Silas, happy to have a name the Guide could say instead of human, ignored the very creature that buzzed annoyingly around his head.
“It is oh so adorable watching your human mind try to understand the Status screen. Scrunch your forehead more. Yes, just like that. You must be so close to, ah yes, understanding a core aspect of the multiverse in only a few minutes.”
He ignored the sassy creature. He wanted answers to what the Status meant but he wouldn’t allow himself to be at the mercy of the Fairy’s knowledge. Already he had realized it was more interested in its own entertainment than his safety, so it was best he make his own assumptions and then have the Guide provide what help it would so he could create his own understanding. That just meant he had to work the problem and find a solution. A problem that was the sum of his existence on a single page of information.
Name: Silas
Level: LVL 0 (0 / 50)
Class: N/A
Race: Human (F)
-
Health: 65 / 65 (3.25)
Stamina: 65 / 65 (6.5)
Mana: 65 / 65 (6.5)
-
Vitality: 5
Endurance: 5
Fortitude: 5
Strength: 5
Agility: 5
Intelligence: 5
Wisdom: 5
Focus: 5
-
Core Skills: Universal Translator (F), Basic Cultivation (F), Insight* (D)
Prime Skills: N/A
Class Skills: N/A
Time stretched as Silas worked through most of the Status before he turned to the fairy. It was distracted, having conjured some sort of animation from emerald energy that involved a human figure that bowed and prayed to what looked like a suspiciously familiar fairy on a throne.
It’s insane... Silas thought.
As if noticing his gaze, the fairy continued its shenanigans, now into more perverse puppeteering until it stared back at Silas. A smile of canine fangs revealed itself.
“Do you have a mastery of the universe yet, or must I lower myself to improve your feeble understanding?”
“I would appreciate your assistance, as the Alpha noted I would have,” Silas responded with the not so subtle reminder of the Guide’s boss.
“Oh but of course,” it agreed and changed the animation to just show the fairy standing at attention and saluting him.
“The first section. It just has Silas as my name. No last name which is interesting since it means I’m not from a family? Level is a rank of some sort and it being at zero makes sense since we just arrived and are called Initiates.”
“Yes yes, very insightful my smooth brained primal. But what about Class and Race?”
“Class could be another type of rank or it could mean learning some specific knowledge. Race is human, which is logical but I don’t understand why it’s displayed. Unless it is like an ID where other people can know who I am? It still doesn’t explain why the letter ‘F’ is attached to it unless it is some kind of rank.”
The fairy nodded smugly as Silas finished and then began slow clapping. Even in congratulations it couldn’t remove the self-serving look on its face.
“You did better than most of your fellow primates but that’s expected given you’re Enlightened with your Core Skill. Now while I would love to watch you muddle about, you are short on time which means I am. So let’s have a quick info dump shall we?”
The Guide straightened up and gestured with its hands for magic to visualize what is said as the fairy began its lecture.
“Your name is your name. Good job on that one detective. Yes, Level is a rank which starts at 0 and goes up as you gather Essence. You need essence to get to level one and each level afterwards needs more to reach the next level. If you reach the next level you condense Essence which grows your attributes. Level up enough times and you gain a Class. This is a narrowed focus of power which grants both Class and Core Skills. As for your Race, being human is your biological origin and it can also grow in ranks. The higher the rank, the more attributes you gain.”
“Speaking of attributes, there are eight of them,” the Guide drawled on like it was repeating the information for the hundredth time. “Vitality gives you health, Endurance for stamina, and Fortitude is better defense. Strength is physical damage and Agility is physical movement. Wisdom is for mana while Intelligence is magical damage and Focus gives better mental and physical control.”
“Do keep in mind that attributes work in balance with each other. Endurance mainly increases stamina but a small amount benefits your health. You’ll still need to figure out the best balance yourself of course. Too much Agility without enough Endurance and you’ll tire out your poor fleshly body too quickly.”
“Finally, Core Skills are innate abilities and every race has their own with humans receiving the translator and the trash tier essence cultivation skill. But you, my precious Silas, have a third Core Skill called Insight. This marks you as one of the few Enlightened in this entire summoning. Enough of that though since I don’t want to spoil the fun. After Core Skills are Prime Skills which you receive from the Skill Tree and they will be most of your abilities. Class Skills are earned when you unlock a Class and are more powerful but have drawbacks. Skills, whether Core, Prime, and Class, all have a rank to them with F being the lowest and it goes up from there.”
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The Guide heaved out a sigh and conjured more emerald energy to form into a fan and cool itself down. Silas ignored the thing’s childish antics and instead stared at the creature with uncertainty. He couldn’t help but wonder why it was being so direct which the Guide seemed to pick up on.
“What? I am a Guide after all and do have to guide,” it motioned with air quotes, “you properly. Besides, this is the most basic information every intelligent race in the Realms knows about. I would also hate to see you fall too quickly and ruin my entertainment by not knowing. It would be a waste of a good time.”
“And the rest of the information?” Silas questioned.
“Hmmm?” The fairy purred slyly in response while checking its nails.
“You’re supposed to prepare me but you are withholding that very knowledge.”
“Oh, am I? I only recall being told to explain the Status which I did like a human does to a quasi-intelligent pet.” The Guide quipped while looking him up and down, as if Silas being sentient was a joke before continuing snarkily. “Am I supposed to spoon feed you everything on how life works?”
Taunting me? No, it is testing me again. Silas mulled over the realization that the Guide was forced to share information but anything beyond the simplest explanation was up to its whims. Those very whims which showed it only cared for itself. Yet there was opportunity in self-service.
