Just another day. Another day. Another. Another failure. Just another failure. Failure! Failure!! Failure !!! Fa-

"My Goddess, are you all right? You've been a little frustrated lately. I may be deluding myself, but..."

"Sorry, My Apostle, it's just that I don't feel like I'm making any progress lately. None of my projects are progressing, and I need help finding a solution. At this rate, we'll never be able to take on the Academicians or at least be able to protect ourselves against them."

Indeed, I was stuck, unable to finish any of my projects. With each passing day, I lost confidence in my abilities. I had indeed overestimated my abilities, and now this was my punishment. I was such a failure, I often thought these last few days. I could only contemplate the passage of time, helpless and exhausted. It had already been four years since we'd returned to the Refuge. And I had yet to make any progress. None at all.

First, there was the exploration of the Refuge, which couldn't be pursued because of the staggering distance between the rooms. I couldn't afford to travel for years to discover a few more rooms. The Refuge was the most prominent structure I'd ever seen at the time, and even at the time of writing when I think about it.

The Refuge is so vast that it can only be described as a world unto itself. In fact, this comparison is not misleading, for the Refuge was a completely different world from the outside, a bridge between two worlds. I realize I'm rambling again, telling you things you don't need to know yet.

After all, my successor, you shouldn't be tempted to stop reading and wander off into a dangerous and potentially deadly environment for any unprepared fool. It's still too early because I need you to understand a few subtleties about the Refuge before you can venture into new lands.

All this to say that traveling through the Refuge was a definite no-no. Significantly, the map's glimpse of the Refuge's vastness in The Book could only dampen my wanderlust. The only way to explore it all was by teleportation. However, I would be more satisfied if that were all it took.

No, the most problematic thing was my understanding of Status, particularly Skills, Magic, Authority, and Authorization. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't increase my knowledge of them. I'd reached a point where obtaining new knowledge from observation needed to be more straightforward.

Even more so if I wanted to create Skills or Magic that had nothing to do with the Void and, therefore, with entirely unknown algorithms and mechanisms. Even reverse engineering had its limits, at least in terms of time. If I worked for decades more, there was no doubt I'd get the hang of it.

But at this rate, given the distance I still had to cover to reach the top of the World, I could kiss my dreams and my answers goodbye. I wanted to know how other people acquired Skills or Magic. Surprisingly, I realized I'd never asked that question in Systalia.

I interrupted my sister, who seemed lost in thought: "I'm puzzled about something, My Apostle, but how do you gain Skills, Magic, or levels of Authority or Permission? More generally, how does one evolve one's Status?"

Troubled at first, my sister's expression turned puzzled, a frown even appearing, before her face seemed to light up as if she'd understood something fundamental about the World that had been unknown to her until now.

"I wondered when you'd ask me that question, My Goddess. Actually, the evolution of Status is quite simple... and very constraining. Normally, you don't have to create the algorithms yourself. The System will take care of it for you. Nevertheless, that's also the problem because from then on, you have to comply with the System's laws and requirements."

She paused for a moment as if to find the right words before continuing:

"Skills can be acquired by raising our Class level. Concerning Magic... It cannot be obtained except under exceptional conditions. It is, therefore, present from birth, accompanying us until death. Moreover, beings are often limited to one Magic, although it's not uncommon to be born with several. There was even someone, I believe, who possessed the gift of being able to master all Magics. Finally, for Authority and Permission they only evolve through increasing Class. I've never heard of them evolving upstream."

Always Class. As I listened attentively to my apostle, I could only curse the Class, which seemed to restrict many of the System's functionalities. Indeed, I had to increase my Class at all costs. But could I really keep my Authorization level?

I'd asked my sister to discuss Permission, but there could be a significant difference as Authorization is slightly different in its operation. I was also intrigued by something she said. From what he said, you'd think that even the humans in the dump city possessed Magic. However, the evaluation clearly showed that this was not the case.

So, hesitantly, I asked: "Do all people at least have Magic? What about the people in our world today? After all, their assessment showed no possibility of Magic..."

For a moment, silence filled the room, my sister looking presumably pensive, before exclaiming:

"That's a good question... Instinctively, I'd be tempted to answer "no" because all people must possess Magic, even if, in the case of the lower world, these are blocked by the System. So, everyone has at least some Magic, but not everyone can express it. Probably because they're Classless. Only... I've heard a story somewhere about someone born without Magic."

I was now sure why the people of the dump town couldn't cast Magic and needed scrolls. However, come to think of it, that was different for those in the upper world who had the Apprentice Class. Strange... I was still missing crucial data to get the whole picture.

"My Apostle, could you shed some light on the fact that the upper worlds we've met so far have never used their Magics, only scrolls?"

Strangely, my apostle laughed. Why did I feel I was being mocked for my ignorance? Thankfully, she pulled herself together a little, finally deigning to grant me an answer.

"Sorry, it's just that it's not a question we usually ask... After all, everyone knows that to use Magic, you need access to the Academy's resources. It's not impossible to learn independently, but if people could easily understand their Magic, they would never be turned away from the Academy. After that, we're not immune to a few special cases."

