Chapter 1 — Facing the Celestial Mirror

“The mirror can’t eat you, you know?” an elderly voice huffed at Toren from behind.

He glanced back at the woman. And at the line of impatient townfolk waiting their turn to use the large mirror made of starlight—just as he had since joining the line at dawn this morning.

But, his visit wasn’t for a simple level up or skill evolution this time. The woman’s snark at his hesitance hit closer to the truth than she probably realized. If Toren went through with what he was planning, the Celestial Mirror would indeed be eating everything that he currently was, everything that he had worked so hard for.

Not that it mattered. His life here in Greenvale was at an end.

He and his friends from the orphanage had borrowed money to purchase a Tavi Fruit gathering license, wagons, and striders in an attempt to give themselves a significant windfall. Their expedition ran into a freak swarm of giant locusts and they all died. Except him. Yana had shoved him out of the way of an attack that would have killed him, and he fell to the waters below, barely surviving the rocky rapids and denizens of the water until washing into a calm shallow and pulling himself out.

The single sack of Tavi Fruit he had escaped with had been enough to pay for his healing, but even though the locusts were long gone, the Tavi Trees had no doubt been stripped bare, the wagons destroyed, and the striders consumed—dead just like his friends.

Even if he might be able to earn enough to pay his portion of the loan by going solo or joining a new group and returning to hunting, there was no way for him to pay the others’ portions. With the grove stripped bare, he couldn’t even sell the gathering license to offset some of the debt. All that awaited him here in Greenvale was a future as a debt slave.

That would have been the end of it if it wasn’t for the crown currently doing active recruiting for people to colonize a dangerous new land. The [Crier] accompanying the recruiter was announcing to all who would listen that a royal writ of forgiveness was promised to any who earn contribution credits equal to their crime. It was the only way he could see to escape his debt.

There was only one remaining problem. The criteria for free transport was to have a gold-rarity or better trait.

There were only a few ways to get such a trait: have a special bloodline; have a rare accomplishment and sufficient mana density at your Celestial Baptism; or level up to increase your mana density and gain accomplishments then sacrifice your Profession, Abilities, and all your levels to the Celestial Mirror.

The ranking rarities for traits—just like Skills, Abilities, and Professions—went Iron for common, Bronze for uncommon, Gold for rare, Viridium for epic, Mithril for legendary, and Celestium for divine.

He placed his hand against the surface and, where his palm touched, the light rippled as if water, the ripples leaving his current status in their wake. Privacy wasn’t a worry; only the person touching the mirror could see the truth it presented.

{Name: Toren of Theravos

Race: Human

Age: 20

Profession 1: Level 15 Hunter (6100/15,000)

Mana: 210

Strength: 16

Constitution: 12

Dexterity: 14

Agility: 12

Wisdom: 12

Intellect: 8

Will Power: 16

Perception 14

Appearance: 8

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Charisma: 8

Luck: 10

Attribute Upgrade Points: 0

Traits:

[None]

Abilities:

Lethal Shot — Rank 2 (Proficiency: Mid)

Mana Tracking — Rank 3 (Proficiency: Low)

Silent Step — Rank 3 (Proficiency: Low)

Threat Awareness — Rank 1 (Proficiency: Peak)

Empowered Thrust — Rank 2 (Proficiency: Mid)

Ability Upgrade Points: 0

Profession Skills:

Hunting 20

Butchering 13

Archery 19

Spear 9

Knife 12

Stealth 16

General Skills:

Theravos Language (Speaking) 15

Theravos Language (Reading/Writing) 10

Religion 10

Arithmetic 4

Club 8

Foraging 16

Tree Felling 6

Running 12

Mana Sensing 12

Wound Binding 8}

I wish to reset my Profession.

{This will remove your current Profession, Profession abilities, and Profession skills. Are you sure you want to [Reset] your Profession?}

The confirmation text appeared in the mirror in response to his mental request.

As he hesitated, he remembered a parable told to him by Sister Junes, one of the elderly nuns that took care of him at the orphanage. The Parable of the Torch.

The Great Pheonix Horevi, who shares his fire with the world, had been struck down by the ice lich Fovesh, and all the fires in the world went out, except one. The last fire still burning was a lone torch carried by a [Torchbearer] with the [Everburning Torch] ability. With the last of his fading power, Horevi blessed the torch to inspire hope in any who saw it and quested all in the land to carry the torch and relight the Holy Flame of Iserti so that fire might not be forgotten from the world, granting any person with the quest and who held the torch the very same [Everburning Torch] ability.

The ice lich, greatly weakened from the Heavens-shaking battle with Horevi, used his power to summon his armies to attack any who traveled the roads to the human city of Yartum where the grand brazier holding the Flame of Iserti resided.

The [Torchbearer] ran until he began to tire and another took up the torch. Mortalkind rallied to the cause, flocking to the road to carry the torch or defend the torch bearer, and each time the bearer of the torch tired or fell to the ice lich’s armies, another would take hold of the torch. By the time the torch arrived at the city where the grand brazier in the temple of fire resided, the masses gathered to carry the torch were an unstoppable multitude and despite the ice lich’s desperate efforts, fire was returned to the world.

Sister Junes had told Toren that even though he and his friends were starting from the bottom that if they worked hard, someday they would be able to pass the fruits of their hard work onto their own children so that their children could build from what they had been given and pass even more onto the next generation, each generation passing along the torch so their memory and hard work wouldn’t die with them.

Toren looked again at the prompt.

{This will remove your current Profession, Profession abilities, and Profession skills. Are you sure you want to [Reset] your Profession?}

As orphans, his companions had no family to remember them. If he died in debt slavery without passing on their memory, without doing something with how far he had come thanks to all the blood and sweat they had shed together-

He couldn’t let everything he and his companions had done be for nothing.

Yes.