A man in a thick hooded jacket, looking about twenty, entered a dimly lit room. He sat on the floor beside a dirty bed.
The room wasn't his. The small house held no relation to him either.
The house belonged to someone who called him a close friend—or something like it. He didn't see it that way and was still surprised when told he could live under the same roof.
The house belonged to someone who called him a close friend—or something close to it. The man didn't see it that way. He was still surprised when told he could live under the same roof.
Taking out his phone, he scrolled through old messages.
"Dude we haven't talked in a hellofa long time how you doing"
"Two weeks* ehhhh I mean I think I'm doing relatively fine mb if I haven't been able to talk." A lie. If no one started a conversation with him, he'd never initiate.
"lmao I feel like you'd say the same thing even if you were bleeding out so you gon have to drop the details."
"Well I went homeless that's 1 and I cut off most of my contacts with my family so there's another."
After that, the message sat on "seen" for twenty minutes. They probably saw the notification but never opened the app.
Generally, he thought if you're going to ask someone how they're doing, you should be ready to hear the worst of it. Otherwise, why ask?
"Bummers, wanna stay at my place till you get things figured out or naw? If you say yes imma remind you that it's dirty n you might have to tiptoe here and there also no loud sounds pls." How kind.
The text felt casual, maybe even accepting. He figured he should've replied in the same way.
"Lmao you'd let a random stranger stay at your place? Me personaaaallly—" Looking at it again, the message read more like an accusation with traces of malice and sarcasm. Not the intent, but if a "friend" couldn't handle that, what use were they?
"Nah but ion see you as a stranger lol. While you've said some psychopatic ass stuff that would prolly put you in an asylum, I'm 99% sure you'd hurt yourself before hurting a random person or a friend. So don't act tough and say 'you don't know what I'm like...'"
That was the last message he read before putting the phone away. Being reminded of his failures in conversation wasn't fun when he already remembered what not to say next time.
Dozing off, he climbed onto the bed carefully, avoiding the dirtiest parts. Hood pulled tight, he fell asleep. Waking to a room of complete darkness.
[Name: ???
?
?
?
]
Friends! Never trust a friend, that was his first mistake. He sat up immediately staring wide eyed at the glowing white screen in front of him. Before saying, he waited.
With no idea what to do along with trying expose the least amount of weaknesses he stayed still and thought how he got in this situation.
For one, he should've scouted the area around him before entering the house. Or better yet, instead of silently tiptoeing towards the bedroom he should've taken the liberty to search around the entire house. Maybe not even sleeping in the first place, if he found a weapon he'd kill the people trying to kidnap him, or die trying.
Better yet, his 'character-evaluation' skills need to be increased. While he's been ratted out to before that only happened three times in his entire life before he never placed himself in those situations again.
Was it the fake kindness? But the 'friend' in question was someone he's known since childhood, as the interactions grew they never faked something in front of him. Everybody that considers him a friend has always been brutally honest with him because his persona is one that you can be honest with!
Damn it! What was there to see?! Why hasn't anybody said anything yet?!
"Uh, hello? I'm really sorry for what I've done but... can you tell me why I'm here?" Wrong.
"A-ah, I mean, if you want to. I'm sorry. I don't have anything on me and I'm confused." Could be better. It's something to work on if he's ever compromised again.
[Name: ???
?
?
?
]
His felt his brows furrow, then eased it. Showing any form of resistance now was asking to be beaten.
"Sorry, sorry. My name is—" Hm? What was his name again? If he delayed too long, they might kill him, but he couldn't remember. Was he drugged?
He needed to answer fast. They'd already heard his pleas, so maybe a lie would work. His so-called friend, the one who brought him here—if that guy paid attention to anything, he'd have passed along a lot of details about him.
"Mael—M-my name is Mael." A moniker he used in games. Maybe if he seemed delirious, they'd accept it.
[Name: Mael (Unchangeable name)
Talent: Simulator (Changeable name)
?
?
]
"What?" Before he could think, a large block of text replaced the words.
[Loading...
Talent Awakening: Complete.
