System Architect - Ch 123

Several things happened at the same time. First, all the remaining experience was sucked into my skills, class, and profession. Second, the levels and skills I’d had vanished. Finally, I appeared in a small room with a chair, a desk, a couch, and two door. In front of my eyes was a message. All of this happened within a fraction of a second. I read the words in front of me—something I had added to help ease people into the process.

Magic has arrived on Earth, bringing with it new challenges and new opportunities. Before you are two doors. The one on the left will help you learn to fight while the one on the right will teach you a craft. Once both have been completed, you will be given a weapon that fits you and a set of equipment to practice your craft. Time is frozen while you go through this process, so take your time and choose what fits you the best.

Humanity is at a crossroads. It is up to you to put forth the effort to secure the best future possible. Monsters aren’t your only foes. The greater universe is teeming with life that would be your masters if you let them. Do not let them.

This message was translated in meaning for everyone who entered the tutorial. Tweaks were made so that the message would sound like it came from someone’s preferred deity if that would be better received. While arguably a waste of experience, I felt a strong initial message was important for humanity to band together.

I sighed and dismissed the message, only for another to pop up. This was not one I had created. It was addressed specifically to me.

Well, that was a wild ride, wasn’t it? Looks like you made it out the other side mostly whole. I know you probably don’t like me very much—I certainly wouldn’t were I in your shoes. If it helps you sleep better at night, just know that your wish gave me a convenient excuse to chose you. Not because you are special, but because you happened to make that drunken wish at the exact time I needed someone to do what you’ve done. And you’ve done a splendid job!

As a reward for your service—and as an apology for everything you’ve been through—I’m awarding you a special achievement.

The sound of trumpets rang in my ears. They weren’t overly loud, but it could not be ignored, either.

Congratulations! You have earned an Achievement!
Achievement: System Creator
Reward: 10,000 exp and a shirt

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. It’s not like I’d expected anything, but now that I’d received it, it felt like a slap in the face. The shirt was something I wanted to punch the deity for. It was a t-shirt with the words I saved the world, but all I got was this shirt! on it.

I didn’t mind the experience though. It was about a fifth of what was needed to reach tier 2. Given that all of the experience, levels, and skills from before the apocalypse had gone away, it was enough to set me up for success. The only question was whether I wanted to put that towards my class or my profession. Whichever door I went through first would determine that because experience went towards leveling up. With only one option, all of it would boost whichever I unlocked first.

As much as I wanted to use it towards my profession, I decided to pick my class first. The early days were bound to be chaotic. Having some personal strength to defend myself and my family was the safest choice. Plus, I’d have ample opportunity to work on my profession. It was why I’d built a workshop!

I looked around the clinically clean, white room. There were no more messages or chimes to distract me. I sent all future notifications to make the sound if I was awake, but otherwise stay out of sight until I triggered the notification to appear. With housekeeping out of the way, I opened the door on the left and stepped inside.

Instead of a room, the area was an open expanse of short grass. Behind me was a wall with the door that I’d just come through. Along that wall were a multitude of different weapons. Sticking up out of the ground in the middle of the field were sticks with hay attached to them. Classic training dummies in any fantasy story.

I heard the door click shut behind me. As soon as it had, another message popped up. This wasn’t one I’d specifically written, but it was useful. Probably the doing of the deity.

This is the training room. Try any weapon you like against the dummies in front of you. You can choose one or all of them! Try to find one that feels good in your hands. Once you have done so, proceed through the door on the other side.

As I finished reading the message, a door materialized on the other side of the training dummies. I could—if I wanted—just exit the room without having picked a weapon. Or more accurately, by picking the weapons I was born with: my hands and feet. I chose not to take that route.

I had trained with the spear for a while now, and it felt good in my hands. The wall had so many options of spears, pikes, halberds, and more. I picked one that felt comfortable in my hands and proceeded to spar with one of the dummies. I tried a few more spears before returning to the one I’d initially picked. It was the closest to the one I’d made prior to the apocalypse starting. I picked up a shield as well—for my off-hand—before exiting the training field through the designated door.

The room I walked into was similar to the training room, except for the training dummies. In their stead was a singular glowing circle made of a complex shape that reminded me of a system fractal. Another message popped up in front of me, explaining what was about to happen.

