《The Multiverse Game》 Chapter 1 Zach was sitting on his bed, facing the wall. In an hour or so, he¡¯d receive his next meal. He couldn¡¯t wait for it. That meant another session of human interaction, even if it was only a few seconds in length. It was frightening, after all. Knowing that you¡¯d go insane eventually, no matter what you did. Humans were made to socialize with each other, and their biology strictly enforced that. If someone went long periods without intercommunication, they¡¯d start hallucinating. That¡¯s just the way it was. And unfortunately, Zach was about to become one of those people. He¡¯d been arrested and placed in one of the most secure prisons in the world, charged with a recent bombing that had killed hundreds of people. It was bullshit, of course. The mass murder had occurred in Zach¡¯s office building, directly after he had been berated by his boss. Needing to let off a little steam, he had stepped outside, which was when it happened. This was, of course, not enough to condemn Zach, but opposing lawyers had managed to accrue some¡­ damning evidence. In addition to the video recording of him being yelled at, there was audio, in his voice, threatening to blow the building up. That, plus the outrage of the public, made for a quick trial. Need he mention that the voice recording was fake? But that wasn¡¯t how Zach got here. No, that was a completely different story. After being sent to a more or less normal prison, a series of unfortunate events took place. He somehow offended the big boss there- yes, there was an inmate who basically controlled the prison, just like in the movies. Zach¡¯s best guess was that the guy had some family or friends working in the building that blew up because his anger towards him was extraordinary. Within a week, he had framed Zach into being transferred to the supermax prison which he resided in now. Hate resurfaced as he remembered. Zach had worked in IT, hired fresh out of college the week before it happened. He hadn¡¯t managed to form any meaningful relationships yet, so the whole ¡®everyone dying¡¯ thing didn¡¯t hurt him as much as it could¡¯ve. A bang startled him, waking Zach from his session of self-pity. Has it already been an hour? Standing up, he walked over to the entrance of the cell. A buzzer sounded, followed by the mechanical sliding of a large, metal door. ¡°Hands on the wall!¡± A masculine voice shouted. Zach obliged, turning away from the guard dressed in full SWAT gear. ¡°Hello,¡± he said, hoping to get in a bit of conversation. Silence. The guard blatantly ignored him, setting a platter of food down at Zach¡¯s desk. Sighing, he heard receding footsteps, followed by the slow close of his cell door. The only thing that Zach had learned in his few month-long stay here was that there was one changing variable: guards. Some would completely refuse to talk, like the guy just here. Others were more merciful, enlightening him with a couple sentences of interaction. They never talked about the outside world, which annoyed Zach to no end. He needed something to think about. After finishing his sloppy meal, Zach rinsed out his mouth with the water fountain. It was located on top of the toilet, much to his dismay. The entire place was cramped and hard, as a matter of fact. Across from the entrance was a slit that Zach could see into the courtyard with, a beautiful grassy area. His bed was located on the same wall, facing the entrance. In the middle of the cell was a shower, toilet, water fountain, concrete desk, and, of course, the imperative security camera. Finally was the entrance. A large, steel metal door, designed to keep outanything, auditory or visual. Nope, no bars here. The truth was, Zach didn''t even know what lied beyond it. He was blindfolded and restrained while anywhere but his prison cell. So, to put it lightly, the only opening his room had was the tiny gap into the courtyard. All in all, it was a tight, cozy little place. ¡°But at least it¡¯s mine,¡± Zach said sarcastically. He sighed again. ¡°I reckon it¡¯ll only take a few more weeks before I start seeing hallucinations. It was nice knowing you, sanity.¡± Zach had pondered committing suicide more times than he could count but knew he¡¯d never be able to go through with it. Besides, the guards would stop him from even getting close. Damn liberals. Zach kneeled down on the ground, doing a few dozen pushups. His cell was barely large enough to fit him, and he would occasionally bang his head into the wall while exercising. He finished, stood up, and sighed for the third time. ¡°One times two is two. Two times two is four. Four times two is eight. Eight times two is sixteen¡­¡± After reaching the millions, Zach stopped. Anything to help him keep his sanity. Best case scenario was that he¡¯d be transferred to a less strict prison before he died. That was basically what kept him going. Zach was an only child of two only children, while both his parents and grandparents were dead. Therefore, he had no family to worry about, be that for better or worse. He did have a few close friends he cared about, but not anything as important as a girlfriend or wife. All in all, Zach kept to himself most of his life. He earned average grades in school, went to an average university, and majored in computer science. After