World Seed: Game Start (13 page)

The
man’s head lifted up and he looked at me, slowly a smile spread
across his lips. “Ah, looks like things are about to get
exciting again.”

Chapter 11: I Can
be a Cultivation Expert Too?

After
introducing me to Jarl, Rita went back to town. I may have been a bit
scared now that she was gone, I’ll admit. Getting here was easy
with her, but getting back… well, I guess dying counts as
easy, right? Well, I haven’t really taken a good look at my
character info since I got my class, and I guess I should take care
of that.

So,
I’m now getting back a mana point every three seconds, which is
nice. And there is a new entry, for Sub-Classes… not really
sure what that’s for. Maybe that’s like what it listed
before, with the Xeno-Shifter? But that was called an Advanced Class.

“
So,
you already know my name, but what is yours?” It took me a
moment to realize that Jarl had spoken, but soon I looked up and saw
him waiting for my answer.

“
Ah,
sorry. My name is Falenel.” I had long since given up trying to
introduce myself with my real name, and by now was just going with
the flow.

“
I
see, and you were accepted as a druid, then? Well, I guess that means
I should teach you our most fundamental skill.” Jarl chuckled
slightly, slowly rising to his feet. The wolf next to him looked up
sadly at the loss of his hand on its head. “Keep in mind, just
because you chose to represent the druids does not mean you are the
only one able to learn the skills. Anyone is able to learn any type
of skills, if they put in the effort. The trick is what you
specialize in.”

I
nodded my head, indicating I understood as he continued. “The
first, and most important skill in a druid’s arsenal, is known
as World Casting. Think of it as a mix between divine and arcane
magic. While we are not beseeching any god to grant us power, we are
borrowing power from the world itself. This grants us a number of
different abilities, such as increased mana and health regeneration,
and more flexible control over the elements. However, this only lasts
while we are in the presence of elements we have familiarized
ourselves with. This process is known as ‘gaining an
affinity’.”

“
Every
creature born capable of manipulating mana is also born with a
natural affinity. Though, they don’t tend to exceed a very
small amount except for in the cases of beasts naturally able to
control an element. In the old days, it was a matter of trial and
error to figure out someone’s affinities, but thankfully we
have tech that can tell us.” He digs around in his pockets for
a few moments, until he pulls out a thin metal strip.

“
This
will be the first real upgrade for your companion, assuming you
weren’t rich enough to buy something already.” He gave me
a knowing smile. I guess it’s not an uncommon thing to hope for
addons to the companion early on. “It gives your companion the
ability to read how your aura interacts with the elements, in order
to determine how high your affinity is with them.” After he
hands me the metal strip, I look at it confused for a moment, not
sure how I am supposed to upgrade Celeste. “Just hold it over
the display, and your companion will scan the data.”

I
nodded, doing as he said, and there was a brief light from Celeste,
before she displayed another holographic screen. This one floated
several inches above her display, and looked like a three dimensional
chart. On the chart were hundreds of tiny bumps of various colors,
which I was completely unable to make out at all. “That’s
a lot of elements…”

Jarl
raised an eyebrow, and then looked at the display, before chuckling.
“Oh, yeah. Sorry, we call them elements, but really there are
affinities for anything. Sound, light, dark, even emotions have an
affinity. Tell your companion to only list the ‘big seven’,
and your three strongest lesser affinities.”

I
looked down to my wristband. “Uh… do… whatever he
just said.”

There
was a slight beep, before almost all of the little bumps on the chart
disappeared, leaving only ten remaining. Now that there was more
space for the ten there, more information about each was displayed.
Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Lightning… those are all pretty much
expected… Light and Dark, not uncommon.. Then my eyes looked
at the three ‘lesser affinities’. Plants, understandable.
I’ve done most of my training in game with plants… Luck…
well… okay, I’m not that surprised. I did get a Wild
Luck skill, after all. And the third is…Madness. Why do I feel
like I’m being trolled right now?

Sadly,
each of these affinities were just one or two percent, with Plant
Affinity being the highest at three. As if having expected that, Jarl
nodded his head. “Like I said, the affinities will be naturally
low to start with. The fact that you have one at 3% already shows
that you are either really lucky, or have been accidentally training
in the right way. Once you reach 5% in any affinity, you will start
to be able to control that element with your magic. This will in most
ways act the same as an arcane magic caster, but you will not need
nearly as much mana, since you are just influencing what is already
there.

