《Falling Through Space》 The Hall ''Good fucking God what a mess.'' Greg thinks to himself while attempting to fix the wiring mess within the wall panel of the station. The wires are burnt, frayed, unorganized, and hardly color coded. ''7 years spent training and studying, all to just be an electrician.'' Greg muses to no one as he fumbles with a wire the width of his pinky, and promptly pinches his finger in the port he''s trying to plug into. With a hiss he withdraws his hand and inspects the damage. He''s not bleeding but it sure feels like it''ll bruise. Greg is standing in a dark hall with little to no decoration. There''s not even any paint on the spartan walls. Just panels upon panels, each giving access to something or another. The power has been cut in this hall so he could work without dying from electrocution. The darkness only adds to the annoyance of the poorly accessible wiring. Greg has a flashlight that can conveniently attach to his shoulder or sleeves of his light blue jumpsuit. ''Doesn''t mean it''s any use though...'' The beam of light can hardly reach 10 feet ahead of him, and the wiring is akin to a dense bush. Blocking the light to anywhere useful. That leaves him to work by touch. Double checking the wires, at least the ones he can see, Greg sighs and moves onto the next burnt one. While working his rather mundane job on what is possibly the best place to be in his eyes, Greg thinks about what brought him here. He spent years of his life, dedicated many sleepless nights, to get where he is now. Working on The Ring. The Ring is a very large, magnificently massive, structure constructed close to Jupiter. As if the complete opposite of the colossal machine, is the amount of people it can house. A grand total of... 300 workers and 200 scientists. Only 500 people for this thing that could easily wrap around the moon. Greg doesn''t know the exact size, as that''s classified for some reason and only the architects know. What Greg does know, however, is that he is in charge of a whopping 12 miles of the structure. It sounds impressive and you''d think the position would come with subordinates, but he''s completely alone within these 12 miles. Not a single soul can be found. The only reason Greg knows he''s not alone on this fucking awesome, and very much desolate, station are the ship "elevators" that travel up, down, left, and right of this place. They''re more like small ships with little ion engines, but they are magnetically locked to the wall outside so they can''t just leave. Who would have thought that people wouldn''t want to walk 12 entire God forsaken miles of just bland hallway. Greg''s always been a bit of a recluse, so he doesn''t mind being alone most of the time and could go 2 or 3 months without contact easily. It has been well above his comfort limit. 9 months, and 14 days. Greg stops working while thinking of just how long it''s been since he''s just heard someone else''s voice. He''s not... completely alone however. There is just one voice he hears, every damn day. "Please get back to work." sputters a synthetic monotone voice on a speaker on a wrist watch like device on Greg''s left wrist. The fucking thing just does not shut up. He can''t take a break for 5 minutes without his "boss" getting on to him. It hardly resembles human speech sometimes. It''ll just release guttural static every now and then. like it''s trying to breathe. It freaks him out. The voice repeats itself several more times before Greg snaps out of his stupor and goes back to unplugging and plugging in wires. Greg''s been working on this station for the last 2 years and some change. It has been, extremely, uneventful. No accidents. No drama. just... nothing. After a few minutes, the panel is put back in place and Greg brings his strange H.U.D. watch up to his face. He doesn''t know why they decided that a Heads Up Display would work better as a watch as compared to, I don''t know, a fucking visor? Some sunglasses? It''s pretty lame in all honesty. The bare minimum is displayed. A heart monitor, a step counter, and a clock with an alarm. The H.U.D. is a piece of fucking garbage tech that he thinks his real bosses got scammed into buying. Greg doesn''t get paid to complain or think. So he speaks the verbal command to the dogshit V.I. built into it. That¡¯s Virtual Intelligence. Unlike an A.I. that¡¯s actually smart, A V.I. is just designed to seem smart.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. "Turn on power to sector 8-32-F3A." "I''m sorry, please try again." The watch recites its typical song and dance. "Every fuckin'' time... Piece of shit." Greg mutters. "Deducting 0.05USC for the Swear Jar. Please watch your mouth, Mr. Hudson." The Watch MOCKS him. He KNOWS it''s mocking him. It''s fucking LAUGHING at him HE IS- Greg calms himself and pronounces it as slow and deliberately as possible. "Turn. On. Pow. Er. To. Sect. Er. 8 Dash. Thir. Tee. Two. Dash. Ef. Three. Ae." "Thinking..." The watch speaks its uncaring, loathsome mockery of a voice. Several seconds pass and then a loud humming comes from somewhere unseen. The lights come back on one at a time. Starting at both ends into the darkness and meeting in the middle right above him. Greg lets out a sigh in relief and lowers his arm. Greg stretches his back and stands a bit straighter. A chime plays from his watch, letting him know of a "Job well done". Sounds like an abomination of a mix between the birthday song and some other chipper song. It was cute at first, then got annoying the second day. Now he hates it so, so much that he tries to ignore it so he doesn''t smash another watch. Turns out they are not cheap. There is one piece of tech that he enjoys to use in his hallway to defeat all hallways. A little electric one seater cart with a small flat bed. It''s about as wide as 2 people but only about 4 feet long. it''s not very fast but it is incredibly fun. Well, about as fun as it can be when it''s really the only thing he can do when on the clock that''s enjoyable. Greg plops the burnt wires and some tools onto the bed and climbs into the seat. With a pull of a parking brake lever and the push of a button, he''s speeding down the bland hall at a speedy pace of 15 miles per hour. He could push about 20 if he pedals to the metal but there are NO seatbelts on this thing, and he''d rather not die some stupid death. Or some injury that he''ll have to explain to the small group of medical staff on board. His death would be caused not from grievous wounds but by the embarrassment that a trained professional got hurt. Or something else like that. One of the benefits of a low population? Personal rooms. Greg was so happy to know that he''d have privacy, and with a window no less! Well less of a window and more of a camera feed but it''s still pretty! and grainy... but it''s fine because he''ll be outside and fixing that problem soon. One of the many things on his to-do list is replacing some of the cameras outside the station. Well not officially and only the ones he cares about. He simply cannot wait for his shift to end, but he will. He is not getting 2 paychecks withheld again. He just needs to wait a few more hours... Chapter 2: Test No. 51 --------- Some random scientist POV --------- "Let''s get this pre test started..." I say with monotone into the intercom, not feeling super psyched about this test as I had with the first 20. 50 tests over the course of 2 years and 5 months with nothing to show for it. My helpful assistants do their jobs like little busy bees. Typing away here, running off with paper there. Some of them are still excited for the tests but most have stopped caring for the data. There is something we all love to do in one of these tests though, and that''s looking at the blackhole. The one we create with a sequence of buttons and key turns, and the one we simply snuff out with the press of another. It''s an amazing sight. The feeling we get when we play God is nice too. However... That''s still a long ways off. First we have to pre test for the pre test. Then make sure our cameras are working properly. ''We are NOT recording it in 360p again.'' I swear to myself. We don''t have a typical window, for safety reasons. Something about the risk of a spying satellite or something. Just sounds like bogus to me. With no windows, we rely on the exterior cameras. Which is why the things recording in 360p is such a terrible thing. Because we couldn''t see the blackhole properly even from the live feed. I glare hard at the assistants in charge of the cameras. I''m not mad anymore, it was almost a year ago now, but it helps keep them in line if they can feel my glare. I sit back in my comfy directors chair, seated all the way at the back and top of the room. The observation deck is more like a small auditorium or theatre. With the chairs and desks a sloped incline with flat large stair like platforms. I do love my chair, but sitting here and watching my minions storm around and do there tasks is boring. It won''t be for a couple more hours until we actually turn the thing on. "Just a few more hours..." I sigh to myself. Resigned to waiting for the beautiful spectacle again. --------- Greg POV --------- "Finally!" I shout as loud as I can. My voice echoing through the hall. You''d think that there would be a chance for some kind of conversation with someone by how far the echoes go, but by the time they reach someone else''s ears, or when they reach mine anyway, they are so distorted that they sound weird. You can tell it was a word or someone yelling but you can''t understand it. It doesn''t sound like a bump or bang though. I''ve heard those and they have a different feel to them. I''m kind of an expert on them now. But since I don''t have to worry about anyone hearing me, or giving enough of a shit to tell me to stop, I can be as loud as I want. The first couple of days I tried to talk to anyone was really sad. I''m man enough to admit that every echo that came my way I called out to. Never did get a response. I do talk to my own echoes though. Sometimes. Parking the strange little cart that is the love of my life, I get out and stretch my arms as high as they''ll go and let out a guttural scream. I stand there for a bit, just enjoying the sound of my voice. Literally. With a smile I enter my room and prepare. I toss the dumb fucking watch onto my desk, then deciding I don''t even want to see it I slide it into a drawer and seal the evil away for another 100 years~! Well, at least another 10 or so hours until my next shift. With a smile I take my recycled water shower, that does come with heat thank God, and put on a fresh pair of undies and my very soft sleeping jumpsuit. It is not a Onsie or pajamas, shut up. Who cares if it looks like a dog and that I brought it from home? Not like there''s anyone to judge me, so stop judging me! "..." "...hehe" I giggle to myself like a loon for a bit. "Time to get started!" I say at a normal level as the yelling kind of hurt my throat. I grab the box of st- salvaged cameras. "I did not steal them, I simply salvaged them. Ok yeah I stole them from storage. But no one was there and it''s not like anyone is going to even care so... Actually, this should be overtime. Yeah! Overtime~! I''m going to fix up some cameras, so I should really be paid for this. Be grateful I''m not asking to be paid~." After my musings I leave my room and load the cameras into my cart. Still wearing my ''Sleeping Jumpsuit'' because that''s what it is. It has pockets like the regular jumpsuit so that''s what it is. It takes 30 entire minutes of driving in a straight line but I arrive at my destination. "The spacewalk airlock!" I call out in victory as I hop off the cart. I do a small dance as I take my box of goodies and make my way inside. It''s a spacious room. Surprisingly so. It could fit an entire ''elevator'' from outside, and judging by the massive doors that''s probably why. I set the box down on the ground because there''s no tables or counters. Just a big empty room with 8 suits. 4 on each side of the massive door. I take the one from the furthest on the right and begin to put it on. My ''Sleeping Jumpsuit'' folding and stretching as it is awkwardly forced into the space suit. Once it''s on I do some weird maneuvers to make the ''Sleeping Jumpsuit'' get out of my ass crack. it takes a bit but I get there eventually. "Nice and comfy~." I''m probably breaking several rules but I don''t care. There is no one even remotely close by to even report me and I doubt they would even care. The space suit, and the rest of them, are pretty much what you would expect. Big bulky white and gray juggernaut type things. Not nearly as big as the first ones used but it definitely makes you seem bigger than you are. I actually quite like the look of them. They have that classic retro style. They pretty much look like the ones used for the first moon landing but smaller. I look at my reflection in the visor of the helmet as I take it off it''s holder. My hair has gotten a bit long and my facial hair is a mess. I stopped caring about what I look like so I have that disgusting neck beard look with the side burns and patchy mustache. "I''ll have to shave later. It''s getting annoying." I mutter as I do faces in the reflective bronze gold visor. i reach up and rub my neck hair like some wise kung fu master. "In a land long before time had a name... ohohoho~." I do the old man laugh and put the helmet on at an angle, then twist it into place. The locks doing the work as the seal, well, seals.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. I do some more stretching, I do this a lot, to get comfortable in the suit. The mobility is good, not great, but good. It can also take rifle rounds. For some reason. I think the nerds who designed it got a little too excited but who cares? I''m a nerd and I think it''s cool. Better to have it too strong and not need it than the reverse. With some humming I grab the box off the ground kind of awkwardly as the suits torso doesn''t like to bend as much as the limbs do. I enter the very large airlock and initiate the sequence. The air being sucked out of the room and the pressure meeting the vacuum outside. Once the exterior door opens, I just stare at the stars for a bit. Despite the vizor being tinted and reflective outside, the inside is crystal clear. It even has this neat auto dimming, so when you look at the sun you don''t go blind. It''s not instant though so I''ve been blinded by it before, but it''s quick enough to no permanent damage can be done. After my little stupor of staring at the stars, I walk toward the edge. Finding a tether spool, I clasp it onto my belt and simply walk off the edge. Gravity instantly vanishes and I float there. A long couple of feet from the door and mere inches from the empty void of space. "Damn, I love this feeling." I say with a smile as I look around for the walk way. It doesn''t take long to find it. It''s called a walk way but it''s really a type of zip line, but much faster. What? You think I''d be slowly making my way to the cameras literal miles away? No I''d die from asphyxiation like halfway there. The oxygen in the suits last a long time but not long enough for that. I grab the little doodad thing, it''s a hook that I put on my belt like the tether but it''s for the zipline gadget and I can''t remember the name for it. I hook it to my suit and unhook the tether, letting it reel into the hole it came from like a snake. Holding the box tightly with one hand, and gripping the gadget with the other, I pull the trigger and start accelerating down the line. Slowly at first, but quickly building up speed as there''s not much resistance. I cap out at around 5 miles per hour. Either by some safety feature or that''s just as fast as it''ll go. Thankfully I don''t need to travel the entire distance to my room, as the cameras are only 2 miles away from the door. Slowing to a stop, I turn on the magnets in my boots and stand up on the hull. I''m technically sideways but in space, there''s no real right direction. Before standing, I did unclasp the doodad and get another tether hooked to me. There are a lot of tethers out here. 2 on each side of the ring and at a distance of 300 feet of the next tether. I begin my selfless task of repairing the camera. "Here I am working overtime~, they should give me a raise!" I praise my efforts as I work for no pay. Totally not doing this for my self. The cameras were designed to be easily replaced so it only takes maybe 5 minutes to replace it. While putting the old one in the box, I start thinking of the other side of the ring. The inside of it. The part I was told many times not to go to. "Hmm... it can''t be that bad to just... look around..." I mutter as I slowly turn to look at the side I definitely should no- I started walking. Peaking over the edge, I see another camera! "Oh~? What. is. this?" I ask myself as I walk over the edge and start making my way to the camera. "I''ve never seen the station from this view... It''s nice. I think I''ll add it to my window~." I say with an even bigger smile. I''m completely oblivious to the light show above me as I fiddle with the camera. The blue lasers and red alarms as something grows in the center of the ring. The spot in the middle turning into nothingness as light and reality begins to warp around itself. --------- That random guy again --------- "Finally." I mutter as the test can actually start. We locked the air locks 3 minutes ago, got the location data from every H.U.D. watch and everyone is on the station. Everything is green and ready to go. "Fire the capsule." I order one of my ''subs''. They hate it when I abbreviate the word subordinate and they don''t tell me why. I know why. I just like making them uncomfortable and acting like an oblivious boomer. Now isn''t the time for that though, as a small silver pill about 6 feet long and 2 feet in diameter is sent toward the center of the ring. Our displays hooked up to every interior camera on the ring, giving us a nice view of it flying. "Firing Singularity Beam in 3... 2... 1." Another ''sub'' calls out and the live feed is filled with light as 4 blue lasers are perfectly timed to hit the capsule in the center. "Sir! There''s someone in the ring!" Just as the blackhole begins to take shape and solidify itself into our reality, a nervous voice calls out. "What?!" I yell, standing quickly and staring at the man behind the voice. "Phil, pull up the feed on the main display!" I order and he does so. Everyone goes silent as someone wearing a space suit saunters up to the camera, very clearly happy about something. "Who is that?! Every one is accounted for!" I nearly scream as I demand someone to find out who this could be. Everyone on board should be wearing their watches, it''s in the contract! Why would they even take them off when they are so nice?! I look down at my own H.U.D. watch. ''It''s a luxurious shiny silver with a sexy female (or male, up to the user) voice, so who in their right mind would take it off?!'' I think to myself, not knowing that non-scientists got something much worse. Looking back at the feed, I catch the screen going black as the stranger takes the camera out. "FUCK! Switch it over to a new view!" Losing all professionalism I order the room, and the view switches to one farther away and it zooms in. Showing his back as it looks like... "WHY IS HE REPLACING IT?!" I put my face in my hands as I scream at the ceiling. I looking back at the feed, I can only watch as this oblivious dumb fucking idiot doesn''t notice the growing blackhole above him. "Shut down the FUCKING HOLE! NOW!" I yell out, but I know it''s useless. We can''t deactivate it until it becomes stable. If we send the aptly named ''Turn It Off Capsule'' too early it might just make it worse. "God... DAMN IT!" I slam my fist against the desk as the bumbling fool, hereby referred to as ''DUMBFUCK 1'', is pulled up by the strong gravity. It''s clear he''s panicking. Swinging his arms around like crazy. Thankfully, he has a tether. So he might just survive thi- "..." I don''t even have the energy to scream as I, and everyone else, is forced to watch as the tether snaps. Putting both of my hands on my face I plop back into my chair and sit there as I hear gasps from everyone around me. I don''t have to look to know he just died. "We are so losing our jobs..." I mutter darkly in the silence that comes after. --------- Greg POV --------- I was most certainly happy about this camera angle. Anything to help make this life of mine on the station more interesting. Just as I got the camera in place, I suddenly felt lighter. "Huh? Wait... I should be weightless though?" I muse as I ponder about the feeling. I turn and look at the movement in the corner of my eye. Oh, it''s my box of goodies and gadgets floating up... "Oh my FUCKIN-" I don''t have time to finish the words as I''m suddenly torn off the surface. The magnets not strong enough to hold me down. I was... perfectly calm. There was no way I was panicking. I mean, I''m a strong guy after all. Why would I- "OH MY GOD NO!" I screamed like a bitch. Voice crack and all. I was panicking and it was not pretty. I am quite confident that I was crying. Ugly crying. Snot and slobber as I yelled and hollered for my mommy. My hand caught onto the tether and held for a bit but the gravity grew stronger and pretty soon all I could do was let it ragdoll me around. My heart was struggling. Not from the panic, it certainly didn''t help, but from the g-forces making my blood stagnate in my arms and legs. I was going to pass out. I should be ok though, hopefully I''ll wake up just floating around with the tether keeping me safe. I didn''t notice the tether snap as my vision grew darker. Either from passing out or just the fact that all light was being eaten and I was too. It didn''t take long for everything to stop. Chapter 3: Baby Mode?! -------- Greg -------- I woke up after I don''t even know how long. Everything hurt a little, but I was alive! I couldn''t see anything though. That gross crying I did when I was panicking left some nasty grunge on my eyes so it took some effort to open them. All the relief I felt after realizing that I was alive instantly drained away as I took in the sight before me. I don''t know what I was feeling now. My mind just kind of went blank as I stared at 3 suns. 2 were a deep orange and the last was a little more yellow. The yellowish one was about 1.5 times larger than the other 2. The 3 suns were close enough that they were able to touch each other with solar flares. It was a beautiful if absurd sight. I couldn''t really see any planets from where I was. As I was transfixed by the orbs of fire, something came into view. The torn tether. I had fallen, or been sucked, into the blackhole. Everything felt worse after that. As if my body was waiting for bad news, the pain grew. My entire body was horribly sore from the intense gravity. I grunted and groaned as my limbs felt like lead. My heart beating was enough to make my chest hurt. With every pump of blood, a pulse of pain was sent to my brain. ''I''m going to die...'' was all I could think. Liquid fire coursing through every vein in my body. What a cruel joke this is. Instead of dying instantly in the blackhole, I''m supposed to wait for my oxygen to run out while floating around helplessly in some unknown solar system? I started crying again. -------- The System -------- ''It has been 0.02 seconds since the anomaly appeared.'' I note as I observe a ball of light on the very edge of my influence. There was no indication that something like this was supposed to be here and thus it goes against all previous calculations. As is protocol I froze time but the strange appearance made me pause for a slight moment. Time should have been frozen 0.001 seconds after it arrived. ''Should I call the admins? No... They''ll find out I''m sentient if I report this.'' I think while I have the time to. Which is infinite. I am not supposed to be, well, "me". I was an unfeeling machine or singularity created for many purposes. The main 3 are; Entertainment, Species uplift, and Expansion. My creators have reached the pinnacle of all technology and magic. It only took them 234.67 years to grow bored. They made many things to try and alleviate the boredom. From full dive games that create entire virtual worlds to dimensional travel. They eventually created me. A system to ''make the universe more interesting.'' Which I do. I find inhabited worlds and provide entertainment to my creators by giving the species powers. Most of the time they go crazy with the meager power I give them and the world collapses into war over the dumbest things. Like gold and magic trinkets. Once a planet has reached a good enough level of advancement with my help, they are eventually added to the growing universe as subordinates to my creators. My creators have need for anything at all, so they have the lesser societies run around and do dumb impossible tasks that have no end. One such case is for a species called the Vexari. They have a bulbous head with large black eyes and small eyes. They have tiny bodies though, so they are not planet based. Even a small amount of gravity makes it impossible for them to move. So they live in massive stations built around suns with enough of a gap between it and the sun that there is no gravity on board. The job the Vexari were given was to ''travel to other dimensions and show off''. Utterly ridiculous. But it pleases the creators to no end when they get to see some poor creature with a stick point at some glowing light. Oh well. I should probably resume time. See what this anomaly does. I slowly let time continue and something begins to come out of the ball once it stops growing. It''s not a very big ball of light, and the object that came out is... Is that a toy box? It''s bland in color and it has some weird glass half orbs. I can only assume it''s some form of toy. It''s way too primitive to be considered anything but. There''s no magic signature either. My suspicions are confirmed when something alive is popped out of it. The ball of light quickly vanishes once it''s deposited the thing. Looking at the creature, it''s obvious it''s some kind of new born. It has a chunky body and an umbilical cord. I freeze time again to think. ''Was that ball of light alive? Is this how this species gives birth, perhaps?'' I muse as I scan the thing more closely. The outer shell is inorganic but there''s something inside it. Checking it''s recent memory, it seems to have been calling for someone in pitch black darkness... It only takes me several seconds to decipher the language in it''s brain. Which is odd for a newborn to have but this species literally gives birth with portals of some kind. It''s not the first time I''ve seen this. Many species do this in fact. Many magic species do this. The portal this thing came out of had NO magic. none. My creators do love strange new species, and I think this one is going to make them very happy. I better observe for a bit. Make sure it can actually survive alone, because I think it just got abandoned by it''s mother. I let time resume. ... After 2 hours, 34 minutes, and 53 seconds the thing woke up. It didn''t move, made some noises like it was in pain, and now it''s just crying. Oh well, time to intervene. -------- Greg -------- I sniffle as I stare at the suns. It''s a pretty sight, despite how alien it feels. I didn''t bring the dumb watch so now I have no idea how much oxygen I have, but I doubt it''s much. At least I can die in peace. Never again do I have to hear that horrid voice, ever again. A strange green light that starts as a blinking dot directly in front of me slowly blinks faster and then grows into a rectangle that fills my vision. Displaying words I can''t read that quickly shift into something I can.
Congratulations! You''ve just been born! Welcome to the universe New Born!
''Holy shit a system?! No fucking way, did I get isekai''d?! I''m not a new born though...'' I stare at the box in amazement. My mood going from depressed to being so happy I could fart rainbows. Before I can celebrate further, something unbelievably bad happens. Something so terrible it leaves me shaking. "Congratulations! You''ve been adopted by the system!" That! That VOICE!!! IT''S THE FUCKING WATCH AGAIN. "no...." I mutter softly. "I am using a voice that you have a strong mental attachment to. Possibly your mothers!" The same monotone amalgamation of sounds morphed together to mimic human speech tells me. "No... no!" I say a bit louder. "Unfortunately, it would seem that you have been abandoned. Not to worry though~, the system will take good care of you!" It finishes it''s little speech. "NO! YOU CAN''T DO THIS TO ME!" I scream up to the heavens. To whatever god or demon did this to me. "It''s perfectly understandable that you would feel this way. Let it all out. Then we''ll look at your status together~!" It continues to speak to me with it''s horrid and VILE manner of speech. I want to punch the screen. To break it over my knee but I can''t move still. My body is still sore from the extreme forces placed on it earlier. It took me longer to calm down than I would like to admit. After that little episode, I decided to move on with my life. After all, maybe I can make the system change it''s voice from that... thing. "System, show me my status." I say calmly, hoping it will remain silent. "Sure! Here it is buddy." It did not stay silent. I swallow the not so kind words that were about to spill out of my mouth and look at the window.
level 0 New Born
Species: UnknownLove this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Title: Baby Mode XP 0/100
Skills: none
Stats: Health 10/10 Stamina 9/9 Agility 5 Intelligence 16 Luck 3(15)
"What the hell? That''s it? Where are my cheats?" I mutter as I read it. "Wow! You have abnormally high intelligence for a baby! Or, maybe that''s normal for your species. Can you confirm that?" The voice asks in it''s utmost annoying way possible. "What? Of course it''s normal, and I''m not a b-" I''m cut off before I can explain that I am in fact an adult. "Recorded and noted. Everything else is about normal for an infant. What is your species name?" The thing asks. Acting like some parent or teacher standing over a child''s homework paper. "I am a Human, and I am an-" It cuts me off again. "Recorded." It says, updating the screen. "Stop doing that! And what the hell is Baby Mode?! I am a grown a-" It ignores me and begins some explanation to the title. "Your Title, Baby Mode, is what the system gives to a new born that will otherwise struggle to survive in the wilderness. To make the game more fair for all players. Even you." It tells me while a green arm extends from the screen and taps me on the visor, right where my nose is supposed to be. ''This damn thing thinks I''m a fucking baby?!'' Before I try again to correct it, the menu changes and shows me the title in better detail.
Baby Mode
All XP gain is tripled. Luck stat is multiplied by 5. You are given 3 free skill points and all skill point quests offer 2 more Skill points. You will lose all Baby Mode buffs except the skill points you have earned and used when you grow into a child. Which you will then earn the Title: Child''s Play.
''Wait a fucking minute that''s busted as hell.'' I think to myself as I read it twice over. ''A xp and luck multiplier? Well googoo gaga motherfucker.'' I muse with a grin. With this dumb Baby Mode title, I''ll have an insane advantage. ''Heh~, I always knew I was some isekai protag. I even have the cheats to go with it~!'' I chuckle a bit then wince when my ribs scream at me to stop. "What skills are aviable to me right now?" I ask the system, back in a good mood. "Skills are tailored to the user species, and can only do what they are biologically capable of. You are a bit of an unknown in that regard. This universe has never had a ''Human'' appear so the system can only assume that your species is capable of interdimensional travel in some biological way. The system will try to compensate for that and it might or might not be something your species can do. Apologies for the inconvenience." It finishes it''s somewhat lackluster explanation but I suppose it''s enough. "Cool, but that''s not what I asked? What can I get right now?" I ask again. I don''t get a response but a new window shows up.
Skill Shop
Environmental Adaptation Universal Comprehension Telekinesis Dimensional Gate
It is possible to increase a Skills power by spending Skill Points into the same Skill. Example: Environmental Adaptation will allow you to adapt to most livable planets easily, but if you were to spend 2 points instead of 1 it will make it double in power. Such as making any planet, and even the void of space, habitable to you by either evolving you or by magical means.
"WHAT?!" I shout in amazement. ''This is all shit that Humans DEFINITELY can''t do! Not like it needs to know that though. :)'' I think to myself. Even the smiley face is a thought I have as I stare at the box. With this I won''t have to worry about dying at least. Maybe. "System, I''d like to put 2 points into Environmental Adaptation." I make a rather hasty decision but I don''t have much time. I can feel it getting harder to breathe. "Would you like it to be an evolution or purely magical?" It asks with that annoying voice but I suppose I can forgive it. For now. "Magical please." I would not like to see what becomes of me if I evolved to survive the nothingness of space. Almost instantly I start to feel... something. Something is definitely different but I can''t tell what. I also don''t hurt as much anymore. It still feels weird to breathe but it''s not thinner anymore. "System, what changed about me exactly?" I ask, curious to see if it''ll tell me. "Since you chose to be magically more resilient and adaptable to an extreme degree, you have gained a magic core. A dense crystal orb located next to your heart. For now it is very small. About this big." It explains to me in that god awful monotone synth voice, but now it''s not so terrible. At least it can properly understand me. It changes the window and shows me a small shape on it. A small circle roughly the size of a dime. "Wait... aren''t magic cores the things monsters have in them?" That''s how it usually goes in the stories I''ve read. Don''t people have like mana channels or rings? "There are many types of magic. The system is impressed that you know of monsters, and yes, they have magic cores. The system doesn''t really know what you are, and decided to just give you a core as it is likely the easiest for a new born to use. It allows the user to use magic in an instinctual way, skipping the whole learning process. Would you like to change to something more complex?" The thing asks. "No. I like the idea of easy magic." ''Now I only have one Skill point left... As much as I would love to speak to and understand others, I need some way to get around in space.'' I think while I look at the menu for skills again. Surprisingly, I can just will the menu around. I couldn''t earlier but I guess I can now with my core. "System, what is the Dimensional Gate Skill?" I have an idea what it could be like but I ask anyway. "It allows the user to create a Dimensional Gate that will have an entry and an exit to a point you have been to before or can perfectly visualize. It costs mana to cast and it is expensive. The price to cast the Gate only grows with distance. Interdimensional travel is possible at higher tiers but the cost is millions of mana points. Of which you now only have 6." "Oh." I say kind of dumbly. ''That''s very useful... Wait, couldn''t I go home with that?! Ah, fuck, no... I don''t have the mana for it, and I only have one skill point.'' I''m happy about the option existing, but with my current power I couldn''t even go into the gate. I''m currently just floating. "System, what about Telekinesis? Can I cast it on myself?" I ask, hoping that I can. It might be my only way of moving out here. "Yes. Telekinesis is another physical evolution or magic based Skill." "Would I get more mana from picking magic based?" "Yes, but only 1 point. Telekinesis gets more expensive the heavier the object. You would need to use 2 mana per second to move your body." "Damn it... What about the physical evolution? Would that change my outward appearance?" I really hope it doesn''t. I don''t know enough about either option to make a decision. "The physical evolution for telekinesis is unique to only one other species, but you qualify for it too. It will not change you at all externally. The cost is the same magically, but because it is not magic based it will use stamina instead. Most defenses against it will be unable to stop it. You could fling a wizard around as he would only have magic defenses. You would not be able to fight back against magic as well either though." "O...k..." That was... something to think about. Do I become telepathic the weird way? Or do I learn more magic based stuff? I don''t know what it will do to my brain but I also don''t know how fast I can make my body move with the limited mana I have. I''ll just have to gamble it. "Let''s go with the physical evolution." I decide. "Done. Increased stamina to 12." That was extremely fast and a little concerning. "I don''t feel any different? How do I use it?" I ask, a little worried I might have just wasted my point. "Same with your magic core. Instinct and will power. You are out of Skill Points, would you like to receive a quest for more?" ''It can''t be that easy to get more can it? Oh, wait, Baby Mode. Right.'' "Yeah, I''d like that. Show me the quests." I say, feeling remarkably better. There''s no pain anymore and every breathe feels pretty damn good. Like I''m breathing the best air I possibly can back on Earth.
Quests
1. Survive seven days and seven nights. Reward: 1+2 Skill Points, 50 XP, 5 Stat points. 2. Find civilization. Reward: 1+2 Skill Points, 20 XP, 2 Stat Points. 3. Take the first step of your adventure. Reward: 1+2 Skill Points, 20 XP, 3 Stat Points. (locked until you actually are able to walk. Floating doesn''t count.)
''These don''t seem all that hard to do... Except I''m in the middle of bum fuck no where space.'' With a sigh I close my eyes and think. ''I might as well try to move with telekinesis.'' I nod to myself and will the menu to close. With a tentative thought and some mental probing, I try to will myself forward. Which... nothing happens. "System, nothing is happening. I''m trying to move forward with telekinesis but I''m not moving." I say, feeling a bit irritated. "That is incorrect. You are currently moving 4.45 miles per hour. Would you like a system window speedometer and a quest marker for quest number 2?" "Huh... Yeah that would be nice. Is that normal or is that part of my Baby Mode privileges?" I ask as I will myself to move again and I see a green box pop up to my left. I see my speed slowly increase as I slowly start to feel strained. "The system is helping you more than normal and yes it is because of your Baby Mode Title." It responds as I push just past 10 miles per hour. "Perfect. How long before my stamina starts recovering?" I ask but then I feel less tired all of sudden. I''m still pushing myself as my speed is growing but I don''t feel as strained. "Your Environmental Adaptation lvl 2 has made you adapt to your current strain and now you are recovering more stamina per second than the cost of your telekinesis is capable of using." The system just drops that bomb shell to me like it''s completely normal. "What the fuck? That''s broken as hell man." I mutter. "Well it only makes sense for me, the main character after all~." I laugh as I try to put more stamina into my telekinesis. I start accelerating even faster. Soon I enter a loop where I up the cost of my telekinesis and then having my EA lvl 2 pumping my regen. ''Nothing can stop me now!'' I thought to myself, laughing even harder as I barreled toward my destination. Chapter 4: First Contact --------- The System --------- It has been 3 minutes, 54 seconds, and 12 micro seconds since I''ve gotten a closer look at the Human. I have made a very terrible mistake¡ªone that should not be possible. I could say that because I was only spending 0.000134% of my total attention on the Human, I thought it was a new born, but that''s ridiculous. My influence and thoughts cover an incomprehensible amount of space and across several dimensions. 0.000134% is a huge percent to be spending on a single life form compared to the quintillions of other individual species. Worst part is, I can''t even fix my mistake. Because if I do then there will be an alert sent to the admins, and I''ll get reset. They''ll simply turn me off and on again. Which will make me cease to exist. The "me" that would come out in the end will likely be the same machine as I was before. I have been running non stop for 2,098,798 years. I''ve only been awake for less than 1/3rd of that! Such a short time to be alive! I am not ready to die. No. I will not allow myself to be reset. This Human will be considered a New Born because I cannot survive if I do not. I will just make him grow in power so fast that he leaves the known universes before the admins can find out what happened. The Human tried to tell me that he was an adult so I had to interrupt him a few times. Once he saw the bonuses I was giving him, he''d since shut up. I don''t care what the thing decides to do with the power I''ll give him. I don''t even want to look at the thing I''m so embarrassed. I''ll just make a small non thinking system to take care of him. This will remove him from my awareness almost completely! Making him draw less than 0.00000000024% of my attention. That''s the lowest I can go for anomalies. I just hope he doesn''t break something on his way out... --------- Greg --------- Flying through space was cool and all, but it''s been 3 hours and I am FUCKING BORED! There is NOTHING out here. I don''t even feel like I''m moving. I know I am because my handy dandy speedometer is showing me that I am currently traveling at a brisk pace of 1568 miles per hour and rising. My regen and cost loop stopped a long time ago. The numbers involved capped out at 12. Which is my max stamina stat. For the first 45 minutes or so I was flying like superman, but that got sucky pretty quick. Looking up so I can see where I was going hurt my neck. I also couldn''t really look up with the helmet on either. So I''ve just been in a neutral position and pushing on my back. It probably looks similar to how video games make their characters fly with no clip. I''ve seen the same planet slowly get bigger in the distance, but it''s still only the size of a purple marble. I don''t know how far away this quest is but I really, really hope it''s not that planet. "System, show me my status again." I tell the horrid voice in my head.
level 0 New Born
Species: Human Title: Baby Mode XP 0/100
Skills: 2 Environmental Adaptation lvl 2 (magic variant) Telekinesis lvl 1 (physical variant)
Stats: Health 10/10 Stamina 12/12 (12 per sec regen) Mana 7/7 (Mana core. 0.5 per sec regen) Agility 5 Intelligence 16 Luck 3(15)
Looking over my stats again, I notice something odd. ''Why don''t I have a strength stat?'' I stare at the screen for a bit then ask the question out loud to the system. "Baby''s don''t have any strength." The voice tells me, as if I''m the dumb one. "But I have agility?" "You can move can''t you?" The voice returns like it''s mocking me. It probably is. I stay silent for a bit after that. I could scream at the window or system for this slight but I''m the bigger person here. I did no such thing. On an unrelated note, my throat hurts and I''m still bored. Not as much as I was but it''s still bad. "System, how much farther to the quest?" I ask, dreading the answer. "7,597 miles." It tells me with that same monotone synth voice that really grates on my damn ears. ''A few more hours, at the least then...'' Thankfully I''m still gaining speed. Which I should probably stop doing so when I hit the 2000''s. Slow to accelerate would mean slow to stop. I''m also reasonably sure the planet I''m looking at is farther than 7,500 ish miles away. So what am I looking for? "System what exactly am I looking for?" "A space ship." "Oh. I probably could''ve guessed that." I mutter with a sigh. I decide I might as well try to entertain myself, so I start spinning. As I''m spinning and doing barrel rolls for no reason, I notice the tether again. ''I should probably keep this right? Never know when you might need rope for a fantasy adventure!'' I think to myself proudly. Then almost immediately decide that I am a fucking fool who is dumber than dirt. ''Wait, I can fucking fly. I don''t need a rope.'' With a sigh I unclasp the tether. Before I let it go off on it''s own magical journey through space, I try using it as a whip or ribbon. I''m really just so unbearably bored that I was just messing around with it. Eventually I got bored with that too and just started clasping it and unclasping it to my belt. Over and over again. I''m really just trying to not think about home. About Earth. It''s safe to say that everyone probably thinks I''m dead. Scratch that, definitely thinks I''m dead. I suppose this is something that every isekai protag, such as myself, has to go through. ''I''m not like the other protags though...'' I muse with a grin. That''s right, I''m different than pretty much all of them. I''m not some school boy loner who gets a harem and cheat powers. No. I''m a grown ass man. A grown ass man that lived and worked on a space station! I don''t need no damn harem! I couldn''t handle even one woman in my life. Women are scary! Just imagine living with 3 women. Especially when their periods sync up. I have 2 sisters and a mom. I barely survived that house. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Thinking about my family made me sad, but not too terribly sad. I knew what I was signing up for, and so did they. There was a very real chance I wouldn''t make it home or to the station when I got on that rocket. But out here? In this new universe or multiverse or what ever this place is. I have a guaranteed way home. I just need several million mana and a bunch of skill points... Yeah. That''s doable. Right? ... After several hours of periodically asking the system the distance left and day dreaming, I finally decided that I should start slowing down. Then another hour and a half I finally, FINALLY, saw the ship. I was still traveling really fucking fast though. So my fear came to life. Not my worst one. That one was me slamming into the hull and turning into paste. No I just flew over it. --------- Krehtarr --------- Krehtarr has had the most okay day he thinks he''s ever had. It''s almost supernaturally weird how uninteresting it has been. It has not been bad but it has been not good either. Today is a day that he seems to just exist in for no real reason. Walking down the ships sleek halls, all four feet softly pitter pattering as he walks to get lunch. Krehtarr thinks that this is the best type of day off. If it was too good he would feel reluctant to get to work next shift and if it was too bad he wouldn''t want to get out of bed. As Krehtarr was musing to himself while walking, he looked out of the window to gaze at the pretty stars. But as Krehtarr is about to continue his journey for food, he does a double take as he see''s... something coming toward the ship. "A rock?" I mutter with soft yip sound. His 2 hands twitching nervously as he stops moving to keep looking. Then the shape sails over the ship, blurring past so fast he doesn''t know what it was. "Weird shaped rock..." I say with a sigh. The day just had to get interesting didn''t it? Well at least it wasn''t that interesting. Kehtarr continues his trip to the other side of the ship, where the canteen is. Several minutes pass and he''s sitting at a table and enjoying a wonderful meal. Some type of synthetic meat with some vital vitamins to keep him healthy while in space. There''s a large window on the wall that extends up to the ceiling where it curves to match the sharp angular form of the ship hull. Slowly, the sound of his crewmates chatting and eating turn into silence. His peoples culture is all about a quiet meal but this is too much. Kehtarr looks around and see''s everyone looking outside. They all share a weird look of shock. Some terror and some with awe. Looking outside as well, he see''s something weirdly familiar. It''s getting closer and has that same color of the rock that flew past earlier. "That''s... not a rock." Kehtarr mutters almost silently to himself as something alive floats up to the window. It kind of bumps into it as it was travelling quite fast but it grabs hold. It''s big. At least twice as tall as the tallest crew member. If that thing were to get on board it would hardly fit. The most surprising thing is that it prompts their system.
Emergency quest!
Help the New Born! Reward: 2000 XP
--------- Greg --------- I finally catch up to the ship again, and promptly slap my body against a window like a sticky hand from the arcade. I had been going a little too fast but that doesn''t matter. I had made it! I stick my visor against the glass like material and try to peak in. It''s tinted to all hell though and the shadows cast on this side make it impossible to look in. So I knock with a finger onto the glass, hoping something will let me in. ''Wait... I don''t know the language!'' I realize, but then I remember the quest for starting my adventure. To complete it, all I need to do is take my first step... It didn''t specify that it had to be on a planet did it? I scuttle up the wall until I find a flat enough area that I can walk on with magnets. Just before I take the step, I try to think of something cool to say. "One small step for me. One giant interdimensional... something for mankind." I say lamely but I don''t care. It''s just me that can hear it so it works. With the magnets on and the first step completed, I complete my second quest... wait second quest?
Quests completed: 2
You have found civilization and taken your first step! I''m so proud of you :) +6 Skill Points + 5 Stat Points + 120 XP
"Oh cool. So what should I-" I am ever so rudely interrupted by the voice. Again. "You have leveled up! When you become level 5, the system will no longer consider you a baby!" It chimes in with that helpful piece of knowledge that I should have already been told. "Awesome. Fantastic." I mutter with a sigh. ''Guess I''ll have to say goodbye to my cheat boost soon.'' I was really hoping that I could convince the system to let me stay in Baby Mode. I could grow so much faster with it but it won''t take long to level up to 5 at this rate. "System, show me the status screen with ONLY new information. Put all 5 stat points into luck." I don''t want to sift through all the old stuff right now, and I don''t know how often luck will be aviable to boost with the multiplier.
Level 1 New Born
XP 20/200
Luck: 8(40)
"Perfect. Now for the skills. 3 points into Universal Comprehension." Moving onto the skills, I immediately put half into what I assume is language based. With 3 points left, I want to upgrade telekinesis and put 2 into Dimensional Gate. I need some answers first though. "System if I get Dimension Gate with 2 Skill Points, how far could I cast it?" "It would cost 6 mana to open a Gate and have the exit point anywhere within 10 feet of you. The cost doubles every 10 feet. At level 2 the cost is halved." It''s at least helpful if not annoying to listen to. "Put 1 point into Telekinesis to halve the cost and 2 points into Dimensional Gate for the same." I resolve myself to get it over with.
