A beginners guide on how not to meditate.

Quiet as I am able, I remove my boots, then clamber back under the duvet and into my sleeping bag. Wearing armour in bed is not the comfiest thing I could do, but as I have no intention of going to sleep and the leathers are warmer than my jammies, I make do. Ash must have fallen asleep whilst I was outside, as she only mumbles mild complaints about letting the heat out as I make myself comfortable.

Settled back under the covers, I take stock. ‘I am going to be up, so I may as well get things in order first. The way notifications have been displaying has been bugging me, and I need to make sure they don’t block my view during combat.’ I open my status settings page, and make some changes over the next few minutes.

The first thing I do is set my notifications to ‘idle only’. The setting description said that it'd stop notification widows from opening and blocking my view at inopportune moments. Instead, I would be notified of pending prompts with the help of by a little box on my HUD. There was a little note off to one side that said certain messages wouldn't be blocked, but I hoped that wouldn't happen all that often. Whilst I was in the notification section, I changed how the Skill notifications displayed by adding a summary of the Skill with the notification.

Finished messing with my settings, I close the window, then focus on the icon for my pending notifications. I raise an eyebrow in mild surprise as I see the icon has a little number listing how many notifications I have waiting. ‘Holy fuck, 5 more? In a space of an hour, maybe two? Welcome to the first day of a new RPG I guess! Not that I’m complaining, I love me some gains.’

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Attention! You have caught the interest of at least one higher being. This is both a blessing and a curse. The motives and goals of these higher beings are often impossible for mortals to fathom, they have been known to both help and hinder those under their scrutiny. There is the potential for substantial risk in the days ahead, but also the potential for substantial rewards.

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Achievement unlocked!

Look Ma, I’m famous!

Through your actions, you have gained the attention of at least one higher being. Hopefully, you won't get squished like a bug.

Rewards:

• +1 Charisma.
• 100 Exp.

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Congratulations! By increasing your Charisma to 10 or above, the Attribute has crossed its first threshold. For crossing the first threshold in Charisma, you have been awarded a Perk: Aura of Affability. As Charisma is your first Attribute to cross this threshold, you have also received a bonus reward.

Aura of Affability (Passive): You extrude an aura of friendliness and likability, leading to more positive social interactions. You receive a bonus to reputation or/and relationship point gain during social interactions depending on the interaction. For friendly interactions, you receive a bonus of 15%, neutral interactions receive a bonus of 10%, and antagonistic interactions gain a bonus of 5%.

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Congratulations! As a bonus reward for increasing Charisma to 10 before your other Attributes, you have received a new Ability! Abilities are powerful actions that are not fuelled by HP, MP or Stamina, but can be activated a certain number of times during a given timeframe.

Ability: Rallying Cry 1.

Charges: 1 per threshold crossed with your Charisma Attribute per day (currently 1).

Effects: Let out a rallying cry, bolstering any allies within a 5-metre radius by restoring 30+Charisma% of their maximum Health, Mana and Stamina.

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Ding!

Congratulations! You have reached Character level 3!

Your Health, Stamina, and Mana, have all increased by 10 points.

You have 5 free Attribute points to spend.

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Congratulations! You have repeatedly soothed, reassured, and generally squished your companions with multiple hugs. For this dubious feat, you have unlocked the following Skill:

• Hugging (Lvl 1).

Description: The art of wrapping your arms around someone and squeezing until all their bad feelings go away. Increasing the ‘Hugging’ Skill makes your hugs more soothing and relaxing, and people under the sway of strong emotion are less likely to act negatively when surprised with a hug.

For unlocking a Skill at the Novice rank, you have been awarded 50 Exp.

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You have received a new Advanced Quest! Whereas normal Quests require you to complete a single list of objectives, but may also come with optional objectives, Advanced Quests can be completed in multiple ways. Advance Quest objectives are sorted into tiers of difficulty, with the higher tier objectives offering much better rewards.

Advanced Quest available: Unknown cures for unknown ailments!

