Chapter -2147483648 (The beginning?)
A woman was lying face down in a dry river bed. To any observer with the proper acuity of vision, she appeared to be in the prime of her life -- 185 cm in height, around 105 kg, athletic and just the right amount of padding in the places where one might prefer that kind of thing. She had dark, medium length wavy hair, a complete lack of any sort of tanline.
She was also completely stark naked.
Additionally, there were no footprints leading to her location from any direction.
The woman rolled over onto her back and slowly opened her eyes. She looked down at herself.
“Well, those are new”
She sat up.
“Huh. That is definitely new.”
Then, she closed her eyes, rolled over, reached up, and grabbed her head at the temples. She had a massive headache.
“OK, what in the actual fuck is going on, and why the fuck am I naked? Also how the hell am I a D-cup now?”
She couldn’t remember going out drinking after work the night before. She couldn’t, in fact, remember much at all about the previous day, but she was pretty sure she had been wearing pants through most of it.
“I’m asleep. This is a dream. That’s the only explanation for any of this. Wait, fuck, weird shit just makes sense in dreams.”
She wasn’t sure how she could have gotten out here. There were no tracks suggesting someone had driven her out to the desert and dumped her. There wasn’t even a desert anywhere within a day’s drive from her home in Michigan.
One thing she was sure about, however, was that she hadn’t had a translucent box full of text obscuring the corner of her vision prior to waking up.
> [System Integration initialising]
>
> [Name: unknown]
>
> [Race: unknown]
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> [Age: unknown]
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> [System Integration Error]
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> [System failed to complete integration due to insufficient permissions]
>
> [User confirmation required to continue]
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> [The System requires process elevation in order to install necessary system files]
>
> [Does the user accept full system integration?]
>
> [Y/N? _ ]
“OK, I’m insane. What the actual fuck is going on.”
She was completely perplexed.
“I need help. This is absurd.”
> [Accessed help file: System Integration]
>
> [Standard System integration occurs during transition from Samsara into reincarnation. During this process, the user’s soul is in a malleable state, allowing installation and initial baseline configuration.]
>
> [When the user arrives in Pallos without being processed through Samsara, System integration requires permission elevation in order to receive sufficient level of access to complete.]
>
> [Does the user accept full system integration?]
>
> [Y/N? _ ]
Apart from the wall of text, the window itself reminded the woman of the old video games she had played with her dad as a kid. He had collected a ton of early RPGs back during the second video game boom. The Phantasy Star series in particular had been one of their favorites. Could this be something like that?
“Is this thing seriously asking me for permission to install a RAT in my soul? ”
At her day job, she worked for a cybersecurity consulting firm as a Red Team remote infiltration specialist. As a side gig, she spent one night a week working on bug bounties, and had paid off her college loans in just 5 years. She was good, and definitely knew her way around privilege escalation.
The easiest method had always been simply calling people and asking them to give you their passwords. This felt very similar to that.
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“Fine, fuck it,” she thought, “this day couldn’t get any worse.” She then spoke aloud, “I accept.”
Somehow, her headache got worse, and also started hurting everywhere else. She let out a whimper.
“This must be what being 40 feels like,” she thought to herself.
After a moment, the pain ended and took the headache she had with it.
> [*ding!*]
>
> [Welcome to Pallos!]
>
> [System integration complete]
>
> [As compensation for System integration error, your starting class quality has upgraded]
>
> [*ding! Congratulations! You’ve earned your first class -- [New Arrival] - Metal]
>
> [New Arrival] -- A starter class for an [UNKNOWN] from Somewhere? +5 free stat points per level.
>
> [Name: Unknown]
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> [Race: Outsider (Humanoid)]
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> [Age: 0]
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> [Free Stats: 8]
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> [Strength: 16]
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> [Dexterity: 16]
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> [Vitality: 24]
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> [Speed: 24]
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> [Mana: 8]
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> [Mana Regeneration: 8]
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> [Magic Power: 8]
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> [Magic Control: 8]
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> [Class 1: New Arrival - Metal: Lv0]
>
> [Class 2: Locked]
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> [Class 3: Locked]
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> [Please provide user’s name: _ ]
“Uh, oh, I guess I should have thought about that years ago. Let’s go with Ada.”
