《Returning》Frank's Message to Others, And a post-mortem on act one.
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What is going on right now? The following things, to my knowledge, have occurred.
The existence of a supernatural power able to change reality has been revealed. This existence has godlike abilities. Every single human has been placed in a ‘tutorial’ consisting of a series of deathmatches, then deposited around their original location(with exceptions) if they survive. The existence of a supernatural system resembling a computer interface that every human can interact with. The creation of various locations and enemies which the supernatural entity behind this rewards us for clearing and defeating. The complete suppression of higher technology
The supernatural power is obviously strong enough, from its actions so far, to destroy us all if it wished to. There is no point in trying to understand its intentions other than what it stated. We can only assume it is being honest unless important information says otherwise. That is, the system itself made several statements.
That the deathmatches were a tutorial. That the survival of the human race depends on our performance.
We should assume that the purpose of the tutorial is to prepare us for the things that we will need to do to help humanity survive. That is combat. The fact that the system rewards us for this, as well as exploration(when I discovered a construct of the system, I was rewarded), demonstrates what it wishes us to do. Since it has absolute power over us, as far as can be discerned, it is best to listen to it.
What does the system reward us with when we fight? Experience. Experience is exchanged for levels, which grant stats. It’s similar to a video game. The ultimate reward is the stats. My understanding of the status screen the system offers and what it says is as follows.
The name refers to how you perceive and refer to yourself. Nothing more. It’ll show the name you use when you are thinking of yourself. Your race is shown as human. This implies there are others who are not human. What that means is up for debate.
The level refers to how much experience you need to get a reward from the system.
Below that is a deed. Deeds seem to be things you accomplish that are sufficiently impressive the system rewards you for doing them. They grant more stat points per level when you choose one to use. Getting a level without one grants you a single point, while all the deeds I’ve encountered grant at least two. They give you the extra stats for five levels when selected.
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Stats, mentioned above, are the most important things to understand. There are four physical stats, and four mental stats. The physical ones do exactly what you think, but the mental ones are trickier. Every person I’ve met has had all their stats start between 1-10, and the vast majority start between 3-7 for every stat.
Strength makes you stronger. You can exert more force, lift heavier things. A strength of one is an invalid. A strength of four is the average woman. A strength of six is the average man. A strength of eight seems to be about the level of an elite athlete, and a strength of ten that of a professional strongman. The exact numbers for these, I do not know. Exceeding 10 strength grants superhuman ability. This applies to all physical stats, from what I can tell. Above the human limit of ten, you can eventually punch through metal, sprint faster than any human ever has, lift cars into the air by yourself, and other feats.
Agility makes you faster and more dextrous. You react quicker, can move with precision. It doesn’t improve your ability to run in a straight line though. Strength handles straight up top speed and acceleration. But your balance, reflexes, and body control are handled by agility. Five is the average, ten seems to be the human limit. Above that, and you become able to master superhuman feats of body control, and your reactions are impossibly fast.
Constitution is your hardiness and resilience. It’s how strong your jaw is, how much you can resist disease, how long you can walk for, how long you can exert yourself without rest. Someone with a superhuman constitution can walk for days and take blows that could cripple other men,
Vitality is your recovery rate. How fast you recover stamina, heal from injuries, and the like. Someone with a vitality above ten will recover from injuries at an unnatural speed, and even some injuries which would otherwise be crippling will heal over time.
HP represents your basic resilience. How much damage can you take before dying. If it gets too low you will be incapacitated. As far as I can tell, it is a representation of your actual condition, and does not alter it for the most part. Someone who is decapitated will die, whether their HP says 10 or 100 or even more. Unhealed injuries lower the amount of HP you can have, as do other conditions. That being said, if you have full stamina, your HP will recover along with your condition at a faster rate than was possible before this.
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MP probably represents magic, if the video game logic of this system applies. I do not know how to acquire it. If you do learn how to, please spread this knowledge. I’ve confirmed the existence of beings with magical abilities. It would be very beneficial to all of humanity for this knowledge to spread.
SP is your stamina. If you empty it and keep exerting yourself, your HP will begin to drain.
The mental stats are odd because they aren’t intuitive.
Knowledge seems to be based on the number of things you know, but increasing it doesn’t fill your head with new information. What it does do, though, is increase the amount of information the supernatural system provides you, adding new kinds of messages. Having a high knowledge can also reveal hidden enemies. I’ve directly experienced this fact.
Intelligence, similarly, has a starting value that seems to be based on your reasoning ability, but increasing it does not make you smarter. Increasing it also improves the information the system provides you, making it more specific and detailed. It is my suspicion that this stat is related to MP, but I cannot be sure.
Wisdom seems to affect your intuition. Having super high wisdom appears to grant a sixth sense. What else it does, is unclear, but the effect is powerful.
Stability is your mental stability. How much of this situation can you handle? Increasing your stability will improve this, but will also dull your emotions, from what I’ve seen.
Why these stats function like this, I do not know clearly, but everything I’ve said about them can be confirmed if you test it yourself.
Moving back to deeds. Deeds are accomplishments. For example, I know for a fact that doing specific impressive things in combat will reward them. As will having true skill in a certain area. Some deeds exist singly, some exist as a set. For example: Assassin, accomplished by killing enemies in a single blow without letting them fight back, doesn’t have another related deed, as far as I am aware.
On the other hand, if you are a skilled musician, you can get a whole series of deeds for playing music. Whatever the ability is, to get recognized for the deed, you must do it now, after the system. It does not take into account what you did before, sadly.
Generally speaking, the more impressive the action is, the more difficult it is to accomplish, the more valuable the deed, and the more stats it rewards. This is important. If you do not do great deeds, you will be weaker than those who do. This system does not appear to allow you to accomplish great deeds using itself, rather, it rewards you for doing them after the fact.
Known deeds: (please add any you are confident on how to earn)
Saviour: Save the lives of others from the creatures of the system Survivor: Improvise a tool to increase your odds of living. Assassin: Kill enemies with a single blow without letting them fight back (Performer): Show expertise in dance, acting, etc. (Craftsman): Show expertise in the creation of objects(note that the creation of weapons is more valuable) (Artist): Show expertise in the creation of art (Weapons Expert): Show mastery of a weapon Neophyte: Do well in a task set by the system What does this all mean? As far as I can tell, it means that the goal should be to defeat opponents, accomplish great deeds, and make yourself stronger. This seems to be the desire of this ‘system’. What do I recommend doing?
Find a group of reliable allies Find weapons and supplies Search for enemies and opportunities created by the system Defeat them to grow stronger Accomplish impressive things so that the system rewards you. Share any information you have with others.
If you found this information useful, please copy it and pass it along. As a final note, there are a few things that would be incredibly beneficial to all if you do them.
Discover how to use magic Discover how to get around the seemingly arbitrary suppression of technology Learn how to properly use the kind of weapons that will be available to us, and spread that knowledge. Clear your area of dangerous enemies, so that others are safe.
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