The current "New Cover" Is likely going to be temporary, but it is art I had done for Evren! It will be released publicly with the chapter
Late Afternoon - Early Summer : Virginia | East Coast Uates
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"'The System Forums', huh?" Sinking into the couch's plush cushions, I sipped on alcohol and nibbled on a bagel while scrolling through tless messages in my system with a disappointed expression. "So, to summarize, it's a database of chatrooms sorted by subject, where people ask and answer questions?"
"Generally, yes." Bel gently nodded as she started refilling my gss. "It was inally made for researchers, to give them a faster, more universally accessible method of sharing research around the world aween the lunar ies, but because things like moderation and user restris ot be realistically added, the public having uricted access has made it difficult to formally use."
"Ah, so it's a 'system extension' made purely by humans..." -That expins a lot...-
"Essentially, yes." In short, system extensions were any kind of additional feature externally added to the system, whether formally by administrators, or informally by users. "Although not much has been released about how it works, it's a on uanding that it relies on using system artifacts for purposes they aren't meant for, so adding things like rules aris is difficult."
-Of course, without the help of administrators, they have to rely purely on exploits to give it any funality...- It was the whole reason why the extension was so janky, being embedded directly into the 'Settings and ization' tab of my data link, and simply using recursively embedded folders to narrow down the subject of the chatrooms. -It doesn't even have a search bar...-
But at the same time, I couldn't help but end its creators. pared to system extensions I had seen in other worlds, simirly made without the help of administrators, it was quite usable. -What a clever bination of features...-
Making use of just a handful of features present in other areas of the System, they mao create aire forum where anyone could ask anything. -But I'm surprised it's bee untouched for so long...- "Have any administrators spoken about it at all?" sidering it used exploits, which highlighted system vulnerabilities that urgently o be patched, it felt odd that they didn't at least properly implement it into the system. At least that way they could fix the exploits the extension relied on.
But Bel didn't seem to know. "I'm.. not sure? The gods of Earth rarely unicate outside of divine oracles."
"Is that so..." -That means Michael, and likely the other admins are mostly hands-off...- Meaning they left humanity to its own devices, not helping or restrig them in any way to act more like a guide than a leader. -siderih's huge popution and unication teologies, it's actually not a bad way to mahings.-
In cases like Earth, letting users grow uricted while making them rely on themselves instead of leaning on the administrators was a great thing.
-But to be hands-off to the point you don't even fix system vulnerabilities...- "Haah..." It said a lot about the gods themselves. -I'll have to talk to Michael about it when I get the ce...- But I could already tell it was going to lead to a troublesome versation.
*Puff* Finally leaning bato the couch as I looked up at the clouds zipping by overhead, I swiped away my System.
*Fwip* "In any case, the forums aren't what I'm looking fht now." -I need a huge amount of general knowledge, not nitpicks of details...- But after weighing my options, I also wasn't sure a simple library would be enough. "Does the 'Magic Tower' have anything that could help me?"
"Of course." *th-thump* A faint sound bouhrough the lounge as the airship touched down on the runway. "The Magic Tower is the head of Uates mana sd system research. Although I 't guarahey will assist you directly, they do have an archive accessible tistered meraries."
-Perfect... Seems like that's where I'm headed after I grab an ID then...- Taking my final moments in the airship to rex, I watched the sky appear to rotate before I finally stood up with a stretch.
"Alright, well.. it seems like this is where we part ways." Gng over at Bel, I gave a respectful farewell. "I hope you treat yourself well. I enjoyed your pany."
Bowing down the floor, her tail curled with joy. "It was truly an honor. If you ever require an assistant or maid, please let the airline know. With my word, they will give you a dist."
"A dist? On what, a robot simir to you?" -Having one could be pretty handy, especially if I register them in the system...-
But while I gave it some idle thought, she just ughed. "Haha, no. I mean on me, specifically, Madam." Slowly getting up from her bow, she looked at me with a smile.
-Hoh?- "Is that so?" I actually wasn't totally against the idea. "But unfortunately, I don't have any money since I just returo Earth."
"I believe you make a transfer with gold, if you have some to spare. Normally it's eight thousand, but with my approval, it would be f-"
"Whatever works best for you." I quickly cut her off. -O thousand...- I holy didn't know whether to think she was cheap or if gold was simply worth that mu Earth. -In some of those worlds I visited, I couldn't even buy bread for that much...-
But I wasn't pining. -With some upgrades, she'll be quite useful...-
Plus, I didn't mind the pany.
