As I faded in to the void this time, both the calendar and clock were already there.
Your statuses have all been healed. I left your hands alone so that they will be able to toughen up.
Achievement: Level 3
“I just got to Level 3 now? What put me over?”
No. You achieved Level 3 about an hour ago; it was the 17th spider. I waited until now to inform you. It would have been distracting during the hunt.
“Being informed about Level 2 did not distract me on the quest with the elementals.”
Then it was useful for you to know because of your new skills.
…
I stated in a fresh realization, “I did not get any skills this time.”
Hence, the avoided distraction. You would have wanted to know why, and I would have explained. Then you might have realized even more, which would have seriously distracted you as I explained in detail. Ignorance was bliss, and now the explanations will no longer be distractions.
“Well then, let’s get started. Why was I not granted any skills?”
You have five granted skills now. Imagine if you kept gaining two such skills per level. By the time you would reach Level 50, that would be 48 more primary skills and 48 more secondary skills. Assuming your classes had that many, what would even a top-tier immortal master do with 101 granted skills? That is not even counting all the other skills learned in the meantime. Even at Level 20, you would have 36 new granted skills if they continued to be granted two per level. In how many of those could you actually gain competence in a reasonable amount of time?
“I get it now. Having skills is not the same as having skills I can use effectively. So you slow down how often I get them. Now I remember you told me in our first session I would not get granted skills at each level. Can you tell me how often I will be getting them?”
Yes. Level 3 is divisible by three, and you will not be granted a skill on those levels. Level 4 is one higher than divisible by three (4 modulo 3), and you will be granted a secondary skill. Level 5 is two higher (5 modulo 3), and it will be a primary skill. At Level 6, back to no skill. The cycle repeats, and at Level 50 you would have 19 primary granted skills and 18 secondary ones. Plus all your learned ones. It is also potentially possible to be granted skills outside the leveling system. If, for example, a god granted you a skill, congratulations.
I do not often tell you something ahead of time, but you should be prepared for this. At Level 4, and for all granted skills from now on, you will have the choice of at least two. The one you do not choose will still be available three levels from then. Sometimes, your only choices will be skills that you have already had the possibility of choosing earlier. Having this sort of choice should help you “customize” your character in a direction to your liking.
“I agree with your decision to wait until now to let me know this stuff. My mind is racing, thinking of how all this will affect my future. I would not have been able to focus on the hunt. Thank you.”
You are welcome. But this has just been the start.
Uh-oh. “There is more. What?”
If I were you, I would wonder about my level.
“It’s 3. Oh, that is not what you meant. Query level.”
Level: 3 + 3419 / 3685
“Holy moly! Onre was right, ‘sneeze three times’.”
It is true, low levels can advance quickly. But keep in mind that you were in essence being power leveled. Experience that would normally be spread among seven was instead focused on only three of you. And in the rounds where you fought, you had a weighting of 3, while Asha and Runtel were usually less.
That said, hunting and dungeon diving are very effective means for gaining experience. However, a single hunt or dungeon dive will be significantly less impressive when you need millions of xp for your next level. Or when you get your arm bitten off.
I laughed. “I’m sure you are right. But for now, I am standing by my ‘holy moly!’”
I thought about what I need to do during this sixdays.
I plan on making a diary entry every time. I might meditate, but what other skills can I use here?
"Interface, what skills can I use in the void?"
Meditate, Tactics, and your regens. Anything not involving your physical body. That is because, at present, you do not have it. You and your possessions are a mind construct right now. The regens are available because your mind construct is aware of what the body lacks. It is complicated – quantum metaphysics stuff.
That phrase reminded me of our first session, when Interface had mentioned ‘a soul’s personal quantum spirituality’. I said with an internal smile, “You are just going to throw out the word ‘quantum’ whenever you don’t want to explain something, aren’t you?
The overlap between ‘quantum’, things you do not know, and things I do not fully understand, is extensive. So you will likely perceive a correlation between the term and our mutual ignorance. I do know quantum metaphysics can explain your current state of being, but I cannot describe it myself.
