"Hey Rose, check out what I can do!" shouted Sphinx.
Rose turned toward Sphinx and took a step forward. Instantly, she fell upward. A few branches of Log-a-rhythm caught her as Sphinx burst into laughter.
"I'll get you back," chuckled Rose, starting to climb the branches in reverse.
In her miniaturized form, Sphinx sorsaulted through the air. Since she learned to manipulate gravity, it had beco one of her favorite gas. She created zones of weightlessness and played around with them. The two friends had a blast, especially with liquids. There was sothing incredible about bathing in a huge floating water sphere.
Suddenly, Rose exited the weightless zone, and gravity reversed. Startled, the teenager cried out and clung tightly to the branches to avoid falling to the ground. Hesitating for a mont, she decided to climb the tree. She had just been scared and wasn't quite ready to rejoin Sphinx. She was her friend, of course, but sotis the mythological girl was a tad too exuberant.
Or maybe it's just feeling lost...
Rose was weak, and she was aware of it. Even her friend's innocent gas reminded her of this. Since her arrival in Elysium, she had felt like a burden, incapable of helping or ensuring her own safety. This feeling bothered her. She wasn't as feeble as before, but the gap between her and the others wasn't narrowing. Quite the opposite, in fact.
To clear her mind, Rose smoothly scaled the Log-a-rhythm trunk. She relished in her newfound agility and the freedom the attribute provided her.
A few ters above the trunk, she caught a glimpse of Alain. Priam's father was kind, but more importantly, he was the only one not constantly reminding her of her own weakness. His pursuits were less aggressive than the others, and he put his skills to use for the community.
"Rose?"
Apparently, he had spotted her.
"Yes?"
"I've finished your treehouse. Would you like to see it?"
"Oh, yes!" exclaid the teenager.
Ten seconds later, she stood next to the old man, gazing at her new abode. Perched high on Log-a-rhythm, shielded from the forest by a few branches, a cabin made of wood and vines overlooked the clearing. Its brown hue blended well with the red of Log-a-rhythm, and a few rays of sunlight filtered through a skylight. On the simple door, a na was engraved. Rose.
The architect had outdone himself.
"I love it," she murmured, moved. "Thank you, Alain."
"It's my pleasure," smiled the old man. "A teen needs so personal space. Go inside and tell what you think."
Rose nodded. They had arrived just over a day ago, and the lack of privacy had been keenly felt. The space inside Log-a-rhythm contained only a living room and Priam's bedroom. Kazuki and Louis slept outside, and Alain took turns resting with the girls, but it wasn't sustainable in the long run. The group's handyman had thus decided to build cabins within Log-a-rhythm.
Pushing open the door, a simple yet cozy room greeted her. The treehouse couldn't have been more than ten square ters, but Rose didn't mind. It was hers.
A skylight and a window let in light, slightly tinted by the amber resin. Rose was surprised at how well she could see through them. The only piece of furniture was a bed, crafted by Alain and covered with red leaves. Stepping into the cabin proper, Rose looked down at her feet.
"The floor is warm!"
"Log-a-rhythm created a slab and heats it. I built the rest from salvaged wood and helped with the windows. The trickiest part was carving the door gongs," he explained.
"So, I can reach my room from anywhere?"
Alain smiled at the possessive use.
"Exactly. You're the only one who can enter your room from the trunk. The door is for guests and if you feel like climbing," winked Alain.
Rose smiled, sitting on the bed.
"Surprisingly comfortable for a pile of leaves."
"I'll do better when Priam brings back so silk," Alain said. His face lost its smile, and Rose scolded herself. Im dumb!
"Sorry, I... He'll co back. Sphinx says he's immortal."
"A parent always worries."
The old man hesitated before continuing.
"And you, Rose. Are you doing well?"
The question caught Rose off guard, and she opened her mouth without answering. To others, she would have lied, but to Alain...
"I'm useless," she finally admitted.
