Hastum
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9. God-given stats
🕑 Added 2025-08-29 21:46:04 +0000 UTCI sat cross-legged next to the opening and started on the ritual circle, using the previous summoning runes as a base for the new ritual.
The ritual of judgment, or “fortune-telling for amateurs” as some called it, was one of the easier rituals. You could do it by following a step-by-step guide from a book without much previous experience.
Basically, you write the name of the God in the ritual circle, create a voodoo doll representing yourself, gather the necessary ingredients, and you can perform basic fortune-telling techniques.
If you wanted more in-depth feedback, such as how to improve, what would benefit your training, or if you are cursed, diseased, or dying, you needed a real fortune-teller. But there weren't any remaining that I knew of. Especially since, aside from using the altar of the God of Records, techniques like palmistry, pendulum reading, tasseography, tarot card reading, and, most of all, crystallomancy took much time and practice.
First, after measuring the proportions of my own body with a measuring tape, I began crafting.
I was making a voodoo doll using straw and twine. I wasn’t a master, mind you, but a project like that wasn’t exactly difficult, so after a few minutes, I was done. I had crafted a handsome doll with the same proportions as me but shrunk down to a size just a bit larger than my own palm.
For now, the doll would be my audience as I completed the first part of the ritual. I poured some sand mixed with dust from a mana crystal into the middle of the circle. Then, putting my whole body weight into it, I made a handprint in the sand. Once I confirmed the edges were as sharp as a sculpture’s, I chanted a spell from the book.
I was not a palmistry expert, so this should cover the basics in my place. And sure enough, like a line of Christmas lights draped over the imprint of my palm, pieces of the mana crystal dust started to light up, drawing three lines on it. I began to leaf through the book to find the interpretations.
The first line going around the bend of my thumb was the Health line. It was lit up around eighty percent of the way from the start to the end, meaning I was pretty healthy, at least according to the book. My father always said, ‘Nothing’s better for holding down an unwilling sacrifice than Brazilian jiu-jitsu’ so I had to keep my body in shape.
The one thing bothering me was the passage in the book about the line’s starting point. It should originate next to the wrist, a bit over the joint, but for me, it originated lower, drooping down below the bending point of the wrist, almost drawing a bit of an S shape. The passage in the book mentioned something about the line’s origin “for humans,” but as far as I knew, I was human.
I was not sure who or what my mother was, but I never showed any signs of a bloodline awakening, and God knows I looked.
Did I botch the spell? God, I could use a palmist right now.
I made a mental note to ask a specialist in the future and continued with my fortune-telling.
Next was the line starting around the middle of the height of the palm near the thumb, around where the health line ended, and going horizontally through almost the whole imprint. It was supposed to be the Head line, my makeshift mana bar. It lit up all the way through the imprint. My mana was full, and no more could be added, not without ascending to the next circle. I've known that for a long time, so it's no surprise.
Finally, the Heart line, my stamina. It was above the Head line, starting across from the thumb and going around seventy percent through. According to my guide, my cardiorespiratory system is well-maintained.
Well, that's good to know. I can save on doctors, at least.
Next to check the circles. They were supposed to show on the palm as well. I changed the spell a bit, and one circle on the bend, in the middle of my thumb, lit up, and another on the lower bend of my index finger, like glowing rings adorning my imprinted digits. Both circles were full, with no room for growth.
I did not think I would ever grow past the second circle.
The way you improve mana in this world is you attune it to yourself and absorb it. It gathers in circles around your spark, the center of your soul. Once a circle is saturated, the magic overflows, and the next one is created with thicker, stronger energy. The denser mana is needed for more powerful spells.
I have been on the verge of the third circle for a few years now. The reason for my stagnation was simple. On the third, sixth, and ninth circle creation, mana changes your body and strengthens it to withstand the much denser orbits, but your body becomes reliant on mana to function.
So, without any ambient magic, you will slowly go into a coma and die.
I stopped pondering my mana and moved to the next part. That would be the voodoo puppet.
I plucked a hair from my head and placed it inside the puppet, then cut my finger a bit and soaked the straw with some of my blood. I removed the sand and placed the puppet in the middle of the circle.
Next, I took a line and hung a symmetrical mana crystal at the end, creating a makeshift pendulum.
I placed the doll in the middle, with the doll’s head in the dead center of the spell, and hung the pendulum over it with my hand as the makeshift stand. I could feel some energy exit the stone, and the pendulum started to swing quickly.
Finally, it stopped in the air like a pendulum clock getting stuck mid-swing. It was vibrating a bit, barely away from its resting position.
I took a protractor and measured the angle at around 3 degrees.
What? That should measure my willpower.
“The pendulum over the back of the head should be willpower, right?” I absentmindedly asked myself, rereading the book.
3 was pathetic, 10 was the human average, and I was confident in my willpower. It was the mental muscle, the will used to move mana and manipulate the mind. The most important stat for any spellcaster.
Then, I noticed my mistake. The doll was facing up instead of lying on its stomach, so in place of the back of the head, I got the mouth, a measurement of Charisma. 3. Huh, that’s abysmal, but not that unexpected. My negotiation skills started and ended with threats of violence. Magic was the solution to all the problems that mattered, after all.
I moved the puppet and checked it to make sure it was lying with its straw back facing me, as I did not need commentary on my lack of social skills.
It started to swing again, finally stabilizing at around 22 degrees, according to the protractor. 22 for Willpower probably made me one of the best living casters, but considering the possible heights, that was nothing to write home about.
