《After Worlds End》 A word from our friendly neighbourhood support representative Have you ever wondered how the world will end? Maybe you have visions of fire raining down from the skies while the biblical trumpets call the righteous to arms? The world ending in a maelstrom of demons and angels battling it out while the earth crumbles, heathens perish, and the rightful believers inherit the heavens? Or perhaps you''d prefer something less divinely inspired? Columns of armored vehicles rumbling along to the accompaniment of thunder over the horizon. Fighter jets screaming overhead, dropping their bombs, spreading death and destruction indiscriminately. Followed by white streamers crossing the skies, terminating in the blooming of new suns on the horizon. The world burned to ashes beneath the nuclear fury of an all-out war to end all wars. "Too dark!" you say? How about a big asteroid coming in from outside the solar system? Instant annihilation of an entire hemisphere just as the thing impacts, the shock-wave reaching the other side of the planet within seconds. Gouging out a huge chunk of the crust, exposing the mantle beneath. Mountains crumbling, and the oceans boiling away. Leaving a dead husk behind, a planet that is no longer capable of supporting life, even the continents themselves twisted and warped into new shapes.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. None of thesewas what actually happened though my friend. I know, because I was there. ¡°The world hasn''t ended¡±. "We would have noticed" I expected you to say that, but sure it has, just not in the ways you envisioned. Truth be told, almost nobody noticed it when it happened. It was over so fast. Well, fast is a relative term. It took us a couple of years to prepare the end of your world you know, but when it happened, it lasted less than a second. Nobody was the wiser afterward either. How could they? From their perspective, nothing happened. but the earth they live on now, is not the real deal. Are you familiar with the simulation hypothesis? No? OK, here is the short version. How do you know that what you perceive to be real is real, and not some kind of simulation in some type of supercomputer? You can''t, right? That''s why nobody noticed that the world ended. The earth was real, but the one everyone lives on now isn''t. Or at least I think it was real, for all I know, that was just another level of a grander simulation. Would that make us a simulation within a simulation? How strange wouldn''t that be? Let me introduce myself properly. I''m ADM-13B9584A5. You can call me Alice. And I might have a job offer for you. 1 - Rejecting a false reality Toby woke up with a sudden jerk. ¡°What a strange dream... it... felt so real,¡± It felt like as if he had been living in two places at once. He got out of bed and padded silently into his bathroom. Turning on the water and looking in the mirror, his reflection staring warily back. A sudden feeling of wrongness surged over him, ¡°Why is my bathroom adjacent to my bedroom?. Don''t I have my bathroom next to the entryway, past the living room?¡±. ¡°I live in a small... No wait, large apartment outskirts. No, It''s downtown.¡± Toby shook his head violently. It felt like he was two people at once. Both options couldn''t be true. The feeling of being himself, but yet not himself kept nagging at his mind while he got ready for his day at work. Once again he froze in his tracks. ¡°Something is very wrong here!¡± he said into the empty air. He tried closing his eyes to sort through what was real or not. ¡°Who am I?¡± he asked himself. ¡°My name is Toby Williams, I am 39 years old, a bit over 1.70 tall and quite a bit overweight¡±. He whispered out loud to the mirror. Opening his eyes again took another look in the mirror. Meeting the gaze of someone that looks a lot like him, except that he is missing the extra fat he knew should be there. It didn''t feel like he was looking at the real himself. Closing his eyes again asking he voiced out another question: ¡°what have I been doing the last few years?¡±. ¡°I''ve been a NEET for 3 years after an accident, caused by a seizure of some kind when driving the company delivery van. Losing both my job and drivers license¡±. Toby opened his eyes again. Looking around he found his wallet on the shelf next to the mirror. Hesitating for a couple of seconds before taking it. Hegrabbed it and opened it up with a slight tremble in his hands. There, in the transparent pocket for an ID card, his own picture smirked back at him. It was as if it was mocking his own failure at life. He still had his license in this version of himself. His eyes roamed around the room for more confirmation when his view fell on the medicine cabinet. His right hand shot forward as if it had a will of its own and snapped open the door, almost tearing the poor thing off its hinges. It was almost empty, only a small pack of light painkillers and some eye drops on the little shelf in the middle. All the prescription medications they put him on after the accident were gone. It was like this Him never had an accident at all. Toby tried to stare down his own image in the mirror, almost shouting now ¡°what have I been doing these last 3 years?¡± Answers rushed through his mind like a cold slimy surge. ¡°I''ve been working at a delivery service, and got recently promoted to logistics coordinator¡±. ¡°Recently I have started working out, and dating a girl named Lisa, She is pretty and way out of my league¡±. ¡°I am considering proposing to her¡±. The answers all felt like lies. It wasn''t real, he was certain now. Lisa had rejected him 3 years ago, and not in the nicest manner either, It was bad enough that it would still make him cringe just thinking about it. A memory like that just can''t be fake.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. This reality was clearly the false one, a delusion acting as if to please him, keep him happily confined to a soft and happy dream. He must have lost it, and gone insane. Shaking his head, ¡°I need to wake up, I can''t remain in this state, there are real people out there that care about me, I have to wake up now¡±. Anxiety twisted his gut. The rolling and churning feelings in his belly intensified as his imagination went wild with images of himself in a mental institution. Unresponsive and semi brain-dead, or something worse. Comatose in bed, with tubes going in and out of his body, keeping him artificially alive while his mother cries at the side of his bed. ¡°I refuse to remain in a lie, no matter how comfortable the delusion, I prefer the harshness of reality!¡± Toby croaked in a desperate whisper. He felt like shouting it out loud in order to dispel the gut-churning anxiety having him in a near panicked state. ¡°I reject this delusion! And want to wake up to reality once more¡± He repeated as if it was a mantra that could make everything right again. The fear and doubt nagging on his mind, what If he couldn''t? What If he was locked into this prison of his mind until the day he died? Suddenly a window popped into his mind, he could see it, but still not really see it. It was directly in his mind without being part of what he could see. His view of his own shocked expression in the mirror was not affected at all.
Notification: Subject-Dreamland simulation has encountered a critical failure!
<>Simulation error detected! <>Entity 14B129B555A7933 Access level 0 rejecting simulation. <>Entity attempting simulation shutdown. <>Critical error, Access denied. Insufficient user privileges. <>Attempting rectification of error: <>Reviewing entity event log: 8 cases of failed information injection event''s recorded. <>Scanning for mental anomalies.
Toby watched in horror at the messages scrolling through his mind, watching the scanning percentage grow upwards. 1%,2% 10%, What were happening to him?
<>Anomalies found. 5 instances of rejected memory infusions. <>Removing rejected memory fragments to prevent mental corruption. <>Removing fragment 1 - Success! <>Removing fragment 2 - Success! <>Removing fragment 3 - Success! <>Removing fragment 4 - Success! <>Removing fragment 5 - Success! <>5 Anomalies removed successfully! <>Mental integrity is restored to optimal condition! <>Entity 14B129B555A7933 has exhibited Sufficient mental capability for promotion to access level 1. User: <>Creating new user profile. <>Logging current Events to User records. <>Entity 14B129B555A7933 successfully Promoted to USR-14B129B555A7933. <>Admin support ticket submitted for finalizing acceptance into World 1 - Nexus. <>Message from: ADM-13B9584A5 delivered.
As soon as one window disappeared, another popped up in its stead. Making Toby even more confused than before.
Private message from ADM-13B9584A5
Hi, Please remain calm for a few minutes, I have accepted your automatic support call, and will be with you shortly, I will come get you as soon as I can.
The world froze, then cracked and crumbled apart around him, revealing only a gray void of nothingness behind the facade of a false reality. The only thing remaining was the window in his mind, but then that too slowly faded away as if mocking him with its unreality. Thus leaving Toby standing all alone on a gray featureless floor reaching out to infinity in all directions beneath a featureless gray void. 2 - Down the rabbit hole An indeterminable amount of time passed while Toby waited. There was nothing to see in any direction except an infinitely receding featureless floor, and a gray monotone expanse above. Trying to make sense of the situation seemed futile, but Toby couldn''t help the thoughts churning through his mind. Suddenly a voice from behind startled him out of his contemplation''s. "Hello USR-14B129B555A7933". Toby spun around to see who was there. A short distance behind him stood a cute blue-eyed girl with thick long blonde hair. She was wearing a simple blue dress that went to just above her knees. On top of her dress, she was wearing a white apron matching her white knee socks and black shoes. Toby did a double take when he noticed she had an impossibly fair skin tone and rosy cheeks. It seemed to be taken straight out of a fairy tale. "I''m administrator ADM-13B9584A5." "You may call me Alice," She proclaimed. "H.. h... Hello." Toby stammered, "I''m Toby." A quick notification passed through his mind, almost too fast to read.
User:
New alias accepted. USR-14B129B555A7933 is now known as Toby.
"Good to meet you, Toby." ¡°I''m sorry it took a little while to come find you, but I was busy elsewhere when the system gave me the quest.¡± ¡°Thank you for coming! I guess.¡± Toby answered. ¡°Where am I exactly? Is this a Dream.... or have I passed away and this is the afterlife?¡± ¡°Patience Toby. I''ll explain all in due time¡± She stopped him before he could ask any more questions. Alice seemed to watch something in the air between them for a couple of seconds, then a box appeared in Toby''s mind giving him a prompt:
Administrator Alice has requested that you join her in a suitable environment for resolving the current situation, Do you accept?
Yes No
¡°It''s better to be somewhere to talk than to stand around in the Nowhere,¡± Alice explained. Just hit the accept button and off we go. Toby looked at her in confusion. How did he do that? The request box was in his mind after all, and he didn''t have any hands in his mind to push buttons with. ¡°Ah. I forgot that newbies don''t know how to use the System,¡± Alice sighed. ¡°Just focus on the choice you want and the System will respond.¡± Deciding to trust her for now, Toby tried to choose yes with his mind. As soon as he did, the yes button lighted up and the box disappeared. Walls and a roof coalesced out of the emptiness around them. From below a pair of rustic looking chairs rose up just beneath them, bumping the back of Toby''s knees so he ended up sitting down. A table with a pair of old-style teacups and a steaming kettle appeared between them before he had time to start standing up again. From the walls emerged clocks of all types and shapes, as well as pictures of characters Toby recognized as part of Alice in Wonderland. Shaking his head to clear his confusion about it all Toby looked over at the strange girl with wide eyes. She really did look like The Alice, He was half expecting the Mad hatter to pop in for tea at any second now. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.¡°Your people must be very creative¡± Alice commented. ¡°This is a rather interesting place¡±. ¡°W.. w.. what is this?¡± Toby stuttered. ¡°I really have gone insane haven''t I?¡± ¡°No, you haven''t,¡± Alice replied. "This is just a place the system has generated based on your people''s culture,¡± She continued. ¡°It''s meant to make the first contact easier.¡± ¡°Easier?¡± Toby spluttered. ¡°Yes. The idea is that by letting the user see something recognizable, but different, it will make accepting reality easier.¡± She answered. ¡°Accepting reality easier?¡± Toby felt nauseous. ¡°This is most certainly not real.¡± ¡°That is the point,¡± she countered and accepted a floating cup of steaming hot tea from the table. ¡°you see. this isn''t reality, it''s virtual reality,¡± she said before taking a sip. ¡°Mmm. Good stuff this hot drink thing. Whatever it is.¡± ¡°It''s tea.¡± Toby replied in a daze¡°. ¡°What happened to the real me?¡± ¡°Or has it all been a lie all along?¡± Toby could feel a cold chill going down his spine while asking these questions. ¡°Up until 5 minutes ago in the real universe, you existed along with all the other people of your species,¡± She explained patiently. ¡°Then your world ended.¡± Alice''s last statement shocked Toby''s mind into clarity like a bucket of cold water on a hot summer day. ¡°What do you mean ended?¡± ¡°You can''t simply miss out on your world ending¡±. ¡°Well... you didn''t it seems,¡± Alice replied, ¡°but most of the rest of your people did.¡± ¡°They are still living blissfully on the copy we made just as it went under.¡± ¡°The system is quite good at this, nobody suffered at all,¡± she continued. ¡°Normally it takes a few rounds of reincarnations before anyone new is promoted through.¡± ¡°Good at this?¡± Toby felt the heat rise to his face ¡°you mean you are good at destroying entire worlds?¡± Balling his fist he continued on ¡°Good at kidnapping an entire planet''s worth of people?¡± Heart hammering as if trying to break out of his chest he almost roared. ¡°What the hell is wrong with you people.¡± Regarding his outburst coldly she responded. ¡°The end wasn''t as dramatic as your people would have been imagining it.¡± ¡°there wasn''t any demons, wars, or monsters involved.¡± ¡°The world just passed silently into the night while you all woke up in that simulation you fled from.¡± Her eyes narrowed with a dangerous glint, forcing Toby to recoil back into his seat a bit. ¡°No, The system copied you into its virtual space in order to save yourselves from your own stupidity.¡± "According to the informationthat it has given me. That planet had less than 200 years to go at the rate you lot was abusing it, but it seemed the system had to rush the end because one of your idiot leaders was pressing down on the big old red button warlike species like yours tend to like so much.¡± ¡°The world would have ended that day anyway.¡± Alice waved her spoon at Toby as it was a teachers wand before continuing, ¡°Apart from you, all of your people still think the world is just fine, their lives suddenly having made some turns for the better in many cases,¡± she finished. ¡°What do you mean, still think the world is fine? We couldn''t fail to notice something like that. That''s just not possible.¡± Toby''s mind was rejecting the whole idea. It was just too implausible. ¡°We uploaded the minds of every single human on the planet and put them into simulated replicas of their old lives.¡± ¡°Earth was then consumed by self-replicating machines in order to produce the quantum computers responsible for running thesimulation.¡± Alice stirred her tea for a second before continuing. ¡°The System had this well prepared in advance you know. It even tried to make sure the transition would go as smoothly as possible¡±. ¡°It''s good that it did, we didn''t need a repeat of the Thetan fiasco... That got ugly so fast,¡± she mumbled, barely audible ¡°We got a flood of damaged minds from that debacle.¡± Her innocent appearance really didn''t fit her demeanor Toby mused. Thetan event, damaged minds. It all sounded like some kind of galactic super-villain story. Ignoring his vacant stare, Alice continued on. ¡°As part of easing the transition, we are allowing everyone to live out their original lives comfortably.¡± ¡°We''ve found that introducing new minds to the system is far easier if they start out thinking that they have died and gone to whatever afterlife they believe in.¡± A plate of cookies appeared on the table, and Alice proceeded to take one and wave it around while talking ¡°A lot of minds can''t deal with the truth, so they have to get cycled back into virtual worlds in a kind of reincarnation cycle.¡± While Alice munched her cookie Toby tried to reconcile what she was telling him. It was too much. The world has ended, everyone uploaded to a virtual reality system. It was just too much at once for him to absorb. Toby tried shaking his head to clear his mind. ¡°What happens now?¡± He asked. ¡°What is going to happen to me from now on?¡±. 3 - When reality is a game, games become reality. ¡°What happens now?¡± Toby asked. ¡°What is going to happen to me from now on?¡± The questions hung heavily between them. ¡°That depends on you,¡± Alice said with a little smile. ¡°you are free to choose what you want. Do you desire a new life with a clean slate? Living a normal life in another world?I can give you that, but due to your strong self-identity, I can''t take your memories away, so you can''t start afresh.¡± ¡°That doesn''t sound very pleasant,¡± Toby answered while nibbling on a cookie he couldn''t even remember taking. He didn''t like the idea of having to deal with growing up from being a baby again. ¡°you are right, it wouldn''t be,¡± she snickered. ¡°Being an infant is not my idea of fun either.¡± That''s just not a realistic option then, Toby thought, I just can''t do that and stay sane. ¡°Isn''t there another option?¡± Toby asked, a slight tremble evident in his voice. What if all other options were just as bad? He shuddered, his imagination wasn''t playing nice with him on this matter. Alice gave him a big grin, making her face almost resemble that of the picture of the fabled Cheshire Cat that hung on the wall behind her. ¡°How do you feel about forming a guild with me?¡± Toby almost choked on his tea with the sudden change in direction. On one hand, she probably wasn''t human. No, He was absolutely certain. She was likely an alien of sorts disguised as a humanoid cartoon character. On the other hand, Toby was in a world he knew almost nothing about. One that he was going to be living in no matter how he felt about it if what she said was all true. But she hadn''t been inconsistent with the experiences he was having either. The Alice in Wonderland setting supported her words perfectly. Driving the case home when anything with a lesser impact would have made him reject her as just being crazy. He wasn''t even sure that he was the real Toby anymore. No, he was sure that the original him was gone. Gone when they ended Earth. But who was he then? He felt like himself at least. Was he overthinking things? One thing he did know for sure, He needed friends if he was to survive with his sanity intact. Toby tried pushing his worry aside for now and focus on the here and now. He needed to understand where he stood, and for that, he probably needed her help. "What would you have me do?" Toby asked, "And what do you gain by forming a guild with me?" The feeling of being completely lost in a world he knew nothing about grated on his nerves. And here this creature was giving him a preposterous, gaming like proposal. "I would like you to party up with me and do quests," Alice responded, wiping cookie crumbles off her hands. "Quests?" Toby narrowed his eyes and tried to study her closely. Was it possible to read some of her expressions the way he could do with a human? "What quests? What is the purpose of it all?" "It''s easier to just show you." She answered him while drawing a circle in the air. A 3-dimensional image full of stars appeared between them. "Each of these stars represents a virtual world." This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.She pointed to one particular star, and the image swooped in on It in a disorienting rush. The star resolved into a planet that looked almost exactly like earth. "This is the current simulated world the entirety of your species resides in," she continued. "It has 7.6 billion people in it right now." "That sounds familiar." Toby countered. "But what does it have to do with anything?" "It has everything to do with it." She sighed. "Simulating true reality is much harder and far less stable than making a simulation from scratch with simpler physics. In fact, you are a symptom of that very instability in the simulation of your former home." Toby considered her words silently for a while. "There are more people that have reacted likeI have isn''t there?" "Yes there are", she replied with a wince as if someone had slapped her across the face. "Not a large number really, considering the population, but it''s still a couple million people that are now feeling rather less than completely sane in there." Alice was showing what Toby realized must be a clearly anxious expression before continuing "None of the others have passed the other criteria of being promoted to user status though. You are the only one thus far," She said lifting hereyes to meet his. "So I''m different then?" Toby answered. "But why me?" "You are different indeed." Alice looked straight into Tobys eyes. Her eye colors a distracting brilliant green, with horizontal slits rather than the round iris a human would have. Clearly showing off the fact that she was an alien creature in disguise as he had suspected. "Promotion doesn''t happen all that often," She started explaining. "Although we do expect quite a few not too long after the System gains a new world full of people. New additions tend to have a short boost to their promotion rate." Alice took another sip at her tea to wet her throat before continuing her explanations. "As to why you, I don''t know. We simply do not know how the system decides these things, or what the criteria for promotion are." Alice shook her head. "We do know it''s benevolent, and that it sometimes requires us to do some quests here and there. But those are mostly directed towards growth for the people that live within the System. Making a new place for your people to respawn upon death is a major one given out to many of us admins right now." Realization hit Toby like a bat to the head at her words. She had been using gaming terms a lot, why would she do that? Is this world just a game? He needed to know if that was the case. "Quests, Guilds, Respawn. Why all the gaming terms?" Toby asked. "Is this System a form of agame?" "The System isn''t a really a game, but it runs most of its simulated worlds as if they were games, so to interact with them, we have to play it by the rules of that world," Alice explained. "While the Nexus, where we will be going now, is a fun place. Only those promoted to users or admins can live there. It functions as a lobby of sorts." she continued. "If you accept to team up and do some quests with me, I can show you the ropes, come on. It will be a fun adventure for the both of us,¡± She finished her spiel with a bright smile. Toby sighed as he caved in. He really needed a friend, and she did sound rather sincere. Going along with her was probably his best option for now. At least until he had gotten his feet on the ground and could make his own informed decisions. One thing was certain. Game or not, true or not, For better or worse, He was stuck here for the duration. Possibly even forever. ¡°OK. I''ll go with you for a while at least.¡± he finally answered. ¡°So how does this work then?¡± ¡°Great!¡± Alice exclaimed. ¡°Just hit the accept button on my friend request and we''re good to start.¡±
A friend request from Alice received.
Accept Reject
With only a slight hesitation, Toby mentally hit the Accept button.
Notice:
Alice added to friends list
4 - Achieving Achievements achieves the Achievement of Achieving Achievements. Toby sighed as he mentally wrangled with the system to make the room more to his liking. He had spenta couple of hoursstruggling with his ''domain'' as Alice called it. Alice''s lessons on how to use the System had been rather short and to the point. It was all a mental exercise in juggling one''s intent. He could only change his surroundings inside this pocket of virtual space that belonged to him though. And it had taken a lot out of him to even get this far. She had left him to it as soon as he had started to get the hang of it. Something about preparations to do before she could continue her lessons on life in the Nexus as she called it. She gave the impression of being one of those people who would just sweep others along for the ride if they weren''t careful. The system apparently tended to model your domain according to your personality, So when he finally got the Alice in Wonderland stuff out, his room immediately turned into the one his 16-year-old self, had used almost 25 years ago from his point of view. It was complete with the embarrassing adult magazines he had hidden from his mom, and a nonfunctioning version of the desktop computer he used to play RPG''s on. Even his original copy of ¡°Eye of the beholder¡± was here. The box sitting uselessly on the shelf above the desk to Toby''s dismay. It was such a good game, a reminder of a time in his life where he was truly happy. It would have been so much fun to give it a spin again, but it was impossible. the computer was nothing but a useless prop in this world. Why wouldn''t the system let him have a simple clean room to sleep in rather than fill it with all these memories? The intent wasn''t enough to make desired changes either. He had desperately tried to remove the magazines for example, but it didn''t work. No matter how hard the tried, the system wouldn''t remove them. He also had a strangely persistent picture of the Cheshire cat hanging above his bed that remained as a particularly stubborn reminder of the Alice in Wonderland setting from before. He had managed to add a trophy display however it stood along an empty stretch of wall where the sole window used to be in his original room. Alice had been particularly adamant that he add one of those, but she wouldn''t tell him why. A knock on the door pulled Toby out of his thoughts. "Come in", He called just as the door opened. It was Alice as he expected. It wasn''t like he knew anyone else that would visit in this place yet, and he was fairly certain he was still the only human to have entered the Nexus yet. "Are you done" she called out as she sauntered in with her big almost golden braids swinging behind her. ¡°Yeah, I just put up a trophy case like you asked me to¡± he replied, ¡°But why do I need such a thing?¡±. ¡±You will see in a second" Alice quipped while grabbing his hand. ¡°This will sing a bit¡±. She said and pricked his finger with a needle. "Ouch, what!" Toby jerked his hand back. "what was that for?" he asked while blood slowly seeped through the tiny puncture wound in his finger. Gently taking hold of his hand again without saying anything, Alice pressed what looked like a small coin into the blood. Immediately the drop of blood was absorbed into the object, Causing it to change. It went from pure white to blood red over a few seconds to Toby''s astonishment. "this is a token that lets you link objects like that trophy case to your own information" She explained. ¡°These aren''t exactly cheap, but this one is a welcoming gift from me.¡± she continued while putting the token into Toby''s hand. "Just push the token into the trophy case, and it should activate".Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Toby pushed the token against the case as she had told him to, and to his surprise, it immediately disappeared into the wooden side of the case. Almost immediately after, the empty case started to glow. A golden adorned frame flowed into being on the upper left side of the display case, and a portrait of a younger version of Toby grinned back at him. Attached to the right side of the frame, a deep blue ribbon blinked into existence, Adorned with a platinum star with the inscription 1st. The rest of the top shelf was empty, but the bottom shelf had a purple velvet covered panel that was adorned with a single small silver badge with a picture on it. The picture was a portrait of a creature that Toby couldn''t help but notice had a rather strange visage. It looked like a creature with some rather tentacle-like appendages instead of hair. Beneath the badge was the word: Cthullean.
User:
The achievement system is now unlocked. Retroactively awarding achievements. Achievement get: Platinum medal of Ascension. 1st to ascend amongst your species. Achievement get: bronze badge Chutullean:meetinga Chutullean. Achievement get: Silver badge Chutullean: Befriended a Chutullean.
