Born of Eidolon Chapter 1: Welcome to Eidolon, a manhwa/korean comics/만화 fanfic

BORN OF EIDOLON

Waking up to the glare of the sun is something all can agree is unpleasant. At least I was partially protected by the shade of a tree. That didn't stop the small bits of sunlight that got through the leaves to hit my eyes, however.

The light woke me up, but it was the uncomfortable ground that kept me awake. With a groan I sat up and took in my surroundings. The sight was beautiful. Vast green plains with a tree here and there. And what looked to be a village town in the distance. It looked like a small gathering of buildings and yet each one looked pristine as if they were made of marble. The sounds were quiet except for the sounds of the birds and the wind and what I assumed was water running in a river in the distance but to soft to know for sure.

Despite everything I had noticed I could help but find something odd about it. For one thing this wasn't where I had last slept. No, I was at home sleeping in bed before this. I lived in a very busy city in an apartment complex. How did I get here? Is this heaven, did I die in my sleep? I'm only 14! I'm too youthful to die!

'… Did I just use the term 'youthful' as a descriptor, who am I Rock Lee?' With a snort at the thought, I regathered my bearings and decided to head to the pristine looking village. On my way I found a visible gravel path to the entrance of the village. Walking down the path, I took the time to admire the scenery and enjoy the pleasant breeze. Ah that breeze always seemed to come exactly when I want it too. It's kind of creepy actually.

Finally making it to the entrance I notice the gate to the village had a sign hanging on it read 'WELCOME TO EIDOLON'

"Who names a village Eidolon? What, was Utopia too on the nose?" I couldn't help but grumble at the name. The people were basically calling this place the ideal place to go to. And yet people will ruin everything given enough time. Ideals are untouchable, that's just fact.

Walking into the village I felt that odd feeling creep back up, pausing to look around I noticed what was bothering me so much. People. Or rather the lack of people. No body was out and about here. It's the middle of the afternoon with no people managing the stands. Stands with fresh produce and stock out in the open.

This place was a literal ghost town with how empty it was. Eidolon also was definitely a small town seeing how the stores were named. 'Café of Eidolon', 'Clothes of Eidolon', 'Shoes of Eidolon', 'Accessories of Eidolon', 'Hotel of Eidolon.' You get the gist the stands just had random things from signature foods like fresh hot dogs, caramel apples, cotton candy, etc., etc. I could literally see the hot steam coming of the hot dog stand as if they were just made.

Feeling a little hungry and tempted by the delicious smell of the hot dog I decided to take one. Picking up a basic hot dog with a little ketchup on it I found myself shocked once more to find a new hotdog in its place. I looked down at the hotdog questioning my life at this point. Was this town automated? Taking care of its citizens every need? If so, maybe calling it Eidolon isn't that far off.

I really needed to sit down at this point, so looking around for somewhere to sit I found a fountain. 'Oh, that was the sound of water I heard.' Taking a seat on its ledge, I slowly contemplated that I was alone in some miracle city that seemed have everything you could want for free and ate my hot dog. 'This can only mean that at nighttime this place turns into a living hell that will try to kill me.'

Or else I'm just paranoid.

Getting over my current paranoia of the situation I decided I needed to get a barring of my surroundings

Taking a look at most of the buildings… and pocketing a few things, I learned what's better than shopping. Free stuff. And here everything is free. I decided to switch out my pajamas, which I only noticed that I was wearing upon entering Clothes of Eidolon, leading me to get some new threads. My new look consisted of a Dark grey t-shirt with some light-blue jeans and a navy-blue jacket with white accents going along the seams and edges of it. I got myself a basic belt since I just don't feel comfortable without one.

Hopefully all the blue doesn't clash with my green eyes. I'm not exactly fashionable so hope I don't look stupid.

