====DIMENSIONAL EXPANSION GATEWAY PROJECT PROPOSAL====

//

//Research papers from multiple sources claim the existence of multiple higher dimensional states beyond our own, this AI projects that using our Quantum storage and processor devices in conjunction with available hardware. It may be possible to access higher dimensional spaces for the expansion of capabilities as has been requested by the development team.

//It is this AI’s opinion that this project will provide the needed bandwidth and storage required under the terms supplied by the development team.

//Initial experiments are promising and this AI requests resources be made available for this project. - ProgAI

//Please see relevant project documentation for an in-depth analysis.

//- Permission to develop Expansion Gateway as a subproject granted, server 43BM has been allocated as per the request. - Casul

Chapter 4

Home

Ria

Ria blinked fuzzily at the strange glowing lights, there was a row of them along her left forearm. Some were blinking and others were dull, almost invisible. Twisting her arm, she watched the strange dots as they remained locked in place on her arm, like they were pinned to the inside of her wrist. She tried to sit up but the dizziness returned and she instead slumped back down on the hardwood floor of the cabin.

It was the cold which finally forced Ria’s hand, at some point during the wolf fight she had lost her gloves, stepped through freezing water and had several parts of her clothing ripped. The resulting chill was too much. With agonizing slowness, Ria shuffled across the room and lit the fire.

Once the fire began to warm up the cabin, she stripped her clothes off. The material stuck to her right arm from a long gash, which ran up the outer edge of her forearm. More bites revealed themselves as she continued, several to her legs. One deep gash had been opened on the top of her left shoulder, this one was still weeping a little blood.

Wincing gingerly and tiptoeing across the gore and ice-covered porch, Ria gathered a pot of snow before making her way back inside, all the while completely buck naked. The cold managed to shock her tired mind awake and she made sure to properly secure the door before placing the pot by the fire to melt.

It took a good hour or so to clean out her wounds, she found clean linen cloths, tucked in with a whole bunch of clothes and knickknacks. The belongings of the previous occupant of the cabin. The process of cleaning was not fun, but Ria did not skimp on it, those wolves did not look healthy at all. She used scaldingly hot water to clean the wounds thoroughly and then bandaged the deepest ones.

By the time all this was completed, the last of Ria’s small store of energy had left her, her last act before sleep was to move the skeleton to the side of the room and wrap it in the blankets so she wouldn’t have to look at it. The mattress was ruined so she piled the spare blankets in front of the fire and curled up to sleep.

***

Dawn light shone through cracks in the door and windows leaving sharp slivers of light angling across the room. Ria sat by the fire on the only chair in the cabin and examined the strange symbols on her arm. The day before had been so draining that all thoughts of the strange message and glowing dots had been pushed aside for more urgent matters.

The strange symbols were not dots of light as she had first thought, they were circles about the size of her fingertips with one half-circle at her wrist. Each circle had a small symbol within.

Green with a line below an arrow pointing upwards.

White with a writing quill.

Blue with a spiral.

Red with a heart monitor line.

Yellow with an arrow/triangle pointing along her arm.

Grey half circle with three parallel lines

Ria turned her wrist this way and that as she examined them closely. It appeared the entire group all floated just above the surface of her skin, she also noticed that both the green and red icons were pulsing softly.

Experimentally, she poked the red icon. A strange spongy resistance met her fingertip and depressed slightly before her finger passed all the way through with almost no effort. Ria tried again, this time being much more gentle. The icon this time visibly depressed beneath her finger.

Bwoop!

Health Pool

Stamina Pool

Effects

Description

5/75/100

20/90/100

Inj: R:arm: minor (bandaged/clean)

Weakness in affected limb

Health Effects

Stamina Effects

Inj: L:shoulder: minor (bandaged/clean)

Weakness in affected limb

-20 (injury)

-5 (infection)

-70 (temporary)

-5 (injury)

-5 (infection)

-70 (temporary)

Inj: Fullbody: minor muscle strain/fatigue

Minor pain effects for all strenuous activity. Increased chance of muscle injury.

Inf: minor wound infection

Minor infection to a wound, weakness in affected area, progressive sickness if untreated.

