Two towers [an unknown location in the new world], local time [1784.02.18]
This should be good.
What do you mean? This slime will be in the canals of my suit.
Eh, I will just get something to wear above the armor. It’s basically a free light tuning of my armor, not really a problem. I am more concerned about the integrity of my helmet. It’s a shame the backpack and spent batteries weren’t enough for all upgrades.
Yeah, yeah. I am just sad it’s not a real full-body suit anymore just because I don’t have enough Points to replace the materials. It was truly impossible. Between the Symbiont and Implant, he managed to save almost 4.5 million Points by submitting this alloy. And he spent almost all of them.
By the way, how valuable are those Points? I don’t really have a reference.
How much time that would be? And what about above level 100?
Heh, good meme reference there. Anyway, sounds like two standard deviations in a normal distribution, so it takes around 32 years on average? It’s… quite slow.
Hmmm? He looked at the window suspiciously. For some reason, I have a feeling it will be quite different for me…
Maybe because I just spent an equivalent of a level 100+ human’s money on upgrades?
Don’t just ignore the potential all this has! Whatever, I know you are doing it on purpose. I guess I will find out when I woke up.
Should we discuss possible Classes and Professions?
A shame… He thought about what to ask, but he was unable to concentrate. He only had a few hours left. Knowing that overstaying would mean death, he wasn’t keen to start another long dispute.
Say, is it a good idea to finish now?
How long will it take anyway?
Oi! I thought it is a safe procedure?!
Oh… Well, I feel like the chances to meet my mates from ‘Apes’ just drastically dropped… Never mind, let’s finish here, I feel quite exhausted mentally after hearing that.
Ye ye, thanks… He managed to send, before losing consciousness.
==============================
When he came to, he found himself in the familiar dream-like state. His life started replaying again, but this time without the chaotic preamble. A few things were different, though. He was much more aware than the last time. He could also feel when ‘holes’ from his soul made an appearance. He now knew, the forgotten memories the System restored the last time originated from his Soul. This time, though, his Soul was read from the beginning to the end, not only to restore lost brain memory. But some things his brain remembered were absent in his Soul. Those parts of his Soul, he somehow felt, were meticulously examined. It hurt in a way impossible to describe. Every time this happened, his consciousness blacked out. Yet, no lasting effects stayed, his life played further before him. It was a Soul pain, and he will remember it, but his brain wasn’t recording it as it should. It was safe, probably.
The most interesting difference, though, was that parallel to memories a copy was played, but the language was different. He could perceive both at the same time and compare them in real-time. It was strange, but he perceived it almost like reliving his life within another culture. He could learn from that alone, but additionally, he had a reference in the form of English.
A shame a lot of words didn’t have a direct translation. He could tell he would have holes in understanding still. On this planet they used magitech instead of technology, some things were impossible to directly translate. Especially because he didn’t have time to be flooded with additional information, like in the case of Interface or System messages.
After reliving everything, he gracefully welcomed the oblivion.
========== System PoV ==========
==============================
A quiet singing of birds was the first thing he noticed. He could feel a soft light coming from behind. It was strange, to wake up after being active mentally for so long without a break. Strange… he thought. It’s the first time I am fully awake right after regaining my senses.
He slowly opened his eyes. Soft light illuminated the smooth stone of a circular cave. He was laying on a rock, but his armor made that less uncomfortable. The entrance was behind his head, he could feel a whiff of impossibly fresh air. He tilted his head back.
The brilliant colors attacked his eyesight. The world was more vivid than ever, and so bright. He just laid there for a few minutes, absorbing new sensations, not understanding what was happening.
The small shock slowly transformed into curiosity, then into an understanding. Full restoration… All of my senses are as sharp as when I was a kid… But that is not all. The mental burden he was used to, to a point that he forgot about its existence years ago, was absent. The feeling of being lightweight, stronger than you should even, after dropping all your equipment after a day of walking with it, do you know it? It was the same, but as well mental, as it was physical. Like finally getting enough sleep after a month of insomnia, but multiplied.
He closed his eyes and stretched mentally. It was the best feeling he felt in his life. My Soul wound is in the norm now… I don’t have to use my Will to keep my Soul in one piece anymore. What will I feel when I get rid of the wound altogether? he mused, then started to stretch his body. He immediately noticed small changes. Even at 30 years old, he accumulated his share of small contusions. They were all gone, his muscles in perfect state, his joints smooth, his bones… Oh my god! My teeth, they.. they…
They were as healthy as can be.
