Ch 43. It's OK to be down. 11 days (Mike)
Tutorial Avatar damaged.
Negative Karmic Penalty (Pending Investigation)
Severe consequences will apply.
Tutorial Closing.
Shit.
Blink, and I was back into my real? body, lying down.
No one was in the room. I sat on my bed with my head in my hands. So much went wrong, yet so much had been good. My self-confidence had bottomed out, not only had I been dumped by a digital avatar, I had also failed so miserably at combat that I was also embarrassed. Even the fact that I had zero combat skills and zero fighting experience didn’t help my self-esteem. There was some music playing and decided that I'd better get up and do something otherwise I'd wallow in self-pity. I went to the lounge, where I could hear the music, and weirdly enough clapping and cheering and some wolf whistles.
When I got there, I stopped and stared.
Sarah.
She was in the sexiest biker outfit I had ever seen. She was a gorgeous girl, well at 19 or was it 20 years old, it would make her lady, I guess, but in the time I had been in the Tutorial, she had developed in all the right places! I mean, damn, Luke was a lucky, lucky bastard. Her gear, black and red leather, was amazing for her. Black and red seemed to be her favourite colours at the moment, and they suited her. It was form-fitting, with an open jacket over a small red bra top and a flat, ripped, bare stomach. I mean, I could see the abs from here! I was stunned. If she had changed that much, then maybe there was hope for me too. I mean, Alakaʻi had said that stats would change you physically. Shit. Alaka'i.
She finally noticed me, instantly, in the blink of an eye, changed into a just as hot sports outfit, ran over, and hugged me.
"I paper broke the wrap tutorial, conversation. Why are my window words wrong."
Skill Acquired: SWEARS TOO MUCH (Upgradable)
All Earth humans start with this essential system skill. Due to early pioneers of the Earth human race, Ms Sara Owens and Mr Mike Edwards, using excessive profanity, all humans have the system profanity filter and randomiser enabled. An auto timer has been implemented to help curb this tendency. Every time you use a profane word - spoken or in messages, a random word from your language will be substituted. A default 1-week timer is enabled, to which a cumulative time penalty will apply in 24 hours, then a week, then monthly increments. Once this timer gets to 6 months, this skill becomes permanent. A Karmic Penalty also applies, which is less than the penalty for using profanity without the randomiser. Please contact the System to see a list of words considered profanity. A Tier 4 or above AI can assist. Please contact the System directly to add or remove a word from the list. A Tier 4 or above AI can help. If you remove the timer, this skill will be paused, and the randomiser will be unlocked. You may select the randomise at any stage when it is unlocked. Doing so will reduce your karmic penalty.
Title Awarded: Give My Race A Skill:
For forcing a skill onto your entire race, the System has awarded you with acknowledgment of this: +1 Stats: Permanent -5 charisma and -1 charisma when you swear.
I looked at her, and we both nodded and burst into laughter.
Looks like we broke the human race, too!
I was unsure about having my name in the description of the skill every human would get. My Dad would kill me if he ever managed to get enhanced. I had a slight chuckle at the thought.
I had broken up an impromptu fashion parade, but people were OK with that. I was not too happy with all the attention and was unwilling to go into details about what I had done. We spent the night talking, and I even broke out a couple of icy cold brews from my inventory. Luke ordered Chinese from Uber eats, and we were all happy, it was nice.
Of course, everyone wanted to know about my Tutorial, but it was too personal, and I was not telling anyone a glorified Siri dumped me. I was unsure how I felt about Alakaʻi, who left without contacting me. Maybe she would have come back if I had not broken the Tutorial. I had opened up to her and all, which I did not do – ever. Even if she was an artificial being, she was so real. I moped a bit but tried really hard to be happy.
Damn, it was hard work.
Luke, Sarah and I spent the night trying to plan what we would do with Julie, but little came of it. Everyone was excited about my new class and skills, and I refused to tell anyone. I am sure Luke could tell. It was a bit embarrassing, and I was still only level 2.
The upshot of our planning was that we would go with Julie to Townsville, drive west and north to the property she had acquired, and then start putting the foundations in for the settlement. Once there, we could make it an officially Empire-recognised base for us as soon as Earth's integration happens.
