Chapter 4 - Insert Your Average 80's Kid's Dream Training Montage Here
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When: 03.13.993 A.C. - 1942 hours F.C.T.
Where: in a dream realm created by the Orb of Class magejosh is attuned to.
Who: Our odd protagonist and his new Trainer-In-Orb.

I ignore all the notifications and just dig into the core stats first things first. "Not bad. Didn't that voice say I'd have books of information on how all this works?"

"Yes, they are on the stone table. You haven't looked at them before, though you can read them here in the dream realm because I am able to scan all knowledge sources within my domain while active and connected to that artifact table. I have a lot of information about how things work too, as it is required to be able to train you for whatever choices you make as you level up and develop yourself." Uncle Ken Ghost said.

"Oh, that makes sense, on both accounts, I'm going to ask more about that artifact table later. Okay, what do these ability scores mean? They look like a 5e dragons and dungeons character sheet to me." I said to him.

"Yes, looking through your memories of that game, it is similar in some ways. Though, fundamentally opposite as well. When playing that game, you would simulate a character in an imagined environment and utilize dice to simulate the randomness of life. Here though, they are an evaluation of your actual capabilities as the larger world outside this dream is not a simulation." He rattles off to me.

"So this dream is a simulator of some sort?" I ask him.

"Yes that is one way to look at it. Though, in reality this is a dream realm, an actual place in metaphysical reality that I am able to control and rearrange in order to facilitate your training. Including the way I've made a minute outside the dream realm equal two months inside it. So you will have enough time to complete your training before waking up." He explains.

"Man, I don't know what to say to all this except I'm sure none of this is really possible. I went with it earlier, because I was sure I'd fallen asleep on my front porch and this was all a dream I was having. I'm still not sure it isn't. It's uncanny because of how much this world and system resembles the game I am working on." I say frankly, looking around the room. "That makes me think my worst fear has finally happened. I've finally stopped just hearing a guiding voice in my head and gone full schizophrenic break from reality."

"What if you have? Would it matter? Ultimately, to your experience?" The specter wearing my deceased uncle's face asked like a Devil's Advocate inviting the jumper to step off the ledge.

"Whoa, Uncle Ken, really? That's kinda fucked up to ask isn't it? I'm panicking and you just pour gas on the fire?" I raised my voice as the questions compounded. 

"Maybe, if you choose to react instead of reflect. The choice is yours after all. I'd think all those years of sparring and training with me constantly picking on you would have taught you that by now." He responds evenly, almost smirking with the ending.

I realize he's trolling me just like my Uncle used to do. And that brings a rush of memories flashing through my mind. Memories that when told to a therapist years later had been described as abusive. Like being woken up early before school and even on weekends, to lift weights and then jog around the baseball diamond at the field next door to his house, because he said I was too fat, and would chase me around the diamond yelling things like "If I catch your fat ass, I'll plant my foot in it, you sissy!" And many more less pleasant things. And he did kick me if I slowed down too much. And then a flash to a memory a couple years later, seeing his gloved fist pulling back from popping me in the eye, then he steps inside my flailing guard and puts his hip into me while sweeping his arms in a flourishing motion, trapping my own and sending me flipping end over end onto my back on the ground with enough force to knock the wind out of me and smack my head into the ground, knocking me out for a moment. He'd gotten that first hit because he distracted me with one of those biting comments. I'd come to with him standing over me, "You have a choice in life, to react or reflect on any stimulus the environment provides. Each has a value, in the right time. It's your job to sort them appropriately. While defending yourself, when survival is on the line, is probably not the right time to be reacting to your feelings, unless you are the best combatant in the fight."

I blinked, and thought about his questions. After a long moment or two, "I guess it doesn't really matter if I can't tell one way or another. All my senses say this is what is happening, even if it is so far from everything I know to be true about reality. Magic is supposed to be something you believe in, not something that literally lets me throw fire to save a girl from a flying magically glowing fish monster. That's supposed to happen in books and games and movies and stuff like that."

"Says Who?" The Ken Ghost asked in a tone that just annoys the shit out of me for some reason.

"Like everyone, you would have said the same thing before you died." I retorted.

"If everyone was jumping off a cliff, would you join them?" He quipped right back at me.

My lips scrunched in dissatisfaction. "I hate that question, it just feels like an oversimplification every time I've seen it used."

"Maybe we're getting a little off topic though?" Uncle Ken says.

