I stared numbly at the site of the explosion. I had been part of dozens of training runs and simulations using the bangers but I had never seen anything like this. It shouldn’t be possible, the explosion area was massive, at least one hundred feet across. There was nothing left of the tents closest to the blast and the ones farther away were ravaged. There was text again blinking in the corner of my vision. I took a deep breath and willed it to the front.

Initialization Complete - Information crystal finalized - Welcome to the Framework!

Sylar Till

Age

17

Race

Human

Class

Wildcard

Strength

3

Stamina

6

Agility

6

Intelligence

5

Wisdom

5

Charisma

3

Luck

1

Baseline stats have been auto generated based on data from body composition scan and action analysis. Race has been assigned as default for species. Class has been assigned per the above referenced action analysis. Please proceed to the nearest population center to interact with the Guide.

I read the words but they didn’t make any sense. Who was this? How did they know my name? My age? What were the starting stats? None of this was making any sense. I willed the numbers away and brought up the next section.

Your actions over the last 24 hours have been analyzed. You have been granted the following titles :

Quick To Violence - 4th person in Eter to commit murder : -1 to charisma, +1 to all other primary stats.

Violence - First person in Eter to reach 10 kills : Grants +1 to all primary stats

Fickle Ally - First person in Eter to murder allies : -5 to charisma, -1 to luck, +5 all primary stats

Slayer of Norx - First person in the world to slay 10 Norx soldiers : Increased disposition to Eter and allies, decreased disposition to Norx. +1 intelligence, +1 wisdom.

Out With A Bang - Planted a bomb you did not plan to survive : +1 luck, agility

Bombadeer - First person in world to kill with explosive device : +3 to wisdom, intelligence, grants skill Enhanced Explosion.

I read the titles, and reread them, nothing was making any sense. On my fourth read through it finally sunk in, “First person in Eter to murder allies”. I turned my head in the direction of the ravaged tents and realized what had happened. My heart sank, I stood up and stumbled in the direction of my friends.

When I reached the tent they had been held in I stopped short, all four of them were dead. I could see Cass facing me, a large branch from the fire through his stomach, eyes wide and staring back at me. The others were strewn about the tent, bodies in pieces and scorched. I felt the bile rise in my throat and stumbled away, falling on my hands and knees and puked again. This had to be a mistake. The explosion should not have been that strong. Even three boxes at once shouldn’t have gotten close to the tent they were held in. I thought of the skill I had been granted, Enhanced Explosion, and the text appeared in front of me.

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Enhanced Explosion - Passive - “Explosions are always a gamble” - Enhancement formula - Explosive base damage*(1-10)*(Luck). Reminder! Always be mindful of the explosion radius!

The skill must have been granted to me following the scout I killed the previous day with the first explosion. I had so many blinking icons in my vision, I couldn’t focus on anything. I took another deep breath and looked around, I needed to find cover and take the time to go over all of this. I needed to try to figure out what was going on.

I decided to head deeper in the forest and look for a safe place to rest. I was burning out quickly and feared being in the open. That explosion would have been heard for miles. I found a large tree that had a branch I could sit on about ten feet off the ground. I quickly climbed up and got situated. Taking another deep breath I focused on the blinking notification again.

Combat log - Enhanced explosion triggered - Explosive base damage(150)*5*Luck(1)

Doing the quick math in my head, the skill triggered increased the blast strength by 5 times what I expected. I did not understand the values being used, I did not have any bangers left to evaluate. The explosion destroyed my pack and any other supplies I needed. I felt numb as I considered the title again.

Fickle ally - First person in Eter to murder allies

Such a cruel joke, I did not understand how I was granted a skill, it described it as a passive which means I did not choose to use it. I was a murderer now, whether on purpose or not. I numbly went through the rest of the blinking signals, called notifications.

Level up! You Have Reached level 2!

Level up! You have Reached level 3!

Enhanced Explosion Has Leveled up!

…

Level up! You Have Reached Level 9!

I tried to focus on the notification to bring up more information but there was nothing else to display. The next one called itself my Character Interface.

Sylar Till

Age

17

Race

Human

Class

Wildcard

Level

9

Strength

10

Stamina

21

Agility

14

Intelligence

14

Wisdom

26

Charisma

0

Luck

3

There was a definite difference in comparison to the first time I saw them. I did not really understand what the numbers meant but I knew that I was faster now. It had taken minimal effort to run to this tree and climb it. I tried to do the mental math on the increases but it was too hard without writing it down. I focused on class.

Wildcard - Unique- Granted due to pre-existing role - A specialist in the unorthodox, able to find unique solutions to problems, grants proficiency with unorthodox weapons, +1 wisdom, +1 stamina per level.

My mind was starting to clear the more I looked at the strange writing and considered the events of the day. I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing I was beginning to calm down or not. I still did not understand what was going on but it was starting to make more sense. I needed to return to basecamp and hope that it was a population center, I needed to find the rest of the army and report the deaths of my squad.

I decided to spend the rest of the night in the tree and set off in the early morning to make it back to the 3rd army basecamp. I had to avoid any Norx scouts that investigated the explosion so my plan was to head farther east into the deep forest and then cut south. With my newfound energy it should only take me a few days even with the added distance.

I woke up to the distressed cries of an animal somewhere in the distance. I could hear it screeching as if it was dying. I hoped it was just a fight between two animals and decided to keep my distance. There were many rumors of the beasts that roamed these woods amongst the children of Eter, each story more fanciful than the last.

I set off on foot using my standard issue compass to head due east, I figured half a day's walk east and then I would turn south and try to exit the forest to the south. This would allow me to curl up behind the staging grounds of the 3rd army and exit well behind friendly lines.

I contemplated the changes that had occurred to me as I walked. I noticed I felt stronger, faster, my muscles were more defined beneath my uniform. I seemed to walk faster and had an easier time avoiding roots. Before long I decided to try and run, I was able to run for hours before tiring. This was the first bout of positivity I had felt in a long time. At Least this framework was good for something, despite it causing the deaths of my friends. I glanced up at the sun filtering down through the canopy and felt hope for the first time in days.