For as long as he had been System-Awakened, Adam rarely had the time to question most of his powers and the System that brought them to him. For two straight weeks, he didn't have an ounce of free time to test things.
Until now!
He wanted to do much more than just survive by the System, his Sorcerer class, and his Skills; he wanted to thrive, find exploits, farm EXP and resources, and do all the shenanigans he used to do in video games.
For that, Adam summoned his gaming circle of awakened individuals, which was, unsurprisingly, limited to just Kave and Megan. The three gathered around a campfire that Adam lit with his Blazer welder, then passed around a broken piece of mirror for each to activate their own System Profile.
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Name — Adam Clay
Role — Survivor
Class — Sorcerer
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Statistics (EXP: 1)
Might — 3
Trick — 3
Spirit — 5
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Skills
— Artifice (IX)
— Chef (V)
— Charisma (IV)
— Firearms (III)
— Psyche (III)
— Sage (I) [NEW!]
— Sanity (II)
— Senses (I)
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Powers
— Font of Magic: (Class: Sorcerer)
— Puppeteer Rune
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Name — Megan Dorsett
Role — Survivor
Class — Thief
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Statistics (EXP: 4)
Might — 3
Trick — 5
Spirit — 4
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Skills
— Artifice (VI)
— Athletics (III)
— Charisma (IV)
— Firearms (VII)
— Handling (IV)
— Sanity (I)
— Stealth (V)
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Powers
— Cunning Footwork: (Class: Thief)
— True Aim Rune: (Item: Hunter's Bracelet)
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Name — Tanaka "Kave" Kaito
Role — Survivor
Class — Warrior
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Statistics (EXP: 3)
Might — 3
Trick — 2
Spirit — 1
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Skills
— Artifice (IV)
— Athletics (I)
— Charisma (III)
— Toughness (II)
— Warfare (V)
— Senses (VIII)
— Sanity (I)
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Powers
— Fighting Spirit: (Class: Warrior)
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Since no one was able to see the others' profiles, they passed around a paper and wrote their stats in a table, comparing them side by side.
"The Sage skill, when did you get that?" Kave asked, looking at Adam, who was on his left.
"I woke up this morning with it," Adam replied with a shrug. "According to Megan, it was one of the seven Lesser Ways of the aliens."
"But that doesn't sound like a skill." Kave looked at the paper and scratched his nose. "Just like the other one—that Chef skill. Is it some sort of a social subclass?"
"More like a social caste," Megan, on his right, replied, before explaining to him what she had explained to Adam two nights ago.
"So, what does that skill do?" Kave asked Adam, while taking out the journal, he recorded new system and magic discoveries in it.
"I don't know," Adam said and shrugged. "I can totally feel what all other skills do, but this one is just there." As he started drawing with his finger in the dirt, something registered in his mind. "We wouldn't be able to produce much food from this scorched earth. We'd need hydroponics if we were to make this a permanent base. Underground water wouldn't reach us with all plant life dead, and we'd need to make a bio-char layer with soil and good-quality charcoal to heal this toxic land. Man, this is such a mess!"
Megan and Kave looked at him and frowned, eyes meeting momentarily, narrowed, as if they had reached the same idea together.
"Since when were you an eco nerd?" Megan asked, her head tilted as she looked at him intently.
"I just remembered some stuff I'd seen on a documentary once when I was little. A farm got burned and…" Adam was about to recount his memory from a time he didn't even know Kave, but then realization hit him as well. "… I see now. That's the Sage skill talking."
""Nerd!""
Megan and Kave uttered at the same time, as it was now revealed. Adam shrugged since it wasn't a big deal for him to be called a nerd, but then Kave crossed out the word "Sage" in the journal and wrote "Nerd" instead, which made him roll his eyes.
"I think he learned too much SolTech; he awakened such a skill," Kave concluded, along with their current ongoing theory on the Sage skill.
"Okay, let's focus on the cool stuff, please," Adam said and closed the journal for Kave before turning to face Megan. "You will teach us how to "Attune" with Rune Artifacts, wouldn't you?"
"Okay." Megan adjusted her posture by the fire to warm up her other side before revealing the crude bracelet under her sleeve. "This is an amulet with the True Aim rune. As you can see, it is made of shiny stones, so I…
"PRECIOUS!" Adam shouted the moment he saw it, acting like a complete lunatic.
"MY PRECIOUS!" Kave joined him, stretching his hand to catch Megan's, but the two of them were hit on the head immediately.
"Quit it!" Megan said, moving with a grace faster than they could follow. She seemed upset and fixed her bracelet over her wrist, then said with a playful smile, "My precious!"
The two young men, holding their heads, couldn't help but shake their heads as they stumbled back to where they were sitting before. It was a joke they always played on Megan, but the current Megan seemed too much for them both to handle.
