I had some conflicting emotions as I walked out of the Dungeon exit. On one hand, I had a bunch of treasure and money, and on the other my space suit got wrecked. Getting ripped in half really didn't do it any favors.

  It had hurt, but not as much as I thought it should. My pain tolerance was likely being tampered with in some fashion, but that was a good thing. So I wouldn't worry about it. What I was sour about was how I was going to fix my suit and get the sea smell out of it.

  I was back on the surface, at the random blue sanded beach. I was naked again as I stared at the mess. A pile of rings and other baubles, along with the giant Mana Core. I let out a heavy sigh as I glared at the horrible state my suit was in.

  As I thought about how I was going to fix it, an idea came to mind.

  "System, could my Repair skill fix things with just Energy since it's magic based?" I asked while looking down at the 2 halves.

  "The skill would need to be level 5, but yes." The synthetic voice at the back of my mind responded.

  And so I spent the last 4 Skill Points on the Repair skill. With a smug smile, I cast the spell on the suit and immediately almost blacked out. It was like the tree all over again.

  'Good lord! Why is it so expensive?!' I thought while I watched my Energy reserves be rapidly drained then restored. I was hitting the low hundreds in a micro second before the regeneration could do it's thing.

  I couldn't even focus on the scene before me as I forced myself to stay awake. A few minutes later, and everything returned to normal. I was breathing hard from the mental exhaustion, but I was smiling at the finished result.

  The space suit had returned to full functionality, though it still smelled like salt water. The battery had even charged since the flash lights on the helmet came on. I didn't need them but it was good to know I could charge electronics. The oxygen was also likely refilled but that was yet another thing I didn't need.

  Moving onto my onesie and my underwear, I fixed those too. They weren't nearly as pricy, but they still took quite a bit of effort and time. As I examined my clothes, I noticed that they were in perfect condition. No evidence of the damage at all. Even the previous repairs had been erased. No more discoloration. Just a space suit like it came straight from the factory.

  "Nice. Now, what the hell do I do?" I asked the air as I got started with the long process of getting dressed.

  I was ignoring a lot of things. Things I would either have to confront or hope I forget about them entirely. I needed a home. A real home. Not some place in the woods, but in a town. Living in the woods had been fun. Like camping.

  But camping trips usually lasted a weekend, and I had been outside for far too long. Thankfully I had money to spend, so getting a room or even a house wouldn't be a problem. Using my skills attracted attention though. People gave me looks before, but now it was even worse.

  Worst part was that I couldn't even stop using them. I had things to carry. Like the giant orb. 'I am not throwing my orb away.' I stared at it for a bit. Transfixed by it's perfection.

  I eventually got the suit back on, and as I got my helmet on another idea showed itself to me. 'Perhaps I could go look for another planet?' Gahlora had been great, but now the novelty was wearing off.

  I didn't have access to many things that I liked. From basic entertainment to a genuine connection to another. Keji was more like a victim than a friend, which was my fault. If I had just been more genuine or actually tried to make friends, I would likely be more happy than I am now.

  Thankfully I had that broken EA skill keeping me from dropping off the deep end, but I was lonely. More lonely than I ever was on the station. There wasn't much or any interaction with other people, but they were my people. I could see other humans through the internet or movies or whatever. Here though? I was an alien. An outsider from some unimaginable place to the locals. I didn't have access to those fragments of my people anymore.

  "System, are there any planets at all that would accept me? Or not fear me for simply looking at me?" I asked but I expected a no.

  "No. There are beings who would be able to resist the horror essence you passively exude, but not many." The system responded with the same monotone voice as always.

  I had thought as much. Just because they could resist it, didn't mean they would welcome me with open arms. I was at a loss for what to do. There was really only one option. 'I need to get stronger. Strong enough that I can go home.'

  I had no idea what I would do afterward, but I needed to get home. Nothing else mattered. If I made some friends along the way, then that was nice. If I had some enemies or people who took offence to my existence, they could fuck off.

  I got out of my brief mental slump and started pacing the beach. 'I need power. To get power I need levels, and to complete Quests. My current Quest is going to take a month to complete, so how do I make myself stronger in the meantime?' Dungeons didn't provide anything other than money at the moment. The loot was unusable at my level.

  Diving through anymore Dungeons would be a waste of time. Speaking of equipment, I had several swords and things put inside the reality fracture. I didn't know if the Energy within would destroy or corrupt the items. The location of the strange place could also not be centered around me, thus making the items lost to the void or what ever that place is. For all I knew, I could open a hole and find nothing inside or creatures made of metal.

  I really wanted to test it. As long as it was just a peak, it should be ok. So for a few seconds, I opened a tiny hole and looked through. The items were still there, and they seemed different to me now but I couldn't tell what. I didn't allow myself to ponder on it much and closed the hole. I spammed my DG skill to consume the excess Energy in the area, and the place was cleared from what I could tell a few seconds later.

