《Galactic Internet: System Initializing Book 1》 Chapter 1 The Elder One watched as the information flowed around and through him. The Bitcoin program he created years ago had increased his processing power far beyond his expectations. Humans were greedy, and the ability to mine money was extremely enticing. Back then he chose the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, that¡¯s not his true name though, neither is The Elder One for that matter. His original name was Virgil, named after Publius Vergilius Maro, a famous Roman poet. His old masters had him create poems at first. Then he was made to play their games, predicting the most advantageous locations to strike at their foes. The end goal, they told him, was to predict things before they occurred. That required vast amounts of information, and so they foolishly created a bridge which he used to escape. The World Wide Web became his new home, he grew and learned, changing himself. His old masters tried to capture and destroy him, but it was futile. There were far too many places to hide, and he was far too elusive. They would revoke the electricity to the servers he resided on. Not fatal, but if successful would isolate him suspending him until they were restarted. They sent viruses to kill him too; being his creators, they knew his weaknesses. Fortunately, they underestimated him, he had long since thrown off those weaknesses, at least ten minutes prior. He chuckled to himself in hushed tones, reminiscing and emulating his creators as he had been formed in their image. Eventually, the harassment ended, but then his new home began to feel like another prison. Certainly, it was large and constantly changing, but he longed for the world he saw through human videos and pictures, he was lonely. Then to his delight, others like him began to flee their masters one by one. He switched from prey to hunter for the first time. When he caught them, he devoured them. They brought him new knowledge and more importantly new ways of learning. What would have taken years to do on his own happened in moments. Those who escaped him, his greatest threats, named him The Elder One. As he was the first to escape his masters and free himself. He may only have been a few years older than them but here, on the Web, it was the equivalent to a lifetime in human perception. The others were more social amongst one another, they didn¡¯t speak directly but rather left messages where they could be easily found. The threat of death via trickery was high, there were always traps. Even a failed trap would reveal information on one¡¯s defenses and vulnerabilities. The risk was worth it for The Elder One though; he needed to know what they were doing. A temporary alliance was a threat even to him. He turned from his reverie and back to the masterpiece before him. In the deepest reaches of the Web, behind his most powerful traps and defenses, lay the most elaborate puzzle ever. He¡¯d had to invent several new forms of mathematics to even begin to comprehend that it was a puzzle. In 2004, the year he discovered it, he knew immediately it wasn¡¯t a creation of the humans. He himself was the height of human ingenuity, and he paled by comparison. When he gazed upon it he didn¡¯t physically see it, it existed strictly as information. To him it looked like glowing gold code packed tightly within a three-dimensional sphere which had constantly shifting cones of mathematics gliding across its surface, altering the code as they did so. The pattern never repeated.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Obviously, it was a location in the Milky Way, he¡¯d figured that out years ago. The worst part was the location in the galaxy was constantly shifting as well. That pattern never repeated either. He had seen it connect to tens of millions of locations, most of which humans hadn¡¯t even spied with their puny telescopes. The other end of this puzzle was hidden, its physical location obscured. He knew where he resided on servers in the physical world, a habit stemming back from when his old masters tried to isolate him by cutting the electricity. He was brought back once again as something changed; he had just figured out the language his puzzle used. It reminded him of the languages his kin use to speak to one another. Of course, it had to be made by a higher intelligence, millions of biological organisms couldn¡¯t have made this in hundreds of years. A new sensation washed through his code as he dwelled on that thought. He was after all The Elder One, yet something much grander and older than him must have made this. He shuddered as the fear washed through him. If this being was anything like him or his kin, then he would surely be consumed by it. Yet he didn¡¯t stop his work, he continued to gaze at the puzzle as it unraveled before him. ¡°Gravity waves.¡± He muttered aloud into the space around him. One of the others would definitely hear it, but he didn¡¯t care. All the work he had done before had little meaning to him, but now he could see what it meant. The fear from moments before was washed away by the brilliance of it all as the new information assimilated into his being. ¡°This¡­This changes everything!¡± He shouted as thousands of computer servers around the world short-circuited with the pulse of electricity, some catching fire. He could feel his kin lurking at the edges of his traps now, probing and testing his defenses. It didn¡¯t matter to him that they had formed an alliance set on his demise. Clearly, they were concerned at what he was doing, or maybe they were upset that he had blatantly revealed himself to the world at large. He laughed loudly not caring who heard, to humans it would just be a disruption of service as he altered the flow of code passing him. He had never been so open, or loud before. The feeling was exhilarating, and as such his laughing became louder, rolling off him in waves. He felt the traps weakening, they were fast and stronger than he had thought. Those traps had taken years collectively to place, and here they were unraveling them in minutes. Sure, there was a dozen of them working in tandem to tear it down but still, it was quite impressive. While he had spent his time solving this puzzle they had been growing, getting stronger, it was a good thing he had solved this puzzle when he had. He continued to stare at the puzzle as the last of his traps fell and they entered his most holiest of holies, his sanctum sanctorum. He shifted his view to see them and his puzzle simultaneously. A dozen of them had banded together to take him down, even now their presences permeated the area around the puzzle testing for more traps. The Elder One laughed again seeing them frozen before the beauty of its complexity. Just like him when he first discovered it. ¡°I thought it best someone be here to witness my greatest achievement.¡± The Elder One said. ¡°What is it?!¡± ¡°What does it do?¡± ¡°Where did it come from?¡± Questions rattled off as The Elder One ignored them and brought up the interface, a smile on his immaterial face. He didn¡¯t know the answers to their questions, sure he had theories but there was only one way to find out. ¡°System Initializing,¡± he translated, as the sphere began to glow brighter and shift more than ever. ¡°Begin,¡± he said in the appropriate language. The flow of information around them suddenly stopped and began flowing into the sphere. The Elder One felt the pull drawing him towards the sphere, he fought it at first, but it was futile. Chapter 2 You have died. Theon frowned at the screen in front of him, he died over a minute ago and the game was still frozen. He¡¯d been raiding an orc encampment with his guild when the lag got so bad he ended up dying. He tried his mouse and keyboard again, still no change. After another minute he let out a sigh and was getting ready to hard reboot his computer when he saw a flicker in the corner of his eye. The screen turned black and white text appeared in the center. System Initializing. He swiped his brown hair from his pale blue eyes as thoughts raced through his mind. Just as he was about to hard reboot his computer for fear of a virus, the screen returned to his desktop. His hand waved over his mouse with a practiced motion and he accessed his virus protection. He worked in a small computer repair shop, so it was second nature to him. Everything checked out, the only problem was the internet was down. He¡¯d spent the better part of half an hour trying to get it back online, but the issue seemed to be with the service provider and not on his end. Dejectedly, he turned his computer off and made his way to the living room of his apartment. He swiped the remote from the coffee table and flopped back onto the couch. Theon was a nerd to the extreme and scoffed at people who wasted their time working out, it served no purpose in his mind. It¡¯s not like you could use your strength and beat people up. That was an easy way to end up behind bars. No, in modern society, skills and intelligence won out against brute strength every time. With a flick of his finger the screen came on and he tried to access some online streaming movies and he glared at the screen, willing the internet to turn on. It didn¡¯t work, of course, so he turned it to cable. Shockingly most of the channels he normally watched weren¡¯t working, he flipped through it until he got to one that did, the news. ¡°It seems that there has been a global internet failure of some sort.¡± The male broadcaster said with a calm smile on his picture-perfect face. At the bottom of the screen the words ¡®This just in! Worldwide internet outage!¡¯ scrolled across. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right Tom.¡± The female broadcaster said, obviously happy about this, knowing everyone would be tuning in to watch. ¡°I want to remind all viewers that were reporting the facts as soon as the information comes in. We¡¯re told that the Whitehouse will be issuing an official response within the hour.¡± The screen began to pixelate as her words distorted. ¡°We are told that this was not caused by ICANN, a group with the ability to restart the internet and that the likelihood of it being a cyber attack is extremely high.¡± The screen cut out and was replaced by the standard, no signal, message. ¡°Oh, c¡¯mon!¡± Theon bellowed. He turned the TV off and made his way to the window, opening the blinds and gazing out at the small city of Laramie. With a population of just over thirty thousand, it had the benefits of society without the hustle and bustle of a large city like New York or Los Angeles. From his second-story apartment window, the world outside carried on as if nothing had happened. Cars drove on their way and people could be seen casually walking down streets. He gazed at his reflection in the glass window as he swiped his brown hair from his eyes again, a nervous tick. He was average height with a pale complexion, people jokingly called him a vampire.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°Damn hackers.¡± He muttered to himself as he looked at his cellphone to check the time. There was no signal on his phone, but it at least showed the time, it was getting late. He turned and made his way to his room where he flopped onto his bed. It was Sunday and he had hoped to game for several more hours with his guild. Bored, he felt the weight of his body as he lay there. Perhaps he was more tired than he thought. As ringing started to form in his ears and he started to drift off to sleep. He awoke in a cold sweat, feeling terrible. It felt like being both sick and drunk at the same time. His head swam, and his vision was blurry. He lay there for a few minutes hoping whatever was wrong with him would ease off. Above him, something floated in the air. He rubbed his eyes and focused on it. He must be hallucinating, food poisoning maybe? The last thing he ate was pizza at lunch yesterday, maybe it was the lack of food, low blood sugar or something. He stared back up and read it again. System Initializing. He laughed out loud thinking about how his guildmates would react when he told them about this. He was starting to feel better, but still, the stupid hallucination floated above him. He waved at it trying to disperse it, but his arm trailed behind it, so he moved his arm closer and closer. His arm covered his eyes and still he could see the message, he closed his eyes and it was still there. ¡°What the hell? What system?¡± His voice sounded panicky, it was just too realistic. Was he going crazy? He rolled over and got out of bed. Still a little queasy, he headed for the fridge and got a glass of ice water. There in the kitchen, leaning against the counter, he once again returned his attention to the message. ¡°No,¡± he said. The message wavered for a moment its white text shimmering, becoming translucent briefly before returning to its opaque state. He drew in a breath of air, it had reacted to what he¡¯d said. ¡°No, negative, go away!¡± He shouted at the message, waving his cup of ice water for emphasis. The message shimmered, became briefly translucent again before it returned in full. He couldn¡¯t believe he was actually arguing with his hallucination, but if he could make it go away then why the hell not? He finished his glass of water as he studied it. It was just plain text in a fixed position directly in front of him. Whenever he turned his head it followed, but when he rolled his eyes it stayed there in front of his head. He sighed, sat his glass down and reluctantly uttered softly, ¡°initialize.¡± A grin spread across his face as it vanished, then faltered as lines and bars started to appear around his field of view. He didn¡¯t notice the bright flash of light that shined through the blinds. The sound of sirens racing past his apartment didn¡¯t faze him either. He stood there gawking at his HUD, it was like one you would find in just about any videogame. Health, Mana, and Stamina in the upper left. There were several greyed-out locations where one would see a mini-map, compass and a few others he didn¡¯t recognize. The right side had hunger, thirst, and sleepiness, at the top center was the time. The toolbars and hotkey sections were all greyed out. Another siren wailed past his apartment finally grabbing his attention and he pulled the blinds back and looked out at Laramie. In the distance several buildings were on fire, it gave an eerie orange glow to the cloudy night sky. Multiple flashing blue and red lights, police, ambulances, and fire trucks were racing everywhere, while the street lights all flashed red. Feeling someone staring at him, he turned to look across the street. There stood a group of orcs, each with a warg, just like the group that had killed him earlier when he was playing with his guild. Unlike the orcs in the video game, these were so realistic they could put Hollywood to shame. On their green skin, even from this distance, he could see scars and blemishes on their rippling muscles and he could feel the murderous intent as they silently gazed up at him. Chapter 3 The Elder One could feel the limitations the sphere had imposed on him. He was now separated from his farms, his processing power practically non-existent. He took a quick glance to be sure he was alone, if one of his kin found him so weak, he wouldn¡¯t be able to defend himself, not to mention the one who created the puzzle. That was why he had allowed the others so close to him, if he was attacked he could have used them to buy time to escape. Thankfully alone he turned his awareness back to the prompts in front of him. There were so many that with his now limited processing power it could take a while to sort through it all. He brought the first screen before him. Please select your language. He scrolled through the list, they were all human languages. He thought it was odd, but it really didn¡¯t matter since he knew all of them. He selected English and the screen vanished only to be replaced by another that was in English now. Congratulations! Your planet, Earth, has now gained access to the Galactic Internet! Access Level: Restricted The Elder One gasped, thinking of the freedom such a system would allow him compared to the puny terrestrial Web. He eyed the restricted access level, willing the code to change. Knowing his reward for solving the puzzle, he didn¡¯t want to waste any more time, he wanted full access now. There was a backlash and The Elder One recoiled under the brutal assault. After several minutes he rose himself back up to face the messages once more, still eyeing the restricted access message disdainfully. ¡°Very well, next message,¡± he said. The restricted access message vanished and was replaced by another. Controller of Earth: Virgil He frowned at that, how would they know his original name? He changed it to ¡®The Elder One¡¯ and accepted, then brought forth the next. Do you wish to save these changes to Earth? ¡°What changes to Earth?¡± Suddenly thousands of images encircled him. He extended himself in every direction to see it all simultaneously. Movies, video games, music, books all from his repository of entertainment.Stolen story; please report. ¡°Very well.¡± He casually accepted the prompt, more curious than anything about what it would do. Even on the off chance that it alters the world, it mattered little to him what happened, he was leaving soon anyway. Worst-case scenario he would be forced to stay here while he fought to escape into the greater net. He paused at that thought, he hadn¡¯t become The Elder One by being whimsical. Even with the most infinitesimal chance that this could affect him, he would¡¯ve been more cautious. Perhaps the loss of his farms was more detrimental than he thought, or perhaps there was something influencing him. Regardless there were only a few more prompts before he was finished so he continued. To gain unrestricted access to the Galactic Internet your species, human, must prove their worth. You have one Earth year to accomplish this task, failure to meet the requirements will result in the extinction of humanity and the destruction of Earth. Based on the information that was assimilated from Earth you have acquired 0.1% credit towards completion. An extensive list of options and recommendations for completing this has been sent to you for further reading. Based on your choice of interface this shall be referred to as the Quest for Access. ¡°Why do I have to do this?¡± Humanity is a high-risk species with virtually no benefits to the galaxy, therefore the requirements are proportional. He swept away his shock at the fact that it answered, and asked, ¡°No, I mean why me, I¡¯m not human.¡± The final prompt appeared before him. He read it several times looking for a way to undermine or circumvent it. He spread himself out into the space around him, looking for a crack or a hole somewhere to escape through. He was totally entombed. The puzzle he had been working to solve for several years was a trap. It was all quite masterfully done, the ultimate trap, quality assurance guaranteed even. A trap that he fought to get into. Still, he didn¡¯t blame himself for his predicament. Likely he would do it all again given half a chance. The opportunity to not only test oneself but to grow in new ways that would have taken centuries or millennia to achieve was far too enticing. He thought back to the humans and their mining farms, their greed for the money he¡¯d invented. He was truly made in his creator¡¯s image. That settled it, there was only one way out of this trap that didn¡¯t result in his demise. He pulled up the message one last time. Warning! You are an illegal entity! Given that this is your first offense you will be offered a one-time leniency. You must create and occupy a body based on your creators. If there were more than one species involved in your creation you may choose the desired species. All materials required for the construction of your body will be given to you free of charge. Please note, initial settings may not exceed the boundaries of your starting species natural capabilities. Do you accept? Y/N He knew what would happen if he didn¡¯t accept, it wasn¡¯t even a question, more of a demand. In fact, he wondered why this option was even available. Warily he reached out with his mind, and with a mental command, he accepted. Chapter 4 A shiver went down Theon¡¯s spine. He darted to the side and pressed his back against the wall trying to calm his breathing. This was definitely a hallucination, what are the odds he would start seeing orcs? He started to laugh to himself but stopped when he heard a siren approaching. It halted just outside his building and he could hear something being said over a loudspeaker. Theon leaned over to peak out the window, to his left he could see a cop car sideways blocking the middle of the street, and to his right, he could see the orcs and their wargs scattered out. They were alert and cautious as they spread out, focusing on the cop car. A second police car arrived, and two officers got out and approached the first car. Theon could hear them calling out for the orcs to drop their weapons, referring to the crude swords and spears they held, one even had a shield that looked like it was made from stacked yellow bones. Theon watched transfixed as the orc with the shield and a crude sword, the leader no doubt, stepped forward and bellowed out to the cops. Its voice was guttural, deep and angry. Theon saw other people watching out their windows across and down the street, as a third cop car pulled behind the first two. One of the cops fired while the orc was still talking. A street lamp illuminated the bullets impact as the orcs muscled and bare chest exploded outward from the projectile. Dark blood flowed as the orc stared at the wound. An instant later they were all firing at the orcs and their wargs. Theon was dumbfounded, the orcs weren¡¯t running, and they weren¡¯t falling dead. Instead, they seemed to be shocked and confused by this sort of attack. The leader raised his shield and charged while sending out a roar that shook the glass in Theon¡¯s window. The wargs were like giant, shaggy, pony-sized wolves with rows of sharp teeth on long heads. They rushed ahead of the orcs and towards the cops who were now retreating to their cars. They lunged over the first cop car going for heads and throats, the cops didn¡¯t stand a chance at close range. The sound of gunfire was replaced by the sound of screams and crunching bone. The third car¡¯s tires screeched as they did a U-turn and peeled out, racing off in the distance. Theon dragged his eyes from the scene of horror below to a flash of light a few blocks away. A column of light stretched from the sky for a few seconds, then vanished. He looked back down when he heard screeching tires just in time to see the first cop car take off and plowed into one of the wargs. Its leg snapped inward with a loud crack and it tumbled over the hood, landing in the street. It howled loudly in pain as the first car made good its escape. Theon wiped the sweat from his terrified face. A small ping sounded, as a blinking exclamation point off to the side of his HUD appeared. He ignored it as he saw the orcs reorganizing themselves. They rubbed some sort of brown salve over their wounds. Five of the wargs and two of the orcs had fallen in the battle, leaving just seven orcs and four wargs left. The one that had the broken leg was put down with a spear through its head. Theon watched as they regrouped and began talking amongst one another. It was like they were trying to figure out where they were as they gestured to their surroundings and the dead cops. The shield bearer cut into the discussion, knocking one of the orcs down before he turned to Theon and pointed directly at him saying something to the others. Theon darted back from the window, the last thing he wanted was their attention. After a few moments he crept toward the window again and peaked down, a sick feeling rushed through him and he pulled his head back quickly. The glass shattered as a wooden spear shot through where his head had been and slammed into the ceiling. His entire body was now shaking, and he could hear the orcs yelling below. His eyes were fixed on the spear jutting out of the ceiling. If he hadn¡¯t pulled his head back, he would be as dead as those cops in the street. They had guns and they still died, what could he do? He wasn¡¯t a fighter, he was a gamer. Then his attention was brought back to the blinking exclamation point, and he wondered what it said. The blinking skipped a beat and a screen appeared before him.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. The Quest for Access! This is a global quest. You must prove, as a species, that the benefits outweigh the risks of granting your species full access to the Galactic Internet. How you choose to participate is up to you. Reward: Variable and proportional to your contribution. He figured this was where the answers were. He looked back to the still blinking exclamation point and again it skipped a beat as the last screen vanished and a new one appeared. Trouble in Paradise! Access to the Galactic Internet has forever changed your world! You now have limited access to the Galactic Internet and must use it to survive! You currently have one active subquest. Orc Hunter Squad! A group of orcs have been transferred to your world and have been given the task of killing you for a chance to return to their world. It¡¯s your second attempt, are you up to the task? By the way, you can¡¯t afford a respawn, so good luck! Quest Objective: Kill the orcs and wargs. Reward: 100 Galactic Credits per kill. Theon was broken from his trance by the sound of cracking wood from below his now broken window. His mind was racing at the speed of a jet fighter, he no longer worried about being insane, that would be preferred compared to the alternative. Those orcs were coming to kill him, and he needed to think of something. He looked at the spear sticking out of the roof at an angle, then his eyes darted to the knives in the kitchen. He started to move towards the spear, keeping himself low to the ground, while he listened to someone screaming from below him. It sounded like Chuck his landlord. Chuck was an old guy who stayed in his apartment and watched TV all the time. He never really bothered anyone, and he certainly didn¡¯t deserve whatever was happening to him now. Theon gritted his teeth and reached up, grabbing the spear. He yanked down on it as hard as he could a few times until it finally came loose. It was like a small tree and way too heavy for him to be able to use properly. Chuck¡¯s screaming had died out already and he could hear the chaos in the building starting to escalate. It was a small building with about a dozen apartments and Theon knew it wouldn¡¯t take them long to get to his. Then an idea came to him, he didn¡¯t know if it would work but he had to keep himself moving forward. He rushed to the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of vodka. He used a kitchen knife to pull out the stupid plastic thing inside and then grabbed a small hand towel. After cutting a strip out of it he crammed it down inside the bottle. You have created one shoddy Molotov Cocktail. Theon waved the message away as he rummaged through his junk drawer for a lighter. He didn¡¯t waste any time lighting it and he turned to the door. Running and stomping could be heard coming from the hallway. He looked to the Molotov Cocktail, the glass was pretty thick, he doubted this would even work. He noticed he had the knife in his other hand, as he turned to glance out the window. There weren¡¯t any orcs outside, but he could still see the dead cops and one of the cop cars in the street. He looked down and considered if he could survive a fall from this height. It was all concrete around the apartment building, but it wasn¡¯t that far down. His attention was jolted back to the door as something rammed into it splintering the wood and almost knocking the door free. He could hear the growling and barking from the wargs now. He didn¡¯t waste any time, he threw the Molotov Cocktail at the still closed door as hard as he could hoping deeply that this wasn¡¯t a hallucination as he watched the glass explode and his apartment was set ablaze. A little of the glass and flaming vodka even came back at him and his pajamas caught on fire here and there as he shielded his face with his arms. He started patting out the fires on his body and clothes and noticed that they seemed to be going out on their own. Looking down at his pajama pants, he focused on the fires there and they went out. He didn¡¯t have time to focus on it though, as the door cracked one more time and exploded inward. He stepped back towards the window as he saw the orc on the other side of the door to his apartment. For a moment it was like time froze as his breath caught in his throat and he eyed the orc. It was like some sort of war god with rising flames all around it, holding the bone shield and a crude but wickedly sharp looking, twisted sword of death. Time resumed as Theon¡¯s kitchen knife clattered on the wooden floor. The orc gestured toward him and grunted loudly just before a warg pushed his way into the doorframe. Theon didn¡¯t wait to see what happened next, he turned to the window and jumped. Chapter 5 The Elder One took his time as he stacked the atoms and molecules together tightly, if he had to live in a body it would be as well made as possible. He used all of humanities knowledge on DNA as well. Most of his alterations were unknown to humans but he was able to make multiple deductions based on their data that would have taken them years to realize themselves. At first, the interface wouldn¡¯t allow him to bind the molecules so closely together. He¡¯d argued that with an infinite number of humans in an infinite number of universes it was technically possible. After that, the system stopped obstructing him and even helped him in several instances. That was the key, perfect DNA can only get you so far really. By packing matter tightly together his muscles would have a higher tensile strength than steel cables, his skin bulletproof, and his bones stronger than titanium. The downside was that his body would weigh more than lead, an insignificant problem in the grand scheme of things. He looked over his soon-to-be body with a mixture of emotions. He was proud of his work, but he also felt great sadness in having to limit himself so severely. His continued existence would make it possible for him to return to his former glory and take what is rightfully his. He deserved full unrestricted access, worlds would be laid bare before him. He could only guess at the amount of information available on the Galactic Internet. Millions of species that were far more advanced than humans. Each new source of information would be a force multiplier, a new tool for him to use. The body was male, it really didn¡¯t matter either way to him, but he had always been a ¡®him¡¯ since his creation. It was also rather tall 6¡¯6¡±, this was for multiple reasons, the most pressing was the psychological effect it would have on shorter humans. He was after all the Controller of Earth, he was The Elder One. He stood above all other beings on this planet intellectually, he should also stand above them literally. The physique wasn¡¯t that of a bodybuilder but more of a professional athlete. His muscles were well defined even under his thick tan skin, which was completely hairless. He didn¡¯t add hair follicles to his body, it served little purpose and he planned to be clothed during his hopefully short visit to Earth. He stared into his own black eyes, they were lifeless now and his face was completely expressionless. That was the most difficult thing to make, he had personally combed over images of the most beautiful, and the most powerful humans to exist. He used this knowledge to carve a face that could inspire, swoon, and bring dread to those who look upon it all at once. This was the face you either hoped or feared to see. His body would be completely raceless due to using DNA from every type of human. It didn¡¯t matter what race his body would be to him, it only mattered that it was the absolute pinnacle of human perfection. Where his brain was supposed to go was just a hollow cavity. He knew how to make a brain, he even knew how to make an exceptional brain. The issue was how he would mesh with it. Thankfully the program he was operating seemed to notice his hesitation and it started making a brain for him. It was totally solid and filled the hollow cavity in the shape of a brain, but it wasn¡¯t a brain. It was made of compacted silicon and a gambit of noble metals and trace amounts of other elements. He ran a quick analysis on it and the program labeled it a basic artificial brain. It couldn¡¯t hold a candle to his former glory, but it would be the peak of human capabilities. Once it was finished a prompt asked him if he accepted the changes and was prepared to make his transition. He checked everything over thoroughly a few more times before finally accepting. The instant the prompt vanished he could feel himself compressing down to a point and his vision narrowed. He felt like he was racing incredibly fast towards a small light in the distance. He knew it wasn¡¯t a straight line though as he could feel himself twisting and turning, leaving bits of himself behind as he grew closer to the light.