Floating in space was a vast bird made of the stars to an untrained eye it could almost be mistaken for just another star cluster. This was the true body of The Celestial Star Phoenix, in her wake new stars formed and eventually they will turn into new star systems supporting new life. This was her purpose she enjoyed watching her creations grow over the millennia, but something has been killing the other cosmic beings lately and it had been troubling her. As her thoughts ruminated on this issue two other cosmic beings showed themselves. One was a woman of immaculate beauty the other looking like a plain little girl. Their presence was just as vast as Aurora’s but theirs intertwined in an odd way these two were The Wailing Twins of Death. The older looking one would lure a reluctant departed soul to the afterlife and the younger one would guide a willing departed soul to the afterlife.
“It has slain Quetzalcoatl.” They spoke at the same time.
“What has?” asked Aurora.
“The Hunter of Myths.”
“Who is this Hunter of Myths?” Aurora asked with a hint of anger, killing one of their own was not something they could allow.
“It hunts,” one twin said, “we do not know who is next,” the other said, “We do not know what it is.” They said in unison.
“It negated the true immortality?” she asked with a note of worry and curiosity.
“Yes, not even your rebirths will help.” They said in an ominous tone, “Do what you will with this information.” Then they departed. Aurora already had an idea for a descendent and this just pushed the timetable up. She created a little pocket dimension within herself and separated a small part of her true self and placed it within. She then set up suicide parameters, to where if this “Hunter of Myths” were to attack her she would die and leave behind a legacy for her child.
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Mama flew down towards me in a panic landing next to me she spoke, “Listen to the dreams, listen to the system, find a way to hide yourself from this threat use your dreams and the system to help, and most importantly know that I will always love you, my son.”
“What’s going on Mama?” I asked in a worried tone only for a system window to show.
[*Ding* You have been offered [The Legacy of The Celestial Star Phoenix]! [Accept? Yes/No] Notice: Accepting this offer will unlock system functions! Warning: Legacy skills are binding and can have consequences!]
[The Legacy of The Celestial Star Phoenix]: The Celestial Star Phoenix is one of the few cosmic entities and it has entrusted you with its legacy. This legacy will help guide you on your journey. This legacy will help you grow. This legacy will improve your control and power in [Fire] and [Spatial] related elements. +2% Mana Control to [Fire], [Spatial] related elements, +2% Mana Power to [Fire], [Spatial] related elements, +2% Bonus experience. Mana Control, Mana Power, and bonus experience increase by .5% every 10 levels. -20 Mana Regeneration.
I of course accept the legacy. The moment I accepted the scenery around me changed along with a helpful message from the system.
[*Ding* You have left [The Celestial Star Phoenix nesting sanctuary] and have entered [Kodin] the [Black Desert] Region!]
[*Ding* System Unlocked!]
[*Ding* Class obtained [Child of the Star Phoenix – Inferno]!]
[Child of the Star Phoenix]: You were born amongst the stars; the stars took to you and embraced you. +1 Mana, +2 Mana Regeneration, +3 Free state points per level.
[*Ding*[Child of the Star Phoenix – Inferno] leveled up 1 --> 8]
[*Ding* Class advancement available. Find a safe place to advance your class!]
[*Ding* You have earned the [General Skill] [To Play With fire - Passive]!]
[*Ding* You have earned the [General Skill] [Ruminations of the Past]!]
[*Ding* You have earned the [General Skill] [Falling with Style]!]
[*Ding* You have earned the [General Skill] [What’s That?]!]
[*Ding* You have earned the [General Skill] [Walking]!]
[*Ding* You have earned the [General Skill] [Meditation]!]
[*Ding* You have earned the [General Skill] [Perfection of the Star Phoenix – Passive]!]
[*Ding* You have earned the [General Skill] [Handsome – Passive]!]
[*Ding* You have earned the [General Skill] [Artist of Fire]!]
[*Ding* You have earned the [General Skill [Perfection of Fire]!]
