Neither Evot nor the Shmees are clear on how the racial bonuses work yet, as those do seem to give flat stat boosts, but the blue boxes are still working a lot of stuff out. The amount of NANs and UNKNOWNs in magical classes, skills, and races is basically zero. All the modern stuff, like high tech alloys, outfits from modern fabrics and newly generated skills contain a lot of the UNKNOWN terms. It seems that the system is managing to keep up now that there are more users, all of them soul-bound, but it’s still lagging behind in certain areas.
[ Apparel scan ‘GalaxSec Constable Uniform’ at 59% ]
As is the case with her clothing, for example. They’d talked about a lot more stuff, but the only tangible result from the long and tiring discussion was one rule: ‘only level one aspect of yourself at a time’. In practice, this means that Evot shouldn’t evolve her race until she has maxed out the bonuses from her class. All in all, Evot is now even more confused about this entire blue box and mana thing, even after learning a lot about the way it seems to work.
Sighing deeply, a smile on her face, she recenters herself and tries to get back to work. She's been making massive strides in slogging through the massively complex bureaucratic clusterduck that is the universally recognized GalaxSec Regulatory Data Body, and things are starting to make a twisted form of sense to the woman. A single Mana Hand spell shape springs into being above her outstretched palm. Sitting in a rather nice lounge chair she nicked from one of the many corpse-laden resting areas, she relaxes while staring ahead. A thin blue limb picks up a page before bringing it to her face. She already read this one before, her Magical Memory skill supplying her the information on where it must be shelved. Her Indexing skill then brings up the relevant case number, along with the row, stack, box, and exact position inside the box where it should be stored. Her previous self would have killed for these abilities, and Evot honestly still can’t really believe that her life needed to take such twists in order for her to get to this paper Nirvana.
The second Mana Hand is cast next, as is the third, fourth and fifth. Eight in total spring up around her, slender arms made from semi-solidified mana, picking up pages, sorting documents, and bringing a steady stream of new text in front of her eyes. As she absorbs more and more of the physical archive, she zones out, letting her skills take over. A little while later, she feels like she has some room left, and casts another two mana hands. This continues for a while as she slowly yet surely makes the entire archive her own.
She knows why this ancient collection of regulations and codes is here now. Nowhere is it stated explicitly, but she has seen enough politically motivated legislature and bought-out motives to read between the lines. The base SI only having a fraction of these rules at its disposal is another massive sign pointing towards systematic obstruction of justice. Biological beings just don’t have enough processing power to handle this kind of workload. Even the Shmees, a race famous for their massive brains and unparalleled thinking power, aren't capable of handling such a monstrous body of law.
Not until now, though. Despite Ungud claiming that the system doesn’t directly makes someone stronger when they gain a point in their strength stat, for example, Evot feels smarter. And it's not just the skills either. Her own memory would never be able to recall and store all of the things she is learning right now, not in a million years. Despite that, she is able to find the relevant data nonetheless. Her own grey matter just feels more responsive, no doubt some form of a direct or indirect result of her increased wisdom and intelligence stats. Even agility must have a mental component, she muses, as moving quick needs quick thinking.
Speaking of that grey lunk and his girlfriend, after having Douglas reanimate Ungud’s second in command, Klattio, he had taken certain base blueprints from the archive and gone away. Evot doesn’t know where he is off to. Klattio seems to have everything under control, though. Feeling like holding ten Mana Hands spells while making them sort documents is actually pretty easy, she tries speaking up. “SI, base occupation?”
“Half of minimum occupation reached, Constable Deputy Evot.”
Assured in the knowledge that there is nothing better for her to do yet Evot sinks back into her archiving trance. The base isn’t even officially - and non-officially - operational because of low personnel numbers, so she continues to indulge herself. After a while, she finds that she can actually slip into a meditative trance while keeping on reading new documents. The tell-tale increased surge of mana coming from her forehead surprised her at first, causing her to lose the Meditation she was in immediately. Sinking back into the super focused yet relaxed state of high speed archiving, she only emerges from her work when the blue dots at the bottom of her vision tell her it’s really, really important by flashing furiously. Blinking her dry eyes while eating some more of the new rations she procured - the ones she’d stored in her room had somehow disappeared - she asks the blue boxes what’s up.