Simulator: Customization available with allocated points.
Current state: No timeline. No designated existence. Insufficient power.
Restriction: Functions beyond interface unavailable.
Boon & Banes selection: Immediate application preview available. Option to remove if flagged unnecessary.
Points: May decrease below 1000. Final value must be ≥ 0.
Residual points: Automatically allocated for rewrites.
Current Points: 1000
Boons:
Stats Display Cost: 1 Pts
Strength Display {MISSING REQUIREMENT}
Intelligence Display {MISSING REQUIREMENT}
Constitution Display {MISSING REQUIREMENT}
Dexterity—]
"Close." The window, his only light, vanished.
"Open." A white screen appeared.
[Display {MISSING REQUIREMENT}]
"Close." The screen blinked out.
"Oh."
He 'looked' at himself and realized he wasn't there.
He 'looked' around and saw nothing. An euphoric joy immediately clouded his mind.
"Open!"
"Close!"
"Open!"
"Close!"
"No way? Is this really happening? Hey! Are we for real right now?! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!"
"Open!"
[Loading...
Strength Display {MISSING REQUIREMENT}
Vitality Display {MISSING REQUIREMENT}
Wisdom Display {MISSING REQUIREMENT}
Intelligence Display {MISSING REQUIREMENT}
Willpower Display {MISSING REQUIREMENT}
Charisma Display {MISSING REQUIREMENT}
Friendliness Display {MISSING REQUIREMENT}
Luck Display {MISSING REQUIREMENT}
Resistance Display {MISSING REQUIREMENT}
Adaptability Display {MISSING REQUIREMENT}]
"Calm down calm down calm down calm down! Can I scroll up? I don't have fingers—how will I do that? Right, mental commands! Scroll up!"
Nothing happened. The screen continued listing stats.
"That failed! Haha, this system isn't very—stop! I'm sorry! I won't ever try mocking you again, system!"
"I'll picture a finger scrolling up on the screen, alright?!"
He focused then pictured a phantom finger dragging against the screen. It scrolled. He did it again. Up and down. For minutes.
The excitement started wearing off as believe it or not, realizing you don't exist while you're stuck in a pitch-black darkness with just text floating in your mind doesn't make you exude happiness.
And that screen was simply endless. Despite scrolling for several minutes, Mael still hadn't gotten past what he considered the stats area. From the introduction, there should be a Boon that'll affect the interface here.
But nothing came. Had several hours passed since he started this? In here, time felt like it was looping. What he believed to be his current perception could just as easily turn out to be his future, or his past.
He'd scroll for what felt like days, only to find himself back at the very start of the Boons segment, yet he carried memories from his "future" counterpart. The moment he realized this, his perception shifted to the present. Where he wasn't days ahead at all, but only a few hours in.
The only reason he could say with relative accuracy which time he was in was because his present emotions were calm, his future dull, and his past active. Maybe it was just mental fatigue making him feel this way, but if he slept here… would he ever wake up?
"Close." The screen vanished
"Open."
[L--]
Before it could finish typing, Mael pressed down mentally, typing random strings of commands that all tied to [Buying all boons]. This thing functioned almost like a computer. Surely one of his guesses would be right.
[Points: -∞]
It worked!
Something inside of Mael blanked out before a sense of wrongness assaulted him.
Like blood being siphoned from veins he didn't know he had, the loss came fast and silent. It wasn't pain exactly, more like parts of himself were slipping loose, falling into a void that had no bottom. In an imperceptible amount of time, this area of nonexistence took something away from him.
If this continued, he'd be fully the same as what's around him.
Could this be what ego-death feels like?
[Points: 900]
Mael's mind cleared up and the screen refreshed it's words.
[Question. Why did you do that? it would've taken just a couple more hours to find an intelligence module. I know you enter a "Do or Die" state when you feel threatened but please think before you act next time.]
First and foremost, he's confused. Trapped in a compromised situation, with another presence clearly knowing more than him, what does he do? Mael bends his—
[Don't do that. I'm essentially just a stylized version of you in a way. I already know everything about you. when I asked "Why" it was to encourage you not to do something like that again and to make you calm down.]
