Infinitium

Or not? Adam tried to use Mold Chaos to create working technological nanites and received the following message.

SYSTEM MESSAGE!

This SYSTEM environment is hostile to nanite technology outside of stabilizer fields placed for that specific use. This is true for this Universe, any alternate Universes, and symbiotic dimensions that designate this Universe as their Primary.

Tantur had said that, hadn’t he? Adam replenished his Chaos with Chaos Conversion and utilized Mold Chaos to create the chaotic nanites. A tool tip appeared in his vision.

Mold Chaos

Maximum Range: 1,282 cubic feet

1 Point of Chaos may be converted into one pound of any material. Up to skill level in Mold Chaos may be affected each Combat Turn.

Items that are created to be permanent take on the characteristics of physical matter are permanent and may be taken outside of your range.

Items that maintain the inherently chaotic nature of Chaos immediately evaporate if removed from your maximum range.

Well, that seemed a bit harsh, but he could still use Mold Chaos to do everything he could normally do in his original Universe as long as he kept it all within 641 feet of himself.

Adam paused and then looked at the skill level again. The last time he’d seen his skill levels, they had all been level 51. He opened his Skill Tab.

Mythic Rarity of Class Polymath allows you to utilize all skills at level 81.

That was it; his list of skills had been removed. He now had access to every skill at level 81.

Adam closed his Personal Status and activated Mold Chaos. Adam altered his clothing to blue jeans, a blue T-shirt with the Superman crest, underwear, socks, and black tennis shoes. As Adam looked around, he drew his eyes to the barrister behind the counter, who was looking at him with wide eyes. He’d noticed her with Sense Chaos.

Adam winked at the barista and went back to reviewing his Abilities, Titles, Perks, and skills. Sense Chaos had been severely nerfed. Its range was now tied to his skill level, which at level 81 gave him a range of 399,831. Miles. Though he should be grateful. His Chaos resource had been reduced by quite a bit. If Sense Chaos had been tied to that resource, his range would have only been 50,130 miles.

That caused Adam to pause and pull up the list of ranges for Sense Chaos based on skill level. After a moment, he had it all figured out. The base range was 10 feet at skill level 1. Then, for levels 2-10, it increased by +10 each time he gained a skill level. At level 11, it rose to +100 feet per level and +1,000 at skill level 21. It broke the 1-mile range as skill level 25 and began increasing quickly after that.

He had reached out with Sense Chaos when he’d entered this Universe but hadn’t taken time to learn the advantages and disadvantages of the ability. With a range of only 399,831, he could reach out past the Moon and detect everything on Earth. Shoot!. Adam did a quick check on Chaos Step. It had the same range. Mold Chaos didn’t, though? He pulled up a comparison and realized that the area Mold Chaos worked in around him was the cube root of his base range with Sense Chaos and Chaos Step. So, the numbers were universal. If his spells followed the same rules, people at low levels might have a range of 100 feet up to Spell level 10 as modified by their attributes, of course. But their base level…wait! None of his attributes modified his Chaos-based abilities. A tool tip spawned in his vision.

SYSTEM Note

An Attribute Bonus modifies most skills, spells, and abilities in some way.

Skills, spells, and abilities based on Chaos or Order do NOT receive attribute bonuses. These two fundamental spheres of the magic of the Multiverse may be based on, but not modified by attributes.

Adam smiled. It seemed that the SYSTEM was acknowledging that there were things it could not control and that it would not modify how those powers worked going forward.

Adam decided to try to utilize one of his skills through Sense Chaos. He focused on one man sitting in an office down the street at his computer surfing the internet and tried to Identify him.

Ralph Wilson

Human Level 1

….

Adam quickly read through the information, which was comprehensive and unneeded. It seemed that the skill Identify at skill level 81 gave a complete rundown of the target. Adam picked a random person farther away from himself in New Jersey, then East Virginia and Florida. While he sat there and drank his coffee, asked for a few refills, and watched the news on the monitor on the wall, he randomly identified people around the globe.

Sense Chaos allowed him to keep track of everyone within 186,000 miles with no effort. As he identified random people, he found that none of the people in the “civilized” areas were above level 10. Some people in the more militarized areas in the Middle East and Africa and some of the elite military forces around the world were above level 10, though. No one he checked was above level 20, though.

