Pandora woke from sleep fully refreshed. With a quick command to her nanites, she was fully refreshed, reclothed, and walking out of her room in the Bunker under her Estate at Scarborough. Her room was near the City and shop Node behind a secret door that could only be opened by someone who could connect with the embedded technology. Man, she missed having nanites. Wait, that was a memory from Thor. Though, nanites would be nice. Nanite Communication allowed her to open the door and leave the secret area near the Shop Node. Pandora made her way to the dining area, drawn by the smell of cooked food and the sound of hushed conversations as many others sat to eat as well.
Of course, the dining hall wasn’t directly on her level but her level opened onto a balcony with ramps and stairways that led down to the mess level. The facility had multiple areas like this one. At least one on each floor though the floors dedicated to living quarters had a few extra depending on how big the floor was.
Pandora went to the food line, picked out what she wanted, and went to find a table in a corner. As she sat down to eat a portal opened next to her table and Amanda and Abi stepped through. Amanda took the lead and asked, “Can we join you?”
“Please. I’m sure Caspa and Thor know I’m awake but neither has contacted me yet,” Pandora said.
“They are outside of the safe area. They might be otherwise engaged or just letting you wake up fully before they talk to you.”
“Why would they wait?” Pandora asked.
The three of them were interrupted when a waitress came over with three cups of coffee on a tray with various creamers and sugar and set it down.
After the waitress left Abi took a cup of coffee and took a sip before she asked, “Have you looked at your clock lately?
Pandora looked at the SYSTEM Calendar and Clock. She’d lost track of time a long time ago but she was sure it’d been about two in the afternoon on a Tuesday near the start of December when she’d laid down. It was now Friday, December 19th, “Have I been asleep for 4 days?”
“No,” Amanda said which caused Pandora to pause for a moment before she continued, “You’ve been asleep for 11 days.”
“What the hell?” Pandora exclaimed.
Amanda made a calming gesture and then continued, “Caspa and Thor think it was backlash due to the extreme amount of combat you had while Multiple, you know, having more than one of you, which they said you did when you took on the army in London and then on the other side of the portal. While you may have found a way to bypass normal time restrictions, they believe it caught up with you. Additionally, they believe the number of skill levels you earned added to the backlash. And before you ask, Caspa and Thor were affected as well. They each ended up taking a nap for almost a full day. Your nap was obviously the longest.”
Pandora thought about how she might overtax herself. Maybe there was an absolute limit imposed by time or temporal mechanics? She knew that she could easily make 130 attacks within a combat turn if she wished but she would burn out her stamina if she did so so. She could make 50 attacks within a single combat turn and her stamina regeneration would allow her to continuously do so.
When she’d split into 10 clones she’d been making 200 attacks each turn, 10 per clone. When she’d split 9 of those clones into 10 more clones each there’d been 91 clones allowing her to perform 920 attacks within a single combat turn without overtaxing her stamina. She’d been acting 18 times faster than she could comfortably handle in only one body and she’d kept up that pace for more than a half-hour.
If her life was infinite, she shouldn’t be burning through her life expectancy by accelerating how her body moved through time. If her life was finite? But, that didn’t make sense. She felt that she was already effectively immortal because of her chaotic nature. Pandora sighed before she said, “I didn’t know.”
“It looks like you can do some very impressive things, just like your dad,” Abi pointed out, but there are side effects.”
“I guess there are,” Pandora said with a nod. At least what happened to her made it seem like there were. The three sat in silence for a bit before Pandora asked, “So what’s been going on for the last week?”
“Caspa and Thor helped clear out any large monster groupings nearby and then focused on the huge monsters that spawned from the nukes around the world. With the satellites up in orbit that Thor helped finish putting in place, it was pretty easy to find them. In fact, Caspa and Thor just finished off the last one about an hour before you woke up,” Abi said.
“Why can’t I automatically feel them?”
“Thor said to tell you that you can contact them with Nanite Communication but your new Skill Triumvirate only works when one of the three of you is within the skills range which at your current skill level is 78 miles. If you’re outside that range one of the three of you can still control the body you're in and have access to all of your abilities and skills but you lose direct communication and have to rely on the quantumly linked nanites instead. Thor also told me to tell you that if you split into more clones of yourself they must stay within the range or you lose control of them and they just stop. You can recover them but they start deteriorating pretty quickly.” Abi said.
