- Sky -

There was a chorus of murmurs and complaints all around from the other children. Sky wasn't sure what was happening, but found that he couldn't move his rings away from the mission jade. When he tried, a new message would appear [WARNING: Download in progress! Do not interfere!], and it felt like his hands were stuck to the board.

He saw Jen tap the board, trying to see what the ruckus was about. When she did, she murmured "Error? What? System Reboot?" then she spoke up for everyone to hear, "Alright, everyone, I'm going to ask my supervisor about this. You can wait here, or come back later." She walked over to her desk, where she began speaking into a communication crystal. Then he heard some annoying chime music coming from the crystal. "Ugh, put on hold, seriously?" Jen complained, then called over,

"For real, you guys, this is gonna take a while. Just letting you know."

Amid complaints and noises of disappointment, most of Sky's peers left the mission hall, but his friends stayed behind. They seemed to have noticed his predicament.

"I'm alright, I think," he assured them, "it says [initializing download: progress 22%]. Do either of you know what that means?" Ava and Emily shook their heads. "Well, it won't let me leave. Maybe it has to get to a hundred percent first?" He watched with his rings and the board with his Sight, and noticed that the simple chi-strand connection he'd initially formed when he touched the board was now becoming complex. A webbing of chi was growing out of the board and into his rings. With each percent increase, the webbing was growing larger, and more complex.

"That's strange," Emily told him, "but she did say that the jade had developed an intelligence. That means it has a mind of its own, in a sense, right?"

"Who knows?" Ava said, "It might just be broken. Or maybe it's trying to eat him?"

Koa huffed, and sniffed the board.

"Hey!" Sky complained, "I don't think it's trying to eat me. Now it's at 74%. Whatever it's doing, I'll find out soon." He watched the number quickly tick up. 80%, 90%, 99%... Then it stopped. What? He fought back panic. He didn't want to be stuck here forever. The chi web was so complicated now that if it were a ball of yarn, he didn't think he could ever unravel it.

[Download complete.]

The chi web on each ring snapped into a solid but translucent sphere, like a golden bubble on the surface of water. He moved his hands away, and the bubble around each ring separated from the jade, staying anchored to him as he moved.

[Hello Sky, and welcome to Coyote's Official Management System (COMS). You may now interact with the COMS from any of your Registered Identification Navigation Guidance and Storage devices (RINGS). You may [explore new features] at any time, however it would be best for you to get comfortable before you begin, as it may take some time. Thank you for using COMS!]

He was taken aback by this new message. Had Coyote interfered with his identification rings? That didn't make sense. Yuma had just gotten his before the exam today. Maybe he had interfered with the mission jade? That seemed possible. Coyote was powerful, and could hide from anyone. Sky wondered whether Coyote would teach him to Hide. It seemed like it would be useful.

With his hands unstuck, he turned to the girls, and patted Koa on the head. "It's done, and I'm fine. It looks like something happened to my identification rings. I don't think it's a bad thing, but I'll need a little time to check it out, so I'm gonna go back to my room. I'll see y'all later."

"Alright, let us know if you need anything. It could be dangerous," Emily said.

"Yeah, that." Ava said, shrugging.

He waved and took off back to the dorms. When he got to his room, he shut the door and sat down. He'd started to get into the habit of sitting with his backs together, so he had a pair of eyes facing every direction. He inspected his rings again, and the same message popped up in his vision. He accessed [explore new features].

[You may notice that some things have changed in your RINGS interface, but first notice that all previous features are still in place. You have a contribution point counter] a circle appeared around the number, [a rank identifier], the circle reappeared around the underlined "M", [and a physical state monitor], the circle reappeared around the three bodies. That was new information. He had assumed their presence was an aesthetic choice for the artifact, not a functional one, since it hadn't seemed to do anything.

[Now we will start on what has changed.] Above the heads of the body images [Sky Net: 3] was circled. [Here you will find the number of nodes available in your network. Be careful not to let it reach zero!] Below each body were the names Sam, Kyle, and Yuma. It circled each of those. [Here you will see labels for each node. You may change a label at any time. For instance, we suggest using "1", "2", and "3", for efficiency, but the choice is yours. You may now also cycle through the physical state monitors for each body. This may come in handy if one becomes incapacitated, so don't forget!]

[Moving on you'll notice that you may now access the Mission Board on-the-go. Over here,] it circled the new [Mission Board] tab, floating off to the right of his vision, [access the Mission Board to continue.]

When he did, the images in front of him changed to look like the mission jade from earlier. It even had the same [Mission] and [Reward] options, but there was a new one as well. [While you are familiar with the Mission and Reward screens, you may like to familiarize yourself with the Complete Job screen. Access it to continue.] He accessed the circled words.

[On this screen you will find important features for any cultivator who prefers to work remotely. In the Report menu you may submit your official reports. Verbal reports may be submitted here in the future, but first you will need a communication upgrade. In the Mission Item screen, you will be able to send mission items to the mission hall storage, where a worker will be notified of its arrival for prompt delivery to the client. To access this feature, you will need a storage upgrade. One storage ring detected, upgrade storage now? Yes/No]

He selected [Yes] and as the screen changed to say [Installing auxiliary upgrade, please stand by...], the storage ring on Kyle's finger was grabbed by a web of chi from the closest identification ring, the one on Kyle's hand. The storage ring became a semi-solid of green and purple, then moved like a serpent off of his finger into the air, before plunging into his identification ring. The ring on Kyle's finger warped and glowed like metal in a furnace, until it settled into a new form. It was still a simple jade ring, but now it had a line of purple tracing its circumference around the middle, and the words "Jade Peak" had been replaced with "COMS". He hoped that wouldn't cause any trouble.

Once Kyle's ring settled, chi shot out to the other two rings, changing them to match. [Upgrade complete. Would you like to continue? Yes/No]

He selected [Yes], and the images returned to where they had left off. [Now that you have storage access, you may use the Mission Item feature. Simply access the feature, and transfer mission items from your personal storage. Make sure you have the correct amount for the mission, because this action cannot be undone! Please return to the main screen to continue.]

He did, and saw that there were more options available. [You may access your shared personal storage here,] it circled the [Storage] icon, [however you can also use the RINGS the same way you would any less sophisticated storage ring.] Next it circled the [Upgrades] icon, [In Upgrades, you may access your upgrades at any time. This will be useful if you don't wish to initiate an upgrade at the time of acquisition, but find the time to do it later. Finally, the Tutorials option is available if you ever find yourself uncertain how to navigate your COMS. Thank you for using COMS, and have a great day!]

Well, that was certainly interactive.