“Initialization? The Tower scans you, gives you the system and offers you a choice of Template to start you off. The choices are based on a combination of life experiences, bloodline if you have it and personal aptitude. Choose wisely, it’s permanent and there are no re-specs.”
Excerpt from a presentation to the Senate Committee on the Tower.
Charles looked around the room once he got a hold of himself. It was a cube over 30 feet on a side, smooth white stone with one archway covered in a shimmering translucent barrier. In the exact center of the room was one of the black obelisks standing tall.
“Hello? Anyone here?” He called out, getting no response. The sound of his voice was swallowed by the walls, muffling his words. He looked from the barrier to the obelisk and took a deep breath. “Here goes . . .” He laid one hand on the reflective black stone and his body locked in place.
-Initializing new sapient into the system
-Scanning sapient for Template selection
-Sealed bloodline found
-Activating bloodline
-Truncating Template list to compatible Templates
-No Template found
Charles found his vision going dark as his blood began to burn in his veins. He tried to pull his hand away but couldn’t breathe, blink or twitch.
-Re-scanning
-No compatible Template found
Fluid began to leak from Charles’ eyes, ears and nose. Some went into his mouth and he tasted blood.
-Expanding parameters
-No Template found
Charles’ blood felt like it was boiling him alive and he desperately tried to scream through frozen lungs.
-Expanding parameters
-2 Templates found
-Displaying Templates
- 1: Gloria Crimson Bloodwine Angelique (adjusted to fit bloodline)
- 2: Corrupted Lightbringer
Charles couldn’t focus through the pain, he just mashed the first option he saw. Anything to end the pain.
-Applying Template
The pain mercifully ended and he blacked out as he felt his flesh and bones shift and change.
~~~
Tower Day 7
Charles groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. He shuddered as the memory of the ungoddessly painful initialization went through his mind and he sat up. His body felt weird, clothes pinching and tight in some places, loose in others. He shifted into a sitting position easily, his motions flowing smooth and without effort. His eyes opened and he brushed black and silver-white hair out of his eyes. He froze.
“What -” Silky smooth tones emerged from his mouth and he started trembling. “No no nonononono.” Charles whimpered, looking down and screaming at the sight of two grapefruit sized mounds pushing out of his shirt. A quick check of her jeans showed a full conversion. “What the fu- ow!” She winced as she felt her ears and pinched the pointed tips.
“No . . . no . . .” She whirled and felt waist-length hair swirl around her. “You turned me into that . . . that . . . Mary-sue!? The battle junkie crazed . . . no personality . . . sex obsessed . . .” Charlie screamed and punched the obelisk, freezing again as she locked up with contact.
-Initialization completed
-Template applied, 100 points distributed and applied, no additional points in account
-Due to extreme physical adjustment, soul has been adjusted to prevent dysphoria
-System information packages available in exponent of 10
-Current point balance: 0
-Displaying status: Charles Fitzgerald
Charles Fitzgerald
Point Value: 100
Core Concept: Lesser Dark – Unlocks Dark and associated element skills
Energy Type: Mana – Prime stat Power
Template: Gloria Crimson Bloodwine Angelique (modified)
Race: Celestial Touched Human – T 4, 4 more skill slots
Bloodline: Shard of Light-tainted Night – T 3, +.3 to Night element skill multi, 30% more damage from Light skills
Trait: Battle Fury – T 3, 30% increased damage, great rage and euphoria in battle
-Overcome the Trials and prove your right to Advance
-Return in 98:83:62
The obelisk released her and she started to slip, but quickly stutter-stepped to correct her balance, easily remaining on her feet. Charlie paused there, fully expecting to fall flat on her face.
“Must be the dex and . . . grace?” She muttered. She thought about her status page and it appeared in her mind, present in a way that was more than just memory. She noted that the ‘Return’ numbers had changed and watched as the last number ticked down again. After counting ‘Mississippi’ a few times she estimated each ‘tick’ was between 8 and 9 seconds. She tried doing the rest of the math in her head but gave up.
