(Area 51 Nevada, January 2nd, 2036)

I didn’t think of myself as a dick but after listening to that snarky bitch, yeah I’d been a dick. I pushed those thoughts off to the side and pulled up my Personal Interface. I noticed a new tab at the top “Cultivation”. I chose it and three categories popped up

Help

Rules

Gamblers Network

I chose Gamblers Network and was given a few choices

Place Bet

Insurance

Payout

Cultivations Stats

I chose “Cultivation Status”

Name: Johnathan Bennard

Location: Dallas Texas

Profession: Professor of Computer Science, University of North Texas at Dallas

Age: 35

Odds: 1,000,000 to 1 (1 week)

10,000,000 to 1 (1 Month)

100,000,000 to 1 (3 Months)

1,000,000,000 to 1 (12 Months)

Next, I chose “Place Bet”

Welcome Diamond Ranked Member! Your credit rating allows you to place any level of bet that you’d like. Who would you like to bet on today?

I said, “Johnathan Bennard.”

Johnathan Bennard is you, are you sure you wish to place a bet on Johnathan Bennard?

“Yes.”

The subject of the bet has been chosen. Warning once you verify the number of credits you wish to wager your account will be charged and that amount of credits will be withdrawn from your account and held until a payout is chosen or the subject of your wager has died. Note: any credits spent on insurance are lost immediately. The Syndicate will utilize any credits held until the cultivation is complete to earn interest. All interest belongs to the Gamblers Network. How many Syndicate Credits would you like to wager?

I said, “One times ten to the 100th power.”

Are you sure that you would like to bet 1.e +100 credits on Johnathan Bennard?

“Yes”

You have bet 1,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000. Credits on Johnathan Bennard.

Would you like to purchase Insurance? Two types are offered; Resurrection and Space-Time Tampering. Each type of insurance costs 10% of your total bet or 20% for both.

I said “Yes to both”

Are you sure that you would like to spend 2.e + 99 credits for Resurrection and Space-Time Tampering Insurance on Johnathan Bennard?

“Yes.”

Thank you for your purchase.

I thought something would happen like it would error out or something. I also laughed out loud as I thought about that dumbass deity and how many divinity points had just been added against his ledger. I was going to make sure that idiot never became more powerful. I thought for a few more minutes. If I was a corrupt agency, as the organization running this most assuredly had to be, They’d probably wait until it was closer to a payout date. Though, in my case, once they learned I couldn’t be killed off that easily they’d probably call in some big dogs to take care of me. Too bad for them I was the only person in this cosmos that knew there were even bigger dogs.

I went back to the Cultivation menu and picked “Rules” I Might as well learn what they were.

Cultivation Rules

Rules are converted for humans on Earth

Rule #1: Initial message will commence 60 minutes before Cultivation begins

Rule #2: All Wagers on starting odds must be made prior to the beginning of Cultivation in Syndicate Credits. Wagers made after a Cultivation starts are subject to review before payout. All bets made before Cultivation must be paid out when requested by Gambler. Payouts cannot be requested until 1 week after Cultivation Start. Humans that are on Earth that have made bets cannot request Payouts until Cultivation ends 1 minute after the date and start time 365 days later.

Rule #3: The center point of a Monster Spawning zones will be marked by Black Obelisks spaced randomly around the globe no closer than 1 mile and no farther than 10 miles apart. Monsters can spawn randomly within 1 mile of the black Obelisks and will do so at the beginning of each hour. The level of monsters spawn is not dependent on location nor is it dependent on the levels of humans. At the start of the Cultivation, the ambient density of magic will allow 1st through 10th level monsters to spawn. The number that spawns is random and based on the magic density in that area. Most humans on Earth are level 1. By the end of the first week, the ambient magic density should allow level 20 monsters to spawn. Level 40 monsters by the end of the 4th week. Level 60 by the end of 6 months and level 100 sometime during the 12th month. This is an estimate.

Rule #4: After one full year every Human will be given the opportunity to leave Earth and join the Syndicate. If you do so, you will be immediately transported to the nearest Immigration location within this region of the Milky Way where you can be further educated on your roles and responsibilities as members of the Syndicate. You may also choose to remain on Earth and continue earning XP if that is your desire with the understanding that various other races of the Syndicate will be joining you to go on safari. If you live that long more information will be made available.

