NOVEL NEXT Chapter 109 - Reboot [ End ]
"And what are you going to do with those?" The Entity asked, confused, vaguely gesturing to the objects Sam held.
"I'm glad that you haven't been paying attention to what I can do," Sam replied as he manifested his full swarm, lifting one of the steel balls.
[ Telekinetic boost active. Time remaining: 95 / 110 seconds ]
Sam manifested all his 132 Psyhands as he handed a golfball-sized steep ball over to the cluster, aiming at the Entity, and he triggered Cluster Pulse.
An ear-deafening snap instantly followed a dull, but powerful energy pulse. The very next second, Sam could see through the Entity's chest. A small hole, clean cut as if you had punched a hole through paper.
"Wh-" The Entity started saying something.
Not wanting to wait, Sam needed to take advantage of this moment. Repeating the process, he picked up another steel ball, another pulse and another crack as it broke the sound barrier several times over.
[ Telekinetic boost active. Time remaining: 85 / 110 seconds ]
Another hole, this time through the Entity's shoulder.
"What the fuck?!" The Entity shouted in disbelief. "How?!"
The holes in its body started glitching, like a broken monitor and digital noise, it had colourful geometric lines twitch and flicker, and slowly close themselves.
Sam simply smiled, a little sadistically so, but he couldn't help but take joy in the arrogance-fueled confusion of seeing a so-called lesser being use the powers given to him, the powers that were supposed to be ineffective, work this well.
Continuing the bombardment, Sam was glad he bought so many steel balls. The next passed through the Entity's chest again, then the thigh, the leg, the arm, the head, and the stomach. Pulse after pulse, snap after snap. The telekinetic Boost fell 5 seconds per pulse, 80 seconds remaining, 75, 60, 40, 20. When the last five seconds remained, Sam chose differently.
Deactivating Telekinetic Boost for a moment, he took the length of chain and balled it up, grabbing around it with all his Psyhands. He briefly triggered Telekinetic Boost again, at the same time as he triggered Clustered Pulse. The dull thud was followed by a horrible cacophony of mangled metal flying through the air. It had barely uncoiled itself before it passed through Sam's opponent.
The damage of the length of the chain, spread out like the most metal of spiderwebs, tore itself through the body of the Administrator. The chain, like the spheres before it, bounced and slid a considerable distance along the white floor behind the Entity.
Sam was out of ammunition, but that might not be a problem; it lost the ability to stand several shots ago.
Though he was out of the Telekinetic boost, he proceeded with his bombardment. System-supported damage was not an opinion. Manifesting one of the weapons he got from Mercer, he Cluster pulsed it at the Entity, but as halfway expected, it bounced off nothing and flew into the distance. He needed non-player gear.
The answer was simple. Manifesting his camping gear, he took things apart. The first attempt was a tent pole. The power was considerably smaller as he Cluster Pulsed it towards the Entity, but the damage was no less real. The pole hit like a small spear and tore through the Administrator's body.
"Enough!" The Entity managed to scream as it lifted its perforated arm, moving it for another slap.
Sam knew this would kill him, and this time, he had no fallback. From his camping gear, he took out his camping stove. It was not meant to be a projectile, but it was more than enough. Pulsing it at all his might towards the arm, it being larger than the arm itself, and the arm being plenty damaged, it tore through the limb.
The Entity remained surprisingly silent, no screams of pain, no reactions besides the muted, confused pain. Sam could feel its expression, confusion, a silent scream locked in time. Shock.
This felt surprisingly good.
Walking closer to negate the distance, Sam continued the barrage of anything he could find. Tent pegs worked well, rope didn't, nor did bits of Player armour. Camping cutlery worked fine; their erratic flight path made larger wounds than expected. The firestarter tools made interesting flashes at these speeds.
Stopping only a few steps away from the Entity, Sam took a moment to chug some potions. He knew it wouldn't stop the slap from killing him, but at least he felt better.
"I'm glad you underestimated me, and I'll give you one point of credit. About what you said about us, we are inventive."
Lying on the floor, the Entity had started making noises, an almost gurgling, struggling breathing. Sam felt this was a good sound.
"Now, how are you doing?" he asked in the most sadistic voice he could. Sam was not one to take joy in the pain of others, but he did take pleasure in this specific case.
There were no words in response, no proper sounds hinting at communication. Its whole body was glitching, twitching and twisting; it looked like it was healing.
