5) Working the System [ Everyone into the pool ]
But, since I am, in fact, well aware of all the dangers I may have coming at me, and I have some time to kill, I guess I really should take the time to look at all the information Blinky can tell me.
“Blinky, tell me what the title First Born does for me?”
I mean, it can’t hurt to ask? Right?
First born
[ As the firstborn of your race, until such time as a second generation has been born, your Patron God may directly intervene to preserve your life without backlash ]
...and my Patron God is the nameless God of Indifference. Who so far, other than showing up and giving me my racial gift of Instinctive Knowledge, has been notably absent.
Even Unity, the Spirit assigned to guide my entire race, which consists of just me at the moment, as my race’s God given Liaison, had kind of given me the impression that even her very own existence has been sort of an automated procedure that kicked in the moment I came into being.
“Which means that this Title was a waste of poly chromatic burning letters.”
If I had been chosen by any other God, I could have gamed the System and have arranged things to take full advantage of the Title. But nope, I got Mr. Don’t call me, and I won’t call you.
So what other Titles do I have…
You know, my Memory still isn’t all that reliable, even after improving the Ability Score. In fact, me suddenly being able to remember things better may have more to do with me having to find things to do while I wait for my Magic pool to refill, and deciding to stop and think about things for once, rather than putting those two points into my Memory Score.
“Blinky, could you please list all my titles?”
Least Stronghold Defender
Moderate Stronghold Defender
Least Victorix
Devourer of Madness
Suicidal
Apostle of Purity
-{ Hidden }-
Hrmmm… Wait, what happened to More-? Is that the one that’s hidden now? Pit, that’s annoying. I mean, it’s great that I got another… four? Four Titles since I was born, but now, who knows when I’m going to find out what More does, or why it was hidden?
“Blinky, can you tell me what all of those do for me?”
Least Stronghold Defender
[ Gain a 1 percent bonus to all Ability and Skill scores while defending Stronghold ]
Moderate Stronghold Defender
[ Gain a 2 percent bonus to all Ability and Skill scores while defending Stronghold ]
Least Victorix
[ Gain a ten percent bonus to all Ability and Skill Scores while facing an opponent that is 1 or more Rank higher ]
Devourer of Madness
[ Your Spirit Ability score is doubled when defending against Madness Effects ]
Suicidal
[ Your Ability and Skill scores are reduced by 1 percent when choosing to risk death ]
Apostle of Purity
[ The followers of the Immaculate One have recognized you as having their God’s favor ]
So… Good, good, handy if I ever have to deal with someone or something with a higher rank again, and then really good if I can’t avoid dealing with any of those Madness things again.
Then… Suicidal. Which is a bad one. Not terribly bad, but I guess I got that one by hurting myself when I challenged the rules by trying to stay in the Tower of Ascension even after I had Leveled.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
But how does the Suicidal Title work? Does it activate every time I do anything that risks my life?
What if it’s not a risk I chose to risk, but something that came at me? That seems... unfair.
I will have to remember to complain about it to Unity, but since it’s the very system set up by the Gods that is effectively Cursing me, and the System also created my Liasion… I think that all the winged women can do is pass my complaints up to our Patron God.
Old Mr. “I can’t be bothered to have a name.” The Indifferent one.
Wait. The Gods are the members of the Elder races who choose to sponsor a race, which is how they got to be Gods. So how did the God of indifference become a God, before he chose me…
That's going to be something else I have to remember to ask Unity about, isn’t it?
And what's up with the Titles themselves? The names of the Titles appear in my view in the superimposed black and white letters I get when it is Blinky “talking” to me, but the explanations are in the lettering that burns with the flames that are every color at once.
The lettering used by the Gods, and Registra, the spirit in charge of the System, which grants Classes.
And those symbols, the -{ and the }- which are on either side of the Title “Hidden.”
Those also burned with the flames… which means either Registra, or a God, that is hiding my “More-” title.
So I have the Indifference of one God, the Approval of another, and then either one of those two, a third God, or the Spirit who runs the whole System has decided to hide things from me.
And from now on, I’m going to be able to remember about all of that. Wonderful.
Off down the hallway, Viola looked up toward my Core. “What’s Wonderful Fell? Is it a Unicorn?”
What… I sent my thoughts towards her along our Familiar link. -No Viola, it’s just that...-
Should I tell her?
I mean, it's not like the Fairy has ever had all that much useful to say to me in the past… except every now and then, seemingly at random. But even if Viola had something useful to say this time, I didn’t want her to worry. But, she also has the right to know, and as I said...
Sometimes she has something useful to share. The Fairy probably wouldn’t this time. But sure, why not give her a chance?