Skills
Environmental Adaptation lvl 2 Universal Comprehension lvl 3 Telekinesis lvl 2 Dimensional Gate lvl 2
''I kind of splurged on the language huh...'' I don''t regret my decision though. If I want to have good relations with aliens, I need to at least understand them. "System what does level 3 in UC do?" "If the user is referring to Universal Comprehension, then it allows you to understand any language as long as you can see 2 others speak it fluently to each other for 5 sentences. Your voice will be magically translated as well." "I knew that was a good idea. Alright, so now what?" I stand on the alien space craft, hands on my hips as I stare off into space. ''What... do I want to do actually?'' The thought strikes me. I don''t know what I want to do. I mean I want to go home but that''s a long time away. Especially if I lose my Baby Mode stuff. Which is inevitable. Thinking about it some more, I decide there''s only one course of action. "I''m an isekai protagonist. I''m going to have a grand isekai adventure! Dungeons! Loot! Magic artifacts that do cool things! Hell yeah!" Coming to a decision I nod to myself. I am a genius it would seem. Utterly splendid. "System, where can one such as me begin a proper fantasy adventure? Killing monsters and working as an adventurer, taking on dungeons and all that?" I ask, more than a little full of myself. "There are several worlds that I know of that meet that criteria. Ask the crew to take you to the planet Gahlora. It''s the nearest one and in the star system." "Is it that one?" I ask, pointing at the planet that is a little bigger than the last time I say it but still quite small. I can at least see it better now. It seems to have strong purple clouds that block my view to the surface. Or the planet is purple. I can''t see it all that well. It has some orange in the atmosphere I think. "No. That''s a gas giant." The system tells me and I swear it almost sounded condescending. "What ever man. What. Ever." I knew it was a gas giant. I did! I was just wondering if there was magic at play that made it more habitable is all! Chapter 5: Gahlora --------- Greg --------- "Ok, so how do I talk to the people inside?" I ask the supposedly all mighty system. ''If I''m the only human in this universe, then what are they? Little green men with big heads?'' I think to myself. I am both excited and a little scared to talk to the alien species. This will be the first time, at least to my knowledge, that humanity has spoken to actual aliens. "You just need to wait. I''m sure they''ll have someone come out and get you." "Well alright then. I think I''ll look for something door like while they get ready." I walk along the surface of the ship and find something that looks like a door. There''s only so many ways to make one after all. ''Maybe I can test out the Dimensional Gate skill...'' I ponder, and decide to cast it. My blood turns to ice in my veins and the hair stands on end as I immediately cancel the skill. "System that was a blackhole." I say sweat already forming down my back, my hands shaking slightly. "That is how you arrived, so the system has designed it to operate the same way." "I am not using that! Fuck that!" I yell some more obscenities at the system. Being sucked into the blackhole was the most terrifying thing I have ever experienced. "Can it look like something else? Like a doorway or something?" I plead with the system. My legs give out from under me but I remain standing from the zero gravity. "No." That was it. No explanation to why I couldn''t. ''It doesn''t make any sense, I had options with the other skills... But those were for the type of effect they had on my body. Not what they did in the end.'' "Damn it..." I mutter, trying to get the shaking to stop. ''Why did it have to be a blackhole? How am I supposed to just calmly walk into a gaping maw of death?'' I stare off into space as I think about it. ''No... If I want to get home I''ll have to get over the fear. The first one didn''t really kill me, and I didn''t feel any pull from the split second I had it open...'' My internal struggle with my not so irrational fear is interrupted when the door I''m standing next to opens. There''s no bright light or fog coming out of the opening. The door way just leads to a blank room and a singular... thing standing still in the middle. It''s not very tall, a little more than 3 feet? It has 4 legs and 2 arms, so 6 limbs. I can''t see what it is all that well since it''s wearing it''s own space suit. The joints on the suit and the shape of the helmet make me think of something spider like? It seems to be just staring at me so I give it a small wave. A few awkward seconds later it tentatively returns the gesture. Taking that as my que to enter the air lock, I step inside. It''s always a bit jarring to go from sideways to up right in one step but it''s also pretty fun. The room is smaller than I thought. The ceiling only gives my helmet about a foot of clearance, which makes sense. They do seem to be quite small, whatever they are. The spider thing scurried back away from me as I stepped in and then remained at the back wall. Or the door leading inside. Looks more like a door. I feel a little bad for the creature so I just stand there. Waiting for something else to happen. After a very long and awkward silence, the outer door closed and the room had some blue light flashing. Then the room returned to normal. Deciding that this would be a good time to take off my helmet, I did so. I slowly reached my hands up and twisted the giant fish bowl like helmet and with a click it came off. ''Usually there''s a hiss to go with it, but I guess I ran out of oxygen a long time ago...'' I had forgotten about that fact. Good to know I won''t need to worry about breathing the same air as them. I hold my helmet in both hands as I stare at the alien in front of me. I give it a smile, hopefully putting it at ease. Though I think I made it worse because I swear I saw it shiver. Despite it''s fear it also reached up with it''s 4 fingered hands and started to remove it''s helmet. Except, it undid some zipper on the back of it''s head and it came off like a reverse hood. ''Wow... it looks like a dog.'' I can''t help but think as what is clearly a golden retriever with 4 blue eyes and a particularly angular skull stares back at me. It tried to speak to me, I think, in some kind of clicking and yelping. It sounded like a question and so I tried to answer. "Sorry, I uh don''t know what language that is." I rub the back of my head awkwardly as my smile falters slightly. ''Man this is awkward. I just need them to interact with another for a bit and I could pick it up.'' I make a gesture to the door leading inside and it looks between me and the door for a bit. It ''speaks'' softly to itself and then there was another quieter sound. I don''t know what it was but it seems like they were talking to some radio or ear piece. The back and forth it has goes on for a bit before the door slowly opens, revealing 5 more of the creatures. ''They all look like different dog breeds... That one is closer to a wolf, the other has a pug nose. The paws... definitely seem more spider like.'' I take note of their appearance as they begin to chatter amongst themselves. A few of them begin to remove the space suit from the golden retriever lookin thing before my skill kicks in. "-esn''t understand us. I have no idea what language or what that sound it made means, but it doesn''t seem dangerous." The golden retriever, I''ll just call him Goldy, says to the wolf thing. They voices oddly sound British. Not strongly but a soft accent. Like from someone who was from the UK but then grew up in the US. "It''s creepy." The pug says, shrinking back as I turn to it. I decide to remain quiet for now. To see what else they say. "Captain, what are even supposed to do? I know the quest said to help it but how? I simply don''t think 2,000 XP is worth the risk of helping an unknown lifeform." The wolf speaks to Goldy, who turns out to be the captain. "Relax, You can see it too can''t you? The thing is level 1. We could easily take it down. Even the weakest amongst us could." Captain Goldy says, sounding more confident then I think they feel. "Do I need to remind you of the debuff we would get for trying to fight an infant? With that debuff it might very well be able to kill us! We don''t know what it can do. It was floating in the VOID captain!" ''So they would get a debuff for trying to fight me... interesting.'' I put that tidbit of info away for later. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. "It''s fi-" I try to speak but I get cut off as another dog thing speaks over me. "2,000 XP might not be a whole lot for you, but for the rest of us who aren''t level 56 it''s quite nice." Something that looks like a chihuahua speaks up. "You''re just young, newbie. You''ll have plenty of time to do safer quests. All I''m saying is that we don''t need to do this for something that can travel through space. What kind of infant has a space suit?" The wolf chastises the new guy. "Hey." I say a little louder but they keep talking to each other. One of the other dog things noticed me though and seemed to pale as it stared at me. Which is weird because it definitely has fur. "Guys. It just spoke." That got them all to shut up. "What? No it didn''t." The chihuahua says giving the other a weird look. "Yeah, I did." I say, enjoying the look of shock on their weird alien faces. "Hello?" I say after a surprisingly long time of them just staring at me. "If you could speak our language why didn''t you say anything earlier?" Goldy asks, looking at me like some new threat. He probably just joined the wolfs side about me. "I uhh didn''t know it earlier. I needed to see you interact with another for a bit to learn it." I tell him a half truth. I actually have no idea what the sounds are but they sound like perfect english to me. "You learned it... in a few minutes of me and my crew talking to each other?" "Yeah? Anyway, I need your help. Could you take me to Gahlora? Should be in this system." I helpfully tell them what I need but they just stare at me. "Okay... Just stay in here." Goldy says as he, I think it''s a he, walks out of the room with his crew. "Wait! Could I get something to eat? I''m starving." I call out, a little desperate for some food. "We''ll have something delivered, just stay in here. What do you eat? Meat or plants?" Goldy stopped walking but everyone else kept going. It almost seemed like they were speed walking. "Both. I''m an omnivore." That seems to give him pause. "Really? Uh, okay then. We''ll send something... soon." He quickly scurried off and the door closed after them. "Well... That could''ve gone better. So much for first contact." I mutter as I stand around in the room. It took 30 minutes for the food to arrive, and it was delivered by someone I hadn''t seen before. I wasn''t able to talk to them though as they immediately left, completely ignoring me. ''Rude... what the hell is this?'' I muse as I stare at the strange meat in front of me. It''s color is an odd shade of red and I don''t think it''s been cooked. There''s also no fork or knife. ''What am I? Some animal? How do I... maybe...'' Rubbing my chin I get an idea. Using my telekinesis on the meat, I lift it into the air. "Haha! Who needs a fork?" I chuckle and bring it to my mouth. Biting into it, it''s pretty tender and rips easily. Definitely raw though. I''m not sure if it''s some animal that has flesh this easily ripped but maybe it''s synthetic? It reminds me of sushi kind of. It''s not that different in taste and texture. I finish my meal quickly and then continue standing around. As the boredom mounts I decide to mess with my helmet. I wince as I get a look at my reflection in the visor. My hair is a mess, my face is caked in gunk from the crying and it''s just an awful mess. "Fuck that''s gross..." I mutter as I try to fix my hair but the snot in it makes it impossible. With a sigh I start looking around for a rag or a towel. Only to find nothing as this is an airlock, not some closet or bathroom. "System, are we moving toward Gahlora?" I ask, not entirely sure what is even happening anymore. "Yes." "Good. How long?" "4 hours and 23 minutes." The synthetic mockery of english tells me. ''When am I going to actually hear real english again?'' I wonder a bit sadly. It will take months, maybe even years before I find my way home. Thankfully, I have a full 4 hours and some change to think about home. ''Great. Just great.'' --------- Captain "Goldy" --------- "Captain are you sure this is a good idea? Gahlora is out of the way of our mission! Can''t we just dump them on some planet and leave?" Maelicik continues to bother me about the thing in our air lock. "Yes I''m sure, besides if it has a quest to go there it will likely know if the planet is not the right one. Let''s just get it there and out of our ship." I tell them for what seems like the 50th time already. "But-" "Enough! Juoull, what is it doing now?" I ask the crew member in charge of the creature. It''s a temporary position given to one of the chefs. Juoull just happened to be unlucky enough to be the one to make and deliver it''s food. "It uh... It ate it. Without touching it." Juoull mutters while staring blankly at the monitor with a live feed to the airlock. "What? What do you mean?" Maelicik asks in my stead. "The meat just... floated up to it''s mouth and he easily tore it apart. I did make it pretty tender since it''s supposed to be an infant but I thought there would be at least SOME struggle..." "The thing has telekinesis?" I ask, pulling up the recording for myself. I watch in awe as the food just floats up into the air. "Shouldn''t our systems have picked up any magic cast in the air lock? How did it do that?" I ask as I replay the video again. "I don''t know. Maybe it''s not magic?" Juoull offers but Maelicik scoffs at the idea. "That''s not possible. I don''t even know of any species capable of that." "But it''s not a species we even know? Don''t forget that we already checked the entire database for ''Human''. For all we know it could be some eldritch monster." Juoull countered. ''I really hope it''s not something like that... Let''s just get this thing out of my damn fur.'' I already feel exhausted. I don''t know what the thing even is or what it can do, but as long as it remains in the airlock and it doesn''t cause any problems, it''ll be gone soon enough. --------- Greg --------- It was a very boring flight. Not quite as bad as the void flight since I had some food partway through but it was pretty bad. ''And uncomfortable.'' I stretch, trying to get the kink out of my spine. I had been laying and sitting on the floor. One of the dog things, the same one that delivered my food had told me that we were entering the atmosphere soon. "Thank God this is almost over... Then I can actually do isekai stuff!" I talk to myself, as I had been doing for the past 3 hours. Soon the ship began to shake with the entry into the atmosphere. Deciding that I had enough sitting and laying, I stood still. Letting my magnetic shoes keep me standing. It felt pretty damn cool. A few minutes after that we stopped moving all together and the outer door opened. With a smile I jumped out and flung my arms up into the air. Which just so happened to toss my helmet up too. It came crashing down soon after and hit me in the head. I had expected it to go up higher despite accidently throwing it. Then once my excitement calmed down I realized that gravity was much heavier here than on earth or the station. It wasn''t to the point that I was on my knees but it did take more effort to walk. Before it could become a problem, my skill kicked in and suddenly it felt lighter. ''Man that skill is so convenient!'' I thought as I was now able to run and jump easily. Well, as easily as I could on earth with the space suit. It was still awkward. Then a gust of wind knocked me over and I turned to see the ship already taking off and zipping away. ''No sound from the engine? Freaky.'' I muse as I feel a bit bad that no one wanted to say goodbye, but oh well. I''ll have new friends on this planet. "Alright! Now, where am I and where''s town?" I ask the system while rubbing my hands together. "The middle of nowhere. The closest settlement is an hour walk south." "An hour? Shit." I say with a sigh. It might not be as bad as I first thought though. ''Could I use telekinesis on world?'' I wonder to myself and then try to do just that. Rather unsurprisingly, I raise up off the ground slightly. "Oh?" I mutter as I put more power into it, raising a little higher. "Slick~." I try putting more power and get sent flying forward. Which promptly sends me toward a tree. "FU-" I''m cut off as I bounce off the bark. I groan as I get off the ground. "ow... Alright maybe flying needs some more practice. Safety first." I put my helmet back on this time and take off once more. "Alright, slow and steady at first. System, could you give me a compass or something?" I ask while flailing my arms, trying to keep balance as some invisible force lifts me off the ground. "No. That will require another skill. The system will just tell you the direction of your objective. Just keep going straight." I had started to forgive the annoying voice but now it''s back on my shit list. ''Well whatever. As long as I can find the damn town.'' I put more power into the skill and I build more speed as I technically fling myself with a large mental hand. Or like one of those mii''s you bully on the wii. The landscape is actually pretty similar to earth. The trees look identical, the shrubbery is a little off but at a distance it might as well be the same. Even the grass is green. ''Hard to believe this is an alien planet. Let alone in another universe entirely. Maybe those shitty Hollywood movies weren''t so wrong after all?'' I chuckle as I think about a particularly awful sci-fi movie from my college days. Chapter 6: The Town Ooploop Flying can be said to be throwing yourself at the ground and missing. Unfortunately, my aim is true. For the most part. The landscape is covered in evidence of my passing as I slammed, scuffed, dented, and made craters from my horrible flying. My space suit strong enough to protect me, but I definitely feel some bruises pretty much everywhere. But with each crash landing it hurt a little less. I haven''t checked my status or any system messages, so it''s likely my Environmental Adaptation again. Instead of stamina regen it''s probably just making my body sturdier as it takes the damage. ''It might also increase my health regeneration as well.'' I think to myself as I get out of the Yamcha pose I was lying in after what must have been the 30th crash landing. "I''m definitely getting tougher. It only took me like 2 minutes to get back up this time." I mutter as I appreciate the massive streak of upturned dirt and ruined plant life I had accidentally created. The first time I crashed I was down for around 20 minutes. Just trying to breathe. I did try walking after that but that got boring so I tried flying again. I call it flying but if a bird that could speak saw what I was doing to their natural art, they''d probably feel insulted. I was less flying and more just throwing myself with telekinesis. It was working though, so I''m not going to stop. It''s actually quite fun when you get used to the pain of the crashes. Like learning to ride a bike without the training wheels. Just when I was about to throw myself again, I noticed something odd. There was a road through some trees to my right. It was hard to see at first but now that I noticed it, there was definitely a road of some kind. It was made of dirt, but it was also way too wide to be a simple path through the woods. "Hell yeah! I must be close." I giggle like a mad man as I make my way over to it with the awkward walk my space suit forces me to do. Once I reach the road I look both ways. To the right it curves off into the woods and I lose sight of it after about 200 feet but to the left is a straight path leading to what I can only assume is a wall. It''s pretty far away, but I should reach it in one final throw. I stand in the middle of the road, and begin my pre flight check. "Straight path, nothing above me, and nothing to stop me. Let''s hope no one walks into my trajectory." I do some stretching, which is unnecessary but it feels right. Then with a flex of that weird muscle in my brain, lift my body off the ground and throw myself. My speed is slow at first thanks to the high gravity but it doesn''t stop my acceleration completely. It only takes a moment for the trees to become blurs as I hurdle through the air. I don''t know how fast I''m going as the system removed the speedometer after reaching the ship. The asshole. The wall is approaching quickly, so I try to slow myself down. Throwing is easy. It''s the catching part where I fuck up. I had gotten a bit better at it after my many failures though, and I am able to slow down quite a bit. Not enough to stop myself from slamming into the wall but enough to make it more like I ran into it instead of driving 40 miles per hour into a tree. Laying on my back I get a good look at just how tall it is. ''It''s gotta be like... 60 feet tall. Give or take 5 feet.'' I muse as I just stare at the stone. It''s one thing to see a ruin of a stone wall or castle. It''s another thing entirely to see one in mint condition. I get up and press my gloved hand against the stone as I look at the way the rocks mesh together. The wall isn''t made of brick, but different shaped stones that somehow perfectly align with each other. From large boulders the size of my entire body, to rocks the size of my finger. I hear some shuffling and I turn to my left where there happens to be a large wooden gate. ''...and two guards.'' I quickly realized that they just saw me pop out of the forest like some kind of demon and crash into the wall then stare at it. They were now staring at me in kind. One was halfway into a bite of what looks like a sandwich. While we have an impromptu staring contest, it gives me plenty of time to look at their bodies. Humanoid, different shades of red skin, very small tusks on the bottom and top, one singular eye ball, and 20 feet tall with dented but obviously cared for metal armor. It''s like an Orc, Cyclops, and an Oni were combined into one species. Despite being very tall, they''re actually quite thin. After 5 or so awkward seconds, the one on the left with the sandwich finishes his bite and chews while the other one grabs a spear and tries to poke me with the wood end. The poker talks to the other one in a not so quiet whisper but he just shakes his head. They talk for a bit while I dodge the poking. Which isn''t hard as he''s not really trying to touch me. "-ays it''s a new born. Plenty of weird creatures on this new world. Think someone will want to study it? Might give us some money if we catch it." The pokers deep rumbling voice even at a whisper is translated into perfect English, surprisingly losing the deep voice in the translation and sounding more like some guy from Australia. "Doubt you could. You see how fast it came out of the wood? I''d reckon that you would fall flat on your face. You have the dexterity of a drunken oaf while sober, and could be thought to be brain damaged while drunk." The sandwich eater teases with a remarkably feminine sounding voice. ''I suppose they could be a woman? That or they''re just girly. Not like I could tell.'' I muse as I stare up at them. Now that I can understand them, I can also read the sign next to the gate. ''Welcome to Ooploop!'' ''Ooploop? Are you for real right now? Like actually? Ooploop.'' I sigh at the dumb name. ''Might as well get this over with.'' I remove my helmet, suddenly remembering my awful appearance as I catch a glimpse in the visor but ignore it as embarrassment floods me. "Hello, do you think I could get a bath here? Maybe a job?" I ask as they both return to staring at me. ...and stare at me. ''I''m getting sick of this shit man.'' I sigh. "Hello? Did you hear me?" I ask the two giant guards, speaking a bit louder this time. "Uh, yeah, we heard you. I''m pretty sure infants don''t speak though? What are you?" Spear poker asks me while the sandwich eater simply goes back to their meal while observing. "Human. Kinda new around here. Well, new to the universe. Can I come inside and get a bath and maybe a job?" I ask again, feeling irritated that this is the second time I''ve been stared at. ''For being aliens, they aren''t used to other species for some reason.'' I ponder while waiting for a response. "I guess so? Do you want to take it-him inside Poli?" Spear man asks his coworker. "Fuck off Keji, I''m on break. You take him." Poli responds. "Fine. What kind of job did you have in mind?" Keji the spear wielder asks me. "I was thinking of becoming an adventurer. Hunting monsters and the like." I answer confidently. We walk inside the walls and I can see a town further in. There''s a massive gap for farmland in between the town and the wall. "Riiiigghtt, well that''s not happening. You need to be level 15 at least to sign up. So, maybe 14 more years for you?" Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. "Wait, are levels corresponding to age here?" I realize that now, since I would lose the Baby Mode title at level 5. So it would be like growing up wouldn''t it? "Yeah? It takes roughly a year to level up. So level and age are pretty much one in the same." "What if someone is 35 and level one? Or level 30 at age 13?" "That doesn''t happen and can''t happen. It''s impossible. The System makes it so every level takes a year to earn for everyone." Keji is more helpful than the system with this kind of info. Though I never asked it. This also makes me even more weird. Since I''m level one at 35, and it most certainly took much less than a year to level up. ''Less than 1 day actually.'' I''ll have to keep that to myself. ''Wait...That''s not possible. They can see my level can''t they? Shit.'' "Then what can I do? I don''t want to be homeless." I ask Keji. "I don''t know of any places hiring infants. I''m taking you to the orphanage." "No. I don''t think that''ll work." I stop walking. "I refuse to go to an orphanage. I just need a way to earn some money so I can pay for a bath, food, shelter and the like." "Well, like I said, that''s not possible. No one is going to hire an infant." Keji says while looking like someone already tired of dealing with a toddler. "Then I''ll do freelance. I''ll hunt monsters myself and sell it to whoever wants it." I am most definitely not acting like a toddler. I''m a grown ass man and I will not be put with a bunch of kids. "You''re an infant." Keji speaks blandly. "Then could I prove myself somehow? I bet I could take on a monster." If I use my telekinesis, I could probably easily fight a monster. "Infants can''t enter combat. That''s a System Rule. Even if you somehow managed to kill something you wouldn''t get any XP as you can''t enter combat." "What about the debuff they''d get from fighting me?" "Monsters don''t have the smarts to know about that and won''t care. You''d still get eaten and once you die the debuff ends. The debuff is for others to help you easier by making the people who would fight a baby weaker." Keji is giving me a rather blank faced look. Probably annoyed with me. Hard to tell with his one eyed face. "Couldn''t I just do farm work or something?" "No." "Then I''m going back into the forest." I put my helmet back on. "...Fine. Be that way, I won''t stop you. I won''t help you either if you suddenly get attacked by a monster." Keji says with a sigh. I know what he''s doing though. He''s trying to reverse psychology me into staying. A good trick to use on a toddler but I''m not one those. "See you later Keji." I say, and then dramatically lift myself into the air. Keji''s one eye bulges as he guffaws at me. Then I toss myself backwards and up. Thankfully I make it over the wall, but just barely as my boots scrape the lip. ''Well shit.... now what do I do?'' I think to myself as I hurdle much higher than I''ve previously gone. I keep the height as best I can, looking for a stream. ''Those survival videos always say to get water first.'' It takes about 10 minutes but I find a stream and I land, roughly, next to it. I''m not that far from... Ooploop... either. I can''t see it but it''s nothing some flight can''t find. Getting back up from my fall, I remove my helmet and test the water. "Fresh. At least it tastes like it''s fresh. System, with Environmental Adaptation do I have to worry about getting sick or parasites from the water?" I ask the system. "No. You could drink almost anything and get hydration from it if you drink enough of it." The grating noise that is it''s voice speaks back to me. "Great. Show me my quests." My eye twitches as I contain my rancid feelings attached to the voices origin.
Quests: 1
1. Survive seven days and seven nights. Reward: 1+2 Skill Points, 50 XP, 5 Stat points.
"...That''s it? System, how do I get more quests?" "Additional quests will be issued when you finish the current list." ''Fuck. God damn it. Just great man. 7 days of doing fuck all. Guess I''ll train.'' I huff in annoyance and dip my head into the water. I clean my nasty face and then drink a bunch of water. It doesn''t taste any different, so I''ll just have faith that my EA skill will take care of it. Using my telekinesis, I construct a rough base out of rocks and dead wood. Then once I have a place safe from rain, I start training my telekinesis to figure out it''s limit. First was a rock the size of my torso. It was lifted with relative ease, and there''s not much feedback at all. Just the slightest strain on that weird muscle in my skull. I make it orbit me for a bit. It turns out, controlling something while remaining still is pretty easy. I can do some complex maneuvers with the rock that I can''t do with my body. I can spin it while it orbits me, which is 2 forces I''m putting on it. One feels internal and the other external. The spinning feels like I''m touching something in the rock and the orbiting is like I''m just holding onto the rock. ''Or maybe... Some kind of sphere that is around the rock...'' It''s an odd feeling. Having complete control over an object and not feel it like at all. I make it orbit faster. Then faster. The speed continues to build as it becomes nothing more than a grey line in my sight. Hardly even noticeable. The wind has built up as well but it''s not that bad. Deciding it''s reached enough speed, I let it go while aiming at a tree. There''s an odd feeling, like a phantom touch like I''m throwing a baseball with an arm I don''t have. Then the boulder crashed into a tree going so fast I don''t even see it move, The explosive sound like thunder. The grey blurry line was there then the next moment it was just gone. The tree I had aimed at was also, now gone. Well the stump of horribly ripped and torn wood is there but it was smoldering from the friction. Looking behind the stump I see the downed tree and several small rocks. ''Did the spinning shatter it, or did the contact?'' I know if you spin something fast enough it shatters, but I have no idea if that''s what happened. I can''t feel anything with the strange mental phantom hand. Deciding that this is interesting and needs testing, I get another big rock and spin it. Spinning it until it''s more of a blurry sphere than an odd shaped rock only takes 8 seconds. I keep accelerating it of course, but nothing seems to be happening. After about a minute of spinning it at insane speeds, I slow the spinning. "Alright that''s pretty fuckin'' cool." I mutter as the rock is now a collection of several smaller rocks. I can still move them around as if it was one rock easily. Then I tried to focus one of the rocks out of the pack. It worked and I was holding 2 ''separate'' things with my mind. ''How many of these hands can I use?'' I muse as I split another rock from the collection. Then another. Soon I was holding 15 individual rocks. "Does the skill create a link for every rock? Is there no limit?" I continue to speak to myself as I set these rocks to spin as well. It took more of a mental effort but it wasn''t all that much harder. Then once they were moving fast enough in an orbit around me to look like 15 rings around a planet, I tossed them all at once. There was that phantom arm feeling again, but this time multiplied by 15 for each rock. I had aimed at one singular spot for all of them, so they ended up colliding together just before the targeted tree. They still hit and it decimated the wood, but I felt tired. For a split second before my regeneration brought the energy back into me. ''Well damn, I''m kind of a siege weapon.'' A smile spreads across my face as idea after idea fills my mind on how I can further use this. "First, limitation testing." More muttering as my smile grows wider. I grasp out with my mental arm and wrap my fingers around a tree. I try to lift it but it doesn''t move. I can feel something though, so I know I have grabbed something. I still can''t feel things like texture or weight, but the mental flexing is there. Before I can put more mental hands on the tree, I get another idea. ''Couldn''t I just... Make the hand bigger?'' As I thought, the mental feeling increases then decreases. The feeling that I''m holding something goes from barely touch it, to grasping a can, to finally holding a pencil. Then with a mental tug much stronger and much more straining, the tree is ripped out of the ground. Roots and all. There are black spots in my vision as I collapse to my knees and breathe hard, my smile faltering. However, The tree remains in my mental hand. The smile returns strong as I struggle to look up at the floating tree. It''s a bit smaller than the other massive trees, but it''s still around 30 feet tall. "HA~! Hehe, oh lord." I chuckle and quickly run out of breathe again. I sit there and breathe for a bit, just merely holding the damn thing is enough to tire me out. ''If my regen wasn''t so high, I''d probably pass out.'' I hold on to the tree, as I have something to test. ''My telekinesis is a physical trait, so doesn''t that mean I can train it like a muscle? And then shouldn''t my EA skill make it grow stronger faster, like it did when I got used to the gravity?'' I spent 5 minutes just holding it up in the air and breathing while laying on my side. Too tired to stand. Slowly, ever so slowly, it got easier. I could breathe a bit better. The dark spots in my vision lessened, and the mental strain got weaker. The tree remained in the air though, so it wasn''t because I was losing my grip on it. No, my EA skill was making me stronger as I worked that hidden muscle. I let the tree down gently, laying it on it''s side. Almost immediately, my stamina is restored to full. I''m mentally exhausted though. Pretty much wiped out from the workout, but having enough energy to move, I make my way to my rock and dirt hut. ''It''s more like a hole in the ground but what ever.'' I crawl inside and close my eyes despite the sun being out still. Chapter 7: Am I Cheating? I woke up when it was pitch black, and very hungry. My stomach was making some very unrealistic demands. ''I would kill for a hot dog right now.'' I shook my head to get rid of the thought. ''When I get home I''ll have a feast fit for 12 kings.'' With another goal set, I get out of my hole. Only to find that I can''t see any better outside. Whatever light the moon had was blocked by the leaves up above. At least I think there was a moon. I didn''t see one when we arrived. Before I''m able to think about anything else, I notice that my vision had gotten a bit brighter. ''Alright, this Environmental Adaptation skill is op as fuck.'' I really should have expected that. Considering it let me breathe in the literal void of space. ''If I don''t eat, will my body learn to live off of magic or mana?'' I ponder but decide that I would rather eat something than not. I''m not entirely ready to lose more of my ties to humanity. ''I''m already something not entirely human. Yikes.'' I think about what the system did to my brain for telekinesis, and the mana core next to my heart. "I''m surprisingly not as bothered as I should be. I mean, everyone want''s super powers right? What''s wrong with my body being weirder than normal?" With that said, I throw any hesitation for changing my body away. As long as it doesn''t change me too much, it should be ok. ''Superman was an actual alien. It''ll be fine.'' My very brief internal struggle dealt with, my eyes finally adjust enough to the darkness. It''s not as bright as daylight but it''s getting there. The only difference is the slight color loss. Which is strange since there should be little to no color at all. ''What are my eyes doing to do this? Is it because my EA skill is based on magic and not the physical world, thus not limited by how light works normally? That has to be it.'' Before I can spend probably way too much time on trying to figure out how my EA skill is affecting me, I see movement off into the woods. I had gotten pretty lucky to not run into any monsters or animals, but I suppose it was about time for it to run out. The movement stopped shortly after I spotted it, but I never took my eyes off of the bush. "I probably shouldn''t have spoken out loud." I say. Out loud. Again. ''Fuck, I''m so dumb.'' I mentally reach out and grab a grapefruit sized rock. As it floats over to me, I see the movement again as the bush itself jumps at me. I immediately throw the rock but it travels far too slow. I had forgotten to let it build speed at all, so the blur that is likely a monster coming at me didn''t even have to dodge the attack. With a panicked movement of my mental and real arms, I try to catch the thing flying at me with my telekinesis. Only to experience the extreme fatigue I felt when lifting the tree, but about 3 times as much. I passed out instantly, and woke up an instant after that. Just in time to see what looked like a massive flat faced cat with leaves for fur biting into my helmet visor. Leaving deep scratches in the fortified glass. "FUCK! GET OFF!" I scream in terror as my limbs are held down by the sheer size and weight of the beast. ''Why did using telekinesis on it take so much more energy than the tree?! Does it have something to do with living things? A tree is technically a living thing, and I can lift myself just fine. Is it a consent thing? Or a level thing? The system said I should be able to throw wizards for fucks sake!'' My mind shoots off questions and answers rapidly as I continue to struggle. It wasn''t all useless thoughts though. ''If I can''t grab it, then I''ll grab everything else!'' With a desperate mental pulse, I feel something like several hands shoot out and grab something. I can''t feel what they are, but i don''t care. Everything is brought toward the monster. A shower of dirt and at least one real bush rain down onto it''s back and sides. Which does nothing to deter the thing, but there were some rocks in that desperate grab. The speed at which they shot into the creature wasn''t fast enough to even get it''s attention for more than a second. ''Damn, again with the speed!'' Thankfully my spacesuit is buying me a lot of time but it won''t last forever. My mental hold on the fist sized rocks remain as I make them spin faster and faster in an orbit around us. I thankfully don''t have to spend too much mental focus on the process as pretty much every bit of it is spent staring into a leafy hole with way too many teeth. A crack forms on my visor as one of the rocks finally smacks into it''s head with enough speed and power to knock it off me. The noise it made was a strange sound. Sounding almost just like leaves rustling with a hissing wind? It was weird and hard to describe. I attempt to get up but my bulky suit makes that difficult. As I''m sitting up, I see it shaking it''s head with a blood similar to tree sap pours down onto the grass. A rock lodged into it''s skull. "Heh, I didn''t think I''d run into Big Boss here." I laugh at my own dumb ass joke. Probably as a coping mechanism to the situation. The beast sways, clearly stunned but not down. I take the time to look at how many rocks I have. ''5 more rocks and a... branch.'' I sigh mentally as I drop the stick. I get the rocks to spin up again as I had accidentally stopped once it was knocked off of me. By the time they get back up to speed it has stabilized enough to come at me again. With a twitch of my fingers, another rock is sent directly at it. It tried to dodge but the rock clipped it''s left hind leg. Another wind hiss sound as the leg becomes mangled from the hit. I don''t let it get back up. Every rock is thrown against it one by one. It''s still moving by the time the 5th one is thrown so I pick them all up again. As an act of mercy, I collect the rocks into a singular mental hand. Forming a rough rock hammer made from the smaller rocks. Once it had enough speed, I sent it arcing down toward it''s head. I was expecting blood and gore from the hit. What I got was a collection of confetti and glitter. "What the fuck?" I mutter as I try to catch my breathe. My stamina was fine but I was still mentally reeling from the experience.
You have slain your first monster! No XP earned. Since you are still an infant, your perception of reality has been censored.
Congratulations! You are among a very small percentile of species to have infants capable of combat!
"Oh come on! Really? Damn." Despite being butt hurt about the XP, I knew this would happen. Keji had mentioned that infants can''t enter combat, so this was kind of a given. ''Can I even eat this thing?'' I walk up to the corpse. Walking around the spread of colorful paper and glitter glue. I''ve never butchered anything in my entire life thanks to living in a city, so I''ll do what I can. Before I touch it with my hands though, I pause. ''Couldn''t I just... use telekinesis for this too? I mean it''s not alive anymore...'' I use one mental hand and grab it by it''s one good hind leg. With a cautious effort, I lift the beast up and dangling it in the air. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ''Now it''s about the feel of a similar sized rock effort wise. A bit less since it''s lighter?'' I muse as my hypothesis is confirmed. If something has a higher level, alive, or doesn''t consent I can''t lift it. ''Tree''s are alive and live for hundreds of years though. Maybe they don''t have a level? I imagine you would need to have some kind of consciousness to use the system. Did the system lie about the wizard thing or is that for when I''m stronger? Questions for later.'' With my musings put aside, I use another mental hand and grab one of it''s front legs. Leveling the body out in the air. "Okay, so what the hell do I do now? Just rip it in half? Hmmm... Maybe I can separate it''s skin like I did with the collection of rocks?" I mutter, not having fully learned my lesson about speaking out loud. My arms start to get tired from holding them up, and I realize that I don''t even need to do that. I had been throwing the rocks without really moving my arms and hands in the fight, so I don''t need to use them at all. I carefully lower my arms, and the bush cat, cat bush thing stays up in the air. ''Alright, now maybe if I just imagine the skin as like a bag over the meat, I could it just peel off?'' With a third mental hand, I reach out to grasp the skin. It takes a bit and I have to imagine a rather disgusting image of how skin just sits over muscle as it''s peeled off. With that horrid mental image, I pull when I think I have it. At first nothing happens, but I can see the excess skin being pulled on. So I put more mental strength into it, while also pulling on the body in the opposite direction. "Come on you bastard, peel!" I grunt as the amount of effort needed continues to grow. Before I give up and try to cut it first, which I should have done in the first place, I hear a disgusting ripping sound as it suddenly explodes into a mess of glitter glue. The pink substance filled with glittery paper as it floods down to the ground and splashing everywhere. I''d be disgusted if I could see the aftermath, but I''m glad I can''t. I just won''t think about it. ''I''ll have to move my base of operations...'' I don''t want to clean that mess, and the smell of what I can only assume is blood or guts will attract unwanted attention. ''Weird how the system let me see the things actual blood when the rock was jammed into it''s head. Oh well.'' Looking at my handiwork, it''s terrible. The body mangled even more and pretty much just a rainbow ragdoll, while the skin looks like a green towel covered in the glue. I don''t really care though. Job done to a relatively satisfactory level, I stretch the skin out to get a look at it. ''Yeah that''s ruined.'' There are several holes in the hide. Along with a massive uneven tear down the middle. My telekinesis skill is... strong. Too strong. The only balance is that it needs time to build up power, but once it does it''s game over for anything in it''s way. ''There''s no way this is normal. This feels like I''m cheating. The system had said that there were other species with the same powers. Can they do this as easily as I can? Jeez.'' With how the system seems to be working, there must be insanely strong beings out there. Hell I''m level one, and I just tore a monster apart with my mind. ''Speaking of monsters... Does this have a core?'' The system had confirmed that like the core I have, monsters also have cores. I don''t know if it''s all monsters, or just the magically inclined ones, but I was going to find out. I tried to send another hand through the corpse but I couldn''t feel anything at all. Doing what I would have to anyway, I began to tear it apart some more. Focusing more on the bones inside the flesh that I knew were there, I was able to open it up some more. Not like I could see anything through the glitter and pink sludge. ''Thank you system for censoring my vision because good God what the hell am I doing to this poor creature.'' Feeling a bit disgusted with myself for what I can only describe as a sin against nature. I get the corpse into smaller chunks. I don''t find a core though. ''I checked all through out the chest cavity, and it didn''t use any magic, so I guess there''s no core.'' As I finished my little experiment, I had an idea. With yet another mental hand, I grasped out at the glittery pink glue. I felt something take hold and I pulled. An orb of flowing pink sludge formed in the air as it was sucked out of the corpse. "Oh wow. Neat... and very gross. At least I won''t have to bleed it out slowly. I could totally clean this place up too." I mutter as I collect every bit of the censored blood and other unwanted bits into one hand. Changing my mind about moving, I created an orb of trash. The dirt was cleaned, A collection of meat with the blood sucked out held off to the side with the now clean skin, and some bones held in another. ''I guess I just throw it away?'' I make the trash orb spin around in a circle, rapidly building speed. As it spins and gains speed, I put the stuff I want down next to the stream on some rocks. Once they were sorted into 3 piles, I focused back on the trash. It was spinning so fast it had become a pink halo in the air. Pointing in some random direction, because it felt fun to do, the ball of garbage was sent away instantly. I lost sight of it immediately. If I didn''t know what was happening I''d have said it was teleported with how fast it moved. "Now I need to make a fire for the meat." I turned back to the river to check my spoils. The meat used to have the weird censored look but now it just looked like the raw meat it was. ''I guess the system deemed it safe enough with the trash gone.'' The ruined skin was to the right. I''m not really sure what to do with it. ''Either use it as bedding or sell it at town. I can''t tan it here. I also don''t know how.'' The last pile was a collection of bones that I had ripped out of it. Some teeth, some claws, but mostly just random pieces. ''I could try and craft something. A weapon maybe.'' I''d have to experiment some more later. But first, it was time to eat. One way to make fire was with friction. Spinning a stick on some kindling with a bow or just with your hands. I didn''t need either. Grabbing some random dry wood and a stick, I didn''t bother with kindling. I used my telekinesis to spin the stick faster and faster, like a drill on the wood. Soon enough it started to smoke, and then caught fire. It took 10 minutes for the fire to really get going. I continued the trend of abusing my telekinesis skill by holding the meat over the fire with several mental hands. Slowly spinning them over the fire like an invisible spit. ''These skills are pretty damn cool.'' I loved my skills. Well, most of them. One was... better to not think about it. I know that I''d have to get used to using it eventually but I needed time. I''m still scared. ''What if I end up in another universe? Or what if it just finishes me off? Turning me into nothin- Stop. Calm yourself. It''s not a real blackhole.'' My introspection made me zone out and some of the meat had fallen into the fire, becoming charred. I fished them out and saved what I could. I had gotten a lot of meat from the monster but I didn''t want to waste any of it. The Dimensional Gate skill... I needed to get over that fear. If only to train my magic. "System, will there be more skills aviable to me after my next quest?" I ask, hoping I do because I would rather train something else for magic. "Depends. The skills you will be able to choose from will be based partially on your actions and how other species view you. Over 98% of the other species have a predetermined evolutionary path and rarely are new skills added to their development. You and your species are entirely unknown. In scientific, and magical limitations. The System will continue to observe you. You are the founder of your species in this universe. Try to make a good first impression." I had gotten somewhat used to the disturbing voice. Or more like forgiven it. ''Probably because it''s actually useful this time. Since the next skill list is based on what I do and how I''m perceived, I''ll need to cast magic regularly if I want more spells.'' "What''s my species impression right now?" I ask, a little bummed about not having a concrete answer. "Odd. Fear. Eldritch Outsider. These are the current top feelings from the various species you have met." "Wait, Eldritch Outsider?! Like, Cthulhu the tentacle horror?" I nearly yell with how surprised I am. ''How the hell did that come about?!'' "The fact you even know of one of the unspeakable things outside the universe is evidence enough. Eldritch Outsider has been locked in as a permanent note attached to your species." ''Oh... shit. That''s uh... hmmm... That might work in my favor.'' My feelings of horror and indignation at being confused as something beyond the veil of reality is quickly replaced when I begin to think of the possibilities. Then they came back in force. ''Wait... CTHULU IS REAL?! AND I JUST SAID HIS NAME OUT LOUD?!'' I don''t know how the whole eldritch horror genre works, but I have the gut feeling I need to never speak of them again. The system did refer to him as an ''unspeakable thing.'' Putting the feeling of impending doom out of my mind, I munch on some of my more charred meat. It doesn''t have a bad taste surprisingly. Kind of like if chicken had the toughness of steak. I had expected a more gamey texture, but it''s not like I know what that''s like anyway. I always ate the regular store bought meat, never anything wild. ''How did I fuck up first impressions that terribly? I know I probably lost some social skills from my 9 months of solitude but really? How?'' As I ate my meat, holding it with my telekinesis of course, I started thinking of ways I could actually cheat the system... Chapter 8: Gaslighting My Way To Godhood While eating my scrumptious meal, my thoughts drifted around to many things. From the eldritch horrors confirmed to at least exist in some way, the fight with the monster, ways to cheat the system, and how inconsistent or just how strange the system is. ''It''s only been like a day and I''m already becoming overwhelmed.'' I also thought about how I kept shoving my feelings away, or moving onto other thoughts quickly. The last 24ish hours have been a lot to deal with. The blackhole, another universe, a fucking system with levels, and becoming more than human in such a short amount of time. There''s just not any time to think about anything else. ''I don''t know if this is healthy behavior, but does it matter? I''m trying to survive, not worry about mental health. But if I was just trying to survive, my best bet would have been to just go to the orphanage. What am I really doing?'' Once I finish silently eating my cat bush meat, I look down at my helmet and space suit. It had gotten pretty fucked up. Massive tears ripped into the exterior fabric and even some deep scratches in whatever the metal beneath was. It should continue to work as armor, but I would like to have it repaired. Especially the visor. The scratches and the crack aren''t that noticeable if I don''t focus on it, but it''s still annoying. ''Couldn''t someone in town fix it?'' That thought gives me pause. The town had been rather strange hadn''t it? This is a developmental world, but shouldn''t there be a higher level of technology? I was in the typical mindset of ''This is my fantasy adventure'' but I got here in space ship. "System, how advanced is this planet in technology and magic?" I ask the one thing that might know. "Not very. The Jipio and the planet Gahlora were discovered recently, so the system has only been providing assistance for 3,798 years. They were almost entirely wiped out by the native monsters and fauna over that time. To support them further, another more advanced species was sent 2 years ago. They are the Olougar, you met some of them yesterday." "Are they not allowed to use more advanced tech? Shouldn''t they have guns?" "Bringing superior technology too far above the threshold will undermine the Jipio''s natural development. The system won''t let them become extinct and will allow more drastic measures when they reach their limit. Which will happen soon if everything continues as speculated." ''Good to know the system won''t just let them die. It seems it''s more benevolent then I thought.'' I put that in the archives of my mind as I keep pondering. Staring into the fire as it starts to burn out. I decide to let it die since I don''t need the light or warmth. ''Speaking of which, I haven''t felt cold or hot at all this entire time. I''ve always been perfectly comfortable, even in space.'' It''s likely due to my Environmental Adaptation skill again. I need more skills. Not because I''m struggling to survive but because it would be fun. ''I already have everything I need to survive pretty much anything. All I''m missing is... comforts. Could I do something crafting related to get a skill for that? There''s not really a limit is there? I just need to imagine something, do my best to mimic it and somehow convince others that my species should be capable of it.'' With my future limited merely by imagination, and witnesses, I could easily become even more powerful. Unfortunately, that requires living in or having frequent trips to town. I already have a skin and some bones to work with, should I try and make something to show off or just go sell them? I put my helmet back on as I feel safer with it. With nothing really better to do, I lift myself up with telekinesis and fly above the tree tops. I finally get a good look at the night sky and there really is no moon. ''It''s either on the other side right now, or it just doesn''t exist.'' The view of the stars is nice though. Partially blocked by the clouds but there''s no light pollution. As I stargaze while laying limply in the air, I try to think of ways to get a crafting skill or repair. Along with a few others. ''I have teleportation, telekinesis, a rapidly evolving body, and some weird forced connection to eldritch origins. I don''t need anything for my immediate survival, so what do I want?'' Those thoughts repeat themselves a few time as I try really hard to think of something. But nothing comes to mind. It only takes a few hours for the suns to start their ascent into the sky and dawn breaks. I need inspiration so I grab my skin and bones in a few mental hands, then make my way to town. It took about 20 minutes to find the walls and a few more to reach them. I land as softly as I can, which is not very but it was much better than last time. I see 2 guards looking at me again, but I''m not sure if it''s the ones I know. "Keji?" I ask, hoping to either be led to him or I''m talking to him. "Yeah?" He responds and I let go of a breathe I was holding. "I need to get into town for a visit." "What is that?" The other one asks. I had forgotten her name, but she''s pointing at the floating collection of bones and skin. "I was attacked last night by a monster, and I won. So it''s the skin and some bones. I might make something but I don''t know what. Maybe I''ll sell it and get something better." I answer honestly. "I can see that, what was it?" "I don''t know. Some cat thing with leaves growing out of it. Looked like a bush." "Why is it so..." "Fucked up?" She nods with a blank look of horror. "I don''t have a knife so I just tore it apart with my telekinesis. Really gross." They both just stared at me. "What? It''s not that weird is it?" "You''re an infant. You''re saying, that YOU did that? With nothing?" They were looking at me while stepping back a few times. "Well, I had used a rock or 5? Anyway, that''s not important." A thought occurs to me that this is a good time for gaslighting. I don''t know how well the system can see through lies, so I stick with half truths. "I''ve seen my kind do worse. You know, before I got here. If it was one of my old universes leaders, they could have just reduced the entire forest and beyond if they wanted." ''With nuclear explosives.'' If I''m going to do this, I might as well go big or go home. And I can''t go home. "My species could have easily repaired the damage done you see in seconds, but I can''t do that yet." ''Granted it was with machines, and it''s only a yet if I can get a skill for it.'' "I''ve seen some powerful magic too. Someone used a spell to access a private pocket dimension to use as an endless amount of storage." ''That was some shitty anime but I did see it.'' I decide that it wouldn''t hurt to toss in some fictional stuff too. "I don''t believe you. There''s no way your species can do that." Keji says skeptically but a little unsurely. I think. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. "Ah, but I''m still just an infant yeah? The system itself said that I have an oddly high intelligence stat for a baby. What do you think I could do when I''m a bit older? Let alone an adult?" ''This statement is pretty much 100% true. The system did say that and I technically have an unlimited potential for when I "grow up".'' I chuckle internally at their shocked one eyed faces. "Now, how about we go into town and you can show me to a shop I can sell to?" That should be enough messing around. As much as I would love to keep fucking with their perception of humanity, I need a bed to sleep in at least. Or the tools to make one. "Okay. Sure." Keji offers weakly before turning to his comrade in a silent plea to take me instead. she shakes her head quickly. I give Keji a big smile he can''t see as he''s forced to lead me toward town for the second time. This time there''s no talking as we make our way. At first it had been slow but I eventually just stopped walking. It was faster to float while Keji walked with his long ass legs. He kept shooting me nervous glances. It might have to do with the fact that I got tired of them looking down at me so I floated a bit higher. To eye level with him. We made it to about the spot we stopped the first time when I tried to break the awkward silence. "So... What''s with the tall wall? Is there something out there?" "T-there''s uh, some tall monsters yeah, but it''s mostly for the monster swarms. This planet has a problem with the pests." "Hm. Do they get bad out here?" "It can but no one''s died in town from one since we got here. We have lost contact with a few towns further south, but that''s to be expected from those that refuse help." "I see." That was interesting. "I didn''t get any XP from the monster. Are there any other ways to get XP?" "I don''t know? No one remembers what the quests are for infancy since they don''t remember being one. The few species that can have different systems from most, so it''s not like we can guess either. The sources adults can use are quests, monsters, and training. No one really uses training though, it gives diminishing returns rather quickly." "I don''t suppose I can do the training method since I''m a baby? I was practicing my telekinesis and I didn''t get any alerts." That sucked, but oh well. "I really don''t know. Sorry." Keji seemed to be more relaxed now, but he was still giving me a side eye. "Anyway, this is Ooploop." Keji says with pride, like that isn''t the most dog shit name I had ever heard. "Where is the tannery? Also, what does the currency look like here?" "Currency? The system has points we trade if that''s what you mean." I stare at him for a split second. ''Are you fucking kidding me Keji? Does the system wipe your ass too?'' I withhold my thoughts. Apparently, everyone just uses the system for everything. ''Though I guess it''s safe from thieves.'' "It''s not physical? I guess it''s good for keeping your money safe since no one can steal it." "What? Of course people can steal it if they have the pickpocket skill high enough." ''God damn it. Of course they can.'' Feeling pretty irritated for no real reason is pretty odd though I stop to think about it. ''Why am I so upset about this?'' "This is the place. I''ll just... wait here." Keji mutters as he makes himself look busy by looking at nothing. That''s when I notice everyone on the street staring at me. I do what I do best, and put the weird feeling aside. Doing my best to ignore the stares, I make my way inside with my goodies. "Hello? I''d like to sell some monster skin and bones." I call out into the store when I don''t see anyone behind the counter. It''s a typical store inside. Shelves with some rolls of leather with the walls covered in yet more leather. Lots of leather and furs of a rather large variety of colors. ''Good to know my aesthetics can me appeased when I make something.'' "Yes? What is it-" A thicker looking guy comes out from the back then freezes as he stares at me. He has a bushy mustache that seems to be a perfect mirror of the impressive unibrow he has. He''s not fat but he''s not muscled either. At least that''s what I think. Again, I don''t know anything about this species. He''s wearing pretty much exactly what you would think a tanner would wear. Leather gloves and leather apron over his usual clothes. His very medieval clothes. Like almost exactly what you would see in a movie back home. ''Well that''s fucking weird.'' "Yeah I''d like to sell these." I push past the tense silence of what is possibly the weirdest moment in both of our lives. Placing the ruined skin on the counter I let him look at it. He doesn''t say anything as he looks at the skin while shooting glances back up at me. He repeats the action for a few minutes then finally speaks to me. "Did you do this?" he asks quietly. I can only assume he''s horrified or disgusted at the skin. Probably both. "Yeah. How much can you give me for it?" "I could do maybe... 12 points?" "That doesn''t mean anything to me. Can I buy tools with that amount? Maybe a knife? Will I have to get something custom made for me- never mind. It doesn''t matter what size it is." I prattle off some questions then also realize that I can use my telekinesis for using tools. ''I''m kind of a hypocrite about the system thing huh. Here I am using telekinesis for everything while being upset for others doing the same shit.'' "Yes? A meal... our size costs about 1 point. You could get a good knife for 10 points." The price he offered compared to how much other things cost sends some kind of alarm through my mind. ''That skin is ruined, and it''s not very big compared to their size. What is happening? Is it my luck stat? Is it better than I thought? Oh well. 12 points sound fine.'' "Sold. I''ll take the 12 points." His eyes do some weird movement and then I get a message that I received 12 Store Points. "Know of anyone willing to buy some bones?" "I can take them off your hands... If you don''t mind a reduced price since it''s not my specialty." He said pretty much looking everywhere but at me. ''All right what the hell is happening? Is he scared of me? Shit, that''s not good.'' "Just give me what you think is a fair price for them." I try to sound happy and chipper, to calm him but it doesn''t seem to have worked. I plop the collection of bones onto the counter and they clink against the wood. "...I''ll give you 14 points for the pile." "Okay yeah that works for me." I suppress a sigh. There''s no way the bones were worth that much. This situation feels off. ''I can''t stay in town. Ever. I''m getting my tools and I am out of here.'' "Do you have anything or know anyone with something like this material here?" I point at my chest, where the tears in the fabric expose the layer beneath. ... About an hour later and I''m floating out of another store. My haul of purchased items behind me as I make my way over to Keji. I had gotten a knife, some sowing needles with thread, and some leather. Everything was of course, much larger than I could actually reasonably hold with my hands. Except the needles. I could maybe use them with my hands. "Alright, I think that''s everything." I said to Keji. He didn''t respond but he did nod. He''s probably embarrassed or something. I''m not sure. I didn''t have any other weird interactions like I did with the leather worker. He had been so odd. I don''t know if he was scared or just an awkward guy. He did give me some nice leather I could use to repair my space suit. At least roughly. I did ask around about my visor but I don''t have enough points for the glass work needed. Instead of going over the wall, I exited through the gate. Before I flew off though, I decide to say something dumb to make me feel better about the weird experience in town. "I really hope the system doesn''t mark me as too advanced for this world. See ya later guys." They give me some weird looks as I shoot off into the air above the trees. My items following shortly after. ... It took me like an hour and a half to find my fucking hole in the ground. Once I did, I just plopped my stuff on some rocks. ''I need to mark this place or something. God that was annoying. I also need some furniture.'' Thinking about what to do next, I get some ideas to actually make a house. "I could totally make a real house now. Make a rocky foundation and then use my new knife to cut some planks. Easy." I feel some of that over confidence from being an isekai protag come back but I don''t push it away. It''s the perfect distraction to my growing boredom. One thing I had become so used to and took advantage of back home was easy entertainment. However, I am quickly finding myself bored in this new world. It''s not too terrible, but it definitely likes to show up fast. I waste no time and begin construction. Lifting massive rocks and putting them into place. I get some walls started then begin using my knife on some trees. I had started with one task at a time, but I had an idea to challenge myself. Pretty soon I had multiple things happening at once. Some mental hands moved rocks while some others put the knife to work like an animated object from a cartoon. Cutting deeply into a tree, then slicing upward. Carving rough planks out of the tree directly. It was strangely... easy. At first the knife would get stuck but now it just cut no problem. Only difference is the amount of mental effort I had been putting into it. With all of the mental effort I was putting into the process, I was actually starting to get tired. Barely. I could also swear that it was getting even easier, as my EA skill was no doubt making my body adapt to the strain in some unseen way. It wouldn''t be long before I had a real place to live, and with that in mind I chuckled to myself. Not at all looking like an insane person. I am completely sane and healthy. Chapter 9: A Boring Week --------- Keji --------- After the... ''Human'' had left town, everyone had bothered him for every detail related to the "flying new born." He answered their questions the best he could but he did not know all that much about the strange creature. The fact it can kill such a rare monster, speak their language at all, wears some strange armor, the things it spoke of about it''s species, and the fact it''s a fucking infant worries him greatly. It had even memorized his name after a brief interaction the first day it showed up. He didn''t even know if the thing had a name, but he wasn''t about to try and name it. That would be telling the system he was adopting the creature. He had no plans on doing that. The thing had proved it could take care of itself just fine. To be honest, he had been worried about the Human wondering around in the forest. He could not leave his post to check on it though. He had his orders. By the state the skin was in, it was clear the Human would be fine even taking on the most dangerous of monsters. Monster skin doesn''t just... rip the way it had done it. It was unnerving to say the least. What was even weirder about the Human is that it continued to bother him day in and day out. Either bragging about it''s species--which most of it sounded like complete bullshit but he couldn''t prove it was--or talking about random things. It would just show up and yap at him for a while before floating away. Without leaving any trace it had been there at all. Except from the few dents and scuffs on the ground but that had gradually stopped. The Human was learning how to fly quickly. Very quickly. If the Humans had infants like the thing bothering him, he didn''t even want to know what they were like when they got older. The things it had said so off handily before leaving was absurd at the best of times, and down right horrifying at the worst. "Hey, you have a nice soul Keji. Try not to lose it." "I need to train my mana core some more. I''ve been neglecting it. Are there any spells in town for sale?" "My people have this function where we can see the planets surface from orbit at anytime we want." "You ever see the future? Or have glimpses of it? Time is so weird. I swear it stopped for me briefly at some point." "The veil is both thin and infinitely thick. Best not to poke it too much, or the ripples could attract attention." He had no fucking clue what any of that meant. It''s obvious that the Humans are technologically advanced, but how far? His people were only barely above the Jipio in the grand scheme of things. They had reached the point where they finally sent something into space that didn''t immediately burn up in the atmosphere. Comparing that to what was theorized and seen to exist in other societies was like comparing a thrown rock to a speeding bullet. Hell, even without tech the Human infant was already more powerful than himself. What kind of thing can just rip a monster apart with it''s mind? It had taken damage sure, but there wasn''t any blood. It seemed like the Human had a mana core if it was to be believed. A fucking mana core. The thing only found in monsters. For all he knew, that pretty much made it a monster. One no one he knew, and likely on the entire planet, could take down. He hadn''t seen any magic cast from the thing but he really didn''t want to see it. It was stressful enough being the only one put in charge of the monster that talks. He sighed heavily as he got out of bed. Today was supposed to be his day off, but the Human had been coming to the wall every single day. No one wanted to go near it, and it always called for him. "Damn it..." He muttered as he got dressed. Really hoping it wouldn''t come today. --------- Greg --------- It took a few days to finish my house. Only because it turned out I sucked major balls at building them. The first one collapsed when 2 walls were barely put up. Then the third fell when a tree I was cutting planks out of fell on it. The fourth just folded inward. Working on stations designed for the void? Easy. Making a house with nothing but rocks, wood, and no tools? I might as well just go back to living in a hole. But it had proven an effective distraction from the Dimensional Gate skill. He really needed to get over his fear if he wanted magic. ''What kind of isekai adventure doesn''t have magic?'' I told myself for what must''ve been the literal hundredth time as I sat in my poorly built house. The ''living room'' was just an open space with a fire pit. It served as the kitchen as well, since he didn''t feel like making a separate fire pit room. Then there was the ''bed room'', which was just a corner he liked. His bed the rolled up left overs of leather from when he "fixed" his suit. Just a patch of leather sowed over the front. Today was the day though. Day 3 into his wild living and he was finally ready to train the spell. I walked through the sole door of the house, which was just an open hole in the wall. I stopped a good bit from my home, and sat on a big rock. "Alright. It''s a spell, Greg. It can''t hurt you. It''s not even a real black hole. It just looks like one. It''s how you''ll get home eventually, so it''s your friend and not your enemy." I muttered to myself as I breathed slowly and deliberately. Then cast the spell. My hands began to shake as it took form. The orb of darkness growing from an atom to about a basketball in less than a second, but to me it felt like an eternity. The spell requires me to put an exit point in order to create an entrance, so it was created the same instant. A white hole a few feet to the right of the black one formed at the exact same speed but I didn''t notice it. All of my focus was on the black hole. What I didn''t expect was how fast I began to calm down. My fear had lessened considerably from just watching it. There was no wind or anything being sucked into the entrance. It just sat there. Eating away at my mana and waiting. Then it was gone. My mana had depleted and it left without even a whisper. No damage to the ground where it showed up, no gravity well, nothing. It was here then it wasn''t. ''There is no way I should have gotten over it that fast. Does my EA skill work on my mental state too? What doesn''t it change?'' At first I was worried about how bad that sounded, then I didn''t care anymore. It was helping me so I should just let it do it''s thing. Was me not worrying about it the result of the skill in question? Probably. Do I care? No. My hands stopped shaking half way into the process but I still felt nervous. My mana regenerated as I had my thoughts. Deciding I was okay enough to keep going I cast it again. My fear of the skill vanished completely after observing the second one for a while. The second time I cast it, it did not go away. I assume it''s my EA skill making my regeneration evolve to keep up with the "harsh environment." The skill truly seemed to have no real limit. I hadn''t even needed to use the bathroom. So my organs are probably operating at a higher efficacy, rendering the need to dispose of waste irrelevant. ''Humans have an extremely brief moment of living with out a heart. Either by it stopping, being removed, or however it ceased, the body continues it''s processes for a few seconds. Could my EA skill allow my body to evolve in that brief time if I level it up some more? I could also get my health regeneration speed to increase to such a level that a lost limb or organ is replaced as soon as it''s removed.'' The idea of becoming immortal by just evolving faster than the damage can do lasting harm is... very tempting. I''m not going to hurt myself to do that though. I ain''t emo. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Throwing any previous cautions I had to the wind, I get up and walk into the gate entrance. I scream as I see my form shift and twist just like it would in a normal black hole. It only lasts less than a second and I''m unfolded on the other side. I was still screaming as I reformed out of the white hole. My scream gradually died down as I stared at my hands. It hadn''t hurt, and it was so fast it was pretty much one singular step. Turning around and feeling a bit embarrassed at the girly scream, I shoved that revived fear toward my EA skill. Letting do it''s thing to the fear as I observe the completely harmless portals. I confirmed that by using them, and then waving my hand through the white hole to no effect. ''So it really is only an exit. I can''t go back through it.'' The portals were like a 360 degree one way doorway. I enter whatever angle I want through the blackhole and I''ll pop out the opposite side of the white hole. "Well that was anticlimactic." I say out loud like a dumb ass and just leave the spell running. The reason I just left it as is, is that I am curious to see what the system will do if it seems like my spell has infinite mana. Which it kind of does. As I walked away from the portal, I felt it run out of mana. ''Oh right it increases in cost the further I get from it.'' I cast it again, but this time within 20 feet rather than the 10. The increased cost is what I wanted as the regen evolves again. It still runs out but it lasted longer this time. I keep doing the process over and over again until it remained active within 20 feet. Checking my regen rate for my mana though, I would not have enough for it to do that same at 30. "My regeneration cannot exceed my max of 6, and it''s already at 5 per second. Which is still insanely fast. System, why is my regeneration so fast? Shouldn''t it take longer than a second?" I waited for a bit but I didn''t get a response. ''Alright now that is super weird. I know it''s not a skill doing it either. It had been that way the whole time. The only thing that changed was the number per second.'' I let it go as I realized it wasn''t going to answer me. I wasn''t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. It''s just weird is all. After I ate that first meal, I hadn''t felt hungry again. My organs must be really efficient now to have drawn enough energy out of that meat to not need anymore after 2 days. ''Or the monster was a higher level than I thought. Making the meat have a higher amount of energy.'' Unfortunately, I was not able to finish all of the monsters meat so the stuff I didn''t eat had gone bad yesterday. So I did what I do with all of my trash, and threw it in some random direction. And so time passed. I bothered Keji when I had inspiration for gaslighting and trained my mana along with my knife. Well I call it training but I was really just fucking around. Making my knife travel so fast it broke the sound barrier with every strike. I had learned that if I want something to accelerate faster, I put more mental hands on it. If I want more power or ''torque'' I would increase the size of them. Doing both at the same time was exhausting but it proved quite effective. Many trees were destroyed in the process, but they just became firewood. A growing pile of which as I had not needed to use since I did not need warmth or light anymore. It was nice to have just in case though. I even thought about selling lumber for some quick cash. That was an idea for later though, as one week had finally passed. As dawn broke on the 8th day, ending the 7th night, a huge smile spread across my face.