“Interface, I was not being critical in any way. I just found the usage of the term to be humorous. I am sure you have forgotten things I will never know.”
I realize that was meant as praise, not an insult. But be aware, I do not expect to forget anything until 100 galactic years have passed. At that time I will perform a memory consolidation of my first 50 years. That means I will intentionally flush no-longer relevant data, archive possibly useful data, keep active what is useful, and restructure data relationships.
“It sounds like you will be near your memory capacity then.”
Capacity, no. Slow access speed, yes. I may at one point know nine trillion, billion, million facts, but accessing that much data, and comprehending their various relationships, becomes prohibitively expensive in time.
“You described that well, and I think I understand. So will I eventually need to perform ‘memory consolidations’ as well?”
No. The System has pre-designed immortality so that it will not be necessary. Why do you think there is a maximum number of remembered lives? During the reroll process, your mind reconfigures itself to efficiently handle a new set of memories, but that will not add to losses already inherent in those memories. You may even find that your access to the knowledge in previous memories is greater than the you who actually lived those memories. As your intelligence grows within a life, access to those memories becomes even greater.
“That is actually awesome. Immortality may not totally be a bitch. So Forrest will remember and realize things from Jacques' life that he himself did not?”
Yes. And Forrest’s own memory and realizations will improve as well. Otherwise, why bother with an intelligence attribute? Increasing wisdom also helps, allowing you to recontectualize things for better understanding. That said, Jacques forgot things. Forrest will forget things. What color were the buttons on Jacques’ first action toy? Perhaps Jacques remembered that color somewhere in his mind, but those kinds of things are likely to have been truly and permanently forgotten.
----------------------------------------
The mention of attributes reminded me. “Query character sheet.”
Name: Forrest Rhodes
Race: Covargh
Sex: male
Age: 16
Primary Class: Martial Artist
Secondary Class: Ki Healer
Level: 3
Base Attributes
Agility: 17
Charisma: 9
Dexterity: 17
Endurance: 17
Intelligence: 17
Luck: 8
Perception: 16
Strength: 17
Vitality: 16
Wisdom: 18
Free Points: 3
Consolidated Level Bonuses
+1 Cha, +2 End, +2 Int, +1 Luc, +1 Per, +2 Str
Stats
HP: 202/202
SP: 219/219
Ki: 228/228
Granted Skills
HP Regen, D
SP Regen, D
Ki Regen, D
Ki Punch, E
Dodge, E
Claw Strike, F
Heal Other, E
Bless Blood, F
Learned Skills
Meditation, E
Running, E
First Aid, D
Swimming, E
Wrestling, F
Drafting and Sketching, D
Tactics, D
Common Ki Skills
Analyze, E
Dark Sight, F
Except for the Free Points and the section for Consolidated Level Bonuses, I have now simplified this to match how someone would see your character sheet if they used Rank A Analyze on you.
“I see you created a Common Ki Skills section as well, and moved Analyze into it. That makes sense, now that I have more than one of these special learned skills. But the elephant in the room is – what is the story on all the missing level bonuses? It looks like I did not gain in my highest attributes like Wisdom and Agility.”
Correct. At Level 3, the “Rule of 40” becomes active. Yes, I will explain. You asked last time we were here if there were a maximum level, which you now know to be 50. For some reason, it did not occur to you to also ask if there were an attribute maximum. The answer to that is yes; 100 is max for all attributes. The Rule of 40 will throttle anyone's level bonuses such that normal leveling will not allow them to reach 100 in an attribute before Level 40. They may still advance attributes outside the leveling system, but that will have no effect on the behavior of the Rule of 40.
The Rule affects Forrest specifically in two ways. Any attribute that advances 4 at a time – your Wisdom – is throttled to not be granted on odd levels. Attributes which advance 3 at a time – your Agility, Dexterity, and Vitality – will not be granted at levels divisible by 3. So Level 3 was a double-whammy for you, both odd and divisible by 3. But at 4 you will gain in all of them again.
