"Ok, my lovely goddess, what do I need to know next? These three tabs seem to go together; do I get more than one choice?"

I must have looked like some B-grade villain with the way I rubbed my hands together. With a repressed smile, Amy explained.

"Your choices remaining are your primary magic or power, your secondary magic or power, and your abilities or skills. Both your primary and secondary choices follow the same criteria, except for the points you can invest in them. Ten for primary and five for secondary. These points are invested in specific capabilities, whatever option you make will have. For example, nature magic has many abilities and capabilities, like plant growth, plant control, weather manipulation, elemental manipulation, and so on. These are where you will spend your points. The most you can put into any one of these is five points. With each point invested, the scale of what that ability or spell can do exponentially grows. Five points in one of these choices means you pretty much have complete mastery over that aspect of that magic or power. It's worth noting that a part of the karmic balance means that before accounting for any invested points, your strength in your chosen magic or power will be equivalent to that of a high journeyman. When you count in invested points and a chance of personal talent, you may be entering into the world with master-level capabilities. No matter where you invest your points, each option has a number of capabilities you can use no matter where you invest, at least for magic. Powers tend to skew toward specific capabilities. Like the earlier mentioned immortality or something even narrower like techokinesis. Finally, abilities or skills are just that: singular abilities you may want from a branch of magic or skills like bushcraft, smithing, or swordsmanship. You have no points to invest in these, so they will be at the lowest level compared to anything else but still very useful."

I took the detailed explanation in. So it seemed that magic provided the chance for broader tools you could use and powers were more focused but had less utility. No matter what, I knew I was going for magic, not just to fit in all the more with my new home, but it would just give me more I could do. The same muted look of approval I saw from Amy seemed to agree. I spent some time just scrolling through what was available in the window.

Elementalists seemed to have more utility than I thought. Yeah, it detailed various ways of blasting people or objects with fire or lightning, but one of the abilities I was interested in was elemental constructs. It appeared you could make structures out of all the elements and not just stone. Creating a castle wall of fire or a bridge of wind would be pretty awesome. It looked like if you invested enough points, you could create discs out of an element you could travel on. I went into this thinking something as stereotypical as elementalism wouldn’t be something I would want, but I began to see why it would be a popular choice. I saw something I didn’t understand and raised my head to ask Amy the question.

"I see a bar with a percentage next to the word Elementalist here. What is that? Also under the name but above the description, there are buttons with the names Wizardry, Sorcery, Spirit Magic, and other things. What does that mean?"

"The bar and its accompanying percentage is an indication of how much of the world knows about or uses that option. So Elementalist has a 91.36% of the world's population knows about or uses that magic. It's a good indicator to inform you of your ability to blend in using that magic or how likely someone would be able to deal with your magic. The buttons you described are the types or magical practices that you can choose to utilize said magic. Wizardry is one of the most common ways of using magic in the world, and indeed, many would agree that it is the most useful. It involves manipulating the ambient magic in the world using arcane formulas and arrays. It's a practice that lets you be precise in your casting. You could compare it to coding back in your world. Sorcery is the innate ability to use magic, either by some inborn talent or some event awakening the ability in the person. Where the wizard uses patterns and symbols to tell magic what to do, a sorcerer uses willpower and mental imagery. Sorcerers also have an interior source of magic they use instead of ambient magic. Spirit magic leaves everything to spirits that a contractor who has gained their approval and agreement to work with. There are many magical practices in the world you are going to, and the mechanisms by which they operate determine many pros and cons for the user."

That was a lot more information than I was expecting. I was begging to realize that even if many of us who are being transported chose the same primary or secondary magic, it could be entirely different depending on where points were invested and how you chose to practice the magic. With that, I continued to peruse the colossal list before me.

For the hell of it, I tapped through a few non-magic options. When I stumbled onto something called a psychic nexus, I almost made my choice then and there. It was a power that actually had many choices. It described a powerful user of psionic energy that acted as an anchor or a planet's collective unconscious. A psychic nexus, I kid you not, has every psychic power and the ability to create new ones. Something about psychic powers working like energy, moving like a circuit board in a psychic's brain, and the Nexus having all possible circuit patterns on their brain. Having all those powers and the ability to make new ones sounded amazing, but two things turned me away from it. The first was that I just really wanted to have magic. Maybe it's just the geeky little boy in me, but it was enough to count in my decision-making. The second was something else I read about it: because of their strength with psychic power and their connection to the collective unconscious, a psychic nexus would create new psychics around the world every time they made a new psychic power. Even just using enough psionic energy near people could awaken those with the standard powers if they had enough natural capabilities. I didn’t want that kind of responsibility.

