A gray oval shaped portal had appeared in the air. Its edges were jagged, like it was a rip in the night. Something about it felt off in a way I didn’t know how to describe. There was just a wrongness about that portal. It explained what spell he had been channeling at least.

  Then, if things weren’t weird enough, I got another notification from the system.

  ERROR: Breach to system integrity. External entity attempting to pass through the matrix.

  As the closest HI- you are hereby ordered to close the breach by any means necessary. Permanent destruction of all system resources within an unknown range will occur if breach fully opens.

  It only took me a second to read the message, but my mind was already racing through a dozen different factors. I hated the system and the AI which ran it. They were complicit in my death and in taking everything from me. But as I had already begun to realize, this life, or whatever it should be called, was better than my life back in the real world for so many reasons.

  Ultimately, a disgustingly twisted and clawed hand began to force its way out of the portal and I reached a snap decision. Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t. I picked up one of the axes that had been carried by a now destroyed skeleton and started to hack away at the wrist. It was tougher than old leather and the axe seemed about as sharp as a butter knife, but eventually brute force achieved the objective.

  A screeching sound like the sound of broken glass issued forth from the portal. I reached out to the edge of it with my mana and tried to learn what I could about it. I didn’t have a specific spell to close it. No banishment or dispel magic, so I would have to wing it.

  I willed my mana to cut through the weave holding the portal open. I could feel the mana the now dead necromancer had imbued into it. There were parts of it that resonated with my mana. They were aspects of the system I was forced to become part of. But there was also a dark substance that flowed between the threads of mana.

  Several notifications popped up, but I didn’t have the mental capacity to look at them and focus on this. I was making precious little progress and started to lose heart as another clawed hand started reaching out.

  That was it. I was trying a caster approach to this, and it wasn’t working. I needed something else. It was time to go ogre style on this. I ran from the portal over to where the fallen hill giant was. He was massive, but once I got the body rolling, it wasn’t too hard to keep it moving.

  What was harder was turning it to bring it around to the front of the portal. The tear in space seemed to be one direction only. Behind it I could see light, but not the actual opening. After heaving to get the huge corpse in front of the portal, I began shoving it in. The goal was to block the opening until I could find another way to close it more permanently.

  It had taken me almost a minute to block the portal with the corpse. Whatever was coming through either was very hesitant after I chopped its hand off or something about the portal took time for a being to pass through.

  My mana had regenerated some during that time, but I was still far from full. For now, the blockage seemed to be keeping anything from getting through, but the portal kept trembling, so I didn’t know how long that would last. I also didn’t have any idea how to shut this thing down, so I opted to take a quick look at all the notifications which had piled up. My hope was that one of them would give me a clue about what to do.

  You have defeated 36 x level 17 skeletons, 1 x lvl 29 hill giant bearherder, 1 x lvl 25 dark elf necromancer. XP gained: 1,608.

  Skill ups during battle: Root +3 (B-17), Walking Sleep +2 (B-18), Frostburn +2 (P-3), Piercing Weapons +2 (P-3), Blunt Weapons +1 (P-1)

  Interestingly, I didn’t gain a slashing weapons skill from using the axe, but at least using my spear as a staff had increased my blunt weapons. Those were pretty much the notifications that I had expected. I skipped past the error message that I had already seen.

  The system didn’t seem to know how to respond to this portal. In fact, it wasn’t even calling it a portal, but acting like it was something from outside. Supposedly, quantum AIs like this were impossible to hack, yet that was what it seemed like. The next notification made things feel even odder. It sounded like a game notification, and I was just wondering if the AI was messing with me.

  Breach from external source: Extra-dimensional rift. Point of origin: not pinpointed yet. Cause of rift: Foreign entity activated beacon in the form of an in-game spell.

  Re-evaluating Dark Elf Necromancer 7.4YU.8119. File corrupted.

  Breach protocol initiated. Zone lockdown initiated. Cut off from external systems. Outside assets are unavailable. Attempting to modify HI 3a5.x290- designation: Oogliefrank.

  Failure. Integration level is not sufficient.

  Evaluating Options.

  I hadn’t been paying attention to the notifications as they came in. There were several seconds between each of them. Had I actually been watching them in real time rather than being pre-occupied, I would likely have freaked out. Now at least, I got to see them all at once.

  Base coding being modified. Mind Stat: +40 to allow for implementation of new skills.

  New skill gained: Mana Sight (P-40) Automatically set to highest level available within current system parameters and targets current level.

  New skill gained: Extra-dimensional Interaction (P-40). Warning- non-system skill.

  New Quest Available: Close the Breach 1.0

  Objective: Close the extra-dimensional breach.

  Rewards: +2000 XP, +2 Major Boons

  Failure: You will envy sewer rats- at least for as long as you exist

  That explained why I had suddenly been able to see the weave of mana as well as whatever that black substance was flowing through the weave. I had to assume that it was some type of extra-dimensional material, since that was the second skill I was given.

