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Baptism 1.3

I made it back home in one piece, but without my gold. I was angry and frustrated, but I calmed down after casting [Heal]. It was yet more proof that my power was real and I wasn't just delusional, because I couldn't imagine anything else being able to just make my swollen face go right back to normal like nothing happened from one second to the next.

So my power was real, and all the things I knew about it intuitively were probably accurate as well. There were so many things I could do with it, but all of that was in the future.

A future that would never come about if I didn't change first.

I hated myself. I hated being Taylor the loser, and after hearing Emma and her friends insult me so many times, I couldn't remember when exactly I started believing some of it. I mean, most of their insults were contradictory and made no sense, but ever since she betrayed me I felt like I hadn't achieved anything of worth, instead my grades were dropping, I had no friends left, and honestly what would you call someone who ate lunch in a bathroom stall everyday if not a loser?

And today, just seeing the difference between myself and the better version of me that [Heroism] brought that feeling to the fore.

The me without [Heroism] sucked.

I stared at the ankh decorating my altar. It was a recurring motif in the way my power expressed itself, and so of course I researched what it could possibly mean, from the altar to the floating sign above me, and designs for [Artifacts] I had in my head.

It was an ancient symbol that originated in Egyptian hieroglyphics, and meant life, especially the power to bestow life. It was prominently used in religious contexts, held in the hands of gods, though there wasn't anything else about my power that led me to think my power had anything to do with the Egyptian history, religion, or gods.

I also didn't have the power to just give life, unless you counted [Heal]. Instead, my power seemed to revolve around bringing out the potential in life.

And if that was what it was meant to do, I also had to bring out my own potential.

[Heroism] wasn't just a simple enhancement. It was what I could be, if only I had the time and experience to reach that level.

And until I did reach that level, I would be keeping myself under its effect as much as possible. As soon as I had the mana for it again.

In the mean time, I had to start taking my ambition to be a hero more seriously. I knew for sure it was all real—that I was a cape, and I had to prepare myself properly.

The first thing to do was to take a closer look at what I knew about my powers and what I could do.

I closed my eyes, and thought about my spells. Soon, my [Spellbook] appeared in my mind's eye.

It was a white grimoire that flipped open, organized into categories of spells.

Spellbook

Special

Special spells have non-standard casting requirements, incantations, targets, or effects, and they cannot be applied to enchanted items.

[Magic Spirit] - Target [Inactive Altar] - 0 MP

Summons a magic spirit to activate an Altar.

[Summoning Circle] – Target [Inactive Summoning Circle] – 0 MP

Activates a properly drawn summoning circle for use and links it to the caster.

[Transmute] - Target [Alchemy Material] - Variable MP

Transmute between the following materials:

Iron - Gold

Gold + Coal - Diamond *

Gold + Diamond + Rhodium + Silver - Mithril *

Electrum + Diamond + Mithril + Platinum + Chromium + Titanium + [Normal Unit] - Adamantium *

* Denotes currently unavailable.

[Enchant Item] - Target [Object] - Variable MP

Make a magical item with spell charges, unit enchantments, or grant an increase to attack/defense/speed/resistance. May be used by any [Normal Unit]. Cumulative increase to each basic stat cannot be greater than 3 from all magic items.

[Create Artifact] - Target [Special Object] - Variable MP

Make a powerful magic artifact that can boost spell effects and powers to a new level, serve as an altar for ritual or prayer purposes, and can boost more attributes, in addition to any features that can be enchanted on a magical item. May be used by any [Normal Unit] to variable degrees. Each [Normal Unit] can only have as many artifacts equipped as their soul capacity allows or they take continuous soul damage.

[Champion Investiture] - Target [Friendly Normal Unit] - 3000 MP

Elevate a worthy follower to sworn [Champion], investing them with great authority and power. Champions have their souls bound to you, generate their own mana to cast spells, and may serve as an altar for ritual and prayer purposes. The number of Champions is limited by soul capacity. Once sworn, the title may not be rescinded until death.