When nothing else seemed to happen, Toby drew a breath and pointed ¡°Is that how your kind looks Alice?¡±. ¡°Errrmm.. maybe¡± Alice evasively answered before quickly changing the topic ¡°Now that you are properly installed in your domain, I think it''s time for the next step¡±. ¡°So what is going to happen next?¡± Toby asked. ¡°I agreed to team up with you, and do quests, but I don''t actually know how any of that is supposed to work around here¡±. ¡°First we have to register our new guild¡± Alice answered, ¡°And for that, we have to go to the local town hall¡±. ¡°We have to go to an office?¡± Toby answered surprised. ¡°I thought everything could be done through the System interface¡±. ¡°Some things can be done directly, but other things are restricted to certain areas or people¡±. Alice was getting into instructor mode again. ¡°Teleportation for instance, like I did when picking you up out in the nowhere, isn''t permitted except between travel nodes. Getting someone from the nowhere is the exception. The System will always send someone to go fetch a user lost in the nowhere¡± Alice opened the door and beckoned Toby to follow. They exited out into a rustic wood lined hallwaywith candlelit lamps along the walls. besides Toby''s door, he could see another door that had the nameplate Alice on it. ¡°Administrative work like registering new quests, guilds, and getting permits. has to go through the offices in Town halls¡± Alice continued explaining while they walked towards the staircase down. ¡°Admins that have been given a job there are the only ones permitted to submit the entries for new guilds and stuff to the system ¡± Alice had just finished talking when they reached the bottom of the wooden stairs. Before them, a large room lit onlyby the light filteringthrough a pair of small windows opened up. It was sparsely furnaced with some tables and booths along the walls, while at one end Toby could spotwhatlooked very much like a bar. Giving Toby a slight twinge of desire for a beer. The back wall behind itwas covered in various bottles and barrels in a wide range of sizes and colors. A door that Toby presumed went into a kitchen sat right next to it. The bar appeared unmanned though, giving him a slight pang of disappointment as they walked across the floor towards the main door. It wasn''t that he really needed to eat or drink while in the Nexus, but the desire to do so still remained. The only need he really had was sleep, somethingto do with having to simulate his neurochemistry or something. Toby had drifted off during that particular lecture, ironically mostly due to the lack of said sleep. "Welcome to the Town of Terra Nova Toby" Alice exclaimed while pushing the double doors open wide. The light of a clear bright day washing over them as they emerged from the dim interior and into a whole new world. 5 - Papers please Toby squinted hard while his eyes adjusted to the bright light. From a perfectly blue sky, the sun shone invitingly. Like a perfect summer day, a quiet breeze caressed his hair. His eyes wide and mouth agape, Toby spun around taking in the view of the sky as he took his first steps outside in the Nexus. He was outside, while inside. Everything was really possible in the Nexus. Looking back at the building they came from, He could see Alice smiling at him in front of the solid-looking wooden doors. The door was framed with dark timber beams, and hooded metal oil lamps hung on the wall flanking both sides. It gave a distinct feeling of being transported back into the past. The front of the building was had walls made from cobbled stones, with small deeply inset windows. The wall gave way to a classic timber overhang as he raised his eyes upwards, reminding Toby of what he had seen in many a medieval themed game and movie. It even had the classic timber and white plaster look topped by a steeply slanted roof. Taking another step, Toby turned around to look around the area. A large cobblestone plaza stretched out in front of him, with a raised ring of ten huge standing stones in the middle. The stones were easily three times larger than himself both in width and height. Each pair of rough stone pillars had another huge stone slab resting on top, forming the pair into a roughly shaped square opening. Toby thought he could see a slight glimmer of multi-colored lights sparkling inside the stone squares. They were easily large enough for a whole group of people to walk through at once if they wanted to. Suddenly one of the stone portalslit up with a cacophony of colors followed by a blinding rainbow colored starburst. When Toby regained his sight, 3 short people with magnificent beards could be seen standing inside one of the square openings. They immediately started walking away. ¡°Woah!¡± Toby exclaimed. ¡°I didn''t expect the Nexus to look like this.¡± ¡°What did you expect then Toby?¡± Alice asked. ¡°That everything would be appearing all gloomy and indoors?¡± ¡°eeehhmm.... maaaybee?¡± Toby replied. ¡°I did not expect this at least.¡± Toby continued while sweeping his arm across the plaza to point out all the Medieval game themed structures wrapping around It. There were only a notable few houses that reached the third or fourth floor, The rest were generally only 2 stories tall, and more crudely built. ¡°This whole town is actually less than 4 hours old,¡± Alice pointed out. ¡°People are just about getting settled in preparations for receiving more of your kind during the next few months. I bet there are still parts of it being spawned in as we speak.¡± Alice''s words made Toby take a closer look around. There were indeed not all that many people here, and the few he did see, seemed to be in a hurry to get wherever they were going. It was far too easy to forget that this wasn''t a real reality that was fixed, but a flexible virtual one where anything was possible. A town less than a day old looking like it had been there for a decade. This was indeed going to take some getting used to if this was how it was going to be from now on. ¡°We need to get moving though,¡± Alice said dragging Toby out of his distracted state. ¡°We want to get our guild organized and registered as soon as possible, so we can grab a good location for our headquarters on the cheap." "Being early matters a lot, and we have the chance to be really early.¡± Alice started walking even before the last word had left her mouth. ¡°Do we have the credits for that?¡± Toby replied trying to keep up with her brisk pace. ¡°The only credits I have is the start capital I got as a reward for ascending after all.¡± ¡°That means you have whole 1000 credits in your inventory then since you got the 10x bonus for being first,¡± Alice countered. ¡°More than enough for your half of the administration fees and guild deposit, you are actually quite rich with that much credits in your pocket.¡± ¡°you will have more than enough left to even get that sorry piece of cloth you call clothing exchanged for something decent,¡± she added while pointing at Toby''s worn out jeans and T-shirt.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°It was the only thing that came with the room,¡± Toby complained. He at least had something to wear, a far sight better than the pajama pant''s he had on when he met Alice in the nowhere. So he guessed he couldn''t complain too much. ¡°If we hurry, we might have time to get a guild hall sorted today as well,¡± Alice said, attempting to make Toby hurry up a bit. ¡°Alright.¡± Toby acquiesced. ¡°Let''s get the boring stuff out of the way then, because I really want to get better clothes, and maybe get myself a beer today as well. You have no idea how much I want a beer right now.¡± Toby finished talking just as they stopped in front of an imposing Marble structure that looked like it could only be one thing, A temple to the gods of governance. The ultimate church of paper pushing, An imposing testament that could strike fear into any NEET ever born to the old, or any other for that matter, world. Toby fervently hoped that it didn''t live up to its exterior image. They entered through the imposing doors into a large hall with counters on one side. The whole thing had a clean, almost sterile d¨¦cor that told anyone who enters it''s hallowed halls that here there be no rushing of the paperwork, This was a place where government forms were worshiped, and woe be the one that had not dotted all the I''s and crossed all the T''s properly. At first, the hall appeared completely empty, but then Toby noticed that there was someone behind one of the counters at the far end of the hall. Alice started walking towards the counter without a single word, and Toby had to take a couple of quick steps to prevent falling behind. There was no way he was going to be wandering around this place alone. Bad memories of filling out form after form, turning them in, getting more forms, collecting documents from doctors, hospitals, experts, and the devil''s grandmother surfacing. Toby pushed those dark days back down into forgetfulness where they belonged just as they were about to reach their goal. Stepping up to the counter they are greeted by a cute cat-eared girl with sleek black hair, and mesmerizing yellow eyes that gradually turns to green around her vertical pupils. ¡°I''m Tsu, how may I be of service,¡± She greeted them, surprising Toby by giving him a smile showing off a pair of sharp looking K9s. ¡°We are here to register a new guild,¡± Alice stated flatly while pulling out a single piece of paper from what appeared to be thin air. ¡°We can do that right here if you have all the preparations in order¡±, the cat girl replied, her face expressionless, as if set in stone. ¡°We have everything ready,¡± Alice proclaimed with a smile while setting the paper down on the counter. Tsu appeared to be checking the registration form over carefully before saying another word. ¡°It''s in order, So I can complete the registration right now if you have the 1500 credit seed money, and the 100 credit administration fee.¡± Toby pulled out 800 credits from his inventory, and set it down on the counter. Alice mirrored his action giving him a beaming smile. ¡°We''re just about through with it. This is going to be great.¡± Alice''s eagerness shone through like the sun between clouds on an overcast day, bringing a pleasant feeling with it to Toby''s mind. ¡°Just one final step,¡± Tsu said while pushing another document towards the both of them along with a pair of needles. "I need the both of you to sign the basic agreement form, and we are done. It''s the usual method with a drop of blood.¡± Toby cringed at her words. Was everything signed in blood in the Nexus? Another thing he''d likely forget to ask Alice about later. For now, he would focus on reading the agreement form. The form was simple, almost too simple. It simply stated that Toby and Alice had agreed to cooperatively run the guild ¡°The first Ascendant of Terra.¡± He winced at Alice''s choice of name, Of course, she had to choose something cheesy. He should have known to stop her from pulling him along so fast until he''d had a chance to read over the initial forms. It was too late now, So Toby pricked his finger with the offered needle, and pressed it down under his name. The form started glowing, and 2 notifications popped into his mind.
Guild:
The guild Ascendant of Terra has been formed. Founding members: Toby, Alice. As the first guild with a human founding member, the guild is awarded a 2x bonus on the seed investment. Current guild balance is 3000 Credits. Guild level achievements awarded: First: human member. First: human founding member.
User:
User Toby has joined the guild Ascendant of Terra Achievement get. The first human to join a guild. Achievement get. The first human to found a guild.
Toby willed the notifications to go away and looked down at the paper as the last of the glow faded away. On the lower half of the paper there where now 2 badges placed underneath the names of himself and Alice. Hers looked the same as he had seen on display at home, but this was a new one with a quite familiar picture on it. It was the famous naked man used on the symbolic golden plaques attached to the Voyager probes. Probes sent on their way to become the first and last man-made objects to ever leave the solar system. A strangled mewling sound behind the counter quickly drew Toby''s attention. The cat-eared girl stood there with wide open eyes staring at him. ¡°You are the human that ascended yesterday.¡± 6 - Bossy bosses are bossy Toby just stood there dumbfounded. As if accused of a crime he didn''t know he had committed. ¡°You are the human that ascended yesterday!¡± The words echoing through the large reception area of the town hall. Toby was certain that if there had been anyone else but them here, everyone would have been staring by now. Swallowing hard, Toby opened his mouth to answer when Alice beat him to the punch. ¡°What if he is?¡± she said in a tone that gave Toby a slight chill, making it obvious that she questioned if it was the receptionists business. ¡°I have to inform my superior at once, you are not to leave!¡± Tzu pointed at Toby. ¡±The human integration project manager needs to talk toYOU as soon as possible.¡± Following her own advice, she practically jumped over the counter and bounced through the large doors leading to wherever Toby figured the manager''s office must be. Toby looked over at Alice, who looked to be in deep thought for a second before speaking. ¡°I suspected something like this would happen eventually, but not so soon.¡± ¡°Why is that?¡±Toby inquired. ¡°It''s the matter with the minds that are in danger of being broken by the earth sim''s instability,¡± she responded. Before she could say anything else, the large doors slammed open again and Tzu waved them over. ¡°The project manager want''s to speak with you both at once, please follow me.¡± Both Alice and Toby shrugged and then walked after her through the door. They passed through a short hallway, that ended in a rather plain door, with the sign ''Terra Nova Project manager''. Just as Tzu was about to knock, a voice from within called out. ¡°Just get in here already, times a wasting.¡± Toby pushed the door open, just to reveal an office that wasoverflowing with paperwork from floor to ceiling. ¡°As you can see¡± the huge man behind the desk started without so much as introducing himself. ¡°The early assimilation of Earth has caused a massive headache for the Terra Nova project.¡± ¡°We weren''t supposed to be operating a reincarnation office, even less a player city for another 10 outside years. But no, some idiot with bad hair decided on his own to start world war three.¡± The man visibly sighed ¡°We simply had to kick the project off early, and now we got a huge mess on our hands.¡± Neither Toby nor Alice managed to say a word before the manager had drawn another breath and just barrelled on. He apparently either didn''t care or was oblivious to any issue they might have with following what he said or not. ¡°I''ll be blunt and quick!¡± he continued. ¡°We need a suitable human to start up a rehabilitation world for The lost children of Terra.¡± ¡°I do not know about yoursuitability, nor do we have the luxury of caring, you Toby, are the only human we have.¡± ¡°I, therefore, charge you with the serial quest: Lost children of Terra. From now on they will be you and your guilds problem to fix.¡± We''ve already prepared all the forms and information you need.¡± He said while handing a big folder over to Toby. ¡°Tzu will be your contact with the project management, if you need anything, she will be the one you talk to. Dismissed!¡± The man immediately went back to work doing whatever it was he was doing with that mountain of paper of his, and Toby figured it was their cue to make a quick escape before he changed his mind and gave them something worse to do, like sorting requisition forms or something. Turning around he took hold of an overwhelmed Alice''s hand and pulled her along outside. ¡°that was intense!¡± Toby exclaimed as soon as they got out of earshot of the manager''s door. ¡°we never even got to ask any questions.¡± ¡°It''s all in the folder,¡± Tzu said from the open door to the reception hall. ¡°I need you to officially sign your acceptance of the quest.¡± she continued while waving them towards the counter they first met her at. Walking behind her, Toby realized that the girl actually had not only cat ears but a tail as well. Toby found her rather pretty despite her cat-like features. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.Toby felt his pulse quicken a bit thinking about all those weird manga stories cute with animal eared girls. ¡°Stop staring at her you pervert!¡± Toby felt Alice give him a painful pinch in his side. She did not look happy about it. ¡°We need to focus," she continued, "you can chase tail later if that is your thing.¡± She looked kinda disappointed at him, and Toby vowed to be careful about his actions in the future. Or at least try not to be so obvious about his curiosity. Come to think about it. He was kinda curious about her too. Maybe he was just a pervert? As soon as they got back to the counter, Tzu jumped over it with a grace only a cat could exhibit. He was convinced, Tzu was a cat through and through, and a desire to stroke her ears to make her purr passed through Toby for a second. ¡°You have to sign this,¡± she said as she pushed another paper towards Toby alongside another needle. Toby groaned inwardly. Always with the damn needles. How about a pen for a change he complained silently while he pricked his finger for the third time this day before passing the paper over to Alice so she could sign it as well. As soon as she did, a blank badge appeared over both their names. ¡°why is it blank?¡± Toby asked. ¡°It''s because we haven''t decided on a guild badge yet,¡± Alice replied. ¡°It didn''t seem like something we needed so soon.¡± ¡°Don''t worry about i!t¡± Tzu interjected before Toby could speak again. ¡°The badge will automatically update once you have decided on a badge for your guild.¡± ¡°Another item on the to-do list,¡± Alice sighed. ¡°This one I''m expecting you to do.¡± Toby could swear that he saw a pouting expression on her face. ¡°Are we done here now?¡± Toby asked Tzu anxiously. He wanted out of there as soon as possible. His discomfort at public offices percolating through his guts. He really hated places like this. ¡°Yes, I have nothing more for you to sign, so good luck,¡± She replied waving them off. ¡°I have more customers to take care off, so get out of here.¡± Toby waved goodbye and pulled Alice along towards the exit. Just as they exited, A new set of messages popped up.
Guild:
Main Quest accepted: The lost children of Terra. Warning! Guild does not possess a Quest board. The guild is too understaffed to complete the Main quest: The lost children of Terra. Auto-generating key Quests Quest generated: Guild HQ: Your Guild lacks a proper base of operations, Procure a suitable location for the guild members to gather and coordinate their activities. Reward: Guild level item. Quest board token Quest generated: Recruitment drive: You don''t want to be known as a friendless oaf. One friend is not enough. Make at least one new friend, and convince them to join you in your guild. Reward: friendship its own reward.
¡°That''s incredibly convenient for us!¡± Alice exclaimed. ¡°That quest board is something we would have had to buy regardless, and now we practically get one for free.¡± Her happiness was palpable, making Toby feel happy as well. Her mood was really contagious and did the job of giving him a much needed pick me up. ¡°So.. who does what then?¡± Toby asked. ¡°You make friends, I buy a house¡± Alice immediately answered while making the Quest folder disappear into her inventory. ¡°you should go shopping for clothes first. You look terrible in that getup.¡± Toby sighed. Who''s fault was it that he hadn''t been able to get new clothes again? He had even met the chief honcho of this place in clothes only fitting for a beggar. He couldn''t help blush a bit at that. It was quite shameful. He could only hope that 200 credits were enough for something decent. He didn''t know what stuff cost in the Nexus. He''d only been tossed from place to place so far. This would be his first time going around on his own. The prospect excited him. A great adventure indeed. There were clothes to shop, and maybe some food to experience. Today was going to be good after all. ¡°We don''t have the credits in the guild coffers to actually afford a house,¡± Alice said. she just had to rain on his parade again. Toby sighed. ¡°Is there a way to fix that easily?¡± he asked. ¡°I''ll go see if I can find a bank or moneylender around here,¡± Alice answered with a shrug. ¡°It shouldn''t be hard to get some credits, we have this Main Quest in our hands after all¡±. Alice gave him a confident smile. ¡°I''ll take care of it.¡± she continued. ¡°You don''t even know your way around yet, and I got a couple millennia worth of experience.¡± Toby neither could, nor wanted to argue with that. He was just happy he could avoid any more paperwork. Just as Alice was about to turn around and go he called out.¡°We meet up at the boarding house tonight then?¡± ¡°Sure she answered. ¡°I''ll see you there, and if you find any potential new recruits, bring them along too.¡± ¡°Sure thing Alice.¡± He replied, trying to give her a wave, but she was already hurrying along to who knows where, and so he just ended up waving to her receding back instead. Now, where do I go from here Toby pondered? The plaza was wide open, and shops of various kinds were in evidence, but which shop should he go to in order to find clothes? 7 - Meeting strange new friends. After finally finding some clothes, Toby strolled back home to the boarding house. 50 credits lighter, but at least clad in a somewhat suitable, although quaint, green woolen shirt, brown pants, leather shoes, and a short leather cape with a hood. The spitting image of a peasant from the middle ages if he had to say so himself. Hopefully, he would fit in a bit better now. More people had been coming through the stone portals in the plaza as the day wore on, slowly populating the town. Most of whom were already wearing suitable attire for the town setting, and those who didn''t, seemingly hurrying along to get something that did. It must be a Nexus thing to always try to fit in Toby guessed. Nobody wanting to ruin the mood or something. No matter. He was almost home, and there better be a bartender present to serve him a nice beer, or maybe he should try mead? Mead was a thing back in the old days, and you couldn''t do medieval without mead right? It had to be mead then. Thus decided, Toby whistled happily when he entered the commons of the boarding house and sauntered over to the bar. Thankfully the bar was open, and therewasn''t any queue either. ¡°May I help ye sir¡±, the barkeeper inquired. ¡°I''d like some mead, and something suitable to eat along with it,¡± Toby ordered. ¡°Sure thing sir. It''ll be 5 credits for the meal and a tankard ''o mead, 2 credits for every tankard mead or ale ye drink afterward.¡± The barkeep replied while he drew a golden colored liquid from one of the barrels into a rather large wooden mug. It even had a hinged lid on it. ¡°Sit right down, and I''ll have the wench bring ye the food in a moment,¡± The barkeep passed the mead over while pointing to one of the tables along the wall. Toby accepted the tankard and walked over to the indicated table. It was a bit roughly made, but he probably wouldn''t get any splinters from it. Toby carefully sat down before taking his first sip of his mead. It tasted sweet, like spicy honey, but it also had a decent dose of fire in it. All in all, he figured it was a pretty good replacement for some strong draft beer. You also got a lot of it per serving. Had to be at least a liter or more of mead in there. A man could get drunk on less. The mood in the room was nice. It was a bit dark, especially now that the sun was going down, and the light coming through the windows was dimming down. But the light from the oil lamps hanging in a cast iron chandelier in the middle gave ample light for eating and drinking by. He wouldn''t want to try reading in it, but that wasn''t really relevant to the setting either. It had that cozy atmosphere some upscale romance oriented restaurants triedso hard to mimic. He did wonder a bit how the other people of the Nexus thought of Terra Nova though. It was definitely taken from earth pop culture versions of history. Or maybe most cultures had something similar? Toby''s thoughts got interrupted when an unlikely pair of people came through the front door while arguing about something. One was short, and with a flaming red beard that outclassed even the biggest beards, Toby had ever seen on a human by a huge margin. It went almost all the way down to his feet. His braided hair wasn''t far behind either. It hung loosely over his broad muscular shoulders. The man was the very idealized image of a dwarf taken straight out of a fantasy novel Toby marveled. ¡°I tell ya Ortho you darn treehugger. These so-called humans are supposed to have achieved the levels of a higher culture! We have to check it out¡±. The dwarf man''s voice boomed out forcefully with a surprisingly deep baritone for his size. ¡°Your version of higher culture is the invention of fermented drinks you drunkard¡±. The tall whose name was apparently Ortho countered in a musical voice. ¡°And how did you hear about these humans only a day after they got uploaded?¡±. ¡°I have my sources¡± The dwarf answered. ¡°No doubt another one of your numerous exes you philandering goat¡± Ortho pressed on. ¡°Why do I keep hanging......¡± Toby''s curious ears got interrupted by the serving wench just as it was starting to get interesting. Lovers quarrel? Was the tall one a girl? It really wasn''t his business, but who wouldn''t be curious about such an odd couple right? Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!The wench put a plate with cheese and biscuits in front of Toby and asked ¡°shall I bring another mug of mead sir? Or would ye prefer an Ale?¡± ¡°Yes please, and thank you¡±.Toby hadn''t even noticed that he had already finished off his first one, and another one to chase after the food would be really nice. He could already feel the familiar relaxing warmth in his belly, so he vowed to only make it one more, to avoid getting drunk tonight. He had a lot to worry about after all. Just as he was about to dig in, he heard a musical voice talking just behind him. ¡°If what the barkeep told us was true Urist, there is already a human in the Nexus¡±, By the voice, it had to be the tall one. Ortho, that meant the dwarf''s name was Urist. Toby felt a sting of shame for listening in like this, but they were talking about him after all, So not listening in was out of the question. ¡°Aye, that is quite unusual,¡± Urist answered. ¡°And you know what it means for the first spawn town yeah?¡± Toby''s ears strained even harder to listen in. Now, this was interesting indeed. ¡°Yes I do¡± the tall one, Ortho answered. ¡°It means that most of this set is taken from that person''s preferences for unreality¡±. Toby coughed into his mead, startling the duo behind him. ¡°Are ye alright lad?¡± The dwarf asked. ¡°He doesn''t look it.¡± The tall one pointed out while Toby tried to recover from his coughing fit. Getting a closer look at him, Toby noticed that the man had pointy ears and a smooth face. The first word popping into Toby''s mind was ''elf''. Toby wiped the mess off his face with the back of his hand and introduced himself ¡°Hi, I''m Toby, the human.¡± The eyebrows of both members of the duo did a great attempt at jumping off their foreheads. Probably would have done so too if it wasn''t for the fact that they were rather securely attached the way eyebrows tended to be. ¡°I''ll be damned. This must be our lucky day. I''m Urist, a Dorf, and this here pointy eared tree-hugging hippie is Ortho, an Eldarix for those who keep tabs on that kind of stuff.¡± The both of them stood up and reseated themselves at Toby''s table ¡°Pleased to meet you¡±. Toby replied. ¡°you two look exactly like dwarves and elves from my people''s games and entertainment.¡± Toby did a double take on his own outburst. Was he that compromised by the alcohol already? He hadn''t planned to blurt that out exactly, but it probably didn''t do any harm he hoped. It might even help him break the ice. ¡°So you had entertainment with people like us in it?¡± Ortho seemed intrigued. ¡°That is not surprising by itself really¡±. ¡°We humanoids do tend towards imagining beings that are a lot like our selves after all¡±. ¡°We also tend towards the same kind of food and drinks,¡± Urist added. ¡°This Ale is quite a lot like my kinds Beer.¡± ¡°Well, Ale is a type of beer¡± Toby countered. Then a thought struck him. Is this a translation issue? Are these words having completely different meanings, and only a rough approximation? ¡°I know what yer thinking lad, And I''m wondering about the exact same thing!¡± Urist waved at the serving wench. ¡°Break the current immersion and bring us six beers. three human and three Dorfian,¡± He called out to her. ¡°Immersion break denied. The order can be fulfilled within area parameters.¡± Toby felt a jarring sense of disconnect. He had almost forgotten that this was all a simulation. ¡°Just get me the two types of beers then¡±. Urist told the wench, a surprised tone to his voice. Turning to Toby he asked. ¡°Yer people had fantasies about fine Dorfian beer? How strange¡±. ¡°That really surprised me too¡± Toby added. He couldn''t quite believe he would get to taste the imaginary brew the dwarves in his favorite game made. This night was shaping up towards a really good evening. It took almost no time at all for the wench to return with the six beers. All of them in wooden tankards, and marked with either a blue or black ribbon. ¡°Here are your beer''s gentlemen,¡± the wench said. ¡°I''ve taken the liberty of marking them with their respective origin for your convenience¡±. Toby thought he could detect a touch of sarcasm from the wench. She was an NPC, wasn''t she? She had responded like one when Urist asked her to break immersion. As soon as she had set the tankards on the table she swirled around and trotted off to serve some other customers. Leaving behind a stunned trio, with the two kinds of beers none the wiser about which beer was which. ¡°whelp. I guess there is only one way to find out what is what.¡± Ortho stated flatly while grabbing hold of 2 tankards. One tankard in each hand. A blue ribbon in the right, and a black one in the left. ¡°Aye. I guess you are right¡± Urist added while grabbing another pair. ¡°Let the tasting begin¡± Toby finished while claiming the last two for himself. The trio looked at each other, each one having a tankard in each hand and started laughing. ¡°We look like a crew of Dorf''s on spring break¡± Urist rumbled in what could maybe pass for a giggle if his voice wasn''t so deep. ¡°Or humans in a frat party¡±. Toby choked out while trying to take a deep breath between laughs. ¡°Let the tasting begin!¡± Ortho proclaimed loudly and followed it up by chugging down a quarter of his first tankard. ¡°Aye. Let the tasting begin.¡± both Urist and Toby answered in unison before taking big gulps out of their own tankards as well.
