Jen blinked. The strange sight was still there, vibrant blue and strangely defined for a hallucination. She turned her head, trying to look at it from a different angle but it seemed to persistently stay in the middle of her field of vision. Curious, she reached out her hand. While the object wasn't solid, there was some sort of feedback present. She wanted to brush this whole experience off as an illusion, but she couldn't. "Reality doesn't let you pick what's real and what's not" She reminded herself. No matter how much she might wish for her old life back, reality had changed, and she had the patch notes in front of her to prove it.
The notice of imminent destruction combined with the first line of the changelog felt like a slap in the face. There wasn't any direct relationship, but Jen had a sinking suspicion that the experiments ETRI had been conducting had had unexpectedly catastrophic consequences. They had been playing around with unknown physics interactions after all, even if the presumed odds of anything dangerous coming out of the particle collider had been low.
The rest of the changelog, vague as it was, was equally illuminating. Having external confirmation concerning her energy channels and the magic mushrooms was nice. The 'randomized redistribution' somewhat explained how she ended up trapped in an underground cavern; her office and most of the testing facility had been carved out of the mountain. The concept of other copies of earth was an intriguing one. Jen felt a moment of panic at the thought that other members of the ETRI might be trapped in a similar situation to her, alone in the dark, but forcibly moved onwards before she could spend too long contemplating it. She had no way to tell, and no way to reach any of those other earths to help them. Better to focus on the here and now. Once Jen had finished mulling over the changelog, it began to fade. Jen noted that it seemed to be responsive to her intentions; only once she had finished reading through the notes a few times did it actually vanish, instead of fading as soon as she had read it for the first time.
With the patch notes fading away, the next screen came into focus. With the knowledge that multiple messages could be stacked, Jen looked closely at the structure of the text box, noting that a smaller square in the center seemed more solid, as if there was more boxes waiting behind it. Curious as to what was waiting for her, Jen started to read the frontmost box, which appeared to be a descriptive status screen.
Jen Byrnes
Bringer of the Apocalypse Physical Status: Healthy Mental Status: Unnerved Endurance: 2 Constitution: 2 Strength: 1 Health: 15/15 (+1.1 / Hour) Reaction: 4 Resilience: 5 Dexterity: 3 Stamina: 14/14 (+.7 / Minute) Willpower: 4 Composure: 3 Intelligence: 5 Mana: 3/31 (+1.6 / Hour)
Jen noted the details as best she could, paying special attention to her title and mana regeneration. Her title seemed to be more confirmation for her hypothesis about what caused this mess, and her mana regeneration rate would be important for knowing when she could try and turn her magic into a light source again.The fact that it could tell her current mental disposition was more than unnerving, but she couldn't do anything about it at the moment. Her source of light was rapidly shrinking, and it seemed like there were many more messages to read. Jen moved on to the next group of messages, which were all similar in nature.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill Listen Lvl 1. Listen is now Lvl 8.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill Echolocation Lvl 1. Echolocation is now Lvl 4.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill Meditation Lvl 1. Meditation is now Lvl 5.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill Crafting Lvl 1.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill Navigation Lvl 1. Navigation is now Lvl 3.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill Singing Lvl 1. Singing is now Lvl 3.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill Determination Lvl 1. Determination is now Lvl 7.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill Yoga Lvl 1.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill Poison Resistance Lvl 1. Poison Resistance is now Lvl 7.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill Pain Resistance Lvl 1. Pain Resistance is now Lvl 4.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill Taste Testing Lvl 1. Taste Testing is now Lvl 2.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill Mana Manipulation Lvl 1. Mana Manipulation is now Lvl 2.
Jen mainly focused on the names, all relating to the various activites she had undertaken since her teleport. She hadn't had much free time to think about it, but the ease at which she had picked up new skills such as navigating in the dark, and the degree to which she was able to endure the pain from the mushrooms both seemed much more believable with the understanding that the same system that was sending lucid visual hallucinations directly to her brain was involved.
The more Jen thought about it, the more questions she wanted answered. Reluctantly she turned back to the screens. Her ball of magic had shrunk from it's original size of an apple to a sphere barely larger than a grape. She estimated she only had a few minutes left before she was returned to utter darkness.
Jen noted that even as the light began to noticeably dim, the screens remained the same azure blue color. Given that the light source was emitting a dusky orange light, there shouldn't have been any sort of blue reflection, but she just chalked it up as one more point in favor of neurological manipulation.
The last of the notice screens were the most confusing. While Jen had played enough computer games to grasp that the world now operated like an RPG, complete with stats and skills, there was no convenient frame of reference for the messages she was now reading.
By spending 24 hours underground while foraging for your own food and water, the 'Underdark Dweller' Plot Path is now open to you
By gathering 40 skill points before spending any, the 'Path of Patience' Plot Path is now open to you
By learning to use your mana without any system assistance, the 'Magic Mastery' Plot Path is now open to you
Plot Paths - 47 Plot Points Available Completed Introductory Path (0/5)
Underdark Dweller (0/15)
Magic Mastery (0/20)
Path of Patience (0/47)
While the other windows had vanished in a timely manner, this one stayed open, as if demanding her interaction. The number of plot points seemed interesting, and was probably related to her total levels of skills, with further evidence towards this given by the fact that the Path of Patience announcement had referred to them as skill points instead of plot points. On a related note, Jen saw that while the Path of Patience had been unlocked at fourty skill points, it would now take fourty-seven plot points to complete, the total sum of plot points she had. Jen had no doubt that if she managed to gain more skill points in the duration, then the Path of Patience would increase an equal amount.
Unwilling to do anything with the path screen before first putting a lot of thought into it, Jen waited for it to fade. Getting impatiennt, she tried to will it away, visualizing it dissapearing while mentally shouting at it to vanish. She felt a little silly, but was vindicated when it left, revealing empty air behind it. It had been the last of the messages.
Seeing her light had just moments left, Jen finally turned her attention towards her surroundings, seeing them with her eyes for the first time. The light didn't illuminate very far, just a few meters, but that was enough for Jen to see the pool, full to the brim with clear water, but still deeper than her light could penetrate. The moss beneath her also was examined, but seemed to be just a simple moss, a vibrant green carpet stretching out into the darkness.
Finally Jen gave herself a quick examination. The message about altered physiology had worried her. With the light from her magic coming off as a red glow, it was hard to determine colors, but Jen felt she was just as pale as before, and her proportions seemed about the same as they always had been, even her meager breasts. With the world becoming a game, was it really unreasonable to hope that would have changed?
As the lights went out, Jen gave it up as a wash, her dissapointment warring against her relief at keeping the same body, at least on the surface. She had other things to be focused on; namely taking this new knowledge and putting it all together in a framework for understanding this new world.