Chương 3

Chamber 1 was a large square room, twenty feet by twenty, with a series of steel machines at its center, connected to a steel dais. The machines were etched with lines of the exact same bright-blue as the highlights in the Olympic stadium. There was a flatscreen on the left wall. Directly in front of the machines there was a steel table, and on that table there was a clear crystal-like stone. There was a girl sitting behind the table, legs crossed, on her phone. She set it down after he entered and considered him.

She was tall, straight-haired, and not much older than he was, to his surprise. Her nametag said Victoria Staunton. Her blazer had an iron badge with a single star on it. There was a slightly awkward silence.

"I'm supposed to tell you I'm an Outworlder," he said. It was the last thing the official said to do.

"Okay?" she said. Another silence.

"What happens next?"

"The stone's on the table," she said.

"Pick it up and will it into your soul."

"You'll have to explain that." She looked at him for a second.

"You pick it up," she said, like it was slightly obvious.

"And will it into your soul, with your mind." He was starting to wonder if he'd entered the right room. Fair enough, I suppose? He picked up the stone and considered it, wondering. The stone had a sigil within. A sigil that seemed carved in the Stadium-blue color as well. It felt slightly cool to the touch.

"This will do the Awakening?"

"It's called an Awakening Stone." He was experiencing some amount of whiplash, going from the professionalism of the officials and the front-desk lady to this. This Association representative gave him the impression of a summer intern who'd rather not be here right now, which… why is she here, exactly? He focused on the stone. The sigil inside was incredibly intricate. And when he focused on it, he was surprised to find it tugged, just slightly, on his mind. Like an invitation. That's certainly interesting.

It was a sensation he'd never experienced before, but it didn't feel alien. He paused. I suppose—might as well. He pulled, in a testing way, and the sigil in the stone started to brighten. And then it seemed to connect with his mind, in a way he didn't expect—in a way that made him pause.

"Keep going," said the girl, suddenly.

"Don't stop halfway." It might've been useful to know before I started, but fair. The process itself seemed simple enough, and he followed her instruction. Then the sigil started to dull in the stone. To his surprise he saw the sigil, bright in his mind, and brightening. He felt this incredibly strange sensation, like something was opening in his mind—a sensation he hadn't known he could even feel, much less put words to. And then, the connection severed. The sigil dulled completely.

He felt a twinge of pain in his mind—and that was all. By her expression, that wasn't supposed to happen.

"Show me your letter?" She checked it over, and then took the stone in a hand, and inspected it. After that was all done, she handed him the stone back, said, "Stay here," typed in a code on a touchpad, and exited through a side door. When she returned, she held another Awakening Stone, almost identical to the first. She handed it to him, and said, "Try again. With both Stones this time."

"At the same time?" She nodded.

"You'll have to split your mind, focus on both at once." He was a little surprised to find it quite intuitive to follow her instruction. The stones brightened, and he braced himself for a similar result. But instead— It felt like there was a twin, very subtle click-click. So subtle he nearly missed it. The sigils vanished from the stones. They flashed in his mind, twice. And… that was all. Did it work? He wasn't at all sure what he'd expected. The girl stared.

"You really are an Outworlder."

"…"

"That's why you needed two stones, it's one per Card slot," she said.

"One sec." She walked over to a side table and started tapping at a laptop there.

"Can you just—give me a roadmap?" he said, a little irked—not least because he suspected he should've been given two stones from the start, if she'd believed him.

"I'm still kind of clueless." A silence. Then— Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"I'm supposed to play this first, and then we'll do the talent tests," she said, still focused on the screen.

"Just a sec." He glanced down at his hands. Am I supposed to feel any different? As far as he could tell, he was exactly the same. After five seconds or so he asked her, not expecting much. Another few seconds passed, seconds filled mostly with clicking, and then—"You don't have any essence, or Cards, or Skills yet," she said absently.

