The pros and cons of using up the care package I had received from the system were not very equal. Yet I was tied to this situation. I needed all the tools listed and while I could make do with my fists, caution, and foreplanning had gotten me a good body. I wasn't about to change that.
Affirming the use of the precious resources I turned to the door leading into my room. The ground here was different from the rest. Cold black metal chilled my foot and steel walls made it feel like a bunker. A bed large enough for two was set to the side. A table with three panels on it and another fixed to the steel wall above. I could see charts, weather maps, various things I couldn't make sense of, and a visual of the entire base.
"Adam. Is this map extensive to the entire moon or just here?"
[Just here Creator Medes]
"Please Adam. Just Medes is fine".
[Very well Just Medes]
"No. I mean. Call me o... Medes. Medes"
[This unit understands. Medes]
"Perfect. Now. How long till the production of the various tools?"
[Would Medes request to see an overlay of production time]
"Nah". I was tired and wished to take this time to sleep. One I had missed for two complete months if Adam was right.
"Just tell me the item to be produced first and the general time for production to conclude".
[ETC(Estimated Time of Completion) at 00:56 hours. In your time that would be exactly 7 am - Earth Time]
"Thanks for clicking me in with Earth. Would get weird any other way and also helps keep track of time"
[This unit is pleased its assessment was beneficial]
"Now..." I paused next to my bed ignoring every other thing in the room. "... sleep".
*
I woke to Adam's voice in my ears.
[TA - 7:23]
I groaned and moaned stretching out myself as I turned in my bed.
[All productions completed and Processors halted]
[Would Medes like to set any inquiries to be notified at TW (Time of Wakimg) each day?]
I grumbled and shot up affixing my ceiling made of stone with a glare. My mind reeled as it cleared and the events sleep had submerged in happiness sprouted.
"Ah."
I blinked and rubbed a hand over my face as I dragged myself off the bed. Change my body, organs, and brain. Everything about me and still I hated mornings.
"Yup definitely not a morning person. Adam. Firstly, never wake me early in the morning. Maybe, 8, 9. Anything later than not early".
I exhaled. Rubbed the sleep out of my eyes as best as I could then looked up.
"Set Weather, Perimeter status, Base activity, and inner base status to inquiry. Answers should be read to me during my morning routine. Anything urgent should be marked as a code red. No." I tapped a finger on my jaw resisting the allure to rub it.
"Set the colors according to basics. Green for optimal, Yellow for stable, Orange for Destabilizing, Red for Danger or Low, and Black for life-endangering".
[This Unit registers and affirms]
"What is the task for the day?"
[This Uniit advises a mandatory body cleanse, attire removal for recycling, and gearing up in a proper moon base outfit]
"Ignoring the fact you just blankly told me I'm dirty, what is the Moonbase standard outfit]
A click and then the sound of metals on stone sliding apart got my eye swiveling to the left of my room which I had ignored the previous night. Mostly due to my fatigue and the lack of any eye-catching effect there. Now, the entire wall had slid into position and revealed a rack of polos and baggy camos. Boots arranged neatly beneath each set of polo and pants caught my eye.
"Okay". It took a full three minutes to get myself showered. Mostly because even the off-and-on settings were voice commands. Something I had no qualms against with the weird-looking control panel next to the cleanse room. I was more sure of causing damage with cleanser tech than actually getting clean.
In my camp pants and polo I strode out of my room and into the main base. My mind had me walking to the Mod-V Transmitter Control Panels to check out the new items I had made.
[This Unit advice the use of each morning to practice abilities and skills]
"Why mornings?"
[This Unit's research has shown that mornings and sunsets are the most peaceful of the Earth time]
"We're not exactly on earth Adam".
[This Unit is mandated to inform Its creator that while benefits and advantages such as those your body provides are good, they are not foolproof. Weaknesses abound. Weaknesses are covered by the time taken to train and practice a skill or ability effectively. Even learning a style of combat is looked favorably upon]
"By who?"
