It sounded like they were screwed.
If Meta was funneling Energy into their area, and that led to the birth of monsters and the opening of dungeons… their home—and their lives—were in serious danger.
Ben lay back on the forest floor, staring into the canopy of old oak trees surrounding him.
His heart was racing. His breath came in quick, shallow bursts. The world seemed to close in around him.
No. This is not the time for a panic attack.
He forced himself to breathe in—deeply—held it for a few seconds, then slowly exhaled. Again. And again. His heartbeat began to slow. His mind began to clear.
There had to be a way forward. Both Meta and Mesa had emphasized growth. They hadn’t gone into detail about what this ‘Energy’ could really do—but if it was like magic, surely there would be ways to use it for protection. Maybe survival.
He took another breath.
I’m in no shape to run home right now. Might as well check out this interface. Maybe there’s something useful.
With that, Ben thought: Status.
A pulse of pressure built behind his eyes—like the start of a headache—but instead of pain, a window opened in front of him. Just like the one that had transcribed Mesa’s message, it floated in his vision, clear and golden.
STATUS
Name: Ben Jackson
Tier: 1
ATTRIBUTES
- Body: 8
(Note: Down from 15 due to spinal injury) - Mind: 12
- Magic: 4
PERKS
[General]
- [Analyze] — Grants insight into objects, creatures, and sapient beings. Not upgradeable.
- [Multi-Lingual] — Allows comprehension and communication across most sapient languages, verbal and written. Not upgradeable.
[Body]
- [Axe Handling] — Whether felling trees or your enemies, you are on the path to axe mastery. Uncommon
- [Spinal Injury] — Severe impairment of speed, agility, and lower body strength.
[Mind]
- None
[Magic]
- None
The first thing he noticed was that he didn't have three but four perks—the fourth being his [Spinal injury]. It clearly had a significant detrimental impact on his [Body] attribute, whatever that was. Before he could get hung up on this, he took a step back.
Mesa had said the interface would provide relevant context information. So he focused his attention on the line that said Tier 1. After a brief moment, an overlay appeared on top of his status screen.
Tiers represent significant steps in power between individuals. Beings in the multiverse typically range between Tier 1 and Tier 5. Beings with higher tiers exist, but are rare.
To achieve Tier 2, you need to have five upgradable perks at [Uncommon] level or higher. If the prerequisites are met, perks can be combined and / or upgraded.
Ben closed the overlay with a thought and looked at his perks. Currently, he had three non-upgradable perks: [Analyze], [Multi-Lingual], and [Spinal injury]. His fourth, [Axe handling], was already listed as [Uncommon].
He didn’t know how hard it was to get an [Uncommon] perk, but it felt like a good start. If most beings in the multiverse were between Tiers 1–5, then being 20% of the way to Tier 2 wasn’t bad. Even if climbing tiers became progressively harder, it was a first step.
He looked back to the upper part of his status screen and focused on attributes. Another overlay opened.
Attributes for humans are indexed to 10 as average. They represent the individual’s ability to process Energy in various forms. Attributes can be raised via training, perks, equipment, or other magical effects.
The [Body] attribute describes strength, speed, agility, constitution, and the ability to leverage Energy to enhance those.
The [Mind] attribute covers perception, reasoning, leadership, and utility tasks.
The [Magic] attribute reflects the ability to process Energy to perform external magical effects.
Well, Ben thought, looks like I won’t be throwing fireballs anytime soon.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Still, having a [Body] value of 8, despite the [Spinal injury], wasn’t terrible. He forced himself not to dwell on what could have been without his injury and moved on.
He focused on the Perks section. Another overlay appeared.
Perks are initially awarded by the systems for activities that contribute to the growth of the individual or the multiverse. Over time the individual needs to shape their own path.
Perks can be awarded for brief acts of glory or for the patient honing of skills over thousands of hours.
Perks are ranked by rarity: [Common], [Uncommon], [Rare], [Epic], [Legendary], [Mythic], [Divine].
This section of the interface also tracks permanent effects such as long-term disabilities, or magical modifications.
Alright, this all seems pretty clear. He closed the status screen.
He leaned back against the tree, his mind racing.
What does all of this mean for me?
His priorities crystallized quickly:
First, survival, for himself and the team. Second, protecting and securing their home. Third, bringing his younger sister Julia and her kids to the safety of their, by then hopefully defended, home. If what Mesa had said was true, Meta would keep the cities relatively safe for now. So, it wasn’t urgent, but he wouldn’t feel right until they were together.
So how do I make that happen?
