“Oomph,” Jay gasped, the wind knocked out of him, as his fall came to an abrupt end. He had fallen no more than 8ft when his back struck the hard ground. Looking up towards the room's new entrance that he had made, Jay quickly covered his head as more of the weakened boards broke off and fell around him. Lady Luck was still not with him, as one of the boards fell upon his already injured arm. Another ceiling beam landed on a nearby crate and smashed it open, with the sound of smashing glass the liquid contents spilled over the ground.
Yelling in pain and clutching his once again throbbing injury, Jay brushed off the pieces of fallen ceiling and sat up. He had fallen into a small 8x8ft room, filled with crates, barrels, and shelves carved into the walls holding various jars and other items. Around three-quarters of the room was stacked with such goods leaving a small, clear space in the middle and the fourth wall had a ladder leading to a wooden hatch. Jay assumed this was the actual entrance, rather than the skylight he had just created.
Such feline grace, you should join the circus.
“Thanks, your concern for my well-being is touching,” Jay said mimicking Kay’s sarcasm. This constant banter was becoming commonplace for Jay. Jay stood up and moved to one of the shelves carved into the wall where he had spotted some cloth. Using the mysterious key, he cut a strip from the cloth and used it to bandage the hole in his arm. “There, at least I won’t bleed out now. Man, this hurts.”
With the immediate crisis over and the adrenaline from the continuous shocks he had received wearing off, Jay slumped to the ground and brought his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms around them while putting his back against the wall. He had only just woken up on the beach a couple of hours ago, to him it seemed like ages. In that short amount of time he had discovered that he had no idea who or where he was, he was forcefully recruited into something called the System that had attempted to kill him with its last quest, and had fallen through a dark hole into what he assumed was certain doom. He needed a minute.
Take a deep breath and try to relax. You are in no immediate danger, and while your situation isn't the greatest, your accidental discovery of this room is a bit of good news.
“Huh,” Jay said. “I guess you’re right. This means the island isn’t fully deserted, the stuff here doesn’t look particularly old. Someone must have left this all here somewhat recently. They should be back for it.”
Exactly. Now that we might have a way off the island, we just have to survive until then.
“On that note, it's time we talk. You said you could help me with understanding all this. What did you mean by that? The only way for me to survive is to know what I am dealing with here.”
Well... I can’t really help with your current existential crisis but I can make your life with the System easier. Think of me as your guide or assistant. I can help you navigate the System and filter all of the windows to provide you with only the relevant information you need. I will also be able to interpret the System for you, showing info you didn't have access to before. Now that you are fully integrated with the System, it has opened up many options that can be taken advantage of, the least of which is changing your notification settings so pop-ups will no longer be a bother. We can also change the transparency of the windows so they don’t block your view, or we can get rid of them entirely and have an audio cue instead. I need to be allowed full access though, to make these changes.
“Finally. I thought those windows were going to be the death of me one day. Go ahead and do that, but leave the windows. Only bring them up when I ask for them and definitely not when I’m not fighting for my life.” Jay sighed in relief, no longer fearing the day a pop-up would get him killed.
Done. But wait, there's more! If you act now, we’ll double the offer! Not only will you receive all the previous items, but in addition, I will throw in the information needed to unlock your first racial trait! Operators are standing by.
“My racial trait? What race am I?” Jay held his hands in front of his face and stared. “10 fingers, 10 toes, no tentacles or other appendages coming from odd places. My face seems to be of proportion to what I think is normal as well,” Jay pondered as he touched his face, ears, and hair. “What could I be if not a human? Will unlocking the racial traits provide a clue?”
Guess you’ll have to unlock it to find out. Pull out your key.
“The key?” Jay did as he asked and waited for him to go on.