“One of my Titles has been hidden by someone with God like powers, if not an actual God themselves.”
The Fairy nodded with a serious look on her face. “Alright, first thing…” She stood up from where she had been sitting and feeding it chips of wood from my doors to her horrid monstrosity of a pet, the goat.
Viola held up a finger. “I’m not all that familiar with Titles. I know it’s something Classers get for things that are more than the achievements that give Merit points, and that’s about all I know.”
The Fairy began walking along the floor as she flicked out a second finger and pressed a finger tip from her other hand on top of it. “But I’m guessing that a God could have just hidden something from you, without you ever knowing it was hidden. Which leaves Registra as the only one I know of with the authority to hide something in the System but still have to follow the rules.”
My Familiar stopped, and looked down at her counting hand, before hiding both of her hands behind her back and looking up at the shelf with my Core hidden on it with a thin smile.
“And that’s all I got Fell. I guess you can talk to Registra herself if you want answers, but it’s not like you’re the only one asking her about stuff. People, a lot of people, are doing that all the time. So she’s not known to answer anyone all that often.”
I nodded to myself, remembered that while the minds of myself and Viola were linked by the Familiar ritual that she still couldn’t see an imaginary nod happening inside the head of someone who didn’t have anything to nod with.
“Ah, yes. Thank you Viola. I guess I can still try her though.”
Blinky, send a message to Registra. “Why was one of my Titles hidden?”
My Fairy began to sway forward and backwards at her hips with her hands still behind her back. “That was a good way of asking Fella, short and to the point, just like…” She frowned. “No, that doesn’t work. You’re not pointy. You’re round.” Viola looked up at my shelf again before her wings appeared, and she flew off. “I thought I had a good one, but it didn’t work… Don’t look at me!”
Hrm? “What?”
...I wasn’t sure what that had been about, and I wasn’t getting a reply from Registra or Viola. So what else can I check on now that I have the time to remember to ask Blinky about things?
My Skills, Class powers… My Summons. Hrmmm. Yes, that sounds like a good thing to check on.
“Blinky, list all my Summons.”
Innate Summons:
Fire Salamander Rank 1 Level 6
Rank 1 Totems:
Vile Skeleton 6
Air Fish 1
Air Hawk 1
Earth Serpent 1
Earth Spider 1
Fire Snail 1
Water Undine 1
Maddess Oozes 1 x 3
Dire roaches 1 x 11
That’s a lot of Roaches… And those Madness things had been Oozes?
My God’s gift was telling me Oozes are normally creatures that spontaneously slowly form around unclaimed Cores before they start going around looking for things to digest. So how would a Summoned, and therefore Coreless, Ooze work?
Unless my Core counts as there’s. So would they form around my Core if I Summoned one?
That would be… Sub optimal. But I still almost summoned one of them on the spot, to find out. Fortunately, I remembered that I was still only at about twelve percent of my Magic, at least according to the blue ring around the spot the Blinky would blink at when he had something to tell me about.
Having it there all the time, where no one can miss it, is probably the entire reason it was made. It's nice to know I’m not the only one so scatterbrained to need it.
Also, I’m guessing I can also just ask how much Magic I have now. Right?
“Blinky, how much Magic do I have in my Magic pool right now?”
22 Thaums of Magic in innate pool out of 106 units
0 Thaums of Magic in acquired pool out of 3 units
First, I noted to myself that it was nice that from the moment I heard of a Thaum, my God’s gift was letting me know that a Thaum was a measure of Magic sufficient to transform a one Gallon pot of water from solid ice to a gallon of boiling water by way of applied heat.
Second, it was infuriating that I had no idea what an Aquired pool of magic was.
Blinky? An acquired pool of Magic. What is it?
There was no glass bell sound this time. Just the interposed black and white lettering.
Unknown
“Fell?” Viola called out. “Are you alright?”
Don’t let this bother me. Don’t let it… Hrmmm.
“I’m fine Viola. I’m just really eager to ask Unity some questions. Many, many, questions. In fact, I’m making a mental list.”
The Fairy snorted. “Good luck with that Fella.”
“Yes, thank you for that.”
But first. I needed to fill up my Magic pool. The normal one. The one I ‘kind’ of understood. And I needed to fill it up to at least the halfway mark.
Which, as I focused in on the book laid out on the table top across from me, is what I had first been trying to do by learning how to Meditate.
Before I remembered all the things I had let myself get distracted by since I could now remember them.
Hrmmm.
I guess increasing your Ability scores too fast had other dangers than the chance of developing a crack.
It might even be a good idea to leave off spending the remaining Free Points for longer than a week. At least as far as spending them on my Memory score anyways.
