I was the last one to step through the door, and as I did so, I heard a message in my head. “Dave Imogen, registered, starting level error, starting level, negative ten, standard six orbs have been deposited on your person.” When the voice stopped, I felt a new weight in my pocket, and the room around me came into view. I was standing behind the brothers in front of a large wooden reference desk. Behind it sat what I assumed were the librarians. Initially, I thought they were both humans, but then I spotted the extra set of eyes on the sides of their heads. My brain snapped me back to the message I had heard: levels? Like in a game? And why, or for that matter, how was I at a negative number? Usually, that only happens in poorly programmed games with underflow issues. It wasn’t really my expertise, but I had played a lot of older games where that happened.

“Welcome to the Archives of Gortrin. Will you be staying with us long?” one of the librarians behind the desk asked the brothers, pulling me out of my thoughts and back to reality.

“Likely a few years. We’re newly registered, and this was our training world of choice,” Elicec answered.

“Oh, that’s so interesting. We rarely get anyone coming to us as a training world anymore mostly, they prefer the ones full of monsters, but we are fully equipped as one. There’s a terminal in your bedroom that’ll give you your full system access, and of course, the archive is available at all hours for your convenience. If you have any questions, the reference desk is always available to help. Here are your library cards. I hope you both enjoy your time with us,” she said as she pushed two laminated cards across the desk to the brothers. One of them grabbed them both and stuffed them into their pockets.

I stepped up to the desk as they stepped to the side. “Hi, I’m Dave. It's the same story as those two for the most part,” I said, hoping to skip any repetitive information.

“Oh, good. Assuming you heard everything, I’ll just give you your card and let you head off with your friends. It was nice meeting you all,” she said as she passed another laminated card to me.

“So, gentlemen, what’s next?” I asked, still not really sure what I was supposed to be doing here besides seeing how much of the archive I could read per year.

“Use your library card at the elevator over there. It’ll take you to your room. Then, you can look at the terminal and see if there are any system quests available for you. We’re going to do the same. After that, you’re welcome to join us for a meal. I’m starving,” Cecile said. The invitation sounded nice. I hadn’t even gotten to finish my breakfast and could use something to eat.

“That sounds good. I’ll give that a try and then see if I can find the dining hall,” I said. My stomach decided that was the perfect moment to rumble loudly. I gave them an awkward half-smile and walked over to the elevator. I inserted my library card into the slot marked to do so. It beeped, and the words changed from insert library card here, to please remove the card. There was no screen, as far as I could tell. The words looked painted on. There was a lot I needed to learn.

The doors opened in front of me and closed again behind me once I stepped inside. I felt a small moment of acceleration, then stopping, and the doors opened again, revealing a completely different room. I had only been inside for a few seconds. The speed at which it must have moved was impressive. I stepped off and surveyed my new room. There was a bed, a desk, and what looked like a computer sitting on the desk. There were two other doors at the back of the room. I checked both and found a large closet and a bathroom.

I guessed that meant the computer was the terminal the librarian and the brothers had been referring to. The problem was I didn’t see anything that resembled a keyboard or a mouse, much less a power button on the tower or monitor. I pulled up the chair and sat down to take a closer look at the side; maybe I was missing something. As soon as I relaxed in the seat, an interface popped into view.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Welcome Dave Imogen to the Master Arena Control System version two million point seven, stable version. What can I do for you today?” I heard the voice in my head, the same as when I had stepped through the door.

“Uh, what questions can you answer?” I asked, once again not knowing what questions I should be asking. I hated unknown unknowns.

“I will attempt to answer anything you ask, though I may fail to do so,” the system replied.

“Okay, then, let’s start with something simple enough. What are levels?” I had a feeling I partially knew the answer already, but I wanted to hear it from a native of whatever this was; I wanted certainty.

“Levels are a derived categorical system to help push all beings to further heights. They are defined by how much experience a person gained in a certain proximity from a mana-rich environment,” it explained. Was that why I was negative? The lack of mana in my world? Wouldn’t that just be a zero?

“Then why am I at level negative ten?” I asked it.

“Error, Error, Error,” It responded. Great, so that was an answer it wasn’t capable of giving me.

“Okay, what happens when you gain a level?” I asked.

“You gain a subset of points that you can allocate to boost certain aspects of yourself. By applying these, you can transcend the normal limits of your form,” it answered. Now, that was interesting. So this did work something like a video game.

“Are you able to tell me my starting stats?” I asked, expecting more errors.

“Base human, with the origin of U-1.9392912^10e37 Earth-107I2T112, error,” it had managed to get further this time before the error, at least.

“Alright, how about quests? Are there any of those?” I asked, annoyed that the level topic was getting me nowhere.

“One quest available. Read Karlinovo’s Guide to Core Creation. Would you like further details?” The voice asked.

“Yes,” I answered enthusiastically, glad to finally be getting somewhere.

“Track down the works of Polliosh Karlinovo, read the first, understand it, and read it again. Successful completion will unlock further quests in this chain. The reward for this quest is a better sense of inner self. Complete further quests in this chain to unlock more rewards and potential completion bonuses,” the system explained.

That quest didn’t seem all that great. Was it just an abstract for something else? “What are the usual types of quest rewards?” I asked.

“The range of potential quest rewards is too great for an answer beyond that anything is possible, depending on the quest itself.” Great, it was another vague answer.

“What about completion bonuses? What are those? How do they differ from rewards?” I imagined they had something to do with completing multiple quests.

“Completion bonuses come from completing entire quest chains. These are usually something related to the quest in some way,” it answered. At least this time, the information actually answered the question.

“Is there anything you think I should know?” I wasn’t sure what to ask next, so I figured I’d give a generic question a shot. I wasn’t hoping for much.

“The food in the dining hall is quite good. It is important to share meals with friends and discuss your starting quests.” That was not remotely the answer I expected. I felt like it was trying to give me a hint at what to do next, though. Okay, maybe more than a hint. That was closer to beating me over the head with an order than it was a hint.

I opened my closet again, this time to look closer at the clothing in it. It looked to all be made for a human, and better yet, in my size. I changed out of my bloodied and torn clothing, then went in search of the dining room. Who was I to question a computer telling me to discuss quests over dinner?