A Novel Concept

ANNOUNCEMENT
After an intense week, the Tutorial ends.
Congratulations to the survivors.
All humans are invited to the Reunion.
Get ready, you will be transported in 30 hours.

The sky was slowly clearing as the ballet of the three suns began. Priam squinted, blinded. He had good astronomy knowledge but didn't know how these suns interacted. How far away were they from Elysium? Binary or three-star solar systems were known, some close to the ancient solar system that had given birth to humanity. They had been documented and studied. But a solar day in Elysium was about twenty-four hours long, which should have been impossible given the position of the suns in the heavens. However, the suns disappeared below the horizon every evening, and Priam could admire the firmament. It was not the same as the one he was used to, but seeing distant stars reassured him. What difference was there between him and Arnold in the grandeur of the stars?

More worrisome, Priam had noticed that the days were rapidly getting shorter. Of course, as the winter solstice approached, it was normal for the days to lose a few minutes. Nevertheless, night fell almost an hour earlier each day.

At this rate, it won't be more than a week before night becomes permanent. Is it possible that there are also different seasons? In all the fiction I've read, when daylight disappears for months, it's always a bad sign...

Shaking his head, Priam thought that being thoughtful in the middle of a wild forest filled with bloodthirsty creatures would eventually kill him.

"Besides, it's already happened," he remarked.

Priam refocused on the announcement. He had mixed feelings as he reread the few lines in the System. Due to his loneliness, he was happy to see other humans again. It was partly because of the many times he had crossed paths with death over the past few days. Risking his life continuously triggered two realizations in him. The first was that he had things to say to his loved ones. Silly things like 'I love you'. The second was that his heart was heavy. Filled with words he had never dared to say. 'I'll tell them tomorrow.' He had never told them. He could change that. He had to change that and tell them before he died one last time.

If he was to be honest with himself, there was also fear, of course. Fear of realizing that the people who mattered to him were dead. Fear of losing his motivation. Fear of realizing that other humans had surpassed him despite his fantastic performance in the Tutorial.

Picking up the corpse of the rabhorn, Priam looked down into the burrow. The dark hole in the ground was deep and too small for him. If the rabhorn had accumulated treasure, it would benefit someone else.

Feeling his stomach churning, Priam tipped the corpse over his shoulder and headed home.

He hadn't eaten anything substantial in a week. Three pieces of fruit, no matter how delicious, were not a real meal. Fortunately, each death gave him the nutrients he needed, as well as a feeling of satiety. But he wanted to eat meat, to sink his fangs in and enjoy his victory.

The rabhorn defended itself to the death, and its meat was poisoned. He would surely have been ill if he had eaten it directly without resistance. But maybe the Concepts didn't want to see him with his pants down to his knees, crouching behind a tree. Thus, his reward would protect him from the toxins in the meat, and only a wood fire - and the time it took to cook it - would now stand in the way of his meal.

As soon as he returned, Priam had prepared a campfire in front of his tree. If the smoke attracted a predator, he might as well get to safety quickly.

Grabbing his new spear, he began to butcher the rabhorn. Like most people who grew up in the city, Priam had never butchered an animal, let alone with the blade of a spear. So the operation was bloody and messy. It took him almost thirty minutes to get a decent result and another ten minutes to empty and clean it properly. They never talk about this in survival movies...

Sitting in front of the fire, slowly turning the beast previously coated with nutritive sap - for the marinade - Priam was lost in his thoughts. He was thinking about the Reunion. Would he see his family? In what conditions had they arrived? Priam refused to believe they were dead, but he was worried. If his family had landed in an environment as hostile as Elysium, their chance of survival was zero. There was no point in worrying about what you couldn't change, but that didn't stop anyone from doing so. Priam rolled his eyes and begged. He hadn't been a believer before the Tutorial, but he was willing to pray to these new omnipotent Concepts if they would spare his family.

He did, however, thank the System for one thing. The Tutorial had put everyone on an equal footing. The problems associated with cell degeneration had been cured, disabilities erased, and diseases cured. His father was old, so the System had made him younger so he could survive the Tutorial. With any luck, he would live longer with the System than without it. I'll help you, Dad! Clenching his fist, Priam promised himself he would keep that promise.

The aroma of cooked rabhorn drew him from his thoughts. Lowering his head, he blew on the meat before biting into it.

