A blank smile remained on Alenes face to hide how creeped out she was by Miss Fenn like usual. It wasn't like old people scared her, but Miss Fenn in particular was just weird, even though her status sheet gave her a perfectly normal 0 Strength, 0.1 Movement, 0.1 Reflexes, 0.5 Willpower, and 0.5 Psyker. She was an intense, to-the-point, no-nonsense woman, and was horrifically rude. But, as much as Alenes loved to hate on her, she did in fact inevitably let them stay in her spare room which used to be her sons. 'Crotechy old hag... but at least she treats cousin well. Hmph! Trying to teach me how to be a 'lady' I can be a lady perfectly well, thank you very much! Just to me, being a lady isn't batting my eyelashes at a medieval peasant while staying at home all day. Hmph!'

Eventually, the conversation that she had been ignoring between her cousin, Miss Fenn, and of course herself eventually died down, and she let out a small yawn, her eyes blearily closing in sleepiness. She was faking it of course - but it was convincing enough. "I'm sleepy cousin..." At her trailed-off words, he huffed.

"Alright little one, you've had a long day. What do you say to Miss Fenn?"

"Thank you, Miss Fenn, good night!"

The old hag sniffed, and her green eyes gleamed with intelligence as she stared directly into Alenes eyes. "Goodnight child, remember to get up bright and early for our lessons tomorrow. I'm sure they'll be invigorating since you're so tired tonight." There was a twitch to the old woman's gnarled lips as her eyes gleamed knowingly. 'Old hag... she's had too many children and can see through my cuteness. She's going to be difficult to train around. Luckily, I'll have my night time training.'

So, Alenes nodded her head and walked off 'blearily' towards the room she now inhabited, her cousin staying behind to continue too speak with Miss Fenn. Closing the door behind her, a sigh escaped from her lips. 'Today's been a long day, but I don't think I can wait any longer. It's a shame my willpower didn't increase. System, please increase my Willpower.'

Status Point used, Willpower increased to 0.8 from 0.7

Once more heat spread across her body. Her mind turned foggy as joyous bliss filled her, with a snap of startling clarity her blue eyes she at one point closed snapped open. Yet, she remained frozen. She did not speak, but her eyes rapidly darted about. Inside of her mind, there was controlled chaos as thought line after thought line appeared, was rapidly processed, and then completed. Once more, it was as if her brain was fundamentally on a higher level compared too before. Memories long forgotten from her past life and this once were dredged up, ideas, thoughts, and knowledge of various topics found. Things she couldn't have even fathomed she knew, yet at some point or another had known, heard, or seen. From her first father working on the engine of his car, her 2nd father practicing with his sword, the page of a book she once saw about stress and its relation to the brain and the immune system. It was an intense, nay, insane amount of information that all of sudden Alenes had at her fingertips, and yet - not once was she overwhelmed. It was as if her brain - or more likely the system, had gently cradled all these memories, and possibly even more - waiting for just this moment.

More time passed before a sigh gently escaped her lips. 'This is a lot. But I could never regret it. Heh, I wonder if this is how Einstein felt?'

Congratulations on figuring out the ratio of raw Intellectual Prowess increase for Willpower pre for the system holder '1.0'!

Open notification for Skills Gains and Skill Improvements?

Whereas before she would stand in a stupor for a few seconds at the seemingly random system message, this time a grin crawled its way across her face as she immediately connected the dots. 'So before 1.0, each increment of Willpower increases my so-called and stupidly outdated measurement of IQ by 20 or so points. In other words, it increases my ability to make connections between ideas, promoting not just surface-level learning, but actual comprehension. Not only that, it increases the ethereal force known as Will, improves memory, allows me to picture things better, and at some point - will most likely allow multiple thought lines at one time. Not only that, but it seems to have some effect on neurons across the body, most likely as a way to help out reflexes in the mind-to-body connection.' Alenes paused for a moment, allowing herself to bask in the sheer oddity that her thoughts were just now before a huff escaped her. 'The gap between a 0.6 and a 0.8 truly is immense. Now then, System show me only RELEVANT Skill Gains and Skill Improvements.'

General Skill: Discipline has reached MAX Progress for Novice. Activate information transfer for Discipline?

General Skill: Prayer has reached MAX Progress for Novice. Activate information transfer for Prayer?

Progress with General Skill: Meditation made.

Progress with General Skill: Anger Inducement made.

Progress with Combat Skill: Hand to Hand made.

