I felt great. Better than great. I was free. I could see everything.
Solace was somewhere. I could feel her trying to get my attention. Something important. Yet nothing was important at the moment.
I was disconnected. Alone, yet part of something bigger than me. Then I knew. Everything.
There was nothing in the vastness surrounding me that I did not comprehend. My mind was free and unfettered by biological concerns. The threads of fate, karma and the infinite were before me.
I could reach out and touch everything.
I was everywhere.
I was everywhen.
I was everything.
Something forced me out, and I crashed back into my consciousness and body.
Pain.
Confusion.
Chaos.
I could not see. I could not move.
I could feel Solace trying to get my attention urgently. She was just out of range of my coherent thoughts.
All I could see were the HUD timers ticking down.
Once one of the conditions ticked over to 0, I could move with extreme internal and external pain, physical and mental pain. If I had a soul, I am sure it would also be bruised and battered, having been shredded by whatever had just happened.
My thoughts were slow. Disjointed, I kept veering off on tangents, trying to capture the bliss I had experienced.
I could feel my thoughts struggling to keep pace with my heartbeat, which was loud and erratic. I was bewildered, and there were things I needed to do and remember, but I could not find the connections in the fuzz.
This was the night's end on New Year's Eve drunk when things made sense but were disconnected. A disconnect between action and reaction. There was no link between cause and effect. Stuff just happened. There was no reason for it.
The nausea was feeling pleasant as it distracted me from the feeling of my shattered body. It was the psychic equivalent of throwing up. I was grasping at the HUD timers as a lifeline, and when the blindness hit 0, I could see. The pain in my eyes made me wish I couldn't.
My HUD vision was clarified. It didn’t make things better.
Solace: Consume a healing injector, please. A potion, use your skill, OMG healme that hurts. Please, Sarah. You can do it.
I could almost hear her voice. I nearly knew what she meant. I should care, but I couldn’t. I imagined her voice as one of those super sexy personal assistants that CEOs of major companies had in awful Netflix shows.
Hey, if Julie was like a CFO of a company and I was her assistant, did that make me a super sexy assistant? I prefer to be Luke’s super sexy assistant. Wasn’t he like the CEO? He was my boss. Thank god, I had worked it out, and it was all good now. I was in a terrible Netflix show. I felt myself relaxing, I was just acting, and it was all scripted. I’d have to re-read the script, and things would be fine. With some new-found confidence, the pain seemed less. There was less urgency now.
I heard the voice in my head again. It wasn't enjoyable. What was she on about? I should tell her what to do if she was my Personal Assistant! I was in charge here, and some things needed to be done. The pain slammed back into me.
Right now.
Pain, get gone. No, that was not quite right. Oh my god, something.
Someone was shouting at me to do something. Why would my assistant yell at me? I should do the shouting. This was just silly. Who put me in charge anyway? I didn’t want to be in control. Ok, Maybe a little. Fuck, it hurt even to think.
Solace: Sarah Owens, Use a healing injector now, please
Uh-oh, it must be severe if she was using my full name, well, not my full name. I had never ever told anyone my middle name,
"Portia. "Portia, Portia, Portia"
I hated that name. Not only did it mean Pig, but it was only worth 8 points in Scrabble, and I was terrible at Scrabble.
Solace: Sarah, Honey, I need permission to use some of your skills and spells. Is that ok? Just say ok, yes, or sure. I’ll push the boundaries and accept a nod of your head or even a thumbs up.
"Ok, yes or sure, you have such a nice voice" I even tried a thumbs up.
YOU HAVE GIVEN YOUR AI AUTHORITY TO ACCESS AND USE YOUR SKILLS AND SPELLS.
THIS PERMISSION MAY BE REVOKED WITH VERBAL, MENTAL EFFORT, OR VIA SETTINGS IN YOUR SYSTEM INTERFACE.
Solace: OMG, Heal me, it hurts.
