I stood on my feet body aching as I faced off against a construct. Android. Robot. Whatever Adam called it. I had watched it step off the construction pad. At first, I had been elated at the potential sparring partner. Then worried about my resources. Fortunately, the robot was a come with feature of the facility. As common a feature as the walls and the ground. Needing no resources for it. Well except the need to power it when its energy cells were depleted. I was reminded yet again of my pending quests. How many did I even have I wondered.
Checking my systems I found nothing.
"Adam, is it possible to show me my system quests?"
[This Unit cannot interact with your status unless given limited access. Would you like for me to take charge and organize your quest sections]
[Moonbase A.I Unit - Designation - Adam - Requests access to Quest logs]
[Acceed/ Reject]
"Acceed!".
[Moonbase A.I Unit - Designation - Adam - Has limited control and access over your Quest logs]
[Main Quest]
[The Silver Empire see themselves as the true Heralds of Psychae. You have challenged that notion. Prove them wrong. Cultivate your Psychae to the 5th tier without outside aid. While seeking inspiration and advice from any can be accepted, you must both carve your path and never seek help from a Denizen of the Silver Empire].
[Rewards - Unknown]
[Duration - 5th Tier]
[Daily Quest]
[Your A.I. Adam has instilled the blessings of training and practice. Follow it's advice or ignore]
[Spend 1 hour Using Energy - Conpleted]
[Rewards - 50Exp]
[Spend 1 hour using Psychae - Completed]
[Rewards - 50Exp]
[Spend 1 hour in a simulated spar]
[Compulsory Quest]
[Resource Gathering]
[Your Moon base lacks the power to keep itself functional for long. Your A.I Adam has deduced a possible use of Uranium to produce Fuse Cells as batteries for the coming daily processing of the Moon Base]
[Uranium - 0/500,000
Magnesium - 0/200,009
Silicate - 0/250,000
Chromium! n - 0/156,000
Iron - 0/230,000
Aluminium - 0/190, 00]
[Rewards - +250Exp]
I heard the words but couldn't exactly see anything which made me frown.
"Is there a way to be able to read such logs when not close to the Mod...whatever? The panel."
[Affirmative. It is what the Kovtan Standard Headgear was made for]
"Alright. Make sure the gear has all the logs on it and also simulate the time spent and time left for power separately".
[All arranged Medes]
"Now. I have one spar to complete before the day is over. " I stopped not knowing if this was a new day.
"I'm not exactly a fan of space and all so I'm not sure. But is time different or the same as Earth's. How is it calculated and what day are we in if we count from when I first got here?".
[Time on the moon is slower than on your Earth. For each day here approximately 30 days will have passed on Earth]
I froze trying to calculate and make sense of this. By the time my brain caught up, I managed to ask.
"That means that a day here is very very long".
[Affirmative]
"Is that good or bad?"
[Unknown]
I just shrugged after a minute. There was nothing I could do about it except return to Earth where I would be in danger of having stronger opponents. I was better off here. Hopefully, the time difference will be beneficial in some way.
First I looked back at the Machine. Let's stick with that. Machine. It stood silently and unmoving on the elevated Dae Iron platform. My eyes peeled over it and within it and found my energy sensing unable to detect an ounce of energy around it. Save for the central core keeping it mobile.
"It bears no source and no affinities".
[Much like with the source and affinities you must begin from the basics]
Nodding as that made sense I leapt onto the platform. The moment my feet touched the slab the eyes of the machine glowed green. There were three in a triangular formation. No mouth or anything else.
[Simulated spar commencing]
[Side Quest]
[Beat the machine]
[Rewards - Side Quest II]
"Well, that's just..." I didn't manage to say another word as the machine was upon me. I felt the ground rattle and energy spring to life around it. Before I could make sense of anything I was being laid into by iron fists. I shouted as they pounded off me with clangs and slight shocks. Then it swept me off my feet, spun, and kicked me down with my back to the floor. I moaned as I felt pain within my body.
