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Ruth was not sure about her new reality.
To be sure, the Tutorial College was much nicer than the fragmenting Earth, but that really wasn’t the highest of bars to clear.
She hadn’t been a fan of all the massively more dangerous animals and insects roaming around, and it was a bit depressing to see just how many people had shed the veneer of civilization in the disaster.
Still, she was moving toward gaining power of her own… at least in theory. That had to be a good thing in the long term… right?
She cursed. Less than three days ago she’d been inspecting barley and wheat fields for her corporate overlords, just trying to get enough to keep her family afloat.
Now? Food was plentiful, her family had all somehow survived, and they were here, together, trying to understand just how much had changed.
Her fiancé, Bo, smiled at her as aunts and cousins flocked around their table, the adults herding the children now that their education was done for the day.
Everyone was still settling in, but they had a month to learn and grow and try to put their minds back together before they’d be returned to Earth… apparently.
She sighed, taking another bite of her dinner. She wasn’t really that hungry, but there was supposed to be a ‘surprise’ seminar announced for this evening, and she wanted to hear what it was. That should be happening any minute now.
As if on cue, a loud, but not overwhelming, voice filled the space. “Greetings, Initiates! I am excited to announce that we are the first Tutorial College to host this evening’s guest.”
Ruth huffed a laugh. Of course they were. This was the first seminar, and they’d been told that there would be twenty-eight, rotating through the colleges during the month.
She’d thought that meant there were only twenty-eight colleges for a moment, but she’d not been the only one to assume that, and the proctors had assured them that there were, in fact, many more than that. This was simply the first stop of this guest, who would be giving the particular seminar.
Regardless, the announcer continued. “We will be discussing life under the System and the ??? that make it possible.”
At the unknown word, everyone in the massive dining hall jerked back, seemingly all receiving a notification at the same time.
System Notice:This is the first instance where you have encountered a new term.
The System provided translation is: godAnother of your world has offered the alternate translation of: Administrator or Admin
The System recognizes both possible translations as correct.
Please choose your preference.
Ruth pulled in a surprised breath. She’d never really been religious—only really going to church after her fiancé invited her back before they started dating—so the idea of finding out there were ‘gods’ didn’t really offend her at all, but…
She heard the people around her muttering, and the announcer hadn’t continued, clearly realizing something was happening and giving a moment.
The idea of having a god or gods looking down on me is… uncomfortable. That said, she was quite used to having network administrators able to ‘look over her shoulder’ as it were, monitoring everything she did on her computer at previous jobs and even offering assistance on occasion, if they were appeased appropriately.
That made her chuckle, and she made her choice.
“Administrator, please.”
From the ripple of voices around her, it sounded like most people had chosen as she did. I wonder if that will affect anything in the long-run?
But before she could continue that line of thought, the voice continued, and she settled in to listen.
Alex dove into his notifications, hopefully for the last time for a bit. He was starting to feel a bit fatigued with all the various choices and updates he’d been facing.
Class Notice:Class Skill or Spell ChoiceA Choice Must be Made:
Radix Translation (Simple) [Skill]Life’s Empowerment (Simple) [Skill]Life Sense (Simple) [Skill]
Alex’s jaw dropped.
First off, the fact that they were all Simple now stood out to him as an incredible gift.
Sure, they would be weaker at the moment, but if he could put in a bit of time, they’d end up being not only more powerful, but more in line with what he wanted them to be.
Second, they were all skills, and skills which lined up with the Life bent of the class. Though, as he considered things, even if the class had been mana based, he guessed that all his offerings would still have been skills. After all, the creation of items had to be a skill rather than a specific spell, even if it used mana.
Third, he was faced with the fact that he wanted all of them, and that’s where their Simple nature was a detraction.
He’d be offered another choice at level 3, and then not again until level 10, at which point they’d all be downgraded. For Simple things, that meant removal, assuming he understood correctly.
So, even if the new skill or skills he was offered alongside these at level 3 were awful, he’d still only get two of these offerings. As such, he dug into each.
Radix Translation was very simple, surprisingly so even given its rarity. Effectively, it would let him shift his workings of power so that they were no longer able to be ‘read’ by those who could interpret spell symbols and runes. More to the point, it would allow him to obscure parts of what he did in such a way that they would still work with no loss in efficiency or effect.
Here is where a benefit of both his do-not-for-the-love-of-all-things-holy-think-about-it training and the Legendary nature of the class came in.
He got a sense of where the offered skills could go.
Radix Translation could eventually let him make runes that would present as entirely different magics than they actually held. He could also take the skill in a direction of complete obscuration, making what he did seem like nonsensical chicken scratch, possibly even naturally hiding the power within.
