Seth woke up gasping for air.

His hands instinctively clawed at his throat, as his whole body felt like it had been deprived of all oxygen. Coughing fits erupted from his figure and his back arched in panic as the lack of air mixed with the overwhelming memories from his vision.

Fortunately, Seth was able to gradually control himself, and his lungs finally filled with air. He lied on the ground gasping for air for multiple minutes, slowly consolidating the rush of information and understanding gained from the extraordinary experience.

Blinking at the edge of his vision signaled that he had notifications to address, but Seth ignored them while he tried to focus on composing himself. His onyx hand shakily ran through his hair and he forcibly bit his lip to prevent his teeth from chattering. One look from the ground revealed that the items he had used beforehand were now just piles of dust, their energy completely exhausted.

Soon enough, he was able to push himself up, and was panicked to find the other box’s occupants were standing as well.

“I don’t think I have ever seen a miracle wasted on someone so stupid.” A familiar female voice said.

“Ah, it looks like our sleeping cub had finally woken up!” A hearty, male voice roared.

Seth balanced himself out, quickly regaining his strength before casting an annoyed look toward the two farthest glass boxes. He also noted with surprise and concern that the box in the third lane was filled with darkness.

“He got here a few hours ago.” A deep voice stated from the box next to Seth’s.

Ty shrugged at the darkened box, where Seth assumed Eminence was recovering.

“You really took your time with that epiphany, they all thought you wouldn’t wake in time.” The large man claimed.

After focusing on Ty, Seth noticed with interest that his hulking figure was no longer as big as it had been before he passed out.

Does he have some sort of scaling ability that cooled off while he was in here?

He had seen a similar image the one time he had fought Ty in the earlier stage of The Incubator. Back then, when he had emerged from the woods at a sprint, Ty had been a hulking goliath, but the longer Seth had watched him slow down and examine his surroundings, the man seemed to shrink back into his normal size.

Is the scaling ability movement based? Maybe gradually making him bigger and stronger the longer he runs?

Seth’s eyes widened with understanding as he realized how broken that would be.

He’d be like a walking siege weapon?! How is that fair?!

As Ty returned his attention back to the oncoming final race. Seth silently cursed him.

You’re in for a rude awakening buddy. I’m going to win this race and stall you’re progression out for as long as I can. Then, after I have that fate treasure, I’m going to leave you in the dust.

Seth was aware that he and Ty’s odds of even getting in second were quite low given the skill and talent of the other participants, but he wouldn’t let that get to him. Seth knew that he would find a way, and he was positive that the answer to his victory lied in his newest gains. He pulled up the timer for the first time since waking up.

-Welcome to the Bonus Challenge checkpoint. The lane to the finish will open in (00:00:01:10)

After a quick bout of mental math, Seth was disappointed to discover that he only had slightly less than twenty minutes before the last stretch of the race would begin. Although the epiphany took way longer than he had wanted, he was still happy that there was still some time on the clock.

Luckily, it hadn’t been the worst case scenario, where he woke up only to find the doors already open and that he was in last. Not wasting any more time, Seth pulled up his menu and navigated to the long awaited notifications.

-Congratulations! You have awoken your Concept System!

-Concept System tab has been added to the menu.

-Analyzing concept data…

-Congratulations! You have awoken the Concept Moon of Resonance! Your understanding of reality has risen above the level of mortals!

Seth felt a rush of energy and something else cram into a spot right above the center of his collar bone, right below his throat. It didn’t feel physically constraining though, as the energy seemed to operate on something like his spiritual body, rather than his physical one. Then, as the feeling settled, Seth could feel the connection between the vision and the foreign node.

He could tell instantly what the node was: his Concept of Resonance.

On instinct alone, he drew from the node, spreading the power of resonance throughout his body. It was a surreal feeling, as he now finally understood what the vision of the little girl showed him.

It was a vision of what complete resonance with the world looked like. The girl was unconsciously using the power of resonance to manipulate reality to her will. No, it was more than that. The girl wasn’t manipulating reality.

She was resonating with it.

This resonance allowed her to almost read the flow of reality, and then, in turn flow with it. This application of the Concept of Resonance was huge. If Seth was able to reach that level of power, he could feasibly alter his own fate at will!

Seth flexed his fingers, filled with the Concept of Resonance. Although he couldn’t do much more than spread it through his body, Seth could feel a sizable difference in his power.

