《A Void Spirit's Slightly Psychotic Tale》Chapter 2 - The Good, the Bad, and the Goodbad
Advertisement
The spirit 'blinked' at the new thing in front of it. The older messages had been dismissed over time, more by luck really, because as the spirit gained primitive sentience an accidental glance at the blue boxes conveyed the information. Not that the spirit understood what 'blue' was or what exactly it had gained, only that it seemed to fall under 'good' and 'happy.'
For the spirit 'happy' was not hard to achieve. Happiness to it was simply not starving. Whereas 'not good' had been dervived to 'bad,' and neutral didn't exist for the spirit yet. So it was that when the spirit 'looked' at the blue boxes, 'Yes' seemed to feel like 'happy,' and 'No' felt like 'bad.' So it was that the spirit came to its decision, that 'happy' was the best, floating towards 'Yes.' But, nothing happened as the box stayed in front of the spirit no matter where it looked. Perhaps it would have felt frustration were it more intelligent, but seeing as the box promised more 'happy,' floating after it seemed like a fine plan to the spirit.
So it did. Innocently chasing after the box, until it left its mana pocket. Then, it was as if the world had come crashing down and everything turned 'bad.' It was too complicated yet to figure out directions for the young spirit, and its natural senses for mana didn't work properly in the Voidlands. The only option to the spirit to get 'happy' again was the 'Yes,' so under desperation it managed to do the mental press it needed to to select an option.
Step 1: Say 'Open Status'
More desperate mental flailing ensued for the spirit, because suddenly the 'happy' was gone! The world had become a dark, and utterly 'bad' place. The utterly hysterical spirit eventually chanced upon another pocket of mana, and instantly settled down. The box which had betrayed it so was given the stink eye - the spirit's equivalent anyway - as the spirit learned a truth of the world early on - don't trust anything.
Advertisement
Wisdom +1
The new realization was enough to give the spirit another point in wisdom. However, it glared at the new 'bad thing' until it felt something 'happy' from it. The experience was new stimulation for the spirit as something it knew was the same for sure, was being 'bad' and 'happy' all at the same time! In reality, the functional intelligence the spirit had by now was less than even regular animals in the wild, and its sensory input was far too limited by its environment, but it didn't change that it had space for things in its 'head' by now. Now, for the first time, it really, consciously remembered something. The memory of the box's 'bad' and 'happy' was kept at the forefront of its mind as it stared at the box.
The box, as if prompted, once again appeared:
Step 1: Say 'Open Status'
The thing wasn't 'happy,' and it didn't seem like the 'bad' it had felt before. So it was forced to create a third category, a neutral section, 'goodbad.' The spirit saw no prompt to select, only information that it was incapable of properly understanding. Luckily for the spirit, the system was usable even by monsters, which weren't always known for their intelligence, so an alternative existed in such cases;
User sentience too low, engaging automatic mode
The spirit observed that the box had changed, and was still solidly goodbad, but not goodbad, because it was definitely not the thing from before. Like a snowball, the initial thoughts and stimulus from the system was starting to aid in its mental development, and now the spirit could understand that things changed.
Unnamed Corrupted Spirit Level: 0 Age: 278 years Titles:Very Underdeveloped Spirit> Health Points (HP): NA Mana Points (MP): 3/3 Intelligence 9 Wisdom 2
The spirit 'jumped' when a wave of information hit it as the box changed again! It was starting to see a trend here. The box changed much, and this time it had been bad for sure, why else would it feel so...bad? Yet after the information was slowly sorted out, the spirit retracted its assessment again; now the box was goodbad again. The box followed in front of the spirit as it slowly moved away from the 'thing of many changes,' and soon it had repeated the bad thing again.
Advertisement
However, this time the box changed again and the spirit noticed something different.
Unnamed Corrupted Spirit Level: 0 Age: 278 years Titles: Very Underdeveloped Spirit> Health Points (HP): NA Mana Points (MP): ~3/3 Intelligence 9 Wisdom 2
The thing in the other box had changed! After that, more from accident than anything else, it repeated the accident repeatedly, and every time that box changed. Now, the spirit knew, that the bad happened when the box changed. The box changed when the spirit changed! After all, it had changed towards the box and it became bad, and when it changed away, then it was also bad. Therefore, the change was bad! With all its will, the spirit determined that it would not change no matter what. Absolutely.
* 32 years later *
The spirit had done its best to not change. It really had. But then, the bad, it had come again! Even not changing made the bad come! Not to mention, whenever the bad happened over the last couple decades, the spirit had been able to stop the bad by finding more mana pockets. To the spirit that meant change made happy happen! Nothing made any sense! Change was bad, and that was happy, because it knew something for once. But now, change was goodbad! It was too different! Why!?
Emotional turmoil was a very fast way to develop mentally, even if not the healthiest. As it was the spirit was too simple to really go mad or damage its sanity with the mental trauma it underwent constantly, so that it was practically without cons. In fact, it was all pros as it allowed the spirit to really identify the environment through how it felt about it, and by doing so grow further by understanding and sorting through its emotions.
As the spirit started flailing and throwing a tantrum like a small child it discovered 'frustration' and 'anger.' Neither were particularly 'happy,' so the spirit was sure that they were probably 'bad.' Probably. It really didn't feel 'happy' about the recent events, creating 'dislike.'
