Beacon from Beyond

Dei floated through a void of darkness, various memories slowly passing him by. A slight tug on his soul guided him towards something he couldn’t see yet, but he decided aloofly to follow it anyway.

He was familiar with this state by now, it was the state he entered when his soul was dealt damage. He found that he was able to move himself more easily now, and some emotions still filtered through, but there was nonetheless a struggle to put any thoughts into actions.

Too late, he realized that the place his soul was being guided towards was his old elementary school classroom. The day he awakened his Wrath affinity, and the day [Pandora’s Box (Contained)] was created.

When the memory started playing out, something finally began to click in his head as he panicked to get away from the memory, but he was too late. The memory disconnected from his soul, pulled in an unfathomable direction, and the connecting line to his Kindness affinity went taut.

‘I’m not ready to face another one!’ the mentally panicked, looking down at his body and still seeing a floating child.

“Fret not, little one. There will be no test. For Kindness, there never is.” Dei heard, and he looked around his old classroom. The new memory was as monochrome as the last time he had taken the trial for Wrath, but this one was a faded pink rather than red, and his teacher was clearly the avatar Kindness had chosen, as it was more vibrantly colored.

“So all of my broken Skills will be fixed now?” he asked, hearing a shrill yet clear voice emanate from his throat. He wouldn’t have normally been able to say something like that, but in his own soul, he didn't have to fight the dexterity of his new body.

“Yes, and they would have been fixed sooner, had you visited me.” it said, letting out a chuckle that somehow expressed a sense of vastness. “For what reason would I test you? Kindness is a burden from which those with heart draw strength. The journey is the test, and so long as you can stay the path, you will always find the smallest sliver of Kindness with you when the days grow long and dark.”

Smile dropping from its face, it continued. “The others tire of waiting. They have given me this time to give you both my recognition and blessing, and so I shall.” Finishing its sentence, Dei watched as his old teacher touched a single finger upon his forehead. No mana flowed into him, but something was drawn out from the Kindness affinity within his soul. He pulled up the notification showing what had changed

[Dei Grrata given Blessing by Kindness: [Good Samaritan]]

[Good Samaritan - Level 1 - Kindness Affinity - Toggleable

No good deed goes unpunished, but perhaps one can avoid the hammer of judgment, if only the hand holding it fails to find you.

When committing an act out of the goodness of your heart in a way that is more detrimental to you than it is beneficial, gain the ability to make either your face or all your actions obscured.

Become more difficult to trace the higher leveled it is]

“Native affinity mana will serve no purpose after Full System Integration. Sapient mana cannot interact with sapient souls. I will instead grant you a bastion for your actions, as the path you have begun will be lonely. I hope only that this may carry some of the burden.”

“Our time is limited though, we shall move to the place where you have formed your first Confluence.”

His head was spinning as he tried to process everything going on. It seemed like these higher entities were always strapped for time, but there was probably a reason for why they couldn’t meet with him very long.

Now that he was looking for it, he noticed that the memory around Kindness was cracking, becoming hazy and distorted slightly. Not to his vision, which is why he hadn’t noticed it yet, but to his soul sight. It wasn't bad, but Dei thought that any cracks in his soul were probably not very good either, so he moved ahead as quickly as he could.

When he approached his most recent memory, where his group had just started finishing off the beast that was hunting them, he saw that it held three clashing colors, and remembered how he had subconsciously moved the mana in his body towards his eyes, firing it out at the monster, and he realized now that he had probably created a new Skill based on his desires. He decided that a quick look over his notifications was in order, just to get caught up on everything, because he was insanely confused on what was happening right now.

[Confluence Skill Detected: Kindness/Wrath/Soul]

[WARNING: Kindness affinity level not yet recognized. Skill creation is not recommended.

[Skill Gained: [Identify of the Stout Protector]]

[Stat Gained: 1 Mental]

[EXP earned for assisted kill of Nightstalking Devourer (Level 134). EXP gain raised due to level disparity.]

