Beryllium beam pipes surrounded by magnets and cooled by liquid helium encompass an area roughly the size of the state of Texas. Every part of the pipe from the chambers to the welds is made of the costly and toxic metal. This is surrounded by protective shielding making the entire pipe surrounding the beam twelve and a half feet in diameter. Forcing millions of particles together at extreme speeds in hopes of causing a collision. Scientists have discovered the Hadron particle and many more amazing things. However, the third of June 2020 will be remembered for very different reasons.
The atoms and neutrons sped towards one another on their breakneck path to a collision. The same experiment was done for decades only on larger and larger scales. Everyone knew it would be the same result as last time with only slight variations, yet they did this again and again until at the exact point the particles in the accelerator made contact, a sphere of energy ballooned outward. It rushed through metal, brick, and drywall as if it weren’t there without destroying a thing. Not even the motes of dust floating through the air were disturbed. As the energy sped out it was seen by everyone awake as a roiling mass of color like sunlight on a puddle with oil in it. A riot of colors melding, spreading, and rolling over and through everything.
Day 1
Graves mountain in east Georgia is an open-air mine that has small deposits of many different minerals. You can scrape along the outside of the mountain and find anything from rubies and amethyst to copper and gold. This isn’t to say that Dolen was a professional miner or explorer of any kind. Nope, just some asshole not paying attention to rules or fences. He had parked his pickup in the lot, paid his admission fee and after an hour of being on his knees digging in the dirt, he decided to go walk around the mountain. Passing pine tree after pine tree he walked around the east side of the main pit. As he got about a quarter of the way around the mountain he heard what sounded like rocks sliding down above him. Looking up and behind him while running away and to the side to avoid being brained. Dolen ran into a tree as fell on his butt. The rocks had fallen above him alright, but they fell a few yards behind him where they wouldn’t have hit him. So he ran into the tree-like an asshole for no reason.
The fallen rocks brought his attention to a small hole in the side of the mountain. As Dolen got closer he saw the hole was closer to two and a half feet wide and maybe three feet tall. Maybe not that small after all. As he got closer light glinted off crystals, gems, and even what looked like some like of metal. Probably hematite considering the look of it and how much of the stuff is found here. Thinking the hole was only going to be a few feet deep Dolen was shocked to see an actual tunnel in front of him. Pulling out his phone to use as a flashlight since he didn’t bring one he turned on the light and gasped. The hole opened up quite a bit a few feet in and became closer to maybe five feet wide and five and a half feet tall! The walls further in had even more shiny things poking out and hanging down. There were even deposits of some kind all over the floors.
“Cha-Ching! Yeeahh buuddy!” Dolen half yelled. He was excited but he didn’t want people to hear him and try to come to take anything before he got what he thought looked cool. “So, into the breach soldier.” He half mumbles as he starts crawling through the smaller opening. Realizing he really needed to lay off the pizza rolls he sucked in his gut and squeezed the rest of the way in. As he got to the part that opened up he realized his error. There was no way for him to reach the floor with his hands because this end of the opening was closer to the ceiling. Grunting when a particularly sharp stone poked his shin he slid out to the edge.At this point he had scrapes and cuts all over. From his hands all the way up his arms and down his chest and legs. He was pretty sure he had bits of rock stuck in places. Hopefully they wouldn’t need tweezers to pull out. Looking down a steep wall of rock that looked like it flowed like liquid. Almost as if someone poured a thick paint over the contoured edge of a fancy table. The walls of the room weren’t very far apart and towards the right side he saw another opening leading deeper down. Out of nowhere a blinding mess of color rushed through the tunnel….
Congratulations sentient creatures through hard work and dedication you have achieved greatness! Or should I say through blind luck and sheer insanity you have managed to fundamentally alter the state of reality? Let that sink in while your mana channels are burned in to better interface with your new world. You will all be given a status menu detailing all abilities, skills, characteristics, titles, quests, maps, and marks. Every being in existence now and forevermore has an imperative need to gain experience and level up immediately or risk being killed.
There was a soft sifting sound followed by the clatter of rocks falling against each other and he felt dirt cascade around his ankles. Normally crawling through a random tunnel in the ground and feeling the entrance crumble behind you would be the most important thing in the world at this moment. However bright blue floating words in his face that hurt his eyes in the darkness while not actually illuminating anything seemed to take precedence.“Ummmmm. What?” Dolen said to the wall? Sign? He paused...... Notification...... “No. Fucking. Way.” He said slowly and with great care. “There is no way I’m in some kind of...of...” he trailed off for a moment. “ Nope! Nope! This is some kind of weird mushroom flashback! I’m just gonna sit here and do nothing for a minute and it will just go away.” He closed his eyes thinking this would help. It did not. If anything all it did was make things worse because now the notification was all he could see. And there was no denying that it was in fact a notification. He really worried about his sanity or if he had hit his head at some point without knowing.
