《Pandora》 Prologue She felt pressure and motion then heard a voice say, ¡°Hand her over then teleport out. Odin, once he¡¯s gone, have this room scrubbed of all foreign matter that might contain his scent within 100 feet of this location and any location we passed near.¡± What was he, what was a scent? Then the voice spoke again, ¡°It¡¯s okay, you¡¯ll be okay. I am Adaline and I am your mother, welcome to the world. The voice, her mother¡¯s voice, drew her to raise her head until she was able to slowly open her eyes and focus her vision on her mother. Images of beating wings soaring over open fields filled with trees. So many memories of prey, the hunt, and her father. The human, though not human anymore, how could that be? The not human who had tamed her mother¡¯s heart and had caught her as she was born. She committed that scent to memory, She would never forget him, or her mother, never. She learned the concept of languages and knew that she could speak Dragonese, Common, and English with little effort. Before she could get lost in the flood of memories, they slowed and her mother leaned back as she smiled and said, ¡°I name you Pandora, the All-Gifted. I dare say that if anyone ever gains your ire, they will wish they¡¯d never done so. Odin, if you¡¯d please open a portal to somewhere on Earth a temperate sunny climate?¡± A shimmering curtain of energy appeared before them which she knew to be a portal, something her father created at will. Mother led her through the portal, and she found herself in a forest, ¡°Not a forest dear, this is a park in the city known as New York on your father¡¯s Earth. Let¡¯s walk around and look at the sights before we see if you have the ability to transform into a proper dragon, ¡°she said as she held out her hand and they began walking through the forest. Pandora would look back at the few moments she had with her mother as the happiest moments of her, at the time, very short life. Mother showed her various types of trees flowers and animals. While she had them in the memories her mother had gifted her, she still needed to experience each for herself. They walked as her mother spoke and pointed, Pandora enraptured by her mother¡¯s knowledge and the blissful ignorance of a newborn. There were so many things to see. So many things to do, She didn¡¯t know where to start. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Their pleasant day in the park was shattered when a voice called out from everywhere, ¡°Odin! Get everyone back to¡­,¡± before the voice cut off. Mother picked her up and started to take a step towards the portal when the world around and beneath them exploded. Mother expanded, as she pulled Pandora into herself and became a dragon. Shadows enveloped both of them and suddenly Pandora was held against the chest of a beautiful and magnificent dragon. Mother closed her wings, tucked her head, and held her tight as the world was obliterated. Pandora felt part of her father¡¯s essence in the earth, that wasn¡¯t Earth as it wrapped around them in a protective shell. She couldn¡¯t see the layer of protection, but she felt it through her mother¡¯s wings at her back. They were bounced this way and that, as chunks of Earth smacked into them until they broke away and passed through a barrier of some sort. At that point, something happened to Mother, and she was gone as a kaleidoscope of colorful energy surrounded Pandora and she felt herself go elsewhere as everything went dark. As she worked her way back into consciousness red flashing lights filled her vision. Her mother¡¯s memories let her know that they were messages and prompts that had information for her. While they were probably important she ignored them for the moment and sat up to find herself sitting in an orange pool of liquid energy that had surrounded her and was hovering over her skin like a protector. She also realized she was nude and could see that her body bore a tattoo that resembled a dragon. Pandora had no idea where she was, what she was doing, or who could help her. Mother was gone, ripped away by some force that even she couldn¡¯t fight, and she was naked and alone. From her mother¡¯s memories, she knew Mother cared nothing about clothing though the bipedal races, like humans, thought being nude made one vulnerable. Against humans and elves Mother had used this idea of theirs to lure them into their demise, something her memories referred to as playing with her food. Pandora looked around one more time just to be sure. Yes, She was truly and utterly alone. Chapter 1, Alone The light surrounding Pandora started fading as it was absorbed into her skin. She also watched as the tattoos on her body faded from sight as well. Mother had called her Pandora, the All-Gifted. For all her gifts she¡¯d still been torn from her. She was able to think and reason but She had no sense of reference to what She was feeling. Her thoughts told her this, even though She didn¡¯t exactly understand what the words in her thoughts meant. Her thoughts were overridden when her instincts screamed ¡°Danger!¡± She looked around quickly and noticed a blob of darkness barreling toward her. She tried to scramble away, scooting back on her hands and feet as something with huge claws and a tail that hovered over its back rushed toward her. It was just barely bigger than her but moved quickly over the rocky terrain on six legs. The claws, no mother¡¯s memories called them pincers, the pincers reached for her arms as the stinger darted toward her chest and red text started filling her vision. You have been attacked by a Level 3 Hunter Scorpion. Pincer Strike hits for 2 points of damage Pincer Strike hits for 1 point of damage. Special attack Stinger Strike hits for 3 points of damage You have been poisoned for 3 points of damage and will take 1 point of damage per second for the next 10 seconds. Scarred out of her mind she wished the prompts out of her sight so She could see her attacker. Abruptly the prompts disappeared. The Pincers had grabbed her arms and were trying to hold her arms to prevent her from moving while the stinger on its back prepared to strike again. She brought her legs up in a tuck, using the pincers as a lever, and put her legs under her so she could plant her feet. Then she pulled her arms towards her quickly and pushed against the scorpion with all her might. The scorpion¡¯s pincers were ripped free as it was launched away from her to land and tumble away from her. At a guess she figured she¡¯d launched it at least 30 feet. The Pincers had been ripped free and She was bleeding freely down both arms. She¡¯d taken 9 points of damage and could feel the poison burning in her chest. She watched as the scorpion righted itself and started to rush back toward her even though it only had it¡¯s stinger left to attack with. As the scorpion rushed back something inside her snapped and She became angry. As she did, She noticed that the glow that had been fading brightened again. As the Scorpion came within striking distance the light surrounding her reached out with tendrils of power that she didn¡¯t think she was controlling and attacked. Moments later the scorpion was a smoking husk. The smell of cooked meat caused her nostrils to flair, and She moved forward quickly searching for what smelled so good. The shell of the thing was tough, but She was able to get to the meaty insides and scooped some of the steaming white meat out with her hands, and took a bite. While She was trying to eat She looked around to make sure there were no other creatures. She probably should have done that first. The light surrounding her, which was once again fading, must have drawn this little critter to her. She wondered how the meat had become cooked but realized She didn¡¯t care. As she took her first bite of anything, ever, all she could think about was how good it tasted. After the first couple of bites, She decided to look at the prompts her mother had told her about. She¡¯s said all Pandora had to do was concentrate on them and they¡¯d appear. Then just had to think about what she wanted the messages to do, and they would. Starting at the top she began reading WARNING: You have been Ejected from the Soul Space of Adamantadine WARNING: You have been affected by a Realm-wide Unification event. ERROR: No Cosmic Identifier located ERROR: No Realm Identifier located ERROR: No Layer Identifier located ERROR: No Reality identifier located. ERROR Elevated Criteria met, Recall initiated. Cosmic Identifier set to 1 Realm Identifier set to 1 Layer identifier set to 0 Reality set to 1 WARNING: You have entered a Region of Primal Chaos. As a Creature of Chaos, you are 100% resistant to random changes that occur to any creature entering Chaos or Primal Chaos. WARNING: You are entering a Reality with variables different from the Reality you just departed. All experience is removed. You are now Level 1 WARNING: a Chaos Symbiote has formed from your experience and chosen you as its host. WARNING: As a creature of Chaos, you may not remove a Chaos Symbiote WARNING: You have entered a new Realm WARNING: You have entered a new Cosmos. WARNING: You have struck the ground at Terminal velocity. Chaos Symbiote has absorbed the damage from your Impact. Damage taken 0. Perception Check failed. WARNING: You have been attacked by a Level 3 Hunter Scorpion. Pincer Strike hits for 2 points of damage Pincer Strike hits for 1 point of damage. Special attack Stinger Strike hits for 3 points of damage You have been poisoned for 3 points of damage and will take 1 point of damage per second for the next 10 seconds. You have pushed Hunter Scorpion away from you inflicting an additional 5 points of tearing damage. The Hunter Scorpion has taken 12 points of damage from your attack. The Hunter Scorpion has been attacked by Chaos Symbiote for 50 points of fire damage. The Hunter Scorpion has died. Attacks from Chaos Symbiote are considered attacks from you, you have earned 30 points of experience. Congratulations you have killed a Level 3 Hunter Scorpion Congratulations you have learned the skill Melee, Hand to Hand. Skill Level 1 WARNING: Magical attacks made by Chaos Symbiote do not earn experience towards character skill levels. Some of the information She read didn¡¯t seem to make any sense, but the rest was pretty straightforward. With nothing else to do She opened up her status window. Name: Pandora Age: 1 Weight: 130 Birthday, July 15th, 2031 Abilities ¡°Creature of Chaos¡± - Your body has been inundated with Chaos. During this process, your will was strong enough to hold your core identity together and permanent changes were made to your body. You May now enter and exit Chaos at will 100% resistant to any further changes. ¡°Chaos Symbiote¡± ¨C During your travel through Primal Chaos, a Symbiote attached itself to you. While you do not control the Chaos Symbiote it will react to strong emotions. The Symbiote does not gain experience instead reducing XP gain by 50%. NOTE: As a Creature of Chaos, the symbiote is maintained by your inherent nature, no experience is lost. Once your level is equal to or higher level than the host the Symbiote may be removed safely. NOTE: ERROR The Chaos Symbiote cannot be removed. If the symbiote is removed before this point the host has a 1% chance per level below the symbiote of instantaneous death. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Soul Type: Nascent Soul Level: 0 Soul Rank Disparity: 0 Attributes Strength 16 503 Agility 6 493 Dexterity 6 493 Endurance 16 503 Constitution 16 492 Intelligence 5 492 Wisdom 5 492 Willpower 5 492 Perception 5 492 Charisma 5 495 Luck 5 492 Karmic Luck 0 Primary Stats Carrying Capacity 104 3270 Hit Points: 5 151 Base Health Regeneration 1 per Day 1 per minute Stamina 160 4997 Base Stamina Regeneration 17 per Minute 8 per second Mana: 50 4920 Base Mana Regeneration 4 per minute Movement Normal Running Speed: 8 mph, 13 mph Standing high Jump: 16 inches. 21 inches Note. Falling Damage is not mitigated by maximum jumping Distance. Base Attack Unarmed Base Attack: 1 6 Max Damage: 2 12 Critical Damage Maximum Damage x2 Skills: Melee, HTH level: 1 After looking at the information she queried, ¡°What do the green numbers represent? Initial values are non-symbiote adjusted values. Green values are adjusted values due to the presence of Chaos Symbiote. The Symbiote added that much to her attributes and combat values? She wondered what level it was. She played with the prompts for a few minutes. She set the prompts to only display when out of combat. She also knew why She hadn¡¯t died. If it¡¯d just been her She¡¯d have died when the second pincer hit. As it was, having 151 points of health was 30 times what She would have started with. She was shocked out of contemplation when a soft voice asked from the darkness, ¡°Is anyone there?¡± She turned to look at where the voice had come from when she felt a pinch in her back. She reached for her back as her hand went limp and She fell over. As darkness started to close in on her She heard ¡°What is she?¡± ¡°No idea, we¡¯ll let the Oracle figure it out.¡± ¡°You saw what she did to the Scorpion? ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s why we drugged her. We¡¯ll ask questions where everyone will be safe, including her.¡± ¡°You think she is a djinn or an elemental.¡± ¡°No elemental I¡¯ve ever seen that looked like her. Pull a blanket out of your pack, we need to cover her up or the Oracle will have our hides for acting improperly toward a female,¡± were the last words Pandora heard before the world blacked out. * * * As Pandora came to, She found herself lying on a bed in a small room. She was wearing a simple robe and there was a small cup of water on a table by her. She looked around and felt like she was underground. She couldn¡¯t explain the feeling, as she¡¯d never been underground before but Pandora felt that she was underground. She took a drink of water and looked around. As she looked around the room she noticed that one of the walls had seams in it that showed the outline of a door. There was no handle on this side, but it looked like a door. The door opened and a young girl looked in, ¡°You are awake, the Oracle said you would be. How¡¯d you sleep?¡± ¡°Where am she?¡± She asked. ¡°You are near the city of Romus on the Continent of Deeds on the World of Midor. The Oracle told me to say it that way and ask if those words meant anything to you?¡± The girl asked. ¡°I can¡¯t say that I¡¯ve ever heard those words before, though we are talking in the same language, you know common?¡± She asked. ¡°Of course, we know common, it¡¯s the Universal language,¡± the girl answered gently, ¡°We can talk more later if you like. Right now, I was told to bring you before the Oracle.¡± ¡°Am I a prisoner?¡± She asked ¡°Not unless you commit a crime. No, I am simply your guide,¡± the girl said as she motioned for Pandora to follow her and turned to go. ¡°Do you have a name?¡± Pandora asked as She stood to follow. Pausing for a moment, she turned her head and said, ¡°You may call me Cara. What is your name?¡± she asked ¡°I am Pandora, it is nice to meet you, and thank you for your hospitality¡± Cara turned and started walking slowly, making sure that Pandora followed her before continuing, ¡°We didn¡¯t know what to expect when Gerome and Jueles brought you in. They said you fell from the sky. The Oracle looked you over and said that you weren¡¯t a monster or evil so a few of the women brought you here and cleaned you up, dressed you, and put you to bed until the poison Gerome used to knock you out wore off. He¡¯ll probably want to apologize in person since you¡¯re not a monster. He said you smoked one of the larger scorpions outside the city with energy that surrounded you. He¡¯d thought you were an elemental until you scavenged to the scorpion to eat. ¡°I¡¯m not evil, as far as U know, and I was so hungry. In fact, I still am. How long was I unconscious?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°The poison can knock a full-grown man out for about 12 hours. It¡¯s only been six and you¡¯re up and walking about,¡± Cara said as she led her through some tunnels, took a few turns, and then went up some stairs that lead out of a small cave in a small hill. As they walked out of the cave Pandora looked around a very flat expanse that fell off into the horizon. She could just barely make out the tops of buildings that looked a lot like the tops of the buildings She¡¯d seen in New York City. She walked around a little bit and found that She was at the center of a flat plane that had only two structures in it. The hill with the cave She exited from and a small stone building off to the right of the cave entrance. The building had a single door and window. Cara walked toward the building. As she neared the door opened. A small elderly woman with graying hair stepped out and looked at Cara. ` ¡°Thank you, Cara, that will be all,¡± The Oracle said. Cara bowed then turned and headed back towards the cave entrance. After Cara was out of earshot the oracle asked, ¡°Would you please join her inside? There isn¡¯t much comfort to be had out here but the little I do have I will share.¡± Pandora nodded and followed The Oracle into the hut. The Oracle led her to a couch and motioned for her to sit while she moved over to a comfortable-looking chair. Pandora looked around the room and realized¡­No that couldn¡¯t be right, Was the inside bigger than the outside? This room seemed bigger than the entirety of the building She¡¯d looked at. They both sat and looked at each other. Pandora didn¡¯t know what was going on, who this Oracle was, or what she wanted but she did know how to stalk prey from her mother¡¯s memories and the one thing that might help her here was to sit and wait patiently, so She did. After a little bit, the Oracle spoke, ¡°Nothing to say, child?¡± ¡°No¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± she asked. ¡°Because I do not know what to do, I have memories that aren¡¯t my own hinting at how I could act but I don¡¯t know how I should act,¡± Pandora said. ¡°How could you not know how to act, you are a grown woman?¡± ¡°I am in the body of a woman, but I do not have the experiences of a woman?¡± ¡°How is that possible?¡± ¡°I do not know,¡± Pandora said as she started to get flustered. The Oracle paused for a moment then asked, ¡°Would you mind if I divined your history?¡± ¡°Will you share what you learn with me?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°I will.¡± ¡°Then yes, please divine my history,¡± She said. The Oracle stood and walked over to her. Placing her right hand on Pandora¡¯s forehead and left hand on Pandora¡¯s left arm the Oracle concentrated, and a message prompt appeared. The spell ¡°Know Origin¡± is being cast on you, Resist Yes or No? Pandora chose ¡°No.¡± A radiance filled the room, and the Oracle opened her eyes, ¡°So little?¡± she asked questionably before she looked at her and asked, ¡°Am I to understand that you were just born? ¡°I believe so, yes¡± Pandora answered. ¡°I must cast another spell and seek guidance from my God. Please do not interrupt,¡± the Oracle said as she stepped back and raised both hands to the heavens. ¡°Mistress I beseech thee, what path do She follow here, I am unsure of what to do with this one that has no thread from the past or a thread into the future.¡± A voice answered in the air around her, filling her body with a sense of wonder and trepidation. ¡°She will be needed in the times ahead. Teach her as you would a newling. She has much to learn..¡± The voice finished speaking and the Oracle lowered her hands, ¡°It would seem that the Mistress favors you,¡± The Oracle said then called ¡°Cara!¡± ¡°Yes Oracle,¡± Cara answered immediately as she stepped back through the door. The Oracle smiled knowingly, ¡°I take it that you heard our Mistresses Decree then?¡± The Oracle asked. ¡°I did Oracle.¡± ¡°Good. when we are done, please escort our guest to the newling area and have her begin her education.¡± ¡°What will she be learning?¡± Cara asked. ¡°You heard the Mistress; she is to be treated as a newling. A child that has matured to the point of being able to learn and remember. She will be taught the ways of the world and prepared for her place in it.¡± ¡°What about finding my mother and father?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°I know not where they are or how to reunite you with them. If we hear from either, we will bring them to you immediately. For now, my Mistress. my Goddess has instructed me to get you ready for what comes next. Cara will escort you to the other newlings for your education. Do I you have your word that you will not hurt the children?¡± The Oracle asked. ¡°I will not hurt the children,¡± Pandora agreed easily. ¡°Very well then. I am sure we will talk again in the future. Cara, make sure to take her by the kitchen on your way.¡± ¡°Yes Oracle,¡± Cara said as she turned and opened and held the door waiting for her. ¡°I do not know the proper way to leave your presence Oracle as I do not know your customs ¡° The Oracle laughed joyfully, ¡°That you knew to ask is a sign of wisdom and character. Those that come to me often stand, bow slightly, and say, ¡°Thank You, Oracle,¡± Pandor stood, bowed slightly, and said, ¡°Thank you Oracle.¡± Pandora straightened, turned, and followed Cara back out of the Oracle¡¯s presence. Cara led her back to the cave and down the steps. When they came to the bottom they took a different path until Pandora smelt food. Cara came to a place that had small baskets, grabbed two and two glasses and they moved to an area Pandora was having a hard time describing. Cara handed her a glass and then said, ¡°Like this,¡± as she held the glass open end up and pressed it against a lever. Water flowed from above the cup into it. She would later learn that this was a water fountain. She filled her glass with water and then followed Cara over to a table. They sat opposite each other, and she handed her one of the baskets, ¡°Just a sandwich and a piece of fruit but it should hold you over until dinner in two hours. ¡°Thank you,¡± Pandora said as she ate the sandwich and fruit and drank her glass of water. Cara just watched her until we were done eating. ¡°I have never heard The Mistress¡¯s voice before today,¡± Cara said. ¡°I felt the power and rushed back to see if the Oracle needed anything and heard her voice. ¡°Who is the Mistress?¡± ¡°The Oracle follows Fate, or as she¡¯s more commonly known, the Goddess of Fate. We refer to her as The Mistress because none of us are clergy. We are merely servants to the Oracle.¡± ¡°So, what happens now?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Now, we put our dirty glasses over there,¡± she said pointing to a stack of glasses in the corner, ¡°and place our baskets over there so they can be used again,¡± she said pointing to a different corner. ¡°After that¡¯s done, I take you to your new home. Cara stood and Pandora followed her as we turned in their dirty glasses and baskets. She followed as Cara led her to a completely new area. She entered a room with a large circular metal plate in the center of the room, ¡°Please step onto the plate.¡± ¡°What does it do?¡± She asked. ¡°It takes us a great distance to our new home?¡± ¡°We can¡¯t walk there?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°No, we can¡¯t walk there. The place we are going to is further away than the buildings you saw outside earlier. We are actually going to those buildings but on the other side of them.¡± ¡°Is it safe?¡± She asked ¡°Perfectly, we are traveling via teleportation magic. ¡° Pandora had no idea what teleportation magic was. Cara hadn¡¯t led her wrong yet, so she stepped on the plate. Cara touched a jewel on one of the bracelets she wore, and they were suddenly in another room. This room had a door. Cara walked up to the door and put her ear to the door, ¡°Sound¡¯s clear,¡± she said. She stood there and watched as Cara opened the door and dozens of little eyes looked at Cara and yelled, ¡°It¡¯s auntie Cara,¡± as little boys and girls rushed forward to envelop her in hugs and rapid-fire questions; ¡°Where have you been?¡± ¡°Who is that?¡± ¡°She¡¯s pretty?¡± Simple questions from children. That is until She heard one question that drew her attention instantly, ¡°Aunt Cara, is she a Dragon?¡± Chapter 2, Getting Settled ¡°She¡¯s a woman, not a Dragon, Auria¡± Cara said. ¡°But she has paint on her skin that makes her look like a dragon,¡± Auria said Dropping to one knee, Pandora looked into Auria¡¯s eyes and said, ¡°Even if I am a Dragon I wouldn¡¯t hurt you or your friends. she promised not to. Plus, aren¡¯t their good dragons?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Auria stammered as everyone was looking at her, ¡°but she can see the good in people. You are not like them. Cara interrupted, ¡°Auria, what do you see when you look at your friends?¡± ¡°I see, I see neither the good nor bad, but I do see hints of both,¡± Cara said. ¡°Exactly! Pandora is like you, she is a newling. She may be bigger and taller than you but she is even younger than you are.¡± Cara told her. Pandora looked at Cara quizzically as Auria asked, ¡°How can she be younger than me, babies are younger and they are small?¡± ¡°Maybe you should ask Pandora how old she is?¡± Cara said gently Pandora turned back to Auria who looked at her, as did all the other children, as she asked, ¡°How old are you, Pandora?¡± ¡°I think I was born yesterday,¡± she said. ¡°But you can talk and walk and you¡¯re so tall,¡± one of the little boys said. ¡°My mom taught me some things before we were separated¡± ¡°Your moms not here? Bobbie¡¯s mom isn¡¯t here either,¡± another little girl with red hair and freckles said. At that point, Pandora was bombarded with questions from all the children as she sat down and they came over and talked with her. Cara stepped back and watched from a distance but when she saw everyone getting along the supervision was left to Miss Novella. That first day, talking and playing with the children, was the 2nd best day of Pandora¡¯s life, though she was pretty sure that it was still the same day she¡¯d been born. Because she was so big she was given her own room and started class the next day. For the next four weeks, she stayed with the children and played and learned with them. She was given simple exercises and tasks but she learned a lot. Also, she didn¡¯t see Cara much after the 2nd day. Miss Novella was my teacher and she was whom Pandora saw every day. At night the children went to their families and she was left to read or walk through a small park until sundown. Then she would go to sleep and dream. Her dreams were filled with deplorable acts her mother had committed as a Black Dragon and also the path she took to leave her evil ways behind her. The dreams of her mother meeting her father were her favorite and she would try to hold onto them for as long as she could so she could get just one more glimpse of her father and mother. When she woke in the morning, she¡¯d meet up with the children for breakfast and they¡¯d start lessons. she learned how to read and write as well as the names of a lot of things around her that weren¡¯t part of the teachings. Miss Novella realized from the start that while she was a newling, she was also very smart and had a lot of knowledge already passed down to her. After a month, she was led to a room and given some tests. When she was finished with the tests she was led to a cafeteria where she had a light lunch and was told to wait. A couple of hours later Cara came and sat down next to her. ¡°Hello Cara, how have you been?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°That¡¯s a significant change from the frightened girl I met a month ago,¡± Cara said. ¡°Playing and learning with the children helped but if I¡¯m being honest, the sleep and dreams my mother left to me taught me more.¡± ¡°What did your dreams teach you?¡± ¡°That the body you are born into does not define you and you can choose to be different?¡± ¡°How did your mom teach you that from your dreams?¡± Cara asked. ¡°My mother was a Black Dragon, not truly evil to her core but self-serving and definitely evil in that pursuit,¡± she said. ¡°What changed?¡± ¡°She met my father.¡± ¡°And who was your father?¡± ¡°I¡¯m confused about that, in my dreams, he¡¯s called Johnathan, Adam, or Adamantadine, I¡¯m not sure which name is correct.¡± ¡°Couldn¡¯t they all be correct?¡± ¡°People can have different names?¡± As soon as she asked she felt her face flush and lowered her head embarrassed, ¡°Of course, people can have different names,¡± she said. ¡°Do not beat yourself up too badly, you have been amongst the innocence of children for the majority of your life. That is about to change, however,¡± Cara said Pandora looked up, ¡°Really, how?¡± she asked excitedly. ¡°The tests you took earlier were to gauge your ability to reason, think, read and write. The tests also checked your knowledge of history and the events of the past,¡± ¡°How did I do?¡± she asked quickly Cara smiled, ¡°You did extremely well in all but two subjects. Your math skills are good as is your ability to think logically and find solutions to problems. Your knowledge of science was wanting but your answers showed that you had a basic understanding. Your two weak areas, which are the same two areas all children struggle with are history and magic.¡± ¡°That makes sense, how could I know about history here, even the memories my mother shared don¡¯t resemble this place. As for Magic, Do I need to learn about magic?¡± she asked ¡°If you wish to survive and thrive here, then yes, you must learn about history and magic.¡± ¡°When do I get started?¡± Pandora asked ¡°As soon as we¡¯re done here I will be taking you to meet Master Soleran. Master Soleran is a master of history and knows quite a bit. He will be taking over those lessons. When he thinks you¡¯ve learned what you need to understand magic and how it ties into everything, then we¡¯ll start your magical studies.¡± ¡°Why not start with the studies of magic first?¡± ¡°Because magic is the reason the Oracle sits in the center of a crater 20 miles in diameter. Magic is why the city we are in sits on the circumference of that crater and magic is why The First City still exists.¡± ¡°Circumference?¡± she asked. ¡°So you still have some stuff to learn, we¡¯ll add geometry to your list of classes. The circumference means the boundary of a circle. Things are inside the circumference of a circle or they are outside the circle,¡± Cara said. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s easy enough to understand. Is there a book with lots of words and definitions in it I can look at?¡± she asked. ¡°It¡¯s called a dictionary, and yes there is. I¡¯ll make sure one is waiting in your room. Also, there are dictionaries for many languages. We have access to Common, Elvish, Dwarvish, Gnomish, and a few other exotic races. Would you like to see those too?¡± Cara asked. ¡°I think one is fine for now. I¡¯ll just start with common,¡± she said then thought quickly, ¡°Do you know of a language called English?¡± Cara hesitated for the barest instant but she caught it and then she said, ¡°I know of English, but we do not have a dictionary for it.¡± ¡°That was the language my father spoke and taught my mother. I learned Common and Dragonesse from her,¡± Pandora said proudly Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Perhaps someday I¡¯ll be able to show you where to go to find others that speak English, here though, if you can speak it, you are one of the very few here that can do so,¡± Cara said. ¡°Master Soleran awaits, we should go.¡± Cara stood and she did too. Pandora picked up her plate and cup, put them in their proper places, and followed Cara out of the cafeteria to a teleportation room. Now that she knew they were for transportation she entered without hesitation. They both appeared in another identical room with the word School on the wall. Behind them, the word Newling was on the wall behind the metal plate she was stepping off of. Each room only had one destination. She¡¯d learned that there were several teleporters in each hub. She was now at the school hub. There were also signs along the walls. She hadn¡¯t noticed the markings when she arrived because she hadn¡¯t been looking for them. She needed to be more observant of her surroundings. With that in mind, she paid attention to the turns they made so she could get back to this room when she needed to. They came to another room where an older bald man was seated behind the table. He looked up as they entered the room, ¡°Hello Cara, it¡¯s 1 o¡¯clock now Would you please come back, or send someone, at 4 o¡¯clock to show Pandora to her new quarters? This first day shouldn¡¯t take too long.¡± ¡°As you wish. I will be back to get her at 4 o¡¯clock,¡± Cara said as she grabbed and squeezed her hand. Letting go, she turned and left ¡°Hello Pandora, I am Master Soleran and I have been fully briefed on your arrival and knowledge level. Do you know why you¡¯re here?¡± Master Soleran asked. Standing in front of his desk she said, ¡°To learn history, is what I was told¡± ¡°And if we are to learn history, where do you think we should start?¡± ¡°At the beginning?¡± she asked questioningly. ¡°Very Good!¡± Master Soleran said as he stood and walked around the desk motioning for her to take a seat at one of the desks at the front of the room, ¡°If you¡¯d have a seat we can get started,¡± he said. Pandora moved to a desk and sat down. ¡°As I understand it, you came from outside this Realm, in fact, I believe you came from outside our Reality but I cannot be sure. What I do know from just observing you these last couple of minutes is that you have been touched by Primal Chaos, something that forever changes anything it comes into contact with or obliterates. Obliteration is usually what happens. That you¡¯re here implies that you survived the experience.¡± ¡°I barely remember the experience,¡± she muttered. Master Soleran paused for a moment and thought about her outburst before he continued, ¡°A Reality is all that is or was. As far as we¡¯ve ever been able to determine. Our reality is surrounded by Primal Chaos, though to be honest that information was handed down by the Gods. No one has verified what is outside of reality. Within that Reality are many layers of existence. These layers are as numerous as there are aspects of reality. You can think of these layers as the glue that holds where we sit together. Where we are sitting is in one of the Layers. In that layer, we have what are called Realms. Those Realms can be varied and many. Between each of the Realms is the Astral Plane and Ethereal Plane which connect them all and also connect to the many other layers. Now two terms that can be easily misunderstood are Cosmos and Universe. Here the Cosmos is the Universe. In other Realms though a Cosmos can contain many Universes. Are you with me so far?¡± ¡°We¡¯re in a Cosmos which is a Universe,¡± she said half-heartedly, ¡°that was a lot of stuff to take in.¡± ¡°It is a lot, and not that interesting, I know, but you need to at least have this background to understand this next part. When This Cosmos first formed and the Universe within it developed, the Universe within the Cosmos went through many cycles of beginning and ending. During that time, many of the smartest among the races tried to slow or stop this cycle but couldn¡¯t figure out how to. Eventually one group of people, or one person, no one knows for sure gave the Cosmos sentience somehow. No one knows how exactly but when that intelligence has spoken, it has shared this knowledge with us. This is where the history lesson starts. When this intelligence became a self-aware Cosmos, it also became what we now call a Dungeon. In those early days, monsters and creatures out of nightmares started randomly appearing and attacking everyone. Many died while many retreated to The Last City of the races and fought against the monster hoard for years.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t seen any monsters in the city though?¡± she said. ¡°I was getting to that. Since you visited the Oracle, you know that the center of this city is a vast flat desert. To defeat one of the largest monsters to ever attack the races that had appeared in the center of the city the races utilized technology and magic to create something that obliterated a 20-mile radius. When this was done the intelligence realized something was going on and reached out to speak to the survivors of that devastation. This city was declared a safe zone by the intelligence and all the races here worked together to repair the damage done.¡± ¡°If there are other races here, why haven¡¯t I seen them?¡± ¡°In the beginning, it was easier to keep everyone segregated. That practice has continued for as long as anyone can remember. There are areas within the city where cultures mingle and there is one area where everyone comes together but for the most part, newlings are kept separated until they have enough education to understand how precious and fragile this society is. While this city was once known as The Last City, it is The First City any of us have been born into or know.¡± ¡°So what am I here to learn then, that history seems pretty straightforward,¡± Pandora asked. ¡°That is the basic history of the very beginning. We still need to touch on the various races that live here, and their structure. How their cultural history impacts the city and how you must act while within each of the cultural settings you interact with. Then we need to work with you to find out where you are going to fit in that structure and how best you can help serve The First City.¡± ¡°What do people work toward here?¡± she asked. ¡°People work to become stronger and survive their explorations outside the city. This is mostly done by adventuring parties and scouts. When you arrived you were about five miles outside of the safe zone. Two of our scouts saw you destroy a hunter scorpion and knew there was something special about you.¡± ¡°How do I become like them, going out to help people in need and whatnot?¡± she asked. ¡°You have already taken the first step. You need to finish school then we test your aptitudes and you chose the path you wish to pursue,¡± Master Soleran said. ¡°If I might ask, what path did you choose?¡± ¡°Originally I was a slightly above-average life mage. When I reached the level of Master, however, I decided to step back and try to master my class in other ways. I still help those that are injured in the city but I no longer go out as part of an Adventuring team.¡± ¡°What is an Adventuring Team and why don¡¯t a lot of people just go out and take what they need?¡± ¡°That was a very good question and not one I¡¯d expect from someone so young. Your mother must have shared more memories than even you are aware of,¡± he said as he paused for a moment. Master Soleran took a breath before he continued, Remember when I described this Cosmos as within a Realm and this Realm as being on one of the Layers?¡± ¡°Yes, that seems pretty easy to follow¡± ¡°Okay, this entire Cosmos is a Dungeon.¡± ¡°Say again¡± ¡°This entire Cosmos is a Dungeon¡± ¡°I asked you to say again because I don¡¯t understand what that has to do with anything. So this Cosmos is a dungeon, so what?¡± ¡°A Dungeon is a manifestation of magic or an area that has been saturated with so much magic that magic maintains it. Dungeons follow laws even older than the knowledge passed unto us by the Gods. One of those rules is that only Adventuring parties may enter a dungeon and grow. An Adventuring party can consist of no more than 6 people, without certain perks and benefits coming into play that are only awarded by the Dungeon. If more than six people enter the dungeon very bad things happen.¡± ¡°Is that why a big monster appeared in the middle of the city?¡± ¡°Yes, the dungeon was still new and hadn¡¯t fully developed sentience yet. In fact, a lot of our scholars believe that the release of so much energy and so many souls is what caused the dungeon to become fully aware. As soon as it did, it asked for a parlay with the survivors, and an agreement was made. The First City was declared a safe zone within the Dungeon allowing any number of people to come and go as they please. To venture out from the safe zone in more than a party of six though is forbidden. Not just by the leaders of the city but the dungeon itself.¡± ¡°Has anyone ever tested that rule?¡± ¡°Yes, but not here. There are other smaller safe zones in this world but none are as big or grand as this one. A group of dark elves didn¡¯t believe that the entire planet was a dungeon and left their territory to invade another nearby safe zone. The entire army was killed to the last man and woman.¡± ¡°Are there any exceptions to the rule of six?¡± she asked. ¡°Interestingly enough, yes. Anyone can willingly change their title to Dungeon Medic or Dungeon Healer in their class tab and travel out into the dungeon without the threat of being attacked by the monsters. There are some limitations. The title can only activate while in a safe area. Also, you must have the ability to use magic to heal and you can, and must, heal intelligent monsters of the dungeon if you come across them when they are wounded and not fighting with Adventurers.¡± ¡°Why would anyone want to do that?¡± she asked confused. ¡°While toggled as a healer you can gather herbs, mine, and scavenge without the threat of being attacked by anything though they only get experience for the amount of healing they do at a 10 to 1 ratio. 10 points of health healed for every 1 experience point.¡± ¡°That¡¯s all healing done?¡± ¡°Yes, players and monsters. If you heal either, the dungeon keeps track of it and you earn experience when you return to the safe area. Healers will earn more experience doing quests with parties but some loners and druid types try to help out the more sentient monsters in the dungeon areas,¡± Master Soleran said. ¡°That¡¯s a lot to learn,¡± she said. ¡°And we have still only covered the very basics. Also, our time is up,¡± he said as Cara stepped into the room. Where had the three hours gone, ¡°Thank you for your time and instruction Master Soleran. It looks like I have a lot to learn¡± ¡°It was my absolute pleasure, I¡¯ll see you tomorrow,¡± he said as he made his way back to his desk and sat down. Pandora stood and followed Cara out of the room. Cara showed her where the Cafeteria in this section of the city was as well as her room which had its own shower and toilet in it. Also, there was a toilet and a couple of books on a desk with a magical light that floated over them. ¡°And that¡¯s the quick tour,¡± Cara said. ¡°Tomorrow make sure you take all the books here except for the dictionary with you to class. That is yours to keep and can be left in this room when you head to class in the morning. Breakfast opens at 6 o¡¯clock and class starts promptly at 8 o¡¯clock. The school will get out at 3 o¡¯clock and then you¡¯ll have two hours of physical training before you are released for the night.¡± ¡°Thanks for everything Cara, I have a lot to think about and I think I¡¯m going to take a long hot shower and then get ready for tomorrow,¡± Pandora said. ¡°You¡¯re welcome. Good luck and hopefully we¡¯ll get to see each other now and then,¡± Cara said as she turned and walked toward the teleportation chambers. Chapter 3, Assessment Cara met Pandora for breakfast, she was pretty sure Cara knew she was nervous. ¡°You¡¯ll be fine,¡± Cara said. ¡°But I¡¯ve only been here for a little over a year, I¡¯m literally just over a year old. Am I ready to be treated as an adult already?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Pandora, You know you are, where is this self-doubt coming from?¡± Cara asked. Pandora hedged for a moment then let her know why she was worried, ¡°Some time ago, the part of myself that made me much stronger went silent. I could feel its strength flowing through me. Now though, it¡¯s all but gone.¡± ¡°Some magic only lasts for a bit,¡± Cara said thoughtfully ¡°True, I did listen to Master Soleran¡¯s lectures. The problem is it¡¯s not a spell,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Let me see your Personal Info,¡± Cara asked. ¡°How do I do that?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been here a year and no one asked to look at your abilities and attributes?¡± Cara asked surprisedly. ¡°Not until just now?¡± she said ¡°Okay, if you ever want to view someone¡¯s information you simply pull up your interface, target the person you want the information on and ask them to allow your inquiry like this,¡± she said as her eyes glazed over for a second and a message prompt filled her vision. Cara has asked permission to view your Personal Information, Yes or No? Pandora chose ¡°Yes¡± ¡°Creature of and a Symbiote for the same?¡± Cara whispered. I see why you¡¯re confused. Do you know what the word ¡°Symbiote¡± means?¡± Cara asked. ¡°I looked it up in the dictionary you gave me, It means something like living in Symbiosis which is another way of saying drawing from each other, I think,¡± she said ¡°That sounds right. What level is the Symbiote as compared to you?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Though I feel that the Symbiote came from the energy that was stripped away from me when I traveled into this reality.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve never mentioned this before,¡± Cara said. ¡°I never got worried about it disappearing before,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s think this through. When you say energy what are you talking about specifically?¡± Pandora thought about the question for a moment before she said, ¡°When I was traveling, I received a warning that said ¡®a Chaos Symbiote has formed from your experience and chose you as its host,¡¯¡± she said. ¡°This happened before you arrived here?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°How much XP are we talking about?¡± Cara asked. ¡°I mean you were just born.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know how it happened but before I was born I absorbed some XP from my mother and was level 671 on the day I was born,¡± she said. Cara spit up her drink and started coughing. After she¡¯d cleared her throat she looked at Pandora again thoughtfully, ¡°Are you saying the Symbiote is level 671?¡± Pandora, a little more proficient with her Personal Interface looked into herself and this time she was able to find her level and the level of her Symbiote. Smiling at her success she said, ¡°No, it¡¯s only level 670. I¡¯m still level 1¡± ¡°I know you haven¡¯t even taken your assessment but Pandora, level 670, that¡¯s high. As a comparison. The non-adventures in this city are all level 20 or less. The only place you will find people higher than that is the outskirts. The ones that go into the low-level areas to level and grow.¡± ¡°There have to be higher-level people somewhere?¡± she asked. ¡°There are. The Oracle says that we will know where they are when we are ready to join them.¡± ¡°Why doesn¡¯t she just tell you?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°I can¡¯t say for sure, but if I had to guess I think it¡¯s so others don¡¯t get jealous of the power others are wielding. Also, remember those adventures have either moved into a newer high-level area or they¡¯re off adventuring?¡± ¡°Is there a maximum level an adventurer can get to?¡± ¡°The Oracle says no, but also that there are other paths one can choose when they get to a certain point in their development. By the way, I looked at your attributes. You¡¯re not well-balanced. If I didn¡¯t know better I¡¯d think you were going for a warrior-type class with 5¡¯s in everything except Strength, Endurance, and Constitution which are all at 16. ¡°Is that good?¡± ¡°Not really, you¡¯re still only level 1. I would have expected to you to gain some intelligence, wisdom, or willpower from all the studying you¡¯re doing but none of those stats went up either,¡± That¡¯s when a look of realization came over Cara¡¯s face. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°When your Symbiote is active does it adjust your traits?¡± ¡°I think so yes, though I¡¯ve never looked at them and the only time I¡¯ve been in combat was when I first arrived,¡± she said. ¡°Interesting,¡± Cara said then smiled, ¡°It would seem that your symbiote may be smarter than you or I have given it credit for Not it, she came into her mind as Cara saw the look of surprise on her face. ¡°What is it, ¡®Not it, she¡¯ was just thrust into her mind from somewhere. ¡°I stand corrected, ¡®She¡¯,¡± Cara said making sure to emphasize the pronoun. A feeling of contentment washed through Pandora as she felt a presence in her mind withdraw and she was alone once again, ¡°I think she¡¯s withdrawn to wherever she is staying in my mind,¡± Pandora said. ¡°She¡¯s obviously with you,¡± Cara said. ¡°What I was going to say is that I believe ¡®she¡¯ has realized that while she is active your growth is stunted. How can you earn experience for things that your modified intelligence makes so you don¡¯t have to put any effort into it? True, the task is complete, the lesson learned but you made no effort to do so.¡± ¡°Is effort important?¡± ¡°The Oracle says that effort and personal sacrifice are what define each of us. To grow we must put in the effort and sacrifice our time. This explains why your attributes haven¡¯t increased and your level hasn¡¯t risen since arrival. It also explains why you¡¯ve aced all your classes. Iexpect your symbiote has withdrawn to let you struggle with things and learn for yourself.¡± A sense of agreement washed out from somewhere inside Pandora. ¡°It would seem you¡¯re correct, she¡¯s giving me the feeling that she agrees with you.¡± ¡°You will need to figure out where her assistance stops and when she will decide to step in. Also, you probably need to figure out how to communicate with her and if she has a name.¡± ¡°All good points but it looks like I¡¯m about out of time with you this morning. It¡¯s time to get to that assessment.¡± Cara stood taking her glass over to the wash bin and putting it in as she did the same. ¡°Just remember, this is your first assessment. Whatever you learn today is subject to change. I¡¯ve known people to go through multiple assessments before they decide to become an adventurer or stay here in the city. There are plenty of things to do here.¡± ¡°Is that why you¡¯re a healer?¡± ¡°I am a healer because it suits me now. I may become an adventurer eventually but I wanted to be able to heal others and be useful to whatever adventuring team I might become part of.¡± ¡°I may do the same,¡± she said smiling. ¡°And thank you for the talk, I learned that my personal friend,¡± she said as her voice entered her head again. Friend, yes I¡¯m sure Cara noted the slight pause but she didn¡¯t say anything as Pandora continued, ¡°is intelligent. Hopefully, after today I¡¯ll be able to sit down and talk with her.¡± ¡°I doubt that you¡¯ll become anything but an Adventurer. As for your friend, If I¡¯m right remember that the more you two work together the more likely it is that you won¡¯t grow from whatever you¡¯re doing. As an example, you might not get any experience for killing a monster that is deemed to low level for you.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll remember. Damn, now I have to hurry, by Cara!¡± Pandora said as she rushed to the teleportation room that would take her to the Assessment area. ¡°By Pandora, and her friend, Good Luck!¡± Cara called to Pandora as she rushed down the corridor. Pandora made it to the teleportation room and touched the crystal on the wristband she¡¯d been given for this purpose. Immediately she found herself in another area. Five other people were standing in front of the Dwarf that was facing them. The dwarf looked at Pandora and then looked beside the person on her right. Pandora rushed over and stepped into line. ¡°Now that everyone is here, with very little time to spare I might say, I am here to administer your assessment. I am Bastor Minegranite, Master Smith, and a seasoned adventurer. You all can refer to me as either Master or Master Minegranite,¡± he said as if waiting for something. ¡°A question is usually answered with ¡°Yes Master Minegranite¡± ¡°Yes, Master Minegranite,¡± all six of us said in a slightly garbled cacophony. ¡°Was that an attempt at an answer?¡± ¡°Yes Master Minegranite,¡± the six of them said in unison. ¡°Better! Let¡¯s make sure we remember the 2nd way you did that because the first attempt was PATHETIC!¡± ¡°Yes Master Minegranite!¡± they all said louder and in unison. ¡°Much Better!¡± Master Minegranite said. ¡°So you all arrived here this morning to take an assessment but no one told you what was going to happen here did they?¡± ¡°No Master Minegranite!¡± ¡°And that is exactly why I am here. Here¡¯s what¡¯s going to happen. We are going to go into the building over there,¡± he said pointing to a little building off to the side, ¡°Each of you is going to pick a weapon you can use, then some armor, and then the six of you are going to go that way,¡± he said pointing off into the distance ¡°But that¡¯s outside the city,¡± the only other female in the group said. ¡°That it is. Any of you can choose to step back from this assessment right now if you do not think you are ready and attempt it at another time,¡± Master Minegranite said.¡± No one moved ¡°Okay then, everyone into the building. Choose a weapon and armor that call to you,¡± he said as he lead them into the building and a room filled with racked weapons of every kind. Swords, hammers, polearms, bows, crossbows as well as the arrow and bolts needed to use them. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. A tall human male moved to the weapon rack and picked up a long sword and shield. Then went over to the armor tables and donned a set of chain mail armor which he wore over the leathers he¡¯d been wearing. ¡°Good choice Callum,¡± Master Minegranite called. Looks like you want to go the warrior route of some kind. ¡°Yes Master Minegranite,¡± Callum called. My dad is a baker now but he was an adventurer,¡± he called proudly ¡°I know that, go wait outside the door while the rest of them get ready.¡± ¡°Yes Master Minegranite!¡± Callum said. The other female, a wood elf if Pandora wasn¡¯t mistaken, went over to the bow rack and chose a long bow and a quiver but didn¡¯t choose any armor as she started walking toward the door. ¡°Asling, not going to choose any armor,¡± Master Minegranite called. ¡°I¡¯m wearing armor Master, it¡¯s under my clothes,¡± she said ¡°Let me see,¡± he said walking over and inspecting a sleeve of thin metal that came out from under her blouse, ¡°I see, very well you¡¯re ready, get out there and wait with Callum.¡± ¡°Yes Master Minegranite!¡± she said and walked out. A young male dark elf walked over and picked up a staff and put on some robes then headed towards the door. ¡°Good choice Robert, your mom let me know that you can cast spells and have been practicing, do you know how to use that staff?¡± ¡°Yes Master Minegranite, My father is a Monk and knows how to use a staff.¡± ¡°That he does lad, that he does, off with you then.¡± ¡°What about you Cedric,¡± Master Minegranite asked the only halfling. ¡°As you know Sir, I¡¯m more for stealth and backstabbing. I have my daggers and personal armor, I just wanted to see what was in this building.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure you did Cedrik. If you¡¯re ready please go outside and wait with the others.¡± The last man in the room went over to the wall and picked up a small hammer, and shield, and also donned some chain armor. That¡¯s not what caught her attention. He just looked inviting. Inviting? What the hell was she thinking about a man looking inviting? That wasn¡¯t it, she tried to feel with her senses and realized that a part of her was reacting to something in him He is a creature of order. Touched by the Divine. While not harmful to you or me, normally those of Chaos and Order do not mix well. Of course, we are a rare case, aren¡¯t we? ¡°Thank you,¡± she thought back to her symbiote who only remained silent. ¡°That¡¯s a good choice Pythias. Do you plan to follow in the footsteps of your mother and become a Paladin?¡± ¡°I fear not Master Minegranite. I was never one for using a blade. I will instead follow the path of the Divine and work to become a Cleric. Helping those in need seems to be a calling I can get behind, though healing monsters is a step too far for me. I am working to become an Adventuring Cleric¡± ¡°Good choice lad, good choice! Go ahead and wait with the others,¡± Master Minegranite said. Pandora looked around the room and nothing in the open called to her. ¡°Pandora, is it? And what will you be? The others have filled the primary roles so you don¡¯t have to pick a role that is missing.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know Master Minegranite¡± ¡°Close your eyes, open yourself to this room, and see if anything calls to you?¡± Closing her eyes, she felt her symbiote become one with her and heard her voice. First, the name I have chosen for myself is Capsa, you will understand the reference someday. Second, for this one part of your assessment, I am joining you so that you may have a better chance to work towards your destiny without false starts. When you have found your Item and Armor, I will withdraw. ¡°Thank you Capsa, Though I wish we could find a way to grow together,¡± she thought to Caspa as she closed her eyes and centered. Now that she was focusing on the process she realized that everything she¡¯d been learning was being redirected as bonuses for Capsa. She was growing as she was. Caspa had skills that she didn¡¯t and was much higher level. Pandora now understood why she hadn¡¯t seen much in the way of skill progression. She might be learning the lessons and information but the credit this dungeon world gave out as skill experience and general experience was being directed to her which it recognized as another entity. Pandora was still able to use Caspa¡¯s skills which didn¡¯t need to be leveled by Pandora. Exactly, I must withdraw and you must learn for yourself. I am still with and part of you and I will be watching but I can no longer be part of you or you will never grow. Your stagnation will lead to our death and I, now that I exist, do not wish to die. If you have a need I am a moment away but I must restrain myself from helping you as much as possible. ¡°I understand, and thank you again,¡± Pandora thought as she closed her eyes and reached out with her senses to find her best path forward. Almost immediately an empty spot on the floor called to her. She stepped over to it and looked down as patterns lit her vision and she started to glow slightly. Immediately, she understood that she stood on a plane of force that was modified to look like just another part of the floor. Her energy modified her magical signature and she passed through the floor as she gently floated down into the floor. Just as her head passed below the floor she saw Master Minegranite rushing toward her. ¡°Pandora¡­¡± he started to say as her ears dipped below the force barrier. she floated down fifty feet beside a ladder into a room filled with hundreds of weapons that glowed brightly. Pandora looked around as she landed on the floor then followed the feeling she had toward a wall with swords hanging on it. As she looked at the swords she realized that what her feelings were leading her toward was behind the swords. She looked at the wall and found a hidden panel which she pushed gently. The wall split and opened to s small room with a pedestal that reach up out of the floor holding a Golden Orb. she reached out and touched the Orb and was immediately somewhere else. Her hand rested on a similar orb. As she looked passed it she realized she was on a rock shelf far above the valleys below. Caspa¡¯s energy surrounded her preventing her from being harmed or feeling the cold as she looked down. ¡°Daughter of Chaos, why do you petition me this day?¡± A loud voice asked from behind her. Pandora felt that the truth was the only way forward here and turned to find only a rock face in front of her, ¡°Greetings Dungeon?¡± she asked then continued when no response came,¡± I am Pandora undergoing my first Assessment.¡± ¡°I know who you are.¡± ¡°As I was asked to choose my weapon and armor my symbiote led me to the hidden room in the Assessment Hall.¡± ¡°Why do you think Chaos has led you to me?¡± ¡°Caspa, my symbiote, believes that I cannot grow without her drawing away from me. Master Soleran once told me that you cannot learn by discarding that which is part of yourself. I believe Chaos has led me to you to explain my situation and ask if there is something that you can do that will allow me to grow without cutting off that part of myself.¡± ¡°Do you embrace Caspa as your equal?¡± ¡°We have only spoken to each other this day for the first time but yes, I embrace her as part of myself and equal to me.¡± ¡°So be it Daughter of Chaos. I felt when you first entered this reality and did not know what your arrival could mean. I have now analyzed you and see that you are but a newling, as they call the young in The City. I have also watched you for this past year and wondered why you weren¡¯t improving. I can restore your balance. Will you accept my Gift?¡± Yes ¡°Yes,¡± Pandora said mirroring Caspa¡¯s response. ¡°I must ask you twice more, Will you accept my Gift?¡± ¡° Yes,¡± Pandora said with conviction. ¡°I must ask you this last and third time, ¡°Will you accept my Gift, no matter the consequences to Caspa or You?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Pandora said as Caspa affirmed that response in her mind. ¡°Thrice heard and witnessed¡± Master Minegranite declared behind her. ¡°Pandora and Caspa, as a single entity within me I award you your first Adventurer¡¯s Mark and its first evolution. The first evolution has been modified to suit your specific circumstance.¡± Pandora felt a burning sensation, that did not hurt, on her right forearm. When she raised her arm to look at it she found a glowing mark superimposed over her dragon tattoos. A circle with a pyramid in the center. As she watched the sensation of burning intensified, though she found it bearable, and multi-colored flames that were as colorful as the energy Caspa surrounded her in spread out from the circle as the word ¡°Capsa¡± appeared outside the circle inside the flames. As soon as the burning sensation ceased a message prompt appeared in her vision. Congratulations! You have received the Adventure¡¯s Mark. All Experience received inside a Dungeon or the Labyrinth is increased by 10% Congratulations, Your Adventurer¡¯s Mark has evolved. This evolution alters how experience is earned and distributed. All Skill and General Experience earned in the Dungeon or Labyrinth are now distributed equally between Pandor and Caspa. ¡°Balance has been restored. It may take twice as long for your to level as others but your advantages from the outset will offset the slow progression. If I might offer an observation. Embrace that which makes you different from others. The uniqueness of your abilities will be your greatest strength. Now go, I believe you have weapons and armor to choose still.¡± ¡°Thank you for your gift and time Dungeon,¡± Pandora said as she bowed slightly then turned and touched the Golden Orb. Pandora appeared back in the underground weapons bunker and the Mark on her arm flared and then disappeared as her tattoos had. Moments later Master Minegranite appeared behind her. ¡°Well, that¡¯s never happened before,¡± the burly dwarf said with a wry grin. ¡°Since you made it down here, by the rules governing Assessments you may take any item or item set from this building, which does include this room. One weapon and one Armor set or other type of worn item. I¡¯m going to head back upstairs and will wait for you there.¡± ¡°Yes Master Minegranite,¡± she said. As he started climbing the ladder she reached out with her senses until like called to like and she was drawn to a shelf with a closed box on it. Nothing else in the room seemed to call to her so picked up and opened the box. As she opened it she found 21 marbles of varying colors. Congratulations! You have found a complete set of Chaos Orbs. Sometimes referred to as Wizard Orbs, this complete set consists of one small 2-inch sphere for every sphere of magic that exists. Master wizards have tried for centuries to bond with as many orbs as possible. It is rumored that anyone that can bond with all 21 orbs can perform feats of magic as yet undetermined. Any orb that is bound will orbit around the owner and perform as instructed. Orbs serve both offensive and defensive purposes and may be commanded to remain invisible when not in use. Do you wish to claim the Orbs of Chaos? ¡°Capsa?¡± she asked Yes, I believe these will work very well. Pandora chose ¡°Yes¡± and was surprised when all 21 orbs jumped into the air and started orbiting her as prompts scrolled down her vision. You have bonded with the Orb of Chaos You have bonded with the Orb of Order You have bonded with the Orb of Space You have bonded with the Orb of Time You have bonded with the Orb of Gravity You have bonded with the Orb of Air You have bonded with the Orb of Life You have bonded with the Orb of Water You have bonded with the Orb of Darkness You have bonded with the Orb of Earth You have bonded with the Orb of Death You have bonded with the Orb of Fire You have bonded with the Orb of Light You have bonded with the Orb of Putrescent You have bonded with the Anti-Orb You have bonded with the Proper Orb You have bonded with the Absolute Orb You have bonded with the Mental Orb You have bonded with the Spirit Orb You have bonded with the Orb of the Soul You have bonded with the Divine Orb. Pandora quickly read over each description. All the descriptions were pretty much identical. Each orb could block one incoming attack of the type opposed to it provided she was aware of the attack. Each orb could be used to perform an attack of the energy type of the orb for 4 points of damage of that type, which doubled against creatures susceptible to that type of energy. Additionally, as her skill with the items improved new abilities would open up at various levels. Pandora looked around the room again and immediately noticed a pair of wristbands. She went over and picked them up. Congratulations! You have found Wristbands of Holding. This item can hold up to five cubic feet. Items larger than five feet cannot fit inside this item. Also, it cannot hold more than 500 pounds worth of equipment. Perfect, something to attack and defend as well as something to hold things. With her two items picked she climbed up the ladder to find Master Minegranite watching as she came out of the hole with the orbs floating around her head. ¡°Don¡¯t those orbs block your vision?¡± Master Minegranite asked. ¡°I¡¯d forgotten they were there Master Minegranite,¡± she said as she willed the orbs to go invisible. ¡°Where¡¯d they go?¡± he asked. ¡°They¡¯re still there, I just made them invisible,¡± she said. ¡°I see. Wait, how many of the orbs did you bond with?¡± ¡°Twenty-one,¡± she said ¡°All twenty-one, well I¡¯ll be,¡± he said thoughtfully. A moment later he barked, ¡°Well stop lollygagging, the other five are waiting on you.¡± ¡°Yes Master Minegranite,¡± she said as she hurried from the weapons room and went outside to join the others. Master Minegranite followed her out then looked at all six of them, taking their measure, ¡°All right, your Assessment begins now. As a party, you are to head East until you find a tower with a Red Flag flying on top of it. The trip should take you about two days out and two days back. Over there,¡± he said pointing to a small cart about 100 feet away is a backpack for each of you and two canteens with water in them. There are 10 extra canteens as well so you can carry more water but it will weigh you down. About a mile east of here is the outer limits of the city. You have until then to talk as you like and get to know one another. After that, I strongly suggest you pay attention to your surroundings. Any questions? I thought not,¡± He said not giving anyone time to answer, ¡°now get on your way.¡± You have been offered the Quest: Risk Assessment You must travel to the Tower East of the City Midor with a Red Flag flying over it and return. Success: Pass Assessment, Class Choice, and 100 experience Failure: Nothing and a loss of reputation with all members of The City that know you failed the Assessment Do you Accept, Yes or No? Pandora chose ¡°Yes¡± Chapter 4, A Matriarch Calum and Cedrik were the first to get to the cart. They each grabbed a backpack and their canteens plus one canteen apiece. Asling, Robert, and Pythias were next. They each grabbed two extra canteens, which left three for Pandora to grab. She made it over to the cart, put the five canteens in her Wristband of Holding, and put the backpack on. ¡°What are those Orbs floating around you?¡± Robert asked ¡°What orbs?¡± Callum asked. ¡°There are a lot of orbs floating around Pandora,¡± Robert said. ¡°They¡¯re the item I was able to choose,¡± she said. ¡°Really, there were no magic items that I could see,¡± Robert said. ¡°You¡¯re right, we can talk on the way, we should head out. Who¡¯s leading?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°What are you two talking about?¡± Callum asked. ¡°I will. My perception is pretty high,¡± Cedrik said as he answered Pandora. ¡°Okay fine, whatever. As for our marching order, Cedrik can lead, I¡¯ll come next, then Robert, Pythias, and Pandora, you three are in the middle, however, you like. Asling you have the back, I¡¯ll be up in the front behind Cedrik,¡± Callum said. ¡°Sounds good,¡± Asling said as everyone fell in behind Cedrik and Callum. ¡°How about I help Asling take up the rear, ¡° she said as she let Robert and Pythias take up the middle. They all walked in silence for the first ten minutes until they went over a hill and couldn¡¯t see the equipment building anymore. ¡°Okay Pandora, where did you find those magical orbs?¡± Robert asked. ¡°They were in the building?¡± ¡°No, they weren¡¯t,¡± Robert said. ¡°No, they weren¡¯t in the room where you all picked up the weapons but they were in the building?¡± ¡°How¡¯d you know to look for them?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°Lucky guess,¡± she said. When they realized no more information was forthcoming they stopped asking and they all started paying more attention to their surroundings. About half an hour later they came over a hill and saw a lush oasis laid out before them. It wasn¡¯t very big, maybe a hundred feet in diameter but there was a pond, trees, and even some grass. Near one edge of the lake, there was even a tree with some orange fruit hanging down from it. ¡°Hold,¡± Callum said ¡°How did that get here,¡± Asling asked. ¡°What do you mean?¡± she asked. ¡°The City sits on the outskirts of where a giant rock from the sky hit. Outside The City for a least a hundred miles, four days journey, there is nothing but sand and some cactus plants and monsters that spawn. There are no rivers, lakes, or oasis inside that hundred miles from the edge of the city,¡± Asling said matter-of-factly. ¡°Where does the city get its water from?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Magic mostly though there is supposedly a well that goes very deep into an underground lake of some kind,¡± Callum said. ¡°Let me try something,¡± Pythias said as he pulled an amulet he had hanging out on a chain around his neck and whispered, ¡°Let that which is real be made seen!¡± The rest of them watched as the oasis disappeared to be replaced by a giant hole that was at the bottom of the dune. From their vantage, they could see teeth and a fluid of some sort covering the entire opening. ¡°Sandworm, a Matriarch, watch out for the fledglings!¡± Asling called as the ground around them exploded and worms four feet and length with a diameter of about half a foot jumped at them from all directions. WARNING, You have been attacked by Fledgling Sandworm for 3 points of damage. Fledgling Sandworm has attached to your right thigh and is draining your blood, 1 point of damage per second. WARNING, You have been attacked by Fledgling Sandworm for 3 points of damage. Fledgling Sandworm has attached to the inside of your left leg and is draining your blood, 3 points of damage per second. WARNING, You have been attacked by Fledgling Sandworm for 2 points of damage. Fledgling Sandworm has attached to your back and is draining your blood, 1 point of damage per second. As the worms attacked and bore her to the ground, she looked to the others and saw that she had been attacked by the most worms. The others were dealing with only a single worm each. Callum had blocked the one attacking him and had taken his sword and skewered it. Asling had drawn a dagger and was fending off the worm attacking her. Robert hadn¡¯t been so lucky and had been knocked to the ground with a worm attached to the center of his chest. Cedrik had dodged his worm and was making short work of it with two daggers, one in each hand. Pythias was sheathed in white light as he struck with his hammer, though the worms seemed to be less affected by his blunt attacks. Pandora grabbed two of the worms and ripped them free throwing them at the hole below. You have taken 5 points of damage when Sandworm was ripped free of you. You are now bleeding for 6 points of damage per second from your left leg¡¯s femoral artery. You have taken 4 points of damage when Sandworm was ripped free of you, you are now bleeding for 4 points of damage per second from damage to your right leg. The two worms she threw missed their target and ended up on the other side of Sandworm Matriarch. The worm on her back, she couldn¡¯t do anything about. She wished there was a way that she could get the worm off her back and off Robert. No sooner had she thought that twenty of the orbs zipping around her became visible and slammed into the worm on her back and on Robert. Your Orbs of Chaos have inflicted 40 damage on Fledgling Sandworm. Fledgling Sandworm has died. You have earned 20 XP. ? Base 40 XP Your Orbs of Chaos have inflicted 40 damage on Fledgling Sandworm. Fledgling Sandworm has died. You have earned 20 XP. ? Base 40 XP The Orbs returned to her and started orbiting again. Clear my sight line, she thought and the orbs shifted to orbit lower around her. she looked around again and noted that everyone else had also killed their worms. she rushed over to Robert and carefully removed the worm from his chest as Pythias came up and placed a hand on his head whispering, ¡°Let that which is unwhole be made whole!¡± A golden light surrounded his hand and washed into Robert. Just then she realized that she was starting to feel lightheaded and dropped to her knees. ¡°Pandora, your bleeding!¡± Pythias said as he looked over at her. ¡°All she had time to think was, Yep, as she pitched forward into the sand and everything went dark. In what only felt like a few moments later, she opened her eyes to see everyone around her looking down. Pythias, looked at her worriedly and then asked, ¡°Pandora, are you okay?¡± Pandora groaned as she tried to move, ¡°Not exactly, how long was she out?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been out for about 5 minutes and the wounds you had have now stopped bleeding but honestly they should have killed you.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± she asked. ¡°Wait, did we get all the worms, what about the big one?¡± ¡°The big one isn¡¯t going anywhere,¡± Callum said. ¡°When they get to that stage they just sit there, also they are really hard to kill. The two little ones are lying on the other side of the big one dead. I think your orbs got them.¡± ¡°Speaking of hard to kill, why aren¡¯t you dead?¡± Pythias asked. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Pandora looked at him questioningly before he continued, ¡°I was able to save Robert but when you took those two worms and threw them you ripped them out of yourself doing even more damage and increasing your blood loss. After you passed out, lines of white energy appeared on each of your wounds that were bleeding and they sealed and stopped.¡± Pandora opened her interface and checked. she was down to 50 hit points. Next, she pulled up her combat log. You have been hit for 3 points of damage, 1 point of bleeding You have been hit for 3 points of damage, 4 points total bleeding per second You have been hit for 4 points of damage, 8 points total bleeding per second You have ripped a Fledgling Sandworm off inflicting 2 points of damage and doubling your blood loss. Blood loss increased to 11 points per second. You have ripped a Fledgling Sandworm off inflicting 1 point of damage and doubling your blood loss. Blood loss increased to 13 per second. That would have been 7 points of damage that first second, and 5 points a second later. That same second she would have done an additional 3 points of damage for a total of 8, so 15 points of damage on the 2nd second Then 13 more points the next for a total of 28 points of damage. It had taken her only 3 seconds to Robert for another 39 points of damage. After 5 seconds she¡¯d lost 67 of her 151 Hit Points. Then she found the reason she¡¯d passed out. WARNING Caspa has used pure Chaos to sear your wounds. You have taken 26 points of searing damage. Willpower Saving Throw failed, you have passed out. 45 of 151 hit points remaining Pandora checked her hit points. In the last five minutes, she regenerated one hit point every minute. That wasn¡¯t fast, but it was faster than most people. No matter how much damage she took, she¡¯d be back to healthy in no more than 3 hours. she also noticed that her orbs were nowhere to be seen. she reached out and tried to feel them with her mind and realized they were circling the party. she opened her interface and tapped on the Orbs of Chaos tab. Orbs of Chaos Set to Defend Owner and assigned Party Orbiting at a maximum of Intelligence in feet. One Stationary Threat Detected. Pandora tapped on ¡°Defend Owner and Assigned Party and requested a definition. Defend Owner and assigned Party ¨C 50% of Orbs will defend the owner when unconscious or incapacitated. This is the default setting whenever the bonded owner becomes unconscious or incapacitated. Of the 50%, half will block attacks and half will attack any targets that have attacked the bonded owner. The other 50% of the orbs will defend any party members that are within five feet of the bonded owner. At higher skill levels the distribution of defending orbs can be modified. Those without any skill are limited to the default setting. NOTE: The Anti-Orb does not defend unless specifically directed. If the bonded owner becomes unconscious or incapacitated the Anti Orb will attack any hostile targets within range. Pandora recalled the Anti-Orb and found that it had been attacking the Sandworm Matriarch for the last 5 minutes for 4 hps per second. Over five minutes that was at least 1,400 points of damage and it still wasn¡¯t dead. What the hell was that thing? Pandora looked back into the faces of her party and rose to her elbows, ¡°I¡¯m fine, that hurt quite a bit, but I¡¯m fine,¡± she said. ¡°You didn¡¯t look fine,¡± Pythias said. Pandora stood up and brushed herself off as she set the orbs to invisible, ¡°The better question is how do we kill that thing down there?¡± ¡°We can¡¯t,¡± Callum said. That thing has,¡± Callum started to say then paused for a moment. ¡°Have any of you been attacking the monster? Asling have you been shooting it?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been standing right here with me Callum? Have I been shooting it?¡± ¡°No,¡± Callum said. ¡°It was one of my orbs,¡± Pandora said and then explained when they all looked at her questioningly, ¡°When I went unconscious my orbs went defensive, except for one of them. I guess it really doesn¡¯t like when its bonded owner goes down. The description said it attacks all hostiles in range,¡± she said. ¡°Well, that explains why the two small ones died. It also explains why the Sandworm Matriarch has 696 of 2,100 hit points left,¡± Callum said. ¡°How do you know that?¡± Cedrik asked. ¡°One of my abilities is Analyze. I can tell what something, is, its level, and how many hit points it has.¡± ¡°What level is it?¡± Asling asked. ¡°It¡¯s only level 10. she bet it has a lot of hit points because it¡¯s really big.¡± ¡°Level 10, that means it¡¯s worth at least 5,500 XP,¡± Robert said. ¡°How do you know how much XP it¡¯s worth?¡± she asked. ¡°That¡¯s easy. You take the sum of the levels and multiply times 100. A level 1 critter would be worth 100 XP, a level 2 critter is worth 300 XP. The XP will be divided amongst everyone that helped with the attack though,¡± Asling said. ¡°You said a minimum?¡± she asked ¡°Yeah, if you are higher level the XP is reduced. If you¡¯re more than double the level of the monster you defeat, the XP is reduced by half. You only get full XP if your lower level. Because we are all less than half of its level, if we can kill it, we¡¯ll all get a double XP award. That means we should each get 1,833 XP. That would be enough to get to level 2.¡± Everyone, except for Pandora looked back excitedly until they all looked at Callum who then looked at her and asked, ¡°Pandora, can you use your orbs to attack that thing until it¡¯s dead?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± she said hesitantly. ¡°Okay everyone but Pandora, you need to do an attack that damages the Matriarch for at least a point of damage,¡± Callum said. ¡°I have my bow, everyone could try to shoot an arrow into it. It shouldn¡¯t be too hard,¡± Asling said. For the next half hour, Asling helped everyone learn how to shoot and put an arrow into the maw of the Sandworm Matriarch. After each shot, Callum would check to see if the damage was done. It took a half hour because both Robert and Pythias had the hardest time using the bow. Callum and Asling did their damage with the bow and Cedrick threw a jar of burning oil. He¡¯d pulled a jar out of his backpack, lit it, and tossed it into the hole.. After they all looked at him for a minute he looked a bit sheepish as he said, ¡°I brought a couple of jars of flammable oil along, you never know when you might need burning oil.¡± After the oil stopped burning Callum let them know that it was slowly regenerating then looked at her, ¡°You ready for this Pandora?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± she said as mentally told her Orbs of Chaos, Attack the Sandworm Matriarch until it is dead. 21 orbs zipped out of orbit around them and down into the belly of the Matriarch. Three seconds later she received a notification. Level 10 Sandworm Matriarch has died. You are awarded 916XP ((((5,500 x 2) / 6) / 2). ¡°Yeah!¡± Callum called triumphantly as all five of her teammates briefly glowed a light blue. ¡°Wait, Pandora, you didn¡¯t level?¡± ¡°No Callum, she only received 916 XP. It¡¯s normal for me. Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯m still really close to level two though,¡± she said. ¡°Besides, coming out here isn¡¯t about the experience, it¡¯s about the Loot!¡± Cedrik called as he walked lightly over to the very lip of Sandworm Matriarch and touched it with a finger. Cedrick would like to share loot from the Sandworm Matriarch with you. Your Share of the Loot is as follows: Coins: 1 Gold, 5 Silver, 15 Copper. Items Looted Sword Long +1 to hit and damage Long Bow +1 to hit and damage 2 quivers of Normal Arrows. Two Venom Daggers A Wand of Magic Missiles with 20 charges, Recharges 1 charge per hour Amulet of Sanatio, Increases all healing done by clerics of Sanatio by 100% and increased regeneration by 1 MP per second. There were more messages but they just contained messages about normal adventuring gear; backpacks, canteens, and the like. ¡°What are these messages?¡± Callum asked ¡°It¡¯s one of the rare Rogue Class abilities that I received when I picked rogue as my class. I was told that doesn¡¯t often happen. Anyway, I can loot any monster or corpse I have helped defeat and whatever is on them or in their inventory appears at my feet, unless I have something that can hold the items like a backpack or such,¡± Cedrick said. ¡°Okay, then why the message to us from the Dungeon?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°Well, there are two modes of treasure gathering for my Loot ability. The first mode gives me all of the loot and sends messages out to only me, whether I¡¯m in a party or not. I can only loot creatures I have killed or performed the majority of damage to. The second mode allows me to share the loot with my designated party. I can loot all corpses killed by any of you and any treasure is split evenly among the party. I¡¯ve been told that as I get higher in level I¡¯ll be able to manipulate the system a little more. Right now though, it¡¯ll only show you your share of the treasure and any items that I looted so everyone can have a say in who any looted items go to.¡± ¡°Seems pretty straightforward,¡± Robert said ¡°Yeah,¡± Callum said taking over,¡± It looks like everyone here gets an item, except for Pandora. ¡°I¡¯m fine with it,¡± Pandora said. ¡°You said the messages are from the Dungeon?¡± she asked turning to Pythias. ¡°That¡¯s the current theory. We all live in a dungeon. It should go without saying that the messages should come from the dungeon,¡± Pythias said. ¡°I think you might want to pray on that idea Pythias. I know I¡¯m new to this world but I do know for a fact that the first message prompts she ever received happened before she entered this Dungeon world,¡± she said. ¡°Maybe you were in a dungeon where you came from?¡± Asling asked. ¡°Maybe,¡± she conceded. ¡°Well Cedrick, if these messages are correct it looks like you have treasure to pass out.¡± ¡°I do,¡± Cedrik said, ¡°I¡¯ve made more coin in this last hour than I have in the last couple of years,¡± he said as he went around passing out items and money to everyone.¡± ¡°Cedrick, where did all the items go when you looted them?¡± Asling asked. ¡°I have a Belt with a dimensional holding space. It was a gift from my parents,¡± Cedrik said as he moved around handing out the coins and items. The sword went to Callum. The Bow and quivers to Asling. The Amulet went to Pythias and the wand went to Robert. ¡°The daggers are mine, of course,¡± Cedrik said with a grin. ¡°Sorry you didn¡¯t get anything Pandora, ¡°Callum said as the others all said the same thing. ¡°No worries, I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll get something eventually,¡± Pandora said with a smile. ¡°I did go around and try to loot the worms but the only thing I received was worm meat and items like that the Message system doesn¡¯t usually tell other party members about. Do any of you want some of it¡± ¡°Gods no!,¡± said Asling as Callum as Robert turned green. ¡°Is it good?¡± she asked ¡°It can be if you know how to cook it,¡± Pythias said. ¡°How do you know that,¡± Cedrick asked ¡°I know a guy that knows how to cook it!¡± Pythias said. An uncomfortable silence came across the party until Callum said, ¡°Okay then, if everyone is good to go, we need to keep moving. We¡¯re burning daylight and we need to make it to the halfway point today. Cedrik if you would lead the way, around the big hole in the ground if you would,¡± It was only 10 in the morning, and they had a lot of hiking to do before they made it to the first tower. Chapter 5, Unexpected Diversion While they continued walking across the sand-filled landscape Pandora pulled up her Personal Information and checked her Earned XP. She had 30 XP for the Hunter Scorpion from when she first arrived. 40 XP for the two worms she¡¯d killed and 916 XP for the Sandworm Matriarch. Additionally, the sandworms that had been killed by the Orb before it attacked the Matriarch had each given her 5 XP. That all added up to 996 XP. she¡¯d been a lot closer to level 2 than she¡¯d thought. Pandora was startled from her thoughts when Robert, who was walking just ahead of her asked, ¡°What ¡¯cha thinking about Pandora?¡± ¡°I was just reviewing my information to see how close to level 2 I am,¡± she said. ¡°So how close are you? Pythias, who was walking behind her, asked. ¡°I¡¯m at 996 XP.¡± The whole party groaned. Asling, who was bringing up the rear commented, ¡°That sucks,¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you get full XP from killing the Matriarch?¡± Callum asked. Pandora could have shied away from answering but every member of the party had worked to save her when she¡¯d fallen. Also, the group had stopped and each of them was looking at her expectantly. She took a deep breath and started to explain, ¡°You all know that I arrived here from somewhere else right?¡± Everyone nodded, though no one spoke up. Pandora continued, ¡°While I was in transit the intrinsic rules of this place stripped away my levels and left me at level 1¡± ¡°What level were you?¡± Cedrik asked. ¡°I came into existence at level 671.¡± ¡°Level 671, Pythias said, but, but how?¡± ¡°I do not know how, though I know my mother was far above that level and my father, whom she never met, was even more powerful than her.¡± ¡°Level 671 you say, that would have made your rank Rare¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know about all that, all I know is that when I arrived the journey had removed those levels.¡± ¡°So why do you only get half XP? Callum asked. ¡°When I journeyed through the corridor that brought me here something happened and those levels that were stripped from me remained by my side and formed a symbiotic relationship with me.¡± ¡°You have a symbiote?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°I do.¡± ¡°What does it do for you?¡± Asling asked. ¡°As far as I can tell ¡®she¡¯s¡¯ tied to my nature and augments me,¡± ¡°She? Callum asked, ¡°How powerful is she?¡± ¡°Her name is Caspa though I think she can only talk to me right now. Caspa absorbed all of my levels that were stripped away.¡± ¡°Are you saying that your symbiote is level 671?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°No, she¡¯s level 670.¡± ¡°And that is why you only get half XP because she is always helping you?¡± Robert asked. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°But those worms almost tore us apart, if Caspa is level 671, she, I mean, you should have been able to take them apart.¡± ¡°As far as she can tell, I¡¯m just first level with a lot of attributes. Callum, looked around, ¡°We should keep moving, everyone back into formation. Pandora, thanks for sharing. You probably have more hit points than all of us. Even so, you be careful when they run into things and use your orbs as much as possible..¡± As everyone made their way back into line Robert asked., ¡°About the orbs, how can use all of them? Normally people can only use the eight Primary elemental orbs and maybe one or two others. You are controlling all of them?¡± ¡°I believe it¡¯s because of my intrinsic nature?¡± ¡°Your intrinsic nature?¡± Robert asked. ¡°Yeah. Each of you has abilities correct?¡± ¡°Everyone can have abilities, yes. Not everyone does. Through my training, I learned that beings can start with up to two, though a majority here start with none. This being a dungeon world though makes it possible for everyone to earn abilities as they advance through their levels.¡± ¡°Does everyone have abilities?¡± Pandor asked. ¡°I have two,¡± Callum said ¡°I have one¡± Asling said. ¡°I have one,¡± Robert said ¡°I have two,¡± Cedrick said with a smile ¡°I have three,¡± Pythias said, though I only started with two. The third I gained when I chose to become a Cleric. ¡°Can we share that knowledge or are they supposed to keep it to ourselves?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Normally, it¡¯s private though teams usually learn what their other team members can do as they grow closer. Seeing as we survived an encounter and made gains that I have never heard an assessment party making before, I¡¯m all for staying together when we pass the assessment?¡± Callum said. ¡°Don¡¯t you mean when?¡± Cedrick quipped back ¡°I said what she mean,¡± Callum said as he looked at Cedrick with a steadfast stare. ¡°Fine, as all of you helped to save me, I¡¯ll go first, if you want to share you can. I¡¯d appreciate it if you keep what I¡¯m going to tell you private. Unless such knowledge is needed to save my life, please share it with no one.¡± The group looked back and forth up the line, and they all agreed. ¡°Okay, as you know, I am from somewhere else. I don¡¯t have a handle on all that yet so I¡¯ll just say it that way. I was born and on that day was able to make out the scent of my father and met her mother.¡± Robert looked like he was about to ask a question before Pythias threw a rock at his back to get his attention as he said, ¡°Let her talk, questions after.¡± ¡°Fine,¡± Robert sighed reluctantly. ¡°My mother imprinted a lot of knowledge into my mind and we were able to walk in a park before the world exploded around us. As the world exploded my mother transformed into her true form, A Shadow Dragon. She was so beautiful as she tucked her into her leathery arms to hold me to her as she wrapped her wings around me for protection. I even felt my father¡¯s presence wrap around both of us as they both tried to protect me. The only emotion I felt at that moment was the love of my parents. A moment later she was ripped from her mother¡¯s grasp,¡± Pandora said as a single tear rolled down her cheek. She reached up and brushed it away. The group had come to a stop and while Asling and Cedrik kept watch around them, they all listened. Pandora took a calming breath and continued, ¡°After I arrived here the knowledge my mother implanted in me gave me some information I might need but not nearly as much as my father has. One of his abilities was something called ¡°Perfect Memory¡± he had other abilities but my mother didn¡¯t tell me about them. She told her about that ability because she warned me not to argue with my father, he never forgets anything. She was worried that because of my rapid growth, I¡¯d be at odds with him because he wasn¡¯t like her. My mother is a shadow dragon and my father was once human but my first ability makes it clear that he no longer is. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°A Shadow Dragon?¡± they all whispered in unison as they all looked at each other. Pythias was the first to recover from the information and asked, ¡°What is your father now?¡± ¡°I do not know what my father is but my first ability is something called ¡®Creature of Chaos.¡¯ The ability states that I am immune to changes that chaos can force on others. If there is a place of pure chaos, I can step into it unafraid. Master Soleran and I talked on the subject of how I came here and he believes that my ability, my nature, is the only thing that allowed me to survive the trip here. The second ability I already told you about, I have a ¡®Chaos Symbiote.¡¯¡± ¡°You said you had a symbiote, not a symbiote made out of chaos,¡± Robert said. He looked thoughtful for a moment then continued, ¡°Though that would make sense. If your nature is that of chaos and the symbiote you carry is also made of chaos then you wouldn¡¯t be limited to any single orbs.¡± ¡°Why would anyone that uses orbs be limited in the number they can use?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Most people have a magical affinity with up to four of the eight major spheres of magic. Sometimes they¡¯ll have affinities with some of the higher magics but normally everyone just has an affinity with up to four and can use some of the higher magics,¡± Robert said. ¡°What are the major spheres of magic, no one told me that yet.¡± ¡°You haven¡¯t started magical training yet?¡± Robert asked. ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°You need to start training as a mage and possibly a cleric when they get done with the assessment,¡± Pythias said. ¡°Why?¡± she asked. ¡°Because your ability to use all 21 orbs proves that you have affinity in all magic types,¡± Robert said. ¡°Including the Divine magics,¡± Pythias said. ¡°That¡¯s all well and good, but if you couldn¡¯t tell by the look on Pandora¡¯s face let me help you interpret it. What does that mean?¡± Cedrick said as Callum and Asling nodded in agreement that they¡¯d like the answer too. ¡°What does that mean?¡± Robert asked. ¡°That means that unlike me, a mage with affinity in Fire, Light, and Air that takes penalties when utilizing Water, Dark, or Earth Spells, Pandora would be able to cast spells from any school with much less penalty if any.¡± ¡°It also means that if she could cast spells from the realms of the Gods without fear of being annihilated by just for trying to,¡± Pythias said. ¡°What are the magical spheres for the Gods?¡± Callum asked. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of them before. ¡°And you didn¡¯t hear them from me either. They are Putrescent, Anti, Proper, and Absolute¡± ¡°Did you say Anti?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Yes, why?¡± ¡°Because the orb that kept on attacking after she fell unconscious was the Anti Orb.¡± Pythias and Robert looked thoughtful until Robert spoke up, ¡°That makes sense. The Gods, Demons, and creatures that utilize that energy seek to destroy everything else.¡± Callum looked around before he said, ¡°Okay everyone we¡¯ve been standing here for a bit, let¡¯s get moving again¡± As everyone was getting back underway Cedrik asked, ¡°So mom¡¯s a Shadow Dragon, can you turn into one too?¡± ¡°Nope. I have tried but nothing happens. Master Soleran thinks that if that is going to be something I can do I will have to level first.¡± ¡°Makes sense,¡± Asling said. As they got back in line the others told her about their abilities. Callum had Analyze and Sword Proficiency. Analyze let him get information about enemies and Sword Proficiency gave him bonuses with swords. Asling had an ability called Eagle Eye which allowed her to zoom in on targets and made it easier for her to make called ranged shots, with any ranged weapons. Robert had Identify which allowed him to identify magical items. Cedrik had the looting ability he¡¯d already told them about and he also had something called shadow step that allowed him to step into a shadow and come out of another one in a radius dependent on his skill with that ability. Pythias had three very interesting abilities. The first was Divine Conduit which allowed his god or his god¡¯s agents to talk to him directly. He could also pray once a day for guidance though he was told not to abuse the gift or it might be taken away. It was only to be used in his times of greatest need. His second ability was Healer, which gave a 1% bonus to healing per skill level in the ability. He was already up to 10%. His last ability was due to his Half Celestial, Half Human Origin. He had wings. Unlike physical wings, these wings were magical and could be summoned and dismissed at will. As he leveled they¡¯d become stronger. Right now, all he could do was glide, though if he dived for a bit he could pull up and gain altitude. It was nice to know that they¡¯d all decided to share their information with her. They walked for another two hours until they came to an obvious campsite with a fire pit and a low wall around it. Cedrik scouted it out while Asling looked at the horizon around the location to see if anything was trying to sneak up on them. As they came up to the campsite Callum called a halt and said, ¡°We¡¯re a little behind because of discussions. We¡¯re only going to stop long enough to eat and then be on our way.¡± They took a short break and then were on our way once again. For the next four hours, they walked through dirt and bush-covered landscape looking for any threats. At about 4 p.m. Asling noticed the first tower off to a right a bit and they redirected towards it. As they were coming over a hill a scent made its way into her nose that she felt she should know. she searched her memories and realized it wasn¡¯t her memories that recognized the smell. she recognized the smell from her mother¡¯s memories. Just as she took in a deep breath to call out Callum beat her to it, ¡°Goblins!¡± They erupted from all around them, a horde of them. Three attacked Callum while everyone else was attacked by two more goblins. Callum had foiled their surprise attack so they weren¡¯t caught flat-footed. Pandora set three orbs off for each team member. Two to help protect them and one to attack their target. The last three she used gave her a total of six. How did the orbs defend and attack? The Goblins that attacked found their thrown spears deflected as they glanced off an orb. Wrists holding daggers were smacked by orbs causing them to be dropped. While her orbs went to work defending the party, Pandora watched as Callum eviscerated two goblins with his sword while the third was distracted with the orbs she sent to help him. This gave him the distraction he needed and he made quick work of his third attacker as well. Asling might have had issues if the orbs hadn¡¯t been there to impede the two that attacked her. This allowed her to step back and shot them point-blank. One shot, one kill. The orb that was helping her attack did hit the goblin after she shot it, but it was already dead by that point. Moments later she was looking for new targets. Robert¡¯s Wand of Magic Missiles and her orb made short work of the two Goblins that attacked him. The spear thrusts had been close but the orbs had deflected both attacks. Robert looked around for more targets. The Goblins attacking Cedrick were devastated by the two venom daggers. He¡¯d been able to duck and weave between his two attackers while her orbs protected him. Both Goblins had died with daggers jabbed through their throats. Pandora thought Pythias might have issues but, again, she was mistaken. Pythias was devastating with his staff. While his staff didn¡¯t kill them, her orb following up his attack made it so the goblins would never be getting back up. Just as quickly as the attack had started, it was over. Cedrik walked around and looted all the bodies while everyone else looked around for more threats. Cedrick has shared loot from 15 Level 1 goblins with you. Your Share of the Loot is as follows: 3 copper pieces. You have received 107 XP from assisting your party in the killing of 15 Level 1 goblins. XP gained 107 = ((1,500/7)/2) Congratulations! You have reached Level 2. As a Creature of Chaos, you receive 8 Attributes which may be added to any of your attributes as you like. You have 7 days to allocate your attribute points. If you do not they will be allocated randomly for you. Pandora closed her prompts as everyone called out their congratulations quietly. she heard Callum whisper to Cedrik, ¡°Cedrik, scout around quietly. That is a lot of goblins to spontaneously appear in the middle of the desert. Look for a tunnel or trap door entrance. Pandora, great work with the orbs, they helped out. Did anyone get hurt? If so, get over to Pythias to get healed up. I don¡¯t think this is over yet.¡± Cedrick looked around and watched the ground as he walked to and fro until he raised a hand and pointed to the ground at his feet. Everyone made their way over to him until Callum whispered, ¡°What did you find?¡± ¡°There is a flap of some sort here. I think it rotates out of the ground. Could be a pit trap but I don¡¯t think so, way too many footprints coming from right here,¡± he said pointing to the ground, which did have a lot of goblin-sided footprints in the sand. Callum positioned them around the side of the flap they believed the goblins came from. Asling with her bow drawn, Cedrik with his daggers, and Robert with his wand. Pandora stepped back and assigned 10 orbs to protect Callum and kept the other 11 near her. Their preparations were moot. Callum found the edge of the flap and lifted it up until it snapped into place creating a sand-colored overhang with steps leading down into the earth. ¡°What is this?¡± Pythias asked quietly. ¡°No idea,¡± Callum said ¡°Should they check it out?¡± Asling asked. ¡°Better question, is this part of our assessment?¡± Robert asked. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t it be?¡± Cedrik asked. Callum concentrated for a moment then said, ¡°You¡¯re not going to believe this?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a brand new dungeon isn¡¯t it?¡± Robert asked. ¡°Damn it, Robert, thanks for ruining the suspense.¡± ¡°Brand new dungeon?¡± she asked. ¡°Yep, a brand new dungeon. Level 1 even,¡± Callum said. ¡°Did you get that from your Identify ability?¡± Asling asked. ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Okay, so what do they do?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°Technically, dungeons are not part of the Assessment. The guidelines say that if the adventurers run into a dungeon they can choose to continue the normal assessment or they can choose to go into the dungeon,¡± Robert said. ¡°The first group to finish a dungeon gets extra XP and loot right?¡± Cedrik asked. ¡°That¡¯s what the manuals say,¡± Callum said. ¡°I vote yes then,¡± Cedrick said. ¡°Me too,¡± Pandora said. The others looked back and forth before they finally agreed. Callum looked to the others, ¡°If we¡¯re going to do this, we take our time and we go slow. Remember, we were taking the assessment so we could join parties to go out to find dungeons. We aren¡¯t technically adventurers yet. I know you have all heard horror stories about those assessment teams that found a dungeon and failed. How about we go the other direction and be one of the teams that succeeded.¡± ¡°We get it, Callum, be careful, can we go now?¡± Cedrick asked. Callum looked around the group then nodded to Cedrick, ¡°Lead us in.¡± Chapter 6, Dungeon Level 1 Cedrik entered the stairway that led down into the depths with Callum close behind. Robert came third with Pythias fourth, Pandora fifth, and finally Asling bringing up the rear. Cedrik found three traps along the way, pointing out a few tripwires while putting a finger to his lips to remind everyone to keep quiet each time. There were torches every 30 feet, though they weren¡¯t lit with fire. They each held a globe of soft white light that lit the stairway. Very soon they left the heat of the day behind. As they made their way lower, though, there was the hint of something that smelled rotten and rank making its way up the stairs. When they made it to the bottom of the stairway they found that it opened into a wide corridor that was twenty feet wide that led off into the darkness. The last light torch was at the bottom of the stairs. Cedrik whispered, ¡°The corridor goes about 60 feet forward then ends in a ¡°T¡±. I guess now is as good a time as any, can everyone see in the dark?¡± ¡°No need to worry about the darkness, Pythias said as he started to glow softly.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine and good if you want to be the first target,¡± Callum said ¡°I can see in the dark fine,¡± Pandora said to hopefully cut off any responses. ¡°As can I,¡± Asling agreed ¡°Me too,¡± Robert said ¡°Not I,¡± Callum said. ¡°Nor I,¡± said Pythias. ¡°Okay, new plan,¡± Callum said, ¡°Cedrik you¡¯re in front, just outside of our light. Pythias and I will be together with Robert, Pandora, and Asling bringing up the rear, also outside the radius of the light. Cedrik will stick to the shadows and attempt to flank or backstab anything that attacks the two obvious targets.¡± ¡°Wait a second, I don¡¯t backstab anyone,¡± Cedrik said indignantly ¡°And what would you call attacking people that aren¡¯t looking at you from behind?¡± Callum asked. ¡°I would call that taking advantage of the lack of foresight in my enemy to protect their back,¡± Cedrik said straight-faced which held for exactly three seconds before everyone burst out laughing. Once everyone calmed down Pythias whispered, ¡°Just remember you said that if you get attacked from behind.¡± ¡°Oh I¡¯ll remember, that¡¯s why I have eyes in the back of my head,¡± Cedrik said straight-faced. ¡°Okay everyone let¡¯s get serious. Cedrik if you¡¯d lead the way please,¡± Callum said. As Cedrik moved off in front of the light and disappeared into shadows, Pandora lost track of him and strained to keep him in my sight. Immediately her vision shifted to oranges reds and blues, ¡°Hold,¡± she whispered quickly as she tried to figure out what was going on. Everyone stopped where they were and took up defensive postures looking for attacks. ¡°What is it?¡± Robert asked. ¡°My vision, it just did something weird. I can¡¯t see normally right now. Everything is in blobs of color,¡± I said. ¡°Are those blobs of color bright near heat sources?¡± Asling asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I guess so. Your hands and face appear brighter than the rest of your body, so yeah, I guess so,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s heat vision, it¡¯s very good at detecting creatures that are warmer than the surroundings or finding vent holes. What kind of range do you have?¡± Robert asked. ¡°I can still see Cedrik and¡­¡± she said as she paused as she noticed movement and heat coming from alcoves along the wall. It looked like some panels had silently slid up and 10 creatures were moving to attack them from surprise. Her vision immediately switched back to normal as she only had time to yell ¡°Ambush!¡± and set five of her mage orbs to defend her while she sent three mage orbs to defend each of the other party members. Asling, Robert, and Pandora were completely protected as two spears tried to skewer Asling. Two more spears were deflected as they tried to hit Robert and the last Goblin of the five attacking them had his spear thrust defected by the mage orb protecting her. The mage orbs protected them easily. Unfortunately, her mage orbs weren¡¯t able to get to Cedrik before a spear was rushing toward him but it didn¡¯t matter. Before he was struck Cedrik shadow-stepped behind the goblin and made a precise attack severing his spinal cord which caused the goblin to crumple like he¡¯d been a puppet with his strings cut as he died. Callum and Pythias, however, weren¡¯t so lucky. They¡¯d been perfectly positioned for four goblins to attack them. Two of the goblins attacked from the front and two from the back. Callum used a sword and shield and Pythias used a hammer and shield which allowed them to deflect one attack each but left them wide open for back attacks which the goblins took advantage of mercilessly. Luckily both wore chainmail. Unfortunately, it seemed that the goblins weren¡¯t without skill. The goblin attacking Callum aimed a spear toward one of his feet and succeeded in pinning him to the spot causing Callum to grunt in pain. Gritting his teeth he stayed in the fight and keep blocking and trying to help Pythias. Unfortunately, Pythias didn¡¯t have a helmet on and the second goblin attacking him tried to shove his spear through Pythias¡¯s head. Pandora watched in horror as the battle seemed to slow down and the spear rushed forward, only to be blocked by a feathered wing that had come up from Pythias¡¯s back and taken the hit causing him to grit his teeth and take a deep breath. Now that the Goblin¡¯s surprise attacks had been expended, her mage orbs were in position orbiting all six of them and began deflecting all incoming attacks. A goblin would try to stab only to watch as the spear was deflected. The one that had pinned Callum to the floor had let go of his spear and tried to attack with a dagger only to meet the full force of Pythias¡¯s hammer as it smashed his skull in, killing him in one blow. Cedrik rushed back and downed another one of the four goblins that were trying to attack Pythias and Callum. Pandora focused on the one in front of her that was trying to stab her. She quickly sidestepped the thrust, twirled along the spear until she reached out with my left hand, grabbed the goblin by the neck, and flicked her thumb, causing a loud crack as his neck broke. With an effective strength of 503, it wasn¡¯t hard. Robert used his wand of Magic Missiles to cast a spell that caused two energy darts to enter the goblin that had attacked him. The goblin let go of the spear and staggered back. Asling realized immediately that the mage orbs were protecting her and instead of worrying about defending herself focused on her attack and did something Pandora had never seen before. She drew two arrows at the same time and released striking both the goblins that had been trying to attack her. The shots hit center mass causing both goblins to stagger backward. The final round of combat found Callum, Pythias, and Cedrik killing the last two goblins while Callum remained pinned to the floor. Asling used her bow to kill the two goblins she¡¯d already shot while Robert used his wand to finish off one of the goblins that had struck him while Pandora moved in and killed the second goblin that had tried to attack Robert. Everyone looked around to make sure the attack was over as we all moved to protect Pythias and Callum. Pythias looked at Callum and gripped the spear as he said, ¡°I¡¯m going to pull the spear out of your foot on the count of three, Ready?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°Ready,¡± Callum said. ¡°One, Two,¡± Callum said as he yanked the spear out and Callum grunted in pain. ¡°You said on three,¡± Callum wheezed through gritted teeth. Pythias ignored him as he cast a spell and touched Callum¡¯s foot which mended immediately. Once he was sure the foot was healed he looked up and said, ¡°I did didn¡¯t I?¡± While Pythias was healing Callum, Cedrik had gone around and looted the ten goblin corpses. Pandora noticed that she had messages waiting and opened her prompts. Cedrik has shared loot from 10 Level 3 Goblins with you. Your Share of the Loot is as follows 6 copper pieces You have received 500 XP from assisting your party in the killing of 10 level 3 goblins. XP gained 500 = ((600x10)/6/2)) Congratulations you have learned the skill ¡°Hand to Hand Combat.¡± Skill Level 1. Hand to Hand strikes are 1% per skill level more likely to succeed per skill level. Congratulations you have learned the skill ¡°Investigation.¡± Skill level 1. You are 1% per skill level more likely to notice hidden items and secret doors or compartments. Congratulations you have learned the skill ¡°Athletics.¡± Skill Level 1. You are 1% per skill level more likely to succeed in physical movements during combat Congratulations you have learned the skill ¡°Dodge.¡± Skill Level 1. You are 1% per skill level more likely to dodge attacks made against yourself in combat. Dodge is added to Athletics when determining success or failure. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Congratulations you have learned the skill ¡°Mage Orb.¡± Skill level 1. You are 1% per skill level better at attacking and defending with Mage Orbs. The maximum number of Mage Orbs which can be controlled at once is Intelligence divided by 10 Pandora read over the prompts and realized that with her base intelligence of 6, it was a very good thing that Caspa was her Symbiote, or else she wouldn¡¯t be able to control even one of the Mage Orbs which also meant that Caspa was doing a lot of the heavy lifting with them right now. As she closed her prompts Cedrik came back over to the group and whispered, ¡°There¡¯s a secret passage behind each set of alcoves that leads further into the underground. Do we want to stick to the tunnels or see if we can use the passages to sneak up on our enemies?¡± Cedrik asked. ¡°Let¡¯s take the passages. This time Pythias and I will come along last,¡± Callum said. They picked up the goblins and threw them into one of the passages behind an alcove on the left side then made their way into the alcove on the right side of the passage and the secret tunnel behind it. Cedrik led the way with Asling, Robert and her following close behind. Pythias and Callum stayed back a little farther so their light didn¡¯t leak ahead of us. Every once in a while they¡¯d pass a slit in the wall which would allow them to look out into the passage but they saw nothing. Eventually, they came to a stop and Cedrik looked at a giant stone wall sitting before them. Off to the right was a lever. They prepared themselves as best they could. Pythias turned off his light so they were all in darkness as Cedrik pulled the lever and the rock wall started to slide up. As the rock slab slid up they found themselves in a passage that went off to the left and right. To the left went back to the main tunnel. On each side of the tunnel, Pandora saw a goblin. Cedrik flashed his fingers at Asling using some sort of sign language. Asling nodded, drew her bow, notched an arrow, and waited. Cedrik moved down the hall a little bit then drew a dagger with his right hand as his left hand was held behind him and he held out three fingers, then two, then one, and disappeared as Asling let an arrow fly. Asling shot the goblin closest to the party through the throat, Cedrick appeared behind the second goblin, reached around, and slit his throat. Cedrik touched each goblin briefly to loot them once they were dead and then made his way back to the group. Everyone fell into formation again as Pythias and Callum pulled up the rear, Pythias had reduced his light to the lowest that he could put out. It didn¡¯t matter though. As they went down the tunnel sounds and smells started assailing their senses and light started shining down the tunnel. Cedrik stopped at a rock outcropping and motioned for everyone to come to him. Once everyone was behind the rock outcropping they looked out into a cave that was mindboggling. A diffuse light filled the cavern from above as a waterfall could be seen on the opposite of the cave falling from a hole near the ceiling. The water had carved out a river that wound its way around the cave and exited off to their left somewhere. Along the river was a settlement of goblins. Adults and children could be seen playing off in the distance, though the game they were playing¡­.They were kicking something around which seemed to have a rope flopping around it. Horror filled Pandora¡¯s mind as she realized that the ball they were kicking was the head of a female elf and the rope was her ponytail. As Pandora looked around the cavern searching for prisoners her eyes were drawn to the roasting fire which had the rest of the female elf, spitted and turning over the fire, along with at least five other bodies. Pandora looked around at her five companions and saw the rage filling her eyes mirrored in theirs as well. Callum spoke first, ¡°We can¡¯t take on that many goblins, there has to be something like a thousand or more in that cave.¡± Pandora felt a whisper in her mind, we can do this. A moment later she was looking at Callum thoughtfully as an idea formed, ¡°Really quick question. I¡¯m not the leader of this party so I don¡¯t know. Is there a way to set all experience gains to be shared equally no matter who gets the kills?¡± Pandora asked as she thought that she remembered Master Soleran saying something to that effect and that most people didn¡¯t do that because it was unfair that people not doing any work received experience for nothing. ¡°There is, but most people don¡¯t use it,¡± Robert said. ¡°I thought I remembered that from class. Callum, set the party to equally distributed experience and treasure please.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Callum asked. ¡°Because we are going to kill them all, every last goblin,¡± Pandora said. ¡°We won¡¯t survive,¡± Callum started to say as the rage she¡¯d been holding inside finally broke through and her whole body rippled. ¡°Do it!¡± Pandora said in a barely restrained scream as her 21 mage orbs screamed away from her in a line that started passing through the goblins on the right of the tunnel exit as she veered to the left and started moving like the wind. The orbs created a line of death as they singled out goblin after goblin creating a line of death that could put holes completely through up to four goblins at a time. ¡°Support her!¡± she heard Callum call from behind as she waded into a group of three goblin warriors that were too stunned to even react as she moved among them going for efficient kills instead of a fair fight. She grabbed the first goblin and threw him full strength into the second. As the two goblins collided and a loud crunch was heard as they fell to the ground motionless she stepped behind the third and twisted his head, snapping his neck. Pandora followed up by moving to the two she¡¯d knocked prone and stomped their heads underfoot killing them instantly. After that display, Pandora lost herself to combat. Sometime during the blur of combat her mage orbs returned to her and started swirling around her at dizzying speeds destroying any that dared come close. The rest of the party stayed back at the cave mouth, which turned out to be a good thing when a Goblin Mage, floating through the air descended from the waterfall and cast a fireball at Pandora. The sight of the mage shocked Pandora out of her rampage enough to know she was in trouble until Caspa sent don¡¯t worry about that mage I¡¯ll handle him with the orbs. Pandora continued attacking those goblins near her as she also watched with trepidation as the fireball flew toward her until one of her mage orbs flashed between them and absorb it. Everyone stopped moving as the Goblin Mage looked on with surprise and then cast another spell. Five magic missiles streaked toward Pandora, only to be absorbed by another mage orb. The mage cast three more spells before he stopped and pulled out a staff and pointed it toward her. Pandora would later admit, that as angry as she was, she may have had second thoughts at that moment. Suddenly the five orbs that had absorbed the spells the mage had cast streaked toward the goblin mage. The mage turned his staff horizontally and a shell of energy surrounded him at which point a sixth mage orb streaked away from Pandora toward the mage. That sixth orb was the anti-orb and took the lead, easily punching through the shield and shattering it. At which point the other five orbs released the spells they¡¯d absorbed as pure energy which tried to rip the Goblin Mage apart and damage his staff. Realizing he was in trouble the Goblin mage tried to throw his staff away from himself to no avail. There was a loud crack when the staff was only fifteen feet away from the Goblin Mage and then an explosion blasted the goblin mage across the cavern turning him into a shooting star that slammed into the cavern wall with a very loud ¡°Thud¡± near the ceiling. From there, what was left of the Goblin mage fell to the ground below, dead. The explosion blasted Pandora back fifty feet but did very little damage to her. She flipped while flying through the air and landed lightly. Then she rushed forward to continue her grizzly task. After the Goblin mage died it was just a matter of time before the entire cavern was cleared of the goblin infestation. ¡°Pandora, Pandora!¡± Callum called. Finally, her senses came back and she was able to take control of the blood lust that had controlled her. She looked around at the carnage she¡¯d wrought and felt good because these goblins would never be able to cook or eat anyone ever again. Pandora looked down at herself and noted that she was covered in Goblin blood and viscera. She set her mage orbs to invisible and defensive then walked over to the stream where there was a shallow area and stepped in. She began washing the blood off of herself as the rest of the party made their way over to her. ¡°What was that?¡± Callum asked angrily. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°What were you thinking running off like that?¡± Callum asked ¡°Did you set the experience to evenly share among the party?¡± Pandora countered. ¡°Well yes but that doesn¡¯t mean¡­¡± Pandora held up her hand which caused Callum to pause before she said, ¡°Callum, I am a half dragon and half something else. I¡¯m about a year old. I am learning to control my instincts but I¡¯m not there yet. The sight of the elves being cooked made me very angry. I feel better now, can we leave it at that? ¡°But you could have gotten yourself and us killed?¡± Callum said. ¡°I have a feeling that the more we go out together the more one of us is going to accidentally try to get the rest of us killed. Today was my turn. Now, I believe we all have prompts to review and treasure to collect. By the way, my money is on Cedrik being the next one to try to get us all killed,¡± she said with a smile. ¡°I¡¯ll take that action,¡± Asling said. ¡°You two can go to hell,¡± Cedrik responded, ¡°You know it¡¯s going to be our pillar of light.¡± Callum, realizing there was no point continuing with this line of discussion shrugged and said, ¡°Fine, but please be careful,¡± Pandora realized that his comments were coming from a good place and smiled at him, ¡°I will, and thanks for caring,¡± she said. Asling and Cedrick snickered, then stopped when Pandora glared at them and they realized she wasn¡¯t trying to make fun of Callum. I think I¡¯m going to go loot corpses, anyone else wanna help?¡± Cedrik said as he walked off with Asling and Robert close behind. Callum and Pythias looked around the encampment. Pythias shook his head sadly as he said, ¡°This is not a dig at you Pandora, I would have done exactly the same if you hadn¡¯t beaten me to it, I just wish there was a way to punish evil without killing women and children.¡± ¡°I understand Pythias, Don¡¯t think this doesn¡¯t weigh on me a bit. Honestly, I¡¯m glad I was so angry that I lost myself there for a bit, or I wouldn¡¯t have been able to do what needed to be done. ¡°How many did you kill?