Twilight's Life Is A Game

by ilbgar

Congratulations! Your Twilight Has Learned A New Move!

The next day, Twilight was going over her weaknesses. First, she needed some more variety to her attacks since all she had right now was Mana Bolt and it's Spiral counterpart, which meant she was sunk if those didn't work. Second, she needed something to slow her opponents down with. Otherwise she'd be in trouble the next time she fought with the Zombie Legion because of the lesser Zombies it brought along. Third, some kind of protection spell so she wouldn't have to spend all her time jumping around the battlefield. Fourth, a detection ability in order to know where the next group of enemies was and avoid anything she couldn't handle.

She'd mostly been training her Stats, playing with her foalsitter, and learning theory, so she didn't actually know that many spells. She was hoping to remedy that starting today. The princess was sure to know an utterly ridiculous number of spells. Surely there were some that she could use for her purposes.

She waited at the spot they had agreed upon. Deciding to try and do it herself while she waited, Twilight created a Blank ID and began to manipulate mana from her horn, silently thanking her newer Skills for giving her a greater ability to handle mana how she wanted.

A different attack Skill would probably be a projectile of some sort. An arrow or spear perhaps? Then again, she needed a close-up Skill just in case. She might as well work on both. For the long-distance attack, she picked an arrow because that implied multiple firings at once and the spear was more intended to be used as a medium-range weapon and on a single target.

She concentrated her mana into a sphere that was not quite a Mana Bolt, then she molded it into a longer and narrower shape and made it pointed on the forward end. Finally, she gave it a spin and launched it at the nearest wall. It was weaker than Mana Bolt, but then she got the Skill windows.

'Mana Arrow. Active. Lv 1.
This Skill fires arrows composed of mana at the target. Damage is dependent on the user's Int. Level up the Skill to increase the number of arrow fired and reduce the costs.
Current number of arrows: 2.
MP cost: 20.

Spiral Mana Arrow. Active. Lv 1.
This Skill fires arrows composed of mana at the target. They have been given a spin to increase their piercing power. Damage is dependent on the user's Int. Level up this Skill to increase the number of arrows and reduce the costs.
Current number of arrows: 2.
MP cost: 25.'

With two arrows and a cost of only 25 total, this already beat Mana Bolt, though Spiral Mana Bolt was a different story. However, since she didn't have to charge this one, she could use it a lot more easily than a SMB. She practiced with it until it hit Lv 4. From what she could tell, every three Levels increased the number of arrows, while reducing the cost by 1MP. Each Level also slightly boosted the speed and accuracy of each arrow, though that could just be her individual skill.

It was only 8:30 a.m. and the princess had agreed to come here at noon. That gave her more than enough time to get to Level 10 with this Skill and develop others. By Level 10, Spiral Mana Arrow fired 5 arrows for 22 MP. She also discovered something. When she hit Level 5 with SMA, Mana Arrow Leveled up. It appeared that Skills that were built on top of other Skills also earned a small amount of Exp. for their originals.

She decided to switch to a binding or slowing ability. Perhaps she could make a rope to tie enemies up, or a net? Maybe she could make a sticky net. In any case, she had to make rope or thread out of mana first. It was not that hard to make threads, the hard part was keeping them from congealing into a uniform mass once she connected them. She eventually created a rope that was 10 feet long and held it in proper form. This created a new Skill.

'Mana Rope. Active. Lv 1.
A rope formed out of mana. It can be used to bind things, or to climb tall objects. Since it is made of spiritual energy, it can be used effectively on incorporeal beings. Since it is made of mana, it begins to decay the moment the creator is no longer controlling it directly. Level this Skill up to increase the length of time this takes.
Cost: 30 MP.
Current duration: 10 minutes.
Note: If the target struggles, the rope's durability will fall much more rapidly, and greater strength will drain it faster.'

She nodded. That made sense. If someone was trying to break out, then of course the construct would fail more quickly. Still, that wasn't the original intention of this particular Skill. It was just supposed to be a building block for an actual binding Skill.

