1. If You Like Piña Coladas_Lost Word: Rift Wars

Ambros decided he was not a fan of being stranded in unknown places unless it involved scantly clad dancers and copious amounts of alcohol, with maybe a palm tree or two to help set the proper ambiance.

Looking at the ruined cityscape surrounding him certainly didn't help with that feeling. Spotting something that looked like a rat or squirrel scrambling along the rubble to his left, he fired off an Arcane Bolt watching the purple streak howl across the distance. Got it!

He was supposed to be on his graduation tour, visiting the tributary worlds, looking at the latest they had to offer in the culinary arts, pillaging their libraries of anything he fancied that somehow hadn't made it back to the Council library yet, experiencing samples of the local culture and flirt with the local ladies. Instead, he was here. No, servants, transportation or even basic necessities. He couldn't even move because something stupid would happen when he left the black circle. He just knew it.

As far as he could tell, the crystal-like substance he was standing on was shaped in an almost perfect circle. It was not cooperating by cracking or reacting in any way either when he stomped on it so he could study a piece. Clearly, he had been placed there deliberately, and anyone that had placed him in a place like this did not have his best interests in mind. Especially when the one thing that stood out here was the damn circle. Sitting down, he put a hand under his chin, trying to make sense of the situation and giving it more time before trying anything that would undoubtedly be painful, stupid, or likely both. Procrastinating at its finest, as it was also known.

Yesterday was amazing. He had graduated as an Arcanist. Happy to finally take the first step into adulthood, by Council law at least. At 24 years old, he had already reached adulthood in the mundane world some time ago. Now doing the same among those who studied the mysteries, he could finally make his own way. Not that he had lived a particularly arduous or strict life, but still. He planned to set himself up in the niche of studying ancient and lost languages before graduation. Diving into parts of the library that was seldom visited by anyone else living under the governance of the Council.

Sitting there, he wondered how the rest of his group was doing. They had their own trips planned, some more elaborate than others. He already missed them.

They had graduated at the same time as him in their fields in the Arcana. After graduation, they hit their regular dive bar, The Smoke Stack. Castor, Charon, Dawn, Deimos, Moira, Pandora, and Vulcan, the eight of them had been studying together for most of their lives. They had known each other through thick and thin. At one point or another found themselves to be enemies, friends or lovers throughout the years. Sometimes all three. Now they seemed more like a big family than anything else to Ambros. The eight of them made out their batch of Council scions.

Before them, no children were born to the Council for 700 years. Ambros suspected it was deliberate. It also became increasingly challenging to have new children as one rose in power, so how the Council managed to get them simultaneously was a bit of a mystery, he had yet to unravel. He was the only one in their group that didn't have someone on the Council as a parent. However, his mother was the child of a Council seat holder, and that was apparently enough to open all sorts of doors and possibilities for him. Especially since he lived with Gramps, the first disciple of the Master and founder of the First Council, or just Council if you like. Who the Master was, Ambros or anyone else outside the Council didn't know.

Discerning what happened after they were at The Smoke Stack was more challenging. He remembered Deimos hanging a dart board over his neck. Loudly proclaiming his nose was an automatic 100 points. While indeed tempting, throwing something sharp at the man with clear signs of being a half-giant was probably not the wisest thing one could do. Under normal circumstances, the gentle researcher he was at heart would never have considered acting like that. He was surprisingly shy, but things could quickly become quite interesting when Deimos got enough strong drinks. Sufficient to say no one took him up on it. Ambros fondly remembered dancing with Dawn and taking a trip to the bathroom stalls while the others were distracted with playing pool. Then came the last call of the bar. They had filled up their table. Much later, he remembered them leaving, singing four or five different songs simultaneously. It had been horrible and funny at the same time, mostly horrible.

Looking up at the stars, he needed to see new things. To take random Gates until he was at the edge of the last Council world, then take a Sky Fort and continue traveling into the unknown. To see what was out there in the distant reaches of the universe and beyond. He told his friends he needed to walk a bit alone, but none of them considered it to be strange. They all had idiosyncrasies, some worse than others. It came with the field, so to speak. You didn't mess around with the stuff that rewrote reality without some small issues from time to time. Besides, he wouldn't truly be alone. Each one had a contingency group following them, some at a distance and some closer than comfort sometimes. He had already spotted the two assigned to follow him closely that night when he came out of the bathroom with Dawn. They were prominent Spell Swords in their own right. He had never trained with them since his interest lay in academics, but he had seen them tear apart the football field-sized training chambers Gramps had when they trained. It looked like every conceivable natural disaster had struck at the same time before they were done beating at each other. He suspected Gramps had planned to send them with him on his upcoming graduation tour. He had no illusions about being let go completely free or that he could properly defend himself against quite a few of the more dangerous things he would inevitably meet.

