An Unbound Soul

I woke up in a dark room with a pounding headache. I lay there in a daze, trying to remember what had happened. Or, for that matter, who I was. It wasn't that I'd forgotten anything. It was the complete opposite; there was just too much. I could remember drowning in a sea of stuff that wasn't me, screaming as the tides eroded my sense of self. I tried to bring up my status and found with alarm that I couldn't. That had never happened before and didn't bode well...

I lay back, trying to sort out the contents of my head. Which memories were 'me', and which weren't? The years of experience cutting rock, shaping and building it wasn't me. Neither were the years spent on farms, tending orchards and fields, raising livestock. There were memories of sewing, making clothes for myself and others. I could remember a hundred different kitchens, and a thousand recipes, but none of that was me either. There was the time spent as a smith, holding metal in the furnace, hammering and grinding, and that was me. At least a little. I was a smith then?

There was more. I could remember training with so many weapons. Swords, polearms, bows, a whole range of blunt weapons, even my fists. Why so many, and why for so long? I looked over to the side, where something had caught my attention from the corner of my eye, and saw a staff leaning against the wall. My staff. That was me, and the others were not.

But there was more to me. Something that was buried far beneath the flood. The smith and the figure fighting with the staff might have been me, but they were just small parts of a larger whole. I closed my eyes, but I could still see streamers of mana dancing through the air, especially bright around my staff and myself. Right, I was a mage. I was a child, a delver, a reincarnate, a researcher and an idiot. Especially an idiot... And my name was Peter.

I opened my eyes again, finally remembering what utterly idiotic thing I'd done this time. I'd bought all the skills. Over a dozen craft and combat skills downloading their knowledge into my brain all at the same time. But even that didn't explain it; level one skills didn't have that much of an impact. With my bracelets, I'd have effectively got them all at level two, but it felt like I'd gained them all at max level. I called on the System to display my message log, and thankfully this time it did respond.

New skill acquired: [Basic Cooking]

...

New skill acquired: [Basic Masonry]

New title acquired: [Flexible Combatant]

Class [Body Mage] advanced to level 15

New title acquired: [Versatile Crafter]

Class [Body Mage] advanced to level 16

Class level increased intelligence by 1

Class [Body Mage] advanced to level 17

Skill [Secrecy] advanced to level 3

Two new titles and three class levels. Oh, joy...

[Flexible Combatant] - You have purchased a great deal of weapon proficiencies, and can lay down the hurt with whatever you have to hand. Merges rank 1 weapon skills. (Rank 2)

[Versatile Crafter] - You have purchased a great deal of crafting skills, and know the basics of many professions. Merges rank 1 crafting skills. (Rank 2)

Merges skills? So instead of getting the eighteen skills I'd bought, I only got two? And they merged with skills I already owned and presumably inherited their level? So I basically just got all the craft and weapon proficiency skills at level twelve. Or thirteen, given my bracelets. No wonder it gave me a headache... I made another attempt at bringing up my status, and with my little identity crisis over, it responded normally.

Name: Peter

Species: Human

Class: Body Mage (Level 17/37)

Class History: [Commoner] [Apprentice Mage]

Soul Points: 3

Health: 30/30

Stamina: 63/63

Mana: 92.16/92.16

Strength: 17(+5)

Dexterity: 18(+2)

Endurance: 18(+2)

Intelligence: 25(+2)

Wisdom: 20(+2)

Charisma: 18(+2)

Rank 1 Spells: [Minor Strength 12] [Far Step 12] [Minor Speed 12] [Minor Dexterity 12] [Minor Endurance 12] [Minor Intelligence 10] [Minor Wisdom 11] [Minor Charisma 12] [Far Reach 12] [Minor Slow 12]

Rank 2 Spells: [Strength 10] [Dexterity 9] [Endurance 9]

Rank 1 Skills: [Inspection 10] [Meditation 12] [Enlarged Stamina Pool 11] [Concealment 6] [Foraging 1] [Hunting 1] [Musician 1] [Weapon Proficiency: Universal 12] [Basic Crafting 12]

Rank 2 Skills: [Appraisal 12] [Enhanced Mana Recovery 9] [Greater Mana Finesse 11] [Mana Perception 10] [Greater Mana Control 11] [Weapon Style: Flowing Mist 8] [Extended Mana Pool 2] [Engineering 5] [Secrecy 3]

Rank 3 Skills: [Analysis 1]

Traits: [Unbound Soul] [Determined Progressor] [Researcher] [Xenophilia]

Titles: [Jack of All Trades 2] [Victorious Underdog] [Skilled] [Survivor] [Flexible Combatant] [Versatile Crafter]

Quests: [Conquer the Dawnhold Dungeon Solo]

That confirmed what I'd already assumed. My crafting skills, including [Dismantling], had been subsumed into [Basic Crafting], while all my weapon proficiencies had merged into [Weapon Proficiency: Universal], and both were at max level. Given the class levels I'd gained, it must have been calculated as if I'd raised all of those skills to maximum level myself. Also, my health was full... I rubbed at my stomach and found only smooth, unblemished skin. Apparently someone had healed me while I was out. And appraised me, given the extra level in [Secrecy].

