Alex quickly flicked through the first few notifications, reading confirmation of the effects of his Tier Baptism. There was nothing interesting in these first few prompts, so he didn’t pay them much mind as he flicked through, searching for something that could explain his missing Common Achievement.
Soon, he got past the prompts regarding his tier-up and found information about his Mana Body.
Your Mythic Tier 0 Mana Body has been reevaluated as an Uncommon Tier 1 Mana Body. Create additional Abilities and Enhancements to improve your Mana Body.
This was all obvious, and far from helpful. Alex stared at the prompt a bit longer than the previous notifications, verifying that nothing interesting could be found.
There wasn’t. This was all information he could’ve already intuited from his main status. Luckily, at the bottom of the prompt was the normal option to view his next notification. He quickly moved on.
As a reward for the Achievement that marked you as a Prodigy, you receive Body Guidance to help you form a Mythic Mana Body at each tier. Due to this boon, Mana Body quality is not considered an Achievement. The Epic Achievement required to maintain your status must be gained through personal power.
As soon as he read the second prompt, Alex remembered the first time he’d learned of the effects of his Prodigy status. The requirement of an Epic Achievement at each tier had seemed far from onerous, especially considering how a Mythic Mana Body would qualify even as an Attuned.
Back then, he’d even wondered if it was a bit too convenient, although he’d immediately been distracted by more pressing matters. Now he was learning that it was, in fact, to good be true.
His first reaction was somewhere between disappointment and annoyance. A grimace flickered across his face at the words on the screen. Really? The Trialbringer couldn’t be bothered to let him know about this restriction before he was Tier 1?
He’d been nearly overwhelmed with information that day, and a good part of it came from his notifications. He’d received plenty of detail and clarification regarding seemingly everything else. Why was this the area where the Trialbringer had been stingy?
Before his negative thoughts could spiral any further, Anthony cut through his mood, “I assume you’re not getting that Achievement?”
“Correct,” Alex’s grimace lightened slightly as he spoke, “Apparently, the Trialbringer doesn’t believe in giving me Achievements when I get the Mana Body from my limitless Body Guidance.”
“Ah,” Anthony nodded, “That makes sense.”
“I know it does,” Alex snapped, “But I wish I would’ve found out before I was looking through my status sheet for the Achievement.”
Seriously, just a little forewarning would’ve been nice! It wasn’t a particularly unreasonable restriction, if he was being honest with himself.
Jess sighed, “Alex, you do remember what the Academy taught us about the Trialbringer, right?”
“Of course,” Alex replied, not particularly politely, “Like I said, I’m just annoyed because there was plenty of less important information when I got the Achievement.”
He knew exactly what Jess was talking about, but it just made things more annoying. The Trialbringer rarely shared information that wasn’t immediately important. It was a part of how it operated, forcing pathwalkers to make good decisions without every piece of information at their disposal.
If not for Plato, Earth would know far less about the greater realm. The scholar’s presence made it clear that knowledge wasn’t forbidden, but the Trialbringer hadn’t provided that information itself. Even Plato was far from all-knowing, several unanswered questions and imperfect runic arrays plagued the higher tier members of New Chicago.
That knowledge was ubiquitous in New Chicago, and Alex wasn’t some exception. Apparently.
Except for when he was an exception. Not knowing when he’d get information and when he wouldn’t was almost worse than not getting information at all.
He continued to chew on his thoughts for a few seconds, and his friends didn’t seem keen to speak up after their last few exchanges. He found that he really was upset about this, even though he found it hard to convince himself that it was an unreasonable restriction.
“I’m not mad about the lost Achievement,” Alex said, “I’ll be able to make that up easily enough. It’s just finding out now that’s annoying.” The statement didn’t quite make sense, even while he was speaking.
“Alex,” Jess seemed to be tracking his thoughts, judging by her annoyed expression, “I get what you’re saying, but please tell me you’re not getting annoyed because you’re less special than you thought.”
“Of course not,” Alex replied reflexively. He wasn’t that vain.
