They say a tone rang out on Integration Day. It was days or maybe even weeks before people really compared notes and discovered that, unlike everything after, this wasn’t a psychic indicator of progress or system announcements but a true physical manifestation of what was coming. The sound disrupted water, was felt by the deaf, before being deaf was made impossible by the system. There’s been both disagreement and discussion regarding the source of the sound. No one disagrees that the system is responsible but the method of deployment is still a mystery.
There are people who have spent years trying to recreate the sound, believing enlightenment is just around the corner or that it will summon back guides to take them to helpful gods. Others think it will only sound again at the end of everything.
I wouldn’t know it if I heard it. Whatever the sound was drowned in my screams and the crunching of metal.
It would be easier on my mind if I could blame the system’s arrival. Simpler if I could chalk up all my pain to be the same as those of us who remain. The truth is that patch of ice took us off the side of the mountain minutes before integration started. I know we rolled, that much is clear but I can never quite remember how much. Maybe it’s a blessing of pre-system acuity, or maybe my brain tried to block out the terror.
I don’t remember stopping. Isn’t that funny? Loss of conscious for what I’ve always assumed to be brief moments took its piece of the night. I woke in pain, crying and screaming. What I would later identify as a tree limb pierced my stomach and nailed me to my booster seat.
Did I mention I was seven years old on integration day? Mommy and daddy and Benji and me, on our way home from Christmas at Nana’’s. There was little light in the car so it took me a bit to recognize that not all that sticky blood was mine. I cried out for my parents but they were dead on impact. Of course I didn’t know that then so I didn’t let it stop me. You’d be surprised at how quickly a voice grows hoarse in the cold December winds. I ran out of screams and breath before I finally heard the sound that defined my integration day. I thought I could hear Benji breathing, or trying really hard to. I didn’t hear the term “sucking chest wound” for a long time after that.
Integration at 10%
“What? Help!” Some people get anxious at things they said to others, fumbles in life, and moments of sheer stupidity. I still can’t quite let myself off the hook for screaming for help at the first system message. Don’t get me wrong, it was nothing to be ashamed of, I was young and injured and new to the system. Still. It feels so pointless looking back.
It took me a couple of yells before I realized the System screen was open in front of me. I had no idea what was going on, but at least in that I was definitely not alone. The numbers went up and eventually the text was replaced.
Tutorial Starts in 5:00 Minutes
I didn’t know what that was either. Now, I had played games, in the same way a lot of children do. Barely paying attention to what the game was telling me, begging my big brother to tell me what to do, insistent in getting to the place he had been at. The word tickled something in my brain but between blunt force trauma and bleeding out I wasn’t able to quite place it.
Five minutes. What a short amount of time in the system. Here there exists the potential to become gods and live for eternity. But of course I had no frame of reference. I’d lived a whole seven years and three months and wasn’t even out of the booster seat. I was also full of adrenaline and in more pain that my little mind was capable of really understanding. Five minutes was an eternity.
Now plenty of people have stories about someone who would have lived if they could have held on just a few seconds more. My brother made it to the two minute warning. I think I’ll always hold a grudge against the system for that. Why couldn’t the tutorial have started immediately after integration? Should I become a god I think I’ll dedicate some time to finding out. Unlikely as that is for anyone. I didn’t know exactly what was happening but I knew it was bad when the sound stopped. I tried to call out to him but my voice was well past gone. I managed to find his cold hand and shake his arm but there was nothing to be done. I just closed my eyes and waited for my turn, the pain starting to seem distant. We were never a religious family but I knew about the concept of heaven, even if the particulars escaped me. I was going to see them again
Tutorial Initiating
Warmth. Honestly I’m not sure if I started feeling it before or after the tutorial began but I definitely noticed it for a second. It stood in stark contrast to the lack of feeling I had made myself comfortable with and the draining heat as blood poured out of my wounds. As anyone can tell you, you’re teleported to the tutorial. But not just that, you don’t take anything with you. The clothes you wear are system created, while reflecting what you had on at the moment. But tree limbs? Why would the system recreate that? That’s the first time I heard the voice of a caring god.
“Oh fuck, oh shit, what the actual fuck?”
I think I managed a giggle at the swearing. Unlike other families it was allowed at our house. Sometimes. We could swear if the moment called for it, but we couldn’t over do it. Stubbing your toe might allow a “shit” to go by. You could say “dammit” if you dropped your cookie. I had never seen what warranted a “fuck” but this did seem like it qualified. I managed to open one eye briefly to see a tall woman in a velvet blue short sleeved shirt and tight leather pants yelling into the air. Her head was shaved on one side and a wave of green combed over to fall at her shoulders on the other. Her copper skin was like my own and her features close enough she could have been an older sister.
“No, fuck you very much. I understand that this is my sector. Which is idiotic, why is this done by lottery? I’m not even anywhere near my origin. I get one person and she’s dying? People can’t die in the tutorial, that’s a rule too.”
I tried to look around to see who she was talking to but either no one was there or I couldn’t see them. I tried to listen for responses when she paused, but I heard nothing. Well I say I tried but I was halfway out of the world so I wasn’t trying all that hard. Turned out I would never have heard the responses in my best condition.
