YOU HAVE DESTROYED ALL FOUR MANA CORES

  REWARDS CHOICE AVAILABLE:

  IMMENSE INCREASE TO MANA

  IMMENSE INCREASE TO PHYSICAL ABILITY

  24 HOUR DELAY TO THE NEXT OBJECTIVE

  LANGUAGE ABSORBSION – ENOCHIAN

  “Wait, I didn’t get that!” Clara protested, running up to him to read the third set of text that appeared. “Me neither,” Ava scowled. “You destroyed all the cores, right? Personally?”

  He nodded. “I didn’t know this would happen though.” Maybe Ava should have gotten this instead of me. She was the better fighter without doubt. She would make better use of such rewards.

  “I’m glad it did.” She smirked. “Imagine if we just spread them out and missed out on this.” She pointed at the four choices. “Skip the third is what I’d say. We don’t need a delay – we’ve got nothing to do in the meantime anyway.”

  “Agreed.” Jason folded his arms. “Even with the miniscule increases to our physical abilities, we’ve become a lot stronger than before. We can walk and run longer, hit a bit harder. Maybe that’s the best choice.”

  “No.” Reuban chimed in. “Mana. You’re using the Mark to take control of creatures. I bet you need mana to do that. Am I right?”

  “I… don’t know?” He phrased it like a question. Wasn’t mana what Clara used for healing, or Victoria used for her spells?

  “Show me how much mana you’ve got.” Ava pointed at the back of his hand.

  “How?” His question prompted Ava and Clara to look at him like he’d grown a second head.

  Why are you all looking at me like that? He felt like he was the only one who didn’t know how to do that.

  “You didn’t read the system popup when you got your powers?” Clara placed her hand on her chest. “You touch the mark of the god that granted you your power, and it just shows your mana.”

  The air in front of her became tinted blue. Shimmering and glittering, it was floated in front of her. It was like a small cloud was hanging in front of her, constantly waving and moving.

  “Blue is the mana you have. Grey means you exhausted it. It slowly replenishes.”

  “Crimson means you’re ‘reserving’ that mana.” Ava chimed in. “Each weapon or object I hold reserves some mana. I’d bet my right hand each creature you control reserves yours as well.”

  Alaric touched the back of his hand. “Like… this?” He mumbled as he intentionally thought about his own mana.

  Blue spread before him, it was only a tiny bit larger than Clara’s, though about a third of it was crimson.

  “I was right, I guess.” Ava reached into the cloudy mana and pushed the crimson part around, making it split in two. “One for Luna, one for Sol. You’ve still got plenty of mana left though. It’s probably fine not to take the mana increase if you think you’d rather be just… a lot stronger I guess?”

  Eyeing the rewards, his own mana pool, then his hands, he scowled. “I was considering the language. Enochian. Maybe that will let me read the script downstairs too.”

  Clara pursed her lips. “I mean… it’s not as immediately useful as the rest.”

  Is it not? He didn’t quite believe her. “Maybe I can even read the book we got from the witch.”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  “If it’s a spellbook…” Ava bit her lips. “It’s a risk. But it’s a risk you can and… I think should take. We can handle you not having super strength, or some ridiculous mana pool.” She glanced at everyone else. “Any objections?”

  “Nah, I trust Alaric.” Jason leaned against the now empty pedestal. “Maybe he can figure out what the bloody murals downstairs say too.”

  “I’d hope so.” Alaric took a deep breath. Information is what we’re desperately lacking. I’m not making a mistake.

  He chose the fourth reward.

  THE EMPYREAN CURSES YOU WITH KNOWLEDGE

  “What?”

  Blinding light descended on him from above with powerful force. The structure creaked, cracks formed on the ceiling and the floor.

  His eyes felt aflame. His blood was hot as if replaced with lava. He couldn’t see. Everything was blindingly white, and so dark at the same time. A scream escaped his lips. What felt like hours passed, though he knew it was only a split second. The pain dulled, then a little more, then it finally vanished.

  The system window had changed before him.

  A GODDESS OF HARVEST TAKES THE BURDEN OF PAIN

  A GODDESS OF HEALING TAKES THE BURDEN OF PAIN

  A GOD OF BATTLE TAKES THE BURDEN OF PAIN

  A CURSE OF KNOWLEDGE HAS BEEN PLACED UPON YOUR SOUL

  As he stared blankly, another line of text appeared.

  SEVERAL GODS AND DEMONS WATCH WITH INTEREST

  “Bloody hell,” Ava cursed, wiping the sweat off her brow. “That was fucking close.”

