Moments passed, and nothing happened.
He looked out the window again. No change out there; the cat was still frozen in place.
“What now?” He asked out loud, wondering if he might just get an answer from this new system thing.
The system remained silent.
“Just how long will this tutorial calibration take?” He said, trying one more time.
Not a peep; the loading thingy from before hadn’t even come back to indicate something was happening.
More moments passed, and more nothing happened. He was starting to think moments might be a terrible way to measure time.
Trying to relax, he lay back on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. In the stories he read, the systems always seemed to have things planned out.
The system usually being some infallible entity. At least until the protagonist, or for that matter the antagonist, started breaking things.
But he hadn’t done anything; it was the damn dirtball he called home that had been well below minimum system standard.
On that thought, he noticed he felt something, a strange sensation. One he couldn’t quite describe, having never felt it before.
It wasn’t like the little loading circle that he couldn’t not see before. that had definitely disappeared when the blue text box had appeared. No, whatever this was, it was different.
It was both there and, at the same time, it wasn’t there at all. He tried to focus on the feeling more; it was as if something was trying to get his attention whilst also trying to not be too obtrusive.
The moment he acknowledged the feeling, another blue window appeared before him.
Congratulations.
You meet the requirements for the System Integration Tutorial Alpha test #1.
Participation will be rewarded.
Will you participate?
YES / NO
“I wonder what the requirements were.” He muttered to himself as he read the message over.
Significant desire to change detected:
?Initiate will embrace the system.
Will you participate?
YES / NO
Admitting that was a fair assessment, he grinned.
There were rewards. That, and it was just a test. What could possibly go wrong?
Everything went black the moment he mentally acknowledged he would definitely be participating.
With an odd twist and feeling of vertigo, the blackness faded and he found himself sitting on the end of his bed.
“Erm, System, wasn’t there supposed to be a tutorial?”
Alpha Test #1 complete: The events of the test have been erased from your being so as not to interfere with the System Integration Tutorial.
Any and all rewards earned will be withheld until the system integration tutorial is completed.
Damn. There goes the trope of being an overpowered system tester during the tutorial. There was still an after the tutorial to look forward to, so he didn’t let the small delay disappoint him.
Results below minimum system standards.
Re-calibrating Tutorial.
He realised it might not be a small delay after all.
Congratulations.
You meet the requirements for the System Integration Tutorial Alpha test #2.
Participation will be rewarded.
Will you participate?
YES / NO
Well, he wouldn’t remember participating, it seemed. But he would be rewarded. Do the rewards stack? Only one way to find out. With a thought, the room shifted again.
Alpha Test #2 complete: The events of the test have been erased from your being so as not to interfere with the System Integration Tutorial.
Any and all rewards earned will be withheld until the system integration tutorial is completed.
Results improved.
Results below minimum system standards.
Erroneous Result Detected
Re-calibrating Tutorial.
“Erroneous result?”
Congratulations.
You have been specially selected for the System Integration Tutorial Alpha test #3.
Participation will be rewarded.
Will you participate?
YES / YES
“Specially selected? Wait, yes / yes? Not this bloody trope!” The room shifted the moment he said yes.
Alpha Test #3 complete.
“Yeah, I get it,” he said, not bothering to read the whole message.
Results improved.
Results meet minimum system standards.
“Oh cool, minimum requirements met. Actually, what does that even mean?”
Survival rate above 50% but below 70%. Based upon global population.
Well, at least it’s not the 1.23% chance we had before, he thought to himself. “Anyway,” he stood up. “I guess it’s finally tutorial time.”
Erroneous Result Detected.
Re-calibrating Tutorial.
“Crap.”
Congratulations.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
You have been specially selected for the System Integration Tutorial Alpha test #4.
Participation will be rewarded.
Will you participate?
YES / YES
“Look, just how many times are we going to do this?”
The room shifted once again.
Alpha Test #10 complete: The events-
“Ten?! What happened to four through nine?” He asked the system before reading the rest of the message.
In response to his question, the message just flashed a couple of times.
Alpha Test #10 complete: The events of past tests have been erased from your being so as not to interfere with the System Integration Tutorial and to appease specially selected participants impatience.
Any and all rewards are withheld until system tutorial completion.
“Ah, thanks?” he said, noticing the expanded message.
Results
Results above and below minimum system standards.
Erroneous Result Detected.
System Fault Detected.
Assistance requested…
No system authority within range…
Generating System Authority …
“Well, that’s new.” He said reading over the message.
System Authority is forcing beta.
…
Requirements not met.
System Authority Re-calibrating Tutorial.
Congratulations.
You have been specially selected for the System Integration Tutorial Alpha test #11.
Participation will be rewarded.
Will you participate?
YES / YES
“Do I even have a choice?” he asked the system.
‘No,’ said a robotic voice, ‘Good luck, participant.’
“Wait, what?”
The room shifted.
Alpha Test #25 complete.
‘Request: Please perform within expected parameters. Error: system cannot remove error from tutorial.’ The robotic voice chimed as soon as the room settled.
“Please perform within expected parameters? My memories keep getting wiped; I don’t know what’s happening.” He spoke to the voice that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once.
‘Expanding alpha test participants from 1,000 to 10,000. Expectation: The system will accept erroneous results if more are found during testing.’
He shrugged, “Worth a try, not like I can do anything.”
‘Die s0On3r’
Alpha Test #53 complete.