The screen faded, but since the intelligence module was installed correctly Mael figures it could forcefully open itself without his command.
"Okay... sor—" The screen popped back up before he could finish.
[Lol.]
"..."
[What should've only costed only 10 points made it 100 and forcefully induced some drawbacks. Congrats. I'll show you the points you missed out on too.]
"Okay, th—"
[Required Situational Drawbacks:
Incomplete Transmigration (4000 Pts): The heavens reject you, for they know you are not of this world. Calamities, disasters, and misfortunes converge wherever you go. You awaken in an already-formed body, but due to the sheer incompatibility, a fragment of your formed soul is missing. Dreams torment you with glimpses of what you've lost, and your growth remains forever unstable until that fragment is reclaimed or healed.
Unwanted Birth (200 pts): Neither your parents nor the world particularly wanted you to be born. The cause might be financial hardship, inheritance disputes, or something more sordid, such as rape or infidelity. Whatever the case, you are viewed as an unwanted intruder.
Ominous Birth (100 pts): You were born under an ominous star. As labor began, all manner of sinister signs appeared around you.
War Times (100 pts): Unfortunately, your homeland is at war. The conflict will not end until one side is defeated, with the fate of the nation hanging in the balance. Naturally, the country lies in shambles.
Parenticide(100): When you arrive your parents will shortly die and you will be blamed for it.
Destiny's Little Sister (5000 pts): To prevent power from being permanently lost, a girl was granted a boon in the places where your drawbacks existed. She is beautiful while you are ugly, auspicious while you are ominous. If she were to die unexpectedly, you would suffer a devastating blow—it would be like losing half of yourself. Protect her for now, but be prepared to kill her.
Observer Effect(5000 Pts): The point of a simulator is not to be seen, correct? This doesn't apply here. Higher powers have become aware that something came into this world. If they were to notice you in a simulation you must either silence them at once, or await eternal torment when the simulation ends.
Total gained points: 14,500]
"What?!" He was about to question why this so-called "talent" was so unhelpful that it didn't give the slightest warning about a fatal situation, but he kept his mouth shut when a new line of text appeared.
[This talent comes from you, and as such, you own and control it but you control it the way you control your own breathing: inefficiently. Here, I'll give you a better analogy.
While you were learning and applying methods to breathe better at an exponential pace, you got scared of something that didn't exist (lol). So you tried to speed up the process by choking yourself, forcing your body's natural adaptability to kick into overdrive and skip the waiting period. Fortunately it worked, but you woke up with brain damage.]
The screen closed, leaving a moment of mental silence. Things were progressing too fast—yeah, sure, he could handle that. But the way the intelligence module spoke… that really irked him.
Yes, a mistake was made, he knew that. He didn't need some random thing magnifying it.
Actually, no. If that was just a "helpful" version of him speaking on the screen right now, then is this the sort of speech that would go on normally if that part of him always had a voice?
"If this is mine like you say it is, why does this personality segment exist? Yes it would've been better to explain things like you have but would it not have been objectively even better to have something more... static? Like a direct transmission of data."
[I'm just the helpful part of your mentality that was cloned and given a tidbit of identity. And no, it wouldn't be objectively better. You were left to your own devices and almost killed yourself, remember?]
This time, the screen didn't close, leaving Mael in silence with the white light. If he'd had a body he probably would have offered a sheepish smile, as though trying to appease what he perceived as an other.
If the system is correct, then there's no real point. Still, old habits die hard.
A troubling thought crossed his mind: since it technically is "another" person, what if they're not content with their role and try to take over?!
[Psyche Evaluation: You don't harbor the slightest hate toward yourself. Maybe earlier you felt a trace of it, but even then it was minimal. Inside here you've been 'optimized', traits faint enough that it would've been invisible even with perfect clarity has been refined by the talent which constantly seeks perfection. Nothing was removed though, only optimized.
Another note: your degree of self-awareness is unusual. Combined with optimization, it means that even if you encountered another version of yourself, as long as the core remained the same, you would unconditionally help them. The same principle applies here as well.]
