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Chapter 3: A New Home

A soft, refreshing rain fell on the forest. The drops fell first on the high tops of the trees, before sliding down leaves and branches. Some of these drops penetrated the ground. Others flowed along a rocky outcrop before beading on a sharp angle. From time to time, yielding to gravity rather than capillarity, they would fall and end up in the open mouth of a naked young man leaning against the rock face.

Priam was drinking for the first time in three days, and this simple happiness brought a tired smile to his face. He wasn't physically exhausted because resurrection relieved him of that inconvenience by returning him to the world in top form. For the same reasons, he was not mentally exhausted either: resurrection seemed to give him the benefit of an excellent night's sleep.

Priam was alert, and sound in body and mind, but emotionally worn out. He hadn't talked to anyone in almost five days, but he had always had a solitary side. Loneliness was not weighing on him yet. But he finally had time to breathe while waiting for the rain to stop under his rock. Time to think. He didn't know when he could talk to a man again. Or to a woman...

Coming to Elysium was supposed to be hard, but Priam didn't think it would be this hard.

"Without [He who eludes Death], I would have died every day I was here. Without this perk, I wouldn't have been able to feed or water myself. Of the winners of the Tutorial, how many humans will choose to come here? How many of them will be able to survive even a few hours? This world is huge, bigger even than Earth. What are the chances that I will meet this tiny fraction of humans?" Priam asked himself.

Despite his defeatist words, the young man did not allow himself to be overcome by pessimism. If he could believe the Tutorial, the beings at the top of the food chain in this new universe were pseudo-omnipotent or omniscient. Sometimes both. If he stayed alive, he too would eventually become powerful. And if very few humans were to be transported to this particular world, he would escape from Elysium to find the other survivors of the Tutorial.

Almost comfortably seated on the stone floor, Priam thought about his progress.

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Congratulations, you are dead!

Your perk [He who eludes Death] brings you back to life once a day.

Number of deaths: 4

Synergy detected with your perk [Humans adapt]. Your body is rebuilt and will be more resistant to what killed it:
VIT + 8
CONST +2
PERC + 5
[Touched by Aether] - Adaptation time: 18 days (previously 21 days)

Lvl Up: [Heat Resistance] lvl 7,8,9
VIT +3
You have gained the skill: [Thermal Resistance].

[Thermal Resistance] - Thermal energy is the kinetic energy of agitation of the molecules and atoms of a body. From now on, your body is more resistant to heat energy transfers by conduction, convection, or radiation.
However, it was a bit extreme to immolate yourself to gain this skill.
CONST +1

Lvl Up: [Thermal Resistance] lvl 2,3,4
CONST +3

Three [Passifloras Aether] consumed:
VIVA +30
WILL+10
CHAR +10
Lvl Up: [Osmosis] lvl 2
PHY+1
META (AFFI) +4

[Touched by Aether] - Adaptation time: 15 days (Aether Passifloras accelerate the adaptation of your body)

Title won!

[Pseudo-Phoenix - Bronze] - You have been burned to death. Your entire body turned to ashes. Impossibly, you survived. You follow the path of the Phoenix and learn from your failures. Be careful that they do not cost you your last life. Or worse.
Flames that don't hurt you heal you.
Honestly, most flames still burn you. Maybe not the ones from the matches?
VIT +10%

[He who eludes Death] Charge: 0, Recharge in 15 hours at 0h.

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While analyzing his progress, the young man noticed that the cause of his death influenced the attributes he received. Vitality was undoubtedly the attribute that benefited the most from the synergy of his perks. One could easily deduce that it governed his resilience and therefore, his resistance to death. Being in shape, recovering quickly from injuries or illnesses, and perhaps extending his life expectancy...

However, depending on the cause of his death, other attributes - physical ones for the moment - enjoyed an improvement. Priam suspected that the smoke that had clouded his senses just before his death was the cause of his increased perception.

Thinking back to his death the day before, he shuddered. He was proud that he had chosen his death and knew he had no other choice. He had mainly died of asphyxiation, but he had still felt the flames burning his body as his mind evaporated. The sensation of being burned alive haunted him, brief as it was. How many more deaths would he endure before feeling safe in this new world?