Soon a System window had popped into existence. However, this time, the window was off to the side of his vision, no longer blocking it. Focusing on the window brought it front and center but with the transparency set so he could still see through it. Reading the text was a bit more difficult but he’d rather have to squint to read than die from being practically blindfolded. With that thought the transparency changed again, allowing him to read the text swiftly before it once again cleared his view. This will be much better, he thought.
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ITEM:
[Ornate Key]
(Soulbound)
3/1000 Charged Mana
Evolving Item
A large, ornate key with a sharpened point. Charge with Mana to continue its evolution.
* Use: Unlocks things. ←Pay more attention to what you read -Kay
* Use: Will always return to its owner.
I am the Keymaster... Are you the Gatekeeper?
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“Wait, you can edit item descriptions?” Jay paused, stunned with Kay’s command over the System. “Are you telling me the description was being literal?”
Of course, I am very talented…The System is a part of you, as I mentioned before, it’s a part of your very soul and while I can make additions to your soul, I cannot take anything from it. To answer your other question, yes, according to the System the key can unlock anything, including some of the System features. However, nothing in life is free. It will cost Mana to use the unlock feature. Depending on the complexity of the lock, usage rates will vary. Now that you’re allowing me to help, I’ve been able to condense the System screens for you.
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Racial Screen:
Race: ???
Racial Traits:
* ??? (Locked) 0/500 Mana
* ??? (Locked) ?/? Mana
* ??? (Locked) ?/? Mana
* ??? (Locked) ?/? Mana
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As you can see, unlocking your first racial trait will cost a total of 500 Mana. Your key has been absorbing the residual Mana that is released upon killing monsters since you are unable to absorb it yourself at the moment. Once it absorbed the 10 mana you got for killing those 10 small slimes, it automatically evolved. Assuming you reach 1000 Mana, it will evolve again. Unfortunately, unlocking your racial trait with 500 Mana will reset it back down to 0.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Jay continued to sit with his back to the wall, digesting all the information Kay was giving him. It was a lot to process, but with Kay doing most of the work in the background, Jay was able to take Kay’s advice and try to relax. With all the excitement of the last few hours over, he was starting to grow tired, thirsty, and hungry. Not necessarily in that order.
With Kay’s help, Jay finished navigating through the remaining System options and windows. The Quest Log and Social Panel were empty, the Bestiary had info on the two types of primordial oozes he had fought, and the map was almost completely blank. It was zoomed in on a rough outline of the island he was on, and zooming out showed nothing beyond that. Kay explained the map would most likely update as he traveled more.
Now that his talk with Kay about System-related things was over, Jay decided to finally take a look around the room he had found himself in. Walking over to one of the crates, he prised open the lid to find it filled with salted fish. Thanking his lucky stars he found food, he continued to open more crates. Most of them contained preserved food, while others contained bottles of what Jay found to be alcohol of some sort, as well as a couple with large iron balls. Testing the alcohol, Jay removed his bandage and poured some over his wound to disinfect it. After he had opened all the crates and had found nothing else of interest, he moved on to the barrels hoping to find one filled with water.
The first barrel he checked was filled ale. Testing a sip, he immediately spat it out.
“Yuck, I’d rather drink my own urine!”
Must be light beer.
Desperately, Jay continued to search through more barrels hoping to find something more potable than that cat piss. Sadly, the only thing he continued to find in the barrels was more ale and a fine, light purple powder. Shaking his head in misery at the prospect of having to drink more of the ale, Jay turned his attention to the shelves cut into the walls. Most of the shelves were filled with various carpentry tools, jars of nails, cloth, and other mundane items. Set off to the side on their own, however, were two rounded stones. Jay moved to inspect the two stones.
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ITEM:
[Lesser Dewstone]
(Uncommon)
0/1 Charged Mana
Reusable
A magically crafted stone capable of releasing a small amount of water.
* Use: Charge with 1 Mana and release to produce a small amount of water.
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ITEM:
[Lesser Emberstone]
(Uncommon)
0/1 Charged Mana
Reusable
A magically crafted stone capable of releasing a small ember.
