The door didn't look very special. At least not more special than all the other doors. After all, whoever built this place was capable of writing signs, making it obvious to everyone who knew the language what they could find there. There simply was no need for overly fancy doors for the simple purpose of telling someone: "Look, there is something important behind me!"
Of course, Amren didn't know the language, and neither could she read their writing. All she could tell was that it looked like a mix between Viking runes and Japanese Katakana.
Amren opened the door and stepped through. What she had expected to find was either another hallway or a stairwell. What she found, however, was a completely empty room.
No, she realized, the room wasn't empty. The room was roughly three meters in all dimensions, making it look like a cube, and every single square centimeter of the floor, the ceiling, the walls, and even the inner side of the door was covered in minuscule engravings. At first, she hadn't noticed them, because even with her new eye they were hard to make out in the dim light, but once she saw them, she couldn't take her eyes off them.
Everything was covered in little symbols, some looking similar to the language the signs were written in, others looked like small pictures, almost allowing Amren to guess at their meaning. Another group of symbols looked all completely different to each other as if someone had taken them all out of different languages, the only reason Amren could group them together being the almost holy presence they seemed to radiate. Then again, there was a group that was the complete opposite. Despite looking like some of the simplest symbols in the room, Amren could somehow tell that they were dangerous. Powerful, but unstable.
And then, there was the last type of symbols. To Amren, they were definitely the most fascinating. In a way, they were the final proof Amren needed to accept the fact that there was magic. The symbols were sometimes simple, and sometimes so complex that they shouldn't be able to exist on a two-dimensional plane. They looked alien and even while looking at them Amren could see them change constantly, shifting and warping without any rhyme or reason, causing her a headache, and yet she couldn't tear her eyes away from them.
Only when the pain became stronger than the fascination did Amren finally tear her eyes away, only then noticing how bad her head hurt in actuality. Quickly, she left the room and closed the door behind her, her head pounding with every step. Unable to bear it anymore, amren carefully lied down on the floor in the hope to minimize any movement and closed her eyes.
She didn't know how long exactly she lied there before the pain receded enough to let her form coherent thoughts again. It could have been minutes, it could also have been hours or days. It was only when she thought about it that the new, almost computer-like part of her mind that also controlled her eye, drew attention to itself. It seemed like it also had a timekeeping feature, telling her that she didn't even look at the symbol for a minute, but got drowned in agony for over two hours. Not something she wanted to repeat.
Quickly, she made the obvious decision to not come anywhere near this room again.
Still recovering from the aftereffects, Amren walked back to the large room and turned left, walking along the wall just like one would clear a maze.
Only when she got to the left wall of the room, did she find another door. Behind it, she found what looked like a meeting room. A large stone table stood in the middle, surrounded by eleven chairs. One at the head of the table directly by the door, and five on each side. At the other head didn't stand a chair, but instead a large panel that may be something similar to a blackboard.
Not finding anything of interest, Amren left the room and continued on with her search.
It was in the next room that she finally found what she had been looking for. Already when she opened the door she heard the sound of running water on the other side of the room. And everywhere but in the small path that connected the door with what seemed to be a small basin filled with water, she could see clotheslines full of laundry.
It was heaven-sent. Both the water and the clothes. And while she wasn't exactly thirsty at the moment, she was still cold. Quickly going through the clothes, Amren quickly noticed that they all looked almost the same, the only notable difference being in size. It made choosing what to wear a very simple affair.
Also, it ruled out the nudist culture.
A few moments later, Amren was wearing a pair of dark pants and shirt, both made from surprisingly soft material. Maybe it was the common association between magic and fantasy, and fantasy and middle ages that lead her to assume that it would be different, but she wouldn't complain about comfortable clothes. Finally, she put on top what looked like a pristine white lab coat with a belt, making it look a bit like a trenchcoat, or maybe a bathrobe but less sloppy.
While the coat was wonderfully warm, Amren had a single issue with it. The symbols on the left side of the chest.
It was made from three small circles side by side with an overarching half-circle over top. It looked a bit like an umbrella with three spheres beneath it.
Just hoping this isn't some kind of magical Umbrella corporation...
Of course, Amren didn't mind the symbol itself. It didn't even feel slightly magical or headache-inducing. The problem she had, was that she could find it on every single one of the coats, making it clear that it was associated with whatever organization this was. And she didn't want to wear the symbol of an unknown organization that left behind facilities they needed to hide in the mountains and then leave behind after a fight.
Even if they had basically created her, that wasn't a risk she wanted to take. For all that she knew, they could be a terror organization making biological weapons, and wearing their symbol would land her in prison as soon as she found a human settlement.
Luckily, the symbol was stitched onto a breast pocket. And with a quick yank, she ripped it right of. At first, she wanted to put it into her pocket and keep it. She was sure it would come in handy once she found someone to ask questions about the symbol. Then, she realized that it was pretty obvious that it was originally part of her new coat, that if someone else found it, it might look like she was trying to hide her affiliation.
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In the end, she threw the pocket into a corner before she left the room.
This time, Amren turned right and entered what she considered the meeting room. With a few steps, she walked over to the head of the table and let herself fall into the biggest chair. It was actually closer to an armchair and surprisingly comfortable.
Now that she sat there, Amren also noticed another detail of the room that she had previously missed. Rather, a detail on the heavy stone table. Right in front of her seat, there was a fist-sized dent in the table, and countless cracks were spiderwebbing out of it over the entire table.
