The unbearable heat in the shelter had Ricardo sweating profusely.

It was the heat, not rest, that woke him up from his sleep. Pain hit him as soon as he opened his eyes, but to his surprise, it had dulled considerably. His foot still released waves of pain and his stump was still throbbing, but it wasn't the soul-rending pain from before.

His body was sore from everything he had put it through and from sleeping on the cold ground, but even that wasn't to the point he expected. The qi in the air was a miraculous thing indeed.

He tried to check his stump but failed. The light coming from the cracks on the walls of the shelter illuminated everything relatively well, but they weren't enough for him to see it with as many details as he wanted. On the bottom of his vision, a minimized system message was blinking, begging his attention, but he would rather check his health before dealing with the damn system.

His stomach grumbled, and he realized he was starving. He checked his clock, 12:34 PM. He drank a bottle of water and his last six energy bars before stopping, still hungry. It would be dumb to give in to hunger though. He had to preserve his food. He closed his stash, opened the exit, and left the shelter.

As he moved on all fours to leave the shelter, his sore muscles protested. He ignored them and soon reached the well-lit outside world.

The skies were blue, barely any clouds in sight, the sun shining brightly. All water had evaporated from the bridge, in sharp contrast from the puddle still inside his shelter. Juiz de Fora's inhabitants joked they went through the four seasons in a single day and he had seen enough evidence of that during his time here.

The asphalt was hot and almost burned his hands and knees when he came out. Fighting the pain, he stood up and looked for his clothes.

They were where he had left them, but dry. He put them on to avoid blisters. Well, kind of. There were enough holes in them that he would get blisters either way.

Luckily, he had the alligator's skin. He wore it around himself like a cloak, for extra protection against the sun. The rats had eaten the meat so well that he didn't feel it.

Finally, he checked his stump, only to see his skin covering almost all his flesh and bone, with only a small opening in the middle.

That was amazing, miraculous even, and he stared in awe at it for a long time.

It made him wonder. What if his grandfather had had such an environment to heal himself? What about diseases? Could qi heal them? Could the Alzheimer's that had plagued his grandmother's last years of life be cured? What about aids? Cancer? His toes felt considerably better already, so the qi could cure internal injuries.

Where did its limits lay?

If humanity survived, could the system become a blessing, after all? All good things came with a cost; that was just how the world was, and celestial blessings apparently were no different. Maybe the system was an agreeable thing?

Speaking of the system, he finally checked his message.

Omniheaven's First Blessing Received

Congratulations!

For surviving your first day in the Omniverse, the Omniheaven has given you their First Blessing!

Weave the threads of your legend through blood and sweat and let it be sung for eons to come!

You've received access to the Class Subsystem.

Class Subsystem? Was it what he thought it was?

First Verse

Class Subsystem

Truth first comes from within. You have reached enlightenment about yourself and can write the First Verse of your story.

You have reached multiple enlightenments; you can choose which one to become the first stone in the path of your legend.

Choose wisely.

So, the Verse thing came from the Class Subsystem? How it worked, exactly?

Anxiously, he checked his options.

First Verse

Class Subsystem

First Option

They tried to lead him; he Refused. They tried to push him; he Refused. They tried to change him; he Refused. He was the master of his own self.

Second Option

He feared no one, for he was fear incarnate. Dauntless, he rushed forward. His path was that of blood and pain. Mercy was never an option, either to the enemy or to himself.

Third Option

Alone he stood. He weathered the elements; he weathered the enemies; he weathered his weakness. They all passed; he prevailed.

Choose wisely.

The Verses reflected his most inner self; they were truths of himself that sometimes even he hadn't fully realized yet. Each word came with much more meaning than simply reading it could reveal; meanings that could only be felt. They were his truth, so fundamental in his existence there was no escaping it, no matter how much he might want to deny them.

But he felt that choosing any of those Verses would also change him.

They would emphasize those parts of himself and obfuscate others. It would give him focus. It was as if there were endless possibilities for all he could become, but that Verse would become the first step in a long path that he, and only he, would tread forward.

Those possibilities came from within, but they would also define himself in a way he couldn't even begin to understand, only feel how important it was.

