Chapter 12 - Altaworlders’ Title Bars
The altaworlders were then asked to line up one by one, and surprisingly only some made a line, particularly the younger ones.
A teenage boy still dressed in his school uniform approached the johaman.
He was trying to act cool but Mill could see his apprehension through his haste gait. The johaman told him what to do and he touched his mark, which was in his arms to the crystal altar and the similar phenomenon happened.
A dark yellow light separated from where his hands held contact with the bar crystal and he grabbed the light with his shaking hands.
It then transformed into a title bar with a color of yellow and green in it.
Several gasps came out from the Dabomen, and Mill immediately tried to read the title bar.
Compared to previous title bars he had read, this one gave him complex images of muds, wet ground, grass and a plethora of emotions, particularly happiness. Word flowed in his head and stopped on the words ‘Happy Mudder’.
“Happy mudder?” Mil whispered out loud.
He was perplexed and also curious about the title bar. It had to do with earth, particularly muds and especially the emotion of happiness.
“What’s your name, boy?” the johaman asked the teenage boy.
“Umm… Gogoli.”
“Now Gogoli, touch your hand to the Crystal altar.”
Gogoli hesitated. “Ahh— why?”
“Oh. I forgot to tell you all.” The johaman then faced the other altaworlders. “When you touch your hand to the crystal altar with your title bars with you, it will show you the bar energy of the title bar. The stronger the light, the stronger the title bar is. Now,” he looked back at Gogoli, “touch it.”
Gogoli then touched his hand to the crystal altar and his title bar immediately lit up in a bright yellow and green light. It was so much brighter than the previous title bars that it even formed a circle of light a few meters in diameter from him.
Envious gazes reflected on the faces of the Dabomen and Mill even saw greed from some of them.
“Wow. That light. It should be a rare title bar,’’ someone said in the crowd.
Mill did not know what rare title bars entailed but judging from the faces around, it should be something good.
“What title bar could it be—and the skills!” a Dabomen near Mill exclaimed.
The female Dabomen who announced what the title bars were, then came near to Gogoli and the johaman introduced her. “This is Sociana, a Reader, she has the ability to read anything in any language and that includes bars, especially title bars.”
Sociana gave Gogoli a small smile. “Can I have your title bar for a moment?”
Gogoli nodded and gave it to her.
Sociana held the title bar with both of her hands and intently stared at it. It took her more time than she used to, and after almost twenty seconds, she looked up with surprise and smiled at Gogoli. “Congratulations. Your title seems to be a combat title, relating to earth and an emotion! The emotion of happiness. Dare I call it the Mud of Joy Giver title.”
Her announcement had little meaning to Gogoli, but it gave a strong reaction from the Dabomen.
Mill heard murmurs of fascination, envy and worship. Their reactions baffled him. Was the title bar that great?
Also… Mud of Joy Giver? Mill looked at Sociana’s direction with a deadpan face. She… was creative.
The next altaworlders’ title bars only added to the shock and envy of the Dabomens around.
Another student, a girl, got a title called Swift Flyer which made a lot of Dabomen grit their teeth with envy. A middle schooler boy got the title of Ship Enhancer. A man in a business suit got a Fire Puzzler. A woman still dressed in a red gown got an Earth Crafter.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Those were more normal. There were some who got weird titles.
A man with a dog collar got a Palm Massager title bar. An old woman got a Sexual Dancer. A meek, nerd girl got a Loud Assassinator. And a tough looking man with a huge build even got an Underwear Armor Maker title. Mill did not miss how Sociana changed the name of the title bar into Tiny Armor Maker.
An hour passed and various titles had been discovered. The Dabomens around were still excited and thrilled by the process but their reactions had already mellowed out slightly.
Then the rich guy dressed in an expensive red outfit took his turn.
Mill remembered he was the guy who made a commotion in the other batch of altaworlders. He still had his three bodyguards circling around him and they stayed not too far from him, eyeing anyone who got near them.
He introduced himself as Seant and surprisingly he got a nice sounding title bar: Dragon Caresser, which made Mill pause.
Anything with a word dragon in it sounded great as a title. What Mill was worried about was the existence of a dragon. A dragon existing told a lot of the world he was in. If they were big, then they should have an ecosystem fit for them to exist. That meant bigger prey and bigger creatures that they needed to consume as food. Mill’s visualization of dragons had weight weighing in tons, and in order for that to live they also needed tons of food to supply that weight. Thus the possibility of another huge animal or creature and with enough numbers of them. He also had to factor the possibility of them consuming humans.