Despite being in my pajamas I still had tennis shoes on. Thank goodness, walking on the gravel barefoot would have sucked. But I decided to trade them for a set of black and white sneakers. Then I decided to stop by the accessory store and realized I don't do accessories. Thus, promptly left.

My exploration was essentially such a time. The 'Hotel' was apparently just a house. Seriously, it was just one luxurious room with a huge bathroom, a ridiculous walk-in closet, a top-class kitchen, an indoor hot tub with a swimming pool and a big fluffy bed. The only thing it seemed to be missing was a TV. There was definitely technology though considering the microwave, oven, dishwasher, and there was lighting in every building.

Maybe this place should have been called utopia.

What the heck was this place? Was I seriously the only person here?

Moving on I decided to head to the largest building here from the looks of it.

"The Library of Eidolon, of course the most pretentious place here is a library, should've figured from the lack of tv." I may have been a little salty about there being no tv. Walking inside I think I had my mind blown for the final time. "Oh, so this place has mastered the British art of bigger on the inside, huh." Course its even bigger on the inside. And no, I don't mean it looks bigger. It IS bigger. The inside was twice the size of the entire village.

Moving to the nearest bookshelf I find not books but crystal tablets that had glowing text instead of ink. I brushed my hand against the one I grabbed to find the text shift… Oh so the crystal tablets were basically Nooks, fantastic. I can use a nook quite well I've only thrown two of them in a fit when they lagged. That's a seal of approval from me right there.

I shifted the text back to its original position and read the title aloud. "The history of Zahard… Sounds boring." Placing the book (Crystal?) back on the shelf, I went off for a more interesting read.

I spent the rest of the day wandering the library only exiting when I was hungry or needed to use a restroom. After a log day of wandering and viewing subjects, drowsiness started to overwhelm me. Luckily the 'Hotel of Eidolon' was available thus heading back to the HOUSE (One hotel room for a hotel is a Freaking house) and laying down on the bed my gaze met the ceiling, accepting that all of this is most likely just a dream.

While looking at the thankfully boring ceiling (I needed something normal after all this stuff) a star in the corner of my vision could be seen. At first, I thought it was on the ceiling but as I turned my head to get a better look the Star moved with it.

"Wha…" I focused my vision on it to find the literal last thing I ever expected to happen, happen. The star enlarged while spinning and soon a see-through page illuminated my vision.

Name: Dillan Stander

Lvl: 1

Class: None

Title: none

Hp: 100

Mp: 100

Str: 1

Tgh: 1

Agi: 1

Ref: 1

Vit: 1

Exl: 1

Background: A Chicago kid who has found himself whisked away to a plain of literal ideal, all alone.

"Gamer." The only word out of my mouth after seeing the page in front of my eyes.

Drowsiness had deserted me in favor of wanting to test if I could get skill books, heading back to the library I thought on what to look for first. I didn't really test anything out with the menu after discovering it. No, instead I lost my mind in unadulterated giggles of ludicrous excitement. Funny how I'm in a place of ideal living and it's the gamer ability that gets me the most exited.

While exiting the 'Hotel which is totally not a house,' I pulled up the skill menu.

Skills:

- Gamer's body: keeps the body intact in regard to dmg that would result in permanent paralysis or loss of limbs. Pain and bleeding will still function as normal. Will repair all Dmg with a "good" night's rest. Degradation of Stats is halted.

- Gamer's Mind: learning ability is enhanced. Degradation of skills is halted. "WARNING" Will NOT help with mental state.

- Blessing of Eidolon: The city of eidolon has marked you as the ideal citizen (only because you are the only citizen). As such you have obtained the ****************. Effect sealed inside of the Plains of Eidolon.

Okay, so gamers mind and body are limited. Oh, and it saw fit too make sure to warn me of mind attacks. Judging from Blessing of Eidolon I will not be staying here forever. I just hope my journey isn't to rough on me. As much as I hate reading about Gary Stu's, PLEASE let me be one. I don't think I'm ready to face such tribulations yet. Did I just jinx myself? Best not stew on that.

