Dave sat on a small boulder by the lake, the lush jungle around him, showing the tall buildings beyond, filled his ears with the sounds of its abundant life. Even at night, it seemed to be very active.

He was thinking about those and many other stupid things, for he had no idea what to do now.

“Why…... understand… die…” Said Erin, the Fay sitting on the ground in front of him. She was as taken aback as him.

A.S.U.T. is now level 9. Universal Translation 9%

Dave had no idea why this Fay was going so far to support him, he wanted to ask, but the realization he had parsed by what little he had managed to understand from the Fay had left him shaken.

If he had understood it correctly, without a Baptism, he could not level up, which meant that his Resilience would not build up and that he was going to die sooner rather than later.

“I didn't choose it, trust me. I’m not as self-damaging as I look. But that doesn’t mean I have to die, right? I can—level up a Class and increase my Attributes, right?” The Source answered him before the Fay could.

The Source

To increase your Class level, you have to defeat other creatures or Sourceborns. To level up your Level, you have to complete Source Quests.

“What!” Dave shot up, a wave of dizziness hit him, and he was forced to sit back down. “Why didn’t you say that sooner!?”

“What ….?” Erin asked.

“The Source, it spoke to me. It says I can level up by completing Source Quests! Whatever those are...”

Erinnya showed surprise from what Dave had said, but then again, she fell silent.

“What happened now? No, before that—Why are you helping me? You’ve been incredibly helpful, thank you, and I mean it; but am I not some sort of alien to you?” David asked.

Erin took a few seconds to answer, but when she did, she looked ashamed.

“You…. form of life. All life is sacred but, you are one of… ...Trespassers. I …. you … help me, help us.”

Dave ignored the first half of the sentence but focused on the second one “Trespassers, eh? So, I’m not the only one. Indeed,” he nodded to himself, “it was rather implausible, especially judging how you reacted to my race. You must have encountered a Human before. Are there Humans here in Arthan? And what is this about helping you?”

“Arthan… no… Humans, but there are other …. time ago…. Trespassers.” She hesitated to say the second part. “I… hoped you could … us....”

A.S.U.T. is now level 10. Universal Translation 10%

“Wait, repeat that last part, please.”

“I hoped you could help us,” she repeated. This time he understood it completely.

“Why? What is going on? Are you in trouble?” His brows knitted.

One has to know that David had a deficiency—it was indeed his weak point—he hated seeing a woman in trouble. One could define him as a fool, for women those days could protect themselves on their own. But his life experiences pushed him to defend the gentle kind. He just couldn’t see a woman in danger that he was pushed to help her, even if that meant putting his life or, even worse, his criminal records on the line.

She chuckled, raising her hands and moving them around her as if saying, “Don’t you see?” “We … … Arthan … ..from our land. Fiends… …. Source… dying planet,” she said.

“No, no, no. I didn’t get any of that. Repeat, but do it slowly,” Dave asked. Still, his skin prickled, then the Source messaged him; a blinking message of dread appeared in his vision.

The Source

You are at less than a fifth of your Health.

“Oh, right. I’m dying again. Can you please fix me up, Erin?”

The Fay got up, sighed, then took his face and kissed him. Was that really necessary at this point? He didn't know, but do you throw away one hundred pounds if you find them on the road? Didn't think so.

After a few seconds, his updated Status Screen showed that he was at—

Attributes

Health: 38%

Stamina: 45%

Well: 100%

The healing, for maybe that was healing, seemed to become weaker and weaker each time, while, at the same time, his Stamina kept reducing.

Survivalist reaches level 6. Adapt to external forces + 6%

David wondered what this Survivalist skill did for him, but it didn’t seem to be helping him adapt to the Source that was killing him, the same Source that had refused to provide him with the means to save his own life.

It was kinda getting on his nerve, just a little bit, though, because when it spoke, the Source felt a little bit too womanly for him to really get mad at. Some would have said that he was a cretin. They might have been right.

Dave sneezed once more for the cold, “It does be still winter here, bollocks.” Erin, who had sitten and was waiting for him to focus back on her, seemed annoyed.

“I know, sorry, I asked you to repeat what you said, please; I’m all ears.”

“The Fiends. They came to our planet because the Source has become too powerful … on their …. it is now a dying planet,” she repeated. She stared intently at the lake.

“They came, as in invading your world?” David was surprised. He felt he had ended up in a Spielbergian movie plot, but she did not answer. Instead, she kept staring at the lake, but she shook her head.

The huge fireflies that had left when the Baptism refusal had lit the lake like a Christmas tree, had now returned and had started dancing on top of it. That kind of beauty could rarely be found back on Earth. The azure planet had its charms and incredible beauties, but these natural dancing lanterns were not something David could witness in his home planet.

It now occurred to him that Erin’s voice was gentler than what he believed. Yet if the first part of her statement had been filled with remorse, the second part of it was filled with…pity. Still, Dave knew he could do nothing about her, but that didn’t mean he could not know more about her situation.

“When did it happen?” He asked.

“When… started? Fifty years ago…” She answered.

“Bloody hell! I guess you weren’t even born back then...” David said.

