1 Allegory System
"That would be eight dollars, sir."
Nodding at the cashier, who looked way too young to be working at such an hour, I passed a ten dollar bill.
For some reason God only knows, they don't accept cards, if they did, I wouldn't have carried cash. Given the state of this town and the time, it would've been much safer that way.
"Isn't it a bit too late for you to be working?" I asked, curious about her reasonings, of what could impel a girl of her age to work at this unholy hour.
Her appearance was that of a teenager's and if I had to take an educated guess, she wasn't a day older than sixteen.
"The guy who was supposed to be on this shift called in sick, so I decided to help him out." She answered, a forced smile adorning the girl's youthful visage. She swiftly took out a two-dollar bill from the cash register. "Thank you for the purchase, sir." She didn't forget to add.
That might have been the case, but it was still against the law to make an underage girl work this late… at least that was, supposed to be, one of the laws that the government was strict with. Seeing the forced smile of the girl, I was sure the truth was more convoluted than what she had informed.
*Sigh*
That being said I was not much of a law-abiding citizen either, so I just took the can and decided to not worry much about the matter. Walking towards the door, I didn't forget to make a 'Stay safe' comment before exiting.
That was, what I felt at the time, the least I could do for her. A warning from a stranger should be enough to heighten some of her vigilance, she would be in dire need of it if she wanted to remain safe in this 'hellish' town.
Saying that the town's security was not proper was putting it very lightly. Crime has been spiking with each passing day. The start of it all was sparked through the loss, in election, of the previous mayor; that the new mayor happens to be an ex-convict just made the crux behind the current situation that much clear.
All he's been doing, since being elected, is increasing the taxes while enjoying his life inside that luxurious mansion of his.
Does that mean he has been living his life without any opposition from the public?
Of course not. People have been holding protests against him since day one, sadly they can't do anything. The power the current mayor holds in both the mafia and the political spectrum is beyond terrifying.
Most people know of his secrets, still no one dares to go against him, even the thought of it seems like a laughable dream to many. Even those protests that are held... often result in the deaths of a few protesters at the minimum, with the amount of injured often creeping towards the hundreds. It's still a mystery as to how he won in the first place.
Well, saying it to be a mystery would be false, the reason is visible for all to see. Everyone knows, yet it is an unusable piece of knowledge, a deadly one even; evident by the fact that whosoever tries to bring the topic up to public attention finds himself at the cold beds of the morgue the very next day.
I could only sigh, ruefully, at my own thoughts. This world is fucked.
However, it matters not, not to me at least. I can't do anything about it. Unless you have power, you will be removed from this world like the torn pages of a book, plucked and disposed of in seconds.
Popping open the beer can, I took a turn to the left, it was the shortest way to reach my house. Most people prefer to not go through this alleyway. There have been over a dozen missing cases filed for people that took this path.
So why did I take this route when I have been babbling about safety? It's fairly simple actually. I have been taking this road since I was 12. I practically know everything about this particular route, it could be called my turf in plain terms, and since I am so familiar with this route, I can more or less guess as to how and why those people vanished.
I chugged down the beer as I walked through the eerily dark alley that has become a nightmare and a source of sorrow for many, unlike others I decided not to worry about such things.
It was already midnight and I had an early shift tomorrow. So, it was better for me to hurry. Funnily enough, in this society, the worry of being able to be on time for work, often triumphed over the worry for one's own life.
Now that I am able to focus my mind on more mundane details, It's a bit cold today. It was nearly winter and I wasn't dressed nearly enough for the weather. Honestly, I hadn't expected it to be so cold. I have been working out so it didn't feel as cold to me when I decided to visit the store. But now that my body has cooled down considerably, the chill wind made it quite difficult for me to enjoy this walk.
Not that complaining is going to help me in any way. It's my fault to begin with. Better to suck it up and just hurry before my condition deteriorated.
Walking through the alleyway, I felt a bit off today. The road felt considerably longer than usual... or maybe it was just the beer playing with my mind. The beer I bought was quite strong, one of the strongest to be precise. And the slight dizziness that I felt only confirmed that it was indeed the beer.
