“We changed again, and yet again, and it was now too late and too far to go back, and I went on. And the mists had all solemnly risen now, and the world [System] lay spread before me.”

~ Charles Dickens, Great Expectations [adapted]

POV - Tad

Expectations are hard. Even your own expectations, let alone other peoples. Here I was, in the back end of nowhere, without anyone pressuring me, and still the weight of expectation pressed in on me. The desire to unlock Magic, to succeed, to thrive, to win, was becoming almost too much for me to bear.

I had hit the Stat cap with Memory and then had a concise power nap. Perhaps this new uplifted body didn’t require the same amount of sleep? From what I could ascertain it was still the wee hours of the morning, and after staying up late cycling and cultivating I felt remarkably refreshed even though there was probably still a couple of hours before the day started. I had 13 Imbued Essence. Enough for one more cycle to unlock a Stat point and then I would need to replenish my converted Essence. As before, if I kept the amount of Imbued Essence down near the minimum amount needed to invest it drastically reduced the amount of time I needed to spend unlocking the additional Stat point. It was a fantastic play but I could see there were some very real risks with it too. I would make the most of it now and then I would change to a more conservative game plan. After all, I had already determined that this was not a game. I did not want to fall in love with this strategy to my own detriment.

Cycling Essence up I engaged my Imagination. And of course, what had captured my imagination was the wonder, the possibility of Magic. It was thrilling. It was inspiring and exciting. And in reality, I didn’t have a clue. And that in a way was liberating even as it was frustrating. But rather than getting caught up on the frustrations I revelled in the possibilities. I had no idea what was and wasn’t possible. Were there Schools of Magic? Life and Death. Light and Shadow. Fire, Water, Air and Earth. Hmmmm. Yes there was definitely elemental magic. That Aquatic Stag had Water Magic. But what about Time and Space? Gravity and Lightning and Ice and Magma and, my eyes widened, Shape-shifting! Yes, Enhancing Magic, buffs and healing! And then there was Mind Magics like Illusion, Coercion and Domination. Ohhoo! What about Summoning? Or Necromancy? And Druids! Nature magic. Yes, my ignorance was wonderful. Everything was a possibility. Everything was thrilling. My imagination was totally engaged. I had great expectations.

[Ding]

Essence Cycling Complete

You have completely cycled your Imbued Essence through your Mind while exercising your Imagination.

You may sacrifice [10] [Imbued Essence] to form one IMA Stat point.

Would you like to permanently embed your Essence at this time?

YES NO

Success! Three more to go. With [Basic Cultivation] reset to cycling my base Essence, I considered my next steps. There was still so much to unpack in the Sovereign menus. I hadn’t even scratched the surface. And the challenge of rebuilding the city! Of rebuilding four cities. Where on Earth… no rephrase that Tad. Where in the System do I start?

This was a real head scratcher.

And I discovered that even on my new uplifted body even just thinking about scratching my head still made it feel itchy. Go figure.

I pulled up my Character Sheet to check my progress. I was well over half way to getting my Mana up to 100MP. It was a pity there was no Mage Guild here. I would need to find another way to learn Magic.

NAME:

Tad

Blank

SPECIES:

TIER:

Human

G

XP:

EXP:

169615

16884/16961

LVL:

1**

CAPPED**

MINION:

Nige

[Expand]

CON:

1223.05/1223.05HP

[Expand]

WIS:

77.62MP

[Expand]

KAR:

529.87E (0.5% Reserved)

[Expand]

LUC:

0.6

+0.05 on Loot/Drop rolls

Unassigned Stat Points:

Total Stat Points:

0

195.21

0 +6.66

SKILLS:

(Unlocked) (Hide]

Rage

Mine

Deception

Mana Sight

(Active) [Hide]

Dodge

Advanced Meditation

Observation

Inspect

Basic Cultivation

Run

Dream

[Hide All] [Proficiency]

[Novice]

[Apprentice]

[Novice]

[Novice]

[Novice]

[Novice]

[Novice]

CLASS SKILLS:

Prospect

Delve

[Novice]

[Novice]

ACCOLADES:

RESTRICTED System Title [Exemplar] (Unequipped)

PATHS:

Sovereign of Oreol, Level 1

Nasal Prospector Class

PERKS:

Gallifreudian Slip

TITLES:

Pertinacious

Black Swan Survivor

Audacious Pioneer

AWARDS:

Atelophobia Award

Precocious Award

Pestiferous Award

My [Rage] Skill was now off cooldown. I frowned. That was weird. When I swapped out [Rage] for [Delve] I had expected that [Delve] would also have been unavailable for a full 24 hours. That was definitely what Nige had said. Yet [Delve] had been available straight away. And it was listed under a separate category. Maybe Class Skills were separate from normal Skills? As an experiment I tried to slot in [Mine]. And without a whisper of opposition it slotted smoothly across. Arrgghhh. Nige! Why didn’t you tell me Class Skills were different. I could have slotted this ages ago. And mined some trash? Nah, stop beating yourself up Tad. That would have been a 'waste' of time. Haha, very punny. I cringed. I had been alone for too long if my own thoughts were devolving into puns. This was bad. I was 'rubbish' at puns. Ha. Ha.

