After a hearty meal of roast boar, wine, and a not insignificant amount of quality time with Patience, I lay on top of my bedroll looking up at the different stars and moon of my new world. It was warm in the Rainbow dragon’s valley, and I could feel my eyes growing heavy. The day had been successful, Ran and Tristus had come to an agreement that left all parties satisfied. She’d even agreed to help transport us back to Heracleum both as proof of our accomplishment and to sate her own curiosity. I was headed for a fat reward of gold and reputation that I’d be able to use to start my guild. It was a good note to end the day on. Before I drifted completely off, I realized I’d received several notifications, and decided to check them.

Congratulations! You’ve learned the spell ‘Puppet’!

Puppet- Create a physical construct of any living creature. Controllable with your mind

Cost- Variable

Congratulations! You’ve increased the skill Sword!

Congratulations! You’ve increased the skill Feint!

Congratulations! You’ve increased the skill Barehanded!

Congratulations! You’ve increased the skill Stealth!

Congratulations! You’ve increased the skill Acrobatics!

Congratulations! You’ve increased the skill Negotiation!

Now that spell had a lot of possibilities. I assumed that the variable cost was dependent on the type of creature I was trying to create. That was likely the spell that Ran had used to summon her pretend goblin army and minotaurs. Made sense I’d picked it up considering that I’d seen her use it more than one hundred times in a single day. It was also good to know that while they provided no experience points, fighting them could still lead to skill gains. If I could figure out a way to summon a puppet, and fight it myself, it would allow me to train multiple ways at once. Though I suppose if I was controlling it, that wouldn’t be much of a challenge to fight.

All those possibilities jolted me back to wakefulness, at least briefly, then I gradually began to settle back into exhaustion, and closed my eyes. At that point, just before I fell asleep, a notification filled my vision.

A choice has been granted through the efforts of champion King

The Choice have been made

The god of Order has strengthened all ‘Ruler’ classes permanently

I sat up straight up, and suddenly heard laughter, loud and manic, all around me. Patience sat up too and pulled a dagger from somewhere looking around. I recognized the voice and looked over to her.

“You hear it too?”

She looked at me confused. “Yes? How could I not.”

“I just assumed that only I would be able to.”

The laughter all built up a bit louder and suddenly Ren appeared, in his usual mismatched chaotic outfit with his kaleidoscopic eyes shifting incredibly quickly, and a wide smile letting out mad laughter.

While he was laughing I turned to Patience. “That’s my boss.”

Her eyes widened. “The god!?”

I nodded, and looked back at Ren who was wrapping up his nearly minute long fit of laughter, sliding a finger under his eye to remove a single tear and sighing. He took a step towards us, and put on a look of mock indignation.

“Cormac! In the workplace!?”

I stood myself up. “Considering my workplace is basically all of Tu’reyne I don’t have much of a choice.”

He winked. “Don’t worry too much about it. I won’t report you to HR this time.”

“Thanks.”

He took a breath and somehow widened his smile even further. “It’s so nice to have some clarity after all this time. I mean, I’m a young god so time is relative, but still. It’s like feeling solid after a bout of intangibility.”

“How can she see you?” I asked.

“Well, because I’m here!” He exclaimed. “In the simulated god-flesh! Not for the long term mind you, but it’s a perk of finally having a domain.”

“So, if your opposite is the god of Order, you’re the god of-?”

“Chaos! Freedom! Like any good startup I’m all about breaking through the paradigm created by the status quo!” His expression rapidly shifted into something solemnity. “Of course, it also means we have some direct competition, who we’ll need to outperform, out-earn, and generally make sure he doesn’t have the same stake and influence that we do.” He took a few steps towards me. “It’s time I grant you the same advantages your fellow chosen have been enjoying.”

“Like wha-”

I was cut off as Ren’s hand shot forward and grasped my forehead. I felt for a few moments like I was on fire, lost consciousness for a few moments, and awoke just in time to keep myself from falling down.

