Zogarth
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Chapter 1052 - Bombshells
🕑 Added 2025-01-13 12:21:02 +0000 UTCAccording to many scholars in Paths, Legacy skills likely made up the majority of all skills in the entire multiverse. From huge divine factions having an untold number who walked Paths entirely made up of Legacy skills to a master with a single disciple to pass down aspects of his Path. It wasn’t odd for someone from the Holy Church or an assassin trained by the Court of Shadows to have more than ninety percent of all their skills be Legacy skills.
The skills were rarely – if ever – only from a single individual, though. As a way to combat the negative aspects of someone only inheriting the Path of a single other individual, Legacies from entire Pantheons were instead given, allowing those capable to pick and choose from all the different Legacies, ultimately forging their own Path.
A good example of this could even be seen with the Order of the Malefic Viper. Nearly every alchemist had Palate of the Malefic Viper, with many also wanting at least a few more due to the synergistic effects of the Malefic Viper Legacy skills, but they rarely ever had more than a few. Instead, they had teachers and masters who helped them get other skills, which they mixed with the ones from the Primordial as well as the skills they had formed themselves – a practice the Order actively promoted.
Jake was a bit of an odd example for this as the majority of his Profession skills were related to the Malefic Viper, but that was because he was in a situation where his Patron and the guy who usually gave him advice and taught him was the same person. Not that it had particular negatives as Jake wasn’t merely walking the same Path of the Malefic Viper, was simply using his Patron’s Path to support his own.
Either way, the point was that there was no need to avoid Legacy skills as long as the Paths you learned from didn’t end up entirely overshadowing yours.
Besides, even if one wanted to, they were impossible to avoid...
Especially if the Legacy skill in question was one you had no idea was even a Legacy skill in the first place. Even more so when it was a skill where it made no sense at all that it was a Legacy skill in the first place. At least not from Jake’s point of view.
Back in his Soulspace, he had to take an extra few moments to read that first portion of the book properly to ensure he hadn’t misunderstood the bombshell of knowledge that he was pretty confident would send shockwaves through the multiverse if ever spread.
After double, triple, and quattuordecuple-checking that he hadn’t misunderstood anything, all Jake could do was lean back and mutter to himself.
“Bloody hell...”
Now, If Jake had learned that a skill such as One Step Mile was the Legacy skill of the First Sage, he would have totally believed it. If he was told that one of his alchemy skills, even one of the more basic ones, was actually a Legacy skill, Jake could also readily accept that. Shit, even a skill like Legacy of Man could make some sense as it was about passing down Records and knowledge. Then again, in some ways, one could say Legacy of Man was already one as the First Sage had been human. It was still possible that the original Origin had been the First Sage, though...
However, nothing could have prepared him for the skill it actually was. A skill so innocuous that Jake had never even considered it could be a Legacy skill for even a moment. A skill Jake had with him nearly from the very beginning:
Meditate.
It was a skill Jake had automatically gained upon evolving to E-grade... and a skill that the vast, vast majority of people in E-grade or above possessed throughout the multiverse. From enlightened to monsters, Meditate was known as a basic skill that anyone had. All it really required was for one to be sapient, and you would get it.
And now Jake was staring at a book saying that this was a Legacy skill of the First Sage.
No, not that a variant of Meditate was his Legacy skill. The very concept behind Meditate was bound to the Records and Legacy of the First Sage. Any variants across the multiverse were merely outcrops of what the old man had created, branching off or attempting to build upon what the First Sage had made. All of this while Jake suspected no one had the slightest clue it was a Legacy skill in the first place, much less that its Origin was some old human who died while in C-grade.
Jake also finally understood why the First Sage said Jake should consider keeping this to himself, even from Villy. The old man had also said directly that it was Forbidden Knowledge, meaning that it wasn’t even as if Jake could talk about it with anyone else. However, this only left Jake questioning things more.
Why was it Forbidden Knowledge in the first place? And if it was... why did the system allow the First Sage to tell Jake at all? Villy knowing Forbidden Knowledge made perfect sense as his Bloodline allowed him to remember, but Jake wasn’t like that. All his Bloodline could do was Jake vaguely feel that he had maybe forgotten something, but that’s about it. Yet with the First Sage, it seemed to not bother hiding anything.
Did he do something, maybe? Jake wondered. It didn’t feel like the First Sage had done some weird stuff to allow Jake to know, but needless to say, there was no realistic way to find out. It was also possible that the First Sage was simply aware of the secrets he was allowed to tell Jake, thus having avoided any forbidden topics during their conversation. He did mention a few times that he couldn’t share some things, so that interpretation made a lot of sense, even if it didn’t explain why Jake was allowed to learn what he learned.
It could also be because of the way I’m learning it, Jake also wondered. An explanation that made more sense. Path of the Heretic-Chosen was effectively the system deciding what Jake was allowed to see, and it had allowed him to see the First Sage. Even if the old man had used nineteen Transcendent skills or something dumb like that to set up their meeting, it was ultimately the system that allowed it all to take place.
The more he thought about it, the more certain Jake felt that the reason he was allowed to learn all this was due to the method he used to first hear of the First Sage. His Path in relation to Villy was that of a Heretic-Chosen, someone who viewed himself as an equal to his Patron, and what was more equal than sharing huge secrets? It felt like a flimsy explanation, but clearly, the entire route to Jake eventually meeting the First Sage had started from the Malefic Viper, and the system had even pre-ordained their meeting the day Jake received his boots from the Tutorial Challenge Dungeon.
Shaking his head, Jake turned his attention back toward the tome in front of him. While this meeting with the First Sage had given Jake some answers, it had left him with far more questions. All for later, as for now, he wanted to at least get a rudimentary understanding of how exactly Meditate could be a Legacy skill.