“Talk us through it, then,” Anthony chimed in, “You’re obviously upset, but you just said that you know this restriction makes sense.”
Alex felt like he hadn’t been that obvious about his feelings, but his friends had known him for years. An ability to pick up on each other’s thoughts came naturally.
He spent a few seconds struggling to justify his thought process, reviewing the last few seconds in his head while he breathed deeply to force himself to calm down. Regardless of anything else, keeping a level head was important. He was still in the middle of a hostile world, after all.
He was annoyed because this was a clear loss. His Mana Body would likely be at least Rare when they set back out for Neophyte trials, meaning that he’d be short the Uncommon reward as well. Sure, it made sense that the Body Guidance made any improvements to his Mana Body significantly less impressive, but it wasn’t like everything came free.
That wasn’t the real source of his frustration, though. Honestly, it wasn’t even that big of a loss. His first trial would almost certainly come with a Rare Achievement, immediately granting him the same reward that an Epic Mana Body would’ve normally imparted. When they reached the point where they could delve Hell Mode, he’d gain the same reward a Mythic Body could offer upon completion.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
He was much more upset by the fact that he hadn’t known.
But honestly, as he thought over it, that wasn’t a good enough reason either. Jess was right, this wasn’t particularly abnormal.
Well, it was quite abnormal, actually, but that was besides the point. At this point, almost any Aspirant or Neophyte in New Chicago would know the rules through education. Attuned would generally be in the same boat, but Alex imagined that a talented Tier 2 mage could discover information that no one else had stumbled upon.
The Imprinted, on the other hand, likely discovered new rules whenever they achieved something new. Alex’s situation was abnormal enough that he was experiencing that uncertainty a bit early.
The realization helped him calm down a bit, which was annoying in itself. It meant that there had at least been some truth to Jess’s words, when she asked if he was just upset about not being special enough to have all of the information handed to him.
Jess had been painfully blunt, but he wouldn’t hold it against her even if she was completely off base. They’d been friends with each other for long enough for him to known that she tended to be more harsh when she was stressed. He didn’t mind even when she struck a nerve, as long as what she had to say was worthwhile.
Still, he didn’t think that was the real problem here. Jess wasn’t the only one who could sometimes be less than constructive when stressed, after all. As his meditative breathing helped temper his annoyance, Alex realized that his friends had definitely not deserved to have him snap at them like that.
“I’m sorry,” Alex started, “I shouldn’t have been that rude about it. It was just a surprise.”
“No worries,” Anthony said, “We’re all a bit tense, after the last few days. You overreacted, but no harm was done.”
Jess nodded her agreement and like that the issue was settled. Neither of the others decided to push any further on Jess’s statement, which Alex appreciated. He wasn’t sure exactly why she’d just dropped it without any further discussion, but figured she might’ve decided that it wasn’t the time to confront him about something like that.
“Anyway,” Alex continued, “It looks like I won’t get the Achievement rewards for a while, but it’s not too big of a loss. Refine is already Uncommon, so Tier 1 Achievements won’t do too much for me.”
Anthony shrugged, “That’s why we figured you’d try to get a new mana type.”
“Maybe after a few delves,” Alex reasoned, “Tier 1 Hard Mode rewards should match the Achievements for the most part.”
Jess brightened at that, “I hadn’t thought about that, more Mana Guidance from the trials would be helpful.”
Achievement rewards were designed for a single purpose, helping those who gained high-level Achievements reach the next tier. Tier 0 was arguably an exception because reaching Tier 1 was simple for almost anyone, but the wide foundation that Tier 0 Achievements could provide definitely made it easier to figure things out and form an acceptable Mana Body.
Alex had been taught that Tier 0 Achievements seemed designed for new planets going through an Arrival. Combined with the relative ease of many Achievements during the first few years of the Arrival, this had allowed Earth a chance as monsters were unleashed upon the world. The repeated nature would benefit anyone, but new citizens of the realm definitely had the most to gain.