Ten seconds after you dismiss this message, you will be confronted by something your choice of weapon is strong against. While you can be injured by the fight, you cannot be killed. This is training and not the real thing. Please keep in mind that confronting something stronger than you can lead to your death. Be cautious but always push forward.

I dismissed the message. The instant I did, the glowing circle on the ground began to shine brightly. I counted down from ten in my mind. As I did so, I put my shield in front of me and readied my spear as Gregory had taught me.

Right as I got to one in my count, the circle ceased glowing and disappeared. In its place was a boar the size of a dog. From all I knew of the animals, that was small and possibly a child. Adult boars were tanks and not something to play around with. That it was small gave me hope that I could deal with it easily enough.

I inched forward step by step towards the boar. As soon as I crossed an invisible line, it glared at me and charged. My training kicked in immediately. I lowered my center of gravity  while holding the shield between me and the charging boar. At the same time, I readied the spear to pierce into the boar’s skull when it got close enough.

I was surprised by just how slow the boar was when compared to what I expected. Sparring with Gregory made me think that all engagements were short and decisive—and maybe that was still true. This was meant to be training and not the real thing, after all.

When the boar was at the right distance, I lashed out with my spear. It caught the boar in the face. The animal’s momentum pushed the spear as deeply as it could go before a cross guard stopped it from going any farther. The impaled boar was easy to control once the shock of its impact into the spear had worn off. It seemed to want to push more towards me to harm me, but the spear was intelligently designed not to allow that to happen.

The boar weakened over the next couple of minutes before expiring and poofing into motes of light. I looked at where the boar had been. The blood that had run down the spear was gone. Any viscera that might have caused the weapon to need cleaning was also gone. Beyond the boar was another door that matched the one I had come through into that room. It hadn’t been there until after I’d slain the boar.

Congratulations on killing your first enemy! As a reward, you have received 10 experience. Experience is what is needed to get stronger in both your class and your skills. You can stay in this room to practice fighting—though you will receive no further experience for your efforts. Alternatively, you can return to the previous room to try another weapon or you can continue to the next room to choose your class.

I didn’t see the need to stay and practice more. I’d done that already for several years. I was ready to see what the system would recommend for me based on my talents, wants, and happiness.

The door latched behind me when I stepped into the next room. This room was similar to the initial room I’d found myself in. Instead of two doors on one wall, there was only one in front of me. The one behind me had vanished as soon as I’d entered. On the desk were three folders and a glass of water.

I saw down at the desk and drank the water before opening each folder in turn. Each contained a class option for me to pick from. The one on the left was Spearman. It was the one that the system said I wanted more than any other—at least as far as basic classes went. 

The one in the middle was the one the system thought fit my talents the best—Warlock. I wasn’t sure how the system came to that conclusion, given that warlocks were pledged to deities—usually dark ones—in order to use some of their power. Though maybe it had to do with the fact that I’d created the system at the behest of that deity.

Finally, the one the system thought I would most enjoy was Wizard. Based on the description, it seemed like it operated similarly to how enchanting worked—and how I’d built spells in the past. That process was fun, even if the results had been devastating. Though I’d locked it down, the idea still intrigued me.

I looked through the options for several minutes. Warlock—despite being the best suited to my talents—was the one I rejected first. I didn’t see myself bound to another again. That would not happen! Still, that it was a magical class made me consider Wizard seriously. As I knew, I could always gain skills outside of my class by doing them manually. That is, I could earn skills relating to using a spear by fighting with a spear. What I couldn’t do was invent spells. As humans were not innate spellcasters, there was no way I could earn a skill like Fireball by casting it the hard way. That meant my path to learning magical spells was through a magic class or through getting exceedingly lucky in dungeons.

Having made up my mind, I selected Wizard as my class. Immediately, all of my experience was sucked into the class, leveling me up several times. There were several messages vying for my attention. I ignored all of them to look at my status.

Name: Eddy Teller | Class: Wizard | Profession:

Class Tier: 1 | Class Level: 6 | Exp To Next Class Level: 2690

Profession Tier: 0 | Profession Level: 0 | Exp To Next Profession Level: 100

Body: 14 | Mind: 23 | Spirit: 23