Luke had the settlement stone, which I needed to read up on. I would be put on as the Settlement Administrator, allowing me to use my class bonuses and boosts.
I won that bet with myself. It seemed Luke would be the settlement's owner as the highest Tier, and by right of having somehow attuned to the stone already, it was System Bound to him, which meant that only someone with insane skills or even more credits could take it off him.
Having someone powerful early on was a double-edged sword as it would give some bonuses within the System and put a target out for people looking for fame and glory.
I guess I was used to Luke coming out on top, but it was still annoying sometimes. At least Luke could walk away from his old life or get his family buddy lawyer to sort his crap out. That is one of the joys of being independently wealthy, not that you would know it from talking to him.
Meanwhile, Sarah and I had to deal with uni, jobs, parents and our 'old' Earth life, all before the shit hit the fan. It just did not seem real at the moment.
I had a day where I would tell my Dad that I was leaving, had a job out west, and was quitting uni. Dad would be ballistic no matter what, but when we got around to introducing him to the Empire, and sooner rather than later, he would thank me, I hope. Or, more likely, try to kill me once he got the skill so he could not swear and saw my name there. I could never really tell with him. Every second word out of his mouth was a swear word when he was angry. He would let me know exactly how he thought, though. He was a very unsubtle man.
Sarah would sneak in and out and wag uni, dropping out by non-attendance. I guess GPA and academic credits were a thing of the past. She would tell her boss she was travelling, so at least she was not burning that bridge. She didn't have the same sense of responsibility that I had. I'd never forgive myself if I had all those loose ends. I was going to withdraw formally, which was in line with my new class, having all the dots dotted, and the Ts crossed.
Everyone at Port Douglas was in limbo, waiting for the rest of the group to get enhanced, Phillip to return from Brisbane, and the Legion to arrive. Julie was coordinating that.
All the while, the timer ticked down.
274 hours: 11 days 10 hours. Thursday week at 10:37 am.
Crap, it was a case of being both nerve-racking and filling me with impatience. We could not warn anyone for fear of who we could trust and what the authorities would do. Julie had told us some horror stories of vivisections and experimentations in the name of the greater good to try to harness the new system technology. Not that anyone would believe us; by the time we got them thinking of us, it would be too late.
In line with how I felt, nothing really went as planned for me on Monday. I drove Luke and Sarah as a glorified Uber driver to drop everyone off, and I was given Phillip's number for the return ride. Sarah had somehow managed to get a freaking teleport spell and would show off using it to get back. I wished I had something like that. When you stacked my class and skills against hers, mine was pretty lame and unimpressive.
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I'm not sure how it would sound to introduce myself, although the Water Elementals seemed impressed. When I got home, I managed to get all my clothes and stuff I wanted into an old suitcase. It was battered and made an awful squeaky noise when it wheeled. I was not grabbing the new one. Dad would kill me if I took that.
I spent about an hour filling out paperwork and ensuring I had a tax file number. My OCD made me make sure I was withdrawn from uni so I would get no academic penalty. That was quite painful. I even used some of my new class skills, and I think it would have taken all day if not for my new class.
In the end, I texted my Dad. I was a coward, but I knew he would ring, and I'd see how I went when I spoke to him. I just could not do it the first time. I sat there looking at my phone for a while before I texted. With dread, I sent my message.
Shortly after, I got a phone call from my Dad: "What the Hell is this? Why did you just quit school? This better is a joke, right? You better be home when I get there. I am on my way home now."
That was it. Despite being at University, he still thought I was at school. Damn the man.
I was half tempted just to go, but I really needed this. I think that he needed this. I knew if I left now, he would become even more bitter and angry, and we would never mend our drifting apart, and it would become a toxic rift. Why was family complicated? Not only was this the right thing to do, but I needed to do this. Closure. I was saying goodbye to my old life.
When he arrived back at our tiny house, I was in a near panic. My father was a big man. He had always had a few inches on top of me, and he had a bit of a temper, and it had taken me, as a child, quite some time to recognise that he was a sore loser. He did not like to be wrong. Ever.
I opened the door for him, with my skills kicking in to take control. He grunted and shoved past me as he came through the door. I could look him straight in the eye for the first time.