“Did Caspa or Thor report any other issues?” Pandora asked.
“None. Thor has been cheating a bit and is using the ship he created to chase down the large monsters. He’s been taking others out so they can earn some experience while manning the weapon systems. Also, if the creature is too much of a problem Jupiter is nice this time of year,” Abi stated with a shit-eating grin.
“He isn’t,” Pandora said.
“Oh yes. Remember that Giant Serpent you told us about from London? Well, it had an insanely high damage resistance and health regeneration rate. Thor found it swimming in the ocean put a portal beneath it and let it get sucked into the upper atmosphere of Jupiter where the pressure was less than that of Earth. A whirlpool formed and the Serpent was flushed into the upper atmosphere of Jupiter. You all received XP for its death about 30 minutes later. The last of the 25 giant monsters created by the nuclear detonations and reset was destroyed this morning. That could be why you woke up,” Abi offered.
Pandora opened her Status Screen and checked her level. She had enough XP to advance to Tier 2 Level 70 which meant Thor and Caspa had earned her 7 levels for killing 22 epic level monsters. She’d also earned the treasure that was in her inventory. It wasn’t a huge sum but it wasn’t a little bit either. Pandora pulled up the information on her funds.
Copper 683,591
Silver 79,238
Gold 36,154
Platinum 0
Then she checked her Systems Credits, 12,463,571. She’d earned a lot of money in the last few days. Maybe she should visit the SYSTEM shop and look at picking up or improving some skills.
Amanda cleared her throat to get Pandora’s attention, “Your friends are down in London helping your Grandmother and Grandfather as they set up a SYSTEM of governance down there. As far as we can tell everyone is coming together to make sure everyone has food but Thor also stops by once in a while to drop off supplies, or you know create them on the spot. Honestly, after they woke up they spent the first three days running around Scarborough and London restocking supplies and making places where people could come to get food and fresh water all over England, Scotland, and Ireland. Then they went out and tried to help any survivors they could find.”
Abi interrupted Amanada, “The Mana saturation of the planet has had some deleterious effects on the world. While this is not a Dungeon World, the monster spawn rate is extremely accelerated as are the formations of the dungeon. Additionally, Our satellite coverage indicates that while a lot of people have died some small tight communities are thriving. Also, there are only 10 large cities that have been made into Safe Zones, which the SYSTEM has set as the limit for this world. England has two of them.”
“Where are the other eight?” Pandora asked.
Amanda flicked her wrist and a screen appeared with a list on it.
Shanghai, China – 5+ million
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Cairo, Egypt - 6+ million
New, York – 3+ million
Buenos Aires – 2+ million
Manila, Philippines – 1.8+ ,million
Moscow, Russia – 6.6 million
Paris, France – 2.2 million
Chicago, USA – 7.6 million
London, UK – 1.5 million
Scarborough, UK 456,396
“Pandora looked over the list. If memory served, and it does since I have access to Thor's memories now…”
Pandora started to say before she was interrupted by Abi.
“Wait. How does that work? Thor is off in another body; how do you have access to his memories?”
Pandora thought about how to explain it before she said, “As far as I can tell, when we, Caspa, Thor, and I, gained the Title Triumvirate each of us became one and had full access to each other’s memories. As far as I can tell my personality is the primary but I seem to be seriously influenced by both Caspa and Thor now. It was something I noticed while I was fighting on the other side of the portal. When we separate and take over different bodies we’re still all technically one creature because my attributes are divided by the number of bodies I have. As such we are still one mind, which I’ve parsed into three different minds, each controlled by the primary consciousness of one of us. When I do it that way we can still use all our abilities and skills. I need to talk to Thor and Caspa to find out what they figured out while I was sleeping but it looks like this configuration is the best for splitting up and conquering. I can split into more bodies but then they have to stay within a certain range of one of what is considered the primary consciousness, One of us three, which I discovered while I was fighting the army last week.”
“I saw Adam do something like this before,” Abi said.
“Yes, I have Thor’s memories. In that case, Dad was utilizing technology and Thor to split until he started using Chaotic Nanites, as he liked to refer to Chaos. I can do something similar because of my nature and the fact that I have Caspa.”