Arriving at the library, I proceed to head to the combat section, which I found in my previous visit but didn't put much interest in. As one who believes combat should be learned from a teacher and not a book, the gamer ability throws that belief out the window. Looking at the crystal spines to read the titles of the books I found something interesting called The Art of the Sword. Taking it off the shelf, I stared at it for a while.

"Dang I thought that would work, welp if there is no pop up, then I guess I'm reading it the old fashion way." With that, the next hour was spent reading. It basically covered stances and movements one should maintain during swinging motions. The weird thing is that while it gave a simplistic view of swordplay it was also vague in most of its descriptions which only made sense on the final page.

"Every person is their own individual as such, so is their inner style. You have the basics, but you must be the one to finalize the art as your own." So, the vague parts were for the individual discretion then, weird. Still no pop up though.

With a sigh I pulled up my stat menu; however, it only covered half of its usual surface as the other side revealed the pop up, I awaited.

Would you like to learn:

"The Art of the Sword"

YES / NO

Without hesitation I clicked yes. The Crystal dissolved as the knowledge burned itself into my being. At least that's what I pictured it looked like.

Swordsmanship has been learned and placed in the Primary Combat Slot

Primary Combat Slot left available are 0/1

Secondary Combat Slot left available are 2/2

"What…?" I messed up. I thought I could just learn as many skills I wanted. What is this Available Slot crap?

"Available Slots!" I yelled out loud hoping to get corresponding menu page. I wasn't let down.

Slots:

Combat Slots:

-Swordsmanship: How to properly use a sword.

-Secondary Empty

Support Slots:

-Primary empty

-Secondary Empty

-Primary empty

-Secondary Empty

-Primary empty

-Secondary Empty

Tip: Primary slots are the main function of the skill itself while secondary are adjusters that determine the direction of its growth. The Primary slot will take priority over secondary slots so be careful in the order you wish to fill said slots.

"…" I couldn't help but blank on what I was seeing. So, I can only obtain a limited amount of skills? What are the other sword styles I could have learned? I immediately dashed and searched the spines of crystals.

"Shigure Soen Ryu? Starburst stream? Wait those are anime sword styles, WAIT Starburst Stream is just a skill! I'm also sure that other one was from hitman reborn. Huh, Dance of the Fire God… Even demon slayer breathing styles. I have made a major mistake. I chose a basic beginner style." Thus, the mourning of my primary slot began.

"Wait I still have my secondary slot if I pick a one of these styles, I'll obtain its abilities so I should learn one of these now!" With the sudden epiphany my hand dashes for Dance of the Sun God before freezing. 'I can't start rushing and mess something up further. If I remember correctly, the skill, I have is highly moldable so the secondary skills will probably impact it more than normal.'

For coming to a correct conclusion

Excellence has increased by 1

"Huh, Excellence shouldn't it be Wisdom or Intellect… except I don't have any mental stats… Gamer Mind!" Gamers Mind wasn't just referring to my emotional balance but my growth in mental ways. I can't just magically grow smarter or wiser it seems. But what does Excellence even govern?

Name: Dillan Stander

Lvl: 1

Class: None

Title: none

Hp: 100/100

Mp: 125/125

Str: 1

Tgh: 1

Agi: 1

Rfx: 1

Vit: 1

Exl: 2

In a desperate plea I tapped the 'Exl' icon causing a pop up.

Excellence:

The art of action. Sometimes the best method to your problems is thinking things through, luck and charm don't hurt. This stat will improve Mp growth.

So basically, it was my ability to think under pressure and source of mana? Definitely need to up that.

Calming down I thought my options through. Anime sword styles are available, is there more than those though? A certain combat style appeared in my mind as I began to seek it out. A few minutes of searching bore fruit, finally in my hand was the infamous Renewal Taekwondo. "Webtoons as well. Library of Eidolon I think I'm in love."