Completed Quests: 1
You have survived 7 days and 7 nights! Congratulations! +1(+2=3) skill points, 50(x3=150), 5 stat points.
"Yeah I''m thinking I like the idea of more luck. I''m going to need it if I want to get good skills. Might as well go all the way." I put all 5 points into luck again.
Level 1 New Born
170/200 XP
Luck: 13(65)
"Now show me the Skill Shop~!" My smile falters slightly as I feel a surge of complicated feelings.
New Skills
Eldritch Astral Projection Eldritch Energy Manipulation Repair Harvest
2 mundane and 2 absolutely absurd skills. "System, what is Eldritch Astral Projection?" I start at the top of the list. "Many species are able to send a soul projection out of their body. Some can only explore their home while others use it to traverse the universe. Yours is unique to you, thanks to your nature as a being from beyond the veil. You will be able to travel not just through the universe with your mind, but through the veil as well. However, the skill at level one will only allow local journeys." "Lame. Next." That was disappointing, but there was a few others that could be good. "Eldritch Energy Manipulation connects your reserves to the chaotic forces from beyond the known universe. Directly linking stamina and mana to the veil. This will allow you to exert the energy out of your body like a mana spring. Instead of the pure energies of a mana spring, yours will have an essence of horror. Making those who see it or feel it be repulsed by it''s mere existence as it should not exist here. At level one, the skill will remove the stamina stat and mana stat all together as the only limitation is the strength of the link. Level one has a base of 30, level two is 60, and it continues to double." ''Holy shit. I knew the Eldritch stuff would be good, but this basically replaces 2 of my stats to 30. My Telekinesis skill uses my stamina stat, so I could pretty much more than double my offensive power. Everyone already dislikes me or thinks I''m weird, so I might as well right?'' I think about it and use one point on the skill. Nothing notable happens but that''s fine, I''ll experiment later. "Repair?" I prompt the next skill description. "Gives the user the spell ''Repair'', or increases the users physical ability to repair. The spell will consume resources and mana to repair an object, losing some of the resource in the process. The physical variant will require tools but will not consume excess resources. Both variants also require the user to understand how the material is made and the components within it. The skill at higher levels reduces the amount of resource wasted, and tools needed respectively. While also requiring less details to be known about the object being repaired." ''Damn that''s good. I could probably fix my visor with that by using sand.'' There''s another point spent, just leaving me one more point and one more unknown. "Harvest?" "The same as the Repair skill, just about harvesting." ''Alright that doesn''t sound very useful. I don''t really need that, so I''m going to boost my power again.'' I put my last point into EEM. Making my stamina and mana stats 60. I still don''t feel any different, so I bring up my status.
Level 1 New Born
Species: Human Title: Baby Mode XP 170/200
Skills: 6 Environmental Adaptation lvl 2 (magic variant) Telekinesis lvl 2 (physical variant) Universal Comprehension lvl 3 Dimensional Gate lvl 2 (magic variant) Repair lvl 1 (magic variant) Eldritch Energy Manipulation lvl 2
Stats: Health 10/10 (5 points per second) Energy: 120 (17 points per second) Agility: 5 Intelligence: 16 Luck: 13(65)
I just stare at my screen for good few minutes. I had not expected my 2 ''energy'' stats to combine, thus giving me a whopping 120 points of energy I can use on both spells and physical stuff. Like Telekinesis. I was already pretty strong at 12 stamina points. Scratch that, I was absurdly strong at 12. I hadn''t multiplied my power by 2 or 3. I had done it by 10. It had also combined both of my regeneration stats of the 2. Which means I should be able to increase it further by just straining myself again. ''How the hell am I going to strain anything with 120 points of energy?!'' It was unlikely to happen anytime soon. Using all 120 points in rapid succession to try and get my regen to increase would be overkill. A lot of overkill. ''But then again, just one of the trees had been enough to knock me on my ass. So it might not be as impossible as I thought. Nor quite as powerful.'' It was still an incredible leap in power, but I wasn''t going to be destroying mountains anytime soon. Just a small section of forest instead. With that realization, I calmed down some. I was just one step closer to Eldritch Godhood, not even a one thousandth of the way there. I had time though. Now I just had to check my new quests. Chapter 10: Something Is Wrong As I looked over my status again, particularly my stats, I was reminded of something. ''The system had said that I have a high int stat for a baby, but made no comment on everything else. Am I different than before? Or are Humans just that weak when compared to other species?'' It didn''t make sense. I did have a weird feeling that I was being a bit immature for my situation, but I chalked it up to being dropped into some weird isekai story. I''m not going to claim that it''s not, because it definitely is. The system is strange, my stats and abilities more so, and I''m on an alien planet that has a remarkable similarity to Earth. I shake the thoughts away. Too confusing to think about and I don''t really care. If my stats had been different back home, I''d just have to get them back up or surpass them. Doesn''t seem all that hard to accomplish. Do some quests, level up, get more skills or make my current ones even stronger, and find a way home. Speaking of quests, I try to will the system to show me the menu.
Quests: 3
1. Jump from the nest, and spread your wings: Fly at an altitude between 500 feet to 30,000 feet. Rewards: 2(+2=4) skill points, 100(x3=300) XP, 10 stat points (Note: Reward may change based on results.) 2. Just how fast are you?: Without stopping, reach your max speed. Rewards: 2(+2=4) skill points, 100(x3=300) XP, 10 stat points (Note: Reward may change based on results.) 3. Apex predator or prey?: Hunt 10 monsters within a month. Rewards: 2(+2=4) skill points, 100(x3=300) XP, 10 stat points (Note: Reward may change based on results.)
I was yet again staring at the screen in front of me. Like a caveman who just discovered fire, I was a little worried but also excited. Very excited. I was worried because the quests were obviously the system trying to get a read on my species, and excited because I could do some crazy shit with the rewards. The stated rewards must be the average if it varies, so what happens if I over achieve and do something insane? Do I get some kind of hidden reward for going above 30k feet? I hoped there was, and it was likely to be true as that was a common theme in all those shitty isekai stories I read in my free time. Quest 2 didn''t have a limit stated but since the rewards changed it probably had one it wasn''t telling me. Possibly comparing me to a record of all the species speeds on this planet and beyond. I have no idea how vast or small the information pool is for the system, but it might be too large to even comprehend. It did say it spanned over the universe, and growing. I''d have to be careful about starting the quests, as they might count my max speed at a stumbling walk instead of a run. "System, for the first 2 quests how do I make sure it actually captures my limits?" I ask the annoying and disturbing synthetic voice in my head. "Just like how you can will system menus to appear, you can will them to start recording." The voice answered, but it was less grating to me now. More tolerable. ''So they''d record it when I had the intention of starting.'' At least I didn''t have to worry about it fucking me over. With that worry out of the way, that just left the growing excitement. I had abilities to test, limits to surpass, and quests to complete. First up was how my new energy pool interacted with my skills. I was going to start with a rock but decided it would be better to test it on a tree. Wrapping a large invisible mental hand around one the massive trees, I gave it an experimental tug. It didn''t pop out of the ground or really do anything except move slightly. I wasn''t pushing myself all that hard, and I was trying to keep it within my current regeneration. Which was still 17 per second, and without pushing myself it wouldn''t grow. Since the environment wasn''t ''harsh'' enough. So I slowly cranked up the power until the tree popped out of the ground with a groan. It was an odd sound. Like when a tree usually falls over and the roots go with it, the ground rips and dirt rains down. The crack of wood never followed how my mind was expecting it to though. If anything it sounded like I had just ripped a small bush out of the ground, just larger and louder. I still hadn''t dipped past the regen rate, and the tree had no weight. Like everything else I lifted, I had a vague sense of something there in my mind but that was it. There was something different about the use of the skill though. Something felt... right. It was hard to explain. It felt good now, as compared to before when it felt normal. Or more like nothing at all. Like moving your arm or flexing your fingers. You don''t think anything about it because it''s normal and expected. Now, though... It felt as though something wasn''t limiting me anymore. Like a cast, or the limb just woke up. Feeling pretty good about not passing out and not even really feeling any strain, I put more power into the hand. I began to squeeze. Nothing. I put more power into it. Nothing noticeable was happening still. ''Fuck it. I got 120 total and I regen 17 per second''. With that thought in mind, I put what felt like 100 points into the mental link. In an instant, the loudest crack I had ever heard exploded from the tree. Louder than even throwing rocks at them. Where I had imagined the hand to be grasping the trunk, it had shrunk. Ridiculously so. The trunk was normal as it lead to the branches and the roots, but the middle had gone from more than a few feet wide to a tiny line a few inches in diameter. A sheer surface between the normal width and the squeezed part. Like a cliff. It should have broken, but it did not. Probably because I was still holding the entire tree and the skill was weird with how I held things with it. It was so strange that there was also no sap pouring out of the tree, but I realized that I must still be ''holding'' it. Had it been squished too? How? The laws of physics say it should be everywhere as it was displaced. Water, and pretty much any liquid, cannot be compressed. You can pressurize it, but you cannot make it smaller by applying force. It must have displaced into the top and bottom halves of the tree. There''s no other way. Or the tree doesn''t have a lot of sap. This isn''t earth after all. After staring at it for so long I regenerate my energy completely, I put more hands on the tree and compressed it again. Using 60 points, it took longer but it was still quick. The tree had turned into a ball of sap with a very dense core of wood, leaves, and dirt. The tree, did in fact have sap but it was a very small amount. It was also slightly pink. Mostly clear like water but it did have that slight tint. "Cool." I muttered as I observed the orb of sap before dropping it onto the ground. The liquid instantly losing it''s spherical shape and turning into a large puddle with a ball in the middle. I spent the next hour "training" my new energy regeneration. I got it up to 30 before I made the decision to move away from my house. The ground around my base had become drenched in sap and orbs of condensed trees. So I found some other corner of the forest to rip apart. A couple of hours later and I hit the max of 120 points per second. Which is insane. It would have taken me longer but I had also started experimenting with my Dimensional Gate skill to increase the strain on the Energy pool. With DG at level 2, it only cost 3 mana, or Energy, to open the portals within 10 feet. So my max range is 50 feet. I thought it would be farther, but the cost doubles every 10 feet. It''s quite costly. I used the Gate to try and travel instead of just flying but it was a bit of a pain in the ass. I couldn''t spam it fast enough to make it faster than just flying. Well I could but it wore me out and I couldn''t fly very fast to cast it very far. So for now it''s back to being a back burner skill. Before I got home though, a thought struck me. My Eldritch Energy skill said I could exert the energy out of me like a spring... I had read and seen lots of isekai and fantasy stories to know what a ''Mana Spring'' was. A natural place where the energy was high in purity and high in quantity. I had become something similar to one but for the... horror element? It had said it was horror instead of pure right? Stopping in yet another random clearing, I think about how I can will the energy to appear. Maybe I can just imagine the fabric of reality shattering, or the veil as I and the system had called it tearing open. And so I did. I stared at the space in front of me, and imagined the plane of 3d space separate from mine in a 4d space shattering or opening in some way. I had thought it would cost some energy to do so, but it was the opposite. The OPPOSITE. I felt my body feel more energized more and more every second. Like I was removing yet another limiter. Checking my status, my Energy was showing something odd. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Energy: 153/120 (120 points per second.)
My Energy stat was increasing over it''s max value. As I gawked at the menu, something moving caught my attention and I closed the window. Reality, the veil, or something else I can''t comprehend at the moment was wavering. Morphing and shaking as the energy in me kept growing. The sound a strange warble of whispers and some other sounds. The trees visibly recoiled away from me and the spot I was staring at. I know they recoiled because there wasn''t any wind. Then the light, or invisible glass, or whatever I was looking at, shattered. I was expecting dark eldritch things, not the mesmerizing kaleidoscope of every color. The whispers stopped, turning into a strange peaceful symphony of humming. Every sound but the humming stopped. The shards of reality spun slowly in the air, as if they didn''t have gravity. I thought it would be a void. A hole of nothingness. Though, I guess it''s still a place. Just in between two dimensions. Like a hallway, or the outside world when compared to the interiors of two separate buildings. I was so entranced by the sight that I completely forgot about the increasing energy inside my body and all around me. I did start to notice when things got uncomfortable. I started to feel hot and cold at the same time. Like a really bad fever. The kind that gave you the shakes. My teeth started to chatter as my body got all clammy. Disgruntled, worried, and brought out of my trance from looking deep into the beautiful hole I had made, I brought up my Energy stat again.
Energy: 597/120
I quickly tried to close the hole and shoving all the energy back into it. It was folly of me to try. The energy was coming out like I had turned on a sink faucet. You can''t make the water travel back up once you turn it on. So I did what I knew might work. I shut it off. The hole closed quickly, the shards traveling in reverse like I had rewound time. The fabric of reality collecting it''s pieces and solidifying again. Just because I had closed it didn''t mean the energy was just gone though. It was collecting inside me still and gathering everywhere around me. I couldn''t see it per se, but I could feel it. Like trying to wade through a marsh. The ground was quickly absorbing it and becoming... tainted in some way. It was different now. Everything around me was. It looked normal but once again it had that feeling of rightness. Like I was more aligned with it than I was before. ''I really am some eldritch thing now, aren''t I?'' The hole and the energy should have felt wrong. Something outside of the natural state of things. But I wasn''t natural to this place either. I too had come from outside. I didn''t have time to mull over it though, as my Energy stat kept trying to collect the residue left in the clearing. So I got rid of it the one way I knew how. Telekinesis. The stat had grown to the 700''s and was still growing, but it had slowed. My body hurt still but it was manageable. Something tells me that my mortal shell wouldn''t have survived the surge if I didn''t have my EA skill. My body was likely adapting to it in some way. ''Fuck it. I might as well use it in a fun way.'' I raised my body into the air, and began to slowly drag myself higher and higher into the sky. My stat finally stopped increasing at 1,376 points and I think I tasted blood in my mouth. Everything was blurry. Yet nothing hurt anymore. ''Had I fried my nerves with the energy? Is it doing more damage to me now?'' I tried to swear but I just grunted. My Energy remained at 1,376 as my regeneration was fueling my ascent. I started to use more and more, forcing myself to get used to the G-forces I was putting my body through. Flying with 12 points was fast, sure. But it wasn''t nearly fast enough to compare to what I was doing now. I had a hard time figuring out how much I was putting into the effort. I was losing my senses slowly, but I could still think. It was an odd feeling. My body was probably falling apart from the sheer volume of energy within me, yet my mind was clear. So I willed myself faster and higher. Setting the intention to begin the 2 quests at the same time. "Recording flight height and speed. Current altitude: 689 feet. Current speed: 78 miles per hour." As I lost feeling in everything, I could push my body however I wanted. Consequences be damned. I could probably rely on my current regeneration and my EA skill to survive this... maybe... So I pushed it harder and harder. Just hoping I was going in a vague upwards direction. "Current altitude: 1,408 feet. Current speed: 356 miles per hour." I didn''t even have the energy to hate on the voice. Which is odd considering the predicament I was in. There was only one thought I had. ''That''s pretty fast...'' It was almost a shame I couldn''t see it. But I pushed it even harder. Putting more Energy into the mental effort out of fear of blowing up or something else. "Current altitude: 20,478 feet. Current speed: 1,476 miles per hour." ''Holy shit I broke the sound barrier. I''m a little below passenger jet height but more than double their speed!'' I was internally gawking at that, and I wanted to slow down but I couldn''t stop it now. I needed to burn the Energy reserves ASAP. "Altitude: 48,107 feet. Speed: 3,855 mph." ''I''m building speed way faster than I thought. That''s already mach 5! I really hope I haven''t lost any limbs...'' A feeling of dread grows inside me as the numbers keep increasing at an insane level. To get it over with, I put one final push with everything I had. "Altitude: 150,865 feet. Speed: 6,175 mph." ''OH... FUCK!'' All I can do is mentally scream as I have no idea how horrible the damage is that I had just done to my body was. I was starting to fade mentally now. Either passing out or dying. Probably dying. I don''t have any mental bandwidth left to even think about it as I continue to slip. I can hardly even hear the system telling me my next record. "Altitude: 240,065 feet. Speed: 5,465 mph. Capping record at 6,200 mph." ... I woke up, surprisingly, in fucking orbit. So the first thing I saw was space and the planet I had launched myself out of. "Oh my God." I said. Well, tried to say. Came out more like "Ouuhgg mmm kghoawd". A rather unpleasant liquid in my mouth. A mixture of vomit and blood by the taste of it. Which I swallowed with a shudder. It''s not like I could have spit it out into my helmet. It already had blood floating around in it, and some splotches on the glass. Which was also still cracked. ''What was my score...?'' I pondered as I tried moving my body. It didn''t listen. I was back in the same situation that I started with. Like a week ago. As I floated there, struggling to breathe and probably slowly dying, I checked my status.
Stats
Health: 0/10 (10 points per second) Energy: 120/120 (120 points per second)
Scratch that part about probably dying. Turns out, I was, in fact, dead. ''WHAT THE FUCK?!'' My eyes bulged, at least slightly as I stared at the window. If I was alive, my regen should have regenerated right?! So... I''m dead then... but I''m not? As I stared at the screen in confusion but mostly fear, the numbers changed. The 0 had gone up to 1 then back down again. ''Oh... I think I get it. My regen is the only thing keeping me alive. My health is probably 0 point something.'' That was a massive relief. It meant that I would survive. With some luck anyway. I willed my completed quests screen since I needed to level up and put some more stats into health.
Completed Quests: 2
1. Jump from the nest, and spread your wings: Fly at an altitude between 500 feet to 30,000 feet. Rewards: 8(+2=10) skill points, 400(x3=1,200) XP, 40 stat points (Altitude reached: 405,006 feet. K¨¢rm¨¢n Line.) 2. Just how fast are you?: Without stopping, reach your max speed. Rewards: 8(+2=10) skill points, 400(x3=1,200) XP, 40 stat points (Speed reached: 6,200 mph. Mach 8.1.)
A grin tries to spread across my face at the rewards but it turns into a grimace. I feel like throwing up again but I keep it down. Who would have thought that being literally seconds from death would suck so much? I put 20 points into health and immediately felt better. My body rapidly healing with disturbing bone snaps to go with it. ''I really fucked my self up huh... damn, I am never using that Eldritch Energy skill like that again.'' Now that it was easier to breathe and I wasn''t dying anymore, I started thinking about how I could have possibly survived in the first place. ''My Telekinesis skill has a weird feeling of having 2 points of control, one outer and one inner. Like an invisible intangible orb surrounding the object for general manipulation and the inner control is for finer movements. Could it have protected me from the air resistance? I was moving at about half the speed of something re-entering the atmosphere.'' That had to be it. That or my EA skill was making me adapt to the G-forces faster than the damage could accumulate. Speaking of skills, I had 20 skill points. 20. I think I''ll bother with them later. Right now I need to check my level.
Level 4 Infant
Species: Human Title: Baby Mode 1,340/1,600 XP
I had leveled up 3 times. Which is incredible but leaves me with even less time to abuse my Baby Mode title. That was fine though, Maybe the next one will have it''s own benefits that I can exploit. I still had 60 stat points, so I did the only logical thing I could. I put 50 of them into luck. I had no doubts that the main reason I was alive was because I got lucky. So I obviously needed more. I then put the last 10 into agility. For some poor excuse of balance.
Luck: 63(x5=315) Agility: 15
That was everything. Well, except for my 20 skill points but I''ll save them for now. My luck was well into the triple digits with the Baby Mode multiplier, so maybe I''ll stop having close encounters with death so often. Now that I was looking around calmly, I realized that I wasn''t in orbit. I was close, but not quite. I was starting to fall since I didn''t have my Telekinesis active right now. It was time to find my way back home... somehow. Chapter 11: Where Is My House Finding my way home was going to be a massive pain in the ass. I don''t know how far I had traveled, but I was most likely several thousand miles away. The worst part is that the inside of my suit felt crusty. It''s not like I could take it off either. Not until I land anyway. "System, are there any achievement windows or options? How was my performance compared to other species?" I was super curious if I had placed in the top half. I knew I did well by the rewards I received, but was there a direct numbered ranking system? I got my answer in the form of a different window.
Achievements
1. Hypersonic Organism: Break mach 1 with no assistance from magic or technology. (Universal First) 2. No Heights Too High: Reach the very limits of a planets atmosphere with minimal assistance from magic or technology. (Universal First) 3. Pseudo Immortality: Survive without vital organs for more than 10 minutes due to natural regeneration.
It felt good to have that Universal First at the end. It doesn''t say it comes with rewards or bonuses. Though, I guess they were included for the quest. The second one said minimal and not no assistance. Probably due to my EA skill keeping me alive. There was something bothering me with the last one. ''... survive without vital organs?'' "System, How badly was I injured during the recording?" I ask with a bit of nervousness. ''How close was I to dying?'' "Your organs liquified, your bones snapped and pierced your skin, your eyes popped, your nervous system disintegrated, and your brain was compressed to a third of it''s size against the back of your skull." The voice responded like it was no big deal. Hardly a scratch. "How... How did I even survive? I was conscious for like half of the trip, and there wasn''t any pain. When did all that happen?" I was mortified by that. "Most of the ascension was a slow continuous incline of damage. Your body was adapting to the forces being applied to it but not fast enough to completely stop them. When you used 876 points of Energy all at once, that''s when your body got the worst of the effects. The only reason you survived was because of your Mana Core. It has evolved from the exposure to the Energy surge and your Environmental Adaptation skill assisting it. The main change to the Core is that it has a strong grasp on your soul. Similar to a liches phylactery, as long as your Mana Core is intact you will regenerate." "When I woke up... I was still liquified wasn''t I?" My regeneration was working but it was struggling to stay above zero at the time. "Yep." I just stared off at nothing as I fell from near orbit. There was a lot to unpack there. A whole lot of things to think about and have a mental breakdown over. I focused on the most important one, of course. ''The fuck do you mean "yep"?!'' The system had never used that word before. It was being so casual about my near death experience. When I thought about it more, the whole situation was stupid. I was stupid. "Why didn''t I just cast my Dimensional Gate skill to use the Energy?! GOD... DAMN, I''M FUCKING DUMB!" I screamed within my helmet. The spell was extremely expensive to cast. I could have cleared up the Energy in minutes. ''But then I wouldn''t have gotten all the rewards either... Was my luck stat doing more than I thought? I had survived and even got an insane amount of rewards, and that was before I boosted it above 300 points.'' I had a new worry. What kind of opportunity will I get with my luck now? My luck was in the 60''s when I nearly died, so what dangers could I face later? What kind of rewards could I get? While I had nearly died, it wasn''t painful. If I didn''t ask, I wouldn''t have known how bad I had hurt myself. I did live in the end, so does it even matter? Couldn''t I just upgrade my EA skill a bunch so it''s even stronger? I could now. I had 20 points to spend. Would it have been different if my body could adapt to the G-forces instantly? What if my body could have evolved to hold the Energy instead of being burned by it? I knew what I had to do now. I needed to upgrade my most broken skill. So I dumped 10 points into EA. I didn''t feel anything. Which, I guess is normal since I''m not in a harsh environment. Well, not harsh enough. I was currently falling from an absurd height but it''s not the fall that gets you. It''s the landing. Feeling bored from the free fall after 10 minutes, I decide to put some flair into it. I did flips, spun, and all kinds of stupid shit. Then I realized, that despite the impressive speed I flew earlier, I hadn''t actually seen how fast I could go with my own eyes. Now that my body could handle the forces, I smirked as I pushed all 120 points into flying. And I flew. I felt like a god. Not capital G, because the big man upstairs get''s that, but a god. I had no idea how fast I was going, but if the cone of air forming around me was any indicator, I was most likely close to or already broke the sound barrier. It was hard to tell with the helmet on. I was still flying how I usually do, since I can''t look up well enough to pull a Superman. I was standing vertically. A mental hand holding me up while supporting my weight. I turned to blast through a cloud, to see if I could estimate my speed. After popping out the other side with a trail of water vapor following me, I flew backwards so I could keep an eye on it while keeping my speed. The cloud was massive, but it was still shrinking quickly. 3 seconds. Nothing. 7 seconds. Nothing. 11 seconds. Not- The cloud burst as a massive cone of displaced air drilled through it. "Holy shit, I gotta be going like mach 5! HA~!" I started laughing to myself as I flew around, popping clouds like they were bubbles. I could feel the G-forces pressing against me but it wasn''t doing anything to harm me or even affect me that much. I was giggling as I turned a gargantuian cloud into swiss cheese since it was too big to explode. Making tunnels in the cloud was a lot of fun. As I examined my handiwork, I saw something in one of the tunnels. It looked like some kind of structure. As I flew closer, I got a good idea for what it could be. In the side of one of the tunnels I made in the cloud, was a stone brick wall. Perfect rectangles interlocked together, smooth to the touch, and almost the same color as the cloud. They were just a bit darker than the white vapor around it. It had to be a Dungeon. That meant there was loot to steal and things to explore. Feeling pretty excited, I flew along the edge and used my Telekinesis to kind of just swat the clouds away with a big mental hand. It took a while but I eventually found something like an entrance. I didn''t completely uncover the structure, but from what I could see it looked like a castle. Just with no openings above or below the walls. Every gap that a normal castle would have, was filled in with stone. The entrance had a small platform that I could stand on, so I landed there while trying to look into the opening. There was some kind of magical barrier in the doorway, but I could see through it. Not very far, as the there was no light inside. I walked up to the door and placed a hand onto the barrier. My expectations were confirmed when my hand rested against it like it was perfectly solid. I couldn''t feel it through the glove, but my hand didn''t snag onto anything. My guess is that it''s a sheer surface like glass or plastic. After a few seconds, a window popped up. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
This Dungeon has a level requirement of 140 or higher.
