[Staging Initiation...]

[The User identified as an Outsider]

[No recorded Soul Data Found]

[Expanding the List of Available Skills to: All Initial Advancement Skills]

[Expanding the List of Available Perks to: All Initial Advancement Perks]

[Staging Complete]

[Welcome to The Tower Initiate]

I found myself standing in a grey room now. This time it was an actual room with walls and a ceiling, but no windows or doors. There were these ethereal lines continuously flowing through the walls. They would form into different patterns, numbers, and geometric shapes before dispersing, and traveling around the room again.

"Well, this is at least better than an empty whitescpae," I said to myself, as I read the words hovering right above me. "So this is what Prime meant when he said there was a video game-like quality to this world."

"Ok. So what do I do now?" I asked, looking around, not knowing what to do next. The text suddenly broke up into the ethereal lines and reformed into two different text boxes. One said [Skills], and the other said [Perks].

“The User has one Soul Point and one Perk Slot available. Please choose from the list of available Skills and Perks,” said a digital yet feminine voice.

"Who are you?" I asked, looking around again, trying to find the source of the voice.

The ethereal lines flowed to the front of the room and merged into the vague shape of a human.

“Initiation Stage Administrator, here to assist you. Please choose from the list of available Skills and Perks,” she said again.

"Ok. Nice to meet you too," I said, nodding. "So what are these Skills and Perks up there," I gestured to the text boxes, "how do they work?"

"Skills are divided into Body, Mind, and Soul categories. At this stage, there will only be one Skill slot for each type until further Advancement. These Skills can be acquired with Soul Points. The User will earn a Soul Point every Advancement, and a Perk Slot every ten Advancements. An Ascender can Advance a total of 100 times, which is equal to the number of floors in The Tower.

"Perks improve and change one of, or the combination of Body, Soul, and Mind permanently. Some Perks may have powerful effects tied to your Advancement or a specific synergy with your Skills."

So it is kind of like a video game, I thought to myself. Advancements are the level ups, Soul Points are the skill points, and Perks are… kinda like passives. Then the Body, Mind, and Soul would have to be the attributes, and each Skill is tied to one of those attributes.

"So, I will be able to pick one Skill related to any one of the three attributes right now. And later, when I have more Soul Points, I can get two more Skills associated with the other attributes?"

"Correct," she replied in a monotone voice.

I looked up at the text boxes.

[Skills] tab had a gigantic list of skills that seemed to stretch to infinity with no apparent organization. It would scroll up or down, depending on where I focused. There were Skills such as [Fishing] [Reading] and [Singing] which seemed mundane, mixed right in with Skills like [Spearmanship] [Metalcraft] and [Essence Manipulation]. There were others in there that did not make sense at all, such as: [Gastian Hookmancy], [Eldercraft], [Bloodhowl], [Elemental Expulsion], and many many more.

[Perks] tab was not much better. The list seemed smaller compared to the Skills tab, but it was still full of Perks such as [Lican Body Modification], [Kaathen Soul Dew], and [Kraav Ears]. There were others that I at least had some understanding of like, [Soul Sense], [Iron Skin], and [Eidetic Memory]. The options were overwhelming, to say the least, especially without any organization.

"Please focus on the specific Skills or Perks for more information," said the Administrator, apparently sensing my discomfort.

I focused on the [Kaathen Soul Dew], and the Perk expanded with more information.

[Kaathen Soul Dew] - Exclusive Trait of the Kaath race in The Tower. When Kaathen reach adulthood, their Soul is naturally split from their body, forming into a Soul Dew. They have mastered the ability to craft these Soul Dews into weapons, tools, and in some sporadic cases into Familiars. Kaathen of higher Advancement level can have multiple Soul Dews.

"Wow. That is some crazy shit," I said, imagining myself with a fancy weapon or two floating around me. "Does this mean I can have this Soul Dew thing as well? Even though I am uh… a human."

“Yes. [Soul Dew Crafting] is a Skill that can be paired with this Perk,” she said. “Would you like to pick this combination of Skill and Perk?”

“No! I was just curious,” I yelled slightly panicked. I did not want to make any permanent changes to my Soul just yet. “But how come I can choose a Perk like that? It seems like it is an integral part of another race.”

