Various dimensional movers have found worlds which appeared to be the parallels of Palia. In some worlds, a power similar to magic could be seen. Whereas in others, there was no such power and the creations developed their own means of handling things—it was mundane yet close to the ‘essence’ of magic.
Here, in Palia, there was no such thing as magic. Magic is the power of the gods. Therefore, to replicate that effect, we have created a ‘system’. The system has allowed us to fend for ourselves to some extent. It has also helped us a lot in defending ourselves from the mutant goblins—the apex predators of Palia.
Every year, people choose the path of life they want to walk. It was all related to eradicating the mutant goblins in some way or the other. This happens when they come of age. And now it's my turn to choose a path. However, I needn’t fret because I have already decided.
I woke up early on the day of the role selection. The role selection happens in a very special place—the Academy of Defense. It was the place I had spent the past 15 years of my life in.
Upon entering the academy, I was met with familiar gazes from all over the place. Our village was small which meant everyone knew everyone here. For instance, there were only a thousand or so people graduating this year—no, almost every year. The population decline also amounted to a low graduate number.
After thanking my teachers for all their support throughout the years, I joined up with my friends who were all gathered in the large, spacious courtyard of the academy.
“Hey! Look who it is.” A familiar voice called out to me. It was a girl’s to be precise.
“Oh, it’s you, Avina.”
Many people turned this way to see what’s happening. Among them, were some of my other friends who came over to chit chat. Again, it really helped that this was a small village.
“So, have you decided on your role?” Avina asked.
“Yep. What about you, Lucas?” I turned over my head towards the timid-looking Lucas. He was an outgoing guy but lacked a bit of self-confidence. But that’s only a part of his personality. His grades were outstanding, exceeding me and Avina.
“Uhh..I’m still thinking about it.” I had an uncomfortable expression. Am I overconfident? Every year, the students of the academy can choose their role to contribute to the eradication of the mutant goblins, but if an imbalance was recorded in the role selection numbers, then the people with the top grades would be shortlisted to be assigned the positions.
As I began to lose my confidence bit by bit, principal Finn arrived at the scene.
“Now, students gather around.”
There was a circular area engraved with stone pavements. That was the place where we would inherit the system. The entire mechanism was developed by our late ancestors. No one knew how it worked and couldn’t replicate it or develop it further.
The principal began his usual long motivational speech about our duty and responsibility. How our participation in the war could potentially turn the tables—stuff like that. It was reminiscent of an army general hyping up the morale of his soldiers.
Then a teacher came forward to guide us through the entire process. “Please form a line and stand on the circle one at a time.”
We made five long lines facing in the direction of the circular stone pavement area—I’ll just call it the selection area. Each person moved and inherited the system while the rest gasped in amazement and waited nervously.
I’m getting anxious. There were many roles available. Naturally, I wanted to get the combat type which was one of the most undesirable roles. Almost everyone wanted to avoid it due to the fear of the mutant goblins. All of them have seen the ruthlessness of the mutant goblins. Either through rumors or face to face.
There are multiple ‘units’ to choose from.
The Combat Unit.
The Shielding Unit.
The Support Unit.
The Intel Unit.
The Healing Unit.
The Rescue Unit.
The Diversion Unit.
These are some of the popular ones.
Each individual unit had attributes unique to it. The only choose able thing was the unit part. The attribute inheritance is a different story. The attributes would be given out according to your destiny. Good grades, being the teacher’s pet all wouldn’t affect this output.
The long line had finally reduced the distance to the selection area. It was Lucas’ turn next. I could see his pale and frozen face even while standing behind him. I couldn’t stop laughing for some reason.
There was a bright light and the teacher said, “Next.”
Avina, who was standing right behind me, sneered at me. “Go, go, king of the goblins!”
I ignored her and stepped into the selection area.
“Let us know if you feel dizzy or unwell during the process.”
I nodded and the selection began.
A bright light filled my eyes. Then it dimmed down a bit. The teacher’s voice could be heard beyond the light. “Which unit would you like to join?”
I replied solemnly. “The Combat Unit.”
The sound of energy being transported could be heard. Then everything became silent. The light that blinded my eyes disappeared. Then something appeared in front of me. My blurry eyes tried their best to distinguish the unfamiliar thing.
