Chapter 3: Chapter 3: The Bad Draw

Chapter 3: The Bad Draw

After a week, I settled into a relaxed routine with the members of the crafting house. The members have been calling me “Saga”. According to Amara, “With a new world, a new life, you begin a new saga.” After a few more disappointing suggestions like “Wanda, short for Wanderer” and “Celine, like Soul-line” coming from Redell, I ended up settling for Amara’s pick. At least, it was suitably fantastical, right? I’ve also adopted her last name, Edea, since she was the once who created the gate I hijacked.

In the mornings, Redell led me through some guided physical therapy. When my body was more inflexible or fragile than it should be, I meditated and gingerly reconstructed the physical matrix. Afterwards, Laius would quietly direct my light calisthenics and mobility exercises. Similar to my time with Redell, I would identify flaws in my design and reconfigure them.

As I followed Laius back to the house, I’d watch him prepare breakfast. He was the team cook, and was particularly handy with knives. He would let me complete simple tasks such as cracking and stirring eggs, peeling vegetables, and dicing fruit to help train my fine motor control. While I was slowly chopping away at fruits, he was slicing, mixing, cooking, seasoning, and plating with inhuman speed and telekinetic skill.

Gradually, the others wandered in from their own activities. Redell and Laius would wake the earliest to help me with my recuperation process. Chelsea often arrived rather slovenly, hair disheveled and still wearing a nightgown. Despite this, she channeled the presence of a nature goddess who had awoken from a spring slumber. All members of this crafting team looked like masterpieces attentively handcrafted from the hands of God (although Gods were different here). I had wondered if Earth had gotten the bad draw of the genetic lottery.

“That’s not it,” Chelsea yawned in response, “We’re just high-rank.” She plunked herself down at one of the dining room chairs, and sipped at some sort of tea-like drink that was set out before her, “I understand what a ‘bad draw’ is but what is a genetic lottery? How is it different from a normal lottery?”

Apparently, I had said that out loud again.

[Query: What is the definition of genetics?]

[Answer: The study of heredity and the variation of inherited characteristics]

I repeated the answer to Chelsea, and added some additional context about lotteries.

“That sounds like what the Church of Fertility researches,” she nodded in contemplation, “but they call it their breeding program.”

“Sounds way more sinister.” I pointed out. “What do you mean by high-rank?”

“Through a process of training, combat, and meditation, our bodies ascend to a higher tier of existence. Your body is not quite ready for that yet. Redell will let you know when you are.”

“Oh, so it’s kind of like cultivation!” I put my hands together as if I had a sudden epiphany.

“Cultivation? We are not plants.” She gave me a side eye.

 

Redell arrived next. He had gone elsewhere after my session with him, and just now returned. “You spoke your mind again. I can help with that.”

“How so?”

“Redell is a bit of a musician. He’s an expert with sound related activities,” Chelsea explained to me.

“Additionally, we do not speak with vocal cords; we do not have them.” Redell continued, “As you rank up, your body rids itself of vulnerabilities. We similarly do not have brains, hearts, or lungs. Instead, we use magic to vibrate the air and replicate voices.”

“Ah. I see.”

“You don’t seem very surprised,” Chelsea probed.

“I just spent who-knows-how-long as a disembodied soul in a realm where time and distance ceased to exist. Then, I made a magic-flesh-body from astral goobly-gook and I’m piloting it with my soul. I’m pretty sure this body doesn’t have any organs either. I haven’t been breathing.” I put my fingers to my neck to feel for a pulse, “No heartbeat either.”

Amara finally joined the group in the dining room. “Then that is an advantage you have over other normal rankers! You will be more resilient in combat against monsters, should you choose to fight.”

As everyone settled around the table, plates of delicious food drifted down to the table and we started to dig in.

“Mmmm, bon appétit.”

“You’re using translation magic,” Chelsea incredulously said between mouthfuls, “so why did that not translate?”

“I meant to say it that way. It means, ‘enjoy your food’ or ‘good appetite’. My compliments to the chef.”

Laius acknowledged it with a nod.

I corrected Chelsea, “I haven’t been using translation magic. It’s one of my racial gifts.”

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Ability: [Unbounded]

• Language adaptation.
• Essence, awakening, and skill book absorption.
• Immunity to identification, tracking, and teleportation-restriction effects.

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“That is common for outworlders,” Amara concurred. “It is an adaptation for survival.”

Breakfast wrapped up and I helped Laius clean up. He gestured for me to hold out my hands, and he placed a small treat within it. I popped it in my mouth without another thought.

“It’s tasty. Thanks.”

He nodded with a slight smile.

 

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After breakfast I was meditating in a small forest within the complex to experiment with another one of my racial abilities.

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Astral Traveler

Transfigured from [Outworlder] ability [Astral Affinity].

• If your body is discorporated, your soul will return to your [Astral Domain]. You may reinhabit physical reality upon the recreation of a physical body.
• Increased resistance to dimension effects and astral forces. Dimension abilities have increased effect and transcendent damage is increased. This is a legacy effect of [Astral Affinity].
• Within the astral you will be able to create and maintain a small zone of physical reality around you.
• Within physical reality you will be able to create and maintain a small zone of the astral around you.
• You are able to sense and enter coterminous dimensional spaces.
• You are able to enter and traverse the astral.

