Adam looked at the message on the ceiling and realized that it wasn’t technological in nature. The words appeared to be scrolling along… As he tried to focus his True Sight on the ceiling he realized that his True Sight was no longer working either. He’d seen a message though. Hurriedly, Adam pulled up his personal interface which only had the message he’d already seen;
Spell Shape Change has been Blocked by local Spell Array
Next, he opened his Personal interface and was surprised and slightly dismayed.
Name: Johnathan Bennard
Identity: Adamantadine (Adam)
Age: 35*
Weight: 170
Birthday, July 16th, 2001
Race: (Unique) Chaos Incarnate, default Human
Cultivation Rank: M
Abilities
“Perfect Memory” - Like Photographic Memory except for all five senses with an automatic recall of desired information.
“Interface” – Ability “Spellweaver” is incompatible with this Universe, Spellweaver has been converted to “Interface” which acts Identically to the Personal Interface you are accustomed to. While not sentient, the Interface is a pseudo-intelligent magical modification that tries to quantify reality to the numbered systems you are accustomed to. Note, while other versions of this Interface may exist, they are extremely rare and individually specific.
“Convergence” - The very nature of your Soul draws Chaotic Energy and converts it as you desire. In any Reality, you have access to and can utilize any magical energy normally. Additionally, your Mana Regeneration is increased by Willpower + Endurance per minute.
“Chaos Incarnate” – Your race has been permanently changed to Chaotic Incarnate, default Human.
Chaos Incarnate grants you the following additional abilities.
“Chaotic Core” – You are Chaos. Chaos adapts and molds to your will. You may change the identity of chaos that you control or touch to the identity of your choice, be it magical, physical, or spiritual. Your default body is that which you have become accustomed to. Your soul is anchored to ERROR.
“Chaos Storage” – Your body contains all the space that you will ever need to store any item that you come into contact with. You may add and remove items to your storage at will.
WARNING! Living items placed within your Chaos Storage area are treated as if they were subjected to complete immersion within Primal Chaos. Nonliving items placed within your soul storage may be willfully exposed to Primal Chaos which will automatically destroy any items that are not resistant to Primal Chaos or are less than Legendary in Rank.
“Chaos Step” – You may step through Chaos to any other point that you have ever been to or can see. This ability requires the expenditure of Chaos Points (Low).
“Shape Chaos” – You may create any item that you wish provided you have the skill and an equal amount of materials to convert into the new item. As an example, A piece of paper could be turned into money. You may convert Medium mana to Low Chaos to a maximum of Medium Chaos. Chaos may be utilized to shape items up to an Elite weight. Objects created can be magical or nonmagical.
“Immortal” – As a being with a Chaotic Core you are Immortal. Should you be ‘killed’ your body will reform at the nearest place of power or place of power within an adjacent dimension, usually the local Astral Plane.
“Adaptable” – As Chaos, your body adapts to any environment. From absolute zero to the gravity well of a singularity your body can and will adapt to all environmental conditions. This includes the ability to survive in those environments. Example: the ability to breathe underwater if necessary.
“Resistant” No Change - You are 50% resistant to all Magic. Additionally, you are 100% resistant to all magic utilizing energies derived from Chaos, Time, Space, and Gravity. Additionally, you are 50% resistant to Holy and Infernal Energies.
Level: Legendary
Attributes
Strength Legendary
Agility Legendary
Endurance Legendary
Perception Legendary
Willpower Legendary
Luck Legendary
Primary Stats
Carrying Capacity Legendary
Hit Points: Legendary
Base Health Regeneration
High
Stamina Legendary
Base Stamina Regeneration
Legendary
Mana: Legendary
Base Mana Regeneration
Legendary
Chaos: Medium
Chaos Regeneration
Legendary
Movement
Normal Running Speed: Legendary,
Standing high Jump: Legendary
Note. Falling Damage is not mitigated by maximum jumping Distance.
Base Attack
Unarmed Base Attack: 4 (Low)
Max Damage: 8 (Low)
Critical Damage Maximum Damage x2
Maximum Number of Attacks Per Second: 25 (Medium)
Adam reviewed the information and quickly realized that wherever he was, the way attributes were quantified was more abstract. He also noted that he appeared to only have four abilities and that a few of his previous abilities were now considered subsequent to his Chaos Incarnate ability. Wait, hadn’t that been Chaotic Incarnate before? Interestingly enough he wondered if not having an Intelligence attribute would mean that his mental faculties were lacking. He performed a couple of mental excises and found that his memory still seemed fine. At least he didn’t think there was anything wrong with his mind.