> [Welcome user, Ada!]
>
> [User learning mode enabled]
>
> [Please perform actions so that the System can learn about you and construct an appropriate class advancement]
While interesting, Ada was still in the middle of nowhere, sitting in some dark sand in a dry riverbed. She was also starting to get hungry.
“OK, Ada, remember your boy scout training. First thing we need is some shade from the sun. Second thing is water. Then, we follow water downhill until we find civilization. After that, we stop talking to ourselves in the third person plural so that the people we meet don’t think we’re a crazy person. Yes, me, that is a great idea.”
She saw nothing but arid scrubland in front of her. She stood, turned around, and looked the other way. There was likewise naught but scrubland the other way. She shielded her eyes and squinted -- she could barely make out a faint line of what could be smoke trailing up into the sky in the distance.
“Well, that’s as good a direction as any. Where there’s smoke, there’s usually people, with food... and pants.”
> [*ding!* You have unlocked the General Skill [Pathfinding]!]
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> [*ding!* You have unlocked the General skill [Observe]!]
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> [*ding!* You have unlocked the Passive General skill [Basic Survival]!]
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> [*ding!* You have unlocked the Passive General skill [Resist Environmental Condition]!]
“Ah, hell, it really is going to behave like some kind of game system.”
> [*ding!* You have unlocked the Passive General skill [Cynicism]!]
“And it’s snarky, too. Wonderful.”
Ada started walking in the direction where she had seen the smoke.
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> [*ding!* You have unlocked the General skill [Walking]!]
>
> [*ding!* You have unlocked the General skill [Daydreaming]!]
Several hours later, a rather parched and slightly sunburnt Ada saw what could only be farmland. It was definitely a field of wheat. Even an urban girl like her had seen enough farms despite living in a small city in Michigan. Childhood cross-country road trips with her family had seen to that. The smoke she observed when setting out this direction was coming from a small farmhouse finally visible in the distance.
“Well, this solves the finding civilization problem. But now I have to not get murdered instantly or worse when the random lost naked woman stumbles out of the wilderness.”
> [*ding!* You have unlocked the Passive General skill [Vigilant]!]
>
> [*ding!* Congratulations! [New Arrival] has leveled up to level 1! +5 free stat points from your class, +13 free stat points for being outsider (humanoid), +1 Magic Power from your element]
>
> [*ding!* You have unlocked General skill slots]
>
> [You have 8 open General skill slots]
>
> [Available General skills:
>
> [Vigilant]
>
> [Daydreaming]
>
> [Walking]
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> [Cynicism]
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> [Resist Environmental Condition]
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> [Basic Survival]
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> [Observe]
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> [Pathfinding]
Ada had been wondering what she was supposed to do with the general skills she had unlocked, and finally had her answer. Eight skill slots, and eight available skills.
“OK, [System], how do I do this? Do I just think about the skills and the skill slots at the same time? It can’t be that easy.”
> [*ding!* Congratulations! You’ve learned [Walking] - Level 1!]
“Oh, I guess that is how this works.” Ada sighed, mildly disappointed that it really was that easy. She imagined the other skills dropping into the remaining skill slots.
> [*ding!* Congratulations! You’ve learned [Vigilant] - Level 1!]
>
> [*ding!* Congratulations! You’ve learned [Basic Survival] - Level 1!]
>
> [*ding!* Congratulations! You’ve learned [Daydreaming] - Level 1!]
>
> [*ding!* Congratulations! You’ve learned [Resist Environmental Condition] - Level 1!]
>
> [*ding!* Congratulations! You’ve learned [Observe] - Level 1!]
>
> [*ding!* Congratulations! You’ve learned [Pathfinding] - Level 1!]
>
> [*ding!* Congratulations! You’ve learned [Cynicism] - Level 1!]