Adam looked around quickly, noting that he was still on the empty plain of white-packed dirt, and returned to reviewing his Notifications. His choice of Polymath for his Epic Class has opened up another class for him to review.
Class: Reality Editor
A Reality Editor can alter or modify the fundamental building blocks of, well, everything. To qualify for this class, you must have at least a Master level in the following skills:
Adam glanced at the prerequisite skill list and whistled. It was incredibly long. Also, there were skills listed that he hadn’t ever heard of. Polymath must have circumvented that requirement, Nice!
Adam skipped the skill list and went back to reviewing the class.
As a Reality Editor, it is by your will that various dimensional “rules” may be adjusted.
Rarity: Mythic (Prerequisite: See Above)
Attributes Per Level: 40
Bonus Attributes +1 to Willpower per level. +1 to Wisdom per five Levels
Hit Points per Level: 20
Mana per level: 10
Psychic Energy per level: 10
Chaos: 100 per Level
Skills Points per level: 7
Spell Points per level: 1
Psionic Slots per Level: 1
Advantages
Reality Editors gain the ability to affect the Environment and everything within the Environment, including creatures.
Disadvantages
Reality Editor is a Restricted Class and highly monitored by both the SYSTEM and those who oversee The SYSTEM.
Class Skill
Shape Reality – Shape reality allows you to modify or force anything with range to conform to, or ignore SYSTEM settings. Non-sentient adjustments are made with mana. Adjustments, both beneficial and detrimental, are made to sentient creatures by permanently sacrificing the attribute or resource you wish to adjust.
Cost to Cast:
- Modifications to Environment: Mana
- Modifications to Non-Sentient Creatures: Mana
- Modifications to Sentient Creatures: Equivalent attribute from self permanently.
Note: All costs may be substituted by Order or Chaos at the following Conversion Rate: Order: 1 to 1 / Chaos: 2 to 1
Adam looked over the class and realized that it was perfect for him. Especially since it would allow him to affect others, it looked like it did have a serious disadvantage in that anything that he did to people could permanently reduce his attributes. Of course, he could spend Chaos instead and he had a lot of Chaos to spend. He had a feeling his luck attribute had come into play and made this class available to him.
Adam accepted the class Reality Editor as his Mythical class and pondered all the things he could do with his new class. While he did so a few new notifications appeared. Adam glanced at them and knew that his luck had come into play with the new Legendary class that had appeared.
Class: Creator
A Creator takes from Entropy and continues the Cycle. You are granted the responsibility and Privilege of bringing new realities and dimensions into being.
Rarity: Legendary (Prerequisite: Must have Mythic Class: Reality Editor and Attributes over 100,000 each. Additionally, you must have at least 100,000 in either Order or Chaos.)
Attributes Per Level: 50
Bonus Attributes +1 to Willpower and Intelligence per level
Hit Points per Level: 25
Mana per level: 10
Psychic Energy per level: 10
Chaos: 10 per level
Skills Points per level: 8
Spell Points per level: 1
Psionic Slots per Level: 1
Advantages
Creators gain access to the Forge of Creation found in the Heart of Entropy.
Disadvantages
Access to the Forge of Creation is the only advantage this class provides. There are no Class Skills associated with this class.
The description didn’t exactly tell Adam how to create realities and dimensions but it looked like this class would give him access to something he hadn’t even known existed. Adam accepted the Class and then opened his Status Screen to distribute all of the attributes he’d just received. While it wouldn’t make much difference because his attributes were all over 8.00E+46. With his efficiency bonuses his attributes broke 1.50E+47. Even so, he still took the time to distribute all of his bonus attributes. One never knew when a single point would make the difference after all.
One change he noted, that was significant, or would be if his attributes were much lower, all of his resource pools; Stamina, Mana, and Psychic Energy had increased to 51 per second as the skill associated with that resource’s regeneration was increased to Epic Level 1. His spells and psychic skills hadn’t leveled, but every skill had, whether it was a normal skill or a class skill. Polymath was proving to be one of those classes that everyone would wish they had.
