State Ukraine, Zhytomyr District. Neutral Territories, Abandoned Service Station for Heavy-Duty Vehicles.
Maxim Chernykh’s team, August 14, 2049, 02:21 PM
“All done!” Maksim called out from the inspection pit, already climbing back up. “The truck is in perfect condition. No issues at all, though I’d rather not repeat those stunts near the Watchtower again.”
“Let’s hope we won’t need to, big brother,” Alisa responded. “You finished? What’s next on the agenda?”
“I was planning to call Miro and Lena, but... it feels a bit too early for that,” Maksim admitted, taking off his work gloves. “I still haven’t fully grasped what exactly the System is at this stage, so I wouldn’t be able to make a proper offer. You know what? We should probably deal with that now. Here is a rare moment to catch our breath — seems like the perfect time to figure it out. Let’s go have a word with WonderKid.”
He found Dasha by the truck’s cab, sitting comfortably with Nikola at a small camp table, surrounded by thick clouds of slowly dissipating vapor. It seemed Redhead had made good use of her resourcefulness in what now felt like a past life — managing to gather not just plenty of e-juice, but also a lot of devices for vaping.
“Well, let them enjoy a break while they can,” Max decided, waving dismissively at the scene. “But their chill doesn’t mean we can skip the talk.”
“Alright, WonderWhiz,” he began, crossing his arms. “I get that you’re relaxing and all, but the time’s come for you to shine. Spill it!”
“Huh? What am I supposed to… Spill? Why...?” Vasilevskaya mumbled, taken off guard.
“It’s time for the full rundown on the System,” Alisa chuckled as she approached the table. “It’s been self-learning for a while now, and we’ve got some new things to show.”
“Oh, right… the System… yeah… Alisa and I are currently analyzing the data, including after the last… I mean, the latest fight, yeah,” Dasha mumbled a bit uncertainly. Then, as if coming to her senses, she swapped out the tank on her vape, and took a deep, calming drag. With renewed confidence, she launched into a long explanation.
“So, um... this is just the beginning, really. The System is modular… and, just as said before, it’s actively evolving. I’ve already started digging into some of the modules and sketched out a plan for further development and improvements. When the conditions are... right. You know, for work.”
“The initial module, which is also the basic one — I’ve named it ‘Attributes, Implants, and Skills.’ The interface for it isn’t ready yet, so it hasn’t shown up visually. The goal of this nifty thing is to act as a bridge between us — as a set of, err, bodily characteristics, implant parameters, and so on — and TACTA. Yeah.”
Dasha took a couple more deep breaths from the vape and then tucked it back into her vest, focusing more intently on her explanation.
“The module I mentioned earlier — the one that created the human model — well, it has all characteristics divided into three groups. The first one is Physical characteristics: Strength, Endurance, Agility and Perception. Like I said, each of them is an averaged evaluation of various body parameters responsible for different aspects of physical activity.”
She paused before continuing, “It’s important to note that it can also account for implants. There’s a whole additional block on cybernetics. But we’ll get to that later. For now, let’s focus on the parameters. For an average person who hasn’t done any special training, each attribute falls between twenty and thirty. The maximum is theoretically one hundred, but that’s just a rough estimate — I’m not sure anyone could actually reach that level. Yeah.”
“We’re currently working on the interface and refining the analysis module so we can interact with this data more easily,” Alisa chimed in. “You’ll be able to open up categories, view detailed information, and figure out how to train specific attributes. The System isn’t a magic wand, of course. There’s no ‘drop ten points into intelligence and instantly become a genius’ type of deal.”
“Shame,” Dasha chuckled. “Would’ve been fun. The second category is Mental characteristics. We’ve got Intelligence, Willpower, Intuition and Charisma. Alisa and I picked these names to make them easy to understand. And though we have only scratched the surface of the model, it all looks logical. Just like in real life, if you stop developing something, it gradually regresses to its baseline.”
As she finished, the girl glanced around for water. Spotting a bottle on the table, she took a long drink while Maksim mulled over what he’d just heard.
