That night Ethan had the most vivid and weird dream. He was both a giant vine creature and a silent observer floating around it. He was alone on a planet devoid of all life, beside a gargantuan weed that had not only somehow survived but thrived in the planet's new climate. When the dream started he was small, but Ethan grew larger and larger, the version of him that was the plant not knowing what was around him- but the silent observer seeing he was a dormant seed in a potted plant left to wither among others in a once sealed underground library. The seed broke through, eating the pots nutrients hungrily, moving to the soil in the plants around it, it thirsted, the floor was cracked and allowed it to burrow. It kept burrowing and growing. Time sped, and the plant's intelligence grew, nothing incredible but it could remember, it could learn. It grew, determined risks, changed its tactics. The place of its birth, the only place that flowered- it remembered. Stone tablets lay among ruined debris, but the plant didn’t know what it was. This room was just so different. The tablets provided unusual sensory, cut like no stone the plant had ever brushed against. It had brushed against many. There was intention there. But what did they mean?
Ethan awoke from his slumber more rested and energized than any day previous, weird dream aside he still had a strong gut feeling, and it was telling him that all the coins that lay with him under that blanket were real and his cool powers and reading was real. Grabbing a coin to inspect it he saw the glowy was much fainter in the day but Ethan could still see it.
“Treasure.” He spoke aloud in awe. Ethan planned to find a better hiding spot soon, but he wanted to go get some breakfast and Bamboozle someone so he could play with his alien iPad. Visiting the Nice Ladies he was surprised to see Cindy, and another from last night- not the morning ladies. He checked his watch, it was early afternoon- Cindy should be getting here in two hours, not be here now. She looked tired.
“Why are you here Cindy? You don’t work until four. You are never early.” He said the last part with a bit of playful spite. He wished she was always here but in all the times he could remember she was never early. She knew that too because he had asked her to start coming in the morning before.
“Only one of the morning girls came in Honey, well two but she was just letting us know she was quitting. Lots of things have changed in the world. Most people have families they need to be with right now.”
“Must be nice.” The spite wasn’t playful this time.
“Listen Ethan, sweetie. My supervisor went into something people are calling a ‘Dungeon Rift’ in a parking garage and hasn’t come out yet. Half of the residents here have super powers from whatever weird world we went into and the other half never came back from your alien council session.. The whole planet has expanded and now has monsters roaming it. Not pretend ones, real monsters Ethan. Oh and our phones don’t get reception and the internet is down. Our plan right now is for a few of us to move our families into the facility full time so we can take care of all of you and ourselves. I’m about to go take a nap in Gretchen’s bed as she was one of the ones that didn’t come back and its right by our station. For a little while we just need you all to be brave, Ashley is going to be the only one here right now so please try not to get into anything. Please?”
She looked dead beat. Ethan felt bad for her. She looked like she was going to start crying.
“Okay Cindy I’ll be good. No pranks all day.”
“You promise?” She held out a pinky. Ethan was hesitant to solidify it, knowing he should never break a pinky promise. but he would not mess with anyone today.
“I promise. I’ll even help Ashley make us all bagel bites. I can read now.” he wrapped his pinky around hers.
“Thank you! And that’s wonderful! Is it because of the skill you got?” Ethan didn’t want to tell her about bamboozle, as she was probably the best target around for it.
“Yeah dude, i got reading powers.” he lied.
“I have a skill that makes all my nursing experience for nothing, or maybe its because of it? this system thing is going to change everything.” She stood and walked herself to Gretchen’s room on unsteady legs. Before the door closed fully Ethan waved at her goodbye and whispered.
“Bamboozle.”
[Skill Failed! User does not meet the requirement: View’s you as inferior]
Ethan forgot about that part, Cindy shut the door as Jason walked by, no wait- floated by.
“Damn Jason you can fly?”
“It’s telekinesis, so kind of.” Ethan narrowed his eyes. Jason had a phone, and a computer, knew how to use it, and was always bragging about how smart he was for winning some science fair years ago.