It was like his entire being was now on the same page. All of his cells were working in tandem, reducing any sort of unneeded expenditure of energy while at the same time getting the absolute most out of the reduced energy pool. Seth was almost certain that if he started the race with this concept, he would have only had to take a fraction of the breaks he needed to beforehand.

Also, he could feel that all of his movements were optimized for performance, with no unneeded movement taking place. His hands were steady and unshaking, while his body did not twitch at all. He even tried to stand completely still, and found that his body was able to halt itself in a way that put any statue to shame.

His application of resonance was a sad joke compared to the little girl’s, but the gains he had now because of it were still incredibly strong.

Now Seth understood why the others had used the break to cultivate; it was intoxicating. He was almost certain that given the time, Seth could spend days at a time just pondering the concept. The possibility of being able to infuse the concept with his abilities was another idea that almost made him salivate.

As the new ideas continued to emerge from his mind, Seth had to forcibly cut off his train of thought in order to focus back on the task at hand. Using the new concept, he began performing a series of exercises and stretches, trying to understand as much as he could about how the Concept of Resonance would affect each action.

He glanced at the others from time to time as he went through each move, seeing how each of them prepared for the last rush.

Ty’s box had become like Eminence’s, his whole box filled with dirt. Remus was stretching on all fours like a house cat, and the princess was pulling out different objects, inspecting them, and then putting them away. Nigel was still nowhere to be found, and a glance at his lane showed none of Ty’s walls had been disturbed either.

As the timer moved down to one more real life minute, the tension became palpable, and nerves began to eat away at the participants.

“Well cubs, I must say I have had a lot of fun in this little challenge! Unfortunately for all of you though, you were paired against me, so the victor was already determined from the start.” The lion man said, his voice full of genuine pity.

“Oh shut up, you overgrowth pussy cat. This will be a battle of speed, not endurance. I will leave you in the dust!” Caladenia shouted with an annoyed glare.

Remus laughed with mirth, obviously not taking the insult seriously. Seth stayed quiet, not including himself in the trash talk. Eminence and Ty stayed quiet as well, their silhouettes still completely hidden in the opaque boxes. Soon enough, the banter died down and everyone readied themselves to race once again.

This time though, Seth readied himself in a different way than before. He continued cycling the node’s power throughout his body, but he also began weaving templates together for his Fear Itself ability.

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

GO!

The glass boxes flung open, revealing a prismatic flag only a few hundred meters away.

With a monstrous blast of energy, the five participants exploded from their respective positions, causing a massive clap of thunderous sound. The occupants of the opaque cells emerged from their starting positions, revealing an enlarged Ty, and a sleek vehicle made from shadows, assumingly with Eminence inside.

Unlike them, Seth, Remus, and Caladenia shot out with no apparent abilities in use. During the beginning of the race, the crowded lanes had become a maelstrom of projectiles and obstacles, but this time, absolutely no attacks were passed around. It seemed all of the remaining racers had unanimously agreed to focus solely on reaching the flag, or so it seemed at first.

Shattering the silent agreement, Seth released his pent up illusions, causing a parade of madness to replace the shadowy environment of the race. Immediately after his act, Pandora’s Box was fully opened, and the entire race was thrown into chaos.

A number of Ty’s earthen barriers erupted from the ground in every lane, and random orbs of light ignited in the air, causing a discombobulating strobe effect to cover the raceway. As the environment changed into a night club’s obstacle course, Princess Caladenia quickly took advantage of the situation and grabbed a dark object brimming with energy from her breast pocket.

Surprisingly, her arm snaked to the left and blasted the object toward Remus, who was currently a few paces ahead of her. Despite the craziness that took over his surroundings just a moment before, the lion man was still able to sense the object coming, and a clawed hand reflexively batted the object away while Remus roared with fury.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

The movement didn’t even cause him to break stride, and he continued to mercilessly eat up the ground between him and the flag. The next moment, Seth’s eyes widened a fraction as he saw the lion man abruptly crash to the ground, covered in some sort of fleshy tendrils.

His hope soaring, Seth continued towards the flag as a hair raising roar of fury faded away behind him. Sensing the opportunity, the rest of the participants surged forward. As they all neared the oncoming walls, Seth moved into the next part of his plan, retrieving a small pouch of metal beads from his pocket, while also erecting a new, two-dimensional illusion between him and the rest of the racers.