“A bet then,” Silas offered to the mentally unstable fairy. “I get three chances to tell you something that I shouldn’t know and each time I’m right you answer a question.”
“Well well well... you have my attention. Except for what do I win if you inevitably lose the bet even with your Enlightenment?”
Silas knew the answer. The fairy liked to watch him struggle. It liked control as was evident by the fairy’s sour mood at the Alpha commands.
“If I’m wrong you can use the light from the first room on me again.”
Slowly the fairy twirled around to face him. A shark’s smile, all teeth and hunger, stretched its face. It steepled its fingers and nodded, motioning Silas to begin.
“First, you said I am, or rather this situation is a form of entertainment where we are facing new challenges next. You’re also called a Guide and we seem paired together for you to help me but you can be reassigned if your Initiate doesn’t do well like the first person you oversaw. I bet this means you are going to join me in the Trails, watching and training me to win but if I lose then have to begin with a new Initiate from another group.”
“My oh my. Quite a perceptively dull human you are,” the fairy remarked as it shot small sparks from its hand. “Yes, you are right. Live and I get to continue to watch and offer tips. Lose, A.K.A., you die, and I go back to begin with a more docile human. But that’s the last soft ball answer before I zappity zap you. Now what’s the question?”
“Simple. We need to gain power so what is the best way to grow stronger?”
The fairy stared blankly before it shook its head. “That’s the question? Really? Fine. You gain power by absorbing Essence. This is done by either cultivating Essence form the world like your Core Skill does, or by claiming Essence from other beings that perish. There are other ways of course. Essence Stones, Achievements, and natural life experiences but they are limited.”
Silas connected what was unsaid as he realized his situation. Grow slow and steady by cultivating peacefully or grow quickly by killing others and taking their Essence. Quick on the uptake he continued.
“Second. I’m level zero, all my attributes are the same amount, and there are three categories of skills but I only have two skills given to every human. Excluding the Insight skill of course which you already said is unique to me. If we are supposed to become stronger then it means the Trials are meant to push us to gain levels, attributes, skills, and even a Class. But we need to gain power quickly so I’ll have to fight the others and take their Essence.”
Silas waited for the fairy to acknowledge the truth. Instead the Guide looked around it before it winked at him. It was the all he saw before a light encompassed him and pain coursed through his body and carried far deeper that sent a deathly chill through him.
By the time the light disappeared Silas was twitching on the ground as smoke drifted off his slightly crispy body. Limbs twitched erratically while his mind slowly pieced itself together enough to hear the fairy.
“Close but no cigar as you humans say. Your fellow kin may be a dangerous prize to capture but there are greater terrors in the Trails. A better guess than most others but you’re one-for-one. Want to try for number three?”
Silas wombly rose to his feet, seething as anger and pain intertwined and demanded he wipe the smirk off the creature’s face. The very smirk that clicked a final piece of the puzzle into place for his third answer.
“You want me to die. Not at first of course. Not when I bet that the better I do in the Trials the more you’re rewarded. You’re a Guide, a teacher, and like any teacher the glory of the student is the reward of the mentor. But you do want me to die. Slowly, painfully, and desperately since you can’t help but be angry that I’m free and you have to serve me.”
Mirth left his fairy’s face as it stilled dangerously. A clawed hand glowed in haloed light. “Careful young one. I may be forced to serve as a Guide but I do not serve you. I was once the rank of Tyrant who ruled longer than your universe spawned your race’s life. Lives like yours were less than insects in my prime. Test my patience again and I will crush you like a bug even if I will suffer for millennia.”
Then the creepy smile returned. “But enough about the past. Tell me what you want to know about the future and do be quick about it.”
“You said I am Enlightened?” Silas asked.
The fairy quirked an eyebrow but remained silent.
“What is an Enlightened?”
Now the smile returned as the fairy floated closer before it suddenly appeared in front of him. The creature tapped his nose then teleported backwards. All the while its void eye contracted like a cat eyeing a trapped prey.
“Why my dear little Silas, you are an Enlightened. There is only so much I can say but suffice to know that every being granted Ascension reached some level of achievement that deemed them worthy of joining the Realms. But not everyone is equal. Some are better. Some achieve more. The higher you climbed in the past life the more you are given in this new life. Usually it is a Core Skill of a minor rank but not always. Some come to this world with powerful skills, with pieces of their personality or even memories of their past. You merely came with a little extra spice to the life that I’ll enjoy immensely should you prove as entertaining as I hope.”
Silas’s face hardened as his mind sharpened. His Guide, the potential master of his fate, was unhinged as it gave him jazz hands and floated around and about.
“Sadly for you that is all I’ll say for now. Impress me some more and maybe I’ll spare my infinite wisdom. For now be silent and listen. The Alpha returns...” the Guide haunted with a childish echo. It lasted only a moment before the spoken creature returned.
The Alpha reigned like a deity from above. Its presence suffocated the room as its voice echoed far and near for all to hear.
“Order and Obedience,” it commanded as fairy and man alike were gripped in ethereal might. “The status is unlocked. Your position is formed. Now power must be claimed.”
The very air around Silas vibrated and hummed as a portal opened in front of him. It was the same for every other person he would see. Void edges that bled reality with a blurred window of glass in the middle.
“You understand who you are. Now we test your worth. The Trials shall begin. Carry forth under the Guide’s light. Onward to ascension.”
It was the last he heard before Silas felt a force from behind push him and his guide into the portal. One moment he was in the divine hall, and the next he wasn’t. Yet even as the vertigo hit him like a wave trying to drown children at the beach, he saw the words that flashed in front of his vision.
You have entered the Trials of Ascension - Genesis