003 Talking to the [[System]]

“OK, at least we now have some target for questions. System, why have we been abducted?”

[[processing request – tutorial messages currently not accessible – need for direct access confirmed – sending data entry directly]]

[[The Cores of the Endless World]]

[[The Area Cores and the Realm Cores are tools that control the structure of the Endless World. But a tool needs someone to use it, and because of this each core needs to house a soul or spirit that uses that tool to control the area or realm it is assigned to.]]

[[However due to the competition between the Powers and their Realms a regular spirit that was born under the System of the Endless World was found to have only limited chances of survival.]]

[[Most Powers have started to summon spirits from other worlds with less restrictive Systems, because those spirits might have formed or that cannot be formed here, increasing their chance of success]]

[[The farther distant a world is and the lesser its System has enforced its class restrictions, the greater the chance is for the soul to arrive here with an overpowering option]]

“OK, System, then someone really messed up – the Sunhawk was not a person but a starship, a Ranger-class scout corvette with a crew of twelve. And now half of that crew is here and we want to know how to get back home.”

[[Processing request…]]

[[Searching for History Log - History Log has been damaged and contains wrong references]]

[[Searching for Power – Power has been drained below conscious value, Essence at only 4%]]

[[Searching for previous System traces – no previous System identified]]

[[No fitting database responses found…]]

[[Initiating Shadowing]]

“Ow”

“What … is …”

“Why … Uurghh”

Every one of the six people in the core suddenly feel dizzy and get a headache. Perception seems to slow down and they begin to pass out, when the effect suddenly ends.

[[Database entries created or updated]]

[[Life without System]]

[[Contrary to long term beliefs it has now been proven possible for life without a System to exist, as long as the local inhabitants have no way to access Primordial Energy that could remove them from existence.]]

[[History of the Sunhawk]]

[[In a search for a less restricted soul, one of the Powers has found a world or a universe without a System to limit the access to Primordial Energy]]

[[In this strange world the Power mistook a Ranger-class ship named Sunhawk for a person with the class Ranger and initiated a soul extraction on the entire crew and the ship, trying to compress it into a single core]]

[[The Power was almost killed by the energy drain and created the unique result of a multi-souled Realm Core.]]

[[The multi-souled core required more structure spaces than usual and was pushed to level 3 instead of the level 2 that is usual for starting Ream Cores. This was no doubt an additional energy drain on the Power and contributed to its near destruction]]

[[request granted – sending requested data entry directly]]

[[Interdimensional Travel]]

[[Interdimensional travels are only possible by energy – either as one of the Powers or as a Spirit or Soul not attached to a body.]]

[[Because a Spirit can only survive a limited time without a body or an anchor, such an anchor or an empty body has to be available at the destination or the interdimensional traveler will cease to exist]]

[[If one of the Powers wants to summon a spirit from beyond, they need to have prepared a body or a core for it before they start their search, or the spirit will disintegrate within minutes of arrival.]]

Hearing that message, everyone starts talking at once, until the captain calls for order.

“What? Is this System telling us that we can’t go back because our bodies are dead where we came from?”

“I call bullshit, there is no way that other universes exist”

“How can someone consider abduction to be normal? The Galactic Council will send their fleets…”

“We don’t have technology for interdimensional travel, so they can’t send anything to help us”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Silence!”

Dylan waits until everyone calms down before continuing

“OK, we obviously got a number of problems and setbacks in our mission.

But we are the Scout Service of the Council Patrols, and we are known to turn a setback into an opportunity!

Never forget that! We will prevail and not turn into a stupid mob at a bad message!

Let’s see what our options are instead of panicking.

System, it’s obvious that the original plan failed. What can we now do?”

[[Processing request…]]

[[Default Tutorial no longer viable due to differences in core]]

[[Deleting previous Tutorial Messages in queue]]

[[Power has not created a quest and is unresponsive due to being almost completely drained]]

[[No special rules or restrictions placed on core]]

[[No applicable guidance data found in database …]]

[[Initiating Shadowing]]

Again the world seems to dim for the crew of the Sunhawk, while a headache begins to start.

[[Processing References…]]

But this time it takes much longer than the previous time, and the pain continues to increase. Through the pain and fog clouding his mind, Captain Shelton barely registers when Omnuun’s body slowly turns transparent and vanishes.

[[Compiling Option List]]

[[Creating variable Quest Sequence]]

“Hey, what happened to Omnuun? Ouch my head…”

[[Adding Quest Messages to replace Tutorial]]

[[End Shadowing]]

The remaining five people slowly stagger to their feet again as their headaches leave, while the System continues.

[[In most cases in the past a new Realmcore had a task or a path preselected and was classified by the people of the Endless World based on that task and behavior.]]

[[You do not have such a path preselected, but can choose which path to follow. This choice will be your first Quest.]]

