Part 679: My Dad Was a Hero and My Mom Was A Great Inventor But Then They Died And Left Me Alone And I Thought I Was Normal But Then I Obtained the Legendary Gaming Power So Now I Can Level Up And Save The Universe From The Demons And Aliens And Plaguehosts Or Eventually Die Trying!!
Far-Future Era. Day 20, AJR. Chrona.
[WELCOME TO THE KING NETWORK.]
[YOU HAVE ACTIVATED PLAYER PRIVILEGES.]
[WOULD YOU LIKE TO ENABLE THE TUTORIAL COMPANION?]
[YES | NO]
Timothy stared in shock at the words floating just a few feet in front of his waist, aimed up at his face. He hadn’t seen them because he was looking up at Ferral after he took off the helmet, but they were unmissable now.
[Is something the matter?] Ferral asked. [You appear to be in mild distress.]
"That’s putting it lightly!" Timothy exclaimed. He pointed in front of himself. "Do you see it?"
Ferral followed Timothy’s finger. He blinked.
[I am afraid that unless you speak in more specific terms, I will disappoint you.]
"There’s a floating textbox." Timothy said, before reading it out to him. "It looks exactly like what I saw inside the King Network."
Ferral’s many eyes gazed at Timothy with little emotion. [I contemplate, and I comprehend. You are hallucinating.]
"No way, this can’t be a hallucination. I see it clear as day." Timothy said, before looking more intently at the screen. "It wants to know if I am going to enable the tutorial companion."
Ferral seemed unperturbed. [Well, if this phenomena is real, you might as well say yes. If not, then you will simply hallucinate some more. It is not a problem a little medication cannot solve.]
Timothy decided Ferral was right. Wordlessly, he reached out his hand and touched the screen. Yes, his hand came into physical contact with what felt like a glass panel. He was shocked out of his wits that he didn’t wave his hand right through it!
The moment he touched the ‘YES’ option, the window disappeared.
A blob of light materialized in the air just to the right of Timothy’s face. He visibly flinched when it appeared.
"What the-?!"
"Greetings, inferior biological Player." The orb of light said in a robotic female voice. "My designation is Umi. I am the tutorial companion for the King Network. You may ask me any question regarding the King Network. Please do not ask annoying questions. I do not enjoy answering annoying questions."
Timothy rubbed his eyes. He looked at the orb of light more intently than ever, but it simply looked like a bright glowing marble floating in the air.
"Come ON Ferral, you can see THAT, right??"
Ferral simply stared at Timothy with slight concern. [I am unable to perceive anything out of the ordinary. What are you hallucinating now?]
"It’s a floating orb of Light. Err, she’s a floating orb of light. Calls herself Umi. She says she can answer any questions I have regarding the King Network."
[I comprehend.] Ferral said succinctly. [If you are truly not hallucinating, then why not ask this ‘Umi’ questions? Don’t mind me. I will simply evaluate your mental state from the side.]
Timothy nodded. He turned his attention to the floating orb of light.
"Uh… Umi? What… what are you, exactly? What is the King Network? What’s even going on?"
Umi’s orb slightly pulsed with light. "You have asked three questions. I will provide three answers. I am Umi, the Unified Management Interface. The King Network was developed by the Creator. Its purpose is to create Kings. As for ‘what is going on’, you have awakened your Heroic Power. You are the first Player in the King Network."
Timothy nodded. He relayed what Umi said to Ferral, then proceeded with his next set of questions.
"Why can’t my friend Ferral see you?"
"Ferral is not a Player. Only Players can interact with the King Network’s elements."
"Can Ferral become a player?"
"Affirmative. Any Sentient can become a Player. As the First Player, you are the Administrator and solely possess the ability to add additional Players to the King Network. However, caution is advised. The King Network is extremely powerful, and easily abused. You must only add Players who are trustworthy. Once added, a Sentient can no longer have their Player access removed unless their body and soul permanently expires."
Timothy slowly nodded. He gave Ferral a long look before carefully telling him everything Umi had said.
