Ria and Gigi were not precisely great magic instructors. They spent more time bickering than actually helping.
Gigi’s approach was instinctive — urging Aiden to relax, breathe, and feel the magic rather than force it. The problem? Whenever he hesitated, she barked at him or nipped at his ears, growling, “No, pup! Stop thinking! Feel it!”
Ria, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. She complained constantly that they didn’t have a training room, books, or something called a "structured curriculum" (whatever that meant). Every few minutes, she flapped in his face, yelling, “No, no, no! You have to shape the magic! Not just fling it around like a wolf swatting flies!”
Neither method worked particularly well.
Aiden stood in the middle of the small area they had, arms outstretched, focusing as best he could. Verdant Dominion was supposed to allow him to shape plant life — but instead of a controlled wave of plants rising at his command, the forest floor exploded in a chaotic mess of twisting roots, tangled underbrush, and a particularly aggressive branch that nearly took his head off.
Ria shrieked as she dodged the mayhem. Gigi, better prepared now, barked as she bit a vine in half before it could wrap around her again.
“Too much!” Ria scolded, landing on a low branch. “You’re pouring magic into everything at once!”
“He’s hesitating,” Gigi countered. “If he just let it flow, the spell would settle naturally.”
Aiden groaned, rubbing his forehead. “Maybe if you two would stop arguing, I’d actually learn something!”
That got both of them to stop.
For about three seconds.
Then Ria huffed. “Fine. One more time. And this time, listen to me.”
Gigi rolled her eyes but didn’t argue — for once.
"Bing! Handling Difficult People is level 2."
"Bing! Handling Difficult People is level 3."
"Bing! Handling Difficult People is level 4."
He sighed. “Gee, I wonder why.”
Gigi snorted. “I’d say that’s the first skill that actually makes sense to level up.”
Ria cackled. “At this rate, you’ll be an expert in putting up with us in no time!”
Aiden rubbed his face. “Great. I’ll master tolerating nonsense before I master magic.”
“Exactly!” Ria chirped.
Gigi just lay down and put her head on her front paws giving him a wolfish grin.
Holding up his hands to Ria and Gigi, he was surprised they both stopped bickering and quietly watched him.
He stepped a little further away, and took a few deep breaths grounding himself. He held one finger up to Ria and Gigi giving them a firm look before he closed his eyes and let his mind focus on the power he felt all around.
The connection to the forest came as he felt his skills activating. The forest's warmth seeped in bringing with it a calming peace and sturdiness. With the connection firmly in place, he opened his eyes, seeing the forest's energies flowing through the plants all around. Green, blue, and yellow energies slowly flowed through roots, vines, stems, and leaves. Bright glimmers of bluish green motes of energies floated and moved everywhere. It took a moment, but he soon recognized the various colors as the life energies of insects and animals. Instead of forcing the magic outward, he gently guided it, carefully shaping it — like the practiced hammering of heated metal into the form he wanted, not just hitting things and hoping for the best.
This time, the plants unfurled gently, stretching out smoothly rather than exploding in every direction. Vines curled around rocks, weaving together like living threads in a tapestry, rather than acting like wild snakes on a rampage. He concentrated on keeping the vines from getting out of control, letting the other plants and mosses fill in. The area began to take on the appearance of virgin old woods.
The system chimed in his head:
"Bing! Verdant Dominion is level 3."
Aiden grinned. “Hah! Finally!”
“Better,” Ria admitted, flapping to his shoulder.
Gigi gave an approving grunt. “Not bad, pup.”
"Check out his stats," Gigi said.
Ria stiffened. “No way,” Ria whispered, staring into the distance.
Aiden blinked, scanning his stats. He couldn't believe it, his Intellect was now thirty-one, Resolve eighteen, Recovery nine. But, then he counted in his memory the levels, and he had indeed received a total of thirteen skill level ups. And with just a little math that meant twenty-six points of intellect, thirteen points for resolve, and six more for recovery.
Gigi barked and bounced to her feet, making Aiden jump and sending Ria to tumble off his shoulder.
"What?" Aiden said looking around for a threat.
"Ria, look at his unassigned stats," Gigi said.
Ria landed on the ground with some gentle cursing, for her. But, after staring into the distance for a moment, she flapped, looking at Aiden. "You have a hundred and thirty unassigned stat points!"
Gigi shook her head, "pup, you are getting ten unassigned stat points per level! That makes his non-class almost the most stat heavy class in the system I've heard of. Only paladines get more!"
