Planet XSQ-1287, Substation 33, Year 16,369 A.I. (9 Weeks after Seraphina’s Awakening.)

It’s been a week since I went with Madison and the others to the Tower Gauntlet in Sector 92. The expedition was, as far as I can tell, a complete success. I feel stronger, sharper, and more combat-capable than I was before, something that is backed up by my current combat parameters. I’ve also managed to gain several new Skills along the way.

Two of my General Skills stand out as particularly useful. The first, [Anomalous Decryption], lets me read out the full parameters of any item I have direct line of sight to. No longer will I have to rely on Flynn’s [Identify Any Object] Skill when I come across a potential artifact— or trap. Madison says that I will be going on more dungeon excursions in upcoming weeks, and this Skill will help keep me alive, and ensure maximum rewards as I complete them.

I look around my room. The only thing that [Anomalous Decryption] picks up is the spear I picked up on the thirty-second floor. I grasp it. As I do, the ebon head of the spear, itself the length of my hand and forearm, glistens with the absence of light. And a surge of energy comes over me as I clench the shaft tight.

[[Gravilance]: A spear whose tip has been imbued with chaotic vacuum energies, allowing its wielder to channel a portion of their power. [Attack] +650, [Agility] +50, [Defense] +20, [Magic Defense] +20. Attacks deal Non-elemental, [Darkness], and [Wind] damage in equal proportion. Grants 25% resistance to [Darkness] damage, 25% resistance to [Wind] damage, and further increases [Agility] against [Light] element attacks by 50% (Stacks multiplicatively with other [Agility] boosting effects. Applies after the [Agility] boost from [Gravilance]’s passive effect, but before bonuses from other equipment.)]

Even this, though, pales in comparison to Madison’s weapon, whose parameters nearly gave me a panic attack when I peeked at them.

[[Divine Blade Luminaria]: The chosen weapon of the [Heavenly Saintess of the Divine Blade], and bonded to her. When wielded by any other being, its parameters are:

[[Attack] +800. Attacks deal [Light] element damage. Grants 50% resistance to [Light] damage and 50% resistance to [Darkness] damage.]

When wielded by its bonded champion, the true powers of this weapon emerge. Its parameters become as follows:

[[Attack] +2,200, [Agility] +200, [Defense] +100, [Magic Attack] +700, [Magic Defense] +400]. Attacks deal piercing [Light] element damage, ignoring resistances, immunities, and [Reflection] and/or [Absorption] effects. Grants 100% [Absorption] to [Light] element attacks and 100% [Reflection] against [Darkness] element attacks. The [Heavenly Saintess of the Divine Blade] may also use this weapon to cast the spells [Grand Cure], [Illusion Crumple], [Unravel Undead], and [Infinite Restoration], each twice per day. (Spell effects do not consume [Ether] to use.)]]

But it’s the other one, [Skill Crumple], that caused quite a few raised eyebrows when I got it. I don’t understand the exact details, but it allows me to use a focused blast of [Ether] to counter a Skill as it’s being used. This one is, to use Madison’s term, is ‘Absolutely Broken and it’s Patently Unfair that I have it’.

It is not without weaknesses. Most notably, the [Ether] cost is massive. And worse, it scales with both the Level of the target and the Rank of the Skill I am trying to counter. Nevertheless, with so many Skills with such devastating effects, having a Skill that can counter any other Skill is something that will absolutely save my life time and time again.

The problem is, after having had two days of something resembling fun and excitement, I’m utterly bored sitting around here in my room. I’m free to go about the rest of the facility, of course, but everyone is busy. Kids are stuck in their learning pods until the afternoon, absorbing all of the knowledge they will need for their adult lives. Lives they may never get to live, should I fail in my task to prevent the end of the world.

And adults are busy doing their assigned tasks— maintaining the facilities or conducting System-related research. Or training. Not too many people besides Madison and me are dedicated combatants, but pretty much everyone here does at least some basic training a few days a week.

I did once ask why it was necessary that everyone have assigned tasks. After all, if they could create me— an artificial lifeform— then creating more such automata should be a trivial task. The answer I got perplexed me at the time. According to the researcher— Stefanie, I believe her name was— humans need purpose. They need direction. They need something to do, rather than simply slacking off doing nothing, wandering aimlessly all day. Which is why the use of autonomous robotic technology is subject to numerous rules. At least on Planet XSQ-1827.

But now, as I pace around my room, attending to my sketchbook and drawing pictures of the [Eagle Phoenix] from the fortieth floor, I realize that Stefanie had a point. I don’t want to be stuck here in my room. Sure, I can go down to the training room and practice my Skills or engage in some meditation or… I dunno. I want to do something! Anything! I’m going absolutely crazy here!

