I didn’t move very quickly through the jungle. Part of the reason was that I wanted to move cautiously and avoid as much danger as I could. The other reason was how little I wanted to reach my destination.

I still couldn’t believe it. How could the safest place I had ever known have been erased in a single night? Generations upon generations had called Sanctuary Valley home. The cliffs had borne hundreds of layers of painted sigils, compounding to render the Valley almost totally invisible to any hostile beings.

What use would invisibility be to an ant as a foot hovers above it?

The titans probably didn’t even notice the buildings they crushed as they landed. The valley was merely a convenient battleground; my people nothing more than insects before these behemoths.

How could such awesome and terrible power exist in this world?

These thoughts plagued me as I strode carefully through the undergrowth. I likely would have dwelled on them longer had a sound not echoed through my head.

DING!

Startled, I looked around for the source of the sound. It took me longer than I would have liked to realize that the sound probably came from the system. Pulling up the interface seemed to confirm this notion.

Name: Kyo —-----

Class: System Initiate (2/10, 100%)

New boon available

Boons:

System interface

Mana Pool

With a small shift of mental focus, I called up my new options.

Boons available:

System Codex

Interface Status

Interface Customization

Evidently these two new boons would do something with my interface. Rather than try to puzzle out exactly what the two would do, I focused on gaining more information.

System Codex:

An internal mana construct capable of storing large quantities of information.

Interface Status:

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Enhances the interface to provide situational information to the user. Functionality may be limited without access to the System Codex.

Interface Customization:

Allows the user to adjust several aspects of their interface, including layout and design. Functionality may be limited without access to the System Codex.

The interface Status definitely seemed useful, but the line at the bottom was a bit concerning. Would it even work without the codex? I didn’t realize that other parts of the system would require information storage. It made me wonder what else this codex would be useful for.

Considering the potential limitations attached to the other two boons, my choice was easy this time.

Name: Kyo —-----

Class: System Initiate (3/10, 0%)

Boons:

System interface

Mana Pool

System Codex

The changing numbers next to the class were still a bit of a mystery. The first number clearly rose whenever I got a new boon and the last appeared to dictate when that would happen. I still had no idea about the unchanging number in the middle. Did it mean that I would only ever get ten boons? Perhaps the class would change from System Initiate to something else at that point?

I tried focusing on the numbers to see if it would give me more information. To my surprise, it did.

Remaining boons for System Initiate class:

7 out of 10

Progress towards next boon:

2%

That didn’t really answer my question as to whether or not I would get more boons after my tenth. At least I was right about the progress indicator.

Thinking to check my mana pool, I cast mana sense again. I nearly fell over in surprise as the world around me heated rapidly. I disabled my spell as quickly as I could.

While there didn’t seem to be enough mana that I would need to be wary of mana poisoning, it was still far more than normal. Concerned, I cast mana sight. The colors ahead of me were nearly blinding. Whatever the source of the extra mana was, I had been walking straight towards it.

Needing to know more, I set to work climbing up a tree. Along the way, I passed an abnormally large beetle whose body was filled with mana. I gave the bug a wide berth as I climbed past it.

Startling a few parrots into flight, I poked my head up above the canopy. Turning towards the Myriad Cliffs, I quickly found the source of the extra mana. I couldn’t even see the cliffs past a blinding wall of mana. It was dense enough that I wouldn’t even be able to get close to Sanctuary Valley without being reduced to a quivering wreck by the toxic levels of mana.

If this was the aftermath a day after the battle, there was absolutely no way anyone survived. The surge of mana alone would have been fatal for anyone even close to the valley. The revelation hit me hard.

A part of me had been holding out hope that I wasn’t alone. Now I had to accept that everyone I cared about was gone. I slumped against a branch as I thought about all of the faces I would never see again.

I could still imagine the mischievous look on Oona’s face when she would slip me supplies behind her house. Even now, I could almost taste the day old flatbreads her father would conveniently forget about each week.

Never again would I paint sigils with Gyna and Hyon as they let me eavesdrop on their lessons. Lorik would never again walk me through the art of gold weaving behind his father’s back. Never again would I catch the sorrowful, yet supportive looks from my estranged parents. I would have even been delighted to listen to Elder Nim lecture me about skirting the rules of my penance again.

They were all in the realm of shades now.

I let my spell fall away along with my tears. Without my mana sight obscuring my vision, the true scope of the destruction was revealed to me.

The valley still burned, casting smoke into the sky. The once sigil covered walls were singed and crumbling. Somehow, much of the rock had changed form, like wax left out in the sun for too long. It formed strange pools and flows, all half buried in ash.

How was such destruction possible?