Chapter 4: Birthday Presents

“As I mentioned, your benefactor is investing a lot into you, and we don’t want you to die. But struggle and battle are important for you to progress. Coming up with a good way to protect you, keep your importance a secret, and give you a challenge is a tricky recipe to get to turn out right.”

“You need protection and power, yet you must struggle. Not like that fight yesterday, more of a real-life and death, unrelenting march toward greatness. This is mostly so you don’t end up some spoiled rich, and entitled heir. No one likes the arrogant, but everyone respects the powerful. We want you to have a nice balance of power and good. Goodish, at least. You can’t expect to get anywhere with your hands clean. For example, I was told you’ve hardly ever had a challenge in your life. No fights, before yesterday, no battles. Maybe hunting as a kid, but you know nothing of taking a life, and the pup yesterday hardly counts.”

Trint started to get defensive, but Jack held up his hand, palm to forestall any questions.

“No, don’t feel bad. I am not judging you. You are a creature of your peaceful environment. Nothing to be too ashamed of. I don’t want you to take too long getting to the point where you know that killing, battles, and bringing death to your enemies will be necessary. Eventually, these will be routine.”

“You might think that knowledge is one of the greatest gifts I bring you. That would be correct if it were not for the box right here. Ha, we will get to it later. I only mention it to keep your attention.”

“Knowledge…so important. Recruiters will promise hidden knowledge and powerful secrets. Every person of power in all the iterations is trying to control their information. Progressing for most will require you to tie yourself to a group to learn everything about skills, magic, cultivation, truths, words, spirit, and soul. Most won’t hear about anything except skills and magic till they hit i7 or i6. Even the favored recruits of the largest dynasties won’t get that information till then and only with binding system-enforced contracts. Only the true heirs will learn from their families about what is most important and the truly well informed are not going to share their knowledge, typically.”

“Your next gift will be knowledge of the shallowest level of the deepest waters. In the kiddie pool, you will find your basic stat pools. You are starting with your Mind. With Mind, you have Mana and use magic and mana-related skills. At the same time, your Body uses Stamina and health. Skills: basically, are how you will augment your actions or magic using the three main pools: Health, Stamina & Mana. What I mentioned most don’t hear about till later are cultivation, Spirit, and Soul. Those are the secrets of the powerful, and you are expected to learn, master, and unleash them. You will need to do so to survive and reach your family.”

“Skills typically are how mortals interact with the system and gain power. The more advanced concepts, subsystems in the greater universe that can grant you more powerful versions of skills and understanding that can reshape you and your power are usually found after you learned to master your skills and made it to i4 or higher.”

“There are a few ways to build Spirit cultivation, even at a lower iteration, but we cannot wait for that to happen naturally. You will be training and pairing with a partner. I don’t know why this one was chosen. It baffles me. This one has paired with one other before you, and it is now your honor to fight with them.”

Jack continued, “Soon, you will open up to the Cultivation of truth and deeper truths and the laws that govern the system. Tapping into higher realms of power and gaining abilities will help you shape your Spirit and Soul into a merchant of death. They are allowing you to bypass limitations and multiply your power. These powers and pairing with this powerful ally will also change you. You must fight to both maintain yourself and find balance with your paired ally. Thus, shaping who you become. You will surely not be who you are now after rebirth and struggle.”

“Following still?” Jack finally paused to give Trint a chance to interject.

“This is a lot to take in; it sounds like the intrigue and plotting of the powerful. There is more going on, and the higher iterations have the really powerful forces, and one of them thinks I am worthy of adoption, and that comes with gifts?” Trint’s scrunched his brow and closed his eyes as he considered what he’d heard so far.

“Good, you get it.” Jack smiled and moved on. “Next, you need to know that there are levels of power. Ways to make a skill more powerful than the person next door with the same skill. Same with magic, cultivation, truths, and every other area of power.”

“The typical way to increase each of those is to take them from surface level to the deepest part of you. You are made of body, mind, spirit, and soul. Body hopefully is obvious, even if it is changing. Mind is your understanding, intellect, and ability to process concepts and ideas. True, but now Mind is also a System pool of resources and stats that influence you and your growth. Spirit is where you normally want to get your most important levels of power. I say normally because you are about to inherit a unique quality opening the door to Spirit and Soul sooner than any other in their journey.”