"Hmmm... Itch delichious!"

The taste of the game was fine, with aromatic notes from the little fat the rabhorn had accumulated. Priam enjoyed it.

Lvl Up: [Poison Resistance] lvl 2,3
VIT +2

Priam licked his fingers as he watched his opponent. Toward the end of his meal, he had noticed a white spot on the green background of the forest. Intrigued, he stopped eating to observe. The intruder was a snowy rabhorn. The animal must have followed him to his base.

"Daddy went to work, and when it didn't return, Mommy came to get it? Trust is in short supply in their relationship..."

Priam got up slowly and grabbed his spear. He knew the fight would be swift. Either the rabhorn would get through him, or his spear would skewer it. The two opponents glared at each other before the rabhorn disappeared.

It reappeared a few feet from Priam, its horn already lit up. Priam aimed his spear at the creature. He had never wielded this type of weapon, but he knew the sharp end had to face the enemy. If it comes at me, I'll stab it!

The rabhorn disappeared again, and Priam realized the beast was using a skill. He might have blinked at the wrong time without realizing it the first time, but the second time couldn't have been a coincidence. The rabhorn reappeared behind him, ready to pounce as Priam turned around and brought his weapon back in one big motion. Despite his strength, the weapon was too heavy and inertia too great. Halfway through his movement, he decided to throw his head to the side to dodge the rabhorn's charge. The beast's horn brushed Priam's chin as he turned around.

The man and the animal looked at each other one last time. They now knew their opponent, and their next dance step would be their last. In another moment, so close to a final death, Priam would have been afraid. Right now, he wasn't thinking about death. He was in a fight, and his competitive spirit did not want to lose.

"I've already defeated one rabhorn and will defeat a thousand more if necessary. Bring it on!"

The rabhorn leaped and disappeared as it jumped. Priam turned, using a kinetic charge to accelerate. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the creature less than a meter from his head. I won't have time to protect myself! Lifting his left foot off the ground, his turn's inertia and centrifugal force propelled him in the opposite direction of his rotation. This acceleration allowed him to dodge the rabhorn, which grazed him for the second time. Priam rested his foot and braced himself on the ground before throwing out his sword arm. [Kinetic Control] x3. His hand and spear were propelled forward. The beast was still in the air as the weapon sliced through the air, penetrating it. The warrior stood still, his arm still extended.

Lvl Up: [Kinetic Control] lvl 3
VIVA + 2
DEXT + 3
META (FOCUS) +4

Priam released his breath. During the fight, he unintentionally held his breath. It was a lousy reflex, but he was not yet a seasoned fighter. But that wasn't important right now.

He had won. He had proven that his victory was not a coincidence.

Priam, arms crossed, looked at the hoplite warrior. Not directly, but through the image projected by Log-a-rhythm. He could almost swear that the champion was aware of being watched.

"What am I going to do with him?" he wondered, frowning.

Priam had the ability to resurrect. His recent proximity to death had frightened him, but it had also given him a revelation. Life was precious. His own and others'. He wanted to live his life to the fullest and did not wish to take the lives of others unnecessarily. Priam had no intention of becoming a pacifist, but he wanted to respect life. Being halfway between pragmatism and humanity seemed to him to be the right solution to survive while being proud of himself.

He also had the idea of forcing the hoplite to fight against him. Priam had never received rigorous training, but the hoplite had. With a little bit of Potential, he could certainly learn a lot from the hoplite. And if he lost... He would increase his resistance by dying. I win either way

While Priam was postponing his decision about the champion and making plans for the Reunion, Log-a-rhythm had notified him. Following the hoplite's imprisonment, it had had to chain him to prevent him from hitting the walls to escape. The action was in vain, but the hoplite was tenacious. Immobile, the warrior had not moved until a few minutes ago. Giving up trying to escape, the champion had calmed down, but that wasn't what Priam was interested in.

A few inches from the champion's feet, some kind of die had appeared out of nowhere. Log-a-rhythm controlled every entrance and exit of the base, and die were not supposed to appear inside the champion's prison suddenly.

"If I'm not mistaken, the hoplite champion arrived shortly after me. So he must have survived three days. If he received the same quests as me..."

Priam asked his tree to bring him the die. It seemed to melt into the ground before reappearing at the end of a branch. The branch gently placed the object in his hand. It looks like a magician's trick. Except that here it is true magic!