"As I was saying, once I got this bracelet from a Hobgob Hunter, I kept it for myself and slept with it overnight." She said and shrugged. "That's how I attuned to it, honestly."
"Huh?" Adam frowned and turned to Kave. "That's how you awakened, too."
"Right." Kave nodded with a frown.
"Sorry, how?" Megan looked, taken aback. "I thought you didn't awaken with a rune."
"I didn't." Kave nodded.
"But he slept a night, head trapped between Elena's mighty thighs." Adam laughed.
"Thick thighs should save lives, not awaken systems." Megan scratched her head, but then hit Kave on the shoulder. "Well, lucky you! I'd trade places if I could."
"So you slept with a rune behind my back and awakened," Adam pointed at Megan, then turned to Kave, "and you slept with Elena and awakened."
"Tell us, Adamant, who did you sleep with to awaken?" Megan asked, ready to crack on, Adam mischievously.
"Probably Creed!" Kave answered for him with a smirk.
"Eew! Bro!" Adam couldn't help but shiver from the thought. "I woke up like that and had the worst experience, like I was struck by lightning or something."
"So you didn't see the tree?" Megan asked, causing the two young men to turn to her.
"What tree?" Adam asked.
"Wait!" Kave, however, cut Adam as he turned to Megan. "You also saw a dream like that?"
Megan nodded.
"Everyone who awakened saw the dream," she replied and turned to Adam. "You didn't?"
Adam shook his head and looked at her, waiting for her to explain.
"I don't remember the details, but it was a short thing. I knew I saw a tree since we all spoke of it with the Professor. But I don't think I can recall more than that," she said.
"I do."
To her surprise, Kave said something she felt was wild.
"You remember the dream?"
"Yes," he answered and closed his eyes. "It was short, but I remember it vividly, even."
"Wow!" She exclaimed, giving all her attention to Kave.
"It was a short dream too; I didn't think much of it," Kave said, looking between the two. "An endless expanse in a world without a sun, a tree towering over everything like the world itself simply exists for it. It was made of many dots and lines of light, like a laser construct, only the rays were curving. There were voices, too, but nothing made any sense to me."
The three exchanged serious stares, thinking deeply of what such a thing could mean.
"I don't remember it as vividly, but yeah… it feels right how you said it," Megan said, exhaling strongly afterwards.
"So… is this all like a big puzzle of many pieces?" Adam asked, trying to make sense of it all. "The Rifts brought Monsters; the Monsters brought Runes; the Runes brought the System; the System awakened with a Dream of a Tree."
"When you connect the dots like that, it was one hell of a progression," Kave nodded, scribbling down Adam's last observation.
The three friends knew that the mystery was much bigger than them, in a league big enough to overrun the whole world and push humanity to its last legs.
"Well, enough with the depressing thoughts." Adam clasped his hands, looking around for something, before picking up the three rune artifacts he collected from the shelter: the Amulet, the Blade, and the Club.
"Dibs!" Immediately, Megan went for the amulet as soon as Adam put it between the three of them, holding it up to the light, observing it with glee.
Adam and Kave shrugged to each other, already seeing this one coming an hour ago.
"It's so pretty!" Megan said, holding a crude stone with a red rough carving, glowing faintly over it.
"You take the Blade; I'll take the Club since it is Magic-related," Adam said, passing the short melee weapon to his warrior friend.
Each of the three received one runic item, and as the system pop-ups displayed the powers of each item for them, they all decided to hug these toys tightly till morning in order to attune to them.
"Hey, there." But right as they were lost in their thoughts, Megan perked her head up and greeted a small figure that was approaching them.
"Oh!" Adam turned and saw the small girl before breaking into a smile. "Hey, Sophie."
Approaching their campfire from the direction of the tents was the small blonde girl with round blue eyes, holding in her hand what seemed like a can of water. She stood behind Adam and extended her two small arms to him.
"Thank you," Adam said with a smile, accepting the canister. "I was beginning to feel dehydrated."
Adam started drinking and passed half of the remaining water to Kave—who refused, then to Megan—who accepted. Megan handed the can back to Sophie, but almost dropped it, spilling some of the remaining water on the ground. She apologized and looked at Adam with a nod, pointing to Sophie.
Adam didn't get it at first, but Kave whispered to him, prompting Adam to start rummaging through his pockets and fish out half of a dry oat cookie.
"Here you go, little miss," Adam said, handing the cookie to the girl, who took it with a smile.
She put her fingertips over her lips, keeping her palm open, and gestured with it outward to Adam. He smiled, opened his palm with his fingers wide, and lightly tapped his own chest with his thumb. A simple exchange of a "thank you" and "you're welcome."
