Even with the steady pace each expedition takes a few days to complete. After four months and successfully killing twelve of the snow obru along with countless of their minions Ke'an decides to take some time to himself. Which he spent mainly in the field of flowers sitting under the warm sun and meditating. Ke'an wondered if his family thought he had abandoned the rite and started a life somewhere out in the world. After all by his best guesstimation he had been with System for a little over a year.

Fortunately the rite of passage had no time limit; some people could complete it in days while others had vanished for years. Ke'an could not help but feel homesick after being away for such a long time. While System kept him company in terms of conversation she was still a godly being with little she could relate to Ke'an on. During one conversation Ke'an finds out that her breath smells extremely sweet because her body is divine. Her blood and even saliva are ambrosia and if a mortal were to drink either it would extend their lives for eons but also drive them insane.

"So do you have any family?" Ke'an asks.

"Yes… You can say my family is the Lock clan. My father's name is Caps and mother's name is Function as well as a younger sister named Alt and many aunts and uncles." System responds. "What about you?"

"Don't you already know?" Ke'an asks.

"No." System responds. "I can find out easily though by looking into the world's log… However, what would be the fun of that?"

"I have a Father named Ke'sal and a brother by the same name though we usually call him Sal to avoid confusion. My mother's name is Ly'may and my sister's name is Ly'ju. I am the youngest and the last to complete the rite of passage."

"Your clan requires you complete your rite of passage to return to the clan. Does everyone have to do it?" System asks.

"No, the head family decides which of the branch families will be required to prove themselves by rite of passage. For one generation all new members of that branch must complete the trial. However, for every one generation a branch family is chosen, the head family must complete the rite for two generations."

"Sounds complicated… Your family are magic thieves. What is the purpose of the head families?" System asks.

"Our clan is divided into three main families. The oldest and most prominent being the assassin clan Nilfi. My family the Strome's are a branch of the thief clan Yalfi. Finally, there is the magecraft clan Qralfi, which focuses exclusively on magecraft. The head families hold all of the secrets of the clan and guide branch families to knowledge and serenity. The patron God of the head family is the God of Thieves."

"They allow you to venerate a different god?" System ask. "You worship Batri."

"I am not a member of the head family. Batri is my Goddess and many members of my family are born under various gods and goddesses. The head family is the only one required to only worship the God of Thieves. The assassins head family worships the God of Wind and branch families all worship the deity of their choosing. Qralfi is the only clan that all members are required to worship one god and that is Volt the God of Knowledge."

"He is a very jealous and passionate God." System admits.

"I respect all of the Gods, but he is not winning any best God of the year awards any time soon." Ke'an says.

Ke'an continues his studies for another few weeks finally reaching the point which he feel that his understanding of the grimoire is finally revealing itself in his combat with the snow obru in the Graveyard. His understanding of magic expanded to the point that he could finally directly siphon stagnate reality without succumbing to the effects of the snow obru's hatred.

Utilizing the stagnate reality without it biting into his soul is something that not even System expected from him. The complexity of the snow obru's magic, even while they were practically dying husks, is well beyond what a mortal should be capable of overpowering. The remaining snow obru fell one after another but not without being sure to take their pound of flesh from Ke'an for the effort. It wasn't long before Ke'an encountered newer creatures, each freakish amalgams of monster and nightmare. Still he perseveres time and time again despite the odds against him, until finally the last of the snow obru is defeated. By this point he had completely lost track of how long he has been with System.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Even with the trial completed there is no time to rest. Still he is happy to never see the Graveyard again. However, without the distraction of the fights his mind returned to the task at hand. By this point he has spent well over two years, possibly three with his draconic companion and while he is studying he realizes that at the end of this journey she will be dead. He knows that it is his sole duty to end her suffering and at first the prospect of taking her godly power was exciting but now he is conflicted. She isn't just a mindless beast dying in some cave but a friend and he knows by the end he will be the one that kills her. Ke'an pushes the thought to the back of his mind as he continues on studying the magic that holds the secrets to execute his friend.

