The first of many windows appeared before me, the blue-green menu phasing into existence. It looked to be a summary of how many levels I gained from my crafting spree.

-==÷==-

Experience Summary:

—

Item Crafted x9

Unique Weapon Crafted

Beast Slain x2.

—

Level Up x5

-==÷==-

Ok, so all in all I earned a lot of levels today. Five total, bringing me up to six. I wanted to try and puzzle out how much each individual feat earned, but I still had more notifications to sift through.

-==÷==-

Due to repairing your crippled body using artifice, trait Crippled Form has been altered to Augmented Form.

—

Augmented Form: Through means fair or foul, your body was broken, then forged anew by your own hand.

Grants a bonus 3 Soul, and increases Body by 1.

-==÷==-

Alright, so this one is just a pure upgrade. It lost the detrimental effect, and instead gained a positive one, though much more minor.

-==÷==-

Due to rapid and repeated draining and restoration of your mana stores, you have gained the skill Mana Reservoir.

—

Mana Reservoir: Allows for excess mana regeneration to be funneled into an extra storage at 1/4 efficiency.

-==÷==-

Nice, can never have too much mana spare. That efficiency penalty is heavy, but it also only works if my mana is full, so I can't really complain.

-==÷==-

Due to your knowledge of using mana, you have gained the skill Mana Manipulation.

—

Mana Manipulation: Allows for easier manipulation of mana and smoother casting.

-==÷==-

Fairly self-explanatory, made using mana easier than normal. It was kinda strange, since I had very little knowledge of using mana, but eh. I won't complain about a free skill.

-==÷==-

Essence Drift (Temporary): Your essence signature no longer matches your true form, as such your mana consuming skills are sealed until the drift is rectified. Rest will accelerate the process.

-==÷==-

An annoying, but understandable new trait. My essence signature, more commonly known as a soul or aura or mana signature, is what allows channeling mana into anything, as well as producing and storing said mana.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

-==÷==-

Essentia Touched: You have successfully absorbed aspected essentia, and have been altered by it. This trait blocks absorption of aspected essentia.

-==÷==-

Huh. That's… interesting. So people can absorb aspected essentia, which I assume means the ones with actual concepts attached, but only once. Damn it! If I had known this, I would have tried to use a different one! Oh well, nothing I can do now. It also makes it sound as though there is unaspected essentia… wait, is that just mana?

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I summoned the last window.

This one was… strange, to say the least. I feel like it is connected to the ‘altered by it’ part of the [Essentia Touched] trait, but this is another temporary trait.

-==÷==-

Shifting Form (Temporary): Your body is undergoing unnatural changes. This trait may change. This trait may change other traits. Changes will accelerate with rest.

-==÷==-

What changes though? I don't feel different… Focusing on my body, and using [Disassociation] to narrow my awareness, I could finally feel something happening in my lower body, but whatever it is is happening too slow to really quantify.

Filing away a note to check in on it later, I leaned back into the bed with a sigh. I couldn't craft more until my essence drift was healed, but I wasn't really tired at the moment. I let my thoughts drift, and remember one thing strange about my class selection. It required ‘understanding of a concept’, but what concept did I understand?

Within moments I knew. The Concept of Death. I had faced the reaper so many times and yet denied their due, clinging to life like a stubborn burr, refusing to die through sheer stubbornness and the help of [Disassociation]. I chuckle for a moment before freezing. I hadn't yet closed my status, so when something changed I noticed immediately. The menu was glitching, scrambled images and letters appearing in random places before settling. By the time it finally returned to normal, I was freaked out and had gained a title, skill, and trait.

I quickly opened all three, both curious and worried.

-==÷==-

(Title)Reaper’s Interest: Somehow, you have managed to gain the attention of the Reaper, and they have granted you a boon.

Grants immunity to curses and lethal poisons.

—

(Skill)Deathtouch: Inflicts targeted creature with a severe necrosis effect. Physical contact must be made. High mana consumption.

—

(Trait)Godmarked: You have been marked by a higher being, for better or worse, and have gained a sliver of their power.

Grants access to your domain.

-==÷==-

Note that the words in parentheses are there for your assistance, not actually on the status.

I sigh in relief, not seeing anything detrimental to me. Though, reading the title I gained, it does sound like due to my understanding of Death I drew the Reaper's attention, and in a good way. I read through the skill, finding it impressive but all in all not that interesting. It was a strong attack that I would get some good use out of, but the high mana cost and touch requirement limited its usefulness to finishing an enemy or when all else fails.

The trait is what caught my interest the most. My domain? What in the hells is a domain? I thought, not really expecting an answer and yet to my surprise receiving one in the form of a System update.

-==÷==-

Notice: Due to acquisition of a domain, your system interface will now be changed to advanced mode. This change will take effect immediately, however may tæƙ–

Error: Benefactor override initiated. Alterations will apply immediately.

Benefactor Designation: {Reaper, They Who Guide} has offered you a choice!

Option 1: Take the Champion’s Trial, and become the Reaper’s Champion.

Option 2: Decline this offer, and continue as you are with no repercussions.

Option 3: Find your own path, and gain their respect.

-==÷==-

I sat there for a while, staring uncomprehendingly at the choices before me. As I read the last one, I noticed something strange. The normally uniform and artificial script had given away to something that looked almost handwritten, as though this option was from someone else other than the System. I thought for a while, also noting that the wording was less formal, almost personal to me in the way it was written.

After a few minutes contemplating the three choices, I nodded to myself. I finally decided on which option, and chose the third. The window closed, and a new one opened, gray rather than blue and written in that same strange text.

-==÷==-

Hello, Lycara. You may know me best as the Reaper, though that is not a name but a title. I am the deity of Death, Choices, and Travelers, and you have garnered my attention due to your insight into the Concept of Death. Though my interest does not stem from this feat, however significant, but a different aspect of your personality. The will to live, to keep going through hardship, pain, suffering, and near-death encounters. Never have I tried to guide a soul, only to have it rip itself free from my realm and resurrect itself through sheer willpower and spite. And yet, that is precisely what you did, time and time again. Frankly, you intrigue me, something that has not happened in millennia. You quite literally brought yourself back from the brink of death, just to spite your captors. This is how you obtained your Unbroken title, shortly after you accomplished this. I cannot tell you much more for now, however I will give you one final piece of advice: When you disable Disassociation, be sure you are safe and with someone you would trust your life to, and the sooner the better.

Walk your path, make your mark, write your fate.

-==÷==-

I blink at the wall of text before me, furrowing my brow more and more as I read further. When I read that I had quite literally dragged myself back to life through stubbornness and spite, I couldn't help but chuckle at how close I was to the truth with my earlier thoughts. At the note about [Disassociation], I frowned. Focusing on the skill, I flinched at the sensation of it holding back a flood of trauma and emotions, all of it built up since I earned the skill and title.

Ah… That is not good. At all.