Rule #5: In Accordance With (IAW) Galactic Cultivation Law 1C-999-ZZZ-GT. I am to inform any and all participants of a Cultivation that they may purchase a “Grow Up Safe And Sound Package.” These packages can be purchased by any entity for any adolescent on planet Earth at a cost of 1 million credits per child. The credits will be used to provide for the education and rearing of your child, or children until such time as they are fully integrated into Syndicate Society. The ‘Little Angels Foundation’ would like to assure you that this is a legitimate offer and not some type of scam. If you would like to purchase a “Grow Up Safe And Sound Package” click HERE.

I clicked the “HERE” button

You must have Syndicate Credits to purchase the “Grow Up Safe And Sound Package.

Checking Credit

How many “Grow Up Safe and Sound Packages” would you like to purchase? Note: Mothers of Newborns, Babies under 1-year-old, can be added at a cost of 10 million credits each.

I said “List the total cost for all adolescents Planet Earth”

Number of children on Planet Earth: 1,119,342,478.

Number of Newborn on Planet Earth: 33,600,000

1,085,742,478,000,000 for Non Newborn adolescents

369,600,000,000,000 for Newborn Children and their Mother’s

Total Cost: 1,455,342,478,000,000 Syndicate Credits

I said, “Purchase them all”

Are you Sure?

“Yes!”

Purchase accepted

A new window popped into my vision,

Word Wide Message: Greetings Humans, it looks like one of you has a really big heart and has purchased 1,119,342,478 “Grow Up Safe and Sound Packages” for every single child on Earth. That’s right folks, all of your kids, ages 1 – 17 years 364 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds as of 6 a.m. Mountain Standard Time from their date of birth is going to be ferreted away to safety. This human with a big heart has even paid the additional cost to make sure any children under the age of 1 will still have their moms, they get to go too!

Transport of the older children will begin now, try to say your goodbyes quickly. Infants and mothers will be last. Everything will be provided through the generosity of Johnathan Bennard from Dallas Texas. Moms, if dad is still around we suggest taking family photos with you, Dad will not be joining you for at least a year, if ever.

You now have 34 minutes until Cultivation Start.

I canceled the prompt and went back to reading the rules

Rule #6: Once Cultivation Starts The rule of the day is survival. Until one year has passed you may earn experience by any means possible

Rule #7: Designated Monster Safe Zones exist randomly throughout the world. You may enter any safe zone if you have not entered one within the last 12 hours and may stay in that safe zone for up to 24 hours. If you stay in a Safe Zone for more than 10 hours in any 24 hour period the debuff “Coward” will be added to you that will be visible to everyone. After 24 hours you will be randomly teleported at least 10 miles away from any safe zone. Once you get the debuff you will remain for 48 hours. If you attempt to enter a safe zone again while the debuff is active you will automatically be teleported away again and your debuff will be reset to 48 hours. Areas that are maintained as safe by humans. Towns, villages, etc. do not count as Designated Safe Areas and do not have Syndicate Shops. If you can hold onto an area and make it safe you can try to survive there for the entire Cultivation.

Required Warning. Within 3 days after the Cultivation Starts there will be monsters that can destroy any man-made structure on land, in the sea, or the Air. The only areas safe from Monsters will be the Designated Monster Safe Zones and varius shelters available for purchase as your nearest Syndicate Shop.

Rule #8: There will be Syndicate Shops in all Designated Safe Zones where you can trade in anything you find for Syndicate Credits and use those credits to purchase various items. Food and Drinks will also be available. Drinking water will be freely available in all Safe Zones.

Warnings and Suggestions

* Magic disrupts most technological devices. A spell has been cast to allow all electronic devices to continue to work until the Cultivation starts.

* Technological Weapons of mass destruction have been disabled. They will no longer work

* If you are familiar with Role-Playing Games that have wizards and spellcasters, very shortly you will have the opportunity to try to become one if you desire. As you have seen, Magic is very useful.

* Good Luck, you only have 365 days to go.

So, I left a cosmos where a giant Pacman was trying to destroy everyone to appear in a Universe where humanity was being put through some kind of forced advancement training. It also looked like the various gods and devils were in on the action because this set of rules was crap. It looked like two sides were trying to do the most for their policy position. If someone thought about how fucked this was someone might get depressed. Not me though. If I had my nanites I could have some fun, damn I missed them. Instead, this was probably going to get a little messier than I’d want it to.

Of course, I had advantages but I also had some serious disadvantages. First and foremost, I wondered how my ability “Confluence” was going to affect the monster spawning zones if I was near one. I was bringing magic into the worlds, I might, no I probably would act like a supercharger to speed up the process which meant that it was going to get way worse before it got better. Right now though I had work to do. I called Admiral Ainsworth.

“Hello?”