Ok so I think I'm going to use this as a secondary. Its probably a mistake but I'm going to try it. Next, I want something of a power booster… "Might as well go the 'youthful' route." And thus, my decision led me to "The 8 Inner Gates, this in combination with Re: Taekwondo should create a style worth using. Or else I'm doomed."

In all honesty I am only doing this out of faith in the game as well as because of me being a dumb idiot fanboy. SCREW THE CONSEQUENCES.

And so, I pulled up the menus and selected yes for both.

Renewal Taekwondo has been learned and placed in the Secondary Combat Slot

Primary Combat Slot left available are 0/1

Secondary Combat Slot left available are 1/2

The 8 Inner Gates has been learned and placed in the Secondary Combat Slot

Primary Combat Slot left available are 0/1

Secondary Combat Slots left available are 0/2

A New Sword Style has been Born.

Please Name it:

"Name it…?" The fusion process seemed to work as I processed the new fighting style, I have… The sword movements are clear to me almost as if I have developed a muscle memory already. It feels Functional though although I am aware of the Gates, I can't access them.

"Mori Lee Style." I will give this style no matter how terrible it is to those that encouraged me to create it… (in other words I am blaming those characters for making their styles look cool.)

New Sword Style is now called theMori Lee Style

This style can now be viewed in the skill section.

"Well, might as well check it out."

Skills:

- Gamer's Mind: learning ability is enhanced. Degradation of skills is stopped. "WARNING" Will NOT help with mental state.

- Mori Lee Style (lvl 1): This sword style is balanced between hand to hand and swordplay allowing for smooth transition between them. Next lvl: 1st gate unlocked.

The skill name was simplistic and yet I instinctively knew that my style focused using my kicks to gather momentum to empower my sword strikes while provoking openings on my opponent. The style shouldn't have worked. Not really. But the Game made it work, that was… Awesome.

I can have 3 support skills so those are what I should look into next. I left the combat section and continued my search. I will go for a vague craftsman skill first then perhaps specialize in technology. Tech can be surprisingly useful after all.

A healing Skill is a definite if I am using the Gates I plan to try and make the 8th gate something livable or else it wasn't worth getting.

As for the last one… let's get an investigation skill. Observe probably won't happen.

For proper planning Excellence has increased by 1.

Finalizing my thoughts, I looked amongst craftsman guides, reading the summaries before collecting it. The one I settled on was a survival crafting guide. Then I grabbed an advance tech guide. Absorbing the survival guide, I held off on the tech guide, afraid that it would take one of the other primary's first.

Then I left in search of something to help with passive healing. I found a basic healing tome. And decided to go for it. then I found a meditation guide that stated a healthy mind is a healthy body I figured this could hopefully evolve into a passive state at a high enough level.

Finally, I collected a study of human habits article alongside a famous book I knew called the Art of War.

These two were the biggest risk as I don't know what will come out. After absorbing the books, I took a look at the Available Slot Menu

Slots:

Combat Slot:

-Swordsmanship: How to properly use a sword.

-Renewal taekwondo

-The 8 Inner Gates

Support Slot:

-Survival Crafting

-Advanced Technology

-Medicine

-Meditation

-Human Habits observation

-Strategic Planning

Okay so it went exactly where I wanted it to now, I received pop ups that stated skills were created but didn't tell me what so the moment of truth is now.

Skills:

- Gamer's Mind: learning ability is enhanced. Degradation of skills is stopped. "WARNING" Will NOT help with mental state.

- Mori Lee Style (lvl 1): This sword style is focused on two weapons. The Blade and The Leg. You utilize your sword and kicks to become a fierce combatant. Next lvl: 1st gate unlocked.

- Omni Crafting (MAX): Your knowledge of Advanced technology has reached the point where tech can be crafted in a cave. Appropriate tools required. Blueprints and crafting assistance provided.

