Julian wakes the next day with one Skill Point to allocate

Julian woke to the sound of morning birds chirping near his window. He stretched in his bed and moved his arm experimentally. All of the exhaustion and pain from yesterday was absent. It was like he’d never been bitten at all.

It’s all thanks to Rila. She was so eager to help me yesterday after I hypnotized her. I’d almost forgotten what it was like to have someone concerned about me. It’s like we were brother and sister again, before all the class bullshit drove all of us apart.

His younger sister had wanted to stay with him last night. She claimed she wanted to keep him safe, but he couldn’t ignore the strange longing in her bright blue eyes. He couldn’t forget the way her eyes had focused on his lips after their kiss, or how they trailed over his body afterward.

How far would she have gone with me if I asked? If I’d so much as hinted that it’d help her gain my trust?

The power he’d held over her was intoxicating, even more so due to the taboo nature of their relationship. A brother wasn’t supposed to desire his sister and he wasn’t supposed to use psychic abilities to make her desire him. It was only the threat of his other siblings or his parents discovering them that he’d sent her back to her room after a lengthy makeout session.

Julian had taken the opportunity to sneak down to the library and grab a few books on known classes. He’d spent the majority of the night reading as well as exploring the multitude of Skills the Psion Disciplines offered him. The sun had started to rise before he’d finally narrowed down his list of potential classes to emulate to three.

There would have been four if the use of mind magic weren’t outright banned by Imperial decree. Reading about what happened to those people unfortunate enough to class as Mind Mages was pretty distressing. If the authorities ever find out the full extent of what I can do, I doubt they’ll make much of a distinction between myself and a Mind Mage. That’s why it’s so important for me to pick the right the class and mimic it perfectly.

One of those possible classes was the **** Mage, which specialized in using kinetic-based magic to control the battlefield and enhance its own movement. Julian was fairly certain he could emulate those abilities via the Matter Discipline, which offered a multitude of telekinetic-based attacks and utility Skills. It could also damage the internal organs of its enemies and ensnare them in telekinetic fields. The more skilled **** Mages could apparently fly, serving as scouts and couriers that could more than adequately defend themselves.

It’ll be difficult to explain Skills like Mind Jab, though. **** Mage doesn’t synergize well with the Affliction Discipline at all. If I go **** Mage, I’ll have to invest heavily in the Matter Discipline and I’m not entirely sure that’s something I want to do yet, no matter how incredible it might feel to move objects without touching them.

The next class he’d read about was the Hexer. The Hexer utilized an esoteric form of spirit magic to kill or debilitate their enemies from afar. They could make people attack their allies in fits of paranoia as well as cause them to flee from imagined fears. They could emit bolts of spirit magic which tore at the souls of their victims and killed their bodies as well as enchant items to grant them various magical effects. Their abilities skirted legal lines in several nations and they had a reputation for being cold, calculating, and ruthless. Thankfully, they were perfectly accepted in the Empire as adventurers and rewarded handsomely for their services in times of war. Apparently they had played a pivotal role in the Wars of the Dead, their spirit magic disrupting the casting abilities of the Tenlani Necromancers and making their undead armies falter. A Hexer wasn’t potentially a one man army like a **** Mage, but one could often turn the tide of entire wars just the same.

Breaking a necromantic spell sounds like something a good Mind Jab might accomplish, and I wouldn’t be surprised if more powerful versions of Mind Jab become available to me as I level up. Most of the Skills Hexers are known for are close to things I can already do, or will be able to do. The only real downside is Hexers can’t manipulate the physical world with their magic to the extent that other classes like **** Mages can, but they're no slouches in that department. I suppose I will have to avoid using any Matter Skills that are too earth-shattering, so to speak, but that issue should be a while off anyway. What could end up being an issue is that of a lot of my mind-affecting Skills only work on living beings with a brain. Undead and magical constructs don’t qualify. I’ll have to diversify my Skill investments to account for that.

A particularly amusing thought occurred to him.

