Balthazar

 Blood, bile, sweat and tears are poured out when the 18 year old spills his guts onto the cold stone floor. Cold sweat soaks him as he feels his whole body shiver, his breathing unstable and shaky, of course he would see death, how could he not?

Didn’t he fully understand what the game they were speaking off entailed? He has no one to blame but himself. However knowing death and seeing it so brutally right in front of his eyes is different. Perhaps as a Prince he was indeed too sheltered, hearing of executions, war, famine and death, it was all so… distant, far away, never affecting him whatsoever.

After putting it all out, he finally gets up from the floor, just to be faced with a clocking timer that shows he might've lost way too much time getting himself together. A blue screen, transparent, floating on the air shows information that, for his relief, he is able to read.

Floor 1 

Objective: Escape the maze in one hour.

Time before the floor is active: 00:01:15

He does not know how long the timer actually was before he started throwing up, but there’s no use spending time wondering about such things. Another wave of nausea overwhelms him, although he does attempt to put it all out again, there’s nothing left inside his stomach.

‘’I wonder how I can check if I did get mana… They said it’s almost like instinct…’’ As he whispers to himself, a second screen appears.

Name: Balthazar June Reid

Age: 18 years 3 months 3 days

Race: Human

Class: 3rd Prince of Mana (Lvl. 10)

He freezes, what does that even mean? He attempts to press it just like the ‘cellphone’ device, which apparently works.

Class

3rd Prince of Mana (Lvl. 10)

Chosen by Mana, you carry the weight of being the 3rd Prince, with blessings most would kill to have, you rule upon ‘Water’.

That still doesn’t help much, everything sounds like riddles, yet he should be glad for being able to at least understand it, compared to the hell he lived being unable to understand anyone at all for the past three months.

Title: Outsider ; Third Prince Baal

Affiliation: Realm of Mana ; 12 Princes of Mana

Water coins: 0 

Fire coins: 0

So there are 12 princes in total? He attempts to press the affiliation but nothing appears, however when he presses on his titles, they expand.

Outsider

You who do not belong to the realm you must save, are still an outsider. Will you ever find your new home or will you drown into your self-pity as you miss the home you do not belong to anymore?

Third Prince Baal

Epitome of elegance, as a Prince you poise yourself with dignity and elegance, ruler of ‘Water’, there aren’t many that stand above you. Your brothers and sisters rule beside you, remind yourself of your goal, your dreams and do not let any take this honor from you.

So much information at once, what does ‘Water’ mean? Is it literally water or something more? Of course can it be assumed that this order of ‘Princes’ and ‘Princesses’ must not be made solely upon age, he doubts his position would be third if that were the case. Even more, if it can be taken from him, is it the position of ‘Third’ or as ‘Prince’? Can his class be changed even?

Most of all, why Baal? Is it simply a nickname from his name Balthazar? His head hurts from all the thinking. Attempting to move on fast he checks onto his next doubt: What does these coins mean?

After reading its description he can’t avoid mumbling to himself: ‘’What the fuck is streaming?’’ A frustrated sigh leaves his lips as another screen pops up announcing the beginning of the first floor, but there’s no point, he stands still, finishing to explore the main screen with his information.

Stats:

STR: 4  INT: 45  DEX: 4  LUCK: 15  CHA: 25  CON: 4  MANA: 310

Haaa… Is this some sort of joke? He was already aware that he is weak, but this weak? What even is this constitution? If a gust of wind passes him, he might die from it. In compensation, his mana? Exorbitant. Absolutely brilliant. A huge smile appears in his face as he stares proudly at the whooping 310 mana he possesses.

There’s no way to even start explaining how happy he is to see it, that he finally has it.

Skills:

Tomes of ‘Water’ (Lvl. 2 / 55%)

Shapes of ‘Water’ (Lvl. 10 / 0%)

Prince of ‘Water’ (Lvl. Max / 100%)

Half-Dragon’s Impritee (Lvl. 2 / 0%)

Tomes of ‘Water’ (Lvl. 2 / 55%)

Third Prince Baal’s exclusive skill, tailor made for you, there won’t be any other being with the same set of abilities. 

Use the tomes to manipulate ‘Water’ at will. As the skill levels up, more Tomes can be acquired.

Tomes: Liquid Torrent ; Solid Shards

Required Mana: 15  Cool down: 45 seconds

These Tomes seem to be similar to spells Magicians can cast, as a small spellbook carrying the spells he learns along the way. They might be useful for me to go through this first ordeal.

Tome: Liquid Torrent

Cast a torrent of liquid ‘Water’ to drench your enemies with your mana.

Enemies affected by the torrent will earn the abnormal status: Drenched ; Stunned.

Tome: Solid Shards

Cast 30 shards of solid ‘Water’ the size of a regular pen to afflict pain into your enemies at random.

Enemies affected by one or more shards will earn the abnormal status: Bleeding.

If the enemy is already affected by the following abnormal status: Wet ; Drenched, they will also earn the abnormal status: Freezing.

He wonders how much firepower these skills have? The torrent seems to not afflict direct damage, simply being a way to slow down enemies, also allowing for him to amass more damage with the other spell. The negative part is that the shards will affect the enemies randomly, so he won’t be able to choose its path or how it’ll affect them.