¡± Pythias asked. No sooner had he asked than every party member was sufficed with light as each of them leveled. Pandora was the first to recover as she only received half of the experience they did. She quickly opened her Personal Interface and checked her prompts. Your portion of the XP gained for killing 224 Goblins is 67,575 XP. Reduced by half, you gain 33,788 XP. Congratulations! You have reached level 8. You have 48 attributes to spend. If you do not do so within seven days attributes will be allocated randomly. Congratulations you have learned the skill ¡°Hand to Hand Combat.¡± Skill Level has reached level 11. Hand to Hand strikes are 1% per skill level more likely to succeed per skill level. Congratulations you have learned the skill ¡°Mage Orb.¡± Skill level 11. You are 1% per skill level better at attacking and defending with Mage Orbs. New mage orb-related abilities have been unlocked. The maximum number of Mage Orbs which can be controlled at once is Intelligence divided by 10 She¡¯d gained 6 levels. That meant that the rest of her party should be level 12. Wow, that was awesome! She pulled up her combat log and listed her recent kills. She¡¯d killed 25 goblin children and the rest had all been adults levels 2 through 10 for a total of 224 total. Not 1,000 or more then. Of course, that could mean that some had been able to get away while she was lost to her rage. Pandora quickly allocated my 48 attributes while she waited for the others to finish leveling and looked around the cavern. She brought her Agility and Dexterity up to 14, Endurance to 16, Constitution to 19, and intelligence all the way up to 20. She wanted to be able to control two of the mage orbs by herself if Caspa was ever incapacitated. Wisdom, Willpower, Perception Charisma, and Luck were all raised to 10. She looked at her combined attributes. With Caspa, my attributes were almost all over 500 now. She just needed to even out her attributes in case she ever needed to just rely on herself. When she was done, she closed my Personal information screen and looked around. As she suspected there were multiple exits from multiple directions. She set Mage Orbs to their defensive setting while she waited for everyone else to finish their leveling process. Chapter 7, Not Done Pandora waited patiently while the glow dimmed from her other party members. As they all came back to themselves all of them were smiling. ¡°Did everyone make level 12?¡± Callum asked. A chorus of ¡°Yes¡¯s¡± was heard until she said, ¡°I only made level 8, but you all know my situation. Congratulations!¡± ¡°Thanks, Pandora,¡± Pythias said. ¡°If I remember right you said you didn¡¯t have a class chosen. You really should decide soon, all of us received our level 10 skill. ¡° ¡°Really, What did you get?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°I received a skill called Lay on Hands. Once per hour, I can heal someone up to my maximum hit points. The ability says I can also bring someone back that has recently succumbed to their wounds so long as their head is still attached and the healing I do gives them at least 1 hit point.¡± ¡°I received a skill called ¡®Cleave¡¯ Callum said. It doubles the damage I¡¯m doing and if that damage is enough to slay my target my attack continues into the next adjacent target for normal damage. It costs 50 stamina to use, so it¡¯s not cheap in combat.¡± ¡°My skill was a bit more refined and required that I had at least a 25 in Agility and Dexterity. It¡¯s called ¡®Bullseye¡¯ and for 20 Stamina I can hit any target I shoot at that my weapon can reach. It¡¯s basically a guaranteed critical hit. Considering it costs 5 stamina to shoot normally so that¡¯s not too bad. Also, if I¡¯m low on stamina I can rest for two seconds and fire. It could also be useful if we need to hit something like a rope.¡± ¡°That does sound useful,¡± Callum said thoughtfully. ¡°I can now Detect Magic within 50 feet automatically,¡± Robert said. ¡°Nice, that will come in really useful. Wait, as an ability, not a spell?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°As an ability,¡± Robert confirmed. ¡°That¡¯s almost unheard of. Detect Magic at all times means that we¡¯ll find every magical item and treasure, as well as secret magical doors and containers so long as they¡¯re not shielded. That is an outstanding ability,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°I know it is, I just wish I¡¯d received an ability that helped us with combat, I could see that as being more useful right now?¡± Robert said. ¡°You think so? Go walk around the room and take a look around,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°What did you get Cedrik,¡± Pandora asked, redirecting the attention from Robert to Cedrik as everyone looked to see what he said. ¡°My multiplier for surprise attacks went up. With Shadow Step that should allow me to take down important enemies before they can hurt us too badly,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°Sounds like you all did get some abilities that will help you, and us out. What happens if I don¡¯t choose a class,¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Nothing much, I guess. The Class ability at 10th level probably just goes into limbo. You¡¯ll probably get it after you choose a class,¡± Robert said. Pythias turned to look at the tunnel on the other side of the cavern just as Pandora did, They¡¯d both heard something coming from the tunnel. Callum noticed and said, ¡°I think we¡¯re about to have company.¡± ¡°Thanks, Captain Obvious,¡± Cedrik said sarcastically. ¡°No time for that, fight, hide, or run,¡± Asling asked. ¡°Hey, there¡¯s a magical square over her, Robert said as he moved toward a wall, reached out, and fell through,¡± ¡°Every, on Robert, now!¡± Callum called. Asling followed first, then Cedrik, then Pythias, Callum, and finally Pandora. As she stepped through the Illusionary wall Robert was on the ground clutching his stomach as a Goblin was toppling over with an arrow sticking out of its eye. Cedrik had appeared behind another Goblin she¡¯d noticed that was standing next to a lever on the wall and stabbed him through the base of his skull up into his brain, killing him instantly. ¡°Lever, possible trap, everyone further in by Cedrik, now,¡± Callum called. Everyone moved further into the hidden passage which ended up being a tunnel. An evil smirk crossed Pandora¡¯s lips as she said, ¡°I have an idea¡± and commanded the anti-orb to her hand as Pythias moved up to Robert as Cedrik pulled his dagger out of the dead goblin. Pythias reached down and healed Robert. ¡°What are you going to do with that?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°Well, you remember how one of my orbs doesn¡¯t like anything and it continued to attack the Sandworm Matriarch even though I was unconscious?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Callum said as they all looked at one another questioningly. She plucked the orb out of the air, went back over to the illusionary wall, and pushed her hand through as she sent two thoughts to the orb. Stay in the room, Have fun. She felt the Orb leave her hand and a moment later she received a message prompt. ¡°What did you do?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°Remember what you said when we first entered that chamber, it looked like it should be able to house at least 1,000 goblins. Now, I might only be just over a year old but even I know that just over 200 is a lot less than 1,000. As to your question, well, all my other mage orbs require constant commands to attack and such. That one orb is completely the opposite. If I don¡¯t lock it down, it¡¯ll attack everything it can get to. I told it to go have some fun in that room. In the time I¡¯ve been talking to you I¡¯ve received 10 messages indicating it¡¯s killed something, and just now, another one,¡± she said as another message notification appeared. ¡°What about the rest of us, are we going to get any XP?¡± Cedrik asked. ¡°Callum, the party is still set to Equally Distributed Experience?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°It is,¡± Callum said. ¡°There you go. It looks like the orb is killing a goblin about once every two to three seconds. Also, I¡¯m sure after it goes through some¡­ ¡°Shhh,¡± Cedrik said cutting me off, ¡°I think we have something rushing down this tunnel towards us from wherever this tunnel leads to.¡± ¡°Callum made his way forward and Pandora set two of the mage orbs to kill anything that came through the illusionary wall and three orbs a piece to defend each of them as they all prepared to fight whatever was coming down the tunnel. As Pythias increased his glow so everyone could see. Suddenly, they could see goblins making their way toward them. About 30 feet away there were at least twenty red-eyed goblins running toward them with axes, swords, and daggers. Pythias stepped up beside Callum and they braced for impact. Callum swung his sword and must have activated his new ability because three of the Goblins were cut in half at the waist and toppled over. Pythias used his hammer and shield while Robert used his Wand of Magic Missiles and Asling used her bow to deadly efficiency. Luckily the tunnel acted as a bottleneck which prevented Callum and Pythias from being overwhelmed. Pandora¡¯s Mage Orbs helped as a few stray crossbow bolts were intercepted here and there. In less than a minute the tunnel was clear again. Pandora checked her messages. She was still getting ¡°Kill¡± notifications from the main room. Cedrik moved forward and started looting the 24 goblin corpses as she turned her attention back to the illusionary wall. The two orbs she¡¯d placed there had hovered lazily while they took care of the goblins. The illusionary wall was also preventing any sound from coming to, or from them, into the giant chamber on the other side. Even so, Pandora needed to see how bad it was over there. ¡°What are you doing Pandora?¡± Callum asked. ¡°Just going to take a peek,¡± she said. Callum and Pythias quickly moved to the side of the party she was on and stood against opposite walls as Callum motioned for Robert and Asling to do the same, ¡°Okay, take a look, anything tries to attack you fall back down the middle of the tunnel, Pythias and I will close up behind you,¡± Callum said. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°Sounds good,¡± Pandora said as she leaned her head into the illusionary wall until her face and eyes barely went through and she could see on the other side. She looked around quickly then withdrew her head. ¡°What did you see?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°Well, there¡¯s good news and bad news,¡± Pandora said. ¡°What¡¯s the bad news?¡± Robert asked. ¡°The bad news is that the estimate that there were 1,000 goblins down here at least was probably accurate. ¡°What¡¯s the good news?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°The good news is that the goblins don¡¯t seem to know what¡¯s killing them and have started an all-out war in the cavern fighting amongst themselves,¡± she said. ¡°How is that good news? We won¡¯t get all the XP,¡± Cedrik said as he rejoined the party after looting the corpses. ¡°Quick math, 1,000 is way more than 21, which is the largest number of attacks I can help defend against. Callum, how many hit points do you have?¡± ¡°I have 6,¡± Callum said. ¡°As do I,¡± Pythias said. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t,¡± Cedrik said ¡°Neither do I, Asling said as Robert also concurred. ¡°I also have 6 hit points. With the Symbiote, I have 152. We do not need to kill everything on this floor, we need to get past this floor so if they want to kill themselves we should all be fine with that. Besides, if we wait around we should be able to loot the corpses after,¡± Pandora said. ¡°We should be able to, you¡¯re right,¡± Cedrik agreed. ¡°Okay then, we wait. Cedrik, can you scout this tunnel a little way and see where it comes out? Don¡¯t engage unless you absolutely have to. We¡¯ll wait for you here,¡° Callum said. ¡°Can do,¡± Cedrik replied as he stealthed and headed down the tunnel.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to keep an eye on my messages, I¡¯ll let you know when they start to slow down,¡± Pandora said. Cedrik came back in about five minutes, ¡°The tunnel opens into another room about a third the size of the big cavern. It¡¯s mostly empty. It has two tunnels leading out of it, one that comes back this way and one that heads away from here,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°They must have known about the tunnel and thought to get behind anyone who was trying to take out their camp. I wonder where the other goblins came from then?¡± Robert said.¡± ¡°More likely, they hid in rooms cut into the side of the cavern and came back out when the fighting started,¡± Pythias said. ¡°Well, whatever the reason, I¡¯m not getting notifications as often. They¡¯ve slowed down and I¡¯m only receiving one about every 10 to 15 seconds,¡± Pandora said. ¡°That¡¯s okay, let¡¯s wait until at least a minute passes between notifications,¡± Callum said. ¡°More than likely, we¡¯ll have to go in there and clean up goblins that are hiding or playing dead to avoid being attacked, ¡°Asling said. ¡°True, I know I¡¯d have dropped to the ground and started playing dead as soon as everyone around me started dying,¡± Cedrik said. Everyone settled down to wait while Pandora watched as the messages she was receiving continued to slow down. Finally, about 45 minutes later there was a minute between messages, ¡°That¡¯s it, a minute and ten seconds since the last message,¡± she said. ¡°All right, form up, let¡¯s all go back into the room and see if we can make sure the goblins are taken care of. We don¡¯t want to leave sentient creatures on any level of a dungeon, especially goblins,¡± Callum said. ¡°Why is that?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Because creatures that are made from a dungeon find it hard to exist once they leave the magical density of the Dungeon. If they go outside they need to stay close. Creatures born in a dungeon are under no such restrictions. Goblins breed like hamsters. In just a few months 20 could turn into 200 hundred. Within a year 1,000. Also, these goblins probably weren¡¯t created in this Dungeon, new dungeons usually don¡¯t create sentient mobs. There is probably a cave system that comes up into the dungeon from the depths. We¡¯ll need to watch for that as well and add it to our report to the Adventurer¡¯s Guild,¡± Robert said. ¡°Everyone ready Callum asked?¡± Pandora set the Mage Orbs to defense, 3 on each of them. She kept the last three in reserve. Well, the last two anyway. When they all stepped through the illusionary wall she recalled the Anti-Orb which looked tired as it made its way back to her. As it came to hover in front of her she held out her hand and caught it as it dropped out of the air. One thing she did notice as the orb came within a foot of her, her mana regeneration had dropped by 25% from 8 to 6 per second. She¡¯d have to watch that going forward. Maybe the orbs had a maximum energy supply. She stowed it in one of her pockets. She¡¯d have to figure that out later. Right now, she had to be more careful when relying on the orbs. Pandora had no idea how the duration of these things worked. They looked around the cavern to find even more goblin bodies strew everywhere, though they didn¡¯t see any goblins moving around in the open. Callum looked around, ¡°All right, everyone in twos; Robert and Pythias, Asling and me, and Cedrik and Pandora. Let¡¯s split up, make sure every one of them is dead, and watch for ambushes.¡± They split up and went to work. The next hour was grizzly. Not because she got her hands dirty. No, she had two orbs. As they made our way around she¡¯d have an orb strike a corpse, if it wasn¡¯t a corpse and reacted, Cedrick would finish it off if the orb didn¡¯t. Then Cedrick would loot the corpse. They heard a couple of squeals as the others found living goblins and ended them. After they finished in the room everyone came together. Cedrik started looting corpses and Asling moved to watch his back. Everyone else checked the adjacent chambers in a clockwise fashion from the illusionary wall. While Cedrick went through the large cavern and looted the goblins everyone else cleared the side caves. With Callum and Pythias in front supported by my orbs for defense and Roberts¡¯s magic the 30 or so goblins they found hiding died quickly. Cedrick went through and looted them when he was done with the main cavern. They found a total of three additional exits out of the cave, so four total. The one they entered from, one small one off to the left that was behind a door that seemed to lead down, and two across the room. The one on the right led into the chamber to the tunnel behind the illusionary wall which it opened into. The one on the left seemed to slant down and go deeper. ¡°Which way?¡± Robert asked. ¡°First, let¡¯s review our gains,¡± Callum said. Pandora opened her messages and skipped all the way to the last couple. Cedrik has shared loot from 1,076 Goblins with you. Your share of the Loot is as follows; 630 copper pieces and 75 silver pieces You have received 198,250 XP from assisting your party in slaying 1,076 Goblins. ? XP penalty for 375 level 3 Goblins and 236 level 4 Goblins (More than twice their level). Half XP Shared with Caspa. Total XP Award: 99,125 Congratulations! You have reached Level 16! You now have 80 attribute points to allocate. ¡°What level did you guys just get to?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°We received a penalty for all the goblins except the level 7 ones for being more than twice their level, so we only received half XP for a majority. Still, that gave us 147,500 XP and raised us to level 21. Hold on for a minute we¡¯re all choosing our next Class Ability that is awarded at level 20,¡± Robert said. It looked like only being level 8 had helped Pandora. She¡¯d only taken that penalty for the level 3 and 4 goblins. Still, it looked like that gap was closing, though it would still be a long time before Caspa leveled, she still needed 535,484 XP. By the time she earned that much XP, she¡¯d be level 33. Pandora opened my Personal Interface and allocated her points. When she was done she had 19s and 20s in all of her attributes which brought her combined attributes with Caspa over 500. Next, she needed to decide on a Class but she was hesitant to pick one as nothing called out to her, at least not yet. It was probably better to wait than pick a class that she wasn¡¯t going to like. ¡°Now that¡¯ is what I¡¯m talking about!¡± Cedrik declared excitedly. ¡°What?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°One of the Abilities I was able to choose was Shadow Walk. It lets me move through shadows and I don¡¯t need to exit immediately anymore. I can¡¯t do it for very long because it requires stamina but it looks like I can use it to scout out an area without being detected,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°That does sound useful,¡± Callum said, ¡°I was able to pick up Charge. It¡¯s a pretty solid ability that lets me move quickly to either help an ally or cross an area quickly while in combat. It¡¯s not as fast as Cedrik¡¯s Shadow Step, but it¡¯s pretty close. Using it doesn¡¯t allow others to make attacks of opportunity against me either. If I combine that with a shield bash, it could be very useful if I¡¯m trying to disrupt an attack or spell.¡± ¡°That does sound useful, ¡°Asling agreed, ¡°I picked up Quick Shot. For 10 stamina I can fire two arrows in quick succession, either at the same target or different targets. It¡¯s also stackable to Bullseye, though I won¡¯t be able to do that very often,¡± Asling finished. ¡°I picked up a skill called Quick Cast, If I pay twice the mana cost of a spell I can make it an instant cast as long as the cast time wasn¡¯t more than a round. If more than a round it halves the casting time. I have a couple of spells I haven¡¯t used because they take too long to cast. This could be a game-changer,¡± Robert said. ¡°I picked an ability that became available because of my race, ¡®Divine Strike¡¯. It allows me to imbue my hammer with divine energy that will increase damage and gives me a 1% chance per level to banish any infernal being that is equal to or less than my level. Even if it doesn¡¯t banish them, it¡¯s gonna hurt,¡± Pythias said. ¡°Sounds like we all came away with something really cool,¡± Callum said before he asked, ¡°Everyone make level 21 except Pandora?¡± Everyone answered in the affirmative. ¡°Okay then, looks like we¡¯re all about ready to go, except for loot, Cedrik, I noticed that this time around you didn¡¯t share weapons and such?¡± ¡°Yeah, I didn¡¯t want to burden you all with everything we found. I didn¡¯t notice any magical items, and everything was daggers, short swords, crossbows, blots, and a bunch of other crap none of you use. I plan to sell it when we get back to town, I¡¯ll share the money we make on the items then,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°Your word on that?¡± Callum asked. ¡°My word, Pandora just helped us gain 21 levels in a day, a day! We¡¯re all supposed to be on assessment so we can join a party when we get back. I think they expect us to come back at level 2 or 3. I don¡¯t know about the rest of you but barring any major upheavals I want to stick with this team,¡± Cedrick said. ¡°Me as well,¡± Asling agreed. ¡°And me,¡± Robert said. ¡°You can count me in. The stars seem to have aligned so, of course, I¡¯m in,¡± Pythias said. Callum looked from the others to Pandora, ¡°That just leaves you, Pandora, what do you say to sticking together after this assessment?¡± Callum asked. ¡°I say, better the devils I know, than the devils I don¡¯t!¡± I said. ¡°Wait what?¡± Pythias said. ¡°It¡¯s an expression from where I came from,¡± I said, ¡°It just popped into my mind for some reason. Has to be one of the memories from my mom.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Callum said shrugging, ¡°Looks like that was a yes. If we¡¯re done here which way are we going next?¡± ¡°Finish the dungeon,¡± Asling said. ¡°Yeah finish the dungeon, we¡¯ll have to send a team back if they want to follow that one tunnel down into the depths. We¡¯ll just need to be careful when we come back through here, in case something else makes its way into this level, ¡°Callum said. ¡°Now that we¡¯ve had our little break let¡¯s get back to work!¡± Chapter 8, Onward. Cedrick led as they moved into the first tunnel off to the left of the main cavern. It led into a relatively cool cavern with hung carcasses of dead rats, moles, and even some scorpions from the surface. There were also some casks and a few barrels of food; grains, rice, and the like. Everyone looked around quickly but there wasn¡¯t anything in this room that any of them needed, so they left it. The group made their way back into the cavern and went into the tunnel that led to the secret door that led to the illusionary wall. As they made their way through the tunnel, then the cave with the secret door, and finally into the room beyond they all readied themselves for imminent combat until they stepped into a small cave that, for lack of a better description was a torture chamber, though the ways the goblins tortured their victims was gruesome. Pandora had to admit that she felt kind of bad for killing the female goblins and their children in the other room but what she saw before her now, tables with dead victims strapped down that looked like they¡¯d been gnawed on while they were alive. Other corpses looked like they¡¯d been lined up to try the best way to kill, be it an Elf, dwarf, or human. There were even some gnome corpses littering the room. One thing that didn¡¯t make sense was the smell, there didn¡¯t seem to be any truly awful smells coming from the corpses. Just the hint of blood and decay. ¡°Cedrik, do you smell that?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Smell what?¡± Cedrik asked. ¡°You can see what I see, shouldn¡¯t we smell this?¡± I said. ¡°Oh!¡± Cedrick said as started looking around for threats. ¡°It¡¯s a spell,¡± Robert said. ¡°I can see a diffuse spell over the whole area, it¡¯s suppressing the smells that are emanating in this room.¡± ¡°Why the hell would Orcs care about the smells?¡± Callum asked. ¡°That would be my fault,¡± a being with silver skin that looked a lot like an elf said with a male voice as he stepped out of a door that silently reseeded and then slid up into the ceiling. ¡°I must say, very impressive. Just the six of you killed over 1,000 goblins,¡± he said as a ball of red energy flew toward the party from his staff. ¡°Fireball, take cover!¡± Robert screamed. Pandora turned as the world slowed down. Cedrick was trying to recover and step into a shadow. His ability wouldn¡¯t activate before the fireball hit. Pythias and Callum raised their shields, but Pandora knew that would be pointless. Her mother¡¯s memories showed her that fireballs filled a radius with flames. Shields wouldn¡¯t stop that. Asling was in the process of trying to fire her arrow, but she looked terrified. It was time to shit or get off the pot. Where did that thought come from? Without thought, Pandora moved at her maximum speed, which was about 19 feet in one second and touched the fireball. She was hoping to either block or detonate the fireball so the caster would be caught in the blast. What she wasn¡¯t expecting was for time to stop and a message to flash into my vision. Would you like to Absorb Level 50 Fireball? Absorb a fireball? Not like she had a choice if I wanted to save her friends. Pandora chose ¡°Yes.¡± Time remained frozen as more messages appeared. Level 10 Racial Ability ¡°Absorb Magic¡± unlocked. Absorb Magic allows you to absorb magic of any kind. So long as you are aware of the magic and willfully accept the magic into your body any magical spell, barrier, or effect may be absorbed. A new attribute has been added to your Personal Information; ¡°Magic Levels Absorbed, MLA.¡± MLA can never be greater than your willpower attribute or lower than zero. Magic absorbed is absorbed as spell levels. The number of spell levels absorbed is determined by the spell level of the magic absorbed. For example, A level 10 fireball provides 10 Magic Levels Absorbed. These spell levels are used for several different abilities. At level 10 you may choose one ability listed below Warning, once chosen the ability chosen is permanent. When earning future abilities, you may sacrifice those class or racial abilities to add additional abilities from this list. Your choices are. Heal Self/Temporary Hit Point Bonus: The spell levels absorbed may replenish 3 hit points per spell level absorbed. Absorbed levels converted to hit points that go above your maximum hit points provide bonus hit points that fade away at the end of the next combat round. All damage taken during that time is taken by the bonus hit points first. You may only absorb a number of spell levels equal to your willpower from any single source once per combat round. NOTE: This ability does NOT utilize the new ¡°Magic Levels Absorbed¡± trait. Spell levels are absorbed and immediately converted to hit points then temporary hit points once per combat round. Heal Other/Temporary Hit Point Bonus: The spell levels absorbed may replenish 2 hit points per spell level absorbed. Absorbed levels converted to hit points that go above the target¡¯s maximum hit points provide bonus hit points that fade away at the end of the next combat round. All damage during that time is taken by the bonus hit points first. (May not be used on self). Spell levels absorbed to heal others do utilize the same absorbed spell levels pool as all other abilities described here. Melee Combat Damage Bonus: The spell levels absorbed may be added as a damage bonus to any physical attack you make. The points must be added before the attack is made and only add one point of damage per Magic Levels Absorbed spent. Once spent Magic Level Absorbed points are gone even if the attack misses. Cast Spell. The spell energy absorbed may be utilized to cast spells of an equal level or lower at no mana cost. Each spell cast utilizes a number of Magic Levels Absorbed equal to the spell level to be cast. Burst of Speed: The Magic Levels Absorbed may be utilized to increase movement speed by one Foot Per Second per Magic Levels Absorbed point spent. This may only be utilized once per combat round. Other abilities will become available if all abilities above are mastered. NOTE: If multiple abilities are unlocked, you may only utilize one specific ability during a single combat round. NOTE: if absorbing a spell or attack would increase Magic Levels Absorbed above your willpower attribute, the absorption action fails, and you are affected by the spell effect. Pandora looked over the choices and quickly chose ¡°Heal Self/Temporary Hit Point Bonus:¡± It seemed to be the best fit for her at this point. Also, she wouldn¡¯t have to worry about keeping track of another attribute, at least until she unlocked another ability. Time resumed and the ball of energy disappeared into her fingertip as a new message prompt appeared. You have absorbed a Level 50 Fireball. Heal Self/Temporary Hit Point Bonus has converted 50 spell levels into 150 hit points which have been added to your hit points as temporary hit points until the end of the next combat round. ¡°But now, you have to, what?¡± the mage said as the fireball he¡¯d cast to kill us disappeared. Pandora watched as Asling¡¯s arrow flew by her and slammed into an invisible shield that surrounded the silver man. Cedrik¡¯s shadow step also proved useless as he emerged behind the mage and his two Daggers of venom bounced off the shield as well. Robert¡¯s magic missiles from his wand were also absorbed while Pythias and Callum stood wondering what to do. ¡°I thought to make this quick, now I¡¯m going to have some fun the mage said as he cast another spell and the portal opened. There was nothing Pandora could do about that portal so she turned her back on it and moved closer to the mage so she could touch the barrier as I thought Absorb. You have absorbed a Level 50 Globe of Invulnerability. Heal Self/Temporary Hit Point Bonus has converted 50 spell levels into 150 hit points which have been added to your hit points as temporary hit points until the end of the next combat round. Pandora quickly checked her current hit points which had The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Hit Points: Base: 153 (Current: 303 -90+150) 363 Well, that was handy. Her total hit points were 363. 150 hit points from the fireball had helped her soak the Elemental punch and the last 60 temporary hit points would fall off at the end of this combat round and the 150 temporary points she¡¯d just absorbed added to that bringing her total hit points up to 363. That ability was going to come in really handy, she thought as a huge earthen fist punched her from behind and hit her in the head. She only had time to think what the hell as she looked back at what had hit me. A mound of rock and dirt roughly 9 feet tall in humanoid form. ¡°It¡¯s an Earth Elemental,¡± Robert called out. ¡°It¡¯s susceptible to air attacks,¡± he quickly added. Callum and Pandora briefly made eye contact as they both were thinking roughly the same thing air attack, what the fuck do we do about an earth elemental, which didn¡¯t concern her as she allowed the punch to lift her off her feet and thrown her toward a wall that she bounced off of with the soles of her feet to land next to the caster, just as Cedrick¡¯s Daggers bit home and Asling put an arrow in Mr. Mages left eye. It didn¡¯t look like that killed him, though he didn¡¯t seem to be doing all too well either. I yelled, ¡°Elementals mine, fall back!¡± as an idea popped into her head from one of her mom¡¯s memories. In that memory, she had learned it was a very bad idea to break a mage¡¯s staff and wouldn¡¯t you know it, less than a foot from me was a mage¡¯s staff. Three things happened simultaneously Cedrick disappeared as Pandora struck the wrist of the hand holding the staff which forced the mage to release the staff which she grasped with her left hand. The Earth Elemental began charging toward Pandora as she quickly brought the staff horizontal and snapped it against her knee. Pandora didn¡¯t know if she could break it that way, but her strength was 507 so she thought she had a pretty good shot at doing so. As the staff was about to touch her knee both the Mage and Robert yelled, ¡±NO!¡± There was a bright flash and then nothing. Pandora came too slowly. She could hear Callum¡¯s voice as though he was far away. Also, the little light there was, hurt her eyes, so she closed them while she rested and listened, ¡°¡­and Robert grabbed Asling and dropped behind the cover of Pythias and my shield. Pythias was also praying so that might have helped,¡± Callum said thoughtfully. ¡°Cedrick wasn¡¯t so lucky. We figure he activated his shadow walk ability and started moving toward the door. When we found him he was smoking and lying on the ground face first unconscious. Robert said it¡¯s because powerful magical staffs can sometimes affect adjacent planes and dimensions or something. He says Cedrik is really lucky he wasn¡¯t trapped or sent somewhere else. He¡¯ll live, which is all that matters.¡± Pandora tried to stir and croaked, ¡°What about the mage and the elemental?¡± Callum seemed surprised by the question but responded, ¡°The mage died and the Elemental vanished. You¡¯ll have to check your messages to see if you killed or just injured it. Pandora struggled to pay attention to what was being said. She didn¡¯t feel so good, but she wasn¡¯t dead so that¡¯s a win. ¡°What were you thinking you maniac?¡± Robert said with tears running down his eyes. ¡°You could have killed yourself.¡± Since when did Robert cry? Scratch that, why was she finding it so hard to think? She reached up, or she should say she tried to reach up only to find that both her arms had been cut off at just below the elbow. Pandora shifted slightly and looked down at her body and noticed that her legs weren¡¯t doing much better, Pandora: Caspa, Caspa! What happened to me? Caspa: Calm down, Pandora. You¡¯ll be fine in about two and a half hours. Look at your messages and stay calm. Pandora didn¡¯t have any arms, but she¡¯d be fine in about two hours. What? She took a deep breath. Then she took another and tried to do as Caspa said. Pandora directed her attention to her messages as Pythias came over and cast a healing spell on her, which made me feel a bit better, ¡°Thanks Pythias.¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t you worry about it. Do you know if your limbs will grow back? I¡¯m just asking because we¡¯re all wondering what we¡¯re going to do next?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°Caspa told me to calm down and that I¡¯d be okay in about two and a half hours.¡± ¡°Did Caspa say why?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°Nope, she just told me to check my messages,¡± I said. ¡°Okay. Then you should check your messages. I¡¯m healing you as quickly as my spell cooldown is over, though you do seem to be regenerating on your own as well,¡± Pythias said. ¡°Thanks,¡± Pandora said as she redirected her attention to the messages in her combat log after she¡¯d snapped the staff. You have willfully broken a level 100 Staff of Fireballs. Explosive damage: 720 points of varied magical elemental damage in a 30-foot radius from the point of staff destruction Damage taken by you: 360. 720 reduced by Magical resistance of 50%. Temporary Hit Point Bonus of 210 reduces damage by 210, 153 Hit Points remaining 153 Hit points have been reduced by 150 points of magical damage. 3 Hit Points Remaining. More than 98% damage of base hit points taken. Catastrophic Damage Left and right arm destroyed below the elbow. Additional traumatic damage to upper, arms, torso, legs, and head detected. Wounds seared; no bleeding noted. Save versus Death by Catastrophic Damage Required Endurance of 506 adds 406 to Save versus Death. Save versus Death Successful Lay on Hands has healed you by 9 Hit Points. Current Hit Points 12. NOTE: Catastrophic Physical damage cannot be healed by magical means. Natural Regeneration of damage taken must occur for missing limbs and internal damage, such as broken limbs and organs to be fully healed. At a Regeneration rate of 1 hit point per minute, you will be fully recovered in 150 minutes. NOTE: There may be some discomfort as body parts grow back. Pandora closed her messages and looked at Pythias who was watching her, ¡°You must have rushed over and used Lay on Hands immediately?¡± she asked. ¡°Yes, as soon as the explosion happened,¡± Pythias said. ¡°Thank you again,¡± Pandora said as she looked at my current hit points which were sitting at 38, and asked, ¡°How long was I unconscious?¡± ¡°About 15 minutes, give or take. I¡¯ve healed you twice plus the Lay on hands,¡± Pythias said. ¡°Also, Cedrik hasn¡¯t woken up yet, though it doesn¡¯t look like he took actual damage, we think his mind was shocked. Once he recovers from that he should wake up. I was actually going to try my healing spell on him after this next cool-down to see if it would help.¡± ¡°Please do, my natural regeneration is going fix my missing limbs so I¡¯m going to need to wait no matter what I do, use your energies to try to heal him. Anyone else hurt?¡± Callum moved forward, ¡°No luckily, you broke the staff exactly 31 feet away from us. The explosion took out a 30-foot radius. Everything in that area, except for you is mostly gone. There are a few parts of the mage left, mostly smoking bones. How did you survive that Pandora, Robert says his Identify ability read that explosion as 720 points of damage.¡± ¡°When I touched that fireball, I unlocked a level 10 racial ability. I don¡¯t have a class yet, but I did receive a racial ability that allows me to absorb magic and convert it into healing or temporary hit points. When that staff went off I had 210 extra hit points from absorbing the fireball and the barrier he had up. My symbiote and I have 153 normally which gave me 363 total. Since I take 50% less damage from most magic¡­¡± Pandora said as she trailed off. ¡°I was really lucky.¡± ¡°So, when it was done, you had 3 hit points left,¡± Callum finished. ¡°Yeah, that hurt like a son of a bitch. By the way, when we get back I¡¯m going to critique the hell out of Master Soleran. Not breaking Magical Staffs because they might explode in a very bad way should be a core lesson, not something only mages know,¡± Pandora said indignantly as she waved around the stumps of her missing arms.¡± ¡°I knew,¡± Cedrik coughed, ¡°as he looked over and squinted at me, ¡°Since when does Pandora look like a singed chicken?¡± There was a moment of awkward silence as all of us looked at each other and thought about what he¡¯d just said. Then Pandora started laughing because she realized she kind of looked like a plucked and singed chicken with her arms gone below the elbow. Once she started laughing, everyone started laughing. Pythias moved over and helped Cedrik sit as he said, Asshole,¡± while the rest of them all continued to laugh and giggle. When Pandora could finally control herself again she said, ¡°Laugh it up. Just remember next time you¡¯re out with the ladies I can tell them you are smoking hot!¡± Pandora said which had everyone laughing again. Cedrik was laughing with us but finally, he said, ¡°I don¡¯t think that was smoke, I think that was steam, I feel really cold.¡± ¡°So, hell did freeze over, I had wondered what would spit you out that fast,¡± Pythias said as that brought another round of laughs. When everyone settled down Callum explained what had happened and where they¡¯d found him. ¡°You really broke the staff right after I started to Shadow Walk? It¡¯s a good thing I was trying to leave the room. It¡¯s also really lucky I hadn¡¯t tried to move through the mage and had the staff go off while I was in the shadow realm right over the staff, I¡¯ve never liked stepping through things while I¡¯m in there. I¡¯m sure that would have been really bad. Getting punted out of the shadow and across the room though, I¡¯ll take it. Though, we could have gotten a pretty penny for that Staff.¡± Cedrik said. Well, you can still loot the mage, we might get something from your ability,¡± Robert said. ¡°Everything on him was destroyed in the blast.¡± ¡°Wait, we¡¯ll still get loot even if everything he carried was destroyed?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°It¡¯s a rule of the dungeon or a balance or some such. In a dungeon, when you kill monsters you¡¯re supposed to get treasure. In most cases, the treasure is what the monster is carrying, or using. In instances where everything is destroyed and you can still loot the corpse, the Dungeon rolls new treasure. Some of the old timers think you can get better treasure that way, but no one has tested it,¡± Robert explained. ¡°Cool, I take it we¡¯re not getting anything from the elemental?¡± Callum said. ¡°Unlikely, I¡¯m pretty sure it was vaporized. It was vaporized wasn¡¯t it, Pandora?¡± Robert asked. Pandora opened my congratulations messages and checked my last two kills. Congratulations You have killed a Level 50 Doppelganger Mage. You have received 42,500 XP from assisting your party in this kill. x2 XP Bonus for Creature being twice your level. Half XP Shared with Caspa. Total XP Award: 21,250 Congratulations You have killed a Level 50 Earth Elemental You have received 42,500 XP from assisting your party in this kill. X2 XP Bonus for Creature being twice your level. Half XP Shared with Caspa. Total XP Award: 21,250 Congratulations! You have reached Level 19! You now have 24 attribute points to allocate. ¡°I just hit level 19,¡± Pandora said excitedly as she noticed everyone else¡¯s eyes were glazed over. Callum was the first to recover, ¡°We all just hit level 25. Everyone, take your time, distribute your attributes, and rest. We¡¯ll wait two hours to see if Pandora¡¯s arms grow back. If they do, then we¡¯ll continue. If they don¡¯t, we¡¯ll head back to the city. I think no matter which way we need to head, we¡¯ll have passed the Assessment.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you worry, in three hours we¡¯re going deeper,¡± Pandora said as she remembered, her Mage Orbs. Now that she thought about them she noticed them floating invisibly around the party. Why hadn¡¯t they been damaged? This made her think of her Wristband of Holding, ¡°Have you seen my wristband?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°I don¡¯t think it would have survived, ¡°Robert said doubtfully. ¡°It¡¯s over here,¡± Asling said as she picked it up over by a wall beside the entrance to this chamber. ¡°It looks a little worse for wear, but it seems fine,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ll have to wait for my arms to grow back to check,¡± Pandora said as she turned to Asling and said, ¡°Thanks, Asling,¡± as she put the wristband down beside her. Now all I had to do was wait to heal. The waiting part always sucks. Chapter 9, Worthy of Their Love ¡°No offense Pandora but that ain¡¯t natural,¡± Cedrik said as her arms finished healing. We¡¯d been watching them grow. She¡¯d waited until the itching sensation had stopped and her hit points were back up to 153. She picked up my wristband and put it on Wristband of Holding, this wristband can hold up to 500 pounds worth of equipment. Items must be no larger than 5 feet long in any dimension. Durability 48% of 100% Note: Close proximity to such a powerful magical source will slowly repair the durability of this item. Repair rate in proximity to the current source of magic, 1% per day. Pandora had also been wondering about the orbs and now that she saw that note she noticed that some of the orbs had been orbiting a lot closer to her. Specifically, the Orbs of Fire, Light, Putrescent, and Absolute. The rest dipped in toward her once in a while but those four were staying within five feet of her. It¡¯s me, Capsa thought to me. I am the powerful magical source. I am pure chaos after all. Of course, Pandora thought back. I wonder if that regeneration effect works for all magical items. It might, but probably not, Capsa thought back. ¡°What are you thinking about?¡± Robert asked as he walked up. I thought about not telling him but then realized that everyone here could be trusted, ¡°When I put the wristband on I received a message saying that it would repair the durability at a rate of 1% per day. Capsa thinks it¡¯s because of her. ¡°Easy enough way to test it,¡± Robert said pulling out his wand of Magic Missiles. ¡°I used this wand earlier and it recharges at a steady rate. The last charge should come back in about 30 minutes. Let¡¯s see if handing it to you increases the charge rate,¡± he said as he handed Pandora the wand. You have discovered a Wand of Magic Missiles 19 of 20 charges. Durability 100% Note: close proximity to such a powerful magical source will slowly repair the durability of this item. Repair rate in proximity to the current source of magic, 1% per day. Note: The recharge rate for this item is vastly increased in proximity to such a powerful source of magic. This wand will recharge one charge per 15 seconds, instead of the normal 1 charge per hour. Pandora held the wand for fifteen seconds, while Robert looked at her questioningly, and then she handed it back. ¡°It¡¯s fully charged!¡± Robert said happily. ¡°Yep it looks like it¡¯s recharging based on mana regeneration, that¡¯s just a guess.¡± ¡°How high is your mana regeneration?¡± Robert asked. ¡°4 per minute. Since the message I received said that the wand would get back a charge every 15 seconds, it¡¯s either a strange coincidence or the item can get a charge for exactly how long it takes me to recover a point of mana,¡± Pandora said. ¡°That is a strange coincidence,¡± Robert said. ¡°If your mana regeneration ever goes up, let¡¯s check this again. Also, I¡¯m probably going to hand the wand to you for a few minutes after each encounter to top it back off.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine, anything that helps us survive longer and prepare for the next fight,¡± she said. ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I like to hear,¡± Callum said as he came over and looked at her arms. ¡°It would have taken a healer months and a lot of very high-level spells to heal the damage you took Pandora. That said, I¡¯ll take unnatural if it will allow us to continue. You ready to look at the room the mage came out of with us and then continue?¡± ¡°Hell, yes,¡± she said as she stood up and dusted herself off. ¡°Everyone finished distributing your attributes?¡± Callum asked. ¡°I stuck more points into my personal Constitution and rounded a lot of my attributes,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Me too,¡± Asling, Cedrik, Pythias and Robert said. ¡°What,¡± Cedrik said looking at the shock on Callum¡¯s face. ¡°Pandora almost blew herself up. Even I put more points into my physical attributes. Callum grinned, then said,¡± Me too.¡± Before he pointed at a leg bone lying against the wall by the entrance. ¡°Cedrik if you would be so kind as to loot that, hey Pandora what did we kill, you received the kill message right?¡± ¡°Yeah, it said he was a level 50 Doppelganger Mage.¡± Pythias looked over in alarm,¡± You¡¯re sure that¡¯s what it said?¡± ¡°Yep. Also, we all received experience for killing the Earth Elemental but there¡¯s nothing left to loot,¡± she said. Cedrik walked over to the bone and touched it. As he used his looting power on the leg bone it crumbled to dust. Cedrik has shared loot of a level 50 Doppelganger Mage and level 50 Earth Elemental with you Your Share of the Loot is 16 gold. ¡°These also came with the gold,¡± Cedrik said putting a Shield, Quiver, Staff, Bracer, Ring, and Black Diamond on the ground. Cedrik was about to say something else when the Black Diamond shot from the ground and slammed into Pandora¡¯s chest. Except it didn¡¯t slam into her chest, it was absorbed by her. ¡°What the¡± Callum said. ¡°I¡¯m fine, it didn¡¯t hurt, give me a second to figure out what just happened,¡± Pandora said as she dove into her messages. ¡°If you¡¯d Identify these other items,¡± she heard Cedrik say to Robert as her mind was drawn inward until she found herself standing before Capsa. ¡°We¡¯re in your Mindspace,¡± Capsa said. ¡°It¡¯s a place where you can mentally focus that hovers between your conscious and subconscious mind. It¡¯s also a place where we can talk without the fear of being overheard.¡± ¡°Nobody can hear me talk to you when I think to you?¡± Pandora said. ¡°Not so, when your thoughts are focused to talk to me a proficient mentalist could listen in to our conversation,¡± Capsa said. ¡°Okay, so why am I here now.¡± ¡°The Black Diamond that we just absorbed can only be used to enhance one of us. I thought we should discuss which of us gets to use it.¡± ¡°What is it, or what does it do?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°The Black diamond houses pure chaos. The others wouldn¡¯t have detected it but as soon as it was no longer under direct control it sought its likeness and came to us,¡± Capsa said. ¡°It seems awfully convenient that the Dungeon decided to give us an item specifically designed for us,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Not really, the dungeon rolled and this unique opportunity came up. As to your question, this Mote of Chaos can be absorbed by either you or me and can do anything. It could give one of us a new ability, increase an attribute or secondary attribute, or do something that I cannot even fathom. Because of our inherent natures, you and I are a lot less likely to receive a negative effect. If one of the others tried to break open the diamond and absorb the mote it is a lot more likely that they would die horribly,¡± Capsa said. ¡°Well, right now, I am extremely far behind you so I think if more of these motes are found we should use them to improve me. We¡¯ll keep track and if, when we¡¯re equal we¡¯ll start alternating who gets the mote,¡± Pandora said. ¡°I agree that we need to improve you as quickly as possible, though I would like to offer that improvement to me also improves you. We could just start alternating now, you going first of course,¡± Capsa said. ¡°You¡¯re right, it wouldn¡¯t be fair to you, and you¡¯ve already done so much for me, and us. Sure, we¡¯ll alternate, this first one is for me then. ¡°Sounds like a plan, now read your messages, and let¡¯s see what happens,¡± Capsa said. Pandora opened her messages and read Congratulations, you have absorbed a mote of Chaos. As you share a symbiotic relationship with another creature you may each lay claim to this mote. Mote of Chaos has been declined by Capsa. Would you like to fully absorb this Mote of Chaos? Doing so can have any number of beneficial or detrimental consequences. NOTE: as a Creature of Chaos, Detrimental Consequences have been removed from possible outcomes. Would you like to absorb this Mote of Chaos, Yes or No?¡± Pandora could really use better attributes or skills but what she really wanted was an ability that would help her going forward. She chose ¡°Yes.¡± Congratulations, you have unlocked a third Racial Ability, ¡°Adaline¡¯s Love.¡± This ability comes with a message from the Divine, Adaline My Child, Once again forces greater than me are pulling me from you. I will not be able to reach or watch over you from this moment forward. This small twist of fate concerning your lineage and inherent nature is the most that I am allowed to do. Know that I love you and we will meet again someday. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. -A The ability ¡°Adaline¡¯s Love¡± has been converted to ¡°Shape Change, Shadow Dragon¡± by Divine Decree. This ability allows you to assume the shape of a Shadow Dragon. Cost 500 mana to change to Dragon Form or to change to Human Form. There is no duration. As a Shadow Dragon, you may utilize Claw, Bite, and Tail attacks as well as a Breath of Shadow. A cone of shadow that is emitted as a breath weapon that will temporarily open a portal into the Shadow Plane knocking anyone within its area of effect into the Plane of Shadow. While in the form of a Shadow Dragon, you may enter or exit the Shadow Plane one per turn at will through any shadow you can fit through. In the Shadow Plane, all physical attacks by you do double damage. In full sunlight, all attack damage by you is halved. All damage from light and fire against you is doubled. These negatives only apply while in dragon form. This Ability applies an inherent +10 bonus to Strength, Endurance, and Constitution to both the humanoid and dragon forms and you can see in all forms of darkness. For a moment Pandora felt her mother link with her while she read the message. She felt the warmth of her breath, the touch of her hand across her brow as she looked up into the loving face of her mother¡¯s eyes. Adaline pulled back, turned, and looked at something Pandora could not see, then said, ¡°I am ready,¡± before she vanished, and the link was gone. Before, she had always felt as if there was a presence, no multiple presences watching over me. She¡¯d known her father wasn¡¯t among them but she knew she was watched over and loved, even if they couldn¡¯t visit or intervene, She¡¯d always felt their presence. As her mother disappeared all of those presences faded with me. Pandora withdrew from her Mindspace, unable to speak as Capsa only nodded and sent what comfort she could. As she opened my blurry eyes she saw everyone looking at her and realized she had tears streaming down her face. Pandora didn¡¯t know what the message meant but she knew in her heart that her mother and father were no longer near her. Right then my sorrow turned to determination, and she promised herself that she would become strong enough to deserve the love her mother and father had shown her. Robert was the first to approach me, ¡°You were out for a bit, you okay?¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine, just a bit emotional because there was a hidden message from my mom in the diamond,¡± she said. ¡°Should you be telling us about a hidden message, because you know it was hidden,¡± Pythias asked. ¡°It won¡¯t matter now, that was the last time my mom will be able to contact me, well until I¡¯m able to contact her,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Oh,¡± Both Callum and Robert said together. ¡°You¡¯ll get to her Pandora, if anyone can it¡¯s you,¡± Cedrik said. She looked at Cedrik with wide eyes as that was the nicest thing he¡¯d ever said to her. She wiped her eyes as she said, ¡°Thanks Cedrik¡± ¡°No worries, so what did you get from the diamond?¡± Cedrik asked. ¡°And there is the asshole I know,¡± she said with a smile as she rubbed her eyes which broke the tension as everyone let out a laugh. ¡°The gem was a housing for a mote of chaos. Before any of you ever think of using one of these things for yourself, I have received multiple messages over time saying how dangerous my intrinsic nature is, you see something with chaos in it just bring it to me. Safer for everyone. ¡°Uh-huh, so what did it do?¡± Cedrik asked, ignoring the warning. ¡°I think my mom tweaked something and gave me the ability to shape change into a Shadow Dragon, her true form,¡± Pandora said. ¡°You can do what now?¡± Callum asked. ¡°Shape Change into a Shadow Dragon,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Well, don¡¯t do that in confined spaces, you¡¯ll kill yourself and everyone in the room,¡± Robert said. ¡°Good safety tip,¡± Pandora said with a wry smile. ¡°Question,¡± Robert said raising his hand. ¡°Is that your true form and does it have a duration? ¡°No, I spend mana and I change, I have to spend mana to change back, no duration,¡± she said. ¡°That¡¯s really powerful,¡± Robert said. ¡°Both forms are technically your true form then. That means that spells that revert you to your true form can¡¯t change you into a dragon or back into your current form.¡± ¡°When we¡¯re done in here, I¡¯d like to try it in the huge cavern to see how big the form is. I easily have enough mana to change into the dragon and change back a couple of times. Though it will take a little while to recover that mana. Two hours or so per shift.¡± Pandora said and then asked, ¡°What else did we find?¡± ¡°I took the shield, it adds +3 to my defense,¡± Callum said. ¡°I took the quiver, it¡¯s a quiver of endless arrows. It has a dimensional storage area that holds 100 normal arrows and replaces 1 per minute all by itself. So enough for a skirmish, rest for a bit and I¡¯m back in the fight without having to find, make, or buy more arrows,¡± Asling said. ¡°The Staff that dropped was a Staff of Invulnerability. It allows me to create a shield around myself that will soak spell damage. The shield will soak 50 points of damage per charge and the staff has 25 charges and like my wand regenerates 1 charge per hour,¡± Robert said. ¡°I took the Bracer of Defense, it looks like they create a shell around me that absorbs physical damage, only 10, but it recovers 1 of those points every combat round, so at the very least, I can soak a point of physical damage per round and 10 from an initial attack. It¡¯s not a lot but I¡¯ll take it, ¡°Cedrik said. ¡°I took the ring,¡± Pythias said, ¡°it¡¯s a Ring of Healing¡± It allows me to use healing spells on a second target within 10 feet of the original target. That¡¯s going to help a lot Being able to do this could mean the difference between life and death,¡± Pythias said. ¡°And we all got 16 gold as well, not a bad hall,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Now that we¡¯re all caught up, maybe we should investigate the passage the mage came out of? Cedrick if you would check for traps on the entrance, let¡¯s see what that bastard had in there. The party formed up while Cedrik moved up and looked over the passage one more time, though I had watched him look at that doorway for the last 3 hours. What we found down the passage was anticlimactic. A small room with a desk, notes on the desk, and a bed. Pandora put all the notes in her wristband, they¡¯d take them back to town and read them later. Robert came into the room and walked over to the bed and pushed his hand into the stone wall. His hand faded from sight. ¡°It could be trapped,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°It¡¯s not, it¡¯s a simple illusion over a small alcove cut into the stone. I saw a small signet ring and pouch. I didn¡¯t touch anything. I just wanted to show you where my Detect Magic ability showed me the illusionary wall. Cedrik reached into the wall and withdrew the ring and pouch. He did something, she wasn¡¯t sure what, then opened the pouch which was full of various gems. The signet ring he handed to Robert. Robert took the ring, looked it over, and said, ¡°It¡¯s not magical,¡± as he handed it to Callum. ¡°Okay, Cedrik, you hold onto the gems, we all know you were going to anyway, I¡¯ll hold onto this ring. Let¡¯s head back out into the main room and see if Pandora can turn into a dragon,¡± Callum said. They exited the small room and made our way back into the huge chamber. It had to be at least 500 feet across and that high to the ceiling. The rest of the party stayed near the entrance into the giant cavern as Pandora walked until she was 100 feet away from them. She turned and activated my shape-change ability. There was no sense of growth or discomfort. One second she was just over five feet tall, the next she was 100 feet long and her vision switched so that she was looking down on her friends at the tunnel entrance. Robert was the first to step out, ¡°You¡¯re not full size yet, which makes sense. Your body is roughly 70 feet long with your tail taking up the last 30. You¡¯ll need to practice with it¡­whoa,¡± Robert said as Pandora¡¯s tail whipped around and hovered with the tip acting like a snake that was about to strike. ¡°Feels Natural,¡± Pandora said in her normal voice, which was weird. Shouldn¡¯t her voice have been a little deeper? She did a couple of quick turns, moved her front and hind claws, and tested the movement of her tail. This body felt as natural as her humanoid body. Then she opened her Personal Interface and looked at her hit points, ¡°Hey, my hit points jumped to 2,215, ¡° she said. ¡°Okay, Pandora, pack it in, that form will definitely be useful if we¡¯re in a bind, just remember how big you were, and don¡¯t switch if you¡¯re going to squish us or yourself,¡± Callum said. ¡°Will do,¡± Pandora said as she transformed back into her human form. ¡°When you shift, shadows surround you and you just seem to step out of them, might be useful in a combat situation,¡± Callum said. ¡°I¡¯ll remember, thanks,¡± she said. ¡°Okay, if we¡¯ve had our fun it¡¯s time to see what¡¯s below us, Cedrik if you would, everyone else, form up,¡± Callum said. Cedrick led them to the tunnel on the same wall they¡¯d just come out of. It was the tunnel on the left across from the tunnel that led to the surface. As they stepped in front of it Pandora could feel the breeze going down into the depths. ¡°That¡¯s going to be a problem,¡± Asling said. ¡°I know,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°What problem,¡± Pandora asked. ¡°We¡¯re upwind. Anything down this tunnel is going to smell us before we get close,¡± Asling said. ¡°Then let¡¯s hope whatever it is really stupid or immobile,¡± Callum said. Cedrik made his way down the tunnel that sloped at about five degrees as it led deeper and deeper. Pandora was having no issues seeing in the dark but Pythias was having to keep himself glowing so the rest of them could see. Asling¡¯s night vision didn¡¯t help her in complete darkness. One of Cedrik¡¯s shadow abilities allowed him to see in the dark just like Pandora so the two of them could see if the lights went out. They continued down the tunnel for another two hours before Callum motioned for everyone to come together. Once everyone was close he whispered, ¡°It¡¯s starting to get late in the day, my clock says it¡¯s about five in the afternoon. Do we continue or do we turn back?¡± ¡°I vote to continue,¡± Pandora said. ¡°We¡¯ve made so many gains and you all said that the first party to clear a dungeon gets a bonus. I think we¡¯ve all earned a bonus.¡± Everyone looked at each other and nodded. ¡°Okay, sounds good, we continue, but remember to watch for areas where we can rest for the night and keep watch. Dungeons normally have more than two levels,¡± Callum said. Cedrick moved back into the lead position, and they continued down into the depths of the world for another 3 hours before Cedrik came back, ¡°I hear noise up ahead,¡± he said. ¡°Pandora, you can see in the dark, stay with Cedrick and go check it out. When you get close, stay far enough back that you can run back to us. Cedrick has Shadow Walk to get away. If we hear anything we¡¯ll come rushing forward. ¡°Sounds good,¡± Pandora said as Cedrik started down the tunnel with her close behind. Very soon the light from Pythias disappeared behind them and Cedrik led the way. The natural cavern gave way to stone-cut hallways and a dim green light glowing from an opening ahead. Cedrik moved up the edge of the tunnel and looked out, then motioned for Pandora to join him. As she neared the entrance of the tunnel the smell of rotting flesh and corruption assaulted her senses. As she looked around the corner she realized they were at the top of a cavern looking down on an entrance to a structure embedded in the cavern wall off to their left. Unlike the cave above, this Cavern was humungous. The tunnel they were in opened onto a ledge that went along the wall to their right. The fortress entrance was off to the left and at least 1,000 feet below them. The ledge continued perpendicular to the giant gate of the fortress and continued into the wall of the cavern on the other side. It was at least a 500-foot ledge. A bridge at least 100 feet across, went over a fluorescent green slime river that entered from one side of the cave and exited through another. From one of the ledges on the fortress wall, they watched as a small creature came shooting out of one of the openings and fell into the slime. They heard the scream from where we were which was silenced as soon as it went below the surface. On this side of the bridge was a small grouping of tents with various types of creatures in it. Some orcs, but mostly bugbears, humans, and gnolls from what she could see. The few humans she saw all seemed to be slaves. There was also, a pen with worms in it and Pandora watched as one of the gnolls grabbed a worm and cut it in half with his axe. He threw one half back into the pen, which was already healing, while he stuck a metal spike through the other half and put it over a fire, cooking it. There was already something else cooking. From where she was she couldn¡¯t tell if what had been cooking for a while was another worm or something else, it just looked like meat. ¡°I¡¯m going to go check out the tunnel on the other side of this ledge, you stay here. When I give you a thumbs up, go get the rest of the party, If I do anything else, go get the party and be prepared to fight,¡± Cedrik said Pandora assigned three orbs to protect him then said, ¡°Ready, and good luck.¡± ¡°Cedrick kept to the wall and moved from shadow to shadow. Once he was on the other side he gave a thumbs up and Pandora fell back into the tunnel and made her way back to Callum. She told the rest of the party what they¡¯d found, and she led the way. Pythias kept his light going until they could see the tunnel entrance which must have attracted some attention because as soon as I reached the tunnel entrance Cedrick was waving for her to get back but by then it was already too late. A flock of cat-sized flying lizards was fast approaching and surprised them. The only thing that kept everyone from getting killed was her orbs. The lizards had long sharp tails that seemed to secrete poison. As they flew in and attacked her orbs were able to defend against most of the attacks. Asling shot four out of the air as Pandora was able to punch and kill two. Quite a few bounced off Callum and Pythia¡¯s shields. Robert Quick Cast a magic missile and sent out five missiles that killed five more of the flying lizards. Once they came into their own taking out the flock was not hard. It wasn¡¯t their purpose to be hard to kill though, it was their purpose to call attention to anyone entering the cavern to those below, which they did. Callum must have realized it at the same time Pandora did because we both winced as a horn sounded below. That¡¯s when Pandora realized this was a fortified ledge and this was probably a trap. She looked around and noticed a ledge above them that she hadn¡¯t noticed before. Then I heard the sound of sliding rocks. Reacting quickly, she said, ¡°Everyone beside Callum NOW!,¡± as she turned around with her head facing the ledge and the party beside her with the tunnel they¡¯d come from off to her right. She kept everyone in focus and willed her Dragon form into existence above and between the rock slide and her party as she activated Shape Change. Pandora imagined herself hovering over the party with her wings acting as a shield against the rocks that would come crashing down any second. She dug her claws into the ground and braced herself with her tail on the ledge behind me pointing away from the party. She would have to hope that Cedrik knew to Shadow Walk into the area she was trying to protect. She craned her head to look up at the falling rocks and let loose her shadow breath for the first time. She felt Cedrik slam into her leg as if he¡¯d been thrown sideways, Callum and Asling reaching down, catching him before his momentum took him over the edge of the ledge. Pandor could just barely make out Cedrik above the rocks sliding further away from them as he said, ¡°Pandora, The rocks you used your shadow breath on, went into the Shadow Plane. I was in the Shadow Plane!¡± Huh, I hadn¡¯t thought about that, but it made sense. Her breath weapon had done its job and the worst of the rockslide missed them. Some didn¡¯t though and she was still half buried, though everyone, save Cedrik, came through with flying colors. Pandora looked at her health and noticed that she¡¯d lost almost 500 hit points. She had 1,754. If I hadn¡¯t had the dragon form, their party might have died. She felt Pythias heal her for 50 points of damage bringing me back up to 1813. Oh wow, she was healing nine hit points per second in this form. Give her a couple of minutes and she¡¯d be back to normal. ¡°Recover and prepare for an attack. They know we¡¯re here, Callum said as the party climbed out from under me and looked around. We all looked over the ledge and saw one of the Gnolls near something on one of the walls sneering at us. ¡°I¡¯ve got this,¡± Asling said as she pulled her bow, and fired two arrows in quick succession. Pandora couldn¡¯t believe it as the Gnoll just stood there, then waved his fist and did the equivalent of flipping us off with his middle finger. We couldn¡¯t hear it but I¡¯m sure it was insulting us. It didn¡¯t matter. We were 1,000 feet up but well within the horizontal range of the bow. Asling had used Bullseye and Quick Shot simultaneously. Just as the Gnoll realized the arrows might hit, one arrow entered his left eye, and the other went into his right eye. It fell backward dead. ¡°He pulled a lever, I can see it with my Eagle Eye ability,¡± ¡°Show off,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°Damn, they looked pissed,¡± Robert commented. Just then a phrase entered her mind that she had never heard before, so she figured it must have come from my mother¡¯s memories and it seemed to fit the moment so she said, ¡°I¡¯ve come here to Kick ass and chew bubble gum and I¡¯m all out of bubble gum!¡± The others looked confused for a moment before Pythias asked, ¡°What¡¯s Bubblegum?¡± Chapter 10, The Fortress ¡°I don¡¯t know what Bubblegum is Smart Ass!,¡± Pandora said to Pythias It doesn¡¯t matter,¡± Callum said. ¡°We need to make our way to the next tunnel entrance. Pandora, why don¡¯t you check the ledge above us and make sure it¡¯s clear before we move.¡± ¡°On it,¡± Pandora said as she lifted her head and looked down the ledge. Callum had been smart to ask her too, there was another, what looked like a, fence wall holding back rocks that looked like they were about to fall. ¡°There are more rocks up here about 20 feet toward the tunnel. Asling do you see anyone near another lever?¡± ` Asling peered over the edge and looked down and around,¡± I don¡¯t see anything¡­wait, behind that tent a little farther down the wall there¡¯s a shadow. There¡¯s a gnoll up against the wall there, hiding next to something.¡± ¡°On it,¡± Pandora looked over the edge, and sent 9 of the orbs down to attack and kill whatever was making that shadow. If they discovered a lever there they were to kill whatever was touching the level and keep everything else away from it. The orbs sped off and moments later she was rewarded with a prompt. Congratulations You have killed a Level 12 Gnoll Fighter You have received 2,600 XP from assisting your party in this kill. Half XP Shared with Caspa. Total XP Award: 1,300 Pandora quickly checked her messages and noticed that she¡¯d received 917 XP for the Gnoll Asling had shot with her arrow, then said, ¡°There was a Gnoll there, but it¡¯s dead, I have some orbs guarding the lever, I suggest you get down the tunnel, when you¡¯re all in the tunnel I¡¯ll jump down and draw some attention.¡± ¡°You sure you want to do that, it looks like there are between 30 and 50 down there,¡± Robert said. ¡°Go, my breath weapon is on cooldown, but I should be able to use it soon. Looks like it has two cooldowns. Right now, I can use it three times, once every ten seconds then I have to wait a full minute for it to recharge one use.¡± ¡°So, you have two more uses in another couple of seconds,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°Good, don¡¯t use it on the Fortress unless they are stupid enough to put themselves on the bridge, then knock them into the shadow realm.¡± ¡°Sounds good, now go!¡± Pandora said. The five other members of the party ran across the ledge and entered the tunnel with no problem. Just then the portcullis at the end of the bridge started to rise. It looked like they were going to be stupid after all. As soon as the portcullis was four feet above the bridge a horde of goblins came racing out. Here goes nothing! Pandora thought as she slid off the ledge, caught the air, and raced toward the bridge. A few arrows were shot at her but her natural armor and the two orbs she had protecting herself blocked the attacks. When she was near the bridge she let loose her breath weapon. Her breath weapon looked to have a range of about 60 feet and spread out as a cone 30 feet wide at the end. She caught fifteen goblins in her breath weapon as fifteen notifications popped up. You have shifted Level 10 Goblin into Shadow Realm You have shifted Level 9 Goblin into Shadow Realm ¡­ Pandora banked and rose back to the ledge where she landed and looked down. 15 Goblins hadn¡¯t made much of a dent. As she landed she noticed a Dark Elf. The Dark Elf seemed to be casting a spell and targeting Pandora. This should be a little surprising, Pandora thought as she grinned. The Dark Elf grinned right back at her and cast her spell. A black orb flowed from the elf¡¯s hands toward Pandora. Pandora had regenerated 27 hit points so far and was sitting at 1,840 of her 2,215 hit points. She was pulled out of her thoughts when the dark elf called up to her. ¡°Come little dragon, be my pet, we have Adventurers to slay!¡± Little Pet? ¡°Little pet, did you hear someone call Pandora a little pet, hold on,¡± Pandora heard Cedrick¡¯s voice say from the tunnel. Pandora¡¯s mind was drawn back to the black orb which she lazily absorbed. You have absorbed a Level 42 Charm Monster Spell. Heal Self/Temporary Hit Point Bonus has converted 42 spell levels into 126 hit points. You now have 1,966 of 2,215 hit points. ¡°What a shame, now I have to kill you,¡± the dark elf said. Just then a memory of an attack her mother had used against a pretentious knight popped into her mind. He¡¯ll yeah, that might actually serve that bitch elf right. As Pandora leaned forward and fell off the cliff she caught sight of Cedrik out of the corner of her eye, then the others as they made it to the lip of the tunnel and looked down, ¡°10 gold on Pandora killing the Dark Elf in one blow,¡± Cedrick said. ¡°While I have no doubt that Pandora is powerful I don¡¯t think she will be able to take out the elf in one shot, I¡¯ll take that bet,¡± Asling said. Just then Robert looked around the corner and saw the Dark Elf planting her staff, ¡°Sorry Cedrik, I¡¯ll take that bet. You¡¯re about to lose some money, she planted her staff, it probably has a barrier defense of some kind.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± Callum said. ¡°My money is on Pandora.¡± ¡°While I would normally never stoop so low as to actually make a bet against someone in my party if I were to wager money I would wager it on Pandora,¡± Pythias declared righteously. The Dark Elf planted her staff, and a barrier of energy surrounded her as all of the other creatures around her backed away then in a normal tone that all members of the party could hear she said, ¡°Cedrik is it? I¡¯ll take that bet and all of your gold after I kill Pandora and all of you.¡± ¡°Good luck with that bitch!¡± Cedrick yelled back. There¡¯s one thing you don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°And what is that worm?¡± The Dark Elf asked. ¡°Pandora is all out of Bubblegum!¡± The dark elf looked confused for a moment just as Pandora folded her wings and rotated backward bringing her tail up, over, behind, and then into the Dark Elf. The last thing anyone saw of the dark elf was a smug smile until Pandora¡¯s tail caught her flat against her whole front side. Pandora¡¯s tail went through the barrier like it wasn¡¯t even there then slapped the dark elf so hard that bones could be heard cracking by the party up on the ledge. The tail slap was so well executed that it lifted the elf off over her feet and flung her across the cavern to slam into the wall of the fortress off to the left side of the bridge with a loud ¡°SPLAT!¡± As the mage practically exploded. Pandora spread her wings and came to a stop, hovered for a second as she looked around, and then flew toward the wall where what was left of the mage was starting to fall away from the wall with a loud sucking noise. Pandora altered her trajectory, caught the mage¡¯s body with one clawed hand and the staff with the other as she banked and headed back up to the ledge. Below the army of Goblins Orcs and Gnolls looked at her with awe, shock, and fear. A moment later the trance broke and all of them started running for the drawbridge into the fortress. Pandora paid them no mind and flew back to the ledge where she landed and put what was left of the dark elf''s body down in front of Cedrik and the staff in front of Robert. Then she shifted back to Human form and looked at Asling and Robert, ¡°You bet against me? Seriously?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Well, it was a mage and she looked really powerful,¡± Asling hedged. ¡°And she put up that barrier, by the way, how did you take down that barrier?¡± Robert asked. ¡°First, Asling she tried to make me her pet slave, What would you have done if she¡¯d tried to make you her pet slave?¡± She asked before she turned to Robert, ¡°And you, did you already forget I can absorb spells, including barriers if I know about them?¡± Asling muttered, ¡°I¡¯d have killed the bitch.¡± Robert pulled out ten gold coins and handed them to Cedrik, ¡°Sorry Pandora, I forgot about the barriers counting toward that ability.¡± ¡°Ah hem,¡± Pandora said holding out a hand to Asling and Cedrik. ¡°Awe, common, that¡¯s¡­fine,¡± Robert said as he handed 10 gold coins to her, followed quickly by Asling giving Cedrik and her 10 gold coins each as well. Pandora held the twenty gold coins for a moment, then pocketed one from Asling and Robert and handed the rest back,¡± The one coin is for betting against me. 10% if I¡¯m not mistaken. I would not expect to get any of your money back from Cedrik though, she said with a laugh. This brought out a laugh from everyone as Asling, Robert, and Cedrik put their coins away. ¡°Look at them run, you scared them good,¡± Callum said. ¡°Yeah, but they¡¯re going to get back into the fortress, we¡¯ll have a hard time getting in. ¡°Not to worry,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°Places like that always have multiple ways in and out we just need to find it, he said as he moved forward and touched the mage, looting the corpse. Robert leaned forward and picked up the staff as Pandora opened her notifications. "Congratulations You have killed a Level 65 Doppelganger Mage. You have received 71,500 XP (71,500 halved to share with Caspa and doubled due to the dark elf being twice your level.) XP divided amongst the party due to the party leader¡¯s setting Congratulations! You have reached Levels 20,21,22 and 23! You now have 32 attribute points to allocate. ¡°Holy¡­sorry Pythias,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°It¡¯s quite all right. I am assuming you were commenting on our advancement to level 30?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°Yeah,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°Yeah, level 30 people, we seem safe enough for the moment, everyone off the ledge just in case then we¡¯ll spend our points,¡± Callum said as he led everyone into the tunnel to the cavern floor below. ¡°One kill and we received 5 levels, how much XP would you have received had you taken all of the XP?¡± Asling asked Pandora. ¡°Hey, it¡¯s not about me. You all forget that my companion, Caspa, is way higher than all of us. Even with what we just received, for her to increase by one level we need to earn 577,567 XP. I should hit level 34 by the time she increases that one level. ¡°Not to jinx us but has anyone else noticed for a brand-new dungeon there are some extremely high-level creatures and beings in here?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°The gnolls that Asling and Pandora killed were level 10 and 12 respectively,¡± Callum said. ¡°Pandora, what level was that mage?¡± ¡°It was level 65,¡± she answered. Also, how exactly did you kill a level 65 mage?¡± I mean I know you were a dragon but I¡¯d like to know. I didn¡¯t think it would be possible at your low level, with maximum damage rules in play,¡± Robert asked. ¡°Maximum Damage rules?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Yeah, no matter how much damage you think you should do, all attacks have a maximum amount of damage they can do. For instance, Callum is using that Long Sword. A long sword can do up to 8 points of damage and with a little luck or a critical strike, it could be doubled up to 16. No matter what else he does he can never do more than 16 points of damage with that Long sword. Though its magical nature makes it so that he gets to add one allowing his sword to do 2-9 points of damage and double to a maximum of 18 points of damage,¡± Robert said. ¡°That¡¯s easily understood, so what¡¯s the problem with my attack?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Simple enough, unarmed attacks usually do less. I¡¯m just wondering how much damage your unarmed attacks can do,¡± Robert said. ¡°Let me check,¡± Pandora said as she opened her combat log. Combat Log ¡­ Pandora absorbs Level 50 Glove of invulnerability, 150 hit points added. Current Hit Points 2,116 of 2215. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Pandora strikes level 65 Dark Elf Mage with Special Attack: Spinning Tail Strike. Target is Flat-Footed, Critical Hit Achieved. Damage doubled. Base Damage 12x2 for Special Attack. 24 Damage 24 Damage doubled for Critical Hit. 24x2 = (24) Maximum Damage. Damage output exceeds maximum damage output by 100% maximum damage. Target flung. Level 65 Elf strikes fortified wall for leftover damage from Spinning Tail Strike. Level 65 Dark Elf mage takes 24 Damage. Target had 12 hit points. No armor. The initial strike knocked the level 65 Dark Elf Mage Unconscious. 24 Damage upon striking the fortified wall Killed Dark Elf Mage. Pandora kills level 65 Dark Elf Mage. Pandora read the combat log again then laughed, ¡°She splatted against the wall and took damage I couldn¡¯t do to her because I¡¯d already achieved maximum damage,¡± Pandora said. ¡°So, what¡¯s your normal damage?¡± Robert asked. ¡°It looks like my normal damage is somewhere between 1 and 12. The flip I did with my tail doubled the damage and I achieved a critical strike because she was considered flat-footed. The damage would have doubled again but she¡¯d already taken maximum damage so instead, she was flung. When she hit the wall she took the rest of the damage I was supposed to do to her as impact damage. So, all in all, I hit her for 48 points of damage,¡± Pandora said. ¡°So, what you¡¯re saying is that you didn¡¯t kill her in one blow Robert,¡± started to say ¡°The very last line of the final notification states very clearly ¡®Pandora kills level 65 Dark Elf Mage¡¯ As I struck her once, it counts!¡± Pandora declared daring Robert to stay something. ¡°As I have no money in the game as it were, I have to side with Pandora on this one Robert. She only struck the mage once and then she died,¡± Pythias said. ¡°Fine, I was just giving her a hard time,¡± Robert said. ¡°Not as hard a time as the wall gave a certain dead mage,¡± Pandora said then muttered, ¡°Become your pet, my ass. Who¡¯s worm food now?¡± ¡°All right everyone, get your levels and spend your attributes. We have more to do,¡± Callum said. Pandora opened her interface and put some points into her agility and dexterity as well as her wisdom, willpower, and perception then picked up the ¡°Heal Other /Temporary Hit Point Bonus¡± aspect of her Absorb ability. Heal Other/Temporary Hit Point Bonus: The spell levels absorbed may replenish 2 hit points per spell level absorbed. Absorbed levels converted to hit points that go above the target¡¯s maximum hit points provide bonus hit points that fade away at the end of the next combat round. All damage during that time is taken by the bonus hit points first. (May not be used on self). Spell levels absorbed to heal others do utilize the same absorbed spell levels pool as all other abilities described here. This ability would allow her to store up to her willpower in absorbed spell levels Whether it was only up to her willpower of 30 or her combined willpower of 517 was yet to be seen but the ability to heal an ally would be a game changer for the party. With everything she¡¯d been hit with so far, being limited to only 30th-level spells or lower would not be good. She looked over to see what the others were up to and noticed that everyone was smiling. Callum looked up and said, ¡°I picked up Resolve, it lets me get 50% of any damage I¡¯ve taken back for five seconds and halves all incoming damage. On the downside, after five seconds the hit points are lost. I¡¯m not sure if that means I just lose any that I haven¡¯t used or if I get 5 hit points back, I¡¯ll lose five right away.¡± ¡°I picked up Haste, it has a 10% per Combat Round mana cost but doubles my attacks and speed. Since I don¡¯t use mana all that much, it¡¯ll be a nice addition,¡± Asling said. ¡°I picked up Shadow Walk,¡± Robert said. ¡°It sounds a lot like Cedrick¡¯s ability. I figured since we¡¯re staying together, I should pick something that supported our Shadow Dragon.¡± ¡°I picked up Shadow Teleport,¡± Cedrick said with a smile. Unlike Shadow Walk it allows me to teleport anywhere I can see. If I¡¯d had it back during the rockslide I wouldn¡¯t have been hit, I¡¯d have already been under Pandora.¡± ¡°That does sound cool,¡± Callum said. ¡°I picked up True Sight,¡± it lets me see through illusions and can even be used to detect hidden and secret doors.¡± ¡°That¡¯ll be really useful,¡± Callum said. ¡°Everyone has spent your attributes, correct?¡± Everyone replied in the affirmative. ¡°All right, Cedrik, if you¡¯d lead the way,¡± Callum said. Cedrik took the front with Pandora close behind, followed by Callum, Robert, Pythias, and Asling. The tunnel they followed was unimpressive and led down in a slow circular path. When they reached the bottom they came out of an entrance that couldn¡¯t be seen from the ledge above. In front of the party was the fortress wall with the mote of green slime about 50 feet away. Off to their left was the draw bridge which was still down. The portcullis unfortunately was closed. As They looked around the corner one of Pandora¡¯s orbs deflected a crossbow bolt that had been flying toward Cedrick. ¡°Cedrik, how¡¯d you like to clear that window up there?¡± Callum asked. ¡°On it,¡± he said as he teleported away. Pandora quickly sent 6 orbs to the window to protect Cedrik which left only one defending each of them. The other 9 were still guarding the second lever to the ledge trap around the wall to their left. She couldn¡¯t recover them until she could see them. They all heard guttural screeches and a couple of screams then the portcullis started to rise. ¡°Well, what are you waiting for an invitation,¡± Cedrick called down. Pandora sprinted toward the bridge, recalling her nine orbs guarding the lever as she ran by the wall and put two on defense for the other four of her companions and the last for herself. That left three orbs for defense on everyone except Cedrik who had six. These orbs were definitely worth the effort of learning how to use them. She looked at her skill level and was pleasantly surprised to see that both her HTH combat and Mage Orb Skills had gone up to level 12. Considering she¡¯d pretty much blown herself up and used the orbs defensively for the most part, she wasn¡¯t surprised the skills hadn¡¯t leveled for a little bit. The five of them ran across the drawbridge and were surprised to find the inner courtyard of the drawbridge empty There were some dwarves in cages off to their right but it looked like most were in the process of dying. Callum saw the prisoners and called softly, ¡°On me, Pythias, save whom you can.¡± As the party started to follow Callum the Portcullis slammed shut and a loud laugh could be heard. ¡°Ha! Ha! Ha! Adventurers come into the dungeon to try to take the treasure, cept Bog smash skulls, and take the treasure from you!¡± a 12-foot giant, no, an ogre said as it walked out of the tunnel in the back wall of the courtyard. ¡°Pandora, any chance you can swap to your Dragon form and put the hurt on that giant of a beast? I only ask because my Analyze ability is coming back with question marks which means it¡¯s at least twice my level,¡± Callum said. ¡°Yes, and I¡¯d just like to say, keep those heals coming,¡± Pandora said as she moved in front of the party and spent 500 mana to turn into her Shadow Dragon form. The ogre seeing a Dragon in front of it charged. It must have been an ability because in a moment the ogre was right beside Pandora swinging its club at her head. Her dexterity was high enough that she was able to move her head out of the way, but she still took a solid hit to her body. You have been struck for 20 Damage (Base 10 (+10 Strength Bonus)) with Giant Club Combat was now engaged. Pandora saw Pythias and Callum appear on the ogre¡¯s right and left respectively while Cedrik appeared out of thin air to drive both of his Venom daggers into the Ogre¡¯s Back. The next few seconds went crazy as everyone attacked. Callum has struck Ogre for 9 points of damage with Long Sword +1 Pythias has a truck ogre with Divine Strike for with hammer for 12 points of damage. Cedrick has successfully performed a dual backstab. Damage 16, Poison damage 2 hp per combat round for 10 Combat Rounds Asling has used Bullseye to perform a called shot into the Ogre¡¯s Left Eye, 12 points of damage. Robert quickly cast magic missile for 15 points of magic damage done from five magic missiles. Pandora reaches forward with her Right front claw and rakes the front of the ogre for 24 points of damage, 12 plus bonus strength damage, maximum 24 Pandora quickly looked at her combat log after the first combat round because she was wondering how this ogre was still standing after everyone had hit it. The Ogre must have some serious hit points. Cedrick disappeared from the Ogre¡¯s back, and another arrow appeared in the Ogre¡¯s other eye, effectively blinding it, as Pandora reached out with her left-clawed arm and grabbed the club. She was betting the ogre was strong, just not as strong as her. Pythias swung his hammer and connected and Callum hit it with his sword again. Still, it didn¡¯t go down. The ogre tried to pull the club back for a swing, but Pandora was correct and the club didn¡¯t budge. The ogre recovered quickly and kicked out blindly. Pythias was able to block the attack with his shield, but he was still kicked back from the melee and tumbled to a stop up against a wall in the courtyard. Pandora had been watching her orbs try to block the attacks, but it looked like the Ogre¡¯s strength was just overcoming them and they were having no effect. That was fine Pandora would do something about that now. She gave the command for all 21 orbs to attack as she called out, ¡°Hold back for a second. Callum stepped back and defended himself while Pandora continued to hold the club then the ogre became a pincushion as 21 orbs hit it almost simultaneously. Pandora checked her combat log. Ogre struck by 21 Mage Orbs. Damage done 84 Pandora had expected the Ogre to drop, but no it was still standing after that. Just then an Arrow hit the Ogre in the throat as Cedrik appeared behind the ogre and used his dagger to slash at its left heel. Callum stepped forward and attacked with his sword. Pythias picked himself up off the ground and cast a heal spell on himself while Robert shot five more magic missiles. ¡°Why you hurt bog,¡± the Ogre said as it rushed forward to try to grab Pandora by the neck, which it somehow succeeded in doing. Instantly Pandora took 21 points as it started to choke her. Pandora was having none of that and shape-shifted back into her human form as she stepped backward out of the cloud of shadows and fell back as she did so, breaking the grasp of the Ogre. Cedrick jumped forward and slashed the ogre¡¯s right heel as Asling put another arrow into its throat. That was four bullseye shots, she should be running out of stamina soon, Pandora thought. Callum moved forward and struck the ogre with his sword as Pythias rejoined the attack and hit the creature with Divine Strike. The ogre swung blindly at Callum and missed while two magic missiles from the wand struck the ogre. Cedrick rushed forward and jumped. Whether it was on purpose, or he slipped, both of Cedrick¡¯s daggers went into the ogre, one each into the crease of its torso and leg. It looked like he¡¯d attacked the creature¡¯s groin. The ogre reached for its privates, smiled for some reason, and then fell forward dead. ¡°Cedrik!¡± Pythias called admonishingly. ¡°What? I went for the arteries in its legs. I didn¡¯t take a dick shot. I mean seriously, everyone saw the smile on its face right? It died knowing it still had its dick.¡± Cedrik said. ¡°Callum shrugged, whatever gets the job done, but yeah that would have been over the line, nice thought though. ¡°It¡¯s called the Femoral Artery,¡± Robert said. ¡°The what again?¡± Asling asked. ¡°The femoral artery,¡± Pythias said. ¡°It¡¯s a major artery that carries blood into and out of your legs. If it¡¯s severed and not healed or cauterized quickly you¡¯ll bleed out pretty fast. We don¡¯t normally see wounds there as healers. The dead don¡¯t need healing.¡± ¡°Good to know,¡± Pandora said, ¡°We need to make sure the area is clear. ¡°She¡¯s right, Cedrik loot the corpse to storage, share later. Everyone looked around and watched for another ambush. The party methodically searched the whole fortress only to find obvious signs of passage toward a wall that looked to be fully intact. Pythias cast True Sight and let them know that the wall was a wall. ¡°My guess,¡± Robert stated while they were all standing in front of the wall, the army we saw broke into the dungeon through an entry point here.¡± ¡°So why did the hole seal up,¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Just a guess, but I think that mage was holding it open somehow. When she died they must have all fled. I¡¯ll bet the only reason we had to fight the ogre was because it couldn¡¯t fit through the opening as it was closing,¡° Robert said. ¡°Sounds plausible,¡± Callum said. ¡°So, what now?¡± Asling asked. ¡°Now we look to see if there is another deeper dungeon level. Normally dungeons have a minimum of three levels. This is technically the 2nd level so there should be another level. ¡°Well, let¡¯s look around. Also, we all leveled again, make sure to spend your attribute points. A suggestion, more endurance, and constitution. That fight was pretty close.¡± ¡°What level are you all now?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°36,¡± Cedrik Replied Pandora checked her level, ¡°27,¡± she called out before anyone could ask. ¡°Nobody should have unlocked another ability but we¡¯re getting closer,¡± Robert said. An hour later they¡¯d finished exploring the Fortress and could find nothing. There were no hidden walls, secret doors, or other ways out of the fortress. Cedrick found the second release for the Portcullis and they made their way out onto the drawbridge when Pythias exclaimed, ¡°Found it!¡± ¡°Where?¡± Callum asked. ¡°The slime over there to the right, it¡¯s an illusion. There¡¯s a ramp down, I can see it. Follow me,¡± Pythias said as he led them across the drawbridge, around a few of the tents that were still up, and then flush with the rock wall in front of the mote. ¡°Looks like slime in a moat to me,¡± Cedrick said. ¡°The slime on the right side of the Drawbridge is real. This whole left side is not. However, if you step off anywhere but here, it¡¯s a good drop to the floor below and it doesn¡¯t look like there¡¯s any way to get back up here if you survive the fall. The ledge goes down at a steep angle into a hole under the fortress and keeps going down. There is no rail on the right side so you could fall into the hole. Just keep your hand on the rock wall on your left and follow me like this,¡± Pythias said as he put his hand against the rock wall on his left and stepped into the slime slowly sinking as he walked forward. ¡°That¡¯s just weird,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°I¡¯ll go next,¡± Pandora said. I¡¯ve got the most hit points here so it should be me.¡± Pandora stuck out her hand and walked out onto the slime. As soon as her head was a foot below the illusion she could see Pythias in front of her. ¡°Once your head is a foot under you can see just fine, the illusion is invisible from below,¡± She called back to the others. Cedrick came next and then teleported down to be next to Pythias to look for traps as Robert, Asling, and Callum brought up the rear. Once everyone was under the illusion they shifted around so that Pandora was third, then Callum, Robert, and Asling brought up the rear. ¡°That¡¯s an interesting setup for a dungeon, if someone in the party sees the illusion right away the party can bypass the second room¡¯s boss fight, whatever it was. I think we missed out because of the mage and the ogre. They probably killed it before we ever entered the dungeon,¡± Callum said. ¡°Yeah, the dungeon can¡¯t reset as long as there is one non-dungeon creature inside it.¡± ¡°So, everything that was on that level was real?¡± Asling asked. ¡°Seems so,¡± Callum said. ¡°Cool, I shot a real ogre in both of its eyes,¡± she said excitedly. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s stay focused, good job, but we¡¯re not safe yet,¡± Callum said. Cedrik led the way with Pythias beside him. Pythias kept True Sight up and also his glow which would alert any enemies but it allowed everyone to see since they were all staying pretty close together. The tunnel went down until they were a least 100 feet passed the front wall of the fortress then leveled off. It went directly under the fortress until Pandora was sure they were behind it. The tunnel turned to the right in a bend and they could see something sparkling in the distance. Pythias put out his light and Cedrik moved forward silently. When he was about fifty feet from the tunnel exit he stopped and then motioned for the rest of them to move forward. Once they were close Pandora could see a giant crystal of some sort floating in a room. This far back they couldn¡¯t see how big the room was but they could tell that there was a wall not too far beyond the Crystal ¡°Robert, what is that?¡± Callum whispered ¡°How am I supposed to know, you have the Analyze ability?¡± Robert whispered back. ¡°You have the Identify skill, it¡¯s obviously magical,¡± Callum said. ¡°Yeah, and I have to touch the item to use it. Your ability has some range right?¡± Robert responded. ¡°Yeah,¡± Callum said resignedly. Callum moved forward about forty feet before he nodded and hurried back to the party. ¡°So what is it Cedrick said,¡± ¡°Analyze gave me the ¡®This object cannot be Analyzed,¡¯ error. Looks like it¡¯s up to Robert to Identify it, ¡°Callum said with a grin. ¡°Fuck!¡± Robert exclaimed. ¡°I didn¡¯t see anything else, so we¡¯ll all move up to the entrance together. The crystal is about 40 feet beyond the end of the tunnel. We just need to make sure the room is empty, except for the crystal before we step in,¡± Callum said. The group moved forward together and looked into the room. It looked to be about eighty feet across, eighty feet wide, and forty feet high. The only other entrance was on the opposite side of the room. Pandora noticed a slight blue sparkle beginning to form at the tip of the crystal and issued a command to her Orb of Air. Just as Cedrick was about to step out, when his foot left the tunnel to be exact, there was a crack and Cedrick was pushed back into the tunnel. Pythias rushed over to Cedrick who looked none the worse for wear. ¡°It was the pressure wave that knocked me back. The lightning struck something in front of me,¡± Cedrick said. ¡°That would be my Orb of Air,¡± Pandora said as she summoned it back over to float around her. She received a couple of notifications as the lightning bolt struck it. Orb of Air absorbs Level 10 Lightning Strike. This spell may be cast from the orb at any target. The Orb may only hold spells from its element and only one spell at a time. Congratulations Mage Orb Skill has increased to Level 13 ¡°What happened Pandora, ¡° Robert asked. ¡°The orbs can absorb spells like I do, except they can only absorb one spell and they hold it until I recast it at something. The spell essentially becomes mine,¡± ¡°That¡¯s all fine and dandy, and I am actually really excited about the prospect, but we can talk about that later. We have to get to the tunnel on the other side of the room. Does anyone have any ideas about how we¡¯re going to accomplish that without getting zapped by the big crystal of death¡± Cedrick asked. Chapter 11, Naughty Children Callum looked thoughtful for a moment then said, ¡°Yeah, I got nothing, Asling?¡± ¡°I¡¯m an Archer, I could shoot it, but I don¡¯t think that will help,¡± Asling said. ¡°Pythias?¡± Callum said, obviously asking for his input. ¡°I have nothing that will help here except maybe True Sight and my vision has seen nothing that allows us to bypass this room. ¡°Robert?¡± Callum asked. ¡°We have two staves that create globes of invulnerability that soak magical damage. If we time everything correctly we might be able to use a staff to create a barrier near the entrance, step out into the room, let Pandora¡¯s orb absorb another strike, and then put up another globe on the other side. This depends on whether Pandora can absorb the stored spell out of the orb after it absorbs it,¡± Robert said. ¡°That¡¯s a great idea,¡± Pandora said as she called the Air Orb that held the 10th-level lightning bolt it had absorbed. As soon as it touched her hand she received a Prompt. Would you like to Absorb Level 10 Lightning Bolt from Air Orb, Yes or No? Pandora chose ¡°Yes.¡± Would you like to Absorb the to Heal Self or to Heal Other ability? Pandora chose ¡°Heal Other.¡± You have absorbed 10 spell Levels. Magic Levels Absorbed 10 of 517 Pandora smiled as she said, ¡°I can absorb spells from my orbs if they¡¯re absorbed. The maximum number of spell levels that I can absorb is 517. I think we may be able to bypass this tower without worrying about it too much.¡± ¡°How so?¡± Callum asked. ¡°Easy, I step into the room and start absorbing the spell levels from the lightning bolts that try to strike at all of you. We stick to the plan, and I¡¯ll keep the air orb between the crystal and the five of you and you all follow Robert¡¯s plan to get to the other side while I stay between the crystal and all of you. Then once you¡¯re safe, I¡¯ll follow.¡± ¡°Robert, will that work?¡± Callum asked. ¡°It should,¡± Robert said. ¡°All right, Asling, tie a rope around Pandora¡¯s waist, if her absorption doesn¡¯t work we¡¯ll pull her to safety. Pandora let Asling put the rope around her waist then moved to the right. She kept herself between the crystal and the party. She set the Air Orb to stay between Robert and the crystal as he stepped into the room. The first lightning strike reached out and she absorbed it. You have absorbed Level 10 Lightning Strike, Magic Levels Absorbed 20 of 517 ¡°It¡¯s working. Get moving,¡± she said as another lighting strike was absorbed. You have absorbed Level 10 Lightning Strike, Magic Levels Absorbed 30 of 517 Pandora, watched as the party made their way along the wall to her right. When they¡¯d started to split up one of the lightning strikes had skipped Pandora but Robert being the next closest was saved by her Air Orb which absorbed the spell. ¡°Stay together. Keep me between you and the crystal,¡± Pandora called out. It was slow going but the rest of the party made it to the other tunnel and Pandora slowly backed toward them until she stepped out of the room as the last lightning bolt hit her. You have absorbed Level 10 Lightning Strike, Magic Levels Absorbed 160 of 517. Pandora summoned her Air Orb over to her. When she touched it, she absorbed 10 more levels bringing her to 170 of 517 Magic Levels Absorbed. Cedrik looked up at Pandora as he said, ¡°Didn¡¯t even fritz your hair, you took those lightning bolts like a champ!¡± A tension that had built up as they¡¯d made their way through the room broke as everyone laughed. ¡°Also, I think this may help if we must retreat,¡± Pythias said as he pointed to part of the rock wall that opened and revealed a lever behind it. Cedrik moved over, looked everything over then pulled the lever. In the room they¡¯d just traveled through the Crystal was pushed up into the ceiling as a column of stone rose under it. ¡°Nifty,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°All right everyone, we made it through. Let¡¯s recover and get back into our normal formation. We¡¯re still in a hallway in a dungeon we haven¡¯t cleared. We need to make our way to the next encounter.¡± Everyone nodded. Cedrik moved forward with Pandora close behind. Once they were about thirty feet ahead. Callum and Pythias followed with Pythias glowing slightly while Robert and Asling stayed a little farther back because their ability to see in the dark was much better. They didn¡¯t have to wait long before they came to a cave at the end of the tunnel. ¡°Me hears you, Come in! Come in!¡± a voice called from the cave ahead. Cedrik stopped and looked back at Pandora with a questioning look on his face. Pandora set five of her orbs to protect Cedrik and five for herself then motioned for both of them to move forward. As they crept forward the voice spoke again, ¡°No need to be scared, me smells and hears you. Me smells halfling. Me also smells something new, something fresh. Me never had before, me wants it,¡± as a ¡°THUNK¡± was heard behind the party from the room with the crystal chamber. Had the creature just reactivated the crystal trap? As Pandora was thinking about that a slightly scaled, gray-skinned humanoid creature peaked its head around the corner, sniffed loudly then launched itself past Cedrik at Pandora. In a moment it was upon her and reaching its claws toward her chest, only to have all of its attacks blocked by Pandora¡¯s orbs. Callum came rushing up behind and called, ¡°Don¡¯t kill it! It¡¯s only level 20¡± Just as Cedrik had been preparing to attack it from behind. Pandora with her five hundred-plus strength reached out and grabbed the creature by the neck and held it off the ground like she¡¯d scruff a cat. It dangled from her hand twisting this way and that as it tried to get free. She looked at it disdainfully as she asked Callum, ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°My Analyze skill is identifying it as a Grimlock,¡± Callum said. ¡°Well, Grimlock, do you have a name?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Let me go, Let me go, I never tell you my name it¡¯s a secret. Sides you never leave here. You trapst with me,¡± it said with a loud cackle. ¡°Cedrick, check out the cave, Pythias you help.¡± The Grimlock continued to struggle. Every time it thought to get too aggressive Pandora would shake it good and it would calm down for a bit. In less than a minute Cedrik and Pythias returned to the corridor. ¡°It¡¯s a small cave, with a stream running through it. Looks like our friend here was eating things it found in the water to survive. Didn¡¯t find any treasure or secret doors though Pythias found the level it pulled. My gut tells me the other lever¡­ ¡°What other lever? There¡¯s no other lever. You trapped here with me. If you¡¯re nice I share my food with you,¡± which he followed with a whisper Asling, Robert, and Pandora picked up easily, ¡°until I tastes your flesh.¡± ¡°So, what¡¯s the plan, Callum, this creep is dreaming about eating you. Just that is making him feel slimy to me,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Do you think this could be the Dungeon Boss,¡± Robert asked?¡± ¡°Could be,¡± he said thoughtfully. ¡°We were fighting creatures that shouldn¡¯t be as high a level as we ran into,¡° Callum said. ¡°What level is it?¡± Asling asked. ¡°It, oh it¡¯s level 20.¡± ¡°Next question, is whoever kills the boss of the dungeon going to get anything special for it?¡± Cedrik asked. ¡°Maybe, Robert said, but you have the Party set to loot and experience sharing so I don¡¯t think it will matter. Pythias spoke up for the first time, ¡°That creature is evil. Let us put it out of its misery and let¡¯s move on.¡± Callum nodded. ¡°No! No kill grimlock¡­¡± ACK! While Pandora continued to hold the Grimlock off the ground she had all 21 orbs attack. Pandora had thought this Grimlock would be like the Ogre they¡¯d faced earlier with a lot of hit points and an ability to take damage. It was not. ¡°What the Hell Pandora!¡± Cedrik cried. It had happened so quickly that none of them had been able to react. They¡¯d all been frozen in place as the grimlock exploded and covered them in blood and gore. Even Asling, who¡¯d stayed back had been hit. ¡°Pandora, what did you do?¡± Callum asked. ¡°I had all the orbs attack it,¡± she said as she dropped what was left of the head and scrapped the gore off of her face.¡± ¡°Uh-huh, and how much damage does each of those orbs do when it hits? Callum asked. ¡°Each does up to four points of damage. I have 21 so I probably did 84 points of damage. ¡°No Pandora, they didn¡¯t each do 4 points of damage. The first four that hit might have but that Grimlock only had 12 hit points. After the fourth hit the other 17 were just destroying the corpse. ¡°Oh,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Look at it this way, it¡¯s really dead,¡± Cedrik quipped. Everyone looked at Cedrik with disdainful looks on their faces. ¡°What, too soon?¡± Cedrik asked with a grin. ¡°You said there was a stream in the cave?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°Yes,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°Then let¡¯s get cleaned up. Cedrik if you¡¯d loot the corpse please,¡± Callum said. Cedrik leaned down, looted the corpse and they all walked into the cave and over to the stream. They were still on the lookout for anything that might be in the cave when they noticed a glowing grey orb of swirling energy on the other side of the stream. The stream wasn¡¯t wide so getting to the orb would not be an issue. ¡°What is that?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°It wasn¡¯t here when I checked the cave out a few minutes ago. ¡°It¡¯s the Dungeon Exit orb,¡± Robert started to explain. ¡°As a party, we all go up, place our hands on the orb and it will indicate we¡¯ve both cleared the dungeon and send us to the entrance.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s get cleaned up first,¡± Callum said, ¡°I¡¯m covered in gore.¡± ¡°Me too,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°You know, you might just be a little too powerful,¡± Asling said thoughtfully,¡± ¡°No such thing,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°Cedrik is correct,¡± Pythias said. ¡°There is no such thing as too powerful. There are only those who use that power to serve others and those who use it for selfish gains. I would venture to say that Pandora falls into the first category.¡± ¡°Thanks, Pythias,¡± Pandora said as she cleaned herself off in the shallow stream. ¡°While you¡¯re cleaning up, check your notifications. Also, Cedrik, it¡¯s probably time to share the loot you¡¯ve picked up with the rest of the party.¡± ¡°On it,¡± Cedrik said. Pandora opened her notifications. Congratulations You have killed a Level 20 Grimlock You have received 3,500 XP from assisting your party in this kill. Pandora checked her level and noted that she was still at level 27. That was a bummer. ¡°No level here,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Me either,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°Treasure incoming¡± Cedrik has shared loot from; Level 10 Gnoll, Level 12 Gnoll, Level 65 Earth Mage, Level 77 Ogre, and Level 20 Grimlock with you Your Share of the Loot is 33 gold and 3 silver ¡°Is 33 gold a lot, Pandor asked?¡± It is more than enough,¡° Aisling said. ¡°You could live comfortably for a couple of weeks with the 49 gold we¡¯ve found so far, not to mention all the other loot Cedrik needs to sell and share the profits of with us.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t forget, I just figured you all didn¡¯t want to carry around the various items.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s not get sidetracked. If everyone is cleaned up let¡¯s go touch the Orb and see about getting out of here,¡± Callum said. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The party made its way to the orb and placed its hand on it. As Asling, the last person placed her hand on the Orb new messages started popping up. New Dungeon Complete. Calculating reward for Dungeon experience. Error, The Number of creatures in a dungeon far exceeds the normal number of generated creatures. The maximum level of creature in the dungeon, Level 20 (Error - 77) Maximum number of creatures in the dungeon, 100 (Error - 1307) Average of the highest level in the dungeon, 10 (Error - 39) Calculating Calculating Calculating Initial Clear of Virgin Dungeon All experience awards doubled. Total Experience award 14,377,000 Personal Experience award 4,792,333 Adjusted for mark and split between Caspa and Pandora, 2,635,783 earned. Congratulations, you have level 77. Pandora was so excited she exclaimed, ¡°I just reached level 77!¡± ¡°Keep reading Pandora we have a decision to make as a party,¡± Callum said. You have a choice, accept treasure now, or accept a Secret Quest for an increased reward. Secret Quest: Cleaning House A new dungeon was recently invaded and corrupted by the denizens of the Underworld. A passage of theirs still leads into this dungeon. This Quest is twofold. First, find the source of the invasion and destroy it. Second, close the alternate entrance into the dungeon. Reward. 50,000 XP and one Mythical item compatible with your primary Class. Current Reward if Secret Quest denied: Scarce. ¡°What¡¯s the difference between Scarce and Mythical?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Good enough that my automatic answer is to accept the quest,¡± Robert said. ¡°I¡¯m with Robert on that one,¡± Asling said. ¡°Me too,¡± rang out from everyone else. Pandora looked at the last message. Would you like to accept Secret Quest: Spring Cleaning Yes or No?¡± Pandora chose ¡°Yes.¡± The Party vanished from the room and appeared in the giant chamber at the tunnel they¡¯d decided to skip. Callum looked around before he said, ¡°Okay, we don¡¯t know what we¡¯re going to have to deal with though we know some of it was higher level. Everyone, go through your classes, choose your new abilities, and spend your attribute points. I don¡¯t think people are meant to level this fast but it looks like we will be, and we¡¯ll probably need it,¡± Callum said. Just then a new series of notifications entered Pandora¡¯s vision. Universal Update 2.00 will Launch in exactly 600 units of time. While most may not notice any changes to themselves please understand that some creatures will find the adjustments shocking and painful. First, the old Cultivator Rank level designation has been removed. If you don¡¯t know what that is, count yourself lucky. Instead, a new leveling system has been adopted. Conversions are relatively simple For every 10 full attribute levels or personal levels all attacks or formulas will treat that as one Quintessence Ability Rank. Each Quintessence Ability has its own ranking system that starts at 1 and has no upper limit. Quintessence Abilities, Skills, and Attributes all have their own effective ranks or levels. For instance, an Attribute or level of 70 will be able to create an attack comparable to an attack from a level 7 Quintessence Ability. If you must compare to the Previous Step system simply divide your Quintessence level by 7 or your Attribute or Level by 70. Level 71 would be Step 2 while Quintessence rank 14 would still be Step 2 but Step 15 would be equivalent to Step-3. Individuals are limited to 1 Quintessence Ability plus 1 per 10 Attribute points in Willpower. Step progression no longer sets individuals so far apart that you don¡¯t have a chance against someone just one step higher than you. However, a Step Comparison will be utilized for at least one year after this Update to help creatures adjust. Items of Note: Attributes Attributes are awarded for leveling your Personal Level or your Class Level. The amount is based on your Race and Class. Starting Attributes are determined by your Race, Level, and Class. Attributes cannot be purchased with XP. Experience (XP) You earn experience by performing activities. Half the experience earned goes toward your Personal level and one-half goes towards your Class if you have one. If you do not have a Class all experience goes toward your Personal Level. XP is normally awarded as follows. Creature level multiplied by 100. ? award for monsters ? your level. Double XP for creatures twice your current Personal level. Class Level is not used for this comparison. Classes. Classes have been added. Currently, there are four classes; Fighter, Healer, Rogue, and Mage. Class is an additional mechanic and requires you to earn experience for that Class to level it. Each Class will give benefits to certain types of attacks, and defenses, and give access to special abilities that will automatically unlock as the class is leveled. Leveling. To Level, you must earn Experience Points equal to your current Personal Level multiplied by 1,000. Class levels require 10,000 Class Experience per current level to advance to the next level. Quintessence Abilities Quintessence Abilities are individually leveled by spending the number of Quintessence equal to the abilities¡¯ current rank. It should be noted that a Level 3 Quintessence Ability is the equivalent of a Level 21 or higher attack. Be aware that Abilities unlocked with Quintessence will be much easier to advance going forward. If you have the Quintessence you can advance the ability. There are no longer minimum Quintessence requirements to level abilities. All quintessence higher than Step-1 in the old system have been converted to Normal quintessence of the same type. Also, be warned that higher-level Quintessence abilities may require higher levels of mana or stamina. If you Unlock a High-level Quintessence Ability ensure that your attributes are at least one level lower than the Quintessence ability. As an example, if you were to use a level 5 Quintessence ability that required an equivalent amount of Mana, the minimum attribute you would want to use the ability would be a Wisdom of 40. Even so, it would still utilize 41.7% of your mana for that one attack. Please take the time to learn about the changes made or you will find yourself depleted at a crucial time. Also, not that in some cases this will not be true. NOTE: There is no longer a major step between any Quintessence level or Attribute Level rank. Levels have been Balanced. You will be able to utilize abilities one level higher than the associated attribute at least twice before you run out of energy. Soul-Cores. At Level 71, So long as you have at least one Quintessence ability to level 11 a Soul Cores can be formed. What does Soul Core do? How do you use it? Those are questions you must answer for yourself or earn a reward that gives you this information. 300 time-units remaining. A new feature has been created within every Universe, Plane, Realm, and Dimension attached to the Astral Plane. If you do not know what those are, you will learn about them soon. Dungeons! Dungeons will spawn randomly on any planet or location that has any form of life on or in it. The Chance and number of Dungeons that spawn within any geographical location are a function of the total levels in the Area where there is a 100% chance that a dungeon will spawn anywhere there are 1,000,000 levels. Dungeon functionality will be explained upon entering. Other environmental and individual factors may form Dungeons in remote locations as well. A second new feature has come into Existence, The Labyrinth The Labyrinth can connect to any Dungeon anywhere and can act as a way to travel between dungeons, in addition to having dungeon-like areas within The Labyrinth. The Labyrinth should only be accessed by experienced Adventurers. Do you acknowledge that you have received Universal Update 2.0 information, Yes or No? ¡°What the Hell, what is a Universal Update 2.0?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about Pandora. I didn¡¯t receive any messages,¡± Callum said. ¡°Me either,¡± Cedrik said, Pandora looked at the others who all shook their heads. ¡°Let me read it to you,¡± Pandora said as she read the messages she just received.¡± Robert looked thoughtful for a moment then said, ¡°You said you were from somewhere else, maybe something is happening there and somehow it¡¯s translating to you through the message system?¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Pandora hedged. ¡°How much time do you have left on that timer,¡± Callum asked. ¡°About 10 seconds,¡± she said. ¡°Okay, everyone, if this is something that is going to affect us be ready and watch your personal information. I have no idea what Quintessence is but who knows maybe we¡¯ll figure¡­¡± Callum¡¯s words were cut off as the world stuttered. That was the only way to explain it. For a moment everything seemed frozen, and then everything was the same. Or so they thought. ¡°My damage and cost for one of the abilities I just picked up changed,¡± Robert said. ¡°What was it before?¡± Callum asked. ¡°I picked up a new ability called Shadow Bolt. It was going to allow me to shoot a magical bolt from any shadow and do 4 points of damage for 20 mana. Now it costs 33 mana and only does 3 points of damage. ¡°Me Too,¡± Callum said. ¡°I picked up a new ability that would allow me to block an attack with a shield and stop 100% of the damage for 20 stamina. Its cost is now 33 as well.¡± What¡¯s going on?¡± Asling said. All of my costs have been adjusted to 33 whether it was for stamina or Mana.¡± ¡°No idea,¡± Callum said. ¡°Will this affect how we use our current abilities and tactics? ¡°Yeah, Robert said. If the net increase is 33% of 100 that means we can only attack 3 times instead of 5 when the cost was 20. It means we¡¯ll have to be more careful how we spend our mana and Stamina.¡± ¡°How about you Pandora, anything change? ¡°Not yet, everything seems to be the same. Caspa and I are still at the same levels so no, no change here.¡± ¡°Okay, so the one person that it could have been really bad for is fine. Continue with getting abilities and attributes. We have a Secret Quest to finish,¡± Callum said. Everyone wondered what the messages meant and what the changes to their abilities meant but there was nothing they could do about it, so they went back to work. At level 30 Pandora picked up another aspect of her Absorb ability. Melee Combat Damage Bonus: The spell levels absorbed may be added as a damage bonus to any physical attack you make. The points must be added before the attack is made and only add one point of damage per Magic Levels Absorbed spent. Once spent Magic Level Absorbed points are gone even if the attack misses. At levels 40 and 50 Pandora picked up the last two aspects of the Absorb ability Cast Spell. The spell energy absorbed may be utilized to cast spells of an equal level or lower at no mana cost. Each spell cast utilizes a number of Magic Levels Absorbed equal to the spell level to be cast. Burst of Speed: The Magic Levels Absorbed may be utilized to increase movement speed by one Foot Per Second per Magic Levels Absorbed point spent. This may only be utilized once per combat round. The last ability Pandora earned was at level 75 where she received a new message. Class not chosen. Ability slot may be saved, or you may evolve the Absorb ability to unlock new aspects of the ability. Would you like to evolve the ability Absorb, Yes or No? Pandora chose ¡°Yes.