Beacon from Beyond

Trying to relax his muscles, Dei decided to take stock of all the fast-track ways he could become stronger. If he truly was alone, he was going to need to survive in an absolutely brutal environment. He saw the monsters that he and his mom had hidden from on the way down here, and they were getting stronger the deeper Dei had gone. Right now, he was significantly deeper than anyone his level should ever be, and he needed to get more powerful now. So he looked back over his life, trying to remember all the ways he could quickly build power, making a mental checklist.

At the thought, he realized that he could make an actual checklist too. System-granted knowledge told him it was possible with the Interface. Willing a notepad to appear, a semi-transparent piece of paper, obviously made by the System, appeared. It resembled the paper from his old world, and he was pretty sure he had subconsciously done that himself.

He could “type” on the paper mentally, but Dei decided to lower it into his hands a bit and use the idea of a writing utensil to write on the paper. He picked up an oblong rock so it felt like he was holding something in his hand, then put it to the paper and watched as “ink” appeared on his little checklist.

‘Damn! This is cooler than all the other magic. I’ll never need a pen again.’

Writing with a random rock he found on the ground, Dei continued making his list.

“Fast tracks to power

Class, might give me some combat abilities I think, not sure how, I only know that my class will “be how I fight.” However vague that is.

Profession, similar to class, might give me something to help me survive, perhaps stats?

Skills I had in my previous life. Not fully leveled up, can easily level up rapidly according to the System until they are back at their former power.

Pandora’s Box (Unleashed). I can definitely do something with that. Its an unfinished spell so i can make it into something. Side note: I can already pull from Pandora’s Box using other skills, and I can easily open the box to let everything out. So what purpose does it serve? Maybe its a spell dedicated to using up all the mana at once in a controlled way? not sure.

Racial bonuses and stuff. Specifically Camouflage. Maybe Digging? I already use Darkvision and Tremor Sense. Although i need to learn tremor sense better.

NOT [Connection]. Not gonna experiment with that can of worms until way later.”

Looking over it, everything would take at least the smallest bit of effort, except the very first two. Dei wasn’t an avid gamer in his previous life, but he knew his way around the scene, and picking out a class or profession should be as easy as just a click. He had done tons of noteworthy stuff though, as shown by his Achievements list, and he figured it would earn him some high-quality classes. He knew from his System-granted knowledge that the classes had a tier System that contained at least Common, Uncommon, and Rare. From that he could guess that Epic, Legendary, and potentially Mythical were on the list too.

How much would all of his Achievements be worth? How much would he be given? He didn’t know, but man, was he excited to try and find out!

He still felt a bit uneasy from the presence he had felt a moment ago, but it was quickly being washed away in the excitement of the options to come.

‘How many Classes will I get? Ten? Hundreds? Is there a limit? Oh! Could I get a Class that lets me travel to other worlds since I’ve done it before?”

The possibilities were endless so, without further ado, he braced himself for the list and mentally selected the [Class] option in his interface, getting-

‘One Class?!? One freaking Class!?’

He genuinely could not believe this. It was a single Class, just one! Maybe it was an incredible class though? He read over it quickly, desperately hoping that it would be amazing.

[Prodigal Detector - Uncommon

No illusion escapes your sight, no camouflage may hide your enemies. You have proven to be a prodigy in undoing the sneaks of the world, refusing to let them hide. Using skill or talent, you were vital in the undoing of a monster over 100 levels higher than you by not only continuously tracking it despite his attempts at anti-detection, but also unveiling it and giving the chance to those around you to bring justice to the dastardly beast.

Gives the Skills: [Fine-Tooth Comb], [Vigilance], [In Tune]

Gives the Stats: +1 Mental, +1 Magical Every two levels]

[Fine-Tooth Comb - Level 1 - Passive

A Detectors issue does not necessarily lie in lack of skill, but the inability to process what their skill tells them, becoming overwhelmed at the sensations required to unveil those that would rather stay hidden. A prodigy yourself, you have not formed the proper framework to handle what your senses tell you, and your mind strains to concentrate on what you need to do in order to succeed at your role on the battlefield. What you need is not to pull in all the information at once, merely a fine-tooth comb to find exactly the little bit of information that you want.