"Most races of The Tower have one of their key Traits turned into Perks. There are usually restrictions and conditions to learn these Perks. To learn [Kaathen Soul Dew] Perk, most Ascenders will have to find someone of the Kaath race willing to teach the Soul Splitting process. At the next Advancement, the User will be able to select the [Kaathen Soul Dew] Perk."

“Then how come I can choose that Perk right now?”

"The list of available Skills and Perks change depending on the User's proficiencies and their Soul Data. You do not have any current Soul Data, which is a key Trait of all Outsiders. A new Soul Data will be recorded during your Initiation Trial, and the future Skills and Perks lists will change to reflect that."

“That means I have options here that would not be usually available to me. But only this one time. I won’t have some of these options available to me after I leave here?”

"Correct," said the Administrator with a different voice now. The ethereal lines further converged around her body, giving it more definition and detail. While it was in the vague shape of a human before, now it was in the unmistakable form of an average human female.

She looked down, examining her new body. "I am not a human, so this is slightly unusual," she said. "I usually automate parts of my Essence to handle all the Initiation processes, but I had to come to see you personally." She held up her hands, looking them over and wiggling her fingers. "Hmmm, these fingers are quite useful. Especially for some small detail work," she said with a thoughtful expression, and then shook her head. "Anyway, Hi. I am an Initiation Administrator." She waved her hands.

"Uhh, hello... I guess it is nice to meet you again," I said awkwardly, returning the wave.

“So what did you do to impress the Prime Administrator?” she asked, walking over and examining my body. “I heard he chose a special Boon for you.”

I shrugged. “I actually don’t know. He just said that I did not waste his time.”

“Ah, yeah,” she said with an understanding nod. “It is always prickly to deal with you Outsiders. He especially hates that duty.”

“How come?” I asked in a measured tone.

"Lack of respect, really, but also some other destructive stuff." She waved her hand. "See, Administrators are revered throughout The Tower, and Prime Administrators even more so. They are practically treated as Gods. You get used to the way things are in a millennium or two, and then you have to go deal with an ignorant Outsider." She held up her hands again. "No offense."

"None taken," I said with a smile. Being called ignorant in such a casual way was slightly irritating, but one of the lessons we all learn as adults is knowing when to shut the fuck up. When an alien, almost god-like being, who might have some control over your future throws a very slight insult your way, you take it on the chin and keep smiling.

"Anyway, I am here to administer that Boon. Usually, the process would be random, but in this case…" she trailed off thinking of something. "Here it is," she said, as the ethereal lines merged again to create a new text.

[New Ability Selected]

[Invert] - The ability to invert the position of objects with the User. Objects must have the Essence signature of the User. Upon further Advancment, the User will be able to Invert two objects with each other.

"Wow, that is quite a Boon," she said, nodding. "Although it is not the most powerful version of the Ability that I have seen, It is still pretty excellent."

"How does that exactly work?" I asked, rereading the description of the ability.

"You'll have to figure that out on your own kiddo. That's what testing is for," she said, walking back to the middle of the room. "Although I would not be surprised if there was a cool down time of some sort." Her body started losing definition as ethereal lines started fraying from her.

"Wait. You said that there was a more powerful version of my ability?" I asked.

She ignored my question. "With that, my task here is done," she said. "My automated Essence can handle the rest of your Initiation, and I have other places to be." She paused. "Oh, and one last thing. Most of the Outsiders seem to blaze out pretty early on in The Tower. I'd keep a low profile if I were you."

I watched as the last of the ethereal lines left her body with a flash, leaving a vague shape of a human that looked like it sketched onto reality with a pencil. Keep a low profile, huh. That was the second time I was warned to do that. I would have to take that advice to heart. In the meantime, I had to focus.

[Initiation Trial Has Been Selected]

[Trial: Wilderness Survival - Survive in the Wilderness for 120 Days]

“Your Trial has been selected. Please choose from the list of available Skills and Perks,” said the Administrator, now in her vaguely human form again.

"120 days?!" I asked with exasperation. "That is 4 months that I have to survive in the wild!"

“Parameters of The Trail can not be changed. Please choose from the list of available Skills and Perks.”