[Achievement Gained: Slayer of Mountains II]

[No class detected, EXP stored for future use]

[Claim for Ownership made to Skill: [Pandora’s Box (Contained)] by Human: Dei Grrata]

[Claim for Ownership made to Skill: [Pandora’s Box (Contained)] by Affinity: Kindness]

[Ownership Contested between Dei Grrata And Kindness]

[Dei Grrata Recognized as Owner of [Pandora’s Box (Contained)] by Kindness]

[Dei Grrata Recognized as Child of Kindness by Kindness]

[Dei Grrata Recognized as Owner of [Call for Help] by Kindness]

[Dei Grrata given Blessing by Kindness: [Good Samaritan]]

[Achievement Gained: Slayer of Mountains II

Through either extraordinary effort or luck, you have defied the expectations of the world and slain an enemy 125 or more levels higher than you. You have refused to become prey to those who thought themselves better, who assumed they had the right to hunt one as great as you. Raising your fist to the sky, you stand atop the mountains of bodies that serve as your steps to greatness. Reach high, soldier, for no sky will limit you.

When fighting an enemy 25 or more levels higher than you, gain 25% of their base stats as a bonus to your base stats.

Immunity to Presence Suppression

Increases Soul presence]

[Achievement Gained: Bearing the Burden

Despite the cruelty of the world, you have never lost the spark within you that believes in others, and have been recognized by Kindness as a result.

Kindness affinity is 15% easier to learn and advance

Kindness affinity users and Kindness derivative affinity users perceive a measure of the pain that you have suffered

Increases Soul presence]

It was a lot packed into a short time, but it told his story rather well. He pushed past a warning by the System and made a spell he should have held back on, then suffered some severe soul backlash that knocked him out and led to his current predicament. He also gained one mental stat, but no spiritual stats. While his soul probably grew stronger from the damage, it was also already at 12, so he suspected that it would grow more difficult to raise the higher it went.

His mental stat, on the other hand, was quite low, at 9. The stress from the entire situation most likely forced his mind to try and mature quicker, and it was easier since it was already below what it was supposed to be. It was incredible to have some confirmation that the creature was dead though, and [Nightstalking Devourer] was exactly what he expected its name to be. He gained one of the most metal Achievements he’d read yet as well, the one for killing an enemy far above his level. Its flavor text was awesome, but it was odd that the benefits arbitrarily began at enemies 25 levels or higher than him, but he realized it was probably part of a much longer series of achievements for beating enemies above your level. With him killing an enemy so far above his own, he would have skipped a few tiers.

From what he could tell, things in this System, such as Classes and Skills, evolved every hundred levels. There was probably an Achievement for killing enemies 25 levels above his own, then every 25 levels after that, and after killing something 100 levels above his own, it evolved into another “family” of milestones so to speak.

For example, if he killed a monster 50 levels above his own, he could guess that he would get [Giant Slayer II] or some variant of that. He wondered how its upgraded form changed its function. He would ask around and find out if anyone had the Achievements later, moving to the next notification.

After the monster perished, the whole fiasco with Kindness that just happened took place, and he gained an Achievement. Reading it over, the flavor text was similar to his one he got from Wrath, if a little more depressing. He noted the discrepancy that it only gave a 15% bonus, while Wrath gave a 40% bonus.

He didn't exactly fight Kindness though, unlike what he had to do to Wrath. There was no danger and, on top of that, Kindness already said that it never tested any ‘Children of Kindness’ so to speak. As such, it was probably much easier to gain recognition from Kindness, and earn a lower reward as a result. Was it a bit disappointing? Yes, but it made complete sense.

Now that he had looked over everything and was more up-to-date, he knew who he was going to meet. In his most recent memory, where he made the new Skill, he used all three of his affinities. While he wasn't sure why he was going to meet the three affinities at once, he did know that he was going to be meeting them, and the clashing colors he saw as he settled into the new portion of his soul/memory only served to prove the point. The [Nightstalking Devourer] was bloody and ragged, wounds covering its body with two limbs almost falling off and the other two severely injured. From its deep red coloration though, Dei knew that it was serving as the avatar for Wrath as it began to move and right its own body.

He was strapped to his mother, but the harness holding him changed shape until he was free, and she grabbed him from the air before setting him on the ground and taking a step back. She was pink, showing how she would serve as the avatar for Kindness.

The third person was out of place completely, not a part of the memory at all. Instead, it was a new figure that walked from deeper within the forest. Out from the shadows walked Leven, Dei’s former identity, in the outfit Leven died as, but his entire figure was a transparent white. ‘Soul.’