[[However each path requires effort, time and energy – it is difficult to switch paths after you started going into one direction]]

[[Classifications of Area Cores and Realm Cores]]

[[The People of the Endless World classify cores depending on what they do as , , , , or ]]

[[The main difference between those classifications is the way those cores collect Mana and what they offer in return.]]

[[Depending on the exact situation some cores are fighting against people who want to destroy them, while others have a more symbiotic partnership – but even in those cases there can be other people waging war against their people and trying to destroy the cores to deny the other people advantages.]]

“WHAT HAPPENED TO OM?” Dylan shouts.

[[Complete Mana Depletion forced the Spirit named Omnuun back into its anchor for resting.]]

[[No Essence or Lifeforce damage detected – it should be able to rejoin you after a few hours of sleep]]

After hearing this Dr. Davis asks a question of his own.

“System, what the hell are you? Are you an artificial intelligence or do you style yourself as a god or what?”

[[Question contains unknown references…]]

[[Initiating Shadowing]]

“Not again” groans M’raan, but this time the headaches only last a few seconds before it the effect stops.

[[Under your ‘Computer Science’ the classifications are in the order of:]]

[[Search Engine – Expert System – Virtual Assistant – Artificial Intelligence]]

[[Under these classifications I would be called a highly advanced Expert System with an extremely large database to draw answers from, and two additional abilities that cannot be classified under your sciences: <> and <>.]]

[[New Knowledge Skill formed: <>]]

[[Existing Skill updated: <>]]

[[Skill <> and title <> granted where appropriate]]

“Thanks for the question, George, this answer helps somewhat – but from now on everyone let only me ask the questions to the System. We can’t handle much more of those headaches even if we still need answers.” says the captain.

“System, what are those additional abilities <> and <> and their purpose?”

[[The Primordial Energy]]

[[The Primordial Energy existed before Reality itself was formed. As such it can be used to modify Reality in any way imaginable at a usually high energy cost.]]

[[If someone with access to the Primordial Energy wishes for anything, the Universe will drain from him all the power needed to make that wish into reality.]]

[[However if that is too much energy, the being will be drained to death and die from the wish that is then incomplete or cancelled.]]

[[To prevent this, a world needs a System with the system-exclusive ability of <>.]]

[[This ability allows the System to force all use of the Primordial Energy into predefined classes, skills and spells that can be stopped at the beginning if the person using them does not have the required energy reserves.]]

[[Mana is what the channeled and usable form of Primordial Energy is called]]

[[As a prime example of what can happen to even a Power that is trying to use this energy without System Restrictions in place, please refer to the entry: History of the Sunhawk.]]

“That sounds as if this System is still a bit pissed off at the Power that abducted us” comes a murmur from Stephen.

[[<>]]

[[<> is a system-exclusive ability that is automatically triggered whenever a System cannot find the answer to an important question in its database. It allows the system to shadow all nearby spirits and gained its name from the harmlessly reduced perceptions and skills that those spirits will have during that time.]]

[[While shadowing a spirit, the System can borrow their intelligence and knowledge as well as drain the Mana of their cores to analyze the situation and create new database entries if that is needed.]]

“Just for your info, System: That shadowing was not harmless, it was a headache and extremely painful and even drained Omnuun.”

[[Updating Database Entry]]

[[<>]]

[[In rare and special cases the shadowing can cause pain and drain on the spirits that are shadowed]]

“Computers” comes a disgusted snort from the chief engineer. “No Intelligence or Empathy anywhere.”

After a few seconds of silence Dr. George Davis adds “and they don’t react unless triggered by something for the same reason of missing intelligence.”

“Right. System, can’t you tone down the headache and energy drain of that shadowing?”

[[Reducing the shadowing will also turn down its effectivity and either prolong the effect or cause unreliable or incomplete data entries. This would not be acceptable.]]

[[However one of the Systems primal duties is to warn of and quantify harmful side effects of skills and abilities.]]

[[Processing Request…]]

[[Forming Options]]

[[Installing Options]]

[[Your Advanced Pattern Archive Structure now has additional upgrades available.]]

[[Installing these upgrades will provide you with warnings before asking questions and prevent harmful direct interaction between the inhabitants of this multi-soul core and the System.]]

“OK, let’s stop here.” The captain interjects. “We have the basics and unless there is an emergency we should postpone all further questions until after the safeguards have been installed. We don’t know if the Shadowing might not have lasting effects, especially since we are the first people affected by it at all.

M’raan and Stephen, please go to the cargo hold you found and check its contents – we need to know what we have as resources and tools to work with.

George, please check on Omnuun in his cabin – it’s somewhere in this direction. After that try to find that sensor suite structure and check if you can get some data on our surroundings.

Cheyenne, please look through the construction options available to us and what we can do. Unless there is an obvious problem don’t spend any energy we have until we know better how to proceed.

I’ll check those messages about tutorials and what paths we can chose from in this world.

Let’s meet again here in two hours to hear everyone’s reports.”