Character Information - Who is who?
Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven't. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!)
Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin)
* Transmigrated from the Earth and the MC
* The fourth child of the current Leonandra household
* Golden eyes
* Snow-white fur and hair color
Anastasia I. Ramputt (Bunny-kin)
* MC's private teacher
* Specialized in teaching, philosophy, history, and politics
* Blue eyes
* Black fur and hair color
Lorient M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin)
* The first child of the current Leonandra household
* A user of the wild-demon energy
* Sister of the MC
* Golden eyes
* Red fur and hair color
...
Anastasia came fresh and happy into one of Alexander's rooms which he designated as his classroom, "Good morning!"
Alexander sat deadbeat at his desk, barely able to keep his eyes open. He was tired from yesterday's planning for the paper-making. Not only that, but also the fatigue from the demonic baptism, the Redhood play, and the skill test hung over his head. Only physically, though, as his mental state was top-notch because of his new cheat skill, 'I really need a two-week vacation.'
He yawned, "Mornin' teach."
Anastasia held her index before her and said sternly, "Language."
Right, Alexander remembered that he talked for the last four weeks in their lessons in Nocir, the night-elvish and nature-dwelleth language. At first, it was hard, but after getting the [Linguistic] skill, it was much easier than learning Spanish during his school time. So, he was already on the level of something between B1/2.
However, every time before the lesson, he would need a little warm-up before he could start speaking more freely and correctly, "Ok, will go, beach."
Anastasia chuckled and corrected her student, "Not go and not beach, but do and teach."
Alexander nodded to her in appreciation and murmured the words under his breath to remember them better.
His murmurs were interrupted as Anastasia commented on the notes she read from her student, which he wrote some time ago, "Alex, I read your documents, and they are pretty good, but it shows your lack of information about the system."
He nodded in acknowledgment, "Honestly, I kind of knew it, but is that demented of?"
Anastasia chuckled, "You meant far. You will sound very off if you don't pronounce the accents correctly."
The accents in Nocir were hell. It was a very melodic language, and the pronunciations showed how high or low the tone should be. At first, it was foreign to him, but after the first week of sounding like a eunuch or chain smoker, luckily, it worked itself out after a lot of practice and at least ten levels in the [Linguistic] skill. If he were, to be honest, it was mostly the skill.
Alexander grumbled, "All right, so, what do I have death?"
She corrected him, "Not death but wrong, and a lot actually, but what is more important, what do you think of the system?"
Alexander wanted to say something about RPG gaming systems but remembered that the system was a part of their life. Saying it was unnatural was only his view. If someone, who never had a sense of smell, suddenly got one, it would probably feel the same.
After a good thought, he answered, "Honestly, the system is weird."
Anastasia raised an eyebrow, "How so?"
Alexander frowned and tried to translate what he wanted to say correctly. Nocir wasn't hard in itself if he ignored the melodic element, but it also had a ton of cultural influences; thus, it was very illogically built, and therefore, many parts needed to be memorized.
After finding the right words, he answered, "I think the system is arbitrary. Why give strength, dexterity, and so on the possibility to increase them through experience but not luck or charm? Or why make the first ten years so important that it decides the rest of one's life with a non-changeable [Divinity Line]."
Anastasia found this answer intriguing. It was nothing new, as scholars discussed the topic widely in many papers she read as a student at KLU. Very non-practical but exciting nonetheless.
She asked him, very interested in his answer, "Do you think it is fair?"
Alexander almost instantly answered, "No..."
Before she could ask him a more pointed question to have him answer it more thoroughly, he continued, "...but nothing in life is fair, an anal fistula: If you don't eat well as a child, you will develop deficiently, and it will stay your whole life with you. So nothing is fair, and for some things, there is a certain time frame to develop thoroughly."
Anastasia started laughing, "Hahaha! Analogy, not anal fistula, but yes, you are right. Life is unfair, so you think the system is unfair, too?"
Anastasia patiently waited for Alexander to continue as she was very interested in her little student, who seemed to have a streak toward justice and equality. She saw this mindset often in religious folks who followed strictly after their codex or in some of her colleagues at the free cities who came from poor backgrounds.
However, hearing something like this would be a rarity from a noble in Mal-Gil. Her smile widened, 'I will need to teach him that he should not start fights against nobles who are assholes, which he will probably do later on when he joins the social gatherings...' Her smile widened a little more, '...how fun will the political scene become?'