Alain tapped the floor, and a stool sprouted. Perhaps because it sensed a blood connection, Log-a-rhythm listened to Priam's father more than anyone else.
Once seated, Alain offered a smile to Rose. "No one is asking anything of you, you know?"
"I know, and I hate it. I need to feel useful to be sure that..."
A tear rolled down Rose's cheek, and Alain remained silent.
"You're not my parents; you owe nothing. I'm afraid of being left alone..."
And I'm afraid of being abandoned. That's what Rose felt and what she was ashad to say.
"I'm not the best at reassuring people," Alain admitted after a few seconds of silence. "I'm not your father, but I won't abandon you. Neither will the others. We're a group now, and everyone likes you. They voted for you to have the first cabin, you know ?"
Rose smiled weakly, looking at her hands. Just talking about her fears had lifted a weight off her.
"Thank you..."
"You're a smart girl, Rose," Alain said, rising. "I understand not wanting to feel useless, and I'm sure you'll find a way to help the group. If you need to talk, don't hesitate. At worse, Ill make you help .
I would like that.
Smiling, Alain left, closing the door behind him.
For a few minutes, Rose replayed the conversation in her mind several tis. Finally, she let out a deep sigh. Mom, Dad, I've found good people. If only you were here...
Rose looked up at the amber ceiling. The wind shifted a leaf, and a ray of sunlight montarily blinded her. Rose let herself fall onto the leaf mattress.
What can I do to be useful?
The cry of a seagull jolted Priam awake. Grimacing, he opened his eyes and sat up slowly. As he sat, he rubbed his temples, spitting out sand. A pounding headache was assaulting his skull, and to make matters worse, his mouth felt like it had been stuffed with cotton. Priam felt like he'd downed so bootlegged rum.
Not just a mug, but a barrel.
It took a few minutes for his vitality to alleviate his headache. Finally able to string together coherent thoughts, Priam got to his feet. Need to piss... and dive into so ice-cold water.
Staggering, he made his way towards the lapping water a few ters away and accomplished both objectives.
A few minutes later, fully awake, Priam headed towards the highest point of the island. The sky was beginning to paint itself with colors, but the sun had yet to deign to rise. Priam gathered so colorful berries and popped them in his mouth with a smile. The best ones were these pinkish blackberries. They were also highly toxic, according to [Poison Body]. Nice.
The perfect breakfast after a night of almost ten hours. Priam hadn't slept so much since the Tutorial.
While waiting for dawn, Priam gazed out at the ocean. It never failed to calm him. Eventually, he consulted the information about Heavenly Dragon. Despite his exceptional mory, Priam winced.
The amount of information was staggering. [Eidetic mory] struggled to process all the data, and Priam eventually gave up. The thod was highly comprehensive, mapping out his body in excruciating detail. It was a massive volu of data, but Priam could have handled it.
The issue was that the die had gone further than that. It had downloaded the information necessary for the thod's progression based on Priam's evolution. Instead of a simple instruction manual, the die had created thousands of manuals tailored to all his future choices. Heavenly Dragon required elents and trophies to temper his body. It was up to Priam to choose them, and the thod diverged based on his selection.
So Priam had thousands of different manuals, certainly useful for future reference. Too bad all the information was shuffled around by his mory.
Priam tried to sort through this information for several minutes before cursing. Despite his ntal attributes, the human brain wasn't built to handle this volu of data. This wasn't just a few books; it was terabytes of data.
Did I do this all for nothing? he worried. He furrowed his brow, thinking about Kazuki. How could the hoplite use his reward if even Priam couldn't?
"Maybe with his helt? He would have let the artificial intelligence do the work for him," Priam realized. The die was Kazuki's reward, and the System hadn't bothered to adapt it to Priam any more than necessary.
Would Kazuki be willing to lend him his cha? Not sure. Even if he did, so data was strictly confidential. Heavenly Dragon utilized the fact that he could relive to temper his body to the maximum.
"So how..."
