Homegrown System

Congratulations. You are the first warlock in the history of the system. We wish you and your Bondholder a long and fruitful relationship. Close communication between Pact Bonds is essential for the success of this class. Please perform the [Communion] ritual at your earliest convenience.

Alice read the message and looked around. She felt a connection with something, a sensation and emotions at the back of her mind that she couldn't decipher. It wasn't clear, but maybe it would become clearer as she went on.

"I need to perform my [Communion] ritual?" she thought aloud. Once she examined the skill, she realized she was going to need flat ground, some time, and maybe chalk. Frowning as she looked around, she saw that there was nothing available on the ship. Her skill told her that the motion of the deck would disrupt the ritual, and it would not work.

Titus was also frowning. "I think I felt a mana shift as you got your class. I'm not sure how.

"It's interesting," Alice said. "I mean, you don't have [Mana Sight] or anything, so it's kind of hard for you to normally sense it. Was the change really that powerful?" she asked.

"Apparently. I'm a bit surprised, but I can definitely feel something different about you. Did you assign your stats yet?"

Alice shook her head. "No, not yet. But I'd expect the System to send me a message welcoming me or something. I got a 'Congratulations, you're the first warlock' message, and it told me to use my [Communion] skill as soon as possible. Maybe it wants to talk to me using that?"

Titus looked confused. "Do you have any more information about who your pack bond is with?"

Alice shook her head and shrugged. "No, but you're right. I should probably set my stats."

She took the two free stats she had available and dumped them into power before pulling up her stats screen to see where she stood.

Name: Alice Wright

Titles: Mother of All, Tertius

Perks: Quick Learner, Agelessness

Level: 11 - E

Speed: 11

Power: 17

Control: 11

—

Physical: 2

Magic: 5

Warlock

[Pact Bond] - lvl 1

[Life drain] - lvl 1

[Communion] - lvl 1

Gen Skills

[System Identification] - lvl 2

[Mana sight] - lvl 2

[Mana Bolt] - lvl 3

Seeing the three new skills, Alice couldn't help but smile. Now, she needed a target to practice [Life Drain] on and a few other of her abilities.

Titus suddenly straightened and pointed. "See over there?" He indicated where they were heading.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"You can see the slightly darker shadow now. That would be land."

"Um, I actually can't see anything but water over there," Alice said. "I think that's your skill."

"Okay, well, the land just crested over the horizon. You should be able to see it in a moment or two."

"So, how long till we get there?" Alice asked.

Titus looked at the speedometer. "Um, a quarter of an hour. Half hour? Something like that."

"Sweet," Alice said. "I really want to try some of my new skills."

Titus smiled. "Yeah, I bet. Well, we'll get as close as we can, or we'll see if we can find a harbor. If not, we can take the dinghy in and see if we can get the ATV working."

"You ended up choosing [Inventory]?" she asked. At his nod, she held out her hand and took the wheel. "Here. I'll hold it steady while you go put everything in there."

Titus nodded. "Yeah, thanks," and vanished below deck where everything was stored. A few minutes later, he came up and smiled, no longer burdened with weapons. He held out his hand, and in less than a second, his spear appeared. He smiled. "About as fast as I could draw it.

"Nice. Got all the camping stuff and food and everything?"

"Yeah. I wish I had some sort of bag to pat. I feel like I'm missing something. It feels weird not to carry a pack," Titus commented.

"Hopefully, it's a good weird," Alice said.

"It's definitely a good weird."

"You know, I think one of the benefits of the [Pact Bond] skill is that I should be able to pull extra mana through it when I'm running low. And my patron, my pact bond... I don't know. I think I'm just going to keep calling the System my pact bond in the context of talking about my class. Anyways, If they're willing, I can pull mana from them to use."

"Have you tried testing that?"

"Not yet. I want to do the [Communion] ritual first, but it should be very interesting."

They continued to talk about different things they wanted to try out and strategies as they approached the land. When they did, they found that there was only a very thin strip of coast and no port town. It was as if the borders of the water were exactly where the terrain ended, and it did not line up with the extensive salt flats behind it.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing we brought an ATV," Titus commented. "It's good to travel on there, and there doesn't seem to be any sort of real civilization. We could try going along the coast for a bit."