At least it wasn't useless. The attributes boost is insane. The equivalent of 50 skill levels! But the smell...

During his resurrection, he smelled an excellent odor of grilled meat. It took him several minutes to realize that his own corpse had made him hungry. The thought still disgusted him.

Distracted by his thoughts, and as he took advantage of the relative calm to better understand his new powers, Priam rolled a seed between the fingers of his right hand. At first glance, it looked like a peach pit. But unlike an ordinary peach pit, this one was enveloped in a milky aura. This was his reward for surviving three days. Unfortunately, in the future, other rewards would consider his unique talent for dodging death. The System seemed responsive and would not allow a bug to be exploited, no matter how small. It's not like I'm trying to kill myself. It's this world that wants me dead.

He remembered the notification he had received.

Congratulations, you have survived three days! You are now more familiar with Elysium.

Reward (one of your choice):
Habitat Seed
Bastion Foundation
Underwater Bubble
Elementary Core
...

Important: In the future, activating a means of resurrection during the survival period will reset the quest counter.

The list of rewards was very long, but all these items had one thing in common: they were supposed to create a tree house, a cave bastion, or an underwater base. In short, a place to live.

Priam had chosen the Habitat Seed. He had nothing against an underground stronghold but had seen many more trees since the beginning of his adventure than massive rocks. A tree would therefore be more inconspicuous. At least, he hoped so. The other rewards were not necessarily intended for humans used to living on land and in quiet environments.

Right now, Priam was thinking about where to base his future home. According to the information automatically communicated when he selected the seed, his tree could grow and evolve. This first reward could become a protected base in the future. He didn't want to sacrifice the future by choosing a remote location in the present. Right now, the only point of interest he knew was the portal.

"Basing myself near the gate is dangerous," Priam thought aloud. "Not everyone who goes through it is a pacifist vegetarian. Arnold made that clear to me... But if I can communicate or trade with them, I could learn more about this world and others. That would be a huge step forward. Not to mention another equally important benefit: I could monitor the arrivals. "

The rain was still falling, and the ground remained hard and uncomfortable. Priam was as naked as the day he was born. His clothes had all burned off in the previous day's fire. He was lucky that the fuel had run out before he was resurrected. But the young man now had a goal. He began to straighten up.

"According to the seed's information, I should be relatively safe by initially directing the tree's growth toward camouflage. I don't have to position myself too close to the portal. I could feel its activation from more than a kilometer away. I might as well be halfway between the portal and another point of interest. I'd have to explore the area around the arrival zone for that..." Priam decided while stretching.

The best-case scenario would be to position his base between the portal and a resource such as the Passiflora. If he could trade that resource for others, he would rise quickly. Priam had played enough management games to know that a few resources at the beginning of the game could create huge cumulative interests over time. Compared to Arnold, Priam knew he lacked personal power. He could bet that his other rivals would all be stronger than him.

If he had managed to finish the Tutorial in record time, it was almost the fault of a bug. His luck had been incredible, but the other champions would have passed the tutorial honestly. Against them, I don't stand a chance at the moment. But the important thing is not the present. The important thing is to progress and become the best. I need resources for that!

With his decision made, Priam decided to begin his exploration directly. He preferred walking in the rain to sleeping in the rain. The night before, he couldn't sleep a wink between his fear, the discomfort of his position, and the water coming down his burrow. Using his sense of direction, he began to walk along an imaginary circle with the gate at its center. He was far enough away from the portal that he didn't have to worry about running into a future arrival. And if the Passiflora tree was close, then other interesting - and potentially permanent - resources should be available...

Let's hunt!

As Priam began to get used to his new home and tried to act rather than react, a portal activated in the center of a particular clearing. Within seconds of activation, a humanoid stepped through the portal.

The creature seemed to be a cross between a tree and a human. Its color ranged from olive green to emerald green. If Priam had been able to analyze it, the System would have told him he was looking at a Drya. These asexual creatures were usually peaceful and wise, and their Guardian was no exception. Only their absolute mastery of the aether and their asexual reproduction had saved them from extinction.