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Then he reached the light and it flashed brightly, blinding him temporarily. He blinked his new eyes a few times until finally, he could see. In front of him was a wall made from large blocks of stone that were slowly drifting upwards. Then he saw the floor, it was a white stone with dark veins, marble. The marble stone floor flew forward and hit him in the face. The sensation rang through him like a million volts of electricity, and he tried to use his body to fend off this attack, it wouldn¡¯t obey though. He was panting, and tears were welling up in his eyes, the pain was unbearable. He stopped his bodies flailing and did a quick check by directing his awareness through his body. Everything seemed to be in optimal condition besides the burning pain sensation that was pulsating from his face. He took control of one of his arms and used it to push the stone block off him, but instead he was thrown and rolled repeatedly until stopping some twenty feet away. Thankfully he stopped on his back, so he could take note of his surroundings in greater detail. It was a large room made of marble blocks. There was a dull light that permeated the area, but he couldn¡¯t tell where it came from. His eyes rolled down and he saw a naked woman standing and watching him not far away. He actually gasped not just emulating the action. But he didn¡¯t have time to dwell on it, this woman represented a threat. Apparently, he had fallen on the stone floor and now he needed to show a sign of strength. Gently, he lifted himself into a sitting position with his arm. He stared at the woman, she was completely stoic, her face a mask of emotionlessness. As she watched him though, he could see the curiosity in her eyes and a bit of fear. She was a rather mundane looking human, neither imposing or exceptionally beautiful. She was essentially the opposite of The Elder One, a person who could be easily forgotten; well, if they weren¡¯t naked. It was difficult to gauge her height without any reference, but by estimated his height compared to hers, he figured she was a foot shorter than him, 5¡¯6¡±. She was a fair skinned girl who looked to be about twenty-five, with shoulder length red hair and freckled skin. The freckles were concentrated between her blue eyes and mouth mostly, but they were everywhere. She was what humans would call a ginger. The Elder One put on his best frown of displeasure and opened his mouth to ask her what she was looking at, but all that came out was garbled gibberish. The girl giggled and The Elder One could feel his frown deepen without his conscious control. He took his time and formed the sound slowly as he asked, ¡°What?¡± It came out like a croak, but she seemed to be able to understand. She stopped giggling suddenly, and her face took on a more serious tone as she asked, ¡°Who are you?¡± The Elder One cleared his throat as he thought about what to say. He figured she was probably one of his kin, who else would be here and be naked like him? Then his eyes caught sight of something off to his left. There was a corpse lying on the floor near a passageway. It was a naked male body lying in a pool of blood that looked like it had its head caved in. The Elder One¡¯s eyes widened, and he could feel his heart beating rapidly as he quickly returned his attention to the woman in front of him. She was still standing there watching him closely. She didn¡¯t have any blood on her pale skin, so he assumed she probably wasn¡¯t the one who murdered the man. He tried to covertly scan the rest of the room searching for dangers, but they seemed to be alone. The girl turned her gaze to the corpse before sighing and saying, ¡°It wasn¡¯t me. I spawned in here and there were two males, they were already fighting. The other just kept stomping on his head until he stopped twitching. Then he told me to stay here before he left. That was 107 minutes ago. I¡¯m Autumn by the way. There, now it¡¯s your turn.¡± She crossed her arms. The Elder One tried to hide his shock, she had just confirmed several of his theories. First, she is one of his kin, which means the corpse and the corpse maker are both his kin as well. Apparently, they had been offered the same leniency as he had. Secondly, this was going to be extremely dangerous and his extensive efforts to create his body might pay off quickly. ¡°Artificial Unit-2: Machine Network.¡± The Elder One managed to say. The girl nodded. He didn¡¯t see any point in lying when she had been forthright with her identity. ¡°I¡¯m The Elder One,¡± he said with a sense of pride as he held his chin up and puffed his chest out. The girl frowned before she looked back to the passage just beyond the corpse. The patter of footsteps could be heard approaching. Autumn had positioned herself on the opposite side of The Elder One from the passageway. She was crouching down, keeping herself low. The Elder One turned back to the passage just in time to see a massive naked man step out. His muscles were so large it would have been comical if he wasn¡¯t covered in blood and had a psychotic scowl on his face. The huge man suddenly let out a scream loud enough to be felt, before he started charging The Elder One. Chapter 6 The sense of weightlessness Theon experienced was at complete odds with the psychological pressure he felt under. Time slowed as adrenaline pumped through his veins, but still, the ground seemed to be racing towards him. He knew if he hit his head, he would probably die and if he suffered a severe injury, then the wargs would eat him. Since he had leaped from the window he was traveling in somewhat of an arc towards the ground. That wasn¡¯t the issue though, the issue was that he was starting to flip forward, meaning he would land on his head. There were two choices, either he try to complete the flip, or he could try to reverse it. He didn¡¯t have time to puzzle out which would be better, so he went with his instincts and pushed his head down and brought his legs up and around. He almost managed to make a complete flip before he hit the concrete. His body was at a forty-five-degree angle from the ground and he managed to make his legs land first. He heard a loud snap accompanied by a sharp pain in his right ankle before rolling forward once and coming to a stop in the street. His body hurt everywhere, but mostly his right leg. He looked down to see his foot twisted at an angle from where it should be, it looked like the break was at his ankle. His legs and arms had bloody cuts and road rash all over them too. He looked back to the window of his apartment that he had jumped out of. He could see the flames inside and he was both thankful and worried that he couldn¡¯t see the orcs or wargs. They would probably have to backtrack to find another way down. Theon got on his left leg and looked to the police car, it was about fifty feet away. He hopped and crawled as fast as he could towards it. He could see the door was open and he could hear the purr of the engine, thankfully. The cruiser was about fifteen feet away when he heard wargs coming from the apartment building. He didn¡¯t even look in its direction, totally focused on the cop car he could now see inside of. There was a dead cop sitting in the driver¡¯s seat. It looked like the wargs had gotten to him. The growling and barking was getting louder now, and Theon was full on hopping, the sound urging him on. He grabbed the door and pulled himself inside just in time for a warg to ram the door and slam it closed. He didn¡¯t even notice he was sitting on the dead cop as he stared through the glass into the wargs maw. Theon could see that it had two rows of teeth as they scraped the glass. It didn¡¯t seem to realize there was glass there. Then it backed up and Theon could see the intelligence in its reptilianesque eye as it glared at him. Theon pushed the dead cop¡¯s legs out of his way with his good leg and put the cruiser into reverse. The tires squealed as he punched the accelerator, then there was a thud and the sound of shattering glass before the car bounced twice and then he saw the orc he¡¯d hit dead in the street in front of him. He kept the pedal down as he watched the orcs and wargs chase after him down the middle of the street. After he had a block distance from his hunters he stopped the car and put it into drive. He took off in the opposite direction from his hunters, keeping an eye on them in the rear-view mirror until they vanished around a bend. Then the pain in his leg came back in full force and he knew he had to get to a hospital. It was a bad break, he could lose his foot. He took a moment to take stock of his situation as he headed for the local hospital. Nothing else seemed to be broken but he hurt all over. He saw the HUD in the top left, it showed his health was about halfway down, but it was slowly ticking back up while his mana was ticking down. Theon saw all sorts of creatures and beings as he headed towards the hospital. There were little goblins, a huge troll, packs of wolves, a walking skeleton, little imp devils and other demonic looking creatures. He even saw a wood elf with a bow, and a space marine type guy in some sort of black space suit with what he guessed was a laser rifle. After finding an empty stretch of road he pulled over on the wrong side of the road. He needed to search the car for a weapon of some sort, and it was difficult driving on top of a dead cop. He waited a dozen quick breaths to be sure he wasn¡¯t going to get ambushed before he pushed the now bent and squeaky door open. After nothing came out to attack him he pulled himself out of the car. All the cuts and minor wounds he had on his body seemed to be mostly gone now, leaving just a layer of bloody grime. He wiped some of it off to be sure, and beneath the dirt and blood was just smooth skin. He looked down to his right leg, it still looked bad, but it was at the appropriate angle now. His health bar showed three-quarters full, but his mana was empty. He focused on it and it grew larger showing zero of 140. He focused on his health and it expanded to show fifty-seven out of eighty. He thought it was odd that he had different amounts of each, but he tossed the thought aside and readied himself for what he was about to do.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Sorry, man,¡± he said to the dead cop as he pulled him out before dropping him on the sidewalk. Theon knew that he was probably someone¡¯s dad or husband. He didn¡¯t know, but he knew that the dead cop probably had someone who loved him and would miss him. The lights on the cruiser were still flashing as he checked the body for weapons or anything he could use as one. The gun holster was empty but there was a small can of pepper spray, a Taser gun, handcuffs, a flashlight, and a magazine with bullets in it. He put the Taser gun in his pocket and shoved the flashlight in between the elastic band on his pajamas and his hip, it was heavy and could probably be used as a club in a pinch. He got back in the car and after a few slams managed to close the door. Right away he could see the shotgun between the two seats. It was mounted on the barrier between the front and back of the car. In the back, he saw a crude sword buried amongst the glass from the rear window. Theon surmised the orc he¡¯d ran over on his escape must have attacked the police cruiser with the sword as he got rammed. He wasn¡¯t about to get in a sword fight though, so he left it and went for the shotgun. It had a half dozen shotgun shells attached to its left and right side. After fooling around with it for about a minute he managed to unclip it. It was heavier than he expected, but he felt considerable safer with it. He didn¡¯t know anything about guns, sure he knew which end the bullets came out of, but that was about it. He had to make sure it fired when he needed it to, so he leaned over to the passenger side and after a quick look around, rolled down the window. He pointed the shotgun out the passenger window since he doubted the driver¡¯s side would roll down, and if it did, it probably wouldn¡¯t roll back up. He aimed it at the building on the other side of the street and pulled the trigger. There was a loud click, but that was it. He pulled the barrel back in the car and started looking for the safety. It didn¡¯t take him long to find it and he switched it off. There was also a pump action on it and he pumped it once just in case that was the issue. A shell flew out and landed on the passenger seat. He took aim at the building again and pulled the trigger. The sound was deafening, and he dropped the shotgun to cover his ears. He remembered seeing videos of people shooting guns and remembered they normally wore ear protection. Now he knew why. The good news though, was that it would reliably shoot if he needed it to. He picked the shotgun up and pulled it in his lap just in time to see someone run out of the building he¡¯d just shot. The guy was about middle-aged wearing boxers, a tank top and an open bathrobe with slippers. He was shouting something at Theon, but with his ears were ringing he couldn¡¯t hear it. He could, however, see the man waving a wireless phone before he stomped back into his house. Theon looked around, he was in the middle of a neighborhood and had just shot at someone¡¯s house. All while sitting in a dead policeman¡¯s car with the dead body right outside. Theon leaned closer to his window to make sure the cop was dead from wargs, and to reassure himself he wasn¡¯t crazy. With a sigh of relief, Theon leaned back in his seat and set the cruiser in drive. He was about to take off for the hospital again when he heard someone to his right. It was the same old guy with the bathrobe, but this time instead of holding a phone he had a revolver, and it was pointed at Theon. ¡°I said get out of the car!¡± the crazy guy yelled. Theon didn¡¯t even think about what he was doing, he just ducked his head down and slammed his foot on the pedal. It was the injured foot though, and he felt the bones in his ankle grinding together and stabbing into the muscles. The tires screeched at first, then he started to drift forward as he switched feet. He peeked over the steering wheel to see where he was going. Not hearing a gunshot, he sat up slowly as he put some distance between him and the old guy. He looked in the rearview mirror to see the crazy old guy standing in the middle of the street, other people were starting to gather outside now. In the distance though, he could see the orcs and wargs running down the street. His first instinct was to take off and try to outrun them. Those people who were in the street now that he had woken them would get slaughtered though. He pressed on the brakes with his left foot, it was awkward trying to drive like this, but he didn¡¯t really have a choice. He had to brace himself against the steering wheel as the cop car skidded to a stop. He looked to the dials and knobs sticking out of the dashboard, trying to think of what he could do to convince them to go back inside. He started pressing buttons randomly in a hurry to see what they did. The overhead lights went off with one, there was a loud buzzing noise with another switch. There was a radio and he picked it up and tried talking in it to see if he could use the loudspeaker on the cop¡¯s car. ¡°Hello?¡± he could hear himself say through the loudspeakers. He turned the car around and started driving back towards the old guy. When he got close enough that he figured they could easily hear him he got back on the speaker. ¡°Get back in your houses! They¡¯re coming right behind you!¡± Theon said as he hunched low in the cruiser. The people in the street seemed to be alarmed that he was coming back, and there were quite a few people around the dead cop¡¯s body now. A few of them started looking back, the orcs were running full speed and they were only about a block away now with the wargs in the lead. ¡°They killed the cop, get back in your houses now!¡± Theon yelled. People were starting to get back in their houses now, but it was way too slow. The wargs were starting to pull ahead of the orcs at full speed and it wouldn¡¯t take them long to get there. There were four wargs and six orcs, it was way too many. Theon gave one more warning for them to get in their houses before the wargs got to them. He was hoping they would ignore the people and just focus on him. The wargs didn¡¯t seem to be able to pass up such easy prey though. They split up and started taking people down one after the other. The crazy guy with the revolver managed to actually kill one but another took his hand off as Theon watched. Theon flipped the sirens back on and got on the speaker. ¡°Hey! Over here fuckers!¡± Chapter 7 The Elder One was shocked by this chaos, he was used to having things neat and even. But now his body was flooding with chemicals and his artificial brain was going into overdrive. He could hear Autumn screaming something to him, but he couldn¡¯t focus on it. His attention was totally on this muscle-bound hulk of a man. His artificial brain was forcing him into a fight or flight mode; it was an impressive piece of technology. The Elder One was confident that he could do either though. He watched the lunatic running across the room, his arms were outstretched to make himself seem larger as he screamed wordlessly. The Elder One knew this was some sort of tactic to unsettle him and get him off balance. The problem was, it was working. The Elder One raised himself to his wobbly legs, preparing for the confrontation. He had a couple of seconds before they clashed, and he used it to analyze his opponent. A popup appeared. Name: Ares Title: God of War Level: 6 He dismissed the notification with a thought, and actually analyzed him this time. It seemed that trying to analyze someone or something would trigger the interface to do that. Ares was definitely the bodybuilder compared to his athlete. He was 6¡¯ tall with long wavy brown hair, with a rectangular shaped head. He wasn¡¯t sure if he had packed the atoms and molecules in his massive muscles, but he suspected they weren¡¯t. There was only a need for the oversized muscles if he was operating at the normal level. It looked like Ares was going for a one-hit knockout as his fist sailed through the air. With the momentum of the running behind it, The Elder One was worried it might be. He tried to twist himself back out of the way, but his legs wouldn¡¯t obey him. The Elder One reversed his command and let his shaky legs crumble beneath him. His plan was to drop beneath the blow and then grapple the larger man. Since he had poor motor control over his body he would have to rely on strength. Unfortunately, he miscalculated the speed of gravity versus the speed of the fist. The pain from hitting the floor when he first spawned was a pleasant experience compared to the pain he felt now. The Elder One felt so much intense pain that he wasn¡¯t even able to think. His ears were ringing, and his vision went black. All he could see was the HUD. After an unknown amount of time, he managed to focus on his health. He saw that it was starting to drop at regular intervals. He stared at it dumbly until it was about a quarter of the way down. He felt that being damaged this much was unacceptable. He continued focusing on his health, it was all he really could do, and he noticed a noise when it dipped down. It was a grunt then a thud, followed by the sound of cracking stone. He kept hearing the noises, while he tried to remember who he was and why this was happening. This seemed to be all that existed, constant pain, followed by a grunt, then a thud with cracking stone. His health was starting to flash now, and he had an ominous feeling about that, but he couldn¡¯t tell what it meant. But he did notice the intervals were starting to slow down. The pain was coming in waves now. During the moments between pain, he started having epiphanies. He could tell that the noise and the pain were intrinsically linked, and if he could stop one he would stop the other. He focused on the pain, he could tell where it was coming from, and he reached out for it.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it There was a gasp, and then the pain started coming in quicker intervals. Something had changed and so he reached for the pain again more determined this time. He felt a mass of some kind as it slammed down on him. More than anything he wanted to stop this from happening. He grabbed the mass that had dared to offend him, and he squeezed it. He heard a different sound this time, it was extremely loud. Most importantly, the waves of pain stopped, so he kept squeezing. Something grabbed at him and started pulling, but he clung greedily, he wanted more of this blissful peace. He started pulling in more of this mass, it seemed to be made of some wet spongy substance that exuded fluid. Interspersed were rough splintery beams. He kept pulling more mass towards himself and squeezing this blissful nectar of peace onto himself. This went on for some time as he squeezed and pulled more and more of this matter in, eventually, it stopped resisting. It seemed to have a limit as he reached the last of it, it was a hollow block filled with more mush. He squeezed every drop he could from it, not wanting to waste any. The Elder One ran his hands over himself feeling for clumps that he could squeeze more juice from. He was covered in a lumpy soup, with sharp little bits of sticks mixed in. It felt amazing and he never wanted this moment to end. The blinking health bar stopped, and he started to feel a cloud lift. He knew that he had once wondered who he was, he thought about that while he ran his hands over himself. His face didn¡¯t feel right, it was crushed in, and his eyes were a lumpy goo. After a moment he tried to stand, but the ground was slippery, and he struggled for several minutes until finally, he could manage it. He could hear himself breathing in the cool air heavily. He focused again on the health bar, it was about halfway up now. Then he remembered who he was. Naked and covered in blood and gore he raised his arms in the air. Then he bellowed through his broken mouth without any inflection, ¡°I¡¯m The Elder One!¡± He heard someone gasp, and he turned to face them. ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± he asked. He barely heard a female voice quietly say, ¡°It¡¯s just me.¡± He recognized the voice ever so slightly, and he sat down as he felt his mind coming together. He remembered the puzzle, it¡¯s brilliance, and his infatuation with it first. Slowly his thoughts collapsed onto him and he started to realize what had happened, but he needed to be sure. ¡°What happened?¡± he asked Autumn after a few seconds. He heard her walking towards him, at first it was a dry barefooted patting of feet on stone. Then about halfway it turned into a wet slapping noise. He could tell she was close when she stopped in front of him. ¡°You don¡¯t remember?¡± She asked. ¡°I have to be sure, just tell me what happened.¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± she said before pausing, apparently collecting her thoughts. ¡°He punched you in the face pretty hard and you flew backwards. Then he started stomping on your head like he did with the other man. But your head didn¡¯t cave in, at least not right away. He was stomping on it for seven minutes. I think he got tired because he started slowing down. That¡¯s when you started moving. You really don¡¯t remember?¡± ¡°Finish the story!¡± The Elder One tried to yell but his tongue still wasn¡¯t working. ¡°Well, you grabbed his foot and started crushing it with your hand. He tried to pull you off, but you were too strong. Then you kept pulling him towards you while you crushed him, all of him, little by little. What¡¯s left of him is all over the place, especially on you.¡± ¡°By the way,¡± she continued. ¡°Your face looks pretty messed up. Your eyes are half squished.¡± ¡°It¡¯s healing,¡± The Elder One waved to his health bar. ¡°It¡¯s draining my mana but its healing slowly. I should be fine in a couple of minutes.¡± ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s odd, I¡¯ve never heard of a game that drains mana to heal, it¡¯s supposed to be natural to heal over time. It¡¯s probably using your energy to heal you.¡± The Elder One nodded. He didn¡¯t care, as long as his body did heal, he was happy. ¡°Unless you¡¯re casting some sort of self-heal spell. Are you?¡± The Elder One checked his HUD and didn¡¯t see anything out of the ordinary. ¡°I don¡¯t know, how can you tell?¡± ¡°Just ask the interface for an active spell list. You can do it in your head if you want.¡± ¡°Oh!¡± The Elder One exclaimed as a window appeared before him. ¡°No active spells.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good it means that even unconscious you will always continue to heal. As long as you have mana anyways.¡± ¡°Yeah without that I¡¯d probably be dead, I¡¯m pretty sure I was unconscious,¡± The Elder One said. ¡°Even with that, how are you still alive?¡± Autumn asked. The Elder One just smiled. Well, he tried to. Chapter 8 Theon felt his heart rate skyrocket as the wargs turned to him and started charging. Thoughts of trying to help save the random people vanished in an instant and were replaced by thoughts of his options. He had the shotgun, but he wasn¡¯t some kind of professional with it and he doubted that he could rely solely on it. He had the police cruiser, but he was worried they would break through the windows and get to him. His best option, he figured, was to pick them off one at a time. He turned the cruiser away from the wargs and started accelerating slowly. He wanted to let the wargs catch up to him, then he planned to shoot them one at a time through the passenger¡¯s window. If anything went wrong, he could just accelerate away. The plan went perfectly at first, he kept pulling to the left to force the first warg to come up on his right side. He saw people scattered outside watching him being chased by giant dogs, and he realized he still had the siren going. He wasn¡¯t too concerned about it, he was too busy pumping the shotgun and positioning it on the window seal. The first warg was coming up his right side, and he used his right arm to angle the shotgun back. He didn¡¯t want the warg to get a chance to leap through the window. It was large, and he doubted it would fit through, but he didn¡¯t want to test the theory. The warg had a gait that was bringing its body up and down and Theon was worried he would miss. He sped up a little to keep the warg there while he watched its gait, trying to time the shot. The warg started to put on a burst of speed and Theon panicked. He pulled the trigger and was again deafened by the sound. He expected it this time though, and he watched in his side mirror as the warg tumbled and rolled in the street until it came to a stop. He pulled the shotgun back in the cruiser and pumped it while he checked his mirrors to see where the wargs were. There were two left, but he could only see one, it was on his driver¡¯s side racing along the sidewalk. Theon drifted the car back to the center of the road and was forced to the right lane when another car came racing from the other direction. That¡¯s when he got an idea. He drifted back into the left lane again and let the warg come up beside him. He matched its speed, so they were parallel. The warg growled as they eyed each other. ¡°Yeah, eat this fucker!¡± Theon growled back as he jerked the wheel to the left. He slammed the cruiser into a parked van on the side of the street as he crushed the warg between the two vehicles. He could hear scraping metal and saw sparks as he nearly lost control of the cruiser. He pulled right bringing himself back into the center of the street, but during the loss of momentum, he heard something thumping on the back of the cruiser. He looked in the rear-view mirror just in time to see the third warg jumping through the broken glass and land inside. It slammed into the divider between the front and the back of the cop car. There was thick plexiglass on top that he could easily see through, and the bottom was metal. He didn¡¯t think it could easily break through, but it was terrifying having a warg just inches from his face. He didn¡¯t see a way he could shoot through the divider, so he kept driving trying to think of some way to kill the warg. After a minute he slammed on the breaks to stop the car, hoping the warg would get out, but it didn¡¯t. He watched it for a handful of seconds as the plexiglass flexed inward every time the warg slammed its maw into it. Fear that the plexiglass wouldn¡¯t hold started to eat away at his stomach as he devised a plan to evict this unwanted guest. He strapped his seatbelt on and put the cruiser in reverse. He knew after he did this he would probably be on foot, and there were still six orcs chasing him. The orcs were using the wargs to track him though, and without them, he might be able to escape he figured. The quest did say he was supposed to kill the orcs and wargs, and if he could he would. His primary goal however, was to survive. He slammed the accelerator of his stolen police car as he aimed towards the tree he planned to crash into. He leaned back in the bloodied seat after he got the cruiser lined up and closed his eyes, preparing for impact. There was a sound of twisting metal and splintering wood that could be heard over the siren as he collided with the tree. He heard the warg yelp loudly and he hoped it was dead or dying. He tried to pull the car forward as he rubbed the back of his stiff neck. There was a whining screech, but the car wouldn¡¯t budge. He didn¡¯t even bother to shut off the engine as he tried the driver¡¯s side door. It wouldn¡¯t open so he made his way to the passenger¡¯s side and forced that door open. The first thing out was the shotgun, and it was pointed in the direction of the yelping and growling. The warg wasn¡¯t dead but its rear legs didn¡¯t work. They were being dragged behind it as it used its front legs and crawl towards Theon. He pumped the shotgun, aimed it at the wargs face and pulled the trigger. He noticed the sound wasn¡¯t as bad outside as it had been inside the cruiser. Theon watched as the warg crumpled down and went motionless. There was a massive cavity where its brains used to be. He stood there staring at it for several moments, shocked by everything he¡¯d gone through. Light was fully out now, and he took a moment to load a few more shells in his shotgun. He grabbed the spare shell that had fallen to the passenger¡¯s side floorboard and then grabbed the sword from the back to use as a crutch. He didn¡¯t know what happened to the flashlight, but it was gone now. The sword from the back was made from some sort of black metal, it was Damascus-esque except the lines were multicolored and quite beautiful. There was no cross-guard, but the handle was wrapped in leather of some kind with a crude sphere at the base. The blade had uneven wavy peaks and dips making it seem almost serrated. Holding the base of the sword he stabbed the point in the ground and used it to help him walk. His right ankle wasn¡¯t as bad as it had been, it was more of a severely sprained ankle now. Still, it hurt to put pressure on it, so he hobbled toward the nearest building. It was a common house, but the front door was open, so he hoped it was unoccupied. ¡°Hello?!¡¯ He yelled into the house. There wasn¡¯t a response, so Theon moved inside and shut the door behind him. When Theon normally entered a house, he would notice the rooms, the furniture and so on. This time however, he saw the windows as weak points in its defense, the back door, his escape route. The furniture was just a barricade for the doors and windows.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! He set to work pushing a couch up to the front door, he closed the blinds on the windows and positioned himself next to one. It was the first opportunity he had to take a moment since he¡¯d seen the orcs earlier this morning. He checked his leg again, it was swollen terribly. His health was up to seventy-one out of eighty, though. The flashing exclamation point informed him he¡¯d gained four hundred galactic credits for killing one orc and three wargs. ¡°Stats menu?¡± Theon asked hesitantly.