[Most interesting. Your Heroic ability is extremely unique.] Ferral said. [I have never heard of such an ability in all my years alive. Are you going to give me Player access?]
Timothy hesitated. Ferral was his best friend, but once given, the access could not be revoked.
"I… I want to… but I think I need to speak to my mom first. She knows more about this stuff. How about we do it later, once I’ve gotten a better grasp on the rules?"
Ferral didn’t take offense. [Of course. It is your ability. You deserve to take some time to learn how it works. I apologize for being presumptuous. I did not mean to force you into an immediate decision.]
Timothy suddenly felt extremely guilty. Here he was, feeling greedy over hoarding this new power for himself. Why would he deny his best friend, who had been there emotionally for him since his childhood, the opportunity to also be a Player?
But still, pragmatism won out. He decided not to rush into it, praying he hadn’t hurt Ferral’s feelings. The Psion might often seem emotionless, but Timothy knew he secretly had a deep yearning for fun, adventure, and exploration. He was not as alien and lifeless as the other Psions, and frequently had emotional outbursts that were quite intense. He simply struggled with acting like a ‘proper Psion’ much of the time.
Timothy swallowed, then turn to Umi.
"What can I do with the King Network?"
"Your query is too broad. Please narrow down the question to a more specific topic." Umi replied.
Timothy scratched his chin. "Um, the King Network… it’s like a real life video game, right?"
"Affirmative. That is a simple and primitive way a low-intellect biological like yourself might refer to it." Umi replied. "A more proper term would be ‘Game-like Mechanics Made Manifest through Realistic Virtualization.’"
Timothy stared at her blankly. "That’s… basically the same thing I just said."
"Incorrect." Umi replied.
She did not elaborate any further.
Timothy decided to pause talking to her for a moment. He looked around, then spotted a menu off to the side, with several selectable choices.
INVENTORY
CHARACTER
ABILITIES
PARTY (Locked: Complete Tutorial)
TALENT TREE (Locked: Level 5)
PROFESSION (Locked: ???)
SHOP (Locked: Level 10)
PRESTIGE (Locked: Level 50)
CHEATS (Locked: Level 100)
QUESTS
ACHIEVEMENTS (Locked: Complete Tutorial)
MAP
FAST TRAVEL
SLEEP
OPTIONS
Timothy stared at all the options for a good thirty seconds. After a moment, he hesitantly tapped the Character option. A page on himself materialized in the air, complete with a picture of his face smiling in the top left corner. He looked way more handsome in reality, so clearly the system was taking artistic liberties.
Timothy Hiro – Human/Chrona
Level 0 – Newbie | Bottom Mortal
HP 100/100
AP 0/0 | MP 0/0
STR 10 | DEX 10
INT 10 | WIS 10
DEF 10 | RES 10
CHA 10 | LUK 10
Resistances: None.
Weaknesses: None.
Active Skills: Eye of Yredelemnul, Player’s Fixation
Passive Skills: Player’s Body, Player’s Mind (Toggle)
Talent Slots: 0/1
Prestige: N/A
Timothy stared at the numbers and words for a good long time. After a while, he fixated on one thing in particular.
"What the actual fuck is Eye of Yredelemnul? That sounds ominous as shit."
Umi beeped. "To access information on any given skill, you may tap its name or icon on your character sheet, or you may think of activating it with your mind."
Timothy nodded. That made sense. He reached out and touched the skill’s name. Its description popped up in his mind.
Eye of Yredelemnul: [MP Cost 0] [AP Cost 0] [Cooldown 0]
The stolen power of a dark god courses through the Player. The Player can examine objects and entities with the Eye of Yredelemnul to learn more information about them. As the Player strengthens, the information available to them will improve drastically.
The explanation only served to make Timothy’s heart skip a beat. Why would he want to use the stolen power of some dark god? It sounded horrifying!
But he was… curious.
He turned to look at Ferral, then silently activated the ability with his mind.