Sam had no more ammunition; he had used all the steel balls, the chain, and the camping equipment. He had tried the Player gear, and all he had left was clothing.
Psyhand reaching over, Sam picked up the Entity's severed arm, and with all his remaining Psyhands, he grabbed onto it, using it as a weapon, he attacked the Entity again and again. Working from one side to the other of the vaguely body-like shape. There was the sound of cracks, squelches, and finally, as he had worked his way from the bottom to the remnants of its head, a final crack.
[ Conditions met: Administrator access given. ]
At the same time, there was a hard surge of energy within his body, and he instantly felt amazing. This caused Sam to stop his attack; there was no need anymore. Instantly, before it was too late, as a precaution, he willed the System to give him immunity to everything and strip the Administrator in front of him of any power.
[ Information:
Removing another Administrator's privileges is not possible.
Do you wish to bring this up to a vote? ]
Sam's eyebrow lifted. "A vote?"
Mentally agreeing with the question, he wanted this... creature gone, but it somewhat made sense. Looking at it from a logical user-rights or management standpoint, you either needed higher access or a majority vote. Perhaps that's how it worked here as well?
"It seems you're still alive, then," Sam commented dryly to the pile of... whatever the Entity's body was made of. "I just called a vote to demote you. What do you have to say about that?"
[ Vote:
Administrator Sam Carter brought up the wish to demote Administrator &""(&".
Do you agree with this request? ]
This was almost novel, after all that had happened so far, that he was given a vote on his request, but in a weird way that could be part of an anonymity or something? He had never worked in any place where his vote mattered, but he mentally voted Yes.
It only took a few seconds before another two windows opened.
[ Information:
Vote complete: 87% for, 13% against. ]
[ Conditions met: Administrator &""(&" is demoted. ]
"Oh, would you look at that, the vote passed," Sam exclaimed, surprisingly happy.
There were no answers from the Entity, but as Sam wondered how it was doing, a small window popped up displaying a repairing percentage of 2%.
"Well, we can't have that," Sam commented as he wished to the System to disable the repairing.
[ Disabling &""(&"'s regeneration. ]
Sam was almost surprised that this worked. Now that he had higher rights, he could see the status of the so-called &""(&", finding it strange that even now he couldn't see its name.
The health status lowered until it stopped; he could hear the final breath leave its corpse before the little information listed its status as Dead.
Taking a deep breath, followed by a deep sigh, he felt incredibly relaxed, content. He felt good.
A quick check at his status, he saw that his health was filled, his resources like the Telekinetic Boost were refilled. A few new skills were added in another tab, namely Administrative Immunity and Administrative Regeneration. He had experienced those from the other side only minutes ago, so it was refreshing being on this side.
Willing his weapons to return to him, had them manifest in front of him, hovering in the air. He stored everything back in his Item Box before he turned around, looking in every direction.
"Hello? Now that this is over, is... is there something else? Anyone? Anyone want to tell me what I should do now?"
[ Request for information:
With &""(&"'s demotion, sector 42135 is without an Administrator.
Do you, Administrator Sam Carter, wish to take on these responsibilities? ]
"What the fuck? Sector 42 thousand? Are there that many worlds you guys have fucked over?"
[ Information:
Only a few sectors have systems capable of supporting life. ]
"Oh... I can get proper information now, like... As an Administrator, I assume I have access to privileged information."
A window popped up, looking like the mother of all guidebooks. Other windows popped up with databases of information on important subjects, how the System worked, and collected information about the planet the locals call Earth.
"If I get the responsibility of Earth, of this sector, is there a limit to what I can choose to do?" Sam felt the need to speak a little bit too loudly, and up into the air. Though as he did, he realised that he felt dumb.
[ Information:
The administrator assigned to each sector has complete control.
Administrator's goal: Keep the System maintained and running. ]
"Oh... that's fucking ominous... What's the surplus energy used for?"
[ Information:
When a world is no longer producing a net gain of energy, it is recommended to find a new source of energy. The stored surplus energy is used to find such a location. ]
"... So... the whole System only flies around, gathers energy, gives powers, and when it can't sustain itself, it goes elsewhere? What's the end goal?"
[ Information:
The System within the Administrator's sector is entirely for the Administrator. ]
"Waaaait... So.. I'm some sort of god, or sole benefactor of the System in my sector?"
[ Information: Correct. ]
"Ok, those windows are weird, can you just... I don't know... speak, let me talk to someone instead of trying to communicate with an operating system?" Sam looked around as he requested this, almost as if he expected to see someone right away.
