The Wanderer's Rebirth: Other Paths

Joram sat there for a while, processing everything that she’d said.

It was a lot to take in, so he watched the video again, then once more as he watched her expression with greater focus. Sure enough, he hadn’t imagined the subtle changes in her expressions as she spoke about him that conveyed familiarity with him. Not just that, but he was reasonably sure that she truly cared for him. Well, for the Prime version of him anyway. Which, really, was still him. So, there was that.

At length, he stood up and stepped over to where one of his old phones was plugged in and charging. Which threw him for a loop. He decided to deal with that later as he picked up the phone and noted the timer slowly counting down.

2:27:13

That gave him pause. Just how accurate was Altaea’s estimate? Was she being generous or pessimistic when she set that timer? On that note, how would she even know?

“Let’s be even more pessimistic, and call it two hours,” he murmured to himself, then just about dropped the phone when he heard a voice.

‘Yes, it’s good to be cautious.’

Joram quickly spun about, looking for Altaea. The voice was exactly the same, causing his heart to skip a beat, then plummet when he failed to see anyone in the apartment with him.

‘That would be me,’ the voice said just before an image of Altaea appeared before him. ‘Hello. I am the Altaea Virtual Intelligence that Altaea left to help guide you.’

Joram nearly swallowed his tongue in shock, then nearly fainted at the sight of her. It was one thing to see a recording of Altaea made using the 720p webcam on his laptop. Now, the laptop wasn’t anything to sneeze at, as it were. It was just that the webcam had been about the only feature on the computer that he hadn’t cared about.

But seeing Altaea, or the Altaea Virtual Intelligence, standing before his eyes in all of her glory… well. That certainly did things to him that he hadn’t had to deal with in well over a decade. It was like every mental exercise and sheer mental conditioning that he’d put himself through, the physical self control he’d honed over decades, had all just flow out the window.

To say that Altaea was the most beautiful person he’d ever seen would have been like saying the Mona Lisa was an all-right painting. Or that the pyramids of Giza were a nice landmark. He could have gone on at great length, especially when his brain seemed to be much more capable of tangents than before, but then the Altaea Virtual Intelligence spoke again.

‘Now, I realize that my designation might be a mouthful to use each time, so please just call me ‘Avi’,’ she said, smiling slightly. ‘As Altaea had mentioned, I am here to help you settle into your new body, help guide your growth, be a mentor, as well as a companion on your journey through this new world you’ve been brought to,’ she finished, giving him another polite smile.

Joram reached out and poked at Avi, not quite sure of what to make of… everything. His finger passed right through her shoulder, causing him to start a bit, apologizing for being rude. Avi just shrugged it off, the action apparently not bothering her in the least.

“So, ah… are you a hologram? Illusion? I feel as though you’re speaking in my head when your lips move, but it also feels like I can hear you with my ears…” he said, now quite knowing how to articulate his thoughts given just how weird everything was for him right then.

‘You could more say that I’m simply a projection onto your visual cortex and that you’re brain is being directly affected so that you ‘hear’ me,’ Avi replied, giving him a slight nod.

“Well, that’s not disturbing,” he murmured sarcastically. “So, can I just think what I want to say to you, and that would work?” He asked, genuinely curious.

‘Yes, that would work,’ Avi replied pleasantly. ‘In fact, that is the basics of using [Telepathy]. Should you need to use that Power in the future, you’ll instinctively understand.’

Joram paused, reminded of the fact that he now had every Psionic Power stuffed into his head that he’d ever read about, designed himself, as well as many others that he’d never come across before.

“On that note,” he said, clearing his throat to stall for a moment as he formulated how he wanted to continue. “I can manifest any of the Powers in my head, right?”

‘That is correct,’ Avi replied, getting his hopes up before she continued. ‘That said, your current psionic Power Pool is low compared to a standard “level 20 character”. Right now, you would be considered to be a first level character in terms of… just about everything except your Powers Known,’ she finished, then just stood there looking at him.

“Ah, OK…” he said, not quite knowing what to say to that.

The best comparison he could think of was playing a video game where someone cheated their character up. In other words, used some sort of unlock that gave the character every spell in the game, but failed to provide the level dependant spell slots. Or, you could say, he just lacked the juice to support what he had.

“So… how would I go about knowing how large my Power Pool is?”

‘If you’d like, I can provide a visual display for you, quantifying your base metrics.’