Dragons were only good when they were in a book, as most of the time, their genesis and lifestyle were also fictionalized. A giant monster existing was always a bad thing for humans in their tiny sizes.
His worry thoughts, though, were lessened when the Dabomen around, were also confused by the word ‘dragon’.
“It is a mythical creature I had read in a book back in Coltine Mainland.” Sociana explained to them. She then looked at the Seant with pity. “I don’t think I ever heard of a dragon existing. Anyway, we’ll know after your incorporation.”
The Dabomen around were disappointed with it.
“Why?” Seant asked, looking a little pissed. Is my title bar bad?!”
Sociana shook her head and smiled. “No. It’s not.”
Seant then gave way to his bodyguards who were next to use the crystal altar.
Even though Sociana denied it, Mill heard the reason anyway from one of the Dabomen in the audience.
“What good is a rare title bar when it relies on a creature,” the random person said but in Dabomen language.
Mill wanted to ask why but he did not know if they could understand him. Fortunately, a young Dabomen, who looked to be 14, asked the same question he wanted to ask on which someone replied, “Remember Hanidyn from last year?”
“The alta?”
“Yes, she had a title called Finosha Raiser— or is it Findony—whatever. It had to do with an animal that doesn't exist in our world. In the end, her title skill bars were useless as she couldn't use it without that animal. Sometimes rare title bars are useless.”
The bodyguards then took the title manifestation next and they all got combat titles: Dagger Sinker, Ring Boxer, and Bark Bomber. Titles that looked useful for a fight.
Much to Seant’s dismay, it gathered more appreciation from the Dabomen audience and even to the altaworders.
They were followed by the police officer from before, and he got a Correct Aimer title. He was then followed by the crazy woman who Mill noticed had been following the police officer since the feast.
To everyone’s surprise, she got a Sharp Killer title bar, and when it was the time for her title bar to lit up, it lit up even stronger than any altaworlders.
Several cool sounding title bars later and it was time for Clarese to take her title bar, and Mill was trailing behind her.
Hers went without a hitch and she got an interesting title called Wide Transporter.
Then it was Mill’s turn.
Mill took his steps toward the altar with both trepidation and excitement.
Though he was not expecting a really cool title—as he really did not know if it was useful to him or not—he still wished it was not something related to language. He feared he already had a title bar and it was related to him being able to read and understand language. For all he knew, his title could be a Reader title or a Language Person.
This disappointed him greatly. If his life was not in danger, he did not mind being a Reader or someone with a language ability. Heck, he would even take a farmer title and live his life farming somewhere safe and peaceful. But those images of full human bodies being sliced into pieces in just a second haunted him. Human lives were so fragile. He did not think a language ability would help him survive against falling rocks and sharp blade lights.
But he could not find any explanation to his sudden ability other than he was a bar human already and his ability was language.
He looked at the johaman who looked like he was still full of energy even if he looked like an old man, and hoped for the best.
He was now in front of the crystal altar and the johaman gestured for him to touch it.
He hesitated for a moment.
He finally took a breath, closed his eyes and then opened it at the same time he touched his hands to one of the huge bar crystals in the crystal altar.
He half expected and dreaded the bar crystal not to light up, but it did, just like with everyone.
A rainbow of light grew from where he touched the crystal and it still continued to grow until it filled the whole crystal.
Mill felt something was wrong. This had never happened with the other altaworlders before. The previous altaworlders only lit up a small part of the bar crystal, at most a foot from where they made contact with it, but his just lit up a whole bar crystal.
His agitation grew more when he heard the Dabomens reacting with confusion and alarm from it.
“What is happening?” He heard someone say.
The crowds around him murmured but he couldn't care as he was now worried about his hands who he found out were stuck to the crystal.
He tried to remove his hands but it was like it was glued to the crystal.
His eyes grew even wider when the bar crystal adjacent to the one he’s touching started to light up too. Then it got totally filled with rainbow lights and then as if it was not enough—like a series of lights—the other crystals started lighting up one by one.
His gaze was filled with a rainbow of colors that he could not even see anything or anyone around him nor he could ask them what was happening to him.