“You cannot imagine my pleasure, then, when we discovered that the manner by which [consciousness] solved any problem was roughly the same — that consciousness operates through a single mechanism.”
----------------------------------------
“Siri, I’m ready for the Script.”
[By Siri, I assume you mean me. Ah, perhaps it was a mistake to model my voice off of Siri from your memories. I’m not particularly partial to that name. Anyway, I will prepare the Script.]
Alex was once again surprised by this so-called AI Assistant. Since when did AI have likes and dislikes, especially when it came to something so superficial as how a name sounded? Also, his suspicion from earlier was confirmed — it was indeed the same voice as the male British Siri that he often used. But he was getting distracted. He needed to focus intently on the battle, especially now that his boosts had declined further without him leveling up.
After another hard-fought five minutes or so, the Assistant sounded in his head once more.
[The Script has been prepared and is available for use.]
Alex focused on one of the kaphdor, and he was able to sense that a new feeling had appeared. Leaning into that feeling, he felt a change. A small thread of energy flowed out of him, and the kaphdor began to behave differently, being more cautious and even swiping at a nearby kaphdor, which ignored it. Excited, Alex applied the Script to every one of the insectoid creatures currently in the clearing.
The total cost to apply the Script to over a dozen kaphdor seemed to be about the same as the application to a single kaphdor before he had the Script, which was a bit over one lucen per property. Furthermore, the effects would be applied at the same time, and it required very little mental effort. The effect of applying the Script to all of the kaphdor in the clearing was extremely pronounced. The kaphdor began to compete over space and stumbled into one another, and several fights broke out. A few of them kept coming towards him, but the difference was like night and day. Before, Alex was struggling to keep the kaphdor away due to his waning boosts. Now, he swept through them with hardly any injuries, taking advantage of their distraction and infighting to end their lives.
Within another hour, he had leveled up twice more. A moment after he crossed the threshold of level 8, a new notification appeared in his visual field.
Title: First Steps – 6th
Description: Sixth native on planet to reach level 8.
Effects: Effect of all attributes: +2.2%
Alex was a bit surprised that five other people had reached level 8, but it was still an immensely gratifying feeling. This solidified his resolve. The forerunners of the world would have a great burden of responsibility in preserving humanity, something that would be difficult if this swarm of insectoid creatures was any indication.
His increased recovery and something about the post-Integration world had staved off exhaustion to some degree, but he was already feeling tired to the bone. He took advantage of a lull in combat to look at his Status screen in more detail.
Player
Name: Alex Scarfeld
Race: Human (Tier 0)
Class: None
Level: 8
Energy
Energy: 12.3 / 76.1 Lucens (Tier 0)
Flow Rate: 225.6
Channel Period: 17.2 hours
Channel Condition: Good
Attributes
Physical
Mental
Value
Effect
Value
Effect
Power
34 (boosted) | 21
+5.4%
16 (boosted) | 13
+2.2%
Resistance
34 (boosted) | 21
+5.4%
20 (boosted) | 16
+2.2%
Speed
19 (boosted) | 14
+5.4%
20 (boosted) | 15
+2.2%
Recovery
13 (boosted) | 8
+5.4%
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
14 (boosted) | 8
+2.2%
Free points: 0
Abilities
Scripts:
“Family Feud”
Decrease base sociality with same species
Increase base competitive aggression
Skills:
None
Insights
None
Titles (2/8)
Ruthless Killer – 1st
First Steps – 6th
Alex had gained 8 free points from each level, but unfortunately, he had needed to invest 6 more points into mental resistance as the giant creature’s aura became overpowering. Annoyingly, it looked like his body had processed the mental resistance pill particularly quickly. So the rest of the points were insufficient to shore up his remaining defenses.
Alex noticed the irreverent name “Family Feud” for the Script, and he wondered if it was the Assistant’s design.
“Good effort. I think you might need some more data on human humor, though.”
[Fine, fine. I thought you liked Family Feud. Just trying to be helpful.] The name changed to “Ingroup Hostility.”
There were two more interesting observations about his updated Status screen. The first was that his Channel Period had decreased from around 22 hours to around 17 hours. The only thing he could attribute this to was his boosted mental recovery. And now that he thought about it, he noticed that energy flowed even faster than before. He wasn’t sure why the Flow Rate and Channel Period were separate instead of being combined into one rate metric, but that was a question for another time. The second observation was that it looked like he only had 8 total title slots. This was also something he definitely didn’t need to worry about for now.
Alex turned his attention back to the giant creature, which was now within about two hundred feet of the clearing. Its crawl had slowed down to a complete stop, and it just stood there, watching. From this close, Alex could make out more details. The creature had hundreds of short, thick legs protruding from the bottom of its round shell. The black spheres on the surface of the shell looked like they were pulsating, like dozens of beating demonic hearts. The shell was dark grey with a metallic sheen, but it was far from smooth. In fact, it reminded him a bit of a city from a steampunk anime, where there were various metallic parts fused together. The contrast between the smooth black spheres and the rough metallic shell kept drawing his attention away from combat, and he got nicked a couple of more times.
