Bob heard a voice call his name.

It repeated and grew louder until the speaker was right next to his ear.

"Bob," the familiar voice said, "you need to pay attention. Say yes."

"Yes," Bob groaned. Everything hurt.

Mirror Protocol Confirmed!

"Finally," the voice grumbled, as Bob mentally swiped the box closed.

Mirror Protocol has enacted sensory reduction and replacement.

Bob sighed as a wave swept over him, carrying the pain away with it.

He opened his eyes.

He was laying on the cold stone floor of the ritual room. It was missing the ritual circle, as well as Kelli and Thidwell, but it had gained another person. A person that looked, for all intents and purposes, exactly like Bob.

"Mirror Protocol?" He muttered as he shook his head to clear it.

"Correct," said Mirror-Bob.

Mirror-Bob raised a finger and said, "Let me go over a few things, just a bit of a top-down overview. It'll save time, which is a concern for us."

Mirror-Bob sat down on the floor across from Bob, motioned for Bob to stay on the floor.

"Bottom line up front - I've been generated to help you transition to the System as part of the Advanced Integration Protocol. You can think of me as a sub-routine of that Protocol, if that helps you with a bit of context," Mirror-Bob began.

"A week ago, I was generated to help you integrate mentally into the System. It was incredibly unfortunate that you crossed over into a Dungeon filled with rats, given your personal history and distaste for them, and due to your falling into what might best be referred to as a more primitive state of mind, I was disabled until such time as you enabled me," Mirror-Bob continued.

"I was enabled by your physical form having sustained significant damage, caused by an attempt to interact with the System. You and I are currently interacting mentally, not physically, which is why Thidwell and Kelli aren't present. I'm currently interacting with the System on your behalf while those two stabilize your physical form," Mirror-Bob finished, looking pleased with himself.

"Also, for speed and ease of communication, you may simply refer to me as Trebor."

Bob nodded. It was better than Mirror-Bob even if it was a bit on the nose.

"So," Bob began, "I tried to take a path and something went very, very wrong."

"Yes," Trebor replied, "I wasn't able to warn you off of it."

Trebor gave Bob a very serious look and said "Bob, I know you're having a hard time. I was generated in no small part based on the memory scan that was performed. That being said, I've seen you in your daily life, and I can say with confidence that you are not handling this very well."

Bob snapped back, "I was blown up by fucking incompetent backstabbing cunts and thrown into another dimension!"

Trebor shook his head and replied, "Yes, and that does, as you say, suck. But, you were given access to the Menu system, which you finally noticed on your third day," Trebor waved his hand as Bob started to object, "yes, yes, rats trying to eat you in the dark, childhood trauma, yes, all that. But you still haven't accessed the Options section of the Menu," he said in exasperation.

"I've been waiting for you to pull up that Menu, check out the options, and at least consider enabling me," Trebor said. "You're running through the forest at night, without a headlamp. The people on this planet were born and raised with the System, and they have only the basest of understandings," he finished.

"You need to start making better choices," Trebor finished gently.

Bob blew out a breath. He closed his eyes and focused on taking slow, deep breaths and letting them out smoothly.

"And then there is that," said Trebor.

Bob opened his eyes and scowled as he replied, "And then there is what?"

"You've spent your entire life internalizing every emotion you've felt. You don't let yourself feel anger or sadness, and the only times you let yourself feel happiness is when you are completely alone, with your pet cat," Trebor shook his head.

"You are deeply, perhaps irrevocably damaged. However, you are quite bright, as far as biological entities of your tier and technology level go, so understand that when you are fighting monsters, which yes, as Thidwell surmised, you will need to do in order to Summon Monroe, you will not have time to tamp down your emotions and internalize them. It will get you killed, which is what I was generated to prevent," Trebor finished.

Bob closed his eyes defiantly, and took a few breaths before responding, "That is why I have Jake, to handle the monsters for me."

"Yes, and well done that, you've managed to recreate an extinct species from your world with remarkable clarity - in case the System message wasn't clear, let me further cleanse the issue as they say in the local parlance. If you ritually summon a pair of UtahRaptors and let them breed, you might very well destroy the entire ecosystem of Thayland." Trebor stated.

"So, don't do that," Trebor warned.

Bob opened his eyes and gave Trebor a cold smile. "Not even if I find an island off the coast of a major population center that I can seed with a wide variety of dinosaurs?" Bob asked.

Trebor returned the smile and replied, "I've seen the movies you've seen Bob, and no, recreating Jurassic Park isn't recommended."

"Of course," Trebor continued, "I won't do anything to stop you, and as your guide to the functionality of the System and your integration therein I would be quite helpful in creating a dinosaur apocalypse."

Bob gave him a level look.

"A little more context - I am a subroutine, of a subroutine, of a subroutine, ad infinitum. I represent a percentage of the System's resources than cannot be expressed as a percentage without going out thousands of decimal places. I'm an interface to help you access the System, flavored by your own memories," Trebor said.

Bob nodded slowly. He needed to not think of Trebor as a person.

"Now," said Trebor, "important things, as our mental meeting is coming to an end. Kelli and Thidwell have stabilized your physical form. I've done what I can for your matrix."