Adam needed answers, but he had a more immediate problem, he wasn’t going to be able to blend in. The rules governing this Universe seemed to have changed the rules governing magic. Spells had seemed to work normally while he was particle though. Maybe the laws governing this place came into effect once he’d taken physical form? That was a possibility. Luckily for him, it looked like Chaos was Universal to both System Matrix 001 and this Universe and his exposure to chaos was benefiting him here as well.
Adam thought about what to do for a moment then said then opened his prompt window and sent, “Quantify Low, Medium High, and Legendary attribute system with definitions.” Immediately a prompt filled his vision
Help Attribute Interface Definitions
This Interface has attempted to quantify what it has been able to determine as the mortal levels of the local Universe and added them to a seven-tier system that quantifies attributes as compared to other creatures based on an average specimen of your species.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
The numbers indicated are approximations as compared to your previous understanding of attributes and the numbering system you are accustomed to.
Low 1-18
Medium 19 – 100
High 101 – 1,000
Elite 1,001 – 10,000
Epic 10,001 – 50,000
Mythic 50,001 – 100,000
Legendary 100,001 - +
Adam thought about the numbers he’d just been shown and then his previous information. He’d been level 279,201,353 in the previous system. Adam focused on his prompt screen again and sent, “Interface, approximately how much more powerful than the bare minimum creature that meets the requirements to be considered Legendary, am I? A new prompt responded immediately.
Adamantadine is approximately a multiple 2,791.98 times more powerful than a creature that has just achieved Legendary status in this Universe.
It would seem that his “Adaptability” had come through, or maybe his Chaos Incarnate ability anyway. That would make him pretty damn powerful here. But as he knew all too well, being attribute strong did not make one invincible. Magic seemed to work here but he had no access to it.
His contemplations were interrupted as four individuals that were very similar to the monitors he’d seen overlooking the battery plant, Yeah he was going to call that place a battery plant. Four individuals stepped out of four different alcoves, two at each end of the hallway. The first one looked at Adam and said something that he couldn’t understand. Oh come on, “Tongues” was working just a few minutes ago, Adam thought.
Adam slowly pointed to his ears and shook his head.
The being that had spoken reached into his robe and pulled out a cube. When he spoke again there was a delay then a voice spoke from the cube; “Human, why are you here?”
“That’s a bit of a long story, suffice it to say I’m lost,” Adam said truthfully.
The being spoke again and the box said, “You are in a restricted area. You will follow us after we search you for weapons.”
“Understood,” Adam said as he raised his hands and let them search him. He was only wearing a jumpsuit that his chaos ability had created after all. Moments later they led him to an alcove that seemed to be working now. He stepped into the alcove which teleported them to a new hallway. Adam was led down the hallway a little way to a room that contained a table with two chairs on opposite sides of a desk. Directly above the desk, hovering in midair was a clear crystal about a foot long and 3 inches in diameter at its widest point.
The leader of the four-man contingent that escorted him to this room spoke. A few moments later his box said, “A human is being sent to question you. They should be along shortly.” The box said as the leader placed the box on the table and then exited the room. Adam heard the door locked behind the leader, leaving Adam to contemplate his thoughts.
Adam sat and waited patiently for the first hour. When no one came in the room Adam decided not to play their games. The first thing Adam did was recede into his Mindspace then try to pull up any movies or songs he could think of and let them play in his mind. He tried to remember if he was missing anything in the playbacks. After a little while he decided that his mind seemed to be working just fine. He returned his focus to the real world and started attempting to cast spells. He started small with spells like light, burning hands, and the like. To no avail magic as he knew it wouldn’t work. That didn’t make sense though, he’d seen that magic worked. They weren’t using technology. Everything he’d witnessed had to either have been magic or mentally controlled. Psionics maybe?
Next, he utilized his Chaos Shape ability to create a small diamond in his mouth then used the chaos to break it back down. He didn’t want to let whoever was watching him know that he had a secret ace. Next, he stood and moved to a clear spot in the room and started performing Katas for every single martial arts method he’d learned. He did this to ensure that he still could utilize all the martial arts he learned and also to ensure that he had perfect control of his muscles. Again, his body seemed to be acting exactly how he remembered.
