Trial Difficulty: 4 Stars

  Joint Base Masterson

  A Barren Stretch of Desert Many Miles from Civilization

  “Wow. Would you look at him go. Almost makes up for the time his unique brand of stupidity nearly had all my plans going up in smoke. Almost.”

  Jun watched through the crystal clear viewing window projected by his optical implant, as the… fight?

  The one sided beat down?

  As the battle, which—given the extreme time dilation he still didn’t fully understand—had to have concluded sometime ago, raged on amidst a broken icy tundra. Or, no… was it actually the exact opposite?

  Could he have been watching all that in real time…?

  Either way, it was a testament to the superhuman slugfest on display that—even considering the significant advantages he could boast while within a trial world—if he hadn’t tasked the implant in his head with slowing down the fight considerably, it was likely all he’d have been able to make out was a series of white and yellow smears.

  “Say, how long do you think he can go on like this? Should I be worried?”

  Does it matter? I don’t see how you’re in a position to do anything about it.

  “That… that’s actually a very good point.”

  And, so saying, Jun cut off the screen, just as an enormous axe began parting the very heavens themselves.

  “Let’s get back to that tour then, shall we Jamie? If I recall, you were reminding me what I spent the greater part of a small nation’s annual income on.”

  Jun turned to the rather nondescript young man who very likely held the key to all his dreams coming true. Dressed humbly in a stained lab coat that was clearly slept-in, ripped jeans, and a t-shirt that read “Metallica” in all caps, he didn’t look the part of a paradigm shifting wunderkind.

  Jamie Errand Foster: vaunted academic, child prodigy, and mad-scientist extraordinaire. Or, perhaps he did. With his unkempt hair, stuttering gait, and restless eyes.

  Someone who didn’t know him better might have labeled his behavior “concerning,” “manic,” or “unhinged.” Jun liked to think of him as… eccentric. And anyway, most of that other stuff could simply be chocked up to his rather extreme caffeine addiction.

  Well, that was his current running theory anyway. And seeing as the twenty three year old genius was effectively his golden goose at the moment, he wasn’t especially keen on rocking the boat. Let sleeping dogs lie and all that.

  Jamie spluttered, choking on his ninth sip of coffee in half as many seconds. It was some time before the subsequent coughing fit subsided enough for him to respond.

  “Sorry,” he croaked. “Wrong hole,” he explained.

  Quickly scrubbing at his mouth with the back of his hand, he then noticed the many droplets that’d landed on his coat.

  Immediately, he tried scrubbing at those as well, only really succeeding in smearing the stains in more thoroughly. Eventually he gave up, shrugged, and, after grimacing at the tackiness of his hands, began sucking on each finger and thumb in turn—presumably by way of cleaning them. Jun cleared his throat.

  “Ahem. The tour?”

  Jamie jumped, head sharply swiveling around, his eyes having gone wide. As if he’d completely forgotten he wasn’t alone in the massive industrial space.

  “Oh! That. Yes. Umm. Right this way.”

  And so saying, he promptly turned. Took several confident steps. Paused. Turned about face, and tried again. This time at a far brisker, if less confident, pace.

  Jun, for his part, never budged an inch.

  He’d known which way to go, after all. Honestly, it was kind of a hard thing to miss. Falling into step behind the quietly muttering genius, he spared little thought for his dubious tour guide, his attentions entirely captured by the scene laid out before him.

  The space truly was expansive.

  Having been emptied and repurposed to suit his needs, the cargo hanger they had on loan from a rather amenable military contractor had initially served as storage facility for a full tactical unit of heavy duty mechanized battle suits—colloquially, and or lovingly, referred to as “city busters.” Colossal mechanized war machines that were rarely, if ever, actually deployed except in the event of a natural disaster level threat.

  All that is to say, when he claimed that the wondrous thing in question took up the majority of the central space all on its own, it should really put into perspective just how massive it actually was.

  Scaffolding covered it from head to toe like some convoluted spiders web. Well, if that same arachnid also happened to have a weird fixation on right angles. Laborers in blue jumpsuits and safety harnesses crawled all over the massive apparatus—harnesses allowing for quick ease of movement in all three dimensions.

  Sparks flew periodically, something, apparently, always in need of welding, while the air was thick with the scent of hot metal and ozone, not to mention the mechanized thumping of massive pistons—the odd supervisor, somehow, managing to make themselves heard over the chaotic din.

  And at the heart of this bustling mess of machines and men stood the star of the show. The inter-dimensional gateway itself. It resembled an archway, though only in the loosest definition. It wasn’t pretty by anyone’s measure, though it didn’t have to be, he reasoned, so long as it worked.

  The very picture of function over form, it was a crude thing of hissing machinery and exposed wires.

  Wires which rhythmically pulsated with an otherworldly blue light. The very same light which shone inside the massive arch. The gate's surface a shimmering pool of iridescent, almost liquid energy, which rippled every so often in slow, steady waves—the ethereal skin that effectively separated dimensions. Or, at least he hoped it would, at any rate, once the portal was actually finished.

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  “How long…” Jun breathed.

  “Hmm?!” Jamie choked back another cough. “I’m sorry what? Did you say something?”

  Jun spun, pinning the flustered genius with the sheer intensity of his gaze—a manic light glinting in his too wide eyes. A smile that just wouldn’t seem to go away making his cheeks hurt.

  Excitement. That’s what he was feeling.

  No, that’s what he’d been missing all this time. An intoxicating thrill of childlike joy at seeing the culmination of all his efforts realized. The going on however many years now he’d spent working up to this very moment.

  “How long before we can get this thing operational?”

  Taken somewhat aback by his bosses uncharacteristic behavior, Jamie was understandably slow to respond.