Then, I saw it. The system window. It was the first time I had seen it from my own point of view.
Whirrr!!
The system window let out a short sound as if to greet its new master.
“Okay, next.”
I moved away from the circular area and explored the system’s user interface.
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Individual Information
Name: Elias Raymon
Unit: Combat
Attribute: Currently under evaluation (est.time: 4 mins)
Level: 1
Exp: 0/100
Stats:
Strength: 2
Stamina: 7
Defense: 3
Agility: 5
Endurance: 2
Magic Power: 4
Skills:
Will be available after the Attribute evaluation.
Perks:
There are no available perks.
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Why is my endurance and strength so low…
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I'm curious about the skills and perks area. No one mentioned those to me.
Finally, the long line to the selection circle diminished and everyone played around with their systems.
“Hey Elias, what attribute did you get?” Avina asked me.
“Um, it says it’s under evaluation. My skills are also unavailable until then.”
“Huhh, so it’s like that for you too?” It seemed like Lucas also had the same issue. Maybe it was like that for everyone because…
[Attribute: Currently under evaluation (est.time 3 mins)]
I looked at Avina’s screen and she too had the same message.
“Students, I’ll give you a brief introduction to the system,” The teacher then gave us a tour into the system’s mechanisms. I’ll give a brief summary of what he said.
The system acts like an identity card. It contains information about each student. This helps in identifying imposters. You gain some ‘experience’ by doing activities. This increases your ‘level’. Increasing your level doesn’t affect your strength directly but it is a determining factor if you wish to learn any skills or upgrade existing skills. This also applies for perks. A higher level will enable you to obtain higher level perks.
Now onto the stats part. If the level was considered the mind, then the stats would be the body. The levels determine your mind’s compatibility for using skills and perks. While the stats determine your body’s compatibility for using the same. If your stats are low and your level is high, then even if you are able to use high level skills and perks, your body will self-destruct from the overload.
The perks are like additional effects. If you get a perk, it acts like an advantage factor over a particular species or opponent. These might be the most important part in humanity’s fight against mutant goblins.
I’m amazed by the complex mechanisms our ancestors were able to incorporate in an artificial system.
I looked over at Avina. She was still looking into her system. Then a mechanical sound was heard.
Ding!!
It didn’t just come from Avina’s screen.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
It came from all over the place. Then the same mechanical sound came from my screen too.
Ding!
[Your Attribute evaluation was successful!]
I opened my Individual Information tab.
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Individual Information
Name: Elias Raymon
Unit: Combat
Attribute: Servant of Fire
Level: 1
Exp: 0/100
Stats:
Strength: 2
Stamina: 7
Defense: 3
Agility: 5
Endurance: 2
Magic Power: 4
Skills:
Blaze Lv.1
Perks:
There are no available perks.
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Servant of Fire? So my power is something related to fire. Well, I’ll take anything that enables me to fight those nasty creatures.
I glanced at Lucas’ screen. Spatial servant. Hmm that seems to be a good one. Then, Avina….oh. Summoner’s apprentice. Me and Lucas got ‘servant’ but she got ‘apprentice’. Maybe it meant that her attribute’s level was higher?
The teacher said, “I think everyone has got their attributes now?”
Some people were dissatisfied with their attributes and started yelling.
“Now, now everyone. This is only the ‘base’ of your attribute. You can evolve it after progressing. Every time you use it, you get one step closer to mastering it.”
After his words, people who were murmuring their discontentment, shut up.
Today was a special day. It was the day of my graduation. We were free to leave school after the system inheritance ceremony. Some people stayed to reminisce about the good old days but I didn’t. I went straight back home—not before giving my thanks to my teachers once again and saying goodbyes to my friends of course.
“Hmm..what should I do now that I have graduated…” I thought of various things to do while walking home.
Maybe I could try out things which I couldn’t during my school years… No. What am I thinking? I couldn’t be blinded by this temporary peace. This was just an illusion. I, as a citizen of Palia, had a duty—an obligation—to eradicate the mutant goblins. Until I achieved that goal, I couldn’t relax. I shouldn’t reward myself simply because I could.
I opened my house’s front door. I was greeted by my mother who was preparing a feast. It was for my graduation. I left the house shortly after eating the afternoon meal.