Alex dragged his attention away, but then he noticed something. The protective bubble around the clearing was cracking. It was an odd effect, because the bubble wasn’t visible to the naked eye. The only thing he saw was faint, hairline cracks appearing in a spherical shape. If the outline of the bubble wasn’t clear before, it was quite obvious now. Alex started to panic. He needed to get stronger, or at least faster. He didn’t have any hope of defeating the giant monstrosity lurking right outside of his bubble. If he could outrun it, then he would be safe. So he decided to buckle down and commit to investing as many points as he could into speed.
Hours passed in a blur. Alex had never experienced such a degree of physical activity, not to mention the never-ending violence, and it was thoroughly exhausting. The exhaustion started in his muscles, then progressed to his joints, embedded itself deep into his bones, and seeped into his soul. Far beyond the point when Alex thought the protective bubble would crack, it still held, now covered in a dense web of thin lines that spread every time a slit opened to let another kaphdor through. The ground was now layered with the corpses of the kaphdor. He did not know how he continued, but he slogged on.
His fight continued far beyond the point that he would have given up before the Integration. It felt like he was tapping into a source of unknown mental resilience and perseverance. Before the integration, he only had to think about his own future, and it was hard to care enough. Now, there was an urgency that drove him, an inexorable force that motivated him even beyond his last dredges of mental stamina. He was finally part of something far bigger than him, and he was in the vanguard.
By now, the boosts had mostly expired, and his instincts along with his increased speed were the only thing keeping him fighting at roughly the same level.
Player
…
Level: 11
Energy
Energy: 35.9 / 128.0 Lucens (Tier 0)
Flow Rate: 225.6
Channel Period: 18.1 hours
Channel Condition: Excellent
Attributes
Physical
Mental
Value
Effect
Value
Effect
Power
35 (boosted) | 30
+5.4%
18 (boosted) | 15
+2.2%
Resistance
35 (boosted) | 30
+5.4%
19 (boosted) | 17
+2.2%
Speed
20 (boosted) | 17
+5.4%
20 (boosted) | 17
+2.2%
Recovery
12 (boosted) | 8
+5.4%
12 (boosted) | 8
+2.2%
As his level increased, his ability to channel energy increased as well, and his channels were no longer taxed from absorbing the energy from the kaphdor and using the Script. When he asked the AI about this, it said that the true energy flow rate was the Flow Rate statistic multiplied by his total energy capacity. This meant that as he leveled up, his ability to manipulate energy would naturally increase as well.
Alex took another breath after slaying the next wave of kaphdor. He was standing on his last legs. He peered out of the bubble, which now looked like a web of cracked glass. As with before, the giant creature stood there on its hundreds of legs, watching, waiting. But then, he saw movement. The creature had decided to come forward once again. Over the next half hour, the giant insectoid being slowly made its way to the edge of the protective bubble. By this point, the pressure was almost impossible to withstand. Compounded by his exhaustion, Alex almost started believing in the overwhelming shame and injustice that the giant exuded. He was wrong for torturing that kaphdor, and he should die because of it. Many times, his knees threatened to buckle. Tears ran down his cheeks, tears of utter grief, of loss, of shame. But he pushed onwards, repeating to himself that those emotions were not really his. He could not die here. If he was truly among the forerunners of the world, humanity could not afford to lose him.
Finally, the creature reached about fifty feet from the edge of the bubble. The black spheres looked like eyes, and their darkness seemed unending. With unnatural acceleration, the creature charged forward, reaching the speed of a fast car within a ridiculously short distance. Then, it slammed into the bubble. The fractures intensified to the point where it was hard to see out. Terrified, with the ground shaking, Alex did the only thing he could: he ran. He jumped over the mounds of corpses within the clearing and to the edge of the bubble, where it reached the glade. But shockingly, he bounced off, falling back into the clearing. It had been permeable before — what had changed? Alex stood in the center of the clearing, shaking. He had been so ready to face death before, but now, he felt like a small child.
The giant beast slammed into the bubble twice, three times, four times, and then, in an instant, it all collapsed. The kaphdor that had been lining the walls of the bubble all fell into the center of the clearing, hundreds at a time. Within seconds, Alex was buried in a mass of living, writhing, dog-sized insectoid lizards, all trying to get to him. The strange part about it was that even though he was surrounded by thousands of these insects, he wasn’t taking much damage from them — they could hardly move, much less bite him — rather, he was being suffocated by their weight. Blackness encroached at the edges of his vision as he struggled to take a breath. Right as his lungs felt like they were going to collapse, the world faded out in an instant, and a bright light consumed him.