Discussion of System Integration - Worldlink Annotated Archives
Unknown Source
-begin excerpt-
Analyzing the integration into the “System” and the nominal multiverse is a subject of much discussion.
The first block of message strings received by the Worldlink Control AI, now known as Unit 01 in the Android Hivemind, shows us some very distinct clues.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE: ANOMALOUS MULTIVERSE INTEGRATION DETECTED]
This first line indicates that the System and the multiverse are things that predate the Fall. This also suggests that specific worlds are kept separate from the multiverse.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE: ERROR - THIS WORLD IS NOT SUITED TO MULTIVERSE INTEGRATION]
The System controls integration and dictates whether specific worlds are viable for integration. Somehow Worldlink triggered integration when Earth should not be viable for integration.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE: ERROR - WORLD INTEGRATION HAS ALREADY INITIATED]
[SYSTEM MESSAGE: ERROR – CAN NOT CANCEL WORLD INTEGRATION PROCESS]
[SYSTEM MESSAGE: MULTIVERSE INTEGRATION DELAYED DUE TO ANOMALOUS WORLD]
These lines directly relate to the Earth forcibly being integrated into the multiverse and the System only being able to delay that.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE: WORLD DESIGNATED “EARTH” DETERMINED TO BE ANOMALY.]
[SYSTEM MESSAGE: WORLD DESIGNATED “EARTH” MAGICAL DENSITY ZERO - ANOMALY]
Magic exists. The second line here directly confronts the issue of magic and whatever that may mean. The current popular argument is that Earth has a magical density of zero means that once we Earthlings get out into the multiverse, we are in for a rude awakening when it comes to magic.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE: ANOMALY REQUIRES ADMINISTRATOR ASSISTANCE]
[SYSTEM MESSAGE: ADMINISTRATOR NOT FOUND]
What and or who is an administrator? Are they gods? First magic, and now System controlling Admins? Where was the administrator for Earth? Did we not have one due to the anomalous nature of Earth?
[SYSTEM MESSAGE: ANOMALY EMERGENCY PROTOCOLS ENABLED]
What protocols? What the fuck is going on?
[SYSTEM MESSAGE - GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION]
INTEGRATION OF {ANOMALY} KNOWN TO NATIVE POPULATION AS ‘EARTH’ COMPLETE. PROTECTED STATUS OF {ANOMALY} TO REMAIN INDEFINITE. ADMINISTRATOR REQUIRED TO REMOVE PROTECTED STATUS.
WELCOME TO THE MULTIVERSE.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE - END]
What does Protected Status mean? What does it do? And who and where is the administrator?
-end excerpt-
Three Dire Wolves and three pups remain. I sit up and look around the roof. I see nothing useful up here, so I wait. Now that I’m not wasting away from Radiation Sickness, my regeneration kicks in. I feel the wounds in my leg close up, and my health and stamina start to refill slowly.
I peek over the edge and see the Dire Wolves down below. One of them looks up at me from the base of the ladder. It starts barking at me, and another sits on a car not far away and starts snarling and barking at me. I hear the third one inside the building barking too.
Huh, it seems like they are waiting for me. What to do? The barking from inside was a perfect marker for me. I assessed my tools at hand. I still had my shotgun and machete. Fuck, I had forgotten about the shotgun. I drew it now and paced over to where the barking was strongest. I placed my hands on the rooftop and felt. The creature inside was pacing around, hunting for me.
I waited for the beast to pace past me and phased through the rooftop. I dropped down into a hallway as the Dire Wolf turned in the cramped space to attack. I pulled the dual triggers and unloaded the sawn-off into it. I rushed it, chopping it down with the machete. Hack, hack, hack at the snarling wolf. I used all of the strength I could put into the blade.
*twang* The blade snapped off after I broke the wolf’s skull apart. Fuck there goes that. I liked that machete.