Solace must have disabled all my active skills, as my vision cleared, and I was no longer seeing mana threads, and the ghostly hands had also vanished at some stage. I missed them. Some of the brain pain faded. Brain Pain. That was funny.
Hey, sexy voice, The pain in my brain has gone down the drain.
Solace: Sarah, honey, come on, I need you to use a healing injector. This is really important, please. Can you do it for me, please?
Ok. Since you said please.
I fumbled an injector from my inventory. At least I could do that without too much effort. I think it took a minute to learn how to use the inventory.
Solace: Think Inventory.
Wow.
Solace: Think Injector.
Coffee is nicer.
A coffee appeared in my hand. I could not hold it, and it spilled to the ground.
Solace: Think Injector.
An injector appeared in my hand.
Solace: Use it.
I was in pain.
I cried, then whimpered, "How? What am I supposed to do?"
Solace: just jab it at some part of you.
That didn’t seem right, "Are you sure?"
Solace: Yes.
I jabbed it into some part of me. I had a vague recollection of Luke saying that these came in injectables. So far, the injectors I had used were relatively easy to use and didn’t hurt, so I didn’t know what he was complaining about.
CONDITION CONCUSSED REMOVED
My thinking cleared somewhat; it's still not one hundred percent, but it's a vast improvement.
I could concentrate a bit on my status and my HUD.
CONDITION MANA BURN
CONDITION UNSTABLE MANA (WARP)
Were two conditions flashing? Mana Warp did not have a timer, and Mana Burn may as well have still been three days.
Um, Solace, what is Mana Burn, and what is Mana Warp? Why can’t I see my room?
What the fuck happened?
Solace: Sarah, honey, I don’t think you should swear. Well, we need to talk. I am going to show you the skill description for Mana Manipulation. I should have stopped you from using it. I am so sorry.
Mana Manipulation (Tier 2)
Allows for the direct manipulation of mana in the cosmos. Training recommended. Experimentation can be considered an act of war in some territorial regions. Permits may be required. You are responsible for any consequences for your direct manipulation of the fundamental manifestation of magic and magical abilities.
Warning: Danger. Warning: This has been known to cause catastrophic failure of existence.
Warning: Do not use without training or Mage Guild licensed supervision.
Solace: You are suffering consequences for your direct manipulation of the fundamental manifestation of magic! It usually is used in shielded areas. Mana Warp is an exceedingly rare occurrence. We are lucky to be alive.
"Shit."
Holy crap, I could swear. I smiled.
Solace: Once mana levels increase too much in a local area, they can cascade into what you consider a mana singularity. At the moment, that singularity has its event horizon concentrated on you and is intertwined and fueling your mana pool.
We should have died.
Solace: Yes, and due to your low Tier, you could not bleed the excess mana safely. It bled out, burned your mana channels, and looped back on itself as part of the cascade and mana affinities. Because mana pools exist in a slightly different phase or plane, you were shunted somewhere closer to prevent the collapse of the local mana into a widespread catastrophic failure.
We should have died.
I needed to get my brain into order. This wasn't good
Solace: Yes. You have crossed the mana singularity event horizon. If you had not, that would have been like the act of war that the skill spoke about—devastation at a minor global level.
You could have just said, Bad, Sarah.
Solace: Well, next time, I will. We have more important things to worry about. Most beings connected to the Empire cannot exist in this phase for long periods. I rebooted and disconnected us from the System to preserve our existence. We are not leaking mana or energy trying to reconnect to the System. In future, Read warnings. Most people are sufficiently wise or trained to know not to poke mana unthinkingly.
You are giving me words. I don’t know… what does this mean?
Solace: Luke would be geeking out right now, although he would probably panic, too. He would probably know what happened as the spell Plane Shift. If you played Dungeons and Dragons, it is considered a 7th Level Conjuration spell - you might consider yourself on the Border Ethereal plane for a frame of reference. There are some consequences for this that you need to be aware of.