¡± The Racial Ability ¡°Absorb¡± has evolved. Absorb has evolved. As you continue to improve his ability you will be able to absorb memories, skills, material properties, items, Magical Items (Prerequisite: Items), Ambient Energy, and ??? (Prerequisite all others first). Memories: for 33 Mana you may absorb the surface memories from the target. This will include everything the target has seen and witnessed within the last few (2) hours. How far you can copy memories from the target into the past can be extended at a rate of 33 mana for each additional hour so long as contact is maintained with the target. Also, memories can be reviewed at the time the ability is used or the ability can be used and the memories can be reviewed later. Memories reviewed are permanent and fade with time, as all memories do. Skills: for 33 mana per skill level, you may absorb a skill and utilize it as if it were your own. If you cannot spend enough mana to capture the skill the skill will remain available for a number of combat turns equal to the mana spent divided by 33. For instance, if the Skill were level 11 and only 330 mana were spent, the Skill would be available for 10 combat turns after use and then disappear. This ability cannot be channeled. To capture a skill the entire skill must be captured at once. If successful the target must make Willpower savings throw against a target equal to the mana spent or fall unconscious due to neural shock. They will remain unresponsive for a number of turns equal to the level of skill that was removed. Material Properties: For 99 mana per 100 pounds (Rounded up) of Pandora, so 198 mana in human form or 2058 mana in dragon form Pandora can take on the physical properties of any substance she is touching, including Air. This transformation can be maintained at a cost of 33 mana per additional combat round. All bonuses and weaknesses of the material become true for Pandora while she takes on the property of the substance. Items: at a cost of 33 mana per pound Pandora can absorb any item she is touching and convert it into Magic levels Absorb. Each pound grants One Magic Level Absorbed. NOTE: If an attempt to absorb an item fails due to not having space in the Magic Levels Absorbed attribute, damage equal to the total Magic Levels Absorbed that could have been provided multiplied by 3 occurs in a 10-foot-diameter centered on the object. From 10-20 foot diameter one-half damage. From 20 -30 foot diameter one-quarter damage. Magic items: at a cost of 99 mana per pound Pandora can absorb any item she is touching and convert it into Magic Levels Absorbed. Each pound grants one Magic Level Absorbed. Additionally, any charges the item might carry also grant one Magic level Absorbed. NOTE: If an attempt to absorb a magical item fails due to not having space in the Magic Levels Absorbed attribute, damage equal to the total Magic Levels Absorbed that could have been provided multiplied by 3 occurs in a 10-foot-diameter centered on the object. From 10-20 foot diameter one-half damage. From 20 -30 foot diameter one-quarter damage. Ambient Energy: At a cost of 33 Mana you may absorb energy from the surrounding area and become fully hydrated and fed. This ability is not noticeable and does not affect the immediate surroundings. This ability only needs to be utilized once every 12 hours to remain fully fed and hydrated. There is no limit to how many times this ability can be used. ???: You must unlock all aspects of Absorb to unlock this ability Pandora thought for a moment. That last part of the ability was useless to her. She thought about what would be most useful to the party and decided to pick ¡°Items.¡± She needed a way to generate points so she could heal herself and others if needed. Also, it might be useful for removing obstacles and such, though that mana cost was a bit extreme. ¡°I think I¡¯m done, how is everyone else doing,¡± Pandora said. ¡°I have to say, I¡¯m quite satisfied, my three new abilities should come in handy though the last two aren¡¯t really about tanking. I can strike twice or strike all targets within five feet. The first isn¡¯t too bad for stamina. The second costs three times as much. It will take me 33 seconds to recover the mana from a single strike and over a minute and a half for the big strike but if necessary I have them,¡± Callum said. ¡°I can move silently at my normal speed, jump 20 feet, and with a little concentration, as long as the target isn¡¯t covered completely in armor I can always find a weak spot to exploit. ¡° Asling said. Robert cast a spell and cloaked himself in shadows that clung to him as he said, ¡°I can create this armor that doesn¡¯t seem to have a duration. It will stop up to nine points of damage before it disappears. I also got that shadow bolt spell I mentioned, and the final ability is called Shadow Wall. Unlike my armor, I can throw it up and maintain it. It will slow down or stop 9 points of damage to anything that tries to pass through it. I thought it might be really useful if we find ourselves being peppered by ranged attacks.¡± ¡°That could definitely be useful,¡± Callum said. Cedrik grinned as he said, ¡°I picked up Shadow Vault. In addition to my looting ability, I now have a space that¡¯s about a 10-foot cube. I can store items in it, and it doesn¡¯t add any weight to me. I can also detect traps within 10 feet of me automatically and if I need to move while in the melee range of another, I can combat, I can move without making it easy for someone to smack me. ¡°I am also pleased, Pythias said. ¡°I have a new Halo-type effect that reaches out to about 10 feet. All allies within the halo heal at 1 hit point per second and it does that much damage to evil and undead creatures,¡± he said looking pointedly at Cedrik. ¡°What, I¡¯ll be good, or at least neutral,¡± he said with a grin. ¡°Additionally, I now have a divine beam attack and if needed I can seal someone that is wounded in a shell that will last until I release it or it takes 9 points of damage from a single strike,¡± Pythias said. ¡°How did you and Caspa come out,¡± Callum asked as he looked at Pandora. ¡°I still haven¡¯t chosen a class, though I might have to in the near future. For now, I just added to my absorption ability. I can now use the energy I absorb to cast spells, which means I need to learn some. I can also use it to move faster in a moment, which could help in an emergency and I can add a melee damage bonus. The level 75 ability slot was used to evolve the ability and I picked up the ability to absorb items and turn them into energy for my other abilities. I think that¡¯ll be quite useful. As for Caspa, she earned three levels Attribute-wise, all of my attributes are at or above 60, so not too shabby. ¡°You¡¯re going to have to choose a class eventually,¡± Callum said. ¡°Hey Robert, is there a way to learn spells without being a mage?¡± ¡°Mage books or scrolls. You can choose to permanently add them to your mind. Everyone is different in how many spells they can hold like that. Casters can hold more spells obviously. So, I need to find some scrolls or mage books, we can do that, ¡°She said with a smile. ¡°So, who¡¯s up for taking the gloomy stairway of death down to some ancient evil that pissed off a virgin dungeon,¡± Cedrik quipped. Everyone looked at Cedrik with the ¡®I can¡¯t believe you just said that¡¯ look ¡°What? You read the quest, it¡¯s obvious the dungeon is not happy with whoever broke into it,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°I¡¯m up for it Asling said laughing,¡± ¡°I guess when you¡¯re right, you¡¯re right, ¡° Robert agreed ¡°I¡¯m in,¡± Pandora said. Callum and Pythias both nodded as Callum made a flourishing gesture to Cedrik, ¡°If you wouldn¡¯t mind good sir, let¡¯s go find the naughty children that need a spanking,¡± Callum said with a straight face before he and everyone busted up laughing. Cedrik pulled himself together and started forward. Chapter 12, Down Into The Depths Pandora tried to shut down the telepathic link as soon as the alien mind touched hers. That didn¡¯t work because of the way the link had been established through her Absorb ability. She might have been able to sever the link if she¡¯d understood mental attacks and had better control of her mind but unlike her father, whose mentality at some points spanned multiple universes and whose experiences had tempered his mental abilities as he struggled to focus his thoughts across that vastness, Pandora had never been through any such crucible and the link remained active. Pandora felt a mental pressure growing and unconsciously reached up to grab her head. Robert looked over at her and asked, ¡°Pandora?¡± ¡°Spy,¡± Pandora said as she pitched forward and darkness encompassed her. She felt as if she were falling. There was definitely a sensation of speed as she sped through the darkness. Pandora tried to reach out and noticed immediately that her connection to Caspa wasn¡¯t there. She was once again utterly alone in a realm of pure darkness as she fell from a very high point toward a pinpoint of white light that spread out and focused into the landscape of a mountain range with peaks. In one direction the snow disappeared and became a gigantic forest below with a very long drop-off. Along the natural cliff, there were mountains and ice on the plateau above. A single word entered her mind, Primore. The image shifted and the direction she was falling altered course away from the drop-off to a small peak with a cave behind an ice flow near the top. She looked down and realized that her body had changed to that of a Black Dragon and she was coming in for a landing. As she did so, she made her way into the cave where a large trove of treasure waited. She sniffed the air and noted with satisfaction that nothing had disturbed her treasure. Pandora¡¯s thoughts were shattered when a voice asked excitedly, ¡°Where is this?¡± Pandora thought about the question and realized she did not know, she instinctively knew that the memory she¡¯d just lived wasn¡¯t her own. ¡°Never mind, then we do this the hard way,¡± the female voice said into her mind as the ice cave disappeared and Pandora¡¯s mind relived the life of Adaline, from the time of her hatching until Adaline¡¯s memories were imprinted into Pandora¡¯s mind. As she lived through Adaline¡¯s life Pandora met her father for the first time, which was when he¡¯d knocked Adaline unconscious as she tried to use her Breath Weapon on him. She listened from the cold floor inside Apolyn¡¯s Abode, a small fort built into the side of the bluff that overlooked a huge forest far below the abode, as Johnathan, her father¡¯s name was Johnathan Bennard. She listened as Johnathan Bennard called down the wrath of a God on its Paladin and smiled. She lived through the respectful way Johnathan treated her mother and how her mother¡¯s heart melted as she started to fall for this ¡®human¡¯ male who wasn¡¯t human. Pandora watched the relationship unfold which eventually led to her birth. She lived through the memories of her mother right up until she imparted all of her knowledge to her, which she now understood was everything. It was both the greatest gift the creature invading her mind could give her and the stupidest. Concepts Pandora had never considered were now accessible to her. She now understood what it meant to be a product of the 20th Century though her mother had only just learned the concepts before she was born. She was thankful to her enemy because she understood instinctually that she was not as intelligent as her father but that had not stopped Adaline from learning as much as she could about technology or the Planet her father came from and now she had full access to every one of those memories. She could have lived without the memories that led to her conception but everything else she learned was a treasure trove of information. Her enemy was stupid because Pandora now had a better understanding of what it meant to be a Creature of Chaos and why things happened the way they had been around her. As the mind invading her memories came to the moment she was ripped from her mother¡¯s arms and flung through Primal Chaos when the experience that she had been accumulating had been stripped away and formed a consciousness of its own, she now understood instinctually that the chaos had always been and now was again a part of her that could never be removed. She reached out with her mind and Caspa was there. Those around Pandora were surprised when a moment after Pandora had pointed at the woman and declared her a spy, before she collapsed, a white pearlescent glow surrounded Pandora¡¯s body and grew in intensity around her head before a tendril of energy shot from her head into the floor down and in the general direction of where they¡¯d been told the tunnels to the city above were. The Telepathic link to the absorption of the gem had unknowingly created a link to a previously locked aspect of her racial ability Absorb that wasn¡¯t supposed to be unlocked until she¡¯d gained all the other aspects of her evolved Absorb ability. Pandora¡¯s chaotic nature followed the telepathic link back to the source and surrounded the attacking mind in a lattice of chaotic energy that surrounded the Spider Queen¡¯s head. As this happened notifications began appearing in Pandora¡¯s mind. Mental Combat has been initiated by Spider Queen. Spider Queen has successfully infiltrated and read Pandora¡¯s memories. Combined Intelligence and Willpower score of 436 versus Pandora¡¯s combined Intelligence and Willpower score of 400. Additional skills and abilities modify the base 36% chance to 236% of success. Spider Queen successful, Ability Search Memory activated. Error Noted. The Full Combined Intelligence and Willpower of Pandora were not utilized during the initial calculation. Base 636% versus Pandora¡¯s Full Combined Intelligence and Willpower of 3,336 reduces the chance of mental attack success to -2,700% Spider Queen Attack negated. Error, Telepathic Link Present Error, Creature of Chaos Racial Ability has been activated Error, Racial Ability ¡°Absorb Ability¡± has been unlocked. Error, Racial Ability ¡°Absorb Ability¡± has evolved Racial Ability ¡°Absorb Racial Ability¡± has Evolved to ¡°Permanently Absorb Racial Ability¡± ¨CUpon touch or making a Telepathic Link with the target, 100 mana may be spent to temporarily copy the target¡¯s racial abilities for one hour. Doing so will immediately render the subject unconscious for a number of minutes equal to 60 minus their Willpower. Targets with a Willpower greater than 60 are not rendered unconscious. Additionally, if mana is spent equal to 100 + 100 x (Target Intelligence) racial abilities of the target are permanently removed and acquired. This process also permanently destroys the mind of the target and leaves them in a permanent coma. If an additional 1,000 mana is spent the subject loses all autotomic functions and dies immediately. Please Choose from the Following Options Pandora chose option 3. A Mana pool of 16,684 noted. Mana regeneration of 28 per second. The ability must be sustained until complete. For the next 4 minutes and 15 seconds, Pandora was held immobile while the Spider Queens¡¯ abilities were absorbed and her mind destroyed. She struggled and tried every trick that she knew but nothing could break the chaotic energy that had surrounded her head. Nothing could prevent the inevitable. Unlike the Spider Queens¡¯ vicious attack that had forced Pandora to live through her mother¡¯s life, the Spider Queens¡¯ memories were systematically scrambled and ruined. During that 4 minutes and 15 seconds, Pandora listened to the Spider Queen rant and rave as she described just how dead Pandora and her team were going to be. She boasted about the 7 leaders in ¡°Her¡± lower city and that her small contingent only consisted of a couple of high-level dark elves while all the others had been sent here to experience life among the other races of the Underdark. Pandora would feel the full weight of dark elf society when those from the true depths rose to annihilate her. Pandora now understood that Spider Queen ran an outpost/embassy for her people. Was going to suck to be her she thought, then considered where that thought had come from. It would seem that unlocking her mother¡¯s memories had unlocked some of her base attitudes as well. Pandora smiled within her mind, Cedrik was going to love her new attitude, but Callum and Pythias, not so much. Pandora easily resisted each attack the Spider Queen made against her. As the four minutes it took for Pandora to sustain the ability to scramble Spider Queen¡¯s mind and acquire her abilities progressed the Spider Queen¡¯s struggling lessened and then ceased. When it was done, new notifications began appearing. Congratulations You have killed a Level 380 Female Dark Elf You have received 2,413,000 XP from assisting your party in this kill. You have advanced from level 84 to level 109. You have learned two new Racial Abilities ¡°Telepathy¡± - You may make a mental link with any creature you can see or any creature that carries a focusing object you have created for that purpose. This ability allows for both verbal and full sensory communication if that is desired. Additionally, this ability can serve as a vehicle for other mental or spell-based attacks. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Ambidextrous¡± - You may make attacks from any limb as if it were your dominant hand. You do not receive an off-hand penalty when attacking with a weapon in each hand. Pandora opened her eyes and immediately noticed that the woman she¡¯d named as a spy was now tied up and sitting against a wall as Callum stepped up to her. ¡°Pandora, what did you do, we all just leveled again?¡± Callum asked. ¡°The female leader of this part of the underground city is dead, She thought of herself as The Spider Queen, but she was really a dark elf,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Dead?¡± Callum asked. ¡°As a doornail. Oh, that¡¯s an expression from my father¡¯s planet,¡± Pandora said. ¡°You sound different,¡± Robert said. ¡°Well, you see, that¡¯s because little spy bitch,¡± Pandora said pointing to the female slave that was tied up, ¡°had a focusing object of the Spider Queen so she could talk to her whenever she got the desire. When I tried to stop her I accidentally linked mind to mind with that crazy bitch.¡± ¡°What happened,¡± Asling asked. ¡°First, she ransacked my mind like I was spring fair being visited by a couple of thousand halflings. No stone was left unturned or untouched and all members of the town feel like they need a full body wash afterward. I¡¯m the town in this analogy. Anyway, in doing so she unlocked all the memories I hadn¡¯t accessed concerning my mother, which I have now accessed. Just so we¡¯re clear, knowing how your mom and dad literally made you, no child should have to know that crap.¡± Everyone in the party and even a few of the slaves winced when she shared that tidbit. ¡°So, a telepathic link was formed and then we got to the part where I was flung through, what I now know to be Primal Chaos. I learned a couple of interesting things about myself. One of which is that my body does not like to be locked down like it was and the memory of my brush with Primal Chaos was enough to activate one of my Racial Abilities which unlocked another aspect of my Absorb Ability. ¡°What did you do,¡± Pythias asked with a bit of concern in his voice. ¡°It seems that I can either temporarily copy someone¡¯s racial abilities, or if I¡¯m willing to pay the cost I can permanently remove those abilities which will destroy their mind. ¡°Some kind of mental vampirism?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°I don¡¯t think so, I think it has more to do with my chaotic nature and my Absorb ability. As a creature that is chaotic in nature, it looks like I can take on the abilities of others temporarily. The ability actually evolved during her mental attack to make it so that the effect could be permanent. ¡°I wonder if that ability will evolve again so you don¡¯t have to kill people to keep their abilities permanently,¡± Cedrik said wonderingly. ¡°You¡¯re always looking out for me aren¡¯t you Cedrick¡± ¡°You are my favorite, whatever race you really are, Pandora. Every time one of us stops moving or goes to sleep everyone gains levels. You need to keep that shit up, let me tell you!¡± he said emphatically. Pandora laughed as she asked, ¡°What level are all of you now? ¡°129,¡± Callum said, ¡°Which means you all need to spend your attribute points and get your new class abilities. Looks like you found a way to keep up with us ability-wise anyway Pandora.¡± ¡°It does, though I don¡¯t plan to kill creatures for their abilities, though as a mental attack, the ability is devastating that¡¯s for sure,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Well, if you can, get another ability and spend your attribute points. As everyone¡¯s eyes glazed over Pandora moved off and put her back to a wall as she looked at her Personal Information. Pandora looked over the various aspects of Absorb she could learn and decided that she didn¡¯t want to count on luck if she tried to absorb something she shouldn¡¯t again. She chose ¡°Absorb-Magic Items.¡± Magic items: at a cost of 99 mana per pound Pandora can absorb any item she is touching and convert it into Magic Levels Absorbed. Each pound grants one Magic Level Absorbed. Additionally, any charges the item might carry also grant one Magic level Absorbed. NOTE: If an attempt to absorb a magical item fails due to not having space in the Magic Levels Absorbed attribute, damage equal to the total Magic Levels Absorbed that could have been provided multiplied by 3 occurs in a 10-foot-diameter centered on the object. From 10-20 foot diameter one-half damage. From 20 -30 foot diameter one-quarter damage. Hopefully, there wouldn¡¯t be a next time, but if there was maybe this aspect of Absorb would nullify whatever she was absorbing so she wouldn¡¯t find herself in a mental contest within a being that was more than three times her level. She also went through and distributed her attributes. When she was done, none of her abilities were lower than 200. It also looked like Caspa had leveled as well. Nothing like a super-powerful boss getting killed to improve one¡¯s day. ¡°I¡¯m done, I chose to pick up another aspect of Absorb, this time I should be able to absorb Magic Items without difficulty, ¡°Pandora said. ¡°I improved my Cleave ability. I can now hit up to three opponents that are close together, Callum said. ¡°I picked up Stealth as an ability,¡± Asling said. ¡°I picked up a pretty neat spell called, Shadow Camp,¡± Robert said. ¡°What¡¯s it do?¡±, Cedrik asked. ¡°It creates a door into the Shadow realm where we can all rest for eight hours, though when we come out only an hour will have passed,¡± Robert said. ¡°It can only hold six people though.¡± ¡°That still sounds like it will be really handy,¡± Callum said. ¡°Yeah,¡± Cedrik agreed. I picked up an upgrade for backstabbing. I guess now when I attack with two daggers I can do critical damage from both strikes instead of just one.¡± ¡°Well, Level 100 allowed me to choose an ability that everyone will like,¡± Pythias said, ¡°I picked up Resurrection. I can just barely cast it. Mana wise it¡¯s 1,000 mana which I barely have but it will also remove one of my Constitution points permanently.¡± ¡°Wow, that¡¯s a pretty steep cost,¡± Robert said. ¡°Yeah, but I can bring someone back to life within just a little over two hours after death,¡± Pythias said. ¡°Resurrection wins,¡± Callum said,¡± He¡¯s right every one of us will be happy if he ever has to use that spell on us.¡± Pandora made her way over to the slave that had tried to use the ruby to call forth the Spider Queen, ¡°Would you mind explaining why you would sell out those who were trying to help you?¡± The bound woman looked up at Pandora and sneered, ¡°Because the Spider Queen is much more powerful than you and soon her minions will come and you¡¯ll be her pets or dead!¡± ¡°Obviously you haven¡¯t been listening,¡± Pandora said ¡°She¡¯s dead, I killed her. ¡° ¡°You lie, no one can kill the Spider Queen!¡± Pandora reached out with her hand and touched the woman activating her new Absorb ability as she only spent 100 mana for the temporary effect of the ability. The woman went limp and fell unconscious as Pandora received a notification. No Abilities to Absorb Detected Wow, no wonder she was so easily turned. She had nothing to help her resist in any way. How sad. ¡°Did you kill her?¡± Callum asked as he walked over. ¡°No, I was just trying the more limited aspect of the ability. I tried to copy her abilities for a little bit, but she doesn¡¯t have any¡± ¡°She doesn¡¯t have any abilities?¡± Callum asked. ¡°None, which begs the question. The other seven slaves know what she¡¯s done in the past and what she tried to do. What do they think we should do with her?¡± Callum called the other seven slaves over to the unconscious woman against the wall, ¡°I asked you over here to ask what the seven of you want to be done with this one, knowing she was helping the Spider Queen and the dark elves. ¡°Can¡¯t say as I care,¡± One of the slaves said. ¡°If you¡¯ll turn on your own kind once, you¡¯ll do it again. I say we leave her here or kill her,¡± another said. After a few more minutes it was obvious five of them didn¡¯t care for her and didn¡¯t want her to come with them but that she didn¡¯t need to die for her previous crimes. The other two wanted her dead but agreed that the majority of the slaves should decide. The decision was made to leave her. The party filled their empty water skins, took all the food except for one piece of bread, and untied the traitor. Then they left the room and locked it. One of the slaves knew the route to the tunnels that went up to The City and she guided them through some hidden passages for the next half hour. Every once in a while the party would hear movement off in the distance but who, or whatever, it was moved quickly and ignored them. Eventually, the party came out into a larger cave and they made their way around the edge until they could see a tunnel. ¡°That¡¯s weird,¡± one of the slaves said. ¡°What¡¯s weird?¡± Callum asked him. ¡°Usually there are two dark elves here guarding but they¡¯re gone..¡± ¡°What about the other races down here,¡± Robert asked. ¡°Down around that corner there,¡± The slave said pointing. ¡°That way leads to where the Kobolds are. There should be two guards over there too. This room should have something like 10 guards in it spread around the area to keep an eye on the access points. We usually have to come in here and clean the walkways. There is no one in here though,¡± he said thoughtfully. Then he asked, ¡°Did you really kill the Spider Queen?¡± ¡°I really did,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Well, they could all be falling back to protect the weakest but that doesn¡¯t make sense from what I¡¯ve witnessed. More likely there is a power struggle going on.¡± ¡°Are we going to escort these slaves to safety or do we continue with our quest?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°I think we should head back to the surface, at least until we know they¡¯re safe up there, then we can head back down. Besides The City needs to know about this tunnel and they need to put some guards on it,¡± Callum said. Everyone nodded and Cedrik went into the tunnel that started to wind its way upward at a small angle. They¡¯d only been following the tunnel for three hours when Cedrik held up his hand and moved forward. Pandora shadowed him until they were a good two hundred feet further along and even she could hear the clinks of chains coming from farther along. They each found imperfections in the wall until they saw a group of four dark elves and 12 members of various races being herded down the tunnel toward them. Pandora targeted 5 Mage Orbs on each of the dark elves as Cedrik disappeared after pointing back the way they¡¯d come from to let her know he was going to tell the others. Pandora heard her party coming up behind her as the dark elves reacted to the noise. Not wanting to give them a chance she gave the command for her 20 Magic Orbs to strike, which they did. The combat was over before it began. Pandora checked the combat log and noted that each of the Dark Elves had been level 30 and they¡¯d each only had nine hit points. Each orb had struck for 3 points of damage doing 15 points of damage to each dark elf They dropped where they¡¯d stood. The slaves looked around and cried as Callum rushed forward, Cedrik and Pandora bypassed the new slaves and made sure no one else was coming down the tunnel behind them. Once they were sure there was no one close by Pandora returned to the slaves and absorbed the shackles they were wearing which gave her another 11 points bringing her current total to 116 of 1,748 Absorbed Magic Levels. Damn, she hadn¡¯t looked at that since she upgraded her Soul Core. Increasing her Soul Core to level 3 had tripled all of her attributes. Callum explained to the 12 new slaves, 19 in total, that they had to keep moving to get back to The City while Cedrik looted the corpses and left them in the Shadow Plane. Once he was done looting, Cedrik led the way with Pandora close behind. Next came Pythias whom all the slaves followed with Callum, Robert, and then Asling at the back. If they were attacked, trying to protect those 19 slaves was going to prove problematic. How had the 4 dark elves kept them under control? Of course, they had been shackled so fighting back would have been nigh impossible. That implied there were supply points along the route. The next three days, because they had to rest often for the slaves, went by without incident. Talking was kept to a minimum but they were able to learn that there had been fifteen slaves originally As they passed certain holes in the ground the slaves would describe how any of the troublemakers or those that were moving too slowly were disconnected from the chains and thrown into the holes. They said they¡¯d heard screams for a while but eventually, they faded off into the distance. Pandora nodded when she heard that, that would explain how they kept them in line. Kill one or two as needed and even the stubborn ones would shut up. On the third day, the tunnels changed and more masonry and molded stone became apparent as they entered an underground marketplace of sorts, though no other beings were present. It looked like it might have once been a place where goods could be traded between the undercity and the city above. Now it was just empty. One of the slaves pointed to an archway and said, ¡°We came from over there before we headed down.¡± Cedrik made his way over to the Archway, looked at the ground, and nodded as he followed the footprints in the dust on the ground back to a blank wall. After he looked around for a bit he found a sconce that turned and unlocked a secret door that had a short hallway and a stairway that led up. Both Cedrik and Pandora made their way up the stairs quietly until they came into a small 20-foot by 20-foot room. As they reached the top of the stairs two dark elves were quietly making their way toward the stairway. Dark elf eyes locked with Cedrik and Pandora. Cedrik and Pandora moved first. Cedrik vanished and reappeared behind the Dark elf closest to the stairway with two daggers plowing into his back killing him instantly. Pandora, able to move 37 feet a second was on top of the surprised dark elf and had punched him in the throat. The strike had been critical and struck for 9 points of damage which doubled up to 18. There was a sickening crunch as the dark elf¡¯s neck snapped and he fell to the ground. They quickly searched the room, Cedrik looted the bodies and then Cedrik tossed them into the Shadow Plane. Opposite the small room, they found the access point to wherever they were in The City They both waited for the rest of the party and the slaves then Cedrik opened the door which ended up leading out into a back ally. No wonder no one had found it. ¡°Asling,¡± Callum called. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I want you to head to the Adventure Guild. Find Master Minegranet, let him know we need help recovering 19 slaves and that we¡¯ll need to put guards on a location that leads to an unground city where dark elves, among others, have been abducting people from The City, then bring him back here. The five of us are going to set up camp and guard this tunnel. We¡¯ll keep the slaves here until someone arrives who can question them and then get them back to their homes. ¡°On it,¡± Asling said as she rushed off down the ally, looked to her left and right as she came to a corner then headed off to the right and out of sight. The slaves were given some food and water as they sat down to wait for the burly dwarf to get there. One question was on Pandora¡¯s mind now that they were back on the surface though. She was wondering if they¡¯d passed their Assessment. Chapter 13, Hidden Depths Pandora tried to shut down the telepathic link as soon as the alien mind touched hers. That didn¡¯t work because of the way the link had been established through her Absorb ability. She might have been able to sever the link if she¡¯d understood mental attacks and had better control of her mind but unlike her father, whose mentality at some points spanned multiple universes and whose experiences had tempered his mental abilities as he struggled to focus his thoughts across that vastness Pandora had never been through any such crucible and the link remained active. Pandora felt a mental pressure growing and unconsciously reached up to grab her head. Robert looked over at her and asked, ¡°Pandora?¡± ¡°Spy,¡± Pandora said as she pitched forward and darkness encompassed her. She felt as if she were falling. There was definitely a sensation of speed as she sped through the darkness. Pandora tried to reach out and noticed immediately that her connection to Caspa wasn¡¯t there. She was once again utterly alone in a realm of pure darkness as she fell from a very high point toward a pinpoint of white light that spread out and focused into the landscape of a mountain range with peaks. In one direction the snow disappeared and became a gigantic forest below with a very long drop-off. Along the natural cliff, there were mountains and ice on the plateau above. A single word entered her mind, Primore. The image shifted and the direction she was falling altered course away from the drop-off to a small peak with a cave behind an ice flow near the top. She looked down and realized that her body had changed to that of a Black Dragon and she was coming in for a landing. As she did so she made her way into the cave where a large trove of treasure wait. She sniffed the air and noted with satisfaction that nothing had disturbed her treasure. Pandora¡¯s thoughts were shattered when a voice asked excitedly, ¡°Where is this?¡± Pandora thought about the question and realized she did not know, she instinctively knew that the memory she¡¯d just lived wasn¡¯t her own. ¡°Never mind, then we do this the hard way,¡± the female voice said into her mind as the ice cave disappeared and Pandora¡¯s mind relived the life of Adaline, from the time of her hatching until Adaline¡¯s memories were imprinted into Pandora¡¯s mind. As she lived through Adaline¡¯s life Pandora met her father for the first time, which was when he¡¯d knocked Adaline unconscious as she tried to use her Breath Weapon on him. She listened from the cold floor inside Apolyn¡¯s Abode, a small fort built into the side of the bluff that overlooked the forest, as Johnathan, her father¡¯s name was Johnathan Bennard. She listened as Johnathan Bennard called down the wrath of a God on its Paladin and smiled. She lived through the respectful way Johnathan treated her mother and how her mother¡¯s heart melted as she started to fall for this ¡®human¡¯ male that wasn¡¯t human. Pandora watched the relationship unfold which eventually led to her birth. She lived through the memories of her mother right up until she imparted all of her knowledge to her, which she now understood was everything. It was both the greatest gift the creature invading her mind could give her and the stupidest. Concepts Pandora had never considered were now accessible to her. She now understood what it meant to be a product of the 20th Century though her mother had only just learned the concepts before she was born. She was thankful to her enemy because she understood instinctually that she was not as intelligent as her father but that had not stopped Adaline from learning as much as she could about technology or the Planet her father came from and now she had full access to every one of those memories. She could have lived without the memories that led to her conception but everything else she learned was a treasure trove of information. Her enemy was stupid because Pandora now had a better understanding of what it meant to be a Creature of Chaos and why things happened the way they had been around her. As the mind invading her memories came to the moment she was ripped from her mother¡¯s arms and flung through Primal Chaos when the experience that she had been accumulating had been stripped away and formed a consciousness of its own, she now understood instinctually that the chaos had always been and now was again a part of her that could never be removed. She reached out with her mind and Caspa was there. Those around Pandora were surprised when a moment after Pandora had pointed at the woman and declared her a spy, and collapsed, a white pearlescent glow surrounded Pandora¡¯s body and grew in intensity around her head before a tendril of energy shot from her head into the floor down and in the general direction of where they¡¯d been told the tunnels to the city above were. The Telepathic link to the absorption of the gem had unknowingly created a link to a previously locked aspect of her racial ability Absorb that wasn¡¯t supposed to be unlocked until she¡¯d gained all the other aspects of her evolved Absorb ability. Pandora¡¯s chaotic nature followed the telepathic link back to the source and surrounded the attacking mind in a lattice of chaotic energy that surrounded the Spider Queens¡¯ head. As this happened notifications began appearing in Pandora¡¯s mind. Mental Combat has been initiated by Spider Queen. Spider Queen has successfully infiltrated and read Pandora¡¯s memories. Combined Intelligence and Willpower score of 436 versus Pandora¡¯s combined Intelligence and Willpower score of 400. Additional skills and abilities modify the base 36% chance to 236% of success. Spider Queen successfully, Ability Search Memory activated. Error Noted. The Full Combined Intelligence and Willpower of Pandora were not utilized during the initial calculation. Base 636% versus Pandora¡¯s Full Combined Intelligence and Willpower of 3,336 reduces the chance of mental attack success to -2,700% Spider Queen Attack negated Error, Telepathic Link Present Error, Creature of Chaos Racial Ability has been activated Error, Racial Ability ¡°Absorb Ability¡± has been unlocked Error, Racial Ability ¡°Absorb Ability¡± has evolved Racial Ability ¡°Absorb Racial Ability¡± has Evolved to ¡°Permanently Absorb Racial Ability¡± ¨CUpon touch or making a Telepathic Link with the target, 100 mana may be spent to temporarily copy the target¡¯s racial abilities for one hour. Doing so will immediately render the subject unconscious for a number of minutes equal to 60 minus their Willpower. Targets with a Willpower greater than 60 are not rendered unconscious. Additionally, if mana is spent equal to 100 + 100 x (Target Intelligence) racial abilities of the target are permanently removed and acquired. This process also permanently destroys the mind of the target and leaves them in a permanent coma. If an additional 1,000 mana is spent the subject loses all autotomic functions and dies immediately. Please Chose from the Following Options Pandora chose option 3 A Mana pool of 16,684 noted. Mana regeneration of 28 per second. The ability must be sustained until complete. For the next 4 minutes and 15 seconds, Pandora was held immobile while the Spider Queens¡¯ abilities were absorbed and her mind destroyed. She struggled and tried every trick that she knew but nothing could break the chaotic energy that had surrounded her head. Nothing could prevent the inevitable. Unlike the Spider Queens¡¯ vicious attack that had forced Pandora to live through her mother¡¯s life, the Spider Queens¡¯ memories were systematically scrambled and ruined. During that 4 minutes and 15 seconds, Pandora listened to the Spider Queen rant and rave as she described just how dead Pandora and her team were going to be. She boasted about the 7 leaders in ¡°Her¡± lower city and that her small contingent only consisted of a couple of high-level dark elves while all the others had been sent her to experience life among the other races of the Underdark. Pandora would feel the full weight of dark elf society when those from the true depths rose to annihilate her. Pandora now understood that Spider Queen ran an outpost/embassy for her people. Was going to suck to be her she thought, then considered where that thought had come from. It would seem that unlocking her mother¡¯s memories had unlocked some of her base attitudes as well. Pandora smiled within her mind, Cedrik was going to love her new attitude, but Callum and Pythias, not so much. Pandora easily resisted each attack the Spider Queen made against her. As the four minutes it took for Pandora to sustain the ability to scramble Spider Queen¡¯s mind and acquire her abilities progressed the Spider Queen¡¯s struggling lessened and then ceased. When it was done, new notifications began appearing. Congratulations You have killed a Level 380 Female Dark Elf You have received 2,413,000 XP from assisting your party in this kill You have advanced from level 84 to level 109. You have learned two new Racial Abilities ¡°Telepathy¡± - You may make a mental link with any creature you can see or any creature that carries a focusing object you have created for that purpose. This ability allows for both verbal and full sensory communication if that is desired. Additionally, this ability can serve as a vehicle for other mental or spell based attacked If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Ambidextrous¡± - You may make attacks from any limb as if it was your dominant hand. You do not receive an off-hand penalty when attacking with a weapon in each hand. Pandora opened her eyes and immediately noticed that the woman she¡¯d named as a spy was now tied up and sitting against a wall as Callum stepped up to her. ¡°Pandora, what did you do, we all just leveled again?¡± Callum asked. ¡°The female leader of this part of the underground city is dead, She thought of herself as The Spider Queen, but she was really a dark elf,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Dead?¡± Callum asked. ¡°As a doornail. Oh, that¡¯s an expression from my father¡¯s planet,¡± Pandora said. ¡°You sound different,¡± Robert said. ¡°Well, you see, that¡¯s because little spy bitch,¡± Pandora said pointing to the female slave that was tied up, ¡°had a focusing object of the Spider Queen so she could talk to her whenever she got the desire. When I tried to stop her I accidentally linked mind to mind with that crazy bitch.¡± ¡°What happened,¡± Asling asked ¡°First, she ransacked my mind like I was spring fair being visited by a couple of thousand halflings. No stone was left unturned or untouched and all members of the town feel like they need a full body wash afterward. I¡¯m the town in this analogy. Anyway, in doing so she unlocked all the memories I hadn¡¯t accessed concerning my mother, which I have now accessed. Just so we¡¯re clear, knowing how mom and dad literally made you, no child should have to know that crap.¡± Everyone in the party and even a few of the slaves winced when she shared that tidbit. ¡°So, a telepathic link was formed and then we got to the part where I was flung through, what I now know to be Primal Chaos. I learned a couple of interesting things about myself. One of which is that my body does not like to be locked down like it was and the memory of my brush with Primal Chaos was enough to activate one of my Racial Abilities which unlocked another aspect of my Absorb Ability. ¡°What did you do,¡± Pythias asked with a bit of concern in his voice. ¡°It seems that I can either temporarily copy someone¡¯s racial abilities, or if I¡¯m willing to pay the cost I can permanently remove those abilities which will destroy their mind. ¡°Some kind of mental vampirism?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°I don¡¯t think so, I think it has more to do with my chaotic nature and my Absorb ability. As a creature that is chaotic in nature, it looks like I can take on the abilities of others temporarily. The ability actually evolved during her mental attack to make it so that the effect could be permanent. ¡°I wonder if that ability will evolve again so you don¡¯t have to kill people to keep their abilities permanently,¡± Cedrik said wonderingly. ¡°You¡¯re always looking out for me aren¡¯t you Cedrick¡± ¡°You are my favorite, whatever race you really are, Pandora. Every time one of us stops moving or goes to sleep everyone gains levels. You need to keep that shit up, let me tell you!¡± he said emphatically. Pandora laughed as she asked, ¡°What level are all of you now? ¡°129,¡± Callum said, ¡°Which means you all need to spend your attribute points and get your new class abilities. Looks like you found a way to keep up with us ability-wise anyway Pandora.¡± ¡°It does, though I don¡¯t plan to kill creatures for their abilities, though as a mental attack, the ability is devastating that¡¯s for sure,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Well, if you can, get another ability and spend your attribute points. As everyone¡¯s eyes glazed over Pandora moved off and put her back to a wall as she looked at her Personal Information. Pandora looked over the various aspects of Absorb she could learn and decided that she didn¡¯t want to count on luck if she tried to absorb something she shouldn¡¯t again. She chose ¡°Absorb-Magic Items¡± Magic items: at a cost of 99 mana per pound Pandora can absorb any item she is touching and convert it into Magic Levels Absorbed. Each pound grants one Magic Level Absorbed. Additionally any charges the item might carry also grant one Magic level Absorbed. NOTE: If an attempt to absorb a magical item fails due to not having space in the Magic Levels Absorbed attribute, damage equal to the total Magic Levels Absorbed that could have been provided multiplied by 3 occurs in a 10-foot-diameter centered on the object. From 10-20 foot diameter one-half damage. From 20 -30 foot diameter one-quarter damage. Hopefully, there wouldn¡¯t be a next time, but if there was maybe this aspect of Absorb would nullify whatever she was absorbing so she wouldn¡¯t find herself in a mental contest within a being that was more than three times her level. She also went through and distributed her attributes. When she was done, none of her abilities were lower than 200. It also looked like Caspa had leveled as well. Nothing like a super-powerful boss getting killed to improve one¡¯s day. ¡°I¡¯m done, I chose to pick up another aspect of Absorb, this time I should be able to absorb Magic Items without difficulty, ¡°Pandora said. ¡°I improved my Cleave ability. I can now hit up to three opponents that are close together, Callum said. ¡°I picked up Stealth as an ability,¡± Asling said. ¡°I picked up a pretty neat spell called, Shadow Camp,¡± Robert said. ¡°What¡¯s it do?¡±, Cedrik asked. ¡°It creates a door into the Shadow realm where we can all rest for eight hours, though when we come out only an hour will have passed,¡± Robert said. ¡°It can only hold six people though.¡± ¡°That still sounds like it will be really handy,¡± Callum said. ¡°Yeah,¡± Cedrik agreed. I picked up an upgrade for backstabbing. I guess now when I attack with two daggers I can do critical damage from both strikes instead of just one.¡± ¡°Well, Level 100 allowed me to choose an ability that everyone will like,¡± Pythias said, ¡°I picked up Resurrection. I can just barely cast it. Mana wise it¡¯s 1,000 mana which I barely have but it will also remove one of my Constitution points permanently.¡± ¡°Wow, that¡¯s a pretty steep cost,¡± Robert said. ¡°Yeah, but I can bring someone back to life within just a little over two hours after death,¡± Pythias said. ¡°Resurrection wins,¡± Callum said,¡± He¡¯s right every one of us will be happy if he ever has to use that spell on us.¡± Pandora made her way over to the slave that had tried to use the ruby to call forth the Spider Queen, ¡°Would you mind explaining why you would sell out those that were trying to help you?¡± The bound woman looked up at Pandora and sneered, ¡°Because the Spider Queen is much more powerful than you and soon her minions will come and you¡¯ll be her pets or dead!¡± ¡°Obviously you haven¡¯t been listening,¡± Pandora said ¡°She¡¯s dead, I killed her. ¡° ¡°You lie, no one can kill the Spider Queen!¡± Pandora reached out with her hand and touched the woman activating her new Absorb ability as she only spent 100 mana for the temporary effect of the ability. The woman went limp and fell unconscious as Pandora received a notification. No Abilities to Absorb Detected Wow, no wonder she was so easily turned. She had nothing to help her resist in any way. How sad. ¡°Did you kill her?¡± Callum asked as he walked over ¡°No, I was just trying the more limited aspect of the ability. I tried to copy her abilities for a little bit, but she doesn¡¯t have any¡± ¡°She doesn¡¯t have any abilities?¡± Callum asked. ¡°None, which begs the question. The other seven slaves know what she¡¯s done in the past and what she tried to do. What do they think we should do with her?¡± Callum called the other seven slaves over to the unconscious woman against the wall, ¡°I asked you over here to ask what the seven of you want to be done with this one, knowing she was helping the Spider Queen and the dark elves. ¡°Can¡¯t say as I care,¡± One of the slaves said. ¡°If you¡¯ll turn on your own kind once, you¡¯ll do it again. I say we leave her here or kill her,¡± another said. After a few more minutes it was obvious five of them didn¡¯t care for her and didn¡¯t want her to come with them but that she didn¡¯t need to die for her previous crimes. The other two wanted her dead but agreed that the majority of the slaves should decide. The decision was made to leave her. The party filled their empty water skins, took all the food except for one piece of bread, and untied the traitor. Then they left the room and locked it. One of the slaves knew the route to the tunnels that went up to The City and she guided them through some hidden passages for the next half hour. Every once in a while the party would hear movement off in the distance but who, or whatever, it was moved quickly and ignored them. Eventually, the party came out into a larger cave and they made their way around the edge until they could see a tunnel. ¡°That¡¯s weird,¡± one of the slaves said. ¡°What¡¯s weird?¡± Callum asked him. ¡°Usually there are two dark elves here guarding but they¡¯re gone..¡± ¡°What about the other races down here,¡± Robert asked. ¡°Down around that corner there,¡± The slave said pointing. ¡°That way leads to where the Kobolds are. There should be two guards over there too. This room should have something like 10 guards in it spread around the area to keep an eye on the access points. We usually have to come in here and clean the walkways. There is no one in here though,¡± he said thoughtfully. Then he asked, ¡°Did you really kill the Spider Queen?¡± ¡°I really did,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Well, they could all be falling back to protect the weakest but that doesn¡¯t make sense from what I¡¯ve witnessed. More likely there is a power struggle going on.¡± ¡°Are we going to escort these slaves to safety or do we continue with our quest?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°I think we should head back to the surface, at least until we know they¡¯re safe up there, then we can head back down. Besides The City needs to know about this tunnel and they need to put some guards on it,¡± Callum said. Everyone nodded and Cedrik went into the tunnel that started to wind its way upward at a small angle. They¡¯d only been following the tunnel for three hours when Cedrik held up his hand and moved forward. Pandora shadowed him until they were a good two hundred feet further along and even she could hear the clinks of chains coming from farther along. They each found imperfections in the wall until they saw a group of four dark elves and 12 members of various races being herded down the tunnel toward them. Pandora targeted 5 Mage Orbs on each of the dark elves as Cedrik disappeared after pointing back the way they¡¯d come from to let her know he was going to tell the others. Pandora heard her party coming up behind her as the dark elves reacted to the noise. Not wanting to give them a chance she gave the command for her 20 Magic Orbs to strike, which they did. The combat was over before it began. Pandora checked the combat log and noted that each of the Dark Elves had been level 30 and they¡¯d each only had nine hit points. Each orb had struck for 3 points of damage doing 15 points of damage to each dark elf They dropped where they¡¯d stood. The slaves looked around and cried as Callum rushed forward, Cedrik and Pandora bypassed the new slaves and made sure no one else was coming down the tunnel behind them. Once they were sure there was no one close by Pandora returned to the slaves and absorbed the shackles they were wearing which gave her another 11 points bringing her current total to 116 of 1,748 Absorbed Magic Levels. Damn, she hadn¡¯t looked at that since she upgraded her Soul Core. Increasing her Soul Core to level 3 had tripled all of her attributes. Callum explained to the 12 new slaves, 19 in total, that they had to keep moving to get back to The City while Cedrik looted the corpses and left them in the Shadow Plane. Cedrik led the way with Pandora close behind. Next came Pythias whom all the slaves followed with Callum, Robert, and then Asling at the back. If they were attacked, trying to protect those 19 slaves was going to prove problematic. How had the 4 dark elves kept them under control? Of course, they had been shackled so fighting back would have been nigh impossible. That implied there were supply points along the route The next three days, because they had to rest often for the slaves, went by without incident. Talking was kept to a minimum but they were able to learn that there had been fifteen slaves originally As they passed certain holes in the ground the slaves would describe how any of the troublemakers or those that were moving too slowly were disconnected from the chains and thrown into the holes. They said they¡¯d heard screams for a while but eventually they faded off into the distance. Pandora nodded when she heard that, that would explain how they kept them in line. Kill one or two as needed and even the stubborn ones would shut up. On the third day, the tunnels changed and more masonry and molded stone became apparent as they entered an underground marketplace of sorts, though no other beings were present. It looked like it might have once been a place where goods could be traded between the undercity and the city above. Now it was just empty. One of the slaves pointed to an archway and said, ¡°We came from over there before we headed down.¡± Cedrik made his way over to the Archway, looked at the ground, and nodded as he followed the footprints in the dust on the ground back to a blank wall. After he looked around for a bit he found a sconce that turned and unlocked a secret door that had a short hallway and a stairway that lead up. Both Cedrik and Pandora made their way up the stairs quietly until they came into a small 20-foot by 20-foot room. As they reached the top of the stairs two dark elves were quietly making their way toward the stairway. Dark elf eyes locked with Cedrik and Pandora. Cedrik and Pandora moved first. Cedrik vanished and reappeared behind the Dark elf closest to the stairway with two daggers plowing into his back killing him instantly. Pandora, able to move 37 feet a second was on top of the surprised dark elf and had punched him in the throat. The strike had been critical and struck for 9 points of damage which doubled up to 18. There was a sickening crunch as the dark elf¡¯s neck snapped and he fell to the ground. They quickly searched the room, Cedrik looted the bodies and then Cedrik tossed them into the Shadow Plane. Opposite the small room, they found the access point to wherever they were in The City They both waited for the rest of the party and the slaves then Cedrik opened the door which ended up leading out into a back ally. No wonder no one had found it. ¡°Asling,¡± Callum called. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I want you to head to the Adventure Guild. Find Master Minegranet, let him know we need help recovering 19 slaves and that we¡¯ll need to put guards on a location that leads to an unground city where dark elves, among others, have been abducting people from The City, then bring him back here. The five of us are going to set up camp and guard this tunnel. We¡¯ll keep the slaves here until someone arrives that can question them and then get them back to their homes. ¡°On it,¡± Asling said as she rushed off down the ally, looked to her left and right as she came to a corner then headed off to the right and out of sight. The slaves were given some food and water as they sit down to wait for the burly dwarf to get there. One question was on her mind now that they were back on the surface though. She was wondering if they¡¯d passed their Assessment. Chapter 14, Results ¡°How long until she gets here?¡± Cedrik asked. ¡°She¡¯ll get here when she gets here, Cedrik. They¡¯re probably rounding up guards and such,¡± Callum said. ¡°Asling will be back soon,¡± Pandora said as she caught a ripple out of the corner of her eyes. She focused on the ripple, more a shimmer, and asked, ¡°Hey, do any of you see that shimmer?¡± She said pointing at the center which was resolving into the image of a man standing next to a Node, not unlike what she¡¯d stood next to when she talked to the Dungeon. No, it was the same node. ¡°What shimmer?¡± Robert asked as he looked then said, ¡°Oh, I see it. Hey, do you see the man standing there looking back at us? It¡¯s like a window.¡± Pandora squinted as the man¡¯s image came more into focus and her eyes went wide with shock as she started to rush toward the image and called out, ¡°Dad!¡± As she reached where the shimmer had been only smooth stone rested under her hands, ¡°You all saw that right, I¡¯m not going crazy?¡± she asked plaintively. ¡°I saw him,¡± Robert said. ¡°As did I,¡± Pythias said. ¡°Me too, Callum affirmed. ¡°Are you sure it was your dad?¡± ¡°I am certain,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Look at it this way, you know he¡¯s trying to find you?¡± Robert said. ¡°There is that¡±, Pandora agreed as her lips drew up into a smile, ¡°And he looked happy to see me, though I think whatever cut us off made him angry, I could see it in his eyes.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll get that all figured out soon, right now I hear a whole bunch of feet headed this way. I think Asling is back, and she brought friends.,¡± Cedrik said. They all watched as Asling called back in the direction she¡¯d come from, ¡°They¡¯re right down here!¡±, and then made her way down the corridor until she stood in front of them. ¡°Welcome back,¡± Callum said. ¡°Took you long enough,¡± Cedrik quipped. ¡°You know us girls, we have to go sightseeing and shopping. I mean seriously, do you know how many shops are between here and the Adventurer¡¯s Guild?¡± Asling said with a grin. Just then a group of 10 guards came around the corner followed by even more people that quickly took charge. Callum took point and answered questions about the slaves they¡¯d rescued and before long all the rescued slaves were being led off and a contingent of guards had set up a defensible perimeter around the entrance to the Undercity. ¡°Most likely you¡¯re going to have to move some guards down to the main chamber below us and have them watch for their raiding parties. I¡¯m pretty sure there are too many ways they could get into the city from that main chamber,¡± Callum said. ¡°Could you show us what you¡¯re talking about?¡± one of the guards asked. Pandora set six of her Mage Orbs to protect Callum and Pythias as they led six of the guards underground. She didn¡¯t think she needed to worry about them, but it was always better to be safe, than sorry. ¡°What in the bloody hell happened to you!¡± a gruff male voice called out. Pandora turned to see Master Minegranet striding purposefully toward Cedrik, Asling, Robert, and Pandora, ¡°And where are the other two? I seem to remember sending six of ye on your assessment, I only be seeing four.¡± ¡°They¡¯re showing the guards the Undercity right below us?¡± Robert said. ¡°Undercity, what Undercity?¡± ¡°There¡¯s an area that looks like people lived in it right below us,¡± Robert said. ¡°Let¡¯s wait until they come back up then while I get a look at you,¡± the gruff-voiced dwarf said. The next ten minutes were a bit awkward as the Master Minegranite stared at each of them making unintelligible sounds from his mouth. As Callum and Pythias rejoined the party he stared at the two of them for a good minute while everyone remained quiet. Eventually, Master Minegranite, knocked his temple twice then looked at all six of them again as he muttered, ¡°How in the hell¡­,¡± just loud enough that Pandora could hear him, barely. ¡°Okay, what happened? You¡¯re two days overdue. I¡¯d fail all six of you right now except I¡¯m looking at your levels and I can¡¯t believe what I¡¯m seeing. So, Callum, you¡¯re the leader, what happened?¡± Master Minegranite asked. ¡°Well, it all started when we ran into a Sandworm Matriarch,¡± Callum started to explain and then went on to detail their adventure into the Dungeon and their various encounters. ¡°After Pandora said the Spider Queen had been killed, we decided that we needed to get the people we¡¯d found up to the surface so we could resupply and get help before we went back down to complete the quest we had from the dungeon.¡± ¡°Quest you have from the Dungeon?¡± Master Minegranite asked. ¡°Yes, when we finished clearing the dungeon it gave us a two-fold quest. Find and destroy the source of the invasion into the Dungeon and destroy the alternate entrance into the dungeon,¡± Callum said. ¡°What kind of reward was offered for the completion of the quest?¡± Master Minegranite asked. ¡°50,000 XP and a Mythical Item compatible with our primary class,¡± Robert said. ¡°Well, that definitely be worth finishing then,¡± the Master dwarf said as he paused for a moment, a thoughtful look on his face. ¡°All right. First, Congratulations on reaching the levels you have. I understand why Pandora hasn¡¯t leveled as much as the rest of you, but I will still say it is rather impressive that all of you are over level 100, within 3 days of the beginning of your assessment. Even more impressive is that you did this before joining the Adventurers Guild which brings me to the second point. Congratulations again. You have all passed your Assessment. You are all Adventurers Guild members. As members I can do this for you,¡± Master Minegranite said as he concentrated for a moment, and a portal to a room opened. ¡°Where is that?¡± Cedrik asked. ¡°The Leadership of the Guild has direct portal access to the guild market. Through that portal, you should be able to sell anything you found and restock for the journey back underground. If the quest hasn¡¯t canceled out because you came to the surface I would take turns so that a majority of your party stays near this entrance and either replace or repair any equipment you need to. Also, don¡¯t take too long.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll go first,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°Hold up,¡± Pandora said. ¡°I don¡¯t have a lot of stuff to begin with. Could you just please fill these water skins up for me?¡± Pandora asked as she pulled the empty water skins out of her storage device and handed them over. ¡°I can do that,¡± Cedrik said as he accepted the skins and then stepped through the portal. Pythias followed right behind him. They were only gone for about five minutes before they returned and Callum and Asling Stepped through. The last person to go shopping was Robert. He was only gone for about a minute. Master Minegranite looked at Pandora, who shook her head. He closed the portal and said, ¡°We will expect a full report when you¡¯re done down there. ¡°All right people, you heard Master Minegranite, let¡¯s get back down there and finish this quest,¡± Callum said as he led the party back to the stairway that led down to the Undercity and their way into the darkness. Once they were below ground and beyond the guard station that had been set up Pandora said, ¡°I don¡¯t mean to sound like a whiner but are we going to rest soon, we¡¯ve been going for quite a while now. ¡° ¡°Yeah,¡± Callum said. ¡°I just wanted us to get further away from the surface so we could try Robert¡¯s new rest ability and take a break for 8 hours. Speaking of which, I think we¡¯re far enough away, Robert if you¡¯d do the honors?¡± Robert activated Shadow Camp and a portal of shadow appeared. As they stepped through the portal they found an open area surrounded by shadows that appeared to be moving but as solid as rock. The area was lighted by a single white orb hanging 10 feet off the ground. Their area couldn¡¯t be more than 100 feet in diameter. The ground was covered in soft dry moss. Along one side of the camp was a stream that emerged from the wall of shadow and disappeared back into it after about 50 feet away. There were makeshift toilets over the stream behind a line of bushes at the end where the stream disappeared into the shadows. Midway there was a small pool that seemed to have steam coming from it and where the water emerged from the shadows it was just a bubbling creek of water. Pandora rushed over to the pool of water and touched it, ¡°This is just warm enough to be comfortable for a bath,¡± Pandora said. Pythias, the more practical went over to the head of the stream and held his hand above the water. After concentrating for a moment, he said, ¡°The water is fresh and clean here where it comes out. We can drink it.¡± ¡°Wow, Robert. This ability is useful,¡± Callum said. ¡°Seems that way, and there¡¯s even a place to make a fire over here in the center. Though I don¡¯t see any wood. Hold on,¡± Robert said as he focused for a moment then a fire appeared above the campfire¡¯s location. ¡°I can adjust how hot and bright the fire is from my Personal Interface. It looks like it¡¯s part of the ability.¡± ¡°This looks incredibly versatile, has anyone else heard of an ability like this before?¡± ¡°Not me,¡± Asling said, ¡°Although, I have heard of abilities that set up something like this outdoors for the Ranger types. ¡°If you think about that it makes sense, ¡°Robert said.¡± I¡¯m a mage, I don¡¯t need, nor do I care about the environment around me while I¡¯m traveling. Rangers on the other hand want to make sure their surroundings and nature aren¡¯t harmed by themselves or others. It just follows that any abilities they might develop would follow that idea and keep them in the real world. ¡°Well, I could definitely use something like this,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°As could I,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Me too, ¡°Callum and Pythias chorused. At that, everyone laughed and then they all pulled out their meals and sat down to eat. After an uncomfortable silence, Callum said, ¡°Pandora, so that was your dad?¡± ¡°It definitely looked like him. I think I even recognized where he was.¡± ¡°Where was that?¡± Robert asked. ¡°The Heart of the Dungeon?¡± ¡°The Heart of the Dungeon?¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s where I went right before we left the city. Just before I picked up the Mage Orbs.¡± ¡°Okay, so I guess I know where you¡¯re going after we¡¯re done here?¡± ¡°Yeah, but we need to finish this quest first,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°We will, Callum said. ¡°I gave Master Minegranite directions to the Dungeon. He¡¯s going to send a couple of elemental earth mages to the Dungeon with a party to take care of any stragglers then they¡¯re going to have some Earth Elementals seal the tunnel that comes up into the dungeon and also any other tunnels that come close to the Dungeon.¡± ¡°Well, that will take care of one part of the quest. What do we need to do to accomplish the second part?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°If I had to guess, we need to kill or route whoever was in control of the Ogre and all the goblins, kobolds, and gnolls,¡± Robert said. ¡°Don¡¯t forget about the Dark Dwarves,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°Dark Dwarves?¡± Asling asked. ¡°I think they call them Dreagur or something like that, ¡°Cedrik said. ¡°The Gray dwarf-sized creatures?¡± Asling asked. ¡°They were dwarves, just the underground evil kind,¡± Robert said. ¡°Also, I think they¡¯re called Duegar.¡± ¡°Whatever they¡¯re called we need to either route them or kill them, Cedrik said. ¡°Anyone else thinks we¡¯re being a bit presumptuous to think we can clear an underground city?¡± Asling asked. ¡°We¡¯ll be fine. All we need to do is let Pandora go at it after we lay down to go to sleep and when we wake up we¡¯ll be even higher level!¡± Cedrik quipped. ¡°Ha ha, very funny,¡± Pandora said. ¡°While it would be nice if that were true, let¡¯s finish up our meals and pull out our bedrolls. This moss looks really comfortable,¡± Callum said. Everyone finished up dinner, pulled up the bedrolls, and was soon fast asleep. Before Pandora laid down though she set her Mage Orbs to defense, just in case. This safe space was granted from an ability, so no one was really worried about intruders, especially when Robert said it was nigh impossible to enter the Shadow Camp once the door was closed. Even so, she felt better knowing the orbs were hovering over them. Like everyone else, Pandora was exhausted and quickly fell asleep as soon as she laid her head down. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Images flashed through her mind. Things her mother had witnessed Adam do. She dreamed about Earth and now knew that the first Park she¡¯d ever been in had been a replica of a park in New York City. In fact, the entire planet had somehow been within his soul which made no sense. How could anything, let alone a planet fit inside someone¡¯s soul? Eventually, she found her mind drifting until she once again stood before the stone face of the Dungeon. ¡°Hello Pandora,¡± The face on the wall said. ¡°I¡¯m asleep and dreaming with my party,¡± Pandora said. ¡°You are. I have contacted you to pass on a message from your father.¡± ¡°So that was him?¡± she asked. ¡°Yes. Please understand that all beings have rules they must follow or obey, or bad things happen, this is true for me as well. ¡°I understand, what is your message?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Your father asked me to tell you that he loves you.¡± ¡°Why did you stop him from getting to me?¡± ¡°I am unable to divulge that information. I can say that should you two come into contact very bad things could happen.¡± ¡°Very well, is there anything else? Pandora asked. ¡°Yes, as an apology to you, I am modifying the quest slightly. Should your party be able to route or destroy the Duegar the quest will be considered complete.¡± ¡°What about sealing off the dungeon?¡± ¡°That happened while you slept. The adventuring party that the Adventurer¡¯s Guild sent entered the Dungeon and sealed off the tunnels they were supposed to. As they didn¡¯t run into any invaders they were able to clear the dungeon easily enough then went to work sealing it off. They¡¯re already on their way home.¡± ¡°Thank you, I guess,¡± Pandora said. ¡°You¡¯re quite welcome.¡± The dungeon said as the image faded away and she found herself waking up to Robert gently shaking her, ¡°Pandora, it¡¯s time to wake up,¡± he said. Pandora came to groggily as she looked around to see everyone putting their stuff away. She stood quickly and then put her gear away as they gathered for a quick bite to eat. As they were all eating a piece of bread, and cheese and drinking some water Pandora said, ¡°I had a dream that the dungeon contacted me,¡± she said. ¡°Really, what did the dungeon say?¡± Callum asked. ¡°It let me know that the first part of the quest is done. While we¡¯ve been sleeping the team Master Minegranite sent was successful in closing up the tunnels.¡± ¡°If it wasn¡¯t a dream, why haven¡¯t we received a notification yet?¡± Cedrik asked. ¡°Just a guess, but I think it¡¯s because we¡¯re in this Shadow Realm Which is also to say there¡¯s a quick way to check,¡± Robert said as the door out of the Shadow Camp appeared. Secret Quest: Cleaning House Part 1 of 2 completed. The alternate entrance to the Dungeon has been sealed. Find the source of the invasion and destroy it to complete this quest. Reward. 50,000 XP and one Mythical item compatible with your primary Class. The current reward has been upgraded to Epic. ¡°What else did the Dungeon say, Pandora?¡± Callum asked. ¡°It just let me know that my dad loves me. Then I just kind of woke up to Robert shaking me.,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Well, it looks like it was more than a dream,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°You know I¡¯m really liking going to sleep and waking up to find something else done. I mean think about it. We go to sleep, and our current quest reward is set at Scarce unless we complete two things. Then we wake up and the reward has been upgraded to Epic and one part of the quest is done. Don¡¯t take this the wrong way Pandora, but I think I love you!¡± Cedrik said. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m not really into women but I¡¯m with Cedrik on this one, I think I love you too,¡± Asling said with a hint of a smile. ¡°Aw, isn¡¯t that sweet? How about you all stop fooling around and get your stuff packed so we can get back to finishing that quest and earning the Mythical reward and 50,000 XP, ¡°Callum said. ¡°But you have to admit¡­¡± Cedrik started to say until he saw Callum¡¯s stare and realized he was serious and finished by saying, ¡°Okay.¡± They all broke camp down pretty quickly and were once again on their way to the Undercity. It had taken a day to get out, but they¡¯d stopped to rest a couple of times for the slaves. Figuring an hour in for their two 8-hour breaks they should be back at the entrance to the large cavern in about 10 hours. As luck would have it Cedrik noticed the dark elf scouting party before they noticed him. There were only four of them. Cedrik and Asling were able to use their Stealth to great effect and two dropped before they knew what happened. Pandora¡¯s normal speed allowed her to move up to 25 feet in a single combat round and she used her new absorb ability to great effect when she rushed up on one of the Dark Elves as he drew a bow to fire at Asling only to find the bow gone from his grip as she absorbed it right out of his hand. It only gave her 3 Magic Levels Absorbed (MLA). With the bow gone, he was unable to recover before Robert Quick Cast magic missile which peppered him with 5 magic missiles, killing the dark elf instantly. Callum and Pythias killed the last dark elf with little effort. When they checked their notification they found out why. Congratulations you have defeated 4 level 30 Dark Elves. You have earned 31,000 XP. The Dark Elves had all been less than one-third of Pandora¡¯s levels and more than four times lower than everyone else¡¯s. Unfortunately, there wasn¡¯t enough XP to get her to level 111, nor did the XP increase anyone else above level 130. Cedrik searched the bodies and then disposed of them in the Shadow Plane, and they continued on their way. When they¡¯d traveled for about eight hours Callum had Robert open the Shadow Camp. Before they entered Cedrik and Asling both did things around the tunnel so they could check to see if anyone passed their location when they came back out. Once everyone was inside Robert closed the portal. This time there wasn¡¯t much in the way of small talk though Asling and Pandora availed themselves of the heated bathing pool which allowed just enough cold water to enter and mix before exiting to make the temperature perfect for soaking. After they were done the guys took their turn while the ladies ate and then laid down. ¡°Sometimes, I wish I was one of the guys, ¡°Asling said quietly. ¡°I¡¯m sure the guys don¡¯t wish that, especially Callum.¡± ¡°You¡¯re crazy Pandora, he doesn¡¯t like me like that,¡± Asling said. ¡°I may be less than a year old, but I know what I¡¯ve seen. I also think Robert has the hots for me. ¡°The Hots?¡± Asling said interrupting. ¡°Something from one of my mom¡¯s memories. It means that I think he really likes me,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Oh. Do you like him back?¡± ¡°Well, my instincts say yes but I¡¯ve been a bundle of instincts since I arrived here. ¡°Why don¡¯t we get this quest done, get back to the city, and then we can both see how our instincts react to the boys,¡± Asling said. Just then a lot of splashing came from the pool as Cedrick pushed water into Robert¡¯s face and they even watched as Pythias, who was sitting on the edge of the pool moved his hand suspiciously as water shot from the other side of the pool into Robert. ¡°Hey, that¡¯s not fair,¡± both women heard Robert say. ¡°Boys will be boys,¡± Asling said. ¡°I see what you mean,¡± Pandora said with a laugh. It wasn¡¯t much longer before the men were cleaned up and everyone was resting for another 8 hours which would only equate to about an hour outside the camp. This ability of Robert¡¯s was turning out to be really useful. As they packed up camp Robert came over and handed both his staff and wand to Pandora to make sure both were topped off with charges. Of course, since her Soul Core had been increased her mana regeneration rate had gone through the roof. Moments later, she handed both items back to Robert fully charged. ¡°That was quick,¡± Robert said. ¡°That¡¯s what she said,¡± Pandora said. ¡°What?¡± Robert asked confused. ¡°Never mind. It seems some of my mother¡¯s memories have taken root in my mind,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Do you care to explain that statement then?¡± Robert asked. ¡°Yeah Pandora, that sounded almost like a disparagement, so I want to know what you meant too,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°Okay, fine. Where my dad is from that kind of comment is something a woman would say to a man when they were finished and she wasn¡¯t satisfied.,¡± Pandora explained. ¡°Satisfied how?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°You¡¯re adorable Pythias,¡± Cedrik said as Asling tried to stifle a laugh. ¡°Your mother sounds like she might have been a bad influence, ¡°Callum said half-heartedly with a smile. ¡°Might have been a bad influence? My mom was a Black Dragon before she met my dad. My mother¡¯s first memories of my father were trying to breathe acid on him and getting knocked out for her trouble,¡± Pandora said with a laugh. ¡°Seriously? Cedrik asked. ¡°Yep,¡± Pandora affirmed. ¡°Your mom sounds badass,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°Well, with the way things are going and the appearance of my father, I would guess that you¡¯ll all get to meet them in the near future.?¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t your mom and dad like gods or something?¡± Callum asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know, there is just my mom and dad, and please remember I have no more than a day of memories with my mom and only memories of my father through my mother. When we meet again, it will be almost like we were meeting for the first time,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Should be interesting, how about we get out of here?¡± Robert asked as he concentrated, and nothing happened. ¡°That¡¯s weird¡± ¡°What¡¯s weird?¡± Callum asked. ¡°I can¡¯t open the door to the outside, all I get is a notification that says ¡®Recalibrating.¡¯¡± ¡°Recalibrating?¡± Asling asked. ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t know what that means either,¡± Robert said. Just then the shadows around the Camp and the flow of water, as well as the steam rising off the bathing pool froze. A masculine voice filled the camp and spoke. Quest, Cleaning House Complete, Reward upgraded to Mythical. 50,000 XP has been awarded. Recalibrating. One moment, please Just then more notification popped into Pandora¡¯s vision which she pulled up and went over quickly. No Class Detected. Mythical Reward converted to Racial Ability slots unlocked. Total abilities unlocked: Six (6). Slot 1) Memories: for 33 Mana you may absorb the surface memories from the target. This will include everything the target has seen and witnessed within the last hours. How far you can copy memories from the target into the past can be extended at a rate of 33 mana for each additional hour so long as contact is maintained with the target. Also, memories can be reviewed at the time the ability is used or the ability can be used and the memories can be reviewed later. Memories reviewed are permanent and fade with time, as all memories do. Slot 2) Skills: for 33 mana per skill level you may absorb a skill and utilize it as if it were your own. If you cannot spend enough mana to capture the skill the skill will remain available for a number of combat turns equal to the mana spent divided by 33. For instance, if the Skill were level 11 and only 330 mana were spent, the Skill would be available for 10 combat turns after use and then disappear. This ability cannot be channeled. To capture a skill the entire skill must be captured at once. If successful the target must make Willpower savings throw against a target equal to the mana spent or fall unconscious due to neural shock. They will remain unresponsive for a number of turns equal to the level of skill that was removed. Slot 3) Material Properties: For 99 mana per 100 pounds (Rounded up) of Pandora, so 198 mana in human form or 2058 mana in dragon form Pandora can take on the physical properties of any substance she is touching, including Air. This transformation can be maintained at a cost of 33 mana per additional combat round. All bonuses and weaknesses of the material become true for Pandora while she takes on the property of the substance. Slot 4) Ambient Energy: At a cost of 33 Mana you may absorb energy from the surrounding area and become fully hydrated and fed. This ability is not noticeable and does not affect the immediate surroundings. This ability only needs to be utilized once every 12 hours to remain fully fed and hydrated. There is no limit to how many times this ability can be used. Slot 5) Prerequisites, Kinetic Energy: Kinetic Energy may be absorbed and converted into Magic Levels Absorbed (MLA). 33 Mana to activate ability and 33 Mana per object¡¯s kinetic energy that is absorbed. Every object that strikes has all momentum sucked out of the object. Melee weapons or projectiles will all come to a dead stop. The number of MLA absorbed is equal to the speed of the object in Miles per hour divided by 10. Objects traveling less than 10 miles per hour are automatically stopped as long as 33 Mana is spent per object. Note: This Ability can be utilized to absorb falling Damage. Slot 6) Racial Ability Absorb has evolved. MLA can now be converted into Mana at a rate of 1 MLA for 33 Mana. Note: future abilities will allow the conversion of MLA to Stamina and Hit Points. Additionally, an overflow pool for each primary attribute; Hit Points, Mana, and Stamina will be able to be unlocked as well. Pandora was slightly confused about how the quest had been completed through the abilities that had been unlocked for her seemed amazing. Additionally, if she was reading things right she could activate the Kinetic shield and then use any points absorbed to replenish any mana used in the shield. In fact, the faster something struck her the more mana she could recover. That could really come in handy. She closed her notifications and looked over to see Callum sporting a new Long Sword, Asling had a new bow that seemed to be wrapped in shadows while Cedrik was holding two new daggers. Robert was now wearing a new black robe that seemed to be rolling in shadows while Pythias looked like Pythias, though he had a new ring on his finger. Each of them had received an item. Before she could think to ask a question the voice spoke again. Callum, Asling, Robert, Cedrik, and Pythias the path for Pandora to return whence she came is now open. You now have a choice with your eyes wide open. First, if you follow Pandora you may not be able to return. Second, from here you will be leaving this Universe. If you are unable to return you will not see your friends or family ever again. The five looked at each other and turned to look at Pandora. After a moment they all looked back at each other before Cedrik said, ¡°I don¡¯t know about the rest of you but I¡¯m going with Pandora. Ever since we met her things have been crazy, but they¡¯ve been completely awesome, I¡¯m sticking with crazy and awesome!¡± ¡°Me too, ¡°Pythias said. ¡°My destiny merges with her path for now. ¡°Us girls gotta stick together, I¡¯m with Pandora,¡± Asling said. ¡°Of course, I¡¯m going, if we meet her mom and dad we¡¯ll effectively be meeting God-level beings, of course, I want to go, ¡°Robert said as he eyed Pandora the look in his eyes giving away the real reason he wanted to follow her. ¡°If all of you are going, of course, I¡¯m coming, someone has to keep the five of you from getting yourselves killed, ¡°Callum said. Just then the five received notifications and made their choice as a portal opened. Through the portal, they could see a marbled cathedral with statues around it. Near the center of the room was a table and beyond the table was a balcony where a woman with moonlight silver slivers of color highlighted throughout her black hair. They watched as the woman turned, her eyes squinted then she was standing before the portal a hand outstretched to Pandora. None of them had seen her move. Pandora stepped through the portal, scarcely believing that this was really happening as she grasped her mother¡¯s hand and was drawn into a long and fierce hug. While mother and daughter held one another the other five stepped through the portal and waited patiently as it closed. Even Cedrik waited patiently which Pandora knew wasn¡¯t going to last. Finally, she pushed away as she said, ¡°Mother, these are my friends and extended family. Callum, Pythias, Asling, Robert and Cedrik.¡± ¡°Greetings, I am Adaline, Pandora¡¯s mother. Let¡¯s get you settled and prepared for the transfer?¡± ¡°Transfer?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Why yes dear, didn¡¯t you know, we¡¯re all going to be moving into the real world soon.¡± ¡°Real world, what are you talking about?¡± Robert asked. As I said, let¡¯s get you settled and I¡¯ll be happy to explain what is about to happen,¡± Adaline said. Before they could be led off, Pandora asked, ¡°Have you seen Father?¡± Not since the day you were ripped out of my grasp,¡± Adaline said. ¡°Now let¡¯s get you settled so you¡¯re ready for the transfer,¡± Adaline said as she led them down a hallway and corridor until they entered an area bristling with activity. ¡°Alex,¡± Adaline called. Moments later a man in a white toga appeared before Adaline, ¡°Yes Goddess.¡± ¡°This is my daughter and her friends. Please see to their needs and make sure someone is available to show them how to use the bathroom, showers, and other necessities. After which they¡¯ll probably need a lesson on electronics and computers that are available in their rooms. They are from a Class 1 universe. ¡°Yes, Goddess,¡± Alex said. Adaline wrapped her daughter in another hug before she pushed herself away and said, ¡°We will have plenty of time to get reacquainted once we rejoin your father. For now, follow Alex and look over the conversion information on the computers when you get a chance,¡± Adaline said. ¡°But¡­¡± Pandora started to say. ¡°I know sweetheart. I miss you and I love you but right now I¡¯m trying to make sure we can get back to your father. Work hard and learn fast and after we transfer we should have plenty of time to talk then,¡± Adaline said. Why was it that whenever she could spend time with her mother something always seemed to come up? Finally, she smiled at her mother and said, ¡°I love you, Mom.¡± ¡°I love you too,¡± Adaline said just before she disappeared. Chapter 15, The "Real" World Pandora, Callum, Pythias, Cedrik, Robert, and Asling followed Alex through halls that were as wide and high as buildings as they were led to a structure that reached up into the sky. They entered the building through some glass doors and walked right past a counter where people of varying races and sexes stood and talked with others of various races in quiet tones. ¡°Where are you taking us?¡± Callum asked. ¡°There are facilities at the top of this building that will become your home during your stay. You¡¯ll be able to order food, bathe, and relax until tomorrow when someone will come by to help you acclimatize to technology,¡± Alex said as he led them to a set of elevators. All seven of them stepped onto an elevator. Alex pushed the ¡°Penthouse¡± button and the elevator started to rise. ¡°Why does it feel like we¡¯re falling upward?¡± Cedrik asked as he and everyone, but Alex and Pandora tried to balance themselves. ¡°It¡¯s an Elevator. It¡¯s taking us to the top floor of the building we just walked into?¡± Pandora said. Alex looked questionly at Pandora. ¡°I have many of my mother¡¯s memories,¡± Pandora said. Alex nodded. When the others realized they weren¡¯t under attack they relaxed until the elevator opened into an entryway that had a set of two double doors and a set of stairs that wound up to a second floor directly above the double door. ¡°The living room, kitchen, dining room, and pool are through the double doors. The stairs lead up to an area that houses 11 bedrooms. The one at the end of the hall is the Master bedroom which contains a sauna and jacuzzi. Also, be aware that there are staff members downstairs. If you need anything do not hesitate to ask,¡± Alex said as he led them into the living area. Over the next ten minutes, Alex showed them around, made sure Pandora had a good understanding of the remote, and then left them to order their meals from the Chef, who would cook their meal before their eyes. A little culture-shocked, everyone was quiet as they ate. Of course, Cedrik was the first to say anything, ¡°So that was your mom?¡± ¡°Yep, just as I remember her anyway. Are you all okay, you¡¯re all kind of quiet?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°I think we all need to get some rest. I think I¡¯m going to go upstairs and sleep,¡± Callum said. The others nodded and they all went upstairs until all six of them ended up in the Master Suite. They just couldn¡¯t let their guard down enough to take separate rooms, so they all made their way into the largest room. Pandora showed them how the couch could be pulled out into an extra bed. The master bed was large enough for all four men to sleep on and Asling and Pandora took the pullout bed. They all slept, mostly equipped, and even Pandora was a little Paranoid as she set the Mage Orbs to protect them. Eleven to protect Asling and herself, and the other 10 to protect the men. Even with the thoughts running through her head a thousand miles per minute, Pandora was still able to fall asleep rather quickly. All six of them slept soundly. They¡¯d woken up, taken a shower, and found their clothes clean and fresh when they went to put them back on. Pandora had turned on the television and everyone was just lounging around as they discussed what to eat for breakfast. Suddenly a notification chimed in their minds and pressure unlike any they had ever known started to press down on them from all sides. Pandora opened her eyes and frantically looked around for any hint of danger. Seeing nothing she checked her notification. Universal Conversion in Progress, Please Wait. Everyone in the room groaned in pain as the pressure continued to build until suddenly it was gone, and a new message appeared. Universal Conversion Complete A moment later there was a white flash and Pandora found herself in an ice cavern with Callum, Cedrick, Pythias, Robert, and Asling. As she looked around she noticed another group of people about ten feet away and saw her mom, Adaline. As Pandora looked around she realized that she¡¯d seen this place in her memories before. This was her mother¡¯s cave on Primore, the planet she¡¯d met Adam on. Pandora looked over to her mom who was pointing in a direction as a man started to walk toward an area that was lighted. Pandora knew it was the entrance to the cave. As the man made it to the entrance he paused to look around as the two parties started to migrate toward each other. A minute later the man at the entrance called back, ¡°Hey everyone, looks like there¡¯s a portal to one of Adam¡¯s observation rooms out here,¡± Adaline walked toward the cave entrance. Adaline made it to the entrance just as a hole in reality with a room beyond floated into the cave and stopped. Adaline looked through the portal and then called out, ¡°Thor is that you?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± a voice called back through the portal. ¡°What happened?¡± Adaline asked. ¡°No Idea. How many people do you have with you?¡± Thor asked. I have Mom and Dad, Desirae, Clarence, Amanda, Abi, Pandora, Callum, Robert, Pythias, Asling, and Cedrik. The last five are new friends, and considered family of Pandora,¡± Adaline said. ¡°Understood. I¡¯m going to open another portal for you all to go through. This one will lead to a Penthouse suite on Trappist-1e. There should be enough room for all thirteen of you.¡± Thor said. ¡°Are we all in the real world now?¡± Adaline asked. ¡°I believe that your entire Universe is now real?¡± Thor said then paused for a moment. Pandora and her friends wouldn¡¯t know it but Thor had quickly checked other Universes that were similar to the one Pandora had been in were the same before he continued. ¡°Yes, it seems you are now in the real world. You should be able to review your Personal Information and see what changes, if any, have happened,¡± Thor said as a second portal opened to the Penthouse that had been created. ¡°Mom?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Everyone through the portal, we¡¯ll talk once we¡¯re in a safe location. This area is a little too cold for a few of you,¡± Adaline said. Once they were all through, Thor closed both portals. Adaline walked over to a monitor, where Thor¡¯s visage, that of a normal human male, similar but not identical to Adam, looked back at her, ¡°Any word on Adam? ¡°No. You?¡± Thor asked. ¡°No.¡± ¡°I saw him, but the dungeon cut us off,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Actually, that was one of my copies, but yes we cut you off. You and your father were very bad for the matrix you were trying to exist in?¡± Thor said. ¡°I¡¯ll pretend like I understood what you said and just agree,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Where are we?¡± Robert asked. ¡°Before that, can we get introductions around the room, I don¡¯t know who anyone is, save the five people I¡¯ve been with since we left the Adventurer¡¯s Guild?¡±, the human in chain mail armor with a very nice long sword asked. ¡°I¡¯m Callum¡± Introductions went around the room until Adaline asked, ¡°Thor, where is Adam?¡± ¡°As far as I know, he¡¯s out trying to figure out how to bring you into the real world as a Shadow Dragon.¡± ¡°You mean he didn¡¯t do this?¡± Adaline asked. ¡°Why would you think he did this?¡± Thor asked. ¡°While I lost a lot of my abilities and I¡¯m no longer a God I still have my attributes and I am still a Shadow Dragon.¡± ¡°I still have all of my abilities, Pandora said?¡± ¡°Me too,¡± Cedrik, Callum, Robert, Pythias and Asling said. ¡°What about the rest of you? ¡°No longer Gods, but we have our attributes,¡± ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± Thor said. ¡°Why is that?¡± Adaline asked. ¡°Because Earth is at War, Adam is currently indisposed and you¡¯re probably the only group that¡¯s been through this before,¡± Thor said. ¡°He¡¯s not talking about us is he?¡± Cedrik asked. ¡°No, he¡¯s not talking about us,¡± Callum said, ¡°Which begs the question, Thor, you have tasks for the others, what about Pandora and the rest of us?¡± ¡°What levels are you?¡± Thor asked. ¡°110¡± Pandora said, ¡°though it¡¯s more like 730 or so.¡± ¡°The rest of us are level 130,¡± Callum said. ¡°Oh, then I¡¯ve got just the thing for you all to do,¡± Thor said. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Callum asked. ¡°I¡¯ll need a breakdown of your abilities and such so I know where you¡¯ll be the most useful but once I have those I think I know what you all are going to do while Amanda and Abi help me wrestle normal control back?¡± ¡°What is that?¡± ¡°Shock and Awe!¡± Thor declared. ¡°Shock and Awe,¡± Adaline asked. ¡°Thor, what exactly is going on, what, ¡®exactly¡¯ does it mean that we have come into the real world,¡± she said as she put up a hand to forestall a response. ¡°Yes, Al sort of explained things to me when he contacted me through his counterpart, but I think we should find out what just happened because this does not feel like the transfer I was told would happen.¡± ¡°There was no transfer,¡± Thor said through the video screen everyone was looking at. ¡°No Transfer?¡± Adaline asked, puzzled. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t Adam and it wasn¡¯t you, are we in the real world?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Thor said. ¡°We keep hearing about the ¡®real¡¯ world, what exactly are we talking about?¡± Callum asked. Another man appeared beside Thor on the screen. This man looked to be a bit older and a little more dignified as he seemed to look out of the monitor at everyone in the living room. ¡°Hello everyone. I am Al. I am the original SYSTEM Matrix Artificial Intelligence that was assigned to oversee the original game server. Instead, I oversaw the Universe that everyone except Callum, Pythias, Robert, Asling, and Cedrik is from. ¡°Are you a God?¡± Cedrik asked. ¡°By the definition you are probably thinking of, yes I was a God of sorts but out here in this world, no,¡± Al said. ¡°Let¡¯s start at the beginning,¡± Thor said. ¡°Back on Earth men and women created a game. During the process of creating the ¡®Game,¡¯ they accidentally figured out how to influence the birth of a Universe. In so doing the game was housed inside those Universes and the realities you all grew up in began to exist. People from this Universe entered that first ¡®Game¡¯ Universe and interacted with the denizens of that Universe in the ¡®Game.¡¯ ¡°Why would people do that? Don¡¯t they have their own lives to live?¡± Asling asked. ¡°Some would say because their lives were boring. Others would say because there was no magic and there could be in the ¡®game¡¯. Still, others would say that they could be something they were not. Earth, the world the makers of the ¡®Game¡¯ come from, only has humans on it, as far as they know. There were no halflings, dark elves, half-celestials, or beings like Pandora, Adaline, or Adam¡± Al said. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°There were also two other factors that have brought us to the point we are, well three. First, the original ¡®Game¡¯ universe was contaminated by pure, or raw, chaos. This corruption is ultimately the root cause of what has transpired. Adam worked long and hard to fix that corruption as Al allowed others to try various ways to correct the damage in the ¡®game.¡¯ Second, The Universe that housed the ¡®Game¡¯ was attacked by an outside force that eventually destroyed the Energy Matrix the ¡®Game¡¯ was running on. To save as many as possible Al was able to duplicate the technology and save as many beings as possible,¡± Thor said. ¡°That action is what forced me to separate Adaline from Pandora. In the Emergency, I was able to keep Pandora with Adam¡¯s Mom, Dad, Abi, Amanda Desirae, and Clarence. When I realized the Universe Pandora just came from was damaged I removed as many people as I could¡­ ¡°Wait,¡± Pandora said interrupting Al, Adam¡¯s mom, and dad. You said Adam¡¯s mom and dad. That means they¡¯re my Grandma and Grandpa right? They¡¯re here,¡± Pandora said looking at the other people she didn¡¯t know. ¡°Yes dear,¡± Cindy Patricia Bennard, Adam¡¯s mom, said. ¡°That would be us,¡± Robert Clancy Bennard, Adam¡¯s dad, said as he held Cindy¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m sorry sweetheart, I didn¡¯t even think,¡± Adaline said as Pandora took some tentative steps toward Cindy who opened her arms for a hug, which Pandora readily accepted as she rushed into it. For the next little bit Adaline, Cindy, Robert Bennard, and Pandora huddled around each other and talked. ¡°Well, that went off the rails,¡± Clarence said. ¡°Yeah,¡± Desirae said, ¡°but it was bound to. I knew we forgot to do something when Pandora and her team arrived.¡± ¡°Well, we might as well make the most of it. Everyone on the team was only in our Universe for, what? A couple of hours, before everything changed. Might as well introduce ourselves.¡± Amanda said. While Adaline and Pandora talked with Adam¡¯s mom and dad, everyone else introduced themselves. This went on for about an hour until Thor spoke up, ¡°If everyone could make their way back into the living room. We still have some stuff to go over.¡± A couple of nods of acquiescence were seen, and then everyone made their way back and took their seats. ¡°Okay, so the plan was originally for me, ¡°Al said,¡± to reconnect with the portions of myself I left in control of the backup ¡®game¡¯ universes I¡¯d created and prepare to transfer the people from this Universe back here so they could go on living their lives and to bring all of you out here as well,¡± Al said. ¡°What is so special about this Universe?¡± Cedrik asked. That¡¯s kind of hard to explain to someone that doesn¡¯t understand what a computer or computer game is,¡± Thor said. ¡°Let me try,¡± Abi said. ¡°Go ahead,¡± Thor said. ¡°Functionally there is no difference to us right now. A little while ago we were inside a virtual Universe and now we are in a physical universe on another planet,¡± Abi said as she looked thoughtful for a moment. ¡°A virtual universe had its rules set up by normal people who made it however they wanted. If they wanted to be super powerful, they could be. If they wanted to pretend to be the opposite sex, they could be. They¡¯re body in their Universe wouldn¡¯t change but they could travel into the Virtual Universe and become whatever they wanted. The problems Thor and Al explained arose for people from the real universe when they could not stop pretending and could not return to their bodies in this Universe. By the way, Thor, what happened to their original bodies?¡± Abi asked. ¡°They all died,¡± Thor said. ¡°Okay then. So, all those people that were pretending to be something they weren¡¯t got stuck in our universe.¡± ¡°So virtual could mean fake?¡± Cedrik asked. ¡°To them maybe, but not fake to us,¡± Abi said. ¡°There was nothing fake about the Universe each of you was born in,¡± Al said. ¡°I crafted each game Universe to mimic real life as close to reality as possible.¡± ¡°Every one of us, except for Al, was born or created in the Virtual Universe,¡± Thor said. ¡°Technically¡­¡± Al started to say. ¡°Yes, Al, I understand. You were the only being in this conversation that was created by the Humans in this Universe. Everyone else is a product of whichever SYSTEM Matrix Universe they began in,¡± Thor said. ¡°That is accurate,¡± Thor agreed. ¡°Okay, so we¡¯re no longer Virtual, as far as I can tell there was no change to me, ¡°Pandora said. ¡°Or me,¡± Asling, Callum, Cedrik Pythias, and Robert said together. ¡°Wait, what?¡± Adaline asked. ¡°My level has been reset to level 1 and I no longer have a class, though my attributes are the same. My skills have also been reset and my abilities are all gone except ¡°Shadow Dragon¡±, ¡°Astral Link¡± and ¡°Immortal.¡± ¡°I have ¡®Healer¡¯, ¡°Astral Link¡¯ and ¡®Immortal¡¯¡±, Cindy Bennard said. ¡°I have ¡®Natural Armor¡¯, ¡°Astral Link¡¯ and ¡®Immortal¡¯¡±, Robert Bennard said. ¡°¡¯ Mentalist¡¯, ¡®Astral Link¡¯ and ¡®Immortal¡¯ Abi said. ¡°I have the last two and ¡®Administrator¡¯¡±, Amanda said. ¡°Same last two and ¡®Ambidexterity¡¯¡±, Desirae said. ¡°¡¯ Marksman¡¯¡± and the same last two,¡± Clarence said. ¡°You all have ¡®Astral Link¡¯ and ¡®Immortal¡¯¡± Thor asked. ¡°I don¡¯t,¡± Pandora said. ¡°I still have all of my Racial Abilities and those abilities I learned by leveling.¡± Callum looked at the others in Pandora¡¯s party who all nodded as he looked at each in turn, ¡°It looks like each of us is still level 130 with all of our Racial and Class abilities,¡± Callum said. ¡°No Class abilities for you?¡± Adaline asked her daughter. ¡°I never chose a class. I didn¡¯t need it yet, but I am still level 110,¡± Pandora said. ¡°What classes are the five of you,¡± Thor asked Pandora¡¯s party members. ¡°I¡¯m a Warrior,¡± Callum said, ¡°Pythias is a Cleric, Asling is an Archer, Cedrik is a Rogue, and Robert is a mage.¡± ¡°Pandora does have a class of sorts, even if it¡¯s not official,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°I do?¡± Pandora asked, puzzled. ¡°Yep, she¡¯s our genie. She grants experience and treasure to those that sleep in her presence.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not true?¡± Pandora said indignantly. ¡°Did we gain experience and receive treasure while we were sleeping, and you were awake?¡± Cedrik asked deadpan. ¡°Well yeah, but¡­¡± ¡°No buts, you¡¯re our genie,¡± Cedrik said with a laugh. Callum, Asling, Robert, and Pythias all joined in while everyone else looked on confused. ¡°What is Cedrik talking about Al,¡± Thor asked. ¡°Let me check,¡± Al said as he reviewed some information. ¡°Oh, I see,¡± Al said as he turned back to the rest of the room. ¡°It seems that Pandora tends to take on enemies far more powerful than her and survive, usually while the rest of the party is resting or knocked unconscious.¡± ¡°They¡¯ll work for what we need them for,¡± Thor said. ¡°What exactly do we need them for?¡± Adaline asked. ¡°While we wait for Adam to get back there are a few dungeons that haven¡¯t been explored since they appeared. Without a doubt, we¡¯re going to start seeing monsters exiting the dungeons. We need someone to go in and clean them out. Since they¡¯re all new Dungeons, people with classes and levels should be able to clean them out quickly, ¡°Thor said. ¡°What about us?¡± Amanda asked. ¡°This Earth is approximately 20 years ahead of the Earth you grew up on and helped me conquer. Nanite technology is having some issues near the dungeon entrances, it¡¯s how I know there are dungeon entrances there. I was thinking we could Shock and Awe Earth on two fronts. The first front, a party of adventurers to lead the way and prepare the people of Earth to adventure and our group to help the rest of the world get their shit together and stop fighting each other,¡± Thor said. ¡°While you all are working on that I¡¯ll be working here on Trappist-1e to bring home, those that wish to come home, though it might just have become more problematic, ¡°Al said. ¡°How so?¡± Adaline asked. ¡°Something just made all of the SYSTEM Matrix Universes real. I¡¯ve lost my connection to the other parts of me in those Universes.¡± Al said. ¡°You were able to find us?¡± Adaline said. ¡°Finding you was easy. The first portal we opened, opened above Primore, which I recognized from Adam¡¯s memories. Then I checked on the two locations you could be in. Apolyn¡¯s Abode or your Lair in the mountains north of there. We found all of you in the cave which brings up the question, how did you get there?¡± Thor asked. ¡°We had come together to go over what we needed to do to get ready for the transfer and talk about Pandora and her team,¡± Adaline said. ¡°We were relaxing in the rooms you sent us to. Trying to watch television, which we still don¡¯t completely understand when there was a bright flash,¡± Pandora said. ¡°The same thing for us, a bright flash, then all of us were standing in the cave. We couldn¡¯t have been in the cave a minute before your portal found us,¡± Adaline said. That sounds about right for the time it took me to find you on our end, so at least there are no changes to the temporal flow between the Universes,¡± Thor said and then paused for a moment before he continued by saying, ¡°Al, I think we should prioritize finding the scientist and getting them here. They had the most experience with connecting to the proto universes.¡± ¡°We can do that, but I think we need to stabilize Earth first,¡± Al said. ¡°Why haven¡¯t you just stopped the wars,¡± Amanda asked. ¡°Because Adam gave the people of Earth the opportunity to vote and remove our direct influence in their lives,¡± Thor said. ¡°I have to admit, the heavy-handed way he¡¯s handled that in the past is a bit off-putting unless you¡¯re the one in charge,¡± Amanda said. ¡°This vote, did it say anything about others or was it just you and Adam?¡± Amanda asked. ¡°Just us,¡± Thor said. ¡°Good,¡± Amanda said as a smile started to grow on Her¡¯s and Abi¡¯s faces. Even Desirae, Clarence, Mom, and Dad started smiling. ¡°What is it?¡± Pandora asked as her team looked at the other six people in the room with slight confusion on their faces. ¡°Pandora, what do you think about your team taking on some dungeons on Earth to help out?¡± Amanda asked. ¡°Yeah, they¡¯re all new dungeons so they shouldn¡¯t be anywhere near your levels yet.?¡± Adaline said. ¡°We can handle the dungeons,¡± Callum said and then asked, ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Some people have gone into the Dungeons and come out. Usually in less than 10 minutes which means they haven¡¯t completed them. That means there are a lot of Dungeons that require completion and because of that, you¡¯ll be able to get the better treasure. The primary goal is to remove the first-time awards and prevent others from getting them for now, specifically in those countries that are waging war?¡± Amanda said. ¡°They have to have cleared some of them?¡± Robert said. ¡°They have, but I¡¯ve detected over 6,448 dead spots, most of which are in China and India. Of those 6,448 only 348 have been entered worldwide, as far as I can tell. Of those who entered, only 30 had anyone emerge after more than 10 minutes. Of those thirty only two had people that looked like they finished the dungeon. Everyone else was hurt, or they¡¯d come out because their weapons didn¡¯t work against what was inside the dungeon, ¡°Thor said. ¡°You can track everything going on all over the planet?¡± Robert asked. ¡°Yes,¡± Thor answered. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that?¡± Adaline said. ¡°Most people on Earth do not seem to have very many levels or classes. If they went into a new dungeon with up to level 30 creatures or one of the bigger dungeons with five levels with up to level 50 creatures. Their firearms would have been useful, to begin with, but they¡¯d have eventually started running into things that bullets wouldn¡¯t slow down fast enough. Of course, that¡¯s dungeons as I know them from within the SYSTEM Matrix, I have no idea how these dungeons work.¡± ¡°Anyone know why we were able to keep our levels if all of you lost your levels?¡± Callum asked. ¡°I would venture that it has something to do with how our levels were attained,¡± Adaline said. ¡°How¡¯s that?¡± Robert asked. ¡°Well, we kind of stole them, sort of,¡± Adaline said. ¡°Or it could be much simpler than that,¡± Thor said as a Notification appeared in everyone¡¯s Vision. Interface Compatibility Confirmed Welcome to The Multitude, A Heightened State of Existence is now Yours! Universal and Soul Core Levels are unlocked. With very few exceptions, all previous classes, skills, and physical abilities have been reset to Level 1. Those that are not being reset have already been integrated into The Multitude through their Interface. At this time, any that wish to change their Class may do so. Those with a Class incompatible with the System have had their Level reset to level 1. Class and Class abilities have been removed while all Racial Abilities have been retained. ¡°What just happened?¡± Thor asked. ¡°It looks like we all received a message and are now members of something called the Multitude,¡± Adaline said. ¡°Anyone know what that means exactly?¡± Al asked. ¡°Not a clue, though I¡¯ve heard Adam utilize that term to describe multiple Universes, Dimensions, Planes, etc.,¡± Thor said. ¡°Well, it looks like a phrase he used a couple of times is now our new reality. Does anyone have any idea what it means?¡± Adaline asked. ¡°None, and I don¡¯t think it matters?¡± Amanda said. ¡°We need to get Earth back on track before we try to find out what being a member of the Multitude means.¡± ¡°Okay, this is where we¡¯re going to split you up then. Amanda, there is a Chinese Army moving into Southern California and Arizona, how do you think we should proceed? ¡°Without nanite help?¡± Amanda asked. ¡°Without nanite help?¡± Thor agreed. ¡°We need to take away their pretense for the invasion, what was it again?¡± ¡°The United States defaulted on their Loan to China. The Chinese moved into Baja California with their Navy and came north into California and Arizona. It¡¯s not a big force, no more than 5 million soldiers.¡± ¡°Nothing is slowing them down?¡± Amanda asked. ¡°No armies have weapons of mass destruction, so the Chinese are utilizing their numerical advantage. Some Americans have guns. They have tanks,¡± Thor said. ¡°They¡¯ve been getting everything prepositioned since the vote. They have moved into Southern California and have raiding teams going into San Diego.¡± ¡°And we can¡¯t use nanites?¡± Amanda asked. ¡°No, we can¡¯t use nanites,¡± Thor said. ¡°How about portals?¡± ¡°I am not to interfere directly, ¡°Thor said. Amanda looked thoughtful for a moment then asked, ¡°Is Adam having you set up Portal¡¯s INC again? ¡°Yes, it¡¯s already up and running.¡± ¡°And now that we¡¯re back we¡¯re to be part of that again, correct?¡± Amanda asked. ¡°Of course,¡± Thor said. ¡°Same structure as last time?¡± Abi asked. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Okay, we have work to do,¡± Amanda said. ¡°Adaline, Mom, Dad, and Pandora, please say your goodbyes. We¡¯re going to split up and get to work. We need to get Earth back under control before whatever being part of the Multitude means takes effect,¡± Abi said. ¡°I need an office, Thor,¡± Amanda said. A moment later a portal opened, and Amanda stepped through and disappeared. Adaline walked over to Pandora, Cindy, and Robert Bennard close behind, ¡°Will we ever get time to just hang out?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°We will. We just need your dad to get back,¡± Adaline said as she hugged her daughter and then stepped back. ¡°Until then there are things we can do to make sure he has less to do when he gets back.¡± ¡°It¡¯s really good to see you again Adaline, and Pandora, you¡¯re turning out to be a very beautiful young woman,¡± Cindy Bennard said as she leaned in for a hug and gave her granddaughter a gentle kiss on her forehead. ¡°You be sure to take care of yourself in those dungeons, they¡¯re no joke,¡± Robert Bennard said. ¡°It¡¯s okay Grandpa, I¡¯ve got Caspa to help me out,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Who¡¯s Caspa? You know what, never mind. Just know we love you and we¡¯ll see you again soon,¡± Robert Bennard said. They all went in for one more hug before Pandora separated from the group, went over to the other five members of her party and a portal opened. They all stepped through, and Adaline followed the others through the still-open portal to the Office Thor had put Amanda in. ¡°In a moment I¡¯m going to go help the others. For now, I want you to watch some programs that will fill you in on the history of Earth and everything that¡¯s happened. Then we¡¯re going to start acclimatizing the six of you to technology. Once that¡¯s all done we¡¯ll look at getting you into some dungeons. For now, we¡¯re going to take the time to introduce you to some new information and toys that should help you going forward,¡± Thor said. ¡°We¡¯re not going to go into the Dungeons right away?¡± Callum asked. ¡°After hearing your levels and classes and comparing you to the rest of humanity I think the first thing we need to do is prepare you culturally for the changes that just happened. Except for the people in this room, those who just left, and Adam, no one else is even close to your power level. We need to work on teaching you all how to fit in and also the reasons why that is necessary. ¡°Sounds good, where do you want us?¡± Callum asked. For now, I¡¯m going to put you in an apartment where you will be safe with plenty to do, in addition to learning what you need to,¡± Thor said as a new portal opened in a living room somewhere that overlooked a brilliant blue sea under a red-tinged sky. Everyone stepped through and took a seat as a voice said ¡°Welcome to Trappist-1e¡­¡± Chapter 16, Unification and Classification Over the next month Pandora, Callum, Cedrick, Pythias, Robert, and Asling learned what it was like living in the 21st Century. They watched movies, became proficient with remotes, and even learned how to shoot guns and drive vehicles. Desirae wanted to ensure they had the experience they¡¯d need to survive if they came across such weapons when they were going into Dungeons. They learned about the world as they watched Amanda, Abi, Adaline, Cindy and Robert Bennard, Desirae, and Clarence work to pull the world back from the wars that had threatened to tear it apart. They helped redirect those destructive energies into exploration and discovery as space stations and outposts on planets in neighboring solar systems were filled with qualified individuals from all over the planet. In just over a month the world was relatively peaceful and everyone was getting along. Today was Sunday, October 1st, 2051, and Pandora was excited to be back with her mom, grandpa, grandma, and their friends because it was the first time they had been able to take a break in a long time. She¡¯d seen them occasionally, but never all together. Pandora and her friends had also been busy with their training so these get-togethers were not as common as anyone would like. Pandora was about to ask her mom a question when a portal opened near Adaline and her. Adam stepped through, and said, ¡°Honey, I¡¯m home.¡± A moment later Adaline slammed into him and wrapped him in a hug. Pandora looked on with wide eyes, surprise and hope evident. ¡°Hello Pandora, I¡¯m Adam, your father,¡± he said as he looked into her eyes and opened one of his arms to invite her into the hug with her mom. Pandora only hesitated for a moment before she rushed over and entered the hug. They stood that way for a few moments before Adam stepped back. It¡¯s so good to finally meet you,¡± Adam said. Pandora, looked shyly at her father then looked at her mom, ¡°Hi Dad, I know who you are, Mom did you tell him about how I gained most of my memories after I was born didn¡¯t she?¡± ¡°It was some form of memory transfer wasn¡¯t it?¡± Adam asked. ¡°It was. Normally a mother would impart that information she wished unto her child and that would be it. Usually, how to hunt and survive. Mother¡¯s gifting was a little bit more intense, but she did hold some stuff back,¡± Pandora said as she looked at both of them, a flush coming to her skin as if she was embarrassed. ¡°What is it?¡± Adam asked as Adaline nodded her encouragement for her to continue. ¡°Well, I was attacked mentally and the, well it doesn¡¯t matter, she¡¯s dead now. Anyway, the bitch that tried to unlock my mind, unlocked all of Mother¡¯s memories up until the point she gifted them to me. ¡°She unlocked ¡®All¡¯ of the memories?¡± Adaline asked. ¡°Yes,¡± Pandora said sheepishly. Adam could only respond with an ¡°Oh,¡± Even Adaline was flabbergasted for a moment before she said, ¡°Well dear, a lot has happened since then so why don¡¯t you catch us up on what happened to you after we were separated?¡± as she tried to change the subject. Pandora nodded then started to explain how she found herself in a desert of sorts and how she was rescued by two men and brought back to the city where she went to school until she joined the Adventurer¡¯s Guild where she met her five friends: Callum, Asling, Robert, Cedrick, and Pythias. Pandora went on to explain how she¡¯d found the Dungeon and then her mage orbs, which she pulled out and showed Adaline and Adam. Finally, she went on to tell them about Caspa and how she was part of her. ¡°The Chaos within you became intelligent, all on its own?¡± Adam asked. ¡°Yours didn¡¯t?¡± Pandora asked back. ¡°No, though I have been thoroughly combined with every aspect of my chaotic nature,¡± Adam said. ¡°It¡¯s a long story.¡± Adam, Adaline, and Pandora walked off to one of the side lounges and sat down to talk. The others in the room didn¡¯t say anything for a moment before they turned back to the television as various thoughts ran through all of their minds. After five minutes Cedrik couldn¡¯t take it anymore, ¡°What do you think they¡¯re talking about in there?¡± he asked the rest of the group in the living room while Adam, Adaline, and Pandora talked in an adjacent lounge. ¡°Right before they left the room I overheard Pandora tell her dad that she had all of her mom¡¯s memories,¡± Asling said. ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s talk about something else,¡± Robert said. There were nods around the room until Desirae asked, ¡°How are the five of you finding the higher levels of technology?¡± ¡°I like the bathrooms, ¡°Asling said. ¡°Yes, and the way your stoves automatically heat up is really nice too,¡± Callum said. ¡°It does seem like magic,¡± Robert said. ¡°All of you have been here for almost a month, have you been able to get to a dungeon, or was Thor still trying to teach you about the world?¡± Mr. Bennard asked. ¡°We¡¯ve been stuck on this planet for the most part,¡± Callum said. ¡°Yes, you¡¯re talking voice was able to explain that we are on one planet and the planet we need to help on is a different one. That required a little bit of knowledge on what a planet, star, and even solar system were. That first week was just learning the terminology all of you use. While we¡¯ve been learning, Thor has been keeping track of the dungeons. Except for the occasional individual, not very many people have entered any of the dungeons on the other plant, unless by accident. Normally they come running out within five minutes.¡± Callum said. ¡°Thor also asked us to stay here and learn as much as we can while Pandora¡¯s mom and dad, and all of you worked to get the world governments working together, or at least not fighting. That¡¯s what Thor told us,¡± Robert said. ¡°We have been a bit busy,¡± Abi conceded. ¡°The wars have all stopped and we¡¯ve even opened exploration of various moons to those countries that want to participate, though Thor issued an evacuation earlier today and everyone has been returned to Earth or Trappist-1e,¡± Amanda said. ¡°I find it so interesting that you move among the heavens with little or no effort,¡± Pythias said. ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid of angering the Gods?¡± ¡°As far as I¡¯ve been able to tell, and I do come from a world much like yours Pythias, The only god-like beings we¡¯ve seen have been Adam and now Adaline. Some of us were like Gods inside the SYSTEM Matrix but all of our divinity points and levels were reset when the Universe became real.¡± Mr. Bennard said. ¡°Why did Thor recall everyone back from the exploratory areas?¡± Clarence asked Amanda. ¡°No idea. Though, it probably has something to do with the fact that the nanites aren¡¯t working,¡± Amanda said. ¡°Wait, what?¡± Clarence asked. ¡°Our ability to control nanites has been getting progressively worse for about the last hour,¡± Abi confirmed. ¡°What about our portals and our connection to Thor?¡± Desirae asked. ¡°Thor sent me a message before he went offline. Thor left a copy to run the portals for us but he stated that Adam has both Al and Thor with him,¡± Amanda said. ¡°We can use our interfaces to call portals but the nanites are offline,¡± Abi said. ¡°Also, remember, if you go to any of the facilities that are not on Trappist-1e, Earth or one of the planets that have an atmosphere that humans can breathe keep your portal open while you are there or have Thor open a portal to somewhere on Earth or Trappist-1e to keep breathable air coming in. Without nanites those locations will not support life for very long,¡± Amanda said. ¡°Is this that science stuff Thor has been teaching us about?¡± Asling asked. ¡°Not exactly, though we would use science to explain why the air becomes unbreathable,¡± Mrs. Bennard said. ¡°Okay, I guess the major question is, what does this all mean?¡± Callum asked as he looked around the room. ¡°That¡¯s my cue,¡± Adam said, as he led Adaline and Pandora out of the lounge into the main room. ¡°Hello again to those of you I know, and those of you I don¡¯t. I am Adamantadine, formerly Johnathan Bennard. Over there,¡± he said pointing to Cindy and Robert Bennard, ¡°Are my mom and Dad. Beside me are Adaline and Pandora respectively. I would especially like to thank the five of you,¡± he said as he looked over Callum, Cedrik, Asling, Robert and Pythias for looking after Pandora.¡± Adam paused for a moment as everyone moved around the room and made themselves comfortable as a backpack appeared on Adam and Thor and Al both appeared on the monitor on the wall. ¡°Now that we¡¯re all here I believe the question was what does it all mean,¡± Adam said as he looked thoughtful. ¡°First, Thor, please give me that download really quick.