“You still look like you’re going to have a heart attack,” a calm Universal Personality said to an anything-but-calm Creator.
Walker mussed up his hair, “Come on, man, this isn’t easy.”
“First, fix whatever just happened up there,” he pointed at the top of Walker’s head, waiting with a pointed look until it was done before continuing, “Second, go over what you want to say again.”
“Okay,” Walker refreshed everything in his mind, “Welcome to Incipience. You need to make a choice…Yada yada yada…” Ulysses gave him a look, “I mean, this choice will likely stick with you all throughout your life-”
“Not likely, will.”
“Right, right. This choice will stick with you all throughout your life. You have two choices: Professions or Mastery. Each will… I think I’ve got it.”
“You’re sure? We’ve already gone over this over twenty times now.”
Walker waved a hand, “It’ll be fine. I’ll make it work.”
Ulysses nodded, a box reappearing underneath his feet. Rather than increasing his height to match Walker’s, he’d opted for the natural Tome Cruise. Standing on a box to appear taller. Ulysses ejected the old crystal inside of the imager, allowing a new recording to begin. Holding up a hand, the powerful Universal personality began to count down with his fingers.
3…
2…
1…
He pointed a finger at Walker, who squared his shoulders as he looked directly at the Crystal.
“Hello, Citizen of Symphony, and welcome to the Incipience. You may be wondering what this is, how it all works, and who the hell is that guy.”
He forced an attempted smile, “At its root, Incipience means the beginning of something. The start of you…becoming more you. That’s a complicated way of saying something that is quite simple.” He spread his arms wide, the smile on his face no longer an attempt, “This is your grand decision, one that will echo across the entirety of your life. Myself and a few assistants and partners have designed a system so profound, so reality-altering, that when your beginning has, begun, you will never be the same.”
A screen appeared behind him. Walker wasn’t surprised, as they’d practiced this multiple times in the past. They’d also had multiple arguments in the past about Ulysses just making the video using Walker’s likeness, but the Universal Personality refused. Something about inflections and motions being difficult to mirror. Walker only relented when Ulysses stated they could just do away with the guide entirely if it was going to be that much of a problem.
Personally, Walker thought he was full of shit and that this was some form of psychological torture, but he was ultimately forced to relent his crusade.
The Crystal angled to catch both Walker and the screen in the shot at the same time: “You will have two options, but only one choice.” Both of Walker’s systems appeared on the board, “The first option is the martial path, what we call Masteries. A Master is a combatant, someone who is interested in gaining strength of arms. Should you select Masteries, you will no longer be able to select Professions, kind of. I’ll go over that in a moment.”
He pointed at the second choice, “Professions are different. We’ve decided to lump any non-combatant roles into this choice. That includes all forms of Administration and Leadership, be it combat-related or not. Should you select Professions, you will no longer be able to select Masteries, kind of.”
He waved his hand, and the board changed. To the viewer, it would look like Walker had influenced the change, but it was a scam Ulysses had thought of. He wanted Walker to appear unnaturally powerful, like this was his metaphysical world, and not the Universal Personalities. Of course, Walker couldn’t access his yet, so the scam was what they had come up with.
The camera floated closer to the board and away from the host, highlighting what was shown on it.
Similarities and differences between Professions and Masteries:
Professions
Masteries
All non-combatant roles
All combatant roles
Three skills at the beginning
Three skills at the beginning
Professions unlocked by Milestones
Masteries unlocked by Milestones
Can choose a weaker Mastery at level five
Can choose a weaker Profession at level five
The crystal zoomed back out to show a smiling Walker pointing at it, “As you can see, there isn’t a great difference between the two. In a purist fashion, the best way to look at Masteries and Professions is based on the first line. Combat or not. However, the last line should also give you a hint. We don’t want Professionals to be chopped up by Masters and Monsters, just like we don’t want Masters to only know how to fight and kill.”
He stopped smiling and looked past the camera for a second before re-engaging with his future audience, “The term, Weaker, is a misnomer, and something that was hotly contested as we designed this presentation and system. A Professional’s Mastery isn’t necessarily weaker, but there will be a cap to how high they can take their level, just like a Master’s Profession is the same. Regarding either choice’s selection of their weaker counterpoint, all skills will be stuck and unable to rise further than level one hundred. Unless, of course, they get one of these.”
He held a palm out and, with a quick frown past the camera followed by a quiet laugh, a red gem appeared in it. Walker plastered the smile back on, “This is a cap raiser, and it is incredibly rare. To earn these, you must either trade for it or earn it. Cap raisers will be rewarded from specific events around Symphony, as well as potentially drop from non-sapient monsters at a minimum Tier of four. Each will allow a single weaker Mastery skill or weaker Profession skill to move beyond its limit. And that brings us to our next point.”
The camera shifted to a new board as Walker continued speaking in the background, “Skills. As you can see, skills are unique to the Mastery or Profession they’re connected to.”
