Chapter 4: Introductions and Information
Greetings Inhabitants of Planet 6605 (known locally as Earth).
We are now connecting you to your assigned Guides. These guides are here to help facilitate a smooth transition into the Nexus and with your upcoming trials. As such they are a source of information placed at your disposal to be used how you see fit.
However please keep in mind the following limitations:
1. Guides are not allowed to disclose certain information.
2. Guides are not allowed inside the trials.
3. Guides cannot physically manifest.
Trials begin in 48 Earth hours
Nathan contemplated the text before him. The notion that the guides’ assistance would be minimal in the days ahead resonated with him, as excessive aid could tip the scales unfairly. He had to accept the information provided at face value, yet he harbored a hope that his guide might navigate the constraints imposed on certain subjects. This led him to ponder the nature of these forbidden topics and the reasons behind their need for classification.
Nathan experienced a peculiar sensation, as if ants were scuttling beneath his skin. He fought back the itchiness and continued to hone various sticks into sharp tools. It wasn’t long before a gentle voice resonated within his thoughts, breaking the silence.
“Do not be alarmed,” the voice said, “I am communicating directly into your mind. I am your guide for your upcoming trials. In short time a visually manifestation of my physical body will appear before you.”
No sooner did the voice finish that sentence, a young, albeit emaciated woman stood before him. Her skin is as pale as moonlight, unblemished, contrasting sharply with her long, raven-black hair that cascades down her back like a shadowy waterfall. Her eyes are a piercing violet, seeming to glow faintly, captivating and intimidating. Small, sharp fangs peek out from under her upper lip almost giving her a mischievous smile.
“My name is Sera,” she said as she looked about his makeshift camp. “Crude but quaint. You made use of your time. You wouldn't believe how many new beings just sit in one spot and wallow in self-pity.”
“Nathan,” Nathan replied. “I have no desire to be here any longer than i need to be. I have something that I need to do. Someone that I need to find.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew they were borderline disrespectful toward his guide Sera and he immediately regretted saying them.
If Sera was upset at what he said, she didn't let that show. Instead, she moved over beside him and stood behind him. “I can understand what you're feeling. I have done this many times with varying results. I will tell you this now once and only once; the strong rule the weak in the Nexus and the weak are always looking for ways to become stronger. You must not tell anyone about what you are going to see next.” She waited a few seconds letting her words sink in. “When you are ready say or think status.”
Nathan listened to her words and took them for the warning that they were. If this was the first piece of information that she gave him as his guide, then the Nexus must be more unforgiving than he thought. “Status,” he said.
Status:
Nathan Dark
Human
Level:
Tier: 1 Level: 1 (0/1000)
Stats:
Body: 6 (+1)
Stolen novel; please report.
Mind: 5 (-1)
Spirit: 5
Cosmic Essence: 10
Titles:
[Broken Soldier]
Skills:
[Improvised Weapons Level 1]
[Bushcraft Level 1]
Nathan looked over his status and took note of his stats, titles, and skills. He turned to ask Sera a question, but she held up her pale hand.
“Remember, keep that information to yourself. No one should know your status. There will be times when your status will become visible, such as when you share it or when you take slave or complete a soul binding. Even then your status will mostly be obscured,” she explained. Let’s start with bypassing your name and race and head straight into the tier, level, mind, body, spirit, and cosmic essence.”
Sera went on to explain the everyone being starts at tier 1 level 1 and the levels rise all the way to 100. You gain experience by either completing Nexus related jobs or tasks. Once your level gets to 100 you go up a tier and the cycle repeats with the caveat that each level requires double the experience of the previous level. As one progresses through the tiers, their life expectancy grows as well, meaning that one could live for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Nathan didn't know what to think about living that long, but he understood how that could be appealing to some.
“You understand,” she asked.
“I understand. It's just hard to fathom living for that long. As humans, we reach the high end of the 80s some time to the age of lower 90s, rarely ever longer than that.”
“There will be a lot that you will have to just accept.” Sera said. “Continuing on since there are no questions.”
Like a teacher talking to a student, Sera next went into the stats. Each stat was a representation of each of the individual characteristics summed up. The body stat covered how strong your body was taking into consideration your strength, agility, stamina, a constitution. This stat directly affects how much you can carry, lift, how hard you can hit, how fast you recover from illness or injury, and how quick you are. Sera did caution Nathan by telling him that the ways to lower one's body stat such as having a limb removed and not having it healed back properly.
The mind stat consisted of intelligence, wisdom, and perception. This category directly impacted how well you gain and level up your skills. The higher the stat the easier someone could raise their skills; however, some skills can only be raised by meeting certain and often time dangerous restrictions.
The spirit stat involved only two things, your mental and physical resistance to external stimuli. Sera explained that there are classes and items out there that could impact both your mental and physical state such are auras or poisons. Spirit also dictated how fast your cosmic essence is refilled.
“Auras?’ Nathan asked with a raised brow.
“Yes, auras represent someone's power or intent. Someone high level than you can release their aura causing you to feel weak or afraid. There have been some instances in which someone's aura has killed many low-level beings. It is generally frowned upon to throw your aura around, but in the Nexus might makes right.”
Nathan sat his sharpened spear down and closed his pocketknife. “So, what about cosmic energy?”
“Thats easy. Cosmic energy is all around us. We use it to activate certain skills such are conjuring fire or using certain skills. Our bodies absorb the ambient cosmic energy to refill our stores. You can only raise your stores by progressing though your levels or with very rare items. If you happen to run your energy levels down too much or too often you will suffer a backlash and, well, it's not very fun.”
Nathans eye seemed to lose focus as he looked outward before asking, “So items can raise or lower your stats?”
“Yes, items have the ability to raise or lower one's stats. They also can have additional bonuses attached to them that are either passive or must be willfully triggered by the wearer. A word of caution about equipping items, if you find yourself in a situation where you are not wearing said items, you must rely on your base stats.” She said with a hint of finality.
“So don't use items as a crutch,” Nathan replied flatly. He lifted his and looked at his palm before squeezing it into a fist. He began to wonder how strong he needed to be in order to protect his daughter.
Sera broke him out of his thoughts, “if there are no questions regarding stats we can move to the last few categories of your status. Titles and Skills. These are straight forward. You get titles by accomplishing feats or by meeting specific requirements. Each title is different and can only be attained once. If you focus on your title, you can view more details about them. Before you ask, few who live know how many titles there are.” Sera took a pause before continuing. “Skills are something that you can learn. They can be taught, read in a book, or learned by doing. As with titles, if you wish to learn more about your skills just focus on them. “
This made sense to Nathan as he already had two skills available to him. “So, I can learn all the skills out there?”
Sera’s laughter rang out, a melody that Nathan found to be the most delightful he had ever heard. “Yes, to your potential disadvantage,” she confirmed. “You have the liberty to acquire any skills you desire, yet if they do not align with your class, they may ultimately prove to be an inefficient use of time and resources.”
They both let silence linger between them. Nathan thought about all the information that he had been given and it seemed like Sera was just happy to be there. He glanced over and saw that she had her head back, and eyes closed almost as if this place, as desolate and crude as it was, was a temporary reprieve from her normal surroundings.