‘The weak can never forgive.

Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.’

~Gandhi

POV - Tad

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A series of blue boxes sequenced as I accepted the proffered Class. I put all other notices to one side, though the xp was welcome, I really needed base Skills and Stats. A sudden thought struck me. While I was making great progress, unlocking Skills and getting a better understanding of the System, I had actually done next to nothing. I remembered the oblique warning the Atelophobia Award had given me.

There was a real danger I got so caught up in myself and perfecting my build that I would miss what it was all about. I needed to be getting out there and doing life, whatever this new life was. I needed to find my family, my little sister, Mum and Dad, and make sure they were all alright. I needed to get stronger and be strong and I needed it yesterday.

It was time.

Nige opened up my expanded Character Sheet.

NAME

Known As:

Totally Awesome Dude

Tad

Blank

>SPECIES:

>TIER:

Human

G

>XP:

>EXP:

5100

509/510

>LVL:

1

>MINION:

Nige [Expand]

>CON:

120HP

STR: STA: AGI:

[Hide]

3 40 3

>WIS:

15MP

MEM: IMA: INT:

[Hide]

3 5 3

>KAR:

41.25E

CHA: SPI: HON:

[Hide]

3 13.75* 3

>LUC:

0.1

+0.05 on Loot/Drop rolls

Unassigned

Total:

9

85.85

>SKILLS:

(Unlocked) (Hide]

Delve

Mine

Prospect

(Active) [Hide]

Rage

Dodge

Introspection

Logic

Concentration

Advanced Meditation

Observation

(Proficiency) [Hide All]

[Novice]

[Novice]

[Novice]

[Novice]

[Novice]

[Novice]

[Novice]

>PATHS:

Nasal Prospector Class

>PERKS:

Gallifreudian Slip

>TITLES:

Pertinacious

>AWARDS:

Atelophobia Award (Pending acceptance)

My expanded Character Sheet was filling out nicely. I was particularly taken with my Stamina points and, I’m guessing SPI is Spirit. While not as high it also had an asterisk appended to it. Focusing on it, a new subsidiary explanation box popped up in front of my Sheet.

Interesting. I wonder what my cap is. Seems somewhat strange that a System seemingly designed to unlock potential and actively foster growth would then place restrictive limits on the players. I stopped my ruminations to consider what I had just speculated. Heh, ruminations on ruminations. Firstly; that the System had a designer, or designers, and secondly; that I was a player. And I was treating this as a game. Was it a game? Was I just a game piece? A pawn? Moved about for some undisclosed beings’ amusement. How much agency did I have?

And there was that word again. Agency. The System mentioned this right at the start. A quest for agency. And the System never referred to me as a player. It was either volunteer or participant, not player. I was somehow sure this was not a game. No. This was the new reality. A deadly serious reality. Treating it as a game, to be gamed, would be a mistake.

So why the Stats cap? It seemed to run counter to everything I knew about these types of setups. And perhaps that was it. People would treat this as a game and undoubtedly go down that familiar trope of min-maxing their Stats. While the strategy may have made sense in a game, I could see it being disastrous when your life was on the line.

I brought up two fresh notifications.

Well, I could take that as the System corroborating my musings I guess. Nothing like positive reinforcement to spur on desired behaviours. Ahhh, except the threat of punitive and lethal consequences. Yep that worked too. I was quite motivated by both those incentives I discovered.

“So Nige,” I would confirm this with him anyway, “Stat caps.”

Finding out humans weren’t any different in this respect was somehow simultaneously both disappointing and comforting. “So I’m guessing my Character Sheet is not typical looking?”

Nige paused. he agreed with himself.

Before I could enquire as to what he thought the most important Stat was, he moved on.

I had another look at my individual levels. This was sobering information. So if I was understanding him correctly, the normal minimum entry level of each Stat was five, the cap was eight, and most other people achieved at least a six or seven while I had just a three. “Hmmmm… do many players, I mean participants, achieve eight in every Stat?”

I had heaps more questions around cap levels and bonus points but I really needed to get moving. I had Skills to gain and grind before I accepted the Award, I needed to open a bank account and get access to the System Shop and most importantly, I needed to find my family. After that I could concentrate on getting stronger. Family first.

“Hey Nige, I need to link up with my family. How do you suggest I do that?”

Nige wobbled.

“Nige?”

“This isn’t going to be a problem is it? It’s what the System recommended right at the start. Nige?”

I was getting concerned. Nige was normally prompt in answering questions, often volunteering information beyond what I specifically asked.

Yes, exactly, this was interesting info but I failed to see how it related to my pretty straightforward query. The System had told me that family groupings would not be separated and recommended that we should link up upon entering the first trial.

Nige could obviously see I wasn’t making a mental link here.

I still wasn’t making the connection. Even if we had been separated by the first and last tranches, that was only around four months. Still shouldn’t be too hard to track them down. Mind you, 150 million is a lot of people all displaced and jumbled up to… Nige interrupted me.

It took me a few seconds to process this.

“So if they were caught up in the previous tranche, they will have been in the trial for 10 years already?”

Okay. So that might make things a bit harder to link up. They would have moved on from the starter zone and… Nige butted in on my musings again.

Oh good so why did you-

Say what? That means 500 to 600 years in the Trial. No, that can’t be right. That would mean they are all dead. I would never see them again. I was alone. My brain glitched, I spluttered in disbelief.

“This, this is unforgivable!”