"Oh right, um, before I spend anything or select anything from the level up, I want to understand the system itself. I need to know what all these numbers mean, and what they are used for or help me with." And with that I stand and head for the table with the books, my goal, 'Read every line of every rule available backwards and forwards until I find a way to Game the System. Because I've never met a game system I can't figure out how it works and know how to shift the odds in my favor. Time to do that to save my life now that I'm in this world. Shit just got real.' 

}[|*|]{
When: 03.13.993 A.C. - 1949 hours F.C.T.
Where: in a dream realm created by the Orb of Class magejosh is attuned to.
Who: Our odd protagonist and his new Trainer-In-Orb.

Exasperated, Ken Ghost said, "Again, Inspiration only matters when you have it. It is an ephemeral resource like Karma points. Rage however is not, it is how barbarians personal essence channels their inherent mana into magical effect. Rage is a limited Primary Resource. Limited in that it is a volatile energy and only the most powerful Barbarians can store more than a couple uses within themselves at a time. I fail to see how any of these questions you've been asking will help with the task at hand. I believe I have been very helpful and answered all of your questions for over 400 in-dream-days straight now. Surely you are ready to perform your Level Up."

"Yeah, I'm probably pretty close. Just wanted to take a break really and take some time to process all this. I figured out early on that you're like an AI system and you have system rules to abide by, so until I answer those I can take my time learning everything about my new situation with the resources available to me. Mostly the questions have just been an arabian nights style stalling tactic though. I was testing to see if the dream ends and I wake up to my driver I'd been waiting on had arrived and was speaking to me on my front porch. I guess I've been hoping for that more than anything else, because I had just won the lottery, I really thought I could make a positive impact on the world with my game, and I miss my family." I revealed, more out of sympathy with his obvious frustration at the time I'd taken forcing him to go over the system basics repeatedly by asking the same questions in different ways on a loop. "What are my options again for the level up?"

He sighs, deeply, before repeating the options to me again, "You have one Ability Score Improvement Point. You may use it to raise an Ability Score by +1 or save it until you have two that can be used to purchase a Feat. After that you need to select which class you will train with your Level Up. Your current options are: 

1. Remain with your current class, Mage. Doing so will grant you the Arcane Research Class Feature, as well as increase your HD, Max HP, Max Mana and Max Psionic Points.
2. Multiclass into Wizard Level 1, which will not grant new skill or other proficiencies, but does grant a new form of spellcasting, as well as increase your HD, and Max HP.
3. Multiclass into Tinkersmith Level 1. Doing so will grant you proficiency with Smith's Tools, Tinker's Tools, shields, and simple weapons in addition to the Magical Craftsman and Spellcasting Class Features, as well as increase your HD, and Max HP.
4. If you choose Strength for your Ability Score Improvement you could Multiclass into Barbarian Level 1. Doing so will grant you proficiency with shields, simple weapons, and martial weapons as well as the Rage and Unarmored Defense Class Features, as well as increase your HD, and Max HP.
5. If you choose Strength or Dexterity for your Ability Score Improvement you could Multiclass into Fighter Level 1. Doing so will grant you proficiency with light armor, medium armor, shields, simple weapons, martial weapons as well as the Second Wind and Fighting Style Class Features, as well as increase your HD, and Max HP.
6. If you choose Dexterity for your Ability Score Improvement you could Multiclass into Rogue Level 1. Doing so will grant you proficiency with light armor, one skill from the class's skill list, Thieves' Cant language, and thieves' tools as well as the Expertise and Sneak Attack Class Features, as well as increase your HD, and Max HP.

You would need to spend more than one Ability Score Improvement to get your other Abilities up to the minimum Prerequisite of 13 for multiclassing into a Class other than those already listed."

"Is there a Hard or Soft Cap for Max Character Level?" I ask as soon as he finishes speaking.

"Technically no. Though the challenge is scalar and accelerates the severity of the curve the higher level you go. And each Heroic class itself does have a limit of defined features only up to level 20, though they can be Advanced from there for a variety of different Epic Boons to further improve them instead of class features. And I left off the Common Classes as you had said those were not to be considered for now, though they only go to 10th level rather than 20th, they can be Advanced from there, often into a Heroic Class or other Rare Class type." He says easily.

"Okay, then yes I know what I want to choose. I think for now growing stronger at what I already know will be more helpful while I'm low level. Maybe I'll multiclass later on. And as for the Ability Score Improvement, I'll use it on Dexterity since you said a while ago that it relates to my Armor Class and a couple skills." I said with confidence.

"Very well, Cast Titan's Codex again to access your interface and select those options to lock them in. Then a training program will be generated and we can begin finally." Ken Ghost said dryly.