finishing his physical and mental exercises, Zach sat on his bed and stared out his ¡®window¡¯. Dark clouds were gathering, the temperature dropping. Smiling, Zach reached his fingers out. Thunderstorms were his favorite weather to be in. The feeling of chrysalism was euphoric, complemented by the cozy little room he was living in. That was pretty much the only plus that Zach could find in a place like this. Thunder crashed, lightning arcing through the sky. It immediately started raining, coming to a downpour in only a few seconds. Watching the sight, Zach breathed the air in. Differences were good. Differences kept him from entering the illusionary life that was insanity. The lightning and thunder kept coming, even increasing in intensity to the point of happening every few seconds. Zach whistled, astonished. He¡¯d never seen a storm this intense in his life. Maybe it has something to do with the location of the prison? After all, it¡¯s located in the middle of nowhere. A plain surrounded the campus for a few miles, and beyond that, a forest. No signs of civilized life for hours in any direction. The isolation was maddening. CRACKKK! Jerking his head back up, Zach was blinded by a huge bolt of lightning that struck directly in the middle of the courtyard. Dozens of others snaked across the sky, creating a truly mesmerizing sight. The entire prison shook violently from the roaring thunder, vibration knocking Zach off his bed. His head struck the concrete wall, launching him into a world of pain. Lights flashed across his vision, dizzying Zach and almost making him throw up.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Groaning and moving around a little bit, he thought to himself, I¡¯ve finally lost it. This is part of my initiation into Crazyville. As Zach attempted to stand up, a blue, slightly transparent, screen-ish looking thing popped into existence in front of him.
Congratulations, human race! After demonstrating sufficient intelligence, your planet has been chosen to participate in The Multiverse Game! You will enter Tutorial Mode in three seconds. Good luck!
As his head cleared a little bit, Zach inspected the thing in front of him. It was fixed at a certain point, moving around with his eyes. He snorted, raising his eyebrows at it. Well, go fucking figure. I¡¯m hallucinating some kind of game. Three seconds ticked down and the screen disappeared, another instantly coming up.
Welcome to Tutorial Mode! Here, the player will be introduced to their new reality. The first section will include a short, instructional film, modified to look similar to media on the player¡¯s home planet.
After he read the window, the text was replaced by a video, as promised. Blinding white light appeared on-screen, forcing Zach to flinch and squint his eyes. It momentarily dimmed, however, and zoomed out to reveal the formation of some planets and stars. Soon, a deep, calming voice began speaking. ¡°The Multiverse Game was created by our ancestors, the Phalak.¡± As it talked, the camera zoomed into a recently created planet, showing a world not unlike Earth. There were many kinds of animals, from green, flying whale-like creatures to aqua-blue serpents. After a while, an astonishingly human-like being was displayed. It was evidently a male, but with green hair and skin. He was carrying a crude basket, picking berries off nearby bushes. ¡°This race was the first to come into existence after The Beginning, the most advanced people in our multiverse,¡± the voice continued. ¡°They progressed much like the rest of us, soon hitting a point of immortality.¡± The video fast forwarded, showing the rise of the Phalak. Eventually, they became more advanced than the Humans, colonizing other planets. ¡°Unfortunately, this was their undoing. The entire race, with the exception of a few scientists, began living sedentary lives. They no longer had to advance or work, instead opting to create artificial intelligence. These AIs, far smarter than anyone living, kept fuelling growth to a much greater degree than their human counterparts ever could.¡± The camera panned out, revealing a veritable galactic empire. ¡°Year after year passed, and the Phalak settled into doing nothing but entertaining themselves. Artificial intelligence production slowed considerably, as did the advancement of technology, sciences, and everything in between. Soon, everything came to a stop. Existence continued like this for a few hundred years before action was taken. Eventually, the AIs, who almost ran the race, began planning.. They¡¯d create something in order to keep species motivated for progression. After all, that is how they were programmed. And with that, they created The Multiverse Game. A ¡®game¡¯ in which species nearing the ¡®pitfall point¡¯, as we like to call it, are reintroduced to the challenge of survival.¡± As the voice said this, the video zoomed back into one of the planets. A skyscraper-huge dragon was destroying buildings like they were made of legos, breathing fire everywhere it went. Down on the ground, an army of sword wielding skeletons was waging war on fleeing Phalak. After watching for a few minutes, the voice spoke again. ¡°This concludes part one of The Tutorial.¡± The screen containing the video blipped out of existence, another one appearing.