“As your-” Kindness started, but Dei cut her off. He would refer to them as the avatars genders for his own sake

“Wait” he said “can you stop doing that voice thing? Where you infuse your voice with a bunch of meaning? It's starting to hurt my head. Is it possible to just talk like normal people?” He really did not want to listen to all of this while all three of them talked in that booming voice. He could stand it for a little bit, but this was too much.

“Very well” Kindness said while pursing her lips. “Moving on. As your primary affinity, the one you are most advanced in, I will be the one to explain everything as well as present my offer first.”

While she said this, the two other avatars moved to stand next to her. He was simply on the ground, so they stood over him, but they also stood a distance away, so he didn’t really need to look up at all. He waited for her to continue without interjecting.

“We are here to offer you attunement. Attunement is when you pick an affinity that you favor the most, that will define who you are for the rest of your life, and you infuse your entire soul with that affinity. It gives many benefits, but there are also drawbacks. These benefits and drawbacks depend on the specific attunement, but most people eventually do pick one. The only difference in you is that it is not being offered through a dream sequence, but as a clear-cut business proposal” she paused, letting him think.

It sounded simple enough so far. There were a few things that he wanted clarified though.

“In my previous life, did I ever pick an attunement? Would it have stayed with me if I had? And how often do people pick an attunement? When do they usually pick it?” he asked in rapid fire.

“You never chose an attunement, it would not have stayed with you, most people pick an attunement eventually if they live long enough, and they pick it when they know they have chosen a settled way of life.” She answered rapid fire in turn

“That is why we offer it to you now” she continued “you have accidentally made a decision that is going to force you to choose which path in life you will go down. While we will not share what the decision was,” Dei quickly noted how she said ‘will not’ and not ‘can not’ before focusing back on her words “but you undoubtedly stand at a crossroad right now, and we have chosen to offer our attunement conditions now, rather than later”

She glanced at Wrath for a moment, the monster that it inhabited not moving at all, before saying “before that though, Wrath has requested I ask what knowledge this System has granted you on Professions and Classes”

‘Well that's a hard change of subjects’ “Not much, just that I would be given options for both when I met some sort of hidden conditions.”

“Good… Now he would like for you to select them in your interface”

Dei was confused, because he knew for a fact he hadn’t received any notifications about crossing some hidden conditions, but he opened his Interface anyway

[Name: Dei Grrata

Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant)

Class: N/A

Profession: N/A

Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Mountains II

HP: 16/16

MP: 16/16

SP: 16/16

Stats:

Physical: 8

Mental: 10

Spiritual: 12

Magical: 11

Affinities:

Kindness: Mid-Rare, 29%

Wrath: Low-Uncommon: 83%

Soul: High-Common: 17%

Inner Skills:

Kindness: Pandora’s Box (Contained) (50) (40/2000), Call for Help (9), Good Samaritan (1)

Wrath: Pandora’s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (17)

Soul: Astral Projection (1)

Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (1)

Outer Skills:

How About a Demonstration?]

Everything seemed to be in order. He would read up on the new skill in a minute, but Mental stat had gone up by one, as expected, and his affinities had all slightly raised over everything that was going on, again like normal.

He looked at the line that said [Class: N/A] and mentally selected it, getting an unexpected dropdown

[Prerequisite conditions not fulfilled, in order to unlock Classes, one of the following conditions must be met:

The designated Guide of the community must deem to release your restriction

Ten years must pass from the moment of your birth

A disconnect from the community normally used as protection (Such as death of entire community, ostracization, or removal from community with no reasonable expectation of return)]

Clicking on his Profession, he received a similar pop-up

‘That's interesting. I suppose it makes sense too, because it would be pretty bad if a one-year-old accidentally selected their class, and was stuck with it forever when they didn’t even remember doing so. Having multiple completion conditions also allows for some wiggle room on how you can get it unlocked, and if I wanted to get it early, I could absolutely run away from home to fulfill the third condition’ Overall, they made sense. The System went through some effort to ensure that locking professions would be something purely beneficial.

“Okay… what now?” it was interesting to know for sure, but he didn’t get why Wrath was persistent in him seeing this.

