The rest of my body finishes saturating with mana just as the skill unlocks. The mana that my heart produces now just sits inside my body, slowly and evenly filling it up. I can feel it with [Mana Sense], each small wave adding to the puddle that is already in my body. I move my attention to my new active skill next.
[Space Control]? That sounds… confusing? What does it even mean to control space? Is that like teleporting? A bag of holding? That would be badass.
There's only one way to find out.
Along with the notification of the secondary [Quest] being completed, a strange feeling comes to be in the back of my mind. It’s like a muscle that I can flex with just a thought. I instinctively know how to activate it.
Moving to the back of my cell, I sit down and rest my back against the bars, closing my eyes. I take a few breaths in preparation for what I believe to be my first use of magic.
Magic, real magic! It feels funny to say ‘real magic,’ but that’s the kind of situation I'm in now. So far this whole previous twenty-four hours has easily been the worst day of my life, but maybe now is when it gets better.
I exhale all the breath out of my lungs and flex that new mental muscle.
My head erupts into a massive headache almost instantly as it is overwhelmed with information. Everything in a near twenty-foot radius is revealed to me in a perfect three-dimensional model inside of my head. Every pole that makes up the cells, every captive in those cells, the rocks buried in the ground, and even the ground and air itself are forced into my mind in the split second the skill is active.
It also drains all the ‘floating’ mana I had inside me, almost instantly. I feel slightly weaker as it takes it all, and maybe a little bit more tired. It’s hard to tell after the day I’ve had.
A new notification is the last thing I feel before I lie down, trying to clear the massive headache I now have.
[You have leveled up an active skill.]
[Space Control] lvl 1
A small smile creeps onto my face as I breathe in and out in a controlled manner. It feels good watching that number go up, even if I don’t know what it means yet. How high can these skills go? What can I do with it? So many questions and no answers.
“AHEM!,” I hear from the cell next to me, causing me to momentarily forget about my headache and shoot up to attention.
Looking over, I see the young man in the cell next to me sit up, violently clearing his throat and causing many of the small goblins to look our way. Stella is the first person he sees, but she is lying down with her eyes closed, so after looking around, he turns to me. He has a handsome face now that he is awake, even with his odd complexion.
“Ooh, new neighbors. I hope you guys are more interesting than the last folk.” He says while cracking his neck and stretching his arms. “The last one was eaten two days ago, and I've been alone ever since.” His face turns to a mock sadness. “Anyway, I’m Merrick. Who are you?” He speaks in a language I have never heard before, but understand every word.
I am shocked at how suddenly this man is acting friendly, like he isn't a captive and apparently going to be eaten. I stick my hand through the bar for a handshake and say, “Ray, our group was attacked in the night by goblins after appearing here in a clearing yesterday morning, and I was captured and brought here. I’ve only been awake for a few hours and don't really know what's happening.”
Merrick looks down at my hand with a confused expression. “Why are you reaching towards me? Do you want to hold hands or something? I don't really swing that way. Also, what do you mean you appeared here? Teleportation gone wrong?"
My face joins Merrick’s in a confused expression. “It’s a handshake, you know, a greeting? You’ve never shaken a hand before?” I ask while taking another look at the man and retracting my hand. I notice that his teeth are pitch black, and the colored parts of his eyes match. He has pale skin with a slight grey tone to it, and his wounds have already healed significantly from when I first woke up. He doesn’t seem too worried about being stuck as a goblin captive. "And yes, I think we were teleported."
Merrick tilts his head and stares at me, gears turning in his brain before he finally speaks. “You’re an initiate!” He exclaims, “I thought that diviner in Morpal was lying when she said a new initiation would start this month! Everyone did! The last initiation was when my grandma was just a girl!”
He has an excited look in his eyes and starts asking rapid-fire questions. “Is it true you don’t have the [System] where you come from? What about Primal Energies? Do you have those? How do you guys fight the monsters? Is it true that you guys are given really strong skills? My grandma said she saw an initiate flying!”
I take a deep breath and hold my hands out to signal Merrick to stop.He’s like a kid who met a firefighter for the first time. “Stop! First thing, what is an initiation, and why do you think I'm an initiate? Also, Why can I understand you? I’ve never heard the language you’re speaking, but I know what you’re saying.”
Merrick chuckles and says, “An initiation is when a bunch of people are brought from their world and dumped here, and initiates are the ones who are… abducted.” He moves to sit criss-cross facing me. “You guys are kind of special though, since the system only initiates new planets. It gives huge bonuses to those that are chosen. And the [System] translates for anyone speaking [System] standard.” He takes a deep breath and puts his hand to his chin in a contemplative posture. “Everyone learns this stuff as a kid, but since you’re like a child here, I’ll catch you up to speed real quick. Have you figured out how to check your [System] page yet?”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I nod and say, “Yeah, we figured out the [System] and [Quest] pages shortly after arriving.”