Shut down instantly, huh.
"Alright… show me a curated list of drawbacks I can choose from. Also, if you can, make some optimizations if I were to leave any points leftover. Things that'd leave enough for a rewrite, but also benefitting me." After receiving a thumbs-up affirmation, strings of words appeared on the screen.
Unlike the last boons and banes segment where the options were effectively infinite, this one had an actual visible end. Still took almost an hour of scrolling though.
Eventually, he settled on only choosing simulator drawbacks instead of Situational ones. Suicide didn't seem like a pleasant thought to him at the moment.
[Drawbacks:
1. Awareness (500 pts)The You in the simulator is constantly aware that they are in a simulation. History alteration is permanently unavailable until this is resolved.
2. Simulation Corrosion (400 pts) [Fixable]Each simulation leaves an invisible residue on your mind. Retrieve too many memories, and your personality fragments. Madness, dissociation, or "becoming someone else entirely" are possible outcomes.
3. Talent Burn (1000 pts) Powerful talents leave scars. The stronger the gift, the higher the risk of permanent bodily strain or soul injury in the reality. Drawing the "wrong" talent may result in instant death, Though this won't apply in simulations.
4. Item Instability (120 pts) [Fixable] Items generated by the simulator sometimes "glitch." They may vanish, explode, or behave unpredictably. Multiple refreshes may be required for permanent stability.
5. Regression Sickness (250 pts) [Fixable]Each memory retrieval widens the gap between your simulated and real mind. Migraines, memory leaks, and sudden "aging episodes" worsen over time.
6. Origin Hunger (1000 pts)The simulator may accidentally forget it doesn't require energy and draw energy from you. Over time, it might consumes your lifespan, luck, or fragments of your soul to fuel simulations, though this does lead to better rewards.
7. System Dependency (800 pts) [Fixable] You unconsciously rely on the simulator to solve problems. You'll feel nervous if the menu isn't constantly open.
8. Echo Interference (2000 pts) [Manageable]
After each simulation, echoes of your simulated selves linger. Their desires, fears, and emotions can briefly influence your choices, and their sensations may bleed into you. You can choose to spend time with them, but lingering too long will blur the line between your impulses and theirs.
9. Existential Feedback (3000 pts) [Manageable] Experiencing a simulation too deeply will blur the line between your simulated selves and your real self. Echoes of their choices may compel or confuse you. In extreme cases, your real self might adopt behaviors, memories, or traits from a simulated self.
Total Points: 10,770]
[Boons:
Physique Display (100 pts): Shows the numerical value regarding every facet of your physique. Numbers can freely change into more comprehensive values.
Spirit Display (100 pts): Shows the numerical value regarding every facet of your spirit. Numbers can freely change into more comprehensive values.
Mind Display (100 pts): Shows the numerical value regarding every facet of your mind. Numbers can freely change into more comprehensive values.
Blank (3000 pts):
Powers and mechanics that try to predict outcomes, track progress, or analyze the simulator cannot detect or anticipate your actions. {In simulations this is null due to [Awareness]} . Any system attempting to observe, measure, or extract information about the simulator will find nothing. When combined with {Observer Effect}, only higher beings within your nearby range can partially override this.
Omne et Nihil (5000 Pts): Nothing is beyond the simulator's reach.
Perfectionist (1000 Pts): Every reward you get will be at it's most possible perfection in every way. Negative side effects are removed, whether it be from drugs to curses or blessings.
Dominate (500 Pts): Similar to perfectionist, except that everything received is permanently yours with no relation to anyone.
Free Talents (100 Pts): Choose 3 free talents of any level to accompany you on your arrival.
Iterative Growth (2000 Pts): Each simulation run compounds and slightly improves your base self, even if no reward is chosen. Progress accrues over time
Anchor (300 Pts): Prevents future simulations from undoing or weakening chosen rewards; positive improvements remain possible.
Simulation Termination (100 Pts): You can end any running simulation at will. All progress, rewards, and experiences up to that point are preserved.