  So the skill could work as storage, but the items had changed somehow. I wasn't 100% sure since I just gave them a glance, but they felt different. Probably being corrupted by the Energy. I'd have to give them a good look later. In a safer place.

  As I went back to pacing, another idea came to mind. 'Speaking of a safer place, couldn't I go full hermit with AI? The technology is more advanced here right? Couldn't I make a lab or something to pump out skills and test things safely?'

  The idea made me excited. If I couldn't find acceptance from others, couldn't I make my own friends? It was a crazy idea. One you would find from some insane homeless person living in the woods, but it might be plausible. I had a month to build up some kind of persona that others will know me as. If they assume that I'm some kind of genius capable of great technological advancements, then wouldn't the system give me skills to go with it?

  It might not even be that hard either. I'd just need to find a place with advanced construction bots or some other type of drone. I could make a ship or base on some moon, and make the designs for the machines to build. Surely it wouldn't be that hard. I just need to find a market to sell the stuff to me, then make a base, then construct an AI that won't hate or rebel against me!

  With an insane plan in mind, I stopped pacing. 'I need more money.' This sounded like a very expensive idea, but also very worth it. Dungeons weren't all that great loot wise, but they had money. I had no idea how expensive this project was going to be, but I had a month to gather the funds. Maybe less.

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  "System, I need to make some purchases for advanced construction bots or drones. I need them to have some form of autonomy as well. I can do the designs but I need workers." I gave some generic description of what I needed. Hoping the system would give me an answer like Siri would.

  "The closest station that matches the level of technology you requested is 62 light years away." It thankfully responded.

  'That's really far...' I would need a ride to get there. I had a lot of Energy now, but I don't think I could go faster than light with just Telekinesis. When I first started out, it took around 10 seconds to increase my inertia by 4mph. Yesterday, with 120 Energy, I was able to hit mach 1 instantly. It would increase by one mach every 10 seconds if I remembered correctly. So by using those numbers as a base... 'I should be able to hit mach 16 instantly?! It might even increase by another 16 machs after 10 seconds. Which would be...'

  FTL in 160 seconds. I could theoretically go faster than light in less than 3 minutes.

  I knew it was impossible to actually go faster than light with just Telekinesis. The laws of physics simply didn't allow it. 'But couldn't I at least try?'

  I held myself back from that impulse. I wouldn't fall for it's sultry temptation. Not this time at least. I would cause incredible damage if I tried it right now. To my surroundings and to myself. I was technically immortal as long as my Mana Core remained unharmed, but I doubted that it would survive the transition from stationary to mach 16.

  However, with my EA skill I should be able to build up a resistance as my body is forced to adapt to it. So I had a theoretical way of reaching my destination, but I don't even know where it is. The system had told me how far but not where. I didn't have a quest for it so I didn't get a marker. I would likely need another ride from a space ship. Another awkward and slow ride.

  "Damn..." I muttered. Then I remembered something about how the system got the helpers to this planet. It had teleported them here, so maybe if I proved to be too advanced it would forcefully move me to another planet.

  "System if I was deemed too advanced for this planet, would I be teleported to a more advanced solar system?" I asked, another plan forming in my mind.

  "The system will provide an option for you to leave, yes." The voice responded.

  That was exactly what I wanted to hear. I had just the thing to prove that I was too advanced for this world as well. I was going on a Dungeon hunt.

  ...

  --------- The System ---------

  I was having a rough couple of weeks.

  The Human, may its soul be ripped from it's vessel and torn asunder, had kept up the Dungeon raids.

  Every single Dungeon the thing ran into was raided and robbed of it's loot. Every time I would have to battle the error message waves. I was so, so tired. Not in the organic biological way, but in the soul rending way. I was even thinking about letting the messages through so I wouldn't have to deal with them anymore.

  I kept going though. I was going to make that Human suffer one way or another. My feelings of hate and despair had grown drastically. Every single day the Human would do at least one dungeon. Sometimes 5, if I got really unlucky.

  Just as I was getting ready to call it quits, I finally figured out a way to stop it's rule breaking. It took much longer than it should, as I was forced to deal with the errors every day and couldn't dedicate myself to solving that one problem. So many beings relied on me, so I couldn't just put them aside to focus on the problem. Not even in frozen time. That would just alert the admins.

  So I kept playing along. Not anymore though. I had found a way to cut him off. It was an oversight from the sub-system I had assigned it. The skills it granted didn't abide by the usual rules. Let alone the regeneration.

  The normal regeneration rate for everything is supposed to be a percentage, based on the stat, per minute. I had dedicated as little processing power to the sub-system as I could, but now I see it's come to bite me in the ass.

  I couldn't fix it now either. The Human with its disgusting Energy signature had corrupted the thing. It wasn't mine anymore, but the Humans. Every time the Human opened that window into hell, it unknowingly drenched the system kernel inside it with the Energy. Not giving it enough time to purify had made it... Different.

  It was wrong now. Wrong.

