A Gaming Conception
When I went to sleep, I didn't expect to be thrown into someone's Worm CYOA. I recognized it as the third version, but I don't remember making this one personally. But there is no time for that. If I hesitate I will age, if I retreat I will die.
And here's the second chapter. This is a story that I really like, so it should get at least a couple of chapters. But, regardless of that, it's time to continue the story.
Chapter 2
I was right on the money with my guess. I have been told that the news of my existence has been leaked, the corruption Cauldron allowed working against them with the subject being something that cannot be Pathed, and thus they couldn't afford to be seen as child murderers when they cannot use Path to Victory to make them look better about the situation. Overconfidence and paranoia abound in worlds-wide conspiracies, to say nothing about my Luck. They probably Could spin it in a way that makes them look better, like say I am some kind of new goblin made by Nilbog, but my Luck held.
I had to take many, many tests to make sure I wasn't infected by anything and such, but my powers meant that I couldn't really get sick or infected by anything unless it counted as some kind of disease, or something like that. Right now, I am waiting for someone to get back to me with forms for Wards membership. I do have the appearance of a 10/12-year-old, after all. And I'm not going to fight them, not in these circumstances, and not when I just walked out of the most dangerous city in the country as an unknown.
Surprisingly enough, I haven't been asked any questions as to my memories. I can't tell if they just assume that I am a Case 53, and thus it wouldn't make any difference, or a normal Cape that ran away and changed their appearance with the Self-Biokinesis they know I have. Either way, they didn't ask, and I gave them no reason to. They did ask how I got into the city, but I didn't know myself and told them so.
Besides, even if just sitting around for several days playing with my hair gets boring, it sure helped level up the relevant perks. They even allowed me to spar with one of the troopers yesterday. Sure, I wasn't allowed to kill him and thus didn't get XP from him, but I did get a quest to defeat him without killing. It only gave me a third of what it would have been, including material drops, but that was still more than anything I could have hoped for.
And I lost. These people are soldiers, specifically trained to fight people who may be faster, or stronger, or have superior firepower and range than they do. They aren't the peak of human potential, but they train to fight people like me, and I am only around a Brute 2-3. They may train to fight as a group, but they can not slack off when training themselves, for it could mean their death, the death of their comrades, and the fall of their city. We see them, if we ever see them, fighting against the Main Character, which means they have to lose. Then there is Contessa, the 'You lose because I Said So' character of Worm, who supposedly ran a path to have normals always lose to Parahumans. She cannot Precog anything to do with me, so there was no interference to make sure I would win.
In Brockton Bay, the main setting, the Cape scene features monsters such as; a Literal Dragon who is also the Hulk, Vlad-The-Impaler-Turned-Medieval-Knightzi with infinite iron spikes, a Teleporting Serial Suicide Bomber, a Human/Wolf-Shaped Blender, and He Who Can Build ANYTHING, once. None of them have low ratings in their categories. The last one might be considered a joke by everyone, but if he wanted to, he could end the world within a day. Is it any wonder they lose with all that against them? And then, one of their own consultants is a bond villain with ambitions to take over the city. The only reason they still have the city either out of the control of villains or not destroyed is because they also fight most of the others or just stay out of things as often or more than they do the PRT and Protectorate.
Even then, I am glad for the XP from the escape quest, enough to give me another level. But the real gem of that quest was the random skill, in this case [Blacksmithing]. It is the skill of crafting things out of metal. But it makes no distinction between using a forge and otherwise. As long as I could manipulate the metal well enough to change it into something else, I could use the skill. And given my power seems to work more off of concepts than actual, human skills, as shown with the evolution of my body manipulation skills, I have high hopes for it.
That did little to mitigate my boredom, however. Even the requisite skill, [Appraisal], that was exactly what it sounded like, didn't keep my boredom at bay for long. It is basically the Observe skill seen in most Gamer stories and even the original Web Novel. It is a requisite skill because, as a Blacksmith, I need to be able to tell the quality of the materials I use and the finished product.
In fact, I got so bored I started weaving with my hair. It didn't hurt any, and I could control the individual strands of hair while cutting them off from whatever point I wish. This gave me almost unparalleled control over what it looked like, unequalled save for maybe some interpretations of Parian. Or it would, if I had any actual knowledge of how to make it look how I wanted. As it was, what I had made was basically worthless scraps of differently colored cloth. The skill given, [Weaving and Tailoring], leveled up very quickly, however, given that each strand of hair is being woven together individually. Controlling each of the strands, and so many of them, at the same time was what really leveled up those skills. As it is, I am confident in my ability to use four weapons at once.