[Identification]
[Tempering Die - Tier 0 - Mythic] - A reward from Concepts. Allows you to create an optimal tempering method tailored to the user. Tempering aims to strengthen one or more characteristics to the maximum before evolving to the following Tier. At Tier 0, tempering means strengthening the body by guiding the aether that flows through it.

The method includes:

• The creation of a passage for the circulation of the aether inside the body.

• An explanation of the optimal aether circulation: pattern, velocity, repetition, and density.

• A list of resources to accelerate or catalyze the tempering process.

The method being of "Mythical" quality, the user is assured of reaching the perfect tempering for Tier 0 without any penalty or hidden risks for Tier 1.

Caution: Due to the quality of the method, the tribulation during the Tier evolution will be extremely dangerous.

"That's a lot to take in all at once," Priam exasperated. For most children growing up in the Concept Universe, this was common knowledge, but Priam had no idea what 'tempering' even was.

"Let's recap. Aether allows one to passively become stronger, both physically and mentally. An immortal living in an aether-rich environment could theoretically become invincible after several eons. In this case, tempering must be a technique to accompany the aether's transformation of body and mind actively," Priam theorized. "It is the difference between opening your mouth and waiting for rain, or walking to the spring to drink. The second method is more effective. But what does Tier 0 mean? Status."

Status: (Average value for a Homo sapiens male before integration: PHY 10 / MEN 10 / META 0)

PHYSICAL:
Strength 29
Constitution 63
Agility 38
Vitality 74
Perception 33

MENTAL:
Vivacity 66
Dexterity 29
Memory 29
Willpower 44
Charisma 36

META:
Meta-affinity 8
Meta-focus 12

Potential: 77
Tier 0

"Mmmh, that's what I thought, I'm Tier 0. Is there a tempering method that would allow me to increase my characteristics? Strengthen to the max... Is there a limit to how much you can improve your characteristics in each Tier? How do you evolve, and what are the pros and cons?" asked Priam. No one replied.

Priam again had more questions than answers. But he also realized one thing: the rewards of the Concepts were selected in a situational and adaptive manner. The hoplite could have become much stronger even while tied up if he could have hit the die.

Suddenly, Priam was glad to have left the Hoplite alive. If the System rewards him for surviving, I only need to keep him prisoner to receive all his rewards!

Thinking about his luck, Priam rolled the die between his fingers without it showing. Pressing it made no difference. He tried to communicate his desire to activate the object mentally. The die glowed, then melted into the palm of his hand and disappeared. Priam felt as if he were diving into a lake in winter. A liquid, so cold that it seemed to burn him, flowed through his veins. Priam sank to the ground and began to shake. Suddenly his uncontrollable spasms stopped. Like Log-a-rhythm, the die mentally communicated information to him.

Host scan.

...

Error: the host organism is not fully adapted to the aether.

Given the host's skills, it is recommended to accelerate the adaptation process by consuming aether-rich resources.

Priam sighed as he opened his eyes. The pain had not been excruciating, but he had been unable to control his body. The experience had not been pleasant, yet he would have to endure it again. It's a good thing I didn't swallow that die. Where would it have come out?

As he stood up, he asked his tree to hide the die. Priam placed it against the wall, it seemed to ripple. The die was absorbed, and the wall returned to its original appearance. It was impossible to guess that an object was hidden here.

"If I invite an opponent here one day, I would have a huge advantage. By placing a few traps or weapons in strategic locations, I would have several cards up my sleeve."

A sudden thought crossed his mind, and Priam asked his base to search the hoplite. He had no intention of stripping his prisoner, and the armor was not his size. But perhaps something useful was in the champion's possession.

Thirty seconds later, everything in the warrior's armor was before him. The search had not been very successful, with only three items. Priam used [Identification].

The first object was some kind of communication device. Certainly to find other hoplites. Useless for the moment because Log-a-rhythm blocked the signals. The second object was a pendant containing a voice message. The voice seemed soft and feminine. Priam closed the object since he was pretty sure it was a private souvenir.

"What a shame I can't communicate with the hoplite..." he sighed. "I could probably trade this pendant for some important information. I really need to find a way to trade with the other arrivals. It's hard enough to be alone here, if coalitions are formed without me being part of them, I'll be isolated and killed. Not to mention the fact that I'll end up meeting someone peaceful. Hope springs eternal..."

