《Pocket full of sunshine (working title)》 Chapter 1: A Spark that ignites the soul Arthur Slate sat cross legged on his bed. He drank the special mushroom tea 30 min ago, now he was supposed to doze and meditate or lucid dream. He couldn''t remember, he breathed and.... With a curse Arthur opened his eyes, and glanced around the room until his eyes fell upon his desk where a quartz crystal sat next to some hand made device he¡¯d built off the internet. Supposedly this device would magnify the state which the crystal resonated at and it would create connection to the same location in the ¡®Astral¡¯ sort of like the old Phreaker party lines from the pre cellphone pre internet days. The Astral was a space layered over reality where one''s consciousness could wander without one''s body. This crystal was harvested with several others from a specially grown quartz crystal tuned to a Specific frequency. He picked the thing up and placed it on the cradle, and connected the nine volt battery to the device. He turned to go back to his bed, completely unaware that one of the internal parts had been soldered in reverse. Waves began to populate throughout the astral rather than pinging a resonant bubble like all the others taking part in this experiment. Unbeknownst to Arthur something detected his signal. -------- System Prototype: Ark ¡®Spark¡¯ propelled itself through the void that is the astral; a limitless space devoid of Aether. Having skirted two black holes collapsing into each other and been pulled through a rip in physical reality into the astral. It flew aimless for millions of years. it was designed to harness ambient forces created at the birth of a universe and apply system protocols to guide the development under that greater universal system, a web of universes connected by Aetheric pathways to funnel Aether evenly across the multiverse and regulate the power of the beings within in order to stop the rise of new gods. With the last dregs of its internal energy Spark leapt at the kernel of Aether that floated at the origin point of the signal. -------- Arthur awoke in the astral, deep¡­ far deeper than he¡¯d been before. No warped mirror of reality, no ground no, creatures or entities. The truth was that Arthur had been to the Astral many times in his life. Though mostly as vivid lucid dreams and a sense that reality had far more layers. Questions that no religion could answer, like there was more. He had a knack for electronics working around him when they shouldn''t, his aura in those special photographs you could get at alternative spirituality shops was a blaze when he let it flare unchecked, but he could also control its shape.. This little crystal excursion was exciting because he would be fully lucid, and if everything worked like theorized, there would be other people and the experience wouldn''t feel like a fever dream that never faded. All of his memories from his astral jaunts seemed faded and hazy. Even though he could still recall the details. Just as he began to look around and wonder if something went wrong. A spark flitted into his astral form, unlike normal his sphere of effect was an area where his will came into effect often times raising his speed or perception, perhaps even stopping a foe or creature in their tracks if they felt weaker than him; did nothing to slow the spark before it reached the center of his spiritual being. With a *Ding* that was Perceived rather than heard; a message formed in a text box floating in his plane of vision. ***** System Prototype: Ark. catalyzed¡­ Defusing aetheric kernel¡­ Aetheric kernel insufficient to facilitate universal system¡­ Error¡­ System processing¡­ Secondary protocol initiated¡­ Demi plane creation successful¡­ Attaching to the host spirit¡­ Caretaker protocol initiated¡­ ***** At first Arthurs center went cold, then a pain shot through his entire spiritual being. He began to scream; silently in the void of the deep astral. The pain became a burning; like a nuclear reaction just went off in his chest, and then everything went black. When Arthur awoke he felt strange, both hollow and more somehow. Like he now had more potential. But he was pulled out of his thoughts with another Ding. A window appeared. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. **** Physical vessel lacks Etheric pathways recalibrating¡­ Spirit stabilized¡­ Matter reserves sufficient to create a new vessel¡­ Crafting new vessel¡­ Maintaining genetic connections¡­ Adapting etheric pathways¡­ Error. Ether deemed too destructive¡­ Crafting body with mana pathways¡­ Form stabilizing¡­ ***** And then the Window blinked out, and floating in the darkness somehow lit was a genderless form, no hair, androgynous. But he had read litrpg, wuxia, and sundry other books under the lit umbrella. He was also versed in video games, and this was a character creation screen. And he just integrated with a system. ¡°System?¡± He tried to vocalize but He had no physical form with which to speak. His intent must have been enough, because something did happen; a glowing mote of light blipped into existence in front of him. ¡°Does the caretaker require assistance?¡± its voice was chipper and leaned towards an electric nasal just on the masculine side of neutral. He floated there for a second before he realized he could neither blink, nor look around. ¡°Yes. i need help with this whole rebuilding my body thing¡­Am i dead?¡± The orb of light flickered and then responded. ¡°As to your second question, your essence is being maintained and not recycled, we only need to assemble a more fitting vessel to house your essence. And to that end I can assist. From your memories and knowledge the best way to describe me would be a genus loci or a world spirit. These are terms from your fictions that you understand well enough. Now on to the task at hand. I can recreate your physical appearance.¡± with a ripple the hairless androgynous form that floated in the void before us took on Arthurs naked physical form. Mid back length brown hair blue eyes, scruffy beard, overweight, tall. ¡°Is this your earthly appearance?¡± The voice asked. He tried to nod, despite not having a physical form. After it didn''t respond he spoke up. ¡°Yeah¡­ that''s me. What can I change?¡± The spark bobbed for a moment and responded ¡°Any and everything, I am even pre programmed with the building blocks for countless other races species across several different universes. though a lot of those, are from places with much richer energy and thus would suffer if they were to propagate in an environment with such low energy density.¡± Arthur paused to think, ¡°will this reset the telomeres in my body? Like, am I going to live longer now?¡± The light orb scoffed. ¡°yes it will¡­ in fact, as the caretaker, as long as your soul isn''t completely destroyed and there is enough energy to convert to matter, you are functionally immortal.¡± Arthur blanked out for a few moments. ¡°ok let''s drop 120 lbs. to tone up the physique¡­ Abs yes. Pecs¡­ also yes. Keep the hair and beard¡­ Can you give me a genetic rundown? I want to fix any genetic disorders that might run in my genes.¡± The ball of light flickered ¡°don''t bother With that, the system will straighten that all out. All right now the last step will be to imprint your first Talent On your mana core.¡± ¡°Do I get a list?¡± Arthur asked. The ball of light made an audible inhaling noise and¡­¡± no.¡± Arthur paused, ¡°what do you mean no? How am I supposed to pick a Talent if there is no skill list?