Chapter 014: Empty Head

We walked until Suzabeth could no longer bear it, even while holding onto my shoulder.

The sun had set.

We had done our best and decided so set up camp here, underneath a bigger tree.

A single spike slug was waiting on a branch, which I happily killed, putting me back to 150 points.

I couldn’t wait to get into the tent and go on a buying spree with my apostle slate.

With so many points, there were many things I could get.

There was something I especially wanted. The “Mana Organ”, which I hoped would let me regenerate mana much faster than now, similar to the goblin mage.

That goblin could regenerate mana twice as fast as I could.

Losing to a goblin was absolutely unacceptable.

As our group’s tents are set up, we gather around, sitting on a cloth on top of the soil.

Claire starts speaking. “So, how is everyone holding up? It’s been a rather tough week… No, it’s still six days. It just feels like a month went by.”

Claire’s sentiment wasn’t only her own, as everyone in the group acquiesces in some way, with Danielo grunting and Raquel nodding.

I could only look down to my bag and take a swig of water.

We talked about the fight, and finally about who would take on the night guard.

I didn’t feel too bad, my physical stamina filled to the brim. However my mind was numb, it needed sleep.

While I don’t say anything, Suzy holds my hand in hers gently. She speaks to the other apostles.

“Edward’s really tired. I’ll keep watch for him…”

Lin Hao replies with his suggestion. “Alright. How about you take the first watch, Raquel goes next, then I do the rest? I’ve already slept a bit, so with a few more hours I won’t be able to sleep anyway.”

We eat a simple dinner and I retire to the tent.

I take my apostle slate.

(Mana Organ 1!)

I spend 50 points.

I feel a tingling sensation in my head. Then my mana regeneration jumps up considerably, more than tripling.

(I’m now regenerating more than that goblin!)

I search for other skills I wanted to acquire earlier.

Mental Power Regeneration 1. Telekinetic Shield. Enhanced Dexterity. Chant-less Magic 1.

They cost a total of 65 points.

Knowledge fills my mind on how to use my mental power to block objects on a defined imaginary surface, and how to skip chants for level one spells.

A wave of tingles goes through my body.

I feel amazing. My body feels twice more precise. I try to clench my fish and my muscles respond almost twice faster than normal.

It’s like my previous self had lag time in every movement.

My reflexes are that much faster, signals go through my nerves at inhuman speeds.

(This is really good. I’ll be able to dodge and fight much better now.)

Not only that, but I quickly felt my mental power regenerating like crazy, three times faster than before.

I look for Anti-Magic skills, searching for the spell that the goblin mage used.

I find a bunch of costly passive skills, active skills that use chi, holy power and even demonic power. The one I wanted however, Anti-Magic Shield spell 1, costs 100 points. I could see how it was worth it.

With 35 points left, I search through various skills with the slate.

The flight spell and the catgirl statue picked my interest the most… And the encyclopedia?

Anyway.

Looking at random skills made me think about what to get next.

I could get a weapon mastery skill that would let me use my sword when I run out of either mana or mental power. That way I could still fight while I waited to regenerate energy. It would make good use of the stamina regeneration skill I bought before.

The obvious drawback was that I could get hurt with no healing methods other to bandage up, wait or buy a potion.

I could buy either Skin, Flesh or Bone Strengthening 1 to go with it however.

Or perhaps Enhanced Endurance 1.

After thinking a while with my eyes closing themselves from time to time, I decide to get Sword Mastery 1 with Enhanced Thinking Speed 1.

I imagined myself using my reflexes and general speed to use telekinetic shielding in the middle of a sword fight.

(Alright, that seems nice… I’ll get a healing skill next.)

I buy the two skills.

I’m now down to five points.

(I should have kept a few more for emergency potions… Sigh.)

…

…

I wake up.

I feel refreshed like I’ve slept ten hours.

I look around. I sense and hear Suzy sleeping deeply. Not only that, it’s still dark outside, not a sliver of light shines through the tent. I quickly check my phone. The screen lights up slowly.

