The Place Where Everything Begins

One had to know that every Tutorial, organized for various races and species to undergo before they could finally live on Ortus, was all held based on the respective races' strength standards.

That meant if the goblin race, one of the lowest-ranked races, had to undergo the Tutorial, the 'designers' had to design a suitable tutorial for the goblins' standard strength.

Furthermore, the System would also aid in some processes and approve the designs from the designers in creating the Tutorial..

Like in the goblin and human races, such concepts were also applied to the stronger races such as dwarf, elf, vampire, ent, druid, minotaur, feline, werewolf, lizardman, draconian, and countless more races.

To be frank, the stronger the races were, the harder the tutorials they had to go through.

However, the rewards that every race would receive, mainly in the form of SP, black star, and white star, were more or less equal to one another, regardless of how strong the races were.

For example, a goblin with average strength went through the entire Tutorial and received one black star as a reward. Simultaneously, an elf, which happened to be an intermediate-rank organism, also had average strength within its race, then the elf would also receive roughly the same amount of reward, which was one black star just like the goblin..

The System had set up such a rule and concept to prevent the strong races from becoming even ridiculously stronger than they usually were.

Let's just imagine a case of a werewolf, which was a high-rank organism and initially very powerful that the weakest of them could already move faster than sound speed. Then what would happen if most of them eventually received more skills and countless stars from the Tutorial?

If so, the planet Ortus wouldn't be habitable anymore and would be wrought havoc upon by the higher ranks races...

Furthermore, by using such a calculating and judging method to give out fair rewards, every race that had to undergo the Tutorial would have roughly the same starting line as the stronger rances.

The stronger races received one black star...

The weaker races also received one black star...

At least, the gap wouldn't widen anymore...

For all those reasons...

That's why most people referred to the System as an impartial existence in the first place.

However, everything had its exception...

If within one race, there was such one person who could totally crush the strength standards of his own race and eventually became an outlier of his entire race.

Then that person would undoubtedly receive much higher rewards accordingly, too.

In a case like this, even the impartial System had to bend and eventually gave out fair rewards towards the person who had broken his own race's shackles and created a platform of his own to stand.

Still, such a case of an outlier existence within his own race was 'nigh impossible' to occur.

At most, the person would be two or three times stronger than his own race's strength standards, leading him also to receive two or three times greater rewards than most populations of his own race.

At least, that was the case until now... until before one human had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and promptly crushed the entire first stage of the Tutorial...

To be exact, such a man, who broke every rule and common sense prior to his emergence, had finally appeared within one of the tutorial zones organized for the Le'Liac human from Earth.

It was, no doubt, the first time someone had accomplished the highest level missions within the first stage of the Tutorial.

The man, who had broken all the previous belief and common sense, was none other than Jeremy...

...

'Let's see...'

'The third reward is a rank-8 title named The Unnatural Blender, which comes along with a talent called Natural Balancing... As for its ability, it can help me harness one more unique type of energy...'

'Quite an ironic, it is... for the title with the word 'unnatural' to have a talent with the word 'natural...'

Upon thinking up till here, Jeremy shook his head slightly before looking at the talent's description...

...

The Unnatural Blender (Rank 8): For you, who is an unnatural existence of your own kind and has accomplished many unmatched achievements. The System shall grant you the title of 'The Unnatural Blender'.

Natural Balancing (Talent): After being activated, you will be able to have another unique energy type within your dantians without any side effects.

...

'Oh? Without any side effects?' thought Jeremy in amazement.

One had to know that most existing titles in the Universe starting from Rank 3 onwards would be accompanied by a special 'gift' after being activated by its owner.

Regarding the so-called 'gift, sometimes, it would come into the form of an affinity boost. Other times, one might get an additional talent within the Status Window, which could boost the owner's comprehensive capability up to the next level, just like Jeremy's titles so far.

Another time, one might get a trait out of a title. Even though it was a rare case, it still occurred occasionally.

Lastly, the title's owner might get a physical or mental enhancement on something that most people on Ortus called 'latent attributes' such as strength, agility, intelligence, etc.

All those enhancements, coming along with titles, were deemed very hard or even too hard to obtain by most people.

That's why getting even one low-ranked title was hard enough, let alone getting a high-ranked one...

After looking at the talent's description for a few more seconds, Jeremy promptly nodded his head in appreciation and thought,

'Very interesting... Indeed...'

'It looks like a new door has just opened for me. Like this, I can wield one more type of unique energy other than Mana. However, some in-depth research still needs to be conducted as I cannot risk my dantians imploding from my carelessness...'

