1 Chapter 1- Pilot I Guess, or Chapter 1, Whatever You Want.

A crack ran out through a dark island, sending birds fluttering through the trees. An axe was being brought down into the trunk of a pine tree. The axe was lifted and brought down again, scaring the few remaining birds into the sky. It was being swung by a man who looked to be twenty, with brown hair and green eyes. His name was Ontas Reilain, and he was this island's only human resident.

The tree came down with a groan after one more strike. Ontas picked it up with little strain and began to drag it along. The tree was nearly 30 feet tall, and Ontas dragged it as if it was nothing. He took the pine to a small clearing a little ways away, leaving needles and branches in a roughed up path behind him. He dropped the tree and set to removing the branches with his axe, never needing more than one chop to cut off even the largest of limbs. Ontas then picked up the log and dragged it through another dirt path through the forest. After about five minuets of walking, the path opened up to a white sandy beach. On this beach was a nearly completed boat that looked similar to a Viking long ship, resting on logs and ready to make its maiden voyage into the tides beyond. Ontas dropped the tree next to a tool rack filled with a number of saws, knives, axes, and other woodworking tools. He removed a black steel drawknife from the rack and set to debarking the log. By the time he had finished this task, the sun was dipping down below the water to his back. He returned the drawknife to its place on the wooden rack, and began to walk towards a large jagged rock jutting out of the sand bordering the water.

On the dark gray rock and facing the direction of the rest of the island was a stone door with inscriptions made in some text that was very similar to Irish Gaelic. If this text was to be translated, it would say a whole lot about the effort of humanity, and how the skills of humans were worthless with the short limit placed on their lives, but Ontas couldn't care less about them at this point. He had been through this door countless times, and didn't even glance at the ominous text as he rapped his knuckle on the door three times. The stone entrance slid to the side without any noise, and revealed a dark descending staircase. The stairs were made of the same stone as the door, and curled downwards to the right. They took Ontas down below the island, only getting darker as he went. After five minutes of descending, the stairway turned into a hallway with another stone door at the end. It was nearly pitch black now, the only illumination coming from the cracks under the gray stone door. This door had a continuation of the text on the first one, saying that humans only had limited time to improve themselves, and for this reason were blocked from true levels of ability.

Ontas did the same thing he did with the first gate and ignored the text, not even giving the Irish a glance. He once more knocked three times, and the door slid open soundlessly.

He was greeted with the most grandiose of rooms. The ceilings were over two hundred feet high, and were supported by great wooden beams that glowed with torchlight. The walls were lined with shelves that stretched all the way to the ceiling. There were three other floors that wound around the edges, providing access to the shelves, but left the beamed roof to be marveled at from the ground. On the shelves were not books, but wooden blocks with fancy looking lettering on all their surfaces. There were wooden pillars placed at regular intervals with torches running up their length throughout the room. The torches provided much more light then they should have been able to, and made the cavernous room incredibly well lit. About fifteen feet in front of Ontas was a large round black wooden desk.

Standing behind this desk was a woman with neat brown hair that descended to her waist. She had a pretty face and two large blue eyes that stared at Ontas as he walked in. She was wearing a frilly blue outfit that was a cross between a skirt and a dress, with a neckline that went lower than most folk would think proper, nearly exposing her cleavage. Despite how she looked, she was actually a magically powered construction with a human-like body. She was more organic than not, but still had some parts that weren't human. As an example, she had a magical battery instead of a heart. Ontas still had no idea what species to address her as, and she refused to answer when he asked.

"Good evening, Master." The woman greeted him as he passed through the threshold "How is your project coming along, Remmi wonders?"

"Remmi, I know I own this place, but I've already asked you to not call me Master. At least not until I do something to actually warrant being called a title." Ontas looked at Remmi how a parent would look at a child that wouldn't stop trying to steal treats.

"…" She stared at him for an entirely too long second, with her lips dipped into a small pout.

"Rem-"

"You have defeated me in combat" Remmi interrupted," thus making you the lord over this domain. It would be disrespectful for anyone in your domain to address you in a way that did not show supreme awe, Remmi believes."

She wished to remain stubborn in her ways, so Ontas raised his hands in defeat, and walked around the side of the desk toward one of the wooden pillars.

"Fine, fine, you win." He mused, "Just put out the torches. I'm out of here tomorrow and want some sleep." Ontas lied down by the pillar as he spoke.

There were no beds or couches in this great room, so Ontas had been using the floor for the duration of his stay. This stay had so far lasted three months, but he deemed a bed to be a pain to create, and had never set about making one. The floor was carpeted anyway, so it wasn't that much of a necessity. Remmi didn't require sleep, so it had taken some getting used to for him to sleep while the guardian did her chores. Thankfully she didn't need light to do her job, so Ontas was able to sleep in the relative peace of the dark.

Remmi shouted out a word in some unknown language, and all the torches dimmed to a faint ember. She still stared in Ontas' direction, causing him to fidget awkwardly rather than go to sleep.

"I'm going to sleep." he repeated, "Goodnight Remmi, carry about your chores as you normally would."

"Yes master, I'll get right on it." She finally turned away from the one-sided staring contest, and began to flip through a leather-bound book on the desk.