“I dunno, ten tick is a minute and a half? Good enough for now. So . . . trials.” Charlie swallowed heavily and walked to the doorway. The words ‘Combat Template’ appeared for a moment before the barrier faded away revealing another white room, but this time filled with racks of different weapons of all shapes and sizes. After a few more steps she stutter-stepped again as she almost walked out of her shoes.
“Dammit.” She laced them as tight as she could to her feet and sighed. Starting again she walked through only for the doorway to turn into a blank wall behind her. “Shit!” She shivered and looked to where a new doorway appeared on the wall past the weapon racks.
Words appeared on the shimmering barrier, ‘Choose a weapon’.
Charlie poked through the racks, trying out swords, axes, spears and even a bow, but settled on a metal club that felt like the bat that was stolen by the jocks. “Guess I’ll go with this.” She muttered, giving it a swing.
Immediately the racks blinked away leaving her with just the club in her hands and a grunting sound from behind her. She whirled to face the center of the room and a green-skinned child-sized monster with sharp fangs and long claws rushed her, howling in rage. Charlie yelped and swung her mace, whiffing the blow by inches. She wrenched her arms trying to swing back but was horribly off balance, too much for even her new dex and grace stats to help as the goblin crashed into her, biting and clawing at any exposed flesh. Her vision went red with the pain and she felt an overwhelming flood of rage and desire to rend and tear overtake her mind. Something reflexively triggered her Dark Attack as the Battle Fury took her over and all she wanted was KILL.
~~~
Charlie came back to her senses as the goblin finally stopped moving beneath her and started to fade away. Blood dripped from numerous claw marks over her face and arms and her hands looked almost as bad as the pulped mass she had made of the goblin’s head. She screamed as the pain hit and she helplessly started vomiting from adrenaline and emotional crash. She lay on the floor shivering, wounds throbbing as they very slowly started to regenerate and she sobbed.
“Why? Why am I here?” She yelled out. “What did I do to deserve this? WHY!?”
A soft ‘ding’ sound from the door announced a change in the text.
-100 point Goblin slain
-1 point received
-First Trial completed. Collect reward to proceed to rest area
Once the goblin had finished fading, a single claw remained on the floor. With a ‘blink’ a wooden box appeared in front of the exit, looking like it had always been there. Still, she lay where she was, whimpering slightly from the pain as her wounds slowly mended themselves under the effect of her regeneration. After what felt like forever (but was only almost a hundred ticks according to the timer) she felt mended enough to get to her feet and stagger over to the box. Inside she found a simple tunic and sandals.
“Seriously? I nearly die because of you and you give me new clothes!?” Charlie threw the tunic across the room and gave the box a kick. “I want out! I want to go home!” She screamed and kicked the box again, falling as the box blinked away, the floor looking like there had never been a box in the first place. The new girl sobbed as she huddled on the floor crying her eyes out.
Later, an emotionally drained Charlie walked over to the new clothes and changed, forcibly ignoring her body except for tying on the simple chest binder and slipping on the new underclothes. She took a few steps in her new footwear and grudgingly admitted she felt better without everything pinching, binding and otherwise ill-fitting her new form. Her generous hips took on a gentle sway as she walked over to the mob drop and put it in her new shoulder bag (not a purse) with her old clothes.
She swallowed heavily and entered the next room, finding another obelisk, a small cot and a low table with a jug of water and a plate with some gray rectangles the size of a slim paperback book. Her mouth suddenly felt parched and she swiftly took a large drink, sighing in relief at the cool refreshment. Hesitantly she took a nibble of a ‘brick’ and shrugged at the bland taste.
“Kinda like an unsalted saltine cracker. I’ve had worse.” She sighed, filling her stomach and lying on the cot. “Why?” A few tears fell down her cheek. “Why me?”
~~~
Tower day 7 – Noon
When Charlie woke from her nap she noticed the water and ‘food’ had been refreshed, and a corked sack lay next to the plate. Popping the cork revealed it was full of water. She looked around the room and spotted a curtained alcove that revealed a toilet and shower. She took care of necessary business, easily understanding the three seashells for cleanup and took a quick shower of lukewarm water. That taken care of, she walked over to the obelisk and touched it.