On Ortus, it was widely known and understood that most organisms could only use one type of unique energy such as mana, aura, qi, curse, blood, nature, divinity, etc.

Such a rule was applied and imposed on most beings in the Universe since their birth; even the former sage, Jeremy, could also wield only Mana in his past life.

The unique energy affinity, of which most of the time, wasn't shown within one's Status Window because of some unknown reasons imposed by the System. For example, Jeremy's sky-high mana affinity was also not shown in his own Status Window.

Due to such a rule that an organism could only wield one type of energy, that's why when Jeremy realized that he could use one more type of the unique energy, he felt like a new door had just opened to him...

'Come to think about it; I already have an affinity with another unique energy, Divinity... Which means... my second type of energy is pretty much decided? Or I can have another type as I want to?'

'Well...'

'It looks like some in-depth experimentations are needed, indeed...'

Shaking his head to discard the thoughts, Jeremy shifted his attention back to the last reward on the interface.

'A rank-9 title... The second-highest achievement of mine so far, only below the Mage of Origin.'

After thinking so, Jeremy looked at his last reward on the rewarding list...

...

The Undestined One (Rank 9): For you, who overrides every existing record in Ortus history. For you, who has achieved unprecedented performances by outperforming and overcoming the destined fate of your own kind. The Universe itself shall grant you the title of 'The Undestined One'.

The Invisible Hand of Fate (Talent): After being activated, you will be able to steal another person's lifetime luck to enhance your own fate. (Cooldown 2 months)

...

'Holy shit! The title granted by the Universe again? So, the rank-9 and rank-10 title will be granted by the omnipresent guy, huh.'

After seeing the talent's description, Jeremy thought with wide-open eyes as it looked too good to be true.

He had to admit that this talent was very overpowered as he knew all too well that the mysterious concept of 'luck' was essential for inhabitants on Ortus. Even though he didn't know how it specifically worked, he still knew that...

If people didn't have luck anymore, they would die...

Also, if someone's short-term luck were stolen away from them, they would be faced with many misfortunes and miseries for a period of time.

Luck was considered a latent or hidden stat that differed from person to person, which clearly meant it couldn't be perceived with naked eyes, but one had to be felt and observed independently.

Regarding how the so-called Luck worked, Jeremy wasn't quite sure about such a thing either because he specialized in mana and magic after all.

Furthermore, the concept of luck was only utilized by the people with 'Divinity'.

Back then, living and saving his own life was tough enough as he had countless enemies from all sides. Some demigods and dragons even deemed him as a must-kill enemy...

In the end, Jeremy wasn't leisure enough to make more enemies out of the demigod rank or higher existence for the sake of experimentations to clear his curiosity.

'Stealing luck to enhance fate? Hmm...'

Jeremy had absolutely no clue about how luck and fate interrelated to each other at all.

Maybe, he might have some clues within his sealed memory, but right now, he was genuinely ignorant about the relationship between the two things.

Then as if having thought of something, Jeremy pondered to himself,

'Also, isn't the talent's ability to steal someone's luck the same as that bastard, self-proclaimed Demigod of Misfortune? He is such a troublesome guy that no one wants to make an enemy out of him regardless of the cost.'

'Still, from what I remember, the guy cannot steal people's lifetime luck... but... he can steal people's short-time luck so many times consecutively...'

'Hmm... How do those concepts of luck and fate even work anyway?'

'...'

*Sigh...*

After thinking hard and still finding no clue from his current memory, at last, Jeremy let out a sigh before thinking to himself,

'After arriving at Ortus, I hope I won't tire myself to death with so many research topics to be done.'

Shaking his head slightly to discard other thoughts away, Jeremy shifted his attention back to the new notifications before him...

...

『 The evaluating and rewarding sessions have been completed 』

『 You will be teleported to your destination in the second stage of the Tutorial in 15 seconds 』

...

Upon seeing the last notification, Jeremy smiled slightly and said into the dark space,

"I request for special access to the Store of All Things."

...

『 ... 』

『 ... 』

『 Request has been accepted... 』

『 A total of 1x★ has been deducted from your star account for the special access 』

『 Detected the teleportation has been in the process; commencing the cancelation procedures 』

『 The teleportation process has been postponed until the special access is concluded 』

『 Initiating the connection to the Great Merchant... 』

『 Initiating complete... 』

『 Now, you are connected to Mercury, the Great Merchant 』

...

After seeing the notifications and feeling a faint mental connection with the so-called Mercury, Jeremy smiled in satisfaction,

'Alright, let's do some more shopping...'