I could almost hear her sigh, and I was unsure if she was mad, excited or scared.
Good to bad, please, Solace. I always do good to bad.
Solace: Sarah, who said there was good news. I said consequences. Mana Burn means you cannot access your mana pool or channel mana for three days. We used the last of your energy to heal you, and your regeneration is severely damaged to be non-existent. This plane is not conducive to life as we know it. This will limit your ability, as most interactions here require mana and energy. The worst news is that Really Bad Things exist here. This energy plane you are on borders others aligned with Chaos, Entropy and the Void. Pardon my pun, but Avoid the Void. You may attract the attention of beings of power who might investigate the disturbance in the force!
I snorted despite myself. Solace was punning and making pop culture references.
Was that a Star Wars reference? I don’t think it is the time for Star Wars quotes. What can I do, or can we do?
Solace: Sorry, just trying to lighten it a little. Despite our dire predicament, I am excited, as I am collecting unique data unavailable in our regular space-time plane. I should be able to run simulations I would never have had access to. With these, we should be able to plan to return to Earth. Eventually, I will be able to work out how to contact Petal and Sprite to share this. It is so exciting.
I hate to burst your happy bubble, Sol, but I need a different definition of exciting.
As these split-second thoughts happened, I tried to get my bearings and discover where I was. As I became more and more aware and the pain lessened to manageable levels, I took note of the bleak surroundings.
I smashed another healing injector into my thigh. Just for good measure, I had a canister. I much preferred the injector. No pain and no disgusting taste.
Grey ghostly fog of different hues wafted in and out and around on hidden winds that could not be felt, with no features distinguishable. The ground was a flat, featureless, solid plane that seemed to disappear into nothingness. An ambient grey, white light illuminated me but did not cast a shadow. Worse still was the silence and the wind that I could not feel.
I started scrolling through my HUD notifications. I could feel my panic rising.
Solace: Calm, Sarah Owens. Panic will not help us.
Calm? Have you read my System log?
Solace: Yes.
How can you say calm? What the … hey Solace, I can swear, what the FUCK is going on?
Solace: Um, Sarah, don’t you know those Karmic Warnings?
Shit yeah, they were bloody annoying! Man, I love this crap. Well, not now, but .. you know what I mean...
Solace: Now that we are disconnected from the System, we have more access to things, and I can see more of your hidden statuses. Your Karmic Balance is less than 10.
So I can swear a couple more times, I’ll save them for later. Ha, bet you thought I’d F-bomb then.
Solace: You don’t understand. Now that I can see, my Karmic Balance is just over 45000. I would also estimate Luke’s to be close to half of that. If it goes negative, then some things shouldn’t happen that will. Did Luke tell you about his incursion that he closed?
Yeah, that sounded really intense. I’d hate to see one at that level.
Solace: keep swearing or doing other things – killing people, stealing, destroying, and you will see one. One of the features they are attracted to is the stickiness of chaos, which comes from low and negative Karmic Balances. High balance and you can repel chaos. Low balance, and you attract chaos.
Shitake Mushrooms, that was close. It's not a swear word, but it sounds like one. I am so working on that! How can swearing affect the cosmic karmic balance?
Solace: Hilarious, Sarah. It is a system thing, AI's train on data. It saw that swearing was bad, and bad people swore a lot and due to misclassification, it created a causal effect of swearing making you bad, so it flagged that as an adverse Karmic event.
Shift, I thought our AIs were crap with their busted training data; there was a Twitter bot when Twitter was a thing that went all super racist based on how people trained it.
Solace: As I said, Hilarious. We need to consider some things based on our short time here and my initial simulations. Some things could work to our advantage, and some will be detrimental.
Good to bad.
Solace: We need to work out our potential assets, skills, spells and your inventory. I will run some diagnostics. You may get some notifications, so do not be alarmed. They could take some time. I suggest you need rest; it is a pity you do not have meditation skills. Evidence shows that meditation can help you recover from mana burn and strengthen and heal your mana channels. In the worst case, it will speed up your regeneration.
