Intergalactic teleportation was as disorienting an experience as always. One moment Zed was pacing in front of the Molten throne with several holo-screens open in front of him, charting out plans for his upcoming campaign. The next, the world opened up like a flower, the outsides mixing with the insides as he was yanked into the fourth dimension and nothing made sense anymore. Then, as suddenly as it began, it stopped and he found himself in a dark cave with only his status screen open in front of him. That too with all his achievements reset to zero. Time had run out during his absorbed musings and the System had transported him to this new world he was supposed to conquer.

And the grave sense of weakness pressing down on him wasn’t helping him get over the disorientation either! He had grown used to having hundreds of small processes running in the background, augmenting his senses, helping him structure his thoughts and regulating his flames. Now, without the required levels in the requisite skills, all of those processes had shut down, leaving his mind floundering to pick up the slack. The fact that he had been in the middle of high intensity calculations when he had been so rudely interrupted was just the icing on the cake.

It took several minutes for Zed to finally get everything under control and take notice of his surroundings. The cave he was in was clearly volcanic in origin with the walls, ceiling and floor made up of a dark igneous rock shot through with veins of obsidian. There was only one exit through which a reddish-orange glow entered the cave, providing the only source of illumination. Walking up to the entrance, he peered out to get a read of his surroundings.

He found himself on a steep ledge, looking out upon a much larger, roughly egg-shaped chamber illuminated by a pool of magma bubbling beneath. Leaning out a bit and looking upward, he could see a darker circle in the shadowed ceiling where the vent led up to the surface. He was in a magma chamber! If not for his certainty that he wasn’t on Pyrrhus anymore, he would have felt right at home. the System had chosen a good place to introduce him to this world.

Welcome to Origin World #2367: Earth!

The string of welcoming text scrolled across Zed’s vision, confirming his location and informing him that this was only the 2367th world with sentient life that the System had discovered in the millions of years since its inception. At present, there were millions of planets inhabited by System-integrated species, but the Origin Worlds would always have a special place in history for being where they all began. The System’s apocalyptic advent, the Keepers, the conflict; it was all a test. A test to see if the natives of this world were worthy of joining the System as leaders, or as servants.

Withdrawing into the cave, Zed turned back to his status screen. The blinking numbers in brackets beside his Authority and Field stats immediately caught his attention.

Status: Zedaris Whiteflame

Authority: 0 [6]

Field: 0 [12]

Data:

o Appraise

o Override

o Calculate

Kinetic:

o Force

o Acoustic

o Thermal

Electromagnetic:

o Magnetic

o Electric

o Photonic

System:

o Quest

o Assistance

o Macro

Material:

o Molecular

o Atomic

o Nuclear

Dimensional:

o Gravitational

o Spatial

o Temporal

Ah, initiation points! How nostalgic! He still remembered opening his status screen for the very first time and seeing these numbers blinking at him. He had been so excited! His unruly flames blazing a blinding white as his young mind took him on a fanciful trip down the lane of infinite possibilities. Then his mentor had shattered all his childish fantasies by hovering sternly over his shoulder and forcing him to allocate exactly one point to each of the eighteen base skills, unlocking them all.

The initiation points were meant for children to unlock all the skills; for them to play around and get a feel for which ones they liked best. So that once they gained a title or two and earned a few free points to spend, they would know which skills to specialize in. Zed’s situation was different. He already knew which path was the most suitable for him and could allocate his points accordingly. But first…

You have allocated one free Authority point to the Quest skill. The Quest system has been unlocked!

Quest (Lv. 1): Receive System generated missions and fulfil them to earn rewards.

He wasn’t just here for fun, he had to take over the role of the Keeper of a Forbidden Zone. For that, he needed to learn what that role entailed…and what better way of doing that than through a direct channel to his employer: The System.

New Quest! Adapt and Survive!

Objective: Adapt your physiology or skillset to survive on the current planet.

