Every happy moment has to come to an end, but what matters is what happens after it. And it’s especially relevant when that moment ends with the beginning of a day; or cycle… as in this case, because it’s easy to define a mood that; if not altered later by other stimuli; can stay with you for the rest of it.

  So you can probably see why Orion’s been walking around pretty irritated since he woke up. ’Cause you see, he didn’t expect that the first thing he’d see when he opened his eyes would be the smiling face of some shadowy lizardman. And even less did he expect this shadowy asshole to bring a drinking buddy over so they could make fun of him. The sight of an unknown man, whose face looked like a cross between a bald rooster and a wrinkled bulldog, was definitely not something he’d prefer to start his day with; or cycle… as in this case.

  So far, his bad mood has only worsened, because after another series of fruitless exercises, he realized he had to rely on someone’s help again. At this point, the time he would have spent further training in mana control would have been no more useful than if he had spent it, say, chewing gum of mint.

  And why was mana training his only right choice at this point? Well, for two reasons. The first one was pretty obvious, and that was access to the Spatial Ring. This reason could be circumvented if he managed to unlock an inventory function. The System told him that if he wanted to learn the default skills/functions, it would give him some useful knowledge.

  Here comes reason number two, because System skills, both the default ones and those chosen by users, require the creation of mana pathways within one’s own body, or rather somewhere between the body and the soul, to function. In normal cases, the System takes care of this, but as we already know, the System preferred to keep its hands away from Orion’s soul.

  That’s where the Recognized skills come in, which are the ones that the System just recognizes you have and monitors their progress. These were skills like mana control, pain resistance, fast reading, quiet movement, outstanding crocheting, and so on. And as you might guess, it was mana control that he needed to even think about creating or modifying pathways in his own body.

  Recognized skills could; but did not have to; have their own pathways. The ones that didn’t need them at first could be modified to have them, but only if they were developed in the direction in which those naturally formed. In their case, it wasn’t the System that made the pathways, it was the soul and body of the user. For example, if you used speed running a lot, pathways could form in your legs over time that improved mana flow. When it comes to Recognized skills, Orion learning would be no different from humans with full access to System functions.

  Going back to the confusion in the naming, where it wasn’t entirely clear to Orion whether skills like Identification were actually skills or System functions, that question also became somewhat clearer. Because even though people called them functions, they were actually one and the other, but they had certain exceptions and peculiarities that didn’t apply to other skills.

  Let’s start with the fact that System skills, or skills that the user chose from the options provided by the System, occupied a kind of slot. Each race had its own number of skill slots, and for humans the maximum number usually reached twenty-one. The functions and Recognized skills did not occupy these slots.

  Another thing that distinguished System skills was that as the user moved up the ranks, the skills that hadn’t evolved disappeared. This did not apply to the functions or Recognized skills. As for ascending to a higher rank, Orion found out that it was possible after reaching level one hundred.

  The functions themselves, however, did not evolve in the Systemic sense. The majority could not be developed at all, with only two exceptions: the Identification function and the Multilingualism function, otherwise known as the Translation function.

  The first could be improved in various ways, both to enable higher levels to be identified, to make it more difficult to detect use, to make it more difficult to use Identification against yourself, and so on.

  The second could be developed so that it was possible to infuse the written text with this function so that anyone could read it, as well as the ability to read unknown, non-magical texts.

  In addition to the above, there were functions such as:

  - Inventory, which is the function of handy slots in a private space and equipping items,

  - Status, which is the function of monitoring and visualizing detailed user information,

  - Settings, which is a function that allows you to customize notifications as well as the appearance of the System interface or widgets,

  - Achievements, or the Achievements system, which is a function acquired at the twenty-fifth level that records important achievements for the user, which they could later boast to others. A kind of portable CV that supposedly could not be faked.

  Going back to the evolution and the occupied slots, the Recognized skills could evolve, but they did not occupy a slot in the skill set, nor did they disappear as the user moved up the ranks, even if they were not evolved. So if you’ve acquired this marvelous skill of outstanding crocheting, it stays with you as long as you don’t forget how to do it.

  So why is it that only System skills had the requirements to evolve? The main reason was that they offered more.

  First, a System skill, after reaching level five, could start to provide synergies with other System skills, also above level five, if they had certain aspects in common. For example, the Fireball skill could have received, say, a percentage increase in damage from the Fire Resistance skill. And at some point, these synergies started to scale like crazy, so if you wanted to maintain that state, you had to work on each skill and push it to evolve.

  Second, it was through System skills that people were able to artificially use mana control at higher stages than they were capable of. They didn’t have to manually learn and then focus on, say, controlling two aspects if all that control was done at the mana pathways level. That’s where mana, and the aspects contained within it, went through some kind of logic circuits and various components.

  A fairly apt analogy here would be the comparison of counting. A person could manually do complicated calculations in their head, but they could also run them through some kind of program that was designed for that.

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  In this case, the disadvantage of the program, or the disadvantage of the System skill, was that it could not be edited on the fly. So in some cases, a person who is an excellent mathematician can handle an entirely different calculation, and the program just won’t work because it doesn’t support; for example; differential equations.

  However, the definite plus of System skills and their pathways was that the user didn’t even have to know if he was working on specific aspects. The fire wizard could work on his Fireball to make it hotter, and the System would help him with that and modify the pathways without the need for the user to delve into the intricacies of aspects. This was happening for them without their knowledge, or at least without full knowledge, as they still had to train consciously, using skill and striving for the result.