Ambros had bid everyone a fond farewell and a more lingering one with Dawn, promising to meet up again for a last lunch before everyone went on their trips. It would be years before they would meet in the flesh again, but there were other ways to communicate across the cosmos. Knowing they would keep in touch was enough. Waving goodbye, he set off in the opposite direction. He did not really care where he went, just that he needed to let his subconscious handle things while he walked and dreamt about his future.

Looking up at a star that was shining especially bright, he imagined how it would look closer. He couldn't remember seeing it before. Maybe the rays of a collapsing star far in the past finally reached him across thousands, if not millions of years. However, the light was growing brighter and brighter. Until its glare was almost enough to blind him. He looked around to see if anyone else was seeing the same thing, but only his guardians were there, and they were shouting something while running toward him. They were too slow, however. A presence unlike anything he had felt before clamped down on them. He was left standing, but he could see his guardians flat against the ground, their outlines appearing on the asphalt as cracks started spreading as the force kept them down. Then there was a movement so fast it only left Ambros feeling like he had been picked up and thrown faster than his mind could fully process.

He felt himself being catapulted across a distance of what he could only describe as unimaginable far away. His body was surrounded by an immovable force as space went faster and faster past him. He was sure that he had broken through some sort of barrier at a point because everything just turned black. Even the passive power emitting from the cocoon was enough to almost force his mind to shut down. Moments later, he was standing on a black circle made of crystal in the middle of an intersection of a ruined city, less than happy with the situation. Spotting another rodent, he fired off an Arcane Bolt again but missed by a handspan.

He could sit here until he starved without anything happening, couldn't he? Well, damn. Standing up, he took note of the sun just having begun its waltz across the heavens. There was a sickly fog permeating everything. It didn't really hamper his vision much, but he could swear the fog occasionally smelled like rotten flesh and mold. Good thing he wasn't all that hungry yet. Taking the first step that would bring him across the outline of the crystal surface, Ambros braced himself for all hell to let loose, then another step.

Nothing. He wasn't run over by a truck; no pack of wild squirrels came and gnawed him to death or aliens to kidnap him for some less than consensual probing in places he would prefer to stay as only exit places. It would seem that one kidnapping was enough for the day. Turning around, he saw the black circle was still there, looking less evil now that he wasn't using it as a self-imposed timeout area, crystal sparkling in the sun. However, the sparkle kept increasing. Feeling his gaze drawn into it, he was suddenly looking at a firmament full of stars. Millions of millions of stars. Then there was a flash of light.

Integration completed.

Defying fate and overcoming your limitations is the path to greatness.

Grow, overcome, dominate.

You have been chosen.

Be honored, Neophyte.

Trying to move his head around, he couldn't. That is, he could certainly move in the direction he was seeing, but his physical head had nothing to do with it. Not that it did much. All he could see was the white background with black text appearing on it. Okay, so what now? Integration into what. He was well aware that the way to greatness was overcoming your own limitations. That was perhaps the most pointless sentence he had heard in a while. Grow, overcome, dominate? Very inspirational. Who had written this crap? Then to really rub it in. You have been chosen? Awesome, chosen to do what? Pick up trash from the highway? Then claiming he should be honored before calling him a Neophyte? He was a fully certified Arcanist. Not some two-bit newly minted student mewling around the Council halls trying not to step on the wrong square and get incinerated because the place didn't recognize their minuscule talent yet.

Designating username: Ambros Mardux

Confirmed.

ERROR: Variant not found.

Variant parameters uploading

Interface updated

Interface v.1.0.1 loading.

Welcome to the initialization interface, Ambros Mardux.

Please assign attribute points to finalize initialization.