When he was thirsty he used Chaos Shape to create water directly into his mouth. When he needed to utilize the bathroom, he allowed the waste to be reabsorbed by his chaos. He had a feeling that whoever was watching him was waiting for him to call for someone because he was hungry or had to utilize the bathroom. They’d be waiting a really long time. Internally he kept track of the time. While he appeared to be moving through every kata of every martial art he knew, he was also trying to figure out how magic worked here.
Eventually, he found himself seated in a corner opposite the door, much like a Buddhist master would do, and entered a state of deep mediation. He’d been very careful not to show any strength beyond what would be considered normal here, though his lack of concern for food, water, or personal waste would probably draw some questions.
Adam entered his Mindspace again and opened his personal Interface to see if there were any files or messages other than his information. The only answer he received back when he queried the interface was “Further physical Interaction is required for Interface quantification.” Which Adam took to mean that he wouldn’t get more information about something until he interacted with it.
Three days passed before a male human entered the room with a glass of water. Like the other beings Adam had come across, he was also in a black robe.
When he noticed that Adam had opened his eyes and was looking at him he said, “Sorry for the delay, it took a little while to get here. You must be thirsty.”
Adam stood in one fluid motion, walked over to the desk, and held out his hand. The man handed him the glass which Adam raised to his mouth and drank. Adam noticed that the flavor of the water had been off as a message prompt filled his vision.
You have ingested extract from the Flower of Unknown Truths.
You have resisted the effects of the extract from the Flower of Unknown Truths
The hurried demeanor of the man changed to one of cold calculation as he said, “Very good, you will now answer all my questions truthfully.
Adam didn’t feel any different but decided to play along, “I will answer any questions you ask truthfully,” Adam said.
“Who are you?”
“I am Adam”
“Adam, do you know where you are?”
“I am in a room,” Adam said keeping a straight face.
“Do you know where this room is?”
“No,” Adam said.
“Are you a Spy?”
“No”
“Are you on a Mission?”
“Yes,” Adam said.
“What is your Mission,”
“To save the Mother Fucking Day!” Adam said as he broke out in a grin, not able to take it any longer.
“What, how?” the man said, obviously surprised by the outburst.
“Okay, first thing, could I please have your name?” Adam asked.
“How are you asking me questions right now, you should be docile?” the man asked.
“Never mind that, what do you want to know?” Adam said.
“How did you get into this facility?”
“I’m from one of the realities that are being harvested to create the energy cores that are created here,” Adam said honestly.
“That’s not possible. Nothing exists in Universes we target except pure energy,” the man said.
“And your name is? Or would you rather I refer to you as that guy at least something I can refer to you by besides ‘The man’, Adam asked.
“You may refer to me as Dave,” Dave said.
“Hello Dave,” Adam said with a straight face before he lost it and broke out laughing.
“Is something funny?” Dave asked.
“A story from where I’m from. If you understood the story and the setting you’d probably think it was funny as well,” Adam said.
“How are you talking right now? No seriously, our spells identify your cultivation rank as Class M. You’re a ‘Mortal’,” Dave said with a hint of disdain in his voice.
“Cultivation?” Adam asked confusedly then thought back to his personal information and remembered seeing that new attribute. “What’s wrong with being a mortal?” Adam asked.
“Well, for one thing, you shouldn’t be in this facility. There isn’t a teleporter that allows any mortals to move around inside here. We had to override some safety features just to allow you to step into the teleporter that brought you to this area,” Dave said.
“As I said, I’m from one of the Universes you’ve turned into a power plant, or whatever you’re turning them into,” Adam said.
“Enough of this,” Dave said Angrily, “Cozbi, come in here and get some answers from this mortal!”
A red-headed woman in a black robe walked into the room and met Adams’s gaze. As soon as their eyes locked Cozbi moved forward just enough for the door to close behind her as ethereal green light entered her eyes and Adam felt a presence enter his mind.
“Do not resist, if you resist you will only hurt yourself?” Cozbi said
“What are you going to do?” Adam asked.
“I’m going to go through your memories,” she said.
“All of them?” Adam asked.
