I stumble through the portal straight into a small pond. I get up and look towards the portal to see Emir coming through it and it vanishing behind him. I then notice that the portal was on top of a purple lotus. I stand up and look at my bag to see if the water damaged anything. From the looks of it, the bag is waterproof.

“Come on, follow me.” Emir says while getting out of the pond by walking on top of the water. I follow after him while my clothes are dripping.

After a minute of walking, we go through a wall of vines and shrubs into a clearing. In the middle of the clearing was a giant tree. Around the clearing were more big trees that are much shorter than the middle one, with almost-glass windows on the outside. We continue to walk towards the middle tree. As we come near the giant tree I see a huge wooden door with a carved runic circle that also has pictures of plants with the runes.

Emir saunters up to the door and it opens automatically. I follow him as he goes into the house, as I am going to step beyond the doorway he shouts at me, “Stop! Don’t come in here dripping water and tracking mud!” He then quickly mutters something and feel a lot of energy coming at me. Before I could do anything it washes over me and I feel as if someone threw me into a washing machine made of wind. It stayed only for a moment and I felt deeply cleaned after it, but I felt disoriented for a slight moment before getting my bearings.

He just smiled at me and signalled for me to follow after him. I quickly follow after him. As I enter the tree I look around to see a long hallway which had a weirdly soft wooden flooring, light wood ceiling and bark as the wallpaper. I see many pictures framed in different types of frames, some with flames, some with animated dark storms and much more. In the pictures there was Emir with many kinds of people, one thing was that his face was the same in all of them, a cheery smile that touched his entire face.

I looked at him to see if he would say who these people were, but he just led me to a spiral stairway. I follow after him on it. At the end of the stairs is a hall which has three doors in it. Emir goes right up to the door at the end and goes into the room. I follow him into the room.

As I walk into the room I see bookshelves covering every wall, the room is very tall. As I try to figure out how tall the room is I hear the door slam behind and the flapping of wings as the bird lands on my left shoulder. I had forgotten about the bird, to be honest. I follow Emir through the labyrinth of bookshelves and notice that small balls of lights are flying about the library illuminating the place.

We got to a big podium which had a giant crystalline orb with runic scripts and pictures of flying books and scrolls. Around it were various tables and chairs for reading. I see Emir go up to the orb and place his hand on it. Then I saw a couple of books fly towards him from different shelves and hover In front of him. As he grabbed one of them, the others returned to their spot.

He then came up to me and ask, “Have you entered your Domain core yet?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“Good! Then tell me what you saw there!” He asked me with a big smile on his face. I begin telling him what I saw, “I saw a sprawling forest from a bird’s eye view, to the distance was a mountain range, an ocean and a storm. There were many kinds of beasts, birds and insects in the forest. Many of which were flickering as if they were not real. Then I saw a labyrinth of metal rooms with runic scripts, diagrams, wires and crystals. Then I came out of there.”

He nods his head while going through the book in his hand. “Your Nature, Illusion and Arcane affinities are very good, your Technology is ok as I do not know the type of technology you had in your world but it incorporates magic at least, which is good. But your Knowledge affinity is a little poor.”

“So what should I do now?” I ask him.

“For now you will think of skill to make with your Achievements. Remember that you can use the link to how you got the Achievement just as much as the effect. Like someone using (Dragon Slayer) for a dragon-related Skill rather than a slaying related and you can use multiple to create one Skill. But you can’t remake the skill easily. So think about it thoroughly. You can sit on these chairs and meditate.”

I nod my head but ask, “Would it not be better for me to make some simple Skills before making these ones?”

“Definitely! But you will not likely have that much space in your core, so it will be much more beneficial for you to have your trophy Skills first than the other normal Skills.” I nod my head at his explanation and sit down on a dark green plush wooden chair. I try to look at my Status to find my Achievements.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

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Personal status:

Name: Anavrit Toho

Health: Good

Mana: Above half

Race: Chimera

-Evo Human

-Human????

