Building a magic system on threat of destruction

The feeling of a tugging on his soul came more quickly than Jack had expected. He quickly grabbed his keyboard and attached it to his screen. "Plexion I'm headed back down to the surface. I'll be back sometime soon." He spoke quickly, feeling the pull get stronger.

"What? Hey, don't leave-" but the voice cut off as Jack felt a falling sensation. Everything faded away before Jack's awareness snapped back into place, once again looking at that same ceiling. He decided to put some kind of decoration up there, it was a very boring thing to wake up to.

Jack sat up, expecting to see the bore-bot team in the room. They were present but were joined by a slightly chubby demon.

"Greetings, mighty servant of the High Deity. I am a humble servant of the God of gods. My name is Lexel, please forgive my arrogance." The demon, Lexel, bowed deeply as he spoke.

Jack was confused. Arrogance? He looked at the three bore-bots who all seemed to be on edge. Dirge was miming something from behind the demon, but Jack couldn't make out what they were trying to convey. "Sorry. Umm, nice to meet you I guess." Jack cringed a bit as the words came out. He really wasn't sure how to respond to the formality Lexen had show.

Lexen did not rise from his bow, not responding in any way to Jack's words.

Dirge lifted both their hands simultaneously, miming what Jack should do.

Understanding came to Jack, "You may rise Lexel."

The demon rose into a standing posture. "You have my utmost gratitude. Now, I have seen the fruits of our labors among the mercenaries here." When he said the word mercenaries, his smile hardened before recovering. "I would humbly request that you bestow upon me the gift prepared by the most high of Deities."

"Oh, of course!" Jack exclaimed. "Deis actually gave me some instruction regarding the priests that would visit. Would you please direct me to them?"

Lexen froze, his face growing twisted as emotions warred on his expression. He seemed to switch rapidly between rage and awe. Glimm frowned from behind the demon as Reph whispered something to her.

Lexen finally settled on a neutral expression. "I would be honored to accompany you. The instructions you have received from THE HIGH DEITY are of the utmost importance." He stressed Deis' title an absurd amount. It reminded Jack of people who said things like, 'Do you know who my father is?' unironically.

Jack glanced back at the bore-bots again and they all nodded at him, affirming that Jack should use the title. "Please lead the way then." Then, pausing slightly, he took a risk. "The High Deity thanks you for your efforts."

Lexen fell over. Jack ran to check on him before recoiling in disgust. The man's expression was one of ecstasy, his mouth hanging open and drooling, his eyes unfocused completely. The demon's face twitched in apparent happiness before he suddenly came back to himself. "I pray that you forgive me for my lapse just then. I was overcome with joy that the High Deity considered my actions to be of benefit."

Jack internally marked Lexen as incredibly creepy but still followed him outside of the house. Assembled outside of the front door was a group of about twenty people. The group was made up of demons, humans, bigguns, and one draconid, but the demons made up about half the group. Six of the assembled people were wearing nearly identical clothes that looked like some kind of religious robes.

Jack bowed slightly in what he hoped was a polite greeting. "Hello, I'm Jack. Thank you for coming all this way."

The group all bowed deeply, practically kneeling on the floor before Jack told them to rise. "Before we begin, there's something I need to check on." Jack turned and saw Jeler standing nearby, his arms folded and a frown on his face. "Jeler, can you get Mills for me?"

The cat seemed to jolt out of his brooding, looking at Jack in surprise. He nodded and ran off to find the mute man who had helped Jack in testing.

Lexel coughed awkwardly. "Oh great and mighty Jack, may this humble servant be so bold as to ask...who is Mills?"

"Oh, he's one of the mercenaries. He has been assisting me in the experiments to implement the system." Receiving a blank look from Lexel, Jack clarified. "The system is the reward that Deis is granting to the people of this world."

Lexel's eyes lit up, along with those of his assembled group. "This Mills must be quite the individual then! To assist with such an endeavor is an honor beyond words, you must value him greatly."

Jack nodded, all the mercenaries who had assisted had been helpful. Highlighting issues and giving incredible insight into the structure of skills and stats.

Jeler and Mills ran up. Mills raised his hand in greeting before seeing the assembled group. He started to look a little uncomfortable before Jack called him over to stand by him directly. "Okay Mills, De-I mean, the High Deity has changed the [Status] skill. You should be able to use it now, go ahead and give it a shot."