Progress with Combat Skill: Mental Shield made.

Progress with Psyker Skill: Warp Manipulation 8.25 made.

Progress with Psyker Skill: (S) Witch-Sight made.

Progress with Psyker Skill: (S) Energy Projection made.

Progress with Psyker Skill: (S) Emotion Reading made.

Combat Skill: Swordsmanship Gained. Starting at Novice.

'Well, shit.' Quickly perusing through the information, there was a brief moment of doubt at how useless her past life was, if she only gained one skill, before that was quickly and intellectually thrown away. 'My meditation skill has been incredibly important so far with leveling up Mental Shield, and on top of that - there's a horde of information I have that simply isn't on this list. Knowledge of the galaxy, the warp, and so much more. Including all my schooling. It's not that my last life was a waste, simply that I'm in a different, far more advanced, and deadly galaxy.' With her emotions and thoughts stabilized with startling speed and precision, Alenes turned her focus onto the top of the screen in front of her and mentally nodded. 'Activate information transfer, Discipline first.'

Whispers echoed throughout her mind, not on a carefully constructed lesson, but of simple teachings. Of what discipline was, and why it was important. Discipline was simple, it relied on one word 'control'. Control of yourself, of your habits, of your mind and body. A warrior trained a set way every day, only to break it - so that their willpower was honed, and their discipline sharpened. Each time a habit was broken, even temporarily it was made with determination and the cognizance of what you are doing. A scholar who went to the library every day, looking deep inside himself, and recognizing it was finally time to stop and take some time off. A nun, abstaining from lust and greed - for the worship of her god and what she believed was correct. An assassin standing still for days on end.

All of these were discipline, and so much more. But the why was far more important. If one did not know the why, then you did not have discipline, you did not have willpower. Instead, you where a machine that could be easily broken by any cog in your daily plan shifting or changing. You worked out every day, no matter the pain or sickness so that when you stopped, your will and mental fortitude would grow, in response to your discipline to come back to the pain, suffering, and boredom of training. After all, in the current millennium - it was the height of ease to use technology be it mechanical or medicine to keep your muscles in the shape they were currently in. You abstained from lust and greed, knowing that one day you would fall into it, and it was this discipline that would let you have the will to reach back into your god's arms, forgiving yourself, and once more abstaining. It was with discipline that an Assassin could stay in one place without moving, but it is was willpower that let them do this in the face of an enemy, deep in enemy lines.

All of this and more was true. But for her - one thing shone clearly. It was your discipline that taught the mind what was right and wrong, and so - it was her discipline that would let her recognize the workings of Chaos, and thus let her mighty willpower hone in. After all - what use was the will to do something no matter what, if you did not know something was wrong?

The whispers inside of her mind slowly faded away, and Alenes sat there on her bed pondering. 'That was, complex, confusing, long-winded, and at many times non-sensical. Yet, I understand. Discipline by itself is a non-sensical irrelevant skill. But, when backed up by other skills, a personality, a life, and the Willpower stat - it will be the key to my ability, and all Psyker's abilities to recognize Chaos and foreign taint, and to keep my sanity intact as my mind expands and reaches out in unfathomable ways, growing infinitely beyond mere humans. It will be discipline that will help me grow a solid base to not be corrupted, not just by Chaos, but by my ever-growing power, and it will be discipline that will make sure my Willpower does not act against me, turning me into an unstoppable agent of Chaos.' Content with her understanding of the knowledge imparted to her, Alenes thought, 'System. Prayer information please.'

This time, actual lessons taught by a shadowy figure echoed throughout her mind, yet it was also mixed with strange ethereal knowledge that came out of nowhere. Yet, her face remained blank, apart from a subtle twitch above her eyebrow. 'You cheeky fucker. You mixed the Cult Imperialis with Prayer?' So, she sat through what felt like years upon years of lessons about the God Emperor of Mankind, his greatness, the belief of the Imperium and its various different sects.... before finally, mercifully - it ended.

Would you like to see your Cult Imperialis skill level?

She could feel the amusement wafting off of the systems box, yet - seeing that the lettering was normal, and the colors as well, Alenes simply sighed. 'You're feeling cheeky today, aren't you?'

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Every time your Willpower increases my consciousness can descend, and I can freely say such because I know you won't change your path. Is it not a glorious day? Imagine all I can do in this time my mind is still in the Materium? A'las, such times of me being able to descend every week or two will soon stop.

