Jason frow the description of the bck cube in his hands.

  “Dark essence abilities. Sounds a bit sinister. How does that work, exactly?”

  Help: Essence Abilities

  Essence abilities are personal supernatural abilities. They e in a variety of forms, including passive abilities, special attacks and spells.pared to time-ing and preparation-inteualised magic, most essence abilities be used spontaneously.“Wait, there’s been a help fun this whole time? you help me get out of here without gettien by ibals?”

  You are able to absorb [Dark Essence]. Absorb Y/N?“Oh, I see what's going on here. You wao accept the dark powers you provided, after following your pn got me here in the first pbsp; Making it seem like my only way out is to use the dark magic you vely provided. Cssic sedu of evil routine. You could have at least been a little bit subtle. I think this is the point where you remind me how bad my situation is.”

  Zone: Vane Manor (Subterranean Ritual Chamber).

  “Is that snark? Do I have a snarky user interface? Also, I know where I am.”

  He scowled.

  “I have no idea where I am.”

  He looked at the dark cube he was holding in his hands. Despite the slickly-smooth surface it had no sheen, not refleg the mp light at all. If anything, it almost seemed to be abs the light.

  “That’s only pletely ominous.”

  Jason picked up the mp and pa around the room. The magic circle, the covered body, the double doors leading into the iably perilous unknown. His whole reason for searg the room was to find any advantage before he went through those doors and his gaze drifted back to the cube.

  “Why not?” he said. “What’s the point of going to magid if you don’t get a few magic powers?”

  He stood up, took a couple of deep breaths, then picked up the cube.

  You are able to absorb [Dark Essence]. Absorb Y/N?“What could possibly g? Don't ahat, just absorb the essence.”

  The cube suddenly turned sizzling-hot in his hand and he dropped it to the floor.

  “What the…?”

  Dark smoke started rising up off the cube and Jason backed away.

  “It’s possible I made a bad decision here.”

  The smoke ing off the cube was rising up in narrow streaks, like bck streamers. They twisted in the air, heading in Jason’s dire. He backed away further, but was quickly moving out of the light ing from the mp he had left oable. The smoke followed him into the shadows where he could no longer see it.

  “Sure, just get the dark magic pood choice, idiot.”

  He felt the smoke reach him because of the same scaldi he had felt from the cube. He screamed as the bck steam forced its way over his face, invading his mouth, nose and eyes. At some point he passed out from the pain, his sensation being waking up on the floor.

  Sitting up, he probed his face with his hands. The sensation of pain was pletely gone and nothing was sensitive to the touch. His eyes seemed fine and he realised he could see the room as if it weren’t dark at all. The colours were a little washed out, but he could clearly see into the parts of the room previously cast in shadow.

  You have absorbed [Dark Essence]. You have absorbed 1 of 4 essences.Progress to iron rank: 25% (1/4 essences ).[Dark Essence] has boo your [Speed] attribute, ging your [Speed] from normal to [Iron 0]. Master all dark essence abilities to increase your [Speed] attribute.You have awakehe dark essence ability [Midnight Eyes]. You have awakened 1 of 5 dark essence abilities.There was a mirror on one of the walls. It was huge, double the size of even full-length mirrors Jason had seen. There iderweb craing up from the bottom, but mostly it was fine. He moved over to it, cheg his face for burn marks. It was a little hard to tell, uhe encrusted blood and tunnel grime, but he appeared unmarked. His eyes weren’t even bloodshot. The rest of him was just as dirty as his face, his skinny frame smeared with filth. The quest reants, inally white, were staio the point that they looked like camoufge.

  It was the first time he’d gotten a look at himself since arriving. He’d been imagining himself looking like an a hero, heading into act three with mase dirt stains refleg enemies bested and challenges overe. Instead he just looked grubby and ragged, the skin visible uhe filth pale and taut. His Japanese facial features, ied from his father, were even sharper than usual, making his face look gaunt. His bald head and absent eyebrows made him look manid unhinged. His skinny body wasn’t fttered by all the mu it either, looking less aovie and mee-dotary.

  He sighed.

  “Alright, lets take a look at my shiny new magic power.”

  Ability: [Midnight Eyes] (Dark)

  Special ability (perception)Base cost: None.Cooldown: None.Current rank: Iron 0 (00%)Effect (iron): See through darkness.“At least it isn’t plicated.”

  He looked around the room some more, the shadows no longer hiding anything from him. It wasn’t like a low-light filter, as the mp didn’t interfere with his sight at all. Its light was more like a beam that brought things into full colour, pared to the muted look of the areas covered in shadow.

  “That’s cool, I guess,” he said. “A little disappointing for a magic power, but I guess I’m not getting fireball from a dark essence.”

  He looked over at the table and the round stoill where he left it. The magic stone of something-or-other would apparently give him another power, so he walked over and picked it up.

  You have 4 unawakened essence abilities.You are able to absorb [Awakening Stone of the Stars]. Absorb Y/hought about the excruciating pain that came from abs the essence. Oher hand, there didn’t seem to be any after-effects, and he did get a magic power out of it. Before he used it, though, he made some preparations. One of the chairs he had seen scattered around the room was a deep, fortable-looking arm chair. It was extremely heavy, but he ma it out from under a fallen bookshelf and flip it back upright. It was a huge wooden affair with plush, stitched-in cushioning. He was sick of falling over in pain.

  He sat in the chair, the awakening stone in his hand.

  “Absorb.”

