The Beta Testers may have been the first members of the old reality to experience the new universal iteration in its entirety, but they were not the first members of the old reality that The Moderators of the universe recruited. Before them came the Alpha Testers, famous beings from the histories of the thousands of cultures that inhabited the old reality. These Alpha Testers were assigned the job of fleshing out The Moderators New Reality. While The Moderators created the core rules of the new iteration, the Alpha Testers created the locations, relics, and citizens meant to fill the empty universe they awoke in. Many did what they could to leave a legacy to their species. Something to help them in this new, hostile reality. Of course, the rules of The New Age required that any item of great opportunity be gained with an equivalent amount of danger. – History of a New Age, pg 27.

When the timer hit zero, Li fell to the ground like a puppet with his string’s cut. He didn’t even feel the impact with the ground as his mind blanked and vision retreated. Following this, there was a lurching feeling similar to hitting a sudden drop on a roller coaster. Like his stomach hadn’t been paying attention and was now being drug behind the rest of his body. In front of him glowed another blue window, but even that faded as soon as he had finished reading it. The ensuing darkness that followed the screen’s retreat quickly came to an end as he lost consciousness, nothing remaining but the words of that final message bouncing around in his head.

Welcome Challenger, to a Proving Ground designed by one of the greatest in the history of your people. Here you may find the power to advance into your new reality, if you have the wits, bravery, and skill to claim it. Welcome, mortal, to Archimedes’ Labyrinth.

The first thing Li noticed when he returned to himself was the sound. Like an army marching, there was a constant rumble of sound similar to hundreds of feet pounding the ground. This was accented by the sharper noises of metal clashing with metal and shockwaves running through the earth beneath him, reinforcing the feeling of some great mass of movement bearing down on him and causing him to leap to his feet. Thankfully, there was no great horde of soldiers bearing down on him. No, it was something much stranger.

In a valley spread out below him were hundreds of spires and mounds forcing their way out of the ground, each covered in vines and plants. It was as though they had been grown from planted seeds scattered around haphazardly. Or, more darkly, as if some giant object had exploded in the sky above long ago, sending shrapnel to bury itself in the ground below, and the shards had simply been left to be reclaimed by nature. The placement, on first glance, appeared random entirely random. Despite this natural appearance, the pieces themselves had a certain…uniformity that tickled at the back of his mind. They looked familiar somehow…

Directly in front of him was one of these strange objects, significantly smaller than many of the examples he had seen below. The object was a vaguely pillar shaped piece that seemed worn on the edges. He scanned it slowly, from top to bottom, trying to place the oddly shaped monoliths. He had barely started his investigation when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something move. Instantly, he put his guard up and quickly focused beyond the pillar, toward the valley below. He didn’t see anything in his immediate vicinity, so he allowed his gaze to sweep toward the horizon. There, towards the back of the valley, he saw a great mountain rising from the ground that quickly established itself as a place of importance in his mind. Though the mountain certainly had a roughness that implied it was natural, its general shape was much too sharp for that to be the case. The peak was a point, an actual point! Almost like somebody had begun carving a pyramid from a natural mountain and given up halfway through. Various flat faces and sharp corners could be seen, along with more natural cliffs and outcroppings. The sheer impossibility of such a construction made him unable to do anything but stare for a short while, working to come to terms with something so strange.

And then he saw the movement again. The entire mountain had spun! Just a little, but with an object so large even a slight rotation amounted to billions or trillions of tons of rock moving thousands of meters. It was incredible, and impossible. At least, it was in his old universe. As he kept an eye on the horizon, he noticed that the mountain seemed to turn every 30 seconds or so. And it wasn’t the only thing moving. Many of the spires and mounds were moving too, all on their own schedule. As the various pieces turned, he began to see outcroppings and offshoots on individual pieces that would appear and disappear with the greater rhythm of the whole. They were all various types of gears and machinery! It was all one great mechanism, or perhaps the ruins of one.

As he continued to observe he noticed that what appeared to be paths would open and close with the movement of the various parts, leading toward the mountain. A worm drive might push a wall out of the way, revealing an entrance into a hallway leading closer to the center of the maze, and then a piston would cause the floor to raise and another entrance to that hall would disappear. Li spent far too long simply watching, mesmerized by the coordination of so many great parts. He knew he should move, that something could attack him any moment. That each minute staring was another minute lost before it got dark and he should be finding shelter or supplies. But he just couldn’t bring himself to break away from the fantastical sight. “A great, ever moving maze leading to a clockwork mountain. Incredible.”