"Here, just—this should explain." The screen on the left wall came alive. The Delver's Association wings-and-crest logo showed against a black screen. He watched Victoria coordinate the cursor with the second screen for a few seconds, and then click play. The Association logo faded. The next scene featured a lady in the center of the screen, in a suit. She wore clear glasses, with her hair in a tight bun.

"My name is Diana Clark." Her title flashed at the lower third of the screen— US Delver's Association Vice President, Diana Clark.

"Welcome," she said. She held up a hand, and a card materialized between two fingers.

"This," she said.

"Is a 'Class Card.'" She displayed it to the camera. It was a sleek, silver card, and it had her name— Diana Clark —as well as a symbol at its center. Hers showed a figure with a winged helm, thrusting a shining blade up to the sky. The card also had letters of some unknown, arcane-looking script.

"In many ways, it's the foundation of this new world," she said.

"It's an item you'll have a chance to select very shortly." As in, they'll gift me one? She didn't clarify. The card vanished into thin air. Here she looked directly into the camera.

"You're here by an accident of fate," she said.

"An accident with an incidence less than 1 in 500, 000. It's understandable—natural—to feel disoriented, or to experience bouts of derealization. Should you require assistance, the Association offers counseling, personally and for families, as requested." She seemed like she was reading from a script, and she delivered her words straightforwardly, but he appreciated that this was finally getting somewhere.

"You've likely felt like you've been dropped into an alternate universe," she said.

"At least, an alternate timeline. Your instinct is correct. You've arrived from a universe very much like this one, except for a crucial point of divergence." The Awakening, he supposed. And sure enough—"In the year 2002, the first rifts arrived. And this world changed entirely." An image appeared beside her. It seemed slit tear in the fabric of reality, shining a similar color to the sigil in the stone and the stadium.

"And with these rifts, came treasures. First, Awakening stones. Which unlock the soulspace, giving humanity the capacity to wield mana…" An image showed up next to her—a version of the very stone he'd just held. And which had presumably just 'Awakened' him." Class Cards —which are placed within the soulspace, and define one's 'Class.'" An image of a card like the one she'd just shown, but this one seemed made of iron; it had that metallic sheen.

It had a simple symbol of an armored figure, holding a sword and shield.

"And Skill Shards, which grant Skills—the ability to actualize mana in the form of spells." A new image which seemed like the Awakening stone, just slightly smaller, with a slightly less intricate sigil inside.

"Understand that this is all a very simplified version, intended as a primer," she said.

"It is your responsibility to explore the complexities as you will." It all felt pretty intuitive to Alex. He didn't understand every term, but he didn't need to to get it— It's… just a game system, isn't it? It'd felt that way ever since he'd first read the descriptions in Wikipedia. It felt slightly strange to see this lady speaking about these terms with this kind of seriousness.

It was at this point that she gave him a quick timeline, which matched nearly one-to-one with what he'd read, with a few extra details. Such as why, exactly, he was here. In 2015, eight 'Towers' came to Earth—essentially collections of recurring, expansive, specially designed rifts. And with them—an uptick in 'Outworlders'—folks displaced by the spatial magic. The same thing happened in 2026, with another set of Towers, just a week ago. And… I was 'displaced.' I'm still taking this quite well, he noticed.

"Should you have any questions, or if you'd like a chance to understand all this," she said.

"Please consult your Association representative before we continue." The screen went blank, and instructions to'Pause Here' showed up. Victoria did.

"So," she said, looking at him curiously.

"Anything?" He considered this. He had what felt like an infinite number of questions. About all of that. But most of it, he assumed, was public knowledge.

"You said I needed two Awakening stones, for two 'Card slots,'" he said—the first question on his mind.

"I still don't know what that means."

"Your soul isn't like the rest of us," she said.

"It's twice the size it was before." He blinked.

"That… seems concerning?"

"It isn't," she said, shrugging.

"At least—there's been Outworlders like a decade now, and they're just fine." He was surprised that she seemed willing to help all of a sudden—a little, at least.

"They don't have split-personalities? Or—I don't know—long-term issues?" She seemed to think this was rather amusing.

