Path to the Apocalypse

Once she finished making sure Ursa was settled, Victoria turned her attention to her system, or more specifically, her points, remembering a thought she'd had when she'd been explaining them to Ursa. What was the difference between her points, and the energy of this world? Her Spirit simply sat in her core, waiting to be used, enhancing her stats as the amount increased. Didn't her points do the same? They didn't have a core, but they existed inside her, making her stronger, until she spent them. What if… what if she could actually use her points, like she used her Spirit? Her mind went back to that day in the hall, when she'd punched AJ, launching him into a wall. Her points had moved, following her will.

Victoria closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she sensed the points within her, slowly beginning to move them, to actually control them. Her brow furrowed as she guided the points through her body, moving it around. Unlike her Spirit, the points didn't have any particular gathering place, simply existing in her body as an amorphous cloud, so the first thing she had to do was gather it all up. She balled all of her points up in her right hand, clenching and unclenching her fist as she did, feeling as if her hand was getting stronger, though since she didn't have anything to particularly test her strength with, that may have just been her imagination. Still, she already knew her points could flow to one section of her body to make it stronger, so she quickly moved on to her actual experiment.

Extending a finger, she concentrated, trying to send the points outside her body. Surprisingly, it worked, the small bundle of energy emerging from the tip of her finger quite easily, simply floating above her finger as her eyes widened in surprise. "Huh…" Victoria muttered as she sent the little cloud floating around the room. Suddenly, the cloud swooped down and wrapped around her hairbrush. The hairbrush slowly rose into the air, before shooting into Victoria's hand. "Huh…" Victoria repeated. The cloud of energy shot out again, towards her materials table, covering a random piece of metal. "Huh!" Victoria exclaimed. The cloud shot back, hovering before her as she stared at it incredulously. "You can just do anything, can't you?" She muttered. As far as Victoria could tell, anything she could do with her Spirit, she could do with her points as well, which included the abilities she got from her Runes! Admittedly, all she knew how to do at the moment was use her Spirit cloud to scan items into her design space, but still! The fact that her points could do it too was simply ridiculous! Though, now that she thought about it, everything she'd been able to do with the points was ridiculous. That wasn't all though. Unlike her Spirit, which needed to maintain a connection with her core in order to function, her points could move around independently, basically getting rid of the one major weakness of Spirit Cultivators! Of course, the downside was that when she sent her points outside her body, her stat boost went away as well, leaving her weaker, but still.

Victoria sighed, letting the points return to her body. "I should just stop questioning it. Literally every time I ask myself 'can the points do this?' the answer is just yes. Want to make yourself stronger? Go for it. Want to be taller? Sure! Want to change your species? No problem! Hell, the only thing it can't do so far is make me a sand-" Victoria paused, sitting up again, eyes widening. What had she said the last time? It wasn't that the system couldn't make her a sandwich, it's that the system didn't know what a sandwich was. However, if she could now use points to scan items… Victoria glanced over at the table full of materials, before pulling up the creation page. The sandwich was still there, the cost in question marks, but Victoria ignored that as she added a new entry: one gram of iron… one hundredth of a point. "Holy shit… I can make things! Ha!" Victoria exclaimed excitedly. Victoria quickly added a few more entries, and quickly learned that it didn't matter what she wanted to make, one gram would always be one hundredth of a point, which she supposed made sense. The points didn't particularly care about the arrangement of what they made, simply how much of it they had to make. A kilogram of something would be ten points, which, when Victoria remembered the cost to change height and weight and all that, it suddenly made sense. The system was just charging for the added mass. Victoria then frowned a bit, as she still didn't quite get the costs for the gender and species change, but that had less to do with weight and more to do with composition… maybe it charged based on how much the mass it had to alter weighed? Victoria didn't know.

Victoria also realized she didn't actually need to use points to scan items. Anything she'd scanned into her design space could be made. It made her wonder just where she ended and the system began. Was there a distinction any more? Back when she was Thomas, the system was like a computer, something he had to be explicit with, firmly defining everything he wanted it to do, but now? It seemed like all she had to do was form a clear thought and the system would do it for her, almost intuitively. She didn't need to define Capacity like she had to define strength, because the system just knew. Like it had the same understanding that she did. She still had to think some things through, explaining them, but that was when she herself had a poor understanding of the subject.

"What am I?" Victoria murmured to herself with a frown, staring at the ceiling. Was she really still a human? Thomas was a human. But after the Voice had killed him… something had changed. Thomas had been consumed by the system, and then the system had inhabited the body of Victoria. Sure, she still had Thomas's memories. She still felt like Thomas, but what if she was just a copy, some ghost of Thomas imprinted on the system, living on despite his death? Of course, if she had all of Thomas's memories, she was still essentially him, but what was the foundation of her existence? Was it this new body? Or was it the system? If Victoria died, would Thomas go and find a new body to inhabit, like some sort of parasite? Would it be in a new world? Or would he find a new body here? He didn't find a new body on Earth, but… were there any bodies left on Earth after the Voice was done? She doubted it.

