Wielding your mana-imbued perception you reach out and touch the book only to feel yourself freeze up entirely as scenes start to flood into your mind ...
You see a hunched green skinned humanoid clutching a rod made of a red metal with some kind of crystals embedded throughout it as it stares from the top of a cliff at the valley floor below from which smoke begins to pour forth followed by screams of terror, and pain. Watching this scene you feel sadness, a sadness that belongs not to you but the figure hunched greenskin who suddenly begins to speak, and though you don't understand the words them-self the meaning seems clear to you somehow.
"I was born the son of two common farmers on the world known as Argandia in the nation of my people, the Lera. We wanted nothing, but to exist peacefully with the rest of the world and to study the aspects of nature and the earth so that we may be able to understand how we came into existence on the seemingly inhospitable world we had for millennium called our home. Answers we couldn't find to our creation, but we came to know much of the force we all call Mana, it is the power of the universe itself and seems to come from some source that far surpasses what any of us in this world could hope to ever achieve. Our understanding of it was such that geniuses of our race could move mountains, form lakes, and change the path of the rivers themselves if they wished ...
However with our knowledge came danger, the other races of Argandia despised us for what we came to know and so in my eightieth year the other races came together in what they called the Coalition of Freedom as they claimed that we planned to use our magic to conquer the other races as slaves. They turned the various specialties of their races towards us; the technological marvels of the Varinids, the Necromancy of the Fae of Haran, and the soulless warriors of the Maneer Khanate ... we were doomed to fall for even our skill in magic could only enable a handful of geniuses to wield a might unrivaled by others on our world.
Thus, in a fit of desperation the rulers of our people sent us magical geniuses out into the world to hide and grow stronger so that maybe one day we could return to free our people.
Sadly, in the end we were too late ... those of us who went into hiding were either hunted down, or disappeared. Well, all of them except me, but even I could do nothing as by the time I had the power that could claim revenge on the previously weak races they had reached a height that I could not beat alone and my people had been slaughtered to the last in the fear that more geniuses like me would be born. I was confused, what point did life have without my people? Even if I've obtained an immortal's lifespan what good does it do me when no matter how much I struggle I can no longer obtain my revenge?
.... I truly don't know, to be honest it all seems pointless now so I'll leave behind this message. This request. I have given up on life, but to those who find this, please avenge my people. All the knowledge and resources I have collected in my countless years of existence I leave to you, though in the end I don't really care ... It's your choice, good bye."With that the image turned to a much older form of the sage who now held a rusted dagger instead of a staff which he then stabs into his chest before tearing a gash through it, and reaching a hand inside to pull out his heart. Much to your shock he tears his heart from his chest, and slams it into the book you're now reading while chanting before suddenly exploding into a cloud of light and ash.
When you regain your senses you can feel that the other barriers in the tunnel complex have faded, and you can feel a new piece of knowledge in your head, it's a teleportation array designed to move things from your surface to Argandia ...
Mana: 620/1000 (+50 Mana a year)
Planetary Body Info
Surface: (40 out of 360 Space used)
Mana Gathering Array Network [An interconnected system of smaller arrays consisting of ten in total that gather mana from the cosmos, and draw it into you.]
Underground:
Small Tunnel System [It seems there is a series of tunnels, and chambers spread out underneath that strange array that for the most part seem bear though some of them seem to still contain items inside of them. Several of these chambers have some form of barrier around them that prevents you from seeing inside. Sealed off from the surface.]
Isolated Chamber [A chamber that is on the opposite side of your body from the tunnel system under your mana gathering array. You are unable to see inside, but you can clearly sense an entity within it that holds a power greater than your current capabilities. The entire chamber is enveloped in a array far beyond the mana gathering array's complexity that seems to be sealing whatever is inside. This array seems almost primordial in nature.]
Mana-infused Crystals [Several small pockets underground are filled with these strange crystals that are filled to the brim with a level of Mana that could fill your somewhat limited pool in its entirety though what uses the crystals themselves could have you're entirely unsure. One of the pockets has been slightly destroyed from numerous experiments.]
Iron Ore Deposit [There is one massive deposit of iron ore buried deep within your planetary body, even though its a fairly mundane material perhaps it could be of some use to you in the future.]
Mana Iron Deposits [There are dozens of tiny deposits of iron scattered throughout your body that have seemingly attracted mana during the time it took you to form though how it differs from normal iron you're completely unsure aside from it being far more durable]
Lead Deposits [There are roughly seven small deposits of lead which seem to disperse mana on contact.]
Spells/Inherent Powers
Earth Movement - You can manipulate the rock that makes up your body though the more you move the more mana you will exhaust.
Crystal Melding - You can somewhat capably meld the mana-infused crystals into semi-detailed shapes.
Mana Lash - Compressing mana into a line you launch it at your target causing physical damage from the high speed condensed mana. The more mana poured into the attack the stronger it will be.
Manasight - Using Mana to improve your perception you can now clearly observe things that might have otherwise be hidden away underground, or such. Currently the range of this sight seems to be restricted to your surface, and within your body.
Store/Retrieve Mana - Through intense study you have determined a method through which you can store mana inside of special materials, or formations that can hold mana. You have also devised a means by which to extract mana.
Known Magical Arrays
Lesser Mana Gathering Array [Costs 15 Mana to create one, takes up 4 Space, can be connected together in a network that causes the array to be more effective. Base Mana Income is 1. Five connected Arrays increases it to 10, and potentially at ten connected arrays it increases to 50. The current limit of connected arrays is ten for your level of knowledge]
Sage's Teleportation Array [Costs 1000 Mana to create, and 100 Mana to operate afterwards. Takes up 15 space. This array creates a gateway between your location and Argandia allowing you to freely move things between the two!]
Author
Topic: You are a Magical Asteroid (Read 9517 times)