The Third Party

Chapter 2 - What do you mean by "Concept?"

Sitting on the bed, Ken slowly tried to understand which panel would fall under one umbrella that would encompass the information and general terms found above each panel.

His corporate trained brain in sorting information as he was a marketing manager – the highest position he could achieve – on his previous profession, kicked into gear, sifting through one panel after another.

A behavior he usually portrays when he feels swamped with differing materials he handles and work outputs his boss usually demands late into the night, or when the company has not reached their quota, yet the deadlines are right around the corner.

One that he doesn’t know he uses to try and lessen the gravity of his situation or how unfamiliar the task is – a frequent occurrence since the company changed their boss later on -.

Sometimes when one of the aforementioned events occurs, he would later expect chaos in the workplace as everyone under his team would disorderly pack and dump their outputs on his table, leaving him with a throbbing head right after.

Thankfully, aside from his family, there was another thing that helped him greatly in lessening the stress in his life, when he discovered gaming. Contradictory when all forms of media, articles and studies, even those reliable ones, would agree otherwise over using games to “destress”.

But he was a firm believer of the principle that when things are predictable to maneuver or solve, then he doesn’t need to worry and stress about the outcome. Playing offline games was more favorable than online ones.

He was still well informed about gaming culture and the environment they hold. After all, what would his experience of working in a company while holding such a position be worth for.

Another factor that he finds himself fascinated with, is that there was so much to explore when it comes to incredibly curated, well designed, mind challenging, satisfactory games he has played, especially the ones where he gets to explore, craft, and combine certain “items” to create a different object that would have been better suited than the ones he created before.

This was also evident with how those objects he tinkered on were one of the sole reasons why he was able to pass a challenge or a level in the game.

Reading through the information in the comfort of the bed, a small smile tugs at his lips, the sight of familiar concepts, tugging comfort, close to home.

Panels slowly grouped themselves on different groups, forming small and semi large clusters of information, opening the different options on the windows, stats, the menu, a map…?

‘I’ll check it out later.’ With a thought, the panels filed in a line.

White, if he was an entity with a form and a body, felt its head shake, the information given to his host was already sorted with the very important pieces of info at the front and the least at the back.

What does this mental stress and challenge hope to achieve?

The person in question was more curious about another thing.

“Concept…. Excuse me Mr. White, what does my ability mean?” he was genuinely curious, partly because most of the things he experienced is related to well defined abilities, one with a glance anyone could understand.

He was expecting to gain fire abilities but… this… will do?

No, not really.

“My apologies, for the sole reason that it’s an ability where you’ll be the one to explore its functions, only this text, will… might help”

Turning to the refreshed panel, a passage reads.

‘He who reads is fortunate, now imagine”

That’s not in the slightest bit, helpful.

“May I ask some input from you Mr. White?”

“I apologize.”

“Is---- Oh, that’s… okay and fine.”

Exploring what these interfaces could offer; people would usually settle for what would be accessible to the eye.

But Ken was different, he opened every option, every accessible page, found an interface where he can equip armor, accessories and the like, opened an interface for inventory, tried putting the blanket he used.

His eyes twinkling in delight at the mere thought of putting the blanket in and it did just that, the same happened when he took it out.

Placing it neatly on the bed, he pondered on the tools at his disposal. Will these be enough?

Though he has to agree that thinking that way about what these things may offer is useless, after all, the tools he has are unchangeable. Wonder what he could do with a certain ‘ability’ he has//.

“Mr. White, may I read a definition of what “concept” is from the world I came from?” a little pause.

“Certainly”

“It does not violate the restriction placed upon you from “helping” me Mr. White?”

“According to the rules… it does not”

“Then I’d have to trouble you, my utmost appreciation for the assistance.”

How is this person able to deduce that he is capable of such feats? “May I ask what you’re going to use it for?” as far as white was concerned, no other host did such a thing, not that he had attached himself to one even with the coercion of other systems like him and the supreme system that governs them.

Then again, it was his choice not to associate himself with his fellow systems. Too much of a hassle, as for accepting this host and the mission given to him on abrupt notice, he doesn’t know why he accepted it just that, when normally he would be skeptical at first.

He’s getting off track, where was he? Ah yes, this host, is certainly very peculiar.

If White would have read a general information about his host or focus on that one hobby his host has, then he would understand why.

“I’m going to try and experiment whether my hypothesis was true or not.” replied Ken as the information provided by Ken floating on his hand.

“Hm…. Concept: Fire magic” a small ball of flame appeared on his other hand, a smile slowly forming on his lips, the glint of his eyes twinkling at the success of his experiment.

‘How’ White was quickly having an existential crisis.

Maybe he should not have given his host the ability yet? But………… The chaos of his thoughts creating turmoil on his mind.

The person in question seemingly enjoying whatever he was doing, as one fireball turned into two, then four, then a dozen more, all in varying sizes, intensity, brightness, and density.

“evoke various interpretations huh. Then I need to put them under one umbrella then. Concept: Fire magic Ability” a symbol of fire formed in midair, circles and patterns writing itself around it as it slowly formed some sort of magic circle.

As the process finished, a burst of gentle flames appeared around the ‘Magic circle’ as it disintegrated into red essence, floating towards Ken, the wispy color settling down on his heart, as it drew a cute fire symbol.

“What did you just do?” This was not supposed to happen this early in time, and what is that symbol on his host’s heart? Most importantly, why does it has it’s own energy, like it was an ability one can find on the repertoire of the Supreme System?

White felt his head throbbing…. In whatever fashion it wished.

“I didn’t want to keep using the ability you gave me, and since it holds ‘Concept’ I figured that it’s capable of generating a skill as well, looks like my hypothesis was true.” The faint smile of confidence evident from Ken’s very being.

Small, yet, assuring.

With a wave, the balls of fire gathered into one and faded away, this was fun. As Ken continued to experiment more on what he could do with the element of Fire through his ‘Fire Magic’, he felt himself gradually understanding the dozen possibilities he could do.

His spirit brimming with energy, eyes focused and mind racing, the once white vast expanse, slowly had a shade of red, orange and yellow colors.

What would his siblings say if they saw their elder brother doing this, would they smile? Crowd around him while jumping in excitement coupled with barraging him questions one after another?

Or would they hold a silly little dance, just them three? Ken doesn’t know, but he holds those memories of similar experiences fondly.

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