“Like a video game HUD?” He asked, hardly believing that he wasn’t just laying in a hospital bed having a coma dream or something. Even the pain of stabbing himself with a fork could be explained away by that….

‘I assure you, Joram, that you’re not having some sort of dream due to being in a coma, having a deadly fever, or have somehow been affected by a hallucinogen,’ Avi said, very obviously reading his mind. ‘Altaea shared that your Prime version had suffered from such delusions and doubts for quite some time when he first met her. I assure you, continuing forward with such thoughts in mind will likely end in your untimely death, as Altaea won’t be here to save you from yourself,’ she finished with that same pleasant expression on her face, causing more than a little bit of dissonance in his mind.

“OK then…” he said, taking more than a moment to try very hard to process… everything.

The last thing he remembered before waking up on the floor was sitting down to eat his chicken cashew stir fry, something he liked ordering when he was feeling especially… drained. Then nothing. Just waking up on the tile-covered concrete floor. No clue as to how he’d gotten there, or what had happened.

Joram looked over to the window and noted that his plants seemed to be doing just fine. The roll down blind was still lowered to just above his spider plants and feather fern. The only difference that he could see was that it was dark outside.

He stepped over to the window and leaned down to have a look outside. His heart sank.

The only light outside seemed to be moonlight, though he couldn’t actually see the moon from where he was. Given the angle of the shadows outside, he supposed that the moon was on the other side of the apartment….

“Avi?”

‘Yes, Joram.’

“Why am I here… or, rather: why is my apartment here with me?”

‘As near as Altaea could determine, the… the magical effect was large enough to pull a radius of fourteen metres around the impact site.’

“… did you just dumb that down for me?” He asked, not quite sure that he wanted to hear the answer to that question.

‘Yes.’

Joram facepalmed, but had to admit that he was in way over his head when it came to anything remotely magical, nevermind advanced physics, dimensional theory, or anything of the sort. Sure, he was a bit of an enthusiast when it came to learning random things, even going so far as to have collected digital versions of many textbooks and published papers on a staggering array of subjects.

Sure, he’d never have likely been able to go through all of them, let alone get a PhD in any of those subjects, but he still found it… rewarding and fun to brush up on stuff. Even if he’d never use it in any practical setting.

“So, I’m stuck here, on whatever world this is. There’s a mysterious ‘System’ that is waiting to ‘initialize’ me into it, and I’m basically all alone here,” he more said than asked Avi.

‘Yes.’

Joram sighed.

“So, where should I get started?” He asked even though he had some thoughts on that. Though, given that he effectively knew nothing about anything, he was more than willing to listen to advice.

‘I would suggest starting with the basic meditation practices of the Elans, then move onto those developed by Altaea herself. After that, I suggest going over the basics of what Altaea left you. Specifically what you call Skills and Feats. From there, perhaps acquiring a weapon with which to defend yourself after System Integration,’ Avi said, managing to capture the tone of his favourite unshackled AI.

“We’ll, let’s go with that, then,” he said, then looked around again before it struck him. “I have Darkvision,” he said in wonder, just now realizing that none of the lights in the apartment were on.

‘Yes.’

“Why didn’t that register when I looked outside a few minutes ago?”

‘You’ve got a lot on your mind.’

Joram just stared at Avi, wondering what the hell he was going to do if he couldn’t even realize that his bloody vision had gotten polished!

‘And by that, I mean a lot,’ Avi expounded for him, bringing him back to the moment. ‘It is understandable that you’ve missed a few details since waking up, considering that you’ve basically had an entire civilization’s worth of information dumped into your head, had you physical body remade, had a psionic matrix and nature added to your being, learned that the woman you thought of as just fantasy actually existed, then dumped all this on you, while also learning that you’re effectively alone on an alien planet in an alien universe.’

Joram rubbed his temples for a minute before looking back up at Avi again.

“Taking all that into consideration,” he started, hoping that his words would come out the way he needed them to, as well as being taken in the way he intended them to be. “Could you please tell me when I should know about something. You know, volunteer information that’ll be helpful and all that?”

Avi nodded.

Joram waited.

‘Yes, I can do that,’ Avi finally said after another minute of silence, seemingly picking up on the fact that she was expected to speak her affirmation and consent.

“Thank you,” Joram said, rubbing his face with both hands, then paused.