Next, I moved the pendulum over the middle of the head. Intelligence, the processing power and ability to learn, the base for any wizard. Also around 22. That's not bad, really high.
Then, the top of the head. Wisdom. I checked the visibly smaller angle and got 14. It’s the ability to act on the given information and predict the outcome. Could be better. Still, I guess that comes with a lot of theory and practice, but not many opportunities for practical experience.
I rolled the doll to the side and placed the instrument a bit over where the ear would be. Mental Defense. 24. That was very high, but once you’ve interacted with the void, few things can affect your mind afterward. I was also completely immune to any fear-based attacks.
And finally, I moved the puppet so that the middle of the circle would coincide with its lower abdomen. The measurement of the Soul. The pendulum swung, finally oscillating around 18, I think. It was hard to tell as to measure more advanced attributes, you needed someone proficient in fortune-telling and a special pendulum. 18 was a lot for the strength of a soul, considering the hard and dangerous training needed.
I had my base stats. The last part involved checking my skills, or rather, their levels.
To get an accurate reading for a skill, to understand my weaknesses and what I should work on, I needed tarot cards, which I knew nothing about. And they were way too advanced for a Tarot-for-Dummies book to explain.
However, I had the cheap skill checker with me. It was a metal ball covered in arcane runes, with a six-sided die inside it, featuring novice, beginner, apprentice, adept, expert, and finally master written on the sides. It was called a rune sphere. You would put it in the spell and roll the ball around the voodoo doll until it stopped, roughly indicating your level in a given skill.
Some vendor sold it to the mortal world as a ‘magic 8-ball, ' which made it awkward to use, making me feel like a charlatan scamming my straw replica, but oh well, not like I had an alternative.
You needed to voice the ability to check correctly, so I opened my family tome to the section on skill classifications and reviewed what I should have.
Multilingual, Authority Over Mana, Authority Over Mind, Eldritch Madness, Eldritch Tongue, Servant to the Abyss, Spell Casting, Ritual Casting, Curse Weaving, Full Astral Projection.
Multilingual was just knowledge of a couple of languages: Black speech, Arcane, Abyssal, Elvish, English, Arabic, and Latin. Not that important, so there's no need to waste time checking how well I speak any language.
Authority Over Mana was the ability to control ambient mana for lower-level spells, not to use one's own. It was an ancient skill no longer practiced since you needed, well, ambient mana. The only way to learn it would be to crack mana crystals, lock the magic in a room, and try controlling it, which was a waste of resources no sane person would attempt aside from my family. It would probably come in handy in the coming times, so I definitely wanted to check it with the sphere.
Authority over Mind, the ability to navigate the mind, and the ability to use mental energy. Nothing unusual. Most could do that to some extent. I was confident in it, so there was no need for a check.
Eldritch Madness, that one was strange. My family called this ability The Blessing of the Abyss, but others called it the Eldritch Madness, and it looks like someone finally wrote it as such in the book. This was the inability to feel fear of any kind. Eldritch Tongue came with that skill, the ability to speak in the language of the void. No way the magic 8-b- I mean, rune sphere would be able to measure skill like that.
Servant to the Abyss was the contract I had with the eldritch god. Again, way out of the league of the instrument.
Spell Casting, Ritual Casting, and Curse Weaving were three different applications of mana. Respectively involving the runes and mana control for normal spells, the ability to interact with ritual circles, and the ability to weave curses using symbols. Simple, I knew my level was as good as it is possible for a second circle mage, so no need for a check.
And finally, Full Astral Projection. The ability to push the soul out of the body. A must-know ability for any mage interested in souls. I would like to know whether it can measure that one.
I quickly considered measuring my knowledge. The secrets, mysteries, and enigmas. That is, if you believe in enigmas in the first place, but then decided against it. Any knowledge I was interested in measuring was well beyond 8- I mean, the sphere.
I asked about Authority Over Mana and rolled the ball. Apprentice. Sure, I'll take it for a skill I could not practice.
Then Full Astral Projection. Apprentice again. Hmmm, that one should be higher. I knew I had an issue with it. Whenever I repossessed my body, I would get a feeling like I was wearing myself wrong, which would bring down my coordination for at least a couple of hours afterward. I could use someone with tarot cards to tell me the flaw in my technique.
Well, there's no point dwelling on it now. Before I cleaned up the whole operation, I checked the time. I still had around half an hour before I had to move. So I went back to the pendulum and quickly checked my body stats for a good measure. They weren't as important for a caster, but still, good to know.
I then removed the runic circle and wrote everything down on a piece of parchment to keep track of it in the future.
Race: human? - Ask when possible.
Magic circle: 2
Stats:
Strength: 16
Dexterity: 17
Endurance: 16
Intelligence: 22
Wisdom: 14
Willpower: 22
Mental Defense (non-fear): 24
Soul: 18
Skills: Multilingual, Authority Over Mana (apprentice), Authority Over Mind, Eldritch Madness, Eldritch Tongue, Servant to the Abyss, Spell Casting, Ritual Casting, Curse Weaving, Full Astral Projection (apprentice)
Secrets: Fire, Space, Death, Mind
Mysteries: Space, Death, Curse, Soul, Mind
Enigmas?: Eldritch
Looks good.
I got up, stretching my limbs, stiff from all the kneeling. Now it was time to move and get to my target, which was currently stalking some family.
Somebody was going to disappear tonight, and it wasn’t the people in the apartment.
