Robert laughed, “You know it’s not over. It’s only a matter of time before you find yourself naked again. I think you do it on purpose.”
Pandora stood and walked over to Robert as she gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, “You might be right,” she said with a mischievous grin, “More importantly it’s really nice to see you again,” Pandora said with a smile as Robert smiled awkwardly.
As she stepped back from Robert, portals began opening around her and everyone dear to her made an appearance. The only one who noticed anything between Robert and Pandora was Cedrik who had looked at Robert and then herself and said, “What’s wrong with Robert?” Pandora ignored the question until everyone was present and then launched into what had happened to her.
When she was done, because it didn’t take long to explain that she’d been sucked into Chaos, someone named Xavier had helped her and removed most of the chaos from her body, and then she’d come home. Amanda was the first to comment, “That doesn’t seem like it should have taken you five years?”
I think it took me a little while to come back to myself after I arrived in that place,” Pandora said thoughtfully.
“Well, while you were busy finding yourself,” Abi said with a hint of mirth in her voice, “The rest of us were busy cleaning up the mess you left when every single one of your clones disappeared. By the way, what happened to all of your clones?”
“Ummm,” Pandora hedged as she thought about how to explain what had happened to the chaos within her body, “As far as I can tell, the entity I encountered removed all the excess chaos from my body, created replicants and sent them into non-SYSTEM regulated universes and dimensions.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Abi said.”
“Yeah, so how many copies of you are out there in the, what do they call it here, oh yeah, multi-verse?” Cedrik asked.
“Well, about one-half of a googol,” Pandora said.”
“One half of a googol? You have a number of copies with at least 50 zeros behind it?” Abi asked indignantly. “Exactly how many zeros are behind that first number?”
“The first number is a 3 and there are 43 zeros after it,” Pandora said.
“That’s a lot,” Cindy Bennard said.
Cedrick laughed, “Pandora, does that mean there’s one of you out there that will go on a date with me?”
“I don’t know Cedrick, I think I’m way too many women for you to handle at this point,” Pandora said with a straight face.
Cedrick’s grin turned to a frown as the room erupted in laughter.
“All digging and snide comments aside,” Amanda began, “What are all of the other copies of yourself doing?”
“I have no idea,” Pandora said, “Xavier told me that he tweaked my skill so that I can only connect with those replicants of myself that are in the same dimension. Also, he didn’t say it but I think that there’s a limit to how many of the replicants I can maintain a connection with at any moment, or clones when I split normally with one of my other skills.”
“That sounds like you were nerfed,” Clarence said.
“Nerfed?” Pandora asked thoughtfully as the meaning was given to her from Thor’s memories, “That sounds about right. Enough about me, what’s happened since I’ve been gone?” Pandora asked.
“Why don’t we make ourselves more comfortable and move to the executive meeting room,“ Amanda said.
“Yep, we also have a Semi-Artificial Defense Network that Abi created. It needs a little tweak but you, or Thor, can do that after the meeting,” Amanda said as a portal opened into a room with a very large table surrounded by very comfortable-looking executive leather chairs.
Everyone made their way into the room and took a seat while Pandora tried to shut down Triumvirate. It hadn’t worked when she was talking to Xavier but here she had no issues.
Free at last, Thor said.
You sound like it was torture. It wasn’t that bad. I would even say that it seems to have brought us closer together, Caspa answered.
Pandora entered the mental conversation, Thor, put a semi-sentient A.I. in charge of the defenses here that Abi created. Could you check it out, tweak it, and get it up to Dad’s standard, please?
Can do! Thor answered.
Pandora acknowledged the response and then turned her attention to Caspa, Caspa, Why don’t you stay in contact with Thor while he’s upgrading the defenses and help the response teams if any hot spots appear?
Sounds good, Caspa answered.
Pandora split into three clones. One continued to look like her while the other two modified their appearances to make the three of them identifiable as Pandora, Caspa, and Thor. A portal appeared which Caspa and then Thor stepped through into the Control Center.
“Back at it?” Abi asked.