[Recall Champion] - Target [Champion] - 500 MP

Summons a [Champion] to your side instantly from anywhere.

[Just Cause] - Target [Self] - 150 MP, 5 MP/day

Affects perception of any person that interacts with or sees you such that they become more likely to believe that you have good intentions and that your actions are justifiable. [+1 charisma, +1 perceived Good]

Unit Enchantment

Unit Enchantments last one day unless dispelled early. On enchanted items they apply a passive effect to the [Unit] equipping it.

[Heroism] - Target [Friendly Normal Unit] - 30 MP

The target becomes a seasoned elite. Has no effect on targets that are already elite. Bonus to each basic stat is capped to normalized elite value. [3 attack, 3 defense, 3 max health, 3 resistance, 2 speed, 2 morale].

[Endure] - Target [Friendly Normal Unit] - 30 MP

The target has enhanced stamina, durability, pain tolerance, and willpower to keep going despite overwhelming odds and fatal injuries. [+2 stamina, +3 max health, +2 morale]

[Bless] - Target [Friendly Normal Unit] - 25 MP

The target gains increased general resistance to curses and slow-acting negative effects. [+3 resistance]

Combat Instant

Combat Instant spells produce a one-time effect. On enchanted items they become discrete spell charges that the equipped [Unit] can use without [Alignment] restrictions (other restrictions still apply).

[Heal] - Target [Friendly Unit] - 15 MP

The target will heal from all minor physical injuries and illnesses. [+3 health]

[Star Fires] - Target [Fantastic Unit] - 15 MP

Blast the target with magical star fires [15 ranged magic attack]. Will not deal any damage to [Normal Units], but can be effective for destroying equipment or weakening magical protections.

Combat Unit Enchantment

Combat Unit Enchantments have a continuous upkeep while active. On enchanted items they become an available time spell charge that can only affect the [Unit] equipping it when invoked.

[Holy Armor] - Target [Friendly Normal Unit] - 1 MP/min

Grants a protective light aura to the target that reduces damage taken, including damage from magical attacks. [+3 defense]

[Holy Weapon] - Target [Friendly Normal Unit] - 1 MP/min

Grants an offensive light aura to the target that changes any physical attack performed to magical and increases damage delivered. Magical attacks can hit and damage things otherwise intangible or immune to regular physical damage. [+2 attack] [Convert Melee/Ranged to Magic Attack]

Combat Area Enchantment

Combat Area Enchantments have a continuous upkeep while active. On enchanted items they are stored as continuous capacity spell charge. Enlarging the area of effect increases mana upkeep.

[True Light] - 5 MP/min

Bathes the battlefield in the purest light of the White Realm. Slightly enhances all powers and creatures of light and suppresses all powers and creatures of darkness, chaos, and death. Affects all [Units] on battlefield.

Summoning

Summoning spells summon things from the White Realm. They are always under the command of the caster but cannot be directly controlled, and have a continuous upkeep while summoned. When summons take too much damage, they are banished back to the White Realm until summoned again. On enchanted items, the spell binds and seals the summon into the item under the command of the holder to be called or resealed at any time, but if the summon is banished the item is destroyed.

[Guardian Spirit] - 300 MP, 10 MP/day

Summons a powerful guardian spirit from the White Realm. The spirit is incorporeal and may phase through solid objects. However, it can become corporeal to physically attack or be attacked by enemies. All [Friendly Units] within range of the spirit gain some resistance.

Guardian Spirit: [6 attack, 5 defense, 10 max health, 7 resistance, 2 speed]

Abilities:[+1 Resistance to Friendly] [Incorporeal]

My [Spellbook] gave me an incredible amount of information. I didn't think any other capes had powers that came with a guide, except maybe Tinkers. Of course, I could also qualify as a Tinker with the two Special spells for enchanting items and Transmute, so maybe that was why.

