CH 2 Binding the System

After that day, Alcor became a toy for the dark wizard to play with. The wizard managed to fool the gang by controlling the boss and making him manage the gang like any other day. Using the gang to keep a lookout, the wizard would spend his days drinking, cursing the ministry, or torturing Alcor with various curses and jinxes.

At first, Alcor had hoped that he would be rescued by some ministry employee. But as days turned into weeks, he gave up hope of being rescued.

Finally, one night after he had been tortured particularly brutally, instead of being afraid and fearful of the wizard, Alcor found himself full of rage and resentment. It was as if his fear of pain and death became inconsequential.

'I have already died once, once more will be no big deal. But I will not be a toy for this ego-maniac anymore.' Alcor thought as a powerful glimmer shone in his eyes.

Suddenly, he felt something blooming deep within him, filling him with a rush of energy he never felt before. The next moment, his body that was bound by the Body Binding Curse seemed to become free.

But Alcor paid attention to none of this. His attention was on the series of weird notifications that sounded in his mind.

[All Requirements Met. Gluttonous Wizard System Begins Activation.]

[Searching for Power Source ….. Host's Wizard Core is too weak…. Insufficient power]

[Searching for Nearby Power Sources ... Detected that Host is affected by Full-Body Bind Curse.]

[Accepted as One-Time Emergency Power Source.... Temporarily Overriding Control Protocols….]

[Unlocking Mythic Rank Skill - Gluttony Temporarily.]

[Gluttony devoured Full-Body Bind Curse along with ambient magic in the 100-meter radius.]

[Gluttony about to go berserk... Control Protocols Re-activated….. Gluttony is Sealed until the Host Goes through Third Maturation/Evolution. Some of its abilities merged with System's functions.]

[Recalculating ...…. Rebooting .... ]

[System Booting Completed.]

[Greetings Host. Congratulations for Binding Successfully with Gluttonous Wizard System.]

'.…Okay… What?' Alcor felt as if his mind was not working probably. Had the Wizard completely broke him?

[No Host. You are of perfectly sound mental health. This is not a Hallucination.]

'Oh … You can read my mind?'

[Gluttonous Wizard System is bound to your mind, body and soul. Knowing your thoughts is a natural Host as it allows the System to respond to you in the best possible manner.]

'Okay. I guess I am not crazy and I got a System to help me in this magical world. Pretty neat all in all.' Alcor thought with excitement evident in his eyes.

[Exactly Host. The System was assigned based on your last wishes in the previous world. However, since this is a wizard system so host needed to have a wizard core before the system could finish binding to you. Apologies for the delay host.]

'No matter, it's fine. If I knew I could be a wizard then I would have tried harder to awaken my core. Am I late in awakening it?'

[Host's speed in awakening the core could be said average. But that doesn't matter host. Now that you have finished binding to the Gluttonous Wizard System, your future growth will be phenomenal.]

'I am glad to hear that. By the way, what do I address you as?'

[You can just call me System, Host.]

'Okay, System. What can you assist me with?'

[Gluttonous Wizard System's abilities will help the host become a true wizard. The host is different from the regular wizards of this world, who need chants and specific actions to tap into the energy reserves and trigger a change in reality.]

[With System's help, Host can directly absorb the Basic fundamental, Elemental, Mystical, and Occultic forces to give you the power to manipulate them and create various supernatural phenomena, or even change the very reality itself.]

'Sounds amazing. How do I do that?' Alcor asked excitedly.

[Let me finish explaining host. While what I said about absorbing forces is true, the method of gaining such powerful ability comes with its own challenges.]

[Whenever host wants to absorb a particular type of energy, System will create a related environment in an alternate dimension populated with beings manifested through the energy host wants to absorb.]

[Every time you defeated one of the manifested beings in this dimension, you will gain purified energy of the said type that you will be able to absorb effortlessly. The more purified energy you absorb, the more your ability to control it will grow.]

Alcor's excitement dimmed a bit as he came to know he will have to fight, but slowly he became more determined.

'No Pain, No Gain.' Alcor said determinedly 'I am ready System. Let's do it.'

[While I appreciate your enthusiasm host, if you go as you are right now, you will die. If you want to survive then you should listen to the second ability of the system.]

'Oh… Ya sure. Sorry, I got too excited.'

[It's okay, Host. Keeping you alive is one of my duties.]

[Continuing the explanation, The System has a second function: Status. In normal wizards, their growth is based on how magic affects their various activities, providing arbitrary unregulated growth. With Status function, you can regulate your growth in the path you want.]

[In Status, you get Attribute and Skill Points based on the energy absorption you do. These points can be put into your Attributes and Skills respectively to trigger their growth.]

[Attribute points can also be put into your Magic and other cores, that you will gain in the future, to level them up.]

[Also, as an additional benefit, Status awards you with certain innate skills related to an attribute the moment the said attribute reaches a certain threshold. All of these skills are incredibly useful, so the Host should work hard and grow your attributes as fast as possible.]

'Got it. Can I see the status now then?'

[Of course host.]

Name : Alcor Celesta

Gender : Male

Appearance: Lush Jet Black Hair with Red Streaks, a decent trained athlete-like body, pale skin, and Stormy Blue eyes.

Birthday: 21st December 1980

Attributes:

Health: 4/4

Mana: 20/20

STR: 1

VIT: 1

DEX: 2

AGI: 2

PER: 3

INT: 5

WIS: 4

CHA: 3

LUK: 1

Attribute Point: 5

Skill Point: 5

Cores: Magic (LV0 - 0/100)

Innate Skills:

Acquired Skills: Vigilance-LV1, Curse Resistance-LV1

'Provide a basic explanation of all this System.'

[Host already has ideas about what these are so I will just give a brief explanation.]

[STR is Strength - the measure of your physical power]

[VIT is Vitality - the measure of your defensive prowess]

[DEX is Dexterity - the measure of your reflexes and body control]

[AGI is Agility - the measure of your speed and flexibility]

[PER is Perception - The measure of your observation and awareness ability]

[INT is Intelligence - the measure of your mental ability such as thinking speed and memory]

[WIS is Wisdom - the measure of your ability to understand knowledge and resistance towards magical harm]

[CHA is Charisma - the measure of physical appearance, and the ability of persuasion and influence]

[LUK is Luck - the measure of metaphysical factors that influences the probability of events and their results]

[Health - measure of your Life Force]

[Mana - measure of your Internal Metaphysical Energy]

'Okay. I understood all of this. Now, where should I invest the Attribute and Skill points I have? Any ideas, System?'

[Remember what I said about Innate skills Host? As it happens, the first attribute threshold is 10 points.]

[Host already has INT attribute at 5 points, so you should invest the 5 additional points there. It will give you an innate skill, where you can then use your skill points.]

Alcor listened to the advice and dumped the points into INT. Immediately the warm energetic feeling he had felt earlier returned, this time with much more power. On looking at the status, He noticed that his Mana had risen to 40 points.

[INT reached the first threshold.]

[Suitable Innate Skill is being searched... Mana Manipulation-LV1 is unlocked.]

As soon as Alcor got a new skill, he felt a new level of connection to the warm and comfortable energy within him. Curious about this development, he called forth this energy with his mind and felt it responding to him.

Like slowly roiling mist, this energy came forth in wisps and was emitted from his palm like a weak glowing mist.

[Congratulations for unlocking Mana Manipulation, Host. You have taken the first step on the Path of a Wizard.]

'Thanks, System.' Alcor responded giddily.