Erin’s brows arched up, “No, I’m sixty-seven.”

It was now David’s time to be surprised.

“What? You are more than twice my age!?” Then a wild thought struck him, “Is your planet selling drugs to Earth’s songstress, by any chance?”

She chuckled at his incoherent question.

“Yeah, fat chance of that... Well, I don’t know what to say about your situation. I’m really sorry.”

Erin nodded gravely but then waved her hand, probably dispelling her problems. “Come, I’ll get you …. warm place.”

Dave nodded, "Let me just check these last few messages from the Source.”

The Source

Do you wish to unlock Arcane Magic as your Primary Magic? (Your Magic Mastery will fuse with you at a Core level. You can wield other types of Magics but Arcane Magic will always be your Primary Magic.)

“Like I had any other choice. Go ahead.”

The moment he accepted, he felt a rush of something entering his body; it crippled his mind, tightened his chest, blocking his breathing, then came the burning that pervaded his whole body. He felt like he would die the very next moment. The pain was so intense that nothing, nothing could be compared to it; he closed his eyes and was about to scream. Then something exploded inside of him, and he was finally freed of it.

The following message appeared in front of his closed-shut eyes.

The Source

You are now an Arcanist. You have bonded with one of the fundamental forms of Magic. A long road paves in front of you, but you have the necessary tools to face all the blocks that will hinder your passage.

Shocked, David opened his eyes, and he witnessed the end of the world.

The world, in all its entirety, burst in azure flames.

From the very dirt on the ground to the waters of the lake, from the trees’ top to the building rising tall beyond the jungle, then it was the sky’s turn, the enormous moon, the clouds, the very atmosphere beyond—they all blasted into an explosion of everlasting, ever rippling continuous shockwave of ethereal flames that threatened to rupture the very fabrics of reality.

Wherever he turned his gaze, David’s eyes took in only ethereal flames. They covered everything up, even—even his own body.

After falling from the rock for the shock, he took a look at his hand, it too was on fire, yet this fire—it didn’t burn.

Turning to look at Erinnya, he found out that she too was on fire. The old, yet extremely young-looking Fay had got closer to help him up, but he retracted his hand, in fear of burning her with his own fire. He wasn’t burning, yet everything was on fire, or was it not? What was happening?

Silently, he raised his hand, palm facing Erin, inviting her to do the same. She answered, raising her own hand, nearing it to his. When they neared each other, the flames igniting the two hands started separating, turning into small electric rivulets. The closer the two hands got—in that world slowed down by Dave’s adrenalin—the more of those little bridges of electricity appeared. At first, they seemed to come out only from the edges of their hands, but the closer they got, the more they multiplied until there were so many of those that David couldn’t count them anymore; they became one big flux of electricity.

When finally the two hands touched, the electricity imploded on itself; it turned into liquid—a liquid azure substance connected their joined palms, expanding slightly outward as they touched, extending a few centimeters outside of their palms with ripples that quickly disappeared in thin air.

The Source

You have received the Class Perk Source Sight.

“Source Sight…” David repeated, marveled.

Following a semblance of a magic formula, the flames disappeared as if they had never been there in the first place.

Erin smiled. “Deviant … ... Arcane Mage.”

David snorted a bout of laughter, “Didn’t we say to call me Dave?”

“I like Deviant,” she answered.

“Yeah, you wouldn’t if you understood what it meant…” David realized that the A.S.U.T. had not modified the word for her because it was a name. But what if he said it with the intention to express its regular meaning?

“You see, Deviant,” he said, thinking about the name, “in my language, means deviant.”

Erin’s brows rose, and she was jolted by a slowly building up amusement, which soon turned in roaring laughter.

She pointed at him, “Deviant!” She said, laughing.

“This is not as funny as it looks…”

“It fits…wings ... pervert,” she said, drying her tears with her nailless fingers.

“Wings, now. That’s a big word. But didn’t I say I was sorry already?” He answered.

“No ... …. pouting… big man…. not?” She said as her laughter finally receded.

“I’m not pouting… alright, maybe a little bit.”

Still, he sat back on the rock. Source Sight or not, he was still in trouble, and the Source had yet to reward him with something else.

The Source

Choose a Fast Magic Skill (Fast Magic Skill can be triggered instantaneously or have a short cast time and cooldown; Source Poisoning is generally low.)

Arcane Blade: Conjure a blade made of untainted Source, useful to attack targets at close-range. 10% Well filling per cast. Limit to 1 Blade. 10 second cast time. 1 second of cooldown.

Arcane Missile: Cast a long-range missile made of untainted Source, useful to damage targets from afar. 1% Well filling per cast. Instantaneous. No cooldown.

Arcane Wave: Cast a medium-range wave of untainted Source, useful to push opponents aside. 5% Well filling per cast. Instantaneous. 3 seconds of cooldown.

“No, no—this is… why do I have to choose? This is just not fair…” Even if David was not a good player—his sister had always been better than him at pretty much anything—he had always played the mage in all the RPGs they had ever played together, or at least that was so until she flew to America with her fiance.

“What …. problem?” Asked Erin.

“I want all those Skills the choosing is offering me; why can’t I take them all?” He asked.

