The group talked for a short while. Discussing the unique situation they found themselves in, and soon, the inevitable question arose. "So, what kind of skills did you guys get?" Isaac asked.
Marcus, clearly preferring action to words, takes his greatsword from his back walks into the wide space, and demonstrates a clean but basic sequence of attacks, the swings seemed strong - yet Olek didn't know whether that was due to a skill that boosted strength or just Marcus' innate brawn.
"I have a skill called Basic Two-Handed Weapons that gives me an instinctual knowledge of how to use a sword, though as the name suggests, it is basic. But for someone like me who knows nothing of how to use a sword, I'm sure it'll be a lifesaver." He wipes his brow and stows his sword back onto his back.
"Other than that, I have something called Heavy Strike that increases the power of my hits by 20% for 10 seconds - it has a 30 second cooldown so it's not something I can use repeatedly. For my third skill I have Iron Body allowing a 5% increase in strength and constitution permanently, seems small but that's a flat 5% for every stat point I ever gain - it adds up."
Olek nodded, "It's what I'd imagine a Warrior's starter skills would be, makes sense. For me I have ManaManipulation - pretty self explanatory, Mana Bolt, which fires a bolt of raw mana which is different from elemental mana so it won't be like a fire ball, and finally a passive called Mana Sense, pretty self explanatory also, I can sense mana within a 15m radius."
Obviously, he has Spatial Pocket as well. But he was on the fence about showing his space affinity so easily. They would probably see it as something cool, but for Olek who knows he's the only human with this affinity... he couldn't help but want to keep it up his sleeve.
It was less he was scared of other people's reactions, but that he saw opportunity in the future, revealing it right now has little more benefit than an ego boost - whereas in the future it could be add a surprise factor.
However, if the need arises, he wasn't going to stubbornly insist on keeping it hidden. It's not that big of a deal to him - just something he'd rather not give away for free.
Carla looks at him, "Can you... actually cast magic? I guess you haven't tried."
Olek thought, gripping his novice staff. 'The System interface told me this helped new mages understand magic... So let's see.'
"Alright. Let's check what real magic looks like." He smiled.
He moved to a space with range and a target for his spell - a damnable metal crate, truly a foe worthy of arcane force.
'Prepare to meet your maker - wait, that doesn't really make sense, if it were to meet it's maker then... Well I mean they could be dead so it might work-' He shook his head, 'Focus Olek!'
Standing there, he closed his eyes - naturally he wouldn't do this if he was in combat, but he wanted to feel the mana, to understand it a bit better.
Taking a breath, he focused inward. Mana Manipulation provided him with the instinct of how to manipulate mana, he sensed it within his own body.
A static beneath his skin and within his flesh arose from seemingly nowhere, or perhaps it was dormant and was just awakened. He could feel it, waiting for a command, a guiding hand. Olek found that it wasn't hard to grasp - in fact, he'd say it was disturbingly easy, like talking to a close friend.
'Mana Manipulation,' as those words entered his mind it felt like something had clicked, he something within him coiled around the internal mana inside of him... Authority. Now it was less like talking, now it was like it was his own body, his own muscle fibers. It felt right.
He opened his eyes, holding out the staff toward the fiendish crate, then with a steady breath, he thought in his head.
'Mana Bolt.'
That energy that was held inside of him thrummed from him through into the staff, a bluish-white light burst out from the tip of the staff, flying through the air before crashing into the metal crate with a loud BANG!
He couldn't quite see the result as a cloud of dust was kicked up upon impact - he didn't know whether it was from his attack or there was truly so much dust in here.
Carla flinched, "Holy shit - literal magic!"
Olek blinked, lowering his staff as the dust cleared, revealing a fist sized hole in the side of the crate, raw blue mana crackled around the smoke. "That settles if it works or not..."
He looked at his hand, rolling his wrist, "It felt oddly natural, like remembering how to ride a bike after a while of having not."
