Basic lightning and void affinity cost 2 points each, while achieving the minimum affinity only gave one point. From the skills I gained a total of 4 feat points, meaning to get the basic versions I ended up spending a net 2 points. On the bright side, that means that there are higher kinds of affinities, and on the not so bright side it appears that those affinities cost more on a per upgrade basis.

Either way I was covered in baby goblins again… seriously they’re like newborn pups with how much they like to dogpile me, and it’s adorable. I was at total peace, the children in my lap, the smoke from the piles, the songs of birds in the air, the massive stone walls acting as a perpetual reminder of the fact that I’m trapped in a fantasy land, more smoke from the piles…

Actually, I don’t think there’s supposed to be that much smoke…

Carefully moving the infants behind me, I activated shadow foot, this time empowered by my new void affinity, and ran across the piles to reach the place the smoke was rising from. Luckily it seemed whatever the cause was didn’t spread, since it appeared that even though the piles were built so close to each other, they were still separated far enough that the fire couldn’t crawl from one to another, and with the walls at every side there wasn’t any worry of embers flying about. A part of me wondered exactly how much of that design was purposeful and how much was coincidental. If they were smart enough to design their communities like that, then they should be smart enough to build actual construction, right? The only reason why they wouldn’t is that they want to look like they live in a bunch of ruins and rubble, but the only reason they would do that would be so…

So nobody realizes they’re here…

based on how they interacted with the cyclops before, these seem like they aren’t that high up in the food chain… maybe they build their homes like that to make it look like they aren’t here? Because otherwise…

I finally saw what was causing the smoke. One of the piles was on fire, men dressed in chainmail standing over it with torches. The men carried small shields to fend off the trasgu that harried them with their small spears. One of the goblins in particular seemed to be darting about, rallying the others

“Vamos, hideputas, déjenme enseñarles el valor de los trasgu”

“كافر”

Good to see Milesio knew how to use that spear, keeping himself at reach while harassing the enemy. Not entirely sure which language that is, but given everything so far, I’m guessing Arabic. Stepping forward, I decided to try out a new trick, combining the usage of psionic power and magic power to cast a spell. Willing the electrons in the air to flow freely with psychic power, I began to guide them with magic to chain between all of the enemies. Using up about 30 points of PP and 20 points of MP, I managed to ionize the air between the enemies, casting a fairly famous spell from my D&D days

chain lightning spell unlocked, level 1 causes an electric charge to flow from one enemy to another enemy up to 10 meters away INT times

The electric bolt jumped from one enemy to another, mainly being attracted to their chainmail and surging through that. Of course while that save them from the worst of the electrocution, they now wore heated metal on top of thick padding, not the kind of thing that’s comfortable to wear outside of the arctic tundra… especially next to a fire…

After that little trick, I went around to bark a “friendly suggestion” at Milesio before ducking down myself.

“MUEVE TUS HOMBRES PARA ATRÁS, DEJA QUE ESTOS SE CANSEN PARA ATACAR!”

Of course the attackers were slightly distracted by me, running after me instead of attacking the goblins. Given that I showed off that I’m a mage, they probably want to focus me down before I cast another spell after the last one seemed to have failed. Ah, yes, run little men, run until your little hearts give out and your brains overheat… am I becoming a villain?

Anyway, activating shadow step and trying to use PP and MP to move a bit faster. This of course gave me an edge over the invaders in their heavy chainmail and heated under armor. Running back to the edge of the little village, I noticed they began to slow down. Looping around and back to the goblin ambush, and they were sweating buckets and heaving for breath right before the goblins came in.

I looked over at the men, who raised their shields to prepare to fight to the last.

“Bajen sus armas”

The leader looked me in the eye. There was a manic zeal in those eyes, as well as a determination as steely and sharp as a knife.

“حرق في الجحيم أنت شاذ”

No idea what that meant, but for some reason I doubt it was a declaration of surrender. They weren’t even surrounded? If this was reality they would have already retreated, right?

Killing a monster dragonfly or a brutal cyclops is one thing. Those just act as monsters with no other desire than to rip and tear. The goblins on the other hand, they took care of me, they gave me food, they let me in their village, while the people in front of me are people. Sure they may have attacked my friends and tried to kill me, but they are people. People are supposed to value their lives, so why are they standing there exhausted while they have a perfectly open avenue of retreat?

“Milesio, porque ellos atacaron?”

The goblin looked at me with tired eyes.

“Los almorávides atacan a todos los que no se someten ante ellos. Ya han destruido a dos aldeas, esta es la tercera. La razón porque construimos nuestras aldeas así, con la mayoría debajo de la tierra, es para escondernos de ellos. Ellos son mucho más grandes, liderados por el culebre en la torre central, mientras nosotros sólo tenemos nuestras aldeas en las afueras, siempre arriesgándonos para explorar nuevas rutas que nos lleven alrededor de su territorio”

So this wouldn’t be the first time, huh…

I started to think, my analysis skill working on overdrive. These were the outskirts, while further inward where more of these bastards lived, along with a cuelebre, which my monster hunter skill told me was a giant winged snake with fire breath. Remembering my history, the almoravids were a part of the moors in Spain before the reconquista, them being brought in when the moorish kingdoms that were already there were going through dangerous times. Then they began sacking and pillaging everything, including their moorish friends. It seemed that they came because the arquitectura of the area was themed on medieval Spain. Theoretically if I headed away from the center of the area I should eventually reach the real world… but can I really leave milesio here alone? I mean they lived without me before… on the run, but they lived. Of course… if I could “persuade” the almoravids to “chill the fuck down with the conquering” there wouldn’t be a problem now would there? It’s not that I’m having fun living in a video game with ultra realistic fantasy combat and 100% realistic graphics, it's that I can’t leave in good conscience knowing that those puppy like babies are in danger. Ok maybe I’m having a little bit of fun experimenting… with… magic…