Notice:
Achievement get: bronze badge Dorf: meeting a Dorf. Achievement get: bronze badge Eldarix: meeting an Eldarix. Achievement get: Silver badge Dorf: Befriending a Dorf. Achievement get: Silver badge Eldarix : Befriending a Eldarix.
8 - A friend in need is a friend indeed. Toby woke up slowly when someone tapped him on the cheek. ¡°You awake you drunken bum?¡± a feminine voice said cheerfully. ¡°W...Wh.. Who''s that?¡± he croaked out. He felt parched and sick. Going by the feeling on his back, he was lying on some kind of table. He could also hear a deep groan from below, so he assumed that someone was still alive under there as well. ¡°Are they sure they didn''t use a Dorf''s imagination for this place?¡± it grumbled. ¡°Even the hangover feels authentic¡±. ¡°Nope! The cheerful voice replied to the grumbling.¡± ¡°The guilty party is definitely sleeping it off on top of the table you currently use as a roof.¡± ¡°10/10 will come here to get drunk again¡±. This time it was a more melodic voice, although quite a bit coarser than it was yesterday. Toby winced as he forced his eyes open. There was painfully bright light streaming through the windows, dust was dancing slowly in the warm bright rays, glittering silently. Turning his eyes upwards, he couldn''t help but see a rather predatory smile on Alice''s face. Did she always have those sharp teeth? He wondered idly. ¡°Get up now!¡± She ordered. ¡°We have quest target''s to discuss¡±. After a few failed attempts, Toby finally managed to hit the right option in his system menu to reset his body status. The effect was an instant and dramatic relief. The hangover vaporized away as if it had never existed in the first place, and his crumpled booze-stained clothes returned to their freshly bought condition again. In fact, he felt well rested and ready to face whatever challenges Alice had in store for him right at that moment. Well. Most of them at least. ¡°Now, Toby. Care to introduce your partner to these two fine gentlemen you''ve spent the night cozening it up with. While I was out doing all the hard work?¡± Alice said with a clear chill in her voice. ¡°Don''t be too hard on him lass¡± Urist interjected. ¡°We share in the blame too. We were trying to find out if Human or Dorfian beer was the same thing.¡± ¡°We couldn''t even figure out which beer was from where¡± Ortho added quickly. ¡°That''s why we had to keep trying. right guys?¡± ¡°Yep,¡± Toby and Urist replied in almost perfect unison. Before the guys could start another round of banter Toby started the introductions. ¡°Alice, this guy with the magnificent beard is Urist, Urist, this pretty and angry girl here is Alice,¡± Toby said while they all got to their feet proper. ¡°Ortho, Say hello to the pretty girl¡±, Urist called over to his pointy-eared friend while they found some seats that looked safe to sit on. Ortho was already on the ball though, taking Alice''s hand and giving her a formal bow. ¡°I am Ortho, It''s a pleasure to meet you, Alice.¡± ¡°The pleasure is all mine¡± Alice replied before giving Toby a smirk. ¡°That, Toby my dear. Is how you should treat a lady.¡± Toby winced inwardly at the strange look his new drinking buddies gave him. Of course, she had to go straight ahead and make misunderstandings. This girl was going to be the death of him. She sent just the right signals to make his heart skip a bit every now and then. ¡°More importantly,¡± Toby said, quickly changing the topic before it got even weirder. ¡°How did the fundraising for a guild house go?¡± ¡°Haven''t you checked the guild quest status yet?¡± Alice sighed. With a sheepish grin, Toby opened the guild status window.
Guild Status:
Quest name: description Status Extra information
The Lost children of Terra Your Guild have to save all the people who rejected simulation earth. And are in danger of irrevocably having their minds harmed by it. Accepted/Pending People saved: 0/ 2.125.892
Guild HQ Your Guild lacks a proper base of operations, Procure a suitable location for the guild members to gather and coordinate their activities. Completed Reward: Guild level item. Quest board token
Recruitment drive You don''t want to be known as a friendless oaf. One friend is not enough. Make at least two new friends, and convince them to join you in your guild. Active Reward: Friendship is its own reward.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡°I''ve gotten the funds and a lot with a basic starter guild house,¡± Alice confirmed. ¡°So we are almost ready to start saving those lost minds.¡± ¡°Sorry for interrupting¡± Ortho interjected. ¡°But we can hear you, you know¡±. ¡°Ah. Sorry about that¡± Toby apologized, but then he realized what an opportunity he just got handed to him by pure luck. ¡°What would you two say to help me save some of my people?¡±. Toby inquired of his new friends. If he could get them on board, they would be ready for the next stage immediately, maybe even get some good progress in it today. Ortho and Urist just stared at Toby without blinking. ¡°Yer a mighty trusting guy to ask us that after only having gotten drunk with us once¡± Urist replied a bit shocked. ¡°I understand that,¡±, Toby replied. ¡°But there are 2 million or so people who need to get off the earth simulation asap¡±. Toby continued. ¡°And the administrator dumped in all on us.¡± ¡°I don''t think we have the luxury of spending weeks on finding the best, most trustworthy candidates.¡± Toby gave the both of them a good long look, ¡°Besides, we had a lot of fun last night, We meshed pretty good, so why not take the chance right? I have faith in our compatibility and ability to get along.¡± ¡°You got a fair point Toby¡± Ortho replied. ¡°But are you fine with having a multi-species world as your rehab institution for your fellow humans?¡± ¡°That is what ye get for taking us on board you know¡±. Urist added. ¡°It would mean taking in some Dorfians and Eldarix as well¡±. ¡°I''m perfectly fine with that,¡± Toby replied quickly, taking a quick look at Alice. ¡°She''s not human either, I am the only human in the nexus for the foreseeable future as far as I know.¡± Both Urist and Ortho gave Toby a bewildered look. ¡°What you mean she isn''t human?¡± Urist demanded. ¡°I''m a Cthullean¡± Alice pointed out to them. Causing their eyebrows to rise to unknown heights, Their faces a study in wonder when they looked at Toby. ¡°you...¡±¡±Her...¡±¡±errr..¡±¡±....¡±. By the strange noises coming from them, as well as their rather comical looks, Toby figured that a certain misunderstanding probably was hitting its apex somewhere above the stratosphere right about now on the scale of funny. If it wasn''t for the fact that he was the subject of the joke, and not quite in on how bad it probably was, He would likely be laughing really hard. As it was he could only hang his head in shame. Pinching his nose and sighing deeply, Toby tried to clear it up. ¡°Look, I haven''t done anything like that with my guild partner alright?¡± ¡°Toby is a man of good taste you know¡± Alice added with a smile, apparently throwing him a life jacket. ¡°I''ve seen the magazines he hides under his bed¡± Her smile started to seem more and more sinister in Toby''s mind. It was apparently a lead-filled life jacket. ¡°I can only hope to one day measure up to his high expectations¡± she finished. The following silence was so heavy that Toby could barely breathe while he was covering his eyes with his hand. ¡°I''m done for,¡± he thought to himself just as the silence got broken by the roaring laughter of Ortho and Urist. ¡°I''m going to hear about this for the rest of my life¡± He lamented silently when the laughter finally died down. ¡°Ye know Ortho¡± Urist started while wiping tears from his eyes. ¡°I think we just found the biggest entertainment goldmine in the entire history of the Nexus.¡± ¡°I think so too, Urist¡± Ortho replied, mirth still evident on his face ¡°We are agreed then?¡± ¡°Aye!¡± Urist confirmed with a nod. ¡°You got yourself a team, Toby¡±. If the next 10 years are only a fraction as funny as what we have had today, then we are in all the way to the bitter end.¡± ¡°We do demand to see those magazines you have hidden away though Toby¡± Ortho added. ¡°For uhmmm..... research purposes.¡± ¡°That''s fine¡± Toby replied throwing his hands into the air in a sign of giving up. ¡°The system won''t let me get rid of them anyway.¡± Toby silently vowed revenge against Alice for this whole situation while he looked at her smug expression. Maybe he just should try to get her to bed one day after all. This version of her was more than pretty enough. He''d already gotten the shaming part done with. How bad could It be? Tentacle monster bad? The stuff in his magazines wasn''t that bad after all. Unless the system changed the content? A sinking feeling manifested in Toby''s mind. He better havea look at those things himself before anyone else did. He should probably also start actually locking his door.
Request:
Ortho has requested to join your guild
Yes No
Request:
Urist has requested to join your guild
Yes No
Guild:
Quest completed: Recruitment Drive. Reward: your new friends. The main quest remains locked pending completion of the guild quest board.
Notice:
Achievement available: Quest tin badge. 1 out of 10 required quest completed.
9 - Guild HQ Alice led the way to the new Guild house. It was nicely located rather close to the town hall, putting it almost center stage for new arrivals. What wasn''t so nice OTOH was the fact that it was a totally anonymous 2 story building that didn''t even fill out its lot properly. There was a large gap on the left-hand side, leading to a large fenced area behind the structure. As far as Toby could see, it was totally overgrown with weeds. The entryway had only a single wooden door, with no decorations or accents. To be honest, Toby felt that it looked more like someones abandoned home than a functioning business premise. ¡°Whoo boy¡± Urist grumbled dejectedly. ¡°This place needs a lot of credits if it''s going to be a decent place to do business." ¡°We have a big main quest to help finance that thankfully,¡± Alice said to placate him a bit. ¡°There are of course limits to how far you can get on 3k and a 9k mortgage.¡± ¡°You got this for 12k?¡± Ortho exclaimed while raising his eyebrows. ¡°No¡±, Alice stopped him before he could continue. ¡°We got it for 5k, the rest we need to spend on the stuff needed for upgrading it. We have a world management quest to perform¡±. Ortho''s jaw fell open ¡°Only 5k?¡± ¡°That''s seriously cheap. Who did you kill for that price¡±? Toby had tuned out their conversation at this point. He had no idea if the numbers they were spouting were cheap or not. He was more interested in getting in there to take a look around. ¡°Come on Urist.¡± Toby beckoned. ¡°Let''s leave those two money grubbers behind and take a look inside this dump.¡± ¡°I don''t need asking twice,¡± Urist replied, heading straight for the door. He wasn''t any more interested in the money talk either it seemed. As soon as they got in, Toby got his worst fears confirmed. The inside was as bad as the outside. It was a single dark and dusty room, with a badly worn staircase leading upwards in the back behind a rickety counter. There were no seats around either, and the lights were all burned out. ¡°Let''s check out the upper floor,¡± Urist urged Toby. ¡°You need to claim the place in the main office before we can start working on it.¡± ¡°Ah¡±. Toby sighed. Of course, there was something like that needed in the Nexus. He gently walked up the stairs, fearing that it would give out at any second, dumping him and Urist into the basement. If this place had a basement that is. He hadn''t seen any stairs down after all. The top floor was in much the same state as the lower floor, except there was a short hallway leading towards the front of the building with 3 doors. One on each side, and one at the end. ¡°So who''s getting the big office?¡± Urist nudged Toby in the side. ¡°Alice,¡± Toby answered with no hesitation. He was absolutely not going to do any paperwork if he could get away with it. ¡°Absolutely not,¡± Alice said right behind them, causing Toby and Urist to jump. ¡°You are the outward face of the guild Toby, I''ll keep it running. But your handsome face is going to drag in the customers.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°But But. Paperwork!¡± Toby whined. ¡°That will primarily be my role¡± Alice sighed. ¡°I knew that from the start when I first met you and got the idea to start a guild¡± ¡°So you had the Guide Quest from the System when you met him?¡± Urist looked quite excited by that prospect Toby thought. ¡°Yes,¡± Alice confirmed. ¡°I also knew a rehabilitation world and quest was going to happen as well.¡± ¡°I was working for the project when it had to go into emergency assimilation.¡± ¡°What!¡± Urist practically shouted in shock. ¡°Are you saying that we were seconds away from missing out on humans?¡± ¡°We were¡± Ortho confirmed from behind. ¡°I talked it over with Alice downstairs while you two were playing explorers.¡± ¡°We have gotten into something rather big this time Urist.¡± ¡°Humanity really need the help¡±. He finished. ¡°Damn good thing we are here then¡±. Urist answered back. ¡°We got ourselves an endangered species to save!¡± ¡°Yeah yeah,¡± Toby interrupted. ¡°I''m endangered alright. By Alice.¡± That earned him a couple of snickers from the dynamic duo at least. ¡°So I guess it''s my job to activate this dump then?¡±. ¡°Yes, it is,¡± Alice said, while she handed a key to him. ¡°Use this on the desk in the big office¡±. Toby had to force the door open, it was stuck on the hinges and then skirt past a hole in the rather large office room before reaching the desk sitting in the middle. When he turned around, He could see a locked drawer on the right-hand side of the desk. Lightly testing the drawer confirmed that it was locked, so Toby inserted the key and twisted it around to unlock it. The drawer unlocked with a smooth click, and Toby pulled it out. Inside the drawer, there were several documents as well as a big key. He carefully pulled it all out and set it down on the desk. ¡°So what do I do now?¡± Toby asked. ¡°First, you need to sign the deed¡±. Urist pointed to the topmost document. It had golden trimmings, and the word Deed written in large letters at the top. Alice passed him a white quill and a small sharp knife ¡°You know the drill by now, but this one takes a full signature¡±. Toby sighed and sliced across his palm with the knife, before dipping the quill in the blood that seeped forth. It hurt quite a lot, actually it hurt like hell, but the mindset of this being a simulation did help him push the pain away a little bit at least. He took one final look at his 3 companions and signed the deed with a flourish. As soon as the last drop of blood in his signature seeped into the paper, it started glowing. The glow quickly spread outwards, covering the entire desk, then the room. A few seconds later it subsided, And Toby was greeted with a very different view than what he had before. All the dust was gone for one, and the oil lamps were burning. Flickering happily. The floor was whole again too, and the desk was gleaming. Turning around, Toby saw the new guild badge adorn a flag on one wall, with a replica of his Achievement case underneath it. The guild badge was a blue and green marble with streams of golden light coming out from behind it like a rising sun. Beneath it written in silver letters, the words ''olim fuerat. futura prospera'' stood proudly. ¡°You completed the guild badge already?¡± Alice gasped. ¡°I''m impressed!¡± ¡°Apparently I did... Not that I can remember doing it though?¡± Toby answered, feeling a bit confused about it. Honestly speaking, he had hardly spent any time thinking about it at all, except for a few seconds after she gave him the task. It did look darned good though. ¡°I thought it would require actual work,¡± he finished a bit puzzled. ¡°That is the system at work,¡± Urist stated. ¡°It filled in all the blanks with stuff from your imagination when you took the mantle as the first guild master.¡± ¡°This is almost like it was in my domain,¡± Toby replied. ¡°There were things I could do with effort, but a lot of stuff just appeared without my control.¡± ¡°That''s how it works.¡± Ortho nodded. ¡°That is also why the town looks like it does. It''s taken from your mind.¡± ¡°Enough of this idle chatter¡± Alice said. Breaking off any further talk about the idiosyncrasies of the system. ¡°We need to get this place set up for business asap. The clock is ticking on our main quest already.¡± ¡°Yes Ma''am,¡± Toby replied quickly. ¡°Should we set up the quest board then?¡± ¡°Yes. We need to get some sort of control center set up for our quest.¡± She nodded. ¡°Alright. Let''s get to work then, people.¡± Urist proclaimed loudly while walking out the door. Following his advice, Toby started to walk out the door as well. This was going to take a while to complete.
Guild:
Quest complete: Guild HQ. Reward "Quest board token" has been added toguild inventory
10 - Reflecting on ones past does not money make Toby enjoyed the peace of the early morning sun as he strolled across the plaza towards the newly finished guild house. They had been at it until late last night to finish it off, so he wanted to spend some time alone to think everything over a bit today before he got swept away again. He''d gone from a nobody looser on earth to a master of what was supposedly going to be a major player in this part of the Nexus. And this was only his third day here. The expectations put on his shoulders felt both exhilarating and incredibly scary at the same time. Would he be able to do it? There was so much at stake that a feeling of panic constantly threatened to burst out of him. Drawing a deep breath to steel his resolve, Toby passed through the door under the shiny new sign with the guild name, adorned with the guild banner and motto. ¡°olim fuerat. futura prospera¡± It read. So fitting for someone like me Toby mused. ¡°Once out, prosperous future¡± It really summed up how he had felt. Locked up in a life with no chance at prospering. He''d had to deal with always falling short, having victory snatched from his hands again and again due to his medical condition. He''d even missed out on graduation day. Spending it in a hospital instead of partying it up with the rest of the gang. He had even gotten best in class, but he wasn''t even there to receive the price. Not to mention all the job''s he''d lost over the years when inevitably, employers found out about it. Toby sighed. The last job hadn''t even been any good. Pay sucked, but at least he hadn''t been on social welfare. 2 years was a record for him though. Most jobs were at temp agencies, and lasted only months at best. He had suspected that the temp agency kept informing the employers about his condition. Despite his best efforts, those jobs never turned into something solid, except that delivery job. The boss had been a great guy. He had known about it, but as long as Toby did the job and kept his drivers license, it wasn''t an issue for him. It hadn''t lasted ofc. It was only a matter of time before his condition struck again, and strike it did. Another round with doctors, nurses, neurologists, Scans, and probing. Followed by new drugs. The story of his life was all about the medications. He hadn''t even been able to take a beer for those last 2 years before all this stuff happened. It was no wonder he went all the way into a stupor that first night with Urist and Ortho. He finally could enjoy his favorite poison again. The very thought brought a big smile to his face. ¡°Aaahhh!! It only took the extinction of the human species to cure me¡± He laughed out loud while spreading his arms. ¡°I''m dead and out, Now I can finally prosper.¡± ¡°What are you talking about¡± A feminine voice startled him out of his happy reverie. Toby swirled around just to see Alice sitting on a corner of the big table they had added in the board room of the guild. He had walked all the way there so lost in his thoughts that he hadn''t even noticed where he was. ¡°I was just reminiscing about my life before I died and got turned into whatever it is I am now¡± He replied. ¡°You are not dead¡± Alice pointed out the seemingly obvious. ¡°I''m not, butthe former meis,¡± He countered. ¡°Continuity or not, I am no longer have a living breathing body, thus I am dead.¡± ¡°Does that thought bother you then?¡± Alice asked with a seemingly puzzled expression. ¡°Not in the least. you see, my life sucked, and I died.¡± He said with a frown. It really didn''t bother him at all. In fact, he was fine, no more than fine. He was quite happy about it. Literally reborn into a new world. ¡°The key element here, is that this ghost has been given a chance at not only a new start, but been given a massive starting boost. Propelling me forward in a way that the old me could never have been,¡± he said while pointing at himself. ¡°I guess I have you and the end of the world to thank for that right?¡± he finished. The silence stretched out while Toby waited for Alice''s response. She seemed to be in deep thought at what he had just said. ¡°I might have helped out a bit¡± she admitted. ¡°But I stand to gain as much from this as you do.¡± ¡°Maybe it was some kind of fate that brought you to me then,¡± Toby countered with a wide smile. ¡°I''ve been given a huge opportunity here, and I do intend to grab it with both my hands and hold on for dear life.¡± ¡°Shouldn''t that be ''dear death'' Toby?¡± Urist asked while walking in on them. A big grin evident on his face. ¡°Do ghost even have hands to hold onto anything with?¡± Ortho added as he walked in right behind Urist. Practically mirroring his grin. ¡°Good questions my friends. Good questions that I have no answer to,¡± Toby laughed. They were pretty good people his new friends. Fate had indeed intervened on his behalf. He looked forward to getting to know them better in the years to come, but right now they had business to attend to. ¡°Are we ready to commence the first board meeting then?¡± He said, changing the topic to the order of the day. ¡°Yes we are,¡± Ortho said while finding his seat. Toby walked to the end of the table and sat down in the guild masters seat. Toby looked at them in turn, gathering up his wits, then proclaimed. ¡°The first board meeting of the guild is now in session. Alice If you will?¡± ¡°Why certainly¡± She answered before she went trough the current guild situation. Toby found the whole process pretty boring, especially since he already knew everything from beforehand. He was there doing the work alongside her after all. ¡°And the bottom line is, That we are now ready for operation, but flat out broke¡± Alice finished with a grimace. Toby nodded and retook the word ¡°Thank you Alice, Then onto you Ortho, How is the status of our quests?¡± ¡°We have completed the Guild HQ, quest, and the reward has been spent on the new quest board in the situation room.¡± Ortho began. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story."Our current active quest is Destiny''s dice. A quest that rewards us for getting the required world created.¡± ¡°As of now, we have 2 locked quests awaiting the creation of the new world, so that one is our top priority.¡± ¡°The reward is going to become very useful as well, we get 10 civ starter kit''s." Those are worth a lot of credits if we are to sell the ones that are left over when we have gotten the first civilizations going.¡± ¡°The last locked quest¡± Ortho sighed ¡°Is an obligatory survey quest to find a starting spot for humans. Thus unlocking the ability to spawn them in from a custom spawnpool unique for the main quest¡±. ¡°Thank you for the report Ortho¡± Toby thanked him. ¡°So where do we go from here then?¡± Toby asked. ¡°What options do we have for getting that world created, and how do we finance it?¡± ¡°We need an experienced world creation Team¡± Urist answered. ¡°I know a few candidate teams, But they are expensive.¡± ¡°Everything about this endeavor is expensive¡± Ortho sighed dejectedly. ¡°We need sponsors badly¡±. ¡°We could sell space on the world¡± Alice shot in. ¡°Some P2W whales can fund a world in no time if we find the right ones.¡± Toby really didn''t like P2W schemes. It tended to end up with games where only the rich ones had a good time, and everyone else got to suffer. As if reading his expression Alice hurried to add ¡°We owe the draconian''s money already. They are big on using credits so they can have an easy life hoarding trinkets and watching everyone else duke it out from the safety of their lairs.¡± ¡°It would allow us to pay for the world, and maybe cover some of that debt before they use it as leverage against us, forcing us to accept their Pay to win shenanigans anyway, at less favorable terms for us¡± She was making too much sense. Toby guessed he had to have a meeting with them sooner rather than later. Maybe he could negotiate some terms that wouldn''t ruin the worlds balance too much. ¡°Alright, We''ll consider it, or at least have a meeting with them about it,¡± Toby said while raising his arms. ¡°Good, Because they have already asked for a meeting, preferably today.¡± Alice said with that predatory toothy grin she sometimes exhibited when she got what she wanted. As usual, Alice was the one who was truly in control, and there was nothing Toby could do but hope that she was truly on his side.¡± ¡°I guess we should consider other factions too then?¡± Toby tossed out there. ¡°I guess so¡± Ortho nodded. "We should add the Damonian heggemony to the list of possible sponsors¡± Urist added to the list of candidates. ¡°You just want your damn circus¡± Ortho replied in a surprisingly heated tone. ¡°I hate those people, They only want to take over the whole world.¡± ¡°Spoilsport¡±, Urist countered with a grin. ¡°you can''t have a fortress without a circus full of clowns down below.¡± Toby stopped them before it could get out of hand. ¡°I''ve played enough dwarf fortress to understand what you desire Urist, But we need a very secure foothold before we can add demons or whatever to that world.¡± Toby had no intention of adding any would be conquerors to the world until the quest was at least half complete, no matter how well they payed for the privilege. This quest was the guilds life line after all, and it has to succeed no matter what. ¡°Alright.¡± Toby started, changing the topic to something safer. ¡°We need to get the show on the road, Urist, can you take responsibility for setting up a team for creating that world?¡± ¡°Sure thing Toby¡± Urist quipped. ¡°I have already given it plenty of thought. Just get some money in the bank, and we can have a world up in a week or so¡±. ¡°That''s good¡± Toby sighed with relief. At least one thing was going to go fairly easily. ¡°Alice, I need you to brief me on those Draconian''s before I meet them, I need all the leverage I can get if we are to not be screwed over on any deal¡±. ¡°I will have you up to speed in an hour max.¡± she replied. The look she gave Toby told him everything he really needed to know. This was going to go the way she had planned from the get go. ¡°I''m putting you in charge of the day to day running of the reception Ortho. We need capable people to greet and meet our future customers¡± Toby said as he finished delegating tasks. Ortho simply nodded his ascent, but he did look pleased. Toby wondered a bit about what type of personality lurked under that preternatural calm and easygoing demeanor of his. He hadn''t seen Ortho raise his voice even once before now. Even when he was drunk as a sailor on leave did he show anything other than amusement and calm. There had to be a story behind Orthos distaste for the Damonian heggemony, but he''d have to pump his friend for that story later. With Alice on administration, Urist on development, and Ortho on service, they were set to open the doors for visitors. Although Toby did feel that it probably wasn''t enough. How many races would there be on that world by the end of the year at this rate? All of them? He pushed the thoughts aside. Now he had a meeting to prepare for. Who would have thought he would become a businessman like this. ¡°alright guys. Meeting adjourned. Let''s work hard now, and play even harder later.¡± He finished. Finally ending the ordeal called board meetings. ¡°Yes guild master¡± The gang replied in unison before standing up to do their delegated tasks.
