D1V1N3 Gamer 2

A/N: Second Chapter of my Kryptonian Gamer story; we learn how the mc's gamer system work more in depth.

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Editor: Blackstarline, AssemblerManiac, Skydragonknight
Beta reader: Standalone, Impish Oni, BigTofu

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Chapter 2

The sea was like a rippling blanket of brochure-blue. Squabbling seagulls flew overhead. Gannets were dive-bombing the stretched surface of the sea far out from shore. The horizon was edged with a silver tint and a cormorant was flying into that place where sun and water meet.

A sleek and long compact sub with grey and black panels advanced toward the island. It surfaced five hundred meter from the island's coast. The access hatch opened and a very young girl in a black tank top and pants exited the sub with a sigh of relief, then she waved her hand in front of her and a small inflatable boat came into existence. She let the orange colored boat fall on the sea's surface and with a splash it was done.

She jumped without hesitation on the boat and collected herself. A ball of blue light manifested itself from the girl's chest and coalesced into the form of a twenty centimeters young woman with short ocean blue hair, electric blue eyes and black tattoos reminiscent of a complex circuit board covering her body; she had functional wings made of light at her back.

The black haired young girl pointed a finger at the submarine and the winged girl flew toward it. As she put a hand on the hull, the compact submarine suddenly disappeared. The winged girl returned to the other who started the motor after three tries. She then drove the boat toward the island that would be her home for the foreseeable future not even thinking how dangerous it was going to be.

----D1V1N3----

FORBIDDEN ISLAND

After taking care of stashing my boat under a coconut palm tree and anchoring it with a rope, I watched at the big blue box telling me where I was. For a moment my mind was in denial, until I snapped out of it and said aloud, "Huh, I thought this was Paradise Island."

The sky that was blue earlier when I was handling the inflatable boat on the sea was now of an amethyst color with orange and yellow clouds. It was as if I had stepped into another world. *Uh oh.*

A blue fairy shaped girl answered from behind her, "From what I can tell from your memories, it's said that this Forbidden Island is a dangerous place… Céli."

I glared at the little pixie. "I know, I fucked up."

We really needed to leave this place ASAP. But when I turned to leave, I saw from afar that there were a dozen bus sized serpentine figures in the sea, far from the beach. I used Observe on them.

Sea dragon [Rank C]

Description: A type of dragon sea monster that the Amazon calls a Cetus that surrounds the Forbidden Island to keep in the monsters or those who dare invade it. Those particular Sea Dragons are descended from the Beast slain by Perseus, who saved Princess Andromeda from being sacrificed to them.

The pixie nodded with a disappointed expression as she saw the same things as me. "That you did, girl."

We were clearly fucked, my Rank was lower than them and I didn't want to die, but at least the pixie could not rub it in that I made a mistake. "Could you at least be more tactful, Cortana?" I rolled my eyes.

Cortana is a digital pixie, an extension of the Gamer system. A Pixie is a non-battle companion for Gamers like me, they grow in power at the same rate as their pacted user's; as I rank up, more and more modules of the Gamer’s System will be unlocked in the future. From what she explained to me about herself, a pixie knows everything about her user, their memories, their thoughts, and helps guide them in their quest to gain more power.

I found her super useful when she had started educating me about the Gamer’s System but the thing is, she has a dark sense of humor and is responsible for the trolling I received in my quests logs.

The blue pixie turned to me and smiled cockily. "Do you really want me to be?"

She had a point, Cortana wasn’t programmed to coddle me. I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration. "Fine, okay, I want you to always be honest anyway."

Cortana gave me a smug smile. "That’s what I thought."

I looked at the jungle that spread in the distance, the beach was a long strip of white sand with the occasional bush and palm tree. I was lucky to not have ended up in a mangrove, those places were yucky, teeming with life. Snails, barnacles, bryozoans, tunicates, mollusks, sponges, polychaete worms, isopods, amphipods, shrimps, crabs, and jellyfish all live either on or in close proximity to a mangroves’ root systems. Some invertebrates thrive in the mangrove canopy, of which the most abundant are the crabs.

