She woke up, panting, with a pounding headache from a terrible nightmare of similar nature.
Pain everywhere, clawing at her, invisible, intangible. She remembered trying to fight, flee, or submit, but no matter what she did, the pain would not stop, would not go away, and against all odds, she would not die, extending her torture until the dream finally came to an end.
She got up and tried to lick away the phantom pain from wounds she knew weren't there while contemplating her circumstances.
She did not remember when, but she used to have brothers and sisters in that barren and smelly box. All of them adopted by bipedal packs, each one a different one, until she was the only one left in the box.
She remembered growing impatient and trying to escape, even back then, but the smooth, sky-colored walls were unclimbable, and she could not pounce high enough to reach the top yet. Her malnourished, deformed body was still growing, although she always had been the small one, the runt of the litter, lacking the proper fur and muscle definition for her age.
Though she entertained the idea that what she lacked physically, she compensated in the brain department. And so she tried her best to get adopted. She acted playful, gave the bipeds puppy eyes, and even licked the smaller ones' foul-smelling hands to get the benevolent giants good grace.
But in the end, only her was left alone, and only her caretaker would come, give her treats and a good pet once a day. Although she could tell, she was doing so for every single one of them as this biped was by far the smelliest, although the nicer kind of smell. So although she could not see them, she knew there were other dogs close by, as well as cats, birds, and other reptiles. For those she could not hear, she could smell on her caretaker.
Yet she knew her circumstances were not normal cause the caretaker smelled worried, and it worsened by the day. She did not know what would happen to her exactly, but she knew she needed to get adopted fast or else...
She shivered at the wild idea of her dream becoming true, strengthening her resolution:
She would find her loving pack of bipeds and live happily ever after. Today was the day! Cause it had to be.
You have been chosen.
Wait! What?
Hello Puppy!
Can you read me? Sorry for the pain earlier. Dog brain isn't naturally wired to understand language, so I had to reshape your neural pathways a bit brutally to make it happen. How are you feeling? No lingering pain, I hope?
She could not believe her eyes as a different shade of blue had entered her vision while clouds of white smoke formed patterns she could understand better than she ever did of her brothers and sisters cues. Forget about the pain. An entirely new world of possibilities opened up to her, and for the first time in forever, she felt genuinely excited.
Good! Very Good! By the way, nice to meet you! I'm your personal system assistant, and I'm here to help you navigate the system. So... Are you ready to learn more?
She tilted her head in confusion. Sure, she was curious. But she could not forget her predicament and long-term goal. 'Would it help me get my own loving pack of bipeds?' She thought, trying to direct it to the blue thing, although she already figured it could read her mind.
Sure! Your breed suffers from hyperactivity and anxiety disorder, generally causing destructive behavior that humans perceive as undesirable. Your innate talent, "Soothing Presence," would most certainly help with that. But you would need to activate your system first. Do you want to proceed?
She was sold at the word 'help,' although she did not completely understand the logic behind it. And so she gladfully approved, her tongue hanging in anticipation.
Welcome to the MAGUS closed alpha.
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MAGUS is a non-profitable system created by the three gods of magic to grant access to magical knowledge and quality-of-life tools to the mass. As such, MAGUS would only require 5% of your daily magic output while in use for maintenance purposes. And you can freely enable/disable the system at any time.
MAGUS is in Early Alpha in your world, as there is not enough airborne primordial essence to support magic above the beginner tier. And you have a high-enough magical affinity to qualify. While in Early Alpha, MAGUS will provide limited resources and remains confidential, only disclosed to a selected few. Failure to comply with the confidentiality agreement (1) will get you kicked out of the system temporarily. Abuse (2) of system-granted knowledge will get you banned forever.
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You are currently disconnected.
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Would you like to enable MAGUS immediately and discover what your magic can do for you?
Y/N
Another dark blue window appeared with more and more patterns appeared before her eyes, and while she understood the meaning of any single one, she was unable to make sense of those big chunks of patterns and shrugged it off, concentrating on the last one.
'Did she want to discover what her magic could do, whatever magic was?' She entertained the idea before confirming her decision. She wanted to know more.
Thank you for your support and trust.
Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
Would you like me to give you a rundown of MAGUS features and how to use them?
And this time, it was the light windows that showed up. She liked that one better as it communicates in a more straightforward and engaging pattern, so she immediately agreed.