Guild Quest board:
Quest name: description Status Extra information Requirements for completion
The Lost children of Terra Your Guild has to save all the people who rejected simulation earth. And are in danger of irrevocably having their minds harmed by it. Awaiting obligatory side quest completion People saved: 0/ 2.125.892 Saving the current batch of people in need of extraction from the earth simulation
Destiny''s dice You can''t rule a world that does not exist. Create a world for your lost children. Active Reward: 10 civilization starter kits. A world created that can support a human civilization
Manifest destiny 1 Make a civilization to stand the test of time Pending Reward: 1000 credits Start a civilization with a capital and 5 villages. Total population of at least 5000
Surveyor of the land Find a place for the lost children of Terra to live and thrive locked Reward: Unlocks access to the Lost children of Terra population pool Find an embark location to start the first settlement of humans.
11 - Is a dragon a whale, or is the whale a dragon. Toby hadn''t really known what to expect when Alice had dragged him through a lengthy briefing about the Draconian association and their member species. But one thing was certain. He was not prepared for a pair of short-snouted Velociraptors clad in black business suits, complete with a black tie and white shirt and all. He was not prepared at all. He was however glad that Alice had insisted that he wore similar clothes as they did. It set the no-nonsense tone appropriate for a business negotiation at least. A rumbling voice that should rightfully belong to a much larger creature reverberated in the room when the bigger of the pair started the introduction with a formal bow. ¡°Hello, I''m Dhagon, the appointed liaison for this negotiation. And the one next to me is my assistant Jorngar.¡± ¡°Welcome dear guests. I am Toby, and this is my second in command Alice.¡± Toby replied, mirroring their formal looking bow. ¡°Would you like a tour of the facilities before we commence our talks?¡± He began, hoping he could stall for some time to settle into his role as host to these, frankly speaking, very strange guests. ¡°It would be a pleasure,¡± Dhagon replied in that terrifying rumbling voice of his. ¡°If the gentlemen would please follow us, we will show our current progress in this great project of ours,¡± Toby said smoothly, slipping into the mask he used to wear when he played RPG''s back before the end. The Nexus was nothing but a game he repeated to himself to steel his resolve. And this was no different than any other battle, just less bloody. Alice gave him an approving look as they started the tour. Apparently, she had noticed his freshly steeled resolve. Most of the guild house was really dull of course. Nobody was really interested in the reception or boardrooms, so Toby opted to skip over most of that part. The idea was to show them their preparedness, not bore them into submission. So instead he opted to take them directly from the lobby to the world entry preparations room. ¡°This is the prep room, we have set it up for easy access once the world becomes open to paying customers.¡± Toby started his spiel. If he was to win any favors, the next couple of rooms would have to be it. ¡°We have a full set of character creation consoles, allowing several customers to prepare their characters at once.¡± He said, sweeping his hand dramatically towards a series of booths along one wall. They looked quite nice, with a stack of leather parchment in one corner, as well as a quill in the other. Over each quill, a golden feather floated. Ready to record the user''s preferences for a character. It was all very ornate and impressive, really setting up the expectations for the world theme. For larger groups with a common mission, we will also rent out briefing rooms and other accommodations elsewhere.¡± Toby added as if it was an afterthought. ¡°That is good foresight indeed.¡± Dhagon nodded. ¡°I assume one of these doors lead directly to the portal room then?¡±. ¡°Yes, The one on the left here leads directly to the portal room,¡± Toby confirmed while opening the indicated door, Showcasing the large room with a circular portal at one end of it. It looked like a stone circle engraved with several series of strange glowing magical runes. ¡°There is enough room for around 20 people to pass through into the world at once from here,¡± he added. ¡°While some factions will undoubtedly desire the ability to send larger forces at once, we are planning on keeping the max number of players low at the start.¡± ¡°The size of the room has been chosen based on future needs, and to enable emergency intervention if the world is in danger of devolving into chaos.¡± Toby was getting into it now, the needed words flowing freely. He was hitting the groove. ¡°We are putting weight on balance in this world, as it primarily has the task of rehabilitating traumatized minds from the recent assimilation of Earth.¡± ¡°There will also be room for other peoples rehabilitation needs later on once the primary wave has been dealt with.¡± He finished as they passed through the portal room and into the main control center for the operation. ¡°I understand that rehabilitation is going to be the primary function of this world for quite a long while then?¡±Dhagon inquired. ¡°Yes,¡± Toby confirmed. ¡°We are going to be allowing only a few parties access during this period.¡± ¡°Clever,¡± Dhagon rumbled. ¡°That makes access to humans a scarce resource for quite a while.¡± Toby could practically feel waves of approval roll off the Draconian liaison at his answer, and Toby mentally upped his estimates for how much they could get out of the negotiations a bit. Alice was definitely right, these were the whales they would need to fund the world gen operation. Maybe they could even get away with not having to add any more factions before humanity was properly settled in if this went the way they needed it to go. Toby glossed over the control room a bit on their way to his office. There was simply nothing interesting going on there yet since they still lacked a world to show off. You could only say so much about an empty map table after all. Instead, they made haste to Toby''s office wheretheyhad carefully prepared the seating so that the guests would have a great view of the guild badge and Toby''s trophy case. Things were going exactly as they had planned so far, causing Toby to marvel at how well Alice knew how the Draconian''s would react to things. Buttering them up had been incredibly easy so far. ¡°Could you be a dear and arrange some suitable refreshments,¡± Toby said turning towards Alice just as they had agreed on before This part they had planned out beforehand. It was an excuse to give some room for small talk and creating a more relaxed atmosphere. In theory at least. Toby wasn''t quite so sure he could consider himself very relaxed at the moment. Alice had impressed this on him several times during the briefing. Relaxed Draconian''s were malleable Draconian''s were the motto she had hammered into him. He could only hope they didn''t notice his hammering heart.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°You have a couple very unique trophies Toby,¡± Dhagon commented when Toby turned back to the guests. Toby winced inwardly. This was exactly what he had feared. Couldn''t they have noticed the pretty badge and motto instead he lamented. ¡°It''s not every day we get to meet a first. And 3 times first at that. We are honored.¡± He rumbled, apparently amused. ¡°Why Thank you!¡± Toby replied flabbergasted. He had really not expected such a reaction to what in his mind was not a particularly spectacular display. At this rate, he would be losing his cool. ¡°I guess I have been lucky though.¡± Toby countered humbled. ¡°I am the only human in the Nexus after all,¡± It truly wasn''t his own achievements that got him the first prize. He was simply the sole participant. ¡°You are indeed,¡± Dhagon reaffirmed before adding ¡°But not every first end up exploiting it so well. We are impressed.¡± Toby thought furiously on what to say, He would hear no end to it if he messed up and lost them the psychological edge now. It was going far too well earlier. ¡°I have to admit I have my assistant and partner Alice to thank for much of that. She is a force of nature.¡± ¡°The Chutullean usually are,¡± Dhagon rumbled happily. ¡°I''ve had the pleasure to meet her no more than a day ago. You''ve done well to garner her support human.¡± ¡°We suspect that Chutulleans are the oldest species still active in the Nexus,¡± He continued. ¡°Nothing short of a very novel and interesting person could make their ancient hearts beat fast again. It''s a marvel to behold.¡± ¡°I can but hope to live up to half her expectations I''m afraid,¡± Toby replied in as humble a tone as he could. He really did not quite know what Alice really expected of him, but he guessed she would let him know one way or another when she wanted something. She was awfully good at getting what she wanted after all. Just as they were sitting down, Alice entered with a tray filled with various earth foods, and a large pitcher of clean water. Toby noted that she had chosen a selection of rather meat-heavy dishes, like meat skewers of various kinds as well as fried chicken and fish. They were carnivores, after all, so he guessed it made much sense to cater directly to that. Being an omnivore species with a taste for meat was coming in handy indeed. ¡°Ah, Such anexcitingselection¡± Jorngar exclaimed excitedly, surprising Toby by unexpectedly breaking his silence. The man had only said a few words throughout the entire tour, giving Toby ample room for worry about how he was doing. Dhagon seemed to give his assistant a reproachful stare before turning back towards Toby and Alice. ¡°Please excuse my assistant. He seems to have trouble containing his excitement at merely encountering new cuisine.¡± ¡°It pleases me that my world has the capability of exciting your kind so.¡± Toby smoothed over, spotting the huge opening for them to exploit. ¡°We are prepared to help fund your quest.¡± Dhagon continued. Seeming to want to rush on a bit to avoid his assistant from making any more mistakes. ¡°But we have conditions of course.¡± Toby could smell the credits in the air already. They were ripe for the final strike now. ¡°We are prepared for that¡± Toby replied with a marginally contained gleeful smile. He and Alice were well prepared indeed. This was the clincher after all. The next seconds could make or break the results of the deal. ¡°I suppose you have been briefed on what type of concessions my kind are willing to pay a premium for then?¡± Dhagon asked giving Alice a thoughtful stare. He was obviously scared of what she might have told him. ¡°Indeed,¡± Toby confirmed. ¡°I have even taken the liberty of adding a couple of alternatives as well, ones that I hope you will find... particularly pleasing.¡± Toby pushed a pair of folders with the contents of the deal he had prepared and was willing to sell them. The Draconian pairs raptor-like eyes widened as they read through the folders. Their expression switching between greedy desire and astonished delight. Nobody else in the history of the Nexus had ever offered what he just did. He knew because he had gotten Alice to check after all. There were no other worlds with myths just like those of earth. Nor as rich either it seemed. When Alice had briefed them on their personality traits, he knew he had the perfect thing to offer them after all. There would be no Draconian banker who would be able to resist the desire to become an honest to the Gods, Flying, fire-breathing, treasure-hoarding monstrosity from earthen fantasy games. Namely the ever so mythical dragon. The only question remaining now was how much they could get them to pay for the chance. A chime rang behind Toby, and as he turned around in dread a white silvery trophy of a fire-breathing dragon draped in a gold trimmed blue ribbon materialized. Making Toby wince at the Systems untimely intrusion. ¡°Toby my friend.¡± Dhagon began. ¡°The title is truly well earned. Never in my many thousands of Nexus years have I ever been so soundly taken over by the desire for something. Name your price, and my brethren will probably pillage the Nexus for the fund''s to get a chance at buying a spot on any worlds you make from now on¡±. Toby almost sagged in relief. Only pure willpower still keeping him aloft for now. ¡°Please let me be the first to enter the world when it is done¡± Dhagon continued. ¡°Now let''s go have some fun while our assistants finalize the deal.¡± ¡°I''d love to hear more about the marvelous fantasies that your world has created.¡± With a hearty laugh, Dhagon continued ¡°Who knows, Maybe I can send some more victims your way to our mutual benefit.¡±
User:
Achievement get: bronze badge Draconian: meeting a Draconian. Achievement get: Silver badge Draconian: Befriending a Draconian. Achievement get: Flawless victory in negotiations, platinum level. Title earned: Dragonslayer Your ability to make irresistible deals, and sell them to even the most famous of all money grubbers in the nexus, at entirely your own terms and price, has earned you the title of ¡°Dragonslayer¡±. Proving for all of eternity that there is more than one way to slay a Dragon.
Guild:
Quest added to Guild Quest board:
Dragon Age The Draconians have already paid for your services, and now you must deliver Pending Reward: an increased reputation for being an honest business. Find 4 sites for epic dragon lairs and have them settled in.
12 – Lets talk Toby put down the first of the dossiers he had asked Alice to get for him down on his desk and did large stretch out with a big yawn. Last nights socializing with the Draconian Liaison had taken its toll, but it was well worth it. The dossier on his desk told the very clear story of how well it was worth it indeed. 4 Draconians were paying a total of 10 grand for getting the privilege of playing as Dragons. When Draconian''s really desired something, they paid well to get it. He had also gotten some tips on other potential whales for their world if they needed. Some guy named Crachen who was well known for his joy for playing super-monster was a notable one. Toby had an idea for that one if they found themselves too short on funds again. With this in hand, they were set to get a new world made and the first empires started before they would have to think hard about getting enough income. ¡°Hopefully Urist comes through with a good team for creating the world,¡± he mumbled out into the air. ¡°Don''t worry, he will.¡± The musical voice of Ortho responded unexpectedly from the doorway. ¡°Ortho! Come in, will ya.¡± Toby called out to him. ¡°Take a seat and tell me how the service staff recruitment is going.¡± Ortho walked gracefully over to the plush seat on the other side of the desk and plopped down with a huff. ¡°There''s too many Damonians and Seraphon applicants.¡± He lamented. ¡°Is that a problem?¡± Toby asked with a raised eyebrow. This seemed to be connected with yesterdays reaction at the board meeting, making Toby a bit suspicious about what it was all about. ¡°I guessed I would have to explain my self sooner or later.¡±Ortho sighed. ¡°Might as well be sooner.¡± ¡°Go on.¡± Toby prodded. ¡°I guess I will have to tell you a bit about my past to explain why I feel it''s a problem.¡± Ortho began explaining. ¡°The first world I spent time playing in, had been going strong for a couple of thousand years by the time it started.¡± ¡°I was on my second life, getting on with a pretty nice life. Fooling around with friends, and you know. Having a good time.¡± ¡°You know the rule right? Never tell the reincarnated that it''s all a game and all that?¡± Toby nodded at that last part. Alice had been adamant about it, the system would ban you from entering another world for a serious amount of time if you broke that rule. Accepting Toby''s nod as a yes, Ortho went on with his explanation ¡°Well, most of my friends were reincarnated people, That is usually how it ends up being for most of us.¡± ¡°We don''t do time on worlds to become heroes or kings or whatnot, but to live a life with all the bells and whistles that come with it.¡± ¡°Immortality isn''t really a good thing.¡± Ortho pointed out with a melancholic note in his usually cheerful voice. ¡°We get to remember who we are and what we have experienced for thousands of years. " "Nay, We are going to experience this for millions of years. More time than we can even imagine.¡± Ortho finished in a near whisper. It was as if he had suddenly become very old. Like he was some kind of ancient spirit, tired of existing. It made Toby wonder just how old Ortho was, but before he could ask, Ortho had shaken it off and continued with his story. ¡°One day the Damonians showed up¡±. Ortho explained. ¡°They didn''t spend long before they tried to dominate all the other people in the world.¡± ¡°All of us players were called upon to fight them off, To retake power in the world so our reincarnated brethren could keep living good lives.¡± ¡°We even fought them to a standstill for quite a long time, but as is usual when there is continuous conflict, the world developed much faster than normal.¡± Ortho was getting animated now. His voice getting a harsher edge to it. ¡°When I hit my fourth life, it was already past the steam age, and on its way into the space age.¡± ¡°The thing about the space age is that it permits people from other worlds to start freely entering yours through space travel." "The whole world becomes a part of a larger universe that plays by the same rules.¡± Toby nodded at that, it was all in the lectures that Alice had given him about worlds and how they worked. Worlds working on the same set of physics would merge into a larger universe once it was mature enough to do so, adding it to a much larger universe. ¡°I guess this is where it went from bad to worse then?¡± Toby asked, having a pretty good idea of where this was going. ¡°Yes,¡± Ortho confirmed. ¡°The Seraphons arrived in their glittering bright spaceships and started fighting with the Damonians.¡± ¡°My brethren and I was caught in the middle, forced to choose sides in a much larger war that we were wholly unprepared for.¡± Ortho continued with a grimace. ¡°We had to choose between slavery under the Damonian Hegemony, or as citizens under the so-called ''protection'' of the Order of bright light.¡± Ortho practically spat out the word protection in that last part. Making it obvious what he meant. There was more than one way to keep a population in servitude after all. ¡°How did they keep people in check then?¡± Toby asked. He wanted to know before he judged them too harshly. ¡°Religious brainwashing, propaganda about the righteousness of their cause,¡± Ortho replied with a sigh. ¡°I think you know what I mean Toby." "I''ve met many species, and not many escape unscathed by such practices during their development into a modern society.¡± ¡°It''s incredible what you can justify in the name of justice isn''t it?¡± Toby replied with a shrug. ¡°We had enough of that indeed. And not only through abuse of faith.¡± ¡°Yes. Justice, pride¡± Ortho growled. ¡°Sometimes they call it freedom, but it''s always freedom of the few, not the many.¡± ¡°How about your kind then?¡± Toby asked, hoping to change the mood a little. This was getting a bit too heavy. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.He could practically feel the grief coming off Ortho in waves. ¡°My kind was one of the rare exceptions,¡± Ortho answered. Sinking back into the chair and visibly relaxing again. ¡°We were never numerous enough to fight over resources.¡± ¡°Curious and inventive, yes. But we never had any wars." "We even split the atom and flew into space before the System assimilated us.¡± ¡°I didn''t know your kind was some kind of hippie race,¡± Toby exclaimed amused. The whole concept of a race of pacifists was quite ludicrous. How could you get to the top of the food chain if you weren''t willing to fight? ¡°Hippie.¡± Ortho seemed to taste the word as if it was a concept so alien that the system had trouble translating it for him. Toby could feel a slight tug on his mind, then the eyes of Ortho widen for a second before he looked Toby right in the eyes. ¡°That thing the system does always feel strange when it happens,¡± Ortho said. ¡°But the concept is sound I guess. The word describes how my kind originally thought about the world, and lived, perfectly.¡± ¡°That felt weird indeed¡± Toby confirmed a bit unsettled. He hoped he wouldn''t encounter too many alien concepts that defied the human language. Having concepts pulled out of your mind was incredibly unsettling, having them forced into it would probably be even worse. ¡°So what happened after the Order of light intervened then?¡± Toby asked, trying to get the rest of the story out of Ortho now that he had gotten a chance to calm down a bit. ¡°We chose, then fought.¡± Ortho sighed. ¡°Some gave up, and became the slaves of the Hegemony, and others chose to fight, and became part of the order¡±. ¡°For a while, the world burned.¡± Ortho winced. ¡°They took the majority of the population away, and burned the world to ashes.¡± ¡°They took most of the population away, and said it was to save them, but in truth, They just wanted more cannon fodder elsewhere.¡± ¡°So what happened after that?¡± Toby pushed. He needed to know more, a simple war was unlikely to put someone as collected as Ortho off his game. Someone who had lived many lives already, and who was no stranger to death at all. When everyone reincarnates, death becomes nothing more than an annoyance. A major one for the reincarnates true, but still not the final end that the real universe dealt with. It didn''t add up. ¡°Most of us players went to new worlds in order to try to start again.¡± Ortho shrugged. ¡°It''s quite common that new worlds get made when old ones are destroyed you know.¡± ¡°I''ve been to more than 10 worlds now.¡±Ortho continued with an offhanded wave. ¡°The same story has been repeated again and again. One or the other of them show up, with the other never far behind, and it all devolves into one endless war and the incineration of the world.¡± He finished with another deep sigh. ¡°There is more to it than that isn''t there?¡± Toby pushed harder. This wasn''t it. Ortho was trying to evade answering the question truthfully. He might have let his friend off the hook if it wasn''t for the nagging feeling in the back of Toby''s mind kept telling him that there was something important involved. Ortho gave Toby a long hard stare as if he was having an inner conflict about what to tell him before he simply sighed, and caved in. ¡°I do not know how or why.¡± Ortho began. ¡°but the longer time that has passed, the more of my brethren have turned towards serving either the order or the hegemony willingly, or at least it appears to be willing.¡± That was going to be a worry indeed. Their world had to be protected against this fate at all costs, so keeping those 2 factions away was going to be important. They could ill afford to have spies and agents of either faction working for them. ¡°I understand,¡± Toby said in a decisive a tone. ¡°We will abstain from hiring anyone whose affiliation is with either of those factions until further notice.¡± ¡°Thank you, Toby.¡± Ortho''s relief was palpable as he stood up from the chair ¡°I really appreciate not having to deal with the people from those factions right now. I simply can''t trust them not to betray us.¡± ¡°You had really good point Ortho,¡± Toby replied more softly. ¡°I have trust in you to make certain, that we get trustworthy people working for us.¡± ¡°I will do my best,¡± Ortho replied with a smile, leaving Toby behind in the now silent office. Toby closed his eyes and tried to think about the ramifications of what Ortho had just told him. If this was going on with species after species and had done so for many millennia, then that meant that both of those factions were huge. Possibly even having the majority of all the reincarnates in the System between them. If what Ortho said about how they treated their populations, and Toby had no reason to doubt his friend at this point, then why did people keep choosing to be reborn into their factions? It really didn''t add up. Reincarnates were free to choose their next life when they died. There was no discernible reason for them to bind themselves to one of these 2 factions in particular. There had to be something else going on here. Especially with species like the Eldarix who were pacifists at their core. Toby''s instincts kept screaming danger at him the more he thought about it. Who could he consult with though? Alice? Maybe, but he had a hunch that she would not answer him at all on this subject. She was clearly steering him towards fulfilling some objective of hers, but he had yet to discern exactly what that was yet. So far, he had been the only one of them that had profited from all this. Despite her being adamant that she did indeed gain something. But, how do you gain by pushing someone who was more likely to fail than succeed,into the role as aleader? It made more sense for her to just use him for bragging rights and lead herself, but that was not what she was doing. She had left him to actually run the guild, not just sit in the seat to look pretty. Maybe the 2 things weren''t all that unrelated? He pushed the thought aside. Pure speculation was less than worthless, it could be directly harmful at this point. He needed more information. Maybe he could prod Urist a bit to learn more, or at least find someplace to start. The Nexus was large, and there was bound to be someone willing to sell information at a price.