At least I knew where I could get food easily from that place.

“So what are we gonna do?” I asked.

I was stumped by the situation, and hopelessness washed over me like a cold wave. The only way for me to get out of this situation was to become stronger and kill those things or find a sneakier way to go past them. I mean, if Circe can do it, so should I.

The pixie looked around us, her expression shifted to complete wariness.“First, we need a safe place, then there’s a lot of things we need to go over, Céli.”

My attention shifted on the mini map, I zoomed out the display and I noticed from the fog of war three big red dots coming toward us at great speed. “Huh, okay. There's enemies incoming.” The only reason I didn’t panic and bolt already from here is that my Gamer’s Mind skill kept me calm.

Cortana raised her hand in dismissal, smiled and said, “I know! That’s why you are going to an empty safe place, you know... the Instant Dungeon Create skill.”

For a brief instant, my hand met my face. Then I looked into her electric blue eyes and asked with a growl, “How?”

She gave me a disbelieving look and snarked back, “Channel your mana and shout ID Create, the system will do the rest.”

I stomped my foot on the sand. “Cortana, how do I channel Mana?! I know I have it, but I don’t know how!”

Stomping sounds coming from the entrance of the jungle could be heard. The pixie’s eyes widened and she looked ashamed. “I knew I had forgotten something.”

A blue giant one eyed humanoid rippling with muscles appeared from the edge of the jungle. The pixie turned into a ball of blue light and quickly said, “Ok, time to run!”

I used my Observe skill on them at the same instant and what I saw didn’t bode well.

Cyclops [Rank D]
Description: The Cyclops are strong, one-eyed giants, who helped Zeus defeat the Titans and hindered Odysseus from getting home on time. This particular one is a son of Polyphemus, the chief of the Cyclops tribe on Forbidden island; they are sheep herders and hunters. Female cyclops live in a separate tribe and only join the men when it is time for making babies. The male cyclopes prefer human women to their female counterparts as they are less despotic and weaker.

When I saw the description, I listened to Cortana and ran, my life depended on it, literally and to prove I made a good choice the screams and shout behind me highlighted what was awaiting me if I got captured.

“A human female, I smell a human female!!!” A guttural voice rang behind me.

“FIND HER!!” Another monstrous voice said.

“She will be the new bride of the chief!” This one gave more info on what awaited me if I got caught.

Yeah, no! So, I ran and ran as far as my little legs could carry me. As I ran, I followed my pixie guide, the mini map automatically updated and the grey fog of war receded on this part of the beach. The stomping sounds receded, but sooner or later, those cyclopes' noses would lead them to me. I really needed some time to know how to make a safe zone before this turns into some sick hentai fantasy. Urgh, I was never into those fat ugly bastard doujins and had no plans to star in one tonight. So of course I did the only thing any self respecting gamer would do, run away.

It took me hours, but Cortana led me inland. We avoided countless fantastical creatures that seemed on constant guard, most left me alone when I passed them, others tried to attack me, but I kept running and zipping through the trees or hiding behind them and bushes. But that wasn't all there was on the island; the thick tropical forest around Cortana and I was full of life: birds, insects, reptiles, monkeys, and often gorillas and other normal animals.

I was on fumes when Cortana stopped near a clearing with a river and a lush hill covered in beautiful flowers with a cave at its base. Cortana stopped, went inside the cave and ten seconds later came back out. I was almost tempted to give up right now, I was exhausted!

"We can use this place, now I will teach you how to channel mana." Cortana said in my right ear after sitting on my shoulder.

Looking into the cave with the stone ground and the darkness filling it wasn't reassuring at all. "You are sure it's unoccupied?" I asked my companion.

