Sam's room was fairly simple. A big enough space, with two beds against the opposite walls. An attached bathroom, two cupboards and with a common big desk to share in the middle. He didn't have that much stuff to bring with, or much less anything. He didn't wanted to wander off in the Empire to buy on a whim just then, and instead wanted to accomodate himself in his room, preferably with the System. He slumped down on the bed and sprawled out. Looking at the wall, he mentally commanded the System to open.
Apparently, when he was Giving his application to the dormitory department, which was just another big room with a Dean, he said that Sam's roommate might pop-up at any moment as the Fate Selection may go on for a few more days to accommodate all the kids to be selected who couldn't make it in time or ones whose situation might be different. Till then, he could lock his room and hope he didn't get any roommate, as he wasn't in the mood of sharing his adventures with this System. But he'll have to get out of the room on the orientation that will take place as soon as the Fate Selection is over.
Anyways, the Status Page now had unlocked all Four in the Progress Half of that Page. The System wasn't just that, it had tabs with the titles of Inventory, Logs, Destiny, Map and lastly, the one and only, a Locked Icon on the last Tab. "Hahh.. I guess everything didn't unlock yet. But still, this Destiny Tab can be too good to be true if it is what I think it is.."
He had pressed buttons on the screen along the way and figured a few things out. Inventory is simply just that, he could put things that he was holding if he thought about it and also if he threw it at the hologram and thought about it really hard, it went right in. It had a grid like base, showing sort of an image like icon with the name and amount written underneath.
Map showed the location of the areas he had uncovered, like some parts of the Academy and some of the capital city, but it didn't show The Castle for some reason. Probably because something was interfering, which hinted that this System wasn't too much of an Ethereal existence, as if rather being deeply connected to this world.
Destiny Tab showed the four unlocked Destinies in a compact and minimal manner. Those Four Pages could be opened separately to view information about the Destiny and most importantly how to progress in it. For now, everything was locked. The system was suggesting some basics to go over before he could get to start unlocking the skills that were locked by it. Magic showed his Mana Core in 3d, Cultivation his Whole Body in 3d with the soul orb connections, Demonic Weapon showed some of the weapons from the Fate Selection that Sam had a chance to observe and Enlightenment showed some information about technology, knowledge and the lingering Presence of the mysterious Beings, and all of those Four pages came with the chunks of information describing them respectively and the Basics. Although the system mainly fuctioned on a sort of 'Progress', it still showed a small but fair amount of information on ways of getting around it. The one that he managed to uncover was what he was excited about.
The Logs Tab showed the past messages by the System, and When Sam harmonized with all Four, A special message piqued his interest.
[ System will be offering a single Free Chance to unlock Any One Skill from Only One Destiny, on the achievement of unlocking and harmonizing with All Four Destinies. ]
"A fucking freebie on ANYTHING!.. Although only One Skill, But it could be anything.. Hm.. So Magic, Cultivation, Demonic Weapon and Enlightenment. Last two are off the table, as I don't have a sword and well.. I ain't comfortable with them Shady beings. Cultivation.. A Spirit Cultivation huh.. It may be helpful later on. But I have to go with Magic! I mean there are many possibilities. It is Magic afterall. So what could I possibly get? Hm..." Sam had decided as he gazed at all the locked options of Magic. He could choose anything, as far as he could think about. But what if he chose wrongly, or what if it didn't go well with choosing what he thought was correct. He thought about it all night.
***
"Alright.. No one could possibly be here right now.. I mean I'm right at the corner of these fields and it's midnight. Yeah no one is here. So let's go. System show me the Skill."
[ Skill : Fireball Spell ]
Aspect : Fire Element
Information : (Locked)
———
"That's it? Atleast show me a bit more info before I unlock it.. I mean I am taking this one Chance to Unlock anything from you.. Urgh." After the hours which turned the night into midnight, Sam had grown so confused that he even thought to keep this chance for later. But greed, or any other sins of his mind got the best of him, as he couldn't keep his eyes off the message. This was his first chance to see what this System could do for him. Or Maybe he wanted an edge to get ahead of everyone.
In any case, the most confusion was about the decision. Even the System popped willingly with a message, that he could choose anything, but if he did so thinking that he would automatically gain something good then he would be wrong. He wasn't even sure he could use it if it wasn't at his sort of level. The System did work on some sort of progress.. Maybe He would take years to just use this one Free chance. Brushing all these thoughts away, he had decided immediately. Good things could come later on, it wasn't like something would eat him if he chose something simple but usable now and also preferably not if something did wanted to eat him that he couldn't use this skill he unlocked. He had decided, on the Fireball, simply because he remembered that in most Anime it was an amazing skill to have.