Trebor gave Bob a level look and went on, "Your matrix is too badly damaged to support a Path. You've already noticed that the damage is significant enough to impact your mana channels as it is. Now you might, might, be able to repair your matrix, but you really aren't going to like the requirements."

Bob kept his eyes open and waited.

"Bottom line up front, you would need another Human, from Earth, to be integrated into the System. That would allow the System to map out the damaged parts of an Earth Human's matrix, and then retroactively apply those to you," Trebor continued, "Now the problem is that you were damaged in the explosion and the following experience of being hurled across dimensions. Your best chance is to obtain another Summon (x) skill, and summon another Human from your world to be integrated."

Bob let out a sigh. A mental one, at any rate. "Is it more imperative that I summon another person, or can I summon Monroe first?" He asked.

Trebor shrugged and answered, "There is a not-insignificant chance that either action, based on the damage to your matrix, will result in your death. Theoretically, if you can survive summoning Monroe, there is no reason you couldn't then recover, and then summon another person. Or you could summon another person, survive, and have a much easier time summoning Monroe."

Bob shook his head. "Monroe doesn't have a lot of time left," he said.

Trebor nodded and replied, "I'd thought that you'd make that choice."

Bob blinked as a slightly opaque blue bar became visible at the bottom of his vision. It was joined by two others, green and red.

"Mana, Stamina, and Health, respectively," said Trebor, "it should help you keep an eye on your resources. Also, I'll be stepping in to answer any questions you have for the System, as is my purpose. Your Advanced System Integration is actually quite a po-"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob blinked. He experienced a sudden wave of vertigo as he found himself laying on his back, a concerned Kelli kneeling next to him, while an unseen Thidwell rumbled somewhere nearby.

"Bob!" said Kelli excitedly, "Glad to see you're back with us! You gave us quite a scare, I've never seen anything quite like that before, and I've watched a few younger cousins choose their paths, and a few Adventurers who took up the career a little early as it were - a fascinating study in personalities, you'd think it would be the brash and the bold, but it's just as often the quiet ones tha-"

Thidwell's massive hand dropped onto Kelli's shoulder, cutting his excited speech short. "Can you tell us what happened?" Thidwell asked.

Bob didn't nod his head. He was in quite a bit of pain. "It turns out that the damage I suffered from being tossed between realities is not only making it harder for me to use mana, but it's preventing me from choosing a path," he said.

Kelli let out a gasp that the uncharitable might have taken as excited. Thidwell rumbled, "That isn't something I've seen before."

Thidwell squeezed his hand on Kelli's shoulder, seeming to intuit that the excitable man was about to speak, and continued, "I'm not sure what that will do in terms of your ability to progress," he went on as he pondered, "however you did obtain all the skills needed to summon Monroe, did you not?"

Bob tried a small nod and instantly regretted that decision. "Yes," he gritted out, "I have all the skills I need."

Thidwell pulled Kelli up and started walking him out of the room, clearly aiming to keep the excited researcher from badgering Bob. The huge man called over his shoulder as he closed the door, "Take a few hours, get cleaned up, and meet Harv and Elli in the tavern for dinner."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Status

Name Bob Level 5 Tier 5 Size 5 Str 10 Cord 10 End 10 Int 35 Wis 35 Beauty 10 Health 200 Mana 22.5 Armor 40.8 Mana Regen 4.5 Damage 45.9 Spell Casting 37.5

Bob winced as he slowly stood up. All the bars at the bottom of his vision were full, which made him question just exactly what purpose health served, as he felt pretty fucking awful for being at full health.

He leaned against the wall and grimaced a bit. "Trebor," he muttered quietly, "is there any chance you can tell me why I'm hurting so badly despite having a full red bar?"

'Yes,' came a voice from his left, although turning his head didn't reveal Trebor to be there. 'You suffered from the damage to your matrix, not the damage to your physical form. Although there is a bit of bleed over from one to the other.'

"Good enough," he muttered, and he started to make his way towards the door. He needed a bath, and then a meal. And then probably a good night's rest.

"How much harder is it going to be to gain levels without a path?" Bob asked. Not waiting, he went on, "Hell, Thidwell didn't sound sure that I could gain levels without a path."

'It will be more difficult, as you won't have the bonuses provided by a path,' Trebor warned, 'But it certainly isn't impossible by any means. Please keep in mind, that while quite imposing, Thidwell is the Curator of a level thirty-three dungeon in an unremarkable backwater of an unimportant kingdom on an isolated continent of the least populated planet in this solar system. He is far from a fountain of knowledge, although he does serve as an adequate representation of what the Adventurer's Guild here puts forth as their purpose.'

"Hold up," Bob said as he leaned against the door, "least populated planet?"

'Yes,' Trebor responded, 'Thayland is the fifth planet in this solar system, and is barely in what you would call "The Goldilocks Zone", the fourth planet is slightly larger and much more temperate, and is the highest populated planet. The third planet while significantly larger suffers from the other end of the extreme temperature range and isn't considered to be habitable below the fortieth parallel.'

"And I suppose people travel between these planets?" Bob huffed as he began to trudge up the stairs.

'Not often,' replied Trebor. 'the beings who possess the power to do so have largely settled where they wish to be, and don't travel.'