Adam felt that he was being watched. He pulled his attention from his Status Screen and looked over to see Celeste looking at him. Adam smiled and asked, “What can I do for you, Celeste?”
“It is what I can do for you, Adam. I see you chose Polymath, Reality Editor, and Creator as your next three classes. Were you given the option to ascend yet?”
“No, should I have been?” Adam asked.
“Actually, no. But we’ll get into that in a minute. After Reaching Tier 5 level 100, or your Legendary Class how much experience did you have left over?”
Adam pulled the information from his Status Screen. Currently, he had 1.73E+18 XP which was 99.9% of the Experience he’d earned. It had only cost just over 56 billion XP to earn level 100 in his Rare, Master, Epic, Mythic, and Legendary Class. It would have taken him longer if his abilities and skills didn’t make him the SYSTEM breaker he was. Others would take years, decades, and even millennia to reach the level he had. Still, that was a lot of XP left over.
Celeste saw the surprise in his eyes, “As you can see you have a lot of XP More than anyone has had during this iteration…”
Adam raised his hand which caused Celeste to pause, “That’s the second time I’ve seen or heard that word recently, what do you mean by an iteration?”
“Iterations are full resets as far as we are concerned. It is when Entropy has succeeded. What sprouts from that will be the next iteration,” Celeste explained.
“You said we?” Adam pointed out.
“I did, we are those who have surpassed the limitation placed upon us who try to stave off entropy.”
“Wait,” Adam said as his mind began taking the various truths he’d found out along the way and began putting all the pieces together like the threads of a giant tapestry. Some of the correlating information came from fictional stories that he’d read which seemed to correlate with what he’d learned. A lot of the information came from the various things he’d learned about The SYSTEM and the Domains it was creating since he came into the real world. When he was ready he continued, “So, The SYSTEM is creating realities, alternate dimensions, and the like as a method to continue growing because once a growth cycle ends decay sets in. That’s pretty much a fundamental rule of all systems.”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“An astute observation,” Celeste agreed.
So, who are the ‘we’ in your statement?” Adam asked.
“The SYSTEM isn’t creating those realities and dimensions, we are. The SYSTEM is a control mechanism that maintains those universes and dimensions it expands into. It does not expand into all Universes or Dimensions, nor is there only one SYSTEM. Let me show you,” Celeste said as she made a lifting motion with her hand that caused a portal to extend up out of the ground.
Through the portal, Adam could see what looked like a city street of some sort with plenty of people of all races walking or flying around. No matter the race though, everyone was between four and six feet tall and roughly humanoid shape. Those who were flying were doing so with wings or without. One thing Adam noticed immediately, his Sense Chaos skill did not extend through the portal Celeste had opened. Adam considered what to do for a moment and then asked, “Where does the portal lead?”
“Entropy,” Celeste said with a smile as she stepped through the portal and motioned for him to follow her.
Adam stepped through the portal and found himself standing on a sidewalk looking down at a road that had only pedestrians on it. Also, Sense Chaos still didn’t work. As Celeste turned to look at Adam he asked, “Celeste, My skill isn’t working here?”
“And it won’t. There is a spell that will allow you to open portals out of, or into, Entropy but all other supernatural skills and spells are suppressed here. Abilities work as normal of course. There are some with the ability to utilize all of their abilities and skills though.”
“How are we being suppressed?” Adam asked.
“Doesn’t matter, all you need to know is that here, everyone is effectively equal and violence is not tolerated here, observe.
Adam watched as a large humanoid-looking man with liquid metal skin walked out of a set of doors that opened automatically for him while he carried a humanoid creature that looked like some sort of fox complete with a bushy red tail, a surcoat, and a sword cane which he is repeatedly striking the metal humanoid with.
“I was having just a little fun. Unhand me now or I will stab thee!” the Foxman yelled.
