Sasha
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The spiraling entrance of the spire’s eminence does not belie awe to those who stand before it. Those before it being all of one person. Myself. Sasha. Sasha of the House of Saraphil. And I am here for none other a reason than to restore the honor of said house.
See, my house was nobility of the highest class. Through merit, we climbed the chain of power and reached the top. Or, my grandfather did. Through complacency, our house fell by leaps and bounds after the death of our patriarch. Alas, we now hold a seat at the bottom rung of the ladder, hardly better than commoners.
The only way to take back our place in the hierarchy is to climb once again. To climb up the levels. To climb up the system. And so I stand here talking to myself while procrastinating. I should enter. It is the only way to regain my families prestige. The only way to impress my father, the only way to get a once over on my prodigious brothers. So why am I not moving a muscle? Because the spire is ebestrinianly dangerous! It’s full of monsters and death traps and…
No. I have to go in. What other choice do I have? Not going in? Living a humble life with little danger? Marrying for love and having children? Not dying? Yeah, that actually sounds pretty good. Maybe I’ll just not go in.
As I step back from the gaping maw of the spire and make to turn around, I let out a yelp. I find myself stumbling backwards as my eyes lock onto an arse in a cloak. He pushed me! He rambling pushed me! I can only make out the wicked grin on his face before my stumble turns into a down right tumble through the entrance.
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I find myself face down in a puddle. As I push myself up, a screen appears in front of me.
[User detected]
[Registering user]
[Please state name]
“Where am I?”
[Register user name: Where am I]
[Y/N]
What?
“No.”
[Please state name]
“Sasha.”
[Register user name: Sasha]
[Y/N]
I guess.
“Yes.”
[User registered]
[User aptitude: unknown]
[Initiating user aptitude test]
What? Aptitude?
[3]
Huh?
[2]
Huh?!
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[1]
Wait no—
[0]
[User transfer initiated]
[…]
[…]
[…]
[User transfer complete]
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Again, I open my eyes to find myself in a puddle. A puddle. Seriously?! Damned system. The system, for its part, has been around for centuries. Maybe even millennia. No one knows exactly how it appeared, or how it works for that matter. All we know is that it came with the spires. And the accounts of the spires seem to appear as far back as recorded history— well, records. And now it dropped me in a puddle. For the second time within a minute.
A sigh escapes my lips as I push myself up from the puddle, my clothing soaking wet. And the system interface pops up again. Deja vu.
[User aptitude test initiating]
The dank cavern shifts before my eyes into a white tailed room. No entrance, no exit. Just white tiles everywhere, except for the table in the center.
[Strength aptitude test initiated]
A small pebble appears on the table. Perfectly round.
[Quest initiated]
[Quest (Easy) - Lift 10 gram pebble: Lift pebble on table.]
[Rewards for completion - Strength aptitude increased by 1]
“Seriously? A pebble. Are you serious?” My face scrunches up in irritation.
[Reject Quest?]
[Consequences - none]
[Y/N]
“No! I’ll pick up the pebble,” I mutter.
A few steps take me to the table. I pick up the pebble. It weighs barely anything.
[Quest (Easy) - Lift 100 gram pebble completed]
[Strength aptitude increased by 1]
What now, dear system? What dost thou plan to do? But seriously.
The pebble vanishes from my hand like thin air as a much larger stone appears on the table.
[Quest initiated]
[Quest (Medium) - Pick up 1000 gram pebble: Lift pebble on table.]
[Rewards for completion - strength aptitude increased by 2]
I pick up the stone, yet again. It weighs more now, but still not much.
[Quest (Medium) - Lift 1000 gram pebble completed]
[Strength aptitude increased by 2]
I start looking around. There really is nowhere to go. No openings in the tile lined floor-wall-ceiling. I would be screwed if the system just left me here. Hopefully that doesn’t happen.
The pebble disappears from my hand yet again. As a significantly larger stone appears on the table. Less of a pebble more of a stone.
[Quest initiated]
[Quest (Difficult) - Lift 10000 gram pebble: Lift pebble on table.]
[Rewards for completion - strength aptitude increased by 3]
Looking at the pebble, if the sizes keep increasing at this rate, the next pebble will be more of a boulder. And the one after that, a house, if I even get that far.
This time, I make an actual effort, grabbing the pebble with both hands and pushing with my legs to lift it off the ground. My back strains for a moment, then the stone is in the air, and it promptly vanishes as the system prompt appears, relieving me of the strenuous activity.
[Quest (Difficult) - Lift 10000 gram pebble completed]
[Strength aptitude increased by 3]
Before me, the air seems to shimmer as a torso-size rock pops into the air, and falls onto the table.
[Quest (Very Difficult) - Lift 100000 gram pebble: Lift pebble on table.]
[Rewards for completion - strength aptitude increased by 4]
I have to pick up that thing? Okay, Sasha, you can do this. It’s just probable twice your weight. Easy. Ants can carry things twenty times their weight, so why shouldn’t I be able to carry something only twice my weight. Alright, lets do it!
I lean down and wrap the rock in my arms, my grip so tight my knuckles go white.
“On three.”
“Three.”
“Two.”
“And ONE!”
On one, I heave up with all my might. My muscles strain and my bones ache, but I manage to lift it up just enough, and it disappears from my arms yet again.
[Quest (Very Difficult) - Lift 100000 gram pebble completed]
[Strength aptitude increased by 4]
I collapse to the ground, panting in exertion. I did it! I fucking did it! My celebration is promptly cut short by a man-sized boulder appearing out of thin air, and crushing the table.
[Quest (Impossible) - Lift 1000000 gram pebble: Lift pebble on table]
[Rewards for completion - strength aptitude increased by 5]
What the hell?! You expect me to lift that? It’s not even on the table.
Screw it. I walk over the the boulder, and try to even push it. It doesn’t budge. I wrap my arms around it, not that my arms get very far around it, and try to lift. I fail. The boulder is too damned heavy. It doesn’t move an inch. I guess the impossible tag was accurate.
“I can’t lift it,” I sigh.
[Reject Quest?]
[Consequences - none]
[Y/N]
“Yes.”
[Quest (Impossible) - Lift 1000000 gram pebble failed]
[Consequences for failure - none]
What now?
[Strength aptitude test completed]
[Score calculating]
[…]
[…]
[Score calculated]
[Strength aptitude score: 10]