Eye of Yredelemnul: Activate.
Immediately, a statsheet for Ferral appeared.
Learner Ferral – Psion/Chrona/Volgrim
Low Mortal
Stats: ???
It told him almost nothing. He only learned Ferral’s name and little more than that.
"Umi, why can’t I see any of Ferral’s stats and other details?" Timothy asked out loud. Ferral looked at him with interest.
"The Sentient known as ‘Ferral’ is not a Player. You can only see detailed information on other living and non-living entities once your Player Level has risen, or if those entities become Players."
"So if I make Ferral a Player, I’ll be able to see his stats?" Timothy asked.
"Affirmative, and Ferral will be able to see yours. Note that you are currently the exclusive user of the Eye of Yredelemnul skill. But if other Sentients become Players, they may be able to obtain the skill through their own efforts."
Timothy’s heart skipped a beat. This was good information to know! It meant that if he casually invited people to use the King Network, they would potentially be able to obtain the skills he possessed, thus further ruining his uniqueness.
"Are all skills possible to obtain through the King Network?"
"Negative. Some skills are classified as Unique. Unique skills can only be obtained by one Player at a time. Thus, if you invite other Sentients to become Players and they obtain those Unique skills, you will never be able to acquire them unless those Players permanently die and their Unique skills become obtainable once again. Unique skills are rare and extremely difficult to obtain. Amassing a collection of them is pivotal to becoming the most powerful Player in the King Network."
Timothy scratched his head. He had barely even acquired this power, and already it was starting to feel like a burden. But he was still ecstatic. He finally had a power, just like his father, and it seemed like it had tons of unique utility as well!
He tapped the Inventory tab. It opened up a blank box in midair that was filled with tons of smaller boxes. At present, the Inventory was completely empty.
"How does the Inventory work, Umi?"
"Your Inventory is composed of Slots. Objects and items you wish to place inside the Inventory will require a larger or greater number of slots based on the object’s size. Leveling up, selecting certain skills, and acquiring bonus rewards can all increase the room inside your inventory."
"Oh… so it’s a slot based system, like Diablo or Deus Ex…" Timothy muttered to himself. The Inventory showed there were ten slots available horizontally and five vertically. He glanced around the room and randomly walked over to pick up a crowbar. He stuffed it into the inventory by directly placing it inside, and 3 of the 50 slots became full.
"It’s not exactly a lot, but the item becomes completely weightless. Umi, can I put living things in my Inventory?"
"Affirmative. However, as there is a vacuum inside the Inventory, any living object placed inside will rapidly lose consciousness and asphyxiate, unless they are immortal and do not require air. Living entities become frozen and unable to move, but can still perceive the world around them. This is considered a form of psychological torture and is generally not recommended. Additionally, living entities are subject to the same size restrictions as other items, thus large entities are unlikely to fit inside the Inventory."
Timothy nodded seriously. "Right. I just won’t bother then."
He decided to experiment with his abilities a little. Timothy walked over to various shelves and picked up random artifacts and items his dad had made. Suddenly, a thought came to his mind. He picked up one of the random vials of brown liquid.
Eye of Yredelemnul: Activate.
Information appeared in his mind.
Consumable: Murky Brown Liquid.
Effect: Unknown
Uses: 1/1
The information given to him was… unhelpful.
"Why is this eye so useless?" Timothy complained.
"The Eye of Yredelemnul is an extremely powerful ability that can only utilize its full power when a Player is of sufficient level to properly wield it. Your level is insufficient, so the information it can reveal is generally meaningless." Umi replied.
"Right…" Timothy grunted. He picked up a few other items, but their descriptions were not very useful either. He ended up shoving them into his Inventory to see how much stuff he could fit inside. Generally, he was quite pleased with what he found.
It turned out the weight of items was much less important then the size. An extremely dense tungsten bar took up less space than a long and skinny plastic bat. This meant he could store more items if he picked small and dense ones. Maybe if he found a way to shrink larger items down or fold them into smaller shapes…
Timothy glanced at the plastic bat. He pulled it out of the inventory and handed it to Ferral, who had quietly watched Timothy going about testing his powers from the side.