Once Adam had a good feel for the state of the world, he stood and made his way out of the coffee shop. When he was sure he was in a blind spot from everything, he stepped under an overhang to make sure no satellites or flying drones would see him vanish and activated Chaos Step. One thing he was sure of at the present moment was that there were no SYSTEM Nodes or portals on the planet that he could detect with Sense Chaos. Since it seemed like he was going to be here for a while, he needed to add himself to the digital world so he could interact with the bureaucracy of this Earth.

Once he had that sorted, he’d travel for a bit and see if he could find any other portals or nodes because he had no idea how long it would be before the Battle Royale began. Seriously, he’d thought it would have already been going. Then again, if Tantur had any influence on how the SYSTEM was doing things, how this Battle Royale would begin should be a little less traumatic for everyone involved. That begged the question, how would The SYSTEM do that?

For now, he needed to fit into this society before he tried to do anything else. That shouldn’t be too hard with all the advantages he had.

***

Paula Walker was not a good woman. She wasn’t an evil woman. If she had to define herself, she would have considered herself pragmatic. She’d worked her way up the corporate hierarchy and now served as Vice President of Marketing for one of the biggest retail chains in the United States. At age 32, she’d been able to attain what most people couldn’t until well into their 50s.

She was currently on Vacation in Struisbaai, South Africa. Sure, she could have gone to Paris, Tokyo, or any of the other major vacation sites, but she’d decided to get away from those big cities, which her job often sent her to anyway. This little town on the southeast side of Africa had the amenities of a small town without the hustle and bustle of large cities.

This morning, she’d decided to go for a walk along Cape Agulhas, which was about 4 miles southwest of her hotel along the coastal road. She had woken up early and was trying to time her arrival at the Lighthouse with the sunrise. Unfortunately, she’d noticed that she’d been followed from her hotel. Two individuals had been shadowing her on the streets to her north. She was sure that they were going to try to mug or rob. While most people would have been apprehensive, a thrill of excitement filled her.

Her father had structured Paula’s life since her birth. She’d lived by a schedule, A schedule made for her by her parents, tutors, teachers, or job goals. This vacation had been one of the few times she’d gone off schedule, although the vacation was on schedule, of course. Getting mugged or robbed, wasn’t.

As she walked down the road, she considered that they could be trying to rape or kill her. But neither of those possibilities seemed likely. Unless, of course, someone had paid to have her killed in some corporate ploy, but anyone doing that would have to deal with her father. Most likely, they were going to try to mug, rob, or rape her. Of course, any of those actions could lead to her death, but that probably wasn’t their primary goal; for them, if it happened, it would be a lucky accident. Bonus for them, no witnesses.

Paula continued walking and took in her surroundings. On her left, the last buildings before the right turn to head toward the lighthouse sat above the tide line, while on her right, more houses and buildings sat. The road had wound around in a curve until the right turn onto Lighthouse Street would set her in a westerly direction. To the east was the beach and rocky terrain, while the road to the lighthouse went to her right, and then another road to the left went up to the lighthouse. From the corner she was at, it was about 600 feet to the Lighthouse. If someone were going to jump her, right here would be the perfect spot.

That is why when they attacked, she wasn’t surprised. Paula had to admit they were coordinated. One ran up the street from behind her, while the other came down Lighthouse Street toward her, a shadow moving quickly in the dark. The man behind her was trying to be quiet, but in the still night, with only the sound of gentle waves lapping against the shore in the distance, his feet on the pavement were obvious. He was probably trying to grab and immobilize her. Unfortunately for the two men, Paula's training included martial arts and weapons training.

Paula’s father wanted her to be able to protect herself at all times and spared no expense for that training. He’d even included training that would help her if she were ever tortured or raped. That training had taken romance right out of the act of sex for most of her teenage life. Breaking the act down to clinical observations and definitions while making sure she knew how to capitalize on what was happening to her and her attacker killed any notion of romance being involved in the act. She had learned to watch for the perfect moment and then to strike when her chance of success was the greatest.