But something was still very off about my situation.
I have drunk this beer countless times, I have been through this road even more. And my alcohol tolerance is not something to scoff at either.
The last time I felt like this was when I was seventeen and had low blood pressure. But that was over five years ago and my condition has been rather excellent lately.
As I continued to walk, I felt lightheaded. The way home seemed far longer than it was supposed to. The straight path started spiralling into a winded one, the world started spinning.
The fuck's happening?
My vision blurred but instead of stopping and taking a rest, I kept walking through pure intuition alone. The feeling was weird. It was not the usual intoxication, it was almost as if I was drugged. But that sounded ridiculous.
Damn my head hurts.
The beer can was sealed with no signs of tampering. So there had to be something else that was messing with me.
The aforementioned blurry had now devolved to a blinding degree, I could practically see nothing, but still I felt relieved.
There was light.
I pushed myself to get to the source. Fainting here would be the worst possible scenario. No one would find me in here for days and to avoid that I needed to reach that light.
My mind was hazy, forming thoughts became a tumultuous task. Thinking straight started becoming a distant dream. Among the jumble that was now my mind, I only focused on the thought of getting out of this place and reaching that source of light.
I was getting close. With determination I muscled through.
"Just a few more steps." I muttered to myself in an attempt of encouraging my steps. I kept pushing my body towards the light. It was a measly ten steps ahead of me but even that distance felt like a mile and still stretching.
A few more steps and there would be someone that would notice me even if I collapsed. I could get home… but that didn't happen.
I fell short by a few feet as my vision went completely dark.
_______
_______
[Analysing Host's Condition: Stable (asleep)]
{Awakening Host in 3, 2, 1}
*Bzzt*
"*Arrgh* What the-"
[Initiating System in 3, 2-]
______
______
Being awoken by an electric shock was arguably the worst way a person could get up. Too bad, that's exactly what I just went through.
Even before I could even so much as process my current situation, a voice, alien and robotic in tone, spoke in my head.
[Initiating System in 3, 2, 1]
[Allegory System Activated]
[Checking Host's Status]
[Status: Healthy]
Errr- What? System? Status?
Was I still drunk or did I hit my head too hard as I fell?
[Go to Selection Menu]
{Yes} {No}
Okay. This is weird… seriously weird. I am hearing a voice in my head… on repeat.
[Awaiting Response]
Let me process the events then -
I went to the department store to get a beer. Took the shortcut alleyway to home and somehow ended up with a weird voice in my head in this pl- Where the hell even am I?!
Other than the spot I stood at, the rest of the scene was veiled in a pitch black hue. I was unable to see anything and I was not stupid enough to walk into that dark abyss.
[Go to Selection Menu]
{Yes} {No}
The same message rang in my head.
I need to get this straight. This was not a dream… I tried pinching myself and even tried counting my fingers. The results of both only proved my earlier estimates.
I waited and waited, hoping for somethin.. no, anything to change, only to realize that I was stuck. And the road to get ahead was paved through the choice I was presented by, I wasn't going anywhere without making this choice.
"Yes." I chose, my gut was telling me choosing no would've led to consequences that… I wouldn't have liked to be subjected to.
[Select Your Race]
• Homo Sapien
• Homo Superior
• Undead
• Fae
• Skrull
• Inhuman
What's this supposed to be… a game?
Choosing your race is one of the first things a player is required to do in an RPG and it is also the choice that lays the foundation for your future growth. But there was a problem in my particular case…
I have never even heard of most of these races, mentioned by the voice.
Neither do I know what the future holds after making the choice, but.. I know that I have to make the best one out of the presented choices.
Homo Sapien was my current race and compared to other supernatural races it was the shittiest one.
No special abilities, fragile with a low lifespan. Nevertheless, it was also a safe choice. As a human, I already know all the abilities that a human has not to mention that humans can evolve and adapt to situations. But that evolution was not going to work for me. Why?
For the sole fact that such an evolution takes aeons to mould into something truly powerful. And considering humans are not immortal, it was not possible for me to reach the apex.