Ria chittered, "I thought urding paladines were system cheaters. But, Aiden is going to beat them hands down at this rate."
"What does that mean?"
Gigi beat Ria to the explanation, "every level up you get the assigned points based on your class, which are between four and six stat points. You get four and a half, two intellect, one resolve, and half a point of recovery." She shook herself, sending some black fur fluff floating in the air. "And some open stat points to assign where you want. Most Seekers get five or seven points per level. Paladines being an exception and they get a full six stat points plus twelve assignable points. But, they have a lot of issues getting past level twenty."
Aiden opened his stats again, thought for a second, looking them over, "So Seekers gain a class level and get between nine and eighteen additional stat points total. But, you are saying I'm getting fourteen and a half stat points per skill level?"
"Let's just say if we ever get your class fixed you are going to be significantly more powerful in stats than any other Seeker at the same level in any class." Ria chirped.
Aiden scrolled down the stats slowly and noticed at the bottom of the list where a few he'd not been paying attention to. And they seemed to have changed a lot. "Um, my health has gone up twenty-six points, resilience is up sixty-five points, and Energy is up ninety-one points!"
Ria chirped, "Those are associated stats. They are based on a formula using the others. They go up if other stats increase as well as gaining points per level as well. What is strange is your endurance hasn't gone up. It should have."
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
"If he puts some points into fortitude that'll improve it," Gigi said.
"Or he can get some directly at three to one." Ria huffed.
"He'll need it raised. Maybe we shouldn't worry about spending those points right now."
"I can use these unassigned stat points to raise my abilities?"
"Yes, but different stats cost more, depending on how important they are. For example, strength costs three points for each additional point in strength. That is because when you increase strength you also increase recovery, regeneration, health, and resilience. Agility is two points for each additional point." Ria explained.
Aiden didn't want to spend all his points, but he knew he needed some gains. "I want to increase my strength, agility, and perception. I think those are critical right now."
Gigi and Ria exchanged glances, and then Gigi shook her head back and forth. Ria looked at Aiden. "Okay, strength is three points per point increase, agility is two points each, and perception is one-to-one. You just need to think about how many you want to add or how many points up you want to increase, and the system should just do it. Be mindful, like casting a spell."
Aiden thought about it and decided he didn't need that much more strength, he'd fought those guards and seen Cassian fight. He didn't think being a muscle brute would be the solution. But, everyone he'd faced had been more agile than he had been by far. And Bram had insisted time and time again on how important it was to pay attention to his surroundings, meaning perception was probably more important than the others.
He considered the point costs Ria had said. Given how much importance Bram put into perception, he wondered why perception was only one point per point increase versus strength costing three points. He wasn't sure where Gigi and Ria had found how many unassigned points he had.
He concentrated and his stats list expanded showing him additional stats in a soft translucent gray color while the others were solid. The new stats were Unassigned Stat Points, Luck, Mana, Soul, and Speed.
[M] -------------------- [X]
[Status]
Name: Aiden
Species: Human
Class: NPC
Level: 0
Ranks: Unranked
Unassigned Stat Points: 130
--------------------
[Characteristics]
Strength: 9
Agility: 7
Fortitude: 6
Intellect: 31
Resolve: 18
Aura: 3
Charisma: 6
Perception: 8
Recovery: 9
Regeneration: 3
Material Defense: 3
Energy Defense: 2
Magic Defense: 11
Psychic Defense: 6
Endurance: 12
Health: 46
Resilience: 119
Energy: 93
Luck: 47
Mana: 163
Soul: 101
Speed: 2
--------------------
He wondered about the new stats. To him speed and agility sounded the same. New information appeared before him and he heard the system voice explaining it to him.
[M] --------------------[X]
Stats Information
Unassigned Stat Points: Oh? Still confused? Fascinating. Didn’t you just hear an explanation of Unassigned Stat Points? I suppose repeating the descriptions over and over will be my greatest joy in existence. Maybe you should invest some of those points into Intellect—oh, wait, never mind, that probably wouldn’t help either. Moving on. Points earned per level that you can assign where you want. Blah, blah, blah.
Luck: Because the universe isn’t fair, and neither are you.
This stat affects random chance outcomes in your favor. That means you’ll win more often, dodge fatal consequences by the skin of your teeth, and annoy literally everyone who isn’t you.
Seekers tend to have unreasonably high Luck, which is why they always win against impossible odds. The only thing more frustrating than a high-Luck Seeker is a high-Luck Seeker who thinks they’re clever for winning coin flips they didn’t deserve.
