'I don't know why or how I transmigrated but after all this time, I don't believe I was sent here for no reason.' Thought Lux to himself as he looked at himself in the mirror, his blue eyes seemingly shining as he took in his own appearance. With brown hair cut short and standing at 6 feet two inches, he wasn't ugly but neither would he be extremely popular. It had been three months since he arrived in this world and could barely believe everything that was happening.
"I'll turn eighteen in a few minutes and I'll finally be able to awaken my profession." He continued, this time aloud as he looked at his surroundings. He was currently on the second floor of a small building he had inherited from his parents.
The building, in a relatively remote location was pretty cheap and in dire need of repairs. Barely having enough time for himself as he studied as much as he could before his awakening, he hadn't bothered to take overly care of the house. After all, one needed both knowledge and effort to become stronger.
Living on the second floor, the stairs, just like the floor, were creaking. The paint was obviously old and cracked while some dust littered the rooms he hadn't used in a couple of months, especially the storage room which held a lot of unused items.
The living room, kitchen, toilet and bedroom however were perfectly intact and except for the cracked paint, there were no problems at all. Unfortunately, it was only the beginning as the original body owner's parents were store owners and the main floor had practically been left abandoned by the previous body owner's after his parents' deaths.
The broken shelves and furniture were a sight for sore eyes as nothing was reusable. Perhaps he could make some basic reparations for a few items but nothing would last.
Thankfully, despite everything, this body's parents had left a small sum of inheritance, about 50,000 Bym which was this world's currency.
While not much, such a sum could allow a family of four to live well for a year and for someone who was alone, it could easily last him two or three years as long as he was careful with his spendings. Adding in the building left by his parents, he wasn't off to a bad start.
Seeing the clock ticking, he knew that the time for awakening was coming closer.
Once one awakened, their core would finalize its condensation in their souls and they could then choose which profession to inscribe upon the core.
Of course, as long as one was ready to spend enough energy and effort, they could condense as many cores as they wanted. The only downside would be the increasing requirement for condensing the next core and the energy required to train each profession to the next level.
There were officially ten professions along with a special profession that everyone in the world wished to be able to practice. Of course, it didn't stop anyone from developing more professions but the main ones had long been researched and perfected.
The main professions were archer, necromancer, paladin, wizard, assassin, druid, rogue, monk, demon hunter and healer. Each of those professions were recognized for they once had a top-ranked expert who reached the very top of humanity.
On the other hand, there was a single special profession which required luck to awaken. This profession which everyone in the world hoped to awaken was the profession of Space Wanderer. No one knew the requirements for the chance at inscribing this profession on their core but without exception, everyone would first try this profession.
The space wanderer, with an awakening rate of one in a hundred thousand was different from the main professions as they needed the inherent qualifications to gain the opportunity to awaken such a profession.
What completely separated such a profession from the other ones was the ability to open gates to other stars in space, granting the chance for people to enter, explore and collect resources to improve themselves.
With monsters constantly escaping the towers that constantly popped up across the world and the stars of the universe, people had no choice but to become stronger in order to protect their planet. As such, the profession of space wanderer became popular due to the opportunity of exploring other worlds, fulfilling the wish of many to become explorers and adventurers. To see the environment of other worlds and be the first to set foot on uncharted territory always filled one with unspeakable excitement and pride.
Compared to randomly opened towers, gates had no such things as a maximum number of people who could enter at once nor were they blocked from coming back before having cleared the tower.
Furthermore, gates opened by space wanderers could open anywhere in the universe and while there were ressources, there were not necessarily any dangers.
With such boons, it was no doubt that the space wanderer profession became not only the most noble but also the most sought-after profession in the world.
It was at the time when the clock rang, signifying he had officially reached 18 years old that some words started appearing in his mind.
[StarGate System activated.]
[Functions]
1. Star Map
- Records the resources and danger of the selected celestial body through ten levels.
- Records the cost of unlocking the celestial body's coordinates.
