Nothing is Impossible

Atlas used Hyper Jump to get far away from civilization. Utilizing his new minimap, he found a secluded area and opened up his legacy. Taking a deep breath, he began to talk, hoping his future self could hear him.

"So, other Atlas, I have a couple questions for you. I have just been manipulated by the system into killing all of my friends, and I have an idea, but I need your help seeing if it will work or not."

Text appeared on the screen, and Atlas read it eagerly.

First off, you can set your settings so that I can speak to you telepathically, so you don't have to stare at a screen and can multitask. Also, please call me Chan, that will help both of us as we won't have to feel weird about talking to each other. I am Chan, you are Atlas. Also I watch everything you do, so you don't have to explain everything that has happened around you to me. -Chan

Atlas nodded, quickly adjusting his settings so that Chan could directly converse with him instead of Atlas needing to read it off of a screen.

"Done. So, any tips?" Atlas asked, still feeling hopeful.

You never explained your idea to me. I can't read your mind, just watch what happens around you from your perspective.

Atlas nodded, feeling a little relieved. His privacy wasn't completely taken. "Because of Skill Sage, I have complete control over my skills. I was wondering if I could completely cut the ties off the system from my skills."

Chan laughed inside his head.

You can never completely get rid of the system, but I see what you mean, and I can do you one better. You are on the brink of Tier 5 which means you have the leverage possible to do this, so don't do anything until I give you the go ahead.

Atlas scrunched his brow. "What do you mean on the brink of Tier 5? How does that help me at all when it comes to my skills?"

Chan chuckled again.

Because to reach Tier 5, 10, 15 and 20, you have to gain insight into yourself. For Tier 5, you shape who you want to be in the future because of that, you can change many aspects of yourself, we can even change your classes! We are going to root out as much of the system as we can. We are going to trade your Skill over Death affinity to a Skill over Void affinity. We will forge your Skill Sage in the fires of war and throw Void Sage along for the ride. It is good that they are both Sage candidacies, as that will make your life a lot easier in obtaining them.

Atlas glared at the empty air. "Trading Death for Void? Isn't that only making more lean more into the evil theme? I want to become a better person, especially after my most recent brush with the Death affinity."

No, no. Void isn't evil related, it's actually not good or bad, it's like the void, neutral. Bad things may come of it, or good things, it all depends on the one wielding the void. So, this way, it's up to you if you will be good or bad, giving you even more freedom to choose. Now let's get started.

Atlas rubbed his hands together eagerly. "Okay, what do I need to do?"

You first need to meditate a bit. Think about who you are and what you aspire to become. Once you have that vision of yourself, then you must begin to shape yourself the way you want. Start first with your skills then work your way up to your classes and titles. One thing is for certain, we want to exorcise the Death affinity from within you, and to do that, you have to look at the threads of your skills.

Chan seemed to hum to himself in thought.

This shouldn't be too hard for you, as you have Skill Sage to help you. Then you will synthesize the remaining skills to fill up any patches that appear when you take out the Death left behind. From that point, you should be good enough with getting rid of the system's influence to do it for your classes.

Whatever you do, make sure that you do classes after changing all your skills. The titles will change themselves, as they can't exist without your achievements, skills and classes, so they will either change or delete themselves. Begin whenever you are ready.

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Atlas listened carefully, trying to commit every word to memory. Once he understood more or less what he was supposed to do, he sat down, crossing his legs and beginning to meditate.

Who was he? It was a difficult question that he really didn't know how to answer. How did someone boil themselves down to the very core of their beings, not who he thought of himself as, but who he was. Looking at the now instead of the past.

He was Atlas Orson Channing, Son of Isacc Ray Channing and Genneviere Hall Channing. He was the Stepson of Reiden Jackman and nephew of Janet and Wells Hall. He was the foster son of Joshua and Cindy Reids. Each of them had loved and cared for him (Bar Rei), and each had played a pivotal role in his life, good or bad.

