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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N2MEj_WtkY99oFe3tfiOaa69uYDgaJor7o8yQ1lrFaA/edit?usp=sharing
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While he’d been being a bit tongue-in-cheek with his statement of signing at that moment, Bev clearly had been hoping for something like that.
She held out an illusory display of text, but Alex didn’t bother looking at what she handed him even as he took it, as he was presented with a System Prompt.
Apology Tutorial Notice:If you agree to this, your choice upon reaching Dorgon will be pre-made, and you will not be permitted to change your selection.
Moreover, you will not be offered other incentives that might otherwise have been available to sway your choice.
You have been warned.
Alex glanced at the simple contract, seeing it only contained what she’d said, he would pilot a drop ship and lead forces on the ground in the initial assault, thereafter joining the rotation of boots on the ground for the remainder of the campaign.
As to what he would get? He would get a detailed schematic of any skeletal augments he desired—so long as they were purely biological—and medical assistance and monitoring as he made the changes.
That was it.
With the System notice in mind, he decided that it actually wasn’t the worst time to sign, even if he wouldn’t be signing this. He gave Bev a grin. “Are you empowered to negotiate?”
She returned a small smile. “Yes and no. I have some latitude, and I can make more explicit some things that are implicit, but for anything extreme I’ll have to ask up the recruiter chain.”
That made some sense. “Alright. So? What can we do to sweeten this? Right now, you’re only offering information, which is all but free for the Imperium. I’m putting my life on the line and volunteering for a critical mission.”
She chuckled. “First, anyone doing a hot-drop will be given a pop-shield in some form. I can make it explicitly yours to keep throughout the campaign and even after. We wouldn’t maintain it for you, but you could use some of your pay or campaign contribution to enhance it. As to what it is, if you didn’t know: it’s a magical defense that will perfectly negate one same-tier source of damage of any kind—even siege class—but it has a five minute recharge under ideal circumstances.”
Alex was momentarily confused, but then he understood. “Last resort landing solution?”
“Precisely. Damage from a like-tier planet strike is among the more common things negated. It can also help with anti-air fire in the case of drop-ship breach.” After a moment’s thought, she added, “And for such a breach as well.”
Alex… was feeling less certain about this agreement.
“So, that is standard. You’d get it either way, but I can write it in for your comfort and change the supply officer’s discretion to an explicit granting of the item to your ownership.”
“Can it be improved at all?”
She shook her head. “Not as part of this deal. Such augmentations are too costly to be doled out in that manner.”
He grunted. “Alright. What else?”
She gave a small smile. “Well, you will also get a disciplinary pistol since you’ll be overseeing grunts.”
He blinked at that, suddenly feeling a bit uncomfortable. “To kill anyone who disobeys or flees?”
“What? No.” She shook her head, giving a throating chuckle. “You shoot them in the head, and it knocks them out.”
“Oh.” He gave a slow nod, still not quite sure he understood. “Some sort of tranquilizer then?”
“No.” She gave a wry smile, amused by the very notion. “It’s a standard, heavy round. Their physical stats are so elevated that it has no hope of doing permanent damage. Our grunts wouldn’t go down from anything as simple as a tranquilizer, even magical ones. They’re augmented to negate poisons, venoms, and other toxins as a part of their class. It pushes on the edge of an attribute, but even the Imperium hasn’t been able to consistently cross that hurdle.”
“Alright…” He was becoming more and more uncertain about this whole thing. “What would I normally be offered to incentivize volunteers?”
She thought, tapping her fingers. “It would depend on the number of others considering, and how many spots they still had to fill.” Her smile was conspiratorial. “Supply and demand and all that. The Imperium doesn’t force anyone to participate in dangerous missions, but we make it silly to refuse wherever possible.”
“Some examples?”
“An upgraded coverall, various bits of defensive gear or armor. Specialist training…” She glanced at her wrist. “It seems that you are barred from that particular option though.”
He grunted in acknowledgement.
She let out a sigh and shrugged. “Honestly, if you have a need or want, we can usually work something out, the extent of which is determined—as I said—by supply and demand.”
“And right now, there is little of either.”