“Well, the most powerful beings on the planet, as far as I know, are all in this room. I figured since I can do three things at once I’d put Thor and Caspa to work. Thor is going to handle upgrading the defensive network while Caspa assists the rapid response forces if necessary,” Pandora said as she took a seat at the round table. Round Table? How interesting. Either someone liked mythology or someone wanted meetings in this room to seem like everyone had an equal say. It was probably Amanda’s idea. Pandora had to admit, it was a good one.
Everyone summoned a drink with nanites before Amanda continued, “When you disappeared we had to scramble to make sure everyone around the world was taken care of. Since you’d taken out most of the incredibly difficult monsters we were able to keep up and get Adventuring teams as part of our quick reaction force. Desirae and Clarence have even set up an Adventuring Guild based on the guild from Primore, her original world.”
“We all stepped up and helped them as well,” Callum said as Pythias, Asling, Cedrik, and Robert nodded.
We’ve been helping the traumatized and supporting teams that get in over their head,” Cindy Bennard said as she indicated her Grandfather and herself.
“As for me,” Abi said, “I run support from her or from the vehicle Thor left us before you were pulled out of this Universe.”
“About two years after you disappeared your father stopped by and increased all of our base attributes to 100,000. Before you ask, no we don’t know how he did it. He was here and then something happened that forced him to leave. He did say that he would try to stop by again but we all agree that it seemed like he was giving us the tools we needed to make sure we could take care of ourselves.”
“You should have seen us, Pandora,” Cedrik started, “Callum punched a rock elemental so hard it exploded. In fact, we’ve all had to learn to tone down how we react to things. None of us knew how hard it was to control ourselves with such strength until we had it. I still can’t believe how easy you made it look.”
“So, the eleven of you have been having a bit of fun I take it,” Pandora commented.
“A little bit,” Asling agreed.
“How are the safe zones doing?”
At that moment Notifications scrolled through her vision.
SYSTEM Notification.
This Universe has been added to a current Beta Test. Please Wait while adjustments are made.
Adjustments? What kind of Adjustments? At that moment Pandora felt time stop.
She couldn’t sense what happened while time froze around her, she simply knew that one moment she was fine, and the next moment some time had passed. Thor’s memories informed her that her father had become immune to temporal manipulations long ago and while she couldn’t be wiped out of existence due to a Grandfather Paradox, she could still be frozen in time. Her thoughts were interrupted as more notifications scrolled down her vision.
Universe Designation changed to Beta 001aE001001
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
The following SYSTEM Wide Changes will take place immediately
Safe Zones have been redefined.
Monsters will not Spawn within Safe Zones
The SYSTEM will no longer automatically police Safe Zones.
The following Upgrades are now available to Safe Zones
- SYSTEM Shop Access.
- Guardians can be purchased to deal with monsters and individuals that violate Safe Zones. Cost dependent on the level of Guardian.
- Safe Rooms: Individuals can purchase rooms to rest in that reside in adjacent dimensions to their current location. These rooms are SYSTEM secured and can only be entered by the user, SYSTEM Administrators, Gods, and beings more powerful than those defined as Gods.
Skills now show linear progression:
Class Level Limits removed.
Each Class now has eight Rarity Levels: Common, Scarce, Rare, Advanced, Master, Epic, Mythical, and Legendary.
Additional classes can be chosen once prerequisites are met but choosing multiple classes is no longer required.
Maximum Number of Classes: 5
Minor adjustments have been made to Abilities, Skills, and Spells.
Unused XP Frozen for Subsequent Use: 422,891,735
You previously earned enough XP to attain a Tier III class at level 91. The change to Class progression will allow you to choose a 3rd, 4th, and even 5th Class that this XP could be divided into evenly. Alternatively, you could choose to split this unused XP between your two current classes. Please visit your nearest SYSTEM Shop, or activate SYSTEM Node Access, to make your choice.
Pandora’s attention was pulled from her notifications as Desirae exclaimed, “What in the actual Fuck!”
“I still have my attributes and levels!” Cedrik called out.
“Me too,” Pandora heard Asling say as everyone around the table agreed that they also had their attributes and classes.
“What’s a Beta test?” Callum asked.
“A Beta Test in this context is a SYSTEM change for us that is not true for everyone in the SYSTEM,” Pandora said as Thor’s memories helped her come up with an answer for Callum.
“So, what does that mean for us?” Pythias asked.