Under normal circumstances, it shouldn't have mattered. But this was already something that was not normal and I had a gut feeling, like before, that I needed to make the best decision in order to stay safe. I was not certain if I was the only person that was going through such a situation and if there were others that were stuck in the same boat as me… I had to stay ahead of them.
I hate staying behind others.
I had seen enough fantasy shows to know the importance of such options.
Homo Sapien was a safe choice but definitely not the best one.
The voice of the unknown kept ringing in my ear, listing out the options every few seconds. It was reminding me of the options I could take, it was helpful at first, it got annoying real fast however.
"Stop."
I stood there without any movement, waiting for the voice to ring again but to my surprise, it didn't repeat itself.
That's an interesting find, so it can act according to my commands even if it is not about the selection. This will surely make things fairly easier.
But that's not what I should be focusing on.
The next option that it gave me was Homo Superior. Now I will be honest. I had no clue as to what the fuck it meant. But remembering the other fantasy choices it gave me, I was pretty confident that it was something with an ability… as the insipid race was already listed.
And it was quite easy to figure out that this one was better than an average human because of the name Homo Superior. The risky factor was still my lack of knowledge of this race.
It sure sounded like an amped-up human but I was uncertain if it came with drawbacks. And to me who always preferred to be in control, the option felt a bit unsettling.
But the Superior part was making the choice quite tempting, nonetheless.
'Can I get some info about this race?' I asked but was greeted with only silence. Sighing at the situation, I decided to continue with the choices.
The next available choice was the Undead which was a big no-no.
Zombies, vampires, wraiths, ghosts and phantoms were amongst many that fell in the category of the undead. But were any of these choices good?
The simplest answer would be 'No'.
Zombies are nothing more than mob monsters and even if they have superior abilities, the appearance is not something I want to be stuck with. Wraiths… even more so. And I don't want to be hunted down by some exorcist by choosing a ghost or phantom.
Vampires may look like a good option at first but that is only true if you overlook the major disadvantages that come with this race.
Being unable to walk in the sun, having to live off on blood and being weak to every holy item. Nope, I would love to avoid being stuck with such a race.
Daywalker is a decent choice but I was not certain if the vampire would be a daywalker or an average blood-sucker. And if it was a Twilight vampire… I would rather prefer to stay a human.
The next in the line was Fae… which happened to be another ambiguous race. Similar to the undead, it didn't consist of a single species but instead a plethora of species. Fairies, Druids, Gnomes and even Elves could be considered as fae. This race, according to my knowledge, was superior if compared to the undead… but that was just that, my opinion.
The Fae did not have any major drawbacks as compared to the undead howbeit, it did have some.
Gnomes were stuck with their tiny stature, druids with their nature-inspired appearance, fairies with their wings and tails… depending on the mythology of origin. And even the Elven race was a risky choice. Elves are said to be inhumanly beautiful and their appearance brings in a lot of unwanted attention. They are loved by nature yet they are also bound by most of its rules which many other species can ignore.
This makes the Fae an unappealing race to me. Nevertheless, it still seemed to be a good option, being an elf was still a far better choice than most of the choices listed. In this scenario however, it was more of a lottery than a direct selection. I could either be an Elf or I might even be stuck as a gnome.
Ugh! This is frustrating.
What's next? Skrull? What the actual fuck is that? It sounds a lot like a skull and that doesn't give me any good impression. And I would prefer to stay away from races that I have never heard of.
And that brings me to my last option… Inhuman.
First impressions? Not good… why? Because it sounds like a name that you would give to some alien or monster. But it could also be any other species that is not a human. Moreover, this also happened to be a race I have never heard of, and that pretty much automatically eliminates this option for me.
So the plausible options for me are- Homo Sapien, Homo Superior and Fae.
Fae was an incredibly risky choice. I could either YOLO it and hope to get something like an Elf or maybe even a male Banshee. But the chances of that happening is very low, so I would rather eliminate that option as well.
So that leaves Human and Superior Human. Human is the safer choice but the Homo Superior option is very tempting. That option might have some major disadvantages and choosing it over human might sound stupid after eliminating the other options because of me being suspicious. But this option felt appealing to me.
