Marvel North was in his apartment, watching a documentary about a recently caught serial killer. He spent most days like this, alone, in front of a screen. One day blurring into the next.
He knew he had a little time before work, so he got up to dig through his fridge, hoping he’d find something that could pass for lunch. As his feet touched the cold tiles of the kitchen floor, his vision filled with a blue screen.
“What the hell?” he mutters to himself.
[System Access Established]
“What the hell indeed. Your whole life is about to change. Aren’t you lucky?
“Hold on, does this mean…” Marvel trailed off as the words on the screen changed.
“Look, I know you’ve got questions but just save it. Don’t think just because you’re my newest pet project that I’m going to give you special treatment. Let’s get the ball rolling and you can learn as you go, just like everyone else.”
[Tutorial Initializing]
A bright flash of white light enveloped Marvel, momentarily blinding him. When his vision returned he was standing in a liminal space of endless white. There was nothing in any direction for as far as he could see, just a flat white ground that looked like polished marble. He knew where he was since he had heard this place described multiple times by different Heroes. He had been chosen by the System to be a Hero.
It started six years ago, suddenly all over the world people disappeared in flashes of light, and the towers sprung up not long after. Eventually they all emerged from the various towers, and they were changed. They all had acquired powers which they attributed to the System.
The internet went crazy, trying to get as much information as possible about the towers, and the people who had come out of them. It turned out to be completely random, no one could find any rhyme or reason for why a person was chosen. More people were chosen after the initial wave, but spread out over time and distance.
Marvel couldn’t believe it. The odds of being chosen were incredibly low. He felt himself grinning like a mad man as he waited for something to happen.
“Hello?” he asked, hoping speaking would trigger the System to talk again.
He was greeted by another blue screen.
Name: Marvel North
Level: 1
Race: Human(Mortal)
Class:
Affinity:
Strength: 4
Agility: 5
Fortitude: 4
Intelligence: 7
Wisdom: 7
Arcane: 1
“Those physical stats are terrible, even for a mortal. At least your mental ones are somewhat adequate. A couple levels and you’ll be up to snuff. Anyway, lets get you a class picked out so we can start the fun stuff.”
[Class Selection]
“This is the first step in your journey, but it’s also very important so don’t choose without thinking it through. Once chosen the class will be permanent, but don’t sweat it, all the classes have limitless potential. I would know, I made them all.”
[Occultist]
A practitioner of esoteric magic, who specializes in rituals, sigils, and pacts with eldritch beings.
Affinity: Eldritch
Primary Stats: Int, Wis, Arc
[Weapon Sage]
A living armory, able to conjure and control all types of weapons.
Affinity: War
Primary Stats: Str, Agi, Wis
[Psychic Leech]
A mental parasite, feeding on the psychic energies of other living things.
Affinity: Psychic
Primary Stats: Int, Wis, Agi
[Acolyte of Yalwyn]
A follower of Yalwyn, devoted to madness and bloodshed.
Affinity: Madness
Primary Stats: Agi, Int, Arc
Marvel looked over the different classes. All of them seemed very unique, but the [Acolyte of Yalwyn] was instantly dismissed. He didn’t like the idea of madness being a main component of his abilities. He didn’t have to think hard since one was clearly the standout. He had always had a deep fascination with the occult, so it felt like an obvious choice. As soon as he had the thought to choose the Occultist class the System accepted it. He felt a rush of energy flow through him, and the screen in his vision updated.
[Class Selected: Occultist]
Tap into the Eldritch to twist reality as you see fit. Performing rituals and uncovering lost arcane knowledge.
+4 Int, +4 Wis, +4 Arc, +5 Free Points per level
[Eldritch Bolt Unlocked]
Produce a bolt made from eldritch energies.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
Upgradeable
[Transform Unlocked]
Shed the restraints of your human form and take on traits of various eldritch beings.
Upgradeable
[Soul Familiar Unlocked]
(Passive) Your soul is made manifest and will be a companion to you. Familiar will level with you, levels will take an increased amount of energy because of this. Familiar will have their own skills.
Upgradeable
[Arcane Knowledge]
(Passive) Basic understanding of rituals and sigils.