The torture training had left no visible permanent scars but had been absolutely brutal. After her training was complete, her father scheduled time with a therapist to make sure she wasn’t negatively affected by the brutality of the training. Some people would have been horrified to learn what her father’s people had put her through. He didn’t care, nor did she. She was stronger for it and prepared for almost any circumstance. Her father wanted her to be able to survive anything, and she was fairly confident that he’d succeeded.

Her therapist had been surprised by her resilience. It had taken five sessions and video surveillance of her sleeping soundly each night for five weeks for the therapist and her father to believe the training hadn’t affected her. Finally, the therapist gave her a clean bill of health with a strong recommendation that Paula seek out help if anything traumatic happened. Her therapist was sure that Paula would reach a breaking point. Paula thanked her for her concern but said she never needed her services again. She’d been attacked twice in the last 14 years. Neither had been pleasant, but both groups of attackers had either been killed by her father’s security teams or herself, though no report showed that data. The second team of attackers had one individual get close enough to grab her, which had been his last mistake.

That’s why she wasn’t afraid when the two men attacked. Her pragmatic way of looking at every situation and her ruthlessness allowed her to make snap judgments and respond a lot quicker than most people would have. Paula’s frontal assailant rushed at her with a small knife and waved menacingly in front of him. He was obviously someone who did not understand how to fight with a knife. The attacker, sneaking up on her from behind, was reaching to put his arm around her neck as she fluidly ducked and stepped back to her left. A quick pivot and push with her hand allowed her to utilize the momentum of that pivot to push her assailant forward and away from her into the knife wielder.

The movement was so sudden that the knife wielder had no chance to dodge or pull the knife back. The attacker she’d pushed stumbled forward from the force of her blow. He was able to bring his arm up to block the knife thrust, which sank into his arm. As he reached to grab his arm, the knife wielder yanked the knife out, which created a spurt of blood that flew all over him as the man who had been stabbed howled in pain until it was abruptly cut off.

Paula was not a short woman. At five feet ten inches, she was as tall as the man who had tried to grab her and at least an inch taller than the knife-wielder. This allowed her to step forward and deliver an exact knife-hand strike above the C1 vertebrae and below the skull. The effect was immediate. His body crumpled like a switch had been flipped. While such a strike could be fatal, she had only hit him with about one-half of her strength. If her attack had worked, he’d be unconscious for a while. If she’d hit him too hard, he’d be paralyzed. Of course, if he bled out, it wouldn’t be something he’d ever have to worry about again.

The knife wielder looked down at his fallen friend and then at Paula. He flipped the knife, showing her that he did know how to fight with a knife. Paula, not wanting to take a chance, pulled one of her two throwing knives from their hidden sheaths in her bra and flung it with pinpoint accuracy into her attacker's throat in one fluid, quick motion. He shuddered as the knife entered his throat. A moment later he fell backward as he lost control of his arms and legs. Her aim had been perfect. She’d severed his spinal cord.

Paula walked over, pulled the knife from his throat, and looked down dispassionately as she cleaned the knife on the sleeve of his shirt before replacing it in its hidden sheath. She watched as the knife wielder choked on the blood flowing into his lungs from the wound in his throat. Initially, his eyes had been filled with surprise, then anger, and finally fear before drowning in his own blood.

Paula moved over to the second man, who was lying face down on the ground. She considered the various complications this man could cause her if he lived and then brought her foot down on the back of his neck, snapping it completely. He was a threat; he had to die. Paula lifted her foot and scrapped it on the ground to remove any evidence that may have touched her shoes.

A moment later, Paula’s attention was drawn away from cleaning her shoes when a crack of thunder sounded from the bluff below the Lighthouse on the coast above the ocean. A moment later, white light filled the early morning night sky as the ground started rumbling gently. Paula watched as a natural stone Archway began rising out of the bedrock. Paula disregarded the two dead men at her feet and began walking toward the archway as it continued to rise from the ground.

As Paula walked forward, the empty stone archway rose until an open area approximately 50 feet high and 50 feet across was available. The rumbling stopped, and the light faded away. All that was left was the Archway sitting on the bluff over the ocean. Paula continued walking forward until she was about 50 feet from the archway when text appeared in her vision.