Look at me, thinking about how I’ll invest my Skills to deal with different situations. I’ve come such a long way since yesterday morning. Velri would be so jealous. She’s always been resentful for classing as a mundane Knight instead of a Paladin like Father or an Elementalist like Mom and Brynn.

He could just imagine the Velri’s face if he revealed himself as a Hexer or **** Mage. The haughty girl coveted magic like no one else in the Imerdan family. To see her little brother who she’d bullied and looked down on for years be classed as a rare and prized practitioner of magic would probably break something inside her, and he dearly wanted to see that.

The last class he’d found was relatively mundane. A Bard. Charismatic and influential, Bards-

“No. Gods no. I won’t be a Bard. I’m an Imerdan. I’m not going to hang around taverns for the rest of my life singing songs while my sisters fight criminals, monsters, and enemies of the Empire. I don't care how easy it would be to explain away my Manipulation Skills as Bard parlor tricks. I want to explore and see the world. I want to be an adventurer. I want to grow stronger. I want the world to remember my name when I’m gone.”

I want my family to accept me.

He sat in his bed for another minute to stew in his thoughts.

“I can’t be a Bard. I won’t. So that leaves **** Mage or Hexer.”

He imagined himself as a master of telekinetic abilities, shattering armies below him from the safety of the skies. His family and his nation would be so proud. He might even be granted a private audience with Empress Alindra. It was said her beauty was surpassed only by the Gods.

They say the same about her daughters, too.

Julian grinned as he imagined the powerful Elven Empress showing her equally gorgeous and well-endowed daughters how to tend to his cock.

Something about claiming to be a **** Mage didn’t fit, though, and the strange presence seemed to agree. Telekinesis was supposed to come along with the mastery of one’s own mind and the mastery of other minds. It was a tool, not a focus or a reason for being. He would never be as strong telekinetically as the most powerful **** Mages, no matter how many Skill Points he invested in the Matter Discipline.

“Hexer doesn’t fit either,” he sighed in frustration.

He imagined someone nodding along with him, almost sympathetically.

“I can’t tell people what I am. I’m not strong enough to survive yet. Disguising myself is the only smart move here. And I won’t be a Bard.”

In the end, there was only really one imperfect choice that stood above all the others.

Hexer. I’ll claim to be a Hexer.

He already had Mind Jab, which could more than adequately serve as a substitute for a lower level Hexer stun spell.

What other options do I have in the Affliction Discipline? I need something that can mimic the Hexer’s Spirit Bolt. Status.

Julian Imerdan (lv. 5 Psion)

HP: 115/115

ST: 102/102

WP: 441/441

Skills...

<One Skill Point Available>

Attributes…

Effects…

Skill Tree.

Select a Discipline to reveal currently available Skills.

[Manipulation]

[Connection]

[Affliction]

[Matter]

[Knowledge]

His eyes hovered over the five Disciplines. He’d explored them all the night before, but he didn’t remember everything about them. He’d been bleary from sheer exhaustion and lack of sleep. He did remember that the list of Skills he’d been presented with felt vastly incomplete.

The presence smiled indulgently.

Affliction.

Enfeeble (cost: 30 WP) – The user floods the mind and body of a target with debilitating psychic fields which cause sluggishness, lower its resistance to Psion Skills, and increase Psi damage to the target.

Suppress Aggression (cost: 25 WP) – The user interdicts the aggression centers of a target mind, preventing the target from attacking anyone for a moderate duration if they fail to resist. Attacking the target breaks the effect.

Psi-Bolt (cost: 5 WP) – The user emits an unguided bolt of psionic energy that inflicts low Psi damage to a target upon impact. Deals moderate Psi damage against targets affected by Mind Jab, but clears them of the status.

Obfuscate (cost: 15 WP) – The user projects a localized psionic shroud that clouds a target’s senses, decreasing its detection, accuracy, and evasiveness.