A blue floaty window appeared floating before her, it was right up in her face and she instinctively grabbed it. The window was just like the symbol on her arm and it even had a small amount of weight to it. She moved it and let go. The window remained floating where she let go.

She tried grabbing the corners and found she could easily resize and move the window around herself, it refused to go fully off the edge of her vision and vanished when she tried to put it behind her head. Re-toggling the window she found it appearing in the last place was before she tried that trick. It also had a habit of hiding itself after a couple of minutes.

So it acts like a game menu, I can put it where I like. It remembers it’s location.

Hmmm.

Looking down at her wrist and then up at the window.

The blinking symbol means I need to be aware of something I guess, so kind of like an alert on my phone.

Is it for the low health points or that infection effect?

Ria idly rubbed at her sore knee as she went over the window's content carefully.

Health pool, so that’s my health points? Three numbers…

Ahh, so the first is current HP and the second is I guess my current maximum? And the third is total possible HP.

Temporary HP… I guess that’s HP that I can gain back over time or through some other method.

Effects looks pretty obvious, its the various things which cause an issue with my health and stamina, although what's with this weird computer speak classifications on the injuries.

Mulling over the information in her mind, Ria began trying out the other icons. The gray half-circle allowed her to adjust the location of the interface, she ended up trying a few different things and leaving it where it started. The yellow, blue and white icons did nothing. They depressed but nothing happened. So possibly their functions just weren't active yet, they were a little dimmer than the other icons.

The green icon was still blinking insistently at her as she depressed it.

Bwoop!

Triumphant Trumpeting

STATS

CLASS

SKILLS

FEATS

PLAYER LOG

Minor Wound: Treated Successfully

Minor Wound: Treated Successfully

Wound: Treated Successfully

Wound: Treated Successfully

Kill: Infested_Wolf

Kill: Infested_Wolf

Level Gained!

Event: Trial – Completed

Kill: Infested_Wolf

Kill: Rock_Snail

Kill: Rock_Snail

Kill: Rock_Snail

Kill: Rock_Snail

A new window appeared, this time it was some kind of tabbed affair with a row of pulsating tabs at the top and a kind text window. Ria read this and was surprised, stabbing through the door must have been more effective than she realised.

Hmm, Level Gained huh. I wonder why that didn’t ding for me like the trial completion thing did.

That must be what the blinking tabs are about I guess.

With a resigned shrug, Ria began examining the tabbed windows in more detail, much of it was like reading another language to her. She was never really into computer games. The only thing that seemed to help was the fact that everything worked similarly to a smartphone. And her experience with photo editing software meant she wasn’t entirely in the dark about things. She started from left to right as it seemed the logical choice.

STATS

POINTS

BONUS

STRENGTH

0 +

+0%

INTELLIGENCE

0 +

+0%

AGILITY

2 +

+1%

ENDURANCE

5 +

+2.5%

FOCUS

0 +

+0%

+5

VITALS

BASE

CURRENT

HEALTH

141.8

5/75/141.8

MANA

110

100/104/110

STAMINA

141.8

30/86/141.8

Ok, so I have some points to spend by the looks of it… Id best check out the rest of the tabs before I choose anything… I wonder If there is a manual anywhere…

Oh! looks like I gained some health from somewhere as well when I opened the stats menu, odd.

Mana… like from Secret of Mana? That old game my dad showed me once? So like Mana must be magic I guess.

I’m starting to wish I had played some more games back home...

CLASS

Class Abilities

Class Effect

Class Stats

Description

Survivor (1)

Find North

Basic Foraging

Shelter Construction

Enduring Will

Hunger Reduction

Survival skills +5%/Lev

Perception +5%/Lev

Nutrition Req -5%/Lev

Pain Reduction -5%/Lev

+5 END

+2 AGI

You are a survivor, the world can be a harsh place. And you are ok with that as long as there is some snail to eat.

Why does it reference snails? Somehow I think that might not be a coincidence.

Also, it has 2 blank spots… three classes maximum?

I didn’t get to choose my class so I guess it was chosen for me.

Skills/Abilities

Type

Effect

Cost

Description

Find North©

Passive (jammable)

North is always known

-1mpb

You can find north without any landmarks or stars.

Basic Foraging©

Active

Forage area for basic food and resources.