Next, a number of walls in front of him vanished, leaving only a few real ones left. Seth had known Ty would use his signature move in the last leg, creating a simple strategy to hinder the rest of the racers and allow him to pull ahead. So Seth had planned to get two steps ahead of the goliath, and create a supporting strategy that would further slow the rest of the participants while allowing him to get ahead as well.

Seth knew that even if Ty had a scaling movement ability, it would take time to gain ground, meaning that he could exploit Ty early in the race, and find a way to get in front of him.

His hand dove into the pouch, taking out a large handful of dense beads. He chucked them towards the wall, causing the beads to grow to the size of softballs and blast through the dirt barrier. His recent buy from the challenge store mowed down each wall, allowing Seth to advance through the obstacles without slow.

The other participants were not so lucky, and Seth glanced back to find Caladenia running with a large, pearly white mace. It seemed she had prepared for the same situation, and with a heavy swing ahead of her, the mace hurdled towards the first barrier.

A smirk crossed Seth’s face as he continued forward, and he heard a surprised grunt sound off from the woman’s lane as her mace passed harmlessly through one of Seth’s illusionary walls, causing her to stumble off balance and slow down.

Eminence saw this from his lane, and instead of dismounting his vehicle in order to clear the path, he seemed to go even faster, not wanting to be caught with the same trick. He sped easily through the first fake wall, and a confident look marred his features as he progressed ahead of the princess.

Unfortunately for him, the Asian man had expected them all to be illusions, so when the next wall was made of actual matter, Eminence crashed into the barrier with a loud crack, his vehicle disappearing into a smatter of darkness.

It seemed the vehicle had taken the brunt of the impact, but the man was still heavily delayed after he smashed into the ground. Ty was the only one to continue forward without issue, his enlarged body dashing through his unimpeded path, free of any obstacles.

Not far behind, Seth emerged from the final wall, having cleared all of the obstacles in record time because of his previously concocted plan. Ty did not address his presence or throw any new walls in his way though. This was because of Seth’s previous illusion that ran down the majority of his lane.

The two-dimensional illusion was currently showing the rest of the participants a video of him struggling to break through the previous walls. It was something that he truly did not think of until after he had gotten his concept moon of resonance.

After he had used the new node, the Concept of Resonance had been spread throughout his body, allowing his mind to reach a level of calm concentration that had been previously unreachable for him. He used this new focus during the race to weave a constantly moving picture that portrayed the third dimension, but didn’t actually have it.

Now, Seth was up in the front with Ty, but he kept the advantage of stealth. This was doubly useful, as Seth’s top speed was currently faster than Ty’s so Seth was actually gaining ground on the dark skinned giant.

With a quick glance backward, he discovered that Caladenia had cleared the walls as well. The shiny wings on her back telling him that she had sacrificed her fast ground movement in order to save time by flying over the walls. Remus and Eminence were soon left in the dust, and the three final participants made their last rushes for the finish line.

With a thought, Seth dismissed his long standing illusion, instead swapping it out for a smaller, more energy efficient screen that still blocked him from vision of the other two participants. His legs pounded into the ground with effort never seen before, he pushed his body as hard as he possibly could, trying to keep his lead on Ty.

It soon became apparent that Caladenia was just too far behind because of her earlier mistake, and eventually, the race just came down to Ty and Seth.

Although the last leg of the race had only begun just one minute beforehand, both of the racer’s had used an egregious amount of energy. Between the numerous lights, fake walls, and the video illusion, Seth’s energy was running on empty.

Come on… come on… COME ON!

He barely had enough energy to keep up the small screen, but despite his efforts, even that flickered out of existence before long. Because of this, he was revealed just a few paces in front of Ty.

Seth heard a muffled grunt from behind him, as it seemed like Seth had actually surprised the giant. Heavy footsteps began falling even faster than before, but it was no use. Even better for Seth, the man’s dimensional energy was also exhausted for the time being, so no new walls cropped up either.

GO, GO, GO, GO, GOOO!!!

Seth used every ounce of power in his body to go even faster. The flag was only ten or so meters away now, flapping beautifully above a simple, white line.

You might be favored by your Umbra, Ty. You might even be chosen by fate. But even if you were chosen by Lic himself… I STILL WOULDN’T LET YOU WIN THIS!!!!

Time seemed to actually slow for a moment as Seth reached the last few meters of the race. His entire being seemed to urn for the finish, knowing that it rightfully deserved to beat everyone.

