7.1

“Tell me, child, is there a single thing more crippling than absolute freedom? For is it not a waste of choice, if one does not consider every option? And is it not a waste of thought, if a choice is never made?” - Verron Pluton the Suffering Sage.

You have unlocked the Dimensional Gate Feat (9SP)

You have learned the following spells from the Interweaved Dimensions Spell List:

T2: Misty Step

T2: Summon Wisp

T3: Create Wisp

I hummed as I watched my available Stat Points go down to zero.

In front of me, Celine set down a lighted candle between us as she pulled close the curtains, leaving us in the dark.

“Why did you do that?”

She nervously smiled at me as she sat down on the floor with me. “Kinda want to set the mood.”

I didn’t comment as she pulled out a book and set it down between us.

“So you want to throw a Fireball? A Comprehensive Guide to Magic for the Intellectually Deficient by Magus Smar Da Ten Yu,” I said.

Celine nodded.

“Magic is just based on cost and will,” she told me. “All different schools can help with casting, but they just change the process of will to be a cost one. You pay several years of training and stick to tradition to get magic without the need to exert great will.”

I nodded, the candle flickering between us.

“My baba told me that mana only acts as currency, an artificial thing that originally had no value, and only acted as a means to exchange for magic. That was the original intention of the mage Manatheres who created mana.”

“But that changed.”

She nodded in agreement, “That changed, when Manatheres ascended to godhood, he lost all will, and mana became a worldly decree. Suddenly something worthless had value. Suddenly mana could become something entirely on its own.”

She smiled at both the wisps, Greenie and Yellow.

“I don’t know how to specifically cast Summon or Create Wisp, but I know how it works.”

“Then let me demonstrate, with my first cast,” I told her, raising one of my fingers. “Summon Wisp.”

There was a brief gathering of power, Yellow craned its head forward to look closer as above my finger, eight glowing translucent bulbs of energy gathered.

Four were blue, made of pure mana, two were black, of mana tainted by darkness, one was fiery, born of the small candle flame between us.

The last, briefly gathered into an appearance covered in glowing words and runes, before it dissipated.

“Four unaspected, three darkness, one fire and a knowledge that couldn’t fully manifest,” Celine noted, “pretty good for a first try.”

“Not my own skill,” I replied, “it’s just the Traveller magic easing things.”

The wisps floated above my hand, curiously looking around the room.

“Knowledge wisps should be summoned easier within a library, these should work, unless you want to try creating them from scratch?” she asked. “

I glanced to my knee, where on it, where three empty wisp bodies.

Balm, Light and Rot Spores.

“What’s your opinion?” I asked.

She thought for a moment.

“These seven are natural wisps, drawn out from elemental planes, they will work in a pinch, but they only last so long, since this is not their natural plane, they will dissipate back. Even if you keep them somehow, as they absorb your mana, their original element will get washed out. Similar to how you would add water to a cup of juice, there’s actually a formula for it in the Trizian School of thought, but it’s not universal. Since you’re not pursuing learnt magic it might actually be detrimental to know.”

I thought about asking her what the formula was anyways, since it might act as a decent point of reference, but instead, I asked, “Then I should instead create them from scratch?”

Celine nodded, “That would be best, if you want to acclimate them quicker and help them keep their original element.”

“Let’s go for that then,” I freed the wisps from my control, letting them wander around the room before they slowly dissipated.

We both stood up, Celine pulling open the curtains as I blew out the candle.

Create Wisps was actually a minor ritual spell that could create any aspected wisp, but required things alluding to the element desired.

“Balm… should work with some bandages, light should work with the candle.”

“The problem is rot right?” I asked.

She nodded, “We’ll probably need something rotting. Rot Spores is also a higher level spell so it's best if the wisp created is much larger than the other ones.”

I picked up the candle, “Then let’s gather some ritual materials.”

The train rumbled quietly as we resumed our quiet silence.

Matt was video calling his parents and brother, while I sat waiting by the train window.

Slowly, I felt Discovery wake as we neared our destination.

The train curved to the right, giving us a scenic view of the Equator.