I took a deep breath to center myself. 120 days was a lot of time for a city boy like me to survive in the wild. But it was not all hopeless. One of the advantages of growing up in an Information Era was the ease of access to all kinds of sometimes useful, most of the time, useless information. YouTube was a beautiful thing, full of tutorials and guides that I never put to any practical use.

I had never been in a survival situation in my life, but I did watch a lot of survival videos. There were videos about starting a fire, about finding water, building a shelter, constructing tools, and many, many other things. Some of that knowledge would come in handy in this Trial. The problem was that knowing how to do something and actually doing it were two completely different things.

On the other hand, I could not waste my Soul Point on basic survival Skills either. This was my only chance to make use of my Outsider Trait. I would have to choose something that would not only help me in this Trial but also during my ascent up The Tower. Something that would help me to keep a low profile, stay hidden, and to plan ahead.

"Can you find specific Skills for me?" I asked, looking at the Administrator.

“What are the specifications?” She asked me.

“Skills that would help me to keep a low profile,” I answered.

I watched as the Skills rearranged themselves with stealth related Skills shooting to the top. It took me a while to go through them.

[Stalk] was a stealth ability tailored to tracking and following without being detected. It was way too specialized for what I needed.

[Sneak] was more of a general stealth Skill but seemed very generic. I needed something more unique. Something that I would not find anywhere else.

[Path of the Umbra] was a Skill that was unparalleled for night prowling, but was bound to the Shadows during the day. The Skill was developed by a race with natural-born night vision capabilities. So to get the most out of this Skill, I would have to acquire the [Night Vision] Perk.

[Stealth Ops] was a Skill that was created by a human Administrator while he was still an Ascender. It was based on specific movement patterns of different feline creatures, which required a high degree of agility.

From what little I had seen so far, The Administrators were a powerful, almost god-like beings in The Tower. Any Skill created by them would have to be powerful as well.

I took a deep breath. I was ready to make my decision. "I'd like to take the [Stealth Ops] Skill," I said aloud. As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I felt a deep sensation of loss within me. There was a tightness there that seemed to stretch my Soul to bursting, and then it gave way, replaced with a sense of relief and emptiness.

“User has selected the [Stealth Ops] Skill. The effects of the Skill will activate at the start of The Wilderness Survival Trial. Please select a Perk from the available list.”

"What was that just now?" I asked, patting down my chest, trying to assuage that feeling of emptiness.

"The User has used a Soul Point to purchase a Skill. Please select a Perk from the available list," she replied in a matter of fact tone.

Earlier, while I was going through my Skills options, an idea had started to form in my mind. I was not a physically fit person. Years of my adult life spent behind a desk while consuming copious amounts of fast food had left me with a pudgy body. Not quite overweight, but not athletic either. I would need a Perk to address some of that. But what would be the most efficient option?

Strength, Power, Speed, Endurance, and Agility were all the areas that I needed to improve myself on. But there was one aspect of athleticism that was hard to improve naturally - the sense of balance. When people talked about athletics, they always mentioned the strength, power, and speed. But I always thought that balance was the most important. The ability to stop on a dime and change direction while sprinting, ability to control the body while airborne, or standing very still with little to no sway were all feats of athleticism that appealed to me the most.

While looking at the list of Perks earlier, there was one that had especially caught my attention.

[Sublime Grace] - Faexing is a race of Fae that have evolved to have a perfect body balance to counteract the continually shifting gravitational forces of their Fringe World. Upon induction to The Tower, Faexings' superior body balance was made into a Perk.

"How do I earn the [Sublime Grace] perk naturally?" I asked the Administrator.

"The User will have to visit the Faexing Fringe World and learn to navigate the shifting gravitational forces. The Ascenders do not have a right of entry to the Fexing Fringe World without the explicit permission of Prime Administrators."

An exclusive Perk that granted me a perfect body balance that was otherwise almost impossible to earn was precisely what I wanted.

“I choose the [Sublime Grace] Perk,” I said.

"Initiation Stage complete. The User has one Mind Skill slot, and one Soul Skill slot left. The [Sublime Grace] requires a body reconfiguration."

"A what?" I asked incredulously. "What do you mean you have to reconfigure my body?"

There was no answer.

[Initiation Stage Complete]

[Staging Initiation Trial…]

[Staging Body Reconfiguration in… 3...2...1...]