Then all of the sudden he could feel it. He could feel the all of the cards falling into place in front of him. His specialty of speed, his personally chosen illusion ability, the fact he awakened with the Concept of Resonance right before the start of the race.

Is this it? Is this what it feels like to be fated?

Suddenly, all of the text he had read made sense.

This is it! How could anyone possibly be able to beat someone with this kind of power? Fate transcends all of it…

AND I HAVE IT!!!

Just then, while only a couple of paces away from the finish and completely sure of his victory… Seth fell. Something underneath his foot gave way, causing him to crash to the ground.

As his body gave up on him, so did the previous overwhelming feeling of victory. He could almost physically feel as the fate he had been enamored with fled his body. Seth desperately tried to get up, to chase the fleeting power, but it was too late.

A large figure barreled past him, then, only a moment later, a horn sounded, signaling the end of the race. Ty had won.

**********

Seth could do nothing.

His body sat motionless in a kneeling position, all of the energy that had been coursing through him moments earlier was long gone. His eyes stared blankly at the ground, unseeing.

Most of the other racers had already arrived at the finish line, displaying a series of mixed reactions that Seth didn’t even notice, but above all, they were watching the fate altering event happening right before their eyes.

“It doesn’t look like it’s that powerful of a fate treasure, but any fate treasure is still enough to blow any Class S item out of the water.”

“I suppose that makes sense. If The Incubator had any items that bestowed fate transfigurations, then I would eat my pants. Still though, what a waste!”

Bits and pieces of conversation behind Seth entered his mind, but were then forgotten as fast as they had arrived. Ty continued to glow brighter, and Seth could feel waves of the intoxicating feeling he had experienced earlier flow directly into Ty.

Suddenly, gasps sounded off from the group of racers behind Seth. Then, as if it had been there the entire time, a heavy presence descended upon the raceway.

Seth’s breath was slightly taken away, and he turned wide eyes up to meet the newcomer.

A young woman now stood in front of the currently glowing Ty. One look told Seth that she was no mortal; he was currently looking upon an Umbra.

Her aura was something completely different than he had experienced to this point. It was endless, a source of true and unbridled power. The Anima Influences he had experienced at The Daemon Contest was nothing like what was currently permeating the pocket dimension.

Her aura felt like the world itself had somehow become conscious. Smells of freshly tilled dirt, morning dew, rain clouds, tulips, pollen, fall, spring, summer, winter, and millions of other things poured into his nose and mouth as if her very presence contained them all.

There was benevolence, love, and life, but also law, cycles, and death. Her existence represented an innumerable amount of concepts and experiences.

The extensive aura alone was enough to drive the rest of the participants to their knees. She hadn’t even needed to threaten them or anything, and her influence was still benevolent and warm. It was just the simple fact she was there that drove everyone into submission.

The young woman did not pay them any mind, her attention focused on the hulking mass in front of her. She pushed back a strand of her golden hair to reveal a pair of stunning blue eyes, as dark and deep as the ocean.

Her beauty was completely transcendent, something that Seth had never experienced in his entire life. Her features looked ageless and perfectly sculpted to portray the picture of youth and life. Reaching a hand forward, she settled her palm on the shining chest of Ty.

Her hand looked tiny compared to the giant of a man, but the sheer amount of energy her figure gave off made Ty seem like an insect.

“My child, look how you are growing. You truly deserve this, I could not be more proud of your progress.” She said gently, a maternal smile playing at her soft, pink lips.

The racers looked on as Ty began to grow brighter and brighter, a huge sum of the ethereal energy Seth had felt before rushing into the man.

“She’s giving him a fate transfiguration!”

“Is that Gaia?!”

“How is that even possible?! I’ve never even heard of an Umbra materializing into the mortal world without an avatar?!”

“The Mother of Demigods really came here in person to bless one of her followers?!”

Hushed murmurs began to spread among the remaining racers, any quarrel from before totally forgotten. Seth did not join in though.

What the hell is going on here…

He sat in silence, his whole body trembling. Black blood began to trickle down his chin as Seth bit into his lip to restrain himself.

how…

Nails dug into the flesh of his neck as his fingers seemed to adopt a mind of their own.

how?

Veins started to bulge from his temple.

How?

The edges of his vision darkened as his pupils constricted to pinpoints.

HOW?

His mind kept replaying the memory over and over.

It doesn’t make any sense. I didn’t slip one time that entire race…

Bile filled Seth’s mouth as he held himself back from screaming, his fury reaching a level previously unknown to him.