Opening his eyes to this new world, the Drya smiled. A world so rich, vast, and full of aether would allow his people to grow. But the Keeper knew they would have to earn their place. Even as the grass whispered its secrets to him, the Keeper walked away, stroking the blades. The wind whispered to him that a natural enemy had arrived recently.

Drya was serene. It would take him only a short time to prepare for his opponent. His lips parted, and a shamanic whisper flew out to blend naturally into the order of things.

"[Communion]"

As the Keeper disappeared into the forest, the blades of grass lying under him straightened. The wind carried his scent away. Nature was protecting one of her own.

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Under the Elysian Suns, on top of a hill, stood a young woman. Eyes too bright, skin too golden, and curves too perfect betrayed an inhuman origin. She was undoubtedly exotic and even attractive, but something was terrifying about seeing such a beautiful woman. Few men or women would have hit on this creature.

With her hair tied in an intricate bun and dressed for a ball, Esmée looked out of place in this new world. Coming in second - even before Arnold - she was the only one with a clear purpose. Better yet, she knew what she was doing. Why run around chasing monsters and collecting resources at random? Esmée left no room for serendipity.

Of noble birth, her father was the king of a solar system. This did not necessarily give her an advantage until she was twenty. Dragged into a forced marriage, the arrival of the Concepts saved her. There wasn't enough aether on her home planet to deploy her talents. Just enough to inform her of the approach of the Tutorial. The princess had prepared herself. All her life she had worked to increase the quality of her art, to better understand the spells that had made her family so powerful. She had taken a back seat where her siblings had continued the game of thrones. Today, they were lost in a ruthless Tutorial. She knew them well. They were arrogant and would try to pass the Tutorial on the highest difficulty. They would die trying. In the end, she would be the sole heir of her father.

Esmée manipulated information and probabilities. She gathered, deciphered, integrated, and then modified her plans. She preferred to call it a story. With a steady hand, she adjusted just what was needed, a simple touch here and there, to bring the chessboard into its optimal configuration.

Why foolishly confront a five-meter-tall mutant bear when you could send it to kill your enemies? Her power was quite literal. As the quill wrote on the ancient grimoire, the bear's story changed. It no longer finished eating every berry in the bush. Instead, it turned because of a leaf that had fallen into a fold in its ear. Normally, it would only have a one in ten chance of turning around. But Esmée selected this possibility. The movement caused a fearful bird to fly away a few meters away. The bear's gaze lingered on a scratch on the trunk of a venerable tree. A tree located in its territory. Another monster had ventured into its territory, and the bear was enraged. If it weren't for Esmée, it would certainly have eaten some berries before taking a nap. But because of the young woman, the furious bear followed the trail of an enemy. A bloody fight was coming.

She had hardly had to do anything. A little nudge to drop a leaf and a lot of aether to select a possibility. Surely there was a parallel universe where everything would have happened without her, but she had 'helped' things along in this universe. Her power required large reserves of aether, but here the aether density was phenomenal.

The young Princess would arrive only at the end, when her adversaries were defeated, and strike them the coup de grace.

Satisfied, she put down her quill and looked away. From her hillside, she watched the newcomers. Her [Author] eyes could see for miles. The Drya would be complicated to handle. Its sensitivity to the aether protected it from grotesque manipulation. If a leaf fell off, he would feel her trail. But if she couldn't manipulate him quickly, other rivals weren't so well protected.

She had even managed to modify a probability using her Tutorial reward. As a result, the First hadn't felt her coming. Perhaps he was asleep at the time, or perhaps something had diverted his attention. Her anonymity was her best protection. You didn't kill an opponent you didn't know. Unfortunately, the First had an annoying talent. If she manipulated a possibility again, he would develop a resistance to it. For now, she preferred to go after the other rivals...

Esmée took up her pen and opened a new page.

"[Author], [Prophecy]"

The pen began to trace words on the blank page.

"Arnold felt the portal activate. He interrupted his exploration. Should he go and see? Yes, his orders called for it..."