I sounded my way through the incantation and the magical interface sprung to life before my eyes again. I selected the ability score improvement first, then the new class level. Then the screen went into a loading screen look of sorts with the text:

Training Program Calculating...

Training Program Calculated. Initializing..

The world went black for a moment around me. Then as the lights came back, we were standing in an open space inside the room. Uncle Ken looked at me with murder in his eyes, and a glowing club appeared in his hand as he swings it towards my head. I blink and try to backpedal away but I was not expecting this and am not fast enough to dodge. I feel pain exploding through my head as my vision blurs to black. 

And then I blink and am standing in front of him again. His eyes turn murderous again, the club forming in his hand as he swings, and I side step the attack. He steps inside my guard and spins, the club whirling into my head at close range. I feel the pain blossoming in my skull again as I black out.

And then I blink and am standing in front of him again. The pattern begins to replay and I just stare at him as I ask, "What am I supposed to be learni..." My question cut off as the club cracks into my head again knocking me out.

And then I blink and am standing in front of him again. I turn and run. He chases. 'He's really fast,' I think as I hear his footsteps catching up rapidly. And then a thunk sound as I see the ground rapidly approaching my face. I black out.

And then I blink and am standing in front of him again. I get mad and punch for his face, he knocks me out before I can hurt him.

And then I blink and am standing in front of him again. I am furious and go for a kill shot on him, lunging for his throat I stab my straightened fingers into it with my full weight behind the attack. I feel his trachea collapse under my fingertips. He doesn't seem to care, just side steps, spins and the club reminds me what pain feels like again as I black out.

And then I blink and am standing in front of him again. I feel the anger turn cold. He swings, and on instinct I throw the mana in my body into a shell around myself. His attack hits the barrier as it glows with a blue light. I feel no pain from the attack.

"Very good. Next Lesson." And the world shifts around us again, like mist evaporating into my front yard this time.

He continues, "I would like to review the spells you know, and what you understand of magic so far. As a mage, your spellcasting is different than classes which utilize spell slots. You know spells, and can learn spells used by any other class, but your primary asset is that you have mana and psionic essence which you can use to fuel your abilities and cast spells with. Spells have components, different spellcasting types may require different components. You can even make spells up on the fly as you might say, though doing so is a test of your skill and if you fail may be costly in casting cost of energy and even potentially causing spell mishaps or increases to your Chaos Threshold."

I'm torn between the urge to punch him in the face and my curiosity about what a Chaos Threshold is. I defer to G.I. Joe's Wisdom, The More You Know and all that after all. I break the silence, "What is a Chaos Threshold again?"

He looks around and says, "I think some exercise will help you remember things easier. Put on that backpack." He points to a big military style rucksack, stuffed full of something, sitting next to me in the yard like it had been there the whole time.

I startle for a moment before remembering I could conjure things in this dream realm too, then I reach down and start to pick it up with one arm. It falls back to the ground, it is HEAVY. "What do you have in here? Rocks or something?" I ask half sarcastically. 

Uncle Ken Force Ghost smiles wickedly and I groan, "Of course you put rocks in a backpack, just like when I was a kid. I'm not doing the baseball diamond, I don't care what you say. I put this thing on, you answer my question."

He grins, "Of course. Now hurry up, it's not like I have a lot of free time, I'm very busy with an important task right now you know."

"Yeah, important task he says," I grumble as I plant my feet and dip my knees while keeping my back square to the ground, I shift one arm into a strap and drive up with my legs doing the heavy lifting until the force slings it around on my back. I scramble to get my other arm in its strap and not fall over in the process. It's not easy, I am sweating bullets by the time I steady and look back at him expectantly. 'I hope I can keep myself upright while he answers me.'

He begins in his best National Geographic narrator tone, "A Chaos Threshold is something most people rarely have to deal with. But a Mage gets their power from their soul being able to split into different dimensions at the same time. This is a void type power source, that risks Chaos in a variety of forms whenever you push your limits or are exposed to chaos energies while trying to use magic. Your Chaos Threshold is used to determine the magnitude of the Chaos Flux when you do trigger it as well as your chance of triggering it when the situations arise. And they will. Chaos Flux, what it is called when a mage exceeds their Chaos Threshold triggers a potential Chaos Transformation, where the forces of Chaos take control of your actions for a round. If you survive, some permanent mutation will carry through from the Transformation. Some are visible, some less material but real and affect you all the same."

I cut in, "Wow, that sounds like I got a bad class. Did I get a bad class?"

