2 System
Swiftly, one child after another stepped forward, awakening their spirits. Three additional children with grade-two bloodlines were identified, while the remaining possessed grade-one bloodlines. Many new young talented individuals awakened their spirits this year. It was the beginning of a new era for the Boulder tribe, the audience thought.
It was finally Aru's turn to step onto the platform. He was the last among the batch of children to undergo spirit awakening.
With wobbly steps, he walked forward like a stiff robot once his name was called. And the reason for his distracted steps was the word 'work'. Alex, the soul occupying the body of Aru was struggling to come to terms with the words the shaman spoke.
He felt like a sacrificial lamb as he walked towards the shaman.
Working for someone else again was akin to a nightmare to Aru. Like a child that got burnt once, he never wished to play with fire again. The PTSD from his last job was preventing him from thinking rationally once the word work was said.
"Gulp." He swallowed a mouthful of saliva as the elderly shaman gave him a black pill.
"Eat it. Pray to the spirits and place your hand on the trinity totem."
"..."
"Do you understand?"
Seeing the unresponsive child, the shaman asked to confirm.
"Hm…" Aru nodded. Resigned to his fate, he placed the pill inside his mouth and bowed deeply towards the shrine and prayed. Then he followed what the others did and placed his palm onto the trinity totem.
'Work — I'll deal with it later. First, let's get through this,' Aru decided before placing his hands on it.
This time, the trinity totem took a while to emit light. It confused the shaman who was looking at the totem. The spiritual response from the totem was shifting in an unpredictable direction for a moment. He was unable to read the bloodline grade and elemental affinity of the child at that time.
However, his confusion gave way to indifference once the spirit energy from the trinity totem stabilised.
"Water element spirit with grade one bloodline." He stated.
Although the fluctuating response gave him a shock initially, it didn't seem to be what he expected.
Usually, similar fluctuations were only seen when awakening a spirit with rare elemental affinities like ice, lava or light. But it was none of them.
It was just a spirit with the weakest bloodline with a water element affinity. There was nothing special about this child, the shaman judged.
While the shaman was measuring the prospects of Aru's talent, he was experiencing something entirely different.
A giant holographic blue screen popped up before him once he touched the trinity totem.
[Spirit Link Formed.]
[Spirit identity - Seed form, Elemental affinity - Water 70%, Earth 10%, Lightning 1%]
[Spirit energy - 3]
[Lauching system subprocess.]
[Adjusting and optimising system parameters to the user.]
[Creating Ultimate Symbiosis System.]
[Symbiotic links available - 1]
[Link conditions - Dominate with spirit energy.]
[Note: Grow alongside your link. Links are permanent and cannot be undone. Complete the system mission to unlock more links.]
[Mission 1: Establish your first link. Reward: +1 link.]
'Wtf is this? Is it a golden finger? The kind of cheat ability that gives a stupendous amount of power to the lazy and worthless main characters. It was just the right thing I needed.' Aru thought after reading through the notification that appeared on the blue holographic screen.
He graciously welcomed the addition of a cheat system in his transmigration journey. With it, he hoped to work less.
And considering the name of the system <The Ultimate Symbiosis System>, it was indeed the perfect match for him.
Symbiosis means a mutually beneficial relationship. However, if he tried hard enough, Aru was confident that he could turn the relationship into a parasitic one. That will fulfil his dream of never working again.
'Yah! Hooo! I hit a jackpot.' Aru thought and lifted his hand from the trinity totem. It didn't matter to him anymore what the shaman said about his talent. Even if it was trash level, he knew he had hope.
'How about hiding my talent and living as a good-for-nothing for the rest of my life?' A smile formed on his face just thinking about it.
The shaman was shocked to see Aru smiling even after receiving bad news of his trash talent.
'What great mental fortitude!' He noted the child's smiling face in his mind. Aru was a kid that he had to remember just because of his willpower and ability to handle a loss.
A misunderstanding was thus formed interpreting the devious smile of Aru into something positive.
The spirit awakening ceremony soon ended. However, Aru still didn't get any free time to try out his new ability to create links with living creatures. He had to go along with the tribal chief to the training ground to learn about spirit energy gathering.
Even if you had boundless talent, without knowing how to use spirit energy, the talent would not be able to blossom. They knew that. So, the kids were immediately taught to control and gather spirit energy.
