*Creakkkk*
Ren wasn't too surprised when the door opened, as she had been carefully listening and could hear sounds of movement coming towards the door after she knocked.
"Ahh…yes, yes…come on in little one." An aged voice exclaimed.
The voice which had answered the door belonged to an old elven woman. Her voice sounding scratchy and worn out as if she hadn't spoken in a long time. Yet despite this Ren felt a strange feeling of vigor coming from her.
"You…You can see me?" Ren asked in wonder.
"Now, now child, there will be plenty of time for questions. First come in and have a seat while I prepare some drinks." The aged elf replied as she headed deeper into the shop.
Ren deciding to just go with the flow as she entered the shop after the old lady before closing the door gently behind her.
She ran her hand along some of the objects that were on display finding many to be uniquely shaped and with strange textures.
Feeling her way through the shop, Ren eventually passed through a doorway and entered what she guessed was a dining room of sorts.
Taking a seat at the table, Ren didn't have to wait long before the old lady returned with a pitcher of herbal water and two cups.
"This herb is quite abundant around these parts. The locals enjoy mixing it into their drinking water and some taverns mix it into the alcohol. Try some first then we'll talk." After saying this, the old lady pored two glasses of herbal water, one for herself and one for Ren, before she sat down in the chair opposite from the one Ren was seated on.
Lifting up the glass of water, Ren smelled it first which caused her to make an unexpected discovery. The herbal water smelled a lot like Ginger Tea which she has had a few times in the past.
Taking a slow sip, Ren was quite shocked by the sweet taste, quite contrary to the spicy flavor she had been anticipating which was the flavor she had associated with Ginger Tea even though she knew what she was drinking was most likely something entirely different.
'It tastes like strawberries…' Ren thought to herself as she drank another sip.
"Now then…I'm sure you have your questions child. Ask what is on your mind." The mysterious elder said gently.
"Mmm…who are you? I guess would be the first one." Placing her cup down onto the table, Ren asked the first question which had come to her mind.
"Me? I'm but an old lady who's seeking to live out the rest of her days in peace." She replied with a slight chuckle.
"Then, why didn't you ignore me like everyone else?" Ren said feeling slight down.
"Ignore you? No, no you have it wrong sweetheart. No one was ignoring you, they just couldn't see you."
"See me?" Ren asked feeling confused.
"Indeed. You see, when a person of this world comes to the end of their life span they pass over into the Spiritual Plain." The elderly elf explained slowly.
"Mmm, I've been there before." Ren said without thinking.
"Fufu~ I can tell. Not everyone is able to experience such an event though child. You're quite lucky." The elder laughed, humor evident in her tone.
Not understanding, Ren tilted her head slightly.
"You see unlike you, those who meet their end within this world do not return. They await within the Spiritual Plain until their souls are purified before starting life anew."
"Like reincarnation?" Ren asked.
"Indeed, however, they are hardly the same person as they once were. This is due to the fact that all of their memories would have been wiped clean from the 'Purifying Waters of the Spiritual Plain'. It's safe to say, that when one dies, that person is dead. Even if they were to be reborn, they will never be the same person, it is impossible….or at least it was." She said cryptically.
"Was?" Ren asked picking out the subtilties from her tone.
"Mmm. Your kind, which the people of this world call 'Travelers', are able to return from the Spiritual Plain with their memories. Something that has never been heard of before.' The elder said as she studied Ren carefully.
'Travelers? She must mean the players.' Ren thought.
"Although I say that, it's not as if there is no effect. Mortals were never mean to be exposed to the 'Purifying Waters' and return to their worlds."
"Is that way people cant see me?" Ren asked having a clue as to where the elder was going.
"Fu~ Indeed, you catch on quickly. When the 'Travelers' are killed, their bodies remain while their souls alone are sent to the Spiritual Plains. Upon contact with the other realm, the 'purifying waters' will attempt to separate your spiritual body, from your physical one. Luckily the 'Travelers' are sent back quickly by lady Edith which ensures that the two bodies aren't completely separated for good." The elder said.
"So then, me being a 'ghost' is because my spiritual body is like, half separated from my physical body?" Ren asked trying to piece it together.
"Indeed. You still have a connection with your physical body, however, your spirit is slowly attempting to distance itself. If one takes to long to return to their body then their connection will be forever severed forcing them to roam the world in a spiritual form." The elf said in a darker tone in an attempt to get the grim message across.
'I better find my body fast…' Ren thought to herself in worry.
"Don't worry too much child. Although I say that, you have a while before that would happen. So there is no need to rush."
Feeling relieved, Ren calmed down. Yet something still troubled her about the whole explanation. "Then, what if someone's body is severely damaged? Like their burnt into ashes or something like that."