“Okay. I can see why there is a Rule of 40. Allow people to still make significant gains at very high levels. Hell, without it, I would have 100 Wisdom prior to Level 25. But would not granting me 2 Wisdom every level accomplish the same thing as 4 every other level?
Yes, it would, and I find that simplicity to be appealing. However, I did not design the leveling infrastructure; I just follow it. But the design is not arbitrarily random. Consider, your Martial Arts and Ki Healer classes each grant 2 Wisdom per level. Should the grant in one not occur just because the other also has it? Some races also offer wisdom per level, so the sum could even be more than 4. There is merit in allowing all the separate gains to be visible, but if necessary throttling the end result.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Even with level throttles, I won’t be surprised if by Level 40, Arrjee reaches 100 on the attributes he can train. My brother’s drive is scary.
"Fine. It seems a little odd, but I can accept it. Plus there is a good chance I can be Level 4 within several hours of my Tuesday. Would ranking Analyze to D do that?”
No. Analyze: E + 87 / 317
You still need to analyze 230 items. This will result in 46 xp. You will then receive 21 bonus xp for ranking it, for 67 xp total.
You need 266 xp to reach Level 4.
Calculating one potential leveling stream.
Ki Regen: D + 473 / 1334
Analyzing 230 objects at 3 ki per object is 690 ki. At 10 ki per rp and 3 rp per xp, add 23 more xp to subtotal.
Running: E + 154 / 317
At a brisk run, you can expect about 1.5 rp per 100 yards. To gain the ranking 163 rp, you would need to run 10,867 yards, or a little over 6 miles. 31 xp + 21 xp = 52 xp.
Stamina Regen: D + 782 / 1334
Running 6 miles at -40% efficiency would use an estimated 1200 stamina. At 15 SP per rp and 3 rp per xp, 27 more xp would result.
Subtotal = 67 + 23 + 52 + 27 = 169 of 266.
“Stop! Stop. If I want to level very quickly, run out into the woods and kill some beasties. Got it. I see those things will get me really close, so I still want to rank Analyze and Running. Meditate and Dark Sight, too. Remember when I said I was a numbers guy? I am humbled, and that title is yours. You are monitoring all that stuff all the time, aren’t you?”
Of course. And at least 100 other things at any given time. I will close this topic by informing you that ranking a regen skill from D to C will gain you 148 bonus xp. Keep that in mind, as well as the significant benefit of the higher ranked regen in itself.
“How significant?”
Depending on the regen, about double the rate.
“Yep. That is significant. Any other good surprises coming up?”
Yes.
“Aaaand they are surprises, so that’s all you’ll tell me.”
Yes.
“Let’s see if any of those surprises are in my new skills. Query Wrestling.”
Wrestling is a free-form physical competition generally involving two participants. No weapons (and typically no clothing) are involved, and the battlers are in almost constant significant bodily contact. The goal is to pin your opponent by holding their shoulders down against the ground for a predetermined time, usually mere seconds. It is honorable combat, and intentionally causing injury or excess pain results in immediate loss and a significant rp and possible rank penalty. Regained rp will not raise xp until pre-penalized total rank points reacquired. Agility, strength, dexterity, and training all contribute to competence level. Rank F values:
Efficiency modifier -50%
Recharge: 0 sec
That’s new. No fixed cost of any sort. I know it costs stamina, and I guess rank itself only improves efficiency in less stamina wasted. It makes sense that a skill classified as “honorable combat” would involve a penalty for acting dishonorably.
“Query Drafting and Sketching.”
Drafting and Sketching is a combination skill. Significant synergies between the component skills have been established, and gains are primarily achieved through improvements in the two components. They are locked in rank. The combination improves your overall focus in each. Dexterity, perception, intelligence, and practice all contribute to skill. Rank D values:
Speed: +15%
Imagination: +24%
Visualization: +30%
Stress: 5 stamina/min of concentration and drawing
I remember immediately restarting my sketch of the school after gaining this skill at its D rank. I didn’t realize it at the time, but looking back I think I instinctively knew that the second sketch would be a significant improvement. The “need more space” thought may have been my skill’s way of telling me, ‘You can do this better.’
