The cave was quiet.
No dust bats. No echo worms. No skittering cave mice. Just the stillness of stone, faint mana in the air, and the slow pulse of a confused little slime.
Hestia sat motionless in her jelly like form, not quite knowing how to sit, but doing it anyway.
Inside her, the voice returned. Gentle and infinite.
Sol* "Now that you've evolved, you're ready to understand what governs this world. Are you prepared?"
Hestia* "Yes. I want to know, I want to know everything."
A flicker of heat pulsed in her core. The surrounding darkness bloomed with light not physical light, but symbols, numbers, threads of meaning. The System unfolded before her.
Sol* "The System is the code written into existence. It defines growth, struggle, and transformation. It watches all things that live, and all things that die."
Hestia* "Including slimes?"
Sol* "Even the slimes, yes. Though you were never meant to interact with it this deeply. That's why your kind had never seen evolution, before you."
She rippled, remembering her kin, the other slimes bouncing blindly through the caverns. Eating. Splitting. Dying.
She felt bad for other slimes, they had no system windows. No glowing messages. No future.
But she was different now.
Sol* "Let's begin with Levels."
A glowing spiral appeared in the air before her.
Sol*"Every creature begins at Level 0. To reach Level 1, you must gather 100 xp. Then it doubles for every new level you want to reach."
[Example of levels and xp required]
To reach Level 1 - 100 xp are required, to reach Level 2 - 200 xp are required, to reach Level 3 - 400 xp are required, to reach Level 4 - 800 xp are required, to reach Level 5 - 1,600 xp are required. This progression keeps going on and one, infinitely.
Sol* "Each time you level up you gain 3 stat points, you can invest them in durability (investing in this will make your body stronger and physical attacks against you will do less damage), speed (upgrading your speed will strengthen your battle senses, allow you to move faster and perceive world in different speed), strength (this quality will allow you to do things that need a lot of physical effort by enchanting your muscles), health (by allocating points to your health you will be capable of surviving longer against any type of attack or environment and you will be able to survive heavier attacks without having much durability), magic (if you choose to invest points in this then you can choose from various types of magic, although there isn't a set amount of points that are required to learn a magic type, you can get lucky and learn it with a single point and you can spend 1000s of points at single magic type and never unlock it, on top of unlocking magic you will have to train your mana in order to use spells that you learn), and finally spellcapacity (this is fairly simple, after unlocking any type of magic you can invest points in magic capacity, each point invested allows you to learn or create a single spell from said magic path)''
Hestia* "What about inborn skills? Since the first time I saw my status window, there has always been this particular skill"
She felt it then. That strange pull yet again. The one that had drawn xp from dying creatures nearby, without even touching them.
Sol* "Inborn Skills are abilities everyone is born with. These skills are granted at birth, and each being has exactly one, though skills can overlap between individuals, except for special tier inborn skills that are granted to one being and nobody else in any point in time can get this skill."
[Skill rarity explained]
Common - Basic utility or combat skills. (probability of having skill of this rarity is 42.9%)
Uncommon - Slightly stronger, often with minor passive boosts. (probability of having skill of this rarity is 27.5%)
Rare - Specialized, often situationally powerful. (probability of having skill of this rarity is 16.9%)
Epic - Game changing skills in battle or survival. (probability of having skill of this rarity is 9.6%)
Legendary - Abilities with wide, reaching effects or high power ceilings. (probability of having skill of this rarity is 2.9%)
Mythical - Borderline broken. Often tied to strongest of abilities imaginable. (probability of having skill of this rarity is 0.6%)
Special - Unique. Only one person in existence can have the same skill of this category. (probability of having special tier skill is close to 0, to be more precise about 0.0001%)
Sol* "You posses a special skill, if you open your status window and click on your skill it will show a brief description of what it can do"
Hestia opens her status window with heist and finally sees what her inborn skill can do.
[Status windonw, inborn skill description]
Name: ''Experience grab''
Description:Your body passively absorbs 20% of all xp earned within a 100 meter radius from you, even if you have no part in defeating the enemy. This skill can be applied to any allie without distance restrictions, after gaining allies or subordinates you form a link with them that allows you to negotiate for part of their experience, any amount of experience that they earn, they can transfer to you. Deal can not be broken after it has been made.
Sol* "You have to learn about evolutions as well, as you know you already accepted first step of this. At certain milestones, the System offers you to evolve, first evolution is granted by beings that have ascended mortal realm and are called Gods, this evolution is triggered after reaching level 25, you will get a chance to evolve on levels 50, 75, 100 and then every time you break another 100 levels, but these changes will be different because system will offer you multiple paths that are based on your style of living and you will have a chance to choose your own path"
Sol* "The evolution you just took ''Slime Guide'' is your first step. With it you now have me and I will be there with you until the very end, on top of that you should be able to control your body a little better than before."
A silence passed between them, thick with meaning. Heistia was trying to understand everything that she had just learned.
Then Sol's voice softened.
Sol* "I know, it was a lot to take in, but be in ease you will have plenty of time to understand what it all means, and you can ask me for help any time you need."
Hestia's body pulsed. Her mind stirred. For the first time since her birth in the damp cave darkness, she understood the path ahead wasn't a loop of slaughter and survival, she could actually change something and live.
It was a spiral.
Ever upward.
She tought to herself
Hestia* "I will grow. I will evolve. And I will become strong enough to never be scared again."