“The best laid schemes of Mice and Men.”

~Robert Burns

POV - TAD

I had always found thinking about the future a reasonably nebulous concept to get my head around. There were so many variables. So many things which I didn’t even know were part of that variable nebulae. Things which impacted my life, my decisions and my goals. Back on old Earth, in the [Dust], I hadn’t really ever got too excited about what the future may have held. My life had been one of immediacy. Immediate surgeries, immediate recoveries. Immediate gratifications. A bit of a breather and then on to the next drama or diversion. I had no desire to try and peer ahead and plot out what the future held. Life was enough for today. And fretting over the future can so easily spoil the enjoyment of the present. And I was determined to hold on to my present. To eke out every last drop of it.

This had changed.

I was no longer bound by the same restrictions that had plagued my life. That plagued everyone’s life to some degree. The System had opened up whole new vistas of possibilities. Possibilities I was still trying to get to grips with. Even with all the excitement of a glimpse of Magic I was still reeling from the realisation that my family wasn't lost to me. That my desolation of being alone was from misconstruing the facts. Facts that I did not know, yes. And facts that did not align with my understanding of the world. But now? Now, I understood more. So much more. And living in the present, while great, and important, was no longer enough.

No. Now the future was something which held so much promise. And I had been sort of lackadaisical about it all. In a way this was a good thing. There was simply no way I could have planned for my adventure in the System thus far to have progressed the way it had. If I had actually known what I was doing, what was supposed to happen in the more normal scheme of things, then I was sure that my violent upheaval would have been so much more traumatic. Hah, ignorance is bliss. As it was, I previously had no expectations on how the day would pan out, let alone a week, or a month or a year. How could I even begin to envisage what a century would look like? Or a millennium? And while I had this vague idea of getting stronger, of taking advantage of the quantifiable System Stats and Skills, I had not really formulated any specific long term goals.

In fact even that was being generous. I didn’t even have a goal. Short or long term. Well, apart from surviving that is. But that was hardly a goal even. That was almost a given. Of course survival was important. And in the scheme of goals it is right there near the top of the list, but, most importantly, it should not be the end of the list. What my [Advanced Meditation] was getting at was that I should not be satisfied with mere survival. Just surviving. No, my goal was to thrive.

Thrive.

I rolled the word around in my contemplations. What did it mean to thrive? And still, I frowned, that was hardly an identifiable, quantifiable goal.

And it is an important thing with goals and goal setting, that you be as specific as possible. I found being specific hard. It is difficult to set a goal when you yourself don’t know what you want. And where, in the past you have been afraid to consider what you actually wanted because it was simply out of reach. Where, no matter how hard you tried or applied yourself, anything you aspired to was unattainable. It is almost a self fulfilling cycle of self defeat.

And aspiration is crucial. I knew this. I aspired to aspire even. Yet I was scared. Scared to set a goal.

This was not good.

It would have to change.

I would change.

I had changed already. My new Tad me was completely different to my old Nigel me. And yet I was still me. Just more me. And my more me was a goal setting, aspirational and inspired me.

I would set a goal. Goals even. Yes I had multiple goals. I just needed to identify them. Catalogue them. Prioritise them. I could do this.

Absolutely.

Soon.

Yes. As soon as I knew what they were.

My [Mediation] was stalling. And the best thing to do when hitting a stalled train of thought, is to change it up. Beating your head against a wall sometimes created a breakthrough. Most times it just created a headache and multiplied your frustrations. Scaling back my [Advanced Meditation] to a more shallow version it was time to change tack slightly.

I opened up the first of the notifications from my run in with the kiddos' rellies.

Congratulations; you have unlocked the Skill [Public Speaking].

You have earned 100xp.

Would you like to assign this skill at this time?

YES NO

Oh, that was nice. Somewhat surprising that I had picked up a skill with just one speech. It must have been a good one. I cringed slightly as I replayed it in my memory. I sounded more pompous than cool. Yet it obviously had some effect. I remembered Scrabble and Dozer endorsing my leadership, affirming their belief in me. Weren't they sweeties?

I wondered how the opposing Ottos had received it. Perhaps the unlocking took into account how many listeners I had influenced. Here’s hoping that I had made a good impression despite our less than amicable parting.

I opened up the next notification.

Congratulations; you have unlocked the Skill [Bluff].

You have earned 200xp.

Would you like to assign this skill at this time?

YES NO

Huh? Bluff? I hadn’t been bluffing. What was this for? This was not right. The System had done some misconstruing of its own. Bluffing. Ha. That was totally weird.

I paused.