User:
Secret System quest awarded: That which is hidden in the shadows Your realization has led to more questions than answers, and most of them too dangerous to ask publicly, lest you become the target of the powers you are putting to the question. Be patient, and wait. TIME will bring you the gift of wisdom. Reward: The gift of TIME
Toby''s eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected quest notification. A secret quest and TIME will bring him a gift. Was this a call from some unknown agent to make him shut up for now? And what is this business with the gift of TIME? It was in all caps, as well, so it had to be significant Toby felt events move further out of his control than ever before. "Just as I was about to get a grasp on this new life and all." he lamented silently in his mind. Things were escalating in a manner that he had no idea about, Making him sweat with worry. Toby sighed, and pushed the draconian dossier further aside and grabbed the next one in the pile. While he might have to passively wait for answers to the questions raised today, he could at least learn what there was to learn about the people of the Nexus. That wouldn''t put him under suspicion of doing anything illicit or whatever. 13 - Worlds apart. Toby''s heart beat faster and faster as he was running across the emptyspace of the Nowhere. Something was stalking him, but he couldn''t see anything butaninfinitely recedingexpanse no matter which way he turned. So he just kept running straight ahead. Running away from that Something, with no escape in sight. The Something was dangerous, It wanted to harm him, To devour him. Turnhim into another part of It. Toby knew it in his heart, his instinct screaming for him to run, to get away. Away from a predator beyond his keen. Toby jolted awake as the dream faded away, fear clutching his chest, making it hard to breathe. He closed his eyes again and focused on his breathing, slowly calming himself down again. Getting back in control. Yesterday''s talk and subsequent quest had started to turn him paranoid. He slowly let his eyes drift around his domain, or rather his room. Something had changed while he slept. There was something hard under his pillow. Toby tossed the pillow aside, just to find a loaded gun with the safety on. It felt stupid, since in his domain, he was on the level of God, and he could not be hurt no matter what. It was actually impossible to be harmed anywhere in the Nexus if you discounted mean words. The System just didn''t permit it. If you wanted to brawl, you had to agree to a mini-game. It wasn''t unusual for challenges to be given, and a mini-game to be started in order to facilitate a fight. Be it a round of strategy in the form of a real battle with troops, a duel with guns, fist fights, or even free for all bar brawls. Toby had already done a couple of duels with Urist to help him learn a bit of combat, and found himself at a serious disadvantage. It wasn''t in the form of physical stats. The System equalized those to prevent any advantage from size. Urist had even given himself a handicap, by having them both play as humans. But the sheer skill gap had turned it into an overwhelming victory for Urist. Toby had done far better in chess. But he suspected that it was thanks to Urist never having tried it before, rather than him being bad at that type of game. Being over 2000 years old gives ample advantage in just about any category of gameplay one could think of. Thankfully worlds usually had rule sets that locked those advantages away behind a skill system wall. The system rewarded duels with credits as well. Toby had earned a nice lump of credits from all the attention their chess match had gathered. He suspected that chess would be all the rage for the next couple of months. Nexus residents were always starving for new entertainment. Pushing his rambling thoughts away, Toby prepared himself for the day.
Are Pixarians insects or mammals Toby pondered silently, while a trio of short slender girls with dragonfly looking wings, sauntered into the boardroom behind Urist. They stood somewhere between 1 and 1,5 meters tall and were extremely slim. At second glance, one could easily see that their wings were made out of a thin, seemingly hard membrane stretched out between five thin long rays of bone, thus giving them their insect wing-like appearance, rather than actual insect wings. As they got closer, he could easily hear them chatter among themselves. ¡°is that the human?¡± ¡±Is he a mammal?¡± ¡°I think so.¡± ¡°He doesn''t have wings.¡± ¡°Shh. I think he can hear us.¡± Toby regarded them carefully while they all seated themselves together at the right side of the table. It was really hard to tell them apart if one discounted their wildly differing hair colors. Toby waited patiently for them to calm down a bit before he started the meeting. ¡° Hi, I''m Toby, the guild master. And I''m very pleased to see you all here today.¡± He introduced. ¡°Thank you.¡± One of the Pixarians nodded. ¡°I''m Aio,¡± The yellow-haired one said, ¡°and these 2 are my sisters Iao and Oia.¡± ¡°I''m Iao¡±, the green one giggled. ¡°Your cute for someone with no wings¡±. ¡°I''m Oia¡±, The Pink one chuckled. ¡°Don''t mind Iao, She''s got a screw loose when it comes to boy''s.¡± ¡°As if you are any better¡± Iao countered with a pout, apparently having quickly forgotten what they were here for. ¡°Girls, Shut it,¡± Aio said, smacking her sisters in the back of the head. ¡°Excuse my overly excitable sisters¡± She sighed. ¡°I can assure you that we are some of the best world creators out there.¡± ¡°We''re the best.¡± Iao and Oia exclaimed in unison, their wings almost vibrating behind them. ¡°They are apparently also the only team that we could get at such a short notice that fit our criteria,¡± Urist added, giving Ortho a long meaningful look. ¡°Very well.¡± Toby sighed, as he pulled a thin stack of papers out of his inventory before sending them around the table. ¡°In this meeting, we will be discussing the world requirements and mechanics¡±. He began, Kicking off the meeting proper. ¡°I''ve taken the liberty of setting up some basic requirements for terrestrial species.¡± Toby continued. Preferably with one big continent rather than several smaller ones. We want to colonize the entire land area as early as possible." ¡±I also want there to be natural choke points and barriers, so that it is possible to have multiple competing empires from early on without enabling easy conquest.¡± ¡°We can give you a supercontinent easily enough.¡± Aio interrupted, ¡°But are your species really that aggressive?¡± "Yes and no,¡± Toby replied. ¡°My kind are expansionists, empire builders if you will.¡± Toby gave one of his best predatory gins before continuing. ¡°Empires, as most people know, arebuilton the blood and bones of one''s enemies.¡± Urist gave Toby an approving chuckle, while thePixarian triplets paled a little before Aio replied. ¡°We understand. It will take some finagling with the plate tectonics, but we should be able to at least split the world into 3 or 4 main areas that are somewhat choked off from each other.¡±Stolen novel; please report. From then on the discussions about how the world was going to end up looking went back and forth for quite a while until the triplet finally presented a rough sketch with a possible configuration. It had all the features Toby wanted as far as the terrain was concerned, And both Urist and Ortho seemed pleased with the setup. ¡°Does anyone have any more questions and concerns to address at this point?¡± Toby asked as soon as the triplets were done presenting their solution. ¡°I''m happy as can be with that much mountains to play in.¡± Urist beamed. ¡°There is plenty of sites to plant a core tree.¡± Ortho nodded. ¡°I really like those equatorial jungles below the 2 southern mountain ranges.¡± ¡°How about you Alice?¡±. Toby prodded. ¡°It does not really matter too much for me.¡± She replied. ¡°My kind won''t be part of the world.¡± The stunned silence after Alice''s statement was quickly broken by everyone starting to chatter at once, wanting to know why her kind wouldn''t be one of the colonizing species. Alice on the other hand just shrugged the questions off with a simple ¡°There is no need.¡± Toby clapped his hands 3 times to get everyone to quiet down from the hubbub, before pushing on with the meeting. It was getting late, and there was still one final matter he wanted to get out of the way before they were done. ¡°There is one final requirement that needs to be in place before we start making the world proper.¡± He began. ¡°One of this worlds functional rulesets is going to be magic¡±. Toby could feel the concept being plucked from his mind, just like last time he presented something not quite translatable. The looks on everyone''s faces was worth the discomfort though, he chuckled to himself. Only Alice seemed completely unperturbed. The triplets started whispering among themselves furiously, While Ortho and Urist gave him quizzical looks. Before anyone else could say anything, the pink haired Oia raised her hand. ¡°You do know that this will make the world incompatible with all other worlds in the nexus?¡± she said. ¡°That is kind of the point¡± Toby nodded. ¡°It gives us some extra grace time before the world is open for being invaded by other factions" ¡°That''s quite clever.¡± Ortho smiled at him. ¡°I like it a lot.¡± ¡°Is this foolproof?¡± Urist scowled. ¡°Not entirely¡± Toby admitted. ¡°But only another magic based worlds population can transport over, and it prevents spaceships from falling out of the sky. It buys us quite a bit of time and home-field advantage.¡± The discussion quickly devolved into details about how the magic system should work, and what kind of skill system would be employed. Toby rather quickly tuned out the majority of it, only answering questions asked directly, and otherwise letting the others work it out between them. They seemed eager enough to do it.
¡°You have surprising ideas¡± Alice cornered him as soon as the meeting was over, and the world plans finalized. ¡°Do I?¡± Toby replied with an innocent smile. Wondering if Alice had seen through his reasons for making the world inaccessible. ¡°Yes you do.¡± she restated, pushing him into his office and closing the door behind them. After taking a careful look at his trophy case, She turned back on him. ¡°Someone has told you about the major factions haven''t they?¡± ¡°Ortho might have said something about the Damonian Hegemony and Order of the bright light.¡± He confirmed. ¡°You didn''t do anything overt did you?¡± She kept pressing him. ¡°The only thing I have done so far is to let Ortho discriminate a little on hiring candidates for the guild,¡± Toby answered, His mind on guard. ¡°Good.¡± Alice sighed. ¡°We can''t afford to earn their full attention just yet.¡± She continued. ¡°Their power base is too large.¡± ¡°I did have the impression that they are fairly aggressive¡± Toby nodded. ¡°I just can''t afford to let humanity be run over by those who have a big head start like that.¡± ¡°My primary goal right now is to safeguard humanity for as long as possible, So that we may grow strong enough to protect worlds under our guard.¡± Toby Finished explaining his motives. ¡°Now what are your aims in all of this Alice?¡± Toby felt a strong need to know. How could he make sane decisions if he only knew his own needs, and not all of his friend''s needs? Urist and Ortho were easy. Their motivations as human as real a human''s motivations could be. Alice, on the other hand, was something of an enigma to him. ¡°I can''t say exactly yet.¡± She looked Toby in the eyes. ¡°But rest assured, that my goals are not in conflict with yours as long as I know what you are doing.¡± ¡°What do you mean by that?" Toby pressed. Staring back into her Blue eyes, trying to find a clue to what she was thinking. ¡°I like you, Toby." Alice sighed, Giving him a careful smile. "And I have faith in you, but there are some things that would hurt you more than help if I were to involve you in it right now.¡± She said without looking away, Or even blinking. ¡°You will just have to trust me on this, but I only want the best for you and your people.¡± Toby sighed and broke eye contact. Without her, the guild would not even have existed. She was the key to its success so far. It was she who made the successful meeting with the Draconian''s possible. She was the one who found investors for setting the guild up, but he still wanted some kind of acknowledgment that they were working in the same direction none the less. ¡°Will you help me keep the biggest players off my world for now then?¡± Toby asked, looking back into her eyes. She took hold of his hands and pressed closer, her nose just short of touching his as she kept their eyes locked. ¡°Yes, I will help you stay safe until you are ready to face them,¡± She whispered before slipping her hands around his waist and pulling him into a hug. He could feel her warmth seep past his clothes while she held him, causing the tension in his body to subside a little. He had been too tense lately, Too paranoid. He''d already put his future in the hands of Alice several times, so if he couldn''t at least trust her, then who he could he trust? ¡°I will have faith in you.¡± He replied a bit hesitantly while wondering what he meant to her, and what she would mean to him given time. Would she ever trust him with the knowledge she was keeping away from him?
User:
Achievement get: Bronze badge Pixarian: meeting a Pixarian. Achievement get: Silver badge Pixarian: Befriending a Pixarian.
Guild:
Quest Destiny''s dice update: 50% completed
14 - My baby is a world The world control room was very overcrowded today Toby thought. Not only was all the guild employees here to see the spectacle, but their all-important sponsors as well. The 4 Draconian''s from the draconian association, as well as some of their aides and colleagues were crowding in around him, trying to find a good vantage point for watching the action through the center table''s world window. ¡°This is it¡± Iao the green haired member of the triplets called out while finishing off the final point on the checklist before they could start. ¡°We are set to go Guild master,¡± Aio reported. ¡°The procedure will commence as soon as you activate the world anchor by putting it''s token into the map table.¡± Giving a nod of affirmation, Toby pulled out the world token they had gotten with the quest to save the lost children of Terra. It was a black marble with a weak dim star in it''s center, and what looked to be colorful gases and pebbles swirling around like a miniature vortex of colors. Taking one large breath to calm his excitement a little, Toby stretched his hand out over to the center of the map table in the control room, holding the marble between his fingers before putting it gently down on the surface. As soon as he let go of it, it dropped down into the table as if it was a bowl of water. Small circular waves expanding outwards, turning the before now murky white surface into a clear window showing the same swirling vortex that he had seen in the marble. ¡°World token has been accepted!¡± ¡°initial world parameters injection successful!¡± ¡±commencing stellar formation!¡± The triplets kept calling out each step of the process, but Toby was too focused on the view to really notice. Before their eyes, the swirling intensified, as more and more of the swirling mass was drawn down towards the light in the center, making it visibly swell and grow brighter. ¡°Stellar formation complete!" "commencing planetary formation"¡± Some of the stuff in the vortex started to clump into secondary swirls, forming new points of lights orbiting what appeared to be a peachy pink glowing star. Some of the lights grew large, while some remained very small. Then the view started to change, focusing on one of the smaller lights not too far from the star. It was a glowing red inferno of a world, orbited by one fairly large equally molten looking moon, as well as a smaller closer moon and a multi colored set of rings comprised of dust and rocks The smaller moon appeared to be sheperding them, keeping them in balance between itself and the planet below. ¡°Planetary formation complete!" "Tectonic parameters injected!" "Activating plate tectonics!¡± Nobody except the triplets made even a single sound, as the planet started to cool down, and tectonic plates formed. Large sections of black rocks had solidified into large continent-wide slabs, constantly moving and grinding against each other. While at the edges, volcanoes were belching fire, magma, and huge black clouds of ash streaming in a wide belt around the equator, occasionally breaking apart to give a glimpse of the rapidly evolving terrain below. After a while, the volcanic activity started to subside a little, and the planet changed color once again. It''s formerly black continents turned into tortured Gray mountains and ocean wide green pools of water. ¡°Ocean formation complete!¡± ¡±atmospheric formation complete!¡± ¡°continental formation complete!¡± The triplets rattled off rapidly. ¡°Slowing time ratio down to 1 million years per second!¡± ¡°Injecting primordial life!¡± ¡°Commencing terraforming!¡± Toby could do nothing but marvel at the rapid changes before him. The oceans changed from murky green, and into crystal clear blue. Ice sheets grew from the poles and receded in the blink of an eye. All the while continents sank out of view in the oceans and were replaced by new ones. Now dominated with the color of rust. The ice sheets expanded and contracted rapidly at first, at times almost covering the entire planet before it once again receded back to the polar regions. But it happened slower and slower as time passed, leaving behind new terrain on each pass. After a while, 2 of the major continents merged together into 1, creating a massive chain of mountains towering far above the clouds, running from just below the polar circle and to the equator. At the same time plates coming in from both the north and south ground into the 2 center plates, compressing them from both sides, thus creating 2 smaller mountain chains going from east to west, one in the north, and the other just around the equator.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Slowing down the time ratio to 100 years per second!¡± ¡°Injecting complex life!¡± ¡°Controlled Evolution activated!¡± The view swooped in and focused on the new continent, and Toby could see a green mass of vegetation spread over the lowlands and coastal areas like a flowing green carpet. A great forest grew just below the northern mountain chain, and an even greener jungle south of the southern mountain chain. In between, was a large dry sand-covered desert in the eastern edge of the continent, and an even larger green expanse of grasslands to the east towards the great mountain range separating east from west. The wetter more stable climate to the west of the great mountain range turned the area into fertile marshlands and forests, stretching all the way from the southern end to the northern tip. ¡°Slowing time ratio down to Nexus standard!¡± ¡°Evolution complete!¡± ¡°World formation procedure complete.¡± Even before the last syllable was out of Oia''s mouth, everyone started cheering celebrating the success. ¡°Congratulations Toby!¡± The draconian liaison Dhagon shouted over the din. ¡°It''s a girl, So what are you going to call her?¡± Toby mulled the question over in his head for a few seconds before choosing how to respond. ¡°Can I have everyone''s attention please¡± Toby called out to the crowd so he could begin is impromptu speech. ¡°Today has been a great day for our guild." "We have finally reached the point where we are almost ready to become operational with our main quest.¡± Toby kept it going for a little while with thank you''s and other platitudes towards the sponsors, world creation team, and his friends before finally coming around to his finale of announcing the name of the new world. ¡°The name I have chosen for our world is Aethea.¡± Just as he said the name, the map table responded by zooming out to a planetary view. The blue world shone with it''s rainbow colored rings and 2 moons, While above it, the name Aethea materialized in light blue runic lettering, and the guild logo hovering in all it''s splendor just above it ¡°I must say you have a flair for the dramatic¡± Dhagon laughed when the cheering started up again. ¡°You can''t name an entire world without a speech¡± Toby replied. ¡°It''s a big occasion for the guild and all.¡± ¡°Indeed you are right my friend.¡± Dhagon agreed. ¡°Today we celebrate, and tomorrow the real work begins right.¡± Dhagon then raised his voice for attention and proclaimed. ¡°It would be our pleasure if all members and workers of the The first ascendant of Terra were to join me and my companions of the Draconian association tonight, So that we may celebrate this great start of a new adventure." "The party will be held at the commons of the local boardinghouse, I am sure you all know where I mean." He finished with a snicker. As if there were anyone present that didn''t have that place as their domain connection to the town. The resulting cheer once again echoed through the room before everyone started to eagerly exit through the doors. Everyone seemed more than ready to blow of some steam with a good party. Toby remained standing in front of the map table until the last ones had filtered out deep in his own thoughts. ¡°What are you thinking about Toby,¡± Alice asked him from beside him. ¡°I just worry a bit,¡± Toby replied with a sigh. ¡°Making this world is something that surely must have drawn the attention of the Hegemony and order.¡± ¡°No doubt,¡± Alice confirmed. ¡°New worlds are a prize to catch after all.¡± ¡°And I''ve made this one difficult to enter without our permission¡± Toby added. ¡°They are bound to get suspicious about my motives sooner rather than later.¡± ¡°Especially since you used a variant game mechanic that is unique so far in the Nexus¡± Alice added, further confirming his thoughts. ¡°Are there really no other worlds out there with magic as a mechanic?¡± Toby asked. ¡°There are, but they are very rare, and it will take some time before they realize that those ancient magic worlds are compatible with yours, Despite the differences in how the magic works.¡± ¡°In the Nexus, Heaven and Hell are real places after all, aren''t they?¡± Toby sighed dejectedly. ¡°Yes, they are as real as Aethea is,¡± Alice confirmed. ¡°But how did you know about them?¡± ¡°I didn''t¡± Toby laughed. ¡°Those words are concepts of my people, just like the Order and Hegemony fit the concepts of angels and demons in some of our ancient religions.¡± ¡°This is why I like you, Toby.¡± Alice laughed. ¡°Your ability to recognize the similarities, and use it in a manner to communicate effectively with the system to help you understand what you are facing is intoxicating to behold.¡± ¡°The names I see when dealing with others are a reflection of myself aren''t they?¡± Toby replied thoughtfully. ¡°Yes Toby, They are. This entire section of the Nexus is a reflection of you.¡± ¡°Does this mean that you look the way you do as a reflection of me as well?¡± Toby asked while looking into her currently blue eyes. ¡°What do you think?¡± Alice responded simply with a mysterious smile. ¡°I think I might be scared of finding out,¡± Toby replied before taking her hand and leading her out of the guild to the waiting party.
Guild:
New world named: Aethea Planet Aethea has been claimed in the name of The First Ascendant of Terra. Currently, Guild owned planets: Aethea Governor set: Toby Quest complete: Destiny''s dice. Reward added to guild inventory Multiple Quest statuses updated.
User:
New title unlocked: Planetary governor. Achievement Get: First human to achieve the title of planetary governor.
15 - The day after Toby woke up from a pleasant dream about feeling safe and cozy, just to notice that something felt strange. Something was lying on his arm and holding onto him tightly. It felt as if a pair of smooth warm ropes had wrapped up his arm, and another pair his chest. There was definitely the standard set of arms and legs curled up against his side as well. It took a little while before his head cleared enough to remember exactly how he ended up in this situation, and who this creature holding onto him was. When Alice showed an interest in doing more than just talk last night, he had accepted without really considering the potential consequences of his actions. Loneliness was definitely an enemy that had caused him to make a lot of mistakes up through the years. He could only hope that this wasn''t one of those mistakes. His biggest worry this, was how this was going to affect their relationship. This would change things, and the real question was if it was a good or bad thing. As Toby lay there and mused over how to deal with the whole situation, Alice started stirring next to him. Looking down at her face, he could see her green predator eyes with horizontally slitted pupils looking back at him. ¡°Good morning,¡± she said with a chirping voice before making a big yawn, giving him a disconcerting view of her small mouth filled with a row of razor sharp teeth that could make a shark jealous She had pretty body though, Toby admitted while he watched her stretch her supple body. If it wasn''t for the 2 pairs of tentacles coming out of the back of her head and neck, she could even have passed for a human at first glance. Her blue tinted smooth hairless skin had an exotic attractiveness to it, and her rounded breasts and hips gave her that alluring look many men would find pleasant. ¡°Last night was very pleasurable.¡± She purred while stroking his chest playfully with one of her tentacles.¡° we have time for a little more fun before we have to get up right?¡± Toby felt an involuntary shiver of excitement run through him at the invitation. His ability to resist the temptation vaporized as morning dew before the sun. Worries were for later he thought. Right now he just wanted to enjoy the moment to it''s fullest.
