Barry

> "*My name is Barry. I am twenty-eight years old and I could quite accurately be described as your everyday ordinary guy.*"
> ― Barry
>
>

Barry is the main protagonist in Magium. Marked from the start by his daring nature, sarcastic commentary, and his determination to become a mage, his gradually unveiled knowledge, abilities, and life reveal a far more able-minded and experienced character throughout his group's adventures.

## Appearance

Barry is notably described as an average-looking human Book 1 Chapter 1 male with an expressive face that tends to give away his bluffs under stress. Although he underwent several months of physical training in preparation for the tournament, he is often teased for being scrawny. Barry wears a long-sleeved shirt with buttons, pants, and a belt with a dagger hanging from it.

## History

The events surrounding Barry's birth and lineage remain largely a mystery. His ability to access a Stat Booster's full capabilities shows that he is half-lessathi, half-human. In lessathi society, this would only be allowed within the top brass. While he was still a baby, he was taken off Varathia and left in a village on the Western Continent after his birth parents were murdered in broad daylight by a group of lessathi. He was adopted by two of the villagers and was raised alongside their daughter and son, the son being the youngest of the three. Barry remained unaware of his true parentage until the Tournament.

When Barry was thirteen, his sister began showing signs of magical powers, to the excitement of her family. Unfortunately, due to the village's isolation, the true cause of the development wasn't known until it was too late; a banshee, a parasitic spirit banished from the magical plane had possessed Barry's sister, taking several weeks to meld with her aura before gaining control of her body. One afternoon, Barry came home to find the banshee awoken and in control while his parents tried to bring his sister back to her senses. Too scared to move, Barry watched the banshee sadistically murder his parents before his eyes, only managing to act when it moved to kill his younger brother. Since the banshee had only just awoken, it was unable to access its magical power, allowing Barry to kill it and his sister by impaling it with a pitchfork. Barry would come to remember the event differently in the future, believing his parents had already been killed when he returned home. Following this incident, his relationship with his brother deteriorated. Barry hasn't spoken with him since and his current status is unknown.

At 17, Barry left home to travel across the Western Continent in hopes of fulfilling his lifelong dream, since the age of 5, of becoming a mage. He took up a variety of jobs including test-flying gnomish planes, accompanying professors and relic hunters, and discussing magical theory with hermits, anything where he could potentially pick up bits of information. Barry has been the apprentice of several mages, some of which are famous. One notable example is Brinhorn, as Barry was the true inventor of "Brinhorn's Dispelling Technique", which revolutionized the dispelling of magical traps.

## Abilities

### Half-Lessathi's Perks

As a half-lessathi, Barry has a partial resistance to paralysis and electricity along with partial immunity to sleep spells. Unlike the lessathi aura, that has zero magic in it, the half-lessathi aura has magic in it, but the magic in it is weaker than normal humans and very close to zero. So far, this property of his aura is what helped him be able to use the stat device to its full potential, that is using magic.

### Stat Booster Device

His abilities vary with the points that he chooses to apply to the stats in his stat booster device.

#### Base Stats

Depending on the reader's chosen investment in stats, Barry can have increased Strength, Speed, Toughness, Reflexes, Hearing and Observation skills. Additionally, with the required invested stats, Barry can learn a bit to almost all Ancient languages, can gain incredible fighting skills with Combat technique and can even gain limited future-predicting skills with Premonition. The Base Stats are incredibly crucial to Barry's skills throughout the entire game, as they decide what he can and can't do, and depending on your array of stats he can turn into as good of a fighter as Hadrik, or gain knowledge of almost everything, with much inbetween.

#### Aura Stats

Barry has three Aura stats which are unlocked for him by Reidzek. The Aura stats are immensely useful, however are simply an add-on to the base stats. Bluff (or Aura concealment) lets Barry completely hide his aura, and also fixes his inherent problem of having a spiky aura whenever he lies, and a maximum in this stat even gives Barry limited mind manipulation, like when he convinces the shopkeeper that he already gave a password that he didn't know. Magical sense allows Barry to pick up on a variety of things, like other people's auras from a distance, or magical traps. Aura hardening is like an upgrade to both strength and toughness, as it allows Barry to harden his aura, increasing both his attack capacity and defenses.

#### Magic Stats

Barry's Magic Stats are what he is trying to unlock for most of Book 3, and are eventually unlocked for him by Meridith. These Magic stats, unlike the Aura stats are not just new stats to invest in, and instead are separate. Barry can't invest in this stat or increase it manually, as it will (presumably) increase on its own when faced with powerful magic. The Magic stats are split into Magical power and Magical knowledge, power increasing the strength of his attacks while also increasing his magic reserves, while Magical knowledge gives him access to a larger variety of spells. At first level, Barry can use enough spells that he makes a list of it in his notebook, one of these being a dizziness spell that is similar to Wolford's Daze.

## References

1. ↑ Book 1, Chapter 2
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Book 1, Chapter 1
3. ↑ Book 2 Chapter 9
4. ↑ Book 1 Chapter 5
5. ↑ Book 2 Chapter 3
6. ↑ Book 2 Chapter 8
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Book 2 Chapter 11
8. ↑ Author's comment
9. ↑ Book 3 Chapter 3
10. ↑ Author's comment
11. ↑ Book 3, Chapter 4
12. ↑ Book 3, Chapter 6
13. ↑ Book 3, Chapter 11
14. ↑ Book 3, Chapter 12