“Fine. FINE. No I’ll take the hit, and thanks for nothing. No it’s fine I said I’d do it. What’s the worst that happens? She doesn’t die and I’m stuck here for decades or centuries until she can leave? Yes, I accept. No shit she’s not old enough to activate, you made the deal you figure it out. Artificial intelligence my ass, more like constructed stupidity.”
My eyes had closed again so I was startled as she lifted me up in her arms. “Oh sweetie I’m sorry, hold on.” The warmth started coming back immediately and the pain got further and further away until I realized I was clenching at nothing. Even my throat stopped stinging. I breathed out a sigh as tears flowed down my cheek. “Thank y-”, and that’s as far as I got before passing out from sheer exhaustion.
…..
I don’t know how long I slept but I was tired before the crash. I do know that I woke to the woman stroking my hair, me lying in her lap. Rays of sun silhouetted her head bringing an other worldly element to her visage. She still looked like family, minus the green hair. In between sleep and wakefulness I didn’t know what was real or where I was. I froze in her grasp and she took her hand from my hair. Of course that’s when reality returned to me. Not the reality of the system or tutorial or changes I couldn’t possibly understand, but the events leading up to it. I sat up, took one look at her and started sobbing.
“Oh honey, it’s ok,” she said.
That just made it worse. I tried so hard to talk, after several gulping sobs I finally got out “My mommy”. Her face turned to stone and soon after she was holding me and I think we were both crying. You can run out of tears it turns out, your heart can deaden for a while and shock can allow you to deal with the things that have to be dealt with. The hurt isn’t gone, just put on a shelf you’ll find yourself hurrying back to as soon as you remember it. She held me while I needed her to and once I was able I told her what happened as best I could.
When I was finished she dried my tears and produced an apple juice box from somewhere in her shirt. As I sipped it, cooling my newly sore throat. It’s still hard to not feel shame in my tears, no matter how natural at the time. Just as hard to separate the love I felt from the loss. She sat me down on a conveniently System provided stump and nervously rubbed her palms down her thighs.
“OK, Marie, we're gonna have to be really clever, you and I.” Running a hand through her hair she said, “What happened to you is terrible and it’s not fair and I’m really really sorry. I wish I could tell you it gets better but all I can really promise is that it gets easier to breathe, and the pain gets further away. One day you’ll wake up and realize you hadn’t thought about it the whole day before and that’s the start to dealing with it.”
I nodded sagely, like when Benji was telling me something important. The thought almost threw me back but the woman clapped her hands keeping me in the present.
“I know it’s hard, sweetie. Or, really no I don’t. I know what it’s like to lose people but I had the tools to deal with it. OK, how about this. I know you can do this. I’m going to tell you some stuff and I’m going to try and go slow. We have some leeway with the Tutorial until you pick your class, and I got us some special dispensation. Uh special privileges. Special treatment, due to what happened to you.”
She marched over and set next to me. “Ok, you’re a kid so can I assume you know what a video game is?”
I nodded, still in my juice.
“A long time ago there were two planets,” she began. “One planet was all sci-fi and stuff, like Star Trek or Star Wars or whichever you’ve seen. The other one was all dragons and fairy princesses and wizards. After years and years and years each of them created crazy things until they were kind of the same. The thing about these planets though is they weren’t in the same universe. There was a multiverse! That’s popular now right?
Anyway the two planets found each other, or one found the other no one is really sure. The important thing is that they started working together, but something was really wrong. They had figured out how to move between worlds but their stuff only worked on the side they made it. So they got all their really smart people and put them together. We still know about two of them, the Grand Artificer, who made a whole other place where stuff from both universes worked and the son of the high king. We don’t know his name but we do know a few things. One, he was a real powerful wizard. Two, he loved games. Three, he didn’t think like other people.
You see after the Grand Artificer made her in between place he got in there with some newly made friends and hatched a scheme. He hated how complicated the world was so he wanted to make it simpler for everyone. He absolutely failed to do that. What he and his friends ended up doing was creating a combination of the most powerful things from both worlds. They sucked everything into the middle space and started changing both planets. It wasn’t long before everyone realized they were in a game. There have been a million names for it, but in your language it’s probably easiest to just call it the system. I know it's a lot, any questions so far?”
I was in a video game, pretty easy to understand I thought. The whys and hows didn't matter to me yet. Really there was only one question I could no longer contain. So with all the tact and respect I could muster I asked, “Who are you?”
In this world getting caught off guard can be deadly. I don't doubt the stakes can be the same in the world of gods. Therefore it must only be right to take pride in taking a god off guard as a mortal.
It only lasted a second but her initial reaction of absolute affrontment is seared in my brain. I immediately started trying to apologize, afraid I had just made things so much worse. But she just laughed.
“Take this as a lesson Marie, never let your pride make you assume you can't make mistakes, no matter how powerful you get. It's ridiculous to expect you to know who I am without identify, and you cant have a skill till you have a class.
To answer your question my name is Hecate, three part goddess of magic, please hold your applause,” She said taking a small bow. Unfortunately her showmanship was lost on an audience used to Bluey.