Alice shook her head. "No, we should go straight that way. We should be able to hit it either tomorrow evening or the day after. Depends. How much fuel have you got in there?"

Titus frowned. "Hmm. You know what? Maybe I can store some cans of fuel from the boat here. Will that be compatible with the ATV?"

"I don't see why not," she said, shrugging. "It might not be the best for the engine, but it should run."

"Good, because I'm not sure what the range of the ATV tank is, but it can't be that much."

"Yeah, I mean, it gets decent miles to the gallon, but only because it's so light, and the tank is very small."

They spent nearly ten minutes on the ship getting everything prepared, but eventually, they got the dinghy in the water and the ATV on it. They were soon moving slowly with the fifteen-horsepower motor to shore.

The shore was not a welcoming place. It was a long pile of massive rocks. There were no shallows and no path up. They searched for a way to ascend, but they had no choice but to climb a dozen feet nearly straight up. Only because of Titus's incredible strength combined with his physical stat were they able to lift the ATV up the small cliff. The rocky outcropping was full of handholds and relatively easy to climb, but not with a large piece of machinery.

Alice got to the top and helped pull with the help of the attached rope. The most she could really do was hold it steady and prevent it from falling. So it fell on to Titus to carry it on his back as he climbed. When he got to the top, he flopped over and lay gasping, staring at the sky.

"Now, don't be dramatic," she said, nudging his side with her foot. He batted it away and smiled.

"Ah, give me a break." With a groan, he got to his feet and looked around the barren landscape. "So... You wanted to do the [Communion] ritual?" he asked.

Alice nodded and then shook her head. "Not right now. It'll take twenty minutes or so. We'll do it when we stop for the evening."

"Okay," Titus said, looking up at the sun. They still had a couple of hours of good travel time. "Let's go."

She got on the back of the ATV and wrapped her arms around Titus's waist, and they were off. The engine's roar didn't give them much chance for conversation unless they wanted to shout. They were zipping off across the salt flats, the beautiful sky and clouds reflected in the ground before them. The thin film of salt and water sprang up, making for a slightly stinging ride. Alice ducked behind Titus's broad frame to shield herself from most of the salt, but she really wished there was a visor and helmet for her.

The first salt elemental appeared two to three minutes away from the coast, and Titus gently brought them to a stop before hopping off. Alice practiced her new skill and connected it to the [Life Drain]. It was a relatively intuitive process, requiring a bit of concentration and strange manipulation of the mana inside her, as well as selecting a target.

Once she did, she felt a bit of vitality and energy, along with pure mana, seeping from it and into her. It was a very slow process, but maybe in twenty to thirty minutes, the thing would be dead.

Alice pointed at it and fired a mana bolt. A shower of salt exploded from it as a quarter of its body was dispersed into a cloud. The mana drain didn't slow one bit, and she felt the [Life Drain] filling up her mana pool faster than if she were meditating. She fired her second bolt, and the thing shrunk. Titus just waved for her to continue. A few more bolts, and she finished it off. She was down to 30% mana but felt pretty good. They hopped back on the ATV and kept going.

They had to stop every few minutes to deal with more enemies, but nothing incredibly dangerous showed up. So they just spent the time taking turns.

When they were ready to make camp for the evening, they had both managed to gain a level. Titus was now level 14, and she was level 12. She was catching up, so they didn't need to feed her as much experience.

As Titus set up a couple of tents, Alice used one of the tent stakes to draw an elaborate ritual circle on the ground as her skill instructed. When she finished, she double-checked everything and smiled. Sitting in the center of it, she focused on her skill. She could feel power moving around her, and the lines she had drawn in the salt flared with red light. Titus came over to stand in front of her.

"Is it working?" he asked.

Alice stared at him. She blinked and shook her head to clear her ears.

"What, did you do the ritual wrong?" Titus asked. She just stared mutely, a growing realization leading to a look of horror forming on her face.

"What?" He asked again, the word echoed twice: once in the air, then again in her mind.