He started laughing. “Even for just that one thing, it was definitely worth it!” he exclaimed, then sat up. Looking around, he could see his “exploration backpack” to the right. It was almost half-empty. The suit’s backpack was missing, as were fragments from his helmet. He now had something resembling an old motorbike helmet, with the elongated back shielding his neck. Beside the backpack, a few Prana batteries were lying on the ground. As well as his armguard.
Almost forgot… he thought, smiling. He put it on and connected to his armor.
He checked, and as predicted, no rations were left. The System probably assumed they would all go bad and used them automatically, saving him some Points. He didn’t feel hungry right now, though.
Right, the System, he thought as he noticed a blinking point in his peripheral view. He first packed the batteries into his backpack, then decided to make a quick survey of the surroundings outside. He had to back up almost immediately, though, the sensory overload was too much. The System said it will be safe… let’s just believe it. He needed time to acclimate, so he moved to the back of his cave and sat down with his backpack between his legs. Why am I in a cave in the first place? Eh, whatever, he thought, then started concentrating on the blinking point. It didn’t work.
I think I may be a little stupid, he realized and instead used the Interface to open… whatever that blinking point was.
Whoa, it’s a lot! He read everything once more, then decided to first check the Warnings and message, before opening his Interface.
Huh… ‘Safe’ my ass! I hope he explained himself in the message!
Heh, so he did learn something about client service, after all. He was quite surprised by the nice tone.
Well, nothing of it, let’s see the Interface.
Ohh, it changes color for the new entries… What we have here… Perks are new. He concentrated on the word. It seemed he was able to choose one from a list, but there were only three entries on it. One for each mental stat… yea, I won’t call them PE. It seems 10 is the first milestone. But what does a Perk do? He tried reading deeper into the information, but it was a lot harder than in the mental space. After a moment he got that it was some kind of automatized functionality, but how that was different from Skills, he had no idea.
He didn’t think much about it anymore and just chose the most important one. ‘Mana control training assist’… I totally forgot to ask the System how you even do that. Well, knowing him, it would cost me points. It was a Willpower Perk. It was clear to him that Soul perception training and meditation training could be left for later. Especially because he had quite special Willpower, it was better to learn how to use it first.
So I got a point in Intuition from all that? Good, good! One more to go before getting a Class!
The skill list was what he expected. Beside the General Skills he bought, two new could be found. The “Memories of the Earth” and “Ancient Civilizations”. When looking at the first one, he could tell that after proving that the concepts from Earth also work here, a lot of General Skills could be derived from it. Work for later, I suppose…
The Traits were much more interesting. Wow, Greater Willpower is quite OP… Wait! Isn’t the human race… Well, my human race, perfect for sorcery of any kind?
On the other hand, my Advanced Improvements list is totally cluttered right now…
Living armor? Well, don’t mind if I do. I just wonder how close to my body the Phleya needs to be to survive… So much to test… He contemplated on the contents for a moment, then decided to try looking outside again. He checked his weapons first. It seems that everything was kept in stasis most of the time. His pistols needed some maintenance, which he did, but there were no traces of rust or dangerous clogging. His crossbow was in top condition. After completing his preparations, he moved to the exit of the cave.
This time no sensory overload bludgeoned him. He was able to see quite the same ruins they started in. A lot of greenery, quite a few trees, and a smudge of a white stone poking through all that. What is this cave even… he thought while looking back. A giant boulder wasn’t something he expected at all. He could also see some irregular rock formations at the base of the towers that shouldn’t be there. I guess they are Alex and Alana… places? Cocoons? Boulders? Whatever…
He quickly surveyed the surroundings. He needed food and water. A shelter was covered already. After 20 minutes, he managed to find an old, half-dry well. This would need to do until his condenser got enough water. There were a plethora of birds, too.
Happy that he didn’t have to relocate or labor right away, he backed into the cave again. It was time for some more reading. He wasn’t thirsty or hungry at all, so dealing with his Interface first sounded like a good idea. He set up the water condenser first.
Before burrowing himself into the infodump, which Diagnostics were for sure, he decided to check what Classes were about.
Seating… not so comfortably, on the hard rock, he opened the Class menu.
Wizard? To make sure, he switched to Cir language. Wizard… How did that even happen? He was absolutely amused until he concluded that this didn’t look like a coincidence. How curious… I need to remember to ask about it later. When I get to the civilization… Yea, let’s leave it for later. He chose the Browse option.
Wow. And the System said they are just basic Classes? He started scrolling down. There are at least a hundred of them! No wonder there is a sorting system implemented! And I am not even sure what I want… It will take a while.
