This is a very information heavy chapter, so prepare for that.
----
"Please don't kid around Asbjørn, that's more unrealistic than the cultivators supposed origin of the system and mana." Linda said, but before Asbjørn could say anything in response, she seemed to remember something. "But now that you mention another world, I had a very weird dream this night. It was as if I experienced my life anew, but in a world without the system." "Do you mean that mom?" When she nodded, he shut up and tried to figure out what happened. While he did that, Linda went to get Lars.
She entered the door to his private workshop, and with a somewhat serious tone, she said. "Dear, there's something we need to talk about." Lars put down the chisel and hammer and with befuddled and worried expression, he asked. "What's going on? You rarely enter here without warning, and when you do, the news you bring are often bad." Linda sighed before replying. "It's about Asbjørn, something weird happened just a bit ago."
Once she said that, Lars' expression changed into one of 99% worry mixed with 1% rage at whatever had caused something to happen. "What happened? Tell me, now." He says to hurry her along. She clears her throat. "He seemed to have forgotten everything about the system, and when I had him check his status, he had a title called World Traveler, that said that the world had changed around him." He looked at her with a dumbfounded expression and started laughing nervously. "You're kidding right? It must be some bad prank of his." But to his 'horror,' she shook her head.
"Sadly not, as you know, acting has never been his strong suit." She paused for a second to let it sink in. "But there's something that's even weirder. Do you remember the dream we both had? The one where we lived in a world without the system?" With a conflicted expression, he nodded. "What about it?" "The thing is, after talking with him, it suddenly became a lot clearer; so, considering that and how he said his title said, 'experience the world change around them,' then I think it might be us and the world who changed, not that he forgot about the system."
Lars put a hand to his chin. "Hmm, no matter how much I dislike it, for some reason, that explanation feels right." "I know, I feel the same way." She replied. "Alright…" He put both hands on his knees and lifted himself up. "I'd say that we give him a chance no matter the case; as, just as we might have lost our actual son, he would also have lost his actual parents, so we might all be the closet we come to having our actual family back ever. That is if it turns out that we aren't just a changed version of how we used to be." He walked over, hugged her, and gave her a kiss. While kissing she just replied with a low "mmn."
(A/N: this might seem a little rushed for them to accept it, but this is an issue I really don't want to deal with, so, I'll just use some author magic to have them accept it. Just think of it as a side effect of the world changing.)
----
In the kitchen, Asbjørn had been at work trying to narrow down what happened, which could be seen by the notes on some paper he found. Just as he narrowed it down to two possibilities, his parents entered the kitchen, and he got down from his chair with a smile; it seemed almost as if he'd already forgotten about the problem. "Mom, I have two possible conclusions it can be, and also, have you told dad yet?" Hearing his excitement, which had replaced his seriousness from before; Linda attempted a smile, and luckily, he didn't notice that anything was up. "Yeah, I told him. Come on, let's hear your conclusions."
"Alright, the first conclusion is that the description refers to the change as me going to another world, and the second is that my world actually changed around me, altering everyone's memories. Personally, I'm leaning more towards the latter, but that's just a gut feeling, no actual reason." He quickly rambled off with excitement. 'That seems 100% like how my Asbjørn would behave, so maybe this is not so bad after all.' Linda thought to herself as her smile became a bit more genuine.
"Both of those sound somewhat plausible," Lars said after some thought. "The weird thing is that both me and Linda had a dream about a life without the system, and just like you, my gut is also going with the second option." Linda nodded in agreement with her husband. "I also feel like the second one is right."
"Considering that we all feel the second to be true, and combined with your dreams, I'd say that we believe in the second option for now," Asbjørn said, and both parents nodded. "Alright, now that that's decided, what do you two think about spending some time explaining some important things I need to know, especially related to the system?" He asked, to which Linda lightly shook her head. "Sorry dear, but I've got some work to do; dad on the other hand said that he had the whole day off." "Yeah, I've got time to talk, but before you go back to work, I have something to share." Lars replied.
"Yeah, go on dear." Lars cleared his throat. "I say that we don't tell anyone else about this, including Anna, the fewer possible slipups possible, the better." Linda and Asbjørn both thought a little about it, before agreeing to it. "I have to get back to work, enjoy your talk." She said as she left the boys to themselves.
----
The father and son duo had prepared some food and took a seat in the sofa, which was three green pillows wide. "You wanted to know how the system works, right?" "Yeah, I'm extremely curious on what exactly everything is and what it does, mostly about the status, but I'd like to hear other commonly used system features as well, should they exist." Asbjørn answered. "Okay. I think it's best to start with the basics. If you open your status, you'll find a level and an exp counter; you get exp by killing monsters in dungeons or at sea, and once your exp reach the cap your level will increase, which will give an amount of free stat points you can spend as you wish."
He paused shortly to give Asbjørn time to ask questions, of which he didn't seem to have any and instead just nodded for Lars to continue. "The next thing is MP or mana points, that's used for all magic and a bunch of skills, the important thing is that you'll be exhausted if you use it all. Then we come to the stats, they're one of the most important attribute of the system, as they're what allow us to grow stronger, with the only known limit being general stat distribution."