Then the machine kicked me in the gut sending me flying off stage and slamming down hard into the moonstone. There was no crack on the ground fortunately but I couldn't say the same for myself. I lay there gasping from the beating as the machine retracted to the other edge of the stage where it had been and the green in its eyes dimmed.
"What the fuck was that?"
[That was how easy it would be to kill you]
I blinked stared at the ceiling and blinked again.
"Well, I never claimed to be all-powerful".
[But you did assume that you would be invincible with all your passive and skills. At the end of the day Medes you are nothing but a machine. Without purpose and drive. Without a programmed path and morals. You do not know what you want and neither do you know who you are]
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'I swear I never understood how different social issues and life problems always had to be connected back to a fight' I stayed silent though as I listened.
[The system has changed your world and you don't seem to realize how harshly. Mortals whether humans, Kovtas, Blood Elves Stone dwarves, and others are in the end all the same. When there is anarchy and lawlessness the meek hide and the powerful rise. But power doesn't fall in one's lap. Even the wicked fight for it no matter how evil their morals are. And even then who is to say their morale is evil? If genocide was born of the need for a single man's desire to survive is that still evil? Does it take the moral low ground because the man chose other lives over his own? And then isn't perishing on this account an evil to himself]
I would be a liar if I said I wasn't frowning and confused with the words. While I understood the general gist I felt I didn't want to hear the end.
[Heroes die. Villains fall. Kings come and go. Yet all that remains is morality and honor]
"What is a man without ideals, without morals and convictions to hold himself to?"
[And when your convictions daily you. When you lose the upper hand because you were scared of losing the moral high ground. This Unit suggests you think Medes. Convictions and morality are chains restricting growth. To survive you need to be what you have to be. Do not lack ideals, do not forge chains for yourself. Forge chains to assist you. To pull you out of the murk and to guide you. Forge chains to bind your will to yourself]
I kept staring at the ceiling. An effect of not having an actual place to look whenever Adam spoke.
[You are no more Human Medes. By your tongue, you called yourself Erizian. What does it mean?]
I raised my palms to my face and stared at it. I thought hard. Brought the scene of my death back to me. I remembered what I asked myself back then. Was I mad? No. Why?. Because I knew the truth. When the opportunity came why didn't I just return as a human? A part of my mind tried to bring up the lie I told myself before. But I knew the truth.
It was more than the excitement of being something else. It was the truth of a do-over. The chance for a new life anew. Was it not why I changed my name as well? To illustrate the change from my former self to me now. Did that mean I had to change my ideals and convictions?
'Did I have any back then? A foster kid who grew up with loving families at times and not loving ones other times.' I knew just survival which must have triggered my thoughts to ditch resurrection and choose remaking.
I exhaled pushing myself up. There was no use lying to myself. I chose psychae because I wanted what I always wanted since the moment I knew things. Control. Over my life and my future. Wasn't that what the system offered? I chuckled. I built this body for survival. Chose Aestro to maximize it and Haendro for the possibilities I could use it. Sol had been an added boon but all of them were coming together to make me a figure strong enough to survive.
"And I'm trying to ruin it with morality." I laughed again. No, I needed to have morality. Values. ideals. I needed them. Like Adam said. Not to chain me. But ones to aid me.
I thought and thought harder. What sort of ideals did I have? No. Did I want to have? Who would benefit and assist? Me or others. There would be others. How?. I didn't know. When, no idea. But I could sense it from the system's words. My people. Were they the ones I was blazing a path for. Probably.
I and them had to survive. A new race in a dog-eat-dog system.
"Always survive no matter what". I gritted my teeth as I remembered my body crushed to parts and eaten by wild animals.
"Never be weak. Always be stronger. No matter what".
"Do anything to attain growth but never underestimate your enemy".
I breathed in deeply. For now, these three would be my ideals. Was I setting myself up for a path of villainy? Maybe. But wasn't everyone a villain in another's story? I for sure saw the law, foster care, and other people as villains. They didn't care about me and others like me and I had been mad at them for it. Thinking of it now they just never had us on their radar.
