“Okay, John, come and try to enter through my portal, so I can give you my permission to enter.” Daniel Said.
John made his way forward and touched the sentence of the now formed portal. An instant later a prompt appeared asking Daniel if he wanted to allow John access to his training hall. He accepted the prompt then nodded to John, “Okay, you now have access to my training hall.” Daniel was about to walk through the portal to re-enter the hall when he heard Miranda call out behind him.
“Wait, can I also try to enter?”
Daniel paused and turned back, “I have no idea if it will work, but you can give it a shot. It won't hurt to give it a try.”
Miranda quickly strode forward and put her hand against the golden portal. After several seconds of waiting with no prompt appearing Daniel shook his head. “I didn't even get a prompt asking if you could enter.”
Miranda sighed and hung her head, “Well, that's a shame. I kind of expected it not to work, but I was still hopeful.”
Daniel patted her on the shoulder, “It's fine there is still a lot you can do out here to be helpful.” he said reassuringly. “Now we will buy you some of those books from the shop so you can start to read them over and make a guide for people.”
“Okay, that works for me. Though it has been a long day and I would like to get some sleep.”
“Sure.” Daniel pointed to a hallway behind where Miranda was standing. “Just walk down that hallway there and the first door on the right is the room you will be staying in. There is an attached bathroom as well that has a shower.”
“Thank you again Daniel for your hospitality.”
“It's not a problem.” Daniel replied. If I don't see you out here when I come back out with the book I will leave them on the dining room table for you.” With a final wave Daniel turned and entered through the portal. Steve and Kota had already gone through ahead of him, but John was staying back for a moment to have a private word with his daughter.
Daniel headed straight for the shop. When he entered the room Steve was already there tabbing through different menus. Daniel decided that it would be a better idea to ask Ulgatha about what kinds of books would be best for him to buy for Miranda’s plan.
Daniel began to physically transmit his thoughts to Ulgatha, “Ulgatha, what would be the best sources of information I could buy from the shop for people newly integrated into the system.”
“Why do you ask Daniel?”
“Well, the new hero Steve and I are working with brought his daughter with him. Her goal is to make a guide for the people of earth about the system. She hopes by spreading this information to the people of my world before the integration could save many people's lives.”
“A noble goal for sure. However, I am afraid this will be a more difficult challenge than it might seem at first glance.”
“Oh, why is that?”
“Well, for most people that have lived in the influence of the system for their entire lives. It is nearly impossible for them to picture a world that isn't influenced by the system. This way of thinking is also reflected in their writing when discussing the system. I am a victim of this type of thinking as well. It has only been through viewing your memories from a world entirely devoid of the system that I have been able to change my own perspective. To be on a world which has never known the touch of the system until now is quite a world shaking turn of events.” Ulgatha’s words had turned a little manic near the end of her short speech. Seeming to realize what she had done she coughed lightly. “Sorry, it appears that I went a little off topic.” Ulgatha paused and restructured her thoughts before she continued. “Because of this way of thinking everything they write comes from the perspective of the reader having some basic understanding of the system which is where this girl you mentioned will have some problems. It is one thing to write about the system and how it works when you are a part of the system. It's an entirely different thing to write about the system when you don't have access to it. The vast majority of the books she read will have been written by authors that have lived in the system for their entire lives. These books will talk about the system in a way that assumes the reader also has it. This is why the task she has given to herself will be such a hard one.”
“Well, just because what she is doing is hard doesn't mean that I won’t atleast try and help her.” Daniel felt indignant that Ulgatha would even suggest not helping Miranda.
“And I am not saying that you shouldn't help her, I am just trying to give you an understanding of what sort of challenges she will be facing in the future.” Ulgatha said placatingly.
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“That's good to hear. So with everything you have just told me, what can we do to help Miranda?”
“Well, I can recommend a couple of books you could purchase from the shop to get her started. They would be the most basic of basic books about the system that would normally be meant for children.”
“Okay, that sounds good, what else?”
Ulgatha hesitated for a moment before responding to Daniel's question. “I have a lot of books stored in my mind that could be of use to her, but there isn't a viable way at the moment that I could give them to her.”
