Infinitium

Adaline flashed into existence in front of Adam and then morphed into Tantur.

Adam had seen Adaline and froze, then watched as Adaline transformed into Tantur, who had a shit-eating grin on his face, “Dick!”

“Guilty as charged,” Tantur said, “Now, why did you accept the SYSTEM Tutorial? We both know you know what the SYSTEM is and how it works.”

Adam shook his head as he said, “That’s just it, I don’t. The SYSTEM has altered enough things that I need more information about. Where are the SYSTEM Nodes? Where are the SYSTEM Shops? How do I purchase or find more spells?”

“Yes, the SYSTEM explains all that as part of the Tutorial. To save time, here you go, Enjoy!” Tantur said as information flooded into Adam’s mind and he disappeared.

It only took him a moment to disseminate the information Tantur had supplied him.

He was currently in Prime Universe 911.

There were no SYSTEM Nodes in Universe 911

There were no Planet Nodes in Universe 911

Dungeon Nodes existed within each Dungeon

Each Dungeon contained a Labyrinth Node at the end of that Dungeon

The Labyrinth Node was not part of Universe 911, nor was it synced with the Temporal Dilution factor of Prime Universe 911. If Adam traveled to the Labyrinth, he would leave this universe's Temporal Dilution.

Individuals could claim Personal Domains.

To establish a Domain, one needed only to declare it publicly. Doing so provided information to all others in the Domain as well as those entering the domain by providing an arrow on their minimap to the Domain Owner. The arrow could not be hidden by any means. If someone wished to claim and hold a Domain, they must have the strength to keep it.

Domain holders automatically knew who was in their Domain and their approximate location, even while contested. Additionally, they could charge rent and tax any treasure obtained or sold within their Domain. Settings for these functions could be changed in their Domain Tab, which was accessible in his Personal Status.

Anyone could challenge a Domain Holder for control of that Domain.

Domain size was based on the size of the structure, or structures in close proximity, claimed, and the population.

Anyone could claim a single domain. Claiming more Domains requires proficiency in leadership-based skills or royalty-based Titles. Skills could also augment the number of Domains that may be controlled.

SYSTEM recognized Domains could not be established on Nursery Planets

Nursery Planets, those Planets with functioning Civilizations that were recently added to the 911th Universe, were considered Safe Zones and were spread throughout the Universe. None resided within the same galaxy of another Nursery Planet. There was only one per galaxy. Any other civilization that sprouted up within a galaxy was either established by invading forces from other Nursery planets, evolution, or infiltration from beings that had made their way into this universe through the Labyrinth.

Monster Spawning would not occur in Safe Zones

Random Magical anomalies would not occur in Safe Zones.

The SYSTEM only leveled the playing field when Prime Universes were reorganized. Anything that happened after that shuffle was up to the beings within the Multiverse.

Class levels in Prime Universe 911 were limited to level 10,000

Skill Levels In Prime Universe 911 were limited to Level 100.

Spell power was designated by rarity and improved through leveling the spell.

Maximum Spell Level was 100

The SYSTEM tracked credits and could convert all treasure or items in the SYSTEM-created Personal Storage into credits.

Credits could not be converted into items. He would have to visit a local Merchant or find one of the SYSTEM Stores to purchase items from the SYSTEM

SYSTEM Stores were no longer found in every population center. Instead, SYSTEM Stores would be found in very specific locations.

Skills and Spells could be found in books and scrolls, taught by teachers, acquired through individual research, or purchased from a merchant or SYSTEM Store.

Classes now automatically provided class skills upon reaching the required level. Non-class skills had to be purchased or found.

Spells and Skills could only be taught if the individual doing so possesses a Teacher-Type Class.

Spawned Monsters garnered a base of 100 XP per Monster Level. This number was adjusted as follows. For every rank higher, divide by the difference. For every level lower, multiply by the difference. For example, if someone with a Scarce Class killed a level 1 Basic monster, they would earn 50 XP instead of 100. Alternatively, if someone with a Basic Class killed a Level 1 Scarce monster, they would earn 200 XP.

Individuals competing in the Trial of Transcendence garnered a base of ½ the experience required for their level. For instance, a level 1 competitor would garner 500 XP. XP Awards were adjusted exactly like Spawned Monsters. NOTE: The initiator in combat, which results in the death of fellow competitors below level 100, would result in the standard XP award AND an equal amount of Negative Karmic Luck.

