Sabbatical – Chapter 212: Mortal Evolution

Aperio tilted her head slightly at the video Adam was showing her. At first it had only been a slideshow, but she had quickly figured out that all she had to do was really focus on the phone the mortal mage was holding and want to actually see the moving pictures. Now that she could see the video more properly, it would seem the parameters she had given the System had been a little too loose. Sure, she had kept track of every mortal that had undergone a change in the first wave, but none of them seemed all that surprised about it. And they all already had access to mana.

Apparently, the System had given magic access to a few mortals who had until that point been blissfully unaware of it, which is why she was currently looking at a Human setting fire to things with a small flame that hovered above their palm.

"I do not see the issue," she eventually said, gesturing towards one of the many nearby billboards with a hand, never taking her eyes off the phone in Adam's grasp. "Would your people not assume this to be fake, like your movies?"

"Until he starts doing live performances, yes," Adam replied, moving slightly so Caethya could see the screen better. "Can't claim movie magic if people can see and touch it. Plus, I am sure he isn't the only one."

"Still not truly an issue." Aperio shrugged, letting her wings move with the motion just a little. "Everyone will get a Class at one point or another. This will simply show us how the already established powers treat the newcomers, and how those now blessed with might treat those that are as of yet without."

"And what of those that will be tormented? Or even die?" Adam asked, looking at the All-Mother. "I know you view death a little differently, but I'm sure that you wouldn't tolerate someone going on a rampage, right?"

Aperio looked away from the video, standing to her full height and setting her gaze on Adam. "I will prevent anything major from happening," she began as she folded her arms in front of her chest. "But thousands of mortals have perished since I arrived; I do not think this will be much different. Mortals seem to truly like murdering one another."

"Perhaps, but people having ready access to magic is your doing."

Aperio waved the mortal mage off, relaxing a little and wrapping a wing around her love. "I have already told you what I will do, and that will have to be enough. The System would have come back to Earth sooner or later anyway, as I am... reconnecting with my creation."

The truth of the matter was a little more annoying to the All-Mother. It wasn't quite that she was reconnecting with the universe, and more like she was filling the nothing that existed between all things with herself despite her best efforts to contain all that she was within her current body. Might have to experiment with drawing more mana from my well to speed up the strengthening… Her previous attempt to manipulate the purer mana did not go well, but she had gotten much better at using her abilities since then, and she really disliked the idea of spreading herself through her creation. Blinding myself to most everything on Earth already requires more than a little effort.

"You should also know that death means little," she continued, a thought subtly adjusting her dress. "Their Soul will simply go on to the next life." And once the changes I want to make are actually in, they will not only grow stronger but eventually remember all their lives.

Of course, her plans for all of that were still far off, but they were ones she planned to act on after she had taken care of Earth and its System. For now, she would do exactly as she had said; look after those who had received magic, and make sure they did not go too overboard. Knowing mortals, it's only a matter of time before one of them tries something.

Seeing Adam fidget slightly, Aperio let out a sigh. "I will give them a warning to not do anything to the as of yet powerless, will that ease your conscience?"

"Kind of?" he asked. "But I think we both know that people will ignore that warning."

"Then I shall punish them," the All-Mother replied with a shrug. "But for now, I wish to do something other than worry about mortals being stupid." Why is it so hard for them to just leave each other be?

Sure, Aperio knew that, in total, it was only a small number of mortals, but fathoming the reason those few behaved the way they did was not something she could claim to be capable of. But then, when I made all of this I wasn't much better either.

"Perhaps a trip to the beach would be nice," Caethya suggested. "Relax a little. Maybe observe how normal people act before you turn the world on its head."

"I think I already did the 'turn the world on its head' part," the All-Mother replied, tilting her head slightly. "Even before I brought even a tiny bit of the System back, the magically inclined mortals seemed to be thrown for a loop. Now, they seem to be pretty excited about the changes." She shook her head, beginning to walk towards the inn they had yet to properly stay at. "I like the idea of relaxing a little, however, so I think that is what we should do."

"Sure," Adam replied. "Not like you have to go anywhere to stop people."

"Right then," Caethya said, wrapping her arm around one of Aperio's. "Time to actually go shopping, then."

"We should probably ask Eleanor for some recommendations," Aperio replied as she did nothing to hide the smile spreading across her face. The thought that the 'Elders' would likely lose their mind over the three of them spending a nice day at the beach while the world they knew changed forever was a nice extra to spending time with Caethya.

"Perhaps she’d even wish to join us," her love said. "I wouldn't mind her opinion on some more local clothes. Depending on how long we wish to stay, some changes will be needed."

"Are you sure you don't just want to see Aperio try and fail to wear whatever you give her?" Adam asked, looking at the two women.

"That is an added bonus," the Demigoddess replied with a smile. "But contrary to apparently popular belief, my love is not as gloomy as she seems."

"I am gloomy?" Aperio asked, tilting her head slightly. After a brief pause, she added, "No matter, I enjoy trying out new things. Though I have boundaries that will not be crossed."

"Let's get going then," Caethya said, tugging slightly at Aperio's arm so she would begin to walk.

///

Jacob watched the flame dance in the palm of his hand, the blue window listing his person in numbers floating off to the side. It had not even been a day yet, but summoning fire was already as instinctual as breathing; he didn’t even have to really think about it much.

