The annoying buzzing at the back of the head was back, but this time everyone knew to wait while joking about it.
The only time it had happened before was when their whole Universe Dimension had been “scanned” to create a personal compensation for everyone and evaluate the state of their defective law.
[Rune: I’m reading but not participating, continue your discussion like I’m not here please.]
[Adreana: So, I did exactly the same thing when the first buzzing started, I contacted my friends, and now I’m doing the same but with different friends.]
[Gar: I encountered Arik soon after the board became available. We had some affinity with each other and as a result we then joined the Tireless when it became a half-private thing.]
[Nelo: Me and my sister had a battle to know who was the most unannoyed by the buzzing, I won.]
[Astryde: Stfu little brother.]
The Undecided were all ready, last time the buzz had lasted 3 days to go away and nobody knew what was causing it.
Now, everyone knew why it happened and they could even observe their own ether soul and see it was also vibrating, it was also a subject to be scanned.
Light vertigoes and nausea were frequent side-effects, and the Undecided weren’t the only ones who discussed it.
[Utopia: I’m betting on the connection to a tier 2 dimension being complete, so we’re being assimilated by their much more complete Ether Law, but for some reason, we’re subject to another round of scanning, there’s a lot of possible theories that could explain that for example the forum called…]
[Arik: You missed the forum about the one law theory, I find it fascinating how many people agree on one thing and just keep on expanding their own theory by taking bits and pieces of others, even more interesting is...]
[Gar: The theory of tiered dimensions is by itself very hard to use, if it’s truly a fact, would we need to be tier 2 to enter? Then how will the system manage all that? I’m quasi sure there’s nearly an infinite number of dimensions and maybe the system…]
Maybe Rune was the only one, but their topic went way over his head. He only read it because it was here, that said, he didn’t try to comprehend it.
After the initial excitement died down, he left the Undecided forum and continued his color creation.
1 week passed, and finally, the buzz ended.
A few hours later, the Ether Law made itself known with an announcement that didn’t originate from the compensation law’s long emptied quota.
Defective dimension “Defective Physic Laws Dimension 527” has been assimilated and prior laws are being rectified and elevated.
Compensation Law has already been issued.
Link to the Endless Dimension is fully stabilized.
The EP Market window can now be accessed in the global system.
EP can now be traded between independent entities.
Information Board expanded, connection limited to Defective, Tier 0, and Tier 1 Dimensions.
Ether Density Progress Bar Add-On Disabled
Ether Wiki Add-On Disabled.
Event Add-On Disabled
Avatar Creation Add-On Disabled
Avatar EP Loan Add-On Disabled
It wasn’t the Compensation Law they knew that transmitted them this announcement.
It was just a minimalist announcement, with not even a context, welcoming newbies and giving them the minimum necessary to know what just happened to them, while taking away all their previous toys.
For the natives of their dimension now named “Defective Physic Laws Dimension 527” though, it was more than enough.
Everything that took place before today had just been the starting line, and now they had access to whole new paths going in every direction with nothing to stop anyone who wanted to try their luck.
In the Undecided, Utopia, Arik and Gar stopped talking after the announcement.
[Rune: Is there somewhere I should go first?]
[Nelo: Just open the information board, it seems that a new dimension gaining access to the board isn't a once in a lifetime event, but a defective dimension joining is pretty rare.]
[Adreana: The defective dimensions newcomer forum has everything you need Rune, explanations, and everything.]
[Rune: Ok, later.]
‘The defective dimensions newcomer forum? Where is it, where is it… Ah~’
In the general list of forums, where every other forum was of the same white color, a red named forum immediately jumped into his eyes.
For some reason, it called to him.
Opening it, he carefully started to read it.
[Baldovino: Dear newcomer to the grand and magnificent Globalized Information Board, I’ll not mince my words, so first, let me inform you that your home dimension is a defective dimension, and it’ll forever be.