Negative Karmic Luck will randomly affect any action that has a random outcome. The chance the Karmic Luck will be applied is proportional to the amount of Negative Karmic Luck possessed, for instance. If you have 3 points of negative Karmic Luck, there is a 3% chance that Karmic Luck would affect the outcome of any action attempted. If Negative Karmic Luck is initiated, the points are subtracted as Karma takes effect.

Negative Karmic Luck Outcomes could include but were not limited to Action Failure, Physical side effects, Loss of treasure, etc…

Positive Karmic Luck worked in much the same way.

Adam scrolled through the rest of the information in quick order. Most of it dealt with skills and a basic primer concerning magic. He had a pretty good understanding of the spheres of Magic and what to expect from them. The rules for skills were now fixed; before, there was no maximum skill. Now, it seems that each skill gave a base chance of success based on the rarity of the skill, which increased by 1-8% per skill level. A basic skill gave a base 10% chance of success that increased by 1% per skill level. Meanwhile, a Mythical skill started at a base 45% chance of success and increased by 8% per level.

The information dump even gave examples of how skill checks and spell levels interacted. The percentage chance of success would eventually exceed 100%, but the person with the higher skill chance would be automatically successful if that chance were over 100%. Since his Attribute bonuses added directly to all of his skills except those that were based on chaos, he would most likely succeed at every skill he used, be it combat or noncombat-based.

Another note let him know that while Attribute and level maximums might change from Universe to Universe, Skill and Spell levels were going to be universal throughout every SYSTEM in the Multiverse. Ironically, his class, Polymath, was going to make traveling from Universe to Universe very easy for him. At the Mythical rank, no matter what attribute maximums were set, he would always have at least a 126% chance of success at any skill he tried before the attribute bonus.

Adam took in all the information and noticed that a holographic blue screen floated in front of him.

When you are ready to continue on the Trail of Transcendence, please touch the Blue Screen.

WARNING: once accepted, there is no turning back.

Adam touched the screen. A moment later, notifications appeared in his vision, and he was teleported to an open field. Mountains stood off in the distance in front of him with a forest behind him. While Sense Chaos took in his surroundings, he focused on his Notifications.

Welcome to Challenge Planet U911019110

Planet Category: Crossroads.

Monster Spawning: Yes

Monster Levels: 1-100

You have decided to embrace a path to power. As your journey progresses, you will become more powerful. At the end of this journey, a place among the divine is possible. This Path is fraught with danger, and death is a reasonable outcome for those who continue.

You will soon appear on a Crossroads Challenge Planet containing monsters and other trial participants. You can work alone or team up with others; the choice is yours.

White Archways on Crossroads Planets will lead back to the Nursery Planet attached to that Crossroads Challenge Planet. There is only one Crossroads Challenge Planet with White Archways that leads back to your Nursery Planet.

Once you have completed the tutorials available in this room, stepping into an Archway on the Nursery Planet you originated from will lead directly to a corresponding White Archway on the first Crossroads Challenge Planet.

If you do not wish to participate in the Trial of Transcendence at this time, step back through the portal behind you. You will be transported back to the Archway on your Nursery Planet that you stepped through to get here.

You may resume your journey into the Trial of Transcendence at any time after that.

The first Challenge Planet, a Crossroads Planet, will contain Monsters ranging from levels 1 to 100 and Various Archways to other Challenge Planets.

Green Archways are only found on Crossroads Planets and lead to a pocket dimension where you can visit a SYSTEM Store, rest, and relax. They are not located near any other Archways and must be discovered.

White Archways on Crossroads Planets (Crossroads Planets are planets with Archways that lead to Challenge Planets of Various levels) lead to the associated Nursery Planet.

White Archways can be found on any Challenge Planet. White Archways NOT on Crossroads Planets may lead to alternate Crossroads Planets and allow access to other Nursery Planets.

Blue Archways lead to Blue Challenge Planets that contain level 1 – 100 monsters and additional Blue Archways that lead to additional Blue Challenge Planets. The planets are not unlike Crossroad Planets. They do not have Archways to Crossroad Challenge Planets.

Yellow Archways lead to Yellow Challenge Planets that contain 101 – 500 monsters and additional Yellow Archways that lead to additional Yellow Challenge Planets.

Red Archways lead to Red Challenge Planets that contain level 501 – 1,000 monsters and additional Red Archways that lead to additional Red Challenge Planets.

Violet Archways lead to Violet Challenge Planets that contain monsters greater than level 1,000 and additional Violet Archways that lead to additional Violet Challenge Planets.

Challenge Planets will contain any and every environment conceivable.