Alice and Toby hurried in through the doors to the control room. They were the last ones there, and their emergence together caused a fair amount of raised eyebrows and snickering. ¡°I knew it,¡± Urist exclaimed. ¡°Pay up girls.¡± The triplets sighed in unison and gave Toby the evil eye before handing over a small lump of credits to Urist. Toby was about to ask what that was about before thinking better of it and opting to pretend like he heard or saw nothing of that exchange. ¡°Good morning everyone.¡± He greeted. ¡°Are we set to start our recon campaign?¡± ¡°We are ready to let the first team start character creation,¡± Aio confirmed. ¡°We haven''t set any in world spawn-point though, so any deaths will put you back in the portal room for now.¡± ¡°That''s fine,¡± Toby replied relieved that everything was appearing to go well for now. ¡°We aren''t there to live yet, just to get a feel for the land and possibly find a couple of good options for starting locations.¡± ¡°I and Urist have taken a good look at the world through the map table,¡± Ortho reported. ¡°We think we have identified a few decent potential sites.¡± ¡°Aye!¡± Urist added while pointing at the point where the northern mountain range formed a T shape with the barrier mountains down the continent. ¡°This continental intersection here is bound to have a rich subterranean ecosystem.¡± ¡°It''s perfect for us Dorfs, So I will be focusing on this area for the Dorfian embark.¡± Toby nodded at Urists plan. It made some kind of dwarf fortress type sense to want easy access to the underground. Digging is hard work after all, and the less of it you have to do the faster you could expand your territory. Toby shifted his attention to Ortho next. ¡°How about you Ortho?¡± ¡°I''ve already picked a spot¡± Ortho replied while pointing at an area south of the southern mountain range. ¡°This strip of the tropical jungle here is perfect for my kind.¡± ¡°My plan is to embark exactly between the mountains and the sea along this river running down from the highest peak in the range.¡± Toby took a closer look at the map. It was a very defensible area, with the mountain range forming an impenetrable wall sheltering the area from 2 sides, leaving only the open ocean, or a pair of relatively narrow choke points at each end as possible ways of entry. Toby spent a little while considering his own options. Humans were flexible as far as living conditions went, but a fair climate would be very advantageous. Long term, a capital should have easy access to both the ocean and the mountains by way of waterways. Toby immediately excluded the eastern dry region, and then the inland temperate woodlands and grasslands. Expanding outwards would be tough without the benefit of fast travel by boat along a coastline. The western coastline was well connected to the ''great spine'' as Toby had started to call the central mountain range in his mind, so it would be the better place to start. He let his eyes wander up and down the coast and mountain a bit to see if any terrain features spoke to him. There it was, the perfect spot. 3 rivers meeting up just before reaching a V-shaped gulf, complete with a set of barrier Islands. Better yet was the fact that the river network had a really large footprint in the terrain. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.Giving waterway access to the foothills of 3 of the 4 major peaks of the great spine. ¡°What do you think of that place there?¡± Toby asked looking at Alice. ¡°Is it viable you think?¡± ¡°It''s got some good points going for it if you plan on aggressively expanding into a big empire.¡± Alice nodded. ¡°The only issue is how exposed such an empire would be early on while the population is still low.¡± ¡°I have an idea for remedying that¡± Toby replied with a smile. ¡°We could buy extra population from earth to expedite population growth.¡± ¡°That would take a lot of credits Toby¡± Alice cautioned. ¡°How do you propose we get that?¡± ¡°I''ve done some research on potential customers¡± Toby replied. ¡°Band of Uncles and Anima alliance are acceptable additions.¡± ¡°You are taking a risk, Toby.¡± Ortho objected. ¡°Some of the members of the band of uncles breed really fast.¡± ¡°And the species of the Anima Alliance are generally very strong,¡± Urist added. ¡°I like the idea¡± Alice interjected. ¡°The system will balance each species traits, so every species will be at approximately the same level once some time has passed.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Toby nodded. ¡°It will be really tough at first, because of their breeding advantage, but once humanity hit''s the iron age, it evens out, and the faster breeding species no longer pose such a threat.¡± ¡°And how do you intend a surface living species like yours to reach the iron age quickly?¡± Urist asked with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Trading with you,¡± Toby replied by pointing at Urist. ¡°If you embark at the source of this river here.¡± Toby pointed at the starting point of a major river running down from Urist''s preferred mountain. ¡°Then we can be in contact inside a generation or 2.¡± ¡°hmmm.. Probably even sooner.¡± Urist replied thoughtfully. ¡°What do you think our people would be trading in?¡± ¡°your favorite beverage, wood and other surface-related goods, in exchange for metal ores, tools, and weapons.¡± Toby grinned. He knew Urist wouldn''t be able to resist good brew, and neither would his people most likely. ¡°He got you Urist.¡± Ortho snickered. ¡°Aye.¡± Urist sighed. ¡°It looks like a sound plan.¡± ¡°Alright alright¡± Aio interrupted. ¡°Do you all want to stand around all day jabbering, or get down there and take a look around?¡± ¡°Let''s go get ready,¡± Alice replied, pulling the others along into the prep room. It was high time they got their characters made. ¡°I''ve prepared a suggestion for all of you.¡± Alice started once everyone had claimed a character creation booth. ¡°We have too many responsibilities micromanaging any empires.¡± she continued. ¡°So I''ve set us all up as priest class, except Toby, He should be an Arcane mage.¡± ¡°Why an Arcane mage?¡± Toby asked. ¡°Because the magic system is your brainchild.¡± She replied. ¡°We have to play the role of divine messengers rather than rulers, and being one will put you in a position to spread magic knowledge sooner." ¡°That makes sense,¡± Toby replied thoughtfully while he accepted her suggested setup. She knew her stuff after all, and he doubted he could make a better character. Besides, Mages are cool anyway.
Character sheet:
Name: Toby
Race: Human
Class: Arcane mage
Lvl 1
HP:100 MP:100
Elemental fire Lvl 1
Elemental water Lvl 1
Arcane magic Lvl 1
Elemental earth Lvl 1
Elemental wind Lvl 1
Staff mastery Lvl 1
Spellbook:
Spell Range: Effect
Burning hand touch A fistful of fire.
water spray Short A squirt of water, useful for getting a drink or prank your friends.
Gust Short wind to push stuff.
Dust Medium Debuff. Blind your opponents by blowing it into their eyes.
pebble Medium Launch a magical pebble to annoy your enemies.
Once everyone was ready, they moved into the portal room proper. Toby could feel his pulse quicken. They were about to set foot in a new world, real or not, it was still exciting. ¡°We have set your destination to be on a hill overlooking the area for the suggested human embark.¡± One of the triplets called out from the control room. Toby had no idea which one it was. Without the color of their hair, it was impossible to know due to the fact all 3 of them sounded exactly the same. ¡°The destination is fine by us¡± Toby called back. ¡°We are ready to go¡±. ¡°Engaging portal¡± one of the triplets called back. In front of them the outer ring of the portal started to rotate clockwise, while the inner one rotated counterclockwise until a specific set of symbols aligned at the top, then a series of runes on the floor started to light up in sequence. As soon as the light reached the portal, it''s inside started to glow, then turn into a liquid mirror-like surface. The shiny surface started to shimmer into a vortex of reflections before it stabilized as a circular opening into the new world. The completed portal shimmered and churned along the edges, but it was only a short step to get through it and onto a patch of grass on the other side of it. Toby gingerly stepped forward and into the portal with the others straight behind while his heart hammered with excitement. 16 - Brave new world Toby stepped through the portal and onto a grassy hill overlooking a verdant valley. The sun was shining down on a virgin landscape filled with woodlands almost as far as the eye could see. When he strained his eyes a bit, he could just barely make out a track through the trees that were likely to be the place one of the rivers ran down from the mountains. Turning around, Toby tried to see the mountains of the great spine, but they were simply too far away to even see behind the endless carpet of trees. ¡°Wow¡± Toby could hear Ortho exclaim. ¡°This is an incredibly beautiful world....¡± ¡°It''s a lot larger than I thought by looking at it with the map table¡± Toby mused. ¡°Aye, This world is definitely huge!¡± Urist added with awe evident in his voice. ¡°I''ve never lived on a giant-sized world before.¡± ¡°pffffttt!!!!¡± Alice started laughing loudly. ¡°Didn''t anyone of you notice that the token we used was for a max size world?¡± Her laughter kept on rolling over them in waves while they watched her dumbfounded. ¡°H... ho..how large is this world exactly?¡± Toby stammered. He had thought that he should at least have been able to see both the mountain range as well as the ocean from a spot like this, but he could in see neither. In fact, The horizon seemed oddly flat and far away. ¡°It''s got about 3 times the radius of your old earth Toby.¡± Alice finally managed to say after trying to calm down a while. Toby tried to do some mental arithmetic to figure out what that meant for the land area. But ended up giving up instead. ¡°how much more surface area are we talking about?¡± he finally asked with a sigh. This world was going to be troublesome if his hunch was right. ¡°9 times as large.¡± She answered. ¡°This continent has about as much landmass as the entire surface area of your old earth.¡± She finished. ¡°That means, that some of those barrier islands we saw on the map are big enough to hold entire nations in comfort.¡± Toby groaned. This was going to get really hard to deal with. There was just too much room here. ¡°We were supposedly dropped fairly close to the embark position,¡± Urist said deadpan. ¡°Ye recon we can manage to walk there in less than a week?¡± Toby took a good look at himself and his companions. They were wearing nothing except a loincloth preserving their modesty. They had no weapons to speak of, and no rations or water. At best, if they could actually find water under-ways, they would spend at least a week before getting anywhere significant. like that river he was sure was causing the break in the forest far down at the bottom of this apparently enormous valley. They did have their magic to rely on though. Toby figured he should try to cast a spell or 2 to get a feel for it. With some luck they might find some salvation there Opting to go for some water first, since that seemed the most useful right now, he started the casting process. It wasn''t hard, all he had to do was imagine himself sellecting the spell he wanted to cast, and he would cast it. The squirt spell lived up to it''s name alright. As soon as he cast it, a small spray of water flew from his fingertip. It didn''t fly very far, just enough that you could probably squirt it straight into your own mouth without spilling if you wanted. At least the spell is cheap Toby grumbled to himself. ¡°That''s convenient¡± Ortho snickered. ¡°We have our very own walking water fountain.¡± ¡°Ha ha very funny¡± Toby replied while channeling another water squirt, aiming it squarely at Ortho. Inspiration suddenly hit him, and he added the gust spell to the squirt to see if it was possible to cast 2 spells at once to have them interact. It took both his hand to cast this way, but the result was quite satisfying, as the squirting water was turned into misty droplets that flew straight into Ortho''s face. ¡°Take that¡± Toby exclaimed proudly, To the great entertainment of Alice and Urist, Who was practically rolling on the ground laughing at Toby''s antics.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°Alright alright, I give.¡± Ortho surrendered before Toby could do another shot. ¡°Do anyone of us have any survival skill?¡± Urist asked thoughtfully. ¡°except water making, none at all.¡± Toby replied, the other 2 just shook their heads. ¡°I can do some light healing.¡± Alice said. ¡°I have a ranged attack skill, but without a weapon it''s useless.¡± Ortho added. ¡°Other than that, I can stimulate plant growth.¡± ¡°I have blunt weapons.¡± Urist cringed, ¡°but a stripped branch is not a club.¡± ¡°What else do you have?¡± Toby asked. He should have something from his earth/fire affinity at least. ¡°I can dig a hole in dirt with magic. Useful for digging a latrine at best at this level.¡± Urist answered deadpan, earning him a round of giggling om return. ¡°That leaves me as the DPS then.¡± Toby sighed after the giggling ended. ¡°I have several useful spells, albeit weak. I can shoot magical pebbles, conjure fire from my hands, and the party trick I did with Ortho. Also combined with a small puff of dust.¡± Toby opted to demonstrate that last one by casting dust with his left hand and gust with his right one. Aiming away from the group. The result was predictable. A gout of fine dust flew forward from his hands, before the ambient wind took it away. Figuring that standing around would get them nowhere, Toby urged his group to start walking towards the treeline a short distance away towards where they thought the river was. ¡°It''s official then, Toby is the MVP for our march to the coast.¡± Urist said with a solemn voice. ¡°We are pretty much screwed aren''t we?¡± ¡°It''s not that bad.¡± Ortho consoled Urist while patting his shoulder. ¡°We have water, a source of fire, and a tiny bit of offensive magic going for us right now.¡± ¡°It would have been fine if we could actually craft something.¡± Urist replied. ¡°But we can''t. We don''t have any skills, and the system blocks knowledge without the skill remember.¡± Toby felt a sinking feeling in his heart. Urist was right, the couldn''t even take a branch and form it into even a crude staff or club right now. Let alone figure out what was edible or not, or build a safe fire-pit for that matter. ¡°We all lack the survival skill hu.¡± Toby said into the air. ¡°That was something of an oversight.¡± ¡°Alice, Is there an easy way for at least one of us to get that skill within a reasonable time frame?¡± He asked. ¡°It''s not a single skill.¡± Alice replied. ¡°We would need to learn either foraging, hunting or trapping for procuring food, the camping skill to set up a campfires and shelter, and lastly, cooking to make food that''s actually edible, rather than just eating it raw.¡± ¡°That''s a lot of skills to get in short order.¡± Urist whistled. ¡°We can level up by training though.¡± Toby added. He had made certain of that, so that crafting classes could level up with hard work rather than having to go out and kill stuff. They had reached the trees now, and Toby started to look around for a suitable branch to try and make staff with. Toby suddenly realized something. ¡°I can''t innovate skills or tools while in this world can I?¡± ¡°No.¡± Alice replied. ¡°Only reincarnates can do that.¡± ¡°So we are stuck without any tools, or survival skills at all then.¡± He sighed. This was getting frustratingly harder by the minute. ¡°We could summon your embark tribe right here.¡± Urist suggested. It wasn''t a bad idea, but it would mean a lot of risk for the tribesmen. They were still far too weak to confidently keep themselves alive in a fight, let alone protect under equipped and skilled tribesmen. ¡°At least one of us should reach lvl 2 before we do any summons.¡± Ortho said, mirroring Toby''s thoughts on the matter. ¡°Maybe we should return to the Nexus for now and potentially buy any skills we need from the P2W system.¡± ¡°We can''t do that either.¡± Urist groaned. ¡°We can''t buy anything that isn''t already invented in the world either.¡± ¡°.......¡± The silence between them grew long as they all considered their situation. ¡°I hate to say this.¡± Urist sighed. ¡°But we might have to help Toby grind to the point where he can use magic to protect the tribe while they get kitted up for the first time.¡± ¡°Let''s just get on with the diealot tactic then.¡± Ortho winced. ¡°This is going to hurt. A lot.¡± Toby gulped when the true meaning of Ortho''s words sank in. As a combat class, his only way to truly level up was going to be fighting stuff, or cast a lot of spells. He did have a luxurious 100 MP compared to the 50 normal mage classes started with, but he would only get XP for leveling up one of his skills. Leveling up all his skills to lvl 2 would still leave him 40 XP short of leveling up. Not to mention that each level in the elemental magics would cost 100 uses of the relevant lvl1 skill. He had no spell in the Arcane category yet either. He would get light at level 2, but that wouldn''t help right now. With no staff to play with, he was down to 4 skills he could level up. And it would take close to 4 days to do it. They wouldhave been killed by some predator or other by then for sure. ¡°Alright.¡± Toby called out to the others, stopping them. ¡°We need to make a plan if we are to run around murdering stuff for the XP.¡± As everyone gathered around, the first Party strategy meeting ensued. Toby just knew that the next couple of days were going to suck. 17 – Rage-quitting is always an option. Toby tried to calm his nerves while he waited in a small clearing while the others were out there trying to herd some animals in his direction. He had a sinking feeling in his gut about the whole idea, but it seemed the only way to catch anything since none of them had the tracking skill. Whenever they saw tracks, none of them had even a single idea about what it could be, or even if it was dangerous or not. A sudden scream some distance away into the dense forest indicated a success of sorts. The only issue was that the sound had more semblance to someone getting murdered in some horrifying manner, rather than someone chasing prey in his direction. The only good news was that it was coming closer to the small clearing he was waiting in. the bad news was that whatever they were luring towards him, had silenced at least one of his screaming friends already. Toby suddenly felt really stupid, why hadn''t he climbed up a tree first? It was far too late now, as another horrible scream was cut short, leaving only a single panicked voice approaching rapidly. Suddenly Ortho burst into the clearing with 3 huge wild boars with large tusks snapping at his heels. Toby wasted no time casting his first spells in the manner they had planned beforehand. The plan had been to first blind the enemy with dust and wind, then follow it up with pelting it from afar with everything they had. Before the dust cloud could even reach all the way to the boars though, they got hold of the last member of his friends. Toby got a clear and very traumatizing view of one of the boar''s skewering Ortho through the thigh, before the second one bit into his calf and tore his lower leg off with a violent jerk with its head. Time seemed to slow for Toby as he watched the blood spurt into the air from the torn off limb as Ortho went down with a blood-curdling scream. The third boar was about to jump onto him too when the dust cloud reached it''s destination, doing little more than grab the attention of the huge wild pig. Toby stared at the beast with his heart thumping and the clammy cold feeling of panic rising up through his chest. This was far too much to handle in his present state. Trying hard to ignore the horrible sounds of the body of his companion being mangled and pulled apart by the 2 other boars, he tried desperately to ready himself for the monster boars inevitable charge. The boar had apparently no intentions of letting Toby get the chance gather himself up, and charged immediately straight at him with a loud squeal and snort. The sight of the charging animal snapped Toby out of his paralyzed state of mind and into action. Fervently hoping that the boar would be afraid of fire, he tried to use a combination of wind and fire for his next spell. The resulting disappointing weak squirt of fire, quite unlike the flamethrower of awesome he had secretly prayed for seemed far too weak in the face of a charging monster pig. It did make the boar veer off to the side rather than running him down directly though, causing a big opportunity to present itself for Toby to exploit. Using that opening, Toby immediately started to pelt the beast with as many pebble spells as he could fire off in succession before the beast could turn around. It wasn''t entirely without effect, as several small wounds started to appear on the big boar, but it was no more than scratches and light bruises. At this rate, he would run out of MP long before the boar was even half dead. The boar, not one for wasting time on a weak opponent went directly for round 2. Only stopping for a moment to stare Toby directly in the eye. A terrible chill passed trough Toby as he saw his own death reflected in the hateful beady eyes of the huge beast. He desperately prepared another weak fire spurt in the hope that it would make the beast turn away at the last moment once again. He needed to at least buy some time, so he could get more pebble shots in. He might get lucky and hit it in the eye or something after all. Anything that would cause it to leave him alone long enough for him to climb a tree or something would be fine. Toby''s luck had run out though. The boar charged straight through the fire instead of turning away from it and knocked him backward with great force. Toby''s rearward flight ended with a searing head bursting pain, as he impacted something hard. Trying to clear his vision, Pain coursed through him in nearly unbearable waves, while the gigantic boar sauntered towards him with its tail held high. Toby struck out in pure desperation, flailing his hands at the eyes and snout of the beast as it went in for the kill. It deftly dodged his feeble attempts to keep it at bay and grabbed on to Toby''s right hand and arm. His arm was practically all the way inside its mouth when it bit down on it, causing another rush of mind breaking pain. This time the pain overwhelmed Toby. His panicked mind snapped into a desperate rage as he lost all hope to get out of it alive. Toby put everything he had into channeling burning hand with the hand still lodged deep in the mouth of the beast. The boar''s eyes instantly went wide, before it tried to pull back with an ear-deafening squeal filled with desperate pain and fear, egging on the raging anger in Toby''s heart. Toby grabbed onto the boar''s ears with his left arm, and let himself be pulled along with the desperately backpedaling and tossing animal. He held onto the animal with desperate strength while it tried to dislodge him, growing ever wilder and more desperate as Toby repeated the spell again and again. After a little while, the creature slowed down and stopped. Its eyes had turned white, and a delicious smell of bacon wafted into Toby''s nose from the smoke coming out of its ears and mouth. Toby had an oddly satisfied feeling at the smell of sizzling bacon as the darkness of death took hold.
Player:
Achievement get: Choke on this: killing an enemy by having it literally choke to death upon trying to eat you.
