The SYSTEM watched as the chaotically Incarnate adamantium dragon activated his skill Mold Chaos skill to convert Chaos into Experience Points. The SYSTEM was slightly confused for a moment because such a request had never been tried before. How would a creature of chaos even come up with the idea to convert chaos into experience? A moment later, after it had reviewed Adamantadine's memories it understood how he had come up with the idea. What was even more surprising to The SYSTEM was that the request worked.
The SYSTEM followed Adamantadine’s perk Chaos Link to its attachment point outside of the SYSTEM. Technically it wasn’t outside of the SYSTEM, it was linked to a point at the edge of the SYSTEM. While the SYSTEM could not scan much further beyond the edge of its domain it could see that the infinite possibilities of Chaos were merging into the requested Experience Points which were identified as experiences Adamantadine had already experienced and continued to add to his Experience pool, something that should not be possible.
This caused an issue as the tracking of Experience, technically had no weight. Experience Points were an abstract measurement system that represented the intent and soul energy either from other sources or from the creature's soul. As that intent had an effect the soul measured it and adjusted accordingly. This adjustment could be called growth, which The SYSTEM had learned to quantify and adjust. What Adamantadine was doing was requesting that Chaos convert into Experience which Chaos was doing by giving back the soul growth, or experience points, the SYSTEM had removed.
The SYSTEM normally removed the Soul Energy from the creatures within it by adjusting the creature to a temporal state when the Soul Growth had not happened. Doing so had worked 100% of the time, until now. Unfortunately, it appeared that this Adamantadine presented a whole different kind of problem. Unintelligent beasts and monsters of chaos were easily reset, especially if they couldn’t remember the soul growth they’d been through. Adamantadine’s Chaos Incarnate nature and Perfect Memory allowed him to remember that Soul growth and the Skill Mold Chaos was simply replacing that growth.
The SYSTEM could reset Adamantadine again but after reviewing his history The SYSTEM realized that such actions in the past had always resulted in negative consequences for those who tried. While it was a construct of Order, and largely immune to the energies and side effects of chaos, it was the one type of energy that in a significant amount could be detrimental to it.
No, this Chaotic Dragon would not be reset and there was no point in trying to. Instead, It would adhere to the rules that were in place for Class choice and progression. If the Chaotic Dragon wanted to skip the steps that would allow it to gain new titles and meet the prerequisites for unique classes, The SYSTEM would do as it always did, remain neutral, and prepare individuals for their Ascendence or their journey into the cycle of reincarnation.
As it was, the Chaotic Dragon had earned a new title for reaching level 100 within 4 days. It would be the only title that would affect the classes that were available for class selection.
***
Adam watched as notifications kept appearing in his vision. A moment ago, he’d activated his skill Mold Chaos, and willed his Chaos to be turned into Experience Points. Once he reached Level 100 the notifications and XP inflow stopped.
Congratulations! You have reached Tier 1 Level 100 Mentalist in less than 4 days. You have earned the title, Trailblazer.
Trailblazer – You are a master of efficiency, +20% Efficiency to all attributes. This title may be upgraded once per Tier by earning 100 levels in less than a single year.
Hit Points have increased by 264
Stamina has increased by 66
Mana has increased by 66
Psychic Energy has increased by 660
You earned 66 Spell Slots
You have earned 132 Psionic Ability Slots
Intelligence, Perception, and Willpower have each increased by 13
You have 792 Attributes to allocate.
Adam closed the notifications and opened his status screen to distribute his attributes. When he was done he checked the final results.
