Passing The Torch

The children, taking turns, each placed their hands on the orb in wonder. All of them had shining eyes as they looked at the system panel manifesting before them.

The marvel was only bolstered by the story behind its existence.

The line dwindled until it was finally Ashen’s turn. Unlike the others, he had already done this once before, so he knew what to expect.

“Alright, Ashen. Place your hand on the orb and accept the binding.”

His father pushed the orb into his hand with an encouraging look.

“Okay.”

The moment he took it in his hand, a nostalgic, warm female voice echoed in his head.

[Humanity’s system is seeking permission to bind to you. This process can be undone at your discretion. Proceed?]

“Proceed.”

His voice was serene, unlike the first time, when he had been filled with hesitation about exposing his crippled circuits and the prospect of binding to an unknown entity; this time, there was none of it.

[Acknowledged.]

A slight pull was felt on his magic circuits… a lightheadedness arrived with it…

[0%]

[...2%]

[...9%]

[...55%]

[...89%]

[100%]

And finally… the torch had passed on to him.

==============================

Name/Connection date:

Ashen Hunt—

February 3rd

Year 002

of 8202

of the 4th million

Sex/Age: Male/6

Height/Weight: 135 cm / 32 kg

Current condition: Healthy

Pathway: Select Your Path

Thema: —

Affiliation: The Hunt Tribe

Title: Paradoxite

[2. Traits]

—Titan’s Grind

—Insightful

—Soul Bastion

[3. Physical Level]

Strength: F+ | Endurance: F+ | Agility: F+

Perception: E+ | Stamina: F+ | Mana: E+

[4. Abilities]

4.1 Innate Powers:

—Beholder's Eyes

4.2 Path Skills:

—None

4.3 Other skills:

—Way of the Spear (Skilled+)

—Incomplete Trinity Harmony (Skilled+)

—Spear Harmony (Skilled+)

—Riven Convergence (Skilled-)

[5. Conceptual Powers]

—None

[6. Cognitive Depth (Thoughts, Mindset, Disposition)]

—Nostalgic / Endure, Overcome / Absurdist

==============================

Ashen went back to his place with slow steps as he kept reading the information displayed on the screen.

The first thing that grabbed his attention was the connection date.

‘What kind of number is that…’

If he was reading it correctly, then that was four million, eight thousand, and two hundred and two years…

‘So that meant the System had been around for at least this much time…?’

‘How many generations…’

Seeing the nonsensical number, he had to admit… the System could be considered a graveyard of human effort.

But no matter how big the number was, once it surpassed a certain limit, it became impossible to picture it with a sane human mind.

Ashen was the same. That was why the implications couldn’t properly land for him, even as he did his best to envision it.

‘Haah… no use overthinking it. Better look at something I can actually make some sense of.’

‘Hm. There’s nothing much to see.’

He had none of his concepts, so no Path Skills were displayed, of course. All the Extra skills that surpassed Skilled had also regressed due to the same reason.

To surpass Skilled mastery, one had to weave concepts into the skill, after all.

He also noticed that some of his Extra skills were missing, such as Time Magic, Blood Magic, and Arcane Spellcasting.

‘That’s probably because I haven’t used them yet in this life, unlike my spear techniques.’

His eyes then hovered over the Trait section, and he wasn’t surprised to see Titan’s Grind and Insightful. One had to deal with the way he saw the world, and the other was a personality trait, so there was no reason for them not to be present.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Soul Bastion dealt entirely with the Soul, and his soul was the same, unlike his body, so it was also still present.

‘Hmm…’

Ashen decided to check on Titan’s Grind. This trait embodied the accumulation of his evolution from a deadbeat sloth into the kind of man he was today.

It was the one most dear to him, and he wouldn’t give it up even if Beholder’s Eye was on the other side of the scale.

==============================

Titan’s Grind

An unremarkable soul who rises above geniuses through unyielding will, relentless effort, and a fiery undercurrent of spite. They embody the power of perseverance, turning mediocrity into mastery and proving that tenacity can topple even the brightest minds.

==============================

‘Uh huh. That’s me…’

As Ashen was busy tooting his own horn, the patriarch felt like it was about time he intervened. He had given them enough time to explore on their own as it was.

Clap—clap—

“Everyone. Enough chatter. Focus here now.”

The children’s eyes that had been glued to the System panel slowly turned toward him.

“After all your explorations, I’m sure you can already notice a section in the System that says Path. When you select it, I want you to select the Path where it shows the most compatibility.”

“Understood?”

“Yes!”

“Good. After selecting your Path, you will be asked to select a Thema. The word may be weird, but you can take it as what represents you best. Since you are all little warriors, you have to choose something befitting of being a warrior. Understood?!”

“Yes!!”

“That is all. You may now choose, and tell me your choice after.”

With his permission, everyone eagerly clicked on the Pathway option. Ashen did the same.

==============================

↩ Back to status

Sins [Compatibility]:

Sloth [97%]

Pride [60.1%]

Lust [60.1%]

Wrath [57.7%]

Greed [43.7%]

Gluttony [33.3%]

Envy [7%]

==============================

‘It’s still the same.’ Ashen noticed at once. ‘And my choice will also be the same.’

