With the morning and early afternoon spent on cultivation, I was seated at the living room table with my collection of rings. Taking another opportunity to attempt to comprehend the workings of Storage Rings once more.

  Strew about the table, there were close to two dozen rings with varying designs and adornments. Some were a simple jade green or varying light to dark shades of purple. A couple were made from golden metal adorned with gems, and one had a golden dragon adornment wrapping around the ring. Two were rge enough to be bracelets rather than rings. Some had etchings or engravings while others were pristine.

  Even after spending close to a month learning how to use Ki, I still can't figure out how to operate these things. It was described as something like sending your consciousness inside them. If that was possible.

  Injecting consciousness is too abstract an idea for me to understand without significant trial and error. Even after a month of trying to think one open I was at a loss.

  Ki wasn’t too hard to manipute internally (If it was willing to cooperate). I was able to figure out how to brute force a strength enhancement by stuffing enough Ki into my arm, it wasn't a good method by any means, but it worked.

  External use on the other hand has been something I couldn't figure out and without the use of a medium like my Bloodborn, it would still be impossible. I don't know how I would do it otherwise and I don’t even know if I should count Blood Ki and my normal Ki as the same or separate energies.

  I firmly believe the orb I shot off the other day was a fluke.

  On the grand scale, I had barely touched my toe into cultivation. Mystical Martial arts in its various forms was a staple of the genre. Then there were the unique techniques and methods used to manipute internal energy that I couldn't even read. Lastly, the specialized breathing methods also seemed important.

  There were right ways and wrong ways to use Ki. The wrong ways resulting in deviation or backsh. Like when I lose control of the energy when trying to temper a bone, that can be considered a backsh. And since I couldn't read any of the manuals, I was up the creek without a paddle. I probably need to head back to the comics again and find something to help me out.

  I think I'm heading in the right direction at least. The first step always seems to be the same, namely infusing the body with Ki. In the stories that acknowledged it as a level, it was the first step, before even Ki Refinement. The Body Refinement stage. However, because I don't have a 'mystical Gody Body technique' like the protagonists I can only proceed by relying on pills to replicate the process for what I can't do myself. But there were certain factors I'm not going to be able to sidestep through the use of pills.

  After messing with the Storage Rings for close to half an hour I let out a long sigh “Haaaaaaaa~” It’s not like I need to do this right away, since the Item Bags were working well enough as is and, there were other more important things I needed to investigate...

  When everything started to get weird, and people started obtaining powers, many began searching for other mysterious phenomena. Preexisting groups online were swiftly converted. Message boards looking for more clicks and engagement were quickly converted; they were filled with a plethora of pictures of something odd with a tag line; “What is This?’’ While many turned out to be simple and mundane things that most never bothered to investigate before now.

  It wasn't more than a week before people started to notice that it wasn't just humans that were affected by this awakening. From an animal that was seemingly undergoing a mutation to a strange-looking pnt. There was an influx of even more questions being asked. The difference now was the significant increase in posts and reactions to any given image.

  Everyone wanted to know what the hell was happening.

  Now, there were so many posts that even with modern automated systems there wasn't enough time to give cims scrutiny.

  With the sudden growth of the DC Tree things have gotten worse. People were now aware of other mysterious phenomena and were even more alert, looking for any strange formations they might come across.

  In the age of digital media, I can already imagine, someone posting pictures of doors leading to strange pces going viral followed by photos of the strange creatures they found inside. That is if they survive.

  There would be some that were successful, posting the strange sights inside or taking a shot with their test hunt, which was some unknown creature, and drive more curiosity.

  Small groups dedicated to the discovery of these dungeons would be the first to appear. They would be disorganized and ill-equipped for what they find inside. These groups would likely be made up of more adventurous types who felt a degree of certainty with their equipment or their recently obtained ability/ies.

  However, it would be an overestimation to expect untrained individuals to find their way around in an unknown nd filled with a variety of dangerous and unknown creatures. Most who enter would only end up dying inside.

  It was only a matter of time before people started seeking them out for one reason or another. They are an untapped treasure trove of new and unique resources and those that survive the exploration would soon strike it rich if the materials were valuable.

  Or you could clear out the inside and use the space for something else, like mass housing if the inside was big enough. I can already see a few countries trying that if it works.

  Looking into what other dungeons were spawning and other results people found had been moved to a high priority on my list. But there wasn't much I could do.