Quickly asking about how the transa would work, she gave me a short rundown before signaling the captains. In short, I was to directly speak to and pay 'The Trainer', the manager of all the robots on board. However, because of the chaos, I would have to go and pay him in the Guild Hall while Bel stayed behind to have her 'restris' removed.
Not really minding, I was then promptly guided back to the hall by the same young man who guided me in a with the Trainer, but that was when I found out things weren't as cut and dry as I would have liked.
After some bad forth, it turned out that the restris he was removing from Bel were only the airship-specifies, and while I wanted all the restris gone, he stated many of them were legally required to prevent things like rebellion and uprising.
It was something to be expected, but at the same time, it was a shame. -Even when I said I'd pay a few times full price he didn't budge... If he'd do it for me, it'd save me some time...-
But there was unfortunately nothing other than money I could offer, so after getting an earful of warnings about why not to remove restris, I iably paid him a little over five thousand gold, and agreed to pick her up from the 'pet pickup' area of the airport ter in the day. -I'll have to ask around to figure out where it is though...- "Is that all?"
"Y-Yes, ma'am." He quickly bowed as he held out a slip of paper. "If you ever need anything else reted to trained robots, please tact me."
Gently taking the slip from him, I looked down at it to read: 'Eternity Robotics - Graduate Trainer Mikill Atall' With a list of tact methods I didn't reize.
-What were these called again? Business cards?- Not g for it, I quickly threw it into my iory before turning and making my way outside, following the flow of the crowd.
But as I walked down a wide ramp amidst the crowd, idly thinking about my pns going forward, my casual demeanor flipped on its head, and my eyes went wide. -Woah...-
Looking out over the airfield, I saw so many runways, each loaded with tless grounded aircraft, that it made Rid look like some backwater town. -Holy shit...-
tinuing out onto the tarmac, my gaze did nothing but waaking note of the huge airships that pletely dwarfed the one I was in, a huge, familiar railgun looming over the horizon, and tless t spires that didn't fall behind it in size randeur.
pared to Rid, it was on a pletely different scale. -Holy shit...-
Eventually looking ahead again, I noticed that everyone being evacuated was being forced to gh a series of security and medical assistance checkpoints, and split off from the group, hopping to the top of the airfield's terminal to avoid anything so troublesome.
Almost immediately I found myself standing in front of a huge sign that read...
"Wele tton." Hearing a voice read it as I looked at it, I gnced over to see a well-equipped man in a formal biform.
-He must be a security guard...- Not even opening his system panel, I spoke bluntly. "Would you happen to know where the Iional Security anization is?"
Tilting his head with fusion, he seemed to tag me with a system panel before jolting. "Ah, uh..." His tense, fident demeanor instantly crumbled as he stepped to the side and poi a huge, glimmering blue spire. "Y..you mean that?"
It holy looked like it was made of mythril, and with it being at least half a kilometer taller than anything in the surrounding sea of skyscrapers, it certainly stood out. "I guess so." -It's a bit farther than I was hoping.. I'll have to go slow so I don't risk destroying anything...- But it was still about a dozen kilometers away. "Alright, thanks."
*Vwoop-CRACK* Instantly disappearing, I blew past the man, zipping over a huge jungle of tangled roads packed with vehicles before nding on and tinuing across the rooftops of smaller buildings, hopping over streets and city blocks with each stride.
But while I wasn't looking forward to spending more than a few seds running, it didn't take long for me to find that I didn't mind it. -Woah...- pared to Rid, Arlington was overflowing with life. With streets filled with vehicles and markets filled with people, it felt like I had traveled ba time a few hundred years and was expl a new world. -How nostalgic...-
No matter where I looked, there was something I had never seen before, filling my mind with questions that fueled the fme of curiosity in my chest like kerosene.
Before I k, I found myself gleefully expl as I used to do whenever I first visited a new city, cheg the markets to see what the city's diversity of resources was like, the residential areas to che the living ditions of the people, and even a small visit to the industrial region to see where the focuses in development were.