He stepped into the hallway and made his way to the bathroom just to the left at the end of the hall. He opened the bathroom door, stepped in, and looked at himself in the mirror, shock marring his image.

After having felt his face, he’d had inkling that something had changed, but seeing was believing, as it were.

The face looking back at him was a blast from the past. If he had to guess, he looked to be about eighteen or so years old again. Though, it was hard to guess, as he’d always had a “baby face”. He remembered being carded at the movies with his friends for an “R-Rated” movie… when he was twenty-four years old. The worst part of that was that he wasn’t the youngest in the group.

Then his attention was drawn to his nose, and he frowned.

“Is my nose… smaller?” He asked, knowing that Avi was there and listening to him.

‘Yes.’

Joram waited and was rewarded for his patience after just under a minute later.

‘Altaea, having remembered conversations with you, as well as performing the ritual for your Prime version, decided to make your form exactly the same as your Prime. Something about being teased about your nose being a bit too large.’

“It wasn’t that big,” he grumbled, feeling at his nose. That said, having it straightened out definitely helped.

He then looked up and frowned at the sight of his bald scalp. Then he noticed the lack of eyebrows, though oddly he still had eyelashes….

‘Once you’ve mastered the meditation techniques, you’ll be able to fully control every aspect of your physical form. Meaning, you’ll be able to control the rate of growth for your hair, nails, and such.’

Joram nodded at that, remembering that little detail about High Elans, but having absolutely no idea how that worked.

“Yes, let’s start on that,” he said, then made his way to his bedroom, which was just to the left after leaving the bathroom. He paused just before going in, regarding the door that stood at a right angle to his bedroom. After a moment, he shook his head, made his way into his room and sat on his bed.

He exchanged a look with Avi, who nodded and began to explain the starting meditation technique. He closed his eyes, taking it all in as, oddly, he remembered everything that she was telling him as she told him about it. The odd duality of the experience almost threw him off, but he managed to concentrate enough to rid himself of the feeling after a few minutes.

At first, he just concentrated on breathing, feeling just how good it was to be without the aches and pains that he’d lived with for years. Then, as Avi’s guidance brought him… deeper into himself, he became aware of so much more.

It was faint at first, but he could feel his heart beating. Not like when you’ve pushed yourself too hard in a workout and your heart was hammering against your ribs. But the gentle beating of your heart when you were at rest. Not just that, but he began to feel as his arteries and blood vessels expanded and constricted slightly with each beat of his heart. He felt as the blood continued on its way until it did its thing, then turned and entered his veins, eventually leading back up to his respiratory system which then led back to the heart and started the process over again.

Then he started to feel something else as Avi continued talking, guiding his efforts. About the only thing he could think of was… energy. It was a type of energy that… vivified him. Made him feel more alive. Like he could do anything, or nothing at all. Well, nothing in the sense that he felt that he could meditate for days on end without suffering any negative repercussions. Like starvation or dehydration. If truly felt as though the energy would completely sustain him.

Which made sense, if he really thought about it. He’d written for years about Altaea and just about everything about her. One aspect of that wonderful woman was that she was a High Elan. And one of the benefits of that particular race, or species, was that their psionic nature, and the psionic power that they generated, could and would sustain their bodies indefinitely. No food, no water; just psionic energy to keep them “fed”, as it were.

Joram fell into the rhythm of Avi’s guidance, following her instructions as though in a trance. Which, really, was sort of the point. As when a person is truly deep in meditation, that’s all there was for that person. No other thoughts, no physical distractions; just the meditation.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been at it when Avi finally “woke” him, bringing him back to his white-walled bedroom.

‘You have done well,’ Avi said with a smile that definitely distracted him more than he cared to admit. ‘You’ve managed to get through the basic and the advanced meditation techniques. Now, you’ll be able to restore your psionic reserves at an increased rate when you need to.’

“That’s pretty good,” he said, a bit shocked that he’d managed to get through more than he thought he would.

‘You’ve done well,’ Avi reiterated. ‘However, we only have forty-seven minutes and seventeen seconds before Altaea’s timer ends. So, we should next focus on either learning to gain your psionic focus, or learning how to activate a Power; preferably a combat oriented one just in case the local wildlife decides to investigate.’

Joram nodded at that, reminded once again that he was on an alien world, which increased both his anxiety and heartrate.

