October 2nd, 2023
3:02 PM PST
Lex
Lex woke up to a headache, looking around. His mouth felt dry as he blinked and tried to find out where he was and what he was doing. The world felt hot, even though the chill air felt so incredibly cold on his skin. As he slowly stood up he felt his bones crack and that he had a soreness in the rest of his body, something was clearly wrong. “What happened?”
> System Assistance Initiated
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> One-time after action summary written
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> Due to being the sole person in a high level zone, and interacting with an artifact, you sustained a massive brain hemorrhage that was only healed through System Assistance.
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> For 22 hours, you have been in a minor coma, and progressed through several quests.
“Quests? Mana? What is all this? Did I stumble into some form of larp?” Lex asked, knowing that it genuinely couldn’t be something so simple. Cracking his neck he finally felt just how dry his mouth was. He couldn’t be sure that he’d been here for nearly a day, he was likely to die from exposure, or be incredibly sick from dehydration by now. He felt the nearest edges of sickness, but he’d been kept away from it, thanks to this system. With a grumble he began to walk back to his car.
Lex was in the desert, deep in Oregon’s less loved half while the sun beat down and he continued to stare at his hands. “If that time is right, then I must have been really hurt. But, considering the concussion, perhaps I shouldn’t be trusting the things my hallucinations tell me.” He muttered to himself, ignoring the flashing of a blue sphere in the corner of his vision. Clearly this so-called system wanted him to do something, but he couldn’t tell what, so he just went back to his car. “This is crazy.” He said, muttering to himself absently.
Drinking a solid gallon of water, Lex sighed and sat down in the car. His headache was taking over, and he could barely focus enough to look and see that yes he had in fact been sleeping for nearly 24 hours. This was insane. This was all insane. “So I’ve been in a coma. I’ve been nearly dead for this whole time. And it’s due to… magic? What kind of magic. They say mana, do they mean the generic fantasy version? Do they mean the classical version from polinisian mythology? Do they mean food from abrahamic myth? Who’s to say, who’s to say.” He continued to talk to himself.
This is how he coped with things that were incredibly stressful. He liked to talk to himself as he thought, allowing all the things to get out. Still, even as he had his eyes closed that stupid blue light was still blinking. “Will you stop with the blinking?!” He shouted into the universe. At that moment a flood of notifications appeared in his vision, so many that he could not see. After a few seconds of clear distraction, they compressed down into a single notification.
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> Quest Information Compressed
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> You have completed 5 total quests while unconscious
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> These Quests can be read later, but to summarize here are all the rewards you have gained.
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> Tutorial (1/10): Sacred Lands
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> Reward: Vision Quest (Skill, Exotic)
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> Tutorial (2/10): Dream Lands
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> Reward: Astral Projection (Skill, Rare)
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> Tutorial (3/11): Mental Fortress
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> Reward: Mind Palace (Skill, Hidden)
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> Tutorial (4/11): Sleep through the Apocalypse
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> Reward: Tulpa Creation (Skill, Relic)
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> Tutorial (5/12): Extreme Conditions
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> Reward: Shaman Headband (Item, Exotic)
That was already quite a lot, but even more was strange when he realized and found himself staring at a small box appearing in his hand. As he opened it, he found what appeared to be a cloth headband, however it had small antlers sticking out of it. As he tied it to his head, he wondered out loud. “What in the world is going on.”
“I am so glad you asked!” A voice said, coming from right behind his ear. Jumping back he looked at the little figure. It seemed to be a mouse wearing a small outfit, something like Dumbo or some fairy tale.
“Who in the fuck are you” He asked, moving back. He would have scrambled away, but his time in a coma had drained quite enough energy from him, and he wasn’t in the mood for such extreme actions.
“I’m your familiar! A Tulpa, which is basically a segment of your mind turned into an individual being. At the moment, I am in your head.”
“This is impossible.” Lex said, slamming his head into his steering wheel in frustration. “I’m still exhausted from everything I did before. I have to get to a hospital.
“It’s not impossible, and hospitals aren't going to be the safest place in another couple days… I can get you help if you want though.”
“You can get me help. How in the world are you gonna do that?” Lex raised his eyebrow at the little mouse. “You are my imaginary friend, and now you want to try and what… find someone else in this godforsaken hellhole that I call a hallucination. Am I going to wake up to find myself in a mental hospital?!”
“Not today.” The tulpa said, sighing and flying over to stand on the car dash. “Listen, the thing is that at the moment you don’t have what is really necessary to make things like me, you just have that first skill. So, I… Kind of appropriated some resources. I took all the memories from your dream walk, and created myself from them.”
“So… You’re why I don’t remember anything about this system?”
“Yes and no. I am the reason you don’t remember it, but the syste didn’t really explain itself well for us. Because we were instantly put into a dream vision. During that time you experienced things that you… didn’t want to remember. I am the one who remembers it. That’s fine, it’s all fine, and I can tell you how to create more of my kind.” The tulpa moved over to the GPS and pointed at it. “Now just enter in the address I tell you.”
“Why would I want more things like you? I’m already crazy, this is too much.” Lex sighed, drinking another big gulp of water.
“You’ll need us soon. Trust me.” There was a look of concern that Lex really couldn’t fathom on the mouse’s face.