1 Prologue & Who am I?

Prologue:

Winter. Year 3567 AE. Midnight. Shelfield Coast City. Tully Orphanage.

The skies seemed brighter than usual. It was as if the night was blessed by the moon and stars , shining down onto the dingy orphanage. If someone stood on top of the nearby lighthouse and looked towards the city, they would see a stream of brilliant sparkles descending and enveloping the streets. Unfortunately, no one was around, and no one had noticed any other peculiarity tonight.

In a small room, the stream of starlight sank into the forehead of a young child, enveloping his body in its shine, as if it was caressing its own child. As the night grew deeper, the starlight grew more pointed and focused, covering the child's body with its glow. After a few hours, the starlight slowly faded and left a five pointed star on the child's forehead glowing brightly. As dawn grew closer, the mark faded as well, unknown to all of its purpose or goal.

Chapter 1: Who Am I?

"Who am I? Why, I'm Aser Sholt! The greatest adventurer in all of Gigantis! At least, I will be someday. Not yet, though I am about to unlock my System tomorrow! You don't know what the System is? Well, I don't know much either. I remember Sister Tully telling me that the System was the gift our forefathers gave all of humanity. With it, we can grow stronger and fight monsters! Yes, monsters are real, Sister Tully said so! Once I get my System, I'll study and go join a Guild so that I can become stronger." the child told himself.

In a shabby corner room of the dingy orphanage, you could see a short child, seemingly 6 or 7 years old talking to himself into a mirror. The room was clean, but barely livable. A small straw bed, a little lamp, a short desk with books stacked on top of the other and the smell of the damp floorboards made the area feel cozy.

"Aser! Come out here! Don't stay cooped inside all day, you need to play outside!" a young sweet voice called. "But Sister Tully, I'm playing in my mind!" replied Aser. "Play in your mind outside, now!" Sister Tully replied. Looking out the window, you could see a petite woman in her late 20s cleaning the porch with her broom. Wearing a wooly sweater with a cloth skirt, she gave off a sense of brightness. Her hands were callused from the busy life of taking care of the orphanage, but her face seemed no older than a young maiden.

Begrudgingly, the child looked through the shades of his window to the front porch. It was a sunny day with a slight chill in the air, and the other children were running around, playing tag it seems. "I don't really like tag, but it does seem fun.", grumbled Aser to himself.

The child got up from bed and wore his straw sandals. He was wearing short bottoms that were much too large for him and a pale white shirt that barely fit. Looking into the dim mirror in his room reflected a pale young child, with black hair and black gemlike eyes. Aser wasn't like the other children in the orphanage. Most folk in Shelfield, and the Southern Seas themselves had sandy hair, swarthy skin and green eyes. Sister Tully said that she found him years ago when out fishing with her late father, adrift on a broken piece of lumber near the fishing coasts.

Aser walked out of his room and headed downstairs, still excited at the prospect of getting his System. Opening the front door while shading his eyes from the sun, he hopped towards the other children. Their melodious laughter and screams as they played tag was infecting, as he started playing with them as well. He rarely played with the other children. Usually, Aser preferred to stay in the orphanage's library, reading up on the world and history. He was fascinated about the outside world, the wide fields, the ferocious beasts. "Although, playing with the others is great once in a while" he said to himself.

"Hey Aser! Can you tell us about the Southern Sea again today?", cried one of young girls, excitement on her face as she saw Aser come over. Her name was Jeni, and she was the youngest of the bunch outside. Always wearing a light yellow frock with her blonde hair braided, she was the quintessence of an excited little girl.

