Thinking back on the discovery of his personal system, Apollo was surprised that he managed to accomplish what he thought was impossible, he had to figure out how to operate the sophisticated technology and it gave him severe headaches just thinking about it.
First of all, what is a system? it can be best described as a personal helper found in various game instances, it has the ability to suggest optimal plans and courses of action when asked by its owner, a hyper computer brain capable of all round knowledge based around a central database. Apollo read multiple novels back in his heyday and one of such novels contained a system which helped the protagonist progress quicker through his adventures.
A powerful tool, he thought, in fact he was surprised when a system for his own use suddenly appeared before him as he was still a month old baby for some unknown reason. In truth, he was extremely happy that a tool of use fell upon him, it was almost as if another supreme entity felt pity for him. In actuality, he was comforted when a user interface suddenly materialized through his mind. He felt comfort knowing that there was something familiar accompanying him, although he didn't know of the systems place of origin, what mattered was the fact that it reminded him of his time on Earth.
However, it was severely lacking in use, it was like ordering a brand new console on Eabay and it having to turn up to your house with severe problems and lack of functionality. He thought that he would hear an automated voice when the interface appeared before him but to this day there were no sign of a 'personal helper' like those from the novels that he read. He recalled the moment when he tried to 'summon' the fabled system, calling out ridiculous commands aloud in English,
*ahem*
"Testing, 1,2,3 Mr. system would you care to help me please?...*silence*....pretty please?",
"Abra Cadabra",
"Open sesame"
When that didn't work, he tried out commands in Eretrian, commands that were learned from a book called, "An Idiot's Sonata" thinking that the system in his mind was of Eretrian or at least Greissian origin. But to his dismay, nothing worked so he gave up on the notion that he would have an automated super computer chip by his side, in truth, he didn't particularly mind since it already gave him the ability to discern certain materials based on 'known' knowledge.
This was tricky to understand because "known knowledge" referred to all the information that he currently knows of, he could only acquire and expand on his knowledge through reading and word of mouth. He quickly figured out this function when he depicted an image of an object he looked at through his mind and a sentence or a brief description of that material/object would be given to him, information that he knew deep within the chasms of his brain matter. This information was also processed into a 'hard drive' or in other words a bank filled with information about everything and anything that he has ever analyzed. Although he did not know where this hard drive was located in his mind, he could only assume that its connected to either his soul or his brain.
He later found out that he could browse through this bank by saying "Encyclopedia" in his mind, he didn't even need to say it out loud. This was a cool gimmick in his opinion however the problem was, all those information was not automatically memorized by him, he was actually required to learn it all by heart if he wanted to memorize it, life truly was not made to be easy.
He also did not have the ability to see 'Nametags' above any living or dead organisms like you would in a gaming scenario, as a casual gamer in the olden days, Apollo really didn't care much, he was aware of its advantages but unfortunately it seemed like his system missed the update on that part. He theorised that it would've been too powerful to accurately determine the names of anyone that he set his eyes on, that would instantly eliminate threats from assassins hiding in the shadows. Perhaps the entity that gifted him his system thought that this feature was remarkably overkill and Apollo had to agree if that were the case.
At this moment in time, he only knew of two other functions that the system gave him, one of them being the classical "Inventory" and in order to use this function, all he had to do was to call it out in his mind much like the 'Encyclopedia'. When he does so, a boxed interface appears in his mind titled, 'Inventory' (Creative i know), it basically looked like a text box which was divided into 25 individual boxes, it was like an oversized open shelf that had 25 identical square shaped compartments.
Through various experiments, he found out that a single box can contain approximately 1 cubic metre, a cool feature was the fact that each individual box can be combined up to the max of 25 which is 25 cubic metres, a pretty substantial space, he could fit 25, 1000 litre full buckets of water inside. However just like the Encyclopedia, it had its own limitations. Firstly, besides the maximum 25 boxes, anything that is alive and breathing could not be placed inside the space, this included anything that was considered an organism, Apollo did not have access to microorganisms such as bacteria but he assumed that both were restricted by this rule.
Another was the fact that only empty boxes could be combined, so if box 1 had an object in it no matter how small it may be, it could not be combined with boxes 2-25, this was a rather lax rule since he could simply bypass this rule by emptying out the box before combination.
Lastly, anything 'free' in other words uncontained, could not be placed inside the inventory, for example if Apollo were in a body of water, he can not simply suck the water around him inside the inventory, that includes the gases present in the atmosphere, fire, etc..., so much for containing farts, although if he were to fart inside a jar and closed it, maybe he could since that was considered 'contained'. In order to place anything inside the inventory, all he needed to do was to be in physical contact with the object and think of placing it in the inventory, what would happen next is something out of his common sense, the object would simply vanish and appear in one of the boxes in his mental domain in chronological order (box 1, then 2 and 3, etc..) without making the slightest sound. To take it out he simply just imagines the item he wants to take out being in his hands and it would appear out of thin air like a little magic trick.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
The last known function of the system is "Overview" which was basically a character sheet containing information about himself, for example, his health points, mana points, stamina points, level, skills and physique as well as miscellaneous drop down text boxes such as titles and the like, currently he has zero titles. It was your typical spreadsheet found in almost every single game.
Apollo liked this function the most since he hypothesized that it would be his saving grace in the future, it would likely notify him of his current status for example if he suspects that he's been poisoned by some half-assed villain in some form or another then he could simply check his Overview to see if any damaging statuses are inflicting him. 'Level' was an interesting concept, no matter what activity that Apollo has done throughout these past 6 years, it still hasn't progressed from its initial point, currently he remained at Lvl.1. The only way he thought of raising his level was through the acquisition of experience, perhaps he had to kill an organism to find out if he could do so.
