Countdown

  Welcome to the Multiverse

  License Notes: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this e-book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Countdown: Welcome to the Multiverse 1

  Copyright © 2024

  Sean Oswald

  Contents

  The Story Up Till Now…

  Prologue- Moving Pieces

  Chapter 1- Travel Plans

  Chapter 2- The Price of Hitchhiking

  Chapter 3- A Stroll and a Chat

  Chapter 4- Offers

  Chapter 5- And the Fun Begins

  Chapter 6- A Quick Test

  Chapter 7- Bare Bones Skills

  Chapter 8- Down to Business

  Stats 2.0

  Chapter 9- Through the Gate

  Chapter 10- Understanding

  Chapter 11- Grinding

  Chapter 12- Variants

  Chapter 13- Target Practice

  Chapter 14- Soul Fire

  Chapter 15- Crown

  Chapter 16- Spells

  Chapter 17- Body and Mind

  Chapter 18- Lightning Round

  Chapter 19- Just What Can This Do?

  Chapter 20- Pushing On

  Stats 2.1

  Chapter 21- A Trap?

  Chapter 22- A Lot to Bite Off

  Chapter 23- Knife or a Book?

  Chapter 24 – Bad-She Banshee

  Chapter 25- Spirit Singer

  Chapter 26- Into the Lab

  Chapter 27- Working in the Lab

  Chapter 28- Crafting and Singing

  Chapter 29- Holding Off

  Chapter 30- Into the Labyrinth

  Chapter 31- Fighting, Hiding, Changing

  Chapter 32- Survival

  Chapter 33- Oasis

  Chapter 34- Oasis

  Chapter 35- Uncommon Core

  Stats 2.2

  Chapter 36- Guild Badges

  Chapter 37- Temptation

  Chapter 38- Stone, Fire, and Death

  Chapter 39- Teamwork

  Chapter 40- Throwbacks

  Chapter 41- The End of Life

  Chapter 42- Life From Death

  Chapter 43- Remembering Why?

  Chapter 44- UFO

  Chapter 45- Probing

  Chapter 46- Asylum

  Chapter 47- Magic or Science

  Stats 2.3

  Chapter 48- Back to Proximus

  Chapter 49- Into the Desert

  Chapter 50- Reclamation

  Chapter 51- Fifth Man

  Chapter 52- Be Very Quiet! I’m Hunting Wabbits…er Elves.

  Chapter 53- Sacrifice and Evolution

  Chapter 54- News Good and Bad

  Chapter 55- Back to Galen

  Chapter 56- Corporate Intrigue

  Chapter 57- Corporate Warfare

  Chapter 58- Heading to Prison

  Chapter 59- Mentally Unstable

  Chapter 60- Ground Zero: Oslo

  Epilogue

  Final Stat Sheet

  The Story Up Till Now…

  Induction, book 1 of Welcome to the Multiverse:

  We are introduced to Silas, a 22-year-old who put off college after two years of junior college, to help his mom and sister following the death of his father. Lightning seemed to strike for them as they learned about an inheritance for his mother from her deceased brother.

  It turned out to be more than that, though. They believed Uncle Dan was insane, but he had been a Forerunner; a representative for Earth in a competition between 5 worlds. Mark, Silas’ father was supposed to inherit his position, but cancer removed the possibility. Now, Silas was pushed into taking over as a Forerunner.

  His first exposure was to a mana-infected squirrel which went crazy trying to kill him. Silas prevailed and gained access to the system, along with some pretty cool abilities, including two customized abilities based upon the squirrel he’d defeated. The first, was an aura called Adorably Harmless, which caused other people, and even monsters in some cases to view him as both cute and a non-threat. The second was a modification of the Forerunner’s standard spatial storage ability called, Save For Winter.

  Just as its name suggests, Save For Winter upgraded items placed in his storage—so long as they were left in there uninterrupted. One day would turn a basic item into a common item, ten days to go from common to uncommon, one hundred days to go from uncommon to rare and one thousand days to epic. His perk even cut that time in half for consumables.