CLASSIFICATION Order : Animal Ancestry : Common Dog Breed : Border Collie ID : H3C-4T0-K1R EVOLUTION CARDS
INTELLIGENT CARNIVORE (T3)
A generalist carnivore using complex hunting tactics to outsmart its preys.
HERDING DOG (T4)
A pack hunting animal specializing in herding and protecting its preys from competitors. This is an extended pack hunting behavior fitted for interspecies cooperation
EXTENDED EMPATHY (T3)
A co-op empathy specialist with high intelligence, capable of deciphering other species' emotions.
DOUBLE COAT (T2)
A warm blood animal with a double coat fur for better thermal insulation from the cold. Increase the resistance from cold water make it particularly suited for a coastal animal.
SPECIALISATION CARDS N/A N/A N/A N/A INNATE TALENT (T0)
SOOTHING PRESENCE
A passive innate magical talent creating an area of effect (AOE) around 5 meters from the user, generating the following effect:
-Dampening any emotion causing unrest of any valid target within the AOE, effectively calming them, with efficiency varying digressively from 100% at touch range to 0 % beyond 5 meters.
- Disabling any rage, taunt, fear, or similar magic effect from triggering within the AOE. This effect never fails and cannot be bypassed, acting as an anti-magic field against any magical effect causing unrest.
-Enhancing the natural recovery of any valid target resting within the AOE by one tier. This effect overcomes resting penalty instead of providing bonuses. Therefore, it becomes inactive if the target rests under optimal conditions.
-As per its calming effect, target hostility within AOE might decrease. However, perfectly rational hostility will remain unaffected.
WARNING: A predator or enemy target with a clear mind is often more dangerous. Bear in mind that this particular innate talent might not be suitable for combat.
She felt immediately overwhelmed by the excessive amount of information that appeared before her eyes on the new darker screen and shook her head, willing it to disappear, as a new complementary lighter blue one commented:
This is your magic management screen or main screen. As you can see, there isn't much to manage, but that's because your tier is too low, and many cool features are yet to be supported. I will tell you more about specialization cards once you earn one, but that's not something to be overly concerned about already.
That was supposed not to be much. How long should the screen usually have been?
Soon, you should have access to more screens, but you either have yet to unlock them or they are yet to be supported, so I will give you a quick summary of the most important ones and what they do:
-status screen. Not yet supported. This one informs you of any magic-related abnormal condition you might have. Although it might not be 100% reliable, as some abilities and spells are designed to avoid detection, it can be upgraded and customized. Some species also like to use it to share information about themselves.
-cards screen. This one allows you to see any cards you have unlocked so you can replace or improve those you have on your main screen. You have yet to unlock it as you have yet to earn any. But this is the second most crucial screen, although the one you will use the least. Cards are a special reward for quests and achievements, which are rare.
-spell screen. Not yet supported. This one lets you see all the spells you unlocked and those available for purchase. Otherwise said: it's a magicopedia with both free and paid content.
-the evolution screen is a hidden screen with equally secret requirements, which would be super valuable cause they would let you compare any lifeform you encounter to evolve your own better—just saying.
-soul screen is another similar hidden screen but not the hardest to figure out. That's what it does that I'm not allowed to tell you. So, let's don't waste any time with this one until I can tell you more.
-As for the other screens, let's say they are tied to innate abilities you don't have or ridiculously overpriced spells you can't buy yet. But most of them are really niche, situational, or both.
She yawned as the novelty of reading started to wear off, and she wasn't in the mood anymore to learn more. At least until she got to nap and get some good exercise too. And so, she made sure to convey the feeling properly to the somewhat less boring lighter screen, which immediately responded in kind
Okay. I would try to summarise information in a more digest format. Have a nice time. I will be here for you whenever you are ready.
And then, with a clicking sound. All the windows went out before the screen disappeared entirely. And so she was alone in the dirty sky-blue box once again. She didn't know what to think of it. She did not know what she expected or what to expect now she knew.
Magic sound as much pain as language to learn, and she did not get the impression the system would let her learn it as quickly and efficiently this time around. She would probably have to earn it but did not feel all the more motivated to do so.
That light blue screen told her that her innate talent would help her get a pack. But this did not seem to apply to magic or that MAGUS thing as a whole. Sure, she got that feeling that magic was what she made of it. But she didn't know. Could magic give her food and a softer bed? Or maybe someone to play with? Or perhaps a way to escape her box so she could stretch her legs?
She was, after all, a dog of simpler needs. And magic seems to be anything but simple.