"Lucky you stayed here. If I were you, I would have bolted. You ain't too old to get the strap. Been a while…." He was full of shit. To him, I was still a ten-year-old. He just liked to remind himself he was the boss.
"Hello, Dad," I was eerily calm. I sat on our old couch, leaving him the single-seater.
He sat and noticed my calm. "Explain before I give you a whopping. You are not too old for that, and I had to leave work early."
When unsure, he dropped back to the same old, same old. Threaten with violence. It had been years since he had followed through. Maybe I had grown up and learned to avoid it. I looked at him. Perhaps he had just gotten old. It was only now that my fear turned to pity. I felt sorry for him.
"No, you won't" Where was this coming from? Higher Charisma?
"Now you see here, "he began. I think he finally saw me, "You get some work done? Damn, waste of money. Looks OK, but expensive. You could spend it on a decent car or find yourself a girl."
"Stop. Let's talk. I will be an adult in your eyes in a month or so, 21. I would like to think that we can remain civil. You don't need to treat me like a child." I wanted to punch myself for some of this, but it was words I should have said years ago. Part of me felt that if I had stood up to my father, my mother would still be here. I shut those thoughts down quickly.
"So, start talking. I'll listen, but …."
"So, listen." It was a combination of skills and some confidence from my enhanced stats. I felt on an intuitive level that he was Tier 0 and that he was beneath me. I think he sensed the power imbalance in his medulla, the primal brain he seemed to lean on.
I told him the bare minimum. I had not used my active skills because I would not have had the flexibility to bend the truth as much as I needed to, and in the end, I didn't need to. The facts for my father were simple; a friend of mine had a job offer for me on a property in northwest Queensland. It was good pay. It had training, better than what I'd get at uni or school, as he kept calling it. I'd get some skills and money out of it; it was ongoing, had medical benefits, and was hard work. They would fly me home, and I may get to come home regularly. Yes, he could come to visit. I think I ticked all the boxes for him. Hard work, ongoing, a boss that looked after you.
We spoke for about an hour, and he was not happy but not entirely unhappy. It was a significant change for him, and he didn't cope well. I think my determination and new confidence had thrown him.
In the end, he said, "I got to get back to work. I'll expect an invite to your party on the 21st, and I'll bring the rest of your stuff. I'll look after the house. Don't worry about me. You look after yourself. Find a decent girl and settle down."
That was his dream for me.
As he was leaving, the hardest thing I ever did was hug him. It felt good, and there was a sense of closure for my childhood that I was looking for and a sense of something opening up for us to go forward. He left for work, and I got packing.
As the designated Uber driver, I waited for Luke and Philip's message. We drove back to Port in silence, deep in thought, arriving mid-afternoon. I must have been rattled as I walked in. Sarah pointed out that I had a huge inventory that my suitcase would fit in. Of course, she was back first. Fuck My life!
We spent the afternoon planning or trying to. I was still moping a bit. Damn that beautiful AI and damn Guide.
Julie had offered Sarah a job as her PA, which sounded cool. However, Luke had given her a position in Earth Inc, which I felt jealous of. A bit put out by this, as despite being factored in as a settlement administrator, I was not yet included in the Earth Inc. side of things, yet would soon be calling some shots.
Neither Julie nor Luke were specific about what they would do, but it was not my business yet. There were some weird power plays, and I tried to work them out before I got blindsided or too involved. I knew that I would be running something and that he would be stepping back from what Luke was saying. I felt slightly empty and in limbo - nothing to do with a lovely Avatar I couldn't get out of my head.
I stayed in limbo until the Legion arrived, and the timer kept ticking over. It was surreal. Luke was super focused on training. This Jamie guy who had been a sort of enemy was now a friend trained with him. Amy was here, hiding away, only really talking to Luke and overeating. She tried to be sneaky, but we all noticed.
Too much was going on, and I was acting lovesick. I was still feeling adrift, and on the outside, even though Julie and I were bouncing ideas around all the time, none of my skills would kick in until we got to the settlement. I could feel them, but until I was an official administrator, I was locked out of some of them. I kept telling myself I would be good. We were just waiting for Sarah, who was waiting for a fancy bike delivery, which was why she had the fancy biker leathers I had seen at the end of her fashion parade.