If you don’t know what it means, then the origin of the name given to you is correlated to what type of Ether Law variant you lived under before, the Ether Law can degenerate in a lot of different variations, but as for the complete list, you can verify by yourself.
Know that I, myself, am an illustrious truth-finder, alternatively named Ether Scholar, who have multiple theses to his name recognized by the Gray Order, and as a premise, let me inform you that as defective dimension’s natives, your comprehension of what the Ether Law is, is very shallow, non-existent in fact as you couldn’t possibly know.
Let’s first talk about what the system is because maybe some of you still didn’t understand that there’s only one law, the Ether Law, but we intelligent beings further separated it so that we would understand more of its inner workings.
In the end, it was accepted as true that the Global System Law, as it’s now called, was separated in a long lost age, just as much as the Compensation Law was, but ultimately only the supreme Ether Law exists.
Now that this point is resolved, I hope that you understand your views on reality need to be redefined, so let’s move on to the second point, or what is going to happen for you who is reading this.
I’ll not take you by the hand or whatever appendages you have, just know that there’s only one path for us who search for truth, power, riches, or whatever we desire, and that is the Endless.
That is the name given to the only multi-tiered dimension in existence, and also the only way to access higher-tiered dimensions.
It’s a unique dimension supposed to be as old as the event that birthed the Ether Law itself, forget about every defective variation born in the lower dimension such as this Global Information Board or the Ether Avatars that find their origin in whatever compensation you received, they are now irrelevant.
If you’re recently assimilated, then I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re at the tier 1 level of existence, unless you’re a native from a legendary defective gate dimension, and so in this case with the insane compensation you should have received, you’d have already reached tier 2.
As a defective dimension, you’ll be connected to every other defective, tier 0, and tier 1 dimensions through the Information Board, so the rest or what you didn’t understand, you can search by yourself.
My path in search of the truth ended at tier 7, but like you, I started where you are now, and made my way in the exact way you’re about to follow.
The best you can do now is to become aware of possible advantages you have and enter in the Endless as soon as possible, then reach tier 2, and only then will you start to forge your own path.
Of course, unless you’re stupid, don’t waste this globalized information board opportunity as once you enter the Endless, you’ll not be ablet o come back until your defective dimension reach tier 1 ether density.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
And if you’re intelligent, you’ll soon learn that there’s much more to your potential than you ever thought there would be.
Thank you for making my memory live on Ether Law.
Ether Scholar Baldovino Zita of the Gray Order.]
‘That was… Enlightening? But why is this forum different from the other?’
After reading through this very enlightening and concise explanation that obviously led to more curiosity in the few subjects that were spoken about, Rune intended to let Utopia and the rest do the extensive research work.
What he was more interested in was how to advance to tier 2 in the energy and spirit fundamentals.
And the Wiki that would have been the best answer, unfortunately wasn’t available anymore.
Dimensions
Information Board
EP Market
Event (9 rewards pending)
Status
Gathering Log
Masteries
Rune didn’t know if the compensation law had spoiled them, but by the time Gar and Arik finished their research, he would have an answer.
Now that the board only existed to convey information, he had to plunge into it and search. It wasn’t going to be difficult.
‘From tier 1 to tier 2, fundamental masteries, thank you Ether, that was easy.’
Accessing what his keywords search gave, he now joined the group of knowledge seekers who had gained access to a legacy left behind by billions of civilization over the course of billions of years, and he would only stop when he had the answers he sought.
…
‘So it wasn’t our fault.’
Rune found the reason explaining why advancing to tier 2 in the fundamentals was so difficult, and it had everything to do with their home dimension being defective.
Summarized: Until their dimension reached tier 1 ether density, the Ether Law wouldn’t be able to work normally.
A defective law meant an incomplete Ether Law, some aspects had been forgotten, some had been too focused on, and importance was relative.
“Defective Physic Laws Dimension 527”, the name attributed to their home dimension, told of what type of defective law their beautiful home dimension had used.
