We are barely in the car when my vision starts going fuzzy. It takes a moment to resolve itself, and I can see game elements appearing everywhere. I can see the names of people who I have never been introduced to. I don't see any levels over 55ish, but a few people have question marks where levels usually go.

Sarah, what happened?

Sorry boss. It took a little longer to get everything running right than in the game. There is a lot more data to process out here, you know?

What is the data like? I didn't think you would be able to pull anything from the real world.

It's...messy. That's part of why it took so long. I'm also limited by what data flows through you.

These people's names and levels are flowing through me?

Yes. You pay attention to the people around you. Whether they are a threat, a person you might know, or someone you care about. You pay more attention to the people than to say...the tree patterns.

And the data that flows through me includes names and levels?

It does. And a whole lot more, but I can't parse it all.

I wonder if normal people have this information and just can't access it, or if it has something to do with Data Entity Conversion.

“My HUD came online.”

Jessie is driving and the car doesn't swerve even a little. Her tolerance for my craziness must have gone up.

“So you can see the same things as in the game?”

“Yup. Sarah says there's more, but she can't understand it yet.”

“Well, it's not completely unknown. Like Oliver from the interview. He can pick things out of people's brains at distance. Magic can do the same.”

“I don't think this is using telepathy or magic. I can see levels.”

“Do you know what it is using?”

“Not really.”

“Let me know if you figure it out.”

* * *

A late dinner and I'm all set to log in.

“Start System Link.”

I'm back in the church. Now that I'm not so shocked by my death, I find it quite peaceful. The revival area is actually the larger part of the church, with a smaller area devoted to worship. I drop a few coins in the donation bin. It wouldn't hurt to have the goddess on my side.

I message my parents and tell them we are going to train a bit then go fishing. They message me back saying they've found a group and are going dungeon crawling for a while. I wish them good luck and prepare myself for a beating.

Valerie is outside. We head on over to the training area. I start some stretches, unsure if they matter anymore, and Valerie does the same. She steps up without a sword, so I assume we are doing hand to hand, unless she just feels like showing off and wants to see me try to hit her with a sword.

I finished all the books I had, and have been playing the memories of them showing me each general sword move, and Valerie's hand to hand combat style. I think it's paying off, because my sword skill has been rising steadily all day. I'm not about to kill seven in one stroke, but maybe I can keep a troll busy.

This is my time to show off, so I turn off the memories and put all my focus here. Step. Grab. Get thrown. Roll. Back on your feet soldier!

“Can you take it down a notch? I'm trying not to look like an idiot here.”

“I'm not sure how much I can help you with that, but I'll try.”

She casts a spell, and everything about her slows. I guess she took me literally. If I fail now, I'll be twice as embarrassed.

I go over my skills that might help. Melee combat, hand to hand, unnatural leverage, ambidextrous, slow perception, danger sense, focus, and sure footed. I activate slow perception and focus, then head back into the grinder.

I see a strike coming before it hits, for like, the first time ever. I grab, ignore everything I've learned, and twist the wrong way. The leverage is against me, but I am pushing unnatural leverage to its limits and it's like watching someone reverse direction in mid air. Of course, she flips, lands on her feet, and kicks out at my leg. I try to dodge, but she follows the movement and there's a nasty crack followed by a dip in my hit points.

She's slowed, so I don't think she can talk intelligibly, but the motion is universal. Again.

I let her make the first move, and while I wouldn't say it was a mistake, because there is no real right answer in this fight, it doesn't go my way. I duck under a foot, then punch her only leg on the ground, while she lands the first foot on the top of my head. It is surprisingly painful.

I'm not dazed, either due to my HP or my mental status resistance, and I figure I might as well use it to my advantage. I use one hand to twist the leg on my head, and I get some traction. She goes to one knee, and punches me in the stomach. I soak the damage with my hitpoints, and twist harder in the opposite direction, focusing on my transcend stat.

I hear a crack this time, and her hit points drop a tad. She flips up off the ground and nails me in the side of the head this time. I don't even have to shake it off, but I see the red bar in my vision dropping. I lead with punches, and she dodges one and blocks the other, while breaking my knee again. I ignore it and keep pushing on. Do I need a grip to exert unnatural leverage? I am levering myself off the ground with my legs after all.

I absorb a hit in order to position myself slightly under her, and jump into her. We go flying. Technically, she leaves the ring first. Practically, I land under her with a knee on my neck. She must have dropped the slow spell, because she's talking normally.