“Alright, well I assume you'll have questions eventually and since I just marooned myself in this universe for a while we'll have to get to them later. For now I need you to open your status menu and tell me what you see. Just think ‘Status’ as hard as you can.”
I still had questions, her answer didn't really give me whatever I was looking for. Putting down my juice box I scrunched up my eyes and did what I was told anyway. I couldn't understand the situation I was in but the sense of danger from the night before still lingered. I couldn't make the only person who was helping me mad. I just couldn't.
The status menu opened and I dutifully read the contents.
Name Marie
Species Human LVL N/A
Class N/A
Stats
Strength 3
Dexterity 5
Intelligence 8
Wisdom 3
Vitality 5
Health 10
Mana 16
Skills
Class N/A
Free Form N/A
Blessings
Permanent N/A
Temporary Boon of the Newly Integrated
Titles N/A
She gave a half scowl and rubbed her right eye with two fingers. “Well you're a smart little bugger so that helps but your age is really creating issues here. Generally you can't get a class until one of your stats hits 10 or you reach 3/25ths of your natural lifespan. Even then most are encouraged to wait for the latter. Oh, for you humans that's 15 or 16. I'd say you're above average and would likely get an awakening by 11 or 12. Of course there's some real geniuses out there that could get a class at your age. Watch out for them though they tend to have more power than sense. Or empathy.”
Pacing back and forth in front of me she began talking out loud, more to herself than me. “ A Blessing won't do it, base is too low. Can't use equipment before an awakening. Not enough time in the tutorial to raise them.”
Looking at the freshly discarded juice box at my side she raised an eyebrow. “HAH! The last resort of the desperate talentless plebs, add that to the integration bonus and the idiot AI's obsession with fairness in new universes… there's got to be an associated title.”
“Muahahahahaha,” she laughed dramatically pulling a golden chalice from a sleeve. “Drink my child and be reborn!”
“Actually wait a second.” She pulled the cup back to her. “ Almost made another one of those mistakes. Wow this might actually be hard for me too. OK after you drink this your intelligence is gonna go up a bit. It's temporary but it'll put you over the threshold and let you pick a class. Normally you'd wait until you were older but we don't have a lot of choices here. When this tutorial ends you're going to be on your own for a while.”
She gave me a minute to try and understand that. Or panic. I didn't have the emotional bandwidth for either. I'd reached the end of fear or sadness or any emotion. It felt like I was watching all of this happen to someone in a movie. Shock or disassociation or trauma, whatever the case I was past reacting.
“What do I do?”
Nodding, she spoke again, “ I'm not sure I'm looking forward to what happens when you're able to feel again but we better use this to our benefit. Like I said I'm a goddess of magic, for me to really help you you're gonna have to pick a mage class. I hate to decide your future for you but you're a smart kid and if you want to be something else one day you'll figure out a way. So once you drink this you're gonna be offered the opportunity to awaken. Take it, choose mage, and then I'll see what advantages I can give you from there. Finally, you're going to get some skills choices. You'll get two and you need to pick Quick Study and Mana Manipulation. Just ignore everything else for now. I promise you'll be able to choose going forward but you need these two to survive. You should also get a freebie from the System but it'll probably be a language skill.”
She held out the chalice again, “Now, when you're ready. And be quick I’m so limited this stat bump is only gonna last for about five minutes”
I took the cup with both hands and looked down to see a violet liquid. The smell was sweet and pleasant but had some kind of acrid flower aroma behind it. I took it like medicine, down as fast as I could before the taste set in. This turned out to be a good idea as the liquid burned and threatened to rise in my throat before settling down.
Temporary intelligence points applied (10)
Qualifications met New Initiate of the System
Choose class Y/N?
“Yes” I croaked and the world faded away to blackness.
Classes Available
Fighter - Melee
Fighter - Range
Fighter - Stealth
Mage - Melee
Mage - Range
Mage - Stealth
Choose Mage, her voice echoed in my head. Which one though? I don't think I knew the words melee or stealth, neither had come up before.
“I don't understand,” I said, my brain working to make connections. Range had something to do with guns, so far away?
Clarification
Melee - Attack from up close
Range - Attack from far away
Stealth - Attack from hiding
I started to say I didn't understand again. I opened my mouth and realized I did understand. Sure my context was mostly comic book movies Benji always wanted to watch and documentaries on Rome Daddy made fell asleep to, but I understood. More than understood I knew what to pick. I was little and weak so melee was completely out. Stealth was tempting, hide away so no one could see me, but the second they did I was going to be in trouble. If I had to protect myself it would be better if they never reached me.
“Range Mage,” I said, mustering up all the courage I could.
Class Chosen
Mage - Range
Class points Assigned
Skill gained Natural Linguist
You have 2 Skill Points
*Ding* Title unlocked “World's Weakest”
*Ding* Title unlocked “Child Prodigy”
Remembering what Hecate said I quickly replied, “ Quick Study and Mana Manipulation.”
Request clarification, you have not viewed available skills, are you sure you want to choose these skills? Y/N
“Yes.”
