The Allbright System - A Sci-Fi Progression LitRPG Story

Thea took a deep breath, inhaling the sterile, faintly metallic air of the training hall.

It was a distinct contrast to the simulated forest’s atmosphere, utterly artificial yet somehow undeniably grounding. The subtle hum of the Sovereign’s systems, the crispness of the ship’s recycled oxygen—it all helped her shake off the lingering unease that had settled in her chest.

It was strange, really.

She knew the DDS wasn’t real, that everything in it—right down to the scent of the forest and also the training hall she found herself in right now—had been manufactured by the ship’s AI.

And yet, stepping back into the Sovereign’s reality still brought a strange sense of stability.

Like her mind had been adrift in the chaos of the Awakening visions, and now she was finally back on solid ground.

Across from her, the Runepriest scanned the training hall, his gaze flicking around the space as if checking that everything was exactly as they had left it. Whatever he was looking for, he seemed to find it, because he gave a small nod before turning back to Thea.

“Well,” he said, clapping his hands together lightly, “that sums up your Awakening memories. I hope we managed to clear up some of the more confusing aspects of that tangled mess.” His lips quirked into an amused smirk before he continued, “Though, I imagine there’s still plenty left to cover in future sessions. For that, I offer my apologies… and my genuine excitement.”

There was a particular glint in his eyes, a spark of energy that took Thea slightly off guard.

His entire demeanor radiated an odd sort of enthusiasm, as though the sheer mystery of her Awakening had invigorated him more than anything else in the session.

“You see, I don’t often run into Awakening visions that I don’t have a ready answer for anymore,” he admitted, voice carrying a rare sincerity beneath the ever-present amusement. “And yet, here we are. So, I must thank you for that one, my dear pupil. You’ve given me quite the puzzle to work with.”

Thea blinked, caught between bewilderment and reluctant amusement at his clear giddiness. It was odd—most people would be deeply unsettled by something they didn’t understand, especially when it came to something as dangerous as the Void and something that they had spent countless years with already.

But the Runepriest? He seemed to utterly thrive on it.

Still, she quickly collected herself and nodded. “Thank you, Runepriest. I sincerely appreciate your honesty and, of course, your patience in explaining all of this. The session was… interesting, to say the least. If a bit dense with information overall.”

She hesitated for a moment before adding, “And considering we didn’t even get through everything you originally planned to cover, I can already tell just how deep this entire… side of things really goes.”

She trailed off, feeling the words tangle on her tongue.

There was so much more she wanted to say—about how this session had made her feel, about how utterly overwhelming yet still clarifying and honestly relieving it had been, about how little she still knew in the grand scheme of things… But none of it quite fit into a neat sentence, so she simply let it rest.

The Runepriest, however, seemed to pick up on it anyway.

His smirk widened slightly, as if entertained by her attempt to process everything at once.

Trying to express gratitude to him—someone of his level and rank, with his depth of knowledge—felt impossible. She didn’t have much to offer in return for his time or expertise.

All she really had were the mysteries surrounding her Awakening, the oddities she had experienced over the past month, and the strange inconsistencies that even he couldn’t quite yet explain.

But judging by the way his eyes still gleamed with intrigue, that alone seemed to be more than enough to keep him interested.

‘Lucky me… I got the one guy who actually lives and breathes strange fucking nonsense. I’ll have to thank Major Quinn personally for getting me in contact with the Runepriest at some point,’ Thea thought, a lopsided smile tugging at her lips.

The Runepriest, seemingly amused by something, easily waved off her thanks.

“Don’t mention it, kid.”

His casual tone made it clear he hadn’t done any of this for gratitude—he had simply enjoyed the challenge. But then, his demeanor shifted, the air around him sharpening as he focused back on the session as a whole.

“Before we wrap things up, are there any lingering questions from what we’ve discussed today?” His voice was firm but open, inviting any last clarifications. “We’ll be covering Delves, Paths, and Powers in our next session, along with some practical demonstrations and training. For now, though, I’m only asking about what we covered today—specifically, the Inheritances and anything directly tied to them. If there’s something you’re still unsure about, now’s the time to ask. Otherwise, I’ll end today’s session here, and we can both move on with the rest of our duties.”

Thea cupped her chin, falling into thought.

This was undoubtedly an important moment. Who knew when exactly the Runepriest would schedule the next session? If she left any gaps in her understanding now, she might be stuck waiting for weeks—maybe longer—before getting another chance to ask.

‘Alright, what do I need to lock in?’ she asked herself. ‘I have to make sure I understand everything about how the general idea of Powers works so far... More importantly, how the Inheritances change those Powers… That’s going to be critical for Alpha Squad, not just me. If I can’t break this down clearly for them, they won’t be able to use this information effectively.’

Her brows furrowed as she ran through everything they had covered, her mind racing to piece it all together in a way that made sense. The implications of just the Veritas Inheritance alone had already given her a mountain of things to think about, and now she had to make sure she wasn’t missing anything else critical.

‘Inheritance Polarities are opposite forces that cannibalize and destroy each other… The Star makes referencing that pretty easy, so it should be simple enough to explain to the others. The whole Presence thing might be a bit trickier to break down, but I’m sure Kara will jump in and explain once she wraps her huge brain around it, so that should be covered,’ Thea thought, methodically running through each part in her head, making sure there were no gaps in her understanding.

Next, she mentally pulled up her own internal notes on each Inheritance, a neatly arranged catalog she had been building since the Runepriest’s lecture had begun.

It helped immensely that he had framed them almost like ability trees or class archetypes in a game, making it easy to visualize and categorize everything.

That alone had made all the information significantly easier to digest.

She had spent years upon years theorycrafting in countless games—analyzing stats, memorizing the most minute optimizations, stacking combos with perfect frame timing.

Compared to that, a list of twelve Inheritances with percentage distributions, Polarities, Delve locations, and Star placements was practically child’s play.

She ran through the entire thing once, then a second time, just to be sure.

‘Yep. Got it down cold.’