My interface hovered in my peripheral like it always did when my heart really got pumping and the adrenaline rushed through my veins. I quickly scanned my stats, eyes finding the few skills and techniques I had.
Name: Zale Seacrest
Race: Gaian/Tidewalker
Class: Maskateer
Subclass: N/A
Level: 12
XP: 0 / 100
Skill Points: 0
Attributes
- Health (HP): 80 / 80
- Magic (MP): 75 / 90
- Stamina: 70 / 70
- Attack: 15
- Defense: 18
- Speed: 22
- Current Essence: 0 / 100
- Body Fluids: 80%/100%
Racial Abilities
- Amphibious: Can breathe underwater for up to 2 hours per day.
- Current Sense: +25% swimming speed in natural bodies of water.
- Partial Camouflage: +10 to Stealth checks in aquatic environments.
Class Abilities
1. Mask Attunement
- Craft masks 25% faster, and all masks have a 10% increased effect.
- Infusing masks with essence enhances their effects and grants crafting bonuses.
2. Essence Extraction
- Extract elemental essences (Fire, Water, Air, Earth) and neutral essences (Arcane, Shadow, Life) from defeated enemies.
- Higher-level enemies yield higher-quality essences, which are stored in a reservoir for crafting and enhancement.
Skills
Active Skills
1. Mask Craft (Level 3) [0/100 (Initiate)]
- Create masks with recipes that may require essences to unlock advanced effects.
- Certain masks demand specific essences.
- Crafting Times:
- Common: 2 hours
- Uncommon: 6 hours
- Rare: 1 week
- Epic: 1 month
- Legendary: 3 months
- Bonus: Adding essence during crafting reduces time by 10% and increases the mask's power by 5%.
2. Essence Infusion (Level 2) [0/100 (Initiate)]
- MP Cost: 20
- Temporarily infuse a crafted mask with essence to amplify or adjust its effects.
- Effects:
- Elemental Essences add elemental attributes (e.g., burn damage, slowing effects).
- Neutral Essences enhance general properties (e.g., increased magic potency, healing boosts).
- Synergy with Mask Craft: Infusing a mask with matching essence strengthens its effects and extends the infusion duration.
- Bonus: Infusion duration is increased by 10% (5.5 minutes total).
3. Hydrokinesis (Level 1) [0/100 (Noob)]
Outer Flow
- MP Cost: 10
- Effect: Manipulate up to 1 cubic meter of water within 10 meters.
- Water Whip: Deal 15 damage with a lash of water.
- Tidal Shield: Create a protective barrier that grants +5 Defense for 1 minute.
- Current Bonus: None.
Inner Flow
- MP Cost: 20
- Health Cost: Consumes 5% of Zale's current body water (calculated as a percentage of his total HP).
- Effect: Zale channels water from his body to unleash a powerful attack or technique:
- Aqua Surge: Zale punches forward, launching a high-pressure jet of water from his fist. The attack deals 25 damage and reduces the target's maximum HP by 5% for the rest of the encounter (stackable up to 3 times).
- Essence Gain: +10 Essence upon successful hit.
- Cooldown: 3 minutes.
- Range: Melee with a 5-meter linear splash effect.
Passive Skills
1. Amphibious Adaptation (Level 1) [0/100 (Noob)]
- Increases lung capacity, allowing for 10% longer duration for underwater activities.
- Improves vision clarity underwater by 10%.
- Current Bonus: None
2. Aquatic Affinity (Level 2) [0/100 (Initiate)]
- Grants innate understanding of water currents and patterns.
- +10% swimming speed in natural bodies of water.
- 5% reduced stamina cost for water-based activities.
- Current Bonus: Additional 5% swimming speed (15% total).
Masks (Currently Crafted)
- Breather's Visage (Common)
- Effect: Extends underwater breathing time by 1 hour.
- Durability: 20 / 20
- Whisperer's Veil (Uncommon)
- Effect: Allows communication with small sea creatures (e.g., fish, crabs).
- Mana Cost: 15 MP per minute.
- Durability: 15 / 15
Equipment
- Apprentice Maskcrafter's Tools: +5% to mask crafting speed.
- Tidecaller's Pendant: +15 Defense against water-based attacks.
Attire
- Leather Vest
- Loose Trousers
Energy coursed through me, causing the turquoise tattoos along my arms to shift and shimmer like sunlight on the surface of a lake.
The black-scaled Tidewalker was fast, his palm smashing into my chest and sending me stumbling back before I could even blink. Hands caught me, though I thrashed, trying to break free as the black-scaled Tidewalker reared his fist for another punch.
A red hand shot out, grabbing the black-scaled arm, squeezing it.
The Tidewalker flinched, his eyes going wide as he looked over.
"Would you like to explain to me," a woman said, pulling the Tidewalker's black arm down, "why the two of you are trying to beat up my best friend?"
Zale's eyes fluttered as he took in the newcomer, a woman he'd seen and chatted with only a handful of times. Her scales were a rosy-red, her lips the color of cherries. She wore a very practical long-sleeved tunic and trousers, the hems of which were stitched with blue wave-like embroidery. She also held a basket of strange flowers under one arm.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
The black-scaled Tidewalker snorted, sneering at her now.
