The Reincarnation of Alysara. Chapter 8: Questions

AN: Two chapters this month! I hope to get three out next month.

AN2: Got some editing suggestions? Suggest it on the Google Docs here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KfgD50r0mHRSFfxDtsi0GRf8HegCib7IhKFV8Zx5w2A/edit?usp=sharing

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Light Season has finally arrived, meaning I am almost a year old! I still don’t know the first thing about casting spells, but maybe… I can rectify that? I figured out how to see mana after all… Well, maybe I shouldn’t, that’s how I got cursed skills.

The memory of the pain resurfaces in my mind as I think about my cursed skills. Being forced to experience every pain imaginable and unimaginable, bones breaking, skin melting off, barbed hooks digging into flesh, and so, so much more. It was a horrible experience, and I don’t want to make things worse. I shudder and try to shake the anxious feelings from my heart.

I decide to wait for now, which proves difficult since I’ve stagnated with my mana sensing Skill. It just feels like I’m standing in place, completely unable to move forward. To alleviate this awful feeling, I fully throw myself into learning the language. Not being able to ask for things is really hampering my ability to develop my mana sense.

I ask Mom and Dad about everything I can ask for if I have the ability to half-way articulate my question, even if it’s things I think I know, because clearly this world doesn’t always behave how I expect it to.

To Mom and Dad’s credit, they are really patient with me, but some days I can tell by the irritated flicking of their tail that I should slow down on the questions. Naturally, I am merciful to them when they are having one of those days; but something seems to resonate in my memories. It's not a full-blown vision but more of an impression, as if I experienced one of those days before; a day where fate itself is out to screw you over, and absolutely nothing goes right.

One day, at the height of Light Season, I suddenly feel something surge within me? Not physically, or within my soul but… it almost feels like a magical… something. Kind of feels like when I get a new skill or breakthrough.

I tilt my head in confusion. If it’s related to Skills, then focusing on it should summon the information, right? But when I do it’s like I get… static? Hmm, no, that’s not quite right. It wants to inform me, but it can’t? 

I know! Like a light bulb turning on, I realize the problem! The system only tells me what I know, but I have no idea what the feeling was, so I can’t get any information! 

But that doesn’t help me figure out what just happened! I pout, annoyed by the useless system. Time to ask questions!

I carefully walk over to Mom, making sure I don’t stumble and fall. Mom is humming to herself and preparing lunch, her tail gently swaying side to side.

“Mom͞árá,”

“Yes, little Aly?” Mom responds, bending down and picking me up so I don’t wander into anything dangerous. 

I can see well enough, Mom, you don’t need to baby me.

“Why… uh…” I hesitate. How do I even ask this? “Strange feel?”

“What does it feel like?” Mom asks with a patient smile.

“Hmm, don’t know. Feels inside but not body? It’s like the… great-do-thing?”

“Great-do-thing?” Mom tilts her head, completely baffled.

“Make you better at doing thing. Like that, but not”

“You mean olnasá?”

Ascended ability gift? Yeah, that sounds like what the Skills are.

I nod—wait… I know what Skills are called now! I can ask her about how to improve my Skills!

“Howgetbetter!?” I blurt out. My ears perking up and twitching with anticipation, my original question completely forgotten about.

“How get better?” Mom repeats. “Little Aly, you are too young. And aren’t those bad? They make your eyes hurt, you shouldn’t improve them!” Mom shifts from confusion to chastise mode.

“No hurt. Good Skills. I see mana. How get better!?” I am completely unable to stop my tail from practically helicoptering.

“See mana? Do you know what the Skill is called?” Mom asks, her brow furrowing with worry.

“Hmm?” I tilt my head trying to figure out how to say the word for “sense” in the context of the Skill. “See but not see? See with feeling? Feelsee? Feelsee Mana Elements?”

“I think you mean prrure, and it’s not a bad one? Are you sure?” 

Ru means mana, but I never heard pr before, so I think it just means “sense”, or something along the lines of magical vision.

“I am sure. Not bad. Got it before bad Skills.”

Mom breathed a sigh of relief, then did a double take. “Before?!” Mom’s mouth dropped, “B-but you were just a few days old…” Mom trails off.