I shielded my eyes, as lightning roared and fell down like rain. Whatever land there once was here has long since been flooded and drowned. Only the bridge upon which the train tracks ran remained above water, and even then, the entire train was designed to be able to operate completely underwater when even the bridge gets flooded.

“This storm…” Discovery murmured.

In front of me, a holographic video appeared with a stewardess,

“Greetings passenger, we now pass by the Equator. Cabins have been soundproofed to prevent the sound of thunder, but please wear appropriate eye protection when observing the Equator. A pair of glasses has been provided under every seat. Alternatively, you may tint or darken your cabin window with the control panel on the right…”

“What caused this storm?” Discovery asked as the stewardess droned on in the background.

“People in the past burnt a shit ton of stuff they dug up from the ground,” I replied evenly. “We called the end result climate change.”

Shortly after, the stewardess video echoed my sentiment. “The irregular and unnatural climate here in the Equator is due to the shortsightedness of other nations and corporations. They burned fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas for energy, not caring about the greenhouse gas emissions they caused and ignored warnings by the Australian Federation…”

“Man caused this?”

I nodded. “People in the past were idiots.”

“Well,” Matt shrugged as he ended his video call, “there’s a bit more nuance. The Equator wasn’t caused by fossil fuel burning, it was caused by people later trying to fix it.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Really?”

“Yeah,” Matt answered, then followed in a questioning tone, “You didn’t learn this?”

As I shook my head, Matt said with a raised eyebrow, “That video puts a lot of emphasis on other nations and corporations being the problem huh?”

I paused and stared at him.

He was speaking around something.

“Frogfish?” I asked him.

Matt nodded. “I tried salt pepper fried fish after I came to Australia for the first time, my mother showed me.”

“I see.”

We had numerous codewords, mostly in jokes that no one else understood. Knife was the strategy name for taking out the squishier target while one of us held up the tougher one. Similarly, frogfish was the word for when one of us was lying.

That gave me enough context to know what was happening.

Matt was speaking around an NDA, one he got after migrating to Australia and signed by his mother.

And regarding what he was talking about… how the government sponsored training video pinned the blame for the Equator and climate change on others…

In the past I might not have figured it out, lacking the appropriate perspective or experience, but now I did.

History could be changed. Some people could erase it, teach an incorrect version to further their own goals and silence those who remembered.

And our country was one with many cameras.

The Wisdom I had specced in as Dustin was rubbing off on me.

Yet, I wasn’t angry, I felt nothing about the revelation that I was taught an inaccurate or perhaps falsified version of history.

I simply stared into the window, off into the distance where a storm raged so strong no aircraft could pass it.

“Salt and pepper fried fish isn’t the perfect dish right?” I asked Matt.

“There’s some problems with it that leave a bad aftertaste in my mouth.”

“But it is what it is,” I said, “it has tasted fine so far. Even if I dislike some parts of it, I have learnt to live with most of it. It’s not like I could go and beat up the chef, I don’t even know how to cook my own.”

Matt was silent.

“You are not angered at the sins of your ancestors and leaders,” Discovery said.

“I think I would be angry about it, once upon a time, but at some point I realised I couldn’t do anything about it. So I stopped caring,” I replied. “But I’ve also changed how I don’t care. Before it was helplessness, now it is acceptance.”

To Matt’s silence, I reached into my bag, pulling out two lemon lime bitters, offering one to him. “I’ve come to realise that everything comes with a cost, everything comes with a loss of some kind.”

Our lives were comfortable, they were peaceful and even if I chose to do nothing, to never pursue a career or future, my lifestyle would be preserved.

Everything was Balanced, though that was the magic of another world, it could strangely apply here as well.

“Sometimes I do want to go back,” Matt said, not taking the drink. “I wondered what it would be like to have never left.”

“Do you think about this often?” I asked.

Matt nodded, “I do.”

Then he took the drink.

“But I realise Sarah, Denise and Max are happier here, so I am happier here as well.”