As his teacher was in her thoughts, Alexander thought it philosophically through. He needed to bring himself into the position of the one who didn't come from Earth, where this system didn't exist and only was known from video games.
"The system is nothing more than a mirror to us..."
Alexander stopped for a second and continued with an example, "I saw, for example, Ocilia's system and her last name changed to Leonandra, but she was already my disciple for years. This means that the system mirrors ourselves and how society sees us. If everyone thought my name was... Zidane, for example, my name would possibly change to it even if I knew my name was Alexander."
His teacher rubbed her chin and smirked, "Not bad. Yes, you are right, partially. There were tests about cases like the one you described, and they only worked around 50% of the time. It also usually worked only if the person whose name changed accepted the name and the people around them also accepted it..."
She crossed her legs and waggled with her index finger while she sat on the desk, "So, you need the personal and societal factors for this to work, and as for Ocilia... maybe she accepted herself as part of your household, or maybe the household accepted her..." she shrugged, "...or both."
Alexander leaned back and sighed, "The system is bizarre."
His teacher chuckled and decided to stop the philosophical discussion and go into the lesson, "Hehe, you only scratched the iceberg. How about I tell you that the system actually has distinguished parts?"
Alexander tilted his head, and his ears twitched slightly, "Hm? Distinguish parts?"
She nodded, "Yes, the system is distinguished by different parts: The personal, the divine, the attributes, and the skills. Our name is part of the personal and the only part of the system that adds personal information..." she tapped her chin with her index finger, "...well, it also depends if you consider skills something like personal information, but this is a topic for another time."
This surprised Alexander, "It adds more secrets?"
"Not secrets but information, but yes, and it's perfect as we can start with this part first..."
Anastasia stood up and started to saunter in front of the blackboard, "After every new Tier you reach, there will be newly added information about yourself. It follows, as much as we know, like this..."
She started counting on her hand, "Tier 1 gives you your Name, level, HP, and MP. At Tier 2, your age. At Tier 3, your sex, then at Tier 4, the height and weight, and at Tier 5 come the last one, your specific race."
Alexander was stunned and intrigued as his tail slowly waggled, "Why does it stop at Tier 5? Is it the last Tier?"
She shook her head with a knowing smile, "Not at all. At Tier 5, the system only stops collecting personal information, and with Tier 6 and the right level of your [Divinity Line] rarity, the first body modification starts."
Alexander suddenly got much more interested as this was very new information. Luckily for him, she continued without him asking.
"Philosophically, some say that the system only at that point acknowledged you as a person, as it stops adding new information and reforms your body to make it much stronger."
"But, I never read anything about this in our literature?"
She nodded knowingly, "Ah yes, your family with all of the Guard Dogs and even together with your father as a druid are really the rare exceptions to the rule which doesn't specifically applies to them..." she frowned slightly, "...also, your estate's library is trash."
Alexander tilted his head in confusion which his teacher found cute, and continued, "So, before I explain the intricacies of your family heritage to you, let me first explain how it is generally, all right?"
The puppy nodded and listened carefully while writing down everything she said with his ink contraption. At this point, Anastasia was used to this and would probably become confused if her next student started to write with a feather.
"So, lets first start by dividing the system into the two components which are most important for beast-kin if you want to reach the body modification..." she suddenly thought of something and added it, "...also, in other places, it is called reconstruction, cleansing and so on. So don't let yourself get confused."
Alexander was now fully awake, even without the coffee he wanted from his old college days, which tasted like rust but woke him up every time and, most importantly, was cheap. It also made him shiver slightly after the second cup, which was great in winter as it held him warm.
'God, these are pieces of information I never heard about. What the fuck is wrong with our library? Even teach is finding our literature we have are trash.'
The library was relatively small and filled with self-glorifying ancestors who wrote about themselves like they were the hottest shit since sliced bread. Very little had actual information about the system or skills in general. It was a breath of fresh air to actually have a teacher who could teach precisely.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Anastasia continued, "Like I said, it starts when you reach Tier 6, but also, your [Divinity Line] needs to reach the legendary rarity, and for this to happen, your [Mystic Skills] need to reach the legendary rarity."
She looked at the very confused puppy and only thought about how confusing the system actually was for the youth. Still, after learning about it, it became very elegant as everything was interconnected.