All the basic common rarity version of Meditate did was increase resource regeneration while cutting off all senses from the outside world. Jake had initially compared it to sleeping but later learned it was capable of a lot more – oh, and not as good as sleeping, at least not for Jake. He used the skill all the time to concentrate, courtesy of his Serene Soul Meditation skill that helped calm his mind while in meditation.
Jake theorized that the basic version of Meditate was indeed just one aspect of the Legacy skill boiled down to its basics. One concept focused to its extreme. A concept that was already pretty damn powerful in the first place.
Reading a bit more in the book, the first chapter did touch on how Meditate worked. Jake had assumed it worked due to system-fuckery, and after having read the explanation, all he could do was nod and agree with himself that whatever the fuck the First Sage had done was pretty much the same shit as system-fuckery. At least if Jake wanted to comprehend the actual underlying concepts and not just get a surface-level understanding.
Anyhow, according to the book, Meditate essentially just stimulated the connection between the concepts that allowed resource pools to passively regenerate – fundamental law controlled and directed by the system - and the resource pools in question, resulting in increased regeneration. The “cost” for this was that the layer of the soul allowing external perception had to be entirely focused on enabling this effect to take place.
However, the First Sage made clear that despite it seeming like a cost, it was, in fact, just a secondary beneficial effect in his book as it allowed one to focus more on the inner world, be that through the movement of energies within the body – the Soulshape – or even the Soulspace for those capable of connecting to that.
Jake read these explanations in the book put on plain text, as he couldn’t help but also question the format of information delivery. Many of the books Jake usually read were mostly glorified audiobooks for any sections of heavy writing, though there were also many instances of it being written normally. Even In those cases, the text tended to be super fucking small, or the pages seemingly expanded when one looked at them, but the book left by the First Sage wasn’t like that.
Instead, it was like the writing in the average book Jake could have found back before the system. Well, besides this one being handwritten, even if the writing was so perfect it could have been a machine with the font also consistent throughout. Jake wondered if this choice of format was due to the First Sage’s past as a normal pre-system human. As a librarian, he would have no doubt read plenty of books, if not perhaps written a few throughout his many years working the job.
Not to say the book was normal in other ways. Just the pages with normal writing on them. There was still plenty of magical bullshit going on with it, especially when one considered that the book was effectively just a representation of Records.
Continuing to read a bit further, Jake was in the zone, trying to really take everything in and internalize whatever he learned. Admittedly, none of it was very useful quite yet if Jake wanted to upgrade his Meditate skill, but Jake wasn’t worried in the slightest as he knew all this was simply laying the foundation for when he would eventually begin to delve deeper into the skill and the ways it could be upgraded.
He also began to understand why the First Sage had left this book to him. Meditate was a skill all about connecting with your inner self and, in concert, one’s soul. It was a skill about regeneration and healing. One of reflection and growth. A truly multi-faceted skill that gave one the ability to understand oneself better, and through that understanding, power could be uncovered.
That’s when Jake remembered something else. He remembered one of his talks with Villy about the Dao Sect and how they apparently had a Meditate skill part of their Legacy that allowed one to gain experience simply by meditating. He also remembered the Sword Saint, who had a meditation skill that allowed him to gain experience when he was doing an odd sword dance... once more just making him realize he had much more to understand about Meditate.
Jake continued reading a little more until he had to stop. He wasn’t in the right mindset to be reading the book right now, as whenever he learned something new, he couldn’t help but be taken aback at just how far the First Sage’s influence had truly spread.
The First Sage was overpowered as fuck. Of that, there was no doubt. He also knew that the old man had left a lot of Records with Villy, who later became a Primordial, his Legacy forever part of the Malefic Viper’s. However, he couldn’t even begin to comprehend the sheer scope of things with these new revelations.
It really was everyone who had Meditate. The system gave it out as a basic skill upon evolution. Didn’t that mean nearly everyone unknowingly carried Records related to the First Sage? That everyone had part of his Legacy? Just how many Records was that? How the hell had he managed to create a skill the system later decided to make this universal?
Closing the book, Jake shook his head. It all felt like too much, and he felt pretty damn confident there were way more shocking revelations just waiting for him. On the one hand, he felt that he could really have done without all this knowledge, but on the other hand, he was incredibly grateful for the First Sage to have left this book to him. To have left a fragment of his own Records... even if the old man probably did have some motive behind it that Jake just wasn’t smart enough to understand. Then again, he didn’t feel confident anyone would be smart enough to outmaneuver that absolute monster.
With the book out of the way, Jake was faced with his next challenge... talking to Villy. He considering doing something else first, but he really shouldn’t delay his discussion with the Primordial more than necessary.
He still had to decide what he wanted to talk about and what he didn’t want to talk about. The biggest topic Jake was split on was obviously the book and the bombshell regarding the Meditate skill, but there were also many other smaller things Jake was doubtful about.
Jake ended up taking a few minutes within his Soulspace to reflect before he decided to just go with the flow on things. He didn’t like keeping secrets from Villy unless he had a good reason to, so Jake also chose to mention the things about Meditate.
Opening his eyes in the real world, Jake gave the eels in the pond a smile and a nod as he stood up and went back into the lodge and down to the lab. Down there, he got things ready before he reached out to the Primordial, and from how quick the answer came, it was pretty obvious the god had been waiting.
The connection was formed, and Villy was the first to speak.
“You met him, huh?”
“Yeah,” Jake spoke out loud with a nod, having already set down a sound isolation barrier, and the small ritual he had made allowed the Viper to hear him speak. He had done it like this partly to know if the system would somehow stop him from physically talking if he wanted to say certain things. He didn’t know if that was a thing, but it was interesting to test.