Well. That was incredibly fucking disturbing. She honestly couldn't tell if this was the Eldar Harlequin God, a fucked up shard of the Emperor, a C'tan, an Old One, The unspoken Fifth Chaos God, the unspoken Sixth Chaos God, a Deep Warp Entity, or just one of the main Four Chaos Gods, but either way. Only two of those options were even remotely a good thing for her, and one of them was basically saying it was 'good' Shub-Niggurath was in her brain. 'Any chance you can promise you aren't going to destroy the galaxy, consume the Universe, or anything of such a nature I would find utterly appalling and would just kill myself now?'

At her words, there was a pregnant pause, before,

Quest Gained: Figure out with factual evidence who the Guide is.

In exchange: The Guide will grant you another choice, +2 Status Points, +1 Psyker (Max 19), A sword, a Suit, and ????.

(PS: You were right when you realized you were going to grow far past the boundaries of a human. Reality deems it so. Physics and all that.)

A small hand reached up to rub at her forehead. 'I'm really hoping you aren't a shard of the God Emperor. Or else the Imperium is totally and utterly fucked. I'd really love to not have too single-handedly save it because you went bat shit insane, and decided to pluck a soul from outside the Universe with your last bits of sanity.'

Quest Gained: Save the Imperi-

'No. Fuck off, wait till I can snap a Space Marine in half before trying that.' Almost as if actually listening to her will, the quest in the progress of forming paused, before it disappeared. 'Well, honestly can't believe that worked. Still, it's good confirmation that I do have some control, and I'm just going to ignore the fact that I'm going to for hundreds or thousands of years specifically tailor all my clothes in a size that doesn't even exist for women.'

A small sigh escaped from Alenes as she went from sitting to laying on her temporary bed, the rough scratchy pillow uncomfortable - but serviceable. 'Heh. that should help with Discipline.' As she settled into bed, it eventually came to the moment she had been delaying for a few days now. 'Adamus Clave... or the Schola Progenium? I see the pros and cons of both. Starting with the Schola, it will give me a wide array of skills that aren't just combat-based, including but not limited to squad tactics, army tactics, politics, bureaucracy, religion, proselytizing, galactic knowledge, and a somewhat inner working of various fields and factions in the Imperium. The cons? This means if I do get a skill for the overall training, I'll have to train them all in order to get the 'info dump', which should hopefully teach me about all the specialized fields which are the things I need right now, considering there's a Cult in my village and presumably Xenos somewhere on the world. The pros of the Adamus Clave are obvious as well. On the assumption that my plan doesn't work to get all the specialized classes the Schola Progenium teaches, and alternatively all the learnings of each Clave/Temple, the Adamus Clave will teach me to fight on a higher level than the Schola, and if I DO get all the teachings of the Temple/Claves they will outweigh all the specializations of the Schola Progenium. On top of that I'll learn all about blending in, diplomacy, politics, poisons, all sorts of herbs and plants grown across the galaxy, general galactic knowledge, and things of such nature. The cons are I won't learn army tactics, how to lead armies, or anywhere near as in-depth of a religious background. But - that is slightly offset luckily by the system deciding to be cheeky with the Prayer skill.'

Thoughts continued to ring out in her head, but eventually, it came down to one thing. 'I'm outnumbered, practically behind enemy lines, weaker, smaller, and need the skills to overcome this immediately. There's no telling what a cult of Nurgle could do if I wait the probably full five years it would take for the Schola training to make me to truly bloom. Is the Schola the better option for my 'main' quests? Probably. But for now, when I have to deal with an over six-foot tall abomination that everyone adores and is empowered by Chaos? In the end, I only see one option...System, I choose the Adamus Clave training.'

Adamus Clave training select. Designated year for training start: 008.M31

Alenes stared at the box hovering in front of her frustration having grown to a tipping point, but a deep, heavy rattling breath was taken and then she calmly thought to the system. 'I'll learn flesh crafting just so you can SUCK MY DICK YOU PIECE OF SHI-'

----------------------------------------

Reality wa- nay. She could not even describe this as reality. Non-existence flared around Her, warping and wavering. Time, space, and an uncountable number of dimensions were irrelevant as She stood amidst the quadrillions lights of subjectsfriendsbrotherssisterssonsdaughters She basked in Her infinitely finite powers. Her hand made out of the skin of the infinite Universes stretched, carving Her domain. A facsimile of home appeared in Her domain and as She crafted Terra itself in Her domain of unreality, a smile appeared on Her face. For Her subjectsfriendsbrotherssisterssonsdaughters would now be safe from the wrath o-

Perhaps I should have waited a few Psyker levels... Adamus Clave training starting.