"No," she said simply. Can't say I'm very reassured.

"I can double my soul-size, and have no negative consequences." It felt rather important to clarify.

"Soul sizes vary, even with non-Outworlders," she said.

"If there were issues, we'd know by now." He switched back to his original line of questioning.

"So 'Outworlders' have two Classes."

"You can't have two Class cards, it doesn't work like that. You can have a Class Card, and a Profession Card, at once." At his slightly perplexed look—"I don't know the specifics," she said.

"Is there anything else I should know?" He wasn't expecting much, but to his surprise—"You're supposed to be able to multitask well," she said, after a slight pause.

"And there's the talent aspect." She considered him.

"Outworlders tend to awaken high talents. It's supposed to have to do with your soul."

"I see." He thought about what Killian had said. I suppose that does track…

"There's exceptions," she said.

"But that's typically how it goes." Which maybe also explains the sudden interest?

"Let's continue," he said. She pressed play. Diana went on to explain how to actually obtain magic. You took in essence from 'essence stones,' which were found in rifts, and then 'actualized' that essence via a Class or Profession card—converting essence into 'levels,' via the card in question. For instance—an alchemist performing alchemy would gain levels. As would a Class Card, performing the purpose of its class—which was delving or dueling, typically.

Which is also pretty intuitive, and explains why I don't have anything magical right now. There seemed to be myriad Class cards, which were an incredibly complex technology, Diana said. And if Class cards were myriad, the Skill shards they supported came in essentially endless varieties, with known Skill shards numbering well over ten thousand, and counting.

"And that," said Diana.

"Doesn't account for the supports a Skill shard can have, which have an equal degree of possibility." By her tone, she seemed intent on impressing this on the viewer.

"Any Class has a wide degree of flexibility. There are certain basic definitions that can't be transgressed—a certain pool of supported Skills, and floors and ceilings with regard to how you allocate your stats. But two Classes, of the same card, can be 'played' entirely differently, as it were—can look entirely different. It is your choices that will make all the difference.

"You can 'play,' a mage-type class specializing in the sword, or a healer-type whose sole focus is self-healing and close-combat—and you may play these classes the conventional way as well." I… like that a lot, actually." That is because the Skill pools a Card supports are typically wide, and the stat floors and ceilings permissive—but do realize this also provides an inherent potential for error. At times irreversible."

A series of icons appeared next to her—what looked like icons for tomes, with different Guild crests on them.

"As such it is highly recommended that you follow an official Build Guide, in the early grades, at least. Guides contain ample documentation regarding tried-and-true build paths, and high-quality guides, certainly for the early grades, are available online." The icons vanished, and the images did too. Then it was just her, leveling her gaze at the camera.

"You've arrived at an interesting time," she said, and when she spoke now, she seemed a little less stilted—a little more direct.

"On the world stage the level is being pushed every year. Awakening rates are rising, and rift levels increase by the day… candidly, we're hardly past the starting line in the grand scheme of the universe. The ceiling—in Levels, in Skills, in ranks—is at an unknown level. The best artificers we have are highly skilled, and yet they still can't yet reproduce the armors found in D-rank rifts. The best Skillscribes can't scribe Skills, at least at the level of the kind found in Skill Shards.

"I understand your surprise. I understand the sacrifice you've been made to make—but this new world is one of countless possibilities, and I'd like you to recognize your position. By virtue of your unique status, you are in a rare position to make a difference. Whether as a Delver, or duelist, or bladesmith or alchemist—of any kind you can conceive of, limited only by your talents and imagination." She paused.

"By the same token, it is your choices, made judiciously, that will define the shape of the future," she said.

"Best of luck, Awakened. And congratulations." With that, the D. A. logo appeared once more, and the scene faded to black.

"I wouldn' ⁠ t take her at face value," Victoria said.

"You can't just pick whatever you like. It's if you have the talents." She closed the screen.

"Then should we get to the testing?" she said.