-Biomechanical nanite core (Control/ Forge)

Traits

-Chimeric Form

• Shifting Form

• Biomechanical Body

-Modulator

• Create Module

• Insert Module

• Extract Module

• Deconstruct Module

• Store Module

-Adaptive

-Malleable

-Core of Magic

-Core of Technology

-Core of Nature

Affinities:

-Nature/ Technology (80%)

-Illusion/ Knowledge (66%)

-Arcane (54%)

-Mental (12%)

Achievements:

-Bridge between (Epic)

-Abyss blinked first (Epic)

-Otherworlder (Unique)

-Marked (Unique)

-Father of Prismatic Aether (Unique)

-Figment made Real (Unique)

-Grand Ritualist (Epic)

-Father of Monstrosity (Unique)

Titles:

-Phantom Thief (Legendary)

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I remember that you have to link the Abilities to Skills for better effects, but could you connect them to multiple Skills or even Skills of other cores? I ask this to Emir. Who nods sagely, “Good question! You normally cannot link multiple Skills or to other cores but with some trophy Skills you can facilitate it. For you, it will likely be through the {Bridge between} Achievement. Though you should put other Achievements with it to create a better Skill, as otherwise, it would only work for opposite Skills.” I nod at him and start to meditate to go into my domain core, but before entering the core I tell the bird to look after my body.

I see the expansive forest again. I have an idea for what my first Skill will be. I go to the centre of the space and think about how I will incorporate the affinities and Achievements. I then look up and see a black bird circling in the sky as if vigilant about something but give it no mind. I then get an idea from my Prismatic Aether Achievement.

I go down to the ground and try to clear a space for it. Then I try to will the space to clear and the trees and animals vanish from there. I then think about which Achievements I want and how to symbolise them. I then made a hole in the middle of the clearing and made a complex runic ritual circle in the clearing around the hole with the runic highscript of Unity, Harmony, Connection and Link. I then thought of putting the two of my ritual Achievements. I think of them as modules and they appear in front of me, one with a kaleidoscope of many different images that flicker between and the the other like a ritual mid-performance trapped in a marble. I put the (Grand Ritualist) module in the Unity, and the (Figment made Real) in the Link. Then I try to materialize the (Father of Prismatic Aether), it forms a small orb which shows a great tree with white bark and glass-shard-like leaves which refract the light in a prismatic light show. I put it on the Harmony. Then I summon the last Achievement that I will use. As it forms in front of me, I see a grey bridge connecting a white and a black place in an orb, I put the orb in the Connection circle. Then in the hole, I try to place the seed of this new Skill. I try to gather as much energy as I can and condense it into the seed. I feel the plants, animals, wind, earth, metal and everything coming into the seed. I then put the seed in the hole and try to concentrate on creating the Skill. I give it the concept of connecting everything and using everything to improve everything.

“I, the lost child of the unknown, summon the seed of the prismatic world tree,

Through the Bridge between realms, let it be.

With the Grand Ritual’s ancient decree,

The ritual of my making, set free.

Nature’s flesh, entwined with wires,

Arcane power, fueling desires.

Illusion’s touch, weaving dreams,

Knowledge’s wisdom, in silent streams.

Merge these elements, in a dance of light,

Let the Domain Nexus rise, shining bright.

Connect all things, in a harmonious sight,

A beacon of unity, in day and night.”

I feel something take hold as the ritual circle around me starts to glow blindingly and then suddenly stops, in its place I see a tree which seems to be made of flesh, wood and wires, its expansive boughs wreathed in crystal leaves that glow in prismatic light. Its roots snaking into the ground and spreading everywhere.

I then see a system message in front of me. [Congratulations! You have created the Skill {Domain Nexus}]

[You may choose one of your affinities as the aspect of choice]

I think about it for a moment then choose Knowledge affinity.

[You have chosen (Knowledge) as the aspect]

[You may choose one of these quirks—

• Information

• Technique

• Flow

• Processing

• Pattern]

I think a bit about how these will affect the Skill. Information will likely make an Ability to pull information from multiple Skills, Technique the same but with techniques, Flow will likely make the process smoother, Processing likely make it process them more efficiently and Pattern I don’t know. From these, the first two are the only contenders right now. And as I have that Achievement which gives me more information I pick that.

As soon as I pick it the system acknowledges it and the tree which represents the skill starts to make crystalline orbs in its branches and small crystalline structures on its roots.