“Well, right now it means that we probably need to end this meeting and get someone to each Safe Zone. There’s no telling what will happen with the Safe Zone restrictions lifted,” Amanda said.
“Pandora, can you split up like you did before?” Abi asked.
“I can make full replicas of myself and leave one in each Safe Zone but I can only make one every four minutes.,” Pandora said.
“Alright,” Amanda said and then took on an authoritative tone, “Callum, you’ve got Shanghai. Pythias, head to Cairo. Cedrick, you’ve got London. Asling, head to New York. Robert, the dark elf, You’ve got Buenos Aires. Cindy, you take New York, Robert, Grandpa, you take Manila. Desirae, Moscow. Clarence, you take Paris. Abi you stay here with Pandora, and I’ll take Chicago.”
“What do you want me to do?” Pandora asked.
As portals started opening behind each person at the table Amanda said, “Make your replicants and replace us. Me first, so I can get back here and coordinate with Abi. Once you’re in each of the Safe Zone’s we’ll fortify our position and make sure everyone is safe. Maybe even buy some of these guardians that were mentioned in the notifications.
Pandora nodded and created her first replicant. The clone of Pandora stepped back from the table as another portal opened behind her and the clone stepped through to Amanda’s location. Pandora followed Abi out of the room as she led them to the control room.
“Abi, I have memories of Adam taking over at least two different Earths. What is it with people not understanding that they have it good and should just accept that they can’t change things” Pandora asked.
“If you have Adam’s memories then you also have memories of all the courses he took in college as well as everything else he learned about human nature during all of his trials,” Abi said.
“I do. Are you telling me that people take actions based purely on what they think without looking at something from a logical point of view?”
“Amanda would call it an ‘Emotional Response’,” Abi said.
“That just seems stupid,” Pandora declared.
“You might have the combined knowledge of a dragon and a man who is a lot older than he appears but you are still young. People do things for crazy reasons; Love, hate, just because it's fun, or are you telling me you’ve never noticed that your friend Cedrik does insanely stupid shit just to see what happens?” Abi asked.
“I never noticed. I mean, I know he’s a smart-ass but that’s not the same as doing crazy things just because,” Pandora said,
“When your dad improved all of our attributes, Cedrik might have done a few morally questionable things,” Abi said with a sigh.
“Like what?”
“Well you know he’s basically a stealth specialist right?” When Pandora nodded, Abi continued, “How hard do you think it is to notice a stealth specialist focused on Shadow Magic.”
“While I’m not focused on stealth, Shadows are my thing as well, so I would say quite hard,” Pandora said.
“How many times do you think our nanites noticed Cedrick in the female communal showers on the recreation floor here in the bunker?”
“He wasn’t?” Pandora said with a laugh.
“He was,” Abi said as she looked at Pandora sternly.
“What, he’s a pervert, everyone knows that. Honestly, I don’t see what the big deal is, everyone comes into this world nude,” Pandora said.
Abi’s expression changed to a more neutral one, “That sounds like something your mom would say,” Abi observed.
“I am my mother’s daughter. Besides, Cedrik has seen me naked multiple times. I can tell he appreciates the view but he doesn’t seem to be weird about it. Did you ask him what he was doing?”
“His answer, and I quote was, ‘I was testing my ability to hide while enjoying the view’”
Pandora laughed, “Yep, sounds like something he’d say. So how’d you get him to stop.”
“I informed him that our sensors could find him anywhere inside the safe zones and that if he continued acting like a lech the next time I caught him he would find himself at McMurdo in the Antarctic.”
Information about McMurdo from Thor’s memories popped into her mind. Pandora laughed before she asked,” I have to know, what did he say to that?”
“He said, he’d be fine, he’d just swim back.”
Pandora did some quick math, “Manila is the closest Safe Zone to that base and it’s over 6,000 miles away. London is over 10,000 miles away. Even if he could move as fast as I can, it would still take him over 3 days to get to Manila and 5 days to get back to London, because he’d have to swim, and not fly. I mean I could make it back to London in just over 3 hours, or Manila in under 2, but I can transform into a dragon and fly incredibly fast,” Pandora said thoughtfully.
Abi smiled maliciously, when I opened a very small portal and used it as a shower to drench him in almost freezing water, Cedrick, decided that no amount of exposure to water that cold was worth it, even if he could tolerate it with his new constitution and endurance.”