Olek smirked, although his mind was elsewhere.
'If that was just raw mana... what would a spatial mana bolt look like.'
It felt hard to conceptualize. What would it do? Tear apart the target? Transpose whatever it hit to a different location? This was something he really wanted to find out... but not here.
He had no way to say whether the damage he'd just dealt was normal by Magician standards or not, because it seemed a lot more powerful than the skill let on...
Mana Bolt (Novice)-A basic and crude but effective use of mana to create a magic projectile formed of raw magic power. Costs little mana, require little control, and is a spell the most novice of mages can understand. Cost: 10 MP | Range: 15m | Damage: Low
Blasting a hole through metal was low damage? He dreaded to think what higher complexity spells would look like.
"So Isaac, what about you?" Olek asked, interested in what skills the only other 'otherwordly' class looked like.
Isaac scratched his cheek, "Well the others already know, Carla kind of fell in panic and bloodied her knee when we first opened our eyes here."
Olek coughed in laughter, smirking over his shoulder at Carla who was staring daggers at him.
"But, I'll go over them for you anyway. It's pretty much like everyone else, I've got something called Basic Healing Magic which grants me an understanding of how to use healing magic to heal light wounds, the key word there being light wounds, I doubt it'll heal a lost limb."
"I've also got a pretty boring but hyper necessary skill called Sanitize, clearing an area of skin of any bacteria and cures minor infections. Lastly I've got a passive called Soothing Aura, where anyone in a 20m radius gains a 25% boost to recovery. That's it. No offense right now but I was never really a fighter, they did grant me a mace and light shield however so I'm not completely defenseless." He explained.
The skills seemed basic and very in line with what Olek noticed to be the recurring theme. Skills that aren't all that powerful but give you just enough power for a fighting chance.
Olek nodded, "Definitely valuable, I wouldn't even know where to start to tend wounds or where the hell we'd find sanitizer."
Isaac also nodded, leaving only one person left to explain their skills.
"Finally my turn?" She grinned, "Mine are quite like Marcus' skills. So I'll try demonstrate also."
She walked over to the area where Olek had fired Mana Bolt taking her bow off her back and an arrow from her quiver. "So for starters, I've got Basic Archery, like the others, gives instinctive understanding of how to use a bow."
Knocking her arrow and pulling back the drawstring, she steadied her breath, once still and sure, she let it spring loose, flying straight into the hole Olek made. He wasn't sure if that was to show her skill or to spite him, but he didn't care.
She grinned over at Olek and put her thumb up. "See that? I've never even touched a bow before, yet I just knew how to do it. So strange."
Indeed. He wondered how this Mana Accord or 'System' was doing this, but he had no idea so he didn't think on it too much and just focused on using it to it's fullest potential.
"The reason I was able to aim so accurately was because of the second skill, Keen Eye, which enhances my perception when deeply focusing on something, it also gives me a flat 5% boost to perception. Unlike the others though I've also got Basic Light Weapons, which gives me instinctual understanding of how to use my dagger."
"Lastly I've got Retreating Strike, a fourth skill which I think is a pretty neat skill and quite unique. I'll need Marcus' help for this one however, I need you to 'hit' me, don't actually though - please." She jokingly pleaded.
The boys looked at each other and shrugged, Marcus deciding to oblige her, walked to a point across from her and drew his greatsword.
They both readied them selves, Carla drawing her dagger from her thigh, braced for Marcus' anticipated attack.
Marcus swung in an overhead arc toward Carla, as the blade got close, she swiftly dodged to the side and lightly kicked Marcus, then from her heels - a blast of wind blew them apart.
All of a sudden, there were now several meters between them.
Although, not being used to the sudden speed and skill, she fell flat on her rear with a distinct lack of grace. "Ow..." She whined as she rubbed her lower back.
Marcus was standing firm, just about. His face was riddled by surprise. How come she had a fourth skill, but it was so useful too? It felt unfair.