Do you even know what a [Core] is?

"You know I don’t, and that’s why you’re going to tell it to me right now, right?"

Basically, the [Core] is your inner well of strength, where every type of energy you possess is stored, and generated.

"Is it physical? Like, do I have a new 'ball-like organ' somewhere in my body?"

No, it is metaphysical, and that is why it is in the [Spirit] category.

"Good to know."

Also, the notifications did not end there, but I momentarily interrupted them to give you this kernel of information, before moving further on.

"I appreciate it, that would have bothered me more than I’d like to admit."

Yes, I know, that is why I did it.

Now moving on:

As a fledgling [Theomancer] you have been gifted with the following Abilities:

Create (Aberrant):

Either use the surrounding matter or create it from scratch, to form a proprietary construct.

Modify (Aberrant):

Alter matter under your control, that you either created or gained authority over.

Enhance:

Enchant objects or Buff entities.

Restore:

Repair objects or cure entities

Evocation (Evolved from Call Forth):

Summon contracted beings.

Having [Aberrant Abilities] didn’t surprise me, what did surprise me instead was having an [Ability] that had already evolved, especially since there was no explanation for it.

Quiet, it is coming.

As the only living [Theomancer] you have been gifted with the following Traits:

Hyper-Focus (Evolved from Hyper-fixation):

Hard-headed doesn’t even begin to describe it.

Resist worldly stimuli when focusing on a task.

World Within (Evolved from Sub-Space):

The Core is capable of housing a small portion of Reality.

You are now able to access an inner world, capable of housing both objects and contracted beings.

Aether-Touched:

You have a connection with Aether, nothing will ever compare to its complicatedness.

Greatly increases the responsiveness of Spell-Matrixes, both when constructing and/or analyzing them.

"I’m even more confused now, beside not getting an explanation for the [Evolved Abilities] I get [Evolved Traits] now? They can do that?"

Shut up, it was getting there!

The following Evolutions have occurred because:

· Evocation: You are now capable of summoning contracted being from your inner-world, [Call] was lacking the required compatibility.

· Hyper-Focus: [Indominable] prevented the negative side-effects from [Hyper-fixation] and amplified its benefits.

· World Within: Given the capabilities of [Create], [Sub-Space] was found too limiting in what it was capable of storing.

"Oh wow, maybe I did win the lottery with this [Theomancer-Class], but what did it mean when it said that I was the only living one with it? Was that really true?"

As far as I can find, you are the only [Theomancer] ever mentioned in the history of [Classes].

Maybe it is an Evolved form of an Aberrant Class? The System does not really have much to tell me about it.

"What do you mean 'the [System] doesn’t know'? Are you telling me that I’m going to have to wing it with the [Class] the entire time!?"

This was not the information I was hoping to get, maybe I should already inquire about the [Class-Change] they offered, after all.

Keep the [Class] and I’ll shower you in rewards, change it and earn my ire.

Remember to entertain me.

With love, Luck

That was unpleasant.

"WHADDAFU-"

"[Theomancer]? I can’t say that I’ve heard about it, but that only means that you must have been blessed with a very rare [Class]! Your [Patron] must have been feeling generous."

I think that my heart is either starting to give out, or that it was acclimating itself at how often I’m getting surprised lately, because I managed to just hop in place, without yelping, or anything else.

The culprit was the grinning blue Nymph to my right, who definitely knew what she was doing, aside from stopping me from thinking about how [Luck] could, apparently, read my thoughts, and so that she probably knew about [Buddy] (or that I was at least mental, in lieu of me talking to myself in my head).

She does not know about me, nor can she read your mind.

But! Your Patron can read your intentions, and surface-level thoughts, so beware.

"If you’re sure..."

"Sorry, didn’t mean to make you jump", She says, obviously meaning the opposite, "but you must admit that it is surprisingly easy, given the rate at which you get lost in thought" she adds, without wiping the grin off her face.

"Sure, it definitely doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that you’re enjoying catching me by surprise" I grumble at her.

"Of course not, I’m a [Priestess]! THE [High Priestess]! Such notions are beneath me", she adopts a dignified air, while failing to completely drop her grin, but not from a lack of effort, apparent by her twitching lips.

"So, even you know nothing about what a [Theomancer] is supposed to be, nor for what they are known to normally accomplish?" I drop the previous argument, recognizing its futility.

She tilts her head, cutely, to one side "no, nothing about it in my [Information], which is perplexing, since it is supposed to be quite vast: you know, by virtue of me being the [High Priestess], and all that implies", she says, not un-smugly.

"I’m sorry [High Priestess], but maybe you should move your conversation elsewhere, so that others may make use of the [Hearth]?" The grizzled [Priest], that I recognize as the [Necromancer], says from behind Undine, making her jump (But not me, since I was already turned in the direction he was approaching from and saw him getting closer).

"Would you look at that, how the 'turn tables'."

"Yes, sorry, of course" Undine turns around to regard the [Priest], who subtly sends me a wink.

"He did it on purpose! I knew that they were, somehow, trained on doing it!"

I was still with my palm against the [Heart], but the Nymph wasted no time in grabbing my arm and taking me away from it, back to the crowd.

When you were still in reach of the Hearth would have been the perfect occasion to ask for a Class-Change.

"I know, but I think I’ll at least try this [Class] for a while. Also, it’s best to not anger my [Patron]."

Good choice.

I can’t stop myself from shivering at the thought of the bullet that I just dodged. I quietly thank [Luck] for at least warning me that the action would have displeased her.

