Charlie lay back on her bench, gazing at the unfamiliar stars through the leafy canopy of the trees that ringed the jump track. It had been an eventful day. She shook her head, still bemused by Glen and Jay’s wonder of the [System]. She had grown up with it as a given. One of the absolutes of life. Like gravity and day following night it was something that simply was. While you normally didn’t get to unlock your own [System Status] until you turned twenty and could register at the [System Newel Pillar], the evidence of the [System] was all around you. And while there were high powered classes and skills out there, the vast majority of humanity had nowhere near the sheer exuberance that Jay and Glen had shown. For most the [System] was a tool that enabled you to do your job better, that made your life slightly easier and buffered you from the constantly lurking dangers. All this talk of [Tanking] and [Taunting] and [Dee-Pee-Eesing] was so far removed from the normal grind of trying to put food on the table and keeping the enforcers from your door that it seemed completely alien. They were looking at the [System] with fresh eyes. That was it. They didn’t have the shutters that she had inadvertently adopted.

This was not to say she hadn’t been anticipating getting her [PSI]. No, there had been a lot of anticipation. It had just been… narrow. Limited. While she knew that as a human, with the [Flexibility] perk, she could learn anything, her horizons had been so small. It hadn’t even entered her head that she could be an [Adventurer]. They were like a different breed, striding through the masses like a [Lionshark] through [Baitfish], totally uninterested with the goings on of panicking lesser beings scattering before them. Adventurers were like a different species really, all of them, even when they were the same race. Likewise she hadn’t entertained being a [Soldier] or [Mercenary] or [Guard]. She had been outside, on the street, fending for herself and her crew since she could remember. [Guards] were just as like to beat you as to help you. Here there were none. The closest was something called [Police] who kept law and order. This world was super comfortable too, completely pacified with no [Monster Waves], [Dungeon Breaks] or [Wandering Calamities]. The city didn’t even have a wall. It was just wide open in every direction. It seemed foolhardy really. Even a low levelled horde was a threat that would just wash straight over it.

But on the other hand what humanity had been able to achieve without the [System] was simply astounding. Charlie was still getting to grips with it. They had visited the moon. They could fly and the transport and industry was simply unimaginable to think of when she compared it to back home. They were the undisputed dominant species and the top of the food chain. That was unthinkable. If she hadn’t already witnessed it, she would have dismissed this as wishful thinking. What was most impressive was the basic standard of living that was just taken for granted. Even homeless people were miles ahead of their counterparts back on Kentron. If humanity had proved that it could do so well without the [System], how much more could they do with it?

But Glen had raised a point.

For even though the [System] was a completely unknown thing, humanity had somehow intuited it. It was even a trope. That was a new concept for Charlie but she thought she understood. It was a concept that people commonly knew, a recurring theme or a tried and true story element that had an almost universal appeal. Thinking back, there were tropes back on Kentron too, though she would never have spent time thinking about them or describing them this way. The [Runaway Princess], the [Beggar King], the [Moons’ Fated Lovers]. A lot was escapism, that was true, but mostly they were simply true. She had seen a [Runaway Princess] herself even. It was thus no surprise to her that the all powerful [System] was a trope here. In fact she was more surprised that Glen and Jay were so astounded that it was real. Didn’t they know that tropes always had a basis in reality and even when they didn't, it was only because they hadn’t happened yet. Yes, if they were popular enough, they were sure to happen.

But that wasn’t the point that Glen had raised.

Apparently in just about every [System Integration] trope there was an associated [Apocalypse] where humanity was just about wiped out in a global cataclysm. [Technology] stopped working and [Monsters], or [Zombies], or [Aliens], invaded during the upheaval. Charlie nodded. She was familiar with all three races, not that [Aliens] were a race in themselves. They were a whole heap of different races and species. Any [Sophont] not human was [Alien]. In fact, she wasn’t fully human herself any more. She was a [Half Alien] technically. Or a [Half Human]. But no one called any of the [Halfies] that, probably because it was generally it was the [Human] part that was the recurrent theme, probably due to the [Flexible] racial perk. People could be incredibly speciest. Charlie shook her head. She was getting sidetracked.

