"Hello," an emotionless tone said, shocking Sam awake. He pushed his hands down to attempt support from his bed, only it wasn’t there. In fact, he couldn’t even see or feel his hands. He couldn’t feel any of his body, in fact.
"Congratulations, Initiate. You, along with all other creatures in your universe, are now Real. Along with your introduction into reality also comes the System, a being that oversees everything. The System will alone change your life forever, and Reality overall offers only more surprises," The cube explained. After a short pause, it continued, "As is common with all new Initiates, you will be given an Assessment. Assessments are unique opportunities only given to Initiates, and will dictate your beginning Archetype & Talent.”
Sam had already assumed some type of supernatural event by this point, and the Cube’s message only gave him more and more reason to believe there may be Stats, Attributes and Skills involved. The mention of a “System” almost directly confirmed his thoughts, at least in his own mind. He discerned “Archetype” as probably similar to a Class, that a Talent was a Skill, Trait or something similar, and equated “Assessment” to Tutorial. He also noticed, despite getting lost in his own thoughts, that the cube hadn’t spoken again. He still couldn’t feel anything, but his mind seemingly ignored that fact. He tried to speak, and to his surprise, he heard his own voice echo into the nothingness.
“Anything else?”
The cube didn’t do anything for a moment, before it boomed out again.
“Yes, Initiate. Before the Assessment, you are free to ask 5 questions about anything regarding your new Reality directly. Please note that you cannot ask about any specific person, group, or place."
Upon hearing this, Sam easily connected the dots and realized this was probably the most valuable part of Initiation. He could only assume this was an omniscient being, unless the scenario wasn’t what he thought it was. He started to ponder on questions to ask, but his thoughts finally latched on to a different topic: his dad.
As the only close family he had, he was obviously worried about him. As excited as he was for what was to come, he could easily predict that the future would be very dangerous for anyone and anything that had been put into this. One reckless mistake could easily separate the two permanently. He was tempted to still ask about his dad, even though the cube had already directly denied that any questions similar would be answered.
Though he was sure others would ask about Archetypes or Talents, he needed a piece of knowledge that was much more valuable. Confirmation of his various assumptions. He spoke his first question with confidence, “Is this similar to novels I have read in the past, specifically the ones I am thinking of?”
“Yes,” the cube responded immediately.
Sam internally frowned, as the results of this question may be detrimental. The cube never clarified the level of complexity at which it would answer these questions. It could be similar to 20 questions, where it would only respond yes or no. In that case, the info he could garner would be useless. Considering the scenario, his next question would also be a test, but if it was answered well, would be the most important one. He had just thought of it, but it made sense in his head.
He voiced his second question, “What are the best questions I can ask you?” Though this would take up 1 out of the 4 remaining questions he had left, and though many others had probably come up with the idea even before him, he had to ask. Asking an omniscient being about the most beneficial scenario for him would result in the most beneficial scenario for him, that was common sense.
“The best course of action would be to ask the following in order: Why did you answer my first question with just “Yes”? How can I perform my best in my Assessment? Is it worth it to accept a Gift?”
Sam didn’t have to give any thought when deciding his next question. “Why did you answer my first question with just ‘Yes’?” he imitated.
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“The response to your first question was just ‘Yes’ because everything you have done in this room is part of your Evaluation, even if it isn’t necessarily your Assessment. Every action, thought or emotion you felt has been considered. As a part of the Evaluation process, the response to the first question by any initiate will always be the simplest explanation. For example, if you were to ask what the meaning of life was, the response would be, ‘Life’s meaning is subjective,’ but if you were to ask afterwards, it would be a much more comprehensive version of the same thing.”
As Sam digested the information, he thought of a new question. He wasn’t going to waste the ones guaranteed to be most helpful to him, but he couldn’t help but wonder how the cube would answer the question ‘What does not being omniscient feel like’ both as the 1st or 2nd question. With nothing else to do, he asked the penultimate question.
The cube answered just as abruptly, “The way to best perform in your Assessment is to do so without any knowledge of anything about it. If you were to know anything about the rest of your Assessment, past what has just been explained to you, it would in part affect your evaluation, as you’d have knowledge that makes it much easier to gain a better result. Additionally, your Assessment is in part explained by the System once you are there”
Though the cube didn’t confirm it or really even hint to it, Sam made a connection. Perhaps due to his prior knowledge from his novels, his Assessment would be against his expectations. Maybe others would have a similar Assessment to what he assumed it to be, but the fact he had this knowledge would invalidate him. This was partly based on the usage of the phrase “unique opportunity”, as it implied it would be different from others. It could also conversely be that it was labeled “unique opportunity” as multiple different people would be sharing the same Assessment, but that each instance of the Assessment was different.
This could also mean that Assessments weren’t exclusively run by the System but instead had, in part, other influences. Gods may exist here, but he could just as easily be wrong. After all, the similarities and differences between the novels and his new Reality would only be revealed once he actually got out of this void. By this point he had been thinking for a while, and saw it only right to ask the final question.
“The topic of “worth it” is subjective, as you could mean a few different things. Interpreting your answer as if it is more beneficial or detrimental to accept a gift, it depends entirely on your goals. If your goal is to reach the Apex, a Gift would definitely be worse for you. If your goal is just to survive, a powerful Gift may allow you to live your life to its natural expectancy.”
Sam hadn’t really had time to think of what his goal would be with this new reality. Whenever he thought of himself in a similar scenario, he would always envision himself just like the protagonists, reaching the end or dying in the middle, having the most fun either way. When the scenario had actually presented itself to him, though, how could he help but also fear to live. For now, he couldn’t come to a satisfactory conclusion. He’d have to think about it more in the future, and learn much more about what Gifts even were before he could decide.
With his questions out of the way, and his thoughts about them thoroughly exhausted, he was ready for whatever his Assessment would throw at him. Almost as if it was waiting for him, the nothingness was suddenly gone, and he was instead standing just before a door.
The door was just big enough to fit him, and looked like a stereotypical castle door. The room around him didn’t have any other exits, and it was barely large enough to fit him. He approached the door, looking down at the ring handle. As he touched it, an illusory rectangle appeared, with words etched upon it.
Sam Scott’s Assessment:
Type: Scenario
Description: You, the Vital Mender have upset the Herald of Mortality due to performing resurrection on a soul destined to Cross. War broke out, and losses were suffered on both sides. Both deities are on their last legs, reduced to the powers of a mortal, and cannot break the stalemate.
Goal: Solve the Conflict
Time Limit: N/A
As Sam read through, he started to feel worse and worse. He was used to reading tutorials where monsters were fought, levels earned and skills gained. Comparatively, this was like dropping a toddler into a court case as the defendant lawyer. From what he could garner, he wouldn’t get to use any cool powers due to their powers being mentioned as brought down to mortal level. If they were in a stalemate beforehand, he wasn’t sure what he could do differently, but he needed to gather more info first. Unfortunately, the only way to do that was to step inside the door and into his true Assessment.
With an ugly expression, Sam walked into the door, and into the nothingness that lay beyond it.