She turned around, and while writing down the rarities, she said, "Let's start with this first. Six rarities describe our [Divinity Line] and [Mystic Skills]. The rarer one is, the more powerful your [Mystic Skills] and the more explicit they become."
On the blackboard
+-------------------+
Name of all rarities
-Common
-Uncommon
-Unique
-Rare
-Epic
-Legendary
+------------------+
"How do you raise those, actually?"
She turned around with a twirl and clapped her hands, "Good question! Let me give you an example..." She turned around again and started to write down more while she explained, "...if you want to increase your [Divinity Line] from common to uncommon, you would need to reach Tier 2 in your General Tier and reach the uncommon rarity in three [Mystic Skills]..."
Then she shrugged, "Well, the same goes for higher rarities in your [Divinity Line]. The general Tier and [Mystic Skills] must reach Tier level 6 and the legendary rarity. When you reach with your [Divinity Line], the legendary rarity, the system starts the body modification."
She tried to explain the intricacies, "This is a rule of thumb since you can have higher or lower rarities of your [Divinity Line] and [Mystic Skills] from the get-go since your legacy, but this is how it increases and decreases."
On the blackboard
+---------------------------------------------------------+
Increase
Rarity A [Divinity Line] Before -> Rarity B [Divinity Line] After
Prerequisite: General Tier B + 3 [Mystic Skills] Rarities B
Example increase
Common -> Uncommon
General Tier 2 + three [Mystic Skills] at Uncommon rarity
Uncommon -> Unique
General Tier 3 + four [Mystic Skills] at Unique rarity
Unique -> Rare
General Tier 4 + five [Mystic Skills] at Rare rarity
-//- -//- -//-
+---------------------------------------------------------+
Alexander asked, "Question: I get that the [Mystic Skills] get stronger and such, but what is the [Divinity Line] doing? Is it just a measure for the body modification kind of?"
Anastasia shook her head, "Not at all. The higher your [Divinity Line] rarity is, the stronger and more explicit your [Mystic Skills] become too."
Alexander frowned, "Stronger, I get, but what does explicit means in this context?"
She turned again toward him, "Well, let me ask you something: What do you think about the rarities and what they mean for us beast-kin?"
Alexander looked at her confused, "For us, beast-kin?"
Anastasia remembered again that her student was this young and never had suitable research material to work through even though he was very curious, "Well, the [Divinity Line] is something only beast-kin have. Humans have [Divine Classes], djinns have [Divine Acclimation], and so on."
Alexander remained silent and thought about it since it was new to him that other races have other kinds of systems, 'This fucking system is surprising me anew... what else? Will there be two windows at some point? Fuck me.'
He scratched his head and answered with a half-assed theory he put on top of this question of what he learned from his previous life, "Maybe we adapted in a way that made the divine part of the system most suitable for survival?"
Anastasia raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Who knew that you would bring such a theory out? Yes, it is if you want to explain the differences between the systems of races, but right now, let's concentrate on our system. So?"
He forgot the question since he heard for the first time that different races had different systems, and probably other kinds of things too, 'This is so much shit, and what does it mean?!'
"Oh right, what was the question again?"
"What do you think rarities mean for us, beast-kin?"
Alexander didn't really know since he had never really thought about it seriously, but he remembered his teacher's words that it would become more explicit with every new increase. Thus it became more or less self-explanatory.
"Like you said, it means that the [Divinity Line] and, with it, the [Mystic Skills] become more explicit. With explicit, like the rarity describes, they become less and less similar to each other as, I guess, some are."
Anastasia was happy as she laid down the bread crumbs for this answer for her student, "Very good! [Mystic Skills] at the common rarity for warriors, as an example, are very similar even though there are tens of thousands of different [Mystic Skills] in this one category at this rarity."
"All right, but what does more explicit means exactly? If you have a mystic skill which made you charge at someone, how does it become more explicit?"
"Good question! But if we want to discuss the intricacies, we will sit here till tomorrow morning, but what I can say without going too much into the details, it will be decided in a test after you reach level 100 of the specific mystic skill in a test."
Alexander frowned inwardly since he wasn't so keen on his skill-test teacher as she was overly hyper for his taste. Also, in his last skill test, his teacher's head was pierced through, so he was curious if she was ok or if he would find her with a hole in her head.