Do I do it?
I stood at the same place for quite a while, going through the scenarios and possibilities of choosing one over the other.
You know what? A wise man once said that the only way to get rid of a temptation was to yield to it… So fuck it!
'I choose Homo Superior.'
I waited for the system to register my choice, and as expected... it did exactly that.
[New Race Selected: Homo Superior]
That's a relief.
[Please Select your Class]
Or maybe not.
[Classes Available: Warrior, Sorcerer, Berserker, Thief, Cleric, Gunslinger, Necromancer, Summoner]
This was a no brainer for me. 'Sorcerer.'
Sorcerers are overpowered as fuck as long as they don't engage in close combat. And depending on the world setting, they can even use sorcery to enhance their physical capabilities, which effectively makes them the strongest class in the same level cap.
Necromancer and Summoner come close, however as necromancers become more and more powerful, they lose their humanity. Necromancy starts to corrode their emotions making a necromancer lose their sense of right and wrong, their emotions and it even costs them their sanity. The only thing that keeps a necromancer alive in the later stages is the necromancy ability itself. But you are left alive as a walking corpse… not as a human.
Summoners require extreme control or the beings that they summon ends up killing them instead. I have seen enough horror shows to know that picking Summoner never ends well. The last thing I want is summoning the fucking
Cthulhu and getting devoured alive.
The rest of the classes, while not weak… were not exactly strong either. I had more ideas on how I could use magic than I did with a gun. Better to be a Walmart Merlin than a cowboy.
[New Class Selected: Sorcerer]
[Please Select your Perks]
• Fast Learning
• Sneak Attack
• Fast Growth
• Multitasking
What is the difference between Fast Learning and Fast Growth? One refers to a person learning something new faster while the other refers to advancing an already existing ability quicker.
Sneak Attack is a decent ability but compared to the others it's not something that is worth picking, unless I had chosen Thief in the previous selection that is. That would have made picking sneak attack a better option. But for a sorcerer, not so much.
Multitasking is a great ability, but it is also something that you can do on your own if you practice enough. The best options for a sorcerer are Fast Learning and Fast Growth. But which one is better?
Creating new spells sounds great. And does it allow me to create spells from any element? Can I manipulate all the elements?
The system was not providing me much information about the choices, they were entirely on me.
Fast Learning was not a guaranteed way of turning me into the next Avatar but Fast Growth was the best way to be the next Merlin.
'I choose Fast Growth.'
[New Perk Selected: Fast Growth]
[Ability Selection]
[Please Choose Your Primary Ability]
• Pyromancy
• Hydromancy
• Geomancy
• Aeromancy
`Abilities are based on Class choice.`
Four? Not five? That's interesting….
But if I don't worry about the one missing element… These are pretty nice choices. Pyro means fire, hydro is water, geo is earth and aero is air. Or at least that's what I know about them.
The question is, which one do I choose?
Fire manipulation is extremely overpowered but it's mostly an offensive ability with little to no defensive mechanism. While one can argue that it can provide defence by engulfing the user in flames, it still doesn't change the fact that it is pretty weak defense wise compared to the rest of the elements. But that doesn't mean pyromancy is a bad choice. If anything, pyromancy is a great ability.
The sheer explosive power of fire users can disintegrate an entire militia with ease. But that wasn't enough.
A single fire resistance ability and you are done for.
I would rather not pick fire. And there is a saying that if you play with fire, you're gonna get burned.
Personally, I would rather choose geomancy over pyromancy.
The ability to manipulate the earth is beyond overpowered. Twenty nine percent of the earth consists of land and being able to control that said land can make nearly anyone a god.
But an element that is even more overpowered than earth is water.
Geomancy is kind of useless against opponents that can fly, but hydromancy is not. While 29% of the earth consists of land… Do you know what the other 79% is made of? Water! More than two-third of this planet is covered in water. And even if I had to fight an aerial opponent, I could easily defeat him with a good control over hydromancy. How?
The human body is over 60% water… and that's just the overall. The lungs are 83% water while the brain and heart are 73% water. So it goes without saying how dangerous having perfect control over hydromancy means for any living organism.