It was a series of milestones for the spirit, yet they passed unnoticed; too minor for the system to care, and no friends or fellow spirits to care about its growth. It would have been a crushing sense of loneliness had the spirit any experience of company. The hordes didn't really count, since to the spirit they were quite simply 'bad.' Maybe 'goodbad.' Regardless, they didn't warrant the further investigation of 'happy.'
To a young impressionable mind, bad things were better avoided and memories suppressed. It wanted nothing to do with them, and they with it. Yet the spirits desires were not capable of influencing the world around it, so the time came when another horde descended on the Voidlands.
This one was a disappointment compared to the imps. More like the horde that had first fed the spirit, it was crazed hordes of twisted beasts, from towering skinless bears to rats with ugly, swelling tumours all over them. They ravaged each other even as they continued to charge past where the spirit was and headed south.
Nothing changed for the spirit, aside from a nice supply of fresh mana; which it wouldn't even notice as being more than before. Nor would it realize that without these willing sacrifices every now and then, it would feel 'bad,' - very bad in fact - before dying from mana deprivation.
The spirit would likely stay blissfully unware of its precarious situation for some time. For now though, it was happy to see, well, 'happy.'
Max Mana +1
Fresh corpses always brought 'happy' to the spirit. Perhaps not the best revelation to have for an impressionable mind. Not a problem for the spirit though. It would be fine, since it lacked the ability or intention to add more bodies to the stacks.
Advertisement
Taken : New Beginnings
It is summer, 2016. On this fateful Sunday, the world is shook when an announcement - in the form of a blue screen, nothing less - appears in front of every human being on Earth. This announcement is both the ending of an era, and the beginning of a new one. Join our main charachter, James, on his induction into a whole new world and the wider universe. In the world of Terrae, there are infinite possibilities. Swords, bows, magic and more all exist on this world - complete with fantasy-esque races and monsters. In a RPG-like environment, James and the others from his world must grow and adapt fast or fall before the hordes of monsters infesting their new home. What path to power will James take, in a world of infinite possibilities? Who will he become? What has become of Earth and it's other inhabitants - His family? Follow James in his journey to discover these things himself, as he has no clue either. After all, he has just been Taken from his world, and is expected to adapt and thrive in a whole new place. Good luck to him, anyway! All credit for the awesome cover goes to ssddx, who did a brilliant job putting it together, as I'm sure you can all see! I will note that, as pretty much all LitRPG novels have, that, to a certain extent, I have taken inspiration from other works I have read. This, however, is an original fiction. I hope any and all of you who read this fiction enjoy reading it just as much as I enjoy writing it, and please feel free to comment - I recognice that this will need work and will have things like typos - please feel free to point out any obvious things I forget about or miss out, as well as any typos. Also, feel free to lob suggestions my way if you have any - while I may not use them, they could very well inspire me in some way or another and help me improve this fiction, even if just by a little bit.
8 154Worlds: The Beginning!
A long time ago there existed only a single continent, the divine continent. And it was split into three great civilisations: the human civilisation, the tyrannical beast civilisation and the magical beast civilisation. These three great civilisations were ruled by emperors that were so powerful that they could kill anyone that they wished but each other with but just a single thought while being billions of kilometres away.But that was all in the past as now there is more than just one continent. Now there is no longer a civilisation that would dare call itself great. Now there is no human, tyrannical beast or magical beast alive that could kill anyone that they wished with just a single thought by being billions of kilometres away.But that could all change in the future.
8 182The Veil
In the year 6995, dragons, orcs, magic, and all the fantastical have all come into reality. Follow The Wanderer, a man who enters The Mesa, a place outside space and time, as he learns the truth of reality, and the consequences that come with it. (New chapters Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday 3 PM, slow start)
8 182The Kings play a Game?
The Campiones are individuals whose actions cannot be predicted with common logic. Also known as Kings and Godslayers they are people who hold unimaginable power and influence. What happens when they decide to play in the Virtual World of Royal Road? A crossover of LMS and Campione. Warning: spoilers read at your own risk.
8 52A Bromance to Remember
{Completed}This is a PLATONIC Dream Team story, so no ships here. Just some dudes hanging out and causing trouble.Keep in mind: this is a FICTIONAL story, meaning that the events that this story entails never actually occurred.If any of the people mentioned throughout the story express discomfort with this story or it's topics, I'll take it down.#6-wreck (7/16/2020)#19-dreamxgeorgenotfound (7/24/2020)#1-dreamnotfound (7/28/2020)#13-gream (7/28/2020)#7-dreamteam (7/28/2020)#2-sapitusnapitus (11/19/2020)
8 107Izuku Of The Sharingan
"how many people have you killed, shigaraki?""How much bread have you eaten?"His happiness would last short, his family soon to dust.... Soon, it will be all remnants of the past....While Tobi and All For One rising in power, Izuku has limited time to prepare. How will his story unfold?Warning ⚠️: grammatical errors due to lapses to my brain, and im lazy to reread thru each to find. :,Dhope you enjoy this fanfic of mine. of course some here will be based on both anime canon but with my creative twist ;)
8 91