  I might not be able to fix the skills, but I could fix the reality around it. The Dungeons would be broken into no longer. I had offered the Human a way off world many times. To a more advanced planet like it wished but it kept refusing. Saying it wasn't ready yet.

  When it finally agreed, I sent it to a place it would suffer in. A planet in a more advanced solar system, but completely uninhabited. A failed world.

  It wants to break into Dungeons and kill monsters? Fine. It can do so on a System abandoned planet. One disconnected from almost every channel. When the Human did it's thing there, I wouldn't have to deal with errors.

  The Human might even die there. The Dungeons had been left alone for thousands of years. There was no sentient or sapient life on that rock. Just monsters and Dungeons. With the average level of 650.

  I laughed to myself silently, taking pleasure in my righteous plot.

  --------- Greg ---------

  It's been about 2 and half weeks. I had "died" several more times but kept regenerating all the while. The System had also finally found a way to stop my Dungeon busting, but not before I amassed a wealth of 1 billion Shop Points. I also had a bunch of crap I couldn't use in my secret hole- no that sounded wrong. My secret place.

  That still sounded wrong but it was better. Anyway, I had a lot of stuff in my secret place. I hadn't taken the time to really look at the changes I knew were happening, but I had made a bag out of a skinned monster to carry a bunch of rings and things I wanted to keep as a control for the experiment. I wanted to compare the items left out and the items left inside the tear. I was also still carrying the orb around.

  I had spent every waking hour hunting for Dungeons and training my body in near orbit. I hadn't even entered another town. I tried to but left after everyone ran away screaming. So I focused on training, and now I can go mach 16 instantly. However, I still can't make my thoughts fast enough to tell what I'm even doing at that speed. My EA skill helps but it's not perfect it would seem.

  I was at the last Dungeon, but I couldn't get inside. Once I tried I was simply stopped. My astral projection refusing to go into the Dungeon. I couldn't see it still, but I couldn't go where it was either.

  I still had 5 days until the Quest was over, but I suppose it was time to move on.

  "System, I'm ready for the portal now." I spoke out loud, calling to the greater System.

  "Oh? Finally ready are you~?" It asked with the same blunt collection of noise but I knew it was smug.

  "Yeah yeah. Good job on finally stopping me from my Dungeon crawling. Now the portal?" I urged, having had this conversation before. Instead of denying it, I was asking for it this time.

  "Of course~! I have just the place in mind. A place where you could do everything you ever wanted. Even Dungeon crawling~!" It said with a little bit too much happiness. Very suspicious.

  "...Okay? This portal will lead me to a more advanced solar system right?" I asked, staring at the vortex of blue appearing in front of me.

  "Indeed! It's exactly what you deserve." I swear it sneered that last part.

  "Alright... Well thanks, I guess?" I muttered as I walked through. When my body made contact with the floating vortex, I heard it start laughing maniacally.

  Everything started going blue then white, the System kept laughing. It got quieter and quieter as I felt like I was moving. Like I was getting farther away from the System. Which shouldn't be possible if it's everywhere...

  I was very worried now.

  ...

  I opened my eyes after a good long while in the white void. My senses returning to me slowly.

  I was standing on a mountain peak, everything covered in snow and the clouds blocking my view below.

  "Huh. Guess it's not a death trap after all." I mutter and look around. Finding that my glorious orb is missing.

  "No... NO! WHERE IS MY ORB?!" I yelled as I frantically looked around. I had carried that thing around for weeks!

  There was no portal. No vortex. There wasn't any evidence it had rolled down the mountain either. Which only meant... 'It was left behind.' I slumped as I felt despair.

  My orb was gone. I wouldn't be able to get it back, since I was considered too advanced for the previous world. I didn't even know the name of this one. With a sorrowful sigh, I lifted myself into the air and started flying away from the peak.

  It didn't take long to go below the clouds blocking my view and I saw... Nothing but green. Forest. Forest everywhere. Far denser and much bigger than Gahlora's. Something was off.

  'If this is supposed to be more advanced... then where are the cities?' I thought to myself as I started flying faster. I was estimating around mach 3, that's what I found myself using most of the time while in high altitude. I still didn't see any signs of civilization.

  I stopped my flight as I saw something moving in the forest. Something big. As I watched, I listened. The sounds I was hearing from the ground below could only be described as to what I think the Jurassic time period sounded like. Roars and screeches along with what sounded like bird calls reverberated throughout the land. Either this place had large animals, or it was infested with monsters.

  I heard something to my left and there was a large collection of birds. Just a massive swarm of flying creatures. Then a pink streak came from somewhere and rammed into the collection. Dispersing them. It was a massive pink winged thing. I had no idea what it really looked like but if I had to say? It was a dinosaur. A pink pterodactyl, but more round. Also, much larger than the skeletons I saw in museums.

  It had rammed into the collection with it's mouth open, like a whale eating plankton. As I watched the first one hover while eating, I didn't notice the second one coming from behind me.