A hydromancer can pop a human being like an inflated water balloon.
Does that mean I am going with hydromancy? Abso-fucking-lutely not.
Why?
Because who would go for the second-best when the best option is right in front of you.
Water might not be accessible everywhere, but air definitely is. In my opinion, aeromancy is superior to hydromancy in more than one way. You can almost do the same thing using air that you can do with water… no you can do much more.
Cutting off a person's oxygen supply, air compression, hydrogen bombs, forcing the toxic gases in the air to gather at a specific place… are just the tip of the iceberg.
I felt a smile creep up my face as I thought of the countless wind abilities that I might be able to use.
Yeah, that's it.
'I choose Aeromancy.'
And just like the previous choices, the same voice rang in my ear.
[Primary Ability Selected: Aeromancy]
[Please Select Your Secondary Ability]
I expected to have another ability choice considering the previous one was called Primary Ability. But I didn't expect to get such options for secondary abilities.
• Solimancy
• Lunamancy
• Luxamancy
• Umbramancy
Saying that these options were interesting will be downplaying it. Still for a lack of better word, I would still term it as interesting.
Luna means moon, Umbra means shadow, Lux means illumination… And going by the placement of the abilities, Solimancy has something to do with the sun.
These choices were very difficult. They seemed quite vague, but vague didn't mean weak.
Ability to control shadows was not something I was confident in. I can see it being a great supportive ability but not necessarily an offensive one. And while I still require a good supportive ability, umbramancy was not what I was searching for.
It will be totally useless in places where no shadows can be casted or in the lack of natural shadows.
Lux was totally different. Illumination was a terrifying power… but how terrifying was it? I can pretty much guess the flashbangs I can create using it but does it give absolute control over photons? Maybe. Did I dare take the risk? Another maybe.
Next was Lunamancy. Luna meant moon… and what exactly am I supposed to do with the ability to control the moon? Start the apocalypse? Or does it give me the powers from Naruto to create smaller moons? Can I pull a Chibaku Tensei up someone's ass?
Too many questions… but what exactly can I get from the moon? The sun was pretty simple.
Solimancy, sun control could basically engulf the planet in flames. Increase temperature… an Apocalypse tier ability.
But… no wait!
Heat of sun. Tides of the oceans… tides are caused by the moon. That's an equally terrifying power. Tsunamis are continental tier disasters and with full control over the moon, that's a world-level threat.
And the moon can indirectly affect the season cycle as well… Which is another plus in my book. Control over the sun is unbelievably overpowered but it's also the harbinger of the apocalypse. I might be too dumb to think of it, but I can only it as a suicide ability.
Umbramancy is out because of being very constrained, Solimancy because it doesn't seem usable under general circumstances. That leaves Lunamancy and Luxamancy.
Honestly, it should be a pretty easy option. Luxamancy seems superior in every possible way but something is making me hesitant. Is there anything that makes Lunamancy superior to Luxamancy? No.
But I am leaning towards Lunamancy. Being able to control Tsunamis sounds amazing and… it also gives me the ability to mess with gravity, even if indirectly. The moon is responsible for most of the fundamental forces of nature.
*Breathe*
'I will go with Lunamancy'
Dumb choice. But I find it 'cooler' than Luxamancy.
[Secondary Ability Selected: Lunamancy]
[Please Choose A Tertiary Ability]
It's still going on? Three abilities? Not that I am complaining but that seems a bit excessive.
• Sanamancy
• Tempumancy
• Domimancy
• Seimancy
The fuck are these? I had no clue as to what any of these abilities meant. The system doesn't provide any information about the choices either… Do I have to pick a random one and hope that it's a good choice?
I hate that.
Sana sounds familiar, I think I know someone with that name. But I don't know what that name meant. Domimancy… dominion? Maybe. Tempamancy sounds similar to temperature as for Seimancy, I had no clue.
This was going to be a blind shot. Domimancy felt like it had something to do with dominion and tempamancy felt like it had some relation with temperature. But none of the previous mancer types had anything to do with English words. So the chances of these ones having any relationship with general English terms was highly unlikely.