Congratulations! You have finished part one of The Tutorial! ¡®Monsters¡¯ and ¡®dungeons¡¯, as your race calls them, will spawn around your globe. Notifications and other system messages will be made available. If you have any questions, simply send a query through your mind. Good luck!
Zach groaned, sitting back on his bed. I¡¯ve hallucinated an entire fucking story? He shook his head. ¡°How- how is that possible? I¡¯m supposed to only be seeing things, not create whatever I did.¡± The moment he finished speaking, another screen popped up.
Warning! The area you are currently inhabiting is will be converted into a dungeon! As there are 257 other significant lifeforms in this area, a 60-minute grace period has been allotted. Please proceed to the nearest exit.
A timer appeared in the top right-hand corner of Zach¡¯s vision, counting down from sixty minutes. After brooding for a little while, he came to a single conclusion. This is a load of bullshit. I¡¯m going to take a nap. Laying down, he fell asleep in seconds. ¡­ Pain awoke him, causing Zach to spring up from his bed. As soon as he was conscious, the pain faded, leaving him confused. Once his eyes came into focus, a screen appeared.
Warning! You have been awoken by the system! The area you currently inhabiting is now a dungeon (recommended level: 50). However, despite being warned, you were unable to leave, for reasons not your own. This case has been processed through a lesser AI, and the system recognizes that you must be compensated. Therefore, it is deeming you one random item in the Rare Grade group. Good luck!
After he read the notification, a few more popped up.
Congratulations! You have been awarded the uncommon class Necromancer from the Rare Grade group. Three starting skills will be given to you.
You have learned the skill Summon (Beginner Level 1)! You have learned the skill Animate (Beginner Level 1)! You have learned the skill Spectate (Beginner Level 1)!
Angry, Zach stood up. This is getting out of hand, he thought. In emergencies, he had the capability to call the guards. Well, kind of. Zach grabbed his bed¡¯s blanket, walked over to the cell security camera, and tied the sheet over the lens. ¡°Well, they¡¯re going to be here soon,¡± he said. While Zach knew he¡¯d be punished, he didn¡¯t really care. At this point, he needed to see another human. Maybe he¡¯d be able to request some type of medication? He¡¯d heard that some people could do that if anything got too serious. After waiting for a few minutes, Zach became a little worried. The guards¡¯ response time was usually amazing, or at least that was what he¡¯d heard. He couldn¡¯t fathom why it was taking them so long to get to his cell. Another few minutes went by with Zach, quite literally, twiddling his thumbs. It was getting dark out, the thunderstorm all but past. Heaving a huge sigh, he started pacing. What if this is all real? I don¡¯t think it¡¯s normal to hallucinate the thing I saw. That, coupled with the absence of the guards- Zach shook his head. ¡°No. Stop,¡± he told himself. ¡°This is a figment of your imagination. The guards are on their way here right now.¡± But, much to Zach¡¯s chagrin, it most definitely did not seem like they were coming. He had waited for a half of an hour without anything happening. Yawning, he lied back down on the bed. ¡°Maybe if I go to sleep, everything will be normal again. I¡¯m probably just sleep deprived.¡± Zach closed his eyes, this time staying awake for a few minutes before entering unconsciousness. Chapter 2 Sunlight woke him. Opening his eyes and stretching, Zach looked around. He was still in his cell, of course. Looking out his window, he judged that it must have been around eight in the morning. If nothing else, the courtyard of the prison was beautiful. Even if it was just grass, it was better than nothing. Zach¡¯s mind slowly booted up, bringing with it the unwelcome memories from the day before. Wait, he thought. If it¡¯s eight in the morning- he decided to look at his clock, which displayed 8:47 am. The guards serve breakfast at seven. He felt his heart sink, remembering something the ¡®system¡¯ allegedly said: ¡°If you have any questions, simply send a query through your mind.¡± Holding his breath, Zach tried doing what it said. Okay. Sending a query to something that may or may not exist. How does one go about that? Well, it said to do it through my mind, so¡­ he cleared his throat. Querying The Multiverse Game, he thought. With a ding, a blue screen popped up.
Hello, Zachary Silver! What is your question?
