To my great surprise, I wake up. Remarkably, I feel a lot like I did the last time I was surprised to wake up in this cave. That same pain breathing, the same raw skin and gritty eyes. The only difference is that this time the feeling is noticeably fading as I lay the sprawled out in the ruins of the ritual circle. The circle must be ruined, because the distinct, acrid scent of burning leather and fur hang heavy in the air. A metallic undertone to the scent leaves a taste on my tongue like the aftermath of a lightning strike.
Eventually I open my eyes and sit up to see what my nose has already told me. The ritual circle is completely destroyed. The metal wires are burned and melted, the powders are smoldering in their vials , the ink just a trail black of ash pockmarked with thousands of tiny voids, where a little explosion has cleared the ash. Tiny lightning bolts of white ash radiate away from the smudges where the runes used to be. The spot where the tigers core was has been burned through completely, and the sand beneath turned into black glass.
Just as I begin to process the wreckage before me a page appears in my mind's eye. It hangs there, like a book I am reading, but does not block my field of view as it slowly fills with neatly scrawled text. At first crawling slowly, one letter at a time, then faster and faster, until the whole page is filled. A rush of joy fills me, I I let out a mad giggle at this long awaited sight.
This must be my system telling me that the ritual has worked. With a rush of long anticipated euphoria I have crossed the long anticipated threshold of adulthood and read my first System Messages.
"System Log"
"Hello, and Congratulations on Awakening your Soul System Interface.
Good luck on your Journey ahead."
"To get started, please choose two starting skills.
Keep in mind that if a skill you hoped for isn't on this list,
don't loose hope. Your deliberate effort can still add to your choices."
So far so normal, these messages are exactly what Mom and Dad have told me to expect. But the next line worries me even before I begin to read it. The first two messages are handwritten, in a style suspiciously similar to my own, if just a little too perfect. The rest of the page appears in a blocky angular writing style, like each character has been cut from stone and stamped on the page.
It reminds me of the official letters distributed by the government, mass produced by Scribes with dedicated writing skills.
"ALERT - Critical overflow detected. Interrupting Skill Selection."
"WARNING - Bodily Mana storage capacity exceeded. Mana Burn Eminent.
Diverting overflow to soul storage."
"ALERT - Critical overflow detected. Attempting mitigation"
"WARNING - Soul Mana storage already at maximum capacity. Mana Burn Eminent.
No tertiary storage detected. Diverting to active Skills."
"ALERT - No Skills in use. Diverting to passive skills."
"ALERT - No Passive Skills detected. No further diversions available.
Requesting guidance from Host."
"ERROR - Host unresponsive. Emergency Host preservation routines enabled."
"NOTICE - Bringing Soul System Online in Emergency Activation Mode."
"ALERT - Selecting Optimal Skills. Diverting Mana."
There the first page ends, and I look to see that a second page has appeared behind it. With my heart in my throat I will the page to turn and see a new page of messages, once more written in my own handwriting.
'Hunter's Body'
A broad increase to your physical strength and speed while hunting.
'Hunter's Mind'
A broad increase to your mind and senses while hunting.
My shock jolts me from my mind's eye, and the vision of the page vanishes from existence.
"I didn't get to choose." I whisper into the silent stillness of the cave.
My whole life, like every child in the village, has been built around maximizing the number and power of available Skills available for my first selection. I have, like every one I know, spent hundreds of hours theory crafting, looking up common skills and pestering every adult for clues on what skills they find most useful. They are the building blocks around which my life is to be constructed. And I didn't even get to see the list of choices.
The tears that blur my eyes do not block the system log as I will myself to finish reading it.
"Notice - Ritual Awakening Detected."
Applicable Tags
- Self Conducted (%100)
- Self Harvested (%53)
- Tier 3 Materials Used (%53)
- Tier 3 Beast Core Used (%100)
- Labyrinth Assisted
"As a result of these modifications, your skills have been upgraded."
'Hunter's Body (1)' has become 'Hunter's Body (2)'
'Hunter's Body'
A broad increase to your physical strength and speed.
'Hunter's Mind (1)' has become 'Hunter's Mind (2)'
'Hunter's Mind'
A broad increase to your mind and senses.
"These are really solid Skills. And to get them at Grade 2 to start with is a nice consolation prize, since my choice was taken from me."
Honestly, Hunters Body is probably one I would have chosen, the basic broad utility Skill that enhances physicality. Virtually everyone has at least one broad physical Skill, just to make day-to-day tasks easier. The upgrade that removes the restriction to only apply this skill while hunting is a nice, if a little generic, bonus.
'Hunters Mind' is also known to me, though mental Skills are much less common at the first Tier. I probably would have eventually taken it, or something similar, at Tier Two. But broad mental and sensory buffs are sure to be useful in this dungeon regardless of tier.
Both skills will surely see heavy use, earning me lots of experience.
The System Log continues
"Notice - Excess power remains. No further Skill slots available.