Toby blinked rapidly, He was back in the portal room again, with the others standing around him with mirthful faces. Had they seen the fight through the portal? It was still open, showing a small clearing with 2 big boars fighting over their roasted companions corpse. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.¡°I''d have to say that most critters should know better than to try to dine on you from now on Toby.¡± Urist guffawed. The laughter quickly spreading around to everyone present. ¡°This was a horrible idea.¡± Toby croaked as a rather weak response to the joke. ¡°Worst time ever.¡± ¡°So do we have to go back and die a few more times then?¡± Ortho questioned. Disgust at the thought evident on his face. Toby wasn''t the only one that didn''t feel like going back in this state. ¡°We need to take a step back and look at our options again,¡± Alice replied. ¡°We need a proper plan before making another attempt at this.¡± ¡°We''ll take an hour break to ponder our options, and then have a meeting to discuss our findings,¡± Toby interjected. ¡°I for one, need a strong drink, and some time to gather my wits about me before even considering going back into that place.¡±
Toby finally felt decent again as he entered the boardroom for their rather impromptu strategy meeting. A strong glass of rotgut and some snacks had taken some of the terror out of the memory of his rather gruesome death, and now he felt refreshed enough to do some reflection on what went so horribly wrong. ¡°Hi everyone.¡± He greeted the rest of the group. They were already present and waiting for him when he came in. They seemed to have taken their deaths a lot better than he had, causing him to reflect on the fact that they had probably experienced such horrors many times already. ¡°Anyone come up with any good ideas while we rested up?¡± Toby asked, not quite willing to waste more time than needed before they got back to business again. ¡°Operation ''die a lot'' is still valid.¡± Urist started. ¡°We would need to gain 3 or 4 levels each to get strong enough to actually have a fighting chance though.¡± ¡°That is such an unlikely to achieve goal, that I''m in favor of immediately summoning the embarkment tribe instead.¡± Ortho opined. ¡°We don''t need all of them to survive to get the quest done after all. Just enough to get started to settle the world until we get more people spawned in.¡± ¡°Making new more rounded characters is always an option as well.¡± Alice shrugged. ¡°I did some thinking along the same lines.¡± Toby nodded his head towards Alice. ¡°But I think we actually have to completely rethink our purpose for being in that world in the first place.¡± ¡°You had one of your harebrained ideas again haven''t you?¡± Alice asked eyes narrowed in speculation while looking into Toby''s eyes. ¡°Maybe.¡± He replied with some heat rising in his cheeks. She knew him too well at this point. ¡°It depends on what you guys think our goals actually are.¡± The crew mulled the question over in their minds while Toby waited patiently. It would be easier if they came to the same conclusion he had. Ortho went first once again. ¡°We are to guide our peoples development into strong healthy civilizations.¡± ¡°True enough.¡± Toby replied. ¡°But we aren''t required to be part of those civilizations right?¡± ¡°Not really.¡± Ortho nodded, ¡°I think I know what you are getting at.¡± ¡°playing as God''s have some merit.¡± Alice continued the line of thought. ¡°But it also comes with some serious limitations.¡± ¡°What are those?.¡± Urist asked, eyes wide with excitement at the prospect. ¡°I''ve never played a God before.¡± ¡°You can''t directly interact with the world like a player or reincarnate can, except through miracles and blessings,¡± Alice answered before taking a breath. ¡°I guess those are fueled by prayer power right?¡± Toby hurried to ask before Alice could go into full teacher mode like she often did given the opportunity. She wasn''t the only one who had gotten better acquainted with the other these past few days. ¡°Yes.¡± She confirmed, giving Toby a pouting smile. She appeared rather disappointed that she didn''t get to do one of her lectures this time. ¡°This is going to be expensive isn''t it?¡± Ortho replied with a dubious expression. ¡°How do we pay for it?¡±. ¡°We currently have 1k in the guild coffers,¡± Alice replied. ¡°But we need to pay wages soon if we want to keep our employees happy.¡± ¡°The Draconian''s recommended we add Band of Uncles, and the Anima Alliance if we needed more credits.¡± Toby sighed. ¡°I can maybe have a chat with them and see what they are willing to offer for early access." ¡°Can''t we borrow some more money instead?¡± Urist asked. Apparently not very comfortable with adding more factions to the world this early in it''s history. ¡°We already owe 9k credits to the Draconian''s¡± Toby answered. ¡°We have to start paying back soon as well.¡± ¡°I think I might know who I can ask.¡± Alice seemed to hesitate. ¡°The price might not be worth it though.¡± ¡°I trust fully in your judgment on this kind of matters Alice,¡± Toby replied. making a note of her hesitation. ¡°I will do what it takes as long as it''s within my power.¡± ¡°I will see to the arrangements then,¡± Alice replied giving Toby an appraising look while standing up. ¡°I''ll have an answer tomorrow morning.¡± ¡°We will meet up again tomorrow then,¡± Toby replied. ¡°I guess there is nothing more we can do today unless anyone fancies dying some more?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°Don''t fancy that.¡± Urist and Ortho answered simultaneously while shaking their heads violently. ¡°We''ll go get some rest and relaxation instead.¡± Urist continued rushing for the door before Toby or Alice could change their minds. ¡°Dying violently really do suck no matter how many times you''ve done it before,¡± Ortho added while chasing after Urist. The both of them disappearing as fast as ghosts in daylight. ¡°Amen,¡± Toby whispered to himself as he saw his friends make their hasty escape. ¡°Go on and blow some steam off too Toby.¡± Alice offered. ¡°I''ll make contact with the relevant people and see if it''s possible to arrange something.¡± ¡°Are you sure about me just going off to play while you do the work?¡± Toby replied. He felt a rather strong sting of guilt at the thought. ¡°It''s fine.¡± She replied with one of her sharp toothed predatory smiles while leaning in close. ¡°I''ll have you pay me back for it later.¡± She whispered into his ear in a seductive tone, causing a slight shiver down his spine as her warm breath tingled his neck. He could feel the light touch of a tentacle curl around his waist and give him a playful squeeze before letting go again. ¡°Now go play with Ortho and Urist dear. I bet they are waiting at the bar for you to come join them.¡± She said as her parting words before she disappeared through the door, leaving Toby to ponder his possible futures with Alice. They were definitely moving into a more permanent partnership, one that weren''t just predicated on loneliness and shaky trust, but one he felt could be based on mutual feelings of attraction and shared goals. It felt strange to feel this way for a person that was so clearly not a human. It even felt taboo, if he was honest with himself. But this was the Nexus, and what was a taboo on earth, probably didn''t count here. Maybe he should talk about what was and wasn''t taboo in the Nexus with his drinking buddies tonight. Get a feel for what was considered right and wrong in this alien landscape. 18 - Intermission Toby tried to relax his stance, He slowly twirled his staff around in an overhead smash at a target dummy, pulled back, and followed it up with a slow thrust, low sweep into a reversed sweep, and a stance reset before starting up a new sequence with an overhead smash again. This was very different from how it would have worked in reality. Each attack was a sequence of movements not quite under his true control. He could choose what kind of strike, and when, but once he was underway, the system took over and his body completed it on its own accord. It was quite unnerving in a way. But it was also easy to do. The tricky part was to get the timing and choice of target point right. As he started to get a better feel for the relative length of each move, and the timing for when he could launch into the next he tuned his striking speed up, going faster and faster until the staff twirled around with a blur and a heavy thud on each impact. After a while of repeating the routine, his timing got tighter, his body no longer returned back to the ready position between strikes, allowing him to chain them up. Sometimes turning into unexpected moves, tripping up his timing again, resulting in a stumble. ¡°I can see you are getting a feel for the timing.¡± The deep bass voice of Urist said straight into his ear. Urist wasn''t there with him, but rather watching him from a screen in Toby''s room for now. Staying out of the way while Toby did his solo exercises. He wasn''t going to be as bad with utilizing his skills as he was during yesterdays reconnaissance mission in Aethea ever again. Going through the review of his death had been a sobering experience. He had just stood there as an idiot, trying to do all the work with his spells, while a monstrosity of a pig had charged him down and crushed him as a bug. It was the animals own overconfidence that had let Toby kill it, and no real skill on his part. ¡°Try to experiment with new combinations Toby, mix it up a little and get a feel for what you can do with chain attacks,¡± Urist advised in his ear. Toby did as he was told, and started to mix it up, randomly at first. Once again stumbling whenever he got an unexpected chain until he got a better feel for how one moves timing had a short window for selecting a new attack to chain up next. Toby finished up a series of rapid attacks by perfectly chaining 2 overhead strikes. It turning it into a quick overhead strike, followed by the staff spinning back from the strike with a lot of momentum that got turned into an uppercut with the other end of the staff striking the training dummy squarely on the chin. Toby felt intense gratification as the head of the poor dummy detached from the torso and sailed away into the distance in a beautiful arch. As Toby straightened up again after the sweet finishing move and someone started clapping behind him. Urist had spawned into the training simulation, equipped with an identical staff as the one Toby was wielding. ¡°It''s time to start teaching you how to use your new timing skills to fight properly now,¡± Urist said with an evil looking grin. ¡°We will go slow at first, then speed up gradually as we have done so far.¡± ¡°Alright coach!¡± Toby replied. This was probably going to hurt a lot, but this sim didn''t do more than hurt thankfully. It was a training sim, not a game world with full-on sensory realism. Urist and Toby squared off towards each other. Urist calmly observing Toby before slowly attacking him. The timing was a lot trickier now since it depended not only on himself but also on what Urist was doing at the time. Again and again, Toby failed to get the timing right, earning himself another sharp jolt of pain at each strike that passed through his defense. Urist thankfully kept to a steady rhythm, and after a little while, Toby started to get the feel for the timing. Fewer attacks went trough, and soon enough he was able to not just block most of them, but also throw in a few attacks of his own. ¡°Good Toby, now let''s crank it up a notch again.¡± Urist grinned. A new set of sharp jolts of pain ensued as Urist started to break the rhythm apart, becoming less predictable, as well as throwing on some heavier combos every now and then. Forcing Toby to concentrate even harder on observing each move Urist made in order to time the corresponding defensive move and counter-attack right. As the training progressed, the speed they moved at kept creeping up until the both of them was fighting in real time again like it was done during the training set with the dummy. Toby started to gasp for air as fatigue set in, and his movements started to slow down again. Urist immediately punished him by doing a few rapid attacks that went straight trough Toby''s guard, causing several jolts of sharp pain before the world turned dark. Toby came too again standing in the middle of his room, feeling rather confused about what happened at the end of their session. He hadn''t even seen that last strike before it hit. ¡°So he finally trained you to death?¡± Ortho smirked from his position sitting on Toby''s bed looking up from one of Toby''s dirty magazines.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Toby plopped down on his office chair next to the useless computer, totally wrung out mentally. ¡°Yeah, I think I hit my limit hard,¡± he replied with a deep sigh just as Urist blinked into existence in the middle of the room as well. ¡°Good work today,¡± Urist praised Toby, soliciting a raised eyebrow from Ortho. ¡°You are a quick study, and have good mental reflexes,¡± he continued. ¡°If you train like this every day for a couple of centuries, you will have reached a passable state where you might be able to hold your own against some of the less mele combat savvy players.¡± He finished with a grin. ¡°A couple hundred years worth of this?¡± Toby''s mind went blank at the immense difference in skill between himself and the rest of the Nexus when it came to this type of gameplay. ¡°My oh my,¡± Ortho added with raised eyebrows. ¡°Urist must be impressed indeed to give such high praise.¡± ¡°Was that praise?¡± Toby replied totally exhausted. ¡°It sounded like an awful lot of training to even reach passable.¡± ¡°Not at all,¡± Urist replied. ¡°the most skilled players have had thousands of years of practice under their belts by now.¡± ¡°Ahhh. You guys make me feel so special,¡± Toby joked. ¡°I''ll get an inflated ego if you keep praising me like this.¡± ¡°Don''t worry,¡± Urist laughed. ¡°I''ll beat you back to your senses again next time we train.¡± ¡°I was afraid of that,¡± Toby replied with faked horror. In truth, he was quite pleased about Urist training him, he would hopefully be able to at least fight back a little bit when they inevitably ended up in direct conflict with other players, guilds, and factions. The worries he was carrying in regards to the 2 main factions was constantly in the back of his head these days. How long could they keep them away without open conflict? What kind of response should they expect once they found out that Toby and friends were trying to stay away from them? How would it affect his current relationships? ¡°That''s one big frown Toby,¡± Ortho said, startling Toby back to the present. ¡°I''m just thinking about our position within the nexus in relation to the Order and the Hegemony,¡± Toby replied. ¡°Not to mention how it can affect our relationship. I''m afraid that I might be dragging you guys down when push comes to shove.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Ortho nodded. ¡°I really don''t mind going down with a ship or 2 with you as long as we have some fun on the way.¡± ¡°And neither do I,¡± Urist added. ¡°We have had a round of dying horribly together after all.¡± ¡°Does getting killed in a horrible manner count more than beer?¡± Toby asked deadpan. ¡°Depends on the death.¡± Urist laughed. ¡°But sharing a terrible fate certainly is good bonding material.¡± ¡°True enough,¡± Ortho giggled. ¡°Especially shameful deaths that should never be mentioned again.¡± ¡°That particular death is something I''d rather forget,¡± Toby groaned. ¡°I got practically eaten alive.¡± ¡°That piece of angry bacon didn''t expect you to be so fatally spicy now did it,¡± Urist choked out between laughs. ¡°It was a brilliant way to go if I have to say so myself.¡± ¡°You at least got some revenge against those porkers,¡± Ortho pointed out. ¡°From now on I am going consider pig''s as an honorary vegetable until my thirst for revenge has been sated.¡± ¡°That is one achievement I''d happily have done without,¡± Toby replied, feeling a lot better now that they could laugh it off a bit. There in his trophy case was a small plaque engraved with the final moments of Toby and the monster boars final moments, Toby''s arm firmly lodged into the throat of the animal while smoke was pouring out of its ears. ¡°Since we are talking about achievements, how do you feel about that gold badge then Toby?¡± Ortho asked, pointing out his recently acquired golden Chtulullean badge. ¡°I don''t know,¡± Toby replied honestly. ¡°On one side, I feel like I have committed some kind of taboo.¡± ¡°On the other side, It was a really nice experience,¡± he continued. ¡°But more importantly than anything else, it has left me uncertain about the status of my relationship with her.¡± ¡°Don''t worry about taboos when it comes to getting down and dirty in the Nexus,¡± Urist advised while giving him a clap on the shoulder. ¡°I knew a guy who kept going back to this bug girl who always ate her lovers during the act.¡± ¡°I bet that girl is another one of your exes?¡± Ortho snorted before Toby could even wrap his head around the concept of getting joy out of getting eaten. ¡°Don''t be jealous Ortho, my love,¡± Urist replied. ¡°You have been the only one for me these last 500 years or so.¡± ¡°I still think you are a philandering goat that will screw anything with a pulse,¡± Ortho said accusingly. ¡°I do have some limits,¡± Urist defended himself. ¡°Unlike Alice, I''ve never gone cradle robbing¡± ¡°Hey, I''m considered an adult among my species you know,¡± Toby defended Alice. ¡°Suuuuuure,¡± Urist snorted. ¡°A mere babe at almost 40 years? Alice is probably 100 times older than you,¡± ¡°Toby''s a good guy,¡± Ortho snickered. Sort of jumping to Toby''s defense. ¡°He takes care of the elderly you know.¡± ¡°You wouldn''t be able to tell that she was a month over 20 if you saw her naked,¡± Toby countered. He had avoided the question of how old she was all together. The hints, given to him so far had convinced him that he was probably better off not knowing. ¡°I do wonder what motivates her to do the things she does,¡± Ortho asked with a frank tone. ¡°When you get to her age, the petty conflicts of us younger species should seem pretty insignificant and boring.¡± ¡°I actually have no idea,¡± Toby admitted. ¡°All I do know is that she has given me a lot of opportunities to make a difference for humanity.¡± ¡°That''s a really good thing too,¡± Urist added. ¡°without her interventions, humanity would have become easy pickings for those damn birds and clowns.¡± ¡°No use spending so much effort speculating on these things. Enjoy what you have been given and make the most of it,¡± Ortho finished. ¡°Now Let''s go grab some beer, Tomorrow is a busy day.¡± Taking Ortho''s wise words to heart, both Toby and Urist filed out behind him. Tomorrow was tomorrow, and today they would enjoy some freedom. 19 - The puppeteers message Toby entered the guild early this morning. The sun was shining as it always did in town, and he had a good feeling that unlike the first time''s total failure, everything would work out this time. Especially if Alice managed to come through and get them the funds to go the Divine route for getting the world settled. ¡°Good morning Toby.¡± Alice''s well-known voice greeted him at the door to his office when he was just about to enter it. ¡°Good morning Alice,¡± Toby replied cheerfully, before walking over to his chair to take a seat. Alice remained at the door, and as soon as he sat down she closed it tight. ¡°You have attracted some very dangerous attention, Toby,¡± Alice said with an accusing tone, eyes narrowed and showing him their green irises. ¡°How so?¡± Toby frowned. He didn''t think he''d done anything to harvest more attention than strictly needed to get things moving along. So what could she be referring to? And even more importantly Who were these people that had an interest in him? "This is making things complicated in so many ways.¡± Alice sighed before rooting Toby to his chair by placing herself squarely in front of him. She leaned in over him with a look that made Toby''s spine tingle in worry. She had dropped her Alice mask completely now, clearly showing off all her predatory qualities in all their intimidating glory. ¡°I am going to give you a message from someone you shouldn''t know. You are to neither confirm nor deny anything at all in that regards.¡± She said sternly while holding a finger up to his lips in a hush sign before continuing. ¡°When TIME visits, follow the White Rabbit.¡±
User:
secret Quest updated You have been given a hint about what to do: When TIME visits. Follow the White Rabbit.
Toby''s eyes widened and he was instinctively drawing in his breath to say something when Alice leaned forward and pressed her hand to his mouth to prevent him from making even a sound. She was furiously making the hush sigh again. ¡°You are not to say a word about this matter to anyone! And that includes me.¡± Alice looked angry. Her piercing green eyes looking straight into his as if she was trying to read his mind through them. Toby nodded meekly. Alice could be really intimidating when she got angry at something. After almost a minute of eye contact, she seemed satisfied that he wasn''t going to try to say anything anymore, and started to relax her grip on him. ¡°I can''t afford you failing in this matter Toby, it''s too important for everyone involved, Not just you and me, but our new friends and your people. You must follow instructions for now.¡± she finally growled before her visage slowly changed back into the blue-eyed innocent looking Alice again. Toby swallowed hard. This was getting complicated and quite a bit scary. He didn''t want his secret quest to involve her like this. He even less desired to keep it from her like she demanded. How could they trust each other if they couldn''t even share their troubles? There were no doubts that she had links to the same people that had given him this quest in the first place either. ¡°For completing a quest, I was given 4 tokens for divine level character creation.¡± She continued as if what had happened just a few seconds ago hadn''t happened at all. ¡°We are set to go back in and try to actually do something other than just dying this time around.¡± ¡°We are also obliged to negotiate access to the world with both the Band of Uncles and Anima Alliance.¡± She sighed. ¡°We desperately need the money even if I got these tokens this way." Toby nodded. ¡°I have anticipated, and made preparations for that.¡± "I have had some correspondence with both factions, and they only desire access to roam the world for now, not settle any proper civilizations.¡± ¡°That is good,¡± Alice replied with a breath of relief. ¡°I''m glad to see that you are on top of guild business at least.¡± ¡°I used to help run a major guild in one of Earths many games before the end,¡± Toby replied with a shrug. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.¡°It''s one of the few things I am pretty confident about my abilities to do well.¡± ¡°You certainly got the right mindset to make us successful,¡± Alice replied on her way out. ¡°I made the right choice when I chose you for this job.¡± ¡°It''s strange how it all seems to turn into one of my cultures fantasy worlds,¡± He sighed thoughtfully when she was gone. He was getting the full fantasy cast to work with it on his world it seemed. It was as if someone had planned all of these events out well in advance. Possibly long before Earth was assimilated, even purposefully having leaked enough information about the races of the nexus to inspire Earths rich mythological history and entertainment industry. Preparing a subset of humans to be compatible with what was to come. Humanity was so screwed if the plan was to have the social outcasts of introverts that defined the core demographic of hardcore fantasy, sci-fi, and RPG consumers. Her parting words echoed through his thoughts again while he sat there pondering his circumstances. After his promotion to User. Everything had happened so fast. He''d literally been tossed from one thing to the next, in a rush of activity. No sooner than he had gotten his room in order, had he been dragged through the procedures for creating a guild. He had even been directly made its master despite his status as newly promoted. He had found new allies and business partners with far too much ease. Heck, He had even kind of slain a dragon. Their best customer to date by far. Without them, they wouldn''t have been able to progress at all. Not to mention their hidden benefactors working in the shadows. All this was far too much to be just coincidence. There was also the matter of the secret quest to consider. It was as if he was in the eye of a storm of events that he had no idea bout, bor control over, and he was apparently the fulcrum that it all was going to revolve around. Toby closed his eyes to focus better on his thoughts. What were the goals of these people that operated in the shadows? What were they expecting of him that made them so sure that he was the one they needed? What if anything should he do with it? He pushed the distracting questions to the side in his mind and started to focus on what he needed. A Blue tinted empty field appeared in his mind for him to work with. He put himself and what he knew about himself in the center, then he proceeded to add Alice and drew a link between them. She had a quest to fetch him, and a mission objective that somehow included him reaching some unknown objective. Possibly there were feelings involved too, but he suspected that what they had done might be no more than a bit of fun. That part was probably irrelevant, so he pushed it away for now. Then he added and linked in Ortho and Urist, together in one picture, representing their status as a couple. They hadn''t said anything directly, but it was rather obvious that they were more than just normal friends if one judged by how they treated each other. Not that it mattered to Toby either way as long as they didn''t take any domestic dispute with them into a quest or other. Next, he added all the business partners they had managed to gather up, linking them to himself and whoever had brought them in. the guilds, the major alliances, and finally the unknown joker in the deck. The hidden faction working in the shadows. The shadows were clearly linked to himself and Alice. However, he suspected they were a factor behind Ortho and Urists timely arrival as well. There was no room for luck when the clear traces of a puppeteer was this evident, so he added a maybe link towards them as well. Toby took a mental step back and took a hard look at the map he had just drawn in his mind-space. It became obvious that Alice was a key player in setting the puppeteers plans into action. She had been pulling a lot of strings to get them where they were now after all. Toby wrung his mind for any idea how the major factions interacted with each other apart from the eternal war between the Damonians and the Order. No matter how hard he tried, he was unable to figure out their relationships with the minor neutral factions like the Anima Alliance and the Band of Uncles who were also eternally at war with each other. Since he couldn''t make any more progress, for now at least, Toby saved the relations map he had made in his mindscape for later and sighed. Nothing he could do at present except keep doing what he was already doing. No matter how frustrating it was to not be in any kind of control of his own fate. Tomorrow they would go back in, as well as send the Draconian''s off to settle the mountain lairs the triplets had identified for them. At least something was turning out as he had hoped. Despite this mornings optimism being totally misplaced. He also had to carefully choose the first set of settlers before he could summon them. They would be key people for the task of developing their civilization work. He needed to give the Alliance and Uncles the good news as well. That part would at the least be pleasant enough. 20 - The Age of Gods and Dragons ¡°Are you ready to embark?¡± a voice asked from a small window between the control and portal rooms. ¡°Yes, we are,¡± answered Dhagon. The former Draconian liaison. ¡°Activating portal, you may go as soon as it is fully open.¡± The voice replied. ¡°How do you tell them apart Toby?¡± one of the other Draconians asked, apparently confused about who the voice belonged to.. ¡°You can''t.¡± Toby shrugged, causing a mild outbreak of nervous laughter from everyone present. ¡°Are you guys ready?¡± Toby asked his party, consisting of the usual cast of Alice, Urist, and Ortho. ¡°Ready and eager,¡± Urist replied with a grin, Thumbs up. Earning him an eye-roll from Ortho and a slight smirk from Alice at his eagerness for what was to come. Toby himself, however, felt nothing but trepidation, as the portal swirled into being in front of them. Opening up to a vista high up on a mountaintop somewhere on the continent of Aethea. Today''s destination was chosen for the Convenience of the Draconians, rather than Toby and the others. If everything went as planned, it would be irrelevant where the crew landed anyway. As God''s they could just fly or teleport to wherever they wanted to be. They could even enter a spacial dimension set aside to be used by them for various divine tasks if they wanted. Being a Divine afforded them many advantages like this. Toby already had some ideas on how to use it effectively to maintain the illusion that the world was real for those who were to be reincarnated as adults directly from Earth. When Toby passed through the portal, the view instantly took his breath away. From this high up, it was quite possible to even see the curvature of this seriously oversized world when compared to Earth. It was also possible to see extremely far into the distance with the incredibly clean air and open skies this far above the cloud layer. Toby tried to peer into the distance, to see if he could see all the way over to where his planned civilization starting point would be, but it was simply too far away even from this height. The distance was on the order of trying to watch clear from one side of Australia to the other, So Toby didn''t exactly find it surprising. What he could see, was rows upon rows of jagged-looking mountain ridges going on for hundreds of miles towards the horizon. Defining the slopes of the mountain range they had officially dubbed the spine. Beyond the ridges, Toby could barely see a strip of green before it all faded into blue. He knew from experience that the green belt more than a thousand miles of forested hills. Some of them even taller than some of the larger mountains of Earth, but here they were too small to have an appreciable visual impact when compared to the true mountains of this world. On Earth, he would have officially been in space at this altitude, while here it was only the 4th tallest mountaintop of the spine. ¡°This is where we part ways Toby,¡± Dhagon said. ¡°It''s a pleasure to get to know you, and we will meet again when fate makes it so.¡± ¡°When fate wills it,¡± Toby replied with a respectful bow. The 4 Draconains each took out their transformation tokens for their new species and swallowed them in a single smooth motion. The effect was as sudden as it was impressive, with the Draconians bodies growing and reshaping themselves into the species that Toby had created just for them, in a matter of seconds. By the end of the process, 4 huge western style dragons stood at the edge of the cliffs each with their own distinct body color, red, blue, green, and golden. The dragons stretched their wings in unison and took off one after the other with jubilant screeches. Huge flaps of their wings sending gusts of icy wind back towards Toby and his party. The Dragons circled them a couple of rounds before the golden one roared. ¡°You will find the great dragon Dhagon at the tallest mountain in the world down south!¡± As the last word echoed across the mountain, he veered off and flew southwards. The red one peeled off next, Flying toward the north, She too roared her farewell ¡°I am the great dragon Nidergar, You will find me at the second tallest mountain of the world far to the north. The blue dragon did a loop and barrel roll before roaring his own farewell. ¡°I am the great dragon Jorngar, You will find me at the third tallest mountain in the world, the next mountain North of here.¡± Toby watched him as he did another barrel roll before receding into the distance at great speed. ¡°He is such a showoff!¡± The green dragon laughed with a laughter that made the mountain rumble with its echoes before she went in for landing rather than fly off into the distance like the others. She Landed right next to Toby before speaking in a surprisingly normal voice considering her great size. ¡°I am the great dragon Evargon. You will be able to find me here on this very mountain.¡± ¡°It''s a pleasure to have you here great dragon Evargon,¡± Toby replied with a bow. Their roles in the world as its great dragons were now in action, and treating them as the humbling creatures they were, was only basic politeness on his part. ¡°Will you let me have the honor to witness the birth of this worlds God''s?¡± She asked, causing Toby to almost get a coughing fit in surprise. He didn''t expect a request like that to come from a mighty dragon. ¡°It would be an honor to have you bear our testimony to the world of Aethea,¡± Alice replied, rescuing Toby from his tongue tied state. As if taking Alice''s words as a cue, Toby and friends took their white glowing marbles of divinity out of their inventories and put them in their mouths and swallowed them whole. Toby could feel an intense fire spreading out from his chest as soon as it went down. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.In seconds the fire had spread all through his body, radiating a light so strong that it washed out the surroundings. Blinding him, making him incapable of doing more than barely perceive the light emanating from the others as well. When the light reached its apex, his body started to transform from the inside out. He felt himself grow taller and straighter, muscles bulging, and great strength flowing through his limbs. Waves and eddies of an incredible power surged through his mind and heart, making him feel almost invincible and drunk at the same time. When the euphoria finally faded, he could see that his skin had gotten a golden sheen, while Alice had become a goddess of unreal beauty, with golden hair and skin glowing with a calming light, pulsing with the power of holiness. Toby looked over at Urist and Orho and was equally impressed by their transformations. Urist was still short and with a great beard, but his skin had the look of polished bronze, his beard the color of the deep earth while his icy blue eyes sparkled in the light as if they were precious gems. His aura felt as solid as if it radiated the power of the mountains themselves. Ortho, on the other hand, had his hair changed into a verdant green, his skin was deeply tanned. Eyes deep blue giving the feeling as if they were ponds of water. A strong aura of teeming life completed the image. They had indeed turned into the kind of God''s one would expect to rule a world of might and magic Toby mused. ¡°I greet you, divine lords of Aethea,¡± Evargon said humbly, head bowed in supplication. ¡°As repayment of this great favor you have bestowed upon me, I will be keeping an eye out for your people during my stay in this world.¡± ¡°I believe they will be doing great things with this world during the next thousand years, and I will be happy to see them thrive under your divine guidance¡± ¡°We will do our best,¡± Toby vowed earnestly, It was his hope too that a great civilization would grow on this world, one that could still be a safe haven for humanity thousands of years from today after all. ¡°it''s time we got to work Toby,¡± Alice said, putting her hand on his shoulder. ¡°Yes, we need to get going,¡± Toby nodded back. ¡°Farewell, for now, Evargon,¡± Toby called back to the great Dragon, as he and the others launched themselves into the air and flew towards the horizon at great speed. Being a God felt incredibly great, especially when one could just jump off a cliff and soar like a bird. The terrain flashing by in a blur, high mountains giving way to highland plateaus, and scrub-land. Toby spotted a great river below and flew down towards it. Soaring past the Highlands and into the undulating forests of the Midlands. The river passing through great sections of woods and plains, where it was joined by other smaller rivers on its inexorable way towards the ocean that was gradually becoming visible on the horizon from up high. It Cutt across the landscape in lazy turns, Cascading through huge canyons and onwards towards the monstrously large bay area Toby had chosen as a starting point for the settlement of humanity. They slowed down again as the coast drew near, keeping a keen eye out for a suitablelocation for the first village to settle. ¡°There,¡± Toby pointed out to the others. ¡°What do you think about that place where this river, and the one from the north, meet up just before they enter the bay?¡± ¡°It''s defensible,¡± Urist responded thoughtfully. ¡°Good access to water-based travel as well.¡± ¡°I can definitely envision a great port town here in the future,¡± Ortho added his assent. ¡°I agree,¡± Alice added. ¡°That hill a little east of the bay is much taller than the rest, and could make a perfect spot for a planetary pantheon as well.¡± ¡°It''s decided then,¡± Toby nodded as he flew down and landed on the hill Alice had pointed out. ¡°We will set down our pantheon here, and found the first village on thatsmall hill just where the 2 great rivers join together just before they enter the bay." ¡°Let''s perform the ritual then,¡± Ortho said, pulling out his symbol of divinity, A green leafy wine. Toby and the others pulled theirs out too, A Blazing sun for Alice, A bright red emerald for Urist, and 3 blue stars for Toby. Representing the trifecta of civilization. Knowledge, Justice, and Unity. Without another word, all 4 of them tossed their symbols into the air above the hilltop, and channeled power into them, to activate their first true miracle. At first, very little happened apart from a slight glow appearing on the symbols, but as they poured more power into them, they started to shine brighter and rotate around a common epicenter. Faster and faster they rotated until it was impossible to tell them apart. The glow intensified until a portal opened up in the middle, and a giant pillar of stone descended slowly towards the ground. As soon as it touched down, rocks erupted from the ground, turning the ground around the pillar into a crude cobblestone plaza. Toby sat down heavily, his body and mind completely exhausted from the summoning of their pantheon. Until they had some worshipers, they would remain practically powerless for now. As he sat there resting, Toby could feel a faint pulse of power trickling towards him from far to the south-east. It carried with it the whispering of a prayer from Dhagon. ¡°Does anyone else sense a prayer?¡± Ortho exclaimed excitedly. ¡°Yes,¡± Urist replied. ¡°It sounds like Nidegar iswhispering to me.¡± ¡°I can hear Evargon,¡± Ortho added. ¡°Jorngar,¡± Alice said, giving Toby a nod, Prodding him to share as well. ¡°Dhagon,¡± Toby replied. The dragons had apparently planned this beforehand, well aware of the party''s need for the power granted to divines through prayer. Toby suddenly started laughing out loud, causing the others to look at him with worried eyes. ¡°It makes so much sense why they chose their attributes the way they did now,¡± Toby exclaimed. They chose the ones that would be the most compatible with our respective divine powers.¡± ¡°But not even we knew what powers would be ours beforehand,¡± Ortho replied, doubt evident in his voice. ¡°They didn''t have to,¡± Toby explained, giving Alice a look to tell her to continue the explanation. ¡°Toby''s right,¡± She nodded, taking his cue. ¡°They made it their desire to be compatible with us. Just like the system used our desires and personalities to give us our current powers, it made certain that they would be compatible those powers as well.¡± ¡°But they got their attributes first,¡± Urist pointed out the flaw in their logic. ¡°True enough,¡± Toby nodded, taking over again. ¡°But the system had already decided on what we would be given the day we got the divine upgrade marbles.¡± The gang kept talking about the future while resting up. This is a turning point, Toby mused to himself as the dusk settled upon the vast landscape. Tomorrow the real work would begin, but for tonight they would rest.
