Well that was interesting. Zel had let slip a very juicy tidbit of information at the end there. They were responsible for creating the system that governed the entire world, and possibly even more worlds beyond, given the way they spoke about Teron. What was a being with that much power doing bringing tiny, insignificant little her over from an entirely different realm of existence. It was all too much to digest at that moment, so she pushed it into a corner of her mind and went back to focusing on her decision. Zel’s advice was surprisingly helpful. Because of the similarity to games she’d seen and systems in shows from her old world, she’d been subconsciously expecting it to be similar here, but there was no guarantee that would be the case. So, she went back over each option one final time.
All three of the abilities sounded incredibly powerful, to the point where she was starting to doubt Zel’s earlier affirmation that they hadn’t tampered with her choices. Then again, reading over the descriptions, it seemed like they were based on her actions in her previous life, or affected by the events leading up to her reincarnation. Compared to the other two, Seeker of Justice seemed a little lacklustre. To start with, she didn’t really want to be getting up close and personal when fighting, although that was mainly just due to a lack of experience so perhaps her views would change with time, so getting a boost to her physical strength and her ability to take hits wasn’t that appealing. Jason would probably have jumped at the chance to have this ability, he was always getting into scraps over seemingly inane reasons. It was also a bit too niche for her taste. The damage and resistance bonuses were probably a good addition to a group fight, but what if she had to fight someone who used fire magic? What if she needed to take part in an ambush? Her ability would be useless then. Eliminating it as an option, she dismissed the box, and was left with the other two abilities to choose from.
Her focus was drawn to the box containing Ascendant Mind. Honestly, she was very tempted to take this one. It seemed tailor made for her, and the bonuses towards magic and crafting were extremely general purpose. If she had understood Zel’s earlier explanation, then ‘magic’ was an exceedingly broad category in this world, and that meant taking this ability would make her extremely versatile, be it in battle or business. The fact that she would also be able to read through lies had almost made her take it earlier without reading the other two, because frankly, she hated being deceived. If she’d had this ability back on Earth, perhaps her marriage would never have fallen into such disrepair. Her career would’ve been even more stellar, if such a thing was even possible. There was only one reason she held back from tapping the button that would make her choice permanent, and that was just how much fun the final ability sounded.
She was aware that even with all the stories from the village chief, and books she’d managed to find and trawl through under lamplight, that her knowledge about this world and how it worked was still sorely lacking. However, having seen a few abilities, including those of other people, she couldn’t help but feel that specialising into one field so early in life was just shooting yourself in the foot. Sure, she could probably spend her whole life studying magic and still not scratch the surface of what was possible, and that was just one discipline of seemingly infinite methods of power in this strange new place, but there had to be a limit to these things. Relying on something that wasn’t really in her control, like this system, didn’t set her heart at ease, and there were some hints in the description of the final ability that really piqued her curiosity.
The Lost Treasury of Tal’Gemud, according to the system, was an artifact with an unknown creator, from outside the boundaries of this universe. Didn’t that mean its power could be greater than anything she would ever be able to find or receive from this system and the world it governed? Sure, the effects were entirely random, and it was possible she would regret choosing it if she only managed to receive garbage through using the ability, but if there was one thing she had learnt in her almost fifty years of existence, counting both lives, it was that without a little excitement and mystery, life didn’t have much charm. The cherry on the cake was that between the three abilities, this one was the only one which had potential to scale infinitely, and never lose its utility, no matter how powerful she became. Honestly, it was a no brainer. Knowing she wouldn’t regret her choice, she selected Lost Treasury of Tal’Gemud as her personal ability, and after confirming, the Chain acknowledged her choice and a new box appeared, bringing her to the final phase of the birthing ceremony.
Elaria didn’t need help for this part, although having already used her question, she doubted Zel would offer their assistance even if she begged. The box had just one short sentence, and then displayed her stats beneath, each of them currently at 2 points, thanks to her bloodline ability, Second Chance, which she now realised was incredibly overpowered. Jacob’s personal ability had given him 2 extra stat points from level 0, and even the options she had to choose from which were most likely a few grades higher than his, gave between 3 and 4 extra points. The uniform +1 to every single stat was definitely going to help her get a head start in growing her own personal strength and forging her own fate in Teron. Deciding which stat to invest her bonus point into was a little tricky, since she still didn’t really have an idea of how she wanted to develop herself. Fortitude and vitality seemed like solid picks - no one had ever complained about being healthy.
For most people, there was one stat which often went neglected, unless you were an assassin or sniper, and wanted the bonus to critical hits, and that was luck. The description offered by the Chain regarding the stat was fairly vague, ‘People favoured by fortune, increases critical hit chance and positively influences events.’ For someone like Elaria however, who had just chosen a personal ability that was almost entirely governed by whether or not she could hit the jackpot in a cosmic lottery, this stat seemed perfect. With a smile on her face, and feeling like she’d made the right choice, she tapped confirm, and the box disappeared. A moment later, endless sparks of white light flew from the surroundings, racing each other to her body, and heat surged inside her. The feeling lasted just a few seconds, but after it faded she felt incredible. Stronger, healthier. Her senses were heightened by a fraction, and she could vaguely make out a flow of energy inside her, but it disappeared if she focused too hard on the stream. Her surroundings started to dissipate, and one final box of text hung in front of her eyes. It was another message from Zel.
It was quite strange, and bordering on disturbing to know that her entire body had been rebuilt by an unfamiliar existence, although seeing as she’d already been reincarnated once, it wasn’t like the process was alien to her. Elaria opened her eyes slowly, blinking rapidly to acclimate to the bright sunlight. Seeing that she was awake, her father walked over, offering his hand to help her up. She accepted, and then almost fell back over as he pulled her into a tight bear hug.
“My little Elaria, all grown up. If only your mother were here to see this,” he murmured.