At least she isn't as bad as when I got here, Ontas sighed inwardly. When Ontas first appeared in this same great room, he had no idea what was going on. He had been in the emergency room for a pain in his chest, and collapsed on the floor. The next thing he knew he was face to face with Remmi. He was then told that he had died, but hadn't at the same time, and would now be held in the room until Remmi's Master had returned and could deal with him, but that never actually happened. She also told him he could escape by means of beating her in a fight, so he promptly attempted to do so. When he challenged her he had been teleported to an expansive room that was pure white. After a quick countdown Remmi had punched him so hard she put a hole in his chest. Ontas collapsed and was then taken back to the room he found himself in without so much as a scratch, and deemed victory impossible. He moped around in the great space with no direction, until he touched one of the wooden blocks that lined the shelves.

These wooden blocks were called Conatus Chests, and they contained an embodiment of every experience any member of humanity had ever gone through. To touch one of these was to absorb these experiences into your soul, but to do so left a toll on your body. When Ontas touched the block he found himself going through every second of training any being with a soul had ever put into the practice of archery. It felt as if he lived through hundreds of years of experiences, but it all felt like a dream. When he finally came out of this state of learning he was in a sorry state.

His eyes were now bloodshot, and his hands were shaking. His mind had been so filled with seemingly endless information that he had nearly forgotten who he even was. He sat on the floor, cradling his knees to his face and rocking back and forth for hours on the brink of insanity. Ontas finally stood and pulled himself out of his own head. He then focused on who he was and what he had just done. In a state of confusion as to why that had happened to him, he asked Remmi what had happened.

She told him that he had absorbed all the effort humanity had put forth into one particular skill into his soul, and was only alive due to the fact he had a complete one. Ontas didn't understand what she meant and asked her further. The rundown of her explanation goes like this; there are five realms, Earth being in the center. Directly below it was where he was now, and also the place humans go when they die. When people die their souls fall off the earth, and go to this place, which was a world of it's own. This realm he was in was neither heaven nor hell, but more of a second earth, that was not bound by universal laws. When souls fall off of the earth they leave a little bit of themselves behind, resulting in the residents of this world having incomplete souls and losing their memories. This world functioned as normal, and humans were made through reproduction just like earth. However, the people here didn't know that they were once alive in another place, and carried on as normal.

When Ontas asked if he could meet these people, Remmi told him that he would have to beat her first. Remembering what had happened when he touched the Conatus Chest, he asked her if there was a way to tell which experiences he would acquire from a specific chest. She said that she was able to help, and from then on he requested any and all combat related chests to be brought to him. He prepared himself for the feeling of going through all the joy, sorrow, and pain that came with true mastery of a skill, and held onto his own identity as he made his way through the piles of engraved wooden blocks. Ontas nearly lost himself many times, and nearly gave up many more, but through sheer will he was able to go through the experiences that had built humanity. He challenged Remmi hundreds of times in this period, but she beat him regardless of what he learned. He had no weapons, and thus couldn't put any weapons mastery to use and was forced to rely on his own fists.

After about two months of this he challenged her once again. This battle was over with a single hit. Remmi threw a punch at Ontas' head, and Ontas ducked and delivered one to her stomach. When he delivered his blow he found himself back in the great room with Remmi bowing in front of him.

"You have defeated me in combat, this domain and I are now yours to control. You may do with us as you see fit." Ontas nearly collapsed at these words, for his effort was not in vein and he could finally leave. Remmi then walked up to him and kissed him on the cheek. This action surprised him so much that he leaped backwards and took up an awkward stance.

"The transfer of ownership has been made. Ontas Reilain has been placed as the lord of Oileán Scáth." When she said this, Ontas' mind was filled with a new sensation. He understood that they were below a mountainous island in the middle of the sea, but more than that he knew that he had complete control over this island. Ontas was able to manipulate the island and the living things in his domain however he saw fit, and could even pull things through space and time as long as they were his. He wasn't able to control anything that had a soul, but still had near infinite power on this island nonetheless. He could even move it if he wanted to.

Despite now having a complete understanding of the island, he still wanted to see it for himself. Ontas opened the stone door for the first time and made his way up the dark steps. When he reached the top, he shakily made his way to the final barrier between him and the outside. The door opened before him, and he saw sunlight for the first time in months.

Over the next month, he put his ability to manipulate anything on the island to good use and made enough weapons to rival a small army. Ontas made swords, spears, carved bows and arrows, any knife imaginable and many other things. He did this because he had no clue what awaited him beyond the sea, and desired preparation. Ontas had the ability to call anything from Oileán Scáth to him, and send anything he touched back to the island including himself, so his fighting style became a mixture of every weapon known to man all at once. One second he would have a spear, and the next he would have thrown a chakram. There was no limit to how many things he could pull from Oileán Scáth so there was no limit to the weapons he could use in battle.

After he crafted these weapons, he went to crafting a boat for him to escape on. He could have moved the island closer to the mainland, but feared how people would feel about an island showing up on their beach. His abilities didn't let him change the shape of organic objects; only alter their growth and durability, so he had to build the boat by hand. With his skills gained from the Conatus Chests it was an easy task, but it still couldn't be completed instantly.

This leads us to where we are now, with Ontas laying his head down on the floor of the room he awoke in. He had spent months preparing to leave this place, and tomorrow he would. Ontas fell asleep with a grin on his face, thinking of the freedom he would experience in the morning.