(Come on, go faster. It’s only midnight. How come? I don’t feel like I’ve slept only three hours. Every single one of my various energies are filled to the brim, but that’s thanks to my regeneration skills. I’ll need more capacity type skills later as well. I’m bored now. Why am I up so early? I wonder how much faster I can think and how well I can use my sword. I might need to buy a better sword with the slate, but I’ll have to wait until I get in the white room, unless I tell the others about the slate. We’ve been through a lot together. How about I use my phone’s chronometer and time how long it takes to count to ten? That could do it.)

I load up the chronometer app with my slow phone.

I turn on the chronometer and start counting in my head.

(Wait what?… Is it broken? No, it’s not. I’m just fast. Oh I know, it’s thanks to the enhanced dexterity that I can move faster than before, which is why I didn’t notice my own body moving slowly.)

I try to relax my mind and the chronometer’s speed returns to normal in my view.

(So this thinking speed can be turned down back to normal…)

It turns out my thoughts took half as fast to form with the passive skill, which was a huge boon for battle situations.

It meant I could think leisurely in the middle of a fight.

I swish my hand back and forth, it moves quickly and makes a lot more noise than I’m used to.

(I’m fast as fuck, boy!)

But why don’t I feel sleepy? Is it due to Mental Power Regeneration?

(Sigh, I have so many skills…)

I look at my interface.

This screen had become quite something.

(But now that I don’t sleep nearly as much as the others, what should I do?)

I could practice using my new skills for now, but later?

I still had progress on my telekinesis to make.

Could I hunt monsters on my own in secret? I could die if I’m out of luck.

I definitely shouldn’t do so until I stack up a bunch of resistance passives.

…

I stealthily tested out each new skill I had. With the help of the detailed explanations from the shop, I had a good understanding of everything.

The mana organ was a tiny crystal inside my brain that consumed a tiny amount of stamina and mental power over time, only a percent of my regeneration. In exchange it highly increased my total mana capacity and regeneration.

My enhanced dexterity did clear changes to my body. The speed at which my muscles could clench to their upmost power, my reflexes, my accuracy and my stamina all became better.

Chant-less Magic not only let me skip the chants of each spell, it enabled me to rapid fire magic better than before. Still, I had to think of which spell to use in my mind. If it took half a second between each Magic Missiles or Bullets before, I could now shoot ten in that amount of time.

Sword Mastery gave me intuition and reflexes on the use of a sword. But I also felt like I could use any close ranged weapon better. My Accumulation Martial Arts also combined with it, making my sword even more dangerous.

Enhanced Thinking Speed had halved the time I need to think about anything. This gave me a slow-motion view of the world. This would help in battles and during stressful situations like exams… I could suppress this skill if I was calm, returning back to a normal state.

Telekinetic Shield let me conjure an impenetrable surface, shaped the way I wanted. I could make a shield, a small boat, a helmet around my head but not a sharp object like a sword or a wire. My mental power would be drained each time the shield is hit, and very slightly over time as well.

I now had many skills. I just needed one more to heal Alice, to fulfill the promise I made. It wouldn’t be a waste of points in any case, especially when Claire had trouble keeping up with the injuries we were sustaining.

I get out of my tent and see Raquel’s head pocking out of hers.

It was still her turn.

I walk over closer to her.

She says “Hey, what’s up?”.

“Nothing much, I slept enough. What about you? Anything popped out until now?”

“Just a slime, a deer and a rabbit or something. Nothing dangerous.”

“I see…” I sit down next to her, outside her tent.

“…”

Times passes by as we listen to the bird songs and the ruffling of leaves.

“Hey, Edward.”

“What?”

“Can you tell me the story of how you saved Suzabeth? I want to hear it from you.”

“… It’s quite gory. Oh well, we’re all the same with this I guess. After I entered the black door, I had arrived at the bottom of the hill where Suzabeth’s house was.”

“I suppose we all arrive at the same place, at the same time…”

“Right. I had guessed that the house was where I had to save the woman from the bandits. I saw a few men take chickens from the pen. Afterwards I climbed the hill from the other side of the front door. I heard the cries of pain from Suzabeth, so I wielded my bow and shot bandits from the back window one after the other.”

