“So how did the Vatican learn about the system?” I asked Vera. “Seems a bit weird for a religious group to rely on nanites. Does that mean that religious miracles are actually acts performed by the SES?”
“I am forbidden from commenting on the religious or cultural positions of sapient beings. I am only able to comment on their interactions with the System. In this case, I am only allowed to inform you that the first Pope left behind a diary detailing how to contact an assistant AI within the system that he believed to be an angel named Michael. I may also inform you that supernatural and psychic abilities exist outside the system, however they are rare. The most notable example is the alien race known as the Chigani who have banned the use of the SES, yet possess the telepathic ability to establish a planet wide neural network. Some of them also have telekinetic abilities.”
“So you can’t tell me if gods or supernatural claims are real, only whether or not the System was used in specific situations, such as faking miracles using nanites?”
“That is essentially what I was saying, yes.”
I nodded. I guess I wouldn’t receive answers to life’s biggest questions from Vera.
After work I hurried home. I still had questions, but without a full connection to the system there wasn’t much more I could learn. The only other thing that I learned from our conversation was that I only received his name and faction because my Identify skill was only level 1. Apparently, it was difficult to level up before the system completed setup in your body, and it was naturally difficult to read the information of an intelligent being. Furthermore, Identify could be resisted via the Obfuscation skill, which helped the person hide their identity. Receiving even that much information at my level, then, was somewhat lucky.
That night, I drank a spirulina smoothie, which I still hadn’t gotten used to the taste of, and once again meditated. Upon finishing, I felt something change.
Skill: System Tie In: Level 10 established. Neural node may now be expanded for a full connection to the Sapient Empowerment System, and a Paradigm may be selected for interface with the system. Do you wish to expand your neural node?
I had finally done it. I hadn’t actually discussed with Vera what to do after this point, however, so I entered the chat function once more. “Any idea what I should do now?”
“You can safely expand your node, however you should avoid establishing the connection at this time. This would be analogous to watching videos on YourTube without logging in. Some system functions will be limited, but your actions will not be trackable by the other users.”
“Ok, then.” I told the voice in my head that it could begin expanding the node, and after a few minutes waiting for the progress bar to complete, a blue window popped up in my vision.
“Congratulations on establishing a full connection to the Sapient Empowerment System.” It said, in large letters. “As you do not belong to an established faction, no default paradigm is selected. Please choose from the following list of human paradigms.”
A selection box like you would find in a menu appeared. “So, Vera, what’s a ‘paradigm’?”
“A paradigm is a template for how the user wishes to interact with the system. It allows the system to tailor the information and functions of the system to a style which you can understand. The use of a paradigm has many benefits over the method you are currently using, where the data is fed into your brain and your brain is forced to find a way to integrate it.”
“Like seeing nanite levels as soil moisture, and its effects as the growth of bacteria and moss?”
“Exactly. The paradigm you previously showed interest in is near the bottom of the list, named the Role Playing System, however there are several other systems you may want to look into.”
The selection box, which defaulted to “Choose Later”, opened up when I concentrated on it. There were only 17 systems listed there, the first being “enlightenment”. It was described as a system which relied on meditation for personal growth, and had the special trait of allowing enhanced “visual training”, essentially running simulations based on certain input parameters and allowing you to learn from those simulations. I couldn’t read many of the factions which used it, though one did stand out. “The White Lotus Society is an offshoot of the Chinese Triad, based in Los Angeles, which specializes in assassination.” I definitely didn’t want to get on the wrong side of those guys.
Several other systems of note included the Christian system, favored by the Vatican and Orthodox factions, and the Christian Offshoot system, favored by protestants, both of which rewarded people for virtuous behavior, the Demon system, favored by various cults, which encouraged personal gain, and a system based on a certain popular science fantasy series about a war in space in another galaxy. Out of curiosity I looked at the last one and found that it only had one faction with three members. While it was interesting, it seemed far too limited to me.
The one I selected, the Role Playing System, was second to last on the list. Only one faction was listed for it as well, though they appeared to have several hundred members. This system was versatile, allowing you to gain a wider variety of abilities than any other system, though abilities which clashed with your personality or physiology would be difficult to acquire. It had two special features. The first was an EXP system. After every use of your abilities the data from those activities would be sent through a series of simulations in order to learn as much as possible from them. This would lead to your skills growing more quickly than with other paradigms, though it required a full connection to the system, ie logging in, to have the greatest effect. The second feature was the Class system. You could select a Class from those the system listed and would become more talented in skills that that class favored, but less talented in skills which opposed that class. This was optional, however it would stack with your natural talents and physiology, so the bonus experience you gained could be quite high.
After selecting it I was notified that the installation of a new paradigm would require too many system resources to work properly while I was conscious. Essentially, it would have to install it while I was asleep. Luckily, I didn’t have to go in the next day until 2 PM, so I should just be able to wake up early and get used to the system before I had to leave for work.