“Good job. You got a lot of the basics down, and learned to use your defensive advantages offensively.”

“I have a good teacher?”

“Is that a question?”

“No sensei.”

“Good. Show me the kata I showed you yesterday.”

I pull myself up off the floor again, and bring up the memory one more time.

There is no flow. It's just moves, one after the other, each exhibiting part of the mishmash that is her style. I haven't even practiced this since I saw it yesterday, so I don't have high hopes. I finish up the set, and she nods.

“Good enough. It's not really meant for that kind of learning. We'll go hurt some monsters later so you can practice and memorize how I do it. For now, show me the sword kata.”

This is much, much easier. There is a flow, and it feels natural. I've seen this from four different angles over a hundred times, and I feel like I've been practicing for months. I'm fairly sure I ace the exam.

“Very good. We can leave the practical application until we get Havlar or someone similar in skill back here. Maybe if we slow someone down they can be an equal opponent.”

“We get to fish?” I'm excited now.

“We sure do buddy.” She's making fun of me. I allow it.

* * *

There are some nice places outside of the cities. We buy the appropriate equipment, which is very old-school. At least we are doing the patience type of fishing instead of using nets.

It's past the early hours now, so we aren't really planning on catching anything, but it'll be nice to go out and sit by the water. We find a nice shady spot to maximize our very slim chances at catching something, and I pull out a couple relaxed chairs from my inventory.

This place is perfect. Here we are, sleeping, dreaming a dream of fishing. I pull out some braided bread hot from the oven, and we relax into the scenery.

There's a fresh wind blowing over the water, and the ripples make out patterns that are fun to watch. There are ducks off on the far side of the lake, and I spot a turtle trying to decide if it wants to be in the water or on the ground.

Clouds move slowly across the sky, I point out a couple that look like dogs. That's what this place needs. A couple lazy dogs to just lay down and enjoy the afternoon with.

The reeds sway in the wind, and I wonder what's out there with them.

Time passes us by and thankfully no fish interrupt our fishing.

* * *

It's been half an hour and I'm going crazy. I forgot how boring fishing was. I pulled out my guitar at one point and Valerie used her glare of death, so I put it back.

I tried striking up a conversation, and that did not go well.

Eventually, I just pulled out my laptop with some earbuds, and I heard Valerie sigh.

Ahh Civilization, my old friend, my old enemy. Into the depths we go.

'Go sir, gallop, and don't forget that the world was made in six days. You can ask me for anything you like, except time.'

-Napoleon Bonaparte

I consider the quote, and gain a point of wisdom for doing so. So many of my problems could be solved with extra time, yet here I am fishing. Well, playing a game...I mean training my wisdom.

I start on a small map and use the most extreme AI. I lose. Badly. I play again. Again I lose. I haven't actually lost any stat points so far, so I'm doubtful that it's possible, but this game is making me reconsider.

After losing twice in only a half hour, a new record, Valerie pulls her chair over and plays armchair general. She helped me out quite a bit, and in one particularly nerve wracking game, we win just before my capital would have been destroyed. This is a lot more fun than trying to wrangle angry fish.

According to Sarah, I'm gaining about three quarters of a point of wisdom per hour doing this, and three hours of playing tips me over to 50.

Your Wisdom Has Reached 50! For Passing Peak Human Wisdom, Skills 'Prediction' And 'Gestalt' Are Unlocked!

Prediction Level 1 (0%)

Your wisdom lets you see the natural outcomes of the present. Higher skill levels increase distance into the future predicted and increases accuracy.

Gestalt Level 1 (0%)

Two classes may share levels, providing bonuses and traits of both respective classes. Higher skill levels will increase the number of classes affected.

My vision fuzzes again. I can see the direction the trees are going to sway, the movement patterns of the fish underwater, and even the clouds have short predictive elements attached. It's beautiful. Like watching the scene a dozen times over all at once. I do notice not everything is accurate to the prediction, but most things are. I think I'll leave this ability going for a while.

As for the Gestalt skill, I don't even have a class yet. It's fairly straightforward, but now I have to make another choice in regards to classes. It doesn't even tell me when I'll gain additional classes, so I can't plan anything out. Most skills give me something at increments of 10, but that's no guarantee. The strangest part is that I wasn't even connected to the game when I got my blue box power, and now classes from the game are invading my skills. I'm fairly sure if I hadn't been spending so much time here I would never have gotten anything like a class.