That… That was incredibly tempting. On one side he imagined himself with an obviously ‘anti-fire’ defense that somehow perfectly protected against water or ice to the consternation of his enemies. Or, he saw himself flipping and flying around a battlefield, occasionally cutting into the ground due to ‘sloppiness’. Then, when his enemies thought him at his weakest, he could activate the great working he had wrought right under their noses.
Or, more simply, he could be absolutely packed down with magical equipment but seem to be utterly without resources.
A smile spread across his face. “Oh… I like that.”
But! He needed to analyze the other possibilities.
Life’s Empowerment would let him enhance any magical item for a short time with an infusion of Life. The downsides were that it could only do what the item was already capable of doing and when the Life was spent, the item would die. Effectively, it turned ‘permanent’ magical items into more powerful one-use versions of themselves.
That… wasn’t that great on the surface, but he still wanted it for one simple reason: magical explosives.
His granted memory of this place told him that magical hand grenades and more were a thing, and he could supercharge such items. He could also use this skill to supercharge things that were already one-use.
As he looked deeper at the skill, he could tell that if he worked at it, he might be able to use this along with his Life Manipulation skill to alter the magics, and potentially even invade enemy equipment and weaken it or turn it against the wearer or wielder.
That was incredibly tempting on many levels.
Life Sense was both far simpler and far more… all encompassing.
It was a cousin to Mana Sense, and it was clear that this was big ‘L’ Life, not little ‘l’. That meant that it would let him sense the Life in the living and the dead, and maybe even more besides.
What’s more, he got the impression that it might be able to combine with his pair of Detect spells and Mana Sense if not more.
The result felt like it would be a spherical sense that would start close to his body, but expand outward with practice and work.
It wouldn’t be sight, not by a long shot, and it likely never would be, but it would let him have much more constant perception of a kind around himself.
Moreover, at the moment, his Mana Sense was almost entirely tied to his eyes. Oh, sure, he could get a vague sense of other sources of mana around him, but if he wanted more than just a vague sense? He had to look toward the thing in question.
There was one more huge potential for Life Sense.
He couldn’t discount the fact that it seemed to also be a cousin of Danger Sense.
There was no way to tell for sure if it would potentially combine with this skill, but if it did? He could remove four skills and spells from his training list and be left with something that would pair very well with his new temporary skills.
Alex licked his lips.
He was making a lot of conjecture, but even so… He nodded to himself.
There were too many variables for him to get a good sense of how exactly Life Sense would come out and grow from there, but it was clear that it had the greatest potential to benefit him now, and it would be the type of thing to benefit him for the rest of his life.
He nodded once more, as if to assure himself that he’d made his choice. “Life Sense.”
Class Skill Selection Made:Life Sense (Simple)
Life Sense (Simple)Analyzing…
Analyzing…
Synergistic Skills and Spells detected. Please select which you would like to combine with Life Sense, if any.
Detect LifeDetect UnlifeMana SenseDanger SenseEnhanced 3D Proprioception [Temp]
None
Alex whooped, pumping his fist and grinning.
Without hesitation, he selected every skill and confirmed when another prompt popped up to have him do so.
This was better that he could have hoped. It should lock one of his temporary skills to him permanently, plus, given this was a Legendary class skill selection, the combination should be able to keep at least the spirit of all parts of all skills.
He had the niggling feeling of a conversation with Urania to this effect, but he specifically did not try to remember it.
Understood
New Skill Learned:Spherical Sense (Simple)
Spherical Sense (Simple)Existence within the purview of the System is dangerous and full of powers, beings, and obstacles of all kinds. Now, you are more aware of those dangers, opportunities, and resources as well as all else that surrounds you in physical reality.
Detect the specific location of all of this in a 4ft sphere around you, centered on the base of your throat. You will also have a vague sense of intensity and direction for these things further away, fading with distance.
Improved ability to sense and visualize your environment in three dimensions. Notable improvement to notice the very big and very small objects in your immediate environment. Capacity to sense fine details and compute relative positioning and movement in space is increased significantly.
Mental Power and Agility have a slightly enhanced effect in whether or not you notice the presence of something around you as well as while assessing or recalling the physical reality around yourself.
Power and Agility have a slightly enhanced effect when reacting to anything sensed with this skill.
Apology Tutorial Addendum:This is a borderline Attribute Skill. The informational load will be intense.
Special Note:This combination was only allowed due to your Basic Cognition - Magical (Level 7).
You have 30 seconds.
Brace Yourself.
Alex’s face moved through myriad expressions in quick succession. First was elation at seemingly having kept all aspects, just as he’d hoped. He’d even gotten it at Simple, which was ideal.