There was so much stuff going on it was hard to keep focused. The name of the place I appeared in was pretty accurate. It was a black desert as its name implied, it wasn’t a dry land littered with brown vegetation but a sandy desert. I was sitting atop one of the sand dunes overlooking the desert around me when fire exploded out from me. This fire looked like mama’s fire, after a moment it started to condense into a small ball of flame, it was only a little smaller than my head. I walked towards it and poked it with my wing, seeing what it would do. It just floated there confused I looked around to see if there was anything else. There was some mama’s fire that turned the sand surrounding me into glass. The glass basin I now sat in wasn’t small whatsoever. It was huge. It’s size reminded me of a lake and not a small one either, nor was it large for a lake, still it was big. I was now even more confused because I did not remember falling or anything. I turned my attention back to the flames that sat in front of me. I poked it some more with both my wings and beak, but nothing happened. I even used my flames to see if anything would happen, but nothing did. A part of me told me to look at the system so I did. All I saw was this [General Skill] thing, I focused on it hoping for more information and it was granted.
[General Skill]: Skills not tied to a class; these are skills that anyone could receive with some work.
That was helpful. Being the smart bird I was, I wanted to know how many skill slots were available, ten general skill slots were available, but I already had one [The Legacy of The Celestial Star Phoenix]. I focused back on the system screen to see what my new skills meant. I had some interesting skills, but I also had some that were either repeats or useless, ‘why would a phoenix need a resistance skill to fire, I AM FIRE! [Walking] why would I need help walking? I do it perfectly fine. I feel like I’m being mocked for [Falling with Style].’
[Falling with Style]: Not everyone gets it the first time but at least you will look good while trying.
The repeat skills were hard to settle on [Perfection of the Star Phoenix] And [Handsome] advertised similar things but I feel like [Perfection of the Star Phoenix] is better because I am perfect, and I could always be more perfect.
[Perfection of the Star Phoenix – Passive]: The phoenix is the ruler of fire and considered perfect beings, but they are wrong. The star phoenix not only rules fire but the stars themselves, it stands to reason that they would be even more perfect. This skill helps you stay perfect.
There were two skills that called to me ones I could absolutely not go without [Ruminations of the Past] and [What’s That?]. [Ruminations of the Past] promised to help understand my dreams, and [What’s That?] just seemed useful.
[Ruminations of the Past]: the past is a complicated thing and you have learned this firsthand. Take this skill to learn more about your past in both this life and previous life. With each level gain another memory of the past.
[What’s That?]: You have always wondered about the world around you, and you often ask questions about it. With this skill learn more about the world around you. With each level increase detail and range of the skill.
Now having [What’s That?] I used it on the small ball of flames.
[Relic of The Celestial Star Phoenix]: This is a relic of The Celestial Star Phoenix.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
[*Ding* [What’s That?] has leveled up 1--> 8!]
I Used [What’s That?] seeing as It leveled up, I didn’t want to believe what it said.
[Relic of The Celestial Star Phoenix]: This relic was the last item The Celestial Star Phoenix made in hopes to help the child she left behind.
I hoped that it was referring to her leaving me here and nothing else, but that other part was saying something else. Multiple flashes of memory came, they all had one thing in common. Watching the casket being lowered over and over again. Even after the memory flashes past I still saw it, I watched and felt the overwhelming emotions. The emotions combined with the current events was too much and I broke down. Glass-like beads kept falling from my face as I sat there. The emotions were so overwhelming I didn’t even notice the new system notifications. I just sat there crying. I didn’t care about what was going on around me.
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I sat there for what felt like hours. The only thing that drew my mind away from what was happening was a roar. I turned my attention towards where the sound came from. On the edge of the glass bowl I was in, was a lizard. The lizard had black scale with lines of red that seemed to breathe. The lizard didn’t look that big, but something was telling me that it was big. The lizard jumped into the bowl and started to charge me. It was fast, it was hard to keep track of. Once it started getting close to me it opened its mouth and released a torrent of red flames. The flames roared towards me. Did I move? Of course not, fire immunity.