“That does explain the upgrade to Sagacity. I noticed it immediately when I felt a drain from the drop of blood within you as if the Records were being rapidly extracted, and I don’t know anyone but him who would be capable of triggering something like that. Well, outside of you doing it yourself,” the Malefic Viper spoke.
Jake was silent for a moment, really feeling unsure of how he wanted to approach this entire conversation. “He is definitely the most overpowered individual I’ve ever come across. But... you don’t question that he was even able to directly help me during the vision?”
It wasn’t as if how the visions during Path of the Heretic-Chosen worked was a secret, and the way this vision had gone was entirely different from anything before.
“No, no, not really. I’ve long stopped being surprised about what the First Sage was capable of,” the snake god said with a nostalgic tone.
Jake had originally wanted to save the entire Meditate topic for later, but he felt that the setup was too good, so he decided to just drive right into it.
“Hey... listen, the upgrade to Sagacity wasn’t all this vision gave me,” Jake began.
“I figured as much. Even from here, I feel the lingering Records of the First Sage upon you. He left you with something, didn’t he?”
Jake nodded. “Yeah, a book within my Soulspace. He left a fragment of Records behind as a final act before the vision ended, and it’s this Record Fragment I want to talk about. More specifically, what it’s all about...”
Without further ado, Jake explained what he’d just learned mere minutes earlier. He didn’t get very long before he dropped the bombshell regarding the Meditate skill. After he did, he allowed the Primordial time to speak.
Villy was silent for a few moments, long enough for Jake to question if the god had even heard him or if Jake had somehow gotten censored. However, just before Jake spoke up again. The Viper started laughing. Jake was taken aback as he’d never heard Villy laugh like that before. It was loud and unrestrained, and it took the god a bit before he finally calmed down.
Only to drop a knowledge bombshell of his own.
“So... so it wasn’t just Identify.”
Comments
Sawyer Anderson
HAH! I knew it! 100% thought that the she had created identify, and I was honestly surprised when it was about meditate instead. Thank you for vindicating me, Villy.
jujuxxbean
So the First Sage basically became the foundation the system built from. The do's (meditation, identify and who knows what else) and the don'ts (multiple transcendent skills, etc..) haha
Lynderyn
Sylphie: Monarch of Wind -> total control over winds Primal Hunter:? Monarch of Origins ? -> no knowledge of the origin of something can be considered forbidden for him
Dave
Tftc
Phil Ritter
I don’t think so first of all without a true soul there is nothing you can do not even for a primordial. If he wants to revive him simply from his records if something like that were possible he wouldn’t be himself anymore since they are all over the place. Unless he gets heavy system assistance I don’t think the idea would ever enter the room. And here the most important part: I don’t think the FS would want that. If his real goal was immortality I don’t see why he didn’t just ascent to godhood like Vilas said I don’t see a reason apart form himself stopping him from going further at least none we know as of yet
Greedsmith
I KNEW IT!!! God, the First Sage really was/is something else.
Josh Strange
Glad I'm not the only one... 🤣😅
Chloe
Reeee!
MrKorlares
My thoughts were more along the line of him mastering the natural law of the system. He did mention that the system itself was nothing other than a natural law, with sentence and taken to the extreme but yk... So he learned to manipulte the system and controll it, got way to overpowered and his Records to strong to ever evolve, thus deciding to end himself on order to spread his legacy to the Mulriverse through the recycling of the system. Thx Zogarth <3
ABTelford
I wonder if, next time Villy and Jake meet, Villy will have some item or method that will allowed Jake to manifest his memory of his journey with the first sage so Villy can see it. ? That would be really cool for our fav snake god. He deserves some more good stuff! ❤️🩹. And I hope we get a blurb from Villys point of view soon.
graham
he quite thoroughly explained how he was introduced to the system like 4 chapters ago. the system just had a lot less restrictions in the 1st era, allowing someone with a stupid comprehension rate to take FULL advantage of it
Kasey Lindenmayer
My biggest question so far is how did the FS not know who Jake was? He knew Carmen and everyone else but not Jake???
Peter Smith
I think its more due to his bloodline. As a primal hunter, he is first and foremost a hunter. But hunters seek things, they HUNT. Part of his bloodline is the primal origin, which makes me think that his bloodline lets him hunt everything, or turns everything into a hunt. And how can you hunt everything if you aren't able to remember anything. The only opposing idea of this would be how he could not remember the details from nevermore, but i think thats because he was going to find out anyways, so the bloodline didnt prevent the mental censoring, and now it will no longer effect him. Why take a harder path when the easy path gets you what you want without wasting extra energy.
Jordan Rogers
I feel like an addict doing constant refreshes for the next chapter every morning, like yo zogarth you got that good stuff?
Red45jimster
Hahaha jake should hold a competition first eel to swim up the water fall gets a evolution assist
Tyrone Jason
FS is a physical manifestation of the system itself. Either FS created the system to learn or vice versa. You heard it Here first.
Scipio
Will Jake be able to use some item in the future to bring back the FS using his origin powers?not sure he would since the FS chose to die but it may be possible?
Jordan Mazza
Imagine if it really leans into his instincts and bloodline to become One Step of the Primal Hunter. Imagine Jake being a god where they hardly die because they can just teleport and hide but Jake is like "hell naw One Step" and bam he appears in whatever super secret hiding spot his enemy had
Ty Cooper
Or Jake realizes one step is another legacy skill which gives him confidence in making it his own down the line.
Ty Cooper
I love rereads. Rereading this chapter has me wondering if Jake has a way around the forbidden knowledge restrictions. Like Jake just hasn't completely grown into his origin powers yet. Like since he will be able to scry origins at a glance at some point maybe to manipulate them, enhancing them, or whatever floats his boat that day. But he will be able to see the origin of forbidden knowledge so he gets to keep it. The FS might just let Jake know forbidden knowledge and so now he can. All is possible.