"Hey, Ferral. Could you use your telekinesis to fold this bat in half for me? Try not to break it."
Ferral nodded. With little effort, he bent the bat in half and turned it into a tightly squished U-shaped version of itself. When Timothy tried to put it in his inventory, he was shocked to see that it hadn’t gone from 3 squares of storage required to 2, but instead to just 1!
"Whoa! So making stuff smaller would actually do a lot! Good to know." Timothy muttered.
Ferral continued to watch. By now, he had stopped doubting his eyes. The fact Timothy was able to place items into and retrieve them from some sort of imperceptible storage dimension indicated he wasn’t hallucinating. He really had acquired a Heroic power!
After learning the basic limits of his inventory, Timothy pulled everything back out and placed the items in their original locations. He flicked through the Menu again and selected the Quests tab.
Starter Quest: [Complete Tutorial]
Continue speaking to Umi until all questions have been resolved. You may end the Tutorial at any time and gain access to locked abilities and other tabs whenever you please. You may also re-enable the Tutorial as desired in case additional assistance is required.
Timothy made a strange expression. He didn’t realize he could simply end the tutorial and start wielding his full powers at will. But he still felt he had a lot of questions, and there was no need to rush into things.
He returned to the Character Menu and looked at his information carefully.
With a single thought, he called up the information for his second Active Skill.
Player’s Fixation: [Unique] [MP Cost 0] [AP Cost 0] [Cooldown 24 Hours]
The Player can focus their mind for an extended period of time, increasing learning rate and speed for a specific task by up to 500%, depending on the Player’s emotional investment and mental interest in the task. High investment and interest will result in a higher payoff. Lower values will thus lead to a lower return. The player will be locked in this state for up to twelve hours or until the task is finished, whichever is the lesser time value. The Player will need to fully sleep back to maximum mental focus and then wait 24 hours before this skill can be activated again.
Timothy’s eyes widened. "Oh shit, that’s actually super useful. Whoa!"
Then he looked up the other skills.
Player’s Body: [Passive] [Global]
The Player’s body no longer follows the rule of ordinary living entities. Damage inflicted will be spread across the entire body, reducing the Player’s HP accordingly. Attacks landing on weak points of the Player’s body, such as the head or groin, will inflict bonus damage. The player will still feel localized pain in any areas struck. When below certain HP thresholds, the Player will suffer from additional ailments, such as [Lightly Wounded], [Injured], [Maimed], and [Broken]. The Player can recover one injury state by sleeping for at least eight hours, but extreme injuries will require multiple Well Rested buffs to counteract.
Player’s Mind (Toggle): [Passive] [Global] [Cooldown 24 Hours]
The Player is able to toggle between various mental states at will, which will enter cooldown after swapping mental states. Mental states offer different positive and negative effects that will vary depending on which states the Player has acquired. More states can be acquired from various sources, including leveling up and quest rewards.
Current mental states available:
Mind of Simplicity: [CURRENTLY SELECTED] 20% resistance to negative mental ailments, such as Fear and Anxiety. No personality changes.
Mind of Focus: Thinking speed decreased by 50%. Mental focus increased 200%. CHA reduced by 50%. INT and WIS increased by 50%. Personality altered to RESEARCHER.
Mind of Void: Immunity to telepathic intrusion. Telepathic attacks reflected back at attacker at 100% damage. Distracting thoughts can be silenced for thirty minute intervals at the cost of 1 MP/Min. Personality altered to PSIOPHOBIC.
The more Timothy looked at these skills, the more amazed he became. He had somehow broken the laws of reality and become a living video game player!
Without hesitation, he grabbed a random cutting tool off the table. Ferral’s body jerked in alarm when he saw Timothy slap his left hand on the workbench, then take the cutting tool with his right hand and carefully pull it across his arm.