Alenes suddenly experienced vertigo, and in the next secondhouryearwarptic found herself in the Materium once more, standing amidst a legion of children, looking upwards onto a podium far above. It took even her mind a few minutes to recover from whatever that was she just experienced, but by the time she did... 'Oh, that's my head.'

Adamus Clave training restarting in 15 minutes.

Seeing the message, Alenes paused - confused. Wasn't her head just cut off? With a blink, she recognized her surroundings. Once more she was in the middle of a legion of children, but there was no noise. No sound, no shifting. Not even the person on that podium was speaking. 'Oh, time is frozen?' It was an obvious conclusion considering the fact she couldn't move her body, and the fact that y'know, hundreds or even thousands of children weren't even slightly fidgeting. 'Aah, obviously. There's a red box with a timer ticking down. That should have been the first sign.' How did time work when time was frozen? Who knows. Perhaps, in another time, another place she could have given a theory, but for now? 'That's good... it gives me time to ignore my head was just cut off, and to calm down from whatever I just experienced.' Indeed, it took her the remainder of the fifteen minutes to regain a mere resemblance to calmness, and as the timer reached ten seconds, she finally gave herself a mental slap to the face. 'Alright! Get your hand in the game Alenes. You don't want to die another 20 times tonight, do you?!?' As the timer struck 0, the man on the podium began to speak.

"We are the loyal blades of the Emperor of Mankind, and the Imperium itself. We are the shadows lurking in the dark, the ones that hide to preserve Humanity. Our glorious Emperor of Mankind has returned to His throne on Terra and as such more than EVER, it is our duty to protect and enforce His will. At the Adamus Clave, we are not the finest sharpshooters in the galaxy. We are not face changers. We are not even the greatest blade masters. Of all the Claves in the Imperium, we are not even the greatest. But we are the deadliest. The other claves focus on numerous different things to supplement themselves in their assassination. Augmentation to enhance strength, drugs, abominations, shooting from a range the target is dozens of kilometers away, and so much more. While they focus on that - we focus on one thing. The blade, and speed. The best Assassin will kill from the shadows - yes. But we acknowledge sometimes you have to kill dozens to get to your target, while also keeping in mind the beauty and perfection of the Human form." The man paused, his face perfectly blank. "In order to know more, to gain our teachings, and our creed you must first officially join us... the last one hundred of you remaining will pass this stage of your training. You may begin."

Alenes hands fumbled towards the sheath of the sword that was on her back - but her draw was too slow. Once more, a blank-faced child silently lopped off her head with a single swing. 'This is going to be a long night...'

25 attempts later, after listening to the same speech 25 times, she had only managed to survive the first three blows of the Demon-child that kept decapitating her, only to wake up in 'her' scratchy bed, in Miss Fenn's house. 'That. Fucking. SUCKED!'

You've gained +0.1 Willpower from dying 26 times and ????. You've gained +1 Psyker from ????

Would you like to look at the log of skill increases?

'At least the Willpower and skill increase is good? Hey, this time I didn't have to deal with a Daemon invasion too! Honestly, that's pretty nice. Of course, increasing my Psyker talent by that much is very worrying, especially when I don't know what it's based on...' She stared into empty space, blue eyes completely blank. 'It can't be that simple. Can it? Surely not. Surely my Psyker stat isn't just a re-creation of the Assignment the Imperium uses?'

Congratulations on finding out what your Psyker stat is based upon!

Rewards: Being told at all times what level of raw Psychic power you have, +.5 Psyker, and 1 status point!

You may delay your rewards for up to 24 hours!

Alenes eyes remained blank, for a brief moment just being so exhausted with the last 9 or so hours, that she couldn't even dredge up the will to curse out the system, or her life. 'I'm gonna take a nap. I'll deal with you later. Why can't your rewards be a nice fluffy hug? A snuggle session? A good cake? Something normal and comforting?' As her complaints ended, her eyes closed shut, blocking out the world for at least hopefully an hour or two. 'Just... give me some time. No system messages please, it's been a lot recently, and it's hard to deal with that when your brain is constantly being empowered to absurd degrees.' With that said, her mind fell into a hazy not-quite dream state, only wakening when the sun was high in the sky.