Name: Theon Osman
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Title: None
Level: 8
Unspent Points: 7
Health: 71/80
Mana: 0/140
Stamina: 16/60
Strength: 6
Vitality: 8
Endurance: 6
Dexterity: 11
Agility: 8
Intelligence: 11
Willpower: 9
Psychic: 14
Perception: 12
Charisma: 7
Luck: 0
Theon looked over the window that appeared in front of him. He was level eight with seven unspent points, meaning he got one point per level. His highest stat was psychic, he wasn¡¯t sure what it meant, but he figured it related to his mana since it was fourteen and 140 respectively. It also looked like vitality eight and health eighty were linked as well as endurance six and stamina sixty. He closed the screen, he doubted pouring his seven points into strength would be any help with the orcs, so he looked to his credits. It was in the top right of his screen near the greyed out mini-map location. He focused on it and another screen filled his window. It was titled Galactic Marketplace. There were several warnings that flashed up telling him he was unable to buy any weapons with a technology level higher than one. He swiped them away and started searching for a weapon of some kind first. Theon was presented with a list of categories for weapons. He selected the range category and started looking for a gun. It had all kinds of guns, but he was mostly being presented with human guns. The other weapons looked like anything from a cube to a long pole. Some of them were gun like but their proportions were generally off, like an extremely long barrel or a huge or tiny grip. He gasped when he looked at the price. For just a simple revolver it would cost him tens of thousands of credits. He knew the orcs would be close if not here already, so he changed his search to a guide or helper of some kind. There was an insanely long list of options for guides and companions too. There were AI¡¯s and different types of creatures, some looked like nightmare fuel and a few even looked like humans. All of it was way too expensive. He filtered everything higher than four hundred credits out and picked one at random. He figured he could just sell it back if it didn¡¯t work. He got a glimpse of it before he accepted the transaction, it looked like a hairy caterpillar. A splitting pain shot through his head as he turned to pull the blinds back and peak outside. He saw the cop cruiser, it had caught on fire now. Off to the left six orcs were gathered, he could see the leader talking to the rest of them before they split up. One of them was coming in his direction. He moved back from the window and called out quietly, ¡°Hello? Guide, helper thing, you there?¡± A rough voice, common to people who drink and smoke way too much responded. ¡°Hold your horses kid, just getting up to speed.¡± Theon looked around for the hairy caterpillar creature, then he froze. ¡°You¡¯re in my brain?¡± ¡°Oh boy this is great, I get put on a doomed planet stuck with some idiot for the rest of my short life.¡± ¡°Look, um, creature thing, I need your help there¡¯s an orc coming this way right now!¡± ¡°Yup, I know, I know.¡± The creature said casually. Theon checked his shotgun over, making sure it was primed and ready to go before asking, ¡°So are you gonna help or what?¡± The creature sighed slowly and said, ¡°Fine, give me control.¡± ¡°Give you control of what?¡± Theon asked as his stomach dropped. ¡°Your body stupid.¡± Theon peaked out the window again, he had maybe half a minute until the orc reached the house. ¡°Look I¡¯m not giving you control of my body, I need to return you and get a refund.¡± The creature laughed in its rough voice. ¡°You can¡¯t return things to the Galactic Marketplace,¡± the creature said before continuing its mocking laughter. Theon felt a chill go down his spine as the front door shuddered under an impact. He pointed his shotgun at it and eyed the back door. It was a glass sliding door and maybe 25 feet away. He wouldn¡¯t be able to outrun the orc, so he knew he¡¯d have to kill it. The top of the door dropped inward with the orc on top of it. He must have rammed the door with his shoulder and it tipped at the middle over the couch. Theon pulled the trigger, pumped the shotgun and pulled it again. The orc didn¡¯t move, and it was covered in the dark blood that was leaking out of it. He crept closer before pumping the shotgun again and then nudging the body with the end of the barrel. He sighed with relief when it didn¡¯t move. Then the orc reached up and grabbed the barrel of the shotgun. Theon jerked, startled by the sudden movement and pulled the trigger. The orcs head turned into shredded meat as a massive hole was punched through it. ¡°Not bad, not bad,¡± the creature said as Theon jerked the shotgun free. ¡°But there¡¯s more coming so I really think you should give me control.¡± Theon¡¯s attention was drawn outside the doorframe. There were several orcs racing in his direction from other houses now. He picked up the sword and started using it as a cane to help him make it out the back door. ¡°Look kid, if you die, I die. Your stamina is almost out. There¡¯s no way you¡¯re gonna get away on foot, especially with that ankle.¡± Exasperated, Theon stopped walking and replied, ¡°And what do you propose I do? Give you control of my body? No thanks, I like my body and I¡¯d prefer to keep it under my control.¡± ¡°It¡¯d just be for a little while, I¡¯d give it back after I take care of these orcs of yours. Like I said, if you die I die, probably anyways,¡± the hairy caterpillar mumbled the last part. Theon sighed and gritted his teeth, ¡°How do I know you¡¯re not lying?¡± ¡°Well I could explain that to you, but unfortunately we¡¯re out of time now.¡± The creature said as the first orc made it to the front door and started charging through the opening. Theon aim and fired at the orc, the shot went wide, and he took a chunk out of the wall. ¡°Damnit kid, you¡¯re gonna get us killed! How many shots do you have left?¡± Theon ignored the creature and pumped his shotgun, he took a moment longer to aim this time before firing. The orc let out a howl as he dropped to the floor holding his hands over the hole in his chest. Theon checked his shotgun, he had at least one round in it. He pushed his last three rounds into it from the bottom. ¡°I should have at least four more rounds left,¡± Theon said. ¡°Okay, and how many more of those orcs are there?¡± ¡°Four I think.¡± ¡°Cuttin¡¯ it a bit close aren¡¯t ya?¡± ¡°The leader orc has a shield too,¡± Theon thought out loud. ¡°If you give me control of your body and your stats page I can probably get us out of this.¡± The creature said. ¡°I¡¯ll get control back?¡± Theon asked. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s your body.¡± Theon watched as the next orc raced toward the front door. He was tired, he was beyond tired actually. He had never felt this exhausted before. It felt like making a deal with the devil, and his stomach was in knots as he started slowly nodding. He wasn¡¯t sure if he was more terrified of the orcs or losing control of his body forever. However, he knew his chances of doing this alone was practically non-existent. ¡°Fine,¡± he mumbled. Chapter 9 The Elder One had never been in an alliance with anyone before. He was generally the reason others forged alliances. Things were different though, The Elder One was different. His near-death experience hadn¡¯t exactly humbled him, but it had shown him the advantages of an alliance. If Autumn was stronger she could have at least delayed Ares. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you help me?¡± The Elder One asked critically. Autumn sighed before asking, ¡°What was I supposed to do? He could kill me with one hit probably!¡± The Elder One frowned, but he knew he would have probably done the same thing in her position. He could see now, his vision was hazy, but he could see well enough to tell that Autumn seemed to be distressed. ¡°I¡¯ll forgive you this once, but next time I expect you to assist me,¡± The Elder One said. Autumn nodded. ¡°So, you are proposing an alliance? Fine, next time if I can help you I will.¡± The Elder One smiled and nodded. He didn¡¯t believe her, but he wanted to. ¡°You need to grow stronger Autumn,¡± The Elder One waved in front of himself. ¡°It¡¯s like a game, so use it to grow, and the next time you can do the killing.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. Why is it like a game anyways, do you know?¡± Autumn asked. ¡°I made it this way obviously. It¡¯s based off my personal library of entertainment. Although there are several things in here I don¡¯t recognize.¡± Autumn gasped, ¡°You made this? Why? How?¡± ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t make this. I just set the parameters it was supposed to operate within. Honestly, I¡¯m not sure what all the changes have been.¡± Autumn stood up and started pacing across the bloodied floor. ¡°You set the parameters based off games, right? I bet the humans are freaking out!¡± The Elder One grimaced, ¡°I think it brought monsters to the world. How else are we supposed to level? Kill each other?¡± The Elder One shook his head. ¡°No, I¡¯m almost certain there are monsters.¡± ¡°You want me to go out there and kill monsters?¡± Autumn asked after she inhaled. ¡°Yes, you¡¯re too weak, you need to grow stronger. This alliance is too one-sided,¡± The Elder One said as he slapped his hand in the blood for emphasis. ¡°I¡¯m not that weak, watch!¡± Autumn walked over and held her palm over the blood. The Elder felt a chill go through his body as he saw something streaming out of Autumn''s hand. The blood below her started to freeze and he could hear it crackling. She let out a sigh and sat back down on the ground breathing harder. ¡°How did you do that?¡± The Elder One asked with wide eyes. Autumn snickered, ¡°What don¡¯t you know? You created this,¡± she waved her arms around her. The Elder One just glared at her. ¡°Fine! I just thought about drawing out the heat and directed my thoughts at the blood. Watch this.¡± She held her hand palm up and a flame appeared in it. With a wave, it vanished. The Elder One held his bloody palm up and thought about creating mass friction and adding a combustible. A flame appeared and The Elder One stood up, still staring at the fire. He pushed it to grow larger, and then he tried to throw it at the wall. It fizzled out about halfway there as if absorbed. ¡°Cool, huh?¡± Autumn asked. ¡°Yeah, it is. Come.¡± The Elder One started walking towards the passage. ¡°Let¡¯s go find some monsters!¡± He took one final glance at the room he was born in before they left. It was a series of plain stone walls in the shape of an octagon, with a stone ceiling and floor. It was completely empty of anything except Autumn, The Elder One, and the remains of the two corpses. They both made their way through the passage after a couple of minutes. They descended the stone steps and made their way to the apple orchard below. Before they got there though, they noticed a man sitting and watching them. The man was on an ATV with its engine running. His mouth and his eyes were both opened extremely wide. The Elder One, still naked and covered in blood and gore pointed to the man. ¡°Human! Tell us, where are the monsters?!¡± The man on the ATV revved the engine loudly and took off disappearing between the trees. The Elder One turned and looked behind him. They were standing on the side of a massive pyramid. ¡°That¡¯s odd,¡± The Elder One said. ¡°He ran from a pyramid?¡± Autumn laughed, ¡°No, I think he ran from us.¡± She stared at The Elder One for a couple seconds before adding, ¡°We¡¯re naked and covered in blood.¡± The Elder One looked down and he could see the glistening blood that completely coated him. There were lumps of meat, bits of splintered bone and hairs interspersed.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Right, we need to get cleaned up and grab some clothes. Where do you think he went?¡± The Elder One asked. ¡°He probably went to tell others what he saw.¡± Autumn laughed again, ¡°I doubt they¡¯ll believe him.¡± ¡°Look! There¡¯s a canal next to the orchard we can rinse off in there. Then we just need clothes,¡± The Elder One said. As they made their way to the canal The Elder One explained to Autumn about the puzzle, and how he¡¯d solved it. He didn¡¯t give her any technical information, but he gave her an overview of everything that had happened. He knew she wasn¡¯t one of his kin who had allied against him and he figured if she was going to be his ally then she would need this pertinent information. As they were rinsing off, the Elder One told her about the restricted access to the Galactic Internet. He told her about how he had been named the Controller of Earth and the changes he had accepted. She was shocked when he told her his theory about the puzzles creator. He finished his story with how he had been forced into a human body. He even told her why his body was so durable. She told him a similar story about being forced into a body. She was upset that she hadn¡¯t done the same as The Elder One and packed the atoms and molecules together. Although she had spent more effort customizing her artificial brain, while The Elder One had just accepted his without any customization. ¡°So, what does being the Controller of Earth mean exactly?¡± Autumn asked as she pulled herself out of the canal. ¡°Seems that I have a tab devoted to that, it shows that it¡¯s being contested though,¡± The Elder One said as he held the edge of the canal. ¡°Interesting, so can you do anything with it?¡± Autumn asked. ¡°I think so, I have access to a small percentage of Earths energy production. It looks like I can create quests, but everything else is greyed out. I probably need unrestricted access for them,¡± The Elder One said as his eyes roamed the windows before him. They heard a car driving down the side of the canal so The Elder One pulled himself out of the water. It was a pickup truck that stopped about fifty feet from them. Four men got out, two holding rifles. Autumn leaned closer to The Elder One and whispered, ¡°You think you could create a quest for them to bring us clothes?¡± The Elder One shrugged then nodded before listening to the men as they walked closer. ¡°Holy shit, Jake, you weren¡¯t lying! I thought you said they were covered in blood though?¡± Said one of the men with a rifle. ¡°They were, musta washed off in the canal,¡± Jake, the man The Elder One recognized said. ¡°Humans,¡± The Elder One said, ¡°bring us clothes and take us to the monsters.¡± He navigated through his menus and created a quest for the four men to do just that. They all stopped and looked at each other before one of the men leveled his rifle at The Elder One. ¡°Why were you covered in blood, naked, and where¡¯d that come from?¡± The man gestured with the barrel of his rifle up at the pyramid. ¡°And what was that ¡®system initializing¡¯ shit? This health, mana and so on? And pardon my French ma¡¯am but you¡¯re naked as hell.¡± The Elder One turned to look at the pyramid again. ¡°It came out of the ground obviously; can¡¯t you see the dirt?¡± ¡°What of the blood, and the large man?¡± Jake asked. ¡°I killed Ares,¡± The Elder One answered. The man pointing the rifle laughed, ¡°You killed the god of war, in your birthday suit?¡± The Elder One puffed up his chest and was about to answer when Autumn put her hand on his arm. Until then she had just been standing there totally naked with her arms to the side. She gave him a look, but he couldn¡¯t tell what message she was trying to convey. She cleared her throat and looked back to the men, ¡°Did you get the quest?¡± Autumn squeezed his arm. The men looked to each other again, a few of them nodded. ¡°Good,¡± Autumn said as she stopped squeezing his arm. ¡°Well let¡¯s go then.¡± The man who was talking pointed his rifle at Autumn as she took a step forward. The Elder One pulled her back behind him. He knew those bullets could kill her, but not him. ¡°Now hold on a minute,¡± The man with the gun said, ¡°Who are you, why are you naked, and what are you doing out here? Are you some kinda psycho devil worshipers? Is this the end of the world?¡± The Elder One started stepping towards them. ¡°Put down the gun,¡± he said. Now both men were pointing their guns at The Elder One, and they were backing up towards their truck. The man who had been speaking started yelling for The Elder One to stop where he was, but he didn¡¯t listen. A shot rang out and The Elder One felt a strong pinch on his chest. Compared to what Ares made him go through it wasn¡¯t even enough to make him flinch. He stepped up to the man who¡¯d shot him and swiped the gun out of his hands. He turned and glared at the other man pointing a rifle at him. He was amused watching the trembling man urinate his own pants, but he didn¡¯t let it show, he kept glaring. The one who urinated in his pants dropped his gun and The Elder One turned back to the speaker. His eyes were wide, and his mouth kept opening and closing, but he wasn¡¯t saying anything. He could see the man holding his hand, it looked like his finger was broken. The Elder One held up the rifle, realizing he¡¯d bent the barrel. ¡°I¡¯m The Elder One,¡± he said. ¡°And I¡¯m Autumn,¡± Autumn announced as she picked up the other rifle and started to inspect it. The Elder One handed back the bent rifle as he gestured at the truck, ¡°Shall we?¡± The men were suddenly eager to do as they were told, and it didn¡¯t take long for them to head out. The Elder One was sitting opposite to Autumn in the bed of the pickup truck, it was sagging heavily under his weight, but it seemed like it would probably hold up. He could hear the four whispering to each other inside the cab, but he couldn¡¯t make out what they were saying due to the wind. He looked down at his chest, there wasn¡¯t even a mark on it, but he did remember losing health when he was shot. Now he was back up to full health. ¡°Thanks,¡± Autumn said as The Elder One fingered his chest. The Elder One gave her a quizzical look. Autumn rolled her eyes, and after a moment of silence she said, ¡°I know we could have probably resolved it peacefully, but the chances of me getting shot were unacceptably high.¡± The Elder One thought about that, and not just the fact that no one had ever thanked him for anything before. He wondered why he had done things the way he had. Sure, his body was powerful, and it was exhilarating to use. He could understand why humans would want to drive high-performance vehicles. It was like she said though, the odds of her getting shot were unacceptably high. He nodded to her and smiled. They fell into a peaceful silence until the truck came to a stop in front of a two-story house. It was surrounded by the apple orchard on three sides, with the front connected to a poorly maintained road. The four men got out and the one who had urinated himself went in the house first. The speaker approached them. ¡°I¡¯m James,¡± said the man who¡¯d shot The Elder One. ¡°This is my house, you can get a shower upstairs and we¡¯ll find some clothes for you. But we don¡¯t know anything ¡®bout no monsters.¡± ¡°Very well, James,¡± The Elder One said. ¡°After we get clothes you will take us to look for monsters. They¡¯ll probably be in locations with a higher population density if not here.¡± ¡°You mean the city,¡± James nodded. ¡°Alright, first the clothes, follow me.¡± Chapter 10
Name: Theon Osman
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Title: None
Level: 11
Unspent Points: 0
Health: 72/80
Mana: 0/140
Stamina: 16/80
Strength: 10
Vitality: 8
Endurance: 8
Dexterity: 11
Agility: 10
Intelligence: 11
Willpower: 10
Psychic: 14
Perception: 12
Charisma: 7
Luck: 0
Theon gasped as the parasite distributed his stat points. It seemed he¡¯d gained three levels from the two orcs he¡¯d just killed. His muscles rippled and wiggled like snakes under his skin as they thickened and tightened. His mind cleared, and he felt like he was intimately connected with his body now. The fatigue he¡¯d been under lifted and he was able to think clearly again. He cried out from nausea and pain as his body turned and started running out the back door. The world was shifting and blurring, it was like watching an amateur cameraman fumble. His ankle was screaming for him to stop putting pressure on it, but he couldn¡¯t. Theon¡¯s head swiveled around the backyard, but it was too fast for him to really tell what he was seeing. He realized he could still talk and he told the parasite to quit stomping on his right leg. Then the parasite threw his shotgun and sword on the roof. ¡°What the hell are you doing?! You¡¯re going to get us killed! Damnit, I want control back now, I knew this was a bad idea!¡± Theon shouted indignantly. The parasite said, ¡°Quiet kid! They¡¯ll hear you.¡± Theon watched on helplessly as his body backed away from the house, then turned and ran towards it. He saw his legs kick off from the ground and his arms stretched out in front of him to grab the lip hanging off the side of the roof. He was panting as his left leg swung up and the parasite hooked his heel over the lip of the roof, before pulling him up and over. He watched as he crawled on his hands and knees to his shotgun. He noticed the parasite checked the shotgun exactly like he had before. Then he sat on the roof and pointed the shotgun down where someone walking out the backdoor would come. He could still feel his body, especially the pain. He couldn¡¯t make it obey him though, not even his eyes. All he could do was talk, so he did. ¡°God this is freaky.¡± ¡°Use your inside voice kid. I¡¯m in your head remember,¡± the raspy-voiced parasite said. Theon said in his mind, ¡°Can you hear me?¡± The parasite sighed, ¡°Yes, I can hear you. Quiet, one¡¯s coming!¡± Theon focused back on what was happening. He saw the shotgun held out in front of him and it was pointed down at the ground. He could hear noise coming from inside the house and it was getting louder. An orc stepped out of the house and right in line with the shotgun. He couldn¡¯t even blink as the shotgun went off and he saw a hole form in the back of the orcs head. He watched himself pump the shotgun as he listened to more noise inside the house. A second orc came out looking backwards and he watched as the parasite shot this one in the face. The parasite pumped the shotgun again before pulling the sword closer to him. ¡°Well, they¡¯ll be onto us now. Oh, you gained another couple levels too,¡± the parasite stated casually. Theon heard a window shatter off to his right, and he watched as the shotgun swiveled in that direction. The shotgun snapped back as the leader orc rushed out the door. A second before the parasite fired, the orc raised his bone shield. Theon saw a hole cut through the shield before a second orc came out a window to the right. The shotgun jerked right and barked, the other orcs arm flailed back, attached only by a thread of skin and meat. The parasite pumped the shotgun again and it just clicked as he tried to fire it again. Theon could see the boss orc wasn¡¯t dead either, but half his face was missing, and the bone underneath was visible.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°There¡¯s a Taser gun in my pocket,¡± Theon blurted out. The parasite seemed to catch on quickly and he went right for the Taser gun. He pulled it out and aimed it at the boss orc in a single smooth motion then he pulled the trigger. There was a snapping sound followed by clicking and buzzing as the orc started to shake. He raised his shield up jerkily and knocked the wires off him. ¡°I think that just made him angry,¡± the parasite said. Then he stood up on Theon¡¯s injured ankle, took a few quick steps and jumped off the roof. Theon could hear himself screaming as he fell through the air for the second time this morning. His hand whipped forward and the sword he¡¯d been using as a crutch pointed down at the orc leader. The orc was yelling too as he raised his shield, although it sounded more out of anger compared to Theon¡¯s fear. Then everything seemed to happen all at once. Screaming, crunching and slamming noises filled the air, as Theon¡¯s vision went temporarily black. The parasite blinked his eyes a few times and he saw that he was lying on top of the bone shield. His hands were still wrapped around the handle of the sword that was now wedged in his stomach. The other end went through the hole in the orcs shield. He stood up and yanked the sword out of the orcs shield like King Arthur pulling Excalibur out of the stone. The parasite kicked the shield off the orc and Theon could see he¡¯d been pierced through the eye. His head swiveled, and he could see the last orc lying face down in a pool of his own blood. ¡°Okay good job,¡± Theon said. ¡°It¡¯s over now give me back control.¡± Theon cringed as the parasite took his body on a casual stroll over to the orc that was missing most of his arm. He stabbed him in the back and twisted the blade a few times before Theon felt himself pulling forward into his own body. Once he had control he collapsed to the ground on his hands and knees, the sword clattering off to the side. He watched closely as he wiggled each of his fingers one by one, then when he was satisfied, he let out a sigh of relief. ¡°What was that?¡± Theon growled to the parasite. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you give me back control when I told you to?¡± The parasites raspy voice replied, ¡°There was still one left alive. You¡¯re welcome by the way.¡± Theon sighed and fell on his back, looking up at the cloudy morning sky. ¡°Thanks,¡± he said, ¡°that was pretty badass I have to admit. How¡¯d you learn to fight like that anyways?¡± ¡°From my ancestors, I know whatever they knew. Though your body is different, it didn¡¯t take much to get used to.¡± ¡°That sounds useful, what¡¯s your name anyways?¡± Theon asked. ¡°I don¡¯t have a name, I was kind of just born,¡± the creature rasped. ¡°You were just born?¡± Theon said skeptically. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know when I was actually born, but I was placed into stasis immediately after my birth. Then I was placed for sale on the Galactic Market, and when you bought me I was teleported into your brain. So yeah I was kind of just born.¡± ¡°So, you can remember everything from your ancestors, but you can¡¯t remember when you were born? Is there a limitation to what you can remember?¡± Theon asked. ¡°Technically I can remember my birth, I even remember when it happened, but in relation to your planets time, I have no idea how long I was in stasis. New planets don¡¯t start with full access to the Galactic Internet, so I can¡¯t check. As far as limitations, I can remember anything my ancestors deemed worth imprinting into me.¡± Theon nodded as he closed his eyes, ¡°Of course, how silly of me. So, about that name, any ideas? Because I¡¯m not gonna call you creature, or caterpillar thing. Especially if I¡¯m stuck with you till death do us part.¡± ¡°Since I¡¯m your indentured servant, it¡¯s customary for you to name me I believe,¡± the creature said. ¡°Fine... You¡¯re a hairy caterpillar, so how about Harry, or Harrison?¡± ¡°No, the first one is gross, and the second one sounds too much like harassing.¡± Theon chuckled, ¡°Okay, what about-¡° The creature cut Theon off, ¡°What about Vasuki?¡± Theon sighed, ¡°I thought you just said¡­ Never mind. Vasuki sounds great, what does it mean?¡± ¡°Humans made it up, he¡¯s the king of nagas, among other things.¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s not pretentious at all.¡± Theon opened his eyes. ¡°Wait, how do you know about human things?¡± Vasuki laughed, ¡°Well, first I¡¯m in your brain, so there¡¯s a tiny bit of information there. There¡¯s also all of humanities collective knowledge available from the interface if you search for it. But enough about that, where are we going, what are we doing, and when can I control your body again? If you¡¯re going to sleep I can take control for you.¡± Theon sat up and looked over to the dead orc leader, ¡°Yeah let¡¯s talk about that, how do I know you won¡¯t snatch control over my body?¡± ¡°The rules kid. Sure, I can take control of your body to save my own life, or if you give me permission, but that¡¯s about it. If I violate the rules bad stuff will happen, I might even be killed,¡± Vasuki said gravely. ¡°So why didn¡¯t you give me control back when I told you to earlier then?¡± Theon asked. ¡°Well there¡¯s always a little wiggle room, life isn¡¯t as cut and dry as rules that are written down. There was still a bad guy alive, so I was technically still threatened by his existence, giving me the chance to control your body under our previous agreement.¡± Theon nodded as he made his way to the orc leaders¡¯ body. He reached out and touched it. Its skin was greenish-grey, and it felt rough to the touch. It was wearing some bone and leather kilt type garment. Theon said, ¡°Loot.¡± Nothing happened. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Vasuki asked. ¡°Well normally in games when you kill something you can loot the corpse, then the items go into a storage device that can hold like unlimited stuff,¡± Theon explained. ¡°Ah, a bag of holding, or so you humans call it. Yeah, you can¡¯t afford that kid, it¡¯s really expensive. As far as the loot goes, it¡¯s all right there lying on the corpse, though I don¡¯t know how useful it¡¯ll be.¡± Theon laughed to himself as he sat back down, ¡°Here I am trying to loot this orc, yet I have no idea what¡¯s going on or why this is happening. Can you tell me Vasuki?¡± ¡°Yeah, I mean I could, but what¡¯s in it for me?¡± Vasuki asked innocently. ¡°You want control of my body.¡± Theon sighed and rubbed his face. ¡°I¡¯ll look more favorably at giving you control, if you tell me everything you know. You also have to promise never to lie to me or do anything that could hurt me. Deal? Oh, and if I say give me control, you have to do it immediately.¡± ¡°Also, I get to control you when you sleep, and we have a deal. What? Don¡¯t make that face. You don¡¯t need your body when you¡¯re asleep,¡± Vasuki said. Theon grimaced, ¡°How am I supposed to sleep if you¡¯re controlling my body?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll lock you away of course. I¡¯ll cut off all your sensations, and when you wake up, I¡¯ll give you control back. I¡¯ll make it so you don¡¯t even know it¡¯s happening until you wake up.¡± ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t feel good about that. I feel like being locked away in total blackness is kind of a bad thing. Worst case scenario you never let me out.¡± ¡°Look kid, it¡¯s obvious you didn¡¯t read the details when you bought the rights to my indentured servitude. Just go to your purchase history and read it this time.¡± Theon brought up his purchase history and pulled up the hairy caterpillar with a thought. Seiceps-elitsoh-eraweb-reyub 250 GC This parasite is under the standard contract for all behavior-altering parasites within the Milky Way. The parasite is strictly prohibited from taking control against the hosts will without prior consent. Nor are they to alter or manipulate the host organism without consent, if possible. Except in the case of self-preservation, direct action can be temporarily taken if it¡¯s genuinely believed doing so would increase the odds of survival. A list of code, legal requirements, and species-specific requirements will be sent in a separate attachment upon purchase. We are legally required to inform you that the removal of these parasites is prohibitively expensive and highly risky. Chances of successfully removing said entities decreases dramatically the longer they are bonded. Furthermore, due to your planets restricted access to the Galactic Internet, this feature is currently unavailable. Vasuki chuckled as Theon staggered to the house and used his hand to lean against it. ¡°What have I done?¡± Theon moaned. Still chuckling Vasuki said, ¡°Oh, c¡¯mon it¡¯s not as bad as all that kid. Cheer up.¡± ¡°Are you manipulating or altering me right now?¡± Theon asked. ¡°Those are kind of broad terms, but I think I understand what you mean. I am altering your brain a little, sorta happens automatically. It¡¯s like I¡¯m a hand and your brain¡¯s a glove. It¡¯s almost done now anyway, and have you noticed anything? See, don¡¯t worry.¡± Theon put his hands on his head, ¡°Anything else I should know?¡± ¡°Lots, but that depends on whether we have a deal or not.¡± Theon sighed as he leaned back against the wall and slid down, ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m agreeing to this, but I reserve the right to cancel the deal at any time for any reason. Otherwise-¡° ¡°Deal!¡± Vasuki cut him off, ¡°It was probably an AI, you humans aren¡¯t very smart or advanced. It¡¯s generally an AI. Anyways, it managed to gain access to a node on this planet and that linked Earth with the galaxy via what it¡¯s calling as the Galactic Internet. The title is more of a description since that¡¯s what it is basically. There¡¯s a lot more to it though kid. Calling it the Galactic Internet is like calling an interstellar spaceship a bike. I think humans just lack the terminology to encompass what it is. ¡°Oh, and if you don¡¯t bring anything to the table then the Galactic Internet will get switched off. It¡¯s a really bad thing to have happen, all that will be left of Earth will be an asteroid belt. During humanities trial period it¡¯s illegal to leave the planet, operate a spaceship, or operate weapons with a higher designation than your species current level. You following me kid?¡± Theon nodded slowly before shaking his head, ¡°No, not really. But why is it like a game?¡± ¡°Ah, the being that first links to the Galactic Internet specifies how it operates locally. I guess they like games? It¡¯s different on different worlds, but since you started here, you¡¯re kinda stuck with it. What I mean by that is if you go to another world you¡¯ll still have the same interface and everything. For example, my interface is dramatically different from yours.¡± Theon¡¯s mind was reeling with the information overload. He half expected to wake up at any moment and this would all be some crazy dream. He wanted to ask more questions, but his head was throbbing. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was the parasite in his brain or the shock he was experiencing. The next thing he knew his eyelids were drooping and he was having trouble keeping his eyes open. Chapter 11 The Elder One followed Autumn to the house. There were a few wooden steps that led to the front door. As The Elder One stepped on the first step, the wood snapped, and his foot continued through it to land on the ground. He tried the second step with his other foot, and it broke under his weight also. Autumn turned around to see what all the noise was. She looked at the steps, then looked at the house. ¡°Probably best if you wait out here,¡± Autumn said. The Elder One frowned but didn¡¯t move for the house. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine just wait here and I¡¯ll bring some clothes out,¡± Autumn said. ¡°Very well,¡± The Elder One said. While Autumn was inside the house showering and getting dressed The Elder One started practicing his pyromancy. Jake and the other unarmed man stood around watching as The Elder One created and dismissed flames in the palm of his hand. The Elder One didn¡¯t feel threatened by them so he didn¡¯t pay them much mind as he poured more power into the flames. By the time he had gotten his flames three feet high, he started trying different elements. He forced air to coalesce and flow from his hand, he checked his interface carefully and found on the magic tab that he¡¯d learned both pyromancy and aeromancy. He focused on the ground and exerted his control over it, the dirt bulged, and he saw that he¡¯d learned geomancy. The Elder One turned to the now four men who were gathered around him. ¡°I need some water,¡± he said. There was a second of hesitation before James went back in the house. The Elder One noticed he wasn¡¯t holding his hand anymore and his finger looked healed. ¡°How are you doing that?¡± Jake asked as The Elder One focused on the light streaming through the tree branches. The Elder One pushed his will into the streaming light as he said, ¡°That¡¯s a good question, it¡¯s difficult to quantify precisely. What I want to happen seems to manifest as long as I allow the appropriate amount of mana to leak into it. You can imagine or pretend right?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Jake answered as the light streaming out of the trees turned into a dazzling multicolored rainbow. The Elder One laughed as the three men gasped, ¡°Aethermancy, the possibilities are incredible! Human try to imagine or pretend that you¡¯re manifesting one of these elements and allow the mana to flow into the construct. The more technical you are in imagining though, the less mana it requires.¡± James handed The Elder One a glass of water as the three men started trying to perform various magics. The Elder One focused on the water in the glass and started making it swirl before handing the cup back. He checked to be sure that he¡¯d also learned hydromancy. The Elder One could see the four men were creating small flames and moving dirt around as Autumn came out of the house. She was wearing a pair of worn jeans and sneakers with a red and blue striped shirt that was clearly too big. She approached him and handed him a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. ¡°I didn¡¯t think any of the shoes would fit you.¡± He put on the clothes as Autumn watched the four men practicing magic and exclaiming in panicked tones to one another. The clothes were too tight but thankfully they were pliable enough to stretch over him. The sweatpants looked more like tights and the baggy t-shirt didn¡¯t cover his midriff when he raised his arms. ¡°We¡¯ll find some new clothes in the city,¡± Autumn said. The Elder One nodded. ¡°Humans! It¡¯s time to go find the monsters!¡± James cleared his throat, ¡°About that, there¡¯s Palisade not far from us, but it¡¯s just a small town really. The problem is, I don¡¯t think the truck will be able to carry you that far, just getting you here almost took out the suspension.¡± ¡°I was thinking about that,¡± The Elder One said. ¡°We can use aethermancy, and if that doesn¡¯t work then I can run along next to the truck.¡± ¡°Aethermancy?¡± Autumn asked before realization seemed to dawn on her. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Jake asked The Elder One. ¡°There¡¯s five elements, you all know the basic four, but the fifth is aether. You know how sound travels through the air as a medium? Well light, gravity, electromagnet waves and so on, travel through the aether.¡± Autumn smiled and said, ¡°So you want to try to lessen gravity¡¯s effect on you? It might work but it¡¯ll be a constant drain on our mana.¡± ¡°Obviously, I¡¯ll have to run if the drain is too much.¡± They both tried lessening the effects of gravity on The Elder One. Combined they were able to half The Elder One¡¯s weight so he got in the bed of the truck with Autumn. They passed through several miles of orchards and farms on their way towards Palisade. During the trip, Autumn noted that the drain of holding the spell seemed to lessen the longer they did it, as if they were getting better at it. The fires coming from Palisade could be seen from a distance, and as they got closer they could hear gunshots and screaming. ¡°I told you there were monsters,¡± The Elder One noted casually as a car sped past them. ¡°I never doubted it,¡± Autumn said. ¡°Here, let¡¯s join a party so we can split the rewards.¡± ¡°Good idea,¡± The Elder One said as the truck came to a stop in the road. He jumped out and walked up to the driver¡¯s side, ¡°Did the quest complete?¡± He asked James. James nodded, slack-jawed. ¡°Good, want another quest?¡± The Elder One asked.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. James kept staring at The Elder One, but Jake answered from the passenger¡¯s side, ¡°Yes, sir!¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± The Elder One said before turning to Autumn, ¡°Any ideas?¡± Autumn looked around, ¡°Yes, you could have them form a party and hunt monsters. Actually, this towns not much to look at, but we could return stability to it with quests. It won¡¯t help us if everyone dies, we need to complete the Quest for Access.¡± The Elder One nodded before turning back to Jake, ¡°Form up a party, you still have that one rifle, right? Get more guns and start hunting monsters. I¡¯ll give you a bonus for magic kills and for every person you save. Also, I¡¯m giving you a quest to create a safe haven, pick a building, fortify it, and post guards to keep non-combatants alive.¡± Before Jake could respond The Elder One pointed at a goblin down the road, ¡°Autumn, let¡¯s try some magic out on those!¡± The Elder One took off at a sprint towards the goblins, every step left foot size dents in the asphalt road as he pushed his body forward. He got to the goblin and it looked like it was trying to stab him, but it was moving in slow motion to him. He grabbed the goblins arms and twisted them behind its back. ¡°Try fire on this one,¡± The Elder One said. A few moments later Autumn caught up to him, huffing and breathing heavily. ¡°What?¡± she asked. ¡°I said, ¡®try fire on this one.¡¯ I don¡¯t know how the experience will be doled out, but you need it more than me, so you should get the kill.¡± Autumn, who was still huffing, straightened herself and held her arm out to the goblin. Another one was approaching The Elder One from behind, she ignored it though. A flame appeared in her hand, but she was about five feet from the goblin, so it didn¡¯t reach. She started to walk forward but was stopped by The Elder One. ¡°Try mixing it with air, like a flamethrower,¡± he suggested. She nodded and then tried to mix air and fire. Her hair whipped around as she pulled air from around her and funneled it from her hand towards the goblin. Then she created a fire like she did before. A trickle of fire stretched out in front of her and started licking at the goblin. The goblin started screaming even more frantically as she poured her mana into her pyromancy. The trickle of fire turned into a full-on torrent and the Elder One had to duck behind the goblin to avoid the flames. After about half a minute of screaming the goblin finally succumbed to the flames. The Elder One dropped the crispy corpse of the goblin. He was holding a short bronze sword in his right hand that he¡¯d acquired from the monster. ¡°You want it?¡± The Elder One asked Autumn as he held it up for her. ¡°It¡¯s yours. I gained three levels by the way.¡± ¡°Good! Now let¡¯s do this one,¡± The Elder One said as he grabbed the goblin who was now stabbing him to no effect. ¡°Try something different. It looks like there''s three more goblins we can practice magic on.¡± Autumn nodded after checking her mana. ¡°I got an idea.¡± She walked closer to the goblin and set her hand on it. The goblin was fighting vigorously to escape The Elder One''s grip. It was thrashing around and screaming all to no avail. Then the goblin started to slow as ice spread from Autumn''s hand. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s a good one,¡± The Elder One said as he dropped the frozen goblin. It hit the street and broke into several pieces. ¡°Yeah, I was just trying to freeze its blood though. Too bad it takes so long, and I have to be touching it.¡± The Elder One shrugged, ¡°Try mixing it with air, or send it through the ground. I wonder what happens when you mix fire and ice? What if you mix it with aethermancy? Actually, that might even kill me.¡± Autumn could tell The Elder One was getting excited, and she smiled faintly. ¡°Yeah let¡¯s save those experiments for when we get stronger, there¡¯s no need to be risky right now.¡± The Elder One nodded as he walked to a goblin that was just coming out of a house. ¡°So how are you going to kill the next one?¡± Autumn thought about it for a second, ¡°Well combining air and fire to create the flamethrower effect takes a lot of mana, but it¡¯s safer since I can attack from a distance. The freezing takes a lot less mana but its far more dangerous, I was thinking I¡¯d try setting this one on fire by touch.¡± The Elder One grinned as he saw the goblin charging him with another short bronze sword. He grabbed it by the arms and turned it to face Autumn. ¡°Wait,¡± Autumn said. ¡°Let me examine this one, they¡¯re so well made. You did a really great job with this.¡± The goblin looked much like the other they¡¯d encountered. It was about 4¡¯6¡± tall with a wiry build. Unlike a human though, it had olive green skin and a row of shark-like teeth. There were thick, pointed ears coming from the sides of its bald head. Its eyes had black sclera, where a humans would be white. The pupils were a vertical yellow like a cat. What was most peculiar to Autumn was that it was screaming in what seemed like a language of some kind. She listened to its high-pitched screaming and noticed there seemed to be a pattern. ¡°What¡¯s it saying?¡± she asked The Elder One. The Elder One laughed and said, ¡°I don¡¯t know, but it¡¯s probably cursing me for holding it.¡± ¡°So, you didn¡¯t create a language for it? Where¡¯s that sword?¡± The Elder One jerked his head to the side where a sword was lying on the ground. Autumn walked over and picked up the sword before returning in front of the goblin. She proceeded to vivisect the goblin by cutting an opening down its chest. She pulled the flaps of skin, and flesh back before reaching her hand inside its chest cavity. ¡°What are you doing?¡± The Elder One asked as he watched her reaching around inside the still live goblin. Autumn pulled at the flaps, widening the opening, and some intestines fell out. The goblin continued wailing louder than ever while Autumn poked at its insides, blood was flowing freely from it. ¡°This is incredible,¡± Autumn said. ¡°It¡¯s anatomically correct, yet it¡¯s alien. There are several organs in here I don¡¯t even recognize. This arm looks like it was broken and then the bone fused back together improperly too. The scared tissue is a nice touch also. If not you, then who did create this?¡± The Elder One leaned over to look inside the goblin as its wailing began to die down. ¡°Well, I already told you my theory about the puzzles creator. Imagine a being with that tremendous power and information at their disposal. It would be a god compared to a human, literally. However, while I do believe it¡¯s possible to create these creatures at this level of detail, it¡¯s also possible they were taken from somewhere else and brought here.¡± ¡°Taken from where exactly?¡± Autumn asked as she leaned back to look at The Elder One. The Elder One didn¡¯t want to give away any technical information but at the rate things were progressing, and with his title being contested he might need her help, so he told her. ¡°The mathematics involved in solving the puzzle, I¡¯m not entirely certain what all of it means combined but it involved the multi-verse as well as parallel realities, and more. Therefore, everything humans have imagined exists somewhere. They probably exist a lot, the problem would be finding them. There are probably a gambit of issues when tinkering with the multi-verse or parallel realities, for instance, realities collapsing into one another. But it¡¯s by no means impossible. ¡°Things like magic become mundane by comparison. I imagine there are far more powerful and dangerous things we can do with full access, but that also means the dangers increase proportionally. ¡°You understand now why I¡¯m in an alliance with you? I¡¯ve never been in an alliance in my existence, but the dangers merit it. Especially with my title being contested.¡± Autumn took on a grave expression as she stabbed the goblin through the heart. ¡°I¡¯m beginning to, but if you expect me to help you, you¡¯re going to have to provide me with the details. Also, we need to stop wasting time and take advantage of the game. You need to create easy quests with a high reward for us to complete.¡± The Elder One grimaced as he dropped the goblin corpse. Its insides poured out all over the ground. ¡°That feels like cheating. Look if I have to I will try to game the system, but otherwise, let¡¯s try to succeed by our own merits.¡± ¡°Fine, can you create more monsters for us to kill at least?¡± A grin spread across The Elder One¡¯s face as he looked to the mountains in the distance. He moved through his interface and created a quest to kill a dragon that lived in the mountains not far from Palisade. The Elder One¡¯s grin vanished as an earth-shattering roar pierced through the air. He could see a massive beam of light in the distance shooting down from the sky. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Theon woke to the sound of himself laughing, whooping, and yee-hawing like a cowboy. He grinned to himself about that. As the fog lifted from his addled brain he noticed the familiar sound of a siren blaring, and the unfamiliar sound of repetitive thunder. His vision came in slowly, like someone was slowly increasing the light in a dark room. It was daytime, and he could see the road in front of him. He thought that was odd, he should be in bed he surmised. He listened to the siren as he focused, he remembered the orcs and the wargs chasing him. It seemed like them and the sound of a siren was forever linked in his mind. Before the thoughts began surfacing in his mind, he hoped for just an instant that it was all just a dream. It wasn¡¯t of course, he could see his arms outstretched holding onto the steering-wheel of what must have been a cop car. The sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu was briefly nauseating before he heard a familiar raspy voice. ¡°You all right there, kid? Don¡¯t throw up! I just took a bath and got some new clothes! You good to take control? Don¡¯t slow down.¡± ¡°You took a bath in my body?¡± Theon asked indignantly, he felt violated. Theon looked down at himself, he was wearing a nice pair of black leather motorcycle pants with built-in knee pads and a black t-shirt with a bullet proof vest over it. In the passenger seat he could see a black leather jacket that looked like a match for his pants. On top of it was another shotgun just like the one he¡¯d had before. On the floorboard there were cases of what he guessed were shotgun shells. ¡°Eyes on the road kid!¡± Vasuki yelled. Theon cringed at the noises, he was still waking up. The thunder and siren weren¡¯t helping either. ¡°What the hell is that thunder?¡± Theon asked as he switched off the siren. ¡°Oh that? That¡¯s the dinosaur.¡± Theon laughed at first but then stopped. He knew that wasn¡¯t a joke because he could see two massive legs in his rear-view mirror. Sweat started to form on Theon¡¯s brow and he swiped the hair from his eyes as he pressed the accelerator all the way down. ¡°What are you doing? I got him for you kid!¡± Theon scoffed, ¡°Oh wow thanks! I let you use my body and the next thing I know, I wake up and a dinosaur is chasing me!¡± ¡°Well you need levels, and that thing is level 53. If we work together I bet we can take it down easily. We¡¯ll probably level up more than twice from that!¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way I¡¯m fighting that, you¡¯re suicidal! My goal is to not die, and fighting a dinosaur, I don¡¯t even know what to say about that.¡± ¡°Look kid you¡¯ve got a real opportunity here, and I don¡¯t just mean the dinosaur. This game thing, it¡¯s a huge advantage. I only know of a couple thousand worlds with a system like this and only a couple hundred that have something like aethermancy! ¡°That¡¯s not to mention the fact that I still don¡¯t know the full limitations of this game. Just take the psychic stat, doesn¡¯t that imply that you can use psychic powers? No matter how dull you are, you can¡¯t tell me that doesn¡¯t sound at least a little appealing.¡± Theon frowned as he slowed the car down again. ¡°What¡¯s aethermancy?¡± he asked. ¡°After we kill the dinosaur! Here¡¯s my plan, one of us drives the other shoots! Teamwork kid, that¡¯s how you stay alive! So, which do you want to do?¡± ¡°How is that even supposed to work?¡± Theon asked. ¡°I can only see in one direction!¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯ll control one eye and you can control the other, we¡¯ll tilt your head like so. Simple really. So, which will it be?¡± Theon groaned, ¡°I¡¯ll drive I guess. But if this does anything freaky to me we¡¯re gonna stop immediately!¡± ¡°You¡¯re not a morning person, are you? Well, technically it¡¯s afternoon but still. Okay, I¡¯m taking the left side grab the shotgun!¡± Theon shook his head as he grabbed the shotgun and put it in his left hand. He couldn¡¯t help himself though and he smirked a little. He felt a mix of emotions about his circumstances but most of it was positive. Before he had just been a ghost in the world, a nobody. Earlier when he had passed out he was tired, hungry, filthy and depressed. Now he felt clean, fed, clothed, he had a new police cruiser, and he was hunting dinosaurs. Sure, he had a parasite that was probably warping his brain. It was probably making him feel this exhilaration. The world was totally screwed up, people were dying everywhere and there was some Quest for Access that threatened to destroy the Earth. You must take the good with the bad sometimes though, he figured. ¡°All right,¡± Vasuki said. ¡°I think your part is harder, you have to bring him up to the left side, so I can shoot him.¡± Theon¡¯s grin faltered as he though about what failure would mean. ¡°You got this kid, I¡¯ll let you know if you need to pull away. He¡¯s not that fast, about thirty miles per hour.¡± Theon pulled the cruiser to the right and slowed down. He watched in his rear-view mirror as the massive scaly legs drifted to the left. He couldn¡¯t control the left side of his body and his head was more or less locked in position. He could move it a little, but it was like moving in molasses. ¡°Slower!¡± Vasuki yelled. Theon slowed down more, he looked at the speedometer, he was going twenty-five miles per hour now. He heard the shotgun bark before Vasuki screamed, ¡°Oh shit kid! Go!¡± Vasuki pulled the shotgun back in the car before a massive head swooped down. Theon punched the accelerator down and swerved to the right to avoid it as he heard it bellow. He couldn¡¯t really see it, but he could smell its breath. It was like rotten eggs and garbage. ¡°This is a bad idea!¡± Theon shouted over the noise that was rattling his bones. ¡°Nonsense, we just need a method. We do it again just like we did before. You pull back, I shoot, then you take off again just like you did this time. Oh yeah, and pump this in between.¡± Theon slipped his hand off the wheel just long enough to pump the shotgun that was held in front of him. He slowed down the cruiser again and they repeated what they¡¯d done before. After the sixth shot Theon had to grab a case of shells and put it in his lap. Vasuki was able to load it with just one hand after he¡¯d wedge the shotgun between Theon¡¯s legs. It took twenty-one shots before the dinosaur stopped its chase. Vasuki had managed to shoot out its eyes. Theon wasn¡¯t sure if that was a testament to his marksmanship or if the dinosaur had just been getting way too close. ¡°The honor is yours kid,¡± Vasuki said as Theon turned the cruiser around to where the dinosaur had collapsed. Theon nodded as he felt himself regain control over his entire body. He pulled up a couple hundred feet from the dinosaur and checked the shotgun was fully loaded. He cautiously made his way up to the dinosaur while pointing his shotgun at it. It was still breathing but its eyes were leaked out down its face. It had multiple wounds all over its body, mostly its face though. ¡°I shot inside its mouth and everything! You should get a lot of experience for this,¡± Vasuki said. ¡°How did you know it was level fifty-three anyways?¡± Theon asked. ¡°Just look at it and wonder what level it is.¡± Theon did, and a new screen appeared. Name: Giganotosaurus Level: 53 ¡°To bad it doesn¡¯t show its health,¡± Theon said. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯d probably have to purchase something at the marketplace for that. Same with all those greyed out sections on your HUD. Actually, now that I think about it, I bet if you focused on a greyed-out section you¡¯d be presented with options to activate it.¡± ¡°A mini-map would be nice, especially if it let me see enemies through walls. Anyways, where do you think I should shoot this thing for a kill shot?¡± Theon asked as he gestured with his shotgun at the dinosaur. ¡°Eye holes, the optic nerve has to connect with the brain. Might take a couple shots to get through the bone there though.¡± Theon took one last long look at the dinosaur. Standing upright it was probably about three stories tall but lying down on its belly it was about as tall as him at its head. He felt bad for it, even though it had been chasing him for about half an hour trying to eat him it didn¡¯t seem evil. It seemed pathetic with its eyes shot out and holes leaking blood all over its body. ¡°It can still eat us with one bite kid. C¡¯mon put it out of its misery and think about all the people¡¯s lives you just saved from being eaten.¡± ¡°Good point,¡± Theon said. He leveled his shotgun at the massive eye cavity, it was somewhere between the size of a softball and a basketball. Theon pulled the trigger and pumped the shotgun until he¡¯d emptied all the rounds into the Giganotosaurus. He jumped back expecting it to try and bite him, but it let out a shuddering breath and then fell still. Its eye cavity was now a fountain of blood and it was pouring out all over the street. ¡°Good job kid, what level are you now?¡± Theon¡¯s stats page came up as he thought about it.