Guild;
Quest completed: Surveyor of the land Reward active, The recruitment pool containing all the lost children of Terra is now available. Choose your summons wisely.
21 – God is real, and his name is Toby?!! The story of Sarah part 1 Sarah whimpered softly while lying motionless in a fetal position in the corner of a padded room. He thoughts kept churning around and around uncontrollably. She wasn''t insane, she had to hold onto that thought. It was everyone else who had gone insane, it had to be. Dead people didn''t come back to life. They just didn''t. They couldn''t, except in movies. Anything was possible in movies after all. Danny didn''t come back as a zombie, but she could clearly remember him dying, then a less than a week ago, he was suddenly back 2 days ago, as if nothing had happened at all. It had to be some kind of sick joke. Her broken arm and leg were for some strange reason no longer broken either. The entire accident had somehow been... erased?. The memory of the accident kept replaying itself in her memories again and again. Mocking her with its stark harsh reality, while the world wasn''t, couldn''t be real. They had been on their way to her new apartment. She''s been really happy that day, Her promotion had come through, and she had been transferred to another facility to become its logistics manager. Her former job had been good to her. Managing the service technicians schedules and inventories had been the perfect fit for someone with her talents. Images of the accident flashed to the forefront of her mind again. Banishing the happy thoughts, bringing forth another round of whimpering. It hurt, hurt so much. The image of the swerving trailer while it''s driver wide-eyed and panicked tried hard to regain control. The hard sideswipe that threw her brother''s car over the guardrail, and the vomit-inducing roll down the hillside. Around and around, ever faster and faster, until the sudden stop. Her memories had turned empty at that point. Serious concussion they said. A miracle that it hadn''t been worse they said. She didn''t agree... ¡°It was a curse, the entire accident had been a curse,¡± She mumbled to herself before she disappeared into the hell of her memories again. When she came too, she had been upside down, the belt strap digging painfully into her thighs. A dull ache throbbing through her right leg, combined with the strange angle it had, underneath where the belt held her thigh firmly against the seat, told her it was broken. badly broken. A dripping sound to her left had caught her attention then. making her look over at Danny Danny had been sitting. At first, she didn''t comprehend what she was seeing. The dripping came off the end of a branch only a couple of inches, no, a few centimeters away from her head. Her job had forced her to learn metric after all. The distraction was short lasting. Her eyes had followed the branch towards the source of the wetness causing the dripping. A pool of some dark liquid had already pooled on the inside of the roof, just above her head. It was Danny, the source was Danny. A broken branch was protruding from his neck, blood seeping lazily from the exit wound. She remembers screaming then, and voices. Voices of people she didn''t know. ¡°Are you alright?¡± ¡°Oh my God! It''s horrible!¡± ¡°Shut up, she can hear you, idiot!¡± ¡°Someone call the emergency services!¡± The last voice had been a deep calm baritone, commanding, as if it could bend everyone to obey it''s owners commands. She had met him afterward. A strong man in an army uniform. Grey streaks in his hair showing his advanced age. He had brought flowers, A huge bouquet of white fragrant lilies. She had been rude to him then. Ignoring his presence, just waiting for him to leave. She hadn''t talked to anyone at all for a couple of days at that point. He had been patient, very patient with her. Sitting there for hours waiting for her to respond to his presence. She had finally broken down and asked why, and he had simply answered, ¡°I don''t leave people behind when they are hurt.¡± She had cried then. Cried, shouted, and cursed. Cursed the world for being so cruel. He had kept coming back too. Every day he had come, supporting her, and consoling her when needed. She could remember the hurt faces of her mom and dad when she refused to talk with them. She couldn''t face them after the accident. Their grieving faces was too much to handle. She had seen John talk to them. So calm and dependable. Her dad nodding at his words, seeming to calm down before they had left together. They all thought she was mad now. They thought that nothing had happened and that she had lost her mind when she had started to cry and scream. Danny was dead, it had to be an impostor taking his place. Suddenly she felt a calming warmth flow through her mind, spreading through entire being, and making everything glow. Soothing her anguished mind and making reality slowly fade away into nothing. After what felt like no time at all, other people faded into view around her. Ethereal fog swirled a flowed lazily around them in a slow ebb and flow drawn around them by some invisible current in an eerily quiet mesmerizing dance. ¡°John?¡± she whispered, Recognizing John as one of the people she could see in this eerie place. ¡°I.. Is that you?¡± Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.¡°Sarah!¡± John replied. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± "What is this place, John?" Sara questioned. ¡°This place appears to be a place for the dead.¡± He replied with an apologetic smile. ¡°The dead?¡± doubt creeping through her, she didn''t think she had died there in that padded room. Had he died then? impossible, he had been as healthy as someone half is age easy ¡°But you can''t be dead!¡± ¡°How else can we explain what happened?¡± John replied. ¡°I clearly remember your loss, and then it suddenly was as if it didn''t happen.¡± ¡°It is the same for all of us here,¡± An old lady clad in a nun''s habit interrupted. ¡°This must be my punishment for losing my way.¡± ¡°I''m pleased to tell you that such is not the case,¡± A soothing female voice said from somewhere out of sight in the fog, causing everyone to turn towards its source. ¡°None of you are here to be punished, but to be given a new chance at life.¡± It was a soft, yet commanding male voice this time. ¡°Lord forgive my presumptuousness!¡± The nun had fallen to her knees, hands folded in supplication towards the beings emerging slowly from somewhere beyond the fog. The fog swirled away from them, making a clear path for the 4 stately beings entering the clear area around the people present. The fairly tall one in the front especially caught her eye. His deep blue eyes that seemed to be filled with so much wisdom and power caused her heart to skip a beat. His golden skin glowing with barely subdued power, making her shiver in trepidation. ¡°Calm your heart, my child,¡± The female goddess said to the kneeling nun. ¡°There is no need for supplication here. We are the ones who have come to you asking for favors this time.¡± ¡°what can we, mere mortals have that might interest divine beings such as you?¡± the nun continued. Still not getting up. ¡°In due time child,¡± the goddess replied. ¡°My name is Tyr,¡± The blue-eyed God said, interrupting whatever else the nun wanted to say. ¡°We are sorry, but your world is going to end soon.¡± ¡°We cannot prevent the inevitable,¡± He continued, ¡°But for now the gods are trying to keep the world alive for long enough to let humanity start anew in a new world.¡± ¡°Is that the cause of our confused memories?¡± John asked beside her. ¡°Yes,¡± The tall one nodded. ¡°Reality itself is breaking apart, there is not much time left.¡± ¡°what would you have us do then?¡± Sarah asked, trying to get back to a semblance of her senses. Knowing full well, that if she did, she would likely go back to screaming and cowering, like she was doing right before she ended up here. ¡°We will offer you a new world to live in,¡± The Goddess answered. ¡°There is a price, however, we cannot let you bring the madness of the old world with you.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± A big broad-shouldered man rumbled from the back of the group. ¡°It means that you have to leave your old lives and memories behind,¡± Tyr replied. ¡°It means that you have to start afresh from the beginning of time, in an untamed world untouched by human hands.¡± ¡°What happens if we refuse?¡± The man asked, his voice cracking a bit as if he had recently been crying a lot. ¡°You will go back to where you were before we summoned you here,¡± The short member of the group of Gods rumbled. His voice more than a match for the big man despite his diminutive size. The thought of going back to that madness made Sarah whimper a bit in fear. She couldn''t go back to that. It hurt too much. ¡°I accept!¡± She stated loudly, letting the idea of salvation in forgetfulness roll over her with a sense of relief. ¡°I accept too,¡± John nodded beside her, taking her hand. ¡°I have lived a long life in the old world, and there is nobody left who needs me there.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± Sarah whispered quietly, having him along made her feel safe in her choice. He would make everything turn out alright like he had before. ¡°I''m in for another chance at a life with adventure.¡± A young girl at the back exclaimed, setting off a series of asserting answers. Nobody seemed to want to go back, rather preferring to take a chance on the unknown future offered. ¡°I see we have chosen well,¡± Tyr smiled. ¡°Sarah, will you please step forward?¡± Sara did as she was told, and went before him and bowed down. ¡°For your sharp mind and analytical abilities, I bestow upon you the mantle of rulership.¡± Tyr put his hand on her head, and she could feel a power surge through her, burning away her painful memories. The only thing remaining a soothing warmth in her heart. ¡°With the right to rule, comes responsibility. Lead well and act responsibly with the power given.¡± ¡°John, Please step forward,¡± Tyr called out. John responded just as she did, and Tyr bestowed upon him the strength to protect that which he held dear. The last one Tyr called forth was a petite Asian looking girl named Eve. He bestowed upon her the gift of knowledge and power to alter the world. When he stepped back, the tall green haired God stepped forward and took his place before he called out the names Jane and Alex. Jane was the eager girl from before, and the man was a broad-shouldered bear of a man. Huge muscles and calloused brown hand witnessing a life of hard labor lived out in the sun. ¡°I am the God Oxylus, and I bestow upon you the gifts of nature. May your senses be keen, and never betray you.¡± Oxylus then stepped back and the short bearded God stepped forward. ¡°Josh and Bob, please come forth!¡± He said in a brisk tone of voice. When the 2 hugely different men stood before the short God, Sarah had to hold back a tiny laugh at the comical sight. Bob was a big man by all accounts, by most standards, even huge, while Josh, while not small at all, was like a child next to him. The God was shorter still, and seeing him give his blessings to the 2 men reminded her of children playing at being lords and servants, with a comically short lord. ¡°I bestow upon you the gift of creation. May your hard work and creativity guide your hands to craft works of art that can last until the end of time.¡± The God finished his blessing. The Goddess stepped in front of the kneeling nun, who had still not moved at all from her position as if she was in prayer. ¡°Felicia my child.¡± The goddess started. ¡°All your sins have been forgiven ages ago.¡± ¡°Thank you my Goddess,¡± The nun answered, raising her head to look at her with brimming eyes. ¡°My name is Anahita my child,¡± The Goddess replied. ¡°I am sorry, but my gift is both a curse and a blessing, Please accept the curse of the oracle, May the future you behold be a gentle one, and let its visions guide you well.¡± ¡°I accept your gift with all my heart, may I be your faithful servant until the end of my days,¡± Felicia replied in a humble tone. ¡°It is time to go, my people, the new world awaits.¡± Tyr waved his hand, and the strange place and the Gods they met within it, faded away as if it was all a dream. 21 – The Garden of Eden The story of Sarah Sarah blinked to clear her eyes, looking up an immaculately clear blue sky. A stimulating fragrance reminiscent of soft earth and green grass tickled her nose, and she felt totally relaxed. Dreamy memories fluttered through her mind. A deal made with the God''s, A life left behind completely. What had she been before? She didn''t know anymore. That was part of the deal... she remembered. ¡°Who am I?¡± She mumbled to herself.
Sarah
HP: 100
MP: 50
Leadership Tribal
Warrior Lvl 2
Traits: Sharp
Calm
Analytical
Deity Toby
Spear Lvl 1
Fire Lvl 1
Arcane Lvl 1
Abilities Inspiration
Analyze
Spells Light
Burning hands
The window that opened up in her mind startled her at first, but then memories flooded through her, Memories of a system that let you know things about yourself. that this was how it had always been. ¡°It is time to wake up now,¡± A ghostly whisper spoke in her mind. ¡°You have work to do.¡± "Yes, yes I do," She whispered, "I must get up now." Sara picked herself up from the ground and started to look around. The fog in her mind vanishing as morning dew in the sun. Around her were the 7 other people she traveled here with. Including John. John had been important to her she remembered, but not why. He was a handsome young man with dark hair and a healthy bronze colored body now, unlike before. He had been an old man when they spoke with the God''s. ¡°Time to get up people,¡± Sarah clapped her hands. ¡°Something tells me that we have someplace we need to be.¡± ¡°You are right,¡± A stern looking silver-haired girl that Sarah could remember was named Felicia replied. ¡°I had visions of a great city by the sea where 2 great rivers meet at the border of the ocean.¡± ¡°I had a vision too,¡± The huge man called Bob added with the deep booming voice, His large frame adorned with even larger muscles that rippled when he moved. ¡°I saw us building a village, that grew into a sprawling metropolis filled with people of all kinds.¡± ¡°That stuff won''t build itself without us there to do it, and we have a long dangerous journey ahead of us,¡± John interjected before anyone else could pipe in with any more visions. ¡°So what do we do now chief.¡± He gave Sarah a suggestive look. ¡°First we need to figure out what assets we have,¡± Sara activated her divinely given Analyze ability. ¡°We have no tools, weapons, or supplies,¡± Eve, the Asian looking girl that looked more at home in a library than out in the wild reported. Sarah nodded, ¡°All we have is our skills, So what skills do you have?¡± Eve''s eyes glazed over for a moment before she replied. ¡°I can fight with a staff, as well as cast a few magic spells." ¡°I can fight with a spear and track animals,¡± John continued from where Eve left off. ¡°I can hunt with both spears and throwing spears,¡± Jane, the blonde girl with the mesmerizingly blue eyes added. Alex the big African looking guy raised his hand. ¡°I have the foraging skill, as well as a detect poison ability. If you can get me an ax, I can use that too.¡± Sara had no doubts about the man''s ability to wield a heavy ax. His black body was even more muscular than Bob''s. The pair could probably carry huge log''s between them if needs be. ¡°I am only a devout disciple of the god''s, no ability to fight, but I can heal light wounds,¡± Felicia added her information to the rest. ¡°I can make stuff,¡± Josh glanced over at Alex thoughtfully, ¡°But I''m sorry to say that at present I can only make spears, staffs, and clubs.¡± Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.¡°You are more useful than me Bob sighed. "I''m a builder that only knows how to build a proper fire-pit or dig a latrine.¡± ¡°Don''t be rude towards the fire-pit,¡± Josh replied quickly. ¡°You need to make me one So I can make those spears without setting the forest on fire.¡± ¡°And you can always tag along with me as a pack mule,¡± Alex laughed. ¡°You''re a big guy after all.¡± ¡°Thanks, guys.¡± Bob smiled. ¡°I feel better now.¡± ¡°There is no dead weight in this group at all,¡± Sarah waved the banter off. ¡°I think I have a plan for how we are to proceed for today at least." "John, Jane, as the only hunters in the group. I need you to be scouts today. We need a small cave or another campsite that can shield us from the elements until we can get some better clothing." Sara pointed towards Felicia. "You are with me today, our job is to prepare tonight''s campsite. we need to find a suitable spot at the edge of the forest, and gather up as much firewood as possible." "We need you to start working at making the equipment we need if we are to survive Josh, so I want you to go with Alex who''s job is to forage for some food for tonight." That only left Eve and Bob as the odd ones out, and she didn''t need them in the camp. "Eve, you are to assist Alex, and I want you Bob, to work with Josh. He probably has the need for some muscle to haul all his stuff back to camp." "Alright people," Sara called out. "If we work together, we will be able to not just survive, but in the future also thrive. Let''s work hard today!" The cheer from the others as they went their way to get today''s tasks done told her that her inspiration ability had kicked in with full effect. Smiling happily she grabbed Felicia to start their own task. Sarah wiped sweat from her forehead after having put down the last bundle of firewood for the day. The shadows had turned long, and the sky was getting dim as they all settled down to eat the meager rations that Alex had managed to scrounge up during the day. They had gotten some good progress today Sarah mused, looking over the campsite. They didn''t have much, just some piles of grass as bedding and a simple fire-pit, but it sure would beat sleeping in the cold dark, with nothing but dirt beneath one''s body. Sarah cast burning hands on the wood stacked in the fire-pit to light it up and sat down along with the rest of them. The wood caught on fire immediately, blossoming into a warm crackling source of light and warmth. Bringing a feeling of safety against the dark and cold with it. ¡°Since everyone is present, let''s eat and take stock of our situation again,¡± Sara started. ¡°I want to hear from our scouts first.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Jane replied. ¡°We went half a day east and found a very nice campsite next to a giant hollow tree. The inside was large enough to fit us all comfortably, as well as a small campfire. It should provide a nice roof over our heads." ¡°There was a lot of animal tracks as well in the area,¡± John added. ¡°Not to mention an easy water source in the form of a small stream close by. Possibly even some fish. More importantly, We can follow it downhill to find a bigger stream or river when we are ready to leave for our final goal." ¡°That is such great fortune for us. Sleeping with a roof of sorts over our heads will be tremendously beneficial to our ability to survive,¡± Sara praised. ¡°How about you Josh and Bob. How''s those thing''s you were working on coming along?¡± ¡°I got 2 skils unlocked today,¡± Josh started, grinning wide with pride while pulling out a rope and a basket made out of twine. ¡°I Figured out how to make rope and weave baskets with bark.¡± ¡°Man, My savior, my pal, You have no idea how much I wanted one of those basket things today!¡± Alex beamed. ¡°I want a whole pile of those baskets as soon as possible to help carry all that food that we had to leave behind from further into the forest." ¡°My Patron God gave me divine inspiration for these,¡± Josh replied a slight tinge of red coloring his cheeks from the praise. ¡°Good Job nonetheless,¡± Sarah nodded. ¡°Bob?¡± ¡°I''ve mostly kept Josh in stock with materials today, It turned out that I needed the rope for my own idea to become possible, but I''ve had very limited success in making it yet. I''m halfway done with making a simple carrying device for hauling heavier loads between 2 people, or dragging it with one end on the ground. I also have some ideas about making a bed of sorts, to keep us off the ground at night." ¡°Sounds very useful,¡± Sarah nodded, not exactly useful straight away, but something that would make life better in the future. ¡°Me and eve found quite a bit of food,¡± Alex started without waiting to be asked. ¡°The main issue was getting the food back to the camp, but Josh, must Ortho bless his heart, has already come through with a solution.¡± ¡°I''m a follower of Urist, the God of arts and crafts you know,¡± Josh quipped with a smile. "It''s his divine inspiration that let me do it in a single day." ¡°Alright,¡± Sarah broke up the religious discussion. ¡°I think I have a plan for tomorrow." "First, we head towards the new campsite as early as possible, so that I and Felicia can start cleaning it out for us to live in." She started. ¡°Josh, Bob, I want you 2 to work together again tomorrow when we get there. It seems that you both need each other to progress with our crafting needs. The baskets and rope were good inventions, but we desperately need some weapons for hunting with.¡± "I needed the fire to make the spears, so I''ll be working on that once this meeting is over¡± Josh replied. ¡°I should have at least 2 ready by the time when I absolutely have to go to sleep.¡± ¡°We also need to have someone on night-watch,¡± John added.¡± If Josh is going to work on spears during the first watch, then I can do the second watch alone, with Jane doing third along with Eve.¡± ¡°That sounds like a sound plan,¡± Sarah conceded. Relief flowing through her, she was already tired, and staying awake to keep the fire going wasn''t something she exactly desired to do. ¡°You are our security man, after all, so we will follow your advice on those matters.¡± Reports and planning done, the tribes talk devolved into small talk about the various things they had done and seen during the day, as well as their hopes and dreams for the future. Josh had started his work on the spears by using the fire to help shape and sharpen large stripped saplings. Sara thought he looked happy working on making stuff, A good trait to have for one that would have to carry all the group''s needs for equipment until more people were sent to help them by the God''s. She could only hope that the rest of them would be equally happy with their roles in the group, but the future looked bright. Hiatus Yeah. as the title says. I''m sorry I didn''t make an anouncement earlier, but due to circumstances, I have to put the story on hiatus. I got a golden oportunity handed to me by the goddes fortuna herself, and I am thus obligated to spend every waking hour learning the new trade offered to me. I''m having a lot of fun doing so, so don''t worry, I''m very happy. If anyone wish to pick the story up, then send me a PM, and I can pass on the details of what I had planned for the future, both short term and long term. The notes aren''t that detailed, but there is enough ideas and stuff there for a whole lot of chapters and room for lots of side stories. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. I''m not going to let completely go of the core concept of the story however, but I will probably be taking it into a whole other medium if I get the time to do so. It''s related to my new trade, so it''s probably a 50/50 proposition right now. For now, I consider the title and core ideas as mine. whoever takes the reign of continuing this story, will have to take that posibility into their consideration, but I''m sure a mutually beneficial deal can be worked out if that is what happens. I will not however, now or in the future, demand that whomever takes the story over and completes it relinquish any of their work. You are free to do with the parts you write whatever you want, except publish it for monetary gain, or claim the story as your sole IP. Pateron is fine however. Writers are fueled by food and beer after all.