Zach sat on the comfy bed of his apartment complex, staring at what looked like a spreadsheet of random drawings laid out all over the rough bed surface.
A while later, after pondering for a few moments on the sofa, he finally got up to shower.
Or at least tried to.
Operating the shower was another mathematical calculation on its own.
Thankfully, he was able to get the damn thing to shoot out water from the right hole.
He pondered while looking at the runic inscriptions displayed on pieces of paper, dressed now in the white pajamas prepared by Alfred.
The mysterious Seeker was quite the gentleman.
The white sheets of paper scattered all over in front of him contained detailed drawings—runes as intricate as a web.
These weren't just mere drawings.
This was his life's work.
These drawings were mystical, and he had been perfecting them for as long as he could remember.
When Zach was younger, he had actually planned an entire route to success in his head:
Get a contract, work for a company, make hella money, and retire his family.
At least that was the plan.
Instead, his mother was dead, his brother was still working his ass off, and he was basically still unemployed.
How far he was from his dream.
He sighed.
But this time, things could actually change.
He looked at the drawings, the intricate patterns sparking something in him.
Determination.
He picked up the tether-link and slid it down his wrist.
'Here we go.'
A sequence of golden lines exploded in the air, morphing into words.
~
[PARADOX SYSTEM INTERFACE]
~
The name was written boldly in the center.
Zach watched as a mechanical voice rang out.
~
Activating soul-link protocol.
~
The interface scanned him.
~
No History detected.
Sign up required.
~
Zach blinked a couple of times as the words dissipated, and a system of words formed on the large holographic screen displayed in front of him.
~
Welcome user, Initiating new user sign up protocol....
~
The screen loaded for a few seconds, and Zach saw the user sign-up interface.
A red string of words pulsated from the blue string.
~
Tether number: F-002983-K [Fire Tether registered]
~
Honestly, Zach was thankful he didn't have to do it himself. The system was basically running the sign-up for him.
~
[Imput user name: ]
~
"Z-Zachariah."
His voice cracked a bit.
~
[Invalid username.]
Note: your username should consist of all your names.
~
Zach sighed.
"Zachariah Oliver Keal," he said.
The system clicked, and an interface was brought up.
~
[Name registered successfully]
[Registering Company - Western Dragon Enterprise]
[User interface loading.. ]
~
A scanner popped out of the screen, running through Zach's entire body.
[OVERALL STATS]
[Name: Zachariah Keal.]
[Age: 18.]
[Race: Human.]
[Sequence level - Ignorance.]
[Healing speed: 0.0001/s]
[Strength: 27]
[Speed: 30]
[Senses: 21]
[Intelligence: 32]
[Agility: 29]
[HP: 100/100]
[Mp: 100/100]
[Blood essence: 1000/1000]
Note: only one technique can be added before reaching maximum limit.
Zach looked at the whole interface. He had seen this kind of stuff in some textbooks, but seeing it for the first time actually felt euphoric.
"Add Slides," Zach said, picking up a few pages of paper from the bed.
The space above the bed cracked.
Like, really cracked.
The air around the bed shifted and black veins of cracks started forming.
The air twisted, and a black ball of swirling energy appeared.
Zach looked at the black orb.
He was a bit nervous—this was his first skill input after all.
Zach had been thinking about this for a long time, so he knew which commands to input first, but still, his hands trembled.
This was his base skill, and any other skill he designed would be indirectly tethered to this one.
He had been thinking about what he would use as his first skill for years. If he designed a particularly overpowered skill right off the bat, the skill's automatic drawback might be too severe for him to actually use it.
Being a mystic artist had its perks, and one of them was selection. Runic drawings were priceless in the trade market, but real skills and techniques were monopolized by big enterprises and other clans.
So, a runic artist willing to sell his work for money was quite rare. Zach had sold a few books in the past, but they weren't anything special—just a fireball skill or an ice ball.
Even a skill as basic as a fireball took him 8 months to draw and edit to prevent setbacks.
Zach held the papers in front of him. Each page contained specific codes designed by him, listing each aspect of the skill.
The only thing beyond Zach's ability as a mystic artist was the drawbacks.
The drawbacks were beyond his control. If not, he could create a god-tier skill with only the most measly drawback, but that wouldn't be balanced.
So the system randomly added codes to your skill to create drawbacks.
Zach had been thinking carefully about his first skill to input, and it had to be an aura-empowering skill.
Aura-empowering skills were exactly what the name implied: a skill that used tether energy to empower a part of the user's body—or even weapons.
It was the most versatile technique Zach could think of for a beginner like him.
How long had it taken him to create this skill? He had been working on it since his first day at the academy—roughly ten years now.
It had just started as a group project. He tossed it around, only worked on it when he felt like it. But over the years, it became his entire life's mission.
He gulped.
"At least now we'll see what it does.."
He tossed the stack of papers into the void ball in front of him. The pieces of paper flew around, sucked like a vortex into the black void.
A hum echoed.
And the room stirred.
[Loading inserted skill.. (This may take a while)]
Zach stood there, agitated, as the loading bar continued.
The black void in front of him slowly shifted colors—from black to grey.
Then ash.
Then white.
And slowly, the color shifted until it turned to a bright orange.
Puff
A light grey smoke puffed out of the floating sphere, morphing into shape.
Zach's eyes widened.
[Skill - Crimson Blood Pressure]
[Skill type: Aura empowerment]
[Skill description:
Use Blood energy to harden your body, or sharpen your senses. In specific, (can be used on weapons to improve quality)]
The skill was exactly how he had described it—basic, but most importantly, versatile.
Zach gulped as he read the message that followed after.
[Drawbacks - the more the user uses this skill, he bleeds. Until there's no blood to be drawn]
'What..?'
Zach had to try out this skill.
He stepped back, raising his fist.
The next moment, his hand glowed with orange light.
'Jackpot!'
He had to rest a bit because tomorrow he was going to head into a tether.