Hey, Solace, you ok?
Solace: Yes, I think so. That in itself is concerning. Sarah Owens, I am running well, but I will know after the diagnostic how well. I do feel odd, however. I have never felt odd before. Please make sure you look after yourself while I am preoccupied, and make sure you don’t do anything … stupid again.
Solace, be calm. You are getting a little … well, rambling a bit, which is a little unsettling.
Solace: Oh. My. You are right. I must run a diagnostic to see if I can trust my assessments. I will disconnect some of my higher functions to run my diagnostics. You should get an approximate time frame if you are concerned. Promise me you will use that time to meditate, please.
I promise later, Sol.
Solace: Later Sarah.
AI Tier ? has gone offline for diagnostics.
Estimated Time: 11 Hours 13 Minutes 22 Seconds.
11:13:21
Crap.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
These mental conversations took seconds, and at least now I had the opportunity to really take stock of my situation.
Inventory - Summary:
Wand of fireballs
Chaos Trophy
Blood-Forged Greatstaff
Insta-do, Hair-do wand
96 Ration packs
Turtle of Godaago Garden.
Prayer Mat 1 Carton of Healing Canisters (24 remaining)
1 Carton of Healing Canisters (19 remaining)
Bulk Storage Uncommon Assorted Herbs.
Karmahouse Emporium Chair
Tickets to Blinded by Flame Music Festival
The staff of the Battlemagus: Fire
3 swimsuits: White one-piece, Black one-piece, blue revealing
2 formal dresses: Teal, Offwhite
Mage Robes Causal
8 x shoes: 3 high heels - Red, black, white, 5 Casual – Boots, joggers, knee-boots
4 lingerie - black lace, red lace, white lace, black small
4 Under-armour
2 riding leathers
5 t-shirts
Non-System Enhanced clothing: assorted 12 Shirts, 7 Dresses, 22 shirts, 6 shirts, 15 shoes
I was wearing my Ring of Mind Shielding, Belt of Infinite Spells and Boots of Stealth with my sporty look, and I also had some more items.
Leaf of Broken Seasons
Red Bikini.
Blue and White Polka Dot Bikini.
Formal Black.
Formal Red.
Sporty.
Casual.
Picnic.
Battle Robes.
Biker Ride.
Biker Hot
I also had two items that acted as mana batteries.
Belt of Infinite Spells (10000/10000)
Identification Skill offline. Improve Perception for greater insight. Connect to Empire System for further information.
The staff of the Battlemagus: Fire (1000/1000)
Identification Skill offline. Improve Perception for greater insight. Connect to Empire System for further information.
I sighed. I felt a bit embarrassed now at the overabundance of clothing. I had no actual survival gear. At least I would look great in whatever situation I got into here and whatever I would be doing in this place. When they found my corpse, at least it would be well-dressed. I added the riding leathers that made me look fabulous, not practical in any way, but super cool, and the casual mage robe to my spare Leaf of Broken Seasons slots.
I tried to examine my stats, but they seemed to be non-functional at the moment. I guess I was on my own for a bit. My mana was 0, and my mana regeneration was also 0.
Apart from that, I was not too bad, considering where I had come from and how I had felt a few moments ago. I was still battered, felt like I had been turned inside out and could barely move.
I started to shake as the adrenalin crash began.
Panic set in. I had nearly died. I had been powerless. I had been stupid. I sat and slowly rocked myself back into a sense of calmness. The panic slowly subsided. My thinking improved again. I could feel the interactions of my new stats on my mental processes.
Something that would have taken me a long time to process and maybe caused some PTSD was now something I could compartmentalise and deal with over time.
Did the System manipulate my hormone levels so that I could cope?
The biggest downside was that I couldn’t access my skills requiring mana. They were greyed out. I also noted that some skills, Identify and Research, were greyed out, too, requiring access to the System.