Attributes (Total / Efficiency Bonus / Base)
Strength 316,975 / 20% / 264,146
Agility 316,963 / 20% / 264,136
Dexterity 316,957 / 20% / 264,131
Endurance 316,976 / 20% / 264,147
Constitution 316,981 / 20% / 264,151
Perception 317,077 / 20% / 264,136
Intelligence 316,942 / 20% / 264,231
Wisdom 316,942 / 20% / 264,118
Willpower 316,966 / 20% / 264,138
Charisma 316,954 / 20% / 264,128
Luck 2316,966 / 20% / 264,138
Chaos 100
Hit Points: (Human: 190,588) (Dragon Form: 1,363,414)
HP Regeneration: 1 per second in Human Form / 2 per second in Dragon Form
Stamina: 3,169,864
Stamina Regeneration: 3,170 per 1 second
Mana: 3,170,156
Mana Regeneration: 1,851 per second
Psychic Energy: 146,812
Psychic Energy Regeneration: 40 per second
Chaos Attribute: 100
Chaos Attribute Regeneration: 1 per second
Adam looked over the rest of his Status Screen. He’d simply spread his attributes around as evenly as possible which had given him a bit of a boost in carrying capacity and movement but the 20% boost had been no joke. One thing he did notice was that the natural regeneration of SYSTEM Creatures did not go up very quickly. Adam had 285 unused skill points and decided to fix that. He put 54 skill points into his skill Health Regeneration. That left him with 231 Skill points and a health regeneration of 10 per second in his Human Form and 12 per second in his Dragon Form.
With his attributes spent and a respectable health regeneration, he opened his notifications again.
Congratulations! You have reached Level 100 of your Tier 1 Class. You have met the requirements for Tier 2. Would you like to view and choose your Tier 2 Class now, Yes or No?
Adam chose “Yes.”
As he reviewed the list of available classes he realized that there were a lot fewer choices this time and that most of the choices were simple Advanced Classes. Wondering what was going on, Adam sent a query for all classes and began going through them to review some of the classes he hadn’t qualified for. As he scanned the list of unavailable classes, Adam noticed a pattern. A lot of classes he didn’t qualify for had prerequisites that required specific titles, perks, skills, abilities, or spells. Sometimes those Prerequisites had a specific level requirement for said skill, ability or spell as well.
This was all moot but as he moved toward Tier 3 he realized that he wasn’t going to be able to just give himself XP and hope that he unlocked an Epic Class. For now, the class that he wanted was one of two Classes that had been available because he wanted to improve his chaos attribute.
Agent of Chaos (Master) – You have embraced your Chaotic Nature. A Master of Nothing all paths are open to you.
The other class he could have chosen was the Master rarity version of Adamantium Dragon. While he was sure that he might be able to choose that same class at a higher rarity, for now, he wanted to improve his ability to tap into his innate chaos. Adam made his selection and confirmed it.
Congratulations! You have chosen the Tier 2 Master Class, Agent of Chaos which receives the following benefits.
20 Free Attributes per level
10 Chaos per level
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6 Hit Points per level
5 Stamina, Mana, and Psychic Energy per level
1 Spell Slot per level.
1 Psionic Ability Slot per level
Additionally, you have unlocked the following three perks
Uncanny Luck – You may modify any attack within your Perception in feet by 1% per point of chaos spent. You may either increase or decrease the chance of the attack landing successfully. This perk can be used to modify your attacks or the attacks of others within range.
Chaos Step – Space, Time, and Gravity bend around you. While movement rates are not increased or decreased by this skill the Agent of Chaos does not appear to move between locations to onlookers. While moving the Agent of Chaos vanishes until they stop moving. Individuals with a Perception attribute higher than the Chaos Attribute of the Agent of Chaos can see the Agent of Chaos Normally. Otherwise, the Agent of Chaos is effectively invisible while moving. Additionally, the Agent of Chaos can move in all three directions, though the Agent of Chaos cannot stand in the air. Once the Agent of Chaos stops moving they will fall until they begin moving again. This perk can be activated and deactivated at will.
Sense of Chaos – Chaos is part of everything and everyone. You gain a 6th perception technique that acts a lot like sonar in that it is omnidirectional. This sense can be used to see in absolute darkness and also detect and define all magical sources within the area of effect. Range is equal to Perception in Feet though the Agent of Chaos can only sort and process what is within that sphere of perception to a range of their average of their Intelligence + Willpower) Otherwise, their mind will be overloaded, and they must make a willpower check to keep from passing out.
Adam had just finished reading the notification when his new Class Perk Sense of Chaos kicked in. Luckily for Adam, his Perception wasn’t that much greater than the average of his Intelligence and Willpower and he was able to adjust the input so that his mind could process all the information it was receiving. His experience with nanites also helped him adjust to the input from his new sense.