How you tackle the Trial of Transcendence is up to you. It is recommended that anyone entering the Trial of Transcendence remain on a Crossroads Challenge Planet until they are prepared to meet the greater challenges.

Remember, you can exchange anything in your Personal Storage for Credits without returning to a SYSTEM Store to free up room in your Personal Storage. Alternatively, you can find someone with a Merchant Class. Items exchanged from your Personal Storage only garner 50% of their value.

When you have finished reviewing these rules, say, “Continue.”

Adam reviewed the information, nodded, and said, “Continue.”

A moment later, Adam appeared on an open plain by himself. Behind him, a natural Archway made of what looked like white marble rose out of the ground. So, it was a White Archway. Adam reached out with Sense Chaos and scanned the planet he was on and surrounding space.

The planet he was on was at least twice the size of Earth, though the gravity was still a comfortable 1G. He could easily detect all of the other Archways, none of which were within 10 miles of another Archway. There were four Green Archways that seemed to be spaced equally around the globe. Each was in a location that wouldn’t be easy to find. Not hard, exactly, but nobody would find them if they weren’t looking for them.

Other humans appeared next to the other six White Archways and began exploring, which were also spread out around the globe. Adam did a quick check and identified a few of the creatures that were close to the other humans. He adjusted the information so that it only showed him the creature's name, level, and any immunities the creature might have. He didn’t need all the other superfluous information for such low-level creatures. Once he’d adjusted the information Identify was providing, he reviewed it.

Badger, Level 1

Wolf, Level 3

Python, Level 2

…

Most of the animals he detected were near the White Archways, which were more powerful versions of animals he’d found on Earth. As he looked closer to the Blue, Yellow, and Red Archways, The variety of animals increased. He started seeing more exotic creatures that he might find on Primore or other worlds he’d been to. Near the only Violet gate on the planet, which happened to be near an active Volcano on an island in the middle of a large ocean, a Blue Dragon flew around the volcano and seemed to be looking for food. Adam checked it with Identify.

Blue Dragon,

Rarity: Epic

Level: 912

Physical Damage Resistance: 25

Immunity: Electricity

Special Attack: Breath Weapon: Lightning Range 500 Feet / Damage: 2,585

HP: 20,045

Aura Strength: 365

Aura Defense: 339

*** Tethered – May not move more than 10 miles from Violet Archway

Adam was slightly impressed. It couldn’t hurt him, but it was far above anything anyone from Earth could handle right now. Its Physical Damage Resistance would prevent any regular attacks from any weapons his fellow earthlings might make. It would also act as a deterrent for anyone who was trying to enter the Violet Archway. That wouldn’t stop him, though.

Adam activated Chaos Step and appeared before the Violet Archway. He attempted to step through the Archway and was stopped cold as a Notification entered his vision.

WARNING!

You must defeat the Guardian to Proceed!

With Sense Chaos, Adam felt the Blue Dragon react to his appearance as it changed course and began diving toward the crater of the volcano. Adam shifted to his Adamantium Dragon Form, flew up to the blue dragon, and released a fraction of his Aura when he was within range. The Blue Dragon froze for a second as Adam’s Aura washed over it and then veered away as Adam moved to keep him in range. With Telepathy, Adam sent, Submit or Die.

That was the first time he’d released his Aura. He’d only released a fraction of his Aura because his Personal Status rated its strength at 38,002. The Blue Dragon’s Natural Aura Defense was listed at 339. Adam was sure that if he’d released his full aura, the Blue Dragon would have died. Something he’d have to be really careful about: of course, he had complete control over his Aura and had kept it locked away without thinking about it. He'd only recently noticed this new attribute on his Personal Status. It seemed that the SYSTEM had made Aura’s quantifiable.

The Blue Dragon attempted to ignore Adam as it tried to fly away from him. Unfortunately for it, Adam could fly incredibly fast, and because he was an Adamantium Dragon, the friction of the air didn’t bother him. Additionally, with Sense Chaos, he could close his eyes and still see perfectly so entering an atmosphere wasn’t an issue. But, this Blue Dragon, limited to a 10-mile range around the Volcano, trying to get away from him wasn’t flying fast at all. It getting away from him? Yeah, that would never happen.

Adam slowly increased the strength of the Aura until he saw the Dragon begin to bleed from its eyes. Then, he just maintained the strength of his Aura at that level while he kept it within range. His Aura Strength dropped off exponentially with range, but that still meant that he didn’t have to get too close to let this dragon feel the strength of his Aura. After five minutes, the Blue Dragon shuddered and veered back toward a beach at the base of the Volcano and landed. Adam came in and landed next to the Blue Dragon. Then, he waited.