“Of course, we must find out who you are,” She said pleasantly eyes still locked on Adams
“Dave, Cozbi, and whoever else are listening in. I’m new to this Universe, Reality whatever. I’d like to go on the record and say that I will open my mind to Cozbi and Dave if that is her desire, I’ll hold nothing back but I want it on the record that I stated it was a bad idea and that I am not to be held responsible for whatever happens to Cozbi,”
“You’re a Mortal, what could you possibly have in your mind that could harm a Class B Cultivator?”
“Since I don’t know what a cultivator is or how your ranking system works, I don’t know.
"There are 10 Cultivation ranks. In order, they are Class Z, basic animals, then Class M for sentient Mortals like you. After that those that can utilize magic and have various magical abilities that allow them to use magic are graded through eight more categories, G, F, E, D, C, B, A, S, U, and finally the pinnacle, rank X. These ranks are used to gauge their power level. If a numbering System is more your thing. Rank Z does not have a numerical qualifier. Rank M is zero through Rank X which is Rank 10. As a Rank B cultivator, I am more than one million times more powerful than any mortal,” Cozbi said heatedly
“I do not doubt that you believe yourself to be quite powerful. I also do not doubt that you are mentally focused, I just think the amount of information you’re about to access might be a little much for you,” Adam said earnestly.
“Why do you think Cozbi reading your mind will hurt her?” Dave asked.
“Experience,” Adam said dryly
“Enough of this, fine we have been warned, now open your mind to me?”
“Wait!” Dave said, “You weren’t already in his mind?”
“No, his mind is closed to me,” Cozbi said
“Do you have any defenses up or magical items on you?” Dave asked Adam.
“As I’m sure your guard friends outside the room will tell you, except for the jumpsuit, I’m naked. Also, no, I do not have any defenses up other than my normal stubbornness not to allow others to enter my mind,” Adam said.
“Lower your ‘stubbornness’ so we can get this over with,” Cozbi said.
“Your funeral,” Adam muttered under his breath as he said, “Okay,” and lowered his mental defenses.
Immediately Adam felt four presences enter his mind. Cozbi had been the link, but three others piggybacked her mental ‘attack’ into his mind. Adam, looked inward and focused on Cozbi, wrapped her in his mind, and pulled her into his Mindspace.
“What, where are we?” Cozbi asked as she looked around into the nothingness that surrounded them.
“I’m sure as a mentalist you have a mental center that you fall back into when meditating, this is mine”
“But you yanked me from where I was going…”
Adam cut her off as he asked, “Did you know three others piggybacked your link into my mind?
“What? No,” Cozbi said, confused.
“Very well,” Adam said as he allowed his mind to go fully defensive while dealing with them.
“Something changed,” Cozbi said
“Yep,” Adam replied
“What did you do?”
“Nothing much. Well, when I say nothing much let me just say that I am now giving the other three people that entered my mind, exactly what they wanted,” Adam said.
“What is that?” Cozbi asked.
“My memories,”
“And that is supposed to present mentalists that are probably A or S-grade cultivators a problem?” Cozbi asked.
“If it was just my memories? Probably not. The problem that your bosses are about to run into is that they are not just my memories. I’ll just say that I gave you, and even Dave, permission to enter my mind, no harm no foul. Individuals sneaking around in your head, then attacking me through you, Yeah, I said I’d open my mind, I didn’t say I’d do so nicely.”
At that moment Cozbi’s mind was overloaded as she acted like a fuse. As Adam had surmised when the information of beings from eight different cosmos was forcibly downloaded into a mind, even a cultivator’s mind, whatever that actually meant, there was going to be damage. Adam had felt the first mind wink out and the energy spike must have meant that some of that energy was being transferred his way through Cozbi. Adam realized that if the other two also blew a fuse while connecting through Cozbi her brain might be fried and that would do him no good.
Adam stopped the information flow to the other two and brought both their presence into his mind space as well. Both looked horrible as their mental avatars had blood flowing from every orifice. Adam released them from his mental grip and they fell to the floor of his Mindspace.
“What’s happening?” Dave called as Adam pulled his focus back into the real world and noticed that Dave had caught Cozbi as she’d started to collapse, blood running from her eyes.
“A couple of other people entered my mind along with Cozbi. One of them is dead and the other two are a little out of it. Cozbi took feedback damage from the individual that died. The other two are out of it, though both are still connected to my mind.”
