***Velgo The Shadowborn***

"Gho-ho, so these wonderful fellows were the ones I've sensed?" Velgo said to Nenny's teammates, who had just returned to the Tribe’s base in the Dungeon’s Core room.

Each of the kobolds approached their Chief accompanied by one or two cherished animals.

Velgo bent down to pat one of the cute fellows on its head. This specimen, in particular, looked really noble with its beautiful white coat covered in black spots.

"Just as I suspected, these beings are the ones who gave the name to our Primary Concept—Dogs." The Shaman shared his wisdom with the rest of his brethren.

"Are you sure, Boss?!" One of the teammates exclaimed. "That is such an honor!"

Among the kobolds that were present in the hall, a commotion started. None of them had ever expected to actually meet the legendary animals that were the source of the Concept that was the core of their whole existence! As far as they knew, this species was extinct on their home planet.

"Who is a good boy?" Velgo asked with a smile as he petted the dog before him. "You are a good boy! Gho-ho-ho!"

The other kobolds were dumbfounded by their Chief's display of affection. Was this the same tyrant who had cleansed their ranks mere hours ago? Even those who had known him a long time couldn't remember when they had last seen Velgo The Shadowborn this peaceful and content.

No one dared to interrupt the Chief Shaman as he continued to greet one dog after another. Each of the animals responded very well to the monster's affection. It was to be expected, considering that having a Concept related to a creature allowed one to be perceived favorably by it.

After acquainting himself with each of the dogs, Velgo stood up before his subordinates, the usual stern expression returning to his face.

"You did a good job by bringing those lovely creatures to me so soon," he praised. "Nenny ended up being a more competent leader than I expected. . . Wait a minute, why can't I see him among you?"

The bravest of the teammates replied without worry. "Team leader told us to return while he himself chased a despicable scourge that dared try to escape from us!"

"A scourge, you say?" Velgo creased his brows. He was too preoccupied with playing with dogs to notice that each of the returned kobolds had a bag on his back. The Shaman sniffed the air carefully and understood what was going on.

"Oh, so you caught the vile creatures that tarnished this place with their delicious but sinful scent? I think that those are the Cats—the demonic creatures that are the Conceptual origin of our shameless adversaries. I hope at least some of them are still breathing? It would be too merciful to just kill them without some good old torture first, if you know what I mean, gha-ha-ha! Of course, after that, their tender meat will fill my stomach."

The team members were really glad that they had listened to Nenny's advice. They couldn't imagine how disappointed Velgo would have been if they had just butchered the cats without a second thought.

"A-actually. . . We didn't kill any of them by our leader's advice."

Hearing this, Velgo was in a really good mood. "Whoever dared to name him The Feeble?! With my authority as the Tribe’s Chief, I declare that from now on, he is to be called Nenny The Wise!"

Unbeknownst to the weakest kobold of the Shadowbark tribe, his greatest dream had come true!

Being unable to contain his anticipation, Velgo made one of the kobolds open his bag. With a sadistic grin, the Chief took a trembling grey kitten, barely a month old, in his almost pitch black hand.

"You know what? I have a really great idea. Since you guys gathered a bunch of those wicked snacks, then how about we breed them like cattle? In this way, we will always have a delicacy to please our tongues! Of course, only the most hardworking of you will have the honor of savoring them."

The kobolds looked at their Chief with awe as if he was the smartest person in the Omniverse. Even if none of them had ever eaten a cat, they instinctively knew how blissful it would taste.

"Of course, they are still stinky, so let's keep them on one of the higher floors. . . I'll make Nenny The Wise responsible for arranging—"

Velgo stopped his sentence halfway and exclaimed, "What?!"

As a Dungeon Keeper, he could sense the state of his Minions inside the Dungeon. And just now. . . one of them just perished! Moreover, it happened far from the Minion's Zone! The worst news was the identity of the defeated.

Unable to contain his fury, Velgo opened his maws wide and swallowed the poor kitten in one go, shocking the surrounding kobolds.

"You idiots! Your team leader just died on the twentieth floor! Go and find out what happened to him, and don't you dare to return before you catch the culprit, dead or alive!"

The team members obeyed the order instantly, glad to escape their Chief's wrath. But one thing really didn't make sense to them. No matter how Feeble their leader was, he wouldn't lose to a little cat, would he? Perhaps, they had something unexpected to worry about. . .