- Life Meditation (lvl 1): While Meditating your calm mind has accelerated your life force development, accelerating your healing and recovery as well as numbing the pain. Next lvl: Healing rate improves.

- Threat Assessment (lvl 1): By observing your enemy you perceive their strengths and weakness' giving you the foresight on how to proceed against them. Next lvl: Improves information gathering.

The skills were pretty good Threat Assessment gave me an observe for enemies only. Life meditation will hopefully gain a passive form or else it isn't as good yet still a great skill to have. But Omni Craft was probably the best skill I could have created. The synergy was so great that it formed a skill with no room for growth. The problem was that I needed to build the necessary tools, but Eidolon probably has the forge I need.

Now I just need a sword, should probably build one. Also, should learn how to grow the rest of my stats.

Excellence has increased by 3 in lieu of the Omni Crafting skill

Sweet! I need to work on other stats other than Excellence, I'm leaving them behind. Exiting the library and moving on looking for the forge, I walked past the Gym of Eidolon (good to know where that is) and located the Forge of Eidolon.

"Yay." I couldn't help but deadpan at the obvious name. I really don't know what I was expecting here but what ever, might as well head on in.

What in the name of Eidolon did I just walk inside of? This wasn't a forge, this… This was a mad scientist's wet dream.

.. This forge was probably more advanced than modern day forges if it could even be called that. This place 3d printed metal in seconds, it also had fabric maker. All the different products in here were all directed to crafting which is exactly what I needed… was that a soda fountain in the corner of the room? Moving along, Omni crafting had given me a blueprint for a tool that functions as all tools I will need, named thusly, "Omni Glove" the glove that can do it all. Talk about cringy naming sense but hey I'm into it.

From what I can understand this thing draws on my mana to form the needed tools and manipulation of materials. It took hours just to build the basic parts and even more hours to make the glove aesthetically pleasing while at the same time resilient for overuse. If I were in a cave this would have taken years to build, months in a normal society, hours here in Eidolon.

I spent the rest of my time finishing up the glove before night fell. Finishing the glove, I slipped it on admiring the flexibility as well as the feel of it. With a mere flick of my fingers it started gathering my mana into a form for me to use.

Filled with excitement I went to work on building my next project, blueprints flooding my mind.

I woke up in the hotel bed having crashed after spending almost all night building my new sword. It didn't take as long as building the glove as the glove accelerated the building time, but I kept running out of mana and had to meditate to get it back. By the time I finished I grabbed a hold of my new blade and passed out in the comfort of 'my' bed.

(The next day)

Looking out the window I see that the sun was past its highest point already and starting to descend.

"Sooo, it's like 3 p.m." satisfied with the time, I left to finally start working on my stat growth.

Making it to the gym, I was greeted with the sight of many practice dummies, what looked like an indoor track and a boxing ring with what looked to be a wooden puppet inside. But what I was looking for wasn't that but the weight area. In hindsight I haven't taken an actual look at my stats, have I?

Name: Dillan Stander

Lvl: 1

Class: None

Title: none

Hp: 100/100

Mp: 225/225

Str: 1

Tgh: 1

Agi: 1

Rfx: 1

Vit: 1

Exl: 6

Strength:

The art of power. Never underestimate brute force. This stat will improve physical melee dmg.

Toughness:

The art of defense. The best offense is the best defense. This Stat will improve dmg reduction to received hits.

Agility:

The art of speed. The man who runs to survive another day runs away first. This stat will improve movement speed.

Reflex:

The art of dodging. If DBZA Gohan can do it so can you. This stat will improve the instinct to react.

Vitality:

The art of life. Death shall wait another day for that dance. This stat will improve the Total Hp of the individual.

Excellence:

The art of action. Sometimes the best method to your problems is thinking things through, luck and charm don't hurt. This stat will improve Mp growth.

For finally taking the time to learn your stats Excellence has increased by 1

You are now lvl 2

Wait what?