I tell Valerie and she just mutters something about commitment.

It seems like our fishing time is up, so I toss everything into my inventory and we go hunt bigger game.

* * *

Her strength can't be much more than mine can it? Is she augmenting? I don't see any magic, but that just means she might be hiding it.

I have to duck as the troll goes flying right through the area my head just was. It crashes into a tree. She steps up to it and breaks its face with her foot. Now that it's stunned, she moves around and breaks each joint systematically. It won't keep the troll down long, because these guys regenerate fast, but it's a good way to teach her style. We found him near the mountains and he's been regretting it ever since.

The troll eventually finds its way back to its feet, albeit unsteadily, and Valerie moves in again. The blows she taught me were not for fighting humans. This is what it is all about. Finally seeing them put to use the way they were meant to be, I understand them so much more. She breaks some ribs, and snaps the neck. Still not dead.

We wait for him to get up again, and this time I have a go.

Watching him move at me is surreal. I can see where he is, where he's going, and where he will be when my foot impacts. I break a kneecap, bringing him down to my level, and leverage the huge beast into a tree. He doesn't hit it as hard as when Valerie threw him, but I did use a different throw. I wait for him to get back up.

He charges again, making me wonder if he is just tired of life. Again, he goes into the tree, but this time it goes much harder. I think I could knock down the tree if I could leverage a proper swinging motion.

He's far too slow for what we've been practicing. I don't know what would be his size and still fast enough to make the practice we've been doing worthwhile, but it'll undoubtedly be terrifying.

Sarah and I experiment with different ways of showing predictions. Any visual interface is easier to interpret than the unvarnished skill. In the end, a ghostly image precedes anything that I think of as a target or Sarah considers hostile. Sarah overlays it just like the rest of my GUI. I can see through the overlays, and they are only mildly distracting. I'll get used to it.

We keep it up for almost half an hour, and I finish him.

“That was good, but now we need to teach you how to fight flying things and short things.”

“So the moves we were working on were just for big guys?”

“Basically. You can use them against humans, but they are mostly meant for fighting larger creatures. There is a limit, but unless it's something enormous, you should be able to keep them off while you get back to your weapon.”

“What kind of weapon would be useful against something big enough to dwarf a troll?”

“Some enchantments and spells can extend a cutting edge further than the blade itself. Swords are a constant favorite, so there is a lot of innovation in enchanting and spellcraft in that area.”

I grumble a bit about how I'm going to have to learn more hand to hand. Why can't I just do a couple hours a week in a dojo like normal people?

We set off at a run keeping quiet so we might hear anything worth killing. We tenderize and then kill a few more trolls before we come upon an earth elemental.

“I don't think hand to hand is going to cut it for this one.” We have stopped quite a ways away. Do earth elementals have ears?

“Not with that attitude. But yeah, your strength would need to be far past human. It'll be tougher than normal, but you should be able to burn it to death. Try putting all your magic power through its chest.”

He's moving around quite a bit, but with prediction I'm sure I can hit dead center. I save just a tiny bit of mana in my workshop, and round up the rest for this beam I'm planning. I condense and condense and condense, and I've got something the size of a marble that contains almost my entire mana supply. The only bits left are the mana in my hands to prevent me from burning myself, and the mana in my workshop to prevent me from passing out.

I stick my hands way out, as far as I can, and line them up with the earth elemental. Prediction seems to even work on my movements and actions, so I can see a line showing where the spell will travel. Then I push the marble out and channel it into a beam. The air ignites.

The beam passes through the earth elemental, who slumps, and continues through the forest. The trees it hits are flash boiled, and explode. I can hear explosions continuing for quite a distance, until there is one much larger explosion that reverberates through the forest. Must have hit the mountain.

I can feel a slight burn on my face where I'm not covered by armor, but it doesn't feel too bad, more like a sunburn. Valerie is looking at my eyebrows, and I reach up quickly and find them still there. She giggles.

“Very funny.”

“And you fell for it.”

“How am I supposed to know when I'm going to be the subject of another learning moment?”

“You aren't. If you knew, I might lose, and then where would we be?”

“I would be in the winner's circle, which happens to be a favorite place of mine.”

“I was a little surprised by the power there. What's your intelligence at?”

“One more point during the video game, it's at 74.”