Cortana raised her hand and a pulse of something was visible on the mini map. The hill was devoid of any critter or monster. This was strange to me, this place was near a river and had a cave, it should be occupied. There was something about this place that made me wary.

The pixie guide nodded. "Pretty much, no feces from animals or monsters, deadly poisonous things or dead things inside."

She was sure, and I trusted her as she was part of my Gamer System and pretty much part of me, if I couldn't trust myself? Then who could I believe in? "Okay."

I entered the mouth of the cave, I was surprised that the space inside was spacious and the walls completely smooth. I understood that this was somehow unnatural and that someone or something had made it. No stalactites or stalagmites on the ground and the ceiling, but it was getting too dark inside and I stopped where the darkness started in the cave.

Cortana stood up and flew before my face and said with a downward gesture, "Sit, then feel, think."

I reluctantly obeyed, our lives depended on deploying a safe place by using the ID Create skill. All arguments born in my thoughts were silenced to be aired later.

As I sat, Cortana began to speak. "Thanks to your choices in the character creation before you were sent into this world, you are predisposed to unlock a plethora of magical perks and skills. But you need to know how to use mana first. You are a Gamer and using magic should be really easy for you, Céli."

Knowing the steps to meditate, since I did a little yoga in my previous life, I made myself comfortable on the stony ground before exhaling and allowing my muscles to relax.Closing my eyes, I took a few, deep long breaths and made sure to hold them for a few seconds, time slowly drifting by before my  thoughts were quelled.

Skill created:

Focus [Rank F]

The Gamer has the ability to do things while concentrating on something that requires a strong amount of focus.

My thoughts flowed freely, I didn't try to hold onto them too much. I don't know how long I stayed like this, but I felt so at peace that I actually forgot where I was, then the Gamer System gave me a wake up call by showing me a notification even though I had my eyes closed.

Skill Created:

Meditation [Rank F]

The ability to train one's mind to induce a mode of consciousness and replenish mental or mystical energies.

Ability Created:

Third Eye [Rank F]

The Gamer has The Mind's Eye (also known as the inner eye or third eye) a mystical, esoteric and mental concept referring to an invisible eye which provides perception beyond ordinary sight.

Then I felt it, I looked into myself and saw my core where my heart was supposed to be, from it multiple channels sprang from it and linked to organs and formed pathways from my core to my other limbs as well. I tried to touch this energy inside my core and I succeeded, it was warm and I also felt it wrap around me like a blanket. I let the energy flow in my body and took conscious control of the process and began circulating it in my body.

Ability Created:

Mana channeling [Rank E]

Allows the Gamer to harness Mana in their surroundings, within themselves, others and utilize it towards a myriad of possible ways, depending upon her capabilities and potential.

"Ooooh, you are almost there Céli! Keep it up." I heard Cortana speak in the background. Fortunately it wasn’t enough to distract me.

Having a Gamer body was a cheat in itself, manipulation of energy became devilishly easy. Opening my eyes I looked at myself and found my body surrounded by a soft purple haze of energy. I lifted my right hand palm up and let the energy flow and tried to guide how it should form. The result is that a purple ball of mana hovered over my right palm.

Ability Created:

Mana Manipulation  [Rank F]

Allows the Gamer to manipulate Mana, and use it for various abilities, such as casting spells and performing magic like limited Reality Warping.

"Yes, Céli! You got it on the first try!" Cortana exclaimed as she put herself before my face and then began a little dance. She was funny like that.

I wasn't surprised by the description of the skill as I agreed with it. Magic was basically taking reality on your knees and spanking it like a red-headed stepchild. It was exciting, this was a milestone in this death world and I planned to make it part of my fighting style; but I didn't have any grimoire or magic primer to guide me. Maybe the Karma or Contribution store would allow me to find those.