Adam felt the Blue Dragon’s desire to submit as the barrier on the Archway disappeared. Adam dropped his aura and shifted back to human form as he sent, Thank you. Continue to guard this Archway or return through it if you wish; I care not.

Adam activated Chaos Step to appear before the Violet Archway and stepped through.

Adam stepped onto a flat grassy plain with very loose soil like it had been plowed recently. Adam let his Sense Chaos range out. One mile away, a mound set on top of the plains drew Adam’s attention immediately. With Sense Chaos, he could tell that the mound wasn’t a mound. It was the shell of a creature that looked like something out of one of the Tabletop games he used to play. Adam used Identify.

Ves’ka,

Rarity: Epic

Level: 1,016

Physical Damage Resistance: 525

Immunity: All Basic Spheres of Magic

Special Attack: Bite and Swallow / Damage: 2,879

HP: 34,361

Aura Strength: 407

Aura Defense: 377

It looked like the old illustrations of a Tarrasque, sort of. Adam smiled. If it were a spawned monster, the SYSTEM would be sued for copyright infringement. Wouldn’t that be the day? That the Ves’ka was immune to the eight basic spheres of magic was different, though. Adam was going to live and let live when the creature’s head lifted, and it looked in Adam’s direction. Without hesitation, it moved, fast. In one second, it was halfway to Adam; the next second, its head was snapping down on where Adam had stood.

While the Ves’ka was fast, it had nothing on Adam. Adam sidestepped the attack, summoned his Chaos Blade, extended it in length, and severed Ves’ka’s head in one fluid motion. The fact that the Chaos Blade had extended like a lightsaber was new, but he should have realized a long time ago that Mold Chaos would allow him to do something like that. But, still, he’d killed the creature easily. Adam pulled up his Combat Log.

Begin Combat Log

Attack by Vas’ka Dodged

Summoned Chaos Blade

Chaos Blade extended with Mold Chaos

Called Strike, Target Ves’ka neck

Attack Successful

Base Damage:318,199

Critical Hit Damage: 2,545,592

Holy Shit! When his attributes had been off the scale, he knew that creatures didn’t have a chance against him and hadn’t worried about the damage he could do. With the limitations the SYSTEM had enacted in this Universe, he’d thought those limits would require him to work a little for it. Nope, not yet.

In fact, if he had to wait for people to get up to speed to make things interesting, he’d be waiting a long time. He could visit the family, but he’d have to be careful. If he were gone for one hour, more than 100 years would pass in this universe. Would that be enough time for someone to reach Godhood? Possibly, but doubtful.

On the other hand, if he had stayed in this Universe for 2,600 years, only one day would have passed for his family on Primore. Yeah, so what could he do if he decided to wait here? One thought percolated forward. He’d thought about it when he saw the note from the SYSTEM about losing his two classes. He did have two class slots open. He could try to get a class as a Merchant of some type so that he could access the SYSTEM without issues. Maybe even work on leveling that class while he waited for the first divine beings to appear.

Adam stepped back through the White Archway behind him, which led back to the Crossroads Planet, and then Chaos Stepped to one of the Green Archways. There wasn’t a guardian or any monsters within 10 miles of this Archway. The Green Archway he stood before rested in a valley surrounded by mountains and filled with a stream and trees. The only animals present were normal woodland animals anyone might find in the forests of North America.

Adam stepped through the Green Archway and found himself in a pocket Dimension made out to be a city approximately 25 miles in diameter. There was farmland forest and even low mountains between the edge of the city and the edge of the dimensional space, which was 100 miles out. The city was not unlike Dubai on Earth. Technological-looking skyscrapers rose into a sky filled with twilight while lights along the streets made sure that the walkways were fully lit. There were restaurants, hotels, stores, and shops of all kinds. On his internal map, an indicator appeared with an arrow that pointed towards a building with the label SYSTEM Store on it.

Adam walked over to one of the stores with a Texas Cowboy theme going on. It smelled like steaks were being grilled. As he walked up, the host looked at Adam and asked, “Welcome to Brian’s Steak House. Will you be dining alone?”

