The poor from the slums threw an uprising. Their proclamation was that they won’t be oppressed in the name of fake climate change. The uprising was quelled brutally by the government, those that weren’t killed outright on the streets were banished outside of the cities. From what I could gather this form of punishment was very unique, sparking a lot of interest among the populace.
The people who were banished found themselves unable to live in the white plastic wasteland outside of the cities. They were unable to build homes as any resource field was under strict supervision. Surviving woods were also circled with a wall of barbed wire and automated turrets. Nothing grew on the great white plastic plains.
Even with magic they were unable to sustain themselves, eventually the killed and ate each other, the surviving person got to level 2, he apparently was smart enough to pick mage class that came with 4 elemental skill upon reaching level 2 he picked a skill that let him grow food, although he had was starving since he never had enough mana to make himself a good meal he managed and even survived to this very day. His now level 10 fully self sustaining mage that lives underground.
About the time since the first banishment till now about 20 years has passed, during that time the army overthrew the government and basically forced everyone who didn’t outright faint by seeing blood into and active combatant.
Training everyone and then shipping them off to fight with the rebels or with other countries to level up quickly and to unify the planet under one rule. The ambition was great and for the first time in millenia it was achievable thanks to classes like mayor which aided a lot in information processing and discerning lies allowing making the best possible decision in a short time.
The ambitious leaders of the new government didn’t forget about me and I was forced to run complex equations for making fortifications, domestic buildings and anything else that had to be both durable material efficient and maximize both the current best knowledge to counteract global warming. Which was caused by all of this war after all the reflective plastic did get damaged after a stray artillery shell landed on it. It wasn’t much but during the years it added up very quickly.
Although my role, my existence was crucial for the government it didn’t mean I was treated like a human being far from it. My captors often abused me and tortured me forcing me to fuse with my current computer for longer periods of time.
The overuse of the skill made it reach the cap level which was level 100, upon reaching that level it turned into a passive skill permanently fusing one of my hands to the nearby cables. The new passive skill now allowed me to connect to multiple computers at once.
Even though I became even more efficient and more useful the abuse didn’t stop. I think they were lashing out on me all of their frustrations of being stuck with me or whatever. I didn’t pity them when eventually one of the officials came to congratulate me and wouldn’t take a no for an answer. Despite the threats of my captors I told the official all misdeeds of my captors and said that I would gladly work for him if he guaranteed to treat me as a human being.
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The official agreed and he somewhat kept his promise, I wasn’t abused or tortured I simply had deadlines. During my time in captivity the society changed a lot. Now everyone adored the system for granting them boon of magic while despising everyone who got malformed by the gift they got or those that were unable to level up due to the passive nature of their skill. There was a person who could spot with a naked eye a 50 meter crater on the moon but since the effect was always on he wasn’t able to get to level 1.
Since everyone despised me for not being at least level one and not caring about my story or the fact that my name was on the list of creators on every single new building or a machine. So here I was sitting in this room you found me in.
Working alone, getting food from a hole in the wall and only seeing other humans when I completed projects faster than needed. During the first few years I was overworking myself to not only level up but to also get into contact with someone, to feel someone's warmth when they gave a handshake for doing a splendid job. During that time I also read a lot since it was part of my job.
My skill accelerated my learning and thinking processes. It didn't allow me to download knowledge directly to my brain.I found out that in order to level up you have to engage in a fight with at least 1 person or monster and level up your gift to level 10. Also the research showed that in rare cases where the gift mutated like mine it would stick even after leveling up.
So I started pestering my boss to let me do it so I can be more useful. At first he was skeptical but eventually he agreed. It didn’t go well the military moved almost dead monster to my location for me to finish it off because killing a monster while being level 0 gives 2 times as much experience which would shoot me up to level 5 as I had already mutated my gift and the new passive one was already at level 10 out of a hundred.
The thing that went wrong wasn’t the actual process that monster already gave up and allowed me to end it. The events that followed went horribly wrong. Upon instantly reaching level 5 and picking my options which were mage class, psychic class, warrior class and 2 skills meant for information processing.
The psychic class is a variant class only shown to those that already have a skill that lets them process huge amounts of information. The class itself strengthens that allows for remote manipulation of living beings in normal cases, in my case it allowed for remote control of up to one extra computer on top of the ones I was already connected to.
The warrior class was for reinforcing my body and allowing me to sleep less and to passively slowly heal my overworked brain. Technically the regeneration buff was meant for cut off limbs and life threatening wounds not for overworked body. But the description didn’t say that. Upon receiving those 3 classes and 2 skills, my race changed. It normally happens when you reach level 10, 20, 30 and so on and so forth.
But in rare cases when skills and classes with an extreme synergy are picked the change can occur as soon as level 3. To cut the suspense my race was changed to cybernetic human, a variant that has numerous cybernetic upgrades or is able to survive in a simulated environment even after death of its mortal shell.
My new appearance resembled an average middle aged man with cables sticking out his wrists and sockets located near the spine. My race benefitted from being connected to the electricity network, it allowed me to sleep and eat less for the same result as when I ate and slept normally.