Even when it was “patched up” when the link to the Endless Dimension was first opened, until the power source of the Ether Law, the ether, reached a certain threshold, nothing would really change.
Searching only for the method to advance to tier 2, he was forced to explore this subject, and it was truly amazing.
Every type of defective laws existed, and they all derived from a part of the complete Ether Law, so defective dimensions with only the energy part of the Ether Law existed… Though they couldn’t lead to life as energy was the ether formed by life.
Though, once again, if an energy-only defective law only incorporated the single bit of life, what would be created would be energy life, a marvelous creation Rune couldn’t help but want to see with his own eyes.
Some dimensions had a system that was completely glitched and nothing else, some only had a part of the global system and some only had one stat… Some didn’t even have a system but had stats.
Rune could imagine whatever he wanted and it truly existed, and among those defective variants, there were some truly… Weird ones. Weird even when the subject was defective laws.
Dimensions, where life was possible with a variant of the Ether Law with only the dimensional teleportation part, was what was called a “Defective Gate Dimension”.
Life was so hard in this type of dimension, with true-blue tier 1 monsters intruding everywhere and all matters being randomly warped, that when the Compensation Law awakened, all intelligent entities immediately received an avatar with maxed tier 1 stats, an emergency masteries window, and a complete Wiki to guide them…
It wasn’t inequality at play, it was pure fairness.
The Universe “Defective Physic Laws Dimension 527” dimension was really lucky in some sense, as before their variant was awakened, individual powers didn’t exist, and nor did ether powers.
Also thanks to that, they were judged to be a “critically defective” dimension and given an avatar and an empty Wiki, which was a very rare and high compensation.
But now that he knew why he couldn’t advance, he just wanted to enter the Endless, but he had to wait because once he entered he would be cut off from the board for a long time.
‘Though with the EP Market it’s possible to come back… It’s just a bit expensive.’
The Information Board was only usable in defective, tier 0, and tier 1 dimensions, and the Endless was not part of those.
Once he entered, he would not only become an ether life form, he’d also lose access to easy communication and access to information, maybe crucial information.
‘Anyway, the worst situation didn’t happen.’
Conspirationist had all been relieved when it was all but confirmed that only “defective life forms” could live in the Universe Dimension, to their paranoid mind, it meant that their dimension was protected from external invasion until the ether density reached tier 1.
‘Ah~~ I just want to click and enter already!’
Dimensions
Defective Physic Laws Dimension 527
Defective Physic Laws Dimension 527 Void
Defective Physic Laws Dimension 527 Deep Void
Endless Dimension
He had read something about other dimensions being accessible only from the Endless, but he’d ask the informants for additional details later.
One totally new dimension, with everything else having changed.
For Rune, his home dimension was still named “The Universe”, but time would tell if this name could resist time.
As for what the Endless Dimension was, it was pretty clear that it was the “true world”, the place where he wanted to go but couldn’t until now.
Dimensions
Endless
Only liveable for independent ether life forms.
The Endless Dimension, or simply the Endless for most intelligent beings, is a multi-tiered dimension where ether moves and flows across infinite distance, there is no end to its infinite continents, seas, skies, and undergrounds.
This dimension spans everything known, every dimension is in some way linked to it, but some of those links are very subtle and nearly undetectable.
When entering the Endless Dimension, you will enter it through your current dimension’s link to it.
Enter?
‘No, no, no!’
He had too much to learn to go now, he hadn’t even said goodbye to his family, he hadn’t discussed with the Undecided, he was not ready at all.
*Ding*
A notification from the Undecided forum rang out, it was time to hear from the sages.
[Utopia: We’ve finished discussing with Arik and Gar, the plan should be sound, we also compared it to some plan from less known newcomer forums that tries to help us and also told of what we learned and concluded.]
[Gar: There are globally 3 parts to our plan, the first is the IGS part, they should’ve already sent scouts to test the water. If you saw what the Endless dimension told of links, then every other friendly extra-dimensional lurker from other dimensions told the same thing about them.