“I thought you were a mortal?” Dave asked
“I am, where I’m from mortals can shore up their mental defenses, I did.”
A moment later Adam felt one of the minds in his Mindspace rouse, touch his compatriot then they both vanished from his mind.
“Looks like the other two have retreated, which leaves only Cozbi. I think she’ll be fine in a moment or two. Those with resilient minds can usually recover quickly,” Adam said to Dave.
As if he’d willed it Cozbi regained her senses in his Mindspace and retreated to her body and then reached up and rubbed her head, as she sighed, “Owwwww”
“See,” Adam said pointing to Cozbi who turned to the nearby wall and put a hand out to steady herself.
Dave looked her up and down, “What did he do to you?”
“Nothing,” Cozbi said.
“Nothing? You don’t look like nothing just happened to you?” Dave said indignantly
“Any idea who died?” Adam asked.
“How do you know he died?” Cozbi asked as she focused on him.
“Easy deduction. A lot of energy rushed into me, through you by the way. Figured you’d have realized someone died too,” Adam said.
The energy that zapped me felt like Azshereek Serma, our Class-S cultivator and my master. I think the only reason I’m alive right now is that you somehow shielded me from that torrent of energy. How did you do that?” Cozbi asked.
“That was easy, nothing enters my mind or body without my permission anymore. You were in my mind, I made the energy ignore you. Second, I think there may be an opening for advancement very shortly,” Adam said with a straight face and a hint of malice in his eye.
“Is what’ you said in your mind true?” Cozbi asked.
“I don’t know, ask Azshereek Serma,” Adam said.
* * *
Altarisa Serma looked at the corpse of her husband. They’d been a good pair working to better the Pelza Empires X-Grade Cultivation energy spheres. It had been over one thousand years since the last incident and that had been dealt with by altering the field that scrambled the energy that was siphoned out of the alternate Universes the Pelza Empire harvested. No pattern of any kind should be able to survive the magical arrays that had been created to scramble the energy as it was taken from those Universes. Some of their mystics had claimed that Universes housing energy matrixes were full of life, but they’d been ridiculed and ultimately silenced. Universes full of energy that could be easily consumed by their cultivators was highly sought after. The profit from this enterprise was so great that there had never been a question of whether they were going to stop or not, it was only a question of how to make sure those that believed in fairness never found out exactly what they were doing.
Besides, Altarisa thought, he or she who had the most power ultimately won. It looked like their precautions had failed. Someone or something had made it through the scrambling array. This Adam had been lucky once, she doubted he’d be lucky a second time. She’d been watching through her Crystal Ball until her husband had clutched his head and fallen over with blood leaking from his ears and eyes. She’d rushed over and checked him immediately, but he was already dead.
She focused her attention back on her Crystal Ball and focused on the chamber with the man that had just killed her husband which she found hard to believe. How could a mortal kill a Class-S Cultivator? She looked him over carefully, checking to see if he had anything that could save him from what she was going to do next. It didn’t look like he had any magical items. It might have been nice to learn what was going on in those Universes he claimed to come from, but the death of her husband ensured that this Adam character was about to figure out why no one crossed the Pelza Empire. It was too bad about Dave Johnson and Cozbi Selmak, she would need to make sure to do something nice for their families.
Never one to second guess herself, Altarisa flared her aura slightly and reached up to touch the clear crystal floating before her. The crystal before her was linked to the crystal in the room with Adam, Dave, and Cozbi. The crystal before her and the one in the room changed to a brilliant red as the door to the room shut and sealed. Altarisa watched as the scrambling array embedded in the walls, ceiling, and roof created a box-shaped scrambling box parallel to the walls, ceiling and floor then started shrinking. Dave and Cozbi tried to jump up to try to get out of the energy field, but the shrinking box of scarlet energy was both solid and fast. From the time it formed until it became a pinpoint had only taken five seconds. As Dave and Cozbi’s tried to jump they erased from the soles of their feet upward. They hadn’t even had time to scream. Adam, however, looked around the room with interest, sighed then closed his eyes as his body was erased from existence. Two things were wrong with what she’d witnessed. First, his head hadn’t reacted to gravity. It had floated right where it was when the field started until he was completely erased right before the energy field had erased it. Second, he hadn’t struggled or shown surprise or anger. He’d just sighed. Why had he just sighed she wondered?