Shapes of ‘Water’ (Lvl. 10 / 0%)

Third Prince Baal’s exclusive skill, tailor made for you, there won’t be any other being with the same set of abilities.

Shift between the shapes of ‘Water’ to bring forth the best potential of your skills in each situation.

Shapes: Liquid ; Solid ; Gas

Required Mana: 0  Cool down: 2 days

The more he reads, the more time passes and he becomes even more confused. These skills seem to become broader and there’s no hint on how to even properly use them. He sped through, trying to read even faster.

Shape: Liquid

Liquid ‘Water’ is calm, collected, elegant, however it can also be violent and unkind to those who dare to venture its vastness.

As you enter the Liquid shape you’ll be afflicted with the following abnormal status: Erratic Emotions.

In exchange you’ll receive: +30 INT ; +30 STR ; +30 CON.

And MANA recovery will increase by 200%.

This Shape can be held for: 30 seconds, with your current level.

Shape: Solid

Solid ‘Water’ is stable, cold, ruthless, it brings enemies to their knees as they freeze still upon its imposing presence.

As you enter the Solid shape you’ll be afflicted with the following abnormal status: Emotionless.

In exchange you’ll receive: +40 MANA ; +45 CHA ; +10 LUCK.

And you’ll become immune to Mental attacks.

This Shape can be held for: 5 minutes, with your current level.

Shape: Gas

Gas ‘Water’ is volatile, unstable, fervent, it can burn and cloak your enemies vision through its unpredictability.

As you enter the gas shape you’ll be afflicted with the abnormal status: Berserk.

In exchange you’ll receive: +50 DEX ; +50 STR ; +100 CON

And you’ll become invulnerable to Physical attacks.

This Shape can be held for: 10 seconds, with your current level.

Although it doesn't require mana to cast, the cooldown is high… and the price for each is also dangerous. Erratic emotions might drive me temporarily insane, being emotionless isn't good as well, as having no emotion is almost the same as having no motivation to exist, and going berserk? I might not know the extent of how each will affect me, but none will be kind to my mind. The rewards are proportional to the price, though.

Hopefully I won't need to use them too much.

Prince of ‘Water’ (Lvl. Max / 100%)

Third Prince Baal’s exclusive skill, tailor made for you, there won’t be any other being with the same set of abilities.

From an Useless Prince, hated by its subjects to a Prince of high prestige, your past experience as a member of an Imperial Family guides you through what being a Prince of Mana requires: Elegance, knowledge, kindness, prestige and ruthlessness.

Establish your court, name your subjects and forge your path to become the heir to the Throne of Mana.

Current heir: Not selected

Your position in the succession line: 3rd

Subjects: None.

Selected subjects will not only be connected to you through their loyalty, but they'll receive a +30% buff in all their stats depending on their loyalty to you.

Subjects receive a unique skill depending on the title you bestow them.

Subjects are able to increase or decrease your prestige depending on their actions as your representatives.

Subjects Management is currently unavailable, please appointment a subject to be able to view it.

This is a lot. But currently useless for me to spend time wondering about it as the clock is ticking and there is no use to leave this maze.

Unsure on how to proceed he checks the last skill:

Half-Dragon's Impritee (Lvl. 2 / 0%)

Young Dragons are vulnerable to attacks until they molt for the sixth time, therefore they established a protective mechanism: Familial Imprinting. One of the two imprints Dragons do for life, a familial imprint happens when the Dragon finds a suitable caretaker and a second when they find their lifetime lover, some might be unlucky to never find either.

However, one little Half-Dragon was lucky and you even more.

Congratulations on becoming the guardian of a Half-Dragon.

Become closer and protect the Half-Dragon until it sheds its sixth skin and be rewarded for your hard work! Dragons are loyal to their guardians and lovers, however if they're neglected or betrayed they can become tainted and kill their imprintee.

Proximity rate: 2%

+15 CON +10 INT

*This is a passive skill with no mana cost or cooldown 

Ha. What? He shakes his head, the more that he reads the more confused he gets and it's useless to keep wasting time on this when he has so little time left.

00:34:56

A sigh leaves his lips as he takes a deep breath trying to think. This is a maze, but what use would be wandering blind? He starts to walk, though, his hands grazing onto the cold gray wall.

The maze is made entirely of this gray stone, and there's a few light sources on the walls, just enough to allow low visibility, and the true challenge of this maze: the walls are constantly shifting, moving around and closing paths that were open before, vice versa.

00:22:15

Reaching another dead end he stops. This is the first floor, would they give us a challenge impossible to pass? No. This isn't for us to prove ourselves as strong or intelligent. Almost like a field for us to learn the true extent of our powers.

“To pass the test we only need to use our skills”, he mumbles, opening the screen again, to check his skills for the second time.

00:20:03

“Fine, I can use the Liquid Torrent and then the Solid Shards to freeze and break the walls, but how do he use them?”, mumbling he attempts to think about using the skills, then summoning their names out loud, but there's no use. Of course it wouldn't be that easy, it's mana they're talking about, when you never used it before it won't be easy to just pull it out of your body.

Fine. He has time and knowledge.