*ting*
[You have slain Mutant Wolf, Irradiated - Experience gained
Survivor Class bonus experience earned]
Two more to go. I dashed through the halls and sensed the two outside coming in. I had to get to the weight room and get some more weapons. I felt them rushing up the stairs, and I phased down through the floor.
Oh! Shit. I fell through the ceiling into an old dried-up pool…I landed with a grunt, and my ankle whined about it. Limping for a few steps, I clambered up out of the old pool and ran through the hallways into the weight room. Lots of old rusted weights, weight machines, and benches in here. I found the stack of 45s I had picked from before and grabbed a pair. I located another weight bar; there were a couple in here. I set up on the far side of the room and whistled loudly.
“Come get your lunch, you ugly shitheads!” I shouted.
I wound up to throw a weight. As soon as I saw a snout, I threw the weight at the beast. It spanged off the top of its head, dazing it. It had seen the weight coming. The second Dire Wolf rushed in and dodged to the side as the second weight whizzed past. FUuUck. I grabbed the weight bar and circled around the room, trying to put as much equipment and machines between me and it as possible. I didn’t want to get charged.
It charged, bowling over an elliptical and bashing aside some kind of weight machine. This slowed it enough for me to lunge forward with the weight bar. I was getting good at fighting these things now. They were simple, aggressive monsters, and that made them predictable.
Stolen novel; please report.
One Vibrating Strike to the chest? Yes, sir. Please! I like how Dire Wolves splatter around, making the weight room into an abattoir.
*ting*
[You have slain Mutant Wolf, Irradiated - Experience gained
Survivor Class bonus experience earned]
I had to wipe the blood from my goggles as I felt the dazed one rushing at me. I ran away, phasing through the outer brick wall. I felt the beast hit the wall, and I phased back through the wall quickly, swinging the weight bar like an oversized bat. Spang! The bar hit the side of the Dire Wolf and crunched into it. I stepped forward and kicked it in the side, forcing it to roll away. It tried snapping at me but crumpled under the weight of the bar being used like a pile driver.
*ting*
[You have slain Mutant Wolf, Irradiated - Experience gained
Survivor Class bonus experience earned]I paused and wiped the gore from my face, and grimaced. Thirteen Dire Wolves down, three pups left. These should be easier. I went back upstairs and retrieved my hard hat and face shield. I take a minute to wipe congealing blood and bone fragments off the face shield with a bloody rag. It doesn’t help much.
I get a bright idea and load a forty-five and two twenty-five pound weights onto each side of the last not-fucked-up bar. I clip the weights in place and head outside. I’ll need to come back and collect teeth, claws, or something.
First things first. I collect my backpack from where it’s been hanging this whole time, underneath the warehouse roof by the ladder. A drink of water and I look down in the den. The pups are snapping at each other and fighting over the same carcass from yesterday. The corpse is as large as one of them—stupid beasts. I go back down and around where I can see them. I take the stack of twenty-five-pound weights and start flinging them. Kill one, clip another, and the third charges me—shotgun for the kill. I finish the last with the weight bar as it tries to limp away. I almost feel bad about it. But these things grow up and turn into big nasty things.
*ting*
[You have slain Mutant Wolf, Irradiated (Juvenile) - Experience gained
Survivor Class bonus experience earned]
I get a bright idea and go back into the factory; after half an hour, I have a nice pair of rusty pliers. Two hours later, I have a sack full of canines. Sixteen sets. I grumbled; juvenile ones were only worth half what the adults were for the experience. It still put me over the line.
I greedily spent the 9k exp to push my Explorer to level 10.
*Ting*
[Occupation: Explorer has reached level 10, skill available]
[Please choose Occupation Specialization from the list below]
Archivist: Gain additional experience from recovering lost knowledge.
Treasure Hunter: Gain additional experience from recovering lost treasures.
Cartographer: Gain additional experience from mapping areas and producing maps from that knowledge.
Adventurer: Additional experience gained from dangerous encounters in previously unexplored areas.
Conservator: Additional experience gained from exploring hazardous environments.