“How do you keep it all straight and not get overwhelmed?” Amanda asked.
“That’s one of the abilities I picked up from Thor, I now have my father’s memory ability,” Pandora said.
“What?” Amanda and Abi said in unison.
“You have your father's uncanny memory as well as most of his memories,” Abi asked.
“Yep?” Pandora said with a huge smile on her face. “Well, at least up until Thor and Dad were split by the SYSTEM. Then I have Thor’s memories working for the SYSTEM until now.”
Pandora heard a light beep as both Amanda and Abi’s eyes unfocused for a moment. Amanda stood, “We have to go. Small situation to take care of.”
“Anything you need me for?” Pandora asked.
“Nope, just some crabs coming ashore up by Thruso on the north coast. Not many people are left up there. Before we head out, I should tell you that none of us believe the Roman patriarchy is going to be a problem going forward,” Amanda said.
“Why is that?” Pandora asked.
“Simply put, most of them are dead,” Amanda said.
“Say again,” Pandora said.
“An advantage and disadvantage of the Roman system is that when monsters started appearing all over the world the men were the first to step forward and try to fight off the monsters. They were of course raised in a brutal society but that’s not going to matter when elementals of magic and special monsters appear. The individuals that might have made up the healers and the mages chose a fighting class instead of choosing to heal if they were offered the class which, as you know, led to diminishing returns. If a monster surge hit a populated area and kept on coming, soldiers would die. Lots of soldiers who were mostly male,” Amanda explained.
“How bad is it?” Pandora asked.
“Mistress Carpenter has told us that it was believed that there were over 8 billion people on the planet. When we checked the SYSTEM shop a couple of days ago the world had 2,267,200,00 people left. Of those 19% were men and 81% were women. The men that are left are either very strong and high level or they are the few that chose a class that could heal or had an area of effect capabilities. The women, that are left are much the same. Additionally, there seems to have been a shift in mindset among those men of the Roman empire who are left. It’s a crazy world and they had to adapt or die. Most are adapting,” Abi said with a smile.
“Now, truly, we must be on our way. I’ll let you know if we need you,” Amanda said, as a portal opened into the control room. Amanda and Abi stepped through and left Pandora to finish her meal in peace.
Pandora didn’t rush. She finished her meal rather quickly and then headed to the SYSTEM Shop node. She could use her new SYSTEM Node Access perk to connect directly but she wanted to physically walk into the store. Pandora stepped into the queue and waited her turn like everyone else.
When it was her turn Pandora stepped up to the SYSTEM Shop node and placed her hand on it. A moment later she appeared in a room very similar to the room she’d entered in Dallas, though it looked a little more lived in with hanging plants, artwork, and other Earth-based items strewn throughout the shop. Behind the counter, a normal-looking human woman who appeared to be in her mid-thirties sat.
“Welcome to the Scarborough SYSTEM Shop. I’m Daisy, one of the new Earth-based SYSTEM Shop Merchants here on Earth. How can I help you today?”
“Congratulations on getting into a merchant class so quickly,” Pandora said.
“Thank You. What can I do for you…”
“Pandora,” Pandora offered.
“What can I do for you, Pandora?” Daisy asked.
“I need to convert some of my treasure into credits and I’d also like to purchase a skill that increases my personal storage.”
“The first is easy enough. There is of course a 5% conversion fee.”
“That’s fine,” Pandora agreed as she opened her Status Screen and kept only 1,000 coins of copper, Silver, and Gold as everything else was converted into credits leaving her with 13,141,932 credits. When Pandora looked up she saw Daisy waiting patiently for her, “Yes?” Pandora asked.
Daisy made a flicking motion which caused a holographic terminal to appear in front of Pandora. She looks over the skill Personal Storage. Tier 1 capacity, Common, Scarce, and Rare storage levels were all based on the weight of what is in the storage. However, money doesn’t count as it is held separately, which would have been good to know. Then again, she should have realized that there was no way the hundreds of thousands of coins weighed less than her 10-pound limit. At Advanced and higher the limit was designated as cubic feet starting at 10 cubic feet at skill level Advanced Level 1. Master Level 1 was 200 cubic feet.
The cost was what kept her from trying to go higher than Master Level 1. A Master Level 1 Upgrade cost 1 million credits. Level 2 was 3 million credits. Pandora didn’t want to blow all of her credits so she spent 1 million and accepted the upgrade.