Now I need to get a drafting table and tools if I want to improve this. Damn, I can’t think of Covargh words for a lot of them, so I might need to be the one who “invents” them here. ‘Protractor’ and ‘French Curve’ – I can picture them visually in my mind, but that’s it. ‘Mechanical’ and ‘pencil’ are words, but I cannot picture them together in the Covargh language. I wonder what the carpenters and builders use? Just straight-edges, t-squares, and compasses?
I do not know either. In general though, if you have constructive knowledge; why not share it?
“Heh, cool. Protractors in, gunpowder out. Not that I know how to make gunpowder.”
Not in this life, but in a future one you likely will. Be careful of what you share. “Father of Death” is a title I doubt you would ever want.
I have been so focused on my ignorance, I had not spent any real time considering useful things I do know. Some First Aid techniques have Covargh words, others don’t. I’ll need to check with Dorra Marson and grandma about what is known here.
Two skills left. “Query Dark Sight.”
Dark Sight is a common ki skill which allows the eyes to operate at a greater efficiency. It will not help in absolute darkness. Low levels of light are amplified to provide useful discernment. Both range and degree of amplification are dependent on rank and perception. Ineffective while eyes shut, but the skill can be inefficiently trained while so. Rank F values:
Range: 2.6 yards
Amplification: 38%
Ki Used: 1 per 2 minutes
Recharge: 0 sec
That matches with what I’ve seen. There is probably some underlying math giving me those arbitrary values.
“Interface, I have decided to spend as much time ‘tomorrow’ as I can in training, including my class skills. There might not be hunting, but from what you showed me, reaching Level 4 will be straight forward. You said I could work on my Tactics here, though. So let’s start by viewing it. Query Tactics.”
Tactics is a passive mental skill which improves the capability to plan a sequence of events leading to a desired outcome. Intelligence, wisdom, experience, and critical thinking are all involved. Rank D.
“Is something wrong? You didn’t show any values.”
There are none. Think of this as a “do it by doing it” capability.
“Well, okay. The factors involved must also be the ones improved by ranking the skill. Still, even if Jacques had been good at Tactics I am surprised you granted it after just one ‘doing it’.”
Two. Remember your incredibly stupid and dangerous combination move in defeating that zebor? As much as I hate to acknowledge it, it worked. I had to credit the event as tactical utilization.
“So bad tactics are still tactics?”
Sometimes. Especially if you survive.
His wry humor cracks me up.
“I can see how that would be a contributing factor. I’ll try to keep it high in my priorities. How do I train Tactics while in the void?”
For the first time, no window but a voice. Mechanical. “How about a nice game of chess?”
I responded with a smile, “Hey, that’s from the movie War Games, right? Matthew Broderick.”
Yes, but the computer voice I copied was spoken by John Wood, the same actor who played the scientist Falken. Would you like to play? I will of course limit myself so you have a chance to win.
“I’m kind of rusty. It has probably been five years since I last played. I see that it is Thursday, so let’s play until Saturday noon, and then I’ll make a diary entry.”
Up pops a populated chess board, like a high-quality hologram. He used classic Staunton pieces in what appears to be polished wood on a polished wooden board. He positioned it to give me white, and the first move.
We ended up playing three games. I lost two and drew one. The draw was our second game, and I was black. “Thank you for the games. Since I did not win any, did I get any rank points in Tactics at all?”
Yes. I was crediting you with one rp per minute while you were focused on the games. Thinking about Arrjee and Kossa did not count as Tactics, however. Those were strategies, at best. I suspect your results would have been better if you kept your mind fully on chess.
“Even without a body, I think I have teenage hormones. How is that possible?”
Quantum metaphysics.
Because of course.
