After expanding the mine, it became time to work on my mind, and as I approached the elder that had helped me refine my body to this point, I thanked him for his training and went to the elder of the mind, leaving Hannibal with this one so he can learn to refine his body just a tad bit more, my piggish friend had worked with me the entire time, gaining new traits that made him even larger, and still he hoped to break through to the third refinement tier.
It was weird to enter the smokey hut of the mind elder, the air smelling weirdly sweet and my mind feeling a bit more open just from entering, my sudden appearance prompting the spindly reptiloid to slowly rise from his nap, nodding vaguely in my direction.
“Sleep is a scholars most important ability, without it your mind can’t process the information you hold. I assume you are here because you plan to learn, as you have with my fellow elders?”
He asked, his voice raspy and his form a bit blurry in my untrained eyes, only his arcane signature was completely visible to me.
“That I want, what is the path I need to walk for your guidance?”
My question prompted a chuckle from the old lizard, his eyes glimmering in the faint light of his scented candles.
“No walking here, merely about a hundred pages of self discovery for you to fill out.”
I was incapable of reading any language I hadn't learned in some previous life, but as he pushed the stack towards me, I found the memories of the slain quickly helped me pierce together the language before me, which I immediately gathered in a dictionary of my mind, creating a new area in the library of my mind where I made a dictionary for every language I knew, with a short introduction about the places I knew said languages to be spoken or similarities to other languages, quickly adding to the English and German I already spoke and wrote fluently, my weak understanding of Latin completely overhauled as many of my previous lives spoke some variation of it, allowing for me to create a language out of it that had similarities with every other language, before I added it to the twenty other languages I somehow knew to any degree.
When I next opened my eyes, I sat before the sheets of paper again, block lettering on white pages that looked too modern to be real.
“Are you surprised by the pure parchment? It is only used for these tests, and are spread by the city of University, which was founded by the hero of self discovery during the great Mimetic incursion.”
Sure, the paper was weird, but what had been written on them was much weirder, for the guide to self discovery looked a lot like some cheap internet personality test put in a hundred pages, most of which were questions about my favorite type of food, which I filled out quickly and without much thought, until I realized that some letters were written slightly thicker than others, no more than ten on a page, but each making up an English word.
I did not learn a lot as I sped through the sides, filling the sides as I had when I was fourteen and thought myself particularly cool or edgy, which of course was a horrifyingly embarrassing memory, that I barely stopped from being suppressed again, instead observing what part of it I rejected, and realizing that my problem was my new knowledge telling me how worthless and generalized these test answers were, like horoscopes or crystals that could be answered at random.
The text that had been left behind by my fellow English speaker was simple, and yet it warmed my heart to know there had been others like me.
Come to University city, I chose that name on accident, so don’t blame me, and I might have given a whole civilization of scholars a fourth grade symptom. Head inside and tell the leading librarian of the fantasy section about our home worlds dominant creatures.
There are many things I want to tell you, but we do not have any time to waste, I am working on immortality, so that might help this situation exist a little longer. I want to speak to one of us, these idiots fervently worship me as a hero for teaching basic chemistry, biology and physics.
These were his words, and as even more tasks were added to my mental stack, I once again tried a function I had seen in many a game.
“System, open me to the quest sub system.”
User is too young to receive quests.
Scanning… detecting over one thousand years of life experience.
Reincarnated target suspected, welcome to this world, we hope you have a good time.
Searching for patron...
No divine patron found, please wait.
No Infernal patron found, please wait.
Eldritch patron detected: Luce Bravelight.
Luce Bravelight is responsible for all actions that entity: Luce Bravelight decides upon. Both targets must act in each others best interest, other pact particulars can be discussed now.
“Wait, what is happening right now?”
Invalid parameter detected, please try again.
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“Uhm… you may never fully submit to someone other than me?”
Valid parameter detected, please proceed.
“Don’t blame others for your actions, and take responsibility for your fate.”
Valid parameters detected.
“I think that’s enough.”
Concluding the pacting process. Infusing Luce Bravelight with a piece of Luce Bravelight, please refrain from cursing during the process.
Anyone who never had a piece of their soul ripped out and reinserted would not understand the pain I was undergoing, like that instance when my body had been shattered, and I got a piece of tentacle permanently merged with me, or that process with the lichs, and even then, it was hard getting used to having the core of your existence tampered with.
Contract
Effect
I see no god up here, other than me.
Disadvantage by attempts to resist your patrons commands, resistance against most other kinds of mental control.
The ultimate failure is being blind to your own shortcomings.
Strengthened introspection.
It was weird to see my own tenets before me, especially when they were turned into what I assumed to be pre-designed tenets from a list or something similar, but I totally agreed with these, being my own patron sounds like a great opportunity.
Entity: Luce Bravelight wants access to the quest menu, do you allow it?
“Yes.”
For a second, a menu appeared before me, bugging a little before it stabilized.
Filtering memories for possible quests.
Return home (offered: 13 times)
Return to your universe of origin.
“I’ll reject that one.”
Quest rejected.
Forgotten history.
Find a temple of the fallen order and establish a connection to the realm of Necros.
Quest already accepted.
Avenge your family.
Slay the titan that killed your family.
Quest already accepted.
Visit University city.
Come to University city, I chose that name on accident, so don’t blame me, and I might have given a whole civilization of scholars a fourth grade symptom. Head inside and tell the leading librarian of the fantasy section about our home worlds dominant creatures.
There are many things I want to tell you, but we do not have any time to waste, I am working on immortality, so that might help this situation exist a little longer. I want to speak to one of us, these idiots fervently worship me as a hero for teaching basic chemistry, biology and physics.
“I guess I’ll do that one too.”
Quest accepted.
Quest
Description.
Reward
Visit University city.
Come to University city, I chose that name on accident, so don’t blame me, and I might have given a whole civilization of scholars a fourth grade symptom. Head inside and tell the leading librarian of the fantasy section about our home worlds dominant creatures.
There are many things I want to tell you, but we do not have any time to waste, I am working on immortality, so that might help this situation exist a little longer. I want to speak to one of us, these idiots fervently worship me as a hero for teaching basic chemistry, biology and physics.
Find a fellow otherworldly.
Forgotten history.
Find a temple of the fallen order and establish a connection to the realm of Necros.
Be initiated into the order.
Avenge your family.
Kill the titan that destroyed your home.
Get revenge.
???
It was weird to see my grand goals dumped down to a 3x3 table format, but something about it looked fun, motivating me to do my best and progressing my powers further.
This attempt didn’t refine my mind the way I hoped to, but at least I had a filled out ‘What ostrich are you’ level of self assessment test, gotten permanently bonded to myself and gained access to a quest system I could have easily done myself had I taken the time to read my own memories.