Ignoring Cortana's antics, I used my third eye skill, and I truly saw what my physical eyes couldn't. The world wasn't only three dimensional, I could see mana in the cave and things entering and exiting it, I couldn't focus on them as they were still blurry to me. Does it mean that I needed to rank up the skill to make those forms more distinct? It seemed so.

Ability Created:

Mana Perception [Rank F]

Allows the Gamer to sense Mana in the environment, beings and objects.

It was finally time to test myself with the ID Create skill, the Cyclopes were on our tail after all. I got up on my feet and exited the cave, raised my hands in the air and started channeling mana from my core to my open palms. I heard Cortana quickly press and advise me. "Quick, Céli. I am feeling them coming, do like I told you earlier; channel your mana and shout ID Create, the system will take over.”

"ID Create!" From my hands two circles of concentrated purple mana shot in the sky and spread into the air.

The wave of mana went on to cover the entire hill, clearing and the jungle border around it. Then the energy solidified and I felt a shift in the air, the noises of animals and birds simply stopped, there was still wind and air circulating through the space created.

Skill Created:

ID Create

Used to create instant dungeons, a form of protected space. Stronger instant dungeons may be created at higher rank of the skill.
Currently available ID list:
1. Empty ID - monsters: none
2. Skeleton ID - monsters: Skeletons
3. Ghost ID - monsters: Ghosts
4 Combine ID - monsters: Skeletons, ghosts

Hmm, I decided to use the Observe ability on the term 'protected space' to have more information and lo and behold it worked! This would allow me to understand the Gamer system even more.

Protected space
Description: A protected space also known as illusion barrier is a space that allows someone to use his supernatural powers without limitation. It's the easiest place for fighters to use their powers without being seen by the mundane, because Goddess Gaia helps you enter the protected space. It's the shadow of the real world.

It explains everything, it's really like in the webcomic, at least my version of it. The MC and I have totally different versions of the Gamer system. Now that we were safe from the Cyclopes, Cortana and I decided to start understanding the Gamer system. She made me sit for a while and started to explain how everything worked by making me open every window by saying the words 'status', 'equipment' and 'power list'.

The following windows popped up under my gaze.

Contribution Points:

1675

Karma Points:

900 Yang Points/0 Yin Points

Currencies:

0 Dollars (USA)
0 Drachma (Paradise Island)
0 Euros (Europe)

Status

Character Sheet
Name: Céleste
Race: Kryptonian
Title : The Gamer / Deadly Koala
Stats
EN: F (Solar Starved*)
CON: F (Solar Starved)
STR: F (Solar Starved)
DEX: F (Solar Starved)
MAN: F
INT: F (Solar Starved)
WIS: F
LUK: F

*You are weakened by the lack of sunlight at your emergence point in the world

Power list

Abilities: [Gamer’s Mind] (Passive) - EX, [Gamer’s Body](Passive) - EX, [Observe](Active) - S, [Inventory] (Active) - SSS, [Third Eye] - F, [Mana channeling] - F, [Mana Manipulation] - F, [Mana Perception] - F

Perks: Cuh-Ray-Zee! Mana Adept, Metamorphmagus (minor), Mindscape, Enhanced Inventory

Skills:, [Writing] - F, [Gun Mastery] - F, [Sharpshooting] - F, [Climbing] - F, [Assassination] - F, [Tackle] - F, [Submarine Pilot Training] - MAX, [Focus] - F, [Meditation] - F, [ID Create] - D

Equipment

Head:
Chest: Tactical suit [Rank E]
Right hand: tactical glove [Rank E]
Left Hand: tactical glove [Rank E]
Waist: Tactical belt [Rank E]
Feet: tactical boots [Rank E]
Accessories :
Weapon: Beretta m92

50% Protection

Tactical suit set [Rank E] Effect : +50% protection

Visible Fashion Glamour: Black Tank top, Black pants, Black boots

Cortana’s voice filled the silence as she explained things to me. “The status window can be accessed by voice and mental command that brings up a window that shows you your status; such as your name, race, title, how much currencies and contribution points you have in reserve.”

