Funny how one second I could be standing in the heart of the Frigid Peaks, only to be standing in an empty field surrounded by a chain link fence the next.
For a terrifying second, the field reminded me nothing more than the empty lot that sat next to the scrapyard I’d visited the day I crashed. Completely nonsensically, part of me worried my life on Ro’an had been nothing but a dream.
Thankfully the sky was the one I’d grown used to, even if there was a thin purple haze obscuring it.
Other details quickly stood out, such as the shape of the chain links being subtly wrong, or the grass being closer to Ro’an’s than Earth’s, though it didn’t quite match either.
The silver drone hovering overhead, gave me a clue as to what happened, though it still took me several long seconds to realize I’d been kidnapped. When I did, I reached out to teleport away only to start cursing up a storm.
Wherever I’d been taken was cut off from the rest of Ro’an.
It was the stars that once again helped me ground myself, though this time I used them to figure out I was somewhere near the center of the continent.
Slowly I started to piece it together. The buildings in the distance were my first clue. I’d seen them before. Even with my memory recall and neural dynamics, it took a few seconds to remember they were from the city we passed in the Dauntless. The one that’d been frozen in time.
Once more, panic gripped me as I instantly did the math. A downside of my enhanced mind. If I was now frozen in time, the mere seconds it took me to assess where I was would’ve meant everybody I knew and loved had died.
In the time it took me to make that assessment, I knew it was off. I looked up at the silver drone. Then to the stars. If I was stuck in time, they should’ve been shifting. Yet they weren’t.
Which meant I just needed to find a way out of the no-longer frozen city. Preferably soon.
“Hello citizen. Please proceed to the nearest health diagnostic center,” a monotonous voice suddenly said from near my feet.
I looked down, expecting some sort of golem, only to be greeted by a glowing green arrow. It flashed several times, before turning into a line of arrows leading towards a nearby structure I'd overlooked. A simple concrete bunker with a red cross on the side.
“What… what even are you?”
Instead of a response, the strip of arrows simply flashed again.
Pushing the emotional disorientation I was feeling, I followed the strip inside, hoping for information. What I got was closer to a doctor’s waiting room. There weren’t even magazines.
What it did have, were simple stone chairs along one side. Plopped myself down in one, I used World Strider to feel out the spatial terrain again. It couldn’t be perfect.
My efforts indicated it might be. Seemed I’d need to physically fly outside the city to escape. At least it didn’t block travel within the city. Considering I didn’t have anywhere to visit, that was a rather moot point.
If I got out, it wouldn’t take long to catch up to the others. I’d mostly been waiting on them in the first place. With World Strider I’d be back-
My thoughts were interrupted by the voice once more. “Hello citizen, please lay upon the surface of the table while your health is assessed.”
The table (which I’d mistaken for an altar-like reception table) flashed with blue light that outlined the form of a person.
I got up, walking around the table. Then I brought up my notifications, specifically one I’d ignored while healing the wolves and their human friends.
Warning: Citizen retrieval mode has been activated.
If the System had retrieved me, would it keep doing so if I left?
“Is this part of my citizen processing?” I asked, not really expecting an answer.
Might’ve jumped a bit when I got one.
“In accordance with Star Union Health Ordinances, all citizens who have experienced extended periods away from controlled populations must undergo thorough medical examinations before being allowed to interact with the public. Please lay upon the surface of the table while your health is assessed.”
“Right. Interacting with the public. How about leaving?”
“After arrival, all citizens must complete a full examination prior to departing.”
“Guessing we’re doing this then,” I mumbled. Seemed like my best bet, at least for the moment. So, I laid on the table.
Met with soft comfort, I nearly hopped off the bed. What had seemed to be solid stone had reformed to my body.
“Please remain motionless for the duration of the scan,” the voice reprimanded me.
Once I did as asked it felt as if I was floating on one of Bevel’s cushions of air. Completely supportive yet never too much pressure.
“Scan initiated. Please wait.”
While it started what was apparently a lengthy process (judging by the glowing blue bar that appeared directly overhead, one that was mostly unfilled) I decided to give the notifications I’d been ignoring a closer look. It beat worrying about… everything. At least for the moment.
Integration complete.
Class-1 Citizen.
Funny how I felt very much not-so-first class at the moment.
Head of Maintenance position ratified.
Within the notification was an entire library worth of updates. A great many of them related to the empty positions in the rest of the department, both in death notices and proposed replacements.
In addition to personnel, there was a section for repairs and resources. Of which the city had a surprising amount of the latter, though there were pages upon pages of ‘critical’ resources that were just as critically, empty.
The System insisted repairs to the city were of the highest priority. Mainly because that’s where most of the citizens were.
With the initial overview of my new position done, I moved on to the achievements.
Achievement tally compiled.
When I opened the notification, a new set quickly followed.
Pre-ascension Achievements: 4
Achieved state-1 pre-ascension awakening! You achieved this feat faster than no other citizens!
It took me a few seconds to figure out it was referring to my awakening as a mage. Which I was only able to do by looking at the details of the achievement, which included a time-stamp for when it had been completed. Had it been tracking Perth even before he summoned me?
Also, just how early did most citizens normally awaken?
Stage-2 pre-ascension! You achieved this feat faster than twenty percent of other citizens!
It and the following achievements each had their own timestamps. Also, unlike my dismal performance in the first couple, my ascension to Hydra-souled was apparently impressive, even for a citizen.
Stage-4 pre-ascension! You achieved this feat faster than ninety-nine point nine percent of other citizens!
The lack of individualized messages was kinda reassuring, even if they were ridiculous.
Oathbound Achievements: 7
Swore a soulbond oath and committed to it for a year!