“The humanoid just grinned and waved the hand that wasn’t holding the Foxman. A portal rose from the ground as the metal man set the fox on his feet, “Fel’lix your rights to Entropy have been rescinded for one standard year, as perceived by you. Your choices are now to open your portal and exit on your own, or the Warden will eject you through the portal I have opened. Word of warning, while there is water on the other side of that portal, it is a long way down.”
“The War-den?” Mr. Fel’lix stammered. “If it’s all the same to you, I would like to leave on my own terms.”
The man made of living metal nodded and stepped back. Mr. Fel’lix opened a portal and stepped through. A moment later both portals closed. The Metal man turned to look at Celeste, “Mrs. Celeste, I didn’t know you were back.”
Celeste smiled, “Just showing a newbie around. Everything going okay for you?”
The metal man nodded, “This was the most excitement we’ve had in a good long while. He accused someone of cheating, that person called him a liar and he drew his cane and struck him. You know the rules.”
“I do indeed. A whole year for that though?” Celeste asked questioningly.
“The Warden set the terms. I think they were so steep because he continued to strike me after he was asked to leave. Originally, it would have only been for a week.”
A portal with a gold outline rises out of the ground which drew all three of their attention.
“Looks like the Warden wants to see the two of you,” The metal man notes.
“Does seem that way,” Celeste agreed as she motioned for Adam to step through the new portal.
Adam walked through the new portal into a normal-looking office with a relatively normal-looking human in casual clothing sitting behind a desk.
“Please have a seat,” The Warden said with a smile as two chairs appeared behind Celeste and Adam. Celeste sat down followed quickly by Adam. When they were comfortable the Warden waved his hand and information for a new portal spell flooded Adam’s mind. As it wasn’t much different from his portal spells and abilities he didn’t receive a notification, other than the informational message that he’d learned it.
“Welcome to Entropy. That is the Portal spell that will give you access to Entropy. No matter which domain you are in it will open onto the street close to where you entered with Celeste. If activated from within Entropy it will open to the place you opened your portal to Entropy at the exact moment you left no matter how long you’ve been in Entropy.”
“Can I ask a question?” Adam asked.
“Of course,” The Warden said.
“Why does the portal work that way?”
“Entropy is outside of time as measured by the various SYSTEMS and beings that are governing the various Domains outside of Entropy.”
“Outside of time? Are we within a spec of Nothing or something?” Adam asked.
“Something like that, but not quite,” The Warden said with a smile. “That guess is very close to the truth though.
“If I activate my portal where does it open to since I didn’t enter Entropy from my portal?” Adam asked.
Celeste moved drawing attention to herself, “If you are brought to Entropy by a guest and have your portal You will be transported back to the domain you came from unless the Warden, a Reality Editor, or a Creator alter that destination for you.”
“Wait, I have two of those classes,” Adam said.
“You do,” The Warden agreed. “I have set your portal to return you to the Domain that contains your underground city near Alamogordo where the Xeli Corporation conducted their hunt that led to the events that brought you here. If you want to go torment the Xeli Corporation, I’m sure you can find your way there on your own. But I think you’ll want to return to your domain on that Earth first. Besides after your gift of knowledge, things are a bit tumultuous for the Xeli Corporation right now.”
“Thank you, Warden,” Adam said.
“It was nothing. Besides, I think you’ll need some time to figure out your new classes and the perks that come with them,” The Warden offers with a slight smile.
“I do have another question if I may ask?”
“By all means, Adam.”
Adam paused for a moment as he gathered his thoughts and then asked, “From the description of my class, it seems that I need to be here in Entropy to take advantage of my class, yet I was able to create a Domain for the Primus without being here. Was that due to my intrinsic nature?”
“It would seem that you have already figured some things out. I will let you discover what the other benefits of using the Forge of Creation are in addition to automatically linking the domain you create with the SYSTEM or entity of your choice,” The Warden explained.
“I see, and everyone here in Entropy has this ability?”