"I saw what you did," she said, jerking her chin off to one side. "The soldiers you sent away. They'll be back soon. And besides, look around you."
The black-scaled Tidewalker pulled his arm away and glanced to one side. People hurried about, though several of them cast glances in our direction. Most of them looked smug and satisfied when they noticed me, while others gawked with wide eyes as if afraid of what might happen.
The jerk holding me squeezed tightly, and I gritted my teeth. A spike of heated anger ripped through me—I almost did something I regretted, almost lifted my foot to stomp on the guy's toes or punch him in the chin, but he shoved me before I could do any of that.
The woman caught me as the bulgy-eyed fish and that black-scaled idiot sauntered away, shaking out their hands as if they'd touched something filthy. Before I could say anything, the lady grabbed my wrist and pulled me along the periphery of the plaza, her long finned tail trailing behind her, almost tripping me.
It wasn't until we reached a sandy street lined by white stucco buildings that she spun on me. I opened my mouth to thank her, but she instantly jabbed my chest with a tough finger. "What has gotten into you?" she practically yelled, the scales along her cheeks flushing to an almost blood-red.
I stared, eyes wide, mouth hanging before I gathered myself. "What…are you talking about?" I asked, genuinely confused, as I should be. I had few memories of this lady. She’d only ever smiled at me whenever we’d passed, and that’s it. I assumed she was Zale’s—the body I now inhabited—acquaintance, but this type of reaction hinted at something deeper.
She was already shaking her head, working her jaw. "You used to talk with me, Zale. It's something I looked forward to every time I walked through the market, but you've grown so reclusive, so distant. I've watched you these past couple of days or weeks or however long it's been. You barely look anyone in the eye, don't even acknowledge they're passing you. And when someone is interacting with you, it's always with their fists!” she yelled, raising her own.
I flinched. “I…” I started, licking my lips, frowning as I looked this stranger in the eyes. There was nothing I could say. There was no way she would believe I was a twenty-five-year-old from another world, and that whoever Zale had been was no more. I grimaced, feeling a little guilty about that, though was it really my fault? It's not like I chose to hijack his body.
“What’s wrong?” the woman pressed. “Tell me!”
I cleared my throat, racking my mind.
"Is it your mom?" she said, and I instantly nodded. I knew a little bit about Zale's mom—overworked, underpaid. Injustice I was intimately familiar with. Perhaps I could use this as a cover for my seemingly odd behavior.
The woman nodded softly, her frown fading to a look of understanding.
"It's another reason why I'm studying at the guild," I said, using what knowledge I did have to sell the lie. "I'm an apprentice now, but when I graduate, I can start making real money, start helping her in real ways." I swallowed, hoping she would buy it, praying she would leave me alone.
The woman, whose name I did not know nor would I dare ask, rested a hand on my arm, squeezing it. She gave me a pained look, a depth of understanding in her eyes as she nodded. I expected her to say something, to speak, but all she did was pat my arm and nod.
Then she frowned, looking up toward the sun. Her eyes widened, but only for a fraction. "I need to go," she said, picking her basket from off the ground. When had she dropped it? It was filled with glowing kelp and strange flowers that reminded me of anemones, with tendrils that swayed as if caught in an undersea current.
"You should too, and will you please do me a favor?" She grabbed my shoulder and squeezed. "Stop walking straight through the Central Plaza. I can't always be there to save you from getting your butt kicked."
My heart did a quick one-two jackhammer punch as I flinched, wanting to shout I could have taken them! because I hated the humiliation. A woman saving me from two greasy jerks? It should have been the opposite! But she was already hurrying away, kicking up sand, her tail trailing behind her.
Sighing, I turned around and clenched and unclenched my fists, activating Hydrokinesis on and off. My tattoos, even the one cutting across my chest, shimmered and glistened. I passed homes designed with mosaics like crashing waves, a design bleeding into several neighboring structures. It wasn't long before I came across the building I had been looking for, shaped like a vast open treasure chest with a smiling mask poking out the top. The Masketeers Guild.
If it wasn't for me waking up in this place, literally in the middle of carving out a mask, I don't think I would have ever known to come here. My mom—or well, Zale's mom—barely talked with me, and I didn’t blame the woman. She barely had time to breathe.
Taking a deep breath and filling my lungs, feeling energy thrum through my tattoos and tickling my skin, I marched forward, already tardy. Hopefully the guild master wouldn't be too pissed off.
I slammed my shoulder into the door and shoved it aside, immediately hit by a room full of chatter as my eyes adjusted. I blinked away sunspots, turning right and heading toward my table, floorboards creaking beneath my weight.
As my eyes adjusted, a furtive glance over to one corner showed the guild master's desk. Tall and with a gut as round as he was tall, he seemed far too preoccupied with the mask he was polishing—a silver face with a single eye like a cyclops. There were masks hanging up all over of every conceivable shape, size, and expression.