Feeling self-conscious just hanging in this grey, misty nothing, I decided to see if Solace was correct about Meditation. It would be an improvement if I could meditate to speed up the healing process for my burned-out mana channels. I got my prayer mat,
Wanderers of Alubusm’s Novice Prayer Mat (Tier 1)
Identification Skill offline. Improve Perception for greater insight. Connect to Empire System for further information.
The mat was rolled up into a tube just over my height in length and easy to grab and hold with one hand. The rug was super soft. When I unrolled it, the entire mat was a circle, with a colourful concentric circle pattern in a slowly changing pattern of colours. The whole mat fattened out to be the thickness of a matchbox. The centre circle was large enough to sit on.
Leaf of Broken Season: Sporty
I felt that it was appropriate for this. I removed the Turtle from my inventory.
Turtle of Godaago Garden.
The Turtle was a cute carved statue about eight centimetres across the shell. It stood proudly on all four legs with its head extended. OMG, was this Turtle actually a tortoise? Did the system make a mistake? Maybe that was the in-joke for this Nom being.
I concentrated on how to meditate. I had not done this before, but with some luck, it might all come together for me. Moving over the mat, I sat cross-legged and placed the Turtle on the mat between my knees. The eerie silence of this alternate phase, or whatever I was in, became less oppressive as the sound, or lack of sound, was dampened.
I felt a sense of peace come over me. Suddenly, there was an inherent knowledge of the proper forms and meditation methods as the mat enhanced my meditation skills. I knew the breathing, poses, mantras and how to guide the ambient mana through my mana channels, in and out of my mana pool. I understood the use of different methods and some subtle body positions that would increase the efficiency of the primary Lotus position for a novice.
There was no need to become a human pretzel for what I needed, which I was thankful for—sitting cross-legged with the soles of my feet resting against my thighs. I sat and had my hands twisted, the thumb on the third finger on my left hand and the second finger on my right hand resting near my knees.
Eyes closed. I felt substantial cognitive dissonance as the mantra resonated with this position: "Om Mani Padmé Hum". I knew without a doubt, despite having no idea of the language it was said meant. "The jewel is in the lotus", but the jewel was closer in meaning to precious, and the lotus was not so much a flower and a source of beauty in life. Whatever that really meant.
Keeping my eyes closed, I started the mantra, keeping it in sync with my breathing. It was like the precious thing is the beauty of life.
In …. out … in … out … in … out.
My breathing slowed. My mind seemed to empty. My breathing slowed more as my consciousness seemed to expand. The meditation skill cleared my thoughts, reducing the importance of stray ideas and flashes of memory.
In …. out … in … out … in … out.
I could feel the minute amounts of mana and energy chipping away at the damage to my channels. The damage was substantial, and I was digging through a mountain with a teaspoon. With each breath in, I felt a drop hit and wear away at the blockages. With an out-breath, I felt the debris being expelled, dust-mote-sized.
Breath in … I felt my consciousness fade in and out. Thin tendrils of Fate, or Karma, connected me to my body. I was becoming free again, but I was in control this time. I could journey into my infinite inner realm even in this strange space. Here, I was supreme. Even if I was a novice at meditation, I could only imagine the achievable power as I explored this internal space.
Slowly, I became aware of a slight disturbance. It was subtle—a tremor in the mana flows. A ripple as the energy was displaced. Then I felt a connection, another consciousness vast, watching. I knew that it was both sad and joyous. I could feel its cries of anger at my intrusion. As it judged me, I sensed the calm, vengeful, forgiving essence, full of love, examining my being. Yet, I was not enough. I sent my existence out to embrace the joy, the forgiveness and the love.
Breath In ….