When the user would normally be overwhelmed, Fine-Tooth Comb automatically sifts through all given information, focusing only on the most important or relevant information. Allows the user to set a specific criteria for what information they would like to focus on.

Each level allows for broader criteria, while increasing the chances that the Skill will automatically focus on information that would be desired yet not specifically requested]

[Vigilance - Level 1 - Passive

Despite being hyper aware of their surroundings, Detectors often lose sight of the smaller details or the obvious traps. While the conscious mind does not process these tells, the subconscious desire for survival never stops searching for danger. A primitive part of every mind scours through all incoming information, granting a supernatural sixth sense for danger that the thinking mind cannot comprehend properly.

Strengthens the users awareness when their life is in danger.

Awareness becomes more fine with each successive level.]

[In Tune - Level 1 - Toggleable

While Detectors specialize in searching the world, what good is it to find an enemy if the response is too delayed to succeed in making a difference? If a hidden enemy moves through the ranks faster than you can communicate to your comrades, it does not matter how well you can find them. By doing away with the delay in communication, one can easily mitigate such a weakness

Creates a telepathic link between allies that partially shares your awareness of enemies.

Link strengthens with each level, sharing more information to those closer to you, and lengthening the distance with which the link may stay intact.]

It was… okay? It would be useful to mitigate his Tremor Sense, but really, not much else? It was like a battlefield detective, trying to find the enemy assassins. But why was this all he had? He had an entire lifetime of experience to fall back on! He had traveled the void! He was granted the blessings of Wrath and Kindness! So why was it that only his one fight…

Ah, wait, his one fight. His class was how he fought, and he had only fought a single time… ever. On top of this, he didn’t think his previous life would count. The System had said that he still technically fell within the domain of his previous Sector, so maybe it didn’t have a right to those experiences?

But wait! Didn’t he fight Wrath that one time?

But the System didn’t have access to anything that had to do with his affinities, it had shown so multiple times.

In his fight with the monster, the System only had the right to grade him based on what he had done, and what fell within the “rights” of the System.

But wait! Didn’t he fight all those Void monsters? Didn’t he kill tons of them?

Ah, but he was still halfway between this Sector and his previous one at the time. If he had to guess, the moment his soul crossed the threshold into his current Systems domain, it had shot forward to help… meaning he hadn’t fought anything in the void. And simple void travel? That probably fell under the right of the Void affinity…

Dammit! He was going to be graded on such a small portion of his achievements in life!

There was something else he noticed too. All the Skills that were being given to him through his class were very… general? They were support Skills. They didn’t “improve” his detection per se, it simply bolstered what he already had, kind of providing a framework to work off of?

He was noticing a pattern to this System. It didn’t like to grant significant power directly, instead supporting the person's existing power.

His Class probably wasn’t meant to immediately grant him tons of Skills to kill things with, instead helping him specialize into what he was already good at by shoring up some of his weaknesses.

He didn’t know how to fight. There was nothing for the System to bolster when it came to facing things head on.

It was… upsetting, knowing that he couldn’t just immediately be given some legendary class to help channel the void or teleport around and stuff, but he supposed it made some sense when he thought about it for a second.

But really? One class?

He sighed. Now, he needed to decide whether to take it or not. It really wasn’t all that bad, and he could definitely see it helping him out.

Heck, it might even be exactly what he needed in the situation he was in. No level one child was going to be able to take on a full grown monster, it would be best for him to instead sneak around them. In order to sneak around them, he needed to know where they were. If he combinged his [Detector] abilities with his racial bonuses, he doubted there would be much that could sneak up on him, even if they were hundreds of times his level.

Could he combine his [Camouflage] ability with his [Detector] abilities to try and pierce his own hiding, then when he finally couldn’t he would know that he was actually super hidden?

The more he thought about it, the more he liked the class. While it wasn’t going to grant him massive power, it would bolster his chances of survival enough to justify taking it.

So, was he going to? If he wanted a better Class, he would need to end up fighting more creatures. It would be years or decades before he could safely do that, especially with the monsters down here. Did he have the time to wait that long?