While we were relaxing and waiting around, Julie asked us to come up with names for the settlement. Nothing was decided, "Mikeville' for some reason, it was not popular, so it just defaulted to Min Min.
We would wait for the bike to arrive in a few days, then head there. Getting a shop set up there would take some time, as the energy there would need to be stabilised so that we could use the one here until then. We were keeping the generator at Port Douglas.
Luke was keen to keep training, and Sarah wanted to throw some spells around. I needed the time to sort out the contracts and learn more about the available blueprints and how upgrading settlements worked.
A bit later in the evening, I was engrossed in some research about strategies for planning and building successful settlements. There was a data packet that Julie sent me that was almost a Dummies guide to system settlements, from Hamlet to global superpower.
It was interesting. I was pretty engrossed when a surge of energy detonated through the house.
LOCAL EMERGENCY: MANA IMPLOSION
There was silence, then the sound of water sparks and the house structure creaking and groaning. I ran out
Out in the hallway, I saw Julie and Luke standing in front of what was left of Sarah's room. It had just vanished. Most of her room, some of the walls and part of the roof. Someone ran off, the rest stood dumbfounded, and soon the water stopped.
"What happened? Where is she?" Luke asked, and Jean or Julie came and hugged me. I started to cry.
I am not sure why it hit me so hard, but I was devastated. I was in and out of coherence. Things I noticed with absolute clarity, while other critical things were nothing but a mental blur, I remember bits and pieces. Important conversations quickly lost meaning as soon as I remembered a close friend had just gone. I am not sure if I was mourning Sarah or Alakaʻi.
In true military fashion, thanks to Jean, the timetable to move was brought forward due to the damage to the house structure and the need for 'operational security. Time blurred, and I was not sure if I ate or slept. I barely noticed the Legion arriving.
They took no time to make the damage look less artificial and started to calm everyone. Even though I had met them, it was just more things I really didn't want to deal with. At some stage, after the Legion arrived, I was introduced to Xarius, Seraph and Brick. I nodded at them and continued on.
They all dealt with this calmly and professionally, and no one noticed I was broken.
Seraph tried to explain how, in the Empire, especially on the fringes, death was more common than you liked. In the struggle for power, accidents happen. They were really saying that it was an accident and I should get over it, and it won't be the last. They were not cold or uncaring, just compartmentalised and pragmatic.
The upshot of this was an accident had happened. Something about mana and words like condensing and collapsing. I didn't follow at all and didn't care that much. They said if left unchecked, it could form something like a black hole of mana and energy, which is as horrible as it sounds.
No shit, given that there was a massive hole in our house and Sarah was gone. The working hypothesis was that Sarah had saved us from something that would be classified as a Global Level Event. In Earth terms, a giant nuclear explosion, meteor strike or Tsunami. Sarah knew what was happening and had managed to contain it. Probably with the help of her AI, at the expense of her life. She had saved us all. I am not sure if they were just trying to make her out to be a hero or if she was indeed one. I thought she had probably done something crazy and just dealt with it.
I could only nod and cry. I didn't dare to tell her mother. The Legion seemed to think it was unnecessary. No one spoke about a funeral; without a body, it seemed wrong. Luke didn't give up; he would not accept that she was gone, and he just intensified his training and went off somewhere for his Legion training. Like off-planet training. If I felt a bit better, I would have been jealous.
I could keep it together for him. Well, I tried. Luke was coping much better than I was. I couldn't help but feel that he was running away. I didn't sleep and just sat and rocked back and forth. Amy was staying behind in Port Douglas. She was hiding and working on some secret project that Luke had left her. She was coordinating to fight back against her ex-boss. It sounded fun, but I couldn't get the enthusiasm to care.
A couple of days later, after a long, awful car trip, we arrived at Min Min, the large cattle property Earth Inc. was going to use to run its hidden Empire base. Julie had tried to engage me on the trip there with discussions and plans. I half listened, and half brooded. Apart from my close friend being pulverised into an event horizon of mana, I was still hung up about Alakaʻi brushing me off after leading me on.
All in all, I was terrible company for the entire trip.