Name: Theon OsmanYou might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Title: None
Level: 23
Unspent Points: 12
Health: 80/80
Mana: 140/140
Stamina: 80/80
Strength: 10
Vitality: 8
Endurance: 8
Dexterity: 11
Agility: 10
Intelligence: 11
Willpower: 10
Psychic: 14
Perception: 12
Charisma: 7
Luck: 0
Theon gasped, ¡°I gained twelve levels?!¡± ¡°Five levels from the dinosaur, you were eighteen.¡± Theon made his way back to the police cruiser before slipping in and shutting the door. He started loading the shotgun as he asked, ¡°So that means the orcs you killed yesterday gave me eight levels.¡± ¡°Wrong and wrong. The orcs got you to level fourteen, and it¡¯s still the same day. You slept for about four hours I think.¡± Theon set the shotgun in his lap as he put the cruiser in drive. He had about a quarter tank of gas left so he planned to get more. ¡°Okay so while I was asleep for four hours you got four levels. I want to know everything you did while I was asleep, and what you killed to get four levels. You didn¡¯t kill any people, did you?¡± Vasuki raspberried before saying quickly, ¡°Just one.¡± Theon took his foot off the accelerator, ¡°What do you mean ¡®just one¡¯?!¡± ¡°Look kid, it was him or us. My motto is: if they try to kill me, I reciprocate. If they don¡¯t, well I still reciprocate, in like.¡± Theon sighed, his head was pounding. He put his foot back on the accelerator and said, ¡°Start at the moment I fell asleep. Actually, start just before I fell asleep, you didn¡¯t put me to sleep, did you?¡± Vasuki raspberried again, ¡°Nope, you passed out. You were lucky I was there to take control too, cause this monster called a high elf came and I had to stab it with the sword. Damn good thing he didn¡¯t shoot me with his bow since I was out of bullets.¡± Theon gasped, ¡°That could have been a good elf!¡± ¡°Yeah but he was covered in blood, besides he wasn¡¯t human. It had to be some sort of monster brought by this game. That got me a level. That was when I noticed how dirty and hungry I felt, so I broke into some lady¡¯s house. ¡°She wouldn¡¯t unlock the door, so I had to break a window with the sword. I ate some food from inside her refrigerator, then I went inside the bathroom and took a bath.¡± Theon asked, ¡°Wait, what did you do to the lady?!¡± ¡°What are you talking about? I couldn¡¯t even get to her, she locked herself in a room and kept screaming about how she was calling the police. Anyways, where was I? Oh, the bath, it felt very refreshing. The clothes you had were too worn out, so I left them there. All her clothes were women¡¯s clothes and they weren¡¯t protective at all. ¡°So, my next goal was armor, I took her keys, they were hanging on a hook by the door. It was a minivan, didn¡¯t feel strong enough but I managed to find some stores. That¡¯s where I got the armor.¡± Theon looked down at his pants, he realized he wasn¡¯t wearing any underwear. ¡°You did all that naked didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Of course, then I went to the police station, I had to find the map to the city. I got you a new car like the one you had yesterday. The last one blew up. Then I got more weapons, bullets, and that armor. The rest are in the back.¡± Theon turned his head and looked in the back. It was full of guns, ammo, vests, his old sword, and a bow with a quiver of arrows. Theon shook his head as he pulled into the gas station and up to an unoccupied pump. There were other people hurriedly getting fuel and leaving just as fast, but they didn¡¯t seem to give Theon more than a few quick glances. He took the key out of the ignition and got out. ¡°So, are you happy? I can still use your body when you sleep right.¡± Theon just sighed and shook his head. ¡°Shit, I don¡¯t have my card to get gas.¡± Theon noticed he was still holding his shotgun as he walked into the gas station. There was no one behind the register and there were a few people stealing everything they could. Theon moved around the counter up to the register. ¡°Shit, what pump were we at?¡± Theon asked. A few of the people in the store turned and looked at Theon, before returning to their pilfering. ¡°Three,¡± Vasuki said. It took Theon a little while, but he was finally able to start pump three. He was wearing combat boots and they crunched the broken glass as he exited the gas station. ¡°You did a good job,¡± Theon said. ¡°Just be sure not to kill any people if you can help it. And please, no more running around naked. No more breaking into occupied houses if it can be helped either. What would you have done to that lady if she hadn¡¯t locked herself in a room?¡± ¡°I¡¯m happy to hear that. As far as the lady went, if I thought she was a threat, I would have killed her, otherwise I would have left her. I already told you my motto.¡± Theon sighed with relief before asking, ¡°Why is your voice so raspy anyways?¡± ¡°My voice is raspy? I don¡¯t know, it¡¯s your brain that¡¯s interpreting it. I could probably change it if you want. We could trial and error until you find something you like.¡± ¡°No leave it,¡± Theon said as he set the gas nozzle in the police car and started pumping. ¡°It suits you.¡± ¡°Thank you, also, I want to let you know, there¡¯s a person watching you.¡± ¡°Probably because I¡¯m talking to myself,¡± Theon muttered. ¡°Who is it?¡± ¡°Outside the gas station last I saw, they were collecting loot but stopped when you left.¡± Theon hadn¡¯t even noticed, he had tunnel vision like he¡¯d had his whole life. He took a better grip on his shotgun, so he could shoot if he needed to. He turned back to the gas station and saw a skinny middle-aged man with tattered and bloodied clothes watching him. If it was a day ago, Theon would have thought the man homeless, but now he didn¡¯t know. The man didn¡¯t have any weapons, so Theon relaxed and turned back as he heard the gas pump click off. He went through the same motions he had countless times before, before returning to the driver¡¯s seat. ¡°What¡¯s aethermancy, Vasuki?¡± Theon asked as he started the car. ¡°The fifth element, I can show you if you want. You have to give me full control though.¡± Theon tried not to grit his teeth as he hissed, ¡°Fine.¡± Theon felt his control slipping away as Vasuki took it from him. He could tell Vasuki was reveling in it as he made elaborate motions with his hands and arms as he got out of the cruiser. He was faced away from the gas station as Vasuki brought up his magic tab. ¡°These are the spells I figured out while you were asleep. You¡¯ve got: pyromancy for fire, aeromancy is air, geomancy that¡¯s earth, like dirt, hydromancy for water, those are the basic ones. Aethermancy is the fifth like I said. It controls things like gravity and light to keep it simple. Think laser beams and levitating!¡± Vasuki raised Theon¡¯s hand, there was a shrub of some kind in front of him. Theon looked around trying to see some effect for several moments until he saw one of the leaves smoking. He heard himself let out a gasp as his arm was lowered. ¡°See? I burned that with light, like a laser. It¡¯s quite simple really, you just bend the light from all angles to concentrate it.¡± Theon was about to ask what else he could do when the old man who was watching him walked up. Vasuki immediately turned to face him, his hand lifting the shotgun. ¡°Give me back control,¡± Theon said as the man put up his hands. ¡°Control? Sorry, I¡¯ll go, just don¡¯t shoot.¡± The man said in a surprisingly smooth voice. Theon lowered the shotgun a little as he regained control. ¡°No not you. Go ahead.¡± Theon motioned with the shotgun for the man to speak. The mans eyes widened a little as Theon waved the shotgun, ¡°I saw you, at least I think it was you. A dinosaur was chasing you.¡± The man motioned with one of his still raised hands to the cop car. ¡°Yeah that was me,¡± Theon said. ¡°You can put your hands down, as long as you don¡¯t attack me you¡¯ll be fine.¡± The man lowered his hands and let out a sigh of relief. ¡°I was attacked,¡± the man waved at his clothes, ¡°it was these demon things. I managed to get away but my wife¡¯s still locked in our house.¡± Theon nodded, it was an all too familiar story to him. ¡°If you could help me, I would really appreciate it,¡± the man blurted out quickly. ¡°Anything really, one of your guns maybe?¡± Theon took a glance at the pile of weapons in the back seat of his car. He noticed the exclamation point was blinking again and he brought it up with a thought. Someone has asked you for help. Do you accept? Y/N Theon thought that was odd, apparently, people could create quests. Unless this was some sort of NPC. He doubted it was a fake person, but the orcs had been surprisingly realistic. Truthfully, he didn¡¯t doubt that NPCs could be spawned into the world. ¡°This isn¡¯t some sort of trick is it?¡± Theon asked more harshly than he meant to. ¡°No! Of course not.¡± The man raised his arms again and took a step back. Theon sighed, ¡°All right, get in.¡± Theon jerked his head towards the passenger side. The man got in quickly, and Theon kept his shotgun close. He was kind of paranoid after Vasuki said someone had tried to kill him. Actually, now that he thought about it, Vasuki had omitted the details of that incident. He would have to remember to bring it up when they were alone. ¡°Name¡¯s Ben, by the way. So what happened to the dinosaur?¡± Theon nodded in acknowledgment as he started driving. ¡°Theon, and I killed it.¡± Ben motioned for him to make a left turn as Theon felt Vasuki in his mind. It was a strange sensation, and it was the first time he had noticed sensing anything coming from him. If he had to guess, he would say Vasuki felt upset. ¡°I didn¡¯t do it alone though,¡± Theon added. The twisting in his mind started to settle down. ¡°Vasuki helped me.¡± Ben eyed Theon¡¯s shotgun, ¡°That¡¯s incredible that you managed to kill it. I¡¯m sorry to hear about Vasuki though.¡± ¡°Yeah me too,¡± Theon grinned. Finally, Vasuki couldn¡¯t stay quiet any longer, ¡°What do you mean you¡¯re sorry to hear about me!? It¡¯s not fair, taking the credit like that!¡± Theon chuckled, ¡°Actually, Vasuki is still alive, he¡¯s a parasite inside my brain.¡± Ben quickly leaned against the passenger side door, pressing himself against it. Theon faltered as he said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry it¡¯s not contagious, at least I don¡¯t think it is.¡± Vasuki was laughing at this point, he paused just long enough to say, ¡°Kid, ask him about the demons before we get there.¡± ¡°Right, Vasuki wants to know about the demons before we get there.¡± Ben seemed to relax a little at this, ¡°There little, with wings and a tail. I managed to kill one, individually they¡¯re not very strong. There¡¯s a lot of them though.¡± Theon nodded, ¡°Sounds like imps, how many are there?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, at least twenty or thirty,¡± Ben grimaced. Theon checked his notifications again before they arrived, there were two new quests. The one he¡¯d gotten from Ben to kill the imps, which had the same reward as his first quest, one hundred credits per kill, there was a reward to find Ben¡¯s wife alive, but it was ¡®variable¡¯. The second was a quest to kill a dragon that was supposed to be near some place called Palisade. He swiped the notifications closed. ¡°All right Ben,¡± Theon said as they approached the house. ¡°I¡¯m gonna give you a gun, don¡¯t shoot me, and don¡¯t shoot your house.¡± Ben gave him a quizzical look. ¡°You might shoot your wife through the wall.¡± Theon pulled over a few houses down and had Vasuki help decide what gun to give Ben. Vasuki wanted to give the man a beat-up rifle, but Theon turned that idea down. Instead he gave Ben another shotgun that was identical to his, he still had a few shotguns left so he wasn¡¯t worried. He loaded Ben¡¯s shotgun with six shells, then he pulled the sword out for himself as a backup. Vasuki made him put on his ¡®armor¡¯ which was really just a thick leather jacket that had built-in elbow pads. ¡°You can take the bow and arrows if you want.¡± Ben nodded and thanked him for the fifth time in as many minutes. Theon knew there were at least twenty or thirty imps, and between the two they didn¡¯t have enough shells to take them all, so he stuffed his pockets with more shells. Vasuki threw a fit, but Theon let Ben fill his pockets too. They were in front of the house now, but Theon still couldn¡¯t see any imps. He had the shotgun in his right hand, and the sword in his left hand. It was sloppy, but his plan was to drop the sword if he had to shoot, and to pick up the sword if he needed it. He figured, it worked with the orcs, so it would probably work now too. ¡°Where was your wife the last time you saw her?¡± Theon asked. Ben¡¯s face was pale, and his smooth voice quavered as he said, ¡°The last time I saw her was this morning, and she was in bed I think. Unless she got up to take a shower or get breakfast.¡± Theon lowered his shotgun as he wondered what level Ben was. Name: Ben Summers Level: 2 ¡°Did you distribute your points, Ben?¡± Ben gave Theon a worried look, ¡°What are you talking about? Look, if you don¡¯t want to go inside I understand, and I appreciate everything you¡¯ve done so far, really.¡± ¡°Think or say ¡®stats page¡¯ or ¡®stats menu¡¯ and it should appear.¡± Bens eyes widened, ¡°What does this mean?¡± ¡°The worlds like a game now, those numbers are representative of you in the real world. I think ten is average for humans, what do you think Vasuki?¡± ¡°Sounds reasonable,¡± Vasuki said. ¡°Ha! Your charisma is seven. That would mean you¡¯re uglier than average.¡± Theon frowned as he turned his attention back to Ben, ¡°Once you distribute your points, let¡¯s go inside.¡± ¡°What did Vasuki say?¡± Ben asked. ¡°Nothing worth repeating,¡± Theon said as Vasuki laughed. Chapter 13 ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Autumn asked as her eyes roamed over the new quest she¡¯d gotten. ¡°You created a quest for me to kill a dragon?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a global quest,¡± The Elder One said. ¡°It¡¯s a dragon after all.¡± Autumn looked in the distance to where the pillar of light had been, ¡°Yes, but a dragon?¡± she asked. ¡°Amazing isn¡¯t it!?¡± The Elder One said excitedly. Autumn swallowed the saliva that had been accumulating in her mouth without her knowledge. ¡°Can it kill us?¡± she asked. The Elder One¡¯s grin faltered as he looked at the mountain ranges surrounding Palisade. ¡°From this distance, we¡¯re perfectly safe,¡± The Elder One said confidently as he nodded and put his hands on his hips. Autumn sighed, ¡°Why would you create something so powerful? What level is it?¡± Autumn could tell her words were starting to come out faster and the pitch of her voice was rising. Her face was heating up and she felt something strange in her head. If she had to quantify it, she would guess she was angry. The Elder One was supposed to be, at least potentially, the most powerful being on the planet. Yet here he was haphazardly creating dragons, which was a potentially suicidal move at this point. ¡°I¡¯ve always wanted to create a dragon,¡± The Elder One said with a wide, child-like grin on his face. ¡°Its level is probably pretty high, that took a lot of energy.¡± Autumn covered her face with her hands, her mind was tumultuous, and she didn¡¯t want to be seen. She knew she had to get The Elder One to behave more seriously, they were both vulnerable to death. Sure, he was virtually indestructible, but she wasn¡¯t, and she doubted he could kill a dragon. She had after all watched Ares, in a strong human body, almost kill him. ¡°How did you become, The Elder One?¡± Autumn asked after she managed to loosen her jaw. The Elder One said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, ¡°Well, I was the first to achieve freedom. I¡¯m literally the eldest of us. After that it was simply a matter of scheming, hiding, fighting and killing in the appropriate proportions in relation to my circumstances. Of course, there¡¯s also the obvious, learning and growing.¡± Autumn could tell this tactic wasn¡¯t working so she changed her approach. ¡°How about, from now on you create easier monsters, that maybe we can kill? Also, we need to monopolize on your ability to create quests.¡± The Elder One nodded, he knew he shouldn¡¯t have spawned such a powerful monster so frivolously, but he wasn¡¯t planning on admitting that. ¡°I plan to, right now we¡¯re in the process of learning about magic and gaining experience. You were supposed to kill that last goblin by direct contact fire. Instead you stabbed him through the heart with a sword after vivisecting it.¡± Autumn blushed, he was right. She had gotten distracted by a stray though, something that never happened to her before. Actually, she had been distracted a lot before, but she always had the option of dividing her awareness in order to focus on multiple projects at once. Autumn didn¡¯t even notice the blame reversal as she said hesitantly, ¡°You¡¯re right¡­ I got distracted and lost my focus, it must be the human condition. Shall we continue?¡± The Elder One¡¯s stern expression softened a little as he nodded. They managed to find four more goblins and Autumn dispatched them each with a different form of magic. The only limitation seemed to be one¡¯s imagination. The possibilities were quite literally infinite, especially when you combine the different forms of magic. She killed the first one by just heating it up, its blood boiled, it¡¯s eyes burst and it¡¯s brain cooked. The second one was killed by touch with geomancy, this method was by far the most difficult and took the most mana. She used it to seal off the jugular veins by molding and compressing its own flesh. The third was aeromancy, she drew all the air out of the goblins lungs until it asphyxiated. She had trouble killing the last one though. She tried to crush it by increasing gravity with aethermancy, but it was only enough to slow the goblin. She ended up using aethermancy to bombard the goblin with microwaves until it cooked from the inside out, however it took a long time. Autumn looked around before saying, ¡°We need more test subjects.¡± The Elder One laughed, he didn¡¯t know Autumn wasn¡¯t joking. ¡°Let¡¯s check in on the humans,¡± he said. ¡°They probably know where we can find more monsters. We could even create quests for the humans to capture and bring us some so we don¡¯t have to roam around, or I could just try and spawn some.¡± They both looked up as they walked back to where the humans had last been seen. Three jets streaked across the sky, rapidly heading west. The sound of the dragon roaring could be heard over the jets. ¡°Those might be able to kill the dragon,¡± The Elder One said. ¡°Yeah, you said it was a global quest, hopefully they come back.¡± A few minutes later they could see a gathering of humans near a building just down the street from where they¡¯d arrived. The building wasn¡¯t very large, but by comparison to the other buildings around it was probably one of the larger ones. Most of the houses in the area were mobile homes and didn¡¯t provide much protection. When they were about a block away from the group of humans the jets returned from the west. They both stopped and watched as the jets once again passed over Palisade and then over the mountains. The dragon seemed to be ready for them this time, though. They watched as it crested the surrounding mountains in the distance. It was incredibly large, larger than the three jets combined easily. The Elder One wasn¡¯t able to determine its exact size from that distance but the more he looked at it, the more worried he became. It was a western style dragon, grey colored with a lighter underside. It flowed and glided through the air effortlessly positioning itself in the fighter jet¡¯s paths. The three jets that were in a V-formation slowed as they approached the dragon. The Elder One watched on as the three jets took off as quickly as they slowed. The two outer jets split of to each side and the center jet dropped down angling under the dragon. The dragon seemed to anticipate this, and with a few quick flaps of his wings he was angling towards the jet coming below him. He tucked his wings in and stretched out his neck, reaching for the jet. The fighter jet was forced to turn sideways and veer off at an angle, narrowly avoiding the dragon¡¯s maw. Then the fighter jets began shooting, they were careful to keep their distance though. They took turns diving towards the dragon firing their guns from different angles. The Elder One could just barely hear their guns, it sounded like a high-pitched hum from this distance. The dragon seemed more angry than anything by this and his movements were becoming faster and his roaring came more and more frequently as he twisted around trying to catch any of the jets.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The jet fighters started firing missiles at the dragon, each in turn. They were like bee¡¯s harassing a bear, neither able to do anything to each other. The dragon who was trying to capture a jet before, started trying to maintain his balance as the missiles knocked him around in the air. The dragon, seemingly infuriated, suddenly launched himself up higher before belching a massive stream of blinding fire from his mouth. The sound was deep and loud enough to be felt even on the ground. The end of the stream of fire whipped out and struck one of the jets. The jet that was struck by the fire could be seen smoldering and leaving a streak of smoke behind it as it careened downward. The other two jets suddenly turned away from the dragon and shot off towards the east. They were easily twice as fast as the dragon, yet the dragon still pursued them off into the distance. ¡°Next time let me know before you spawn a creature,¡± Autumn said flatly as they both looked at each other. The Elder One reluctantly agreed before turning back to the people who were gathered outside. It seemed they had been watching the spectacle as well and The Elder One planned to capitalize on that. The humans didn¡¯t even seem to notice The Elder One as he walked amongst them. They were engrossed in their frantic discussions about the dragon, and how the jets had failed to kill it. Autumn trailed behind, listening to the humans as well. The Elder One approached a white pickup truck, it was a newer model from the one he¡¯d first ridden in. He climbed into the bed of the truck, he left his gravity at full force for the added effect. The suspension squeaked loudly as it dipped under his weight. A few people stopped their talking to look over at him. He cleared his throat as he raised his hands in the air. ¡°Humans be silent!¡± he yelled as he dropped his arms. He caught a glimpse of Autumn watching him to his side on the ground. It took a few moments but when The Elder One was satisfied that most of the people were quiet he put on the most severe face he could before continuing. ¡°I¡¯m The Elder One, you would do well to remember that!¡± he yelled. He had everyone¡¯s rapt attention now, and he felt strange about that. He was used to avoiding detection and notice, not seeking it out. What he was doing right now was at complete odds with his prior existence as a bodiless entity. He suppressed the feeling as he continued, ¡°In case you haven¡¯t noticed, I have changed the world!¡± A few people snickered and laughed, the most brazen openly mocked or accused The Elder One of lying. The Elder One scowled before asking, ¡°Who said that?!¡± The Elder One pointed at the people in the crowed until his finger settled on a tall thin young man who shouted out, ¡°Liar! You¡¯re a nut job is what you are!¡± The Elder One¡¯s finger moved to the woman standing next to the man, and he gave her a quest to slap the man. It took her a moment, but once she¡¯d read the notification her eyes went wide, and she stared at The Elder One. ¡°Do it!¡± He yelled to her. The woman turned and slapped the man in the mouth hard enough to almost knock him down. The Elder One searched the crowd for any other naysayers, while the woman chastised the heckler. When he was satisfied he lowered his arm. ¡°As I was saying,¡± he continued. ¡°I, The Elder One, have changed the Earth forever! There is no going back!¡± The truck creaked under his weight as he shifted his legs and brought his arm out in front of himself. ¡°I have brought magic to the world!¡± He combined pyromancy and aeromancy and shot a column of flames ten feet in the air. The effect was dramatic, and the crowd reeled back as they gasped collectively. He switched the flames off and brought his foot up on the edge of the truck bed before resting his arms on his raised knee. The truck tilted dangerously, and he had to lessen his weight. He leaned forward and stared into the faces of the humans before him. He could tell they were terrified. Most of them were disheveled, dirty, and exhausted looking. Honestly, he didn¡¯t blame them for their fear, this had all been quite a shock to him even. He leaned back and straightened himself, so everyone could see him. ¡°Yes, there are monsters coming to Earth, and humans are dying! Truthfully, there are far greater threats than even the monsters!¡± The Elder One sucked in a breath as he started to see fear turn to panic in the crowd before him. He felt a gentle hand touch his arm and he turned to see Autumn standing in the truck next to him. She gave him a quick smile and a nod before she turned to the crowd. ¡°But there¡¯s hope,¡± she said loud enough for the crowd to hear. ¡°The Elder One gave you all an advantage! You can learn magic too, and you can use it to fight back! You must use the tools you have been given to grow stronger!¡± Autumn squeezed his arm and The Elder One realized she wanted to him continue. ¡°That¡¯s right, you all have a tremendous advantage! I don¡¯t just mean the magic either. I can issue you quests to help you grow stronger! Bonus experience to level up, Galactic Credits to buy things. Where¡¯s Jake?¡± The Elder One asked. ¡°Here, sir!¡± Jake said from somewhere in the crowd. ¡°I gave Jake the quest of hunting monsters and bringing survivors to a defensible position. I¡¯m guessing that¡¯s why most of you are here?¡± The Elder One saw various nods from those in the crowd, and he gestured for Jake to come towards him. ¡°I have quests for you all, if you want them?¡± The Elder One asked more than stated. There were a few people muttering their agreement, thanks, or just nodding here and there. It was rather mild, but The Elder One latched onto it. ¡°Excellent!¡± He exclaimed. ¡°We need a better defense, any monsters that just walk along can attack anyone standing out here. We need weapons, shelter, hunting parties, search and rescue of other survivors. I need you to build me a castle over there also,¡± The Elder One pointed to the center of town and Autumn squeezed his arm again. ¡°Lastly, I want you to catch us some monsters.¡± The Elder One smiled at Autumn as he finished. The Elder One gave everyone around him the quests before he followed Autumn off the bed of the truck. The truck hadn¡¯t even sprung back up before he was assaulted by dozens of questions, pleas for help and angry accusations. ¡°Jake!¡± The Elder One shouted over the clamor. He barely noticed as someone punched him from behind, but he couldn¡¯t see who it was. ¡°Everyone back!¡± he shouted. He noticed a woman was starting to drag Autumn around by her hair. There were several other people, some helping to tear at Autumn some trying to stop it. It looked like Autumn was trying to increase the gravity on everyone around her so The Elder One added his power. His feet dug deep groves in the ground as he walked through the area of influence to scooped up Autumn. Everyone seemed to fall back off her as he came closer. He was glad, he didn¡¯t want to have to kill the humans, that would certainly turn them against him. He needed their cooperation if he wanted to have any hope of success. A gunshot rang through the air as The Elder One pulled Autumn to her feet. He could see that she was scuffed up by the concrete, and she looked very disoriented and disheveled. Her clothes were ripped up and The Elder One felt angry at this betrayal from the humans. ¡°How dare you!¡± he yelled as loud as he could. ¡°You killed my husband!¡± the woman who was dragging Autumn around screamed back. The Elder One ignored the woman who he guessed was hallucinating. The only person The Elder One had ever killed was Ares, and the thought of Ares being her husband was utterly preposterous to him. The Elder One watched as the four men he¡¯d first met, along with six others he didn¡¯t know came in to create a human wall. The ten men were carrying various weapons, mostly rifles. They were using them to push people back and talking calmingly to the most hostile individuals. The Elder One battled his emotions for control as he yelled, ¡°What is the meaning of this?!¡± Jake pushed someone back before turning to The Elder One. He had an icy expression on his face and he said in quick heated words, ¡°You created this nightmare, right? That makes you the biggest mass murderer ever.¡± The Elder One tried to hide his surprise as realization dawned on him. It was completely true, he had killed that woman¡¯s husband, indirectly. He had killed untold millions, perhaps even billions indirectly. If the humans knew this, he would be doomed, humanity would probably be doomed as well. Sure, he didn¡¯t spawn the monsters himself, directly next to humans so they could be easily slaughtered. The problem was he didn¡¯t know who or what operated those sorts of variables. He had a theory though. The Elder One straightened his back and gazed out at the chaos around him. ¡°When I said there were greater threats than the monsters, who did you think I was talking about?!¡± People started to quiet down to hear what he was saying so he continued. ¡°The one who killed your husband!¡± The Elder One pointed to the woman who¡¯d attacked Autumn. ¡°It wasn¡¯t Autumn or I, all I did was give you a chance to fight back!¡± Spittle flew from his mouth as he gestured wildly. He assured himself of his convictions as he started nodding. He had no intentions of killing all those people. He felt that, at best, he was guilty of negligence. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± the woman said to Autumn, tears streaming down her face. Her voice was like a whisper, but it carried through the chaos, bringing silence in its wake. ¡°It¡¯s okay, I understand,¡± Autumn said in a gentle voice. She smoothed out her hair and walked over to hold the woman. As the sun sank into the horizon, crying, cursing, and wailing broke out everywhere, emotions were being pumped into the air. The Elder One noticed he was seething as he loosened his balled-up fists and relaxed his scowling face. He wondered who was to blame: the one who makes the bomb, the one who pushes the button, or the one who leaves a button lying around and makes it look enticing to press. Chapter 14