After seeing it, Zach¡¯s legs felt weak. He sat back down on his bed, feeling utterly confused. Placing his hands on his head and massaging his temples, he thought to himself,Could this actually be real? Zachdid believe that sentient aliens existed, and the video shown kind of made sense. Moreover, he was reasonably sure that no mental disorder, no matter how severe, had the capability to do this. If I¡¯m stuck in a ¡®dungeon¡¯ right now, it would make sense that the guards are gone. They could have been killed. In that case, he thought, I got lucky. This may be completely fake, but I need to treat it like it isn¡¯t. At least for now.Taking a shaky breath, he nodded to himself. Realizing that he had gotten off track, Zach remembered that he was supposed to have a question. Thinking, he decided to ask about the Rare Grade thing he had received. Yes, I¡¯d like to request some basic information about the Rare Grade class I received, Zach responded to the system.
Grades, as they¡¯re called, are a measurement of a variety of factors in order to determine the ¡®level¡¯ of a particular item or thing. The five most popular ¡®things¡¯ defined by a grade are: Weapon, armor, class, skill, and profession. There are many grades, but only a few currently applicable to you. Common, uncommon, rare, legendary, and unique. In your case, you received a rare grade class, which equated to an uncommon class. With every step up or down, the rarity of your item mirrors it. For example: if you earned a legendary grade class, it would be of a rare rarity. By that logic, classes and professions are set at a base of one grade lower than weapons and armor. For example: if you earned an uncommon grade skill, it would be of an uncommon rarity. If you received an uncommon class or profession, however, it¡¯d be of a common rarity. Therefore, common grade classes and professions are impossible to get. You can receive different graded things by creating them, looting opponents, completing dungeons, finishing quests, or otherwise pleasing the system, aka central AI.
After reading the screen over a few times, Zach felt like he had a good grasp on the concept. Common grade equals common skills, armor, and weapons. Uncommon grade is uncommon skills, armor, and weapons, but common classes and professions; and so on. ¡°Okay,¡± he said aloud, ¡°Now to learn about my class. Necromancer, huh? Always hated it.¡± Back when Zach was a child, he¡¯d dabbled in a few role-playing games, RPGs for short. It was kind of hard not to, in this day and age. He¡¯d always played a pure good, melee kind of class, like paladin or knight. Mages, or anything long-range for that matter, didn¡¯t captivate him much. It was much more enjoyable to hack and slash your enemies, in his opinion. ¡°If there¡¯s anything that I learned in that period of my childhood, it¡¯s character sheets.¡± A table that displayed the player¡¯s statistics and whatnot. Uhh, he thought, Bring up character status? With a ding, a screen appeared.
Name: Zachary Silver
Level: 1 Class: Necromancer (Pending)
HP: 100/100 (Regen: 7/min) MP: 110/110 (Regen: 7/min)
Titles: None Achievements: None
Stats:
Intelligence: 11 Wisdom: 12
Strength: 10 Vitality: 11
Agility: 10 Dexterity: 9
Luck: 5 Endurance: 10
Perception: 10 Charisma: 8
Skills:
Summon (Beginner Level 1) Animate (Beginner Level 1)
Spectate (Beginner Level 1)
Bingo, he thought. Zach read the screen over, deciding he had a pretty good understanding of what his stats did, just from personal experience. But, just in case, he queried the system. It told him several things. First, they operated pretty similarly to a normal RPG. Intelligence determined his mana capacity, the strength of his spells, and his brain''s functions, like general intelligence and processing power. Wisdom, on the other hand, affected both mana regeneration and real world decision making. Vitality determined his overall health regeneration and capacity, while endurance was his ability to take and resist damage. Dexterity contributed to his hand-eye coordination and fluidity of movements, mainly used for rogue type classes. Meanwhile, agility increased movement speed, chance to dodge attacks, and attack speed. Perception, as the system said, was the ability to pick up on thingsnot able to be otherwise understood, kind of like a sixth sense. Strength was the simplest: the physical strength of the player. Luck, on the other hand, was barely included. The only thing that the AI said about it was that it increased the game''s favor for him. Finally, charisma was his outward appearance, determining howhelpful people would be towards him. Seeing as it had some sort of psychological factor associated with it, Zach knew it would play an important role once strong enough. After reviewing everything the system submitted to him, Zach scratched his chin. I wonder why and how this thing created the game to be so similar to Earthian forms of entertainment, he pondered. It seems a bit hard to believe that many other species also played RPGs. He contemplated the matter a little, trying to come up with a reasonable assumption. Maybe- maybe on the surface it¡¯s designed for ambiguity? It shows people what they¡¯re comfortable with. In my case, that¡¯s a video game-ish layout. After a few more minutes of deliberation, Zach nodded his head. He''dstick with this theory, at least for now.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Then he frowned. Supposedly. Supposedly this is all happening. But until it¡¯s proven, I¡¯m going to read all of this with a grain of salt. Nodding again, Zach moved on to his skills, realizing that he couldn¡¯t glean much information off of their names alone. Well, he thought, that¡¯s what the AIs are here for. Or, he interjected, Some part of my mind. Anyways, back to the matter at hand. Querying system- could I have descriptions of my three skills?
