CHAPTER 23
“Everyone remembers their first Advancement. For those who feel trapped, it is cathartic. Finally, they have some agency - they have a choice. For others, it is a confirmation as their paths begin to actualize. Some groups treat the occasion as a person’s first steps into adulthood, regardless of their age. I personally think it is an unwise tradition, but to each their own.”
~Unknown
A sense of awareness returned to me. It was an awareness of self, but not of form. Around me, there was darkness. Nothing… Something had gone horribly wrong! I couldn’t endure that, not again. If I died then-
Wait… no… I’m not certain.
I still remembered my time in The Nothing, that liminal space in between that which both was and was not. The experience had been branded onto my soul, such that the mere prospect of returning almost rendered me spiritually catatonic. It was the unnatural certainty of my situation at the time - the knowing that my life had ended, that tortured me the most. Right now, that feeling was absent.
This is not The Nothing.
The realization was like the shattering of glass. A soft blue glow began to emanate from everywhere and nowhere. As it washed over me, my body returned. Or, perhaps, merely my awareness of it did. I felt my feet alight on solid ground, though the space I was in still lacked form or substance. Standing on nothing felt like a petty, personal victory. The light began to swirl and converge to a single location. It cast no shadows, for it wasn’t light in the literal sense. It was power, and that power began to coalesce in front of me. It was warm. It was familiar.
My sense of self expanded, like opening eyes I didn’t know I had. I knew where I was. This was my core, my inner world, the seat of my budding power. The light, now solid and faceted like luminous aquamarine, was Perseverance. Except, it wasn’t actually a gemstone. The space around me resonated with the thought, prompting me towards a new answer. I saw my chosen Skill Augmentations glowing within Perseverance, each a slightly different shade of blue. This was my Core Skill, my raw potential, that from which my Advancement would… would grow. Perseverance wasn’t a gemstone.
It’s a seed.
Perseverance pulsed, the energy within suddenly wild and overflowing. It slammed into the solid foundation of emptiness I stood upon, burying itself into my core in a way it never had before. Pain exploded in my conjured body, echoing the suffering of the real one. It started from the center of my being and quickly began to spread. Perseverance pulsed again, lending me the strength I needed to endure, to see past the pain.
An impossibly intricate system of crystalline roots began to extend beneath Perseverance, burrowing their way into the bedrock of my spiritual core. All was fire and heat and misery as I felt mirrored pathways carved into my body. It was like nothing I had ever felt before, transcending the realms of agony I believed to be possible. I’d suffered marathon migraines in my first life, the kind that promised relief if I took a power drill to my eye socket. This was worse. It was so much worse.
Every pulse of bluish energy rippled through the expanding tangle of growth, sending shudders through my body that carried with them a fresh wave of hell. My expression locked in a silent scream. Time lost all meaning. I knew only the tendrils of power raging rampant through my system.
An invisible turning point was reached, some hidden threshold that inspired a sudden change.
It was like watching a timelapse of miraculous growth. The gem-like seed began to sprout into a crystalline tree. It carried the essence of Perseverance, turning it into something more. Small leaves began to unfurl from tiny offshoots, reminding me of the foliage you’d see on an oak. They danced in nonexistent wind and bore the sheen of polished sapphires. Collectively, I knew they represented my Skill Augmentations, a supporting structure for the greater whole.
As the sprout became a seedling in truth, and the roots reached as deep as they currently dare, the pulses of energy began to slow. Like blessed rain in a desert, I finally felt flashes of relief. The pain started to fade. Heat roiled at my center, a final kernel of power born from Advancement. A System screen made itself known, the first I had seen since losing consciousness in the kennel.
Advancement successful.
Please choose two additional Skills to finalize Advancement. Threshold proficiency must have been demonstrated for a Skill to be an eligible choice.
There it was, an opportunity to incorporate two additional Skills into my core. This was the part of the process Tina had prepared me for, leaving me under the impression that this was all Advancement entailed. Evidently, I had been grossly misinformed. As to why…
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One problem at a time.
A second screen opened, this one listing several dozen randomly selected Skills that I was eligible for. The gentle thrum of latent energy in Perseverance helped me focus on the choice at hand and compartmentalize the lingering agony left by a magical tree growing inside of me.