I had no money yet, but I could still take the containers filled with US dollars and place them in my currencies slot; something to do later I guess. Next my gaze fell on the pitiful status I had. Everything was Rank F.

Cortana placed one of her tiny hands on my cheek, she must have read my mind as she comforted me. “Don’t despair at your low ranked attributes, they can be increased by contribution points gained from defeating enemies or via training. There’s also your equipment that can make a difference by raising your attributes, depending on its rank.”

She was right, I was a bullshit video game character now, I will become a badass sooner than later. I nodded and kissed her body, causing her to giggle and fly away. My eyes fell on the status window and I resolved to become as strong as I could. “That’s cool, Cortana. My current armor protects me enough, and I decided that I will try to raise my Dex and Str via training. Let's save up on points for a rainy day.”

Cortana smiled as she put herself before the central transparent window. “Hehe, as you wish, Céli! Let's continue the explanation… Oh where was I? Ah, yeah, the power list!”

I looked at the window that listed all of my abilities, so far I had the basis for something truly awesome. I won't be the normal Kryptonian tank that tears at everything, I want magic as well. Magic was me covering for a weakness of mine. From the lore of DC that I've read, all versions of Kara Zor-El have the potential or are able to use magic, but they never take advantage of it.

Cortana began to explain, “The Power List Window like other menus can be accessed by a voice and mental command that brings up a window with a list of all the abilities, perks and skills that you obtain or learn. When an icon of the skill or ability is selected it shows all the current information on that skill. Greyed out skills that still appear are unable to be used."

I frowned at this, this had potential. "Can my skills be greyed out by myself?"

Cortana tilted her head as she consulted whatever encyclopedic knowledge she used and said, "Huh, yes you can. But there's a cool down period of one minute."

I Imagined myself going with greyed out skills for stealth in a combat situation and trying to activate them when some bad bitch is trying to get me… "Ah, never mind..." I told Cortana, this was a death sentence, I would leave them activated.

Shrugging we went over how to raise my skills and it was either use CP or practice them all the time. I really needed to make a schedule for myself. With those thoughts I looked up at my pixie guide. “So far everything looks sweet, Cortana. The system is just like in the original webcomic.”

The pixie bobbed up her head at me. “Yes it is. But there's a difference." She warned.

I raised an eyebrow, so far everything was straightforward. "Such as?"

Cortana looked thoughtful. "The Equipment window is something of a mix, between an old RPG game and the games you liked the most in your previous life. The system reviewed your memories and experiences and came up with your current version of the Gamer system; it's still in the process of completing modules for you.”

The window appeared and really looked like a game I've played a lot in my previous life. “It does act like the equipment window from Black Desert Online… When we were in the submarine, I guessed that I could use the fashion glamour option to have normal cloth appear over the armored skin suit I obtained from the loot box. So the Game is still being built, huh?”

“Yeah, Céli. So when the final product is ready to go live, there's going to be a major update of the system. You'll have to rely on your skills instinctively while everything gets installed. Speaking of loot boxes... the loot box module, there’s even more to it than expected, you know?”

The loot box module was handy. "From what I saw, it converts any physical storage into a loot box by consuming said storage and placing the content in my inventory."

Nodding, Cortana acquiesced to my answers telling me I am right but she made a face, she wasn't satisfied with it; so she added, "The thing is that you might not obtain the good stuff sometimes, 50% chance to receive the same stuff multiple times."

Thus wasn't good news at all. It was a double edged sword too. "Ah, it's like the loot boxes in overwatch, it's rigged huh. I might have to open the container myself and not from the inventory."

Clapping, Cortana smiled. "Good guess. Don't become lazy, you should open the containers and catalog what is inside by yourself."

Okay now that I understood this, I needed to move on and ask her about what has been bothering me for a while. Cortana, who was still reading my mind, snapped her fingers as she said, "Let’s talk about the ranks now. As you might have guessed… F Rank is the lowest rank of items and the strength of beings. Here let me show you a window."