[ Speed Reading III lvl 31 ]
[ Archival Appraisement III lvl 20 ]
[ Archival Appraisement III has reached lvl 20; Apprentice Arcane Archivist 3/10 ]
[ Archival Assessment III has reached lvl 20; Apprentice Arcane Archivist 4/10 ]
[ Archival Assessment III lvl 24 ]
[ Indexing III has reached lvl 20; Apprentice Arcane Archivist 5/10 ]
[ Indexing III lvl 21 ]
[ Magical Memory II lvl 20 ]
[ Magical Memory II has reached lvl 20; Apprentice Arcane Archivist 6/10 ]
[ Mana Control II lvl 20 ]
[ Mana Control II has reached lvl 20; Apprentice Arcane Archivist 7/10 ]
[ Mana Sense II lvl 20 ]
[ Mana Sense II has reached lvl 20; Apprentice Arcane Archivist 8/10 ]
[ Meditation II lvl 20 ]
[ Meditation II has reached lvl 20; Apprentice Arcane Archivist 9/10 ]
[ Multicasting II lvl 20 ]
[ Multicasting II has reached lvl 20; Apprentice Arcane Archivist 10/10 ]
Her head spinning at this load of new information, she wonders why she feels so nauseous all of a sudden. Dry heaving a few times, she then notices the hollow feeling from her forehead. Blurrily trying to blink the fog in her brain away, the gaping void in her forehead clues her into what might be causing her dizziness. Calling up her mana pool numbers, she sees that it is in the single digits. Luckily for her, she retained the presence of mind to stow all the papers she was filing before switching her focus to the blue screens. The rather sharp stacks of documents all around her are in no position to cause more paper cuts this time.
Then Evot just chills and relaxes for a bit. Nearly no one comes to this level, but the base has roused enough that a steady murmur of conversation and the occasional scream is audible throughout the entire facility. She eats some more of her rations while sipping on some water. She’s pretty happy that she managed to weasel herself out of helping with the tedious process of revoking deceased statuses and the swearing in of new volunteers. She thinks about taking a nap for a bit, but with the amount of noise coming in through the stairwell and open door, and with the fact that there is still a lot of work that needs doing, she decides to check out what new classes she can choose.
Or, she suddenly realizes, she can choose a new race.
[ Tier 3 races available: ]
[ Human 0/30 ]
[ Soulbound Elf 0/30 ]
[ Soul Construct 0/30 ]
[ Lich 0/30 ]
[ Arcane Lich 0/30 ]
[ Histaff Hybrid Human 0/30 ]
[ Soulbound UNKNOWN alloy core 0/30 ]
[ Crystalweave Truthheart 0/30 ]
[ Tier 6 races available: ]
[ Soulbound High Human 0/60 ]
[ Arcane Human 0/60 ]
[ Spelltouched Human 0/60 ]
[ Manatouched Human 0/60 ]
[ ERROR Allot High Human ]
[ Crystalwoven Soulbound High Human 0/60 ]
A nervous spike of energy shoots through her gut at the options to change her very flesh and
blood appears in front of her like it's not a massive life changing deal. She can actually incorporate the very thing that has killed her entire planet, and it’s just a thought away. She knows that she should choose a tier 6 race, as that is what she has discussed with Ungud and his girlfriend. Lich is also tempting, in a very weird and freaky sort of way. Douglas will probably never even acknowledge her as a sexual partner, and with just a decayed skeleton as a body, so won’t she. It would make a tragic sort of sense, two undead skeletons in love.
Evot slaps herself, the pain giving her the clarity to notice the new addition to the list.
[ Crystalwoven Soulbound High Human; A new race. UNKNOWN. Incorporates Crystalweave into their form. UNKNOWN. +Str ++Agi +Con +Vit ++Int ++Wis ]
Sliding her hands over the small stack of papers in front of her, she remembers that all government issues documents are made from crystalweave. The stuff is so extremely abundant that no one ever really thinks about the reusable sheets of matter. The system is obviously still working stuff out, and Evot’s first instinct is to push the option away.
