UPGRADES

We dropped off the weapons and armor then hustled back to our cells. Anil stifled sobs as we walked, and my jubilance of before leaked out with each step. The enormity of what had transpired filtered in past the adrenaline. Each step became more laboured and my thoughts thundered within me. Self-doubt, reverence and even hopelessness sunk through my core. I didn’t even pay attention to what BURT was telling me. I just let it all wash past as I tried to gain a sense of self that had been sorely lacking ever since I had my soul ripped out and bounced around like a pong match.

Everything I was becoming was not really who I wanted to be. I thought I had left this type of life behind. The starkness of my new reality was overwhelming. Where were my real team mates from Earth? Was Raul and co still even alive? If they knew about me, would they be able to rescue me?

I came back to myself as the door of my cell slammed behind me. I hadn’t taken note of anything and I admonished myself inwardly. As I did so, BURT came to the fore in my awareness and I finally acknowledged him and we began to decompress and compare notes.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself Petros. You did what you had to do to survive. I believe your melancholy is more to do with not knowing what to do next rather than actual self doubt regarding your actions.”

His words had merit and as I pondered them he continued, “You have gained in power from that outing and I believe you will soon be at level 10.”

“Level 10? I was on level one. Now I hit a few DrillBeasts and I’m suddenly level 10?”

“Not at level 10, you are currently at level 7, but it won’t be long before you reach the Level 10 milestone. It wasn’t that you hit a few Drillbeasts. I mentioned to you before that your skills would be taken into account only in live scenarios. Practice can only prepare you for those moments, but actually enacting them in a lifelike scenario enables you to acquire the skills on your Life Sheet. It is the way it works with these worlds and people, with this system. We studied them extensively before implementing our own upgrade options. In particular you have improved in Acrobatics, Pole-arm fighting and Short Stick fighting as well as Dodge.

The system recognised your abilities as you performed them under real life conditions. As soon as the stakes were high enough, your experience points began accumulating towards your next level.”

“Ah, so it’s based on levels of intensity? Surely if I train with the same level of intensity or even harder it should force the system to recognise my abilities.”

“It does Petros, but when you are faced with a very real life and death struggle, your physical responses are so much more intense. Hence why you level up faster under those conditions.”

“What about bakers, smiths, artisans. How can they level if they can’t ever experience that life or death scenario.”

“From what we can tell, those types of skills accrue at a steady pace with practice and training, but those artisans never reach pure mastery until they are much much older. Each added level of precision comes in the way they hone their craft. So perhaps the system is lenient on them, or simply only accrues when an artisan is doing their art or craft. There is much unknown and yet it is a fascinating subject.”

I mused on that, then asked, “What is significant about level 10?”

“Level 10 is the minimum requirement for Avihs’s abilities to activate. For you to become a full Acolyte instead of a Novice. The Stamina, Agility and Strength boosts that come with being a Chosen Acolyte instead of simply the title given as a Novice.”

“Is that a fact?” I felt myself shrugging off some of the melancholy and getting right back into the mix. If anything could perk me up, it was certainly going to be new and advanced skills. Not only did they bring a sense of accomplishment, they also gave me new pathways to survive. Especially since my magical abilities were nowhere to be seen.

“How do you know that?” I asked, puzzled at his familiarity of the subject since it was different from the Absinthe system.

“I was able to decode the notifications. They are coded with an “AND” “OR” clause and require certain parameters to be met before the alternative string is activated. I am still deciphering, but it seems like the coding is within the protein strands of a Phage. A type of virus that looks similar to the original lunar lander but on the microscopic scale. They attach to your cells and insert RNA to realign new code into your DNA.” BURT stated.

“That is seriously freaky. I know about Phage viruses and the way they deliver their packages to cells, but wouldn’t that take a long time?”

“That’s just it, when you upgrade, they just appear within your blood as if from another dimension, possibly transferred through tachyon space and go about their business. The precision and immediacy of the process explains why you have to level up. Essentially each iteration requires a charge, a level of ambient energy. That is all consumed within the first few moments as the phages are brought into your bloodstream to begin your upgrade process. For higher levels, more precision is required, with more RNA modifier agents. There are enough of them in that first moment, that when they insert into your cells, you are unable to retract the changes. Your body has no defense against it. There would be no way to stop it once it happens. I was just fortunate that I was able to observe and record what happened.

“So would you be able to replicate it? Could your nanobots do the same?”

“No Petros, I cannot. I wouldn’t want to do that anyway. The chemical balance and pressures of your blood flow are crucial for my own functionality and messing with DNA beyond what we know would be foolish and life threatening for both of us”

“Ok, so let’s get back to what bonus points I got? Can I distribute them now?” I asked, and BURT paused ominously before replying.

“There were points attributed to you, yes, but what do you think kept you going during the fight? As you levelled up, I attributed your points to Agility and Constitution, it boosted you immediately. You did say I should handle it. I felt those two attributes needed buffing while you decided to make yourself a target for the Drillbeasts.”

“Aaag!” I said disgustedly. “That’s no fun, how can I enjoy this if you get to do all the cool stuff?”

“Petros, need I remind you that you are a middle aged man fighting for his life. There is no reboot, or respawn. If you get killed we both die. In fact I was most relieved you left it to me. There were several instances where your stamina would have run dry if not for my timely intervention.”

“Are you getting snooty with me BURT? Jeez, you give a guy some responsibility and suddenly he’s running your life.” I was enjoying this brainless argument, it was helping me decompress. After some more bickering, we both agreed that he did good and then BURT hit me with a sidewinder just as I settled and started on something new.