“Sure, just get the dark magic powers. Good choice, idiot.”
Jason felt the smoke reach him with the same scalding heat he had felt from the cube. He screamed as the black steam forced its way over his face, invading his mouth, nose and eyes. At some point he passed out from the pain, his next sensation being waking up on the floor.
Sitting up, he probed his face with his hands. The sensation of pain was completely gone and nothing was sensitive to the touch. His eyes seemed fine and he realised he could see the room as if it weren’t dark at all. The colours were a little washed out, but he could clearly see into the parts of the room previously cast in shadow.
You have absorbed [Dark Essence]. You have absorbed 1 of 4 essences.
Progress to iron rank: 25% (1/4 essences).
[Dark Essence] has bonded to your [Speed] attribute, changing your [Speed] from normal to [Iron 0]. Master all dark essence abilities to increase your [Speed] attribute.
You have awakened the dark essence ability [Midnight Eyes]. You have awakened 1 of 5 dark essence abilities.
There was a mirror on one of the walls. It was huge, double the size of even full-length mirrors Jason had seen. There was a spiderweb crack coming up from the bottom, but mostly it was fine. He moved over to it, checking his face for burn marks. It was a little hard to tell, under the encrusted blood and tunnel grime, but he appeared unmarked. His eyes weren’t even bloodshot. The rest of him was just as dirty as his face, his skinny frame smeared with filth. The quest reward pants, originally white, were stained to the point that they looked like camouflage.
It was the first time he’d gotten a look at himself since arriving. He’d been imagining himself looking like an action hero, heading into act three with masculine dirt stains reflecting enemies bested and challenges overcome. Instead he just looked grubby and ragged, the skin visible under the filth pale and taut. His Japanese facial features, inherited from his father, were even sharper than usual, making his face look gaunt. His bald head and absent eyebrows made him look manic and unhinged. His skinny body wasn’t flattered by all the muck on it either, looking less action-movie and more refugee-documentary.
He sighed.
“Alright, let’s take a look at my shiny new magic power.”
Ability: [Midnight Eyes] (Dark)
Special ability (perception)
Base cost: None.
Cooldown: None.
Current rank: Iron 0 (00%)
Effect (iron): See through darkness.
“At least it isn’t complicated.”
He looked around the room some more, the shadows no longer hiding anything from him. It wasn’t like a low-light filter; the lamp didn’t interfere with his sight at all. Its light was more like a beam that brought things into full colour, compared to the muted look of the areas covered in shadow.
“That’s cool, I guess,” he said. “A little disappointing for a magic power, but I guess I’m not getting fireball from a dark essence.”
He looked over at the table and the round stone still where he left it. The magic stone of something-or-other would apparently give him another power, so he walked over and picked it up.
You have 4 unawakened essence abilities.
You are able to absorb [Awakening Stone of the Stars]
Absorb Y/N?
He thought about the excruciating pain that came from absorbing the essence. On the other hand, there didn’t seem to be any after-effects, and he did get a magic power out of it. Before he used it, though, he made some preparations. One of the chairs he had seen scattered around the room was a deep, comfortable-looking armchair. It was extremely heavy, but he managed to drag it out from under a fallen bookshelf and flip it back upright. It was a huge wooden affair with plush, stitched-in cushioning. He was sick of falling over in pain.
Jason sat in the chair, the awakening stone in his hand.
“Absorb.”
Rather than turn hot and dissolve into smoke, the awakening stone grew cold before growing soft and melting in his hand like ice cream. It seeped into his hand, filling his arm with a bone deep chill that once again left him yelling out in pain. It was not on the same scale as the essence. He kept control of his faculties while frantically shaking the arm that felt like it had been plunged into ice water. Eventually the bone-deep chill receded, and the pain passed, leaving him sprawled in the chair, heaving in breaths.
You have awakened the dark essence ability [Cloak of Night]. You have awakened 2 of 5 dark essence abilities.
Jason could feel a change within himself. It was something new, yet weirdly familiar, like when he was reading a language he’d never seen before. The power was inside him, as if it had always been there, waiting to be awoken. He knew the power instinctively. It was poised and ready, eager to be used.
He stood up and moved back to the mirror before using his new power. It responded immediately, as easy and natural as lifting his hand. Dark energy suddenly engulfed his body, hiding his visage in the mirror. It wasn’t disturbing at all, but felt cool and refreshing. The energy coalesced into the form of a voluminous cloak, enshrouding his body and hiding his head within a deep, impenetrable hood. The cloak seemed more like an object of living darkness than fabric, dotted with tiny points of light. They shifted and twinkled, tiny stars in the night sky of the shadowy garb.
Jason could feel the cloak, not like a piece of clothing, but like one of his limbs. He could feel its power. With a thought, the stars grew brighter to the point that they outshone the lamp. Then they dimmed until he couldn’t even see himself in the mirror, disappearing into the shadows.
Ability: [Cloak of Night] (Dark)
Conjuration (darkness, light, dimension).
Base cost: Moderate mana to conjure.
Cooldown: None.
Current rank: Iron 0 (00%).
Effect (iron): Conjures a magical cloak that can alter the wearer. Offers limited physical protection. Can generate light, or blend into shadows. Cloak can reduce the weight of the wearer for a low mana-per-second cost, allowing reduced falling speed and water walking. Cannot be given or taken away, although effects can be extended to others in very close proximity.
“Water walking,” Jason read. “Now that’s a magic power.”
He looked around the room.
“That I can’t try out right now.”
He instinctively understood how to use the weight reducing aspect of the ability and hopped lightly into the air. He went up much higher than he normally would and dropped back down slower.
“It’s like being on the moon.”
He bounced around the room with a goofy grin on his face until he remembered the dead body.
“Not the time to be having fun,” he scolded himself.
He experimented further with the magical cloak. He could see through it as if it wasn’t there, so even with his head covered it didn’t obstruct his vision. He could make any or all of it lose physical substance, so if he wanted to grab it he could, or his hand could pass through, unobstructed.
“Nifty.”
He could make it vanish with a thought and pull it out again, which he tried several times. After the third attempt he suddenly felt woozy and had to sit down. He went back to the armchair and fell into it.
Your mana is low.
“I’m out of mana already? Also, I have mana? Is there a mana bar or something?”
Two horizontal bars appeared at the periphery of his vision. One was blue, but mostly empty, while the other was orange and about two-thirds full. Next to them was a silhouette of a person that was mostly green, but the head area and the left arm were yellow.