“Johnathan here Admiral though from now on just call me Adam. Have you locked it down yet?”

“I’m in a meeting with the President, we’re trying to decide..”

“Where are you?”

“I can’t really…”

“Hold on,” I said as I opened the laptop and did a quick search to find out where they were. “Okay, there you are. I’m going to open a portal, do not shoot” I said as I willed a small portal, just big enough to see my upper body opposite the President.

Gasps of shock broke through the portal as I exerted my will to silence everyone on the other side of the portal. It worked. I’d have to check that later, maybe that level 100 in every skill meant I had mental skills as well?

“Mr. President and everyone else. That was not a hoax, that is the real deal In about 25 minutes you are going to lose everything. Have all subs surface and turn all ships towards landfall if possible. In 24 minutes an EMP effect is going to wipe out everything, and I do mean everything on the planet. If you can, get every plane on the ground, stop every takeoff and declare DEFCON 1. I have taken care of the children, which is going to surprise these assholes and I’m also trying to break their bank but we have another 6 billion people on the planet to worry about. If you do everything I say I will come there and open a portal to Norad for you. It is most likely going to be the safest place with the most resources. Also, As long as one of these monster spawning sites isn’t in the mountain anyone down there should be alright, for a little while anyway. I should be able to open portals to various bunkers around the world. Make no mistake though, it is going to get worse. If I don’t hear the sirens go off in the next 3 minutes I’m going to assume you’re an idiot, come get Admiral Ainsworth, and leave you to your fate. I know he’s good people” I pulled another gold bar and dropped it through the portal onto their table as I closed the portal and watched what was happening on my laptop.

“Who the fuck, is that a gold bar?” The President asked the Admiral

“Yes sir it is, it’s kind of his thing to do when he needs to prove to someone he’s being serious. Because if you know the story he’s telling about why he’s dropping gold bars, you’ll realize that if you get on his bad side, your account is going to stay negative for a really long time.”

I smiled as I closed the laptop and put it into storage turned away and portaled to the clerk’s desk downstairs leaving the portal open.

“Sir!”

“No time, get everyone you can through this portal into the Prince’s Suite, it’s going to be the safest place to be in a few minutes. Send maintenance first to close it down, lock all outer windows and doors and seal the emergency stairwells. Once this kicks off I’m going to get everyone to safety.”

“But Sir”

“Do you have children? A husband.”

“Yes” she said tears in her eyes.

“Okay, then what’s your address” she let me know, and using my Perfect Memory from before I got the spatial coordinates and opened a portal to her living room.

I stepped through. Dan, you’re with me, bring Jr. with you, NOW!

We stepped through the portal back into the Mirage and I closed that portal.

“That baby looks less than a year old?” I asked

“He is, he’s 10 months”

“Dan hand Jr. to Jessica and give her a kiss. It’s going to be your last one for a while so make it good.”

The air raid sirens went off. So the President wasn’t a complete idiot. I conjured a picture frame photo of their final moments together and willed it permanent as I handed it to Jessica.”

“Quiet and listen, you have moments,” I said “The images you just saw and that voice, that craps real, it is going to happen. I’ve done what I can and I will continue to fight for every human on the planet but you Jessica, are my messenger to all the other mothers and children you’ll be joining. You must have faith and you must endure. Take care of Dan Jr. and yourself first then learn as much as you can and be ready, you will see me and hopefully Dan again. Trust me when I say It is now my life’s goal to make these bastards pay in blood!”

She kissed Dan one more time, said “I love you” and was enveloped by the same type of energy cocoon I saw take my alternate self away as Dan stepped back.

“Dan, I know this is a lot to take in. We have 14 minutes to help everyone get to safety. I want you to stand here and guide anyone you see through this portal. It leads to the Prince’s Suite up on top of this Hotel. I’m going to go out into the drive and try to help people as well.” As I ran outside I saw Dan start guiding people through the portal.

13 minutes

I went outside and for the next 8 minutes watched families with children start to make their way out of the building only to watch the children be teleported away. Or was it more accurate to say transported?

5 minutes

I ran back inside and told Dan to step through as I followed and closed the portal behind me. There were about 300 people ranging in age from 18 to elderly. “Okay everyone listen up,” I said as I willed a couple of globes of light that would last and threw them to the ceiling as I spoke. ”I do not know who is doing this, I do not know what is going on. In fact, I’ve only been back on Earth for about 30 hours so I’m just as confused as you. One thing I do know is that the voice you all heard wasn’t bluffing. In 3 minutes this shit is going to get real. The power is going to go off and everything you knew is going to change. While I’m gone, think Personal Interface then concentrate on the tab “Cultivation” that you will see before you. Read over the rules you see there. You need to know them. Stay away from the windows and remain quiet. Do NOT go outside. I will be back shortly,” I said as I teleported into the sky and willed myself to turn invisible and fly 1 mile above the Mirage.