This is a pain.
'I choose Tempamancy.'
[Tertiary Ability Selected: Tempamancy]
[Ability Selection Completed]
[Ability Expansion Obtained]
[Power Obtained: Realm Walker]
[Generating Random Item]
[Evolving Sword Obtained]
It took me a while to process all the information I just received. Not only did I obtain an ability expander I also obtained a special power and an item. The power sounded more like a title but it didn't make it any less impressive.
[Initiating Roots]
Initiating what now?
[Roots Initiated]
• Primary Root: Root of Absolute
• Secondary Root: Root of Memorial
• Tertiary Root: Root of Worship
• Quaternary Root: Root of Fear
• Quinary Root: Root of Belief
What the-
[Tier Evaluating: Current Tier One]
Things moved a bit too fast for me, but I was keeping track of the things to the best of my ability.
[Showing Status]
{Inheritor: ______ ____}
{Age: --}
{Race: Homo Superior}
{Class: Sorcerer (0%)}
{Perk: Fast Growth}
{Item: Evolving Sword}
{Tier: 1}
• Primary Root: Root of Absolute (0%)
• Secondary Root: Root of Memorial (0%)
• Tertiary Root: Root of Worship (0%)
• Quaternary Root: Root of Fear (0%)
• Quinary Root: Root of Belief (0%)
{Powers: Realm Walker}
{Abilities}
• Primary: Aeromancy (0%)
• Secondary: Lunamancy (0%)
• Tertiary: Tempumancy (0%)
{Quests: None}
That's interesting but what is wrong with my name? I am more surprised to see my name in an indecipherable font, rather than the fact that I was now able to see my stats in the form of a status window rather than a voice in my ear.
[Showing Detailed Status]
• Inheritor: The One who possesses the Allegory system.
• Age: Unless the Inheritor obtains longevity or immortality, they will age and die at a normal rate.
• Race: Can be changed after mastering three classes.
*Homo Superior: An evolved species of the Homo Sapien race created by the Celestials.
• Class: Lets the user choose a class type suitable for their race. More classes are unlocked once the user gains 100% proficiency in that specific class.
*Sorcerer: A being that is able to harness and manipulate magical energy.
• Perk: Allows added bonus abilities. New perks can only be achieved through special quests.
*Fast Growth: Gives a 20% boost in learning and improving skills and abilities. Gives 15% boost in proficiency improvement.
• Item: Valuable items that help the inheritor in their quests. More items can be obtained through quests.
*Evolving Sword: The more you slay a certain creature, the more the sword improves at killing that creature.
• Tier: Rank of the Inheritor. Increase in tier allows the user to use powers, abilities and items more efficiently and effectively.
• Root: Complete the root objectives for ƃzʞsƃɐɥsɯn.
*Absolution: Become the strongest in the verse, become absolute.
*Memorial: Become a legend, be remembered for eternity.
*Worship: Gain people's trust and make them worship you as their god.
*Fear: Make people fear your strength, make everyone never go against you.
*Belief: Make people believe and trust your every word, despite being fearful of your powers.
• Powers: Special skills and gifts that help to improve the Inheritor's overall effectiveness.
• Realm Walker: Being that walks on a different realm. Allows the possessor to survive in any dimension or realm.
• Abilities: Specific skills or gifts that help to improve the overall prowess of the Inheritor.
*Aeromancy: Ability to manipulate Air, Wind and Weather.
*Lunamancy: Ability to manipulate Moon and Winter.
*Tempumancy: Ability to manipulate Time and Temperature.
• Ability Expansion: Lets the user create multiple abilities and moves (branching abilities) from a base ability (primary, secondary, tertiary.)
`Getting an ability to 100% unlocks new options in that category.`
• Quests: Gives missions to advance the roots and Powers.
"NOW YOU SHOW ME THE ABILITY DESCRIPTIONS!!! MOTHE....
____________________________________________________________
[A/N: 3 Chaps a week.
This is the first chap so it's long. Upcoming chapters will be 1.5k to 2k long.
PS: Thank you Paradox for the edit.]