First Option

They tried to lead him; he Refused. They tried to push him; he Refused. They tried to change him; he Refused. He was the master of his own self.

The first option brought him waves of unwillingness, immobility, and defiance.

He was unwilling to let anything change him. He was forever him and nothing else. Only he could change himself, not anyone or anything else. He defied whatever was thrown at him, good or bad, for nothing had the right to even try to move him.

That scared him. What would become of him if he chose it? Refusal was part of him, it had allowed him to not be frozen with the rest of humanity, but what if he focused on it more than he should? What if he started refusing things he shouldn't? What if it changed him enough that he refused life itself? He had been close enough after the rat swarm attack already, and he didn't want to take any chances with that.

Also, what if he became so immobile, he never advanced, never changed, never developed?

What if his unwillingness made him break by going against a power too strong, where only bending a little would be the best option?

He didn't know what the Omniverse held in stock for him, but he was at the bottom of the power ladder. Being too headstrong without the might to back it up was reckless at the least.

Ironically, he refused that option.

Second Option

He feared no one, for he was fear incarnate. Dauntless, he rushed forward. His path was that of blood and pain. Mercy was never an option, either to the enemy or to himself.

Bringing him deep feelings of fearlessness, determination, and mercilessness, the second option was even more reckless than the first. He guessed his Intimidation skill and his bad choices on the previous day highly influenced it.

He expected to act with all those characteristics in the future. He was sure blood and pain would become a common part of his life. Yet, the thought of allowing them to define his very self made his skin crawl.

Without fear, he would rush into dangers he should avoid. Without mercy to either the enemy or himself, he would soon become a monster. Picking that option was the same as stripping himself of his humanity, hoping that sheer determination could make up for the flaws brought by the other characteristics.

Ironically, he feared that option too much.

Third Option

Alone, he stood. He weathered the elements; he weathered his enemies; he weathered his weaknesses. They all passed; he prevailed.

Then came the third option, and it resonated with him.

The loneliness he felt from the "alone" word was soul-crushing, devastating his heart beyond the limits a human should be able to withstand.

It was the loneliness of a star in the void of space, alone for the billions of years of its existence. Surrounded by planets it could see, yet cursed to never approach them. The dream of the union was a cruel illusion that could only bring death and destruction.

It was the loneliness of a boy in the school, surrounded by colleagues, but lacking the warmth of friends. Of a lawyer in the court, surrounded by enemies with smiles and masks of falsehood that he himself wore to avoid being even more alone, although it never really made him one of them. Of a boyfriend abused by his girlfriend, but incapable of letting her go, for even that fake love was better than the cold emptiness of having none.

The loneliness of a pet dog surrounded by humans who never pet it, of an introvert nerd in a pool party, or a beautiful woman in a brothel.

He couldn't hold his tears from falling.

Was that how he felt? Did his new situation affect him that much? Did he feel that desolate?

He hadn't even realized it.

Allowing that to define his future almost made him drop that option too, but the second and third sentences brought hope with them.

The weathering of everything brought him a sense of stability he was surprised to find within himself. A feeling he reached for with all his power. Weathering the challenges ahead of him was something he dearly wanted, especially weathering his own mistakes brought by his weakness.

It was the stability of that same star, living for billions of years and unaffected by whatever happened around it. Of an ancient tree weathering the seasons with certainty. Of a quark traveling the cosmos unbound by even the death of the planets it visited.

And everything passing while he remained... It brought him a sense of movement. Movement of everything else and the lack of movement of himself if he wanted. Or vice versa, if that's what he needed.

Did he want this hell to end? It would one day. Did he fear becoming a merciless monster? He wouldn't. Moving forward, backwards, or not at all, a constant flux of movement, would allow him to reach wherever he wanted, be it here or there.

He wanted that stability and that movement. He didn't want the loneliness, but he already was alone, anyway. For one year, he would keep like that. And the other two brought him the means to withstand the loneliness or even end it, eventually.

It brought him the means to survive the world and his very self.

'I choose the Third Option,' he thought.

A voice resounded throughout the entire world, yet he knew only he could hear it. It felt ancient, older than time itself, and as it spoke the words of his First Verse, he shook even harder than before.

