'Seed of Chaos' System

The next four days followed the same pattern: physical exercise and hero education in the mornings, followed by a light lunch, "killing training" in the afternoon, more hero education, dinner with a few natives, and the evening off. At no time were the Heroes allowed to leave the Castle grounds; apparently this was for the safety of both the Heroes and the natives. They would be allowed to visit the city once they passed a basic "Living in the Kingdom" exam, which would be administered on their seventh day in the Kingdom.

Alesha noticed several things during these few days. First was that, after the first two times, the "killing training" featured much smaller, weaker monsters. She guessed that Captain Swallow had been trying to maximize the shock value of killing and death early on, then desensitize them gradually with regular exposure over time -- and as much as she hated it, her previous experiences allowed her to reflect on the Captain's training logically and reluctantly approve. Since the Heroes were essentially supposed to be a special military force, exposing them to death and killing in a controlled environment was ideal. The Captain had even said as much when she'd introduced the training: that it was better to discover any battle-incapable Heroes as soon as possible. 

Another thing she noticed was that while many of the natives treated the Heroes with reverence or even worship, there was a certain distance that many of the higher-ranked natives kept between themselves and the otherworlders. It wasn't so much a physical distance as an emotional one. Though she couldn't quite describe it, somehow, she got the feeling that they were wary of the Heroes. 

It wasn't like she could blame them, either. She herself was intimidated by her fellow Heroes' strength. When Skill Training began on their fourth day in the Kingdom, the insane power the others already possessed went on full display. Harriet the Elementalist was able to successfully contract with six minor elementals, one of each element, on her first try. Jake the Dragon Knight could already partially dragonize, though at the moment the only thing he could transform were his hands. The Necromancer Keenan had already managed to gather a small army of skeletons, using the weaker monster corpses from "killing training." Alesha was intimidated by the fact that although Necromancers should (logically) have a fairly stringent limit to how many undead they could control early on, Keenan was already in command of about four dozen skeletons. Sure, they were the weakest kind of undead, and he hadn't been allowed to attempt controlling skeletons of any strong monsters yet, but wasn't that still a lot? It didn't help that Keenan seemed to be the very definition of "edge lord," either. She could easily picture him snapping and going on a rampage at any time.

The other Heroes displayed talent and skill not at all inferior to one another… the only one who fell short was, of course, Alesha. She had quickly gained a reputation for being the "Useless Hero," a moniker that gained traction especially quickly after the fourth day, when her skills as a Symbiotic Mage were compared to those of Sullivan and Natalia. While they had leveled up enough from the "killing training" to gain access to reverse parasitism, mutualism, commensalism, and ammensalism spells, Alesha could only use the most basic parasitism magic.

The more she learned about the Symbiotic Mage class, the more she hated Gaia's curse. While it was cool that she could temporarily steal a portion of the stats of her target, because she was stuck at level one, it was such a small percentage that it hardly even mattered. That was especially true in comparison with the other Symbiotic Mages. 

Not only were Sullivan and Natalia able to obtain new kinds of magic, but those kinds of magic could do such incredible things. With Reverse Parasitism magic, they could temporarily "gift" their stats or even skills to other people -- which could be an incredibly useful emergency medical treatment while a healer was being retrieved, or allow several different kinds of Symbiotic Mage spells to be cast at once by utilizing people who didn't have the corresponding class. Mutualism spells included a variety of powerful party buffs. Commensalism magic allowed the caster to "emulate" (basically copy) the stats of a target, without affecting the target at all, whereas Ammensalism included a variety of regular debuffs that hurt the target without affecting the caster. 

During their Hero Education the first day of skill training, before it began, Captain Swallow had even mentioned a kind of Advanced Parasitism magic that could continuously leech either stats or skills off the target so long as they were alive. It seemed a lot like a curse that benefited the caster to Alesha, and would likely have been a great workaround for her "Hated by Gaia" cursed title… but, of course, it couldn't be learned until level 50.

It was so frustrating. 

[Aleeeeeeeeeshaaaa,] the System whined for what must have been the thousandth time, interrupting Alesha's bedtime contemplations the night before the "Living in the Kingdom" exam.

What? Asked Alesha, who had recently gotten used to the System's new behavior. It had been acting weird the whole time they'd been in the Kingdom. She couldn't decide whether its behavior was closer to seeming drunk or like a child, but either way, it was annoying on a whole new level. The worst was when Rogork had decided to make various strange noises during one of Captain Swallow's lectures, coming far too close to making Alesha laugh during a very serious discussion about the living situation of the poor. 

[Cooows go MOOOO! Roosters Cock-a-Doodle-Doo! What about you?]

Are you asking what sounds I make?

[Nahhhhh,] the System drawled, afterwards somehow making noises like it was gargling water, despite not having a physical form. [Teeheehee!]

This really isn't like you, Rogork, she sighed. Hurry up and get better already. 

[I'm tryyyyyiiiiing!] It said in response, then began to cry. [Why are you so mean to meeee?]

Alesha felt a pang of guilt at that. How many times had she been upset with the System for its unreasonable treatment of her? And what, she was doing the same to it now? Rogork had already confirmed that it neither had any idea what happened to it nor how to restore itself. What did she expect from it? To suddenly come up with the answer, to magically get better?

Sorry, Rogork, she ended up saying. I was being unreasonable. I'm not sure how much of what I'm saying actually gets through to you right now, but that's not your fault either. I'm not frustrated with you. I'm frustrated with the situation.

[Weeee! Yayayayyayayayayayayayay, mhmmmm hmm hmmm hm hm~] With that, the System devolved into humming tunes Alesha couldn't recognize. 

As she was about to fall asleep that night, Rogork suddenly started singing in her mind. The "singing" was closer to a half-yell, half-song, though, and it was uncomfortably out of tune.

[da da da DUUUN DUUUUN, DA DA DA DAAAAN DUN, DA DA DA DAAAAAN DUN, DA DA DA DUUUUUUUUN!!!]

"GAHHH!" Alesha yelled in surprise at the System's sheer volume. It was far louder than any sound she had ever heard it make before. In a voice thick with exhaustion, she asked, "Gahhh, Rogork, why'd you do that?" 

[MUAHAHAHHA!] The System laughed evilly, almost making Alesha think it had gone back to normal. That is, until it continued singing, this time in lilting, cheerful tones. [~The lark and the bike ate some crepes by the lake, singing happy tunes while the wizard wrote some runes!~]

She rolled her eyes and laid back down, attempting again to fall asleep. The System's continued singing made that rather difficult, though.

[~The witches came to join, riding on a coin, looking mighty fine with their lives on the line. The King brought some soup, the Queen a hoola-hoop, the carriage had a marriage with the baggage full of cabbage, and the mule used a tool to send his uncle back to school. It was a happy day, day day, day day, the moon had come to slay, slay slay, slay slay, la da dee la da doo da la da dee da la la la laaaaa!]

Pulling her pillow over head in an attempt to muffle the System's obnoxious song proved as ineffective as she thought it would be. It was going to be a long night.