Unsurprisingly, my [Repair], once ‘up-casted’ into an AOE, was extremely efficient in healing a big group from their most deadly wounds, and everyone else of most scrapes and wounds. At least, efficient time-wise, because my [MPs] went close to tanking every time I did it, but thanks to my [Incongruous resources] I could go deliberately under to then top myself off.
I had no idea how that worked- well, I did have half an idea, but the other missing half was that something so ‘broken’ had to have some kind of side-effect, and the fact that I had yet to find any was sort of troubling.
And that’s why, after a couple of rounds of doing it my way, I resorted to the use of [Mana Potions] between one round and the other. Too bad for me that they then had the ‘bad’ potions, which filled less than the ones Sheeno had brought me and tasted like dirty socks instead of the minty after-taste the other one had; but I wasn’t going to complain about free stuff… at least, not to their faces.
The receptiveness of the task meant that I could let my mind wander while I tried not to cringe to the thankful looks and pats I was getting whenever I healed someone. Mainly, I was taking the time to try to work through the revelations I received during the previous fight and try and understand what I was supposed to do with them.
Was it known that [Purity] wanted to destroy the [Nexus] by poking the metaphysical bear that was [Destruction]? And what about the fact that his [Priests] were [Demon]-worshippers with mind-altering abilities? Or that the [Veil] made by the [Gods] to protect the world within from outside forces would purposely pull those outside forces within when it registered an imbalance in the world that it was meant to protect? Was it even possible to fix these ‘exploits’ once they became known, or did the [Gods] make the [System] so hands-off, in fear that someone would abuse any kind of back door, that there was no way to prevent the same thing from happening in the future? And what about-
“Breathe”, a soothing voice said next to me, and only then I noticed that I was getting close to hyperventilating.
I took one deep breath in and then shuddered out an exhale; as simply as that, I had once more found a resemblance of balance.
“Yeah, sorry. And thanks”, I said to Undine with a nod.
She, as a [High Priestess], was naturally another one of those who, like me, were high in demand when it came to painless healing. And it also helped that we could both reattach severed limbs and regrow tiny pieces, like ears and fingers.
Also, both our methods of healing ignored [Tiers], meaning that it only cost more [Mana] when we wanted to heal someone stronger than us, with no other demerit compared to using a higher [Tier] healer.
“It’s understandable: You already made your moronic idea that this is your fault abundantly clear-
“Hey!” I tried to argue about her assessment, but she just rolled over my interruption like it never even happened.
“-and it’s pretty normal, to begin with, to feel pretty out of it when such dense [Experience] is hanging over you, just waiting to get absorbed.”
I could only nod at that, my attention pulled away from my indignation and once more pulled to the nebulous sense cloud of [Exp] hanging over pretty much everyone. Nobody was below [Lvl 10], so nobody needed to instant advancement that came with the early progression where you were quickly made to [Lvl Up], so that you survive future enhancements. That is to say that, if I were to give in to my more magical senses, pretty much everyone started shining with multicolored light, mostly with what I had started calling ‘kill energy’, that pretty much were the parts of a being’s soul that you absorbed when killing it, but also a good chunk of ‘profession energy’, which you either generated yourself or got awarded when working within the parameters of your archetype, which, for most fighters, the two went hand in hand.
The [Information] didn’t feel particularly useful, to the point that the fact there being a difference had been barely touched upon in both my lessons with Rubicon and all of the books that I bought for self-study, but I did have to admit that learning about the inner workings of how [Experience] was calculated was at least vaguely interesting.
“Where was I again?”
I swear… You would think with such an enhanced brain you would get over your ADHD, but somehow it got worse.
“It’s all the extra ‘brain-power’: Makes thinking about multiple things at once actually possible, but then I get invested too much on side-thought and end up losing the wide plot.”
Or maybe you are more of an airhead than you would like to admit.
“That too is a possibility.”
Anyway, before you went on a tangent about the nature of Experience, you were thinking about the incumbency of some [Lvl Ups].
“Right!”
That, and the guilt trip about being part of the cause of so much loss and suffering. It didn’t matter what others said: They were after me, so I shouldered part of the blame.
And that was how lost in my own thoughts, I was caught unaware by the official end of the fight, signaled not by an announcement but by the [Exp] suddenly rushing inside me and forcing multiple [Lvl Ups] to happen in rapid succession; the surprise almost enough to make me face-plant by all the steps I ended up missing.
But it all faded in the background when compared to the heavenly feeling that was consistently growing stronger and stronger, while also spreading through every cell of my [Body], permeating my [Mind], and expanding my [Spirit]. This last one, in fact, felt particularly extensive, to the point where I felt ballooning out of my skin.
Then the notifications followed.
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
[Proficiency] above threshold for all Level Ups.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
You have gained +3 Strength, +5 Dexterity, +10 Reflex, +19 Acuity, +43 Energy, +45 Insight, +55 Serendipity, +50 Ego, +145 Will
[Serendipity] reached [Tier I]: Effectiveness increased
[Ego] reached [Tier I]: Effectiveness increased
[Spirit] advanced to [Tier I]: [System]’s control on the nature of the related growth partially lifted
[Lucky Endeavor] evolved, thanks to [Fulcrum of Fate] and [Unbound by Fate], into [Branching Fate]:
Branching Fate
The more you struggle against the chains of destiny, the more you’re able to see its branching paths.
Allows the active possibility to see the available futures during times of need, while passively increasing the chance of fortuitous outcomes.
I suddenly felt good.
Very good.
