Defiant Soul

Once I had it up, I noticed several changes had been added to it since I had woken up. Most notable were the two new tabs on the side, one being labeled as Inventory while the other was the Karmic Store. There was also a change in my physical resources as well as my Endurance. I had more points than I was expecting as well.

“Um… what gives with the points? I thought I was only going to get 9 after what I went through on the other side and what’s with my Endurance? I thought that was lower.” I asked it.

THE ENDURANCE INCREASE IS FROM BEING ATTACK WITHIN THE FIRST HOUR OF YOUR NEW LIFE. THE EXTRA POINTS ARE FROM ACCEPTING THE FATE AND A FEW OTHER THINGS FROM THE PREVIOUS LIST. I DID NOT ANNOUNCE THEM AS THEY WEREN’T NEEDED. THE FIRST ONE WAS TO LET YOU KNOW THAT THERE WERE LISTS IN THE FIRST PLACE. YOU HAVE MISSED OUT ON A FEW ON THE PREVIOUS LIST HENCE THE BOONS.

“Ah. I don’t suppose you have any suggestions as to where I should put them? The points, I mean.” I inquired.

NOT REALLY. KEEP IN MIND THAT I WILL NEED YOU TO BE FAIRLY VERSATILE IF YOU ARE TO SURVIVE ON YOUR OWN. YOU WILL ALSO BE GETTING MORE THAN TWICE THE POINTS PER LEVEL UP THAN A NORMAL HUMAN AS YOU ARE MY CHAMPION PLUS WHATEVER POINTS YOU RECEIVE AS REWARDS FROM SHARD. IN SHORT, YOU CAN BE AS SPECIALIZE OR NOT AS YOU WANT WITHOUT WORRYING TOO MUCH ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES. JUST KEEP IN MIND MY WARNINGS ABOUT LUCK AND THE ABSENCE OF CHARISMA AND KARMA.

“More Luck means I’ll encounter more Vermin while I’m here, correct?” I guessed

YOU ARE. TOO MUCH LUCK HOWEVER WILL BRING SOMETHING MORE DANGEROUS THAN JUST THE OCCASIONAL VERMIN.

“I’ll just spread them out evenly as I can for now, I guess. Is there anything else I can do with it? I’d like to move my fate and mark stuff to their own tabs and hide them if I can. They look like they are going to be all kinds of trouble later.” I told it.

YOUR ASSUMPTION IS MOST LIKELY CORRECT. MOVING THEM TO THEIR OWN TAB WILL ALSO AUTOMATICALLY HIDE THEM. WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO DO THAT FOR YOU?

“Sure, so long as I don’t owe you anything.” I replied.

DO NOT WORRY, SAMUEL JACKSON. CHANGES TO THE SYSTEM INTERFACE IS FREE FOR LEVEL 0 BEINGS. AFTERWARDS, A SMALL KARMIC PRICE IS REQUIRED. YOU, HOWEVER, DO NOT NEED TO WORRY ABOUT THAT EITHER. NO MATTER WHAT LEVEL YOU ARE, SO LONG AS YOU REMAIN MY CHAMPION, SUCH FRIVOLOUS CHANGES WILL BE FREE.

“I see. I suppose the downside to this is in the store?” I asked it.

YOU ARE CORRECT, SAMUEL JACKSON. HOWEVER, THAT CAN WAIT UNTIL AFTER YOU HAVE KARMA TO SPEND.

“True.” I commented before returning my attention to my status page.

While I had been talking, the system had taken the liberty of modifying it like I had asked. My ‘Fate’ tab looked normal enough and had the desired effect of removing my fate related skills and traits while making my fate and ‘CP’ gauge ‘hidden’ on the main page. I could still see it myself, but I doubt others could with whatever general identifying skills I may encounter.

As for my ‘Mark’ it was gone altogether from the page and had its own… ‘unique’ tab. I eyed it with trepidation as the tab was bordered with pale blue tendrils and more tri-lidded eyes that I swore moved while I wasn’t looking at it. I swore to myself never to open it unless I was desperate (which I doubted would ever happen) or very bored and in need of some more nightmare fuel. Very, extremely bored.

With that sorted through, I went on to assign my stats and came across a bit of an impasse. When I confirmed my selections very few of them went through and I couldn’t change them.