[Skills]
Bound to specific choices
Walker continued to speak as each new sentence joined the board, “You can select skills one of three ways.”
Directly from your Incipient choice
“Meaning the choice you’re about to make.”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Directly from your weakened choice
“Meaning the opposing choice you gain when reaching Level five after Incipience. In other words, Masters choosing their profession, or Professionals choosing their mastery.”
Directly from the Milestone store
“Or, lastly, you can select certain skills directly from the Milestone store, an option you should see within your overlay.” Of course, Ulysses and Cagna hadn’t made the store yet, but the Sapients watching the video wouldn’t know that. “I also want to remark on something that isn’t directly listed here.”
The camera zoomed out, showing a smiling Walker, “The system will be watching everything that occurs across Symphony and its interconnected worlds. I know that’s a large…no,“ He shook his head, “gargantuan violation of privacy. But it was the best way I could make sure that those who perform great feats are recognized for their efforts. And I don’t just mean the valiant hero fighting off the villain or the misunderstood nerd inventing a way for everyone to live more fruitful lives.” Walker’s face shifted into something indescribable, “No. Instead, I mean…breaking past the bounds of true love. Saving an animal from a fiery death. Everything that is great about the universe and the people that fill it, are the stories that they make just by living their lives the way that they want to. That’s what the system tracks. Not specifically what is said, but the actions that accompany those words. Those…moments, will unlock special milestones. Special milestones, of course, unlock special skills. Things that many wouldn’t dream were possible before all of this came to be.”
Walker looked at the board and smiled as it disappeared, “Unlocking skills, if I’m honest, is not difficult. In a lot of ways, we’re just…” His face took on the caste of someone tasting something they didn’t like, ”giving them to you. But, that’s also not exactly true. You can unlock specific choices during Incipience by further building the power of your Milestones. By doing so, you will not only gain more options within the moment of Incipience, but you will also gain more points to unlock unique skills within the Milestone store.” He smiled again, “Now, how does a person go about leveling their skills?”
Walker waved a hand, and a series of nondescript men appeared behind him. Each was a clone of the other, seeming to be the most generic form of human being that anyone had ever seen. “The man on the left,” Walker said, pointing, " has chosen the Spear Mastery. The name of that Mastery will evolve as their skills do. Right now, he’s practicing his balance and control of the spear, something directly related to his Spear Techniques skill.”
The Ulysses behind him continued to make stepping movements. Each step coordinated with an attack, stumblingly moving from one stance to another. “As you can see, he is still low-level, but don’t worry; he’ll get there.” Walker pointed to the man in the middle, who stood at a counter, smiling at the crystal. That man is about to show you a skill in his profession. Let's watch.”
The Profession Ulysses smiled for a second longer than needed until Walker yelled at him, then pulled out a metal bowl from under the counter. A chef’s hat appeared on his head, and eggs began to appear from nowhere in each of his hands. He cracked them with a single hand each, spilling the contents into the bowl, then added flour, salt, and pepper. His hands became a blur as he stirred it all together with a hand-held beater, before dripping it onto a hot pan that hadn’t been there a moment before. The sound of bubbling eggs reached the crystal moments later. It had all happened in the span of less than a minute. Ulysses smiled at the camera before it turned back to Walker.
“As you can see, that man is level fifty in his cooking profession. He’s already evolved his Profession twice, changing the name to-”
“Breakfast Cuisine Specialist!” The Ulysses yelled out, interrupting the host.
Walker glared at him for a moment before smiling back at the camera, “That’s correct. With each average level of your skills rising, your Mastery or Profession, as shown, will evolve. Now, let's take a look at the last man.”
The camera panned over to a man sitting at a large desk covered in papers. As the camera focused on him, he began lifting papers and reading them. At first, he was reading the page slowly, then faster…and faster. Soon, he was reading while also writing on a piece of paper to his right, doing both tasks simultaneously. An office popped up around him, with a clear window for the Crystal to see through.
After it did so, a wall was knocked down, and another identical, nondescript man moved past the fallen wall, holding a large sword and smiling at the camera.
“Tone down the smiles,” Someone said from off-camera, and the sworded man took on a serious look.
The man at the desk suddenly looked up from his papers, pantomiming fear. Then, a grin splashed across his face, as he pulled a knife from his belt. He stood quickly, splashing the papers back and stepping towards his attacker.
They danced for a few seconds, but it was obvious the Professional knife-wielder was better trained and practiced than the swordsman. The swordsman’s body leaked blue blood for a moment, before falling over dead and disappearing.
“Why the fuck is his blood blue?” A voice off-camera asked.
“I wanted to add some color.”
The camera panned back to Walker as he said, “Ridiculous,” before noticing he was back in the spotlight. “As you can see, the swordsman was a low-level Master, while the Professional was better trained with combat skills in their secondary choice. That’s a warning to all of you. Just because you’re a Master doesn’t mean that you can stomp on any Professional you meet. For all you know, they might just be hidden masters themselves.”
