“During my early years, while it was controversial to say at the time, it was clear to me that the computational potential of biological systems was wasted.”
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Alex was about to mentally press the button next to his level to level up, but he hesitated. He had now reached an equilibrium state where he was able to avoid getting wounded too badly, but he knew it could not last forever. Once the boosts from the pills wore off, he was basically screwed. He needed to take some major action before then. So instead of leveling up, he converted all of his stored energy into physical lucens. He then continued his dance with the kaphdor for a few more minutes, slaying them with brutal efficiency. Soon, he was interrupted with a notification.
Title: Ruthless Killer – 1st
Description: First native on planet to kill 256 creatures with combat rating ≥ 1.
Effects: Effect of all physical attributes: +3.1%
A thrill went through him. The title had given a small boost, but Alex knew the real value was down the line. Adding 3.1% to attributes in the hundreds would be massive. Alex had never been particularly special before the Integration. There were things that he was good at, sure, but this was a different story. To be first in the world of more than 8 billion people — that was a true accomplishment. But maybe 8 billion was an overestimate now. That was a sobering thought that shook him back to the task. If he could become stronger, then he would be able to save some of them. So he kept fighting intently.
By now, there was not a spot of empty grass in the entire clearing, and Alex was covered in scratches, some shallow, some deeper. He was leaking blood, but he pushed through the pain. At this point, he estimated that he only had around an hour left of the effects of the [Nature’s Rage Pill] if it continued to decline at a constant rate, something that he wasn’t sure of.
But he had finally saved up enough. During a lull in the combat, Alex opened the Shop. He had saved a total of 67.3 lucens between his Spatial Bracelet and his current energy storage. His target was 64, but he hadn’t been able to find an adequate pause in the combat. If this purchase amounted to nothing, it would possibly cripple his prospects of defeating the kaphdor once his boosts wore off. With some trepidation, he went to purchase the AI Assistant.
Shop
Enhancement Pill (Tier 0-D) … 1 Ł
AI Assistant (Tier 0-D) … 64 Ł
Outpost … 1024 Ł
Unlike when he had purchased the Enhancement Pills, the AI Assistant disappeared from the menu when he purchased it. A prompt appeared in his vision, looking quite different from the standard System prompts.
[Initiating personality synchronization. Estimated time: 5 minutes.]
With no immediate benefit, Alex had no choice but to continue fighting. After staving off another wave of the creatures, a smooth British man’s voice that seemed to come from another layer of sound than the sounds of battle and the world around him.
[Synchronization complete. Toggle details mode?]
“Yes!” Alex shouted over the din of his bashing. Any information was more useful than none. Immediately, when he focused on a kaphdor, a small tooltip appeared at the top of his vision.
Kaphdor
Level: 2
Combat Rating: 2.35 (Tier 0-D)
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Value: 0.59 Ł
The information wasn’t all that useful, but it was still nice to know.
“What does the combat rating mean, though? Like what’s my combat rating?” Alex called out while crushing another kaphdor.
After a few seconds, the assistant responded.
[I do not have enough information to calculate your combat rating precisely. With your current enhancements, it is likely between 65 and 72. Without them, it is likely between 11 and 13. ]
[As for what it means, the combat rating is a very rough guide for how difficult it is to defeat a certain enemy. It only takes into account the base species power rating and the level, not any items, abilities, titles, or allocation of points. The amount of lucens that a creature gives when killed (the “value”) is usually equal to a fourth of the combat rating. Unlike combat rating, however, certain titles, abilities, and other variables come into play when determining the value.]
[The way combat rating can be used as a guide is the following. Without enhancements, you would be expected to be able to fare evenly against about 5 or 6 kaphdor at once, since your combat rating is around 5 to 6 times as high. Of course, this breaks down for larger numbers. For example, a player with a combat rating in the hundreds would likely be able to defeat thousands of kaphdor at once.]
Alex was relieved to finally be able to understand something about the way the System worked, even if the information didn’t help him much at the current juncture. But what the assistant had said was worrying. Once his enhancements wore off, he wouldn’t stand much of a chance against the dozen or so kaphdor that swarmed the clearing at a time.
“How much longer do I have on my enhancements?”
The assistant once again took a few seconds to respond.
[Just like with any drug, the pills have half-lives. The half-life of an Enhancement Pill is a bit over two and a half hours, and the half-life of the [Nature’s Rage Pill] is half that — around 80 minutes — since it is a grade higher. There are some unpredictable factors to how your body processes the pill, so this is just a rough guide.]
“Can I just take an Enhancement Pill once the [Nature’s Rage Pill] expires?
[If you try to take another pill before all traces of the previous one have been expelled from your system, a process that takes around 30 to 34 half-lives, its benefit will be much less and its impact on your Energy Flow Rate will be higher. As it stands, your Energy Flow Rate is already reduced and will require several days of expensive cleansing in order to recover.]
So there was some good news and bad news. The good news was that the boosts didn’t decline linearly, so he had more time than he thought. The bad news was that he couldn’t take another Enhancement Pill after his current boosts wore off. Also, his Energy Flow Rate wouldn’t recuperate naturally. He already felt a bit of blockage, but not that much, so it should be fine for now.
Feeling the oppressive aura again, Alex turned his head towards the giant beast, which was now only a few hundred feet away from the clearing, and a tooltip appeared at the top of his vision once again.
Unknown
Level: ?
Estimated Combat Rating: ?
Estimated Value: ?
Well, that was helpful. The Assistant seemed to have noticed his disappointment, and he once again heard its voice in his ear.
[I only have Tier 0 access to information, and even this access is limited by your Mental Power. In many cases, especially when facing much more powerful enemies that have shielding or simply a high Mental Resistance, I will only be able to use your experience to make statistical calculations.]
“Well, how about this, because I’m starting to question whether my investment in you was worth falling behind at least a full level. Figure out how we’re going to survive this.”
The AI did not respond for a full minute, leaving Alex to fall back into the rhythm of combat.
[I’m sorry, I was unable to create a detailed enough simulation to be of use, because your Mental Power is insufficient.]
Having his mental power being called ‘insufficient’ hurt, but Alex quickly invested his remaining free point into Mental Power, then purchased another enhancement pill. Unlike when he had taken the other pills, he didn’t feel much of a change this time. Presumably, the increased Mental Power had gone to his Assistant.
[Ahh, much better.]
Alex was a bit surprised to hear the human-like comment. Also, why was the voice of the AI strangely reminiscent of the British version of Siri that he used on his phone? He put those details out of his mind to ask at a later date and turned back to fighting.
[I will now do my best to aid you in this situation. In the meantime, I would suggest putting as many points as you can spare into Mental Power.]
After another few minutes of crushing the insectoid creatures, he reached level five. He was thrilled to see that he gained 7 free points this time. He allocated three to Mental Power and the rest to shore up his declining boosts.