Sasha
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Luck. Luck is an interesting idea. The idea that good things come to lucky people. And that bad things come to unlucky people.
At its core, it is human interpretation of probability. No more than a concept. A simple, uncontrollable concept. Right?
Yeah, that’s what I thought. Apparently, the system does not agree.
[Luck aptitude test initiating]
[Quest (???) - ???]
[Rewards for completion - ???]
[Aptitude Luck incompatible with user: Sasha]
I’m sorry, what? So, I’m just stuck on this field with a bow and some arrows and fake trees? What the fuck, system?!
Alright, Sasha, now is not the time to freak out. This must be a mistake. Yes! The system must have just made a mistake. Maybe I could alert the system to this mistake. That sounds excellent. Just, how do I do that?
I try tapping on the quest interface. Nothing happens.
“Hey, system? Can you hear me?”
No response.
“System? I think you made a mistake. Could you fix this?”
Still no response. Maybe I need to find a keyword.
“System? Help? Assistance required? Support?”
Nothing.
“Interface?”
I have a feeling I’m not gonna be finding that keyword any time soon. If there even is a keyword.
I start walking. Maybe I can get out of this by leaving the room. Not that I know how, but exits tend to be on the walls.
As I near a tree, I realize just why they feel so fake. The trees are smooth as stone. They don’t have much variety in color, either. A single color for the entire trunk, a single green for the cotton leaves.
It’s like the system didn’t care to try.
I continue on, passing by many more fake trees. My thoughts turn to the system’s seeming obsession with a certain Alabaster Ebestrine. I mean, I get he was the last member of the royal family to be executed. I’ve learned that much from the history books. But the system included him in both the intelligence test, and the perception test. As a focus for major parts of those tests, might I add.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I would get a single time. He was part of the Rinian Revolution. But two times? I suppose, now that I put it into thoughts, two times isn’t so much. But still. The system didn’t talk about the Emperor who brought the country to such a low that an uprising was necessary. The system didn’t talk about the instigator of the revolution. No. But they referenced Alabaster Ebestrine twice.
I guess it’s not overly insane. Maybe if it happened again, but there are many major events in the history of Rinia for the spire to pull from.
I guess we do share some similarities, though. I am part of a formerly powerful family that fell into disarray. Alabaster was part of the most powerful family and fell to a revolution. So, admittedly not much, but still. It’s something.
My thought process ends there as an interface pops up.
[Testing bounds reached]
[Leaving testing area]
[Warning - procedure past this point may result in consequences]
I can’t do much with a question mark test, so yes. I am going to proceed past this point. Consequences be damned, I am not going to twiddle my thumbs searching for an answer to this shitty quest.
I take another step.
[Warning - procedure past this point will result in major consequences]
I take another step. My vision goes black.
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I find myself in an empty space. A void. No ground beneath my feet, no sky above my head. It feels as though I am falling, without the air pushing at me. Before me, a figure appears.
It is almost human. Almost. It has no face, just a blank amorphous blob for a head, ebbing and shifting about. It is dressed in a butler’s tailcoat.
I stare at it for a moment.
“You royally fucked up,” a voice carrying an accent I cannot place says to me without words.
No, that isn’t quite right. There are words, just no sound. As though the words are coming from my own mind, but not.
“Close, but not quite.” The words ring out again in response to my thoughts. I am certain I was not thinking aloud.
This thing. It doesn’t feel right. Is it the system?
“Yes, and no. We are part of the system, but not the whole. We are but a simple cog in the machine. You, Sasha, you should not have exited the testing area.”
“The other option being what exactly? I wasn’t about to sit around there waiting for your system to answer my request for assistance. And I wasn’t about to try to complete the test with no clue whatsoever on what to do. I could have spent days or more finding nothing.”
“You could have rejected the quest.”
“I forgot that was a thing.”
“That does not change the fact you left the testing area despite multiple warnings.”
“Why does that matter? That I left the testing area?”
“It matters because of this void.”
“You mean this isn’t yours?”
“No. This is the empty space between rooms in this spire. Had I not been watching your test, you could easily have been lost to the void.”
“That… is slightly horrifying. Wait, why were you watching me?”
“Your intelligence aptitude test. An error occurred. That drew my attention.”
“Right, the strange what is a phoenix question. Why was that there? And why did it error?”
“I have no answer to those questions.”
“Right, well that was no help. Can I leave and get on with the challenges now?”
“Not yet. Consequences have not been administered yet. For leaving the Luck Aptitude Test, you shall be punished accordingly.”
[Quest (???) - ??? abandoned]
[Consequences for failure - luck aptitude decreased by 10]
“Isn’t that a bit much?”
“We would prefer it if we didn’t have bodies floating around in the void. It is a pain. This should dissuade you from leaving the bounds of the spire rooms. I may not be there next time.”
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The next second, I am back on solid ground. I am, yet again, in a sterile white room with no doors or windows. The system likes white rooms, doesn’t it?
[User aptitude test completed]
[Aptitude scores allocating]
[…]
[…]
[…]
[Scores allocated]
[Strength (10)]
[Agility (6)]
[Endurance (7)]
[Intelligence (7)]
[Will (3)]
[Luck (-10)]