Unspent attribute points: 3

Name: Ambros Mardux

Race: Human, variant. Grafted Primus modus

Titles: Eques

Class: Arcanist

Level: 0

Experience: 0/673

System rank: Questor

Circle: Neophyte

Step: 0/6

System points: 0

Body: 3 ( E )

Mind: 5 ( E )

Spirit: 4 ( E )

Unspent attribute points: 3

Active Skill: Analyze ( F ), Meditation ( F ), Arcane Sight ( D ), Sanctum ( F )

Passive Skill: Mana Core ( F ), Revitalize ( F ), Omnilingual ( A )

Spells: Arcane Bolt ( F ), Arcane Shield ( F ), Control Heat ( F ), Control Earth ( F ), Control Wind ( F ), Control Water ( F )

Staring at the new text, Ambros realized he actually had some idea of what this was. He had picked up hints in the same depts of the library as he found information about his greatest hobby, Rune magic. The supposedly dead language was made by some forgotten species at the beginning of creation. It was so potent that it could control reality to a staggering degree when infused in the correct manner, and a sequence was completed in the right way. Incredibly powerful when you needed something that would last for a long time, but it wasn't much used since Enchanting could fulfill many of the same roles and was quite frankly much easier to learn and find texts about since it was always built on existing engravings. Besides, most of the people who delved into the mysteries had access to spell constructs in one form or another. The most versatile and potentially powerful tool of them all. Ultimately, Rune magic was only a slightly useful but interesting hobby.

Ambros had stumbled on something called the system in the same deep corners of the deep levels of the Council library as he found Rune magic. It was also known as the High Heavens, The Bringer of Tribulation and Calamity. From what little sense he could make of the texts, it was the systemization of personal growth through struggle, will and luck. What had created the system was not something he had discovered or anything more substantial about its workings. When he asked the Council members, or his uncles and aunts as they had become over the years. He only got ambiguous answerers, even Gramps wouldn't really go into what it was, but at least he acknowledged that it existed. Only stating that Ambros would find out when he found out or not.

Why there had been so much secrecy around it didn't make sense to him, but he knew very little about it. He knew it was not part of Earth or any of the First Councils Tributary worlds in any universe.

Earth had such a low density of mana that he doubted anything dealing with the mysteries or the Arcana could exist in any greater form. Maybe that was why the system wasn't a part of their worlds? After all, the Council depended on a constant stream of crystalized mana to function on Earth. Not just to keep their seats of power working, but just existing there for some of the Council members used up more mana a second than Ambros had spent his entire life. Then again, some of the tributary worlds were packed with it.

That also made him question why the Council had Earth as their main planet. Sure, they spent a lot of time on other worlds, but they all kept their seats of power there unless there was a war or rebellion. Then those great bastions would sail out and gate to their destination, lay waste to whatever stood in the way of their absolute rule over their territory or whatever territory they had their eyes on next. He had only seen it once during his life, on a viewing crystal in Gramps villa, but seeing those country-sized bastions suddenly black out the sun from whatever world they had reason to pay a visit must have been mildly panic-inducing to behold from those that were planetside.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Giving up on his musing, he scanned the information before his eyes. It was apparently a representation of Ambros and his achievements so far. Seeing how he was judged in the eyes of an unknown entity or overgrown calculator for all he knew was interesting. It was also not very flattering. He didn't think of himself as a well-rounded have it all, but a level zero? A bit harsh. Then again, he had just been integrated, as the system wrote. He just hoped having three attribute points in Body wasn't the average Body attribute of a toddler, that could become problematic.

Time to see what this system considered to be important enough to compartmentalize something as complex as a human being into bite-sized pieces, or who knows, maybe it was just done to simplify things so their simple brains could understand how it evaluated a person in broad strokes, either way, he would need to familiarize himself with it. For some reason, he found it extremely doubtful that anyone was coming to get him immediately. There was the small issue of finding him first. At least they would know something strange had happened to him if the guardians had lived.

Name: Designated identifier of the contender. Possible revisions may occur under special circumstances.

Race: System-recognized race, bloodline, species variations, mutations, enhancements or genetic engineering on the race of the contender.

Titles: System-recognized titles. Individual titles will show any eventual modifiers.

Class: The contender's vocation and profession rank.

Level: The growth of the contender is partitioned into levels. The System estimates the level with the corresponding attributes to inform the contender of skill-specific information. When the contender increases in level, the system may award the contender with a number of attribute points the contender can freely distribute.