Persistent Self (1000 Pts): The simulation does not end when your simulated self dies. As long as a continuation, reincarnation, or alternative path exists, the simulation persist.
Warnings(100 Pts): If there are any situations inside or outside the Simulation that would lead to an immediate death or any undesirable situation regarding your real self, you will be warned beforehand. Repeated occurrences in reality increase the risk of attracting the gaze of higher powers.
Free Simulation Chances(5 Pts): For every point you spend on this, you get a free simulation, isn't that nice?
Total Point Cost: 13,405
Total Points: -2,635]
[Proceeding will lead to points going negative. Malicious drawbacks will be imposed if this occurs.]
The screen stayed static.
"Hey, Intelligence Module. I'm not going to pick any situational drawbacks since it's bad enough as is, but is there really no other drawbacks I can choose that won't screw me over?"
[You're going to choose the talents no matter what, so let's settle that first. You can choose yourself or follow my recommendations. Slightly unfortunate, but two of them will be flawed so you won't immediately implode.]
"I'll follow your recommendations but—"
[Aeternus (Severely Flawed): Your will is unending and inexhaustible. No matter the circumstances, setbacks, or the passage of time, your core drive and determination persist. You maintain motivation to pursue your goals, refine your ideals, and turn them into reality, even through long, monotonous, or difficult tasks.
Tenebris Veil (Severely Flawed): You are hidden from all observation and detection. Powers, systems, or entities attempting to perceive, analyze, or track you will fail. Your presence leaves no trace, and any attempts to probe your mind, body, or actions return nothing of value.
Eclipse Reflex(Free Talent!): Under dangerous conditions this grants extremely high Mental stats at the limit of what your body can handle.
Note: The description for Flawed talents are the same as their normal versions, think of them with extremely lesser effects.]
"Points."
[The simulator is an innate talent you have, like breathing through your lungs.
If you sacrifice a part of yourself to upgrade those lungs and maybe turn them into something with the functions of your brain, then yes. But the parts of yourself you'd be giving up would be aspects of your personality and memories, so I don't recommend it.
Past that, you always have the option of turning the world you were just in into a "simulation" for a positive 10,000 points. But if I don't recommend the former, I despise the latter.
Remember that I wasn't made from nothing. I'm essentially your voice of reason given an actual voice.]
There was a pause before he questioned it again.
"If you don't recommend it why didn't you just lie and say it doesn't exist? You keep making analogies to body parts. I know your body can lie to you to preserve something. Why haven't you done that?"
[Do you lie to yourself?]
Seeing this, Mael let out a mental sigh and began thinking.
Realistically, the world spins its intricate web of lies around every sentient creature that emerges from it. I don't harbor any true hatred for that. In fact, I might even say I love it, despite all the blame. Because at its axiom, that is simply how things operate.
However.
It had decided to make me live a life of normalcy, maybe something even worse later on if I kept resisting. That seems quite unfair, doesn't it? Seen by this... scenario happening, I obviously have talent. That should be cared and nurtured for, not treated like trash!
Even though I lived under the same conditions as everyone else, I shouldn't have been disparaged by those who couldn't have accomplished the same!
[¯\_(ツ)_/¯. I tried.]
If there's one silver lining...
"Will the people from my world be in any sort of pain or experience anything harmful?"
[Nope, they'll just stop existing.]
[End simulation?
Yes/No]
"Yes."
[This simulation has ended.
Evaluation: Null
Your life was one of shame. You attained intelligence—insight above the average man—but, despite your attempts to use it properly, you continuously blamed the world for things beyond your control. While this may have been true, you failed to adapt; as a result, you didn't utilize your potential and consistently belittled others internally
Did you know? Had you put just a little more effort into taking initiatives, your life would have soared.]
[All rewards will be inherited upon your arrival
One: 19 years of positive physical attributes
Two: Memories.
Three: 19 years of positive Mind attributes]
[(Bonus!): Talents: Aeternus(Severely Flawed), Tenebris Veil(Severely Flawed), Eclipse Reflex.]