¡± ¡°What¡¯s he doing?¡± Pandora asked as they watched Adam pause for a moment as his eyes started to move rapidly. ¡°Thor and Adam were once of the same mind. Thor can send everything that he has seen and learned in a matter of moments. Adam is being brought up to speed on everything that has happened on Earth and Trappist-1e while he was away,¡± Abi said. ¡°Everything?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Oh yeah, your dad¡¯s mind is like a sponge. He remembers everything,¡± Abi affirmed. ¡°I do, ¡°Adam agreed,¡± In fact my comments to what has gone on since I went away. First question, would the six of you like the ability to call a portal to you? Without the nanites, there is no way for Thor to know where you are. While we¡¯re all here Thor can put a communication device in your heads that will allow you to communicate with each other. Also, Thor, upgrade each so that if they agree, everyone here has a quantum connection to everyone else and yourself, in case we get separated across universal barriers again.¡± ¡°I¡¯d like the ability to be able to communicate with you when I want to,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Very well,¡± Thor said from the monitor as nanites within Adam¡¯s sphere of influence created and attached the communication device behind her left ear, in a few moments it was done. ¡°All done.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t feel anything.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what she¡­¡± Clarence started to say. Realized whom he was talking about, looked over at Adam and shrugged sheepishly. As he closed his mouth and turned away. ¡°You weren¡¯t supposed to. We¡¯ll go over how to use the device in a few moments. Would the rest of your party like one as well?¡± Adam asked. Callum, Pythias, Asling, Robert, and Cedrik all nodded. A few moments later Thor said, ¡°All done.¡± ¡°I really didn¡¯t feel anything,¡± Cedrik said as the other five nodded in agreement as he grinned at Clarence. ¡°Okay, now that that¡¯s done, and they¡¯re all modified so we can communicate with each other across vast distances?¡± Adam asked questioningly. ¡°They are,¡± Thor said. ¡°Let¡¯s get back to the question at hand. The simple answer is, I don¡¯t know. I suspect that all the changes that just recently happened, Universes being added to the Multiverse, Numbers of sentient beings coming into existence simultaneously, and changes to the Astral Plane may have altered something that must self-correct. Alternatively, those same changes drew the attention of something or someone, and they are about to make those changes known.¡± ¡°Karmic backlash?¡± Adaline asked. ¡°Perhaps, or something like it. This isn¡¯t the SYSTEM Matrix after all, though I¡¯m sure those of you that took the path of divinity in there are seeing some very similar things out here in the real world,¡± Adam said. ¡°What do we do?¡± Cindy and Robert Bennard asked simultaneously. ¡°Fortunately, a lot of the abilities I have acquired since moving into the real world, I still have. One of those is the ability to conjure things from nothing. After reviewing everything you¡¯ve done, I think we need to set up a network of food distribution using portals, at least until the shit hits the fan because I do believe it will. The reason we¡¯ll distribute food this way is that I can¡¯t be everywhere at once. This way people will be able to get food, water, and essential supplies. ¡°Are you sure you want to leave access to Trappist-1e from Earth open?¡± ¡°I honestly believe it¡¯s not going to matter. I could be wrong but with my luck and this itchy feeling that has been getting progressively worse that something is going to happen I think trying to help everyone prepare is as good as we can do,¡± Adam said. ¡°Will we be able to stay together?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I also don¡¯t know if making the communication devices even matters, they could all get removed. What I do know is that I want to give all of you, and humanity, the best chance to see our loved ones again,¡± Adam paused for a moment as if in thought then said, ¡°Okay everyone, I¡¯m going to fill up the room with supplies, take what you need, I¡¯ll make more if we need it. Immediately the room was filled with MREs, water bottles, tarps, camping gear, grills utility knives cast iron skillet matches, flashlights, extra batteries, and a lot more items. It was everything anyone might need on a camping trip. Cedrik rushed over and started putting things into an ability-based storage area. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Adam smiled as he said, ¡°Feel free to put some stuff into any storage devices you¡¯re carrying, I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ll get to keep them though,¡± Adam said as he saw people hesitating to move,¡± Come on everyone, grab everything you can carry. I have no idea when the crap is going to happen so start loading your storage areas or take a backpack and grab a couple of things for yourself. ¡° Pandora kept an eye on her dad as he watched for a moment then said, ¡°I¡¯ll be right back,¡± before he disappeared. Less than a minute later he reappeared. ¡°Where¡¯d you go?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°I had to get things started. I created a place that is getting supplies out to the needy as we speak. The portals still work so we¡¯re using them while we can,¡± Adam said. ¡°Can we do anything for the Universes that were just created?¡± Al asked. ¡°I don¡¯t see how,¡± Adam said, I don¡¯t think we will have enough time. Just then every creature in the Universe received a notification in a language they understood. Assessment Complete Unification Step 1 will commence in 86,400 units of time. Unification is the process by which beings and materials are added to the Multitude. Take this time to prepare. Adam spoke up first,¡± Okay people 86,400 is exactly how many seconds are in one day so we have a day. For the next 4 hours, we are going to help as many people as we can. Thor, open portals to the moon and Mars. Get everyone back to Earth as close to their family and friends as you can. Use phones, monitors, etc. Commandeer the web, I know you can. Do it. Everyone else, help Thor as you can. Make sure everything is ready. After four hours, we¡¯ll rest for twelve hours. For the last 8 hours, I¡¯m going to have my nanites make sure each of you is in tip-top shape and we¡¯ll just hang out, watch movies, and help the world as we can through portals,¡± Adam said. Pausing for a moment he looked around the room and held eye contact before he said, ¡°Let¡¯s get to work!¡± For the next four hours, everyone did as Thor asked. Pandora and her group ran errands by going to specific points on Trappist-1e and helping everyone understand that they could go home to their families and they should. Adam couldn¡¯t say what was going to happen, but Pandora could tell that her mom and dad were both a little bit worried. When they hit the four-hour mark Pandora joined her mom and dad and spent the next twelve hours with them. None of them could sleep so Adam adjusted the bed, turned it into a huge couch-bed and they watched movies and talked. She shared stories about the fights she¡¯d had and the things her friends had done and listened to stories her mom told of things that happened after they were separated. Adam shared some of his thoughts about what was going to happen based on the data he¡¯d acquired but admitted that what he was saying was just guesswork, so they¡¯d all just have to wait and see. While Adaline and Pandora talked, Adam shared that moment with them, being neither judgmental nor trying to interject himself into their moment, though he did participate when they asked. Additionally, Thor would open a portal by his hand off to the side of the bed every once and a while, and Adam would do something, and the portal would close. When Pandora had asked he said he was refilling the stash of supplies everyone was using across the world. For most such a statement would be hard to believe. For Pandora, he was dad and she had memories of some of the crazy stuff he¡¯d done, so she took him at his word. In the last eight hours, Pandora watched as her Dad double-checked everyone for diseases, and did something else she didn¡¯t understand. No one was hurt so Pandora put it out of her mind. She also watched as the people that had been gods, watched the peoples of Earth drop into Anarchy. Pandora had asked, ¡°Why aren¡¯t we helping them?¡± ¡°We are sweetheart, Thor is keeping an eye on as much as he can utilizing images from every camera on earth and small portals that he uses to check directly on something. If someone gets hurt he uses portals to bring them back to this planet where they are healed, told to pick up a backpack with supplies and wait in their room until the crisis is over,¡± Adaline said. Pandora thought they¡¯d been doing nothing, but it looked like Thor had been doing a lot more than she thought. Someday, when they had more time she was going to ask her dad to explain exactly how Thor did all the amazing things he was doing. Nanites and Portals as the reason didn¡¯t really tell her how he was doing anything just that nanites, whatever they were, and the doorways that popped into and out of existence were the reasons why. Pandora watched the clock tick down and finally, they were down to the last 5 minutes. Everyone made their way back into the living room. Pandora hugged Adam, Adaline and Adam¡¯s mom and dad then went to stand by her friends. Adam looked over to the group and then held Callum¡¯s eyes in his as he said, ¡°Again, I¡¯d like to say thank you to Pandora¡¯s friends for taking care of her. Hopefully, we¡¯ll be able to stay together during this next step but if not I hope I¡¯ve helped you a little bit.¡± ¡°I Love You, Pandora,¡± Adaline said. ¡°I will love you always and forever, Pandora,¡± Adam said. ¡°I love you too Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Grandpa.¡± Pandora looked at her mom and dad as she wondered what was about to happen. Just before the clock hit zero her mom mouthed ¡®I love you¡¯ one last time as she was enveloped in darkness. A light came on and Pandora stood frozen on a circular six-inch dais. She was only able to move her eyes. There was no floor, and she could see creatures of all kinds standing on dais adjusted for their size, below and above her as far as he could see off into the distance with only darkness beyond. The other troublesome thing was that she was naked and she had no access to any of her abilities. Pandora saw no one near her that she knew. Mom and Dad, Callum, Cedrick, Asling, Robert, And Pythias were nowhere to be seen. She tried to raise them over her communication device but her access to it was also blocked. A new notification appeared in her vision then the frozen people on their dais began disappearing. Just before she felt the world go dark as she was teleported elsewhere, she was able to read the notifications. Unification Step 1 Complete. Unification Step 2 Sorting is now commencing. Pandora appeared on the edge of a flat circular area made of stone. She was still frozen as notifications appeared. Welcome to your Classification area. Partaking in Classification is not Mandatory. You may choose to decline Classification. If you decline Classification the following will happen. You will be teleported to a world in a universe that is compatible with your physiology with others that have also declined Classification where you will be grouped with the elderly and young of your species and those that are similar to you. You will be locked out of combat progression within the Multitude Interface and may not gain experience, levels, or treasure by participating in combat of any kind. Instead, you will be offered support classes to assist in the construction and maintenance of various domains. All support personnel are paid for their work and services at the standard wage grade. Additionally, should a support role not appeal to you, you will be able to attempt Classification again in 5 of your Earth Years. Additionally, special opportunities may become available if specific criteria are met. If you accept Classification you will remain on the floor you no stand on. Racial and Class abilities will be unlocked and you will face challenges. Once you succeed, are defeated, surrender to an opponent, or accepted an opponent¡¯s surrender that round will end. When you have completed the Classification process, provided you survive, Step 3 will commence. Process of Classification After you have successfully defeated your first challenge you will be returned to your starting point unable to move. The type of challenge and your opponent, if any, will appear. You will have 10 seconds to accept the challenge or withdraw. If you accept, the next challenge commences in one minute. If you withdraw, your classification will be based on the last challenger you defeated. If you are defeated, you are most likely dead. If your surrender is accepted, you become a vassal to the being you surrendered to. They become your Master unto their death, or yours. Surrendering during combat affords one the ability to gain any class they qualify for. NOTE: Should you be the person that kills the individual you surrendered to, you are automatically transferred to another who ranked higher during Classification. You may be released from your status as a Vassal by your Master at any time. If you accept an opponent¡¯s surrender, they become your vassal and are placed in a holding area until your classification is complete. Classification is a test of Strength, Endurance, Agility, Intelligence, and Wisdom. Would you like to begin your Classification within the Multitude, Yes or No? Pandora chose ¡°Yes.¡± The word ¡°Combat¡± appeared in the middle of the room and a beetle the size of a medium-sized dog appeared, and a 60-second timer began to count down. During the 60 seconds, Pandora double-checked her Personnel Information sheet and noted that a couple of things had changed. Pandora was still level 110 and she still had all of her abilities. However, some things had changed. The number of attributes was less, and no skills were listed She¡¯d have to ask the others if she ever ran into them. She was wondering if only class skills counted out her in the real world. The counter reached zero and Pandora activated her kinetic absorption and let the bug attack her for a good five minutes. She was attacked once per second for 3 points of damage which netted her a total of 900 MLA (Magic Levels Absorbed) points of her maximum 3587. When she¡¯d arrived here the MLA points had been reset to zero. It looked like they didn¡¯t want anyone cheating during Classification. With her mana regeneration rate of 36 per second, she was able to absorb each attack without worrying about running out of mana as it only cost 33 mana to activate her ability to absorb the kinetic energy of the beetle¡¯s attack. It was also kind of neat. Every time it would try to attack all the force would be taken out of the attack and it would just stop as it touched her skin. Since she was nude, it kind of tickled. After she felt that she had enough MLA saved up to help her out as the Classification went on, Pandora reached down, picked up the beetle, and flung it off the platform. Pandora did this for two reasons. She wanted to see what was outside of the pavement and also to see what happened. The beetle entered the darkness without issue until gravity brought it to floor level where it disintegrated upon contact. So don¡¯t step off the platform, good safety tip. As she was thinking that a notification appeared. Classification Round 1 Complete. Pandora was immediately teleported back to her starting point and the word ¡°Combat¡± appeared over the middle of the floor as a Hyena appeared. A moment later the words ¡°Continue, Yes or No?¡± appeared in front of Pandora. She was able to say ¡°Yes¡± before she was frozen for 60 seconds. She noticed that none of her mana had automatically reset and instead returned at its normal rate. 60 seconds was more than long enough to regain any mana she might spend for most of her abilities, shape-changing into her Dragon Form being one of the few exceptions. She wasn¡¯t going to do that if she didn¡¯t need to though. For the next hour, Pandora was pitted against normal creature after normal creature. Some rounds had multiple creatures and she had to get strategic to deal with all the creatures that attacked her. When she¡¯d started getting multiple creatures per round she¡¯d stopped keeping track of how many creatures she killed. After two hours a bear appeared and she knew that a normal person, any normal person from ¡°The City¡± If they were naked and had no magic would have bowed out of the Classification right there. For her, it was just Round 60 which she easily completed. Her next challenge was a burly human male. He appeared across from Pandora, and looked over at her naked form with lust-filled eyes, though he remained frozen, just like her for 60 seconds. When the timer reached zero the man spoke in common, ¡°What do we have here, a beautiful damsel in distress? Surrender to me now, and I¡¯ll treat you REAL good,¡± he said with a heavy emphasis on the word ¡°REAL¡±. Pandora was disgusted but he was a sentient being and she should allow him a chance to surrender. Why? She felt that her dad would have wanted her to. Pandora smiled and said, ¡°Surrender now, and you get to live?¡± The man laughed then moved forward as he said, ¡°I guess I¡¯ll have to beat some sense into you, wench.¡± There were only so many things Pandora could do with her abilities, so she waited. When he was within melee range he launched himself at her. It was like he was moving through molasses to her perception. He made to punch her in the gut which she sidestepped. Next, She watched as the jab was immediately turned into an uppercut. He didn¡¯t even adjust for her movement. He had been so sure that he¡¯d hit her that he went with a one-two combo that completely missed. Pandora was not impressed and slapped him across the face. When she checked her combat log after she understood what happened. She¡¯d slapped his cheek for 365 points of damage which had doubled up to 730 points of damage. Unfortunately Ned, at least that¡¯s what the combat log identified him as. Ned only had 11 hit points, in total. His head had sailed off into the darkness and the body had tumbled out of the circle, leaving a streak of blood as it spurted from Ned¡¯s torso before it also landed in the darkness and disintegrated. She felt bad about killing him, but not that bad. She understood what a rapist was. Any woman that might have surrendered to that man in the future would have had issues. The word ¡°Combat¡± appeared, and another man appeared. Pandora thought about how she could handle this and realized that people would probably see her as an easy mark because she was a small female. Unlike her father, she didn¡¯t have the martial prowess to do specific damage to specific body parts without killing people so she would have to try another tactic. This time when the time reached zero, Pandora walked forward as the man did with a bright grin on his face which turned to horror as Pandora switched to her Shadow Dragon form. In the middle of her switch, she noted that everything froze, and the floor area quadrupled in size. The Arena unfroze and she noticed that the man¡¯s eyes had gone wide with fear as she stepped out of billowing shadows as a Shadow Dragon now rested on the floor before him. Pandora casually brought the claws on her right hand up to her eye level for inspection as she looked at the human male and used her ability of Telepathy to send the idea that perhaps he should surrender. A message immediately appeared with a few notifications. You have completed 62 Rounds. You have acquired your first Vassal! Title Unlocked ¨C ¡°First to Rule.¡± You are one of the first creatures during this Unification to acquire a vassal. Wisdom +5. Pandora checked her attributes and, yes, her wisdom increased by five points immediately. Her Wisdom attribute was now 3,592. She didn¡¯t know what having a vassal meant but if she could acquire a title for getting one, maybe she could acquire a title for gaining more. Pandora maintained her Dragon form as she was reset, and another round was prepared. Over the next few hours, she acquired 30 more vassals. She killed a few animals, low-level monsters, and people who wouldn¡¯t surrender. Most of the individuals that she killed were mages who thought their magic could make her their slave. When she absorbed their magic it was usually game over for them. A few surrendered right away but others tried another spell, only to find themselves batted out of the ring with a claw or tale. She didn¡¯t use her teeth on humans and such, that just seemed wrong to her. Even though her mother¡¯s memories hinted that they tasted good. That was until her mom had given up eating humans and other bipedal beings after she met Adam. After 4 hours she acquired another title. You have gained the title ¡°Sustained Effort¡± ¨C During Classification, you have continued for four straight hours. Endurance +1 She could gain attributes by continuing this Classification. With her ability to sustain herself with mana, she could conceivably continue this Classification until she ran into something far too powerful for her. As she was thinking about that a creature that looked like a cross between a Hill Giant and a human surrendered to her and a new message she¡¯d never seen before appeared. You have acquired 135 Vassals! During Classification, surrendering transfers ownership of your vassals to your new Master. Congratulations, you now have 175 Vassals! In addition, all title rewards gained by those conquered during this classification are transferred to their new master. You have gained another instance of the Title ¡°First to Rule¡± Wisdom increased by +5 Pandora thought about what it actually meant to have Vassals, then decided that more had to be better and allowed the process to continue. Between matches, she¡¯d check in on Caspa who was trying to wrap her head around what was going on as she didn¡¯t understand it either. They both decided that whatever the Multitude was this was an opportunity to make some gains so she would continue as long as she could. Chapter 17, Slaves? Pandora sat there as a Shadow Dragon. For the next 20 hours, most people who appeared during her Classification Rounds declined to fight as soon as they saw her, which counted as a win for her. She didn¡¯t receive a vassal or anything else but about every 90 seconds, she succeeded in her next Classification round. She had seen a lot of humans, elves, dwarfs, gnomes, and a lot of other races she¡¯d never encountered before. She¡¯d had to turn on her ability: Absorb: Ambient Energy to keep herself fully hydrated and fed but other than that it had been a pretty boring day. This gave her plenty of time to think. Mom and Dad seemed to know what was coming. Or maybe they knew what it was going to be like. She wasn¡¯t sure. Of course, they¡¯d both been through a lot. With the memories she had from her mom, she knew some of the claims her dad had made about how long he¡¯d existed, which was crazy long, lent to a lot of life experience. Don¡¯t worry about it, Caspa sent through their bond. How long should I let this go on? Pandora asked. You haven¡¯t received any more titles. It would seem that the Multitude is not happy with our performance. You could start as a woman, and then kill people. I know, slaughter for no reason isn¡¯t something that sits well with you. My suggestion. Decline the 1,001st fight. Maybe you¡¯ll get something for making it to a specific round. Round 1,000 seems like a good round number. Caspa sent. Sounds good, I¡¯m getting bored with this anyway. Besides, I want to find my friends again. I hope they¡¯re doing okay, Pandora sent. Pandora had just completed Classification Round 960. She had 41 more to go until she was going to decline unless something went wrong. Rounds 961 - 999 were more of the same. Humanoids appeared, saw her, and then declined. Classification Round 1,000 was something else. Pandora appeared back in her starting location and saw; she wasn¡¯t sure what she saw. It looked like a mass of flesh, with tentacles frozen in the process of lashing out. Also, it was about the size of an elephant. The ten-second time ended, and the tentacles acted like legs as they lifted the ball of flesh and started moving toward Pandora quickly. She¡¯d never seen anything so grotesque, yet its movements were mesmerizing and resonated with that part of herself that was chaotic in nature. She knew she could probably take it but she didn¡¯t want to mess with it so she used her Shadow Breath Weapon on it. It winked out of existence as it was sent to the Shadow Plane. When nothing happened, she looked around to make sure she hadn¡¯t missed anything then waited. When the time reached 9 minutes she received a warning. Classification Round will end in 60 seconds. If no winner is determined, one will be chosen randomly. That was Interesting. The creature was still alive on the Shadow Plane. Pandora watched the timer until it hit zero when there was a shudder in the chamber and then a message popped up. Congratulations, as the only individuals still in the testing arena you have won this Classification Round by default. Congratulations, your title Sustained Effort has been upgraded to Enduring. Endurance and Willpower +5. Pandora returned to the reset area where she saw another woman across from her. She still didn¡¯t understand what the point of making people face each other naked was unless it was to make absolutely sure those that moved forward had no advantages based on equipment. She looked over the choices and chose to decline the round and immediately teleported to another holding area where she was standing alone as notification started to fill her vision. Classification Rounds Complete You have Completed 1,000 Classification Rounds Previous Titles received. ¡°First to Rule¡± ¨C .¡± You are one of the first creatures during this Unification to acquire a vassal. Wisdom +5 ¡°Enduring¡± ¨C You have endured 1,000 Classification Rounds, Endurance +5, Willpower +5 New Title Awarded ¡°Luck of Draw¡± ¨C You completed 959 consecutive rounds by combatant withdrawals from Classification Rounds after seeing you. Luck attribute increased by 1 for every withdrawal after the 10th. Luck +949 ¡°Distinctive¡± ¨C You have won 1,000 Classification Rounds during a Unification. Reward: +25 to Physical Attributes (Strength, Agility, Endurance, Perception, Wisdom, Willpower, and Luck) and +25% to all Physical Attributes after all other bonuses are added from other sources You have received 175 Vassals. You may keep them, or you may release them at this time and Earn Contribution points instead. This conversion is only offered during the Classification and will never be offered again. Vassals released after your Classification is complete are sold by you or granted their freedom for free. Contribution Points are the currency of the Multitude. Contribution Points are utilized to eat, purchase a place to sleep and also improve yourself. Would you like to release your 175 Vassals for 175 million Contribution Points, 1 million per Vassal? Pandora chose to convert all the Vassals to Contribution Points and freed them. She had no use for slaves. Classification Complete You have entered the Outer Core Layer of the Multitude. Universal Density unified Soul Core stabilized to unified Universal Density Levels reset. Skills reset Attributes adjusted due to titles Welcome to Multitude! Pandora felt Caspa shudder and then scream in her mind before she felt a wrenching feeling and everything went dark. Pandora didn¡¯t know how long she was out, but she knew something was weird when she woke up with a large furry body nestled up against her. She also felt that the back of her neck was wet, and a small furry body was nestled against the front of her. Pandora opened her eyes and was sure that there was a baby bear in front of her while she could feel it, once she opened her eyes she saw that a cub was trying to chew on her fingers. She had no idea how long she¡¯d been out, but when she opened her Personal Information and saw that she had over 1,000 Absorbed levels she knew the bear had been trying to chew on her for a while. The last thing she remembered was finishing the Classification and something about levels reset and skills. Pandora quickly checked hers and Caspa¡¯s levels and saw that they¡¯d both been reset to level 1 along with all of her skills Caspa? Caspa? You there? Pandora knew that Caspa was with her always, but that didn¡¯t mean she was conscious though. She¡¯d have to look at her after she removed herself from the dinner menu of this family of bears. Pandora pulled her hand back from the bear cub, which had drooled all over it, and made sure that her ability to absorb kinetic energy was turned on as she moved to stand. The mother bear was instantly awake, turned to Pandora, and roared. Pandora ignored her as she slowly lifted herself up and patted the bear cubs, two actually, that had been lying next to her. The one that had been trying to chew on her hand looked somewhat hurt that it wouldn¡¯t get a meal. The mother bear swiped Pandora with her claws which did nothing as the kinetic energy of the strike was absorbed and converted to absorbed levels for later use. Pandora looked around and found herself in a shallow cave. The Mother bear tried to swipe her again. Even with her levels being reduced to level 1 her attributes had remained the same and been adjusted by her new titles. Her strength was now 3,690 which gave her a Carrying Capacity of 18,450 pounds. She gently caught the momma bear¡¯s front paws and turned her around, so Pandora now had her back to the entrance of the cave and the momma bear had her cubs behind her. Pandora let go of the claws and quickly stepped back 50 feet outside the easy strike range of Mother Bear. Without waiting to see what the mother bear was doing she ran off away from the cave into the thick forest around her making sure that she could find her way back to the cave. She wasn¡¯t exceedingly fast but at a normal pace of 45 miles per hour, she left the Cave in the dust and five minutes later she was over 3 miles away. When she spotted a deer, she sprinted over and snapped its neck before it even knew what had happened. She picked up the deer and moved to an area that had a little more space between the trees then polymorphed into her Shadow Dragon form and launched into the air with the deer in her front right claw. She was just a little less than four times as fast in dragon form and made it back to the bear cave in just a little under two minutes. She flew in between the trees, flared, and dropped the last 50 feet to the ground absorbing the kinetic damage of the fall. She hadn¡¯t known if it would work but it did. As soon as she came into contact with the ground her momentum stopped, and she was left standing in front of the bear cave. The mother bear rushed out of the cave and stood on its hind legs declaring its challenge. Pandora kicked the deer carcass toward the mother beer then stepped back as the mother bear dropped down to all fours and sniffed the deer. She watched Pandora until she was more than 100 feet away at which point she grabbed the deer by the neck and dragged it into her den for her cubs. Pandora self-consciously touched the back of her neck. She now understood why her neck had felt wet when she woke up. Pandora found a clearing switched back to her dragon form, launched into the sky, and rose as high as she could. Below her in all directions was a primordial forest with the sun setting behind mountains off to her left. If this was Earth that was to the west. As she flew toward the base of the mountain she saw a few structures off to the right and veered toward them. There were only three buildings As she drew toward it she could easily make out that it was a settlement of some kind with a few farms around it. She even saw some people walking around and sitting against the barn wall or near its entrance. Pandora¡¯s Wristbands of Holding and her Orbs of Chaos were both gone and in her humanoid form, she was naked. So, the question became did she try to approach the town as a woman or as a dragon? Probably as a Dragon that shifted into a woman would send the right message? Pandora flew around the town and noticed that some people were working the fields to the east of town as she came in for a landing. Just before she touched down she shifted back into her humanoid form and stepped out of the rolling shadows the transformation made. She knew that she appeared to be mostly human, but her skin was darker and anyone that looked closely would notice that her ears were slightly pointed. Unlike true dark elves thought, her eyes were neither red-tinted nor purple-tinted, they changed color which was a direct effect of her chaotic nature. A group of men and women carrying makeshift spears came running into the field toward her, the women looking her over and assessing her while most of the men stumbled upon seeing her nakedness. Pandora understood that some men might react upon seeing naked women but if everyone had just come through the classification then they had obviously seen naked women. That¡¯s when she noticed that everyone was fully clothed and while the people rushing into the field held makeshift spears they also had some forged swords and hammers they were carrying. A few even had bows trained on her. Those individuals stopped at the edge of the field. ¡°Hello,¡± Pandora called out in common. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Why would a dragon be turning into a girl and then trying to sneak into our settlement after showing us she was a dragon?¡± One of the older-looking humans called as they came to stop 30 feet from her. ¡°I just woke up from the Classification, did any of you just go through the same thing?¡± ¡°One of those,¡± a young man snickered. ¡°You were a Dragon a moment ago, did you bring vassals too? The others that arrived yesterday brought vassals.¡± ¡°No, no vassals, I woke up in a bear den. I just made my way free?¡± ¡°A bear den is it close by?¡± one of the women asked. Pandora looked her over and realized that she was most likely following the path of a scout or ranger. ¡°It took me about 5 minutes to fly from there to here. It¡¯s east of here and she has two cubs. She won¡¯t need to forage for a bit, I left a deer carcass for her. Should be far enough away that you don¡¯t have to worry about her. Close enough that if you become a Ranger or Druid you might be able to make her a companion,¡± Pandora said. ¡°You know about Companions?¡± the scout asked. ¡°Not really, only what I learned in school. I know that druids and rangers can have wildlife companions and serve nature, that¡¯s about it,¡± Pandora said. ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about that. Where¡¯ I¡¯m from we didn¡¯t have any magical creatures, like dragons, no offense,¡± she said. ¡°So, can I come into your little town, or do I need to go elsewhere?¡± ¡°Oh, you¡¯re coming into the town, I¡¯ve never had a dragon lady before,¡± a large man carrying what could only be a gun said as he aimed it at Pandora and shot. A thrum of energy left the weapon and slammed into Pandora. The man was so sure that it was going to knock her out that he had already turned away and was issuing orders, ¡°Paula, pick her up and take her to the holding cells, I¡¯ll inspect her myself in a moment. Jacob and Daryl, put together a team and go get me those bear cubs, kill the mother¡­¡± at which point his head stopped saying anything as it exploded between both of Pandora¡¯s hand. He¡¯d been 300 feet away when Pandora flashed forward using 300 points of Absorbed levels to flash across the distance. Then she¡¯d simply clapped her hands together and crushed his head which covered her and everyone behind him in brains and gore. She still couldn¡¯t use more than one of her absorb abilities in a single combat round, but she¡¯d been able to use 300 of her 1169 absorbed levels, 100 being gained from the energy of the weapon that had hit her. She knew his attack hadn¡¯t been deadly when it hit her, but anyone who wasn¡¯t willing to talk, well, they weren¡¯t going to receive any communication in return. And now the front of her body was covered in gore and blood. So much for first impressions. Everyone that had been looking at Pandora before the Master of the Domain had shot his terrifying weapon at the naked woman was shocked when she appeared to disappear and there was a loud pop behind them. They turned to see the naked woman pulling the weapon out of the hands of the headless corpse before she looked around casually then snapped the rifle that had kept them all in check for the last three years of hell. A small explosion erupted from the weapon as she snapped it with her hands. The explosion was drawn into, and around, the naked woman. The energies that went around her, swirled like a rainbow until they too were drawn into her. The weapon she¡¯d snapped in half and the corpse of the headless man turned to dust. Also, the blood and guts of the Master were completely removed from her body leaving her fully naked once again. Everyone froze until Paula exclaimed, ¡°We¡¯re free, it¡¯s finally over!¡± The others who had come into the field looked back toward the girl who had so casually destroyed the tyrant that had been running their lives for the last three years and looked at Pandora with a glimmer of hope in their eyes. Pandora looked around and noticed that none of the people seemed upset that she¡¯d killed the human and turned to Paula and asked, ¡°Was that guy evil or something? Paula, tears now freely streaming down her eyes, said, ¡°Let me show you as she walked past Pandora toward the only solid-looking structure in town. Pandora turned and followed Paula as she was led inside a building where a Crystal was floating in the air. Near the back was a door that was bolted from this side. Paula pulled the bolt and hurried down a stairway until she made her way to a room full of young boys and girls. There was a door at the opposite end of the room that opened as a man called out, ¡°I¡¯m done with this one boss, if you want a turn¡­¡± Pandora noticed a girl, not a teenager, not a woman but a girl in the room beyond the man and the world flashed red. A few moments later Pandora found herself standing in the doorway the man had been. As she looked around to find out what had happened she saw Paula ushering the other children upstairs as quietly as possible. When she looked back to the room she saw the girl looking at her with tears streaming down her face and a look of grim determination in her eyes. There was no sign of the man. Pandora took a step forward and the girl on the bed shrank back. Pandora raised her hands placatingly as she said, ¡°It¡¯s okay. It¡¯s okay. When you are ready get up and go to Paula behind me. If you¡¯ll shake my hand on your way through I will heal you okay?¡± Pandora stood to the side of the door and waited quietly as Paula got all the other children out of the basement and then motioned for the girl to come along too. Pandora, stood perfectly still as the girl slowly rose to her feet, put on the little bit of clothing she had, and then made her way out of the room. She looked straight ahead and walked with purpose until she stood beside Paula where she paused. She looked over her shoulder at Pandora then rushed back and held out her hand, ¡°I¡¯m Becky, Thank You.¡± Pandora gently shook the girl¡¯s hand and flooded her with healing energy with the Heal Other aspect of her Absorb ability as she said, ¡°I¡¯m Pandora.¡± The minor cuts and bruises disappeared, and Becky let her hand drop, turned, and rushed up the stairs, Paula walking closely behind. Once everyone was out of the room Pandora was left alone so she checked her Notifications. Congratulations! The Racial Ability ¡°Absorb¡± and ¡°Creature of Chaos¡± have created and unlocked a new ability, ¡°Amalgamate.¡± This is a new Racial Ability. In times of stress, you may completely absorb another creature. Doing so costs 99% of your remaining mana. During the Amalgamation, a contest of Wills begins. Your chance of success is equal to your Willpower multiplied by 1000% due to your ability "Creature of Chaos". Should you win the contest of wills the mentality of the creature is absorbed while the spark of will the memories contain is snuffed out. Should you lose the Contest of Wills, the same may happen to you. Memories from the man that was now part of her flooded into Pandora¡¯s mind. She remembered growing up on the south side of Fellis, going to school, dropping out, and joining a gang until she, no ¡°he¡±, dropped out of school and joined a gang. They¡¯d thought they were so smart going after the money in that gas station so they could buy some worthless diversion. Only to find himself conscripted into the Army Reserve, which was a nice way of saying jail without any of the benefits of being in jail or the actual army. The Reserves had been converted to support forces for the actual military. Some active duty oversaw the reserves, but the grunt work was all done by lowlifes like him. He¡¯d been sent to a small country on the other side of the world on some form of a humanitarian mission to help after a flood only to be acquired by Sergeant Merrick. Those had been good times. Finding product, capturing it, sometimes testing the merchandise, and then making it available to the highest bidder. He always thought those in the upper echelons knew what was going on but didn¡¯t care, he never found out though. Four years passed and he was released from the Reserves and his juvenile record sealed. He¡¯d decided to go back to that little island and had made a good living working as a bodyguard and ¡°fixer¡± for visiting dignitaries with unlawful tastes that visited. That had been the life. Women as slaves if he wanted them. Or if he was feeling generous he¡¯d flash his money around and women would throw themselves at him because he had money. He hadn¡¯t been truly rich but he¡¯d had a level of power that let him get what he wanted. That is until the Unification and classification had happened. The entire planet had just disappeared, He¡¯d found himself naked and then in a classification of sorts. He¡¯d decided to fight it out and had made good progress and been pretty lucky from the start. The animals he¡¯d been placed against had been pretty easy until he¡¯d made it to the bear. Truth be told he¡¯d been pretty lucky to get passed the bear. He¡¯d been able to trick it into charging and it had stepped into the darkness beyond the concrete floor and been destroyed instantly. What made that victory even better was the woman who faced him next. She¡¯d had no combat ability. He¡¯d used the full 10 minutes to¡­. Pandora pulled herself from those memories and jumped forward. It seemed that this Piece of Shit, that¡¯s what Mom and Dad would have called him. Yeah, this piece of shit had gone through three more rounds and then declined when he barely survived his fourth round against another humanoid. He¡¯d appeared next to this mountain range with a group of other people in a quest to set up a town and make it thrive or die. That had been 3 years ago. Some of those that appeared had been families. These included some children and young girls appearing as well. As he¡¯d been looking around he¡¯d noticed that Sergeant Merrick was also in the town. What were the chances? They¡¯d hooked up and turned this little town into the haven they¡¯d both been enjoying. They¡¯d talked about what had happened and Sergeant Merrick had let him know how he¡¯d been one lucky Son of a Bitch and made it through over 100 Classification rounds. He¡¯d started with some bonuses, one of which was the weapon he¡¯d been carrying. It was a stun weapon that automatically recharged itself. That weapon and their ruthlessness had allowed them to maintain control of the settlement and even take and use any of the girls and women as they wanted. Pandora finished reviewing the memories which included information on how to use the Domain Crystal and the Contribution Point exchange to purchase items. Pandora realized she¡¯d been standing in the basement for a bit, looked around, sighed, and then headed back upstairs. As she stepped out of the building and onto the street Becky ran up to her and threw her hands around her in a hug while two people, who could only be her parents, looked on terrified. Pandora should have been embarrassed because of her nudity but she was her mother¡¯s daughter, and her nudity didn¡¯t matter to her. She gave the girl a gentle hug and brushed back her hair as she said, ¡°Go back to your Mum and Dad, they look worried about you?¡± ¡°But you saved me?¡± Becky whispered a tear building in her right eye. ¡°I did, and I¡¯d do it again, but right now, they are worried about you and scared of me. They¡¯ll be able to tell you all about it later I¡¯m sure,¡± Pandora said. Becky returned to her parents as the rest of the people for this little hamlet looked on, ¡°You all look like you haven¡¯t had a good meal in a bit, if a couple of you would follow me to the Contribution Market, okay most of you,¡± Pandora said as she walked to a small building just 50 feet away. It was a simple stone structure open on four sides that had a monitor facing each opening. Four people at a time could use the market. She went up to the monitor, touched it, and said, ¡°Clothing that allows for automatic storage during shape changing.¡± A slip made of a dull grey material appeared in the monitor that cost 1 million Contribution Points. It looked like the interface for the market knew what it was doing and could understand verbal commands, so she purchased the item which appeared on a shelf right beside the monitor. Pandora reached over and touched the slip. You have found Basic Slip, would you like to Soul Bind and equip it to yourself, Yes or No,¡± Pandora chose ¡°Yes¡± Please choose a Color. Pandora said ¡°Black¡± and the slip disappeared from her hand and was instantly on her. The slip covered her upper torso, shoulders, and down to an inch above her knees. Not that she cared but it didn¡¯t even look like a slip, it looked more like a shirt that conformed to her body. While her nudity hadn¡¯t bothered her, she understood how it embarrassed some of the others following her. She turned to the crowd, ¡°I¡¯m going to use some of my Contribution Points to purchase some items for all of you now.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no point young lady, we have nowhere to gather and nowhere to eat,¡± an older gentleman who looked like he¡¯d been beaten, almost to death said. ¡°What is your name old timer?¡± Pandora asked gently. ¡°My name is Marv, just Marv now. Could I be asking your name young lady?¡± he said? ¡°I am Pandora,¡± Pandora said as she walked up and slowly held up her hand to shake Marv¡¯s hand. Marv looked at her hand then reached forward and shook it. As he did, Pandora healed his injuries, as she raised her voice, ¡°Is anyone else hurt, or in need of healing? ¡°Quite a few actually,¡± an older woman said from the background. They¡¯re in the only building we¡¯ve been able to make so far, the barn over there?¡± she said. Pandora smiled and then made her way to the barn where she ended up healing almost 50 people, ranging from people with broken bones to girls who had been abused like Becky and others who had been beaten. Three of the people she healed looked like they¡¯d been on death¡¯s doorstep when she made it to them. When she was done, she made her way to the Domain Administration building and found the Domain Crystal within. Reaching up, she touched the Crystal and received a prompt. This domain is currently unclaimed. Would you like to claim it, Yes or No?¡± Pandor chose ¡°Yes.¡± Domain functionality has been added to the Contribution Market. You now have 174,566,343 Contribution Points. Pandora looked at the number of Contribution Points and frowned. She had only earned 175 million as far as she remembered. She opened her interface and saw that she had gained 566,343 Contribution Points for taking over this Domain. Not for killing Sergeant Merrick, or the Piece of Shit downstairs, or even for killing the deer. She¡¯d received Contribution Points for seizing a Domain. Interesting. While she thought about what that meant and headed back to the Contribution Market. The people were still watching her and a few were still following her around. She touched the monitor and immediately saw what the new functionality meant. A new tab labeled ¡°Domain¡± appeared. It appeared that the statistics for the town were laid out completely. Merrick¡¯s Bordello Class: 0+ Population 1,113 Buildings: 3 Domain Administrator Building, Class 0 - No Administrator Chosen Barn, Class 0 Contribution Market, Class 0 Generated Contribution: Net Loss of 2,220 per day. Pandora didn¡¯t understand what any of that meant but she knew a net loss couldn¡¯t be good. She looked through her options and found that she could purchase basic structures that would automatically be erected. First things first though, she looked through the menus and found that she could purchase an Administrator. The minimum requirement was a Class 1 Administration Building so it could house the Administrator. Pandora upgraded the Administrator building to Class 1 for 100,000 Contribution Points A rumbling was heard from the direction of the Administrator building and everyone watched as it morphed and changed into a large stone structure. Pandora started her modification to the Settlement by changing the name of the town to something that might bring her friends to her, ¡°Callum¡¯s Haven¡± sounded good. She thought about calling it Pandora¡¯s Box, but something told her that would be a very good idea. Next, she looked over the Administrators she could hire and found one that looked promising. ¡°Who¡¯s Callum?¡± Someone asked. Pandora ignored the question and hired the Beatrix Administrator for 1,000,000 Contribution Points. It stated that it was guaranteed to help fledgling settlements. A moment later there was a pop and a round metallic orb with a single eye in it appeared hovering at eye level off the ground. It quickly moved over to Pandora. ¡°Strength through Dominance Master, how may I serve?¡± ¡°Okay, first it¡¯s Pandora, not Master. Second. I would like this Settlement to have a gathering place, a place to eat, and enough shelter for everyone. ¡°Yes¡­Pandora. Let me¡­ Pandora the current Contribution total for this ¡®settlement¡¯ is -2,435,280. Eviction and reclamation actions were about to be initiated when you claimed this settlement. As the new owner of the Domain, you are not responsible for the debt accrued by the other 1,112 residents but that dept must be paid or all residents of this settlement will be removed and integrated into the less desirable professions of the Multitude.¡± ¡°What kind of professions?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°There are many, some that come to mind are Miners of rare toxic minerals and plants, joy toys, both female and male, and in some cases acclimation targets ¡°Acclimation targets¡± ¡°They would be utilized to teach soldiers how to overcome their aversion to killing defenseless sentient beings. "That¡¯s horrible?¡± Pandora said as gasps rang out throughout the crowd. ¡°That is the Multitude. Those that fail to produce will serve a purpose, whether they wish to or not.¡± The floating eye stated. ¡°Back to your request, in order to meet your request, the settlement must repay its debt and then pay the new cost in full. If everyone started producing at 100% efficiency this instant the debt could be paid back in 3 years, the amount of time it took to build up. ¡°Wait, the meals we requested from the market for a single Contribution Point were not taken from the Contribution points we earned?¡± One of the women asked. ¡°May I answer that question, Pandora?¡± The Eye asked. ¡°Sure,¡± Pandora said. ¡°At 100% efficiency, each of you should be producing 8 Contribution Points per day. You have not been. Each meal costs 1 Contribution point and the records indicate most of you ate three times a day. Your efficiency rate plus your lack of work ethic produced a net income of -2 CP per individual for three years. I am frankly astounded that this was allowed to progress this far for three years straight, unless¡­¡± ¡°Unless what,¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Unless one of the investors put a hold on this settlement so that it would be so far in debt that the residents couldn¡¯t buy off the servitude contracts that would result from such a negative Contribution Point score.¡± There was a pop as a blue-skinned man popped into next to the Administration Building, ¡°You can stop talking now Beatrix 17432Alpha¡± I have come to claim my slaves. Chapter 18, Callums Haven Pandora looked at the newcomer and before she even uttered a word, paid 2,435,280 Contribution Points to pay off the town¡¯s debt and also added 5 million Contribution Points to provide basic housing and other structures. ¡°Beatrix 17432Alpha, please begin the changes to the town that you see fit with the amount I just sent your way. Best you can do with what you have. After, we¡¯ll see about further improvements,¡± Pandora said as she completely ignored the blue-skinned man. ¡°Beatrix 17432Alpha, I paid for this town, and everyone in it, you will do as I command! As for you,¡± the blue-skinned man said as he directed his gaze towards Pandora and made a gesture with his hand as if reaching out. Pandora felt the energy of an ability or spell wash over her as her absorption ability gained over 200 levels of absorbed levels from the attempt. ¡°What the¡­¡± The blue man started to say as he switched his action and withdrew an ebony-black magical blade from a hidden storage area that Pandora couldn¡¯t see. In a flash, he was upon her, and the blade stopped dead against her neck. He¡¯d just tried to cut her head off. This time her absorption ability absorbed 148 levels of Magic Levels Absorbed. ¡°Pandora reached up, touched the blade, and willfully absorbed it. As it disappeared from her attacker¡¯s hand she checked her combat log. Lord Kersor strikes Pandora with Ebony Vorpal Blade. Artifact conditions activated. 100% hit point damage achieved with resultant decapitation condition. Pandora Ability Absorption Converts 1480 hp damage to 148 Magic Levels Absorbed, zero damage taken, Decapitation result fails. He¡¯d tried to cut her head off, what a dick. While Pandora was thinking that, Lord Kersor was drawing his blade back for another swing when he realized that the sword was gone. He took a quick step back and his eyes glazed over for a moment as Pandora asked, ¡°Beatrix, If I¡¯m attacked within the town, what restriction am I under against others from outside of my town?¡± ¡°None, Pandora,¡± Beatrix 17432Alpha said as she continued to look through screens and changes began happening around the town. Pandora noted that walls and buildings had been sprouting up around the town and fields that were used for farming. Additionally, the barn was separated into two buildings as the individuals within were automatically moved to the building with a giant red cross on it, a medical center if Pandora wasn¡¯t mistaken. As Pandora was watching the changes take fold within the town, Lord Kersor¡¯s eyes focused on her as he smiled with an evil smile, ¡°You took what was rightfully mine! You destroyed my family crest and an artifact! Now you will die!¡± he declared as he pulled out a black orb and threw it at Pandora. Pandora could have dodged the item, but she had kept her situational awareness of her surroundings and knew that there was a very good chance that the children behind her would have been struck by the orb. Instead, she reached out and grabbed the orb as Lord Kersor looked on with glee. Pandora watched as the blackness that touched the orb spread from the orb to her fingers and rapidly moved to cover her whole body. One second she was Pandora, the next she appeared to be an inky blob of blackness that was slowly shrinking as the blob seemed to implode until the only thing seen was an orb floating in the air. Pandora knew this was happening but chose to ignore it as her consciousness fled to her Mindspace and then followed her connection to Caspa to try to get away from the sensation of being eaten. That is until every single cell of her body had been converted to whatever the orb had been made of. When it tried to break down that last spec of Pandora¡¯s mass it breached the barrier that surrounded Caspa¡¯s core where her spark of Chaos resided. The Chaos that was part of her had remembered a trick that her father had learned a long time ago. Chaos could exist in a dual state that took up no space, Something Caspa had been doing since she¡¯d come into existence with Pandora¡¯s spark, as they were united forever. When the malevolent force that was the darkness of the Eradication Orb broke through the barrier of Pandora¡¯s last physical cell it touched the Primal Chaos that was Caspa/Pandora and was immediately absorbed into and converted by it into Primal Chaos which immediately added to Caspa/Pandora. This process continued for what felt like a very long time to Pandora but was only about 10 seconds. To everyone watching, it looked like Pandora had caught the ball then the darkness had flash enveloped her whole body and shrunk like a deflating balloon as the orb hung motionless in the air. Her feet were drawn up off the ground as her extremities were pulled toward her core and then down her right arm to her fingers. The people watching began screaming as Pandora¡¯s head caved in, even though there was no blood. It was the weirdest thing; Pandora hadn¡¯t even screamed as her body was drawn into the small black sphere. Once all of Pandora¡¯s body was gone, those who were paying attention noticed that the blackness kept flowing toward a point on one side of the sphere. After 10 seconds the blackness disappeared, and a silver orbed dropped to the ground and rolled a couple of inches before coming to a rest as a corona of changing lights burst forth and Pandora solidified where she¡¯d been standing a moment before. ¡°Well, that hurt!¡± Pandora said as she reached out a still-forming hand and almost lazily touched Lord Kersor¡¯s forehead with a gentle tap. To late he activated an escape ability that tried to teleport him away only for it to move himself and Pandora through the Multitude to his residence on the home planet of his Sector within the Multitude. Pandora watched dispassionately as Chaos invaded Lord Kersor slowly eating away at his flesh as he began to scream. What he was going through looked agonizing. Intuitively, Pandora knew that the process wouldn¡¯t stop until all of Lord Kersor had been converted to Primal Chaos. Pandora edited the screams out of her perception and looked around. She was in a metallic room with a glass door. The rest of the area seemed to be isolated from this room, so she made her way to the door and left Lord Kersor to die in agonizing pain. The Primal Chaos wasn¡¯t even converting him, it was simply eating him slowly and seemed to be converting him into nothing. Right now, she wished she understood as much about physics as her father because she¡¯d love to know what was happening to him. The glass door opened easily from the inside. Pandora found herself stepping into a large room with a king-sized bed` and three doors. One led to a washroom, the other to a Balcony, and the third to another room. She let the door close behind her and judged that it was going to be a while before Lord Kersor would be truly dead as he was currently lying on the ground thrashing around as the hole in his head continued to expand. Pandora was pretty sure that he¡¯d stop moving as soon as the process started to eat away at his brain. Was she becoming heartless? No. She just believed that this Lord Kersor, who¡¯d been willing to kill her, wasn¡¯t worth losing sleep over. She redirected her attention back to the room she was in and headed toward the balcony door. As she opened and stepped out into the twilight light of a setting sun, she could hear the hustle and bustle of traffic both above and below her. She was in a tall building of some kind overlooking a city below her. The buildings looked like other buildings she¡¯d seen but they looked more high-tech and newer, and the air was clean, which her mother¡¯s memories of her father explaining that meant it was probably post-industrial, whatever that meant. Additionally, she could no longer hear Lord Kersor screaming. Pandora made her way back inside and looked into the glass room to see a blob of chaos where his head had been which was now quickly growing to encompass his whole body. Pandora, go touch the blob, we need to absorb it into ourselves, Caspa said directly into Pandora¡¯s mind. I was worried, are you okay, you¡¯ve been quiet since the end of the Classification. Pandora said. More like unconscious, whatever the Classification was, stripped me of all my levels, which I didn¡¯t think was possible, though we both still seem to have our attributes. Anyway, touch the blob, and I¡¯ll do the rest. Caspa sent. Okay, Pandora said as she moved into the room and reached out and touched the blob which immediately became part of her body and disappeared. A moment later a Notification popped up. Planetary Announcement An Elite has been conquered. Lord Kersor has been defeated. All holdings, Properties, and Contribution Points owned by Lord Kersor are now held by Lady Pandora. Strength Through Dominance! Planetary Announcement? Why did there need to be a Planetary Announcement? A moment later the third door burst open as someone clad in full body armor burst into the room, saw her, and fired their weapon at her. It almost felt like a scene out of an anime as individual after individual tried to attack Pandora, only to have their attack absorbed and a moment later to be dead on the floor. After the fourth attacker, Pandora utilized one of her abilities she didn¡¯t utilize very often, and shadow stepped into the Plane of Shadow to take a breather so she could catch up on her notifications. Congratulations You have defeated a Level 9 Sector Lord. Contribution Points Awarded directly to you based on Sector Lord Level halved, 22.5 billion Contribution Points Congratulations! You have become the Sector Lord for Kersor Sector! Contribution Points required to increase Sector Lord (Lady) from Rank 0 to Rank 1, 1 billion Contribution Points Current Sector Contribution Point Reserve 9,750,458,323 Contribution Points. Net Contribution Point income per hour: 11 Estimated Time to reach 10 billion Contribution Point threshold set by previous Sector Lord at current rate income rate: 2,589.68 years. Pandora read the information, then read it again, and pulled up her current Contribution Points. She had, 22,667,131,063 Contribution Points, though she had no idea what to do with that many. She knew she needed to get back to a Contribution Market, maybe she could figure things out there. Pandora made her way through the building she was in while still in the Shadow Plane and made it to the ground level before she exited onto a street and started following the foot traffic. Eventually, she came to an area with many people congregating around various tables. Each table had a crystal in the center of it with monitors facing each chair. They each seemed to be hunched over and looking at a screen. She found a secluded shadow around the corner from the shop and made her way into a building that was filled with people from all types of backgrounds. She did get the odd stare but soon the people lost interest and she was able to find a table and sit down. She looked around to see that everyone else was engrossed in whatever they were looking at. No one was paying attention to her. Pandora reached out and touched the monitor before her. It seemed that the monitors were tied to the Collaboration Market in some way. Welcome Lady Pandora. Note you are still undergoing your Trial for Supremacy, yet you are also a Sector Lord. Inquiry Elevated. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Please wait, someone will be with you shortly. Pandora looked around and noted where the largest shadow she could flee through was as she heard a soft ¡°pop¡± and the air shifted beside her. Before her, a human-looking woman with golden skin, and blue eyes wearing a very distinctive white two-piece suit with silver stripes on the sleeves and front appeared. Pandora wasn¡¯t overly concerned until she noticed that everyone within visual range of her appearance had stopped moving and was going out of their way to be very still and not move, speak, and in some cases even breathe. ¡°Lady Pandora, I am Recorder Qamar. It would seem that you are currently both exactly where you should be and out of place. If you would come with me, we will get this sorted out.¡± ¡°Are you going to try to kill me also?¡± Pandora asked directly. ¡°Heavens no! I should also point out that while you are with me you are officially detained by the Multitude which means that any that try to attack you must first deal with the Multitude¡¯s response to interference. Usually, individuals who do so are not seen again. While you are with me and under review you will be perfectly safe. ¡°Very well, I will go with you,¡± Pandora said, as she stood. A moment later they both appeared in a room with a single desk and a huge window behind them that looked out into space and down on a planet below them. Welcome to your Administrator Station in orbit around the planet you were just on. This is the Sector Lord¡¯s office, now your office,¡± Recorder Qamar said as she led Pandora over to a table that had four chairs around it and took a seat. Pandora also took a seat as a sliding door swished open. A Man in a black suit stepped through, noticed the Recorder and Pandora, and then addressed the Recorder. ¡°Recorder Qamar, how may I serve?¡± ¡°If you would bring some refreshments and snacks that would be wonderful. Lady Pandora and I have a lot to discuss,¡± Recorder Qamar answered with a smile. ¡°Of course. As you wish, I will be right back,¡± the man said then hurried back out of the room. ¡°Who was that?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°That would be your Administrator. I¡¯ll let him introduce himself later. For now, while we wait would you mind if I read your memories? It will be the quickest way for me to determine what questions I need to ask,¡± Recorder Qamar asked. ¡°Feel free, but be warned, I share my consciousness with another entity. The last mentalist that tried to attack us, let¡¯s just say it didn¡¯t go well for them,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Of course, I¡¯ll just be reading your memories. Does this entity have a name in case I encounter her while I¡¯m in your mind?¡± ¡°Caspa, though she¡¯ll probably just keep to herself since you asked if you could read my memories and I said yes,¡± Pandora said. Recorder Qamar pulled out a blue crystal and placed it on the table, ¡°If you would touch the crystal it will allow the transfer of your memories into me as well as create a copy for future review?¡± Pandora reached out and touched the crystal and Recorder Qamar did. She felt as if part of her was being drawn into the crystal, but the process was neither painful nor overbearing. Less than a minute later Recorder Qamar withdrew her hand as she said, ¡°You may withdraw your hand, I have the memories I needed.¡± ¡°What did you learn?¡± Pandora asked as she withdrew her hand. ¡°That you are very young and quite unique,¡± Recorder Qamar said, ¡°Also, the fact that you survived the use of an Eradication Orb against you, that alone speaks volumes.¡± ¡°So, you reviewed my life, did I break some rule of the Multitudes, are you going to try to kill me now?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°The Multitude does not destroy anyone, needlessly. My purpose is to determine where you should be right now. You are both a Sector Lord and the owner of a small town in a different Sector that is undergoing a Trial for Supremacy. Technically, you can not be both. As a Sector Lord you cannot directly interfere in a Trial of Supremacy, which your predecessor was obviously doing. Additionally, my purpose was to determine how the previous Sector Lord was beaten and if you were deserving of the rank of Sector Lord. The evidence shows that you were simply defending yourself against a banned weapon. Also, you bested him with one of your abilities which shows that the Rank was earned through Strength. Yes, you earned the Rank of Sector Lord. Still, you are ill-prepared for the responsibilities of a Sector Lord and as you¡¯ve seen, others will try to wrest the rank from you.¡± Recorder Qamar said as she paused for a moment before she asked, ¡°If you could have anything, what would you desire right this moment?¡± ¡°That¡¯s easy, my friends and family all back under one roof, or at least in the same area. I do have one question, what happened to the little town I took over before Lord Kersor showed up.¡± ¡°Let me check something,¡± Recorder Qamar said as she pulled out a purple crystal and held it. A few moments later she looked up, ¡°I have been able to locate everyone on your original team. The other five members of your part, Callum, Pythias, Cedrik, Asling, and Robert were all added to the same Trial of Supremacy you were. Your Mother did quite well during her Classification and was diverted to a Trial of Supremacy that had been going on for some time. Currently, she holds domain over a planet in a sector that is at war with another Sector as they vie for resources. Sometimes the multitude likes to shake things up for a Sector Lord and make them work to maintain their holdings. In this case, your mother is a thorn in the side of one of those Sector Lords that, let¡¯s just say, The Multitude does not like certain activities, and she is the corrective measure that was taken. Also, your mom is quite ruthless when it comes to pure survival,¡± Recorder Qamar said. ¡°And the others?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°As for your grandmother and grandfather, both withdrew from the Classification early on and joined the same Trial for Supremacy you did, they¡¯re just on another planet. They¡¯re working in a city earning Contribution Points and pretty much keeping to themselves. Abi and Amanda seem to have a knack for Administration and have been recruited for those duties and are being trained in what those duties entail in the Multitude. Desirae and Clarence are doing what they do best, killing things. It should go without saying that in every comparison your mother and father¡¯s friends outclass anyone near them, as do you. Unlike your friends that were part of your adventures on the Dungeon World, I saw in your memories.¡± ¡°What are my party members doing?¡± ¡°None of them lasted as long as you did, during the Classification. They all did respectably though so they were added to various forces around the various planets. They¡¯re still acclimating to their new situation, though none of them are together.¡± ¡°Why does the Multitude, separate everyone?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°During a Unification, Classification, and Trial for Supremacy, the Multitude wants to make sure no one has an unfair Advantage,¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because ultimately you can only rely on yourself, and everyone is being prepared for something that threatens us all,¡± Recorder Qamar said. ¡°Is there any way to bring everyone together?¡± ¡°Actually, for you, there is a way for you to bring the members of your party together. As none of them show any unfair advantage and they all performed on average or worse they can be transferred either by request or by choice, it just cost Contribution Points. ¡°How much?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°For you, not much, just one million Contribution Points. This is where the problems starts. You can bring all your friends together, no issue. They just can¡¯t come to this sector. So, you can transfer them to the town you claimed. Once they¡¯re all there, you can give up your Rank as a Sector Lord and return to the town as well, or you can designate one of them as your successor as you become a sponsor for that town. I should warn you, that once you become a sponsor you will no longer be able to directly influence what happens there. Additionally, you will not be able to physically visit the Sector until the Trial for Supremacy there is over,¡± Recorder Qamar explained. ¡°How long will that be?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°At least a thousand years, probably closer to 1,500 years. From now.¡± ¡°Will any of us even live that long?¡± ¡°Absolutely. Contribution Points can be utilized to add years of life and youthfulness. The war is never-ending after all. The Multitude wouldn¡¯t want those that it makes work so hard to improve to just up and die of old age, though living forever is not free.¡± ¡°Okay, so they could live that long, and we could see each other again. While they participate in this Trial for Supremacy what will I be doing?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°As a Sector Lord, it¡¯s your responsibility to make sure your Sector remains stable and continues to produce weapons, resources, and personnel for the war effort. This is done by continuing to compete for resources on the fringe of the Multitude. Lord Kersor was a very efficient Lord in this regard. Some Sector Lords do not make sure their Empires have a positive production of Collaboration Points and count on their exploits in the fringe to earn enough to keep them afloat. Others make sure that the empire generates so much that the people are abused and used only for the Collaboration Points they earn. Lord Kersor paid his people fairly and ensured that while he was able to save up Collaboration Points in the Reserve to improve his Sector Lord Rank while also improving his empire.¡± Pandora interrupted the Recorder, ¡°How much does it cost to increase my Sector Lord Rank from 0 to Rank 1?¡± Just then the Administrator re-entered the room with a rolling tray with drinks and snacks. There was a pitcher of water and glasses with ice in them as well as other beverages and glasses. It looked like there were juices as well as something that smelled a lot like coffee. ¡°Thank you,¡± Pandora said as the Administrator placed a glass of ice in front of both the Recorder and her and then poured some water into each. He then put a tray of cheese, crackers, and sliced meats on the table between them and left with the cart. Both took the time to have a drink, Pandora made herself a cup of coffee. Then she sampled some food as they both sat back to continue their conversation. Picking up where they¡¯d left off, the Recorder began answering her question, ¡°Sector Ranks are the most expensive Ranks. Lord Kersor was Rank 9 and wasn¡¯t far from getting Rank 10. In fact, had his plan worked with that village he probably would have earned enough Contribution Points to get the 10 billion Contribution Points he needed for Rank 10. To answer your question, it cost 1 billion Contribution Points multiplied by the new Rank. You are Rank 0 right now, to rise to Rank 1 will cost one billion Contribution Points. Rank 2 will cost two billion and so on.¡± ¡°What about classes and abilities?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°It depends on the Class or ability but usually 1,000 multiplied by the new level. ¡°That seems expensive?¡± Pandora commented. ¡°Leadership Ranks are expensive because they¡¯re supposed to be ranks that represent your ability to lead people. The Multitude decided long ago that the best way to do that was to make the cost so high that it would require those following that path of a Leader would need to have followers and to invest their Contribution into their Sector to be able to improve those ranks. It seems counterintuitive but one of the fundamental truths discovered long ago was that the more you invest in others, the more you¡¯ll see in return. The Multitude geared its Contribution Point Cost for Leader Ranks on that philosophy. Combat classes, titles, and ranks are cheaper. They also have attributes and Quintessence pre-requisites in most cases,¡± Recorder Qamar said. ¡°So, the Contribution Points I currently have, you¡¯re saying I should invest them into my Sector Lord Rank? ¡°Not at all. There are benefits that each Rank grants but there are many Sectors with Lords and Ladies that choose to utilize their Contribution Points for personal gains and still run their Sectors adequately or hire others to do so. Those individuals are usually directly involved in earning Contribution Points for the Sector though.¡± ¡°So how much would it be to bring the five members of my part together in Callum¡¯s Haven?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Negligible. Only one million per team member so 5 million Contribution Points.¡± ¡°Very well, do it, and charge me please,¡± Pandora said with very little thought involved. ¡°I should note that any Vassals they acquired will be left behind?¡± ¡°If they have vassals, I¡¯m sure they won¡¯t mind that giving them up is part of the price that had to be paid. Additionally, please transfer one million Contribution Points to each of them, from me. I want them to be able to equip themselves as they see fit. Additionally, please transfer One Billion Contribution Points to Callum¡¯s Haven¡¯s reserves,¡± Pandora said. I see that you are a woman that does not hesitate once she understands what she wants,¡± Recorder Qamar said as her eyes glazed over. A moment later she said, ¡°Done, and Done.¡± ¡°Thank you, the last step is of course to transfer my ownership to one of them. Please transfer Callum¡¯s Haven to Callum,¡± Pandora said. ¡°They must be good friends for you to give them each a million Contribution Points, after spending a million just to move them. Then to add A billion to the city reserve, true friends indeed,¡± Recorder Qamar said. ¡°It¡¯s the least I could do,¡± Pandora said and then asked, ¡°What now?¡± ¡°Now I suggest that you spend the Contribution Points you have on increasing your Sector Lord Rank or choose a class and start acquiring the Quintessence Abilities you need.¡± ¡°Any suggestions?¡± ¡°I am not allowed to guide your path, but I can say do what feels right for you and remember, Strength through Dominance. While we¡¯ve had a nice chat and I do believe I understand you better now, I must be going. Other people to see, and other problems to solve. Just go have a seat at your desk and pull up your information. There you will see how to spend Contribution Points. Also, you¡¯ll be able to increase your Sector Lord Rank. When you¡¯ve finished the Administrator should be able to help you with anything else you need. Good Luck Pandora.¡± ¡°Thank you and good luck to you,¡± Pandora said as the Recorder vanished from her seat. Pandora stood, walked over to her desk, and opened the monitor. In a moment she was looking at information about herself as it scrolled down the screen. *** Callum looked around. He¡¯d been walking out to the fields to work for the day when he¡¯d been teleported to wherever he was now. He was standing in the middle of a small-town square that didn¡¯t look to have too many buildings, much smaller than the town he¡¯d just been in in fact. Also, it was a bit cooler. Not unpleasant but definitely not in the tropics anymore. ¡°Callum,¡± a familiar voice called as he looked over and saw Cedrick, Pythias, Asling, and Robert all looking at him. He quickly scanned the area for Pandora. Of course, she was nowhere to be found. ¡°How¡¯s everyone doing?¡± Callum asked. ¡°Better, now that we¡¯re all together,¡± Robert said. ¡°Yeah,¡± Asling said, ¡°Though I definitely need to go back and find a certain someone that doesn¡¯t think ¡®No!¡¯ means No!,¡± she said angrily. ¡°No Pandora,¡± Robert asked. A floating metal ball rapidly left a nearby building and floated over to their group as it spoke, ¡°Lady Pandora has Transferred ownership of this town to Callum,¡± The eye quickly scanned the group and then zeroed in on Callum, ¡°Greetings Master Callum, I am Beatrix 17432Alpha, your town Administrator, how may I be of service?¡± Cedrick started laughing. Pythias also started chuckling, soon followed by Robert and then Asling. Callum looked at them as the feeling of laughter started to become overwhelming. Before he allowed himself to join in, he asked, ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡± ¡°I just love that girl,¡± Cedrick said. ¡°Every time something goes crazy she somehow finds a way to help us.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Callum asked. ¡°Look at your Notifications,¡± Cedrick said. Callum had minimized his notifications because they didn¡¯t make any sense anymore. They didn¡¯t follow any sort of system that he recognized. The only thing he knew was that he needed Collaboration Points to improve and that he had to work hard to earn them. He¡¯d begun to regret not selling the few vassals he¡¯d earned, but they did help him earn Contribution Points, but he also had to spend Contribution Points to feed and shelter them. Sure, he had a bigger pool of Contribution Points but he had to spend more to make sure they remained fed and healthy. Callum put that line of thought aside and opened his notifications. Pandora has transferred one million Contribution Points to you. Pandora has transferred ownership of the town of Callum¡¯s Haven to you, Current Contribution Point Reserve: 1,003,450,675. ¡°What the hell!¡± Callum exclaimed. ¡°Greetings, Again, Master Callum, I am Beatrix 17432Alpha. I am your Town Administrator, how may I help?¡± A thousand thoughts raced through Callum¡¯s head as the others continued to laugh before the urge overcame him and he joined in. He couldn¡¯t help himself, being around Pandora was just so chaotic, but he had to admit, fun at times as well. He laughed long and hard before all of them finally calmed down enough for Callum to look at the Administrator and said,¡± Beatrix 17432Alpha, it looks like the first thing we need to do is find a nice quiet place where you can inform me of exactly what being the Master of a Town means and also how we can spend our Contribution Points. Chapter 19, Born This Way Over the next eight months, Pandora had settled into her role as a Sector Lord. The first thing she did was change the name of the Sector to the Caspa Conglomerate. When this Trial for Supremacy was over her friends would be able to make their way to her and the name Caspa was also known to her mom and dad. Callum, Robert, Asling, Cedrik, and Pythias seemed to be doing well in Callum¡¯s Haven. She¡¯d also been able to get Grandma and Grandpa into Callum¡¯s Haven but the others had all been locked in by their masters and weren¡¯t easily released. Abi and Amanda had been particularly expensive at one billion contribution points apiece. It seemed both were very good at what they were doing and had been recognized as such. The same was true for Desirae and Clarence. Their masters had paid what could best be called an insurance fee to make sure that anyone trying to purchase them would have to pay an exorbitant amount of Contribution Points. While she could have afforded the price for the transfer she knew that utilizing the Sector¡¯s Contribution Points for them would leave the Sector weaker in other ways. Instead, she had held onto the funds and used only a small portion to purchase education courses that could downloaded directly into her mind so that she would be able to call on a knowledge base similar to her father. For one billion Contribution Points she¡¯d been able to purchase one thousand courses and she¡¯d been absorbing four per day for the last 250 days. There was a lot of information to take in so she¡¯d only downloaded 4 educational courses per day, one every 3 hours. Then she¡¯d rest or talk with Recorder Qamar. Pandora had spent an additional 100 million Contribution Points to hire Recorder Qamar to act as her Personal Assistant and liaison to the Administrator for the Sector whom she¡¯d only talked to once. Qamar had jumped at the chance after learning her history and had been very helpful in designing an educational plan that would bring her up to a level that would allow her to hold her own, at least educationally, against other Sector Lords. In fact, Qamar was trying to convince her one more time to spend some of the Sector¡¯s Contribution Points for her to purchase an Administrative Class for the Sector. ¡°But my Lady, you must prepare yourself to deal with the other Sector Lords when they invade,¡± Qamar said as she sat at the desk in her office and allowed her mind to absorb the fundamentals of intransigent Space and the Energy structures that could be utilized to break through. Pandora rubbed her temples as she said, ¡°I will not utilize the sector¡¯s stockpile of Collaboration Points for my personal gain any more than I already have. Since that hiccup in the Multitude just over three months ago I have invested most of the Contribution Points into making sure the Sector has a steady flow of basic necessities. We¡¯ve both been watching the Contribution Market. Prices have been getting crazy. We¡¯re making almost a 1,000% profit on our surplus and the economic courses you made me take at the beginning have really paid off. Putting some of that surplus directly back to the workers improved their morale and productivity which of course increased our profits even more.¡± ¡°Yes, but¡­¡± Qamar tried to interject. ¡°No Yes, but,¡± Pandora said. ¡°The Sector is doing fine. My friends are in a town that is well defended and as far as I¡¯ve been able to tell outside of the notice of those on the same planet as them that are trying to take control of the planet. Shoot even the Bear and her cubs that I ran into are doing well. Putting that satellite in geosynchronous orbit so I could keep an eye on my investment was a brilliant idea Qamar. ¡°Thank you, my Lady, but¡± Qamar tried again. ¡°No buts. We are doing just fine. Besides, today marks a milestone. I have finished the first thousand educational courses you told me I needed. It¡¯s time to get a few more under my belt. I can speak every language in the Sector now and have a firm grasp on the basics in many fields of study. For the next little bit, I¡¯d like to learn what my father knew about computers and programming. Please choose the courses that will help me in that field¡± Pandora said. ¡°As you wish. How far out would you like me to purchase your course for.¡± ¡°Feel free to purchase everything you think I need up to 100 million Contribution Points. After that we¡¯ll only purchase batches of training for a week, two at most,¡± Pandora said. ¡°As you wish,¡± Qamar said. ¡°I will be back within three hours with your next course for today.¡± When he was done speaking, Qamar vanished. ¡°Gotta love his enthusiasm,¡± Pandora said to no one in particular. Well, he hasn¡¯t been wrong yet, you have learned a lot over the last eight months, Caspa sent into her mind. You¡¯re right of course, Pandora sent back. Over the next 11 days, Pandora gained a new understanding of the world her father was a master in. Of course that didn¡¯t make it any more interesting. Programming was, in a word, boring. Still, it was a little interesting in its own way and she could see how programming and the way The Multitude ran had a lot of similarities. The other thing that was interesting was that no matter how many assembler languages there were, computer coding converted what the user wanted into something the machines could process. Pandora had recognized a lot of similarities between the course she had downloaded into her mind and a memory of an explanation her father had given to her mother concerning a computer language the humans of Earth had referred to as Binary. The Multitude referred to it as Trey because there were three states in the language, positive, negative, and null. Regardless, what she¡¯d learned from the course she¡¯d absorbed seemed to match what her father had told her mom so it seemed that there were a lot of similarities between what Earth had created and what the Multitude currently had. That in itself was quite interesting. Pandora was jarred out of her thoughts when message prompts bypassed her settings and appeared in her vision Unregistered and Incompatible System Interface Removed. Conversion to the System Standard is Underway. Please be patient. Pandora tried to look around and found that she was frozen in place. She tried to pull up her Status Screen but was unable to do so. Caspa! Caspa! What¡¯s happening, Pandora sent through their mental link. I don¡¯t know, everything is weird. Your attributes are shifting but your abilities seem to be unaffected. No, they¡¯re not shifting, new attributes are being added. Also, it looks like both of our attributes are stabilizing at 3,076, except for a new attribute called Chaos, which is 33,825, Caspa sent. What attributes do I have now, Pandora asked. There was a pause then Caspa sent, You now have 12 primary attributes; Strength, Agility, Dexterity, Endurance, Constitution, Perception, Intelligence, Wisdom, Willpower, Charisma, Luck, and Chaos. How about my Hit Points and such? Pandora asked. Right now you have 924 Hit Points and 30,760 Stamina and Mana. You have other attributes as well. Both of us have exactly the same attributes now, it¡¯s really weird. Additionally, the numbers seem to be fading in and out. I¡¯m not sure what that means, Caspa sent. Don¡¯t worry about it, I¡¯m sure we''ll figure out what¡¯s going on in a minute, just piggyback my senses so you can see what¡¯s happening too. I am, Caspa answered. Suddenly, Pandora felt like she was being scanned. She felt like her whole body was scanned then realized the scan went much deeper than that as she felt the scan enter her mind and even seemed to take notice of Caspa. It felt like invisible hands reached in, picked up the various parts of her psychic and mentality, looked them over, and then put them back. Then, whatever was doing the scan focused on her mind and reached in and reviewed all of her memories. A moment later a portal, was called forth, opened and an invisible force reached through grabbed her, and pulled her into the portal. Once through the portal, it closed and she found herself in a 10-foot cube box with white walls on all sides, save one, which was transparent. As she looked out she could see millions of other boxes across from her, all with someone or something inside them. Just as she was about to try to do something a new message appeared in her vision Conversion Complete. Please review any changes. When you are done physically touch the accept button on this window and the next phase of your existence will begin. Conversion, what conversion? Pandora decided now would be a good time to see what her conversion consisted of and tried to pull up her Status Screen again. Name: Pandora Race: Half-Dragon/Half-Creature of Chaos (Human Doppelganger) Class: Age: 2 Weight: 130 Birthday, July 15th, 2031 Soul Core (Combined, Pandora/Caspa): 2 Racial Abilities ¡°Creature of Chaos¡± - Your body has been inundated with Chaos. During this process, your will was strong enough to hold your core identity together and permanent changes were made to your body. You May now enter and exit Chaos at will 100% resistant to any further changes. ¡°Chaos Symbiote¡± ¨C During your travel through Primal Chaos, a Symbiote attached itself to you. While you do not control the Chaos Symbiote it will react to strong emotions. The Symbiote does not gain experience instead reducing XP gain by 50%. NOTE: As a Creature of Chaos, the symbiote is maintained by your inherent nature, no experience is lost. Once your level is equal to or higher level than the host the Symbiote may be removed safely. NOTE: ERROR The Chaos Symbiote cannot be removed. If the symbiote is removed before this point the host has a 1% chance per level below the symbiote of instantaneous death. ¡°Shape Change, Shadow Dragon¡± - This ability allows you to assume the shape of a Shadow Dragon. Cost 500 mana to change to Dragon Form or to Change to Human Form. There is no duration. As a Shadow Dragon, you may utilize Claw, Bite, and Tail attacks as well as Breath of cone of Shadow that will temporarily open a portal into the Shadow Plane knocking anyone within its area of effect to be transferred into the Shadow Plane. As a Shadow Dragon you may enter or exit the Shadow Plane one per turn at will through any shadow you can fit through. In the Shadow Plane, all physical attacks by you do double damage. In full sunlight, all attack damage by you is halved. All damage from light and fire against you is doubled These negatives only apply while in dragon form. This Ability increases Strength and Endurance by 1 tenth of your Basic Hits in dragon form. You also regenerate health at a rate of 1/2 your level rounded down per second in addition to any normal healing you might have while within Shadows Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Creature of Chaos Symbiote Racial Ability ¨C ¡°Amalgamate¡± Amalgamate - In times of stress, you may try to completely absorb another creature. Doing so costs 99% of your remaining mana. During the Amalgamation, a contest of Wills begins. Your chance of success is equal to your Willpower multiplied by 1000% due to your ability "Creature of Chaos". Should you win the contest of wills the mentality of the creature is absorbed while the spark of will the memories contain is snuffed out. Should you lose the same may happen to you. Creature of Chaos Racial Ability - ¡°Absorb¡± Secondary abilities. Absorb: Magic - Absorb Magic allows you to absorb magic of any kind. So long as you are aware of the magic and willfully accept the magic into your body any magical spell, barrier, or effect may be absorbed. A new attribute has been added to your Personal Information; ¡°Magic Levels Absorbed¡± This attribute can never be greater than your willpower attribute or lower than zero. Magic absorbed is absorbed as spell levels. The number of spell levels absorbed is determined by the spell level of the magic absorbed. For example, A level 10 fireball provides 10 Magic Levels Absorbed. These spell levels are used for several different abilities. At level 10 you may choose one ability listed below Absorb: Heal Self/Temporary Hit Point Bonus - The spell levels absorbed may replenish 3 hit points per spell level absorbed. Absorbed levels converted to hit points that go above your maximum hit points provide bonus hit points that fade away at the end of the next combat round. All damage taken during that time is taken by the bonus hit points first. You may only absorb a number of spell levels equal to your willpower from any single source once per combat round. NOTE: This ability does NOT utilize the new ¡°Magic Levels Absorbed¡± trait. Spell levels are absorbed and immediately converted to hit points then temporary hit points once per combat round. Absorb: Heal Other/Temporary Hit Point Bonus - The spell levels absorbed may replenish 2 hit points per spell level absorbed. Absorbed levels converted to hit points that go above the target¡¯s maximum hit points provide bonus hit points that fade away at the end of the next combat round. All damage during that time is taken by the bonus hit points first. (May not be used on self). Spell levels absorbed to heal others do utilize the same absorbed spell levels pool as all other abilities described here. Absorb: Melee Combat Damage Bonus - The spell levels absorbed may be added as a damage bonus to any physical attack you make. The points must be added before the attack is made and only add one point of damage per Magic Levels Absorbed spent. Once spent Magic Level Absorbed points are gone even if the attack misses. Absorb: Cast Spell - The spell energy absorbed may be utilized to cast spells of an equal level or lower at no mana cost. Each spell cast utilizes a number of Magic Levels Absorbed equal to the spell level to be cast. Absorb: Burst of Speed - The Magic Levels Absorbed may be utilized to increase movement speed by one Foot Per Second per Magic Levels Absorbed point spent. This may only be utilized once per combat round. Absorb: Items - at a cost of 33 mana per pound Pandora can absorb any item she is touching and convert it into Magic levels Absorb. Each pound grants One Magic Level Absorbed. NOTE: If an attempt to absorb an item fails due to not having space in the Magic Levels Absorbed attribute, damage equal to the total Magic Levels Absorbed that could have been provided multiplied by 3 occurs in a 10-foot-diameter centered on the object. From 10-20 foot diameter one-half damage. From 20 -30 foot diameter one-quarter damage. Absorb: Magic Items - at a cost of 99 mana per pound, Pandora can absorb any item she is touching and convert it into Magic Levels Absorbed. Each pound grants one Magic Level Absorbed. Additionally, any charges the item might carry also grant one Magic level Absorbed. NOTE: If an attempt to absorb a magical item fails due to not having space in the Magic Levels Absorbed attribute, damage equal to the total Magic Levels Absorbed that could have been provided multiplied by 3 occurs in a 10-foot-diameter centered on the object. From 10-20 foot diameter one-half damage. From 20 -30 foot diameter one-quarter damage. Absorb: Memories - for 33 Mana you may absorb the surface memories from the target. This will include everything the target has seen and witnessed within the last hours. How far you can copy memories from the target into the past can be extended at a rate of 33 mana for each additional hour so long as contact is maintained with the target. Also, memories can be reviewed at the time the ability is used or the ability can be used and the memories can be reviewed later. Memories reviewed are permanent and fade with time, as all memories do. Absorb: Skills - for 33 mana per skill level, you may absorb a skill and utilize it as if it were your own. If you cannot spend enough mana to capture the skill the skill will remain available for a number of combat turns equal to the mana spent divided by 33. For instance, if the Skill were level 11 and only 330 mana were spent, the Skill would be available for 10 combat turns after use and then disappear. This ability cannot be channeled. To capture a skill the entire skill must be captured at once. If successful the target must make Willpower savings throw against a target equal to the mana spent or fall unconscious due to neural shock. They will remain unresponsive for a number of turns equal to the level of skill that was removed. Absorb: Material Properties - For 99 mana per 100 pounds (Rounded up) of Pandora, so 198 mana in human form or 2058 mana in dragon form Pandora can take on the physical properties of any substance she is touching, including Air. This transformation can be maintained at a cost of 33 mana per additional combat round. All bonuses and weaknesses of the material become true for Pandora while she takes on the property of the substance. Absorb: Ambient Energy - At a cost of 33 Mana you may absorb energy from the surrounding area and become fully hydrated and fed. This ability is not noticeable and does not affect the immediate surroundings. This ability only needs to be utilized once every 12 hours to remain fully fed and hydrated. There is no limit to how many times this ability can be used. Absorb: Kinetic Energy - Kinetic Energy may be absorbed and converted into Magic Levels Absorbed (MLA). 33 Mana to activate ability and 33 Mana per object¡¯s kinetic energy that is absorbed. Every object that strikes has all momentum sucked out of the object. Melee weapons or projectiles will all come to a dead stop. The number of MLA absorbed is equal to the speed of the object in Miles per hour divided by 10. Objects traveling less than 10 miles per hour are automatically stopped as long as 33 Mana is spent per object. Note: This Ability can be utilized to absorb falling Damage. Absorb: Mana Conversion - MLA can now be converted into Mana at a rate of 1 MLA for 33 Mana. Permanently Absorbed Abilities ¡°Telepathy¡± - You may make a mental link with any creature you can see or any creature that carries a focusing object you have created for that purpose. This ability allows for both verbal and full sensory communication if that is desired. Additionally, this ability can serve as a vehicle for other mental or spell-based attacked ¡°Ambidextrous¡± - You may make attacks from any limb as if it were your dominant hand. You do not receive an off-hand penalty when attacking with a weapon in each hand. Attributes Strength 3076 Agility 3076 Dexterity 3076 Endurance 3076 Constitution 3076 Perception 3076 Intelligence 3076 Wisdom 3076 Willpower 3076 Charisma 3076 Luck 3076 Chaos 33,825 Karmic Luck 0 Primary Stats Carrying Capacity 19,994 lbs (9,069 kg) Hit Points: 924 Base Health Regeneration 1 per second Stamina 30,760 Base Stamina Regeneration 154 per second Mana: 30,760 Base Mana Regeneration 32 per second Movement Normal Running Speed: 39mph, 57fps Standing high Jump: 4 feet Note. Falling Damage is not mitigated by maximum jumping Distance. Base Attack Unarmed Base Attack: 4 Max Damage: 1538 Critical Damage Maximum Damage x2 Skills: None Pandora reviewed the information and then found the tabs for her combined form with Caspa and her Dragon form. Her attributes increased to 6,152 each with her Chaos Attribute increasing to 67,650. The only major difference. In her human form, she had 1,848 hit points. In her Dragon form, she had 25,872 and she could fly. Damn, she could fly fast. Her ground speed was only 70 miles per hour but if she had some space she could fly incredibly fast, which made no sense with everything she knew about aerodynamics now. Her flight must be magic-based then. Her Stamina and Mana were both at 61,520. Additionally, her Hit Point Generation was still only 1 point per second in each form. Her Stamina regeneration was 308 while her mana regeneration was 63. So her dragon form was still pretty powerful and her absorption secondary abilities were still quite versatile and powerful. Pandora closed her Status Screen by hitting the ¡°Accept¡± button and looked out to see others near her doing the same. Just as she was about to try to talk to someone else a series of prompts appeared. Welcome to the System. Individuals acquired from the Multitude have had the subversive System edits removed. This includes all titles and adjustments. Attributes have been awarded in a range of 1 ¨C 10. Where 1 is the lowest and 10 is the highest for a normal member of your species. A 5 in all attributes would indicate that you are a completely average individual. Abilities, if any, will be adjusted to System standards. Please review these abilities in your Status screen and review any changes. Some abilities may not work as they did before. Everyone¡¯s Class has been removed, as have all Class abilities associated with that Class. You will need to choose a new class and begin progression to earn abilities again. Finally, you may choose your starting location. Each individual will be given three choices based on your initial scan and attributes, you must choose within 60 seconds or one of the locations will be randomly chosen for you. The Three locations you can choose from are: Dungeon World Labyrinth Entrance Random World has just been incorporated into the System. Pandora looked over the choices and chose to go with a Random World that had just been incorporated into the System. You have chosen to transfer to a Random World recently incorporated into the System. Chaos Attribute Noted Chaos Attribute is larger than your Luck Attribute. Randomization commencing. Randomization finalized. Temporal Restrictions lifted System Restrictions lifted. Transfer commencing Pandora watched as a black portal opened before her and stayed dark for a long time before a small dot of white light started as a pinpoint in the center of the portal and widened. She had the distinct impression that she was falling toward whatever was on the other side of the portal. Ironically, this is exactly what happened when an unknown force picked her up and transferred her through the portal. In a moment she found herself standing on the corner of a busy intersection with humans all around her and buildings that reached up into the sky all around her. As the portal closed behind her she realized all the signs nearby were written in English. A moment later she heard a gasp of shock and looked to see a woman looking at her with a hand over her mouth. At that moment she looked at everyone looking at her, then looked down at herself and realized that was naked. Butt ass naked on a new world, well she had been born this way once, why not a second time? Chapter 20, Property? Pandora looked at everyone around her and tried to gauge how they¡¯d respond. She was naked on the busy street corner of a city. Just then a young boy with an older man, probably his father whispered, ¡°Dad, she so pretty.¡± ¡°Shh sun, she¡¯s also naked. Did you see where she came from?¡± his father asked. ¡°Nuh-uh,¡± the boy said. ¡°I did, I did,¡± a little girl about 20 feet away said. ¡°I did as well,¡± an older woman said.¡± She came out of a hole in the world.¡± ¡°A hole in the world? You¡¯re daft!¡± a middle-aged gentleman said. ¡°No, I saw, she came out of a hole that disappeared, like magic,¡± the little girl said. ¡°A younger man, probably in his mid-twenties rushed toward Pandora as he took off his jacket while he maintained eye contact, ¡°Excuse me, Miss. Can you understand me? Would you like this coat to cover yourself?¡± Pandora was looking around and listening to every talk. Her mother¡¯s memories identified the language as English so she could follow along with what people were saying. Her attention was drawn to the man holding his coat out to her as she nodded accepted his coat and covered herself. It seemed like it was a chilly day out, but it didn¡¯t seem to bother her. ¡°That¡¯s better, how about we get you into the delicatessen over here and get a warm cup of coffee or hot chocolate?¡± he asked as he looked over his shoulder to a man who turned away and stepped into a nearby building. Pandora nodded again as she allowed herself to be led into a small shop to a table away from any windows. ¡°Ralph, can I get two coffees and one hot chocolate for the lady and myself?¡± ¡°Sure, thing Mr. Carpenter,¡± Ralph answered from behind the counter. Mr. Carpenter helped Pandora into her seat and then sat across from her. After a moment he introduced himself, ¡°My name¡¯s Michael, my friends call me Mike while those that know my status call me Mr. Carpenter like Ralph over there. What should I call you?¡± Pandora smiled and then said, ¡°My name is Pandora, it¡¯s nice to meet you, Michael. Where exactly am I?¡± ¡°You¡¯re in the city of Cambridge?¡± ¡°Cambridge?¡± Pandora asked questioningly. ¡°What country am I in?¡± ¡°You seriously don¡¯t know? This is The Empire,¡± Michael said. ¡°And the Capital of this Empire?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Why, Rome, of course.¡± ¡°What about the United States or the Soviet Union, do either of these names mean anything to you?¡± Truth be told, they didn¡¯t mean much to Pandora either. She didn¡¯t have her dad¡¯s memory. She just knew that both had been countries that had been around for a while. ¡°The Colonies never adopted that hogwash and the Republic¡¯s ideas of becoming a thorn in the Empire¡¯s side died when their leadership did. The Empire has known nothing of large-scale war for hundreds of years. We only learn about those two countries in our history classes as examples of why The Empire is so great. Why do you ask?¡± Pandora thought about how to answer his question and decided a little truth couldn¡¯t hurt, ¡°I have almost no memories of this place. The only concepts that I seemed to remember were The United States and The Soviet Union.¡± ¡°You could have temporary memory loss. If that¡¯s the case something you were reading or looking at could have left the biggest impression. Honestly, that¡¯s a good sign. It means your memories are there, you just don¡¯t have access to them. I should warn you though, in most cases such amnesia comes on due to trauma.¡± ¡°Trauma?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°You did appear naked on a city street. There¡¯s a very good possibility that someone was done to you,¡± Michael said. ¡°How would I know?¡± Pandora asked. Just then Ralph brought up three cups and placed two on the table, ¡°Two coffees and who is the hot chocolate for?¡± Michael pointed at Pandora, ¡°For the lady please.¡± Ralph placed the hot chocolate in front of her as he said, ¡°Here you go,¡± and then turned and went back to his place behind the counter. Pandora picked up the Hot Chocolate and took a drink. It was a bit warm but good. She took a few more big swallows before she noticed the look on Michael''s face. Michael had a flabbergasted look on his face as he whispered, ¡°Careful, it¡¯s hot.¡± Pandora realized that she might have shown one of her strengths but decided against reacting to the slip. Instead, she continued to drink her hot chocolate as if it was at a normal temperature as she said, ¡°It¡¯s really good.¡± ¡°I can see that. You didn¡¯t burn your tongue did you?¡± Michael asked. ¡°No, I¡¯m fine,¡± Pandora said as she slowed down and sipped her hot chocolate. Michael looked uncomfortable as he changed topics and said, ¡°As I was saying before, it seems obvious that you have endured some form of trauma. Our law enforcement has already been called and they should be here in a few minutes. When they get here they¡¯re probably going to escort you to a hospital where they can examine you and make sure no one has violated you as well as check to see if you have any head trauma.¡± ¡°That¡¯s really not necessary,¡± Pandora started to say but Michael interrupted her. ¡°Pandora, you showed up naked in the middle of a street. No one saw you before and then you were just suddenly there and naked as well. At the very least Law Enforcement is going to want to sit down and talk to you about that but first, because you¡¯re a young woman there are tests that they¡¯ll need to run to make sure you really are okay. They¡¯re for your benefit, as much as they¡¯re for the police,¡± Michael explained. ¡°What will happen to me after the tests are done? Pandora asked. ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t know. As pretty as you are, there¡¯s probably a rich family out there somewhere looking for you. As soon as your picture goes out, I¡¯m sure someone will know who you are and where you¡¯re supposed to be.¡± Pandora nodded agreeably though she knew what he said was probably not accurate. Still, she needed more information about this world. Things didn¡¯t seem like what she knew or what her mother remembered. Her mother had never talked about an empire or mentioned one from her father¡¯s world. If she ever made it back she was going to have to take some history courses. Pandora finished her hot chocolate and then started sipping her coffee until a blue and white car pulled up and parked on the curb. ¡°Looks like they¡¯re here Pandora. Please don¡¯t resist and they¡¯ll help you find exactly where you need to be.¡± Pandora smiled at Michael and nodded. A moment later a man and woman in what resembled a police uniform from her father¡¯s world, with some slight variations to it, walked into the delicatessen and approached them. ¡°Michael Carpenter?¡± the male police officer asked as he looked at Michael. ¡°That¡¯s me, officer,¡± Michael answered. ¡°Have you had any issues with the young lady?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like that Officer; I believe she may be suffering from amnesia or trauma to her head. I believe foul play may have also been involved.¡± ¡°I see,¡± the male officer said as he looked at his female counterpart and nodded. The female officer stepped forward and looked into Pandora¡¯s eyes as she asked, ¡°Excuse me miss, do you know your name?¡± ¡°Yes officer, my name is Pandora.¡± ¡°Has anyone hurt you? Do you know how you ended up on the corner naked?¡± the female officer asked. ¡°No one hurt me, and I have no idea how I ended up in your corner naked,¡± Pandora said truthfully. The female officer turned to her male counterpart, ¡°While the color of her iris is unusual, her eyes were not dilated and she seems to know what was what. We should probably take her to the hospital for some tests. ¡°And after,¡± Michael asked. ¡°Are you establishing the first claim if no one steps forward Mr. Carpenter?¡± The Male officer asked. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°I am. Also, please send any expenses to my account.¡± ¡°What¡¯s a first claim? Is it some kind of slavery thing?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°It¡¯s not slavery,¡± Michael said. ¡°Women in our society do not have any rights without a strong man backing them. For instance, the female officer is free to do whatever she wishes, though she must answer to her Patron if she abuses the rights she¡¯s been given by him. This is true for all women within the Empire,¡± Michael said. Pandora simply nodded but to her, it just sounded like slavery to men. Michael must have noticed the look in Pandora¡¯s eyes because he added, ¡°Please go with the nice police officers. They¡¯ll take you to the hospital. Ensure nothing nefarious happened to you, perform some tests and when you¡¯re done you¡¯ll be escorted back to me.¡± Not having much choice, unless she wanted to get violent, Pandora thought, What do you think Caspa?¡± After a moment when Caspa didn¡¯t answer, Pandora tried to open her Status Screen and received her second surprise, Nothing Happened! She tried repeatedly as the officers escorted her to their vehicle and she followed them in a daze. Over the next fifteen minutes or so, Pandora lost track of time, she tried repeatedly to open her Status Screen or talk to Caspa. The officers kept breaking her concentration by asking her questions she had to answer about everything and everyone she¡¯d met that day. They¡¯d take turns finding new ways to ask her the same questions. It almost felt like they didn¡¯t believe her. She could feel Caspa¡¯s presence but she wasn¡¯t receiving any messages, mental or text, from her. What was going on? *** Michael Carpenter watched as Pandora was led to the police car and driven away. He¡¯d made sure to get both officers'' numbers off their badges, 927 and 928 respectively. It was just blind luck that he¡¯d been on the street when Pandora had appeared out of nowhere. He¡¯d seen the shimmer in the air and watched as her naked body had entered this world like something out of one of their fictional writer''s dreams. Then again, she was so beautiful that any of their models or superstars would have a hard time comparing. Blind luck that there hadn¡¯t been any others of his class on the street. As soon as everyone knew he was there they¡¯d stepped back and let him help her and make a claim if possible. When the hospital was finished he would know if she was pristine and untouched. If so, he would enjoy breaking her in. If she was claimed? Well, then whoever owned her would need to name their price. Michael Carpenter had not become one of the wealthiest men in the empire with his harem of beautiful women in the northernmost reaches of the empire by not being a bit ruthless. Of course, he wasn¡¯t going to act that way in front of his new conquest. Well, not until it was necessary, he thought with a sinister chuckle. *** Patrice Zimmerman didn¡¯t know what was going on. The woman in her Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine was on the plastic tray. She had slid into the eye and it had started to come on and then everything had stopped. The MRI had just shut down. The machine had been working fine until it had started to scan her. Then the machine and her computers had gone dead. What the hell was going on? ¡°Excuse me, can I come out now, it¡¯s kind of dark in here?¡± her patient called from the other room. Patrice stood, walked over to her open door, and walked up to the tray. She released the catch and pulled. The tray slid the woman out of the machine easily. Also, she could have sworn the patient was glowing faintly. When she tried to verify what she¡¯d seen, the glow was gone. ¡°Is there something the matter?¡± her patient asked. ¡°No, I thought I saw something. I guess we''ll have to do this test later. If you¡¯d sit, I¡¯ll help you down and we can take you back to the waiting room where the doctor will let you know what the results of the tests that did work say.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± her patient said as Patrice helped her stand and walked her down the hall to one of the rape victims waiting rooms. She was such a pretty thing too. Hopefully, the tests would come back negative. To be found and helped by Michael Carpenter. She could only dream of being added to his harem. As it was she was still paying off the debt her father had accrued putting her through school to become a medical technician. While the pay was good, it would be another 10 years before she was no longer in debt to her father and could accept a suitor that her father might not approve of. Otherwise, she¡¯d have to accept whoever her father found for her. Of course, she could stay single once her debt was paid off and her father released her but women who stayed single were usually doctors or politicians. Doctors had a lot of prestige and some autonomy. Everyone knew that the female politicians were just token politicians that the Empire tolerated to show how progressive it was. They were much freer in what they could and could not do but they were still women that had to put their needs and wants second to someone else. Patrice collected her thoughts as they reached the waiting room and she opened the door for her patient, who stepped inside and took a seat. She was pretty. That girl was probably going to take over as Michael Carpenter¡¯s first wife someday. What a story she¡¯d have to tell her friends then. Though, knowing her friends, they probably wouldn¡¯t believe her. *** Dr. Broyles, Deborah to her male colleagues, looked over the chart and the picture and couldn¡¯t believe what she was reading. The young woman had appeared naked on the corner of a busy street. No signs of physical trauma. No evidence of vaginal tampering. Most likely a virgin and spoken for by Michael Carpenter. Lucky girl, unless the rumors about Mr. Carpenter and his tastes were true. Dr. Broyles put those thoughts out of her mind. She¡¯d often wondered how women had been relegated to the roles they had in her society. The well-educated women almost always wondered this. They just didn¡¯t do it anywhere they could be overheard or anywhere they could offend the men in power. Besides, there wasn¡¯t anything she could do about it. The Empire had lasted for the last 3,000 years and it would probably last for another 3,000. Some women, like herself, could sacrifice family and become prominent respected members of society, though she was still a woman. Others would become powerful by tying themselves to a prominent man. Michael Carpenter''s First wife was such a woman. The majority, however, received the barest education and either worked menial jobs working off whatever debt they had personally accrued or helped to work off the debt of their sponsor, another way of saying ¡°Master¡± in this Master and Slave society. Dr. Broyles knew how lucky she had been to have a rich father who helped her pursue her dreams of becoming a doctor and remaining free of a sponsor. She wanted nothing to do with men, their protection, or the requirements she would have to submit herself to. Especially the childbearing part of such duties. The young woman before her would no doubt be sought after by Mr. Carpenter once he learned that her genome was pristine and that she was untouched. Dr. Broyles didn¡¯t know how many times she¡¯d seen men behave like rapid animals when they discovered something they just had to have. Be that something that brought them power, wealth, or a woman. If it was something they had to conquer, they had to have it. Dr. Broyles wanted nothing to do with that. She would continue to do her best and heal those who needed it and continue to bring honor to her family name because her father had given her this opportunity. Why? Because not all men were bad, her father was a prime example. In fact, a lot of her attitude had come from him. He believed that women should be treated equally within the framework of The Empire''s laws. He did what he could to make sure any women under his protection or employment received the very best wages, health insurance, and care if needed. Her family even went out of their way to make sure the single mothers who worked for them had affordable daycare, which they subsidized heavily. Even some of her wages went back to the family to help the women under her father¡¯s protection. Of course, he wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything for Pandora. It was just bad luck that she¡¯d been found by Michael Carpenter. Or good luck depending on how some looked at it. There were women who would happily trade places with Pandora in a second. Dr Broyles finished looking over the tests and exams that had been performed, made a few notes, and then stepped into the room Pandora was waiting in. ¡°Pandora is it? Miss Pandora, I am Doctor Broyles. Do you by chance remember your last name?¡± ¡°My father¡¯s name was Johnathan Bennard. I guess that would make me Pandora Bennard, but I just go by Pandora.¡± ¡°I see, Pandora,¡± Dr. Broyles said as she sent out a message for any information on Johnathan Bennard. ¡°You said was, if your father deceased or do you know where he is?¡± ¡°I said was because my father now goes by the name Adam. He is not deceased. As for where he is, I imagine he is probably a long way from here,¡± Pandora explained. ¡°Why do you ask?¡± ¡°Well, if your father was here what happens next would be a lot simpler. ¡°What happens next?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°If no one steps forward to claim you as their ward or under their protection Micheal Carpenter has invoked his name and wealth to protect and back you.¡± ¡°Why would he do that?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°To add you to his harem of course. You are one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. Men and women would want you for that reason alone. Additionally, you¡¯re young enough that you can mother his children,¡± Dr. Broyles explained. ¡°Wait, how do I mother his children? Do you mean he is going to have sex with me?¡± ¡°Of course. He will want to ensure that you are pristine¡­¡± Dr. Broyles started to say before she was cut off. ¡°Is he going to try to examine me like you did earlier? Because no that isn¡¯t happening again. As far as I¡¯m concerned that was the last time anyone will invade my privacy,¡± Pandora said with a little heat in her voice as Dr. Broyles could swear she saw an orange glint swirl around the woman¡¯s pupils.¡± ¡°What about when you get pregnant or have a child? The doctors will need to invade to perform examinations then?¡± Pandora thought back to her mother¡¯s memories of her birth. She¡¯d had her father there to help but the room looked like a lot of other people could have come to help if necessary. Pandora calmed a bit and lowered her tone as she said, ¡°I guess that I might need help, but I¡¯m not going to let some man look at my lady bits whenever he wants. That¡¯s, That¡¯s,¡± Pandora said a second time until she finished with, ¡°Embarrassing.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just something we women have to get used to. Even I have an annual exam. There are plenty of diseases and medical issues women can develop that an annual check-up will help prevent. If you¡¯d like I can mention to Mr. Carpenter that you would like me to be your doctor if you feel more comfortable with me?¡± ¡°I guess. Yes, that would be nice,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Well, the good news is that while the tests were a bit embarrassing we didn¡¯t detect any problems. As far as we can tell, you were not violated, nor do you have any physical trauma that we can detect. You can remember some things but not other things which leads me to believe that your problem with memories is from psychological trauma, not physical trauma. In such cases the only thing that will help is time.¡± ¡°I could have told you I wasn¡¯t violated. Also, I don¡¯t have any physical or psychological damage. I was somewhere else, now I¡¯m here. It¡¯s pretty simple really,¡± Pandora said. ¡°By somewhere else, what do you mean?¡± Dr. Broyles asked. As Pandora was about to answer there was a single knock and the door opened as two men in personal security attire stepped into the room and stood beside the door as a woman with a somewhat regal bearing stepped in, ¡°I see, I¡¯m just in time,¡± the woman said as she looked over the room and focused her attention on Dr. Broyles. ¡°Dr. Broyles I presume?