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

With this last sentence, I thought she was referring to me. Although I wanted to retort that my case was different since I had created Magic. Technically, I'd created a derivative of Will, with metadata doctored to make this power accepted as Magic. Whether this deception would cause bugs later remained to be seen.

Because passing something of a radically different nature off as Magic and having it evolve according to the exact mechanism... This was not my best idea, and I could only apologize for the trouble I would cause the System. At least once, I'd managed to automate the upgrades or simplify the handling of the algorithms.

These interesting reflections aside, one of my convictions was reinforced. The Academy did play a vital role in society, and even if you weren't in the dump city, if you couldn't get into the Academy, you had no future.

Ultimately, the situation of lower-world gangsters and upper-world mercenaries was quite similar. If we forget that the latter enjoyed a generally higher standard of living. On the other hand, there was still one thing I couldn't let pass since the start of this conversion. A major one.

"Just one last question, My Apostle. Why haven't you told me about this crucial information before?"

My sister remained motionless for a moment. An indescribable expression painted her face. I'd never known her to have such feelings, even though I'd see them a few times later. A mixture of untranslatable feelings to protect an equally incomprehensible secret... Before I knew it, she finally lowered her eyes, tears threatening to spill over her cheeks, and could only utter one word:

"Sorry."

Unfortunately, I knew I wouldn't get anything more out of her today on this issue. Although I didn't like ignoring secrets that could be vital in the future, I could only defer to her reasons for hiding part of her life. However, my intuition vehemently told me that it was not advisable to broach the subject. At least not yet. Not right now.

I mused confidently the day she trusted me more. I could certainly ask her again. If only I'd had a glimpse of her secrets, I'd have forced myself to question her relentlessly. At least, from the moment I'd had the chance, because by then, even pestering her with this question would have served no purpose... Except to gain unwanted attention.

I then went back to what I was doing, having obviously forgotten to delve deeper into the story of the person allegedly born without Magic. It's too bad for me because if I'd heard this legend lost in the confines of time before, I'd certainly have become aware of many aspects of the World, the System, and Us much sooner.

This conversation had certainly taught me a few mechanisms about the functions of Status, but I still needed to solve my worries. I was still at the same stage, with insufficient World-standard abilities. As never before, I felt a loneliness within me. But it was hardly caused by a lack of presence from other beings.

After all, I had my sister... and my Void, who fulfilled this task impeccably. As always, the origin lay in the chronic impotence I symbolized by my very existence. Of course, I was in a privileged position compared to so many others. And it was precisely because I understood this that I could only become more disgusted with my sadness.

Typically, someone in my situation would be happy. I was convinced of that. Even though I knew rationally that I had the right to be dissatisfied with my life, I constantly felt remorse for feeling unhappy. Many humans deserved to complain far more than I did. So why couldn't I stop grieving? Why couldn't I stop being me?

Even though my life up to now had been objectively better than those of most people, I'd taken away all hope of a better future and been deprived of the freedom to choose my future. Indeed, I had been offered a chance to evolve in defiance of the laws of the System. A providence that many of the World's inhabitants would surely envy me.

To top it all off, I hadn't yet managed to exploit the full extent of my privileges: the books around me packed with timeless knowledge, the Refuge that allowed me to visit forbidden worlds, my Void with its energy and Will, and above all... my existence, which had offered me all these undeniable advantages.

Consequently, I could only be ashamed and critical of my own self-pity. As for my incompetence, I could only take my failure to awaken Nalys from her stasis as an example. One more failure. How many was it now? I didn't know; the list should have been shorter. Anyway, I stopped counting ages ago. Deep down, I knew I had to try something to get better.

Something, anything. Anything at all. To get better. Distraction. That was my mantra as I scanned the room, looking for the slightest trace of a helpful action that might help me forget my worries for a while. Yet I found nothing: all the texts, furniture, instruments, objects of all kinds, the Tree- Yes! That's my solution! Why hadn't I thought of it before?

I invited my apostle to step back to better understand what I'd inevitably missed in my search. We could only raise our heads to try and get a glimpse of even one part of this enormous structure. In our sights was the Tree of Heaven, so familiar... so familiar, in fact, that I'd lost sight of her by the time we'd spent in the Refuge.

I'd been all too drawn in by the magnificence of this tree to get closer and discover all her secrets. In the following months, we moved closer to the hall's center in search of the esoteric knowledge that the Tree of Heaven could reveal to me. Despite her ever-growing size, we could only contemplate with dismay the road we still had to travel.

This only served to heighten our awareness of the Refuge's unreasonable dimensions. All the more so as, as we walked, Systalia's physical exhaustion began to show, slowly eating away at her body. At least until her physical condition improved, much to our astonishment. The closer we got to the Tree of Heaven, the more invigorated my sister's body appeared.

In fact, it wasn't just the physical but also the mental to a lesser extent. My sister's mind was no longer deteriorating, as if... No, it really couldn't be. It would be contradictory, yet I could think of no other solution. No matter how absurd. However, I refused to go further since I had no proof of my surreal hypothesis.