Inducted another into a soulbond oath more fitting to their service!
Brought an oathbreaker to justice!
At first I was confused by the apparent miscount, before realizing that it was counting the second four times last one twice.
Not only had I sworn in Nexxa and several clan lords, apparently I’d gotten partial credit for the defeat of Sarpit and the bear lord.
Maintenance Achievements: 3
Repaired critically damaged Mana Reactor at stage-2 pre-ascension.
Repaired critically damaged Mana Venting and Purification facility at stage-3 pre-ascension.
Restored partial functionality to Water Bypass Unit Three.
Wasn’t much to think about for the maintenance achievements at least. The reactor had been part of the Golden Halls repairs and the Mana Venting had turned into the Mana Lake.
Though the Water Bypass only being partially functional was a bit worrying. Maybe it was because the Waygates were only partially repaired?
The blue light swept over me, causing me to blink and shake my head as I moved on.
Total Achievement Points: 54,206,747.
That... that seemed like a lot.
As Bahama had hinted, each of the achievements awarded points, though it wasn’t as neat as ten for awakening. Actually, bad example, because Awakening was worth exactly ten points. But it was only worth ten points because I was slower than other folk.
It was also the achievement with the least modifiers. Every other had at least three which multiplied against the ‘base’ value.
A better example was my stage-2 pre-ascension, worth an even hundred. My ‘slow’ progression meant it got a bonus multiplier of one-point-two. There were also modifiers for stability, purity and secondary support. The last, which provided a flat doubling was simply listed as ‘other’ with no explanation.
All together, it meant successfully making it to Astral-souled had been worth a whopping 407 points to the System.
The biggest ascension related achievement was hydra-souled, which netted me an even hundred thou. The max, as the System put it.
Even that was dwarfed by my repairs. The Mana Reactor had been worth 2,821,000, the Water Bypass, 3,218,980 and the Mana Venting and Purification facility was worth an impressive 48,000,000 (MAX), as the System put it.
Which sounded great, but didn’t much matter when there was nothing for me to do with the points. At least, not from where I was sitting. Normally, one of the things a person could spend their points on, according to my System, was resources. Except…
I was the head of maintenance. Anything I needed could be requisitioned through the System. Maybe Bahama had some nice stuff sitting around?
Once more the blue light hit my eyes, this time seeming to hover there for a second before blinking off.
“Scan complete, citizen Percival, you may rise.” It was the same voice, but this time it didn't come from the floor or the table but from person who’d entered the room while I’d been distracted.
They were bald and a bit chubby. I would’ve put them at around forty if not for the way ascension messed with people’s appearances.
Also, it was a dead ringer for the robot I’d met under Bahama’s lair. This one was in much better condition, since it only flickered once, and that was barely visible.
“Welcome to Diagnostics Center. Congratulations on your recent advancement, citizen. Please wait while I access your file,” the robot said, bowing and nodding its head in slight acknowledgement. Then the entire image dropped for a second. “Ah. As the new Head of Maintenance there is a great deal waiting for your attention.” The robot held out a simple stone tablet.
I pushed its arm to the side. “Yeah, I’m sure there is. And I’ll get to it. But first, how do I get out of the city?”
“The city is on lockdown, as per order of the Head of Maintenance.”
“So… if I told you to lift the lockdown?”
“That is not my role. I am merely the post scan advisor.” Once more it held up the tablet. “Perhaps the answer you seek is in here.”
Accepting the tablet, it immediately lit up.
It was almost an understatement what the machine had said about the number of tasks to be completed. Trying to clear even a fraction of them would take the better part of a century, based on the System’s own diagnosis. The more surprising part, though, was the number of folk listed as existing technical engineers. “Who are these?”
“Those are the current certified engineers available for deployment. As you can see, they are all third through fifth-class citizens. I’m afraid no higher class citizens are currently awake in Lyrid City.”
“Available for deployment, huh?” I found myself repeating. “Lyrid City is where we are, right?”
The robot nodded and I caught another flicker. “Correct? Are you ready to assign goals or do you wish to conduct personal interviews?”
“Are those even possible? There are thousands of people on this list?”
“The previous Head of Maintenance could interview four hundred people every ten minutes,” the robot replied.
“Uh… I’m not there yet.” I tried to imagine if I had a set of spells that would let me achieve even one hundredth of that. And I could almost picture it. I had sufficient neural dynamics and memory recall. The real trick would be switching between several different conversations at once and…
I cut myself off, putting a pin in the idea for later. It wasn’t important at the moment. What I needed was a way to narrow down my options and end the lockdown. “How do I get out of here?”
The robot gestured towards the back side of the bunker-like building. “All current personnel are stationed within the safe zone of Lyrid City.”
“Guess I’ll just go that way then,” I said, nodding to the robot as I passed.
Just on the other side of the door was a golden veil of light, hanging like a curtain. I should’ve known from my times in the Halls of Ascension that the portal wasn't going to lead me directly outside.
Instead it deposited me in what looked like another waiting room. With my increased sensitivity, I knew I could have returned to the scanning facility, if I wanted.
More importantly, when I looked up from the pad, I found a woman at a desk.
She must’ve been surprised to see me, because her mouth was hanging open, a tablet dangling loosely from one hand.
In fairness, I found myself staring right back. She was human, of that I had no doubt. But parts of the right side of her face had been replaced by metal, with strips of neon pink lights illuminating her jaw and eyebrow. The pink was a perfect match for her mohawk, which stood a good foot in the air.
The tablet she’d been holding slipped from her hand, causing both of us to startle.
Even as I considered what I should ask first, she leapt forward and slammed down a button, yelling, “Quarantine breach!”
I just sighed as steel walls slammed into place on either side of the room.