Now I am getting annoyed that my question is not being answered, my tail switching from excited wagging to irritated flicking. “Mom͞árá, how I get better at Skill?”

Mom thinks about it for a second, then nods to herself. “Skills get better with zo but it maxes out at skeslo”

“Zo? Skeslo?” I ask, having never heard those before.

“Zo is the measure of Skill strength” Mom answers. 

Ah, so it means the level.

“As for Ske and Slo…” Mom continues but hesitates, “wait, you said you can see mana!?” Mom’s tail starts wagging with excitement, finally realizing what that means.

I pout, sensing a derailment in the conversation coming. “Mom͞árá! What is skeslo!?”

Mom giggles before grabbing two slices of fruit from the cutting board. “You can see these?” 

I nod.

“I have ske of these.” Then she added three more slices. “Now I have slo”

Oh! Those are numbers! So it was two-fives, ten, in other words.

Seeing my interest, Mom teaches me more numbers, but doesn’t go into too much detail, just making me aware of them. After that, she teaches me more words related to Skills so I can better understand her explanation.

“Each level requires something different. You get a level by achieving something specific, five related to action, and five related to knowledge.” 

I nod vigorously, my tail going a million miles an hour. 

Mom giggles, seeing my excitement. “The first action level is simple, you just have to use it once unaided. It's to prove you can use it on your own. The rest can be completed in any order, but most consider repeated use the second one as it’s the next easiest. All you have to do is use your skill multiple times until you get the level.”

“So easy?” I ask. Was it really that simple?

“Not quite. Levels are proof of your capabilities. You earn them. Repeated use can tire you out, and more specifically, it has to be completed within a certain amount of time.”

So, levels are tests. Which means I need to pay attention to which ones I am getting… which sucks because I already got a bunch, but I don’t know which ones I already got!

“Extended usage is considered the third action level.”

“Use long time?” I ask, seeing that the name of this action level is self-explanatory.

Mom nods and smiles while hugging me. “You are such a genius! Yes, you need to use your skill for a long time with a single use. It can’t be multiple. The fourth is to achieve a large quantity with a single use.”

“Large quantity?” I tilt my head.

Mom puts a finger on her lip and hums. “Hmm, like seeing a lot of mana at once, or casting multiple spells at the same time.”

“Spells!” I exclaim, my tail blurring.

“You’re too young for spells, Little Aly. You need to wait until you are ten.”

“Ten?!” I complain, my tail slowing, and my ears drooping slightly.

“You want to know about Skills, right?” Mom says, distracting me from spells.

“Right!” 

“The last action level is much harder to achieve, and most don’t. It’s the mastery level. Proof that you mastered your breakthrough. It’s tied to a specific action or achievement that is typically hard to achieve. What that action is depends on the skill. As for how many times, how long, how much, all depends on the skill. For example: your sense mana is easy to keep active, so extended use level will take a long time, but running can tire you out so a running Skill will require less time.”

So, Skill level requirements depend on the difficulty of the action involved. I nod in understanding.

“Knowledge levels now?” I ask.

“Yes. Knowledge levels are much harder to give advice on as it’s entirely dependent on what the skill is. To put it simply, you need to achieve certain thresholds on the subject of the Skill or breakthrough. We have a book, a Skill Guide, that records topics that meet these thresholds, but some require getting more breakthroughs, especially the base skill. Knowledge levels for the Base skill always requires getting more breakthroughs. And like the action levels, there is a mastery level, although for many skills we don’t know what that is.”

I tilt my head in confusion. “You not know mastery knowledge level?”

“It’s an advanced topic that often takes generations to figure out. Some are easy, though, but they are all recorded by now.” Mom answers.

“Is there limits? For levels? breakthroughs?” I ask.

“If there is, no one has reached it. The highest recorded level is two hundred twenty-one with twenty-seven breakthroughs. Achieving level one hundred is average, most people stall out at that level unless the Skill guide explains how to achieve a higher level and more breakthroughs. A prodigy can achieve level one hundred fifty, and a genius can achieve level two hundred.”

I can’t imagine being stuck at level one hundred in sense mana for the rest of my life. I am already a quarter of the way there!

“Can read me Skill guide for my Skill?” I ask, my tail blurring with more excitement.

