Book 4: Chapter 8: The System

Book 4: Chapter 8: The System

Scarlet

This information is generally locked until youre Class V, but father gave the okay to tell you, Tar says as I slowly begin continue making my way through the cave. Everything you believe the System is doing, its not the one doing it. Absorbing life force is a natural process in your universe, although the System altered it to only give you the life force of things of a different species from you centuries after it was introduced just to stop people from murdering their own species to grow stronger.

Thats huh. If thats the case, are there instances of people growing strong without the Systems help?

Well, from what I learned in my lessons as a child, Tartarus used to have mages before the System was created, Tar explains. They were far weaker than the System users of today though. Mostly because they had to figure out how to use their magic without any assistance, not to mention figure out what their magic was in the first place and how to absorb life force.

Yeah, that makes sense. But if thats the case, then-The origin of this chapter's debut can be traced to N0v3l--B1n.

No, the System restricts its users from using their magic outside of their skills, Tar answers my question before I can even ask it. Thats never really been an issue though. Some users tend to get a skill that lets them directly manipulate their magic in a way, such as your grandfathers Blood Domain skill, which lets him do anything with blood as long as its within the domain.

Interesting does White have a skill like that?

No, she doesnt, Tar answers. I think there are only a few domain skills in existence right now. The Blood Domain for one, then theres The Reapers Death Domain, and the Lady of Devourings Domain of Devouring.

A shiver runs down my spine at the exact magics connected to the other two domains. One made simply from death magic, and the other a magic that lets them literally eat the minds and even the realities of other beings.

More beetles round the corner and I quickly begin to fight them as I grunt out loud, But what about ascensions?

Tar seems to understand my question as he answers, All the System is doing for ascensions is telling you how to do it. Technically someone without System access can do them as well, but they would have no way to know if theyre ready for an ascension, or how to do it themselves.

I blink at that but otherwise stay silent, letting him continue, The humans and demons and any other species living in the mortal universe are creatures that live off of biological processes, with their reality being powered by their life force. Meanwhile spirits, such as us fae, live solely through life force. And our magic is based on spirit instead of mana, which is a resource that doesnt exist in the mortal realm. But at the same time, life force doesnt exist in the Farshore, or any of the other Spirit Realms either. So while were gifted with long lifespans, were also left without any way of getting stronger or extending them without the help of mortals who we contract with.

Wait a second, youre talking as if there are other types of spirits besides the fae is that true?

Tar appears in front of me with a serious look on his face as he nods, Yes, that is true. But every Spirit Realm only has a connection to a single planet each, and not every planet has a Spirit Realm anchored to their own. Including Earth.

That has me pausing mid-step.

The last of the three types of beings, Tar continues, taking my silence as his cue. The creatures of the Void. They do not have any life force in them at all and run solely on Void Energy, both in terms of their nutrients, their lifespan, and their magic. But they generally are only found in certain locked pockets inside of the Void that nothing can escape from, so we dont know very much about them beyond that none of the void creatures we have seen have had any sort of intelligence.

I stare at him for several seconds without saying anything, only to eventually mutter, This is a lot to take in.

You dont seem all that surprised by it though, Tar comments, pointing that out to me.

Yeah, probably because Im getting rather used to having what I accept as normal blown out of proportion by now. First with all of the other secrets kept from the public, then the whole Princess thing, and my emotions, my parents and Gramps, not to mention the prophecy.

I dont really think theres much that can shake me anymore.

I dont know if I should feel pity for that or not Tar mutters, and I just shrug before beginning to walk through the tunnel of the cave again, only to hear a loud screech coming from deeper into the cave.

Looks like Ive finally found the evolved demon in charge here.