POV TAD

I sat down opposite Ssrah. Her [Robe] was looking significantly worse for wear. Transforming back into her original form while wearing it had torn up the sleeves as her shoulders and arms bulked up with muscle. She had ripped them off completely. She was getting a very cool look. Totally rocking a rugged, elegant young martial mistress groove.

I approved.

The tie was gone, lost in some adventure and replaced with a flaxen plaited cord. Ssrah was very ~proud~ of her new [Craft]. ~Fingers were fantastic.~ Even ones tipped with wicked claws. She could flex the claws out into an open position or otherwise they sat nice and snug against the ends of her fingers.

And they were [Sharp]. I had watched her plaiting. She was getting good, no doubt rapidly improving her proficiency, as she spammed out cords of all sizes. And she could neatly snip off the threads with just her fingers. She would never need to go hunt for the blasted scissors. They were built in. I was slightly jealous.

I had more to teach her too. Lying about in a hospital bed had provided me with plenty of time for crafts. Plaiting, knitting, crocheting, even embroidery. I had played around with them all. And while I was by no means an expert, I knew the basics. Who would have guessed these were [Survival Skills]? I would teach her [Knitting] next. It was somewhat bizarre. I was teaching her [Skills] I did not have. And because of my handicap with Skills she was learning them before I even unlocked them.

But I had unlocked the Skill of [Basic Mentoring]. It was green. This was not only through all the work I had done with Ssrah, Dozer and Scrabble but also in levelling up all the Ottos and coaching them on unlocking [Hidden Stats]. While it wasn’t on the level of a [System Mentor] it hopefully would allow me to improve my insight into my mentees needs.

Once I could activate it that was.

I had reluctantly dumped [Mana Sight]. I hadn’t wanted to but the simple thing was there was no ambient Mana here to see. It was all bound up in the System infrastructure and entities. Thus I could not improve the Skill and it was using up an immensely valuable slot. The opportunity cost was simply too great. And now I had a free slot. And a decision to make. Which Skill to add? What synergies could I get? What would be most helpful for the immediate situation. I was leaning towards [Basic Mentoring] but I wanted to spend some focused time [Advanced Meditating] first.

But right now I was working with Ssrah. We had grouped up. But it was not really workable. I pulled up the latest [Notification] again.

CONGRATULATIONS

You have formed your first [Party].

Grouping up into [Party] is a useful mechanism to use to venture forth and explore the Level.

Experience earned is divided up amongst the [Party] in proportion to contribution levels.

As [Party Leader] you will receive a [Leadership] bonus.

Warning:

It is not recommended to Party up across Tiers or with a spread of more than ten levels at Bronze Tier and below.

All XP earned will be penalised at a rate of 50% per Tier differential plus 2% per Level differential.

All Negative and Penalised XP will be directly subtracted from your Personal System Achievement Points.

Ssrah was Level 12. I was still Level 1. She was Bronze Tier, I was Clay. So this was a 72% penalty in [Partying] up. Even worse though was that it would negatively hit my SAP. This was major. Not only did you not receive the Experience Points, they didn’t just disappear, they negatively impacted my Reputation with the System. It was a significant disincentive. I had already realised that XP simply translated into EXP. And neither were what counted for levelling up. It was my Stats which dictated levelling. If I grouped up with a High level partner then I could possibly improve my Stats while still having the safety of a high Level team member providing back-up. This revelation quashed this option. SAP was a completely opaque metric. But I intuitively knew that it was also a critical one.

Ssrah was somewhat disappointed. She was isolated as the sole [Bronze Tier]. But it would only be for the next thirty six days. Then she was likely to be joined by her entire species.

Meanwhile, there was nothing stopping her from formally becoming my [Disciple]. She met the requirements of being a [Participant] and she was well and truly at least my [Level]. I offered to teach her. And stuff it, I slotted [Mentoring] as well. This was going to be of so much use right away.

[Ding]. [Ding].

The first was an acknowledgemnt of slotting my new Skill. The second was Ssrah accepting my [Offer]. I opened it straight away.

CONGRATULATIONS

You have obtained your first [Disciple].

You have earned 1000xp

You may now pass on your hard won Wisdom, Advice, Knowledge and Expertise freely to your [Disciple] without suffering penalty.

Note:

The Level of your [Disciple] cannot be any less than your own.

The number of [Disciples] you may have at any one time cannot exceed your own Level divided by your Tier (excluding any overhang).

Penalty? What was with this? The System was a repressive, highly censored and suppressive totalitarian regime. I was spluttering. Sarah was most entertained. This was oppression. I was incensed. That totally tramped my rights for freedom of expression. Freedom of speech. Freedom of the press. This was astounding. How could a System which purported to be one that uplifted and encouraged growth also have such restrictive and coercive limits on the dissemination of vital important information?

I took a deep breath. Bursting a blood vessel would help no one. It certainly wouldn’t help me. I tried to be objective. Why would the System place such restrictions? I [Delved] into the question, triggering [Advanced Meditation] and my Gallifreudian Perk to boot.

The System was all about rewarding effort. Personal effort. It was very much a case of individuals striving to improve themselves. Even grouping up was regulated. Free riders were not encouraged. In fact they were actively discouraged. If you did not put the effort in you would not [Ascend]. If you did, well, then you received the rewards.

The point was it was your own efforts and your own rewards.