  Here, Orion’s problem would be that he would have to deal with both System skills and mana control manually. He would have to modify his own pathways and know how to do it to get the desired effect. In his case, the name System skill would have been quite misleading, but it still had its own advantages.

  The System probably wouldn’t erase his unevolved skills if he changed ranks, and he’d still have access to synergies because they were happening at the pathways level. He also suspected that the limit of System skills might be different for him, but whether he could have more or less of them, he could only speculate.

  This, however, was looking ahead, and he had to start from scratch. And even though he was annoyed that he was going to bother his new friends again, it was something that he just had to do. That or bothering complete strangers with your problems.

  At the earlier meeting with Avir, they already scheduled a group meeting in The Regular Chapter, which was still a few hours away. Deciding that there was no point in sitting back and getting upset about the lack of progress, he went for another walk around the city, this time looking for places he hadn’t been yet. But before he went to the unknown, he decided to visit another place first. Fortunately, Zaiah left him a couple of coins for small needs.

  “Oh, so you have been found at last, kid.” he heard as he entered the store. The voice that reached his ears sounded as if three elderly people were whispering from different places in a large stone chapel. The speaker’s name was Zulur, another eliko, although this one was probably of a slightly different variety than Zaiah. Instead of a vivid blue, he had a bright red, almost pink color, and the facets of his body resembled more hewn rock than polished crystal. Another difference was the three smaller fragments drifting slowly over the main frame. Being alone with him in the shop, Orion could feel a kind of tartness emanating from him, but also an unfathomable knowledge.

  “Was I lost?” he asked, confused.

  “They asked about you this morning.” the crystal replied. Orion’s been paying more attention to what he’s hearing since yesterday’s essence talk.

  Apparently, the Translation function did not precisely translate words one-to-one but rather used substitutes he knew. The ‘morning’ word used here was a good example of this, because there was no such thing in this world. They just had to have a term defining the beginning of a cycle, which was delivered to him in this way. His conclusion about the Translation function has been simple so far. If a person had access to this function and spoke intending to be understood, that’s what happened.

  “Aah, yeah. It’s nothing.” said Orion, shaking off the thought of languages, and then began to look around at the goods on display.

  “The same as yesterday?”

  “Uhm, I’d like to… experiment with something new. I’ll leave it up to you.”

  “Got it. How many?”

  “Just one.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Ye… no. Alright, let’s make it three.” he said, and then he watched as Zulur’s body flashed and the products he ordered gently levitated toward him.

  Having three of them, he had to be very careful. He still couldn’t just hide something in the ring, so at this point he had to risk it. One wrong move and the whole thing could be irreparable.

  So he decided not to tempt fate and put them all in his mouth. He still had pockets, but who in their right mind would put lollipops in their pockets? They didn’t put protective foil on them here, at least not this kind.

  It was a small thing, but the sudden onslaught of intense flavors definitely helped improve his mood. Considering the choice he was about to make on that walk, his irritated state could cause him to make a decision that he would later regret.

  So he went to the city, wondering what to do with his future. After yesterday’s intense lecture, Zaiah also told him about a few other things that complemented the knowledge imparted by the teacher a little bit, but without the filter for children. It started with a question about the Heart of the Swamp, which at one point reminded Orion of a dungeon, so he naturally asked if it could be considered one.

  Turns out there are dungeons in this world, and there are actually two kinds of them: wild and guild. And although Heart of the Swamp was entirely something else, the mechanics were quite similar to a dungeon. Dungeons, like in novels and games, contained all sorts of creatures and bosses who, after being killed, reappeared after a while, along with the dungeon itself. In this respect they were no different. What wasn’t obvious, and what immediately sparked some interest in Orion, was the possibility of the dungeon being taken over and controlled by The Adventurers Guild.

  Once the members of the Guild have overcome the dungeon, together with their accompanying official, the Guild is given some control over the facility. They can, among other things, set the presence of safe rooms, deactivate traps or activate entry restrictions. This last setting also applies to general races, which makes the Guild able to block the entrance to the dungeon by a demon or possessed person.

  Orion naturally immediately asked why this mechanism was not abused. After all, they could let everyone in just to see if they are people or possessed instead of waiting for a priest to be available.

  Unfortunately, in the case of active restrictions, only guild members could enter, and people could not be admitted to the guild for the sole purpose of checking. Certain requirements had to be met, such as combat class and specific achievements, which were apparently not revealed by the officials.

  When asked how one could possibly achieve anything without knowing what one was aiming for, Zaiah replied that it was simply a way for guild officials to check what kind of person they were dealing with. He said that if people consciously achieved this mysterious feat, the procedure would lose its meaning. The members themselves knew what was being discussed, but they were forbidden to share it with outsiders.

  Joining the Guild was different from, say, getting a job. Although the minimum membership level was twenty-five, the level at which the Achievement system was unlocked, anyone could apply at any time.

  Official admission would take place after meeting all the requirements and passing an examination, but the volunteer could count on help in preparing. Certain binding contracts had to be signed, and if they did, officials had no objection to investing time or resources in such a person.

  It was still possible that despite the help of officials, a person would fail to meet the requirements, for example by opting not to choose a combat class or not getting that mysterious achievement within the given time limit. Here, things took a rather debatable form, where it was up to you whether you would convince them to help you further, whether you would continue on your own, or whether you would waive the contract. If you resigned, you had to pay the fees, paying back several times the costs that were invested in you.

  And that was the decision Orion was going to make on today’s walk. Should he gather his strength on his own and try to find a way back home, or should he apply for guild membership?

  Well… to be honest, at this point, he was leaning more towards the former.