Skills chosen, returning to Tutorial
Reality bled back in through the dark until I was back on the stump facing Hecate once again. “OK, so what kind of mage are you?”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Range”, I said, standing. I felt different but still numb. Without the fear holding me back I showed my true age with a torrent of questions. “What was that? What are titles and skills and why am I the weakest and what’s a prodigy? What’s a three part goddess? Why do I have to attack anything? Is something going to attack me?” I sounded weird, the way I was talking, the way I was thinking.
“There she is, I told you I wasn’t looking forward to this. Let’s take this one question at a time. I’m called the three part goddess because I can appear in different aspects, The maiden which is a young woman is how I appear to you. Normally I would appear as the mother, but given that means you would likely see me as your mother I chose this form instead. Finally the Crone or old woman to you, and you don’t want me showing up like that. We keep that for special occasions, like when someone’s about to die. Each form has different powers, a different purpose and a different side of my personality.
I was actually in the form of the mother when you appeared, as you desperately needed one. Probably a good thing you shocked me out of it with all that blood. In this form I can still channel some protection and healing, even if my matronly form is better for it. You may have noticed that we look kind of similar. That’s because you can’t actually perceive me as I exist. That’s how gods work. You run into Thor and he’s likely to look a lot like a blonde hunky actor. The more powerful you get the more glimpses you get of the real us. Right now this form is going to look like an older version of you, the motherly form will look like your mother and-”
“The crone will look like Nana?”
“The crone will look like Nana. Now let’s address some of your other questions. Instead of telling you the answers though I’m gonna let you find them yourself. We have about 24 hours now that you’ve chosen your class and a lot to go over so let’s start with the basics. Every question you asked me aside from the last two you should ask your status screen. Go ahead and bring it up again”
I thought about the Status screen and it appeared.
Name Marie
Species Human LVL 0 Blessing
Class Basic Mage (Range) LVL1
Stats
Strength 4
Dexterity 6
Intelligence 20
Wisdom 22
Vitality 7
Health 14
Mana 38
Skills
Class Quick Learner
Mana Manipulation
Free Form N/A
Blessings
Permanent Disciple of Hecate
Temporary Boon of the Newly Integrated
Titles World's Weakest
Child Prodigy
“The numbers have changed,” I read off the new status. “ I leveled up but my intelligence and wisdom changed a lot.”
“Ok,” she said, “what does your blessing do?”
I started to reply that I didn’t know but when I thought the question the system answered.
Disciple of Hecate
Blessed by the Three Part Goddess your Intelligence and Wisdom get a flat 10% bonus. Losing this blessing will remove the bonus.
“Benji was doing percentages in school,” I said. “He tried to explain them to me but it was so boring. I understand them now. But that doesn’t explain why I have so much.” I stopped and looked at the titles.
World’s Weakest
You’re the weakest awakened in this universe's history. Add the Wisdom from the awakened with the highest stats so you can make better decisions in the future. Permanent stat bonus, title will be lost if a weaker awakened appears.
Child Prodigy
You’re the best of your generation, you don’t need to grow up before taking the path that’s rightfully yours. Double your highest starting stat. Everything’s a little easier for you. Permanent stat bonus, title will be changed upon reaching adulthood.
My brain was whirring, there was something still missing and I started trying to remember all the system messages. Luckily for me this prompted the System to show me a log. Oh yeah.
Class Points Assigned
Strength +1
Dexterity +1
Intelligence +3
Wisdom +3
Vitality +2
I got points in everything, just a lot fewer in the stuff I wouldn’t use. That made the points I was pretty sure, so what was that temporary title?
Boon of the Newly Integrated
Welcome to the multiverse. Gain two skills. Experience is doubled. Blessing lasts until Species Metamorphosis.
“Ok what’s-”
Species Metamorphosis
You have the technology, or magic, rebuild yourself better, stronger, faster, or maybe just weirder.
“Is the System making fun of me?”
“Yes, absolutely. But don’t feel bad, it doesn't mean anything by it.. The king’s son had an odd sense of humor and the system tries to use popular culture from wherever it integrates on the locals. A lot of times thought fails to understand concepts like “target audience” or “dated reference”.
“Huh?”
“It’s going to make jokes you won’t get but it doesn’t understand you won’t get them.”
“Why can’t I get them?”
“It’s going to reference movies you’ve never seen, tv shows older than your parents, and music you don’t like. It may also make jokes you do get”
“Like six se-”
“STOP. I don’t think it knows that one, let’s not be a bad influence.”
It wasn’t the first negative response I’d gotten to that so I just let it go. I didn’t want to go back to being completely serious. She still hadn’t answered two of my questions. I didn’t think the System was going to answer them either.
“Do I have to fight stuff?”
Her face fell a little at that. “I’m afraid so. There’s some other stuff I gotta explain to you now. The first is that the Earth you knew has changed. It’s much larger than it used to be due to the System pumping in mana. There’s two types of universes. Well ok there’s a lot more than that, but for you to understand we’re gonna go with two. One type basically either has no magic or magic can’t be used and goes around doing weird stuff that’s hard to understand. The humans of this world called it dark energy, or close enough anyway. They were right on the cusp of answering some real big questions that honestly would have just given them bigger questions. Magic existed here, people had mana but unless they had a tremendous amount they couldn’t do a lot with it. Not reliably anyhow.
