I could make out more details as I approached the line of portals. As I’d noticed earlier, each of them was a square and wide enough for six people to walk abreast. Each portal stood several feet above the ground with a ramp that split to form two lanes.

Egress and ingress, perhaps? I thought as I made my way toward the sixth portal. It was also the last portal which made sense, as it would have been the most recently added one. Does that mean you can only portal between capitols? I wondered as I walked. Though I suppose there could be a secondary interchange somewhere else for intra-regional travel.

A large holographic sign confirmed that I was indeed at the correct gate, while a smaller sign below it informed me I should keep to the left lane. I followed the instruction and was soon only a few feet from the portal itself. From this angle, I could see another sign facing the portal that also directed people to stay left, confirming my theory that the portal was bi-directional.

Up close, the Psi Gate was an intimidating sight, being as tall as it was wide and framed with a foot of odd purple metal engraved with pictographs from a language I didn’t recognize. In most circumstances, this would be where I pulled out the Database of Ancient Languages I’d started with, however, I could already see a few guards eying me up.

I doubted they would let me mess around with critical infrastructure, so instead, I continued my advance to the portal. As I grew closer, the surface changed, what had at first been a flat plane of energy began swirling in distorted patterns that grew fiercer as I continued my approach.

I hoped this was what Katie had meant by the gate activating as I approached. A glance at the guards showed they had stopped watching once I started moving and didn’t seem concerned about how the gate was acting. I would just have to trust that it was working correctly.

Once I was within a foot of the gate, I could feel an odd resonance that was more in my mind than my body. It had to be the energy that was powering the gate, Psi. It was my first glimpse of what my class would be capable of, and it was a powerful glimpse at that.

I was very interested in how they were going to implement the Psionic abilities, in particular how the interface was going to work. After experiencing this, I would not be happy if it just ended up being a series of voice commands and gestures.

With a wavering hand, I reached out to touch the swirling vortex of energy in front of me. It felt cool and numbed my skin like static electricity. I had expected to be sucked in just by touching it, however, it looked like I would have to move through instead.

Mustering my confidence, I took a deep breath before striding straight through my side of the vortex. In an instant, all I could see was purple, and my body felt like it was both stretching and shrinking at the same time. Then it was over as quickly as it had begun and, for the second time, I was somewhere else.

I stepped out of the portal on the other side as smoothly as I had stepped in, the transit having maintained my momentum and balance. Despite the oddities during travel, it was a much smoother appearance than the first time the System shifted me. I had to wonder whether it was because I was getting used to sudden changes in location, Psi Gates being a superior method of travel or something else altogether.

The room I had gated into was a much smaller version of the interchange that I had just come from. On this side, the only full-size gate was the one behind me, though I could see three smaller versions lined up to my left. Each was a third the size of the main gate.

So if I’m reading this right, you can’t go straight from one of the regional capitals to the others, you have to go through the Interchange I just came from. I’m guessing that means the smaller gates around here are to other cities or towns in this region. From their size, I would guess they don’t see a lot of traffic.

Most of the room was empty except for the guards and a single man sitting behind the counter. It looked like Katie had been right when she said this city was quiet. If any other players had already come through, they must have vacated in a hurry.

A woman’s voice pulled me from my thoughts as it crackled from a speaker to my left. “Please clear the platform.”

Right, I’m still standing on the ingress side of the portal. Better get a move on, I don’t want to be bowled over if someone else comes through behind me. With that pleasant thought in mind, I strode down my side of the ramp and out the door. No one seemed interested in stopping me or asking for any documentation, so I figured I could just leave.

Whether that was because they had lax security or because I was already in a secure area, I wasn’t sure. Though I would lean towards the latter given that I had to come through a customs checkpoint on arrival.

The door out of the room lead to a corridor that, while a lot smaller, again mirrored the facility I’d arrived in. A door on my left had the word ‘Hangar’ above it while at the end of the corridor were two doors, one marked ‘Exit’.

I had to squint as I left the building, the bright light too much after my time indoors. Before me lay a city of shining marble and steel that glittered in the midday sun. It was a breathtaking sight more than worthy of my first step onto a foreign planet.