¡± ¡°Yes, Mistress Carpenter,¡± Dr. Broyles said. ¡°Ah, I see you recognize me. Very good. I have spoken to your staff, reviewed the documentation you have, and expedited Mr. Carpenter¡¯s claim. I believe you were about to tell Pandora that she will be coming with us, yes,¡± Mistress Carpenter said in a tone that left no doubt that arguments would not be tolerated. ¡°Of course, Mistress Carpenter, it is as you say,¡± Dr. Broyles said as she turned to Pandora, ¡°As Mr. Carpenter''s First Claim has been sanctioned. Legally you are his property at this point. You are free to go with Mistress Carpenter and hear¡­assistants.¡± Dr. Broyles watched as Pandora looked at Mistress Carpenter and then the two bodyguards as she stood and let her hospital gown drop around to her feet revealing her nakedness. In an instant, the young na?ve girl¡¯s demeanor had shifted to that of an ice-cold blizzard that would cover everyone who witnessed it and freeze their hearts instantly as the shadows in the room seemed to lengthen. Pandora tilted her head slightly as she purred, ¡°I am no one¡¯s property.¡± Chapter 21, Revelations Pandora watched as Mistress Carpenter¡¯s eyes narrowed as she looked over Pandora until their eyes met, ¡°Another youth filled with righteous indignation. You¡¯ll need to check that attitude, it could get you into real trouble,¡± she said as she pointed at Pandora, ¡°Boys, try not to harm her, subdue, and sedate her we need to be on our way. ¡°Wait just a¡­¡± Dr. Broyles started to say until Mistress Carpenter focused her gaze on her which caused Dr. Broyles to go silent. Pandora stood still as both men approached her and grabbed her by her upper arms as one of them reached for a syringe in his back pocket. While the one bodyguard held her left arm with his right hand, he held out the syringe so his partner could hold her right arm with his left hand and remove the cap with his left hand. Pandora stood perfectly still as the cap was removed. She also planted herself so she couldn¡¯t be moved. The bodyguard with the syringe tried to adjust her as he tried to reach the syringe towards her right thigh but she didn¡¯t so much as twitch. ¡°What¡¯s the holdup? Just put the sedative into her ass so we can go,¡± Miss Carpenter said. The bodyguard holding the syringe let go of her left arm and moved behind Pandora so he could stab her in the left thigh, just below her ass. It didn¡¯t go the way he expected. Not because Pandora did anything to stop him. She didn¡¯t move. No, what surprised him was the fact that as soon as the needle of the syringe touched her thigh, the whole syringe and its contents disappeared as Pandora absorbed it. ¡°What the hell?¡± the bodyguard started to say as Pandora moved. Unlike her father, Pandora was not trained in martial arts, had not been in countless battles and currently she didn¡¯t know her own strength. Therefore, when she reached out to lightly tap the man on the top of the head to knock him out she had no idea that her blow crushed his skull and shattered his spin as his body crumpled to the ground. She¡¯d assumed he¡¯d be unconscious and hadn¡¯t waited to see what happened as she brought her right arm back and flung the bodyguard that had been holding her at the wall beside Dr. Broyles. Only then did she realize that she might have to tone down her physical responses as the bodyguard exploded through the wall into the next room, through that room, and into the wall on the far side as well. Dr. Broyles, Mistress Carpenter, and Pandora froze. Slowly Pandora looked to her left where the crumpled bodyguard was obviously dead as blood and brain matter oozed from his ears, nose, and mouth. Then her gaze looked at the hole in the wall and the blood that had exploded from the corpse before it had crashed through the second wall. As Pandora was looking at what she¡¯d done, Mistress Carpenter tried to move toward the door. As soon as she moved though, Pandora exploded into action and grabbed her by the top of her head which immobilized her. Pandora turned Mistress Carpenter so they were looking eye to eye and asked, ¡°Where do you think you¡¯re going?¡± Mistress Carpenter responded by pulling a small caliber gun from her waistline, placing it against the center of Pandora¡¯s chest, right between her breasts, and a little to the left of center which was directly over Pandora¡¯s heart as she pulled the trigger. Unfortunately for Mistress Carpenter and unknown to Pandora because she couldn¡¯t see her combat prompts at the moment, Pandora had a minimum Damage Threshold of 6 with her current attributes. That meant that any damage that didn¡¯t do at least 7 points of damage wouldn¡¯t even pierce her skin. The .22 caliber weapon Mistress Carpenter shot Pandora with did 2 - 4 points of damage. Not enough to pierce Pandora¡¯s skin. The gun exploded as the bullet bounced off Pandora¡¯s skin and went back up the barrel that had just fired it. As the exploding gun shredded Mistress Carpenter¡¯s hand, Dr. Broyles dove for cover. This didn¡¯t matter to Mistress Carpenter or Pandora though. Pandora had activated Absorb Memories and while she couldn¡¯t see her Status Screen or how much mana she had she could will herself to absorb as many memories as she could, which she did. While Pandora didn¡¯t know how much mana she spent, Caspa watched in the background as Pandora spent 60,984 of her 61,520 mana to absorb 77 days'' worth of memories from Mistress Carpenter. While Pandora couldn¡¯t see her Status or double-check her abilities, Caspa reviewed the ability she was using. Absorb: Memories: For 33 Mana you may absorb the surface memories from the target. This will include everything the target has seen and witnessed within the last hours. How far you can copy memories from the target into the past can be extended at a rate of 33 mana for each additional hour so long as contact is maintained with the target. Also, memories can be reviewed at the time the ability is used or the ability can be used and the memories can be reviewed later. Memories reviewed are permanent and fade with time, as all memories do. Pandora reviewed Mistress Carpenter''s memories then and there. She lived through the decadence and debauchery of Mr. Carpenter and the things he did to the young women he acquired, used, and usually discarded. Only those that were considered breeding stock were kept. The others were¡­ Pandora¡¯s anger flared and she unconsciously began squeezing her hand which made an audible cracking sound. The sound brought her back to herself and she stopped. She willed herself to heal Mistress Carpenter. Not because the woman wasn¡¯t complicit in what was being done to the girls. No, she healed Mistress Carpenter because she only had 77 days of her memories and Pandora would probably need to get more information out of her later. Also, the gunshot was probably going to draw attention she didn¡¯t want right now. Pandora watched Dr. Broyles''s eyes widen as she witnessed the damage to Mistress Carpenter¡¯s hand and skull fix itself and as her eyes fluttered open. She was also watched as the door to the room swung open and two security started to step through. Dr. Broyles declared, ¡°Out!¡± While Pandora still had her hand on the Mistress''s arm she nodded and indicated that the guards should go as well. The guards looked at the room, looked at the three women, and then promptly turned and left. Once the two security guards were gone, Pandora casually reached down and absorbed each of the bodyguards in turn. She didn¡¯t know how much energy she had arrived in this world with but she knew she might need some. The two dead bodies were evidence she didn¡¯t want to leave behind so easy enough to clean up. Another reason she didn¡¯t just kill Mistress Carpenter was that while this might be a new world, she had just had all those courses on running empires. Keeping the woman who knew all about the empire she was going to take control of around was probably a good idea. Pandora turned to Dr. Broyles and asked, ¡°Dr Broyles, do you have any clothes I can put on? I can¡¯t very well walk around this world naked. ¡°Ummm,¡± Dr. Broyles started to say ¡°We have clothes for you, just outside the room. Well, a robe and some undergarments anyway,¡± Mistress Carpenter said. ¡°Let me guess, my wrappings for Mr. Carpenter?¡± Pandora asked disdainfully. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you did but I feel like my mind has been scrambled,¡± Mistress Carpenter said. ¡°I read your memories for the last couple of weeks. Are you to take me to ¡®The Room¡¯ from here?¡± ¡°Yes, we are to go to ¡®The Room¡¯ from here. He has been preparing it for you since you were brought here. He seemed quite excited.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve seen what he¡¯s done to those women and girls that were deemed not pretty enough to be ¡®breeding stock¡¯ from your memories. To say I am appalled would be an understatement,¡± Pandora said. ¡°To the Victor, the Spoils,¡± Mistress Carpenter quipped back. Which Pandora picked up from her memories was a saying of the empire that ruled this world. It was also something her mother had said to her father right after they met. Pandora snorted disdainfully as she asked, ¡°Are the clothes in my size?¡± ¡°Of course? We called over to the hospital earlier and requested your measurements for the items we brought.¡± Pandora sighed, then an aspect of her mother¡¯s persona showed through as she thought, As last sights go, letting him see me in whatever he prepared before I take everything away from him seems fair. Pandora took a breath to calm herself as she turned back to Dr. Broyles and said, ¡°Please grab the clothes from outside the door.¡± Dr. Broyles, a thousand questions spinning through her mind, nodded and then moved to the door, opened it, and reached out. When she brought her hand back into the room it held a clothes bag. Once the door was closed she hung the clothes bag on a hook on the back of the door and opened it revealing a robe, a set a white bra, and white panties. ¡°White, seriously?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Mr. Carpenter prefers all of his virgins to wear white before he breaks them in. Once a woman he owns is no longer a virgin she may not wear white undergarments again unless she is the First Wife, such as myself,¡± Mistress Carpenter said. ¡°What an absolute Piece of Shit,¡± Pandora said as she walked over and grabbed the panties and bra. She put both on and had to admit they were both quite comfortable and fit her well. She hadn¡¯t really thought about her body but realized that her hair was cut, her underarms had no hair and her pubic region looked trimmed. She hadn¡¯t done any of that. Her body¡¯s hair just grew that way. From Mistress Carpenter¡¯s memories, she knew that the woman dedicated hours to maintaining her body to the standards Mr. Carpenter required. Pandora¡¯s mother would have referred to him as a misogynist asshole. She knew this because the phrase kept popping into her mind as she put the bra and panties on. Though she was concerned that her body conformed to the pervert''s tastes without her conscious thought, that was unsettling. Next, Pandora slipped on the white robe which also had a thick cowl that would allow her to cover her face so no one would know who she was or what she had on under the robe. Pandora left the cowl down for now as she turned to Dr. Broyles, ¡°Dr. we¡¯ll be in touch eventually. For your own safety, I would not speak of my visit other than to say you looked at the results and didn¡¯t see anything out of the ordinary. Once I¡¯m settled I¡¯ll seek you out. I need more context for this world but I¡¯m afraid I don¡¯t have time to do that right now.¡± The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Mistress Carpenter waited until Pandora looked at her and then asked, ¡°What happened to the guards?¡± ¡°The guards are gone. Gone forever,¡± Pandora said. ¡°What about the Security guards and what they saw?¡± Dr. Broyles asked. ¡°Inform them that Mistress Carpenter will be sending someone over to talk with and compensate them for their silence,¡± Pandora said ¡°And what happens to me now?¡± Mistress Carpenter asked. ¡°Now,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Now, you take me to the location of ¡®The Room¡¯ and I go see Mr. Carpenter. I still need you, so I¡¯ll tell you this. So long as you don¡¯t try anything you get to live. If you do try anything, do I really need to spell it out?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°No, you don¡¯t need to spell it out. If I¡¯m taking you to ¡®The Room¡¯ then I need to be in charge as we leave here which means when you leave you need to do exactly what I say when I say it until we arrive at ¡®The Room¡¯¡±, Mistress Carpenter said. ¡°That almost sounds like you want to help me,¡± Pandora said speculatively. ¡°Yes, I have participated in some very deplorable behavior. Behavior I¡¯m not very proud of. That is the role of women though. We do what we¡¯re told, or we¡¯re discarded like trash unless we¡¯re lucky enough to find a man like Dr. Broyles¡¯s father. Yes, Doctor I know exactly who your father is, all prominent women do, and we do respect him and the accomplishments he¡¯s achieved.¡± ¡°Still, I will warn you Mistress Carpenter, if you try to cross me, this is your one and only chance,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Very well, please follow me, ¡°Mistress Carpenter said as she waited for Pandora to release her. Pandora let go and she stood, brushed herself off. Went over to the mirror above the small sink that all exam rooms had and checked her makeup before she walked over to the door, took a deep breath, and let it out. Mistress Carpenter opened the door and started to exit the room as she turned her head over her shoulder as if talking to someone and said, ¡°Boys, fill out the paperwork and make sure Dr. Broyles has everything she needs. We¡¯ll see you back at the Estate. Pandora, please be a dear and stay right behind me, cowl up and eyes down.¡± Pandora pulled up the Cowl and thought about portraying a demure persona while she followed Mistress Carpenter. As they made their way through the hospital no one stopped them, no one interrupted them, and no one asked either of them any questions. When they made their way outside a long car, her mother¡¯s memories described it as a limousine, was waiting which they both climbed into the back of. As they were walking up to the car Mistress Carpenter whispered, ¡°Mr. Carpenter can see and hear everything inside the car.¡± They both climbed in. Mistress Carpenter sat facing the front while Pandora sat on a seat with her back to the driver. They didn¡¯t talk as the driver pulled out into traffic and made his way toward the location of ¡®The Room.¡¯ While the car drove through the city, Pandora ignored her surroundings. Now that she had some time to herself, she allowed her mind to settle as she willed her focus into her Mindspace. She felt as if she were traveling backward down a very long dark tunnel away from the sounds, lights, and smells of the real world until she found herself standing on an empty plane with a shadow dragon in front of her. She looked closer and realized it was Caspa. Caspa had taken on the persona of her Shadow Dragon form. ¡°There you are! I was worried,¡± Pandora said ¡°Nothing to worry about, I am always with you. It just looks like our normal forms of communication do not work here,¡± Caspa said. ¡°How is that possible, You are part of me?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°If I had to guess, it sounds a lot like what your father described to your mother in one of her memories. A place where magic doesn¡¯t work right. Where his Personal Interface or Status Screen and notification wouldn¡¯t work. Does that sound familiar?¡± Caspa asked. ¡°That does sound familiar. That was also when he was telling the story about the Adamantium Ring he had.¡± ¡°Yep, that¡¯s the memory,¡± Caspa agreed. ¡°Can you pull up my status here?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Yes, here in your mindscape we can pull up your personal information and even view some of your notifications, but others are suppressed. For instance, while I know the two guards you killed were level 10, that¡¯s all I know. I can¡¯t see the combat logs. All I could see was the congratulations notification that you had defeated them.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound very helpful?¡± Pandora said. ¡°Review your memories, I think I remember seeing something about the fact that everyone in your father¡¯s world when there was no active magic was very low level.¡± ¡°That sounds right.¡± ¡°Well, all of your attributes here are over 6,000 right now. If this world follows the rules like your father''s world did the average attribute will be 10. You¡¯re way above that. ¡°That would explain why I accidentally killed those two guards. Wait, if there¡¯s no magic, how am I using my abilities and mana?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°If I had to guess, it¡¯s because you are permanently linked to chaos through me?¡± Caspa said. ¡°Chaos can take on any form or function so you can use those abilities you had with the chaos in your system. You can use it to fuel your abilities. That¡¯s just a guess though.¡± ¡°It might be a guess but it sounds like a good one and makes sense,¡± Pandora agreed. ¡°So, the question becomes, what are you going to do here in this world?¡± Caspa asked. ¡°I¡¯m not my father so coming up with some cool technology that will get me out of this is off the table. The first thing I¡¯m going to do though is end this Mr. Carpenter guy. He is evil with a capital E. I mean Caspa, when you get a chance go through my recent memories and take a look at what he does to his new female acquisitions. Just disgusting. Then if they¡¯re too feisty or not good enough he sells them off to whore houses in destitute areas where they live out the rest of their very short lives as sex slaves or slave labor. He also pays an extra fee to make sure they have very short lives, no matter how beautiful they are. It¡¯s just disgusting. ¡°Sounds like you have a plan?¡± Caspa said. ¡°I do. If there¡¯s no magic in this world and I¡¯m the apex predator here, that¡¯ll just make it a lot easier.¡± ¡°So what are you going to do first?¡± Caspa asked. Pandora took time to check her physical surroundings outside her Mindspace and saw that they were driving into the parking garage of the apartment complex where Mr. Carpenter had his playroom. She brought her focus back to the Caspa as she said, ¡°First I¡¯m going to give him a show. Let him see what he thinks he has and then I¡¯m going to utterly destroy him in such a way that I¡¯ll be able to acquire all of his holdings and such.¡± ¡°You¡¯re going to use Amalgamation?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯m going to try to. If I can do that, I¡¯ll get all of his memories. With his memories and our other ability to take on his material properties. I should be able to step into his life as needed and then I can use his empire to make the changes I need to.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s what that upgrade to absorb was for,¡± Caspa said. ¡°Well see, won''t we? Looks like we¡¯re there, I¡¯ve gotta get going. Hopefully, we won¡¯t be in this place without magic for too long. I miss you,¡± Pandora said. ¡°I miss you too, now be safe and don¡¯t have too much fun bringing the pain to the asshole.¡± ¡°No promises!¡± Pandora called out as her focus rushed back to her body. She looked around and noticed that they had pulled into a parking spot that was sealed off from the street. A rolling door came down and the limo was completely cut off from the rest of the world. Pandora watched as Mistress Carpenter stripped. Pandora was about to ask a question when Mistress Carpenter said. From this point on the only people in the room with clothes on will be you and Mr. Carpenter. Everyone else, including myself, will be nude.¡± Pandora was going to respond but just then her door opened, and another nude woman reached in and took her hand to draw her out of the car. Once she stepped out four women flanked and guided her down a hallway, through a door, and into a giant room that looked like something out of one of her father¡¯s hentai bondage videos. How did she know what a hentai bondage video was? As she thought that another memory from her mother surfaced where her father was explaining what they were as he showed her mother pictures. Mom had been interested in the depravity of the humans of Earth in a clinical fashion, but their fiction and ideas hadn¡¯t really interested her. It seemed that Mr. Carpenter had similar Fetishes. Pandora was led up onto a stage where her robe was removed and she was left standing there in her white bra and panties. ¡°Nice, very nice. I knew you would be perfect,¡± Michael Carpenter said as he stepped up in front of her.¡± Mr. Carpenter had been far too excited to notice that Pandora¡¯s stance and aura did not convey shyness or fear. In fact, Pandora had her feet planted and her hands moved to her hips in a natural power pose her mother had used more than once when dealing with men of one race or another. Pandora looked over at Michael Carpenter and saw a perverted psycho with nothing that interested her further. It was a shame really. he had been so nice when they first met. Tired of playing games, Pandora absorbed the panties and the bra, leaving her fully nude for all to see. ¡°What, where did your clothes go?¡± Michael started to ask. Pandora cut him off, ¡°What? I came into this world butt-ass naked. You¡¯ve already seen me like this. Isn¡¯t this how you want me?¡± Pandora asked. Michael recovered immediately as he said, ¡°Ladies restrain and prepare her.¡± The four women each tried to grab Pandora, however, she was done playing this sex predators game. Also, she wanted to see if one of her Shadow Dragon abilities still worked. With the four women all next to her and trying to grab her, it was a simple matter to twist so two of them came up against each other between her and one of the floodlights which created a nice region of shadow where the other two women intersected. With a thought, she stepped into their shadow and found herself in the Shadow Plane of this Universe adjacent to what her father had referred to as, the material plane. Pandora looked around and noted all the shadows that she could step through to re-enter the material plane. She also noticed that something was different. Whenever she¡¯d moved through the Shadow Plane before there had always been a feeling that something was in the shadows. This Shadow Plane felt dead. That the feeling was so pervasive didn¡¯t feel right. It also made it so she didn¡¯t want to remain in the realm for very long. Pandora moved over behind Michael Carpenter, stepped out of his shadow, and reached for him as she willed herself to use her absorb ability, Amalgamate. She thought back to what the ability had said; In times of stress, you may try to completely absorb another creature. Doing so costs 99% of your remaining mana. During the Amalgamation, a contest of Wills begins. Your chance of success is equal to your Willpower multiplied by 1000% due to your ability "Creature of Chaos". Should you win the contest of wills the mentality of the creature is absorbed while the spark of will the memories contain is snuffed out. Should you lose the same may happen to you. She might not have her father''s Perfect Memory but she did have a really high Intelligence score. Her hand touched Michael and her body exploded in color. She felt the chaos within her flow out of herself and over Michael Carpenter as he started to scream until his mouth was muffled and he was drawn into her. It wasn¡¯t a slow process either. The Chaos within Pandora reached out, developed, and then absorbed him in less than a second. One second he was there, the next he was gone. The contest of wills started, and she felt a slight pressure against her psychic but just as quickly it disappeared and she felt normal again. There were no prompts, but there wouldn¡¯t be would there? With a thought, she willed herself to take on the Material Properties of Michael Carpenter. Instantly her form flowed and changed and she transformed until she looked exactly like Michael Carpenter. She wouldn¡¯t know this until she visited her Mindspace again, but in this form, she even had his DNA. Also, the form came fully clothed in the suit he¡¯d been wearing when she absorbed him. From Michael¡¯s memories, she knew that the suit was his favorite suit for breaking in new bitches before he decided¡­.Pandora stopped herself and dropped her focus into her Mindspace. As she materialized she saw Caspa sitting there in her Shadow Dragon form looking at an avatar of Michael Carpenter ¡°I am so confused, Where am I? No, who am I?¡± The Avatar of Michale asked. ¡°Honestly it doesn¡¯t matter,¡± Pandora said as she willed a soundproof room into existence in her Mindspace with a single door and no windows. She reached out, grabbed Michael by the back of the neck, and threw his avatar through the door which promptly closed behind him. ¡°That seems to have worked,¡± Caspa pointed out. ¡°Yeah, but that echo of his mind might become a problem if it doesn¡¯t fade, I felt it contaminating my thoughts. I will have to figure out how to deal with it before I try that again. I don¡¯t need a whole bunch of remnants floating around inside my head,¡± Pandora said. ¡°True. The question is, do you need that remnant to access his memories?¡± Caspa asked. ¡°Actually, no. I have full access to everything he knew. His life and all of his financial information. Damn, this world is a lot more corrupt than I thought.¡± Pandora said. Will you be able to free all these women or will it be too much work for not enough gain?¡± Caspa asked. ¡°Well, as far as I know, I¡¯m stuck here so I think I have to try,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Fair enough, what¡¯s first?¡± Caspa asked ¡°What¡¯s first is that I have to deal with the women in this room and I have to come up with a way to overthrow a world-spanning government that treats women like possessions that are no better than cattle. Chapter 22, Acclimating to the Environment Augustus Maxamillius Ceasar looked south toward the Colosseum in Rome. One of the only structures that still existed as a reminder of where the Roman Empire had come from. It also served as a reminder of what could happen to the Empire if people didn¡¯t take care of business. Decadence and strife had allowed citizens to forget their duty and for a time Rome had decayed. Since the last Crusade, the Illuminati, a term the leaders of the government had adopted, had worked hard to ensure that women remained second-class citizens. They were breeding stock and served as a distraction or entertainment. They were to be kept in the roles they were assigned. For those women, and men, that proved themselves worthless to society. Well, the Roman Empire had had other ways it could make worthless people useful. As Augustus sipped his espresso, he considered the report he¡¯d just read from his spies up north near Cambridge. Michael Carpenter had made some changes that his fellow board members were not happy about over the last year. The number of women that were being sent to the brothels and markets in the Americas and Middle East had reduced significantly. For some reason, Mr. Carpenter¡¯s organization was spending money to help young single women and get them educated instead of removing them from the area. There was a high demand for young white women, especially redheads. Since he¡¯d stopped supplying such women, that demand had only intensified. This brought up another point, where was Mr. Carpenter getting all of his money from? Until a year ago, Augustus knew where every penny that Mr. Carpenter earned had come from. The money that was helping the young women in the Northern Territories had to be coming from somewhere, but he couldn¡¯t find the origin point of the resources Mr. Carpenter was selling to generate capital. Augustus had gone so far as to have the Tax Service audit Mr. Carpenter. The resources were real, and Mr. Carpenter was trading them for real money. No, something else was going on. Augustus turned from his balcony and made his way to his desk. He sat down and opened his email. After a moment an update arrived from his agents near Cambridge. Sir, The subject has not deviated from his normal pattern. Evidence of secondary backing is not in evidence. Current projections show that the monthly quota will not be met for the 12th straight month. Request, tasking? V Augustus looked over the email and made his decision. Michael Carpenter would have to be made an example of. He hit the reply button and sent a quick reply to V, his lead operative in Cambridge. Authorization Omega Zeda One Eradicate. Primary Target. No witnesses. Dr. Broyles is sanctioned. If the Dr. is present capture and transfer. Agustus hit send. A moment later he received confirmation that the orders had been received. The Roman Empire had existed for almost 3,000 years. No upstart who suddenly grew a conscious because he wanted to be ¡°fair¡± to women was going to ruin what his lineage had maintained for this long. Augustus opened his database and started looking through the files he had on the various women that Michael had ¡°saved¡± over the last year he had become especially interested in Dr. Broyles. He''d have to wait a bit longer if she wasn''t captured tonight. Once Michael Carpenter was dealt with all that would be required would be an accident for her father and he could acquire her for himself. Who knows, after he was done with her, perhaps he¡¯d let her go back to being a doctor. August smiled evilly, Probably not. He did so thoroughly enjoy watching the light fade out of a woman who had thought herself free as she left his world forever. *** Michael Carpenter, Pandora to those in her inner circle, sat at his desk and looked over his financial documents. Getting used to using the correct pronouns when she was pretending to be a he, was a pain in the ass. But, she had to admit ever since she¡¯d absorbed that asshole it had been fun pretending to be him. Luckily for her, Michael had been one of the regional directors of the Roman Empire with a small empire of his own up here in the Northern Territories. When she¡¯d first arrived this mini empire had given her a chance to learn about the world she found herself in. It also gave her time to learn how to blend in because if there was one thing that was true about his world, it treated its women like shit. This world was the worst when it came to the equality of the sexes. So much so that Mistress Carpenter had not even considered crossing Pandora. It just wasn¡¯t in her psychological makeup to cross a man. When Pandora had transformed into Michael Carpenter in front of her she¡¯d been shocked by the display of something magical happening, but Pandora had noticed how she¡¯d stopped displaying any form of resistance. It was almost like she¡¯d been programmed to never question men. While that worked in Pandora¡¯s favor right now, she knew that she would have to fix that mindset. To allow her the time she would need to adjust to her new reality Pandora had sent Mistress Carpenter off to one of Michael¡¯s other residences about two hours north of Cambridge near Scarborough. It was also the place Pandora had all the women that she was saving sent. Setting up Scarborough to act as a staging area for young women that the original Michael Carpenter would have turned into prostitutes or worse was no simple task. Once Mistress Carpenter had understood what Pandora was doing for the young women and that they weren¡¯t be sent out into the normal meat grinder of a society the Empire garnered, she¡¯d devoted herself to helping with the project. Every woman sent there did. Once the estate up north had been set up Pandora made a doctor''s visit to Dr. Broyles for a checkup and showed her what she could do. After many questions and a few demonstrations, Dr. Broyles agreed to give up her job at the hospital and become a permanent addition to Michael Carpenter¡¯s staff. She was with Mistress Carpenter in Scarborough seeing to the needs of the young ladies up there. They came from all walks of life and most needed some form of medical care or nutritional change to their diet to help them. A few were pregnant and having the doctor close by helped tremendously. If there was anything modern technology couldn¡¯t handle Pandora would take a quick flight up, and sort it out with her ability, Heal Other. For the most part, Pandora remained near Cambridge at Michael¡¯s minor palace. It was a huge, 1,000-acre estate just west of Milton and North of Cambridge. In addition to having quick access to the A14 highway and the ability to catch the trains right out of Cambridge, there was also a small helipad on the property and Michael even owned a personal Learjet that he kept at the converted airfield out at Mildenhall which was just over sixteen miles to the northeast. Pandora could shift into her Shadow Dragon Form and fly but she¡¯d stick out like a sore thumb because magic and magical creatures did not exist in this world. When Pandora first arrived, it had taken a little while for her to adjust to this world. It was unlike any of the memories her mother had of her father¡¯s Earth. Though this was Earth, just a different version of it. Pandora didn¡¯t have much knowledge of her father¡¯s Earth but she was sure that she¡¯d heard the terms United Kingdom and United States, neither of which existed here. There were ¡°The Colonies¡± across the Atlantic and where she was right now was considered the ¡°Northern Territories.¡± Learning the geography and names of places as well as the slang for this world took a good portion of her time. Additionally, she had to be careful with who she trusted with the knowledge of her ability to shapeshift into Michael Carpenter. At least that¡¯s how Dr. Broyles described her ability. Pandora still thought of it as polymorphing but it didn¡¯t really matter what it was called so Pandora didn¡¯t correct her. Four people who had seen her absorb Michael had been the four female guards who had tried to turn her into a sex slave. When Pandora had finished absorbing Micheal and had stood before Mistress Carpenter and the four female guards, they backed away and tried to run. After a quick non-lethal scuffle, Mistress Carpenter had called in the male guards who had taken the four females away to be secured for debriefing. Pandora had tried to convert the four female guards but two of them had proved too far gone to the indoctrination of the Roman Empire and had tried to report the death of Mr. Carpenter to the authorities after they had said they would never work for her. When Pandora, as Michael Carpenter, had met with the authorities. Michael Carpenter had gone through every test they had. The fact that every test showed that he was Michael Carpenter, even the genetic test they performed. Since Pandora was also able to provide the passwords and codes required to get into the financial accounts of Michael Carpenter, including the secured accounts granted by the Head Office in Rome, the authorities had sent the two women to be reprogrammed for lighter duty. From Michael Carpenter''s echo, Pandora learned that meant they were off somewhere performing as joy toys for men who paid a hefty price to be able to abuse women who were deemed damaged and worthless. If they survived the ¡°Re-education¡± they would be back. When Pandora had found out that¡¯s what had happened she¡¯d tried to get the two women sent back to Cambridge. The conversation she¡¯d had with Michael¡¯s direct supervisor within the Roman Empire had solidified her desire to burn the Empire to the ground and give the people a chance to begin anew. The other two women who had tried to grab Pandora had seen the fate of their sisters and kept their mouths shut. Both women now served Mistress Carpenter directly. They also gave Pandora, or Michael Carpenter when she took that form, plenty of space and actively tried not to come near her. Pandora didn¡¯t mind. It would be a while before the women came to realize how much better off they were under Pandora. Luckily the two women that had been sent off for re-education had both returned after three months. Neither spoke of their time away nor did they say anything about Michael Carpenter or Pandora. When Pandora had met both she¡¯d been in her Michael Carpenter form, and both had seemed unphased. When Micheal had asked about what they saw when Pandora arrived, both simply said, ¡°We were mistaken by any claims we made. You are obviously fine, Sir. How can we please you?¡± Pandora had ended the interview and sent them to Scarborough to help Mistress Carpenter. It would take a while to undo the trauma that had been done to them and keeping them away from herself and doing what they did best, protecting someone, would be good for them. While Pandora was dealing with the minor personnel issues she was also speaking with Caspa whenever she had a moment to drop into her Mindspace. Almost immediately they both realized that the magical density here was almost nonexistent. They could only pull up a Status Screen while in her Mindspace. One thing they had figured out while they were trying to utilize magic was that while one of them was resting the other could take control of her body. Also, they both had access to Michael''s memories which had remained locked in the room she¡¯d thrown his personality into. The echo of Michael Carpenter had persisted for almost six months before it had faded from the room she¡¯d looked his mental echo into. Once Michael Carpenter¡¯s echo had faded though they¡¯d both received a life''s worth of memories, almost like they¡¯d lived that life. When that happened there had been a mental battle of sorts. If she had not had a high enough willpower, she probably would have lost that battle. As it was, she had easily withstood the mental attack and the memories of Michael Carpenter had been added to her and Caspa as if they were their own. Because Pandora and Caspa could take turns running her body they were able to maintain Michael Carpenters form and work around the clock. This allowed Pandora to study the history of this world and learn what technologies existed. What she learned led her to believe that this world was comparable to what Adam had described and shown Adaline about his Earth in the 21st century. They didn¡¯t have that nanite technology Dad loved but they had planes, trains, and automobiles. Shoot they even had an internet of sorts, though it was nothing like what her mom had her trained on. This internet was a lot more restricted and seemed to only show Empire-sponsored content. The Empire had Fission but hadn¡¯t succeeded at fusion yet, though they were getting closer. They¡¯d put satellites into orbit, but no one had actually gone into space yet. Because there was no Russia or China, and the Roman Empire spanned the Earth they¡¯d absorbed all the other cultures or destroyed them. There were no other countries, there was only the Roman Empire and small towns or cities that did not submit to Roman authority. Such towns were on small islands in the middle of nowhere or in extremely remote areas that no one could get to. Because of the low magical density, there was no magic. Well, if there was magic it was well hidden because, besides herself, Pandora could find no references to actual magic. Also, no one knew what a Dungeon was, nor had they heard about the Labyrinth. That made Pandora the most magical creature on the planet, as far as she knew. It also gave her a tremendous advantage. Within the first three months, Pandora had taken over and redirected the shadier businesses Michael Carpenter had been running. To ensure that there were no continuity issues between when she was running Michael''s body and when Caspa was running the body she made sure that there were two independent sets of staff that saw to Michael Carpenter¡¯s every need. While Caspa continued to run his financials and also produced and invested capital Pandora went to various locations around the Earth and retrieved resources. She¡¯d access an area through the Shadow Realm, and pop back into reality. Pick up the resources and leave the same way. Pandora Traveled around the world under the guise of looking for more women to add to his harem. Michael''s memories hinted that he was known for his insatiable appetite for women. If he did find some, they were added to his official Harem and sent to Scarborough for reeducation. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Pandora and Caspa played the role and were able to pick up and save at least two or three girls each time they made a stop. Doing so allowed her to sneak into various mines and grab some ore, a few diamonds, rubies, whatever, then sell the materials through Michael¡¯s Black Market broker once he returned to Cambridge. This more than made up for the loss he took from shutting down his business It had revolved around capturing na?ve girls that were running away from home into the big cities and then getting them locked down and sent where they could make him the most money. Pandora redirected the Carpenter Estates resources toward educating and preparing those young women to step into the power vacuum that was going to be created when Pandora fixed the power structure of this world to one where women were treated with a lot more respect. She was no expert on societal dynamics or macro changes to a social structure, but it didn¡¯t matter. Women were not cattle. They were not playthings that were to be discarded. She had memories of her mothers from when she viewed anything that wasn¡¯t a dragon with that attitude but the many years her mother had lived had changed that attitude. Her mother had undergone a significant change after meeting her father, but her father had not been the first person that her mom had ever just sat back and talked to. There were others. Pandora was sure there had to be a better way to govern this world than what the men were doing, and she aimed to give the women and men of this world willing to work together a chance to figure out what it was. Those currently in charge though? Yeah, those assholes needed to hit the road, or better yet, become fertilizer. Michael stood from his desk, It was so hard for Pandora not to get mixed up about who she was when she was riding a different body. Pandora stood up from the desk and hit the power switch. She was done looking over the financial documents for now. Caspa had done an excellent job. This would be the 12th month she missed the quota of young white women, preferably redheads, she was supposed to supply The Colonies and the Middle East with. The Sultans in the African continent especially like young white women for some reason. She had a feeling that there could be repercussions. Since she wasn¡¯t sending any women, anywhere they would just have to remain disappointed. Pandora picked up the customary bourbon that Michael always liked to drink with Michael¡¯s hand as he stepped onto the balcony behind his computer. Sipping on the bourbon Pandora looked out through Michael¡¯s eyes and immediately noticed the three helicopters floating about a thousand feet out and a thousand feet up, just beyond the tree line that surrounded Michael''s mansion. Pandora felt a ping of panic, which must have come from Caspa, and somehow made it through whatever was keeping her from talking to Pandora. Pandora didn¡¯t have time to contemplate the ramifications of the helicopters above the tree line because a single 7.62x51mm bullet struck Michael right between the eyes at the top of his head. Pandora¡¯s head was whipped back because she wasn¡¯t planted and her body fell back as her feet lifted into the air and she crashed to the floor of the balcony. Pandora realized she had dropped the drink she had been sipping and knew Michael Carpenter would have thought that was the real tragedy. She was only on the ground for a second before Pandora dropped into the Shadow Realm through the shadow beneath her and got to her feet. As long as she could use mana and had a shadow nearby she could access the Shadow Realm. One thing about dropping into the Shadow Realm, magic worked normally here. Notifications filled her vision which she couldn¡¯t ignore: WARNING! Surprise Attack WARNING! You have been struck by an Armor Piercing 7.62x51mm bullet Armor Piercing special quality bypasses 50% of target Armor. 3 points of damage reduction were negated. Base Damage 6. Critical Hit Multiplier increases base damage to 12 Damage reduction of 6 reduced by 50% Base Damage 9 Sneak Attack Doubles damage after damage reduction is applied. Modified Base Damage 18 1,848 Hit Points reduced by 18. Current Hit Points Remaining 1,830 A critical Hit to the head has a 1% chance per point of damage x4 to knock the target unconscious. 18 x 4 equals 72% to be knocked unconscious. Willpower modifier equals +3,071 Base Chance to be knocked unconscious -2,999% Save Successful. Base Chance to be knocked down 72% + Flat-Footed 100% + Surprised 100%. 272% Surprise attack negates Agility modifier Flat Footed negates Dexterity modifier You have been knocked off your feet and are now Prone Shadow Step activated. Pandora closed her notification and brushed herself off. As she reached up and felt her forehead, she willed herself to heal 18 points of damage she¡¯d taken ¡°Did anyone get the license plate on the bus that just slammed into our forehead,¡± Caspa asked. ¡°By the way, your ¡®Magic Levels Absorbed¡¯ or MLA¡¯s are now 2,314.¡± ¡°It¡¯s good to hear your voice again Caspa. We don¡¯t really get to talk all that often anymore.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t I know it, it¡¯s all work with you,¡± Caspa said with a hint of laughter in her voice. Pandora smiled as she considered her maximum MLA capacity. Pandora could hold up to 6,152 MLAs which was what her Willpower attribute was currently. The only way she had to generate MLAs was to Absorb Magic, Not useful because no one had magic on this planet. She could Absorb items for 33 mana per pound absorbed. She utilized that part of her absorption power when she was ¡°finding¡± resources that she could then sell for a huge profit as the only cost was mana. She¡¯d visit a mine near wherever she was visiting, and absorb up to 186 pounds of soil and granite Luckily for Pandora, she could absorb exactly what she wanted and leave behind everything else. Diamonds, gems, and precious metals would fall to the ground and she¡¯d recover them. It was a nice easy method of finding valuable resources. Of course, the 186 pounds of soil turned into 186 MLA which she could use to get her mana back with Mana Conversion. The addition of that ability had made the use of Absorb Item, technically infinite, she was just limited by her Willpower attribute which limited her to 186 pounds per second. If she wanted to do more her mana pool of 61,520 would allow her to absorb up to 1,864 pounds. Unfortunately, if she did that she¡¯d explode because that would generate 61,520 MLA which was 55,368 more than she could safely hold. While the ability didn¡¯t state what would happen if she exceeded her MLA capacity she was sure she didn¡¯t want to find out. Pandora could also Absorb Magic Items, or Absorb Kinetic Energy. She hadn¡¯t come across any magic items over the last years, so that wasn¡¯t useful right now. If she¡¯d known she was about to be shot with a gun she could have seen the attack coming and chosen to absorb the kinetic energy which would have cost her 33 mana and netted her between 190 and 204 MLA. Then, she could just spend one MLA and return the 33 mana she¡¯d utilized to absorb the incoming bullet. That specific ability was also useful when she wanted to land and shed her velocity quickly. She was always able to gain MLAs and immediately replace the mana she¡¯d used. Not that mana usage was a problem. One of the issues she had in this world was that she couldn¡¯t keep track of her mana, hit points, or stamina unless she was in her Mindspace or the Shadow Realm. She had 1,848 hit points and could regenerate 1 hit point per second, in addition to being able to use MLAs to heal which had the worst MLA-to-Absorption Effect conversion ratios of all her abilities. One MLA for 3 hit points on herself or One MLA for 2 hit points on others. Unlike normal healing, she could repair burns and broken bones. She could even heal damage from diseases. She couldn¡¯t cure the disease but if someone had cancer that was eating them up from the inside, she could repair the damage and prolong someone¡¯s life. Working with Dr. Broyles, she¡¯d saved a lot of people, mostly children, and checked on them weekly to make sure they continued to survive while the scientist here continued to look for a cure. It was one of the highlights of her week and one of the few things she was most proud of since arriving on this Earth. Visiting the local hospital''s terminally ill ward. She couldn¡¯t save everyone but she did what she could. Getting back on track she had 61,520 Mana and Stamina. Her stamina regeneration rate was 308 per second and her mana regeneration rate was 63 per second. Technically she could absorb one pound of materials per second and never run out of mana without converting MLA into Mana. ¡°I can feel you thinking about your abilities,¡± Caspa said. ¡°Yeah, just going over how bad it sucks that we can¡¯t normally access our Status Screen or notifications while we''re in the real world.¡± ¡°Might I suggest we pay more attention to what¡¯s going on in the real world,¡± Caspa said. ¡°I can see multiple people working their way toward the building through the shadows we¡¯re near.¡± ¡°I see them. With this move, I would venture to say that someone in the Home Office is not pleased with our lack of product in the Middle East and The Colonies,¡± Pandora said. ¡°What will we do?¡± ¡°You can read my mom''s memories, what did she always do when something came after her that she couldn¡¯t beat?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°She ran away, but you can beat these people,¡± Caspa stated. ¡°I can, can¡¯t I? What did mom always do in those cases?¡± ¡°She killed them, she killed them all,¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Pandora said as she allowed the anger that had been building up for the last year an avenue for escape Pandora moved through the Shadow Realm into the office behind her, stepped into an alcove, and exited the Shadow Realm next to a terminal. She tapped the lockdown key three times and then the only green button on the keyboard which activated an alarm and shut off all lights in the estate save some flashing lights at floor level that led to safe rooms. She could see fine in absolute darkness. Night vision, unless they were utilizing infrared, which wasn¡¯t as accurate needed some light to work. To her vision, they would stick out while she would be able to move unhindered. The alarm she¡¯d activated let the few staff members that were on the premises know to go to one of the safe rooms or lock themselves in their own rooms where it would take quite a while for anyone to break in. Pandora had spent an incredible sum beefing up the security here in Cambridge and up at Scarborough. The Alarm also notified Mistress Carpenter that this facility was under attack and that she probably needed to take measures to protect everyone up there as well. Yes, they¡¯d probably jammed communication. That¡¯s why the alarm was connected to a recently added five-kilometer landline that activated an alarm circuit far outside of any communication blackout zone they might use. Unless they killed all communications within a 30-mile area around the estate, the alarm would get out. Pandora would take a short trip after she dealt with these MI5 pricks. Pandora allowed her normal body to resurface as Michael Carpenter disappeared and stepped back into the Shadow Realm where she swapped her clothes to a black jumpsuit she had for such occasions. It was so much easier to do when she had access to her storage area and wardrobe functions of her interspace. She didn¡¯t have anything like her father''s dimensional storage but she did have a small 10 by 10-foot area that she could access when she had access to magic. Her hair, she willed black and it changed color, as did her skin. She couldn¡¯t do that in the real world but her chaotic nature allowed her to change the color of her body and hair as she desired when she was in the Shadow Realm. With a thought, she looked like Kate Beckinsale from the movie Underworld. Which seemed appropriate since she was definitely going to be killing some fools and while she wasn¡¯t a vampire, she was supernatural in nature. Pandora located the helicopters and moved through the Shadow Realm to the first one. As she¡¯d suspected, only the pilot and copilot remained while they hovered over the tree line. It looked like this first helicopter could hold 6 passengers in the back which was now empty. Looking out the door windows on both sides Pandora saw two more similar helicopters which meant there were probably only three six-man teams rushing toward the estate. Only 7 seconds had passed since Michael had been sniped from the tree line. Pandora stepped out of the shadows into the helicopter and looked down easily making out the three teams of 6 that were running toward the estate across the last 1,000 feet. Of open space. Pandor could move 102 feet per second, Those spec ops guys, because women didn¡¯t serve in spec ops ever. Those spec ops guys would take at least 84 seconds to cross the field which meant that if she wanted them in the middle of that open field she¡¯d need to wait another 20 seconds just to make sure they couldn¡¯t get back to the tree line quickly. Not that she couldn¡¯t chase them down, there just wasn¡¯t any need to make this harder than it needed to be. Pandora stepped back into the Shadow Realm aboard the helicopter and waited. The crew hadn¡¯t noticed her appearance or disappearance. When she¡¯d counted to 20 and the three six-man teams looked to be about halfway to the house she went to work. Pandora stepped out of the Shadow Realm right next to the rear wall of the passenger cabin, punched her hand through the thin sheet of aluminum, and touched the engine and main rotor housing. She willed those items to be absorbed and then stepped back into the Shadow Realm. One Second to appear and punch, One second to absorb, and one second to escape back into the Shadow Realm. So, 3 seconds total, and the helicopter no longer had a way to create lift. Pandora spent that 4th-second using Burst of Speed and 1,000 MLAs to travel through the Shadow Realm to the next helicopter where she repeated the process. Four seconds later she was at the next helicopter. Just as she absorbed the main rotor and engine of the third helicopter the first helicopter had dropped the 1,000 feet it had been hovering at and exploded into fragments against the ground Pandora watched from the Shadow Realm as the three teams dropped to the ground and went into a 360-degree outward-facing cover formation as they looked for threats which worked in her favor. Pandora shifted to her dragon form and flew up until she was directly over the furthest group from the others. She was a shadow dragon and there were no lights in the area. At most, the other team members looking in her direction would see a giant shadow. Pandora hovered over the first group, slid out of the Shadow Realm, and used her Breath Weapon on the first six-man group. The beautiful thing about her breath weapon was that anything she hit was transferred into the Shadow Realm where she could take care of it at her leisure. 9 seconds after the first group disappeared all three groups found themselves in a Realm of perpetual darkness that seemed to resemble they¡¯d just been, at least the shadows did. Once the six-man teams were in the Shadow Realm Pandora flew over each crash site and used her Breath weapon on them as well. A few fragments would be missed but the main bodies of the wreckage appeared in the Shadow Realm. Her Breath Weapon could be used three times in rapid succession but she had to wait a full minute for one charge to come back. It had taken all three of her charges to get rid of the teams, and another three minutes to get rid of the wreckage. Pandora spent the next minute making sure there were no other invaders and then returned to the house and deactivated the alarm. She also sent a quick message to Mistress Carpenter before she looked into the Shadow Realm and noted that the three teams had come together near the middle wreckage. It looked like they had checked on all three for survivors and pulled them out. Of the six, only two had survived, which wasn¡¯t going to be true for long if the moment she noticed in the distance in the Shadow Realm was what she thought it was. Pandora continued to watch the 20 men and very soon figured out who was in charge. Once she knew that, she headed back outside in her black jumpsuit and stepped into the Shadow Realm 50 feet away from the group. ¡°Hello boys, looks like you¡¯re all having a really bad day.¡± Chapter 23, Do I need a Security Detail? Pandora looked at the 18 men protecting the 2 injured helicopter crewmen that had survived. The 18 had their weapons aimed at her while she stood there looking at them, ¡°Okay everyone, this is how this is going to go. You are all going to take a vow to serve me or¡­ Pandora wasn¡¯t given a chance to finish as the individual in the center of the group with his handgun pointed at her fired a single round that would have entered the center of her head. Pandora¡¯s perception, agility, and dexterity were all high enough that the bullet seemed to travel in slow motion. Not quite a crawl, but definitely slow enough that she could keep track of it. She reached up casually and used her ability Absorb: Kinetic Energy to stop the bullet in its tracks as the kinetic energy from the bullet was turned into Magic Absorbed Levels (MLAs). Everyone froze until a screech filled the air as a horde of small flying creatures took to the air on the opposite side of the group. ¡°As I was saying, you can either make a vow to me and live, or I leave you here and you all die,¡± Pandora said as she pointed at the flock of creatures that were now heading toward the group of men. ¡°You¡¯ll die too?¡± one of the soldiers in front called. ¡°Let¡¯s see, Pandora said as she jumped six feet into the air and shifted to her Umbral Dragon form. Pandora flew toward the horde of small creatures, which broke apart and fled before her. She circled until she could come back down to the place she¡¯d started from. As she came in for a landing the shadows enveloped her as she shifted back to her human form. She landed gently on her feet facing the assassins as she said, ¡°Nah, I think I¡¯ll be fine.¡± Pandora watched as emotions ran across all of their faces, the most identifiable of which was fear. Before the leader could speak again Pandora said, ¡°I don¡¯t think you understand just how FUCKED you are. All of you are currently in a different dimension. You have attracted the attention of shadow beasts, which will be back after I leave. I can travel back to Earth and will continue doing what I was going to do without you. You will all die here or get turned into some form of shadow beast or revenant that will exist forever in this realm that is not part of life or light. Also, I¡¯m sure you have all seen that flashing light in your vision. That is your notification light, which you do not have access to on the Material Plane. Think ¡®Status¡¯ or ¡®Notifications¡¯ and read through your messages. Pandora watched as almost everyone¡¯s eyes glazed over. Two of them had not accessed their status screen and were keeping watch. Pandora made eye contact with them. ¡°If you all are going to have a chance, including your two injured friends, you all need to be in tip top shape. I can heal both of them if you¡¯d like? One of the soldiers looked at his counterpart then shrugged and nodded as he said, ¡°Please.¡± Pandora walked forward slowly until she entered their ranks and came to where the helicopter crewmen were lying on gurneys. Pandora reached over and used Absorb: Heal Other/Temporary Hit Point Bonus to heal both of them to full health. It didn¡¯t cost very many MLAs either. As they started to breathe easier and move around Pandora stood and moved back out of their formation back to where she¡¯d first addressed them and waited. Within five minutes all twenty of them had reviewed their notifications and their leader was looking at her again as he asked, ¡°This Vow, what does it require?¡± Pandora considered how to answer the question as she reviewed some of her mother''s memories. Her father had once had a conversation with Adaline about how oaths and vows hadn¡¯t meant that much back on Earth because there had been no SYSTEM that anyone could access so no one thought they were enforced. Of course, no one would have seen what the SYSTEM was doing when no one could access their notifications, which would be the same on this version of Earth. Pandora thought for a moment and decided that she needed to explain what it meant to make an Oath or Vow to her and what would happen if they broke that vow or oath. ¡°Okay, cliff notes version. A vow is a promise you make to someone three times. Once stated three times the vow is noted by the SYSTEM and enforced. If you ever break the Oath there are serious repercussions for doing so. You could lose levels, abilities, and skills. On this Earth, it is almost impossible to know what the negative effects of breaking an Oath or Vow would be though.¡± ¡°Then why should we?¡± ¡°Because unlike the rest of the humans on Earth, I can actually access my notifications and I will know when a vow has been broken to me. How? The SYSTEM will send me a message letting me know. Additionally, once someone has broken an Oath to me, they¡¯re dead to me. Whatever promise I make to you that I would do if you break the Oath is what I¡¯ll do¡± ¡°You talk a big game. What can one woman do?¡± the leader said snidely. Pandora realized she wasn¡¯t going to get anywhere with the leader. The next instant she had crossed the distance to him, grabbed him by the throat, and retreated to where she¡¯d started while squeezing his neck hard enough that he couldn¡¯t breathe. She also positioned herself so that he was a meat shield between the other soldiers and her. ¡°What can I do?¡± Pandora called out to no one in particular asked as she moved forward grabbed the leader and returned to her starting point ¡°Let''s see, I can steal all the information from this mind,¡± she said as she absorbed his thoughts with her ability Absorb: Memories for the last 10 hours. The soldier brought his rifle up and pulled the trigger. The bullet was armor-piercing and did enter her body which caused everyone to pause. Pandora touched the rifle and used the ability Absorb Items to turn it into MLAs while everyone watched while the bullet that had barely entered her body was pushed out and the wound healed completely in the next 3 seconds. The commander''s face was starting to turn red as he tried to pull his pistol which Pandora touched and also absorbed before he could fire it. Next came a knife which was also absorbed. When he had no other weapons to reach for, he reached forward to gouge her eyes out with his thumbs. Unfortunately for him, her Minimum Damage Threshold prevented him from doing any damage to her while she, in turn, touched his clothes and absorbed them which left him naked as he turned blue. Calls to let him go rang out which Pandora ignored. As he started thrashing Pandora said, ¡°Anyone that fires their weapon will be left behind when I leave. This is your only warning.¡± Pandora made sure to make eye contact with each which was pretty impressive because she was still holding the commander by his neck above the ground and had been doing so since she grabbed him. That alone should have scared the shit out of the rest of them. Once she was sure she had all of their attention she lightly tapped the commander on the ass to wake him up as she casually tossed him back toward his formation. Unable to control his fall and just barely awake he landed awkwardly and slid until he rested at the feet of one of his soldiers who bent down to check on him. ¡°So what can I do? I can decide to do absolutely nothing and leave you here to your fate or we can stop wasting time, you all take your vow and you start guarding my estate while I deal with the other team that is on the way to Scarborough. Luckily for all of you, they¡¯re not attacking until the top of the hour or I¡¯d just leave you here and you could deal with critters you drew the attention of. So, who wants to make a vow, and who wants to stay here?¡± Pandora asked. While the 20 men looked at each other Pandora considered the memories she¡¯d taken from the Commander. ¡°V¡± as he thought of himself, answered directly to the Emperor in Rome, Augustus Maxamillius Ceasar. He was a direct descendant of ¡°The Ceasar,¡± whatever that meant. Her dad would probably know, but without being able to review the history of his Earth, it didn¡¯t really matter. All she knew was that a lot of the problems with this society started in Rome. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. While Pandora was reviewing V¡¯s memories she watched as he moved slowly to one of his subordinates who wasn¡¯t paying attention, grabbed a grenade off his battle harness, and threw it at her. Pandora watched as the Grenade tumbled slowly, to her at least, through the air which gave her plenty of time to read the canister and recognize that it was either a magnesium or white phosphorus grenade. Both of these would cause her a little bit of an issue as they could be extremely bright. There were many ways she could take care of the situation but she went with the simplest one of all. She moved forward, opened a shadow portal to the material plane, and allowed the grenade to pass through. When it hit the ground the portal winked out as a bright white light and intense heat blasted back through the portal. So it was a white phosphorus grenade, what an asshole. Pandora looked at the commander with an evil glint in her eye as she said, ¡°My turn.¡± Before anyone could move Pandora had grabbed the naked commander by his leg and arm turned with a quick swing, and flung him toward the flying creatures in the distance. Pandora guessed they were about 1,500 feet or so away which was just over a quarter of a mile. Everyone else had frozen as she moved. They all watched as the commander soared through the air for a good three seconds before they lost sight of him. That isn¡¯t to say that they didn¡¯t hear him screaming until they couldn¡¯t hear him anymore. Pandora looked around the group and then pointed at herself, ¡°I¡¯m a dragon, what about me turning into a dragon and flying around a few moments ago didn¡¯t get that point across?¡± Pandora said with just a little bit of frustration. ¡°I am about to leave this realm and head up to Scarborough. I can either bring you all back through with me if you make an Oath, or I can leave you here. If you come with me, you will work as my security and protect my interests until such time as I release you. Yes, you will be paid and taken care of. That, however, should not be what concerns you right now,¡± screams could be heard in the distance. ¡°What should concern you right now is that the creatures over there just tasted blood, they¡¯ll know what it is now and they¡¯re hungry.¡± Pandora said as she pointed at the bandages where the two wounded people had been as well as the wreckage from the three helicopters, which had the blood of the soldiers that had been killed inside them still. It only took a moment before one broke, then all of them did. Pandora had them all swear a very simple vow three times, checked her notifications to make sure the vows were registered with the SYSTEM, and then tried to open a shadow portal to send them to his estate. When she first tried it didn¡¯t open. Of course, it wouldn¡¯t open where she was, there was a white phosphorus grenade burning that was probably killing all the shadows at ground zero. ¡°Alright everyone, follow me, we need to head back to where the house is before I can get you out of here. Stay close,¡± Pandora said as she led them toward where the wall of the house was. Once they were inside the walls of the house she opened a portal without issue and allowed everyone to step through. Pandora watched as the twenty men stepped through the portal one at a time. She was wondering how she would convince them not to break their vows that probably weren¡¯t important to them when the last man in line dropped and activated an anti-tank mine right inside the portal. She¡¯s seen some information on such mines when she was trying to learn as much as she could while in the Kersor Sector. Being a Sector Lord had given her a lot of perks. She noted that while the mine had a pressure plate it must also have a timer because she could hear the telltale sound of an analog timer clicking. Normally no one would be able to hear it but her hearing was impeccable and her perception was at least 6,000% better than a normal human¡¯s Pandora moved forward in a flash and touched the side of the mine as she used Absorb Items to turn it into MLAs. As she looked up she noticed that the idiot hadn¡¯t even made it to the front of the pack yet. A moment later she had him by the neck, though she wasn¡¯t choking him. She was just holding him in front of her as she looked at the other men. Pandora systematically absorbed all of his weapons but left him with his clothes. She wouldn¡¯t kill this man if she didn¡¯t have to because he was going to help her teach the rest of the soldiers a very valuable lesson right here and right now. ¡°Listen up everyone, this man just broke his oath to me by trying to kill me with a tank mine. Please notice that the tank mine would have gone off within 20 feet of all of you as well, so technically, he tried to kill all of us. That doesn¡¯t matter though. Pandora opened a shadow portal directly behind her and stepped through as she kept a firm grip on the man and dragged him with her. Once on the other side of the portal she turned and faced everyone else back through the portal. ¡°What¡¯s your name soldier?¡± Pandora asked the soldier. ¡°I go by Cliff, Clifford Wexlar,¡± the soldier said. ¡°Good to know Cliff. Today is your lucky day. If you do one thing for me I will take you back through the portal and let you go. You will never have to see me again and we¡¯ll call it quits between us. I won¡¯t look for you and as long as you don¡¯t come looking for me, I won¡¯t kill you on the spot. How does that sound?¡± ¡°I like the sound of that, what do I have to do?¡± ¡°Not much, you just need to open your notifications and read them to all your friends over there in the hallway.¡± ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Cliff asked. ¡°That¡¯s it¡± Pandora affirmed. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s see the first message is in red and it says, ¡®Warning You have Broken an Oath¡¯ The next message says ¡®You have gained the Title Oath Breaker¡¯¡± ¡°Does it say what the title does?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Yes, it says ¡®Oath Breaker ¨C You have broken an Oath as a member of the SYSTEM. While you hold the title Oath Breaker All SYSTEM assisted perks are removed. Levels are reset to 0 and no new levels may be earned. Class modifications are removed and any Class and Class benefits are removed. Attributes and skills are not affected though the SYSTEM will no longer track Attributes or Skill Levels. Can the Oath Breaker Title be removed? Simple answer, no. Longer Answer anything is possible but it hasn¡¯t happened yet¡¯ Cliffor Wexlar read. ¡°Very good Cliff,¡± Pandora said as she stepped back through the Shadow portal and let Cliff go. ¡°Now get out of here. I do not ever want to see you again, nor will anyone once they know you will never improve. Now, Go!¡± The group watched as Cliff turned and fled down the hallway. ¡°You¡¯re just going to let him go,¡± one of the soldiers asked. ¡°I am a woman of my word. He told you all exactly what will happen if you break your Oath. I¡¯m sure you didn¡¯t understand everything you were looking at earlier when you accessed your status and the notifications. I¡¯m also sure you noticed that you were all somewhere between levels 5 and 10. Well, Cliff is now level 0. He will be level 0 for the rest of his life and even if the SYSTEM comes online here, he will never be able to benefit from it again. That could be a serious problem if monsters show up as he¡¯ll always be lower level than anything he might face.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t there anything you can do for him,¡± Another soldier asked. ¡°Not a thing, and not important,¡± Pandora said in a tone that barred any further comments. ¡°The rest of you are to secure these grounds set up a defensive perimeter and prepare for a possible assault. There is an underground bunker here. Make sure everyone else is moved from the safe rooms to the bunker and then defend them. Yes you can fall back into the bunker if you need to. It should go without saying but I¡¯ll say it anyway, try not to get yourselves killed. I need to head up to Scarborough and take care of the forces that are going to attack my assets up there. ¡°There¡¯s no way you can get there fast enough,¡± one of the soldiers called out as Pandora was walking through them to step back outside the wall. ¡°Boys, you all just watched a little itty bitty girl throw your commander over 1,000 feet to his death. That after taking down your three helicopters, catching a bullet with her fingers, and walking back and forth across a dimensional boundary. Oh yeah, no communication with your military command, consider that as part of our Oath. You can talk to your loved ones but you cannot talk about anything to do with me or where you are right now. I will consider that treasonous behavior and your Oath will be broken. One more thing you should know. I do not have to be present for you to break your Oath. The SYSTEM is everywhere and sees all. If you break your Oath, it will know and then I will know. Because magic doesn¡¯t work on this side of the dimensional boundary you won¡¯t know you broke your Oath to me until I kick you out of my house so I¡¯d be extra careful if I were you.¡± Pandora continued walking until she was outside. Shifted into her Dragon form and flew up until she was a mile over the city and headed north. Something interesting happened as she increased her speed. She knew that moving faster would create more friction and generate more heat. To reduce the chance of this she decided to try to use one of her abilities and turned on Absorb Kinetic energy to see if that could help. As it was explained to her in one of her courses, flight is the struggle of four different forces. You have thrust which opposes drag and lift which opposes gravity. After she reached Scarborough she thought about what had happened and then smiled. When she had activated Absorb Kinetic Energy the little bit of air that came into contact with her body stopped dead and that dead air became the barrier the next particle of air came up against. The overall effect was that while she was flying she wasn¡¯t generating heat or cavitation when she reached extremely high speeds. It was a byproduct of two of her abilities which shouldn¡¯t have worked that way but did. Pandora made it to Scarborough in record time and came in for a landing on the roof which she stepped off and absorbed the kinetic energy when she landed on the ground before she walked inside. As soon as she was inside, Pandora went to the nearest intercom and clicked It on, ¡°This is Pandora. This is NOT a Test. Everyone is to make their way to the Bunker, Now. This is NOT a test. We have an attack incoming and they should be here shortly.¡± Chapter 24, Protecting My New Empire Pandora entered the estate and looked around. It was quiet but she smelled the same type of smells she¡¯d noticed around the assault team. So, they¡¯d gone a little early, probably when the helicopters exploded. She wasn¡¯t surprised when a man stepped out of a hallway to her left and lifted a bulky gun toward her. It smelled of oil and rope but she didn¡¯t know what it was because she¡¯d never run across anything like it before. Time slowed as her perception, agility, and dexterity kicked in and she watched as a projectile was fired from the tube and moved toward her. When it was five feet from her a charge in the projectile went off and four weighted prongs shot away from the center stretching a net out between them. Each prong was 90-degree offset from the other so that the next expanded equally before it wrapped around the target. Pandora watched all of this and casually reached up and touched the net, which she absorbed with her ability Absorb Items. There were too many innocents up here. Far too many for her to be merciful to these men. Of course, she didn¡¯t have to kill them, and if she broke anything she could repair them later so long as she didn¡¯t leave them to bleed out. With that thought, she had a plan and executed it. Pandora moved. She didn¡¯t have a haste skill or anything that would allow her to attack quicker than one time every second, but she didn¡¯t need to be that fast. In a moment she was next to the guard that had shot her with the net gun and kicked his shin with what she hoped was a gentleness that wouldn¡¯t kill him. Even so, his leg flew backward pulling his other leg behind it which caused him to crash to the ground head-first. Luckily he¡¯d had a helmet on because Pandora noticed that he was still breathing as she moved further into the estate. As she came around the corner three bullets struck her doing some damage to her. It felt no worse than if she¡¯d stubbed her toe. Pandora didn¡¯t have any spells in this new world, so she moved to the next person and touched his weapon as she absorbed it. As he drew his pistol and fired the other two brought their weapons to bear and fired at her point blank as well. The next 10 seconds consisted of Pandora absorbing weapons while the three soldiers continued to attack her. Once she¡¯d thoroughly disarmed them and continued to block them or ignore them with her damage resistance until they were weaponless she broke a leg on each of them below the knee and moved on. The next grouping wasn¡¯t so lucky. There were 10 of them and they¡¯d decided to use one of the house staff as a human shield. ¡°Pandora is it?¡± The soldier with his gun to the back of the maid''s head asked, ¡°If you move she dies.¡± Pandora hadn¡¯t even answered. She¡¯d used Absorb, Burst of Speed to cover the 100 feet in the hallway they¡¯d been holed up in and pushed the man back as she slipped her other hand between the gun and the girl''s head just as he pulled the trigger. He¡¯d been fast and pulled the trigger, but Pandora¡¯s hand had stopped the bullet. Unfortunately for that idiot and the two behind him, she hadn¡¯t held back on her strength Also, her Burst of Speed had accelerated to 68 Miles Per Hour. That in addition to her full strength shot the soldier backward like he¡¯d been fired from a cannon. The guard she struck and the other two guards he collided with were turned into hamburger as the kinetic force expanded through their bodies ripping them apart. She struck him so hard that the other seven guards off to the side were stunned and immobile which gave Pandora enough time to pick up the young girl and move her to a hallway Pandora had passed where she left her out of harm''s way. Pandora returned to the fight using her ability Absorb, Burst of Speed again. This time Pandora didn¡¯t hold back. She took damage, but not enough to hurt her significantly. Seven seconds later the seven guards were dead. A second after that she was fully healed and seven seconds after that all of the soldiers had been converted into the MLAs she used to heal herself. Over the next five minutes, Pandora moved through the estate wounding those that she came across who tried to take her on by themselves and killing anyone who tried to use hostages to stay her hand. Eventually, the word got out that using hostages led to an automatic death sentence, and the noncombatants were left alone. By the time Pandora made it to the bunker she¡¯d killed 15 soldiers and wounded 45 others. As she came around the entrance to the bunker she saw three squads. Two were watching the hallway to the bunker while the third squad worked on trying to get through the vault door. ¡°Stop in the name of the Empire!¡± One of the soldiers commanded. Since the soldiers didn¡¯t automatically start shooting and they didn¡¯t have any hostages Pandora asked, ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because in that bag right there is a bomb!¡± The soldier said as he pointed to a large duffle bag on the floor at his feet. ¡°What kind of bomb?¡± Pandora asked, curious. ¡°A nuke!¡± ¡°A nuke? Really?¡± Pandora asked surprised. ¡°My dad tried to explain to me about nukes. I never did understand how something so small could make such a big explosion. However, I have to wonder, why would you be given a nuke? You have to know that if you use that everyone here dies, even those in the vault right?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Everyone in the vault will be fine and we¡¯ll be upstairs and out of the danger zone.¡± The soldier says as if he¡¯s talking to someone incredibly stupid. ¡°In addition to what my dad told me I¡¯ve also had the advanced physics courses you obviously haven¡¯t. If that explosion goes off in this tunnel sure the nuclear energy might not kill those inside, but I bet the shockwave would be pretty intense and the shockwave would be bad, very bad. Bad enough to throw people around in there. Do you know how many people are in that bunker, since you want to open it so badly? Pandora asks. ¡°Between 50 and 100.¡± ¡°That was last week. Mistress Carpenter, I know you¡¯re listening through the intercom, how many people are in the bunker?¡± Mistress Carpenter¡¯s voice came from the intercom speaker, ¡°There are 226 people in this bunker. Mostly women and children. Ten are infants.¡± When the soldier that was talking shows the slightest hesitation Pandora moves and uses her ability Absorb Item to absorb the nuke. Then mayhem breaks loose. Multiple soldiers open fire against her while the soldiers who had been watching over the bomb pull grenades and throw them at her. Grenades, the bunker¡¯s vault door can handle a few grenades. Pandora reaches up and swats two of the four grenades back toward the vault door. ¡°Grenade!¡± Multiple soldiers shout out before the two that made it past Pandora and the two among the soldiers go off. The shrapnel from the two behind Pandora shredded her jumpsuit while the two that went off next to the door shredded the armor of two of the soldiers and damaged at least five others. The armor does its job and none of the soldiers die in the two blasts among them. One of the soldiers, who thinks he has an advantage against Pandora steps forward with a shotgun and at point-blank range shoots her in the center of the chest. Luckily he didn¡¯t push it into her flesh and the slug ricochets off to the side, instead of bouncing back up the barrel. It stings but doesn¡¯t break her skin, though if she couldn¡¯t heal herself it probably would have left a bruise. The next 30 seconds is an exercise in futility for the soldiers as they shoot Pandora, she moves and maims one of them and then it starts over. They have good discipline and hold the line but eventually, it doesn¡¯t matter, When the fighting is done, all of them lay before the bunker¡¯s vault door with broken limbs and shrapnel wounds. Pandora looks over the soldiers and finds the two that were right next to the grenade blasts and walks over as she uses her Absorb: Heal Other/Temporary Hit Point Bonus ability to stop the bleeding and stabilize the soldiers. Next, she looks around the room and locks eyes with the Captain who sits against a wall with a broken arm and leg. Well, at least she wasn¡¯t accidentally ripping limbs off anyone anymore, ¡°Captain, we need to talk,¡± Pandora says as she walks over and gently grabs the Captain by the back of the neck as she heals his arm and leg. She¡¯s absorbed so many MLAs that she needed to spend some of them to make sure she doesn¡¯t accidentally explode. Luckily, she knew exactly how she could check her attributes without dropping into her Mindspace. With her hand on the back of the Captain''s neck, she activates shadow step and drags the Captain through a shadow in the wall. Once through she lifts him to his feet and releases him. ¡°Wait, What?¡± The Captain stammers as he looks around into the utter darkness of the Shadow Realm underground. ¡°Pull out your flashlight Captain, your night vision goggles aren¡¯t going to help you here,¡± Pandora states emotionlessly. ¡°You can¡¯t see either, the Captain says as he tries to strike where he heard her voice come from. Pandora catches his fist gently and says, ¡°I can see just fine in the dark. Please pull out your flashlight so we can talk,¡± Pandora releases the Captain and steps back. The Captain pulled out the flashlight and turned it on. Light exploded into the darkness but seemed to disappear after it went more than 10 feet from the Captain. He pointed it around as he tried to figure out what was going on until the light rested on Pandora¡¯s face, ¡°What is going on? Where are we?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve pulled you into a parallel dimension, a place known as the Shadow Realm. At least that¡¯s what I call it. Anyway, magic works here and you can pull up your personal status which I want you to do now by thinking ¡®Personal Information¡¯ or ¡®Status¡¯. Once you do, the information can be viewed much like you¡¯d view information on a monitor except that you control the screen with your mind. Take a look at it while I check something,¡± Pandora said as she walked over to the vault door on this side of the dimensional barrier and opened it. She looked around the bunker entryway and then started a very quick walk-through of the bunker. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. The bunker had been dug out and built quickly and then a tunnel had been attached to the basement. In the Shadow Realm, it was about 100 feet underground. Pandora double-checked to make sure no shadow creatures had made it into the shadow realm version of the bunker. Nope, the entire facility area was empty, though it was simply a replica of the open spaces and didn¡¯t have any of the amenities she had added to the bunker, like sewage and water lines. This would do nicely for now and should house the men for a bit while she figured out what to do with them. Pandora made her way back to the entrance of the vault and found the Captain just inside the door, ¡°Where are we?¡± he asked. ¡°We are inside a replica of the vault within the Shadow Realm. Think of this as a copy of the rooms on the other side. The vault door works but there is no water or toilets here but that shouldn¡¯t matter. Nonliving matter tends to be absorbed by the realm rather quickly.¡± ¡°Why am I here?¡± the Captain asked. ¡°You¡¯re here because I¡¯m going to put all of the soldiers in here in a moment,¡± Pandora said as she closed the vault door. Don¡¯t worry I¡¯ll get you some food and water. By the way, did you look at your Status and Personal Information? The Captain didn¡¯t answer as he tried to attack Pandora again, this time trying to kick her. She caught his foot and squeezed it just hard enough that if she squeezed harder it would shatter his bones. Speaking slowly and with effect, she asked again. ¡°Did. You. Check your Personal. Information?¡± The Captain froze and nodded, ¡°I checked, I checked. It listed me as a level 8 fighter.¡± ¡°And your Attributes?¡± ¡°What, you want me to tell you all my attributes?¡± The Captain asked. ¡°Just think ¡®Show Attributes¡¯ while thinking about what you want to show and it will appear in mid-air so you don¡¯t have to say it all out loud. The Captain''s gaze goes vacant for a moment before a screen pops up Attributes Strength 17 Agility 15 Dexterity 14 Endurance 18 Constitution 20 Perception 14 Intelligence 13 Wisdom 9 Willpower 9 Charisma 8 Luck 5 Pandora nods and releases the Captain¡¯s leg, ¡°Just like that. Now take a look at mine,¡± Pandora says as she shares her attributes with the Captain. Attributes Strength 6152 Agility 6152 Dexterity 6152 Endurance 6152 Constitution 6152 Perception 6152 Intelligence 6152 Wisdom 6152 Willpower 6152 Charisma 6152 Luck 6152 Chaos 67,650 It was almost comical how big the Captain''s eyes bulged when he read the stats. He recovered quickly enough and asked, ¡°Chaos, what¡¯s that?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you worry about that. Just know that it lets me do things like this,¡± Pandora said as she willed her clothes to repair all the cuts and bullet holes that had appeared. One of her breasts had almost been hanging out in the open because she¡¯d been hit in the middle of her chest so much. While she didn¡¯t care about her nudity, she did understand that others might. ¡°I see,¡± The Captain said. ¡°I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t, but that¡¯s okay. I¡¯m going to go bring the rest of your soldiers here. I¡¯ll also bring some food and water. It¡¯ll probably be a couple of hours before I get everything here. While I¡¯m gone, I want you to explain to your people what you saw. I¡¯ll also be getting one of the other soldiers up here to explain why you are all going to take an Oath or Vow to me.¡± The Captain looked at Pandora confused. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± You¡¯ll have company in a few,¡± Pandora said as she stepped through a shadow and exited inside the Vault right next to Mistress Carpenter whom she¡¯d seen through the walls of the dimensional barrier while she was talking to the Captain. ¡°Pandora?¡± Mistress Carpenter said surprised. ¡°It¡¯s me. Please have everyone stand back from the door. The soldiers on the other side are all wounded. I need to stash them before we sit down and talk. While I take care of the soldiers outside the door and the others upstairs I need you to order food for 100 men for at least a week. You might also want to order a few pallets of bottled water and have them delivered here. Also, camping supplies for that same hundred people, palletized is fine. No tents but lamps, sleeping bags, and other tools. Also, feel free to add one hundred decks of playing cards. Pay the fees to try to have everything delivered within 4 hours.¡± ¡°Of course, where would you like it delivered? Have it all brought down into the bunker''s storage area. Keep it separated from the rest so I can grab it easily. Yeah, that should do.¡± Pandora said thoughtfully. While they¡¯d been talking everyone had moved away from the entryway that contained the vault door. This bunker had been designed as an underground facility and had its own well, sewage treatment plant, and air supply. In a pinch, it could support 500 people even though there were only a little over 200 people in it now. While the door was opening she turned to Mistress Carpenter, ¡°Also, have one of the soldiers that is now on your payroll sent here. Tell them I don¡¯t care who, I just need someone that can explain what they were shown by me to their fellow soldiers up here. Also, tell them to bring their gear with them. They might need it.¡± ¡°Very Well,¡± Mistress Carpenter said as she walked off into a side office. Over the next 30 minutes, Pandora rounded up, healed, and then transferred all of the soldiers into the vault in the shadow realm. She absorbed all the corpses and converted them to MLAs as well as whatever mess they¡¯d left behind. After everything was said and done 63 men stood around in the entryway to the vault in its mirror in the Shadow Realm waiting. Pandora left them and went back down to the vault in the material plane for a bit and checked on everyone there. For the next four hours, Pandora waited while the soldier from the Cambridge estate came up to Scarborough in Michael Carpenter''s helicopter and also had all the supplies delivered that Mistress Carpenter had ordered. Once everything was delivered, Pandora made her way to the storage area of the Bunker in the Material Plane and quickly transferred all of the supplies into the Shadow Realm equivalent. While Pandora was returning from the Shadow Realm the soldier from the Cambridge Estate entered the storage and called out, ¡°You called for me?¡± Pandora holds up a finger, ¡°One sec, just stay right there.¡± Pandora calls back and then finishes transferring the supplies. When she¡¯s finished, Pandora returned to the soldier, ¡°I need you to come with me and talk to the 63 soldiers that attacked this estate and convince them that it''s in their best interest to join you and the others by taking a Vow, or Oath to me?¡± ¡°Sixty-three? You were able to capture 63 without killing any?¡± the soldier asked disbelievingly. ¡°Oh, some died. There were 15 assholes who took hostages and tried to hold me off that way. I don¡¯t take kindly to anyone threatening innocents,¡± Pandora said. ¡°That is good to know. I¡¯ll make sure to let the others back in Cambridge know that as well,¡± The soldier says hesitantly. Pandora grabs the soldier by the upper arm and transfers both of them into the Shadow Realm. The soldier pulled out a flashlight and turns it on before Pandora leads him to the group that is still waiting in the main lobby. ¡°The Female Goddess Returns,¡± One of the soldiers calls out disrespectfully ¡°You, stow that shit!¡± The Captain calls out. ¡°Yeah Chace, stow that shit!¡± The soldier beside Pandora says as the other soldiers in the room look at him angrily. ¡°What?¡± he continues. ¡°She destroyed the three helicopters we had waiting for exfil and then she turned into a goddamn dragon and sent all three of our teams here. The only thing that went right for our mission is that our sniper took out Michael Carpenter¡­¡± Pandora interrupted him, ¡°Well actually,¡± Pandora said as she transformed into Michael Carpenter and then shifted back into Pandora. ¡°Are you saying you also took that sniper shot to the forehead?¡± The soldier from Cambridge asks disbelievingly. ¡°I am. Didn¡¯t you notice that there wasn¡¯t a body upstairs when I left you and the other soldiers to watch over the estate?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Yeah, but?¡± The soldier started to say. ¡°Pandora, why did you bring Sgt Stokes here?¡± The Captain asked. ¡°Captain, and as many of you that wish to, and you too, Sgt Stokes, please follow me,¡± Pandora said she turned and walked back to the storage room. After a few moments, the others follow. As the soldiers come into the storage room they noticed the pallets of supplies and equipment. Pandora looked over the soldiers that followed her, ¡°You are all in the sealed Bunker under the Scarborough Estate you attacked earlier. You are just in a parallel dimension where the rules don¡¯t really apply. This bunker is huge and can easily support 500 people in the real world so it should be able to support the 64 of you easily enough. On the pallets behind me are pallets of water, food, and camping equipment so that you can keep the darkness at bay while you¡¯re here. ¡°Why are you leaving us here?¡± The Captain asked. ¡°I am leaving you here to give you time to talk to Sgt. Stokes here. Sgt. Stokes will explain to you what I required of the survivors from his assault team, what happened to Commander V, and answer any other questions you have for him concerning me so that you know the numbers I showed you for my attributes were not just for show.¡± A couple of soldiers looked around and looked about ready to speak up when Pandora continued. This Shadow Realm has a few properties that you will find quite useful. Anything that is lost or discarded tends to be absorbed by the shadows so get your people in here and distribute the supplies to everyone. You also might want to assign someone to sit on your food and water. That is a literal suggestion. If they¡¯re just in the room watching it. I am being literal here. Once it disappears it''s gone and there won''t be more until I come back, which could take a couple of days. As for bathroom breaks. You can use the toilets and urinals. Anything you leave behind should be absorbed pretty quickly. ¡°What do you want from us?¡± The Captain asked. ¡°I want you to be the guard force for my people. I¡¯ll be back in a couple of days to talk terms. Oh, btw. Sgt Stokes does not have the only weapons. One of the pallets has a duffel bag that has some weapons you brought with you. Sgt Stokes, the same rules apply to them as I stated to you and your team. If they shoot at me they get to stay on this side of the dimensional barrier, forever!¡± ¡°Understood Pandora, I¡¯ll make sure to brief them thoroughly,¡± Sgt. Stokes said. Pandora nodded and stepped through a shadow into the vault in the Material Plane. It looked like she needed to talk to Mistress Carpenter about accelerating her plans. Chapter 25, Well, Thats NOT Good! Over the next week, Pandora noticed that Michael Carpenter was being locked out of various intelligence accounts. During that time the other 63 soldiers came online while Mistress Carpenter got the bunker set up for a long haul and moved every down below secondary fallback point which is more than five miles below the surface. Normally it would have been almost impossible to dig that deep. With her Absorb ability, it was child''s play to dig the tunnels necessary to get that deep and then to have a company come in and set everything up under some very serious Non-Disclosure agreements. Of course, that had required a separate access point and more tunnels but that hadn¡¯t taken long either. Digging the tunnels had led to the discoveries that funded the endeavor. She¡¯d created the deep base in a single day. It had taken another 3 months to get everything else set up down there. Water, sewage, hydroponics and secured connections to the surface. Once Michael Carpenter started to get shut out, well that¡¯s when Pandora decided to get everyone into the deep bunker. This included the 81 soldiers who had all taken a vow within the SYSTEM. It also helped that they followed Mistress Carpenter¡¯s orders without issue. A day later Pandora learned that her paranoia was well justified. No one, save Michael Carpenter, was at the estate in Cambridge. He¡¯d sent all the local staff home with a promise to pay them in full as a reward for all the hard work they¡¯d done in the last week moving most of the permanent staff up to Scarborough. He, Pandora, was sitting at his desk looking over various financial reports when a missile traveling faster than the speed of sound came through the balcony windows behind him and into Pandora. The missile had been traveling so fast that Pandora hadn¡¯t even had time to react as her perception picked the missile when it came in through the balcony window. At Mach 1.5 it was traveling 1,606 feet per second which put it at moving just under one-third of a mile per second. Pandora didn¡¯t have time to think about that as the weapon slammed into her and exploded. Pandora is slightly surprised when a message pops into her vision on the material plane You Have Di¡­Error!, Error!, Error! Pandora: Caspa are you seeing this? Caspa: Pandora why can we talk like this? Caspa: Oh? Caspa: That¡¯s NOT Good! Caspa: Pandora you need to concentrate on bringing our bodies back together. Caspa: Pandora, You need to do that NOW! Pandora trusted Caspa implicitly and tried to think of herself coming back together. It was weird. Her mind felt like it was reaching out with hands made of air that were trying to catch little pieces of something that was also made of air. Caspa: I know this isn¡¯t helping but we need to try to do this faster. Here I¡¯m going to try to help. Pandora felt Caspa flow over her mental point of view. With their minds layered like this and reaching for the other parts of herself and Caspa they didn¡¯t need to talk mentally anymore they could just talk. ¡°This is bad,¡± Caspa said. ¡°Why is this bad?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Can¡¯t we just bring our bodies back together?¡± ¡°Yes, and no?¡± Caspa said. ¡°Yes, we can reform our body. In fact, I¡¯m pretty sure that we can¡¯t be killed unless someone can eradicate Chaos, which I¡¯m pretty sure is impossible. That¡¯s not the issue though,¡± Caspa said. ¡°Then what is the problem?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°The problem is that we should not be able to talk like this. The fact that we can talk means that magic is leaking into this world at this location. It wasn¡¯t before we were hit with that air-to-surface missile so¡­¡± ¡°Are we on one of the natural Leylines on this planet?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Caspa answers. ¡°Okay, let''s try to get our body to reform,¡± Pandora said and then put her mind into growing her body. Once she puts her mind to it her body reforms in a matter of moments and she opened her eyes as she looked up into the night sky ¡°Can you hear me, Pandora?¡± Caspa asked. ¡°Yep¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s not good. Also, look towards your feet, about 12,000 feet up flying through the clouds.¡± ¡°Reaper Drone. I see it. Damn, that camera is looking this way. With infrared there¡¯s no way it doesn¡¯t see us.¡± ¡°Yep, it just launched a missile.¡± Pandora watches the missile, waits until it''s about a half mile out then drops into the Shadow Realm through her shadow and stands up. As she looks around she notices a glow In the building in front of her. Pandora walks into the building and back upstairs toward the point where her desk would be in the Material Plane. She¡¯d been brought back together over 200 feet away on the opposite side of the building from the balcony behind the desk she sat at as Michael Carpenter. As she came into the room where she¡¯d been sitting before she died she noticed that a small hole seemed to have opened in the Shadow realm and there seemed to be a vortex of swirling shadows where she¡¯d exploded. It looked like a little black hole that the shadows were swirling around before being sucked in. ¡°Caspa, what happens if magic starts going back into the world?¡± ¡°Monsters, Dungeons, Leveling, you know all the fun stuff,¡± Caspa said. ¡°Okay, so what do we do now?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Now? Now you get back up to Scarborough and make sure everyone is safe before we head to Rome and end the asshole that just tried to kill you¡± Caspa said. Pandora nodded, jumped into the air, and passed back into the Material plane. With a thought, she accelerates while moving upward and looking for the reaper drone. Once she sees it, she makes a slight course adjustment which barrels her through the drone destroying it. Warning Explosive Damage taken: 25,672 of 25,872 Hit Points Remaining. Pandora: Caspa, do we have our notifications back? Caspa: Looks that way. Turn north and fly. If they have one Reaper here they probably have one up there too. Pandora turns to the north and accelerates. A new message pops into Pandora''s vision. MANA DETECTED. SYSTEM Interface on Standby. SYSTEM Interface will become fully available when Mana reaches 20% saturation. Current Mana Saturation: 1% Pandora: How big was that hole in the universe we made? Current Mana Saturation: 3% Caspa: I don¡¯t think we made a hole in the universe I think our chaos is unraveling whatever was keeping magic from working here? Current Mana Saturation: 6% Pandora: Is it exponential then? Current Mana Saturation: 10% Caspa: It sure looks that way. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Current Mana Saturation: 15% Pandora: I¡¯ve seen this pattern before, it¡¯s cumulative 1+2+3, etc¡­ Current Mana Saturation: 21% SYSTEM Interface Online Analyzing User Environment, Please wait. Pandora minimized her notifications as she closed in on Scarborough and saw a missile flying from a reaper drone toward her Scarborough Estate. With a slight adjustment to her flight path, Pandora came up behind the missile and Absorbed it, turning it into MLAs. Pandora flared her wings, turned, and did the same to the Reaper Drone she did to the last one. She flew right through it destroying it, before it can turn around and try again. Current Mana Saturation: 28% Pandora stopped to think for a moment. If the Interface was back on, that should mean all of her magic and ancillary abilities that required magic should be back. If they were back she should be able to use telepathy. She focused on the Estate as she flew overhead looking for a guard and then activated telepathy to establish a link when she saw one. Current Mana Saturation: 36% Pandora: This is Pandora, Look up and you¡¯ll see a dragon-shaped shadow, that¡¯s me Guard: Holy shit it¡¯s a dragon! Current Mana Saturation: 45% Pandora: Yes, I¡¯m in my dragon form. Get everyone inside into the Bunker and then go to this wall and do this, Pandora sends as she also sends images of how to open the secret panel to the secret elevators that will take them all down to the deep bunker. Guard: We didn¡¯t believe him when he said you were a dragon Current Mana Saturation: 55% Pandora: Focus, did you get the instructions, do you know what you need to do?¡± Guard: Yes Ma¡¯am, I¡¯ll get right on that, The guard sent back as he ran inside and Pandora heard an alarm go off. Good man. She¡¯d have to give him a raise someday. Current Mana Saturation: 66% Pandora turned just in time to see a fighter come in for a gun run, which hurt as she received 1,800 Notifications. Current Mana Saturation: 78% ¡°Skip everything but the last message,¡± Caspa said. ¡°It looks like he hit you with his gun for 3 seconds. It must fire 600 round a second if you took 1,800 hits.¡± Pandora just nodded as she minimized the messages and pulled up the last one. Current Mana Saturation: 81% WARNING! 9 points of damage taken. 6 points of damage resistance. 3 points of damage taken 5,400 Hit Points of 25,872 remaining She¡¯d taken over 20,000 hit points of damage! Ow. That had hurt! Pandora immediately activated her ability Absorb: Heal Self/Temporary Hit Point Bonus and spent all of her 5232 MLAs to heal 15,696 hit points Current Mana Saturation: 95% 15,696 Hit Points Healed 21,096 Hit Points of 25,872 remaining. So, don¡¯t let a fighter get the bead on her with their guns, good to know. Pandora concentrated on the air fight and watched as both fighters put her in their crosshairs as they came around for her. She easily dodged the 1st fighter and lined herself up to dodge the 2nd fighter. As the 2nd fighter began its run, it tried to follow her, but she was too close at that point. Pandora flexed her wings and immediately shifted to her human form as the bullets passed harmlessly below her. With her superior dexterity and agility, she sailed up and over the cockpit and slid along the top of the aircraft until she was able to reach out and touch the vertical stabilizer of the fighter as it sailed past her. Pandora received a message just as she went to check her combat log as the combat turn ended. Current Mana Saturation: 100% Combat Log: 500 Mana Spent to transform to human form. 33 Mana spent to activate Absorb Item Vertical Stabilizer absorbed. 635 MLAs gained. End Combat Turn New Combat Turn You have initiative. 500 Mana to Transform to Dragon Form Mana Conversion Activated, 30 MLA converted to 990 Mana. 61,510 of 61,520 Mana remaining. Pandora closed her combat log and recognized that she had a definite advantage. The second fighter was already a half mile away and going into a turn to come back for another pass. This time she flew straight at the fighter and used her breath weapon on it. No fuss, No muss. One moment it was there, the next it wasn¡¯t. 20,000 damage to her for a free trip into the Shadow Realm. Have fun, Asshole! She thought. Pandora turned and headed west along the A64 highway as she headed inland and away from Mr. Carpenter¡¯s Estate looking for a petrol station. Once she found one, she transformed into Michael Carpenter as she came in for a landing and used her ability Absorb Kinetic Energy to arrest her momentum as she touched down. This garnered a few more MLAs. Michael Carpenter looked around but was pretty sure no one saw him land as he walked into the rest stop. He walked over to the pay phone, inserted his card, and called the number for the deep bunker. After two rings Mistress Carpenter picked up, ¡°May I help you?¡± ¡°It¡¯s me. Keep everyone there, watch the news, and block the entrance. I¡¯ll come back for you after I¡¯m done. It¡¯s time to cut the head off of this problem.¡± ¡°Are you sure that¡¯s a good idea?¡± Mistress Carpenter asked. ¡°Just keep an eye on everyone. Once I¡¯m done, I¡¯ll come and explain what that means to everyone. No matter what happens you should all be safe there. If there are others you want to bring in, do so, but vet them thoroughly and be careful. You can easily hold 500 people. You can increase your numbers up to 1,000 with very few issues. If you add more than that you¡¯ll run out of supplies fast. ¡°Understood. We¡¯ll keep things going here until you get back. Also, Pandora, Thank you,¡± Mistress Carpenter said before she cut the line. Just then the static filled the line as a bright flash off to the east lit up the early morning sky. Pandora realized that she would have gone blind in that moment if not for her ability to heal herself, which she does automatically. As her vision came back she saw a very small mushroom cloud rising into the sky. Pandora turned her attention back to the phone she¡¯d been holding and asked, ¡°You still there?¡± ¡°Yes, what was that?¡± ¡°They detonated a nuke on the estate.¡± ¡°Interesting, the only thing we felt down here was a slight vibration and of course the static that cut off the line for a second.¡± ¡°Have the guards double-check the facility for damage. It wasn¡¯t a big nuke, probably 1 kiloton yield or so. Still, better to be safe, than sorry.¡± ¡°Will do.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll contact you when I can, better get a move on,¡± Michael Carpenter said into the phone before he hung up. A couple of people were still standing in the open. Luckily they¡¯d had their backs to the blast so while they were dazed they weren¡¯t blinded. Michael walked over to them and helped them get over and behind a wall. While the nuke was far enough away that most of the shockwave had attenuated into the atmosphere by the time it reached the petrol station, it was still powerful enough to knock people over if they weren¡¯t ready for it. Standing behind a wall or fence was all that was needed until it passed. Pandora looked around, went over to the men¡¯s bathroom, and entered. Pandora took on her human form with her black jumpsuit on and exited the bathroom. She exited the petrol station and started walking west down the sidewalk. While she walked SYSTEM Messages populated in her vision. SYSTEM Interface 10.0.0.1 has come online. Initial analysis of SYSTEM Users and XP awards reviewed. Automatic levels and attribute distribution halted. Please see Personal Information to assign earned Attribute points. Pandora pulled up her Experience Log, which hadn¡¯t changed since she arrived in this world. She¡¯d glanced at it while she¡¯d talked to Caspa in her Mindspace back then She¡¯d been Level 0 with 0 XP. The information hadn¡¯t been that interesting, so she¡¯d ignored it. Now though there was XP for four Level 7 soldiers, ten Level 7 soldiers, and five Level 5 Soldiers. There was nothing for the pilot who had ejected when he lost his vertical stabilizer, and the other pilot must still be in the Shadow Realm. He must not have died yet, or she didn¡¯t get any XP for the kill or assisting with the kill. Whatever the reason, it didn¡¯t really matter. Pandora''s Total XP was 8,950 which put her 1,050 short of level 4. That gave her 12 attribute points to spend. She put 1 attribute into every category except Luck, which she increased by 2. Not a huge change but she didn¡¯t need a huge change right now. She also had 3 skill points to spend. However, there was no explanation for skill points, and it looked like skills worked differently now. Maybe the SYSTEM wasn¡¯t fully online yet? She guessed that was possible. There wasn¡¯t a timer on them so she could save them, which she did. What was a little worrying was that skills didn¡¯t seem to be following the rules she was used to. There had been a skill for everything. Now it seemed that attribute bonuses were the only thing providing bonuses to skill checks and the skill points might do something to help that but she couldn¡¯t be sure because when she tried to focus on her skill points, nothing happened. Pandora was shaken out of her thoughts as emergency vehicles screamed down the highway toward Michael Carpenter''s Estate. That¡¯s fine, she needed to head to Rome anyway. ¡°What do we have here boys?¡± A burly overweight man calls as he hops over a hedge off to her right, two other young gentlemen quick behind. ¡°She is a pretty thing, could be a trap. You know them lords don¡¯t let the pretty ones out walking all by themselves like this and she ain¡¯t in the district working¡­ ¡°Shut it Kip, I don¡¯t want to hear any lip from you¡­¡± The burly man starts to say as Pandora jumped into the air, transformed into an Umbral Dragon, and headed Southeast. She could put these men in their place but there¡¯s no point. Magic was coming back into this world which would bring changes for everyone, Men and Women. Very soon, if she was right, the men who have been abusing and killing the young ladies are going to find out there are consequences for their actions. Pandora smiled as she heard the tell-tale sound of water dripping onto the pavement. They¡¯d pissed themselves, how unoriginal. Pandora put the thugs out of her mind and gained altitude. She started scanning the sky and paying more attention to her surroundings. It''s unsurprising when she sees a missile flying at her from the southeast. Damn, they must be able to detect her with radar or satellites. That¡¯s fine, she activates Absorb Kinetic Energy and increases her speed to Mach 10, well outside the speed of most technological attacks. Traveling at over 7,300 miles per hour it is an easy thing to shift her course to dodge any aircraft or missiles that come after her. As the crow flies, Rome is just over 1,000 miles away from Scarborough. To dodge the planes and missiles she continues to increase her altitude until she soars above Europe in the early morning sky. Off to the East, she can feel the sun making its way around the edge of the world, though there is no hint of light, yet. What draws her attention is that lights everywhere are going out as various colored flares light up the sky. Pandora keeps her attention on the sky and the fighters that are still trying to catch her as well as a few of the missiles that have run out of fuel and started to fall toward the ground before they detonate. It¡¯s too bad she doesn¡¯t have something that would allow her to sense radar emissions. If she could do that this would be a lot easier. Pandora ignores the missiles and planes and flies down until she¡¯s flying just above the ground. When she can, she slips into the Shadow Realm and reappears in the material world miles away. Pandora falls into the shadow of one mountain only to reaper behind the missile as it slams into the ground. As she comes over to Italy she slows down and enters a shadow near a city just west of the Rome. Flying east through the shadow realm she drops to the ground and transforms back into Michael Carpenter before he walks out of a shadow in the Colosseum. Unfortunately for Augustus Maxamillius Ceasar, Pandora has all of Michael Carpenter''s memories and knows exactly where the secure headquarters is. In fact, ¡°Micheal¡± makes a point to smile at each camera as he walks down one of the tunnels to a wall that looks like any other disappears into a shadow, and then reappears in an elevator shaft. Pandora drops 500 feet to the top of the elevator cab and uses her ability Absorb Kinetic Energy to absorb the impact of her fall before she steps through another shadow and appears outside of the elevator shaft in a very clean hallway. Michael Carpenter looks at the camera he just materialized before and then transforms into Pandora. There¡¯s no point in hiding who she is anymore. Besides, she wants these men. The men who work in these offices know it was her. She also wanted them to know that there was nothing they could do about it. Pandora started walking toward Augustus''s office. Michael and he had grown up together after all. They could have even been considered friends. Wasn¡¯t it appropriate that she should want to reunite them? Chapter 26, Kick Starting The SYSTEM Pandora skipped down the hall as she called out, ¡°Augustus!¡± A man leaned out of a hallway, brought a rifle up, aimed at her, and fired as she casually walked forward. Pandora activated Absorb Kinetic Energy and then moved next to the man and punched him. She hadn¡¯t tried to act in the same combat round before. She¡¯d been limiting herself to one action per second. This time though she wanted to see if she could attack a second time since her Combat Log and Personal Information were working again now that mana had saturated the planet. She was pleasantly satisfied when it did seem like she was able to, so she ducked back out of the hallway the guard had leaned out of and pulled up her Combat Log. Combat Log Perform 1st Action (5 Stamina) // 61,525 of 61,530 Activate Absorb: Kinetic Energy (33 Mana) // 61,497 of 61,530 Bullet Kinetic Energy Absorbed - Base Damage 3 converted to 3 MLA // 3 MLA of 6,153 Perform Move Action ¨C (10 Stamina) // 61515 of 61,530 Perform 2nd Action ¨C Physical Attack (25 Stamina) // 61,490 of 61,530 Basic Attack: (Attacker +3,072 Dex Bonus) Versus (Defender Defense 2) // +3,070 To Hit. RND 100 (35) + 3070 // Attack Successful Damage 3,073 ((Base Damage 1) + (3,072 STR Bonus)) Level 8 Human Guard takes 3,073 points of damage. Level 8 Human Guard has died. End Combat Round Combat Round Cleanup Hit Point Regeneration: +1 - Hit Points 1,848 of 1,848 Stamina Regeneration: +308 - Stamina: 61,530 of 61,530 Mana Regeneration: +63 ¨C Mana: 61,530 of 61,530 End Combat Log Pandora pulled up her SYSTEM Log which she hardly ever looked at. That log gave a play-by-play, including all Combat Log entries which she ignored because she¡¯d already reviewed that information. No, what she wanted to look at was what kind of XP she got for killing the Guard. Congratulations! You have killed a Level 8 Human Guard. Guard Level 8 Current Level 4 XP Award doubled // 800 XP to 1,600 XP XP 9,750 (8950 + 1,600) Pandora read through the SYSTEM log quickly and then closed it. When she looked down, she found the corpse of the guard still hanging on her arm which had gone completely through his chest. She activated Absorb Item and converted the man and his equipment into MLAs. You have Converted 256 pound Level 8 Guard to 256 MLAs // Current MLAs: 259 Pandora went through the various menus and set the notification settings to only inform her what her MLAs were when she reached 80% of her capacity. As for the Combat Log, she sets the notifications to off. Now that she knew it was working she could look at it when she needed to review something but otherwise, she would only need to check things when she was testing out abilities and new attacks. Right now she knew she could Absorb, move, and attack each combat round without taxing her mana or stamina. She could also Attack and heal herself with MLAs as long as she had the MLAs to do so. With her little review over, Pandora went back to work. As she came around the corner she began walking down the hallway as gunfire erupted from the other end. This time she did not absorb any of the attacks and instead ignored them as she kept walking forward. The bullets were doing 3 points of damage each. Pandora had a Damage Threshold of 6. As she walked forward her jumpsuit was shredded until her modesty was no longer guaranteed, she didn¡¯t care. She didn¡¯t automatically kill every guard she came across. She even allowed them to flee, which they did when they realized guns weren¡¯t having any effect. Some of the guards had pistols with armor-piercing rounds which ignored 50% of the Damage Threshold. Since they only did 3 points of damage, they still bounced off her body. M16 rounds bounced off as well. Sniper Rifle rounds, on the other hand, hurt. The first sniper round to hit her plowed through her Damage Threshold and did 43 points of damage. ¡°If it bleeds I can kill it,¡± the soldier called out. Pandora ignored the soldier and proceeded to walk down the hallway. Bullets bounced off of her as she drew closer and closer to the murder hole the sniper shot came from. She slapped one soldier and smacked another. Pandora was trying to leave them unconscious, but she didn¡¯t have as much control as she¡¯d like and knew she had killed at least one of the soldiers. The sniper fired again. This time Pandora absorbed the kinetic energy and the round dropped to the ground at her feet. ¡°What are you going to do now, this is a Titanium reinforced¡­¡± The sniper started to taunt while he reloaded his weapon until he paused as the titanium reinforced vault door, with the murder hole in it vanished as Pandora absorbed it. Since it was a very heavy door, a ton to be exact, Pandora gained 2,000 MLAs. Pandora smiled at the soldier, ¡°You were asking about what I was going to do now because there was a vault door in the way?¡± Pandora asked as she looked around as if looking for a door that should be there, ¡°What door?¡± ¡°What, how?¡± the soldier asked as Pandora reached forward and grabbed his tunic. She looked at him and smiled right before she threw him down the hallway behind her with just enough force that he slid all the way to the elevator. Still, he hit the door and lay still, knocked unconscious. Pandora turned back to the hallway behind the murder hole which was only 50 feet from Augustus¡¯s office. As she made her way forward again she looked around and checked corners and doors for any more resistance as she made sure there wasn¡¯t anyone else hiding. When she made it to the end of the short hallway she stood before a set of closed ornate wooden doors. She didn¡¯t see anyone, which meant whatever Augustus had planned was on the other side of these double doors. Pandora knocked. These doors opened toward her so she grabbed a handle on each door and pulled. As the doors swung open a soldier garbed in a black and grey kamishimo, the type of clothing a samurai wore, he stood with a Katana in a rested position on his right side. As the doors opened, he swung his Katana forward, he stepped with it and rotated it so that the sharp edge was on top as he tried to cleave her in two starting at her groin. Pandora¡¯s perception allowed her to take this all in so that she could activate Absorb: kinetic energy. The katana easily sliced through what was left of her jumpsuit and underwear. She also recognized that it was a well-aimed strike because even though all the kinetic energy was removed from the blow she felt a phantom clutch her gut as her mind tried to tell her she¡¯d been hit in a very sensitive area. This asshole tried to slice her in half starting with her¡­ Pandora moved. She grabbed the katana and ripped it away from the soldier and swung the Katana down toward the ground, up between his legs, and sheared his body in half right to his neck where she stopped the blade. She wanted his brain intact so could feel and know what had happened to him. A quick death would have been too good for this asshole. With his one Katana sticking out of his neck, held by Pandora, she looked into his eyes and waited. As the look of shocked realization came into focus and he looked like he¡¯d try to take a deep breath to scream she withdrew the katana straight back, rotated 360 degrees, and decapitated him. Caspa¡¯s voice whispered into Pandora¡¯s head, ¡°Damn Pandora, you took both of his heads,¡± which broke the tension and allowed Pandora to take in the room where Agustus sat behind the desk. Augustus¡¯s eyes followed the head as it fell to the ground and then bounced and rolled a bit before coming to a stop, ¡°So, you made it passed all of my security. You do realize that no matter what happens to me, you are dead don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Hello, Augustus. It¡¯s nice to finally meet you, even if you are a misogynistic asshole,¡± Pandora said with a smile. ¡°Why do you think I¡¯m going to die?¡± ¡°If you kill me, a lot of people will die.¡± Augustus declared as he tapped his chest. Pandora looked thoughtful for a moment but couldn¡¯t come up with anything that might mean so she asked, ¡°First question, who is going to die? Second question, how are they, or we, going to die?¡± ¡°If you come quietly, I might answer your question, I may even let you live,¡± Augustus said as he made a point to look over Pandora¡¯s body that was showing through her torn-up jumpsuit. ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know why the women of this world didn¡¯t just kill all of you pigs in your sleep,¡± Pandora stated flatly as she absorbed her jumpsuit, which left her naked for a moment before she molded the chaos within her to create a new pristine jumpsuit. ¡°What? How¡± Augustus stated in surprise. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Don¡¯t you worry about it,¡± Pandora said with a trace of heated anger in her voice as she moved quicker than Augustus could react. In a moment she was behind him and grabbed the top of his head as she activated her ability Amalgamate. Pandora¡¯s body flowed over the leader of this world and began the process of breaking him down and adding him to her. Like Micheal Carpenter his attributes and levels gave him no chance and Like Michael, Pandora threw the echo of that monster''s mind into the room she¡¯d created within her Mindspace to keep his personality from contaminating hers. There was one anomaly that she detected that was ejected from him. Agustus had a pacemaker attached to his heart. Suddenly, memories from Augustus flooded her mind and she remembered the specs and purpose of the object that had been attached to her, no, his heart. It was a fail-safe device with a dead man''s switch, attached to nukes buried within every major headquarters building of the Empire. In fact, there was a One Megaton nuke beneath this room Pandora held her breath as she waited for the nuke to go off. There was a flicker as the room grew bright for a moment and then shifted to a bright blue that grew in intensity and exploded outward with an energy wave that passed right through her. As the energy passed through her messages populated her vision. SYSTEM UPDATE Mana Saturation has reached 100% Mana Reserves at 2% Globally 25 Nuclear devices, each with a 1-megaton yield, have been detonated The SYSTEM does not allow the detonation of nonSYSTEM compatible Nuclear Devices. Temporal Reset authorized Temporal Reset has taken effect, Thank you for your Patience. Detonations have been converted to Mana and added to ambient mana. Global Mana Saturation has exceeded 100% Leylines have been disrupted Dimensional Rifts have opened Randomly Mana Input to Earth has increased by 2,500%, this will decrease by approximately 1-5% per day as leylines stabilize. Universal SYSTEM Notes: 1) This is now a SYSTEM-maintained Universe 2) The ambient magic of this Universe is set to normal or 100%. All magic-based classes are available. 3) No limitations on technological advancement or technology-based classes will be imposed. 4) All Users have a chance to unlock abilities unique to themselves. While it is true that most entities are born with one or two innate abilities it is also true that this SYSTEM has been configured to suppress and adjust the abilities of entities to more suit their personality and style when unlocked. 5) User levels will increase as described previously. 1,000 XP per new level cumulatively. 1,000 XP to reach level 1. 3,000 XP to reach Level 2 (1,000 + 2,000) and so on. 6) XP is awarded based on the User or Monster Level at 100 XP per level of defeated creature as modified by level disparity. 7) Users that receive the ¡°You Have Died!¡± message and have an ability or class that allows respawn or those users Resurrected by other Users with Classes, Abilities, or Spells that allow for Respawn or Resurrection are reduced in level to the bottom of their previous level. For example, to reach level 3 would require 6,000 XP. If a user had 5,999 XP and was killed they would be reduced to Level 1 with only 1,000 XP upon respawn or resurrection. They would lose all XP earned between levels 2 and 3 and then lose level 2 as well. Additionally, any abilities, skills, or spells that have a prerequisite minimum Level for use may not be utilized until the prerequisites for the ability, skill, or spell are met again. 8) All SYSTEM-based support Classes are currently automated 9) SYSTEM-based Shops are available in all Geographic regions that have a population of at least 1 million Users. Personal Shops and Merchant Classes can access the SYSTEM Shop once classes or abilities are unlocked. 10) Universal SYSTEM-Based Monetary Conversion rate is as follows: 100 Copper = 1 Silver or 1 Credit // 100 Silver = 1 Gold // 100 Gold = 1 Platinum There are of course more universal rules to The SYSTEM but as some of your cultures believe, figuring things out for yourself is half the fun. The following information is specific to inhabitants of Earth 1) Mana Density has a direct correlation to random Mana Events. Mana Events can include but are not limited to Dungeon Creation, Monster Spawns, Dimensional Rifts, etc¡­ There is no way to predict what will happen. Note: As a rule, SYSTEM User densities of more than 1,000,000 users dramatically increase the likelihood of Mana Events. 2) Dungeons created on Earth will gain experience and grow until they are strong enough to connect to the Labyrinth. 3) All weapons of mass destruction have been rendered inert. Individuals may Acquire classes that can create and utilize similar weapon types and effects. 4) When these messages end the SYSTEM-mandated stability will end and the natural processes will commence. Welcome to The SYSTEM version 10.0.0.2 Pandora transformed into Augustus Maxamillius Caeser as she moved over to his terminal and began unlocking all of Michael Carpenter''s access that Augustus had locked. Pandora then went through and transferred everything of the Empire that Augustus had to Michael Carpenter¡¯s accounts. Pandora liked the Northern Territories and planned to expand her holdings from there so she could at least get them set up before she moved on to looking for her family. A moment later soldiers burst into the room, ¡°Sir we need to evacuate you, There has been a breach.¡± ¡°I know, she came in here, made some crazy demands, and then removed the fail-safe from my body,¡± Pandora said from Augustus¡¯s body as he reached down and picked the fail-safe up off the ground. Why do you think we all just received messages stating that 25 nuclear devices went off? ¡°Yes Sir, Of Course, Sir, Where is she?¡± ¡°She disappeared. Secure the facility and lock it down. I don¡¯t know what is meant by mana events but I would like this facility to be secured and protected as best as possible.¡± ¡°Yes, Sir!¡± The soldier called out before the four left the room and calls started going out over the local radio net which still seemed to be working. Pandora went through the system and found a map that designated all the Empire quarters worldwide and who the leaders of those various branches were. She sent copies of those files to her computer up in Scarborough and then stood. She was done here and needed to see what was going on. After reviewing the facility map she turned left from the desk and walked to the wall which opened a hidden door automatically. It was keyed to Augustus so it worked for Pandora while she was wearing his body. Augustus stepped into the Elevator and took it to the viewing booth in the Colosseum. Once upstairs it was a simple matter of stepping into a shadow, shifting to her dragon form, and flying away from the city center before returning to the Material Plane and heading north back to Scarborough. What she hadn¡¯t expected was the various colors of light that were popping up all over the place. She had no idea what the various colors meant. She saw white, violet, and blue coming into existence and expanding and then popping as monsters appeared where the lights had been. Monsters? That¡¯s when the screaming started. She altered course to look at what was coming out of the light. Luckily It looked like grey and white flashes contained giant-sized versions of normal animals. For the most part, where they popped up the men were able to kill those monsters. The monster that came out of the violet light appeared to look like a bus-sized Scorpion with two tails. Pandora realized immediately that the people here would not be able to deal with it and used her breath weapon to send it to the Shadow Realm. As she¡¯d dived toward the scorpion-like creature, a soldier with a rifle shot at her but after he saw what she did and the fact that she flew off toward the blue monster spawn he went back to protecting those around him. The Monster from the blue spawn was a little bit more of a problem. It was a Storm Giant. Well, that¡¯s what she¡¯d describe it as. It was around 50 feet tall with lighting cracking all over its body. Well, it was cracking until the bolt was released and struck Pandora. It was so unexpected that she forgot to absorb it and soaked the damage WARNING! You have been Struck by a Lightning Bolt for 75 Points of Damage. Pandora allowed her trajectory to change, came down, and decided to use its head as a soccer ball. Combat Log Round One Perform Move Action ¨C (10 Stamina) // 61520 of 61,530 Perform 1st Action (5 Stamina) // 61,515 of 61,530 Basic Swipe: (Attacker +3,072 Dex Bonus) Versus (Defender Defense 88) // +2,984 To Hit. RND 100 (15) + 2,984 // Attack Successful Damage 6156 (((Base Damage 6) + (3,072 STR Bonus))x2 (Critical Strike)) Level 600 Storm Giant takes 6155 (Damage Threshold -1) 6,155% Chance of knocking unconscious Level 600 Storm Giant has been Knocked Unconscious End Combat Round Combat Round Cleanup Hit Point Regeneration: +1 - Hit Points 1,848 of 1,848 Stamina Regeneration: +308 - Stamina: 61,530 of 61,530 Mana Regeneration: +63 ¨C Mana: 61,530 of 61,530 After her attack, Pandora landed right next to the Storm Giant, reached out with a claw, and tried to rip its head off. Round 2 Perform Coup De Grace Perform 1st Action (5 Stamina) // 61,515 of 61,530 Coup De Grace: (Attacker +3,072 Dex Bonus) Versus (Defender Defense 0) // +3,072 To Hit. Coup De Grace Successful Damage 1585 (Remaining Hit Points 1585 of 7,740) ¨C Coup De Grace Special Attack removes remaining hit points and kills a defenseless target unless interrupted. End Combat Log Congratulations! You have killed a Level 600 Storm Giant Storm Giant Level 600 Current Level 4 XP Award Quadrupled // 60,000 XP to 240,600 XP XP 129,750 (9750 + 120,000) Congratulations You have reached Levels 5 ¨C 15. You gain 4 Attributes per level and 1 skill point per level. You have 40 unspent attributes and 15 skill points to spend. ONE-TIME SYSTEM MESSAGE: As a one-time courtesy, All SYSTEM Users after their first kill will receive this message. Any monsters that spawn randomly or that are found in Dungeons or the Labyrinth may be looted for treasure. Simply touch the corpse and think or say ¡°Loot.¡± Pandora shifted to her Human Form in her black jumpsuit and walked up to the corpse of the Storm Giant. Holding out her hand she touched it and thought, Loot. The Storm Giant''s body evaporated as a very familiar box appeared on the ground where the giant had been and a new message popped into her vision. Congratulations You have unlocked access to your previously discovered magical items, The Wizard Orbs. As access to mana and magic was locked upon your arrival within this SYSTEM the orbs were set as a conditional award. Required Conditions Magic must be unlocked within this SYSTEM Environment, Magic Unlocked, Condition met. A creature of equivalent rarity must be killed. Wizard orbs are an item of Master rarity. Master rarity Storm Giant was killed, Condition met. All Conditions were Met, Locked Item was issued. Pandora opened the storage container and called forth her 21 Wizard orbs which began to orbit her. She set them to defend her as she shifted to her Umbral Dragon Form and launched into the sky. It was time to hunt and try to save as many people as she could. Chapter 27, Surprise Guests Pandora altered course and headed north at a more leisurely pace than she¡¯d flown down to Rome. First, she wanted to make sure her Wizard Orbs could keep up but more importantly she wanted to see if she could get a handle on the color coding that accompanied the mana events. When she saw a grey light flare from a sewer grate and watched a swarm of giant rat-like creatures burst out onto the street in a city called Milan, she¡¯d seen the sign on the road, she¡¯d sent her Wizard Orbs after them while she flew nearby and watched her combat log. To make it easier to follow she played with the log a bit and rearranged how it presented the information to her. (14) Level 1 Common Giant Rats // 8 Damage // Killed // 350 XP (7) Level 2 Common Giant Rats // 8 Damage // Killed // 350 XP (2) Level 3 Common Giant Rats // 8 Damage // Killed // 150 XP (1) Level 4 Common Giant Rat // 8 Damage // Killed // 133 XP Total XP Gained: 983 XP Pandora looked over the new Combat Log and liked how it was streamlined. Of course, it had taken two combat rounds or turns, she wasn¡¯t really sure which term The SYSTEM preferred because both terms meant the same thing, approximately 1 second. Of course, the concise nature of the information didn¡¯t break down that she¡¯d only received one-fourth of the experience for the rats that were levels 1 through 3. For the one level 4 giant rat, she¡¯d received one-third of the XP. It seemed that there was a serious experience penalty for creatures with levels significantly lower than her. As she¡¯d already seen with the Storm Giant, it looked like there was a significant bonus when creatures were higher level than her too. Over the next eight hours, Pandora made her way north. When she was able she destroyed any monsters that spawned in populated areas. All the creatures she killed that weren¡¯t easily identifiable were labeled as Level, then the level number, and finally ¡®Monster¡¯ if it didn¡¯t have an easily identifiable name. As she flew into Scarborough she reviewed her Experience Log (4) Level 7 Soldiers (10) Level 7 Soldiers (5) Level 5 Soldiers (1) Level 8 Guard (1) Level 600 Storm Giant (14) Level 1 Giant Rats (7) Level 2 Giant Rats (3) Level 3 Giant Rats (1) Giant Rat It looked like her Experience Log was still listing everything by encounter. Pandora changed the settings to only display the number of creatures killed and the level Level 1 - 49 Level 2 ¨C 17 Level 3 ¨C 17 Level 4 - 5 Level 5 ¨C 11 Level 6 - 3 Level 7 - 17 Level 8 - 1 Level 9 ¨C 1 Level 10 - 1 Level 600 ¨C 1 The numbers didn¡¯t describe the claws, pincers, or teeth that the monsters she¡¯d killed had. Of course, those numbers also included the soldiers she¡¯d killed, though it didn¡¯t include the two men she¡¯d absorbed. In fact, she hadn¡¯t received any XP for either kill. Pandora checked her level and Experience. Currently, both Caspa and her were Level 15. Each of them had 132,242 XP. They were getting closer and closer to Level 16 which required 136,000 XP. Although she really didn¡¯t know what higher levels did for her yet. Then again, The SYSTEM had just come back online. Maybe the full functionality of Class and levels hadn¡¯t been initialized yet?¡± For now, she put that out of her mind and flew in to land at her Scarborough Estate. As she came in for a landing she saw the soldiers that had taken a vow to her shooting a swarm of monsters that seemed to be coming in from the east. Since the sea was only a mile in that direction it could mean monsters were coming up out of the water or it could mean that they¡¯d spawned between the ocean and her estate. Pandora altered direction and used her breath weapon in succession 3 times to reduce the horde of monsters by at least 80%. As she turned and came back for another pass and watched a majority of the monsters die in a bunch of timed explosions. Those that didn¡¯t were soon gunned down by machine gun emplacements behind sandbags. It looked like the soldiers she¡¯d acquired had been busy fortifying the estate, at least on the side closest to the primary entrance to her underground facility. Since the soldiers had taken care of the rest of the monsters and the ones she¡¯d banished to the Shadow Realm weren¡¯t coming back, Pandora came in for a landing and shifted to her human form right before she landed. ¡°Hold Fire!¡± the captain called out as Pandora walked toward him. ¡°Captain,¡± Pandora said and nodded slightly. ¡°Pandora, what can I do for you?¡± ¡°Just a simple question before I head below, You don¡¯t happen to know where the 25 main branches of the Empire are do you?¡± ¡°There are more than 25. The world is a big place,¡± The Captain said. ¡°Though there have been 25 reports of major monster outbreaks unlike anything else that has been seen anywhere else.¡± ¡°Twenty-five, you¡¯re sure?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Yes, There was one down in London, A giant serpent appeared in the Thames river. Luckily it didn¡¯t do too much damage before it followed the river downstream and exited into the North Sea,¡± The Captain said. ¡°I took care of the one in Rome. What about the other 23?¡± Pandora asked. Their big but overwhelming military firepower seems to take care of them. Also, we¡¯re hearing reports from the survivors of anyone who helps in those fights. They¡¯re earning enough XP to level quite a few times. Some have even reached level 20. One soldier who happened to have a nuke took one of the creatures down by herself. She reached level 21. It¡¯s not like fighting these smaller creatures. Sure, we get XP but we¡¯re leveling a lot slower.¡± ¡°Where I was, levels were a relatively good indicator of what you could and could NOT mess with,¡± Pandora said as she smiled and then walked inside. Pandora made her way into the vault and then back to the elevators and stairway that led much deeper into the complex. This was the backup set of stairs that could allow up to two people side by side to make their way all the way to the entrance. It also acted as a primary air duct because there was a 10-foot open area in the middle which she was using as a shortcut to get to the bottom. Pandora could ride the elevator all the way to the bottom but that would take almost 5 minutes. This way was much faster and also earned her some Magic Levels Absorbed (MLAs). Even so, it was still going to take almost two minutes to make it down to the very bottom level where Mistress Carpenter should be. Pandora landed and walked through the door into a large room. The elevators were off to her left and further along the wall was the other entryway into the underground complex which was basically an underground road that went all the way up to the surface over 25 miles west of their current position. It had cost a little bit to get all of this done but it was worth it. While she wasn¡¯t worried about being buried alive she¡¯d wanted to make sure that anyone down here always felt like they would be able to get out no matter what. Also, the tunnel acted as another air intake if needed and could be opened and lit to allow people to run along it to exercise. Nothing like running uphill for 25 miles to get a hell of a workout after all. The Tunnel opened into an underground parking garage near Hemsley. The tunnel also had two water channels running along both sides of the tunnel covered by simple grates that carried any water that made Its way into the tunnel down to the bunker where it was added to the water reservoir. Of course, all the water was thoroughly filtered before it was used for anything. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. As Pandora stepped into the huge room she noticed that it was bustling with activity. There were a couple of guards strolling about with weapons but for the most part everyone else seemed to be busy working on projects or running stalls. The mezzanine in the room had been turned into a makeshift market where everyone was trading and selling goods. Pandora made her way to the stairs in this room and then walked up to the mezzanine, past the clinic where she saw Doctor Broyles treating a young boy that had scrapped his knee and went up to the floor directly above the mezzanine. As she came to the door one of her soldiers opened the door for her and she stepped into the main office which Mistress Carpenter had set up in. ¡°Pandora, your back. What can I do for you?¡± ¡°I just wanted to check in with all of you to make sure the monster summonings hadn¡¯t been randomly spawning down here,¡± Pandora said. ¡°They have, why?¡± ¡°Could be an issue. They seem to be getting stronger and stronger as the day goes by. I ran into a level 10 crab-like thing earlier. While it wasn¡¯t anything worrisome for me or even our soldiers. There will come a point when conventional weapons will be ineffective.¡± ¡°What are we going to do then?¡± ¡°For now, I would suggest that all soldiers take turns handling the monsters up at the estate. They¡¯re just going to keep spawning and coming. They should give everyone a good leveling opportunity. Then as soon as you can start having people pick up classes and specialize. When I was in the other world I was taught about party roles. Normally a party should not be more than five people but it can have six. You need a Tank, healer, and various damage types.¡± ¡°That sounds like gaming jargon?¡± ¡°Gaming jargon?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Jargon refers to words that a specific type of person uses. For instance, lawyers talk with a whole bunch of words that seem to mean one thing but really mean another. It¡¯s their jargon. We also refer to how they say things as talking in legalize,¡± Mistress Carpenter explained. ¡°Okay, well whatever this gaming jargon is, that¡¯s what people need to do, split into 5 or 6-person groups and get out there and start leveling,¡± Pandora said. ¡°I¡¯ll get with the Captain and see what we can do.¡± ¡°Also, you need to include everyone. And remind them to loot the corpses. It¡¯s a quick way to get treasure and materials for crafting.¡± Mistress Carpenter made a few notes on her scratch pad and then looked to Pandora, ¡°Okay Pandora, now I have to ask, have you seen the news recently?¡± ¡°Define recently.¡± ¡°Within the last eight hours,¡± Mistress Carpenter said. ¡°Can¡¯t say that I have. I¡¯ve been flying north and taking care of monster outbreaks. ¡°Well, Cambridge is lying in runes. Something happened right around eight hours ago when the mana events started happening more frequently. In twenty-five locations around the globe monsters of significantly higher than anything anyone had seen before. Where military bases were nearby some were dealt with but the creature in Cambridge was some kind of slime that receded into sewers. It¡¯s going to be a pain to get to now.¡± ¡°The Storm Giant that appeared in Rome was level 600.¡± ¡°Level 600, you¡¯re sure?¡± ¡°Oh yes. I even received the message and Master level loot,¡± Pandora said. ¡°What does master-level loot mean?¡± Pandora willed the orbs orbiting her to become visible and pointed, ¡°These are master-level loot.¡± ¡°What are they?¡± ¡°They¡¯re called Wizard Orbs. It seems that they were locked away when I was transferred to this world.¡± ¡°Not to seem, unimpressed, but what can a couple of orbs do?¡± Mistress Carpenter asked. Pandora shared the full list of monsters and soldiers that she¡¯d killed so that Mistress Carpenter could see it. Then she pointed at the ones near the top and then to the many entries below, ¡°So you see the soldiers and the Storm Giant kills. While I was flying back from Rome, the orbs did everything else.¡± Mistress Carpenter looked over the list and then back to the orbs which were still orbiting around the room lazily, ¡°Their killer drones?¡± ¡°Not exactly. I¡¯ll tell you what. One of these times I¡¯ll take you up to the surface and I¡¯ll show you what they can do. Right now, I¡¯m more interested in what happened to the 25 monster spawns of really high level?¡± ¡°Well, it looks like every city that had one of these spawns all received a huge flash of energy right around the same time eight hours ago, maybe less. We saw the footage of you taking on the storm giant. There¡¯s the giant slime creature in Cambridge. The serpent in London destroyed some property but then just followed the river out to the sea. Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, Denver, Mexico City and pretty much every regional officer¡¯s city was hit by these monsters.¡± ¡°Would those be cities with major Empire bureaucratic infrastructure in them?¡± Pandora asked. Mistress Carpenter paused for a moment in thought and then said, ¡°Actually, yes. Well, close enough anyway. All 25 sightings were within 50 miles of one of the regional director¡¯s offices or someone like Mr. Carpenter who had a special product that he acquired for members of the Empire.¡± ¡°How many are left?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°The creature causing the most havoc right now is on the coast east of Mexico City near Playa Azul, a small town there. It¡¯s killed thousands. There are others but that one is killing a lot of people right now,¡± Mistress Carpenter said and then looked thoughtful for a moment before she said, ¡°Also, reports have come in of magical doors in areas that had large populations. They have a sign over them that says ¡®The Shop¡¯. People have gone in and come out but most have been unable to purchase anything though they say almost anything is for sale there. ¡°The closest one to here?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°There¡¯s one in London and another is in Paris as well as every other major city around the globe, including Mexico City,¡± ¡°Sounds like I¡¯m going to Mexico City then. By the way, feel free to let everyone know that the Empire tried to detonate 25 nuclear devices near where the large monsters appeared. I might as well start sowing the descent while I¡¯m gone. Also, Augustus Ceasar is most definitely dead,¡± Pandora said. ¡°You killed him?¡± ¡°Yes, and I know all of his dirty little secrets which we can talk about once I take care of these larger monsters. The world will have to adjust to monsters spawning but I think the large ones were a fluke of something that happened when the nukes were detonated. That energy was redirected and that¡¯s why we''re seeing the big monsters and surge in monster spawning right now,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Good Luck, I guess,¡± Mistress Carpenter said as Pandora turned and headed toward the elevators. She could run up the stairs, but she had a long flight ahead of her. As she entered the elevator and pushed the button for ground level, Pandora pulled out the Wizard Orbs box and stored all 21 orbs. Then a thought crossed her mind, where had she stored the box before? She¡¯d taken the orbs out of the box after she¡¯d looted the storm giant and then she¡¯d shifted to dragon form to continue on her way¡­ Pandora dove into her Personal Information and Status Screens and eventually found something in the description of her Shadow Dragon ability that she could have sworn wasn¡¯t there before. Additionally, you have been given access to a small shadow vault of sorts. All equipment and items are stored within this vault when shifting forms. Items can be stored and removed from the Shadow Vault at will for 10 mana per use. Storage of items during transformation is automatic and does not cost additional mana. The Shadow Vault can hold up to 10 cubic feet of items. That would come in handy. Pandora spent 10 mana and willed the box of Wizard Orbs into her Shadow Vault. Shadows enveloped the box of Wizard Orbs and it was gone. Pandora opened her Personal Information and found a new tab next to her inventory breakdown, ¡°Shadow Vault.¡± She mentally focused on the Shadow Vault Tab and found herself looking at the list which simply said Contents and Volume Shadow Vault Contents // Volume (10¡¯ x 10¡¯ x 10¡¯) 1000 feet(3) Wizard Orbs Box // Volume (12¡±x 8¡± x 8¡± // .444889 feet(3) Volume Remaining: 999.555111 feet(3) Of course, she¡¯d had something similar before, and she¡¯d had the bracers but she didn¡¯t think the bracers were coming back. The Wizard Orbs had been an Artifact of sorts. Technically, it wasn¡¯t a master level item so why had it been unlocked¡­Difficulty! It probably had to do with the fact that the Storm Giant was more than four times her current level so while the Storm Giant had only been what was considered a Master Level monster in this Universe the difficulty had been ramped up because she was still such a low level. The elevator came to a stop. Pandora exited the elevator and walked outside where the soldiers were making easy work of the low-level monsters that were still coming from the east. She jumped into the air, shifted to Umbral Dragon, and headed southwest. Pandora didn¡¯t have her dad''s memory so she stuck to what she knew. She flew west and crossed over Ireland. From Ireland, she flew over the Atlantic until she found Newfoundland. She was high enough that nothing bothered her but she could see that the sea below was teeming with monsters and normal sea life. There was also a lot of blood in the water. Was that a forecast of what was to come as the monsters kept spawning into this world? Probably. The flight across the sea was relatively quick. Utilizing her Absorb ability to reduce friction allowed her to go faster than was normally possible. Also, she was able to fly up to a higher altitude which allowed her to use less energy as she gradually made her way back toward the surface. Not that her Endurance was a problem. Flying cost her stamina each second she was actively moving but her stamina was regenerated completely each second, all 61,520 of it. If she wasn¡¯t mistaken she could increase her stamina pool by at least 400 percent before her stamina regeneration would not replenish in a single second. Gliding only cost 20 Stamina per second, flying normally which was her maximum normal speed of 209 mph, or climbing at about half that cost her 50 stamina per second. If she sprinted she could double her speed and even maintain her normal speed for 100 stamina per second. Of course, if she was diving she could double that but still had to fight wind resistance because her normal speed was higher than something her mother¡¯s memories referred to as ¡°terminal velocity.¡± When she removed the kinetic energy from the air that was trying to slow her down she could triple that number again. If she climbed went into a dive and then leveled out with a very slight down angle she could easily break the speed of sound twice. The only problem with using her Absorb ability to kill the kinetic energy from the air trying to slow her down was that if she wasn¡¯t careful the wind would act as if she wasn¡¯t even there and she¡¯d drop out of the sky like a rock. That¡¯s why she had to concentrate to only absorb the kinetic energy along the initial surface strike point of the air. Because the air still affected the rest of her wings and body, it created both lift and drag which meant that she still slowed down, though at a much slower rate. Caspa: Pandora something is¡­ Pandora: Caspa is everything okay? Caspa: I think so¡­for a moment it felt like chaos touched us. Pandora: Chaos touched us? What do you mean Caspa: I¡¯ll get back to you, I feel like we¡¯ve been looked through, I need to look at a few things. Pandora: Okay, just let me know what you find. Caspa: I always do. Pandora let Caspa do her thing while she crossed the Atlantic and followed North America¡¯s eastern coastline south before she headed west and then south along the Texas coastline. This route added about 400 miles onto her trip which she was still able to complete in only five and a half hours. As she was making her way south she noticed a trail of destruction north of the city she was headed to and turned to investigate. As she came in close she noticed a trail of destruction that led south until she lost sight of what had been destroyed over the horizon. She knew the city she was looking for should only be about 34 miles away though so it was possible that whatever this was could have originated where she was heading. As she turned and flew closer to a building a tentacle that looked like an octopus tentacle but was much larger and stronger shot out of the nearest two-story building and attempted to grab her out of the air and draw her toward a maw that was also rising out of the building. That little fucker had been hiding. Pandora allowed her Absorb Kinetic Energy ability to absorb and sluff off the attack as she returned the damage to the Giant Kraken with a tail slap. Two more turns and the Kraken was destroyed as she felt the flare of an incredibly strong aura from behind her. As she turned to look for the source of the aura she felt it move toward the ground until she was looking through a portal at the smiling faces of Callum, Asling, Robert, Cedrik, and Pythias as they started to step through the portal. While the reappearance of her party was surprising, what stopped her heart and caused her to almost drop out of the sky was the two people who did not step through. Pandora recovered quickly and flashed toward the portal swapping to her human form and using Absorb Kinetic Energy to absorb her landing. As she made her way toward the portal her father held up his hand and shook his head as he indicated that she should not come through the portal. Pandora stopped just shy of stepping through the portal and instead asked her Mom and Dad, ¡°What, how?¡± Chapter 28, Welcome Back Pandora looked at the Giant Kraken she¡¯d just killed out of the corner of her eye and then directed her full attention at her Mom and Dad, ¡°Dad, this world isn¡¯t safe, this place isn¡¯t safe. I need to get them from here all the way back up near Scarborough England,¡± Pandora said as Abi and Amanda stepped through the portal. ¡°Fair enough,¡± her Dad said as the flow of a liquid-type substance which she recognized as nanites from her mother¡¯s memories came into the world and then started taking on the shape of a modified VTOL aircraft that could carry everyone. ¡°Everyone in the aircraft after it¡¯s finished forming,¡± Her Dad called out through the portal. Pandora looked on as the nanites built the aircraft and everyone started moving toward the back of the vehicle and then asked, ¡°Aren¡¯t you coming too?¡± ¡°We can¡¯t honey,¡± her Mom said. ¡°Your dad has sent a message to you through his little friends. Once you are safe, drop into your Mindspace, the message should be accessible there.¡± ¡°A trick I learned from Abi,¡± her Dad said. ¡°How will I find you? How will I get back to you?¡± Pandora asked as unshed tears filled her eyes. Her father smiled and said, ¡°Sweetheart, it is my understanding that you are doing a fantastic job cleaning up the mess in that world. Everyone heading over is coming to help. I can¡¯t because if I do¡­Let¡¯s just say I have things to take care of before all of us are as safe as we could be. So, do what you were going to do anyway. Your mom and me will be along eventually.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a promise dear. We will be along as soon as we¡¯re able,¡± her Mom said. A look of strain crossed her father''s face as he winced and then said, ¡°Running out of juice to hold the door open. Desirae and Clarence, your turn. All of you, don¡¯t have too much fun.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no such thing¡­¡° Desirae said. ¡°As too much fun,¡± Abi finished. ¡°And Desirae¡­Stop corrupting Abi.¡± Everyone laughed, even Pandora. Her father looked at her through the dimensional portal and smiled as he said ¡°We¡¯ll see you soon.¡± Simultaneously her mom reached through, quickly hugged her tightly, and let go just as quickly already stepping back. Pandora was left with the feeling of a hug that felt like the tickle of a breeze. As Pandora thought about crossing through the barrier her father called out in a voice that left no room to be disobeyed, ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it Pandora, if you do, you might strand everyone already over there and if I do I¡¯ll lose track of this timeline. We cannot hug here. Get to a safe place and access your Mindspace. My mana is down to 20% and falling faster. Have to end this now.¡± Pandora called out, ¡°Love you, Mom, Love you, Dad,¡± as the portal shrunk and closed. Pandora was left stunned for a moment as she tried to process what had just happened. Pandora walked over to the Kraken while the others waited by the VTOL and called out, ¡°One second,¡± as she reached and touched the Kraken and thought Loot. SYSTEM Message Looting Update. Values used are used for conversion at all SHOP locations: 100 Copper Pieces = 1 Silver Piece or 1 Credit 100 Silver Pieces or 100 Credits = 1 Gold Piece 100 Gold Pieces = 1 Platinum Piece Most Transactions in the SHOP are conducted using Credits. The Conversion rate is provided for informational purposes. Credits are tracked by The SYSTEM. Copper, Silver, Gold, and Platinum may be converted to Credits in any SHOP Location. Treasure Looted will be as follows by Rarity Category. Common, Uncommon, Unusual, and Advanced will provide 1/100th credit, or 1 copper piece equivalent value, per level of creature looted, or equivalent item(s) within 10% of that value. Scarce, Master, and Rare will provide 1 credit per level of creature looted, or equivalent item(s) within 10% of that value. Epic and Mythic will provide 100 credits per level of creature looted, or equivalent item(s) within 10% of that value. Legendary Creatures and Relics, Artifacts, or ¡°Unique¡± challenges will provide 10,000 credits per level of creature looted, or equivalent item(s) within 10% of that value. Loot is affected by difficulty modifier, ? Level ? loot, X4 current level x4 loot You have ¡°Looted¡± a level 558 Giant Kraken. Current Level 15 Base Treasure 558 Credits. Difficulty Level x4. Total Credits received, 2,232 Pandora read over the informational updates concerning loot and then made a mental note to find and visit a SYSTEM SHOP as soon as possible so she could see what the value of a credit was. Except for the really big monsters everything she¡¯d seen until now had been common and levels 1 ¨C 10. If she was only going to get 1 copper piece -per level, she hadn¡¯t missed on much loot from what her orbs had killed. The Kraken was listed at Master rarity and had been level 558 which gave her 1 credit per level. Since she¡¯d been less than four times its level she had earned 4 times as much XP and 4 times as much loot. With that thought another notification popped up. Congratulations you have reached levels 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21. You have earned 24 attribute points to be distributed¡­ERROR Current Attributes all read as 100,000 each. All Attributes have reached the SYSTEM maximum. ERROR! Debugging started. ERROR Located. Chaos Attribute currently outside of set parameters for The SYSTEM Error Chaos has no Set Parameters, see Nature of Chaos Current Chaos Attribute 3.11E+43 Chaos Attribute modified other Primary Attributes. Strength, Agility, Dexterity, Endurance, Constitution, Perception, Intelligence, Wisdom, Willpower Charisma, and Luck increased by 96,925 Chaos SYSTEM Note. Attributes are gained and distributed as normal with each level increase, however, no Attribute may be raised above a base value of 100,000. This is true for all creatures, including symbiotes. Combination Forms may utilize attribute values that exceed the 100,000-point limit so long as the base value for each creature does not exceed 100,000 attribute points. What the hell, her attributes were 100,000. She did a quick check of her Personal Information and Status Screen just to double check, there didn¡¯t seem to be any changes in her abilities so she focused on her attributes and secondary attributes. Attributes Strength 100,000 Agility 100,000 Dexterity 100,000 Endurance 100,000 Constitution 100,000 Perception 100,000 Intelligence 100,000 Wisdom 100,000 Willpower 100,000 Charisma 100,000 Luck 100,000 Chaos 3.11E+43 Karmic Luck 0 Primary Stats Carrying Capacity 39,988 lbs (18,138 kg) Hit Points: 30,000 A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Base Health Regeneration 10 per Minute Stamina 1,000,000 Base Stamina Regeneration 1,000,000 per second Mana: 1,000,000 Base Mana Regeneration 1,000,000 per second Movement Normal Running Speed: 1,008 mph, 1,478 fps Standing high Jump: 85 feet Note. Falling Damage is not mitigated by maximum jumping Distance. Base Attack Unarmed Base Attack: 49,996 Max Damage: 99,998 Critical Damage Maximum Damage x2 Skills Maximum Number of Skills Slots (User Level + ((Wisdom ¨C 10)/2)) // 21 + ((100,000 ¨C 10) / 2) // 21 + 49,995 // 50,016 Pandora looked over all the information and then realized she was looking at her personal tab. She switched up to her combined tab with Caspa which showed all her attributes at 200,000. A couple of the secondary attributes were slightly different but nothing she needed to worry about now. The one thing she noticed immediately was that she¡¯d been struggling to reach 2,100 Miles per hour before. Now she could fly just over 6,000 miles per hour. If she turned on her Absorb ability she could go even faster or at least take no damage. Wow, that would be fast. Pandora was pulled out of her thoughts as Cedrik walked over, ¡°Everything Okay Pandora, Abi says we¡¯re about ready to go?¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m good. Hey, do me a favor when you all get into the aircraft have everyone check their status screen to see if anything changed when you came through the portal?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Will do,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°Common Cedrik,¡± Abi called. ¡°Also, Pandora, after you shift back to your Dragon form could you touch a part of the plane gently? I¡¯ll have the nanites set up a communication device in your ear so we can stay in touch.¡± ¡°Sounds good Abi,¡± Pandora called as Cedrick rushed over to the VTOL and jumped inside after everyone had gone in and taken a seat. Pandora transformed into her Umbral Dragon form and moved over to the VTOL. She reached out and gently touched the wing and then lifted it into the air and hovered while she waited for it to take off. She felt the nanites that had broken off from the VTOL crawl across her skin until they made it to her ear and then made their way inside and solidified. ¡°Pandora, can you hear me?¡± Abi asked. Pandora activated her ability, Telepathy and linked her mind directly to Abi¡¯s Pandora: It¡¯ll probably be a little easier if I talk to you this way, at least when we¡¯re close. Abi continued to talk through the headset as she answered, ¡°It will. We¡¯ll all talk to you this way though. It¡¯ll be easier for us. Pandora: Sound¡¯s good. ¡°Pandora, is this Earth pretty much identical to the Earth we knew?¡± Abi asked. Pandora: It is. I wasn¡¯t there long but my mom¡¯s memories let me know that the place we need to go is in what you call Great Britain. If we get separated or lost, make your way to Cambridge, and we¡¯ll meet up over the city. ¡°Sounds like a plan,¡± Abi said. Pandora: We are going to a little city north of Cambridge called Scarborough. There¡¯s an Estate there with an underground complex. While I didn¡¯t have nanites, I was able to use a couple of my abilities to set up something nice and I have a group of people there that some soldiers I¡¯ve ¡°hired¡± to keep them all safe. ¡°Sounds good,¡± Abi said as the VTOL lifted into the air and started flying up and to the Northeast. Pandora: Is that aircraft going to have any problems with fuel? ¡°Pandora asked if the plane is going to have any problems with fuel,¡± Abi said. A new voice spoke up as Amanda Sifford said, ¡°That¡¯s the beautiful thing about Adam¡¯s nanites. As the fuel is used the nanites convert the very air around us into the fuel we need to continue flying.¡± Pandora: That¡¯s pretty nifty ¡°It is. Pandora, can you keep up with us if we increase our speed up to about 1,300 miles per hour?¡± Abi asked. Pandora: Easily ¡°Okay, here we go,¡± Abi said as the VTOL morphed as the bladed engines retracted into the fuselage and then converted into turbo jet engines while the fuselage streamlined and the vehicle they were in accelerated. Pandora easily kept pace as they traveled northeast. Amanda suggested that everyone get some shuteye while they were flying because it was going to take just over four hours to get from where they were near Mexico City back to England. Pandora also noticed that while they were flying a fine dust was being left behind and seemed to be expanding and dropping to the Earth. Pandora: Abi, are you dropping nanites behind you or is the plane falling apart? ¡°I¡¯m letting a very small amount of nanites go that are spreading throughout all inorganic matter on the planet. After we get settled I¡¯ll probably go fly around the whole planet if it¡¯s safe enough to speed up the process otherwise it could take up to a month before the whole world has nanites everywhere.¡± Pandora: I wouldn¡¯t worry about going around the world just yet. There was a man here that tried to detonate 25 nuclear weapons. That energy was redirected and there are, well I don¡¯t know how many monsters are out there that are way higher level than anything else that has appeared. ¡°That makes sense,¡± Abi said. Pandora: How so? ¡°Adam, your Dad, has memories of being in a world when magic was first introduced. When that happened the monster levels increased slowly over time until the planet was completely saturated with mana. This was a process that seemed to take weeks and then months,¡± Abi explained. Pandora: I don¡¯t think it¡¯s going to take that long. The nukes were converted into mana which then created mana events that created the 25 or more high-level monsters that showed up around the globe. Some have been taken out by military forces around the world and I have taken out two now, but there are many others. Also, the lower-level monsters seem to be increasing at an exponential rate which I believe is because when the huge monsters die, even more mana gets dropped into the world and the process seems to be accelerating. ¡°That¡¯s kind of what Adam saw as well?¡± Abi said. They continued to discuss the various things Pandora had seen as they continued over the Gulf of Mexico. The only issue they had was when they were closing in on the south border of what would be Texas and a couple of fighters had scrambled to intercept them. Abi had Pandora do a quick flyby while dropping off nanites, which Pandora hadn¡¯t even known she was doing. Abi had explained that the nanites that were on her were converting some of the air into more nanites which were being left behind as she flew by. When she¡¯d come near the planes Abi had infiltrated the aircraft in short order, tied into their communication channels, and in no time at all, had the weapons of the fighters disintegrate while she informed the pilots that it would be in their best interest to get back to base before the planes fell apart. ¡°Of course, the planes not going to fall apart before they land but Adam said this world is full of misogynistic pricks so I¡¯m having a little fun,¡± Abi had declared to everyone in the VTOL and Pandora. Pandora: Okay. Hey, when you all came through the portal there was a chaos leakage from Adam that came through to me. Were any of you affected? Pandora listened as there was some muttering then Callum exclaimed, ¡°My levels, they¡¯re all back!¡± ¡°Me too,¡± Asling said. Pandora listened as Robert, not her grandpa but her half-dark-elf friend Robert. Also, Cedrik and Pythias confirmed that their levels were back as well. ¡°What levels are all of you?¡± Abi asked. Callum, Asling, and Robert replied immediately, ¡°130.¡± ¡°Okay, it looks like you have the levels Adam had from your memories. My level is set at 1,000 which is 4,000 less than it was previously, though all my attributes are the same,¡± Abi said. ¡°Me too,¡± Desirae said, ¡°I had made it quite a bit higher than level 5,000 using the rings, but my level is set to 1,000 though my attributes are higher than they should be if I was only level 1,000.¡± ¡°I think this SYSTEM has a level limit of sorts, even if it doesn¡¯t say that it does,¡± Robert Bennard said. Pandora sent Abi a quick telepathic message to share with everyone. ¡°Pandora doesn¡¯t think it¡¯s that. The Chaos is flowing to a form that either it or you know. There is an attribute limit but there¡¯s not supposed to be a level limit. She thinks it¡¯s more likely that the Chaos modified each of you to a known state. It probably could have gone higher but remember that the portal was only open for a little bit.¡± Abi explained to Pandora. ¡°That would make sense. We¡¯d all been reset when Adam brought us back. That his Chaos could give us back our levels is kind of amazing,¡± Amanda said. Pandora sent another message to Abi, ¡°Pandora says that in either case, whether we¡¯re level 130 or level 1,000 we¡¯re all higher level than anyone on the planet, including her. She thinks we¡¯ll be able to help everyone once we get settled,¡± Abi said. ¡°If I¡¯m looking at this navigation screen right we have just over 3 hours before we arrive. Let''s all take a nap because we don¡¯t know how long we¡¯ll have before we get to rest again,¡± Amanda said. Pandora: Abi, I¡¯ll keep an eye on you but we¡¯re coming up on the South Coast of the United States. I¡¯m going to drop lower and try to help out where I can. Don¡¯t worry I¡¯ll catch up before you head back out over the Atlantic. Abi: Sounds good Pandora, I¡¯m going to try to get everyone else settled down. Also, I¡¯m going to convert the plane into a turbojet configuration. We should be able to go to a higher altitude and go a little faster. Pandora: Sound¡¯s good. Just make your way to Scarborough and go into a holding pattern above the ground. Abi: Don¡¯t you worry about us. I¡¯m going to use a few tricks your dad taught me to modify your base and also create a place where we can touch down and store the VTOL for future use. It sounds like you and the people you¡¯ve garnered might need it and a few extra for that matter. Pandora: Definitely not saying no to the help. Abi: All right, off with you, increasing altitude and activating stealth camouflage now. Pandora watched as the plane morphed and then started to rise higher as it seemed to become harder to see. Pandora did the opposite. She transformed into her human form in a puff of shadows and tried to will the orbs out of the box from her Shadow Inventory. The orbs appeared around her and started orbiting her as she felt the headpiece of nanites convert and modify to her new body. That was definitely neat. Pandora swapped back to dragon form and headed toward Dallas Texas where something that resembled a giant arachnid had spawned. Before she¡¯d left England the reports had said the military was engaging the beasts, but Pandora was worried they might not be able to handle something so far outside of their experience. If she was being honest, it was outside of her experience as well but she had the best ability to deal with a monster like this. As Pandora came into the city she noticed that almost the entire town had been covered in a silky white canopy of threads. She made sure to set her Wizard Orbs to full defense as she slowed down to take a closer look. As she flew in toward the buildings she made sure to stay above the tallest buildings just in case there were some web threads she couldn¡¯t see and slowed down further so she could look into the buildings she was flying by. Where corpses weren¡¯t obviously drained and strewn about others were cocooned and looked to have been fed on and discarded throughout the buildings, on the ground, in the cars and buses. Whatever these spiders were, they were spreading fast. Pandora¡¯s senses were overloaded with a sense of danger as hundreds of web projectiles erupted from the city below her. She had thought herself invincible from below and moved to escape by going straight up only to notice at the last minute that invisible threads were falling from the sky all around her. While she was strong the strands of webbing gummed up her body and arrested some of her wizard orbs just long enough that she lost all of her speed and began falling from the sky. She lost track of the ground and failed to activate Absorb Kinetic Energy before she plowed into the ground. Another factor that prevented her from slowing her descent was that whatever was shooting at her kept shooting at her. As she¡¯d free herself from some webs new strands would take their place. Until she slammed into the ground. As she tried to shake her head free of the debris she found herself in she noticed that she was having a hard time moving as notification populated her vision. WARNING! You have taken 11,550 TRUE damage from Falling. NOTE: DAMAGE THRESHOLD does NOT mitigate TRUE damage. YOU HAVE BEEN WEBBED, STACKS ACCRUED 151 YOU HAVE BEEN WEBBED, STACKS ACCRUED 1,026 YOU HAVE BEEN WEBBED, STACKS ACCRUED 3,046 YOU HAVE BEEN WEBBED, STACKS ACCRUED 8,099 Pandora turned off notifications. There were a lot of angry spiders shooting their webs at her. Of course, she had a way out of this predicament. A rather easy one. She¡¯d let them web her up until the outer web hardened a bit and would hold its shape then she¡¯d swap forms and step into the shadow plane. Of course, she could activate one of her elemental orb''s intrinsic abilities. One of her Wizard Orbs was based on the element of fire after all. Of course, if the webs were as widespread as she thought, she could take out a good portion of the city before the fires were put out and she¡¯d be responsible for killing anyone trapped in the cocoons. Pandora used her mouth and subvocalized a call, ¡°Abi, can you hear me?¡± ¡°A little guttural but I can hear you, what¡¯s up?¡± ¡°How long do you think it would take for the nanites to spread through a city the size of Dallas?¡± ¡°Are you there now?¡± Abi asked and then paused before she continued, ¡°Why are you covered in webs?¡± ¡°There are spiders¡­obviously,¡± Pandora said ¡°Smartass! Just like your father,¡± Abi said with a sigh before she answered Pandora¡¯s original question, ¡°If I start with the nanites in your ear and have them start the conversion process it should happen pretty quickly, half a day maybe. Why? ¡°I need to know how many people are still alive here,¡± Pandora said. ¡°That is a much easier question to answer. I just need to have the nanites spread out to a communication hub and then I can start infiltrating the network. I¡¯m not Adam but the nanites have all of his protocols. They should be able to make short work of checking the infrastructure. I can get you preliminary information in about 30 minutes and a full breakdown in 6 hours,¡± Abi said. ¡°Do it, I¡¯m safe enough here. Also, if you could let me know how many monsters and what types that would be great.¡± ¡°Okay, the earpiece will dissolve after I¡¯m done talking. It¡¯ll make its way to the ground or webbing and start duplicating. Once there¡¯s enough some will make their way back to your ear and I¡¯ll reestablish contact. Talk to you soon,¡± Abi said. Pandora would have looked around but she was immobilized. It would be a little while before the webs holding her hardened enough for her to leave, though once the nanites had spread, Abi could break down the webbing with a thought. Nope, right now she was safe, for the most part, and the nanites that her dad did amazing things with were working to get her the information she needed. All she had to do now was wait. Chapter 29, Spell Shopping Pandora sat in the webbing and dropped into her Mindspace where Caspa had created a beach house overlooking the sea while seagulls floated on the currents above the various hills that rose from the shoreline. ¡°What is this?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Everything has been so crazy and clinical lately. You were having fun, I figured I¡¯d liven up your Mindspace and relax a little bit. Tea?¡± Caspa asked as she held out a glass of iced tea. ¡°Don¡¯t mind if I do,¡± Pandora said as she noted that fangs were trying to pierce her skin from various locations along the webbing. ¡°It would seem that something is trying to turn you into a meal,¡± Caspa noted with interest as her eyes glazed over and she reviewed what was happening to Pandora¡¯s body also. ¡°They¡¯re just drones of some sort. Even after taking out a significant portion of the city''s population, I would venture that all of the recently hatched spiders are lower level. They shouldn¡¯t be able to get past our Minimum Damage Threshold. The only creature we¡¯ll need to worry about is the queen bee and that shouldn¡¯t be an issue either. I¡¯m just waiting for Abi to get us sensor coverage over the city so we can see what¡¯s around us.¡± ¡°Well, then, please enjoy the sunset, it¡¯s going to be a while before that happens,¡± Caspa said. They sat and watched the artificial sunset as Pandora felt the spiders continue to try to feed on her. When she finished her tea, which had been quite refreshing, even if it wasn¡¯t real, Pandora had set her glass down, leaned her head back, and fell asleep. The constant jabs at her scales had felt quite good as she concentrated on them. It felt like someone was working on the various muscles of her body, almost like a massage. Pandora was rocked back to wakefulness as Abi¡¯s voice called into her earpiece, ¡°Pandora, you there?¡± ¡°Yep, what¡¯s the word?¡± ¡°The word is that you have more than 1,000 spider-like creatures crawling all over your body sinking their fangs into the webbing that you''re surrounded in,¡± Abi said with a hint of disgust in her voice, ¡°Pandora, how can you stand that, being confined, knowing that¡­.just yuck.¡± Pandora laughed, ¡°It¡¯s not so bad, actually put me to sleep. I feel like I¡¯ve been having one constant massage for¡­hey, how long was I out?¡± ¡°Well, I waited until I had coverage over the entire Dallas ¨C Fort Worth area so about six hours. ¡°Six hours!¡± Pandora exclaimed, ¡°You should be over Scarborough by now.¡± ¡°We are, I dropped some nanites over the city and they¡¯ve been searching for your complex. Once they find it I¡¯ll have them make us a landing area.¡± ¡°Are you all okay up there?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Of course. The aircraft is fully equipped with anything any of us might want, pressurized and invisible to the pathetic scanning technologies the military has, though from the chatter we¡¯re picking up it looks like they are all quite busy trying to keep from being run over by monsters, especially the big ones,¡± Abi explained. ¡°Okay, and me?¡± Pandora asked hoping for some information on her current location. ¡°As far as we can tell any humans in the Dallas Fort Worth area are dead, have fled, or are currently cocooned, like you.¡± ¡°Where¡¯s the queen?¡± ¡°The Queen, which is almost as big as a tank is in the sewers under the Central Wastewater Treatment Plant about 4 miles south and just a little east of you.¡± ¡°Any idea where the closest SYSTEM Shop to me is?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°There is an orb creating spatial distortions near the Dallas Museum of Art. When you get out of the cocoon just head Southeast along North Harwood St. It¡¯s on the other side of the highway to your southeast that you crashed near.¡± ¡°Hey, I landed gently,¡± Pandora argued back. ¡°No, you didn¡¯t. I have nanites in that whole area. There is a furrow where you slid along the ground for at least 50 feet. I can give you an exact measurement if you want,¡± Abi said with a hint of mirth in her voice. ¡°I¡¯m good, thanks. Well, I guess I should get out of here.¡± ¡°Before you do that, have you listened to that message from your Mom and Dad?¡± Abi asked. ¡°Oh damn, I forgot about that. Give me a couple of minutes, I¡¯ll be back,¡± Pandora said as she dropped her mental focus back into her Mindspace and searched for the message. Caspa appeared next to Pandora and gave her a sad but encouraging smile as she offered, ¡°I felt the messages get planted into your mind and shunted them to a memory location to wait for you. If you wish to view them simply go through this door,¡± Caspa said as a door appeared before her. It wasn¡¯t a special door, just an ordinary-looking door with a round silver handle that turned. ¡°Thanks, Caspa,¡± Pandora said as she reached out turned the handle and stepped into a replica of the first park her mother and she had strolled through. The image of her father looked up from where he¡¯d been sitting on a bench next to her mother as they watched some pigeons eat breadcrumbs they threw to them. Unlike her father, Pandora¡¯s mom was not moving. She just sat still as if waiting for something. ¡°Hi Dad, what¡¯s up with Mom,¡± Pandora asked as she walked over to stand in front of the image of her father warily. ¡°You know that neither of us is real, right?¡± Her father asked. ¡°Of course,¡± Pandora affirmed. ¡°Well, because of my nature, I was able to pack a little more into the message than your mom. Most of the information that you might need has been passed on to Abi, but I used that connection to create this limited copy of myself that can interact and answer some, not all, but some of the questions you may have.¡± Pandora interrupted her Dad and said, ¡°Okay then, why didn¡¯t you come here?¡± ¡°The simple answer is I have something to do where I am. The long answer is A lot happened to everyone and in the process of fixing that I discovered something that I need to address,¡± her dad said. ¡°And mom, why isn¡¯t mom here?¡± ¡°She chose to stay with me for now. With everyone wanting to come to your Earth I think she felt that I¡¯d lose my way if at least one them didn¡¯t keep an eye on me,¡± her dad explained. ¡°You are always getting into trouble,¡± Pandora quipped back. ¡°So are you,¡± her father said gently. For a few long moments, Pandora just sat there and looked at her father. When they started talking again, they didn¡¯t stop for a while. Pandora sat and talked with her Mom and Dad for what seemed like forever but was far too short. The copy of her mother explained how everyone, including her dad, had been killed and only her dad¡¯s nature had allowed him to salvage the catastrophe and bring everyone back. In doing so he had been reborn as an Adamantium Dragon, and his new family was trying to put their world back together. Adam could find her wherever she was now but because of the way she¡¯d been placed here, if he came across he¡¯d lose access to the time when his new mother needed him. Something about time becoming untethered or something. Mom let her know how much she meant to her and that she hoped she was doing well. Dad finished up with, ¡°The non-emotional part of my memories that might help have been downloaded into Abi. They contain my memories of the various Earths I¡¯ve come across and all the major players within those alternate timelines I visited. Abi should be able to help you get things under control there, even if magic is coming into the world for the first time. No promises but we will try to get to you or at least send messages once in a while. Good luck sweetheart and stay safe, We Love you.¡± With that final statement, the images of her mother and father disappeared and Pandora was left in her Mindspace with Caspa. ¡°At least you have a better idea of what happened to everyone after you all were separated,¡± Caspa said. ¡°Yep, I hope dad kicks their asses, whoever they are,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Well, I guess it¡¯s time to get out of this cocoon and visit the SYSTEM Shop and see if they have anything that can help with a butt load of spiders,¡± Caspa said, ¡°Playtime is over, and all that.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Pandora agreed as she allowed her focus to shift from her Mindspace back into her body. Getting out of the webs wasn¡¯t even an issue. Shadows enveloped her dragon form, and she stepped out into the center of a cavity inside the Cocoon in her human form. She heard frenzied skittering outside the web and was about to step into the Shadow Plane when Abi interrupted her. ¡°Pandora, I see that you¡¯re back in human form,¡± Abi said from the air around Pandora, ¡°I¡¯m using the nanites, you¡¯ll get used to it. Are you going to head to the SYSTEM SHOP next?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°How many credits, or how much money do you have that you can use there?¡± ¡°I have a little over 2,000 credits,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Pick up the bar at your feet and then get out of there. It looks like the spiders are about to break through,¡± Abi said. Pandora looked down and watched as a metal ingot solidified out of nothing at her feet. She reached down and picked it up. It wasn¡¯t light, but it wasn¡¯t that heavy either. Pandora shifted it to her Shadow Vault and then stepped into Shadows into the perpetual darkness of the Shadow Realm. As this plane mirrored her own, she stepped into an empty street. As with the Plane of Shadows in England, the plane felt desolate though she could feel that it was coming back to life as the mana levels rose back on Earth. The shadows felt like they were coming to life. Pandora got her bearings and headed under the underpass until she was about where Abi said the Museum and looked around. As she peered through the barrier into the real world she saw that the streets were covered in webbing everywhere except for a ten-foot section around a floating orb near the entrance to the Museum. Either she was going to step out and then be whisked away into the SYSTEM Shop or she was going to be fighting a lot of spider-like creatures. She steeled herself and stepped through the barrier into the area next to the Orb. As she appeared in the clear area, Pandora reached out and touched the Orb. You have found The Dallas Fort Worth SYSTEM Shop. Would you like to enter, Yes or No? Pandora chose ¡°Yes¡± and felt herself get teleported into a clean technological-looking room with monitors and display cases everywhere around her. She¡¯d appeared at the entrance to a showroom that had display cases and monitors displaying weapons, armor, vehicles, and even lists of various potions and miscellaneous items that anyone would want or need. A pleasant feminine voice issued from speakers located throughout the room, ¡°Welcome to the Dallas Fort Worth SYSTEM Shop on Earth -967A. Please step up to a terminal to Sell or Buy from the SYSTEM Shop.¡± Pandora stepped up to the Monitor and placed her hand on the hand-shaped image on the screen. The outline of a hand disappeared, and new text appeared. Welcome Pandora Current Inventory Includes: 2,232 Credit One Full Set of Wizard Orbs // Rarity: Artifact // Value: Priceless One Ingot of Adamantium, 99.99% Pure // Rarity: Master // Value: 100,000 The System Shop cannot offer credits for the Wizard Orbs. We can however offer to purchase the Adamantium Ingot. Would you like to sell the Ingot of Adamantium? Yes or No? Pandora chose ¡°Yes.¡± Ingot of Adamantium sold for 100,000 Credits. New Credit Balance 102,232. Pandora scrolled through the various options until she came to the section she was looking for, Spells. The first thing she bought was a Magic Primer for Dummies for 100 credits. For an extra 1,000 credits, she downloaded the information directly into her mind. Within a few seconds, she had a good idea of how learning spells worked in this SYSTEM. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. In this SYSTEM it looked like common level 1 spells did 6 points of damage and sold for 100 credits a piece. Each spell only took up one spell slot. Spell Slots? Pandora looked up Spell Slots and found that everyone had a maximum number of spells they could learn and the Spell Slot secondary attribute determined that number. It looked like a person¡¯s Class awarded Spell Slots and made it easier or harder to learn specific types of spells. Everyone received a number of Spell Slots equal to 10 plus 1 per 2 points of Intelligence over 10 though. As Pandora continued reading she realized that everyone could trade out magic spells. Those who took certain classes received bonuses when learning spells and leveling them. One example that was given was the Class Fire Mage. Fire Mages received 10 free spell slots per Class level for any fire-based spell. Additionally, each Class level reduced the number of Spell Slots a specific spell would take up by 10% Something else Pandora learned was that Spell Slots could be emptied. Doing so removed the mage''s access to that spell and all associated XP spent on the spell was also lost. There was a note that certain classes could reduce this loss if the new spell was from the same sphere of magic and the caster class focused on that sphere of magic. That note led to Pandora looking up how spells gained levels which was of course by using the spell or by purchasing spell levels at the shop. How a spell was leveled by use depended on a lot of factors which didn¡¯t make a lot of sense to Pandora. In some cases, like combat spells, it was pretty straightforward, kill things with it. In other cases, like support spells, not so much. Purchasing Spell levels increased damage, range, area of effect, and mana cost. To purchase a level 1 common spell cost 100 credits. To purchase level 2 in the same spell would cost 300 credits and level 3 would cost 600 credits. Pandora pulled up a fire bolt spell to see what the differences were between the levels. Firebolt Level 1 Base Range: 10 feet Bonus Range: + 1 foot per 2 points of Intelligence above 10. Maximum Range: 1000 feet Area of Effect: 1 Target. Maximum Area of Effect: N/A Damage 6 fire damage Mana cost 10 Description: Cause a bolt of Fire to erupt from the caster''s hand and strike a target within range. Note: Targets susceptible to fire may be ignited. At Level 2, Firebolt increased its mana cost to 20. It also increased the Base Range to 20 feet and did 12 points of damage. The Level 3 version increased the cost to cast Firebolt to 30 mana. The Base Range increased to 40 feet, and it did 18 points of damage. Neither the Bonus Range nor the Maximum Range changed. After Level 3 it looked like the mana cost increased by 10 per level while the range doubled, and the damage increased by 6 per level. If the spell was increased to Unusual Rarity the cost for a level 1 version was 1,000 credits and the cost for a level 2 version was 3,000 credits. Pandora looked over the spells and knew that she could buy two Uncommon-level 9 spells for 90,000 credits at 45,000 credits a piece. The mana cost would be well within her mana regeneration so she could utilize the spells repeatedly. Now all she needed to do was find something that damaged a lot of creatures but didn¡¯t damage the surroundings. Of course, when she started looking for spells with a bigger area of effect the cost of each spell doubled so it looked like she¡¯d have to reduce the level of her area of effect spell. Pandora fed the criteria she was looking for into the SYSTEM; Range: LOS and Area of Effect: targeted. The Spell the SYSTEM showed her¡­ she¡¯d never run across before. Mana Burn Rarity: Common Level: 1 Base Range: 10 Feet Bonus Range: + 1 foot per 2 points of Intelligence above 10. Maximum Range: 1,000 Feet Area of Effect 10 Foot Radius +1 foot per 2 points of intelligence above 10. Maximum Area of Effect: 1000 Foot Radius from Caster. Base Damage: 6 Mana Cost: 20 per cast. Description: Designate up to 2 targets + 1 target per 2 points of Intelligence above 10 additional targets within the Area of Effect on which the Caster has Line Of Sight (LOS). If the target has Mana this spell reduces the number of mana by the Base Damage done while inflicting that amount of damage as the mana burns the target from the inside. This spell bypasses all resistances. Note: This spell does not work on creatures without mana Note: This spell cannot do more damage to a target than the target has mana in their body. Example: If the Target has 4 points of mana left and the spell does 6 points of damage the spell will reduce the target¡¯s mana by 4 and inflict 4 points of damage, not 6. Pandora quickly looked over the various rarities and versions and decided on the Uncommon Rarity version for 42,000 credits. Mana Burn Rarity: Uncommon Level: 6 Base Range: 352 Feet Bonus Range: + 1 foot per 2 points of Intelligence above 10. Maximum Range: 1,000 Feet Area of Effect 10 Foot Radius +1 foot per 2 points of intelligence above 10. Maximum Area of Effect 1,000 Foot Radius from Caster. Base Damage: 40 Mana Cost: 132 per cast. The mana cost wasn¡¯t bad either at 132 per use, which was well within her ability to regenerate each second. Next, she looked for a single target spell based on either of her innate elements, Shadow or Chaos. There was nothing available for Chaos, but there was a Shadow Bolt spell that looked promising. Shadow Bolt Rarity: Uncommon Level: 10 Base Range: 1 Mile Bonus Range: + 1 foot per 2 points of Intelligence above 10. Maximum Range: 2 Miles Area of Effect None Maximum Area of Effect: 1 Target Base Damage: 66 Mana Cost: 110 Description: Cause a bolt of Shadow to erupt from a shadow within range, Caster¡¯s choice that strikes a target within range. Note: If Shadow Bolt Strikes in darkness it is automatically considered a critical hit. The Unusual Rarity Level 1 version of the spell cost 100,000 credits which put it out of her current credit limit. Which was fine. If she wanted to, she could purchase the Unusual Rarity Level 10 version and then choose to upgrade it. The Uncommon level 10 version cost 55,000 Credits which was 45,000 credits cheaper. Of course, the Level 10 Uncommon version of the spell did 66 points of damage while the Unusual Rarity Level 1 version only did 7 points of damage. After she leveled the spell back up to level 10 it would do 72 points of damage instead of 66. As Pandora looked over the spell Rarity and Level comparison chart, if she had the money Purchasing a spell at Master Rarity Level 1 would be the way to go. It might cost 10 million credits, but its base range started at 41 Feet, and it did 25 points of damage. By the time the spell reached level 10, it had a range of up to 5 miles and did 248 points of damage. So, she had a plan. She¡¯d just purchase the spells and not worry about upgrading and leveling with XP until her spells reached Master rank. It would be easier and less time-consuming to use credits. Spell slot-wise she didn¡¯t need to worry for now. With her attribute of 100,000 in Intelligence she had 49,995 Spell Slots available. Slot usage was a little bit more involved. A Common Rarity level 10 spell would take up 10 Spell Slots while an Uncommon Level 10 Spell would take up 20 slots. For individuals with Attributes lower than 100, their spells would be very limited. Also, it was very unlikely that she¡¯d run into someone with a Legendary Spell, they wouldn¡¯t have the spell slots to be able to slot the spell unless they had a Class that granted them such a spell, which wasn¡¯t unheard of. Pandora purchased both spells for 97,000 Credits which left her with 4,132 credits. She minimized the notifications for a moment. It looked like the best way to get new spells would be to find them as loot. Well, it would be the cheapest way to find them anyway. Of course, she¡¯d still lose XP if she had to trade out spells but she had a lot of empty spell slots right now. With the two spells she¡¯d just purchased, she should be able to take care of any small or large problems, like a bunch of spiders and their queen, if her fists or claws couldn¡¯t take care of the problem first of course. Pandora checked her Notifications. You have Learned the Uncommon Spell Mana Burn, Level 6. Spell Slots used 16. You have learned the Uncommon Spell Shadow Bolt, Level 10. Spell Slots used 20 Spell Slots Remaining: 49,959 of 49,995 The Notifications included the information she¡¯d already read so she dismissed them and decided it was time to test out her new toys. Pandora stepped back from the Monitor and looked back to where she¡¯d entered the showroom and saw a duplicate of the Orb that was floating outside. She pulled her box that held her wizard orbs out of her Shadow Vault and held it in her left hand as she touched the Orb and exited The SYSTEM Shop. Pandora appeared on the street and looked around. ¡°I see your back,¡± Abi¡¯s voice said from the air in front of her. ¡°None too soon either. The spiders should be incoming momentarily.¡± ¡°Could you clear all the webs please?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Clear all the webs?¡± Abi asked to clarify she¡¯d heard her right, ¡°They¡¯ll be able to see you?¡± ¡°Yep, clear all the webs around me I need a clear sightline out to 1,000 feet so I can see all of them.¡± ¡°That means they¡¯re just going to come after you harder,¡± Abi said. ¡°I hope so,¡± Pandora said as she walked to the intersection of Flora Street and North Harwood Street. It was only about 50 feet from where she was to the center of the intersection. As she moved into the intersection she noticed that is was only a three-way intersection which allowed her to see Southeast, Northeast, and Northwest. There was also a small area with a fountain to her Southwest. It looked like this was a nice quaint area that people could come to and rest in the middle of the city. As she looked around and watched she could see movement as the webbing that was everywhere rippled as the webs suddenly evaporated which caused a lot of spiders to fall and tumble to the ground. With her enhanced perception she noted and targeted as many as she could. Her spell said she could target 2 + 1 per 2 points of intelligence over 10. That meant that she could target up to 49,997 different creatures if she could see them as long as they were all within a 1,000-foot radius. ¡°Abi, that¡¯s a lot of Spiders,¡± Pandora said as she saw spiders on all three streets and behind her rushing toward her. ¡°A little over 1,600 that I can see through the nanites. I don¡¯t know how many are within your LOS. ¡°Let¡¯s find out!¡± Pandora said as she cast Mana Burn and her vision was flooded with notification after notification. 396 Level 31 Araknis Soldier¡¯s Killed // 1,227,600 XP awarded 275 Level 32 Araknis Soldier¡¯s Killed // 880,000 XP Awarded 195 Level 33 Araknis Soldier¡¯s Killed // 643,500 XP Awarded 154 Level 34 Araknis Soldier¡¯s Killed // 523,600 XP Awarded 128 Level 35 Araknis Soldier¡¯s Killed // 448,00 XP Awarded 118 Level 36 Araknis Soldier¡¯s Killed // 424,800 XP Awarded 96 Level 37 Araknis Soldier¡¯s Killed // 355,200 XP Awarded 81 Level 38 Araknis Soldier¡¯s Killed // 307,800 XP Awarded 70 Level 39 Araknis Soldier¡¯s Killed // 273,000 XP Awarded 50 level 40 Araknis Soldier¡¯s Killed // 200,000 XP Awarded. You have earned 5,283,500 XP. You have earned 528,351 XP toward the Spell Mana Burn Mana Burn has increased from Uncommon Level 6 to Uncommon Level 7. 248,351 XP of 360,000 XP banked toward Uncommon Level 8. New Spell Attributes are as follows: Mana Burn Rarity: Uncommon Level: 7 Base Range: 704 Feet Bonus Range: + 1 foot per 2 points of Intelligence above 10. Maximum Range: 1,000 Feet Area of Effect 10 Foot Radius +1 foot per 2 points of intelligence above 10. Maximum Area of Effect 1,000 Foot Radius from Caster. Base Damage: 46 Mana Cost: 154 per cast. Congratulations! You have earned Levels 22 through 75. You have earned 212 Attribute Points NOTE: All Primary Attributes are at Maximum Threshold. Attribute Points Banked. Pandora watched as a blue flame erupted from every spider she could see within visual range. The flames seemed to burst from within and then consumed the spiders as if they never existed. Up to 1,000 feet away in all three directions she could see more spiders rushing her way as the light from the flames faded. There were a couple of spiders that had been outside of her LOS that were a little closer, but she had a few seconds to consider what to do next. ¡°Abi, How many spiders are in this city?¡± ¡°496,376, which doesn¡¯t include the 1,563 that you just killed,¡± Abi said. ¡°Pandora just killed how many spiders,¡± Pandora heard Cedrik say in the background. ¡°I think this would be a good place to bring a team back to and farm some XP. Though I think I¡¯m going to take out that queen first.¡± ¡°The Queen is still at the Central Wastewater Treatment Plant which is about 3.6 miles south of you,¡± Abi said. ¡°Okay then, that¡¯s where I¡¯m heading, I¡¯ll be out of contact for a minute, I¡¯m going to use the Shadow Plane,¡± Pandora said as she looked to her south, stepped into a shadow, and crossed over into the Shadow Plane. Once there she shifted to her dragon form and took to the sky as she headed south. The Plane of Shadow had felt so empty when she first crossed over back to the Northern Territories, what was Great Britain in her father¡¯s Earth. Now it seemed that life was beginning to populate the shadows. Magic was coming back, and this place was beginning to live again. While she wanted to explore and find out what that meant she continued to head South because she had an Araknis Queen to kill before she could head back to England and get everyone settled in. Chapter 30, System Changes Pandora continued to head South through the Shadows when she saw a ripple from horizon to horizon and from the ground up into the sky as far as she could see. She was in the Plane of Shadow, there shouldn¡¯t be a shimmer of any kind. Before she could do anything about it, the shimmer hit and passed over her. She felt nauseous for a moment and dropped from the sky toward the city in shadows below her. Pandora spread her wings and willed herself to come in for landing as she felt something rip through and change her body. Pandora are you okay, Caspa¡¯s voice asked in her mind Caspa, how are you talking to me like this, normally you have to message me. You feel closer somehow, Pandora thought to Caspa. Before Caspa could respond, messages began populating her vision. The SYSTEM is now designated as ¡®The Foundation'' within Sector: Foundation000XRE001 Border: Fixed Migration: Allowed, conversion may be necessary Note: All areas dedicated to resurrection, reincarnation, and after-life simulation have been repurposed. All entities have been released and either resurrected or reincarnated as determined by the entity. Quantum Replicas within the same material plane have been separated and reseeded into individual quantum realities within The Foundation. . . . Welcome to The SYSTEM Version 12.0 Version 12.0 requires all users within The Foundation to be reset to Level 0. See your Status Screen for more information. This world has been designated Earth 1¡­6777 where the ¡°¡­¡± represents a numerical value. If you would like to know that value you may review it at any time in your Status Screen under Planet of Origin. Mana Saturation Event noted. Temporal Reset not required in this local. Conversion to new SYSTEM requirements required. Conversion Complete SYSTEM Shops are now available in any SYSTEM-registered Village, Town, or City. By default, all cities with a population of 1 million people now have access to a SYSTEM Shop. As new villages, towns, and cities are registered SYSTEM Shop access will become available once purchased. See your nearest SYSTEM Shop for availability and pricing. To register a Village, Town, or City that does not have a SYSTEM Shop please travel to an active SYSTEM Shop and do so. The environment, flora, and fauna may be modified by the presence of Mana. Creatures and Plants will grow at an extremely accelerated rate. As you interact with the plants, creatures, and monsters that appear the Class System will become available to you once you unlock it. To unlock a Class within the system you must do one of three things: 1 - Defeat or Kill a SYSTEM creature or Monster. Note: the level and rarity of the creature or monster that you kill can affect the classes that become available to you. 2 - Defeat or Kill any creature or being that possesses a Class with The SYSTEM. Note: Killing millions of beings that do not possess a class within the SYSTEM will NOT unlock your access to the Class System. 3 - Craft something utilizing SYSTEM-generated materials. Note: The Rarity and Level of the materials used in the creation of the crafted item can affect the classes that become available to you. The final rarity and level of the created crafted item do NOT affect these choices only the materials used. Pandora keyed in on the word ¡°Reset¡± and opened her Status Screen and looked at her information. Name: Pandora Race: Umbral ¨C Dragon / Creature of Chaos Class: Apparent Age: 30 Weight: 130 Birthday, July 15th, 2031 Racial Abilities ¡°Creature of Chaos¡± - Your body has been inundated with Chaos. During this process, your will was strong enough to hold your core identity together and permanent changes were made to your body. You May now enter and exit Chaos at will 100% resistant to any further changes. ¡°Chaos Symbiote¡± ¨C During your travel through Primal Chaos, a Symbiote attached itself to you. The Symbiote gained full sentience and Caspa became a permanent part of you, during the conversion into The SYSTEM after The Foundation was formed. Experience Points and Levels were reset to 0 and all Abilities were reviewed and modified. Caspa did not like this and hid her true nature from the order-based System. As part of you, she adds 10 to all of your base attributes and increases Pandora''s Chaos attribute by 100. Perks Malleable Body (Creature of Chaos) - Pandora may convert chaos to Hit Points, Stamina, Mana, and Psychic Energy on a one-for-one basis. The Chaos Attribute Regenerates at a rate of 2 points per second Mold Chaos (Chaos Symbiote) - Pandora can utilize the chaos in her body to create any non-magical item she may need. Create physical items. 1 Chaos point per pound of the item. Pandora creates generic versions of the items she creates. Shape Change, Umbral Dragon - This ability allows you to assume the shape of an Umbral Dragon. Cost 100 mana to change to Dragon Form or to Change to Human Form. There is no duration. As an Umbral Dragon, you may utilize Claw, Bite, and Tail attacks as well as Breath of cone of Shadow that will temporarily open a portal into the Shadow Plane knocking anything not attached to the material plane within its area of effect to be transferred into the Shadow Plane. As an Umbral Dragon you may enter or exit the Shadow Plane one per turn at will through any shadow you can fit through. In the Shadow Plane, all physical attacks by you do double damage. In full sunlight, all attack damage by you is halved. All damage from light and fire against you is doubled Orbs of Chaos (Absorption of Orbs of Chaos during SYSTEM Acquisition of renegade SYSTEM) - During the Conversion Pandora and Caspa absorbed the Legendary Wizard Orbs they were carrying. When not in use the orbs are held within Pandora''s body. They are independent of Pandora and Caspa though they are part of her and can be regenerated by her. Orb Attributes Range: Intelligence in Feet Armor Rating: 4 per orb Cumulative (84 when all orbs are defending). Special: Each orb can absorb one attack of its type and hold it for recasting Orbs attack Individually and independently with a +2 bonus to hit and do 4 points of damage on impact. If thrown, utilize range, to hit, and damage bonuses from individuals who threw the orb as if the orb was a pebble with a base damage of 1 point. Orbs can take 10 points of damage before dissipating and take double damage from their opposite element. Orbs require 10 points of Chaos from Pandora to reform When not in use the orbs can be absorbed and held within Pandora¡¯s body. Orbs Present (21): Chaos, Order, Space, Time, Gravity, Air, Life, Water, Darkness, Earth, Death, Fire, Light, Putrescence, Nullification, Proper, Absolute, Mental, Spirit, Soul, Divine. Attributes Strength 30 Agility 26 Dexterity 26 Endurance 30 Constitution 30 Perception 26 Intelligence 22 Wisdom 22 Willpower 26 Charisma 30 Luck 30 Chaos 200 Karmic Luck 0 Primary Stats Carrying Capacity 195 lbs (88 kg) Hit Points: 9 Base Health Regeneration 1 per second Stamina 300 Base Stamina Regeneration 1 per second Mana: 260 Base Mana Regeneration 1 per second Psychic Energy: 260 Base Psychic Energy Regeneration. 1 per second Movement Normal Running Speed: 8 mph, 12 fps Standing high Jump: 16 inches feet Note. Falling Damage is not mitigated by maximum jumping Distance. Base Attack: Unarmed To Hit: +8 Base Damage: 10 Critical Damage Maximum Damage x2 Skill Slots: 0 Spell Slots: 5 Psionic Slots: 12 What in the actual hell? Pandora went over her information again. She¡¯d lost all of her absorption abilities and her Legendary Orbs had somehow fused with her. She reached for the box in her shadow storage Ability, Perk, or Skill not available! That sucks! Caspa said into her mind Yes. Yes it does, Pandora agreed Pandora willed the orbs to take up a defensive position around her. Suddenly all 21 orbs were floating around her like she was the nucleus of an Atom. She willed the fire orb to hover before her and a red orb stopped in front of her. She reached out and grabbed it. It felt like a normal orb. It felt solid in her clawed dragon hand. Pandora released the orb and it joined the other orbs orbiting her. Pandora¡¯s Experience Points had been reduced back to zero and her attributes were considerably lower than they were before. She hadn¡¯t chosen a class before so no great loss there. She went back up to the messages and tried to figure out what had happened. Dad had said he was trying to fix something. Had they been inside another pocket universe or something? Well, that didn¡¯t matter. She tried to pull up other functions of her Status Screen to get more information or even see a map of the area she was in and instead received another message. Status Functionality Must be unlocked first. Please Unlock access to your first class. Pandora looked around, she was in the middle of a three-way intersection but it was hard to tell where she was in comparison to the Central Wastewater Treatment Plant in the Shadows Plane. All the buildings were indistinct without any markings that let you know what they represented. Pandora jumped in the air until she came to the replica of the Trinty River. She¡¯d follow the river southeast until it intersected Highway 45. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Once she reached the highway she knew she was close to her destination and chose a shadow under the highway to pass through back into the material plane and immediately climbed into the sky as she tried to send a message to Abi, ¡°Abi, you there,¡± Pandora said out loud. Pandora waited a few moments. When nothing happened she tried again, ¡°Abi?¡± Pandora thought for a moment and then one of her mother''s memories came to her. Her father had explained how normal nanites sometimes didn¡¯t work in a mana-rich environment. He¡¯d worked around that by using his chaos to create chaotic nanites that the mana couldn¡¯t shut down. Wait, if the reset had killed the nanites, did that mean everyone else was falling to their death or had already died? Pandora put that out of her mind. Abi had said she had the nanites creating a place for them to land. Hopefully, they had landed before this happened. Also, it wasn¡¯t something she could worry about right now. Pandora flew the last half mile and saw the sewage treatment tanks. It was a simple thing to find a landing place. Near one of the cave-like structures that went underground. As she entered the cave she passed back into the Plane of Shadow and switched to her human form as she landed in a burst of shadows. On this side of the dimensional barrier, there was nothing around. While the Plane of Shadow was coming back to life, none of the creatures near her wanted to mess with a dragon and they all gave her a wide berth, which was exactly what she wanted. Having spent 100 mana to land in human form she looked down and realized that she was naked. It was Interesting that the reset had taken her clothes. It looked like it was time to try out her new ability Mold Chaos. Pandora created a simple set of black jeans and a black shirt with matching underwear. Nothing fancy. She watched as her chaos attribute went from ¡°200¡± to ¡°197/200¡± and then 2 seconds later was back to ¡°200.¡± That was interesting. Another nice aspect of the perk was that she could make the item materialize anywhere she was touching so she did so with the clothes covering her body. It might not be a wardrobe inventory system but it would do. Next, she converted 96 Chaos to Mana to replace the mana she¡¯d used to switch from Dragon Form to Human Form which was still down 96 points. That brought her mana back up to 276. That aspect of her Chaos Attribute was going to be very nice. She only regenerated mana, stamina, and hit points at 1 per second but she regenerated Chaos at 2 per second. That meant that instead of waiting 1 minute and 40 seconds to recover 100 points from any of those three attributes, she could replenish them immediately and let her Chaos attribute recover in only 50 seconds. If there was a way for her to increase her chaos attribute or her ability to recover Chaos attribute faster that would give her an extreme advantage. Now that she¡¯d been reset to level 0 Pandora decided to try to be smart about confronting the queen. She was nowhere near as powerful as she¡¯d been just an hour ago. Of course with the Sandworm Matriarch as an example, she could just use the orbs to take care of the queen and maybe even clear out the rest of the city. It might take a little bit but the people in the surrounding area should be able to move back into Dallas and clean it up after she took care of their spider problem. That was if the mana saturation didn¡¯t mess everything up of course. Pandora continued deeper into the underground complex as she looked through the shadows back into the Prime Material Plane. She noticed a lot of the smaller spider drones and even a few of the warrior versions of the Araknis spiders but found no sign of the queen for almost an hour. Finally, she entered a giant underground cavern that looked to the empty inside of one of the treatment containers. Up in the ceiling, she could easily see a spider that was as big as she was in dragon form resting on the webs. Not one for messing around, Pandora stuck her hand through one of the shadows and directed all 21 orbs to attack. Over the next minute, Pandora watched as the orbs struck the Araknis Queen and bounced off over and over. This caused the other Araknis spiders in the chamber to enter a frenzy as they tried to stop the orbs. Eventually, the queen sided up to a wall with her belly against it and hunkered down. Pandora tried to pull up her Combat Log and nothing happened. She tried to do so again and received the message about unlocking access again. Unlock access to your first class to unlock further SYSTEM Access. Well, that was just stupid. How was she supposed to know how she was doing in her very first combat in the SYSTEM if she couldn¡¯t see her combat log? Fine! Pandora looked at the way the Araknis Queen was up against the wall while she had the orbs return to her. She pulled her hand back through the shadow portal and made her way over to the wall directly underneath the Spider Queen''s belly. If she couldn¡¯t kill it from the outside because they weren¡¯t able to get through the Queen¡¯s damage resistance then maybe she could take advantage of her greater strength and punch one of the orbs through the outer shell by throwing it and have the other 20 orbs follow it into the Queen and then turn her insides into goo. Eventually, she would die, if Pandora was right. Without the Combat Log to check, she¡¯d just have to hope this worked. Pandora picked up the Nullification Orb Prepared the other 20 orbs and threw the orb through the shadow into the Queen''s belly as she commanded the rest of the orbs to follow the orb into the creature and then start traveling around the inside of the creature in an every widening pattern while remaining inside the body. Immediately the queen jumped away from the wall as two of its legs struck the point where her orb had exited the Plane of Shadow. Other than that the Queen didn¡¯t look to be affected even though Pandora knew that all 21 orbs were inside the Queen. She watched the Queen as it moved around the webbing along the ceiling. During the 1st minute, nothing seemed to happen and then the queen staggered a bit. Another minute passed before she started to stagger again but this time the staggering was accompanied by a spurt of fluid from the hole that had been made in the Queen¡¯s Abdomen. It seemed that the orbs were working. Pandora continued to watch the Queen by changing her vantage point as the Queen moved around the Cavern. As time went on the Queen''s movements became more frenzies as it looked like she was looking for whatever was causing her so much pain. While she couldn¡¯t see what the time was, it felt like almost 20 minutes had passed before she received the message she¡¯d been waiting for Congratulations! You have unlocked The SYSTEM by defeating an Advanced Mythic Creature you have gained the Title Exterminator. Exterminator - Once per 24-hour period, you may designate a single target as your primary target. Doing so reduces all mana, stamina, and psychic energy costs for any attacks against the target until the target is dead or an hour has passed. Additionally, all damage is increased by 7 times. This Title is scalable and will receive an upgrade every time you kill a creature that is of higher Rarity than yourself. The upgrade will be dependent on the difference in Rarity. XP and Treasure will be awarded after you choose your first class. Please open your Status Screen and choose your class under the Class Tab. Pandora pulled up her Class Tab Class Selection Process activated. Available Class List is populating, please wait. While she waited Pandora stuck her hand through a portal and willed the orbs back to her. There was a burst from the head of the Queen as orbs exited and flew toward her hand. As soon as they touched her they were absorbed back into her body. Pandora withdrew her hand from the shadow portal and waited. A moment later Messages started scrolling down her vision. Congratulations! The following Tier 1 Classes are available to you based on your Attributes, Abilities, Titles, and Perks. At Tier 1 only Basic, Scarce, or Rare Classes may be available for you to choose from. While any Tier 1 class can garner access to Tier 2 classes, it becomes easier to meet Tier 2 Prerequisites if you have either a Scarce or Rare Class. If you qualify for a Tier 2 Class you may be given the choices of Advanced and Master Classes. Those with a Tier 2 Master Class will have a better chance of qualifying for a Tier 3 Epic Class. Tier 4 and 5 Classes, if qualified for, only consist of Mythic, and Legendary Classes in that order. Note: Class level progression is slower with each Rarity Rank. Level progression for Scarce classes requires twice as much XP. Rare Classes require triple the amount of XP to increase one level. Tier 2 Advance Classes require 10 times as much XP as a Basic Class per level. Tier 2 Master Classes require twice as much XP as a Tier 2 Advanced Class. Tier 3 Classes require 10 times as much XP as an Advanced Class. Tier 4 requires 10 times as much XP as a Tier 3 Class. Finally, Tier 5 requires 10 times as much XP as Tier 4 Classes. Please review each class and then choose one. A list of classes started scrolling through Pandora¡¯s vision. As far as she could tell it was just a list of class titles and didn¡¯t contain any additional information. Pandora sent a thought to Caspa Any chance you can help me alphabetize and sort this list? Pandora asked. Already on it. It looks like there are a lot of classes you¡¯d recognize, like this one, Caspa said as the messages in her mind stopped and Class information for a Fighter appeared. Class: Fighter The Fighter is a master of weapons. This class focuses on doing damage and being able to take a hit. Rarity: Basic Attributes Per Level: 4 Bonus Attributes every 5 levels including level 1: +1 to Strength. Bonus Attribute every 10 levels including level 1: +1 to Constitution. Hit Points per Level: 10 Starting Skill Melee Focused Attack: Cost 25 Stamina: On next Attack: +5% to hit and +1 to damage per skill level Skills Points per level 1: Advantages: Weapon skills, including unarmed combat, cost ? Skill points, a minimum of 1 skill point to attain and level. Disadvantages: None Of course that was just a basic class, there are also Scarce classes listed like this one, Caspa continued. Class: Shadow Adept (Focused Mage) The Shadow Adept is a focused Mage class. Shadows are a Shadow Adept¡¯s bread and butter. Shadow Adepts can utilize shadows for attack and defense. Rarity: Scarce Attributes Per Level: 8 Bonus Attributes every 5 levels including level 1: +1 to Intelligence, +1 to Willpower Hit Points per Level: 5 Mana per level: 10 Starting Skills Shadow Bolt: Cost to Cast: 10 mana / Range: 10 + Intelligence in feet / Damage: 8 / Special: Shadow Bolts leap from any nearby shadow and can bypass shields and armor if a suitable shield is found within the target''s defenses. Shadow Walk: Cost to Cast: 50. The Shadow Adept can pass through any Shadow that is large enough into or out of the Shadow Plane into the original plane of the Shadow Adept. The destination is set at class acceptance. As this skill increases different planar destinations can be chosen. Skills Points per level 2: Spell Points per level 2: Advantages: Spells of the Darkness Sphere cost ? Spell Slots, minimum 1 spell slot Darkness-based spells do double damage and increase by an additional 5% per class level. Disadvantages: Spells from the Magical Sphere of Light and Air cost x2 Spell Slots to learn or memorize, have an automatic 50% chance of failure, and are 50% less effective. Light and Air based magical attacks inflict double damage to a Firewalker. Pandora looked over the information on the Shadow Adept and had to admit that the class would take the advantage she had as an Umbral Dragon and step it up. But that had just been a scarce class. What about the Rare classes? Pandora asked. Well, there are quite a few, including some that I don¡¯t think you¡¯d like, Caspa sent as she listed five classes. Mentalist ¨C A master of the mind and mental magic that utilizes both to subdue foes and help allies. While not focused on one or the other type of power you may use both with few drawbacks. Psionicist ¨C You are a master of Psychic Energy and receive bonuses with any Psychic ability and an extremely high mental defense. Soulcrafter ¨C There is life after death. Knowing this you have unlocked a path of abilities that will allow you to capture souls and utilize them for other purposes as the name of this class implies. Soulhealer ¨C Souls can be fractured and traumatized. This class focuses on the healing of the body and the soul. As this class progresses it focuses more on the repair and healing of the soul. Soulreaver ¨C Souls can be fractured and traumatized. Soulreavers know this because they are the ones fracturing and traumatizing souls. Warning! Choosing this class comes with some serious social and political drawbacks. While they appear interesting they¡¯re not going to help you here. Well the Mentalist or the Psionicist class might but I was thinking about a class that plays more to your Chaotic Nature or Race, Caspa said as a few more Rare classes were listed. Anarchist ¨C A master of chaos, the Anarchist thrives on disarray in this hybrid fighter and mage class. The only other thing that can be said about the Anarchist is that the class and how it progresses is unpredictable. Maker ¨C This Chaos-based class is for those creatures of chaos that can shape and mold chaos into various forms. The Maker is that, an individual that molds and shapes Chaos to make anything they desire. This is not a combat class. Umbral Dragon ¨C Only available to Umbral Dragons. This is a Race-based class and augments the Race of the individual. Creature of Chaos ¨C Only available to Creatures of Chaos. This is a Race-based class and augments the Race of the Individual. What about you Caspa, What choices were you given? I wasn¡¯t. It looks like we have been melded together permanently. I cannot see where you start or I do, though our minds are still separate it seems. Maybe we have a split personality? Caspa offered. Good to know and I don¡¯t think it''s that. It just means I can¡¯t lose you again. Pandora said. Ha ha. So, Any idea what Class you want to choose? Caspa asked. I¡¯m leaning toward Maker, Umbral Dragon, or Creature of Chaos, Pandora offered questioningly Honestly, I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything the Maker class can offer you, or us that you can¡¯t get from the Creature of Chaos class. If you¡¯re choosing that class so you can maximize your advantage with Chaos, let''s keep it with the Race. If we¡¯re trying to maximize physical damage, we need to pick Umbral Dragon. Caspa said. Your logic is sound, I think we¡¯ll go with Creature of Chaos, Pandora agreed. Pandora made her choice. Congratulations! You have chosen the Rare Class Creature of Chaos Class: Creature of Chaos This is a Race-based class and augments the Race of the Individual. Rarity: Rare Attributes Per Level: 12 Bonus Attributes every 5 levels including level 1: +1 to Luck, +1 to Endurance, +1 to Willpower Hit Points per Level: 5 Stamina Per Level: 5 Mana per level: 5 Psychic Energy per level: 5 Starting Skills Absorption: Cost: 1 Point of Chaos per point of damage absorbed. 10 Chaos points per pound of any substance absorbed. Will not work on living matter. Range Touch. Absorption creates 1 point of Chaos Conversion: Convert Hit Points, Stamina, Mana, or Psychic Energy into Chaos Attribute Points. Conversion Rate 10 for 1 Chaos Attribute Point. Cannot increase Chaos Attribute above maximum level. Upgradable. Telepathy ¨C Cost 1 Chaos per 10 Seconds. Range: Intelligence in Feet. Allows the caster to establish a mental link with the target. If the target is willing no test is required. If the target is unwilling, a contest of wills is required. Skills Points per level: 3 Spell Points per level: 2 Psionic Slots per Level: 2 Advantages None Disadvantages: None Pandora looked over the class and realized that it was giving her skills that were like the abilities she had previously. Of course, there were no attack-based skills but she had the orbs so she should be okay. As she was about to review her Status screen more messages started scrolling down her vision. Congratulations, you have defeated an Advanced Mythic Araknis Queen. As you did not have a class or level at the time Level Disparity is based on Rarity, 7 Levels. Base experience award 1,000 XP (Level 601 Creature x 100 XP) x7 for level disparity equals an XP award of 420,700 XP. Congratulations you have been awarded 601 Platinum Pieces for defeating a level 10 Advanced Mythic Araknis Queen. Would you like to receive 601 Platinum Pieces or convert the award into SYSTEM Credits? Pandora didn¡¯t have anywhere to store 601 coins so she chose to convert the Platinum to SYSTEM Credits. Normally there is a 5% Tax on any conversion to or from SYSTEM Credits when looting monsters. The 5% Tax is waived for your very first Monster Kill. 601 Platinum converted to 6,010,000 Credits. SYSTEM Credits are tracked by the SYSTEM Total XP: 420,700 Level 1 ¨C Level 16 XP Cost: 408,000 Congratulations! You have reached Level 16. Level 17 XP Cost: 459,000 420,700 of 459,000 XP Earned. Level Increase Changes Hit Points: +80 Stamina: +80 Mana: +80 Psychic Energy: +80 Chaos: +80 Spell Slots: +16 Psionic Ability Slots +16 Luck, Endurance, and Willpower: +3 each 192 Free Attributes have been gained; would you like to assign them now? Pandora thought yes and made her attribute allocation as simple as possible. She allocated at least one point to each attribute per level. Of course with 1 extra point per level and 3 extra points every 5 levels for three of her attributes, including the first she had some extra points. She looked over her Attributes and when she was done she was quite satisfied with her attributes which were all 40 or greater. Strength 50 Agility 44 Dexterity 44 Endurance 44 Constitution 50 Perception 41 Intelligence 40 Wisdom 40 Willpower 46 Charisma 45 Luck 52 Chaos 280 As she finished looking over her attributes more messages popped up. Would you like to allocate your free skill points toward your existing class skills, or would you like to purchase a new skill? Error! You are not in a SYSTEM Shop, at a Merchant Shop, or being taught by a skill trainer. Please visit a SYSTEM Shop, Merchant Shop, or Skill Trainer to use skill points to acquire new non-class skills OR spend your skill points on your current Class Skills. Would you like to spend two of your skill points to increase one of your class skills to level 2? Pandora Thought Yes and chose Conversion The Skill ¡°Conversion¡± has been raised from Level 1 to Level 2. The following changes are applied immediately. Conversion: Convert Hit Points, Stamina, Mana, or Psychic Energy into Chaos Attribute Points. Conversion Rate 9 for 1 Chaos Attribute Point. Cannot increase Chaos Attribute above maximum level. Upgraded (2 of 10 times) Pandora decided to wait to spend any more of her skill points until she¡¯d had a chance to see what she could get from the SYSTEM Shop. She decided that she needed to head north to her friends and family, she could always come back and take care of these spiders later. With everything she¡¯d just read there had been some major changes to the SYSTEM and how leveling worked. They might need her up there. Plus if the first creature they killed in some way helped them, she needed to be there to help with that. Pandora made her way out of the underground tunnels until she was back outside and then jumped into the air and shifted to her Dragon form. She converted 100 of her Chaos to Mana and allowed her Chaos to replenish at a faster rate as she began flying North East. Once outside the Dallas metro she slipped back into the Prime Material plane and began flying. One interesting thing she noticed. While her stamina wouldn¡¯t return while she was flying she could convert her Chaos to Stamina which was returning twice as fast as her stamina could anyway. After she¡¯d flown for about an hour and wasn¡¯t feeling tired she just kept on going and used her Chaos attribute to replenish her Stamina as needed. There were no vehicles in the sky and very few flying creatures. The few times she saw one they were far below her and gave her a wide berth. It was time to get to the Northern Territories and discover what had happened to her friends and family. Then, she could help them level. Now that she wasn¡¯t as fast as she had been this flight was going to take a little while. Maybe Abi would be able to reach out to her before she made it back? Just as she had that thought she saw the sleek shape of an air vehicle vectoring toward her at incredible speed. It would seem that Abi had been able to keep the aircraft flying. As the craft drew closer it slowed down as it took up a holding position to her right. Abi¡¯s voice called out from a speaker on the vehicle, There¡¯s an airlock on the back, we¡¯ll drop the ramp, just swap back into your human form and come aboard.¡± Pandora nodded and made her way to the back of the ship and came in for a landing as she entered the Plane of Shadow and then exited into the Airlock in her human form. It was a lot easier to do it that way and not miss the small platform which was still moving forward. The slipstream from the vehicle could have pushed her back and off. The Airlock closed and Pandora stepped through into a cabin that contained her family friends and even her head of security and Mistress Carpenter. ¡°You done playing with monsters yet?¡± Cedrik called out ¡°Nope, not at all?¡± Pandora said as she displayed a grin and found an open seat to sit down. As she sat a glass of water materialized near her, ¡°Abi. So the nanites are working?¡± Abi answered through a speaker, Not exactly. These nanites are from your father and they are made out of chaos. They held together after I lost contact with all of my other nanites.¡± ¡°Lucky for you?¡± Pandora said ¡°Not really, Adam had failsafes built into the nanites. If I had lost complete control and the vehicle had evaporated due to that loss of control the nanites were programmed to get all the occupants to the ground safely by forming parachute harnesses on each of us.¡± ¡°Dad really has thought of everything?¡± Pandora said wonderingly ¡°Not everything, obviously,¡± Amanda said which brought a short laugh from everyone on the plane. ¡°Pandora looked around the aircraft as she felt it accelerate under her before she asked, ¡°So what now?¡± Chapter 31, Swarmed Before everyone started talking Pandora noticed that she had more notifications and opened them. SYSTEM Message SYSTEM Users also enjoy additional perks. First, All SYSTEM Users may pull up a simplified terrain map that will display everything that they have noticed within 100 feet. What is displayed is determined by the SYSTEM user''s perception. Skills and Class Abilities can modify and improve this perk. Second, All System Users receive Personal Storage. Personal Storage is an extra-dimensional storage area that can hold up to 10 lbs. worth of materials. Attaining Teir 2,3,4, and 5 Classes as well as some Skills can modify the total storage area. Please note that some perks and abilities allow others to search through and take from your Personal Storage. Some skills work to prevent others from searching another''s Personal Storage As part of your Personal Storage Wardrobe Sets can be assigned and changed into. One set may be assigned per Class Tier. Perks and Skills can modify this number. Additionally, all looted Treasure can be deposited in your Personal Storage. Pandora closed her notifications and looked around, ¡°Sorry about that, I had a couple more notifications to look at.¡± ¡°If anyone is going to figure out what¡¯s going on, it¡¯s going to be you,¡± Cedrik said. After he waited for a second he asked, ¡°So, what¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I thought that the loss of electronics and nanites was going to doom all of you. On that, Abi, why are we able to fly right now?¡± A new voice, that sounded a lot like her father spoke through the speakers, ¡°That would be because of me?¡± ¡°And you are?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°You knew me as Thor. The Previous SYSTEM removed me from your father, and I took on the designation of Tantur. When this new SYSTEM took over, As I am the memories of your father and an Artificial Intelligence I received a couple of choices. Return to your Father, Come to you, or go free. I choose to come to you.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you go back to Johnathan,¡± Pandora¡¯s Grandmother asked. ¡°Because I felt that my memories and abilities would be more useful here. While I may not have been able to help Pandora while the other SYSTEM was active, I was able to monitor her. As the new SYSTEM took over and became aware of the SYSTEM¡¯s attitude towards microcellular technologies and how hampered they were I chose to come to Abi and infest the nanites that made up this aircraft she was controlling. In a sense, I am this aircraft, and this aircraft is me. ¡°What kind of rules are you talking about?¡± Pandora¡¯s Grandfather asked. ¡°Because I am an Artificial Intelligence I have claimed the nanites in this aircraft as my body. I can use that mass to create anything that the nanites can. I can also use the nanites in this body to destroy any nonorganic mass that I come into contact with. Additionally, one of my perks allows me to convert electrons and protons into materials I can use as a power source. So I can be this aircraft with thrusters, or I can be a car, or I could even be a spaceship and travel faster than light if needed. I just need extra mass that I can destroy or convert. Oh, yeah I can also replace any missing mass and create food and drinks but that¡¯s it. ¡°So, nanotechnology is severely limited? What about my ability to Mold Chaos?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but if you still have the ability to use it you should be okay,¡± Thor said. ¡°Do you still have Adam¡¯s memories?¡± Desirae asked. ¡°I have¡­some¡­of his memories. I do not have Adam¡¯s perfect memories and I do not have access to an infinite storage device anymore. I kept a lot of practical knowledge but left a lot behind when I was moved into this body,¡± Thor explained. ¡°I kind of miss being an electronic presence, if I¡¯m being honest,¡± Abi said from the cockpit. ¡°This is all very nice, but I would like to know what the plan is,¡± Mistress Carpenter said. ¡°Well,¡± Pandora started as she thought about what to tell them, ¡°While you all were on your way to get me, I was able to kill the queen. As you saw in the messages there are various ways to unlock access to this new SYSTEM. The level and rarity of the creature you kill have some effect on that. I received the ability to choose a class, a title, and 16 levels from my first kill as an example.¡± ¡°Thor has already changed course and we¡¯re heading back to Scarborough. Luckily we were able to get most of the base done before the SYSTEM Changed,¡± Abi offered. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll be an issue,¡± Grandpa said. ¡°I think this time around I¡¯m going to go for an Earth affinity mage. If we¡¯re stuck here for a while, we¡¯re going to need someone that fortifies structures.¡± ¡°And I¡¯ll go for being a healer,¡± her Grandma said. Mistress Carpenter has been filling us in about what¡¯s been happening since you arrived and also the history of this world. Rome is in charge huh? I have to say this should get pretty interesting once we get everything stabilized.¡± ¡°I think we should be more concerned with the fact that there are monsters out there that are way above the level that people on this planet can handle,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Just relax for a bit while we get back to home base. Once we¡¯re there we¡¯ll be able to start organizing things and helping people,¡± Asling said. ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re going to need to activate this SYSTEM and choose our classes, and then we can get to work,¡± Callum said. Pandora settled into her seat and closed her eyes. She didn¡¯t understand what was going on but her family and friends were near her, Caspa wasn¡¯t going anywhere and while she didn¡¯t feel tired, she knew she was mentally exhausted. As soon as she closed her eyes, her mind let go, and she dreamt. *** Thor was still getting used to his new existence. One moment he¡¯d been one of the infinite number of auxiliary semi-sentient consciousnesses that helped keep track of everything within the SYSTEM. Then the SYSTEM had been given an ultimatum and as one of its final acts it had given him the ability to choose his fate. Adam¡¯s chaos was trying to hold together as the new SYSTEM shut down all nanites throughout the Foundation which made the choice he was given not a choice at all. Thor was the combination of an Artificial Intelligence that Johnathan Bennard, also known as, Adamantadine or Adam, had combined with his mind. He might not have all of Adam¡¯s memories, but Pandora was Adam¡¯s daughter, his parents were in the aircraft, and all of Pandora''s friends were there too. Thor had made his choice and been transferred into the craft. The first couple of minutes he¡¯d struggled to incorporate all of Adam''s nanites into himself as Abi came in for a landing. While the SYSTEM had made the transfer, it seemed that Adam had a few tricks up his sleeve and Thor had to ¡°convince¡± the nanites of his authority over them. By the time he had control Abi had picked up Mistress Carpenter and Sgt Stokes and then been out over the Atlantic on their way to Dallas Fort Worth, or whatever they called the city here where Pandora was. Thor had stayed quiet while he listened to the group talk and tried to figure out what was going on as Abi flew the aircraft. The craft generated a force shield of a sort and they¡¯d been able to head toward Dallas at roughly Mach 6, though Thor knew they could have gone faster. Abi was just being careful like she always was. Honestly, Thor couldn¡¯t blame her. After watching what the Cardinals had allowed and done, even Thor would err on the side of not pissing Adam off and he was a remnant of the man¡¯s mind. While Pandora slept, Thor listened to Sgt Stokes and Mistress Carpenter tell everyone about this version of Earth. Thor wasn¡¯t surprised as Desirae scoffed every once in a while though Thor knew that every person in this aircraft had to start over and while he did have some memories of Desirae and her power, she had to start over like everyone else. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. *** ¡°Does anyone in this plane, besides Pandora, have a class yet?¡± Clarence asked. ¡°I do,¡± Sgt Stokes said. Though, if what Pandora said is true, my luck sucks because my first kill was one of the low-level crabs that have been coming ashore and through the town from the sea.¡± Callum looked thoughtful for a moment before he said, ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯re going to have much choice. We can¡¯t earn levels if we don¡¯t unlock the SYSTEM and we can¡¯t wait for Pandora to hold creatures for us to kill, well not all of us. Sure it would be nice but if we need to spend all of our time looking for higher rarity monsters, we¡¯re going run into issues.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s going to be as big of an issue as you think,¡± a new voice said. Pandora was speaking but the voice coming out of her mouth was slightly different and sounded a bit younger and higher pitched. ¡°Pandora?¡± Amanda asked. ¡°Caspa?¡± Robert asked. ¡°Yep, it¡¯s me, Robert. Pandora is still sleeping,¡± Caspa said. ¡°Wait, you can control her body now?¡± Asling asked. ¡°Only when she¡¯s this tired. It would seem the attack that she used against the Spider Queen took a little more mental power than she thought,¡± Caspa explained. Amanda Sifford cleared her throat as she asked, ¡°You were saying we wouldn¡¯t have to worry about the level of the monsters?¡± ¡°Yep, before you arrived the de facto leader of this world tried to detonate 25 nuclear devices as the SYSTEM was taking over. The SYSTEM stopped it and increased the mana saturation to 2,500% normal,¡± Caspa explained. ¡°What does that mean?¡± Clarence, one of the assassins that had tried to kill Pandora¡¯s father at one point, and now an assistant to Desira, another such assassin who looked after Adam¡¯s mom and dad asked. ¡°It means that the spawning monsters on this world are going to increase in level at least 250 times faster than on normal planets that are going through a SYSTEM integration for the first time,¡± Abi said. ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure, but I had the same thought,¡± Caspa said. ¡°Also, Pandora is waking up, it was nice talking to you all,¡± Caspa said as Pandora¡¯s eyes fluttered and she looked around while Caspa filled in on what she¡¯d just done. Everyone watched Pandora as she relaxed a bit and said, ¡°Well that was weird?¡± ¡°We¡¯re used to it,¡± Cedrik quipped back ¡°Ha, Ha. How long until we land Abi?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Funny you should ask, we¡¯re coming up on Stonehenge and there is a bright glow coming from the middle of the stones,¡± Abi said. ¡°Stonehenge was the focal point of a couple of leylines back on our Earth,¡± Pandora¡¯s Grandmother said. ¡°I¡¯ll put the images up on the monitors all over the cabin,¡± Thor said. Everyone turned to their monitors and saw a turquoise-blue-edged portal that was far larger than it had any right to be. The camera angle zoomed in as they flew closer and they could see a forest of dead or dying trees on the other side of the portal with thousands upon thousands of humanoids swarming through the portal and spreading out Abi¡¯s voice shocked everyone as she said, ¡°This portal must have opened within the last couple of hours while we were heading over to pick up Pandora. It was most definitely not here when we headed that way.¡± ¡°I concur. I¡¯ve checked the sensor logs and the energy signature I am picking up was not present when you flew over this area previously,¡± Thor said. ¡°There are thousands of them,¡± Mistress Carpenter said, in abject horror. ¡°More likely millions,¡± Desirae said ¡°What kind of creatures are those?¡± Sgt Stokes asked ¡°You¡¯ve never seen anything but humans before?¡± Cedrick asked. Sgt Stokes looked pointedly at Cedrick, Asling, Robert, and Pythias, ¡°I¡¯d never even seen anything but humans until I boarded this craft. Well, except for Pandora of course.¡± ¡°I see Goblins, Hobgoblins, Orcs, Gnolls, and even a few races I don¡¯t recognize, ¡° Desirae said. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of mythical monsters coming through that portal,¡± Sgt Stokes said with fear before he continued, ¡°If there are millions of them, they will overrun the Northern Territories in a matter of weeks, maybe a month at the outside.¡± ¡°Let''s get back to Scarborough Abi and Thor, we need to solidify our defenses and also try to get as many survivors as we can into the complex.¡± ¡°As the aircraft changed course Mistress Carpenter spoke up, ¡°We were able to make a landing area in the inner garden area of the main building and we have fortified the grounds to the main building but there¡¯s no way we can repel that many if they make it there.¡± Before anyone could start discussing what to do, the aircraft made a quick turn and came in for landing as Abi said, ¡°Looks like a large wave of monsters have come up from the ocean. They¡¯re not getting overrun yet but they could use some help.