¡± The ball bobbed in place for a beat before saying. ¡°You must design it. For now I only know as much about your culture as you do, But as time goes by I will naturally Propagate talents. Arthur wanted to shake his head and blink at that statement. ¡°Can you read my mind?¡± The ball bobbed ¡°well yes, I can¡­ but I just read your soul. It''s all decipherable data to my magnificent self¡­¡± Arthur Was silent for several minutes as he thought over the several large bombs that were just dropped on his head. Before he had an idea¡­ An idea for an ability. ¡°Spark? Can I call you Spark?¡± The orb pulsed¡­ ¡°That designation is sufficient.¡± Arthur continued ¡°what are the ramifications of this initial Talent?¡± ¡°Hold the concept in your mind.¡± after a moment the Spark bobbed a nod. "mm¡­good¡­it aligns with your affinities¡­ versatile. Hmm not combat focused, rare for your species. Complete.¡± With a jolt the body shook and despite not being in it yet, he felt the power coarse up his spine and shoulders, then up his neck into his eyes and skull. In his mind''s eye he could perceive a box that he knew wasn¡¯t physically there, but it appeared floating in the air. ***** Congratulations you have unlocked your first Talent: Caloric Completion: This talent is of the Space\Time affinity this talent allows the user to burns the amount of calories an action would take to complete and complete it Instantly, however the user must understand an action from start to finish in order to use it. this gift came with an innate sense for the users Calorie reserves and another to sense how many calories an action would cost. ***** Chapter 2: Miasma filter Chapter 2: Miasma Filter. With a strange sense of displacement the next thing Artrhur knew was that he was laying on his back in some soft grass, the temperature was cool. ¡°Where am I?¡± Arthur was pleased to hear his own voice. He started to stand up When Spark popped into being flickering through several colors in no seeming pattern or sequence. ¡°We are within the Demi plane attached to your soul. The kernel of dormant Aether that was embedded in your spirit was enough to create a small solar system, but it will take time to process it down into lower forms of energy. However at my core the system seed that resides there and will control this demi plane rules for more knowledge resources and other benefits for those who choose to aid in its progress. Through tasks like gathering necessary resources and slaying beasts that are formed from chaotic energy emissions. To be clear they are catalyzed by what you would call dna. The building blocks of life. And as we make enough progress, more complex life and more energy rich resources as well as arcane knowledge and other blueprints that will require higher forms of energy to function.¡± ¡°Wow¡­ That''s a lot¡­¡° Arthur flopped back on his hands and took all of that in. ¡°ok so im gonna start on a kinda pedantic note¡­ but like I know what both a Genus Loci and a World spirit are, but you seem more like a dungeon core tbh¡­ I mean you can read my mind right? So like look at all this juicy Dungeon core fantasy¡± Spark bobbed and dimmed before brightening again. ¡°Yes¡­ I suppose you are right. However when we get to a point we will be spawning dungeons, higher tier ones might eventually gain sentience and vie for regional dominance if they run unfettered, though I suppose in my function as the controller of this demi plane I am essentially an over dungeon.¡± ¡°Alright now like, you are a super ancient Artificial intelligence that was created before this universe existed with access to knowledge so esoteric I can''t understand it¡­ but what is this caretaker protocol?¡± Spark dimmed ¡°Ah that, yes well I cannot function without the oversight of a sentient being capable of at least rudimentary spiritual power, you do pass that margin even if you are less capable than some single cell magic organisms.but I digress-¡± Arthur raised a hand and cut Spark off, ¡°doesn''t everything have a soul?¡± ¡°HAHAHAHA¡­..What? Pshhhh¡­ nooo! In fact in the archives there are mentions of Whole universes where the spark of the spirit never took or evolved. It was a whole universe of primitive instinct driven creatures that only lived until they died, no genetic memory, no Akashic Records, eventually everything became space crabs sentient fungal spore clouds larger than your earth galaxy, and roaming brambles that were powered by entire star systems just photosynthesis and hunger,can''t forget the galaxy spanning empires of Space insects i mean multiple galaxies not star systems. They never developed souls but they did make a bio computer storage for consciousness and stored knowledge. It would be like having access to the internet without a written language ever being created. Anyway when we collapsed that universe to recycle its physical matter a few of the more resilient entities escaped into the void between universes. But that, is full of ancient horrors and sleeping elder gods. Anyhow we re absorbed the matter back into higher forms of energy until it became aether again, we just extracted all the data before it was stripped away. Now returning to what i was saying before I was ever so rudely interrupted. I need you to help shape and guide this Demi plane so that furthers this system seeds growth. You will be rewarded with power for this. You already have. Your abilities have been calculated and quantified.¡± ¡°Wait wait wait¡­ I have stats? Where are they..¡± The laugh that was Spark flickered a disdainful orange.¡±I didn''t bother, they aren''t special, median for your size for your species. Maybe a little stronger and smarter than you seem but nothing that would qualify you for this honor if there were better choices.¡± Arthur ignored the shitty glo bug. ¡°Yeah well maybe you did find the right guy because I have lots of ideas for systems!¡± ¡°Well maybe that would be true if! You got a say in the system. What you can have a say in how certain aspects are approached. Well for now you have a quest.¡± Just then a window appeared in Arthurs vision. **** Slay the goblins and establish a safe zone. Don''t die. **** ¡° It says don''t Die, I thought you said i was functionally immortal,¡± The ball made a noise as if sucking air through its non-existent back teeth. ¡°Yeah, at this juncture you shouldn''t die. Your spirit isn''t currently being held because I have so many processes fabricating all the matter and sub reality strata this pocket dimension will require to grow properly. Just kill the goblins and establish a safe zone obelisk that will free up the systems for reconstitution of your physical form. And retention of your spirit. Were you an aspirant of any of the greater entities in your universe?¡± ¡°Wait, there are greater entities in my universe?! I thought you said it was an aether desert. Or some shit like that?