Making herself comfortable, she leaned back and put her feet on the table. She was still barefoot, not having found any shoes in what was probably the laundry room, or underwear for that matter. But out of the three basic necessities she had one completely fulfilled and the other two partially. There was no question that she had shelter. In terms of clothes, she had high hopes of finding the rest she needed once she found the living quarters. And in terms of food, she had running water. As to how they had running water in this kind of place, there was no question that it was some kind of magic. And as long as she had water, she could survive for quite a while, even without any food. At least if this world, or her body, wasn't too different from her old one. Also, Amren was pretty sure that this kind of isolated place would have some kind of emergency food supply that wouldn't go bad. If she had luck, there might still be some left. Or, there was the green stuff.
With all that, she was pretty much set.
Previously, it had happened when she had looked at her own hand. Now, Amren managed to access the system with just a thought. Immediately, countless windows, tables full of numbers, and descriptions of all kinds of stuff appeared in front of her.
All in all, it was so much at once that she had a hard time understanding what was what. Quickly, she went through the stuff that wasn't pure numbers.
The first thing her eyes fell on, was something very interesting, and maybe a bit concerning.
Name: Deus ex machina/ Amren
Race: [Homunculus Slime Runeborg]
"What the hell? I can accept that this system can speak English. But why Latin? What's that even supposed to mean? Isn't Deus ex machina just another word for plot armor? Wait..."
Thinking about it, she remembered that she had read an explanation for that expression somewhere at some point. Probably on the internet. If she remembered correctly, "Deus ex machina" meant something along the line of "artificial god" or "machine god".
"Does that mean, these guys tried to create a motherfucking god? If I am the result, I'm not sure if I should be flattered or very concerned... Also, what the hell is that race supposed to be?"
Next, she pulled up the various descriptions for Races, Abilities, and Skills she could find. First, she read the descriptions for her races again before she went on to the Racial Abilities that had been mentioned.
Potential [Homunculus]
Even though they are created with a specific purpose, what makes a homunculus so dangerous isn't their immediate power. Rather, it is their endless potential.
Effect:
Free extra Class at level 50
+1 Skillpointper Classgrade
"Well... Good to know, I guess?"
Adaption [Bloodslime]
This ability is the whole reason Slimes are capable of surviving under pretty much any and all conditions. Only the slime parts of your body are affected by this fully.
Effect:
Quickly Adapt to foreign influences
"And this tells me even less? What the hell? Does this mean stuff like, being resistant to the cold?"
Energized [Runeborg]
Runeborgs are powered by Mana, as such, they grow stronger the more Mana flows through them.
Effect:
-1 [Mana Regeneration]
1% of Regeneration(Base) added to Strength(Base), Vitality(Base), and Endurance(Base)
"So, the more Mana I regenerate, the stronger I get physically? I guess that nice. Though, one percent, I will have to see how much that actually is..."
Analyze [Runeborg]
Being part machine has also affected your mind, allowing for information gathering with mechanical precision.
Effect:
Analyze target to gather information
View own Status at all times (You still need a conduit to actualize changes.)
General Skill [Identify] now also shows the number of Classes the target has
This was by far the most informative Ability for now, and not because it was basically an information-gathering ability.
Amren immediately tried the first effect.
[Stone table with cracks]
That was... A little underwhelming. Then again, it wasn't wrong. The result may have been a bit disappointing, but she still held high hopes for this trick. Maybe it could even tell her what some of those tools where that were lying around in the labs everywhere.
The second effect was obvious, it was exactly what she was doing right now after all. The more interesting part, however, was the note at the end. Going by the fact that the system only activated when Amren looked at the sky, it wasn't hard to guess that it was said conduit.
But this had some rather interesting implications. If she wasn't wrong, it meant that even if she trained them, her Class and Skill levels wouldn't increase until she got a look at the sky. It would make it a lot easier to imprison someone despite the unpredictable factor that was Skills.
On the other hand, just the fact that it said "conduit" instead of directly referring to the sky, probably meant that there were other ways as well. Maybe some kind of artifact or something like that.
And the last effect told her something very important. If [Identify] did what she thought it may do, that is, showing her someone's level, then she would definitely need that Skill. She wasn't sure whether having or using such a Skill was in any way considered rude or offensive, but in her current situation, she would need all the information she could get.
Lastly, there were two abilities that hadn't actually appeared in the messages she had received. Both were referred to as "Inherent".
Slimeblood [Inherent]
Your blood may be referred to as such, but in reality, it isn't blood. It's slime.
Effect:
Immunity to all effects(Physical and Magical) that affect blood
Your blood moves on its own
Just from this, it was clear that "Inherent" abilities were simply natural abilities. Amren wasn't entirely sure what criteria needed to be met for the system to display something like that, but there was definitely some useful information in there. For example, that there were Skills that could mess with other people's blood, or that she was thankfully immune to it.
The bit about her blood moving on its own... It still creeped her out more than anything.
Spiritless [Inherent]
You are a being born without a spirit, making you incapable of using magic.
Effect:
You can live without a spirit
You can't use Magic
Thinking about it, the description of her Class did mention that fact. The question now was, how much of this Inherent ability got negated by her [Artificial Spirit] Skill?
Hopefully not the part about being able to live without a spirit. Depending on how common it was to have one's spirit hurt or destroyed, it may be a major advantage.
Anyways. Next up, were Skills.