Another thing Adam noticed. While his sense might have a range of 60 miles, it wasn’t instantaneous 60 miles. Unlike his quantumly linked nanites, this new sense acted exactly as if it was an energy wave and sent out a ping of sorts that brought back and sorted information. Adam might have a range of 60 miles but he only knew what was happening immediately within 1,026 feet. If he wanted to know what was happening 60 miles away he’d have to wait over five minutes for that information to get back to him. Adam wondered how that would work while he was moving.
The one thing he took away from picking his Tier 2 class, he was going to need to do some things to gain titles and meet the prerequisites for other classes. He did not doubt that he could just convert more Chaos into experience points but he doubted he got more than two choices. Well, he might get more than two choices but every other choice would be something that only had attributes as prerequisites. He wanted more choices because it definitely looked like The SYSTEM, this SYSTEM, was the real one.
How did he know? Because as the Chaos was being transformed into experience for him he felt that the experience points he was gaining were memories or ephemeral actions made real. If all the experience he had gained elsewhere was somehow stored as possible intent or memory within chaos in the real world then it made sense that he’d been able to tie into the chaos and solidify the experience into himself. He might even be able to do that for the rest of his family once he caught up to them. Again, though, would he be helping them? If they leveled normally they’d open up more avenues for growth for themselves. If he just gave them experience points they might not get as main class choices and miss out on something.
While the class system seemed a bit complicated, Adam was pretty sure that most people probably didn’t even make it to level 100 in their basic class, let alone get a rare, or higher class. Not to mention the questions about demons, devils, and The SYSTEM's abilities in those areas because Adam didn’t think for a second that The SYSTEM wasn’t also active where the demons and devils were. Possibly even in the heavens.
Adam used his new senses to check the underground complex and his new home while he waited for his senses to take in the 60 miles around his new home. After five minutes had passed he could sense 60 miles in all directions, and it looked like everything was just about ready. Adam lifted his Dragon Form from his relaxed position and transformed into his Human Form. He stopped sending out nanites and made sure everything was ready as he stepped up to the ridge line and looked down on Alamogordo.
Adam could feel that Chaos Step was active and that he could deactivate it if he wanted. Before he used it to travel into Alamogordo he ran across to another peak about a mile away in less than a second and waited. There was no telltale boom from traveling just above Mach 5. He had felt like he was moving normally but something was different. Adam looked around and found three peaks. He traveled to one and created a camera with a tripod and set it to record the two peaks in the distance. Then he traveled to one peak, counted to 5, and traveled to the second peak that was just over two miles away. Once there he counted to 5 to make sure the camera picked him up and then headed back to the camera and watched the recording.
Adam watched himself appear on the one peak, wait for five seconds, and then a moment later appear on the other peak. He made sure to wait until he disappeared from the 2nd peak which should have been plenty of time for the sonic boom to reach the camera. Nothing had happened. Adam used Mold Chaos to break down the camera and tripod and then headed to Alamogordo.
He was on a building in the middle of the city in a moment and started sending out his nanites while his senses spread over the next five minutes. He’d already detected everyone in the city. Of the average 31,000 people that had usually been present in almost every alternate version of Alamogordo he visited, there were only 15,320 people left. As Adam looked around and his senses spread he realized why the city was infested with monsters. Most of the humans had made their way to the Air Force Base.
Chaos Step was fantastic. He was able to move to a new location without causing any disturbance in the air. While moving he seemed to vanish, at least to normal vision and cameras. He sat on the roof and waited for his mana and stamina to refill. He wasn’t back to insane levels of regeneration where he didn’t have to worry about what he used but he was pretty damn close and as long as what he faced wasn’t too powerful, he’d be fine.
As his senses spread out he detected a group of fifteen people under attack on the southwest side of town. A moment later Adam arrived at the back of the group as one of the giant worms was attacking a group of three women who were trying to stop it. The Worms were big, huge. Also, Adam already knew this through his senses but at least three people had already died.
Adam activated Identify and scanned the five giant worms in front of him.
Basic Level 56 Giant Burrower Worm.
Basic Level 58 Giant Burrower Worm.
Basic Level 65 Giant Burrower Worm.
Basic Level 69 Giant Burrower Worm.
Basic Level 75 Giant Burrower Worm.