  Before the DC Tree, everything about them online seemed to be getting censored. It took a lot of effort to track down the Wolves Den and I downloaded the video before it got taken down. I'm sure there are some posts still up somewhere. The only other random dungeon I know of was that woman who came home to green skins ransacking her pantry. I only found it due to an archive and that sted a week before the story was scrubbed.

  Now with the DC Tree as public knowledge, there's just too many posts to sift through nor enough time to sort through all the useful ones from the random questions. There were so many people searching and far too little information.

  If I had to make a guess, I can only assume dungeons weren’t common, if they were we would be seeing a few pictures from the inside by now. With millions if not billions of people searching there's bound to be someone discovering something by now. Even with only a couple of days, there should be something. Odds are a dungeon spawning was probably a 1 in 1000 if not greater and there's probably some rules or prerequisites for one to form.

  Scanning the internet? That was an option but not a feasible one... Shrinking it down, maybe just some servers? What would I even use to scan everything? Even if it was just servers that's still a sizeable amount of data.

  With my ability, I could take out hyper-intelligent AIs but getting them to work with and for me might be difficult... "Something that would be good at data processing like an AI...a Pokemon?"

  There were a couple that came to mind that could be useful; Porygon, Rotom, and Beldum.

  Beldum and their evolutions have brains equivalent to natural supercomputers, and I think they could connect to electronics or manipute them in some way. Porygon and its forms were designed through programming making it a literal digital monster. They should be more than capable of assisting with data analysis and processing. As for Rotom, they can possess electronics augmenting their capabilities far beyond what their natural components should be capable of, but their controlbility in a real-world setting ranks them dead st on this list (Ghost types are just like that). Beldum might not be that easy to keep either, needing more mental stimution than the other two given its capacity and as a sudo-legendary, and they were notorious in lore for being difficult to train and control.

  Collectively if I wanted them to obey me, I would have to raise them from scratch starting from an egg. And I’m a perfectionist when it comes to Pokemon (I went unbeaten in high school because of it) their stats might also impact their performance.

  There is the benefit that this group was all autotrophs so they wouldn’t need to eat. Well, that is until the Beldum evolve...How would that work in real life? The Beldum would need a partner for it to evolve. As for the Porygon, they require being traded while holding an Upgrade. I assume the Upgrade worked on its programming by utilizing the energy produced during the transfer to rewrite its code. They were digital beings after all.

  ...

  "Digital monster…what about a Digimon?" All of them could be useful for data processing and they were probably a better idea than Pokemon since Digimon were completely digital in nature, and it might be able to help with other aspects like compression too.

  "Since I can, why not both?"

  With that, I started browsing online looking up some of the test information on the series. Starting with the test anime; Digimon Ghost Game, and it was about to have its st episode air in a couple days at the end of the week.

  Looking around I also found the test digivice toy that came with the series, the Vital Bracelet. A fitness version of the cssic digital pet. It functioned like a smartwatch in that it could tell time while also monitoring your heart rate. The little digital pet that came as its selling point gained stats based on your exercise. Taking one of the toys from the computer screen, the packaging is rather rge for something so small, and it only came with one card. After setting it up it requests you to insert a card with select Digimon on it, give it a minute to load and your baby Digimon will be born.

  (It’s a nifty little toy I guess). “Too bad that was about it”.

  Well, if the real-world version is just a toy what about the one from the anime? Watching the first episode of the anime I zoned out until the main character pulled out a box filled with three Digivice-V. Collecting the wristwatches I also rewound and collected the yellow and blue backup Dim cards. This thing wouldn’t work without them.

  Spoiler

  [colpse]Comparing the two devices in my hands, there were some differences. Aside from the genuine device being a size or two bigger. Both shared a simir design with a charge port in the center of the right side with two buttons above and below it. On the right side both shared the Dim port where the cards were inserted. But the Digivice-V had an extra button on the top left side above the Dim port.

  Fastening the blue straps around my left wrist, the screen lit up, and a wave of lines reading out like a pulse appeared before swiftly being repced with a digital reading for time. It was in a military readout and was wrong, so I had to fiddle around to find the setting using the two buttons on the right side. It functions quite simir to the toy, so it was rather easy to find the options menu. Now to obtain a Digimon.

  END

  Spoilerkidmonkey94

  [colpse]