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Smiling at the experience, I moved away from the spaceport and into a small park opposite it, taking a deep breath of fresh air as I went. It was sweet and clean, a far cry from the smog that I was used to. The few school trips I’d taken out into the countryside hadn’t been half as nice.

Just as I was reaching the park, a System screen appeared in front of my eyes. Tired of being interrupted by them at inopportune moments, I tried visualizing it minimizing for now. To my surprise, it worked, shifting into a small blue square in the left corner of my vision.

This allowed me to make my way to one of the carved wooden benches placed under a tree that I was sure wasn’t native to Earth. It had bright blue bark and yellow leaves that, while alien, provided quite a delightful view when taken together. Seating myself on the bench, I focused on pulling the System screen back up now that I wasn’t standing out in the open.

Major Choice Detected

Warning this is a choice that will have an ongoing impact on your character.

You have left a spaceport for the first time, taking your first step into your new world. Do you wish to make the city of Elendes the starting location for your initial Paths?

I wonder what it means by paths? Some kind of quest chain, perhaps? I wondered as I read over the screen. Whatever it was, there was no way I was going to pay the gate fee to move to another city. The choice made, I focused on thinking about confirming it. It worked as the screen shifted to another page, showing that I had been right in thinking the System accepted mental commands.

Choose Your Path

Warning this is a choice that will have an ongoing impact on your character.

While we have already allocated your Class Path, it is now time to select one based on how you wish to live in your new home. Select one option from those listed below.

Path of the Soldier

Path of the Mercenary

Path of the Crafter

Path of the Explorer

Path of the Miner

…

The options continued after Path of the Miner, however, I’d already seen the one I wanted. Path of the Soldier was straight out, I had no interest in joining the military. While Path of the Mercenary sounded interesting, I was a support class at best until I started getting my Psionic abilities, it was doubtful if they would even take me.

If anything, I would be the one hiring them when the wilderness became more than I could handle alone. While I’d try to do as much as I could myself, when I faced the reality of the situation, I knew I would need help at some point. The key would be to make enough of a profit that I could pay some guards as well as myself.

I had no interest in crafting, resource gathering, or any of the other options that extended down the page, either. Path of the Explorer, however, sounded perfect to me. I was already planning on exploring as much as I could, both to make money and to advance my class. Having quests added as well would be a pleasant bonus.

With a thought, I focused on Path of the Explorer, then confirmed it on the following screen. As I did so, I received a message informing me it was now present on my Journal page. Huh, I mused, so it was quest related after all. Better check it out, I could use a little direction on how to get started.

Journal

Paths:

Path of the Psion

Path of the Explorer

Quests:

First Lead (Path of the Psion)

Guild Initiation (Path of the Explorer)

Notes:

As the earlier message mentioned, I already had Path of the Psion assigned. Grinning, I pulled the quest for that up first.

Quest: First Lead (Path of the Psion)

The world of Psionics holds mysteries that those from the core worlds can’t even begin to fathom. Despite gathering information for most of your adult life, you have still only just scratched the surface of how to obtain such abilities.

Objective:

Locate a lead related to your class

Reward:

10 XP

Path Progression

Not a lot to go on there, I'll just have to keep an eye out while I’m exploring and hope I stumble across something. While it’s possible, I could ask some locals, I’m not sure how forthcoming they would be with a stranger.

After thinking about my first quest for a couple of minutes, I moved on to my next one, hoping that it would provide a more immediate goal.

Quest: Guild Initiation

To become a registered explorer, you will need to join up with the Elendes branch of the Explorers Guild.

Objective:

Join the Explorers Guild

Reward:

10 XP

Guild Membership

Now that was more like it, an obvious goal that I should be able to complete without too much fuss. Goal located, I turned my attention to the watch on my wrist, trying to figure out how to get it into map mode. After poking at it for a while, I tried thinking at it instead, much as I had with the System screen.

To my joy, this worked, bringing up a holographic map of the city. A second thought had it home in on a building to the far north of the city, while a third gave me a floating arrow to follow. With a grin I moved out, It was time to work on my first quest.