“
The
downside is the amount of time it takes to train an affinity, as well
as the requirement that it needs to be present in your surroundings.
For example, if you’re on a spaceship, the Plant Affinity will
not do you much good. That’s the difference between World
Casting and Arcane Casting. One controls, and the other creates. Once
I go over the other skills a druid needs, I’ll teach you how to
cultivate your affinities.”

I
couldn’t help but groan slightly as he said cultivate. I played
a Xianxia style VR once, and cultivation took ages. If they didn’t
have a fast forward option, I would never have been able to do it.
“Oh, don’t give me that. Once you practice for a little
while, you’ll be able to do it as easy as breathing. Now, the
other big skills of a druid would naturally be their control over
nature.”

I
nodded my head, trying to keep my voice even. I really didn’t
want to learn how to cultivate like that again. “Yeah, I
learned Nature Magic, or at least started to.”

He
smiled at that. “Good, good. That’ll make this easier. No
matter which path you want to take as a druid, you will need to
practice that. You can have an army of animal companions, or turn
into animals yourself, or even cause plants to poison enemies. It’d
be a good idea to think about what kind of druid you want to be early
on, so that you can start developing towards that path.”

My
mind naturally went towards the Xeno-Shifter. It couldn’t be as
easy as choosing an Advanced Class right away, could it? “I
want to be able to take on the properties of other creatures, maybe
learn more about the alien races.”

Again,
Jarl chuckled knowingly. “I take it you were shown information
on the Xeno-Shifters. Yes, most who see that information tend to want
to pursue it. And, if that is your decision, I would suggest focusing
on the bestial portions of Nature Magic, and maybe some more alchemy.
Rita brought you here, so if you have Nature Magic, she likely made
you learn that too. Knowing alchemy will help, once you learn how
things react together. For instance, if you learn how to combine
twenty different plants to form a single spell, you’ll have
enough mastery over your mana to start mimicking the special
abilities of alien races.”

I
blinked a bit at his requirement. Twenty plants? Here I thought I was
doing good to have so many spells for sets of two plants.
Nevertheless, I nodded to him. “Alright. How exactly do I train
the beast magic? I can’t exactly study the animals like I would
plants… they seem to be more interested in eating me than
anything else.”

Jarl
smirked slightly. “Well, you could try studying a dead one, but
sitting in front of a rotting corpse and having to focus on it for
long periods just doesn’t sit well with most. The other option
is to try to make nice with an animal. This is why most druids are
seen with at least one animal companion. If you can keep a single
animal by your side, you can practice your magic together with it.
You can release the animal any time you want, but if they have grown
fond of you they may still try to follow. At the same time, if you
are cruel to your animal, they will turn on you like anything else.”

Not
getting a bunny. “Okay.. so how do I make nice with an animal?
Just give it some food?” I had never really owned a pet, so I
wasn’t sure what I was doing here.

“
Well,
depends on the animal. If you were taming a rabbit, I’d say
feed it some blood weed. For a wolf, giving it some meat would help.
As long as they don’t see you as a threat, and are willing to
get close enough, you can establish a link with them. Just send your
mana into their body, and focus on connecting to their mind. That
will allow for basic communication. No, you won’t be able to
use words to speak to each other, but emotions and feelings can still
get a meaning across.”

Still
not getting a bunny. “I think I understand. Not really, but
I’ll give it a shot. Now, what was it you said about…
cultivating?”

“
Right.
It’s really easy, honestly. With enough practice, you can do it
without even thinking, while you go about your normal day. Basically,
just send your mana out to connect to an element. That’s the
first step. Then, try to attune your mana to match that element.
Finally, try to cycle the mana. What I mean by that is pulling just a
little bit of the mana from your element and assimilating it with
your own mana. This is also what gives us increased health and mana
regeneration, since we can resupply our own mana with elements we
have a good affinity with.”

I
nodded my head again, thinking that this was definitely not as bad as
I had first imagined. As long as I wasn’t channeling the mana
through my veins or whatever, it was fine. I shuddered at the memory
of that game. “Okay, I think I’ll work on that for a
little bit. I can grab an animal companion afterwards.”

He
shrugged his shoulders, not really caring either way. “Up to
you. The more you experience with an animal companion, the stronger
it will grow. Since you don’t plan to use the companion for
more than practicing your magic, it’s not really necessary, but
if you cultivate affinities with it, then it’s possible your
animal will learn to cultivate as well. Just remember to treat your
animal well when you have it, or it may turn on you.”