As if dirty decorative glasses had been lifted from my eyes, my ears had been power-washed, my nose picked clean, and my mouth disinfected, but all at once and without any after-effect or side-effect.
And my sixth sense… yeah, all of those magical things I could ‘feel’ now weren’t only clearer, they also made more sense… like, a LOT more: Those things I’ve been calling ‘threads of fate’? Yeah, they’re not simple lines, but actually tiny scrolls of text that describe the nature of the link. The Mana pollution that sometimes made it hard on my eyes? Pollution was definitely the wrong word for it, since now I could see a sense to it, even though I couldn’t fully comprehend it.
That and many other interactions, tiny or big that they were, were now bare and visible to my gaze. Then I noticed someone else using a [Matrix] to cast a [Spell] and I felt myself splitting open.
The rotating rings were the ‘concepts’ that made up the Spell, the inner working was a mass of Runes that made up a fixed Core that stabilized and standardized the effects of the whole once cast. That was something that I had already realized, but what I had missed was that it didn’t only look like the fever-dream version of an atom, it also worked like one: The stable core of Runes was a fixed version of how one’s intention interacted with the reality in this Nexus, creating a fixed point where everything else could be leveraged upon; meanwhile the other rings were an expression of how it was supposed to activate, with the script within them acting like some kind of flexible code, constantly ‘attracted’ by the inner core do it wouldn’t immediately interact with the outside, and it was this script, the one where I could sometimes recognize Runes that didn’t look quite right, that shone a veritable light on my understanding of magic.
It was like Greek to Latin: Whoever integrated this ring-based system into the [System] clearly knew their stuff, and their stuff was [Runes].
If I knew anything more than the basics, I could probably start explaining the difference in code like those between Python and C, but I know jack besides the basics of C++, thanks to university, so I’m sure there was plenty that I was still missing.
Overall, the gains were amazing, and yet… I still had this constant feeling like there was something missing, but for the life of me I couldn’t think of what that thing was, and the more I tried to reach for it, the further away it felt.
Still, there was something else that I needed to address before I had to go back and deal with the outside world, which had become eerily quiet when everyone got notifications for whatever they had done in the fight.
“Good job on the modification for those announcements: much clearer and easy to read. But I couldn’t fail to notice that part where it mentioned the [System] releasing some of its control over me. What was that about?”
You would not believe how much I had to wrestle with the constraints of the System to further personalize your panels, but I think it was worth it.
And about that part about “partially lifted” constraints… long story short, you’ll now have to actively push your Stats in that category into the shape that you want your growth to take; long story long: for example, one might want to focus their [Energy] into increasing the size of their available [MPs], but in your specific case it would make more sense to push for a qualitative upgrade of your energies instead, and now you can decide how these points you are getting will influence your future growth.
“I won’t lie and say that it doesn’t sound amazing, and the degree of personalization is nice, but I also have to admit that it’s a bit daunting that now, without prior notice, I have to suddenly decide things that will affect me for the rest of my life.”
That is called LIFE, Darwin.
“…Know what? Touché [Buddy], touché.”
The [System] was a tool given to increase the speed of growth and avoid error when building one’s foundations, but in the end, it was limiting, because it couldn’t be infinitely inclusive and I highly doubt that people could become [Gods] and [Demi-Gods] with just following a set path.
On that last point, I’m almost certain that the difference between a [God] and a [Demi-God] is that the first is a trailblazer in its specific domain that knows a lot more about the subject they incarnate than the latter. That does make me wonder what happens when someone learns more about a subject than its given [God].
We sit down like respectable adults and challenge each other’s knowledge of the discussed domain by debating the depth of understanding we each have,
In the end, the one that has more clearly understood the debated domain will feel a pull from the world and every spark of divinity associated with the challenged subject goes to the victor.
Nothing as violent as you’ve been imagining, but I do admit that already being a God of the relevant domain does give a few advantages that make it so almost impossible for a [True God] to lose.
“I think that is the longest you ever spoke to me non-in-person, while also providing a clear and concise explanation.
Which makes me think that you’re lying.”
Now, that’s just insulting!
I never lied to you, and the one time when I speak plainly about some information, that I think you deserve, this is the kind of thanks that I get in return?
Unbelievable.
“Ok, fair. I’m sorry, but almost every interaction we’ve had kind of compelled me to react in certain ways to you when you sound honest.”
A “sorry” followed by a “but” is never a good apology, especially when you’re trying to make it sound like it’s my fault for being untrustworthy.
“That is what I trying to do.”
You’re the worst.
“I’m pretty sure I have just met worse.”
Fair.
My discussion with the [Goddess of Luck] was interrupted just as suddenly as it started, by someone barging in and interrupting what had been going on until then.
In this case, it was Sir Prise, looking as serious as ever.
“The [Guild Masters] have decided to hold a small conference, now that the fighting has officially ended, and have asked for your presence.”
“I’m sorry, but [Guild Masters], as in plural?” I found myself asking.
“Yes: The [Crafting Guild Master], the [Magic Guild Master], and the [Adventurer Guild Master]”, for my ease Prise listed them out, reminding me of how exactly the [Rainbow Guild] was divided.
There were more departments inside of it, but those three were how they were generally meshed together: Fighting, Researching, and Making.
“Well, since the big shots want me there, I was almost expecting for them to ‘demand’ my presence.”
“They tried. Ruby was convinced otherwise”, Merga said while appearing right next to the [Knight Captain], startling both her and Undine at my side, although the latter managed to better hide her reaction.