An indescribable blackness seemingly seeped into the midday forest. It appeared like it was always a feature of the unimportant location. Had there been an onlooker just moments before they would have witnessed the terrifying and unnatural sight of their very reality being violently torn apart.
The tear was small and almost unnoticeable to even those most hawkish practitioners of the mystical and occult. And then it was gone, replaced by a palpable and domineering darkness.
Laying on the grass beneath the area which just moments earlier was torn was the body of a small girl. Her features were simple but told a sad tale.
Grimy and unwieldy brown locks. A bruised and severely swollen face. Her brown and lifeless eyes appeared so soulless that one might even wonder if she was ever alive in the first place.
Bloody and disgusting rags adorned her small but broken body. Stab wounds, bruises, slashes, burns, and dried blood painted a picture of immense suffering.
Her scarred legs were fully exposed to the elements, with the remains of torn bloody rags at her feet. She was completely shattered. Nearly every bone was broken and every part of her humanity violated. Death was the only mercy for this poor soul, and it too would soon be taken without her say.
The void that appeared observed the broken and expressionless corpse of the small girl. Upon observing the scene it did not feel any pity, disgust, or anger, as such pointless emotions were beneath it.
The forest surrounding the body was deadly quiet. An almost inaudible sound finally came from the void. So foreign it was to human ears that just that moment of whisper would have driven better men to raving madness. Just those three words.
"You will suffice."
The unfathomable darkness condensed further and swelled around the broken girl. It covered her completely, inside and out, changing the very core of her being. All but a tiny bit of the original was fused with the unexplainable entity.
Then came the rapid physical changes.
Her grimy and plain brown hair became a matte white. Her blemished skin was healed of burns and bruises, but not the countless scars. Some scars were recent and others showed age by how faded they were. But all the scars now stood in great contrast to her now doll-like skin.
Her eyes lost the vacant stare of someone who had witnessed the brutality of humanity, their very soul broken, and gained a seemingly unparalleled sharpness. However, instead of their previous dark brown color, they now shone a deep, bloody crimson.
The once broken and yellowed teeth in her mouth were replaced with deadly sharp ivory ones.
The darkness retreated from her newly transformed body and condensed further, creating a protective bubble that even blocked out the sunlight. In the center was the once dead girl whose hand started to twitch.
Then the film surrounding her body absorbed inside until it was like it was never there at all.
It started with a slight twitch from her hand. Then slight convulsions throughout her body. Finally, her eyes slammed shut and a horrific, but shrill, scream escaped her pale lips. Once she ran out of breath, she started to pant slightly and finally opened her blood-red eyes, blinking several times.
"That was a strange reaction. But this is the first time I tried something like this. I might be a knowledgeable being but new is new."
Her voice was raspy and yet oddly melodic at the same time. She slowly managed to get to her feet, slightly unsteady and a little wobbly, and looked around.
No one could blame a being with no solid form for having trouble right?
She had always found moving around in a bipedal form to be overly uncomfortable, but it was the easiest way to learn from them. It had been at least several centuries since she last practiced after all.
"Luckily it seems I've found a great isolated starting point, but who would have thought it would be on only the second try!"
"And despite those Parathians' doubts about beings who possess the ability to detect breaches in the temporal barrier of a reality, I succeeded in concealing my arrival flawlessly."
Her merry tone carried through the trees surrounding her, but there were no citizens of this world who would understand her outburst, even if she wasn't alone.
Just as she was mentally patting herself on the back for the successful infiltration a strange feeling hit her body. It felt like the universe itself was examining her. Like a colossal and all-seeing eye scrutinized her very soul, if she had one. She felt the gaze from beyond and her body froze.
Immediately she was ready to strike back the moment anything happened, but something about this feeling seemed familiar to her. A faint memory and a nugget of information flared up inside her newly commandeered skull.
And then the pieces clicked.
"Ah! That damn geezer Archibald was right! I can't believe he managed to hypothesize this, a bona fide universal construct!"
Amazement and glee was clear in her voice as she focused on the outside pressure.
It continued to build and build until finally it decreased and a screen like interface appeared in front of her.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Registration Error: CODE 451
Registration Error: &̷̮͍̲͌̊̎̅͜#̴̻̤͑&̶̡̬̒*̵̡͈͙̺̮̰͈͒̓̍$̶̼͔̞͆͂̚ͅ*̶̛̬̭͚̈͘
ATTEMPTING TO RESOLVE....