"You don't need to worry about that. Although entering the Spiritual Plain's have some negative effects on the living, it also has its positives. When you rejoin your spiritual body to your physical one, the pure life essence from the Spiritual Plain which lingers on your soul will heal your body of all its injuries regardless of its state.
All you need to do is return to the spot you had died at.
That being said, your mana and stamina will be quite low as upon death your mana leaks out of your body in an attempt to return to the world, and your body will use up its stamina during the merging so its best to avoid combat right afterwards." The old elf said as she continued to pass on her knowledge to Ren.
Hearing something strange about what was just said Ren couldn't help but to asked another question. "Wait…what do you mean by mana wanting to return to the world?"
"Haiz…You have a lot to learn in the ways of magic child." The elder said slight exasperated.
Feeling slightly ashamed for some reason, Ren decided to remain silent.
"Mana is a mystical essence that exists all around us. Yet why does it exist, and where does it come from? The answer to that question is that mana is produced by the world. No one is exactly sure why, or how it came to be. All we know is that mana links every living being to the world, thus establishing a connection to it.
Everyone is born with some mana within them as during pregnancy babies unconsciously take some of their parents mana. Yet whether one is able to utilize mana or not is a different story.
Those that are able to utilize mana are known by many names, magician's, mage's, sorcerers, ex. I will stick to 'magician' during my explanation.
A magician who wishes to utilizes mana will collect and store the surrounding mana which the world has produced, within themselves. By doing so, they cut off the worlds connection with that slice of mana preventing the mana from escaping their body in an attempt to return to the world.
While preforming a spell, the magician would tap into their bodies mana reserves pushing the amount of mana needed for whatever action they are performing out of the body.
Once outside of the body, the magician would begin molding it into a spell.
Upon completion of the spell, the mana which they had forced outside of their body does not simply disappear. It instead returns back to the world, completing the cycle." The elder explain the laws behind mana.
"Wait, if we use the mana the world produces…and that mana is all around us, why don't we just directly mold the mana in the surroundings into a spell? Why must we first take it into our bodies?" Ren asked.
Hearing her question, the old woman nodded before explaining. "Because the mana that is connected to the world, is only usable by the world. You cannot use the mana in your surroundings for the spell and only your own reserves as the mana inside of your body has been cut off from the world's control allowing you to wield it."
'I see…if so…' Ren thought up a hypothesis before asking the elderly elf.
"Then does that mean that your maximum mana is the amount you can store while your mana regen is how fast this 'container' inside of you takes to fill up?"
"Indeed. Intelligence increases the amount of mana you can take and store inside of your body. While the greater a person's Wisdom is the faster they can draw the surrounding mana into their body." The elder said, confirming her hypothesis.
"Then what about warrior's and others who don't use mana based systems?" Ren asked feeling rather curious about the topic causing her to lean forward in expectation.
"No clue."
"Eh?" Dazed, Ren didn't know what to say.
"Fu~ You should see your face right now girl~." The elder said making no attempts to hide her laughter.
"Muuu!" Realizing she was being teased, Ren couldn't help but pout.
"It's not that I don't 'know' per say. Rather I don't think you should worry yourself over that topic just yet. Focus on mana for now as too much information sometimes could have the opposite effect causing you to only grow confused and lose what understanding you might have gained. All I will tell you for now is that warrior and other similar specialists utilize stamina rather then mana." The old woman said wisely.
"But doesn't every class use stamina? Movement drains stamina no?" She asked confused at the difference.
Deciding to just fulfill some of Ren's curiosity for now, the elderly elf began to explain some of the principles governing the world without going to deep into the topic. "*Sigh* You're a curious one…We will use warriors as an example, if a warrior swings a sword normally he uses up 'stamina'.
Now if a warrior uses a skill with the same movements as the previous swing, then he uses more stamina due to the skill powered swing being more powerful and needing more energy to execute when compared to a normal swing.
That's why warriors bodies are important. When they increase their vitality the amount of stamina they have is increased, and it recovers faster…"
"Similar to INT and WIS with maximum mana and mana regen for mages right?" Ren asked.
"Indeed, however warrior's have another important attribute which is Strength." The elder said.
"So they can hit harder?" Ren mumbled, confused as to how strength tied into their current conversation.
"Strength does more then that. Strength increases the amount of power and force they can draw out from their muscles which indirectly causes a decrease in stamina expenditure.
Dexterity works in a similar way as well just utilizing different means. With Dexterity, your muscles might not be able to exert more power like in the case of Strength but you rather have a better control over your body allowing you to use up less stamina in your actions."
Ren was beginning to understand.
If person A punched with half of their strength, they used up a certain amount of stamina.
Now if person B with a higher strength attribute punched with half their strength, they would still only use up the same amount of stamina as person A but the damage they dealt would be more.