The black haired child thought about it, and smilingly replied, "Sure, lets see…"

The Southern Seas was a large expanse of ocean to the south of Gigantis. The area was divided into 5 large islands and their respective seas, with smaller islands scattered about in between. Most Unknown in the area were sailors and fishermen, some of the braver ones would hire themselves to the Guilds such as the Pioneering Guild or the Navy Guild, venturing forth into the waters to hunt aquatic beasts and predatory birds. The main island of the Southern Sea was Central Las Island, surrounded by the Las Sea in the North East of the Southern Seas. The island Aser was on right now was called Shelfied Island, another large island to the West of the Southern Seas. Shelfield Island was popular for its trade with the Western Haven, and its large flow of adventurers all over the Shelf Sea of the Southern Seas.

The main Guild of the Southern Seas was the Navy Guild. It hired all the mercenaries, adventurer's, sailors, ship owners & traders to create a massive network of trade and prosperity for the Southern Seas' populace and economy. The biggest mission of the Navy Guild was defending against the aquatic beast tribes that occupy the ocean floor and the predatory birds that hunt travellers and sailors.

Seeing the children being so interested in what Aser was saying, Sister Tully put down her broom and sat beside them listening. After Aser finished, she asked, "Aser, its your birthday tomorrow, so how about I tell you guys about the System ?"

The children, especially Aser, were so excited hearing that. Sister Tully rarely mentioned the system since she seemed to think that it was too soon for them to learn about it. Aser had tried to read about it through the books he borrowed from the local library, but since he was so young the books he had access to barely covered them. Seeing the excited faces, she started narrating to them about the System that humanity has been blessed with.

The System was rumored to have been opened at the start of the Enlightenment era. Humanity's history before that wasn't available to commoners or Unknowns. The System gave humanity the edge it needs to help hunt and survive in this cruel world of beasts. Once a child is of 7 years old, his System introduces themselves to him. Most System's are unique to the person, and a lot of wise sages have said that the System is a form of unlocking that person's hidden potential.

When a child unlocks their system, they gain access to the world's essence, able to pull it into their bodies, absorbing the energies into evolving their genes and making them more powerful and efficient. Systems are specialized as well, as they can have better grades of absorbing the natural energies, and near the start of the current era, researchers had determined that the talent of a system couldn't be upgraded. This led to most organizations focusing on the most talented Users and other people not recognized by the world's organization set to always be Unknown.

It wasn't until extensive research and development from our forefathers into their own Systems that they discovered that the abilities of the System is wholly dependant on the User. So if the User's talent increased due to either their hard work and perseverance or even natural wonders of the world, then the System for them would be upgraded as well. This led to the use of the System becoming highly specialized. Nowadays, some Systems give the user the ability to fight better than others. Some allow the user to practice Alchemy better, some allow them to be smarter and learn faster. Some allow them to be a better merchant. No matter who it is, the System they own is catered to them. That doesn't mean that they are stuck only being an Alchemist if the System gives them the talent for Alchemy though. The System reflects the user. So if the user learns more knowledge, practices more skills, exercises or trains themselves more, the System will reflect these. As a person grows older, their System matures with them. Most people stick with the talent that the system gave them. Some try to take advantage of this to pursue their dreams, while some only look to make it through their lives and live happily.

At the essence, the System is a reflection of the user's body. What the user knows, what the user can do, how the user should develop etcetera. The greatest part of the System though is its ability to gather Essence. Essence is the world's spirit. It gathers everywhere, and is part of everything. The System allowed humanity to see through the veil covering Essence and gather it for their own uses.

As the sun slowly set in the horizon of the Southern Sea, and Sister Tully finished her explanation, everyone slowly made their way inside to clean up.

As night descended and the kids went to their beds, Aser lay on top of the straw thinking about the great day he had. The other kids didn't look at him weirdly like they usually did. Sister Tully even told him about the system and made his favorite dish, Chicken Pot Pie, for dinner today. And, best of all, when he wakes up tomorrow morning, his System would be finally unlocked! "Today was fun." Aser said to himself as he settled into his little bed. "I'll finally be able to go to the Guild School tomorrow to get my System tested!" ran across his mind as the child closed his eyes and went to slumber.