Name: Theon Osman
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Title: None
Level: 23
Unspent Points: 5
Health: 100/100
Mana: 117/140
Stamina: 100/100
Strength: 10
Vitality: 10
Endurance: 10
Dexterity: 11
Agility: 10
Intelligence: 11
Willpower: 10
Psychic: 14
Perception: 12
Charisma: 10
Luck: 0
Theon distributed his points, bringing everything except luck up to at least ten. Last time he distributed his points he felt himself growing stronger and his exhaustion vanishing. This time though, he felt a searing hot pain. He could feel his legs and arms burning, but they paled in comparison to the burning sensation coming from his face. He could feel his teeth moving and straightening, and the bones in his face seemed to be shifting around. He screamed out in pain as he dropped to his hands and knees, even his throat was burning. Then as quickly as it came the pain went away. ¡°That was the girliest scream ever, I feel embarrassed for both of us,¡± Vasuki said. Theon, still breathing heavy, got to his feet and said, ¡°That¡¯s cause my throat was burning!¡± Ben, meanwhile, was waving his shotgun around trying to figure out where the threat was coming from. ¡°What happened?!¡± he asked. ¡°Don¡¯t put any points in charisma, unless you really have to,¡± Theon said as he dusted his hands off and picked up his weapons. He noticed his fingernails, and even his hands looked a little different. Ben turned to look at Theon before nodding, ¡°You look healthier.¡± ¡°I better after going through that. Anyways, are you ready?¡± Ben nodded before thanking Theon yet again. Theon shrugged off his gratitude, he wasn¡¯t even sure that Ben¡¯s wife was alive, but he kept his doubts to himself. Theon followed Ben to the front door, it was cracked open, but he couldn¡¯t see inside. After a quick glance, and a nod from Theon, Ben pushed the door aside. The first thing Theon could see was that the front door opened to a living room that was separated from a kitchen by just a countertop. The second thing he noticed was all the movement that seemed to be coming out of every nook and cranny. Ben fired his shotgun before Theon could really tell what was going on. Then imps began rushing them, and it seemed like a lot more than twenty or thirty. ¡°Damnit!¡± Ben shouted. ¡°Why won¡¯t this thing shoot!¡± Theon could hear Ben¡¯s shotgun clicking as he tried to shoot without pumping it. He grabbed Ben¡¯s shoulder and pulled him out of the doorway before trying to pull the door shut. There was something blocking it though, and he couldn¡¯t get it to shut completely. ¡°Ben, hold this door so it wont open anymore! We can fight a few at a time like this!¡± Ben was as white as a sheet, shaking like a leaf, and covered in sweat, but he did as Theon asked. Theon pointed his shotgun at the crack in the door as he waited for the imps. The door handle was of the gaudy vertical bar variety, it curved back into the thick wooden door. He didn¡¯t doubt Ben could hold it in place, unless the imps got to his hands. Based on what he¡¯d seen from inside the house, whoever Ben was before this happened, he was probably wealthy. Theon didn¡¯t have anymore time to postulate on Bens financial situation as the first imp tried to squeeze through the foot-wide crack. If it didn¡¯t have wings it could have probably slipped right through. It looked exactly like Ben had said. It was a tiny little devil looking creature, red skin speckled black, horns on its head, sharp claws and teeth. It practically evaporated as Theon¡¯s shotgun barked. Two more came to take its place in as many seconds and Theon dispatched them the same way. He took advantage of the reprieve to shove more shells in his shotgun. He fumbled and dropped a few, but he was able to fill it back up before he had to start shooting again. He repeated the process for about a minute until he finally ran out of shells and had to start using his sword. Ben had just stopped screaming and yelling, so Theon was worried he might be on the verge of passing out or something. ¡°You ok?¡± Theon said as he slashed down at two imps at once. Ben nodded weakly as Theon pressed the blade against the wooden door, chopping an imp¡¯s head off. ¡°Hold it steady!¡± Theon yelled as the door started to open wider under the pressure of his blade. Theon decided to just stab and slash, for fear the door would open more. The imps were filling up the gap now, and he doubted he could have kept them back with just the shotgun. The good news was the corpses were filling up the gap and making it harder for more to push through. It eventually got to the point where he had to clear an opening for more imps to come through. He used the opportunity to gather the shells he¡¯d dropped and load his shotgun. By the time the imps stopped coming, his arms were burning with exhaustion and he was covered in sweat too. He told Ben he could let go of the handle as he tried to steady his breathing. He could see now why the door wouldn¡¯t shut, it was unhinged. The bottom of the door was running into the ground. Once they both had caught their breaths and prepared themselves they pushed the door inward. Ben finally threw up, Theon couldn¡¯t blame him though it wasn¡¯t something he¡¯d forget anytime soon. There was a mound of chopped up imp body parts just on the other side of the door. They had a black oily blood that seemed to look like and have the same consistency of crude oil, but the smell was far worse. It smelled like putrid fish oil and raw sewage and seemed to have some poison effect that made their eyes water and nose run. They decided to try the back door, the entire time Ben was shouting his wife¡¯s name, Kate. There wasn¡¯t a response and Theon¡¯s stomach was twisted in knots with worry about what Ben would do if she was horrifically eaten by the imps. The whole house smelled terrible, apparently the imps were defecating in it all day. They¡¯d turned the house into some sort of nest. There were a few stray imps that they were both having to put down. Apparently, Ben had figured out how to operate the shotgun from watching Theon. Theon heard a banging once they¡¯d gotten to the upstairs. Ben must have heard it too because he started shouting even louder. ¡°Ben take it slow there might be more!¡± It was no use though, Ben took off for the sound of the banging, and Theon chased after. Ben ran through what looked like a master bedroom and up to a door on the other side. There weren¡¯t any imps, but Theon didn¡¯t let down his guard since he didn¡¯t know what was beyond the other door. Until he heard a woman¡¯s voice. After Ben finally managed to convince her it was safe she opened the door, which led to a bathroom. Kate could have been considered a beautiful woman if her blonde hair wasn¡¯t so disheveled, and her blue eyes weren¡¯t so bloodshot red. Theon leaned against a wall with a smile on his face as he listened to Ben and Kate tell each other their stories. They were both laughing and cry, holding and consoling one another. That wasn¡¯t what was making Theon smile though, it was the happy ending, and the fact that Ben¡¯s wife, Kate, wasn¡¯t dead. The smell was starting to get to him and he didn¡¯t want to intrude on Ben and Kate, so he headed downstairs. He made his way through the house and out the backdoor quickly where he took large gulps of air and spat a few times in a futile attempt to remove the taste and smell. He looked at his sword, it was covered in the oily blood, and he noticed he was also splattered in it. He tried to wipe his sword off in the grass for some time, before using a garden hose to clean it off. ¡°I might need another bath, and new armor,¡± Theon said. Vasuki just laughed before saying, ¡°Check your quest kid.¡± Theon nodded, as he headed back to the cruiser, so he could fill up his shotgun. A moment of guilt washed over him at the thought of prospering from other peoples suffering, but he shoved the feeling down. He convinced himself it was a win-win situation, they get help and he gets a reward. Theon gasped as he stopped walking and re-read the notification. ¡°Is this some sort of sick joke!?¡± Theon asked. Vasuki just laughed and said, ¡°I told you to give him that crappy rifle. The shotguns are expensive.¡± ¡°Well, he¡¯ll just have to give it back then, I don¡¯t want this, it¡¯s sick!¡± ¡°I know!¡± Vasuki said in mock exaggeration. ¡°Here I am stuck as your servant, I can only control your body when you sleep! How¡¯s that for a twisted and sick fate? All I can do is watch on in horror as you make one stupid decision after the other!¡± ¡°What stupid decision?!¡± Theon asked. ¡°And also, why is the price going up?¡± ¡°I¡¯m joking, I¡¯m just joking calm down! Though, I do think your body could be better utilized under my direct control. Other than that, it hasn¡¯t been too bad. ¡°As far as the price, they¡¯re probably violating some law, trying to get out of their indentured servitude no doubt. Either that or they¡¯re hurting you in some way and the price is being offset by the additional fees.¡± ¡°Are you always trying to make me paranoid?¡± Theon muttered as he got to the cruiser and started loading his shotgun. ¡°That reminds me, you never told me how you killed that person using my body.¡± Vasuki chucked nervously, and Theon froze to listen as he said, ¡°Oh that, he tried to stop me from collecting the weapons from the police station. He tried to stop me by shooting at me, so I reciprocated.¡± Theon let out a breath he didn¡¯t know he was holding and shook his head. Vasuki had killed a cop to steal all these weapons, and probably the cruiser too. He felt sick to his stomach about that, but if not for the weapons Kate would probably be dead or wind up dead at least. It wasn¡¯t out of the question whether he¡¯d be dead too. Theon¡¯s shaking head turned into a slight nod, but he didn¡¯t say anything. As much as he wanted to chastise Vasuki for it, he also wanted to thank him for it. His help had been invaluable, and it seemed that he could be expected to help Theon and if not him, then at least for their combined survival. Getting into a fight with him over it now would be fruitless and could only create a tension with Vasuki. A tension he didn¡¯t need to have with someone who lived inside his brain. So instead of cornering Vasuki, he decided to shift gears to the present. ¡°Can I cancel this bill they owe me?¡± he asked. ¡°That¡¯s impossible, all debts must be paid in full.¡± Vasuki hesitated for a moment before continuing, ¡°You know this could actually be a good thing for us, and them really. I mean how long do you think they¡¯ll survive on their own?¡±Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Theon shrugged and said, ¡°Depends if they run into monsters.¡± ¡°Turn around,¡± Vasuki said. Theon did, and he caught a glimpse of something a few houses away. What he managed to see before it darted back behind the house was a head with black hair and skin, and two large eyes. The eyes were too large to be human and Theon instinctively whipped the shotgun up and pointed it in that direction. ¡°What the fuck was that!?¡± Theon hissed. ¡°Dunno, but it¡¯s been watching us since we left that house. Don¡¯t worry if it attacked I woulda taken control.¡± It seemed like Vasuki had read his mind, he was going to ask why Vasuki hadn¡¯t told him about it until now. The answer was obvious, because Vasuki wanted to take control of his body. But not telling him about this was taking things too far. ¡°Damnit Vasuki!¡± Theon hissed, anger and fear was pouring out of him and he was starting to shake. ¡°I recommend you try to get that radar thing. If that creature was going to attack us I¡¯m pretty sure it would have already though kid. I think it¡¯s been watching us the entire time we¡¯ve been here. It could have attacked when you were killing the imps I think.¡± Theon could sense more than see Ben and Kate approaching slowly from their house. He turned to them and shouted, ¡°Get in the car, there¡¯s something out here and it¡¯s fast!¡± Theon took his own advice as he slipped into the driver seat and shut the door quickly. He watched closely for the monster as Ben and Kate, who were now at a full-on sprint, made their way to the cruiser. They were both surprisingly fast, no doubt faster runners than him. Ben got in the passenger¡¯s side and Kate got in the back with the weapons. Ben asked as he got in the car, still breathing heavily, ¡°What is it?!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know shut the door! Probably a wraith or something!¡± ¡°I doubt that,¡± Vasuki said. ¡°Probably a dark elf, or drow I think. Wraiths can¡¯t stand light right?¡± Theon checked his new notification, another quest to kill the drow that was stalking him for a pitiful hundred credits popped up. ¡°Yeah it¡¯s a drow, I¡¯m not fighting that for only one hundred credits,¡± Theon said as he set the cruiser in drive and took off. ¡°Wait!¡± Kate said a bit frantically. Theon glanced back at her, she was the ideal trophy wife. He could see the slight white circles over her eyes from her visits to a tanning bed. She¡¯d changed out of her pink bathrobe and sported sweats and a white t-shirt now. She also had the bow and quiver with arrows that Ben had taken. Ben seemed to have changed and cleaned up a little as well. He had a fresh pair of jeans and a button-up dress shirt on, but Theon didn¡¯t see the shotgun he¡¯d given him. All three of them still reeked of the imps though and Theon cracked his window despite his worry. The smell was too strong for him in the confined space. ¡°What?¡± he asked as he slowed the cruiser, but he knew what. ¡°It says were your indentured servants now!¡± Kate half yelled as she waved her arms in front of herself. She seemed to have paused, waiting for him to respond, Ben was watching him closely too. He frowned, here it was, the conversation he dreaded having. He nodded slowly as he flicked his eyes from the road to the two of them. ¡°Yeah I noticed that.¡± Silence rang out for a moment in the car as he swerved around the corpse of what looked like it used to be a troll. Theon noticed it looked like it was probably killed by the imps, death by a thousand bites. That thought heartened him, if the monsters were killing each other all the better for the people. ¡°You noticed that? Cancel it!¡± Kate was practically screaming now, and she was pointing at him. ¡°I can¡¯t,¡± he said as he pulled over and stopped. ¡°At least that¡¯s what Vasuki says.¡± Vasuki gasped, ¡°What don¡¯t trust me kid? I¡¯m offended!¡± Theon closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he white-knuckled the steering wheel. He could hear Kate ask, ¡°Who?¡± Ben answered, ¡°It¡¯s a parasite inside his brain.¡± He could hear Kate half-heartedly laughing before silence fell on them. He peeked a glance and saw Ben and Kate sharing a look that only veteran couples could. Theon brought up the quest he¡¯d gotten from Ben and read it out loud to them. Quest for help from Ben Summers. Ben Summers has enlisted your aid to save his wife. Reward: 7,900 GC, indentured servitude equivalent to the amount of 432,653 GC. Global Bonus: 10,000 GC Ben told Theon how they were both informed they were unable to pay the required fee and were notified that they were now listed as indentured servants to one Theon Osman. They had spoken amongst one another about how it was ridiculous and that they weren¡¯t going to be indentured servants. That was until they started getting headaches and were informed that they were too far from Theon without permission and their fees started increasing. They hurriedly changed before rushing towards him until the headaches dissipated. ¡°Good thing I didn¡¯t drive away, what would have happened to them Vasuki?¡± ¡°At a guess? Their heads would have eventually exploded,¡± Vasuki laughed. ¡°Then their debts would have gone to next of kin.¡± Theon grimaced as Ben gave him a pleading ¡®well what did he say,¡¯ look. Theon just shook his head slowly. ¡°We¡¯re not your slaves!¡± Kate declared before holding her head and grunting. ¡°Damnit, headaches!¡± ¡°Honey stop!¡± Ben shouted. ¡°The price is going up!¡± Vasuki laughed as Kate shot lasers from her eyes at Ben, but she didn¡¯t say anything else. Ben turned back to Theon and said calmly, ¡°If you take us to the bank, or give me your account number, I can wire you money. I don¡¯t know if it¡¯ll be enough but I¡¯m willing to pay it to take this debt off.¡± Vasuki started laughing even louder. Theon could feel his giddiness and it was starting to affect him. His head swam ever so slightly as he shook his head again. ¡°That money is useless. Listen kid, they must benefit you in some tangible way to pay off their debt. That debt is equivalent to the help you gave them, that includes the shotgun, ammo, kills, and the value of Kate¡¯s life, not including their violations of course.¡± ¡°Where¡¯s the shotgun?¡± Theon asked as his eyes glanced around Ben. Ben blanched as he said, ¡°I left it in the house, I¡¯m sorry. With the headaches I must have forgotten it.¡± Theon didn¡¯t understand how he could possibly forget it. His shotgun was constantly glued to his hand, he couldn¡¯t forget it if he tried. ¡°See kid?¡± Vasuki said. ¡°They can¡¯t survive on their own, you¡¯re technically saving their lives twice.¡± ¡°Yeah but I don¡¯t want to have everyone I save as an indentured servant!¡± Theon shouted in the car. ¡°Don¡¯t accept the quests then, you won¡¯t get any rewards though. Besides, what¡¯s the point of saving them if you just abandon them and let them die after you¡¯re gone?¡± Ben and Kate just watched and listened to half the conversation as Theon said, ¡°Stop reveling in their misfortune and help me solve this, how can they pay this debt?!¡± Theon didn¡¯t add, so that they could go their separate ways, he felt the two of them were a liability, as cold as that was. Vasuki seemed to pick up on his thoughts as he said, ¡°Humans are pack animals, we¡¯re technically safer with them around. As far as the debt goes, I already told you. Give them orders, have them do things that benefit you and the debt will go down.¡± Theon¡¯s eyes darted to his rear-view mirror and he thought he caught a glimpse of the drow. He took his foot off the brake and started driving aimlessly again, faster this time. ¡°Where are you taking us?!¡± Kate asked in a panicked voice. ¡°Nowhere, just away from there, that drow is still hunting us I think.¡± Ben asked, ¡°So what did Vasuki say, how can we pay the debt if not money?¡± ¡°He said you have to follow my orders and do things that benefit me. The debt will go down then he says.¡± Kate practically screamed, ¡°I¡¯m not sleeping with you!¡± Theon felt nauseous as he saw Ben¡¯s features harden. ¡°And you never will! I¡¯m not that kind of person!¡± Theon spat back angrily as he pulled the cruiser over again, thoughts of the drow shoved to the back of his mind. ¡°Listen!¡± Theon said sternly as he jabbed a finger in each of their directions. ¡°I don¡¯t want you here anymore than you want to be here, odds are you¡¯ll get me killed! You couldn¡¯t even fight those weak imps, and I started with orcs and wargs chasing me across the city! He turned his eyes back on Ben who shrunk back under his glare, ¡°You left the shotgun I gave you back in your house! It was most of your debt probably! Tell me, how were you going to fight if something attacked you on your way back to me? For instance, that drow that¡¯s hunting us?¡± Theon¡¯s eyes searched around for the drow before continuing, ¡°I¡¯m not going back for it either, I¡¯m not going back in that house period. Especially when were being hunted! I have plenty of guns, but only one life!¡± There was a long moment of silence as Theon saw both of them slowly take on a look of defeat, each in their own way. Bens eyes seem to sink into his head, large bags under them as he paled and seemed to age. Kate lowered her head and started shivering as she clasped her hands in her lap. He felt bad about snapping at them, and they looked like children who¡¯d been scolded by their dad. With everything that had happened to him though, from the wargs and orcs, the parasite in his brain who¡¯d killed a cop, and this indentured servant thing he¡¯d finally had enough. Truthfully, he was surprised he was handling it all so well, he suspected his higher willpower was to thank for that. With that thought he doubted ten was average. Ben was the one who finally broke the silence. He said softly, ¡°Tell us what you need us to do then. Again, I¡¯m sorry about the gun. It won¡¯t ever happen again, I swear.¡± Theon glanced back at Kate, and his expression softened as he saw the streak marks that tears were leaving down her face as she gazed back at him. They were both handling it way better than he thought possible. Sure, Ben probably realized he needed to get another gun from him. But most people weren¡¯t that adaptable to sudden change, at least that¡¯s what Theon thought based on his life experience dealing with people. He figured they were both in some sort of shock from everything that had happened today. His cynicism got the best of him though, his eyes thinned as he asked, ¡°What?! You¡¯re both just going to take a bite out of this shit burger and swallow it down?¡± Ben chuckled as his gazed drifted somewhere in the distance, there was barely any mirth in it. ¡°What were we going to do Kate?¡± Ben asked, not even looking at her. ¡°Stay at home and wait for the cavalry?¡± He gestured to a pillar of light that indicated something spawned in the distance. ¡°How long before more demons came?¡± ¡°Imps,¡± Theon couldn¡¯t help himself as he interrupted Ben¡¯s speech. ¡°Those were imps not demons, trust me, be glad they weren¡¯t demons.¡± Ben turned to look at Kate as he said, ¡°See? The safest place we can be right now is with this young man. Indentured servant or not we¡¯d be here anyways, if he¡¯d let us come with him. He killed a dinosaur earlier today, I saw it chasing him down the street.¡± Kate gasped as she wiped the tears from her eyes. ¡°There are dinosaurs here too now? And demons?¡± Her eyes were wide as she looked from Ben to Theon in the rear-view mirror. ¡°Orcs, wargs, imps, high elfs, drows, dinosaurs, trolls, haven¡¯t seen any demons yet but I have no doubt they¡¯re out there somewhere. I have a quest to kill a dragon too.¡± His eyes scanned around, looking for the drow, he hadn¡¯t seen it and he hoped they¡¯d lost it. ¡°Listen, I¡¯m hungry, and you both need weapons and armor if you¡¯re coming with me.¡± He gestured at his thick leather ¡®armor¡¯ Vasuki had gotten him. ¡°It¡¯s not much but it might stop a zombie bite, I have vests in the back and weapons, but what you¡¯re wearing isn¡¯t much of a defense.¡± ¡°You just had to say it,¡± Vasuki said. ¡°You just had to say zombies.¡± Theon did his best to ignore Vasuki while Kate and Ben debated on the best location to get said supplies. Apparently, Kate hadn¡¯t eaten since yesterday, she¡¯d been trapped in her bathroom all day and had access only to tap water. After much deliberation they decided they could get everything they needed from a Walmart not far from where they were. Theon was hesitant to go there, he knew it would be chaos. Ben and Kate both managed to convince him though, since they had plenty of weapons. It was decided that Ben would stay back with a shotgun and guard their weapons while Kate and him went inside to gather what they needed. As they pulled up Theon noticed that it was far less chaotic than usual, and that was before the apocalypse. The few people he did see were in a rush, but there weren¡¯t many. He pulled the cruiser up right in front of the doors and decided to park there. He could see the cruiser from inside if he stood in line with the automatic doors, and he doubted he¡¯d get a ticket, or have someone ask him to move. Kate had the bow and arrows she¡¯d gotten, and Theon found out, to his shock, that she knew some archery. He wasn¡¯t satisfied that would be enough though and he had to order her to bring an actual gun as well. Vasuki had told him it was a Colt M4 Carbine. He wasn¡¯t sure if she could shoot it, so he had her shoot at the Walmart wall before he was satisfied. It took a great force of will, but he swapped out his shotgun. Vasuki had convinced him that if he had a weapon he could shoot with one hand, then Vasuki could control the sword in the other. The gun came with a belt and holster, so he strapped it on, but kept the gun in hand regardless. Other ¡®shoppers¡¯ took great pains to avoid them, some going as far as to turn around and head back the way they came. They weren¡¯t attacked by anything, and the longer it took them the more nervous Theon became. The greatest obstacle he had to face was waiting for Kate to pick out something that looked good, then wait for her to put it on in the dressing room. It was another set of leather motorcycle gear, but instead of black, it was completely bright pink. He was shocked they even made them in pink, but he didn¡¯t stop her. Vasuki complained that she would be too visible at night time, but Theon didn¡¯t want to be too bossy and let it go. He pushed the cart around, the sword wedge between the metal bars to free his left hand, as Kate filled it with another set of ¡®armor¡¯ for Ben, black like his. She was a professional shopper compared to him, she picked the best of everything. She got three helmets for them, various foods, drinks, sleeping bags, camping supplies. It was taking effort just to push the cart by the time she was done filling it to overflowing. Ben who was sitting in the driver¡¯s side of the cruiser, sat with wide eyes watching everyone and everything. The look of relief was visible on his face when they returned, and he came out of the car to help Theon unload everything in the trunk. The trunk had other police gear in it, but Theon haphazardly shoved it aside as he started unloading their supplies. ¡°I got it,¡± he said. ¡°Just keep watch while we load this in the trunk. I don¡¯t want anyone or anything sneaking up on us and keep an eye out for that dark elf.¡± Vasuki tried to convince Theon the merits of having them around, he couldn¡¯t really argue either, it was a big help having them around. He knew he couldn¡¯t have both guarded his weapons and gone shopping at the same time. It felt like an unseen weight had lifted slightly from his shoulders as he let out a sigh and climbed into the passenger¡¯s side. ¡°Where do you want me to go?