NAME: Samuel (hidden: Jackson)

RACE: Human

AGE: 18

SOUL TRAITS: Defiant(worn), Merciful(neutral), Kind(neutral), Noble(strained)

FATE: Demon Lord of Gluttony(hidden)

STATUS: System Champion

STATS:

Level: 0

Health: 50/50+10(reserved due to low resources)

Mana: 120/120

Stamina: 5/5+1(reserved due to low resources)

CP (hidden): 0/0

Strength: 3+3(reserved due to low resources)

Vitality: 5+1(reserved due to low resources)

Endurance: 5+1(reserved due to low resources)

Defense: 1+5(reserved due to low resources)

Wisdom: 6

Intelligence: 12

Agility: 3+3(reserved due to low resources)

Dexterity: 4+2(reserved due to low resources)

Charisma: 2+5(reserved due to low resources)

Luck: 7

Free Attribute Points: 0

SKILLS: Stealth

AFFLICTIONS: Starvation(suspended/40:05)

BONUSES: None

OTHER: None

“Hey! What gives!” I complained as I saw the points not go through on the majority of my stats.

HMM…. IT APPEARS THAT BEING IN A PROLONGED STARVED STATE HAS OTHER DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS. I APOLOGIZE AS I WAS NOT AWARE THIS COULD HAPPEN. MOST PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN IN A PROLONGED STARVATION STATE ARE USUALLY DEAD BY THIS POINT.

“And those who survive?” I inquired having a good idea of what the answer might be. I was proven correct when the system replied.

THEY ARE DEMONS. THAT ARE ABLE TO DRAW ENERGY FROM THEIR ENVIRONMENT IN ORDER TO SOLIDIFY THEIR ADVANCEMENTS OR RECYCLE IT FROM OTHER AREAS OF THEIR EXISTENCE WHEN THEIR BODIES LACK THE APPROPRIATE RESERVES. IT IS PART OF WHY DEMONS ARE SO HATED. AS YOU CAN EXPECT, DRAWING ON THEIR SURROUNDING FOR RESOURCES IS FAIRLY DESTRUCTIVE AND DANGEROUS FOR THOSE NEARBY. THE ONLY ONES WHO ARE IMMUNE ARE DEMONS STRONGER THAN THE ONE ADVANCING.

“Figures. Yet another reason why I was right as to not choose ‘demon’ as my race.” I muttered in annoyance.

CORRECT. YOU SHOULD CHECK YOUR INVENTORY BY THE WAY.

“Why? I haven’t picked up anything yet and you haven’t given me anything.” I told it and narrowed my eyes at nothing with suspicion. “Have you?”

I HAVE. I WAS HOPING YOU WOULD EXPLORE YOU INVENTORY SOONER.

“That’s assuming I knew I could have one.” I told it.

TRUE. APOLOGIES. INVENTORY IS IN TRUTH AN ABILITY THAT NOT ALL BEINGS HAVE ACCESS TO HERE. IT IS ONE THAT IS LEARNED WITH GREAT DIFFICULTY AND IS DEPENDENT ON BOTH YOUR STRENGTH AND INTELLIGENCE ATTRIBUTES.

“And you just gave it to me?” I asked in disbelief.

CORRECT. HOWEVER, IT IS SOMETHING YOU WOULD HAVE RECEIVED REGARDLESS OF YOUR CHOICES PRIOR TO YOUR REVIVAL. IT WAS SOMETHING SHARD INSISTED ON CONSIDERING THE BOON IT WOULD BE TO YOU.

“Huh. I guess she’s really is looking out for me. That doesn’t change the fact that her mark is still freaky as hell.” I replied.

AGREED.

With nothing else to stall with, I bit the bullet to see how long I’ve been running around in my birthday suit with my junk undefended. I touched the Inventory tab to activate it and another window popped up in front of my stat page. It held 12 spaces but two thirds of them had the unpleasant addition of tendrils and eyes like the ones around my Mark tab. I frowned at them before taking stock of what I had. There were four greyed out boxes with question marks taking up the bottom row that I couldn’t access so I turned my attention to what I could.

Six of the remaining spots in my innovatory had items in it, one of them being some kind of flask. As for the others, there was something called a clothing set, what looked to be a knife, a chisel, a bundle of cloth wrappings and a rock.

I took the flask out first, hoping it had water in it as I realized how thirsty I was now that I saw it. It was a round, funnel shaped affair with a flat bottom. It was the size of my fist and was made mainly out of stitched together stiff leather. There was a gently glowing blue stone embedded near the opening and a pair of leather cords that I assumed were used to tie it onto a belt or the like. Another connected the cap to the flask so it wouldn’t get lost.

It felt empty in my hand, but I popped the cap off it regardless in case it was a magic item of some kind. To my delight, it was, and I drank my fill of the cool sweet liquid it produced before stopping to wash the blood from my leg. I wasn’t certain of its limits but using a little to clean up my blood to keep from attracting unwanted attention seemed prudent.