Jordan Mazza
I really wanted it to be One Step Mile, but there's still time for that to be true since he's barely into the book
DestroyrBuck
It's forbidden because it would make every god and genius in the multiverse attempt to make skills that are given to everyone by default like meditation and identify. They would try to make skills that are so common everyone can receive them. Imagine if Jake had started with 50 skills
SilverSentry
I agree. It wouldn't be like the Sage to only give him one thing to study. He's a massive cheat. He'll give as much as he can.
Demonshadow639
Hahaha
brjenness
a herd of future dragons
Christopher cashen
That’s a really good point
Hunter
The easiest explanation on why the system lets so much fuckery happen is because the first sage was a manifestation of the system itself to help it learn and evolve in its early stages. I don’t remember if it was Villy or another god but the system evolves with every knew universe, so maybe the first sage was its first attempt to learn more.
Asher Mack
I think the only thing that really supports that are his boots’ karmic ties…. And it is pretty convincing. I think there’s a good chance that’s on the money.
Rezkin
I knew it! I wasn't expecting meditation I thought it would be Identify, but both should have seen that one coming
Troy Telford
Identify and meditation! Woah - overpowered indeed! On another note; anyone else wonder if the eels in his pond will someday evolve into Jake worshiping creatures? Because he's been the looming overpowered presence above them their whole lives. 😁
Timothy Reichert
I totally could see Primal Hunter Mediation. A version that cuts off/reduces the bloodline perception for more regen or focus. If I remember right training in the soul space lets you see how far you can bend records in skills. So Jake trading a strength for even more power in another aspect I totally could see. As mediation cuts off perception if Jake makes it work on his bloodline It would improve the other aspects of meditiation.
MacMahon Wenzl
Well, Sagacity is basically a form of Identify. It wouldn't be to surprising that if the First Sage is also related to Identify.
Michael Ferguson
If the first sage is in some type of limbo he could become part of the system. My idea is the records provided to gods by the use of there skills is going to the system or Villy, in the case of sage skills.
Raymond De Jaeger
You got me with that switch :D I was sure it would be identify as well.
Michael Fannon
Not everyone. Poor Minaga never got them after all.
Steven Myer
Villy would have laughed at this.
Aaditya Ravindran
Haha. First Parsley, then Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme. 🎵
Richard Rader
I said Identify or Legacy of Man. At least they were both considered in the chapter.
Asher Mack
So sick of people going on and on about the First Sage but forgetting that there’s also the First Rosemary and First Thyme.
Asher Mack
You sir, are absolutely correct. Couldn’t agree more
Michael Ferguson
If the first sage invented all the basic skills for interacting with the system he could have been a OP god. Does Villy get records from those legacy skills? Or did he just get the sage's bloodline?
kinglemur
That’s fair, If I’m being honest when it comes to to pure control I don’t think there is a single entity in the multiverse that beats the FS, the only possible exception being Jake when he reaches godhood. I still don’t think the FS would be able to use the origin energy the same way as Jake (infusing it with the intent) or at least have a backlash of some kind that Jake doesn’t experience because it comes from him. Or it would just be like when Jake used it without intent like with sandy and sylphie, but not like when Jake used it for the ritual to awaken vesperia. If that makes sense
Michael Ferguson
Cool! I'm so excited for more! Thanks for the chapter!
Vinstro
Ahhh, what a wonderful and masterful chapter as always! The ending had me tickled laughing. Thank you again, Zogarth!
Joshua Little
Damn I was both right and wrong. My money was on identify being his legacy skill as he could tell so much about people but turned out it was mediate and identify. Probably all the basic skills the system uses. Thanks for the chapter.
LIMBO
Identify makes sense, it’s a core knowledge skill and the first sage is the embodiment of omniscience
Ravert
You're rather right but I'm still hoping for something with Primal hunter even just with a mention in the description
Stuart McCabe
TFTC "Especially if the Legacy skill in question was one you had no idea was even a Legacy skill in the first place. Even more so when it was a skill where it made no sense at all that it was a Legacy skill in the first place." ditch one of the "in the first place" 's. Awkward repetition. "Not that it had particular negatives as Jake wasn’t merely walking the same Path of the Malefic Viper, was simply using his Patron’s Path to support his own." missed out "he" before "was" "He considering doing something else first," should be considered
Admiral Dakbar
I’ve loved these last group of chapters! Really looking forward to seeing the rest of this conversation with the viper.
Daniel Brian
At this point, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the FS created the System itself through some kinda first Era magic...
Numbzy
Jake's soul is already incredible in universe. And with this upgrade he's added a fundamental upgrade to his ability to use it in the long term. Personally I wouldn't really want for more than that. Instead he could bring that usability to other skill before coming back to his soulspace itself.
Johnsmith
Honestly curious now if theres going to be anything the First Sage hadnt created/influenced
Bob Fight
Dude basically said this system sucks I’ll do it myself
Jerad Murphy
I'm not saying he is going to skip steps to godhood I just think that he has the capability to push his soul realm. I think that Zogarth will use this as a way for him to progress his skills outside of the MV.
BumAssBumAss
Identify was also acquired very early on in chapter 2 as a race skill. I think it's too early to disregard it
Jerad Murphy
I agree with both points. Just stating that I could see that this Soul Realm/Meditation issue could become similar to the HWFWM divine realm. I don't believe that PH will copy the same story line or be similar to Jason's storyline. However I could see it be similar in a way that allows Jake to progress his soul further than a typical C grade.
Aaditya Ravindran
Nah man, Villy got much more from the Sage than any other being. You don't need one book when you can learn with the librarian himself.