As he turned around, he saw an Entity looking like his opponent from a few minutes ago.
"Fucking shit," Sam was startled as he saw this, failing to hold back. "No... If this is the shape you chose... Just make it some generic human or something."
Sam looked at it for a few seconds, and as he blinked, the shape had changed. No longer an Entity, but the most generic human woman he had ever seen in his life.
"Fuck it, this works. It's at least less awkward."
"Understood," the woman replied, her movements, tone of voice and everything about her feeling like a perfectly normal person.
"Hold on... That other guy mentioned that 'we' were being entertained." Sam made air quotes as he mentioned We. "But there is only one Administrator per sector, what gives? And what about the gargantuan Entity I met before, the one that had problems talking to me?"
"You are the only Administrator in the sector, but there are others with high enough access rights to see what's going on, most of them being Administrators in other sectors, individuals they have manifested or brought up from their world for entertainment. The previous Administrator for sector 42135 was alone, referring to 'we' or 'us' as a coping mechanism of being alone for so long." The woman responded much more naturally than an AI companion, which was what Sam had halfway expected.
"So, he had just gone a bit loopy after being alone for so long? I suppose that makes sense. But what about the votes, and the giga Entity?" Sam walked around her as he spoke with her, trying to find something wrong with the generation.
"The vote was up to all the Administrators connected to the System, spread across different Sectors. The large Entity was ---."
As she explained about the large entity, her voice glitched, scratched and sounded horrible, much like the large Entity itself did back when they spoke.
"Ah... censorship, got it. So a higher up or something that you cannot talk about... suppose that makes sense." Sam sighed, but seconds after his sigh, he perked back up.
"If I take this position, can I bring back my family, my friends?" His voice was filled with hope, even though his expression looked like he expected a no.
"I'm afraid not. Anyone who died, as a result of the System, within the tower worlds or otherwise, cannot be brought back. This is not due to lack of System power or an ability that can be unlocked, but a fundamental law of life."
Sam's heart sank. He expected that answer, but it still sucked to get it confirmed.
"I guess that's fine..." Letting out another sigh, he forced himself to change the subject. "What are the drawbacks of accepting responsibility for this sector? And can I fix the System's flaws without becoming one?"
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"No, only the assigned Administrator can make changes to the sector's System. Once you accept responsibility, you can manage the system however you want; the only drawback is that you cannot stop producing energy. A certain amount needs to be sent to —, imagine it as renting company tools. If you produce nothing, you cannot pay, which will in turn have you forcefully replaced." Her tone remained almost too calm and uncannily perfect, except for the moment when her voice glitched out.
As strange as it sounded in Sam's mind, her perfect averageness made it extremely uncanny, but it was still better than speaking with information windows.
"How much are we talking?"
Rather than answering, the System representation made a casual wave which opened up some monitoring windows, showing input of energy, storage, payment and so on. Based on current flow, if he were to stop entirely, he could keep paying this rent for years to come just on stored values. Should the Players drop down to less than half, it would still produce a profit, since every living thing that dies, while being tied to the System, fuels it. This includes the non-dungeon monsters like Dia and the beastfolk workers on Earth.
"This seems like it manages itself quite well. What's even the point of the Administrator?" Sam had to ask, more as a loaded question to see how much work this would be, than anything.
"Should a specific request or order come in from above, the Administrator is required to follow it. The Administrator also must protect the System from those like you, the ones that are about to learn too much or have a chance to destroy the System itself."
"How often do these requests come in, and what can be requested?" Asking hesitantly, he didn't like the idea of this possibly turning bad.
"The last request, using Earth time as a comparison, was 1374 years ago. The request was to take a water sample from the ocean on that planet, and to increase the rent by 2%." She put a little pressure on 'rent', in a way hinting at her using that word for Sam's sake.
"And… if I decide that I don't want to do this anymore?" Sam didn't realise he made an expression akin to expecting a water balloon to pop in his face.
"Then you can appoint a replacement." She replied without any measurable expression, and kept her calm face that she's had since she manifested.
"Well, in that case, it doesn't sound like there's any practical downsides. If I just keep things managed, let the possible Players know, I can keep this going until I die of old age without problems? What's the catch…" Sam felt good about this, really good… Too good…
"This is the boon of the Administrator," she gave him an approving nod, even though her expression was still at rest. "Shall I send your application in for a vote to the other Administrators?"