SYSTEM Message

You have discovered The Archway to Transcendence.

You may turn away and continue with your mundane life

OR

You may walk through the Archway and begin a journey that will offer Power beyond your imagination or death.

Paula took a single step forward and froze when a man appeared out of thin air beside her. Paula admonished herself for not seeing the man approach as she pulled one of her knives and threw it at him. The knife stood less than five feet from her hand when he simply raised his hand up in a stopping motion and said, “No!” He looked at her with a piercing gaze and smiled, “Hello, Paula.”

“And you are?” Paula asked as she looked at the floating knife and wondered what was going on, worrying that he might be a witness to her actions.

“I am Adam. I can also see that you are wondering how to get rid of another witness. Please look at the bodies you left down the path.”

Paula turned and watched as the bodies and everything they were wearing evaporated. Paula turned back to Adam, “How? Why?”

“Because the SYSTEM must want you for something, or else it wouldn’t have placed the first portal or Archway on this planet next to you.”

“Portal?”

“Archway, Portal, they’re the same thing.”

“Where is this a portal to?” Paula asked.

“Did your SYSTEM Message say power or death?” Adam asked.

“It did.”

“And were you going to step through the archway before I arrived?” Adam asked.

“I was thinking about it,” Paula said honestly.

Adam held out his hand, which contained six knives identical in shape to the one she’d tried to throw at him, which was still floating in front of her.

“What are those?” Paula asked.

“If we meet again, you will probably have a better understanding of what I just did. The Bandolier is fitted for you, and the six throwing knives I’m holding are made of a very rare magical element that can survive nuclear explosions. If you step through that archway, you will probably need weapons of some sort. The two knives in your braw sheathes aren’t going to cut it. Besides, these knives are sharper and more durable than anything you can find.”

“I doubt that,” Paula said disbelievingly.

The knives in Adam’s left hand and the bandolier in his right hand disappeared. A moment later, the bandolier reappeared in his hand with all six knives loaded into their sheaths on the bandolier. As Paula watched, a seventh knife grew in his right hand and, with the flick of his wrist, flashed away from him and through the edge of the Lighthouse. The knife exploded out of the lighthouse, with concrete and wood fragments closely behind.

“What the fuck!” Paul exclaimed.

“Not to worry, the building will be fixed momentarily, though the knife might, nope, it’s going to leave orbit. Damn, I don’t know my own strength.”

“Are you saying that you just threw that knife at escape velocity, and the friction of the air didn’t slow it down or disintegrate it?” Paula asked indignantly.

“The knives are made out of Adamantium; a little heat is not going to do anything to that knife,” Adam said with a laugh.

“Adamantium isn’t real,” Paula said.

“And magical archways rising out of the ground only happen in books and movies, right?”

“Point taken. They're made out of Adamantium, really?

“Yes.”

“If I accept your gift, will I owe you anything?” Paula asked.

“If you succeed in your quest for power, I may come calling someday. If not, I’ll have no need to. I would ask that if you do succeed, your first response next time we meet is not to attack me on sight.” Adam said.

Whoever this man was, he was powerful. Her knife floating before her and the casual flick of his wrist, which had put a hole through the lighthouse which was repairing itself as she watched? How was he doing that? Regardless of if he wanted to harm her, she did not doubt that he could. Also, what he asked wasn’t unreasonable. Paula smiled and laughed lightly before she said, “I can agree to that, even though I don’t understand what you did or how you stopped my blade in midair without touching it?”

“If you step through the Archway, you’ll find out. Now, please grab your knife, accept my gift, and be on your way,” Adam said.

Paula grabbed her knife out of the air and slid it back into its sheath. She then accepted the bandolier and put it on. She had to admit, it fit her perfectly and didn’t bunch against her skin anywhere. It also didn’t block her access to the two hidden sheaths in her bra. How had he known to leave space for those blades or her size? She checked the reach and looked satisfied as she turned away from Adam, walked to the Archway, and stepped through.