Jerad Murphy
I agree. I just think that Jake will start to progress his soul domain in a way that pushes it to a divine realm earlier then what is typically seen at C grade. I hope and don't believe that it would be this storyline would be a copy HWFWM, I could just see some parallels. Also i think this will be important when attempting to ressurect the Tree.
Aaditya Ravindran
I quite liked the initial HWFWM books. My introduction to LitRPG started off with Shirtaloon and Heath Miller. Then I started PH and Zogarth+Travis Baldree blew my socks off. I'm not sure if I just got used to the superior quality of PH (both Zogarth and Travis), but the later HWHFM books got a little too boring, especially after Jason conquerd his own domain/soul realm in the Messenger arc.
Hussein Zenki
first sage coulda been the god of the gods 😭
Frédéric Cantin
Tyftc
Numbzy
I would assume during the first era, everything was crazy. Thing were changing left and right as people made new and powerful skills that others picked up. Some skills were 'kept' as others were forgotten. Thing were crazy and no one knew what was happening. People were making the best of the situation they were currently in.
Numbzy
It's a great nod to a massive part of the community, but I am glad it's not a focus of the story.
Numbzy
So I am a little upset that Jake didn't start with FS's message for Vilas. FS told Jake that he was proud of Vilas. THAT'S IMPORTANT!!!! I'm dying over here. I need that! It's such a wholesome message! I am expecting it to be a great moment for Jake and Vilas. I am 100% looking forward to that. post comment edit: this is one time I want Jake to ask Vilas for help directly. Creating an image/video from memories. We all know that Vilas can do that but Jake hasn't figured it out yet. Vilas(and I) need that exact moment where Vilas is told that the FS is proud of him. That's a character growth moment and I need it!
Mike
The system could have ran system events that gave titles that gave the skills as well. As eras went on you just got them sooner
Joseph Irdanto
Yeah and out of all freeform magic, Identify was the hardest
Numbzy
I mean, Meditate and by extension Serene Soul Meditation, is already a race skill. It's potential of upgrade is unlimited. That being said, I do think it's too soon for a "of the Primal Hunter' skill for meditation. That being said, it is inevitable at this point. It will happen eventually.
Mike
Indeed there are rules that Jake breaks but it's a bit different. Also I don't see us skipping so many steps. We have a long road ahead of us to godhood no need to rush it.
Numbzy
Please no. While I enjoy HWFWM, it definitely has its flaws. Jason is a unique MC where he fits in his own story but would struggle greatly in other stories. Jason would struggle in the PH world where bullshit like he pulls doesn't really work.
Owen Kaz
Wow, holy crap that's nuts. 2 baseline skills. The real question on my mind remains if the Sage ever was a mere mortal man
Pekka Kohonen
Jake’s skill had to be a soul skill, because the Sage said so, I also called that, but there were two of them on the list. So I called that but could not decide which. Meditate made most sense though…
Pekka Kohonen
Maybe Jake will now get a “matrix view” of his soul with the “enhanced meditate” skill. Also maybe he can get the OG version of Identify as well, and he and Villy can swap skills with each other.
Seiryus
The Dao Sect are xianxia cultivators. That their cultivation is an off-shoot of Meditate is just the in-universe explanation of how cultivating works in a litrpg like this. Not that what you said couldn't be true anyway, just that this chapter doesn't give us much information about that.
Sailesh Kumar Kumar
TFTC
Dragon
No, this is so against what Jake is that it’s impossible
Rid
I mean we did get the past scene of the FS traveling through space (the void?) so possibly on his way to visit another primordial?! I can’t wait to see where this goes!
Jerad Murphy
Calling that Jake will create divine realm in c grade with meditate. Similar to he who fights with monster storyline.
Jordan Rogers
I’m betting on major connection to each of the primordials. Think the sage realized that no one would reach those peaks without his influence
Krispy sock
Nate, they definitely told you so.
Abbots Foley
Jake is the First Sage, or will be in an Origin Bloodline twist…
Ravert
I'm betting on it Jake upgrade meditate to something like Alchemy meditate state or "The focus of the primal hunter" what become his legacy skill
Matt Spratte
Lmfaooo 😂 😂 😂 😂 yo he is outrageously overpowered
Lonnie
Yeah I guessed identify
Jason Scott
I think it would be less of having to kill everyone and more being alone all the time and not sharing lives and stories. Good and bad times creates bonds. The human condition is not ment to be a solo adventure. Even if Jake is a solo type of guy he has bonds with so many people and is never really alone. FS would have been utterly alone.
Matthias
Tftc
Doug
Except there’s no clear answer as to whether the book only talks about meditation, or if there are more topics covered. I guessed that it was a book covering many topics, and the legacy skill was unrelated to the help in fixing his palate
Joshua Millins
Meditation is the distilled P.G version that the system allows to exist. The Original was likely busted as fuck like the Sage was known to do.
Tr0LLach
They are dummies because it was clearly stated the skill would help him fix his soul/palete
Trevor Mergen
Thanks!
Paulo Furlaneto
U are mean zog, why finish with that
Paulo Furlaneto
Holy shit
Paulo Furlaneto
Wtf
Polaris
Yeah he had to make it from scratch with freeform magic cause his unique skill is all he got outside of a few god skills
Dustin
Yeah I think the First Sage has the ability to know of most things that touch upon his Records. I originally thought identify would be the First Sage’s skill because it would explain why he knew so little about Jake. Jake can’t be identified. Even knowing there’s more to it Shroud of the Primordial hides Jake’s Records so it could be why the First Sage only knew small details about Jake.
Josh Hietpas
I FRICKEN CALLED IT. Like i was sad i was wrong but meditation makes sense. And then villy comes in with the save! Hell yeah!
Aaditya Ravindran
It feels good to be able to speak to Villy again. Oh boy did I joyously exclaim out loud when I read the last sentence.