“You aren't acting much different for some who is fifty percent smarter than any other member of the human race.”

“Huh. My spells are stronger, and I understand things better, but I'm still me.”

“Is that you influencing how you want to be, or how things would naturally progress?”

“How would we know?”

“I guess we wouldn't. If you go all humanoid Skynet on us, I'll stop you. Never worry.”

“That's reassuring.”

“Happy to help.”

My energy is recovering much faster than normal. I guess the classic wisdom for energy regeneration is in effect.

The pickings are slim if you are just wandering around. I really don't want to do some random subjugation quest solo. I wish my friends were in the game. Wait, Greg is in the game.

“Do you know Greg's in game username?”

“No, he's only in my social circle because you are.”

“Damn. How long have most people been beta testing?”

“The test started almost 6 months ago. It's improved a lot, but it was good from the beginning. With the gaming while you sleep thing, I'd say everyone who had a chance to join did so immediately.”

“So everyone in the game is a higher level than me.”

“Some people enjoy the lower levels, and wipe their character from time to time. They don't care about higher level advancement. But most are fairly high level at this point.”

“Did they ever do a character wipe?”

“It hasn't been needed. The AI patches things in seamlessly. There's no disturbance to the game.”

“I don't suppose I could get a few beta copies for my friends.”

“It's...possible? Most of the beta testers know about the Hidden World, so it makes people less security conscious. Especially with all the in game fantasy stuff going on, people with powers feel free to use them, and that leads to them talking about them. That said, you did mention your existing relationships in your negotiation.”

“When's the launch going to be?”

“Anytime within the next month. They are stockpiling the hardware to roll out whenever they decide to release it. We'll get at least a few days notice, but that's probably all.”

“Sounds like if I want a group with anyone other than my parents, I'll have to recruit them myself.”

“The guild and I could power level you, but it wouldn't be good for your skill advancement. Your parents said they found a group, right? It's not impossible, just hard. Let's go see if they have coffee at the Adventurer's Guild yet.”

* * *

They didn't have coffee. Valerie said it might take a day or two, but she was sure it would make it in. It was starting to get late in the date, so a few groups were making their way in. We decided to kick back and wait for my parents to arrive.

I could get used to this I decided. We sat with a large group around a round table, talking of adventures. Undead the size of houses. Playful kittens that secreted poisonous hallucinogens onto their hair. Creatures that knew no analogue on earth or in earth culture. We weren't just here to take out the trash, we were here to solve problems.

My favorite stories were of dungeons. They are said to be sentient, and from the stories, I believe it. Every entrance and encounter build up to a grand story, making each dungeon dive seem unique. Five people could tell ten stories about one dungeon, and each would be different in their own way. Perhaps they were not meant to trap and bleed us, but to tell a story. Either way, they were certainly dangerous. Most stories ended in death.

Hearing about the traps reminded me. I needed to stock up on the basics. Rope, climbing gear, some light sources, a tent, bedding... I'm not sure how long the list is, but I'm sure Valerie can help me with it.

Healing magic has really shown its value, but from the stories each type has its own positives and negatives. Psionics seems to be the go-to for player versus player combat. There is actually an arena in the player city. The city is called Pacem, latin for peace. It would be a nicer name if it weren't part of the quote, 'Si vis pacem, para bellum.' If you want peace, prepare for war.

Everyone seems to have a good opinion of the city, so maybe we'll visit soon. Given what I know about player levels, I doubt I would stand a chance there, but it would be fun to watch players fight for sport and gold. Temporary pain for lasting fame and money? People make that choice every day.

A group comes in and drops a head on the counter. It's a fuzzy, black eyed, green thing with no neck. I don't even want to know. They get over 200 gold for it, so it must have been something tough. They sit down at their own table and get three rounds of beer just to get started.

At our table, Flinn, the leader of the other group, tells us a story about the front lines of the war. While not every race is at war, most barely tolerate each other at the best of times. War is a far different beast than simple battle. Mages stand in the back lines raining down spells like archers, while front liners rush to mix with the enemy so as to stop the mages from calling down more area spells. Mages can be very accurate when they need to be, so it's not enough to just engage a line, you need to be completely in the mix.

This works out well for most warriors, as they are not typically experienced in fighting formations. It turns into a grand melee with the winning side taking more losses at the end of battle due to the mages in the back who open fire when it's obvious all of their countrymen are going to die in battle.