“I mentioned Soul earlier. Spirit is how everyone else with a sufficient level of power most deeply internalizes their skills, magic, cultivation, and laws. You, an adopted heir, will have access to the soul starting today. Because of your new gifted Lineage, you will have a deeper place to store your power and new forms to unleash it. Most will never find the ways to access their soul and call you crazy for thinking there is more than Deep Spirit or Core. When people talk of Cores, they speak about their more central place of Spirit. You will have the gift of access to your soul, and your pairing will help you unleash it.”

“How you will have access is through what is inside this first box I’ve been teasing since I arrived. First, how about some more coffee?” Jack offered.

“Yeah, I’ll take some more coffee, but tell me what’s in the box. I hope it answers some questions. I seem to have more the longer you talk.” Trint said with eyes fixed on the dark blue box that seemed almost black.

“OK. Here you are. I have not heard of a gift this grand being passed to anyone. And with you receiving it at the start of your integration, you should know this might have never happened before in all the iterations.” Jack emphasized. “I shouldn’t say this, but I would like to have this one myself. Don’t worry; I wouldn’t dare take it. It must be given by the owner and received by the chosen. So no one could take it, anyway.”

Trint lifted the lid, and immediately a pressure released, and a rush of shimmering blue flakes, blue flames, and whirling wind rapidly spun out of the box. It went up, hitting the ceiling and then around Trint. The wind began circling Trint, forming a flaming tornado with Trint in a calm center. Trint naturally jumped up in surprise and gasped. The vortex followed him as he stepped away from his seat, keeping him in the center of the swirl of power. Rapidly the wind and fire changed to a midnight blue that was almost black, like the deepness of space. As it circled his body, it lifted him two feet off the ground and slowly began closing in on him, further compressing his body. The pressure rose as his body was pressured, like going too deep in the water. He had been facing Jack, but his body slowly turned around with the flow of the miniature tornado and stopped facing the box. Cutting through the winds and flames, arising out of the blackness of the box, was a white stone. Looking like a smoothed-out river stone the size of a tiny fist but completely white. The winds and flames avoided the rock and the presence and power it contained. For a moment, some symbols he couldn’t make out across the stone glowed the color of the dark blue wind, then they sunk into the rock, and it was back to the pure white stone. That stone rose, hovering a couple of feet in front of Trint’s chest.

Trint knew instinctively he had a choice. As he considered how he knew he had a choice, a message appeared between the stone and himself. Unlike the system messages, it appeared on a sheet of old paper. Reading the ancient parchment, it said:

Trinten,

I would have liked to bring you this myself if it were in your best interest. Unfortunately, our introduction will have to wait. I know you have many questions. I hope that you will accept this gift. I have chosen to adopt you as my heir. Your new lineage, if you accept, will grant you many things. Accepting will unlock this gift, but I will not force you. The gift is intended for my sole heir. I have adopted no one before, and I leave this choice up to you. Accept, and I promise great things for you. I offer you the power to rise, a home to fight toward, and a family to fight for.

I hope to see you ascend to join us.

‘That’s it?’ Trint thought, ‘No signature, no more to go on?’

System Error: You have 30 seconds to accept ‘unknown’ contract from ‘unknown’ entity.

System Error: 29

System Error: 28

System Error: 27

…

After a few breaths to think, Trint decided. “I suppose this will give me a better chance of surviving the system.”

System Error: 15

With the countdown still going, Trint made his decision. Then as soon as he mentally chose, a system message appeared.

System Message: ‘unknown’ gift received

Ignoring the system messages, Trint’s right hand involuntarily extended out over the old paper message toward the stone, and he felt a sharp pain in his palm. A few drops of his blood fell to the page and on the rock. Symbols and runes flashed on both, and they began circling his arm and spiraling from his fingers to his shoulders. Then they spread down his whole body. He was aware of them as they burnt into his flesh. The blood had been absorbed by paper and stone and then the paper burnt to ash in the air. Trint had no idea what the symbols meant or did, but once they had finished spreading to the top of his head and down his feet and toes, in a blink, they were gone leaving the smell of burnt flesh and blood and a tingle across his whole body.

This whole time the fire and wind were circling Trint, and slowly they compressed down to his skin, passing through him and soaking first into the runes on his skin, then he felt them sink deeper. Now that the page had disappeared, the white stone became blindingly bright, whitewashing out the room and leaving nothing else to see as it moved toward Trint’s chest and passed through his skin and into his chest. It felt like a piece of molten steel had burnt through him, but everything went black when it hit his heart.