The other kind of universe was one of magic. The thing is it heavily interferes with things like electricity, making your planet’s form of technological advancement all but impossible. Eventually someone in this universe would figure out how to mimic what magic does in other universes and vice versa. I mean probably. Or everyone would have died out and the universe would have established energy equilibrium.
I know a lot of that doesn’t mean much to you but I’m getting to your answer. The short answer is yes. When this tutorial is over you’re going to be alone in the woods and I’m not going to be able to help you or talk to you until you change your species. That’s 50 levels in your class. You’ll become stronger, strong enough to handle my presence for short amounts of time so I can help you directly again.
I’m afraid the news gets worse. The animals in the woods are going to get stronger and you have to stay a step ahead of them. You have to be able to defend yourself. The nearest people are not going to be in walking distance and trying to get to them won’t be possible until you’re much stronger. This is gonna suck kid.”
She stopped and I just let the information soak in. You tell a child they’re going to be alone for a while and they’re either afraid or plotting something. I was definitely in the former category but too much had happened too fast. I couldn’t deal with it. Something in me told me I would be dealing with it soon enough.
“Now for the good news. Those stat increases are meaningful, you basically just matured a couple of years. Well kind of, you still have the experience of a seven year old but you’re able to analyze those years and understand yourself and the world around you like an eleven or twelve year old. The more you increase them the better it’ll be but the only real cure here is time. You’re still going to be a kid trying to survive a world of monsters, you’re just going to have better tools to do it.
I know that doesn’t sound like much but don’t worry I’m gonna tilt things in your favor a little. I’m already paying the price for healing your wounds, might as well tell you a big secret and give you a magic item. Let’s start with presents.”
She snapped her fingers and a brown book bag appeared. There were two zippers and a water bottle attached to the side. “Behold, your school bag of not so limited storage. First we have a flask of infinite water! Actually the flask is just attached to a floating freshwater ocean in space when the lid is on, but seeing as it’s bigger than your whole solar system I doubt you’ll run out.
Next inside your first zipper is a tent of sanctuary. This things a little busted due to the rules and can only be used for about 8 hours before it kicks you out. Watch.”
To my surprise instead of unzipping it she grabbed one side and pulled the zipper completely off of the bag. As she held it up the zipper lengthened until it hit the ground. She let go of the top and it stayed in place. Unzipping it she pulled the sides apart letting me see inside.
It was a bedroom, sparse but clean. There was a bed with purple fluffy blanket and two matching pillows, a small desk and chair and an alarm clock. And it was warm in there, comfy even.
“When you’re in here you just pull the zipper down from the outside and it becomes unreachable from the outside until the time is up. I suggest you learn how to use the alarm clock for that. It takes 12 hours to completely restore power from ambient mana. Uh there’s magic power everywhere and this uses it like solar power uses the sun. If you use it less than that it takes less time to fully recharge. And if you want to know how full it is you’ve got to learn your first and easiest free form skill.
Look at the tent, really look at it. I want you to remember how you make the status screen appear or make the System answer your questions. Now make the zipper tell you what it is.
I stared down the zipper. It looked like a metal zipper, other than leading to somewhere else. What are you? Stupid zipper. What are you? “WHAT ARE YOU?”
*Ding*
Freeform skill unlocked
Identify
What is that? Obtain system knowledge about items and entities. Upgradeable, information available dependent on intelligence stat
Advanced Tent of Temporary Sanctuary (Charge 100%)
Using the ambient mana this tent opens into a bubble of space. While anchored to this universe it cannot be opened from the outside while in use.
This was so neat. I looked at the water bottle.
Advanced Flask of Nearly Endless Water
Thousands have lived without love, not one without water until the System made it irrelevant. Connects to a near infinite supply of water.
Finally the bag itself.
Hecate’s Schoolbag of Greater Storing
Can hold up to 300 lbs of items, reducing their weight by 85%. Discount garage sale, blue light special bag of holding.
“Now I think it’s making fun of you,” I said looking back at her.
The Goddess Hecate
Stop trying, you don’t have the power to even identify her clothes.
I frowned and looked at her shirt.
Sublime Garment of I Told You So
Also, fire is hot, better not touch it
That’s when my head started pounding. Everyone experiences being warned by the system a little differently. At least nothing exploded. A short enough time later for it to have felt like an eternity the pressure eased off and I felt a cool hand on my forehead.
“I’m surprised it hurt you, I would have warned you if I had known that would happen.
“It said I couldn’t identify your shirt.”
“If it tells you that you can’t jump off a bridge I hope you listen. At least in the short term. Long run defying the System is what this is all about. You ok now?”
“Uh huh:, I nodded, still half expecting the pain to return.
“Alright, my turn to get a terrible headache. But first a little backstory while I work up the nerve. I’m gonna tell you two secrets, one is within my domain so I won’t get punished for it. The other one is gonna suck a real bad. Let’s start with the easy one. You got mana manipulation, by studying different things like light or fire or ice you can learn how mana moves through them. Once you do that you can manipulate mana in the same way to create what you’re looking at. Doing this successfully will get you a free form skill like identify. They’re not gonna be very good at first which is why I had you get the quick learner skill. Have you looked at your skills?”