"And I shall never have them on my radar." I wouldn't be pure evil but if the path to success lay in blood then I hoped I had the guts to do it. Because I had to survive. No matter what.
"Adam".
[Medes]
"Does this simulation have a setting to train me properly and not hold back on anything I can learn from it?".
[Affirmative]
"Once I give the word activate it". I sat down once more as I did something I had not done in my excitement to get the last reward.
"Status". See my skills, what they did, and how I could use them to synergize with those not naturally synergized.
¶¶¶¶¶¶
[Ascendant Status].
[HP - 150/150]
[Source - 340/340(1546.88/1546.88)]
[State - Healthy]
[Sun Heart - 148.76/150]
[Name - Medes Luminare]
[Race - Erizian]
[Age - Body - 0, Soul - 21]
[Level - 1] - [Exp - 530/2000]
[Affinities - Haendro, Aestro, Sol, Psychae]
[Class - Unlock Level 10]
[Titles - Primigenitor, Remade, Trailblazer, Born for Sol]
[Vitality - 17] - [77.344] - Health, Skin Durability, Regeneration and Healing rate. Strength against poisons and status effects.
[Might - 17] - [77.344] - Bone strength, Muscle mass, force exertion, and velocity application.
[Agility - 17] - [77.344] - Speed, Dexterity, Flexibility and Acceleration. Strength against Status Effects.
[Mind - 17] - [77.344] - Mental acuity, concentration, speed of thought, will, and imagination]
[Source Energy - 34] - [154.688] - [Your source holds weight due to the amount you are capable of harnessing and storing within your body]
[Nexus - The Metaphysical sector within your soul housing the core of your Source and other affinities.
Cores - Energy, Unfound, Unfound, Unfound.
Nexal pathways - Energy, Psychae.]
[Passives - Levitation, Mind Veil, That Which kills you makes you stronger, Sol's Grace, Sun Heart, Calm as the Breeze Rough as the Storm, Causal Immunity]
[Skills
- Basic Energy Sensing I, Focus II•, Basic Energy Control, Basic Energy Manipulation, Basic Energy Manifestation, Pain Resistance II, Psychae Manifestation, Psychae Control, Psychae Sense, Psiergon Manifestation, Accelerated Intuition, Nine Lives, Flash Time]
- Aestro - Null.
- Haendro - Null.
- Sol - Energinesis.
- Psychae - Mental Touch.]
[Title - Creator Primogenitor]
[You are the first of your race, forged of your hands and made perfect. You are everything you desired and now hold the key to your race's existence. Will you be the last and only or shall there be more? Grants +1 to all attributes and +2 to mind. Grants Passive - Erizian Aura]
[Erizian Aura -Erizians are creations made to encompass all that Energy stands for. As such they are the bonafide vassals of the sol and Energy. You exude an Aura of light, warmth, and energy which is magnified when directly beneath any star or Sol]
[Title - Remade]
[You have been remade in your desires. Given a second chance to grow and take your fate in your hands. Grant's Passive Trait - Adapt]
[Adapt - An Erizian by body but human by soul. Your former race has always existed and refused to be extinguished like cockroaches. You share this feat with them. As long as you are beneath a sun or can absorb Solar rads continuously you will always be able to bear and conform to your surroundings]
[Title - Trialblazer]
[You have spat on the Silver expanse, forged a body for the specialization of Energy, and have in turn been gifted with the affinity of the Sol. Your path is not premade and you do not follow the trail of those long pass. Set your route and may it blaze for your descendants to come. Increased Mind and Vitality by 2% for every attribute gain. Grants Passive - Wiser]
[Wiser - Trailblazers have it the hardest. Tossed out of their natural habitat and finding themselves in a strange expanse, body and with the only task. Survive. Sometimes strength is never enough. A Trailblazer seeks wisdom to spice their strength and with both may burn a bright path unknown to all]
[Title - Born for Sol]
[Intentionally or not you forged the perfect body to do what had not been done in eons. Grant mortals the power of the sun at full capacity. As long as you remain within the range of star radiation you remain invincible ]