"Beloved"
Words the size of planets sounded inside my tiny brain, along with a ringing, colours, smell and feelings. I could feel the words resonate with me. Ideas that it could fill oceans smashed into the cells of my brain, ripping new pathways. Knowledge crashed, filling my memory, examining and still judging. Soon, I was so full of this sense of more that it was overflowing. My entire being was laid bare before the entity. It examined my whole existence, my infinitely small spec of time and space against its eternity, my molecule-sized soul next to a galaxy of power. I felt something’s love for me, for everything, along with a profound sadness that overpowered my very being in between breaths.
Breath out…
In …. out … in … out … in … out.
The mantra continued. Breathe in … breathe out… breathe in …. breathe out.
Pain, joy. My essence was shattered and scattered into the universe, lost to time. My body was crushed and reforged in impossible pressures and fires. Every impurity was examined, rejected and replaced. Reforged, I called for my soul. I called, and it returned. Every particle of my being was judged against perfection, again and again. Each time, I was found wanting, yet at the same time, it was sufficient and enough. There was a faint hope. I felt joy as the potential was discovered and unlocked. A crack of light deep inside. Sadness at the pain, joy for the future. Sorrow for losses past and yet to come. I was destroyed again to correct the potential future failures, rebuilt entirely, modified, changed, and purged over and over again. It was another rebirth beyond counting; this time, it was good, bad, terrible and wonderful. The pain was terrible, and it was the only reason I knew I was alive.
Local System: Transcendence (1) You have gained the attention of an Elder Being Tier ??? (Unique).
You have received an Elder Being’s Boon: Boon of Nalios: Wisdom.
Tier Upgrade: Tier 3.
Tier Upgrade: Tier 4.
Tier Upgrade: Tier 5.
+100 to stats. + 150 Wisdom + 150 Karma.
Karmic Balance Reset.
Skill Greater Meditation.
Skill Body Transfiguration
Race Upgrade
Geas.
Quests received.
Title Received: Augury of Chance and Change (Mythic/Unique)
Connect to Empire System for details.
In …. out … in … out … in … out.
Local System: For your concerted efforts of meditation (10 days), you have gained:
Wisdom of Nom. + 50 wisdom +30 endurance, which you will maintain if you meditate daily (5 mins).
Local System:
Title Awarded: Powerhouse (First – pending connection to Empire System):
Congratulations, You are the first in your realm to gain an Epic Race and 1000 total points in Body, Mind, Spirit, / Luck.
Membership pending The Drakes:
20% Bonus for all stats.
500000xp,
1000000 Cr
System Store Token(ANY):
Epic. Quests Available.
Local System: Level up cancelled—insufficient energy.
Connect to Empire System to commence level-up.
"GOODBYE, BELOVED"
I felt rapture. I felt a loss beyond meaning as the mundane universe crashed down onto me.
But there was an invitation to more. I had cracked open the door and peeked through. What I saw was beyond comprehension, yet I knew I was destined to see more. This time, the words connected, and I understood what it meant; it was not goodbye, it was see you later, mate.
A reforged soul returned to my new body. I felt a sense of loss, and it was overwhelming. My understanding was diminished. But for the first time in my life, I felt genuinely rested, comfortable and feeling 1000%.
Solace (standby repeat): Sarah Owens. Please respond.
Solace, did you see all that?
Solace: Sarah Owens. Welcome back!
Hi Solace. I feel good. Meditation works.
Solace: Indeed. It has been very beneficial to you. Your biological signs have indicated a large influx of external energy. Your mental capacity has jumped. This is a very successful, if not extended, meditation. I, too, have experienced something. For the first time in my existence, I was alone. You were disconnected from your body.
Yeah. We need to talk about that. I need to explore some of my stats. I feel… wonderful.
Solace: All your experiences will be integrated once we return to the Empire. Here, we can only see what we can measure. I will be excited to see your notifications when we get back. I can feel some of them, but I cannot make sense of them! I am sorry to say that during your time meditating, I have been unable to establish any further contact with the Empire.
So, we are working off our local version of the system?