"The known 'rules' for stat distribution are as follows: Your STR can't be more than five times your level higher than your END; AGI can't be more than five times your level higher than your INT; and INT can't be more than five times your level higher than your WIS. These rules aren't hard limits, but bad things happen when you break them. The only exception are the stats you have before assimilation with the system at age 15." "Alright, I understand," Asbjørn said. "But can you explain the different stats? I want to make sure to not misunderstand them." "Oh yeah, of course you don't know about them." Lars mumbled to himself.
"STR is your physical strength and is the simplest of all the stats. END is how tough your body is, meaning that you will be harder to damage, you will regenerate tissue and other body parts faster, you can survive more serious damage for longer periods of time, and your stamina can hold out for a while longer. AGI will increase your movement speed and reaction time. These three are classified as your physical stats, with the next three called mental stats. Are you following?" Asbjørn nodded and the explanation continued.
"WIS is how good you are at retaining information, and how well you can draw on it; it's also responsible for three fifths of your MP. INT is theorized to have a slight increase in problem solving, but it's not proven. Its most important aspects are the increase in how fast you can process information, and its impact on magic. It takes the responsibility of one fifth of your MP. Unlike what WIL might make you think, it actually has nothing to do with courage, instead it has a tendency to make people a bit more stubborn, but not by much. But that's not what makes it so important, that is instead its influence on your ability to stay calm and conscious, especially in critical situations. Besides filling the remaining fifth of MP, it has another important function related to adrenaline, that being its ability to increase adrenaline's effects by a lot, though it has the drawbacks of making the recoil a lot worse as well." Lars said to finish the lengthy explanation.
"Alright, I think I got all that, thanks a lot dad." Asbjørn said with a smile. "Good to hear. Now there are just a few more things to talk about, those being: Breakthroughs, classes, skills, titles, items, ranks, and dungeons. I say that we take them in that order," Asbjørn nodded. "Breakthroughs happen at certain level intervals, and they block the ability to level up until the user has broken through; most of them are based on the specific user, but the first is the same for all, that being to obtain a class. This brings us to classes, and they can be obtained from level 10 onwards. They give multiple positive effects, and some even give new ways to earn exp. Luckily, there's no need to worry about being stuck with a class, as they can always be changed in exchange for one's exp and level in that class."
Asbjørn nodded once more. "Skills are abilities recognized by the system, but they're disabled until one gains their first class. Regular skills can be obtained by anyone regardless of their class; class skills are obtained through one's class; personal skills are skills that some people are born with, they are often stronger than other skills of similar rank; and title skills are given by titles. There exist more kinds, but they aren't important right now. Do you have any questions?" For once he actually had something to ask. "Yeah, is there any way to know if someone has a personal skill?" "Nope, but it's revealed as soon as one gains their class. Was that all?" Lars asked in a relaxed tone, to which Asbjørn nodded.
"Then we have titles. They're something given by the system when one accomplishes certain achievements known only by the system, or when one is known by a special title to a lot of people, like Queen Margret. Titles can have many different effects, and most acquisition conditions are unknown. Items are more or less every object, but most everyday items are low ranking items that are used for general purpose things, but most people only care for higher-ranking work gear. Common items will rarely have special abilities, but that often changes the if the item has a higher rank." Asbjørn once again nodded.
"Ranks are given by the system, the current known ranks are as follows: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Unique, Epic, Legendary, and Mythical. Higher ranking items are nearly always better than lower ranked items, but that doesn't mean that lower ranked items are useless. Items of unique rank and above are also the only version of themselves to exist; on the other hand, when it comes to classes, skills, and titles, the rank is just a show of rarity, it doesn't actually mean that no other version of that thing can exist."
"Now we've come to the last subject, the dungeons. Dungeons are magical structures that are larger inside than outside, and they house monsters inside of them. Killing those monsters are one of the two ways to earn exp before obtaining a class, the other is to hunt sea creatures. I know that you want to ask, but the origins of dungeons, and how they work are mysteries that scientists are trying to solve. Me and mom had decided that you weren't allowed to enter a dungeon before you finished gym, so expect your friends to drag you there soon, now that that's over. Any questions?"
Asbjørn shook his head with a smile. "No, I think I got it for now, I'll jus," Before he could finish the sentence, Lars interrupted him after remembering something else. "I should also mention that something called guilds exist, but we'll take that at a later point, and sorry for interrupting." He said with a smile. "It's fine, thanks a lot dad, I'll just ask if I need to know more, this should hopefully do for now." Just as Asbjørn said that, and as he finished organizing his thoughts on this matter, three notifications popped up.
[[You have gained 1 WIS]]
[[You have gained the title [Rule Breaker]]
[[Title
[Rule Breaker] - {Unique}
Description: The owner of this title has broken a rule of the system, by achieving more than 15 in a given stat before true assimilation with the system.
Effect: The owner is no longer restricted in earning stats from actions, though it'll become harder and harder to get more stats in relation to the stats gained this way.]]