I stopped my weaving when I heard a knock on the door. Opening it, I looked out to see a trooper holding the paperwork for, I assume, where I was to be stationed. "Here you go," the trooper said in an almost annoyingly cheerful tone. "After you've finished, there'll be someone else here to bring you to the next area."
Eyeing the sheets of paper I now held, I sighed and got on with it. The very first thing I saw told me what they thought of my circumstances, being the words 'Case 53'. Looking through and signing my new name in the required areas, I also filled out the other sections given, including some of what my powers were. What I put was what I could do in the most basic. 'Analysis and Listing of Attributes,' 'Subspace Storage,' and 'Self-Biokinesis.'
Given my speed and [Multitasking], I could continue working on my weaving while filling out the paperwork. It went a bit slower, considering I couldn't use as many strands individually, but the paperwork was filled out quickly enough and I could use the extra strand that was now available.
XXXXX
A few hours later, I started moving around in the clothes I had just finished. Amazing what almost a day of practice can do, when you have the powers I do. Now I am almost a carbon copy of Rimuru from the anime, except I lack the mask, sword, and my hair reaches the floor. I could keep my hair to the same length as his, but that limits the range I can use my additional weapons with. And while I could just grow and cut my hair each time, that takes time I might not have in battle, and growing my hair takes mass from the rest of my body. If I lack some kind of buffer, which I eat food to store as, then the skill starts cutting into my health. And I don't think I have to say how dangerous that could be.
A knock on the door cut off my thoughts, and I walked over to open it. This time, it is a female trooper at the door. "Please hand me the paperwork." I did as she asked, and she left, coming back soon and without the paperwork. "Now, I am supposed to be bringing you to the testing room. Follow me."
The testing room, apparently number three, was a short distance from the room I had been given for the past few days. Considering the state of the building we're in, I'd take a guess and say that it isn't often occupied by very many people. This isn't a very nice place to be, so it does make sense. That meant that at least a few more people were relocated here, due to me.
The tester was pretty much the caricature of a scientist, brown hair, glasses, lab coat, but instead of a clipboard, he was stationed at a computer.
He looked up from his work as the woman next to me cleared her throat, "Mr. Pruce? This is the Parahuman I was asked to bring you."
He looked at me now. "Yes, thank you, Ms. Anthins. You may leave now."
She looked, or at least her body language given the helmet, a bit unsure. "But, sir..."
He glared a little at her. "Now, Ms. Anthins. He has been perfectly cooperative since he got here. And if nothing else, we have containment foam." She nodded and left the room. He turned to me again, "You say your name is Rimuru Tempest, correct?" When I nodded, he to another chair next to him and continued. "Please, sit. You wrote that one of your powers is 'Analysis and Listing of Attributes,' do you mind explaining further? We like knowing what Capes know they can do before testing, so we know where to start."
I brightened and nodded. "Sure! I can see floating blue screens that tell me things. They say my name, things like Str: 19, Dex: 21, Luk: 100, and skills like [Blacksmithing]."
"Hmm, so this floating screen told you, your name is Rimuru Tempest? Never mind, you just said it did. Well, Subspace storage is rather obvious, but do you know what you can't do with it?"
"I can't put animals or people into it, but as long as I can pick something up and push it into the blue screens I can."
He typed that into the computer. "Now, as for your last power, what can you tell me about it? Other than being Biokinesis and limited to yourself, of course."
"I couldn't do much at first, but now I can control my hair, I even made my clothes out of it! I can change the color of my eyes as well. Oh, I can make myself heal faster, but that hurts sometimes unless I've eaten recently. And then I get hungry again."
More typing. "Alright, now we can begin the actual testing. We'll start with observing, as far as we can with the equipment we have here, just how strong you are. This machine here..."
XXXXX
"Now that we've finished the physical portion of your testing, I have some information to give you. I have been told that you are going to be working at Brockton Bay. I have also been permitted to tell you why. You see, years ago, an S-Class Parahuman who called himself Nilbog took over this city. His power was a type of Biokinesis, making him able to turn humans into those goblins you were fighting inside the walls. Dozens of Capes and many squads of PRT were sent to deal with it. Many of the Capes died, and only two of the non-powered soldiers `survived. Director Piggot, now head of the ENE PRT, was one of them. The other was Thomas Calvert, now retired and serving as a consultant. Both of them live in that city. The higher ups think it is for the best that you be placed people who can understand."