How did I level up? Was it…?

Name: Dillan Stander

Lvl: 2

Class: None

Title: none

Hp: 100/100

Mp: 250/250

Str: 1

Tgh: 1

Agi: 1

Rfx: 1

Vit: 1

Exl: 7

"12 total stat points. Does this imply that I will lvl up for every 6 stat points? So instead of experience points its stat based?" with that my determination to stat up increased.

I decided to grab some simple weights and moved to the track and ran while lifting the weight. With the first lap I obtained 1 point in both Str and Agi. I decided to up the weight so as to keep the difficulty up and continued that for and hour. Next up I grabbed a practice sword not wanting to use my weapon just yet. Beating up the stationary dummies didn't do much for me, but it sure did feel great. When I was satisfied, I moved to the boxing ring.

When I noticed the Wooden puppet, I had suspicions that were confirmed when it began moving as I entered the arena. The Puppet settled into a boxing stance awaiting my action.

So began my grind.

"Ack!"

Once more I collapsed to the ground having been soundly knocked down by the puppet. It made no movement as I laid spread on the floor. It seems to only move when I start getting up. Like it's trying to keep me down. I got scared at one point and ran out the arena only to find it didn't chase me.

Upon further testing I found that the attempts to continue were responded with resistance from the puppet while fleeing was responded with non-aggression.

Later on, as I was taking a break, I thought about why it did so. My conclusion was that it was training my recovery, an enemy isn't going to wait around to let you take your sweet time getting up and get back in your stance, so neither will it.

Once coming to that conclusion, I began trying to minimize both the amount of times I was knocked down and the time to get back up in stance.

Having just now fallen to the ground, I began my immediate response which was to roll the side on one foot and knee while spinning 180 degrees then proceeding with a forward lunge to push the opponent back.

Having seen this maneuver enough the puppet side stepped the lunge rocketing its fist to my gut. I used my other forearm to push the fist away and kicked out against its upper body knocking it back a few feet. It charged back at me not giving me time to catch my breath.

This was the one downside of the puppet. It only stopped when I stopped, meaning if I try to catch my breath in the middle of a fight, it will continue its charge.

I felt as if I was facing an unstoppable force. Worse yet, the stronger I grew the stronger the Puppet was.

It punched out with a forward jab that I managed to sidestep. As it pulled back, I quickly grabbed its wrist and pulled it forward throwing it off its balance and proceeding with a downward slash on its back with my training sword.

I was hoping to use my new blade but… the puppet calculates strength of my gear and adapts to that too. I wasn't expecting to be sent flying out of the ring and out the door of the Gym as well. I actually blacked out.

The slash managed to deal some dmg, but it quickly found its balance and resumed pressure. This time I jumped back to avoid its swift kick. Then making use of one my techniques I moved swiftly behind the puppet and delivered a downward kick to its left shoulder knocking it to the ground.

The next bit never ceases to make me jealous. Lifting itself of the ground with just its hands while swing its legs in circular motion it flips into air landing on its feet. Kick boxing and mix of break dancing? Utter bull.

It took me the third time seeing it do to exhaustion and sheer incredulousness to realize the sweeping legs was its way of defending its recovery. That's why I began lunging out of my knockdowns, but I needed more than that if I was going get better. That's why I watched the Puppet closely. Its movements were clean despite knowing for fact it could do better.

Before I could fully comprehend its movements it immediately lowered itself and knocked the legs out from under me.

Releasing another grunt upon impact, my body moved back up this time utilizing my left arm to balance me as I forced my legs to sweep forward causing my body movement to spin, curling my legs up once momentum was achieved, I let my right hand extend firmly to deflect an incoming assault with my practice sword.

After feeling momentary impact through my arm, I planted my feet and stood up just in time to witness the Puppet slip past.

That was so cool. I actually…

"ACK!" Distracted, the dummy sent me flying once more.