That warning across, everything, including the boards, faded out behind him. Walker looked behind him for a moment to double-check, then looked back at the crystal, “Now, what is your Incipience likely to look like? Well, that depends on you.” He waved a hand and a series of large screens appeared behind him. “Each of these is a choice. On the left,” All of the screens were colored in red, “Are the Mastery choices. And on the right,” All of the screens had a green background, “Are the Professional choices. Choosing a Mastery doesn’t make you a bad person, just like choosing a Profession doesn’t make you a smart one. You will all be able to choose both options, but only one can be your primary. You are either a Master with a Profession or a Professional with a Mastery.”
A voice behind the crystal said, “But what if I want to go back to the world and work on Milestones now that I know this?”
Walker golf clapped, “Excellent question, random viewer. Yes, you can exit Incipience once by clicking on the option within your overlay, but on your second run-through, the option will not exist. You will either have to make your choice then or stay within this space and potentially starve to death. Keep in mind this is not some form of mental projection. You are now, currently, within a powerful metaphysical space. Using it as a shield to escape notice will only work those few times.”
“What if I want to reset my Profession or Mastery?” The voice questioned again.
“Another excellent question,” Walker said with a single squinted eye, “You can reset your choice. However, two things must happen. One, you have to get one of these,” He held his hand out, and a yellow gem appeared in it, “Which are even more rare than the red cap raiser I showed you earlier. Also, you will have to connect directly with the system in order to remove your skills. That is…very painful. Possibly even life-threatening. The option exists for those who are truly dissatisfied with their choice, but please don’t make this choice without serious thought. There is a very real chance you will die.”
Moving from his serious expression back to a smile, Walker said, “Now, how do we level skills? Well, you saw the Spearman, right? Practice! Every time you forcibly push and learn a new way of using your skill, it has the possibility of leveling up. Skills naturally want to better understand your wants and needs. The more you practice and use them in new and interesting ways, the more they’ll build on themselves. Each new method of use can result in a skill-up, building from level one all the way up to level one hundred.”
His nostrils flared for a moment as he looked past the camera, “b-but, one-hundred isn’t the cap for your primary choice at Incipience. After reaching one hundred, you will have the option of resetting the skill and including new methods of using a much more powerful version of it. The level will stay the same, shifting from level one hundred to one-oh-one, but new elements will now be included. Also, when you first reach level one hundred in a skill, you will unlock a new system.”
Walker grinned, “Magic. And those who learn to control magic, well, we call them Mages.”
“And three-”
“A-at three hundred, another element will be added. For as long as you can level your skills and increase your Professions and Masteries, there will be power and progress to gain. After all, this is Symphony, where the Unending Summit can never be truly reached.”
A snort off-crystal came through extra loud, causing Walker to glare again. “I said at the start that I would explain why we did all of this and who I am. My name is Walker Reed, and I’m the Creator of Symphony. I built this world and the worlds connected to it with one goal in mind: strength. That isn’t to say that Masteries matter more to me than Professions. In my old world, Earth, we had huge armies. The world and those armies couldn’t run without all of the Professionals running things in the background. Merchants, money-lenders, farmers, for god’s sake. They all matter to me. If you do not want to fight. Don’t.”
He saw something behind the crystal again, “At least unless you have to. Pick what you feel happy doing. If it’s fighting? Go nuts. If it’s banking, or being a librarian, more power to you. I designed all of this for your own agency. I want the power, as much as I can, in your hands. This isn’t about me, and overall, this isn’t about Symphony. It’s about you, and what you want to do with your life. I just hope it’s a good one, and when the inevitable occurs, you’re happy with how you lived it.”
Suddenly, Walker looked very tired. It was as if all of the energy that had been propping him up came flowing out of him at once. He rubbed a hand across his face, and a chair appeared behind him. He smiled just behind the Crystal and sat in it, putting his elbows on his knees before looking at the Crystal again.
“As this is the end of your introduction to Incipience, I’m going to be as real as I can with you. There are…things out there. And they’re powerful, and they’ll want what we have. I’m going to do my very best to protect you, and our worlds. But, if for some reason I’m unable to. If, somehow, I should die, I want you to know. I believe in you. I believe in what we’re doing here. Life and fate can be real bitches sometimes. Trust me, I would know. The best you can do is stay true to yourselves and remember. When the darkness comes for us, that’s when we shine the brightest.”
Walker smiled as a bright object appeared over his head before waving the halo away from himself, “I’m Walker Reed, and I approve this message.” He leaned forward with an intense look in his eyes, “Now, make your choice, pick your path, and be the best version of yourself that you can be.” He nodded at the Crystal, “Good luck.”
Ulysses hit the soft depression, stopping the crystal.
Walker looked at him, “Do you think that was good? Are we done?”
Ulysses shrugged, “Maybe one more? But with feeling!”