Evoke Fear (cost: 20 WP) – The user utilizes psionic energy to prod the fear centers of a target mind, making the target cower or flee if it lacks the Will to persevere.

Psychic Shock (cost: 20 WP) – The user has discovered a method to apply an ionic charge to psionic energy, manifesting a current of psychic electricity that causes moderate Electrical damage and low Psi damage to a target, with a low chance of stunning the target for up to 3 seconds.

Each Skill called out to him as a promise of power, though the voice was slightly different from the Manipulation Discipline. While Manipulation promised control, domination, and the fulfillment of dark fantasies, Affliction hummed like a current of raw power. It sung in a deep voice that resonated within him like a thunderclap. His eyes glazed over, and he felt himself stare at something far beyond the walls of his room.

“The Psion’s Affliction Discipline is the study of utilizing raw psionic energy to defend oneself and attack the minds and bodies of others,” he felt himself say in a voice that was not his own. The voice felt old and worldly, as if it had come from the mouth of a longtime professor.

His breath caught in his throat.

What was that? Why did I say those things?

The strange presence was silent.

Julian sighed. He knew he should have been scared, but he wasn’t. Something about the voice felt familiar. He struggled to place its origin.

The sunlight dimmed.

The pleasantness of the morning had all but washed away. Instead there was only the list of Skills to choose from, and the promises of power they offered him. Psychic Shock immediately caught his eye.

I could have an actual elemental attack if I wanted. Brynn would probably lose her mind if she saw me use this Skill.

It was unfortunate that it didn’t seem to synchronize with Mind Jab like Psi-Bolt did, but the sheer versatility it offered in a completely new damage type could not be overstated.

It would also look mighty suspicious if I started flinging lightning bolts without being some flavor of Elementalist.

Psi-Bolt was a low-cost damage Skill he could shoot out repeatedly with little concern for his WP pool. The Mind Jab damage bonus was like icing on the cake. Something told him that a Psi-Bolt attack on a target affected by Mind Jab would be just as damaging if not more so than Psychic Shock alone.

Psi-Bolt seems to behave like a magic missile; a relatively low damage, low cost projectile ability tailored to its specific magical flavor. Most magic classes get one as far as I know. I know for sure that Brynn and Rila have one. It’s strange that I would get one, too, since Psion isn’t a magic class by any stretch of the imagination.

Evoke Fear seemed great in a pinch, but the fact that he already had a stun in Mind Jab made him hesitant to pick that Skill.

Obfuscate would make sneaking much easier, and seemed like a decent low-level, low-cost debuff overall.

He liked that Suppress Aggression didn’t seem to outright damage or cause pain to an opponent. The Skill would be useful if he ever had to deal with an attacker he didn’t want to harm. Another benefit was its duration, which seemed much longer than Mind Jab’s, which had only lasted a number of seconds against the Giant Rats. He could see himself using the Skill on an individual before approaching them and hitting them with Hypnosis, Suggestion, or some other more advanced Skill in the Manipulation Discipline.

Hm. I might just use it on Velri if she gets into another one of her hissy fits. Clevis, too. Or maybe his mother.

Enfeeble was promising, with a reasonable WP cost for what was essentially a damage multiplier for all of his Psi damage combat Skills.

He hated that he could only pick one Skill. He wanted all of them. It didn’t seem fair that such power could rest just beyond his grasp.

Gods! What would Izel say if she could see me now, so pathetic and indecisive? She’d probably call me a little boy like always. She never takes me seriously.

Images of the dark-skinned beauty flickered through his mind. He pictured her submitting to him, amber eyes wide with admiration and fear as she marveled at the damage he could do to the minds of others without even lifting a finger.

Izel’s getting out of the dungeons today. Something tells me I should be there when that happens or I might not find her again for a while. There was something about her. Something I missed that I need to clear up.

He put a fist under his chin and thought back to the night before. He’d used Suggestion on Izel twice. She’d shown not a modicum of mental resistance either time. Rila's subconscious had fought his Suggestions, even under Hypnosis. His mother had fought him too, even over a Suggestion as minor the one he’d given her. He’d never have been able to get either one of them to spread their legs for his viewing pleasure without any preparation.