“So you just killed them all like that?”

“Unfortunately, no. I got five, and injured a bunch of others. Most of the remaining bandits had ran and escaped into the forest. I went inside the house and killed another with a kick and another arrow. I then saw Suzabeth for the first time, in bad condition. She went and finished another bandit’s suffering using the short sword I now use.”

“Suzabeth did…? I couldn’t imagine…”

“Well, yes. She then almost tried to kill herself, but to keep her alive, I told her I needed her to repay me. I helped her heal with my purification spell. As we spoke, she thought I was a priest or a paladin of Ellabizina.”

“I see… But wait, you could already speak to her?”

“Right, I had already bought two language skills before the start of the mission. Luckily one of those was the first level of Common.”

“That’s quite different from me… And then?”

“Then, we slept side by side. The next day I went into the forest and killed off the rest. Later, I took care of Suzabeth to help her heal, although that was to increase the points I would get. I stayed with her day after day, helping her around the house. She became attached to me over time. When I decided to go, she swore to Ellabizina to serve me forever. That’s when a diamond-shaped mark appeared on her, then she could see the white door and go through it. We went through and there she was…”

“Then you took her to your home and started dating?” Raquel bites her lip.

“No.”

“Huh?” Raquel shows confusion.

“Suzabeth can’t go to Earth, she stays in the white room and time stops when I leave. We spent a few days together in there, and got closer…” It’s quite embarrassing to say so much, so I ask Raquel about her story with Suzabeth. “What about you, Raquel? How did your mission go?”

Raquel looks down.

“I’ll never forget, or forgive myself. I did not have ranged weapons. I had only bought a dagger, increased my dexterity and enhanced my body. So when I went to lure the bandits to attack them one by one in the woods, I got pursued by eight of them. When my stamina gave out, they encircled me. I fought as hard as I could and killed two, but then I was beaten down and tied up. In the morning, Suzabeth would try to speak with me, but I couldn’t understand much of anything. I called her Suza and she called me Quel. We became more than best friends, we only had each other. One night, after a bandit had finished beating me, Suza took care of me and when she kissed my cheek, I kissed her on the lips. That’s when I felt like I had to help her at least as much as she helped me, but I could barely move.”

Raquel stops speaking and looks up.

“I see. How did you get out of that situation?”

“… Three days later, I had regained enough strength to break one scum’s neck. I went through the window, then on top of the roof. When one bandit went out, I jumped and killed him too. He had my dagger and a knife on him. I took those and went to kill the others. I threw the knife at the first who came through the front door then I charged inside. It’s all a blur now… The white door appeared and I just went through it.”

Raquel has tears flowing on her tanned face. She stays silent.

(In other words, she got raped for four days straight, got beat up from time to time and developed a relationship with Suzabeth?… Then she went berserk. She’s quite dangerous. Still, I feel bad for her.)

We listen to the sounds of nature.

Raquel’s head falls a bit on its own and straightens back up. “I couldn’t say any of this before… I feel a bit better now.”

“That’s good. I’ll do the rest of the night watch for you, Raquel. Go to sleep.”

“… Un… Thanks, Edward.”

She retreats inside her tent and closes it before going to sleep.

She’s had it hard. It’s no wonder why she had become completely crazy by the time we first met.

I watch over our encampment.

A bird jumps from a branch to another, flapping its wings a little. It doesn’t have mana.

The jungle is quite tranquil for now.

…

An hour goes by until I detect a single strong mana signature flying over.

I get up and ready myself. My brain speeds up and I enter the slow-motion world.

A little pixie appears in view.

The moment it sees me, it looks over, interested. It flies towards me.

I remember the last time we encountered these. It was terrible. No matter how cute, it needs to die.

I launch a double-powered Magic Missile.

It eats up a fifth of my new mana pool.

The missile flies quite fast towards the pixie, which tries to fly away in panic.