She shook her head. “On the contrary. Right now, we are projecting the need, and it is great. At the same time, these offers are being made across the fleet. The more interest we gather the less we will offer, but the more who refuse, the more we can offer.”
That… once again made sense. “Alright.” He considered, then just decided to ask. “What would you recommend based on my status sheet?”
She grinned. “Well, there are parts hidden even from me, and I won’t ask you to unveil them. Honestly, I hope you just have unusual spacing around your attributes, and that’s what I’m going to continue to tell myself.” She smiled at her own self deception before listing out a few options, but one thing stood out in his mind. “Natural treasures?”
“Yes. Items that can impart magical enhancement to your body through a modification of your Life Force.”
Alex frowned. “So… Attributes?”
She shook her head. “No. These are not inheritable.” She hesitated. “Well, the ones that we even could offer you aren’t. Some incredibly rare Natural Treasures can have impacts on future generations. Still, even the more standard ones are rare and useful. They can be similar. By the fourth furby, they can augment Attributes, but they aren’t Attributes.”
“Understood. So… what natural treasures are available?”
“That will be determined upon arrival.”
He sighed. “Right…” After a moment, he nodded. “I want my choice of natural treasure, and an upgrade to my coverall, the extent of which to be determined by the value of the natural treasure I choose.”
“Inversely related of course?” She verified.
“Of course. If there are any biological augments that would complement the skeletal changes, I want those. And I want all the ‘unspokens’ to be spelled out.”
“I think we can do most of that. Particulars to be decided upon arrival at Dorgon?”
“Yes.” He nodded along.
She looked down, seeming to be checking boxes and making selections in the air. “As to the other biological augments… I can give you one to be decided after you choose how you’ll reshape your skeleton.”
He considered for a moment before deciding that he really had no idea, and at some point, he’d have to give some trust. “That seems reasonable.”
She considered, then nodded. “I agree. I think that this is perfectly reasonable, and the inbuilt flexibility shows your trust in the Imperium and allows me to approve it without seeking higher authority.”
“Great.” He frowned as a sudden thought came to him. “Sorry. Wait. I just realized something. I would also like two System made Rings of Regeneration for Health, of Common grade, unless higher rarity is available.”
She gave him a flat look. “Those are System granted items, Helmsman Alex.”
“Yes? That is what I said…”
After a long moment. She sighed. “I can ensure you get those upon arrival at Dorgon before your initial planetside deployment, but it will have to be in place of the other biological augment.”
Alex grimaced at that. “What about in place of the coverall enhancement?”
She considered. “That… I could do that, but that change will limit which natural treasures you can choose from.”
He only thought about it for a moment before deciding. “I’ll agree to that.”
Less than five minutes later, Alex put his thumb on the offered contract, his Life Force seemingly marking the deal.
Bev smiled his way. “Now, there are some basic skeletal changes that we include in every package, but beyond those, I need to know your desires. Do you want to be the same weight with strong bones? Do you want to be as heavy as possible? Your bones as strong as possible? Do you want your bones to bend rather than crack or break? Resist bludgeoning damage or cutting more? Do you want to maintain standard movement? Or do you not care?”
Alex considered, feeling a bit overwhelmed. “What about blood production?”
She nodded. “We can include that as a priority. It will increase your caloric needs when it is working at that increased capacity.”
“That just makes sense. Beyond that… I think I want the bones to be as resilient as possible. Can they be altered to help with muscle connectivity?”
She nodded. “That is part of the standard change. I’ll note that our standard biological ‘clean-up’ will include fixing up your joints.” She frowned then. “Honestly, for a man your age to have never had a magical tune-up of your biology… It’s puzzling. Moreover, the damage and degradation I’m seeing seems to indicate incredibly low magical density for most of your life.” She narrowed her eyes and looked up at him. “Assuming you didn’t lie about your age? Lying to the Imperium isn’t usually a good plan.”
He quickly waved her off. “No. I’m in my thirties.”
She grunted and sighed. “Fine. Well, as such, you are showing your age even more than usually expected. We’ll be clearing out your circulatory system of plaque, and making everything just a bit more efficient.” She shrugged. “I can give you a detailed breakdown, but most find it needlessly convoluted.”