“So, about that. I’m going to the closet and grabbing something,” he said, standing up and stepping out of his room and to the storage closet that sat beside the apartment door that led to the hallway. Or, what was probably left of it, anyway.

Opening the closet doors, he quickly shifted a few things aside, drabbed a royal blue cloth-wrapped bundle, then turned to grab his hunting knife off the upper shelf and tucked it into his back pocket. A moment later, and he was back in his room with Avi.

“Wait. Did you ‘stay’ in the room when I left?” He asked, realizing that her image hadn’t moved from where she’d been standing at the end of his bed.

‘Yes.’

“Umm,” he started, not quite sure where to start, nor how he should actually treat a VI. “You can follow me around if you want,” he finished lamely, silently cursing his introverted nature.

It wasn’t like he lacked in social skills; it was just that they weren’t geared towards… virtual intelligences. Or, really, how to deal with having the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on standing in his bedroom. Sure, intellectually he knew that she wasn’t more than an image superimposed on his visual cortex. But. For all intents and purposes, the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, ever!, was standing in his room!!!

‘Understood,’ Avi said, nodding. ‘I believe I already know the answer to this question, but do you now how to use those weapons?’

Joram nodded as he shrugged a bit. He wasn’t considered truly proficient with either, but he was reasonably sure that he could beat an amateur.

He quickly undid the tie on the bundle, then slid the sword out of its cloth sleeve, admiring the deep blue saya, then the black clothbound hilt, or tsuka. He’d bought the katana almost twenty years ago, but had kept it oiled and in good condition… even if it spent the majority of its time in storage since its purchase.

Now, he admired the blade as he drew it from the saya, or scabbard. The scent of pine that came from the scabbard still made him smile.

The katana wasn’t a true replica, as it had a blood channel and was about twenty-four centimetres longer than a standard katana, and its blade a bit heavier than normal. Even the hilt was a good ten centimetres longer than normal. He jokingly called it a “daikatana”.

“Well, I’m no great warrior, but I’m sure that I won’t entirely embarrass myself,” he said, sliding the blade back into its scabbard.

‘And the knife?’

Joram pulled it from his back pocket, then flipped the leather flap back, popping the button in the process so that he could draw the knife. It wasn’t anything fancy, just an old Buck knife that he’d gotten when he was about ten years old. His mother hadn’t been impressed, but his father was an old farmer turned bushman and he had always tried to teach Joram what he could of “the old ways”. Or “survival”, as anyone else would call it.

“I’m good enough with it,” he said, sliding the fifteen-centimetre blade back into tis sheath.

‘Well, it is good to be prepared,’ Avi said, nodding. ‘But we really should get to working on getting you used to your psionic abilities,’ she said, nodding towards the bed.

Joram sat as Avi began explaining his options. Or, rather, what Altaea had imprinted into both his brain and psionic matrix.

‘Your new form comes with what you would call a “Feat”. Really, these are basically just inherent or learned abilities. Psionic Talent just describes your psionic nature, as well as your inherent ability to have a Psionic Power Pool, or a Psionic Reserve.

‘The next two would normally be learned when you began to train as a Psion. Due to both your memories and inclinations, and what the Prime version of you chose, Altaea decided to give you both Psionic Body and Deep Focus.

‘Now, what you know of those abilities and what they do slightly vary. Psionic Body does indeed make your physical form more sturdy and resilient to damage, but it also primes you to learn other abilities, and goes quite well with your new form.

‘Deep Focus is mostly the same, but isn’t actually limited to just having one extra Psionic Focus active. Though you can have two Psionic Focuses active at once, it also allows for me to have a Psionic Focus active as well, potentially allowing me to assist you in minor ways. But once you’re able to use [Schism], that extra Mind will also be able to have its own Psionic Focus. Which will, once again, add versatility and utility.

‘That said, having an active Psionic Focus will allow you to manifest a few Psionic Powers without expending any of your Psionic Reserve, thus enabling you to fight longer should the need arise,’ she finished, going silent so that he could process everything.

She was right, there were some significant differences to those abilities. Differences that would have game designers chomping at the bit to nerf them if they ever learned of their existence.

“Then, let’s get started,” he said, once again sitting on his bed because he didn’t think this would be fast.

‘Then we shall,’ Avi said, then proceeded to explain how to gain his psionic focus.

That part really wasn’t that hard, almost coming naturally actually. Eventually, he got the idea to mentally create the mental image of a faceted diamond that glowed with its own internal light; associating what he felt with his first psionic focus with that one. And it clicked.