Description: During a minor skirmish, your sister, Emily Hill, was bitten by an unknown creature, and as a result was infected by an unknown disease. You vowed to cure her of the disease by any means possible. Follow through on your vow and cure Emily of the disease.

_Penalties for failing or rejecting this Quest_:

• You break your vow and suffer the consequences of doing so.
• Emily receives no aid.

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Objective Tier: Normal.

• Cure Emily of her disease with a potion, or other such healing item. (0/1).

_Tier Reward(s)_:

• +500 Exp.

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Objective Tier: Medium.

• Discover the name and symptoms of the disease (0/1).
• Cure Emily of her disease with a potion, or other such healing item. (0/1).

_Tier Reward(s)_:

• All previous Tier rewards.
• Skill Primer: Herbology.
• Skill Primer: Alchemy.
• +2000 Exp.

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Objective Tier: Legendary.

• Discover the name and symptoms of the disease (0/1).
• Create a Water or Life spell to cure Emily (0/1).

_Tier Reward(s)_:

• All previous Tier rewards.
• Access to a Rare Profession.
• +2500 Exp.

Objective Tier: Mythic.

• Discover the name and symptoms of the disease (0/1).
• Do not sleep until you have found and administered a cure (0/1).
• Hidden Objective (0/1).

_Tier Reward(s)_:

• All previous Tier rewards.
• X1 Perk.
• X1 Fabled Skill.
• +5000 Exp.

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Do you accept this quest? (Y/N)

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By the time I’ve finished reading, my grin is practically ear to ear. With a thought, I accept the quest, promising myself then and there that I would strive my hardest to complete the top tier. That is right until, with a flash of guilt, I realised it would be super shitty of me withhold a cure just because I received a better reward if I waited slightly longer. I would have to see how things went.

‘lying here and thinking about it isn’t going to cure Em. I need to be doing. First things first, stacking the deck in my favour. I have points to spend and I’d be daft not to use them. It looks like I gain rewards for crossing certain points with Attributes, which is good to know. with the first threshold being ten…’ I open my status screen and quickly assign my points. 3 to Intelligence and 1 to Wisdom, to bring them both to 10, and 1 to Constitution for a little extra HP. I make my changes, then hit confirm. Sure enough, my notification icon pops up and I excitedly select it.

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Congratulations! By increasing your Intelligence to 10 or above, the stat has crossed its first threshold. For crossing the first threshold in Intelligence, you have been awarded a Perk: Mana Core 1.

Mana Core 1: Mana is a natural **** that flows through all beings. Your body is growing more accustomed to this ebb and flow, and is instinctively taking the first step towards mastery. Deep within your being, the seed of a Mana core has formed. Now your body has a focal point to harness the power of the arcane, your body's capacity for mana has permanently increased. Your MP to Intelligence ratio has retroactively increased from 5 points of Mana per point of Intelligence, to 10 per point.

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Congratulations! By increasing your Wisdom to 10 or above, the stat has crossed its first threshold. For crossing the first threshold in Wisdom, you have been awarded a Perk: Mana Siphon 1.

Mana Siphon 1: Mana is a natural **** that flows through all beings. Your body is growing more accustomed to drawing this power from your surroundings. The rate at which your body draws in ambient Mana and stores it within your body has permanently increased. The rate at which you regenerate MP has retroactively increased from 0.1 MP/Min per point of **Wisdom** to 0.2MP/Min per point.

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Achievement unlocked!

Mind over Matter!

You have proved you prefer brains over brawn by increasing all of your mental Attributes above the first threshold before any of your physical Attributes. Let’s hope the path you have chosen to talk isn’t too long or too steep. We wouldn't want to get you winded.

Reward:

• X1 Perk (Appetite for knowledge).

Description: You are a firm believer in the adage 'knowledge is power', and that belief has manifested itself into a handy Perk. Now, when you strive to learn or improve a Skill governed by Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma, you find the knowledge that much easier to absorb. You gain a permanent 10% bonus to Skill gain, as long as the Skill is governed by one of the mental Attributes.