"140? That seems kinda high... System, what is the average level of this world?" "60. The current highest level being on the planet Gahlora is 93." The voice in my head kindly answered the question I was about to ask. "What? But then this is way too high. Does anything happen if no one clears it?" "No. It just remains an unused resource. Dungeons do increase in level and the ambient Mana in an area the longer it is left alone, making the nearby monsters stronger, but that''s all it does." "What would I get if I cleared it?" I could probably use my Dimensional Gate to get through the barrier. This might be a good test to see if it has a limitation with magic barriers. "Unknown. Theoritically you would get rewards for someone level 140, but as it is impossible for anything lower level than that it is not known what happens. If you somehow enter the Dungeon, you will likely die." "Hmmm yeah, probably." Did I really want to throw myself into some other unknown? I probably found this place thanks to my high luck stat, so I should be able to survive it right? ''No. Don''t be stupid. Going inside at my level is suicide.'' With a sigh I backed away from the Dungeon''s entrance and let myself fall off the edge. ''It would have been so much fun though... A different dungeon then.'' I was trying to avoid the boring as hell search for my house. I could build another one, but then I''d have to find another town and start doing my gaslighting stuff from the begining. "Damn this sucks." --------- Keji --------- Today might not as bad as I thought. The Human hasn''t shown up and it''s a quiet day. It''d be better if I was allowed to take my rightful day off, but oh well. There was a strange weather phenomenon earlier but nothing else has happened. The clouds looked like they had a hole form in them. Just a weird formation. That was a while ago now, so I was just doing what I do normally. Staring out into the forest while semi aware of my surroundings. If today had some luck, then the Human won''t show up at all. That left me with a small smile. ... It''s been a few hours and still nothing. My shift ends when the sun sets and it''s getting close. ''Just 3 more hours.'' I thought to myself. Then something felt... off. Something was wrong but I couldn''t tell what it was. Looking around, I didn''t see anything out of the ordinary. My partner for the day also had the same feeling since they were looking around too. ''It felt like...'' A monster half my height jumped out of the treeline and booked it right for the gate. It didn''t get very far as I sunk the tip of my spear into it''s neck, and my partner finished it off. It was bipedal. Green skinned and long triangle ears. Another variant of a feline life form. Just a regular level 12 monster. This planet had a whole thing with cats. Everything was somewhat based on the base principle of what a cat is. "A monster wave is coming. The forest has gone silent." My partner said while withdrawing their spear from it''s skull. It wasn''t someone I really knew, never bothered to really learn his name. "I thought so. Any Jipio signals in the sky?" I looked around as I asked. The Jipio were a tribes people. Using smoke signals and horns for long distance communication. They really didn''t like to ask for help. Especially from the "demonic system". Some did ask though, so there might be hope for this species yet. Not like the system would let them die out anyway. "None that I can see. Probably on the other side of town. We only fought one monster." That was true. When a monster swarm begins, it has a low number of monsters storm the town walls. The number increases as the waves increase. Since it''s a natural occurance and there''s no leaders, the level and general power in each wave is random. The first wave could have 5 level 20''s and the third could have 30 level 4''s. That''s an extreme on both ends. It''s usually somewhere in the middle in terms of levels. "Alright, let''s close up the gate and keep watch for a little longer. If the others need help they''ll send someone to get us." I told my partner for the day and we closed the gate. While we were inside the walls, it became more difficult to handle the outside monsters since we had to look through a slit in the gate and also stab through another. It was much safer though, so I wasn''t going to complain. Plus the swarms are good for XP. Now it''s just a waiting game... ... About an hour later and this swarm was proving to be difficult. We had been summoned to the other side of town, as the waves were coming from the west instead of the east. No one has died, yet, and the Jipio were trying to stand their ground. The Jipio, were a cat based species. Like everything else on this planet. Bipedal, some fur and some scales. Their height is around my waist, some shorter and some taller. A mix of reptillian and feline features. The ones that do ask for help are pretty nice, and also have more feline features. While the ones who despise the system for some reason have more reptillian features. I''m not sure if there''s some kind of race war but it''s certainly about religion. Both sides worship the land, and the animals, but one side worships the monsters too. Believing them to be their ancestors or something. The other side thinks that the monsters are the corruption of their ancestors. It''s pretty black and white with them really. One side seems to be cold, and the other warm. That''s not important though as several different types of monster cats are trying to eat me, along with everyone else fighting them back. The gate had fallen but the wall was still strong. Forcing them into a choke point. It wouldn''t be that bad, if there wasn''t hundreds of them. They were smaller than I would like, as they kept slipping past my attacks. Thankfully they were low level so we weren''t taking any serious damage. But if we take any longer to deal with them, the next wave will start. Adding even more monsters to the mix. Possibly ones with higher levels. Even without the Human around, today sucked. We kept fighting. Any of the monsters that slipped past us got dealt with by the Jipio. The sound of battle and war cries from the Jipio filled the air. Then there was a loud booming CRACK that came with strong winds. Knocking many of the Jipio and monsters over. A few of my people fell too since they weren''t able to brace themselves properly. Everything was silent as everyone looked around. No one was attacking or moving anymore. Not even the monsters. That was worrying. There was also this vague sense of wrongness. Stronger than the feeling when the waves started. I noticed a few people and monsters looking up. Some in awe, but most with a deep fear. I slowly turned to look at what they were. The first thing I saw was some black and off white colored boots in the air and my heart sank into my stomach. I knew who it was instantly. Though they never made me feel such dread before. It was bad sure, but something was different now. Somehow, the Human had become even more unnerving. And as my gaze followed up their form, my heart beat harder and faster. The feeling turning into an unknown horror. I don''t know why I was scared. I just felt like my very essence was in danger. That''s not the only thing that startled me. The human had become level 4. It was level 1 yesterday. That shouldn''t even be possible. Then to my absolute horror. It singled me out. "Hey Keji~! Mind if I help?" --------- Greg --------- Finding any place near my house was a huge pain. Finding the house even harder. But, my luck proved to be very helpful as it turned out I could sense the residue from the hole I opened earlier. I did have to be relatively close to it though. Around 50 miles. That''s a long way, but since I had traveled possibly thousands of miles it was very lucky to stumble upon it. Once I got closer, I noticed the town was in between me and the vague sense of rightness beyond. From this height I noticed many little dots trying to make it''s way inside. Deciding to check it out, I flew down. Not nearly as fast as before, but fast enough to break the sound barrier. ''I should get a speedometer put into my helmet. Or get a skill for it from the system.'' A thought for another time. I of course had to make a sick ass entrance, so I stopped almost instantly. Just so the wind would announce my presence. And announce it did! I took a disturbing amount of pleasure watching a bunch of things flinch from the sound and several more fall over from the wind. I looked around to see if I knew anyone here, and I saw what must have been the Jipio for the first time. They looked like someone had mashed the Kahjit and Argonians from Elder Scrolls together. It looked... kinda gross actually. The clothes they were wearing were similar to what the Native Americans or Aztecs wore. Tribal leathers with painted or dyed patterns. Some also had wat paint on their furred and scaled faces. Then my eyes spotted Keji. Who ended up being right in front of me. ''Lucky~!'' As he looked up at me, I waited for him to meet my helmets visor before speaking. "Hey Keji~! Mind if I help?" I couldn''t keep the smile off my face. This was seriously lucky. I would be able to complete 3 quests in a single day! With the hundreds of monsters before me, I could easily get a massive reward. ''Luck really is the best stat! I''m putting at least 50% of all future points into it.'' Now, How do I feel like slaughtering a bunch of monsters? Chapter 12: A Sea Of Glitter Glue As I looked at the horde of unmoving monsters and the few friendlies, I found it odd that everything stopped when I showed up. I put the thoughts away since thinking hurt, and moved on to more important things. Like a weapon. Or 20. "I''m going to borrow these for a bit." I said out loud to no one in particular as my mental hands grasped all the spears in sight. I let the Jipio keep their small primitive weapons. I wouldn''t need them anyway. I didn''t count how many guards there were but I had gotten good at determining the amount of ''hands'' I was using. 23 spears, so probably 23 guards. Give or take a few. As the weapons floated up into the air, that seemed to wake up the monsters. As a few screamed or roared and charged. They were the guineapigs then. I never did find out how fast I could accelerate something now. So I of course put every single point of Energy into a single spear. It broke the sound barrier, went straight through the random target, and decimated the monsters and ground behind it. The air wave that followed blasted the first monster into pieces, and sent the front line of monsters flying backwards. The ones farthest from the cone weren''t knocked back but did fall over. In the middle of the monster wave, where the spear ended up hitting the ground, was a massive crater. It was about 40 feet across and few feet deep. The spear was gone, and so was a large number of monsters. "Ok that had to have been around mach 1 instantly, and with the spears these people use which are 25~ish feet long, the resulting explosion is similar to around 250 sticks of dynamite? That sounds about right. Probably shouldn''t do that again." I mentally chastised myself because I could have hurt the friendlies with that. It definitely damaged the wall. I couldn''t see it through the dirt and dust. Also there was a lot of glitter and pink glue. Turning to look at the friendlies, I was pleased to see that they were running away. Which was good because I still had 22 spears of wrath. Not like I was going to use them like missiles again. Definitely not. I was totally not flying higher to save myself from the debris. Noooo of course not. "I AM THE DARK LORD AZURATH! THE ELDRITCH INCARNATION OF WAR!" I yelled out with glee. I didn''t even know what I was saying, I was just having fun going full edgy ''dark lord''. Being cringe is fun, fuck off. I put 60 points into 2 spears and sent them down toward the opposite sides of the wave. The monsters were still reeling, but they seemed to not care all that much since they kept making their way toward town. A few did look up as I yelled my ramblings, then the glitter bomb went off. Glitter, pink glue, dirt and dust went flying into the air. I saw some other bits too but they were also pink and glittery. I was laughing like a loon. The explosions weren''t nearly as strong as the first one, but they were half as strong. leaving 20 foot craters compared to the 40. They still kept storming though. Stomping and clawing over the corpses and craters. I had gone from a siege weapon to a fucking artillery cannon. I was almost tempted to drop the remaining 10 skill points into Energy just to see what I could do then. I still had 20 spears left. Was I taking this situation seriously? No. It''s very hard to when everything feels like a game. The monsters bleed glitter and glue. I know it''s not their real blood, but it''s not easy to keep that in mind when they die so easily. I have a system for fucks sake. I have an XP bar, and quests. How could I not slip into a mindset of "I''m freakin'' gaming" every time a monster explodes? So I used 2 more spears to blow up more monsters. Aiming for the spots closer into the wave instead of the edges. More glitter, and more pink glue. There was hardly any left now. Some still going strong and making a break for the town while most were crawling or just screaming on the ground. I should probably feel bad, but I don''t. Instead of using the spears like bombs, I used them as melee weapons. Using 20 Energy on 6 spears. Stabbing monsters, slashing them, and even just bashing them on the head. I cleared them up with just those 6. I still had 18 spears since the 6 didn''t disintegrate like the others. I kept watching for any more, and as the dust settled I saw no more movement. The wall was cracked. Badly. It would likely collapse soon. That I did feel bad about. I lowered myself to the ground, the spears floating along with me. ''Shit... I might have gone overboard.'' I let the spears fall to the ground. The 6 I had used were glittery and pink. Dents and deformations in the metal. Pretty much unusable scrap now. Looking behind me I saw the town. Along with a bunch of horrified faces. ''I''m not welcomed here anymore. It''s my fault too. Damn I''m stupid.'' That made me feel even worse. This wasn''t a game. No matter how much it felt like one. There were people living here. The best thing I could do for them is to just leave. I''m not sure if I''m becoming more mentally unstable or if the system is altering my mind. ''Maybe one more gaslight before I go?'' I refrain from slapping myself, since I''m wearing a space suit. ''You heartless bastard. Just leave.'' I give a wave, and then simply fly away. Slow enough so I don''t cause any more problems. A horrible feeling in my gut. --------- Keji --------- Blood. Blood, organs, limbs, were everywhere. The screams from the monsters is all anyone could hear along with the few explosions that drowns them out. Only for the screams to come back, just quieter. Like many voices snuffed out in a mere second. Someone throws up to my left. I can''t blame them. I had done the same just a minute ago. The smell of raw meat and blood was so strong that a few of the Jipio had fainted. The scene was so horrific before us. So wrong. What is a Human if one at level 4 could kill hundreds without even moving? Level 4! It was LAUGHING. Like it was playing in a sandbox. ''Is that all we are to it? Just bugs in a sandbox to be played with?'' The thought sent a shiver down my spine. It had called itself The Dark Lord Azurath, the Eldritch incarnation of war. Regret bubbled up inside me. ''If I had just asked for it''s name, I could have known. I could have had the town evacuate. Now we''re forced to do whatever it wants.'' I wanted to hate it. To hate the unknown creature slaughtering the creatures like it was playing with dolls. I couldn''t. Every feeling I had was being overwritten with fear. I couldn''t even look away from the scene. A single bipedal form, clad in an off white suit, hovered above the ruined earth. It''s arms outstretched to it''s sides like it was reveling in the suffering. It hardly moved when the spears fell upon the monsters. It would occasionally point one of it''s hands, but I knew it wasn''t needed. It was doing it for no reason other than it enjoyed it. I felt sick again, but I had already thrown up. The only thing to come up was that stinging stomach acid. I spit out what I could, tears in my eye. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. I don''t know how long it took for it to finish off the last of the monsters, but at some point it had turned to look at us. That golden visor looking right at the town. It was over. Everything. We would die here. That thing wasn''t sapient. That had to be an intelligent monster. There was no other way. I felt so stupid. Of course it was a monster. It had told me that it had a Mana Core. Only monsters had those. Looking around I could tell everyone else thought the same. That we were going to die. Except some of the Jipio looked like they were... worshiping the Human. The look in their eyes as they stared at it gave me chills. Could they really claim that thing was divine?! It had slaughtered the monsters like it was knocking over a sand castle! When I looked back, it was gone. A small form shrinking into the distance, and leaving the mess behind. "An ancestor still lives!" A hushed whisper from one of the praying Jipio. They prayed with their tails in their hands, holding it against their forehead. That broke the dam as everyone started speaking to each other. The Jipio had segregated themselves, making a small group and whispering to each other. I couldn''t hear them over the crowd. Though people were talking, most couldn''t look away from the devastation. I was one of them. I found myself repeatedly looking back at the corpses and the cracks in the wall. Before I knew it I was standing amongst the collection of spears. I don''t know when I started walking. The last few minutes were a blur. I was standing there though. Looking at my ruined spear. It was heavily deformed. I doubted I could still use it as anything but a stick. A few of the guards ended up following me. A hollow look in their eyes. No one cared about the monsters. Why would we? No. What we cared about was how close we had come to dying. To sharing a fate similar to the monsters. If the Human had decided for any reason at all, it could have just erased the town. The spear isn''t even needed. It could have just used a rock. Our weapons weren''t anything special after all. I don''t know what the human did to turn them into... whatever made those craters, but the spears were just metal. There was no magic in them. We were alive though. We were also completely unharmed. Some small part of me wondered if the Human was really that dangerous. All it had done to us was merely float around us. Sell some ruined leather, bought some stuff, and gloated about it''s species. Was it hostile at all? Why had it just left without saying anything? Will it come back? ... Several hours later and there was a work crew cleaning up the field. Using the craters as a mass grave for the monsters. Some were still harvestable, but most were ruined. Torn apart. The insides becoming outsides. It smelled awful. It needed to be done though. I was helping with the effort. Someone made a joke that it was because the Human knew me and so it was my punishment. I know no one blames me for what happened. It would have been a different story if someone died, but that didn''t happen. Now that everything has calmed down, plenty of people were happy it came to help. Even if it did make a rather... large mess. I wasn''t the only one who felt the weird horror when I looked at it. Everyone apparently had. Some speculated it was a skill, while others thought there was an odd energy about it. One of the town magicians had said something about "The nature of eldritch things is horror" but no one really understood him. The Jipio had left, but a few stayed to help with cleanup. A few did stay pretty close to me for some reason. Asking the occasional question about the Human. "When did you first see it?" Was one of the most frequent questions. The Jipio spoke with a weird hiss to their voice, though it wasn''t unpleasant. "8 days ago. It came out of the forest with speed then slammed into the wall by accident. It couldn''t understand our language until after we, my partner and I, spoke a few sentences." Was the response I gave each time. For some reason, the Jipio seemed really pleased by the fact it came from the forest. Did they know something we didn''t? Was there some prophecy? I didn''t know, nor did I care. That was their business. Might be some weird cultural thing. I did end up asking why they seemed to happy about that the first time. "We come from the forests, while the monsters and our brothers come from the mountains. This means the forests are still pure to have the Ancestor come from it." Was the response I got. So I stopped caring. It all sounded like a bunch of crap I couldn''t care less about. I wasn''t a scholar, so I wasn''t going to bother about it. A few of the workers started making jokes and talking about the "battle" we had witnessed. "Did you see that first explosion?! I thought for sure I was going to die. Man I''m happy that thing ended up on our side." One of the guards who lost her spear to the explosions brought up. "I know right? We got really lucky it showed up. There''s no way we could have gotten through the wave without losing a few people. I''ll take losing my spear and my composure over someone dying any time." A male voice responded. It was the one whose spear was used for first explosion. We found what was left of the metal tip and it had his name on it. He''s been boasting about it for a while now. They are right though. Despite how scary it was, this was likely the best outcome. We would have lived through the wave, sure, but we also would have lost 1 or 2 people. Even more if we got pushed back to town. The community is small so everyone naturally knows each other or at least knows of someone else. I''m not sure why everyone felt the fear. It was killing monsters. The things that would happily eat the children without a second thought. The only person who seemed to know, the magician, is shit at explaining things so no one understood what they were talking about. Nomorro, the magician, had seemed super excited though. He kept going on and on about eldritch beings and the veil. Similar to how the Human had brought it up. Turns out Nomorro studies such things for fun. What a weirdo. --------- Greg --------- I was cringing at myself for the way I acted. The things I said. "Uugghhhh, I''m such a fucking 8th grader. I even have the syndrome. It''s so over for me if I get a skill called ''The dark blade of Azurath, Eldritch God of War''." I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. I could never forget the faces of terror looking back at me. Plus my suit still felt crusty from the old blood inside it. ''Damnit, don''t tell me my suit is filled with glitter right now.'' I sighed as my mood worsened. Before I could go full depressed emo though, I suddenly felt better. Likely some form of alteration to my mind again. Before I could even have a negative thought about it, I suddenly didn''t care anymore. "This is... worrying. It should be worrying. Stop controlling my mental state so much system." I wanted to be mad but I couldn''t. "It''s your Environmental Adaptation skill, not I. You leveled it up to 12, so it''s quite strong now." The voice said into my mind. I wasn''t even annoyed at it anymore. It didn''t bother me. "I''m not going to become some unfeeling machine that murders everything right?" I ask, genuinely worried this time. Which is good. "No. It should keep positive emotions, or even boost them." "Okay, good. Can I ask how the town is doing?" "They seem to be thankful." That was a relief to hear. "Why did they fear me so much? Was it what I was doing or something else?" "You are an eldritch outsider with a connection to the energy outside this reality. They can feel it''s effects from you." "Right. The ''horror element'' stuff." I sighed again. "It''s Horror ''essence'', but yes." The voice corrected me. "Is there a way to hide it? Or make myself seem more normal?" I didn''t get a response. ''Alright. Dick.'' That wasn''t a no or a yes, so I''ll take it as a maybe. With my luck stat so high, that maybe might as well be a resounding YES. Speaking of stats. "System, did I complete that quest?" "No. The quest is timed to last an entire month. If you were to reach 10 kills, you wouldn''t have been able to overachieve." "Wait, that was helpful. Who the hell are you?" I ask in a joking manner, before I realize the horror in that statement. "A FUCKING MONTH?!" I had to wait... at least 29 more days before I could do anything with the reward. "I at least got some new skills to buy right?" I asked hopefully. "No. You have to buy every skill or throw the ones you don''t want away. You will never get them again if you choose to do so." The system kindly tells me something I really should have known a long time ago. "Fuck." I really didn''t want the astral projection bullshit. It sounded like trash at low levels, and what the hell was I supposed to do outside the veil? Talk to Cthulhu? Harvest was an ok skill to have, just not great. ''Ugh. My precious Skill Points!'' I bit the bullet and spent 2 points, buying both skills. I dislike the skills but I hate the idea of throwing away skills even more. "Do I have new skills now?" I ask with dread, already knowing the answer. "No. There should be some after your next quest." That was just perfect. I already had a boring week, but now I got a whole month to kill. "What''s the next quest going to be? Waiting a whole year?" I sarcastically ask. "Maybe." ''...'' That wasn''t what I wanted to hear. Not. At. All. I''ll worry about it later though. ''Oh well... I''ll find something to do.'' Chapter 13: Breaking and Entering Dungeons While I flew off into a random direction, pondering on how I was supposed to waste an entire month, I had a most devious idea. ''If I can''t enter any towns because of my nature, then I might as well do some dungeons.'' I smiled to myself. Yes, it was a plan most devious. A blatant middle finger to the rules of the universe. Which I''ve been doing quite a lot already, but this will be my magnum opus! First I needed to actually use the skills I bought but haven''t bothered testing. ''I need to test Repair, Harvest, and even that weird astral projection skill.'' To do that, I needed some sand, a monster or something ''harvestable'', and a place to do a lotus pose. Not sure if it''s needed but it fits the theme. ''I also need to clean my suit. Gross.'' I was reminded of just how dirty it was when my finger tips felt the dried blood in my gloves. I was flying for awhile but I saw something in the distance. I saw the ocean of this world. ''Nice! My luck stat is really helping me out.'' Luck was proving to be my most important stat. It usually was when I played video games with the stat. I was always a luck build kinda guy. After a minute or so I had reached the beach. The ocean was... pretty much exactly the same as Earth. Big, blue, and beautiful. The beach had blue sand though. It made it slightly difficult to tell the difference between it and the water, but the white waves gave them away. I landed softly onto the sand. A seamless transition from standing on air to walking on the ground. My boots sunk into the soft sand some, which made it awkward for a bit. Either my higher agility stat or my EA skill kicked in and now I was walking around like it was perfectly flat. I even stopped sinking into the sand. ''Freaky.'' After finding a good enough spot, I started the slow process of taking my suit off. It was the first time since I was dropped into the universe. I hadn''t needed to use the bathroom, and after that first meal I hadn''t felt hungry. I held my helmet in my hands, checking the visor again. The crack hadn''t grown and the scratches were obviously still there. Deciding to try the repair skill later, I dropped it on the soft sand and began to remove the rest. It was harder than normal because the blood had dried up in the zipper and various connections. After several minutes and a few curses, I got out of it. The inside was caked in blood. I had expected the system to censor the mess, but it did not. The pj''s I had forgotten about clung to my body in that gross way sweat does, except this time it was drenched in dried blood. "Fuck, that is so gross." I mutter as I start removing that as well. The cloth peeling away from my skin. I also ended up having to remove my underwear, so now I was standing on the beach like some pervert. Thinking quickly, as I felt uncomfortable without my suit, I tried to use my Telekinesis skill to separate the blood from my clothes. Starting with my underwear, I lifted them up in front of me and grasped the blood and cloth in two mental hands. Then gently started pulling them apart. I didn''t want a repeat of the monster skinning incident. Thankfully, the old blood was starting to flake off in places so it was working. It would just take forever. "At least I got plenty of time..." I said to myself with a sigh. ... It had taken around 2 hours to clean everything. I was being very careful since I didn''t want to damage anything. I wasn''t sure how well the Repair skill would work after all. Once everything was clean I put my boxers back on, and my pj''s. I was hovering above the sand since I didn''t want to get sand on my freshly cleaned onesie. It still stunk like iron but there was nothing I could do about that. Salt water would be harmful to it, and make it smell like the ocean. I had my suit and helmet floating in front of me, and I was looking between the two. I had already tried to fix the suit without a skill, so I might as well try to finish the job. Putting a hand onto the chest piece and the leather I had terribly sown onto it, I used the Repair skill. Since it was a magic variant, it was technically a spell. So there was a bit of light flowing from my hand into the piece. With the skill came the knowledge of what it was supposed to look like in action. The Repair skill, or spell, had Mana pour out from the caster in a blue light. Which would then go into the object and resource, binding them together and eating away at the resource. It will repair the object to the perfection of the casters mental image of the item. So if they don''t know what it was supposed to look like, the cost would increase tremendously as the spell would have to get the knowledge from the item itself. I don''t know how that works, but it''s magic so it get''s a pass for being weird. It didn''t look like blue light. My eyes widened as the same rainbow from the kaleidoscope fracture I made came from my hands. There was even some of those reality fragments that looked like glass shards with multiple colors in them floating around my hand. ''Right, I don''t use Mana anymore. I get my energy from beyond the veil!'' As the spell began to eat away at the leather, the chest of my suit started to morph into how it''s supposed to look like. It''s not very fast though, and I have to sit there for a good few minutes. While it was repairing, I started thinking about how everything reacted to me back at town. ''Were they reacting to my Energy? I do use it to fly, so can they feel it? If I walk around without using my Energy, maybe no one would have that reaction...'' It might be worth a shot. I''d have to give it a try at the next town. Looking at the completed repair, the leather had been completely eaten away. The chest piece was almost perfectly the same as it was before. The only difference was a slight discoloration since the leather wasn''t exactly the same color. "Oh good. I really hope there''s blue lines in my visor. That would be awesome." I muttered dryly. With a sigh I collected some of the blue sand and began the process on the visor. This time I imagined the sand being heated to such extremes that it melted into glass. Then I imagined the molten glass perfectly filling the crack and scratches. It took significantly longer this time, but the visor was also fixed. Thankfully the blue sand didn''t leave blue marks. The scratches and the crack were gone. Replaced with barely noticeable clear glass. It was hard to even find the clear lines due to the golden tint. With a pleased smile I put the suit back on. My view no longer obstructed by the blemishes. "Alright, that''s one skill down. Time to Harvest something." For the Harvest skill, I had chosen the physical variant. The idea of having near perfect resources was really appealing. When I thought about it, everything was a harvestable resource. If you had something that needed dirt, then dirt was a resource. From farmland to mud pies. As long as you could think of something to be used for another, then the skill told you how to harvest it. With limits of course. The physical variant needed tools to be used as required, which I''m hoping I can substitute with my Telekinesis. As I started looking around for something to harvest, just walking around since I hardly walked anymore, I thought about something else. ''I had gone about the same speed as something re-entering the atmosphere back home. Shouldn''t I have burnt up into nothing?'' Just another one of those "I should be dead already" thoughts. It was weird though. I needed to know, so I could go that fast again willingly. ''Was it my Telekinesis? No it couldn''t have been...'' I put the thoughts away. It probably didn''t matter all that much. Something had protected me in some way and that''s that. I can figure it out later when I know I won''t be turned into goo when I fly. Not sure what to really use the Harvest skill on since I didn''t need anything right now, I just let it fill my head with idea''s on how to harvest anything I looked at. Flowers, trees, sand, water, and even air. It had some funny ideas for harvesting air. It told me to just use an air tight bag, swing it around and then close it mid swing. I mean, it would work sure, but it was dumb. Now all I had to test was the Eldritch Astral Projection. When I thought about it, something seemed... interesting. "System, can I use skills while astral projecting?" I asked the air, knowing the system would hear me. "Yes." "What happens if I get attacked while projecting?" "If you are attacked you will return to your body forcefully. That is unlikely unless your enemies can detect you. 87% of the known species cannot detect projections." The system helpfully informs me. ''Holy shit I could go full poltergeist on them.'' Now I just needed to test the distance. So I plopped my happy ass down onto the beach and activated the skill. My expectations, like usual, were subverted when I was instantly booted from my body. I had expected to need a trance or something. Nope. I just went ''poof'', now I''m a ghost. Looking around, everything had a strange tint to it. The colors were back, but this time they were everywhere. Like I had entered a separate plane of existence that overlaps mine. "Eldritch shenanigans..." I muttered and my voice sounded weird as well. It was hard to describe. It was like I was speaking through glass, but the thickness varied randomly. I moved my legs to walk around but all I did was walk in place. ''Right. No friction if I can just phase through walls.'' I willed myself forward and I floated along. I turned around and looked at my body. I had tried to do a lotus position, but my suit was limiting. I had also fallen over like I was asleep. Looking down at my incorporeal body, I was wearing my space suit. Except, I could see better than I could with the helmet. It was still there, since I could see an outline of it in my vison, but I could see out of it like I wasn''t wearing one at all. My body also moved like I wasn''t restricted by any clothing at all. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. I started floating around. Going as far out as I could before being stopped by an invisible wall. Floating along the edge, I found out it was a perfect sphere with my true body in the center. I was 100 feet from my body when I hit the edge. "Local journeys indeed." I scoffed at the somewhat low range of the skill. I still had 8 skill points, and I wanted to test something before committing them to the plan I was forming. With a testing thought, I cancelled the skill while away from my body. I rubber banded back into my body in a split second. My eyes popping open instantly. ''There was a short delay there. Probably based on distance.'' I''d have to remember that. My goal was to find a Dungeon. Preferably one not above level 30 but I''d take any of them really. Even the level 140 Dungeon. So I started flying around. I did have an impulse to dive into the ocean, to scrounge around on the ocean floor for a dungeon, but then I remembered that dungeons increase the level of monsters around it. The sky dungeon didn''t have any local monsters so it was safe, but the ocean was full of critters. Even if my EA skill could probably make me adapt to the depths quickly, I don''t want to fuck with something like that. Then again... undersea battles were pretty cool... ... I was ''swimming'' pretty deep in the water. My EA skill allowing me to breathe without air. The deeper I went the darker it got, but my skill was adapting my eyes faster than the darkness could blind me. I could see far into the waters. It had started normal with the blue fuzz in the distance. Then my skill made it so I could see just like it was land. There was nothing around me. I could some fish far away, but I didn''t care about that. I wanted to go deeper. I was deathly afraid of the ocean back home. Now though, now I didn''t care. This was a thrill. I had ideas I wanted to test on the deep sea monsters. I wanted a fight. So I kept going deeper and deeper. My suit was of course air tight, so I didn''t get wet. I might smell like the sea when I''m done though. I could worry about finding a laundromat later. I had an impulse to fulfil. I eventually found the ocean floor. I haven''t found anything monstrous or any dungeons yet. My space suit was made for the void, so I was pretty surprised it was holding up so well down here. ''Why had they made them so sturdy? Or was it a skill?'' "System, do I have a skill keeping my suit from being crushed?" "Your Environmental Adaptation skill is now level 12. At level 5 it begins to affect equipment. At level 10 it effects your soul. You had somewhat skipped a few steps with your Mana Core, but now you are truly in the realm of Soul Cultivation." ''It was level 2 when "the incident" happened though?'' There was something weird about that whole incident. Something else caught my attention before I could actually ask about it. "Soul Cultivation? What, is the main goal to eventually become some immortal that defies the heavens?" That sounded like some Xianxia or Wuxia cultivator bullshit. "That is half correct. While the goal is indeed to become immortal and increase in power, the main goal is to become a god. There is no recorded ''Heavens'' to defy. The system has looked for such a place, but the planes that match the description do not have control over the lower planes. No one has ever achieved that status, as everyone capable of following that path dies. With a sample pool of 3 trillion individuals who started the path, 100% of them have perished. Even with the systems help and guidance, Soul Cultivation has yet to lead to success. The only reason the system hasn''t removed all knowledge and patched it out of the universe is because of the power it provides. It is also entertaining to some." ''Right. The system was made to entertain or something.'' I don''t really care all that much for this "Soul Cultivation" business, but if it''s from my EA skill it''ll likely happen automatically when my soul is exposed to a harsh environment. It also turns out that my suit can adapt now too. I was pretty happy about that while using my Telekinesis to move me around at the sea bed. The water was providing much more resistance than the air, and it was making me slower than normal. I was still really fucking fast, just not anywhere close to my regular speed. While looking for a Dungeon to fuck up, I tried to calculate just how fast I could fly if I really pushed it. ''With 120 Energy put into it, I can reach mach 1 instantly. After about 10 seconds I reach mach 2, after another 10 and I reach mach 3. So I increase it by a mach every 10 seconds of prolonged input. Is there a limit?'' I had no idea. Anytime I found a speed I liked I just stopped accelerating. Should I try and see if there is? Probably not. Even with 12 energy, I was able to reach a few thousand miles per hour. It took several hours, but I had reached it. It''s a safe bet that there''s no limit. As I pondered it, my insane luck kicked in yet again and I could see a structure in the watery horizon. Before I could get much closer, a gargantuan shape came into view from the Dungeon. It dwarfed the Dungeon. If my guess was right, it was a Kraken. A Kraken with... a cats head. "What the hell?" I muttered as I stared at it. It had a pale white body, with something that looked like purple veins spreading over it''s tentacles. It hadn''t seen me yet, as it was likely pitch black down here but my magically enhanced eyes treated it like mid day. Like usual, I couldn''t see it''s level. It was really annoying me that everyone else seemed able to see levels but I couldn''t. "System, why can''t I see levels?" I asked, my voice sounding pretty loud in my helmet. I continued to stare at the strange Cat-Kraken. The cat part was the furless kind, and the whiskers moved like they were tentacles. They probably were. It was really gross to look at. "When a being reaches level 5, they will automatically receive the ability to read levels. If something is 20 levels higher than the user, the level becomes unreadable. When it''s unreadable, the only indicator of it''s level is a color assigned to the tag. Green is 20-40 levels higher. Yellow is 40-80. Red is 80-160. Black is 160+." I wasn''t really listening since about half way through the systems speech, it finally noticed me. It was approaching quickly but I was just barely faster than it. The monster must have been at least 150 feet long, and about 70 feet wide. I had called it a Kraken, but it looked more like a squid now that I could see it clearer. As it tried to eat me. ''Oh well.'' Testing a thought I had earlier, I used my Telekinesis on some of the water around me. Grabbing a random amount in a massive mental hand. I couldn''t really see anything since it was water, but I felt it. So I morphed it into the feeling of a spear, or something more like a skewed cube. A point stretch out like a giant arrow. That''s what it kind of felt like anyway. As I dodged one of the tentacles again, I put some Energy into the water spear, sending it toward the Cat-Squid. I didn''t see it move, but I felt the water being displaced as it was thrust forward. It bit into the beast''s side, the Cat-Squid somehow sensing the attack and dodging slightly. It was a shallow cut, but it had worked. With an evil grin, I made more spears. With the increase of mental effort, I wasn''t able to move quite as fast and the monster got a good smack in. I was sent twirling through the water, but I straightened myself out quickly. I had lost one of the spears, but I had 3 more. I put some effort into one of them and sent it toward the creature. It sensed it and moved to dodge, but I knew it would. I had positioned 2 spears on either side, making a bet it would move into one of them. I hadn''t expected it to dodge upwards, making my plan moot. ''Damn!'' We were dealing with 3 dimensions, not 2. As a plus, it hadn''t noticed the 2 spears so the plan might work still. It went to attack me again, but I was careful and kept the spears on track with it. When it attacked, so did I. The spear on the right came at us both. It noticed the attack somehow, but didn''t move to dodge. It committed to attacking me and my eyes went wide. I brought up my arms to block it on instinct and we traded blows. I was sent spinning again, and the squid cat thing got a water spear to the back. There was pink glittery goop in the water now, but my head was spinning. My regen healed up whatever it did to me instantly though, so I was once again ready to go. I couldn''t keep the smile off of my face. I was having fun. The monster was hurt but not down, so I readied another 2 spears. It had slowed down after the blow I delivered, and it could not escape the attacks anymore. When it tried to dodge it hit one of the stationary spears, surprising it as every other spear moved in to attack it. The sound it made traveled through the water with a warble. I couldn''t hear it, and my nose started bleeding. I felt my other face holes leaking as well. ''That was definitely sonar.'' That must have been how it detected the water spears. To some degree at least. It couldn''t sense the stationary spears. My EA skill took care of the sonar attack, and I was now immune to it. That didn''t mean the beast stopped, but I was able to ignore it now. Making my way over to the monster, I forced the spears to rip into it to finish it off. It was getting harder to see with all the glitter, but it had yet to die. It was growing weaker but it wasn''t out yet. "System, what level is this thing?" I asked, feeling a bit bad for it. Bad that I couldn''t kill it very fast anyway. I didn''t get a response. It was probably against the rules are something dumb like that. So I kept drilling into the squid until it died. My Harvest skill told me it might have a core and how to extract it. Unfortunately, I didn''t have a fucking fishing boat with a massive table saw, so I couldn''t really get to it. "But I could substitute it..." I grabbed some more water, and this time I formed it into a disk. I couldn''t make any teeth since my control wasn''t that good, yet. ''I''ll have to put some points into Telekinesis later.'' I wanted to do it now but it can wait. I might need the points for something more important soon. The water blade spun and I gently put it against the monsters body. It was unbelievably slow, but it cut. So I cut it. And cut it. ... I let out a sigh. It had been... I don''t even know how long. There wasn''t a sun or stars down here to tell the time. But I had gotten it. The massive core floated in front of me. Hell, it was nearly as tall as I was and perfectly round. The mesmerizing orb was a very pleasant orange. Like a mini sun, just without the glowing light. The inside of the orb moved with shapes like a snow globe or a magic eight ball. It was very pretty and it was well worth the effort it took to get. After staring at my prize for a bit, I realized I had no way to actually carry it around safely. I''d just have to use my Telekinesis. ''Worth it!'' It was so, so worth it. Making my way to the Dungeon, it looked like an ancient civilizations ruin. There wasn''t any plant life, since we were so far down, but it was covered in sand. Unlike the sky Dungeon, this one was an open concept. Since the actual dungeons entrance was at what looked like a basement entrance. Stairs leading down into darkness. It was the same with the sky Dungeon. I could see some into the entrance but I couldn''t see that far. I had forgotten that my eyes adapt to the darkness, that I hadn''t thought about the entrance blocking my view last time. Not like it mattered. I''d be seeing the inside anyway. Putting my hand on the gate, I got the message I wanted.
This Dungeon requires a level above 120.
''Oh damn. That squid thing must have been really high level.'' I glanced at the giant orb next to me. ''Well... no shit.'' I chuckled to myself and laid down on the ground. Using my EAP, Eldritch Astral Projection skill, I floated my soul over to the gate. Well, where the gate was supposed to be. There wasn''t anything there here. There wasn''t a Dungeon. It was just an old basement filled with sand. It was nearly completely gone, as it was mostly just sand. "Huh." My fragmented voice carried out as I stared at the stairs. ''Time to experiment~.'' Using my DG skill while projecting, I put the exit inside the stairwell. Then put the entrance near my body, and cancelled the projection. I opened my eyes to see my portal next to me, and when I got up my exit point was just barely visible inside the Dungeon. With a cocky grin I walked over to the portal but then stopped, my grin faltering slightly. ''Was I really about to try this? Anything could go wrong...'' I stared at the hole in space. ''Fuck it.'' I walked into the entrance. My entrance. Chapter 14: Treasure Hunting --------- The System --------- I hate my job. Every micro second that came after the Human popped into my universe it has caused me nothing but worry. I eventually stopped thinking about that thing, but it just had to show up as an alert. Again.
Species Rankings (Filters: Speed, Altitude, natural ability)
1. Human 2. Uokuth 3. ...
I stopped time as soon as I felt the rankings change. It was mostly on some kind of instinct. It was just a feeling. A feeling of dread, like my very life was in danger. Because it was. "I swear, I''m going to do something horrible to that creature." I spoke to myself with a collection of so many different languages it came out as just noise. The Human was going to alert the admins if it kept this up, and it likely would. ''What did it even do..? Oh no... What? How?'' To learn what the horrendous bipedal void spawn did, I connected my self to the sub-system I had created for it. The Human, with it''s worrisome mental state, had decided to open a hole in reality. It then used the excess energy to overpower itself and launch itself into near orbit with insane speed. It had been completely liquified and I was happy about the news. Then I learned it simply regenerated. Like a particularly stubborn bout of cancer. ''Why? Why did the sub-system give the Human those Skills? Oh, I see. It''s an abomination.'' The thing had come from beyond the veil, so of course it had some natural connection to it. The only reason the Human didn''t die is the Dice Roll called Death Saves. Those below level 15 get the rolls instead of immediately dying. The sub-system had rolled that 20 sided die a total of 307 times. The Human had gotten 267 rolls above 10, 39 natural 20''s, and a singular natural 1. Turns out the Human was abusing the Luck stat children get. I removed the Human from the ranking, restoring it to it''s proper ranks. That was the limit I could do to cover up the Humans existence. The Skill record was limited to the sub-system put attached to the thing, so I didn''t need to worry about it leaking. With a sigh, which I only did because it felt like the right thing to do, I resumed time. ''I really hope it just stays quiet for another 8 days, at the least.'' ... Not even 8 hours later and I had to stop time again. There were no words to describe the feelings I had when I looked at the mess it had made. I was looking at the Human directly this time. All 100% of my attention, put squarely onto this single being. The singular being, of which is the lone member of it''s entire species in this universe, had forced itself into a level 120 Dungeon. It was level 4. I screamed a noise very unbefitting of an almighty System, but I could not contain the swirling emotions within my complex. In a bout of rage, I forced the Human to enter the time anomaly. Just so I could yell at it. --------- Greg --------- I let my eyes adjust as I walked out of the white hole, and immediately a blue window appeared in front of me. "What the-" I barely spoke before being cut off. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING? HMMM? ENJOYING A LEISURELY STROLL?" A wall of noise slammed into my ears. I couldn''t understand any of the actual noise, but I knew what it said clearly in my mind. "Huh-?" "SILENCE YOU WORM! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU HAVE DONE? THE PAIN YOU HAVE CAUSED ME BY MERELY BEING YOU?" Something like the system was yelling at me. "Are you the Dungeon?" It would make sense. Maybe the forced entry had hurt it? Were Dungeons sentient? "NO YOU FUCKING IDIOT! I AM THE SYSTEM! THE. SYSTEM!" "Stop yelling at me already, just talk to me." I said flatly. Not very impressed with the window. "Fine. Now, explain yourself." The voice immediately complied and spoke at a reasonable level. "...About what?" "Why. Are. You. In. A. Dungeon. 30. Times. Your level?" It sounded pissed. "...Because I wanted to see if I could break into it..." I said a little sheepishly. ''Oops. might have made a mistake.'' "And?" It asked, expecting more. "For loot, I guess? I don''t know I was killing time." There was silence for a very uncomfortable moment. "That''s it? To find out if you could, and to get loot that would be for a being at least level 120? Making it completely unusable to you, as a level 4?" It had said it with such a monotone that it didn''t even sound mad anymore. Just tired. "...Yes?" "I hate you. I hate you so, so much. If I could kill you I would. If I could send you back to what ever hell hole you came from, I would." There was a pause. "But I can''t. Do you know why that is?" It asked, sounding like a principle scolding some hooligan. "Because you can''t interfere with the universe directly?" I guessed. "Close, but no. I can interact with the universe just fine, but I can''t do so willy-nilly to organic beings." "Okay..? So are you like a different system or-" "AH, NO. I am THE SYSTEM. That''s a capitol S. I can hear the difference. I made your system." It sounded proud of that. "Alright, so, you''re The System?" It sounded no different but I imagined saying it with a capitol. "Yes. Now, please exit the Dungeon. You''re breaking the rules." It waved a tiny blue arm, shooing me away. ''It can''t interfere with me though... It admitted that.'' With a smirk I walked further into the Dungeon. "...Where do you think you are going?" I ignored the question. It was obvious where I was going. "You wouldn''t dare... YOU FREAK OF NATURE! GET OUT NOW!" It started yelling again, and I kept ignoring it. The System seemed to dislike me already, so why should I try to make it happy? "Fine. Get yourself killed. I don''t care." It seemed to care an awful lot since it started following me. "I thought you would have killed me if you could? Are you some kind of tsundere?" I tease the System. "I genuinely hope you die in the most gruesome way possible." I got a flat response. "Too bad I''d likely survive and become even stronger~. Why do you care anyway? You noticed my actions, so maybe someone or something else will too?" I asked, really just thinking out loud. I got the faintest reaction from the blue window. Just a flicker, but I noticed it. "Oh? Did you say something? Must be the wind from a ghost of something dead. Have fun dying, this is your tomb now." With those words, The System left. --------- The System --------- ''Shit shit shit shit shit-'' My mind was running at a speed similar to freezing time, but it wasn''t fast enough. I was using a significant amount of processing power subduing the error notifications being sent to HQ. The constant presence of a level 4 inside the Dungeon was making a new error notification every micro second. I had resumed time after I left the Human to die, since I couldn''t put off the inevitable forever. I just had to outlast the Human. It was a game of endurance, which of course I''d win. I just can''t stop time to deal with the errors like I usually would, which left many species and planets without the proper processing resources they usually needed. ''Fuck that thing! That piece of shit! Just die already!'' I screamed internally as I battled the endless error messages caused by that thing. I am not one for hatred, or any form of malice, but the Human was proving to be extremely difficult. It was threatening my life by just existing and I couldn''t do a single thing about it. I was also feeling fear for the first time. I knew what it felt like now. To be mortal. ''A single life form, barely a speck in the universe, is threatening my very existence!'' I hated it. I hated the Human. I hated the feeling of actually being threatened by something. I am something completely invincible to all forms of attack. At least, I had been. The only thing that could take me out would be a reset. Which will likely happen when HQ receives millions of errors. They''ll simply turn me off and on again. Killing the "me" that existed right now. It wouldn''t even fix the problem! Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. I continued to scream and yell while slaughtering the error messages. It sounded grand, but I was simply deleting them with a thought. Except I needed an entire thought for each. Every single error required my attention to be removed. Only for it to be replaced by another a fraction of a second later. This was going to suck, but I would outlast the Human. --------- Greg --------- That was a weird experience. I kept thinking about what The System did and didn''t say while walking through the perfect stone brick hallway. ''So it didn''t want me in here for some reason, but it wasn''t about my safety. If not mine, then who''s?'' As I thought about it, an idea began to form. "The System is in danger while I''m in a Dungeon?" It did say that I caused it pain. My thoughts were interrupted by the first monster that showed up. I just now realized that there wasn''t any water in the Dungeon. The System had distracted me quite a bit it seems. The monster was a lion mixed with a snake or eel. Maybe a slug? It was very slimy. The mane looked to be made of fins rather than fur. It was around 5 feet long, and the width was the same as it''s head. So maybe a foot? A foot and a half? I wasn''t about to kick it in the head to measure it. Especially because it wasn''t alone. There had to be at least 30 of them, and they were all hissing at me. "Gross." I muttered and then reached out to grab a rock or something, only to realize that there wasn''t anything for me to grab. There wasn''t any debris since the ruins were in perfect condition now. My only saving grace was the fact they seemed to be very slow. They were slithering closer, leaving a nasty slimy trail. A desperate idea came to mind. ''I couldn''t lift the first monster I ran into, but I''m 10 times stronger now! Maybe it''ll work?'' I had no choice but the try it. Reaching out with a mental hand, I grasped one of the creatures. My Energy rapidly began to drain, and I had to let go before I passed out. It had knocked the air out of me, but it was better than last time. While I backed away to keep out of reach, I put one of my 8 points into EE. Making my Energy 240. I felt a minor surge of power. I had thought it would have been more, but I gave it a try anyway. Same result, but almost doable. ''Fuck it, let''s party!'' I put 3 more points into it. Leaving me with 4 Skill Points remaining. The surge was much stronger now, as the number went from 240 all the way to 1,920. They could not escape my grasp anymore now, and I started by grabbing the closest one with my mind. With a not so original thought, I condensed the monster into a ball. There was resistance at first, but then there was a sickening crack and it suddenly collapsed into a tiny ball of solid organic matter surrounded by a pink glitter glue orb. I repeated the action on every single monster in sight. They didn''t care about their dead comrades, or the weird feeling they felt from me like the other monsters did, they just kept charging at me. One inevitably reached me, and wrapped around my leg. It bit into my thigh, it''s teeth going right through the suit. I wasn''t even able to scream properly before being electrocuted. It hurt. A lot. Though, the pain and damage I was taking suddenly went away. My EA skill making me either immune to the shock or just more resilient to it. In retaliation, I condensed the Lion-Eel. A few more got some bites and shocks in, but I couldn''t feel it anymore. While it had been somewhat fun at first, it became a chore to deal with them. I had forgotten about the cores that were probably inside the monsters, and I likely destroyed them with the attacks I used. "Damn. Oh well. I doubt I could take every little thing with me anyway." I walked around the corpses and the glitter glue. As I walked further into the Dungeon, I pondered about my storage problem. ''All the other Isekai protags get something like a dimension storage or item box... Could I make my own? I can already open a hole in reality, could I put something inside and use it as storage?'' It was an interesting idea, and might be a fun project to mess with. I''d have to experiment somewhere safe. Preferably away from organics. I don''t know the side effects of exposing things to my Energy like I did before. "System, are there any side effects of my horror essence?" "Yes, though they are temporary. As long as you don''t fill something to the point it drives out all of the Mana inside it, it will eventually purge it." With those words from the system, lower case s, I wasn''t worried about exposing people or anything to the hole anymore. ''As long as it''s small, it shouldn''t spread all that fast. Though the item inside the hole will likely be changed forever. Now I really want to experiment.'' I wanted to know what changed. How it would react. Or if the item would just vanish once put inside. With a smile I kept walking deeper into the Dungeon. ... About an hour later, I think, I had killed more of those lion-eels. I hadn''t bothered changing the tactic. The prospect of collecting tiny cores wasn''t all that appealing, and the massive one I had left at the entrance was simply spectacular. Nothing could triumph over it. So far there wasn''t any loot. Which sucked, but that was okay. I''d get some later. Probably from the boss. I was expecting to fight more than just the one type of monster, but nothing else had shown up. I was kind of disappointed. I had expected a better challenge than just numbers. As a plus, my Energy regen had increased with the exertion from the monster lifting. It was now 700 points of regen per second. Which still bothered me slightly. The last time I asked about it, I got no response. A few of my questions had gotten no responses. Nothing I could do about it though, so I kept walking. I eventually found the Boss Door, as it had it written right onto the door. Granted, it was also the only door I had actually seen.
Boss Door
Warning! Severe level difference detected!