When I woke up, I noticed a few things floating in my vision even when I had my eyes closed. There were three circles at the bottom of my vision, one to the far left, one in the middle, and one to the far right. I focused on the left one and a box appeared. Dozens, or perhaps hundreds of messages were listed there, each saying that I gained a few points of experience in various skills. I scrolled back up to the top. “New Paradigm installation complete. Analyzing already known skills.” Several skills were listed after that, from ‘Driving’ to ‘Speech: English’, most of which appeared to be things I did every day. After that was complete the message “Analyzing past memories for additional insights.” appeared and several hundred or thousand messages began appearing where it had analyzed my memories to give me more experience with those things. That was all of the times I learned 3 or 4 exp in cooking or whatever skill.
I willed that box to close and focused on the center circle. Several bars appeared, just like in a video game. There was a red box for HP, or Hit Points, a green bar for SP, or Stamina Points, and a blue bar for MP or Magic Points. The MP bar, however, listed a value of 0/11. I focused on that bar and thought “Identify” and detailed information appeared as a tool tip. “MP is a combination of the energy within the Nexus of a caster and the number of beneficial nanites they have in excess. One point of MP is the equivalent of one million nanites being fully charged.” So, that meant that I had enough energy in my Nexus to fully charge eleven million nanites, but as I just reached the point where I could connect to the system, I lacked excess nanites to use. The red and green bars were just an assessment of how much more I could take in either physical damage and pain or physical exertion.
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The third circle at the bottom of my vision listed several vital statistics such as blood pressure, heart rate, nutrition levels, and the amount of blood in my body, as well as status effects I was currently experiencing. The only one I seemed to have was “Well rested” with a 10% bonus to Endurance. Apparently the blood nutrient levels were also ideal, as the nanites had been controlling my nutrient intake to maintain ideal levels. They would only drop if I ate poorly.
After I was done I realized that I didn’t see a character sheet. It was a role playing system, though, so it had to have one, right? ‘Open Character Sheet’ I thought, and a box filled with mostly writing appeared. While it did list HP, SP, and MP, as well as status conditions, it also listed my traits and skills. Beside the word “traits” on the interface was an asterisk and focusing on it informed me that traits were normalized to the average human level in all areas being a 10. Likewise, the asterisk beside the word “skill” notified me that exp was normalized to certain thresholds within the skill, with level 0 being the state of having some knowledge but no practical skill, and 1 being the point at which you had some practical skill in it.
My sheet was the following.
Name: Greg Summers
Race: Human (Caucasian)
Faction: None
HP: 37/37
SP: 23/23
MP: 0/11
STR: 9
END: 11
DEX: 8
INT: 13
WIL: 15
WIS: 11
CHA: 8
Skills:
Cleaning: 4
Organization: 5
Driving: 2
Etc.
The list of skills was too long, especially when you incorporated all of the level 0 skills, so I asked Vera if it was possible to categorize the various skills. After she answered that it was possible, I followed her instructions and did so. Now I had all of my level 0 skills in a folder by themselves, every day skills like cleaning and organization in another folder, and a folder for Combat and Magic skills. I only had one magic skill, Information magic, at level 1 thanks to my Identify spell, and a handful of combat skills, such as Aiming and Firearms, from going to a shooting range a few times when I was younger. At least I knew how to properly use a gun, though I never used one.
Upon questioning Vera about the Skill system she informed me that there were actually two types of experience you could learn. Theoretical knowledge was gained by watching others perform the skill or reading about how it was done, and Practical knowledge was gained by performing the skill. The more practical XP you gained, the faster you would gain theoretical XP from watching the task, and vice-versa. Furthermore, there were also passive skills, which were alterations done to your body which effected your use of Active skills like Martial Arts. These passive skills were things like Improved Immune System or Eagle Eyes, which were always active but which were difficult to train. You could also only download skills up to level 1, as skills needed to adapt to the individual, so I couldn’t become a star musician overnight.
Now that I was fully connected to the system, however, I would have a perfect memory for all I experienced after this point and would gain significantly more experience from my actions due to that perfect memory and the analysis my brain would run on all experiences. To test this, I downloaded the Dodge skill and looked up an MMA fight on WebFlix. After the fight was over my log showed that Dodge had gained 137 XP, Parry was at level 0 with 312 XP, and I had gained Martial Arts at level 1 plus 13 XP. Apparently it took 1000 XP times the next level to go up a level, an amount which was normalized by the system to give you an indication how well your skills were developing. Even though it wasn’t my favorite form of entertainment, I continued to watch these fights until it was ready to get ready for work, somehow earning 11 experience in Cleaning for showering and brushing my teeth. By the time I got to work I was Level 2 in Dodge, Level 1 in Parry and Level 3 in Martial Arts, though as all of my knowledge was theoretical, I knew it would soon plateau without practical combat experience.
After work I was walking to the car park when I saw a man stumble out of an alley and collapse on the sidewalk. As I ran over to see if I could help, a woman ran over and checked on them, but when they didn’t get a response they checked the person’s neck for a pulse. Not getting one, the woman flipped them onto their back and started doing chest compressions. After a few seconds, and just as I got there to offer my help, the person on the ground started twitching and coughing. “Thank God. You’re alive.” she said, and stood up. I only noticed a split second before the others when the man on the ground grabbed her leg and pulled it out from under her, causing her to fall over.