"Not necessarily, most of the risk from Chaos Threshold Accumulation comes from exposure, or over use of metamagic when you level up enough to learn it, or spell mishaps from Raw Spellcasting. Especially when you cast spells higher than your safe casting level, like you did when you tried to close that wormhole right after arriving and wound up absorbing some Chaos as well as making it harder to close that wormhole for good," Uncle Ken the Lecturer says in his best scholarly chiding tone.

"No way, I helped. That portal thing closed!" I argued, straining to keep standing as the weight of the backpack dug the straps of the rucksack into my shoulders so far I could feel them rubbing on my collarbone on each side. The sweat was real and pouring off me in buckets as my legs strained at the rocks before complaining, "Do I really need to keep wearing this backpack and standing here?"

He chuckles as he responds, "Yes you do need to keep wearing it, but, you can instead stand in the Horse-stance to help build your leg muscles. Mage's are Constitution based Casters in a sense, it is the secondary ability of all Mages, regardless of their personal magical talent lists they can learn spells from. As for your helping with the Portal, yes you did help, but you also damaged the barrier and weakened it in that spot allowing Chaos to have an easier time into the Material Plane, or the waking world as you know it. Easier because they can reopen it much easier with the Planar Barrier weakened there. A new monster species is even now expanding out into the wilderness around the portal site and will likely cause great harm to the area if their Hunter in the Dark doesn't find them all. And you should hope they do and are gone by the time you wake up, you wouldn't like to meet them, either of them."

"Yep I don't want to meet either one of those from the sound of them. Why is this sounding more and more like a game I wrote with every passing word from your mouth?" I ask accusingly.

"There's no accounting for artistic taste or skill?" He counters.

"Hey! I think You are the one getting off topic now aren't you? How do I know which magic is safe to cast and which isn't?" I asked him, not noticing I'm swaying on my legs from the strain of holding the backpack full of rocks on my back while squated into the Iron-Horse Stance we'd practiced all those times at various martial arts Dojo's.

"Good question, a way to look at it that might be helpful for you is half your level rounded up, that is the highest level spell you can safely cast if you know it. If not, even that risks spell mishaps from Raw Spellcasting attempts. Raw Spellcasting is unlike how you cast your mage spells, it is something anyone with spellcasting ability can attempt to do, some are better suited to it than others. Casting a spell you can read from a spellbook or scroll within your safe spellcasting range isn't that risky, but the more the circumstances are stacked against you the harder it becomes to use without spell mishaps from minor to great depending on the situation and what is being attempted. Some magic is Chaos aligned, some of it will raise your Chaos Threshold or react to your aura if your are undergoing a Chaos Transformation. Very few ways are known to lower a person's Chaos Threshold, safely." He addended after a brief pause before that final word.

"That doesn't sound good, and I think I've gotta take a break, this weight is killing me." I said weakly.

"YOU, ARE, A, Shapeshifter," he said rather loud and slowly at me like I was half deaf and learning disabled. Then what he said clicked in my head. He could see it in my eyes, "Exactly, just change form to something stronger." 

And so I did, and we continued our conversation about magic and everything I might be able to do if I study hard enough.

}[|\*/|]{
When: 03.13.993 A.C. - 2011 hours F.C.T.
Where: in a dream realm created by the Orb of Class magejosh is attuned to.
Who: Our lovable protagonist and his new Trainer-In-Orb.

As we sat on my porch while I ate a pizza I imagined into existence, Uncle Ken's Ghost said,"Now that we have covered the basic fundamentals of mage spellcasting and raw spellcasting as well as ritual magic and psionics including your natural racial abilities. We should move on to how your new Class Feature works. And to do that, we'll do this like those old science fair projects you loved to do. Go make a a new magic item, a potion, a scroll, and customize a spell or create a new one if you can."

I blinked, "These don't sound like beginner assignments!"

"They aren't, they are Level 2 Mage Assignments, now stop sassing and get to cracking, before I do some cracking again, upside your head." He said, his club reappearing as he finished speaking.

I gulped and headed back inside and down to the panic rooms little library. I'd noticed a while ago now that the north wall had a variety of workstations along it. Each one is decked out in different kinds of tools and common supplies. I know there's parchment and ink over there for making a scroll and that seems like the best idea to start with. Copying a spell from one of the tomes on one of the library shelves by the couch sitting area was the plan. I'd found one that was disguised as dragon-human smut graphic novel stories the first couple days called The Dragon's Wingman, and found a cantrip I wanted to learn hidden within it that revealed when you speak a passphrase in draconic. The passphrase was the same one the dragon in the story used to seal it's cave filled with it's treasure horde. Seemed like a no-brainer kind of puzzle to me, or just really bad security. Like the equivalent of a sticky note on your computer with the password to your bank account and things like that.

