A teenage girl with shoulder-length brown hair and pale skin that told of years without sun exposure looked out the window of a shuttle, watching as the clouds swirled below. She was rarely able to enjoy such a view in person. In fact, it had been five years since she last saw real clouds.
The girl didn’t mind.
Living on a space station had been a novel experience – one she hadn’t anticipated getting when she chose the moderately-sized planet as the target for her rebirth.
Isamie – formerly known as the goddess Adrianna – had only returned to Gentrius twice since she was a toddler. The rest of her time had been spent living in a technologically advanced space station orbiting the nearby planet of Kenti.
Aside from a few small research outposts, Kenti was uninhabited, though that might change once Gentrius ascended.
The barren planet only entered range of the much larger planet for roughly three weeks every five years. This was one such period, and Isamie’s parents were taking advantage of the proximity to visit family members that the former goddess barely knew.
Isamie, whose name her family and acquaintances usually shortened to Isa, planned to use the opportunity to trigger the planet’s ascension. She was sure her new parents would find the whole thing exciting…once they overcame the initial shock. They were adventurers at heart.
Why else would they have been willing to move to a space station with a young child?
Isa’s dad was an engineer, and her mom was a botanist. Both fields were in demand on the artificial habitat, especially since shipments between the station and Gentrius were so limited.
The former goddess had spent the last seventeen and a half years absorbing as much knowledge as possible. Her efforts were made even easier once she hacked into her identification chip and activated the AI embedded within.
She wasn’t supposed to gain access until she turned sixteen, but Isa had managed it at the age of four.
It was almost like having Alpha back, just… inside her head and without the capability to directly impact the physical world beyond interacting with electronics. Hacking and upgrading the AI had been ridiculously simple with her understanding of psionics.
It wasn’t even something magical. Any sufficiently advanced sapient had the ability if they got the correct training, though some species were arguably more psychically inclined than others.
As far as figuring out the technology involved, the schematics for the public version were openly available to anyone who knew where to look. Isa hadn’t even needed to hack into the ship’s secure servers to get it!
The former goddess considered delaying the ascension another five years, but the thought of one of her parents getting sick or injured pushed her forward. While this world’s medical care was excellent for the Mortal Realm, people still died of various cancers all the time.
Her parents were the only people in the entire realm – or perhaps multiverse – for whom she cared even a small amount, and she was unwilling to risk them.
Had she not consciously suppressed her ‘goddess Adrianna’ mentality, she probably wouldn’t have cared at all for her mortal parents. Allowing herself to form connections was better, she felt. Relationships gave meaning to life, which led to soul growth.
And soul growth was important.
As she stepped onto the surface of the verdant planet for the first time in five years, Isa dissolved one of the tiny, independent runes attached to her soul. The effect wouldn’t be immediate, especially with the variation in how time worked between realms.
But Isa knew that Alpha was actively watching for the signal.
She expected the planet’s core would begin receiving mana within hours, if not sooner.
Isa smiled fondly at her new parents, Jayne and Brentley (who preferred to be called ‘Bren’), as they chatted with another couple who were also taking advantage of the space station’s proximity to visit.
Her new father was the tallest of the small group, towering nearly a foot above the man next to him. Isa had always been a bit jealous of the natural tan Bren seemed to have, and she’d consider making minor modifications to her body to mimic such an effect several times. But ultimately, she’d decided against making such an obvious – and purely superficial – change.
Isa looked more like her new mother, especially after living on a space station for so long. She could easily remember the healthy glow the woman’s skin had held before they’d moved to space. But that had long faded.
Unlike Isa’s dark brown hair, her mother had lighter hair with streaks of naturally golden highlights peppered throughout her oft-braided locks. She was pretty, but not beautiful according to the preferences of the world.
That was okay. The opinions of the mortals around her rarely mattered.
Though her physical body had no way of sensing mana, Isa’s soul recognized the arrival of the energy when it appeared only moments later. The former goddess released a small giggle as the energy washed over her, drawing the attention of both of her parents.
Her behavior wasn’t necessarily out of character, but it was odd enough to draw a raised brow from her mom.