Further Skill Upgrades available. Proceeding"
'Hunter's Body (2)' has become 'Arcane Body (2)'
'Arcane Body (2)'
A broad increase to your physical strength and speed.
Channel Mana to Increase this effect.
'Hunter's Mind (2)' has become 'Arcane Mind (2)'
'Arcane Mind (2)'
A broad increase to your mind and senses.
Channel Mana to Increase this effect.
"Notice - Deep Knowledge Incorporated. Skills Expanded."
'Deep Arcane Body (2)'
A broad increase to your physical strength and speed.
Channel Mana to Increase this effect.
Your Health and Mana are Linked. Exchange (3) Mana for (1) Health.
'Deep Arcane Mind'
A broad increase to your mind and senses.
Channel Mana to Increase this effect.
Your Mind is attuned to Mana. Increase Mana sensitivity by (x2).
"Notice - Awakening Complete. Remaining Power below safe levels.
Directing it to System Growth."
That is the end of the System Log.
I guess that is the power of a Deep Awakening. Most Skills start out relatively simple, with lots of restrictions, like the first versions of 'Hunters Mind' and 'Hunters Body'. Then they grow as you use them, eliminating restrictions and adding effects as you go up in Tier . The extra power from the ritual put them two, or maybe three, Tiers up in power.
The final versions Skills I wound up with seem pretty powerful, especially with their upgrades. I don't really know how powerful, though. I sigh. I doubt they will be enough to get me out of this Dungeon. Maybe I can scrape my way to the next Tier? That would get me two new General Skills, almost guaranteed to be Deepened, since it would be entirely earned while inside this Dungeon. The upgrades to both of my skills removed the 'While Hunting' requirement and gave both skills active, mana channeling parts, making them easier to train from the safety of the cave. Practicing your Skills and stretching their limits is the only way to earn levels at any real speed. Pushing your limits outside your skills can also help, generating a tiny amount of experience as well as helping you meet the requirements for more skills at your next Tier up.
With that in mind I pull up my System Status, a summary of my current state and progress to the next level. Each person Awakens with some experience banked to the next Tier, based on how they spent their youth. With no skills to practice, and no other way to directly drive progress, that experience comes slowly, very slowly.
It was something of a competition among my brothers friends, to see who could get the most levels while still a child. While none of my friends had awakened yet, all of us worked hard to beat the record of Alicia, Elder Araldos' youngest daughter. She had the highest starting experience total of any one in the current generation. We all strongly suspect that her Dad shared some trick or treasure that helped her reach twenty-six experience before her fifteenth birthday. With twenty-six experience banked she sailed straight past the first four levels, and halfway to level five, as soon as she chose her skills.
Rumor has it that even the nobles in the big cities, with all their wealth and knowledge, only get just to level five, at about thirty-two points. The rest of us would be happy to get twenty points, or twenty one, which is the top of Level Three, or the start of Level Four, respectively. Even with the events of the last several days I figured I might not have beaten Alicia by much, though I am pretty sure I will beat her.
Status Summary
Greg Brondrel, Awakened of the Deep (3).
14 Years Old; Tier 1, Level 9, 5/19 XP
Health ( 10 / 10 ), Mana ( 10 / 10 )
General Skills (2 Slots)
1. 'Deep Arcane Body (2)'
2. 'Deep Arcane Mind (2)'
There are more questions here than answers.
To start with, where the FUCK did I get Eighty-One Experience. That's what it takes to jump to Level Nine, from zero, with five left over. If I assume that I started this adventure with around the twenty points I expected to have, then I have earned sixty points in about five days. Was the killing the Tiger worth that much? Was it the Ritual? Did the Gods intervene? How could I know?
As if in response to my questions, a new page appears behind my system log and status summary, and immediately the pages turn themselves to put this new page on top.
Its title reads Quest Log.
Quest Log
Available (0)
Active (1)
Completed (2)
Failed (0)
As soon as I focus on the word completed, a hidden seam in the page unfolds, revealing the contents of the two completed quests.
Completed (2)
Slayer Quest - T3 - Tiger
- A Spatial Variant Local Boss has escaped confinement near you. Kill it for a reward.
- Tiger Slain! Reward 5 XP
-Over Tier (x3)!!! 40XP Awarded
Assistance Quest - T3 - Dungeon
- A child near you has fallen into a Dungeon near you! Can you render assistance?
- Child Awakened! Reward 3 XP
Over Tier(x3)!!! 24XP Awarded
That explains a lot. Quest are not a particularly common way to advance, both because of how rare they are, and how risky the Gods Beneath tend to make them, but clearly the rewards are proportional. Sixty four experience is huge at the early Tiers.
Out of curiosity I check the Active List, to see what's going on with that.
Active (1)
Survival Quest - T? - Dungeon
- You have been trapped in a Dungeon! Can You Survive?
- Remember, there are no impossible Quests.
- Reward - Variable
I read the description on the survival quest at least three times, staring at the words.
"There are no impossible Quests." I read it aloud, and hope blooms in my heart.