Mind Devourer

"Ten tiers of spell, from 0 to 9. They had to be slotted before they could be cast," Mahn Li recited his knowledge as he paced around the virtual environment, "My character, at level 25, has 10 spell slots. 5 tier-0, 3 tier-1, 2 tier-2. Her character was at… probably level 23. How did she pull this off?"

There were two mysteries here. One was the fact that Morana possessed spells beyond her tier. The second was that she could freely cast them without the usual limit. He racked his brain, trying to figure things out. Was this thanks to a piece of equipment? A perk? Or a trait?

Puzzled, he stepped toward an empty character slot and selected the option to create a new character.

After selecting the race (Human) and the class (Witch), he moved on to the Background and Traits.

"Shit. So many things I don't remember…" he rubbed his head in frustration as he scrolled through the choices.

Many of the combinations between character backgrounds and traits created combos that were powerful to the point of upsetting the game's balance. After the first few months, most of these overpowered choices would be patched out. Mahn Li, naturally, didn't bother to learn most of these forgotten combinations.

"Hang on, I think I remember this…" he stopped at the trait called 'Reckless Caster.'

This trait allowed spellcasters to cast spells directly from the spellbook without having to slot any spells. This could be toggled on and off at the beginning of the day. The advantage was obvious: the user could cast every spell they knew. There were, however, quite a few disadvantages. The unprepared spells cost much a lot more mana, had longer cool downs, and lower potency. The biggest drawback was that the caster could not move while casting, making them dependent on teammates to protect them.

At the beginning of the game, this trait was popular to some players as it circumvented the spell slot limitations. However, as the average player level increased, casters had access to more spell slots and innate spells from equipment, it became less efficient and put the casters at more risks.

Later updates would weaken this trait down even further, eventually causing it to fade out of popularity. Gradually, it was only used during non-combat situations. Consequently, he majority of players hesitated to waste a trait just for the occasional non-combat use, and this trait was only used by casual players who focused on exploring and disliked the constant need to rest and swap spells.

For now, however, it essentially turned spellcasters into deadly turrets. The more spells they had, the more dangerous they are.

Mahn Li selected the replay segment where Morana appeared in OneShot's place and kept it on a repeating loop.

Mahn Li turned back to the replay. After appearing, she immediately started preparing a spell without moving to a cover or even crouching down to make herself a more difficult target. Earlier, during the ambush around the wagon, she was also strangely absent.

"She couldn't move at all while casting, that's why she had to hide himself until there was a full team. That's one mystery solved!"

He nodded to himself. "Now how did she get those 3rd, 4th and 5th tier spells?"

He turned back to the list of backgrounds and traits and read them one by one. Eventually, something caught his eye.

[Background: Worshiper of the Mind Devourer]

[You are a devoted worshiper of Reruovk K'nim the Mind Devourer. In exchange for sacrifices, they grant their followers the ability to consume the minds of their enemies. Beware that with each blessing, the required sacrifice will grew heftier. Available to witches only.]

"Mind Devourer, Mind Devourer. Where did I hear this? Dammit…" Mahn Li froze the replay and took a closer look at Morana's character model.

At first glance, it was a typical pale-skinned attractive-looking female character model. She was clad in a dark green dress that closely hugged her lithe figure. She had platinum blonde hair braided into dreadlocks, framing her heart-shaped face with striking pale blue eyes.

A closer inspections, however, told a different story. Her face, while not bad looking by any means, was marred by the lack of color. It was pale like a corpse. Her blue eyes had dark circles under them and were bloodshot, giving them a slightly haunted and demented look.

"What's this…?" He spotted a protrusion on her chest, just over the sternum. Normally it would be quite visible considering the dress' low neckline. However, she was donning a scarf, which almost completely covered the exposed skin.

"What are you trying to hide?"

Mahn Li moved the replay forward and backward, trying to catch a glimpse of the strange object.

Eventually, at the point where she leaned forward to spit out [Death's Nectar], the scarf shifted.

Pausing the footage, he examined the object. It was a blood red crystal, partially embedded in her sternum. The skin around the part was torn and bloody. At that moment, the crystal was glowing and there was something swirling inside it.

"Where did I see this?" He said out loud as he opened Manco's inventory and looked at the memory crystal for the 'Puppet Control' spell he got back at the farm. The memory crystal was smaller and more refined looking, while the crystal on Morana was larger and had a rougher look. However, their general shapes were identical.

He remembered watching a short gameplay clip years ago. It was from an early version of the game. A player claimed to have "condensed" an NPC into the form of a crystal, which he then used to cast spells that his character class had no business knowing. The video was mostly regarded as a hoax or a bug that could not be repeated. As he only watched it for fun, Mahn Li didn't quite remember all the details, but something about it stuck out to him.

Then something clicked inside his head.

The group's refusal to complete the quest [Witch's Presence].

The insect infestation around the witch's hut near the lake.

Their reactions when they realized where he was headed.

"He's heading towards the lake!"

"Don't let him get there!"

"This definitely has something to do with that quest!" Manco said with a grim smile. He still didn't have all the pieces to this puzzle, but now he had found some lead.

He ended the replay and loaded his character.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

When Manco woke up in the tavern, it was dark. He could hear the muffled sounds of people rowdily drinking and shouting downstairs.

Walking downstairs, he retrieved the [Suit of Disguise] from his inventory. The item's cooldown had ended, meaning he could acquire another disguise. This time, he picked another drunk slumping in the corner.

Touching the skin-colored suit to the unconscious man, he waited a few seconds. Then a small sound played and the suit trembled slightly, letting him know it had finished copying the man's appearance. Back in his room, he put on the suit. Staring back from the mirror was a perfect copy of the drunk man downstairs. After selecting the appropriate spells, Manco left the tavern.

Morana, who cast the spell [Mark of the Witch], could only detect him when he step outside of settlements. As long as he didn't step into Vigiled areas, he would be completely undetectable staying in town with this disguise.

Manco briefly considered getting back to Mistwood Village to retrieve the gun, but dismissed that idea. The group could easily chase him down or lay an ambush when he returned to Broken Hill. Besides, having the gun wouldn't help much during the fight anyway. Not when he was this heavily outnumbered.

The other option was to just run away after getting the gun, instead of returning here and confront them. When all was said and done, he lost one durability point on the gun, but gained two Beta Gears, a new spells, and some decent loot. Might as well quit while he was ahead…

"But where's the fun in that?" He shook his head. In addition, having a grudge with a player with powerful abilities like Morana would definitely come back to bite him later. It would be to his best interest to deal with her right now.

Walking around the craftsman's quarter, he restocked his supplies for another trip into the forest. All the while, he kept looking out for Vigiled spots but found none. This most likely meant Morana's group had all logged out. They had no idea he could detect spells with [Arcane Vision], so there was no reason for them to not use Vigil. They had lives of their own, and could not spend every waking hour camping in the town to kill him.

"Alright. To the north it is."