Shaking himself he began to move. The first order of business was to investigate the area he had woke up in. A quick look around revealed he was in a glade with only one obvious exit, a pathway leading down toward the valley and, in turn, the mountain. The edges of the glade were blocked by a dense amalgamation of trees, shrubs, rocks, and various broken parts that did not appear to move at all. With time and effort, he might be able to force his way through this natural barrier…might. And he doubted he could make any appreciable progress before he found himself in need of food and water. The vegetation seemed supernatural, as when he had cut down one vine with a throwing knife (something that had required no small amount of effort given how poor a tool a throwing knife was for that job), it had quickly grown back. Not instantaneously, but at a visible rate. Easily an eighth of an inch or so of growth every minute.

Li also had a sneaking suspicion that something else would inevitably appear as he forced his way into the forest. Something that would force him back in the direction of the maze. A cliff, or roving monsters, or lack of water. He had seen what appeared to be lakes at various points throughout the maze, so he knew some existed in that direction. But out there? Beyond this living wall? Who knew? Certainly not him. So, for now at least, forward it was. As he began working his way down into the valley below, he brought back up his earlier notifications.

You have gained access to the Ancient Magic Force Magic. Access to Beginner Force Magic Spells has been opened. At this time the following spells have been granted.

Telekinesis: Utilize force magic to move objects from a distance.

Force Wall: Create a plane of force that pushes any object which attempts to move through it back with equivalent force.

Giant’s Punch: Reinforce a punch with a force construct overlay, striking with greater power over a large surface.

Additional Spells can be discovered through practice or research.

Your Common Armor Spell has been attuned to your Mana and evolved due to your wish for a weapon and defense in one. Congratulations! You have unlocked the spell Reinforcement Armor - Beginner. This Armor Spell sacrifices some of its defensive potential in exchange for greatly enhanced Offensive Abilities. This armor has two modes: Charge and Release. While in Charge Mode, all actions you take will require slightly more energy. In Release Mode, this energy is utilized to reinforce your actions, increasing your strength. Attacks taken while wearing the Armor will be slightly weakened as force is drawn away from the strike and added to your pool of saved energy. Mana can be spent to utilize the reinforcement properties of the armor instead of or in addition to the pool of saved energy.

Congratulations! You have purchased a set of 3 Honed Steel Throwing Knives. These knives are well balanced for throwing, honed to a fine edge, and have been slightly enchanted to increase durability.

Your Basic Enhanced Mind skill has been attuned to your Mana and affected by your current need. Congratulations! You have unlocked the ability Perfect Force Understanding. Using this ability, the user will perfectly understand the component physics in an area. This allows an innate sense of the motion of anything they see or sense, an instant understanding of the amount of force behind any motion, and how to best influence any kinetic or stored energy in the area. Utilizing mana increases the number of forces one can comprehend and the speed at which comprehension comes.

Your Basic Extended Senses skill has been attuned to your Mana and affected by your purpose. Congratulations! You have unlocked the ability Motion Sense. Using this ability the user will sense any motion in their surroundings. The ability is always active at a very limited range, but Mana may be used to increase the range at which you will sense motion.

He had originally selected an armor spell with the simple thought that the best way to deal with a new, dangerous situation was to be harder to kill. He also figured that if worse comes to worst, armor could also be a pretty potent weapon. The best armors combined defensive strength with offensive potential to help their bearer survive as long as possible. Then he had awakened his magic.

Even now, hours later, thinking back to that event left him shaking in a combination of fear and excitement. He had felt options open up in his mind as his Force Magic was awakened. Like having the entirety of a college physics degree shoved through his head, most of it forgotten just as fast as it was learned. It had taken him a while to notice the new knowledge, an intimate understanding of his element that subconsciously affected his following decisions. Affects that were more obvious in retrospect.

After he had unlocked his magic, he had been able to understand flight patterns from tosses on such an instinctual level that purchasing the throwing knives had taken barely any though. It just made sense. He could feel how the physics should work, how to properly throw the knife. Besides, his original plan had been to build into something rogue like. Enough range to be able to attack without putting himself at risk, skills focused on detection to make sure things didn’t surprise him, abilities to allow him to be slippery enough to escapes most situations, and an armor spell to keep him alive in the worst-case scenario. With Telekinesis he could even reclaim his knives, or maybe attack with them.

He had chosen enhanced mind and enhanced senses since the throwing knives meant he didn’t need a bolt spell for a ranged weapon. He had hoped they would help him keep track of things around him, make sure that someone sneaking up behind him or an unseen attack wasn’t what would kill him. He wasn’t disappointed by what he had received, and it reaffirmed to him that he had made the right choices. It certainly seemed like intent affected what abilities you got, at least to some degree.