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He never got to finish asking what that meant because the system answered by beginning the process of creating pathways for mana to flow throughout his body. It began with a pressure in his chest that swelled until he felt his body would explode. Then with a white hot pulse the energy exploded outward through his body. He screamed as he felt his muscles and intestines sizzle and pop as they were violently infused with magic. As the pain intensified and travelled up towards his head he blacked out. When he woke an undetermined amount of time later he was covered in sweat that had a layer of dirt caked to it in some places. Breathing hard and wiping the sweat from his face he refocused on the notification. He thought he noticed something strange about the symbol at the bottom of the words. It was the universal symbol for an atom and he’d be damned if it didn’t look like a button. So he brought his hand up to “push” the button and nothing happened. Considering how many litrpg books he had read he felt like an idiot. Using your hand never worked you needed to mentally focus on selecting what you want. So he focused on the symbol and willed his selection.
Anomaly detected in Dungeon 87.
Scanning: Anomaly is human despite
elements detected in initial scan.
Create program: Troubleshooting…..
Melding….Melding….Connecting……
Congratulations Human! You have been randomly selected for accelerated development. This is in response to the overwhelming amount of fuckups in your decision making choices in the last few minutes…Also I just want to do things….So! How about extra loot,xp,stats,skills,and……QUESTS!
"Ooooooh! What does this button do?"Dungeon Born 4,762! For being the fourth person to realize that the symbol was indeed a selectable tab you gain an automatic +6 to intelligence! This is in addition to your spell selection options in this tab. This symbol will no longer be selectable in notifications after you have made your choice. You have 20 seconds to decide. Choose wisely.
Earthspike: Cost 50 mana. Damage 80. Extra effects. Spikes impale and paralyze opponent for 3 seconds.
Fireball: Cost 50 mana. Damage 100. Extra effects. May set fire to target and cause damage over time.
Empowered strike: Cost 50 mana. Damage 5x normal attack. Extra effects. May cause a -2 second stun.
“Holy shit! I was right!” He yelled in his excitement. “ Magic! Actual fucking magic?! Sign me up for fireball, party of one please!” he joked. As he was about to make his choice he paused. Taking a long slow breath he wondered what it was that made him pause. He sniffed the air twice, puffed up his cheeks, and blew a little out twice more quickly. “Son of a bitch! No fireballs in here if I like to breathe.” Knowing he had very little time left he looked at his options once again. Empowered strike seemed cool. He could see himself hitting a monster and cutting it in half with his swor...d. That he didn’t have because who the fuck carried a sword around nowadays? “Gaaahhh! This is stupid! Why give me the options if I can’t use them?”
Choosing Earthspike quickly before the timer ran out caused the notification window to disappear.
Followed immediately by another:
Just kidding! Wanted to see your thought process in real time is all. So, here ya go!
Earthspike: Cost 5 mana. Damage 80. Extra effects. Spikes impale and paralyze opponent for 15 seconds.
Fireball: Cost 5 mana. Damage 100. Extra effects. May set fire to target and cause damage over time.
Empowered strike: Cost 5 mana. Damage 5x normal attack. Extra effects. May cause a 20 second stun.
Ummm what?” He couldn’t believe what he just read. The system gave him everything? And then lowered the costs? He wouldn’t say no of course but he couldn’t help but wonder how weird things were gonna get. He had read a lot of litrpg and gamelit while able during the war. It was what got him through the worst ptsd moments. So he knew that the system taking a liking to you could be awesome or super super bad. Either way he needed out of the hole and the only way was gonna be forward.
Thinking he would just use the spell to push the dirt out of the opening behind him he pointed at the dirt shouting out “Earthspike!” Nothing happened. Thinking about how much of an idiot he was Dolen tried just willing the spell. Focusing every ounce of concentration on making something happen he glared at the dirt. More nothing. In fact, one could almost say it was a profoundly empty nothing. “Okaaay. Now what?”
Dungeon born 4,762 your spells will become active after you have finished the tutorial to determine whether or not you are a danger to your environment. Do you wish to begin the tutorial?
Picking yes Dolen was bombarded with notifications. The first of which looked like a character creator sheet. Figuring he was sick of being called Dungeon born 4,762 he began to fill in the blanks. Knowing how long choosing a name in a game could be Dolen quickly decided that he was done being called Dungeon born 4,762.
Name: Dungeon Born 4,762
Race: Human
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 225 pounds
Class:
Lvl: 1
Strength: 9
Constitution:5
Endurance:5
Agility:5
Dexterity:5
Intelligence:10
Will:15
Charisma:8
Luck:5
Stat points to place:20
Total-experience: 0
Experience to your next level:1000
Spells: Earthspike, Fireball, Empowered Strike
Marks: Dungeon Born
Titles: Professional Button Pusher
”Choosing a name always sucks,” Dolen groaned. ” Frost? No that's stupid. Siodhachan? Nah, cool name but that guy, man terrible life choices. No thanks.” Rubbing the top of his head with his left hand and the back with his right, he thought harder. ”. My name is Loden.” focusing on this he made the necessary adjustments to his character sheet. After changing his fucking name on an immaterial damn screen floating in his vision he needed a moment to think. This was insanity! Backing up against the wall of the cave Loden sat down with his knees up and his arms resting on them he raised his head, closed his eyes and prayed. “Brigid, great goddess of fire and anvil, of hearth and home. Triple goddess of poetry, I need your help. Please send me the steadfastness of your hammer, the power of your flame and the wit of your mind.” He whispered to the stone. Not thinking of getting an actual response just needing the calm that came with the words.