It began to rain as Dan stalked the last living goblin. It was a soft, cold rain and fell straight down from a flat band of cloud that hung gray and still in the night sky. There was no wind. Fourteen lead sling bullets rested in Dan's belt bag, half of them misshapen now after he recovered them from the skulls of dead goblins. It had been grisly work for a few with needle nosed pliers and a clawed hammer, somehow more personal than killing the monsters from a distance had been. Up close and safely dead they seemed smaller, and fragile. He could not know what would happen when he killed the last of them and met the "Initial Test Success Condition" the first System message had notified him about. "Initial", however, did not generally mean "final", or "only". He had to assume that there were more tests to follow, and so that meant the last goblin lived until Dan was as ready as he could make himself for an unknown, violent future.

His quarry hid within the tangle of a large bush planted on the east side of the building to soften and partially hide the sharp metal features of the industrial HVAC unit. Not a bad plan, really. Hide, wait in ambush, hope that Dan's attention slipped and he could be taken unawares. But the little monster was alone now and hopelessly outmatched. Dan activated "Unerring Aim [self]" and slung a lead ovoid that traced a narrow path through the foliage and into the back of the creature's head.

Monster Defeated, Common Goblin (lvl 1). Aether Gained.

Congratulations! Initial Test Passed.

You have gained the title "Vanguard". +20% to level-directed Aether gain, +5 to all unlocked attributes, and perk "Universal Translator" gained.

You have been assigned a Primary Test.

Test Directive: Gain Power.

Test Time Limit: Seven Years.

Successful completion of Test will have rewards including return to moment of initial System integration in origin world and universe with retention of memory and System granted abilities.

You have ten minutes to gather your belongings before mandatory orientation, preceding realm shift.

You have reached 100 Perception. Sense "Sense Weakness" Unlocked.

Dan didn't need ten minutes. He was already prepared, so all that was left to do is walk over and retrieve the sling bullet from the dirt under the bush, then go back and wait in his van. It was an extreme long shot, but the van did belong to him. Maybe he could keep it? If nothing else, it was cold out now and the van was warm and dry. And there was enough time to enjoy the full first movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata in the van's audio system, accented by the percussion of softly falling drops of rain against its body. It would be a long time before he could listen to Beethoven again. Seven years. Seven years before he could see his family, or return home. And that was a best case scenario. Dan sat in the driver's seat with the back reclined to make room for the backpack that contained his travel emergency kit, a pair of pliers, and a hammer. He held the tire iron in his left hand, and wore the fur cloak from some unknown, unfortunate beast that he'd claimed as spoils of war from the Goblin Chieftain. Wherever he was going, it might be cold. The final, soft descending notes played and the song ended, followed by the remaining several seconds of the ten minute countdown.

Those seconds took a very long time.

Then he was gone, and then he was somewhere else. The floor was a flat, uniform, matte white. There were no walls, and the sky was white. In every direction but one there was nothing but endless white, as far as his enhanced eyes could see. Dan had gotten so used to a constant stream of sensory input that the sudden lack of things to sense felt weird and wrong. Directly in front of him was a minimalist glass desk with an office chair on each side. The chairs looked the kind of simple that is very expensive. The one nearest Dan was empty. The chair on the other side was filled with a bald, blue-skinned alien in a neatly tailored charcoal gray suit, a cream shirt, and a thin navy tie with a gold tie clip. It had a big head and big blue eyes, which smiled along with its mouth as it addressed him: "Hello Dan! Congratulations on passing your initial trial. I am one of the System Administrators assigned to monitor the trial set the System is running on your world. You can call me Sam. Please, take a seat. Tea?"

Dan sat. System Identify told him nothing about the nature of this Sam, but in his Perceive Power and Sense Aether senses, Sam shined so brightly it was if the Sun itself sat across from him and had just offered a cup of tea. Dan flushed with co-mingled awe and wariness. "Um, thank you, but I'm not thirsty. Could you please tell me where I am and where I'm going?"

Sam laughed. "Jumping right to the big questions I see. Or perhaps you mean it more narrowly. To answer most simply, this is your orientation. I am here to assist you in gaining a measure of psychological stability before your realm shift, which is just a way of saying a one-way ticket to a planet much like your own where you'll have the chance to earn a ticket back home. The planet you are going to has a great deal in common with the fantasy genre of entertainment in the popular culture of your world, so it should be simple enough to find your feet if you keep your wits, equilibrium, and respect the locals."

"Why is my world being tested?"

Sam frowned, looked Dan in the eye. "It may be useful to think of us as multiversal ecologists. Your planet, because of your people, has potential, and we've been keeping an eye on you. A few times, we've had to intervene to protect you. Divert a wayward celestial body here, prevent a cataclysmic volcanic eruption there. But each intervention does cost resources, and ours, while vast, aren't endless. It's a big multiverse with a lot of worlds we'd like to save, but we cannot save all. Recently, we've too often had to save you, and your world, from yourselves, in increasingly expensive ways. Without our repeated intervention, you would have driven your own species to extinction a number of times over the last century. Frankly, we can't keep saving you from you. We can connect you to the System. That could give you the tools you need to save yourselves. But your world is not ready, and the cost will be terrible. The tests are to see if your world has a realistic chance of surviving the aftermath. If it does not, you have my sincere condolences. Much as with organ transplants, we can not give something as rare and precious as a System connection to a patient who will die regardless."

"So no pressure then."