He apparently wasn't the only one that had received the Pyromancer Class, as he had already seen a few videos of people conjuring flames much like his own. Most people considered them to be some sort of new social media trend, but Jacob knew just how real it was. He could do it too, after all.

A thought dismissed the window and the flame vanished as he closed his hand into a fist. He opened it again, looking at his palm. There was no sign that he had just held literal fire in it, not even the slightest hint of redness. That hadn't been the only change, of course. Despite the fact that he had spent the day doing nothing but lazing about at home — and, of course, working on his new abilities — his muscles felt as sore as if he had been working out nonstop for the same amount of time. It wasn't just a feeling, however, as the slightly bent handle of his door showed. Mom will kill me if I actually break it…

He hadn't really thought much about the strange phenomenon at first, having dismissed the text window he saw and the weird feeling still present within him as the lingering remnants of a dream. When he went to go to the bathroom and suddenly found himself holding the door handle in his hand, however, he became abruptly aware that it wasn't a dream after all.

Reattaching the handle in secret had been a pain, and a close look wouldn't hide the fact that the metal had been bent out of shape.

"Oh well," Jacob mumbled to himself, kicking back in his chair and turning on the tv that stood slightly to the right of his desk with a foot. "Maybe there's something on the news about it?"

Switching between the various channels revealed no groundbreaking information. Nobody was talking about any of this, which meant that either it wasn't happening to many people, or they had been told to not talk about it. Knowing how the news usually goes here, it's probably the former. None of the anchor personalities he was aware of would have bothered to hide the fact that they had acquired superpowers.

"But why?" he asked himself as the news switched from boring general news to the weather report. "Why me? And why are there so many with fire?"

Of all the videos popping up, most of them were people playing with fire. So far he had only seen a handful that were different; some air and some earth, but no water. His own message had been less than helpful, as it simply read 'Class Adjustment imminent' and offered no further information. 

Looking over the window that labelled itself as [Status] had also failed to provide much additional information. The numbers for strength, intelligence and other things didn't really mean much to him as he didn't know the scale being used. Without a point of reference, how was he to interpret a random number? The only other thing of note was the 'Skills' subsection, but that only had [Conjure Flame] listed, which was self-explanatory.

He was about to shut off the TV and leave when another window materialised in front of his eyes.

Adjustment complete. Classes have been granted based on Soul affinity. Further skills and Classes will be unlocked once System integration has been completed.

System integration? It didn't ring a bell, but before Jacob could think more on it, yet another window appeared, replacing the current one.

Unjustified actions against the un-awakened will be punished. Do not disappoint.

"That's not ominous at all," Jacob mumbled, assuming that everyone who had gotten a Class had seen this. "Who makes these announcements anyway?" He tried to walk around the floating window but it always stayed in the same place in his view. "Looks like something an AI would make, also fits that it's just called 'System'. It also capitalised that; must be important."

Now he was back to his first predicament: figuring out what the hell to do next. Announcing to his family his sudden acquisition of magic or superpowers or whatever this happened to be was not exactly an option. They wouldn't believe him, which would force him to demonstrate his abilities, and then they would all be stuck back at square one.

Additionally, he did not really trust his step-father. He had always found the man to be more than a little shady.

///

Ryan cackled as he watched the arc of plasma he had created jump to the tree, setting it on fire. He had spent the last few hours trying to figure out if he could make that happen with his lightning. He finally had his answer, and it was a resounding yes. He could be an arc welder without the expensive tools now or — something he much preferred — he could rob a bank and not have to deal with his idiot of a boss anymore. Or I could use it on him…

The idea was… oddly pleasant, but the strange box that had not only granted him this power but also warned him to not use it on people that didn't have it came to mind. But who enforces that?

A part of him wanted to disobey, to try something just to see what would happen, but his gut feeling told him that that was not a good idea. In fact, it was probably a very bad idea. Maybe even deadly. If whatever had given him the power to create — and be unharmed by — fire, lightning, and whatever he could make with it came to stop him, Ryan was sure that they would have little trouble killing him; a thought that brought him back to the moment he had been thrown from his bike and down a hill by the appearance of a box in his vision, the shock of the changes it had brought, and the question that still went unanswered in his mind. Well, the changes the 'System' brought.

People simply didn't just get random superpowers. There was likely a reason behind it all, and Ryan wanted to know why he had been one of the chosen few. He had his suspicions, of course, but nothing concrete. And, while this particular question would likely go unanswered for a while, it also did not truly matter. The ‘System’ had given him an opportunity to take the reins of his life back, and he would take it.

Whoever had made it really needed to be a bit more creative in their naming scheme. It was accurate, sure, but it wasn't imaginative at all. Not that that matters. The person — or thing — that was behind the System probably had no need for his input on the matter. If anything, they would probably kill him for daring to speak to them.

"Doesn't matter," Ryan mumbled to himself, the fire he had started with his skill disappearing as he breathed in deeply.

He revelled in the warmth — the power — that spread through him for a moment before he opened his eyes again. For the briefest of moments, the world held an orange tint. Ryan would make use of this gift he had been given, righting the wrongs the world had beset him with. The first of those would be the sad excuse for a man that was his boss.

It was only right, wasn't it? He had always gone on about how the world rewards those who were worthy, and what else but a reward could this be? Ryan clenched his fist, a few arcs jumping between his knuckles. Yes, what he would do was more than justified. The world would see the gift he had been given and finally give him the recognition he deserved.

GamingWolf

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