With a strange feeling in my chest, as if I had suddenly become aware of an unnoticeable ageing. I realised that the nihilistic realisation I had in my youth, that I didn’t matter, that everything I did would be meaningless, ceased to be a great empty hole that devoured all motivation, all desire to go forward.

Instead, I had accepted the hole, for all its faults and glories.

Together we popped open the bottles, clinking the glass together as the train dipped into the tunnel, going under the Equator.

For life was not free of hardships or opposition. You could overcome some, but not all of them. To think one could solve all the problems of the world was fanciful. There would always be something about the world you disliked.

And that was fine.

Perhaps instead of raging against the meaningless world, I found more happiness accepting it.

Despite the emptiness of the universe, I had friends. Matt who had stood beside me despite the worst of me.

Despite my nihilism, I have purpose both here and in Indiri. To continue to live, and to make it better, even if it was fleeting.

Despite the meaninglessness of existence, I have achieved much. With the help of my friends, I had killed pre-nerf Vek’Na, stamped my name as an unbeatable and unsurpassable record. I helped save the god who rode my mind even now. And I had saved the people of Lake Bayt when I slew the Accumulation of White Lies.

Even if they were small, even if they were meaningless, they did happen. The fact that the line in the sand was washed away did not mean it was never drawn.

Instead of desiring an abstract infinity, look towards what you already have.

“I understand now, Alex.” I murmured.

“Alex?” Matt asked, hearing the name of his old friend.

“I was just reminiscing about Vek'Na,” I replied with a small smile. “Looking back, I think I was smiling.”

A candle, a roll of bandages and a slab of pork.

Using some of Celine’s ritual ink, I drew the circle, my body moving mechanically as I followed the instructions of the spell in my mind.

“The circle is for the creation of an enclosed and sterile space,” Celine explained. “A space in which you declare all variables to be controlled and within your expectations. For ritual magic, it’s an important step unless you wish to introduce uncontrollable elements.”

I felt it, just as she finished.

When my finger lifted from the ground, finishing the circle, I could feel something occur. Even though it was just a simple circle, with no accompanying symbols or complex geometric shapes, I felt it become… closed.

Celine was outside the circle, deliberately so, as I set down the ritual materials I had prepared.

This was a simple spell, Celine had already told me that, and even though spells like Fix-Up Fungus or Rot Spores cost me more in terms of mana, this was the first time I felt like I was truly doing magic.

“I invoke the name of Manatheres, Originator of Mana, Inventor of Tier Magic and the First High Archmagus,” I murmured, the feeling of the circle changing instantly. Suddenly, it felt like there was attention. From what I didn’t yet know, but I knew the next sentences I must say.

“I take your body as bread,” I said, raising my arms before me with my palms faced up. “I take your blood as drink.”

For Manatheres was nothing but mana now, the very concept of the thing. His body and blood was mana.

I turned towards the lit candle, with a flick of my hand, I cast Light Spores upon it, covering it in a soft glow.

Then upon the bandages, I cast Balm Spores.

And finally, with the slab of pork, I cast Rot Spores.

The purplish spores ravaged the thing, quickly rotting it black and putrid.

“I invoke the Rule of Three, and shape bread and drink into life. May these offerings be the mould.”

I almost made a pun there, but at this point, I was too engrossed with the ritual.

And I saw, imperceptibly, three balls of mana leave me and form above the three materials.

Slowly, they began spinning, and gathering. Siphoning my mana as they grew.

Time ticked slowly by, and when three wisps, light, balm and rot floated in front of me, an hour had passed.

I breathed out, placing the three wisp bodies that I had prepared in front of them, and they quickly entered.

Yellow and Greenie appeared then, among the new wisps and poking them.

“You’ll be White,” Yellow pointed at the Light Spores wisp.

“And you Lime,” Greenie said, patting the Balm Spores wisp.

Looking at the last wisp, the one with a purple body, they said together, “You’ll be Grape!”

“Should it be Purple?” I asked.

“We should mix the names up!” Yellow argued.

I shook my head, “Nah, the theme is set in now, rot is Purple.”

Purple slowly nodded in agreement.

As the two wisps introduced themselves and taught them about the world, I looked up, staring at my Balance.