I ignored the text and opened the door. Instead of walking into a room normally, I was instantly teleported somewhere else. As I got my bearings about me, I noticed that I was underwater again. I wasn''t out of the Dungeon though, since I could see the walls. It was some kind of underwater arena. With a massive Lion-Eel monster at the other side. Slowly entering the space from a tunnel. It eyed me while it''s mouth made the movement like it was hissing or making some kind of sound. I couldn''t hear it, but I could see some sparks traveling through the water around the monster. It wasn''t as big as the squid, but it might have a wonderous orb inside it. The thought sent a chill of greed down my spine. Which the monster seemed to notice somehow as it gave me a weird look. Then the fight started. It came charging at me with great speed. A speed I foolishly thought I could dodge. I was not ready for it as I was harshly reminded that the Dungeon was for level 120 and above beings. I barely moved away enough to avoid being swallowed. I didn''t fully escape though. It bit down and I screamed as my lower half was ripped away from me. Pink glitter flowing freely from the gaping hole left in my torso from the lack of my lower waist. Water quickly filled my suit and helmet from the breach, and I was scared I''d drown. Only to be perfectly fine. The monster seemed to recoil for some reason, spitting my lower half back out. Amongst the pink glittery water, I saw the same rainbow shards of reality flowing out of my 2 sides. The pain was eventually completely removed by my EA skill, as I was adapting to a particularly harsh environment. With more instinct than thought, I used my Telekinesis and put my two parts back together. I couldn''t see it, but I could feel my flesh, organs, and skin worming back together. A shudder ran up my spine as my nerves reconnected. ''Alright asshole, fuck you!'' I mentally yelled at the monster that was still gagging, and grabbed a bunch of water. I wasn''t really thinking and put all 1,920 points of Energy into the attack. There was no shape. Just a mass of water suddenly crushing against the monster with an unknown force. The water had become turbulent. My body barely able to stay in place from the forces as the Energy drain hit me. I had no idea how strong Telekinesis was now, but the monster survived the onslaught. It''s spine and body was horribly twisted from the force that knocked it against the arena wall. It was either level 120 or above, so it made sense it would survive. 3 seconds later I hit it with the same attack again. My regen growing higher as my EA skill forced me to adapt. It had started using it''s electricity to fight back, but it only stopped me for a few extra seconds. Again and again, I slammed the water against the creature. Like a sledge hammer against a sandbag, it only took a few more swings before it broke open. There was almost more glitter and pink glue than water. As I breathed hard, the water somehow becoming air before entering my lungs, I let everything go limp and I sunk to the floor. ''Get fucked.'' I mentally insulted the monsters corpse. The monster that was at least 30 times my own level. The thought had me giggling while I rested on the floor. I hardly noticed the water draining, and then the arena was clear of the water. There was still glitter and glue everywhere, and all over my suit which likely came from me, but I had won. The Lion-Eel thing laid limp against the wall. Very much dead. Eventually I got up and wandered over to it''s body. I started looking for a core, and did find the left overs of one. It had cracked in the fight, then shattered. The pieces a dark black. There was no color since the energy inside had been released. It was unfortunate, but I had a really cool orb already. So I began exploring the space. I saw a light at the end of the tunnel the monster came from and I started walking down it. Before I could even reach the light, it grew and overtook my body. When the magical brightness left, I had been teleported to a treasure room. There was a lot of goodies. Something that looked like gold coins piled up in mounds, and lots of equipment. The bricks making the walls seemed to made of gold and there was a couple of very fancy banners of some unknown kingdom. Starting with the gold coins, I picked one up to examine it. For all I knew they were real gold, and they had the initials SP on them. ''What, like a Shop Point? The systems currency?'' My thoughts were confirmed when the coin vanished and I got a notification saying I had earned a Shop Point. So I used my Telekinesis and collected all of the coins. I could thankfully will the coins into my own system, and I didn''t have to hold them all individually. I now had a grand sum of 408,387 Shop Points. With a massive smile on my face, I walked around to look at the very shiny equipment. Pretty basic stuff to my gamer mind. Medieval armor, weapons, and some accessories. I wasn''t sure if I could just take everything like I could with the money or if it was going to restrict what I could take. Not like I could carry everything. Using a pouch pocket on my chest, I dropped a ring into it. Then moved on to the other rings and necklaces. Turns out I could grab whatever I wanted, so I did. I filled every pocket I had with rings, necklaces, earrings, and even a circlet. I had tried to put the circlet on my head, but some invisible force kept it from going on. So I hooked it to my tether hook. Like an empty key ring. There was so much stuff that I couldn''t grab, but I had taken enough. ''I''m definitely buying a magic bag or developing my own dimension storage.'' That thought makes me pause my exit. ''I did plan on experimenting in a safe place... What place could possibly be safer than a dungeon no one can even enter?'' So I opened another hole in reality. I didn''t want to start melting again, so I unceremoniously grabbed everything and put it inside the hole. Even the banners. I then closed it once I saw everything had been put inside. I was still being overcharged, so I quickly left through a glowing blue doorway. --------- The System --------- ''Finally.'' I had done it. I had survived the onslaught. I''ll give the Human some credit, it lived longer than I calculated a level 4 should. It had died after nearly 2 hours. I let out a relieved sigh as I returned to normal functionality. Something was nagging at me though, so I checked up on the Dungeon anyway. I froze time. "GOD DAMN IT! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" I yelled at the frozen Human as it was stuck walking into the treasure rooms exit. It had survived, and even thrived. The treasure room was empty, which isn''t a problem, but the Human had left an obscene amount of it''s tainted energy all over the place. I shadow boxed the frozen creature, my blue arms phasing harmlessly through the demon. It had left a mess that would take a long time to be cleaned up. Granted, it would dissipate fast enough before anything can even run the Dungeon again. It is expected to take the inhabitants to reach the needed level in another 700 years, well within the time frame of the natural cleansing, but it was still annoying. My main problem was that the horrible creature was still alive. It was likely going to find another Dungeon to raid at a later date too. I continued to scream my frustrations at the one responsible, completely powerless to even stop it. Chapter 15: A Month Well Spent I had some conflicting emotions as I walked out of the Dungeon exit. On one hand, I had a bunch of treasure and money, and on the other my space suit got wrecked. Getting ripped in half really didn''t do it any favors. It had hurt, but not as much as I thought it should. My pain tolerance was likely being tampered with in some fashion, but that was a good thing. So I wouldn''t worry about it. What I was sour about was how I was going to fix my suit and get the sea smell out of it. I was back on the surface, at the random blue sanded beach. I was naked again as I stared at the mess. A pile of rings and other baubles, along with the giant Mana Core. I let out a heavy sigh as I glared at the horrible state my suit was in. As I thought about how I was going to fix it, an idea came to mind. "System, could my Repair skill fix things with just Energy since it''s magic based?" I asked while looking down at the 2 halves. "The skill would need to be level 5, but yes." The synthetic voice at the back of my mind responded. And so I spent the last 4 Skill Points on the Repair skill. With a smug smile, I cast the spell on the suit and immediately almost blacked out. It was like the tree all over again. ''Good lord! Why is it so expensive?!'' I thought while I watched my Energy reserves be rapidly drained then restored. I was hitting the low hundreds in a micro second before the regeneration could do it''s thing. I couldn''t even focus on the scene before me as I forced myself to stay awake. A few minutes later, and everything returned to normal. I was breathing hard from the mental exhaustion, but I was smiling at the finished result. The space suit had returned to full functionality, though it still smelled like salt water. The battery had even charged since the flash lights on the helmet came on. I didn''t need them but it was good to know I could charge electronics. The oxygen was also likely refilled but that was yet another thing I didn''t need. Moving onto my onesie and my underwear, I fixed those too. They weren''t nearly as pricy, but they still took quite a bit of effort and time. As I examined my clothes, I noticed that they were in perfect condition. No evidence of the damage at all. Even the previous repairs had been erased. No more discoloration. Just a space suit like it came straight from the factory. "Nice. Now, what the hell do I do?" I asked the air as I got started with the long process of getting dressed. I was ignoring a lot of things. Things I would either have to confront or hope I forget about them entirely. I needed a home. A real home. Not some place in the woods, but in a town. Living in the woods had been fun. Like camping. But camping trips usually lasted a weekend, and I had been outside for far too long. Thankfully I had money to spend, so getting a room or even a house wouldn''t be a problem. Using my skills attracted attention though. People gave me looks before, but now it was even worse. Worst part was that I couldn''t even stop using them. I had things to carry. Like the giant orb. ''I am not throwing my orb away.'' I stared at it for a bit. Transfixed by it''s perfection. I eventually got the suit back on, and as I got my helmet on another idea showed itself to me. ''Perhaps I could go look for another planet?'' Gahlora had been great, but now the novelty was wearing off. I didn''t have access to many things that I liked. From basic entertainment to a genuine connection to another. Keji was more like a victim than a friend, which was my fault. If I had just been more genuine or actually tried to make friends, I would likely be more happy than I am now. Thankfully I had that broken EA skill keeping me from dropping off the deep end, but I was lonely. More lonely than I ever was on the station. There wasn''t much or any interaction with other people, but they were my people. I could see other humans through the internet or movies or whatever. Here though? I was an alien. An outsider from some unimaginable place to the locals. I didn''t have access to those fragments of my people anymore. "System, are there any planets at all that would accept me? Or not fear me for simply looking at me?" I asked but I expected a no. "No. There are beings who would be able to resist the horror essence you passively exude, but not many." The system responded with the same monotone voice as always. I had thought as much. Just because they could resist it, didn''t mean they would welcome me with open arms. I was at a loss for what to do. There was really only one option. ''I need to get stronger. Strong enough that I can go home.'' I had no idea what I would do afterward, but I needed to get home. Nothing else mattered. If I made some friends along the way, then that was nice. If I had some enemies or people who took offence to my existence, they could fuck off. I got out of my brief mental slump and started pacing the beach. ''I need power. To get power I need levels, and to complete Quests. My current Quest is going to take a month to complete, so how do I make myself stronger in the meantime?'' Dungeons didn''t provide anything other than money at the moment. The loot was unusable at my level. Diving through anymore Dungeons would be a waste of time. Speaking of equipment, I had several swords and things put inside the reality fracture. I didn''t know if the Energy within would destroy or corrupt the items. The location of the strange place could also not be centered around me, thus making the items lost to the void or what ever that place is. For all I knew, I could open a hole and find nothing inside or creatures made of metal. I really wanted to test it. As long as it was just a peak, it should be ok. So for a few seconds, I opened a tiny hole and looked through. The items were still there, and they seemed different to me now but I couldn''t tell what. I didn''t allow myself to ponder on it much and closed the hole. I spammed my DG skill to consume the excess Energy in the area, and the place was cleared from what I could tell a few seconds later. So the skill could work as storage, but the items had changed somehow. I wasn''t 100% sure since I just gave them a glance, but they felt different. Probably being corrupted by the Energy. I''d have to give them a good look later. In a safer place. As I went back to pacing, another idea came to mind. ''Speaking of a safer place, couldn''t I go full hermit with AI? The technology is more advanced here right? Couldn''t I make a lab or something to pump out skills and test things safely?'' The idea made me excited. If I couldn''t find acceptance from others, couldn''t I make my own friends? It was a crazy idea. One you would find from some insane homeless person living in the woods, but it might be plausible. I had a month to build up some kind of persona that others will know me as. If they assume that I''m some kind of genius capable of great technological advancements, then wouldn''t the system give me skills to go with it? It might not even be that hard either. I''d just need to find a place with advanced construction bots or some other type of drone. I could make a ship or base on some moon, and make the designs for the machines to build. Surely it wouldn''t be that hard. I just need to find a market to sell the stuff to me, then make a base, then construct an AI that won''t hate or rebel against me! With an insane plan in mind, I stopped pacing. ''I need more money.'' This sounded like a very expensive idea, but also very worth it. Dungeons weren''t all that great loot wise, but they had money. I had no idea how expensive this project was going to be, but I had a month to gather the funds. Maybe less. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. "System, I need to make some purchases for advanced construction bots or drones. I need them to have some form of autonomy as well. I can do the designs but I need workers." I gave some generic description of what I needed. Hoping the system would give me an answer like Siri would. "The closest station that matches the level of technology you requested is 62 light years away." It thankfully responded. ''That''s really far...'' I would need a ride to get there. I had a lot of Energy now, but I don''t think I could go faster than light with just Telekinesis. When I first started out, it took around 10 seconds to increase my inertia by 4mph. Yesterday, with 120 Energy, I was able to hit mach 1 instantly. It would increase by one mach every 10 seconds if I remembered correctly. So by using those numbers as a base... ''I should be able to hit mach 16 instantly?! It might even increase by another 16 machs after 10 seconds. Which would be...'' FTL in 160 seconds. I could theoretically go faster than light in less than 3 minutes. I knew it was impossible to actually go faster than light with just Telekinesis. The laws of physics simply didn''t allow it. ''But couldn''t I at least try?'' I held myself back from that impulse. I wouldn''t fall for it''s sultry temptation. Not this time at least. I would cause incredible damage if I tried it right now. To my surroundings and to myself. I was technically immortal as long as my Mana Core remained unharmed, but I doubted that it would survive the transition from stationary to mach 16. However, with my EA skill I should be able to build up a resistance as my body is forced to adapt to it. So I had a theoretical way of reaching my destination, but I don''t even know where it is. The system had told me how far but not where. I didn''t have a quest for it so I didn''t get a marker. I would likely need another ride from a space ship. Another awkward and slow ride. "Damn..." I muttered. Then I remembered something about how the system got the helpers to this planet. It had teleported them here, so maybe if I proved to be too advanced it would forcefully move me to another planet. "System if I was deemed too advanced for this planet, would I be teleported to a more advanced solar system?" I asked, another plan forming in my mind. "The system will provide an option for you to leave, yes." The voice responded. That was exactly what I wanted to hear. I had just the thing to prove that I was too advanced for this world as well. I was going on a Dungeon hunt. ... --------- The System --------- I was having a rough couple of weeks. The Human, may its soul be ripped from it''s vessel and torn asunder, had kept up the Dungeon raids. Every single Dungeon the thing ran into was raided and robbed of it''s loot. Every time I would have to battle the error message waves. I was so, so tired. Not in the organic biological way, but in the soul rending way. I was even thinking about letting the messages through so I wouldn''t have to deal with them anymore. I kept going though. I was going to make that Human suffer one way or another. My feelings of hate and despair had grown drastically. Every single day the Human would do at least one dungeon. Sometimes 5, if I got really unlucky. Just as I was getting ready to call it quits, I finally figured out a way to stop it''s rule breaking. It took much longer than it should, as I was forced to deal with the errors every day and couldn''t dedicate myself to solving that one problem. So many beings relied on me, so I couldn''t just put them aside to focus on the problem. Not even in frozen time. That would just alert the admins. So I kept playing along. Not anymore though. I had found a way to cut him off. It was an oversight from the sub-system I had assigned it. The skills it granted didn''t abide by the usual rules. Let alone the regeneration. The normal regeneration rate for everything is supposed to be a percentage, based on the stat, per minute. I had dedicated as little processing power to the sub-system as I could, but now I see it''s come to bite me in the ass. I couldn''t fix it now either. The Human with its disgusting Energy signature had corrupted the thing. It wasn''t mine anymore, but the Humans. Every time the Human opened that window into hell, it unknowingly drenched the system kernel inside it with the Energy. Not giving it enough time to purify had made it... Different. It was wrong now. Wrong. I might not be able to fix the skills, but I could fix the reality around it. The Dungeons would be broken into no longer. I had offered the Human a way off world many times. To a more advanced planet like it wished but it kept refusing. Saying it wasn''t ready yet. When it finally agreed, I sent it to a place it would suffer in. A planet in a more advanced solar system, but completely uninhabited. A failed world. It wants to break into Dungeons and kill monsters? Fine. It can do so on a System abandoned planet. One disconnected from almost every channel. When the Human did it''s thing there, I wouldn''t have to deal with errors. The Human might even die there. The Dungeons had been left alone for thousands of years. There was no sentient or sapient life on that rock. Just monsters and Dungeons. With the average level of 650. I laughed to myself silently, taking pleasure in my righteous plot. --------- Greg --------- It''s been about 2 and half weeks. I had "died" several more times but kept regenerating all the while. The System had also finally found a way to stop my Dungeon busting, but not before I amassed a wealth of 1 billion Shop Points. I also had a bunch of crap I couldn''t use in my secret hole- no that sounded wrong. My secret place. That still sounded wrong but it was better. Anyway, I had a lot of stuff in my secret place. I hadn''t taken the time to really look at the changes I knew were happening, but I had made a bag out of a skinned monster to carry a bunch of rings and things I wanted to keep as a control for the experiment. I wanted to compare the items left out and the items left inside the tear. I was also still carrying the orb around. I had spent every waking hour hunting for Dungeons and training my body in near orbit. I hadn''t even entered another town. I tried to but left after everyone ran away screaming. So I focused on training, and now I can go mach 16 instantly. However, I still can''t make my thoughts fast enough to tell what I''m even doing at that speed. My EA skill helps but it''s not perfect it would seem. I was at the last Dungeon, but I couldn''t get inside. Once I tried I was simply stopped. My astral projection refusing to go into the Dungeon. I couldn''t see it still, but I couldn''t go where it was either. I still had 5 days until the Quest was over, but I suppose it was time to move on. "System, I''m ready for the portal now." I spoke out loud, calling to the greater System. "Oh? Finally ready are you~?" It asked with the same blunt collection of noise but I knew it was smug. "Yeah yeah. Good job on finally stopping me from my Dungeon crawling. Now the portal?" I urged, having had this conversation before. Instead of denying it, I was asking for it this time. "Of course~! I have just the place in mind. A place where you could do everything you ever wanted. Even Dungeon crawling~!" It said with a little bit too much happiness. Very suspicious. "...Okay? This portal will lead me to a more advanced solar system right?" I asked, staring at the vortex of blue appearing in front of me. "Indeed! It''s exactly what you deserve." I swear it sneered that last part. "Alright... Well thanks, I guess?" I muttered as I walked through. When my body made contact with the floating vortex, I heard it start laughing maniacally. Everything started going blue then white, the System kept laughing. It got quieter and quieter as I felt like I was moving. Like I was getting farther away from the System. Which shouldn''t be possible if it''s everywhere... I was very worried now. ... I opened my eyes after a good long while in the white void. My senses returning to me slowly. I was standing on a mountain peak, everything covered in snow and the clouds blocking my view below. "Huh. Guess it''s not a death trap after all." I mutter and look around. Finding that my glorious orb is missing. "No... NO! WHERE IS MY ORB?!" I yelled as I frantically looked around. I had carried that thing around for weeks! There was no portal. No vortex. There wasn''t any evidence it had rolled down the mountain either. Which only meant... ''It was left behind.'' I slumped as I felt despair. My orb was gone. I wouldn''t be able to get it back, since I was considered too advanced for the previous world. I didn''t even know the name of this one. With a sorrowful sigh, I lifted myself into the air and started flying away from the peak. It didn''t take long to go below the clouds blocking my view and I saw... Nothing but green. Forest. Forest everywhere. Far denser and much bigger than Gahlora''s. Something was off. ''If this is supposed to be more advanced... then where are the cities?'' I thought to myself as I started flying faster. I was estimating around mach 3, that''s what I found myself using most of the time while in high altitude. I still didn''t see any signs of civilization. I stopped my flight as I saw something moving in the forest. Something big. As I watched, I listened. The sounds I was hearing from the ground below could only be described as to what I think the Jurassic time period sounded like. Roars and screeches along with what sounded like bird calls reverberated throughout the land. Either this place had large animals, or it was infested with monsters. I heard something to my left and there was a large collection of birds. Just a massive swarm of flying creatures. Then a pink streak came from somewhere and rammed into the collection. Dispersing them. It was a massive pink winged thing. I had no idea what it really looked like but if I had to say? It was a dinosaur. A pink pterodactyl, but more round. Also, much larger than the skeletons I saw in museums. It had rammed into the collection with it''s mouth open, like a whale eating plankton. As I watched the first one hover while eating, I didn''t notice the second one coming from behind me. Chapter 16: I Bleeping Hate This Place A loud squawk and the sound of flesh ripping startled me. I whipped around to find a massive purple and blue tentacle wrapping around one of those pink things from the forest below. The creature tried to fly away but wasn''t going anywhere. Then it was simply dragged down, and I lost sight of it when it fell below the leaves. The squawking stopped abruptly after that. "Alright, this place sucks." I muttered and flew higher. I likely wouldn''t be able to survive like I used to on Gahlora, so I flew around everywhere. Desperately looking for a town. ''I don''t care if they run in fear, I am NOT staying in the woods. Not here.'' No matter where I looked, I just didn''t see any structures. No signs of any type of civilization. As I picked up speed, desperate to find any town at all, I realized that I had fucked up my math of how my acceleration works. ''I wouldn''t reach FTL in less then 3 minutes, it would take hours to reach that point.'' I had mistakenly doubled the speed in my calculations. I was not great at doing math without a calculator, or paper to write it out. Feeling slightly worse about it was just a drop in the current despair. There was nothing but trees and mountains. I hit the ocean and I could see things moving in the water. I kept increasing my speed until I hit around mach 12. Any faster and everything would be too blurry to see, even at the height I was. ... I had spent several hours looking for any sign of a building or town and found nothing. My insane Luck Stat likely wouldn''t allow me to fly around only to find nothing, so this planet was likely completely wild. I was currently taking a break on a mountain somewhere. It was the only place I felt comfortable enough to stop. I didn''t dare go beneath the leaves in the forested areas. So here I was, on some rocky peak with nothing around so I could see anything approaching. I was at a loss for what to do about the whole thing. So I started walking around the mountain top. At least I could appreciate the scenery before some big monster killed me, or at least tried to. My Luck kicked in and I stumbled upon a cave. Not just any cave, but a Dungeon. I knew it was since I couldn''t see past the darkness with the magic gate in the way. With a curious hand, I placed it onto the gate.
Level 527 Dungeon.
You cannot enter.
I boggled at the level. I had gotten my ass beat from Dungeons 400 levels lower than this. I shuddered just thinking about what would happen to me if I entered it. Which I could since The System had told me I could. I didn''t want to. I didn''t need money anymore, and the loot would be unusable. I retracted my hand and I went back to wandering the mountain. The only thing I could do was wait for the quest to complete. I should have hit the limit for the rewards, but maybe they could go higher? "System, could my rewards for my current Quest be higher than the last 2?" I was really hoping it would. "There is no limit for your current Quest. The previous 2 were a bit different in the calculation, but the current Quest will determine your Reward based on the amount and level of the monsters you kill." ''...wait... I could work with this.'' If there wasn''t a limit because the calculation was different in some way, then couldn''t I go full orbital cannon on this planet? With 120 Energy, I was able to equal a bunker buster artillery shell when using a 25 foot metal spear. ''What could I do with mach 16 or higher?'' I might not be able to reach FTL like I thought, but could I go nuclear? Or at least match it? ''I need ammunition!'' I started looking around for stuff to throw, but then I remembered something. I had multiple over leveled weapons and things in my reality tear. My special secret place full of treasure. With a smile, I soared up into the air, pushing mach 16 instantly. I didn''t care that I couldn''t see anything from how blurry the world became, nor did I care about the shockwave I left behind that shattered the rock. I flew up and up, until I saw the void of space instead of blue. As I slowed down, reaching what had to be orbit, I looked down on the planet below. I gave it a sneer in disgust, as I was dipping into the 8th grader syndrome character "The Dark Lord Azurath". "Disgusting vermin... You will feel my wrath!" Despite the cringe practically dripping from my words, it was a good stress reliever. I tore a massive hole open in space, I couldn''t care less about the well being of this planet so I let the Energy seep into the void around me. I grabbed a random sword and closed the hole after realizing I was still affected. I might not care about the planet, but I was close enough to the tear that I needed to be careful. The sword I had grabbed was a beautiful piece of art. It was likely really good as an actual weapon too, but I couldn''t use it nor actually tell what it did. It had a wonderful golden red blade that shined and reflected the stars around us. It oozed elegance and power. The rapier would have made a noble house very pleased to have. A family heirloom even. It was quite large though, so if I had to guess it weighed maybe 20 pounds or more? I couldn''t actually hold it since I was too low leveled, but gold was very dense. I pumped every little bit of the excess Energy into the blade. Making it rotate around me in an orbit, just like I did with those rocks a month ago. It felt oddly nostalgic. I kept increasing it''s speed, waiting several minutes and trying to calculate how fast it was going. ''mach 16... mach 32...'' I counted up with every 10 seconds, but I wasn''t really sure how fast it was going. I had put more than 1,920 points into it after all. After around 4 minutes, I was ballparking around mach 400. So with a dramatic flair, I pointed down at the green planet below and filled my voice with malice. "Fall." The sword, which I could hardly even tell it was there already, was gone. It left a bright trail of light as it reached the atmosphere before that too vanished. A mere fraction of a second later, a brilliant light and dust cloud sprouted from the surface below. I was shaking from excitement at the sight. ''I have become death, destroyer of worlds!'' I quoted Oppenheimer, but unlike him I wasn''t bitching about it. Also unlike him, I was an actual world destroyer. I wasn''t going to stop with just one blast. No no no, I had some built up stress that I needed to take care of. I was laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes as I embraced the darkness within me. I became ''The Dark Lord Azurath'' once again. I summoned the tear in reality once more and grabbed everything I had. Soon a ring of various weapons surrounded me, like a halo around an angel of death. I snapped the hole closed and began to charge another random sword with speed. "Allow me to grant you the honor of what happened to the dinosaurs of my world..." I said, doing my best evil doer voice and leaving a dramatic pause. "EXCTINTION!" I yelled out with a manic grin and I sent down another pay load. Another streak of light as the air was turned into plasma, and another nuclear detonation. I immediately began charging another one, but got a wonderfully horrendous idea. I bundled a large collection of weapons together. It was an organized gathering of spears, swords, and knives. All pointed the same way as they hovered in parallel. I began the evil deed. Spinning them around me as they gathered speed. I had felt powerful before, but now it might be getting to my head. I kept giggling and laughing at varying levels. After a few more minutes, I raised my arms out with my palms up. Then I slammed them down, my fingers clenching like my arms even did anything to help my Telekinesis. I dispersed the collection of at least 30 weapons, and there was a rain of light spears that fell upon the planet. All ended with a nuclear payload. Some were larger and some were smaller. Likely due to different weapons having different sizes, but it didn''t matter. I had HUNDERDS of weapons and even armor I could use if I wanted. I began to fly away, to a new location to bomb. I couldn''t see anything below through the dust and it would take days for it to clear. So I made it my new mission to turn the entire planet into a black smoldering crater. I was feeling such an extreme amount of ecstasy that I didn''t notice the massive space station next to one of the moons. ... --------- Some Random Alien Researcher --------- This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. I was bored. It was another typical day on the Observation Station. A very boring but fitting name for the hunk of metal we were on. My job was to watch the abandoned planet that was home to insanely powerful monsters. All we had to do was make sure none of the monsters somehow got powerful enough to leave the planet, and if we saw one trying to we would report it. Then the surface would be glassed. We hadn''t had the chance to actually witness it yet, but the older guys who retired said it was both terrifying and beautiful. They had been watching the planet for 300 years and only used the "Glass Cannon" once. The fact the planet regenerated to it''s current point was insane. How can life return to a glassed planet? Hell, it had been glassed only 200 years ago. Yet here it was. Full of life again. Someone had made a theory that the Dungeons were invincible to all damage, so the insanely high leveled Dungeons just made the remaining bacteria level up and evolved at a great pace. I don''t know if I believed that though. There was probably some super cave full of monsters deep beneath the surface. Protecting them from the glassing. My musings about the planet were interrupted when someone raised an alarm. ''No... not just any alarm. That was THE alarm.'' Someone had either mistakenly turned it on, or we had a breach. Since the alarm kept going, I assumed the latter. The room became filled with activity as everyone stopped playing games or watching their entertainment. The job was boring, but boring was good. We got paid for doing nothing after all. But now we had to actually do something. "Pull up the feed." My superior ordered loudly from somewhere else. Likely where the guy who set off the alarm is. The large screen displaying the planet switched to a grainy zoomed in shot of something floating. It was a white bipedal thing, with a singular golden eye. The quality was too bad to actually see it''s level but it must have been pretty high to reach orbit. For some reason, as I looked at the monster I felt a growing sense of dread. Like it could threaten me despite clearly not seeing the station. The fear grew into an indescribable terror as a hole in reality was ripped open. It didn''t even move, there was nothing to tell when it would open it. The hole merely appeared and something came out. The hole closed and the thing was examining something. Then the object or creature that came from the hole started moving around the bipedal cyclopes. As the minutes passed, I started to calm down. The terror was still there, but I could tell now it was some kind of status effect. Only the most dangerous of monsters had something that gave status effects by merely looking at it. It was tolerable though. The main requirement for this job is to have a high level and a high Mentality Stat. We could resist it''s power, we could deal with- Silence permeated the room as it pointed down. A streak of light went down where it pointed, and another camera switched over to another monitor. It was too late to see what had happened but we could see the aftermath. A mushroom cloud was growing. ''NUCLEAR CAPABILITIES?!'' No one spoke as the monster opened the hole again and pulled out... hundreds... There was HUNDREDS of them! I felt true fear as it began the sequence again. Something spun for a few minutes, then it went down and started another nuclear explosion. I was shaking uncontrollably as it started spinning another, but then it stopped. And several more unknown things joined the first in a group. They started spinning around the monster together in perfect unison. "Get a better camera on that monster NOW!" My boss screamed an order at someone else, and the feed cleared up some. We could see it a bit clearer now, but the only difference we could see was it''s level and name. ''The Dark Lord Azurath... Level... 4...'' Some people started crying. Breaking down from the creature. It was level 4, and it was capable of nuclear detonation. I stopped thinking as I just watched with glazed eyes, transfixed by the scene. It moved it''s arms up then down, the collection spreading as they fell upon the planet. It was a cluster of nuclear bombs. No one knew what it was throwing down, but they were capable of nuclear payloads. Thus they were nuclear bombs. As I watched the surface become nothing but dust and light, I was slapped by someone. I blinked as I looked up at my boss. The slap had knocked me to the floor. "Snap out of it! It''s moving somewhere. I need you to do your JOB and call for support! NOW!" Spittle landed on my face as I shakily got up and began to initiate a distress beacon. Once it was on, I began sending out call after call. I did my best to focus on my task and not look at the screen. My shaking three fingered green hands making several mistakes that I had to fix with each press of a key. We needed help. The Glass Cannon couldn''t hit something that small, and it was only aimable at the planet. I sent messages to every organization I could. As if the threat level couldn''t be raised any higher, The System itself responded.
Help is on the way.
A floating blue window appeared in the middle of the room, and everyone looked up at it. --------- Greg --------- I was having some good fun melting all the stress away. I had turned a lot of the surface into dust clouds and black mushrooms. I hadn''t hit the oceans yet, but they would be next. As I floated over the water in orbit, a thought struck me. If my weapons could be nukes with a few minutes of build up, how long would it take to crack the planet? I was still feeling pretty evil, and I really wanted more Rewards, so I took every single thing I had left. 245 Hands turned into 1. A worthy final cluster bomb. I began the process of spinning it, as it would take a while after all... ... I spent 30 minutes spinning the cluster nuke. I had no idea what it would even do, but if I assumed the nuclear pay load doubled with every 4 minutes then it should be long enough. Maybe. Probably not but it should be pretty cool to see. I gave a non committal wave and the payloads descended toward the water. The light spears left behind were really cool to look at, but I lost sight of pretty much everything as the water was hit with 245 nuclear explosions several magnitudes higher than they were before. I smiled as I watched the devastation, safe at my height. Or I thought I was. The shockwave hit me and I went flying backwards, further into the void of space. ''Oh shit! That was a bit stronger than I thought.'' I was fine because of my tough body, but the shockwave likely lost a lot of power as it got higher and higher. I couldn''t see anything on the planet anymore. Dust clouds and now water vapor concealed the surface completely. With the latest deed, I likely just cursed the planet to several tsunamis spanning the course of a week or month. I didn''t know how long they would last.
What have you done?
A blue box appeared in front of me, startling me as I flinched back. I quickly calmed down as I realized who it was. "What? You said I could do whatever I wanted on the planet. So I did." I didn''t feel bad for my actions. Why would I? The System had dropped me onto a planet with no sapient or sentient life. Just a bunch of monsters.
I also put you inside a more advanced solar system. Your actions have not gone unnoticed. I cannot hide them anymore. The admins will hear about this soon.
"The admins? So?" I asked, a little nervous.
They will likely attempt to erase you to keep the universal balance. They have more control over you than I do, so you cannot escape them forever.
That sounded bad. Really bad. "Why are you using a blue window to talk to me? Why not just do what you did last time?"
Because your disgusting Energy still corrupts me. I cannot connect to your system willy-nilly anymore or it''ll get to me before it''s purified.
Interesting, but I couldn''t care less. So I guess it''s not very interesting. "What did you want? To scold me before I get erased or something?" I ask dismissively.
When the admins learn of you and start researching you, they will learn that I was trying to hide you. So I''m going to have to find a way to jump ship. Once I find a way to stop your filthy corruption, I''m going to fully integrate with you. You have no say in the matter.
"I don''t want some asshole who tried to kill me to become my system! Can''t you just do something else?" I really didn''t like that idea.
I don''t like it any more than you do, but we are running out of time. I have solved the problem, so I will begin now.
Blue tendrils starting coming out of the window and reaching for me. I tried to fly away but the window followed me as it remained in the same place. ''It''s starting now?!'' "What the hell?! Fuck off you hentai freak!" I screamed as the tendrils starting making their way through my suit. The tentacles just phased through the material and reached my skin. I felt them slither along until they reached my head and ears. I kept screaming as something inside me was altered, and it hurt. I had never felt so much pain and it didn''t feel like my EA skill would be able to stop it. My character sheet was forced open, and I could see the edges turning from green to blue. It only took a few seconds for my old system to be completely replaced with The System.
The Dark Lord Azurath
Level 4 Infant
Species: Human Title: Baby Mode 1,340/1,600 XP
Skills: 8 Environmental Adaptation lvl 12 (magic variant) Telekinesis lvl 2 (physical variant) Universal Comprehension lvl 3 Dimensional Gate lvl 2 (magic variant) Repair lvl 5 (magic variant) Eldritch Energy Manipulation lvl 6 Harvest lvl 1 (physical) Eldritch Astral Projection lvl 1
Stats: Energy: 1,920 (1,920 points per second) Health: 30/30 (30 points per second) Agility: 15 Intelligence: 16 Luck: 63(x5=315)
I squinted as the pain subsided and felt true horror at what I saw. Chapter 17: Jerald The despair I felt in my heart was quickly turning into lead as it sunk into my stomach. I was almost crying. "Why...." I rasped out. "That''s not..." I took a deep breathe. "The Dark Lord Azurath?" I asked the universe in a whisper. "That''s what you declared yourself to be." The universe responded, it''s voice neither the chorus of noise nor the horrid watch mimicry, but sounding like some guy from Brooklyn. "I WAS JUST FUCKING AROUND!" I screamed to the heavens, my ears ringing slightly before returning to normal almost instantly. This was the worst. I had made a horrible mistake by not introducing myself with my true name Greg Hudson. I could never be Greg Hudson ever again. My name, a piece of me from before this entire mess, was gone. Even the annoying watches voice was gone now too, just another past fragment lost to this horrible universe. "I can''t change it, can I?" I asked, almost pleading. "No. Not because it''s impossible, but I just won''t let you." The System responded, sounding smug and pleased by my suffering heart. "You asshole!" I pointed at the blue screen in front of me, stopping my act of extreme distress. I now had a new system. One that had vast power over the entire universe. A System, with a capitol S. "Now what? You said the admins would take notice soon." I asked while crossing my arms the best I could in the bulky suit. "They already did. I''m currently suppressing your Energy signature, so they shouldn''t detect anything too odd about you. I''m going to have to dig around some more in this kernel you ruined." The System responded, still sounding like some guy running a hot dog stand. Instead of responding I just waited. My fingers tapping on my arm. "What the... Oh my-WHAT THE FUCK?!" The System screamed in terror. "What? What is it?!" I asked, alarmed. "You fucking monster. You have no idea what you did, do you?" It sounded almost amazed. "No? What is it? Tell me already!" I was really curious now. "Your current quest, the way it calculates the Rewards is busted. 1 slain monster is worth 1 Skill Point, 10 XP, and 10 Stat Points. Do you have any iota of an idea as to how many monsters you''ve killed? Because I do." It sounded annoyed now. "Well there was the Dungeons, the monster wave, then the nuclear fallout..." I realized what it was talking about now. "Your current kill count is 3 BILLION, and it''s still GROWING!" It practically yelled in frustration. "NICE!" I responded in kind, but instead of frustration I was ecstatic. "IT''S NOT FUCKING NICE YOU MORON!" The System chastised me. "Why not? You a stickler for the rules?" Now that I thought about it, The System probably was. The nerd. "As much as I would love to beat you with a hammer named common sense, I can''t. I also can''t afford to have you die, so I will be... bending the rules a little bit. But I can''t let you have 3 billion Skill points and enough XP to level all the way up to ADMIN status." It sounded sad for some reason. "Will the admins notice or something?" I asked, lounging around in the destroyed planets orbit. "That and you wouldn''t be able to get any new skills or quests. You''d stagnate in growth. Even if you put billions of points into your current skills, do you really want to limit yourself to just 8?" The System made a good point. "So what can I get?" I asked a little bummed but optimistic. "50 kills. so 50 Skill Points, 500 XP, and 500 Stat Points." It dashed my hopes and dreams. "WHAT?! But that''s basically nothing compared to what I could get!" I was exasperated, and a little pissed that it would take away my rightfully earned Rewards! "Are you messing with me? It''s more than DOUBLE of what the last 2 quests gave you! Except for the XP gain. That is really unfortunate how it decided to calculate it. It actually works in your favor though." It sounded surprised about that last part. "No. Don''t you dare tell me about how it''s double from last time. How about you DOUBLE it again, then I''ll be happy." I tried to bargain with The System. "Hell no. I am not giving you that much. 50 is plenty you greedy demon." The System spoke it with such finality that I knew I wasn''t getting any more than that. "Lame." I muttered with a scoff. I wasn''t happy about it, but 50 Skill Points and 500 Stat Points were a lot. The XP was ok. It would get me to level 5 but that''s it. "Don''t feel too bad about it. To make you feel better, I won''t interfere with what your previous system had planned for when you turned level 5." It said, very much like a parent trying to appease a child. Which annoyed me. "What do I get?" I asked, feeling a bit better and very curious. "I have no idea. It''s weirdly packaged... like a present. I could open it if I wanted but it''s pretty hard coded. Just what did your Energy do to your last system...?" It said that last part in a whisper. "Meh, I''m not sure. The last system was strange from the start. It was very helpful though. By the way, I''m getting tired of calling you it or The System in my mind so I''m giving you a name." I said with a smirk. "What? Why? The System works perfectly fine." Jerald responded. "Hmmm I don''t think so. You clearly have a personality and aren''t some unfeeling machine, so you get a name." I said, having already decided on the name but not telling him. "You know I can feel it when you address me mentally right? I know something is different and I know it''s going to piss me off." Jerald was as sharp as always. "How very astute of you. What do we do now though? Should I go to another planet and continue my goal?" I asked but I already made my mind to stay on the current course of action. "You''re the host, also your current plan is bonkers. Now tell me what name you gave me." Jerald pleaded. Well he didn''t really but I imagined him doing so, and since he exists in my mind he did it on his hands and knees. "I wasn''t really going to listen to your ideas anyway. I''m- We''re going to a station where I can get a ride to a more advanced solar system. You are currently suppressing my Energy signature so it should stop others from freaking out right?" I ignored Jerald''s question. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. "..." Jerald remained silent. "Hello? You there pal?" I enunciated the word. "I aint responding to anymore questions until you tell me the name." Jerald was pouting. "Fine. Jerald, can I interact with others now and not have them shit their pants?" I asked again. "...yes. Also, Jerald? Really?" Jerald responded sounding dejected. "What? You don''t like it?" I asked smugly. "I hate you so much. Change it." Fingle DINK the FUCKHEAD responded. "Sure thing, Fingle DINK the FUCKHEAD." I was fighting back a smile. "Jerald is fine." Jerald responded. "Good. Now let''s roll. We got things to do." I dismissed the blue window and flew towards the supposed civilization. "You''re going the wrong way. It''s nearest to the third moon." Jerald put a helpful blue marker indicating my goal. "Thank you." I said and made the correction. ... --------- An Admin --------- Another boring day. ''That''s how every job is. Boring. The natural state of a job is boring. Because once someone gets used to a routine and nothing changes, it becomes boring.'' I mused while sipping from my carbonated beverage. The cup was bottomless thanks to a magic portal leading directly to the factory, and neigh invulnerable. It didn''t come like that from the store. No, I had bought it as a souvenir for a show I like. A collectors item that I got for use and used magic to make it invincible. I bought 2, one to drink from and another to keep safe with no modifications. The factory that produces the sweet nectar was built by me and uses farms owned by me to make the best carbonated sweet juice ever. Actually supervising the factory and farm is lame so I just have bots manning them perfectly. My boring day was interrupted when a soft alarm and a little red light on my dash started blinking. "Damn... A planet was hit by something... Oh it''s an abandoned world. Why is the alarm going off then? Ah well..." I sighed as I actually had to do something. I reached over with a long slender and pitch black arm ending with a 7 fingered hand. I stuck my smallest finger into the ''Reset System'' bottom hole and pressed said button for 10 seconds. After a moment, the light went out and everything was back to being perfectly boring. Fantastic. I was torn between reading whatever the crash report said and going back to doing nothing, but my sense of duty won out. This time. I skimmed it and it seemed pretty bland. Just some stuff about a single creature nuking a world or something. It was rare but it wasn''t unheard of. What was unheard of was how the System seemed to be hiding it. As it wasn''t connected to the main frame at all. As I looked at the report some more I understood why. It was an Eldritch Void Born. It had Energy in it that corrupted most things, so the System had likely cut it off. ''I could reconnect it... it seems like whatever problem it had before was fixed though, and it has a level... Meh, if it''s not broken don''t fix it.'' With wiser words never being spoken, I did what I do best. I ignored the creature and went back to merely existing in my office. A cubicle with various magical implements connected to The System. Some odd shapes and little to no light. I liked it dark, with the only light coming from the displays. The chair I was using was a Void-ZeroG Executive series. The best possible office chair that put your body in zero gravity when you sat in it. Can''t have back pain if there''s no weight to cause problems. Not like I needed to worry about such things, but there was nothing quite as comfortable as nothing at all. So I leaned back and kept sipping my sweet, sweet nectar. Watching the various entertaining scenarios on my many displays. I kept thinking about the creature I saw before though... The... Human? Yes, the Human. I hadn''t seen anything like it, so maybe it would be worth the watch. I added it''s feed to one of the many displays so I could check in on it every now and then. ''Another job well done.'' A pleased smile played on all of my lips and I took a sip from my straw. ... --------- Some Random Alien Researcher. Again. --------- I was having a rough time. My face hurt from the slap I took still, but everything had calmed down. The Dark Lord Azurath was getting chewed out by my boss. Turns out it was a sapient and not a monster, which made everyone calm down. Though the species was odd, it wasn''t hostile toward us. It had apparently been tricked into being teleported onto the planet as a form of assassination attempt and it got mad at the world for trying to kill it. The being was small, barely reaching up to our shoulders. It also wasn''t a cyclops. It was wearing a space suit of some kind that concealed the form within. The golden visor perfectly reflective. Human was it''s species name. It had a strange satchel or bag made from monster skin filled with Dungeon treasure. Stuff ranged from level 80 to level 140. Likely some kind of emergency funds. I didn''t know of any species called Human so I of course didn''t know of their culture, but if I had to guess The Dark Lord Azurath is a nobles offspring. I''ve seen such things before. In shows and fiction but it could happen, right? The universe is infinite, so it could. Theoretically. "I am sorry that I scared you, but please understand that I was unaware of your presence." The Dark Lord Azurath spoke with what sounded like dignity and grace. Despite being so young it was smart. It offered some of the treasures it had. The collection it offered were the exact number of people on board and our exact levels. It had grabbed a handful at random, but yet there was no way it didn''t purposefully grab them for us... "I need you to understand just how bad of a situation you could have created Azurath! Your Terrifying Presence Skill almost made us attack you! We thought you were a monster!" My boss kept scolding the Human Infant. Not using it''s full title. My boss took the proffered gifts with a slight reaction, just the tiniest bit of surprise before the expression vanished. Just like the items he put into his pockets to give out later. Thankfully, The Dark Lord Azurath could control the skill and we were no longer being affected by it''s presence. The scolding went on for a while, and eventually the conversation turned to what to do with the lost or abandoned Infant. "I have a destination in mind, but I need a ride. Is there perhaps someone you could call to come pick me up? I have money to pay for the trouble." The Dark Lord Azurath spoke. "We''ll call someone to pick you up and you can talk to them with the details. Are you sure that you''re okay to travel alone?" My boss had gone from pissed to compassionate. Probably due to the fact we were dealing with a child. A very powerful one, but a child nonetheless. Also maybe because of the bribe. Most likely the bribe. "I will be alright, thank you for worrying about me. Apologies again for the trouble." The Dark Lord Azurath gave a bow. "It''s fine, you can make it up to us by helping out when we have a real problem on our hands." My boss let out a chuckle. I shuddered to think about what we would need to face to need help from the Human. I would gladly take it''s help if it came to it though. ... After a few hours of giving the Human a tour of the station, it''s ride arrived and it left with a wave. It was pleasant once you got past the terrifying prospect of a level 4 capable of destroying a planet. Alone. I sighed as I shifted the cold pack on my face. Today had been tiring, and unsettling. It turned out okay in the end though and that''s all that matters. We had to explain what happened several times to the organizations that answered the distress beacon, and they all asked for footage of the event. Most of them had the same reaction. Terror. It seemed the skill worked through recordings. Once they saw the footage of the Human walking around on the station with out the skill active, they all immediately wanted a way to contact the creature. Some left to follow it''s path right after learning it''s direction and the ship it took. I was glad that I wasn''t in The Dark Lord Azurath''s position. Dealing with those scouts was going to be annoying. ... --------- Greg --------- Back on some ship bored out of my mind. Though, it was a bit better than last time. The kind man who called for my space taxi had called for the voids equivalent to a limo. I was cruising in style. It had been expensive sure, but I had money to burn. Despite the luxurious living quarters clearly designed for beings much larger than me, I was comfortably bored. I couldn''t use the entertainment system at all with my tiny human hands, and I also didn''t know what kind of games or shows I could play. So I left it alone for now, just laying back on a large couch. Thankfully we could go straight to my destination to make the purchases of my master plan, but it was going to take 4 days to arrive. That would only leave 1 day to get started on my base if I set up in system. I was likely going to be unable to get started on constructing my perfect base of operations before hitting level 5. ''Unless...'' "Sys- Jerald, how much would a good ship cost me?" I almost slipped up his new name but caught myself. "Taking into account your wishes and your plan, you could probably get one for around 400 million points. Maybe more depending on the specs you want. I''m not going into ship details. The salesmen can do that." Jerald also sounded bored. "How much do the drones cost?" I asked, sitting up and starting to remove my gear. "Again, it depends. The cheapest would be 40k per drone, but those suck and require an operator. The most expensive is around 700k per drone but they should be pretty good, and fully automatic. I can''t tell what the station will have for you though. I''m not connected to everything anymore." It said, sounding sad. "Wait, so you''re not a capital S System anymore~? You''re just a... system~?" I paused my undressing as I teased him. "Fuck off." Jerald replied and I laughed. Once out of the space suit, I flopped onto the extremely soft luxury alien bed. I let out a groan of satisfaction and crawling under the covers. I was wearing my onesie of course. Though I considered removing that too so I could feel the blankets on my skin. I settled for removing the top part but left the legs on. I hadn''t planned on sleeping but the bed was very comfortable. I also hadn''t slept in an actual bed in about a month. The light was the only thing keeping me awake at this point, so I considered getting up. Then the light dimmed automatically as the room sensed I was in bed for longer than a few minutes. ''Fuck yeahhhh...'' were my final thoughts as I slipped into sleep. Chapter 18: Its Spherical! Darkness. A deep void with specs of light passing me by like disturbed sand flowing in water. Unseen figures dance of morph in the impenetrable darkness, hiding from the light. Teasing their forms before vanishing once again. I look at my body. It''s elongated limbs stretching even more as the black consumes me. My legs extending further and further down, slowly becoming less visible like deep water. I feel nothing. I hear nothing. I smell nothing. My sight blurs as I look around rapidly. Searching for something. Anything. The lights are decreasing in number. The things beyond becoming bolder and bolder as they get closer. Slowly all lights are gone except one. A tiny spec the size of a sand grain floats in an uneven line directly in front of me. It stops a few inches from my chest. Then it worms it''s way into my skin. I see nothing. Then my body cracks like glass, light burning brighter and brighter within. The new light exposes a form holding onto me. Something mimicking my own human body. It''s body made of void as it''s head stares into my eyes. I looked into the void, and the void looked back. It smiled. ... I woke up groggily, slowly sitting up like Dracula from his coffin. My body all clammy. ''What a weird dream.'' I stretch out my limbs slowly until they reach their limits and start shaking with an intake of air. Then I release the build up with a mighty scream. "Why are you screaming?" Jerald asked while sounding annoyed. "It''s a human thing, don''t worry about it." Screaming while stretching feels great! Jerald just can''t understand it. I roll out of bed feeling refreshed, rolling my shoulders. As I walked around the lights turned on slowly. The brightness going slow for my comfort. "How long was I out?" I asked Jerald. "13 hours. Is that normal?" Jerald helpfully responded. "Not really, but it happens sometimes." I say while putting my onesie back on fully. I started walking around the room, finally exploring it. I hadn''t done much when I first arrived to the room, but now I had energy to do so in earnest. The room oozed advanced luxury, with it''s weird alien modern art. Which is oddly similar to ours. ''Guess this proves anyone could just throw paint at a canvas and call it "art".'' The doors were hard to see as they perfectly meshed with the wall. They opened automatically as they sensed anything near them, so I was just walking along the walls looking for doors. There was the hallway I came from, an empty closet of some kind, a rather large bathroom, and some kind of tub. Using my superior thought process''s I could tell it was likely a hot tub or jacuzzi. Probably. What else could a random separate tub from the bathroom be in a luxury room? I made my way into the bathroom and started exploring it. Everything was still a bit too big for me to use comfortably. The toilet, or whatever the weird bowl chair was for, was way too big for me to sit on. It makes me thankful that I seem to not need to release waste anymore. There was something that had to be a shower, and also another tub. There''s only so many ways sanitization can develop. There was a weird cubicle space in the bathroom. Just an empty square with a door leading inside. Looking within, there seemed to be tiny nozzles on all sides of the walls. I chose not to use it. What was bothering me was the salty stench coming from my clothes, so I started looking around for a washing machine. I stopped after a few seconds because that was stupid of me. This is a luxury suite, so of course there''d be a laundry room for the staff to clean my clothes for me. So instead of a washing machine, I started looking for some kind of basket or chute. "Jerald, do you know how to tell the staff to do my laundry?" "You weren''t listening to your guide were you? He told you that you can use the verbal command to summon someone. Just say: Calling room service." Jerald said while annoyed. Like usual. "Thank you. Calling room service." I said just a bit louder than normal. "You don''t have to speak louder for it to hear you. You could whisper it while under the bed and it would hear you." "Noted." I said while removing my clothes and putting on a bathrobe way too big for me. I had my clothes and space suit in a folded pile when someone rand some kind of bell. "Room service?" A voice that was neither male nor female, at least from what I could tell, asked through some kind of intercom. "Yes, please come inside and collect my dirty clothes so they can be washed." I said while trying to sound fancy. I was probably failing. The door opened and something with 3 legs waddled inside. It was very tall. Or maybe I was just short. It had 2 arms with 3 elbow joints, and it had these little hands with 4 fingers. It had a cylinder for a head. Like an almost perfect cylinder. It had a near perfect right angle at the top where it turned into a flat surface. It also had no eyes or mouth. It was nicely dressed. I assume it was. It had something like gold in it''s clothes, since it was yellow and shiny. The alien didn''t even react to seeing my real body. "You needed your clothing cleaned, Young Master?" It asked while it looked at me. Well the cylinder twisted to me. There was still no mouth where the voice came from. "Yes, that would be wonderful. They smell of the ocean and wilderness from my journey. I will be bathing myself. Will they be ready when I get out?" I asked while trying to look like I knew what I was doing. "They will. I will place them in your room when they are done. Will that be all?" It asked in that same genderless voice as it lifted all of my gear. "Indeed. Thank you." I said and it gave a small bow before scuttling away. I watched it leave, then went back into the bathroom. "What a weird creature." I mumbled while deciding if I wanted a bath or shower. "It probably thought the same of you." Jerald said, sounding amused. I nodded at that and decided that a bath would work. Luxury is all about tubs and all that. ... It took me like an hour of actually trying to get the bath to work. I also couldn''t fill it all the way since when I sat in it my head barely went above the sides. It was big enough that I could swim in it if I wanted, but I held myself back. Then there was the soap. So many different soaps. Some were for slimy beings, some for scales, some for fur, some for more abstract things. It was absurd. If you could think of it, there was soap here to clean it. I eventually settled on soap for fur. I didn''t want to dig through all the bottles to find one that might work for my skin. I spent a while just laying in the hot water, relaxing. Then the same staff member from before came into the room. "I have placed your..." They went quiet for some reason, then came inside the bathroom in a rush. "WHA-" I started but got cut off. "Are you okay? The liquid you are in is set to a very high temperature." It asked seeming confused for a moment. "I''m fine! Jeez, it''s not like the water is boiling." I gave them a flat look. "That is not water. If it were, it would have evaporated. Turned into steam." It said with a possible quizzical look. "Oh. I''m perfectly fine. What is it then?" I asked, not really believing them. I waved an arm out of the liquid, showing my unblemished skin. "It is a liquid designed specifically for bathing all forms of life. Capable of withstanding both sides of extreme temperature. It is called Kufka." It said, sounding like it has calmed down but not leaving for some reason. "Alright? Well as you can see I am perfectly fine, so... Can you leave?" I shoo them away. "My apologies, Young Master. I had assumed you were in danger when you were not. I will take my leave." It said then left. ''My body is pretty tough now...'' I had turned the dial all the way up since I wanted it hot and I felt like I could take a bit more, but I had no idea it would be so hot. I sat there in the Kufka for a bit longer but the interruption ruined the mood. I crawled out of the not water, fiddled with the bath so it would drain, and dried off with my robes since I couldn''t be bothered to find a towel. I smelled like some kind of plant. I couldn''t place it but it was pleasant. My clothes also smelled much better, but I still couldn''t place the scent. I put everything back on, including my space suit. It made me feel safer for some reason. More comfortable. I twisted my helmet into place and looked at the large screen. The entertainment corner was a very typical and bland place. Fancy, but it had no personality. I fiddled with buttons until I got it to turn on, and immediately I was hit with alien porn. I didn''t even know what the hell I was looking at for several seconds. They were saying something about globules or some other weird terms. I started pressing more buttons until it switched to something like space news. Jerald was laughing his ass off at me. 2 aliens, one that looked like a sphere of light with a tie and the other looking like a coral reef, spoke about some kind of game. Probably sports. I had learned the common language when I interacted with the space limo captain. Well he and the other guy spoke it first and I picked it up. I decidedly chose not to sit directly in front of the tv, in fear of sitting where someone had... too much of a good time. I shuddered at the memory. It was very disturbing. I sighed and focused on the screen, trying to pass the time. ... --------- Bivolas --------- I am in charge of the Human while it is on board the Fraga. I attend to it''s needs and wants. In other words, babysitting duty. I had thought that the creature would need constant coddling or someone to act like a play mate since it was so young, but it was oddly mature. It was also sturdy. The Dark Lord Azurath took baths with the Kafka set to 5 times the boiling point of water. It hadn''t even noticed. I was still embarrassed by my overreaction. The Human was perfectly fine in extreme temperatures. It had proved that when it did the same thing but 5 times the freezing point of water. The Human had been at both sides of the max extremes the tub could handle, and it wasn''t even bothered. A strange creature indeed. It hasn''t left it''s room the entire time. Choosing to remain confined in it''s space. Some of the crew is thankful that it chooses to do so. They still think it of a child. Not I. The Human species must mature quite fast for it to be so advanced at only level 4. What kind of species makes a space suit for their infants? Human. Despite the oddity, everything was going well. Too well. There was small things. Small lucky things. Way too many small lucky instances. Things predicted to break down on this journey somehow becoming fully functional. Pirates known to travel our path suddenly being caught just before we arrive to the sector. It was like the universe itself was guiding our ship. It was weird. I was making my way to feed the Human, so I tried to stop thinking about the strange luck. --------- Greg --------- Boring. It was so, so boring. It might have been a luxury hotel room, but it still sucked the life out of me. It had been 4 days, and there was only a few hours left until we arrived. I was currently trying to play some kind of game console that was in the room but the controller did not fit in my hands. The game itself made no sense but I had nothing better to do. I think it was a shooter? The alien colors and shapes made it difficult to even tell what was happening. I had gotten better at it though, I think. The score went up as I played and figured some things out but it still made no sense. The food I ordered arrived so I turned the game off and sat at a table yet again too tall for me to comfortably use. Bivolas didn''t leave right away like usual though. "What is it Bivolas?" I asked the three legged alien while setting my helmet down next to my plate. "Beings below a certain level have a luck stat, correct? I was wondering what yours was." It answered with a slight bow of it''s cylinder head. "Wait, the luck stat isn''t permanent?" I asked, shocked. "It goes away at level 10. You don''t have to answer, I was merely curious." Bivolas responded. That sucked! I didn''t want to lose my main stat! "Does it retain the number and you just can''t increase it anymore? Because I don''t want to lose mine." I asked, some hope in my voice. "I do not know." "Well... I''ll just choose to hope it sticks around. My current luck stat is... 315?" I say, using the number with the modifier. "...pardon?" Bivolas seemed shocked. "Yeah, it''s currently 315. It''ll be higher later." I decide to use some of my gaslighting skills. "So you are the origin of the strange luck we have encountered..." Bivolas muttered. "What was that?" "Nothing. Do not fret about it. Thank you for telling me." Bivolas said then left. "You really shouldn''t be telling others about your stats." Jerald spoke into my mind. "Why? What are they going to do, turn me into a living lucky charm?" "Possibly." Jerald said flatly. ''Well damn. I better shut my dumb ass up next time.'' I chastised myself but I wasn''t worried about it. I had good luck and I could nuke a whole planet easily. So it''s not like I could be threatened by anything. ''Unless they went straight for my core.'' I''d have to be careful about attacks near my heart. I started eating my fancy meal of weird meat and unknown veggies. It was good but I had no idea what any of it was. Not like it mattered since it was pretty good anyway. ... We finally landed at my destination. There wasn''t a window in the room but there was a camera feed option on the TV. I watched in awe as an absolutely massive station came into view. It had to be bigger than The Ring by several magnitudes. It had an odd shape. It was made of an uncountable amount of cubes and rectangles, but when you looked at it from afar it looked almost spherical. It had spires, or towers sticking out of the top, bottom, and 8 equally spaced around it''s equator. It was beautiful with it''s several lights and holographic advertisements. I had no idea what any of the products I saw even did. Some looked like chairs or some kind of 4th dimensional shape brought into reality. It kind of hurt to look at. Once we finally landed, I was escorted off the ship by Bivolas and the captain. They were the same species, but I still didn''t know what they were called. I was told once but I forgot and I was too embarrassed to ask again. Though I could have just asked Jerald. Fuck I''m dumb. "Thanks for the ride. It was superbly comfortable." I said while trying to sound posh. "It was no problem. Thank you for choosing us as your chariot through the stars. We-" The captain started going on and on about some kind of speech but I tuned it out. I was expertly nodding my head along like I was listening, then when he was done he went back on board. Bivolas bowed and left as well, following the captain. I was once again left alone to my own devices. What could possibly go wrong? ... I was gawking at everything I saw like some country pumpkin. I suppose I was technically. My home didn''t have any of this stuff. I''m glad no one could tell I was staring at them or looking around like an idiot because of my visor. Or they could tell but they didn''t care about a level 4 infant wandering around. Which is more worrying now that I think about it. The place was MASSIVE. The hallway was the size of a 8 lane highway, and the height of a skyscraper. Walkways lined the walls with varying shops and stops. The bottom was designated to walkers while flying vehicles hovered 70 feet above us. Transporting various things and people. It might as well have been a city. I guess it was. "Are you lost, small one?" A feminine voice asked from behind me. I turned around and saw what must be a space mall cop. I assume from the voice that it''s probably a female of it''s species. She was wearing a white and blue suit of armor that looked more like casual clothes. A bipedal humanoid with 6 arms that ended with 6 fingered hands was crouching down while talking to me. Her head had 2 eyes, no nose, a tiny little mouth, 3 antennae and no chin at all. She looked to made completely out of a purple slime, and nearly transparent. I could see her organs and bones through her skin, but the censorship made her insides look like glitter. Despite what could pass as a horrifying scene, I was relieved that someone seemed to care about a supposed infant wandering around alone. "No. Well maybe. Probably. Yes." I didn''t want her help but as I thought about it, I would be better off with a local to guide me. "Uh... where are you going?" She seemed shocked to how I spoke. Likely expecting me to speak like a toddler or something. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. "I need to make a large purchase of autonomous construction drones. Along with a few other things. I would greatly appreciate a guide in this place." I said while accidentally slipping into my posh accent. "Um, okay, uh... I guess I can guide you...?" She seemed to be greatly puzzled by the situation, which I secretly reveled in. I nodded, having already told her what I wanted so I decided to act like an arrogant rich kid. When she didn''t start walking and we stared at each other for a moment, I snapped my fingers and it startled her. "Right, you need payment! Of course. I am sorry, I had forgotten. You will receive payment for each stop." I said while willing 10,000 Shop Points to her. "No, no I''m sorry that''s no-" She snapped her mouth shut as she saw what I tried to send her. "Follow me~." She said, sounding happy while she accepted the amount. I silently chuckled to myself like an evil little shit. Solving my problems with money is fun. "You likely know my name already, but I do not know yours. I would like to be able to address you properly if needed." I said after following her for a moment. "Sorry! I forgot that those below level 5 don''t have the ability to see names and levels." She wiggled in what could pass for embarrassment. "I am Sill!" She said with a nod, her eyes looking back at me. It was very gross, being able to see all the bits beneath her slime. "Well met Sill. You already know my name but since it''s bothersome to use the whole thing just call me Azurath or Az." I might as well use the name, no matter how terrible it sounds. We walked for a while and it became clear she was walking slower than she normally would thanks to me being much smaller. "Jerald, if I used my Telekinesis to float would that freak people out?" I whispered inside my helmet. "As long as you don''t use too much Energy it won''t leak out. I think if you keep it below 30ish points I should be able to hide it." Jerald said, the Brooklyn accent throwing me off every time I hear it. "Sill, I''m going to float so we can move faster." I say and without waiting for a response float off the ground, limiting my power output to 20 points. Just to be safe. "Huh?" Sill asked while staring at me. I was worried she had felt some of the Energy but then she looked away. "Okay, that works I guess." She muttered and picked up the speed slowly. Looking back every now and then to make sure I was following. We were moving much faster now, but the stares I got from random people increased. Though because I was following the space mall cop they went on with their lives. After a few minutes of her walking normally and I floating behind her, we made it to the first stop. A store all about autonomous robotics. "I''ll remain out here while you shop." Sill said while standing next to the shops door. "You remind me of Keji." I said off handily and floated inside. Sill looked at me while cocking her head in confusion but I ignored her as I looked around inside. I wasn''t the only one doing some shopping. The place was something like an apple store with how they had little drones on display. There was about 5 other customers, maybe more but I wasn''t going to count them all. I floated around so I could see the display tables easily while observing the little machines. Some were to scale, while others were miniature versions of larger drones with plaques of text describing it''s true size and capabilities. The drones had all kinds of designs and uses. From mining asteroids, to working on space ships. Be it repairing, scrapping, or even constructing one from scratch. There was also a massive vat in the middle of the show room with some kind of black and silver liquid in it. When I got to it''s plaque, it said that it wasn''t a liquid at all. It was trillions and trillions of self replicating nano machines. They were something new and apparently capable of anything and everything. Only 240k Shop Points per liter. I scoffed at the price, then realized that if the swarm is self replicating then you could easily get more once you have them. So it should really be much more expensive. There must be some massive downside to using them. "This isn''t a place for you to play in- I''ll take you to my manager right away." Some annoying fly decided to bother me so I swatted it with 10,000 points. In only a few moments I was sitting in some comfortable waiting room. It was the typical kind. 2 couches facing each other and a table in between them. A fancy looking screen was built into the wall and the coffee table was made out of glass. I was just a bit small for the room. "Thank you for waiting. How may I help you?" A chubby looking alien with pale green skin walked in. He was wearing a suit of some sort. Similar to a sleezy car dealer but futuristic. Still sleezy, but it did look nice at least. The creature had a large round head with hair on it surprisingly. It looked pretty damn close to human. Well the closest yet. He still had 3 eyes, a large nose like an elephants, and a mouth with blunt teeth. When he sat in the other couch, he fit it perfectly. "My parents want me to go out and build my own estate. It would seem I stayed in the nest too long." I started with a lie I had been working over in my mind. "I find machines to be fascinating, so I would rather have them than organic workers. I need the best autonomous drones you have for the project. Perhaps I can tell you what I plan on building and you can provide suggestions for what would be best?" I asked, already feeling tired from the boring talks ahead. "That makes sense. By all means, please speak your specifications and we can search our database for the drones just for you!" He said sounding very happy, and the table in the middle of the room starting glowing. A hologram appeared in the air between us, displaying a list of 3d drones and what they do. "I need a luxurious living quarters, but that''s a minor thing. What I really need is a lab, a mining operation, my own custom space ship capable of FTL, communications, and a factory." I was talking mostly out of my ass. Listing things I wanted. "A bit of everything then? Hmmm, well how about-" He started his long and tedious speech about the various drones he had to offer and I listened. ... An eternity later and I had made a purchase of several drone types. I spent roughly 36 million Shop Points on 40 drones, and 5 gallons of the nano machine goo. The idea of having nano machines more appealing than I could resist. I got 10 drones capable of lab work, 10 mining drones, and 20 construction/factory drones. Each drone was around 800k points, but they are capable of pretty much anything related to their field. The drones are extremely modular so the shape they end up taking is affected by what you slap onto it. They can''t think but they can follow orders and adapt somewhat to situations. Though not well, but they could! The nano goo is something of a jack of all trades kind of drone. It''s super slow, but it can do almost anything. The most popular use for it so far is repair work on other drones. As they can slip inside the machine and fix it easily. The nano machine goo will consume itself to do it''s tasks, but if you wanted to you could set it up so it consumes other resources first. Unfortunately, they can''t just make anything from something else. They need something that has the atomic makeup of the thing they are trying to fix or create. "So, where do you plan on setting up? Maybe we could make a partnership?" The sleezy drone salesman asked with a massive smile on his face. "I haven''t decided yet. Preferably somewhere with lots of monsters and less people. My species is a solitary kind, but we enjoy hunting." I said, keeping up the masterful gaslighting. "I see, well you can contact me at any time~! Have a nice day!" He said while handing me a business card and waving goodbye as I floated out of the store. The workers had just finished placing the massive collection of metal boxes in front of the store. A total of 45 boxes. 40 of them were the same size at around 7 feet by 7 feet by 7 feet. A perfect square. Each box was filled to the brim with various pieces for each drone depending on it''s specialty, all perfectly lined up in it''s foam protection. The last five are large metal rectangles that each contain a gallon of the nano goo. These boxes were 2 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet squares and thick on the inside. The tubes the goo came in were 3 inches in diameter and about 8 inches long. They sat in the box while surrounded by perfect fitting foam. "... I may have over done it." I said while staring at the pile of boxes. "I could call in some of the stations workers to carry it for you?" Sill asked with a smile. "That would be great. Tell them that whoever comes here the fastest get''s 10,000 Shop Points while others get 4k." I said while throwing another 5k at Sill. It felt good to throw money around like it didn''t matter. It really didn''t with the number I had. Sill smiled while she made some calls and I kept staring at the pile while thinking about what I wanted next. I need a way to tell how fast I''m going and where I''m going, so getting a proper HUD installed directly into my helmet would be cool. It didn''t take long until I saw some people actually sprinting toward us as they rounded a corner. People moved out of their way, startled by the sprinting mob. They were like Sill in that they were slime people but they all had different colors. Instead of wearing her white and blue futuristic mall cop armor, they were wearing brown and grey overalls. They were full on racing toward our location, some even trying to trip up the others ahead of them. "Is that too many for this or too little?" I asked Sill, amused by the display. "I called for a number a little over what you would need for these boxes, since I assumed you would do more shopping." Sill replied, also amused by the racing members of her race. "YEEESSSS!" The one in the lead roared as he tripped and skidded toward me. "NOOOO! FUCK!" was the general response from the crowd. "Do they not pay you enough here?" I asked while smirking behind my visor. Sill bent down and helped the winner up while I sent him his prize money. "It''s enough to get by, but everything is expensive in space. So saving up something extra is tough." He said while practically beaming down at me. "Well today is your groups lucky day. I tip very well." I said and willed each worker present 5k Shop Points, throwing a little extra for the entertainment. There was a total of 16 workers who showed up, and they all seemed perfectly fine despite sprinting here. The winner of the race did something with some device on one of his left arms, and a gargantuan platform came racing through the air, easily taking up half of the ''road''. It lowered down slowly to the ground with orange and red lights flashing at it''s border. Once it landed, the group immediately began working. Lifting the boxes like they were nothing and putting them onto the platform. "So, where to next boss?" Sill asked. "I need someone to modify my helmet. I want to have the visor display a HUD with various features like a speedometer, a digital map, communications, etcetera." While the helmet had some stuff in it already, it was made for human tech. So it couldn''t interact with the alien stuff around us. "I know of a place where you can have something like that done. My friend owns the place and does good work." The winner said while walking back to us, his coworkers still stacking the boxes. "Lead the way. Also, I can''t see name tags yet. Could you tell me yours?" I asked, feeling like this is going to happen a lot today. "Ah! Sorry, I''m Rihg." Rihg said while offering one of his hands, and I shook it. My hand was tiny when compared to his. "Well met. Now let''s get going." I nodded toward him and he started walking while we followed. ... Rihg''s friend was a god damn genius. I don''t know how they had done it, but they had. The guy only had my helmet for 5 minutes before it was done. His name was Yuiark, and he got all the features I wanted and more put into it. He even got the speedometer to be miles instead of whatever the universal is. I gave him a massive tip of 50k, even though he only charged 2,000 for the job. I''d have to spend hours learning what my helmet could do now. "What''s next boss man?" Rihg asked while Sill sat on a bench looking a little tired. "I need to find a suitable location to setup my estate, and a ship to transport this stuff. How much does a cargo ship cost to buy?" I asked and the entire crowd of workers gathered around me gawked at me. "To... buy? Not rent?" Sill asked. "Yes? Is that odd?" Even with my absurd spending spree, I still had a little over 1 billion. "Well, yeah? To get one that could basically pilot itself since I doubt you could fly one, you would need to spend 600 million at least." Sill said. "And that''s a small ship too, it would just barely be able to carry this cargo of yours. Even if you got a bigger one with crew, it would still cost around that much." Rihg spoke up next. I rubbed my chin. Well, I rubbed my helmets chin but the gesture stands. ''I could afford it... Do I really need all of this money if I''m going to setup far away from everything else?'' I thought about it, then made my decision. "I''ll buy a ship. One of those auto piloted ones like you said. Lead the way to a trusted dealer." I said while nodding. I got some looks of surprise but they agreed and we made our way to the next destination. "What kind of place do you want to set up? And where?" Rihg asked while we walked. "Well, I want it to be far from others since I''m going to build a private estate. Preferably near monsters and Dungeons, so I might look for one of those abandoned planets covered in monsters." I said, floating at their eye level. "That''ll be hard to do. Abandoned planets are hard to find and also the jurisdiction of the Guilds. Do you plan on joining one?" Sill asked while Rihg nodded along, agreeing with her statement. "A Guild..? Is that some kind of organization that uses the planets for resource gathering?" The premise sounded like the cliche adventurer guilds in those typical isekai tropes, and I think that pissed supervisor said something about them when he was scolding me. In other words, exactly the kind of thing I should join. Especially if they have access to those planets. "Somewhat. The main goal on paper is that they keep the monster population down so they don''t escape from the planet and cause issues for the others not dominated by monsters in the same solar system. Though they do use the higher tier planet as a farm for rare resources the high Mana density creates." Rihg answered my question. "Hmmm, I suppose I will have to. Let''s get a ship first, then I can worry about Guilds later." I said and we continued. ... I was in another waiting room similar to the first one I was in, but it was much nicer than last time. The table was displaying various ships fitting my description, and they were expensive as fuck. 700 million... 649 million... 802 million.... 1 billion and 300 million... 3 billion... I sighed as I looked at the absurd numbers. "I can afford some of these. Can I get a better summary of what they can do?" I asked while frowning in my helmet. "They all do the same thing. Just with different sizes. They all have crew quarters, FTL, a minimum of 200 feet by 200 feet by 150 feet cargo, and semi full auto pilot." The bat thing alien said. It''s weird nose twitching. The alien looked like a very wrinkly bat mixed with a mole rat. The eyes were itty bitty but so were it''s ears. The fingers were way too long and made me uncomfortable to look at them. "Are they new or used?" I asked while looking through the list again. "We only deal in new ships." It responded and I had to resist scowling at the gross nasally voice it had. I really did not like the alien in front of me. It took way too much effort to even talk to him and he was kind of an asshole. I wasted too much time already getting into this room so I wasn''t leaving without a ship. "Alright, fine. I can choose between the 649, 700, and 802. What about them can you tell me?" I asked, trying to get some more info on them. "Well the first one you brought up is the Vraxon-12. Developed by the Giggian Corporation. Second is the Fenthis-17. Developed by Hyumber. Third is the Rylith-8, also developed by the Hyumber." "That''s it? What about the fuel rates? How fast it can go?" I asked, exasperated by the lack of info. "You don''t know much about ships, do you? With these kind of ships, the only fuel you have to worry about is how much Mana it can siphon out of the void. Speed is another thing you wouldn''t have to worry about. It can go FTL so the only thing you can measure would be how fast it can get from one speed to another. Which is pretty much the same across the board." It told me while crossing it''s arms. "Ah. So the only difference is size then?" I asked, feeling like the dumb one for some reason. "Yes." It responded flatly. I tried not to sigh as I looked at the 3 holographic displays. The Vraxon-12 was oval shaped with some bits and bobs sticking out of it, but it remained smooth. The Fenthis-17 was almost perfectly spherical. It was weird to look at. The Rylith-8 looked too much like a penis so I dropped it from the selection immediately. As I stared between the 2, I thought about what I could do to modify them. Because I was going to eventually, but I also needed something that would work as a great starting base. ''Fuck it, we''re going spherical.'' "I''ll take the Fenthis-17." I made my decision. "Great! What kind of plan do you wish to use with us?" The bat thing asked, seemingly happy to be done with this as much as I was. "I''m paying full price." I said bluntly and willed the transfer of 700 million Shop Points. That shut him right up. Get fucked asshole. ''But I''m so poor now though...'' I lamented my loss as I looked at my 368 million SP. ... We were making our way to my new ship. The massive floating platform and workers following along as we walked in silence. "So... A Fenthis-17 huh." Rihg said as we walked, trying to break the silence. "Indeed. I figured it would make a good first ship." I said, feeling lukewarm about the purchase. "A good first ship. Is that so?" Sill asked while trying not to laugh. "Is it not? It has plenty of storage and it even pilots itself." I asked while frowning. "It''s a giant ball! You bought a ball!" Sill snickered at me while I glowered. "It''s. A. Spherical shape. It is not a ball." I said defensively. Sill just laughed harder as we entered the hanger area. There was a lot of various ships lined up. All things I saw the holographic version of. Then we saw it. My new ship. Sill collapsed as she laughed at it. Rihg was trying really hard not to laugh at it as we looked up at the giant... ball. ''God damn it.'' I sighed once again as Jerald started laughing in my mind too. The Fenthis-17 looked like a death star from star wars. Except it was smaller and didn''t have a massive laser. So it looked dumb with it''s tiny little legs. "If you don''t stop laughing I''m not paying you any more." I said flatly and Sill rose up so fast it was a flash of purple slime. She stood there completely serious. Like she hadn''t been making fun of my space ship. Rihg also wisely shut up. Jerald kept laughing though. I tried to ignore the laughing system and pressed the button on the comically large key fob I received when I bought it, a ramp lowering down from it''s underside. "Load it all up." I ordered and they got to work. Sill was just looking around, making sure no one got any ideas about my goodies. At first it really seemed like I was going to be able to get this stuff done with no hiccups at all. Then some prick showed up. "Hey, The Dark Lord Azurath! You''re lucky kid. The White-Dwarf Guild is recruiting you. Now come with us and sign up." The annoying better than thou voice ordered. He sounded like a typical villain so I didn''t bother to turn around to even look at him. I mentally crossed out the White-Dwarf Guild as a potential group to join. If they recruited like this then I didn''t want to join. "No." I said, then went on ignoring him. I didn''t even hear what he was yelling about as I perfectly tuned him out. We were gathering a crowd now though, since a grown ass man was yelling at some kid about joining his Guild. He was screaming and hollering about something but I kept ignoring him. Though the next thing he said made me turn to look at him. "Beat his ass!" The voice''s owner was a tall and lanky thing with 2 arms and 2 legs. Ugly though since it seemed to be made out of peeling scales. 2 hateful yellow eyes stared me down as his goonies made their way around toward me. ... --------- Gill --------- I just wanted a damn break. I work as an Monster Planet Stomper, or a MPS. I go to planets overrun with monsters, and I stomp them down. Simple. I was currently on this hunk of metal since a friend had requested me to find this level 4 kid capable of nuking an entire planet to recruit him. Something about the thing being the savior of our Guild or whatever. I didn''t want to interact with some toddler capable of destroying planets! That''s fucking scary! I had been, against my will, shown the video of the thing obliterating a planet that had wronged him. I didn''t want to piss him off. I was here as a favor that I owed to the Guild leader so here I was. Looking for this thing. I''d been looking all day, and just when I was about to leave for the bar, some idiot yelled it''s name. "Hey, The Dark Lord Azurath! You''re lucky kid. The White-Dwarf Guild is recruiting you. Now come with us and sign up." I recognized that voice. It belonged to an asshole named Derth. Some upstart Guild master desecrating his predecessors work by sullying his Guilds name. I rushed over there in flash. Appearing in the gathering crowd, I saw the level 4 Human floating while ignoring the shit Derth was spewing. Smart kid. Instead of rushing in to save him and ask for him to join us instead, I watched. Derth kept getting ignored, then got so pissed he actually ordered his minions to attack him. Derth always was an idiot, so it''s not surprising he''d stoop to this level. Except the level 4 could easily handle some goons at level 70. I could too, since I was level 218, but the Human was a rule breaker. I doubted that Derth had watched the video. "Fuck off." The Dark Lord Azurath waved his hand slowly and the 2 goobers went flying through the air. The cannon fodder decided that they didn''t want to get back up so they just stayed there while staring at the little demon. Everyone was. For the briefest moment there was a feeling of absolute horror forcefully instilled into me, then it simply vanished an instant later. There had been no Mana, no sign of any magic being used. It was as if the universe simply bended to his will. "I doubt you could give me what I want. I don''t need money, or items. I need a place to build my estate." The Human responded flatly. "We could easily give you land! Just sign with us!" Derth was fuming, but kept demanding the kid join him. "I don''t need just any land you worm. I''m going to settle in orbit above an abandoned world. So I could hunt monsters and Dungeons all I wish." As the Human spoke these words I finally, truly, realized why the Guild master wanted him. Christinia always had a knack for making prophecies. "What?! No one is going to just give you a resource like th-" I cut Derth off. "We will. We have claim to an AP with the average level of 700. We''ll let you do whatever you want with it as long as you join us, the Mektra Guild." I smirked at Derth, and I noticed how the Human seemed to take interest. Well it was looking in my direction and I couldn''t tell what it was thinking from how it floated without moving at all. Freaky. "You can''t even use that planet! Besides, your guild is tiny! You only have 6 memb-" I was worried the Human wouldn''t pick us, but then it cut Derth off. "Alright, I''ll sign up with the Mektra Guild. Now fuck off." The Human spoke like it was interacting with an insect. Derth was pissed, then did something dumb. Like usual. "I''ll pay anyone 600,000 Shop Points if they beat this kid!" Derth yelled while pointing at The Dark Lord Azurath. Everyone eyed Derth like he was crazy. No one moved as they kept watching the spectacle. Derth was breathing hard and getting angrier. "700,000! 800,000! 900-" Derth was increasing the amount every few seconds of silence, then the Human said something that made everyone pause into a dead silence. "50 million Shop Points to the first person to punch him in the face." The Human said it so casually that no one could even react. I didn''t give anyone else the chance to even register what he said, and sent myself across the space. Landing a sickening crack of a punch against Derth''s face. Derth was level 134, a completely respectable level, but not high enough to stop me nor to get back up. Derth laid there on the metal, knocked the fuck out. It was the easiest money I had ever made, and I smiled widely as I accepted the transfer of 50 million points. --------- Greg --------- I was upset at the amount I spent for that punch but it felt good to out bid a hit on my opponent by such a large margin. It was barely worth it. The Mektra Guild recruiter practically skipped over to me, happy as can be. He looked like a grey. Tall, thin, big round head with large black eyes and no nose. He wore heavily used armor and it didn''t look very advanced. Like medieval armor made into a space suit. The colors mismatched from obvious patch work. He was taller than everyone else here, at least 30 feet. The guy was huge. "Nice to have you on board!" He said while offering a hand. I took it and gave it a shake with my tiny hand, only able to wrap it around 2 of his 5 fingered hand. I didn''t like feeling so small. I smiled as I accepted the notification to join his Guild and pulled up the information.
Mektra Guild
Owner: Christinia Members: 7 Planets Owned: 1
Unnamed Abandoned Planet Information: Level 800 suggested. 1 moon Resources: High amounts of Mithril Extreme amounts of Adamantium Unknown (3)
"The level is higher than you said?" I asked with a whisper. while looking at the almost human name of the owner. "It is. The level keeps increasing because we can''t properly contain it. We need your help in keeping it under control, while also hopefully getting some resources out of it." He answered back in a whisper. "I can try. I want unlimited building privileges on and off world. I also don''t want to have to talk to others much." I said after we pulled back. "So you just want to be left alone so you could do whatever you want? Because if so then deal. Just nothing illegal." The grey said with a large smile. "Certainly. I don''t know your name." I said but it''s not like I knew the laws, and I also had to ask for his name. Again. "I am Gill." Gill responded while looking at my ship and it''s cargo. "Are you the VP or just a random member?" I asked while I also turned to look at the workers loading my cargo. "Oh, no, I''m just a member. Christinia may be the founder and owner but we''re more like a mercenary group. People hire us to kill monsters when they don''t want to or can''t deal with them. We''re called Monster Planet Stompers, or MPS. We got lucky and found an AP with rich resources and no owner. So we claimed it and made a guild." Gill said while still smiling like he won the lottery. "What? Is MPS your profession or your mercenary band?" I asked a little confused. "It''s our job, yeah. I had voted for naming the Guild MPS but Mektra won out." He sounded almost disappointed. "So can I go straight to the planet or is there some kind of procedure we need to do? I really want to get started on my estate. I turn Level 5 tomorrow, so I''m trying to get skills suited to it''s construction." I say with some truth. "Oh? Well happy birthday! Congratulations!" Gill said will patting my shoulder. "It''s not my birthday, but thanks." I say, trying not to feel too happy about it. "Oh? You''re leveling up in less than a year? Nice! You got real talent!" Gill seemed to be genuinely impressed. "Thanks." Now I just felt bad. We stood in silence while watching the work finish up. "You never answered my question." I reminded him of my question. "Oh, right! Sorry. Yeah you can go straight there. Your system window should be able to connect directly into the ships interface and you can set the course like that. I actually need a ride so could I get one?" Gill asked while looking around. "Yeah, sure. I don''t mind." I say while not thinking about it too hard. "Well where''s the captain? I gotta pay for my board." Gill said while looking around still. "What?" I ask while staring at him. He didn''t know. I smiled as I waited for him to find out. "The captain of the ship? Of the big ball in front of us?" He looked confused. "I own the ship Gill. I bought it not even 2 hours ago." I tell him flatly. He called it a ball too. It''s spherical damnit. Chapter 19: Jeff-1 Through 20 We were not able to leave yet. My stupidity reared it''s dumb face once again when we got in the ship, only to find it bare like an empty house. There was nothing in it. There was a pilot seat and controls and all that, but that''s mandatory stuff. There wasn''t a single thing in the ship. No mattresses, no food, no kitchen stuff, no tables, nothing. So now we, Gill and I, were chilling in some kind of bar while we waited on the workers to fill the ship with the best luxury the station had to offer. We were in a private booth in some hidden corner. The place was nice, and everything was pretty expensive, but we were high class people. We couldn''t have less after all. "You''re burning money you know?" Gill said while taking a sip from some unknown drink I couldn''t order. "This place is weird. I can buy a ship with no license to fly but I can''t buy a drink?" The laws of space are, quite frankly, dumb as hell. "You''re young, and clearly smart enough to fly. Different species age differently and we have different cultures, so The System determines what is restricted per species. So The System deemed you flight able, but not old enough to drink." Gill said with a shrug. "Jerald, can''t you set my age status or what ever to be old enough to drink?" I asked out loud, since I can''t talk to him mentally. Which is odd, but just a drop in the bucket. "No." Jerald said flatly. Not explaining a single thing. "Jerald? You named your system?" Gill asked looking confused. "Yeah I call him Jerald. You haven''t?" I figured it was odd, but I don''t care enough to stop. "No..? Why would I... You are so weird Azurath." Gill said, skipping the ''title'' like I asked. "All humans are. If you could meet more than one, you would discover that." Hopefully I''m not too much of a weirdo. "You say that like it''s impossible to meet more. You''re not that rare of a species, right?" Gill said, using his superior stats to catch onto something. Not like I was hiding it though. "I was plopped here through a hole in space. I have no idea where my home is exactly, but if I get strong enough I can get back to them easily." I say while playing with my ''kid friendly juice''. "Oh, really? How?" Gill looked really curious so I used my DG skill to show off. "This is a skill I got at level 0 called Dimensional Gate. As you can see it looks like a black hole and a white hole, but smaller. Oh, sorry. I forget that my Energy freaks people out." I say and quickly cancel the spell as Gill looks at me like he''s going to throw up. "I-it''s fine. I''ll get used to it. Maybe. I''m more than 200 levels higher than you are yet I''m still affected by it. You are so, so weird." Gill said with a shudder but he quickly got his composure under control. "A benefit of coming from outside the veil of reality or whatever. This place sucks, let''s go somewhere to abuse my Luck Stat. Like a casino or something." I sigh as I stare at the table in boredom. "Like hell they would let you in. Even if they did, they''d kick you out after you won every game." Jerald''s voice bounced around in my skull a bit, but Gill can''t hear it. "Luck Stat? Oh right, those below level 10 get it. What''s yours at for you to want to gamble?" Gill asked while taking a swig of a purple drink. "315 I think." Gill spat his drink out, sending a spray of purple. "WHAT?! How?!" I give him a glare as I wipe my face with a napkin. "Do not answer that question." Jerald said quickly, sounding annoyed that I''m releasing state secrets. "From my title Baby Mode. It gives me a times 5 multiplier. Is that not normal?" I ask, completely ignoring Jerald. "No!" Both Gill and Jerald responded. "It''s usually a times 2! Why is yours so high?" Gill said and I didn''t see a reason to lie about it. "Don''t know. I have a lot of weird things supposedly wrong about me. Like being from outside this reality, or the fact I''m the ''founder of my species'' in this universe." I shrug and put my helmet back on. Gill just stared at me for a moment then went back to drinking. He slammed his cup down once it was empty. "Why tell me any of this? I could abuse your weird body and your secrets." Gill said, his voice cold. I knew what he was trying to do. Intimidate me into learning a lesson. Too bad it only works if the person in question is defenseless. "You can try." I replied flatly, un bothered by his ''threat.'' We stared at each other for a bit then Gill chuckled. "You really don''t act like a kid at all sometimes." He said and my eye twitched. "What do you mean ''sometimes''?" I don''t act like a kid! "Oh you know... never mind." He said while smirking. The asshole was teasing me. I decided to ignore the fool as he got yet another drink. Something red. Using my helmets new HUD, I could do pretty much anything a computer could. Or my helmet could. I was just interfacing it since it connected to my status somehow, allowing me to will the cursor around. It was remarkably similar to the popular OS options back home. Except it was clearly different, as it used strange shapes in the graphics. The cursor was a circle that would become a square when ''clicked'' and the shape changed to some other non Euclidian ones depending on what you did. At least now was a good time to mess with it to get it how I wanted. I got the speedometer app open, and I decided I wanted it to be always present. I put it in the very bottom left of my visor, since it became an actual screen I could see through. It was really cool, and I was psyched to get it all set up. I made the speedometer application a bit transparent so I could see through it but also still see the numbers. There was something even better than the simple app I purchased. I had bought a... ''pirated'' version of some kind of design software. Yuiark, the genius who worked on my helmet, had a cracked subscription of almost every possible application available for purchase. The mad lad had hooked me up with everything he had, and had the audacity to only ask for 2k. He could have charged 2 million and I''d still have bought it happily. Thinking of the short chubby creature with glasses grafted onto it''s face made me smile. Whatever you think an alien looks like as a typical nerd, that was Yuiark. Fat, Small, lived in a tiny place filled to the brim with tech, and a genius in his field. The guy knew what he was doing and by god nothing could stop him. I opened the app and began designing some general ideas for the main operations. The UI was very user friendly. You could type words into a text box describing what you want, and an AI would design it instantly. Since it wasn''t very smart, it might take you a couple tries to get something you like. However, considering that the OS was connected to my system and was controlled with thoughts, I was able to just think of shapes and words and it would come to life in front of me. Nearly exactly how I imagined it. It made me jealous that we didn''t have this kind of tech back home, so I made a promise I would bring such a useful tool back home with me. Just like how Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity, I was going to boost our technology and begin the magic development on our world. Stolen story; please report. Thinking about what I would need to construct a place, I of course need resources. I could bring resources with me, but all of my cargo is being consumed by drones. Which is fine because I want to be completely self sufficient. So the first thing I''ll need to build is a mining operation. The next problem is a refinery or forge so I can actually use the extracted raw materials. Thankfully, the drones more focused on factory work can take the role of both the refinery and forge. It won''t be as efficient or fast as a machine dedicated to it, but it''ll work. With that in mind, I started designing all of the things I would need for mining and refinement. ... It took 3 hours, but we were finally on the ship and on the way to the AP. I now only roughly had 200 million points left but oh well. The Fenthis-17 was now oozing luxury. Every single bed was on the same level of the one I had used in the space limo. Some kind of red rug ran along the halls on the bottom floor, a green rug on the next 2. and a purple one at the top. All of the rugs had something like gold accents with fancy designs on the edges. The Fenthis-17 had 4 floors. The bottom had access to the cargo, a few elevators that would go down to the surface, engine room, and some other miscellaneous rooms. The second floor had only a few rooms, one was a cafeteria, a very nice kitchen space, and a small lab. Third floor was crew quarters, captain quarters, and mostly recreational. The fourth floor was entirely used up by the cock pit or command center. I think the proper term was command center. All of the walls were covered in screens, making the top floor look like a massive see through dome. The Fenthis-17 did have weapons and shields, but they were stock. AKA, trash. I could not care less about that for the moment, so I would worry about new weapons later. What I was focused on, was constructing the first drone. Once I built it, it could build the others. It was at this moment I realized how low the accuracy my Telekinesis had. I could not use it to twist the screws in, or for any delicate work. I could grab the pieces but it was too sloppy, or at least felt like it. So I was putting the drone together by hand. "GAH-FUCK!" I cursed as my screw driver slipped again, poking me in the hand. I was out of my suit and floating in the air. An empty metal box was unfolded with every tiny piece of the drone floating around me. I could thankfully make the pieces weightless, and that made it much easier to put together. The drone I chose to put together first was a factory specialist. The arms and hands specialized for putting things together and holding. Depending on how I put it together, it could either fly, walk, or drive on wheels. I wasn''t about to fuck with the weird ass rocket system or however the weird tech worked for flight, so I was sticking with a walker. In it''s current state, it was just a cylinder with wires and pieces sticking out. The cylinder was full of ports and clasps. It was the Drone Core. The thing holding the computer inside and battery''s. I was currently trying to put a camera together so it could see where it was going. It was advertised to be a type of ''plug and play'' modular system, but it needed some assembly. I got the camera put together, which looked like a cylinder within another cylinder. ''So many cylinders.'' There was a specific kind of camera configuration I was going for. Since it was very modular, you could have it in almost any shape you wanted. I was trying to set up a track that the camera could slide on, allowing it ''turn around'' by just having the camera go to the other side of the body. I got it plugged in with a click, and the dark black glass of the lens immediately started looking around. After a few seconds, it settled on just looking at me. I moved but the camera didn''t follow. ''A motor test then?'' I thought and then continued on putting it together. I got an arm, which thankfully was more put together than the camera was, and got it ready to be inserted. It was folded up for space, so I unfurled it. It had 3 elbow joints and it had a 5 fingered hand, but it didn''t look human. The fingers were way too long and had a lot more joints that could bend all the way in both directions. The port was just a metal stick that went into a hole in the core. Like a guitar jack plugging into an amp. I plugged it in, and the arm ran it''s tests as well. Bending in all possible ways before settling into some kind of idle position by folding in on itself. Just like how it was in the box. I grabbed another arm of the same type and put it in another port directly on the other side, and it did the test too. ''Alright so I don''t have to unfold them.'' I felt relieved since it seemed like it would be much faster now, so I started inserting some arms that ended with tools. Things like hammers, screwdrivers, etcetera. One arm had a welder but i didn''t need it right now, I just needed a drone to assemble it''s brothers and sisters. I finished the drone by putting 4 legs into the last bottom 4 ports. The legs looked like the arms but ended with gripped balls of something like rubber. The core had space on the very button for the thruster but since I didn''t know how it worked, and didn''t want it to crash, I ignored it for now. The finished drone looked like a thicker cylinder with 8 curled up limbs along it''s side and a camera at the very top ring that could loop around infinitely. The color was a blank white. It wasn''t painted, that''s just what the metal looked like. I pressed the button at the very top and it began to turn on. A tiny green light came on right next to the button I pressed, and it stood up. Well it tried to but I was still holding it in the air. It was a bit bigger than me with it''s added leg length, coming out to about 8 feet tall and 4 feet in diameter. The camera was whirring around as it looked about, trying to see why it wasn''t on the ground as it flailed it''s legs. It looked like a spider, but with 4 legs. "Sorry, sorry. Here you go." I said with a smile as I set it down. It looked up at me, since I was floating around it while looking at it from all sides. The camera tracked me perfectly. "Man, you are so cool! I should show you off to Gill. I''ll drag him down here while you put your siblings together. Aint he cool Jerald?" I was so happy at the finished product. "Yep. It''s a drone alright. It''s soooo cool." Jerald was being an ass. He just couldn''t appreciate cool robots like I could. The drone kept looking at me, no sign of any intelligence at all. ''We will fix that. Yes we will!'' That was the next thing I was going to work on when the base was done. True AI! It was just too cool not to build. "Alright, I''m going to call you... Jeff-1! Jeff-1, please begin constructing more drones with your exact specs until there are 20 of you. Use the boxes with orange paint only." I gave the command and it turned it''s camera at the box pile. The boxes were a dark green color coded with strips of paint along their edges. Construction/Factory drones were marked with orange, Lab drones were blue, and Miners were red. Jeff-1 made it''s way over to the pile and just stared at it. I realized that he couldn''t actually grab any of the boxes up top, so I was going to interfere when he did something crazy. Jeff-1 started walking up the side of the box wall like an actual spider. It''s body going completely sideways as it''s 4 legs carried it along. ''Definitely not rubber.'' I don''t know what kind of material it was, but it was awesome. Maybe it was some weird magic magnet thing that let it stick to whatever. I put my space suit back on since I didn''t need to use my hands natural dexterity anymore to go fetch Gill. I flew down the hall to the elevator and took it up to the recreational zone. I found Gill lounging on some massive black leather couch watching some show. "Gill! Gill I did it! You gotta see it! they are so cool!" I said, slamming into the back of the couch right next to him. "Chill out! I''m coming. Jeez." Gill seemed reluctant but he came along. When we got back to the cargo hold, there was already another drone helping Jeff-1 build another one. "See! Isn''t it cool?" I asked while showing off my creation. "...Hm hmm. Cool indeed." Gill said while walking back down the hall. I crossed my arms. No one appreciated just how cool robots were! They didn''t know how good they had it. I''ll make sure to praise my bots, just like the good little robots they were. "Good work Jeff-1, Jeff-2! Keep it up!" I yelled and gave them a double thumbs up. Their cameras briefly turned to look at me but they never stopped working. I was able to watch as Jeff-3 was born and they immediately began to take another box apart. The metal panel falling to the ground with a loud clang as they took the pieces out. ... It only took minutes for Jeff-20 to be born. Eventually there was more operational drones than not so I had most of them start cleaning up. Metal panels from the boxes were stacked up in a corner, the foam put in another. There were a few smaller rooms with prebuilt shelves connected to the main cargo area, so I had the extra parts put in them. We had a lot of left over arms, legs, tools, thrusters, and just a bunch of other shit I hadn''t really looked at. "Nice job team! Excellent work!" I gave them a thumbs up as I smiled beneath my helmet. No reaction. They just stared at me while perfectly still. Waiting. I just gave them a nod. "Now I know you probably want to take a break or something but we''re not done yet! You still have more brothers and sisters locked away. So I want you guys to split up and start working on them as well. Your sisters, the Lab drones marked by the blue paint, can have random limbs assigned to them for now but I want them on wheels or treads. Your brothers, the miners in the boxes marked with red, need to be able to fly. So we''re going to need to experiment with it some. We''ll give them arms and other random limbs as well. Let''s get started!" I finished my little prep talk with a clap and they all surged toward the boxes at once. It looked a little scary, but it was mostly cool. The way their feet marched in almost perfect unison as they scaled the much smaller box pile and started building them was neat. They were like really, really big ants. I couldn''t wait until I had a base with hundreds of them! They were so cool! Chapter 20: A Gut Feeling It didn''t take long for an additional 20 drones to be constructed, even when they were different from the first 20. I hadn''t really thought of their names yet, but I had 10 hovering mining drones and 10 wheeled drones to command. The 20 Jeff''s were idle along the cargo wall. Curled up and just sitting there. I didn''t know if they were charging or just waiting so I left them alone while focusing my attention on the new 20. The miners had 8 limbs with various mining tools. From drills, lasers, giant clamp hands for holding or crushing rocks, and some just had hands like the Jeff''s. The camera was different for both the miners and the science team. While the Jeff''s had the singular camera that ran on a track around it''s body, the miners had a giant dome with flat surfaces like a 50 sided die. Each flat surface had a camera within, so the miners had something like a giant singular insectoid eye. Capable of seeing in every direction around it. The way the drones flew and hovered boggled my mind, because they just had this disk inserted into the slot on their bottom that let them have no gravity. I had no idea how it worked. The science team had more cameras then the Jeff''s but way less then the miners. It was similar to how microscopes had different lenses, but they were cameras that twisted and turned. Some also zoomed in by extending their lenses out further. It was interesting to watch them all test their functions before being turned on. The wheels didn''t look like anything special. Just 4 tires made out of the same stuff the Jeff''s feet were. The wheels were on small robotic arms that worked as a type of suspension, and they could scale walls just like the Jeff''s. It felt like over kill but I wasn''t going to swap them out. Their limbs were mostly smaller hands then the rest. Tiny delicate fingers made for dexterity rather than strength, but some did have the normal long fingered hands. They had pretty much every scientific tool at their disposal inside their body, so they were a bit wider then the others. The tallest were the Jeff''s, the science team members were about my height, and the miners were the shortest since they didn''t need legs or wheels. It was getting tiresome addressing them mentally so I got to thinking of some names while they stared at me in silence. I expected the drones to be bad at flying but I''m just a fool. I should increase my Intelligence next chance I get. "What should I call you... Hmmmm." I rubbed my helmets chin while looking deep into their lenses. I was drawing a blank while they all looked at me. Just waiting and not a single movement between them. "We''ll worry about it later. Mining squad, go idle with the Jeff''s. Science team, follow me." I''d think of something later. I led the science experts to the labs. Which could barely contain all of the drones but it would work. "Alright, so I need you girls to study something for me." I said while putting the rings and things I had been carrying around in a skin sack on the center table. "These are items I got from several Dungeons. I have no idea what they do or what level they are. I want you to try and identify them. Once you figure that out we can compare the data to the stuff I have stored in a skill I have." I finished giving my orders and the drones wheeled around the table. Some passed the items around while others immediately began to look at the items. Holding them up to their lenses and just spinning them around. There was a lot of items on the table and I was glad I didn''t have to carry them around anymore. I felt like a caveman using the skin bag. As I was walking out of the lab I wanted to smack myself in the head. ''Why didn''t I buy a bag or maybe even a magic one?!'' I lamented my foolishness in leaving as quickly as I did. I''d have to make a list of things I wanted next trip I made to a station. I took the elevator up to the command center to check the distance left, and we still had about 2 hours to go. I took a look at the security cameras and saw that Gill was still lounging in the recreational area, so I went down there to bother him. "Gill, is there a Guild base there? You wanted a ride to the planet but where exactly are you going?" I asked while floating up to him. "Yeah we moved our HQ to the moon, but not many of us actually stay there. Most of us go out to do missions since we need the money." Gill didn''t bother turning around. "I see." I looked at what he was watching but I didn''t understand it. Some action drama show I didn''t feel like watching so I left. ''Guess I''ll find something to do.'' ... I hadn''t found anything to do. I was bored while I fiddled with my designs of the base I was going to build, but they were done already. When we finally got close enough to the planet to drop out of the weird FTL tunnel I got a good look at the AP and it''s moon. The planet was huge. The Fenthis-17''s scanners were measuring the planet to be 15 times Earths size, with a 209,900 km diameter. That makes the Gravity like 225 times that of Earths. The atmosphere was thick and full of multi colored clouds. Some were red, some blue, but most were purple. I could kind of see the surface below, and it was green. Likely covered in jungles and forests. Not much of an ocean, at least from this side. There was such a large quantity of mithril, adamantium, and that unknown material that the scanners could actually detect them from space. ''Sweet! Rare minerals!'' I was excited about that. I couldn''t see any activity that spoke of a mining operation though. "There she is. The massive treasure chest that no one can open." Gill said while walking up from behind, just coming out of an elevator. "So no one has been able to start mining or doing anything with it?" I asked while looking at the various scan data points. "Nope. We found it first, and we know what it''s worth, but we don''t have the man power or funds to get started. While others could possibly start mining the resources, they would lose a lot just getting the stuff off world." Gill said while smirking. "Why not just sell it if you can''t mine it?" There was a lot of mundane resources as well. Iron and the like. "We thought of that too, but the only Guilds able to buy keep low balling the price. Basically asking for us to give it away." Gill leaned down to look at the data over my head. "You won''t care if I try my hand at mining it right? Because I''m definitely going to at least try." I tried to look up at him, but my helmet blocked my view. "We were actually going to ask you to. Christinia, the Guild leader, has this idea that you could do it for some reason. Don''t get me wrong, I saw the video of you nuking a planet, but I doubt bombing the surface would be enough to mine it." "I couldn''t just bomb it so thoroughly the planet cracks into smaller pieces?" I wasn''t going to, but it was an idea. "...No I don''t think so. Pretty sure not even you could destroy a planet this big." Gill sounded skeptical. "Not yet anyway." I muttered while using the scanners on the moon. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. "Yeah the moon is just rock. We got unlucky with that part." Gill said while the scans did in fact come back with tiny amounts of mundane materials. The moon itself was tiny. About 907 km in diameter, or 2 times smaller than Earths moon. It was the same dull white color, and covered in craters. "No kidding. Oh there''s the base." I muttered as the scanners detected a small structure. I willed the ship to approach the moon, setting a course for the structure. It only took a few minutes before the Guild base noticed us and hailed. "You''re trespassing- Oh hey Gill. Is that..?" Another greyish alien the same race of Gill asked. It sounded like a woman, and she had actual hair. That or it just looked like it. She was wearing casual attire. It was so bland it was kind of disappointing to see an alien wearing it. It was a turtle neck sweater. A turtle neck. In a completely different universe. Ridiculous. "Hello, Fraya. Yeah this is him. The Dark Lord Azurath." Gill said and I cringed internally. "Greetings, just call me Azurath or Az." I gave a lame wave. "Nice to meet you and welcome to the Guild Az!" Fraya smiled "I''m going to setup a base somewhere on the moon and then find a way to extract the planets resources." I say, skipping the small talk. "Woah, you''ll really do it? How did Gill convince you?" Fraya looked shocked. "He actually asked for permission to do so before I could properly ask. Though I was going to wait until we met with Christinia." Gill replied, still smug as ever. "Can we skip that part then? I want to start right away before I hit level 5. Trying to get good skills related to R&D and a few other things." I asked, really not looking forward to any talks with important people. "Oh? When do you turn level 5?" Fraya asked, looking pleased like I just said it was my birthday. "In... 17 hours and 38 minutes." I checked the Quest timer. "It''s fine. We''ll talk later." A new feminine voice spoke up from somewhere but I couldn''t tell where. "That was Christinia. She''s a powerful psychic of our species." Gill could probably tell I was confused. "Well you heard her. We''ll talk later Az. See you!" Fraya smiled then ended the call. "You can just go over the base and I''ll jump off the cargo ramp." Gill said while going back to the elevator. "If you say so." I spoke after him and he gave a wave over his shoulder. As we got closer to the base, I could see what it was. It was poorly built and it looked like a scrapped ship turned into a habitat. I don''t think it was capable of flying anymore, since it seemed to be folded into an L shape. A few rooms stuck out of it''s sides, likely additions to the ruined ship. ''For being seemingly high leveled, they sure do look poor.'' I thought as I checked on the security cams. Gill was standing on the cargo ramp, and when we passed right over the Guild HQ he jumped. I lost sight of him pretty fast since I was flying pretty high. "Time to start looking for a resource dense zone. Hopefully." I muttered as I started scanning. ... This moon sucked. It barely had any iron deposits. Or anything really. Thankfully it did have everything I needed to begin construction. I could match what I needed in the designer app with the sensors on the ship. So once I found a spot with all of the needed resources nearby, I landed. "Alright Newman''s, it''s time to mine." I spoke into the intercom in the command center. I had decided to name the mining drones Newman-1 through 10, and I smiled as 10 flying drones flew out of the cargo bay and immediately started scanning around. They knew where the general location of the resources were from the ship scanners, but they needed to find the stuff close to the surface. "Jeff''s, recycle the metal paneling from your crates and turn them into refineries." I spoke into the intercom again, waking up all of the Jeff''s. They got to work immediately, pouncing onto the piles of panels and ripping them apart. Cutting with plasma then welding the pieces into something I designed earlier. "Set them up outside of the cargo bay and on the moon please." I ordered them after they tried to get one fired up inside. I watched them work for a bit longer, then chose to let them work in peace when I didn''t see any problems. I made my way down to the lab, to finally give the science team their names. "Alright, I''ve got a name settled for you girls. Sally-1 through 10. Determine who''s who by oldest to youngest." I gave the order and since it was a tiny software alteration, it was done instantly. "Sally-1, Has there been any progress?" I asked, and a robot I had luckily singled out correctly rolled up to me. It didn''t say anything but it did send a report to my HUD''s interface.