“Good. Well, the history of the [System] is pretty controversial, and no one really knows how it was created or if it was always around. Well, no one on this shithole of a planet, at least.” He stops for a moment to gather his thoughts before continuing. “What the [System] does, however, is well known. Put into simple terms, the [System] is a force that grants all living beings it reaches mana, and helps them to use it better. Skills themselves are like crutches, or handicaps, that help guide your mana into a specific form depending on the skill and intent. Anything that can be done with any skill can also be done without that skill, although it is much harder to do it that way.”
“Wait, so I don’t even need skills? I can just do whatever I want with mana?” I say with a confused look on my face.
“Yes, but actually no. It’s possible to replicate any skill, but most people can only do it with skills that are related to their affinities in some way, and the higher your affinity, the easier it is.” He clears his throat. “Skills are separated into two groups, active and passive. The line between them is blurry at times, and some skills can fit into both categories. But generally passives don’t actively consume mana, and can only be turned on or off, while active skills usually consume mana and allow a greater flexibility in their uses. Leveling up skills makes them more potent, and once you are familiar enough with them, you can even combine similar skills. Most people have around five skills, both active and passive, but as an initiate you can ignore that. you will almost certainly have more, if you live, of course.
“One last thing about skills: the shorter the name and the more general it is, the better. Not all skills are created equal. [Flame Arrow] is a low fire affinity skill, and it's pretty self-explanatory. [Flame Manipulation] is a high fire affinity skill and very sought after because it lets the user do almost anything related to flames.”
“Is there any way to increase your affinity? Or to gain new ones?” I ask while wondering how high my space affinity is to grant me [Space Control].
“Most people are born with one or two low-level affinities and will die with two or three mid-level affinities. Few are born with more or higher-level affinities, and they almost always become powerhouses. And the easiest way to increase an affinity is to learn more about how it functions, and not all affinities are made equal in this way. Water is a pretty common affinity to have due to how much we are near it, but an esoteric affinity like protection is more complicated.
“I think that is about everything you need to know about the [System]. The [Quest] page is just for you guys. any more and you’d have to ask a scholar. Now back to my questions.”
This is a lot to take in, but I'm thankful to Merrick for explaining it to me, even if he is a little strange. “Thank you for explaining all of that. I’ll answer to the best of my ability.”
“You guys really didn’t have the [System], did you? How did you get stronger? What kind of monsters and races did you face, and how?” Merrick asks, slowing down this time.
“No, we didn’t. As for getting stronger, for the most part we didn’t, at least not how you guys seem to. We would make better and better technology to place ourselves higher on the food chain. With this technology the people of my world were able to create wonders never thought possible and solve challenges thought to be impossible just decades prior. And as for monsters, there weren't any, at least not like the goblins. We just had regular animals. The only sapient species on my planet was us, humans.” I explain, amused that someone with real magic is interested in my boring old world.
Merrick's eyes are wide open at this point. “No monsters! Like none at all? Monsters here are responsible for about five or six of every ten deaths. Your planet must have been a utopia from what you describe."
I let out an involuntary laugh and say, “Not even close. We would just resort to killing each other, mostly over petty squabbles between counties usually born out of greed. Although my life was fairly peaceful, especially compared to wherever we are now.”
"Oh, I guess that makes sense," he says with slight disappointment in his tone. "And you probably didn’t get a guide on arrival. Well, let me welcome you to the Initiation planet of Helot. A place where only strength matters, and strength comes in many forms here. The planet's history is pretty straightforward. About two thousand years ago, several great beings worked together to make this place habitable, then they created the three continents and seeded them with all kinds of monsters to make the place a lot harder to survive.
“Then the initiations started, but no one has any record of them until about fifteen hundred years ago, though. Oh, and all of us locals are descendants of initiates. Nobody born on this planet gets a free ride off.” Merrick says with a huff. “Few locals ever get powerful enough to leave the planet. Most toil and die while trying to eke out a meager living away from the monsters and fighting.”
This worries me. The planet is called Helot? That doesn’t bode well, but it seems fitting, especially for these ‘locals.’“Is there a way for me to get back home?” I ask, voice laced with concern.
Merrick gives an enthusiastic nod and replies, “For you initiates it’s just a matter of completing each [Quest] given to you, I think. I’m pretty sure I heard that you guys leave after the last one.”
“What are the other [Quest]s, do you know?”
“No, like I said, the [Quest] page is an initiate-only thing.” Merrick shrugs. He then points behind me to a hobgoblin looking at us with a spear in hand. “One more question, or he's going to stab us if we keep talking.”
I think for a second before answering, I need to make this one count. Who knows if I’ll be able to find another person willing to answer my questions?“When do they feed us?”
Merrick gives me a big smile, his black lips revealing his matching teeth. “After you win your pit fight.”
Oh great, they make us fight.