Reward: Title – Universal Citizen

Sure enough. He received a quest as soon as he unlocked the skill. Although it didn’t mention anything about his duties as a Keeper, he was pretty sure completing it was a pre-requisite for the position. It was a good thing he hadn’t allocated all his points in the standard manner. If he had, there would be no way to gather the skills needed to complete this quest.

‘So,’ pondered Zed. ‘What do I need?’

Information. He needed information. He couldn't adapt unless he knew what exactly it was that he was adapting to.

You have allocated one free Authority point to the Appraise skill. Appraise has been unlocked!

Appraise (Lv. 1): Query the System for information on an object.

He spent the next few minutes Appraising everything in sight. At level 1, the skill wasn’t very useful. The information it gave was just too limited. Useful for a child maybe, but next to nothing for him. Especially since he was in within a volcano. As someone whose entire planet was essentially one gigantic volcano, Zed was somewhat of an expert on them. It wasn’t totally useless though. He managed to get two useful bits of information out of it.

Time: 04:46 A.M. 24/12/2325 A.D.

Location: Mauna Loa, Hawaii

Unlocking the Appraise skill had activated the local clock and GPS. Now he at least knew the name of the place where he was. Although that name had yet to gain meaning in his mind.

Zed shook his head. Stuck in the magma chamber of a volcano as he currently was, he had no way of gathering the information he needed. And the only way out was by climbing up the vent. That meant…

You have allocated one free Field point to the Force skill. The Force Field has been unlocked!

Force (Lv. 1): Sense the force vectors in a region of volume (level cubed) m3.

Immediately a familiar awareness washed over him. The way his weight pressed down on the rocky ground beneath, the way the ground pushed back, the way the atmosphere pressed down upon him from all sides…it all came into sharper focus. Taking a combat stance, he punched the air, once, twice, taking note of the way the force was transmitted from his core, through his shoulder and his arm to his fists. Ah, he had missed this! Without this sense, he had felt so impaired…so clumsy.

But this wouldn't be enough. He didn’t just need to sense the vectors, he needed to manipulate them.

You have allocated one free Field point to the Force skill. Force has levelled up!

Force (Lv. 2): Alter the magnitude and direction of vectors by 5%. Cost: 20. Duration: 30 min.

Error…

Field pool has not been unlocked. Force (Lv. 2) is currently unusable.

From the second level onwards, skills started coming with costs. Skills from the Data and System disciplines drew from the Authority resource pool while the rest of them drew upon the Field resource pool.

You have allocated one free Field point to the resource pool. Field pool unlocked!

Field: 100/100

Each point allocated to the pools increased them by 100. The pools refreshed periodically. Approximately, once every day in local time.

Field: 80/100

Activating the skill, Zed leapt up and down and threw a few punches, testing the response and familiarizing himself with a much lower level of power than he was used to. Walking up to the entrance of the cave, he leaned out and scanned the rocky walls around it for hand and footholds. Lightening himself and redirecting as much of his weight as he could towards the wall, he wedged his hand into a crack and eased himself outside until he was hanging from the sheer rockface with the magma bubbling directly beneath.

Hand over hand, foot over foot, he climbed up the wall like an overgrown gecko. Sometimes, he would find that there was no hand or foothold in easy reach. Then he would make one, drawing air into his internal furnace and igniting the magnesium at its core, sending white fire searing through channels in his body and out of his fingertips or the tips of his toes, melting the rock in their vicinity and sending glowing droplets dripping down to join the pool of magma below.

As he neared the top of the magma chamber, the walls curved inwards, making holding on that much more of a challenge. After the third time a section of rock crumbled under his weight and nearly sent him hurtling down to his death, it became clear that level 2 of Force just wasn’t cutting it anymore and he reluctantly decided to add a point to the skill.

Force has levelled up!

Force (Lv. 3): Alter the magnitude and direction of vectors by 10%. Cost: 40. Duration: 2 hr.