There was an area to gain experience. To be fair, there were numerous areas, but I couldn’t choose to go anywhere I liked. It was because I was still a newbie. I had to do some ‘activity’ to gain experience. I don’t know its clear conditions, but I have one method. It is to kill monsters. Thanks to the cosmic gods’ fighting, a new species in addition to the mutant goblins emerged. It was the monsters. I can kill these creatures to gain experience to level up.
I went to a nearby dungeon meant for newbies. There were many places where monsters were abundant—dungeons, forests, caves, mountains, oceans, etc. Usually, dungeons were the most preferred place to go monster hunting. It was because out of all these places, only dungeons were maintained by humans. The rest were naturally occurring places, so the strength of the monsters were freakishly high.
You needed to pay an entry fee for dungeon hunting, but I didn’t have to. It was because I knew the guy at the front desk. I promised him that I would pay after the hunt instead of before the hunt. It never hurts to have connections in convenient places.
I entered the dark, dimly-lit dungeon. There were some people from my school here. More of them may come later in the day.
The dungeons were divided into various difficulties—newbie, intermediate and seasoned. I chose the newbie difficulty. Now for each difficulty, each party or individual would be given a portion of the dungeon to hunt. It is decided according to the entry sum paid—It isn’t a fixed sum. Now, I haven’t given any money but I was given a sizable portion of the dungeon. Each portion is separated by a transparent barrier. A rescue team would be dispatched immediately if your life was in danger. However, that is only for the newbie and intermediate difficulties. For the seasoned ones, there would be no interference from the Dungeon Agency.
The entrance was blocked after I entered. I was given a body lamp to light up my surroundings without needing to hold a torch in my hand. I didn’t need a torch anyway. It was because my attribute was literally Servant of Fire.
I walked along the dungeon and stopped. I could hear distant growls. Then I felt multiple gazes on me in the dark surroundings.
I activated my only skill.
[Blaze Lv.1]
A fiery flame rested on my hands. I pointed my hands in the dark area and fired the flame projectile. It lit the dark area before a monster was caught in it and cried out.
I noticed numerous monsters hiding in the cave-like area and fired more projectiles.
[Exp: 8/100]
Each monster gave me about 2 experience points. The arms and legs of the monsters burned and disintegrated by my skill. There were also goblins in the dungeons. Only the mutant goblins appeared during a single day of the year which was Christmas, but the normal goblins existed normally. I concentrated more magic power while killing goblins. I couldn’t conceal my hatred for them.
I repeatedly killed the monsters….
[Exp: 14]
[Exp: 20]
[Exp: 26]
[Exp: 44]
…..until my mana ran out.
I became all sweaty and exhausted. My physical stats didn’t help me much. I have to upgrade them.
By the way, I gained a lot of coins from this short hunt.
[Coins: 156]
It wasn’t much, but it was my first ever earning. I felt proud.
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Individual Information
Name: Elias Raymon
Unit: Combat
Attribute: Servant of Fire
Level: 1
Exp: 62/100
Stats:
Strength: 2
Stamina: 7
Defense: 3
Agility: 5
Endurance: 2
Magic Power: 4
Skills:
Blaze Lv.2
Perks:
There are no available perks.
----------------------------------------
Also, my skill Blaze has reached level 2!
[Blaze Lv.2]
I walked out of the dungeon complex while being elated by the profits. I paid the guy at the front desk the entry sum.
[Coins: 106]
As expected, the cost was a bit on the higher end because I got a considerable portion of the dungeon all to myself.
Now it was time to upgrade my stats. My first priority should be earning more coins. That would enable me to further upgrade my stats. To do that, I had to upgrade Magic Power, Stamina and Endurance.
[50 coins have been consumed, Magic Power: 4 —> Magic Power: 6]
[25 coins have been consumed, Stamina: 7 —> Stamina: 8]
[25 coins have been consumed, Endurance: 2 —> Endurance: 3]
For now, these would suffice.
[Coins: 6]
From now on, I will come here everyday to increase my stats. Then once my stats have reached a certain level, I could start focusing on improving my skills—wait, isn’t my skill level already improving? Well, by coming to this dungeon, I could increase my stats, skill and level. It was three birds in one stone.
“It’s time.” It was already late evening and the sun began to set.
Thus, it was time to head home.