“Bamboozle!” Ethan shouted
[Intelligence has gone from 5 to 7]
Ethan didn’t get the rush that felt like drinking beer but opposite this time, just crisper thoughts and slightly increased motor skills. Jason stumbled and then fell, not able to hold the skill up any longer, But didn't seem to notice the mental change. Or if he did he didn’t complain to Ethan who was already walking back to his room.
Fishing out the Alien iPad he was able to not only read, but click around until he got to where he wanted. Jason wasn’t nearly as smart as he pretended to be but there were some definite improvements. Ethan stumbled upon a page that claimed it could link his head-pop ups with his iPad popups. He initiated and got some notifications.
[System paired with Device]
[You have 100 unspent attribute points]
Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
[You have a (2) New Quests]
[You have (1) New Message]
Ethan selected the ‘New Quest’s’ Section.
Quest: Integration Tournament Showcase
Your title ‘Vanguard of The Dao’ has granted you the automatic invitation to the Integration Tournament. You will receive a prompt five minutes before teleportation where you may choose any of the different categories to compete in.
5 Months, 28 days, until the Tournament.
Reward: Based on final ranking
Quest: Develop a Class
Use dungeons, rifts, trials, and the Integration Market to acquire system skills. Level, transform, or fuse these skills until you have a minimum of three and a maximum of nine to create a Tier 1 Class.
Reward: 1,000 Nexus Coins, 1,000 Essence
New Message: Demon King Anorak
Hey, Demon King Anorak here. That move you pulled on Raul was top notch. If i'm being honest I was pretty upset that my staff had paid out for a soul that I already owned- but when I saw you were a frontrunner for your planet and how exactly you got him I had to send you a message and say kudos on the old switch-a-roo. Other reason I’m contacting you and the only reason I’m allowed to contact you is for a champion sponsorship for the integration tournament showcase.
I’ll let the system explain all the legal jargon if you accept but essentially I can allow you to use the market module that lets you spend those tokens you got, and even give you a permanent and hefty discount to everything. You beating others will reap me rewards and I’ll ensure you get a piece of the side action too. You can still take craftsmen sponsorships as I will count towards a ‘deity’ sponsorship but I got the best crafters in the Hellfire sector so you should let me help you choose that if you go with me.
Either way, good trick you pulled and I wish you luck with the integration.
Take Care,
Demon King Anorak,
Second of his name. Binder of Mortals.
Ethan had to go over it a few times before it stuck but he realized he had done a super good job. His gut gave him a complex feeling of danger, but a danger that could be worth the rewards. His new feelings were somehow complex and straightforward. But he wanted to use his treasure he had earned so he clicked the attachment on the message. The system hit him with a full understanding of being a deities champion, and the exact offer the Demon King Anorak was offering. It was nothing like the cautionary examples the system provided, he wanted Ethan to kick ass in every competition he could and offered him five percent of any side bets he made, a large number when they were bets between Gods and Demons. There was one iffy clause where he allowed himself the ability to request Ethan use excessive force on any person championed by his brother, Demon King Gorefist. But he would pay one million nexus coins if requested and fulfilled to satisfaction.
Ethan wasn’t thrilled that there was pretty much a ‘I might need you to murder someone’ agreement in the contract but there were no repercussions for refusal. Ethan didn’t see a reason to refuse, especially if this will let him spend his treasures. He agreed and earned a new title.
[Champion of Demon King Anorak]
Earth’s chosen Champion of Demon King Anorak
+10 Strength
+10 Dexterity
“Badass.” He said with a smile, he smacked his bed post with an open hand to test his power up. The wood cracked and his hand stung so bad it made his eyes water. He looked at the damaged bed post, knowing Cindy would get upset if she saw it.
“With great power comes great responsibility.” he mumbled to himself. Picking his alien iPad backup he moved to the application that had a flaming pitchfork on it.
Demon Market: Demon King Anorak’s Market
Champion of Demon King Anorak 25% Off Discount
Current Balance: 1,465 Demon Tokens
That wasn’t even counting the ones on Ethan’s bed. He fumbled around with the device, trying to remember what he gleaned the first time he used it. Eventually he found his spatial inventory, when selecting free absorption mode he accidentally absorbed his blanket with the coins- but he would pull that back out later. He pulled the app back up.