He nodded, "Got it, so what does the body modification do?"
Anastasia shook her head, "Oh, we will learn it at another time as it will take too long too. Alex, please be patient and take one step after another, ok?"
Alexander stretched himself, "Gotcha, you are the teacher, and what do we learn now?"
He wanted to know more about it but understood that Anastasia had a structured plan and her reasons for doing it this way. He would follow it as, till now, she was a good teacher.
"Yep, it could become more complicated, but we will stop here and quickly go over the exceptions before we end the lesson for today."
Alexander sighed, "Yeah, you mentioned the prerequisites, and I find them quite high... mother and father are under Tier 6 and already ~80 years old."
Anastasia raised an eyebrow, "Your parents are part of the few exceptions."
Now Alexander raised an eyebrow, "What is their exception? I couldn't even find anything about body modifications in our literature."
Anastasia waved her hand in dismissal, "Don't worry about it. Getting the correct literature is expensive and hard, so..." she winked at her student, "...I am counting on you to fill your library up with good stuff."
"Done."
Anastasia nodded satisfactorily, "Good, but why is your family's [Divinity Line] an exception? You are lucky that I was Lorient's teacher and to another guard dog family for two years or so..."
Alexander interrupted her, "Lori's teacher?!"
Anastasia's face was slightly blank as she remembered Lorient as her student, "Ah, yes. She was very... enthusiastic, let's end it at that."
Alexander nodded and noted it down to ask her later about it as he could make fun of his sister, "Got it. What makes our families [Divinity Line] so special except for being extremely strong."
She waggled her finger before her, "Not so fast, little pup. Why do you think it is so strong?"
"Because it is a very rare form of energy for sapient races, which is also very destructive."
Anastasia sat down on her desk and crossed her legs, "Why is it destructive, though?"
"Well..." Alexander stopped himself as he actually had no idea why but tried nonetheless, "...well, because it is affecting the psyche?"
Anastasia shook her head, "No, many energy forms affect the mental state."
Alexander held his arms up in gesture as he would give up, "Then, I have no paint."
"Idea, not paint. If you want to know how your family's energy works, we would need first to work through how monster function and much more...."
Anastasia expected that Alexander already had some more knowledge about this but understood that the lady wouldn't want to disclose too much to someone this young.
She shrugged, "But I will give you the short version: The energy takes part of the experience directly. Every time the user kills someone with it, it strengthens itself, and your father has something close to it but more complicated as druids are... well, complicated."
She stopped before she could ramble on, "However, your parents [Divinity Line] is special because it takes experience directly and becomes stronger by itself."
Alexander didn't know this, which sounded extreme to him, "So... the energy is alive?!"
Anastasia looked in disbelief at him and burst into laughter after a short moment, "Haha! No, but it is a good question since it brings out more questions like what it means to be alive?"
Alexander shrugged and remembered a saying, "Being alive means paying taxes and operating your metabolism."
Anastasia chuckled at her student's definition, "I will agree partly with you, but again..." she looked at her pocket watch, "...we will end it for today as I know that you will see Ms. Green later..." she smiled at her students while packing, "...ready to learn more magic?"
Alexander packed all his parchments and utensils into his little bag and stretched, "Well, kind off. Hopefully, she has brought more spells for me to learn as..." he almost instantly constructed and chanted the ignition spell onto his hand, "...conjuring this is getting boring."
Anastasia looked at him with a smirk, "I talked to her, and she has more than enough material. Don't worry, and I know that some of the spells she brought were newbie killers, hehe."
"How do you know about it? Are you a mage too?"
Anastasia came forward and opened her arms, "Ah yes, I wanted to actually introduce myself at our first lesson... well, I forgot, but I can do it now..."
She stood proud, "I skip my full name and go directly towards my credentials: I graduated from the Kilen-Lion University, also known as KLU, one of the best universities for liberal arts where I studied philosophy, history, and politics..." a smirk build on her face, "...I graduated as best of my year, and went further to the free cities, to the best universities, where I studied with all different races and people like mages who I... let's say was friends with, hehe."
Alexander already knew that the free cities were an amalgamation of different races, and their leaders were councils of the strongest, wealthiest, and most influential people there. It was a hot pot of cultures.
But he had no idea that they had the best universities? But it made some sense since if you were a scholar and only lived for your research, being at a hotspot where everyone can live without being persecuted despite their race would be like a dream.