“I’m sorry, Little Aly, if I could I would, but Skill guides are often restricted, and no one will let someone as young as you read it.” 

My tail instantly falls limp, utterly devastated.

“Why?!” I ask, trying not to cry.

“Because we don’t want to risk children getting Cursed Skills. There are a few publicly available Skill guides, but none of them has your skill.”

“But I have Skill, not cursed.” I whine, my ears drooping and lip trembling.

Mom, having never seen me so distraught before, hugs me tightly and purrs. “I can ask for permission. Surely the elders will make an exception for you. I’ll talk to them later, alright.”

“Right…” I say, dejected but hopeful.

“I think I can help you with at least one breakthrough though, would you like that?”

“Yes!” My ears perk up and my tail starts wagging.

“I don’t know any specifics, but there is more to elements. Think of them like elements of elements. We call them essences. For example, life mana is an essence of the fire element, and nature mana is an essence of the earth element.”

“Thank you!” Even just being shown what to look for is a massive help. Now, instead of wandering blindly hoping to come across anything to inspire me, I can act proactively to get more levels and breakthroughs!

Unfortunately, getting a new breakthrough is easier said than done.

How do I know how to tell the difference between essences?!

I spent the last few hours just staring at the mana in the air. At first, I was excited, but now my tail is as still as a stone while I sulk at the difficulty of my task.

I decide to take a nap and hope that a fresh mindset can help me see things more clearly. However, instead of dreams, the moment I fall asleep, I am brought to a black void. I am still lucid, and as I look around I see a mirror.

“I am not blind?” I think, my thoughts echoing in this void. It seems like I can see with my own eyes. “Of course. This is not real, but what is this?”

I crawl towards the mirror but my reflection does not show me as I am right now. My reflection is older, dressed in the skimpy clothes everyone else does in the village. I tentatively touch the mirror and suddenly I am seeing from my reflection’s eyes, or rather from her mana sense.

I am blind again, but the mana around me is so clear! It’s like I am focusing on a small location, but that’s my new normal. I can see the way mana drifts, and I just know that a mana storm is coming. The scene shifts again, and now I am in battle. Before my opponents can even start casting a spell, I already know. Just from the minute details of the mana flowing through her body, even the type and form of the spell is obvious to me, and I easily counter her spell before she even has the time to cast it.

Suddenly, I am back in front of the mirror again, and I get the impression that this mirror self is a Mana Seer. Instinctively, I know that this choice will merge my [Sense Mana Elements] into my body.

I look around and notice more mirrors, more possibilities, more paths open to me.

“Ah! So that’s what that feeling was!” That sudden surge I felt and promptly forgot about when asking mom about it.

“Is this some sort of evolution or something?” Clearly, I am meant to choose one.

Change Runalymo(minor) to Mana Seer Runalymo(Adept)?
Note: Any skills made racial or merged with a current racial skill cannot gain any more levels.

The information came from the mirror I was just in. 

“No,” my answer echoes. I want to at least check out my other choices first. Fortunately, this mirror didn’t disappear, so it seems like I can always go back to it if I change my mind.

I stand up and walk to another mirror, the task effortless in this… whatever this is.

My reflection is older with several scars across her body. I touch the mirror and find myself in another vision.

I am in battle, swinging a sword toward a monster without regard for my own life. I strike the monster but am hit in turn. Fangs rip into my side and a mix of pleasure and pain washes over me. I slay the beast and notice my wound already healing. Within seconds it's as if I was never bitten.

I jerk away from the mirror, scared by the brutality of it. This is not who I want to be. Instinctively, I know that my [Pain Tolerance] opened this path for me, which makes me wonder what paths my other Skills will bring.

Change Runalymo (Minor) to Pain Glutton Runalymo (Adept)?
Note: Any skills made racial or merged with a current racial skill cannot gain any more levels.

“No! And I don’t want to be offered this again!”

The mirror vanishes at my refusal.

Shuddering, I walk to another mirror. This one reveals me to be a radiant beauty. My hair and tail look so silky and smooth, I raise my hand to touch it, almost entranced.