He was a proud athlete, having played a large range of sports in high school and college, never really sticking to one in particular but enjoying them all. He wasn't the biggest guy, but he was definitely tall. He didn't get the best grades, but he was by no means dumb, or at least, by his grades he was definitely passing, never dropping below a C in any class, ever.

He was a passable chef, a loving foster brother and even foster uncle to the Reid's family. He had seen his mother be killed and his family taken away from him twice. He had gained a powerful competitive spirit at a young age and he made many friends, never becoming extremely close to any of them but trying his best to include everyone. He had found what he thought to be eternal love, but he found it was only a spark of passion, and he was glad he hadn't followed it. He couldn't stand bullies, murderers, or criminals of any kind. He adapted well to new things thrown at him.

He began to envision a sort of solar system inside his mind. One that showed all his life experiences, skills, classes, titles, and many others as 'planets' that revolved around the sun of the solar system, the very core of his being, his soul, represented as a giant sun. It respresented everything that he was.

But who did he want to become?

He wanted to be strong, that much was easy. But how he wanted to be strong was a bit harder to imagine.

He definitely wanted to get rid of his connection to death, because it made him sick to have a power the system was forcing him into. That, and that it made him have no emotional reaction to the deaths of others. He had killed the only people in this world that he knew more than in passing, and he would even call them friends, but because of his connection to death, he felt nothing but an empty void.

He felt slightly hesitant to shift his focus over to the void, but he appreciated that it was changeable, with it acting different depending on the one who wielded it. It meant he had control, and being able to control his own life was very important to Atlas.

He wanted to be able to build his own life how he wanted, he wanted to be in control of his own fate and not let others shape him. He was fine with others influencing him, for good or for bad, but he would choose to listen to them, the final say should be his.

It suddenly dawned on him. Skills. They were the perfect way to do exactly that! He could use skills to shape his life and control his destiny. He would become someone who was in charge of himself. His mistakes would be his own, and his successes would be his own. He would break the limits and do the impossible.

Atlas felt something inside of him begin to twist, almost like he was changing with his decisions, and in a burst of inspiration, he added one more thing, a promise to himself. He would shake off the grimness of death and gain a aura of joy, he would strive to be more positive and enjoy the life that he would choose for himself, no matter where his decisions lead him.

He felt a click within him, and he gained a notification.

Level up!

Max level reached. You are in a state of extreme flexibility until you tier up, and until you do, you can change many aspects of yourself with the necessary amount of willpower and technique. Once you tier up, these changes will be set in stone until your next level of extreme flexibility, where you can make a significant change once more if you wish to. You can not interact with anyone else until you tier up, as you should make these changes without the input of another person.

Atlas nodded to himself, now realizing why Chan had told him so much before he had begun meditating. He was the only one who he could rely on. It was a little ironic, as he had just wanted to be the only one in charge of himself, and now here he was.

He envisioned his solar system once more, and he focused his attention on the smallest of all his skills, and also his newest skill, Dungeon Delver.

He opened up the planet seeing all the connections that the skill held. The largest connection was to the concept of dungeons, which made sense, but then there was also a deep connection to what Atlas could only describe as 'getting lost' which didn't make all that much sense to Atlas. Wasn't the point of Dungeon Delver to not get lost and thrive in a dungeon?

He looked through all the different threads, and he was in awe of the sheer amount of threads that made up this skill. He sorted through all the threads until he found the one he was looking for.

It was a golden and white thread. It wasn't the largest, but it also wasn't the smallest thread, it was just a perfectly average thread. It was the thread that connected this skill to the system. Going out on a limb, Atlas severed the thread with a thought and it vanished. It was actually far easier than he had expected it to be.

Your Skill [Dungeon Delver]'s nature has changed.

Dungeon Delver (SSS) -> Dungeon Explorer (SSS)

Atlas smiled, one down, many more to go.