Victoria blinked at the ceiling a few times as she considered the idea of living on eternally as a system ghost, before shaking her head. "Fuck it, not important. Ghost or no ghost, this is who I am and this is what I have to deal with. Forget the rest." She stated firmly. She couldn't waste her time on theories and ideas. She had to focus on the task at hand, increasing her cultivation, exploring the wilderness, expanding the capabilities of the system, building her strength so that one day she could face the one that put her in this situation, and make them painfully aware that there were consequences for toying with other people's lives.

Pushing away all the distracting thoughts, Victoria sat in her meditation posture, entering her Runescape, considering the four Runes floating inside. *So, which of you to start with first?* Victoria thought to herself as she looked between Study, Bladework, and Craft. Bladework Rune seemed like the obvious choice at the moment. She'd already placed several points in the skill, leaving her mind a sponge for knowledge, just waiting for the baptism of the Rune. However, Victoria also considered the Study Rune. She remembered what Maurice had said when she'd told him about the Rune. A Rune that made her better at comprehending other Runes… if she could grasp that Rune, along with all her other advantages, wouldn't she breeze through her cultivation like it was nothing?

Victoria hesitated for a second, before deciding. Taking a deep, calming breath, Victoria concentrated on the Study Rune, ready to meditate on it. The Runes energy began to flow through her, when suddenly, her Runescape began to shake and her forehead began to itch! A small Rune in the crude shape of an eye pushed itself out of her skin, while inside the Runescape, the Study Rune became more defined. Victoria's eyes popped open in disbelief. "What the shit!?!" She exclaimed. "Did I just fucking instantly comprehend it?!?" She reached her hand to her forehead, rubbing the new growth incredulously before it slowly receded back into her forehead. "But… But I didn't learn anything! Hey! Give me knowledge you prick! You're supposed to actually teach me something!" Victoria yelled, knocking her fist on her forehead.

Victoria attempted to glare at her own forehead, a task complicated by her furrowed brow and lack of telescoping eyeballs, before she gave up. "Fuck it, I still have the one in my Runescape." She grumbled. "Maybe that one will teach me something." She closed her eyes, reentering her Runescape, before concentrating on the new Study Rune. Slowly, the Rune began to release its energy, but… After a few minutes Victoria's eyes shot open, a helpless look in her eye. "Why the fuck are you just showing me how to mess with my Spirit?!?" She groaned. She tried again for another few minutes, struggling to get any insight into studying from the damn Study Rune, but no matter what she did, she could only get ideas on how to manipulate her Spirit. At least now she actually could glare at her own forehead, as one of the methods ended up turning her Spirit threads into telescoping cameras… Victoria had the urge to climb inside her own Runescape and throttle something.

Victoria released a weary sigh, before giving up on the Study Rune and turning her attention to the Bladework Rune. Finally, once she began to meditate on it, she started to actually receive some insight. The Bladework Rune was different from the Design Rune. The Design Rune made her have ideas, something to think about, but the Bladework Rune made her want to move. She couldn't keep herself from leaping to her feet, eyes still closed as she moved through her dagger forms, sans daggers. Slowly the forms began to evolve, changing into something different as Victoria continued to move, her mind conjuring imaginary opponents as her movements became more spontaneous, not following any set form. Victoria's eyes remained shut as she cut, sliced, and gutted her imaginary opponents, whirling through the room in a complex dance, somehow avoiding every obstacle despite her focus, before slowly coming to a stop, letting out a long breath as her eyes slowly opened. "Hmph, now that's how you teach! Take notes, you!" Victoria grumbled at the Study Rune.

*

The next day, Victoria returned to her usual routine, with some minor differences. She still performed her daily exercises in the morning, but she no longer had lessons with Flynn after. At this point, even her father agreed that further lessons would be pointless. She already had the skills, what she needed was experience to refine them. Instead, she focused on her combat skills, sparring with her father or one of the other Cultivators in the castle. Now that she had the Bladework Rune, she no longer needed to learn forms, so the best training she could have was sparring. After sparring and a quick lunch, she'd meditate on her Runes, focusing on the Bladework Rune for now. Then, after a few hours of that, she'd have her classes with Maurice. After that was family dinner, and then she would Cultivate with her Design Rune until bed. Now that her Design Rune had advanced, her cultivation was twice as fast. Where before she could gain five points of Spirit every hour, now she gained ten. Still not much compared to her fifteen hundred point capacity, but it was something. Now it would only take her a little over a month to fill the rest of her core, instead of two.