ATTEMPTING TO RESOLVE....
...TEMPORARY SOLUTION FOUND..
...TEMPLATE SELECTED....
...QUANTIFYING VALUES....
...ERROR....APPROXIMATING...
....ERROR...SKIPPING...
...ERROR...SKIPPING...
...ERROR...SKIPPING...
....ERROR...SKIPPING...
COMPLETE!&̷̮͍̲͌̊̎̅͜#̴̻̤͑&̶̡̬̒*̵̡͈͙̺̮̰͈͒̓̍$̶̼͔̞͆͂̚ͅ*̶̛̬̭͚̈͘
DISPLAYING
Name: Unnamed
Level: ERROR
Class: N/A
Titles: Otherworlder
__________________
HP: _̶̭̻͉͗̐̌͋_̴͉̜̙̪̍̐̔̿͒́×̷͎̘̓>̶͙͒≯̹̤̻͈́̇͛̿̀̀̕÷̷̨͉̭̰̮̟̬̊̃̄̈́,̴̡̛̘̄̃̂͑^̸̹̈́̿̓͒#̶̨̖͔̲͕͖̈̏̈̌͊͝͝ MP: 9̵̧̭͍̜̥̙̎͜7̴͇̹͎̮̠̒̈͠3̶͖̟̰͕̬̇̈́̎̏͜6̵̱̰͖͖̼̲̣̄̆̈́̏̓͂͝2̷͙̗̤̂́͛̅̚7̵̧̜̺̘͓͈̈́͛̽̊ͅ7̶̰͊̿̉̊3̶͉̞̈̔͘ͅ8̷̡̛̇̊͒͂̃
Fortitude: İ̴̗̣̮͕͍̤̔̓̋͘m̸̡̹͙͇̹̈́͝ͅp̷͔̏́ǫ̵͇͎̯̬̘̒͂͆͊̕ṣ̷̟̱͙̖̺͍̏̃̀͝s̶͙̘̯̩͉̣̄̆̈̈́͆͌̊ĩ̷̭͚̘͋̅̂̅̈̀b̴͕̏̀̑̀̀͜l̶̻̙̺̳̪̐̑̈̓̐͜͠e̴̡̪̞͓̙͔̣͛ Movement: Í̵̛̜͕̹ṇ̴͗̄͝f̵͍͎̭̊͒i̶̡̜̩̘̟̫͐n̶̞̭̰̪̺̦̆̅̀̐̚̚
Presence: Ĩ̸̧͇̘̘̘j̵̡̙̗̗̠̪̒͌̒͌̌̀̇h̸̦͎̀͛̂́̈́̈̚ş̷͓̞̮̲̩̐̽͛̌̒k̸̢̛̮ Versatility: ̶̧̦̩͉̰̫̇͘A̶͎̻̮̻̘̿̏͑̆͜͠ͅd̵̨̜̩̜̒̌à̶̬͙̯̈͊͠6̵͇̮̘̭͌p̵̜̰̉̈́͑̈̓̎̚t̶̟̓̇̚
Intellect: G̵̣͈͑̔̊̀̌̅̓ẻ̸̮̠̩͙͛̐̚5̵̧̈́̔̈́͑̽̚ĩ̵͚̩̱̆̇̕͜6̵̬̖͛͘ĥ̶̰͖͍̰̯̈́̓̚ Fate: 0
"What kind of useless construct is this?"
She didn't really understand what any of the values were supposed to represent nor why there were so many errors.
"Seems like this is the consequence of whatever problems this construct had with quantifying these values for this body I decided to inhabit?"
She believed that this outcome was a result of either her origins lying outside this reality or due to the way she infused her essence into this body. She wasn’t completely sure.
She believed that the outcome was a result of her origins lying outside of this reality or due to the way she infused her essence into this body.
"Can't I expand or interact with the construct to get more information? Is there a way to access additional data within the construct?"
She focused on her mental connection to the construct and decided to focus on the title section first, considering it was legible.
The interface changed.
--Titles--
_______________________
Otherworlder (Unique):
-You are a being that has been summoned to Iretas, far from your home. Find a way to return after your journey is finished or become unparalleled in this world!