"I just got to this new chapter and it is absolutely crazy!" Ke'an said as he bit into an apple slice. "The corporal flux matric concept takes everything I knew about magic and throws it out of the window!"

"This magic binds reality… with it you should be able to kill me…" System says somberly. "It can do much more… I think it should be understood but do not share what you have learned here."

"What, are you serious? This could change my clan forever." Ke'an responds, nearly choking on his apple. "With this we could even steal the power of a…"

"God…" System finishes as she sits up for the first time since Ke'an arrived. "It can steal the power of a God, Ke'an… please protect my creations…" She starts a coughing fit as she lies back down.

"Oh… yeah. It would probably be best that my clan does not learn that." Ke'an admits as his hands traces around the page he was reading. "If we go around killing Gods then everything ends."

"Precisely… My power comes with responsibility. You are learning this to kill me nothing more. With my power you will become the Administrator… probably."

"I have been thinking, System. Is this really the only way? You are obviously incredibly powerful. There has to be a way to save you, right?" Ke'an asks as he looks into System's nebulous scales.

"No… this is the only way." System says flatly.

"Wouldn't you rather live" Ke'an asks.

"No, Ke'an. I am not afraid to die."

"But if I found a way to save you." Ke'an says with trepidation in his voice as he sets the book down. "My brother was born under the God of Renewal. He could…"

"Ke'an, no one can save me."

"You won't even let me try!" Ke'an yells. "I have learned your magic. I can do something that can keep you alive, right?"

"Ke'an. There is no going back for me, only forward." System says with her voice humming beautifully in the air in a manner Ke'an never heard from her. "You are a dear friend of mine so I ask humbly, would you do me the honor of giving me some dignity in death?"

Ke'an shoulders slumped as he looked down at the book in front of him. Then to the mountains of papers at his desk made from pure black nothingness. A long and tired breath escapes him as he looks at the enormous lizard whose impossible size stretches for miles in any given direction. Her labored breathing shaking her mountainous and beautiful form. He nods his head with hesitant but resolute determination to see his quest through to the end.

"Yes." Ke'an said but with a sadness to his voice.

"Then begin." System says.

Ke'an got to work setting up the ritual which required him to use a special chalk which System provided. It takes him a month to draw and redraw thirty-two increasingly complex magic formulas encased in individual and interlocking geometric shapes on the floor. The ritual area is large enough to take several minutes to walk across. Once he is finished, System inspects the diagrams and tells him to try again, blowing away all of his hard work with a single breath that smells of honey.

"What was wrong with it!" Ke'an says frustratedly as the chalk dust floats away. "That should have worked! You know how long that took!"

"You rushed it…" System says. "There are no shortcuts to this… if you fail it is not me who will die."

"Ugh… Still, that was weeks of work you could have told me sooner." Ke'an yells while stomping his foot.

"You think a few days is all it will take… to grasp the magic you will be working with here… this is magic that borders on reality bending."

Ke'an starts all over again this time taking twice as long to complete the diagrams. He changes the overall shape of the formulas and simplifies the ritual after rereading through his notes. Once he is finished System looks over the diagrams and again blows it all away. She tells him that he needs to meditate on what he learned. They will only have one shot or he will not survive the transference of her power.

Ke'an frustratedly takes her advice and uses his free time to climb on her back which takes a few hours to do. Once he is on top of her he lays down staring up at the blank white sky above before closing his eyes. Each day for two weeks he would climb up on her back and sit in a meditative pose and add meditation into his schedule after reading more of System's grimoire. He thinks about the mass of knowledge he has obtained over the past year. Comparing it to what he learned in his clan which made up base understanding growing up. The two methodologies seem alien from each other.

Magic as he learned as a child was the flow of mystical energies that come from life. These energies can be manipulated once someone knows the formula and how to change it. Complex magic requires a life as fuel and the inscribing of the formula through a median. This was different to the magic in the book and that used by the snow obru. Magic seems to act more like a flow of a greater cosmic landscape. Which does not require life, only the understanding of the greater whole of oneself and the universe around them.