The spell I'd found in it, Flicker, seemed to be a slightly better version of the one I was using to hurl flame. It did a little less damage on the surface but had the potential to do a lot more damage, and it was less restricted in how I use it allowing me more utility as well. I was thinking, I can make a scroll of it and change something about it to make it count for two of the categories. Then I'd just have a potion and a magic item to craft. I had an idea on the potion, but really had no clue where to start with a magic item. Then I remembered something in one of my class features. I checked the books on the big stone table Uncle Trainer called an artifact table. One of them listed classes and their features. I looked for the one I was thinking of. There it is, it's a class feature as well as a ritual spell that creates a magic item.

Mana Stone Ritual (Level 1)

• Create a mana stone from pure psionic energy through a ritual which takes a long rest to complete. You are automatically attuned to the stone, and can sense it’s location as a ritual that takes a short rest to perform across any distance on the same plane of existence. And if not on this plane of existence, you can sense the plane it exists on if it’s not hidden or obscured by magic. Making a new mana stone cuts your connection to the previous one rendering it an inert stone with no magic properties.

• Functions as a spellcasting focus and counts as an attuned magic item for Max Mana Points. As long as you have it on your person (not a pocket dimension or just nearby), then you can cast any spell known as though you were attuned to an appropriately aligned item, the spell must also be recorded in your spellbook to use this ability.

"I think that should do the trick for creating a new magic item." I said more to myself than T.I.O. Ken. Then went to gather the ingredients required to perform the ritual. I decided to start with that, and then make the potion, then I'll copy that Flicker spell and try to alter it.

For the Mana Stone I needed my copy of the ritual, the ritual I found in my ritual spellbook in my inventory, which covered everything I carry on my person, including the odd little pocket that is bigger on the inside I found on one of the belt pouches on the belt I was wearing when I arrived. I also retrieved my spellbook. I would need it to help my potion-making idea.

I carried everything over to the workstations and found the one with a ritual altar and other ritual instruments. I took my time with the ritual to make sure I got it right. Once it was completed I moved on to my potion idea. I plan to make a tea using green tea leaves and honey, then use that as the base liquid to concentrate the cantrip Guidance into. I will do that by casting the spell into a small amount of ground coffee beans and filtering boiling green tea through the enchanted coffee bean grounds. 

I fail the first dozen in-dream-days trying to make this. I spend a lot of time researching in the library and taking notes on different test recipes and their results. I find a book on alchemy and herbalism written by a tinkersmith and his descriptions of different potion components having charges reminds me of how compounds need to have valence bond openings in their outer shells of the right charge to create a bond. Potion making seems to be more like three phase electrical engineering than simple mixing properties you want into a cup. And then I read something that makes me realize that I need to add some salt to the grounds to stabilize the enchantment when the boiling green tea touches the grounds.

Day 13 and I have made a potion of guidance. Performance enhancing drugs to help me with the next challenge. "That's thinking in layers," I say to myself. "And now to mod a spell as I copy it, should be easy." 

}[\*/]{
When: 03.13.993 A.C. - 2111 hours F.C.T.

A decade later and I'm still trying to get it right. I refuse to try something else though. I'll figure it out eventually, I'm just missing some key ingredient I'm sure. I'd tried to make one of my ai models figure it out for me a while ago, but apparently none of my tech devices actually work inside this dream realm. You turn them on and none of the words make any actual sense. 

So, I'd been forced to keep trying to do it by hand, except this was a lot harder than getting the potion to work. I'd basically been trying to alter a spell without really understanding how it works fully in the first place. Nine years in though and I'd broken down and asked T.I.O. for a hint. He pointed out that I was allowed to swap out one cantrip I know for a new one with my level up, or a leveled spell. 

So I learned Flicker in place of the Hurl Flame cantrip. This helped immensely. It still took me a couple months to successfully copy the Scroll correctly once. Then I went about making a version with a working customization. That took a while as well. But eventually I did figure out one that worked. It adds my spellcasting ability bonus to the damage of the spell as lightning damage. The drawback is the bonus damage is limited to my proficiency bonus so I'm only able to cast it with half it's bonus damage for now.

Doesn't matter. Completed my challenges for T.I.O.

I look around and find him sitting on my porch listening to the birds in the trees. "Here we go. I have completed a magic item, a potion, and a scroll with a customized spell on it," I say proudly.

"About damn time," He says grouchily.