She used Mana Rope 8 times, noting how much easier it was now that she had a Skill for it, and tied each of them into a grid of four squares. With this, she had created a rudimentary net. As she had hoped, this created a Skill.

'You have created a brand new Skill. Would you like to name it? Y/N.'

"Yes, of course. I have to say it to use it anyway." she said as she selected Yes.

'Would you like to name the Skill 'I have to say it anyway.'? Y/N.'

She stared at it with a deadpan expression for a few seconds, before selecting 'N' and naming it 'Mana Net.'

'Mana Net. Active. Lv 1.
Using an octet of Mana Ropes, the user creates a net made of mana. Reinforced by each other, the net's ropes are very hard to break free of, even by those of great strength. Level this Skill up to increase the strength and duration of the net.
Effect: Halves target's movement.
Duration: 1 hour.
Cost: 100 MP.'

Kind of costly, but Leveling it up should help with that. 24 uses of Mana Net later saw it to Level 5. It's duration had increased to 70 minutes, or 1 hour and ten minutes, and the cost had dropped to 95 MP. Seeing as it was bottoming out her MP, she switched to the third item on her list.

She was stumped for a minute as to how to protect herself, then decided to simply form a shield out of mana. She would give it a spin as well, since that seemed to be working out quite well with all the other Skills. The shield was quite easy, so she decided to create a bubble around her person, then spin it around her. That ought to deflect some of any attacks that landed by sending the force off to the side. It did indeed.

'Mana Shield. Active. Lv 1.
A basic Skill that blocks attacks. A shield of mana completely surrounds the user, and stops incoming damage.
Effect: Blocks up to a certain level of damage.
Effect: The Shield's strength increases per level.
Effect: The Shield grows denser per level.
Effect: The Shield's duration increases per level.
Effect: The Shield's strength, density and duration increases based on the user's INT.
Cost: 50 MP. Additional 30 MP/min.

Spiral Mana Shield. Active. Lv 1.
A Skill that blocks attacks built on over the original. A shield of mana completely surrounds the user, and stops incoming damage. The shield rotates in a clockwise direction and partially redirects or even deflects most attacks.
Effect: Blocks up to a certain level of damage.
Effect: The Shield's rotation speed increases per level.
Effect: The Shield's strength increases per level.
Effect: The Shield grows denser per level.
Effect: The Shield's duration increases per level.
Effect: The Shield's rotation speed, strength, density and duration increases based on the user's INT.
Cost: 60 MP. Additional 40 MP/min.'

She was very pleased with these results, and her MP had mostly recovered from the drain she'd subjected it to. She had a great idea to train the Spiral Mana Shield. She believed she could maintain 5 indefinitely, though she double-checked just to be safe.

'Level 17.
HP: 1190.
HP Regen: 14.9/min.
MP: 2184.
MP Regen: 232.32/min.
Str: 32.
Int: 123.
Agi: 35.
Vit: 34.
Wis: 40.
Lck: 27.
20 Stat points to spend.'

She thought it over, and left her Stats for now. an extra 200 MP and 2 MP Regen or an extra 2% MP Regen sounded nice but she wanted to see how her current Stats would perform. She used the three shields on top of each other, then sent a thread of mana through the shield to see if it stopped her attacks.

Ah good, it passed right through, likely because they both used her mana. She was probably pretty safe like this since if anything could punch through a barrier with 5 layers like this she was probably dead anyway. Especially with an Int over 100.

Now for the final item on the list. A detection Skill. She was fairly sure she could use mana in place of sound as a form of echolocation. She emitted mana densely enough to form a fog and let it spread out. She was pumping her remaining 32.32 MP Regen into it, almost a third of the average person's entire pool. After a few minutes of this, the entire room was filled and she was aware of every object's exact placement relative to everything else. She was confident she could make her way in and out with her eyes closed.

'Mana Sense. Active/Passive. Lv 1.
Using mana, the user is able to passively sense the locations of objects around them. Active use increases the range and detail. Higher Levels have greater range and detail.
Passive Range: 5 feet.
Active Range: 10 feet.
Cost: 30 MP/min.'