He looked at the bag his mom had left. If he was right, he probably had a few weeks of food. He ate much less than his mother, and she had packed enough for both of them. It certainly didn’t seem like he could wait multiple years…

He sighed. So much for his awesome abilities that would help him blow through any and all obstacles that stood in his way. At least the Stats would be nice? He needed to be able to think faster, and the extra Magical stat would increase the power of his attack spells, of which he had half of one. He was definitely including the Wrath half of his identity as an attack.

Resigning himself to it, Dei clicked on his only Class option.

[Class Gained! Prodigal Detector (Level 1)]

[Stored experience allocated]

[Class Leveled Up: Prodigal Detector (Level 1) -> (Level 2)]

[+1 Mental, +1 Magical]

[Class Leveled Up: Prodigal Detector (Level 2) ->(Level 3)]

[Class Leveled Up: Prodigal Detector (Level 3) -> (Level 4)]

[+1 Mental, +1 Magical]

…

[Class Leveled Up: Prodigal Detector (Level 33) -> (Level 34)]

[+1 Mental, +1 Magical]

He gasped at the unexpected notifications before feeling a warm, lulling sensation spread through his mind and body. It was like the strongest drug he had ever taken, and he passed out almost immediately.

Waking up with a start, face against the dirt, he groggily pushed himself to his knees.

“Huh? Wuh?”

It took him a second to remember where he was, but his mind was rapidly accelerating to speeds he never could have processed before

He lifted up his hand to look at it, but it went so slowly. Everything around him had slowed down so much.

“What… the… hell” he heard himself say slowly.

He quickly opened his Interface to check for the differences, but before he even read over it he realized what the issue was. It felt like his mind was going a million miles a minute, and he remembered the stored EXP from helping kill that [Nightstalking Devourer]. When he got his Class, it was used to level him up, and with the new level ups came some stat increases to his Mental and Magical stats.

He realized he already had the Interface open and was completely ignoring it on accident, in favor of thinking out his own problem. It was like having ADHD and the strongest excitatory drug in the world coursing through him. He desperately tried to refocus on the Interface before he lost himself again

[Name: Dei Grrata

Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant)

Class: Prodigal Detector (Level 34)

Profession: N/A

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

Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII)

HP: 18/18

MP: 18/18

SP: 18/18

Stats:

Physical: 9

Mental: 27

Spiritual: 14

Magical: 28

Affinities:

Kindness: Mid-Rare, 34%

Wrath: Low-Uncommon: 99%

Soul: Low-Uncommon: 37%

Inner Skills:

Kindness: Pandora’s Box (Contained) (50) (592/2000), Call for Help (9), Good Samaritan (1)

Wrath: Pandora’s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (18)

Soul: Astral Projection (1), Connection (1)

Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (1)

Outer Skills:

How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (1), Vigilance (1), In Tune (1)]

Yyyyyep! Super high Mental, super high Magical. Dei felt like roaring with how great he felt. He realized he was also hyperventilating so he slowed his breath a bit, right as he got dizzy. He slowly came back to his senses, calming down over time, and felt as his body adjusted significantly. When he checked the timer, he realized he had only been knocked out for five or so seconds, and everything else after that happened over the course of the next five or so seconds.

As he came down from whatever high he had just been on, Dei felt his mind sync back up with his body, no longer feeling the latency between his thoughts and his actions. He was sure it was still there, it had simply been moved into a more subconscious feeling, rather than an active bother.

When he felt like he was better oriented, Dei no longer felt disappointed at all with his class selection. He was in the best mood he’d ever been in, and decided to go ahead and move into his profession options.

Tempering his expectations a bit more, he opened his menu for Professions.

[Pondering Sage (Mythical)

Planar Researcher (Rare)

Spiritual Observer (Rare)]

‘FUCK YES, Oh thank GOD!’

He was absolutely bluffing when it came to not expecting an amazing profession. While there were only three options, all of them sounded AWESOME!

Not only that! But an actual Mythical Profession! He needed to read it. He had intended to save the best for last, but nah, that was for punks. He went straight to reading the rarest Profession he had.