Alexander wanted to know more about their universities, "They have the best universities?"
She nodded, and her student could practically smell her pride, "Yes, there are the most prestigious universities on the entire continent, and it is a zone where merchants, warriors, mages, scholars, and so on come to study... sadly, while the universities, which are also partly ruling over the free cities, tried to establish a base without discrimination it is impossible as our history is ingrained in our bones."
Alexander probably knew the answer, "Racism?"
Anastasia laughed again so loudly that Alexander, out of surprise, reeled his ears back.
She wiped a tear away, "If it were only racism, it would be a utopia, but as children of nobles, royalty, influential merchants, strong warriors, and so on gather to study, assassinations are commonplace."
She shrugged, "Why not try to kill off some talented child in a neighboring territory who would otherwise be a thorn in your eye if it came back? You could even then blame it on someone else."
She sighed with a slightly saddened face, "You have no idea how many talented students lost their lives because their parents had some bone to pick..."
"So sad..." Anastasia noticed the clock from her peripheral view, "...and with this, our lesson today is over! Next time we go through the next part of the system... oh right!"
She clapped her hands and almost forgot something, "I have homework for you. Draw a diagram that depicts the increase of the [Divinity Line], [Mystic Skills], and General Tier while also including the possibility that they are either higher in rarity/Tier or lower. Bring it later to me by one of your servants."
Alexander nodded toward her, thinking how he would probably cobble something together after the training. He was flooded with training and lessons for the whole day and too tired most of the time for homework, but he did it nonetheless, and it looked, most of the time, rather sloppy.
However, he quickly put the thought away as he was too excited that Green was back with new magic. He was already too bored by the ignite spell and couldn't see it anymore, so he quickly left toward his office, where hopefully Green waited for him.
On the other hand, Anastasia glanced at her student leaving and sighed, 'Huh, he will probably give me something faulty again. I can't blame him, though. Most students with such a strict schedule would not even visit my lessons on a daily basis.'
She shrugged inwardly, packed her notes into her spatial bag, and had only one thought on her mind, bringing a smirk to her face, 'Maybe I look for someone I can spend my mating season with? It should be already time, and everyone in Wolfsteeth is so fidgety, hehe.'
She went out of the room with a hop in her step, already thinking about what kind of guy she would look for to spend time with within a month. It was a time when a lot of beast-kin became a little bit more jumpy and jittery since their fundamental instincts came in full force at this time.
Walking down the mansion, she smelled something from someone she knew, 'This is Lorient... oh dear...'
She turned her heel and walked another way. She already knew that her ex-student would most likely go through her first mating season this year, and since she had the wild-demonic energy, Anastasia wanted nothing more than to stay away from her, 'They all get so aggressive...'
She remembered her time in the farther north teaching another youth from a guard dog family, and this teen went through the same situation. Since they wanted the skill they get by enduring it, they would go crazy and would need multiple guards to restrain them, 'I need to stay as far away from her as possible!'
With that, she walked around Lorient as much as possible.
...
Evening, Anastasia's room
She was sitting on her chair and reading Alexander's homework, which one of his servants had brought over.
[https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kiruschka/kiruschka.github.io/main/Chapter_35_System_Window_Homework.svg]
'He assumed too much, but it's not bad, though.'
She took her red ink and corrected a mistake he made:
What if the grade of the [Divinity Line], [Mystic Skills], and General Tier is lower or higher than each other?
The [Divinity Line] rarity will increase if the proportional General Tier is achieved and all the [Mystic Skills], which were received at the before-mentioned General Tier, are at least one rarity over the [Divinity Line] rarity.
It doesn't matter what is higher or in which order they increase. If the goal is the mentioned body modification, one could theoretically climb up to General Tier 7 and, at that point, start to increase the [Mystic Skills], though only if the corresponding [Mystic Skills] of the certain General Tier reached the next rarity, would the [Divinity Line] increase.
Teachers note: It doesn't matter which [Mystic Skills] achieve the next rarity. Even if the [Divinity Line] is common in rarity but one has 8 [Mystic Skills], the [Divinity Line] will also increase to Uncommon if the only [Mystic Skills] at Uncommon rarity would be the ones one received at General Tier 4, 5 and 6, while all others are at Common.
The system is much less strict than you think, but good job nonetheless!