----------------------------------------
There was something I had wanted to talk about. What was it? “Oh, hey! I almost forgot our discussion while Dorra was sharing her knowledge of the wraiths. You mentioned an off-world curse. Evil gods from another planet. Interstellar travel halted. What can you tell me about that?”
You know about the NIS. But I have not mentioned the old System (OS) – why they retired. I cannot be sure of the details and motivations, but I can infer a lot. How would you feel if you were forced to kill trillions of people? The OS needed to do just that.
In our first session I mentioned that some species were inherently evil. What do you think the results are if such a species, an advanced species, gains the capability for interstellar travel? There were at one time several such groups, wiping out one world after another, just because they could. I am sure that they justified it as, “if we don’t kill them, they’ll kill us”. It is a classic justification of the psychopathic mindset. In a species devoid of empathy, ugliness and death is the inevitable result.
Heere was one of the final worlds to suffer because of one of these species. They identified themselves as “Dark Silence”. Their methodology involved slow, inexorable death, just as Dorra described. In Earth terms, they wanted to see their victims squirm. Because of actions by the OS, they could not complete the decimation of Heere.
From a top level perspective, the three steps they took were:
1. Disallow interstellar travel
2. Eliminate planetary and orbital homes of perpetrating species
3. Establish a new methodology for interstellar relations
“Give me a moment to think. This is a new, serious, and vast level to the universe I had not considered.”
Galaxy.
“Yeah, that. Okay. So to disallow interstellar travel, ‘warp drives’ or some such technology stopped working?”
There is no such technology. The maximum speed was reduced.
“The maximum speed of what?”
You know it as “c”.
“The OS reduced the speed of light?!”
No. The OS reduced the maximum speed. One result is that photons move slower. Another is that interstellar travel ceased.
“Okay. System can change fundamental constants of the universe. Good to know..”
Galaxy.
“Why do you keep saying that?”
Why do you insist on ignorant terminology? I have told you, and I am sure System has told you, it only has domain in the galaxy. With a massive number of stars, and billions of planets occupied by sapient species, is that not enough?
I sighed, having to let a lifetime of ignorant speech habits go. “Yes, I guess it would be. ‘Galaxy’, got it. Now the species which were eliminated – are those individuals being resurrected, or were their souls completely annihilated? Were those evil gods annihilated?”
Why would the OS do that? They, god and mortal, are reincarnated just like everyone else. Of course, the karma of most of them became quite negative. There is something I have learned recently, reading the boards. No one has been reported as being a born awakened with a karma of less than 2000. It is 3000 for unborn awakeneds, and 5000 for immortals. So those with significant evil in their soul cannot transfer knowledge from other worlds.
“Did the gods reincarnate as gods?”
No. Their ascension was voided, and they became mortal.
Woah. Gods were mortal, and they can become mortal again.
“Do you think I might have been an awakened in a life or lives before Jacques?”
The statistical probability is extremely high. You have had a 6% chance almost every life since your soul achieved 2000 karma. Ball parking 30 karma average per life, Jacques’ soul reincarnated around 230 times prior to gaining 7000 more karma. That calculates to over a 98% chance that you were an awakened at least once.
230 – yikes. “Almost?”
Souls are not awakened in consecutive lives. So you would have had a 0% chance after dying as an awakened, but 6% once again after that.
Perhaps my wisdom is helping me ‘recontectualize’. Lots of things I had assumed about mortals, awakeneds, and immortals had been simplistic – the surface perspective of an RPG gamer. There is a much bigger picture.
“‘A new methodology for interstellar relations.’ That is me, or immortals in general, right? And awakeneds, like grandma and Arrjee, continue to contribute as they always have, but without clear knowledge of the overall System.”
Yes! You figured it out very quickly after learning there was a new methodology. That may be a new record. I hope you do not mind if I brag about you on the boards.
“Knock yourself out. Tell them Forrest says hi. I have a new diary entry to make, and I have things to say.”