The missiles changes direction and covers the entire pixie. The missile disappears.

The pixie stops flapping its wings and falls down.

I’ve gained 12 points.

That sure took a bunch of mana, but it was well worth it.

I walk over to the pixie’s tiny corpse.

It’s a pity to kill a cute figurine-like winged girl.

But then her face changes, it splits in half to reveal a crystal that’s tightly held up by two tiny arms inside the pixie’s head.

I step back in disgust.

(These pixies have six limbs! And a fake head!)

The crystal was clear and reflected the bits of moonlight that shined through the canopy.

I grab a fallen twig and use it to poke the crystal.

The tiny arms fall to the side and let the crystal roll down to the ground.

I grab it. I feel a small stream of mana entering me, which quickly stops.

(That’s just like the stream of mana I get from my Mana Organ. Can I use this?)

I go back closer to the camp and try different things with the mana organ.

I send mana inside. It fills up with it but then just comes back inside me.

I send mental power inside, it doesn’t react.

If I could send stamina inside, I would, but I don’t have such a skill.

Still, even just for the crystal’s beauty, it had to be valuable.

Once we reach civilization, I ought to be able to sell it.

…

The rest of that night was devoid of any more fights.

I let Lin Hao sleep.

When he woke up on his own, he saw the time and angrily opened up his tent, before calming down when he saw me.

“What happened to my turn?” He asks me.

“Don’t worry about it. Just do it tonight. I slept enough and took over after Raquel.”

“Alright. Thanks, brother Edward.”

(Is this the army camaraderie that’s talked about so much?)

“No problem, brother Lin Hao.”

“Just call me brother Hao.”

“Alright, brother Hao.”

Since Lin Hao was the strongest after me, although he could output even more damage using his gun, and we fought side to side so many times, I didn’t have an issue considering him my brother-in-arms now.

Between Raquel telling me her story in the last tutorial mission and brother Hao’s trust, I felt like it was time to tell them about the apostle slate.

I wait for everyone to wake up and while we eat breakfast, I tell them along with a white lie.

“Everyone, I have to tell you guys that last time I was in the white room, I bought something called an Apostle Slate. It lets me use points during the trial…”

Danielo replies with envy. “Oh damn that’s useful. Lend it to me a bit!”

I scratch my chin. “Oh, I’m pretty sure it can’t work with other people… Well, give it a try.”

I hand my apostle slate to him after showing him where to press. He tries to do the same but the slate doesn’t respond.

“Damn. How much did it cost?” He asks.

“Just one point.” I reply. “You should all get one, obviously. I tried it before, but you can even buy potions with it. Still, depending on those is really bad. It would stunt growth too much.”

“So why did you tell us now? You could have lent us potions before in case we had a tough battle like yesterday’s…” Claire criticizes me.

“That’s because things changed. The jungle is more dangerous as we go and we now trust each other. With the trials being what they are, it made it hard to trust you all. I pretty much realize now that I want you all to survive, or we might not make it out.” I explain, pouring out my heart.

Raquel nods and backs me up. “It’s fine, Edward. I was much worse. In any case, we’ve all pretty much hidden from each other our abilities and items.”

“I didn’t!” Says Claire.

(That’s true.)

“Well, besides Claire, we did do so. But now it all feels pointless. How about we share what we’ve learned until now?” I propose.

…

And that we did.

Lin Hao explained how chi worked. It mostly used his stamina, but also his made him sleepy and dizzy once overused.

I surmised it combined both mental power and mana together with stamina to create chi.

Claire explained how her abilities used not mana but divine power, which increased with each wearable item she bought and each time her belief and trust in her god Guri increased.

When she used divine power, she could feel herself lose it, but she had otherwise no symptoms from divine power deprivation.

Raquel explained how she only bought water element spells as well as typical thief-type skills. The reason was that for her, all water element related skills were cheaper than the others.

Danielo confirmed this when he told us the prices of the magic skills he had remembered. They were cheaper for him than us. Still, Raquel had a slightly better discount on the water element spells.

Evidently, Raquel had a Water God patron god while Danielo had a more general magic-related patron god.