Daniel Hamilton
I’m excited for Villy and Jake to be back together in person. Villy still has that present to give to Jake from the ingredients that are Yip of Yore (who knows what that will do for Jake) and then there’s Chito man’s bloodline treasure to examine.
Daniel Hamilton
So does Villy have a book? And the bigger question is, can they share them with each other? it’s crazy to think if Jake can get to a point where he’s constantly meditating and gaining experience in everything he does as well as massively improving his regeneration and power. Meditate just might end up, proving to be one of the most powerful skills he has. If he can gain XP from every act, sleeping, walking, training, etc every second his levels will skyrocket, or he will at least start to grow faster than ever seen before.
Ryan Linus
Good metaphor
ABTelford
From how hard the primordials say things were in the first era I’m guessing they didn’t have identify or meditate, or any basic skills. They had to create them all. Dang - that would make everything wicked hard!
Brian
So the Dao Sect is trying to follow in the First Sage's path of becoming one with the System?
Sushi
When/how soon exactly did the First Sage create these skills? Nobody in the universe could have known them until they were created. Did everyone in the first universe just get these skills later than normal? Or is there some weird time manipulation, which seems completely possible for the First Sage?
MarineDebris
So the FS got recruited by the system to be a developer, signed an NDA (with caveats), and has contributed to the system being what it is today. Villy did say that the system was a lot less sophisticated than now.
Nate
So to everyone saying "I told you so" concerning 'Identify' on Friday, no you did not... Everyone was guessing the legacy skill in the book of records, not 'name on of the FS legacy skills' because like others I feel that more of the racial skill like translate and even legacy of man (a teaching skill) both could be as well. Even myself who guessed his soul meditation skill don't feel I have the right to say "I told you so" yes, it is the evolution of the correct skill, but I had guessed the skill based on the word soul more than the word meditation
Ty Cooper
Oh wow! So just think how ridiculous the record gain from those two skills alone. Everything gets identify and most get meditate, except for Minaga, and the First Sage gets the bonus from all of them like Gods in tutorials. The records he had gained all the way to C-grade were so many. No wonder he just whips out Transcendent skills like pocket change. No wonder Villy is cracking up.
Boffadeez
Lmao yeah 93rd era type shit
kingofshibainu
I knew it!
ABTelford
Now that’s an interesting idea - if the first age somehow fused with the system and made it more sentient? That would explain why he had to die and how he knows almost everything - except bloodline stuff, which is outside the system.
Jamison Schneider
That and he may have made a back door of some kind to return after OP gods become old news 😁
Azayrian105
I think t this point I understand how the First Sage might have such an incredible breadth of knowledge now. He could be using the records he has with those legacy skills in each individual and just learn about them. Maybe through a transcendent skill or something like that so where his skills give him knowledge of who holds those same skills.
John Durrett
If you strike me down, I will become more powerful then you can ever Imagine!
Gavin
I mean that's the revelation today. What isn't clear is why it's forbidden knowledge
John Durrett
Ahh. Thank you. I must be from an earlier integration before HIM was crafted. He's the Shit existed in my time. lol
John Durrett
Spend enough time and picking boogers out of your nose and hitting a target can be a legacy skill. I think we are too focused on skills having "Legacy" in their title to consider and accept that a baseline skill could have been discovered and developed by someone else first and that all below legacy skills can be upgraded their effort.
Azayrian105
Hell it might be the entire path of combat to gain experience to gain levels. The entire concept of the path could have been set down by the First Sage and have been guided so that he could reach the pinnacle through that path.
Boffadeez
It's a modern slang term basically saying he's the shit. Basically a joke way to say he's far superior to anyone else. He is HIM
ABTelford
Oh! Ooooh! Oh my gosh, I wonder if that might be true?! …but no, too many things have said he’s dead…right??
John Durrett
The first system was in infancy. Far more unscripted. You could consider each integration of universes to be a version upgrade of the system.
ABTelford
Woohoo! Meditate AND Identify! 😀Those who guessed right, come on down and get your prize! (Bragging rights, but still😉)
Rewdan
Thanks Zogarth
John Durrett
FS is The Architect and Jake is Neo? Even the Matrix went thru several versions.
Tommy
FS basically the man behind all the major basic skills. He let himself die because he knew he’d be so OP no-one would be able to challenge him, but everyone would try to, and he would end up the strongest with no friends. Just killing everyone. But, through his records, has achieved a transcendent form of immortality anyways. My take on things! TFTC!
Schmidt
so First Sage for sure also made tongues of myriad paths, cause apparently he made every standard skill out there XD.
Harry Fitzsimmons
The first sages firs transcends was the start of the multiverse
John Durrett
I think I get 1/8th credit for having read someones post that thought it was going to be Meditate. :)
Devin Williams
I always thought that it was odd the boots had a connection to each Primordial, but if he had copies of himself teaching each Primordial then it would make sense. I'm thinking the copying aspect similar to Minagas
Andromeda Adams
Villy’s response is epic! I bet Jake was dumbfounded by that bombshell! Tyftc!
ReadingObsessed
God damn. That's some regressor shit right there! Identity AND meditate? Wow.
John Durrett
?
Arieh Sochaczevski
I was more surprised when the chapter said it was Meditate because I was expecting it to be Identify. Both or more is an even better answer! Thanks for the chapter!
Rui
isn't that because Minaga can't even any skills due to his own unique skill?
Almer Reyhan
Arghhh I caught up. Best 10 USD I've ever spent.