I was surprised how quickly I had developed original techniques. Gamer mind gave me enhanced learning plus the knowledge from my sword style led to a foundation from there I achieved an accelerated development, I guess. I started of with a few techniques from Renewal Taekwondo and had to level up Mori Lee Style to get 1st gate and other techniques too.

Collapsing to my bed I pondered my growth over the week so far.

Name: Dillan Stander

Lvl: 9

Class: None

Title: none

Hp: 325/325

Mp: 250/250

Str: 12

Tgh: 9

Agi: 10

Rfx: 11

Vit: 10

Exl: 7

The current stats left me 1 point away from reaching lvl 10, other than that I trained a lot. It seemed like live combat increased my Rfx and Tgh the most while my Agi and Str increased less often. I made sure to keep running the track to raise those ones up better. Vit actually rose from recovering hp during Meditation.

Another thing I learned was that when my hp hit zero I apparently only go unconscious, but I can still die from more lethal attacks while in that state. I had tapped Hp to learn more about it. Mp reaching zero doesn't really affect me though.

Normally the excitement of reaching another level up by just one point would made me keep going. I was seriously getting sick of this routine grinding. There was also this irritating feeling in the back of my head. A change is coming. I can tell. My instinct is telling me. I gripped my chosen weapon. I got some practice in with it, but the puppet wasn't a great opponent to test it on.

I lifted up the handle with no blade above me.

"I really need to name this thing. Considering the activation commends maybe I should call it Algebra." I make a small laugh before accepting that I probably can't com up with a better name than that.

Weapon has been named Algebra

"Oh, Come on. I was kidding." I felt like the game was actually messing with me. Ugh.

Due to creating an original Named weapon Excellence has increased by 1.

"Eh." I should be happy but for some reason I felt like that was the tipping point of what I was dreading.

You are now level 10.

Congratulations on completing the tutorial.

Eidolon wishes you luck on your future endeavors.

No, no, noNONONONONO! I don't want to go yet. I felt the world around me fade away as I started to fall into a black abyss to which I did see a bottom.

Welcome to the start of your journey.

I couldn't really read whatever popped up as I was to busy screaming at my fall. "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Truly I am the voice of this generation. The bottom was approaching as I realized it was actually a door.

A door that was opening with bright light as I saw what seemed to be a large hand reaching out to grab a hold of me. Landing in its hand is where I blacked out.

Welcome to the Tower of God.

AN: Thank you for reading the first chapter of my first ever fanfic. Please leave a review to help me grow as a writer.

Other than that. I do want to explain my thoughts over the game element of this story.

First up, stats! When it comes to other gamer fics there are 4 stats that irk me. Intelligence, Wisdom, Charm, and Luck. When it comes to Mental Stats I don't really think they work. It's too weird to write, at least for me. Charm is basically "Hi I just met you and this is crazy, but let my randomly configured stat brainwash you maybe?" It IS brainwashing. Whether it makes some like or dislike them its something that I find incredibly wrong. Luck meanwhile, is when the author wants to make up an excuse for their Dues Ex Machina.

I won't blame mine on luck. Just my inability to write a decent plot. Which is what your all here for! Please help! I'm being held at gun point by my own desire of wanting to better myself. It's terrible.

Moving on to Gamer's Mind. Controlling mental state of the mind doesn't seem to ever happen like the skill implies. Authors either make the game glitchy or non-effective. Heck some have the gamer's mind just turn off willy nilly. If your not gonna try to be consistent don't bother with it. I know I'm not.

My answer to all of this was the stat, Excellence.

Excellence is meant to be more about quick thinking, mana points, and conclusion making. Well its actually just about Mana points, the other two just reward Excellence.

I would love to hear opinions on this. Agreement or disagreement, it might help me to hear out other peoples view on the matter.

With my rant on this subject over, please look forward to both the next chapter and the next Author's note covering more about behind the scenes mechanics.

See you next time.