Upgradeable
Name: Marvel North
Level: 1
Race: Human(Mortal)
Class: Occultist
Affinity: Eldritch
Strength: 4
Agility: 5
Fortitude: 4
Intelligence: 11
Wisdom: 11
Arcane: 5
Skills: Eldritch Bolt, Transform
Passive Skills: Soul Familiar, Arcane Knowledge
[Familiar]
Level: 1
Race: Mothryn(Mortal)
Affinity: Darkness, Light
Skills: Dark Grasp, Lamplighter
Passive Skills: Mothryn Eyes, Flight
Marvel felt overwhelmed with all the notifications the System was throwing at him. He closed his eyes until he felt like the flood of information had stopped. He slowly went through each message. He paused once he got to his Stats screen and noticed the biggest change to it.
“What is a Mothryn?”
As if in response he suddenly felt a pull from the core of his being. It felt like he was being hollowed out, like every drop of his being was being forcibly pulled out of him. Right when he thought he was going to pass out from the pain, it ended with a brilliant flash of light next to him. He looked down and saw a small furry black creature looking back at him. It had a humanoid body, but its head was more animalistic. It possessed wings but it seemed to be flying without them, just floating in the air. The most striking feature was the eyes, bright red orbs that seemed to be looking directly into his soul.
Despite its unsettling gaze, and somewhat disturbing appearance, Marvel thought the small Mothryn was adorable.
“Hey little guy, so you’re my familiar then?”
The Mothryn made a high-pitched chirping sound in response, and floated closer to him. It nuzzled itself into his hand, and its fur was the softest thing he had ever felt. Sitting there petting the small creature he caught himself grinning, thinking it would be nice to have a companion for all of this.
“So now what?” he said to himself.
“Now we can start the fun. I’m going to send you to the first level of your tower. The tutorial will consist of the first three levels of the tower, once you complete those you’ll be able to exit the tower. After that you’ll be able to come and go as you wish until you clear the tower and it becomes yours.”
“How many levels are in the tower?”
“It depends on how long it takes you to hit level 100. The towers are designed to carry you through the first evolution. Once you go from being a Mortal to an Awakened then the tower will be completely yours, and you’ll have access to all of its capabilities.”
“What kind of things can it do?”
“Putting the cart before the horse a bit aren’t we? Maybe get through the tutorial before you think about that.”
“Do you talk to everyone like this? Or this much? Am I going to have a snarky AI talking smack to me for the rest of my life?” Marvel asked.
Instead of an answer he was hit with another bright flash of light. When his vision cleared, he was standing in a vast desert. Finding himself at the top of a large dune he could only see more baren landscape. The heat was heavy on his skin, the humidity making the desert temperatures even worse. The Mothryn was floating next to him still, it looked up at him as if it was waiting for him to take the lead.
Picking a direction at random, Marvel began to walk. Thinking that no matter which way he went that something was bound to happen. The Mothryn continued to float along side Marvel, keeping pace despite not using its wings. He wondered if the wings were just for show, but the thought was interrupted as the sand in front of them began to shift. Three scorpions emerged from the sands, they were bigger than rats, and had nasty stingers that seemed to be dripping with venom. They began rushing towards him, but one seemed to be more focused on the Mothryn.
This was Marvel’s moment, the kind of thing you dream about as a kid, being whisked away and given magic powers. When he had received all his skills, he was instantly filled with knowledge of how they worked and how to use them. Without hesitating he raised his hand and focused, an [Eldritch Bolt] began to form in his hand. It Looked like a red orb with shifting tendrils of black energy pulsing through it. Shooting it towards one of the scorpions, the blast instantly blew of two of its legs. Slowed down now, the other scorpion charged Marvel with visible aggression, its stinger raised up ready to pierce him.
Waiting until the last moment Marvel scrambled out of the way of the charging scorpion. Quickly getting behind it, he grabbed its tail and planted a foot on its back. Pulling with everything he had, he was rewarded with a feeling of tearing and an awful squelching sound. Despite losing blood at a steady pace, the scorpion turned around and lunged at Marvel with both of its pincers. Still holding onto the tail, he swung it as a makeshift weapon, knocking the scorpions attack off course. He brought up his hand and fired another [Eldritch Bolt], hitting it dead on, the scorpion collapsed.
Energy seemed to flow into him, bringing with it a feeling of euphoria. An intense pain brought him back in the moment. He had forgotten about the other scorpions, turning around he saw the one he had hurt had grabbed his leg with one of its pincers. Without thinking Marvel activated [Transform], his right arm began to bulge and twist, his skin took on a hideous scaly look. It bent at wrong angles, with joints and fingers in places they don’t belong. Forming a nightmarish fist, he brought it down on the scorpion repeatedly, until he felt that same rush of energy.