[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]
[Spend 1 hour using Psychae]
[Conplete a training spar]
[Rewards - 20Exp, 10 Copper Elz, 10 Units of Randomized System Resource]
My eyebrows rose at first from the thought that the system and my A.I was in cahoots which in deeper scrutiny shouldn't have been surprising after everything that had happened. My eyebrows did rise precariously at the rewards listed. It reminded me of something I should have gotten. I searched my system and found a pending notification.
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[Compulsory Quest]
[Learning II - Completed]
[Observe and patrol your Moonbase. Know what is what. Find what ticks and what doesn't. Learn from your A.I -Adam.]
[Rewards - 100Exp]
I was certain this was a strength brings right world scenario. Which meant killing monsters and fellow beings would net exp. Considering the low chances of there being mobs or monsters on the moon this would earn 10 exp a day. Which in hindsight would be too little to level up with over a 1000 in exp needed. I didn't wonder if the exp was due to my Erizian race or if it was a normal thing seeing as I didn't have a human around to compare with. Then there was the last reward. With production last night my Dae Iron had dropped precariously. If with some luck I managed to get some Dae Irom I could replenish my stock.
"Fine. I'm incentivized"
[This Unit is pleased]
"First I have questions. You say training skills and combat is favored. The system lists simulated combat as a requirement in this Daily quest. By why chance is there a different market for skills and I don't know martial arts of any form or how to begin".
[This Unit advice Medes to have patience and wait for his class assignment]
"So I get something like that once I'm at level 10? What decides a class? Am I given options or just slapped with a class the system thinks fits me?"
[Classes are always tailored to a user's future actions and founded on past actions]
That was enough to answer my question. It would seem there was still a bit of similarity in most things, fortunately.
"Very well. How do I begin"
[Would Medes require assisted learning?]
I loved this A.I.
"Assisted. I don't know heads or tails of what I'm doing and I'm sure most humans below don't either. I will take any grace I can get".
'Death is not something I would like to taste once more'. I mentally added.
[Asssisted Learning activated. Tutorial files Downloaded from the Wider Net]
[Energy Basics]
[Basic Energy Sensing]
[Basic Energy Breathing]
[Basic Energy Control]
[Basic Energy Manipulation]
[Basic Energy Manifestation]
"That's a lot".
[Basics of Psychae]
[Basic Psychae Manifestation]
[Basic Psychae Touch]
[Basic Psychae Control]
[Basic Psychae Manipulation]
"System Apocalypse or not, no one can avoid the power of school".
¶¶¶¶¶¶
[Status].
[HP - 150/150]
[Source - 300/300(304/304]
[State - Healthy]
[Sun Heart - 32.4/100]
[Name - Medes Luminare]
[Race - Erizian]
[Age - Body - 0, Soul - 21]
[Level - 0] - [Exp - 160/1000]
[Affinities - Haendro, Aestro, Sol, Psychae]
[Class - Unlock Level 10]
[Vitality - 15] - [15.2] - Health, Skin Durability, Regeneration and Healing rate. Strength against poisons and status effects.
[Might - 15] - [15.2] - Bone strength, Muscle mass, force exertion, and velocity application.
[Agility - 15] - [15.2] - Speed, Dexterity, Flexibility and Acceleration. Strength against Status Effects.
[Mind - 15] - [15.2] - Mental acuity, concentration, speed of thought, will, and imagination]
[Source Energy - 30] - [30.4] - [Your source holds weight due to the amount you are capable of harnessing and storing within your body]
[Passives - Levitation, Mind Veil, That Which kills you makes you stronger, Sol's Grace, Sun Heart, Calm as the Breeze Rough as the Storm]
[Skills
- Aestro - Null
- Haendro - Null.
- Sol - Energinesis.
- Psychae - Mental Touch]
[Energinesis - The Source Energy flows through your veins. Flows through the air and the atmosphere. Erupts from the very machinations of all that is life. Tap into it, control it. Wield it]
[Mental Touch - The first step of all psychaes. The mental grasp of objects. Coat - 15 source per minute]
I was certain Energinesis and Mental touch were the reason for my focus on Energy and Psychae now. But my mind was on my stats.
"Adam. How does the system calculate the body's attributes? What is it measured against?"