2. Celestial Body Status
- Records all information given or discovered which includes:
-> Celestial Body Name
-> Celestial Body Size
-> Gate level (exp for next level)
-> Activated Cost
-> Time Remaining
-> Environment danger level
-> Monster danger level
-> Ressources remaining level
-> Map
-> Customer cost per hour
3. Owner's Status
- Records all current information about the system owner and the requirements to reach the next rank.
-> Name
-> Race
-> Age
-> Profession level
-> Skill level
4. Profession Mall
- For every 1000 Bym gained through the shop and exchanged with the system, one credit is granted to the user.
- Credits can be used to buy anything related to professions or the system itself which is part of the shop.
- Any items of the system mall sold will not be considered money made by the shop.
- Credits can be exchanged at the shop's closure.
[Please select an establishment to link with the StarGate System.]
As everything appeared in his mind, he stopped moving before an excited grin appeared on his face.
"Link with this building." He simply replied as a scanning light left his body and began to inspect the building and its area akin.
[Time remaining: 5 hours.]
As the timer started ticking down, Lux wasted no time. While his golden finger was great and would certainly grant him an advantage compared to everyone else, he still needed to work hard himself.
Sitting down on his bed, he let his consciousness reach the one and only core that floated freely in his soul before starting the engraving work to become a real professional.
Engraving was both easy and extremely hard. One had to perfectly concentrate to inscribe the pattern of the profession one wished to learn directly on the core using their soul energy as an engraving pen.
Unfortunately, controlling said pen to perfectly replicate the profession's pattern was no easy feat. With hundreds of strokes, some long, others small, some narrow while others were a bit larger or a certain angle in between two strokes.
Starting, he created some ink with his soul energy at the tip of the pen and started to inscribe the space wanderer pattern that everyone learned to try and see if they had the aptitude. If they completed the pattern and it didn't stick, it simply meant that they didn't have the aptitude for this special profession. On the contrary, if it stuck, it meant that they were one in a hundred thousand.
In those last three months, Lux had not only been absorbing knowledge like a sponge but had taken to learning enough about the basic patterns. After all, few patterns were free of access as most were the property of various forces or required some contribution to buy them from large and public forces. As such, he had taken as much as he could.
Pushing the tip of the pen on the surface of his core, he drew a downward line but he instantly knew he had made an error. The line was too narrow. He hadn't used enough pressure on the pen.
Clearing the ink on the core, he restarted the process of condensing ink which took a bit of the limited energy he currently held.
Making an error on the third stroke, he continued, no thought about relaxing or taking a break. Making an error on the seventh stroke, he restarted from the beginning only to make a mistake on the same stroke once more.
Feeling that his little energy was already at almost half emptied, he didn't stop and by the time he stopped, completely exhausted, he had reached the thirtieth stroke out of a hundred and twenty strokes.
"Status." Said Lux as he laid down on his bed, sweat soaking through the back of his shirt.
Lux Arden
Human
18 years old
Profession
- Unawakened
- None
An hour later, Lux was ready to restart. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, having thought and rethought about the patterns and the small errors he might make, his first try allowed him to reach the forty-fifth stroke. The time he took to meditate and the first experience he had with the engraving pen helping him in mastering the pattern quicker.
With an excited smile, he continued, reaching the sixtieth stroke.
Failing at the eightieth, the ninety-third, ninety-ninth, one hundred and fourth stroke, he finally succeeded on his sixth attempt.
Seeing the purple-black pattern on his core slowly integrate it, a bright smile appeared on his face. Despite knowing that he had the StarGate system, he couldn't guarantee that he also had the aptitude to get the space wanderer profession.
[Time Remaining: 1h34m54s]
"Now, according to the books, to learn the skills of the various professions, I need to get energy related to that specific profession. The only way to do that is by refining the energy that exists naturally in the universe with my own energy and fusing them together into the patterns, thereby transforming said energy into the energy needed by the core." Said Lux, recalling the specific paragraph in the book which explained the second step after having engraved their core.
Closing his eyes once more, he controlled his energy and started to slowly fill the purple-blackish lines with the energy in his surroundings, until, two hours later, he filled all of it.