Shadowmancy looked cool, but I knew I tended to lean into edgy shit if I wasn’t careful. Plus, though it looked like it had some cool and useful abilities, it mentioned a connection to a place simply called "Shadow." It detailed that it was a place where all shadows touched and that the entire realm was sentient. Nooooo thank you. Travel magic looked useful. It was simply a collection of spells or magical effects that aided in traveling long distances. It listed things like weight reduction spells, stamina-enhancing spells, storage spells, and even quality-of-life magic like flavoring food, cleaning laundry, and people, as well as temperature control spells. Thinking about the lack of any modern convenience, it was hard to turn down. Hell, I bet I could make a killing if there are adventurers in this world. But it still wasn’t quite right.

More and more, I looked with much of the same reactions. After I shouted a mental NO to Demon Summoning, I paused and remembered what I did when I found the Dusk Elf. What did I want specifically, aside from magic? I wanted freedom. I wanted there to be nothing that could hold me in one place. I never went to jail, but my life up until I appeared here felt stagnant. I wanted to be able to grab the very world itself and bend it to my will. An idea began to grow in the back of my mind, but I didn’t know if it was possible. Amy was already meeting my eyes when I asked my question.

"Is there something like Time/Space Magic? It's a fantasy world, so I don’t know how far their understanding of science is compared to ours."

For once, the angel didn’t have an immediate answer. She stood staring through me with a small tilt to her head, like she was thinking something through or listening to someone. That intense focus came back as I realized it was both.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"That was an interesting question. The short answer is no, but that is because you are correct; the world you are going to does not have that level of understanding of physical reality. The world itself works by the same foundational principles as yours does, it just has a few more. What you would call Space/Time Magic is broken into a few dozen other magical disciplines in the list in front of you. The more interesting part is that when I sent a query up the chain, they agreed that the understanding and knowledge of the one transferring should be usable; after all, many of the powers on the list were added in much the same way. They have compiled an entry for you to look over; you may read it now."

The window before me automatically changed to show me the entry, but I was focused on Amy once again. That focus was as intense as ever, and this time, I swear, when she said the word "read," it was like she was trying to tell me something. I don’t know what's going on, but the rules she must have to operate by keep her from saying anything specific. Something was in this entry she wanted me to see, something I may be able to take advantage of if I could figure it out. When I saw her eyes widen ever so slightly, I knew to stop wasting time and get reading.

Space/Time Magic

Notice: Due to the full scope of what would be available based on the understanding of the user, all time aspect abilities are not available for use or for point investment. As payment for this, the space aspect abilities the user has and can gain with point investment will be strengthened. Time-aspect abilities can be learned through practice and experience by in-world means.

The power to control space and time is mighty; not even with the rewards of changing worlds can you be handed such power without earning it.

This was indeed interesting; being able to have whatever base abilities I would gain as well as whatever I invested points in be stronger than they normally would means I would definitely be at master level for sure. And controlling time seemed like more of a big deal than I thought. I mean, yeah, it would be powerful, but I did skim quite a few different time-based options on the list. But this still didn’t feel like what Amy wanted me to see, so I continued to read.

The base abilities for space magic were what I expected to see for the most part. Sight-based teleportation, minor telekinetic capabilities, and spatial sensing. I was interested to see if I would be able to bend space as well. With the base-level stuff out of the way, I read through a lot of things that caught my eye more. Omni-directional Spatial Awareness detailed an area around the user that gave a complete visualization of the space surrounding you in a sphere. It would be like seeing everything around you at once out to a certain distance. With each point invested, it would increase the size of the sphere as well as be able to manipulate the shape of the sphere for more utility. At three points, you could detect anything inside the sphere, even if it was invisible or under an illusion, almost as much as a tactile sense as much as sight. It only went up from there; the size of the sphere with five points invested would let you stand in the middle of a large city and see everything happening in every house all at once, as well as hear everything they said. It stated you could even read the entirety of a closed book all at once by sensing the scratch marks of the quill on the paper with enough practice. That sounded insane and something I would put some points into, but not what I thought Amy wanted me to see.