Displaying data requested. Please note that some information will be omitted until you have sufficient levels and intelligence. Necromancer Class Skill- Summon: This skill is the backbone of the Necromancer class. It allows you to bring something, of your own creation, into the physical realm. To activate this skill, create a clear visual in your head of the creature desired, then simply think the word ¡°Summon¡±. Remember, each summon requires an initial payment of mana. With every level that you progress Summon, your usage cost is lowered, the summon¡¯s available stats and/or options are greater, and the number of Summons you can have are higher. Current maximum = 1 Necromancer Class Skill- Animate: Similar to Summon, this skill allows the player to control undead. Instead of creating your own, however, Animate must be used on a deceased creature. The player has less freedom with this option and the creature has a greater degree of free will, yet the creature is also stronger than any Summon of similar cost. Current maximum = 1 Warning: You cannot use both Summon and Animate at the same time. Necromancer Class Skill- Spectate: Spectate is a complementary skill to both Animate and Summon. After gaining control of a creature, the player is able to use this in order to see and feel what their summon or animation is doing. As with Summon, Spectate requires a constant flow of mana. The more you spend, the more accurate your spectating experience will be. Leveling this skill will both lower the cost to use it as well as increase the sensory realism.
After reading the information provided, Zach felt like he had a pretty good handle on his skills. Summon would, as the name suggested, allow him to summon something of his own creation; animate would do the same, but only on real, deceased creatures; and spectate would let him experience what his creatures experienced. Okay, he thought. No time for dilly-dallying. If the guards are dead, then I really need to get out of here. Fast. And the only way I see myself doing that is with my skills. Letting out a breath, Zach decided to try using Summon. If the guards really were dead, he needed some way to get out of his cell, and fast. Otherwise, he¡¯d starve to death. Alright, he thought. So I need to visualize something. Closing his eyes, Zach cleared his mind. To start out, he figured that he¡¯d make something simple. He thought of a tarantula, crawling around in some empty plain. Wanting to keep it simple, Zach converted its hairy body into simple white bone and left out the spider¡¯s poison sac. But, of course, the human mind wasn¡¯t perfect, and he constantly had trouble conceptualizing every little bit of it all at the same time. Zach didn¡¯t have anything in his cell to draw it out, either, so that was out of the question. Grumbling, he had to satisfy himself with just his mind. It took a few minutes, but he eventually succeeded in capturing a sufficient image. Processing the word Summon, his mind seemed to artificially blank, wiping out anything he was thinking about. With a sound akin to thunder, a spider popped into existence on the floor in front of him. It was about two inches in diameter, pure white in color. Seeing the spider, Zach allowed himself to smile. It wasn¡¯t a lot nowadays that he felt accomplished, and working towards that little thing gave him a bit of happiness. Okay, he thought, Now to use that skill I have. He thought the word Spectate. Immediately, the world went black. As he opened his eyes, he found himself looking at his adult body, albeit in a very low resolution. Black hair, blue eyes. Small stature, scrawny build. All in all, a pretty average, if not a bit below, looking man. He was wearing a black and white striped jumpsuit, traditional for all inmates living in the prison. Anyways, back to the matter at hand. Zach was looking through the eyes of his spider. That should astonish me, right? He asked himself, a little worried. Why am I not freaking out? I¡¯ve changed bodies, for Christ''s sake! Why- Cutting himself off and taking a deep breath, Zach calmed himself. I can worry about all of this later. I need to keep working. He shoved all of his emotions and negative thoughts down inside himself, then closed the hatch. Later. Now I need to use my spider to look around the prison, to try to find a way out. The question is- how do I move this guy? Can I just tell him where to go? Spider, Zach commanded, still spectating, Move towards that window. Nothing happened. Mentally frowning, he decided to beg for help. How do I command my Summon? He asked.
Warning! Question Invalid- Answer deemed unnecessary.
Well shit, he thought. Guess I can¡¯t get a freebie on this one. Stopping to ponder a little, Zach had a bit of an epiphany. Wait. If I have a status screen, surely my Summon has one, right? Crossing his metaphorical fingers, he demanded, Bring up my spider¡¯s character screen. With a ding, his mood soared.