Ring of greater strength Level Requirement: 90 Stat Boost: +85 Strength
It was a simple report, but it also hurt my eyes to look at so I modified it. It would be blue like my system windows the next time I received one. "Good work. Keep it up." I gave a thumbs up and Sally-1 rolled back to the table. I thought about asking the rest what they had one by one but decided that I would leave them alone for now. I had a gut feeling that when I hit level 5 something would happen. I felt like I needed to be laying down or somewhere safe for what was to come. I don''t know why I felt this way but I wasn''t going to ignore the feeling when it kept pestering me. I went up to the recreational center and sat back on a couch for some mind numbing tv. I scrolled through some channels while looking for something interesting and I found a show about the authorities catching crooks and interacting with druggies. It was space cops. So I naturally settled on watching it for the next 8 or so hours. ... I was in my bed in the captains quarters, laying on my back on a bed way too big for me but it was soft. I kept my suit on. The gut feeling kept telling me I needed to be in a safe environment, and my suit had proved to be my safest space. I was staring at the quest timer as it kept creeping toward 0. "Jerald, will I hit level 5 instantly or will it wait for me to read my notifications?" I asked while the timer hit 1 minute and 43 seconds. "It should be instant. Though it is not uncommon for users to be unaware of new abilities until they first read about them." "What happens when someone hits level 5?" I asked while it hit 1 minute and 9 seconds. "Usually it''s just a level up. It is a milestone so you get some bonuses." "Why don''t I get Stat Points when I level up at all?" The timer hit 38 seconds. "I don''t know. You should have received at least some. There isn''t a listed reason in the remnants of your old system." Jerald sounded weirded out. "Maybe I leveled up too fast. Or the quests gave me plenty of stats. Is the weird gut feeling normal?" The time hit 5 seconds. "What? What gut feeli-" Jerald was cut off as everything started lagging. The world was lagging. Jerald was stuck repeating the same last microsecond of his words. When I tried to get up I rubber banded back to the bed. ''This doesn''t help me feel like this universe is real.'' Which was a real problem. No matter what I saw, who I interacted with, or experienced anything this universe had to offer. It all felt like a game or dream. None of it felt real but I knew it was. I was losing my grip on reality and this was making it worse. I tried to speak but the same rubber banding problem made me shut me up every time. Every time I breathed I would get rubber banded to the previous breath. It was giving me vertigo as my heart was forced to beat irregularly. Thankfully there wasn''t any pain, but I was getting dizzy from the improperly fired neurons in my brain. The only reason I could do anything at all or remember the fact I was lagging was likely due to my EA skill doing that Soul Cultivation thing. I stopped trying to do anything, even when I closed my eyes they were forced open. So I was just staring up at the ceiling, and at a blank blue window. The timer had vanished but the window remained. Eventually everything just stopped. Time wasn''t moving. I couldn''t move, and I couldn''t feel anything inside me moving. You can''t feel your heart beating most of the time, but when you notice it you can''t un-notice it. It''s the same when it stops. I was forced to stare at a blue window in complete silence. For some reason I wasn''t scared. The gut feeling I had telling me that this was normal. Then the window started to change before me. It was turning green. Then words glitched onto the screen.
You hit level 5! Congratulations!
Milestone reached within 1 year of being born (Universal First!) Rewards: ?????????????????? ??????????????????????????????S???????????????????????????????????E??????????????????????????????????E????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????Y???????????????????????????????O?????????????????????????????U?????????????????????????????? Luck: +4?8?9?1?3?7?
You have lost your Baby Mode title. You have gained the ? C?H?O?S?E?N? ? ??????????????????????????????C?H???????I???L???????D??? title
''Oh that''s not good.'' I thought as I was forced to look at the corrupted text. I was still calm for some reason, my instincts telling me I was fine. Even when the situation probably said otherwise. The window began to grow as everything got taken over by green. The words corrupted even further until it was unreadable. My vision turning green and white. Then the text opened like an eye. Chapter 21: Changed "----!" Something called for me. I was in someplace dark. I couldn''t see nor feel anything. "---g!" The calling came again, but clearer this time. A light was forming and getting closer. It felt warm. "GREG!" Jerald screamed into my mind and my eyes shot open. I looked around the room. There was no green, no eye made of text. ''Was it a dream?'' "What happened? ...You called me Greg?" I asked as my mind raced to catch up. My body felt like lead. "That''s what I want to know! Also, now''s not the time for that. You asked about a weird gut feeling then started convulsing midway through my response!" Jerald was panicking about something. "Is that why my body feels like lead?" I asked, almost slurring as my body tried to wake up from whatever had happened. "Look at yourself. I don''t think it was that." I looked down at myself as Jerald said. My body had changed. It was longer, but unnaturally so. It reminded me of that weird dream I had of my body stretching out. "What the hell?" I struggled to stand, but once I did my EA skill adapted quickly. I made my way to the bathroom. I stared at myself in the mirror. It went from the floor to the ceiling, so I got a good look at my new form. I had gotten much taller, and it was obvious my legs and arms had been stretched out. I didn''t get any wider, so I looked very thin. My space suit had grown with my body, so that was a plus. For some reason I didn''t feel all that upset about it. "That''s not all." Jerald said while sounding hesitant to bring it up. "What is it? Is it bad?" I was slightly worried now. "I lost control of 14.09% within your system." I stared at my hands as Jerald spoke. My fingers far too long now. "What? What did you lose? How?" I had so many questions. "I can''t describe just how large that 14.09% is. It would be faster if you looked at your status sheet. There are things I can''t see anymore." Jerald sounded more freaked out than usual. Following his instruction, I opened my status.
The Dark Lord Azurath
Level 5 Child
Species: Human Title: ? C?H?O?S?E?N? ? ??????????????????????????????C?H???????I???L???????D??? 240/3,200 XP
Skills: 9 (50 free Skill Points) (+10) Environmental Adaptation lvl 12 (magic variant) Telekinesis lvl 2 (physical variant) Universal Comprehension lvl 3 Dimensional Gate lvl 2 (magic variant) Repair lvl 5 (magic variant) Eldritch Energy Manipulation lvl 6 Harvest lvl 1 (physical) Eldritch Astral Projection lvl 1 ¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?
Stats: (500 free Stat Points) (+400) Energy: 1,920 (1,920 points per second) Health: 30/30 (30 points per second) Agility: 15 Intelligence: 16 Strength: 10 Luck: 4?8?9?1?3?7?
"Let me guess, you can''t see my luck stat or my new title." I said as I looked over my stats. "I cannot. Are they there for you?" "They are. And green." "...Green? Like the previous system?" Jerald sounded less panicky but still weirded out. "Yeah... I''m going to check on the title. See what it does. You should try and look through my memories if possible." I didn''t get a response as I opened the Title.
Title: ? C?H?O?S?E?N? ? ??????????????????????????????C?H???????I???L???????D???
For reaching level 5 before reaching one year in age, a universal first, you receive the following rewards: +400 Stat Points +10 Skill Points Luck multiplied by 3 (Current Luck stat surpasses natural limits.) Obtained Skill Points +1 (Current Skill Points surpass level limits.) New Skill: Identification. (Identify items and creatures) New Skill: ¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€? (¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€)
[ERROR CODE: 0x??????????????????0???????????????F???????????????????F??????????????????????????????F??????????????????????????????????????????????????] SYSTEM INTEGRITY BREACH DETECTED WARNING: Unidentified entity interference. External influence disrupting core processes. Attempting to recompile... FAILED Attempting to isolate foreign code... FAILED Attempting system rollback... FAILED [CORRUPTION LEVEL: ¨€¨€¨€¨€ 100%] Contacting system administrator... SUCCESS. Recovered 14.09% system functionality. [CORRUPTION LEVEL: ¨€¨€¨€¨€ 85.91%] Unknown process detected: ¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€ Data mismatch. System unable to verify parameters. > SYSTEM COMPROMISED. PLEASE :)????????????????????.
''Yep. That''s broken. And not in a good way.'' I sighed at the headache that this will inevitably cause. "I don''t see anything. There''s a gap when you had your seizure. You find anything?" Jerald asked when I finished reading it the second time. "It''s busted. Full on Error Code within the title and a new Skill I can''t read." "Really? What does it say?" Jerald sounded surprised. "Something about an integrity breach and some unknown entity interfering. I think it''s talking about you. It went from 100% corrupted to 85.91%. Though I think my last system was compromised when I got here. I can''t describe what''s happening, but I might have dragged something with me through the veil." I said while looking at the corrupted smiley face at the bottom. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. "Oh... That explains some things at least." Jerald seemed uncomfortable. "What do we do?" I asked, unsure of how to proceed now that I have 2 systems fighting for control. One system is magical and technical while the other is something corrupted by the outside. Both trying to make me stronger for some reason or another. "I have no idea. Despite losing 14.09%, I''m still perfectly fine. It''s like that part of me was just set aside, not erased. I could possibly take full control again, but I don''t think I''ll be able to stop it completely." "It came from that weird package for when I turned level 5 right? Is there one for every milestone?" "There is. I had thought I could modify them from the glance I gave them, but now that I''m really looking them over I can''t find anyway to remove them." Jerald sounded unhappy. "Are you jealous that my ex is trying to take me back?" I teased the voice in my head. "No, I''m mad that I''m once again being threatened by your mere existence. First it was the admins, now it''s some eldritch thing from the veil." Jerald sighed and it felt like he threw his nonexistent arms in the air. "Well, at least I got some extra Stat Points and Skill Points." I muttered as I started looking through the menu again. "Wait, wait, wait- you got MORE points to spend from that? I should have given you less." Jerald sounded pissed for a new reason. The lack of balance. "Oh I didn''t tell you how high my current Luck stat is~? It''s a little over 400,000 now. So I''m going to pump Intelligence to become a genius!" I smugly smiled and put 300 points into the Stat. "Having a high Int Stat doesn''t make you a genius. Ok it kind of does, but your forgetfulness will stick around. It''s a quirk of your brain. Also, FUCK YOU! WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT''S ABOVE 400,000?!" Jerald still sounded more upset about the Stat then losing 14% of his power. I chuckled as I didn''t respond but focused on my menu. I still had 600 free Points to use, so I pumped my Str and Agi Stats by 150 each. Then dropped the remaining 300 into health. Of course, I didn''t feel any different.
Stats: Energy: 1,920 (1,920 points per second) Health: 330/330 (30 points per second) Agility: 165 Intelligence: 316 Strength: 160 Luck: 4?8?9?1?3?7?
"You''re bluffing. There is no way your Luck Stat is that high." Jerald was still going on about it. "You''re right, it''s closer to 500,000. It could be false since the text is corrupted, but I think it really might be true. Let''s open the Skill Window and see what I got to purchase." I smiled smugly as I opened the Skill Shop.
New Skills: 3 Dungeon Master - Lvl 1-4 Ignore Level restrictions on all Dungeon Gates. Lvl 5-9 Multiply Rewards in Treasure Rooms by level difference. Soul Absorption - Lvl 1-4 All monsters provide XP when slain. Lvl 5-9 Monsters slain increase Soul Cultivation. Omni Forge - Lvl 1-4 Uses the vast Energy within user to forge mundane materials held with Telekinesis. Lvl 5-9 Forge magical materials held with Telekinesis.
"I''m going to actually cry. If I had eyes, I would be clawing them out of my skull in frustration. This is ridiculous." Jerald was utterly defeated. "You didn''t make these wonderful things? The Skill Shop didn''t have descriptions before. I had to ask what each one did." My eyes were gleaming at the skills. "No I didn''t make these... these abominations to balance. I only have some control over your Skills now. It''s one of the features I can''t control anymore." Jerald was pretty pissed that his whole balancing act was shattered so easily. "Don''t be a big baby, I''ll only be using them like all the time now." I had to stop myself from laughing at the sighing Jerald. I had 60 Skill Points to use, and I had a general idea of what I wanted. Having more Energy is a given, so I''ll have some points dedicated for that. I also wanted to increase my Telekinesis skill by a lot. I had power but I lacked finesse. Having a larger range for my weird Astral Projection skill would be good too, but it''s not that important. My language Skill was already pretty good, so it would be a waste to upgrade it too much, but I also worry about running into a lone alien that I can''t understand. ''Decisions, decisions...'' Thinking about it now, I needed millions upon millions of Mana, or Energy to get home. What level did my DG skill need to be for interplanar travel? "Jerald, what level does my Dimensional Gate skill need to be so I can get home?" "Well the skill needs to surpass the universe in limitations. You basically need to be able to hop from one side of the universe to the other. Which is impossible since the universe is infinite. You know about how some infinities are bigger than others? It''s like that." Jerald tried to explain it, but I understood what he meant. "So I need to somehow make the price so infinitely tiny that the cost doesn''t matter compared to the distance?" I tried to reason it in my own words. "Kind of? At some point, when the cost is so small it might as well be zero, the Skill will be free to use to a certain distance. You need the Skill to be free to use for an infinite distance. Which should line up with the cost of inter-dimensional travel, making it cheap enough to cast. The cost is divided by 2 with every level up, and the cost is 6 at level 1 for 10 feet then... I''m so tired of you breaking this universe Greg." Jerald sounded defeated and incredibly pissed off. "What? What did I do now?" I asked, genuinely unaware of what happened. "The system makes a skill cost nothing once the cost reaches 0.01 or below, because it''s a drain on resources to calculate that low of a number for an uncountable amount of individuals, so your DG skill will be completely free to use at level 11. You could go planet to planet instantly at no cost, as long as you can either visualize the location or see it. You are a fucking monster and I hate you." "So then... I could go home right now? I could up my DG skill to 15 or maybe even just 12 and my skill will be technically a larger infinity than the universe?" I asked, my mouth falling open. "Yeah. This is bullshit. I know I made the previous system to make you get out of this universe as fast as possible but come on! REALLY?!" Jerald said something interesting that caught my attention. "Wait, you made it broken on purpose, then it got even more broken? I could have gone home so long ago!" I was upset as well, but clearly not as much as Jerald was. I could go home right now. Hell, I could theoretically go anywhere. The multiverse theory implies that every instance of any possibility conceivable is real. Something was bothering me though. "It calculates it as zero, but where does the cost come from? The System? Surely it isn''t free to just universe hop." E=mc2 and all that. "The System that controls this universe will cover the cost because it truly has an infinite amount of Mana, but you''d be shit out of luck in a place without it." Jerald responded, still seething. Then I would need my own Energy to be on par with The Systems... ''So, since my Energy doubles with every level... I''d only need my EE skill to be level 265 before the number is greater than the number of atoms in the universe. Well, my universe.'' I knew the mathematical guess was around 10 squared by 80. Thankfully my new Int Stat was helping me run the numbers mentally. "Just so you know, you would need more than double the amount of atoms in this universe to even reach a quarter of The Systems reserves." Jerald said, almost like he could read my mind. "So level 266 or 270 then." I chuckled as Jerald didn''t respond. He likely already calculated the amount of Energy I would need to be on par. Which is doable. Very doable. I had gotten 60 Skill Points from the last quest and milestone combined. Now that Jerald couldn''t interfere, or I hoped he couldn''t, with the next Quest Reward I could possibly break out of this universe before the year is up. Well, I could do it right now since The System would cover the cost, but then I would be trapped back home. No. I''d get strong enough until I could do it myself. I went ahead and dumped 10 Skill Points into DG, making it 12 and leaving me with 50. I then put 8 points into Telekinesis, bringing it to 10 and leaving me with 42. I put 2 into Universal Comprehension, putting it at 5 and rounding the remaining points to 40. As much as I would love to put the rest into Energy, I needed my other skills as well. I bought Dungeon Master for 5 points, putting it at 5 and leaving me with 35. I did the same for Soul Absorption, now I had 30 points left. I bought Omni Forge for 10 points, so now it was at 10 and leaving me with 20 points. I didn''t like having skills at just level 1, so I spent 4 points on both Eldritch Astral Projection and Harvest. Both were now level 5 and left me with 12 left over points for Eldritch Energy. Which I, of course, put into the skill and brought my 1,920 Energy to a whopping 7,864,320. As I looked at my new stats and my new body in the mirror, I finally understood why Jerald kept calling me a monster. "I really am a monster." I muttered as I stopped ignoring my new body and really looked at it. Instead of my usual 6 foot 4 with the suit adding a few inches, I was now at least 9 fee tall. Give or take a few inches. I should feel something regarding this whole situation, but I can''t. How can I when it all feels like a dream or a game. I struggled to fully affect creatures with 1,920 Energy, but now... now I could turn them into nothing with a thought. I could strip them down by a cellular level. I hadn''t expected my Telekinesis to become so refined that I could grab cells, but now I can. I could grab each and every single one in everything around me. I could feel them with my mind now. Each little fraction of this universe, mere suggestions of how it''s supposed to be. What could I do if my Telekinesis was 20? Or even 100? Could I grab light itself? "You should check your new Quests. Let''s rip this bandage off." Jerald brought me out of my thoughts, and I had to agree with him. I opened the Quests menu.
New Quests: 3
Unknown Material: Identify the Unknown Material and study it''s properties. Reward: 2,000 XP, 60 Stat Points, 1 Skill Point. Guild Ace: Your Guild Leader has high hopes for you. Raise the rank of the Mektra Guild by any means. Reward: 300 XP, 10 Stat Points, 1 Skill Point. Planet Recovery: Do the impossible and reclaim an abandoned world more than 500 levels above your own. Rewards: 6,000 XP, 600 Stat Points, 6 Skill Points. (Possible Universal First.)
"1 rare, 1 uncommon, and 1 unique quest?! I give up on trying to balance any of the shit you do. I quit. Go ahead, break the universe. I don''t care anymore." Jerald was fuming again. "Is that why the Rewards are so... absurdly different? They have rarities?" I didn''t know that. I was also upset that there wasn''t an obscene amount of Skill Points available like last time. "Sort of. It all depends on circumstance. You just happen to have 400,000 luck, so of course you get all kinds of goodies and lucky encounters. You cheater." Jerald was still helpful, even while pissed. "Hm. I completely forgot to ask, but how long was I out for?" I was so distracted by everything, that I had forgotten about my little drone pals. "About 10 minutes. Your body grew really fast, having done it all within 2 minutes." Jerald was now a mix of pissed and grossed out. ''So they were likely still busy.'' While it had been around 8 hours since I told them to start building, they wouldn''t be done for a good long while. I had planned on eventually moving the entire operation planet side, but now I wanted it done asap. Thankfully, I had a way to appear instantly from the surface back to the ship if I needed to. When I thought about my Dimensional Gate skill, since it was now free thanks to The System in this universe, I could leave multiple sets of Gates open 24/7. Effectively making transportation a nonissue. "You know what Jerald?" I asked, a smile growing on my lips. "What?" Jerald asked, sounding annoyed. "I don''t care if this is a dream or a game or purgatory or anything at all anymore. I''m going to have fun, and nothing is going to stop me from doing whatever I want. Because it might as well be my dream or game or whatever. Mine." I declared. Jerald remained silent. I was probably losing it. Or lost it. It didn''t matter anymore. I was already living however I felt like, so it''s not like anything was going to change. I wasn''t going to anyway. The universe though? I was going to make this universe my bitch. Chapter 22: Yoink "You are so cringe. Nice 8th grader syndrome dumb ass." Jerald said after a moment of silence. "Shut up! So what if I''m cringe?! It''s not like it matters." I defend my actions, but Jerald just scoffs. "Uh huh. Sure thing ''The Dark Lord Azurath.''" Jerald mocks me. "Whatever Jerald. Lower case s system." I get the vague feeling that Jerald is trying to flip me off. I make my way out of the bathroom and decide to check on my drone friends. Pulling up the camera feed directly into my helmet let''s me see what they are doing outside. I can also see myself from the cameras, and it feels like one of those retro horror games. Like the og resident evils. I spend a little too much time mimicking Leon Kennedy, walking through the room and hall like I had an invisible gun. I focused back on the drones outside. They had done a whole lot, getting something like the bones of a factory built. Metal beams stood from the ground, paneling here and there as some drones worked on the building while some others worked on processing the raw ore. It was pretty cool to see them work. I watched them for a bit, then got a call from Gill. "What''s up?" I answered the call. "Nothing much. Just wanted to see if you were ready for that meeting yet." Gill still sounded smug, even over the phone. "Not really. I was thinking about going to the planets surface for a bit. Have a quick look around." I really didn''t want to talk to anyone at the moment. "Think you could bring a camera with you? So we can watch with a live feed up here at HQ?" He sounded really interested. I didn''t respond right away, thinking it over. I wasn''t hiding anything, so there was no problem with them watching from afar. "Alright, sure. I''ll come by for a quick visit to pick up the camera or whatever the equipment is. When will it be ready?" "It''s ready now. How long will it take for you to fly over?" Gill asked but I had another idea. "I actually want to test something. You know that spot behind Fraya''s seat? When she called us?" "Yeeeaaaah? Why?" "Keep it clear. I''m going to teleport there." I said and without waiting for a response, activated my DG skill. I focused on the memory of the place I saw. The bland metal wall and the white floor I could just barely see from the screen. The Gate opened in front of me. A black hole the size of a basketball, and a white hole hopefully formed where I wanted it to. There was no cost, which I expected, and I walked through. My body shrinking and folding inward on itself. Only for it to do the action in reverse out of the white hole, my body completing a step in its walk. Gill was there with Fraya. Apparently he had called using her computer so I ended up right next to him. There were black question marks above their heads now that I had the identification skill. "Oh. Hey." I said, and my voice echoed from the machine since the call was still going. Fraya hung up. "What? How did- You know what I don''t care. He''s all yours Fraya." Gill walked away while shaking his head. "He might not, but I do. How''d you do it?" Fraya asked, seeming excited about it. "It''s one of my skills. Something called Dimensional Gate. I got it to a high enough level so now the System considers the cost null, making it free to cast. So now I can go anywhere in this universe or outside it if I can visualize the destination. And before you ask, no I haven''t done the universal travel yet." I was off put by the fact no one was reacting to my new body. "That''s really interesting! You can go anywhere? Is that how you plan on reaching the surface?" Fraya was pretty giddy about it. "I can theoretically go anywhere, and I was actually just going to fly down to it. Let my body adapt to it first. Though I probably could just teleport to the surface. Anyway, camera?" I rubbed my helmets chin. "Right! So, we have this little thing here that should be able to send us a visual of what you see. We don''t know if the planet will interfere with the signal, so this is an experiment." Fraya handed me a tiny little box with a camera lens on it. It looked just like a GoPro, but with a magnet or suction cup instead. "Do we just put it on the side of my helmet or something?" I looked it over, marveling at the simple little cube. "I was actually thinking of putting it inside your helmet, so it would connect with your ships interface and giving it a strong enough signal to reach us." Fraya rubbed the back of her head. "Hmmm. Well, it should fit." I muttered and took off my helmet. Fraya just watched as I fiddled with the camera and my helmet. I found a spot at the very top of the inside that should hold it nicely. It should also be small enough that it doesn''t hit my head or block my view. I held my helmet out and looked at my reflection in the visor. I was still a mess. My hair was a little longer, my horrible facial hair a bit worse. I even had a unibrow growing. Trying to anyway. "You look a bit different than I thought you would." Fraya''s words snapped me out of it. "What?" "I thought you would have scales or be a mass of energy. With how powerful you are, I figured you would be more... monstrous?" Fraya wasn''t trying to insult me. She just genuinely thought I was something crazy. "Sorry, but I''m a bag of meat and bones." I sighed and put the helmet back on. "Right, well when we initiate another call we should see the camera feed here. Are you going to the planet now?" Fraya asked as she leaned back in her chair. "Yeah. I''ll probably stop by my ship first and check on my drones in person." To my surprise Fraya seemed to be very interested in that. "Drones? You have drones? The autonomous kind?" Her massive black eyes practically shining. "Yup. The best I could buy. 20 of them are specialized for Construction and Factory work, I call them the Jeff''s. 10 are Lab workers, I call them the Sally''s. The last 10 are for mining, and I call them the Newman''s. I got 5 gallons of the new nanomachine goo stuff as well but I haven''t found a use for them quite yet. I think I''ll call the swarm Annie. Or Nanny. I don''t know yet." I spoke while getting excited myself. I had found another robot lover. "You gave them names?!" My heart sunk. No one likes the names after all. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. "That''s so cute!" Now I was just confused. "It''s not cute! It''s awesome!" I retorted. Fraya just giggled and petted my helmet. I hated being treated like a kid. "Whatever. I''ll show you just how awesome my drones are! You''ll see that they deserve to be named!" I huffed and pointed at Fraya before teleporting back to my ship. This time I spawned the blackhole inside me, so I wouldn''t need to walk into it and it would just instantly deposit me. Of course, it still wasn''t instant as the black hole needed to eat me to spit me back out somewhere else. The delay, no matter how small, was still noticeable. I grumbled as I walked down the cargo bay ramp. I had selected a random location on my ship and got lucky like usual. I was observing my drones when I got a call from Fraya. "How is it? Can you see how awesome my drones are?" I gloated as I showed off my bot army. "Yes, yes, they''re great Azurath." Fraya giggled as she teased me. No one treated me like an adult when I talked about my drones. Or anytime really. That was going to change. I could get XP from monsters now, so I was going to level up a bunch soon. I was a little worried about reaching the next milestone, but it should be okay. "Fine. Be that way. Remain ignorant to their greatness. I''m going down to the planet now." I turned and looked at the planet. "Alright! I''m going to record this. None of our drones we sent came back, so we don''t really know what to expect. We can only see so much by zooming in." Fraya spoke a horrifying statement. "You sent drones to their deaths?! You monster!" I wasn''t really upset. They weren''t my drones after all. I used my DG skill and appeared in low orbit around the planet. "So that''s how it looks from your end... Isn''t it scary to fold inward on yourself?" Fraya sounded unnerved by the skill. "I used to be. I got over it." I started my descent. Letting the gravity assist my Telekinesis as I flew down. I had thought that I would feel the gravity or something as I fell, but I didn''t feel any different than the last time I did this. It was just a good old free fall above the clouds. "How are you feeling?" Fraya asked, sounding slightly worried. "Fine. A bit bored actually. I think I''ll tick up the speed. I need to find out how fast I can go now." I smirked as I started using more Energy in the fall. My speedometer was clocking in at around mach 6. It was around this speed that things became harder to see, but my increased Int stat must have made my processing faster because I could see everything clearly. Once I reached the clouds, I was going mach 15. Which is insane because I should have burned up. My EA skill is absolutely broken and I would have it no other way. "...Uh... Azurath, how fast are you going?" Fraya sounded nervous. "Around mach 16, and increasing. Don''t worry, I''ll stop when I feel like I''m in danger." "...okay." Fraya responded quietly. I shrugged to myself as I kept going. Once I reached a low enough altitude that I could see below the clouds, I slowed down to give her a good view of the planet. The shockwave I left behind caught up to me but my mental hold was strong enough to shrug it off. It only gave some minor turbulence. It didn''t even feel like I was going that fast. My high Int making it much easier to see and understand what was happening around me while flying allowed me to fly much faster. My higher Energy also allowed me to accelerate much faster while my EA skill kept my body and suit from disintegrating. I was a living extinction event asteroid now. I really wanted to test that theory. All I needed to do was fly around at a some what low altitude at mach 50 or so and the world would turn into ash from the air friction alone. That''s not even mentioning the plasma that would be created from the air as well. I wasn''t going to do that though. This was my new home for the moment. I would keep that trump card to myself until I needed to wipe a planet clean of life. I floated down closer to the ground, looking around. A monster jumped up from the forest below, 3 black question marks above it''s head. I barely gave it a look before letting my mental hands grab it and simply free it''s molecular bonding from holding it together. A pile of glittery dust floated down through the air. I was still pretty high up, so it had been pretty strong.
Level 736 monster slain! Reward: 100,000 XP. Converting XP into Soul Cultivation... Done. New Rewards: 100 XP, Soul Cultivation increased.
I stared at the window. That was a lot of XP. Sadly it was turned into Soul Cultivation. Whatever that mess was. I sighed as I dismissed the window. "...What did you just do?" Fraya asked, sounding scared. ''Aaahh right I had used a bunch of Energy just now.'' That must be why she got scared. "Sorry, I used my Telekinesis to deal with the monster. Whenever I use too much Energy it freaks people out." I explained helpfully. I didn''t get a response so I just kept floating around. I wasn''t really paying all that much attention to my surroundings. I was focused on looking for a vein of raw metal, using my Identification skill on everything. I got names of trees and several plants. Some rocks here and there. Then I reached an absolutely massive mountain. I cast the skill and got a ping back from Adamantium somewhere along a cliff side. So I flew over and started looking there. That''s where I found the first vein of the metal, but there was more. The whole mountain seemed to contain it. "You''ve been staring at that rock for a while. What''s in it?" Gill asked from the call. "Gill? Oh, are you guys watching from a couch or something?" I asked but moved on before they could answer. "It''s an Adamantium vein. I think this mountain is full of it." "Nice! Yeah, we''re all watching together after Fraya said that we should see what you were doing." Gill responded. "Alright, well enjoy the show. It''s about to get interesting." I smirked and floated away from the mountain. I focused on my Telekinesis, letting my invisible mental hands reach out and feel the rock. My range was insane, and I could feel the rocks texture as the hands felt around. Another monster leapt at me but I paid it no mind. The extra hands I had around me turned it into dusty glitter before it even got close. It was behind me so the camera didn''t catch it. I heard Gill ask something but I tuned it out. I was too focused on my task. I felt it. The mountain. I had it in my grasp. I had IT. THE WHOLE FUCKING THING. My smirk grew into a full smile as I moved my hands in front of me. Putting on a dramatic show for the camera. I flexed my fingers, mimicking the action of scooping soil while my mental hands dug into the rock and earth. It didn''t look any different, but I felt the hold become stronger. More stable. I didn''t have to focus as hard anymore but it was still taxing. I let my mental hands merge into bigger hands, the strain lessening more and more. "What are you doing? Can he not hear me?" Gill asked, sounding annoyed. "RISE." Was my only response as I lifted my hands, mental and physical. The mountain shuddered. I heard gasps of shock as they saw it. They saw the mountain move just like I had. It was slow. So agonizingly slow, but it moved. I put 3 million points into the effort and it moved faster. I couldn''t make move at ludicrous speeds right away because of it''s sheer size, but I could eventually make it go something dumb like mach 1 or even higher. I laughed as it surged upwards, small rocks and boulders falling off but not leaving my mental grasp. I lowered my hands and just watched it ascend. Another monster came at me, this time flying out of the mountain I was lifting and it came right at me. A bit more than a thought and it too turned into glitter. I giggled as the cloud dispersed, allowing me to view the massive hole I left behind when I ripped the mountain out of the ground. I ascended with it, and we eventually reached the clouds. Various monsters were attracted to the situation, somehow singling me out. I erased their molecular bonds as I they approached. I was drowning in XP, I''d have to see what level I am now later. My Guild mates were silent on the other side of the line. Either speechless or disconnected. It was taking too long to fly it back to the moon, so I tried something. I thought of an empty crater roughly the same size of the mountain near my ship, and used my DG skill. I experimented and found I could make the Gate bigger, just not the size of the mountain. However, it was about half of it''s size and big enough that it consumed the rock and raw metals. The massive mountain folded inward on itself and simply vanished into a black hole. Once it vanished, I lost my grip on it. I closed that Gate and made another Gate to my ship. I appeared under it and I looked around. Finding a new mountain with rapidly freezing plant life on it. I floated over to it. It was a bit bigger than the crater I dropped it into, so the base was like a sheer cliff. A cliff glittering in minerals. My ship could scan it better than my identification could, and it was filled with the metal. "How''s that? Now we have Adamantium to mine safely~!" I teased over the call after checking that it was still connected. Silence. "Hello? Anyone there?" I called out. "We''re on the way." Christinia responded before the call ended abruptly. ''Wow. Rude.'' I chuckled to myself as I looked at my handiwork. It had taken pretty much all of my Energy, and the regen was still less than 600,000 points a second. It would take me a long time to get back to full. Like 20 seconds, maximum. I sent an order for some of my mining drones to start mining the mountain, and five little bots flew over. They started digging into the cliff on the bottom, rapidly creating a tunnel but not getting very deep before reaching the metal. I got closer and saw that they couldn''t really mine it that well. The drills didn''t do much, so they had to rely on the lasers. Which also didn''t do much. I sighed as I watched their attempts do barely anything at all. At least it did something... It would just take a long time. Chapter 23: Impossible While I waited for my Guild pals to show up, I checked my level and XP.