I thought about mental powers and willed my mind to connect to Admiral Ainsworth.

You are attempting to make a mental connection with Jared Ainsworth. Mental Resistance overcome, Attempt successful

Admiral? I thought

Adam, how are you doing this? He asked

Not really sure yet, something I just picked up

The President did what you asked. Everyone they could get, including all civilians, are in the Bunkers they could get to. My family…

Family? Address now!

He gave it to me and I portaled to it. A woman two grown kids in their 20’s and her mom and dad were with her in the basement. I faded into the shadows using stealth then activated a portal to the Admiral

Admiral, tell them to get through the portal. You all are to hold tight there while I watch to see what happens in Vegas, I thought as I watched him bring them through the portal to the safety of the bunker. I closed that portal and then opened one back to the roof of the Mirage where I stood and watched.

1 minute

Zero hour

At exactly 6:00 the power went out everywhere. Unfortunately for the residents of Las Vegas one of the random placements for the monster summoning zones was on the southeast corner of S Las Vegas Blvd and Sands Ave. Just over 2,000 feet from the Mirage. Also, I’d been right. My presence was having an effect. Monsters started spawning randomly within a mile. I saw giant Bears, Centipedes, an Ooze, as well as some Gnolls and Goblins. I was pretty sure some of the creatures were higher than level 10, though I had no way to tell. I decide to fly over and see if I could do something about the obelisk from range.

Ranged Teleport of Monster Summoning Obelisk Fails

I moved closer as I watched monsters pop into existence all around me out to a mile away. This went on for one full minute then stopped. Once it stopped and I was pretty sure nothing was around as I landed next to the Obelisk and touched it trying to teleport it away. Nothing happened to the obelisk but I watched as something shoved its hand through my back and out my chest. Before it bit my head off and chewed.

You have been critically attacked by Stealthed Wolfman.

You have Died!

Deaths allowed: -2 of ERROR

Obviously I had not been alone. I was really starting to miss my nanites. I reappeared in the small open space at the center of Mike O’ Callaghan Military Medical Center. The section to the east was gone from the blast that had hit Nellis earlier but I knew where I was as soon as I opened my eyes. Damn, that had hurt. Yep I was nude again. That part of this was going to suck. I conjured a combat jumpsuit around myself, going for comfort and utility as a prompt fills my vision.

You have entered a Safe Zone. Monsters may not materialize or travel into this zone. The area of this safe zone is a 500-foot radius from the point you are standing on. The Syndicate Shop will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local.

Good to know. I opened a portal back to the mirage and stepped through.

“Alright, listen up everyone. I have found a safe zone on the other side of this portal. You will be able to remain there for up to 24 hours. Hopefully, I’ll have a new home for all of you by then. If there are any Military there work with them to find out if there are any weapons stashed somewhere that wasn’t destroyed a few hours ago. Do NOT leave the safe zone. There are monsters everywhere. Also, let them know that I’ll be back to get you all to another location. Now get moving through the portal.”

Someone asked, “Why can’t we stay here?”

“Good Question, Simple answer, this location is within 1 mile of a monster summoning Obelisk and monsters will be spawning every hour. Every hour there is a chance that a monster will appear here. Monsters cannot spawn inside safe areas. If you read the rules like I told you to, you’d know that, NOW MOVE!”

After that, there was little mumbling until someone yelled back through the portal, “It is a safe zone.”

Admiral, you there

Yes, we’re still in the bunker. The landline to Norad still works by the way. They were able to seal the mountain. How long until you can evacuate us? He asked.

Running into a few snags but shouldn’t be long.

I walked into the interior of the Hospital asking “Who’s in Charge?” various people keep pointing me in a direction until I came to a middle-aged man with the rank of Colonel.

“I’m a little busy whoever you are”

“Well this ‘whoever you are’ is about to help you out, Colonel. First, have you taken the time to read the rules of the Cultivation?”

“Read the rules of the cultivation, what horseshit are you talking about son?

I opened a portal to give a bird’s eye view of downtown Las Vegas, Screams coming from everywhere below us were easily heard. I noticed a man-sized bat with huge claws angling up towards the portal and shut down the portal just as its head reached through to take a bite out of one of us, severed it fell to the ground. “You mean that kind of Horseshit Colonel?” I asked.