Ranks

F - Human, mortal artifact.

E - Uncommon, slightly beyond mortal.

D - Enhanced human, rare stuff, low end monsters.

C - Superhuman stuff, powerful monsters/beings and powerful artifacts.

B - Superhuman beings, monsters, artifacts with powerful abilities that start to warp reality.

A- Superhuman beings, monsters, artifacts with powerful abilities that Definitely warp reality, time and space.

S - The start of Godhood for superhuman beings, artifacts or monsters.

SS - God level beings, artifacts and monsters.

SSS - Don’t touch this/Certain Death or Corruption.

I couldn't help myself from whistling, this was to be honest really scary. I was an ant for most of the things on this island… scratch that, this universe! I would get eaten or killed easily if I didn't have the Instant Dungeon skill. Gamer’s Mind calmed me down forcefully and then Cortana acted as she said, "Don't worry, I got you, Céli!"

Ding!

Recurring Quest: Herculean Training (1)

Objective 1: Daily exercise for the first two week of your path to power!
Workout:

• Stretches for 10 minutes
• 100 situps (0/100)
• 100 pull ups  (0/100)
• 100 pushups (0/100)
• 100 squats (0/100)
• 5 - km run  (0/5)

Objective 2: Fast like Hermes!
Dexterity training Workout level 1, 3 sets:

• 10 arms scissors (0/10)
• 10 scissor chops (0/10)
• 10 shoulder rotations (0/10)
• 10 bicep extensions (0/10)
• 10 shoulder taps (0/10)
• 30 clench/unclench (0/30)

Objective 3 (optional): Find yourself a weapon of choice!
Craft your own weapon! Bow and Arrow or a Club.

Reward: D Ranked weapon, An apprentice level spell book, 1000 Contribution Points
Failure: Stay weak like the ant you are. Become a Cyclops bride or Death.

I should have seen this coming when I saw Cortana smirk. "Did you just one punch meme me?"

With a bell-like laugh she whizzed around me and stopped before my face. "Glad you understand the reference."

I tried to catch her but she flew down, dodging my arm. We spent the next twenty minutes playing tag with each other, my child body was really influencing me. I couldn’t focus on anything for long, it was as if I had the worst case of ADHD. After this, I opened my inventory and sifted through the military containers. They were color coded, so easy to find.

I found a military camping kit and assembled it. I now had a tent up and used the cooking kit to warm up my favorite MRI with pasta bolognese. It was while I ate that I asked Cortana, “Say, Cortana. Why am I not getting stronger? I’m under the sun right now.”

My pixie guide looked up at the sky. Then after a moment, she revealed, “The atmosphere is being filtered by the dimensional barrier of this pocket dimension we ended up in. But what’s worse is that a second magical barrier is filtering the sunlight further, so for now, you are receiving barely 10% of the yellow sunlight you should.”

My plastic fork fell into my MRE plate. “That’s not good! How am I going to survive? This place is filled with monsters!”

Once again Gamer’s Mind stopped my panic and forced calm on me. But I was still worried by this; if there weren't this sunlight problem I wouldn't have to run from the Cyclops! Make that ulgy fat bastard learn why I wasn’t some hentai loli to be captured.

“Well, stop whining and train?” Cortana said in an annoyed tone.

I glared at her. “Fuck you Cortana.”

She giggled, then after a moment added, “See the silver lining of your position, once you get out of there, you’ll be stronger than any Kryptonian on the planet because your body will get better at processing and utilizing sun radiation.”

Taking back my plate, I began to dig in again and ate my pasta. *If I get out.*

Cortana zipped before my face and said with a weirdly determined expression on her face that gave me chills, “Don’t be such a pessimist. I will make a warrior out of you.”