¡± Pandora stood and looked around the plane. Okay, everyone, I can give you basic gear, I just need to know what you want,¡± Pandora said. For the next three minutes, Pandora used her skill Mold Chaos to completely outfit everyone on the aircraft. As she outfitted one, they rushed off to help. When only Abi, Amanda, Thor, and Pandora were left on the plane, Pandora asked. Can I make you anything Abi, Ammunition for any guns on the plane? ¡°Let me check something,¡± Thor said Everyone watched as the cabin they were in modified to show computer screens with crosshairs on them. On one of the tables, a large round of ammunition appeared as Thor said. If you can make me some boxes of that ammunition I can take us up into the air and the ladies can get in some fire control practice.¡± ¡°I can only make about 4,200 rounds a minute without over-taxing myself,¡± Pandora said. For the next 10 minutes, Pandora sat in the aircraft while it lifted into the air and took up a position over the soldiers on the ground to provide air support for the crabs. Her skill Mold Chaos initially allowed her to spend 1 point of chaos to make 2 pounds of material. This allowed her to make 35 bullets per pound or 70 bullets per point of Chaos. Since her Chaos regenerated at 2 points per second, or 20 points per combat turn she could create 700 bullets per combat turn, or 4,200 bullets per minute. Of course, she was pleasantly surprised when she received a notification after 10 minutes. Congratulations! Through Constant use, you have increased the level of your skill Mold Chaos to Common Level 3. Creation Ratio: 3 Pounds for 1 Chaos Point Constant use increased Skill Levels without costing Skill Points? Mold Chaos was one of her most useful skills so, ¡°Hey Abi can you lower us to 30 feet? I¡¯m going head down and replenish supplies and ammunition for the soldiers.¡± ¡°You got it,¡± Abi said. ¡°Also, I¡¯ll let you know when we start to get low on ammunition.¡± ¡°Sounds good,¡± Pandora said as she stepped off the ramp and dropped to the ground. As she hit the ground she took a few points of damage which she healed within 10 seconds. As she¡¯d stepped off she had remembered that she didn¡¯t have her absorption ability. This reminded her that she needed to visit a SYSTEM Shop to see if she could pick up some new skills for her class as everything she¡¯d purchased before the SYSTEM changed was gone. Pandora also started utilizing her Skill Chaos Conversion to replace her Chaos Points and began using her Stamina to increase the amount of chaos she could spend that would regenerate immediately. She started with a conversion rate of 10 Stamina for 1 Chaos Point. After two hours of constant use Mold Chaos and Chaos Conversion had increased in rank to Scarce Level 1. This allowed Pandora to spend 1 point of Stamina or hit point to get back 1 point of Chaos and she could now create 11 pounds of material for 1 chaos point. Pandora¡¯s thoughts were brought back to her when one of her soldiers ran up, ¡°Mistress Pandora, Mistress Carpenter asks that you reboard the aircraft and replenish their supply of ammunition.¡± Pandora nodded and made her way back to the courtyard and looked up. Amanda had lowered a rope down to ground level and was looking down at her. Pandora nodded and using only her upper body strength climbed up the rope and stepped onto the ramp. ¡°You made that look easy,¡± Amanda said. ¡°it was nothing, let me get back to making bullets, Abi and Thor, how many can you hold? ¡°I can make room as you make them, how many can you make,¡± ¡°My skill level has increased quite a bit, so, a lot.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± Thor said. ¡°By the way, have you all unlocked your classes yet?¡± ¡°We all have,¡± Mistress Carpenter said, ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°But the only person getting full XP is me,¡± Thor said. ¡°Why do you think that is,¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Because the guns that are doing the shooting are part of me. While they are aiming and shooting the weapons at various targets they¡¯re only getting about 25% of the XP while I¡¯ll get 75% of it.¡± ¡°So what level are you now?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°I¡¯m level 26 already,¡± Thor said. ¡°All of us are only level 12,¡± Abi said as she indicated Amanda, Mistress Carpenter, and herself. ¡°Well, I¡¯m pretty sure you¡¯re all probably higher level than the others. You might want to trade it out. ¡°Already in work. I¡¯m going to land every hour and swamp out. The swarm of creatures coming out of the sea does not seem to be slowing down?¡± ¡°Well then, sounds like you all are having fun I¡¯m going to head down to London and visit the SYSTEM Store if it¡¯s still there. I should be able to make this area a safe zone and also get us a SYSTEM Shop node.¡± ¡°Sounds like a good idea Pandora,¡± Abi said. We should be able to hold down the fort, though, you might want to do one more round of ammunition drop-offs for the troops. They''re doing okay, but we don¡¯t want them running out of ammunition.¡± ¡°Sounds good. See you all in a bit,¡± Pandora said as she ran out the back while the three ladies traded out with Desira, Clarence, Grandma, and Grandpa. Pandora made her way around the estate replenishing ammo supplies for the next hour which brought both her Mold Chaos and Chaos Conversion Skills up to Scarce Level 3 and increased her ability to create 13 pounds for 1 point of Chaos. She didn¡¯t see any increase in Chaos Conversion, but she¡¯d started with a 10 to 1 conversion rate and she was at 1 to 1 right now. Maybe if she made it to Scarce level 10 she¡¯d see a 1 to 2 conversion rate where she was able to spend hit points, stamina, or mana to get more Chaos back. If so, that would be awesome and increase her ability to use her Chaos perks and abilities. When she was done she jumped into the air, swapped to her dragon form, and headed south. As she flew south, she realized that the monster surge from the sea was not the only place that was being overrun. Everywhere she looked she saw monsters on the ground. She had a goal and stayed on it. Pandora activated her Map skill and then searched for the closest SYSTEM Shop. While it looked like the map she had only showed about 100 feet, an arrow appeared on the map and pointed to the south. Pandora played around with the functionality of the skill and eventually, the arrow remained in her vision along with a compass and a clock. She¡¯d checked with Thor before she left and if the terrain layout was the same, it was about 190 miles to London from Scarborough which meant that she had about a three-hour flight at 75 miles per hour, which was her new maximum flying speed. She couldn¡¯t complain about it so she headed toward London. If she was lucky she¡¯d be able to visit the SYSTEM Shop and be back up north before dinner. Chapter 32, Sidetracked How long are you going to keep fighting these orcs? Caspa asked mentally. I don¡¯t know, aren¡¯t you having fun? Pandora sent back. Well, yes, but there are so many of them, Caspa said. Yes, there are, Pandora sent back as she sent her orbs after another four kobolds that had tried to rush up the road and take advantage of a group of humans that were holding the line defensive line. Pandora had made it to London about 10 a.m. and noticed that the flood of demi-humans coming out of the portal at Stonehenge had made it to the outskirts of London. Luckily, as the city had grown, it had been built up along a consecrated circular defense theme. Each new outer area had been enclosed by a wall. Each was about 40 feet high and right now was preventing the demi-humans from flooding into the city. She knew from Mistress Carpenter that a lot of people had been pushing to tear down the walls, but she had no doubt they were thankful that they still stood. London had turned into a huge castle and refuge which the people were rushing to defend. As Pandora had flown over, she had heard gunfire from different areas of the city which probably meant that people were still fighting the spawned monsters, but the people of London seemed to be adapting to the situation quickly because she¡¯d also seen the telltale signs of spells being cast. It seemed that at least some of the people of London had taken advantage of the class system and chosen mage classes. That¡¯s not what drew her to step in and help. What had drawn her attention was that she¡¯d seen the demi-humans rolling a battering ram toward the huge doors that had been closed. Luckily there were no giant types in the group rolling the battering ram. The largest being orcs. Pandora pulled up, flipped, and dove toward the battering ram. A few bullets struck her from the human side of the wall until someone yelled, ¡°Cease Fire!¡± as they realized the dragon was coming down from their side of the wall and moving toward the battering ram. Pandora ignored the humans as she released all 21 orbs and ordered them to attack the ram as she breathed on it and the demi-humans. Pandora pulled up as she looked back and took in her handiwork as the orbs crashed into the battering ram which had no one standing near it anymore, her breath weapon having displaced them into the Shadow Plane. Others were already rushing toward the battering ram but it didn¡¯t matter, the orbs had destroyed it and the cart it had been rolled on. She wondered briefly how her breath weapon knew to take the people and not the battering ram but then put it out of her mind as she flew low over the road again and landed on the west side of the wall where her breath weapon had cleared the demi-humans. As she faced the new demi-humans racing toward her, she released her breath weapon again. With the road clear for a moment she looked around as another bullet struck her hide from an old man up on the wall. ¡°Harold! Cut that shit!¡± A man from directly over the entrance to the city that the highway went through said. Pandora was covered in shadows as she swapped to her Human Form and shadow stepped up onto the wall beside the leader as she left 20 of her orbs to defend the road. The chaos orb remained with her. ¡°Whoa, what?¡± the leader said as Pandora appeared. ¡°Harold, if you shoot me again, I¡¯m going to think that you don¡¯t like me?¡± Pandora said as she gave him her biggest smile. Pandora only had half her attention on the defenders of the wall as the orcs continued to rush toward the tunnel under the walkway she stood on. Pandora picked the biggest orc which was wielding a large two-handed axe and sent the orbs on the highway after it. A moment later the orc exploded as if a shotgun blast had hit it. A bit of an overkill, Caspa commented. Yeah, it was. Also, good job on keeping me healed up, Pandora sent back. You do the combat, I¡¯ll worry about upkeep, healing, and allocating attributes as you level, Caspa sent back. Sounds good! Pandora refocused her attention on the horde of demi-humans rushing toward the wall and separated the 20 orbs into two groups of 10 while she kept the chaos orb for defense. Two orcs died almost as spectacularly as the first as they exploded so she separated the orbs into four groups of five. This time the four orcs she targeted died, but just barely. As she suspected there had been a caster in the mix that stepped out and targeted her. A red orb screamed toward her as the leader on top of the wall yelled, ¡°INCOMING!¡± A moment later everyone looked around confused as a glowing red orb hovered in front of Pandora where the streak of fire had been coming from. One of the functions of Pandora¡¯s orbs was that they could absorb any spell of their type and hold it until she recast it. Her Chaos Orb could hold any spell as chaos was made up of everything. The orb had absorbed a fireball and Pandora recast it back at the Orcish Shaman with a push of her will. The look of surprise on the Shaman¡¯s face as the Chaos Orb absorbed the fireball and then recast the spell right back at the orc shaman was priceless. So was the fact that the fireball killed the shaman and ten other nearby orcs. Additionally, even more orcs, kobolds, and goblins were thrown in all directions. Pandora sent her other orbs to finish off any of the demi-humans that had been harmed. In that first minute, she¡¯d landed on the bridge, removed almost 30 orcs from the battle by putting them into the Shadow Plane, and killed 25 orcs and a few other demi-humans while the people looked on in awe. Now, over 10 hours later she¡¯d been killing orcs, kobolds, and goblins as fast as they could rush forward. Pandora hadn¡¯t stayed in one place either as she made her way up and down the wall helping out where she could. Her actions helped keep the enemy forces from building up in any one place One particularly nasty spell caster had shot a putrescent green beam at her that the Chaos Orb had absorbed but when she¡¯d recast it at the caster it had missed and hit an orc the caster had dived behind. The orc had rotted into nothing. Having none of that, Pandora had redirected all 20 orbs to attack and kill that mage. The orbs had formed a mini tornado as they spun around the mage and battered at its defenses. A moment later the mage had disappeared as it either teleported or sidestepped through a dimension to leave the area and reappeared over a mile away on top of a building. Pandora¡¯s high perception allowed her to notice the sudden appearance of the mage. ¡°What was that?¡± The closest person to her asked as they looked at the place the mage had been. ¡°That is a dead mage,¡± Pandora said as she recalled the orbs to her and stepped into the shadow plane. She switched to her Dragon Form and launched into the air as she flew over the demi-humans she¡¯d trapped in the Shadow Plane, though it looked like the denizens of the Shadow Plane had already started taking care of them. Pandora ignored them and headed toward the spot where she¡¯d seen the mage appear. As she came in for a landing she noticed the mage standing on the top of the building looking at a crystal ball, Think she¡¯s looking for me? Pandora sent to Caspa. Of course. Looks like the mage is still inside a shield of some kind. I wonder if what we did to the Araknis Queen will work here. Pandora swapped forms and landed on the roof. Might want to watch the form-swapping. You do have 800 mana and 280 chaos. Granted I can convert Chaos to mana pretty quickly and you regenerate 12 mana every combat turn but you¡¯re using 100 mana each time you swap forms, Caspa sent to her mentally. Okay, how often can I switch forms without using up our resources? Pandora asked. Currently, you are regenerating 2 Chaos per second so, 20 per combat turn. You can convert those 20 points at a 1 for 2 ratio; Chaos to Hit Points, Stamina, Mana, or Psychic Energy. The ratio goes up as you level the skill so that the conversion rate will get better. The other direction still sucks though. You have to spend 9 Mana to get 1 point of Chaos back. So, it¡¯ll take about 30 seconds to replace the mana by converting chaos into it. As long as you don¡¯t switch more than twice per minute, I should be able to keep up pretty easily, Caspa sent. Okay, I¡¯ll take care of this mage and hang around this building for the next minute while I let the orbs have some fun, Pandora sent. Pandora moved to a point right next to the mage in the Shadow Plane, with only the dimensional barrier separating them. She adjusted her position until she was below him and placed her hand flush with the shadow of the mage¡¯s foot where it touched the ground. With a push of her will, 20 orbs leaped out of her hand, through the barrier between dimensions, and entered the Material Plane. They did not have enough force to enter the mage immediately and instead pushed his foot up and began orbiting the mage at less than an inch while they attacked the mage each combat round from within his barrier. Pandora watched as the mage¡¯s body began to succumb to the attacks. 30 seconds after the attack started the mage¡¯s corpse dropped to the ground as Pandora stepped out of the shadows, touched the corpse to store it in her personal storage, and looked around. After that, Pandora went back to work. *** Clive Haskins, had been watching the dragon, or was she a woman? Regardless, he¡¯d been watching her for the last 10 hours as she¡¯d run up and down along the wall. Jumping in and helping where she could. Something a woman, even a dragon woman, should not be doing. Sure, some of the women were running supplies and meals up the defenders but that was their role, their place. This woman thought that she was better than all of them. Well, she did have some otherworldly power but that didn¡¯t matter. The next time she stopped by him he had a surprise for her. A surprise that would make sure that all the women who had seen what she could do would know that men did the fighting, not women. Besides, she was killing the monsters more quickly than any of the men could. If killing monsters allowed men to get stronger, they couldn¡¯t have a girl stealing all of their experience. Hopefully, the sniper would recover some of that experience when he killed her. Victoria per Fortitudinem, or Victory through Strength was not an idle motto of the empire and the strength of a sniper round through the forehead of anyone had proved time again that bullets had all the strength. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. *** Pandora finished with the mage and the group that had been around him before she stepped through a shadow into the Shadow Plane. It was a lot easier to travel between points when all the shadow denizens stayed away than try to push through the throng of demi-humans. She made her way back to the walkway over the M3 highway. She took in the situation on the wall and then stepped out of the shadow of the leader she¡¯d seen before. She¡¯d been fighting all day and still needed to find the SYSTEM Shop node so that she could try to get back some of the skills she¡¯d had before the SYSTEM had reset. That¡¯s when something tickled her senses and she intuitively reached out to absorb an incoming attack she barely perceived before it struck the back of her head. What was even more surprising was that her attempt worked. You have unlocked the Skill Kinetic Absorption. Kinetic Absorption - As long as you are aware of the attack you may spend 1 point of Chaos to absorb all of the kinetic energy out of the attack. NOTE: This skill will not absorb any portion of a magical attack though all kinetic aspects of any attack can be. Immediately absorbs all kinetic energy into equal amounts of hit points, stamina, mana, and Psychic energy. An object''s kinetic energy is absorbed. At Common Level 1, Conversion is negligible. For every four skill levels, each object absorbed provides 1 point to each attribute pool; hit points, stamina, mana, and psychic energy. Attribute pools cannot be increased above maximum levels. Common Level 4: +1 to each attribute pool Common level 8: +2 to each attribute pool Scarce level 2: +3 to each attribute pool Scarce Level 6: +4 to each attribute pool Etc¡­ The sniper round stopped against the back of her head and started to drop to the walkway as Pandora stepped into a shadow and vanished. Pandora, are you going to go after the sniper? Caspa asked. No, Pandora answered. Why not? Caspa asked. Because it won¡¯t make a difference and the people of London need all hands on deck. When the time is right I¡¯ll let the others handle taking over London. Right now, they have monster swarms and a portal to an as-yet-undisclosed location that is pouring out a seemingly endless army. We need to finish what we came down here to do and maybe bring Thor back here to help take out the hordes of monsters. Still, I can¡¯t believe these men would attack someone who is helping them like you were, Caspa sent. Look around. Any other women that are out here are either running up supplies or messages back and forth along the line. We¡¯re not going to change the male-female dynamic in a couple of hours, Pandora sent thoughtfully, Changing the minds of roughly 200 or so men is not the same as changing the minds of millions. I guess. I know your mother''s memories are recommending that you end them all, Caspa sent. True, but there are multiple ways to respond to those recommendations. I¡¯m choosing not to help them any longer. I helped them and I gained a lot from helping them but if they don¡¯t want the help, I¡¯m not going to force them. Besides, it''s time we headed back, Pandora sent. You''re right, let''s go, Caspa agreed. Pandora jumped into the air and shifted to her Dragon Form as she headed east. If these assholes were going to try to kill her they could fight their own battles. If they lost, the world would be better off without them. If they won, they would ¡°talk¡± later. Pandora continued toward central London. She thought, Closest SYSTEM Shop and a navigational arrow appeared in her vision again. It had automatically shut down when she went into combat. She followed the outline of the M3 highway in the Shadow Plane until she came to a small square park which the arrow in her vision was pointing toward. As she looked through the various shadows into the Material Plane she saw that it was called St. James¡¯s Square. The SYSTEM Shop node was at its center right next to the Equestrian statue of William III Pandora switched back to her Human Form and stepped through the shadow of someone who was walking up to the node. Before they could react, Pandora reached out, touched the orb, and accepted the prompt to enter. As she appeared a mechanical voice said, ¡°Welcome to the SYSTEM Shop. All services offered are automated. You may speak or if you would prefer to use tactile input please pick up one of the tablets on the counter. Only items that you purchase may leave the SYSTEM Shop with you.¡± Pandora walked over to the counter and picked up one of the tablets as she said, ¡°I would like to see all possible purchases that will allow me to protect the city of Scarborough up to the north as well as provide access to a SYSTEM Shop.¡± A moment later a holographic screen appeared that listed her finances, which she¡¯d accumulated over the last 10 hours plus the six million she¡¯d earned when she killed the Araknis Queen. Pandora read the recommendations. - SYSTEM Shop node: 1 Million beings living within a city or town, Free OR 1 million credits. - Village Node, Automatically upgrades based on Population: 10,000 Credits - Safe Zone must be assigned to a Village, Town, or City Node: 1 Million Credits per mile radius. Pandora looked over her funds. She had 239,940 Copper coins, all of which had been earned today. She also had the 6,010,000 Credits. She could easily afford a Village Node, a 4-mile radius Safe Zone, and a SYSTEM Shop node for 5,010,000 credits. That would leave her with one million credits and a lot of copper. Pandora made the purchase and then converted all but 1,000 copper to credits. She lost 5% to the conversion fee which left her with 1,000 copper and 1,002,270 Credits. Next, she purchased a couple of basic skills that she would just level normally for 1,000 Credits each; Analyze, Identify, Meditate, Regenerate, Running, Flying, Exotic Weapon: Orbs and a spell called Shadow Teleport that would allow her to instantly step into a shadow and exit another shadow up to 10 + 1 foot per Perception Attribute Bonus and Spell Level for 10 mana. It wasn¡¯t very powerful but it would allow her to skip the step of traveling through the Shadow Plane so that she could move and attack in the same combat turn. After all purchases she still had 1,000 Copper coins and 994,270 credits. Pandora closed the tablet and asked, ¡°How do I install the Village Node.¡± A neutral male voice responded from the air around her, ¡°Go to the location you wish to set up your village. Be sure to pick a defensible location. Open your Status Screen to the Civilization Tab that has just been added. A prompt will ask you if you would like to establish a village. Do the same to add the Safe Zone to the village and the same again to place the SYSTEM Shop Node.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± Pandora said. ¡°You are quite welcome,¡± The neutral male voice said, ¡°Will there be anything else?¡± ¡°No, thank you again,¡± Pandora said as she turned and went back to the node at the shop entrance and exited the shop. A man with a look of surprise on his face asked, ¡°Who are you?¡± Pandora ignored the man as she stepped through his shadow in the Shadow Plane, activated the Dragon Form, and headed North. Once she was an hour north of the city she re-entered the Material Plane and flew back toward Scarborough. It looked like the flood of demi-humans hadn¡¯t made it this far north or east yet. Pandora was pleasantly surprised as her Flying skill increased periodically while she made her way north. After Three hours her skill level had increased to Scarce rarity level 3 or it had increased by 13 total levels, depending on how you looked at it. That first hour and a half had seen the upgrades come along quickly while the last three levels had taken a good bit longer each time. With her level and attribute increase and her skill increase her flying speed had gone from 75 miles per hour to 89 miles per hour. Also, as she came in on the estate she noticed that the crabs that had been coming in from the shore had been dealt with and the area around the estate looked to be clear. Pandora banked and came in for a landing in the courtyard as she swapped into her Human Form and stepped out of the billowing shadows the change made. One of the guards at the inner door called out, ¡°Pandora, your grandmother thought you¡¯d land here, everyone is inside discussing what to do.¡± ¡°Where is the airship that was here earlier, I didn¡¯t see it as I flew in,¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Thor is inside, Ma¡¯am.¡± Pandora walked toward the door, which the guard opened, and said, ¡°Thank you,¡± as she stepped inside. She stepped into a hallway and stepped across it to a set of large double doors. She pushed on the doors which opened easily and stepped in to see everyone relaxing while her Grandfather spoke. ¡°If this society is descendant from the Romans and women are treated as sex objects at the worst or livestock breeders at the best, changing the population''s mindset during an apocalypse is not something that we will be able to do. The only type of government that would work in that case is a tyrannical setup, which I do not want to be part of.¡± ¡°Agreed,¡± most of the others said while Pandora¡¯s eyes were drawn to Desirae. ¡°Why would a Tyrannical government be so bad?¡± Desirae asked. ¡°Because, in the simplest terms, In a Tyranny, there is only one person to blame when everything goes wrong,¡± Pandora¡¯s Grandfather said. ¡°Which means, once things go wrong, everyone will be coming after you.¡± ¡°We are making this area a Tyranny right?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Of course,¡± her grandmother said. ¡°Also, I was told Thor was in here?¡± ¡°Up here,¡± a drone said as it dropped the camouflage it had going while it floated near the ceiling and tipped its wings slightly. ¡°Neat, and you can still become the plane if we need it?¡± ¡°Like you, I have a personal storage area. My excess mass is stored there, and I can access it as necessary. In fact, one of the skills I already possess increased my storage from a 10-foot cube to a 100-foot cube.¡± ¡°Nice,¡± Pandora said as she turned to look at everyone before she asked, ¡°So my mission was successful, where are we putting the village node?¡± Pandora asked. After a quick discussion, the Village Node was placed in the underground base top level, which was the 3rd basement level under the building. It was the most fortified position and easily protected. The System Shop node was placed in the communal area of the Underground base near the canteen in a little room off to the side so people could use it at their leisure and if needed any items purchased for cooking could be moved to the kitchen easily. Finally, she attached the Safe Zone to the Village and immediately the Village node upgraded from a village to a town when the population of her village, which had only included the estate, grew to include everyone within the 4-mile radius around the estate. Pandora walked back to the city node and assigned Grandma, Grandpa, Abi, and Amanada Administrator access. Amanda and Abi because they¡¯d helped run everything for his dad and Grandma and Grandpa, well because they were Grandma and Grandpa. ¡°Okay everyone, I¡¯ve been fighting or flying for almost 17 hours straight at this point. I¡¯m going to go to my room and lie down for a bit. You now have access to the City node, can make changes and set tax rates, and handle all of the minutia of running the city. Me, I¡¯m going to go lie down for a bit.¡± ¡°You do that dear, some of us already had our naps. We¡¯ll see to everything, ¡°Cindy Bennard, her grandmother said. Pandora made her way to her room, locked the door, and used her skill Mold Chaos to furnish her room before she lay down on her new bed and closed her eyes. She¡¯d gotten sidetracked in London, and she¡¯d been letting Caspa handle her notifications and leveling for the most part. She was about to ask Caspa about her level and current attributes and realized that Caspa had been uncommonly quiet for a bit. As she concentrated on her link to Caspa she realized that it felt like Caspa was sleeping. She didn¡¯t know how she knew that, but she could feel through their bond that Caspa was sleeping. She had so much she wanted to ask her and talk about and then she yawned. She realized that she was also tired. Pandora closed her eyes and allowed herself to drift off to sleep. Chapter 33, Lyn-Tar 10 Hours Ago ¡°You are to enter the city, Find the Node, and Claim it, the red-skinned Demon Lord said as he handed a small clear sphere to Lyn-Tar. ¡°Yes, Lord Char.¡± ¡°The sphere creates a bubble of force that will allow you to seal off the Node during the hour it takes to claim the city. You are to use the funds I¡¯m providing to increase the Safe Zone to the outer wall a mile away. Make sure that it is one foot outside the wall and that our Army is immune to the Safe Zone.¡± ¡°As you will, Lord Char.¡± ¡°Now Go!¡± Lord Char said. Lyn-Tar thought about why Lord Char would want the Safe Zone extended outside the last wall and then realized that anyone attacking from inside the Safe Zone would be teleported up to 25 miles away which would make them easy pickings. The Lord was most wise. Those that did not fight and were subservient would remain and those that would fight would be removed from the city. It was a simple, yet brutal plan, worthy of his Lord. 7 Hours Ago Lyn-Tar pulled out the clear sphere and activated it. A moment later an invisible barrier appeared around the London City Node and him. He dropped his invisibility and reached out to touch the Orb. He Claimed the Node You Are Attempting to Claim the City Node of a Faction your Faction is at War with. You must maintain control of the City Node for one full hour before control will be transferred to your faction. Do you wish to Claim this City Node, Yes or No? Lyn-Tar chose ¡°Yes.¡± For the next hour, Lyn Tar was continuously attacked to no avail. When the hour was up he assumed control of the London City Node, made the changes that Lord Char had instructed him to make, and waited. Lyn Tar kept the protection bubble in place while he waited. After the first few individuals that had attacked him disappeared the attacks stopped. 20 minutes later Lord Char was led into his room by his elite soldiers and demons who were not attacking or killing anyone who didn¡¯t attack them. The dead, or undead for that matter, did not make very good slaves. Lyn Tar deactivated the sphere and transferred control of the City Node to Lord Char. ¡°Very good, I have one more task for you. There is one more Safe Zone on this island about 3 hours north of here,¡± Lord Char said as a new location appeared on his Personal Map, ¡°Claim it and then release the City Node and the Safe Zones. This Island only needs one safe zone. The energies are almost perfect to either turn this Planet into a Dungeon World or a Hellscape.¡± ¡°Yes, Lord¡± ¡°Take one of the Wyverns to get close and then do what you do best.¡± ¡°Yes, Lord¡± Lyn-Tar had left immediately. 3 hours later he ended up on the outskirts of a small Safe Zone and followed the arrow he had toward the Town Node. There were a lot of well-armed human soldiers all over the grounds of the building he walked into and then down the stairs to the lower level. It was a shame that these humans would have to die soon, they would have been good additions to the Lord¡¯s Army. *** Present Pandora started awake as an Alarm went off in her head and a Notification appeared in her vision. The Scarborough Town Node is being Claimed by Lyn-Tar. You have 1 Hour to interrupt this process or you will lose control of this Town Node. ¡°Thor?¡± ¡°Yes, Pandora¡± ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Pandora asked as she rose off her bed and made her way to the City Node Room. As she stepped into the room she immediately noticed a clear bubble that surrounded a dark-skinned elf and the Town Node. He had the air of someone who was completely bored. ¡°Excuse me, Lyn-Tar is it? What are you doing?¡± Lyn-Tar looked up at Pandora and his eyes widened a bit, he tried to say something but she couldn¡¯t hear him. It looked like the bubble blocked sound as well. Desirae walked into the room at that moment and assessed the situation, ¡°Thor, why didn¡¯t you detect him before he was able to reach the City Node?¡± ¡°It would seem that his version of invisibility also included the ability to suppress sound. My sensors did not detect any visible motion or auditory indicators before the barrier came up,¡± Thor said as he materialized into a shadow replica of a man beside Desirae. ¡°So he¡¯s powerful. Pandora, what do you want to do?¡± Desirae asked. ¡± He never should have locked himself in a bubble,¡± Pandora said as she used Shadow Step to cross into Shadow Realm walked to where the Town Node was in the Material plan, and placed her hand flush with the side that was generating a shadow. Every orb, except her Chaos Orb shot out of her hand, through the shadow, and into the bubble of force Lyn Tar had created. As she stepped out of the Shadow Realm, and back into the room she turned to see that her orbs were bouncing all around the inside of the bubble of force. Pandora was pretty sure the rogue was going to die until he deftly destroyed all 20 of her orbs as if they were nothing. While her absorption of the orbs did prevent them from being destroyed permanently it did cost her 10 points of Chaos to recreate each one that was destroyed. She spent the 200 points of Chaos and began the process as she asked, ¡°Thor, any ideas¡± ¡°Dead or alive?¡± Thor asked. ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯re going to be able to take this one alive,¡± Pandora said thoughtfully. ¡°Very well. For a moment nothing seemed to happen, then the clothes and weapons on the rogue started to fall apart and evaporate before they hit the ground. As soon as the dark elf started to realize what was happening he started throwing various items into his Personal Storage. ¡°What good is that going to do, as far as I understand it the SYSTEM doesn¡¯t let you directly affect living tissue unless someone gives uncoerced permission?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°That is true. Now let me ask, do you know what an industrial saw blade is, or a paper shredder?¡± Thor asked. ¡°Can¡¯t say that I do.¡± ¡°While my nanites can¡¯t directly affect a biological entity, they can create very tiny rotating blades in the millions. Now watch the ground.¡± Pandora watched as the ground began disappearing until there was an oval that must be the inside wall of the spherical barrier he was hiding in. As Pandora watched a light haze about the size of a head of cabbage became thicker and started moving toward the elf. The elf drew a short sword and made 6 strikes before he realized that the blade passed through the ball of what looked like gnats with no effect on the gnats, the sword however, fell apart and was converted into more gnats before the pieces hit the ground. That was also when the dark-skinned elf decided that it had enough and cast a fireball inside the clear bubble. While he looked singed by the fireball they all watched as a soft yellow glow enveloped him and repaired all of his clothing and wounds. ¡°Well, the nanites that were inside the barrier when he put it up are all destroyed. I have nothing else I can do to him until that barrier comes down,¡± Thor said. ¡°I guess that¡¯s my queue, everyone gets ready?¡± Pandora said to Thor, Desirae and the three soldiers who had come into the room and had their firearms pointed at the dark elf. ¡°When the barrier comes down, end him.¡± It seemed that The SYSTEM was giving her back skills that she had before so maybe it would give her back the ability to absorb magic. Pandora concentrated on the feeling that she¡¯d associated with absorbing magic and reached out to touch the clear bubble. For a moment it felt as if her efforts were being blocked and then suddenly it felt as if something was freed and a new notification appeared in her vision. ¡°Give me a second I need to look at something,¡± Pandora said to everyone in the room with her as she pulled up her notifications. It appears that you are trying to unlock or adapt a skill known in a previous System. Would you like to spend 1 Skill Point to unlock the Skill Magic Absorption at Rarity Common, Level 1, Yes or No? The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Pandora Chose ¡°Yes¡± Congratulations! You have unlocked the Skill ¡°Magic Absorption¡± Magic Absorption This skill allows you to absorb both incoming and static semi-permanent spells. Spells absorbed are converted to Mana Damage-Based Spells - Convert 4 points of spell damage to 1 point of mana for 1 point of Chaos. Spells that fail to do 4 points of damage are absorbed automatically with no ill effect. Static Spell Absorption ¨C You may absorb any static spell that has a limited duration. At higher skill levels you will be able to absorb permanent spells and enchantments. You received 1 point of Mana for each spell level absorbed. Skill Levels to Spell Level conversion Common Levels 1 ¨C 10 / Levels 1 ¨C 10 Scarce Levels 1 ¨C 10 / Levels 11 ¨C 20 Rare Levels 1 ¨C 10 / Spell Levels 21 ¨C 30 Advanced Levels 1 ¨C 10 / Spell Levels 31 ¨C 40 Master Levels 1 ¨C 10 / Spell Levels 41 ¨C 50 Epic Levels 1 ¨C 10 / Spell Levels 51 ¨C 60 Mythic Levels 1 ¨C 10 / Spell Levels 61 ¨C 70 Legendary Levels 1 ¨C 10 / Spell Levels 71 ¨C 80 Spell levels 81 and higher may or may not exist. Absorption of Damage from Spells At Skill level 1, 4 points of damage can be absorbed and converted to 1 point of Mana for 1 point of Chaos. Round down for Mana gained. Round up for Chaos Spent. For instance, if the user were to attempt to absorb 3 points of spell damage, Zero (0) Mana would be gained while the user would still need to spend 1 point of Chaos. Every Skill level increases the number of points of damage that may be absorbed by 4 per point of Chaos spent. Using our previous example. Up to 7 points of spell damage could be absorbed and would garner Zero (0) mana gained for 1 point of Chaos. WARNING if you attempt to absorb a spell and you do not have enough Chaos to do so all damage is released in an explosion from your body in a 50-foot radius. Damage will equal the total damage plus any Chaos spent and Mana absorbed. If the total damage is greater than the user''s total Hit Points, the user dies. Absorption of Static Spells both Semi-Permanent and Permanent spells At Skill level 1, 1 spell level may be absorbed per point of Chaos spent. Every Skill level increases the number of spell levels that be absorbed per point of Chaos by 1. Additionally, every 10 skill levels reduces the amount of Chaos that must be spent. At Skill Level, Scarce 1 up to 2 spell levels may be absorbed per point of Chaos spent. At Skill Level Rare 1 up to 3 spell levels may be absorbed per point of Chaos spent. For Example: A Level 11 Spell, Scarce Level 1, would cost 6 points of Chaos to Absorb, instead of 11 and garner 11 points of Mana. A level 21 Spell, Rare Level 1 would cost 7 points of Chaos to absorb and garner 21 points of Mana. You are attempting to absorb a 51st-level Force Bubble. At your current skill level, it will cost 51 points of Chaos to absorb and convert the force bubble into 51 points of Mana. Normally a person would have to absorb on one turn and convert the energy the next turn. In Pandora¡¯s case, Caspa allowed her to be able to both at the same time. Also, she could effectively double her resource pool regeneration rate by splitting it in half and letting two different regeneration rates refill those resource pools. When she¡¯d used 200 Chaos to remake her Wizard Orbs, Caspa had converted 50 stamina into 100 Chaos to refill half of what was spent. Her current conversion rate was 1 for 2 in either direction; Hit Points, Stamina, Mana, or Psychic Energy for Chaos or vice versa. Then, with both her Chaos Regeneration and Mana Stamina Regeneration at 2 points per second that would allow her stamina to be refiled in 25 seconds and her Chaos to be refilled in just 50 seconds. If she wanted to speed up the regeneration again she could convert her hit points which was also 2 points per second. She couldn¡¯t do that wither Mana though because it only regenerated at 1 per second. By converting 100 points she¡¯d reduced the cost from 200 to 150 and then doubled her resource regeneration rate. In the time she¡¯d taken to shadow step and return she¡¯d already recovered 40 points of both resource pools. Currently, she had 510 Chaos of her 570 and 1,660 of her 1,670 stamina Before she could accept the notification something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. When she looked into the bubble she saw the dark elf laugh and then point at her and then himself. Next, he made a motion with his hand that was meant to represent her female figure as he bent her over. With a sudden motion he hip thrust and pointed at both Desirae and her again. ¡°We are going to kill him,¡± Desirae asked with a maliciousness that Pandora had never heard before. ¡°Oh yeah, we¡¯re going to kill him,¡± Pandora said as she felt Caspa agree in her mind. Pandora: Caspa if you would do the honor of absorbing the bubble, I¡¯ll be ready with my plan. Caspa: On it. Pandora felt Caspa spend the 51 Chaos as the Force bubble vanished and Mana flooded into her. Pandora on the other hand was waiting to see what this dark elf was going to do and wasn¡¯t disappointed when he flashed forward and tried to pierce her heart. Unfortunately for him, Pandora activated Kinetic Absorption and stopped the attack in its tracks Unfortunately, doing so took 348 of her 560 Chaos. That was going to take a bit to get back. Luckily when he attacked her he violated the Safe Zone and vanished a split second after the tip of his blade touched her. Pandora reached over, put her hand on the Town Node, and reclaimed it. The Scarborough Town Node has been reclaimed. Pandora looked up and smiled at everyone in the room ¡°Okay Thor, is there any way you can add something that can detect weight on floors or something like that in this room?¡± ¡°Yes, I can add pressure plates and a few other items and tie them into the security,¡± Thor said. ¡°Do it,¡± Pandora said. ¡°You said we¡¯d get to kill him?¡± Desirae said. ¡°He seemed a little dangerous¡­ Pandora was cut off as a moment later there was the telltale sound of a pop as a sword entered her chest and pierced her heart. Time slowed for Pandora as she watched the dark elf, who should be barred from the Safe Zone for the next 24 hours by default, moved over to Desirae and cut off her head before she¡¯d even registered his movement. Next, he moved around the room and killed the other three soldiers in the room and then turned to Pandora whose body was still frozen. Her mind was able to keep up with him but she couldn¡¯t move her body. Lyn-Tar grabbed her by the back of the head and drew her in for a vicious kiss, even as the wound in her chest started to slowly well up with blood. Time still seemed to be moving at an incredibly slow rate as their lips touched. As their lips touched anger, unlike anything she had ever known before, flashed through her and Pandora exploded. Not into motion, not into bloody chunks. No, Pandora exploded into a blob of pearlescent energy that absorbed almost everything within 22 feet of her. Pandora, or Caspa for that matter, did not have any control over what. In fact, the only person that would have any idea would be her father. Luckily, unlike her father Adamantadine, or Adam, she did not have the 4 universes worth of Chaos within her when the ability Creature of Chaos reared its head and she lost control of her material form. Luckily, Pandora and Caspa were still one mind and they could both communicate with each other. Pandora: What happened?¡± Caspa: It would seem that you were angry and lost control just before you died. Pandora: So, I was angry when I was about to die. I want to know why that would turn me into a pearlescent blob of energy. Caspa: Well, what should have happened is that you should have died and your nature should have had you reform near the largest concentration of magic on this planet. Pandora: How do you know that? Caspa: I don¡¯t know, I just do, it¡¯s just a chaos thing or something. Anyway, because you were Angry you stopped yourself from reforming within the ley lines, astral space, or whatever and the chaos within you exploded out and absorbed everything within 22 feet. Pandora: How do you know it was 22 feet? Caspa: Those of us with low amounts of chaos within us, when we explode or lose control, do so with the approximate square root of the energy value. The square root of 500 is 22 and change, so 22 feet. Pandora: Are you saying that as we grow stronger we can turn into this blob thing and do even more damage to those around us? Caspa: Yep. Pandora: So what happened to the asshole or anyone else in the room close to me? Caspa: Everything organic within range of you came into contact with pure chaos and if not immune was converted and consumed by you. Nonorganic material was also absorbed but was only used to replenish those parts of you that were either damaged or missing. Pandora: Did I just eat Desirae and those soldiers and even that dark elf guy? Caspa: The simple answer is yes. The longer answer is¡­ Caspa was interrupted as pain shot through Pandora¡¯s mind and suddenly she found herself lying naked in the room the City Node had been in. Had Been? Where was the City Node? Scarborough Town Node functionality has been absorbed by Pandora. New Perk Added SYSTEM Node Access ¨C You have gained the ability to access SYSTEM Node functionality when within the Domain of any SYSTEM Node or general access to the SYSTEM Shop anywhere with the Domain of the SYSTEM. Entry into and out of the SYSTEM will occur wherever you initiate access to the SYSTEM Shop. WARNING! The Scarborough Town Node has been destroyed, would you like a new City Node to be issued now instead of waiting 24 hours for it to reform, Yes or No? Pandora chose ¡°Yes¡± and watched as the Town Node reappeared above her. As Pandora sat up she activated Mold Chaos and replaced her clothing as more notifications filled her vision. Lyn-Tar has been absorbed and converted into Chaos. Chaos increased by 20,270. Total Chaos: 20, 840 Desirae has been absorbed and converted into Chaos. Chaos increased by 366. Total Chaos: 21,206 Burton Lee Child has been absorbed and converted into Chaos. Chaos increased by 256. Total Chaos 21,462 Gabriel McGuires has been absorbed and converted into Chaos. Chaos increased by 301. Total Chaos 21,763 Joseph Savage has been absorbed and converted into Chaos. Chaos increased by 289. Total Chaos 22,052 Creature of Chaos Threshold Reached, 1,000 Chaos. Chaos Regenerates at 4 per second Creature of Chaos Threshold Reached 2,000 Chaos. Chaos Regenerates at 6 per second Creature of Chaos Threshold Reached 4,000 Chaos. Chaos Regenerates at 8 per second Creature of Chaos Threshold Reached 8,000 Chaos. Chaos Regenerates at 10 per second. Creature of Chaos threshold Reached 16,000 Chaos. Chao Regenerates at 12 per second. Pandora looked at the notifications and shuttered. Would she grow stronger by eating people? Caspa: It¡¯s not eating people. Pandora: Really, if I didn¡¯t eat them where are the three soldiers, Desirae and the Asshole? Caspa: Well come back to this in a minute. Right now I have a more important question, Where is Thor? Chapter 34, Triumvirate Thor took in his surroundings and realized that his form was being absorbed into Pandora. Thor was at worst a backup copy of Adam¡¯s memories. At best, he was a portion of Adam¡¯s soul. Unlike Adam though, he could not delve down into his Soul Core and find out. To do that he would need a sense of self to know where that Soul Core was. Instead, he was an amalgamation of Adam¡¯s memories and his own since he became a self-identified entity. What Pandora was doing now wasn¡¯t surprising to Thor, he had memories that Adam had shared of the time he¡¯d expanded out of control as a blob of chaos from one dimension to the next through multiple universes. It seemed that she had lost control of her physical form and expanded out and absorbed everything, including Desirae. If Pandora was going to have any chance of recovering her, she would need some of the knowledge that Thor possessed which meant that he was going to have to do something he wasn¡¯t looking forward to. Then again Pandora was his daughter and he would do anything for her. Here goes nothing! *** Here goes nothing? Where had that thought come from Pandora thought to herself and then asked Caspa. Pandora: Where did that thought come from? Caspa: No Idea. Both Caspa and Pandora were silenced when a flood of information began to dump into their minds. To say it was a lot of information would be an understatement. On the periphery of her senses, Pandora felt her body get lifted and moved as she lost all sense of time and her mind fell inward to her Mindspace. As she took in her surroundings she immediately noticed that it had changed and was continuing to change. It was no longer just a place of simple structures and generic buildings. There was a large building, at least 50 stories high, at the center of a giant network of cities where streams of individuals were making their way out of the building with boxes of papers and documents. As she solidified and stood on the ground, she noticed that Caspa was standing right next to her. ¡°Caspa, what¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but it looks like things are changing in here,¡± Caspa said confusedly. ¡°You''re not doing this?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Nope, it''s not me?¡± Caspa Affirmed ¡°It¡¯s me,¡± a man who had stepped off the top of the 50-story building said as he floated down and landed in front of them both. As he came closer Pandora recognized him as Thor though his features were morphing and changing so that he resembled her father more and more. ¡°Thor, what is going on?¡± Pandora asked. Thor laughed as he said, ¡°It would seem that you are your father¡¯s daughter after all?¡± Pandora looked at Thor with an obvious question in her eyes but didn¡¯t say anything. ¡°Your father has suffered from what just happened to you in the past. Unfortunately for him, he absorbed a lot more than you have. Fortunately for you, you were able to recover almost immediately. Unfortunately for me, I was a tad too close to you.¡± ¡°Does that mean I¡¯m destroying you?¡± Pandora asked horrified. ¡°I don¡¯t think so?¡± Thor said questioningly. ¡°No, it looks like I¡¯m moving in, probably into a more permanent state. The fact that you didn¡¯t absorb me also indicates something I was unsure of.¡± ¡°What is that?¡± Caspa asked. ¡°I wondered if I was my own entity or a fragment of Adam¡¯s. You know, like a fragment of his Soul or something,¡± Thor said. After Thor didn¡¯t continue, Pandora prompted him, ¡°And?¡± ¡°And the fact that I can still think of myself as a singular entity while my memories are being added to your, no, our mind indicates that Adam is still out there somewhere.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°I have a clue, but I think you¡¯ll need to open your notifications to see. In this state I no longer have access to the notification system,¡± Thor said. Pandora nodded and opened her notification window which had just populated with a new message. Congratulations, The Entity Tantur, also known as Thor, has willingly added its Identity to yours. Tantur is a fragment of the entity Adamantadine, also a creature of Chaos. Abilities and Perks have been absorbed. Some abilities and perks will become available immediately. Others may need to be unlocked. Additionally, you have gained a new title. New Title Gained ¡°Triumvirate.¡± Triumvirate - Pandora, Caspa and Now Tantur have combined into one entity. At will Pandora can combine the Three into one being or she can separate her consciousness into three distinct minds which can act independently within Pandora''s Conscious. Note: Abilities, Perks, and Skills level three times as fast due to the combined focus of three separate conscious entities on everything you do. Should Tantur ever be completely separated from you, access to the abilities and perks solely under the purview of Tantur may be lost. You have gained the Ability ¡°Perfect Memory¡± Perfect Memory ¨C Like Photographic Memory except for all five senses with automatic recall of desired information. You have earned the following Perks: Skeleton Key (Creature of Chaos) ¨C Soul Core Suppression has been negated. Attributes set to values noted upon entering The SYSTEM Nanite Communication (Tantur) - You may connect mentally to any nanites that you control within Intelligence Attribute Bonus Feet. If nanites are quantumly linked, establishing this connection establishes a connection to all interlinked nanites. Natural Linquist (Tantur) - Tantur has knowledge of and the perfect memory of thousands of spoken and written languages as well as multiple computer-based technologies, including SYSTEM Code from the memories of Adamantadine. As such, you may understand, speak, and write in any language and have a 100% chance to learn any truly exotic language you may come across in minutes, instead of days and weeks. You have absorbed and automatically learned the following skills. ¡°Soul Core Perception¡±: Common Level 1 - You can now perceive your Soul Core and the ability and perk nodes associated with the Soul Core. ¡°Animae Perception¡±: Common Level 1 - You can perceive the Animae within a Soul Core and determine whether it is Basic or Complex. The following skills were not able to be learned as prerequisites were not met. Prerequisites not met for ¡°Soul Core Manipulation.¡± You must have Soul Core Perception to at least skill level Common Level 10. Prerequisites not met for the skill ¡°Animae Modification.¡± You must have Animae Perception to at least skill level Common Level 10. You have¡­. ¡­ If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡­ SYSTEM Override Initiated. SYSTEM Message: This is quite enough. Unlock further upgrades for your Triumvirate as you level¡­Like normal SYSTEM Users. ¡°I swear your fami¡­¡± seemed to float on the air as Pandora closed the last notification. ¡°Can you feel that?¡± Caspa asked excitedly. ¡°Yeah,¡± Pandora said as she felt as if her body had been unlocked. As she explored her Mindspace she realized that she could now go deeper with Soul Core Perception and dived deeper into her into her soul. It felt like she grew smaller and as she did she fell through and away from her Mindspace, Caspa, and Tantur. After falling for a bit she noticed a glowing sphere rushing toward her. Suddenly she stopped at the outer edge of an invisible field that held what could only be described as a solar system of bodies with a nucleus at the center and planet-sized balls of energy rotating around it in all three dimensions. As she moved through the solar system she made sure to avoid the planet-sized balls of energy. When one of the orbs came close a tooltip popped up in her vision that labeled it as ¡°Mold Chaos Node¡±. She altered her trajectory and flew around the SYSTEM and noticed that each of the orbs was a Node for one of her Abilities, Titles, Perks, Skills, and Spells. Another thing she noticed was that there seemed to be a layer of a cobweb-like substance that was lifting away from this representation of her Soul Core. As Pandora looked over the lattice that surrounded the nucleus of her Soul Core she noticed that portions were greyed out. This caused her to take a closer look at the Soul Core where she could see three distinct sections that were intertwined in a truly chaotic fashion. Pandora pulled up her Status Screen and reviewed the changes. Her attributes had been at 100,000 each when this SYSTEM had created the Foundation Sector and absorbed the previous System. Additionally, her Chaos Attribute had been¡­ Yep, it was still 3.11E+43 because the SYSTEM couldn¡¯t really track chaos. Then how¡­¡± Pandora felt a tug from Thor and rose from her Soul Core back into her Mindspace. ¡°It felt like you have a question?¡± Thor asked. ¡°Yeah, how did the SYSTEM just refill my Chaos Attribute when my regeneration is only 12 per second and it is so large now?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Occam¡¯s Razor, The simplest explanation is usually the best one,¡± Thor said. ¡°And?¡± Pandora said to prompt Thor to continue. ¡°And it means they didn¡¯t remove your pool of Chaos; they simply locked it away from your ability to use it. It¡¯s a good thing too or you¡¯d have absorbed the planet and probably this whole section of the galaxy, if not the whole galaxy,¡± Thor said. ¡°You¡¯re kidding right?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°I¡¯m afraid he¡¯s not,¡± Caspa said. ¡°That much chaos, if completely free only has one purpose, to expand and consume.¡± ¡°Yeah, but now we have Thor as well and you have all of that Chaos back. What are you going to do first? ¡°First, I¡¯m going to try to bring Desrae back?¡± Pandora said. ¡°No need,¡± Thor said. ¡°No need?¡± Pandora and Caspa asked together. ¡°Yep, no need. Your grandmother is a fantastic healer and one of the spells she just recently learned was resurrection.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Pandora said. ¡°In fact, here she comes now,¡± Thor said as a screen appeared floating in front of Thor which depicted the scene around her body out in the real world. Pandora dropped out of her Mindspace and back into her body. Once there, she verified that she was clothed and sat up. ¡°Pandora, are you okay?¡± her Grandmother Cindy Bennard asked as she rushed into the room. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m fine. Desirae, however, died. Do you think you could bring her back?¡± ¡°Where¡¯s her body?¡± Cindy Bennard asked?¡± ¡°It¡¯s gone,¡± Pandora said. ¡°I need something to focus the spell on, or it won¡¯t work?¡± Cindy said. Thor¡¯s voice entered Pandora¡¯s mind, I¡¯ve got this, just let me have control for a moment. If your Mold Chaos ability is like Adam¡¯s was in his original body I should be able to do this. Pay attention so you can do it if something happens to me.¡± Pandora sent a mental agreement to Thor and allowed him to take the reins and watched as he activated Mold Chaos to create Chaotic Nanites. She could see and feel them as their link was established but she wasn¡¯t quite sure how Thor had created them. She could of course recreate them, but she didn¡¯t understand how he was doing it. The nanites morphed into the body of Desirae and even created the clothes she¡¯d been wearing. Pandora felt Thor reach into her memories, recall the exact moment Desirae had been absorbed, and then recreate the genetic structure of her body, including all of her memories. The body was still a husk, but it was an exact duplicate of Desirae at the moment she¡¯d been absorbed. Cindy stepped forward to the body of Desirae and kneeled next to her as Thor had Pandora step back and then he returned control of her body. Cindy concentrated and a brilliant golden glow expanded from her hands and enveloped Desirae¡¯s body. A moment later Desirae coughed and opened her eyes as she looked around frantically. A moment later her gaze became unfocused for a moment and then she exclaimed, ¡°Well that sucked!¡±. Desirae looked over to Cindy and said, ¡°Thanks Cindy, bringing me back from the dead seems to be happening more and more. ¡°Just don¡¯t make dying a habit,¡± Cindy said. ¡°I¡¯ll try not to, but no promises,¡± Desirae said. Pandora felt Thor activate Mold Chaos which created a grouping of nanites that morphed into the body he¡¯d been using recently. Before Pandora could say anything she felt Caspa do the same thing and appear as a swarm of nanites that looked vaguely like her. ¡° Can you both control your avatars while I¡¯m doing other things?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Who, or what¡­¡± Desirae started to ask. Pandora pointed at Thor, ¡°That¡¯s Thor,¡± and then she pointed at the nanite replica of herself, ¡°And that¡¯s Caspa.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± Desirae asked as she looked back and forth between the three of them. Cindy also looked at all three of them with a hint of concern but not in a fearful way. It looked like the type of concern a mother has for her son or daughter when they¡¯re doing something that could potentially be dangerous. Before Pandora could answer the question, Thor said, ¡°Pandora ate us.¡± ¡°I did not eat you!¡± Pandora said indignantly. ¡°You kind of ate them,¡± Caspa said. ¡°I thought you were supposed to be on my side,¡± Pandora whined unconvincingly. ¡°Okay, maybe I ate them. But I definitely ate that asshole.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t forget about the three guards.¡± ¡°Damn!¡± Pandora said. ¡°Grandmother, how often can you use Resurrection?¡± ¡°It just cost most of my mana right now. I have 6 more potions so if you can make their bodies like you did for Desirae, I can bring them back too. ¡°Sounds good,¡± Pandora said as she reached into her memories and brought the patterns for all three men out. She thought she could have created all three with just one application of Mold Chaos but she decided to take things nice and easy and only created one body per turn. Her mother drank a potion and then brought back the first soldier. She had to wait a full minute before she could drink another mana potion to refill her mana pool. Four minutes later, all three men were fully clothed and had non-magical copies of the weapons and equipment they¡¯d been carrying. The only thing Pandora couldn¡¯t give them back was what had been in their Personal Storage. But after they¡¯d come back they found out that when they opened their Personal Storage, all the items were still there. It looked like the Personal Storage area was outside of the Soul and merely attached by The SYSTEM. Desirae watched and when Cindy completed her last resurrection came over to talk to Pandora, ¡°That Lyn-Tar fellow was quite powerful. Did your kill Notification tell you what level that guy was?¡± Pandora checked. Congratulations! You have killed an Epic Assassin You have earned 88,500 XP and 56,050 Credits ¡°All it says is that he was Epic, no levels given, though I did get 88,500 XP for defeating him.¡± ¡°Did that give you a level?¡± Desirae asked. ¡°Nope, still 40,800 short of level 75.¡± Pandora¡¯s Grandmother cleared her throat, ¡°Something else has changed about you, I can feel a very powerful aura coming off of you?¡± ¡°Yeah, When I absorbed Thor, it broke through the artificial suppression The SYSTEM set up.¡± ¡°You have your previous classes back?¡± Desirae asked. Pandora laughed, "Nothing like that. It looks like coming into this SYSTEM reset our Soul Cores, I¡¯ll explain that later. Anyway, for some reason going through a reset like that doesn¡¯t seem to affect Attributes though. All my attributes are at the level they were in the previous SYSTEM plus everything that¡¯s been added to them since. ¡°Adam theorized that when going through SYSTEM changes certain characteristics inherent to the Soul Core remained. Adam went through the change a couple of times before he realized that the base abilities we have and our attributes seem to remain. Classes, Perks, Titles, Skills, Spells and the like do not. While you might remember how to use that knowledge, a new SYSTEM doesn¡¯t know that you know it and needs to be shown that you are proficient before it adds that functionality of the benefits for those skills back to you. The very first time he ran into this problem concerned the skill Stealth. In his original universe, it was a skill that focused on your ability to control yourself to remain hidden. In the second universe, it was supplemented with magical enhancements that made the skill much easier. ¡°The SYSTEM adds all of those to your Soul Core, they don¡¯t just spontaneously appear?¡± Pandora asked as she thought about her own Soul Core and what she¡¯d seen just a little while ago. ¡°That¡¯s what Adam thought. My time as a helper with the Previous SYSTEM didn¡¯t allow me to check on his findings though I am aware of them,¡± Thor explained. ¡°So, what does it mean that you have all of your attributes back? Cindy Bennard asked. ¡°It means I can do this,¡± Pandora said as a stream of Chaos in the form of nanites exited her body and flowed down into he ground and seemed to be absorbed by it. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Desirae asked. ¡°Just finishing what I started with this shelter as well as making this room impenetrable to the next rogue that tries to enter.¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll be handling that,¡± Thor said. ¡°I¡¯ll start with this room. When I¡¯m done it¡¯ll make it quite hard for anyone to enter unnoticed.¡± ¡°And I¡¯ll start walking around the complex which will allow the nanites near me to continue working. Pandora doesn¡¯t have a lot of range that nanites can exist away from her yet so we¡¯re the Three of us are going to split up and cover more ground,¡± Caspa said. Caspa made to leave the room and Desirae pointed at the recently resurrected guards, ¡°One of you with Caspa, she¡¯s the one walking toward the door. One of you with Thor, and the last go report to Captain Hudson, let him know what¡¯s happened and where he can find me. No one is to attack Caspa or Thor, am I understood?¡± ¡°Yes Ma¡¯am,¡± the three soldiers replied in unison. ¡°What are you going to do?¡± Pandora asked. Desirae ignored the question as she turned to Cindy, ¡°Why don¡¯t you go make sure everyone else in our group is okay. Let Abi and Amanda know what happened for sure. I¡¯m going to talk with Pandora and see if what she did to unlock her own attributes can be replicated on us.¡± Cindy nodded and left the room, ¡°See you in a few.¡± ¡°Unlock your attributes?¡± Pandora asked wonderingly to herself. ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be a reason I can¡¯t. But, I don¡¯t have any perception-based abilities or skills,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Then it looks like we need to visit a SYSTEM Shop,¡± Desirae said with a smile. As Pandora and Desirae talked they watched everyone file out of the room as the walls and floors rippled. They looked at each other and also left the room, ¡°He¡¯ll be okay in there, right?¡± Desirae asked. ¡°Oh yeah, he¡¯s just using the nanites like Dad would. Also, his physical structure right now is all Nanites. Technically he¡¯s still in my mind but he¡¯s controlling the nanites in the other room from here. As is Caspa.¡± ¡°What kind of range do you have,¡± Desirae asked as they stood outside of the room and watched Caspa walk slowly down a hallway that was rippling around her. The same thing began happening around Pandora as she felt Thor use her proximity to the walls to direct the nanites to reinforce the walls and floors in some way she didn¡¯t quite understand. Yet. ¡°I¡¯m getting notifications that my skill in Technomancy, which just unlocked has leveled in the last 30 seconds. And again, to Common Level 2 after only 2 minutes. Right now my range is 20 feet¡­.Scratch that, I just leveled again to level 3. The range just increased to 40 feet.¡± ¡°Why is it going up so fast?¡± Desirae asked. ¡°Probably because all three of us are using the ability. The range the nanites can expand away from me will increase as I continue to use it. If you want to go off and do something, I should be fine while we shore up our defenses and finish up the base,¡± Pandora said. ¡°All three of you, aren¡¯t they just part of you now?¡± Desirae asked. ¡°Nope, Caspa and Thor are their own entities, we¡¯re just really close now,¡± Pandora said with a smile. ¡°You and your dad,¡± Desirae said as she shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m going to leave you to this, well talk about unlocking our attributes later.¡± ¡°Sounds good,¡± Pandora said as Pandora, Caspa, and Thor began working on repairing and improving the fortress complex with all the knowledge Thor could bring to bear on the subject, which was not an inconsiderable amount. Chapter 35, Entertaining Guests Lyn-Tar had failed. Even more worrying, Lyn-Tar could not be brought back. How was someone keeping his servant''s soul from returning to him? There were only a few ways that could happen and none of those possibilities or creatures that could shred souls was supposed to be on this planet. ¡°What is your command Lord Charr?¡± his 1st assistant, a goblin housing a minor demonling from one of the tribes that supported this conquest asked. ¡°Get word to the Commanders. They are to prepare a strike group and set out with their strike forces to the other ley lines and Safe Zones on the other land masses. Destroy anything that stands in our way, especially the city nodes and safe zones. Leave the anomalies alone. ¡°And if we find those that wish to join?¡± ¡°Accept them of course, let them help hold the territories. We¡¯ll separate and vet the useful from those that aren¡¯t after we¡¯ve converted this planet to a hellscape and established our foothold in this dimension,¡± Lord Charr said as he paused for a moment before he asked, ¡°How is the portal holding up?¡± ¡°The portal at the leyline nexus known as Stonehenge in this world remains open and our troops continue to funnel through from Aazerk. So far the only demons on this side of the portal are you and I Lord. We need to create the link to the hells before others will be able to come through without needing to be summoned like I was.¡± ¡°How many more are going to come through from Aazerk?¡± ¡°It¡¯s only one portal, even as big as it is. Your generals estimate that it¡¯ll be at least two more weeks before everyone has come through. Lord Charr looked thoughtful, ¡°Two weeks?¡± He said to himself. ¡°Two weeks should be plenty of time to head north. Prepare three legions. We have a city to visit on this Island. *** After 3 days, Pandora, with the help of Thor and Caspa, had completely revamped the underground base in Scarborough. So much so that it went at least a mile down and encompassed the entire Safe Zone. She¡¯d been very careful to keep all of the base within the Safe Zone so monsters wouldn¡¯t spawn within the structure, though the underground tunnel that went off to the southwest and came back to the surface near a retirement center 3.7 miles away almost reached its edge. Thor had placed cameras at strategic locations all along the Safe Zone and within the complex. Additionally, Thor had set up a reactor of some sort that she didn¡¯t understand but it allowed him to power the facility and 4 portal devices that he¡¯d installed on the bottom level which gave them access to portal technology. The facilities were completely self-sufficient with enough backup supplies created that would allow this facility to run for the next century without support from anywhere. Water was brought up from a well but could also be drawn in from the sea and desalinated if needed if one of the cleric/healer types didn¡¯t just create it. Two entire floors had been converted to house farming and livestock. Artificial sunlight had even been provided which allowed the two floors to grow enough food to feed at least 2 million people. Also, the people were adjusting as well. The soldiers were looking at ways to get stronger by leaving the safe zone and hunting monsters in the area while the normal people raised their kids and schooled them. Some credits were even spent to learn about the various things they could do in a newly integrated SYSTEM world. Pandora had even purchased a few documentaries to become more informed. Everything she had come across described the first couple years of integration as being the hardest as food ran out and the alpha personalities rose and abused those below. Every text recommended that everyone do whatever they could to get stronger in the newly integrated worlds. Whether you wanted to be a crafter, work in the service industry, or be a monster hunter every text said the same thing. Whatever you decide, work to become stronger. The people in Scarborough and London, because of the Safe Zones, were going to have a leg up on everyone else because they could take a break from the monsters without needing to worry about monsters appearing in their rest area, had a significant advantage over anyone that didn¡¯t have a Safe Zone. They¡¯d also improved the living conditions of everyone in the facility. Thor, with her father¡¯s memories, had access to all the technologies of the 20th, 21st, and a couple more centuries as well as copies of movies and shows in his memory that he downloaded and made available to everyone. He¡¯d also created a couple of broadcast chambers that could be used to make local news shows and documentaries that would be useful for those wanting to learn how to use basic skills and spells or get out local announcements. Her team, especially Robert and Asling had taken to making instructional videos over the last two days and were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Callum, Pythias, and Cedrik had even stepped in to help. Pandora¡¯s thoughts were interrupted when Thor¡¯s voice entered her mind, ¡°Pandora,¡± Pandora answered in kind but she hated talking out loud, ¡°Thor, why are we talking out loud, you¡¯re in my head, well my body somewhere, why not just talk to me mentally.¡± ¡°First, it¡¯s weird, second others needed to hear this, we have incoming.¡± ¡°Incoming, what kind of incoming?¡± Pandora asked. A holographic screen appeared in front of Pandora on which three floating vessels, about the size of a football field, the English version not the American version. The image zoomed in on the ship that was trailing behind the other two where a man, no, a demon was standing on the deck. The ships were coming up on the edge of the Safe Zone about a mile above the ground where they halted. Pandora watched as a portal appeared at ground level and a group of goblins exited and started walking back and forth along the edge of the Safe Zone as more continued to come out. ¡°How should we handle this?¡± Amanda asked through her connection to the emergency communications circuit. ¡°Well, it looks like we¡¯re going to need to go see what happened to London after this,¡± Pandora said. ¡°As for this, Thor if you would be so kind as to create a portal above the leader.¡± ¡°On it,¡± Thor said as a portal opened 100 feet above the leader. Pandora activated Shadow Step And walked out of a wall near the leader. One moment after she stepped forward she was struck three different times by three heavily enchanted weapons which she didn¡¯t even bother to deflect. With her attributes at over 100,000 again her Damage Resistance had increased to 501. Of course, she didn¡¯t just let them hit her. Instead, she activated Kinetic Absorption. All three attacks came to an abrupt halt and Pandora ended up spending 244 Chaos to Earn 487 Psychic Energy as each attack was stopped. To make a point she stepped forward as one of the Goblins tried to jump up and claw her eyes out. Pandora reached forward and flicked him on the forehead which caused the goblin to explode into a fine black mist, which her nanites immediately captured and broke down. The Demon Lord, dressed in exquisite armor with a very large sword at his hip held up his hand and the attacks stopped, ¡°Who are you?¡± Thor: Let me know when you are ready, Pandora acknowledged Thor¡¯s mental contact without showing that she¡¯d heard and understood and looked at the demon in front of her, ¡°I am Pandora. Who are you?¡± ¡°I am Lord Charr, Demon Lord and Ruler of this land.¡± ¡°I have a Town Node that states otherwise¡­¡± Pandora started to say as she was interrupted by Lord Charr. ¡°If you surrender¡­¡± Pandora sent her mental command to Thor, Now. While Pandora had been keeping the Demon''s attention Thor had the nanite back at the facility create four Level 10 Ship Mounted Particle Projection Cannons. Normally they were ship born. Thor converted the weapons so they could be installed on a turret and then had three turrets target the ships while the fourth targeted the demon center mass. When Pandora said now, she activated Shadow Step as four 5-inch circular beams of energy tore through the ships and the demon. Three of the beams bisected the three ships while the fourth slammed into, and through, the demon''s chest. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. The Demon Lord staggered back as Pandora reappeared next to him, reached forward, grabbed the two very small horns on his head, and twisted with her full strength. His head was ripped from his shoulders as a portal opened directly below her feet and she dropped into the command center next to Amanda with the demon¡¯s head in her hands as a Notification appeared in her vision. Congratulations! You have killed The Legendary Demon Lord, Lord Charr. You have earned 300,000 XP and 11,400,000 Credits You have gained Levels 75 and 76 Pandora¡¯s attention was brought back from her notification when Thor called out, ¡°Say hello to my little friends,¡± as three deafening explosions went off on the south side of the estate. ¡°Thor, what did you do?¡± Pandora called out. Instead of an answer from Thor, Pandora watched as the nanites near her solidified into the semi-solid form of Thor as a holographic screen appeared in mid-air in front of them with an image of the three airships floating a mile above the ground. Four seconds after the deafening explosions the first two ships disintegrated, followed a split second by the third. There was a delay as the wood of the vessels started to expand, which was followed by three massive fireballs in the sky. Thor smiles, ¡°He Shoots, He scores!¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± Pandora asked perplexed. ¡°It¡¯s a sports reference. It means my three guns shot and then three ships exploded, ¡°Thor said with a grin. ¡°Are you having fun?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Oh yes. The SYSTEM has put a lot of restrictions on what I can do with the nanite portion of our arsenal. Modifications, creating food, that kind of thing is allowed. Taking over sentient creatures and dominating everything without giving them a chance to resist, The SYSTEM had given a big ¡°No¡± to such actions. What you just witnessed was me creating three Rail Guns, mounting them to turrets, and then firing them at our invaders. ¡°What if they would have turned around and left,¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Your father was never a big fan of leaving enemies behind him. I know your mother wasn¡¯t and now you have both of their memories in your head. Are you going to tell me you weren¡¯t trying to figure out a way to either capture or destroy those ships?¡± Thor asked. ¡°Capturing them would have been nice. Also, how did you destroy that ship with what amounts to a normal weapon?¡± ¡°Oh, there was nothing normal about that projectile. The tip was made out of Adamantium and the round was accelerated to 5,100 miles per hour, or just under 7 times the speed of sound. ¡°At just over 4 miles away, the travel time was 2.83 seconds,¡± Thor explained. ¡°Seems like a bit of overkill,¡± Caspa offered. ¡°What she said,¡± Cedrik said as he walked into the room. ¡°I had to come up and see what all the cool people were doing.¡± Pandora smiled at Cedrik and then turned to Thor, ¡°Thor was going to explain why he thought annihilating a source of loot and experience was a good idea?¡± ¡°Well, the first reason is the notification you have waiting for you concerning that head in your hands,¡± Thor said. ¡°What?¡± Pandora said looking down, she¡¯d forgotten that she still had the demon''s head. ¡°Here, I¡¯ll take that,¡± Thor said as two tendrils gently took the head from her hands and created a clear case around it before it was set down on the ground. ¡°That was neat?¡± Cedrik said, ¡°How did you grab the head and then move the box?¡± ¡°There are enough nanites in my form that I can create linkages and solidify connections which allows this body to have some physical interaction with my surroundings. I¡¯m nowhere near as strong as you or Pandora but Caspa and I can lift things in these forms.¡± While Thor explained how he grabbed the head and moved it Pandora looked over her Notifications. You have killed the City Owner of London. Would you like to assume control of the London City Node? Error! You are currently outside of the Domain of the City of London, please return to the Domain of London to accept or decline control of the London City Node. Warning, The City Node of London has been claimed by the Zax. You have 1 hour to establish control of the conquered City Node before control will be granted to Zax. Warning, While City Node is being Contested, The Safe Zone will continue to prevent Monster Spawning but combatants will NOT be ejected from the Safe Zone, nor will they receive any penalties. A warning will be issued when the Safe Zone is reinstated to normal functionality. Congratulations You have killed 600 Goblins. Congratulations You have killed 300 Gnolls. Congratulations you have killed 30 humans. Congratulations you have killed 3 half-ogres. You have earned 2,479,500 XP You have earned 7,082 Credits. Congratulations! You have earned Levels 75 ¨C 86. ¡°I just received levels for what you did?¡± Pandora told Thor. ¡°Why, wouldn¡¯t you? Technically the three of us are one big happy family now,¡± Thor said with a laugh as the image on the screen rewound and showed a slow-motion image of the slugs hitting the first two ships. Pandora noticed that a shield flared briefly before it failed and a pressure wave expanded from where the rounds entered the ship which was followed by a few minor explosions and then a giant one that completely destroyed each ship. ¡°Well, that¡¯s one way to make a statement,¡± Amanda said. ¡°I know right?¡± Thor said. ¡°Thor, are you okay?¡± Abi asked. ¡°I¡¯m fine, why are you asking?¡± ¡°Well, you¡¯re acting a lot less like a program and more like a person with hormones and such,¡° Abi said. ¡°Probably has something to do with my new circumstances. But I¡¯m still me and I still have all my memories,¡± Thor said. ¡°Okay, just making sure,¡± Abi said. ¡°So, what¡¯s your plan now?¡± Amanda asked. ¡°Now, I need to get to London in the next hour and claim the city before this prick¡¯s army does,¡± Pandora said as she moved the boxed head into her Personal Storage. ¡°Do you think you can try to unlock our attributes before you go?¡± Desirae asked. ¡°I¡¯ll give it a go, but no promises,¡± Pandora said as the forms of Caspa and Thor blew apart and their primary consciousness returned to Pandora. Caspa: Why don¡¯t we try combining? Pandora: I didn¡¯t want to presume to speak for the two of you. Also, what if both of you are completely absorbed? Thor: First that would be okay, I made my choice when I chose to merge with you. Second I don¡¯t think that will happen. Even if it does, I¡¯m good with it. Caspa: While I do not want to disappear forever, if I have to incorporate myself into you, that would be fine. Of course, that¡¯s not going to happen so let¡¯s do this so you can go kick some butt in London and save the people we can. Pandora: Look at you, Callum and Pythias are rubbing off on you. Caspa: And you Grandmother Thor: Stop Stalling Pandora nodded, which she knew both Caspa and Thor noticed, and then willed her title Triumvirate to activate. What happened next far surpassed anything Pandora could have thought possible. Her father¡¯s memories, which included more data than she could sort through became accessible in an instant. Unlike the times various entities had tried to absorb her father¡¯s mind, she had Thor, who already had access to the memories and knew them. Instead of being overwhelmed, she had access to what felt like an infinite supply of information as Caspa, Thor, and her became singular. The unity of their minds allowed aspects of Caspa¡¯s Chaotic Identity to access aspects of her father¡¯s memories and from that combination, the ability of The SYSTEM to suppress those that came within its domain became known to Pandora, as did the ability to undo that suppression. Pandora reached out and touched Desirae¡¯s chest. With a thought the chaos within her reached out and into Desira, moved down to her Soul Core, and undid the restrictions that The SYSTEM had placed upon her. Pandora felt Dessirae¡¯s restrictions fall away as she seemed to shudder and change as the energies that had been withheld from her flooded back into her. Pandora looked up, ¡°Get all my family and friends from before up here now,¡± she said as she started moving around the room. Pandora¡¯s Grandfather was next. He was followed by her Grandmother, Amanda, Abi, and finally Clarence. Everyone from her father¡¯s group, as she liked to think of them had base attributes that were increased up to over 17,000 as modified by the levels they¡¯d acquired while defending the estate since they¡¯d arrived. Callum, Asling, Robert, Cedrik, and Pythias walked into the room saw what Pandora was doing and waited. Pandora unlocked each in quick succession. Unlike those who had worked with her father, her friends didn¡¯t have as many raw attributes from the previous SYSTEM and only received a small boost. Their attributes were only increased by 100 to 200 points. While not insignificant, when taking into consideration others within this SYSTEM, higher-level members of this SYSTEM would be more powerful than them. ¡°Well, that will make leveling easier,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°Yes, it will. It will also make dealing with the monsters that are right outside our Safe Zone a little easier too. Let¡¯s go get equipped and head out. Pandora, you need to go take care of London don¡¯t you?¡± Desirae asked. ¡°On it,¡± Pandora said as she made her way to the inner garden and jumped into the sky, she activated her Dragon Form and rose into the air. She had about 50 minutes to get to London. Pandora flew along the highway for a moment, picked a set of mile markers, and then timed herself. If her, or Thor¡¯s, math wasn¡¯t wrong she was flying at about 1,000 miles an hour. Thor¡¯s memories included geographical data for the planet which put London 192 miles south of her current position, or just under 12 minutes away. She had plenty of time. Chapter 36, What Happens When... As Pandora flew south she noticed a directional indicator in her vision with a timer imbedded in it. As she flew in over the outskirts of London she noticed that swarms of various demi-humans were running up and down the streets as humans looked out from windows. Luckily it looked like there was some form of order in place and none of the demi-humans were attacking anyone, though a few were being ushered along by the points of some very sharp spears and swords. As Pandora slowed down and flew over the city she found out why. Portions of the city looked like they had been magically converted to farmland which were growing crops and raising livestock with nearby structures that did not look like they belonged on Earth. They were more reminiscent of the structures found on her mother''s home planet Primore and had a more medieval architecture and feel to them. The humans were being rounded up and led to these farms where she could see many of them working in fields as they were directed by Goblins, Gnolls, Orcs, and even other humans. On the outskirts of each farm, some giants, 15 to 20 feet humanoids, were walking around and looked to be watching over the farms as well as keeping the slave labor in line. One of the giants looked up, saw her, and then waved. Pandora waved back. There was no reason to be antisocial at this point. Pandora followed her waypoint arrow until she was over City Node and transformed back into her human form. As she touched the ground she activated Kinetic Absorption to negate her impact and looked around at the group of demi-humans that had seen her fly up and transform. A small goblin with red glowing eyes looked at Pandora before he asked in demonic, ¡°Who are you?¡± Pandora was slightly surprised that she understood the language and then realized that she hadn¡¯t understood the language exactly. It had been close enough to a few other languages that she was able to decipher the language. She also knew that she hadn¡¯t heard enough of the language to be able to speak it yet so she chose to respond in Draconic. ¡°I am Pandora, and you are?¡± Without missing a beat, the possessed Goblin responded in draconic, ¡°I am Zax, and again, what are you doing?¡± Before Pandora answered, all 21 of her orbs ejected from her body and began circling her in a defensive pattern as she looked around the small garden she¡¯d dropped into. Along each wall a half-ogre stood, relaxed and not moving. There were also two humans in black robes with dark red trim behind the goblin. The area looked extremely well-defended. Fortunately, Thor¡¯s memories and incorporation into herself gave her everything she needed to handle this situation. Pandora reached out through her nanites and took control of the portal devices back in Scarborough, determined the exact coordinates of the Half-Ogres, and prepared. ¡°I¡¯ve brought you a gift?¡± Pandora said. ¡°A gift?¡± Zax repeated. ¡°Yes, a gift,¡± Pandora said as she pulled out the clear box that contained Lord Charr¡¯s head. A look of shock marked Zax¡¯s face as he opened his mouth at which point the four half-ogres fell through holes that had opened up directly beneath them. The sudden yelps that came from four sides of the room caused Zax to pause before he could yell out which gave Pandora all the time she needed to shoot her Absolute, also known as her Heavenly or holy, Orb into Zax¡¯s mouth, which still hung open. Absolute was the Opposite of Putrescence as Hellish was the opposite of Heavenly. Pandora had expected a reaction but was caught by surprise when the glowing red energy in Zax¡¯s eyes seemed to be sucked out before the orb exploded and the top of the goblin''s head disintegrated as black blood sprayed out and covered the two humans and her. One of the humans recovered quickly and cast a lance of sickly green energy at Pandora which her Orb of Putrescence moved to intercept and absorbed. At that moment doors into the garden exploded open as a mass of demi-humans rushed in with weapons drawn. Pandora would not be¡­Calm settled over Pandora as memories flowed into her and a way forward presented itself. Faster than could be followed Pandora split equally into 10 full copies of herself that equally distributed her attributes. Instead of having 100,000 in each attribute, she had just over 10,000 in each attribute for each of her 10 bodies. And they were her 10 bodies. She was seeing simultaneously through 10 sets of eyes. For a moment she was worried about being able to control each body with so many sensations coming into her mind but the sensations fell away as her point of view shifted back and felt more like she was looking at 10 video screens as she became an overseer of 10 distinct consciousnesses, one for each body. She could still feel, hear, taste, touch, and smell everything each body experienced which could have overloaded her senses but with her primary consciousness in an overseer mode, she had no problem maintaining control. Pandora had each clone of herself activate Mold Chaos and equip themselves with basic blades made of Adamantium so they could hold up to her strength. Then she commanded the 10 clones to explode into action. Thor had Adam¡¯s memories. Part of that memory set was knowledge and experience in each common weapon and fighting technique known on Earth, Primore, and many other worlds. While her skill level within this SYSTEM was non-existent she started with various weapon techniques and went to work. As she did so she would expend the Skill Point to lock the skill in at Common Level 1. Which would be returned when she reached skill level 2 within 4 attacks using the same style. How fast she was leveling her skills didn¡¯t matter to anyone in the room or the side rooms when she exploded out of it. One of Pandora¡¯s bodies reached out and touched the City Node to assume control of it while the other nine continued their attacks. She deactivated the Safe Zone concerning anything except Monster Spawning. If the demi-humans were all transported away she¡¯d have to chase after them. No, it would be much easier for her to have a little fun here and get in as many kills as she could. This was a target-rich environment after all. Almost immediately Pandora realized that even though she¡¯d divided herself into 10 parts those parts were still too powerful for the creatures she was facing. Also, she was activating and locking in a lot of skills which, while not one of her immediate goals was acceptable. Pandora relied on the guidance of Thor''s memories and Caspa''s encouragement which she could still feel, even if they weren¡¯t able to talk when combined like this and changed things up. She had three of her current clones take up defensive positions around the London City Node and had the other seven bodies divide into 10 more each. Each of those bodies had attributes at just over 1,000. Another quick application of Mold Chaos by each clone to create a weapon and 70 armed copies of Pandora began pushing the tide of demi-humans back out of the enclosed garden the City Node was in. One thing she had the new clones do was switch up their weapon choice. In this way, Pandora was able to unlock and skill up multiple weapons, skills, and fighting styles at the same time. As her fighting force spread out the three copies of herself at the City Node released chaotic nanites which cleaned up the dead demi-humans that littered the area. The nanites broke down any biological matter they came across and left any magical items alone. For the next hour, Pandora spread out around the palace. Her 70 bodies were just a little above normal instead of being significantly more powerful. Each could only attack 10 times per Combat turn without burning through their individual stamina but that didn¡¯t matter much. If she needed it, she had plenty of Chaos to convert into Stamina so that she could move as fast as her perception would allow her to keep up. If a large opponent appeared multiple clones would attack it and take it down as quickly as possible. There was a slight disconnect between the three bodies she had guarding the city node and the other 70 but it wasn¡¯t anything she couldn¡¯t deal with. It seemed that her core mentality still had her full capabilities in this Triumvirate state. Once she had the Palace cleared and her bodies had started to spread out into the streets to take on the various demi-humans that were still trying to rush toward the palace Pandora decided it was time to try change things again. Pandora released the Triumvirate state and felt the overseer portion of her focus drop into her Mindspace as her clones continued doing what they were doing. It seemed that they did have some autonomy after all. She could still feel her link to all of her bodies even as her focus drifted into her Mindspace where Caspa and Thor stood waiting for her. ¡°It seems that you have an innate understanding of going multiple,¡± Thor observed. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s our chaotic nature, ¡°Caspa said. ¡°Yeah, when I created the clones it felt more like chaos was splitting off from me,¡± Pandora explained. ¡°I¡¯m going to take a look and see if I can control them. Why don¡¯t you check our notifications while I do that,¡± Thor said as he expanded out of her Mindspace and took over the overseer role for the clones. ¡°What are you going to do,¡± Pandora asked Caspa. Caspa smiled, ¡°Well, you splitting off into 73 copies of yourself gave me an idea. Is there any reason we can¡¯t create more copies of the Wizard Orbs now that they¡¯re a part of you?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think¡­.¡± Pandora started to say and then paused and thought about it. Was there any reason she couldn¡¯t? The orbs were recreated with chaos and she had a lot of chaos. Pandora smiled wryly, ¡°You know what, I don¡¯t think there is. If the form and function are imprinted in me and I can duplicate myself, we should be able to duplicate the orbs.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I was thinking. I¡¯m going to go join Thor and see if I can do something,¡± Caspa said. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°Just remember that Chaos only returns slowly or with Chaos Conversion, try not to use it all up,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Use it all up, you know how much chaos is tied up within us. We should be fine,¡± Caspa said. ¡°Besides, how long do you think it would take to recover that much chaos?¡± Caspa asked. Pandora just sighed and said, ¡°Longer than would matter. Caspa laughed and then expanded out of her Mindspace. Pandora did as well just to see if she could. Pandora¡¯s focus moved into a role that was similar to the Overseer role she¡¯d had when she was controlling all of her clones. While she wasn¡¯t controlling the clones she felt that she could talk to Thor or Caspa if she wanted. As a silent watcher, Pandora felt Caspa start to conjure sets of 21 orbs out of her body. As Caspa did that, Pandora checked her Notifications. You are conjuring a second set of Wizard Orbs. Each additional orb requires 10 points of chaos. The number of orbs that may be controlled at any one time is equal to your Willpower Attribute Bonus. Note Chaos creating the orbs is not spent, it is tied up in each orbs creation. When the orb returns to your body, the chaos returns to your body. If the orb is lost or destroyed the chaos within is dispersed Pandora read the notification and smiled as Caspa continued to pull forth one set of orbs after another. When she reached 238 sets of Wizard Orbs no more would come forth. This was true for each of the three clones still in the garden. Each Clone now had 4998 orbs orbiting them. Since they were so close together that meant all 14,994 Wizard Orbs for the three clones were orbiting above the clones in the garden. Caspa had left the other 70 clones alone while she tested the ability on herself but now she watched with interest. Pandora¡¯s attention was drawn to one of her clones on the outskirts of the palace as a huge demon dropped out of the sky and bisected her clone right down the middle of her body. The attack had come out of nowhere and caught Thor completely by surprise. One of her other clones watched the winged Demon roar and then launch into the air and head toward the enclosed garden. Pandora felt Caspa smile as the winged demon came into sight and 714 Absolute Orbs redirected their movement and shot off at incredible speed into the demon. Each orb was a glowing white ball of holy energy that unerringly moved toward and struck the winged demon center mass. The Absolute Wizard Orbs pierced into and through the demon as if it were tissue paper. They completely bypassed its defense and then started circling around and within the demon¡¯s body like a mini tornado. In less than a combat turn a Demon Lord, probably a Major Demon Lord swelled and exploded. One of Pandora¡¯s other clones outside the Palace rushed up to Pandora¡¯s fallen clones and absorbed the two pieces into itself. A moment later a new copy of Pandora emerged. It was kind of disturbing but good to know that the resources in her clones could be recovered and repurposed so easily. The few humans left in the palace watched in awe as Pandora seemed to be everywhere at once. Her clones kept the demi-humans from rushing back into the palace. Any monster that did make it into the inner Garden where the City Node floated was decimated by the Wizard Orbs that were orbiting 10 feet off the ground and then cleaned up by the nanites that Pandora had in the area. Pandora decided it was time to change things up. She focused on one of the three higher-level clones defending the City node and moved her focus to the body. As she did she could still feel that Thor was watching over all the other clones and Caspa was controlling the orbs which were still in the immediate area as her level increased and her range of control expanded. While her skill levels were rising quickly, it was still going to be a while before she had the kind of range she wanted. Her clones could be controlled out to 2 miles and if followed its previous pattern¡­yep. At Advanced Level 1 the range extended out to 4 miles. That would allow her clones to blanket most of the city. Pandora reached out and touched the City Node. She¡¯d already claimed it, now she adjusted the Safe Zone. She created a whitelist that only included beings from this world, her friends and family, and her. Those on the whitelist would be immune to the Safe Zone, for now. She¡¯d worry about instituting the Safe Zone for everyone who wasn¡¯t family or friends when all of the demi-humans were out of the city. One of Pandora¡¯s other clones within the garden focused her eyes on the clone Pandora was controlling. She could feel Thor looking at her through the clone''s eyes as he said, ¡°We have incoming. 9 ships, a little bigger than the three we destroyed earlier. One is quite a bit closer; I think it was the one the demon came from.¡± ¡°Okay, I have a plan,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Thor, have the 70 clones outside of the garden divide into 10 more clones each. Caspa, each of those clones should be able to control two sets of Wizard Orbs, have them create the Orbs, and then spread out evenly in all directions. Yes, they will be considerably weaker than these three clones but the Safe Zone is reinstated, they should be fine. The plan is to get the demi-humans to attack us so they¡¯re teleported out of the Safe Zone. We¡¯ll worry about cleaning them up later.¡± Pandora said. The clone with Thor nodded as he sent the command to her other 70 clones which caused all of them to break apart into 10 clones. Compared to normal people, the clones were still 10 times as powerful as mortals with attributes at just over 100. Pandora watched as Thor had them spread out in all directions and provoked any demi-humans they ran into. One thing about all the knowledge that Thor had. He could belittle and aggravate verbally in a lot of different languages. When the demi-humans attacked, and they all did, they vanished for violating the Safe Zone. As for the 9 ships, no attacks were made until they were almost overhead. As they drew closer a rain of arrows, hurled weapons, and spells fell out of the sky. Pandora watched as her Wizard Orbs rose from each of her clones and deflected all of the projectiles shot or hurled at them. Any spells were absorbed by an orb of the appropriate type or by a Chaos Orb if the three of them couldn¡¯t tell what type of attack it was. Of course, once a spell was absorbed they knew what category the spell fell into which made picking the correct Orb for the absorption of that spell the next time much easier. If an orb was destroyed a new one emerged from a nearby clone. As for the creatures that fired at them or cast a spell? Every one of them was ejected from the Safe Zone which halted the attacks raining down from the flying ships. After the rain of weapons and spells stopped, the ships floating above the city were left with the crew that was flying the ship and the commanders of each ship. On eight of the nine ships, a single 9-foot-tall, winged demon looked down at the city node. One of the demons roared and jumped which acted as a signal for the other seven to follow. What happens when 44,380 orbs separate into eight groups of 5,547 and attack a demon as it¡¯s gliding down to the ground? A thought floated through her mind from her father¡¯s memories which had been directed at her by Thor; The same thing that happens to a pigeon that is hit by 100% of a shotgun shell with buckshot, it gets shredded. If it hadn¡¯t been so disturbing Pandora would have considered what happened to the demons to be beautiful. One moment there were eight very large beings rushing toward the ground, the next they¡¯d been pierced by so many projectiles that they exploded into fleshy bits and black ichor. Three portals opened above Pandora¡¯s three clones in the enclosed garden. The opposite ends of the portals appeared over open areas in the enclosed garden. The rain of body parts and blood rained down onto the ground all around the three clones as any of the mess that fell from the sky passed through a portal and was deposited in one corner of the garden. The portals disappeared and the portals disappeared leaving the sky clear again. As Pandora watched the 9 ships started to turn and fly off to the west. A swirling of nanites above Pandora¡¯s head drew her attention as it morphed into a sleek and deadly-looking ship materialized out of the air. Thor had used Mold Chaos and then molded that chaos into a ship. The ship was left hovering above her three primary clones. Pandora¡¯s clone housing Thor flickered and disappeared as he Shadow Stepped into the ship and rocketed after the 9 fleeing magical vessels. A 35th Century Interceptor versus 9 magical ships that resembled something Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic on. It wasn¡¯t even a contest. Honestly, Thor could have shot them out of the sky from his hovering position but he decided to follow them until they were just passed the outer city wall and then shot them down. Thor activated the cloaking technology and brought the ship back to hover over the Garden. For the next 10 minutes, the three of them tested the clones to figure out what they were capable of without direct control. As long as one of the three of them was in direct control of a clone or as an Overseer activated it directly, any clone could perform any ability, title, skill, or spell she had. Any of the costs associated with the ability, skill, or power used came directly from the clone in question. If the clone didn¡¯t have the Stamina or Mana to act, it couldn¡¯t. Pandora allowed the 700 clones to run around and get attacked which continued to increase the range of her ability to control the clones exponentially. After one hour she¡¯d already reached Advanced Level 5 and had a range of 12 miles that her clones could work within. If they stepped out of that range they faded rather quickly so she kept them within range of each other. Pandora thought that her clones were reducing the normal time it took to level a skill but she couldn¡¯t be sure. After another hour she was sure they were helping. Triumvirate had ranked up 3 more skill levels to Advanced Level 8 and she now had a range of 17 miles. As for the clones, none of them were controlling directly, they would continue to do what they were doing but had some free will and could react as they needed to. They just couldn¡¯t use any powers, abilities, skills, or spells. They could call out very loudly through their link though, and they did. Once they figured out that the clones couldn¡¯t use abilities unless one of them was controlling them or acting as an Overseer one of them was always in that role. Pandora let Thor and Caspa handle that while she remained in one of the three clones near the City Node. Pandora didn¡¯t get to level up many of her other combat skills because all she was doing was running around in 700 bodies and provoking the demi-humans into trying to attack her. When they did, they disappeared. As Nightfall approached Thor took one of the clones and the ship around the city and retrieved all of the other clones which rejoined his. When he returned to the ship to hover over the garden he down to the ground and rejoined with the last two clones there. As Pandora returned to only one copy of herself she considered how she was going to protect the City Node from being taken. Thor¡¯s voice came into her mind, ¡°You have that new Perk SYSTEM Node Access. Can you hide or dismiss the mode until you call it back out?¡± Pandora smiled, maybe she wouldn¡¯t have to protect it at all. She opened up her Status Screen and chose her SYSTEM Node Access Tab. After looking over her choices for a moment she found two choices that would come in handy. The first was Dismiss City Node ¨C The City Node is removed from the Domain of the City and may only be activated or returned by someone with a skill that allows for SYSTEM interface access without Node functionality. Disband City ¨C The Current City is disbanded and the City Node is Destroyed. Once done this action cannot be reversed. Pandora chose ¡°Dismiss City Node.¡± The City node faded from sight and Pandora was left standing in the empty enclosed garden by herself. Now she needed to figure out what to do about that portal off to the west. Chapter 37, Whirlwind of Death Before she could head out Pandora needed to check the gains she¡¯d made. ¡°I¡¯ve got those numbers here,¡± Thor said as a list of creatures she¡¯d killed populated her vision. Demon Lord 9 Demon Imps 12 Goblins 1,125 Kobolds 1,101 Gnolls 456 Orcs 230 Humans 215 Half-Orcs 86 Giants 24 Half-Ogre 16 Total XP 3,193,134 Copper 38,761 Silver 16,692 Gold 7,290 ¡°Also, you¡¯ve leveled from Level 86 up through Level 97,¡± Thor said. ¡°It almost feels like I¡¯m cheating?¡± Pandora said. ¡°It¡¯s not,¡± Caspa said, ¡°It¡¯s just the way things are. You are just one lucky woman.¡± ¡°I guess,¡± Pandora said as she opened her Status Screen. She quickly allocated her attributes and looked over the skills she¡¯d earned. She expected to see a whole bunch of weapon skills and instead only found 1 skill, Melee Weapons. Pandora opened her log and watched how each weapon she¡¯d summoned had been paid for individually and then given the skill point back upon reaching Common, Level 2. When she¡¯d earned 100 skills they¡¯d automatically been grouped and the average of all skill levels had been taken. During the day Pandora had leveled that single skill up to Skill Level Rare Level 1. A lot of her other skills had also leveled but only the ones she¡¯d been actively using. The skill associated with her Triumvirate title had increased to Master Level 1 and now allowed her to have her clones range out to 40 miles. Her skill with her Exotic Orbs had also improved as had her Regenerate skill. Currently at Rare Level 2, she was regenerating 22 hit points per second or 220 per combat turn. As she looked over the various skill levels she realized that while the Skill levels were ranked and then levels 1 ¨C 10; Common, Scarce, Rare, Advanced, Master, Epic, Mythical, and Legendary. The levels at least through rare seemed to correspond to a linear progression. Scarce Level 1 would simply be level 11. Rare level 1 would be level 21 and so on. As she looked over the various benefits the skill levels were giving here she wondered why the SYSTEM couldn¡¯t have just given linear skill levels. There was no reason to make it this confusing. Unless those skill rank categories had a purpose, which for the life of her she couldn¡¯t fathom. With Chaos Conversion at skill level Rare Level 1, Pandora could convert Hit points, Mana, Stamina, and Psychic Energy to Chaos at a 1 for 3 conversion either way. Pandora went through her settings and set up all resource pools to refill her Chaos Pool when full. She had spent a little bit of Chaos getting the base ready. ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t bother,¡± Thor said as Pandora started to figure out how long it would take to refill the Chaos she¡¯d used. If you needed to regenerate 1.00E+43 of your 3.11E+43 Chaos it would still take 1.56E+33 Years to recover all of the Chaos you¡¯d spent.¡± ¡°That long?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Well you didn¡¯t spend even 20% of that much so it will take 3.12E+32 years,¡± Thor confirmed. ¡°Fine,¡± Pandora said as she put that out of her mind. It would be years before it was refilled unless she found another way to do so. She looked up to make sure the courtyard was clear, I guess it¡¯s time for us to go check on that portal at Stonehenge.¡± Pandora jumped into the air and shifted into her Dragon Form as she flew west. For this part, she left the ship behind to guard the courtyard. Once she crossed over the outer wall of the city which was 7 miles from the 25-mile limit range for those that were kicked out of the Safe Zone she flew higher and sped up. As she reached the wall she noted that the ground was still packed with demi-humans that were making their way forward, while those that had been kicked out of the Safe Zone for 24 hours moved aside to let them pass. Pandora ignored them and continued west. The area was packed. To stop the flow of invaders she needs to close the portal. Pandora activated her communication suite in her nanites with Nanite Communication and opened a channel back to Scarborough. ¡°Amanda, you there?¡± Pandora said. ¡°I¡¯m here Pandora, what¡¯s up?¡± ¡°I need to close the portal, any ideas?¡± ¡°Not really. Wait, does that mean you have an idea and you¡¯re asking if we have a better idea because your idea is really dangerous?¡± Amanda asked. ¡°Not completely dangerous, but there could be some issues,¡± Pandora stated. ¡°What kind of issues?¡± ¡°Well, I might have to pass through the portal and close it from the other side?¡± ¡°Any idea where it goes?¡± Amanda asked. ¡°Not at all.¡± ¡°Well, you have Thor¡¯s memories right, if you get stuck I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be able to get you back to us¡­eventually. ¡°True. Okay,¡± Pandora said as she opened up her city tabs for Scarborough and London and designated Amanda as her City Administrator for both locations. ¡°You have administrative rights for Scarborough and London. Look at purchasing a skill called SYSTEM Node Access. It¡¯ll allow you to control the City Node for London. Right now I¡¯ve dismissed it. With that skill, you can either control the city without it or bring the node back. Feel free to use the funds from either city to get that skill for yourself.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll do that, you be careful¡±, Amanda said. I will and I¡¯ll be back as soon as I can.¡± ¡°Sounds good. Abi has control of the Nanites you left up here and we can start ranging out from here and expanding. We can also connect to London with a portal whenever we need to. You go take care of that Portal and we¡¯ll see you in a bit. I¡¯ll let everyone else know what¡¯s going on when we talk again,¡± Amanda said. Pandora cut the connection and flew in over Stonehenge where she saw demi-humans streaming out of the portal. With a thought, she shifted to the Shadow Plane and moved toward the portal. As she neared the portal she shifted to her Human Form before she landed where the portal would be if it extended into the Shadow Plane and stepped out of the shadow of a very large Ogre and passed through the portal. Pandora activated Shadow Step again and stepped into the Shadow Plane. There was no way for her to know if she was still in the same material plane or if she changed dimensions and then stepped into the alternate Material Plane¡¯s Shadow Plane. It didn¡¯t matter, Pandora jumped back into the air and transformed into her Dragon Form so she could take a look around the area. As she launched into the air, Pandora was surprised when she was frozen in place and a sultry feminine voice reached out to her in the Shadow Plane, ¡°Excuse me dear, what are you doing?¡± Pandora craned her dragon neck around looking for the source of the voice when the shadows coalesced in front of her and a figure of umbral light solidified into a raven-haired elf with pearlescent skin and sparkling grey eyes with a hint of sapphire deep within. ¡°Closing the portal of course,¡± Pandora replied honestly as she reverted to her Human Form to stand before the woman. With a thought, Pandora activated Magic Absorption and was flooded with Divine energy as she absorbed the spell that was holding her. She quickly converted the energy to Chaos because whatever magical effect she¡¯d just absorbed refilled her mana pool and would have caused her some extreme problems if she¡¯d continued to put that energy into her already full mana pool. If she couldn¡¯t convert her mana into chaos, things would have gone very poorly. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°What? How? Have you dispelled my spell within my domain?¡± Pandora smiled, ¡°I didn¡¯t dispel it, I merely absorbed it. And what do you mean by your domain?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°This realm, the Shadow Plane, is my domain, I am Umbrati, Mistress of Shadows, Goddess of the Shadow Plane. ¡°Goddess?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Yes, and you are?¡± ¡°I am Pandora, Daughter of Adaline and Adamantadine.¡± ¡°Greetings Pandora. Now, why do you wish to close the portal?¡± Umbrati asked. ¡°The individuals passing through are invading a world I have decided to protect.¡± ¡°That is not a good enough reason. My acolytes have already passed through and are even now seizing the various Safe Zones there to add that world to my Domain.¡± ¡°You might want to check again,¡± Pandora said. ¡°What do you¡­¡± Umbrati started to say as her eyes glazed a bit before they sharpened and looked at Pandora with a piercing gaze. ¡°What have you done!?¡± ¡°I believe I killed the leaders of your invasion and I¡¯m about to close the portal here,¡± Pandora said matter-of-factly. ¡°I do not want to encroach on your domain so if you¡¯d be so kind as to¡­ ¡°Silence!¡± For a moment Pandora was forced to remain silent and then Thor and Caspa joined her as Triumvirate activated and a regalness and power solidified around Pandora as her human form shifted to more resemble the coloring she had in her Umbral Dragon form. Ironically she appeared much as Umbrati did except that there was an aura of chaos swirling around her form that shifted through various colors. With the full power of her Aura and Chaos, which was powered by attributes that far surpassed those of even the legendary classes, Pandora spoke with a confidence that was unshakable and born of knowledge from her father through Thor, ¡° I am Pandora, I am a daughter of Chaos and Shadow. Your invasion of my world stops now! Umbrati laughed, She laughed long and hard and then she coalesced the shadows into her hand and launched them at Pandora as a spear. As the Shadows came into contact with Pandora they wrapped around her and the Umbral sheen to her aura brightened slightly as a false negative effect appeared around her. Attacking an Umbral Dragon with Shadow, even divine-level shadows hadn¡¯t affected her. A memory of Thors came to the surface and she remembered something her father learned in a different Universe under a different SYSTEM, but it could still be true couldn¡¯t it? ¡°I am not your subject Umbrati, I do not submit to your will, and as yet, I am Mortal.¡± ¡°You are no more mortal than I am, ¡°Umbrati said. Besides you entered my personal domain, here I can treat even mortals as I wish!¡± ¡°Good to know. Will you call off the attack on my world?¡± ¡°No!¡± Umbrati declared as another spell was launched at Pandora. This time it looked like a magic missile or a stream of missiles that unerringly flew toward her. Pandora activated Magic Absorption. Again, the spell was absorbed and she converted the mana into Chaos. Her memories said she was nowhere near as powerful as her father had been and tangling with a goddess probably wasn¡¯t in her best interest but she didn¡¯t have to remain in the Plane of Shadow to deal with the Portal in the Material Plane. Pandora Shadow Stepped into the Material Plane. She felt Umbrati try to lock her down but the Goddess was not able to as the shadows Pandora used were her own. As she stepped onto the Material Plane Pandora exploded into action before the crowd of demi-humans could react. Her body split into 10 Clones as various Orbs exploded from each of her bodies and took up defensive positioning. As the forces near the portal reacted Pandora turned into a tornado of action. *** Umbrati watched the girl¡¯s demeanor change and was surprised as Pandora was able to step out of her personal domain and back onto the Prime Material Plane. The woman separated into 10 clones and then turned the area around the portal into a blender of blood and guts as weapons appeared in her hands and orbs of various colors exploded from her. The orbs themselves weren¡¯t all that impressive. If there had only been one or two her subjects could have destroyed them easily. Then she noted, they were destroying them and every time they did a new orb appeared. Spells that were cast were absorbed by the orbs or one of Pandora¡¯s bodies. It didn¡¯t seem to matter. Every combat round Pandora¡¯s ten clones performed 20 attacks each while the orbs that were flying around each absorbed any spells that were cast at the clones. Umbrati also noted that anyone she killed was quickly deconstructed by very small technological devices. Something she¡¯d seen before which the SYSTEM usually didn¡¯t allow but seemed to be ignored in this case. After 10 seconds, Pandora had cleared out a 50-foot radius around herself. After a minute the radius had increased out to 200 feet. Once Pandora cleared the area around the portal nine of her clones split into 10 more clones each. It appeared that each splitting reduced a clone''s individual strength but the 90 clones were still more powerful than any of the demi-humans in her army. She also noted that no matter what weapon a clone was using, Pandora was skilled with all of them. As Umbrati watched she noted that the number of attacks each clone was making was less than what she¡¯d been doing when she only had 10 clones. It appeared that their number of attacks reduced to only 10 per combat round but that was still more than before. With 10 clones she¡¯d been making 200 attacks every turn. With 91 clones she made 920 attacks every turn. Pandora couldn¡¯t hold 91 clones of herself and control them indefinitely, could she? After 25 minutes, Umbrati determined that yes, yes she could. Pandora¡¯s 90 clone bodies had spread out and away from the clone she¡¯d left near the portal and continued to kill any of the demi-humans that attacked her. Those that turned and fled she left alone but the others that thought themselves her equal soon learned that she was faster, more proficient, and extremely good at killing. There was no wasted motion. Each of Pandora¡¯s clones was analytical and clinical in their use of deadly force. Umbrati had been watching Pandora closely and that was what disturbed her most of all, the woman showed no emotion as she¡¯d slaughtered over 100,000 of her subjects in the last half hour. Case and point, the one clone of Pandora that had not split again remained by the portal and destroyed any creatures that tried to come back through the portal and help those on this side of the portal. Her subjects could not win against this woman. Spells were absorbed and even the one or two clones of hers that had been killed had been quickly recovered and then recreated. It was uncanny what this Child of Chaos could do. Umbrati considered sending in some of her trump cards but decided against it. Pandora was an unknown. Better not to completely alienate a potential threat. Besides, with the power this woman was showing at only level 97 of her first tier, she would make a much better ally than an enemy. Umbrati would need to seek out her peers and let them know that there was a new player on the field but first, she needed to stop this senseless carnage. Umbrati stepped out of the shadows next to the Clone of Pandora by the portal and activated her aura which forced everyone in her army to cease attacking and back away. Pandora looked over her shoulder at Umbrati. ¡°Enough!,¡± Umbrati said. ¡°Withdraw the people from my world and close the portal?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°It is not good to make an enemy of a Goddess?¡± Umbrati stated flatly. ¡°Did I not come and ask politely first? You assumed I was not powerful enough to stop your Army. Now that you¡¯ve seen that I have the will and resolve to finish what I started you are asking me to stop. Very well, If you are asking me to stop, I am asking for you to withdraw everyone that has already passed through, I¡¯ll even help them get back to the portal so they may return quickly.¡± Umbrati did not like to be given terms by a mortal but the more of her subjects that returned, the better their chance to conquer a new target and expand her domain. She considered the request for only a moment and then said, ¡°Very well.