This allowed for 'more output, while keep cost constant'.
"I see…is there something similar in magic? Something which allows us to utilize magic better thus decreasing the mana expenditure?" Ren asked as she picked up on something.
"Fu~ I'm glad you're learning things but how did this suddenly turn into a teaching lesson? Oh well…for mages there is no direct way to lower our mana expenditure.
Some magic based skills will allow one to level it up, and in turn the power and cost could either increase or decrease.
For spells though, which is a mage's primary weapon, it depends on the world."
Hearing the connection between the world and magic again, Ren couldn't help but to ask, "The world?"
"Mmm, As a Spirit Elf I'm sure you already have an idea but your magic becomes more powerful and costs less if the surrounding environment is in favor of the element you're trying to wield.
Water is more powerful when next to a lake or ocean, wind when there is a strong breeze passing by which the mage can utilize to increase their spells might, ex.
There are even factors like the sun and moon to take into account."
"Ahh! I have a skill that talked a little about that." Thinking of this, Ren asked the system to pull up her 3D status board.
[Class Skills:
-Mana Manipulation (Active): Able to mold and shape raw mana into form. (MP cost to scale based on creation.)
Race Skills:
-Elemental Affinity (Passive): You have been blessed by the elemental spirits and are able to use any element in nature.
-Connection to the World (Passive): You are in tune with the world giving you bonus passive MP and HP regen out of combat. **The state of the world has effects on your magic.**
· Celestial Bodies (Passive): You are in tune with the celestial bodies **making your magic more effective depending on the time of day. Respective elements also cost less mana to cast at their time of day.**
Personal Skills:
-Sense Enhance (Toggle): Enhances the users senses to compensate for the lack of sight. {Lvl 6/100}
-Danger Awareness (Passive): Allows the user to get a sense for danger. If enemy is more then 5 levels higher skill will not activate. {Lvl 3/100}]
'Hmm…my two current personal skills must be those magic based skills that the elder just mentioned, the ones that can level up. While the Race skills must be the ones which can change depending on outside factors…wait!!'
"Ehh…umm…m…I totally forgot to ask for your name…" Ren said trying contain her embarrassment.
"Fufu~ It's okay, I understand that you were just excited. Still i'm glad you finally realized, even if it was late." The elderly elf laughed not really bothered.
Feeling even more embarrassed over her blunder, Ren sank into her seat while blushing.
"My name is Sayu Ve Eyolla but you can just call me Old Lady Su, or Grandma Sayu whatever you like~." Old lady Sayu said in an amused tone.
"I see…Grandma Sayu then…hehe!" Ren giggled.
"Now then, we went off on a rather long tangent. Shall we get back to your current problems?" Granny Sayu asked.
"Mmm."
"As I previously said, you are currently in a spiritual form and you must return to your body if you wish to continue living. The reason I had Tu call you over was to explain this to you."
"Tu?" Ren asked.
"The hawk which guided you to my shop. He is a dear friend of mine and has been with me for a very long time." Sayu said before she began to reminisce about her youth.
"Ah! That's right…come to think of it, you never answered me as to how you and Tu could see me?"
"Mmm I didn't? I'm getting quite old you see…I must have forgotten. Hehehe~" Old lady Sayu laughed acting like a young girl still.
Her laugh proved to be infectious as soon Ren couldn't contain her laughter either painting a scene that would make others think of a grandmother and her granddaughter enjoying each others company.
"You see, I am also a Spirit Elf much like yourself. Due to our races special connection with nature which even transcends beyond normal elves, we are able to see and interact with spirits which in most cases are not able to be seen." Sayu explained.
"So does that mean that I can as well?" Ren asked rather curious about what it would be like to see ghosts.
"If you train then yes. Right now you might not be able to…
Well that's enough for today. You should come visit me again in the future, ill teach you some more things about magic. For now though, you should head back towards the gate you had entered from." Sayu said before standing up.
"Mm I'll make sure to come back and visit." Ren said as she also rose and bowed slightly in thanks.
"Take Tu with you, he will help you locate the gate. He might also prove helpful in finding your body."
"Can I really? Thanks again for all your help!"
"Don't mention it, now get a move on." Sayu said one last sentence before disappearing into the kitchen.
Smiling in thanks, Ren began to head out of the shop before meeting up with Tu who had been waiting outside the entire time.
"Little Tu, please take care of me!" Ren called out as she pet Tu's soft feathers.
*Chirppp*
Tu replied as it felt rather comfortable having its feathers stroked.
Following Tu towards the gate, it wasn't long before Ren once more saw the large archway which she had used to enter the city.
Surprisingly though, there seemed to be a crowd of sorts blocking the way out.
'I wonder what's going on?'