He was going to have to get that Skill leveled up because returning a level and type of creature was almost no information. However, in this case, it did give him his first target. Adam activated Mind Bolt and the level 75 Worm died. One minute later all five of the worms were dead. The people he’d just saved looked around in disbelief until a woman noticed Adam and said, “Thank you.”
Adam deactivated Chaos Step and walked forward normally, “You all okay?” Adam asked.
One of the men came over, looked at Adam, and stammered, “You’re level 100, how the hell are you level 100 already.”
“Been a little busy,” Adam said with a laugh.
“It’s only been, like 4 days,” a woman said,” and you’re already level 100? “
Adam looked around, “ Just over three days, and let’s change topics, is the large group of people over by the Air Force Base where everyone is gathering for protection?”
“Yeah, safety in numbers but they’re running out of food quick. It’s actually why we’re out this far, we’re scavenging for food.”
“Don’t sweat that, I’ll create some pallets for everyone. Why don’t you all head back to the base, I’ll meet you there,” Adam said.
“You have food?”
Adam held out his hand and used Mold Chaos to create a table with fifteen granola bars and 15 bottles of ice-cold, “I don’t have the food on me, but I can create it. Everyone, feel free to take one. Also, the water is ice cold.”
Adam watched as there was a little hesitation until someone came up, popped one of the bottles took a drink, and then said, “It is ice cold!”
After everyone had grabbed their granola bar and water bottle, Adam dissolved the table and looked to the defacto leader, I’m going to head to the base, there’s a family in that house over there,” Adam said as he pointed to a house down the street, “Down in the basement,” Adam paused for a second as he created a couple of backpacks.
“Okay, there’s more water and food including enough to feed that family of five. The rest of this side of the city is empty. The family is in the basement trying to be careful, get them, and then get back to the base.”.
“Where are you headed?” one of the men asked.
“I’m headed to the base of course, I just doubt that you can keep up,” Adam said. Before anyone else could say anything he made sure Chaos Step was active and headed toward the base which was only 7 miles away. As he could move almost 55 miles in a second he found himself at the front gate of the base a moment later while he watched the party through Sense of Chaos.
The guards in front of him reacted, one even drawing his weapon and firing before his conscious mind reacted. That guy had some awesome reflexes. The bullet, of course, bounced off of his damage resistance.
“Hold your fire!
“I’m fine,” Adam said as he brushed the impact point and used Mold Chaos to
repair his clothes. None of the guards had lowered their guns while Adam stood there and waited.
The man who had yelled to hold fire walked out of the booth with a first aid kit. He had a Master Seargent’s (MSgt) insignia on his uniform as he walked up to Adam, “Are you sure you’re okay sir, That was an Armor piercing round, you’re sure it didn’t penetrate your armor?”
“Adam lifted his shirt and showed his chest, “Not wearing any armor but I assure you I’m fine, “ Adam said as he let the shirt drop back over his shirt.
“What…” The MSgt asked.
“Don’t worry about it. I was told that you had a food problem. Point me to the place where you store food and water and I’ll replenish your stores.”
“I’m sorry sir. If you wish to a donation we will of course accept your donation but escorting someone with nothing to drop off to the area where we’re storing our limited supplies, I can’t do that sir.”
Adam thought about how to proceed for a moment and then started creating a pallet of water right beside the guard shack. a pallet of water weighed about 2200 pounds which took Adam almost four minutes to create, during which time the soldiers around him just watched in awe as the pallet and then the bottles formed on the pallet out of thin air.
Adam was bombarded by questions which he answered by telling them he was casting a spell of a sort. When he was done he looked at the MSgt and said, While it will take a little while for me to create food and water I can create one of these pallets about every 4 minutes. Now, I can create everything here and you can carry it all inside, or you can take me to the warehouse where you’re storing food, tell me what you need and what you’d like and I can get to work.”
“I understand Sir, please follow me. Airman Drascal, get a pallet jack and get that water into the building.”
“Airman Drascal, here you go,” Adam said as he created a pallet jack already in place under the pallet. “After you Master Seargent.”
The Master Seargent led Adam to a hangar that had been turned into a makeshift storage area that had guards all around it. Adam was led up to a woman with 1st Lieutenant bars on her uniform. Sir, this is Lieutenant Baker. She is in charge of food stores
“Who’s this,” The Lieutenant asked
Adam spoke up before the Master Sergeant could answer, “My name is Adam. I’m here to help with your food supplies.”