* Use: Charge with 1 Mana and release to produce a small ember.
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“Water! Kay! How do I use this thing?” Jay demanded.
It’s not all that hard. Take one of your Mana Fragments out. Jay complied, reaching into his pants pocket. His fingers brushed aside the Mana Core he had stored there and grabbed a hold of a Mana Fragment leaving the other four in his pocket. Now hold the Mana Fragment in your hand. You have to sense the Mana inside the fragment. Once you have a sense of the Mana you have to pull it into your hand, but don’t let it go any further! Then take up the Dewstone and push the Mana you are holding into the stone. It’s a rather intuitive process, you just have to get the hang of it. Your body, mind and spirit should have a natural sense of the mana.
Jay quickly attempted to follow Kay’s instructions. Drawing his senses to the fragment in his hand, he immediately was able to sense the Mana swirling around inside the object. It was a weird sensation. While he could feel the Mana Fragment he was holding on to, the Mana inside of it was ethereal and hard to grasp. It was almost as if it were alive and didn’t want to be caught. Eventually, he discovered he could envelop the Mana inside with his Will and pulled. The Mana flowed from the small fragment into his hand. The Mana still attempted to escape his grasp, but with an effort of will, Jay stopped it from escaping and forced the Mana into the Dewstone.
Good job kid, you’re a natural. Now, to use the stone all you have to do is Will the stones function to manifest while pushing it’s stored mana out with it. The Mana inside a magic item takes on aspects of the items elemental alignment. So with that water stone, you will get water aspect Mana. Think of that element when you wish to use the stone. You can say a word if you need a focus for your Will. The Will and the unnecessary Word equals magic. If you say abracadabra, I will find a way to hurt you.
Smiling mischievously, Jay held up the stone and said, “Alakazam.”
I hate you.
A small stream of water spurt from the stone, soaking the dirt floor.
“Oops,” Jay said chagrined. “I should’ve expected something like that and prepared a cup, or shot it in my mouth or something.”
We can’t all be geniuses.
Grabbing a clay jug from the shelving, Jay emptied it of its contents and repeated his earlier use of the stone. The water was barely enough for more than a swallow or two, but Jay didn’t care at this point. Anything was better than that ale no matter how little.
Using 2 more mana fragments, Jay refilled the jug and stoppered it. Using the cloth and rope from the shelving, Jay fashioned a makeshift bag to carry his meager possessions. Putting his Mana Core of Absorption into the bag with the jug of water, he filled the rest of the space with as much food and other useful items he thought he might need. With his immediate needs taken care of, Jay relaxed and inspected the Lesser Emberstone he had also found on the shelf.
Pulling out the Emberstone, Jay prepared to charge it.
Wait…
With his previous experience with the Dewstone, Jay easily charged up the Emberstone with his last fragment, thinking he would need to get a fire going at some point for the night ahead. Without registering Kay’s warning, Jay moved to put the stone back in his pocket. Just as he was about to shove it in, the stone grew warm and released a wave of heat and sparks.
“What the hell?” Startled, Jay dropped the stone.
I told you that Mana in a charged item will take on aspects of the elements! Fire Mana in items is explosive and unstable. It cannot be contained for very long and must be used immediately. Only high-quality items can store Fire Mana for an extended period of time, and that stone definitely was not of high quality!
“No harm done, but it wasted my last fragment,” said Jay, speaking too soon.
An errant spark from the stone struck the ground near to where the ceiling beam had previously crushed a crate filled with bottles. With a whoosh, fire started to spread from the puddle of what must have been alcohol on the ground. In seconds, more of the crates caught on fire as well as the spare canvas and cloth.
You jinxed it!
With no way to put out the fire, Jay frantically ran towards the ladder and climbed out of the cellar. Scared, Jay slung his makeshift bag over his shoulder and took off at a dead sprint.
Fire in the hole!