  His basic class was formed with a class shard obtained as loot from the first monster he slew along with some left by his uncle. This allowed him to form a class which combined elements of rogues, mages, and healers. During that first battle, he also gained a pair of titles for being the first to do things. As the first non-inducted human to kill a mana-infused creature, he gained One Small Step/One Giant Leap, which doubled his stat gains from leveling up. His second title was granted because during the battle, he was completely soaked in mana-infused blood, making him a Blood Bather. This enabled him, over time, to gain evolutions based upon the creatures whose blood he bathed in.

  Not that it was all dark… or gory. His first mission sent him to the dungeon world of Galen, where he fought for survival, completed a dungeon, and made some friends. The Galenians looked very much like humans except for having rounded semi-circle shaped ears and a blue tint to their skin. His team was formed from the rogue, Dora; mage, Nevin, and warrior Crag. While it was still early days, the four of them became friends at a speed that only shared danger could create.

  This led to Silas agreeing to make the district of Anwich on Galen into a home away from home. He gained a boon of bonus XP for him and his team while there, but was also flung into politics between the locals, an interplanetary corporation—Transhek, and the Adventurer’s Guild.

  His second mission was traumatic in a way that Silas hadn’t had time to process yet. He was tasked with helping one side win in a war between two native races centered around the city of Proximus. The Ceorgi were physically small but gifted with innate magical abilities, while the Delmin were pretty much the exact opposite.

  At first, Silas believed the Delmin to be the aggressors as they bombarded the city filled with Ceorgi civilians. After agreeing to help the Ceorgi, Maelis, his contact sought to teach Silas how to better connect with magic. This resulted in his magic becoming 60% attuned to life mana.

  Sadly, it turned out that the Ceorgi only wanted to use Silas as a way of cycling ambient mana into life mana. Essentially, a battery for their shield. They also were sacrificing any of the captured Delmin to feed their city’s shield. Silas took a stand against enslavement and murder, but in destroying the defenses he was forced to kill several helpless Ceorgi.

  Amidst all this, during his time on Earth, Silas wanted to do something normal. He enrolled at a university and after an inadvertent physical display he was invited to try out for the football team. Yet, Silas’ adventures had pushed and shaped him, altering him on a fundamental level. Over the course of a couple encounters with his fellow human peers, he struggled not to take advantage of the power granted to him by the system. Even his boosted constitution, made the attention of the cheer leaders—a test of his character.

  He had brief encounters with three of Earth’s Forerunners. Jiang, Nuri, and Anika. They all sought to test him in their own ways while stressing that Earth couldn’t afford to have an incompetent Forerunner. Currently, Earth was in third place, which would result in it becoming a dungeon world. That was bad enough, but if they fell to fourth, then when the induction happened—Earth would be destroyed for resources along with its entire population.

  His last mission was a race on a cosmic track with Nuri, Anika, his Galen team and Urg; the eidolon he had learned to summon with an ability inherited from his uncle. There he met three of the other races who were competing against Earth. The Crembori were the typical little gray men. They were advanced in technology but were in last place in the competition. The Furlooni were a race of plant like people aligned with the Nargossians. Incidentally, they appeared to be like the elves out of stories.

  The Earth team eventually prevailed with the assistance of the Crembori. They destroyed the Furloon vessel, killing all three of their Forerunners, leaving the Nargossians without an ally. They ultimately had to flip their ship around and crash headlong into the Nargossian vessel to interrupt their lead in the race. The battle was intense. Daina, their leader, managed to escape, but the fight resulted in the death of the other two Nargossians.

  After the race was over, Silas returned home. He found a note in decorative script indicating that he’d done passably on the mission, but that he needed to train. Whoever wrote it indicated that they would be seeing each other soon. He assumed the note was from either Nuri or Anika, but now he had to find a way to Paris for a meeting in twelve hours with the other Forerunners from Earth.

