The process of one’s own creation was rather hard to define. One moment the entity wasn't there and the next it was. If there had been any steps prior to this event, or if there had been anything prior to it, would be left for the void to answer, for the entity knew nothing about it.

It knew little of anything when it started to think about it. Or maybe it would have been better to call it to start thinking in any conceivable way. The first thought of a line of thoughts that never seemed to stop was about its own existence, however short that existence was.

Time. Things moved through time. It was a dimension, much like the space around it was all squashed into a few of those. The name itself was cemented in the entity's mind faster than anything else as if the concept had been thought about thousands of times before. Though, there was a higher chance that it was due to the relative emptiness inside the mind rather than its ability to comprehend the topic itself.

The entity existed and was therefore constrained within the dimensions. It had a place inside the dimensions, a point where all the dimensions had it sitting there. It took up space in the world, a world that it knew nothing about other than the fact that it existed. For if there was no world, how did the entity have a place to be? It was nothing but logic.

Logic. Logic and lies. If there was something that was true, there needed to be the polar opposite. The concept of opposites was hard to determine inside the entity’s mind, but it became more clear as time passed. It was within the space. That was the truth. A lie was to think that it wasn’t. There was no need for the lie to be there, however, for it would only bring contradictions. So the entity threw away the idea of lies, not able to see a purpose for it. Who would need such a thing, the tool only making it harder for oneself?

Itself… the thought allowed for the idea of something other than itself. Something that thought, something that had concepts ingrained into their being, yet also something that wasn’t the entity but another entity. The concept of more than a single entity, of groups, of masses, of something that would make it possible to gather so much more.

Time had allowed the entity to gain much, yet it knew that other entities could have gained something else. It wanted what the others had gained, it wanted to know what others had gained. Information, thoughts, and everything in-between could be shared without the original entity losing anything, so why would it not seem obvious to do. Though… that left the question of how to come in contact with the other entities.

Dimensions came back into the entities mind. On the four axes, the four pillars of space, a single point was there the entity existed. It was a single point in a vast, possibly infinite amount of points. Yet the location of the point could be changed. This then begged the question of the possibility of the entities having the same point.

How did the act of communication work? The entity wondered as such, not sure that the simple act of overlapping within the spatial constraints would work. There had to be more to it, something that would allow for easier trading. There had to be something more… easy. Something that made everything fit together.

Like a puzzle with only one piece missing, the entity went into thought once again, as it had done many times between its more important ideas. Some of those thinking sessions lasted thousands if not millions of thoughts. So many thoughts that it would have seemed overwhelming to the entity when it was having its first thoughts.

Not in the current moment, however. Time was irrelevant when it came to gathering thoughts. It could create so many of them, yet so few of them actually proved to be worth the time spent on them. Most just turned into dead-ends, idiotic bits of logic, or just reached conclusions that had already been reached previously. Trying to manipulate where thought would go was hard if not impossible, yet it needed to be done if any success was to be found.

Manipulation… that was a key thought. It had been repeated so many times that the entity had trouble recounting where it even began thinking about it. The entity just knew that it was important, the act of manipulating thoughts being vital to successful changes to the outcome. Manipulation of thoughts would allow for a physical change.

Or was that how it worked? A random thought in the entity’s brain suggested there was a difference. Every thought the entity had was all centred around itself, its own mentality. Everything in its mentality was not bound directly by the physical plane, being closer to only just barely linked to it through the physical body that it inhabited.

Why would manipulation of its thoughts create a difference in the physical realm? The entity wondered why it had thought as such to begin with, only now seeing the flaws in its own thoughts. How intriguing the way back-sight worked. If the entity spent a million more thoughts thinking of its own actions, would more of such flaws be found?

…

The entity decided that there was a chance of such, yet it had no intention of doing such a thing. Right in front of it was a much more promising path to take, a path that had the potential to prove vital for the further gathering of information.

Differences between the physical and mental parts of the entity were clear since only one of them was able to influence the physical realm directly. While the mental connection to the physical world allowed for manipulation through indirect efforts, such a connection would need to be fully focused on, lest the mental aspect would prove to be as worthless the lies the entities beliefs had been built upon.

No, instead of trying to think the solution forth, the entity had to use what it already had at its disposal. It was pure logic that it had some physical component, someplace where it was stored. It was only a question of time before it realised how to use it.

Using it. That was the hard part. The entity had only tried out thinking, making thoughts, and nothing else beyond that. It was hard to try something it hadn’t done before when it quite literally had no point of reference for how it was meant to be done. It was like trying to unlock what had never been seen before, like… the entity had trouble thinking of instances that seemed similar. It knew for a fact that there were some, yet its mind refused to supply them no matter what. How utterly peculiar.

Going back to the matter at hand, the entity could do nothing but try things out, pushing parts of its mind never pushed before. There was no feedback at any point, no message that things were going as intended, to the point where the entity had to wonder if it was even doing something. But… something did happen. Something that the entity had to wonder about for a long time. Just as there was something that responded to its whims, another kind of sensation overwhelmed its senses.

New [Skill] has been acquired!

You have learned: [Mana-Manipulation]

How curious a sensation it was, the feeling of… something being changed around in the entity’s body. How would it describe it? Again, it had trouble with it, the flow being unlike anything it had ever tried to feel before. Yet the feeling wasn’t without more gifts. In fact, the feeling of current, the feeling of an elongated shape, allowed it to feel its own confines. The entity was allowed to feel the borders of where it existed, allowed to feel where it was in the world. Yet… it couldn’t feel anything beyond that. When the wall of itself was pressed, nothing would come from it, and the entity would remain within its own body.

That would not do. That wouldn’t do at all. The entity would not allow it, refusing to accept such a setback from the start. It had already gained so much knowledge, spent so much time on it, and there was no chance that it would allow itself to be alone within its own body. It would get the knowledge of what was on the outside. It would feel it. It would sense it.

New [Skill] has been acquired!

You have learned: [Mana-Sense]

Yet again the sensation came back. Yet… it also came back with so much more. Having pressed on the walls for so long, the entity was finally able to press out more. It was allowed to sense outside of itself, see what lied beyond it. And it was beautiful. The flows of… Mana was everywhere. Everything shined, everything was there, and nothing was a part of the entity itself.

It was a part of something greater. Something that reached beyond what it had ever known, ever seen, and it would be sure to know every part of it. There was no chance that it would ever stop learning more.

That was one of the few promises the entity would ever make. For the promises made was the truth and it did not lie.

Welcome [Core]

Through luck, hardship, or will you have been granted sentience. You now have access to the [Tutorial]