Players like this because experience loss is suspended on player versus player actions, and they don't want to sit around for an hour, in pain, waiting for a healer. When the battle is over, everyone is generally on their feet, or dead.

Flinn battled the elves recently. The elves are the most numerous of the enemy factions, while the humans have more backing than any other race. Humans are mostly players, and have the advantage in the beta of having all the powered people, but other races have racial bonuses to lure players away from the overpopulated humans, and AI controlled soldiers.

Flinn's battle took place roughly half way between the human and elven capital, which meant it was a surprise when the dwarves showed up. They bided their time, letting the humans and elves wear each other down. Near the end, the two fighting factions decided the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and while they didn't combine forces, they did assault the dwarves from two sides.

With so many mages on the battlefield, everyone died.

That got a chuckle from all of us. The war seemed so far away, and played for fun between the players, but I wonder how the AI controlled characters reacted. Are there people who own land the war was being fought on? Are trade routes that govern a person's livelihood being blocked or raided? That led to deeper thoughts. How real is a NPC? How much do they think and feel? From what I've seen so far, they are nearly indistinguishable from real people. If Terra decided to put some psuedo players into the game with AI's controlling them, I don't think anyone would be able to tell.

In any event, we told our stories about the graveyard and the goblins, and they told stories about some lizard men and giant bats. These seemed like great people, and I wish I were high enough to group with them.

After a few hours and a few ales, my parents and a couple strangers dragged themselves in, looking completely worn out, but smiling. They handed over a sack that was leaking something green at the bottom, and received a generous payment.

“You look terrible. Let me get you a drink.”

They plopped into their chairs and we carried some water and ales from the bar. I offered a stamina potion, but the group was happy resting in their exhaustion. I suppose if they felt better they might feel the need to get up and do some more.

“Well, that was a mess. Fun, but we can do better next time,” said Dad.

“What were you up against?” I asked.

“Slimes,” said Mom wearily.

I missed out on a classic slime adventure. Figures. Just had to go and beat up trolls.

“What were they like?” I ask.

“Slimy,” said Mom.

“Thanks Morgana. Gabriel?” Mixed company, using code names. Call me double-oh eight.

“We picked up a contract for slime cores, we went and retrieved slime cores. The slimes didn't want to give them up, but it was more like rounding up acidic chickens and wringing their necks than any of the fights we have been in before.”

“Except for the giant slime,” Mom says.

“Right. There was a giant slime. We couldn't pluck out the core as easily, so we had to whittle him down. It wasn't too much of a big deal. Just a big mess.”

“Are you going to introduce us?” asked Valerie.

Mom comes out of her slime induced daze as if Ms. Manners were standing over her shoulder about to rap her knuckles.

“Adam, Valerie, meet Joshua and Roy.”

Joshua is a tall wiry man with leathers and a bow. I'd say he almost looks elven but he was sporting normal ears. Roy is the opposite. A mountian of a man. He is wearing some fine chain mesh over leather, and has a massive hammer leaning against his chair. He pulls of the look well, making me think of a knight.

“It's a pleasure to meet you,” I say.

“Morganna wouldn't stop talking about you and your adventures. Heard you met a nasty end with a ghoul,” said Roy.

“Yes, slow burning is not a good way to go. Made me thankful of the rocks that landed on me.”

“Can't say about slow, but I was flash fried once, can't recommend that either,” said Joshua.

We chatted for a while, they talked about the dungeon's entrance where they found the slimes, and I talked about my adventures with trolls. Over a few rounds of drinks, we all became well acquainted, but they didn't seem to know Valerie until she was introduced, so I couldn't decide if they were powered or not. I tried to think up a way to ask them if they knew about the Hidden World, but couldn't think of a way without tipping them off about it, seeming rude, or crazy. I suppose they might say something if they saw my more esoteric abilities in battle.

We all seemed to get along well, and I brought up the topic of levels and a lack of partners. They seemed happy enough to have another along, especially with my magic and sword skills, but they were absolutely done for the day. They were going to drink a few hours, sleep a few hours, and be up around dawn. I wasn't really interested in sleeping or drinking, so I added them to my friends list and went out to fill the night with something productive.

Jack Ambrose Webb's Statistics

Strength

40 (+1)

Wisdom

50 (+3)

Agility

59 (+1)

Charisma

44

Dexterity

59

Luck

13

Vitality

51

Transcend

8

Intelligence

74 (+1)

Unallocated

45