The wide array of Tier 0 rewards could help anyone prepare to reach further down the path, even if they had no background in how the path worked. Humans would not have had anywhere near the same level of success reaching Tier 1, if not for the Skill Guidance that the Trialbringer made so readily available. The higher rewards even made it possible for elites to rise in a relatively short amount of time. Alex didn’t even want to think about how much worse things could’ve gone for Earth if David’s rewards hadn’t smoothed things out for him.
Having experienced a Greater Mana Baptism, Alex could confidently say that receiving one at each tier should make advancement fairly simple. The difficulty, for David as much or even more than him, was excelling at each tier. Mediocrity would be an embarrassment at best and a near-betrayal of humanity at worst.
Tier 1 rewards weren’t at all similar. If you wanted to reach Tier 2, there was one major requirement. A mana type. The process of advancing to Tier 2 was more involved than just leveling, but it wasn’t too complex from what Alex had seen.
Because you needed a mana type, every Tier 1 Achievement gave Connection, Mana Guidance, or both. The exception was the Legendary level, which offered a Mana Baptism. Alex only knew that thanks to Mrs. Stirling, who had received that very reward.
Mythic and Unique might be different, but Alex didn’t know why they would be.
While Alex had some understanding thanks to his instructors teaching him the basics. The Academy didn’t cover Tier 1 Achievements in much detail, instead trusting that students would return to learn that information after gaining Neophyte status. Beyond that, Achievement rewards beyond Rare weren’t mentioned in lectures.
While Alex had realized that he didn’t have much need for Tier 1 Achievements, Jess was in a very different position. Her Rare Tier Baptism seemed impressive but was actually fairly common among New Chicago’s fighters. The Skill Guidance by Common or Uncommon Achievements supplemented years of training for many who couldn’t form a Rare Body quick enough to gain the Achievement.
Jess had several advantages over others, but additional Guidance would never go amiss.
“We’ll have to get you a mana type fast,” Anthony told Jess, “I don’t get the sense Alex will want to sit around in Tier 1.”
Alex didn’t want to wait around, but he didn’t appreciate the implication that he might move on if they couldn’t keep up. Anthony seemed to recognize the look on his face though, because he continued before Alex could argue, “I didn’t mean like that, man.”
The ‘calm down’ went unsaid, but Alex could hear it anyway. Admittedly, that had been obvious banter. Alex was feeling a bit high-strung, it seemed.
“We can figure that out later,” Jess said, “Alex, anything else from your tier up? We should get back to work on opening these huts.”
“I’m good,” Alex replied, “It’s a good haul, overall. I just need to beat up some snakes and do some thinking.”
Jess nodded, Anthony grimaced, and the pair returned to work.
Alex went back to scanning the fields, a bit annoyed at himself for the emotional display he felt he’d put on over the missing Achievement.
The obvious cause was his frayed emotional state, but he didn’t really want to retread that ground in his thoughts. He had committed to pushing through this trial, and he’d do just that. Rest would come after.
The sun slowly crawled along in the sky without additional monsters daring to challenge the group. Alex was left with plenty of time to reflect, and he concluded that self-recrimination wasn’t a worthwhile use of his time at present.
That realization didn’t do much to help, but at least he was able to admit to himself that the social blunder was far from a big deal. If he could accept that Jess was struggling to keep pushing and put up with some roughness around the edges from her, he should be able to forgive himself the same flaws.
Maybe one day it actually would be that easy. For now, Alex really just wanted a monster to take apart.
Grave after grave was opened, without anything interesting uncovered. Their packs were beginning to fill, and Alex was quite interested in spending some time Refining. Ultimately, it was thinking about the improvements to his mana type that broke him out of the funk that dominated his thoughts.
He really wanted to see what the Tier 1 mana would do for his efforts, but also knew that abandoning his post would be foolish. Still, planning out his approach for the next aperture was useful both practically and as a distraction.
Only an hour or two before the sun would fall, Alex was struck by another stomach pain. This time worse than before. He was about to inform Anthony but was surprised when the pain didn’t immediately fade. Somehow, his tier-up had made the pain worse, instead of better. What could be the cause?
Just another thing for him to worry about.