Then she realizes a small little inconsistency. All the other tier six classes are normal humans with something added to it. Only the most direct successor to her current race, the Soulbound High Human, has the ‘High’ prefix. Things click into place as she remembers the discussion she had with the two Shmees. Upon evolving a race, only a single aspect of the self can be changed, they had noticed. First, one's race can be changed, turning from a Soulbound Human into a Soulbound version of a different race. Secondary, the modifier of the race can change, turning a Soulbound Human into a normal Human or a Spelltouched Human. Thirdly, the race can be upgraded, presumably by adding the ‘High’ prefix. This new option has both, likely a result of the system struggling to keep up with recent events. Also, the Soulbound prefix is there, and despite how much she can't get used to having a horn on her forehead, she can totally see the advantage of the near indestructible thing protecting her soul. Already, the option seems to fade slowly, parts of the blue box flickering in and out of sight as if something is trying to take back the option.
Evot mentally slams on the Crystalweave High Human option before it can vanish and the world goes black.
⁂
Cold clamminess envelops her shoulder. The already pretty tight uniform - though less constricting around her chest - sticks to her even more, much to her sleepy dismay. “No!” she shouts, her arm fluttering away from the slimy grip it’s in.
“Ah, this is really interesting. Ungud is going to hate not coming down to get you. Your spark is lesser, though. The stats do go away again?”
Opening her eyes in a rather odd manner, Evot finds that she feels weird. Sitting upright, she notices that her skin is almost sparkling. She’d never been a fan of makeup or microsurgery, but she appreciated a couple of the better skin care products and treatments now and then. Her arm looks like it went through every single pore shrinking, skin smoothing, and exfoliating treatment on the planet. Looking up at the female Shmee, she suddenly recalls everything she has seen, read, and heard about her. Like pages in a book, each gesture, word, and relevant fact is just there in her mind’s eye.
“Oh my, your eyes are lovely. We really need to get upstairs, though. Ungud managed to get the external sensors going while we were digging towards the engines, and it's bad out there.”
“What is bad?” she manages to get out between lips as dry as parchment. Evot stands, her body still feeling like it’s partially in another dimension, and only half listening to her control.
“We’ve got a lot of unknown moving signatures that are approaching this position. None of the visual sensors work,” replies the Shmee in a bubbling manner. Evot remembers from a dark corner of her mind that the grey race’s pronunciation tends to get more slimy the less at ease they are. The many smacking lips and popping bubbles that come from the Shmee’s mouth make Evot’s guts twist in sympathetic anxiety. Then the woman realizes that she had read that little fact decades ago, back when she was just a little kid, in some races-of-the-galaxy kids book. Before she can fully process this sudden realization, she is guided out of the stairwell, and all of a sudden they have other things to worry about.
Describing things as bad out there is an understatement, she sees when walking up to Ungud. He is standing inside the circular ring of desks, which is now half manned with all kinds of creatures. Just like the ones stacking bodies to the side, they all have distinctly glowing blue eyes. This is not what makes Evot worried as heck, though. No, the rough map of the immediate surroundings is more than enough to make her swallow hard. She ignores the odd papery sensation she gets from her throat and looks at the holographic screen.
The rough hologram is a copy of the capital as it once was. Tall towers are dwarfed by taller spires which are miniscule compared to the floating ships and tethered apartments suspended above. In the middle of the massive architectural hive is the GalaxSec base. It used to be on prime real estate, in the middle of the capital. Many generations of buildings built upon buildings had downgraded the base's location to the underbelly of the city, though. Before the Histaff infection killed everyone, it used to be in one of the worst neighbourhoods around. The scanners and stored maps still seem to believe that this is the case, despite the fact that the base entrance is currently smack dab in the middle of a massive wasteland.
All that is old news, though, something Evot briefly feels some nostalgia over. Nostalgia accompanied by vivid mental pictures and super clear memories. The terrifying aspect of the entire thing is the ring of bright green signatures sticking out of the city here and there.