***

Adam watched Paula Walker step through the Archway as he detected six more Archways rising out of the ground with Sense Chaos. The other six Archways appeared in locations centralized to each of the different continents. The first Archway was near Pocone in Brazil, South America. The second Archway was near Elk Island National Park just east of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada. The Third Archway was near Bratsk in Russia. The fourth Archway was right outside the city of Prague in Czechia. The fifth Archway was at the center of Gosses Bluff Crater in Australia. The sixth archway was at the South Pole in Antarctica. The seventh Archway, which he was standing at, was up the hill from the shore next to the Lighthouse near L’Agulhas, South Africa.

Adam was surprised it had taken this long for something to happen. He’d been here for six months. He’d integrated himself into American society. He was officially a citizen again and even owned property near Kansas City. He’d bought a house near Platte City on the northwest side of KC and used it as a base of operation as he went around the world looking for SYSTEM Nodes and listening for any chatter about the SYSTEM. For six months, he’d run around the world and found nothing.

Well, he didn’t have to run around the world with Sense Chaos, nor did he have to cheat too hard to get ahead in the markets. With the ability to take in and analyze everything across the globe, he didn’t even use a fraction of his mental capacity to set up his portfolio with cash that could be traced to a casino where he’d won 100,000 dollars, paid the tax, and then invested the money. Then, he’d moved the cash within the markets as an afterthought. He was investing and withdrawing funds as the market fluctuated. Every transaction was defined as high risk because of the uncertainty, except that he wasn’t uncertain at all and only profited from each transaction, except for the small amounts he chose to lose to keep up the appearance that he wasn’t cheating somehow, which he was, of course.

The United States in this Universe was doing quite well. China was coming along, but they were still years away from anything that would allow them to compete with the United States. Adam watched from the shadows as his wealth grew until he was a billionaire. One of the highlights of his day was making travel plans. Following them to a certain point and then changing them just as a journalist closed in to get a picture of him. He didn’t do it all that often, but a few reporters were looking for the billionaire who had appeared out of nowhere. They were hot for an interview, which Adam was reluctant to give at this point.

He’d noticed Paula when he’d been reviewing various company personnel and collecting insider information on each. He’d been impressed with her skill in both hand-to-hand combat and throwing knives, as well as her dedication each day to maintaining those skills. As he’d suspected from watching her training and practice sessions, her attacks had been clinical and devastating. Even appearing out of nowhere with Chaos Step hadn’t caused her to pause for more than a second before she’d reacted to him as a threat. He had a feeling she was going to do very well in the sorting process the SYSTEM had come up with to replace the divine beings who’d sacrificed themselves to save the Multiverse and The SYSTEM.

Tantur had said that this Universe had been set up as a Battle Royale, but as far as he could tell, this Earth, while slightly different from the Earth he’d grown up on, was a very reasonable variation of his timeline. Magic seemed to exist, but there were no random magical events on Earth, at least until today. Could the whole planet be one of those Safe Zones where monsters couldn’t spawn? Adam guessed it was possible. If Tantur viewed the butchery of adding magic to worlds that involved killing innocents as an atrocity, portals that offered power and a choice to step through would be a good compromise. People were still going to die, but they had to choose to leave this world to do so.

Adam knew the only way to see what was on the other side was to step through the Archway. It was also highly likely that each portal opened into a different area on the other side. So, the best portal for him to step through would be Antarctica. That Archway was in a remote location, and no one was currently near it. Adam activated Chaos Step and appeared next to the Archway. He received the same message that Paula and he had received in South Africa and stepped through the portal under the Archway.

Adam appeared in a small white room. There was nothing in the room and only one portal or door into the room directly behind him.

Welcome to the Trial of Transcendence.

The Trial of Transcendence will continue once you have become familiar with The SYSTEM. If you are familiar with the SYSTEM, you may bypass the SYSTEM Introduction Tutorial.

To Bypass the SYSTEM Tutorial, say “Bypass.”

To Continue with the SYSTEM Tutorial, say “Continue.”

Or return to your world through the Portal behind you.

You may return at any time.

Adam needed to know about the changes to this system. Sure, Tantur had told him what was going on, but maybe this Tutorial would provide more information because things in this SYSTEM were a little different. No SYSTEM nodes? No SYSTEM shops? Whatever the changes were, he needed more information about them.

Adam said, “Continue.”