As I considered the help menu, I found myself with an excess of choices, to the point where I did not know where to begin. I immediately discarded some of the broader questions about what was going on, I could look into those later. No, I needed to focus on immediate concerns, which meant things related to my class, my quest, and what it meant to be chosen. That last word had popped up too many times for it not to have some special significance.

In the end, it was the promise of new facilities that made the decision for me. Help Ergon Condenser.

In addition to a screen popping up, one quite full of text, a floating three-dimensional hologram appeared, slowly rotating. The image was of a hefty box with rounded corners and a large, crystalline orb resting on the top of it. Pipes ran down from that orb along the sides of the box, with smaller pipes branching off to enter the box. After spending my time studying the image, I turned my attention to the text.

ERGON CONDENSER

Condenses atmospheric erg into a form usable by factory constructs and facilities.

Type: Facility

Construction Details

Skill: Foundational Facilities

Facility: Internal Processor or Assembler

Materials: 4x Pipe Joiners, 2 Metal Ingots, 1 Focus Crystal

Our first, and perhaps finest, invention, the most crucial tool to our plan. From this foundation comes the potential for salvation. Not only will this device enable the factory to function, it will be critical to managing the final steps of the plan.

Make certain to deploy the condensers a sufficient distance apart. The system will guide to optimal distance, and though placing in shorter distances than that is possible, it may lead to shortages in atmospheric erg if done too frequently, which is the exact opposite of our intentions. Also, take care to protect the condensers from outside attack; they are highly fragile.

It was a lot more information than I expected, truth be told. The parts talking about a plan made my eyebrows twitch, knowing that they were somehow related to my status as a chosen. I was briefly tempted to go look into that state, but I persevered; I needed to know more about this mission first and foremost.

Focus Crystal

FOCUS CRYSTAL

Naturally forming crystalline structure found in ergonic material nodes. Can be used in processes and recipes that manipulate erg.

Type: Natural resource

Gathering Details

Skill: Any Gathering

10% chance to be found in any successful gathering attempt

why do i need so many of these!!!! this game has crap for balance

There were definitely different voices attached to these notes, different personalities, different people who had been working on this over who knows how long. Yet, it was in perfect English, despite that making no sense. The system had to be translating for me.

I’d probably need to get raw materials for the other components, so hopefully I’d get a focus crystal in the process. Looking up the entries for the ingots and joiners, I discovered that the joiners were also made of ingots, and that I could make ingots from ore via smelting. They both listed an “Internal Processor” as an acceptable facility, though, and that raised some further questions for me. Fortunately, the help menu proved helpful here as well.

[INTERNAL PROCESSOR

Universal ability to perform basic crafting processes on raw materials. More advanced processes required dedicated facilities. Applies a 80% Quality Modifier penalty.

Yeah, I know how it sounds but no you do not have to eat the raw materials. Do Not Eat The Raw Materials.]

Okay, that was the quest settled. All I’d need to do is go out there and do some mining. Go out there. Where the beast was. I suppressed a groan and leaned back against the window some more. I was chosen, I had been called here, there had to be some sort of plan at work here, they wouldn’t just leave me to hang at the first sight of a monster.

And I did have those last three skills on my list.

I resumed my search of the floor as I tried to pull up War Drill in the help menu. The system hung for a moment before returning an error.

[ERROR: Signifier uncertain, clarify]

I paused for a moment, considering how to make myself more clear. Then, in a flash of insight, I opened up my status screen and focused on the words on my skill list as I thought War Drill again.

SKILL: WAR DRILL

Proficiency with war drill class weaponry. Allows user’s ergonic signature to resonate with war drill class weaponry for maximum effectiveness. May tier up at level 100.

A simple weapon, but also a tool, the war drill is what you will need to forge your place in the world, to fight against the things that the system sends against you. Stiffen your sinews and pierce your foes.

