Year 0 Day 1

Dear diary,

While my emotions can’t be transcribed for future generations accurately through words let me tell you they were rather intense when I woke up to a gunshot.

Yes, they already managed to remake guns in less than 24 hours. Those absolute mad lads.

It seems they were rather sleepless last night but after a night of work, they managed to create a prototype for a magical gun. 

While I would prefer if we could tell the future of this world that the first tech we developed wasn’t one of murder, this world is dangerous enough to warrant this choice as the various animal attacks we suffered through the night indicate. When we get alcohol, I’m definitely inviting Hercules to drink a round with me. 

I will also point out that the mages managed to recreate their precious fireballs so we’re not alone in the arms race.

It's interesting to watch the various schools of magic clash in their theories and thoughts. Some battles are won by one side while others accept that a middle ground taking a bit of both of their knowledge makes for better magic. I am not yet formed enough in these magical arts, whatever they entail, I will have to at some point to understand Mana as energy. It's funny though, I don't really get the difference between a finished and an unfinished spell considering they both exploded, but they had the same look of glee on their face as the scientists. It seems that regardless of the Origin, the lovable nerds never change in their passion for discovery. Even if said discovery is a magical flamethrower.

Considering what each group made, I am afraid we’re all just as mad and destructive as the god who put us here. May the future generation not judge us too harshly.

I’ll note the process they followed here in case I need to recreate a gun alone later: 

Using a Blessing of Transmutation, they procured themselves an explosive stone of some kind. The Transmuter came from the Magic side and we exchanged this stone for metal plates that their Runesmith needed.

The explosive stone was slowly shaped by grinding it into the hammer part which, when activated by the trigger, moved at sufficient speeds into the barrel to impact the lead ball.

Most of the time of night was apparently spent making exact calculations to make sure the magical explosive mineral wasn’t too small to be ineffective or too big to destroy the hand of the one using the weapon. Healing Blessings were involved during the process, I thought it came from the front liners only but it seems a few of the screams through the night came from the experimenters.

(Note to self, erase in case of publication: It seems my unnatural tranquility of mind through the night was another effect of my Blessing, investigate. If I get attacked but don’t wake up due to that, I will only be able to blame myself.)

We passed around Humanity’s first firearm between ourselves.

While the accuracy left to be desired, I could hit a forward-running wolf at a 30 meters distance. Damage-wise, it one-shots them for now, needless to say, our opponents are only going to get smarter and stronger through the same systems as ours.

While modifications to the Prototype can be made in the future through research, the short-term benefits of better bullets outweigh them. I am especially convinced after the Runesmith we made metal for showed us his talents on a bullet. The explosion made from enchanting the bullets surpassed what could be made with a primitive metal such as lead by quite a few times. Fusing the possibilities offered by various Origins really seems the way to go.

Rereading this last paragraph made me realize I am starting to react like Probatio... I am a bit afraid of the consequences of such similarity in mindsets. I may need someone reading this or otherwise to punch me one day out of a stupid plan.

After a few more trades and negotiations, the technological troupe managed to all be armed by noon with the prototype. The others didn't make the collection of materials hard for us. Whether that is because greed isn't their concern yet, or because our miniature weapon doesn't seem to be threatening to them remains to be seen.

The new arrivals have slowed to a crawl, so I did a bit of a census. While most wouldn’t reveal their Blessing (logical, it’s an ace in the hole or a weakness to be grasped if used) I managed to get details on some of them who were confident, trusting, or foolish enough. I’ll add them in the last part of this book as an addendum or inspiration to improve my abilities or any other possible need I may have.

I’m noticing I can't seem to condense enough the data I’m obtaining in this journal to my taste. I’m thinking of adding dedicated parts starting from the end pages. If you look at the backside of the journal in your hands, you’ll find my discoveries on the Blessings of Pioneers at the very least. Perhaps more with time.

Another point, which everyone answered this time, was the various Origins of their worlds. Some of them didn’t seem to know their world’s peculiarity at first but after a day in the presence of others, they managed to grasp the uniqueness of their Origins.

I noted the Technological ones I am a part of, though it should be noted that this includes those who seemed to live around the time of my modern era as well as those who lived in futuristic ones.

There were Magical Origins, Ki Origins, Cultivation Origins, System Origins, Cursed Origins (creepy people, most are fanatics of the Old Ones, can be dangerous, be warned), Faith Origins, Beast Origins, and Mixed Origins. 

Mixed Origins were those that couldn’t be strictly categorized in one origin and interacted with multiple in their lifetime. Those with this diversity weren’t as powerful in a single path as a single Origin but their new ideas and point of view are vital. The Prototype came from the idea of a Mixed techie in our group.

There may be more minor Origins but the main ones are there. The possibility of missing ones or simply some of them lying can't be discarded, however. Only time will tell.

As groups form and tasks are being managed, it seems this civilization's start isn’t going too bad. We’re currently superpowered children with just enough wisdom to know not to use our new toys against each other. 

I’ll leave this diary alone, for now, to try and develop myself and my allies.

I must find my place and what I enjoy doing for a time in this new World. Maybe research or some kind of adventuring could be on the table.

Knowing myself, I'll discard any thought of leadership, I'd rather run away from this settlement than take charge.

I will expand my knowledge of the various energies, expand my friendships with other groups to learn every there is to know about Origins, and develop a skill set strong enough to allow me to survive should I get attacked by beasts in the wild or just another Pioneer.

A System Origin Pioneer would be a good start considering they have most of their knowledge unified by the homonymous System they rely on.

Let’s hope we can survive without too many issues…

AaronJI

Considering I have most of the First Arc written out, I'm going to put out a chapter every day until the Second Arc.

Until next page!