Yeah… didn’t think I’d ever have to string that sequence of words together.
I let myself sink into the relative quiet of my core space and studied the list arrayed before me. Crawling was on the list, which made me chuckle; Acting [Childlike] made me feel guilty; seeing Babysitting felt vindicating and I almost regretted that Riding [Dog] would not be a practical choice in the long term. There were others, of course, some more esoteric than others. Truly, it was an eclectic collection, but none of them drew my eye for more than a passing glance.
Fortunately, much like on that night when I was barely beyond my infancy, I could make requests. As an added bonus, unlike that night, I wasn’t under a strict time limit to do so…
Okay, that’s not entirely true. If I spend too long deliberating then my actual body might starve to death. At the very least, I have longer than 3 minutes.
I found myself once again baffled by the seemingly arbitrary time limit imposed on me during my Core Skill selection. Perseverance flared, snapping my attention back to the matter at hand.
“System, show me any magical Skills I qualify for.” I learned that words were secondary to intent when interacting with the System. If one were to get pedantic - and I almost did when Tina was sharing examples of Skill categories to ask about during the selection - they could argue that all Skills, when bolstered by The System, were ‘magical’. I wasn’t asking for that, though. I wanted to see magical Skills as I knew of them from story, myth, and whatever Tina’s display of power was. The System was quick to oblige.
Mana Sense
Mana Sense [Tactile]
Taming
Taming [Dog]
Mana. It was nice to have a System-approved name for the energy I subconsciously gathered in my core. Either that or it was another case of The System translating the closest approximation for me.
“Not important, Will. Focus,” I chided. Normally, I didn’t talk aloud to myself, but it wasn’t technically aloud so I allowed myself the novelty. Mana Sense was unexpected, doubly so for the tactile specialization. I reflected on the weight I felt when Tina and Vigil rescued me.
That must have been their mana… It was raw, unpracticed, and ignited by a veritable fuck-tonne of adrenaline, but some part of me had been able to touch upon the Skill, even without The System directly granting me the ability. I filed that knowledge away for later. There was also the possibility that some form of Mana Sense would be needed to eventually learn Spellscript, but without any prospects for a teacher it felt like a moot point.
As for Taming, Tina had been confident I’d qualify for the Skill.
“But you did not actually ever teach me anything about Taming,” I complained when she claimed as much. Tina’s response was to gently poke at my chest and say that qualifying for the Skill was not something that could be explicitly taught. Her opinion was that you were either someone with an aptitude for Taming, or you weren’t. According to her, I had the knack.
She went on to add that developing a relationship with Vigil, who was himself bonded through the Skill, was also a mark in my favor. I quickly concluded that her thoughts on the matter were biased, if genuine. It was not a Skill without risks, a point Tina didn’t have to argue hard to make me understand. I’d seen the possible side effects first hand. Even so, I found myself drawn to the Skill.
As it turns out, an encounter with fire-wreathed fueha can do a lot to change a man’s priorities. If Vigil hadn’t intervened when he did, I would have died. Full stop. End of story. Presumably, eventually, I’d need to strike out into this monster-filled world on my own. The thought of having a companion with me - a protector - made that prospect marginally less terrifying.
I steeled my resolve and made the choice.
You have chosen Taming [Dog] as one of your Advancement Skills.
Please choose one additional Skill to finalize Advancement. Threshold proficiency must have been demonstrated for a Skill to be an eligible choice.
The part of me that still daydreamed about soaring on the back of a dragon, or riding atop a dire bear lamented not taking the general Skill. It felt like the abandonment of exciting possibilities… but I wasn’t picking the Skill for fun or excitement. I picked it because I didn’t want to end up like the little boy who had his arm and leg chewed off by monsters. I picked it because I loved dogs. I knew dogs.
I still miss my dog… Yeah, this was the right choice for me.
The gentle thrum of energy permeating my core space increased in tempo, emboldened by the first choice and incorporating notes of the slowly forming Skill. I dismissed the System window containing magical options. Every subsequent Advancement would depend on my surviving long enough to reach it. Mana Sense wouldn’t help me do that. I needed Skills that would, and I had the perfect one in mind.