Overall, he thought of his system as nothing more than just a utility, he was slightly bummed out that it were simplified but then again he thought to himself, "Wouldn't it be boring if I had a system that told me what plans to undertake?" besides he didn't like the premise as he thought it was basically cheating by relying on a super intelligent system, maybe its because he detested being bossed around, who knows.
Mana points was another piece of information that confused Apollo for the longest time, It had been greyed out in his Overview interface for the most part until he turned 6 years old. Apollo speculated a number of reasons attributing to its sudden availability at the age of 6 but only one reason made sense, It was dependent on Mental capacity. On Earth, you are considered to have a fully developed brain at the age of 25 and maybe that was the same on Greiss. But what does that have to do with Mental capacity and mana? Well, Apollo speculates that because he was an otherworlder, a reincarnator, somehow in some form or another, his brain was considered advanced enough at the age of 6 to be fully capable of utilising this resource known as 'Mana'.
Although his theory was based around assumptions, he at least believed that his current brain was near maturation thus the mana points in his overview eventually became available due to the fact that he fulfilled a specific requirement that enabled its functionality through his abnormal brain development. A concern arising from this was wether or not this was a good thing or a bad thing.
He was aware from previous gaming experiences that magic skills such as 'Fireball' required the use of mana before it can be cast. With this knowledge, Apollo was fascinated on experiencing holding a ball of flames in his hands but he didn't know how to cast one, never mind that, you could say that he was clueless at just about everything that had to do with wizardry. His Mana points were essentially there for show as of now.
Sir. Timothy, his tutor hired by his parents to teach him of worldly knowledge, stated that there were Academies scattered around Greiss which taught their students of various arts and crafts, Wizardry being one of them. However, it was said that only a select few were ever granted access to these infamous academies, you had to have at least one of the three requirements, Wealth, Power and lastly Talent. It was basic common sense, you had to have influence in other words power to become noticed by the academy officials or if you felt like buying your way into the institution then you could do so with large sums of money. Finally, if you had Michael Jordan talent, then you could easily gain the support of powerful individuals that would allow you to gain access.
Timothy recounted from old history that a woman by the name of Emma Watson from the sovereign of Thebestia was granted access to Wizardry due to her outstanding talent. She was believed to be one of the most powerful sorceress that has ever graced the world of Greiss, it was rumoured that she killed an elder dragon whilst she was still in her prime. She was of impoverished background until she met a wandering mage who witnessed her talents and therefore changed her life. Ever since then, Apollo became obsessed with the world of magic but he was not sure if he could ever attend one of the academies.
After writing the final word of his sentence, Apollo looked upwards curious to see the expression of his mother, feeling the gaze of the little one, Helaine couldn't help but chuckle, "Well written, it hasn't been long since Timothy has started teaching you caligraphy, Im surprised that you write so well". In fact, Apollo has been learning caligraphy since the age of four, 2 years now and nowhere near the appropriate genius level that his mother elevated him to, this was his opinion but he was aware that his mother was only encouraging him, although a bit forced, he still appreciated her compliment. He was also unaware of how well he fared in learning the language compared to the rest of the world, he is only 6 years old after all. He heard his mother mention that Hermes and Ares had similar progression when they were his age. That was considering the fact that they didn't have the help of his system which quickly took scans of the words he learnt and saved it in his Encyclopaedia for future references and study.
"Write what you know about Greiss and the country of Eretrios",
Hearing her command, Apollo began to write scribbles across the parchment, dipping his quill on the ink periodically, this entire process took roughly 8 minutes partly due to his slow pace at writing the elegant Eretrian style. "-Greiss is a big world, it has 7 continents, Anticulus to the north, Feruin to the south, Hasha in the west, Vrion in the east and Vanir, Cavas, Redania in the midlands. Greiss has 7 major races, Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Faunaid, Monsters and Immortals. Eretrios is found in the continent of Redania, home of the humans. It is near the center of the continent and is under the rule of King Caesar in the domain of Emperor Khan". Apollo wrote down the basic knowledge of Greiss and Eretrios, truthfully he knew more than what he wrote due to his hobby of reading books but he was aware that doing too much would inquire the curiosity of his mother, he simply did not wish to stand out too much.
His preliminary goal was to create a 'normal' image of himself as a means of protection. He knew that the greatest weakness of all aspiring geniuses was their inflated ego, they would broadcast their achievements across the far reaches of Greiss and from there it was quite easy for informants to learn of their locations, their IP address, 12th cousins first kiss, his/her deepest secret and every other minor detail and what not. Then they would sell these gathered intelligence reports to organisations skilled in swift assassinations. Apollo didn't think too hard on how the story will end for an egotistical genius, after all many opposing nations wish to seek out enemy talents in order to weed out future troubles.
My primary goal is simple, I want to explore the world known as Greiss to the full extent of my abilities. I have been given a second chance at life and I don't plan on wasting this golden opportunity to experience a life worth living. I've decided to live my life exactly the way my biological mother back on earth wished for me to have and in honour of her memories, I will do exactly that. This was Apollo's proclamation on how he plans to take progress in his long journey on Greiss.
Greiss is a gigantic land mass full of things to see and do but it is also a hot boiling mess strife with bloody wars. It is a madman's paradise. Apollo is not a fool and is very much aware of the ongoing battles occurring every single day contrary to his family's belief that he is just an ignorant boy. They are unaware that Apollo is an otherworlder with life experiences and he preferred for it to stay that way. He considers it a secret that he will take to the grave, even if he puts all his trust in his family, he will never reveal such controversial information for fear that he may turn into somebody's lab rat or plaything.
I will take every precaution to make sure that my place of origin is known to no one but myself, this is my first step in Greiss.