***Lex Lurker***

You have slain [Shadowbark Kobold - Bronze, Level 4]! You receive a 40% Bonus EXP for killing a being above your Level! You receive 4 Lesser Essence Coins (LEC)!

Level Up! Congratulations on embarking on the path of a Player—you are now Level 1! You receive 4 Free Attribute Points (FAP).

Fap, really? I'd chuckle if I weren't such a mature adult.

Those two were messages that you would see in an RPG and were totally expected by me. They were just the beginning, though.

You've completed a Common Rarity Quest—

[Novice: The New Beginning Part 1]! Congratulations on completing your first Quest! Distributing the rewards. . .

Your Class has been set to [Novice]!

Unconverted Inner Essence detected. Most creatures can't use Pure Essence—first, they need to convert it into one of its more refined forms. For the majority of beings, the only choice is to transform their Essence into Vita, become a Lifewalker, and enter the Path of Life. For the beings with more developed minds like yours, another option is available—becoming a Soulwalker and following the Path of Soul, which transforms your Essence into Mana. Lastly, for a chosen few, becoming a Truthwakers on the Path of Harmony is a possibility to consider. Choose your Path, Player!

A semi-transparent blue menu appeared before me. It contained three blue boxes that described the cons and pros of each of the options.

Path Selection:

Lifewalker—a sentient being that converted its Inner Essence into Vita. Vita is a type of energy that's directly linked to your Body and Nerve Attributes, though Fate can influence it as well. The following Disciplines are available to Lifewalkers: Surge (Elemental), Lifebending (Biotic), Technique (Occult), Augmentation (Ego).

Pros:

The easiest Path to enter for most species, including yours, as physical Attributes are the fastest to train. Gain a 50% greater increase to your lifespan compared to Soulwalkers of the same Rank and Race and a 25% greater increase compared to Truthwalkers. Increased chance to gain strong close-combat capabilities that are well suited for one-on-one combat and the role of a tank or damage dealer in a party. Gain a defensive Essence Field which is superior to that of Soulwalkers, though not as good as that of Truthwalkers. In addition, from your Discipline, gain the ability to take the most damage of all paths before factoring in Class, and, overall, gain high resistance against physical status effects. Gain access to distinct Class Paths that allow you to deeply specialize in one of the Disciplines.

Cons:

Possess lackluster supportive abilities. Long-range abilities are extremely rare, leaving Lifewakers at a disadvantage in large open fields. Lifewakers are vulnerable to mental and magical status effects. As the most common and well-known type of Players, more strategies have been developed to counter Lifewakers than any other type.

Requirements: The sum of your Body and Nerve Attributes must be at least 30. Your current total is 12—FAILURE.

Sounds cool, but I can't really choose this option because of my lackluster stats. I can see why it would be the most common choice among the others, though. . . If they are also given some time to train in the Tutorial, I'm sure that many can achieve the necessary Body and Nerve scores, and experienced athletes would be qualified from the start. The other two Paths seem to have harsher requirements, and the enticement of an increased lifespan would be too much. . . Well, at least I confirmed that the numerical values of my Attributes that I can see doesn’t include the decrease.

Since the last time I had checked, my stats had improved due to the disappearance of the two status effects. The injury didn't seem to decrease my Attributes, and the Level-up didn't automatically increase them either.

Body: 7 (-2)

Nerve: 9 (-2)

Mind: 13

Spirit: 21

Fate: 10

Free Attribute Points: 4

So, my effective Body should be equal to five and Nerve to seven, twelve in total.

I continued browsing my options.

Soulwalker—a sentient being that converted its Inner Essence into Mana. Mana is a type of energy that's directly linked to your Mind and Spirit Attributes, though Fate can influence it as well. The following Disciplines are available to Soulwalkers: Spellcraft (Elemental), Conjuration (Biotic), Mystic Arts (Occult), Psionic Arts (Ego).

Pros:

Soulwalkers have a wide variety of abilities suitable for offense, defense, and support. The Path of the Soul allows you to invest in Mind and Spirit Attributes that don't have any battle relevance for Lifewalkers but are of utmost importance to Soulwalkers. Gain powerful long-range abilities and participate in battles from afar, win without even giving a chance to your opponent. Gain abilities that allow you to create or summon beings that can not only help in fights, but everyday life as well. Gain superior resistance to magic and mental attacks as well as to magic and mental status effects. Soulwalkers are indispensable in group fights.