  Prologue- Moving Pieces

  Earth Countdown: 388 days, 1 hour, 6 minutes.

  Bar’jek- World points: 31,614,112 Forerunner points: 3,609

  Forerunn
ers: 1/5

  Nargossa- World points: 22,903,050 Forerunner points: 1,087

  Forerunners: 3/5

  Earth- World points: 19,684,117 Forerunner points: 2,974

  Forerunners: 5/5

  Furloon- World points: 18,961,007 Forerunner points: 1,682

  Forerunners: 2/5

  Crembor- World points: 18,896,799 Forerunner points: 2,129

  Forerunners: 5/5

  Samvek, eldest son of Lord Rayden, ruler of House Rayden, one of the seven great clans, made his way into his father’s office. This space was far removed from the public chambers where clan business unfolded. It was a sanctum of privacy, where the walls, adorned with tapestries depicting the clan’s illustrious history, witnessed only the most critical of conversations.

  His father, Lord Rayden, was a figure of venerable authority, hunched over an ancient, oaken desk that had seen generations of rulers. The shimmering halo, a captivating swirl of what resembled sparkling moon dust, continued its endless dance around his head, casting otherworldly glimmers on the stone walls. Lord Rayden’s hands, clothed in the reddish fur characteristic of their kind, moved deftly over a stack of documents, his eyes scanning for hidden meanings within their lines. His attire was a blend of nobility and tradition, featuring rich velvets and intricate embroidery, befitting his status yet comfortable enough for quiet contemplation.

  Samvek stood there, clad in a harmonious meld of leather and plate armor, each piece telling a story of battles and adventures far beyond the clan’s stronghold. His own mane, more vibrant than his father’s, framed a face marked by the rigors of his life as an adventurer. He coughed softly, a respectful interruption to signal his presence, adhering to a summons he could not ignore.

  Lord Rayden, without shifting his gaze from his papers, inquired, “Have you discovered what world he’s from?”

  In response, Samvek’s posture shifted minutely, a fleeting sign of discomfort visible only to those who knew him well. He had braced for this query, yet his words came out fluidly, “As you know, Father, the heavens obscure…”

  Lord Rayden interrupted, his tone carried a mix of reprimand and nostalgia. “Tut, tut. You’ve spent too much time with your mother.” He paused, considering his next words. “I’ll speak to your trainers about redoubling their efforts to smooth out those rough edges. You should know this already, though. Do we call it the heavens?”

  Samvek’s response was a practiced guise of contrition, a tactic to engage his father fully. “No, father.”

  “And why not?”

  “Calling the system the heavens both serves to personify a non-thinking system and draw glory away from those who deserve it,” Samvek replied, reflecting the teachings ingrained in him since childhood.

  Lord Rayden’s response was a rhythmic tapping on the desk, a gesture that stirred the parchment and caused the fur on his hands to ripple like the surface of a disturbed pond.

  “Those who deserve it are the overcomers. The ones who face the challenges head on and then excel,” he stated firmly.

  Samvek continued, “Very good, so I know that the system obscures new worlds, but that doesn’t mean the recruit can’t tell you where he’s from, or certainly one of the other Forerunners might be able to. Didn’t you tell me that he’s spent some time on a recently inducted world?”

  “Yes, Galen. It was inducted something like 70 years ago. He has apparently formed a team there and pledged to help one of their remote districts. I can’t get to the root of why yet, but the limited rumors that my eyes and ears have been able to pick up suggest it was at least in part a response to the tyranny of one of the corporations.”

  At this, Lord Rayden’s attention sharpened, his posture straightening, every inch the dignified ruler despite the thinning of his once-lush mane. “Which corporation?” he asked, his voice a blend of curiosity and command.

  “Transhek…” Samvek began with a smile. He didn’t expect to finish his sentence and sure enough his father interrupted him before the word was out of his mouth.

