The betterment of the universe is, at its most basic, a self-interested pursuit of survival, of growth and advancement.

~ System Welcome Monologue

POV - Tad

[Observation] pinged me. My meditations on future greatness were over. Bother.

I froze as I tried to identify what had triggered the alert. A vibration fizzled through the side of the chasm wall. I froze even deeper. Whatever was making the ground vibrate was significantly bigger than a Trashbug. This was bad. I was not yet sufficiently overpowered. I need time. And space. And preferably no interruptions or distractions please.

It was not to be. No, I was at the mercy of the System. I kicked myself. Why oh why, had I provoked it? That had been just asking for trouble.

The vibrations grew stronger. The vibrator was getting closer. This was very very bad. The whole ridge was now almost continuously vibrating. I got to my feet and braced myself against the side of the chasm. I did not want to get buried. I did not want to get out though. Here at least I had the dubious safety of being out of sight. Perhaps it wouldn’t see me and continue stomping up the valley.

The ground was fully shaking now. I triggered [Prospect]. Safety. My Skill spun wildly. Nope, no particular direction was any better than another. This was not good. I tried again. Where I was was no longer safer than elsewhere. In fact it was worse. [Prospect]. This time I triggered a search for danger. Yes. There it was. Travelling along the ridge I had previously vacated. I could track whatever it was as it grew closer and closer.

Whatever it was, it was making this explosion of noise and movement. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the scale of something with this much impact. Was this what was grinding the accretion of rubbish down. Was the ridge being redefined as a valley? I was too scared to look. The ground was shuddering in waves now. The vibrations were so thick and fast I no longer could individually feel them. It was like I was at sea. Suddenly being under the surface seemed like a very bad idea. No wonder this was a worse place of safety.

I scrambled to the end of the crevice and clawed my way up, my bucket and spade clutched in one hand. I was lying fully outstretched as low as I could possibly get to the ground now rippling with waves.

I couldn’t see anything. Clouds of debris were billowing up in a bow wave as whatever it was powered on by, totally obscuring it from my vision. This was incredible. The wave front slammed past me. My recent refuge swallowed up and buried. I felt myself being lifted as the ground rearranged itself and whatever gargantuan being it was passed on by. I was beneath its notice. An ant. Missed by the vacuum cleaner. Trembling and bewildered as the environment reshaped itself.

This was the equivalent of a natural disaster. A scale of destruction and power that was beyond my comprehension. Even a few hundred metres closer and I would have been done for. I lay there anchored to my surging ground. I would ride this out. It would settle. A mantra of perseverance echoed in my brain. I could bear this. I would persuade myself. I endured.

The vibrations were tailing off. Now it was just my heart that I needed to calm. The air was thick with power. I struggled up under the weight of it, pushing myself over onto my back. A new valley had been opened up. The ridge I was on had been pushed up. I would need to vacate in case it doubled back, trimming this now higher ridgeline down as well. I stared up at the roof of the cavern.

It had the same continuous wavy pattern weaving itself in and out. And there was a distant disturbance, even no larger than a thumbnail, modifying the surface with a finger of a dust plume trailing behind it. The roof was the same as the floor? The ceiling; the same as the ground? My mind was struggling to understand. If I continued travelling long enough, would I be on the ceiling? Was I already on the ceiling for whatever poor being may be way up over there? The scale of the wasteland was immense. And disheartening. I was completely the wrong scale for this area. I was minute. Insignificant. This was a complete reversal of my earlier optimism.

I tried to regain my equilibrium. I had a plan. I needed to take that bite.

I needed a new safer place.

[Prospect].

Down in the new valley? That was safer? I had shied away from valleys feeling too vulnerable down in them. But I would back my Skill. It hadn’t let me down yet. I gingerly started picking my way through the freshly disturbed ground. As I moved I spammed [Observation]. And it must have levelled up. It had broken me out of my meditation. Yes, I located the notification. I was now at [Apprentice] proficiency. Excellent.

My mind turned to consider the feeling of power that saturated the air. It had been stirred up by whatever it was that had churned out this new valley I was descending into. Could I [Observe] power?

I tried.

It was purple of varying hues. Misting and swirling. Caught in eddies and gently entwining and separating. It moved to a rhythm and volition I could not discern or begin to understand. The whole landscape was awash in a light mauve with deepening currents of purple even to a river of colour following the course of the new valley.

[Inspect].

> Object:

Free Essence

> Grade:

Non Applicable

> Status:

Unaffiliated

> Description:

The essential building block of the System. Governs all aspects of life, power and magic.

Unaffiliated - unclaimed and unaspected essence.

[Ding]

> >

My eyebrows rose in surprise. I thought I was looking at Essence. Was this synonymic for Mana? They were interchangeable terms? This did not sit right. They were different. How and why escaped me at the moment. Just one more thing to add to my list of unknowns that needed further clarification.

I mulled over what I did know. I had my own Essence. It was part of my Soul. It was part of what made me me. It governed all aspects of power, magic and life. Did that correlate with Body, Mind and Soul? I needed to meditate again. I couldn’t move and meditate at the same time. Yet. Maybe this would become possible with higher proficiencies. I had no insight beyond hopeful optimism.

I tried to catch some free Essence. It evaded me effortlessly. I tried to see my own Essence. I mean it must be inside my body mustn’t it? That's where my Soul is?

Isn’t it?

My questions about myself went unanswered.

I could not see inside of me. My skin was stubbornly opaque. I paused and crouched. While I could not catch the darker strands of free Essence the lightest of it was all around me and as it brushed up against my skin, an ever so minute portion of it was inhaled. Except directly through my skin, not through my breath. What was with this? I was somehow sucking in and absorbing this free Essence without even knowing. I was a plant? Basking in Essence and converting it to energy. Photosynthesis of the Soul. It was feeding me. Sustaining me. That was why I didn’t feel hungry or thirsty even though I had been here for hours. This was amazing. Could I suck up a deeper colour? That would be fabulous. I was onto something. This was a massive breakthrough. I could feel the synergy of my thoughts meshing. I would feast and grow and advance and…

Okay. I was missing a step. I needed to consolidate my self. Bring myself into alignment. What on earth did that mean?

I cogitated fiercely. My Stats had been divided up into these three categories but I was not three separate things. My Body, Mind and Soul were all me and were one indivisible whole. Each fully different and with their own attributes and priorities, yes, but without any one of these aspects I would no longer remain me. Yes, that was obvious. But what did it mean?

And I needed to initialise myself. That sounded pretty fundamental. Was it like a reboot? I started moving again. Following [Prospect] towards safety. No, That was wrong. It was not ‘safety’ exactly but more like ‘less dangerous’. There was no safe place here. Not with tidal wave scale beings roaming around. But I had a direction. A destination. A goal. I was moving towards it both literally and conceptually.

I remembered my insight into my Soul. That spark deep inside of me. Tiny and undefined yet shining with a brightness that thrilled me. This was my innermost self. This was where I needed to start building my Core. Yes, the rightness thrummed. I was a babe, I realised, yet unformed, discovering for the first time the world around them was so much more than they had imagined. More large, more deep, more scary, more intricate, more thrilling.

More better.

I couldn’t wait.