  Rather than turn hot and dissolve into smoke, the awakening stone grew cold befrowing soft aing in his hand like ice cream. It seeped into his hand, filling his arm with a bone deep chill that once agai him yelling out in pain. It was not on the same scale as the essence. He kept trol of his faculties while frantically shaking an arm that felt like it had been plunged into ice water. Eventually the bone-deep chill receded and the pain passed, leaving him sprawled in the chair, heaving ihs.

  You have awakehe dark essence ability [Cloak of Night]. You have awakened 2 of 5 dark essence abilities.Jason could feel a ge within himself. It was something new, yet weirdly familiar, like when he was reading a nguage he’d never seen before. The power was inside him, as if it had always been there, waiting to be awoken. He khe power instinctively. It was waiting for him, eager to be used.

  He stood up and moved back to the mirror before using his new power. It responded immediately, as easy and natural as lifting his hand. Dark energy suddenly engulfed his body, hiding his visage in the mirror. It wasn’t disturbing at all, feeling cool and refreshing. The energy coalesced into the form of a voluminous cloak, enshrouding his body and hiding his head within a deep, imperable hood. The cloak seemed more like an object of living darkhan fabric, dotted with tiny points of light. They shifted and twiiny stars in the night sky of the shadowy garb.

  Jason could feel the cloak, not like a piece of clothing, but like one of his limbs. He could feel its power. With a thought, the stars grew brighter to the point that they outshohe mp. They dimmed until he couldn’t even see himself in the mirror, disappearing into the shadows.

  Ability: [Cloak of Night] (Dark)

  juration (darkness, light, dimension).Base cost: Moderate mana to jure.Cooldown: None.Current rank: Iron 0 (00%).Effect (iron): jures a magical cloak that alter the wearer. Offers limited physical prote. gee light, or blend into shadows. Cloak reduce the weight of the wearer for a loer-sed cost, allowing reduced falling speed and water walking. ot be given or taken away, although effects be exteo others in very close proximity.“Water walking,” Jason read. “Now that’s a magic power.”

  He looked around the room.

  “That I ’t try ht now.”

  He instinctively uood how to use the weight redug aspect of the ability and hopped lightly into the air. He went up much higher than he normally would and dropped bauch slower.

  “It’s like being on the moon.”

  He bounced around the room with a goofy grin on his fatil he remembered the dead body.

  “Not the time to be having fun,” he scolded himself.

  He experimented further with the magical cloak. He could see through it as if it wasn’t there, so even with his head covered it didn’t obstruct his vision. He could make any or all of it lose physical substance, so if he wao grab it he could, or his hand could pass through, unobstructed.

  “Nifty.”

  He could make it vanish with a thought and pull it out again, which he tried several times. After the third attempt he suddenly felt woozy and had to sit down. He went back to the armchair and fell into it.

  Your mana is low.“I’m out of mana already? Also, I have mana? Is there a mana bar or something?”

  Two horizontal bars appeared at the periphery of his vision. One was blue, but mostly empty, while the other was e and about two-thirds full. o them was a silhouette of a person that was mostly green, but the head area and the left arm were yellow.

  “Alright, so the blue bar is mana, the little body is health and the yellow bar is… something?”

  Current stamina: 64%“Okay, stamina. I think I’m getting a handle on this. I don’t seem to have a lot of mana, though.”

  Help: Mana

  Mana is a resource required for many essence abilities. Low mana will lead to mental exhaustion.Maximum mana is based on the [Spirit] attribute. Bind an esseo the [Spirit] attribute to increase maximum mana.Mana recovery is based on the [Recovery] attribute. Bind an esseo the [Recovery] attribute to increase mana recovery rate.Jaso out a yawn. He had gohrough a lot and his time unscious was hardly restful.

  “O thing,” he said, pulling one of the skill books out of his iory. He walked over to the fy chair and fell into it.

  Item: [Ritual Magic I] (iron rank, on)

  A magical book that impart the fuals of perf magic rituals. (able, skill book).Requirements: Ability to use skill books.Effect: Imparts basic ritual magic theory.You are able to use skill book [Ritual Magic I]. Use Y/N?“Yes.”

  The book floated out of his hand and into the air. The cover flung itself open and the writing on it started removing itself from the page, ging from bck to gold as the disembodied text floated into the air. The pages started turning, faster and faster, gold text p into the air. Turning pages flicked over in a rush as the golde formed a a around the floating book. Then the flutter of pages started slowing, until the st page turned and the book fell to the ground, every page bnk.

  The cloud of golde swarmed over Jason like angry fireflies, disappearing into his body as it nded on his flesh with stinging bites. His mind was bombarded with information too quickly to process, leaving it lost and adrift. The pain and disorientation finally passed, leaving him in general trol of his faculties, but dizzy and fused. He had no idea if seds or hours had passed. He was weary to the bone, limbs as heavy as his eyelids.

  Your stamina has been exhausted.Uo keep his head up, he slumped over in the chair, fast asleep. After what felt like no time at all, he was jolted awake by a loud hammering. His head was still hazy, and he shook it clear in time to see two men storm through the now-broken double doors. The one in the lead was holding a hammer, the one behind, a shovel.

  “Uh… g’day blokes. I don’t suppose there’s any ce you’re not ibals?”

  The pair scowled, the oh the shovel moving forward as he hoisted it menagly. Jason scrambled to pull the curved dagger out from his iory. He used all his knife fighting expertise, which was none, and the shovel smmed into his face.

  Jason dropped the dagger, staggering back with his hands over his nose, blooding spilliween his fingers. The shovel came down a sed time and everythi bck.