I let the lizards flames splash over me. Once the fire died down, I saw its size. It was the size of a sedan. In one of my dreams, I saw a similar sized car hit a bird like me and kill it, so I was obviously scared of its size. I mean my whole body could fit inside of this things mouth. I needed to run but mama’s fire was right next to me. I Stood my ground I wasn’t letting some stupid oversized lizard have it. I took some of my flames and fed it as much mana as I could. The ball of fire grew, and I aimed at my target and launched it with a squwee roughly translating to ‘Fire Ball!’. The speed of the ball wasn’t that fast, and the lizard dodged. Of course, I anticipated this, so the ball of fire collided with the ground and let out an explosion of my beautiful fire. I knew my attack landed when I heard the lizard let out a pained hiss.
I wasn’t in the clear and I knew it so while the fireball was flying towards my target I was preparing another attack. I couldn’t let the lizard get close to me, it was big and fast while I was small and slow. So, the attack I made had to hit to the lizard and keep it back. Ten small bolts of fire appeared around me. I launched them as fast as I could at the lizard. The ten bolts launched one by one after the lizard. The first two missed because of the lizard dodging but I was able to adjust the trajectory of the others and predicted where the lizard would move. Five hit and the rest missed, at this point I was starting to get low on mana. Unfortunately, the lizard was still alive, I needed to buy more time, but I didn’t know how. And I needed to find out how fast. The lizard was approaching me. The lizard had some scorch marks from my flames, but it wasn’t slowing it down. As the lizard approached it sent out more flames, that’s when I had a good idea. Why not absorb the flames like I did with mama’s fire and my own. So, that’s what I did. It turned out to be a great idea because I felt my mana start to refill. Now with more mana I needed to do something.
I settled on the idea of making a wall of fire. I made sure the wall was bigger than the lizard and sounded me and mana’s fire. It turned out to be both a good and bad idea. Good because it kept the lizard back but bad because it took a lot of mana, and there was a constant drain. I probably only had a few seconds left. This gave me more time to think so I thought. The lizard leapt over my fire wall and charged me. In a moment of panic instinct took over. My wing flung out and started to flap and with a hop I was in the air narrowly avoiding the maw of the lizard. I felt a rush flow through my body. The close call caused adrenaline to rush through my body, I didn’t recognize the experience but the other part of me did and let the adrenaline do its job. Fowling instinct and adrenaline I lined my talons with fire and extended them effectively giving me more range. I rose into the air and dived. At the last moment I pulled up and racked my talons across the lizards scaled body leaving two gouges in the lizard.
The lizard let out a roaring hiss of pain and launched more fire at me. I absorbed the fire and launched bolts of fire back at the lizard. Seeing that its fire attacks weren’t working the lizard jumped up trying to catch me but to no avail.
On the ground the lizard was stronger but in the air I was. Using the mana the lizard oh so graciously provided me I created a cone in front of my beak and dived. I came hurling in and stabbed right into the lizards back. Again, it let out a pained roaring hiss. I dug my talons into its back and pecked continuously into the lizards back.
Either in an act of pure stupidity or desperation the lizard sent fire ball at me. I let it connect because, if I were to absorb it, it wouldn’t have hurt itself with its own fire. It let out a hiss and tried to smack me with its tail, but I was a smart bird and saw it coming and jumped out of the way and continued my onslaught.
This dance went on for a few minutes, with it trying to get me while I was on its back, and I flying up into the air and diving back down onto it. Eventually it stopped moving. And I got another notification. I finally decided to read my notifications.
[*Ding* [Ruminations of the Past] has leveled up 1--> 2!]
[*Ding* Would you like to bond with [Relic of The Celestial Star Phoenix]? Yes/No!]
[*Ding* You have earned the [General Skill] [Denial]!]
[*Ding* You have earned the [General Skill] [Alert]!]
[*Ding* You have slain [Black Desert Lizard- LV 31] Bonus Experience acquired for slaying a monster almost four times your level!]
[*Ding* Class advancement available. Find a safe place to advance your class!]
[*Ding* You have earned the [General Skill] [Monster Slayer]!]