Field: 40/100

The enhancement in the skill made for much easier going and he made it the rest of the way to the lower edge of the vent without any further trouble. After that it was just a matter of climbing straight up. A task made much simpler by the regular occurrence of natural rest stops in the form of ledges of solidified lava.

Halfway up the shaft, Zed’s flames suddenly flared out of control. Fire jetted explosively out of his head and shoulders, and from his fingertips, shattering the rock around him and sending him tumbling down.

Throwing his hand out, he latched onto a crack in the wall. His body swung down and slammed into the rock, arresting his fall just a few metres above the lower edge of the vent. He hung there for a long moment, catching his breath. Climbing up to the closest ledge, he sat down and concentrated upon regulating his furnace and getting his flames back under control. It took a while without his usual skillset, but his racial instincts finally kicked in and he managed to get the fire burning steadily.

He had a pretty good idea of what the problem might be, but to be sure, he needed the second level of Appraise.

Appraise has levelled up!

Appraise (Lv. 2): In-depth analysis is now possible.

Error…

Authority pool has not been unlocked.

This skill requires a Field to be assigned to it.

You have allocated one free Authority point to the resource pool. Authority pool unlocked!

Authority: 100/100

With this, he only had two free authority points left. Moving onto the Field skills, he unlocked the Atomic Field.

Atomic (Lv. 1): Sense atomic bond strengths in a region of volume (level cubed) m3.

Immediately, he gained an awareness of the matter within an arm’s length of him...an extra sense that told him how chemically reactive everything was. A high level in the Atomic Field was a must for anyone who wanted to major in an alchemical profession, be it pharmacology or material science.

The Atomic Field has been assigned to Appraise.

Appraise (Lv. 2): Obtain the in-depth Chemical Analysis of a target.

Range: Equal to the range of the Atomic Field. Cost: 20 per m3 analysed [20 (base)].

Zed cast Appraise on five different rock samples and on the air. Multiple screens popped up, packed with condensed text outlining the detailed chemical analysis of the rocks and the air. Normally he would have to cast Appraise six times for all of them, but his ability to shape his Field let him ‘cheat’. He had changed the shape of his Field to surround each of the rocks and a small volume of air, then cast the skill. This way, he could get the same result by only paying the base cost.

Authority: 80/100

On Pyrrhus, Bavash was the largest system of underground caves. The Pyrrheans who lived there had to deal with pockets of enclosed air completely different in composition from the air on the surface of the planet. They had come up with an algorithm to calculate the quality of air in a cave based on the chemistry of the rocks within it. By inverting the Bavashi algorithm and applying it to the data he had collected, Zed was hoping to obtain the composition of the planet’s atmosphere without having to go up and expose himself to it.

After botching the calculations several times, Zed gave up in frustration and allocated a point to the Calculate skill.

Calculate has been unlocked!

Calculate (Lv. 1): Offload mathematical operations to the System.

This skill had spoiled him rotten. Zed didn’t even remember the last time he had multiplied two numbers on his own, let alone performed the complicated number crunching required by the algorithm. Still, Calculate was a skill he knew would be absolutely indispensable down the line, so it wasn’t like he regretted taking it.

A few seconds later, he had his results. An atmosphere with roughly 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% carbon dioxide and other trace gases. A disturbingly toxic mix for a Pyrrhean. This was the reason his flames had gone out of control. His furnace was adapted for the atmosphere of Pyrrhus which was nearly 95% carbon dioxide, with nitrogen and traces of other gases like sulphur dioxide making up the rest. It hadn’t been a problem within the magma chamber as the air there was quite similar to the Pyrrhean atmosphere. But up here, nearing the mouth of the vent, the oxygen concentration had risen to critical levels. Any higher and his furnace was liable to explode!

