I stood outside the cave looking around the clearing. I tried to order my priorities for the day in my head, I needed to find food and water. I had two water containers left, I hoped to find a source close to the old mine. If the mine had once supported a population of 500 it would have needed to be near a water source. How desperately I wished I had a map. As soon as the thought formed in my head I remembered the wording of the notification, “Access to guide”. I walked back towards the interface and thought about the guide, it triggered a cascade of notifications.

Congratulations! You now have access to the guide!

Error! Subject level 12. Subject should be level 1 when accessing guide.

Error! Subject not in population center. All subjects must begin in a town.

Error Resolved! Old Mining Camp activated as town. All subjects belonging to Old Mining Camp now have access to the guide!

Error! Tutorial conditions not met. Determining resolution. Resolution determined. Abbreviated tutorial activated. Transport will commence in 10 seconds.

Wait transport? The time was ticking down quickly as I tried to gather my thoughts. It didn’t seem voluntary so no point in fighting it. I watched it tick down to 0 when everything went dark and a strange feeling came over my body, like a tingling sensation. I was surrounded by a sea of darkness in every direction. Before I could even start to panic a light began to coalesce before me. It formed into a human shape and I was shocked to realize it was my father. “Father?” I croaked out.

I am the guide. I have taken this shape as it was determined to be the shape that would leave you most calm and receptive.

“Wha....what”

Does this shape distress you?

I silently mouthed nothing at all and watched as it turned back to mist before reforming as a generic human male. I half heartedly shook my head yes and studied the form. I had no idea what was going on but by this point I was used to feeling this way. I just decided to go with it and learn as much as possible while I could. I needed all the help I could get to survive.

I detect that your emotional state has normalized. I will begin. I am the guide. Your planet has been chosen to join the framework, a coalition of star systems brought together under a single governing system to create a new peaceful society. To better suit the needs of the framework, your planet has been reorganized. 4 new civilizations will be merged to consolidate resources. Geography will be subsequently rearranged. To be deemed worthy of joining this society every subject will be given a base subsystem of the framework. This is what you have experienced granting you levels and abilities. Not all subjects will be allowed to enter the framework. You must prove your worth and survive the trials of the coming years.

“Prove my worth? Who are you to judge me?” I shouted at the Guide. I didn’t ask for any of this, I just want to go back to my normal life.

Your permission is not necessary. All will join the framework or perish.

After this conversation you will be returned to where you were. You will have full access to the framework system at the subject level. You will be provided with the same level of knowledge that the other citizens of your planet were given. Rejoice in your selection to participate in the second wave of the framework. In 10 years time you will be judged as worthy or unworthy. You only have one task given to you above all else.

Survive.

I felt a sensation of falling and my surroundings re-appeared to me. I was standing halfway to the entrance of the cave. I walked to the wall and slowly slid down it, cradling my head in my arms. I suddenly felt overwhelmed and the last word the guide said replayed itself in my mind. “Survive”. Survive? Survive what, the beasts? The Norx? I had so many questions and no one to answer them.

Sighing heavily I ended my moment of self pity. I mentally triggered the guide and started to review the plethora of information available now. I began with the easiest parts to understand and brought up the map. It showed me a vaguely detailed map of everywhere I had been since the framework initialized. I could mentally retrace my steps and I could manually place markers to note areas of interest. Areas that I had not explored were white with no landmarks showing. I would have to travel there on foot to fill in those sections.

I could see the creek from my treefort location, it traveled north until it was whited out. Based on my mental math it should take around an hour to get there at a decent jog. That relieved me as it answered at least one of my basic needs. I spent a few minutes playing with the map and could not determine which direction Etes was in, the line about geography being rearranged replayed in my mind. I could zoom in and out, thinking of a place would highlight it in my vision and give me a vague sense of which direction to go to get there. I could tell, even if I didn’t know how, that the map could be upgraded.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Next I brought up the class section and as soon as I did it triggered another onslaught of notifications. Some of this information I already knew but I reviewed it carefully anyway.

Wildcard - Jack of all trades, master of none. Unique level class, cannot be changed. Grants +1 Wisdom, +1 stamina per level. +2 skill points per level. Grants one item box per level based on tier. Grants one new skill option every 10 levels. Current tier - Silver.

Congratulations! You have earned a new skill point!

.....

Congratulations! You have unspent skill points!

Congratulations! You have new skills available!

It seemed like I was getting access now to things that would have been available from the first day if I had been granted the guide earlier. I tried not to let my frustration rise, I couldn’t do anything about it now. I looked at my available skill points, I had 24 skill points. Some skills could be upgraded by points, some could only be upgraded by usage. If you earned a skill naturally the only way you could upgrade or level it was to keep using it. Combat skills only leveled if used in combat, like my enhanced explosion, while identify would level as I used it on new beasts, items or fauna. I had two new skill slots, I would gain a new one every 10 levels. One was granted to me at level 1 and another at level 10. The skills available to choose from would be based on my class and recent experience, tailored to me. I reviewed my skill choices for level 1.

Birds eye view - Enhances range and detail of vision

Natural explorer - Provides upgrades to map.

Leave a mark - Mentally mark a target allowing them to be tracked on map.

I knew from the guide that I would get more information about each skill as it leveled, I had quite a few skill points stocked up. Before I made any choices I tried to look at my level 10 options but I was unable. It seemed I would have to pick a level 1 skill first. I mulled the choices over in my mind.

Birds eye view would be great for scouting, being able to see farther would hopefully prevent me from getting surprised so often. The downside was that I currently lived in a giant, seemingly endless and dense forest. I really didn’t think I would get much use out of it in the near future. I needed to be careful with these selections, I had no idea how long it would take me to get level 20.

Natural explorer was intriguing, it didn’t give any more information on how it would upgrade the map. Having a more reliable map would definitely be beneficial for gathering supplies and finding my way back to civilization. Leave a mark sounded tempting but I wasn’t a wildcard on a stryker team anymore. I didn’t have targets, I hadn’t even seen another human in weeks. I decided to go with natural explorer.

Congratulations, you have learned a new skill! Natural Explorer! Your map will be upgraded.

I held off reviewing the new map upgrades and brought up my level 10 skill choices.

Leave a mark - Mentally mark a target allowing them to be tracked on map.

Remote detonation - Trigger a qualifying explosive remotely.

Creation synergy - Items created by you receive a damage multiplier.

The framework gave me leave a mark again. I still didn’t think it would be very useful with the way things had been going. I hoped it wasn’t trying to warn me of something by offering it to me twice. Remote detonation sounded amazing, if I could salvage more explosions or learn how to craft them I could trigger them from a safe distance instead of being nearly blown up every time.

Creation synergy was tempting as well, it came down to the last two choices. Which would give me a bigger survival advantage? Being able to remotely detonate or receiving a damage multiplier for any items I created. I decided to go with remote detonation after remembering how much damage the last two explosives had caused me just from being nearby. My choices settled in and I could now see them on my skills tab of my character interface. I decided to level them both to 10 and use 20 of my 24 skill points. There were no notifications this time, the changes showing on my skills tab. I mentally organized the skills tab to make sense and removed the extra information that I wouldn’t need. I was beginning to feel confident in manipulating the framework. I brought up my new skill table.

Skills - Level - Description

Enhanced Explosion

5

Explosive base damage*5(5-15)*(Luck)

Identify

6

Displays all known information about a target

Natural Explorer

10

All resources known to subject added to explored areas.

Remote Detonation

10

2 explosives, distance = (10)*20 feet

Before I could get distracted by even more menus I stood up and walked out of the cave. I still needed to find food and head towards the stream. I could add to my map and explore that area.