Never having really visualized his resource pools before, he was surprised to find out that they were very real things. In his mind's eye, his entire body was suffused with a faint mist of green energy, which he assumed was his stamina. Near his core, there was a secondary accumulation of energy, this time a blue so bright and concentrated that it looked like a clump of tinted lava. That was where his mana was stored. It was contained within a small membrane of some diaphanous substance and it seemed to be a little less full than its maximum capacity. Sam knew that this meant that he was missing a little mana. He had no idea how the resource regenerated, only that it did without his input. Perhaps he was drawing it from the air around him or from his cores. All he knew was that he barely used it in large quantities and as such, it almost never emptied out.

He suddenly had a strong desire for some sort of ranged spell, like those that he had seen some of the arena fighters using. Gripping his mana with his will, Sam tried to manipulate it. There seemed to be channels already built into his body and those tried to wick away the fluid as he directed it. Ignoring their pull, Sam started to move it into his muscles. While the use of a spell would be useful in this situation, he had neither the time nor the skill to use one without prior practice, so he pumped it into his muscles instead. They started to burn and his body felt like it was being slowly melted, but Sam could see that this was just an illusion. In reality, he was gaining incredible strength from this maneuver, but it was draining his mana at a colossal speed. It was taking something like 50 or 60 points away per second. Luckily he was able to slow down his perception of time, giving him the ability to use something like this effectively. If he was still in his old body, this would have been wasted, and he would only have been able to get off a single attack. Now, he transformed into something else.

With one, titanic heave, Sam thrust the robots off of him, roaring out loud. Making a small space for himself, Sam was finally able to jump out of the confines of the robots, just as the time ran out. The momentum of his jump carried him across the street and in front of the arena. Pulling out the key from his pocket, Sam opened the door and walked inside, slamming it shut behind him. The sounds of hundreds of metallic fists pounding on the door made him shudder, but he knew that they could not get in.

Now that he was inside the complex, Sam tried to get his bearings. He was in what looked like a control room, filled with computer monitors and storage devices that looked like medieval scientific instruments. The latter items pulsed with light as strange fluids ran through their mechanisms, creating some unknown effect. Instead of trying to decipher their arcane workings, Sam made his way over to the computers, knowing how to work those at least. Or so he thought.

The keys were in some strange script that looked nothing like English, or any other language that Sam had ever seen. They hurt to look at for more than a few seconds and Sam recoiled from the unsettling sight. Yet another anomaly within the otherwise immaculate System translation service. Perhaps this was intentional however, as it would be useless to any infiltrators of the compound. If the System translated everything indiscriminately, then espionage and secrecy would be almost impossible, especially in a world where people could hear and see at far further distances than anyone back on Old Earth. Sam smiled at the inadvertent moniker that he had created for the planet before the System had come.

“Hmm, Old Earth. I like it.” Sam decided to use that word from now on in his head. It had a satisfying ring to it.

Instead of trying to decipher the keys, Sam tried to look at what was on the screens as well. There were a few icons that looked vaguely like apps or files that could be seen, and he clicked on the first one that he laid eyes on, one with an image of a camera. As he clicked, he had a disturbing thought, and what he found confirmed it. There were a few hundred entries on the screen, and these Sam could read.

Eduardo Venzetti

Sam Atlas

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Pyotr Nikolevich

Rodney Kane

Those were the names of some of the fighters and as he scrolled down even further, he found that everyone still in the tournament had one. Clicking on his own one, Sam saw a fisheye view of his room. Next to the video was an icon of a microphone and Sam sighed as he saw that he had been right. Berrigious had been invading the privacy of everyone that was under his charge. Combined with all the other things that he had done, Sam’s rock bottom appreciation of the man’s character suddenly found that there was a cave underneath it.

He closed the tab with a snarl and started to upend the drawers in the room. A strange feeling started to beckon to him from the rest of the room and he followed it. He didn't know what he was looking for, but eventually he found it. There was a locked box in one of the cabinets that was labeled “System Contracts”. He grabbed it and tried to open it but it was locked. In fact, there didn't even seem to be a way to open it at all and Sam struggled with the box, trying to crack it open with his hands and mace. Nothing worked and in desperation, he tried to analyze it. Immediately, a spike of pain lanced through his mind and he let go of the box in shock. It clearly did not want him tampering with it.

Sam picked it up again and awkwardly cradled it under his arm, unsure of what to do with it. Carrying it would make him an instant target to any of the guard robots, though he probably already was one. This was going to be a problem. He couldn't leave it though either as this would be his only chance to free everyone. Making his way out of the room, he entered the hallway and finally was back in a part of the arena that he recognized. Struck with a flash of insight, he pulled out his room token and sure enough, it guided him back there. Following the tug of the token, he came across a roaming janitor robot. It looked at him for a moment before opening its mouth and letting out a piercing alarm that echoed around the hallway. Cursing, Sam continued to move, now running at full speed. Behind him, Sam heard the noise of the guard robots’ feet pattering against the floor. He ran even faster and soon the walls faded into a blur in his vision, his feet outstripping his perception.

Skidding to a halt outside his room door, he slapped the key against it and opened the door, running inside. Letting out a breath, Sam then exploded into a frenzy of motion, searching the room for any signs of cameras. Remembering the angle that the one on the computer had displayed, Sam found it soon enough. It was concealed behind an ornamental plant that stood on a table on the side of the room. Sam had never even noticed it before. Smashing the lens between his fingers, Sam sat down at his sofa, finally able to relax. He placed the box down in front of him and got to work.

Three hours later, Sam was staring at a much diminished box. After having studied it for long enough, his advanced intellect had gotten to work deciphering what needed to be done to open it. The first layer had ended up being keyed to a mana signature, which Sam was able to replicate by studying it for long enough. It wasn't anything hard to do, sure, but Berrigious had likely never expected that anyone would find the box in the first place. As he waited for the box to open, he had gone over his System logs. The robots hadn't given him any essence, but he had received a strange message nonetheless.

The System applauds your dedication to the eradication of the scourge of technology. Unfortunately, none of the robots that you have defeated are classified as high technology, meaning that they are reluctantly considered legal. Please search for a real threat next time that you go hunting for robots. This message will not be sent again.

Puzzled by this, Sam remembered something that he had forgotten until now. Stored deep within his brain was the information crystal that he had absorbed detailing the factions that inhabited the Multiverse. If he wasn't mistaken, there was one that had something to do with technology. Opening it up, he searched and eventually found it.

3.The Prophets of the Machine God:A group made up of those universes that were especially technologically advanced before the advent of the System, these people seek to take control of the System itself for their own foul ends. Spurn these foul heretics, for they are the epitome of evil. Killing them will give additional rewards.

It seemed as if the System had something against those who tried to use technology past a certain level, perhaps out of some sort of fear that it would be replaced. In fact, wasn't the System a sort of massive AI anyway? It certainly seemed that way. It sent messages to people that were not just prerecorded, but seemed to be created on the spot by the System itself. The Machine God thing that the Prophets were trying to make sounded suspiciously similar to the System.

Sam closed the notification as a chime sounded out from the box. It had opened finally and he frowned as he saw that there was yet another layer to it.