But it also didn't give me all the information. For example, although I saw how much mana each spell cost, I didn't have a number anywhere for my mana generation rate. The higher order transmutations were also unavailable with no explanation of how to make them available. That said, the [Normal Unit] that was required for Adamantium made that particular transmutation infeasible, no matter how powerful the metal was. I wasn't about to use living people as alchemy materials.

Looking at all my spells, it was clear that I was more suited to a support role, one that empowered others then persuaded them to pray to me and empower me in turn.

The only problem was, I was sure the PRT, and probably a lot of normal people, would look at me as the really dangerous sort of Master-Trump combination, and I couldn't just try to convince people to pray to me so overtly as my power demanded.

I had researched it, and there were a couple of famous precedents for this kind of thing that really scared people. Teacher got sent to the Birdcage when people found out his students didn't just get a minor power but also fell under his influence. Preacher was freakily similar to me with the religious angle, but I wasn't sure if he actually gave people powers. Not to mention all the other Masters that weren't Trumps. I couldn't name a single Master that had a good rep or was a hero.

Finally, that [Just Cause] was pretty obviously an actual Master effect. It might be minor and nothing like controlling other people, but when combined with the fact that people have to pray to me in order to receive my enchantments, it made things look really bad even if there was nothing insidious going on. I definitely couldn't let anyone know about it.

What all this meant was that I had to be very careful about how I presented my power, prayers, and my enchantments.

The one saving grace was that enchanted items didn't have the [Friendly Unit] targeting restriction. I could start with those, and eventually ease people that trusted me into praying to me. I could even sell some items for money and that might be even better than selling gold.

Like that, I continued planning throughout the evening, starting a notebook for that purpose and recording notes on aspects of my power that I had to figure out by myself.

Before I went to bed, I was in the bathroom in front of the mirror, looking at myself.

"I'm going to be a hero," I said.

"I can do this. I'm a smart, capable, and determined girl. And I'm growing smarter, more capable, and more determined every single day," I added.

I stared at the floating ankh above my head. It was no delusion. It was the symbol of my journey to—

Mirror

Taylor Hebert: [0 attack, 0 defense, 1 max health, 0 resistance, 0 speed]

Abilities: [****] [Administrative Intellectus] [Wizard]

Experience Level: Non-Combatant (LV0) 2/10 to Recruit (LV1)

Champions: None

Gold Reserve: Bankrupt (0g)

Mana Reserve: Barren (34 MP)

Power: ~90

Soul Capacity: 2

My eyes bugged out at the sudden information that appeared on the mirror in a bluish semi-transparent box overlaying my image.

My stats. All the zeros in my stats made it painfully clear how weak I was, being judged by my power as a Non-Combatant. But the second line caught my eye. Three abilities? By focusing on them, I received explanations for the two that weren't asterisks.

—Administrative Intellectus: Automatically comprehends and organizes information about yourself and your followers into a mental interface.

So that was why information my power fed me was formatted so nicely. Was this somehow unique to me, if it had to be designated as its own ability?

—Wizard: What distinguishes a Wizard from a mere caster of magic is the potential to control mana on a grand scale, and with a [Fortress], they may project their will and spells across huge areas or even entire planes. [Unlimited Mana Reserve Capacity]

It's official, you're a Wizard, Taylor! Focusing on [Fortress] didn't provide any explanation, so I guess it was like the other spells I knew I could eventually learn somehow but which my power gave no clues on.

Other than that, the numeric representation of my mana reserve and power—which was approximate daily mana generation—were much more useful than my own vague sensing.

Now how do I gain experience? My power didn't have an answer.

A/N: So, one of the reasons I wrote this is to try my hand at the whole LitRPG thing. But in my story, the interface Taylor has doesn't warp reality to use dice rolls or anything like that. They're just abstractions and approximations for the actual reality, and sometimes won't even be fully accurate. For example, stats from experience are not given in discrete levels or only in whole numbers, and spell bonuses aren't always quantified.