"Alone, he stood. He weathered the elements, he weathered the enemies, he weathered his weaknesses. They all passed; he remained."

The words were branded on his bones, on his heart, on his very soul.

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, focusing on the feeling as it slowly dispersed in the air. When he opened them, the text in the message window had changed.

First Verse

Class Subsystem

You have waved the first threads of your legend.

The Essences of your First Verse shall become your first Path Essences.

Essences: Loneliness, Stability, Movement

That was it for the First Verse, but two new minimized windows appeared on the edge of his vision. He focused on the first.

Interactive Tutorial: Your First Path

Congratulations on achieving your First Verse!

As it was a most important and personal choice, this Interactive Tutorial kept silent, as it might've done more harm than good.

Now, you're about to choose your Path's Primary Essence, turning the other two automatically into Secondary Essences.

The Primary Essence cannot be changed until you evolve your Power tier from G to F. It is the most important Essence and all Classes that will be presented to you must be compatible with your Primary Essence to some extent.

The Lesser Essences will also affect your Class options to a lesser degree and can be changed whenever you get enlightened to a new Verse.

From now on, after keeping the same Class for three Verses, on the fourth you'll be given a chance to evolve your Class. Evolving your Class is not considered changing your Class.

From now on, after keeping the same Class and Essences for nine Verses, on the tenth you'll be given a new Class Vision.

That sounded overly complex, with depths he wasn't ready to explore. He would do his best to choose a fitting Primary Essence now and think about Secondary Essences, Class Visions, and Evolved Classes — whatever those last two were — when he achieved his Second Verse. That's when he would need to make a choice.

He closed the tutorial window and checked the next one.

G Path

Class Subsystem

Pick the Path you want to tread.

1. Loneliness

2. Stability

3. Movement

Choose wisely.

The tutorial text made picking his Path's Primary Essence look like a game of best combinations and strategic decisions based on his plans for the future. But the Class Subsystem text was much more direct.

It asked him what Path he wanted to tread, and that felt more solid and grander than the tutorial let on.

Simple logic made him trust the Class Subsystem more. There had to be a reason only 0.02% of species chose the Interactive Tutorial over the Dedicated Tutorial.

Also, he had already established how the system's words had to be read carefully, and the Class Subsystem had been called the Omniheaven's First Blessing. It definitely sounded like something above the Interactive Tutorial.

So, which Path did he want to tread? Not the Path of Loneliness, that's for certain. Even if he would stay one year alone in this world, who knows how treading the Path of Loneliness for that long might affect him.

But between stability and movement, he wasn't so sure. Stability felt like the most obvious choice, since he had to weather whatever was thrown at him by the system. But he also felt the need for the unpleasant things to pass while only he remained, which movement could give him.

One was a choice of withstanding whatever happened, but things might keep happening forever. The other had the option of nasty things ceasing while he remained.

In the end, his stump helped him decide. A tree might weather a storm, but it didn't mean some leaves wouldn't fall, some branches wouldn't snap, and it wouldn't be hit by lightning. He had already lost his hand. What else would he lose if he tried to weather more damage?

But movement brought change, which was something he needed. This wasn't the main meaning of the word in his Verse, but he felt even the meaning of the Essence of Movement itself wasn't set in stone, as it would anathema to itself. He didn't want to just withstand terrible things, he also wanted to move forward himself.

'I choose the Path of Movement,' he thought and closed his eyes.

G Path

Class Subsystem

You have chosen the Path of Movement.

Suddenly, his focus shifted to inside himself.

He felt his heart. It beat, it moved.

He felt his blood. It flowed, it moved.

He felt his breath. It circulated, it moved.

His flesh, his cells, his atoms, everything inside him moved. His thoughts, his actions, his decisions, everything he was, moved.

Life was movement, a struggle against Death.

Death was movement, the nourishment for Life.

The very universe was in constant movement, for reality itself was movement.

His soul vibrated in waves, changing him in ways he couldn't comprehend. It also changed his surroundings, although it wasn't the world that changed, but the way he perceived it.

It changed who he was and who he would be.

For he now had a Path to tread.