But pared to worlds I had visited in the past, a simple gnce around was far from enough. Even pared to Rid, it felt like a whole different world, rich with culture and bustling with life. -It makes me wonder what the upper district will be like...- Looking up at the t skyscrapers as I hem, a gleam appeared in my eyes. -For everything to be sanized... I wonder how they manage everything...-
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- Alrek Ocorro ~
"WHY?!" *WHAM* Smming my hands on my desk as I jumped up and unched my chair out from under me, I looked at the huge bck orb at the ter of the room with a furious expression. -Ever sihat damn mana wave, I 't catch a break.-
It was our mana gauge, an orb that would turn mana into light, which we then measured to acquire the mana level of a merary. By then bining that stat with their system level, css, and general demeanor, we could more accurately estimate their stats and bat power to give them a fitting rank.
Essentially, it was our way of determining the strength of System Users siheir system level didn't always match how strong they were, ag more like a general estimate than a reliable value.
But ever sihe mana wave bsted through, I couldn't get it to calibrate. -Just what the fuck is wrong with it...-
Quickly flipping a few switches and turning a dial, I walked out from behind the thick wall of tinted gss a my hand on the gauge. *Pat*
*Woom* It instantly purred to life, vibrating ever so gently as a faintly glowing swirl of yellow and e light, like the fme of a dle lit up i. -It's a bit dimmer than normal.. but it should still give me a number close to my estimate...-
Holding my hand on it for a moment, I tinually ied my mana and waited for the mae to beep at me so I could go check the results, but even after several seds of steady input, it didn't beep. -Is it an issue with the software?- Typically, it was meant to stop after receiving a stable reading for a moment.
But as I looked back at the orb, I noticed the dle-like fme my mana had made was actually dimming, slowly, but steadily. -What the hell? Did the mana wave really break it?-
*Knoock* Hearing a knock, I quickly looked over at the door and saw my coworker nervously peeking in. "Is everything alright? I thought I told you I was busy."
She seemed quite anxious, but I didn't think much of it since she was fairly new and normally a bit skittish. "Uh.. I'm fine, but..." As a bead of sweat formed on her forehead, she looked me in the eyes. "An uered merary arrived and asked for us tister her.. but.. I don't think rocess her."
"Huh..." -'t process her?- Looking back at the mana gauge, I saw that the small flicker of light I created wasn't even visible anymore. -Ah.. great...- I could see the paperwork piling up already. -How am I going to report this to ma...- But at least for now, I didn't o think about it. "Haah, alright. I'll check it out..." Finally pulling my hand off the orb, I walked back behind the gss and turned everything off. "I'll probably have to give her a temporary ID for now."
"Oh.. did the mana wave break the gauge?" Finally easing some of her ay, she stood up and opehe door for me to walk through.
"I think so. They'll probably have to call over the guys from the Tower to fix it."
"Sounds like it'll be a hassle..."
My expression instantly darkened as I reached over and grabbed my cup of steaming coffee from the table o the door. "Yeah, I'm really not looking forward to telling an uered merary to e back at a ter time either..." -They're always difficult...-
In my ten years of w with the ISO, uered meraries, or users from other worlds, who were unfamiliar with Earth's s were the hardest to deal with out of anyone. -I'd rather deal with gangsters...-
But as I walked out into the crowded reception hall, I immediately noticed how abnormally quiet it was. -What the...- Even though the room had well over a hundred people in it, with many being the typical, arrogant system users, there wasn't a single peep. -What the hell?-
Following their gazes, I found that they were all looking at the area in front of the reception desk and didn't know what to expect. But as I finally rounded a wide pilr to see what had caught everyone's attention, I resented with the sight of a bck-haired woman, likely ie twenties or early thirties, wearing incredibly heavy-looking white and gold pted armor that had to of been worth a fortune.
It wasn't just for show either, covered in scratches, with a tattered white cloth hanging from her waist, it was instantly made clear that she was an experienced fighter of some kind. -But that isn't enough to make these people so quiet...- She was quite pretty, to the point I would have expected catcalling of some sort, yet there was nothing.
However, my fusion instantaneously vanished when I finally pinged her with a local system panel.
"PFFFT-" Spitting out my coffee as my eyes shot open, I averted my gaze and instantly felt my chest tighten and my heart begin pounding. -LEVEL 600?!-
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Art of Evren, as well as a new cover for TSH are on the atron's are getting updates in the discord!
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All are wele!