“Heavens No! Are you crazy? Entropy is a city like no other but, not everyone here is the same. Entropy is the end, well…at least the end of this iteration. How long we will remain here is completely dependent on what happens everywhere else,” The Warden said and then paused before he continued, “I’m sure you have a lot of questions but truthfully nothing I can say to you will help. Besides, my truth may not be the same as your Truth. If you discover what Entropy is and what comes after come back and we will talk.”
Adam had some idea of what the Warden meant so he nodded and followed Celeste through a portal that Warden created for them. When the portal closed Adam asked, “Where to now?”
“Now I show you the Forge of Creation, “Celeste said as a disc of energy appeared under their feet and they were both lifted into the sky. A bubble formed around both of them, the world blurred for a moment and Adam found himself in front of a platform with two guards that resembled the Marilith demons of fantasy. One was male, the other female. Each guard had Six arms with a weapon in each. While their upper bodies were humanoid their lower bodies morphed into that of a large snake. While they looked somewhat demonic they smiled when they saw Celeste and bowed slightly.
“Celeste, what brings you to the Forge of Creation?” The guard on the right asked.
“I am showing a new Creator around,”
“Truly, you’re just showing him around without…”
“Adam here is as safe here as he would be anywhere in Entropy. We both know that your position as a Guard to the Forge is a cakewalk. You have your abilities, skills, and spells while those who do not have the authority to enter the building behind you would not have the ability to turn on their abilities and skills, would they?”
“True, but you never know who is watching,” the female guard said.
“Adam will be fine, I’m sure,” Celeste said as she turned to Adam, “Adam, this is Serro. The other guard is Talis. They are the guardians of the Forge.
“Welcome to the Forge of Creation Adam,” Serro said while Talis continued to watch over the surrounding area.
“Thank you,” Adam said.
Celeste led the way through the double doors that opened into another place. Adam was sure they’d just stepped through a portal as he looked around. The door was still there but nothing else was outside of the ring of darkness he saw before him. The best way to describe what Adam was looking at would be to say that it looked like a singularity with an accretion disc. Along the circumference of the accretion disc, there were node spheres. A majority were unoccupied but a few beings had their hand on one of the various nodes situated around the accretion disc. Each being sat or stood unmoving.
“As you have guessed we are in a different dimension now. You may move around this room by thought alone. To interact with the Forge of Creation just will yourself to an empty Node and touch it. A word of warning, the Guards outside are merely for show. If you do not have the experience or ability to handle large amounts of information at once and you touch one of the Nodes in this room…Let’s just say that you are a fuse and the energies that course through you will be equivalent to that generated by a Type III civilization on the Kardashev scale, actually Type IV or V if the scale went that high. If you can’t handle those energies you’ll blow like a fuse,” Celeste said.
“Sounds interesting,” Adam said as he looked around. “Anything else I need to know?”
“Not that I can tell you. You must experience it for yourself,” Celeste said with a smile.
Adam willed himself to one of the nodes, landed next to it, and reached out. He was expecting a flood of information, instead a single message appeared with a directory that was quite long.
Welcome to the Force of Creation Creator
Adam looked through the various choices and lists of things he could do and then activated Shape Reality from his Reality Editor Class and willed himself to be able to utilize Technomancy
Creator Override detected.
Shape Reality use allowed.
Cost: 2,000 Chaos.
Technomancy has been unlocked.
Those four notifications unlocked something that Adam had been wondering for a bit. How had someone stopped him from doing anything when he was so far outside the power level maintained by the SYSTEM? The answer was simplicity itself. Because they could alter the reality of his abilities as it affected the outside world. Now his classes allowed him to circumvent reality as well. With a thought, he unlocked the rest of his abilities and his full attributes bonuses became available again. It was a tad expensive at more than 200 billion chaos but well worth the cost.
Adam activated Technomancy and made his second discovery. While Entropy was outside of Time or The SYSTEM Entropy contained its own SYSTEM which was a descendant of the current SYSTEM. As he connected with the SYSTEM the intelligence within, which was orders of magnitude greater than his own noted his presence and shared the SYSTEM Map that was available to it.