[Alert]: Even in moments of distraction you noticed danger and responded appropriately. This skill with help you in noticing these dangers in a set area. +.1% Chance of noticing danger per level with a base of a 10% chance. +1meter of area per level with a base of 3 meters. – 10 Mana Regeneration
[Monster Slayer]: Through either pure arrogance or stupidity you have fought more enemies then you should be able to handle and won or fought something more than 2 times your level. Even with this stupidity this skill will help in the future if you decide to do anything just as stupid again. +1% effectiveness every five levels when outnumbered or out leveled by a significant sum. – 5 Mana Regeneration.
I took [Alert] and [Monster Slayer] because they seemed pretty good to help me and felt insulted by the system for giving me [Denial]. I obviously wasn’t in denial, I recognized what happened, I was attacked by a monster. As for bonding with [Relic of The Celestial Star Phoenix] it was no brainer, I selected yes.
Mama’s Fire approached me and sunk itself within me. I didn’t think it would hurt but it did and hurt a lot, I thought I was going to explode. And I was right the pressure built then I felt everything pop. Moments later my body reformed with a great explosion of mama’s fire. My feathers were now raven black with white pin prick dots scattered throughout, every now and then there were dustings of multiple hues and different patterns throughout my feathers. My fire also changed it looked like my mama’s fire but, a little different. Instead of it looking like a window into a different galaxy it looked a little like my old fire but with a dark almost black blue.
[*Ding* You have bonded with [Relic of The Celestial Star Phoenix], [Relic of The Celestial Star Phoenix] has transformed into the general skill [Core of The Celestial Star Phoenix]!]
[*Ding* [The Legacy of The Celestial Star Phoenix] has leveled up 1-->8!]
[Core of The Celestial Star Phoenix]: Your Core has merged with a new core obtained from [Relic of The Celestial Star Phoenix] This core will reduce all mana cost related to [Fire] and [Spatial] related elements and will increase mana regeneration when using [Fire] and [Spatial] related elements. +.5% Every Five levels. -15 Mana Regeneration.
I didn’t think my fire or feathers could get even better, but it did.
[*Ding* [Perfection of The Star Phoenix] has leveled up 1 --> 3!]
That was nice, I guess. Whatever it didn’t matter I felt stronger. I didn’t notice much from [Alert], but I was sure it will show when time comes for it. I also have decided it was time to allocate my free stat points. Now the stats work in weird way the system explained it in a weird way as well but essentially. Every point into vitality, endurance and mana is ten points into its respective pool, with vitality and endurance though it also goes into regeneration. And from what I understand the endurance and vitality regeneration is different for each species. For me, every point is five per hour of regeneration for both vitality and endurance. Mana has its own regeneration stat though and each point into that is also five points per hour.
Here is where it starts to get complicated, strength, dexterity, mana control and mana power. Strength is kind of in its name, it makes me stronger both in flight and on the ground. Meaning I can carry a five-kilogram weight just as easily in air as on ground. Dexterity goes into speed and agility and a bunch of other small things; strength also has a small help with speed, but it is mainly agility. Now here is the weird part; every ten points into strength subtract one point of dexterity but, every seven points into dexterity subtracts one point of strength. Mana control is nice, it's kind of in its name as well. It always you more control with you spells this helps with higher level or bigger spells. Mana power put simply is how fast you can discharge your mana. These two have a simple dance unlike strength and dexterity, every five points into either stat subtracts one from the other. So, five points into mana control subtracts one from mana power and vice versa. Having learned that I allocated my 24 free points into my stats.
[Name: Astrum Vitae]
[Race: Star Phoenix]
[Age: 1 Week]
[Health: 70/70]-->100/100
[Stamina: 50/50]-->100/100
[Mana: 180/180]
[Vitality: 7]-->10
[Strength: 3]-->10
[Dexterity: 8]-->10
[Endurance: 5]-->10
[Mana: 18]
[Mana Regeneration: 36] -->41
[Mana Control: 20]
[Mana Power: 6]
[Class 1: Child of the Star Phoenix – Inferno: Lv8]
[General skills]
[The Legacy of The Celestial Star Phoenix]: Lv 8
[Perfection of the Star Phoenix – Passive]: Lv 3
[Ruminations of the Past]: Lv 2
[What’s That?]: Lv 8
[Alert]: Lv 1
[Monster Slayer]: Lv 1
[Core of The Celestial Star Phoenix]: Lv 1