While his arm twisted and cracked back into its original form, he glanced over at his new companion. He had forgotten about the Mothryn during his fight, but it looked like the strange creature was just fine. It was hovering higher than the scorpion could reach. A strange beacon of light was on the ground that had the scorpion transfixed. That must be the [Lamplighter] skill the Mothryn possessed he thought. Swooping down to use its other skill, [Dark Grasp], a mist of darkness began to coalesce around the scorpion. Closing in, it began to squeeze the scorpion, until a loud crunch sounded and the feeling of energy entering his body returned.
“Let’s coordinate next time, little buddy, ok? Your skills would have saved me a lot of pain with the two I fought.” Marvel said.
The Mothryn looked at him and tilted its head. Looking down at what was left of the fallen scorpions, the Mothryn chirped, and began to feast. Sickening crunching and animalistic chewing noises emanated from the tiny creature. By the time it was done it was coated in gore and looked horrifying.
Shrugging, Marvel found himself quickly growing accustomed to the insanity that was his new life. He continued walking in the direction they had been traveling. They met another larger pack of scorpions which was handled better than the first. Letting the Mothryn Distract them with [Lamplighter], while he picked them off from distance with [Eldritch Bolt].
After what felt like hours of walking in the heat, Marvel spotted something in the distance. As the pair got closer, he could tell that it was an oasis, a small body of water was clearly visible with a few small trees growing around it. What looked like a large rock suddenly shifted and stood up. It was the largest scorpion yet, its stinger alone was the size of a knife. This must be the boss, he thought.
Moving before he had time to think, Marvel charged the giant scorpion. Firing off two [Eldritch Bolts], in quick succession, he succeeded in angering it. Bringing up its stinger it fired venom in his direction. Barely rolling out of the way, Marvel looked up just as the Mothryn activated its [Lamplighter] skill. The glowing orb of light distracted the scorpion, its eyes transfixed by the shining light. Peppering it with more [Eldritch Bolts] while his companion activated its other skill, he hoped the dark mist would be able to crush the boss monster.
All their combined attacks did was make it angry. Running at Marvel it began repeatedly stabbing at him with its stinger. Falling backwards as he tried to dodge out of the way, he found himself laying on his back. The giant scorpion approached him, its eyes alien and frightening as he looked into them. Panic mixed with every instinct Marvel had as he activated his [Transform] skill. His arm elongated and wrapped around the scorpion’s stinger, resembling a tentacle, he pulled towards him. The stinger came down hard and pierced into its brain. A shudder ran through it before it collapsed on the ground.
A torrent of energy bigger than any other hit Marvel and it felt like he was hit by a train. Crossing a threshold he didn’t know was there, two notifications came in from the System. He got up and away from the dead boss scorpion before he mentally acknowledged the notifications.
[Level Up]
+4 to Class attributes, +5 Free Points
He mentally allocated the free stat points, placing one in Strength, Agility, and fortitude each. With the last two going into Arcane. A clear change was felt after upgrading his physical stats, even with only one point in each, he felt like he would have been able to handle his previous fights by himself. He then brought up his Stats screen to see the changes.
Name: Marvel North
Level: 2
Race: Human(Mortal)
Class: Occultist
Affinity: Eldritch
Strength: 5
Agility: 6
Fortitude: 5
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 15
Arcane: 11
Skills: Eldritch Bolt, Transform
Passive Skills: Soul Familiar, Arcane Knowledge
[Familiar]
Level: 2
Race: Mothryn(Mortal)
Affinity: Darkness, Light
Skills: Dark Grasp, Lamplighter
Passive Skills: Mothryn Eyes, Flight
Happy with the gains he’d made, Marvel looked at the second notification he had received.
[Boss Defeated]
“Good job beating the first boss. I totally thought you were going to die. Cool save though, the tentacle arm was inventive. You’ve got some real potential, once you get some gear and more skills. Speaking of its time for your first loot drop. Tower loot is special, its directly geared towards your class, unlike items you find in dungeons.”
[Item Received: Ritual Dagger]
[Ritual Dagger]
Can apply a single sigil to the blade, empowering it with an energy affinity. The grip is covered in arcane symbols which allow it to perform a consuming ritual, once a day the dagger can consume the energy of a slain foe and use it towards its upgrade.
Upgradeable