I’m a dumbass. I got caught up geeking out over real magic and a new RPG System to min-max. As Sarah reminded me this is a deadly situation where we are way out of our depth.

For now, only buy physical things that will fit in our inventory and things that alter our souls.

Things that have to be done NOW.

1. Memory improvements, I can’t remember why I walked into the kitchen much less details of my life 30 years ago.

2. An instant form of communication between Sarah and I that can’t be blocked or taken away. I’m sending her into hell, for our mental health, we are going to need to be in constant contact.

3. Teleportation, to each other, as well as back to our houses.

Things that we need as soon as we go back;

1. A method of self-defense.

2. Ways to grind skill levels, attributes, and System Monsters to gain more system points.

3. Many titles give bonuses to Attributes or Skills. Being the first (or close to it) to do something often grants a title. I will gain free System Points as people in the “Realm” I invited The System into earn System Points so we should have Sarah try to get as many titles as we can.

Long term goals;

1. Become a major economic power and build a seat of power for when the System comes to Earth for everyone.

2. Use everything I gain from long-term goal #1 to change the world to be more Gaia friendly.

3. Create a fallback location in case Gaia can’t be appeased.

4. Setup myself and those I care about as best I can for The System Arrival.

Onto The System Store for Memory alterations, enhancements, or improvements. SHIT! Over 100K choices? Everything from arts, skills, spells, techniques, perks, powers, implants, alterations, bloodlines, and evolutions. Let us narrow this down a bit, no implants, Sarah would flip and I can think of a ton of reasons that might not be the best idea even if there are some cheap options. No spells or techniques that can be dispelled. Bloodlines look amazing but there are so many options, most don’t play well with others, and I already have plans for bloodlines so no bloodlines. Evolutions look like they don’t play well with non-associated bloodlines and many will change your physical appearance. Hard pass. We are down to skills, perks, powers, and alterations. Looks like the skills only help deal with skill atrophy at higher levels. OK, only 1,691 choices now. Order by cost. Ugg, the cheapest options have more disadvantages than the memory enhancement is worth. I wish I could filter out all the options that aren’t worth it. Holy Shit! I can? That’s right, I remember reading in ‘Facts, suggestions, and warnings’ that ‘With a S.A.L. of 100+ you can ask for your best options.’. What are my best options for an improved memory? The ‘Perfect Memory’ perk for 1,073 System Points or ‘Access Akashic Records’ power for 3,638 System Points. 3,638! That’s over 20% of my total points and 3 and a half times as many points as Perfect Memory! Why does The System rank it as one of my best options?

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Perfect Memory -- Perfect memory, no skill atrophy. Can remember a page you glanced at, chooses what is forgotten. +3 Bonus INT. 1,073 System Points.

Access Akashic Records -- Perfect memory, no skill atrophy. Grants a Lessor Knowledge Category Affinity, Minor INT Affinity, a +5 bonus to all Knowledge Category skills, a +1 bonus to all skills having INT as the most relevant Stat, +5 Bonus INT. Can remember a page you glanced at. Choose what is stored in your memory, forgotten, or stored in the Akashic records. Can ‘read’ the Akashic Records on any non-protected subject, acts as a Master level scholar reference book on the subject. Requires a S.A.L. of 50+. 3,638 System Points.

That looks very impressive. Lots of words and numbers. I don’t know if I have time to figure out how much each part is worth so I can compare the two. Never mind, looks like The System will do that for me. The Lessor Knowledge Category Affinity alone is worth 900 System Points, the INT bonus add up to over 1,000, and the S.A.L. requirement would cost most Users 20,825 System Points to get their S.A.L. to 50. A single ‘book’ on a subject comparable to what I can ‘read’ from the Akashic Records would be at least 10 System Points and some just flat out don’t exist as The System will not allow that knowledge to be shared with anyone without a high level of S.A.L. I think Sarah will have to go with ‘Perfect Memory’ while I take ‘Access Akashic Records’.

We can call item #1 finished, now to move onto communication, teleportation, self-defense, and ways to grind for more System Points. I didn’t go over my status screen too closely and haven’t looked at Sarah’s at all yet. I should probably look over them carefully so I can see what we have to work with. “Love, can you share your full status screen with me?” I asked.

“Sure, I got a System notice that you requested my complete status screen. It also warned that this should only be done with someone who has my absolute trust along with the suggestion that I create a shareable status screen that will only contain the elements that I choose to add. The suggestion also mentioned that while I can’t send any incorrect information, I can send imprecise information. As an example, I could have my skill level in Baking show as 51, Greater than 50, or Greater than 30 but not 52.” She replied.

“You have Psionically Active more than 80% unlocked so I guess that's why you have always been so 'sensitive'.” I mentioned to Sarah. I searched for bloodlines that she could buy and ordered the list by the discount her genetics gave for that bloodline. The Bloodline PSI-Witch was at the top of the list with a discount of 1,244 so that I only need 3,095 points to buy it. It gives Psionically Active, Magic Awareness, Magic Ability, Minor Ritual Magic Affinity 10%, Minor Clairsentience Affinity 10%, Lesser Mana Affinity 5%, and Lesser PSI Affinity 5%.

“By the way, my best guess is we have less than 30 minutes left.” Sarah announced.