Year 3 Day 50
While evident for us, I should note here how time passes according to the System’s whim.
Iro, as a [System Blessed], warned us that situations where World Systems disappear for a time, to promote growth or just to conserve energy, aren’t as uncommon as I thought.
As such, should the future reader have no idea how we saw a year here’s the rundown:
A year is made of 300 days, separated by 4 seasons of 75 days.
No months apparently since they’re, and I quote the System’s answer, “unoptimized”. Months were created to follow Moon cycles but considering the multitude of celestial objects hanging over our heads, following one isn’t the best idea. Especially since they tend to appear and disappear at strange times. Perhaps it is connected to another one of this world’s secrets? Anyway, I digress.
I created this entry because we decided to create an adventuring team.
I let go of my field Researcher position to create a team with a few friends and Pioneers. While I’m making the distinction between friends and Pioneers, please understand that doesn’t mean I don’t consider fellow Pioneers my friends or the same line of thought with Non-Pioneers. The term Native was used by a portion of Pioneers for those who spawned from the world without Blessing but this terminology leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
Anyway, we are a group of 4 for now, while creating the idea of this team but it will probably fluctuate considering the danger of the position.
It’s a bit pessimistic to consider these matters at the very beginning of this new phase of our adventures but I must play the role of the voice of reason in our group. The others, while at varying degrees, can be a bit abrasive.
For now, there’s Iro, our [System Blessed] Pioneer, an old friend of mine and a bit of a heavy drinker. [System Blessed] is a common Blessing of a System World. Well, it’s common compared to other Blessing, but considering I only know about a dozen of them, it’s still a very rare Blessing to find if you don’t know who to look out for.
[System Blessed] allows them to test the next update, always a step ahead of the others concerning the System’s assistance. It can be pretty useful for a variety of reasons.
They are 2 steps ahead of Monsterkind, to begin with.
Furthermore, as informal ‘Beta Testers’, the System answers their queries far more often than its other inhabitants, even more so than normal Pioneers.
For reporting problems in their advanced Systems, they can even get permanent boosts to their abilities in the form of stronger stats, new skills, or accomplishments that can be used to evolve abilities more easily.
This Blessing also allows the rest of us to know what the next update entails, so that we may prepare for it. With the Class update in hand, he’s trying to walk the path of a magic swordsman, wielding both magic and a one-handed sword.
Then there’s Claire, our adorable loudmouth who can’t seem to stop talking even in the worst of situations. While this would be a great trait for a tank to disrupt concentration, she’s a Curse World Blessed with [Absolute Aim] making it so everything she throws reaches its target, playing the role of a backliner as such.
It’s a pretty useful Blessing but it has its drawbacks as she can’t choose the part aimed or the timing of the hit, only that it will reach the individual. As such, she is stuck using whatever weapon is normally unlikely to hit its target but will deal incredible damage and can pierce armor. The petite girl apparently has such a personality due to the contrast of environment between what she can remember of the gloomy environment of the Cursed World and our rather chaotic but stimulating world of Origin.
Finally, there’s Ari, our changeling bro, pal, and gal depending on the form they take at the moment. While they’re not a Pioneer, their versatility in all kinds of combat makes them a force to reckon with. I mean, seriously, picture a dwarf running at you with an ax, when suddenly they’re elongating their arms to hit you with a Titan’s muscular form. As you counterattack, wings sprout to lift them out of there or they temporarily adopt a slime’s muscosity.
It’s a lot to fight at the same time, to be honest, which is why they don’t do well in prolonged combat, they get more tired and hungrier with each change. On top of that, they’re currently saving up to get a spatial bag to switch their armament quicker so their battle potential will be even better in a short while.
Other than that, they’re quite nice and always helpful to solve issues… Well, unless they’re part of the problem. Let’s just say, the Bartender’s pocket is often full since Iro convinced them of Bar Training. Changelings aren’t affected as much by alcohol due to their peculiar biology but Iro’s body is particularly reinforced by the System, both Class wise and Skill wise. As such, they manage to follow each other into the depths of Dionysos’s domain.
Furthermore, our already pretty powerful party of 4 managed to get another advantage thanks to Iro. He managed to make a deal with the Origin System of our World.
In exchange for a part of our current strength, the System shared lesser Blessings derived from ours with each other. While at the time, losing 30% of everything we were felt pretty bad, we can recover this strength in the long run through training and adventures! Ari was the greatest winner in this exchange obviously since he got the 3 enhancements but we can’t really complain either seeing our twofold improvements.
The [Increased Aim] was pretty self-explanatory but the [System Touched] one, in particular, was touching my scholar’s soul. It increased our affinity with the System. While it had a variety of smaller effects we would feel with time, the biggest effect was the increased rate of answers the System gave to questions. While most things remained taboo subjects to ask about, the questions about the self were often answered.
This would be very useful.
To be honest, due to the grade of the Blessing I got, I never revealed it, merely saying to anyone I’m close to that it was a [Strong Soul] variant with the same effect. Whether they know something is strange and respect my decision or don’t, they haven’t said anything yet. It gave my friends a [Reinforced Soul] Blessing which isn’t bad, though it’s on the lower scale of soul reinforcements.
We've decided on our first quests and prepared our adventuring kits.
Let's hope luck will be on our side.
May our Adventures BEGIN!