Rila’s mind reminded him of the Imerdan estate. Its defenses were relatively modest, but effective. A skilled rogue could scale the walls easily, but not without triggering the detection wards scattered throughout the property. One would have to be crafty or powerful to avoid detection as he had.

As he imagined the state of his mother’s mind, his thoughts drifted to the Silver Keep, home of the High Marshal of the military city. It sat at the highest point of Rona. A nearly impregnable fortress, any intruder would have had to put a ladder along the walls, or trick the guards into opening the gates to get to the other side, only to be met with other walls further in. And that was ignoring the Enforcers and Imperial soldiers who regularly patrolled its walls.

Izel’s mind seemed much different. There’d been no walls to speak of, and no gate. The only image his mind could conjure was that of an endless plain of snow surrounding a dark, unguarded temple made of volcanic glass. Its vulnerability and emptiness beckoned him, and he could almost hear a soft feminine voice begging him to enter the temple and take it for his own.

He shook his head.

No. No, I’m looking too much into this. My success with Izel yesterday probably has something to do with her personality. She’s always flaunted her sexuality to get what she wanted. For all I know, she would have done what I wanted even without Suggestion. I bet if I gave her a Suggestion to scrub my floor I’d run into the mental equivalent of a brick wall.

He returned to his Skill Tree display.

If the entry I read on Hexers is correct, they almost always get Spirit Bolt as a free spell when they class. It’s their magic missile. So I’ll have to take Psi-Bolt to blend in. Thankfully it synergizes amazingly with Mind Jab. I probably wouldn’t have even needed a sword last night if I’d had Psi-Bolt. I wouldn’t have been bitten by a giant rat. The 5 WP cost is also amazingly low. I’ll be able to cast it often without worrying about WP exhaustion.

Psi-Bolt.

The Skill Tree blinked for a moment before disappearing. He’d felt different when he’d taken the Hypnosis Skill, more powerful and in control.

Taking Psi-Bolt was like injecting raw energy into his veins. He felt jittery and spontaneous. He felt like he could run a hundred miles without stopping.

He clenched his fist in front of him. For a moment the air around it seemed to dance with faint crimson energy.

He smiled.

“Now let’s see if I can find Izel before she disappears into the city.”

---

Julian Imerdan (lv. 5 Psion)

HP: 115/115

ST: 102/102

WP: 441/441

Skills...

Attributes…

Effects…

Julian's Skills

[Manipulation] Suggestion (cost: 20 WP) - The user can telepathically implant a suggestion in the mind of a target to influence an action, thought, or behavior of theirs. The target must be sapient. There is a chance that it might fail depending on the state of the target mind. The more simple and less unusual the suggestion, the easier it is to implant.

[Manipulation] Hypnosis (cost: 30 WP) - The user lulls the target into a light hypnotic trance. While hypnotized, the target will be more open to Suggestion and suggestions, and more likely to divulge information they would not otherwise. Requires the use of a pendant or other foci to draw the target’s gaze. Can be interrupted by any sudden or intense stimuli. Duration: ten minutes.

[Affliction] Mind Jab (cost: 15 WP) - The user projects a weak bolt of psionic energy that attacks the mind of an opponent, causing crippling mental pain that lasts for a few seconds. Affects any living creature with a brain.

[Affliction] Psi-Bolt (cost: 5 WP) – The user emits an unguided bolt of psionic energy that inflicts low Psi damage to a target upon impact. Deals moderate Psi damage against targets affected by Mind Jab, but clears them of the status.

[Connection] Detect Mind (cost: 2 WP/s) - The user can detect the minds of sentient organic beings within ten feet.

[Innate] Focus (cost: free) - The user enters a state of emotional detachment, allowing the user to ignore pain and resist negative mental effects. Increases WP regeneration by 20% while active. Only usable during combat.