Suddenly, I am in her place. I sing with an entrancing voice, my audience looking captivated. The scene shifts, and I am making jewelry like Mom, but my work seems to radiate a divine beauty with the way the facets glint in the light. The scene shifts again, and I am walking down the street, but everyone is charmed by my beauty, unable to look away.

The next thing I know, I am back in the void staring at the mirror.

“What skill could have offered this?” I wonder. But it was obvious that no Skill offered this. This evolution promises beauty and creativity, the domains of Myrou who blessed me; it was the blessing that offered me this evolution.

Change Runalymo (Minor) to Myrou Blessed Runalymo (Adept)?
Note: No skills will be lost or merged.

Of course no Skill is changed, because no Skill granted this choice.

I don’t think the actual contents of the visions are what will pass, it seems more like an example. This choice is showing me that I’ll be more creative and beautiful, and considering how the village is centered around art, this wouldn’t be a bad choice.

“Not yet. I want to check out the other choices.”

Walking to another mirror I see a ghost. A transparent reflection with pale skin and desaturated blue hair. A sense of unease emanates from the mirror, and I almost rejected it on the spot.

I shiver but steel myself and touch the mirror.

I float through the air, free from the confines of the ground. I pass through walls and find someone sleeping. I drift into their body, and suddenly I am them, or rather, I am in control of their body. I channel their spells, use their Skills as if they were mine. The scene shifts and I can feel mana toxicity building within me, and I feel like I am being cooked alive! I flee from the village as the sheer amount of mana and heat is no longer tolerable.

I yank my arm back in shock. Why would it make me unable to live in the village?!

Change Runalymo (Minor) to Phantom Runalymo (Major)?
Note: Skills may be lost or replaced.

“Of course not!” 

The mirror vanishes, and with it that eerie feeling.

“Could it be that my current evolution already has abilities and that this one would have replaced an ability that makes it so I can live in the Nexus? Is that why it felt wrong?”

If that’s the case, I should be careful.

I try to summon the information about my current evolution, but I get a strong feeling that the information is blocked? Perhaps I have to wake up, but how? Maybe I have to make a choice first?

The last choice was “major” while the others were “Adept”, what does it mean? I get the feeling it’s about how strong it is but what is it measuring to determine that? In any case it means that the Phantom Runalymo was stronger than the Myrou Blessed Runalymo. But strength isn't all that matters. What do I want? Do I want to become a warrior? A craftsman? A mage? I think that matters more, choosing what is right for me, even if it isn’t as strong.

I walk over to the last mirror. I look normal, but older. However, this one also gives me a feeling of wrongness; the closer I get, the worse it becomes. Will this one also impact my survivability? There’s only one way to find out.

I touch the mirror and am whisked away into another vision.

The world looks weird. There’s a wispy bluish fog everywhere and floating blue orbs that seem to glow eerily. I am writing a book and detailing the workings and appearance of souls. The scene changes, and now I am manipulating that fog. The next scene shows me manipulating the very souls of others and subduing them to my will.

I lower my hand from the mirror, feeling repulsed. I don’t want to enslave others, so why did it show that? I still don’t know how all this works. Does it base these visions on my knowledge? My personality? My potential? Or will this evolution alter who I am fundamentally?

Change Runalymo (minor) to Soul Seer Runalymo (Major)?

“No.” The last time I messed with souls, I regretted it, and I don’t like how this mirror feels wrong. Come to think of it, the last two are based on my cursed Skills, is that why they feel off? Do these cursed evolutions alter me, and normal evolutions don’t?

The normal ones felt as if they were showing an example of what could be, while the cursed evolutions felt as if they were telling me what I will become.

I watch the mirror vanish and feel relieved as the wrongness goes with it, leaving me with only two options left; Myrou Blessed and Mana Seer. One is clearly centered around mana and promised the ability to cast spells, the other offered beauty and crafting but the first says that skills merged into my race won’t gain any levels and seeing as my [Sense Mana Elements] is only level twenty six, it’d be stuck at that level forever; there’d be no more improvement.

I didn’t want that. I want to improve. If level one hundred is the normal plateau, even with Skill guides, then I should at least get to that point before taking an evolution like that. So there’s only one option left; I walk over to the mirror.

Change Runalymo (Minor) to Myrou Blessed Runalymo (Adept)?
Note: No skills will be lost or merged.

“Yes”