Aru walked along with the rest of the children towards the training ground of the tribe. The winter had already begun and it was snowing slightly on the mountain the Boulder tribe called home.
Tiny footprints were left behind in the snow as he walked. He tucked in the thick clothes that were made out of animal fur to combat the cold that was creeping up on him. Maybe it was due to his tiny body, the cold felt especially harsh to him.
After a while, the group of kids and warriors reached the training ground. Dozens of burly men were training when the children walked into the training ground. They were swinging large clubs and lifting enormous stone weights to strengthen their body.
Curious glances were directed at the children for a while before they continued with their training. The warrior knew it was the day of spirit awakening. So, they were not surprised to see kids coming to the training ground with their chief in the lead.
The warriors bowed at the chief once they approached the centre of the training ground. The chief nodded back.
The chief of the Boulder tribe, Kal was the strongest warrior in their tribe. He was the pillar that guards and protects the tribe from external dangers. So, everyone respected him.
"Children. Today, you awakened your spirit. It is time for you to become the real warriors of our tribe." The magnetic voice of the chief quickly captured the attention of the children. They understood that the chief was about to say something important to them.
"Your journey as a warrior would be met with challenges. Becoming strong is not easy." The chief stated and paused.
He met the eyes of each individual child before continuing, "But it will be worth it. All the challenges you face along the way will allow you to grow and become a pillar of our tribe. With strength, you will become capable of protecting the tribe from dangers and help us survive. So, try your best and make your parents proud…"
While Chief Kal was giving a blood-boiling speech, Aru's attention was directed towards the holographic screen that popped up before him.
According to him, The yada-yada speech was useless. His adult mind was capable of finding the loopholes and tricks hidden in the tribal chief's speech. It didn't interest him to listen to propaganda.
So, he carefully looked at the system screen once again.
[Initiate link - Grass stalk<spirit energy 0.001>]
[Confirm
The system screen that popped up before him was displaying these words.
'I can even link with a normal grass? This is too awesome.' Aru found out once he tried to establish a link with a stalk of grass that was near him.
'The information about spirit energy might have something to do with link condition. I need to dominate another lifeform with spirit energy before linking with it, right? Should I test it on grass? Should I make my first link a grass?'
Aru was tempted to try it. But he promptly shot down the idea before he made an unalterable choice. Grass was nothing when compared to the 3 points of spirit energy he had. He could easily dominate something much better with the spirit energy he has. So, selecting a simple grass stalk would have been a mistake.
'I need to think it through before selecting my first link. After linking, I might gain more information about how this system works. The system is too stupid to answer my questions, I have to explore and find my way.' Aru decided.
'Besides that, I don't how valuable links are. I can't waste it. Although the mission says that I could get one after completing it, it doesn't mean that there would be more missions that I can complete to gain more links.'
Meanwhile, the chief continued his speech by describing honour, pride and the history of the Boulder tribe. Aru completely ignored everything he heard. After all, he was not going to make the same mistake again. He didn't want to work like his previous life after being roped in by the honey-coated words of his superiors.
'Maybe something larger would be better for my first link. A pet perhaps? Or even a giant tree? How about something with a long life span? Anyway, that guy needs to shut up before I can do my stuff.' Aru thought while looking at the chief.
Aru's eyes were twinkling like stars just thinking about his master plans to utilise the system well.
The chief saw this and thought his speech was great. So he became even more descriptive.
He thought Aru was worshipping his image of giving a speech when he saw the joyous expression and shining eyes of the child. The misunderstanding led to the speech being significantly lengthened.
"...So, work hard to become strong. Fight for your future and never let anyone tell you otherwise. Bloodline talent is not everything. Some people are more talented than all of you. But hard work will surely pay off." The chief paused and lifted his arms. "LIKE THIS." He screamed and an image of a stone giant twenty feet tall manifested behind.
"This is my spirit. The representation of my strength as a WARRIOR."
"Even though you have awakened your spirit today. It has yet to shape into a form like mine. Your thoughts, knowledge and willpower will shape it in the future. And it might become strong like mine."
"So, Never give up." The chief shouted. Heeding his command, the illusory image of the stone giant lifted his arms in the air and smashed into the training ground.
"THUMP." The snow-covered ground shook and caved in leaving behind a crater with a radius of ten feet.