He chose Sloth without hesitation. It wasn’t only because of the compatibility issue, but also because he was thinking of his sealed concepts.

Those concepts belonged to Sloth; if he chose something else here, then when the time came to unseal them, his only fate would have been loss of control or outright death as his body was undone by rampaging, incompatible conceptual powers.

[Sloth Pathway Selected.]

[Please choose a Thema]

==============================

↩ Back to status

Available Themas:

Polemistes (Warrior)

Frontistis (Caretaker)

Doriforos (Spearman)

Vasanistis (Torturer)

Kipouros (Gardener)

Trofos (Nurturer)

Dorimastoras (Spear Master)

Polemotechnis (Martial Artist)

Doridaimon (Spear Demon)

Doroholos (Spearwhole)

Philomathis (Philomath)

Doryarmonia (Spear Harmony)

Mana Yfantis (Mana Weaver)

Archigos (Leader)

==============================

‘So many choices… unlike the first time.’ Ashen’s eyes skipped the mundane Themas like warrior, spearman, and caretaker and immediately looked at the bottom of the list.

‘Spear Demon? Spear Harmony? They must have come up because of my spear mastery…’

Then his eyes landed on torturer, and his face twitched…

‘Alright… maybe I played around too much with those Narkals for even this to show up.’

‘And then, there’s this…’

‘Philomath…’

Ashen guessed that one’s appearance was thanks to his sherganiens when his brain was still developing. As for the others, such as caretaker, gardener, nurturer, and leader, those were obviously due to him taking care of the plants and the kids.

And finally, Mana Weaver was unmistakably due to his use of Trinity Harmony.

‘So many good choices that I don’t have any idea what to choose from anymore…’

Ashen smiled helplessly. Who would have guessed that he’d be having such a happy problem? But that made him think of the others, and what choices showed up for them.

He looked around and was met with either scrunched-up faces or confused ones.

‘Wait…’

Suddenly… it occurred to him.

‘...so that was it!’

Ashen had thought that the reason for all the harsh training from such a young age was due to preparing them for the inevitable.

But now it occurred to him that there was another reason.

‘He was preparing us for the integration of the System.’

Themas showed up depending on two things: experience and talent. But it was mostly due to the former.

And what experience would a normal six-year-old kid have aside from being a crybaby?

‘Well, not these children… our dear father made sure of that, heh.’

Anyhow, Ashen wasn’t worried about his brothers anymore. He was sure that they’d have a warrior Thema at the very least now, so he refocused on himself.

But as he kept looking at the rich list of choices, a nagging feeling kept bothering him. Whenever he looked at one of the fancy Themas and debated which to choose, he kept hesitating.

‘Why is this happening?’

He closed his eyes and calmed himself down. Then, he looked deeper within himself. It did not take him long to find the reason.

Amid the darkness of his vision, a memory manifested itself. It started with the appearance of a beautiful green-haired woman. She was dressed like she was preparing to go to sleep, but the high heels on her feet made for a strange combination.

In the memory, she was sitting amid blood-soaked earth, with corpses scattered all around her. But she did not seem to mind any of that, for she was too busy nursing her bruised arm with a tear-stricken face.

Anyone who looked at that face would involuntarily categorize her as either pathetic or pitiful, but as he replayed the memory in his mind, Ashen did not think so.

Instead, all he felt was beauty at the pure Sloth Concepts interwinding with her outwardly deceptive form.

‘Ah. I understand…’

When he opened his eyes, he sported a strange expression.

‘So… Was I jealous? Pfft.’

He had no problem admitting it. Compared to her, his own concepts, no matter how powerful and useful, were too hideous and warped.

He turned his eyes back to the Themas, and now, no matter how much he tried, none of the previous flashy words could catch his attention.

‘Well… I already have my spear skills for killing, so maybe trying a more orthodox path wouldn’t hurt…?’

Ashen wasn’t one who hesitated much when he had already made his choice. The moment he decided, he selected the Thema he thought would assist him the most in being a “Sloth”.

[Trofos Thema Selected. You are now a Nurturer.]

‘Yeah, this one would do.’

Frankly, he already had two other choices if he wanted something that would not hinder his Sloth embodiment. Gardener and Caretaker.

With these two, he could probably sit back and relax. But Ashen did not choose them for a simple reason.

‘Gardener is too geared toward plants, and Caretaker is clearly directed at humans. But nurturing can be done for both, and maybe even more, right?’

That was Ashen’s train of thought when he made the choice, but while he was immersed in comparing this and that, he seemed to forget something important…

“Children! Are you done yet? Those who already made their choices may come here and show me now.”

‘Oh.’

Only now did he remember that important something…

‘Didn’t Pops say to pick a warrior Thema or something…?’

Then his eyes lowered to his choice.

Thema: Trofos (Nurturer)

“...”

‘He won’t get too mad, right?’

Even as he said it, Ashen knew that he was already screwed.

What an absurd wish. Having one’s most prized son become some nurturer, and then hoping for him not to get mad.

…There were limits, even to wishful thinking.