Congratulations! You have increased your Personal Storage skill to Master Level 1.
Personal Storage – This skill augments your SYSTEM Granted Perk Personal Storage. Base Storage is based on Skill level and is augmented by the Willpower Attribute Modifier. Tier 1 is a linear increase of 1 pound per attribute modifier. At Tier 2 and higher, the increase is by the cube root of the attribute modifier which is added to the base storage capacity of the skill.
At Skill Level Master Level 1 the base area of your Personal Storage is 200 cubic feet.
Pandora looked at her Willpower Attribute. The cube root of that modifier was just over 38 which meant that her Personal Storage could hold 238 cubic feet. That wasn’t too shabby.
“Is there anything else I can help you with?” Daisy asked.
Pandora thought about it for a minute and then remembered that nanites would be useful As she considered that a memory surfaced from Thor concerning something called a Nanite Stabilizer, “Yes, I need a way for micro-technology to continue working in an area. Do you have something called a Nanite Stabilizer?”
“We do. They are quite expensive.”
“Price is no object, What am I looking at?” Pandora asked.
“For 1 million credits you can purchase one that will allow your technology to work out to 528 feet. For 5 million credits the range is increased to 2,640 feet. If you need ranges greater than that they need either be installed in a ship or attached to a City Node,” Daisy explained.
“That’s great. I want to attach one to both my Scarborough and London City Nodes. What’s the maximum range I can purchase?” Pandora asked.
“25 miles for 1 billion credits,” Pandora said
Pandora coughed, cleared her throat, and asked, “1 Billion Credits?”
“1 Billion Credits each,” Daisy clarified.
Pandora couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. Then again she knew this SYSTEM did not like nanite “Okay, I guess it’s time to get to work.”
For the next hour, Pandora created precious metals and gems using Thor’s knowledge from her dad and sold it all to the SYSTEM Shop. She wasn’t getting the best deals but it didn’t matter. Her skill with Mold Chaos gained a skill level, Rare Level 2. When she had traded for 2 billion credits she purchased two 25-mile radius Nanite Stabilizers.
“As soon as you purchased the nanite stabilizers, they were installed and activated. You can also modify the settings so only your nanites work within that radius. Also, remember, you cannot use nanites to take over or control any other creatures or plants though you can use them to make processed food and the like if you have that knowledge. If the nanites try to go beyond that 25-mile range they will fail immediately unless they’re supported by another ability, skill, or power, Daisy explained.
“Sounds good. I need to go now. I may be back after I choose my next class,” Pandora said.
“Very well, thanks for coming in today. It was my absolute pleasure to help you,” Daisy said with a genuine smile.
Pandora exited the SYSTEM Shop and then had a portal open that brought her to Abi’s location.
“Abi, good news,” Pandora said as she stepped out of the portal.
“Watcha got?”
Pandora activated another portal and started creating and releasing nanites through it. Her chaos was regenerating naturally at 40 points per turn which was well above the 22 points per turn she could spend to create 22 pounds of nanites with Mold Chaos. She started creating the nanites and sent them off to repair and upkeep the structure of the base while she also created interface devices for Amanda and Abi. The knowledge of how to do so was contained in Thor’s memories.
“I made a purchase. We can use normal nanites here and in London. I’m releasing some nanites here and I’m going to open a portal to London and do the same there. I’d like you two to take charge and see to the needs of the people as quickly as possible. I can make about 132 pounds of nanites per minute so it’ll take me a little over 15 minutes to make a ton of nanites for here and another 15 minutes to make the same amount for London. Within 25 miles of the City Node, they can operate just like they could for Dad when he was back on Earth where this all started so you should be able to have them replicate themselves and expand even faster. They will not work outside of 25 miles though.
“That’ll make repairing the infrastructure of the cities a lot easier,” Amanda said.
“Yep so let's get to work,” Pandora said as she handed the two devices that looked like earpieces which allowed the wearer to send commands to the nanites.
“What are you going to do after,” Abi asked.
“I need to review my class choices and pick my tier 2 class,” Pandora said, as she continued creating nanites and dropping them through portals all over the outskirts of the base. “After I’m done with this I’ll look at choosing my Tier 2 class.”
