The Conciege
patreon
Gifted -Chapter 15 - 1% Mastery
🕑 Added 2024-01-23 05:45:21 +0000 UTCIt was late into the hours of the night, or early into the hours of the morning, depending on what type of person was reading the clock.
Melmarc had fallen asleep on the dining table while coming to terms with the fact that he wasn’t a bad person. At least Dorthna hoped that was what had happened.
He sat on his favorite couch, staring at the screen of the television. The news was narrating the events of a Chaos run that had happened in Johannesburg where giant monsters that looked like a mix between a great Dane and a spider had caused a lot of damage.
There was no sound, only video, and he wasn’t reading lips or anything of the likes. He only knew the contents because he’d already watched it the previous afternoon.
The kids always assumed he loved the couch because it was comfortable and long enough to take his full length if he chose to lie down. While those were good qualities, they were not the reason the couch was his favorite.
It was his favorite simply because it was in his favorite position. And he’d been the one to put it there.
He opened his hand and placed an object on the couch.
It was an origami. He’d been teaching Ninra how to make one ever since she’d returned for the holiday, and now she was making them as complex as she could.
She was a fast learner, but she was slow learning the origami.
The reason was simple. She wasn’t necessarily learning it for herself. She had a friend back in school who wanted to learn how to make a paper origami and she wanted to do something nice for her. And being able to teach the friend was something nice.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough of a reason to get her undivided determination.
Still, at the rate she was going, she would master it by the time she went back to college. So it wasn’t bad progress.
The origami was of a knight holding a spear, and it had taken her over twenty minutes to make it.
Dorthna placed it on the couch slightly crumpled, and it unfolded itself slowly until it was returned to the condition he’d received it in.
When it stood straight, shaped to be a knight holding a spear with the tip to the sky and its butt on the ground it started a slow turn like a ballerina in a music box.
A notification flashed in front of his eyes.
[Skill Eye of the World functioning at 1%]
[familiar mana detected is 0.002%]
The second line wasn’t very surprising.
Most people left an imprint of themselves on whatever they handled for long enough. For those without classes, the amount of mana their imprint left behind was usually at a low level. Eye of the World was a skill that allowed him see the very structure of a thing. It broke it down to the most minute component.
Newly Gifted usually left a reading of about 2.1%. And the more powerful the Gifted, the higher the percentage left behind. Enov tended to leave behind 46% which was too much for his purposes.
In fact, most Gifted left mana levels that were too high for him to work with. And at one percent, unfamiliar mana would be difficult to use. And if he waited too long, there was either nothing left or too much contamination.
At one percent, Eye of the World could only detect the mana percentage, though. Once upon a time, it could’ve detected a lot more. But that was once upon a time.
Now this was what it had been reduced to. He tried not to let it weigh him down as he went to work, activating another skill.
[You have used skill Hand of God]
[Skill Hand of God is functioning at 1% Mastery]
Beside the still turning origami, another image fazed in and out of reality. It was a kaleidoscope of colors. White with blue hues and purple and teal. It worked to solidify itself and Dorthna poured all his focus into it.
After a few seconds of focus, the image dipped into nonexistence.
Dorthna let out a sigh.
[You have failed]
[Attempt to recreate item [Origami] was unsuccessful]
[Try Again?]
Yes/No
The origami stopped turning on the couch and fell. He let it.
A slight anger swelled within him. In it was a touch of regret and self-pity. He swallowed it down just as easily as it had risen.
He did not pity himself. He would not. Instead, he took a deep breath and activated Eye of the World again.
[You have used skill Eye of the World]
[Skill Eye of the World functioning at 1% Mastery]
[familiar mana detected is 0.00001%]
He let out a reluctant sigh and turned away from the notification and the fallen origami. He dismissed the notification with a thought and rested his head back on the couch. The mana percentage was too little for him to do anything with it.
He stared at the ceiling.
His mind went to his personal information and he paused.
You do this all the time and you know it’s bad for you, he told himself. Nothing good ever comes out of it.
He knew that, just the way he knew he shouldn’t have kept on fighting all those years ago. But he was stubborn, and he pulled up his personal information.
[Name: Dorthna Jayden Black]
[Class: Mage]
[Rank: Unranked]
[Growth Potential: Unranked]
…
[Conditional Status debuff detected: Word of ????]
…
[Conditional Status Debuff: Word of ????]
???? has applied status effect Word of ???? on you.
All skills have been restricted to 1% Mastery.
Class rank has been reset to rank status as at the moment of attainment.
[Condition of Debuff lifting]
Slay ???? or surpass ????
He had a third skill he could keep active for a long time without truly expending too much mana. Its basic use was to hold inanimate objects in a moment of existence for extended periods of time, and he’d had it on for most of the day. He was ready to deactivate it now.
He got up from the couch and walked over to one of the side-stools. It had a retractable compartment, and he opened it. He looked at Melmarc and confirmed the boy was still asleep before bringing out what he’d kept inside the compartment.
It was a biscuit wrap, folded up neatly.
Melmarc had given it to him this afternoon and he’d preserved it with the skill ever since. Now, he took it out of the compartment and placed it on top of the side-stool. The wrap was opposing proof of so many things the boy was worried about.
[You have used skill Eye of the World]
[Skill Eye of the World functioning at 1% Mastery]
…
[familiar mana detected is 1.00009%]
Comments
Adurna
Don't take too long on the skill reveals for Mel now ;)