Almer Reyhan
HOLY OVERPOWERED
Endern
If I had to guess: Daofather is Meditate, focusing on training the Soul Malefic Viper is Identify, focusing on gathering Knowledge Wyrmgod might be One Step Mile, focusing on the Concept of Space Not sure we have seen any other skill that might be the Legacy of the First Sage. Valdemar's is one I feel like we should have some clues about, but nothing comes to mind yet (he's more focused on fightning so I don't think it's Legacy of Man)
Lynderyn
Did TFS create the skill to create a Devine Domain without becoming a god?
AfroMocha
I’ll go a step further and say he trained all of them and taught them one skill. Villy ended up being his favorite which is why villy has more of the first sage than the others but that’s assuming the FS didn’t spilt himself into twelve to teach them all at the same time villy is the only on that remembers cause of his bloodline
AfroMocha
Hahaha I called it identify was also a legacy skill!!!
Brian Small
“No, no it wasn’t just Identif-wait, excuse me?”
Zachary Drouin
If that's the case, who's the primordial that achieved God hood through meditate. If reckon is the Dao lord but there's nothing certain.
Fall’s Kiss🍂
It’s probably part of why he had to die. For a c-grade he was very op. He understood on a level others couldn’t yet comprehend.
Mat
For someone who takes advantage of forbidden knowledge, this might a gold mine for Villy. Anyone visiting book 1?
Dalton Dawes
Lol, when he said meditate I instantly thought of inspect.
kinglemur
Like imma be right in a couple chapters too
Boomer
Dude has like 10 transcendent skills it, manipulate it better than jake almost certainly, generate it Definitely not though. That stems directly from Jake's bloodline and his connection to the "his concept" for lack of better phrasing. Just like somebody else could manipulate his arcane mana and interact with it but can't make it we saw this with Arnold and probably Why that wizard lost his life after Jake showed him his barrier magic.
JB
Just fine? It's not a competition bro
kinglemur
I doubt it seeing as the origin energy has been stated as unique to Jake and his bloodline, I think it’s a byproduct of his soul and bloodline refining little bits of mana as it spend time in his soul, allowing it to transform into origin energy
JB
IIRC (i could be mixing this up with DoTF) but not everyone gets the language skill. Only those from the newly integrated universe freely get it. Others have to acquire it
David W. Baijense
TFTC!
Lawrence Dillon
First sage had to make the system lmao he coded something and then boom magic…. Time to get the modders together
Boffadeez
The First Sage is HIM
Devin Williams
The First Sage being connected to the 12 Primordials make sense now. All of them have variants of his legacy skills. I believe that each Primordial have skills other than Meditate and Identify tied directly to the First Sages transcendant skills.
Ralu
'He considering doing' maybe it was supposed to be 'He considered doing' ?
Beemoss
Tftc
SyndaXatrix
TYFC!! Villy and Jake truly had the coolest (grand)master of 93 entire universes
Joseph Irdanto
I remember that Minaga said one of the hardest skill to acquire is Identify, and he need to make his own version of it. It turned out it is true, Identify is a legacy skill. Holy hell.
Clint
He was a player who hacked the game so thoroughly that the company decided to fire their whole programming department and hire him instead.
JJB4345_80_815
Thank you for the chappy Zogarth! Umm... I'd like to up my membership to a higher tier that includes the next chapter please. ;-) Jake is the Harbinger of Primeval Origins, right? What if part of that contains the ability to gain knowledge of things that existed before and/or during the initialization of the System? While I do believe that being the Heretic-Chosen of the Malefic Viper is a key component of his ability to retain Forbidden Knowledge of the First Sage, I'm not yet willing to give up on a resonance between the Bloodline of the Immortal Mind and Jake. With the First Sage being obsessed with Records and Origins and Jake's Bloodline able to restore a bee egg into the Original Vesperant Lineage, I still think that there's more meat on the bone that we haven't been told about...
NovaZero
No fuck that. He was the Dev in charge of quality control so he smurfed all them transcendent skills and pissed off everyone else by going "lol bugs for days"
Clint
And then trying to erase all knowledge that such a person ever existed.
C0bra$
Thank u for the story
Clint
Wow. Meditate is such a great skill for Jake. His bloodline erases the cost entirely. Could see Jake fighting battles while in deepest meditation. And a meditation upgrade might be the solution to his sphere of perception being so overwhelming.
Kt-x
Oooh! Thanks for the chapter! 😁
Clint
Not the System itself, but 100% the System as we see it now. I wonder if the System was even sentient before FS died.
NovaZero
Villy and Jake are like terrorists. Just bombs everywhere. And the Sage is a fucking smurf just trolling them both with the whole "ded lul immortal mind"
Staudi
Tyftc Zog! Insane chapter once again.
Kjell
It's more like the system stealing the original code and claiming as it's own whil suing the og creator
Invictus Red
So the System is like when people get banned in a game for using 3rd Party Tools only for the developers to later roll out that same feature as a QOL update.
Kjell
Right now I would believe u if you said all of them.
Kjell
Is it the 9. august 1945? Or why did Zogarth decide to drop two atomic bombs on us?????
Starfall20
Holy Shit. The FIrst Sage is a Beast. You know, how many of Villy's skills are based on Identify and his Serpent Knowledge & Skillset? - Malefic Viper’s Poison - Blood of the Malefic Viper - Sagacity of the Malefic Viper - Sense of the Malefic Viper - Wings of the Malefic Viper - Touch of the Malefic Viper - Palate of the Malefic Viper - Pride of the Malefic Viper - Scales of the Malefic Viper - Fangs of the Malefic Viper Like at least half of these are based off of Identify, Palate, Pride, Sagacity, and Scales right off the bat. So Meditate and Identify, are definitely the sages, probably Endless Tongues of the Myriad Races (Unique), Any others?
Matthew Lemon
How many did he NOT make lmao? He's actually him
SilverSentry
He does have ties to all of them! I think with this revalation of meditation and identify we gotta pump those numbers up. Crazy to think about. AND he's still somehow tied into thr system and watching everything.
dragonslaver
Yes
dragonslaver
Hi! :D it just made sense!