It was moved slightly by the new spells I knew and the three new wisps, but it was still in my favour. I still had karma left over.

“Now what?” Celine asked.

Thinking for a moment, I answered, “Now I can go pick my level up skills.”

She nodded, having heard about the process of Traveller empowerment from Noam.

“It should be safe for me,” I murmured. I had good karma to spare, plus I planned on doing some good deeds in the future.

Even if I tipped over a bit, it should be fine. Mentally reviewing the pros and cons, I determined that the increase in power was worth the short term imbalance.

Celine was curious about the matter, so she came with me as I walked towards the Wayshard.

The wisps were off exploring the world, I wasn’t too worried about them, since Yellow and Greenie had enough experience on their solo romps.

So waving a goodbye to Celine, I touched the Wayshard.

You may Travel to:

Gaia

Indiri (Current)

Class Instance (Fungalmancer and Magic Myconid)

The options appeared as they had before, and I mentally selected the third.

The world bled away as once again, I stood in that dome shaped area with the massive mushroom stalk at the centre.

Once again, the old myconid was in front of me.

It had only been a few weeks since I last saw him, barely more than a month, yet it felt like years had passed.

“You know the drill,” he told me, “You may select three new skills from your current Path, or you may select a new Path and gain skills from there.”

“What is the difference?” I asked him.

“Following your current Path gives you the level 6 selection, while a new Path only has level 3 equivalents.”

“I understand.”

A new Path would give me more utility, but lacked power. Matt chose the former, and I saw no reason strong enough to make a different choice.

“Show me the skills for the level 6 Path of Symbiosis.”

And he did, bringing forward a crystal, he let me touch it and browse a massive selection of abilities.

“Due to your achievements, and the fact your level 6 is a mixture of Fungalmancer and the Racial Level in Magic Myconid, certain skills that were not originally available to you were unlocked,” the class trainer explained.

“So in addition to the variation caused by skill selection,” I murmured, “there is additional variation due to the composition of the levels of the person taking it?”

He nodded.

And my finger paused as I saw some of the skills I had unlocked.

It was a set of three abilities that worked in conjunction with each other, and were likely unlocked due in part to my dealings with entities from different worlds and planes.

“I will take these.”

Level 6:

Fairy Circle: You can demarcate any complete circle of mushrooms to become a Fairy Circle, turning it into a pseudo gateway to an adjacent plane of your choosing. This Fairy Circle will remain active so long as you are within it and the mushroom circle is not disturbed. Different dimensional laws and effects will occur within the circle, and other dimensional entities may appear, though nothing of the other plane can leave the Fairy Circle, nor can anything of the original plane enter the adjacent plane, unless an exchange occurred.

Mediation of Mutualism: You may create an agreement that may involve two or more parties. This agreement may facilitate the exchange of anything each party is willing to offer, but must require at minimum three witnesses that may include yourself and the parties, and all parties to willingly consent and agree to the agreement without duress. The agreement will only take effect once all conditions are met. Should a party violate the agreement, a percentage of their Body, Mind or Soul stats will be damaged, increasing with the combined level of the witnesses.

Stamp of Symbiosis: You may choose to greatly empower up to 3 (Fungalmancer and Magic Myconid Combined Level / 2) entities that you are in a deep symbiotic relationship with. Their level will be raised by 2 (Fungalmancer and Magic Myconid Combined Level / 3) levels, with up to an additional 200% (Fungalmancer and Magic Myconid Combined Level / 3 x 100%) additional levels based on the level of shared symbiosis. They do not gain new skills, abilities or spell slots associated with the level increase, nor is Experience gain affected for Travellers, but for the purposes of level scaling and distributed stats, their raised level will be their effective level. You gain additional bonuses depending on the target of the Stamp. Once a Stamp has been set, it cannot be changed for a month.

- Current abilities which establish a Symbiotic relationship, Sporage Wisp Symbiosis, Bracken Polypores, Mediation of Mutualism, Stamp of Symbiosis

The old myconid nodded, and I felt power flood through me.

I was now officially in my level 6 powerspike.