“Okay, two groups. Makes sense so far,” he said thoughtfully, his eyes shifting between the girls. “But you did say there are three, right?”
“This last one is particularly intriguing,” Alisa remarked. “I think it offers huge potential, not only for us as System users but also for its marketing and promotion. This group is so interesting that it could be a gold mine for us!”
“I named this group ‘Magic,’” Dasha interrupted with a satisfied grin, pulling out her vape again, though she didn’t turn it on just yet.
“And I suggested calling them ‘System Attributes’ or even ‘Super Attributes,’ so it’s easier for our future clients to accept,” Alisa added, squinting with anticipation.
“What nonsense,” Maksim scoffed. “Everyone knows magic doesn’t exist!”
“It exists — oh, it definitely does!” Vasilevskaya countered, her eyes lighting up with excitement. “People have just forgotten the true nature of the world. All-Father Odin sacrificed himself, hanging for nine days and nights on the World Tree Yggdrasil to gain the wisdom of the runes. That’s… not just a legend, it’s a metaphor for a deep understanding of the universe and the hidden forces within it! And Thor, with his hammer Mjolnir, controlling lightning and thunder — that’s a clear manifestation of energy manipulation!”
She paused, taking a quick drag from her vape before biting her lip in thought, her newfound eloquence surging forward, as if Odin himself had blessed her words.
“People turned away from this knowledge, drowning in false beliefs, losing sight of the full scope of reality,” Dasha leaned forward, her hands gesturing animatedly. “But magic… it’s always been there. We just stopped noticing it. The System — it’s a real step toward rediscovering those hidden possibilities. We can call them whatever we want, but the essence remains the same. Magic is real! And it’s waiting for us to embrace it again!”
“I actually like the idea of magic,” Nikola chimed in. “If it exists, that’s pretty awesome.”
“Exactly!” Dasha’s cheeks flushed with excitement. “We should just… accept it, yeah… and try to understand how it all works within the framework of our tech! After all, new discoveries are just forgotten old ones, right?”
“I don’t get what you’re all cooking up,” Maksim frowned. “There’s never been such thing as magic — that’s just old folklore. I’ve never seen anything like this in my life, and I doubt TACTA’s arrival has changed our world that much.”
“Just because you haven’t seen it doesn’t mean it wasn’t there,” Alisa countered meaningfully. “Sorry to say, but you could’ve missed things happening right under your nose. Moreover, your practical nature is well-known, of course. Well, when I ran a query through the API, I didn’t get any magic-related data… but that’s only for now.”
“You didn’t get any,” Dasha grinned mischievously. “But I did! Which makes me a mage now, yeah! And I’ll prove it to you right now, Max!”
The girl sprang up from the table, tossing aside her vape. Taking what she believed was a confident, “convincing” stance, she theatrically waved her arms, pulling up a large augmented reality screen for Maksim, Alisa, and Nikola to see.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
“Ta-da! Abracadabra!”
On the screen, she displayed the remote access terminal to the command console and quickly sent the necessary request. The response came almost instantly.
//SYSTEM
Group: Magic (System) Attributes.
Foresight (1) ‘Basic Foresight’
Activated Skill: ‘Instant Appraisal’
Grants the ability to instantly assess the current situation and receive an intuitive hint about the safest path or action.
Energy cost: Low
Cooldown: 5 minutes
Passive Skill: ‘Intuitive Warning’ (+5 Intuition)
* You gain the ability to sense danger a few seconds before it occurs.
* Increases the chance of dodging unexpected attacks.
* Slight boost to Intuition.
Synergistic Skill: ‘Basic Visual Telegraphs’
Simple integration of the activated skill ‘Instant Appraisal’ with a visual AR/VR environment.
Foresight (2) ‘Enhanced Foresight’
Activated Skill: ‘Anticipating Movements’
You see visual projections of an opponent’s movements, including their attacks and counters.
Energy cost: Low
Duration: 10 seconds
Cooldown: 10 minutes
Passive Skill: ‘Reflex Reaction’ (+5 Perception)
* Improves reaction time to sudden events.