  “Oh. Well… technically it is operational. Has been for a while now, actually. Really, the last thing we need is a destination. Something to tie our dimension with another. I’m sorry boss, but without that there’s not much else I can do. Not safely anyhow. I mean, the theory is sound, sure, but, considering this hasn’t actually ever been attempted before, anything we do from here would effectively be, like, a shot in the dark.”

  Jamie scratched the back of his head and shrugged apologetically.

  “You can think of it like throwing a fishing line out into the multiversal sea. We’d have no guarantee who, or what, we might end up pulling. It could be a happy little fairy dimension where people shit cake and piss out rainbows. Or it could be a dimension where world devouring eldritch entities are a thing so… you know. It’s kind of a toss up as to what your gonna get. Without something keyed to the dimension we actually want… what? Why are you looking at me like that?”

  Grinning, Jun tapped his nifty spacial ring, producing an exquisitely carved hickory wand inlaid with glowing arcane symbols.

  “Will this do?”

  At the sight of the foreign object that very clearly did not belong in this world, Jamie’s eyes immediately went wide.

  “I uh… yeah…” he croaked. “Yeah I think we can work with that.”

  His ultimate goal hadn’t always been the creation of a vast and complexly interwoven cosmic highway that spans multiple parallel worlds on a multiversal scale.

  The very same trans-dimensional spice road that would, in effect, with a bit of effort on his part, act as the commercial backbone for an aspiring empire of trade that was only now just beginning get on its feet. Sure, random scraps of a vague idea would rattle around in his head from time to time, but nothing concrete.

  No, for the longest time, he’d just been going through the motions. Keeping his head down. Preparing for when he might get the chance to finally blow this popsicle stand, and get back to living his actual life.

  It was only after the first year had come and gone—with that illusive promise of freedom seemingly no closer than it had been—that tangible steps he could reasonably take to reach that theoretical goal really started to coalesce in his mind. It was a hobby, he told himself.

  A project to help pass the time.

  Keep himself engaged.

  Stave off the soul numbing apathy, that sort of thing. Well, that lasted for about five or so months, before this quaint little hobby of his became his entire world, personality, and religion all rolled into one.

  Much of that obsession he blamed on the quite frankly ludicrous amounts of time fuckery going on around him. To hear the workshop arbiter tell it, there were effectively three layers to this staggeringly complicated matryoshka doll from hell. His physical body in the real world, his spiritual body in the spirit world, and his true soul popping in and out of the trial worlds.

  A unique case, or so he’d been told, wherein his physical body was effectively suspended in some sort of glacial stasis. One where a single minute out there could mean a month in the spirit world. And where a year in the spirit world could mean literal decades, possibly more, wherever it was he now found himself.

  And so, apparently, with all the time in the world it seemed, he’d let himself get… a smidge carried away.

  Don’t get him wrong!

  He’d spent plenty of time preparing for the inevitable clash between him and whatever catastrophe was waiting for him on the outside. Creating mantra’s and what not. Polishing his skills. Just… not exclusively. Or as diligently as was, if he was being completely honest with himself, probably warranted given the circumstances.

  But really, who cares?! So it turned into an obsession. So what! An obsession no doubt fueled, at least in part, by the loss of his own budding empire at the eve of its ascension.

  Rest well my old friend. You will be missed, but never forgotten…

  He could admit when he was wrong, and he was wrong to neglect his very real responsibilities. Both to himself and his continued survival, hell of a combo. There was even a part of him that regretted not doing more to help his future self with his future endeavors.

  …but!

  Just… it was indescribable. The feeling of taking that first step from four star concrete, onto two star soil…?

  Priceless. Simply… priceless.

  And while yes, that he’d stepped directly into the heart of a feral goblin nest wasn’t exactly ideal, it in no way detracted from the utter momentousness of the occasion…!

  …okay, so it didn’t smell the greatest but that’s besides the point!

  Jamie’s still working out the kinks… Anyway he thought the temporary titles he received were pretty neat, even if they didn’t really do much for him right that moment. He was already fairly mobile—hopping between worlds and all that—and he figured, at this point, his exploration days were well behind him. Still, it was nice to have options.

  |To Boldly Go| (Special)

  Earned by connecting multiple trial worlds through innovative means.

  This is a Special Title.

  For achieving something none before you have even considered, let alone managed, you’ve proven yourself worthy of a special ability.

  Special ability:

  |World Walker|

  For the next ten minutes, you may freely convey yourself and up to three others between any of the worlds you maintain a stable, two-way connection to. Must be in direct contact with the intended recipient to share this effect. Destination must be specified. Destination must be a place you yourself have visited at least once.

  Gain one charge for every lived decade within a trial world.

  Charges available: 1

  |Where No Man Has Gone Before| (Limited)

  Earned by physically stepping from one trial world into another.

  This is a Special Title.

  For achieving something none before you have even considered, let alone managed, you’ve proven yourself worthy of a special ability.

  Special ability:

  |League Step|

  Allows for instant teleportation between your current position and any location within a trial world. This effect is irrelevant of whether you’ve been there before or not. You cannot convey others with this ability. This is a world locked ability.

  Gain one charge for every lived month within a trial world.

  Charges available: 184

  And, now that he’d sought, seen, and conquered—now that he’d effectively done just about everything he’d intended to do—there really wasn’t all that much left for him to do but manage the day to day operations and things.

  Maybe build upon the rather solid foundations he’d laid.

  And, perhaps, take the whole “ongoing threat to his continued longevity” thing that the system knockoff kept harping on about a bit more seriously. Yeah, he’d definitely be putting in some grade A effort on his mainstay. Construct some killer mantras. Contemplate the universe. Really get back to his roots, you know…?

  …tomorrow… he’d get back to his roots tomorrow… After all, there was still so much left for him to do today!