Pertaining Neophytes. Each new level slightly boosts the contender's base attribute strength.

Warning. Attribute point distribution is recommended at one of the System nodes.

Experience: The contenders achieved experience and the amount of experience needed to gain a new level.

System rank: Contender Rank as an agent of the System. The Questor is expected to complete System specific quests, judge contenders of lower standing that violate the System Mandate, guarantee System contracts or face penalties ranging from loss of level to termination. A contender in good standing and high rank may find that luck and fate favors them.

Body: Pertaining Neophytes. Each attribute level represents a standard unit of measure of the contender's Body. An average human adult will have three attribute standard units of Body. Body attribute mainly encompasses speed, strength, endurance, physical attractiveness, mass, size, toughness, agility and dexterity.

The maximum amount of attribute points a contender may have is 25 in Body. The maximum number may increase with powerful race variations, a powerful bloodline, reaching a higher grade of Body attributes, titles, extremely rare natural treasures and powerful artifacts.

Mind: Pertaining Neophytes. Each attribute level represents a standard unit of measure of the contender's Mind. An average human adult will have three attribute standard units worth of Mind. Mind attribute mainly encompasses reaction time, information retention, speed of acquiring new knowledge, subconscious functionality, sense perception, chemical distribution, electric conductivity, mental control, willpower and multitasking.

The maximum amount of attribute points a contender may have is 25 in Mind. The maximum number may increase with powerful race variations, a powerful bloodline, reaching a higher grade of Body attributes, titles, extremely rare natural treasures and powerful artifacts.

Spirit: Pertaining Neophytes. Each attribute level represents a standard unit of measure of the contender's Spirit. An average human adult will have three attribute standard units worth of Spirit. Spirit attribute mainly encompasses compatibility with the various aspects of the essence, control over the various aspects of the essence, resistance against the various aspects of the essence, satori, and push past the limits of Body and Mind.

The maximum amount of attribute points a contender may have is 25 in Spirit. The maximum number may increase with powerful race variations, a powerful bloodline, reaching a higher grade of Body attributes, titles, extremely rare natural treasures and powerful artifacts.

Unspent attribute points: Remaining points the contender may designate to an attribute.

Active Skill: Skills that take conscious effort to activate.

Analyze ( F ): Gives the contender an idea of an item's value. At later grades, it will divulge more information about items.

Meditation ( F ): Puts the contender in a state of being that increases the absorption of the essence most prevalent in the environment by 20 percent. At later grades, the absorption increases. At the highest grades, the contender may be able to move while the skill is active, choose what essence to take in and eventually delegate a small part of the contender's subconscious to move the skill from active to passive.

Arcane Sight ( D ): The contender may observe the workings of essences in detail. The higher the rank, the more details can be discerned. The skill only works in line of sight.

Sanctum ( F ): The skill is unique to the elite of the First Council. The contender may enter a construction both in the physical and the spiritual world. The contender's body is left inert and unresponsive during the time spent in the Sanctum. The perception of time wildly deviates when the contender spends time in the Sanctum. It is not uncommon for a contender to spend five minutes in the Sanctum and awaken decades later or spend decades in the Sanctum and awaken after a few minutes.

Passive Skill: Skills that do not take conscious effort to activate or are always activated.

Mana Core ( F ): A sleeping Mana Core. Contender is given an increase of 200 percent to their Mana essence absorption and their total ability to retain Mana in their body. Higher grades will increase the bonus. New abilities will become available when the Mana Core awakens.

Revitalize ( F ): The contender will receive half of any lost health and essence at sunrise. This will heal critical wounds and missing limbs. The skill will activate to save the contender's life if the contender receives a mortal wound, putting the skill on a two-dawn countdown.

Omnilingual ( A ): The contender can speak, read, and understand cultural nuances of any language in regular use. The contender may gain insight into dead languages at higher grades.

Spells:

Arcane Bolt ( F ): Arcanist class-exclusive low-damage ranged attack. Increasing the spells grade will add new options and increase the damage output. Arcane damage will bypass resistance but not an annulment. Damage output is *Spirit X *Level X 0.10 X 1. Cooldown for each cast is five seconds. Cooldown will reduce with increased spell grade and a higher Spirit attribute.