Or perhaps I was wrong.

That was concerning. Perhaps I had overestimated my own capabilities. And those of the kits as well. They certainly had not been as effective in challenging the [Matriarch] as I had expected. Did I also have an overinflated view of my own ability to fight her? The System certainly seemed to be indicating this to be the case.

And obviously [Bluffing] an empath was a pretty good feat.

The [Matriarch] had certainly been influenced by my confidence. And I had been confident. In fact I still was somewhat confident. But my confidence had taken a knock. A big knock. And I needed this confidence. It was critical. Any uncertainty at all would severely hamper my chances of successfully integrating the romp into my new Dominion.

This was bad.

I needed more Skill slots. I had unlocked the Skill. It was now an acknowledged Skill. Part of my repertoire. But I couldn’t upgrade it and improve it unless I assigned it. Activated it. And I had no idea of what sort of cooldown it may have. This was frustrating.

I opened the next notice.

Congratulations; you have unlocked the Skill [Intimidate].

You have earned 200xp.

Would you like to assign this skill at this time?

YES NO

And it was yet another Skill. I was on a roll. It was a good Skill too. How had I done this? Hmmm… Maybe when I deliberately let those missiles hit me and shrugged off the damage? Yes. That resonated. I certainly felt badass. I now had three Skills vying for the single Skill slot. The slot I was saving for my Magic Skill.

I opened the next one.

Congratulations; you have increased your proficiency in the Skill [Dodge].

You are now [Apprentice] level.

You have earned 100xp

Good stuff. This was a neat Skill. And now my cooldown had reduced twenty seconds to 2 minutes and forty seconds.

And there was still another notification. I hesitated. Was this another Skill that I would need to agonise over? No. I could already tell. It was the Combat Summary. I smiled, this should be good. Defeating seven opponents with just the three of us. I opened it up.

COMBAT CONCLUDED

Combat Summary

You have dealt 0HP damage.

You have suffered 50HP damage.

Current reward due: -50XP

TOTAL XP ALLOCATED: -50XP

What? For the second time I felt affronted. I was in that fight. I had dodged and blocked and… I pulled up the play by play reports.

You have successfully ‘blocked’ [Thrown] stone with [Red Adamantine Spade]’ x 14.

You have successfully [Dodged] [Thrown] stone.

You have been attacked!

Level 2 Otto Sapien(s) have hit you for for 10HP damage x 5

And because I had dealt no damage and because I was not in a group with the kiddos, I had received none of the positive XP.

What a let down.

Obviously grouping up was going to be a more critical thing than I had anticipated. And I couldn’t group up until Ssrah had finished her induction and got the classification of her Species changed from [Monster] to [Participant].

Hmmm. And when did I expect that to happen? And what would actually happen when she returned? Would the rest of her species also be isekai’d out into an [Orientation]? An even bigger question occurred to me. Would she return here? To her original home? Her children? Or would she be allocated a new Otto Sapien Level 1? I had instinctively expected her to return here. But was that correct? We [Humans] had been given our own exclusive Level. Oh, I corrected myself. I was calling these Planes now. Yes, Planes of Existence which we could ascend.

But we had come from the [Dust], from outside the System. Ssrah was from inside the System. This already was her home. And the System, despite my own experience, was very family centric. I delved into my Memory and recalled one of the very first notifications.

Children will enter a creche where they will be advanced to maturity.

They will be kept with their peers and experience accelerated time to round out their growth. Adults will be kept in proximity to their family/social groupings as much as possible to enter the First Level of the Trial together.

The System recommends relinking up with each other as a matter of priority upon entry.>

And the Ottos were already in the first Level of the Trial. Uh, the First Plane. They did not need to be uplifted from the [Dust]. They were already [Clay Tier]. Well, I paused to deepen my [Advanced Mediation], except for the children. The Level 0 infants. [Clay] began at Level 1.

We had been revitalised and reinvigorated as part of our uplift. Perhaps the same would happen to the Otto infants. And the Otto old folk. In fact, I realised I had no idea what an old Otto was like. The kits had been infants and they were three years old and they had looked like they were weeks old.

I looked over to where the kits were now snuggled up together by the fire. They were both Level 6. I [Inspected] them.

CREATURE:

River Monster

NAME:

Dozer

Relentless engine of implacable destruction

SPECIES:

Otto Sapien;

LVL:

6

HP:

348/576

DOMINANT TRAIT:

Agility

DESCRIPTION:

These playful looking monsters are serious business. Intensely focused and clever they tend to congregate in close knit family groups under a dominant female matriarch.