  Clara seemed just as shaken up as she did. “Yeah. Good thinking. I… also had to ask for help.”

  His knees gave out before he quite understood what they meant. He collapsed with a grunt and closed his eyes. The pain was gone, but its memory was still fresh.

  “Language absorption my ass, the damn thing just tortured you.” Jason was crouched beside him. “Hey, you’re alright, right?”

  He found the strength to nod. “I didn’t expect that.” He mumbled, realising how dry his throat was. “I didn’t think there’d be a catch.”

  “Yeah, neither did we.” Reuban helped him up after giving him a bottle of water to drink from. The cool water helped relax his throat. “And that was stupid of us. Thankfully the gods of these two like you enough to take off some of that burden. And the goddess of harvest.” He glanced at Jason. “Dude, did you make a deal with her or does she just like the guy?”

  “She just likes the guy.” Jason flatly said, prompting Reuban to smirk.

  “But what surprised me is how your god didn’t come to help you out. What was it called? The Chthonian?” Jason rubbed his chin, pondering.

  Alaric shook his head. “How did you two even ask for help?”

  “You just ask.” Ava shrugged. “This is the first time mine helped though.” Clara nodded in agreement. Clearly it was the same for her too.

  “Thank you.” He pushed away the doubts and reservations occupying the forefront of his thoughts and straightened his back. “Let’s head down.”

  His steps were still somewhat unsteady. His ears continued to ring, and he had trouble ordering his thoughts properly. His mind kept lingering on the words that appeared on the system window just before that burning light descended.

  Curse of knowledge. What does that even mean? Was it just a play on words? Or was there some terrible truth he would regret learning? Why even give me option though? Questions whirled in his mind as Jason helped him down the stairs.

  As the murals entered his view, his gaze focused on the script beneath them.

  Sophia casts out the darkness.

  He scowled. “Sophia?” He mumbled, stumbling towards the centre of the room. The others followed. “Sophia casts out the darkness – that’s what it says.” He pointed at the first mural, depicting her raising the torch. His gaze darted to the second one.

  “Sophia, Protector Goddess of Earth.” He looked at the third mural, where she offered her hand to kneeling figures. “Sophia accepts refugees of shattered worlds.” He scowled. The fourth mural was where the story seemed to go wrong. His gaze turned to the script beneath it.

  “Messengers of the Empyrean warn Sophia against her transgressions. Angelic blood wets the earth.” He turned his head to look at the fifth mural. “Sophia, judged.” His gaze lingered on the two figures standing before the kneeling woman before he looked at the last mural. “Sophia, guilty. Thus this world joins the Feast of Gods and Demons.”

  They remained silent for a few moments as they stared at the murals with newfound context. After a couple of minutes of silent consideration, Alaric turned towards the half-open door. “Dreary indeed. We can think about it later. Let’s head back to camp.”

  Ava pried her eyes off of the murals. “Yeah.” They didn’t bother trying to pull the door behind them. The golden fields waved with the wind as they descended the stairs. Once again, Sol and Luna led them through the fields, occasionally pausing to sniff the air or the ground.

  “How do you feel?” Clara asked, walking beside him.

  “I’m fine. Just a bit shaken up.” He forced a smile. “I don’t think we made the wrong decision. It was worth the risk.”

  His sister nodded, though she didn’t seem particularly enthusiastic. “I guess we know a bit about Sophia now. Whoever that is.”

  A loud screech echoed in the air prompting them to halt. Their gazes darted to the source of the sound, up in the air, and just above the treeline they were walking towards.

  A large flying animal was descending. They could see the two gigantic, brown, gold and white wings stretched out. It was carrying something soaked in blood. Alaric could see the long tail hanging from it, and the four mismatched legs.

  “Um.” Ava took a step back. “Guys…”

  The avian’s gaze turned to them. It beat its wings once, speeding up.

  Alaric stumbled backwards.

  It’s coming for us.

  “Run!” He shouted.

  Origins: A New Beginning

  by Cosmic Aurora

  What You Can Expect

  - Rational Protagonist

  - Some Slice of Life

  - Some Mystery / Psychological Themes

  - Substantial Character Growth, Both for MC and Side Characters

  - A Story that Starts Fast but Slows Down

  - Well Developed World and Magic System

  - 1500-2500 Word Chapters

  - No Instant Overpowered MC

  Release Schedule

  - 4x week Mon/Tue/Wed/Thu @ 14:00 CET

  - has 12 Early Access Chapters