person could manipulate the ambient energy around them. This is essentially what Agni was now doing. By using her mana, which could be considered as a neutral type of magic particle, she could then attract particles with specific charges.

Currently she had enough awareness of how magic worked to be able to “create” fire, lightning, earth, wind and water elements. She could feel the other elements within the magical particles, she just couldn’t call them forth. They either required special knowledge which she didn’t possess or greater ability than she currently had.

After trying each of the elements in order Agni then checked her current XP.

[Current Exp: 72]

“So two XP each time I use this. At this rate it would still take me quite a long time to level up..” Agni said as she brought her hand to her chin.

“The best thing to do is acquire skills which cater to my strengths. Hmm…”

With this in mind Agni next checked out the Class Skills available to her, of which there were nine total.

[Body Manipulation – (Passive) The ability to influence parts of your body at will, such as hands, fingers, tongue, eyes and tail. Cost – 15]

[Extend – (Passive) The ability to use mana to cause your fingers or tail to extend. The greater your mastery the longer you can maintain the extension, as well as greater lengths.]

[Iron Claws, Iron Fangs – (Passive) Allows the user’s nails and teeth to become as hard as most metals at a whim. Cost – 10 ]

[Succubus Wings – (Passive) Sprout wings. They can be controlled properly with practice to enable flight. Cost 50 ]

[Allure – (Passive) Those around you find it more difficult to resist your words or commands. Cost 20 ]

[Charm – (Passive) Extends the range of your AOE succubus abilities by three meters. Cost 15]

[Succulust – [Locked] Cost : 0 ]

[Succubus Vision – [Locked] Cost : 0 ]

[Whisper – (Active) By whispering in someone’s ear you can compel them to take action. Range : Intimate Cost 5 ]

The main issue for Agni was that most of the skills were passive and she wasn’t exactly sure how that would affect her exp gains. What’s more, the only active skill required her to be right next to her target.

“I should just get the wings!” She pouted. Ultimately she acquired ‘Whisper’ as it was the only active skill available to her then decided to better understand the General Skills which might help her out before making any other selections.

“If I’m going to be using magic, I guess it makes more sense to collect a few mana related passives as well.”

[Mana Well (Passive) +30% Mana, scales with level.]

[Mana Spring (Passive) +50% Mana Regeneration speed.]

This left Agni with twenty Potential points to spare which she decided to save just in case.

All that was left now was to grind some experience, however there was just one more thing Agni wanted to try first. She stripped out of her black under armor and tossed it to the side, baring all — for the sake of magic!

She lifted her hand once more as she prepared to use ‘Element Manipulation’. This time Agni decided to pull forth as much energy as possible, completely emptying her mana core. Dark purple lines appeared across her body from head to toe, some of which spiraled around her forearms, feet and forehead — magical veins, which resembled tattoos more than anything. After charging her magic for a time a ball of flame appeared, hovering just over her extended hand. This time it was much larger — about the size of a basketball.

“It worked!” Agni said with a proud grin as she gazed down at the fireball. She could feel the heat against her palm and abdomen although the sensation did not burn her in the least.

The flaming ball of magical energy persisted for a full ten seconds or so before it finally exhausted the mana used as its fuel and began to shrink, dissipating back into the environment.

“Nice. I’m definitely going to keep this one.” Agni remarked as she went to grab her bodysuit. The reason she removed it was simple, magical veins were the tool used to collect and manipulate magical particles. By wearing a full body suit she greatly inhibited her magical abilities. She also understood why the outer armor she wore, Magical type gear, was composed of fabric and allowed for areas like the arms and legs to be exposed. This was to allow magical veins the energy they needed to breathe.

Despite the fact that she hadn’t made much progress in gaining her first level, Agni had become extremely hopeful. Simply learning magic was a feat in and of itself. Never in her wildest dreams would she imagine a life where she could shoot fireballs or wind blades.

With the addition of her Mana Well passive, Agni recovered 2 mana every fifteen seconds. She could only assume that this was her new normal in terms of MP gain. This meant it would take roughly four minutes for her mana to regenerate currently.

[Agni Heartfyre]

[Age : 18]

[Class : Succubus Lvl : 0]

[Adv. Tier : 0 ]

[Health : 69/69]

[Mana : 4/25(32)]

[Strength : 4 (6)]

[Agility : 6 (9)]

[Speed : 3]

[Soul : 9]

[Charm : 12]

“Okay. Let’s get to it.”

—————————————

When Agni began her training it was around four in the afternoon. By eight in the evening she had begun to grow fatigued. What’s more she’d only managed to acquire roughly 40% of the XP she needed.

“Dammit.” Agni said with a grimace as she took note of her current XP.

[Potential : 30/50]

[Current Exp: 412]

“At this rate I’d have to stay up all night, but I don’t think I have the energy. I’m so tired.”

Her body was practically screaming at this point, no doubt due to the rigorous work out Wayla put the adventurers through earlier in the day. To make matters worse, Agni was so caught up in her grind session that she missed dinner.

She fell to her knees and took several deep breaths before forcing herself to rise yet again. The most Agni managed to acquire by casting magic was around four XP. The only problem was that this would exhaust all of her mana in the process, forcing her to wait another four minutes to recover. It was much more productive to get two or three smaller casts in before needing to recover her MP.

“How much time do I even have left?” She asked herself as she checked her quest menu.

[The Potential System

Skill choice is important to progress in the world of Adventia. To start, try to choose one or more skills that will allow you to level up.

Goal : Reach level 1 Within The Next 11 Hours]

“With a full night’s sleep that’s still three hours remaining. I might not make it if I rest now.” Agni said as a wave of weariness washed over her.

“No choice but to keep going I guess…”

Although the idea of being ‘normal’ didn’t seem so bad, the way Wayla applied negative connotations made Agni believe that being an adventurer was the far superior choice.