----D1V1N3----

15 days later
January 22nd, 2011
Forbidden Island
ID safe zone

Okay Cortana was a slave driver, no scratch that, she was more annoying than the entirety of the Ryouzanpaku from History’s strongest disciple manga. Each morning since our arrival on Forbidden Island, she would wake me up and make me exercise for three hours straight and then only when I did every set of exercises in the quest I would be left to take a bath and eat a MRE.

I needed more stuff to eat than those, they have gone bland for me after a while. As a growing girl, I needed food with more variety. Okay, like I was saying Cortana made me focus a lot on my training each morning for fifteen grueling days. It was difficult at first but with my Gamer body I succeeded at Saitama's workout, I had to check that my hair didn't fall off though. When I slept into a bed each night, I woke up rested with my peak health with full mana.

I created a ball of light with my magic and illuminated the cave. My vision adapted to the light and I looked around me; the cave still looked unnatural, the walls were smooth, they were clearly made of granite. I had plans for this place when I can afford rune magic to enchant it against monsters and human invasion. I always wanted a hobbit house.

Now that I was up, it was time to get back to training. I am happy that I stole this big bed from the ship I woke up on. I patted the two person bed in the cave with the white sheets. I took it back into my inventory and put clothes on. I modified tactical pants into shorts. I used the equipment window to put on my sports outfit that consisted of black shorts and an oversized white shirt with black tactical boots. I tied the shirt to at least get it to the size of a tunic.

A light shone from the middle of my chest, a ball of blue light then extracted itself from me and Cortana manifested herself from it. She yawned, wiped her eyes and stretched herself. The Pixie finally looked at me and said, “Hey, Céli. Ready for the day?”

I wasn’t, I wanted to crawl back into bed and read one of the skill books I had in my possession and slowly complete the knowledge induction it had. You see, I could consume books like the Gamer did, but it destroyed the book in the process; but the new skill module took that into account and now I can read books multiple times and work on gaining a skill the slow way. This method allows others to read the book as well and maybe gain a skill through my power. Urgh, I was falling into normal habits… I wasn’t in a safe environment; I couldn’t think this way anymore.

What did I need to do today? Ah, yeah do the laundry, sort out more items from the containers I stole and maybe food, then choose what skill I must choose before exiting the Instant Dungeon Safe Zone.

I nodded to Cortana and said, “Yeah, I got things to do after the exercises, let’s get this over with.”

As I walked toward the entrance of the cave, I heard the most beautiful sentence I’ve heard so far. “I will allow you to have powdered milk and cane sugar with your cheerios.” Cortana looked like a Queen, a magnanimous one.

My head turned toward her as fast as a cobra. “Really?!” I asked with eagerness.

Did I say how much I was bored of regular MRE? Those military rations were becoming annoying fast. Just adding variety right now to have sugar in my breakfast was awesome. Cortana denied me sugar because of the unfortunate effect it had on my body’s biology. It made me unbearable to talk to as it gave me ADHD it seemed. Being a kid again was such a chore…

Cortana answered with, “Yes, we are almost done with your basic training.” She had on a sadistic smile as she said this.

I smelled a trap, she wasn't the kind of person who let up the pressure when she was working on something. “But you are going to give me another training quest…”

“Well, obviously. Now get to it.”

I closed my eyes in frustration, see, she is a slave driver! “Fine, you bossy Pixie.”

When I exited the cave, the sun was rising; the ID replicated the weather outside perfectly from what Cortana had explained to me. The sun rising from behind the trees was really beautiful. My favorite place on this island had become this little hill where I could watch the rising and setting of the yellow star.

I did a lot of sunbathing on this hill occasionally. I summoned my water canteen and drank a bit of water to hydrate myself; it was fresh and cold, as if I had just pulled it from the river. One of the benefits of having a stasis option for my enhanced inventory.