Ulgatha paused again, and Daniel sensed that she was debating whether or not she should tell him something. He decided to remain silent to let her think the problem over and let her come to a decision on what to do on her own. Eventually Ulgatha did speak, but her words were hesitant and sounded unsure in his mind.
“There is also another option… Once I have made some of my daughters you could theoretically give one of them to her. It would theoretically let me transfer information directly to her mind through the link with my daughter. The main problem with doing that however would be I have no idea what might happen if you give someone without the system one of my children. Everything could be fine or it could shatter her mind. Even with all of my vast stores of information I gained from my mother I have no record of something exactly like this ever being done to someone without the system. Similar things have been tried before by various heroes like you with very mixed results, but to my knowledge someone has never tried what I am suggesting before. It should work, but only in theory.”
“I would be willing to give Miranda the option, but only once we are ready. How long would it be until you have made enough of your daughters that I could start giving them to others?”
“At least a few weeks. I need to make sure that any of my children that I plan to give to others have at least some basic level of training.”
“That sounds like a plan to me. Now what were the books you said I should buy for Miranda?”
A couple of minutes later Daniel emerged back through the portal with Steve and emerged back into his house's living room. Each of them carried a handful of books each. When they emerged John and Miranda were still talking, but their arrival cut their conversation slightly short.
Steve was the one to speak first. “Miranda, we have brought you some books. I purchased you some history books, and Daniel has some books meant for children about the basics of the system.”
“Oh, children's books. How did you know that they were my favorite?” Miranda said with a smile.
“Ha ha.” Daniel replied dryly. “I’ll have you know that I buy only the best children's books.”
“Is that so? Well I'll remember that for the future. In all seriousness though, why did you buy me books meant for children?”
Daniel then spent the next several minutes telling the rest of the group about what Ulgatha had told him. The only thing he left out was the possibility of giving Miranda one of Ulgatha’s Children. Daniel told the group more of what Ulgatha had told him to the group while they were in the shop purchasing the books for Miranda, but it had not had the time to explain everything to them. After his explanation he spent several minutes answering various questions from the other. Any questions he didn't know the answer to he would ask Ulgatha then relay the answer to them.”
“So,” John said slowly, “what you are basically telling us is that people who have lived with the system their entire life are unable to picture a world that is not influenced by the system. This in turn causes them to write about the system as if the reader should already have some basic understanding on how the system works.. Did I sum that up about right?”
“Exactly so.” Daniel said, nodding. “Also people with access to the system have an innate basic understanding of how the system works and how to use it when they gain the system. This means that people don't need to be taught the basics on how to use and operate the system. So, books on the system are more focused on further education about the system rather than basic information that anyone with the system would know.”
“That's fine.” Miranda said, “Now that I know what to expect I can work around the problem. Just because my mission will be harder doesn't mean that it's impossible.”
“That's my girl! I will offer you as much help as I can, and I am sure Daniel and Steve will as well.”
“Of course. I already told you that I intend to use my wealth to help humanity. The guide you intend to make could save tens of thousands of lives.” Steve said.
Daniel didn't feel the need to say anything. He had already poured his heart out to these people he had only recently met, so he just gave Miranda a solemn nod to show his support.
“John, I don't know if you need to talk to Miranda a bit more, but Daniel and I will be returning to the Training Hall. We have a lot of work and training to get done. Once you join us I will catch you up to speed on everything you need to know about the training hall.”
“That sounds good to me. Miranda and I finished our conversation just as you gentlemen exited the portal, so I'll follow you inside, so you can tell me everything I need to know.” John gave Miranda one last hug before he turned away and followed them to the portal.
As John walked away Miranda who had remained in place after their hug called out. “Take care of yourself dad and stay safe.”
John was the last to enter the portal, and before he did he turned back and looked at his daughter. “I will, my little firecracker.” John turned and began to walk through the portal. Just before he completely crossed though he heard Miranda call out one more time.
“I told you to stop calling me that!”
John just laughed as he stepped onto what could be described as a different world for the very first time, but it definitely wouldn't be the last.