It happened again, but this time was different. Instead of time speeding up, it slowed down. Just enough for me to see the arrow careening into milesio’s skull in slow motion. Of course, I activated ki boost and flung myself to try and catch the arrow, though at this rate it would reach milesio before I reached it. I started to use MP and PP, trying to push myself just a little bit further, stretching out as the arrow got slower and slower…

minimum time affinity achieved minimum space affinity achieved

synchronization 100%

Minimum dimensional affinity achieved dimensional affinity is the result of combining space and time affinity, boosting the effect of both attributes by a large margin, and all other affinities by a small margin.

And that distracted me so I ended up with the arrow impaled in my hand instead of catching it between my fingers… FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

The arrow came from a horseman in the distance. I couldn’t close my hand right now, so relying on my pain resistance and the fact that pain seems to be ignored while “in combat” I pushed the arrow all the way through, leaving me with the stigmata of a hole in my hand. That horseman can die…

I summoned KI, PP, MP, and even HP thanks to blood affinity, to my hand. Then I began to add the elemental affinities, the burning power of fire, the swiftness of wind, the weight of earth, the flow of water, the shock of lightning, the entropy of the void, and the cosmic power of the dimension. I felt as almost all of my pools hit zero, HP floating just a little bit above 5. I felt weakened, last thing I heard before blacking out was the goblins war cries…

When I woke up, i found myself on a bed. A part of me assumed it was all a dream until I opened my eyes and noticed it was decidedly not my dorm room. It looks like the goblins carried me here after I blacked out. A few different screens were awaiting me

aether blast skill unlocked, level 1 by combining all the worldly elements of light, darkness, space, time, fire, water, wind and earth, you generate quintessence, and using the incredible power of this quintessence, you blow your enemies to bits. minimum aether affinity achieved by combining all the worldly elements into their perfect form, you have discovered aether, which now permeates everything you do. Level UP x2!! Name:Aether Cael Level: 7 HP: 5/84

MP: 0/119

PP: 0/70

KI: 0/84

STR:12 DEX:10 CON:11 INT:17 WIL:10 CHA:7 Unused stat points: 2 Status effects: soul exhaustion Skills:fire resistance 2, pain resistance 1, mana bolt 1, medical magic 4, ki healing 1, psionic healing 1, ki boost 1, ignition spell 2, meditation 2, shadow foot 1, ESP 1, Mana sense 1, ki scan 1, analysis 1, chain lightning 1, aether blast 1, Feats:Basic regeneration, basic magic affinity, basic fire affinity, basic blood affinity, basic ki affinity, basic Psionic affinity, basic water affinity, basic earth affinity, basic air affinity, monster hunter, friend of trasgu, basic lightning affinity, basic void affinity, basic dimensional affinity, minimum aether affinity. Feat points: 3

Well, that aether affinity had my name on it from the start, didn’t it. But in all seriousness, nearly all of my pools were at 0, and not regenerating due to “soul exhaustion”

Checking over that with analysis told me that it meant my soul was “full”. All of my affinities started taking up too much space, so now my resource pools refused to regenerate. Of course after feeling my affinities I wasn’t so worried. The aether affinity was draining the other elemental affinities to grow itself, freeing up space in the process. As for the aether affinity itself? Well if before I felt the elements around me as a masterful painting, now I felt them as a tempest of light, sound and color, everything in its perfect place, yet still moving to a better one. It stopped being static and felt… alive.

After that I checked my available feats and was… surprised…

Available Feats: Beginner magic affinity (4 points) Beginner blood affinity (4 points) Beginner ki affinity (4 points) Beginner Psionic affinity (4 points) Beginner fire affinity (4 points) Beginner water affinity (4 points) Beginner earth affinity (4 points) Beginner air affinity (4 points) commander (10 points) Basic giant slayer (5 points) Magical healthcare (100 points) Psychometabolism (100 points) Ki cultivation (100 points)

I didn’t have enough points for a single one… maybe it’s because I focused so much on unlocking affinities that I ignored skills, but… anyway I’m not going to be able to do much about it in my situation, so might as well meditate to speed along the process of the aether eating the other affinities… wow, the meditation and analysis skills already leveled up… maybe I should save up for one like magical healthcare? The ki cultivation one seems interesting, adding a point to my will every level up and letting me add half of my will to my physical stats for the purposes of my abilities like strength.

I took a moment to plan out my abilities. Right now, will and intelligence were my most used stats, followed by strength and constitution. Those more expensive feats seem like they’ll let me use the former in exchange for the later, so it may be wise to add to the former. Adding the two points to will, I went back to meditation, thinking of new skills I could make to get feat points fast

“Cid, has despertado”

Milesio came into the room, holding a bowl of pork soup.

“Mi nombre es aether, no Cid. Milesio, qué pasó después que me desmaye?”

“Cid significa señor, después que lanzaste el proyectil a el caballero enemigo, los almorávides decidieron huir. Parecía que tenían refuerzos, pero al ver su comandante hecho trozos, decidieron que necesitaban más”

So after seeing their commanding officer being destroyed in front of them made them decide that it wasn’t worth the risk?

Either way, it looks like I should get training soon.