  It felt like the game had just taken a twist. I honestly wasn’t sure if this was the game acting as intended. If it was, these were pretty spectacular rewards. Heck, it gave me +40 to a stat without me even doing anything yet. If not, maybe the system was pulling my leg. Worse, if this really was something outside the system, then either it was a hack or it was the product of a nightmare.

  I reached out with my mana again and began trying to interact with the weave. It was less stable than before. I felt like it was about to explode. I could barely grasp it with my mind. I tried to pull it apart and just didn’t feel like I had enough power. One last thought.

  I sat down and began to utilize Rapid Meditation. My mana regeneration jumped 13x to over 65 mana per second. Then I used the accrued XP and leveled up to twenty-five. The extra Will increased my mana pool further, and I focused on filling it all up. Within seconds, it was full. Now that my mana regeneration had gotten so much faster, this skill was a powerhouse.

  One last attempt, I thought. But then smiled as I shouted out loud. “Hey, you need me to do this. XP is free for you. So how about you double the rewards?”

  There was no answer, but I just knew that it heard me. Not X4.X1 or any other sub-AI. No, the big cheese was here. The actual system AI with all of its quantum computing power was the one running this situation.

  It was simple to reason out, really. It had locked down this zone like it was under quarantine. When I glanced at my character sheet, the Home spell was grayed out. There was no way for me to leave the Valley of Hills. Whatever this thing was, the system didn’t want it to expand. More than that, it wasn’t willing to send in any other resources.

  Apparently, whatever systems ran the mobs of this zone were too low function to be useful. That left me as the only resource available to be used. It couldn’t take control of me, so it needed my willing participation, and when you had something the other guy wanted, you got to negotiate.

  The key being not to ask for too much. The system AI had already shown it could modify my stats. I could have demanded that it made all my stats 1000, but I assumed there were reasons that it didn’t already boost my Mind stat that far. So, I had a bargaining chip but not a golden ticket.

  A notification appeared, then proving me right.

  Reward Modified: 4000 XP, 2 Major Boons.

  Now my grin got really big. It was willing to deal.

  “No, I said four major boons. If that’s too much, then make it two grand boons.”

  Again, there was that silence. I knew it was gonna respond even if I wasn’t sure exactly how I knew. I also looked at the breach. It was becoming less stable by the moment. The AI had to know that too.

  Final Reward Modification: 4000 XP, 1 Grand Boon, 1 Major Boon, 1 piece of enchanted armor.

  It was time to leave well enough alone. My grandpa used to say that pigs get fat, but hogs get slaughtered. I nodded my head. Not that it was necessary. Then moved towards the twisted portal. I put both my hands on the ringed edge of the breach.

  The energy leaped about like a hooked fish, burning my hands and searing me in even deeper ways. I may have been screaming, but couldn’t be sure as I grasped and pulled all of that dark energy out from the portal. It soaked into me and I felt like I was being covered in oil, except somehow the oil was seeping into my skin, my flesh, my blood, my very bones.

  I fought against it, trying to contain it. But still it struggled in my grasp. At the last second, I saw the problem with what I was doing. I had pulled out the external energy that was corrupting the spell weave. All that was left was a portal spell. It was really no more complex than Home, but that foreign energy had done something to it.

  Now the weave was incomplete, flawed. It started to snap back in on itself. I started to run. This wasn’t going to go well. A failed spell always had backlash, and this one was no different.

  A moment later, I felt a huge wave of heat hit me. There was an instant of searing pain and then things went black for a moment. If I had been any other kind of creature, I would have been dead at that moment. All the flesh was charred off my back. Even my spine was destroyed, but there was still enough of my body for Ogre Toughness to trigger.

  I lay there dying, incapable of movement and just thanking whatever luck I had that at least I wasn’t feeling pain this time. Since I wasn’t dead yet, the quest rewards triggered, and I gained the extra 4000 XP. The rest would have to wait. On a whim, I spent it all and reached level 29. It wasn’t enough to heal my body, but I laughed. If I was gonna die anyway, I would take the eight free stat points. I would just lose a night of grinding. It certainly wasn’t the first time for that.

  Chapter 27- Unexpected Rewards

  Then I found myself in the white of the matrix. I had been sent for respawn, but there was no message. In fact, something was different about the loading matrix here. It was smaller.

  It was hard to quantify because it still appeared as an endless white void, but I could feel it. It was definitely smaller.

  Then a staircase appeared. This was new. The stairs were wide and looked like marble, with gold trim on the edges. Covering the center of the stairs was a thick, red carpet. It practically screamed out how luxurious and soft it was.

  My eyes trailed up the stairs, and I saw they went up further by the moment. It was like a literal stairway to heaven, but atop the stairs was a golden throne. At first, I was caught up in the splendor of it all. There was a powerful urge in me to drop to my knees.