They’re pretty large, around 10 square kilometers, as no one can pay the EP Market to cancel their dimensions cooldown yet, we’ll need to wait 1 month for the scouts to come back and tell us that we can go. Or they never come back and the zone we’re linked to is too dangerous and the solutions are very few in this case…]
[Arik: The second part is the immediate fundamental knowledge that can be accessed and the advice from much more powerful existences than us. The problem is that they literally don’t care about us, or they care about everyone like us too much. You can read the biographies of tier 5 pretty easily, also some tier 6, but then it becomes very obtuse, and going further than that starts to really become difficult.
On the subject of tiers, I think no one here missed the info but tier 2 will be a big mess for us, so start to think about the slotted masteries that you’ll take and the class ratio you want, maybe even start to think about your tier 3 class path. Only an entire month of deep uninterrupted reflection is enough to think about such an important matter thoroughly.]
Arik clearly knew what he was talking about as Rune recognized all the words he had used.
Having read about all those easy-to-access intel himself, he knew that tier 2 was the start of paving one’s own path, an humble one sure, but still one nonetheless.
The moment he really became a tier 2 entity, he’d get 2 things. The first was a class, a tier 2 class only had one use though and that was the class ratio, so considering it a class was a bit of an exaggeration.
At tier 2, every stat point would cost 100 000 EP, but there was a way to change that, and that was the class ratio, a true video game concept, but everyone accepted that as reality, so that was reality.
The second was every min-max gamer's wet dream, and it was called “Slotted Masteries”, and it simply allowed every tier 2 entity to own 3 masteries.
Rune had already experienced that with his tier 2 physical fundamentals, but once past tier 1, the 100% base efficiency could still continue to increase.
1 point of energy could have an effect greater than 1 point of energy, 100% of your strength could be more than 100% of your strength, and this reality-defying power resided in tier 2 and beyond masteries, fundamentals or not.
At tier 2, those mastery slots could normally only be filled with basic masteries, or masteries that boosted one’s fundamentals.
There were of course still newly introduced concepts he didn’t completely understand, such as “minor stats manipulation” or “primary specialization”, but he had all the time in the world to understand the journey he was about to embark on.
‘What’s sure is that 2 of my 3 slots will be used to increase my energy compression efficiency further… As for my class ratio…’
Rune had already started theorizing his build, as the board so kindly taught him it was called, but he wasn’t anywhere near to finalizing his path, another term the board kindly gave to him that seemed to encompass much more things than he had even read all his life.
[Utopia: The third and last part is to enter the Endless, finally starting our “individual” journey. From what higher tier people are saying, the best thing to do is to find a dimension at tier 2, but it’s close to impossible for us to find one. And anyway, biographies from lots of powerhouses are all over the place, “you’re your own master, so just take your life in your own hands and assume the consequences” are what they all say.
The plan is to help the IGS secure the landing zone, it should be a good beginning, everyone will return one day so helping a little at the start could have far-reaching consequences down the line.]
[Nelo: If you forgot, I advise everyone to return home, don’t be so consumed by all the new knowledge that you miss the moment the IGS gives the starting signal because you still have a week of cooldown.]
[Rune: I’m just waiting for rescue.]
[Adreana: Same.]
At least now Rune had a guideline on what to do, and he was thinking of following it, more the reading part than the learning part sure, but he’d do it.
The idea of reading the biographies of people who maybe had a style similar to his could help him determine what slotted masteries he should choose while allowing him to learn more about what was more important later.
Like all these specialized masteries, provided masteries, and masteries evolution nonsense…
‘It’s so thrilling to know all those years I spent training my fundamentals are so insignificant! No joke!’
His fighting style relied a lot on managing his health and energy balance, and the first thing he wanted to do was choosing the correct class ratio for his future adventuring.
So as he waited for rescue, Rune started to read stories starting with “Once upon a time”.
And he loved it.