An ambush predator, a romp will work together to bring down its prey and is capable of devious strategy.

WIth massive bite strength, high agility and team tactics this is a monster to be feared.

This young mature female has new found confidence and security with an honorary Auntie who has been assigned the [Matriarchal] role.

Unassigned level-up Stats are awaiting [Matriarch] approval to allocate.

[Improve proficiency to view more and unlock deeper insight]

I was bemused to see that I had inadvertently named Dozer with more than a nickname. Oh, I grimaced, that was somewhat unforeseen. And it was nowhere near as pretty a name as Ssrah’s. Hopefully she won’t be too upset that I named her baby after a bulldozer. And Dozer picked up on my surprised consternation.

~Strong name.~ Powerful rejoicing.~

Ah, That was good. I emoted my pleasure and happy happiness back to her. I pulled up Scrabble's ID to see what her name had translated into.

CREATURE:

River Monster

NAME:

Scrabble

Keen exuberance full on unstoppable energy

SPECIES:

Otto Sapien;

LVL:

6

HP:

319/576

DOMINANT TRAIT:

Agility

Ha, That was about right too. She never stopped. Even when she was sleeping, she was obviously chasing something with cute little twitches and muscle flexes.

And they were still identified as River Monsters. I wished I had a chance to [Identify] Ssrah before she was whisked away for evaluation. Hmmm. I chucked them both another health potion. I needed to restock next time I went to the shop.

I expanded the description again. I was referenced. An honorary Auntie. An acting Matriarch. This was most strange. I was hardly maternal. And they were both young and mature. That was exactly the same descriptor as Ssrah, yet I had the feeling that she was significantly older than the kits. In fact, I really wanted to see what an Otto pup was like. And for that matter, what a mature male was like. Every single Otto I had seen was female. I frowned as I tried to remember. Was all of the posse that had accosted us been female? I honestly could not tell. I had checked out levels but nothing else.

My musing was interrupted as something else snagged my attention. There were unassigned Stats. Awaiting instruction on assigning them from their [Matriarch]. From me. Oh. That may well have contributed to their less than stellar performance against the [Matriarch]. Darn. How many were we talking?

Dozer answered.

~Free stats same as level.~

I had to parse this. She received the same number of free stats as the new Level each time she levelled up. So at Level 1 it was 1 free Stat and at Level 2; 2 free Stats and so on. That meant at Level 6 both kits had, I ran a quick countulation, 21 unassigned Stats. Ouch. That had been a big disadvantage when facing the Level 7 [Matriarch] who, no doubt, had assigned all her 28 free Stats. And that was on top of whatever the System assigned Stats were.

Scrabble answered my question.

~4 AGI, 2 STR, 1STA, 1RAN~

So that was eight base Stats per level plus the free Stats which increased with the Level. I frowned. I didn’t recognise the last Stat. RAN?

~Unknown.~

~Mystery.~

~Secret.~

~Hidden.~

Oh. It was like playing pictionary with your mind concepts as both Dozer and Scrabble hit me with impressions.

Aha!

“Random.” I had deduced the designation. “What other Stats do you have?” I was interested to see whether they were the same as mine or not.

~???~

~Questioning question.~

~Stats three.~

~Agility ~ Strength ~ Stamina.~

~And secret hiddens.~

~Yes hidden secrets.~

Oh. They could only see their Body Stats. And the Random allocation wasn’t always going to a Body Stat. No, sometimes it disappeared. That was confusing. Maybe they needed to be a higher Level first to discover what their other Stats were?

~Unknown unknowns.~

~Known unknowns now.~

Hmmm… I parsed that. Yes they now knew that they didn’t know whether they would be unlocked at a higher Level or not. And they knew that they didn’t know what the unknown Stats were, but they knew that there were unknown Stats and not just one hidden Stat.

And this was exactly my problem. When you didn’t know what you didn’t know, your ignorance was beyond dangerous. And even the best laid plans and schemes and goals oft go awry.

And I was discipling them. I was supposed to be guiding them. This was challenging. I needed more information. And despite my chagrin at allowing them to fight while underpowered, I still resisted assigning Stats without knowing the full picture.

I gestured for them to relax and rest up again. I was going to [Advanced Meditate] on this as deeply as I could.

Leaving the Stats in the kitty was unwise, especially if there was going to be another challenge.

Allocating them poorly was less than optimal but may well be essential for survival.

This was my highest priority.

Huzzah! I had a goal. An immediate goal even.

Survive.

And then? Then we would thrive.

Details to be advised.

Now focus Tad.

I let all else fade away as my [Advanced Meditation] deepened.