  “Then you must recruit him. Find out everything you can about Galen. Transhek has cost us too many worlds already, their expansion must be stopped. The houses can’t wait and if the others aren’t ready to move, then we’ll move on our own.”

  Samvek bowed his head, “It shall be as you say, father.”

  _________________

  Resha gritted her teeth. The pain wasn’t hers, but it still wasn’t easy to watch as Fixer D electrocuted Bek. The big lug was an idiot, but he’d worked with her on this backwater world for the last few years. Shared working conditions were definitely a form of bonding.

  “Fixer D, I’m telling you, Bek doesn’t know anything more.”

  The slender being who was so casually inflicting pain turned to look at her. She held back the shudder. Nimerans were always a creepy bunch. He was at least seven feet tall, but little more than skin and bones. His extremely pale skin was pulled taut against his bones and made him appear to be a cadaver. That was just the way Nimerans were though.

  “You think that I don’t know that?”

  Resha gulped. “I’d never question what you do or do not know.”

  His grin was more like the rictus expression of an emaciated corpse. “Good, then there’s hope for you still. I’m just doing this to pass my time. I’m willing to bet that the next time Bek is given an order, he won’t hesitate to carry it out.”

  “And what are my orders?”

  Fixer D’s expression became flat and plain. “All you need to know is that there is more value to this world than might be apparent. Galen was intended to become a mining world but somehow slipped into third place during their induction competition. Transhek still intends to claim the bounty we wanted from this world prior to its induction.”

  Resha smoothed her blouse against her pink skin while hiding her surprise. She’d had no idea of Galen’s importance. What Fixer D was proposing would be genocide, at least if her guess was right. Unstable mana nodes would explain so much.

  Chapter 1- Travel Plans

  Victory. A word that carried more weight than I ever imagined. There I was, having conquered each formidable challenge that had been hurled my way. But this triumph was more than a simple tally of wins; it was a lifeline. Without it, I wouldn’t be sitting here in this ramshackle shed, its humble wooden walls and creaky floorboards surreally transformed into an interdimensional transportation station. If I had faltered, death would have been a certain, unceremonious end.

  In the eerie quiet that now surrounded me, devoid of the immediate threats of death or brutal dismemberment, a surprising confession bubbled up from within. I relished being a Forerunner. It wasn’t just the adrenaline or the glory; it was deeper. This role had given me a sense of purpose, filling a void that had been gaping ever since my dad passed away. His absence was like a shadow that trailed me, a constant reminder of what I had lost.

  Of course, I had thrown myself into taking care of my mom and sister. That was a given, a responsibility I bore willingly. Yet, as I was rapidly discovering, there’s a profound difference between barely keeping your head above water and purposefully swimming through life’s tumultuous waves. In an odd twist, the immense responsibility of countless lives at stake didn’t amplify my anxiety. Perhaps it should have, but in that fleeting moment, it didn’t.

  For a few precious minutes, I allowed myself the luxury of collapse. I flopped down onto the worn mattress that served as my makeshift bed, a spot where I snatched those few, precious hours of sleep between missions. I silently thanked the stars, or more accurately, my hard-earned points in Endurance. Without them, I would’ve succumbed to exhaustion long ago, my body and spirit worn down by the relentless pace I’d been pushed into.

  Lingering in this sanctuary of solace, I knew, was a luxury I couldn’t afford for long. My gaze drifted to the clock: 6:03 AM. The unfathomable workings of the portals always left me in temporal disarray. I remembered once being away for six days, yet being deposited back in my shed as if only six hours had passed. Did that skew the real duration of my journey as a Forerunner? Perhaps it had been two weeks, not merely five days.

  Those five days, compressed as they were, felt like an eternity folded into moments. Events had cascaded one after the other, leaving little room for respite. A shadow of depression loomed at the edge of my consciousness, threatening to engulf me with the weight of lives lost and the harrowing demands of the system. But I warded off these creeping tendrils of despair, reminding myself of the surreal dream this journey was.