“You, didn’t?”
“Yep, I opened a very small portal just below the surface of the water near McMurdo that deposited the water that came through out of a portal that opened directly above his head. I only kept it open for a second, but the water rushed through and drenched him,” Abi said with a laugh.
Pandora laughed with Abi, “I wish I could have seen it.”
“You should have seen the look on…oh wait you can”, as a monitor on the wall showed an image of Cedrick talking to Abi.
“I’ll just swim back,” Cedrik said.
“Oh really, through water this cold,” Abi asked as a portal opened above him and water flowed through drenching Cedrik. Pandora also noticed that none of the water flowed out from Cedrick as it was broken down by the nanites in the hallway they were talking in. Cedrick looked at Abi in shock and then fright.
“Holy shit, That’s Cold!” Cedrik exclaimed
“I told you!” Abi said.
“Why would you do that, you could have just opened a portal and let me touch the water to prove your point?” Cedrick asked as he pushed his hair out of his eyes and tried to wipe the water off himself.
“First, after what you’ve been up to, you needed a cold shower. Second, it was more fun this way,” Abi said as the image faded.
“I see,” Pandora said. “Note to self, don’t act like a pervert around Abi.”
Abi laughed, “I don’t mind perverts, “Abi said and then explained, “I just wanted to have a little fun at Cedrick’s expense. Besides, can anyone here stop anyone else from doing any damn thing they want to?”
“I guess not,” Pandora said thoughtfully, “Well unless we really had to but that kind of stopping someone is usually reserved for our enemies,” Abi nodded in agreement before Pandora asked, “Has Cedrick calmed down?”
“He has. But truthfully, we’ve been far too busy to worry about a little lecherous behavior,” Abi said.
At that moment a portal opened and Amanda stepped back into the control room, “Back so soon?” Abi asked.
“Pandora, her clone, anyway, can handle any problems in Chicago,” How are the other clones coming?”
Pandora created another replicant of herself and sent that one to help her grandmother in New York. As the Replicant stepped through a portal Pandora answered Amanda, “That’s the second one,”
“It’s been what, 10 minutes, you said you could make one every four?” Amanda said thoughtfully.
“I was sidetracked by Abi’s story about Cedrik’s Arctic Shower,” Pandora said with a mischievous smile.
Amanda laughed, “Oh yeah, that was great. We gave him hell for at least a week afterward. Even so, let's get those replicants out to everyone as quickly as possible. With the high mana levels and the fact that the Safe Zones are no longer completely safe, I have a feeling the more of you there are, the better. Besides, it’s not just the 10 major Safe Zones we have to worry about, there are other cities that are not Safe Zones that will need some help.”
“Okay,” Pandora agreed.
“Have you figured out how many replicants you can control at one time yet?” Amanda asked.
“Not yet, but now is as good as any other time to find out. I’ll just keep making replicants until I hit my limit,” Pandora said as she went to work.
After she’d created one replicant for each Safe Zone, Pandora considered that she wasn’t receiving any information from the Replicants she’d created. With a thought, she dropped her Point of View into her Mindspace to figure out what was going on. The first thing she noticed was that a new building had formed. As she moved inside the building she noticed that ten monitors were up and running and that live feeds were showing what each of her replicants were doing at that moment.
Pandora looked over the monitors and realized they were doing a whole lot of nothing. Well not nothing, each seemed to be getting to know the city they were in as they walked around to familiarize themselves with the city and the people in it. That’s when Pandora noticed that the reason that the information hadn’t become apparent to her was because a shadow of herself was sorting information and storing it. As she examined the shadow of herself she realized that her subconscious had automatically set up this information-sorting area in her mind and the shadow of herself was a manifestation of that sorting function. As an Eleventh monitor was forming Pandora exited her Mindspace and made her eleventh Replicant.
Pandora went back to the meeting room, took a seat, and made a replicant every 4 minutes. Since she was going to be here for a while she might as well get something to eat and check on the status of London and Scarborough. Pandora activated Nanite Communication to connect with the new defense system Thor was creating and started looking over the two cities through the nanite network. Since she would be here for a while, she might as well see how the normal people in the cities were doing.
Adamantinus