[The system measures the attributes of all life within its purview using the standard Elzos scale. In the Elzos scale, all entities fall into Ten tiers of physical, mental, mana, and astral strength]
"Alright" Nodding I thought hard about what I wanted to know now.
"What are the standard total attributes in the lowest tier?"
[Medes is not cleared to know this information. Only entities who have bypassed an evolution can know or tell you]
"Very well. What's the first tier?"
[Tier 10]
I furrowed my brows as I remembered the system ranking my body parts as Tier 10.
"I got Tier 10 classifications when remaking myself. Doesn't that mean I'm a Tier 10"
[Yes And No. While you are indeed a tier 10 by body. Evolution is not just gotten it is earned. If you have noticed your experience point count amounts to a 1000]
"Don't tell me it's not the same for others".
[Affirmative. Humans start with a 10Exp count. Elves 20 and even Orcs the most physically formidable start off with at most 50 and in the case of a progeny 100. Your race is noted to be considered impartial and as such your requirements are set to 10x the usual Orc amount. Of course, this comes with benefits you are already privy to and more not yet seen]
I gulped at the realization. I was immensely overpowered and as such the system nerfed me.
"But my spirit weakness should have covered that and kept me in the same ranks as the humans".
[Affirmative. But you acquired the Psychae affinity. As mentioned...]
"It covers up the spirit weakness when powerful enough". Mentally cursing I exhaled. Adam wasn't wrong though. I was immensely overpowered and even without leveling up and receiving what I hoped would come with each level up I was still growing. My attribute increases said enough.
"Two more questions. First, what effects in your research does Sol's Grace have on me, are there attribute increases on level ups, and this is important, how long did I sleep?"
"Oh also, I thought the base would stop radiation from getting within?"
[This unit counts four questions. Your first question this unit theorizes is due to your attribute increase and physical change. This is understandable given my reset of the moonbase's anti-radiation protection and you having been asleep for 5 hours 27mins not counting your morning ritual of tosses and turns while mewling like a dying livestock. You absorbed a total of 19,200 Solar Rads which disseminated and improved your system due to your passive Sol's Grace. Now if each Unit of a Solar Rad affects all portions of your attribute then that counts as 1 ÷ 5. Where one is a unit of Solar Rads and 5 the total attributes affected]
"That..." I scratched my cheek doing the numbers in my head. "...makes sense".
"Wait. I have only four attributes".
[Affirmative. Your Lack of spirit has led to a loss of an attribute. But given your acquisition and garnering of the affinity Psychae and its potential to cover this weakness your body sees it as the same as spirit. So you do have a hidden attribute, but until you get your power level in Psyche high enough it won't be revealed]
"Wait. You said getting it up to a high enough level. I guess you mean stat-wise it should reach a certain tier. But if solar rads are getting pumped into it won't it grow fast enough?" the hope in my voice wasn't hidden and Adam seemed eager to stump it as it spoke.
[The attributes gained there are negligible. For every 10 points you receive, it counts as 1. This is done to mend the damage to your spirit by recreating it]
"But. It's Psychae, not spirit".
[Affirmative. Your spirit will always be negligible. Astral pathways are forever blocked to you. But with the increase in attributes, the system will reforge a new shell for your soul]
"Which is basically what a spirit is. A shell for the soul to dampen soul damage".
[Affirmative. This forging uses up more Psychae attributes than received. Showing only as 1 out of 10 received points]
It seemed one couldn't win in everything. I shook my head at this development. Looking back to my status my only grace with this was Solar Radiation increasing my physical, mental, and psychae attributes continually. Looking it over I narrowed my eyes as I pondered though. Was there a limit?
"My source. It was affected too. Why?"
[Source attribute shows the amount held by the body This is possible through higher Might and Vitality]
"So my might and vitality increasing help increase the amount of energy I can hold". I couldn't help but marvel at the possible synergies I could create.
'Why would I need skills if I was strong enough to create mirages with the speed of my fist? If I managed to control my energy well enough then maybe just a causal blow be enough to end a battle'.
I shivered in the excitement of a limitless growth.