New Eden Live to Play, Play to Live

nother notification that washed his bitterness away.

*Ding!*

*Your training has borne fruit. Constitution +1*

He might not be leveling for now, but at least he still got something productive done. He walked back to the river to wash up and then walked to his alcove. As he did, he looked up his status screen again.

Status:

Name: Astaroth

Race: Ash Elf

Level: 3 (30/60)

Stats:

HP: 90/90 MP: 180/180 Stamina: 100

Mana Regen: 1/second in combat, 5/second out of combat

Strength: 4 Agility: 3 Constitution: 4

Intelligence: 3 Wisdom: 3

Attack Power Str: 20 Attack Power Agi: 15 Magic Attack Power: 15 Healing Power: 15

Luck: 0 (Stat unaffected by Level up and free points)

Available stat points: 2

Available skill points: 2

Physical Condition: Normal

Mental Condition: Normal

Equipped gear:

Beginner clothes

He tried tapping each attribute to see what they did.

Strength: 1=5 Strength-based weapons damage, affects force (+2.5kg/level)(Base=25kg)

Agility: 1=5 Agi-based weapons damage, affects speed (+0.25m/level)

Constitution: 1=10/25/50/75/100 HP, 0.1% Physical resistances/point (Poison, Bleed, Stuns included) (Lvls 10/20/30/40/50)

Intelligence: 1=5/10/15/20/25MP, 0.1% Magic resistances/point (Elemental types), 5 Magic Damage(Lvls 10/20/30/40/50)

Wisdom: 1=5/10/15/20/25MP, 0.1% Mental resistances/point (Fear, Confused, etc), 5 Healing Power

He distributed the free attribute points he had. One in wisdom, and one in intelligence.

His stats changed.

Status:

Name: Astaroth

Race: Ash Elf

Level: 3 (30/60)

Stats:

HP: 90/90 MP: 190/190 Stamina: 100

Mana Regen: 1/second in combat, 5/second out of combat

Strength: 4 Agility: 3 Constitution: 4

Intelligence: 4 Wisdom: 4

Attack Power Str: 20 Attack Power Agi: 15 Magic Attack Power: 20 Healing Power: 20

Luck: 0 (Stat unaffected by Level up and free points)

Available stat points: 0

Available skill points: 2

Physical Condition: Normal

Mental Condition: Normal

Passive abilities: Mana Lobe Lvl1, Mana Control Lvl2, Perfect Mana Sense, Mana Breathing Lvl1, Body Cleansing Lvl1, ???

Equipped gear:

Beginner clothes

Skills: Propel, Ignite, Mana Siphon

Once in his alcove, Astaroth practiced his mana control. He wanted to have greater control over it because it would help him greatly if he ever got to cast magic.

He fully used his Perfect Mana Sense and started manipulating the surrounding mana. Moving it, making shapes out of it, breathing it in, and expelling it.

He even tried compressing it. But that was a whole other game.

The more he tried compressing the mana in front of him, the more he drained his mana.

He deduced that to control ambient mana; he was using his own to coerce it into action. An idea came to him then.

He gathered a ball of ambient mana in his hand. Then he started pushing on it with his own mana, trying to compress it. It was working!

Since his mana was purer than the ambient mana, it was denser and could press down on the ambient mana with more ease. The little ball of condensed mana floated in front of him for a bit before he let it disperse.

He then tried out something else. He pulled in ambient mana and attached it to his body.

He kept it there and then started pushing out his own mana into it from beneath, trying to condense it from under, while holding it from outside with his will.

It took him many tries, as his concentration slipped up and he would lose control over certain parts of the ambient mana, leaking out his own.

But after a while, he achieved what he was trying. And just like he hoped.

*Ding!*

*You have learned the spell Mana Skin*

He quickly opened his skill list and tapped the new spell to read its description.

Mana Skin: You condense mana over your body, forming a second skin of pure mana. Reduce damage taken by 10%, also has a 20% chance of repelling a glancing blow. Base mana cost: 50 (Mana cost and damage reduction scale with how compressed you make the layer)

Seeing the second part of the description, he tried pumping more mana into it, only for the skin to shatter.

”I guess thats the best I can do for now, huh? ” He grumbled.

”Oh well. It will do for now. ” He added.

He thought of something else next. If he could coat his skin with mana, shouldn he be able to do the same with objects?

He got up and ran out of his alcove. He scrambled around, looking for a branch, or anything that could do a makeshift sword.

He quickly spotted a snapped-off tree branch and picked it up. He ran back to his alcove.

The people outside saw him and looked at him weirdly but went back to what they were doing.

He practiced for another couple of hours, to no avail. He was sure it was doable, but he felt like something was eluding him.

He gave up for the day and went to bed. He was exhausted.

He logged off again to repeat his routine. Eat, shower, and then rest, dreaming of a day when he would stand head and shoulders over everyone.

He then logged back in for the last time of the weekend.