[Pondering Sage - Mythical

The noise of the world means nothing to you, not truly. You hear it, yet it flows off you like water down the soft leaves of the sturdy oak. You have pondered upon existence and what it means, you have traveled planes and universes to discover the highest of secrets, the limits of Gods and existences of Ascenders. You have spoken to a System, and told it secrets that caused it to reel back from your presence. You have visited the Void, the space between which so few may enter and exit with their minds intact. In the nothingness that existed between, you found everything. You found your deepest self, and were changed from the glimpse of truth. Not scarred, yet forever different, you ponder upon existence and yourself to find your spiritual center of balance.

Gives the Skills: [Commune with the Universe], [Meditate (ERROR!)], [High Mind]

Gives the Stats: +5 Spiritual every level]

The error made him a bit nervous, so he decided to start with Meditate.

[Meditate - Level (ERROR) - Mana Affinity

Contemplation brings one closer to the fundamental aspects of the world. Losing yourself, you transcend the mortal coil and journey into metaphysical ideas using your presence as an anchor.

Allows you to draw power from a Conceptual Plane of existence with which you are already connected by temporarily strengthening the connection to the plane significantly. Marginal permanent increase to connection of the specific plane will remain after temporary boost to connection recedes.

Regenerates Affinity mana at a variable rate depending on strength of connection to a particular Conceptual Plane of existence.]

[WARNING: Undocumented pre-existing variant of Skill detected. Skill will be altered and merged with pre-existing variant upon implementation.]

He scratched his chin while he thought about what the warning meant. Supposedly, he already had some sort of meditation Skill, but it simply did not appear on his status screen. Thinking back over everything he knew, it had to be some part of his previous life. He closed his eyes, delving back into the spiritual world which he had yet to visit in a good bit.

It was weird to him, seeing as strings ran everywhere throughout his memories, but most of it was exactly the same. There was, however, just a single discordant knot in his soul which he had taken note of before, but forgotten about until right now.

Just before he learned the [Growing Pains] Skill, there was a sort of shimmering, static-ey area where his father was teaching him breathing techniques to help center his mind. He remembered noting that it was some sort of half-formed Skill, but only right now was he starting to understand what that meant.

It was missing something. He could tell in the memory that his soul was attempting to form a connection to the outer world in order to create a form of meditation, yet it was utterly failing to do so. It was hard to describe, but it felt like it was unable to properly communicate with the universe, like his current version of [Meditate] was successfully doing.

His old world was more than just “without mana” it seemed, but also spiritually dead. Or were they one in the same? He was starting to learn that all of this was in some sort of delicate balance, and perhaps the spiritual disconnect led to lack of mana, or the other way around. It was like some weird, intangible ecosystem that Systems were supposed to keep balanced.

Well either way, he kind of wanted to try and reform this old version of meditation before continuing with his Professions. He needed to properly see what he was working with first in order to better make an informed decision.

Without further ado, he closed his eyes and delved into the memory of his father walking him through breathing and centering his mind. This one felt different to the other skill formations in that it felt so much like him. This wasn’t some Wrath or Kindness Skill, it was a Skill made entirely by and for himself.

When he finally pushed through the static, grabbing at the memory, a familiar coalescing of it rammed into the memory. Instead of it being pulled away from his soul though, it was pulled into itself, like the memory was trying to devour its own existence. He naturally stopped it from doing so, and Dei watched as the hazy static merged into an avatar of its own

When it stabilized, the memory was exactly the same, except one weirdly unsettling detail. Leven, his former identity, was looking straight at him. He expected something like this, and was not taken off guard when Leven spoke.

“Do you deserve to live more than me?”

Dei thought about it for a moment, then confidently answered “Yes.”

Leven had already lived, and now his life was over. This was Dei’s life, and he didn’t care if there would be some massive benefit to giving up his body to let Leven exist, he wasn’t going to do it. Could he die for his decision? Yea, maybe, but Leven could die too, so why give anything up? Dei would live and die, by his own decision.

Leven smiled at him. “Good” was all he said before Dei was forcefully ejected from the memory.

Snapping back into his own body for the second, jarring, time since Iora did it to him, Dei’s notifications opened themselves to reveal a new, welcome yet weird, sight.

[Skill Gained: Meditate]