There were a lot of tables too, spread out across the floor. Two or three people sat together at several of them, most of them Tidewalkers, of course, but there were people of other races too, though not many. A couple of them were Skyborn, with wings jutting from their backs, their noses hooked like beaks, their eyes large, their hair like feathery down. They sat together at one table, carving masks in silence.
The others three girls, all of them very much human to my eyes, except for the green, almost emerald hair. Gaians, from what I understood. And not only that, but they had little round ghosts hovering over their shoulders, one for each. They were green, too, with tiny sparkling motes for eyes.
One of them in particular caught my attention, the only one with partially normal hair. It was brown with green streaks cutting through, more emerald and radiant than the others. She had a light spread of freckles across the bridge of her nose, the irises in her eyes as brilliant as a sunlit prairie. She was currently chatting away, a massive grin splitting her face as she told some story, waving her arms about and really getting into it. The other girls were tittering and did not seem particularly engaged in their masks.
Oddly enough, as I took up my seat at my table, which was not far from theirs, a deep longing welled up in my chest. It was so sudden, so sharp, that as I took a seat, I clutched my chest. I blinked, looking over at the girls. Longing? But why? For what? Friendship? Not unusual…though it had been quite some time since I had felt it so strongly.
I wasn't particularly popular back on Earth, and my Samoan heritage hadn't helped, but why did I feel this way now? Why would I feel it here? I was only going to leave this world…if I managed to sneak in to that conch. There was always a chance of faliure, of course. That was probably the most painful thing to admit.
Swallowing, I held my hands beneath the table and summoned my crafting box from my inventory. It materialized in my hands and I set the blue painted rectangle right in front of me.
It didn't take me long to learn that my powers were unusual: my ability to see numbers, to quantify power—hell, it was like I was in a video game. I'd had my suspicions, wondering if NeruoSync hooked me up to one of their machines…all the way up until I remembered that bullet flying through my chest and erupting out of my back, spraying blood across a linoleum floor.
They never tested things like that on dead people…
My hands were shaking, but I pulled open my crafting kit, counting all the knives and instruments inside, not that I needed to. It was just another technique to calm myself down. There was a bag of materials by my chair, mainly wood, but I took out one featureless mask that I had been working on for some time. It was the base for a mask I had found in the guildmaster's book of rare masks, one that could apparently grant some sort of invisibility—my ticket into that conch-shaped shrine.
Carefully, I pulled a crumpled paper out of the bag, casting a furtive glance at the guildmaster who was stilll busy polishing a mask. As I flattened out the paper, I hoped he wouldn't come by.
Phantom's Shroud (Rare)
- Effect: Grants invisibility for up to 1 minute. The effect ends if the wearer takes an action that directly interacts with the environment or others (e.g., attacking, opening doors). Ideal for stealth or evasion.
- Mana Cost: 30 MP per use.
- Durability: 10 / 10
I wasn't supposed to be carving out rare masks. At least, that's what the guildmaster told me. I was at level three with that particular skill, and technically, I could carve rare masks. It's just…they would take a while. Of course, explaining that to the guildmaster would only make him think I was crazy. So instead, I took matters into my own hands, and borrowed this recipe.
Pulling out a sharp shaping tool, I looked from the instructions on the paper back to the mask and began cutting away. Of course, this mask required quite a bit of unique essences and rarer ingredients. Still, what else did I have to do? I had all the time in the world, really. And there were no better leads than what I had learned, than the rumors about what dwelt in the heart of that towering conch.
And the only thing standing between me and reaching it were those guards—er, those holy acolytes, or whatever they were called. Without it, I’d have to rely on fighting my way through. And I wasn't about to get thrown into prison or die again. Neither result was very desirable.
I took a deep breath, and truly focused on the mask.
A cut here, a scrape there, a line there—cut, scrape, slice—again and again, over and over, the repetition putting me into a trance like it always did. I had to admit, it was therapeutic, this work. It helped take my mind off things, even more so, it gave me hope. An advantage. An edge.
My Masketeer class allowed me to make things like this, unlike others. There were many who wore masks, and could use the abilities. It was kind of a cultural thing here in Wavehaven. But only a select few—aka me—who could create them.
It wasn't until I heard the words “conch” and "shrine" and “get in” that I stopped, ears perking.
"Really?" a girl said, sounding way too excited.
"Really!" another said. "And this is the year, after so long, that it's finally opening. And the winner will get a free pass inside!”
"Wait, what?!" I shouted, jumping to my feet, knocking my stool back. They all flinched, except for the girl with the green emerald streaks in her hair. She perked, smiled, seeming excited. Everyone else in the room stared, and my cheeks instantly caught fire.
"Is…everything okay?" a deep, sonorous baritone asked. I straightened and spun around to find the guildmaster staring at me with a concerned expression. The heat in my face redoubled, and I couldn't help but sense that paper I'd ripped from his book, lying on the tabletop just beside me. It seemed to glow, screaming for attention. For justice, for punishment, for ripping it out of this man's personal crafting guide.