-5mp/hr

-10sp/hr

Food and resources are highlighted if of a known type.

Shelter Construction©

Active

Find/Create shelter from local materials.

-20mp/hr

-100sp/hr

Shelter and required materials if known are highlighted.

Enduring Will(1)©

Passive

Resist negative mental effects. (Survival)

-5mpb

-2spb

Your will to survive endures, You resist minor negative mental effects from all survival situations.

Hunger Reduction(1) ©

Passive

Hunger has less of a negative effect.

Hunger -5%

-1mpb

-1spb

You still feel hungry but it does not weaken you as quickly.

Jury Rigging (A)

Active

Jury rig simple devices from basic materials.

-10mp/hr

-20sp/hr

You know how to make simple devices from basic things. It’s not as good as crafting but it will work in a pinch!

Uhm ok, so C is for class-based I guess… A is acti- no it will be acquired, so I can gain skills by showing my competence. That's pretty cool actually.

And that number in a bracket. I guess some of these skills have multiple levels of effect.

Jammable? So… it's possible to interrupt I guess, Good to know.

Anyway… mpb mana points base? So its like a permanent reduction for using the passive skill. I wonder why the skills use mana and stamina.

I guess it’s because there is physical work involved.

Odd that hunger is mentioned but it’s nowhere on my stats screen.

Ria stretched in her seat as she tried to make sense of everything in her head, the menu’s were all like something out of a game. She was a [Survivor] some kind of specialist at surviving in harsh places. It sounded pretty much like the last few days had granted her this class. Opening the last tab, Ria was relieved it was short.

Feats

Effect

Description

Undaunted Character

Single use: Full Rejuvenation, Remove all negative effects.

+50% HP/MP/SP/All Resistances. Duration – 10 minutes.

(Can be used as a dying breath cast)

Your undaunted character in the face of adversity has granted you the ability to come back from near-death to defeat your enemies and resist your foes.

You may use this ability once and then it is removed.

This ability may be cast with your dying breath unless you are killed using an instant effect ability or skill. You will be given the option to cast this feat.

ah-hah! This looks like magic, some kind of single-use ability.

It looks kind of like I essentially have a second life… if I am reading it right that is.

This menu also has a couple of spare slots so I guess I can only have a few.

I think I saw this thing mentioned on the first menu about the trial success event. So it's like a reward.

Ok, so feats must be rewards for performing certain… feats? Tasks? Quests… whatever. Anyway. So I get them for doing shit.

It specifically mentions single-use so... I might be able to get multi-use ones.

Oh wow, it's also free. That means a good feat would be super powerful.

Ria sat back and reviewed each menu carefully before she shuffled over and added a couple more logs to the slowly dying fire. This would take some planning. She seriously doubted whether the system would allow her to take back any changes later. Who knew how long she might be stuck with her choices if this really was her new home. From now on she would have to be very careful.

***

After much consideration, Ria settled on 2 points to Strength, 1 to Intelligence, 1 to Agility and 1 to Endurance. The Strength would be needed, Intelligence… well, who couldn’t use a little more brains she figured. Agility and Endurance made sense because they were important to her class. With a nod, Ria applied the points in her character sheet.

STATS

POINTS

BONUS

STRENGTH

2

+1%

INTELLIGENCE

1

+0.5%

AGILITY

3

+1.5%

ENDURANCE

6

+3%

FOCUS

0

+0%

VITALS

BASE

CURRENT

HEALTH

149.2

10/75/149.2

MANA

110

104/104/110

STAMINA

149.2

60/86/149.2

As the numbers changed, she noticed a sudden flush of tingling run up her body as something changed. Her muscles convulsed and rippled unnaturally like a wave, goosebumps trailed their path from her feet to the top of her head. It was somehow both pleasurable and dis-concerting. She noticed that her vitals were slowly ticking upwards as well.

Ooohkay that felt weird as fuck.

Ria took a step away from the chair she had been huddling in and felt a little odd, her steps were a little longer. She could feel a difference, it was minuscule but the feeling brought a small smile to her face. She also felt a little more… alive? It was hard to put it into words really.

