Chapter Two

As I stood there, staring blankly into darkness, I waited. I could remember clearly what came next. I sat down, taking a deep breath. If I could just sense the Base Energy before everything, could I use that to my advantage? So I sat quietly, patiently. There it was. That tickle, that tendril of pure power, although difficult to sense, was ever present in the darkness. I let my breath out, and inhaled once more. But this time, instead of air, I took in something more. It had a density to it, like water, but it didn’t clog my throat. It slid down easily, moving through my body, and wrapping softly around my beating heart.

Before I had time to do anything with the water like substance, color streaked back into the world, and I found myself sitting on hard stone tile. Across from me sat a creature. It looks like a cross between a frog, a human, and a lizard. It had a hunched back, strange reptilian eyes, a full scaly tail and two arms and legs thick as a tree trunk. The creature seemed to be dyed an unhealthy gray, and if it hadn’t been breathing, I would have assumed it was dead. I frowned. This wasn’t the creature I had last time. I hoped there would not be anymore surprises, or else things might start getting… annoying.

As I was pondering, the creature made a loud gurgling sound, as though he was trying to clear his throat. He made a light bow, and with a raspy, almost warbling voice, introduced himself.

“I am called Yomera, and I am to be your guide through the start of these trials. I know you likely have many questions, and you might be very confused and concerned, but I will explain everything to you with time. But to start, let’s go about processing your items.” He glanced at my backpack while talking.

As I sat on the floor, I could feel my back getting lighter, and noticed the backpack had disappeared. I waited as the creature fiddled with something invisible in the air, and before long, a few screens popped up in front of me.

Welcome to the Wandering Tower!

You have been provided with an opportunity to grow in strength earlier than most of the rest of your race, and to pioneer a path that humans will follow behind until your species reaches the final goal or perishes. Best of luck to you in the trials, and remember, don't Wander too far!

Processing items…

You will be gifted points based upon the things that you have on your person, or given equal compensation for items attached to your body.

Items processed!

Mass Produced Katana(usable) 25PTS Hand Crafted Machete(battle ready) 30PTS Sword Cane(flimsy) 7PTS Sawback Bowie Blade(Well Made) 50PTS Folding BladeX3 3PT Contacts(Well Made) +3PER Laptop(High Tech) 40PTS

Total: 155PTS + 3PER

Yomera looked at me, surprise clear on his frog-like face. “You seem to be pretty lucky, coming so prepared. These points are a truly valuable commodity in the Tower, and 155 points to start is close to the upper limit on what is possible. But enough on that, you will have time to look at the shop later. For now, it is important to go over the Stats, perks, and different energies in this place.” He motioned to me, and croaked, “Say ‘Status’ to see your information.”

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I nodded to him. “‘Status,’” I said out loud, trying to seem surprised when the blue tile materialized in front of me, giving me information about who I was.

Name: Cyrus

Age: 19

Level: 1

Race: ????

Stats

STR: 13

DEX: 10

PER:7+3

INT:11

CON:10

WIS:12

Perks

True Balance

Soul Staff

As I looked at the screen, I glanced quickly over the top portion, intent on ignoring it, when I noticed something different from before. Where last time I had a Race of Human, now, it was marked as unknown. That… that shouldn’t be possible. Everyone knew Race was locked from the start, with no way to change it besides cursed rituals that brought many more negatives than positives.  But now, not only was I a different race, I was one unknown to the system. The thought brought chills down my back, and I felt a growing terror spread throughout my being.

“Please.. please don’t let this be that damned dragon’s curse on me taking effect.” I thought to myself. With a quick shake of my head, I cut that thought at the bud. I would make do with what I had, like always. I just had to compensate. I would not let my dreams be crushed once again, especially not before I had even begun the fight.

Ignoring the worrisome race for now, I glanced once more through my stats, noting the permanent increase to my Perception with a smile. Everything else was as I remembered, so I stopped my sight on the Perks tab. And I froze. No… No… “NO.” The last, I shouted, startling the creature in front of me. “This isn’t possible,” I thought as I furiously closed and reopened my status screen, hoping against hope that something would be different the second time. But there it was, ignoring all attempts to make it change. Soul Staff and True Balance. Not Soul Spear and True Blaze, as it was before. How?! Why?! I could have lived with a different race. It would have been difficult, but not impossible. But Soul Spear was my only true companion through everything, and I had True masteries with the spear that I knew I would be able to use again this time around.

Not to mention True Blaze, which was my only source of Energy, and one that had helped keep my hatred and power growing stronger with time, instead of letting them weaken with despair. Without these two abilities, I would have to start from scratch. While some might say Spear and Bo Staff are similar, they would be amazingly ignorant of true masteries to make that assumption. At the start, there are similar movements between the two, but the further down a mastery path one walks, the more one forsakes all others for the truth of the weapon they wield. The Spear and the Staff were as far apart as a cudgel and a needle in a fight.

I would need to start everything from the beginning. Even more horrifying, I saw with some degree of certainty that even though I would be starting over again from the very beginning, the system could somehow tell, and everything was randomized. I couldn’t use the knowledge of previous trials I had taken to easily grind my way up to my previous power. This was a intense setback for me. That's not even mentioning that I would have to learn a completely new Energy type, whatever this True Balance Bullsh-

“Are you alright?” I hadn’t realized, but the frog-like creature had made his way up to me, and was staring into my eyes. “You have been making many different, worrying faces,” he continued. “Are you upset by your perks, or is it your stats?”

I looked up at him and sighed. “It’s my perks. Is it at all possible to reroll them? Or even choose new ones?”

Yomera shook his flabby, scaled face at me. “I am truly sorry, but Perks are something picked specific to each person. They help to round out someone, and the System picks the Energy specifically. It even creates new energies if there is a need, although this has not happened in quite a few millenium. On that note, Let me explain to you the different types of perks that a person can get, and what they can be used for.”