Chương 18: BUT YOU ONLY JUST ARRIVED

George was back in the cradle. The pieces of the tricycle were scattered around the room. The amenities he had purchased before were still stacked beside one wall. The blood was all gone. George looked down and noticed that the same was not true of his clothes. There was a large red stain where Charlie had stabbed him in the gut. Blood spattered the rest of his clothing.

"Ugh. Gross," George said.

"Nod?" He paused. There was no response.

"Nod?"

"Ah," George cast draw on the button, which jumped into his hand. Click. THAT WAS HIGH DRAMA, GEORGE.

"What was that thing?" George said. Click. THE KRAKEN? THAT WAS NOTHING. NO, I MEAN THE TRIAL.

"You paired me with a guy who transformed into a monster." Click. YES. YES. YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO DIE AND LOOK WHAT HAPPENED. YOU BLOOMED. THIS IS THE GAME. YOU ARE FINALLY PLAYING. AND YOU BRANCHED INTO AN ENTIRELY NEW PROBABILITY TREE IN THAT TRIAL. BRAVO, GEORGE.

"I had to kill someone." Click. AND NOT JUST ANYONE, GEORGE. A MOA AND A SAAR. YOU HAVE BOUGHT MORE TROUBLE FOR YOURSELF THAN YOU YET REALIZE. YOU WERE ENTIRELY OVERMATCHED, BUT YOU SURPRISED ME. AND I DO NOT SURPRISE EASILY. IT WAS DELIGHTFUL. SO MUCH THAT I'M THINKING OF ADDING ONE MORE ITEM TO YOUR TRIAL REWARDS. I DID PROMISE TO GIVE YOU A GIFT IF YOU MADE IT THIS FAR. THOUGH, I PROBABLY SHOULDN'T. AH, WHAT THE HELL? IT WILL BE FUN. WE'LL MAKE IT SOMETHING TO SUIT YOUR RECENT PERFORMANCE.

You Have Gained an Ability Name: From the Fragments to the Aftermath Dual Type: Mental, Temporal Tier: George Ascendant (Unique) Description: Increasing likelihood of epiphanic gestalt shifts compiled from situational stimuli when in dangerous circumstances. Effect increases with threat level. Time dilation activates at high threat levels.

"What is that? What is an ability?" Click. IT IS AN EDGE. AND AN EXPERIMENT.

"What does it do?" Click. EXACTLY WHAT IT SAYS. BY THE WAY, CAN I OFFER YOU A BIT OF ADVICE, GEORGE? THE NEXT TIME YOU ARE GIVEN AN OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN THE WAY OF ENCALAGON, TAKE IT.

"If you can answer without me clicking, why are you making me click?" George said.

"Hello?" Click. IT AMUSES ME.

"I want out of this game." Click. BUT YOU ONLY JUST ARRIVED.

"I am done." Click. THAT ISN'T HOW IT WORKS. YOU BEGGED TO BE HERE, THOUGH YOUR ENTIRE LIFE WAS BARELY A TRADE.

"Bullshit." Click. BETTER KEEP BUYING THOSE MEMORIES, GEORGE. YOU'LL GET TO THE NIGHT WE MET EVENTUALLY.

"I didn't ask for this. I don't want to be here." PARTIALLY TRUE AND PARTIALLY FALSE.

"Meaning?" Click. THIS ISN'T THE SECOND CHANCE YOU WANTED?

"No." ARE YOU SURE?

"Yes." Click. GEORGE. SOME EAT. SOME ARE EATEN. MY GAME IS A MACHINE FOR SORTING THE FIRST FROM THE SECOND. Click. Click. Click.

"Damn it." >>Ok. This was one of those "Nod goes to sleep" moments. What'd he say?

"That I somehow signed up for all of this." >>Hey, you got an ability, too! Sheesh… a guy is rendered unconscious for a few minutes and suddenly the plot is thickening left and right. >>That looks like a weird ability. Did he explain how it works?

"No," George said.

"Nod, the last hour has been crazy. I need to… I don't know… chill out for a minute." >>You should have saved some of that whiskey. >>By the way, why don't you get to clicking that button? In fact, how about you - and I can't believe I'm saying this - rebuild your trike device and get it rolling again?

"We just got swallowed by a space squid. Doesn't that warrant a day off?" >>'Fraid not. Look at the trial timer. George clicked the trial button and sure enough, he was about to get thrown into another one. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. New trial in 07: 57: 23 And the timer relentlessly ticked on. 07: 57: 22 07: 57: 21"Oh, no," George said.

"I thought there would be more time." >>See what I mean? This isn't the time to kick back and talk about our feelings. It is time to shake a leg. >>You don't have time to freak out. It isn't every day that you get swallowed by something with a galaxy inside it. But… it happened. Let's stuff it down and compartmentalize it so we don't have to look at it again. >>You males are supposed to be good at this stuff. >>How about this…

why don't we fabricate the calming illusion of an internal locus of control through the mystical power of… >>Prioritization! >>Behold: a To-Do List. Then, George saw a square appear in his vision, and a sentence appeared next to it as if it were being written by hand. ▢ Figure out the Quest system. >>It is like I'm writing directly onto the back of your eyes. This is fun! George noticed a new button labeled "Quests" appeared in his vision. >>Secondly, a store upgrade was one of the trial rewards.

We need to check that out. ▢ Deal with Store upgrade. >> Next, you have 107 gold to spend on your newly upgraded store. ▢ Go on shopping spree. >> Lastly, you grind skills and clicks to get a few level-ups and to see if you can rank up any skills before the next trial. >> Oh, and you'll probably be able to buy some new skills too. ▢ Pre-trial training montage.