"Alright System. Do it. Unlock this Fireball Spell and let this be the start of my journey to becoming the best magician! Even though my mana core is the lowest of the low... I Will Be the Best! Yeah! Let's go. I'll make the most out of this Transmigration and System in this Fantasy of a world!!"
He got dizzy for a bit as streams of information pooled smoothly in his mind. Then he felt fine in the next instant, and was bombed by a few more messages by the System.
[ Fireball Spell Skill Unlocked ]
[ Progress made in the Magic Destiny ]
[ For Making Progress and Unlocking a Skill, 5 Destiny Points are added in the Status ]
[ On the achievement of Unlocking First Skill and Making The First Progress, System is Rewarding Sam with Teleportation Scroll (Localised) × 3 and Basic Healing Potion × 5 ]
Instead of being excited, Sam instead went, "Fuck. Fuck. No. NO! You couldn't have let me waste my free chance like this. No it shouldn't have happened like this. Fuck, why did you.. couldn't you just inform me... Can I take it back system?? Please.." Apparently he thought that Fireball is such a basic or begining spell, that could be in his arsenal right from the start. But when the pool of information was stored in his head, it said that it should be used with a Bright Orange Mana Core or a Red Mana Core. And it would take weeks.. or months to reach that point even with the System's help.. if it is going to be any, as after this, Sam wasn't sure the system would make it so easy for him.
"Urgh... You know what! Fuck off. I don't care, I'm using it. What's the worse that could happen. Fuck the System, I have the Procedure and No one can stop me now. Let's go and stop whining, and instead try it and see what happens. It didn't say that it wasn't possible, it just said that it should be used with that core. Yeah, At the very least it may be a weak effect right? Yeah! That must be the point they were going for and I'll be content with just at the very least performing it, hehe. System show me the Spell information on how to use it."
[ Put out your hand and start focusing. Feel the energies in the air and separate out the Mana Particles. Use your Mana Core's connection to the hand to connect with the Mana in the surroundings. Start condensing the Mana Particles near the hand. When condensation reaches the critical point, shape it into the Fireball Spell by thinking of its main attributes, Light, Heat, And Air, and focus on condensing it in a spherical form. When the Spell has formed enough to the point that you could 'feel' it as a ball with the connection through the Mana Core, Think of releasing all the particles around your hand all at once. It should fire off in the direction you are projecting it. ]
[ Note : Recommend to perform it in an open area. As the area of effect may depend upon user's mana core, mana particles condensation, proficien—
"Yeah yeah. I know. Let's just do this. Here I go with expecting little-to-no disappointment." Sam put out his right hand, and closed his eyes to focus better. He could instinctively feel where his Mana Core was in his body, and he tried to connect that feeling to his hands. He could be bullshitting himself, but he somehow felt he could 'see' the Mana Particles separating from the energies near his hand. He focused on condensing it, and soon tried to add the attributes. Air was simple, for Heat he had to condense more, Light came lastly and Naturally. He opened his eyes before firing it off with a loud "Fireball!"
His hand jerked back with an intense joint pain as he saw clearly the spell had worked out. The dazzling embers that sprouted out from the ball of fire, the smooth trajectory it made with a 'whooshing' sound in the air, and how the energies in the air reacted with the ball of energy as an invading force. It all looked beautiful in that instant. It came down with a loud 'Thud' and how the ground broke in even pieces like a very small explosion, charring the area of impact with flickers of flame.
It happened all so quickly. Before Sam could even have a cheer on somehow pulling it off so brilliantly, he lost control. The last thing he saw was plummeting onto the grass before losing consciousness. Alarming messages still sounded in his mind subconsciously.
[ Warning : Mana Core is drained off all the mana and soul orb in the hand has recieved a shock at the impact of releasing. Those vulnerable parts of the body are being blasted with high amounts of energy from the surrounding air, they are condensing rapidly to fill the pseudo-vacuum. Vitals are falling below the danger level due to the condensing energies invading inside the body. ]
[ Failsafe activated : Vitals have fallen below danger levels. Allocating focus on controlling the energies— Teleportation Scroll Found in Inventory. Processing... ]
[ Familiar location found in Sam's Subconsciousness with considerable less amount of condensing energies. Using Teleportation Scroll (Localised) × 1 to... Sam's room. ]
The young body was enveloped with the even more mysterious energies strikingly different from the teleportation slab and it smoothly disappeared unnoticed.. although leaving a questionable amount of flames which quickly burnt out without much attention.