-Store open
-Point balance: 1
[Buy – Sell – Upgrade]
Charlie focused on ‘sell’ and the screen changed.
-Present salable items
“Um . . .” She rummaged through the purse – bag and pulled out the drop.
-Goblin Claw – basic grade
-Sale price 5 for 1 point
“Sell.” Charlie ordered. “20% of a point is better than none.”
-Transactions can only be completed in whole point lots
“Fuck you too.” Charlie snarled. “Buy.”
[Equipment – Consumables – Materials – Stats – Skills]
“Equipment.”
A long list of weapons and armor displayed, each of which came with a short description and image. She frowned as everything was the same as the options she had been given before the first trial. Belatedly she remembered the club she had chosen before, forgotten in the first trial room. She looked and saw the door gone as if it was never there, and the club nowhere to be seen.
“Shit.” She took a deep breath. “Consumables.”
-Lowest consumable price 5 points
“Dammit! Stats.”
-Minimum cost to upgrade from 1 to 2 is 10 points
-Next additional stat type costs 90 points
“Fuck!” Charlie reviewed what her template had cost in new stats. “Okay . . . 10, then 40, next is 90 . . . that’s squared, add a zero. The next after is probably 160 points.”
-Correct
“Gee, thanks.” Charlie said dryly, taking a deep breath (her binder protesting) and let it out. “Tell me, what does it take to fix this trait?” She demanded.
-Initial trait modification cost 100 points
“Fuck! Skills.”
[Foundational – Active – Special]
“Um . . . foundational.”
An overwhelming array of skills costing 1 point crowded the screen. Anything you could think of that could be an action or modifying an action was shown. Unfortunately, everything was ‘M – 0’ which she determined stood for ‘Micro level zero’. And it was just as useful as what she already had.
“Upgrade.”
[Skill Level – Advance Skill – Race – Bloodline – Trait]
-Note some options require additional resources beyond points
“Skill Level.”
-Micro Tier skills cost .1 point per level
Charlie thought for a moment. “Add one level to all my mana skills.”
-Transactions can only be completed in whole point lots
“Damn you to the brightest of the Radiant Hells!” Charlie screamed at it and sighed. “Use one point to level up Hp Regen. Might cut down recovery times.”
-HP Regen Boost: M – 0 now M – 10 (+1% to HP Regeneration)
-Skill level max, advancement required
“Well that was almost useless.” Charlie pulled her hand away and sat down on the cot. “Hope you’re doing better than me, Ben.”
~~~
Benjamin Shuler: Trial 1
Ben held his combat knife in one hand, a round shield in the other. “What are you waiting for?” He taunted the walking skeleton in front of him.
The words triggered a response from the creature and it clattered into motion, eye sockets glowing yellow and bone hands outstretched to claw and tear.
“Shield Bash!” Ben yelled and slammed the disk into the science class reject, launching it 10 feet to clatter into a wall and fall to a twitching heap. “Ricochet!” He called out next, making his shield glow with energy as he pulled it off his hand and threw it like a Frisbee to bounce off the skull and right back to his hand, caught by the edge and spun around to throw it back again for another bounce and catch.
“I can do this all day.” He smirked as the skeleton faded away to leave a molar behind. “Don’t worry, buddy.” Ben looked seriously at the exit door. “I’ll get back as soon as I can.”
Benjamin Shuler
Point Value: 100
Core Concept: Defense - Foundational
Energy Type: Stamina – Prime Vitality
Template: Captain Steve Rogers
Race: Human – T3, +3 Skill slots
Bloodline: Mark of the Protector – T2, defensive skills + .2 skill multiplier
Trait: Super Soldier – T 2, +.2 active combat skill multiplier, -.2 production/crafting
Goblin
Point value: 100
Core Concept: Speed – Unlocks Speed and associated skills
Energy Type: Velocitas – Prime Stat Agility
Template: Rapid Carnivore
Race: Goblin – T 2, +.2 boost to movement skills (hp, energy * .75)
Bloodline: None – T 0
Trait: Primitive – T 1, Natural Attack +10, HP 10% worse