¡± ¡°Yes I did say that, but aren''t there creatures that live even in earth deserts? There are rudimentary and even some vaguely sophisticated spirit cycles, for a backwater universe that has had to discover everything for themselves. A mana desert more affects the upper end of what a universe can output. I don''t think this universe could ever produce an actual God. What these powers do is attract people into following them for protection or any number of other reasons, they grow in power and create domains that create currents or cycles of spirits; these spirits offer up slivers of their Aether through faith and or prayer for their whole lives and when they die and are reborn a new cycle of energy gathering and dispersal. They try to weed out spirits that would gain consciousness; by killing their hosts or ostracizing non believers to get them back into the cycle with a more permeable outlook.. And when a spirit''s Aether runs out it either disperses, or is taken to a demi plane to act as a repository for the faithful. They don''t want entities to grow and hoard their Aether, or seek out the Aether of others.¡± Just then 3 goblins stepped out of the brush to the north, they were only clad in crude dirty loin cloths with sharpened stone tipped spears. They were short but muscular like wiry green apes. Their skulls were lumpy and misshapen with uneven and disproportionate features like unevenly sized eyes, off centered and poorly formed noses and uneven ears. ¡°Oh grand and multi dimensional fabricator you gonna equip me?¡± Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Sorry, hands are tied. You''ve got this, I''m sure.¡± Arthur blinked. ¡°Are you serious? Even they get sticks and loincloths.¡± ¡°You''re a big boy¡­¡± the ball dipped low almost to waist level, ¡°well you are tall and strong, you can handle this.¡± ¡°Hey! Screw you! I''m a grower!¡± Time was up. Spark winked out and the goblins began an awkward but steady gait as they began to pick up speed. Arthur focussed inward and realized his caloric battery was nearly empty, when it occurred to him that this body had never eaten before. He wasn''t feeling faint so he decided to give his new Talent a spin. He envisioned running wide around the approaching goblins then stopping in front of a berry bush to pick a couple handfuls and eating them, he also expended the calories to digest them, and then turn to face the goblins from his new position. His sense of his talent was a mental tightness that told him he was on the edge of what he could do with so little energy. He released the tension like releasing a rubber band the potential energy building and expending. Arthur stood facing away from the now empty berry bushes. Watching the goblins begin to skid to a stop. Everything that he envisioned happened in an instant between foot falls, he now stood feeling slightly ful at the enemies back, his caloric energy well not full; wasn''t running on fumes. He shifted his weight forward, something in his motion most have alerted the Goblins because of of then turned and threw his spear, for a moment the spear was coated in a hazy crimson energy that seemed to flash in the goblins eyes as well and the spear flew fast, way faster than it should have; But as has been the case for Arthur''s whole life his perception of time seemed to slow to a crawl. It was no complicated feat to imagine stepping forward and grabbing the spear from the air, and in a blink Arthue stood with the spear in hand as the 3 goblins charged him. Arthur was more of a sword and fist kinda guy but he understood the underlying purpose of a spear. Range, thrust or lever. The first goblin to reach him was one of the other spear wielders. It ran forward with part of the haft under one arm; its two hands gripping tightly. Arthur stepped in and used his reach and leverage to strike the top of the spear and drive it into the grass, with his foot he stomped on the shaft just beneath the spear head and drove the tip into the thing¡¯s large misshapen eye. Just then the next spear wielder arrived. This one stabbed from what was above for it, arthur twisted out of the way, vanishing mid pivot, and re appearing behind the thing still mid pivot, but now driving his spear point into the other spear goblin¡¯s back.it punched into the back of its neck. But before Arthur could celebrate the third Goblin arrived leaping onto his thigh and sinking its jagged teeth into his soft inner thigh. ¡°AHHHHHH!!! FUUUCCCKKK!!¡± He roared, gesturing at the goblin biting his thigh with both hands, before choking up on the spear and stabbing the creature repeatedly in the neck. The creature fell from his leg now dead. Arthur plopped onto his ass in the blood slicked grass, before the goblins and blood began to dissipate into motes of light, some of which gathered and flew towards Arthur, before a wave of euphoria enveloped him. The wound on his thigh healed visibly as he lay there. Gasps of pain become a sigh of contentment. ¡°Spark? What the fuck man!?¡± The light did not appear but his voice rang out. ¡°Two more groups of 3 and you are done.¡± a window appeared. ***** Error: Progression halted until realm stone placed and secured. **** Where the 3 goblins once lay, 3 prismatic orbs hovered. Small motes of light broke away from them and vanished but they didn''t seem to get appreciably dimmer. ¡°Spark, what are these?¡± ¡°Loot, moron. Nothing worth energetically much given how crude these things are. Just reach out and touch one to extend your senses, and you will sense the potential in your mind. If it''s something you want then acknowledge it and the energy will fulfill its potential, if you don''t want it acknowledge that and it will dissipate back into the system. The loot is a reward incentive for helping filter the energy byproduct created when breaking Aether down into lower forms of energy; it''s a miasma that can corrode and corrupt life and consume the spirit, but it was discovered that if you seed the surroundings with motes of life energy it will attack and consume it assimilating and corrupting the code that will become genetics. It will then gather and collect the miasma into monsters, those were made from the code for what you''d call ¡®hobbits¡¯ which changes the energy into a form of matter that can be broken down into something more beneficial to the system.¡± Arthur absorbed all that information for a moment before he followed Sparks'' advice. He extended a hand to the spear chucker goblin, and pushed with his senses, in his mindseye a loin cloth with a hip pouch swam into view. Arthur mentally chose to accept; and in a pop of light a muddy brown loincloth of an unknown material lay across Arthurs palm. He sighed and when he went to put it on it sized to fit him even the pouch rested comfortably on his hip. The next one dropped 3 copper coins, and the third some animal tooth necklace. In the end he accepted all 3, adding the coins to his new pouch and wearing the necklace; before snatching up a fallen spear, and looking around for signs of the other goblins. ¡°Hey, spark, can we like shift cosmetics? For loot orbs?¡± ¡°What?! You got a problem with rainbows?¡± ¡°That is not an issue where I''m concerned, I just meant that if we could have different colors based on spiritual density, like white, green, blue, purple, and orange in ascending order.¡± ¡°You want to establish a rarity system? That is easy enough but past attempts at implementing such features show increased incidents of conflict where rarity is concerned¡± ¡°Then create a roulette system where contributors can vie for ownership and then choose between participants with a little chibi icon on their face or something. Or maybe you can¡­ you said it''s all potential until you acknowledge it right? And it''s an attempt at a reward that gets recycled. What if you create a system of loot cards? And before you object. People fucking love to collect things, and! Cards are also way easier to store. So just have the system fabricate a card with an item on it with no description, maybe have an artificer or center for identifying items...