“Is something amusing?” Jayne asked as she stepped closer.
Isa grinned. “I’m just excited about the visit. I have a feeling it’s going to be really interesting.”
“I hope so,” Jayne replied before giving her daughter a concerned look. “How are you feeling so far? You’re not having a hard time adapting to the gravity or anything, are you?”
Gravity on Gentrius was only a tiny bit stronger than it was on the space station, but a lot of people struggled with it after spending a long time away. Knowing that gravity would only get stronger with the ascension, Isa had manipulated the nanites in her body into replicating and simulating the effects of higher gravity. The nanites had automatically adjusted to the new gravity, so it felt close to normal.
“I’m okay,” Isa assured her.
It would take a while for the mana to build up enough to trigger the ascension, so Isa decided to enjoy a nice, relaxing visit with her aging maternal grandparents while she waited. The former goddess occasionally slipped out to purchase supplies that she suspected would become scarce soon, but without a place to easily store or transport her purchases, she was limited in what she could buy.
Isa had been saving her income since she started working as a network security specialist on the space station a year and a half earlier – right around her sixteenth birthday. Because there was so little to spend funds on in space, she had plenty to put toward soon-to-be essentials.
Though young, the teenager was one of the better-paid specialists due to her education. By the age of sixteen, she’d already earned the equivalent of four advanced and two master certifications. The station had been eager to hire someone with her qualifications, and the fact that they didn’t have to provide her with separate housing had only made her that much more appealing.
Isa wasn’t sure her parents were actually aware of how much she earned annually, but it didn’t really matter anymore. If things progressed the way they had on other ascending worlds, money wouldn’t be worth anything soon. She intended to spend everything she had on things to make the coming transition a bit easier.
Out of the four realms she was aware of, the Mana Realm was her favorite. Though there were several systems governing the various worlds spread across the realm, the overarching laws were the same throughout. Mana worked in much the same way on Jaspen as it did on Forsuth, though their different system overlays influenced how mortals interacted with the powerful energy.
Considering she’d hand-picked the system that would be implemented when Gentrius ascended… she really couldn’t wait. It was perfect for her goals.
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It only took eleven days for the big event to occur.
When it finally happened, Isa was helping her mom and Grandma Marla in the patio greenhouse. Even enclosed, she felt a spike in ambient mana pressing on her soul. It was like an invisible wave, and the enhanced glass walls around the patio did nothing to mute the energy.
This time, she was not alone in sensing the change.
“Do you feel that?” Jayne asked as she looked around in concern, one hand pressed to her chest.
Isa nodded slowly but continued plucking weeds from around the beans growing in a latticed bed. Fresh produce wasn’t critical, given the prevalence of food fabricators, but it would be nice to have. Generally, only the rich or those willing to do the work – like her grandparents – could enjoy fresh produce regularly. It had been the same way on the space station.
“It feels warm,” Isa’s grandmother said from nearby. “Like a hot flash, but without the added discomfort.”
The youngest member of the trio smiled slightly at the comparison. Having experienced something similar to menopause several times in lives long past, she could understand the sentiment, even if her grandmother was wrong.
Mana felt nothing like a hot flash.
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“What do you think it is?” Jayne asked.
“Maybe it’s magic, like in stories,” Isa offered jokingly. Reading fantasy stories was one of her few guilty pleasures, and her mother knew it.
Jayne rolled her eyes. “Ha! I wish magic were real! It would make weeding so much easier!”
Isa chuckled softly at her mother’s response. She’d learn just how real magic was very soon. Any minute now, actually…
The world flickered once, then again. By the third time, everything looked more like a virtual reality program glitching than reality, and the trio of females gasped as the world suddenly twisted. Colors gained a new hue, the air became energized, and everything became so much clearer.
It was an amazing experience, and Isa celebrated internally as the final proof that her plan had worked appeared before her eyes.
Welcome to the Mana Realm, Isamie Stone.
“What is this?” Marla gasped as she looked at her own version of the welcome message. “What is the Mana Realm, and how does it know my name?”