Cons:

Most abilities require some time to activate or can be interrupted easily, making Soulwalkers weak at close combat. Soulwalkers require the protection of their Lifewalker allies to show their true power. Soulwalkers are vulnerable to physical attacks and physical status effects. Soulwalkers have the shortest lifespan of any Players.

Requirements: The sum of your Mind and Spirit Attributes must be at least 30. Your current total is 34—SUCCESS.

So, basically, it's the Path of a glass cannon? Hmm. . . Considering that I don't have any allies, this is not a good choice for me on the surface, but I also have an advantage when it comes to sudden attacks, thanks to my Void-related Trait that improves stealth and makes it harder for others to notice me. . . If I can ambush unsuspecting opponents with powerful magic, then it wouldn't matter that I have no support. Moreover, isn't one of this Path's pros the fact that Soulwalkers can create their own allies?!

The more I thought about it, the more I liked this choice. It also helped that it was the only option of the three that I was qualified for. . . or not? I hadn’t forgotten the Beacon of Humanity Perk that would allow me to enter the Path of Harmony regardless of the requirements.

Truthwalker—a sentient being that converted its Inner Essence into Vita and Mana equally. Only a chosen few can access this Path among your kin. With both Life and Soul at your fingertips, you are just one step away from eminence. . . or doom, if you aren't careful enough. To achieve true Harmony, you need to keep your Fate high enough. The Disciplines of both Lifewalkers and Soulwalkers are open to you, but, in addition, two others become available: Authority (Charisma) and Miracle (Luck).

Pros:

Truthwalkers can use abilities that require Vita or Mana, granting them both close and long ranged abilities, making Truthwalkers the most versatile Players, well suited for all types of combat and capable of hunting monsters on their own. As long as they keep their Essence balanced, Truthwalkers have more Race Evolution options than the other two types of Players, which compensates for the fact that Lifewalkers have a longer lifespan by default. Truthwalkers have large-scale abilities that can make them into a one-man army at higher Ranks. Authorities that can crush or empower whole armies and terrifying, though time-consuming, Miracles that can elevate or devastate entire cities are, ironically, tools available only to those choosing the Path of Harmony. Truthwalkers have moderate resistance to all types of damage and status effects, as well as the strongest Essence Field, making them almost as tough as Lifewalkers. The Path of Harmony is the perfect path from which to command large groups and become the leader of your people. Truthwalkers are respected as the cream of the crop of their Progeny Type both by their peers and other sentients.

Cons:

While Lifewalkers and Soulwalkers have a basic Class available for each of their Disciplines, giving them five options to choose from, Truthwalkers, by default, are limited to only Paragons (Authority, Charisma), Invokers (Miracle, Luck), and Novices (no specialization). This makes it impossible for them to specialize in one of the Disciplines related to direct combat. Truthwalkers are hard pressed to excel at a specific role, being not as good in close combat as Lifewalkers and inferior in long-range combat to Soulwalkers. Large-scale abilities take a long time to prepare or require extra attention or resources to be sustained, putting the Truthwalker in a vulnerable position. As the less common Path with the highest variability, it's hard to find any information to use to plan ahead on your Build. Furthermore, choosing the wrong Skills and Concepts can make it extremely hard for you to advance, if not outright impossible. You can only rely on yourself and Fate.

Requirements: The sum of your Body and Nerve Attributes must be at least 40, the sum of your Mind and Spirit Attributes must be at least 40, your Fate must be at least 20. Your current parameters are, respectively, 12, 32, and 10—FAILURE.

So it's basically a Jack of all trades, master of none, but with a twist of having some imbalanced cheat skills, similar to nuclear weapons that can't be easily used? On the one hand, they need support to use their strongest cards, but on the other, they can hunt monsters on their own better than ordinary Players. . . Those requirements, though, are insane. If not for the Perk, I wouldn't even be able to think about choosing this option.

Of course, I wasn't unaware of the fact that I had gotten a whole four free Attributes just for gaining a Level. Didn't it mean that as long as you got enough EXP, you would have enough stats to qualify for the rarest option? Unfortunately, the next part of the message made it crystally clear that it wasn't possible to "cheat" your way to success by slaying unsuspecting monsters.