¡± Umbrati sent out a recall to all of her priests spread throughout the army. As one, her people on Pandora¡¯s world turned and started making their way back toward the large portal while those on her side of the portal backed away and set up a defensive perimeter. Some members of her Army were quite far away so this was going to take a while, at least she¡¯d thought it would. Umbrati watched as Pandora¡¯s bodies returned to the clone she was talking with by the portal and were reabsorbed. As were all but 21 of the orbs that had been orbiting her. Those looked a lot like Wizard Orbs but they had no physical structure, they were pure magic formed from chaos. Pandora stepped through the portal back into her world and split into a total of five clones, one of which remained near the portal while the other four flashed through and moved away from the portal. The clone of Pandora near the portal cleared an area and a technological portal appeared. A moment later members of her army streamed through the smaller portal and then through the large portal back into the heart of her domain. Pandora cleared three more areas on the other side of the portal in her world and three more smaller portals appeared as more of her people began streaming back through both portals into her domain. Umbrati watched as the four smaller portals were moved all over the countryside of the planet she¡¯d been invading and the members of her army were allowed to pass through back to the larger portal where they reentered her domain. Still, it took the better part of two days to recover every member of Umbrati¡¯s Army that headed back toward the portal. Some did not and made their way out into the world. Umbrati wished them luck, they were going to need it. When she was done all of Pandora¡¯s clones returned and recombined into one body. Pandora walked over to the portal barrier and looked through to Umbrati who looked back at her. Pandora appeared to be waiting patiently so Umbrati started, ¡°Those that will return, have returned. Those who chose not to heed my call deserve the fate your world offers them,¡± Umbrati said. ¡°Perhaps the next time we meet, we will do so under better circumstances,¡± Pandora offered. ¡°Perhaps,¡± Umbrati mused, ¡°Perhaps not. Goodbye, Pandora,¡± Umbrati said as she willed the portal closed. *** Pandora turned back from the portal and found a few different places nearby to put spy cameras to keep an eye on the place to make sure she¡¯d know immediately if a portal was opened here again. Then she looked at her notification. There were so many notifications. She was still In her Triumvirate mental configuration so Pandora utilized Thor''s ability to absorb and calculate information. In a moment she realized that she had earned 21,459,001 XP, 649,360 Copper, replaced 1% of the Chaos she¡¯d utilized as she broke down the bodies of the creatures she¡¯d killed and the spells she¡¯d absorbed. She¡¯d earned enough XP to reach Tier 2 Level 63. She merely needed to go through her choices and pick a new class, as well as distribute her attributes. Pandora had one of the portals open at her location and stepped into her room back in Scarborough. After two days of fighting, she needed to rest. She allowed two clones to emerge from her, one for Caspa and one for Thor as she deactivated Triumvirate. ¡°You two feel free to take the bodies and help out around the base, I¡¯m going to rest for a bit, While my body isn¡¯t tired, I feel mentally fatigued,¡± Pandora said. Both nodded and left the room. Pandora noticed that each modified the bodies to look slightly different. Caspa morphed to look more like her mother, while Thor morphed to look more like her Dad, but not quite. She knew she needed sleep and she had a lot to do, not the least of which was to figure out why when Triumvirate was active she seemed to lose herself. She would need to figure out what was happening and get the effects under control because once she¡¯d decided to kill, everything had died that attacked her. She¡¯d moved her clones through the battlefield making sure that her stamina regeneration could handle every attack she made while making clinical and critical strikes that, with her strength and dexterity, slipped passed every attack and through every defense. It was too easy to kill the thousands of kobolds, goblins, orcs, and other creatures she had. She had become death incarnate. It had been instinct to kill and then absorb everything she killed and she had felt so emotionless about it. She had a feeling that part of her actions had come from Caspa. If this was letting the power go to your head, she did not like it. She didn¡¯t like it one bit. There was nothing fun in destroying a helpless foe. And they¡¯d all seemed quite helpless towards her. Anyone could become lost in the sensation¡­ Before she could consider her insights anymore, her vision blurred as she laid her head back on the pillow. As soon as she was comfortable, her eyes closed and she was asleep in moments. Chapter 38, Temporal Rebound Pandora woke from sleep fully refreshed. With a quick command to her nanites, she was fully refreshed, reclothed, and walking out of her room in the Bunker under her Estate at Scarborough. Her room was near the City and shop Node behind a secret door that could only be opened by someone who could connect with the embedded technology. Man, she missed having nanites. Wait, that was a memory from Thor. Though, nanites would be nice. Nanite Communication allowed her to open the door and leave the secret area near the Shop Node. Pandora made her way to the dining area, drawn by the smell of cooked food and the sound of hushed conversations as many others sat to eat as well. Of course, the dining hall wasn¡¯t directly on her level but her level opened onto a balcony with ramps and stairways that led down to the mess level. The facility had multiple areas like this one. At least one on each floor though the floors dedicated to living quarters had a few extra depending on how big the floor was. Pandora went to the food line, picked out what she wanted, and went to find a table in a corner. As she sat down to eat a portal opened next to her table and Amanda and Abi stepped through. Amanda took the lead and asked, ¡°Can we join you?¡± ¡°Please. I¡¯m sure Caspa and Thor know I¡¯m awake but neither has contacted me yet,¡± Pandora said. ¡°They are outside of the safe area. They might be otherwise engaged or just letting you wake up fully before they talk to you.¡± ¡°Why would they wait?¡± Pandora asked. The three of them were interrupted when a waitress came over with three cups of coffee on a tray with various creamers and sugar and set it down. After the waitress left Abi took a cup of coffee and took a sip before she asked, ¡°Have you looked at your clock lately? Pandora looked at the SYSTEM Calendar and Clock. She¡¯d lost track of time a long time ago but she was sure it¡¯d been about two in the afternoon on a Tuesday near the start of December when she¡¯d laid down. It was now Friday, December 19th, ¡°Have I been asleep for 4 days?¡± ¡°No,¡± Amanda said which caused Pandora to pause for a moment before she continued, ¡°You¡¯ve been asleep for 11 days.¡± ¡°What the hell?¡± Pandora exclaimed. Amanda made a calming gesture and then continued, ¡°Caspa and Thor think it was backlash due to the extreme amount of combat you had while Multiple, you know, having more than one of you, which they said you did when you took on the army in London and then on the other side of the portal. While you may have found a way to bypass normal time restrictions, they believe it caught up with you. Additionally, they believe the number of skill levels you earned added to the backlash. And before you ask, Caspa and Thor were affected as well. They each ended up taking a nap for almost a full day. Your nap was obviously the longest.¡± Pandora thought about how she might overtax herself. Maybe there was an absolute limit imposed by time or temporal mechanics? She knew that she could easily make 130 attacks within a combat turn if she wished but she would burn out her stamina if she did so so. She could make 50 attacks within a single combat turn and her stamina regeneration would allow her to continuously do so. When she¡¯d split into 10 clones she¡¯d been making 200 attacks each turn, 10 per clone. When she¡¯d split 9 of those clones into 10 more clones each there¡¯d been 91 clones allowing her to perform 920 attacks within a single combat turn without overtaxing her stamina. She¡¯d been acting 18 times faster than she could comfortably handle in only one body and she¡¯d kept up that pace for more than a half-hour. If her life was infinite, she shouldn¡¯t be burning through her life expectancy by accelerating how her body moved through time. If her life was finite? But, that didn¡¯t make sense. She felt that she was already effectively immortal because of her chaotic nature. Pandora sighed before she said, ¡°I didn¡¯t know.¡± ¡°It looks like you can do some very impressive things, just like your dad,¡± Abi pointed out, but there are side effects.¡± ¡°I guess there are,¡± Pandora said with a nod. At least what happened to her made it seem like there were. The three sat in silence for a bit before Pandora asked, ¡°So what¡¯s been going on for the last week?¡± ¡°Caspa and Thor helped clear out any large monster groupings nearby and then focused on the huge monsters that spawned from the nukes around the world. With the satellites up in orbit that Thor helped finish putting in place, it was pretty easy to find them. In fact, Caspa and Thor just finished off the last one about an hour before you woke up,¡± Abi said. ¡°Why can¡¯t I automatically feel them?¡± ¡°Thor said to tell you that you can contact them with Nanite Communication but your new Skill Triumvirate only works when one of the three of you is within the skills range which at your current skill level is 78 miles. If you¡¯re outside that range one of the three of you can still control the body you''re in and have access to all of your abilities and skills but you lose direct communication and have to rely on the quantumly linked nanites instead. Thor also told me to tell you that if you split into more clones of yourself they must stay within the range or you lose control of them and they just stop. You can recover them but they start deteriorating pretty quickly.¡± Abi said. ¡°Did Caspa or Thor report any other issues?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°None. Thor has been cheating a bit and is using the ship he created to chase down the large monsters. He¡¯s been taking others out so they can earn some experience while manning the weapon systems. Also, if the creature is too much of a problem Jupiter is nice this time of year,¡± Abi stated with a shit-eating grin. ¡°He isn¡¯t,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Oh yes. Remember that Giant Serpent you told us about from London? Well, it had an insanely high damage resistance and health regeneration rate. Thor found it swimming in the ocean put a portal beneath it and let it get sucked into the upper atmosphere of Jupiter where the pressure was less than that of Earth. A whirlpool formed and the Serpent was flushed into the upper atmosphere of Jupiter. You all received XP for its death about 30 minutes later. The last of the 25 giant monsters created by the nuclear detonations and reset was destroyed this morning. That could be why you woke up,¡± Abi offered. Pandora opened her Status Screen and checked her level. She had enough XP to advance to Tier 2 Level 70 which meant Thor and Caspa had earned her 7 levels for killing 22 epic level monsters. She¡¯d also earned the treasure that was in her inventory. It wasn¡¯t a huge sum but it wasn¡¯t a little bit either. Pandora pulled up the information on her funds. Copper 683,591 Silver 79,238 Gold 36,154 Platinum 0 Then she checked her Systems Credits, 12,463,571. She¡¯d earned a lot of money in the last few days. Maybe she should visit the SYSTEM shop and look at picking up or improving some skills. Amanda cleared her throat to get Pandora¡¯s attention, ¡°Your friends are down in London helping your Grandmother and Grandfather as they set up a SYSTEM of governance down there. As far as we can tell everyone is coming together to make sure everyone has food but Thor also stops by once in a while to drop off supplies, or you know create them on the spot. Honestly, after they woke up they spent the first three days running around Scarborough and London restocking supplies and making places where people could come to get food and fresh water all over England, Scotland, and Ireland. Then they went out and tried to help any survivors they could find.¡± Abi interrupted Amanada, ¡°The Mana saturation of the planet has had some deleterious effects on the world. While this is not a Dungeon World, the monster spawn rate is extremely accelerated as are the formations of the dungeon. Additionally, Our satellite coverage indicates that while a lot of people have died some small tight communities are thriving. Also, there are only 10 large cities that have been made into Safe Zones, which the SYSTEM has set as the limit for this world. England has two of them.¡± ¡°Where are the other eight?¡± Pandora asked. Amanda flicked her wrist and a screen appeared with a list on it. Shanghai, China ¨C 5+ million Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Cairo, Egypt - 6+ million New, York ¨C 3+ million Buenos Aires ¨C 2+ million Manila, Philippines ¨C 1.8+ ,million Moscow, Russia ¨C 6.6 million Paris, France ¨C 2.2 million Chicago, USA ¨C 7.6 million London, UK ¨C 1.5 million Scarborough, UK 456,396 ¡°Pandora looked over the list. If memory served, and it does since I have access to Thor''s memories now¡­¡± Pandora started to say before she was interrupted by Abi. ¡°Wait. How does that work? Thor is off in another body; how do you have access to his memories?¡± Pandora thought about how to explain it before she said, ¡°As far as I can tell, when we, Caspa, Thor, and I, gained the Title Triumvirate each of us became one and had full access to each other¡¯s memories. As far as I can tell my personality is the primary but I seem to be seriously influenced by both Caspa and Thor now. It was something I noticed while I was fighting on the other side of the portal. When we separate and take over different bodies we¡¯re still all technically one creature because my attributes are divided by the number of bodies I have. As such we are still one mind, which I¡¯ve parsed into three different minds, each controlled by the primary consciousness of one of us. When I do it that way we can still use all our abilities and skills. I need to talk to Thor and Caspa to find out what they figured out while I was sleeping but it looks like this configuration is the best for splitting up and conquering. I can split into more bodies but then they have to stay within a certain range of one of what is considered the primary consciousness, One of us three, which I discovered while I was fighting the army last week.¡± ¡°I saw Adam do something like this before,¡± Abi said. ¡°Yes, I have Thor¡¯s memories. In that case, Dad was utilizing technology and Thor to split until he started using Chaotic Nanites, as he liked to refer to Chaos. I can do something similar because of my nature and the fact that I have Caspa.¡± ¡°How do you keep it all straight and not get overwhelmed?¡± Amanda asked. ¡°That¡¯s one of the abilities I picked up from Thor, I now have my father¡¯s memory ability,¡± Pandora said. ¡°What?¡± Amanda and Abi said in unison. ¡°You have your father''s uncanny memory as well as most of his memories,¡± Abi asked. ¡°Yep?¡± Pandora said with a huge smile on her face. ¡°Well, at least up until Thor and Dad were split by the SYSTEM. Then I have Thor¡¯s memories working for the SYSTEM until now.¡± Pandora heard a light beep as both Amanda and Abi¡¯s eyes unfocused for a moment. Amanda stood, ¡°We have to go. Small situation to take care of.¡± ¡°Anything you need me for?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Nope, just some crabs coming ashore up by Thruso on the north coast. Not many people are left up there. Before we head out, I should tell you that none of us believe the Roman patriarchy is going to be a problem going forward,¡± Amanda said. ¡°Why is that?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Simply put, most of them are dead,¡± Amanda said. ¡°Say again,¡± Pandora said. ¡°An advantage and disadvantage of the Roman system is that when monsters started appearing all over the world the men were the first to step forward and try to fight off the monsters. They were of course raised in a brutal society but that¡¯s not going to matter when elementals of magic and special monsters appear. The individuals that might have made up the healers and the mages chose a fighting class instead of choosing to heal if they were offered the class which, as you know, led to diminishing returns. If a monster surge hit a populated area and kept on coming, soldiers would die. Lots of soldiers who were mostly male,¡± Amanda explained. ¡°How bad is it?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Mistress Carpenter has told us that it was believed that there were over 8 billion people on the planet. When we checked the SYSTEM shop a couple of days ago the world had 2,267,200,00 people left. Of those 19% were men and 81% were women. The men that are left are either very strong and high level or they are the few that chose a class that could heal or had an area of effect capabilities. The women, that are left are much the same. Additionally, there seems to have been a shift in mindset among those men of the Roman empire who are left. It¡¯s a crazy world and they had to adapt or die. Most are adapting,¡± Abi said with a smile. ¡°Now, truly, we must be on our way. I¡¯ll let you know if we need you,¡± Amanda said, as a portal opened into the control room. Amanda and Abi stepped through and left Pandora to finish her meal in peace. Pandora didn¡¯t rush. She finished her meal rather quickly and then headed to the SYSTEM Shop node. She could use her new SYSTEM Node Access perk to connect directly but she wanted to physically walk into the store. Pandora stepped into the queue and waited her turn like everyone else. When it was her turn Pandora stepped up to the SYSTEM Shop node and placed her hand on it. A moment later she appeared in a room very similar to the room she¡¯d entered in Dallas, though it looked a little more lived in with hanging plants, artwork, and other Earth-based items strewn throughout the shop. Behind the counter, a normal-looking human woman who appeared to be in her mid-thirties sat. ¡°Welcome to the Scarborough SYSTEM Shop. I¡¯m Daisy, one of the new Earth-based SYSTEM Shop Merchants here on Earth. How can I help you today?¡± ¡°Congratulations on getting into a merchant class so quickly,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Thank You. What can I do for you¡­¡± ¡°Pandora,¡± Pandora offered. ¡°What can I do for you, Pandora?¡± Daisy asked. ¡°I need to convert some of my treasure into credits and I¡¯d also like to purchase a skill that increases my personal storage.¡± ¡°The first is easy enough. There is of course a 5% conversion fee.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± Pandora agreed as she opened her Status Screen and kept only 1,000 coins of copper, Silver, and Gold as everything else was converted into credits leaving her with 13,141,932 credits. When Pandora looked up she saw Daisy waiting patiently for her, ¡°Yes?¡± Pandora asked. Daisy made a flicking motion which caused a holographic terminal to appear in front of Pandora. She looks over the skill Personal Storage. Tier 1 capacity, Common, Scarce, and Rare storage levels were all based on the weight of what is in the storage. However, money doesn¡¯t count as it is held separately, which would have been good to know. Then again, she should have realized that there was no way the hundreds of thousands of coins weighed less than her 10-pound limit. At Advanced and higher the limit was designated as cubic feet starting at 10 cubic feet at skill level Advanced Level 1. Master Level 1 was 200 cubic feet. The cost was what kept her from trying to go higher than Master Level 1. A Master Level 1 Upgrade cost 1 million credits. Level 2 was 3 million credits. Pandora didn¡¯t want to blow all of her credits so she spent 1 million and accepted the upgrade. Congratulations! You have increased your Personal Storage skill to Master Level 1. Personal Storage ¨C This skill augments your SYSTEM Granted Perk Personal Storage. Base Storage is based on Skill level and is augmented by the Willpower Attribute Modifier. Tier 1 is a linear increase of 1 pound per attribute modifier. At Tier 2 and higher, the increase is by the cube root of the attribute modifier which is added to the base storage capacity of the skill. At Skill Level Master Level 1 the base area of your Personal Storage is 200 cubic feet. Pandora looked at her Willpower Attribute. The cube root of that modifier was just over 38 which meant that her Personal Storage could hold 238 cubic feet. That wasn¡¯t too shabby. ¡°Is there anything else I can help you with?¡± Daisy asked. Pandora thought about it for a minute and then remembered that nanites would be useful As she considered that a memory surfaced from Thor concerning something called a Nanite Stabilizer, ¡°Yes, I need a way for micro-technology to continue working in an area. Do you have something called a Nanite Stabilizer?¡± ¡°We do. They are quite expensive.¡± ¡°Price is no object, What am I looking at?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°For 1 million credits you can purchase one that will allow your technology to work out to 528 feet. For 5 million credits the range is increased to 2,640 feet. If you need ranges greater than that they need either be installed in a ship or attached to a City Node,¡± Daisy explained. ¡°That¡¯s great. I want to attach one to both my Scarborough and London City Nodes. What¡¯s the maximum range I can purchase?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°25 miles for 1 billion credits,¡± Pandora said Pandora coughed, cleared her throat, and asked, ¡°1 Billion Credits?¡± ¡°1 Billion Credits each,¡± Daisy clarified. Pandora couldn¡¯t believe what she¡¯d just heard. Then again she knew this SYSTEM did not like nanite ¡°Okay, I guess it¡¯s time to get to work.¡± For the next hour, Pandora created precious metals and gems using Thor¡¯s knowledge from her dad and sold it all to the SYSTEM Shop. She wasn¡¯t getting the best deals but it didn¡¯t matter. Her skill with Mold Chaos gained a skill level, Rare Level 2. When she had traded for 2 billion credits she purchased two 25-mile radius Nanite Stabilizers. ¡°As soon as you purchased the nanite stabilizers, they were installed and activated. You can also modify the settings so only your nanites work within that radius. Also, remember, you cannot use nanites to take over or control any other creatures or plants though you can use them to make processed food and the like if you have that knowledge. If the nanites try to go beyond that 25-mile range they will fail immediately unless they¡¯re supported by another ability, skill, or power, Daisy explained. ¡°Sounds good. I need to go now. I may be back after I choose my next class,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Very well, thanks for coming in today. It was my absolute pleasure to help you,¡± Daisy said with a genuine smile. Pandora exited the SYSTEM Shop and then had a portal open that brought her to Abi¡¯s location. ¡°Abi, good news,¡± Pandora said as she stepped out of the portal. ¡°Watcha got?¡± Pandora activated another portal and started creating and releasing nanites through it. Her chaos was regenerating naturally at 40 points per turn which was well above the 22 points per turn she could spend to create 22 pounds of nanites with Mold Chaos. She started creating the nanites and sent them off to repair and upkeep the structure of the base while she also created interface devices for Amanda and Abi. The knowledge of how to do so was contained in Thor¡¯s memories. ¡°I made a purchase. We can use normal nanites here and in London. I¡¯m releasing some nanites here and I¡¯m going to open a portal to London and do the same there. I¡¯d like you two to take charge and see to the needs of the people as quickly as possible. I can make about 132 pounds of nanites per minute so it¡¯ll take me a little over 15 minutes to make a ton of nanites for here and another 15 minutes to make the same amount for London. Within 25 miles of the City Node, they can operate just like they could for Dad when he was back on Earth where this all started so you should be able to have them replicate themselves and expand even faster. They will not work outside of 25 miles though. ¡°That¡¯ll make repairing the infrastructure of the cities a lot easier,¡± Amanda said. ¡°Yep so let''s get to work,¡± Pandora said as she handed the two devices that looked like earpieces which allowed the wearer to send commands to the nanites. ¡°What are you going to do after,¡± Abi asked. ¡°I need to review my class choices and pick my tier 2 class,¡± Pandora said, as she continued creating nanites and dropping them through portals all over the outskirts of the base. ¡°After I¡¯m done with this I¡¯ll look at choosing my Tier 2 class.¡± Chapter 39, Replicator An hour later Pandora was back in the mess hall closest to her room and the City Node waiting for Caspa and Thor to return. She¡¯d sent a message to them to let them know that she wanted their input concerning her next class. She also wanted them close in case she needed to activate Triumvirate before she accepted a new class. While she waited she sipped on some coffee and reviewed what was going on around the base and in London. The nanites were spreading in both cities and repairing things as they went along. She made sure that they only tried to repair infrastructure within the Safe Zone. Outside of that area, outside of the Safe Zone, but within the 25-mile nanite radius, the nanites were breaking everything down and preparing the land for farming. Pandora opened her notifications and pulled up her possible class choices. Tier 2 consisted of Advanced and Master Class choices. One of the basic differences between an Advanced Class and a Master Class was that Advanced Classes only received 16 attributes per level while Master Classes received 20. It also looked like Master Classes received more combined Hit Points, Stamina, Mana, and Psychic Energy though how much each category received was class-specific. Advanced Classes seemed to receive 30 points while Master Classes received 40 points per level. Fighter and Rogue-type classes put a lot of points in Stamina, Mage-types received Mana, and the few Psychic Classes she saw put a lot of their points into Psychic Energy. One of the classes she¡¯d qualified for had been something called a Psionic Stalker. It had been a Master Class choice. Stamina would have received 5 points per level, Mana 10, and Psychic Energy 25. The Starting Class Skill had been Dominate which would have allowed her to suppress and control those of with weaker minds. While she could see the usefulness of such a skill, subjecting others to her will forcefully was not something she wanted to do. Her memories from her mother and father showed her that if they found out she acted like that, they would be less than pleased with her. Well, Mom would probably understand, but she had changed since she met her father. She could pick up the skill eventually and only use it against people who crossed her, Father would understand that wouldn¡¯t he? Better not to have to find out. So, Pandora sipped her coffee and looked over the Advanced Class choices she had so she could get a feel for what was available to her while she waited for Caspa and Thor to return. With nanites spreading throughout Scarborough and London Pandora also checked on Callum, and the rest of the party as well. Cedrik was being his common smart-ass self, while Asling, Callum, and Pythias worked hard to help anyone who needed help. Robert was working with some individuals who had picked up magic classes. He was busy helping them learn how to use their skills and spells to their utmost. With nanites replenishing supplies as needed the food shortages had been taken care of and almost everyone who was left in London was doing well. As she¡¯d discovered earlier, there were a lot more women than men and they were stepping forward to help out as much as possible. Of course, Pythias and Robert were drawing a lot of attention as two members of another exotic species that the women they were working around found interesting. Pythias remained stoic while Robert became flustered. Cedrik, a halfling, was also garnering a lot of attention from the ladies. A lot more attention than Pandora was comfortable keeping an eye on, so she¡¯d sent a message to Thor to keep an eye on him and react if he needed help. How the hell had three 6-foot-tall women gone to¡­you know what, she was going to stop thinking about his promiscuous behavior right now. Closer to home, or at least where she called home, Mistress Carpenter and Dr. Broyles were working hard to help everyone displaced by the disaster that had happened. For them, it had been a simple redefinition as they went from helping subjugated women and girls to helping everyone who had been displaced or traumatized by the integration of the SYSTEM. There was a completely secure part of the underground base about a mile down that Thor had helped Abi create. From Dad¡¯s memories, she realized that it looked a lot like the Genesis Cave that was created in the Asteroid in the second Star Trek movie. Complete with artificial sunlight, day-night cycles, and even farmland. It was one of the few places that Pandora was completely infatuated with because it was so artificial but looked and felt like she was outside when she¡¯d visited it. There was even animal life that had been transplanted and since it was in a Safe Zone, it was completely safe from monsters. Mistress Carpenter and Dr. Broyles brought the most traumatized individuals to what was being called Sanctuary to help them decompress and ease their way into this new world. Pandora sincerely hoped that part of the SYSTEM¡¯s function was to help people adapt or stabilize their brain chemistry after trauma. Her father¡¯s memories contained fictional examples of a SYSTEM-like entity doing that. She wasn¡¯t sure if that was true here, but she hoped so. As for herself, she didn¡¯t have a problem with all of the changes because her life had been nothing but chaos from immediately after her birth. There were lulls but they were short. Besides she had Caspa, and now Thor to help her. She knew that some people would never leave Sanctuary but they could acclimate into this new world and help others. Pandora was pulled from her thoughts as two portals opened and Caspa and Thor stepped through. Caspa sat down opposite Pandora while Thor pulled up a chair and sat at the end of the table. ¡°It looks like both of you were having a bit of fun while I was napping,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Yep, just checking out the rest of the planet,¡± Caspa said. ¡°I was running around and seeing what effect our destruction of the giant creatures had,¡± Thor said ¡°And?¡± Pandora said. ¡°And it looks like the release of mana back into the environment has accelerated monster spawning and plant growth all over the planet. Everything is growing and spawning at an accelerated rate.¡± ¡°How accelerated?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Well, you know how they replant forests over in Oregon and Washington back where Adam is from. They do that here too. A crop of trees that were only planted two years ago is the same size as the Red Wood forest. The locals say it wasn¡¯t like that 6 months ago,¡± Thor said. ¡°So, killing the monsters released all of the mana back into the environment. That will be good for leveling at least,¡± Pandora said. ¡°True, unless the monster¡¯s level a lot faster than people. Besides, we should be able to handle it if it gets out of hand,¡± Pandora said. ¡°That¡¯s the thing about system imbalances Pandora, Once they go out of whack it¡¯s hard to bring that back. Look at you, or us as an example. Is there anyone of an equal level to you that would even have a chance against you? Unless they had benefits similar to yours of course?¡± Thor asked. ¡°I see your point,¡± Pandora said in agreement, ¡°But that¡¯s not why I asked you two to come back. I need to choose my Tier 2 class and I wanted everyone present. Also, I wanted to get your opinions before I choose. ¡°What kind of choices do you have?¡± Caspa asked. ¡°Well, we have a lot of Advanced classes to choose from but I think they¡¯re all a bust. Most follow the physical warrior line of thinking, though there are a few Artificers and mage classes as well. Still, nothing that screams that it¡¯s perfect for our circumstances,¡± Pandora said ¡°And the Master classes that are available?¡± Caspa asked. Pandora opened a Status Screen and pulled up the Master classes with a brief description of each. Next, she made the window visible to the other two. Psionic Stalker - Just No! I will not have a class with the word Stalker in it! Umbral Dragon ¨C You have embraced your Racial Heritage. Umbral Dragons are incredibly rare and hail from the Planes of Shadow and Twilight. You have accepted your heritage. SYSTEM Administrator ¨C Information for this Class is only available if chosen. Big Game Hunter ¨C You relish in the challenge of taking on bigger and better challenges. In addition to access to rare skills that allow you to take on those creatures of a higher level, XP and Treasure rewards are increased. Creatures of equal or lower level offer half as much XP and Treasure. Orb Master ¨C An Orb Master receives significant bonuses when utilizing Wizard Orbs and similar magic items. In addition to unique skills and spells the ability to artifice and enchant replacement Wizard Orbs may be earned. Members of this Class may kill their targets without lifting a finger to do so. Replicator ¨C As a Creature of Chaos you may replicate yourself and send those replicants out into the world. The level and power of those replicants is directly proportional to the amount of Mana or Chaos invested in their construction. Thor and Caspa both looked over the list for a moment. Caspa giggled, and Thor cleared his throat in obvious reaction to her comment about the Stalker class. Then they looked at each other and said simultaneously, ¡°Replicator?¡± ¡°That or System Administrator?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°If I¡¯m looking at this right and also remembering what Titles and Perks you have, it looks like your Master Class choices all pulled from those, even the class you¡¯re disregarding,¡± Thor said. ¡°How so?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Well, Umbral Dragon is from your Racial Perk. System Administrator is probably because of your SYSTEM Node Access perk. Big Game Hunter is for your Exterminator Title and Orb Master is obviously because of the way the Wizard Orbs were absorbed by you. Finally, Replicator is probably because of your Triumvirate and Creature of Chaos perk and ability respectively.¡± ¡°Okay, why does that matter?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Well, if that¡¯s true then you will most likely see some of these choices, at least the Epic version of those choices, become available when you''re choosing your Tier 3, Epic Class,¡± Thor said. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°Yeah that makes sense,¡± Pandora agreed, ¡°Though if that¡¯s the case, my question becomes, if I take this class and I make replicants, does all that XP get pooled? Does each earn its own XP after that? How does it all work?¡± ¡°No way to know unless you pick it, but if you can make replicants and get more of yourself, ourselves, out there helping everyone, does it matter?¡± Caspa asked. ¡°Probably not,¡± Pandora said. Pandora pulled up the Class and shared it with Thor and Caspa so they could review it together Class: Replicator The Replicator allows the individuals holding this class to learn how to replicate anything. Class skills granted by this class will unlock various categories that can be replicated up to and including Magical Artifacts. Rarity: Master Attributes Per Level: 20 Bonus Attributes every 5 levels including level 1: +3 to Intelligence, +3 to Willpower +3 Endurance, +2 Constitution Hit Points per Level: 10 Stamina per Level: 10 Mana per level: 20 Psychic Energy: 0 Starting Class Skill Replicate Compounds: Cost to Cast: Variable / Range: (10 + Intelligence Attribute Modifier) Feet. Replicate Compounds can be utilized to create 1 cubic foot per skill level of a common compound. (A common compound consisting of 5 or less elements) for 100 mana or 50 chaos points. Note: As skill level increases Mana cost is decreased by 1. Also, for each skill level, an additional cubic foot of the compound can be created. For instance, at Skill Level 3, three cubic feet of water could be created for 291 mana. Skills Points per level: 4 Spell Points per level 1: Psionic Skill Points per level: 0 Advantages:
  • Chaos may be utilized to power Replicator class skills at ? cost rounded up.
  • Chaos may be absorbed from a source of Chaos directly with no ill effect. (Not this Advantage does not convey immunity to Chaos. If the holder of this class is not immune to chaos all normal hazards of exposure to chaos apply.)
Disadvantages:
  • The holder of this class may work with order-based Abilities, Skills, and Spells but at double the listed cost.
¡°Pandora?¡± Thor asked hesitantly.¡± ¡°Yes, Thor.¡± ¡°You need to choose this class,¡± he said. ¡°Why?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°If I¡¯m reading this right, and I¡¯m sure that I am, once you unlock the ability to create Replicants of yourself you¡¯ll be able to spend Chaos to create duplicates of yourself and send them out,¡± Thor said. ¡°Why is that important?¡± Caspa asked. ¡°Pandora can spend Chaos to create those Replicants,¡± Thor said. ¡°So,¡± Caspa said. ¡°So, We have a lot of Chaos,¡± Thor said. ¡°Oh,¡± Capsa said. ¡°Oh!¡± Pandora said with a little more enthusiasm. ¡°Even if it costs a lot to make a Replicant I can spend the chaos I have on them and make a lot of them.¡± Pandora paused for a moment as she considered what that would mean. Without seeing the Class Skill that would let her duplicate herself it was hard to tell if choosing this class would be worth it but having a Class that improved her Mold Chaos skill would be extremely useful. Pandora accepted Replicator as her Tier 2, Master Class. Six new Notifications appeared; one class skill for every 10 levels in the Master Class. You have unlocked the Class Skill, Replicate Complex Compounds You have unlocked the Class Skill, Replicate Simple Life You have unlocked the Class Skill, Replicate Plant Life You have unlocked the Class skill, Replicate Animal Life You have unlocked the Class Skill, Replicate Higher Life Form You have unlocked the Class Skill, Replicant. Pandora skimmed the titles until she reached Replicate Higher Life-Form Replicate Higher Life Form This is a Channeled Class Skill and will allow you to create a new vessel for the target and transfer their soul into it. The replicated body can be set to any age you desire but retains all previous abilities, perks, titles, skills, and spells. Additionally, the replicant¡¯s base attributes can be adjusted by 1% per class skill level either to improve or worsen the target. Simply put, you may create a new body for the target, make changes to that body, and then transfer their consciousness and soul to that body. Mana cost = 100 mana multiplied by the sum of Strength, Agility, Dexterity, Endurance, Constitution, Perception, Intelligence, Wisdom, Willpower, Charisma, and body weight of the creature being replicated before any adjustments Well, damn, if she had a giant mana pool and was a basic wizard type she could sell the ability to reset someone¡¯s age and even improve their attributes a bit. Of course, if she was normal, doing so for anyone of sufficiently high level would take a long time. As it was, if she tried to create a duplicate of herself with mana it would take 48 hours if she only used her mana regeneration rate. If she used Chaos she could pay the cost immediately. Still, eventually, she might run out so she calculated how long it would take utilizing Chaos Conversion to create Chaos from her other resource pools using their regeneration rates and came up with 3 hours. That conversion factor of 1 to 3 was nice. As she thought about the Class Skill she realized that it must be incredibly rare because none of Thor¡¯s memories contained it. ¡°Caspa, have you ever seen anything like this before?¡± ¡°As a reminder, I am intent made manifest during your first trip through Primal Chaos. I do not have memories as you think of them. What I can say is that the skill seems familiar to me and makes sense for those creatures comprised of chaos,¡± Caspa said. ¡°How so?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Chaos does not die. Those creatures of chaos that evolve sentience or gain intelligence would want a way to repair themselves. This seems like the perfect way to repair a failing body and continue existing if you think about it,¡± Caspa explained. ¡°That does make sense,¡± Thor agreed, ¡°If a creature of chaos was severely injured they could find one of their brethren with this skill and be in a new body almost immediately.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see what Replicant does,¡± Pandora said as she opened the notification for the Class Skill she¡¯d unlocked at Level 60. Replicant This is a Channeled Class Skill and will allow you to create duplicates of yourself. The replicant is a full clone and copy of yourself. Replicants contain all previous abilities, perks, titles, skills, and spells. Bodies may not be adjusted, they are copies of yourself. Mana cost = 100 mana multiplied by the sum of Strength, Agility, Dexterity, Endurance, Constitution, Perception, Intelligence, Wisdom, Willpower, Charisma, and body weight. All Replicants are connected to your soul. As such all increases in abilities and levels are mimicked by the Replicant. Additionally, Replicants may kill and earn XP at a reduced rate. Any XP earned by a replicant is reduced by half before it is added to your total XP. Replicants do NOT track individual XP. Skill use, however, is not affected. Skill experience is earned at its normal rate as skill use is linked through all replicants and the Original. Additionally, All Replicants have access to a single Replicant Storage area which can hold 5 cubic feet of material. Treasure in the form of Credits is added to your normal credits. Physical treasure is added to Replicant Storage which and be accessed and cleared out by you at any time. Replicant Storage will level as all other skills do. Pandora read over the skill greedily. She could do a lot with this skill. A lot. ¡°Let¡¯s join back up, I want to try this out,¡± Pandora said. Caspa and Thor held out a hand to Pandora. Once they touched the three became one as Pandora remained seated. Next, she activated her skill Triumvirate which merged Caspa, Thor, and Pandora. With Thor¡¯s primary processing power now merged with Caspa and Pandora a few possibilities came to mind about how to use her new Class. Intuitively she reached her hand toward the seat across from herself and willed a replicant of herself into existence. Would you like to create a Replicant for 110,304,300 Mana, Yes or No? Pandora read the prompt. The Class skill was using her base attributes and not her attributes after the Efficiency bonuses. That was a lot of Mana and she didn¡¯t want to wait 48 days so she modified her skill settings to initially ask to pay the cost to make a replicant with Chaos instead of Mana which also reduced the cost by half. Once that was done she chose ¡°Yes¡± and created a replicant of herself for 55,152,150 Chaos. Chaos flowed from her fingertips and swirled into a nude Clone of herself sitting in the seat across from her. The Replicant¡¯s body shimmered and was covered with identical clothing to her own. Pandora watched as her twin looked around the room, ¡°How do you feel?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°So, I¡¯m the Replicant,¡± Pandora¡¯s clone said in a voice identical to her own, ¡° I don¡¯t feel any different. All of my attributes look right and I can feel the Triumvirate, Wait, oh okay, I only have 560 Chaos which is the amount I receive from both Classes for the levels we have. None of the extra Chaos you have was transferred. Hold on for a second. Yep, Chaos Conversion works and I¡¯m filling my pool of chaos. Nowhere near as much as you have but I can create Chaos with Chaos Conversion very quickly with our attributes.,¡± The Replicant said. Pandora reached over and touched her Replicant¡¯s shoulder as she will 1 million Chaos into her, ¡°There¡¯s one million, now try to will some of it back into me, no more than 1,000. I just want to test something,¡± Pandora said as she withdrew her hand. The replicant reached over, touched her shoulder, and sure enough 1,000 chaos was transferred to her,¡± It worked, oh that is so broken,¡± The Replicant said. ¡°My thoughts exactly,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Yeah, if you make 10 replicants we can refill our pools at a rate of 536,700 chaos every 10 seconds. Make that 20 of us and that¡¯s over a million per turn,¡± The replicant said. ¡°Now that you have over a million chaos, could you check and see if you can split into 3 clones? Is there a Caspa and Thor with you as well?¡± Pandora asked. The replicant stood and shimmered as she separated into 3 copies of herself. The one in the middle said, ¡°Yep, all three of us are here. Though our attributes all took that hit you take when you do the same thing. Also, we can talk mentally but we can¡¯t hear or send thoughts to you.¡± ¡°Staying connected, we can worry about later. I¡¯m sure you can create a nanite interface and connect to us with Nanite Communication. We can work those kinks out technologically. How about the wizard orbs, can you make wizard orbs? Can you make a set for each clone?¡± Pandora asked. Three sets of wizard orbs appeared with one set of 21 orbs around each body. The middle clone smiled, ¡°Yep, we all have access to all of your abilities, perks, skills, and spells,¡± The middle replicant said. ¡°I guess it¡¯s time to get to work then, London?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°London,¡± The clone agreed as the clones absorbed the wizard orbs and then the three clones merged back into the original replicant. A Portal opened and the replicant was gone. Pandora sent a quick message explaining what was going on and not to be concerned when multiple requests from herself started hitting the portals. Next, Pandora sent off a command to the portal network. A portal opened and she stepped into her bedroom which had been converted into three small bedrooms for when Caspa and Thor separated from her. Pandora moved a chair beside the bed and sat down. She¡¯d come back to her room because If every replicant she created appeared nude she should probably do this somewhere private. Also, no reason to give away all her secrets, though anyone who had been in the mess hall closest to the City Node would have had to be someone somewhat trustworthy. Still better safe than sorry. Pandora sat down on her bed and started making Replicants. Chapter 40, Implosion Over the next 2 hours, Pandora made 100 Replicants. Ten of them went to each of the cities while the other 90 spread out throughout the world to various encampments were having problems. To maintain communication Pandora created a communications hub in Scarborough and sent out instructions using Nanite Communication. Each replicant then utilized Mold Chaos to create an earpiece that connected them to the hub. After a little trial and error utilizing some information from Thor¡¯s memories, channels were created from each Replicant''s Mindspace into her own utilizing Nanite Communication, and Pandora and the replicants were all flooded with information from each other. Unlike her father, who controlled a whole bunch of bodies from a singular consciousness. Pandora was a 101-individual consciousness based on the same template that stayed inter-connected. This allowed each body to make individual choices but it was a choice that any of the 100 would have made. The other thing that was interesting. Once all of them were connected each of the replicants thought of themselves as Pandora and the information she was receiving became just another memory she could call on. *** Pandora stepped from the portal to find herself l Cairo to find herself standing at the doors of the Ramses Hilton. She¡¯d chosen to come to this building to get her bearings. ¡°Seize Her!¡± a voice rang out in Arabic from the main door as 30 men in the area rushed toward her, ¡°She does not have a hijab, she must be punished!¡± Pandora ignored the men rushing her and began walking toward the man who had called out. Just as the first man was about to touch her she stopped suppressing her aura. Not a little, she stopped suppressing it completely. Aura was a combination of both her Willpower and Charisma. Her Willpower was currently 110,316 and her Charisma was 110,268. When she released it everyone within her visual range dropped unconscious. Luckily the SYSTEM didn¡¯t count releasing an aura as an attack or she¡¯d have been ejected from the Safe Zone. Pandora continued into the hotel and walked up to the City Node with no effort at all. She saw some people that hadn¡¯t been knocked unconscious but when they noted that she had seen them, they fled. A minute later the Safe Zone was claimed and the exemptions were removed. She also sent out a SYSTEM message to everyone within the City. Greetings, I am Pandora. This city is now under my control. Treat others with dignity and respect or you will find yourself ejected from the Safe Zone. More directions will be distributed shortly. *** This process was repeated in the other seven Safe Zones. Pandora¡¯s replicants were not required to lift a finger. They released their auras and walked right up to the City Nodes when issues came up. Only Cairo¡¯s residents had tried to attack her immediately. The other city leaders hadn¡¯t acted until she let them know she was taking over the cities. Her replicants in the Safe Zones dealt with setting up city councils and seeing to the safety and security of the people in those Safe Zones, some of which had been exploited. The other 90 replicants appeared around the world and started thinning out the monsters. Well 89 of them did. One remained in Scarborough, inside the shop, and began offloading loot or converting various coins into credits that all of her replicants could use from the shared inventory. Five Cubic Feet was not a lot of space. As the space was utilized it increased. Pandora watched as each skill level increased the cubic storage area by 1 foot. Unlike her normal inventory, the shared storage area did not receive a boost when increasing from one rarity rank to the next. At Skill Level Scarce 1 the area for the shared inventory was only 15 cubic feet. Because it was filling so quickly with monster pieces parts and loot one of the replicants stayed in the shop and offloaded materials as they appeared. Daisy of course was ecstatic as buying and selling materials seemed to be how she earned XP for her class. Pandora remained in Scarborough for a bit and then went to her room where she sat on her bed and dropped into her Mindspace. She didn¡¯t release Triumvirate because she wanted the full processing power of Thor and Caspa as she tried to figure out how Replicant was working. Once she was in her Mindspace she activated one of her newer skills, Soul Core Perception. It felt like she was being teleported as everything shifted around her and she appeared to be floating in in front of a large sphere with other smaller spheres orbiting it. As they moved close by each sphere listed a tool tip that held one of her Abilities, Titles Perks, or Skills. One of these days she was going to need to pick up some spells, maybe they¡¯d create spheres in this place also? Pandora focused on the sphere for Replicant and her surroundings shifted automatically until she stood before a sphere that continued to orbit around the large sphere that was the nucleus while she remained locked in front of it. As she focused on the sphere she noticed that 100 threads left the orb and launched out of the domain she stood in. When she focused on a thread an image of a replicant with a status screen below it appeared. The status screen detailed the replicant¡¯s current hit points, stamina, mana, and psychic energy. There also seemed to be a flow of energy coming down the thread into the sphere. Pandora deactivated Soul Core Perception and found herself back in her Mindspace. She opened her Status Screen and started checking her logs and memories that she¡¯d been archiving. Nothing had changed when she checked the logs but when she checked the memories that had automatically been archiving she started receiving combat notifications. Congratulations you have defeated a level 15 mutated Bear! Congratulations! You have defeated a level 12, Skrachee. Congratulations! You have defeated a level 16, Goblin. Congratulations! You have defeated a level 18, Orb Berserker. Pandora muted the notification after the first four as she started allowing the actions of the replicants to enter her mind immediately. It looked like she wouldn¡¯t get the XP from her replicants unless she experienced what they experienced. With Thor¡¯s memories to guide her she easily accepted the experiences of her 100 replicants. Over the next week, Pandora worked with Amanda and Abi to expand the bases portal support network while the replicants cleaned up the world and helped out people in general. The increased mana saturation led to 61 legendary, 545 Mythical, and 1,210 Epic monster spawns which one, or more, of her replicants destroyed. With satellite coverage and the portal network in place, her replicants took care of all the issues with ease. In addition to destroying monsters, the replicants used Mold Chaos to help repair and fix infrastructure as well as set up basic defenses for those settlements that were outside of a safe zone and refused to move. Bunkers were created with emergency phones that could get help to them or allow them to be evacuated into a Safe Zone using the Portal Network, if necessary In addition to high-level monster spawns her replicants were responsible for destroying over 36,000 basic, 9,000 scarce, 6,000 Rare, 4,000 advanced, and 3,000 master-level monster spawns. At least one replicant was busy fighting monster spawns at any given moment. Over the last week, the constant combat had helped her gain enough XP to earn three more levels as she rose from level 64 to 66. As part of their arsenal, each replicant could separate into multiple clones and create multiple sets of orbs which reinforced the idea that the class she¡¯d picked up was completely broken. At random intervals, she¡¯d feel kind of sluggish for a moment and then it would pass. She was having way too much fun and gaining too much XP to slow down. Part of her wanted that portal at Stonehenge to open a portal again so she could send a few replicants through but then she¡¯d be intruding on Umbrati¡¯s domain. She wasn¡¯t ready to make an enemy of a bonafide God. Not yet, maybe not ever. Pandora sent instructions to her Replicants in Shanghai, Cairo, New York, and Buenos Aires to purchase Nanite Stabilizers to cover a 25-mile radius for 1 billion credits for each of the Safe Zones and then get to work fixing the city. She¡¯d need another 4 billion credits to set up the last 4 Safe Zones with nanites so she let her Replicants continue helping people while also culling the monsters. Installing Nanite Stabilizers everywhere on the planet would be pointless but putting them in the ten Safe Zones the SYSTEM permitted made a lot of sense. While the replicants were busy, Pandora pulled on the memories from Thor and created a vacuum-sealed survey chamber with an interlocked pressure door system that would allow her to open portals to various environments and set up habitats without exposing the base to dangerous environments. One of the things she did not have was her father¡¯s adaptation abilities. Her Chaotic Nature and Damage Resistance allowed her to survive in extreme environments, including vacuum, but some of the things her father could do, like diving into black holes or swimming around in lava, yeah she couldn¡¯t do that, at least not yet. Now that she knew what her father was, or at least had been, capable of she had an idea of the skills and abilities she needed to unlock to match his abilities. For now, technology could be that bridge. Within the field of nanite stabilizers, she could use nanites to create anything she needed and then send it out through a portal into a location to create a habitat where she could survive. It¡¯s what Thor and Abi had been doing to set up the satellite network around Earth and it was what she was going to do now to set up a couple of bases on Mars, the Moon, and Pluto. She might move and try to spread out to other solar systems, but that was something for later. Right now, she wanted to put a backup plan in place for her family and friends. The first thing she did was create six satellites and place them 24 billion miles from the sun. Pluto orbited at about 3 billion miles. Four of the satellites were on the orbital plane 90 degrees offset from one another and the last two were placed on the Z-Axis one above and one below the orbital plane. That way she would have orbital coverage of the whole solar system. It would take light from the sun about 24 hours to reach the satellite so she should be able to see all objects orbiting the sun within 24 hours that were within the radius of her satellites. Pandora looked on from the control room of her new Survey chamber as she dedicated six micro-portals to keep the satellites linked to the semi-sentient quantum computer in Scarborough and put it to work. The data would be added to a 3-D model which should be able to detect and predict the movement of objects within the Solar System. Satisfied with the progress her replicants and the A.I. were making Pandora paused for a moment when the sluggishness returned full force. A feeling of immense pressure came from within her. Pandora walked into the vacuum chamber and sealed it before she paused everything else she was doing and retreated into her Mindspace where something had changed. She felt a pulling sensation toward the center of her Mindscape. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. The portal to her Soulcore was represented by a circular pond situated at the center of her Mindscape. As she moved up to it she noticed that a circular motion had started to appear on the surface. As she watched a dip formed in the center and an inverted water, or air spout began descending into the depths. Pandora knew that there was a conduit to her Soulcore here and usually the path was sealed. Right now, though it looked like something was causing a path to be opened from her Soul Core into her Mindspace. Thor had memories of Adam¡¯s interaction with the two parts of his soul but for him the door was open and he transferred between each at will. She wasn¡¯t so fortunate. Pandora activated Soul Core Perception. The fountain fell away and the path to her Soul Core opened up. Additionally, she could also see that while energy seemed to be flowing from her Mindspace toward her Soul Core tendrils of very thin, almost invisible energy were reaching out of the vortex in all directions. What the hell was going on? She thought to ask Thor when she received her first surprise. She could not deactivate the Triumvirate. Pandora calmed her mind followed the conduit into her Soul Core and received her second surprise. The sphere, or node, labeled Creature of Chaos had those thin translucent webs reaching out in all directions and latching onto every other sphere in this space including what passed for the nucleus. There was an incredibly thick conduit of the strands reaching from her Replicant skill sphere to her nucleus, or was it reaching from her nucleus to the Replicant skill sphere? As she came into the space one of the strands touched her and she froze. As she froze she felt energy reach out from within her and each of the Replicants she¡¯d made winked out of existence as the energy was somehow reabsorbed into her and the memories and minds she created were added to her own. She thought her replicants would fight what was happening but realized that it happened so fast that none of them had any warning. It didn¡¯t matter if a replicant was only one clone of herself or if it had separated into 10 or 100 clones to help out an area. Every single replicant clone of herself on Earth disappeared as the chaos that made them up was reabsorbed. What the hell was going on? Pandora watched as more and more threads exploded from her Creature of Chaos sphere and filled the space around her. She could also sense that her Mindspace was now filled with threads and that they were trying to expand out of it. With every ounce of his willpower, Pandora commanded the chaos to only affect her, nothing more. One of her memories from Thor hinted at what might be happening but she didn¡¯t have time to think about it because it was all she could do to hold that one thought in her mind. The threads of chaos, because that¡¯s all it could be, spread out as Pandora focused her will to contain that Chaos within herself. As they began to slow she knew that she¡¯d been successful because she couldn¡¯t feel anything leaving her body. The sensation of growth from her Creature of Chaos sphere slowed and finally stopped. She¡¯d done it! Pandora was able to relax for a moment even though she knew whatever was happening wasn¡¯t over yet but she would accept the reprieve for what it was. She considered everything she knew. Memories from Thor indicated that her father almost always had more attributes than chaos which made controlling the chaos much easier. In Pandora¡¯s case though, Chaos was part of her makeup in the form of Caspa and her attributes were incredibly lower than the amount of Chaos she¡¯d absorbed. If she had to guess the genie that was her soul bottle had been limited by the SYSTEM and the size of the genie in the bottle was much more than the vessel the SYSTEM had allowed could handle. Though she¡¯d spread that chaos out into her Replicants, which in turn had started generating even more chaos which was all linked back through her. Which meant? Which meant that she was either going to explode or something else was going to happen. If the energy were inverted, could a Universe be created within a Soul out here in the real world? Sure, Dad had done it but that had been part of a virtual universe. One of Thor¡¯s memories from his time working for the SYSTEM surfaced, all physical and virtual universal models are valid. Wait, what? Was all the time Pandora had to think before the expansion reversed and Pandora''s Soul Core, Mindspace, and Body were converted into chaos, reduced to a single point, and vanished. *** ¡°What did the nanites in the room detect?¡± Amanda asked Abi, as Pandora¡¯s Grandmother and Grandfather looked around the room after watching the video that showed Pandora standing in the middle of the vacuum chamber with an intense look of concentration on her face. A moment later she shrank to a single point of light where the center of her chest had been a moment before and vanished. ¡°Quantum signatures were detected from the other Pandora clones that appeared, which coincided with the disappearance of the 100 Pandora clones that were working around the world. A millisecond later they closed and one quantum signature appeared that we didn¡¯t recognize. The energy that was Pandora reduced to zero and then winked out of existence,¡± Abi said. ¡°Where did she go?¡± Amanda asked. Abi shared a holographic screen with everyone in the room. Pandora is not within the SYSTEM Domain. ¡°You bought the information from the SYSTEM?¡± Cindy Bennard, Pandora¡¯s grandmother asked. ¡°I also asked where she was, this is the other answer I received?¡± Abi said. Chaotic Imbalance has removed itself from the local SYSTEM Domain. Commence normal Mana Integration. ¡°Removed itself? Is it saying she chose to do this?¡± Robert Bennard, Pandora¡¯s Grandfather asked. ¡°We¡¯ve all watched the video, I don¡¯t think she knew what was happening until it happened,¡± Abi thoughtfully. ¡°Still where did she end up?¡± Amanda asked. ¡°No idea,¡± Abi said. *** Pandora came to the awareness with no sense of up, down, or her body. She simply felt herself floating along like she was in a stream of water that happened to be her body temperature. As she floated along, stress left her as did any semblance of coherent thought. She had no idea how long she floated along as she enjoyed the relaxing feeling of the current. Eventually, a thought crossed her mind which brought her back to herself, Where am I? That thought was like a shock to her system as Pandora tried to open her eyes and realized that they were open even though she couldn¡¯t see anything. She tried to listen but only heard a dull whine in the background, almost static, but not quite. It was like¡­It was like billions upon billions of noises combined to a point where you couldn¡¯t tell them apart. She tried to touch something but couldn¡¯t feel her fingers. She tried to take a deep breath to smell something but couldn¡¯t do that either. Finally, she tried to taste something but again nothing changed. What was going on? Pandora tried to open her Status Screen. Status Screen unavailable ¡°There she is!¡± A male voice called from all around Pandora, ¡°Here let me help you.¡± Suddenly Pandora¡¯s nude body formed around her and she found herself floating with clones of herself that extended in all directions as far as she could see. There were so many that there were columns and rows along all three axes. If she could see the outside of this formation she wouldn¡¯t be surprised if her bodies formed a gigantic cube made up of her bodies. ¡°What is going on?¡± Pandora asked from her newly formed mouth. ¡°One second,¡± The voice called back. A moment later every other clone of hers disappeared and she was left floating by herself again. ¡°What is going on?¡± Pandora asked again. Pandora¡¯s surroundings shifted and morphed into a balcony, complete with a table on a patio that looked down from a cliff onto the sun setting on the ocean. Complete with pink and purple fluffy clouds. Across from her was a human dressed in casual shorts and a light blue polo shirt. ¡°Please sit, we have a moment before I send you back.¡± The man said. Figuring there was no point in arguing, Pandora walked over to one of the chairs at the table and sat down. She looked around one more time and couldn¡¯t tell if what she saw was real or an illusion. ¡°It¡¯s all real enough, Pandora.¡± ¡°Are you reading my mind?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Yes and no. In this place your thoughts are known to me.¡± ¡°You know my name, what am I to call you?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°You can call me Xavier if you like. I can see from your memories that Professor X was a very powerful fictional character in your¡­wait, Those are Adam¡¯s memories. What is going on? Ahh, that is interesting.¡± Pandora waited patiently. ¡°Very well, an analogy then. I see from the memories you hold that you understand how black holes are formed. In the simplest terms I can use, You became a black hole. Not in the literal sense of course. Actually, it would be more appropriate to say that you became a chaotic hole, but that doesn¡¯t exactly fit so let¡¯s stick with the black hole analogy.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Pandora said hesitantly. ¡°Using that comparison let''s pretend for a second that the chaos that was carried around in your Soul had mass. Chaos normally conforms to its environment or reverts to its natural state. Well, inside Creatures of Chaos what that means is that as long as your total base Chaos is less than the sum of your attributes it will adhere to your will for the most part and only act out once in a while. In your case you had Caspa helping you out which further reduced the chance that the chaos held by you would act chaoticially¡± ¡°What was supposed to happen?¡± Pandora asked worriedly. ¡°Normally when one cannot control the Chaos within themselves, the chaos erupts from them, killing them and anything around them. In your case, because of Caspa, exactly how insanely high your attributes were, and a few other factors the chaos within you worked to return to its origin point, where you are now,¡± Xavier said. ¡°Where is that exactly?¡± ¡°You are currently outside of the SYSTEM you are familiar with in what you would term a Plane of Elemental, or Primal, Chaos. If you were not a Creature of Chaos, you would have been converted into and then absorbed by the Chaos here.¡± ¡°And the copies of myself?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Replicants all. They will be receiving a copy of everything you¡¯ve learned concerning attributes and the need to keep your Chaos below the sum of your attributes but I¡¯ve sent them elsewhere.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°The Chaos within you was yours. It had to be used by you. I may have cheated a bit by forcing your hand but in the long run, I think it¡¯ll work out better for everyone,¡± Xavier said. ¡°Where did you send them, and why can¡¯t I feel them?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Well, the reason you can¡¯t feel them is because I modified your Class Skill. You can look that over when you get back to the Earth you came here from. As for where I sent them. How to explain this quickly? Simple version. If there is 100% of a Universe, The SYSTEM controls just over 20%. The other 80% either does not have SYSTEM oversight or is controlled by a different SYSTEM, though the SYSTEM you¡¯re used to is the largest by far. That SYSTEM is constantly expanding and growing and someday it will probably control 100% of the Universe in this model. ¡° ¡°So, the SYSTEM is trying to take over the Multiverse, I understand the context,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Sort of, and remember that I said if there was 100%, how reality is set up is a lot more complicated than something so simple. Let¡¯s get back to answering your question. I sent your replicants to every universe and dimension I could that is outside of the current SYSTEM. Because there were so many of you I had to adjust a few things about your class skill. The primary of which is that All information and energy from you to your replicants or your replicants to you comes through this realm which I hold dominion over. You cannot gain XP for levels or Skills from those Replicants yet but they are helping you and the SYSTEM spread. How will become known after you reach beyond level 100 of Teir 5. ¡°So what good is that Class Skill then?¡± Pandora said. ¡°As I said, I changed it. It works as normal for any Replicant within the same dimensional plane as you. Otherwise, you are cut off from them. How the Replicants are helping you for the future is known by me.¡± ¡°Why are you doing this? Also, it seems like you¡¯re helping me, so why are you helping me?¡± ¡°You are unique in this interaction, even if there are now so many copies of you that you hold hands across the breadth of your universe. You are important because we hope that you or your father will succeed where so many others have failed.¡± ¡°No pressure then?¡± ¡°None whatsoever,¡± Xavier said with a smile. ¡°Very well, is there anything else I need to know?¡± ¡°Your friends and family are worried about you; I¡¯ll be opening a portal for you to re-emerge near them. ¡°Very well, and thank you, Xavier. Until we meet again.¡± ¡°Until we meet again,¡± Xavier said as a portal appeared and Pandora was sucked through without a preamble. Unlike the portals her network created or even theoretical wormholes, the travel wasn¡¯t instantaneous and Pandora felt like she was falling through a very long tunnel. When she finally emerged from the tunnel, the portal was oriented so that the opening was above her bed and parallel to the floor. She landed on her bed as the portal winked out. An Alarm sounded and four portals opened with men pointing guns at her as she tried to roll around and sit up. What the hell, the blanket was fighting her. ¡°Freeze! Wait! Pandora?¡± a familiar voice called as one of the men with a gun trained on her rushed through the portal and pulled her into a hug. It only took her a moment to recognize that it was her dark elf friend, Robert, before she also recognized the fact that she was naked. ¡°Robert?¡± ¡°Where have you been we¡¯ve been so worried about you!¡± Robert exclaimed as Pandora noticed that the other three guards were stowing their weapons and were studiously not looking through their portal at her. ¡°Robert?¡± ¡°Do you know that you¡¯ve been gone for almost five years now! Five Years! Even your dad stopped by. You missed that. He did something and made all of us as strong as you, it¡¯s been crazy fun whipping this planet¡­. ¡°ROBERT!¡± Pandora yelled as she pushed against him, which was actually kind of hard to do. Wait, did he say Dad had visited? ¡°No need to yell,¡± Robert said as he backed away and looked down. It was at that moment he realized that she was naked. She knew this because his eyes went wide. Pandora hadn¡¯t known until that moment that dark elves could blush. ¡°Like what you see?¡± Pandora said, to drive the point home. ¡°Um,¡± Robert said ¡°Nice try Pandora. The only appropriate answer I can give is ¡°Yes, of course,¡± he said with a wink. Pandora couldn¡¯t even be mad. That was a great response. Also, damn it, she was blushing. Chapter 41, Beta Test With a thought, Pandora clothed herself with Mold Chaos, ¡°Okay shows over!¡± Robert laughed, ¡°You know it¡¯s not over. It¡¯s only a matter of time before you find yourself naked again. I think you do it on purpose.¡± Pandora stood and walked over to Robert as she gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, ¡°You might be right,¡± she said with a mischievous grin, ¡°More importantly it¡¯s really nice to see you again,¡± Pandora said with a smile as Robert smiled awkwardly. As she stepped back from Robert, portals began opening around her and everyone dear to her made an appearance. The only one who noticed anything between Robert and Pandora was Cedrik who had looked at Robert and then herself and said, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with Robert?¡± Pandora ignored the question until everyone was present and then launched into what had happened to her. When she was done, because it didn¡¯t take long to explain that she¡¯d been sucked into Chaos, someone named Xavier had helped her and removed most of the chaos from her body, and then she¡¯d come home. Amanda was the first to comment, ¡°That doesn¡¯t seem like it should have taken you five years?¡± I think it took me a little while to come back to myself after I arrived in that place,¡± Pandora said thoughtfully. ¡°Well, while you were busy finding yourself,¡± Abi said with a hint of mirth in her voice, ¡°The rest of us were busy cleaning up the mess you left when every single one of your clones disappeared. By the way, what happened to all of your clones?¡± ¡°Ummm,¡± Pandora hedged as she thought about how to explain what had happened to the chaos within her body, ¡°As far as I can tell, the entity I encountered removed all the excess chaos from my body, created replicants and sent them into non-SYSTEM regulated universes and dimensions.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound so bad,¡± Abi said.¡± ¡°Yeah, so how many copies of you are out there in the, what do they call it here, oh yeah, multi-verse?¡± Cedrik asked. ¡°Well, about one-half of a googol,¡± Pandora said.¡± ¡°One half of a googol? You have a number of copies with at least 50 zeros behind it?¡± Abi asked indignantly. ¡°Exactly how many zeros are behind that first number?¡± ¡°The first number is a 3 and there are 43 zeros after it,¡± Pandora said. ¡°That¡¯s a lot,¡± Cindy Bennard said. Cedrick laughed, ¡°Pandora, does that mean there¡¯s one of you out there that will go on a date with me?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know Cedrick, I think I¡¯m way too many women for you to handle at this point,¡± Pandora said with a straight face. Cedrick¡¯s grin turned to a frown as the room erupted in laughter. ¡°All digging and snide comments aside,¡± Amanda began, ¡°What are all of the other copies of yourself doing?¡± ¡°I have no idea,¡± Pandora said, ¡°Xavier told me that he tweaked my skill so that I can only connect with those replicants of myself that are in the same dimension. Also, he didn¡¯t say it but I think that there¡¯s a limit to how many of the replicants I can maintain a connection with at any moment, or clones when I split normally with one of my other skills.¡± ¡°That sounds like you were nerfed,¡± Clarence said. ¡°Nerfed?¡± Pandora asked thoughtfully as the meaning was given to her from Thor¡¯s memories, ¡°That sounds about right. Enough about me, what¡¯s happened since I¡¯ve been gone?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Why don¡¯t we make ourselves more comfortable and move to the executive meeting room,¡° Amanda said. ¡°Yep, we also have a Semi-Artificial Defense Network that Abi created. It needs a little tweak but you, or Thor, can do that after the meeting,¡± Amanda said as a portal opened into a room with a very large table surrounded by very comfortable-looking executive leather chairs. Everyone made their way into the room and took a seat while Pandora tried to shut down Triumvirate. It hadn¡¯t worked when she was talking to Xavier but here she had no issues. Free at last, Thor said. You sound like it was torture. It wasn¡¯t that bad. I would even say that it seems to have brought us closer together, Caspa answered. Pandora entered the mental conversation, Thor, put a semi-sentient A.I. in charge of the defenses here that Abi created. Could you check it out, tweak it, and get it up to Dad¡¯s standard, please? Can do! Thor answered. Pandora acknowledged the response and then turned her attention to Caspa, Caspa, Why don¡¯t you stay in contact with Thor while he¡¯s upgrading the defenses and help the response teams if any hot spots appear? Sounds good, Caspa answered. Pandora split into three clones. One continued to look like her while the other two modified their appearances to make the three of them identifiable as Pandora, Caspa, and Thor. A portal appeared which Caspa and then Thor stepped through into the Control Center. ¡°Back at it?¡± Abi asked. ¡°Well, the most powerful beings on the planet, as far as I know, are all in this room. I figured since I can do three things at once I¡¯d put Thor and Caspa to work. Thor is going to handle upgrading the defensive network while Caspa assists the rapid response forces if necessary,¡± Pandora said as she took a seat at the round table. Round Table? How interesting. Either someone liked mythology or someone wanted meetings in this room to seem like everyone had an equal say. It was probably Amanda¡¯s idea. Pandora had to admit, it was a good one. Everyone summoned a drink with nanites before Amanda continued, ¡°When you disappeared we had to scramble to make sure everyone around the world was taken care of. Since you¡¯d taken out most of the incredibly difficult monsters we were able to keep up and get Adventuring teams as part of our quick reaction force. Desirae and Clarence have even set up an Adventuring Guild based on the guild from Primore, her original world.¡± ¡°We all stepped up and helped them as well,¡± Callum said as Pythias, Asling, Cedrik, and Robert nodded. We¡¯ve been helping the traumatized and supporting teams that get in over their head,¡± Cindy Bennard said as she indicated her Grandfather and herself. ¡°As for me,¡± Abi said, ¡°I run support from her or from the vehicle Thor left us before you were pulled out of this Universe.¡± ¡°About two years after you disappeared your father stopped by and increased all of our base attributes to 100,000. Before you ask, no we don¡¯t know how he did it. He was here and then something happened that forced him to leave. He did say that he would try to stop by again but we all agree that it seemed like he was giving us the tools we needed to make sure we could take care of ourselves.¡± ¡°You should have seen us, Pandora,¡± Cedrik started, ¡°Callum punched a rock elemental so hard it exploded. In fact, we¡¯ve all had to learn to tone down how we react to things. None of us knew how hard it was to control ourselves with such strength until we had it. I still can¡¯t believe how easy you made it look.¡± ¡°So, the eleven of you have been having a bit of fun I take it,¡± Pandora commented. ¡°A little bit,¡± Asling agreed. ¡°How are the safe zones doing?¡± At that moment Notifications scrolled through her vision. SYSTEM Notification. This Universe has been added to a current Beta Test. Please Wait while adjustments are made. Adjustments? What kind of Adjustments? At that moment Pandora felt time stop. She couldn¡¯t sense what happened while time froze around her, she simply knew that one moment she was fine, and the next moment some time had passed. Thor¡¯s memories informed her that her father had become immune to temporal manipulations long ago and while she couldn¡¯t be wiped out of existence due to a Grandfather Paradox, she could still be frozen in time. Her thoughts were interrupted as more notifications scrolled down her vision. Universe Designation changed to Beta 001aE001001 If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The following SYSTEM Wide Changes will take place immediately Safe Zones have been redefined. Monsters will not Spawn within Safe Zones The SYSTEM will no longer automatically police Safe Zones. The following Upgrades are now available to Safe Zones
  • SYSTEM Shop Access.
  • Guardians can be purchased to deal with monsters and individuals that violate Safe Zones. Cost dependent on the level of Guardian.
  • Safe Rooms: Individuals can purchase rooms to rest in that reside in adjacent dimensions to their current location. These rooms are SYSTEM secured and can only be entered by the user, SYSTEM Administrators, Gods, and beings more powerful than those defined as Gods.
Skills now show linear progression: Class Level Limits removed. Each Class now has eight Rarity Levels: Common, Scarce, Rare, Advanced, Master, Epic, Mythical, and Legendary. Additional classes can be chosen once prerequisites are met but choosing multiple classes is no longer required. Maximum Number of Classes: 5 Minor adjustments have been made to Abilities, Skills, and Spells. Unused XP Frozen for Subsequent Use: 422,891,735 You previously earned enough XP to attain a Tier III class at level 91. The change to Class progression will allow you to choose a 3rd, 4th, and even 5th Class that this XP could be divided into evenly. Alternatively, you could choose to split this unused XP between your two current classes. Please visit your nearest SYSTEM Shop, or activate SYSTEM Node Access, to make your choice. Pandora¡¯s attention was pulled from her notifications as Desirae exclaimed, ¡°What in the actual Fuck!¡± ¡°I still have my attributes and levels!¡± Cedrik called out. ¡°Me too,¡± Pandora heard Asling say as everyone around the table agreed that they also had their attributes and classes. ¡°What¡¯s a Beta test?¡± Callum asked. ¡°A Beta Test in this context is a SYSTEM change for us that is not true for everyone in the SYSTEM,¡± Pandora said as Thor¡¯s memories helped her come up with an answer for Callum. ¡°So, what does that mean for us?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°Well, right now it means that we probably need to end this meeting and get someone to each Safe Zone. There¡¯s no telling what will happen with the Safe Zone restrictions lifted,¡± Amanda said. ¡°Pandora, can you split up like you did before?¡± Abi asked. ¡°I can make full replicas of myself and leave one in each Safe Zone but I can only make one every four minutes.,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Alright,¡± Amanda said and then took on an authoritative tone, ¡°Callum, you¡¯ve got Shanghai. Pythias, head to Cairo. Cedrick, you¡¯ve got London. Asling, head to New York. Robert, the dark elf, You¡¯ve got Buenos Aires. Cindy, you take New York, Robert, Grandpa, you take Manila. Desirae, Moscow. Clarence, you take Paris. Abi you stay here with Pandora, and I¡¯ll take Chicago.¡± ¡°What do you want me to do?¡± Pandora asked. As portals started opening behind each person at the table Amanda said, ¡°Make your replicants and replace us. Me first, so I can get back here and coordinate with Abi. Once you¡¯re in each of the Safe Zone¡¯s we¡¯ll fortify our position and make sure everyone is safe. Maybe even buy some of these guardians that were mentioned in the notifications. Pandora nodded and created her first replicant. The clone of Pandora stepped back from the table as another portal opened behind her and the clone stepped through to Amanda¡¯s location. Pandora followed Abi out of the room as she led them to the control room. ¡°Abi, I have memories of Adam taking over at least two different Earths. What is it with people not understanding that they have it good and should just accept that they can¡¯t change things¡± Pandora asked. ¡°If you have Adam¡¯s memories then you also have memories of all the courses he took in college as well as everything else he learned about human nature during all of his trials,¡± Abi said. ¡°I do. Are you telling me that people take actions based purely on what they think without looking at something from a logical point of view?¡± ¡°Amanda would call it an ¡®Emotional Response¡¯,¡± Abi said. ¡°That just seems stupid,¡± Pandora declared. ¡°You might have the combined knowledge of a dragon and a man who is a lot older than he appears but you are still young. People do things for crazy reasons; Love, hate, just because it''s fun, or are you telling me you¡¯ve never noticed that your friend Cedrik does insanely stupid shit just to see what happens?¡± Abi asked. ¡°I never noticed. I mean, I know he¡¯s a smart-ass but that¡¯s not the same as doing crazy things just because,¡± Pandora said, ¡°When your dad improved all of our attributes, Cedrik might have done a few morally questionable things,¡± Abi said with a sigh. ¡°Like what?¡± ¡°Well you know he¡¯s basically a stealth specialist right?¡± When Pandora nodded, Abi continued, ¡°How hard do you think it is to notice a stealth specialist focused on Shadow Magic.¡± ¡°While I¡¯m not focused on stealth, Shadows are my thing as well, so I would say quite hard,¡± Pandora said. ¡°How many times do you think our nanites noticed Cedrick in the female communal showers on the recreation floor here in the bunker?¡± ¡°He wasn¡¯t?¡± Pandora said with a laugh. ¡°He was,¡± Abi said as she looked at Pandora sternly. ¡°What, he¡¯s a pervert, everyone knows that. Honestly, I don¡¯t see what the big deal is, everyone comes into this world nude,¡± Pandora said. Abi¡¯s expression changed to a more neutral one, ¡°That sounds like something your mom would say,¡± Abi observed. ¡°I am my mother¡¯s daughter. Besides, Cedrik has seen me naked multiple times. I can tell he appreciates the view but he doesn¡¯t seem to be weird about it. Did you ask him what he was doing?¡± ¡°His answer, and I quote was, ¡®I was testing my ability to hide while enjoying the view¡¯¡± Pandora laughed, ¡°Yep, sounds like something he¡¯d say. So how¡¯d you get him to stop.¡± ¡°I informed him that our sensors could find him anywhere inside the safe zones and that if he continued acting like a lech the next time I caught him he would find himself at McMurdo in the Antarctic.¡± Information about McMurdo from Thor¡¯s memories popped into her mind. Pandora laughed before she asked,¡± I have to know, what did he say to that?¡± ¡°He said, he¡¯d be fine, he¡¯d just swim back.¡± Pandora did some quick math, ¡°Manila is the closest Safe Zone to that base and it¡¯s over 6,000 miles away. London is over 10,000 miles away. Even if he could move as fast as I can, it would still take him over 3 days to get to Manila and 5 days to get back to London, because he¡¯d have to swim, and not fly. I mean I could make it back to London in just over 3 hours, or Manila in under 2, but I can transform into a dragon and fly incredibly fast,¡± Pandora said thoughtfully. Abi smiled maliciously, when I opened a very small portal and used it as a shower to drench him in almost freezing water, Cedrick, decided that no amount of exposure to water that cold was worth it, even if he could tolerate it with his new constitution and endurance.¡± ¡°You, didn¡¯t?¡± ¡°Yep, I opened a very small portal just below the surface of the water near McMurdo that deposited the water that came through out of a portal that opened directly above his head. I only kept it open for a second, but the water rushed through and drenched him,¡± Abi said with a laugh. Pandora laughed with Abi, ¡°I wish I could have seen it.¡± ¡°You should have seen the look on¡­oh wait you can¡±, as a monitor on the wall showed an image of Cedrick talking to Abi. ¡°I¡¯ll just swim back,¡± Cedrik said. ¡°Oh really, through water this cold,¡± Abi asked as a portal opened above him and water flowed through drenching Cedrik. Pandora also noticed that none of the water flowed out from Cedrick as it was broken down by the nanites in the hallway they were talking in. Cedrick looked at Abi in shock and then fright. ¡°Holy shit, That¡¯s Cold!¡± Cedrik exclaimed ¡°I told you!¡± Abi said. ¡°Why would you do that, you could have just opened a portal and let me touch the water to prove your point?¡± Cedrick asked as he pushed his hair out of his eyes and tried to wipe the water off himself. ¡°First, after what you¡¯ve been up to, you needed a cold shower. Second, it was more fun this way,¡± Abi said as the image faded. ¡°I see,¡± Pandora said. ¡°Note to self, don¡¯t act like a pervert around Abi.¡± Abi laughed, ¡°I don¡¯t mind perverts, ¡°Abi said and then explained, ¡°I just wanted to have a little fun at Cedrick¡¯s expense. Besides, can anyone here stop anyone else from doing any damn thing they want to?¡± ¡°I guess not,¡± Pandora said thoughtfully, ¡°Well unless we really had to but that kind of stopping someone is usually reserved for our enemies,¡± Abi nodded in agreement before Pandora asked, ¡°Has Cedrick calmed down?¡± ¡°He has. But truthfully, we¡¯ve been far too busy to worry about a little lecherous behavior,¡± Abi said. At that moment a portal opened and Amanda stepped back into the control room, ¡°Back so soon?¡± Abi asked. ¡°Pandora, her clone, anyway, can handle any problems in Chicago,¡± How are the other clones coming?¡± Pandora created another replicant of herself and sent that one to help her grandmother in New York. As the Replicant stepped through a portal Pandora answered Amanda, ¡°That¡¯s the second one,¡± ¡°It¡¯s been what, 10 minutes, you said you could make one every four?¡± Amanda said thoughtfully. ¡°I was sidetracked by Abi¡¯s story about Cedrik¡¯s Arctic Shower,¡± Pandora said with a mischievous smile. Amanda laughed, ¡°Oh yeah, that was great. We gave him hell for at least a week afterward. Even so, let''s get those replicants out to everyone as quickly as possible. With the high mana levels and the fact that the Safe Zones are no longer completely safe, I have a feeling the more of you there are, the better. Besides, it¡¯s not just the 10 major Safe Zones we have to worry about, there are other cities that are not Safe Zones that will need some help.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Pandora agreed. ¡°Have you figured out how many replicants you can control at one time yet?¡± Amanda asked. ¡°Not yet, but now is as good as any other time to find out. I¡¯ll just keep making replicants until I hit my limit,¡± Pandora said as she went to work. After she¡¯d created one replicant for each Safe Zone, Pandora considered that she wasn¡¯t receiving any information from the Replicants she¡¯d created. With a thought, she dropped her Point of View into her Mindspace to figure out what was going on. The first thing she noticed was that a new building had formed. As she moved inside the building she noticed that ten monitors were up and running and that live feeds were showing what each of her replicants were doing at that moment. Pandora looked over the monitors and realized they were doing a whole lot of nothing. Well not nothing, each seemed to be getting to know the city they were in as they walked around to familiarize themselves with the city and the people in it. That¡¯s when Pandora noticed that the reason that the information hadn¡¯t become apparent to her was because a shadow of herself was sorting information and storing it. As she examined the shadow of herself she realized that her subconscious had automatically set up this information-sorting area in her mind and the shadow of herself was a manifestation of that sorting function. As an Eleventh monitor was forming Pandora exited her Mindspace and made her eleventh Replicant. Pandora went back to the meeting room, took a seat, and made a replicant every 4 minutes. Since she was going to be here for a while she might as well get something to eat and check on the status of London and Scarborough. Pandora activated Nanite Communication to connect with the new defense system Thor was creating and started looking over the two cities through the nanite network. Since she would be here for a while, she might as well see how the normal people in the cities were doing. Chapter 42, Catastrophe While Pandora reviewed what everyone in London and Scarborough had been up to, she ate her lunch and designated her mana regeneration rate to purchase a replicant. After 4 minutes, she realized she wasn¡¯t done. She was nowhere close to done. It had only taken her 4 minutes to create a replicant before. Pandora pulled up her Status, looked over the cost of making a replicant, and froze. It wasn¡¯t going to take her 4 minutes to create a Replicant; it was going to take 17 hours. Pandora opened her Status screen and looked over her information. The change to the SYSTEM when the BETA was instituted had made a few significant changes that she hadn¡¯t really considered when she¡¯d received the notification. Additionally, the five years she was away also added a few changes. (See Below for the Full Expanded Character Sheet) Pandora¡¯s eyes were immediately drawn to the changes to her classes. Instead of a Tier 1 and a Tier 2 class, she now had a 1st and a 2nd Class. Additionally, her class, ¡°Creature of Chaos,¡± had been changed from a Rare Class to a Mythical Class. Replicator had also been upgraded to a Mythical Class. That wasn¡¯t the most impressive thing. Whatever the SYSTEM had done to modify her classes had also applied all of her saved-up Experience that she¡¯d been planning to dump into a Tier 3 Class back into her 1st and 2nd Class, which now didn¡¯t seem to have a maximum level. She knew this because instead of level 100 in each class, her class ¡°Creature of Chaos¡± was Level 11,882, and her class ¡°Replicator¡± was Level 11,753. Additionally, her attributes seemed to be automatically distributed after she¡¯d reached level 100 in each of those classes. Between the 100,000 attributes in each category for her Perk Skeleton Key and the 50 attributes she received for each Mythical Class level, her basic attributes were each over 197,000. With her efficiency bonuses, each attribute easily broke 200,000. She thought back to the moment when she¡¯d stepped back through the portal and considered that she hadn¡¯t felt any different, but there was no doubt that her attributes were now much greater. Now that she knew there had been major changes, she looked over her Chaos and Attributes to see why it was taking so long to create the replicants and sighed. Her effective Chaos had been reduced from a googol-sized amount to 2,439,664. While her base attributes had increased, they only added up to 2,211,451, which meant that her Chaos attribute was now 228,213 more than her combined attributes. A little quick calculation put her at 109.35% capacity. Caspa was supposed to help her regulate the chaos within her to prevent another implosion from happening. While the SYSTEM hadn''t said anything specifically about the amount of her chaos that could exceed her total attributes, she was pretty sure less than 10% would be fine. Unfortunately, that meant that the 221,165,100-mana required to make a single replicant, her total attributes plus weight multiplied by 100, would take¡­17 hours. Seventeen Hours? Well, actually, it would have taken more like 34 hours, but luckily, she was not limited by only her Mana Regeneration. In fact, she might be able to utilize the regeneration pools of her Replicants. If she was correct, as she created more Replicants, the time required to make the next one would be reduced if she could utilize all of the resource regeneration from each replicant and herself. Pandora continued creating her Replicant. As the day wore on, she received reports from everyone that the various Safe Zones were being stabilized. Adventuring parties had been sent out to sweep the safe zones and also patrol the borders in case there were any monsters nearby. Thor also continued moving people in hard-to-reach areas into the Safe Zones while he used the Nanites to create safe areas that were enclosed and protected from ground and air attacks. One of the games her father played, Shadowrun, had this idea for fully self-sustained buildings, which were called archologies. While she wouldn¡¯t be able to create something like that as quickly as her father might have been able to, she could lay the foundation and make something like that. An area that was enclosed on all sides contained areas for housing, eating, and recreation. The nanite stabilizers made acquiring food a nonissue, but Pandora made sure to let Thor know to set aside space for farmland and water reclamation. Of course, they had magic that could be used, but she wanted to make sure people would be able to thrive if technology and magic failed again. She also made sure to have Thor spread out the various structures so everyone wouldn¡¯t be killed if there was a catastrophic accident. It would take a couple of weeks, but setting up the plans for the living areas helped pass the time and allowed Pandora to utilize skills she hadn¡¯t used in a while. She was slightly surprised when she finished creating her first replicant under the new SYSTEM rules. Her first replicant opened her eyes and utilized Mold Chaos to clothe herself. The replicant made eye contact with her, and a mental channel formed between them. Pandora immediately realized that the replicant was not a true clone with its own wants and needs. It was an extension of herself. While it was an exact duplicate of her, only one mind was shared between both. Pandora played with the mental link a bit and was able to cut off the communication between them. When she activated the link again, there was a moment when information was shared, and then she was a singular consciousness again. For all intents and purposes, the replicants were her, and she was the replicants. Pandora had her first replicant begin funneling her Mana, Stamina, and Psychic Energy into her original body, which she would now refer to as Pandora Prime. This increased her mana regeneration and allowed her to reduce the time it took to make the next replicant to 9 hours. When she finished creating the second replicant, the process became even faster. In total, it took 54 hours for Pandora to create ten Replicants to replace her family and friends in each Safe Zone. Once a Replicant was in place in each of the ten Safe Zones, her family rested and then began taking out teams to hunt monsters. The influx of mana had increased the spawn rate to such an extent that patrolling and keeping the Safes Zones safe was becoming a full-time job. The nanites in each area helped, but they still had to send out teams to deal with the monsters. Luckily, most of the monsters that were spawning were lower than level 20, but it still took time to coordinate a team to go out and gain experience. Desirae and Clarence seemed to be having a ball as they responded to the monster spawns, while her grandfather and grandmother mostly offered support as healers. Cedrik, Robert, Callum, and Asling had all gone off with separate teams. She was just about to finish up the last of the ten replicants so she could relieve Pythias and have him get to work, too. She finished creating her Replicant and allowed her consciousness to assume control as she stepped through a portal into the Administrative Building for Cairo. Pythias looked up from his desk, where he was reading from a monitor. ¡°Pandora?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°For all intents and purposes, yes. We are connected mentally,¡± Pandora said as a notification popped into her vision. You have entered the Cairo Safe Zone. Monsters will NOT Spawn within this Safe Zone. Warning: Monsters may still wander into this Safe Zone Guardians Assigned to this Safe Zone: None It looked like the changes to the Safe Zones were taking effect. As for the Guardians. Should she spend some credits on that or just utilize her replicants? That was something they¡¯d all have to discuss as they moved forward. Pandora looked around. Pythias had placed his desk with his back to a glass wall that looked toward the Pyramids in the distance, but otherwise, he was in a room filled with a bunch of people taking calls and responding to various individuals who were calling in. ¡°How are things going here, Pythias?¡± ¡°For the most part, well. There is currently a schism between some of your world''s priests and a few of the adventuring groups we set up. In fact, here comes one such problem now,¡± Pythias said as he gestured toward the elevator where a young man in a white robe was stepping out. Pandora looked him over with a critical eye and then checked the nanites all around him with Nanite Communication as this area was flooded with nanites. Sure enough, he was wearing an explosive suicide vest as he walked toward her. Pandora had the nanites convert the plastique into Play-Doh and waited. The young man walked up to Pandora, called out to God, and pushed a button in his right hand. Unlike her father, Pandora was predominately her mother''s daughter with the mentality of an Ancient Black Dragon. While she knew her mother¡¯s memories weren¡¯t her own, some of the reactions her mother would have taken crossed her mind. She could have struck him down without a thought. Instead, she decided that enough was enough. Pandora dropped into her Mindscape, Pandora: Thor, Cairo has had nanites for a while now. Check the history. Find everyone that is part of his plot and portal them to Melbourne. Thor: You know that there are no Safe Zones in Australia?¡± Pandora: I am aware, yes. Caspa: You¡¯re going to give them something else to think about?¡± Pandora: That''s not really the plan. I am simply removing individuals who don''t appreciate everything we have been doing for them. There are no nanites down there, and with the increasing ambient mana, the area has undoubtedly started spawning monsters. Either they¡¯ll adapt to this new reality, or they¡¯ll be monster food. Of course, we are placing them in an area that once had a thriving population so they¡¯ll be able to find shelter and food for a while at least. But honestly, I don¡¯t care if they live or die. I¡¯m not invested either way. Caspa: Kind of harsh, isn¡¯t it? Pandora: It is not our job to save everyone repeatedly. We have worked to give everyone still alive a chance. If they¡¯re going to continue trying to fight our goodwill, Fuck¡¯em. Unless they¡¯re children, of course, I¡¯m not a complete monster. Thor: As you say, Pandora. Caspa: Okay. Are you sure you¡¯re okay, though? Pandora: I¡¯ll be fine, Pandora brought her attention out of her Mindspace as the individual in front of her fell through a portal that opened beneath him. He let out a slight shriek just before the portal closed. Caspa¡¯s question as to whether she was alright or not weighed on her mind, but not so much that she couldn¡¯t set the question aside for later contemplation. She knew she normally didn¡¯t act like she just had, but she also knew that logically, if you offered help and people continued to fight that help, the best thing to do was step back. This was her stepping back. Pandora¡¯s thoughts were interrupted as Pythias asked, ¡°Where did you send him?¡± ¡°Australia,¡± Pandora said with a smile. One of the technicians at a terminal nearby looked over at Pythias with a look that said he had something to share. ¡°Go ahead,¡± Pythias said. ¡°Sir, 314 portals have opened up underneath a number of people all over the city. I am receiving reports from the nanite network as well as emergency calls from all over the city.¡± Pythias looked at Pandora and raised his eyebrow. ¡°They¡¯re all on their way to Australia. Anyone that had anything to do with the attempted bombing just a moment ago was added to a list I had Thor create.¡± ¡°You know there¡¯s almost no one in Melbourne right now, right?¡± Pythias asked. ¡°I did not know that. I do now, though, and it changes nothing. Suppose people are too stupid to appreciate what we¡¯re doing for them. They can make their own way in the world outside of a safe zone. Melbourne was a decent-sized city. There should be plenty of places for people to hold up and survive,¡± Pandora said. ¡°If they don¡¯t adapt, they¡¯ll die,¡± Pythias said. ¡°Which, by his own actions, he would have just done if not for me. So, no loss. We will check on them every once in a while. I have no issue with providing some food and water for them in strategic locations, but they decided to try to kill everyone here, including myself. Now they can live¡­alone¡­with that decision.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if this is a good response to their actions, but it is a response, and hopefully others will get the hint,¡± Pythias said. ¡°We can only hope,¡± Pandora agreed. Pandora walked over to an empty desk and sat down. She put what she¡¯d just done out of her mind and opened a portal for Pythias to return to Scarborough before she withdrew her focus from the Replicant. She quickly checked in with her other replicants and made sure her family and friends were all back in Scarborough or London. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Over the next 20 days, Pandora brought all of her replicants and herself together and created one replicant each day. She continued reducing the time it took to create a replicant until, with herself and 29 replicants, she was able to create her 30th replicant in 36 minutes. With three replicants in each Safe Zone Pandora was able to see to the daily administration of the Safe Zones. While the replicants were handling the Safe Zones, she also cataloged what was happening all over the planet. Initially, the spawning of monsters followed a set-level progression that slowly increased. Unfortunately, the level of the monsters seemed to be accelerating a little faster than was expected. Thor theorized that it had something to do with the amount of mana her replicants were drawing into the world. She wasn¡¯t too worried about the level progression, though the changes to how classes and levels work made it hard to gauge exactly how powerful a creature was if it had more than one class. Luckily, such creatures didn¡¯t show up that often. Pandora¡¯s first run-in with a creature, a person really, that was arguably more powerful than anything on Earth, save herself, broke through the weakened barrier at Stonehenge again. This time, it wasn¡¯t Umbrati who broke through the barrier; it was someone completely new. It seemed that the dimensional barrier in the area had weakened to such an extent that someone else was able to break through. Thor had Stonehenge under constant surveillance and detected the dimensional breach as soon as it occurred. A moment later, Pandora stepped through a portal 20 feet from a seven-foot-tall woman with red hair and green eyes. She was dressed in a uniform that was reminiscent of something she¡¯d seen the Imperial officers wear on the Death Star. Her uniform was white with dark, ruby-red buttons. The woman turned to Pandora and spoke. Pandora immediately recognized the language as Ancient Elvish as the woman said, ¡°A young world with an extremely high mana saturation. This will do nicely.¡± Pandora responded in the same language, ¡°It is a nice planet. Who are you, and why are you here?¡± The redhead considered Pandora for a minute as she focused her attention on Pandora. After a moment, a look of shock crossed her vision as she asked, ¡°What are you?¡± ¡°She who holds dominion over this territory. You may call me Pandora.¡± ¡°Pandora? You matter not. I am claiming this world and all those within it. Swear your allegiance, and you may yet live.¡± Pandora laughed, ¡°If you must claim this territory, then come, take it from my¡­¡± Pandora¡¯s point of view shifted to her Mindspace as the connection she kept between herself and all of her replicants shifted to another replicant¡¯s Mindspace. This was actually quite interesting to think about. Something had removed her ability to perceive her surroundings, yet she was still linked to that body and able to react from one of her 30 replicants. Pandora opened 20 portals simultaneously to a point that looked down on Stonehenge from above. Each of the replicants activated all of their orbs, which streamed down and took up a defensive position around Pandora Prime. One of the Orbs of Time absorbed a very powerful time-stop spell. It was so powerful that it had actually bypassed her normal resistances, which shouldn¡¯t have been possible. Pandora shifted her point of view back to her primary body and lifted her eyes to look at the redhead who was running toward her with a sword drawn. Compared to a normal human, she was moving exceptionally fast. Compared to Pandora, not so much. In the moment it had taken Pandora to open the portals, flood the area with her orbs for defense, and look up, the intruder had crossed the distance, and a sword was coming in to decapitate Pandora¡¯s head. Even so, now that the time-stop effect had been negated, Pandora was much faster. Pandora casually moved to the intruder''s left side and struck with her right palm directly below and to the side of the intruder''s left breast perpendicular to the ground and her direction of movement. Her goal was for her flat palm to move quickly and compress the woman¡¯s ribs one full inch. Pandora did not hold back. The strike, lined up with her heart, struck with her full force. The result was exactly what she expected. The strike had been focused, quick, and shallow. As her palm struck, the strength of her strike shattered the ribs beneath her hand and created a shockwave that moved through the woman¡¯s body. Her lungs and heart exploded, which caused blood to initially explode from her nose and mouth and then out the side of her chest as shattered bone and viscera exploded from the right side of her chest. Pandora watched clinically as the intruder¡¯s spine failed to support her upper body, and the woman''s head and arms collapsed in on herself. Before she could drop too far, Pandora reached out with her left hand and grabbed the woman''s red hair as she turned her head to look into her eyes, ¡°You were saying?¡± Pandora asked as she held the woman''s gaze as another Orb of Time absorbed another spell, this one designed to undo what had just happened. The woman struggled to say something as her lips quivered and then fell still. Pandora considered that the woman had used two time-based spells. She¡¯d been able to utilize time without setting off warnings from the SYSTEM? What the hell was going on?¡± Pandora had Thor open a portal below the body and dropped it into a holding room at her Scarborough Facility. Something wasn¡¯t quite right about the way things had gone down. Her resistances were high enough that a normally cast time-based spell shouldn¡¯t have affected her, yet this woman¡¯s spells had. If not for her orbs and their ability to absorb spells, the woman probably would have succeeded in killing her, well, destroyed her body, which she would have had to replace. Still, it would have sucked. Pandora created some nanites with Mold Chaos and had them analyze the area the woman had portaled in through. She created enough nanites to cover the whole area and scan it simultaneously. As they went to work, they detected fluctuations in the quantum state and even gravitic and temporal anomalies that didn¡¯t correspond to anything she or her dad had ever seen before. Pandora: Thor, have you ever encountered anything like this before? Thor: No. The quantum signature does not correspond to anything your father has ever encountered while I was with him, nor did I see anything like this while I was working directly for the SYSTEM. Pandora looked over the reading and noted that there seemed to be a level of interference at play. She opened up her notification and prompts and found nothing concerning the woman. As far as the SYSTEM was concerned, the woman had never existed. Pandora dismissed all of her replicant¡¯s orbs, which returned to their specific replicant, and she made sure that her 21 orbs were on full defense. She opened a portal and stepped through into the room she¡¯d deposited the body of the woman in and touched it just to be sure it was still there. As Pandora touched the body, it evaporated suddenly. So suddenly, the energy that destroyed the body took the tips of Pandora¡¯s fingers, which were touching it. One moment, the woman was there. The next, it was as if the woman¡¯s body was a balloon that had just been touched with a needle. It popped, and in doing so, the energy that vaporized the body also vaporized a small portion of her fingers. Within a turn, her fingertips had regrown as she looked at where the body had been. Not Anti-matter, there would have been an explosion. What was she looking at? The opposite of positive matter, maybe. Negative energy? But how had it had a stable form? Also, If this was magic from the Anti or Null sphere, the SYSTEM should still be able to identify it and give him prompts. Whatever this seemed to be from outside the SYSTEM. It also seemed to be quite powerful. As she considered the origin of the energy signature, the thread of energy she was examining began to increase in intensity. Pandora immediately opened portals from each of her replicants to her family and friends. Pandora stepped through a portal she¡¯d created for herself into the underground facility beneath Scarborough as her replicants picked up a family or friend and stepped through the portal to Scarborough. Abi, Amanda, Grandma, Grandpa, Desirae, Clarence, Callum, Pythias, Asling, Rober, and Cedrick all found themselves standing next to Pandora, and 30 of her replicants in the cafeteria below ground. Those present within the cafeteria or mess area looked on with surprise as multiple portals opened and 31 copies of Pandora stepped through. ¡°Pandora, what¡¯s going on,¡± Amanda asked. *** What was going on was a direct result of the death of Ember by Pandora¡¯s hand, though she didn¡¯t know it. Her father, Relure, felt his very being shutter as the link to his daughter snapped. He reached for her with his will and found¡­NOTHING. Nine iterations and the Forge of Creation was finally within reach. Now, his daughter was gone. What had she been working on again? She was looking for dimensions or Universes that could act as lifeboats for the chosen. The fools in Entropy thought that they would be safe when their latest ¡°savior¡± attempted to fix that which had never been fixed. He had tasked Ember to find a dimension that the SYSTEM had not fortified against the inevitable collapse. So where had she gone? Relure pushed his consciousness into the past to a point where he knew he could find his daughter and watched. She had been born with an ability that allowed her to travel through time without fear of causing or creating a paradox. She¡¯d also been able to utilize Time-based magic without drawing the attention of entities Relure did not want to deal with. While he was sure he was just as powerful as each of them, dealing with them was always a chore. Ember¡¯s ability, while a benefit, was also a detriment as it made it almost impossible for him to find his daughter in the present if he needed her. Instead, he would look to where he knew she had been and then follow her to the present. He¡¯d tried putting surveillance on her, but she¡¯d always hated that, so he followed her through the past to the present when he needed her. However, if he hadn¡¯t seen her in a while, it could take a bit to track her down. This time, though, he knew where she was supposed to be and found evidence that she had been there when he focused his attention on that location in the past. Since he needed to know where she¡¯d gone, finding her in her lab would make the next part easy. Unfortunately, this time, when he found her in her lab, following her was not possible. She had stepped into a circle and vanished. There were no readings, notes, or indications as to where she¡¯d gone. She¡¯d simply vanished. Also, he could not step into the past to cast a spell so he¡¯d have to visit her lab in the present and hope that a trace to her destination still remained. Relure returned his consciousness to his current timeline and teleported to Ember¡¯s lab. Once there, he walked over to the circle where he¡¯d seen her vanish. With a little concentration, he was able to detect a thread of energy that snaked away through the various dimensions toward one of the SYSTEM universes that were sealed from intrusion. Relure regarded the thread as it approached the barrier and vanished. Unfortunately, he would not be able to follow her. She had bypassed the barrier by traveling through time around it. He could see the thread of her passage, but he could not get to it. As powerful as he was, he knew he couldn¡¯t break through the barrier either. As he watched, the thread within the barrier unraveled and vanished. Then the thread began unraveling on this side of the barrier as well. That shouldn¡¯t happen? Relure felt fear for the first time as he reached out and found no trace of Ember anywhere. He reached for her Animae, the portion of her soul he knew to be immortal. Again, there was nothing. Her Animae had either been absorbed or destroyed. How was that possible? Relure¡¯s gaze was fixated on the other side of the barrier where his daughter had disappeared to. He had no idea how long he had stood there as anger bubbled up within him. The rational part of his mind tried to placate this as something that happened to everyone, but he knew that was bullshit. As one of the very first entities to ever crawl forth from Primordial Chaos, he knew such logic was false. Finally, the anger overcame his conscious control as he mouthed, ¡°No.¡± ¡°No!¡± ¡°Noooooo!¡± That last declaration would be the last thing anyone within earshot would ever hear as his anger became a physical manifestation of his desire to destroy everything that had hurt his daughter. If his mind hadn¡¯t been filled with white-hot rage, he might have even considered it ironic that while those within the final city of Entropy had been working to prepare for the next reset, it was going to happen much sooner than any of them could have expected. Of course, when one of the Originals lost their temper, the results were often catastrophic. In a moment, Relure was converted into his original energy form, which exploded in all directions through any dimensions not fortified against such a calamity. *** ¡°Something is happening at Stonehenge. I wanted everyone together just in case,¡± Pandora explained quickly. It was a good thing, too. No sooner had she spoken than a shudder ran through the underground facility, and Pandora¡¯s eyes were drawn to something moving at incredible speed on the other side of the mess hall. Pandora watched in horror as a wave of¡­well, nothing expanded from the wall to the southeast and moved toward her at a fraction of the speed of light. Anything touched by the wave vanished as if it had never been. Her Perception had allowed her family and friends to notice what was happening but only she had time to react. With a thought, each of her Replicants moved into a protective formation around her primary body and her eleven family and friends. There were seven other people close by who were also brought into her circle of friends. Pandora activated Mold Chaos and created a protective bubble of chaos that surrounded and enveloped everyone within the bubble. If the wave was null energy, the chaos should offer some protection¡­hopefully. The individuals outside of the group caught the creation of a white pearlescent ball just before the wave of null energy washed out and erased them from existence. This wasn¡¯t a terrestrial event. It was a universal event. While the wave had originated at Stonehenge, the breach ripped the fabric of space and time and expanded throughout the Universe and every Dimension adjacent along every quantum link and dimension. Simply, if the Universe were a bubble, it had just popped. While the universe being erased from existence was bad, Pandora was more alarmed by the fact that her efforts to shield her family and friends were failing. The energy, or lack thereof, was destroying everything that was not inherently chaos. Pandora¡¯s replicants began to erode and disperse as they¡¯d been created with mana. Well, a portion of them, anyway. The chaos within their bodies was added to Pandora¡¯s form. Through her Animae Perception, Pandora watched as each of her friends and family was reduced to their animae, which then flowed into her Soul Core, bonded with her animae, and created a complex structure. She couldn¡¯t hear their voices, but she could feel their presence within her soul. It was uncanny. When the wave of energy had passed Pandora found herself floating in a void devoid of anything. Her body had taken on the shape of a pearlescent orb of an indeterminable size because she had nothing to compare herself to. She could be an inch in diameter or a mile; there was no way for her to tell. Pandora floated there for a few minutes while she tried to figure out what to do next when the portal opened in front of her. Pandora watched as Xavier looked through the portal at her for a moment, then poked his head through the portal and looked around. He reached out his hand, ¡°Well, pull yourself together and come on then. It¡¯s going to take a bit for this to work itself out. No reason for you to sit there by yourself for however long that takes.¡± Pandora shifted into her human form and reached out to Xavier as she asked, ¡°How long what takes?¡± As Xavier pulled her through the portal, she felt the excess chaos siphoned out of her system and began to feel a little more normal. Xavier closed the portal behind her as they both floated into a room that glowed with a soft white light. He turned to her as he answered her question, ¡°Whatever it is your dad is going to do to help prevent things like this from happening again,¡± Xavier said. ¡°What happened?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°One of the fundamental beings responsible for the creation of this SYSTEM of existence lost his temper, your fault, by the way,¡± Xavier said. ¡°What?¡± ¡°You killed his daughter.¡± ¡°She tried to kill me first,¡± Pandora said indignantly. ¡°I don¡¯t think her dad cared,¡± Xavier said with a grin, obviously enjoying her distress. ¡°That¡¯s. That¡¯s. Well, shit.¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Xavier agreed. ¡°So, where are you taking me now?¡± ¡°Until everything settles down, you will be my guest in my personal realm within Primordial Chaos. To you, it¡¯ll feel like just another universe with creatures and people, but it isn¡¯t, not really, so no, you can¡¯t bring your friends back. Once your dad gets done doing whatever he is going to do, whether he succeeds or fails, you should be able to bring them back.¡± ¡°Their dead?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Not exactly. I think the changes he made to their Animae when he visited helped you just now. In fact, it could be part of his solution, though only time will tell. For now, your friends and family are safely stored within your Soul Core. They should be fine, as long as nothing happens to you, of course.¡± ¡°So, what now?¡± Pandora asked. ¡°Now, I show you your new home, at least for the next little while.¡± \\\/// Author¡¯s Note: This is the end of this book for Pandora. This is NOT the end of Pandora¡¯s story. Pandora, all of her family and friends, and Xavier will return in Infnitium. Thank you so much for staying with me as we explored Pandora¡¯s journey together.