Entropy was identified in the center of his field of view which then zoomed away until Adam could see quadrants of SYSTEM Domains, much like a map of Federation Space detailing the areas controlled by the Romulans, Klingons, Gorn, and other races. This representation was detailed as a two-dimensional image at first. When it shifted to three dimensions, Entropy dropped out of the map and was represented a long way away from the SYSTEM-controlled space which was now enveloped within a sphere. The second sphere surrounded the SYSTEM-Controlled space and Entropy which was left at the center. That left a lot of empty space within that second sphere. Adam estimated that all the SYSTEMS that the Forge was showing him only filled up maybe 21% of the sphere.
That didn’t have him concerned, however. What had him concerned was the fact that at the edges of this second sphere, the image was shimmering. Some of the shimmering areas intersected SYSTEM-controlled domains. Adam adjusted the image as he tried to zoom in on the shimmering effect but nothing changed.
Adam withdrew his hand from the node and returned to Celeste, “Celeste, what is that?” Adam asked as he created a holographic image of the map he’d seen and displayed it for her to see, Adam pointed to the shimmering effect on the edge of the sphere.
Celeste raised an eyebrow at his casual use of a skill or ability but did not comment on it. Instead, she answered the question he asked, “That didn’t take very long,” Celeste said wonderingly. “That is a representation of the end.”
“The end of what?” Adam asked. He had an idea but he wanted to make sure.
“The Sphere you’re looking at has reduced in size by 1% over the last 1,000 Earth years. Those of us who have been here for a long time believe that is a representation of this iteration coming to an end.
“What does that look like in those domains?” Adam asked.
“Within those Domains, universes and dimensions that are infected vanish.”
“Time Travel?”
“While those Universes can be recreated the original universe and all sentients within are gone forever. We have even lost a few of the Eternals, a phrase we use to describe those that have made it to Entropy.
“Lost as in they don’t come back?” Adam said.
“Yes, nor could we reincarnate or resurrect them elsewhere. Additionally, trying to use time travel to go back to a time before the collapse fails.”
“Are you saying this is a worthless battle?” Adam asked.
“No, we just wanted you to know the stakes. The Creators are trying to create areas for those in the infected areas. It’s a stop-gap measure and it won’t last,” Celeste said.
“Then what would you like me to do?”
“We want you to leave here with an understanding that there is a larger battle looming. Here in Entropy, the end is already known, Everything will end. We are working very hard to find a way to overcome that end. We could use your help.
“I’ll do what I can. I’ll need to get stronger than I am now,” Adam said.
“That is all we can ask for. Would you like to look around some more or would you like to head back?” Celeste asked.
“I think I’m going to head back,” Adam said as he walked out of the door passed Serro and Talis and walked down to the Street.
“A final word of warning before you leave,”
Adam paused, “Yes?”
“While no time will pass when you visit Entropy back in the Domain you visit from because you are returned to the exact moment you left. Time will still pass here while you are home and there is a temporal differential between here and most other domains. One second in the domain you are returning to equals about one second here but that will not always be the case,” Celeste paused and looked thoughtful for a moment before she continued, “If there’s not anything else I’m going to get back to my primary duties.”
“No thank you,” Adam said as he activated his new Portal Skill, and a portal opened for him. He stepped into his room in Alamogordo when he remembered that he hadn’t turned Sense Chaos back on when he’d unlocked all of his skills in Entropy. That was probably for the best for now. Maybe next time.
Adam activated Sense Chaos and took in everything within his immediate sensory range which was 186,300 miles. Everything he’d done on the planet seemed to be holding steady. There were survivors everywhere and they still had access to the food and water he’d left. As his senses ranged into orbit he was surprised to discover thousands of ships of all types and sizes in orbit near Earth and the Moon. It looked like his document had made an impact after all.