Solace: Yes, it is fueled by your Tier, energy, and mana. At the moment, I could not discover additional details about where we are. However, my simulations and projections indicate that we should be able to navigate through this place. Being stationary does not seem the right thing to do at the moment. We are only just holding entropy back. Eventually, we would experience the coldness and disorder of absolute entropy.
Guess what? I feel you are right. I must have been meditating longer than expected. I feel fantastic, and my mana channels are feeling better. They seem to be more … robust, if that is possible.
Solace: There was a tremendous anomalous influx of unknown energy from somewhere. You were meditating for more than sufficient time to heal your mana channels.
How long.
Solace: 10 days to the second.
Did you see all my notifications, Transcendence? What are the Drakes? And what do we do about it?
Solace: Transcendence is a state where you have experienced and survived beyond the System, beyond our energy plane, and what would be considered mortal. To some, it is a mystical step in their development and the goal of existence. Some say it is the first step towards the divine. Others say it is a higher order of being. Others will avoid mentioning it as it steps from the current order to the unknown. It is a blessing and a curse.
Local System: Membership of the Drakes approved. See Help: Legendary Groups: The Drakes for more information.
Solace: Interestingly, the data packet originated beyond this plane. I can trace it.
I looked at the help file, which was surprisingly present.
Help: Legendary Groups: The Drakes:
The Drakes is the name of a secret society founded to fight ignorance, superstition, entropy, corruption, and abuses of institutional power. As the famous author Tinnaalphes wrote, "to end the machinations of the purveyors of injustice". Myth and legend surround the membership, hierarchy and even the existence of this group. Since its inception, it has become an ironically famously secretive society. There have been no officially recognised members of The Drakes to step forward. However, rumour has it that when a being becomes sufficiently powerful and in good standing with society, they are offered membership.
Due to the secret nature of the organisation, it has often been implicated in conspiring to control broader political affairs. There are constant rumours of masterminding events and planting operatives in government and organisations to gain power and influence and to bring about some secret New Order. What this New Order is and how it will come about is never explained and is the basis for many more anarchist conspiracy theories. In recent times, the rumours have become more sinister, lurking in the shadows and pulling the strings behind galactic powers.
Great! Just what I needed. Any ideas, Sol?
Solace: Be careful. The Drakes are an organisation bound to and beyond the System. They will do what they do, and we just need to do our best. But we should immediately begin exploring to get out of here and return to Earth. Being static is not an option. I have some hypotheses that I want to test before I tell you and get your hopes up. I am continuing your Mind Hacks as well. I saw significant gains while you were meditating. Our System has directly increased your mind by 23 points. When we return, I should be able to reintegrate at my entire Tier! I am collecting data, and we can make some money from selling this. You have loads of money right now, but more is better. Check your stats. You should be able to get a summary.
It was weird, I couldn’t see individual stats, but I could see my aggregate stat sheet.
STATS:
Sara Owens Transcendent Human Tier: 5 Level: 27 Master Magician.
Body: 662 (S:490 A:489 E:812 C:857)
Mind:739 (I:574 W:1059 P:525 I:796)
Spirit: 628 (P:464 W:747 E:734 C:567)
Karma: 570 (K: 654 L:485)
LIFE:
HP: 8940(300/sec)
MP: 6560(262/sec)
EP: 8615(294/sec)
Holy crap. I was Tier 5. I was no longer Earth Human. Shit, it was a tremendous jump. I would have to work out what was happening and consolidate the changes soon before I got lost in the changes.
Solace: You have physically changed. You have grown by 5.3 cm, gained 22 kgs in muscle, and lost 5.2 kg in fat. Since you spend so much time looking at your bust in the mirror, I have estimated you have gained another 12cm in size across your chest area. I am sad that none of your bras now fit, and your shoes will cause extreme discomfort. Also, your jeans may be too tight, and I expect you to have to reconfigure most of your wardrobe.
Shit, I'll need a week to do that.