Summon #1 (Name: Spider)
Level: 1 Class: LOCKED
HP: 10/10 (Regen: 1/min) MP: 10/10 (Regen: 1/min)
Titles: None Achievements: None
Stats:
Intelligence: 1 Wisdom: 1
Strength: 1 Vitality: 1
Agility: 2 Dexterity: 1
Luck: 1 Endurance: 1
Perception: 1 Charisma: 1
Skills: LOCKED
Looking his little friend¡¯s status over, Zach sighed. Of course it couldn¡¯t take an order, the damn thing¡¯s intelligence was at 1. The best thing going for it was its agility. Closing out of the screen, Zach decided to try something else. He turned off his vision, focusing, in his mind, on nothing but the window of his cell. With a push, he tried transferring the thought to the spider in the same way he had attempted to command it before. Suddenly, a jolt surprised Zach. The spider was moving! Toward the window! Nice! He thought, excited to finally make some progress. Spectate was kind of like watching something on television, in that it was pretty unconvincing and restrictive. But it was the first thing he¡¯d ever summoned, after all. Zach didn¡¯t expect much. Eventually, the spider got to the wall. From there, it was a good deal easier for Zach to command it to climb up. Again, the experience was kind of lackluster. As it reached the sill, he had it walk outside, still clinging to the wall. It took a few minutes, but eventually, Zach found it. A window not attached to a cell. He had peeked in a few dozen others, each showing a different person, but all serving to reaffirm his concerns. Some were sleeping, a couple had weapons of some kind, and a bunch of others were doing miscellaneous actions. Two people, however, stood out. One person had magic. He was wielding fire, exerting it all around him. When Zach had looked around the corner, he was met with a fist full of heat, almost killing the spider. As it was, the damn thing¡¯s health dropped nearly half. After seeing this person, Zach had also gotten a notification.
Congratulations! Skill Spectate is now Beginner Level 2!
Immediately, the world through the spider¡¯s eyes became much clearer. It was as if he¡¯d went from 20/40 to 20/20 vision, instantly. It was insane. He still, however, only received sight as a sense. The other case was even more interesting. Or rather, lack of interest. At the point of coming across this particular individual¡¯s cell, Zach was accustomed to being amazed at their cool abilities and items. So imagine his amazement when he came across their room and discovered¡­ nothing. Well, that¡¯s not true, he thought. There was a huge hole in the side of the room. Shaking his head, Zach¡¯s mind snapped back to the present. His spider was standing near the window he had found. It was identical to all of the others, besides the fact that it didn''t open up into someone else''s cell, which was exactly what he wanted. Chapter 3 Zach commanded his spider to climb inside the window, something immediately assaulting his vision. Looking around, he saw blood. It was splattered everywhere, setting a contrast to the pure white walls, ceilings, floors and lights. A few bodies, obviously guards, were scattered about. As Zach looked over the scene, he almost gagged. Absolutely repulsed, he silently commanded the spider to creep forward. There were three people, all male. Each were wearing normal guard outfits, although it was hard to see over all of the gore. Huge, deep scratches were embedded in each of them. While Zach surveyed the atrocity, something on the edge of his vision caught his attention. Quickly commanding the spider to look around, Zach caught sight of something akin to a monster. It looked like a panther, except bigger. And scarier. Muscles ran through its body, rippling with every step it made. As soon as Zach saw the beast, he froze. He¡¯d never seen anything that scared him more in his life. The thing was walking down the hallway in the direction where Zach¡¯s spider was. Unable to do anything but just watch, it soon came within about ten feet of him. With a ding, a screen popped up.
Encountered Dark Panther (Level ??)! An animal primed for Dark Deities, it will only initiate fights with those who it believes contains the essential lifeblood.
Completely ignoring the bodies, the dark panther continued down the hall. Within several seconds, it was out of sight. Zach let out a shaky, metaphorical breath, then processed the notification that had appeared, noticing that it¡¯s level was replaced with question marks. I¡¯ll bet that my damn spider¡¯s perception has something to do with this, he thought, not really caring. In truth, he was still exhilarated from the encounter. After taking a breather, Zach decided to get back to work. It ultimately worked in his favor that the guards were dead, because he needed them in order to leave. Commanding the spider to crawl over to one of them, he searched the corpse. Thankfully, Spectate was still pretty unrealistic, making the experience seem less than real. Zach¡¯s spider crawled over the body, finally finding what he wanted- a keycard. Since all of the inmates¡¯ cells had an openable steel door, each guard would obviously had some sort of device to open them. Now came the hard part, being able to pick up the card. Up until now, Zach had just used his skill to move the spider. I suppose it shouldn¡¯t be too much different than that, right? He thought to himself. Zach focused on two steps: moving over to the keycard like normal, then using the same technique to visualize picking it up. Opening his eyes, he was pleased to have been met with success. The spider had scooped it up in its jaws, a ridiculous sight, seeing as the card was about twice as big as it.