“I’m not sure, Mom,” Jayne said as she distractedly brushed the dirt from her gloved hands. “It looks a lot like the overlays we use on the space station, but mine’s not active right now.”
Jayne looked questioningly at her daughter, who shrugged. “Mine either, but I see it. Maybe it really is magic. Mana is supposed to mean magic, right?” Isa asked playfully, barely able to conceal her glee.
Another notification appeared.
Since your world is newly ascended, you must be assessed prior to gaining full access to the system.
Would you like to begin the assessment now?
Yes/No
*Note: Failure to begin this task within 4 hours will result in the system assigning a class randomly.*
Upon reading the notification, Isa felt an unnatural calm settle over her. While she didn’t need the effect, many would. The small system intervention was probably the only thing keeping the masses from melting down right about now.
“We should probably go inside to deal with this,” Isa recommended to the older women.
“Are you sure it’s wise to mess with whatever is causing this?” Marla asked skeptically, though she headed toward the door leading inside. Just because the system was artificially keeping people calm, it did not mean they would automatically accept what the notifications told them.
“I don’t know, Mom,” Jayne said with a thoughtful frown as she followed Marla inside. “I certainly don’t want my class assigned randomly. Having a choice is always better than not.”
Stories about magic governed by systems had been around on Gentrius for several generations, maybe longer. Magic as a general concept had been part of lore stretching back as far as recorded history.
Most likely, the stories and myths had originated from those who’d lived previous lives in higher realms but, for one reason or another, had been reincarnated into the Mortal Realm. It wasn’t uncommon for memories of prior lives to manifest in dreams or daydreams. Most just viewed it as being imaginative.
The cleansing and suppressing energy between incarnations could only do so much if a soul resisted its effects. The fact that past life memories existed was how she knew it was possible to accomplish her goal in the first place.
Isa followed silently as the women sought out the men inside to discuss the strange notifications. Once they verified that her father and grandfather had also seen the notifications, Isa informed the ‘adults’ that she was going to lie down while she did the system assessment.
She’d been training for this moment since she was born, and Isa suspected she’d exceeded the minimum qualifications for upgrading her race. If she was right, she’d want to be lying down for what came next.
Begin Assessment?
Yes/No
Shifting into a comfortable position, Isa selected ‘Yes,’ and her surroundings faded away. She soon found herself standing in an empty place that reminded her of space. She could already tell that her soul had grown during the ascension, pushing her beyond the limits of what could be reincarnated into the Mortal Realm.
As far as the former goddess was concerned, that was a good thing. She’d sundered just enough of her soul to allow her to be reborn in the Mortal Realm with a couple of decades' worth of growth. Had she died early, there was a good likelihood she would have been born in the Mana Realm anyway, given how robust her soul still was.
The way it had been explained to her eons earlier was that if souls existed on a scale of 1 to 1000, the Mortal Realm would be limited to those with a score below 300. Isa had retained enough ‘mass’ within her core soul to score about 297 on that metaphorical scale. It was low enough to get her through the sieve but not low enough to give her much of a growth buffer before she hit the limit.
Had she hit that metaphysical limit prior to the planet’s ascension, her body would have abruptly failed when her soul was ejected from the realm. It wouldn’t have been a huge loss since she would have still accomplished her goal.
Besides, it would take numerous lives to outgrow the Mana Realm and ensure an incarnation in the Qi Realm. It certainly wasn’t a realm she wanted to find herself in before her soul grew sufficiently to allow for cultivation.
Nobody wanted to be a mortal in a cultivation world.
A notification soon appeared, breaking up the emptiness of the space.
Aspect Assessment complete!
Your inherent aspect aptitudes* are as follows:
Storm – 44%
Lightning – 41%
Ice – 37%
Arcane – 37%
Water – 26%
Air – 25%
Isa immediately recognized that the list was not complete. It looked like the system only showed aptitudes above twenty-five percent. But even then, it was missing Soul and Mind.
She was certain that both were well over twenty-five percent, but the system may not have been capable of accurately assessing them since both were intrinsically tied to the enchantments on her soul.