Okay, that entry was addressing me directly, right? “Okay, fuck it,” I said out loud and tried to pull up the help menu for Chosen. Again, I got a signifier-uncertain error, so I thought of the word again while also holding the image of the previous Chosen error message in my mind. For a moment, my head buzzed with pain and I clenched my jaw until it passed.

Instead of a screen, a hologram appeared in front of me, but not of an object, in this case it was a person. He was sitting in a long backed chair, dressed in a duster and jeans, with a wide brimmed hat pulled down to conceal his eyes. With his chest bare, I could definitely make him out as a “he,” even before he began to speak with his low, rumbling drawl.

“Well, I guess you’re another of those poor bastards who got stuck with being chosen. It’s not easy, never has been, never will be. Most of the people playing the game, at least those that survive the first couple years, can sit back real pretty and enjoy the protection of those on top. Not the chosen though.”

The man rose slowly to his feet and paced towards me, before staring off past my shoulder. “Nah, you got a heavier burden, because like the name says, you got chosen, some son of a bitch from an earlier iteration of the game set things up so that you, or rather somebody like you, would get tapped for some special destiny.” His lips curled up into a cruel grin. “It’s a shit destiny.

“Let’s start with the negatives.” He lifted a hand up and numbered off his fingers. “One, you can’t ever drop the path you’ve been stuck with. Two, you can’t pick up an ‘incompatible’ path, whatever the hell that means. Three, you’re going to get special quests and if you fail in them, there’s gonna be consequences, and pretty nasty ones at that.”

“Now, it’s not all bad.” He reached forward and somehow was able to judge my position precisely enough to put a hand on my shoulder, though I felt nothing from the hologram. “Those that survive excel. See, I’ve met more than a few chosen on my time, and it’s not just luck, it’s that it’s lonely at the top, and we all get to know each other, sooner or later. And you’ll probably be fine with whatever your path is, because otherwise you wouldn’t have been picked.

“Perhaps more importantly,” here the hologram swiveled his gaze to look me dead in the eyes, “the people I’ve known to make chosen aren’t the kind who are into death, devastation, and destruction. They’re good people and the people they’ve chosen have all been good people.” His expression faltered for a moment and he looked away. “May they rest in peace.”

“May we all rest in peace.”

With an audible click, the hologram halted and I found myself staring blankly at the space where it had just been. “What. The. Fuck.” I probably needed to stop talking to myself, but maybe the world needed to calm down a bit. Something was deeply wrong with this system, and I did not have the mental energy to fully interrogate that right now. No, I needed to focus on my search and try not to think about anything.

After all, the message that gave me my path only occurred after I had begun searching. No, no thinking. The interiors were still all but empty, save for connecting doorways, if all of those doors were open, the whole interior of the building could be connected into a single space. I even spotted a few trap doors on the ceiling, meaning that things could be brought down from the higher levels. If this place was a factory, it seemed that the whole space could be integrated together into one.

Finally, my search came to a halt as I entered a room that was not empty. Instead, in the center was a dais, and attached to that dais was a framework support, and attached to that support was something that looked like a more compact version of the power-lifter from Aliens. Metal tubing formed an exoskeleton that I saw I could just slip into, with a slightly more cushioned interior that was just my size.

I stepped forward and wriggled my way inside, feeling the perfect fit, the way it felt natural to wear, just like a natural extension of my body, despite its size and somewhat unwieldy appearance. This frame, this battle harness, would help keep me safe from the snapping jaws of the beast. It did lack any protection around the head, but that could be remedied with careful positioning.

And attached to my right arm, located above the wrist and jutting forward, was the war drill. There was no other way of describing the conic bit and the motor attached to it. I could feel on an instinctive level the connection I had to the tool, to the weapon. I stepped free of the dais, lifted my arm up, and sent a surge of energy into the engine, feeling my erg resonate.

The drill whirred to life and a grin broke out on my lips. Time for some revenge.