¡± ¡°There are both appraise and identify skills in many class paths both combat and non combat.-¡± ¡°Classes there are classes? What''s mine? You gotta get better with the announcements pal!¡± ¡° You don¡¯t have a Class yet, you have your starting talent. At level 3 you will receive a second talent that you can pick from a list. I have begun to sift through your culture from its subconscious impact on the astral plane around your planet. At level 7 you will receive a third talent then at lv 10 you will hit tier 1 and attain a class based on your talents and how you use them. Hmmm¡­ your planet has a surprisingly built entertainment industry, with rich stories of myth lore, history and fiction. I will sift through my archive of patterns and seed this demi plane with creatures likely to be recognized. Though not all of your methods for dealing with these threats will be accurate depending on the species.¡± ¡°Ya know¡­ we keep talking about other people, but this is in my soul and i have no way back¡­ and I don''t know if I like the idea of this demi plane snatching souls to reincarnate them here, i mean this is my soul ya know, its kind of private. And i feel like if they landed here instead of heaven they''d be pissed¡± ¡°Worry not caretaker, once you accomplish your goal it will solidify this realm and then you can create a rift back to where you started from, at which point you can enter, exit or pull things into or out of this place at your will. And Aether no! We will not be drawing in spirits for reincarnation. the entities in your universe would surely notice, if a portion of the spiritual rivers that flow through your universe If there was suddenly a stream syphoning them in here. You aren''t ready for that stage of existence. Since the realm is inside your spirit, it''s insulated; and no energy emissions will be detected from outside. Now once you hit Tier 10 you will need to start being cautious about what you do outside of here, because once you condense your mana into Either and form an ether core, that will surely get the attention of agents of the greater powers, we should avoid that as long as possible. because once that ball begins rolling you are going to need to tier up fast enough that you outpace the level of guardians that they are sending, because 98% of powers in an unregulated universe resist system implementation, because it gives potential to all, rather than concentrating it in a few.¡± Chapter 3 Soul weapon summoner. Arthur paused and stopped speaking when he heard a rustle in the brush ahead, he grabbed a stone and hurled it into the bush. A goblin exploded from the underbrush, spear thrust forward, mouth agape. Arthurs perception of time slowed down and he parried the spear haft with his free hand and slipped to the outside thrusting the spear tip into its throat. It died gurgling. Before it and its blood pixelated away. ¡°What if someone wanted monster parts for alchemy or crafting?¡± ¡°There are hunting and harvesting skills, if you had them the system would give you an opportunity to harvest. But if it was just a mission for ears, they would just drop when the rest of the body deconstructed. Once this space is larger and more stable it will be seeded with habitable life as far as your planet''s biology goes. But we can cover this space''s biology when it''s actually on the table.¡± In the distance 5 goblins clambered and fought over the corpse of a deer like creature, Arthutr paused in thought before appearing behind one of he squabbling goblins, he dispatched it with a thrust, before doing the same to the remaining 4; only appearing long enough to get them to commit to attacking before re positioning Caloric completion couldn''t be used to auto-fight, traditionally. but it can be used to reposition or retreat; potentially also use consumables. After looting the common grade cards that floated above the corpses Arthur received an alert. ***** Success!! You have slain the goblins that inhabited the central ring. Establish the Realm anchor and create a safe zone. You have also completed the first expansion quest. ***** Arthur strolled back into the clearing he appeared in. It was a large mostly clear grassy meadow with a few rolling hills and a scattering of trees. Arthur indicated the spot and an obelisk made of a glossy black and gray marbled material with unfathomable depth sprouted up from the meadow floor. A beam of light exploded up into the air, it began to widen and in another blinding flash it vanished. All Arthur knew was bliss. For the second time today Arthur came back to consciousness laying in the grass. Arthurs field of vision was crowded with overlapping system prompts. With an application of will that was quite intuitive; redundant system prompts were consolidated. ***** You have slain 9 goblins, you have gathered enough essence to ascend to level 4 you have 4 stat points to assign. You have unlocked the second Talent. You have unlocked the second layer: The second layer begins at the edge of the safe zone barrier and expands out. within the second layer you will find a lush and dense forest biome complete with edible plants and an entire supportive ecosystem. In order to secure the second layer, find the goblin village and slay the chief. ***** Arthur flopped back down onto his back next to the Obelisk. ¡°Ok Spark, lets see what other Talents you have unlocked for me.¡± ¡°Can give ya a list, but i know which one you will pick.¡± ***** Choose your second talent. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Kineticist Soul weapon summoner Time Stamp **** ¡°I see what you think i''ll pick, but this is tough, will the other two Talents be lost?¡± Spark bobbed in place and hovered in a small irritated circle. ¡°No, the other choices will remain and more will propagate besides. I was trying to reward you for a job well done.¡± Arhuur laughed and asked again before finally selecting his choice. ¡°And it works exactly like I think it should?¡± Spark made the sighing sound, yes but it is a newly minted Talent. You could damage it if you try to go straight to varsity with that power. Speaking of which, for a world without a system, you spent a lot of time creating concepts for powers and abilities¡­¡± ¡°What can I say¡­ Some guys like trains, I like power¡­¡± ¡°My next question is Do you want a specific weapon or do you want my interpretation of your personality and sense of self to pick?¡± The light ball bobbed in place. ¡°If this were actually a game I''d say let''s randomize it, but I''ll stick with the Zatoichi sword.