‘Good,’ Avi said with an encouraging smile that nevertheless distracted him more than he thought possible. ‘Now, let’s practice using your psionic focus to activate the Talents you’ve been left with.’

Due to dwindling time, and the unknown that was the pending System Integration, Avi focussed on helping him get used to using [Crystal Shard], [Ectoplasmic Creation], and [Entangling Ectoplasm]. The first one, [Crystal Shard], did a surprising amount of damage to the hallway floor, just outside of his apartment door when the crystal smashed into it. He wasn’t quite an expert, but he was reasonably sure that the damage it dealt was reasonably close to that of small caliber pistol.

He was also reasonably sure that the crystal would deal increasingly higher damage as he got used to his abilities. Or as he “leveled”; if he was thinking in gaming terms.

[Entangling Ectoplasm] was relatively easy, but [Ectoplasmic Creation] was giving him a bit of a headache. The trick, he learned, was to have as detailed an image as possible in his mind before manifesting the Power. He still wasn’t very good with it by the time a beeping started sounding from the living room.

“Time’s up, I guess,” he said as he picked up his katana and knife before heading to turn off the alarm.

Once done, he quickly threaded the knife’s sheath onto his belt, positioning it for quick access. He then tucked the katana under his belt, then frowned.

“Yeah, that’s not gonna work,” he said as Avi nodded, then a *Ding* sounded in his head, and things got weird.

New entity detected…

Analyzing…

Calculating…

Error…

Recalculating…

Unique lifeform registered.

- Psionic race registered…

- Error…

- Input necessary to complete registration.

Psionic affinity detected.

Psionic ability detected.

Knowledge detected.

Skills detected.

Congratulations for surviving to this point without having been integrated into the System. Your efforts have been recognized.

Congratulations for attaining a level of enlightenment unheard of outside of the System. Your efforts have been recognized.

Congratulations for attaining a level of physical awareness and control over your physical vessel that few have attained over the aeons. Your efforts have been recognized.

Basic System Integration successful.

Intermediate System Integration successful.

Advanced System Integration successful.

Advanced System Interface granted.

- Increased functionality to System Interface added.

- [Analyze] Skill added.

- [Privacy Mode] Skill added.

Please vocalize the name you wish your race to be known by in the System.

Waiting…

Joram couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing. It was right out of a video game, not to mention the countless isekai-themed media he’d consumed over the decades.

‘You should probably answer before letting your thoughts wander,’ Avi piped in, drawing him back to the moment.

Joram cleared his throat before speaking, suddenly very nervous about everything.

“The name of my race is: High Elan,” he said, not quite sure where he was supposed to look and feeling several many levels of awkward while speaking.

Input acknowledged; psionic race “High Elan” registered.

- Racial traits recorded.

- Racial traits enhanced for the progenitor of a new race.

- Race-specific Paths added.

Please select a Path. A list of Paths can be found under the “Help” section of your Status Screen.

Simply concentrate on “Status” to open your Status Screen.

Waiting…

Joram glanced over at Avi, but only got a shrug in response. Lamenting the lack of moral support, he concentrated on “Status”, resulting in a new blue box, this one populated by what he took to be his “stats”.

At the top of the “window”, he found several tabs but focussed on the last one which was conveniently labelled “Help”. Coming to the logical conclusion that the Status Screen was able to be controlled by thought, he focussed on that tab and was pleased when the window changed to display the Help section.

He mentally scrolled through the list, more than a little dismayed at just how much information he would need to go through before he found the search bar at the top right of the screen. A moment later found him in the Path section of the Help window, once again dismayed at the listed number of Paths.

“Is there any way to filter out what I won’t likely choose?” He asked himself as his eyes became a bit glassy.

It was then that he noticed a search bar on the upper right corner of the screen. It even had the little magnifying glass and everything.

“What that always there?” He asked, turning slightly so that he could glance at Avi.

‘No,’ she replied, shaking her head slightly. ‘That could be a function of an “Advanced System Interface”.’

Joram nodded slightly, turning back to the window he concentrated on “Psionic Paths” and was pleased when those words appeared in the search bar. The screen updated, now only populated by Psionic Paths. Which were still numerous enough for him to step over to his armchair and have a seat.