* Enhances combat reflexes.
* Slight boost to Perception.
Synergistic Skill: ‘Enhanced Visual Telegraphs’
Integrates activated skills ‘Instant Appraisal’ and ‘Anticipating Movements’ with a visual AR/VR environment.
Foresight (3) ‘Deep Foresight’
Activated Skill: ‘Glimpse into the Future’
Allows you to see potential events over the next few minutes. Can be used for planning, avoiding danger, or acting preemptively.
Energy cost: High, variable
Vision Horizon: Up to 5 minutes
Vision Duration: Up to 30 seconds
Cooldown: 1 hour
Passive Skill: ‘Sixth Sense’
* You begin to sense hidden threats and traps.
* Increases the likelihood of detecting hidden objects and creatures.
* Slight boost to Intuition and Perception (+5 Intuition, +5 Perception).
Synergistic Skill: ‘Team Visual Telegraph’
Allows for the synchronization of all Foresight-capable individuals in a shared visual environment. Can use data from external sources (drones, flying cameras, etc.)
Foresight (4) progress scale – 87% complete
Current Passive Effect: +4 Intelligence.
As soon as Dasha displayed everything on the screen, she began rattling off explanations at breakneck speed, clearly too excited to slow down.
“You see? See, Maxie! I’m a mage, yeah! Mwa-ha-ha, take that! I know it looks confusing right now, but it’s all true. And it’s coming from TACTA. It’s all linked to our implant upgrades, I’m one hundred percent sure! This is real, legit — an active skill works! I used it once, and it was incredible — mind-blowing, magical! It saved your life, yeah! And yes, technically, we can call this a ‘system’ attribute, but that’s only in the context of TACTA. That’s important! Sure, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, all those characteristics — they come from the work of our own System, processed through the module for ‘Attributes’…”
She blurted it all out in one breath, pausing only long enough to catch some air before continuing.
“But in the third category? It’s different. It’s not part of the model at all! We can only get the data from TACTA through special API queries to the Informatorium. That’s why the characteristics in this group are presented differently, with values ranging from 0 to 10, and each level has an ‘experience bar.’ Once that fills, we level up! Like, look — I’m only thirteen percent away from leveling up to Foresight Level Four! I can’t wait to see what comes next!”
By now, she had captured everyone’s full attention. No one interrupted or argued as they listened intently. Dasha pressed on.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have a detailed breakdown of how it all works. Not yet. And I can only speak from what I’ve seen personally. What other stats are out there, what they’ll be called, and what they’ll do — we have no clue.”
“So yeah, all of this came from TACTA’s information system. I don’t know how to gain experience or level up, and I still haven’t figured out how to activate skills intentionally. Even though I managed to trigger it by accident once! Moreover, it’s written in the API that each use...”
Vasilevskaya suddenly stammered, realizing that her throat was dry, and grabbed a bottle of water, downing it in just a few gulps before continuing.
“Every time a skill is used, it drains energy. If this were a LitRPG fantasy novel, I’d say it’s ‘mana.’ Or ‘psionic energy’ if we were in a sci-fi world. But unfortunately, we’re not in a book, and I have no idea what this energy actually is. If I knew... but I just don’t know. For now, yeah!”
Dasha's energetic monologue left the entire team in stunned silence, deep in thought. Nikola was even gaping, visibly astonished.
Maksim, ever resistant to changing his worldview, wasn’t ready to surrender just yet. But it was getting harder to refute the girls’ arguments. Especially since he’d used one of these strange, incredibly powerful abilities himself.
With a sigh, he pulled up the archived notification about his ‘Neural Surge’ activation and shared it on the AR screen for everyone to see. Dasha froze for a moment, as she read the lines, then let out a squeal and threw her arms around the guy’s neck.
“You see, Maxie! Yeah, it’s true! You’re the chosen one too! You’re a gifted one! I knew it, I knew it, yeah!”
He smiled at her excited reaction and gently set her back down on the ground.