¡± ¡°Very well, however be aware on one hand this Talent plays well with the system and how it applies conceptual force to things but that is a double edged sword. You will certainly encounter defenses that are just as conceptually bolstered as your weapon. Also any evolutions it undergoes or any Meta tricks you utilize will be up to you and the system, as soon as I release the talent into your core i won''t be able to shape it any longer. But remember! This talent is still new, your pathways are tender and fragile, don''t go acting like your story characters. You gotta walk before you can crawl¡± Arthur nodded and with a thought; he chose Soul Weapon Summoner. He felt the warmth start at his core and radiate through his entire body like tiny roots seeking out sustenance, and then he felt the massive pathway forming from his core to his left hand. After all the warmth and tingles died down Arthur stood with baited breath, he felt inside himself and found the conceptual warmth and pressure that was his new talent. He pushed the energy through his pathway, for a moment he could feel and control the energy, but then it slipped through his mental fingers. And with that he held a sheathed zatoichi sword in his left hand. He could lightly feel his connection to the weapon formed from his spiritual energy, but it was also ephemeral. He knew that he could swing it around and keep the sheath on as if it were the bokken that it looked like when sheathed. He knew on a conceptual level that that blade housed within was nanometer sharp. He had to work on his spiritual control though to unlock more of what he knew it could do. Arthur looked down at the weapon, shifting his grip to the handle and holding it like a practice sword, the first thing that he needed to work on was conceptual mass. Light when swung heavily on impact. Arthur spent a solid hour practicing before he had to take a break. His brain was starting to feel strained, or maybe that''s just how he processed spiritual exhaustion. ¡°Status.¡± ***** Name: Arthur Slate Age: 42 Race: Human Level: 3 (tier 0) Class: N\A HP: 16 Mp: 24 Calories: 875 ***** Attributes ***** Strength:7 Constitution: 6 Dexterity:7 Agility: 6 Intelligence: 8 Perception: 7 Charisma: 8 AP 4 ***** Talents ***** Caloric Compleation: This talent is of the Space\Time affinity this talent allows the user to burns the amount of calories an action would take to complete and complete it Instantly, however the user must understand an action from start to finish in order to use it. this gift came with an innate sense for the users Calorie reserves and another to sense how many calories an action would cost. Soul weapon summoner : This talent Creates a spirit weapon unique to the user that is truly an extension of their being. Strike with surety, if you aren''t convinced of why you swing your weapon how could it be? ***** Chapter 4: Tiers ¡°Ok Spark time to talk about stat quantification, what''s the range?¡± Arthur said from where he sat on the ground. ¡° Well you are just above average in most areas to seem like a quick learner, there is enough between you and the peak of human potential that you will be a hit at bars, but always have imposter syndrome in front of your peers or those who are truly near the peak. However your spiritual control seems to be quite high for someone without access to¡­ ah I see, you have one of those souls I mentioned that has not just the potential, but the storage of having lived multiple lives on various worlds throughout your universe¡­ hmmm I see. You have had dealings with some of these higher entities. You even have residual spiritual scars from encountering Either. You are actually quite versed in non corporeal combat. In fact given a few hundred more years of reincarnation cycles, you may have begun to construct your own mana core. I''d suggest you don''t reach out to any beings, nor should you traverse any sanctified ground. If any of those beings detect your system that could be bad. ¡± Arthur blanched. He¡¯d always been spiritual but not religious. And he did have experience with metaphysics and Magik. He even trained himself to see auras and control his own. He always felt like religion was like working in an industry rather than something he ascribed to or believed in. ¡°Thanks for that truth and a bit of Existential dread, I more so meant, explain tiers to me.¡± Spark made a throat clearing sound and began. ¡°The tiers are an energy system meant to gradually condense mana into higher forms of energy with greater control over the physical world. We will begin talking about stat expressions. As you level up your body will be saturated with potential, this is a complex metaphysical application of energy, because as much as your physical form is saturated with mana on a cellular level from your core to become more durable, you become greater as a spiritual being as well. Which means that when your stats exceed your body''s raw physical capabilities, you can begin to express this excess potential. I would suggest keeping your perception on par with whatever physical stats you take, because with perception comes proprioception. Or the ability to gauge distances as well as spatial awareness and how much force is required to perform an action. But more importantly is the ability to disburse momentum and anchor you in place when opposing forces with greater mass or velocity. Such as stopping a moving train without crushing the hull. Your spirit backed by the excess potential in your aura contends the forces. Now that is all well and good when dealing with objects without a sentience, but when dealing with people or beasts, it''s a contest of will and power, because a higher tier person or beast can exert their will and negate some or all of your spiritual force. Now in the greater multiverse it''s considered excessive and a show of weakness to punch down stages. But for now we will only deal with the mana condensing stage which is the first 10 tiers. Once you reach tier 10 you will condense your mana core into an either core. Once you can control even a single mote of Eather, you will start to create a domain, before your domain gains a concept, all you can do within your domain is control the mana, which means enemy spells and other lower forms of energy are subject to your will in varying degrees. Now once you hit tier five that half way point you will go through a refinement where your body will shed all impurities, including genetic defects and injuries. you will have a class refinement. your spirit will have a greater effect after that point. But for now just take one of your stats up above 10. Which is your species maximum physical potential. Last thing I''m gonna say about the tier five transformation is that if you have or find any bloodline treasures; you will want to absorb or consume them before this point for the best effect. Bloodlines are as much spiritual as they are physical since most bloodlines come with bloodline memory and knowledge passed down, thus you want those to be present when you go through refinement.¡± Arthur nodded and thought about his stats, ¡°so charisma¡­ it¡¯s emotional and social intelligence and force of presence?¡± The light ball bobbed in place. ¡°Yes, it can be given positive or negative weight by your intent, charm vs intimidate.¡± This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Arthur bounced in place like an excited boxer, even knocking his fists together. ¡°Ok next question if i took my Charisma to 12, would that synergize with my summoned weapon? It''s me and charisma is my force of presence so¡­¡± The floating ball dimmed before brightening. ¡°Hmmm¡­ lets see¡­ Yes! That will factor heavily.¡± Arthur nodded and assigned all 4 points to Charisma. Taking it to 12, he felt the energy build in his chest. It crawled up his spine and he felt it take root in his brain and eyes. Then shoot down into his Summoning talent, where it spread like warm water through his pathways. He breathed and extended his hand, his weapon snapping into existence in his hand. With surety he knew he could control its perceived mass and sharpness, even when sheathed. But many meta tricks were still beyond his reach. Boosting charisma has been the correct choice. ¡°I''m heading out into the second layer. Do your thing.