Why hadn't I been able to view my status earlier? The only theory I could come up with was that it used the same intent based processing as the library. If I asked the library for 'the village', it knew what I meant. If I asked for 'my status', it normally knew who I meant, but in this case I didn't know who I was, so it wouldn't be able to interpret my request. It seemed a bit far-fetched, given that I couldn't view anyone else's status, so it obviously knew who was asking already, but it was the best theory I could come up with.

I sighed and closed my eyes again. I'd remembered who I was, but I still had no idea where I was. [Mana Perception] told me I was in a medium-sized building, with a few more people sleeping in other rooms, while I had this room to myself. There were other buildings around, arranged along a street, so apparently I was back in Dawnhold. Maybe a hospital or clinic. I already knew I'd been out for a while; it was dark outside and was probably the middle of the night. It was a shame I hadn't unlocked [Clock]; even at level one, it would have been useful right now.

In the absence of anything else to do, I sunk back into a light sleep, my dreams disturbed by more memories that weren't mine, and didn't belong.

I woke up again to the sounds of rustling, and opened my eyes to someone I didn't recognise standing in front of a bright window, looking down at me. Waking up to a stranger staring at you wasn't a particularly pleasant experience, but I managed to hold in the scream that tried to force its way out of me. I'd done more than enough of that yesterday. Or at least, I hoped it was yesterday. It depended how long I'd been unconscious.

"Morning," I managed, weakly.

"Oh, thank goodness! How do you feel? Everyone has been most concerned; you just wouldn't wake up, no matter what we tried! [Diagnosis] said there was nothing wrong, and no-one could appraise you properly either, so we didn't know if you were hurt! We had no idea what was wrong! Do you know what happened? Are you hungry?"

Argg, too many words, and all of them too loud. "Headache," was all I managed to squeeze out. I glanced at my status, which confirmed I was still at full health. The liar; I felt like I was down to the dregs. Hoping that [Endurance] would help, I reactivated it, and as the glowing pattern spread across my skin, the headache did indeed fade a little. With the amount I'd been relying on it recently, I was starting to feel like I was doping. I hope I never got so used to it that I couldn't function without it.

Only yesterday I was thinking how great the System was, and now I was changing my mind already. It had wiped me out with no warning and potentially was getting me addicted to performance enhancing spells. Admittedly, I had to give myself a chunk of the blame, a thought that made me grin a little, despite the seriousness.

"What's that? You're glowing!" The young woman exclaimed, staring at the glowing patches on my skin in confusion.

"A spell to increase my endurance," I explained, now managing to work with whole sentences. "It's helping with the headache."

"How much health are you missing? Shall I call a healer?"

"I'm full. No point in healing."

"Then why do you have a headache?" she asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. "Not knowing what's wrong makes it far harder to help."

"There's nothing wrong with me physically. It was some sort of skill overload, from getting too many new skills at once. Too much new information trying to cram itself into my head, and it didn't all fit."

Her eyes narrowed further. "I've never heard of anything like that before. Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I just need time," I answered, as my stomach rumbled. "And maybe food. Where am I, anyway? Last I remember, I was at the research institute."

"You're at the Dawnhold hospital. Some of the workers at the institute carried you in yesterday evening."

Oh good, it had only been the one night. But now I had a bunch of researchers I needed to apologise to. I happily wolfed down a pre-prepared meal that the girl brought out. Once she wasn't silhouetted by the window, I could see that she was very young, probably in her mid teens by Earth standards, dressed in a white gown with some sort of symbol embroidered below her neck.

Carys, Human, Apprentice Mage (3/13)

The gown was probably a uniform of some sort, making her a healer in training. Some discrete inquiries revealed that healthcare was a free service, which I expected given the Law, but it was still nice to confirm given my current financial situation. They did, however, accept donations, so I made another note on my growing list of people I owed debts to.

Doing something about my lack of money needed to be the next thing on my list. I'd been paid a silly amount for my lecturing, but I'd spent most of it on my new weapon, and had turned down a steady paid job at the institute. I would still be paid what were effectively royalties, but that wouldn't be immediate. In retrospect, maybe I should have taken a part-time position, but even if I had, I doubted I would be able to add any value for long. At some point, my knowledge ran out, and experimentation was needed, with or without the System doing any odd knowledge pooling tricks.

I'd been paid an even more ridiculous amount for my mythril manufacturing, but it wasn't in cash, and mythril wasn't tradable right now. I'd need to go delving for money again, at least until I could start selling my ingots.

I stayed in bed until my headache died down, and I risked letting [Endurance] expire, interestingly gaining a level once it did. The migraine came back with a vengeance, as expected, but it was no longer debilitating. I did spend an hour between bell rings doing nothing but counting, and had made it to ninety-three minutes when the next bell rang. I felt damn proud of that accuracy, and indeed it was enough to unlock [Clock]. I didn't buy it though; I may do foolish things on a regular basis, but I wasn't quite so far gone as to start buying skills while in hospital for buying too many skills.

By the evening, my headache declined to a dull ache even without [Endurance], and I felt steady enough on my feet to return to my own bed. I gave my farewells to Carys and the other healers I'd seen, and returned to the delvers' guild. News of my collapse seemed to have already spread, given the concerned looks the receptionists gave me, and I had to give reassurances to them and a couple of people I passed in the corridor on the way to my room. Hopefully, I'd be headache free tomorrow, and ready to go storming the dungeon.