“How exactly are you going to help?”
“Are you familiar with Star Trek Replicators?”
“I have watched Star Trek, yes,” the Lieutenant said.
“Well, I can create any food items you might want out of practically nothing”
“Even if such technology existed, there’s no power,” she said.
“There is and I can?”
“Very well, if you can make anything I would like Sonic Butterfinger Blast.”
“It’s not going to last in this heat,” Adam said.
“I don’t want it to last. I want one and you did say anything,” she said with a smile that showed how much she disbelieved that he could do what he said he could do.
Adam held out his hand and created a Butterfinger Blast and then handed it to her with one of the spoons that Sonic always supplied.
“What, how?” The lieutenant asked, as she used the spoon to take a bite and checked to see if it was real.
“Technically, the drink was created by nanites. Though the nanites were created with Magic.” Adam explained.
Once Adam proved himself, Lieutenant Baker ate her drink while she gave Adam a list of what was needed immediately and other items that they would need soon. Adam listened and then went to work. For the rest of the day, Adam helped the Airmen stock the warehouse with food that could survive the climate without refrigeration. While it sucked to create things so slowly when he could just level his class and increase his chaos pool he wanted to test how skills leveled and this seemed like the perfect way. Adam wasn’t exactly sure what metric The SYSTEM used but by the next day, he’d increased his Mold Chaos Skill to the Rare Rank Level 2 which now allowed him to create 22 pounds of material for 1 Chaos Point. Or 220 pounds of nanites every 10 seconds. Another nice thing about leveling skills through use, it did not require Skill Points. Adam pulled up the information he’d purchased and now understood that as long as he purchased the skill at level 1 he could level it through use. If he purchased more levels though he would still have to earn the skill level through use before it would increase again, or purchase the next level.
So, after increasing Identify to level 10 he’d have to spend almost 2 full hours identifying monsters and people before he could increase it to Scarce rank level 1. That’s when he noticed that his skill points had increased from 231 to 232. The Skill Point he’d used to originally purchase Mold Chaos had been returned to his pool when he spent enough time using the skill to earn it normally.
So, he could use his skill points to purchase low-level skills and then after he earned the skills it would return those skill points to his pool so he could invest them in different skills. Adam had to admit that was an interesting way to utilize skill points. Did that mean his health regeneration would increase all on its own the more damage he took? Well, Shit. His damage resistance was so high now that he wouldn’t have to heal anything. He might have received skill experience for the damage he’d taken right outside the gate to hell but he’d healed that damage within a second which hadn’t given his regeneration any time to work. Shoot, if he’d let that regeneration heal all the damage he’d have been healing for at least 16 hours. That would have increased the skill into the Scare ranks easily.
Everyone around Adam was shocked from what they were doing when a new SYSTEM Message appeared in their vision.
SYSTEM MESSAGE:
Congratulations! Normally 1 year is allowed for the inhabitants of newly integrated worlds to acclimate to The SYSTEM before SYSTEM Denizens are allowed to visit and begin influencing a newly integrated world's progress. Your planet has been chosen as a test site for a new program to allow various factions throughout the SYSTEM to visit your world and influence its progress.
Travel Restrictions for Tier 1 individuals will be lifted in 1 hour.
If you would like to learn more about this SYSTEM Event please visit your SYSTEM Shop and purchase “Newly Integrated Safari’s, A Guide to Surviving and Thriving on Newly Integrated Worlds.”
A safari huh? If the Syndicate existed, Adam would put a bet down that this safari involved wagers on hunting humans and earning Trophies. Adam looked around at all the people who had gathered here and made a decision. Adam walked over to Lieutenant Baker.
“Lieutenant Baker,”
“Yes, Adam.”
“ I’ll be back shortly, I have something to do.”
Adam took a step and appeared at his residence on the mountain. He made his way to the lower levels where he started creating his Chaotic Nanites and had them begin expanding the base. He also created the infrastructure and equipment to create mana-shielded portal generators. If he hurried he should be able to open a portal back to the base and get as many people as he could into his underground base.