¡± Arthur set out at a jog towards the forest that was the 2nd layer. Inside the trees were dense and the canopy blocked the light that didn''t seem to have a source. He held an image in his mind''s eye of climbing a tree to a large overhead supportive branch, and with a thought and a blink he appeared standing on the branch far above the ground. From here he spotted a group of 3 goblins following a trail. With a blink he appeared beside their single file line he swung the sheathed sword in an arc, the blade light until impact then heavy and sharp passing through the 3 goblins without resistance. They collapsed to the ground with a disturbing slosh and splash, like that scene from ghost ship. The goblins dropped a few coppers apiece as cards. As the bodies began to pixelate he was already moving through the trees. He used his talent with knowledge of survival from a 70s boy scout hand book, to create several pit and snare traps with a smattering of swinging logs and spikes attached to saplings. The forest became a death trap for goblins. It was easily 6 hours before he discovered the village, and when he did the goblins were hole up in trepidation. From a tree branch that had a view over the wall he was able to spot the chieftain. A big bastard with a cleaver and head dress. He lounged with what must have been females pleasuring him while he ate mystery meat, his other hand ever on his massive cleaver. Arthur steeled himself, ignoring the goblin debauchery, and imagined leaping from the limb he preached upon rolling to absorb impact and sprinting behind the chief. With a flicker he appeared where he imagined. He drew his blade for the first time, an iai slash Arthur drew and re sheathed the blade in one motion. The chieftain and his concubines fell in two. He then flickered All over the camp goblins falling to pieces. When he was done he dropped to his knees, sweat pouring and his face red as he heaved. His hand shot into his hip pouch and he grabbed a fist full of berries. He knew he had overtaxed his initial talent, however what he hadn''t accounted for was his body beginning to flash starve and cannibalize itself. With those berries choked down. His body had a new target to break down, and somehow he knew that these berries being mana dense gave them more caloric value. With a whoosh all the potential crashed down on him like a wave, he nearly blacked out, it was so intense, but it did heal his fatigue. ***** Congratulations you have reached level 7 you have unlocked your 3rd talent slot and you have 3 stat points to spend. You have unlocked the draw strike skill You have unlocked the stealth skill You have unlocked the Back stab skill You have unlocked craft trap skill You have unlocked general bush-craft skill You have unlocked foraging skill CONGRATULATIONS!!! You have unlocked the third Layer. The third Layer has two biomes, a rocky forest slope that is thinly forested and a rocky pebbled beach. These areas house the entrances to several dungeons. There are leaderboards first clear and solo clear rewards, as well as static loot charts that are only uncovered as discovered. Clear 3 dungeons to unlock the 4th layer. ***** Chapter 5: Death of a Batchelor Arthur blinked and took in everything. First off he raised his perception to 10, that was supposedly the peak of human potential. He then took a breath and began to look over his talent Gains. And only one of the three options really stood out to him. It was ***** Savant Artificer: no talent but an uncanny knack for skiing the connections between things lets the user build, craft, and understand magic gear based on inference extrapolation and synesthesia unique to the user. ***** Once he hit accept he felt his third talent lock in. just like that he began to see ties and connections between things that resonated. He tried pulling his perception back from the skill and he stopped seeing the faint connections that things had to each other. He then closed his eyes and envisioned the path back to the obelisk and when he opened them he was there in front of the stone. ¡°Ok Spark, how do I get home?¡± he called into the air. With a flash the ball of light appeared, it pulsed once and the pulse rippled outwards and Arthur felt it, he felt the membrane that he just had to push through with his will to rupture and then there was a portal in the air. Grass on this side and carpet on the other. The light bobbed. ¡°I''m sure you can see that I''m not letting the light from this side pass through into your world. As it stands now un-filtered ambient mana would be a very destructive force if it should get out. The mana that is in and around your person has purpose, but the ambient stuff is seeking purpose and might find that anywhere as a spare atom. Essentially anything synthetic or mass produced in your world, doesn''t have a spirit or an intent of its own. Things that are handcrafted not just assembled, they have enough of an intent that mana shouldn''t degrade them. Just be careful what you bring across from that side. Anything you take there from here will be stable in its mana molecular bonds so you shouldn''t have to worry about leakage unless you are specifically trying to take a container of ambient mana and release it over there. It would just randomly mutate both living and non living matter. All your mana is generated in your core and powers your abilities and talents, which will all still work over there. By tier 3 you should be immune to most low to mid level munitions but I wouldn''t take on a tank or higher until tier 5 but once you reach tier 9 you will be beyond the means of being damaged by anything that isn''t constructed using mana. But even if you did get killed out there. You''d respawn in your soul space, there is a lot more to cover but suffice to say. It''s safe to bring things from here to there, if you bring something from there to here expect some shenanigans. However, if you bring things from your world or scan them with your savant artificer skill, we can set up gathering quests and work on crafting things. Things brought for that purpose will be deconstructed down to the atomic level but core components and structural blueprints will be stored for future re-use.¡± Arthur nodded and said. ¡°Ok Scan is just for the blueprint but deconstruct breaks down and stores components and also creates a blueprint. I''m not superman yet¡­ and coming back is just reaching inside and pulling a portal open? And it will snap open near me?¡± ¡°Yes, you can also just will yourself inside, you can either appear at the obelisk or from where you left. Same goes for the earth side, you can return to anywhere you''ve portaled from there to here. So if you wanted to make a moon base you''d have to get there the primitive way, and open a portal from there to here. And you have a radius of fifty feet that you can pull items between here and there.¡± Arthur nodded on the brink of passing back through. ¡°Can you create a non mana saturated space where I can store things from my world and retrieve them at will?¡± ¡°Yes, that is simple but only because of your affinity for space and time magic. We can even dilate time between the two realms.¡± Arthur nodded. That is freaking awesome. Umm let''s leave it one to one unless time will help respawn the goblins. ¡°Indeed the time dilation will assist with that.¡± ¡°Well then do what''s best then.