Meanwhile, Ursa was busy settling into his new life, and he was doing terribly. After the incident with the maid, it'd quickly spread that the Lord's new guest was a horn dog, and the maids made sure to give him a wide berth. It didn't help that Victoria had failed to inform him of the mess that pleasuring oneself could cause, which only hurt his image even more when the maids had to clean it up. As for the men of the castle, they were either too low ranked, scared to interact with such a powerful individual, or they were too busy to make friends with this strange new Cultivator. Ursa ended up with nothing to do but stare at the wall all day.

*Why don't you complete some tasks? Gain some points? The system doesn't do much for you if you never use it?* Victoria offered after listening to a rant on how much better it was to be a bear.

*What tasks? This system of yours hasn't given me any!* Ursa retorted bitterly.

Victoria frowned. *Did you configure the task settings yet?*

Ursa paused. *The what now?*

Victoria pinched the bridge of her nose. *Do you see a flashing symbol in the corner of your vision?* Back on Earth, Jessica had had the idea of asking the system user's what their task preferences were before the system began issuing them and the flashing symbol was supposed to immediately draw the user's attention to it. Victoria hadn't thought anyone would be able to avoid clicking on it.

*Yes? I've actually been meaning to talk to you about that. It's rather annoying.* Ursa replied.

*Click on it!* Victoria hissed back in aggravation.

*How do I click!?!* Ursa asked in frustration, confused by the strange term that Victoria kept bringing up with no explanation.

*For the love of- just concentrate on it and think about pressing it!* Victoria yelled at him.

Ursa frowned, wondering how he should have known he was supposed to think about pressing on the little flashing box, before doing as she suggested. Suddenly, a page appeared in his vision, full of questions.

[Daily task focus?]

[Number of daily tasks?]

[Daily task time limit?]

Lists of options appeared every time Ursa focused on a question, waiting for him to 'click' the option he desired. He was still confused at first, but once he got the clicking part down, the rest came rather intuitively. Once he had all his preferences selected, he clicked the confirm button at the bottom of the page. The page disappeared and a list of tasks appeared in his task bar.

*That's, uh- that's an interesting task you have there.* Victoria sent over as she glanced over Ursa's task list, unable to resist the urge to see what type of tasks the ex-bear would get.

*Which one?* Ursa asked in confusion, looking over his task list. They all seemed fairly normal to him. He had chosen to keep his tasks focused on his personal goals, so he had tasks such as 'practice x skill' or 'learn human method of x', all of which should lead him towards accomplishing his future goals. What was wrong with that?

*The mating one.* Victoria explained with a twisted expression.

Ursa looked at the task in question. *What's wrong with wanting to mate with a female?*

*It's a daily task!* Victoria exclaimed. *You realize that means it's essentially your mission to fuck every day, right?*

Ursa scratched his head. *I see no problem with that.*

Victoria paused. *Well… fair point.*

After their conversation, Ursa got to work on his tasks, at least the ones he could actually accomplish at the moment. Even if he wanted to mate with a female, he was currently lacking in willing partners. A frustrating situation to be sure. Meanwhile, Victoria had her lessons with Maurice.

"I have a question." Victoria began. "What's up with the cores my father gave Ursa? Why did he make sure they matched his cultivation?"

"How else would he absorb them?" Maurice asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "Cultivators can use cores to speed up their cultivation, absorbing the energy within and adding it to their own. It is technically possible to absorb the energy from a mismatched core, a significant amount of energy would be lost in the process. Only the desperate would resort to that."

Victoria's eyes widened. "Really? Could I get some cores?"

Maurice chuckled, shaking his head. "I'm afraid not. You see, in order for a Cultivator to absorb the energy of a core, their own energy must be of a higher quality. You won't be able to absorb cores until you reach the first stage of Core Strengthening."

"Damn." Victoria sighed, before pausing. What quality were her points? Did they have a quality? She glanced at Maurice. "How do you absorb the energy in a core then? I assume you don't eat it or something."

"Ha! No, no, of course not. It's quite simple really. You extend your energy out in whatever way your cultivation allows, pressing it against the core. The higher quality energy will draw the energy in the core out, as lesser quality energy is naturally drawn to higher quality energy. The lower quality energy will slowly merge with your own, until the core is empty. The bigger the difference in quality, the faster the process goes, though even when the difference is small, it is much faster than standard cultivation. The energy is also purer, making the subsequent Core Strengthening stage easier to achieve." Maurice explained.

Victoria nodded in understanding as Maurice continued on with her regular lessons regarding the particulars of a certain facet of noble etiquette. As he droned on, Victoria only half paid attention as she sent a message to Ursa, telling him to bring one of the cores with him to dinner that night and give it to her. What would happen when her points made contact with a core? She just had to know.