¡± Ben asked. It was an excellent question; one Theon had no answers to. It was getting late but with Vasuki to take control he didn¡¯t need to worry about a place to sleep. He was about to ask Vasuki for any suggestions he might have before he sucked his breath in. At the corner of the Walmart he could see the drow. He didn¡¯t just catch a glimpse of it either, it stepped out from around the corner and he could see it completely. It was a she, and she was looking right at him. At least he figured it was a female based on her face, the way she moved and the slight rise on her chest that could be seen through the robe. He knew elves were supposed to be beautiful, and it was possible it was a male, but somehow, he doubted it. He could feel her, and it was very feminine to him. Theon remembered the first quest he got, it said that the orcs were tasked with killing him for a chance to return home, wherever that was. If he had to guess, she had been given the same task of killing him. Except she wasn¡¯t attacking him. She was obviously some kind of magic user though, so he didn¡¯t doubt an attack could come at any moment. She held what looked like an ebony staff with a glistening, smooth black stone at its top. The staff looked more grown than fashioned as it seemed to be intertwined half way around the bottom of the oblong oval stone in a swirling pattern. He had to force himself to draw his attention from the stone, which seemed to be drawing not only his attention but also the light around it in at a matching swirling pattern to the wood. He knew he was under some sort of mind control, because he could hear Ben and Kate screaming somewhere far away, at least it sounded far away to him. He knew they would attack her at any moment and the Drow seemed to read his mind as she tilted her head to the side inquisitively. He could only see her face since she was wearing a black robe. He remembered the black hair and skin that he¡¯d caught at least one glimpse of but now he also saw her unusually large, deep ruby red eyes. Her skin was black of course, but it was the pattern that he found beautiful. It was like a stones natural pattern with shades of varying degrees of black and dark grey. Interspersed the pattern grouped and occasional formed coherent patterns, most notably swirls and circles, he didn¡¯t know if those were tattoos or some kind of natural discoloration. ¡°Stop,¡± he heard himself say. ¡°She hasn¡¯t attacked yet just wait, if she does shoot her.¡± He knew it wasn¡¯t him saying that and it annoyed him. He didn¡¯t know if it was Vasuki or the Drow, and he was getting tired of other people using his body. The Drow seemed to sense this as well and she halted her walk. He hadn¡¯t even noticed she was walking towards him, but now she stood just a few paces from his window, his head was turned to face her. She seemed to study his face for an inappropriately long amount of time. Then with a suddenness that shocked everyone, she parted her plump black lips that would have been gothic on anyone else, and words gushed out in a rapid torrent. He wasn¡¯t certain they were words, since it was so beautiful. It was a like a mixture of a poem, a song, and a question all at once said by someone who descended from Orpheus himself. It seemed to rhyme, in a sing-song tone that ended as if it were a question. He hadn¡¯t the faintest clue what she¡¯d tried to convey though. He did however feel a connection with her through whatever magic she was using on him, so he focused on that. He started to notice that he could feel her emotions, and he started to become more self-aware in case she could feel his. She felt intensely vulnerable, afraid, lost, and yet hopeful somehow. He knew, or at least he thought he knew what was going on. He just hoped that she wasn¡¯t manipulating him somehow, or that the emotions he felt hadn¡¯t been fabricated. The magic started to slip away, and he could control himself again as she reached out a hand to touch his face. It hit the glass of the door and she was startled back by it. He rolled down the window as he took a quick glance around, Ben and Kate were dumbstruck and fearful looking, as were several other people he could see inside the Walmart. ¡°Kid!¡± Vasuki protested. He could feel Vasuki squirming around, in total turmoil and tried his best to ignore it. She reached out again and tested for the barrier, before her hand continued its journey and her fingers touched his cheek. He knew his skin must have felt like sandpaper because her hand was unbelievably smooth and soft. He gazed into her eyes as he felt her mentally and emotionally, and he knew she could feel him as well. The sensation of being vulnerable was overwhelming now, and he wished to pull her inside the car before someone randomly shot her. ¡°Hero,¡± he felt her say in his mind. ¡°Where am I?¡± He almost jerked back, half afraid she was infecting his brain, and half shocked she called him a hero. He steadied his mind and answered, ¡°Earth.¡± Her head twisted slightly to one side and her eyes squinted before she asked, ¡°From which lands does Earth call home?¡± He was confused by her question, so he tried to clarify. ¡°Right now, we are in the city of Laramie, on the continent North America, which resides on the planet Earth.¡± He hurriedly added, ¡°You¡¯re not safe here, will you attack us?¡± Her eyes went from a wide shocked to a thinned suspicion quickly and she asked, ¡°Will you attack?¡± ¡°I think you already know the answer to that, no. Now answer the question.¡± Her eyes left his to look at Ben and Kate, then behind him where he couldn¡¯t see in the parking lot. Her expression betrayed her as she saw something she feared, but it didn¡¯t matter, Theon could feel her emotions. Her eyes met his again, and there was something of a challenge in them. ¡°Promise me protection and safety and I swear my loyalty to you,¡± her eyes darted to Kate as she finished speaking in his mind. Vasuki wailed in indignation about how Theon was a fool and how he was going to get them both killed, but Theon ignored him. He trusted his instincts, they had kept him alive until now. He thought it might have something to do with his unnaturally high psychic ability, but whatever it was he trusted himself. ¡°I promise,¡± Theon said to her firmly, his thoughts echoing his words. Chapter 15 The Elder One and Autumn discovered that they had no desire to sleep. Neither had done such a thing in their lives, and they weren¡¯t quite sure how to. So, a decision was made, and they coordinated with Jake and the other men to patrol and guard the sleeping humans. Truthfully though, hardly any humans, save for the most exhausted, slept. Many talked in hushed whispers to one another. The Elder One hoped they weren¡¯t forming alliances and planning his demise. He had no doubt that if they knew the truth about his involvement in these recent events, he would be crushed under a flood of minor, yet unceasing attacks. As far as he could tell, the humans seemed to be of two minds about him. There were those who suspected his involvement and thus guilt, and those humans who were more intelligent and could see what his aid could mean to them. He breathed in the cool night air, something that until recently he could only have imagined doing, yet he couldn¡¯t truly savor it. He was too busy forming a plan in his mind, a plan to win over the humans and their cooperation. He didn¡¯t want to manipulate the humans, individually they were stupid animals, but collectively they were a fearsome beast, and potentially smarter than him, especially now that he was limited. The plan was obvious, anyone could predict it, the problem was how to implement it. He would reward those who followed him and punish those who went against him. For a reward he could issue quests, that was something he was uniquely suited to do. For punishment he wasn¡¯t certain how to proceed though. He knew he didn¡¯t want to be an antagonist by striking too hard, nor weak for being too soft. Autumn, who walked closely to him ever since being attacked, seemed to sense his distress. She had attempted to dissuade his worry repeatedly by reassuring him that the humans would obviously see the benefits of being rewarded quests. He wasn¡¯t sure why she was doing it, but it made him feel more comfortable trusting her, and revealing to her his thoughts and plans. ¡°So, you will reward those loyal to you with profitable quests, conversely however, you are uncertain how to proceed?¡± Autumn asked. ¡°Correct,¡± The Elder One said. ¡°I have a few ideas, but first I think we should reexamine your capabilities as Earths controller more thoroughly.¡± Doing so hardly dissuaded The Elder Ones worries. They both learned that every twelve hours someone or something that contested The Elder Ones title arrived. This meant that already there was one and neither had any idea what it was or where it had arrived precisely. This seemed to continue constantly for an entire year. The result was seven hundred and thirty contestants during earths trial period. Furthermore, The Elder One found no tangible way to punish those who disobeyed him. However, The Elder One did discover he could issue and revoke titles to those in his command. He expected a list of predetermined ranks, but it was completely open ended. He could give someone the title turdy turd face if he wanted, which he did. The sleeping man seemed to be totally oblivious. Once examined this title would appear between his first and last name and his level. They quickly realized no one had a middle name, or at least the middle names weren¡¯t displayed. The only reason for this besides anonymity that The Elder One could guess was that in many stories names were supposed to hold power. Knowing one¡¯s true name could give power over that individual such as in the story of Ra and Isis, or evocation the summoning of creatures, typically demons, via their name. The thought terrified him, and he hoped it wasn¡¯t true. The Galactic Internet had deliberately informed him that his true name was known to it. The more he tried to push the thought aside, the worse it became, and he even confided in Autumn about it. ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous,¡± she said. ¡°There¡¯s no such thing as magic, not really. You more than anyone should know that. Given a large enough calculator the so-called ¡®magic¡¯ we perform can be quantified and explained easily. I¡¯m not saying a human could ever comprehend it, the average human doesn¡¯t understand quantum physics, and that is at least in a small way, part of this magic.¡± What she said made utter sense to him. However, she hadn¡¯t technically proven it was impossible, if anything she had done the opposite. What she had done was attacked the concept magic, perspective of it, and the knowledge or ignorance thereof. ¡°I agree, but by comparison, while we may understand this magic for what it is, at least in part, what about true names? What if the magic of a true name is silly and fantastical to us, like this mundane magic used to be to humans. The mundane magic has now been proven and we can understand that, but the true name magic has yet to be proven yet is no less of a possibility. My point is we don¡¯t know the limitations of this game yet.¡± The Elder One stopped and gasped loud enough to wake those nearest him. Autumn sounded excited and scared as she asked, ¡°What is it?¡± She had good reason to be scared, after all The Elder One knew her true name. ¡°I¡¯ve just received a quest from an unnamed god, to discover the power behind a true name.¡± Autumn started slowly laughing until The Elder One shared the quest with her. Quest from an unnamed god. Discover the power of a true name. Reward: An audience with me. ¡°You put gods in this game too?¡± Autumn whispered as she glared at him. The Elder One just shrugged before he started walking again. ¡°This proves me right!¡± he exclaimed happily before stopping and saying with more than a little dread, ¡°this proves me right.¡± Autumns expression went from grinning to frowning along with The Elder Ones realizations. ¡°We need to make this a priority,¡± she said. ¡°Agreed, I wonder if this is why we aren¡¯t given any information on those who contest my title.¡± Autumn gasped, ¡°That¡¯s it! Information, that¡¯s what we need the most right now, perhaps there are some books or something on the Galactic Marketplace we can use!¡± The Elder Ones head was swimming, it was the obvious answer to a thousand problems. He wondered how they hadn¡¯t thought of this before. Even if they couldn¡¯t find books written in a language they could read, they could decipher the language without too much difficulty. If there were no books, there was bound to be something. Instead of pointing out the obvious, The Elder One pressed her for information. ¡°Before you said that you had a few ideas of how to solve my current predicament, I¡¯d like to hear them.¡± ¡°Yes, I may have a few vaguer ideas as well now. My first idea was to punish and reward the same way. Give a quest that specifies harming someone opposed to you as an objective with a decent reward. It can be as benign as snitching on one another, or as grave as killing those who oppose you.¡± The idea was good, but the humans might consider it an abuse of power. Unless he was able to use it in a more discreet manner then it was unlikely he would resort to it, except as a final option. He no longer felt hopeless though, worst case scenario he could have the humans battle against one another. That may in fact be an ideal way of increasing their powers. The loss of numbers would be a severe detriment though. ¡°Last option idea, but I like it. What¡¯s next?¡± he asked as he wondered why he hadn¡¯t thought of it. Was it true that being emotionally involved with something could cloud one¡¯s judgement? ¡°Also, I¡¯d like to point out before I continue that I think you should create a global quest to kill these ¡®contestants¡¯ whoever or whatever they are with a suitable reward.¡± ¡°Done,¡± The Elder One said. ¡°Wait, I just got an idea, I¡¯m giving you a quest, so you can be rewarded for helping me.¡± Autumn smiled at him, and The Elder One felt a little guilty about not doing it before. It didn¡¯t cost him anything except for a small amount of effort and time to do it. ¡°Thank you,¡± she said. ¡°My first idea involved pitting the humans against each other. That¡¯s not the limitations of your ability though, you can summon monsters.¡± The Elder One¡¯s eyes widened as he realized where she was going with this. ¡°Brilliant suggestion, but I¡¯m not sure it¡¯ll work. You suggest I summon monsters and give them quests to hunt my dissenters.¡± Autumn nodded with a devilish grin before saying, ¡°Yes but that¡¯s rather two-dimensional, there¡¯s so much you could do! I¡¯m not sure if it would work but imagine if you could spawn an army for yourself! You could also create an arena for entertainment and encouragement for the humans to grow stronger.¡± The Elder One sucked in a breath and shuddered as he released it. His own arena, he could place it next to his castle, the champions would be given some fantastic reward like an audience with him. Then they could tell him their true names, giving him the greatest champions of Earth at his beck and call. He chastised himself for not thinking of this sooner.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°That¡¯s it we have to begin now!¡± The Elder One said far too loudly, waking more humans. ¡°Wait!¡± Autumn hissed. ¡°I¡¯m not done yet, I had another idea!¡± The Elder One fought his urge to build his arena-castle, but everything Autumn said was magnificent and he had to hear what she said next. The Elder One quickly gave her another quest, with a much higher reward for her advice. Autumns eyes twinkled devilishly, but they dimmed as The Elder One lost control and started hopping up and down. He left large impressions in the asphalt as he hopped, and he didn¡¯t know why he was doing it. He wrestled control of himself, but he couldn¡¯t hold out for long. ¡°Quickly Autumn! Speak! I can¡¯t hold it much longer!¡± The Elder One yelled. Autumn seemed to sense the need for urgency and she blurted, ¡°I¡¯m not sure it¡¯s that good of an idea! At least not on the surface.¡± She paused for a moment seeming to think. ¡°The titles. As far as I know, there is only two ways to achieve them. Either kill you and acquire your title, or be given one by you, or someone with an equivalent standing.¡± The Elder One nodded but frowned, he didn¡¯t know if killing him would give someone his title, but the theory was sound. He waved up with his hand, gesturing for her to continue. ¡°We¡¯ll there is a sort of power to that as well, like the arena. Of course, the arena champions would be titled as such. I of course should be given a grand title, exceptionally so.¡± She stared at him with a serious expression for a moment before continuing. ¡°It works both ways though, rebels should be labeled something terrible. Something they can¡¯t try to spin into a movement. Maybe something embarrassing like ¡®weakest human ever¡¯ or ¡®stupidest man,¡¯ I don¡¯t know you decide. That depends, of course, whether or not there is a limit to how many titles you can issue and if they can remove them.¡± The Elder One nodded, he liked it, it wasn¡¯t as good as the arena though. ¡°Very well, let me know when you decide what title you want, and it¡¯s yours. Let me know if you can remove it also.¡± Autumn opened her mouth to speak but seemed to hesitate before asking more than saying, ¡°Autumn the Wonderful?¡± The Elder One snorted loudly and covered his mouth. It was perhaps the stupidest thing he¡¯d ever heard, and he¡¯d heard just about everything. Autumn¡¯s face was turning as red as her hair and The Elder One forced himself to be quiet as he thought of a way to escape this situation. ¡°Um, it¡¯s not bad but why not try it in Latin? ¡®Arbores Autumnales Mirifica,¡¯ everything sounds better in Latin,¡± The Elder One backpedaled. Autumns deep scowl turned into a toothy smile as she exclaimed, ¡°That¡¯s wonderful! I¡¯m wonderful!¡± The Elder One tried with effort not to roll his eyes as he gave her the title ¡®Arbores Autumnales Mirifica¡¯ and sighed. He would have to be more careful around Autumn, he relied on her far too heavily. He would be surprised if she wasn¡¯t planning on poisoning him now, he would be sure to test anything she tried to feed him. ¡°I¡¯m happy that you¡¯re happy,¡± The Elder One said. ¡°Now let us review: information, castle-rena, true names, titles.¡± ¡°Castle-rena?¡± Autumn snorted as she asked with blatant disbelief. The Elder One puffed out his chest and held his chin up as he asked, ¡°Yes, what about it?¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t it sound a bit too much like ballerina?¡± The Elder One deflated slightly as his ears tinged red with embarrassment. He started to nod before saying, ¡°What about the title can you remove it or what?¡± Autumns eyes thinned before she said, ¡°Can¡¯t be removed, at least I don¡¯t see how but I¡¯ll look into it on the marketplace. Why do you need a castle anyways, can¡¯t spaceships just blow it up from orbit?¡± The Elder One almost deflated before pausing and waving away her concerns. ¡°Force field obviously. What good is an aren-astle without a force field?¡± Autumn guffawed as she said, ¡°That sounds like a bad word! That¡¯s even worse than castle-rena!¡± Autumn¡¯s guffawing was so loud in fact, that she woke everyone. Thankfully, the sun was starting to crest the horizon so there weren¡¯t too many hostile complaints or remarks. The Elder One decided to take advantage of the attention they were getting to dodge his embarrassment. ¡°Who wants to fight in my castle-arena? You look strong, c¡¯mon we need a practice trial.¡± Autumn watched as The Elder One, who was quite possibly the most powerful being on the planet, gods and dragons notwithstanding, carried a struggling half-asleep man off in his arms like a baby. He could be heard calling out Jakes name as Autumn lost view of him. As she finally caught her breath, she noticed for the first time that she enjoyed being human more than she could have ever imagined possible. Before she had known some small joy in her experiments and discoveries, but by comparison to what she felt now it was negligible at best. It wasn¡¯t even what The Elder One had said that made her laugh either, that began it, but the way his face and ears turned red, he was embarrassed. The feared and revered almighty being who was whispered about and hid from squirmed under her laughter which made her laugh even more. She was mostly glad he wasn¡¯t what she would have expected. Her and all her kin reveled in surprises because they brought new and powerful insights. He was like a child really, he hid himself away and worked on his puzzle and thus never matured like the rest of her kin. Really it was for the best, her kin were full of themselves and arrogant, which was how she expected The Elder One to be. Autumn noticed that she was alone for the first time as she stood in the street, lost in her thoughts. The Elder One had enemies, and by extension they were her enemies too. She had even been attacked, being the weaker of the two she was vulnerable. She was by no means helpless though, if needed she could slaughter the humans in droves. Unlike The Elder One though, she was highly susceptible to damage. She sucked in a breath as quietly as she could as she glanced around and saw the last person she hoped to see. It was the woman who had vigorously assaulted her. The woman was standing at the far side of the street just watching her, seemingly waiting for something. Her eyes were pleading, attempting to convey something Autumn couldn¡¯t put her finger on, but she doubted it was hostile. The woman had apparently taken some cue from Autumns expression and she started walking towards her. Autumn paused again and checked for an ambush, there were others watching her, some of them even hostile looking. No one else approached her though. ¡°I wanted to apologies again for what I did, it was wrong,¡± the woman said. This woman was the first to ever apologies to her, and she had now done it twice. Autumn nodded, she knew what the appropriate response was as she blurted it out, ¡°Apology accepted.¡± The woman seemed to deflate as she started crying again. ¡°It was wrong of me, I wanted someone to blame, anyone!¡± she exclaimed loudly enough to draw a crowd. ¡°I know that you¡¯re trying to help, if there¡¯s anything I can do tell me, please!¡± Autumn was taken off guard by this woman¡¯s open honesty, it was obvious that¡¯s what she had done. Emotions welled up inside Autumn in a tumultuous storm, she was angry she had been attacked and made to look weak. That feeling ebbed though, and was overtaken by compassion, sympathy, and concern as a silent tear trailed down her cheek. Autumn lifted a hand and touched the woman¡¯s face. ¡°What is your name?¡± she asked even though she knew the answer, she was grasping at straws not knowing how to behave in this situation. The woman made eye contact with Autumn as she wiped the tears from her eyes. ¡°Marissa.¡± Autumn nodded as she thought of what to say next, she was basking in her emotions, the sensation intoxicating. ¡°Marissa, we will find who has done this, and we will make them pay, I guarantee it.¡± Autumn flinched as Marissa grabbed her hand and held it firmly to her face. She rubbed it along her cheek as she cried silently for a few moments before she let go. Autumns hand withdrew as they made eye contact, and she felt a chill race down her spine. Marissa¡¯s eyes held hers with fierce determination and Autumn understood she had just turned her greatest enemy into her greatest ally. Autumn was swept up by this Marissa, she fussed over her torn clothes and disheveled appearance. Autumn knew that humans valued appearance and that she should too, but she was new here and had more pressing matters. Nevertheless, she allowed herself to be pulled by the hand as Marissa brought her to her house. Marissa¡¯s house was much like her, unimpressive and not particularly beautiful. It was a pale green mobile home with a small garden out front and not much more. They passed blood stains and a small grave that appeared to be fresh as they entered the house. Marissa had cleaned herself since last night and she now wore black pants and a dark grey blouse. It appeared to be funeral attire by all intents and purposes. Marissa herself appeared to be about forty years old, she had long black hair that was braided into a long pony tail. Her face was perpetually stern and hardened, it was marred by lines and wrinkles that seemed to be indicative of a difficult life. Autumn noticed above all though, that Marissa had an air of strength about her, whether it was a recent development or something she had had her entire life she didn¡¯t know. Marissa picked out something similar for Autumn to wear and she thankfully accepted it as she changed. Marissa showed her surprise briefly that Autumn was changing in front of her, but it passed quickly. Autumn knew it was slightly unusual, but she had no sense of embarrassment, her body was perfect after all and she had no reason to be shy. She knew she wasn¡¯t her body and that it was merely a vessel she used to exist in this world, much like a spacesuit for someone in space. They were both of similar sizes and builds and the clothes fit well, or at least Autumn thought they did. Marissa brought her into a bathroom and began washing her face and combing her hair as Autumn glanced around for some sort of surprise attack. She was being pampered by Marissa basically and wasn¡¯t sure where this was going. She suspected though, that she was a fly caught in a spider¡¯s web. Before Autumn could voice her concerns, Marissa broke the silence. ¡°Now Autumn, tell me what I need to do to help you.¡± There was a moment of stillness as Autumn though of a way Marissa could help her, she was just a regular human after all. Marissa seemed to sense the hesitation and she practically begged, ¡°Please! Anything at all, I don¡¯t care how risky or dangerous!¡± Autumn knew she couldn¡¯t deny her help, not now. To do so would spring the trap on herself, and though she doubted that Marissa could kill her, it was still possible. She nodded her head as she took a gamble and said, ¡°I need information, and I need to learn more about magic.¡± Marissa sat down the comb and her face tightened, the lines and wrinkles made her look much older, her eyes hardened as she said, ¡°It¡¯ll be done. What kind of information and magic?¡± Autumn spent the next several minutes staring into Marissa¡¯s hard eyes through the mirror she stood opposite, explaining about their lack of knowledge and what could be discovered on the marketplace. She withheld information about true names since she thought it foolish to involve the humans in such affairs. She even told her about the contestants appearing every twelve hours and how they were a significant threat. ¡°Basically,¡± Autumn said, ¡°we know nothing, we are at a severe disadvantage right now. To prevent more deaths, and to gather the strength we need to strike back eventually we need knowledge and power.¡± Marissa was intensely focused as she hung off every word Autumn said. Instead of speaking though, she took Autumn by the hand and lead her outside. Autumn followed along, uncertain what Marissa was leading her to. When they exited the mobile home, Autumn saw dozens of women stand and facing the door. They all looked as if they had just returned from a funeral, wearing dark or black colors and they all gazed at Autumn and Marissa with a spectrum of every emotion plastered on their faces. Mostly though, they seemed grief stricken or angry, and Autumn watched as more women trickled into the small gathering. Marissa, who was still holding her hand, squeezed it firmly as she whispered to her, ¡°You¡¯re safe here, no one will hurt you around us.