Using my apostle slate and searching for different skills, I figured out that Lin Hao’s god gave chi and martial arts skills discounts, while Claire’s god gave health-related discounts.

We then started arguing about the effects of the class we chose.

After a while, I had my own conclusions.

First, class existed to create our team.

Second, it was a way to specialize ourselves. We had a higher likelihood of choosing certain skills due to the chosen class giving intuition towards them.

I could figure out how to use magic and psychic powers faster than others with my magician class.

Raquel had talent with using light and fast weapons, sneaking and using her hands in finicky manners.

Claire could intuitively know how badly hurt we would get and how to channel her divine power better.

Danielo could learn how to spot enemies, move in combat and whack enemies quicker.

Lin Hao thought he had managed to adapt to the bow I lent him faster than he would otherwise have.

The effects were subtle.

With this exchange of information, I inform them about the uses of the Interface skill that lets you use additional search features, reminds you of the system equipment you have on you and the skills you’ve bought.

I talk about what I know about mental power. That is, how it moves, the consequences of getting deprived of it and getting sleepy, or regenerating it faster and sleeping less.

I talk about the various mana related skills I’ve gotten like the Mana Organ, the regeneration and capacity skills.

The conversation turns to the effects of attributes, namely, Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, Endurance and Charisma, which you could all increase with the ‘Enhanced X’ series of passive skills.

It cost me only ten points, while the others paid double for them.

It seemed the Goddess of Accumulation had also accumulated attributes and that gave me the related discount.

Strength increased the amount of weight you could lift at most and gave some toughness.

Dexterity increased muscle and reflexes’ speed, accuracy and stamina recovery.

Intelligence increased thinking speed, calculation ease, the ability to split focus and some mental power regeneration.

Wisdom helped memorize, find insight and increase mental power capacity.

Endurance could make you tougher, flexible, and inexhaustible.

Charisma would increase charm, beauty and social skills or EQ.

This strongly tempted me to get not only the Enhanced Charisma skill, but all of them.

They were discounted for me anyway.

I even had 17 points.

(Still, I’ll wait for a healing skill for real this time! I’ll get Heal Prayer 1 so that I finally use divine power.)

…

The day went on and I gained 6 points.

That night, my watch shift came just after Claire but I wasn’t tired enough to sleep.

Plus, I worried about a pixie putting her to sleep and attracting a wave of monsters.

So I stayed with her and we talked.

“So, what’s up.” I say just to pass the time.

“Hum… Nothing much… Hey Edward?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you have a girlfriend? In the real world, I mean, besides Suzabeth.”

“Almost. It’s not official yet.”

“I see…”

“What about you?” I ask her.

“… I have a boyfriend, but… I don’t know. I don’t feel the same way since, this…”

“Oh… I get it.”

“You do?” Claire replies with mild interest.

“Yes. It’s quite simple human psychology. You can’t rely on him to help you at all, so why would you like him? Hell, after this trial, you could probably kill him in one hit. He isn’t reliable anymore, am I right?”

“… That’s not wrong. Maybe it’s also because I don’t see him much, it feels like I’m closer to you five instead. It’s been a really long time since we’ve started the trial…”

“Yes… Hopefully it lasts long enough to get as many points as possible. But I’m also really tired from this jungle.”

“You’re really all about getting points, huh?”

“Well… Aren’t points the basis of our survival? You never know when we will be separated, whether by accident here, or in the next trial.”

“Yes, I know… I was just joking.”

“Hah, you have no sense of humor, Claire!”

“What!? Take that back, Edward!”

We continued talking and joking around in the jungle’s darkness.

Before Claire went to sleep, she talked a bit more.

“Thanks, Edward. I feel better now. See you tomorrow?”

“Sure, Claire. Good night, have nice dreams.”

“Humph! As if! I’m definitely getting more nightmares…” She says as she enters and zips her tent back.

(I truly am tired of this jungle… It’s about time we find a village. If only I could buy a map or a GPS. Sadly, we don’t know where we are.)

…