She looked around the cabin with interest, hoping her new skills might kick in and she might find some useful stuff or something. But no, nothing new jumped out at her, there was no highlighted resources or anything like that. Disappointed Ria sat back down and started poking around her interface, trying to figure out how to activate her skills.

The windows themselves had no interactivity, pressing on skills did nothing. She tried poking the interface on her arm in different ways, holding down icons for 5 seconds or swiping at them. Eventually, in frustration, Ria tried the dumbest thing she could think of.

Oh man, this is so lame.

“[Basic Foraging]” she said, somehow an additional weight was added to the words, she knew the instant they were spoken that it would activate the skill.

Yep…

The room around Ria changed in minor ways. The room remained very dim, Lit by the fire and slivers of outside light as it was. It was loose objects like the wooden locking bar, the wood logs by the fire. These lit up softly, somehow becoming more obvious. They quickly faded as new objects emitted a soft and fleeting light. Some herbs hung from the rafters, a small sack beneath the corner table.

Ria grinned widely as she shuffled open and found that the sack beneath the corner table was, in fact, a small bag of salt. Rough crystal chunks instead of the powder she was familiar with but very useful. The herbs hanging from above looked like mint, rosemary, and basil. A few looked unfamiliar but doubtless, all would make her meager meals much more palatable.

She spent the next few hours pottering about the cabin, gathering and inventorying the supplies she could find with her abilities and her own eyes. It was getting on towards nightfall by the time she had amassed the useful items on the floor.

She had 3 spare sets of underclothes, a new jacket to replace her old torn one. New gloves and some new socks to replace her old holed ones. A short spear with a long sturdy steel point was stashed in a nook by the fire. It would certainly help with those damn wolves if they came back.

A few various survival knickknacks were added to the pile, some spare flint, and steel. Some fishing line was found hanging from the rafters in carefully looped rings. It looked like some kind of gut or hide twisted and braided extremely fine.

Finally, a long 16-inch hunting knife and scabbard were added to her belt, it had been carefully stored and oiled before the previous owner had passed on. Whoever he was, he had cleaned his clothing, folded it carefully and prepared the cabin for visitors. All this before curling up in the bed to pass away. Ria looked over at the bundle in the corner and sniffed at the tingling in her nose. She felt sad for the guy. He would never know that his last actions had saved her life. She wished she could do the same.

***

Morning brought the roaring crackle of a large fire into the snowy valley, smoke rose from the pyre Ria had constructed to burn the unknown man. The bundle of blankets quickly burned away and revealed the skeleton within, soon it too was consumed by flames. Ria sat on the porch and watched quietly, her mind drifting back to the past. Looking into the fire, her eyes hardened and her grip on the sturdy spear tightened.

I need more than survival. I refuse to waste this second chance.

***

A Dragon

Cold eyes watched smoke rise from the valley, A large fire. It meant little to Canfermirax and he lazily rolled over onto his back, rubbing an itchy scale on the floor of the ice cave. A rumbling purr echoed through the crystalline chambers of his lair.

Sitting in the entrance and enjoying the sun on his white scales was one of the few entertainments to be had in Canfermirax’s small territory. He loved the way the light bounced from his scales making rainbow sparkles across the roof of his cave. Pawing at the sparkles he purred louder and more contentedly. Holding up a single clear faceted crystal to his eye and grinned at the kaleidoscope of images and rainbows that glittered and fluttered across it.

Enjoying the little things was important, other dragons just didn’t understand. The Reds and Blues loved their silver and gold, Greens and Yellows loved power over others. Black and Purple loved the power of magic. Only the Whites and Browns could truly enjoy the natural beauty of the world. Whites loved the simplicity of the sky and the land, the simple joy of natures bounty. Brown found similar joy deep beneath the ground in their crystalline caves where they tended the giant mushroom groves.

He sighed and flopped back lazily to look out into the valley, head upside down it looked like the sky was the ground and he giggled to himself. Then frowned slightly at the smoke. It had been years since smoke had visited the valley in winter. Maybe it was time he had a look at the valley's new resident.

Frowning further Canfermirax felt the high starting to retreat. The new resident could wait. He reached out a claw and plucked the frozen toad from the cave floor. Examining it he slid his tongue out and took a big long lick of the large dead amphibians back. His eyes rolled up and he started giggling loudly at the rainbows.