And there were greater benefits too. The System did provide some boosts to the entire Species. I remembered the two Years of Celebration I had already unlocked. The Year of Ascension and the Year of Uplift. These had both provided pretty good rewards for the whole Species. But they still required that each [Participant] actually participate.

The System was not completely averse to me sharing my experience. It was simply putting some conditions in. Conditions that restricted me, yes. But way less than if I was already a high level [Participant]. That first restriction was currently meaningless. But once I [Advanced], it would mean any potential [Disciple] must have already advanced to at least my level on their own efforts. And as my [Level] increased so would the threshold. This was indeed cunning.

And the other condition was a massive incentive to increase my own Level. Darnit. I had previously envisaged staying Level 1 forever. With hundreds and thousands of [Disciples] all feeding me 1% of their Essence. It was not to be. I was restricted to just one [Disciple] at Level 1.

That sucked.

I would just have to make sure that my [Disciple] was the best possible.

Ssrah straightened up under my contemplative gaze.

~Determined.~ She would not let her [Sponsor] down.

She was ~ready~ and ~willing~ and ~eager to learn.~

I was flummoxed.

Duh. What a washout of a [Mentor]. But how did I begin? I cast my mind back to my first steps in forming my [Core].

I breathed out.

It was an exercise in [Basic Cultivation].

The System provided an easy route. It rewarded your efforts directly. Growth through exercise. It was logical with cause and effect. Stats grew as you exercised them. It was simple. Grow your Stats. Increase your level.

But as I was discovering, nothing is ever as simple as it first seems. There was another path. And it was a path that was absolutely critical. In fact, I suspected that it would be impossible to advance past a certain level without unlocking it. You needed to form a Core. This was an essential step. Your Core was your crucial youness. It was the heart of your [Soul].

If you didn’t form a [Core] you would eventually cap out. Bottlenecked. Blocked and stagnant, your advancement halted. For there was a point when the risk and danger required to improve your Stats through adventuring, through exposing yourself to more and more hazardous situations simply did not stack up. Soon enough you would either lose. And probably die. Or you would give up, happy to have advanced as far as you could.

Hmmm. And the first step on my journey towards forming a core had been [Meditation]. Yes this is where Ssrah and I needed to start.

I triggered my [Mentoring] Skill, considering how to impart this information to Ssrah.

Oh. I needed to go even further. Ssrah’s eyes were wide. She was ~astounded.~

She already knew how to breathe. Yes, But did she have a [Skill] for it? We settled in for some mindful breathing. It was calming. I led her through gaining the [Skill]. She was ~bemused.~ But she humoured me. She was ~happy~ to follow.

I was ~happy~ to lead.

We did some happy breathing, some slow breathing, some deep breathing, some fast breathing. I was running out of breathing ideas. How hard could it be to unlock such a basic Skill? Some frustrated breathing. No. That was counterproductive. Some contemplative breathing. Ah, that was better. My [Mentoring] Skill was telling me she was close to unlocking the Skill. We followed the air in, filling our lungs, holding it, extracting the life giving oxygen, expelling out out with a soul cleansing whoosh. Pause. Rinse. Repeat.

I was almost slipping into a [Advanced Meditation] despite myself. This was a pleasant change down from the frantic activity that had consumed so much of my time. And of course just I realised that, as I relaxed into the moment, Sarah got her [Ding].

Except for her it was more a [Bong]. And as her [Teacher/Leader/Counsellor] I got to hear it too.

Meh. Hers sounded so much better than mine. It reverberated in a way where mine was just tinny. Maybe I could customise it. Or maybe all Humans got a [Ding]? No? I frowned. I could customise it. A [Ding], a [Beep] or a [Buzz]. But no [Bongs], [Gongs] or [Trumpets]. That was a letdown. I would have liked a [Trumpet Blast]. That had the right sort of celebratory triumph associated with an achievement.

I hastened to assure Ssrah that I was very pleased and proud. I was just ~jealous~ of her [Bong]. She was understanding. I was still [Silly Soverunt] even though I was her [TLC].

“Um. [Soverunt] is not a word.”

~Silly Silly.~

~Of course it is a word. It is a [Name]. And [Names] are the most important words there are.~

Hmmm.

That was a good point.

For we all name our friends. Nicknames, pet names, endearments. Mean names and nice names. And names tell so much. Not just the underlying meaning, but more how we are named. Dad, Mum, Love, Sweetie, Hunnybun, Darling, Shnookums. They conveyed meaning. Relationship. Even the way I called them kiddos. That was a [Name]. An identifier that I related to with them. Ssrah was right. Names are the most important words.

And also that was a reasonably complicated emote that I had deciphered.

~Silly Clever.~

Humphfff. Soon enough my first name would be Silly.

I waggled my head. Ssrah waggled hers.

Silly Sovereign Cypher. I sounded it out in my head.

Yep. That had some good alliteration.

And it would keep me grounded once I became System shattering all powerful.

In fact it sounded like it was almost the start of a nursery rhyme. My imagination was enthused. Nursery rhymes were great. Are great.

My eyes widened. I could [Advanced Meditate] on this.

[Ding]

Ohho. An achievement!

[PARP!] I blew my imaginary trumpet. Yes, that would be a way better alert.

Way better than a tinky beep, buzz or ding.

Silly Sovereign Cypher, sort to seize the System…

Or perhaps that should be sought?

Yes, sought it was. Now, how about line two?

Ssrah was most perturbed.

And I needed a rest.

I was whacked.