The third object caught his eye. It was in the form of a vial. The cylinder was about three centimeters long and one wide. Inside was a blood-red liquid. Small bubbles were bubbling up the glass wall from time to time.

[Identification]
[Fluid Test n°1 986 458 - Physical Optimization] - The hoplite civilization never stops improving its warriors. Mental optimization is a complicated goal to achieve without changing the personality and behaviors of a test subject. Optimization of the organic system, with the exception of the brain, is simpler.

This Fluid is intended to repair and heal the body and correct DNA errors. Finally, certain beneficial genetic predispositions discovered by the Hoplites are integrated into this treatment. Technologies used: manipulated viruses, nanobots, quantum resonance,...

Warning: experimental treatment not intended for humans. Use with caution.

Priam was exultant.

Human bioethics was clearly not prepared for an apocalypse. This was the reason for the hoplite's strength. Like Priam, he'd only had access to the System a few days earlier, but his physical strength already exceeded a hundred. Priam put the vial down and headed for the exit. It was not a good idea to use it without more life. He had just over thirty hours to prepare and had no idea what this Reunion would be like. But one thing was sure: personal power was paramount in this new world.

"I can't go wrong with training one last time," he motivated himself. As he left, he asked Log-a-rhythm to provide the warrior with sap. I wouldn't want to starve my future training partner.

Outside, the distant suns bathed the clearing in an intense light. The wind rustled the leaves on the trees, and the sound of the river soothed the boy's nerves.

"I'll get some rest tomorrow. For now, I might as well gain as many features as possible. For that, I need to focus on one skill. It's not enough to spam it. I have to consciously use it and understand it. It should be possible to work on compatible skills simultaneously. For example, [Athletics] and [Art of Movement]. Maybe I could even add [Meditation] and [Kinetic Control] to my training!"

Priam decided to train in the clearing. He had no chance of finding scarce resources by staying here, but he also had little chance of escaping pursuers, such as the hoplite champion, should he leave. His rivals would undoubtedly be looking for resources, and he really didn't want to run into them. One thought made him smile. Even in this new world, I stay at home. Once an introvert, always an introvert!

Priam decided that familiarizing himself with his surroundings while beginning his training was a good idea. After some stretching, he began to trot around the clearing. He could feel his body tightening and relaxing. His strong muscles were asking for more. He began to speed up. Knowing his exact speed without a measuring device was difficult, but as he approached 20 kilometers per hour, he felt he was far from giving it his all. It was a speed he had been struggling to reach before the Tutorial.

He was intoxicated by speed. Even before the System, he loved speed sports. He continued to accelerate, paying attention to where his feet were, where his legs were, and where his body was in relation to the environment. Soon he felt he was tapping into the [Art of Movement]. The skill responded and pointed out his mistakes. Priam corrected himself both consciously and unconsciously and kept speeding up. Without realizing it, he had exceeded the top speed of the previous world champion - 44.72 km/h. The system notified him of his achievement, but he ignored it. He continued to run, to fly.

He was gradually reaching his maximum speed. The skills vibrated happily throughout his body as he followed their teachings and tried to outdo himself. When he felt himself stagnating, Priam began to use [Kinetic Control] simultaneously. Absorbing some shock as he landed his foot in an impressive leap. Releasing this force as he was at the top of the arc of his next jump. His speed increased again. Soon his entire body and mind were focused on one goal: to fly away.

He had begun to reach a similar state of mind when he had run from the ants and the hoplite champion. But each time, he had been interrupted. Finally, he was free to awaken his potential. At that moment, his skills and his mindset synchronized. Without even realizing it, Priam had an epiphany. He was inspired by this new impossible world and, in a flash of clarity, awakened his talent.

That morning, at the edge of the woods and under the shadow of Log-a-rhythm, Priam spread his wings for the first time.

Status: (Average value for a Homo sapiens male before integration: PHY 10 / MEN 10 / META 0)

PHYSICAL:
Strength 29
Constitution 63
Agility 38
Vitality 74
Perception 33

MENTAL:
Vivacity 66
Dexterity 29
Memory 29
Willpower 44
Charisma 36

META:
Meta-affinity 8
Meta-focus 12

Potential: 77
Tier 0