“Call it whatever you like, but I’m still going to believe this is advanced tech, not magic. Just way more sophisticated than what we’ve had before. Am I right in assuming we don’t know much about these ‘magical’ stuff yet? And that strong backlash I got after using my skill — was that because I ran out of whatever energy powers it?”
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” Alisa recited one of her favorite quotes. “Arthur C. Clarke, Third Law.”
“And that means it really is magic, yeah!” Dasha declared with a nod. “But unfortunately, we don’t have detailed descriptions of these abilities or the exact activation sequences. Most likely, your issue was related to energy. The problem is, we don’t even know what this ‘magical energy’ depends on or how fast it regenerates. And you know what’s the weirdest part?”
“What, WonderKid?” Maksim asked.
“The Informatorium clearly states that all… or… at least some, of this info, yeah… is available — but only once we reach the fourth partner category. Alisa is the closest, she’s at category five. But I just don’t understand why it’s set up this way. After all, both you and I already got these abilities and skills. We’ve used them. That’s definitely linked to the upgrades in our implants, right? So why is the info locked to us?”
“Maybe it’s their way of dangling a ‘carrot on a stick’,” Nikоla mused. “Honestly, I’m dying to figure out how to unlock one of those ‘magical’ attributes. That ‘Foresight,’ even at its lowest level, is a must-have for any fighter! If there’s a way to learn how to acquire it, I’ll dig my heels in and grind with all my cybernetic might until I hit that partnership tier!”
Maksim paced along the table, deep in thought.
“Maybe they have some kind of tech support? Or we’re just approaching it from the wrong angle? We’ve been working through the API and our own software interpretation — our System. Maybe we just haven’t given TACTA enough time to release the information to us directly? Maybe something will be revealed on the August 20th, especially if this whole thing is tied to the Ratings? Or maybe the fact that Dasha and I got these ‘super-skills’ is some kind of exception to the rule? Clearly, not everyone is granted these ‘super-abilities.’”
“Actually, I have a theory about why I got ‘Foresight’,” Dasha suddenly said quietly.
“Why?” Maksim and Alisa asked in unison. Nikola also turned toward her, curiosity written all over her face.
“Because my work with code, well… the structures. Seeing their evolution…” Vasilevskaya began hesitantly. “What’s that, if not a kind of foresight? Maybe I’ve always had this ability, mastered it on my own, and developed it from scratch. The only difference is, when I use the System’s skill, I don’t need ‘Synth’ or other drugs. But instead, I need some kind of energy?”
Feeling frustrated, Dasha grabbed her vape and plopped back down on her chair, puffing furiously like an angry little steam engine.
“There’s just not enough data! It’s infuriating! Yeah! Where’s my detailed documentation?!”
“WonderKid, you’re vaping zero-base, right?” Maksim asked, noticing how intensely she was puffing and realizing how worked up she’d become.
“Mmhmm, mmhmm,” she waved him off, her eyes glazing over as she dove into Deep VR to study the situation further.
“Guys,” Alisa cut in. “We’re getting ahead of ourselves. We simply don’t have enough information right now. Maybe I’ve got something in these characteristics too, or perhaps Redhead secretly has a ‘super-jump’ or ‘speed boost’ ability. We just don’t know. Let’s link more users to the System and gather some proper stats. We’d better wait for the Rating to unlock. See what changes after we complete a few missions. For now, Dasha and I can outline what other modules the System already has, and we’ll think about a pitch...”
“I think Alisa’s got a point,” Maksim agreed. “Plus, we’ve only just made it out of Kyiv’s territory. It’s our first day of freedom. Let’s take off with what we’ve got for now. We’ll draft up a business proposal for the Linkers and Miro, figure out how to convince them to join our project. And we’ll also need to estimate how we’ll sell access. Then we’ll reach out to them.”
He stood up, stretched, glanced around, and added, “But let’s plan all that on the road. I’ve disabled the invisibility, and the truck is in perfect shape. Let’s head for Rzeszów already.”