¡± With that Arthur stepped into the real world again¡­ to see his previous body, laying on the bed in his basketball shorts and t-shirt. It was so strange to be standing there looking at his own body. It was breathing. It was over weight but didn''t look its age. ¡°Spark, can you hear me?¡± I said aloud. ¡°Yes yes¡­ just direct your thoughts at me. What is the¡­ oh¡­ yes well i forgot to mention, when i created your new body and re attached your soul. It lost connection with this one.¡± ¡°Well. is it still alive? It seems to be breathing.¡± ¡°Biologically yes, however it will never wake up again.¡± Arthur stood there for a few beats thinking. He could start over. Use this body to fake his death and just spend his time in the other dimension. But no¡­ he had friends and loved ones and didn¡¯t want to make them sad. He sighed. ¡°This is just Arthur shaped meat¡­¡± Arthur focused and the portal opened again. He envisioned throwing his own body over his shoulder and setting it down in the grass. With a flex of his talent he stood on the other side of the portal over his prone form. He had a pang, all the experiences of the last four decades, his first kiss. Learning martial arts. Learning to cook. Teaching his cousins and little brother martial arts. ¡°Hey spark, do I have the same biometrics? Like fingerprints and such?¡± A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. The spark popped into being. ¡°Yes, you have the same DNA, fingerprints, everything. I even kept all your neural pathways and muscle memories.¡± ¡°Ok¡­ when I leave, set the time dilation so that nothing is left when i get back, this is a safe zone right? No goblins are gonna eat it?¡± ¡°You backwards barbarian, I will just disassemble it for more resources.¡± In a flash that Arthur wasn''t expecting the body just disintegrated, the clothes now lay empty on the ground. ¡°Just like that. I know I''m still me but the body my mother gave birth to just died and only I know it. ¡°he sighed and looked down at the clothes again. They were starting to dissolve, the synthetic fibers not playing well with the mana.¡± Hey if i bring some clothes over can you absorb and remake them in a size that fits this new body.¡± ¡°That would be simplicity in itself, but why don''t you use your newest talent to do that?¡± ¡°But there is no system out there¡­¡± ¡°Yes well the system is inside you, and that 50 foot radius. That''s how far my senses expand beyond your own.¡° Arthur headed back out Into his room and willed the portal shut. He dug through his closet and grabbed several articles of clothing and laid them out on his bed. He scanned them with his talent by reaching out to the pattern on his core and flaring perception along with it. He then knew in his mind what they were made from and then he was prompted to reconstruct. It was strange how this part was automated, but sure enough after his talent scanned across his clothes it scanned across them again but this time it pulled from his personal mana pool, and as the wide angle beam passes across it the clothes dissolved and in his mind''s eye he could see a collection of cloth fiber and polyester. But now woven into the fabric was mana. When it was complete the clothes again lay on his bed, smaller and brand new. ¡°Spark, can i interact with something in my non mana spatial storage like equipping and unequipping also can you make it so time doesn''t pass inside the non mana spatial storage? Like I want food and drink that I place in there to stay both hot and fresh. ¡°I''m not a moron; spatial storage does exist within the system.¡± ¡°What would it take to get a bonded storage space?¡± Arthur asked, having perked up upon that revelation. ¡°It will likely be a dungeon loot drop. Once an inhabitant reaches a level of crafting to make stable Storage items that can survive teleportation and unstable spatial areas that will be an achievement.¡± Arthur took all that in and headed out of his bedroom and into the rest of his little duplex. He stored any and everything that he thought he might want or need. Tools, Dishes, clothes, furniture and several of his recharge packs fully charged. He popped back into his room and snagged his headphones which he stored. He focused on equipping and unequipping them into his ears. It was a strange sensation but he adjusted to it. The next snafu he considered was that if his headphones and charge packs couldn''t charge in the time frozen storage space. He also practiced changing clothes. He practiced storing his phone into and out of his pants pockets from storage. He also briefly considered becoming the world''s most elusive jewel thief. Traveling the world avoiding his rival, the Interpol detective; set to try and catch him. Teleporting into locations that shouldn''t be reachable and stealing things from inside of locked and secure cases. As he did this he wandered around outside his house. Sending Debris into the Demi plane to be recycled for matter. Like the junkpile next to his house. On a whim he also stored his car. ¡°What is my spatial storage''s upper limit?¡± Arthur asked Spark as he puttered around. Spark¡¯s voice echoed in his mind. ¡°It''s not unlimited, however it takes from the potential storage of the demi plane. You could technically store that entire small town you live in and it wouldn''t even be a percent of the space. So as long as you aren''t trying to. Absorb and terraform your star system you should be fine. Consider that your sun takes up. 99.9% of the mass of your star system, and allll the other planets and moons and debris only account for .01% of the rest of the mass of your solar system. Now, what does your car account for in that?¡± Arthur blinked in surprise considering that perspective, and then his brain noped out of that consideration. ¡°Got it, lots of space¡­ does that mean that if i jumped into the ocean¡­ I could absorb the whole thing? You know what. Don¡¯t answer that.¡± he then walked into his backyard. Out of sight of any neighbors and summoned his soul weapon. It snapped into being and he practiced some blocks and swings. After a few minutes of that he dropped a junk mattress out of his storage and plopped down to meditate. He focused on his core and the weapon summoning skill, and slowly but surely began widening a pathway towards his right hand. He held in his mind the idea of summoning the weapon sheathed with the handle appearing in his right hand. He made solid progress widening the channel half way u\down his right arm before the strain seemed like it could do damage if he didn''t give it time to settle. So after that he just sent pulses of energy as far down the pathway as felt comfortable, trying to acclimate the widened channel to energy flowing through. He continued that until he felt mental exhaustion start to creep in. ***** You unlocked the meditation skill. Meditation is a skill that grants the user increased hp and MP generation while the user meditates. Your meditation skill has reached level 7 ***** Arthur blinked in surprise at the skill announcement. He couldn''t wait to go to work tomorrow. Take a 15 minute break for 3 hours in his pocket realm. Teleport to work. Teleport home. For now Arthur teleported to the back lot behind his favorite local Mexican restaurant. No one was around, and he headed around to the front. He wasn¡¯t really worried about being spotted, in this time of Cellphones. People were largely in their own worlds. He headed inside and ordered their twenty dollar super burrito. The thing was more than a foot long and thicker than his forearm. After it arrived he ate half of it the normal way and metabolized the food, much like the berries. And then he used his power to consume the rest when no one was paying attention. Suffice to say the staff was surprised that he finished the giant burrito. When he got outside he had to teleport straight home and into the restroom. Because the other part of metabolizing the burrito after the berries was¡­ now he had waste to dispose of. After Arthur left his restroom, he went into his fridge and stored everything. He also stored all of his spices. Before sitting down at his computer and looking up how to make pemican bars. With his talent, compact and dense High calorie food was a must. **** Skill learned information gathering Skill raised to level 9 ***** Chapter 6: Work life balance. ¡°Spark, why did I raise 9 levels from looking up a recipe?