I shook my head and immediately looked without her asking.
Quick Learner
Who needs to study? You learn on the fly. If you see something you can do, you can do it. Some trial and error may apply, based on the relevant stat. Mages shouldn’t try to break bricks with their forehead.
Mana Manipulation
Who needs real skills? Do everything freehand like the pioneers of old. This skill will let you manually manipulate both ambient and internal mana with greater ease.
“OK, I’ll take the disappearance of that blank stare to mean you’re back with me once more. That’s the first secret. We’re gonna spend most of the rest of our time here making sure you can attack and defend, maybe hide. But first I’m going to tell you about something that’s going to make all of this possible. Yes you’re smart and you just got smarter. But all over the world people are getting bonuses and titles and doing things for the first time. If you think you’re powerful enough to compete with top level geniuses and psychopaths you’re wrong. At least right now.
Shoo this is gonna hurt. The idea of a System is not new to this universe, there’s fiction about it, there’s speculative science about us living in a simulation, but there’s something that people usually get wrong. Yeah the infrastructure gets wiped out, and you’re all sent back to the stone age when the integration happens but the works of this universe aren’t lost. They’re archived. Now think this phrase really hard. Legacy of Earth Archive.”
At that moment both of her eyes exploded out of her head. Though they quickly regrew the effect of blood and eye gore on her face still makes occasional visits to my dreams. “OW dammit, that was a bit much. Yeah I know I already helped them bu-. Yeah yeah forbidden knowledge I’ll make sure she doesn’t tell anyone. Come on, this is the only way she has a chance.”
While she was distracted I braced myself and did what I was told. I assumed I was going to pay too. I just hoped it wouldn’t be with my eyes. I’m not sure how many adults would have jumped right in, so for once my childish inability to sit still helped me out.
Legacy of Earth (Archive)
Read books, watch movies, play games. enjoy all the riches of the human imagination. I hope you’re happy, this was supposed to be a centennial surprise. All information is pre-System and cannot be edited or otherwise changed.
My eyes widened. I hadn’t really considered what I had lost outside of the immediate. But at the same time, the things I loved seemed childish? What an odd thing to think. Even odder that I noticed. Was this that wisdom thing? I wasn’t sure I liked it. I didn’t want to stop liking things, couldn’t I just like more things instead?
“There you go,” she said. “Now for the homework. If you’re going to have a chance in this world you need to make sure to at least get up to speed with other people. That means reading, math and history. You should possibly learn some basic science but needless to say most of that has changed dramatically. You’re gonna need some sociology and psychology because honestly I don’t know how long it’ll be before you see another human. Pre-System that would have majorly messed you up. We’re talking about arrested development, serious cognitive impairment. Post System though, it’ll keep you mentally malleable. You’ll at least have some interaction with the System as well as passive interaction with the archive. You’ll have to get teacher’s edition books and grade your own work but post System I think you’ll find school work pretty easy. Games are unfortunately off the table, you really need to be a lot more powerful for that. That goes for computers and tablets and phones. You’d need to be an artificer. In about ten years the System will provide interplanetary communication, in fifty interstellar and after a hundred intergalactic and interuniversal.
Part of the reason that it doesn’t tell anyone about this feature and you have to know the exact phrase to learn about it is because it expects humans to be able to pull the relevant data and store it in different ways. It’s the difference between watching a movie in your head and seeing one with friends. As mislead as the King’s son was he was never trying to be cruel. He never meant to take away things that made people happy.
But more important than all of that. More important than anything else is fiction. You need to remember some phrases: LitRPG, Cultivation Fantasy, Xianxia, Isekai. I also suggest comic books and manga. The archive can help you find things if you know what you’re looking for. Obviously there are still movies and tv shows, anime and webtoons. Those are fine to relax with but they often cut out complexity for viewability. Not always but the general rule is that writing conveys more information.
Some people looked down on those media types, and those genres. But here in the system where ingenuity is the key to success you better steal every good idea you can get your hands on. Things are possible now that weren’t before, and you can bet we’ll have our fair share of people ripping off every possible title. Good for them. Better for you if you can figure out how to counter them. Hopefully enough will want to be the hero bad enough that you won’t have to deal with them too often but a lot of these paths are all about pain for gain. Even in the system, experiencing too much pain can have negative mental effects. A good way to ruin your path is to connect it with unending pain.
Now’s probably a good time to mention that even in those scenarios the System dulls the pain, and even makes you forget how bad it is. Especially in the tutorial. When you get out of here it’s all gonna come flooding back, and it’s going to hurt. The System will help with that but I’m gonna ask you to make me a promise. Promise me you’ll try to live and grow and one day see me again. Please?”
How many kids contemplate suicide? Whatever the number is more than should have to. I hadn’t. That doesn’t make me stronger or better or more well rounded. It makes me a little more selfish maybe, a little more stubborn. A little more hostile towards the System than tied to my grief. I didn’t know what the hell I was agreeing to though. Even with the extra intelligence and wisdom I cursed that promise many times.