Well, that solved that problem, and Spiral Mana Shield had Leveled up twice while she'd been working on that, freeing up 2 MP of drain per minute per shield, for a total of 10 MP/min. She started to use Mana Net again. By the time she sensed Princess Celestia entering the Blank ID, her Mana Net was Level 10 and lasted 80 minutes with a cost of 90 MP and Spiral Mana Shield had reached Level 15 and dropped from an initial cost of 60 MP and an additional 40/min. to an initial cost of 30 MP and 25 additional MP/min. Finally, Mana Sense reached Level 6, each Level adding a foot to the passive range and 2 to the active range, for a total of 10 feet passively and 20 feet actively for 28 MP.

"Hello Twilight. You seem to have been working hard." Celestia said, having noticed Twilight's mana saturating the ID.

"Yep, I thought I should make myself more versatile, so I made some new Skills, you're looking at one actually." she gestured to her shields.

"That looks like it should be quite draining." the princess said slightly concerned.

"It was at first, but since it only costs 25 MP/min to use now, I can keep 9 going indefinitely, though that leaves me with only 7.32 MP Regen/min left, effectively crippling my offensive capabilities. They get stronger based on their Level and my Int. too. I was actually hoping to test it out with your help." Twilight said, hoping for a positive answer.

"Are you asking me to attack you?" Celestia said in disbelief.

"Unlike a Zombie, I can trust you not to try and kill me. Besides, I have five layers and I'm not asking you to go all out." Twilight rationalized.

"Well, Is suppose it's better than the alternative." the princess sighed. She fired a fairly weak beam of magic and other than some slight redness at the spot that got hit, the shield was more or less untouched.

"Wow. I was expecting at least some damage, even if you were holding back a lot." Twilight said, understandably stunned. This was without adding those Stat points, what would it be like if she were to do so?

"I used roughly twice as much power as in a regular Beam shot, but it barely made a dent in it. That's quite impressive. It would take dozens of shots just to bring down one layer, and you could replace them easily. You could win simply by outlasting your opponent in most cases if you were fighting a spell-caster." Celestai said. Inwardly, she was pondering this. Gamers were supposed to advance quickly given the proper tools and motivation, but to essentially become invincible to conventional mages in a matter of hours was terrifying growth. Of course that was assuming a one-on-one fight was happening.

If she were to fight a platoon, her shields would be brought down by sheer weight of numbers, and a dragon of even middling age would be able to punch through one with ease with their breath or sheer strength. Then again, she had the option of increasing her Int by one-sixth, and boosting all of her Skills that used magic by a significant amount. Besides, she wasn't even in the double digits in terms of age.

"I think I should train my attack Skills on Zombies while I have several of these up. That way I can Level up this Skill, and the Spiral Mana Arrow/Bolt. Plus, I've got a Skill that lets me sense my surroundings now too, so my situational awareness has improved and I can tell if someone is trying to sneak up on me. Right now it only lets me 'see' up to 10 feet, but if someone can punch through my shield without me realizing from that distance I'm probably doomed anyway." she said sheepishly.

"I won't let that happen." the princess said sternly. She was well-aware Twilight had no idea she was being used and they were doomed if Nightmare Moon had her way, but that didn't make her just a pawn on the chessboard. She was going to protect her student as best she could. Of course, a slightly bitter note entered her thoughts, that hadn't been enough far too many times.

"Right. What's first on the agenda?" Twilight asked dutifully.

"Let's start with history. You can always learn from your own mistakes, but learning from someone else's is another matter." the princess said. She began with an overview, glossing over some of the more unpleasant details. Twilight did a test on the Zombies, and her new Skills were quite effective against them. Although she left before testing them on the Legion Zombie, she was confident that she could slow it with Mana Net long enough to Spiral Mana Bolt it into oblivion.

She went to sleep looking forward to tomorrow.