¡± ¡°You already had proficient experience with that skill, merely performing the task caught you up to your skill level.¡± ¡°Wait¡­ I have back skill levels¡­ but why didn''t I gain any levels for my swordsmanship with those goblins?¡± ¡°Because you didn''t use any skill, they were like cutting down weeds. But you did get talent with your draw strike¡± ¡°What about all the spiritual control I used between my talents?¡° ¡°That is one of the things unlocked at Tier 5. I wasn''t joking when I said I was surprised your spiritual control was so high. That is crucial to bending talents, skills and abilities beyond their initial framework.¡± Arthur took that all into consideration and decided to move on. Going into his Door dash app and ordering what he needed to make pemmican from the local grocery store. ¡°Can I still naturally increase my stats by doing logic puzzles, running or weightlifting?¡± ¡°Yes, you can. Though your body will grow stronger, your self image will also have an effect on your appearance. It''s one of the ways that mana affects the development of sentient and self aware species. Even in some universes where external expressions of mana only begin to manifest once they have condensed an Either core. powerful fighters arise through internal expression of mana, but their outward appearances are still affected by it.¡± ¡°Ehhh?! Are you talking about Cultivators? Wouldn¡¯t they thrive in a system less universe?¡± ¡°Yes, I am talking about cultivators. They often reject the system. But it usually takes ancient monsters to travel the void between universes without Aetheric pathways between them. Given how saturated your cultures are with similar stories I''d wager there were once cultivators and cultivation traditions in your world, before the current state of things. Further I''d wager that most of your major religions were based on sects before they left your world. Now it''s just a mana starved place that pays tertiary energy dividends to those factions who still have a religious foot hold.¡± Arthur quickly stood. ¡°So, what you are saying is that if I go too far down this path ima hafta fight gods?¡± ¡°System no¡­¡± Spark sounded Shocked. ¡°Even I couldn''t contend with a god. Gods can control the Aether in an entire universe, it would take several top powers from upper universes to contend with a God. Gods can survive the void. The greater powers in your universe are merely the equivalent of high tier beings capable of manipulating matter, energy and spirit on a level as to seem like gods.¡± Arthur sighed and said. ¡°Ok so I will eventually have to fight these greater beings?¡± Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ¡°I mean I wouldn''t say it was inevitable. If you chose to stay in the demi plane after you reach Tier 10 no being on this side would or could know¡­ and you should never actually have to fight any of the greater powers until you are on the same level as them. Since once you hit tier 30, you will have to either stay in your Demi plane or ascend to an area with strong enough ambient energy that can sustain your body. That''s why these sects all have multiple tiers of adherents, so that they can keep enforcing at every level. Now like i said if they detect a system, they will come down like a hammer. So as long as you don''t trip any sanctified ground, or approach anyone capable of projecting their Authority.¡± ¡°So I''m some sort of Demon? Like the pope could exorcise me back to my demi plane?¡± Arthur''s voice got a little too high pitch for his liking at the end of that statement. ¡°Perhaps or perhaps not. It''s possible that This pope could just be a human figurehead with no spiritual power¡­ especially if he is elected. No likely there is some Exorcist organization that really knows what''s going on and keeps it a secret. There has to be a path to ascension or else whenever an ascension happened higher in the ranks it would leave holes in the sect structure.¡± After that discussion, Arthur decided to go inside and do some mundane things. He sat at his computer and logged onto Face Space, flipped through some reels. And generally failed at distracting himself. After about an hour he got up and went out to his garage where an old broken tv sat up against the wall collecting dust and cat pee. He scanned it with Savant Artificer, and then he absorbed it with the pass that breaks bonds, but then he stopped. He didn''t immediately craft or use the resources for anything, however the blueprint for the device was now stored in his mind space. ¡°Spark, Doesn''t this directly go against conservation of energy.¡± ¡°As your science understands it, yes it does. However what you are missing is that the system aids in this by converting the mass into energy and temporarily condensing it into a higher form of energy until you need it, at which point it unpacks the energy back into matter including the bonds that hold the matter together. The mana works as a median force to facilitate the transition. The same way it resized your clothes. The excess energy that was matter is still stored in the part of the talent that the system aids you with. Now I will say at higher tiers you can do things like this manually. But for now the system helps bridge the ability gap.¡± ¡°So I could just run around breaking down or absorbing things? And what just reconstitute the stored blueprints? Like ok¡­ say i absorbed a mason jar¡­ and got the blueprint. I could just absorb a bunch of quartz and use the abundance of Silica to make more glass?¡± ¡°Essentially yes, this talent is another one that is powerful, but limited by your knowledge.¡± Just then there was a brief knock at the door. Arthur roused from his thoughts and went to see who it was. His grocery delivery had arrived. He set about putting things away, but then he just imagined the process. And the bags went in the trash and the groceries got put away. He then pulled his phone out and began to read the Pemmican recipe again. After about 2 hours he finally had a method that produced a product that he liked, and set about using his power to quick craft them. ***** You have unlocked the cooking skill. Your cooking skill has reached lv 10 there is now a chance that prepared meals may produce either more than expected or a higher grade of food from cheaper materials. ***** By now it was dark outside. Arthur seriously considered some less than legal shenanigans, like deconstructing the atm machine at the local Pursuit bank, and then just reconstructing the cash. But that was a potential tracking point in the future. Don''t shit where you eat. In the end he put himself to sleep with caloric completion.