The entry on increased dimensional manipulation was as interesting as it was hard to wrap my head around. It built on the ability to bend space, but in a more direct and physical manner. Investing in it would allow the user to fold, stretch, or contract three-dimensional space. This one didn’t go into great detail on what higher-point investment would mean but instead stated that control and understanding would rise with each point. This seemed like it could be powerful, as it seemed to play with the fundamental nature of the reality we move through, but I had a very hard time understanding its uses. I hope Amy didn’t want me to see something here, but seeing as her look didn’t change, I might be lucky. Next option.

Pocket Space Creation. Whoa ho ho! Now here is something I know will be useful. It detailed the ability to create pockets of space outside of the world but anchored to the user. Mainly for storage, with each point invested, the size of the pocket space as well as how many you could have grew exponentially. With five points invested, the size of the pocket spaces would be the size of a sports arena, and there was no limit to how many you could have. With each point invested after the first came a choice of an additional trait you could add to a space when you create it. Stasis, gravity, atmosphere, and temperature Jesus Christ, you would be able to live in one of these with all of them. This ability was amazing. 100%, no doubt. But was this what Amy meant? I would be able to hold entire dungeons worth of loot and bring massive amounts of things with me wherever I went, but was that enough to make me choose this over anything else? What advantage would I be able to make use of when I'm in this new world? Storage is great and all, but I don’t have-

My mind slammed to a halt. The sound of my heart beat thundered in my ears as a hot spike of hope bloomed in my chest. The only thing I could hear over my own heart was the fluttering of Amy's wings as she stood rigid with the rest of her body. An outside focus pressed down into the space we both occupied, and Amy's wings instantly stopped moving. She may be cutting it close. I focused my eyes on the goddess's and drew in a shaky breath as I prepared to ask my questions.

"Amy"

"Yes?" she replied quietly.

"Can I take anything with me when I am transferred to this new world?"

"Yes." she answered, clearly maintaining her calm.

"Are there any restrictions?" I nearly panted in reply.

Standing straighter, she replied, "Anything you can carry on your person."

"Does that mean you can use things like backpacks or other means?

"Yes." she replied with a full and beautiful smile on her face.

The outside pressure didn’t increase but had a watchful but accepting feeling to it as I continued with rising hope. Just two more questions.

"How about pocket spaces? Can I put things to take with me some of those?"

"Yes." she replied, seeming to glow with each passing moment.

This last question was it, the one that could prove me right or let me down. I came here in nothing, and she told me I had already left my world. It has to be right. It has to be.

"Does it have to be things I personally own, or can it be anything from earth?"

Amy's laugh was more wonderful than I can describe. It carried with it more joy than I think a human could ever feel in a lifetime. And though I would never admit it aloud, the pride that danced throughout the chime-like sounds she produced made me happier than I had been in some time.

"No, you have already been taken from your world, but the higher beings understand how much a single item can mean to a mortal. So anything you wish to take with you will be perfectly duplicated, so much so that magic that sees the past of objects will see the world it came from."

"So with the ability to create infinite pocket spaces means I would be able to carry as much as anything I can think of?"

"Yes, Killian Creed, that is possible."

With a mental battering ram, I willed the choice of primary magic to be space/time magic and slammed five points into Pocket Space Creation. I stood shaking and only just noticed I was covered in a sheen of sweat. This was huge. Unbelievably huge. With each moment that went by, the impact this would have grew. More and more ideas of what to bring. Food, medicine, books, modern weaponry, it kept going. Survival gear, tools, a car, fucking hell, fifty cars. Holy shit I could have a stadium sized pocket space filled with gold bars. Is gold valuable in the world I'm going to? What else could I -

"Killian Creed."

The sound of my name shocked me back to the moment. Amy stood before me, still filled with happiness, but now looking resolute. At the same time, that third presence faded away, leaving me feeling resigned. It worried me. I was only just now beginning to question what the hell that was and why it happened. But the voice of the goddess was undaunted by my racing mind and forced my attention fully on her as she continued.

"I spoke before about the nature of the reason you are here. On the entertainment higher beings gain by watching the actions those transferred take in their new environment. I spoke of some that would sponsor the mortals that make this journey. Killian Creed, I would like to make such a deal with you."

Well…how bout that.