"Oh, it needs that kind of approval?" Sam asked without thinking, immediately realising that it made a lot of sense right afterwards.
"Yes." A simple and short reply ended that explanation.
He hesitated for a brief second. This was a lot of responsibility in a way, but in another way, it was perfect for what he wanted. He could redo the rules and progression, remove the mind-affecting effect so everyone could think properly again, then just chill and explore. Do some admin work on the side.
"Well, I suppose go for it, then." He felt a little casual about that, but he also felt surprisingly awkward about things.
"Understood, the application is sent, we should get a response shortly." She looked at Sam blankly for only a few seconds before continuing. "The votes are in, 100% approved of you taking over."
"Whoa, hold on. 100%?" He felt surprised, and that felt almost too good to be true.
"The other Administrators don't care, this doesn't affect them, and if they wanted to come here and check, it would take considerable time."
"Ah… that makes sense." Forcing a smile, he felt a bit dumb. It made a staggering amount of sense. If the others are on other galaxies or whatever… he would most likely have done the same if, or when, this happens.
[ Conditions met, Administrator Sam Carter is the new Administrator of sector 42135. ]
"You can now do as you wish. I can help with information or suggestions, but in the end, it's your choice as long as you uphold your duties."
"I suppose let's get to it, then." Sam took a deep breath and mentally prepared for a lot of information
***
The warm white light faded as Sam found himself back in the plaza outside the Tower. The sun was peeking through the clouds as people went about their day.
Walking towards the TAC building, it only took a few minutes before his phone rang.
He was not surprised to see that it was Janik, after all, he was one of the very few who even had his number.
"He-" Intending to greet Janik on the phone, he didn't get a chance to complete the first word.
"It's been four months! Where are you now?!" Janik shouted his question.
"I'm in the plaza in front of TAC, w-" Again, he was interrupted.
"Stay there, we'll come to you!" Janik hung up right after, not giving Sam time to react.
Putting his phone back in his pocket, Sam felt oddly content. He was back after what to him felt like much more than four months, not that this was anything new. The Solo Dungeons tended to mess with time. But, weirdly, it was different now. Standing in the plaza between the TAC main building and the massive Tower in the distance, which he was now controlling. It felt almost surreal knowing the secrets behind it, what it was, how it worked, but also being just some guy in the city.
"Hey, isn't that the guy?" A voice asked from the side. "The human boss?"
Turning towards the voice, three men were coming closer; they were decked to the teeth with Player gear, but didn't look aggressive. Sentinel's Watch confirmed a lack of aggression.
"Yeah, it totally is!" the second one in the group confirmed between his phone and Sam.
Chuckling to himself, Sam realised that this was the direct result of his not affecting people to forget him, or not see the likeness. Which was something his System Companion suggested as a possibility. But he felt it would be hypocritical of him to use his powers to affect their minds when removing the mind-affecting influence of the System was one of his major goals.
Instead, he was already absurdly protected with the Admin protections. So he didn't feel like he was in any danger.
He was surprised that instead of being aggressive or peppering him with questions, they acted as fans instead.
"How do you do the things with the flying weapons?" and "How much damage can you do? I saw videos of you one-shot tanks?!" were among the questions they started peppering him with.
Not feeling like sharing deep information about his class skills, he could at least humour them with what they already knew, that he could move things around telekinetically. He had the Appraisal block from the Solo Dungeon reward, but even if he didn't, the administrator powers would make that happen passively.
"Not sure I feel like sharing all my class skills," Sam replied honestly to their questions. "But I could take out all three of you before you could react." He smiled confidently. Even without the Administrator's abilities, he had not seen anyone able to take a proper hit from him lately. The auto-repair abilities are not counted, as that would only postpone it a little.
Getting almost interviewed on how it was being a Dungeon Boss, getting shown videos of himself looking like had not slept for weeks, how easily he defended himself and took out targets. It felt surreal seeing things from this angle. There were curated videos shared online of the 'ten most brutal deaths' and other compilations like that.
This could become problematic...
"VAR!"
A familiar voice shouted from the side, turning around, he barely got to hold back his automated defences before Dia crashlanded on him, sending both of them onto the ground, having pounced from a distance. Like a pet who had not seen its owner in months, which wasn't entirely wrong, she had far too much energy as she did her best to show her eagerness for his return. Not caring in the slightest that she was creating a scene.