“There you go. Consider it a bonus. Should help you wrap things up and get your next choice, though we may need to be working on other ways to counter our competition. “Ren gently fiddled with the collar of his Hawaiian shirt. “Anywho, I better get going. Time to flex a little bit.” With that, he poofed and vanished into thin air.

I stood, no longer in pain, but otherwise completely flabbergasted. Ren had seemed different this time. Whether it was the sudden escalation in his powers, or something permanent, I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t particularly care for it. In retrospect it seemed fairly obvious that Ren was the god of chaos, and I was certain I’d been on the cusp of knowing and saying it out loud dozens of times, but something had held me back, whether the system or some kind of godly prevention I wasn’t sure.

I realized that I didn’t feel nearly as tired as I had before. Not just because of the jolt of a god cackling outside your sleeping place, but even beyond that, I didn’t feel as weary in general. I checked my notifications.

You have received the ability “Mark of the Chosen: Chaos”

Mark of the Chosen: Chaos- You gain two additional ability points per level that are randomly distributed. You may cast one spell a day for zero mana cost, but this may have unexpected consequences.

Ability revealed “Uncontrollable- You cannot be affected by any compulsions or forms of mind control.

I pulled up my sheet.

Cormac

Half-Elf

Lvl 9 Mercenary

XP: 22120

->HP: 207

->MP: 119

Stats:

->STR: 16

DEX: 19

->SPD: 22

->INT: 16

->WIS: 13

->PER: 15

->CON: 17

->LCK: 9

Known Skills:

->Sword (LVL 13)

Club (LVL 6)

Mace (LVL 5)

Axe (LVL 5)

Spear (Lvl 9)

Hammer (LVL 5)

Bow (LVL 5)

Dagger (LVL 14)

Improvised Weapon (LVL 8)

->Barehanded (LVL 16)

->Stealth (LVL 8)

->Feint (LVL 11)

Trapfinding (LVL 4)

->Negotiation (LVL 3)

Trapping (LVL 2)

->Acrobatics (LVL 8)

Abilities (Racial):

Half Borne of Magic

Abilities (Class):

Anything in a Pinch

For the Right Price

A Job is a Job

Abilities (Unique):

Left Hand Free

Borne of Two Worlds

Reduce Magic

Use Regents

->Mark of the Chosen: Chaos

->Uncontrollable

Spells:

Flash Step 15 mp

Grease 15 mp

Spark >1 mp

Stone Toss 20 mp

Fireball 120 mp

Invisible Steps 15 mp

->Puppet (Variable) mp

I stood there dumbfounded for several moments. My ability scores had just gotten an incredible boost in a single instant. I was thoroughly disappointed in the lack of improvement to my DEX, but considering the gains I received everywhere else it was hard to complain. I was also very curious as to what the consequences were for casting a spell without mana, but not so much that I was willing to try it out without cause. I felt good, fantastic even, but I realized something else very quickly. The other Chosen had this type of a boost from the very start. Who knows what kind of powers the Chosen of War or Magic might have? No wonder their accomplishments had been so incredible, and also no wonder I’d been starting to be left behind.

I heard a cough behind me and turned to see Patience staring at me with an eyebrow raised. “Are you just going to stand there staring into space and flexing?”

I grimaced, I had forgotten she was there. “A lot to process, sorry.”

“So that was a god?”

I nodded. “Of Chaos apparently. Or Freedom if we’re trying to protect his image.”

She shook her head. “They are definitely not going to be a fan of him back in Crofton. Order they’ll be very excited to start worshiping, but Chaos? They’ll do it, but there’ll be more than a little grumbling. She squinted at me. “Are you…are you bigger than you were when we went to sleep?”

I looked down at myself and noticed I was definitely a bit taller and more muscular than I was just moments ago. “It seems so.”

She took a step closer and ran a hand up my back. “Since it seems we’re both awake again…we may as well stay up until morning don’t you think?”

“I’d say that’s probably a good idea.”