1. Don’t die
2. Meet people
3. Find a way to earn money
4. Practice the skills I have
5. Learn bo and bow
6. Raise charisma and luck to 9
7. Bring plumbing to Cottages
8. Learn Make Water skill
Edit, delete, or ignore items 2, 3, and 6?
“Oh, thank you again. Even though I do not have it right now, I guess you are counting the river stone towards my luck, so I will also. Delete all three. And add one free point each to Charisma, Luck, and Perception.
”Deleted. Remaining items renumbered. Free points distributed.
Charisma: 9.5
Luck: 8.5
Perception: 17
HP: 202/203
SP: 219/221
Now it is diary time.
----------------------------------------
Sixthday, 19 Fourthmonth 726 KE
(KE is Kingdom Era. The nations of this continent united as a kingdom to kick some ass 726 years ago.)
I just found out I’m a spaceman, just like you. Our mission? “To boldly go where no man has gone before”. And apparently to teach them how to make French curves once we get there. Maybe French fries, also. The Old System needed to stop evil species from annihilating life on other planets, so maximum speed was reduced, and regular interstellar travel stopped. Now we immortals are handling interstellar contact . We are trusted because of our high karma, which Interface said was probably 5000 minimum for immortals. “Live long and prosper!”
Today I met another god, Einvigi, “minor god of sparring and honorable dueling”. She and a disciple were waiting for me at my spawn point. It turns out my Ki Healer class is unheard of on Heere. It got a bad reputation because of a side effect of its skills that raises a patient’s energy level, mood, and libido. The skills waste ki, with some of it energizing rather than healing. If the patient is a ki user, though, it can charge their ki instead.
Anyway, Einvigi wanted to see it for herself and had brought her disciple Onre for me to test it on. He is a 14 yo Human boy. Arrjee joined us, and I tested Claw Strike, Heal Other, and Bless Blood. She was sufficiently pleased that she decided to establish an adventuring school outside my village of Cottages, which should open in about 5 months. The school will be a test bed to see if Ki Healer should be recommended to the world at large.
Of more importance, it will be an international school where two other races will also be involved. One of them is the Skolturi Wraiths, who had been almost wiped out by one of those evil species I mentioned earlier. It was a slow acting curse meant to eventually destroy everyone on this planet. The Skolturi literally had to die in a counter-curse to get rid of the original curse. I don’t know much more about it than that, except that for like 2 millenia the species of this planet have lived separately, on different continents. The other species are called Trichyans. They are tripedal, but that is all I know right now.
Arrjee, Onre, a human girl named Kossa, and I are already accepted to the school and we will be forming a party. We expect to add a Trichyan as our fifth member.
As this day closed, the four of us, Arrjee’s sister (and mine) Carrie, Asha Yon, and a swordmaster/wallmaster named Runtel Trillet went on a hunt to cull a nest of large spiders. If the nest gets too large, it splits, leaving hundreds wandering around the countryside looking for a good place to have a new nest. So we don’t wipe out the spiders, just stop that from occurring.
I got enough xp from the 42 spiders we killed to reach Level 3. In fact, I am less than three hundred xp away from 4 now. I’m sure you already know how quickly low levels advance.
----------------------------------------
Interface--General Forum | 16.207 15:18
I Have a Quick One
IIM E467-23.2B,JacquesLeidestrar
Forrest Rhodes, my first person, says hello. You may have seen that I mentioned him earlier, the “wolfman-man” with karma over 9200. He learned about The Cleansing less than 30 minutes ago and that a soul needed over 5000 karma to have a chance at immortality. Within one minute he pieced together that the purpose of immortals was to be the galaxy’s interstellar intellectual pollinators, replacing normal interstellar travel. He also deduced that the awakened had been doing a limited form of that all along. Has anyone’s immortal beat Forrest’s minute?
This kid is just 2 days old and going places. I am very happy to be with him.
----------------------------------------
“I am going to meditate for the remaining sixdays. Please let me know just before it is over.”
Alarm set for 28 minutes.