Through your prayers, you have been awarded [+3 Acuity]

"Ok, now she’s either taking the piss, or she was serious about “showering me in rewards”."

Probably both.

"Agreed."

"So…" Undine snaps me, once again, out of my mental conversation, "Did your system give you any [Information] about your [Class]? You should at least have some kind of historic background, and mode of use of the [Class]" she says, as if the previous discussion had never been interrupted.

"Why does she keep talking about [Information] like it’s something I should physically have?" I ask [Buddy].

You do have it.

"A bit simplistic for an answer, I feel like there’s an unsaid 'but' there."

But I ate it.

"You ate it!?"

I ate it.

"You ate it."

Yes, now stop repeating it.

"Ok."

I draw a blank in my mind.

"But what do you mean by 'you ate it'!?"

The System would have given you an [Information] screen that would have “sprung up” when necessary.

It would have been filled with every bit of knowledge that you collected, or that the System would have given to you.

During my creation, it was simply used as one of the building blocks that were assimilated to compose me.

All the knowledge is still there, it has been simply been filtered by passing through me first: consider me like a proofreader, that removes what is blatantly wrong before passing it over.

"But others don’t have anything like you! Am I supposed to believe that they can’t smell the bullshit that the [System] gives them?"

I feel we already had this conversation: they are encouraged by their peers to fact-check their [Information], which will update, with the correct notions, upon discovery of the proven truth.

"Uh, so we get some kind of 'preliminary knowledge' that we have then to check? I can live with that." I keep forgetting that the [Gods] aren’t malicious, but they simply made the [System] to polish the gems that are the people here.

"Hello~?" the [High Priestess] reminds me that we were having a conversation of our own, by waving a hand in front of my face.

"Sorry, I was checking if I had anything, but I can only tell you that I’m supposed to [Create] stuff, and I’m not only talking about [Spells], or [Skills]" or at least that was the impression it gave me.

"Interesting, a [Class] with a hidden background: you are just full of surprises!" She flashes me a smile that reminds me of [Luck], again.

"What’s this, some kind of trend?"

I do not know what you are talking about.

"Figures you wouldn’t."

"Well, it might be interesting, except that I have no clue on what I’m supposed to do with my [Abilities]."

"Don’t worry, I previously said you would have soon had your freedom, didn’t I?" She did indeed, "Just wait until everyone has had the chance of getting a [Class], because then you’ll get to go to the training room, where you’ll get to experiment to your heart content" She’s quite excited about it, and I can’t say that I disagree with that emotion, but that isn’t the level of 'freedom' I had in mind.

"Do you have any idea how much we’ll have to wait for?"

She looks at the remaining group of [Humans], waiting for their turn, "I see that only the more indecisive ones are left, so I don’t expect it to be a short wait."

"Fantastic."

It was, in fact, quite the long wait.

* * *

By the end of the queue, it was late, like 'the sun was almost over the horizon' kind of late.

"Do they really want to make us test our newfound powers on the eve of our first night in [Nexus]?"

Quit whining, you are not even tired.

"That’s not the point, it’s a matter of principle!"

Sure, it is.

I stop paying attention to the nagging text in the corner of my eyes, a little tweak that [Buddy] implemented so to not obscure my vision, and I instead acknowledge the fact that Undine was starting to direct the [Humans] to the Training room, stopping briefly to send a nod in my general direction.

We were soon moving along the external corridor, which seems to connect the various rooms we needed, in the exact order that we needed them in.

"Makes you think just how much time they spent perfecting the 'art' of receiving [Transfers]."

I keep going with my [Inspection] spree, fixing in my mind the image of it giving more, and more, information about the qualities, and weaknesses, of its targets.

And I also notice many doing the same: Smart.

But that also meant that the unanimous thinking, caused by the [Pacify Enchantment], was beginning to fade, meaning that a long exposure meant building a resistance to it, and not it becoming permanent. Good to know, and another thing that makes me remember that the [Gods] are actually 'good guys'.

We’re brought to the training room, which ended up being the most different so far, with its lack of columns, the fact that it was beyond massive, and the increased 'artificial' illumination (but I guess that’s because the night is approaching), in the form of 'brighter' [Mana-Lines].

Even more [Priests] were waiting for us at our arrival, and combined with the number that has been following us from before, we ended up with a ratio of 1:1 between [Humans] and [Priests], which I finally noticed where one kind of Nymph, or another.

"Guess it’s time for individual lessons."

Not like I could complain about it, I practically have been having a tete-a-tete with Undine since I got [Transferred].

Every [Priest] seemingly headed in their proper direction, ending up with a single [Human] making me think that we all had a [Priest] assigned to us, chosen upon character and compatibility.

Only to further prove me right, after another presentation that I zoned out, the mentioned [Water-Nymph] headed straight in my direction.

"Time for another 'tit-a-tit' with the buxom blue."

Stop it.

I interrupt my bout of childishness on my own, because she was already within talking distance, and she seemed to be ready for it.

"Seems like I will be your tutor during your first use of Magic" She says, once in earshot.

"It would seem so: what a coincidence, how fortuitous that [Fate] would bring us together like this" I respond dramatically, with maybe just enough sarcasm dripping from my words to make a 'drama-queen' raise an eyebrow.

She, indeed, raises an eyebrow at me, and I just shrug in response, which elicits a deep sigh from her.

"Since you seem to know that you’re difficult to work with-"

"Ouch."

"Let’s start [Spell-Weaving]!"

"Sure… what’s [Spell-Weaving]?"