The assembled group watched with interest, a few looking at Mills with intense focus. The mute man looked nervous but stretched out his hand. For a moment nothing happened, then a voice emerged and said, "Status!" The voice was Jack's, but it had originated from where Mills was standing. A status screen appeared in front of Mills after the voice had emerged and the man appeared stunned. He turned to Jack and shook his hand rapidly, tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

Jack was also stunned. Why had his voice appeared when Mills used the [Status] skill? Was that the fix Deis had created to let others use the skill?

Lexel looked curiously at Mills, before turning to Jack. "Why did your voice emerge, great and powerful servant of the God of gods? I have seen others use this ability, but they spoke the words with their own tongues."

"Oh, that's cause Mills can't speak." Too late, Jack noticed that several people in attendance were shaking their heads. Those that knew Mills all cringed slightly as Jack revealed the truth to them.

One of the priests of the new group gasped in shock. "Do you mean to tell us that the High Deity has given the vocally disabled a way to use magic?"

"Not all magic, just system-related magic. Things like the [Status] skill for the time being," Jack affirmed.

Lexel's group turned inward and murmured amongst themselves before Lexel spoke up again. "My friends and comrades, we have much to discuss concerning the revelations given to us by the honored servant of the High Deity we serve. However, I believe that before we retire to contemplate these things, we should ask for the blessings our God of gods has seen fit to bestow upon his unworthy children." The group nodded their assent and all turned and bowed before Jack.

Jack sighed before having them rise up again. Then he began the process of casting [Status Granting].

In the village of Burina, four miles from the entrance to the compound where Jack resides.

Gurd considered herself very lucky. She had been among the first to receive the new magic from Jack, volunteering as a test subject had been the right call in her opinion. It was an interesting bit of magic with words and numbers all over the place. She normally had a hard time reading, the words got all jumbled up in her head. But just yesterday, the words started putting themselves in her brain as she looked at them. It was like Jack was reading them to her one at a time!

She had come into the village to collect their shipment of food and cart it back to the compound. They also needed to place a larger order going forward, lots of company was going to be showing up and they might not always bring food. Even that Lexel fellow and his band of weirdos, they had barely had any food or water when they arrived. Just hungry looks in their eyes and fire in their hearts.

Gurd had about an hour until the goods would be loaded up, so she wandered down to the local tavern. This was the best part of supply pickup, getting to drink alone for a while. She enjoyed the company and loved the Battered Bracers, but sometimes you just wanted to have some drinks by yourself. Unfortunately, she was unaware that she wouldn't get any peace and quiet. She was practically mobbed as she came through the door to the tavern.

The townspeople knew her, she had visited before to pick up supplies or parts for the bore-bots and was amenable enough to conversation. But today they swarmed her with questions and panic. None of the mercenaries had come into town since the announcement from the High Deity and Gurd quickly realized that this would probably not be a day where she got to drink alone. She sighed and shoved her way to the bar, before grabbing a drink, popping down on a stool, and began answering questions.

Most people wanted to know about Jack, but Riniox had told everyone to keep quiet about what he was. Gurd could respect that, though in her mind a bore-bot like him was as much of a miracle as anything else. So she just told people that he was kind and smart, a humble servant of the High Deity who worked hard and treated everyone fairly.

Then people began asking about the reward promised by the God of gods. They wanted to know what it was, if they could have it, and if Gurd had been rewarded already. That last question made her grin mischievously. She had everyone step back, then opened her status screen with a flourish. The blue screen appeared and the villagers all gasped and examined it. Some people held their heads in surprise as the words seemed to flow into their minds directly. Everyone was transfixed by the strange magic, asking questions and trying to touch it. Jeler had learned the hard way that the screens no longer stopped things when trying to use it to block a strike in training. That had been pretty funny.

She watched and drank as people talked amongst themselves about this new magic. She saw them looking in the direction of the compound, curiosity in their eyes. She grinned to herself, Jack was going to be very busy soon.

Gurd was so distracted by her thoughts, the drinks, and the people that she didn't notice when a small butterfly made of blue squares separated from her status screen and flew out the window.