He waved that off. “Understood, and no need.” He frowned. “Out of curiosity. Isn’t most of this just taken care of with stats?”
“In a sense, but actually no. That is a common misconception, though.”
Alex huffed a laugh. “Alright then. Care to explain?”
She gave him a half smile. “Of course. Stats can be thought of as magical enhancement of what is already there. A giant with 10 Physical Power will be stronger than a human with the same. Does that make sense?”
Alex’s eyes widened. “So… this clean-up and the other changes alter the base that stats enhance?”
“Exactly.”
“Is there anything that enhances Life, or Life regeneration?”
She gave a sad smile. “That is a common ask, but unfortunately, the Imperium is unaware of any means of passive Life regeneration. There are some known natural treasures that allow for the recovery of such through certain activities or consumptions, but those are not available. Some Attributes can as well, but we’ve no way of imparting them to you.”
Alex blinked at that. So… What I have is even more unusual than I thought. He supposed that given how the Watcher talked about it, he shouldn’t be surprised. “Understood.”
She smiled. “Let’s get to it. Have you used this Attribute yet?”
Alex shook his head. “Though, I have looked at it, and it appears that the System is giving me some assistance. I have some selections I can choose from, or I can free-form modify.”
“Oh! That is spectacular. Often Attributes are on the periphery of the System, making them harder to work with. If what you say is the case…”
She altered several somethings on her wristband and held it up toward Alex.
To his mild surprise, a prompt appeared in his vision.
Notice:The Innominate Medical Officer is attempting to grant you access to select Imperium skeletal modification templates.
Do you wish to accept?
Y/N
Note:If you do, they will appear on your menu. The System makes no guarantee that such offered options are superior—or even viable—when compared to what was already in place or on offer.
As this is a tutorial, you will not be able to receive truly harmful schema from an ‘authoritative’ source.
Alex accepted, seeing his sparse list of offered options expand. “I see them.” He frowned. “But not many. Can’t I have all the Imperium modifications?”
“I mean… you can? It might clog your menu. I also thought it might be better to just focus on the change you want to make right now.”
He ‘hmmmed’, then nodded. “I suppose. I think I would like the schema for the most optimized for each given goal set, but that can be after we do this.”
“Understood and agreed. Now, I think that you should try to modify a single finger first, and if that is bearable—and after you complete the process—I would recommend you alter your skull as the first major change. That is the most oft selected option we provide and with good reason.”
Alex decided to follow her advice, navigating to his left ring finger and choosing the options she’d sent over: making the bone as resilient as possible—while keeping the weight within 10% of unmodified bone—and prioritizing blood and other biological production.
Later, he might change his mind and make his extremities as resilient as possible and move all blood production elsewhere, but he wasn’t going to ‘get fancy,’ not yet.
In the menu, he wasn’t able to adjust features like sliders in some RPG. Instead, he had the options that Bev had put together and offered up to him.
He could either take one of them or try to modify things on his own, and that looked more akin to chemistry and detailed architecture than ‘feature selection.’
He chose the desired model: Blood Punisher was only a slightly ominous name. “What’s with the name?”
“Hmm?” She glanced at her wrist and then grunted. “Oh, the most common unit to use that particular modification set are our frontline fighters who use blood based magics or abilities, hence their need for refills, as it were.” She paused. “I do recommend that you either get a large stock of food to carry with you in some manner or some form of mana to food of at least Rare quality, with biases toward efficiency, calorie density, and necessary nutrition.”
He blinked a few times. “I can understand the first two, but is the second really required?”
She gave him a flat look. “I once had a patient whose idea for that skill was Create Icecream.” She shook her head. “Let’s just say, there were… issues.”
“Noted. I have Create Rations, but it isn’t very advanced.”
“I saw that. You should work on it. The ship’s mess would be a good place to figure it out.”
He frowned, a bit confused. “Why… Why would I need a kitchen?”
She gave him a puzzled look. “Do you practice fighting in your quarters?”
“Well… no.”
“Could you fight in there if you needed to?”