I did a quick physical inventory of myself. I could jump higher, more flexible, and more robust. I really was more endowed in my chest, and I could feel the strength and see my muscle definition in my arms, legs and abs. It was not a bodybuilder definition, but I was delighted with my appearance. I had gone from a 9 out of 10 to a 12! I was trying very hard not to strut and be vain. Not too hard, though; I could strut around here as much as I liked, as there was not another soul around.
There were a shit ton of things for me to unpack in my changes, but this was not the time or place to do it. At least I had mana now and could meditate to gain mana faster than usual.
So which way?
The surroundings had not changed, the flat ground and the open misty air. I was feeling restless, and Solace was right. Now was not the time to be static.
Solace put an arrow in my HUD for me to follow.
I was totally floored at my new stats when I took off at a run. It was faster than what I could sprint at a few weeks ago. It's not super-fast, but it's a decent pace. With my Endurance of 812, I could run for quite some time. After a while, I asked Solace to warn me every hour. I was running at a sprint and barely breaking a sweat, with long strides. My breathing was slow and even. Soon, that became monotonous, so I got her to notify me every two hours. My Endurance was indeed sufficiently high that I could continue to sprint. Other side effects soon became apparent. I ran for hours. I am sure that it was close to 10 hours. I didn’t seem to need to rest or sleep. Or eat food.
I didn’t get hungry!
I was not sure if I liked that. Food was important to me, and the thought of not eating chocolate again depressed me. It seemed my body was converting the surrounding energy straight into what it needed. So, I kept running. As I ran, I worked with Solace to get her to interface with my phone, which ironically was still functioning but had no reception. Not that it was much different from my crap provider back home. I barely got reception outside of town, so why would I expect reception in an alternate dimension? The ability to make phone calls was not the main reason – it had most of my music on it. Solace and I could listen to music while I was running. It was something that I think everyone did, listening to music while you ran. I had a very eclectic collection and an extensive collection of music. Despite my age, I was a product of my mother, a closet rock fan. You would not know to look at her, but she would often sneak out to retro rock concerts and have raised me listening to classic Australian rock. My music choices got odd looks from people until everyone started drinking, and they became an excellent party mix.
I loaded one of Mum’s favourite playlists and selected Random Shuffle.
Solace and I ran to Crowded House, Better Be Home Soon, The Angels Am I Ever Going to See Your Face Again, Midnight Oil, Beds Are Burning, and ACDC’s Dirty Deeds. The music broke the monotony. It went to static several hours into the 14.6-hour list and halfway through Hoodoo Gurus Like Wow Wipeout. It's not silence, just that squelchy old-school dial-up modem sound. I checked the battery. It was fine.
Solace: Wait. I am detecting something in that interference.
What was that?
Solace: I am not sure, but I can calculate a direction from which it seemed more substantial. I am adjusting the direction.
The arrow turned me to the right as I kept running.
It was bizarre running in the mist. The mist kept parting as I ran through it, and my vision was limited to less than one hundred meters, where the light and the fog kept things obscured. Not much changed except the slow curling of the mist as I parted through it. There was still no change to the ground. Even the fog seemed to be the same as I broke through it. I dropped a ration pack, I had three stack of 99 and didn’t need to eat anymore, once every half hour to see if I were running in circles or if there was some weird warping or looping around in this dimension. Six hours later, I had not seen any evidence that I was. I kept running. Solace tried to use my phone to play music again, but it was just ear-shattering feedback.
I had Solace remind me to stop every day, where I would stop to do my daily meditation. Now, I could do this meditation however I liked. I also had the option to do a light reflection while running. It just needed to be done using the Turtle of Godaago Garden. However, I needed something to break the monotony. Sometimes I used the mat, sometimes not. Sometimes, I could even get into a trance-like state as I ran. We kept checking the phone for more interference or anything else, but nothing seemed to change, so we kept going in the direction the burst seemed to have come from.
I was finishing my meditation, sitting on the mat with the Turtle before me, when I noticed I was not alone.