HOW DID I LOSE?

This single thought rang out through Seth’s entire being, overcoming even the Umbra Gaia’s omnipresence.

In an instant, all of Seth’s rage disappeared. No, it wasn’t just his rage, but everything around him. It was like the entire world around him became silent, leaving him sitting alone on the ground.

Something else grew inside of Seth.

It wasn’t an emotion, but rather an all-encompassing Want.

His spine shivered slightly, and he could feel goosebumps gradually crawling up his entire frame. His ears perked forward, and his nasal passages opened up wider than ever before. His eyes widened a little, while his pupils continued to shrink onto the glowing figure of Ty. He could feel as his forearm muscles seemed to constrict, causing his fingers to tense up and become sensitive. Next, his hair stood on end, and his mouth hung open a bit.

“A real shaper will do anything to get ahead. High tiers will destroy civilizations, single handedly cause the extinction of an entire species, use worlds as mining resources, and even more.”

Seth had read numerous texts over shaping theory, but this quote had always stood out. Every single one of them had said something similar, it was a true law of shaping. A memory of the dead boy in the swamp flashed in his mind. From the boy’s death came one of Seth’s most powerful finds, and this would be the same.

It's time. Do it.

A familiar yet totally foreign voice echoed through Seth’s mind.

He knew what it was. It was the voice from back then… the one he heard when he met his first Fouler.

He hadn’t been able to remember what the voice sounded like back then, but now, he knew exactly who it was.

It was him.

The pressure he thought to only exist in his dreams descended upon him once again, spreading from the back of his head, all the way to his right hand.

Seth’s breath came in hot and heavy, his attention completely consumed by the task at hand. Slowly, his dark hand raised towards Ty.

“I can end it right here.” He mumbled to no one.

Although Anima Thief had not been able to affect anything in the physical world when he had tried it before, something told Seth that this time would be different.

With a wicked grin, Seth began pouring every single molecule of energy he had left directly into his onyx limb. Soon, his hand started to tremble with the sheer amount of power streaming in it. The black void of his palm roiled, showing faces of hidden monsters hiding just underneath the surface.

“This competition between us stops now.”

With a strained grunt, Seth unclasped his fist and released every single anima currently at his disposal.

Just as he closed his eyes to brace himself for the recoil of the herculean attack, Seth felt a soft hand intertwine itself with his. Eyes shooting open, he was surprised to find himself staring into a pair of twinkling sapphire eyes.

Surprise quickly turned to fear, and Seth could feel every ounce of his previous resolve drain from his body as he froze solid.

“There will be none of that, little imp.” Gaia whispered with a hint of disgust dancing upon her lightly freckled face.

“I know your heritage, and I can see the taint of madness on your soul. You must be truly unfated to have met me today, as I can not forgive such an attempt on my child’s life.”

The soft white hand of the maiden slowly began to close around Seth’s black appendage, displaying a strength that exceeded that of anyone present.

“Even with my power restrained I can still feel your bloodlust… such a dark and sickening sight, almost as horrible as your kin’s.”

She continued to whisper, her grip becoming even stronger.

“But how could I destroy such a creature from my own child’s home world? I have seen what he thinks of you and the other survivors. He believes that there is kinship amongst you simply because of where you were born. How truly loyal of him.”

Gaia wiped a single tear from her long, golden lashes.

“I do not wish to crush his innocence, nor cause even a sliver of sadness that your death would possibly bring.”

Her eyes sharpened, replacing the softness they had displayed just moments before.

“Rejoice little imp, I will spare you today. But I will leave you with a reminder of our meeting.”

A soft light began to emit from the maiden’s fingers. Then, Seth’s hand began to burn as if he had stuck it directly into a raging furnace.

Due to the paralysis, he could only offer a silent scream as the young woman closed her fist, tearing through the black oil of his limb all the way down to his wrist.

Gaia pulled her hand away from him, leaving barely a remnant of the dark substance on his exposed stub. With a flick of her wrist, his black limb was sent spiraling into the abyss, never to be seen again.

Satisfied with her work, the maiden rose from the ground and looked down her nose at the kneeling figure of Seth.

“Also, I heard what you said.” She claimed from above him, just barely speaking loud enough for him to hear.

“I want you to know, my child has never once thought of you as his competition. You were nothing more than a small reminder of his home.”

Then, just like that, Gaia was gone.

----END OF BOOK ONE----