I ran over to help her stand up again, assuming that the man had knocked her over by accident, when I saw him dig his teeth into her calf muscle. She screamed in pain and I kicked the man in the head, forcing him to let go, after which I pulled her to safety a few yards away. As the man slowly stood up, I could tell that his movements were off somehow, like he was having difficulty moving, so I used Identify on him, hoping to see if his symptoms were caused by a medical condition.
‘Unknown.’ she responded. ‘The presence of a zombie would normally indicate the existence of a necromancer in the area, but there doesn’t appear to be another System User nearby. I shall continue to analyze the situation.’
The zombie started walking towards me and, though the people behind me stepped back while helping the woman stand up, I stood my ground. If this was some sort of System effect, then I would have to protect those who didn’t know about it.
As the zombie lunged at me I jumped back, barely missing his fingernails, and fired a right jab into his face. He stumbled back a bit, then jumped at me. I instinctively stepped to the side, my Dodge skill doing its best, and he stumbled, falling to the ground once more. “Someone call the cops!” I called out, keeping my eyes on the former man as he stood up again.
This time when he lunged at me I was ready for it, and sidestepped it easily, landing a side kick to his right knee. I heard something pop, most likely a sign that I had dislocated his knee, but it only made him limp as he turned to lunge at me again. This time I knelt down and swept his legs out from under him.
Before he could get back up I kicked him in the side of the head and he stopped moving.
“That seems like a lot of experience for a single fight.” I said to Vera, and I somehow felt as if she nodded.
“A zombie was a good test of your abilities, as you were barely able to handle its attacks, so you gained more experience than normal. It is unlikely most of your fights will turn out like that, however.”
As I went over to check on the woman, I heard sirens approaching. Apparently, there was a police car nearby already. A bystander had already taken off their outer shirt and tied it over the wound to stop the bleeding, so I waited for the police to arrive, occasionally glancing at the zombie to make sure it wasn’t going to try for a second round.
Two police cars arrived and they began to ask questions, with me and the woman that was attacked going first as we were the ones most closely involved. As I was finishing up telling them about how I stopped the attacker I realized that I had been forgetting to check on it. I glanced over just as the
The three other officers ran over to assist her. Not wanting to interfere, I could only watch as two of the officers pulled the attacked officer out from under the zombie and the other put him in a choke hold. Not needing to breathe, however, the choke hold did nothing but help pull him off of the officer. Noticing that the chokehold wasn’t doing anything, one officer drew their Taser. “Taser, taser, taser.” the man called, and the one choking the zombie released him and stepped away. Two officers fired their tasers into the zombie, though it seemed to do nothing besides make it twitch slightly as the zombie stood up and went for the officer that tried to choke it. The man yelled for it to stop, backing up as he drew his sidearm and, when the zombie failed to respond, put three rounds in its chest via four shots from point blank range. The Zombie collapsed as its name changed to
The officer who fired on the zombie started to pant from the exertion as the female officer that was tackled called in “shots fired” and asked for a supervisor. I could tell that the zombie would get up again if they didn’t finish it off, but had no way of telling them that without looking bloodthirsty.
As the various bystanders stood around talking about the “drug crazed lunatic” that attacked the officers for the next several minutes I kept an eye on the monster that was currently bleeding on the sidewalk. I only glanced up as the two ambulances and several other police cars pulled up.
The paramedics split up. One group went to check on the woman that was bit and the other went to bag up what they presumed was a corpse. Just as the large man bent over to double check that it was dead, however, the
Prying its jaw open with all of my strength, the man’s partner pulled him away and immediately set to stopping the bleeding. The zombie struggled, however, and managed to elbow me in the stomach. I released him and stumbled backwards, holding my stomach as “7 blunt damage received” appeared in my log.
Before I could get back in the fight, however, the Zombie saw that one of the officers, a Sargent that was the supervisor that had been called to the scene, had a gun drawn and pointed at it. It ran at the officer who responded by firing a single bullet that went through the center of the zombie’s head, splattering me with blood and brain matter from how close it was.
It was several more hours of questioning before I was allowed to go home, by which time I had regenerated 3 HP. I drove home and collapsed on the couch, going over the events that had transpired. Then I remembered what Vera had said about there being no other System user in the area. “Did you figure out how we almost had a zombie outbreak yet?” I asked out loud, knowing that Vera would answer.
“No,” she responded. “That is still a mystery. At first I assumed that the person who animated them was simply running in incognito mode, like you. Any puppet they created, however, would still need both of them to be fully connected to the system to function without them being nearby. And that zombie had no such connection. So either they were in that crowd, puppeting it manually or, more likely judging by the way it behaved, it wasn’t a puppet.”
“Viral Outbreak Zombie?”
“No,” she sighed. “Definitely a System zombie. Its nanite levels were higher than yours, despite it only having a minimal connection.”