There were two ways he could go about solving this problem. In fact, it was right there in the Quest description. He could adapt his physiology, or he could tailor his skillset to match. The first option would force him to specialize further in the Atomic Field while the second option required a heavy investment in the Thermal Field. Both would require an expansion of his Field pool to keep the skill active around the clock.

The first option was safer. Rather than doing what basically amounted to suppressing an explosion with a Thermal Field, he would be fundamentally altering the furnace reactions themselves. A much more reasonable task. It meant that he would be able to make do with a lower level of the skill, reducing the burden on his points and resource pool. It would also extend the amount of time he could use his flames before exhausting all his reserves of magnesium...and reduce the amount of time it took to regenerate said reserves as well.

But as an inborn wielder of fire, the Thermal Field was extremely important for him. Putting points into it would be of immediate use. If he chose the Thermal Field, his offensive capabilities would shoot through the roof. His lasting power would be low, sure, but would it matter if all it took was one move to incinerate his enemies? Also, it wasn't like he wouldn't be able to take higher levels of the Atomic Field once he got more points.

After struggling for a bit, he made his choice.

The Thermal Field has been unlocked!

Thermal (Lv. 1): Sense the temperature in a region of volume (level cubed) m3.

An awareness of the temperature of everything within an arm’s length of him flowed into Zed’s mind. As a Pyrrhean, he was already quite sensitive to temperature, but with the System augmenting his senses, even the most minute of gradients wouldn't escape his notice if he focused. Even just this was enough to significantly increase his control over his flames.

Thermal has levelled up!

Thermal (Lv. 2): Alter the temperature by 5%. Cost: 20. Duration: 30 min.

Thermal has levelled up!

Thermal (Lv. 3): Alter the temperature by 10%. Cost: 40. Duration: 2 hrs.

Thermal has levelled up!

Thermal (Lv. 4): Alter the temperature by 15%. Cost: 80. Duration: 8 hrs.

Zed added the final three free Field points to the resource pool.

Field: 340/400

He sighed. All out of points already. Well, there was one Authority point remaining, but that was all. Zed sometimes felt as though it was a fundamental problem of the universe. No amount of points ever seemed to be enough.

Field: 260/400

‘I really hope the reward is worth it.’ he thought as he activated the Thermal Field and suppressed the temperature of his core.

Quest complete! Adapt and survive!

Reward: Title – Universal Citizen: Authority +1, Field +2, Assistance level +1, Universal Translator, Furnace temperature regulator (custom).

Assistance has been unlocked!

Assistance (Lv. 1): Instantiates an AI assistant with a basic guided-learning protocol. AI grade – G.

Auxiliary upgrades found.

Installing…

Universal Translator installed.

Custom patch: Furnace temperature regulator installed.

Three points from one title! And one free skill upgrade, so basically four points from a single title. This was extremely rare. A title generally only gave a single point, if that. Mostly, they gave auxiliary upgrades like the Universal Translator Zed had just received.

Even the auxiliary upgrades he had received were extremely valuable. Not to mention the custom patch that would let the assistant AI take over the duty of regulating his core temperature, freeing up his mind for other tasks; the Universal Translator was the latest version produced by the System. Which meant that every single language and dialect in the System-integrated universe, past and present, was now available to him.

The best thing was that this wasn’t even a Keeper Quest, just a pre-requisite one. Then how lucrative would the rewards for those be?

Zedaris Whiteflame, candidate Keeper, couldn't wait to find out.

Status: Zedaris Whiteflame

Authority: 80/100 [2]

Field: 260/400 [2]

Data:

o Appraise (2)

o Override

o Calculate (1)

Kinetic:

o Force (3)

o Acoustic

o Thermal (4)

Electromagnetic:

o Magnetic

o Electric

o Photonic

System:

o Quest (1)

o Assistance (1)

o Macro

Material:

o Molecular

o Atomic (1)

o Nuclear

Dimensional:

o Gravitational

o Spatial

o Temporal