It was several very tense marks later that I finally drifted off to sleep. My sleep was once more plagued by nightmares of fire and darkness. I was powerless when a horned shadow held me in its frozen clutches.
My nightmare fueled thrashing was enough to knock the branches of my shelter off balance. As the branches tore me from my tormented dreams, I was forced to greet the morning sun.
Letting out a groan, I slowly sat up. I took a quick glance around to make sure that I wasn’t in any immediate danger before activating my interface.
Name: Kyo —-----
Class: System Initiate (3/10, 100%)
New boon available
Boons:
System interface
Mana Pool
System Codex
Groggily focusing, I opened the new list of options.
Boons available:
Interface Status
Interface Customization
Codex Link
Codex Recording
I didn’t bother thinking about the options before opening their descriptions.
Boons available:
Interface Status:
Enhances the interface to provide situational information to the user.
Interface Customization:
Allows the user to adjust several aspects of their interface, including layout and design.
Codex Link:
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Allows the user to draw information from the codexes of other nearby system users.
Codex Recording:
Allows the user to record thoughts, images, sounds, and other impressions directly to the codex for later retrieval.
I felt a stab of grief as I read the description for the Codex Link. There was no one else left for the boon to draw from.
Evidently, the system was somehow meant to be shared with others. That was probably why I got it from the corpse in the hole. Perhaps there was a village full of system users at one point?
I banished such fanciful notions. Imagining other villages just made the loss of mine more painful. Instead, I turned back to the choice at hand.
Codex Link was clearly out.
The Codex Recording was both interesting and disappointing. I had hoped that the codex would let me record things without needing any other boons. I didn’t expect to be able to store quite the range of information the boon mentioned though.
There were still the previous two boons to consider. I idly wondered if Interface Customization would let me prevent the system from making frighteningly loud sounds while I was hiding from certain death. It wasn’t likely enough for me to seriously consider taking the boon.
The last option certainly sounded interesting. What exactly did the Interface Status mean by situational information? Did it mean information about my present situation? Perhaps it would only offer information that was situationally useful or only give me anything in certain situations.
Considering how much more useful information in the moment would be, rather than after the fact, I made my choice.
Name: Kyo —-----
Class: System Initiate (4/10, 0%)
Boons:
System interface
Mana Pool
System Codex
Interface Status
Dismissing my interface, I pushed the remnants of my shelter over. Glancing at the foliage around me, I shuddered. Brown swaths of dead plant matter marred the undergrowth. The touch of a wraith was not a gentle thing.
I didn’t even want to see what was left of the animal that had carelessly drawn away the horrific entity.
Walking to a nearby stream, I considered where I should go. With nothing to return to, I needed some sort of goal. Without something to look forward to, I could only look back. That wasn’t an appealing prospect.
Distracted as I was, I didn’t think to avert my eyes as I bent to fill my waterskin. I flinched back as I caught sight of the ugly mark branded onto my forehead in the water’s reflection. Of my few souvenirs from the valley, that was one I dearly wished I could have left behind.
Banishing thoughts of that horrible night, I turned away from the stream as soon as my waterskin was full. It was yet another thing I didn’t want to look back upon.
Turning to happier thoughts, I tried to remember if there was anything I had truly wanted to accomplish outside the village.
Some of the fanciful ideas from my childhood were quite easy to dismiss. Painting my name upon the four moons was ruled out by my lack of wings. I didn’t think it would be particularly easy to tame the giant fox that so enthralled me as a child. I didn’t even know where it ended up after it had wandered over the northern horizon all those years ago.
Thinking about things to the north, I recalled my early curiosity about the Three Sisters, a trio of mountains which could be seen from Lookout’s Peak. Whenever I saw them, I had always wondered if there was anything interesting over there.
Now that I wasn’t constrained to only traveling for half a day away from the village, I could find out.
Orienting myself to the left of the slowly rising sun, I began my journey northward.