"You mean that someone gave this system to all the humans to save them from the mana wave?" Darien asked while looking towards Asper who was collecting the flower that was now small enough to fit in her palms
"yes" Asper replied in a small voice
"Do you know who he was? or how and why he did it?"
"You will come to know that person when the time is right, I can't tell you more about it" she came back and sat by his side
Darien thought for some time and asked "Before we get out of here, tell me how these skills work and how can I use them" he sounded calm and serious
"You accepted reality and now, by learning these skills, you want to adapt according to the situation. Pretty good, I assumed you would take some time before saying that" she complimented with her usual smile
"There's no other way to survive. If I came across another monster, I would surely be dead like before, now tell me about these skills"
"The skills are manifestation of your thoughts, desires, insights and that's why everyone gets different kinds of them. They work by controlling or manipulating mana in a specific order and since there are infinite possible ways to do it, there are infinite number of skills that exist"
"The system makes controlling mana a bit easier for humans, and it also provides skills unique to the person according to the factors I described before"
"There are also levels so I am assuming you increase them by killing monsters? If that is true then there should also be attributes or something right?" Darien interrupted before she can continue
"You do increase levels by killing monsters and getting more experience but you cannot increase your attributes. Stop thinking about this as that 'game' thing"
"What!? what meaning is there to increase level when you cannot raise your attributes by doing it? And stop reading my mind, it feels awkward" He did assume the systems works like a game.
"The only merit will be that increasing levels increases chance of getting higher or stronger skills when you gain them. You can only have a total of five skills so won't you try to get stronger ones? Also, at first you only have one skill and you can only unlock more skills after certain levels" Asper explained
"You mean attributes like strength, intelligence etc., can't be increased?"
"No, they are fixed from the beginning. A person having great strength or intelligence before getting the system will maintain it and that person's innate physical strength or ability to control mana will be higher than an average person"
"That means talented people will always have an advantage?" Darien's tone was kind of down while asking
"yes"
"What if someone trains specifically for improving their strength, wouldn't that increase their attribute points?"
"You can surely try, maybe you will increase one point of an attribute after at least 5 years of training. Attributes do indeed increase with time as your body gets accustomed to mana but if everyone's strength increases by a constant rate, then the ones with higher stats at beginning will still be stronger. Another way to increase them would be to have skills that increase them temporarily" her voice was now straight and serious
"So, there will be people who will grow stronger without putting major efforts and there will be people who wouldn't surpass them no matter how hard they try?" his voice was dense and he was resting his chin on his hands
"Yes, but why do you look so sad and gloomy?" Asper asked while looking in Darien's eyes
"Did you thought all humans will get an equal start or a reset? And that since the structure of society itself will change, you will get ahead of everyone and get higher in the hierarchy so nobody can dare to bully you again?"
Darien turned to look towards her with an annoyed/angry expression. All his inner feelings were laid down in front of him and spoken to his face
"Don't look at me like that, you know the reality in your heart, you just don't want to admit it" she paused for a second and looked towards the exit of the cave with a lost expression
her lips then muttered in a soft voice
"A fair world does not exist"