Something that he noticed, though, was that the paths, the ones he’d previously seen and the psionic ones, were all color coded. He went back quickly and opened a few ones that were “white”, then found that they were labelled as “Common” paths. He then opened a few green ones and found that they were “Uncommon” paths.

He started to see a pattern, but to confirm his suspicions he then opened a blue path, then a purple path. Sure enough, they were respectively labeled as “Rare” and “Epic” paths.

“Why are the rarities of the paths labeled like items in most video games?” Joram asked Avi as he turned to regard her once more.

‘Perhaps it is another function of the Advanced Interface? It could be that your personal interface gets customized for you, from what makes the most sense to you,’ Avi posited with another shrug.

Again, Joram nodded, still weirded out by the colored classifications. Going back to what the System had been saying, he was positive that it could read his mind. But he also thought it odd that it had required him to speak out loud the name of his race. Overall, everything was just weird.

Setting that aside, Joram continued perusing his Status.

Having mentally pushed all those thoughts to the side, Joram’s eyes once again focussed on his interface. He quickly went back to the first tab that contained his own Status and had a look.

Name

Joram

Paths:

None

Race:

High Elan

HP:

28/28

ST:

22/22

PP:

38/38

MP:

0/0

STR: 8

Mod: +3

HP Regen:

1/min

ST Regen:

1/min

PP Regen:

6/min

MP Regen:

N/A

SPD: 7

Mod: +2

Unarmed DMG: 4-5

Knife:

DMG: 4-7

Katana:

5-14

CON: 8

Mod: +3

Defense:

4

INT: 9

Mod: +4

DR:

3/PP Spent

SPR: 10

Mod: +5

Resistances:

Cold:

5

CHA: 7

Mod: 2

Weaknesses:

???: ??

Mod: ??

Carrying Capacity:

Light:

40 kg

Medium:

80 kg

Heavy:

120 kg

Push/Drag:

600 kg

He truly didn’t know if those numbers were considered good, or below average. Given his many years’ experience with tabletop RPGs, having almost all of his stats below ten made him cringe before he noticed the positive modifiers listed underneath the stats.

Given how “helpful” his interface had been up to now, Joram concentrated on STR and was pleasantly surprised to have a sub-window appear with a short description of the stat.

STR, or Strength, represents a one’s physical strength. The Strength score affects many things, such as how much that Character can carry, how hard they can strike in combat, or how well they perform while using certain Skills.

Joram nodded, expecting something like that. He then clicked on SPD, getting a similar description for that. He learned that the acronym did indeed refer to Speed, and that it represented his physical alacrity, dexterity, balance, and coordination. A lot to pack into one stat, but he wasn’t going to complain about that as he’d never quite liked games with twelve different stats that you had to keep up. In the end, those games forced a character to specialize or risk becoming mediocre in everything. And since he very much preferred to play solo, that always hurt.

Next was CON, representing Constitution. It also bundled a few things together; wrapping his health, endurance, stamina, and physical resilience into one. Again, he didn’t complain. All of those were incredibly important, so not having to spend any theoretical points on individual aspects of CON was an immense relief.

INT was, of course, Intellect. That it was so high surprised him, especially when he hadn’t considered himself very smart. Sure, he considered himself above average, but definitely not a genius. That said, INT seemed to cover things like how well one learned something, their recall, as well as any cast spell or manifested power. It affected anything from the power/spell’s damage, duration, range, and activation time. It also determined his MP and PP regeneration rates. Or rather, it played heavily into the calculation.

It didn’t actually make you “smarter” if you raise the stat. Though, he would argue that increased recall and increased learning ability was exactly that. Maybe it referred to one’s processing power? Like, going from a 1.2GHz processor to a 2.5GHz processor? Instead, INT seemed to increase one’s RAM and storage capacity.

Joram shrugged, not really caring about that, especially since he wasn’t an expert in the field of intelligence, nor was he a philosopher.

SPR represented Spirit. He’d have called it “Wisdom” when playing a tabletop RPG, but the stat also affected a person’s Mana and Power Pool size, as well as their “Willpower”. Grit, determination, and the ability to resist mental influences were included in what SPR affected.

Then CHA, or Charisma. That was pretty basic. It covered how alluring you were to others, while also acting as a measure for one’s force of personality and how well you influenced others. Positively or negatively. There was also a note that certain paths or species used it when using innate spells. What he would have called “spell-like abilities” or maybe “supernatural abilities”. He shrugged, knowing full-well that having a seven in that stat was likely due to Altaea’s influence, as he’d never considered himself particularly social, nor influential. Heck, he was more of a recluse than anything….