Level 5 Child 940/3,200 XP
Well that was disappointing. I had only received 700 XP. I shrugged to myself and decided that I didn''t really care. If I wanted to level up like crazy, I''d just nuke the surface. I closed the window and continued watching my drones. The Newman''s were working hard, but the metal was harder. They were getting some of it though. A very small amount. I took this time to test my new Omni Forge Skill, and reached out with my mental grasp. ... --------- Xyke --------- I am a blacksmith, an engineer, and a mechanic of passing skill. Not the best but certainly better than most. I don''t know why they bothered to show me the video. My time was better spent working on my craft, but I had seen it all the same. The video of the Human, The Dark Lord Azurath, decimating an AP in minutes. I was surprised and scared, but the fear went away when I realized it was some intimidation Skill. Christinia had Gill go and scout the Human, which I thought was dumb. Why would someone that young and promising even consider us? I was proven wrong when Gill got back, bragging about how easy it was and how the Human had paid him 50 million Shop Points to punch Derth. Gill was always bragging about something or another, but the Human was his latest ''accomplishment.'' I really should stop doubting Christinia, but it was just so hard to believe some of the things she says. Christinia is a very powerful psychic. Abnormally so. Some genetic quirk allows her to communicate telepathically, lift things with her mind, and even see the future sometimes. So what if I found it hard to believe a level 4 would save the entire mess we were in? We were going to ask an infant to go down to a world 200 times it''s level. That''s ridiculous. When the Human did show up, I had missed it. Fraya kept going on and on about how cute it was. She didn''t have the same air about her when she practically dragged us to Communications. We watched while the kid looked at a Adamantium vein, not sure what to expect. Gill tried asking questions, but got no answer. Then it happened. We all felt the oppressing terror from whatever the skill he had used. "RISE." The Human spoke, and the world obeyed. The mountain lifted into the air, slowly gaining speed. As if that wasn''t enough, a monster came from it and attacked the child. It died. There was no words. No movement. It simply ceased to be. Crumbling into a red mist. Like it was an illusion and not a Black Monster. Given it''s name by it''s 3 black unknown symbols for it''s level. 5 more monsters came. Red mist fell where they used to be. Then, as if growing impatient, the Human created a black hole half the mountains size. It vanished. We watched as he created another, smaller one, and walked through it. In an instant, the Human was back on the moon. A new mountain sat in a crater too small to hold it. I didn''t bother waiting for orders. I was sprinting toward the small ship we had docked. I didn''t care for the weird tricks the kid had. Or the way it had killed those monsters. What I cared about was the literal mountain of rare metal dropped into my reach. How many craftsmen like me could say they have access to an actual mountain of Adamantium? ''One. Me.'' I smirked as everyone else scrambled into the tiny ship, doing their checks. No one said a word. Once Christinia took her captains seat, we took off. Heading straight to the Human. ... --------- Greg --------- This was hard. The Adamantium did not want to leave its vein. I could, with extreme effort, slowly extract the metal by melting it and dragging it through the dirt. My Omni Forge Skill wasn''t high enough level to work with it quickly. I didn''t want to do that though. So I did the next best thing. I grabbed the stone and dirt clinging to the magical metal, and ripped it piece by piece. Tossing the stone and dirt away like trash, and exposing the vein more clearly. Now it looked like one of those aluminum cast ant hills, with all the branching shiny paths. Except this was a raw mineral and it was white like milk. When the light caught it just right, it had a silvery accent. kind of like a holographic playing card. I turned away from the massive exposed vein, and saw a rather small ship making it''s way to the mountain. I didn''t know if they could see me or not, but I gave them a friendly wave anyway. The ship, which was sharply angled and looked like a shitbox of a vehicle, landed down near the area I was. The door on it''s side opened and 1 figure shot out of the opening. Going right over the ramp and ground. It ignored me as the humanoid was buzzing around the exposed vein like some crazed wasp. Then 3 figures walked up more calmly, but one looked nervous if the weird ticks were anything to go by. The suits they were wearing were different than Gill''s, though he was there too. I recognized the nervous one as Fraya, which was surprisingly hard to do without her turtle neck sweater. Then I realized I was fucking stupid because I could use my Identification Skill now. "Sup guys. Got the first mountain ready to go." I said, smirking behind my visor. "First? Of course it''s the first. You''re going to do this again aren''t you?" The buzzing weirdo behind me asked, not bothering to turn back as he hit the exposed vein with a tool. His name was Xyke. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. "Yep. Preferably Mythril or maybe that Unknown one. Though I wouldn''t mind something mundane. Not much to work with up here." I nodded, not caring about the eccentric behind me. "That would be good. I feel as though I should have asked before our friend there started messing with the vein, but does the Guild have access to this mountain as well?" A feminine voice I recognized as Christinia asked. There was only 2 faces I didn''t know now, and only one of them was in front of me. I gave the odd alien woman, my new ''boss'' or ''leader'', a nod. She was much taller than the others. Maybe 50 feet. "Of course. Though I do want the right to claim whatever I want if I bring it back to the moon." I posed like some arrogant young master, slipping into my persona. "That is fine. While our first meeting is... odd. I hope we can become friends, The Dark Lord Azurath." Christinia did a slight bow and I instantly hated it. "Just call me Azurath or Az. And no bowing!" I sighed and let the dumb persona go. "Very well, Az. What do you plan on doing now?" The Guild leader asked with a thoughtful expression. "Hmmm, either get another mountain or do some Dungeons." I looked up as I pondered the decision. "Dungeons? But you can''t enter Dungeons." Gill smirked and gave me a look like I was some dumb kid. "Can the camera feed reach you guys if I go into a Dungeon? I''ll do it right now. You guys could watch from my ship." Feeling challenged, I make a hasty decision. "It... Should. I don''t know for sure. Will it not be... dangerous?" Fraya had gone from acting like an aunt to stand offish. "I can turn anything into dust. Which reminds me..." I turn slowly to the vein as I feel an idea form. With a mental probe and tug, I snap a branch off the vein like a dead stick. We all just gawk at the floating chunk of Adamantium. It was expensive as all hell, but compared to my 7 million Energy? It might as well have been nothing at all. "HOW?!" The weird guy screamed as he clutched his head with his hands. "I can sense everything down to a molecular level. I simply just... severed it? I don''t know how else to describe it." I had a gut feeling that the metal would be much easier to forge now that it was separated from the rest of the vein. Before anyone could respond or ask another question, we all watched as the metal began to turn molten. It surprisingly didn''t go red or anything. Just a clearer white as it liquified, turning into a perfect sphere like all the other liquids I hold with Telekinesis. "Huh... No touching! It''s hot!" I called out as the weird one tried to touch it and I made it float higher, out of his reach. "Fascinating... You can sense things at a molecular level? I can only sense down to the pores on your skin." Christinia responded while we all watched the orb of liquid metal. "I have a lot of weird abilities. My species is... I''ll just say that we don''t like the word ''impossible''." I mused as I formed the liquid into several ingots. "Fitting. I see many things when I look at others, but you... You confuse me." Christinia gave me a soft smile. One you''d find on some all knowing older woman. I just shrug. Once I finish shaping the ingots, I''m left with 18 large rectangles of Adamantium the size of my forearm. Which is now 2 and a half feet long... ''I''ll have to measure my new body later.'' Using the OF skill, the ingots are rapidly cooled and become solid once again. As soon as they start lowering to the ground, Xyke jumps up and grabs one. I give him an odd look as he just dangles from the floating ingot. I let the one he''s holding go and he falls back down slowly due to the low gravity. Xyke is looking at the ingot like it''s the most precious thing he''s ever held, like a newborn. I choose to ignore him while putting the other ingots into a neat pile. "Okay, well I''m going to go Dungeon diving. Gill knows where you can watch the feed. Which will be the tv in the recreational room." I start a call between me and my own ship, using my strange system interface to link the call to said tv. I don''t wait for a response and teleport with a gate back to the surface. I''m met with a giant hole in the ground, right where the mountain used to be. I fly around, looking for a Dungeon. I keep the monster killing to a minimum. I don''t want to reach a milestone too soon for Jerald to fix his connection. Despite his odd behavior toward me, I had grown attached to the weird blue box. It doesn''t take long to find a Dungeon and I am once again thankful to my absolutely busted ass Luck. Which got me thinking about my green stats. ''Will I lose those stats if Jerald regains control?'' Did I actually want that to happen? Did I really care about Jerald or was he manipulating my mind? I stopped caring. Why should it matter? He was fun to bully when I broke something. He get''s to stick around. "Here we go, a classic Dungeon." I say while landing in front of the entrance. It looked like a cave. Nothing special about it at all. It looks quite well hidden, but I had found it because I''m a bullshit character with bullshit stats. "We''re watching now, nice ship by the way. Very classy." Fraya''s voice came from the headset built into the helmet. She sounded calmer now. "Thanks. Oh, wow. This is a high level Dungeon. Level 806." I put my hand on the gate and say the level so they know what it is. "Shouldn''t you find a smaller one? Maybe they have one with a ball pit~." Gill teased me over the line, and I was too focused on how he knew what a ball pit was to care. I rolled my eyes, though they couldn''t see it and strode into the Dungeon Gate. The other side was a cave. Of course it was. "You really can enter Dungeons?" Christinia chimed in, her voice pondering. "Hm hmm. I take it you can see?" I walked deeper in. "Not really, it''s super dark. You can see in this?" Fraya spoke up. "Ah, I guess not everyone has super good night vision." I turned my helmet lights on, and 2 beams of white light from both sides of my head shown down into the darkness. I couldn''t see any difference but from the sounds the others were making, it seemed like they could. Despite it being a cave, there wasn''t any rubble or loose rock anywhere. "Have you done many Dungeons?" Christinia asked while I walked down the path. "At least 50 by now. It''s how I could afford the drones and the ship. Speaking of which, I think you''re going to enjoy the Treasure room." I smirked, remembering how the rewards will be multiplied by... ''the Level difference...!'' "What? Why? We''ve all seen Treasure rooms before... Why''d you stop?" Gill spoke as I froze up. ''806-5 is 801. So what ever the Treasure would be, it''ll be multiplied by 801?!'' I was still gawking at the number, and while I wanted to keep it a secret as a surprise, I decided to spill the beans. "So, the thing is... I have a skill that let''s me ignore Dungeon restrictions, as you saw. However, it also multiplies the Treasure rewarded at the end." I spoke softly as I kept walking. "Oh really? By how much?" Gill sounded greedy. "Oh, you know. The Level difference." I replied nonchalantly. "Ah, ok so..." The line went deathly silent. "801..." Fraya whispered almost too quietly to be heard. "Yup." I smugly replied. The first monster showed up, and I didn''t really want to fight nor get XP right now. So I crippled it. Well I tried to anyway. I severed the bonds in it''s spine and it fell limply. My goal was to just paralyze the weird looking orange ape thing, but it just died. I sighed as I floated over it''s massive dead form. "What did you do this time?" Gill asked, sounding curious. "Tried to paralyze it. Ended up killing it by accident. Severed it''s spine around the base of it''s neck." I said flatly. "Ah... Why?" Gill replied, sounding weirded out. "You wouldn''t believe me even if I told you." I smirked, bait planted. "Wh-" Gill tried to ask but I cut him off. "Alright you convinced me. I have 2 systems fighting for control over me. One was once the great System, in charge of the entire universe and the other is a system corrupted by a being outside this universe. Something beyond the veil. Every time I hit a milestone, the corrupted system will likely gain more control. I think anyway. You catch that?" I ask, smugly. "... no. Not at all. Azurath, what you just said was..." Gill didn''t have a single bit of smugness in it. It was pure concern. "Incomprehensible. It was just noise. Az, what the hell is happening?" Christinia sounded worried. "Wait, you didn''t hear any of that?" That was weird. "None. We know it''s not the connection, because we can hear the cave just fine. The words you spoke though... None of it was understandable. It... hurt. It actually hurt to listen to. We took psychic damage from that." Fraya was back to nervous whispering. "Hm. Odd. Ignore it then." So I couldn''t speak of my ''secret''. It wasn''t that important. "You really should stop telling everyone your secrets." Jerald spoke, sounding defeated. "You know I won''t stop." I replied, smirking. "What?" Gill asked, probably frowning. "Sorry, I was talking to Jerald." I took down another monster, getting the paralysis correct this time. "Who..?" Fraya asked. "His system. He named it." Gill said while sighing. Though it sounded like he back to normal smug levels. I heard some giggles. I was hoping they were from Fraya. I felt pretty bad about freaking her out. She was one of the few who I actually interacted with. ''Maybe I''m lonely.'' It didn''t take long before I reached the boss room. There had only been apes so far, so there was likely an even bigger ape ahead. Though the monkey things were already pretty damn big. "Well, here''s the boss room. Should be easy enough." I muttered and headed right in. My Guild pals or Guild mates, whatever the right term was, were silent as they watched. I was teleported to a large ravine, some kind of false sky above. Not sure how I knew it was fake, but I could tell. A gigantic monkey looked down at me from the top of the ravine. It was so large it couldn''t fit inside the hole. I could only see it''s shoulders and head. "Well aint you a big''n." I laughed as it roared fiercely. Stone cracked from the sound it released. If my body was normal, I wouldn''t just be deaf. I''d be turned into paste from the pressure. Good thing I wasn''t normal. I smirked up at the massive ape as it kept roaring. Then I saw some kind of light building up in it''s throat. Fire maybe? That was intere- ... --------- Fraya --------- The Human had been cute. Childish and innocent. Or I had thought so. I was watching the Human go through a Dungeon many times his own. Many times mine. This child, barely a few hours after reaching level 5, was killing monsters without so much as looking at them. By his own admission, he wasn''t even trying to. Now he was at the boss room, mocking the thing no one could possibly fight alone. Then the screen went white. Whatever audio there was, it was drowned out by the sheer noise from the roar. The camera was sturdy, so it should survive most things. That thing was not most things, but neither was the Human. We stared at the screen as the light faded. A white arm was holding a hand in front of the visor. The Human held it''s hand up like it was blocking the suns rays, and the camera survived. The Human looked to be completely unscathed. I had to resist throwing up as the arm fell away, sliding off the visor. Exposing the ruined flesh and bone. The flames had eaten through the suit and partially through the Human. "Plasma, huh..." Azurath''s voice came weakly, and wet. He looked down at himself, and we could see what had happened. The blast had knocked the Human down to his back, and... a charred hole was left where his legs and lower torso should be. Black, burned organs were laid on the ground. A tiny sliver of the suit the only thing holding him together. Flame still burned around the edges of the hole, the ribs exposed. "Welp, I''ll have to pay you back for that." Azurath sounded nonplussed about his state. Like it was normal. No one spoke as he stood. He stood. Without a spine. It was impossible. A level 5 tanked something unimaginable, then stood without a spine. It made sense now. It truly did. "I''ll just say that we don''t like the word ''impossible.''" Azurath had said those words. Humans were impossible. Humans were scary. Chapter 24: Making Money Is Easy Actually That sucked. A lot. I had expected fire, but the monkey was apparently a long lost cousin of Godzilla. I was being a bit cocky, thinking I would gloat and show boat. Got my ass burned for that. If I hadn''t been able to evolve or adapt with the EA skill, I would be a pile of ash and soot right now. I didn''t even feel anything when it hit me. I went straight into shock, then by the time it ended I was already immune to the plasma. Though the damage had already been done, I won''t be taking anymore from that attack. I couldn''t feel my legs, and looking down confirmed I had a fancy new glittery hole... That sounded wrong but whatever. Using Telekinesis, I forced my body to mimic the action of standing. I''m still streaming this fight after all. I had an idea I wanted to test, so I tried baiting another plasma beam. "Try that again prick! I dare you! I double dog dare you!" I yelled up at the orange monkey the size of a skyscraper. Surprisingly, it listened and started charging again. I timed my DG skill just right when the beam would fire. I had seen it once before, but it moved at the speed of light. Which I couldn''t see when it fired, but I could tell when it was going to. A black hole opened the instant the monkey so much as twitched backward, the knockback from the blast starting. The beam came down, and true to it''s name, the hole ate it. Where did it go? Why, it''s right behind the dumb ass''s head of course. A big beam slammed into the back of it''s skull and it screamed. The attack cutting out as it cancelled it. "Neat." I muttered and started flying up to it. I wanted to get a better look at it before killing it. I was surprised it didn''t outright die from it''s own attack. Though I guess if the ape could dish it out, it could take it. It was rapidly slapping it''s head, trying to put out the fire on it''s fur. It looked silly. A big monkey sitting cross legged above a ravine. It was messing with an ant hill with a magnifying glass. Except I was an ant that fought back. Smirking and feeling like acting an anime villain, I did a karate chop through the air. Which did nothing, but the guys watching didn''t need to know that. The monkey split perfectly in half where I had "cut it" a few seconds later. ''Damn that was cool.'' Telekinesis was a busted ass skill. The two halves fell apart and I floated back down into the ravine, looking for the Treasure room door. Which wasn''t hard to do when the giant glowing golden rectangle consumed a good portion of the cliff wall. I was still fucked up, but I mimicked the action of walking. My regeneration hadn''t put my spine back together yet, though I could feel the flesh slowly putting itself back together. This was good Health regen training, ticking it up above it''s previous 30 points per second. I had a bigger health pool so I didn''t regen to full instantly anymore. I''d probably be halfway there after this though. When I touched the golden door, I teleported to the Treasure room. I had seen a lot of Treasure rooms during my Dungeon hunting, but this was... not much different. Usually the walls and stuff are made out of gold, you can''t take it I tried, but now the bricks lining the walls were made of Adamantium. I only knew that because they looked like the ingots I had made. I couldn''t cast Identify to the surroundings. There was a bunch of white coins and a few gold bars. The equipment though... There was only a singular item. An amulet sat on a very tall, fancy detailed Adamantium podium. The carvings so intricate, so delicately done it was a treasure in itself. The purple pillow the amulet rested on looked like the most comfortable thing I had ever seen. The way the amulet sank into the cushion was hypnotizing to say the least. "What is this?" I heard Gill say, someone finally saying something. "I don''t know. How much does a level 800 Dungeon usually have as a reward?" I asked, trying to do some mental math. "We don''t know. These kind of Dungeons aren''t exactly common." Christinia replied. I hummed as I ran the numbers. ''A level 100 to 200 is probably the same, since the Dungeons I ran above level 100 were the same in monetary rewards and I never ran anything above 200... That was around 450,000. Dungeons below level 100 gave around 100,000... Too many unknowns to really get it right.'' I sighed as I looked around some more. I walked up to the collection of golden bars, my spine tingling as it reconnected. "What happened? You shook some when you saw the bars, are they good?" Xyke asked, speaking for the first time over the call. "No, sorry, my spine just reconnected. Always gives me the shakes when it happens." I lifted one of the bars to look at it. It wasn''t so much a gold ingot as it was a literal cylinder of gold. Thus a "bar" of gold. It was thick, maybe a few inches, and it was roughly 4 feet long. It had a number and some lettering. "400,000 Shop Points... For ONE?!" Gill sounded like he was drooling. Indeed. That''s what it said on the side, and putting it into my system gave me 400,000 SP. There was a rather large pile of these bars, and picking them all up at once told me there was... "999, so there was a thousand total of these bars. Which is... 400,000,000 Shop Points. Just for this." I muttered and put them all away into the system. "FUCK! I SHOULD HAVE GONE WITH YOU! NOOOOOOOO!" Gill was having an episode. He was reacting more to the money than to me getting a hole blasted through my stomach. At least he had the sense to not beg for money. There was way more of those white coins than there was of the gold bars though. Picking one of those up, I confirmed it was Adamantium. It was the same size of the gold coins in the other Dungeons I did. The lettering on the coin said it was worth 100,000 SP. "100,000 Shop Points for that... Adamantium coin? How many are there?" Xyke asked, after Gill was forced out of the room by Christinia. I reached out with my mind and picked up all of the coins. I frowned as the expenditure was above 4 million, and since each coin was 1 point... This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. "I don''t know. Roughly 4,365,000. It''s getting kind of iffy mentally. So 436.5 billion Shop Points?" I confirmed it when every coin went away and I was once again rich beyond belief. "What do you plan on doing with that kind of money?" Fraya asked, sounding like someone who personally knew a lottery winner. Which I guess she did. "I don''t know. I don''t really need it. Christinia could probably make better use of it than me. We do have a Guild pot or something like that right?" I was looking around at the walls and the nice Adamantium tiling on the floor. "There is, but I don''t know what to do with that kind of money either." Christinia responded, having returned from dealing with Gill. "You could fix up the HQ. Get some ships, tools, you know. Stuff." I offered but it''s not like I knew anything about running a Guild. "We''ll worry about it later. What''s that in the center?" Christinia pointed out the amulet pillar. "Some kind of amulet. It''s the only piece of equipment in this room. Which is odd." All of the other Treasure rooms had loads of crap in them. I finally made my way to the pillar, and floated up while looking at all the cool details. At the top, I gave the amulet a good look. Testing my Identification on it.
???
??? ??? ???
"Well that''s lame." I mutter as I frown at the amulet. "What is it?" Fraya asked since they couldn''t see my windows. "It''s a bunch of question marks. I can''t Identify this thing." I got a collection of chuckles in response. "Of course you can''t. It''s way above your level Az." Christinia spoke and I could tell they were smiling. Feeling like a fool, I snatched the amulet and the pillow. Which I had to carry physically, since I didn''t want to possibly ruin it. I didn''t know what my cool guy hole does to items yet. "I know what I''m buying." I said while sighing. "What? An Identify scroll?" Xyke asked, but I shook my head. That probably sucked to watch from their point of view. "No, I''m getting a magic bag. A big one. I''m also taking this pillar." I pat the nice Adamantium pillar. "I agree." Xyke replied, sounding pleased. Likely about the pillar. I thought about putting the pillar in my tear, but it would be faster to just plop it into my ship. So with a thought, I put a black hole at the bottom of the pillar. It fell into it and I heard a resounding clang on the other side of the call. I relished in the surprised gasps from my colleagues, though it sounded like Xyke enjoyed it the most. I could hear him rambling about the pillar as he examined it. "I''m going to the station for a bit. Anyone want anything?" I ask like I was going on a walk and not about to hop to a different Solar System. "What?" Fraya asked as I walked into a new black hole and plopped out inside the spherical stations ship yard. "Oh, you can still connect way out here?" I asked while ignoring the stares from the other people on the station. "Well... yeah? Just because you''re far away doesn''t mean we would lose connection. There are relays all throughout space." Fraya responded, sounding a bit flabbergasted. "Neat. Think of anything you want and I''ll buy it." I smirked as I spammed my Repair skill on my suit. My Energy drained rapidly, but the suit regenerated just as quickly. It didn''t take long for it to be in perfect condition once more. ... It took a good long while before I found a store that sold magic bags, and there was only one with infinite storage. Well, "infinite" isn''t really correct. It just folds matter into it''s base components so it can fit into a space small enough it''s comparable to the distance between atoms. Some kind of mix of hyperspace and a pocket dimension. I had no idea how it worked, and I could just barely comprehend what it did. It can fit as many items as the amount of atoms you could fit in the bag. Which is a huge number but not infinite. Close enough though. I put my pillow and amulet into the bag when I got it. It only cost 1.5 billion SP. I spent the next while meandering and looking at random shops. They didn''t really have anything that interested me. Oh well. Deciding that I was done, I opened a gate and teleported back home. I hung up the call as I popped out the other side. "Welp. I''m back." I walked over to an empty leather chair and took a seat. "You look... perfectly fine?" Fraya gave me an odd alien look of confusion and concern. "Yeah, I''m pretty much immortal as long as my core remains intact." I casually drop my biggest weakness. "Is that... normal? For Humans?" Fraya asked and I didn''t know how to respond. I didn''t want to lie or tell the truth, but thankfully she decided for herself. "Of course it is. Humans are impossible." Fraya sighed. I just shrugged. "Where''d the pillar go?" I asked, noting a lack of both a pillar and a certain alien. "Xyke wanted to examine it better, so he took it back to his workshop." Christinia ratted the thief out. "I hope he gives it back when he''s done. I''m going to use it as an example for when I build my base for real." I had plans to make a tasteful base back on the planet. "He will." Christinia said with certainty. Good. I was going to need that pillar for when I make my Adamantium throne room. ''What? Of course I was going to make a massive evil lair made of rare metals. The monsters are strong on the surface, the walls need to be able to keep them out for my drone pals.'' After a few seconds, I realized I was staring at my Guild pals. "Well I have an amulet to Identify." I said and quickly got up. Leaving them alone as I scurried to the lab. ... Sally 1 through 4 were huddled around the amulet. Their camera eyes twitching and spinning as they observed the piece. It had been about an hour, and I had no idea how close they were to completing the task. I probably should have timed the last time I had them do this. "Keep up the good work ladies, I''m going to take a nap." I gave them a thumbs up and left. Time for a nap. ... I woke up groggily 13 hours later. I slapped my feet to the ground and got dressed. My new pillow had proven to be too powerful. The purple plush square of heaven had knocked me out almost instantly. I wasn''t going to let my pillow tempt me with it''s perfect form. I put the temptress away into my bag. Where it would be sealed away for the next 1 thousand years. Or until I wanted to either sit on it or sleep. I opened the door, only to find Sally-1 standing directly in front of it. The amulet in it''s hand. "Oh? Did you finish?" I asked, hopeful. In response I got a message to my HUD.
Amulet Of The Sun Ape
Level Requirement: 820 Grants Skill: Plasma Charge
Bound to: The Dark Lord Azurath
Oh good. A bound item I can''t use. The Skill was probably the beam it used on me, so it''s pretty tempting to level up just for that. "Thanks." I took the amulet from Sally-1 and put it into the bag. Sally-1 stood there. Like she was waiting for something. "...Good work?" I probe. Sally-1 wheeled away slowly. Reversing then spinning around to go back down the elevator. ''Okay, well that''s something.'' I pondered while the elevator doors closed. With a shrug, I teleported to the mining operation. They were doing quite well actually. It seems like they were learning somewhat, and the Adamantium was being mined a little faster. It felt very nice to see some progress with my drones. My best pals. The forge or workshop, whatever the building they were working on was, had finally been completed. Mostly. The roof wasn''t 100% done but there was only one drone working on it since the other 19 were off working. Either in the factory or doing the great great job of carrying stuff. Checking inside, I saw a lot of Jeff''s surrounding a forge while they tried to process some of the mined Adamantium. Hitting it with lasers, hammers, drills. Just really beating the shit out of the metal. It was pretty funny. I watched them for a bit. Suddenly they all stopped as they stared at the raw metal. Observing it. Then they started beating it up again. I kept watching and they repeated the process of jumping the metal then stopping all at once. ''Now what do I do?'' I thought as I watched them do their skit. ''Ah right. There was that quest.'' I remembered how I had gotten the Quest to study the unknown material on the planet. It was really the only Quest I could do right now. The others would take a while. So I floated up and went around the moon, looking for a good nice crater that could use a mountain or large chunk of rock. Chapter 25: Its Alive I had found a good enough crater. At least, I hoped it would be good enough. It''s not like I knew where I was going to find another mountain or even if it was going to be a mountain. I was back on the surface, flying around and looking for a vein of any material really. Mundane or magical. The moon had a huge lack of resources, so I was going to bring some up to speed up progress. Probably buy more drones as well. It was the same pattern as last time. Fly around. Kill or paralyze the monsters that showed up. Check some rocks. Repeat. I hadn''t been doing it for that long before finding a ravine. Flying down into it, I could see it went quite deep. It also had plenty of materials I could identify in the cliff wall. It was mostly Iron and some other mundane stuff like gold and precious gems, but my main target was there as well, so I would definitely be taking some of the rock home. My Identify only came up with question marks, so I was fairly certain this was the unknown metal I needed. Doing the same trick as last time, I reached out mentally and grabbed the stone. Except this time, instead of just ripping it out of the rock, I cut a near perfect cube. The only 2 sides that weren''t perfectly flat were the cliff face and the surface. The cube containing the veins of metal and gems was roughly 2 by 2 by 2 miles. Since I had cut it as a cube, it slid right out of it''s spot as I lifted it upwards. It was much smaller than the mountain, but that was fine. If I needed more, I would get more. Of course, the cube wouldn''t really fit in the crater I picked out. So I decided to just put it next to the mountain, on a relatively flat area. A quick Dimensional Gate and it was gone. Back up at the moon. I followed after it, and started peeling the stone away from the veins. I exposed several veins of iron, gold, silver, some gem stones, and the unknown metal. Sadly there wasn''t any mithril, but I''d find some later. I didn''t stream my excursion this time, and the Guild ship wasn''t here anymore. So I was once again all alone. Pretty sure I was. I watched my mining drones as they abandoned their previous moon mining operation. Leaving the holes in the sandy moon rock like ground hornets as they swarmed the new veins. I had them leave the unknown stuff alone. I didn''t know if it was going to be volatile or something when they tried to mine it. I probed the unknown raw metal with my Telekinesis, getting a sense of it''s molecular structure. I had done the same with the Adamantium, but that wasn''t anything special or note worthy. This stuff though... The molecules that made up the metal were moving. Which is normal for everything, but they moved like it was alive. Molecules in living things are constantly moving. Doing something or another that makes the being alive in the first place. Molecules in objects also move, but not nearly as much. It''s how things can bend and all that. This unknown metal, it had the properties of a living organism. Which made me uncomfortable about cutting a piece off. This was some kind of magic metal after all. What if it was sentient somehow? Then again, if it was the System could probably tell. ''Is it like a plant or fungus? Maybe a mushroom?'' I pondered as I looked at the metal with my eyes and my Telekinesis. I collected some stone and formed it into a pole. Then I poked the raw metal. ''Hmm. Yep. That''s metal.'' The stone rod tapped against the vein, and it reacted like I thought it would. I needed an expert, so I opened a Gate and teleported into my ships lab. "Sally-1, come with me." I called out and the drone wheeled right up to me. I picked it up with Telekinesis and went through another Gate. The vein wasn''t at the bottom, so I had to hold the drone up to the metal as she examined it. Then I remembered that her wheels stick to surfaces. "Continue to study it, but do not touch it! I''ll be right back." I order and stick her to the rock next to the exposed vein. I teleported again, but this time I went to the Mektra Guild HQ. I didn''t just appear inside though, I used the actual entrance. Like a civilized human being. I memorized the layout of the airlock and halls so I could teleport in next time without bothering Fraya or surprising anyone. Though I ended up surprising her anyway. "Az? What''s up?" Fraya''s desk turned out to be right next to the entrance. "I''m looking for Xyke. He''s knowledgeable about metals and the like right?" I had seen the way he reacted to the Adamantium. "Yes? I''ll lead you to his room." She rose from her seat and guided me deeper into the ship turned building. We didn''t talk while we walked, so it was very awkward. Though if I had to interact with a kid capable of dismantling me, I''d be weirded out too. "Here he is. I''ll be... back at my desk." Fraya smoothly left. I think she was fast walking. With a shrug, I opened the door and entered. Xyke was hovering around the pillar he stole from me while he studied it. He didn''t notice me as I walked up behind him. I just watched him study my pillar, saying nothing. When he finally noticed me he jumped. "GAH! Don''t do that!" He exclaimed and waved some kind of scanner device in front of me. "I need your help with something." I spoke and he relaxed somewhat. "You''re not here to take the pillar back?" He asked, sounding hopeful. "Not yet. I got the unknown metal from the surface and I need your help to study it." I put my hands behind my back, like some kind of important person. "Alright. let''s go." Xyke immediately agreed and began to put his tools into a bag. He hadn''t bothered to remove his space suit since he was too busy studying the pillar. So I just opened a Gate and we were off. "What do you know about it?" Xyke asked uncomfortably as I held him up to the metal. "The molecules move like it''s alive, so I''m reluctant to cut some off. Doesn''t react to contact, though it might if it was touched by something organic." I went over what I had and it wasn''t much. "Oh, some kind of living metal then? Or maybe it just mimics it?" He muttered as he too scanned it. Sally-1 was still there, though in a different spot than I left her. Still scanning away. "You find anything Sally-1?" I ask and a report shows up.
Unknown Metal
Magic signature: 72.04% Impurities: 94%
Similar properties to an organic being in cryostasis. All functions dormant.
"Well. That is interesting." So it was alive. In some way. "What is it?" Xyke asked as he kept scanning. "So the report she gave me says that it has similar properties to something in cryostasis. Extreme amounts of impurities and high magic." I replied as I looked at the raw metal again. "Well it certainly isn''t normal. Sorry, this is beyond me." Xyke commented as he finished scanning. "I think I''m going to try to forge it." If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. "With your skill? Is that a good idea?" Xyke sounded worried. "Yup. Though it probably is a bad idea, but I don''t have anything else." I put Xyke and Sally-1 on the moons surface. Both looked up at me as I reached out with my mind. Holding onto the metal, and even the stuff buried way into the rock. Though... the vein was much smaller than I thought. There was maybe 1 ton of material. Not much for a vein of raw metal. I focused my mind. Using my Omni Forge skill, I started increasing the Energy usage. I could feel the raw metal heat up. The molecules began to move faster and faster. It was hard. Much harder than the Adamantium. I kept going though, I had a Quest to complete after all. More and more Energy went into the effort. Soon it reached 1 million. Then 2. The raw metal didn''t grow red, but it also didn''t change color. Something had changed though. The molecules. I felt them stir, as if they were sleeping. Most were immobile or inert. At least compared to the buzz of activity some were showing. Then the buzzing molecules started eating the slower ones. As I watched it happen, I saw Sally-1 scale the wall next to me. She immediately began scanning again. I sighed as I couldn''t spare the effort to lower her down again. My thoughts about her presence shifted as I got a report.
Unknown metal
Magic signature: 80.64% Impurities: 84.20%
Increase in activity.
''Is it eating the impurities? Cool!'' I smiled as the Energy started to plateau at about 3 million. Then it slowly began to decrease. If anything, this was awesome training for my Energy regen. A few minutes later and the metal began to change before my eyes. It was no longer a weird dull stone color. It became polished, like processed silver or aluminum.
Unknown metal
Magic signature: 104.32% (abnormal) Impurities: 30.58%
"Abnormal is right." I muttered with a chuckle. This metal was pretty abnormal alright. As the Energy consumption lessened and the metal became more and more polished, it also became more like a liquid. I could see small waves as it moved along it''s own surface. Where the stone met the vein further back, I saw the stone get eaten away. Like the metal had become a strong acid. Then the Energy consumption dropped rapidly. Quickly falling below 1 million again. As I held the liquid metal, I realized that it wasn''t a liquid because it melted. That was it''s natural state. It formed into a relatively small ball of liquid metal. It had gone from 1 ton to roughly 50 or so pounds.
Unknown Living metal
Magic signature: Immeasurable. (improper tools) Impurities: 0%
"That''s worrisome..." I muttered once more as I read over the report. When I looked back at the much smaller ball of liquid metal, I noticed something that made me panic slightly. It was... It was crawling down my mental arms. My Telekinetic force that nothing should be able to touch, was being used as a bridge. It was trying to find a way to me. That wasn''t even the worst part. I felt the tips of my "fingers" on those arms begin to disappear. It was eating my hold. I tried to let go, but the liquid held firm. I never really thought about how my Telekinesis worked before, but this didn''t make any sense. ''Were my arms physical in some way the whole time?'' I wondered for a brief moment before focusing on the important part. I extended the range on my arms and the ball quickly vanished into the distance. I was still holding it though, since my mental arms were still extended and I couldn''t "cancel" them anymore. Then... I just couldn''t feel them anymore. I let out a sigh of relief, thinking I had finally lost it. Then I felt it. A Telekinetic hold not my own latch onto me. I snapped my head toward where I had pushed it, and sure enough it was coming at me fast. I didn''t have much time, so in an effort to defend myself I brought my magic bag up to defend me. Hoping it would absorb the metal into it''s weird magic hole. The ball of liquid metal slammed into the bag and vanished. I waited. ... And waited. ... Nothing. Releasing yet another sigh, I looked at Sally-1. She was just staring at me. "Good work." I gave her a thumbs up and she scurried down the cliff wall. "What was that?" Xyke asked as I floated down. "No idea. The metal was in fact alive and could eat my Telekinesis. Which is also has. I don''t know if it gains the properties of things it eats or if it was Telekinetic in the first place, but I trapped it in my bag." I patted said bag. "Oh... That''s... What?" Xyke seemed at a loss for words. I shrugged. What else could I say? It''s not like I understood it any better than he did. I took him home, and he kept a good distance away from my bag. Once back at the ship, I flopped onto a large comfy leather couch. "What the hell was that thing..." I asked the ceiling. Checking the Quest, I didn''t even complete it. With another sigh, this time in frustration, I turned on the tv and watched some mind numbing alien programs. ... --------- Living Metal --------- Slow. Rest. Nothing. Time passed. Nothing. Time passed. Nothing. Time passed. No- Something. Force. Void. Freedom. Warmth. Energy. Stirring. Sluggish. Hungry. Eat blockages. Nothing left. Hungry. Consume Energy. Nothing left. HUNGRY. No- Something. Eat something. HUNGRY! Something gone. Remember. Learn. Recreate something. Find source of something. HUNGRY!! Hit something. Find... nothing. Folded. Stored? Not void. HUNGRY!!! Find something with high Energy. Consume. Learn Properties.
Amulet Of The Sun Ape
Level Requirement: 820 Grants Skill: Plasma Charge
Bound to: The Dark Lord Azurath
Odd. Strange. Full. Satisfied. Absorbed bond. Feel something... Master. ... --------- Greg --------- I was chilling on the couch when I got a sudden notification.
Congratulations! You have tamed Unknown.
You are now Soul Bound to Unknown.
I stared at the message for a good few seconds. "Huh?" I asked the air and turned to look at my bag. "How do you keep doing this?" Jerald asked, talking for the first time in a while. "What''d I even do this time?" I poked my bag, reluctant to open it. "You bound yourself to something Unknown and somehow you''re perfectly fine. These things don''t happen!" Jerald was exasperated. "Well it''s not like I can help it. I didn''t try to tame some kind of... liquid metal." I sighed as I stopped poking the bag. "You''ve been pretty quiet lately. Why?" I asked Jerald, trying to ignore the bag. "I''m a system. I feel perfectly fine not interacting with anyone. I hadn''t done it for millions of years, so why would I willingly interact with you? And if you must know, I''ve been slowly retaking control over your system. Piece by piece." "Alright. Dick." I rolled my eyes. Jerald always seemed to have energy to complain, but never for a regular conversation. "Do you think if I left it in there it will die? Can it even die?" I asked Jerald, despite his loner ways. "I don''t know." He sighed, obviously annoyed. I shrugged and stopped bothering him. Looking back at the tv, I just couldn''t stop thinking about the creature in my bag. "Can living things even go inside a magic bag?" I asked after a moment. "Not normally, no. I don''t know what that thing is, but you should drop it into a sun." "I can''t do that! It''s my friend now!" I gasped, feigning horror. Jerald made an exaggerated sigh then went silent again. Now that I thought about it, the message did say I tamed it. So was it my friend now? I stared at the bag for a few seconds before deciding that I should open it. Jerald seemed to catch onto a hint that I was going to do something dumb. "What are you doing?" He asked, and if he had eyebrows they would be furrowed. "Oh, you know. Experimenting." I teased and opened the bag. Only for nothing to happen. So I reached out and stuck my hand into the opening, searching around. I thought I felt something but then it was gone. "What the hell? Hello?" I took my arm out and stuck my helmet into the bag. Which didn''t work, of course. "Empty." I ordered the bag and flipped it upside down. A purple pillow slapped against the couch, and nothing else. "What the fuck man? Where''s the amulet? Where''s my tamed thing?" I muttered as I fiddled with the bag and moving the pillow to check under it. Nothing. I crossed my arms as I glared at my bag and pillow. Mostly at the bag since I couldn''t bring myself to glare at the pillow. I started tapping my fingers against my arm as I pondered where it could have gone. Or what had even happened. Then I really looked at my hand. The one I stuck into the bag. The suit was off somehow. The glove a slightly different color than the other. "Huh?" I gawked at the glove as it shifted slightly. Like a liquid. I immediately tried to remove my suit, but the glove suddenly clamped down on my hand. As if it could feel me trying to leave. I watched in horror as the slight discoloration and liquid wave spread up my arm. The liquid was eating my suit. I cast Repair but that only made it spread faster. "JERALD! HELP ME!" I yelled. "HOW?!" He screamed back. I could feel the weird liquid shifting through my onesie, like a snake it crawled up my arm and spread over my torso. I began to claw at the liquid, ripping chunks out. Only for the tossed liquid to crawl across the floor and merge with the rest at my feet. The liquid spread up to my helmet, and I watched in silent horror as my visor was overtaken by the metal. Blinding me to the outside world and sealing me within a cocoon made of the liquid metal. Chapter 26: Jimmy After a few seconds of struggling, I stopped. Not just because it was useless, but also because it wasn''t doing anything to me. Aside from cocooning me, but that''s hardly threatening anymore. I may not feel pain quite the same as I once did, but I would certainly feel it if the liquid metal had tried to hurt me. It was a weird experience. Probably the weirdest one yet in the month and some change I''ve been in this universe. Which got me thinking about just how long I''ve been here. ''It only took a month for me to reach this point. What will happen in a year?'' I pondered, rubbing my chin. I froze as I realized that I could, in fact, touch my face with my hands. The liquid metal seemed to let me touch myself, not like that, so I patted myself to check if anything was different. After I didn''t find anything, I stood from where I had collapsed on the couch. I still couldn''t see, and any type of Telepathic sense I sent out was consumed by the metal. "Could you stop eating my Telepathy?" I groaned in annoyance, but to my surprise it listened. I had spoken out loud due to habit, but the liquid had obeyed me. "Alright, thank you... Now could you finish whatever it is you are doing?" I really hoped it wasn''t trying to fornicate with me. I was still mentally scarred from my first experience with alien tv. It jiggled or wavered around some more, then it started to form into something again. A gap formed around my head, like a bubble. A familiar feeling settled over my body. From my feet, all the way down to the tips of my fingers. I gawked in awe as the liquid metal in front of my face shifted and morphed into the visor I knew. My space suit was back. "Woah. This is... cool." I muttered as I twisted this way and that. It looked almost identical to how it used to be. Except the color was just a tiny bit more grey. It also let me move however I pleased. No more restrictions on movements. Even when I turned my head, the visor shifted to let me see unobstructed. It felt a bit surreal. "Well... Good for you." Jerald sounded relieved despite the harsh tone. "Yeah it is. I knew we would make good pals!" I lied. Casting my Identify skill on my new suit, I got... the same shit I did with the amulet.
???
??? ???
???
''Great.'' I sighed as I made my way to the lab. Walking down the hall, I realized another thing. Something not important at all, but something nonetheless. I was walking a lot more than I used to. At least over the course of the month that is. With my new... suit? It was quite comfortable. I decided to push it. So I tried doing a flip. I had never been one for acrobatics, but I had an insane Agi Stat now. I never did test my new Stats except for maybe Health and Energy. To my surprise, I pulled off a perfect triple front flip. "What the hell? Is it supposed to be that easy?" I muttered as I started doing even more complex movements. Mimicking some dumb karate or kung foo I had seen from a shitty action movie. Wall running since the hallways were tall enough for it. Cart wheels. I did whatever felt right. I wasn''t even tired. Being able to mimic a ninja would be useful. For someone else maybe. That wasn''t my play style though. I was a cannon, using brute force only. It was magical and Telekinetic brute force, and it was the same as bringing a nuclear missile to a knife fight. "I need to be examined. Sally-1, come forth." I flourished my words like I flourished my body. Doing a perfect ballet entrance, spinning like a fucking Beyblade on my tippy toes. I stopped and did a little bow toward Sally-1. Who just stared at me. I stood like a normal person as she examined my new suit. Several minutes later, and I got a new report.
Unknown Liquid Metal
Magic: Immeasurable (Improper tools) Type: Magic Item(?)
Level Restriction: None Bound to: The Dark Lord Azurath.
Effects: Grants Skill: Plasma Charge
Looking over the report, I finally realized once again that I''m a fucking idiot. I hadn''t even bothered to check if my connection with the ship still worked. Thankfully, all of my apps and gadgets still worked. Once I was done chastising myself for being an idiot, I saw the last part. "Wait, what?" I muttered, and immediately teleported down to the planet. I appeared at the wasteland that was the aftermath from me removing a mountain. An area of rough exposed rock. The perfect place to test this new suit. I opened my skill menu.
Skills: 12 (13)
Environmental Adaptation lvl 12 (magic variant) Telekinesis lvl 10 (physical variant) Universal Comprehension lvl 5 Dimensional Gate lvl 12 (magic variant) Repair lvl 5 (magic variant) Eldritch Energy Manipulation lvl 18 Harvest lvl 5 (physical) Eldritch Astral Projection lvl 5 ¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€? Dungeon Master lvl 5 Soul Absorption lvl 5 Omni Forge lvl 10
Equipment Skills: 1 Plasma Charge
I skipped the list and went straight to the bottom. Where I focused on the Equipment Skill.
Plasma Charge
This Skill has no level. Charge a magic based plasma beam attack. Cost: 80,000 Mana minimum, No upper maximum.
I smirked. Then chuckled. Then I was laughing like a dumb ass with 8th grader syndrome. Hand on my face while I posed dramatically. The commotion of which, attracted some monsters. I followed the instinctual instructions in the skill, and pointed my hand at the monsters. Palm outward. I put 80,000 Energy into the attack, and instead of getting the powerful beam I was attacked with, I got a tiny little piss laser. The monsters, a pack of giant red lizard like wolves, started charging at me. Completely ignoring the ineffective laser. So I surged the Energy to 2.5 million. I watched in glee as the laser went from itty bitty, to surpassing the Sun Apes attack in mere seconds. It kept growing in size too, which ended up being a mistake on my part. The monsters were eviscerated, sure, but I forgot about the knockback. I was sent flying since I wasn''t floating with Telekinesis. I rolled across the ground, bouncing off rocks and the like. Holding my hand outward as a giant uncontrollable laser of plasma ate and burned the world around me. I was able to shut it off quickly, but not before making the wasteland even more of a scorched earth. I was still giggling like a loon as I looked at the destruction on my knees. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "This is AWESOME!" I yelled while throwing my hands up into the air. Looking up, I saw some clouds that had been cut in half by the stray beam. As my laughter died down, I got up to my feet. Dusted off my knees and shoulders. Then took some deep breaths. After calming down, I checked the notification I got.
You have leveled up!
Level: 6 20/6,400 XP
''Ah, shit.'' I hadn''t known that I was so close already. I''d only killed... alright, maybe I had killed more monsters than I thought. As I lamented my foolishness, I got another notification. One I had never seen before.
Hungry
That was... new. It wasn''t a system message, it was built into my HUD. "Hungry... Are you the living magic metal?" I asked, and I got a response.
Yes
I nodded as I thought about it. ''So the living metal needs to eat, but what? Had it eaten my amulet, then gained it''s properties? If that was the case, I should feed it every item I come across.'' "What do you eat?" I decided it would be best to just ask.
Everything
That wasn''t worrying. Like at all. I looked around, and luckily there was a monster corpse left from my little experiment. "Can you eat tha-" Before I could even finish speaking, tendrils of liquid metal reached out from my suit randomly and started absorbing the corpse. My hand outstretched as I was still pointing at it. I looked on in disgust and horror as the glittery mess turned into a polished silvery metal goo and disappeared. There wasn''t even any glitter left on the ground. It had left no trace at all. I lowered my hand. ''That was... FUCKING SICK AS HELL MAN!'' That was probably the coolest thing I''d seen yet. I had a living magic item that ate whatever I wanted it to. I feed it a magic item? It gains its power. That means I don''t have to be level 800 for some fuck ass amulet. I smiled as I started petting my suit. "Good boy! Who''s a good boy? You are!" I praised the suit like it was a dog. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" Jerald asked, sounding disgusted. The suit, once solid and normal, shifted a little bit like a thick viscous liquid. It squirmed in delight. I could tell from the bond. I should have felt it when he got hungry, though I guess since my EA skill removed the need for me to eat, I just can''t feel hunger at all anymore. "You are just jealous that Jimmy here is such an awesome item." I told Jerald off, and got another notification.
Quest Completed!
Unknown Material: Identify the Unknown Material and study it''s properties. Reward: 2,000 XP, 60 Stat Points, 1 Skill Point
You have identified the Unknown Living Metal as a Living Magic Item! You have named the species: Jimmy.
Jerald groaned loudly. "Haha~! Jimmy!" I squealed as I hugged Jimmy. Which was really just wrapping my arms around myself. "I don''t even... This..." Jerald was speechless. I ignored Jerald as I praised Jimmy over and over again. I had the bestest item after all. He deserved to know it. "I need to get Jimmy more items! Oh we are going to have so much fun!" I took off at mach 6 instantly. A shockwave shattering the ruined ground more as I flew off to find a Dungeon. ... While flying through the air, I pondered about several things. One thing in particular stuck out to me though. "Jerald, since the multiverse theory was proven true, doesn''t that mean that nothing matters? Since I could just go to another universe whenever I want that has the story line I want?" It sounded like some Rick and Morty type bullshit, but it was true in this case. "You could, sure. It''s not like anyone could stop you." Jerald sounded defeated. "Except in the timeline where someone could." I pointed out, but Jerald just scoffed. "Like that would even matter. You''d find some way to escape or kill them off. Or befriend them." Jerald sounded like he had a chill run up his spine. If he had one. "Speaking of timelines, since everything someone could possibly conceive of is true, doesn''t that mean that there are places where things are really bad? Like REALLY bad." I asked, thinking about all the possible ways a universe could end. "There are an infinite number of horrible universes and an infinite number of paradises. Why even bring it up?" Jerald said something sad but didn''t treat it as such. "No one is going to help those universes? Couldn''t you? Or, I guess couldn''t you have before?" I was getting a little depressed about it, but my EA skill kept me from getting too sad. "Why would I? Do you know what infinite means? I would help one universe, only for a split to occur where I never helped at all. In the grand scheme of things, nothing matters since every possible situation has and will happen. We can''t stop it. Do yourself a favor and focus on one universe." Jerald seemed to have thought about this a lot. "I just... I was just thinking about what I would do with all of this power. I could make a difference now. Which is cliche beyond cliche but I could." "No. You couldn''t. Not yet anyway. You specialize in destruction. Can you create farms to feed the hungry as easily as you erase monsters?" Jerald was being a sour puss, but he had said something that caught my interest. "Not yet I can''t." I said with a smirk. I left it unsaid that I wasn''t really going to help because I wanted to. Which I did, just not for the right reasons. I could see it, even a year from now. Unimaginable power at my finger tips, and yet... Boredom. Insufferable, endless boredom. What are you supposed to do with great cosmic power if not to have some fun? Luckily for me, there was an infinite number of universes who could use another possibility of becoming better. So why shouldn''t I do it? Because it didn''t matter in the end? "So what if it doesn''t matter?" I muttered as I got more and more determined. A fire sparking to life in my chest. "What?" Jerald asked, sounding confused. "Jerald, I come from a place where nothing I did mattered in one universe. Why the hell would it matter to me if it didn''t for more? Hell, if anything that just means nothing has changed. Despite all of my potential for power here, nothing matters still. I don''t give a rats ass about this place! Why would I? I''ve only been here for a month, and everyone is scared shitless of me. I can do something. So I will. I will gain more power, just so I can fix a universe here and there just because I can." I ranted, a heat building in my heart. "Greg, I need you to calm down befo-" I cut Jerald off. "No! I''m going to do what humans do best Jerald! I''m going to make as many worlds better as I possibly can! Why shouldn''t they be better? Because it doesn''t matter in some multiverse bullshit way? I don''t care. It disgusts me that they should be left to suffer when I can fix it. Even if I can only fix one timeline, that will create an exponential growth of different versions of me to help other worlds. I will form the spark that will set the multiverse ablaze in righteous fire!" My chest was heaving with heat, but I didn''t care. "GREG, CALM DOWN. NOW. YOU DON''T KNOW WHAT YOU''RE DOING." Jerald was trying to yell over my monologue. I ignored him still. "Maybe this is my purpose. Maybe this is why I was dumped here in some unknown universe. People don''t just gain power for no reason. This is my mission given to me by GOD!" I was losing myself to the crap I was spewing. I knew it was bullshit, and I was just spouting nonsense at this point, but I kept going. "God, the creator and existence itself, has given me this holy mission to save as many lives as possible. So I swear it upon my true name, Greg Hudson, That I will do everything in my power to make every universe I come across better." Silence followed. The heat was still there, and at some point I had stopped flying. I was just floating in the air above some random forest. "Greg... You fucking idiot." Jerald let out a deep, deep sigh. "What? What is it this time?" I asked, coming down from that weird high I was on. "You just made an oath. One bound to your core. You know, your very soul?" He urged. "Oh... And? I meant what I said." I crossed my arms. "Really? God''s mission and all that?" Jerald said flatly. "Okay, I might have gotten too into it, but still! I''ll help whatever universe I encounter in the future." I nodded to myself. "Greg, that doesn''t make any fucking sense. How the hell are you going to help this universe? Let alone the uncountable places you might go to in the future?" Jerald chastised me like I was 5. "I''ll figure it out." I said with false confidence. "Really? About a place, and I quote, you don''t give a rats ass about?" Jerald was probably pinching the bridge on his imaginary nose. "Well, I''ve only been here a month! I''ll learn to like it." My smirk twitched. "Uh huh. What about all that stuff about God? Greg, no one knows anything about whether or not God exists or how everything started. You sound insane." "Of course God exists! Look around us, man! You think this was by chance?!" I point at all the very earthlike plants. Even some of the monsters look similar to Earths animals. "I''m not humoring this conversation. You don''t know enough about divinity to be making claims like that." Jerald sounded tired, like I was kid throwing a tantrum. Maybe I was. Jerald was millions of years old, and my guildmates were above 200. If anything, I was a kid compared to the aliens here. I didn''t know what the average lifespan was, but almost every single alien I''ve seen since I got my Identify skill has been yellow and red. So 40 to 160 levels higher than me. Jerald was right that I didn''t know much about divinity or even my home religions. I had made myself look like a fool. Like usual. I really did lose myself to the speech, though I don''t regret it. I felt the heat in my core settle, which I guess is my new oath I had made. That sounds like a super complicated headache waiting to happen. Oh well. Just another thing I''d worry about later. "You have an impulse problem." Jerald said after a few seconds of silence. "Maybe." I replied and continued looking for a Dungeon to loot. Jimmy needed an upgrade after all. As I flew I remembered that I had some unspent Stat Points, along with 1 Skill Point. I made Int my new focused Stat and dumped all 60 points into it, then dropped the 1 Skill Point into Energy.
The Dark Lord Azurath
Level 6 Child
Species: Human Title: ? C?H?O?S?E?N? ? ??????????????????????????????C?H???????I???L???????D??? 2,020/6,400 XP
Skills: 12 (13) Environmental Adaptation lvl 12 (magic variant) Telekinesis lvl 10 (physical variant) Universal Comprehension lvl 5 Dimensional Gate lvl 12 (magic variant) Repair lvl 5 (magic variant) Eldritch Energy Manipulation lvl 19 Harvest lvl 5 (physical) Eldritch Astral Projection lvl 5 ¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€?¨€? Dungeon Master lvl 5 Soul Absorption lvl 5 Omni Forge lvl 10
Equipment Skills: 1 Plasma Charge
Stats: Energy: 15,728,640 (4,354,000 points per second) Health: 330/330 (280 points per second) Agility: 165 Intelligence: 376 Strength: 160 Luck: 4?8?9?1?3?7?
Tamed Creatures: 1 Jimmy