"In the last trial, what was Charlie trying to do? He paralyzed me and put me on the table, and then you grabbed him. I mean… what the hell?" >>He wanted your tech. You haven't figured that out yet?

"My tech?" George said. >>Your body is a precious commodity. It is full of nanites. He was going to harvest you. Where do you think he was getting all those matryoshka figments? Not Home Depot. Those things were the externalized nanites from things he killed on his way from level 1 to level 65. >>…where he met his fate at the hand of a random noob and his face-crushing Node Spider. >>Nanites make the world go round. You can do almost anything with them. >>Like, heal.

"Or turn a door into a wall." >>The funny thing is, if he hadn't gotten on with trying to suck out your nanites, we'd be dead right now.

"How so?" >>I'll walk you through it. >>Charlie pulls George to table. >>George flops uselessly onto said table. >>Nod pops Charlie's face like a grape and grabs adjacent nano cubes. >>We reap what we sow. Fist bump! Nod raised George's right arm, ready for a fist bump.

"Uh uh, Nod. No more of that. My arm," George said. >>Got it, boss. Standing down from Emergency Conditions. We'll return to the polite fiction that I can't control your arm.

"Thanks for what you did, Nod. I'd be… I guess I'd be a pile of silver cubes if you hadn't intervened." >>I think the phrase you are looking is 'Domo origato, Mr. Roboto.' >>But Seriously. Say nothing of it. All in a day's work.

"All the same, I…" >>… Because I'm sure going to be saying plenty about it. >>Did you say you'd buy me another upgrade if I saved your life?

"No. I already got you three." >>One saved life = three familiar upgrades. Got it. >>Now… Shall we get on with our to-do list? Nod's list reappeared in his vision. ▢ Figure out the Quest system. ▢ Deal with Store upgrade. ▢ Go on shopping spree. ▢ Pre-trial training montage.

"Did we really need you to doodle that to-do list?" George said as he knelt down in front of the pieces of the broken trike clicker and began to reassemble them. >>Well. You keep killing all our new friends, so there is no one to draw a fake mustache on. Maybe we'll get more new friends soon. Until then... I am doodling. (- ‿◦) George selected the Quests button, and a string of notifications appeared. New Quest! Make a home Description: Where a man feels at home is where he's meant to go.

Completed: 0/1 Reward: Unique Button Upgrade, Party System, Portal Seeds New Quest! Find Family Description: All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Completed: 0/? Reward: Family is its own reward.

"Nod. Why does it say 'find family'? Does that mean my family is in the game?" >>I don't know. Remember, ALL CAPS dreamed up this whole thing. Maybe he's messing with you. Maybe not. Maybe the memories aren't as random as they seem. >>I couldn't help but notice that question mark on the description.

"Does that mean I have more than one family member in here? Why would they be in here?" >>Slow down, George. We'll take this one step at a time. Our list hasn't changed. We just have more reasons to do it.

"How are these the quests? You said they'd involve things other people needed from me." >>I said we didn't know what form they would take. And you still might get some from other people or trials. Who knows how many quests you can have at once? ☑Figure out the Quest system. George tied the last knot in the flight blanket and gave it a pull. The clatter of the batteries on the wheel striking the button filled the cradle again. >>Good on you. You are currently at 191, 445.

We might have a milestone achievement in store when we hit 200K. >>In the meantime, we press onward. Next step: Explore the Store upgrade. Bringing up the Store panel now. Store Upgrade Cradle: • Add Room—10 gold. Purchase and place. Easier than Legos. • Select Cradle Amenity—10 gold. Stock your cradle with the armoire/ficus/ottoman of your dreams! • Advanced Cradle Upgrade—40 gold. Offense, defense, and unique capabilities. • Refresh Selected Option—1 gold Upgrade Button: • +3 Clicks per minute—4 gold.

Still boring. We should still get it. • 2% chance of double click—2 gold. Ditto. • • Increase button mass—2 gold. Cheeky. I bet this is on here because you bludgeoned a guy with your button. • Refresh Selected Option—1 gold Upgrade User Interface: (Free slots: 3/3) • Increase Maximum Upgrade Slots—20 gold • Discard upgrade—0 gold • Ultralight filter—5 gold. An update to your interface that lets you see different wavelengths of light. I think. • Trap Detection—10 gold. Handy but currently irrelevant.

• Hidden Resource Detection—10 gold. Ditto. • Refresh Selected Option—1 gold Upgrade Familiar (Free slots: 3/3) • Increase Maximum Upgrade Slots—20 gold • Discard upgrade—0 gold • Body Upgrade—6 gold. Enable your node spider to more ably save your tuchus at the small price of ceding some of your bodily autonomy. Does not count toward available slots. • Subsonic Echo—5 gold. Hmm. Bat radar? • Resource Assimilation + Input Port—20 gold. Directly absorb resources to augment your familiar's resource pool.

• Refresh Selected Option—1 gold Personal • Food Pellet—2 gold. A solidified nutritional nano pill. Yum! • Maximum Heal—100 gold. • Locate Kit—20 gold. • Pepperoni pizza with pepper jack cheese and beer (IPA)—5 gold • Connect Cradle to the True World—100, 000 gold • Clean self—1 gold • Dispose of waste—1 gold • Sweat pants and t-shirt—2 gold • Refresh Selected Option—1 gold • Random Memory—5 gold Select Amenity—1 gold Pain for gold >>Well, that's neat. This is a much better version of the store.

And look, you can reroll the options if you don't like them. >> Although it looks like we have a limited number of slots for upgrades now. >>And look, Mom, expandable menus! Store ▶ Upgrade Cradle ▶ Upgrade Button ▶ Upgrade User Interface ▶ Upgrade Familiar ▶ Personal • Select Amenity — 1 gold Pain for gold ☑Deal with store upgrade.