"Awe!" Megan reacted emotionally to the exchange between Adam and Sophie, and waved to the girl as she ran back to the tents.
The friends returned to their chat, thinking of the applications of their skills and abilities. They first discussed Kave, whose total stat points were 6 so far, whereas Megan had 12 and Adam had 11. This was understandable, since they had been surviving for almost four months, and he had only) I got out of the shelter two weeks ago.
Aside from the runes, each of them had a Class Power. Kave's was "Fighting Spirit," which he didn't try before, but Megan confirmed that when armed and armored for melee, her classmates with the Warrior class would fight monsters until they entered a state of fighting bliss, where they would turn into fighting machines until the fight ended or something overpowered them.
As for Megan, she had her "Cunning Footwork," a movement passive skill which allows her to enter a similar state of mind to the warriors, but just in the department of agility, where she can execute whatever movement her flexibility and the laws of physics would allow.
Finally, Adam's was the "Font of Magic," a power he had no idea how to operate. Supposedly, it made him better with runes, sensing the weave magic within them and tapping into them safely.
"So you never used it?" Megan asked.
"I think it is passive," Adam replied with a shrug. "Like, if you ask me how I could use the Puppeteer Rune in the first place, I'll just point at this power."
"Fine, do the same with this Club." She pointed.
"Not for lack of trying." Adam shook his head. "It didn't come as easily as the Puppeteer Rune when I tried to use it that day we rescued you."
"That's because you had the rune inside you for some reason. It takes hours to attune to a rune. Surely, since you are a sorcerer, you can attune faster or something along those lines."
Adam took Megan's words at face value, since she was the most experienced with Runes among them, and held the Shaman's Club tighter, thinking of his power, the "Font of Magic," and his ability to activate the Puppeteer Rune.
Adam tried the same method, the urgency, the feeling of dread, the need to escape, to get away, to survive as fast as possible. These were the emotions he knew would work with the Puppeteer Rune best, but still, he couldn't tap into the club's Bending Rune.
After some time of trying, in what felt like he would pop a vein, Adam read the description of the Bending Rune once again.
A rune capable of imbuing matter with Mental Energy, achieving a form of psychic manipulation. He muttered to himself, then thought of how the other Gobzkin Shaman at Harper Square had used that rune to explode shrapnel of earth and metal.
He compared the Gobzkin application and the Rune's description, only to find it absolutely crude and utterly disgraceful to the power of such a rune. That latter bit was an emotion whose origin he didn't know.
Something spoke to him from within; he thought of the psychic manipulation, of how he ordered his non-unique puppets to act.
Puppets are easy to move; they are made of limbs and joints. You are made of limbs and joints, too. He spoke to himself, but it felt like his mind was functioning on a deeper level of thought processing here.
But for matter to move according to your will, your psyche must achieve an adequate level of Mind-over-Matter. So, you need to understand what matters. It is made of molecules, easy to imagine, hard to perceive… perceive… Maybe the Senses skill can tell us… tell you something.
The thought process started to flow more fluidly as he reached out for a skill, as if he were reaching for a book on a shelf with such refined grace. Adam was amazed by his mind's ability to capture skills this way, as if it were an artificial language model doing the logic process.
You sense it: over there by the fire, the air molecules are thinner around such an immense discharge of heat. Everywhere else, the air molecules are thicker, calmer, moving like invisible smoke. All you need to do is capture its motions, which is easier than earth or water. Follow their free motion and…
Swoosh!
Adam opened his eyes, gulped, and looked at the other two ahead of him.
"Oh, boy!" He said and looked at his hands; his right hand was holding the club, and his left hand was moving freely.
His two friends looked at him, somewhat doubtful that the gust that had just moved with his hand a moment ago was his doing.
It was just a gust of wind, nothing more!
But when he moved his left hand with fluidity just like before, yet in the opposite way…
Swoosh!
… the gust came back.
They, too, understood.
"You attuned?" Megan asked with wide eyes, unable to believe that he attuned in mere minutes.
But his answer was even more surprising as he looked into his system profile.
"I didn't," he said, barely grasping a power he thought he understood before.
"Wow!" Kave smiled, thinking fast about how to record this glorious moment.
"It's even wilder." Adam shook his head and closed his eyes again, touching the earth, communing with thoughts that worked parallel to his. "I get it: it would be hard."
Adam then lifted his hand off the ground and pointed with his index finger at the spot where Megan dropped a bit of water from Sophie's canister.
With greater focus and psychic output than before, Kave and Megan watched the wet patch of earth vibrate slowly, before rising in strings of dirt, glittering as earth particles mixed with moisture, starting to defy gravity in the most mind-bending of ways.
"Guys…" Adam opened his mouth and spoke the truth, which he discovered, "That Sage skill… it's too fucking OP."
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