Mesa and Meta kept emphasizing ‘growth’. Did that just mean ranking up in tiers? Maybe. That would require more perks. But how to get perks?
The interface had said the systems had discretion.
If monsters were already appearing, he certainly didn’t have 10,000 hours to grind skills. That left ‘feats of glory’. Dangerous, sure—but if it kept everyone safe, it might be worth it.
Mesa mentioned dungeons. Efficient Energy sinks and growth opportunities. If Meta was spawning them nearby, maybe that was the path forward.
First, though—check on the others. Ben pushed himself into a sitting position.
He carefully raised his tattered shirt and inspected the wounds on his shoulder. The bleeding had stopped shortly after the fight, but he didn’t want to leave them untreated. He rinsed them with some water and cut up his shirt with his pocketknife, making strips. He laid them over the bite marks and used a few band-aids from his backpack to hold them in place.
Not ideal, but it'll do. He packed up the remaining scraps of his shirt and stood up.
That’s when he noticed it—a small golden symbol blinking in the corner of his vision. Curious, he focused on it. A new system screen popped up:
Congratulations! For defeating an Energy-born creature before being inducted into the system, and for being the first human globally to do so, you are awarded a perk: [Resilient Body] — When out of combat, your body will fix itself over time. Rare
“Wow,” he whispered. That sounded strong. I wish I’d had that when I had my accident.
For a brief second, his heart leapt with hope. Maybe… could this heal his spine?
But no. He shut that thought down fast. He’d learned the hard way what false hope could do. Instead, he focused on the upside.
He looked at his shoulder again. I wonder how fast this works.
He carefully peeled off one of the bandages to memorize the depth of the wounds and started the stopwatch on his watch.
I can monitor this while I walk. He slung the backpack over his uninjured shoulder and began making his way back through the woods.
Ben had only been walking for a couple of minutes when he suddenly stopped. What did Mesa mean when she said, don't forget to extract the core? He thought as he half turned back to where he had come from. She mentioned this right after I had killed the wolf.
Was she maybe referring to the little golden pearl? Hmm, I really want to get going, but maybe this is important. Maybe it will help me grow. With this, he fully turned back and returned to the area where he had killed the wolf.
It's going to get messy, isn't it? He wondered as he looked at the corpse of the beast he had slain not long ago. Choosing between his axe and his pocketknife, he decided to use the axe. With a solid thwack, he hit the chest of the wolf, cutting through fur and muscle.
Just a few centimeters in, in a small cavity, he found the pearl — or rather core, as Mesa had called it. Oh, this was easier than I thought. As he pulled the core, smaller than the nail on his pinky finger, out of the beast's chest, he wondered what it could be used for but refused to spend too much time thinking about it now.
He stowed the core in his backpack and resumed his walk home. He regularly checked the timer on his watch as he walked through the dusky forest.
As the timer reached 15 minutes, he took a short break to again remove one of the bandages on his shoulder and checked the state of his injury. The wound was clearly still there, and it was still slightly painful, particularly when he moved his left arm. However, he got the strong impression that it had improved somewhat.
This is quite amazing. I think if it continues like this, it might be gone in about two to three hours.
As he resumed his walk, he pondered this further. It only works outside of combat, and it is not instantaneous, but it's an incredible boon. It should allow me to take larger risks and improve the speed of growth significantly. Not a reason to go crazy, but definitely something to keep in mind.
He continued to make good progress and walked with the maximum speed that his exoskeleton would allow. At the same time, he tried to stay alert.
He didn't want to be surprised by another wolf or a different kind of beast. After about an hour of walking through the forest, he noticed a golden glow in the quickly darkening forest about 150 meters ahead of him. It was different from the formation of the wolf.
Instead of sparkles, this was a consistent glow and also significantly larger than the relatively contained phenomenon that created the beast. He stopped and listened. After having waited about five minutes, he still hadn't heard anything dangerous, and the shine hadn't changed at all.
It just took about 30 seconds for the wolf to appear, so I don't assume this is another creature emerging. He weighed his options — should he approach or go around the phenomenon? After a quick deliberation, he decided to slowly and carefully approach the clearing with the idea that he wanted to understand the new world that they were living in — and in particular, whether this was a threat to their home, which he was rapidly getting closer to. While he certainly wasn't a ranger of legend that could noiselessly move through the wild, he had grown up in this area all his life, so he could use his experience to carefully approach whatever it was that created the light.
After a couple of steps, he stopped again. I should learn from my mistakes, he thought, remembering the noise that had alerted the wolf to his presence. With that, he switched off the active element of his exoskeleton to prevent the whirring of the machine from alerting potential enemies.