Janik followed shortly after, looking relieved and surprised at the same time. Crouching down next to the aggressive cuddling, he held back a chuckle.
"How are you doing? I saw the videos..."
As Janik sat there, crouched next to Sam, Elara slithered down from him and coiled around Sam like normal.
Sam smiled back, both at Dia's reaction and as an answer to Janik's question.
"I succeeded, not just at the quest, but everything."
Janik's worry faded in favour of confused shock. "What do you mean... everything...?"
Forcing himself to his feet, Sam used his invisible Psyhands to lift and support both him and Dia so he could get up at all, letting her get her feet on the ground before dismissing them.
"It's about to get crowded; you might want to prepare."
Getting to his feet and narrowing his eyes at Sam's cryptic response, Janik took a few steps closer.
A moment afterwards, the lights along the Tower let out the hum of building up energy. This was followed by its sides lighting up right before the whole plaza, the neighbouring alleyways, roads, extended area and even some rooftops were covered in a massive dull white light. Anyone could recognise this as the Tower transport light. It grew in intensity over a few seconds, blinding anyone having their eyes open at all, before fading after depositing hundreds of thousands of people. Players of all forms, sizes and skill, some lacking gear, some covered in valuables. People near death, others carrying heavy bags and rolled up stands.
There was mass confusion as every Player looked around, wondering what had just happened. Many explained they were just doing this or that, or in some dungeon fighting some monster, before the white light brought them out. The wounded individuals, clutching their sides, legs or arms, were confused but oddly relieved as their health returned to full. Some were angry; they were just about to reach the end, deliver the last blow or grab the thing they were after.
"What's going on?" Janik asked Sam, doing his best not to get knocked over at the concert-level density of people.
Sam just smiled, not responding as everyone turned towards the Tower, which was pulsing with energy and light before going entirely silent and dormant for a few long seconds. It then lit back up with a hum before stabilising. This was followed by every Player looking into blank space at something. Janik included.
[ PLAYER SYSTEM NOTICE – MANDATORY ACKNOWLEDGMENT REQUIRED
You are receiving this prompt because you are a registered Player. Your Player abilities are suspended until you have chosen below.
The following has now been disclosed:
-The System included weak cognitive influence, increasing risk-taking behaviour.
-The progression curve was designed to pressure Players into increasingly dangerous choices.
-Upon death, your life force is absorbed to sustain the Tower System and Aetheria.
These systems have now been disabled or revised.
You may now choose:
-[Continue as a Player] You retain your powers and status under the new, balanced progression system.
-[Opt Out] You retain memories, items, and earnings, but permanently forfeit Player abilities and access to the System.
No further manipulation will occur. Your choice is final.
This is your world now. Decide with open eyes. ]
Extra windows opened up around the main one, with deeper information about the System's influence, nudging you to take chances, how the old system was poorly optimised against the Players, how the massive jump in needed experience for levels made people do dumb things.
Most of this was formulated like patch notes and explanations. In Sam's mind, this was the easiest to digest way of handling things. It served as a System update that was planned for the benefit of the Players, but he chose not to explain details like to the Administrators the fact that Earth was one of many, many other worlds. Nor things like how the Dungeon monsters are created and Aetherian inhabitants like Dia, were just descendants of aliens, of earlier Player worlds that had fallen. He had added more information about how the progression curve was changed, and how rewards were also changed accordingly. He had used a lot of time to get this feeling better, but without destabilising the economy more than needed... but he hardly had control over how people would react or what they would do with things. There would be changes, perhaps even chaos, but he felt this was for the better result.
The huge group around them hesitated, asked things between themselves, and there were expletives and comments about this being bullshit and a general large crowd murmur. Everyone was talking over each other, creating quite a volume.
Janik looked at Sam with a mix of confusion and disbelief.
"You... you actually did it?"
Sam nodded with a wide smile.
"But, does that mean that you are...?" Janik stopped himself from continuing. They were in a massive crowd, after all.
Keeping his smile, Sam put his hand on Janik's shoulder.
"What do you say to a long vacation? I can explain everything there."
"I can't be away from the kids for long, you know that, right?" Janik's expression had returned to his normal, almost derpy, smile.
"Bring them, I think it's about time I get to know them," Sam replied, still keeping Dia close, not only because they were in a large crowd, but mostly because he wanted to.
Janik pointed accusingly at Sam. "You're paying, right?"
Chuckling at Janik's comment, Sam nodded. "I hardly think that's a problem."