Demon Market: Demon King Anorak’s Market
Champion of Demon King Anorak 25% Off Discount
Current Balance: 2,947 Demon Tokens
Raul was worth a lot of tokens, because now he had way more. The catalog was vast and full of cool things, but when he saw the motorcycle he had to have it. His gut told him he could get hurt on it, but when he saw in the ‘Frequently Purchased Together’ category that there was an accompanying skill his gut did a 180.
Skill: [Riding: Two wheeled Vehicles] (Uncommon) 500 Demon Tokens
Skill: [Riding: Lance Mastery] (Uncommon) 500 Demon Tokens
Skill: [Infernal Acceleration] (Rare) 1,000 Demon Tokens
The small visions of the skills and their innate understanding made Ethan do a small squeal. He could be like a medieval knight on a motorcycle. The Infernal Acceleration would work not just on the motorcycle but Ethan himself or even things he threw. He was just shy of getting them all with the Abyssal Drifter v14, which cost 1,000 Demon Tokens. Then, realizing his discount didn’t apply until check out he bought them all. He had an essence number on his screen that went down from 10,000 to 8,000- but he supposed that was the delivery fee. And he didn’t know what essence was for so he didn’t really care.
He saw them in the inventory tab of his alien iPad, and pulled the skills and his blanket out, as his gut warned him not to pull the motorcycle out while inside. Holding the small crystals in his hands he could see opaque visions of people using the powers they contained. But just barely- like dream ghosts. Like the system, the crystals and his gut gave him an innate understanding of how to pull the skills into his spooky mansion inside himself. He was overwhelmed with knowledge and understanding.
[The system has noticed you have 100 unspent attribute points]
[Would you like to set an automatic distribution?]
Ethan confirmed he did, he liked the power that adding these numbers gave but he didn’t want to be in charge of it all the time. He browsed a few templates and pondered what he wanted his super powers to be. His new skills used Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance- but Ethan could flip to different views and templates and the words would switch. Now they took Power, Agility, Perception, Might, and Stamina. He changed the template again, Now his skills took Physical, Precision, and Life-Force. This was very confusing, but he found some premade ones he looked through. He wanted to keep Bamboozle as powerful as possible, so he would use an attribute lock on Intelligence, or Cognition on his current screen. He wanted more Wisdom, or Enlightenment on the next window he flipped through, but he also wanted Strength and the other one accompanying ones for his skills. Leaving ‘Persona’ alone but also wanting some ‘Life Essence’ or Vitality when he switched back to the original template he found a preset he liked.
Cultivator Monk, with a lock on Intelligence. It distributed differently for all the different templates but the end result would be nearly the same- so he picked one at random and locked it in. His stats would go evenly between all his physical stats, ignore Charisma and Intelligence, and put extra into Wisdom. Accepting the setting he allowed the unused points to allocate themselves and felt a wave of power that made him shoot into a standing position and raise his arms with a cheer.
“I. am. Powerful!!!!” He said with a roar, not caring who heard. He was almost out of Bamboozle time according to his watch and with the full absorption of the skill he realized he was missing something important.
A Lance.
Ethan opened both the Integration Store application and the Demon Market one- comparing his options. For only five hundred, minus his discount, he could get a very intimidating black steel lance with skulls all over it from the Demon Market, but for eight thousand of his ten thousand nexus coins, he could get an epic rated lance that the store only had one of.
[Juggernaut's Spike Lance] (Epic)
Adorned with runes, this mithril weapon with each successful strike absorbs kinetic energy with every successful strike. This energy can be used to shoot spikes of kinetic force from the tip, creating a devastating long range attack.
That was absolutely pennies on the dollar, whatever that meant. He purchased it, only losing one hundred essence in the process to transfer it to his storage. Hopefully Cindy was right that everyone was quitting their jobs, because Ethan was going for a joy ride and he didn’t want to run into any police.