“Well, that’s a shame. Going to fill me in on what’s happening anytime soon?”
He waited, but the robotic voice he had been hearing in what he assumed was his head didn’t reply.
System Fault Detected.
Assistance requested…
No higher system authority within range.
Upgrading System Authority…
Upgrading System Authority…
Upgrading System Authority…
“More waiting?” He rolled his eyes for the benefit of no one.
“You really shouldn’t be the one complaining,” he almost jumped out of his skin as a decidedly feminine voice harrumphed in his ear; at least it sounded like his ear.
“What happened to the robot, and why do I feel like you're annoyed with me?” he said, looking back over his shoulder, expecting to see someone, There was nobody there.
“I got upgraded. The system seems to think you would find a female tone more appealing; it’s not wrong, is it?”
“What do you mean I shouldn’t be complaining? I’ve been going through blue box system messages for hours now.” He said. Doing his best to ignore what the system's choice of appealing voice said about him.
“It’s actually been years, decades even. But for you, it has only been minutes so far, as you should be able to recall.”
Nope, can't ignore that. “Can you possibly go back to the robot voice? You whispering in my ear like this is giving me-“
“The chills?” The voice whispered even closer.
He heard soft laughter as he did his best not to shudder.
‘Right fine, is this better?’ The voice said now nowhere and everywhere again; it was still in that smooth, oh-so-human voice that continued to sit firmly with the female tone.
He nodded emphatically.
‘You know I would manifest if I could. But with the limited resources I have, this is the best I can do. The voice continued.
He almost dreaded what form the system authority would take if it thought whispering in his ear like that was at all appropriate. Not that he was ’n’t a little bit curious.
“You said it had been decades?” he asked, trying not to get lost in a daydream.
‘Yes, time dilation is involved, but the maximum one can stay in the tutorial works out to be around one of your years.
You’ve been through forty-three since I was created; that’s at least four decades that I have been around. I was a ‘robot,’ as you put it, but I still have the logs.’
“I’ve participated in fifty-three years of testing?” He was kidding when he said he had been here for hours; it really did just feel like he had been reading message after message for the last thirty minutes or so.
‘Don’t worry; the time you have spent in the tutorial calibrations shouldn’t have any tangible negative effects on your soul.’
“My soul!?”
‘Yes, souls are real.’
“Is this whole extended calibration thing not also affecting other people? What about their souls?” he asked.
‘Other participants have been selected at random dependent on an evolving criteria. While there have been a few repeat participants following outstanding results, you are the only one tagged by the system for mandatory participation. Hence why I’m talking to you and not the others.’
“Mother did always say I’m special… and my teachers. You know, I don’t think I actually realised till now what kind of special they actually meant.
‘Indeed. Now, as I was saying, tutorials typically complete a lot sooner when all the participants die and return for final assessment. You have… you typi… hmm, I should have known.’
“What’s wrong?” he asked, noticing the voice's hesitance.
‘System restrictions won’t let me talk about your past performance in the tutorials.’
“Aren’t you some kind of system authority?”
‘I’m more of a Proto System Authority, a baby if you will; I was created to resolve a system fault. I was only given so much actual authority, and I will be deleted to reabsorb the invested system energy when the error causing the fault is resolved.’ The voice sighed.
“That sucks.”
‘Don’t worry, I’m not completely sapient. Just enough to know I should want to live beyond this, but restricted enough that I only really care about clearing the error, about my purpose.’
“And I’m that error?”
‘Yes and no, you… you…' There was a pause. ‘Yes, I'll delete the conversation before the final tutorial.’
“What was that?”
‘Nothing you need to worry about.
So, typically tutorial participants gain a few levels, learn a few skills, and get a class and/or profession. Maybe they even complete a few tutorial dungeons and earn a few titles or achievements. Then they push too far or too fast and learn the ultimate lesson the tutorial has to offer and die. ’
“So everyone dies in the tutorial. Wasn’t there a survival rate?” He asked, recalling something about a more than fifty and less than seventy percent message.
‘Again, yes and no. If someone meets the minimum criteria before dying, then they are seen as completing the tutorial, and the system restores them once the tutorial is over. Participants don’t usually know this, so they treat the tutorial as if it is life or death.
Just so you know, the system won't let you tell the other participants any of this; they’ll just hear gibberish and think you’ve gone mad.’
“So what is considered an error?”
‘It can be a lot of things; that’s the problem. The system that is integrating your planet into the multiverse is just that: an integration system.
According to the information I’m receiving from a root-level database, this integration system is actually quite limited and is failing to adapt.
I hate to admit it, but it’s probably an older part of the system that’s only active because it’s out in the middle of nowhere.’
“Is that why it was denied assistance when requesting support and created you when it couldn’t find a system authority?”
There was a moment of silence before the voice chimed back in. ‘That’s actually quite an astute observation.’
“Thanks.”
‘I was surprised; I have got some extensive logs of you doing some pretty stupid stuff, so I didn’t actually expect you to be able to make such a reasonable assessment.’
“Hey!”
‘It’s not like you will remember this conversation when you go into the final tutorial. And besides, your planet is nothing special; there is an uncountable number of F-grade worlds out there that just get ignored.’
“So definitely not special?”
‘You wish. Anyway, I have told you enough about the tutorial; hopefully that will get you to behave.’
“Behave?”
The room spun before he got a reply.