“Of course.” He gave a slow nod. “I see. It will be easier to work on a food related skill in the proper environment."
She smiled. “Exactly. Good to know those Mental Stats aren’t just fun numbers.”
He sighed, then chuckled. “Fair.”
He selected the Blood Punisher schema for his left ring finger and accepted the confirmation.
With interest, he watched the finger for a long moment. Shortly, he noticed a blinking notification and pulled it up.
Wounds:Deformed Finger Bones x3500HP x3
Huh… that was… interesting. So, his bones were now registering as wrong to the System. Specifically, they were deformed.
He started absently scratching as he considered.
Rather than alleviating the itch, the scratching seemed to highlight it as his focus snapped to the finger fully once more.
He could sense power moving through it, flowing from his body as his health regeneration was dumped into the 1,500 health point requirement to ‘heal.’
Bev gave him a consoling look. “Itching can be a side effect. Apologies. It is statistically more likely to happen if you are forewarned, otherwise I’d have done so.”
He grit his teeth, internally convincing himself that: no, it would not be a good idea to use his small force blades to cut through and directly scratch the bone. “Yeah… This isn’t great.”
The medic gave him a sympathetic look. “Yeah, it isn’t pleasant.” She frowned. “Though, most people are able to bear it better than you are. How fast are you healing?”
“I should be done in another few seconds.” He glanced at the notification once more.
Wounds:Deformed Finger Bones x3152HP x3
His eye twitched. Why are they healing all at once? That isn’t how things have worked in the past.
Bev’s eyes widened. “How… Huh. Right, you have a ring of regeneration. Common grade too.” She nodded. “That makes sense I suppose. Good piece of gear.”
Alex sighed as the itching finally faded. “There. Done.”
She smiled appreciatively. “That is definitely reduced time, but it increased the… discomfort.” Her smile began to fade. “Still, that was… that was really fast.” Her frown increased. “Unbelievably so. There is no way your healing rate is high enough to be done already.”
He grunted, still focused on the uncomfortable feeling. “So, itching was a sign of healing?”
“Exactly…” She was slowly shaking her head. “But the speed… It should have taken far, far longer than that. With a skill or Attribute like that, the infirmity of deformed bones—as the bones are no longer in alignment with how they ‘should’ be after the manipulation—should have a modifier allowing you to heal them despite that label, but it should still take… Days? Hours in your case I suppose.”
Alex frowned, then pulled up the Attribute description:
Basic Skeletal Structural Remodeling (Level 1)
Details:Innate ability to shift the base state of your skeletal structure, that which you will return to upon magical or mundane healing.
Description:So, your bones are not to your liking… your bones? Your bones now?
Fine…
You have fought creatures who can wield their own skeletons as powerful offense and defense, and you decided that’s a pretty cool racial trait they have. In fact, it would be nice if you could have it for yourself.
Your Life has learned to alter the blueprints of your very skeleton. As such, all wounds of the skeleton are no longer such, being a simple reduction in your HP and healed when your HP replenishes, and infirmities of the skeleton are now only wounds, needing HP, not Life, to correct.
He, narrowed in on one portion: ‘...infirmities of the skeleton are now only wounds,’ He cleared his throat. “It seems that this one reduces bone infirmities to be merely wounds?”
She blinked a few times, seeming to have trouble processing what he’d said. Then, her eyes widened. “What.”
He shrugged. “It says what would have been wounds will just be HP damage, and infirmities are reduced to wounds. Is that… Is that unusual?”
She met his gaze. “Do. Not. Tell. Anyone.”
It was his turn to blink in confusion. “What? Why?”
“Helmsman Alex. We just discussed that the powerful want to have those with Attributes as a parent to their children?”
Alex had a suddenly sinking feeling. “...Yeah?”
“You just became a very eligible candidate.”
Well… I am really quite flabbergasted by this development. He then considered his eight other Attributes in addition to his race. “Oh, System… what unbelievable horrors have you brought down upon me…”
<Author’s Note to Readers: This is not—nor will it ever be—a harem or ‘genetic material donation’ story. This most recent development will only factor in as something he has to be careful about/take into account when interacting with powers that be later in the story.>