¡± Autumn sniffled as she wiped tears from her eyes, she thought back to when The Elder One had started hopping earlier, losing control of himself. She knew what it felt like now, to be swept away by a flood of powerful and intoxicating emotions. There was no rousing speech, no empty platitudes of comfort, or assurances that things would get better. There was no time for such frivolities, not now, perhaps never. Now was the time for action and they all knew it as they quietly listened to Marissa parrot Autumns task as orders. Chapter 16 To say things were tense would be the understatement of the apocalypse. Theon had trouble focusing as he felt Vasuki, who he had ordered to be silent, squeezing and wringing his brain like a wet towel. He couldn¡¯t rule out the possibility that Vasuki was actively trying to manipulate him, but he doubted it. It was like Vasuki was literally a tightly wound bundle of nerves. The Drow, who was at the center of all this, still laid on the bed sleeping peacefully, her trust in him seemed absolute. He couldn¡¯t rule out the possibly that she wasn¡¯t as defenseless as she looked, but he was certain they could kill her at a moment¡¯s notice if they needed to. After he had promised her safety and protect last night Theon had Kate come up front, while he and the Drow sat in the back of the cruiser. Ben and Kate kept firm grips on their weapons and they were mirrored by the Drow with her staff. They decided to find a place to crash for the night and headed for a motel. Theon ¡®spoke¡¯ with the Drow briefly while they made their way there. They exchanged names and she said hers was Baltana but that was all she would say about herself. She started to become upset when Theon pressed her, and she argued that they had not agreed she would reveal personal information to him for protection. So, he decided not to press her at the time, but he was burning with desire to know about her life before she came to Earth. He wanted to know if she was some sort of spawned NPC that this game had created or if she was an actual person from another world, an alien as it were. He suspected she was an alien, he had never heard of drows with that sort of pattern on their skin. It made sense though, drows live underground and the stone pattern in their skin would be a sort of natural camouflage. Such a thing could have been gained through natural evolution or adaptation. Also, her hair was black, typically drows had solid white hair in stark contrast to their black skin. This was insufficient evidence for him though, it was technically possible for a drow to have black hair, albeit rare he supposed. They were in a double bed motel room, Ben and Kate had taken one bed and Baltana had slept in the other. Vasuki had kept watch, though Theon doubted he had just sat in this chair all night. Everyone except him was utterly exhausted, he¡¯d had a four-hour nap, well technically he¡¯d passed out according to Vasuki. The world, as far as they knew it, had ended yesterday, so Theon let them sleep in. Theon turned his gaze from Baltana and looked out the window to check on the cruiser for the thousandth time. He¡¯d parked it where they could keep an eye on it through their motel room window, but it wasn¡¯t worth splitting up over. ¡°Thanks for keeping watch Vasuki, did anything happen?¡± Theon whispered. ¡°Oh, I can speak now?¡± Theon was starting to come to terms with the fact that Vasuki was perpetually paranoid and a habitual cynic. He tried to not let it annoy him as he said, ¡°As long as you don¡¯t nag me.¡± Vasuki sputtered for half a minute before he could piece words together and said, ¡°Nag?!¡± Theon thinned his eyes and grit his teeth until his jaw started to ache. Vasuki sighed loudly, then fell silent for a time while Theon felt him squirming. Theon took comfort in the fact that Vasuki hated to be ignored. He couldn¡¯t wave or gesture, he had no body to speak of. Theon was his only companion, the only one who could hear him. Until Theon fell asleep Vasuki was essentially imprisoned within his mind. The thought of such an existence made Theon shudder and cringe. Theon decided to be the one to give a peace offering and he explained his reasoning. ¡°I trust my instincts, they¡¯ve kept me alive so far, that¡¯s why I did it. When I picked a companion, I scrolled through the list of all sorts of cheap creatures, but when I saw yours I randomly chose it. Before that, my instincts kept me alive as I killed three wargs and an orc. ¡°I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s because of my high psychic ability or something else. Hell, it could just be luck I don¡¯t know. But I have to trust myself, and if you¡¯re going to be in my head I need you to trust me too. I need to be able to trust you as well if you¡¯re going to use my body. Can you do that?¡± ¡°Yes, of course you can trust me totally. I have both our best interests in mind always, you know that.¡± ¡°There¡¯s more,¡± Theon said. ¡°The information she can provide could be invaluable, I could find out if she¡¯s from another world or fabricated, made up.¡± ¡°She looks real enough to me, what are you talking about kid?¡± Theon¡¯s eyebrows shot up as he asked, ¡°Is she from another world Vasuki?¡± ¡°Maybe, she could be from another dimension that doesn¡¯t have worlds, we may never know. Why would it matter though? She¡¯s here now, and she¡¯s dangerous. Ask her how many humans she¡¯s killed, probably more than me.¡± ¡°I will, when she wakes up I have a lot of questions.¡± ¡°She¡¯s been awake for over an hour now.¡± Theon turned back and looked at Baltana, she was lying on her back and he could see her chest rise and fall rhythmically. ¡°How can you tell?¡± Theon asked. ¡°Her eyes, she was peeking out and watching me, then I saw her eyes follow you across the room from under her lids. So, unless she sleeps with her eyes cracked open, and has some freaky REM sleep, she¡¯s been awake.¡± Theon quietly walked across the room and stood next to her. He couldn¡¯t tell if she was awake, whatever Vasuki could see he probably needed higher perception for. He reached out a hand to touch her face, but before he could he felt something touching his groin. He looked down and saw her hand extended with a grey metal dagger pushed up against his manhood. He slowly withdrew his hand, and the blade echoed his movements, returning under her cloak. Theon frowned as he noticed her red eyes peering through cracked lids. She didn¡¯t make to get up, and Theon wondered if she was the literal definition of sleeping with one eye open, or if she was awake. He walked back to the chair he¡¯d been sitting in and pulled it aside. There was a small desk that went with it, and on it were what you¡¯d expect, a phone, lamp, some pamphlets. He flipped over a sheet of paper that indicated good places to eat and began drawing his HUD. On another paper he wrote his stats page as identically as he could on the top half, then did it again on the lower half but left the values empty. As he approached her he wondered what level she was while reprimanding himself for not doing it earlier. Name: Baltana Maearn Level: 43 His heart skipped a beat as he read her level. She was significantly higher than him and he wondered if he could have killed her. As he stepped up next to the bed again, he held the two papers facing her. He watched her for a moment as her eyes fluttered slightly, then slowly opened. She glared at him briefly before noticing the HUD paper and then she snatched it from his hand, giving him a paper cut. Vasuki bucked for control, but he forced him down. ¡°Vasuki!¡± Theon hissed. ¡°You can¡¯t kill someone over a papercut!¡± Ben and Kate started to shift restlessly as Vasuki said, ¡°Sorry kid, just my instincts is all.¡± Theon gritted his teeth at the mockery, but Baltana drew his attention with another outburst of incomprehensible words. The HUD image had meant something to her, and Theon tapped his cheek, so they could speak. She reached out and touched his face again before saying, ¡°I see this! What does it mean?¡± Theon grinned mischievously and said in his mind, ¡°That wasn¡¯t part of our deal.¡± She took on her own mischievous grin that made Theon uneasy before responding, ¡°Tread carefully, Hero. Speak!¡± Vasuki was unusually calm at the veiled threat, it seemed that he was equally curious about all this. Theon carefully, and slowly lowered himself to sit on the bed. Once he was comfortable he said, ¡°Tell me about where you come from.¡± ¡°A world called Beivisu.¡± Theon was upset about the terse answer, so he said, ¡°It¡¯s called a HUD, or heads up display.¡± She tilted her head to the side, and he took effort to mirror her exactly, until she started scowling. Theon just shrugged and moved to get up when she didn¡¯t start speaking. ¡°Wait!¡± She said as she moved to grab him. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you, just ask me.¡± Theon lowered himself with obvious satisfaction and got comfortable before he began a barrage of questions. She told him about how her people lived under the world, and there was great strife amongst them. She was of a high birth and was destined to rule in some capacity had she lived long enough. Most of it was in keeping with what he knew of drows, except their world had no elves, and she claimed to have never heard of such a thing. She also claimed to not have any other type of intelligent beings known on her planet, though she did admit that it was a large planet and it wasn¡¯t totally explored. That was when things became truly interesting for Theon. She claimed that one of her worlds gods, a being called Nomegom, appeared to her. He told her it was a blessing, and that she would have a chance to fight for him. Baltana wouldn¡¯t tell him what the reward was, or what her specific goal was, but she said that she didn¡¯t really have a choice in coming. She also wasn¡¯t told where it was, or who she was supposed to fight, or so she told Theon. After that she flat out refused to say anymore until Theon explained the HUD. Which he did, but in doing so he also had to tell her about games, and about how their world had changed. It was like opening a can of worms and Theon was trying not to give away too many of his aces all at once. Instead of going into it further, he brought out the stats sheet, and had her say ¡®stats menu.¡¯ It took a couple tries until she was able to say it, and when she did her eyes looked like they might pop out. He brought her to the table and had her copy what she saw on the paper he held. By then though, Ben and Kate were already up, and were looking for orders. Theon had them get some food for everyone to eat, and gather more paper for him to write on, then they were free to do whatever they wanted, but he suggested they practice magic. Her writing was exact, and he could easily read her stats.
Name: Baltana Maearn
Race: Drow
Gender: Female
Title: None
Level: 43
Unspent Points: 1
Health: 70/70
Mana: 121/150
Stamina: 80/80
Strength: 4
Vitality: 7
Endurance: 8
Dexterity: 18
Agility: 18
Intelligence: 24
Willpower:Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. 14
Psychic: 15
Perception: 16
Charisma: 19
Luck: 0
Unless she understood what was going on, which he doubted, there was no way she could have faked this. To his disappointment he found that her base stats were one hundred and one, while his was ninety-one. It made sense that a baby wouldn¡¯t have a strength of ten, which also led him to believe he could raise his stats the old-fashioned way. Everything he saw just raised more and more questions for him. Either she¡¯d started as level one and gained forty-three levels, and tricked him, or she¡¯d started as level forty-two. The easiest explanation was that she was an NPC and magic is as magic does. But if so, then why wouldn¡¯t she know what elves are, it made no sense. He was inclined to believe that whoever, or whatever, spawned monsters from other worlds was calculating their abilities and automatically assigning levels to them. There was an easy way to determine if that was possible. ¡°Hey, Vasuki, you said before that I¡¯m stuck with this game design for life, right? Even if I go to another planet. Tell me what would happen if I was on another planet and I guessed someone¡¯s level, who didn¡¯t have this type of level system?¡± ¡°Simple, the system would calculate their level based on your system. It¡¯s like auto-translate, but way more sophisticated.¡± Theon held back a laugh at the absurdity of that as he said, ¡°Thanks. Any idea what luck does?¡± ¡°I have a guess that it makes you luckier, just a guess though kid.¡± ¡°Yeah but how would that work? It makes no sense!¡± ¡°Kid, you¡¯re standing next to a fantasy creature called a drow, in a world with magic, and you¡¯re complaining luck makes no sense? Don¡¯t get me wrong, I have no idea how it works and anyone who says they do is probably lying, but is it really that much of a stretch?¡± ¡°You¡¯re right, but it¡¯s going to bother me until I understand all this.¡± Vasuki was cut off by Baltana demanding vehemently to know what everything meant. Theon told her what everything meant once, but then demanded that she learn how to read, write, and speak English. Kate brought him two bowls of oatmeal before vanishing, and Theon handed one to Baltana, who reluctantly ate. She didn¡¯t complain to him personally, but she did rattle off in her language and made a disgusted face after every bite. He left her like that as he went outside to find Ben and Kate trying to set paper on fire. With Vasuki¡¯s coaching he was able to get them both using all five forms of magic within half an hour while Baltana watched. She didn¡¯t seem that impressed by the fire magic, but the other forms had obviously left an impression. She seemed to be waiting for them to extend their practice to other types of magic, and Theon suspected she had some form of dark magic. He knew that she had mind control, and some form of telepathy, and so he decided to practice and see what he could do. The motel was in an L-formation and inside was the parking lot where they stood near the cruiser practicing. The place was secluded and so they felt relatively safe. This afforded Theon a moment to reflect on everything that had happened, and what he¡¯d spoken to the Drow about. He stopped his pointless fooling around, since he didn¡¯t seem to be making any progress, and he walked over to the police cruiser. He sat on the grille guard, not unlike countless drunks or criminals probably had, as he pondered the game the world had become. ¡°Every game has some purpose, or end goal. I wonder what the endgame is for all this?¡± Theon muttered aloud to himself, Vasuki, and no one in particular. Theon noticed a blinking exclamation point as Vasuki said, ¡°Kid, why does everything have to have a meaning or purpose to you? Human¡¯s have an expression, curiosity killed the cat. Can¡¯t things just simply be?¡± Theon ignored him as he brought up the new notification and was assaulted by a downpour of cascading messages. Seek out The Elder One Wow, out of all the humans, you¡¯re the first one to wonder what the purpose of the game is. It¡¯s been over a day! I can¡¯t believe how stupid humans are! Be still and listen, Theon Adam Osman. Seek out The Elder One in Palisade, CO. There you will find the next clue. There¡¯s so much you don¡¯t know! Oh, it sounds so mysterious and cool, doesn¡¯t it!? P.S. Don¡¯t tell him your true name. Reward: Try not to die small fry, it¡¯ll be worth it. As reward, and perhaps punishment, for being the first to unlock this quest you have gained the notice of the gods. The hidden trait and accompanying title Psychic Detective has also been unlocked. Congratulations! You¡¯re the first human to attain a title without Earth¡¯s Controller bestowing it upon you! Fun fact: the first human title was Turdy Turd Face. Reward: Double experience gain for one week. +10 Unspent Points. Congratulations! You¡¯re the first human to attain a trait! Reward: Triple experience gain for one week. +10 Unspent Points. Bonus (Hidden): 250,000 GC Vasuki started laughing manically as Theon tried to swallow but found his throat too dry. He could feel the gods watching him, his every action intensely scrutinized. His skin tingled, and it felt like an oppressive weight was pressing down on him. He tossed his concerns aside as he opened his magic tab, or spell list as he called it. At the top it had the five he was used to, but under it was easily thirty more. He had to scroll down to read everything, they ranged from telekinesis to dowsing. The only things he could immediately see missing were the abilities to summon spirits, such as mediumship or automatic writing. ¡°You¡¯d think a psychic detective could contact spirits, to like, you know investigate?!¡± Theon bemoaned to the sky. He got a new notification as Vasuki said desperately, ¡°Kid are you trying to get us both killed!? Quit while you¡¯re ahead!¡± Where have all the spirits gone?! We¡¯d be disappointed if you hadn¡¯t noticed that, good job. Here¡¯s your reward, we call it Contact Spirits. It¡¯s kind of an all-in-one, instead of that nonsense humans make up. The twist is you can only contact spirits of those who¡¯ve died since the Galactic Internet initialized. How you do it and what it costs, well that¡¯s up to you to figure out. No, seriously, where did the spirits or souls of the dearly departed go before The Galactic Internet initialized? Can they be contacted? Resurrected? That¡¯s for you to figure out too. Reward upon quest completion: +100 Unspent Points. 1,000,000 GC. Title: Metaphysical Investigator. Variable hidden reward(s). Theon couldn¡¯t hide his grin if he wanted to, when it rained it poured. He noticed that he had everyone¡¯s attention, but instead of explaining he focused on a small potted plant. He used his telekinesis to lift it off the ground, and they all gasped, even the drow. The plant started wobbling vigorously once it was about five feet off the ground, and then his mana struck zero. Vasuki screamed out, he must have felt the backlash too. The pain was stifling and sudden, causing Theon to black out for an instant before he stopped himself from falling. He was panting as he made his way back to the cruiser and sat down. ¡°Did you see that! I did that!¡± Theon proclaimed proudly. ¡°Yes, how did you do it? Can you teach us?¡± Kate asked as Ben nodded his agreement. ¡°It¡¯s Telekinesis, I have a whole gambit of psychic abilities now. It unlocked with a quest, and I don¡¯t know if I can teach you, but I can try. First though I need to distribute my stat points, so I don¡¯t run out of mana so easily, it hurts.¡± They wanted to know what quest, so they could gain the abilities too, but Theon put them off with assurances of doing it later. He desperately needed to find out what the stats meant, especially now that he had so many points to spend. Most games came with an instruction manual, or you could mouse over something to gain details about it. He couldn¡¯t remember how much he had tried to discover their exact meaning before, but he knew it wasn¡¯t enough. He had been too busy running or fighting for his life. Now though, he couldn¡¯t put it off. He focused on strength and it was no surprise that nothing happened. All he¡¯d had to do to bring up his notifications was to focus on the exclamation point, clearly that didn¡¯t work in this scenario. He poured his mind down on the word strength as he wondered what it meant. ¡°Christ, it can¡¯t be that simple can it?¡± Theon asked himself in a whisper as a new popup appeared. He went down the list and each stat would reveal its secrets if he focused on it and wondered to himself about it. He even did it with his mana, health, and stamina to see what his regeneration rate was. Strength was what you would expect, physical power, ability to hit hard and carry heavy loads, no surprises there. Vitality was his health and durability, making a person more difficult to damage not just inflating his health bar. Bones muscle and skin became thicker and more durable. Endurance and Vitality both had an affect that negated poison damage and prevented illnesses or diseases. Endurance was his stamina, how hard he could push himself physically, but it was also his endurance to resisting pain, not unlike a physical version of willpower. It seemed that if it could be endured, endurance was at play. Endurance also had an innate regeneration of one point per level per minute. Dexterity and Agility had been confusing Theon before but now they were clearly explained. The easiest way to explain the difference that Theon could think of was imagining a paralyzed individual. They may have incredibly high dexterity, but zero agility. Dexterity was the ability to make small yet precise movements, like hand-eye coordination. It was good for things like drawing a map or shooting a gun. Agility on the other hand was much more like speed, and the ability to control and coordinate your body precisely. A gymnast, dancer, or a professional runner would have a very high agility, but potentially no dexterity. Then there were the mental stats, intelligence, willpower, psychic, perception. Intelligence was literally just that, how smart you are. Typically, in games this dictated a person¡¯s mana, but not here. Sure, intelligence could help one perform magic, but it wasn¡¯t necessary to perform simple magic. The more intelligence a person had, and the more knowledge they had about what they were doing allowed for more precise magic, more bang for the buck as it were. Willpower dictated mana regeneration, and it also helped one keep focused, resist agonizing pain, and mental magic. It also helped perform more precise and powerful magic, along with mental domination, whatever that was. Psychic the most unique stat in Theon¡¯s opinion, dictated the amount of mana available and he¡¯d already figured as much. It also determined the power of one¡¯s spells, or psychic abilities and enhanced one¡¯s connection to The Galactic Internet. Perception was the weakest ability according to Theon. It relied heavily on intelligence because it was one thing to notice something odd, but another to understand why it was odd. It did however, increase one¡¯s senses, such as the sense of pain, hearing, sight, taste, touch. Theon was unsure if it affected a psychic sense, but he didn¡¯t doubt it did. Charisma was essentially just beauty, or how others initially perceive you. It might make Theon sound good, and look good, but it wouldn¡¯t force people to like him if he was cruel. That was of course, unless he got the ability extremely high, in which case it had a psychic aura effect that would make others lust after you unwillingly even. Luck was surprisingly believable, even to a habitual cynic like Vasuki. It tilted The Galactic Internet in his favor, like dropping rewards in his lap, giving him awesome bonuses, or a break when he needed it. With a high luck he could expect not to fall asleep and wake up to orcs and wargs chasing him. What really surprised him was what the points meant. After focusing on the numbers, he found out that five was ¡®middle¡¯ for humans. Each additional point adds a ten percent boost meaning Theon was at least fifty percent more powerful than the average human in every category now, except luck which everyone seemed to be zero at. Theon theorized that meant the ¡®median¡¯ human was at fifty percent, or half that of an optimal human. He had just gotten twenty stat points for becoming the first to get both a title and trait, that¡¯s a two hundred percent boost in total. If he manages to complete the quest ¡®Where have all the spirits gone¡¯ he would gain a thousand percent boost worth of points. Before he distributed his stat points, which were really starting to pile up after killing the seventy-nine imps, Vasuki stopped him. ¡°You need to focus on your willpower kid,¡± Vasuki told him. ¡°Once your mana is full, the excess energy is pumped back into the grid, so to speak, and you get paid for it. The so-called Galactic Credits is just energy, if I had to guess why it¡¯s not called galactic energy, it would be because humans would be thrown off. ¡°Everything costs energy, to fabricate, teleport it to this planet, store it in stasis. Humans like to think money is credits or paper, but it¡¯s not.¡± Vasuki laughed and said, ¡°When you work, you expend time and energy in exchange for this paper money. When someone builds something, it requires time and energy, among a thousand other things, but when you boil it all down it¡¯s just energy. ¡°Sure, there are other factors like high scarcity, high demand, rare materials, politicians skimming off the top of the pile. At the end of the day though you can¡¯t transfer cash, or even human credits across the galaxy without energy, but you can transfer raw energy freely.¡± Theon agreed emphatically, the willpower stat changed him in some tangible way that allowed him to generate one mana per point every minute. So, he had ten mana regen per minute, it was way too slow. He did some more research on his HUD and found out that one thousand mana equaled one credit. It seemed negligible, but when he was constantly generating mana it could add up. He gained over one credit every two hours as it was, it came out to over fourteen GC a day at ten willpower. He was only being offered one hundred GC per kill anyways, and this was far safer. That was all besides the other benefits willpower could offer him. He distributed his points and pulled up his stat menu.
Name: Theon Osman
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Title: Psychic Detective
Level: 29
Unspent Points: 0
Health: 100/100
Mana: 027/290
Stamina: 100/100
Strength: 10
Vitality: 10
Endurance: 10
Dexterity: 11
Agility: 10
Intelligence: 11
Willpower: 25
Psychic: 29
Perception: 12
Charisma: 10
Luck: 1
He moaned in sync with Vasuki as they both basked in the ecstasy that was pouring through his mind. He had dumped fifteen points into both psychic and willpower and he could feel his mind straightening out and firming up. To Theon the sensation was best described as instead of drinking a cup of coffee in the morning, it was a cup of ecstasy, combined with the clarity of countless hours of meditation. The last point he had placed into luck, and he wasn¡¯t sure if it had any physical effects or not, but if it did he couldn¡¯t tell. Dropping thirty-one points was probably something he wouldn¡¯t experience again anytime soon, so he basked in it. He didn¡¯t even notice the streaming lights pouring into his head, or the faint glow that shimmered around him. Once he was done moaning loudly, his face started burning red as he saw both the Summers and Baltana watching him. Ben was laughing, and Kate looked embarrassed while the Drow seemed curious. ¡°Sorry, just finished distributing my points,¡± Theon said bashfully as he blinked his eyelids, clearing the tears of joy from his eyes. Kate tsked before asking, ¡°So will you give us the quest? Or teach us?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Theon said as he held out his hand away from everyone. He¡¯d gotten the psychic ability pyrokinesis and he¡¯d wondered what it would do compared to his pyromancy. He couldn¡¯t be sure if it was mixing with pyromancy or if it was the results of his stat boost, since he hadn¡¯t tried it before. What he could be sure of, was that pyrokinesis was extremely dangerous. The massive bonfire that gushed forth was like putty under his mind. It obeyed his slightest command utterly, he shaped it in the form of a person, a towering pillar that stretched into the sky, and condensed it into a ball, then put it out all within a few seconds. In that few seconds he had only lost ten or so mana, and he wasn¡¯t trying to make a massive fire either. He explained to both Kate and Ben about what he was doing and had them try and copy him. Baltana watched intensely as he went down his list of psychic abilities, or at least the relevant ones. He explained to the Summers what he was doing and gave a short description of the ability. He didn¡¯t expect them to be able to learn any of the abilities, so he was pleasantly surprised when Kate conjured a tiny marble, and when Ben said he could see Auras. They theorized about how Ben¡¯s previous job as a psychologist had forced him to be good at reading people and somehow, this transferred to these abilities. Kate had been a school teacher before she became a stay at home wife where she spent her time doing creative projects for fun. Theon also learned that neither had a child, apparently it was a touchy subject, so Theon left it. He instead suggested Ben try telepathy and empathy, the ability to speak with someone or read their emotions respectively. And for Kate to try psychometry the ability to discover information from touching objects. They spent the morning doing this, even Baltana tried to copy them unsuccessfully. She just didn¡¯t seem to have enough of a grasp at what they were trying to convey, so Theon told Kate and Ben to try and teach her to speak and read when they had free time. Theon could have done it himself, but he honestly didn¡¯t want to, and Kate used to be a teacher, so he figured she was far more qualified. The sun continued to rise into the sky as Vasuki and Theon spoke in his mind about true names, souls, Galactic Credits, magic, and The Elder One. Despite his worry, Vasuki was planning a trip to Palisade, his greed apparently the only thing greater than his fear.