Trint woke up on the floor. Unsure how much time had passed, he looked up and saw Jake sitting there as if nothing weird had happened.

“How long was I out?” Trint asked. ‘I keep waking up and finding myself in new places.’ Trint didn’t want that to keep happening.

Getting up, he stretched, and he honestly felt fantastic. The pressure, burning, and pain were gone. He could feel the energy he had never experienced before coursing through him. He felt strong and energized. He stretched and could tell his skin and muscles were denser. His chest, where the molten stone settled, felt like it radiated energy. There was no light or mist anymore, but when Trint closed his eyes, he could feel the stone and sense it emitted a force while simultaneously breathing in and out. Trint was lost in the feeling as part of him he never knew existed seemed to inhale and then exhale. Then he felt something, or more like someone was watching him. A predator or monster. He looked around and couldn’t place the source of his fear until Jack pulled his attention back.

“Right, that would be distracting at first. You will not always fear him. It should now be obvious you are now much more powerful. A moment ago, you looked like any other freshly minted i11 mortal. Now I can feel a Power radiating from you. Part of it pulls from even me. My spirit is fighting to resist the pull, as am I trying to block out the fear. Pneuma will teach you to control that before the recruiters arrive, or you will be forced to stay outside town. They cannot leave the Tutorial towns.”

“As far as your earlier question, you were out for about 5 hours after paired with Pneuma and successfully joined your new family. I recommend going to the table and eating some of the food I’ve set out.” Jack said while moving to the chair opposite the food set for Trint.

“You eat, and I’ll tell you what else you need to know and use before I go. First, the wind and fire you saw were the first part of the gift as Pneuma paired with you and connected both of your spirits to your mind and body. The effects will get you past the first few iterations fast enough to find the help you’ll need. The blood created the bond with your Benefactor and confirmed your tie. You now are inseparable as your souls are linked. You now have a Seat and Name in their Kingdom. You must become much more than you imagine to stand amongst that level of power. You must endure and fight and forge yourself. But you don’t have to do it alone. I am leaving, but you are in good hands. Not literal hands.”

“I suggest you don’t try to ignore his advice. He won’t force you to make choices, but at this point, he knows far more than you and will keep you alive till you know how to do it yourself. You are not the master but are now companions.” Jack continued.

“Say hello to Pneuma. You can communicate by directing your thoughts toward the power in your chest. His name means wind or breath, but he prefers his given name.”

‘Hello, New-Maa.’ Trint thought as he focused on the invisible force radiating in his chest.

‘Hello, young Trinten. You were close, but my name is spelled P-N-E-U-M-A. Your pronunciation is offensive; it should sound like New-Muh.’ The predatory voice sounded in Trint’s mind. The sound of his voice lingered and left an image of a throne and a faceless being sitting on it. The mental image was from below to the side, looking up at the throned figure. Trint could feel the power radiating out from the figure. Trint knew he was seeing a memory of Pneuma’s.

“Pneuma is going to help you. He has extensive knowledge of and can interact with the system for you. He will find you compatible skills that will get you started. The good stuff comes later.”

“Another gift. This is your family ring. Before you place it on your finger, notice the color of the metal. You won’t see this material again for a while. The metal was a matte blue with flecks of black and a slight internal glow.

“But more importantly, you need to memorize the symbol design of 3 interlocked circles. This is a family symbol that no one will openly fake or attempt to use without the family finding out.” The Circles looked to be overlapping a Triangle. Looking closer, the interlocked circles were threaded with the triangle. The triangle corners were the center of each circle but each circle overlapped in the middle with the next ring on each side. Three interlocked circles were threaded with a triangle.

“Now put it on,” Jack instructed. “The other way. The single circle should always face towards you.” When the ring slid on his finger, Trint felt the invisible runes previously burnt in his skin flare with power. The ring changed from an ornately designed ring with a broad circle top for the family design to a plain dull black band—the basic description after it changed popped into his view.

[Masked] [Family Storage Ring: Soul Bound - Error- full description not available for storage device]

“This ring is much bigger than your other one. And Pneuma can use it while you wear it. It will look ordinary to anyone else and cannot be taken off by you or anyone. Even if your ring is cut off your finger or you lose a hand, the ring will return to you. You’re stuck with it now. In any form you take, it will be with you.”

“Additionally, Pneuma also cannot be lost, taken, or given away. No one else can hear or communicate with him. He is with you to help guide you, give you the power and resources to survive.”