“Say, System, how much water can this little thing produce?” I asked the entity as I wiped the blood off myself.

THE WATER CRYSTAL EMBEDDED IN IT ALLOWS THE ‘FLASK OF UNENDING WATER’ TO PRODUCE SEVERAL GALLONS OF WATER PER CHARGE. IT CAN BE RECHARGED THROUGH THE AMBIENT MANA IN THE AIR, IMMERSION IN AN ADEQUATELY SIZED WATER SOURCE, OR FROM YOUR OWN RESERVES OF MANA. CONVERSELY YOU CAN ALSO REFILL YOUR RESERVE WITH WATER FROM THE FLASK BECAUSE OF HOW IT IS GENERATED. HOWEVER, IT WOULD BE WITH DIMINISHING RETURNS IN MANA POOR AREAS LIKE THIS.

“So, one or the other, not both. Got it. Anything else?” I asked it as I went to wash off some of the dirt my bare self had collected since my revival. I assumed I had been squeaky clean at the time considering how bare I was – I didn’t even have any hair – but I had accumulated dust and dirt at a surprising rate afterwards.

YES. WITH THE FUNCTION OF RECHARGING WHEN IMMERSED IN WATER, YOU CAN PRODUCE A DRINKABLE SOURCE FROM AN UNDRINKABLE ONE.

“Sounds expensive…. wait why this and not food?” I demanded.

SAMUEL JACKSON, CONSUMABLES ARE MORE COSTLY FOR ME TO PRODUCE WHEN COMPARED WITH REUSABLE ITEMS. CONSIDERING HOW THE ‘GLUTTONOUS PRISON’ SKILL OF YOUR ‘DEMON LORD OF GLUTTONY’ FATE WILL ALLOW YOU TO STORE EXCESS FOOD WITHIN YOU AS WELL AS THE FATE WIDENING YOUR OPTIONS FOR WHAT YOU CAN EAT, I THOUGHT IT WAS PRUDENT TO PROVIDE YOU WITH A SOURCE OF DRINKING WATER RATHER THAN A FEW LOAVES OF BREAD. PARTICULARLY WHEN THIS PLACE IS SURROUNDED WITH A VAST DESERT WASTELAND. I COULD HAVE PROVIDED YOU WITH A SKILL SCROLL INSTEAD BUT THAT WOULD REQUIRE YOU TO HAVE SOME UNDERSTANDING OF MAGIC AND IT WOULD HAVE BEEN JUST AS EXPENSIVE AS THE FLASK WITHOUT THE CERTAINTY.

“You’re still angry about the ‘shit eating’ thing, aren't you?” I said with a grimace as I endured the scolding.

THAT TOO.

Properly reprimanded, I finished cleaning myself in silence and put the flask back in my inventory for later. I felt better after washing and even though it wasn’t a proper anything, it was still better than nothing. And it was a lot more than I had for a while back home. After going for years without any real way of cleaning myself, I wanted to keep it that way for as much as possible.

With that done, I turned my attention to the clothing set. It looked fairly self-explanatory but when I reached to retrieve it from its inventory slot, I was presented with two choices. One was to ‘EQUIP’ while the other was to ‘REMOVE’. Curious, I chose ‘EQUIP’ and was treated to the bizarre and unique feeling of having clothes suddenly ‘wmuph’ into existence on my previously bare body. I yelped in surprise and then again when I scrambled to keep my newly acquired pants and under shorts from falling off my starved ass.

They were both simply made out of a surprisingly soft cloth, and both had drawstrings through their respective waist bands to adjust their fit. I did just that and took stock of what else I had been granted from the set while I tightened and tied them off. I had been given a pair of leather fingerless gloves, socks, a short sleeve shirt, and a long cloak with a stiff hood.

“Ummm… no shoes?” I asked idly as I checked out my feet.

SHOES ARE NOT CLOTHES. YOU CAN BUY THEM LATER IN THE STORE. YOU DON’T CURRENTLY NEED THEM ASIDE PROTECTING YOUR FEET FROM MANA RAT BITES.

“I thought as much. Not enough for those too?” I asked as I took the sock off my feet and returned them to my inventory where the clothing set had been. After a moment, I took off the cloak too and stuck it in an empty one.

NO. I WAS TRYING TO KEEP MY EXPENDITURES TO A MINIMUM. I COULD ONLY GIVE YOU ITEMS SOMEWHAT FREELY PRIOR TO YOUR REVIVAL AND YOU HAD LIMITED SPACE.

“Speaking of which, what is up with the…. weirdness?” I asked.