“Can't you increase the resolution? And are those clouds?”
“Only the sonic mapper works. So if those Histaff…”
“Gargantuans,” Evot snaps.
“…those Histaff Gargantuans hadn’t found us yet, they will now know where we are for sure.”
“Yes. I suspect that it's not just sound and sight that pulls them here, though.”
Ungud raises what Evot understands to be one of his eyebrows at that. She waves if off with a hasty “I’ll tell you later. What's the plan?”
Completely serious now, the trio starts discussing what needs to be done. The rough volumetric data coming from the sonic mapper shows very little, but with the right context, the data is terrifying. What Evot first thought to be clouds are actually moving masses of solid matter. The data displayed on the screen has a small density legend, and clouds would be displayed in blue. The only other green things visible on the holo display are the few ruins tall enough to be picked up by the sonic scanner. Evot tries to keep up with the high level analysis playing out between the two Shmee’s, but her vision keeps getting drawn to the map. She vividly remembers walking between the ruins, and although they might be but shells of their former glory, they were hundreds of meters high at minimum.
And the moving green masses easily dwarf the single iconic fragment of a skyscraper she recognizes. That tower of advanced plas-crete, reinforced with nano-tube strands of the strongest alloy commercially feasible is swallowed by one of the large green blobs in seconds. The spiky Histaff Gargantuan moves away, leaving nothing in its wake. Being chased by one of the massive weapons was bad enough. Evot wonders why she isn’t shaking in her boots at the thought of the entire army of them marching towards her now. She tears her eyes away from the display and concentrates on the discussion again.
Invigilator Klattio comes by once or twice and is sent away with short and authoritative commands from Ungud and his girlfriend. The steady stream of people coming from downstairs never stops, all of the individuals rather confused and groggy as they blink their glowing eyes.
“So, we will need to look outside anyway?” concludes Evot. The talk had all boiled down to a single conclusion. They are most likely pretty much screwed no matter how they play this, but someone will need to go and visually confirm the fact that those blobs are actually Histaf Gargantuans. That, and the
only feasible way of this planet consist out of either stealing those hover bikes or the ship they came in, or using the planet-dropped base. Neither seems feasible in any way, and the Shmee’s have basically admitted that they are screwed no matter what. The grey duo did explain to her, in no uncertain terms, that the miniscule landing engines of the base will not be able to get them off the ground. At best, they might be able to create a wall of fire around the base for long enough to find another solution. But, in order to know whether or not that will be effective at all, they will need to visually classify the specific Histaff creatures they are dealing with.
She is really nervous now. The plan they worked out is pretty simple. Just keep the Histaff busy until the base can be reinforced and the engines can be restarted. Simple, right? “Alright, let me call up Douglas then. He has the most firepower out of all of us. And is probably the hardest to kill,” she adds, nervously touching her own forehead horn.
“Douglas! Where are you?” she asks while grabbing the silver star pinned to her chest. On the one hand, she isn’t sure what Douglas can do about any of this. On the other, life doesn’t seem this bleak when the bony idiot is by her side.
“Hello?” comes the harsh reply.
“Oh, thank funk! Please come upstairs. We’re in trouble!”
As the line goes dead, she looks around for a bit. The two Shmee’s are conversing in terms that only vaguely seem like understandable language, leaving Evot to her own thoughts. She doesn’t really want to acknowledge the fact that she is immensely disappointed. But while looking around she realizes this fully, and it crushes something deep inside her. The archives were all that she ever could have wanted them to be. Their chaotic, near heretical and definitely criminal way in which the documents are filed is something she half expected. But the entire GalaxSec base is less than she had imagined in her worst-case scenarios. The interior is ancient, so old that the self-clean functionality must have stopped working ages ago. Seeing actual grime and filth inside buildings is a sure sign that something is deeply wrong. Either the building is literally cheaper than dirt or it’s been abandoned for hundreds of years. The filth on the walls and furniture is seriously stressing her out at this point.
GalaxSec: A Sci-Fi LitRPG (Skeleton in Space Book 2) Page 32