Adam nodded and was led to a table with a window view. He quickly ordered a Porterhouse, Baked Potato, and Corn. As he waited for his food, he went over the data that Sense Chaos had provided him. He’d thought the dimension would not have very many people in it, but he could detect over 100,000 people working and living in this pocket dimension. Also, this pocket dimension had four Archways that led into it. One at each compass point on the map

Each White Archway sat just outside the edge of town and had a build-up of restaurants and hotels near it. This setup effectively split the city into four commercial districts. Adam was betting that all the Green Archways on the Crossroads Challenge Planet led to this Dimension.

Adam ate his meal, which was automatically deducted from his total credits. He’d looked over the mini town and found the best hotel in the area. When he left Brian’s Steak House, he walked one block to the entrance of the High Rise and rented the Penthouse Suite. The price was insane at 10,000 credits per day. Adam paid for the day and set up an automatic deduction if he chose to stay longer. Once done, he made his way upstairs.

Once inside his Penthouse, he went to the living room and sat down on the couch. After exploring the local programming with the T.V. Remote for about five minutes, he had to admit that the local streaming service had a lot of movies from a lot of cultures on it. Some of the cultures were not human-based.

In fact, he hadn’t even considered categorizing the people he detected with Sense Chaos by race. He did so now. Adam noted that most of the races he associated with fantasy were present, such as humans and even some alien races that he recognized, as well as others that looked like aliens from T.V. shows he’d watched.

Adam reached out with Aura Sense through his Sense Chaos and immediately identified two different types of aura. Some people had auras that were very similar to his, and others contained auras that appeared artificial. Those must be the individuals that the SYSTEM spawned. If that was the case, the SYSTEM could have drawn on anything he’d come across, including fantasy and science fiction-based races.

While that was interesting, Adam put it out of his mind for now and pulled up his Class Tab. When he focused on the empty class slot below his Class, Polymath, a prompt appeared.

Would you like to add a new Class, Yes or No?

Adam chose “Yes.”

A list of classes started to scroll down his vision, as Adam thought, Focus on merchant-based classes only. Immediately, the list was adjusted, and provided a list of merchant-based classes. The list was inclusive. It included classes that focused on specific items, types of items, world-specific, empire-specific, etc.…

Adam adjusted the search for SYSTEM-based merchant classes only. This produced two classes which piqued his interest.

SYSTEM Merchant

Merchants focus on finding and selling items from individual sources. The Merchant sets the Item Cost. Success or Failure is completely within the purview of the Merchant.

SYSTEM Merchants may connect to the SYSTEM Product Registry while in any Safe Zone.

Merchants are encouraged to sell all items at cost x 2 + 1% per class level as modified by the Charisma and skills of both the buyer and seller. Specific classes could also affect the price. However, a Merchant could set the price of any item as they saw fit.

Can the SYSTEM Merchant Undercut SYSTEM Prices? Yes

XP is earned as normal and also by selling items. SYSTEM Merchants gain XP equal to 100% profit +10% of the price. XP is determined by the cost of the items in credits or silver pieces.

Example: if a SYSTEM Merchant purchased an item for 10 credits and then resold the item for 12 credits. The Merchant would earn 3.2 (2 + 1.2) XP. 2 XP for the Profit 1.2 for the 10% of 12. Larger and higher volumes of sales will garner more XP.

Income: Determine by profits.

SYSTEM Vendor

A SYSTEM Vendor acts as a mobile SYSTEM Store. SYSTEM Vendors may produce a SYSTEM Vendor Node that allows anyone touching it access the SYSTEM Store and buy items from it.

Can the SYSTEM Vendor alter item Prices? No

Can the SYSTEM Vendor utilize the SYSTEM Store? Yes. The Vendor may purchase any item at cost. Items purchased from a SYSTEM Vendor Node may be gifted, but they cannot be sold without severe penalty. Any items sold by the vendor automatically reduce their credits based on the cost of the item.

XP is earned as normal and also by selling items. SYSTEM Vendors gain 25% of the value of the item’s value in Credits or Silver if sold to another.

Vendors sell all items at cost x 2 + 1% per class level, including any SYSTEM discounts the buyer might have. Charisma and skills that affect the SYSTEM Vendor have no effect on item prices.

Adam looked over both classes carefully and chose the SYSTEM Vendor. He decided on that class because he could pull out the SYSTEM Vendor Node anywhere, whereas a SYSTEM Merchant had to be in a Safe Zone. Sure, he wasn’t going to get as much XP for buying and selling things, but Adam had a feeling that he wouldn’t have to worry about that. With over one sextillion credits, he should be able to buy anything he needed. He could also allow others to access the SYSTEM Store in locations they usually couldn’t. It was time to take on the role of a Traveling Vendor