The world slowly creeped up on me. I never saw it coming.

One moment, I was lost in unawareness. The next, the terrible sounds of a boxing match in full swing. The plops and smacks of the gloves the over excitement of the crowd, and the too rapid voice of an announcer trying to fill air time.

I left the sounds just pass through my awareness, not letting myself get too focused on their meanings.

I needed to reflect, to parse everything that had been going on. I was too distracted in New Lordaeron. Always filling my time with some project or with the ladies. It was like I didn't want to face myself. To deal with the pain bubbling under my conscious mind.

So I pondered in my own way. I dug into myself to shake something loose.

Something had changed, some part of me had shifted. I felt different. Things that hadn't really made sense were starting to take root deep in my mind. I had been ignoring so much of my potential because it was easy to let others pick up my slack.

Why was I okay with Raynor or Mr. Wick tracking down my hackers. Shouldn't that be personal?

Back not so long ago, why was I okay with the Probes handling most of the fighting? Even losing some of my first robo buddies to Arasaka's interference. Scuff, Fix, Chuck and Barry. I barely knew them, and I still missed them. Their conviction should be my touchstone.

I wasn't really suited for conflict at the time. I'm not sure I am now. That had to change. Deep down I knew there was no changing this world without first cutting out it's cancers. Some part of me just didn't want to accept it. Thought that maybe I could convince people to work together to help each other, if I just provided a safe framework to do it in. That just wasn't true

I still hadn't taken the time to process the sheer fuckery of this city. I kept distracting myself with cars and tinkering, and Sally and Megan. I buried myself in my obsessions, some part of me trying to move past the trauma of loss in the worst way.

There was no room for me to ignore the world, it wasn't going to forget me. Even the half-assed impact I'd already had was enough to attract all the wrong kinds of attention.

I had the tools to do better, maybe I should start taking more advantage of them. I needed to start playing more attention to the BTC, to my status, and to the very real leg up it gave me.

If my Intelligence was more developed would I have even gotten hacked? Or maybe my Tech stat would have been more help? That's the problem, I didn't know. I didn't understand what any of these things meant except in the most broad terms. More Body had made me tougher, stronger. More Tech made it easier to comprehend the technology of the Khalai and the world I had been dropped in. More Reflex would make me faster.

But was that all they did? What the hell did Cool do anyway? Did it make me more charismatic? Did it mean cool under pressure? Cause I sure didn't feel any better in the heat of the moment.

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Which also reminded me of my Classes. I still didn't understand what a Druid was. Sure, I could cast spells, sense nature better, make plants grow and even connect with animals more. Yet, I also found myself staring at things trying to make sense of them in ways that never would have mattered to me before.

The Warp-Smith leaned into my real hobbies, tinkering and scrapping, so I questioned it less. That could end up being a huge mistake. The way it just pushed knowledge into my head, had to have changed my perspective. Working with the Khaydarin crystal could actually be screwing with my mind. The Psifields themselves could be doing some form of long term damage to us. After all they weren't meant for humans in the first place.

The Paladin my newest and least understood Class. I felt even more upset, than before, when others fought for me. And why, despite being level 4 had I gained no new powers other than the Aura and Prayer I got for choosing the Class. Something was different about this one, but I had no idea what it could be.

Soon, I'd get another Theme and likely another Class, how would it play into all of these issues?

This was the first time I could remember being able to focus on these issues without getting sidetracked.

It was like something had been interfering with my brain to keep me from really analyzing all of this.

I was left with one conclusion though.

I didn't trust any of it.

Which was both wise and a big part of why I was having so much trouble with using this system. How could I trust it after been dumped here with almost no explanation?

Also since I didn't trust the system, why did I have such unshakable trust in the summons brought here by the system? I had never once though that Raynor or any of the folk of New Lordaeron might betray me. The Probes and Sentries were a rock that my mind clung to.

Something in my gut told me I could trust them.

Meadran, Lumiar, Faergin and Korvaith. Were they actually loyal to me or to the system?

Again my feelings said I could trust them. But I had never been a person to rely heavily on my feelings.

I need to test it more. See what the rules were, then bend them.

I cautiously opened my eyes.

Raynor, Mr. Wick and Vik were sitting in front of Vik's monitor watching the boxing match. It was good that they could enjoy something like that together. It was a scene of normalcy in this insane world.

I had a few messages which I went through while slowly easy myself up and off of the gurney.

Megan and Sally checking up on me. I replied quickly, filling them in. I wasn't going to gloss things over and get and earful about it later. I cared about them too much to lie or prevaricate.

Jaina with a few reports on expansion of the Town and the projected completion of the current constructions. She even had a report on the new Badlands outposts having already sent wisps to create Moon Wells and trees. She was on top of things.

Still, I had an uneasy feeling as I thought of the ladies. Something was wrong, I was sure of it. Though maybe it was the recent hacking attempt fucking with my head.

There was a long list of work reports from the Probes. When had they started connecting to the NET? Since I had no idea what we even needed right now I left all that to Jaina. There was that trust again. Hmm.

Alina reported a breakthrough on the adaptation project of Khalai cyberware. Oh, that was very exciting. I dug into the files before shaking it off. There was the Warp-Smith affecting my thoughts.

Receipts for the rental of the warehouse and store fronts and the sales receipt for the fuel station.

Good.

A message from Rita of all people asking if I was okay. Huh. I sent her a quick reply with a generic I'm alright.

I looked up to see Mr. Wick staring at me. Of course he was the first to notice I'd gotten up.

"What did I miss?"