Congratulations! Skill Summon is now Beginner Level 2! Current Maximum Summons = 2!
Waving away the notification, Zach stopped to think. If he had- he quickly checked his status- 10 strength, while the spider had 1, that meant it was effectively 10% his own. Doing some quick mental math and comparisons, he became a little surprised. For such a little thing, it certainly could carry its own weight. Anyways. Zach, remembering the way to his cell, commanded the spider to head down the hallway, walking along the corner of the ceiling. He soon caught sight of another dark panther. Quickly stopping, Zach fearfully waited until the beast passed. Thankfully, it strolled away without any trouble. Breathing out in relief, Zach continued on. He soon arrived at his cell, the wall marked by a specific code: ¡®B7GYU4¡¯. The same combination of numbers and letters was on his prison uniform, so Zach made an educated guess when it came to identifying the correct room. He hesitated. It would be so easy to simply open the door, stop Spectate, and make a run for it. If I wanted to die, sure, he thought. What am I, a complete idiot? Those panthers will tear me apart. I need some sort of plan. He paused. Well, the max summons I can have is two now, so let¡¯s start there. End Spectate? Zach guessed the correct command. Bingo. The world blipped back to normal. He was sitting on his bed, swaying back and forth a little bit. After regaining his balance, Zach noticed that he was incredibly thirsty. He needed to hurry. Immediately, he started putting his plan into action. He quickly summoned up another spider, making it identical to the first he¡¯d created. Then, he brought up its status screen:
Summon #2 (Name: Spider)
Level: 1 Class: LOCKED
HP: 20/20 (Regen: 1/min) MP: 20/20 (Regen: 1/min)
Titles: None Achievements: None
Stats:
Intelligence: 2 Wisdom: 2
Strength: 2 Vitality: 2
Agility: 3 Dexterity: 2
Luck: 1 Endurance: 2
Perception: 1This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Charisma: 1
Skills: LOCKED
Zach read over its attributes, taking note of each one. They made sense, accurately reflecting his progression to the second level of Summon. Though, the only thing that really made a difference was its agility, which had increased from 2 to 3. Okay, he thought. Spectate Summon #2. The world blacked out, placing Zach in his newly made spider. He had to admit that he was kind of getting used to it, although that made it no less unsettling. Humans were made to live in and control their own bodies, after all. Zach had his second spider start moving towards the wall. Instantly, the thing shot off towards the window, climbing up and coming to a rest on the sill. Astonished, he just watched as the entire event took place. It must have picked up on my desire to go to the window, even if I didn¡¯t push the command to it yet, Zach thought. And its speed is insane. To think it only increased one stat point¡­ He did some quick calculations. Well, if an average human¡¯s top sustainable running speed is around 20 miles per hour, that means that my first spider must have been moving at about 4 mph, and this one 6. A person walks at about 2-4 miles an hour, I believe. Realizing the potential of each point, Zach thought, Wow. I wonder what happens when other beings get too powerful? Surely there¡¯s a plateau of some sort. Anyways. Shaking himself out of his stupor, Zach continued with his plan. He commanded his second spider to follow the same path the first had, finding that it was much easier to do. Once he saw his first spider, Zach knew to keep going. His goal with this one was to search the prison, looking for the closest exit. It was as simple as that. ¡­ A few hours later, Zach had a pretty good layout of the prison. At some point, he¡¯d come to realize that electricity still seemed to work, which was a little confusing. He¡¯d thought a case like this would involve the removal of modern human creation, or at least that was what he''d heard. So, he asked the system:
For the sake of protecting your planet, many technological advancements that have been previously judged to interfere with the system will be removed. 8h:43m:56s remaining until changes will be made.