“I promise.”
“Then I’m mostly out of info I have to give. I think I’ve mentioned you can naturally grow your stats. Running can improve dexterity, lifting weights can improve strength, healing from damage can improve vitality, though it will slowly improve itself as you get stronger. I mean really slowly. Your homework and using magic will improve intelligence and making well thought out decisions will improve wisdom. Or finding deeper understanding, wisdom is a little weird. You’ve probably noticed by now that health and mana are both tied directly to vitality and intelligence respectfully.
That’s about it. If I think of anything else I’ll tell you but now it’s time we use what time we have left to make sure you can survive your first fight. I don’t know how quickly it’ll come but the quicker you do it the better. Let’s make this easy, what do you want to attack with?”
A scene played in my head, another time in the car with my mom I had been scared. One of those boxes on the power poles got hit by lightning as we drove past. Another memory of Nana’s dog Rosco hiding from thunder under her feet. It made things explode and it scared animals.
“Lightning!”
She looked at me deadpan, “I guess I should just be thankful you didn’t jump straight to space magic. You know fire and ice are much easier and you can often learn them both at the same time. It’s much easier to steal enough heat from the air to start a fire and then collect the water molecules into an ice attack. Well I say easy. You know what I asked you to choose, lightning it is. Or electricity. You can’t start with full on plasma channels, you don’t have that kind of power. Let me start by telling you what lightning magic is not. You will not be storing up lightning in your body and shooting it out all at once. What you will be doing is controlling ambient mana to create an energy pathway and providing a small spark to set it off. Initially this will come from you but as your mana control gets better you’ll be able to set it off from anywhere your mana can reach. Funny enough if you ever do pick up space magic this will help you prepare for using it.
Now I know you’re ready to drop some lightning bolts but step one is getting another free form skill. It’s time for Mana Sense. You actually could have gotten that and then learned Mana Manipulation but that’s so much harder. Sit criss cross apple sauce and close your eyes. Honestly this pose isn’t necessary and you’ll eventually come up with your own meditation technique but since this is the standard let’s start there. The first thing I’m gonna do is send a little magic through your pathways. You will feel this and while it’s kind of unpleasant it’s harmless and won’t actually hurt you. You will not be able to do this to others, I can do it because of how much more powerful than you I am. Now get ready.”
I readied myself, meaning I tensed up and waited for whatever was coming. It turned out to be a light tingling sensation. It started at the top of my head and circulated through my body. The first thing I noticed was that it would go somewhere right above my stomach before moving to the next place. Paying as much attention to the area as I could I realized that must be where my magic was. My magic stomach was full of magic juice, or mana.
Mana Sense
I can feel it coming in the air tonight, hold on! Sense Mana
I ignored the stupid message .Losing track of the tingling I focused on the feeling in my magic stomach, I tried to pull on it or push it or just force it to do something.
I belched loudly.
“Hahahaha, every time. You’re in the right spot, stop trying to push it out and remember it’s part of you. Don’t use your body to move it, just will it to move.”
Focusing on the spot again I tried to imagine a hand inside, that was crawling its way out. The feeling of a moving hand inside my body immediately made me lose focus. Trying again I found the same sensation that let me make the hand and just moved it through the pathways towards my left hand. I brought it out and kind of made a glove.
“Huh, that’s unexpected.”
I opened my eyes to see my hand was surrounded by a purple light. I poked it with my other hand. It felt like nothing but it stopped my finger. It was like glass that was the exact same temperature as your skin. Getting an idea I turned it into a gun. The problem was that I had no idea how a gun worked. So I turned it into a sword. Looking around for a target I realized I was sitting on a pretty good one. I got up and immediately lost it. Huffing, I sat back down and closed my eyes.
“Wait a second, check your mana.”
Mana: 22/38
What? Why? I had barely done anything.
“You’re wondering where your mana went. You just made multiple solid magic constructs, which honestly is impressive. I should have realized the imagination of a child would beat the hell out of an adult. Make sure you take any science lessons with a grain of salt kid, you not knowing what’s possible is a huge benefit. Two things though, one you’re using way too much mana, and two you’re gonna lose mana shifting between constructs. Instead of shifting an active construct pull your mana back in and recirculate it into a new construct. It sounds less efficient but it isn’t. When you pull back you automatically convert a little ambient mana manually.
Time for lesson two, refilling your mana. Ambient mana and personal mana are different. Your personal mana will be different from anyone or anything else. Luckily for you your body knows how to convert it. That said, I eventually expect you to learn and improve that process. But not today in the time we have. What you do need to do is learn how to draw the mana in. I highly suggest you start by tying it to your breathing. Breathe out and little out some mana, then breathe in and pull it back.”
I went back to the place inside and pushed out just a little mana as I breathed out and then pulled it back when I breathed in. Mana out, mana in, mana out…
*DING*
Quick Recovery Skill Unlocked
Wax on, Wax off. Meditate to refill your mana reserves. Upgradable.
“No way, that was way too quick. Maybe I spoke too soon, maybe you are one of those geniuses.”
“Child Prodigy.”