"OUCH! Shit, that hurts!" Timothy yelped, quickly stopping what he was doing. He gazed at the wound with bright eyes and saw that he hadn’t bled at all. His arm hurt like a motherfucker though. It genuinely felt like someone had cut him.
A glance at his HP revealed that he had gone from 100 HP to 96.
[Timothy? Have you gone mad? Why did you attack yourself?] Ferral asked with deep concern. It did not escape his notice that despite Timothy’s scream of pain, the young man had not seriously injured himself. He wasn’t even bleeding!
Timothy held his arm, wincing at the very real pain he was experiencing. Unfortunately, it seemed his health was not regenerating, or if it was, it was at an extremely slow speed he couldn’t perceive. At least he could probably heal the damage when he went to sleep later.
"My god, Ferral. This power is insane!" Timothy said, half grinning and half scared of what he had become. In one instant, he had transformed from an ordinary human into a Hero. That meant he couldn’t just sit around, goofing off all day. He had work to do!
[Can you tell me about what you’ve learned?] Ferral asked. [I will not pry if you do not wish to say.]
"No, no. It’s cool, man. You’re my best friend, Ferral. I’ll tell you everything. Maybe even more than I tell my own mom."
And so he did. Timothy spent the better part of ten minutes telling Ferral every little discovery he’d made, what all his skills did, everything he could think of.
Ferral listened without judgment. His eyes lit up sometimes. He became more and more excited by what he’d heard.
[Timothy. Your power is… it is enviable. I am ashamed to admit that I am feeling great desire at using it myself.] Ferral said, wringing his hands together. [I would very much like to experience the joy of being a Player. I cannot, and will not force you. But I would be extremely appreciative if you were to extend me the privilege.]
Timothy’s smile vanished. He stared at Ferral with deep emotions. He wasn’t sure why he was so hesitant to extend the power to Ferral. Maybe it was because he had finally, for the first time in his life, acquired something that made him feel like he deserved to be his father’s son. Maybe it was because he didn’t want to just give away that which made him special after he’d barely even gotten to play around with his power.
Timothy chewed his lower lip and looked away.
[I see that you are still hesitant.] Ferral said, lowering his eyes. [I apologize. Never mind my request. I am being selfish in asking for your Uniqueness.]
"No. You’re not being selfish. I am." Timothy muttered. He turned to Umi. "Umi, are there any restrictions on who can enter the King Network?"
"Affirmative." Umi replied. "As a Newbie, you can only invite three other people into your direct Party. All Party members must share experience acquired unless they are a great distance from each other. Later on, as the Administrator has reached various satisfactory level requirements, the limits on Player Count will gradually rise."
"Oh, so it’s like that." Timothy said. He looked at Ferral thoughtfully.
After thinking for a while, he nodded.
"Alright Ferral. I can only invite three people to become Players. You’re my best friend, so I’m obviously giving you a slot. I don’t know who the other two should be, though. Maybe my mom? Uncle Lorent? Shana? Blinker and Kar? Rebecca? Lots of options…"
[You are truly going to let me become a Player too?] Ferral asked, becoming visibly elated. [Thank you, Timothy! I know you are extending a great trust my way. I will not betray that trust!]
Timothy smiled. He spoke to Umi a bit more, then deactivated the Tutorial temporarily in order to enable the Party tab. After that, he took a look at Ferral, then sent him a friend request.
Ferral nearly jumped out of his skin. The young Psion telepathically gasped when a game window appeared in front of him.
[AN ADMINISTRATOR IS INVITING YOU TO THE KING NETWORK.]
[IF YOU ACCEPT THIS REQUEST, YOU WILL BECOME A PLAYER.]
[WILL YOU ACCEPT THE FRIEND REQUEST AND JOIN TIMOTHY HIRO’S PARTY?]
[YES | NO]
Ferral’s body shook with excitement. He didn’t hesitate before jabbing his finger against the [YES] prompt.
In that moment, a whole new world opened for him, and the two friends embarked on the next major chapter of their lives together.