“Now, we move on. Please forget about your class for a moment, and instead consider attuning yourself to Kindness” Kindness responded, completely glossing over whatever trick Wrath was pulling. “While in your previous life, you were naturally born at Low-Uncommon rarity in Kindness. Over the course of your life, you managed to upgrade it all the way to Mid-Rare. This is proof of dedication to the Kindness within you, and your impressive achievements warrant recognition. For your greatness, I offer to you the contract of a [Champion]” Kindness said, causing a window to appear before him.

[Kindness of the Champion

You have suffered, bled, and died to ensure that none were hurt in your rampage. You have looked upon the darkest man has to offer, and seen the sliver of light shining through. Committing yourself to bringing joy to those around you, you have become a crusader for all that is righteous, and given hope to those who have none. Thanklessly fighting to a brighter future, you have increased your affinity for Kindness to unprecedented levels. Don the mantle upon your shoulders, Champion, and become the guiding light you have always strived to be.

Kindness affinity is 300% easier to advance

Kindness affinity users and Kindness derivative affinity users naturally gather under you, joining your banner and assisting you through your hardships

Virtue affinity users and Virtue derivative affinity users instinctually respect you

Gain six Epic grade Skills of your choosing from all possible Kindness Skills

Gain two Legendary Skills of your choosing from all possible Kindness Skills

Gain immunity to Spiritual-based attacks when acting for another’s benefit

Gain 40% resistance to Mental-based attacks when acting for another's benefit

Gain 40% resistance to Magical-based attacks when acting for another’s benefit

Draw fulfillment from assisting others

50% more difficult to learn and advance other affinities

Vice and Vice-derivative affinities will deal 25% more damage to you

Vice and Vice-derivative affinities will be incentivized to either hinder or kill you

Vice and Vice-derivative affinities will have an innate sense of the direction of your location the closer they become to you

Ignoring the plight of another that would result in them becoming significantly harmed in some form will result in damage to your connection to Kindness

If you learn of a catastrophe somewhere else in the world, failing to attempt to assist in resolving the situation in some form will damage your connection to Kindness

Avoiding learning about the world in an attempt to sever responsibilities to Kindness will damage your connection to Kindness]

“Well, thats a lot.” Dei said, glancing at Wrath and Soul, hoping for some good things from them too. “But I'm slightly confused, what are Epic and Legendary Skills? I didn’t know they even had rarities.”

“Skills have rarities, but you need special tools to measure them. Most Skills are Common, as you might suspect. To give you perspective, all of your Skills are common except for [Pandora’s Box (Contained)] which is Uncommon, and your most recent, [Identify of the Stout Protector], which is rare. Skills can go up in rarity for either versatility or power. Most upper-rarity Skills are Confluence skills, giving them significant versatility, but a Skill with only one affinity will be unfathomably powerful in the right situation.”

Dei nodded “And I assume Vice affinities are Lust, Greed, Wrath, Envy, Sloth, Pride, and Gluttony?” He was raised in a Christian household in his previous life. Even if he wasn’t an active practitioner later in life, he still remembered the Virtues and Vices.

“Correct”

Dei thought about it a bit more, and he was impressed but cautious. The benefits were great, but he had to say that he wasn't so sure about the drawbacks. Dei was more of a solitary person in his previous life, and he was likely going to be the same in this one. He did like helping people, but this contract would force him into becoming some sort of extrovert, so he wasn't sure.

But Legendary powers!! He couldn't discard it completely, and letting his imagination run wild for a bit, he became excited at the prospect.

Reigning himself back in, he said “Alright, I’d like to hear Wraths proposition next”

Kindness nodded and took a step back. Wrath came a bit closer in its grotesque body. Dei wasn’t exactly afraid of it, because he knew that it wasn’t actually the monster, but looking at it awakened something that viscerally disgusted him. Sort of like seeing a dead cockroach, he wasn't scared of it, but he did not want to touch it.

He supposed Wrath noticed his disgust with his form, because its teeth became even more distinct in some facsimile of a smile “don't like my form?” Wrath said, in an elegant feminine voice.

Dei opened his mouth to respond, but lurched backwards as Wrath shot forward. Only about a foot, but it made Dei flinch, hard.

“Good. Because Kindness is going to kill you”