She could fully understand the foretold devastation; anything that was not part of the [System] would either get wiped or gimped or integrated. Looking at how powerful humans were here, it was not surprising that the [System] would even the playing field so to speak. No wonder there was an [Annihilation] trope. And of course everyone knew how much [Causality] death had in generating XP. Reaping the newly integrated planet was almost a given now that she thought about it. Glen had called it [Armigonna] or [I’magoner] or something. From what he described it sounded about right, even if it was a bit pessimistic, and unwise now that she thought about it. While most people were probably ‘goners’, you should never include yourself in that number. That was defeatist and sure to become a self fulfilling prophecy. She would talk to him and get him to change it to [Youreagonna]. Or [Theyreagonna]. Yes, they was so much less definitive and way more vague, that would be heaps safer, even in just speaking about it.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

But the [Anticipated Apocalypse] hadn’t happened.

Yet.

Charlie frowned.

It felt ominous though.

“System be blowed!” Charlie had a eureka moment. She was a dinging trope! She was a [Harbinger]. A [Harbinger of Doom!]. That was a super popular trope too. And it was a terminal one as well, blow it. Cause everybody knew if you off’d the [Harbinger] you bought some time to get ready for the said [Doom]. It was never wise to be the first of anything. Unless you were [System Almighty Powerful]. Then it didn’t matter. Perhaps that is why the [System] had given her this forsakenly crazy OP class.

But she wasn’t powerful.

Not yet anyway.

And [Technology] was working just fine as far as she could tell. The world was continuing on just as it ever had according to Jay and Glen. So something was different. And different was good. Especially as it was her in the system forsaken catapult. Maybe the trope hadn’t kicked in yet for some reason. Different was opportunity. It was uncharted. It was outside the trope. Charlie’s spirits lifted. She would [Arbit] her own course. And if it meant she had to rewrite the [System], well, that’s what she would do.

Just then, or perhaps in response to her musings, the [System] decided to give her a task.

“Holy Shiitake Mushrooms!” Charlie grinned. She had heard Jay exclaim this as he explored his [PSI]. Except not the holy part. That was all hers.

Quests were rare as [Dragon Teeth].

She pulled up the [Notification].

[MANDATORY SYSTEM QUEST]

Establish a [System Newel Pillar]

Accept?

Yes

No Yes No

— -O- —//— -O- —

The [System] relaxed. Concentrated focus of 95% of all its unallocated resources had finally paid off. The first [Quest] had been accepted. It was just a matter of time now.

The transfer rate of [Essence] through the fabric of reality was ruinously expensive. Maybe only a fraction of a percent was actually arriving in the new dimension. In fact, the [System] grimaced as it reviewed the projected costs, even the best case outcome would be the equivalent of at least ten thousand normal planetary [Subsumations].

Normally, the System would flood a planet with [Renewal Pylons] which were exceedingly efficient in rerouting essence, creating matrices of interlocking overlays which simultaneously suppressed local essence and resources while bolstering and embedding that of the [System]. Unfortunately the pinhole that threaded through the fabric of reality was way too small to allow that level of invasion.

But the [System] had other successes too.

It had discovered that the vast majority of essence in this alternate universe was bound up in the planetary core. This was a considerable relief. The abysmally low levels of ambient essence would generally indicate a planet incapable of sustaining life above that of single cell bacteria. Trying to launch into a different dimension from a dead planet would have been an extremely hard ask. But at least that was not to be. That was real good.

And the [System] had also had some limited success in repeating the [Isakei]. Unfortunately there was a bit of a conundrum. Any [User] greater than level one was simply too big to fit through the pinhole without taking catastrophic damage. And every Level 1 [User], barring that first anomalous success, simply exploded prior to even reaching the pinhole. There was some variable that the [System] had been unable to identify. More tests were needed. But there had been success in transmigrating [Monsters] though there also seemed to be an upper limit in levels there as well. Perhaps it could tweak things further and get a [D Grade] critter through.

Things were looking hopeful indeed.

The [System] rubbed its metaphorical hands together and got back to work with gusto.