Mana: Your magic water sink. Try not to run out mid-spell, unless you enjoy collapsing like a sack of undercooked potatoes.
Mana is the maximum amount of magical energy you can hold at one time.
Normally used for casting spells, but I'm sure you'll find a way to waste it on something dumb.
Soul: This is where things get existential.
Your physical body can take damage, and if your Health hits zero, you die. Tragic.
Except you’re not really dead — just body-dead. Seeker's are re-incarnated twenty-four hours after physical deaths. Why? Because, your Soul still exists… for now.
Some spells, mental attacks, and artifacts will attack your Soul directly. Unlike flesh wounds, Soul damage takes far longer to heal — assuming it heals at all.
If your Soul reaches zero, you die permanently. No respawn. No second chances. Just cosmic compost.
Speed: Not to be confused with Agility, though I won’t be surprised if you mix them up.
Agility is hand-eye coordination, dexterity, finesse. How gracefully you fall on your face.
Speed is reflexes, reaction time, how fast you actually move. How quickly you can mash the attack button like your life depends on it.
Agility affects Speed, but barely. Speed is what separates the fast from the frustrated.
System Note: If you still don’t get it, that’s a Skill Issue. Maybe invest in System Comprehension level 2? Just a suggestion.
--------------------
The last line made him pause. He didn't recall seeing a skill called System Comprehension. And he wondered if he could use the points to increase a skill level. But, the system didn't respond to that questioning thought. He quickly dismissed the idea of trying to spend points that way. Gigi had warned about a system intervention, and he'd laid too many traps in his life not to recognize bait being dangled in front of him. Something about that last line just seemed too convenient and he decided he'd explore the idea later with Gigi and Ria.
He decided to go with his original plan. He wanted to keep fifty points in reserve. So splitting it almost evenly between the three stats seemed reasonable. With a thought he dismissed the Stats Information message leaving just his stats visible. Like casting a spell, he held the concept of adding thirty points to strength, thirty points to agility, and twenty points to perception.
"BING! Stat Points assigned."
The world twisted slightly and he felt an odd pressure throughout his body. His muscles spasmed and ached for a moment, then settled down. Squeezing his fists, he marveled at the power he could sense. His mind raced with an increased awareness of activity around them. He could track the movements of the animals around them.
He checked the stats in his information and sure enough his strength was nineteen, his agility twenty-two, and his perception a respectable twenty-eight. But, more than that, his recovery, regeneration, material defense, and speed had all increased.
He looked up at the sky, despite not seeing the sun, he had a deeper awareness of the lengths of the shadows and the sounds of the forest. They'd spent most of the morning on all these topics. He tried to expand his senses to see if he could sense any soldiers nearby. But, it seemed as if it was just the three of them.
A pressure in the back of his mind made his arm hairs prick up. He knew they needed to get moving. But, how much time did they have? An idea snapped into his mind.
"Let me check something," Aiden said, as he reached out and touched a tree, taking a slow breath, trying to feel the forest. It was there, and Aiden stretched his senses, searching for anything out of place. He activated his perception and tried to see through his connection.
"Bing! Forest Kinship is level 2"
"Bing! Forest Kinship is level 3"
He felt it, it wasn't close but there were two groups of what seemed like prickling pain. The breaking of limbs, and crushing of brush.
He tried to feel where those two groups were. On instinct, he sought direction and distance, like listening to the sounds of things around him. Spatial Awareness activated.
"Bing! Spatial Awareness is level 2"
Letting go of the tree, he needed a moment to collect himself.
"There are two groups of soldiers, one at the edge of my senses, south, and another northeast. Both are moving away from here."
Ria whistled and Gigi yelped giving him a toothy smile. "Pup, this might not be as hopeless as I thought."
Aiden smiled, he needed to control the plant growth better, and that meant better casting abilities. Bram's training had drilled into him the importance of intellect for controlling magic. He allocated another forty points into intellect.
His head felt like a hot knife had been driven between his eyes and out the back of his skull. He screamed, grabbing his head with his hands and dropping to his knees.
Gigi leapt to his side, facing the forest. "What?" She barked, dropping to a low attack posture.
Ria shook her feathers out and laughed. "Gigi, relax. He'll be fine in a minute. He just dumped a bunch of points into intellect."
After a moment, Aiden could finally breathe as the pain faded. "What was that?"
Ria fluttered to his shoulder before whistling gently in his ear, "growing pains."