Then, he noticed the emphasis on physical reality. His temporary skill had had such a disclaimer, but he hadn’t really thought much of it. The fact that it had been maintained here though? It implied that there were other layers to reality that he could not perceive. Moreover, he suspected that his Detect spells—and even his Danger Sense—had checked those too, even if such hadn’t come into play in the last tutorial.
Now, he was blind to a side of things he wasn’t even sure existed.
Beyond that, the new ability had an incredibly short range. His Detect spells had extended out to a hundred feet by default, and he could go much, much further with just a bit of mana and mental strain.
Additionally, the boosts to his various stats were greatly reduced when compared to before when using the skill, even if this was somewhat expected. He did like that all Power and Agility was boosted when reacting to what he sensed. That would mean that he could think faster, move faster, and even use his magic more quickly at need, and that brought a smile momentarily back to his features.
But speaking of mental strain… When he got to the bottom, he paled. Brace myself? What does—?
New connections seemed to spark throughout his mind and a wash of information smacked him in the brain and the world flickered black once more.
Attribute Level-Up:Basic Cognition - MagicalLevel 7 → Level 8
A moment later, he could see once more, but more than that, he suddenly knew where everything in his room was, even extending slightly into the magic-laden walls, floor, and ceiling.
He could feel the magic in his gear and those walls. Even where it was too complex for him to read, he could still sense it. The result was like knowing exactly where a bookshelf was behind him, and even exactly where a particular book sat without knowing what was in it… except in this case, the book was the magic in a wall, or the floor… or this ridiculously comfortable chair that had already cradled him through two brief losses of consciousness.
I doubt I can, but if I can? You’re coming with me when this is over, lovely chair. As he turned his head, the sense didn’t change, but his mundane vision moved around within it, helping him to attach specific labels to all he could sense. Though, as he did so, he felt his mind becoming more and more strained.
He groaned, desperate for something specific to focus on.
As such, he pulled up his status sheet for the first time in what felt like forever.
Character Sheet:Alex JohnsonLife-Aspected Human (Epic), E, Level 10Primary Class: Life-Aspected Great-Bladesman (Epic), E, Level 10Secondary Class: Stubborn Student of the Master - Life Runewright (Legendary), E, Level 1HP: 13545/13545SP: 11980/11980MP: 4400/4400
Titles:Reactive ResilienceSystem Initiate
Physical Stats:Power: 208Agility: 322Fortitude: 301
Mental Stats:Power: 179.3Agility: 288Fortitude: 178.2
Magical Stats:Power: 220Agility: 220Fortitude: 209
Unused Points: 0
Attributes:Basic Cognition - Magical (Level 8)Basic Dissonance of Tonality (Level 1)Basic Resistance - Acid (Lvl 4)Basic Resistance - Curse (Lvl 3)Basic Resistance - Examination (Lvl 7)Basic Resistance - Magic (Lvl 6)Basic Resistance - Venom (Lvl 1)Basic Skeletal Structural Remodeling (Lvl 1)
Blood:Life Finds a Way (Unique)
General Skills:Great-Blades Initiate - Dadao (Rare)Advanced Kinesthetics (Rare)Inventory (Common)Analyze (Common)Mana Manipulation (Common)Basic Carving (Common)Speed Reading (Common)Life-Fueled Runewrighting(Rare)4D Spatial Motorskills [Temp]Stress-Interoception [Temp]
Spells:Shaped Force Burst (Common)Create Rations (Common)Create Water (Uncommon)Basic Small Force Blade (Uncommon)Life Blood Transfusion (Common)
Class Skills and Spells:Harden Life (Common)Life’s Active Defense (Uncommon)Multi-Strike (Common)Life Manipulation (Common)Spherical Sense (Simple)
Class Bonuses:All Life related Spells and Skills cost 50% less to use.Your Life related Spells’ and Skills’ effects occur 50% faster.Your HP is calculated at Racial Base + 15 x Physical Fortitude.Your MP is calculated at 20 x Magical Power.Your effective Physical Power is 40% greater for physical attack and defense when you are armed with a great-blade and unrestrained.You take 25% less damage from Physical attacks when you are armed and unrestrained.
Your understanding and efficiency translate through to all you do, requiring 25% less power from you to fuel temporary scripts or spells of any kind.When you seek to modify any runic structure or magical symbol set, the affected script is 50% more stable while you work on it, resulting in a greater chance of success and lower chance of catastrophic failure.Your ill-advised use of Life in the construction of runes will require 30% less of that precious resource.
Urania does not approve of this use of her teachings. Be warned or be prepared to prove her in error.
Unrewarded Kills:NA
Merit:1,126,195
Final Tutorial Merit Multiplier to be applied:1.5x