He shook his head, then wondered what the question marks represented, then shrugged. It wouldn’t do him any good to worry about something that he couldn’t affect, so he went on to peruse his various resource pools and regen rates.

He was certainly surprised that a “caster” would have so many hit points to start off with. Upon further investigation, he found that every person started with a base of ten hit points. After that, there was a calculation based on his CON score that determined any bonus HP, then his “levels” in various paths would take over from there. So, unless his CON score continued to go up, he’d plateau at his current twenty-eight hit points until he decided upon a path.

His ST represented- to no one’s surprise- his Stamina pool. It was lower than his hit points, but that didn’t entirely surprise him either. He’d never been a “runner”. He could literally walk all day, but only run about a block before he was done. Though, this calculation was based entirely off his CON score, without an added base like HP had. He shrugged again, turning his attention to his Power Points, or PP.

That pool was much larger than the others but found that it made sense given that his “mental stats” were much higher than his physical stats. His regeneration rate was also ridiculously high compared to the others, and upon investigation he found that it was again because of his high mental stats. That, and he somehow got a bonus due to his race.

Again, he wasn’t going to complain, especially since it would directly affect his chances of surviving in this new, alien world.

That said, his psionic reserves were much higher than a typical “level 1” character.

“Avi? Any idea why my psionic reserves are so high for not having taken a path yet?”

Avi seemed to think about it for a minute before finally replying.

‘Before System Integration, I would estimate that your reserves would have been around ten, if I used the same method of quantifying such a thing. Given how that resource pool is calculated, it seems that the System adds a bit of something that wouldn’t naturally be there.’

“So… it, what? Buffed me?” He asked, wanting to understand why it would be so different.

‘Effectively; yes.’

“Hmm,” Joram hmm’d as he turned back to his screen. Was this System in place to help make sure that those affected by it would survive? Or was it just a way to create order in a world of chaos? Maybe one of those leading theories about how an alien species had created Systems for their entertainment?

He stopped there, firmly putting aside those thoughts. Once again, he couldn’t do anything about it, so he wouldn’t bother worrying about it. What will be, will be. Maybe, one day somewhere down the line, he’d be in a position to do something about it, but today wasn’t that day.

He was pleased, however, to see that his resistance to cold back on Earth actually translated to having a quantifiable resistance in this world. Though, his carrying capacities were more than he would have suspected they’d be. Sure, he was always pretty strong, but again, he’d never been a gym rat.

Joram wondered if his stats were so high due to him looking about eighteen years old again. He saw Avi nodding at that thought and shrugged. Of course being young would affect those stats.

Getting back on course, he navigated back to the help tab and was pleased that his previous search results were still there. So, he started scrolling through the options one by one.

He noticed that every psionic path was at least blue, or rare, making him think that psionics weren’t at all common on this world. Either way, it was what he was going to go for, so he started looking for a way to further refine his search. Sure enough, the options appeared, so he quickly sorted the paths by rarity, from Mythic down to Rare.

The Mythic paths were something to behold. They ranged anywhere from focussing on dominating a mind to being experts in the physical form and its manipulation to masters of natural forces and how to use them to destroy stuff.

The Legendary paths were much the same, but not quite as powerful. Which held the same for the Epic paths, then the Rare ones. Sure, the flavours changed, as well as the focus of the path, but that was generally the trend he saw.

The temptation to take a kineticist-type path was strong due to the high damage potential of the class, but its versatility outside of mass destruction was quite limited. Which gave him another thought.

He then searched for a description of how paths worked, which proved insightful.

Each path was basically a super category with various specializations, or what he’d call “classes”, under its umbrella. Further reading confirmed his suspicions that the rarer paths were actually later steps in the paths. One was expected to take something- or maybe that was supposed to be the only option for them?- before taking a higher rarity path. That would allow for them to have acquired some utility abilities or Skills before specializing in one area.

His thoughts then turned to what Altaea had done to, or for, him. He wondered if the System detected all of those modifications and additions and had come to the conclusion that he somehow already qualified for those higher rarity paths. As far as he knew, Altaea had dumped her entire psionic… database into his head by way of that Crystal Mind that he’d assimilated a few hours ago.