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If I focused, I could send my body and soul back to the astral. What I discovered was, since the astral doesn’t have distance or time, I could send my body back to any location I’ve been, allowing for short and long range teleportation. The process wasn’t particularly fast so it wasn’t useful for anything outside of travelling. For now, I could send myself to the dining room, the forest, my room, as well as anywhere else on the complex I’ve been to. It was better for me to walk in order to exercise my body, however. Apparently, due to my experiences in the astral, the ability had evolved before I’d even become an Outworlder.

When I opened my eyes back at the grove, the whole group was standing a distance away, waiting for me. I walked over to them.

“You don’t have any essence abilities yet, so how are you doing that?” Chelsea asked me as I approached. Using another one of my racial abilities, [Guide], I showed them [Astral Traveler].

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[Guide]

• Interpret reality through a recognizable medium
• Functions:
  • Status
  • Inspect
  • Archive
  • Note
  • Query
  • Display
• [Status]: Displays the details of your own state and abilities to yourself.
• [Inspect]: Can inspect the details of objects, abilities, monsters, effects, and beings within your line of sight. Requires consent of those with a soul to see details. Those of higher rank will reveal less information without consent.
• [Archive]: Stores the information of what you inspect.
• [Query]: Consult the [Guide] for an [Answer]. [Answer] is factual and you cannot consult for personal information. [Answer] will only be visual information, either as language or as an image.
• [Display]: Displays the results of any of the functions to another being.

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They all took a moment to read it and processed the information.

“That’s ridiculous.” Chelsea said, astonished. “This display is also a very useful outworlder ability. I’m envious.”

“Agreed.” Laius spoke a rare word.

Redell looked at me with sudden understanding. “Your time in the astral has changed your soul in a way that allows you to traverse it. Your weak body is the result of your inexperience in creating complex forms of physical reality, rather than a degradation in your matrix.”  

“I’m pretty sure you understand better than I do, at this point. I’m still not entirely sure what the matrix is, even though I’ve been ‘fixing’ it.”

“The matrix is the blueprint of your soul for your body, so to speak.” Redell answered. “When healing from injuries, your body replicates the blueprint of your soul, which is why we have no scars. Scars are injuries to the soul made physical.”

My hand went to the area in front of my heart would be. I had a scar there. It was one I had probably done to myself. “By the way,” I said to distract myself, “what are essence abilities?”

“Essence abilities are the forms of intrinsic magic that result from the absorption of an essence and the use of an awakening stone. Compared to external ritual magic, this magic is instinctual to use.” Redell explained.

“Training these abilities is what grows your strength and allows you to rank up.” Amara added. “Do you know what essences and awakening stones are?”

I shook my head. I could [Query] my [Guide] but a more personalized explanation would probably be more digestible. I could verify the information later if I felt the need to.

“Essences are a type of physical manifestation of magic. Monsters and awakening stones are also manifestations of magic. Per essence absorbed, you have five abilities. Awakening stones are used to ‘unlock’ those abilities. Each awakening stone has a pool of abilities, but you can influence the type of ability by using a specific stone, such as an awakening stone of the eye for a perception type power. However, it is still just an influence. No awakening stone guarantees any ability.” Amara finished her explanation.

“So its gacha again” I mumbled.

“What?” Chelsea said.

“No, its better not to know.”

Chelsea raised her eyebrow and sighed. “Getting back to the topic, you are using this racial ability to enter and exist the topic, allowing yourself to teleport? Is there a range limitation?”

“I can only exist the astral at a place I’ve been to, safely anyway. Which is why I needed Amara’s ritual. Existing randomly will probably destroy my body again, although I could remake it better this time. It’ll set me back a long time though, without a convenient ritual.”

“That means you can’t die!” Chelsea exclaimed incredulously. “Becoming an Outworlder ‘the normal way’ results in the annihilation of your original body and the formation of an Outworlder body after crossing back into the physical.”

“Well… I’m pretty sure my original body still exists. It never got destroyed. Damn! Those medical costs must be ridiculous. Mom’s new husband is rich though, so maybe its fine.”

“Your original body never died?” Amara curiously asked.

“One day I was sleeping in bed, the next moment my soul was being tortured by some want-to-be-great-astral-piece-of-shit. Shittiest awakening I’ve ever received, and my sister and I farted on each other as kids.”

Chelsea grimaced, “I didn’t need to know that.”

“What? You’re an only child?”

“I am not.” Laius said. “That, happens”.

“See? It’s not that weird.”

“I’m not saying its weird, I’m saying you should keep it to yourself!” She exclaimed.

“Being weirdly relatable isn’t endearing?” I said framing my face with my hands and making dewy eyes.

Amara, Redell chuckled, and Chelsea rolled her eyes.

“Still. Being able to re-corporate your body after is destroyed is something you can only do upon reaching diamond rank. Being able to do so at common rank, even if it is extremely slow, is frankly, cheating. Although your abilities may advance slower, when you get them, due to a lack of danger.”

“Diamond rank? Common rank? What are those?”

“There are ranks you advance through as you progress your abilities. These ranks are common, with incomplete or no essences, then iron, bronze, silver, gold, diamond, and… transcendent.” The mention of transcendent made Chelsea’s pause in awe.

Amara continued for Chelsea. “Ranking up has various benefits, such as regaining your youth, slowed aging and extended lifespans, stronger and more resilient bodies, and other effects.”

“Oh. So you’re all actually old. You said you were all high rank.”

“Yes.” Chelsea sighed, “that’s not the point.”

“The point is, that I’m going to get abilities?”

“No! I mean yes! Your information has already paid for that, many times over! I am not exploitative!”

“I think,” Redell said chuckling, “you may exasperate Chelsea to death. And she is exceptionally hard to kill.”

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