Comments

[SoundBreaker]

Is this your variant of the manga The Gamer

[ilbgar]

5785195 Yes. I believe I mentioned that at some point.

[ilbgar]

In case you're curious. Twilight might be below Level 20 at his point, but she managed to earn 7 Level worth of points in Wis alone. She also earned almost 9 Levels worth of points in Int, to say nothing of the points earned for the others. That puts her actual ability Level in the thirties or more. Thus, she is quite capable of smashing through enemies that her Level says she shouldn't be able to.

[ilbgar]

5785288 To be specific, she has 311 points counting the 20 she hasn't spent yet. That's equivalent to Level 62. Still think that Boss shouldn't have gotten two-shotted?

[timelord2511]

Think you should make a chapter in the old story talking about how you've made the reboot . I see a lot of great stories that no one knows about because the author forgets to do this

[Shadow Lance]

5785299 sorry but this one is crap and usless. the gamer works because the normal people have no magic or special moves. equestrea has monsteres and ghost and stuff, and the people who live thier also has specail moves. you whir doing good with the other one but now your just making a rip off by replacing names . wtf hoof. im preaty sure twilight could already use mana bolt and she could already use it as a wepon. after all she fought tirek with attack magic so wtf;. how would transfering it to your hoof shoot it out of your horn. by copping them you ruin the story. go back to the old one and just use that. its more original than this one and you could have created a story line with the kingdome hearts. oh and the gods in equestrea shouls be lvl 200 maby 300

[GuardianofRoin]

Gonna be honest: not as crazy with this one as with the old version. In this we are starting out with Twilight who just woke up with all this and is leveling ridiculously fast. I'd imagine she would reach lvl ten around when she goes to ponyville after a tutorial with Celestia before she leaves for the Summer Sun Celebration. In the old version, while Twilight did get reborn with her advanced abilities which was also bad, it at least established a conflict early on with Chrysalis killing Twilight in her first life and making her restart. Besides the Legion zombie which she had created, we have no real conflict, no real drive to go for besides the Nightmare moon thing which in gaming and the show's story would have been akin to a prologue end boss. You also had many more options with the old version with the alternate game modes. True, those would be best as side chapters, but it allows Twilight to be exposed to a wider variety of situations and we can see her develop through them. We also see some interesting cameos in the last one. I for one enjoyed the arena fight with Alucard as it pitted her with realizing she could not win outright but had to run out the clock. Overall, this version just seems too... underdeveloped to really stand on it's own at the moment.

[Shadow Lance]

5795159 read the manga not this because this is just a butcherd version

[Spooky Moon]

5797426 whats the manga called?

[FinalFan]

Gamers were supposed to advance quickly given the proper tools and motivation, but to essentially become invincible to conventional mages in a matter of hours was terrifying growth.

Indeed. Please be careful, as making Twilight too OP will just make physical conflicts either pointless (she stomps all comers) or silly (DBZ-style power increases until planets are exploding left and right). You can still have social conflict, of course, especially if Twilight wants to socialize but has trouble connecting with non-Gamers, unless she is able to dump skill points into friend-making.

[Nihatclodra]

5806390 "The Gamer", and technically it's a Korean Manhwa (meaning you read it left-to-right).

[Selias]

You know that you can use spells other than the ones that Han Jee-Han had, right? Hell, with Twilight learning magic from Celestia, you even have a good way for her to learn them.

[Kauetheadventurer246]

This story is inspiring me to write a story based on this except, when a human child comes to Equestria with the gamer ability as well. But I will make the enemies really overpowered though. Also, can I borrow the spells you made for Twilight, I am not really good with coming up with names or explaining how speels work. I will change how the spells work however to fit on how the fights will be made. That is if it's okay with you?

[GleamingKyler111]

"I used roughly twice as much power as in a regular Beam shot, but it barely made a dent in it. That's quite impressive. It would take dozens of shots just to bring down one layer, and you could replace them easily. You could win simply by outlasting your opponent in most cases if you were fighting a spell-caster." Celestai said.

Gasp, CelestAI? I guess Friendship is Optimal in this universe.