With a sigh I focussed on my Skills again. If Class Skills were separate and didn’t count towards my Skill cap of nine Active Skills then I had two free slots. My eyes widened. I could slot in [Mana Sight]. I slotted the Skill. Fabulous. Hopefully I could get some synergies happening with [Observation] or [Inspection]. Merging Skills was massive and I needed to be proactive and clever about it. And there was still one free slot. This was most excellent.

Returning my attention to my Character Sheet I skimmed down over my accomplishments. My achievements. These obviously were one of the Paths of Ascension my little pamphlet had outlined. Oh! I had one pending. I needed to equip the [Exemplar] Title. Hmmmm. Did that mean I could also unequip these other rewards? But why would I want to? They were awesome. These were the bedrock of my build.

I pulled up the Accolade.

CONGRATULATIONS

You have been granted a System Restricted Accolade

Exemplar:

“The three most important ways to lead people are: by example… by example… by example… ”

Albert Schweitzer

Recipient of Nobel Peace Prize 1952.

EQUIP

Okay, so this was a thing about leading. Hah, there was no one here to lead, but anyhoo, I shrugged. Let's see what the actual rewards are like. They should be pretty good seeing this was a purple Accolade.

Exemplar:

You have forged your way into System mythos as the youngest living being to form their Core and merge their Concept.

You are the ideal model that all others will strive to emulate and eclipse.

You have met the requirements to be one of the most effective of leaders in the System’s history. Where you lead others will follow.

Accolade Effects:

Accolade Effect 1: Your base Essence is doubled.

Accolade Effect 2: Your growth is unlocked. Your potential Core density is able to be increased beyond your limits. You may now compress your Core one Tier higher than your current position.

Accolade Effect 3: Your personal Reputation is enhanced across all Species by a factor of two and all members of your own Species by a factor of three.

Accolade Effect 4: You are the top of the pyramid. You may pass your Technique onto followers who are at least your own level. All Disciples receive a 10% bonus derived from your base Essence. You receive a 1% bonus based on their total Essence.

Ho! No wonder that Arkash was seriously pissed. This was incredible. It boosted me majorly in capacity, in potential, in reputation and provided benefits to my followers. And if I could get a nice big following the synergistic feedback would boost me even further. Talk about a Pyramid Scheme! This almost sounded criminal. I liked it alot.

And no wonder Arky had declared [Blood Feud] and [Mortal Enemy]. It was an award for the youngest living being. Maybe he had killed other recipients of it already? He sounded like a nasty, vindictive sort of chap. Or chapess. I shouldn’t assume he was a he after all. I equipped the Accolade. Afterall, Arkey-malarkey was coming for me whether it was equipped or not.

And I smacked my head in frustration.

I should have used my [Black Swan Survivor] and tried to double the effects with my figurative coin toss of Stars/Not Stars. Aarrgghh! You utter wally Tad!

Oh. It was still on cool-down. Still. I could have delayed equipping it. Two of the four effects related to followers that I did not have and was unlikely to get any time soon. Doubling these awesome effects would have really been totally excessive. And I was all for being excessive. Ahhh well. That would teach me to be impulsive and not thinking things through properly. I probed at my BS lucky coin toss. Hmmmm. Maybe another eight to ten hours till it comes of cool-down.

Hopefully I would make the right call next time. Otherwise it could double to 96 hours downtime. And hopefully it would also reset to 24 hours when I got it right. This was an effect I wanted to abuse the glitch out of.

I had finished cycling another 10 Imbued Essence. I should form my next IMA Stat point.

Returning to my Character Sheet I noticed that Sovereign was listed down as a Path. Hmmm obviously I could have more than one Path. That was interesting. I wondered whether there was a limit on how many paths you could have. Ooh. Nige had altered my name. Could I do the same for my Paths? I concentrated on my Nasal Prospector Class. [Display name] as [NPC]. Ha, that was a bit more obscure. And misleading I hoped. Non Participant Character. I sniggered.

I turned my attention to my Sovereign Path. Sovereign of Oreol, Level 1. Okay so the Level I was in was called Oreol. Must be the legacy name from the original inhabitants. Ha! I would make an acronym out of this as well. [SOLO]. Sovereign Oreol Level One. Brillant. And true too. At least at the moment. Hopefully that would change.

The day was dawning. The damp mists that risen during the night were lifting and revealing the new day. I had come so far, I had achieved so much. There was no going back. The System lay spread before me.

For the taking.

I rose to my feet. I would take it all.

But first of all I would [Basic Cultivate] another few Stat points while I waited for the mist to fully lift.

The campfire fizzled out.

Good Morning Oreol. I'll be with you shortly.