Sam smirked. "No, none at all. Though please do know that as the recipient of a Legendary Blessing, and a notably powerful one at that, you are one of your world's brightest hopes, both for passing this test and for leading your world through the violent trauma of System Integration."

"This trauma wouldn't happen to be monster related would it?"

"It would. The System will allow the humans of your world to gain a wide range of powers and abilities, but the source of all of them is aether. However, for reasons much speculated about but still not conclusively understood, there is a price to be paid for access to this power. Powerful monsters will spawn and be drawn irresistibly to concentrations of the species that use aether and attempt to eradicate them."

"Umm... Why monsters?"

"Theists believe the Source of Aether grants power only to those who prove themselves worthy through combat. Others believe all aether is stolen, all who so steal are parasites, and the monsters are an immune response. There are other theories. Myself, I don't get overmuch concerned with such questions of philosophy."

"How many of us did you take as test subjects?"

"10,000."

"How did we do?"

"Quite well! The trials are ongoing, but we project a 43% success rate."

"And the other 57% were slaughtered horribly by monsters, or will be?"

"Sadly, yes. It is unfortunate, but we could not prevent their deaths without causing greater harm."

Dan paused to collect his thoughts.

"Why do you care about saving worlds that are obviously far beneath whatever your people are?"

"A good question! As you suspect, it is not entirely a matter of altruism. Though that does play a larger part than you think. In this conversation, I will not lie to you, but I may give partial answers, or decline to answer, if in my judgment the full truth would be unwise. Here is a partial, but truthful, answer to your question. The System itself is fueled by the worlds to which it connects. I know you're curious as to the exact mechanics, but without disrespect, they are beyond your ability to understand at present even in a simplified explanation. The more surviving, stable worlds we can connect to the System, the stronger the System grows, the more resources we have for the work that we do."

"Did your people create the System?"

"No. We are its inheritors and custodians. The System's creators are long gone, to an unknown destination."

"Are you actually a race of blue bi-pedal humanoids?"

"No. You're seeing this form because it is similar enough to your kind that you can relate to me, but different enough not to raise your suspicion that I am trying to appear human. It, and the personality I am presenting, is meant to put you at ease and make our conversation more productive."

"That... actually makes quite a bit of sense. Is this a simulation? Was the goblin fight and the pocket dimension my office building was dropped into a simulation? What about the world I'm being sent to?

Sam sighed and rubbed his forehead. It actually looked a bit like the facepalm meme outline. "That is an actively harmful question to ask. You believe this is a simulation. If I tell you that yes, it is, you will trust me more but take all of this less seriously. If I tell you all of this has taken place in physical reality, you will distrust my answer and everything else I have to say. Whether this is the virtual reality simulation of an artificial intelligence vastly beyond your comprehension, material reality, or Azathoth's dream, in every way that matters this is real. What you do matters. If you die, you're dead. But I will trust you and answer your question. This is a simulation. The pocket dimension where your Initial Trial was conducted was real. The world you will be taken to is real. Believe as you will."

"Why be honest? Why not lie? If the purpose of this is to psychologically stabilize me, the truth can't be optimal all of the time. Much of what you have told me is terrifying."

"Because you are you. I have no moral compunctions against dishonesty in the right situation. However, you are a Chosen Esper with unusually high Perception for one of your level and access to the Sense Deceit aether ability. It, combined with how quickly and strongly you take offense at being mislead, makes you a bit of a delicate case to handle. There are countermeasures possible of course, but fewer and more problematic than you'd think. In this instance, it's simply more practical to tell you the truth."

Of course, if Sam were lying, would he still say that? Dan's head hurt a little.

"If I die, what happens? Will my family back home have a body to bury, or will I have been quite literally abducted by aliens?"

"Your co-workers will come in to work in the morning to find you have tragically died of a massive stroke."

"This really isn't bolstering your claim that the world I'm going to is not a simulation."

"Yet it truthfully is not."

"Fair enough."

There was a pause in the conversation as Dan gathered his thoughts. The question that came to mind did not seem like the question he should be asking, but it was there and better questions, for the moment, were not.

"Can I keep my van?"

"No, although that was a very good try! Items you attempted to bring that exist in your destination realm will be brought with you. Items with analogues in your destination realms will be substituted. Items that do not exist, whether because the technology has not been developed or because the materials are not present, will be left behind, but you will be compensated with an appropriate sum of local currency."

As if it had been a cake that took time to bake, Dan's mind presented him with a question he should have asked earlier.

"I was given a quest to, quote, 'Gain Power'. What does that mean? What kind of power? How am I supposed to gain it?

"That is vague intentionally. It is part of the test."

Dan thought, a bit frustrated. He could press, but knew further attempts in that line of inquiry would be a waste of time.

"Why is there a world similar to Earth's pop culture fantasy genre?"

"Because we've seeded your world with these concepts. Also, RPGs? That was us."

"Figures."

"You're Welcome! Think of how lost you'd be without that background. It will meaningfully improve your survival chances. In fact, it already has. Sadly, this is a test, and as much as I wish we could, we can't cheat to help you by giving all the answers ahead of time. I know you are just about to ask a litany of highly pertinent questions I won't be able to answer, but our time is almost up."

"You know what Sam? I appreciate it. Thank you. Will I see you again?"

"Ordinarily, I would say no. However, you are a bit of a special case. You have unusual potential, which may lead you down paths that cross with mine. Call it a definite maybe on a future cup of tea."