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Perfect! These new upgrades were going to be incredibly useful in the near future. I was always a fan of increased skill growth, although the thought that I may have accidentally pigeon-holed myself was a little disconcerting. ‘Ah well, a problem for future me.’

Looking over my sheet, I am extremely pleased with my increased Mana pool and regen. I had cast little in the way of magic yet, but seeing how the spells were structured, with increasing effects as well as costs, I can easily see Mana costs skyrocketing when my spells have been levelled a bit. My Mana regen was still a little slow for my taste. At the moment it’d take over an hour to refill my MP if I bottomed out, but that was something I could work on.

For now, I needed to focus on my plan. Step one, meditate. I close my eyes, attempting to still my thoughts. ‘My mind is a pool, tranquil and calm. Not a single ripple on the waters of my mind. Other than this thought… and this one.’ Time crawls by slowly, and despite my best efforts, I make very little progress. I’m not sure if you’ve ever tried to still your thoughts, but I was definitely having difficulties.

I would clear my mind for a time, then would fall victim to the mental equivalent of the dreaded “are we nearly there yet”. ‘This is it, isn’t it? my mind is still… calm… and I’m bloody thinking again!’ I would begin again, and the cycle would begin anew. Several minutes later and I had made precisely zero progress. Rather than begin the cycle anew, I consider what I knew about meditation.

Honestly? I know very little. All the information that I thought I knew came from books or TV, not always the most reliable of sources. I frown, then try to come at the problem from a different angle. What is going wrong? I keep losing focus. What would help maintain focus? Actually focusing on something.

'Time for attempt number many.' I close my eyes again, clear my mind, then focus on my breathing. In, out, in, out. I maintain the steady rhythm. This time, I last much longer. Unlike before, the distraction that breaks my concentration doesn’t come from within, but without. *rustle rustle* Mind clear, I maintain my breathing. *wiggle wiggle* My focus is absolute, I let the world pass me by.

*Ziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip* I sigh, then crack one eye open. for a reason only known to herself, Ash has thrown the duvet off of the pair of us, and is in the process of unzipping her sleeping bag. I summon my phone from my inventory, and a quick glance at the time tells me that there are still 50 minutes until her shift starts. “Ash, what the hell are you doing?”

She glances at me and winks. I stoically refuse to succumb to her charms and instead treat her to a rather grumpy look. She sighs, then says, “It’s too bloody cold to sleep, and I know for a fact that these things are warmer if we join them together to make one big sleeping bag. You give off heat like a furnace, and I intend to make full use of that. Now, scoot.” I sigh as she tugs at the zipper on my bag. I have to admit, it is freezing in the tent, but sharing a sleeping bag? “Aren’t we a little old to be sharing a bag, sis? Isn’t it a little weird?”

She smirks at me, then replies, “It’s not weird unless you make it weird. We’re just sharing heat, and its not like we’re naked or anything. Hell, you’re still in your armour. Errrr, why are you still in your armour?” She raises an eyebrow at me as I dutifully get up and step to the side, allowing her to attach our sleeping bags together. Some battles are just not worth fighting. I shrug, “Long story, but they're actually warmer than jammies.”

She considers for a moment, then shrugs, and switches to her own armour. I watch with interest as her outfit shifts. I had yet to pay proper attention whilst someone else switched outfits, and I am curious what it looks like from someone else’s perspective. Her jammies are surrounded by a pale glow. Then, she is standing in her armour, grinning at me. “Well come on, less standing around in the cold, more warming me up.”

Ash takes her own advice and gets into the double sleeping bag. I sigh, and clamber in after her before drawing the duvet over the pair of us. All the while, I am trying my very best not to think about the flash of pale flesh that I caught a glimpse of as one outfit transitioned into another.

Authors note: I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! It was another stat-heavy one, but there will be less of those as the story progresses. This story has quickly become my favourite story to write for, so I am hoping to update it as much as possible. In other news, I created a buy me a coffee account. If you enjoy my writing and want to throw something into my cage so I keep doing it, fell free to head over to the link below. Love and Kisses. H.B.https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Hiddenblade

P.S: I fixed the pictures! (or at least I think I have). If they stop working, let me know!