In any case, I had to help my apostle navigate through this perilous environment... who'd have thought such danger would exist in the Refuge, a place usually so innocuous. Indeed, our only concern at the moment was dodging the roots of the Tree of Heaven. As you'd see with any other "normal" tree, these were not simple roots.

Unfortunately, these "special" roots had to keep moving in a prodigious... and extremely deadly dance. We'd struggled to avoid being crushed by their disorderly movements. Even so, watching their grace was so invigorating, a masterly reflection of their embodied splendor. Significantly, their dark magenta color reinforced their prettiness. And these thoughts were indeed the main problem.

We were so enthralled by the roots that we often forgot where we were. If avoiding the roots was already an arduous mission, with this additional constraint, we could only laboriously try to keep up with them. And so it came to pass. A considerable root was threatening to descend on us.

We reacted too late, a gigantic shadow covering our surroundings as the root fell from the sky. Slowly, it closed in on us, and our life expectancy and hope diminished. When it was barely a few meters above us, we could only contemplate our final seconds in this World.

"Who'd have thought we'd die like this! It's so ironic!" were my last thoughts... at least, that's what I'd assumed. It took us a few seconds to recover from our initial shock and understand what had happened. We could only stand in awe as we watched the root freeze a few centimeters from my sister's head, then slowly rise again, taking on yellowish hues at regular intervals.

A most magnificent spectacle played out before our astonished eyes. It was no longer the root that had almost crushed us that was pulsing, but the surrounding roots, too, pulsing at varying tempos. At the time, I told myself that such a work of art could only be a language. And indeed, I was right, for the roots were indeed communicating with each other.

As proof of this theory, the roots began to move away from us, tracing a path that led directly to the Tree of Heaven. My apostle could only stand paralyzed, her eyes riveted on the royal road before us and her mouth wide open. I whispered softly to wake her from her trance. I could understand her emotional state perfectly since I had doubts about what I saw.

We then set off cautiously along the path we'd been assigned. We could still see the roots moving towards a new anchorage point from the sides in a perpetual dance that seemed to have begun an eternity ago and will undoubtedly end in another eternity.

At the center of her roots stood proudly, as imposing as if we were only a few meters away, the Tree of Heaven, which seemed to support the whole room by her mere existence. These flights of fancy weren't necessarily unfounded... and what if this hypothesis was, in fact, correct? Such a thought had curiously crossed my mind.

It's a pity I didn't stick to it more than that because there could only be exciting answers. I can only imagine how easily I was distracted by my surroundings. Much to my chagrin, this trait is still deeply ingrained in me, as I sometimes ramble as I do now.

I was too hypnotized by the presence I felt of the Tree of Heaven to worry about such an ephemeral thought. In fact, at that moment, I didn't care about anything but the colossal tree in front of me. The more I perceived her, the more I felt her call. I had to come and meet her because she had something to tell me, which was the idea that took root in my mind.

Why did I only feel her call now? Did I have to meet certain conditions? Or was it a question of distance? Or even, let's be crazy, as my Void and the Tree of Heaven seemed somehow connected, a matter of psychic proximity? Would using my Void strengthen it so much that communication with the Tree of Heaven became possible?

So many questions waiting to be dissected until their conclusion was fully understood. There were so many questions to which I longed for answers. There were so many questions that, in retrospect, I would have preferred never to ask. They would then become part of the long list of questions so obsessive that they would drive anyone mad.

Even as my mind devoted herself to these reflections, I gradually managed to extricate myself from my spell and take note of the subtle changes taking place around us. During our long journey, we came across more imposing and massive roots, while the branches became more and more numerous. Thus, the widely scattered roots at the edge of the room appeared to be the smallest offshoots.

Next to the Tree of Heaven, on the other hand, the density of roots, where the most spectacular were to be found, was nothing short of insane. Fortunately, the roots still left enough room to reach the Tree of Heaven. Finally, we stood ready, just a few meters from the being who wanted to meet me. I knew instinctively what action to take. So, I asked my apostle to touch her.

At first, nothing happened until I felt a tingling sensation. Now, I understand my role better. I called up the Void's Will, letting it flow through Systalia's body and make contact with the Tree of Heaven. This was what this being was looking for, judging by her evident joy. Strangely enough, there was also a touch of melancholy in her emotions.

The latter disturbed my very existence without my knowing why. I, too, or rather we too, for the Void was at my side, felt an intense nostalgia for the energy of the Tree of Heaven. But before I could explore this phenomenon any further, the link between my Void and the Tree of Heaven was completed, and with it, the end of the mysterious feeling.

Suddenly, the Tree of Heaven began to change color frenetically, and geometric patterns appeared on her like a kaleidoscope. Now pulsating, I sensed that the fateful moment had come. An entrance appeared from her trunk, at least several dozen kilometers long - we couldn't see the end of her. We had been granted access to the interior of this being.

What lost arts would we find there? We didn't know. But we did know the only way to find out. And so we took our first steps into the abyss of the Tree of Heaven, determined to unearth all her secrets.

To find out what we would discover. Just the key to our ascent? Or more than we could ever have imagined...