The former goddess pushed the thoughts from her mind. She could feel the system digging into her memories; or at least, the parts of her memories that she’d specially partitioned for this very purpose.
It was assessing her, determining what skills and aptitudes she had beyond her aspects. It was necessary for the system to know what classes would be the most appropriate to recommend.
Several moments later, a screen appeared.
As a resident of a newly ascended world, you will need to adapt to survive the changes. This is your opportunity to shape your growth. Your past has been assessed, and now your future can be planned.
Choose a role:
Fighter
Crafter
Support
Hybrid
Isa didn’t need to consider her choice and immediately selected ‘Hybrid.’ Doing anything else would limit her too much for her liking. While she could undoubtedly find workarounds, there was little need when the problem could be easily avoided.
You have chosen a Hybrid role.
Specify what percentage of your focus you’d like dedicated to each sub-role.
*Note: The total should equal 100%. Any unallocated focus will be assigned at the system’s discretion.*
She’d planned her choices well in advance, so she quickly input her decisions.
Fighter: 40
Crafter: 30
Support: 30
Congratulations!
You are one of the 0.7% of newly ascended humans with sufficient soul strength to freely use mana!
*Note: Additional class options have been unlocked due to your achievement.*
The screen flickered after she submitted her allocations.
That she could wield a magical class wasn’t a surprise. What was a surprise was the number of others capable of the same feat. Just under a percent might not seem like a lot, but for a planet with almost a billion people, that equated to quite a few potential magic users.
Congratulations!
Your pre-integration attributes exceed the maximum for an F-Grade Human.
Your race will be upgraded to E-Grade prior to class integration.
*Note: Additional class options have been unlocked due to your achievement.*
Isa grinned at the notification. She’d spent a lot of time training both her mind and body, not to mention the modifications she’d made with nanites in the years since she’d gained access to the resource. Her goal had been to exceed the threshold before ascension, so she was pleased to see she’d succeeded.
Please select from the following classes:
Mage
Lightning Mage
Ice Mage
Enchanter
Combat Enchanter
Spell Crafter
*Note: Additional options are available, but not recommended.*
All of the options were good, even the basic classes.
Mage was a generalist magic class without any focus. It would give a tiny bonus to any spells cast, but probably wouldn’t provide anything beyond basic spells.
Lightning Mage and Ice Mage were both more specialized versions of the same class and were likely based on her aptitude toward the two aspects. Storm was a higher-level aspect, so the system wouldn’t touch it until she reached at least C-Grade.
Likewise, the system would grant her access to Arcane magic during the next race upgrade, but there was nothing strictly keeping her from using either aspect now.
It would just be very unusual, and not necessarily in a good way.
Isa barely considered Enchanter since it was a purely crafting class. Combat Enchanter was much more interesting since it provided a bonus to crafting and using the items created to fight.
The class was a strong contender, especially since Isa didn’t need the system to teach her how to use magic. The only real negative would be explaining how she knew so many runes right away. The system would probably only give her a few to start with, so showing off too much outside knowledge might cause a problem if anyone paid attention.
Spell Crafter was an interesting hybrid Crafter-Fighter class that focused on attaching spells to items, which the Spell Crafter would then use, similar to a Combat Enchanter. The system did not teach them how to cast spells without an anchor, though figuring it out wasn’t very difficult.
Since Isa had managed to retain a decent portion of her most important aspects, she’d still be capable of using magic regularly, regardless of what class she chose. The system just wouldn’t aid her in casting like it would those with more traditional Mage classes.
Not that she needed the help.
It may have been eons since she lived in the Mana Realm, but she still remembered how to cast a spell.
The Spell Crafter class would help her craft items and anchor spells, which… would probably be useful since it was a different type of enchanting than she was experienced with. She was familiar with habetes, but they’d never been her forte.
Since souls grew from new experiences, Isa was inclined to take the Spell Crafter class. While any of the classes would ultimately aid in her progression since most of her history had been wiped clean, the Spell Crafter class would be a genuinely new experience – a rarity for the former goddess.