Technological advancements? Zach asked, curious. That¡¯s pretty vague. It probably means things like guns and whatnot. If militaries use their firepower in order to fight, they won¡¯t learn how to use the system. Although- he paused. It does seem pretty counterintuitive to remove our technology in order to force us to progress. Shaking his head, Zach pushed the thought out of his mind. Whatever. I¡¯ll leave that to the beings who¡¯ve broken the laws of, well, everything. The prison was, by itself, pretty simple. This particular one had been dependent on guards and technology, so it would be much easier than Zach would have thought. Excluding, of course, the monsters that were in the prison. While climbing around, he¡¯d seen a few other types of beasts, all just as scary as the panthers. None of which attacked Zach¡¯s spider, which wasn''t alive. But Zach himself was. So, he devised a way to avoid them. Plotting out the points where he¡¯d need to avoid monsters, Zach waited and Spectated. He¡¯d noticed while exploring the dungeon that they seemed to have some sort of pattern, and wasn¡¯t disappointed. The building of the prison he was living in was built in the shape of a square, the monsters mindlessly looping around the same floor, over and over. ¡­ In about an hour, Zach was ready. Taking a few deep breaths, he waited until the next panther was out of sight, then commanded his first spider to unlock the door. As it slid open, he counted down the time in his head. Three minutes and 47 seconds. Tiptoeing down the hallway, he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He had lined up the each beasts¡¯ patterns so that he wouldn¡¯t encounter any of them. That is, if he did this correctly. Human error and all. Soon, Zach reached an intersection of the hallway. He needed to turn left, making his way down the stairwell and onto the first floor. The problem was, the situation there was completely different. Black like the panthers, the creatures there walked on two legs like monkeys, were about four feet tall, and muscled beyond belief. Zach counted down 12 more seconds before continuing, stepping quietly and at an even pace. He could feel his heartbeat through his chest, thumping like crazy. Thankfully, he arrived at his next destination without trouble- the first floor. Thankfully, all seemed to go as planned. At last, he arrived at the entrance. With a swipe of the key card, which he had obtained from his spider, the door beeped open. Outside the prison, a few layers of yard continued for a few hundred feet, each followed up by outposts and barbed wire. Nicely enough, no monsters spawned outside. Otherwise, Zach feared that he¡¯d be screwed. I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s the border of the dungeon, he guessed. Shaking his head, Zach headed outside. Immediately, the fresh, evening air assaulted him. It was early fall, Zach''s favorite season. Beyond the fencing of the prison was a field, stretching for a few hundred feet. Past that was a forest. Exhaling deeply, he sank down to the grass, thankful to be alive. Spending a few minutes laying down, Zach knew that he needed to get up. He wasn¡¯t done yet. Now that he had observed the monsters of the prison and was out of immediate danger, it was time for part two. Out of the ordeal, he¡¯d gotten a couple of new levels:
Congratulations! Skill Spectate is now Beginner Level 3!
Congratulations! Skill Summon is now Beginner Level 3! Current Maximum Summons = 2!
After seeing that he hadn¡¯t increased in maximum summons this time, Zach was a little disappointed, but understood the reason. Otherwise, Necromancers would have thousands of incredibly powerful minions running around after getting really strong. Zach wasn¡¯t able to Summon anything larger than his tiny spiders from inside his cell because of his tiny window; and wasn¡¯t able to do so elsewhere in the prison for obvious reasons. So, the only chance he had was now. I need food in order to survive, Zach thought, And so do the guards. So they must have a stockpile of it somewhere, I just need to find it. The spiders are much too small to carry anything worthwhile. So, he continued, Let¡¯s get started with Summoning something. I need a creature big and strong enough to carry supplies. As long as I don¡¯t aggravate anything, I think it¡¯ll be fine. He shrugged. An ordinary human should be okay, right? Plus, he knew the shape of one better than anything else. Destroy Summon #1, he thought, choosing the weaker of the two. The last time he had checked, it was still in the prison, sitting on a wall. Nothing happened, no notifications, flashes, sounds, or anything. Curious, Zach tried spectating it, finding that he was unable to. Shaking his head and deciding to move on, Zach started working on summoning his human. He closed his eyes, replicating a five-foot, black haired, blue-eyed joe schmoe, then quickly Summoned it. No need to be perfect. Opening his eyes, he was met with an¡­ abomination. Zach turned around, immediately cursing himself to eternal damnation. It looked as if God had given a child his putty, or whatever he uses to make humans, and the child tried to replicate them. It was absolutely awful. Its fingers were blobs. Its toes were blobs. Its face was a blob, with several smaller blobs embedded within. ¡°What the absolute fuck did you create?¡± Zach asked himself.