But first some freebies for a smooth transition!
Grants Skills: Language Adaptation lvl.MAX
Identify lvl.1
"Isn’t whoever wrote these having too much fun?”
“But Otherworlder huh?"
She snickered at how right and wrong the construct was in its determination of her origins.
She believed that, despite the fantastical nature of the universe and the game-like statistics, it was not flexible enough to accommodate a reality traveler like herself. Such a shame. For everyone else living here of course.
"At least now I know my plans of embracing this world in a more hands-on way than before will be easier than anticipated."
She mused about how fortunate an occasional this was. For the last few worlds she "vanished" she had followed a more direct approach. It wasn't interesting or enjoyable for her at all, more like a job or an obligation.
Now it seemed like she could finally have some fun doing it. Learn everything and anything should could from this world, it's people, lifeforms, and of course the construct. And after all that was said and done she could take it for herself.
It would be like a vacation, right? She deserved one after all. In her thousands and thousands of years of instinct-born planet hopping she had never taken any sort of break. Not even after those damn Jordorians killed her favorite pet. She still kind of missed Floppy. He was so...floppy.
Not that she ever needed to take a break of course. But she felt she deserved to kick back a little dammit! Figuring out how to even get to this reality took long enough anyways.
"Alright now that I've gotten significantly sidetracked, let's see if I can see what these values are about, then those skills."
One by one she focused her connection to the construct to see if she could discern the meaning of the various values. The interface displayed the results.
-Fortitude-
Governs physical, mental, and magical defense, as well as an individual's ability to stay conscious after taking damage. Influences HP moderately.
-Movement-
Governs all physical movement speed and control, including most skills. Determines how precise movements can be as well.
-Presence-
Governs how effective an individual is at moving and doing damage stealthily or how effective intimidation is to a target. Heavily based on class and individual affinity with stealth or fear-based skills.
-Versatility-
Governs mental and physical response time to threats, movement, etc. Impacts the body's response to different situations such as poisons, toxins, viruses, bacteria, and environmental damaging effects.
-Intellect-
Governs an individual's learning speed, information retention, and visualization skills.
Slightly impacts general intelligence. Improves mana (MP) capacity depending on race.
Increases spell casting speed slightly.
-Fate-
Governs how an individual is impacted or impacts REDACTED.
-Additional information
requires clearance of OMNI or greater-
She had trouble keeping herself from bursting into long tangents of questions to no one after looking at the results.
But the main one was just why?
"Why have values like this? Maybe it has something to do with this so-called mana and magic? This reality, or rather I can say for certain this planet, seems to function on different principles than the others I've been involved with."
"But why can't I see the rest of the description for what fate is about?
Her insatiable lust for knowledge and information grew her determination to find out what was being kept secret. She was even a little peeved that someone or something was trying to keep the data from her.
"Oh no, no, no, my dear construct! You'll not get off that easily. I'm going to crack you open like a delicious egg and suck out all the sweet, yolk-like goodness you've got inside."
A near manic and toothy smile made its way to her face as she intensified her focus on the construct.
Gently sliding her influence, slowly, methodically, she tried to reach deeper into the metaphysical construct.
Eventually she reached a wall of sorts and the interface changed once again.
--WELCOME TO THE SYSTEM
HIGH GOD OR GODDESS--
_____________________________
Please Enter Your Credentials:
Username: ________
Password: ________
_____________________________
She couldn't believe her eyes. Bewildered. Dumbfounded. Astonished. Flabbergasted. Blown away. Bamboozled even. The arguably most important thing in this entire universe was hidden behind a simple login screen.
"I can't even begin to process this. Who in there right mind makes such a simple security system for a universal fucking construct!? Is this universe doing alright?"
She had seen better security for the technology for people's houses among the Parathians. Not to mention the various militaries and governments. Some of those had even tripped her up in the beginning.
She was split on whether to laugh or be angry for how idiotic they were.
Laughter was her choice.
"And these morons have the gall to call themselves gods? HAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
"Well I guess if I can get through this can it be considered beating the gods? Can I run around calling myself an uber high god or something equally pompous and hilarious?"
With her voice dripping with mirth, she decided to get to work breaking this system wide open.