The two starting messages are unsurprising, though it’s nice to have earned the points outright. I certainly feel that I was pushing my limits on the way down, for sure. It’s a little surprising that I wasn’t offered the points in exchange for some Energy first, though. On the other hand, if I’d checked my messages partway down, maybe I would have been offered that. I was a little distracted by the whole Energy-Heart thing to pay any attention to the nagging feeling of notifications.

  So it’s called Pure Energy? Life-blood must be River’s people’s name for it: I suppose it’s not exactly the first time they’ve used a grandiose name for something. Does that mean Energy-Hearts aren’t what the system would call them either? As for the actual content of the message...that doesn’t sound good. But I suppose I’ve got my answer to the reduction I saw on my stats page. Sort of, anyway: one percent is a long way away from twenty percent, after all.

  Which explains my other twenty percent reduction – in part, at least.

  The next few messages are a repeat of the two previous, the percentage increasing by one each time. OK, I see the pattern – the twenty percent reductions are explained. I flick through the messages, just skimming them to make sure that there’s no new information. So, whatever I did damaged my ‘internal matrix’ at the same time as it damaged my soul. What is this ‘internal matrix’, and how can I fix it? And is it even possible to fix my soul? Something to think about later when I’m safe...and not being continually poisoned.

  I’m not sure what there is to congratulate about that, I mentally tell the box bitterly. I can only think that this came as I first connected with the Pure Energy; what it subsequently started to do to me surely can’t be considered a good thing.

  Yeah, I got that. Unhelpful messages. Much like the time with the wolvezard, if I’d spent my time on checking my messages rather than reacting to the situation, I’d definitely be dead. Though, does the message mean that even if I’d only had stamina remaining, I’d have still been alive? Hmm. Probably not something to experiment with...

  Uh, yes? Duh.

  That description is a little different from any other I’ve come across before. It doesn’t seem to indicate which stats it’s attached to, for one. And its estimate of how much it will help me is...vague. It sounds like a pretty awesome Skill despite all that, to be honest. The fact, though, that I earned a Skill purely for resisting the Energy’s attempts to drink me dry and then creating a connection with it simply highlights how lucky it is that I’ve survived.

  I was right. Energy-Heart is River’s people’s poetic term. I don’t have an Energy-Heart: I have a Core. Though I suppose it’s possible that Energy-Hearts and Cores are actually different. Maybe Energy-Hearts are what beasts earn and cores are what come with the Class stone? Either way, it appears that my Core may fulfill the same function as one of River’s Energy-Hearts: storing Energy. Or mana. Not sure what the difference is between those, if there is any.

  Either way, clearly that’s what was so uncomfortably full when I channeled such a concentration of Energy into it. Knowing now that there was enough Energy in that small amount in my hand to push me up eight levels and make seventy-five percent progress towards my Energy debt, I’m not at all surprised. I’m just grateful that it started off slowly: if it had all rushed into my Core at the speed it was using at the end of things, I reckon my Core would have exploded without me being able to do anything about it. Though, I do wonder why it started slowly and then sped up. It couldn’t have been that it was trying to give me a chance…? Could it? Or is it something to do with my levelling up? Or even to do with this Skill? Or something completely different.

  My thoughts racing, all I know is that I’m so grateful that, somehow, I was able to access the level-up notification without having to go through all these other messages: I wouldn’t have had time to do anything about it, otherwise. Given that I was also able to access the messages about me being poisoned without going through everything in between, I wonder if I’ve discovered a new way to deal with large numbers of notifications. Something else to explore later.

  I bank my points for now: I’m expecting to also get Skill points at level ten and have more Skills to choose from; no point in spending time on my list until then.

  The next few notifications, consist of warnings about my Core being overfull followed by a couple that explain the reduction to my mana capacity.

  Each time the message repeats, it shows another percentage lost to my mana capacity. I’m up to three percent lost by the time a different message appears. At least this one’s a bit more positive: another message about a Skill gain, this one for Sensation Management. As before, I choose to read the Skill description.

  An interesting Skill, and one that seems a bit more ‘normal’ than the previous one was. I’m grateful for it, frankly – the amount of pain I was in was bad enough; if it had been worse, I may have been unable to keep going and that would have killed me. I don’t miss how it mentions about affecting pain or pleasure felt by others – I’m sure that could come in handy, though I can’t help my mind from automatically thinking that both torturers and courtesans probably value this Skill highly.

  Once more there are a couple of notifications about my Core being overfull and about to explode. Not literally, but that’s certainly what it felt like. There’s also one of the notifications about my Core being damaged, taking the percentage loss from my mana capacity up to five. Then I get the notification I’m waiting for about Skill points. Clearly, this is when I reached level ten.

  Eagerly, I select ‘Skill list’. Expecting a nice long list of at least eight potential Skills to appear, I’m surprised when that’s not the case. My surprise turns into dismay as I read the message.

  Well, that’s a blow. I was really looking forward to seeing what I had available. Now I’ll have to wait until I’ve ‘restored’ my ‘internal matrix’, however I’m expected to do that. At least, I can only hope that I’ll be able to restore it: if it’s something I’ll have to wait to be in Nicholas’ world to heal, I’m stuffed. My mouth in a thin line, I push my sudden disappointment to the side and move on – what else can I do?

  Apparently this is the last one. I’m grateful – I’ve got enough to think on based on all the other messages. I’m still a little surprised that there’s nothing in the memories I got from the system knowledge stone that talk about achievements, considering I’ve earned two in just a few days. By this point, though, my capacity to feel surprise seems to be rather worn out. At least I have an explanation for the extra points to Willpower and Constitution. It would be good to keep the description for later reference, and I wonder idly about if I can pin messages or something. Having seen the tiny probability of survival, I suddenly feel like the luckiest bastard out there. I’d much rather take reductions to my mana, mana regeneration, and health regeneration than be dead!

  Closing the message, I notice I’ve now got another tab at the top of my ‘screen’ – I’d always had ‘status screen’, and ‘messages’, but now I’ve got ‘achievements’. Huh. I flick over to it. Survivor is at the top, but Steadfast I is there too. Wait, is this in response to my thoughts about being able to see the message about my achievement later? If that works, maybe I can try to get something about my Bound? It’s part of my Class, isn’t it? Certainly it would be useful to have some sort of information about their state of health, their progress towards evolving, that sort of thing.

  As if my screen was just waiting for me to think of such a thing, a new tab flicks into being named ‘Bound’. Right. It seems like my interface is a lot more customisable than I thought it was. Good to know. Or is it that it becomes easier to customise it over time? Certainly I remember that even getting my health, stamina, and mana bars to fix themselves in the corner of my vision was a struggle. Ideas start making themselves known, but I decide to, once more, think about it later. After managing to get my bars to have a little number in them, that is. I note that my health has dropped another six units; it was probably eight, but my natural regeneration rate would have given me a unit every one and a half minutes.

  Opening my newest tab, I give a thoughtful hum as I see the information there.

  here!