And Madison hasn’t been around the last three days, which means I can’t do any real training either. Said she had ‘urgent business’ on the other side of the planet. Business that was super important, but not the sort of business that she could tell me anything about! I guess because she’s super powerful and awesome and important. Not powerful and awesome and important enough to stop the end of the universe or anything— she throws that responsibility on me. But enough so that she can just screw off without more than a brief good-bye before disappearing.

Not fair at all! I want to see the world too, Madison! I deserve to be able to see the world!

Wait… I have an idea! With [Anomalous Decryption], it should be a trivial task to evade anyone who might try to come after me. And I can outrun anyone with [Swift Foot], or use [Skill Crumple] to block any attempts at restraining me.

But… where do I go? I don’t want to go back to the Tower. I am bored, but I don’t have a death wish. In fact, I don’t even necessarily need to go training. Just getting out of the substation and… I don’t know. See the world, I guess. Experience what everyone else gets to experience after-hours. I hear some of the researchers talking about going to the bar and having a drink to, and I quote, ‘take the edge off after a long day’.

I guess it hasn’t been a particularly long day. 25 hours, just the same as every other day. But it certainly feels like it has been an exceedingly long day stuck in this tiny little substation. I believe I deserve a little retreat and fun times!

My resolve now made up, I head out of my room and down the hallway. No one seems to have caught on as I pass by the dining hall, picking up a sesame seed bagel for now and two bottles of water that I stash away in my [Inventory] for later.

Now for the real test. My ID Card for the facility won’t be authorized to leave for the outside city. But, it’s checked with a Skill, and if I use [Spell Crumple] and a bit of clever trickery, I think I might just be able to pull this off.

I wait in front of the main gate. Two other people in line. My heart wants to beat rapidly, but I take a deep breath and force myself to remain calm. I’m not calm. My body wants to shake because I’m so excited to finally see more of the outside world. See this world that I was created to protect. Learn about the people and their lives and everything else that’s out there!

But I have to wait. The main gate deactivates, letting the man at the front of the line pass. I consider taking my chance. [Skill Crumple] should work on this as well. It’ll cost nearly two-thirds of my maximum [Ether] to use, according to the hidden data provided to me by [Anomalous Decryption], but I can do it.

I don’t. Causing such a disturbance will certainly tip off Madison and everyone else. And then my brief excursion into freedom will be over before it even has a chance to begin. So I wait.

The man in front of me fidgets about as his ID card is scanned. I take stock of the situation. Four people around, levels all in the mid-80’s. From what I can tell about their combat parameters, I can easily fight them off if need be. But the goal is not to need to do so. It’s to make them think I actually have authorization to leave the facility. If I can do that, I can go out, I can see some things, meet some new people, all without raising an alert. Then I can come back in tonight and be all squared away to maybe do it again tomorrow morning.

Well, Madison might be back by tomorrow morning. Maybe we’ll be able to go back to the Tower then!

My heart slows down at my command— I must be calm and confident if this is to work. Normally, my body processes my heart rate and other internal biological processes autonomously. But, thanks to a quirk of my design and how it synergizes with [Etheric Self-Repair], I have the intrinsic ability to partially override these physiological responses. So long as I don’t let my bodily parameters get too far outside of the homeostatic range.

“Miss… Seraphina, was it?” the sentry says as I hand him my ID. “I was not aware that you were scheduled to leave the facility today.”

“There was a sudden change of plans,” I respond.

“Understood, but I still have to follow the protocols. If you could give me just a moment to verify the change of plans with the director, I will detain you no longer.”

I wait until I notice the [Ether] in his body begin to shift. Then, with a flicker of my own power, I grab hold of the [Ether] leaving his body and apply [Skill Crumple] on it. I feel a bit of mental strain, but I can tell that it works when I note the bemused expression upon his face. He tries again, and I again [Skill Crumple] his attempt to communicate with the director— I don’t remember his name, but he’s not a man I’ve ever met before.

“Hmm,” the man says. “It appears that there’s some Etheric interference going on. I’ll need to notify Security and have them isolate the issue.”

“I can’t wait that long,” I say. “I’m on reasonably urgent business and I can’t wait to receive an all-clear from Security.”

I glare at him. I have absolutely no desire to harm him in any way— if I weren’t certain that [Skill Crumple] wouldn’t backlash upon him, I would have looked for a different plan. But he doesn’t know that, and I am willing to use my reputation to goad him into not inconveniencing me any longer.

“I– I understand, Seraphina.” He turns to the side. “You heard the lady. Open the gate!”

The nearly-invisible barrier film shimmers, flickers, and then, with a burst of Etheric energy, disappears.

The cityscape beyond is no idyllic preserve of nature. Instead, it is full of tens of thousands of buildings, most of which ascend much higher into the skyline than the research facility. A couple of transports are landing at the nearby docking station, where we departed for the Tower last week, but they don’t seem to notice or care that the gate is opening.

“May the cosmos smile upon you.”

“And with you,” I respond, taking my first step into the world I’ve been tasked with protecting.