NSaaby
I thing they bug tested the transendent skills with the First sage, before giving every one acces :D
dragonslaver
Hey I was half right!
A. B. Edwards
Ok, what the hell is up with the First Sage. Meditate and Identify? The System literally tells in the Identify description its something all but the youngest children have. Literally everyone. Its got to be more universal than Meditate. I am now sure things like Legacy of Man, the ability to speak all languages and even the ten path traits humans can choose come from him (the special trait like Path of the Hunter that Jake chose at C-Grade) and even humanities ability to pass on Records better. And since Jake said it, yes One Step has to be a Legacy of his as well considering how he moved. I would assume a good deal, maybe even all, of the "System Origin" Skills, those Skills the System gives to everyone, originate from the First Sage.
DestroyrBuck
Villy considers OS to be created by the system, but Jake had considered identify and mediation to be created by the system. Jake watched FS moving much, much faster towards the void break. Why couldn't that have been OS as created by FS?
Endern
So does the First Sage have 12 Legacy skills and the Primordials became Gods focusing on just one of them?
Leviathan
Ok, I know the first sage is pretty much system Jesus or however anyone wants to interpret it, but I would like to pose a small theory and then a question. So my running theory as to why the first sage wanted to meet Jake so badly and why he didn't even know Jake existed is because Jake and his bloodline are considered forbidden knowledge, or something equivalent to it that not even the first sage would know with a transcendence and his bloodline. Jake has already been described as an anomaly, an antithesis to nature, chaos incarnate, etc. So the first sage being so interested in him plays into him trying to just figure out why or how Jake exists. But onto the question as I know my theory has plenty of holes to poke in it, but my question for anyone interested in taking a shot at it. Could the first sage manipulated primer origin energy as efficient as Jake, or even at all
NSaaby
OOOOHHHH ! SHIT !
Dan
This would probably also explain why the First Sage's records are linked to the primordials, they've all been using his legacy skills the longest out of everybody, and there's probably dozens more we don't know about yet. Many of their existing legacy skills may have been created by the Sage, and the system just gave those gods a more personalized version of said skills; which would also be why the Sage had to die, is so his records could spread through the first universe and allow the primordials to more easily acquire variants of his skills. The man seems overpowered enough to plan all of that, at this point
Phasmatic7
Thankies
Michael Fannon
The 2 most basic and universal skills from the same person. Wow
Loststar7
Gods. Monster is barely adequate to describe the First Sage. Loving this lore dump. TFTC.
Profile Name
All of them for the funnies😂
Cory Sauls
Things just keep getting more and more curious. TFTC!
Gavin
I think you're missing the point. Meditate isn't a LS either (well before today) but it made sense because of how it seemed to work as a implementation of ones will over space in a way that seemed similar to how FS enacted his abilities
Daniel Wells
TFTC. I thought I had messed up guessing it was identify then find out he left Jake meditate. So that ending hit even harder well played author well played
Daniel Brian
I knew it! Identity was a FS Legacy skill!
Rick Delallata
Holy crap, the First Sage is freaking crazy
SilverSentry
Nah, there's potential that shoe could drop later on in the book of the sage.
Ritsu
I guessed Legacy of Man, but I was not prepared for Meditate or Identify. Hell, that means the Sage's records are spread throughout the entire freaking multiverse, and not just in humans! What the hell! There are lots of people thinking the Sage was/is a System Admin or something, no, he was a full-on developer.
SilverSentry
Dang. Someone called it on identify last week. So the old man really did cheat the system all the time and continues to do so after his death. Cool.
Nathaniel Ownbey
Is one step a legacy skill though? It seems to be mentioned just to add to the shock value of FS having made meditation.
Esch
So... Identify and Medidation. Does that mean that the translation skill everyone in a new universe gets when they are integrated is a Legacy Skill of the First Sage as well?
SmokeJam
I love it how the First Sage influence is developing. Great Saga!
Burkes
Ha! I guessed that the skill was probably identify the moment it was said it was a universal skill. I was wrong, but then i was right!
Powers
MEDITATION AND IDENTIFY?!
Seiryus
I mean, would it really surprise you if One Step is ALSO a legacy skill of his?
Zachar Holma
Bombshell after bombshell! Tftc!
Kevin Boyer
Tftc
Davey876
Damnnnnnn this first sage guy had to have something to do with the creation of the system
Joshua landry
Thank you for the chapter. as always i love this series
Tr0LLach
One-step dummies in shambles
Hudson Ashby
Darn you ZOG!!! why must you leave us with these cliff hangers!
Andrew Neino
How many basic skills did the first sage make?
Zachary Koffink
All the base ass skills are FS legacy skills. Let's go
Desmond Willey-peck
Tftc
Unlisted Pokémon Hudson
So the first sage is just the origin of all basic skills? Op af
Valhazstromoz
Jesus the sage is crazy his records are incorporated into the entire multiverse
Gavin
One step made a lot of sense given the way Sage used skills but meditate also makes sense given its connection to the soul FS was really the guy
joel southard
Nice thank you for the chapter
Unwillingmainer
Meditation and Identify, did the First Sage just make all the basic skills people everywhere get nowadays? Like he made them and the System decided that everyone should have a version?
Mohammed Sheekh
I FREAKING CALLED IT, everybody who said one step mile, how do you feel hehe
Jaroslav Zapadlo
Finally👍
JJMand
Damn I almost called it, I thought it was Jake’s variety of meditation skill that was the legacy skill, not the skill that is the root of all meditation skills.
Devillelouch
tyftc
Connor
Thanks for the chapter
Daniel Jackson-Woods
Tftc