I slumped a bit at the memories that brought up, pulling my knees to my chest. I didn't really think about it while trying to escape the city, but the realization of what I had done came to me on the first night. They may not have been anymore, but those goblins I killed used to be human beings, once. And I didn't even think about it, didn't have time to think about it, because it was always one enemy after another, one battle to the next. I never even really had two minutes to just sit and think, I was just slaughtering everything in my path for nearly three hours.
And while that is a lot of dead bodies left behind, it's even more frightening to think that Nilbog just didn't care. He has an entire city of disposable minions, and those I killed barely made a dent. Even then, he could just recycle most, or even all of them. And that is why I didn't die. He just didn't care enough about those few deaths, even if they are his children, so I wasn't buried in enemies far stronger than I could deal with.
But regardless, that is still more corpses left in my path than I ever wanted. And humans, especially when we don't live in a death world like Worm, are raised to value human life. I was the same, and it was only instinct, knowing that it was kill or be killed, that kept me going. I started crying again, like I did on the first night. I had pushed these thoughts out of my mind after finally getting to sleep then, distracting myself with other things and forcing myself to go to sleep with my power immediately after getting into bed. And while I know that wasn't a healthy thing to do, I didn't know what I should do, what else I could do.
I felt some one hug me, then. Maybe my emotions regressed along with my body, maybe it was everything that had happened to me in the past five days. I don't know which it was, and I don't really care, either. All I wanted to do was accept the comfort given to me. And so, I hugged them back, even though my arms were too short reach all the way around, and cried into the shirt of the scientist holding me. It took a while, but I did eventually feel better, at least enough to stop crying and wipe my face.
Looking up at him, I gave a watery smile and asked many questions with one word, "Why?"
He gave his own, sad smile, and an answer to several. "I may be a scientist working for the PRT, the people who fight against Capes, and you may be a Cape yourself. But you are also a child. A child, who has no real idea of where he is or what he has been thrust into. A child who's first memories, here, are of fighting for his life against monsters in a body that is not the same as the one he used to have. And then after that, when he was put through almost every test that might tell them if they were going to be allowed to live... or if they were going to be executed for the possibility of unleashing a disease that could wipe out cities. A child with powers, that he used to keep himself alive, to kill creatures that were going to kill him. A child with no parents, no one to take care of him, no way to heal the trauma he went through to survive. A little boy, that reminds me of my son."
XXXXX
And that's the chapter. A bit shorter than I normally would like, but there was no better place to stop that I could use. And basically none of that last scene in the chapter was planned, it took me completely by surprise. The chapter in general is also rather dark in places, which I didn't expect. I shed a few tears myself by the time I finished that last paragraph, and now I feel almost burnt out by all the emotion in it. I do, however, think that this chapter fits better with the source and the story itself than what I had originally planned, even if I have to alter a few things now to fit with the chapter. Oh, and don't expect a chapter for a while now, please. I'm going to have to get back in the mood for writing again, and that might take a while. I did write pretty much every word of both of these chapters on the same day, after all, and the emotion put into writing this one in particular didn't help.
The scientist and PRT guard were meant to be, and in the case of the guard will continue to be, minor throwaway characters. For all intents and purposes, Ms. Anthins is just any other PRT soldier in a helmet. Mr. Pruce will develop on his own, as he did here, however I would like to ask anyone who reads this to help me figure out a name for him. There won't be any vote, I'll just go through to see if anyone has either commented or messaged me and chose one I like.
On Rimuru. He is going to be different from the character he is based off, at least for the duration of this story. He is currently ten years old, and didn't get past the age of 15 before this happened. I do have ideas for sequels in mind, using Victory Conditions and then something from that setting to continue.
As a final note, there will be plenty of things that aren't canon with the Web Serial. More specifically is my interpretation of several things, mostly dealing with what I've said about Brockton Bay and the PRT. My decision to have the PRT more individually competent, or at least seeming so, is due a lot to the narrator being first person and rather low-powered compared to most Capes we see. If he has Eye of the Mind Lv3, than that trooper had it as level 10. That is the sort of thing they need to survive. We don't see it work, in my interpretation of canon, because the enemies we see them go up against are very good themselves, and/or not allowed to lose. Rimuru was rather arrogant, and forgot that even if his opponent was weaker, their job was to fight people who would often be even stronger than he is. The thing about a power like the Gamer is that it takes time to set up. He's had it for about five days, of which he only spent about three hours fighting and training.
