When humanity, and indeed most species, first encountered the system, the vast majority had one of three responses. Treating it like a game, believing they were simply dreaming, or shutting down. Those that treated it like a game were able to handle the initial reaction, but quickly lost their composure when forced into their first real fight. Those that believed they were dreaming were quick to run and hide when they experienced pain. Those that shut down never even made it that far. Those that thrived generally fell into one of three categories: Those who had experienced true fights for survival, those that had expected their death before being integrated into the New Reality, and those that stepped up. The third was by far the rarest. – History of a New Age, pg 10.

  “So...I’m seed 206 huh?”

  “That is correct.”

  “Any suggestions on how to spend these points?”

  “Select options that optimize your chances of survival.”

  “Thanks. You’re a real help.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  The sheer mockery of the response caught Liam by surprise. Huh, guess whatever the voice is, it gets sarcasm. Who’d have thunk? He was distracting himself. He knew it. The voice probably knew it. But what else was he supposed to do? This wasn’t what happened in reality. This was what happened in some bad fantasy book you picked up off a library shelf, or for super cheap at a garage sale. What was he supposed to do with this?

  None of it was what he expected. If he had to express what he had expected, it would have been nothing. Probably. But even that was a lie. What to expect afterward was never something that really came up. Not unless you were having a theological debate. Still though, anything would be an improvement on nothing. At least that’s how he usually felt about it. It’s easy to adjust to something unexpected when you have no expectations, I guess.

  “Well, better go with the obviously interesting one. Show me ability options.”

  “What’s the difference between Basic and Common? And isn’t there anything else? Shouldn’t this be a giant list or something?”

  “Basic is an ability any race can learn. Common is something any individual of your race can learn. You do not have the required Evolution Points or have not met the pre-requisites to qualify for other skills.”

  “I suppose that makes sense. Too much to wish for a cheat power right off the bat I suppose. Hmmm… Show me Racial Traits.”

  “That’s...a different way of seeing things. And honestly, seems like a lot of hype for things that aren’t that impressive. Tell me System (I can call you System right?), what are Racial Traits?”

  “System is a perfectly acceptable nom de plume,” The voice replied, “Racial Traits are what give your race an edge. They are the attributing factors to your superiority over competing species from your Version 6 environment. Racial Traits can be enhanced to further your natural advantages.”

  It was strange. Sometimes the voice for the system seemed more individual. Other times it seemed more mechanical in its responses. It could go from nothing more than a programmed response to an expected question at times to a far less impersonal reflection when encountering something apparently unexpected. The difference was glaringly obvious, like comparing a chatbot and talking to an actual person. At first the voice had seemed almost…proud as it agreed to the name of System. Answering his question about what the Racial Trait portion of the menu, on the other hand, was certainly one of the times where the response was more mechanical in nature. Almost as if whoever was in charge had grown bored and left the computer to answer for them.

  “Show me Items”

  Very quickly a massive list of possible items showed up. Anything from meals (the actual phrasing was “Meal, Unspecified - Variable Cost” and seemed to allow for options from caviar to a ham sandwich) to enchanted swords with various effects. He had tried opening and option titled “Sword Enchantments” and the resulting submenu had too many options to process, in addition to each description being far too vague to rely on.

  Hm, if I rely on the items menu I’m as likely to find an enchanted weapon as a cursed one. I can’t rely on this to get me through. At best it will be a nice bonus for the guy that loots my body after I die. Better to improve something simple than to buy an item I’m not entirely sure how to use. With such thoughts, the Item Menu was promptly dismissed. He would have to come back to it at a later date when he could be more confident of what he was purchasing. If he had a larger stockpile of points he might be more willing to take the risk, but it seemed foolish to spend many on what was essentially a lottery at this point without an excess of points to burn. Or if he was desperate.

  “What about Statistic Boosters?”

  “Ok, so as expected. This menu is how you increase stats. Not very helpful until I actually know what my current stats are. And how useful an increase of one actually is… Still, far and away the cheapest option for actually empowering myself so far. Hey system, can you show me my current stats?”

  “Oh, wow. Uh, that’s a lot higher than I expected. Shouldn’t human average be, like, 10?”

  “100 is the average for a level 1 individual of your race. Individual stat values change to reflect the associated race. For example, a giant with 100 Strength will be vastly stronger than a mouse with 100 Strength.”

  “Huh, ok. So more useful as a reflection of yourself and how you chose to improve than as a comparison against others? That’s different. What about the little L and G in my stats? And what do all these stats do anyway? Some are pretty self-explanatory but others… How does Resistance compare to Resilience for example?”

  “Stats can, on rare occasions, be modified from racial norms. These result in the Lesser and Greater version of the stat. Each is worth slightly less or slightly more respectively than the same stat in other members of your race.”

  Before Li could respond, another blue box had filled his vision.

  “Well… I guess it’s time to make a decision huh?”