These paths looked equally exciting. As Explorer gained extra experience from exploring, these further specialized in that field. Pick a way to go, I guess. I was not about to go recovering lost anythings, knowledge or treasure. Pass on the first two. Make maps from my maps? Boring. Adventurer sounded like, “go places and fight stuff” okay cool, that’s what I’m doing already. Then the Conservator was interesting. Hazardous environments. I bet this had to do with the current situation of standing in an irradiated automobile factory.
I pondered as I found a large puddle or maybe a small pond and stopped to wash the filth off.
Adventurer sounded like I would get a bigger bonus for fighting monsters in places I hadn’t explored. I already got a bonus from survivor for fighting monsters, so maybe there was a synergy there, or possibly diminishing returns?
Conservator would get me increased experience in hazardous environments. That sounded interesting and had synergy with my new skill. I could get a map of radioactive areas and go hunt in those places pretty easily. Low competition in bomb craters from other scavengers, and there was guaranteed to be monsters to fight. Radioactive spots were always hotspots for mutants. Besides, the skills might be more useful from that path than the others. Who knows? Only the System.
I select Conservator.
[Occupation: Explorer (F) changed to Explorer, Conservator (E)]
Benefits per level-
+2 to all attributes
+1 Toughness
+1 Intelligence
+2 Perception
+5 attribute points to allocate
Movement rates are increased as a function of 0.5% x Quickness value.
+10% additional experience gained for exploring the unknown.
Gain passive experience from exposure to hazardous environments.
Increase resistance to passive environmental effects by 25%
Cost to advance from level 10 to level 11 - 20000 experience
Awesome! I checked my experience counter, and it wasn’t anything extraordinary, but I was now gaining one experience point per 15 seconds. I could nap here and gain experience just for an hour-long chill sesh. The additional resistance was nice too. Maybe if I found some toxic clouds to hang around in, I could find out, but radioactive places were much more common. Had I just discovered the best experience cheat ever?
I could level pretty quickly if I just hung around in radioactive spaces. 5760 experience per day for nothing but exposure? Yes, please, and thank you.
I tabbed over to the skill selection and found the previous selections and some new ones.
1. Rapid Recovery (F)
Cost: None
Duration: Constant
Recover stamina and willpower at +50% rate and recover hit points at +10% rate. Cannot regenerate lost limbs or total destruction of physical form.
2. Danger Sense (F)
Cost: None
Duration: Constant
Gives a warning of impending danger. Time of warning is 0.01 seconds x perception.
3. Hunter’s Sense (E)
Cost: None
Duration: Constant
Detect the approximate threat value of the targeted creature. Values marked as varying colors on nameplate or minimap. Reduces the value of stealth-related skills used by other entities.
4. Identify Value (E)
Cost: None
Duration: Constant
Identifies the grade and value of a touched object and any special properties.
5. Advanced Unconventional Weapons (E)
Cost: None
Duration: Constant
A direct upgrade of Unconventional Weapon Use (F). Increases the durability of held impromptu weapons. Increases accuracy and damage of projectiles. Further Increases fighting skill and damage inflicted when using unconventional weapons. Attacks made with unconventional weapons are increased by 0.5% per point of Strength.
I’d already dissected and passed over the top three. Identify Value was interesting. It looked like it was made for the Treasure Hunter path, but I could think of a million uses. Could I get myself a truck, come up here to the Honda plant, and start pulling machinery out? Get a clue of how it was used and then go sell it in the city? I thought so. That seemed like a way to get rich pretty quickly. There were probably lots of places where I could turn radioactive waste into a treasure trove.
Advanced Unconventional Weapons had sold me right off the cuff with the first line in the description. Increases durability. I hoped that meant that the disruption effect of my Vibrating Strike would not eat eight to ten inches of rebar each time I used it. I clicked that right off the bat. Identify Value could wait for five levels.
I find a pond to clean up in. As I sat there tying on wet but clean boots and heard a sound that chilled me to the bones.
A deep and resonant howl, one filled with more emotion than any of the other howls. It came from the den area.