Priam froze. If Kazuki could use an external ans to sort his data, could he too? He didn't have a cha, but he had enough Potential to create a powerful skill. A kind of add-on that would assist him in using Heavenly Dragon.
But if I do this, why stop there?
The Concepts themselves had created the System. Could Priam draw inspiration from it to create a plug-in? A kind of aid he could program. The idea took root, and Priam began to consider the possibilities. This skill could be useful in a thousand aspects of his life. For example, scanning his surroundings through his Domain continuously, even while he slept. Or monitoring his reserves and aether regeneration during a fight.
Maybe he could use it to farm multiple skills at once, point out his mistakes during training, or learn a language faster. Finally, he could program an alarm to check if his behavior was logical - and thus ensure he wasn't being manipulated.
The possibilities were endless!
But not his ti. Priam wanted to practice Heavenly Dragon without delay. After all, every manual ended with the sa sentence.
The user possessing a Heavenly Dragons fulcrum can try a rank up to Tier 1.
Priam wasn't yet sure of the prerequisites for advancing to Tier 1. He didn't know the difference between Tier 0 and Tier 1. But for the first ti, he had a lead to move forward.
"I need this skill," he decided. "But first, let's reassure Mirscella."
Before opening the portal, Priam took five minutes to go fishing. Bringing a gift to Mirscella seed like the least he could do after taking her aboard a new world. Satisfied with his offering, he opened a portal to Concepts Archipelago. I'll have to co up with a na for this world...
As soon as the portal opened, a figure leaped out. An old lady stopped to look around before turning to Priam.
"You took your ti," Mirscella cocked an eyebrow.
"Sorry," Priam apologized. "Welco to Valaryth, another world."
"... How did we go from a spider's lair to another world?"
"I had to dive into a spatio-temporal rift after a homunculus tried to kill ."
Mirscella stared at him in silence.
"I'll explain in detail later. We're stuck here for another fifteen hours. I thought you might want to get out a bit."
Mirscella sighed, looking around. "Indeed. Are we on an island?"
"Yeah. Don't wander too far; the mainland isn't safe. But theres so fish," he said as he presented her with his gift.
"Thanks. I wasn't planning on swimming in an unknown sea. I'll train here," the thief announced, heading towards a bush.
"I'll be going then. By the way, the pink berries are poisonous."
Mouth still open, Mirscella let the toxic berry fall to the ground. "Choose a slightly more peaceful world next ti, will you?"
"I'll try," Priam laughed, entering his world. He felt safer there than outside. The portal closed behind him, and he wondered for a mont. What can be seen from the outside when I'm in this world?
Smiling, Priam knelt under the Phoenix's sun and connected to his Potential.
Potential - Skill Creation
Please think about the skill you want to create. The Concepts will help you in its design.
Current potential: 1107
Divine inspiration hit him like a tidal wave. Exultant, Priam tried to rember everything he knew about computing. [Eidetic mory] activated, and for the thousandth ti, Priam was grateful he had chosen this Talent.
All the hours he'd spent coding in HTML, C , and Python resurfaced. The grand theories behind artificial intelligence and the famous algorithms he'd briefly heard of beca more explicit. Priam's sharpness, logic, mory, and Potential worked together to refine his knowledge.
Finally, after several minutes, Priam had a good idea of his request. He didn't want to create an artificial intelligence - at least not for now - but instead use this skill to help him think in a computer manner. Compared to a human, a computer took less ti and energy to calculate because the structure of its processor was different. If Priam had to process terabytes of data, he might as well use a program.
Satisfied, he finalized his request.
A system integrated into my mind that I can program.
Potential required: 187
Priam smiled at the number. The skill was less impressive than [Kinetic Control] but cost more. It was indicative of Priam's knowledge. Even with [Eidetic mory], he was a physicist, not a programr.
Create competence?
Yes.
Priam loved the Concepts' System. It was a wonderful, if limited, tool. Ti for System modding!
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