He kicked it with the toe of his boot and stepped back.

“Okay, obviously you don’t have a clue so I’ll make this really simple. You need to open your Personal Interface, read the rules and then you need to get everyone down to the first floor and be ready to move at a moment’s notice. If things look good we will be evacuating to Norad.” I said as I turned and walked back to the center of the Safe Zone.

Admiral, we have a problem, I think to him.

Yes, we do. First things first, can you get into Norad?

Yeah, that’s no problem. Do I need to get all of you there?

Yes please

I opened a portal to the command center of Norad and Surround my exit point with a force bubble I stepped into. A couple of gunshots went off and bullets ricocheted off the force bubble. As I closed the portal behind me and opened another one for the Admiral.

“This is the Admiral Ainsworth Cease Fire, I have the President with me!”

A set of eyes peered over a desk as the Admiral stepped through the portal, “Close it down Adam, we’ll need to open it to another location.”

Over the next 2 hours I worked with the Admiral to evacuate survivors from the Bunkers under the Pentagon, Nellis, and the White House into Norad. One of the Monster Obelisks appeared just a little over a mile east of the entrance to the mountain so there was no chance monsters could spawn in the facility if the next nearest Obelisk couldn’t be within 10 miles. Norad was going to be a human-made safe zone.

After everyone from the bunkers was consolidated and safe I went to find the Admiral. He was sitting in Ops at a table off to the side. “Hey Admiral, How’s it going?” I said.

“Not good we’ve lost all communication except 50’s era landlines which were in the process of being replaced. The only people we’re talking to are the Russians. They have a bigger network but their reports are horrifying.”

“I figured it was going to be bad. Whoever these beings are, they’re not anything I recognized from my previous universe.” I said

“What are you going to do now?”

“I’m going to head back to the store in the one safe zone I know about and see what the Syndicate puts up for sale. If their goal really is to help weed out the dead beats and bring forth the cream of the crop then they’ll be supplying items to help with that. I’ll get what I can then head back.”

“The President is asking about, and for you”

“I’m not overly concerned with that. Pick people you trust, and keep them close. Also, there’s a guy I rescued from Vegas. He’s kind of my responsibility now. I’m going to send him your way please keep him as safe as you can. “

“I’ll do what I can,” he said.

“Also, something I saw back in Vegas. It looks like slimes are some of the monsters that can spawn.”

“Slimes?” he asked.

“Did you ever see the movie ‘The Blob?”

“You’re shitting me?”

“Nope, is this facility completely cut off from the outside, including the sewer system?”

“It can be, I’ll make that happen”

“See that you do, if one of those gets in, bullets and grenades aren’t going to do you much good. Fire and Magic are the only ways I know of that can defeat them.”

“I guess this really is like the RPG’s I played back in High School”

“People that treat it like that might survive. Okay, I may be gone for a bit.”

“Before you go, Adam, be aware, we cannot support more than 5,000 people here, we won’t have enough food.

“Foods, not an issue, at least I don’t think it is, hold on,” I said as conjured a cheeseburger into existence and handed it to him. “Yeah, food is not a problem. I can probably create any base materials we need for the cooks to make meals for everyone in quantity. How many people can this facility hold maxed out?

“Around 5,000. We could probably fit 10,000 if we can open up vents to the surface but it’ll be crowded. 5,000 and the air quality will be fine.”

“Okay, once I get back I’ll see what I can do about that. Before I would have just expanded the area. I may be able to do that here but I don’t have time to check right now. Right now I’m going to teleport to Dan, portal him to you, and go to the store to see if I can get some weapons and equipment for all of you. You need to get teams out there fighting and leveling. There isn’t much I can do for you that I haven’t already done. I will not be around all the time.”

I teleported to Dan, opened a portal for him to the Admiral, and then portaled myself to the safe zone in Las Vegas. The first thing I noticed as I stepped through to the Las Vegas safe zone were two disheveled people, a man and a woman. The woman was muttering “Where’s Johnny,? Where’s Johnny?” The man met my eyes as I walked over, “You two won’t be safe here. I have some friends that can help you through this portal,” I said as I willed a portal to the incoming location they’d designated me to send survivors at Norad. “You’ll find food and shelter there and some help.” The man nodded his thanks and led the woman through the portal to the waiting military personnel. Once they were through I closed the portal and looked around. I saw a blue door sitting in the middle of an open area, not held up by anything. It had a Red flashing sign above that read “Syndicate Shop” and the word “Open” Flashing beside it. I looked around, making sure there were no more survivors, and opened the door.