“Yeah whatever you wanna call it. Oh wait, you mean the title. Hold on a second does that stack with Quick Learner? It’s not like those things can estimate percentages on how quickly you can learn stuff but I know they both make things easier. Even then though, this is a little absurd. Although you also have Boon of the newly integrated. Wait, that might mean that there’s a separate experience system for learning skills. No stop, I don't want another headache. Keep meditating until your mana is full again while I figure out how we can take this for everything it’s worth.
You chose range mage which gives you better mana manipulation but no dexterity for stealth or strength for close range fighting. You can make physical constructs so shields are on the table. Need to make sure you get exercise, with your skill in constructs it would be dumb not to at least learn how to fight close range. You may be able to do a little stealth too, but you’ll need a dedicated skill or something for that. Ok, long range shields and lightning can work, especially for low levels. Your biggest threat is really stealth so you’ll have to figure out a way to deal with that. I have some good ideas in mind but I think I’ve pushed the system as far as it will let me so I just gotta hope you’re as smart as I think you are.”
She went quiet while I gathered the rest of my mana, ready for another attempt. As soon as it filled up I let her know. “Ready.”
“Ok we’re gonna do this backwards from what I intended, defense first. Taking a stick from nowhere she drew in the dirt in front of me. This is a hexagon. Nature’s perfect shape. When you make a shield it needs to be made of these. One day in the far flung future you’ll surround yourself entirely with a dome of these, the power of which will be measured by the number of hexagons in the shield. For now you’re gonna try for three straight in front of you.”
I started doubting my genius after about three hours. Hecate never waivered though, giving out small pointers here and there. We went through cycles of me exhausting my mana and meditating to regain it. After five hours there was finally a change.
*Ding*
Intelligence increased
Wisdom increased
+1
Mana increased 17/41
Not the progress I was looking for but progress nonetheless. An hour later I managed the three hexagons for a full five minutes. An hour after that I received another System message.
Basic Hexagon Shield
Hexagons are Bestagons. Basic mana shield. Costs 2 mana per minute to maintain. Upgradeable
“Still this side of impressive to be honest. I was expecting you to get one maybe two and the rest was gonna be homework. Guess it’s time work on electricity.” At this she pulled out two long metal poles.
“First I have to make sure you can sense what I’m doing. I want you to release enough mana for a single shield and make it into a cloud around these poles. I shouldn’t be able to see your mana so make sure to keep it separated.”
This turned out to be the hardest lesson yet. Making things was easy, making nothing but keeping the mana contained was just hard. Making a cloud didn’t work as I ended up with a mana construct that looked like a cartoon cloud. Six hours of effort later Hecate created a light fog around me and told me to inspect the mana. ten hours in something snapped in place and I managed to do it. For about three seconds. Luckily another thirty-minutes and I could do it every other time and keep it in place once I did.
“Wow that is not what you’re about at all. You really want the mana to be something, maybe I should have taught you about water molecules and let you try to make a mana mist.” Spoiler, she absolutely should have done that.
The next part was the best. It was lucky I had caught a second wind, I don’t think I’d ever been so tired in my life. When she started making electricity flow between the two poles I felt it in my mana, I felt her mana, and it just made perfect sense. Without saying a word I pointed at the ground and pushed mana in a line, hand tingling as I felt a charge build up in the air. That’s when I shocked the absolute shit out of myself. I don’t mean that I was injured, although I may have lost a point or two of health. I mean I created the biggest, loudest static shock I’d ever felt. Benji had once gotten in trouble for rubbing his socks on carpet and poking me in the nose. Instant crying, both from the sound and the shock. That was nothing compared to this. I don’t doubt my hair was wildly affected like touching one of those electric metal ball things. I recovered as quickly as I could, not even crying. Although getting laughed at was starting to feel mean on Hecate’s part.
Over the time we had left Hecate showed me how much mana to use, how to spread it out away from myself so the spark wasn’t actually touching me. I still shocked myself more often than not, but never as badly as the first time. As the hours grew shorter I fell asleep, and no wonder. Hecate held me as I slept and I felt safe for the first time since the previous night and the last time in a very long while.
She woke me up with 30 minutes left.
“I’m sorry to do this to you but I’ve bent and broken the rules as far as I could. You’re about to go to a forest. If you can find a shallow cave and try to hide it. You can’t always hide in the tent and you need a place to return to. Don’t forget your homework, don’t push yourself too hard. You have the thing I don’t want to get my eyeballs exploded again talking about. Use it to teach what is and isn’t edible, learn to cook, you’ll be eating for at least a few species metamorphosis. Luckily you should only have to eat every few days due to mana absorption, but make sure to drink water every day. Check your surroundings before you put up you tent. I know you’re still tired but make sure you have a reasonable place to come out of. I don’t want you eaten by a bear on day one.”
My eyes widened at that. I’d been focusing on the magic for magic’s sake and not really thinking about animals in the woods. I was terrified.
I hugged her close and said “I don’t want to go.”
“Let me tell you a secret. I don’t want you to go either.” I almost swore I felt something wet fall on the top of my head. I might have imagined it though, not sure if gods can cry. She held me until the end, when the world blacked out and then I was in the woods.