Notice! You can't Level-Up past Level 1 until you complete the Conversion. Still, you can take as much time as you need to train your body and mind. The only restriction is the time limit of the Tutorial Trials. The longer you take, the less time you have to complete the rest of the Trials. The requirements for the Paths are calculated based on the average characteristics of your Race and Progeny Type, and they will change as your species adapts to the new reality. In general, everything is balanced in a way that, even after completing your training in the Development Trial, about 80% of you will become Lifewalkers, 19.999% Soulwalkers, and 0.001% Truthwalkers. The System will detect any artificial attempts to influence the proportion of Paths in a given population and will adjust the requirements accordingly. Essence Conversion is necessary to allow Genesis System to enhance your Life, Soul, and Essence Codes in a stable way. Completing this process will enable you to generate your own protective Essence Field and use Concepts to your advantage.

So warriors are going to be most common, while mages are relatively rare and human-shaped strategic weapons are limited to one in hundred thousand. . . Still, considering the whole population of nearly eight billion, it's really frightening. Then again, at lower Ranks, they are just supposed to be ordinary all-rounders with above-average leadership abilities. Also, this notice is a very obvious hint that the System doesn't blindly throw people at powerful monsters but allows them to train first. It's good to know that Mom and Lisa have it better than me.

The final part of the notification made me really feel jealous of all those "kidnapped" people.

Warning! Essence Conversion is completely harmless and has zero failure rate, but as it restructures your Life, Soul, and Essence Codes, it can be an unpleasant experience. On average, the process lasts 20 minutes for Lifewalkers, 40 minutes for Soulwalkers, and 80 minutes for Truthwalkers. Of course, considering that you are currently in the safe Development Trial, there's nothing to worry about! Just avoid doing it in public places.

Safe, my ass. . . If I get found by the kobolds while in the process of my transformation, everything will be over. Also, what do you mean by it being unpleasant? I hope it doesn't hurt too much. I’ve had enough pain—both physical and mental—for the day already.

I was faced with two problems at the moment. First, I needed to make sure that I wouldn't be found when at my weakest. Second, I still wasn't sure if I really wanted to choose Beacon of Humanity Perk which had the Path of Harmony in tow. Becoming a Soulwalker seemed to be a better option, at least short-term, as I severely lacked the minimal Attributes for Truthwalker.

Even if I used Beacon to become a Truthwalker, who knows how the disparity between my current stats and the System required ones could affect me? Moreover, being vulnerable for forty minutes is still better than being useless for eighty, right?

I really felt that the Path of Soul was the safest option. Moreover, the Shadow of Humanity had good synergy with the Path of Soul and my own peculiarity. This Perks's description wasn't as long and convoluted as that of Humanity's Beacon, and its effects weren't as beneficial to humankind as a whole, but I personally found it well suited to me.

Shadow of Humanity (Legendary)—You are the one who protects your kind from the Shadows. You can interfere with abilities that give others information about your Status—altering what others can perceive about your Status to make your Level seem lower, to change your displayed Class and Race, and to completely hide your Titles. When you are alone, you deal 100% more damage to Bosses. Criticals from ambushing an opponent deal 50% more damage. Passively increases the effect of your Luck by 50% and increases your Affinity with Shadow Concept by 20%. This Perk permanently removes you from the Hall of Fame. Improves with your advancement in Rank. Can become a Title of its own.

The last of the bonus Perks—Guardian of Humanity—was somewhere in between the two others and seemed to be designed for Lifewalkers in particular.

Why can't I decide? It's strange. . .Isn't this rationalization of how much better the Shadow Perk is just an excuse to keep me from embarking on an unfamiliar path? The dream I saw just before my awakening. . .Wasn't it a dream about me being acknowledged by others and becoming someone who is worthy of being with Lisa? If I choose to become the beacon of humanity, wouldn't everything change for me? No longer would I be just an observer. . . a shadow. Wouldn't it make me a "protagonist" of sorts? And she would be my heroine. And yet, a part of me wants to keep the status quo even when I have the opportunity to turn my fate around. . . What do I really want?

I fell deep in thought, realizing that this was a decision that would determine the rest of my life. No, this wasn't just about the bonuses provided by Genesis System. It was about my deepest desires and motivations. . .

At this critical moment, a high-pitched voice complained, "You really take your time thinking about useless things, don’t you, human?"