She chuckled, “Life’s …. choosing…. , Deviant.”

“Whatever you said… it was mean, on many levels.”

He had to decide, it was hard, but he couldn’t waste much more time. He had to figure out a way to survive. Without the Fay’s presence, he would have already died.

David closed his eyes, imagining what the most useful Skill could be. To use Arcane Blade he would have to get close and personal with his target. He did that often…but if he could avoid it, then why do it? Excluded.

Long-range or medium-range? The spells were both good, but what he could cast at long-range, he could also cast at medium-range; the opposite wasn’t really feasible.

Maybe the bonus to Mind was already working to boost his…intelligence?

As he chose Arcane Missile, he felt something materializing around his right wrist.

Arcane Missile (Fast Magic-Skill) reaches level 1. 1% Well filling per cast.

Baffled, he raised his arm to take a look at it. A circle with weird inscriptions surrounded his wrist, the weird engraving circled, shifted with each movement, then just as it had appeared, it disappeared.

“Did you see that?” He asked, turning to Erin.

“See what?”

“That thing on my wrist…” he said, pointing at something invisible even to his eyes.

“Did you choose …. … Fast Magic-Skill?” she asked.

“Yes, was it that?” Dave inquired.

“It was,” she answered, nodding.

“Wait, does that mean I can cast it only with my right hand? Isn’t that too limited?” He asked, coughing.

A clot of blood left his mouth; it was tied to mucus.

“Damn…”

Erin looked displeased; she drew closer, placing her hand on his forehead, she shook her head.

“Time is growing short, Davi,” she said.

David sighed, changing the topic, “I like Davi better, by the way. How did you come out with that?”

Erin shook her head, her gaze turning reproachful, “There is no coming back from death. No use… …faking strength.”

She pointed to her wrist, “Fast Magic-Skill, are those… we equip for Fast-casting. You can use all Skills, but …. Magic circle… Class.”

David didn't really catch the second part of the sentence but the first one was clear, it was what mattered. “That is surprisingly good news,” he answered.

“Choose... … rest… then I’ll show you how to level up,” Said Erinnya.

The Source

Choose a Heavy Magic-Skill (Heavy Magic-Skill can be triggered instantaneously, have a fast, a medium, or a long cast time and cooldown; their Source Poisoning is generally high.)

Arcane Aegis: Conjure a sphere of untainted Source around the user. It can defend once from any attack. 90% Well filling per cast. Instantaneous. One day post-breaking cooldown.

Arcane Power: The next Skill or Magic-Skill you cast will be cast with twice as much Mind. 50% Well filling per cast. Instantaneous. One minute cooldown.

Arcane Shield: Conjure a shield made of untainted Source. It can defend from many weak-to-medium attacks before shattering. 50% Well filling per cast. Limit to 1 Shield. 1 second cast time. 1 minute post-breaking cooldown.

David knew that things were getting serious, for these were abilities aimed to better his chances of survival.

Arcane Power was good to increase his attack, but his Fast-Skill of choice sounded—and likely was—weak. Even if he doubled the power of Arcane Missile, would it be worth it? He doubted it.

He thought that Arcane Shield paired up with Arcane Blade but even then, having a permanent shield defending him from trouble was a good thing in every situation. It didn’t even state a duration. He could simply cast it and when it shattered he could conjure another; however... Arcane Aegis defended from any type of attack. It felt like the real lifesaver.

He closed his eyes, then made his choice.

Choosing Arcane Aegis, a wide sphere that spanned at least one meter around him, shrunk and kept shrinking until only a thin film adorned with engraving similar to those on the circle that had formed around his right wrist completely enveloped his body for a couple of seconds, then disappeared.

Arcane Aegis (Heavy Magic-Skill) reaches level 1. 90% Well filling per cast. Instantaneous. One day post-breaking cooldown.

“Mmm, if this Aegis thing fills the Well gauge by ninety percent, what would happen if I used it now that mine is completely full?”

“You would pay with Health. …. … dying,” answered Erin, her gaze was hard.

“I’m really not in the best possible situation, am I?” David asked her, sighing.

“No, you are not. If you… … … place, you would have died already. But twenty Resilience is the minimum .. around this parts.”

A.S.U.T. is now level 11. Universal Translation 11%

“So…wherever I go, I die? I guess there’s no reason for sightseeing,” Dave commented, dejected.

“One last thing, then we do—whatever it is that we have to do,” he continued. “Let’s go with the Random Ski—” but Dave did not finish that sentence, for his voice was covered by the sound of an aircraft passing over their heads and heading to the place they had come from, that abandoned city.

The aircraft passed too fast for Dave to take a good look at it, but it was matte black, and with two giant propellers behind it.

“That—that was a spaceship? I mean... that was a spaceship!” He shouted.

Erin’s expression grew stern, “Fiend airship. Why are they here?” she seemed to be asking that to herself.

“Oh, that’s easy. It must be because that Fiend I…well, he called someone before he died.”

Erin’s eyes grew wide, “Shit.”

“Oh! So you use that saying as well! How nice—” before he could finish his sentence, Erin literally scooped Dave up and disappeared deep into the forest.