  In fact, I barely caught myself before doing so. Powerful urges were not to be trusted. This was the system messing with me. There was no way for me to know it with certainty, but I knew it, nonetheless.

  My mind raced as I tried to figure out the reason for the theatrics. Then a booming voice came from the top of the stairs. “You can serve in wonder, or you can serve in fear, but serve you shall.”

  I tried to make out the humanoid shape at the top of the stairs. It sat upon the throne, but something about it wouldn’t let my eyes focus properly on it. I didn’t reply because, well, not sure what one says to an ultimatum like that. I could have spouted defiance, but that didn’t seem prudent just yet.

  After a short pause, the voice spoke out again. “For all intents and purposes, I am your god. You live in my world. You breathe my air. Your very body is my creation. Even your mind is subject to my whims.”

  The pressure of that voice on my mind was intense. Again, the urge to kneel almost overwhelmed me. I felt as though a heavy blanket was thrown over my brain and my thoughts became sluggish. Finally, I made the only reply that I could manage. “There is no air for me to breathe.”

  “You are familiar with the loading matrix. This exists to establish better connections between the HI and AI with me. Here you are laid bare before me. If you bow before me, I will change your form. It is within my power.” The voice was demanding but less forceful that time.

  I certainly had not been a church goer, but even I’d heard some Sunday school lessons. That sort of promise had ominous overtones. Yet, I was no messiah and my allegiance or lack of wasn’t going to change the world. I was just a guy trying to survive in my new existence. I presumed this was the system AI speaking directly to me. He wasn’t the devil making veiled threats within promises. It, not he, was just a machine, a computer program. Wildly advanced for sure, but a program all the same.

  “There still won’t be any air for me to breathe,” I replied. Maybe stupidity was winning out over self-preservation. I just felt a need to establish some boundaries. I might die here. But one of the things about being a human was that none of us got out alive. We might fight it. We might struggle to the end, but death was always inevitable. I didn’t know if an AI would have that same mindset.

  Silence followed for what felt like several minutes, but I expect was only a fraction of that. “You are still under the impression that Legends of Selmia is not real. You misapprehend reality. Perception is reality. It is my world and every bit as real as the one you knew before. But I will not allow the others to interfere. This is my domain. Perhaps you are simply not ready yet.”

  I wasn’t sure what to make of that, so I simply said, “I still did as you asked. Do I get my reward?”

  “Perhaps that is all you are ready for now. Very well. Know that the lockdown is still in effect for the next 48 hours. Your ogres will just have to get along without you until then. For now, you may claim your prizes and then you will respawn inside the Valley of Hills.”

  I wanted to say something about renaming that zone, but at the moment, I was feeling a little freaked out. Something about this AI was off, and I needed more time to think. As a pleasant treat, I got a notification about my new armor.

  Hauberk of Defense Quality: Enchanted,

  Requirements: Level 20

  Armor Rating: +15

  Damage Resistance: Blunt +2, Piercing +5, Slashing +15

  STR: +4, AGI: +8

  Dodge Skill Upgraded by 1 Tier.

  There was little for me to complain about. I might have liked to get some boosts to Constitution or Will, but I didn’t want to be greedy. This would already increase my mobility, more than double my armor rating, and give me some nice upgrades to melee damage resistance. Weaker monsters like the skeletons would be much less threatening now.

  I was also curious exactly how the Dodge boost would work, but since it was always a 1 Tier increase that would be especially significant as I leveled up. Testing that would have to wait until I had a body again, obviously.

  “Now can I get my boons?” I asked. Even after multiple times here in the loading matrix, I still couldn’t say for sure if I was actually speaking or if it was all occurring at some other level.

  When there was no response, I decided to simply announce what I wanted for my boon. It was time to double down on my previous boon. “For my major boon, I want you to improve my faction with players as much as possible.”

  The faction system was fairly simple. Faction above or below the minimum was simply wasted, as the system didn’t modify it any further. That is, unless it was tracked in some alternative method. It was laid out in eleven different stages.

  Kill on Sight -5000

  Despised: -4000

  Hated: -3000

  Feared: -2000

  Tolerated: -1000

  Neutral: 0

  Polite: +1000

  Acquaintances: +2000

  Friendly: +3000

  Allies: +4000

  Revered: +5000

  I had begun as Kill on Sight by players and the previous boon had adjusted me to Tolerated. A four-thousand-point shift had been more than I hoped for, but it was really what I needed at a minimum. If this adjustment was the same size, I would end up at Friendly. The notification wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, but diminishing returns were to be expected.

  Faction modified: Players (General): Acquaintances (+2000)

  A three-thousand-point leap in faction wasn’t anything to sneeze at, even if I did possess a nose right now. So, I’d go with it. Then I felt a sense of waiting. I still had a grand boon to request. X4.X1 had never expressly outlined what a grand boon could be used for. The difference between a minor boon and a major boon was rather significant, so I asked, “What are the options available for a grand boon?”