Before the cave's entrance I began to stretch and Cortana made a timer appear in a window. Right away, I rolled my shoulders and began some good ol’ shoulders and neck stretch, then after the first minute mark, I crouched and laid on my stomach, the flat of my hands beneath my shoulder, tucked my elbows to my side and gently raised my head and chest. This was called a Cobra Stretch. For twenty seconds I held this position then I relaxed. I did this three more times before using the whole ten minutes by doing knee to chest, spinal twits, upper back stretch, the whole palette.

“Okay Céli, now start the real stuff.”

“Yes, yes.” I said as I began to do more situps.

I felt the burn, as always… but I was used to this since I arrived in this place. Though, when I started this training from hell, I could barely walk anymore. And I had to do it every day; but the Gamer’s Body restored me back to health and cured all status effects after sleeping in a bed. Cortana may act like a ditz, but she knew what she was doing, she knew my limits.

My body was really letting me experience everything like a game, now I could run through Saitama’s regimen like it was nothing after the first week of arriving on the island. I had taken it in stride and continued training, and now here I was on the last stretch and about to complete the quest. For three hours I switched between exercises and completed the first objective.

Strength +

I hydrated myself again, then began the second objective, Dexterity training was easier on me. I completed level one, two and three of this training and it took me barely ten minutes.

Dexterity +

When I finished, my arms and legs trembled and I had to sit down on the earthy ground.

First Herculean Training Quest Complete

Falling on my back, I began to laugh while panting heavily. The sun was high in the sky and I looked at the time on the system. It was barely eight am, my stomach grumbled and I decided that it was time to eat. From my inventory I grabbed an ultralight pocket stove with fuel tablets, a saucepan, then filled it with water from my canteen. A portable folding table appeared before me and I set it up, then I lit the stove and placed the saucepan on it and waited.

While I sat and waited for the water to come to a nice enough temperature I called out, “Quest log.”

And in the windows I saw my previous quests, in the completed tab. The quests in my Gamer system were categorized like this: Training Quest, Fetch Quest, Hunting Quest, Story Quest, Investigation Quest, Karma Qest (Which give millions of CP at higher levels), Crafting Quest.

The first quest I did was a Story Quest and it gave me an idea of what was awaiting me. So far I had only received little quests after the escape story quest, things about investigating and cataloging everything in the container, Cortana had been insistent on it.

Recurring Quest: Herculean Training (1) (Complete)

Objective 1: Daily exercise for the first two weeks of your path to power!
Workout:

• Stretches for 10 minutes (Complete)
• 100 situps (Complete)
• 100 pull ups  (Complete)
• 100 pushups (Complete)
• 100 squats (Complete)
• 5 - km run  (Complete)

Objective 2: Fast like Hermes!
Dexterity training Workout level 1, 3 sets:

• 10 arms scissors (Complete)
• 10 scissor chops (Complete)
• 10 shoulder rotations (Complete)
• 10 bicep extensions (Complete)
• 10 shoulder taps (Complete)
• 30 clench/unclench (Complete)

Objective 3 (optional): Find yourself a weapon of choice!
Craft your own weapon! You choose Bow and Arrows as your weapon of choice.
Reward: D Ranked weapon, An apprentice level spell book, 1000 Contribution Points

“Hehe, this is a good haul so far. I got a magic spell book! And… lemme see the system logs.” This was another thing I was able to see with the game, the logs of things I had obtained.

You obtained:

D Ranked Bow

Apprentice level Fireball spell book

1000 CP

Another good weapon! I had to craft my first one after training with my hunting knife. It wasn’t as good and was a crappy weapon but it seems the system wanted me to have something to defend myself. I still smelled shenanigans though, Cortana was smiling too much.

Blessed Ironbark Recurve Bow of Smiting [Rank D]
Creator:  Artemis
Description: Laminated Takedown Bow is a laminated bow for modern archers. The riser is cut from good Ironbark wood from Thedas, and the limbs consist of wood, bamboo and high strength dragonglass sheet. It allows for practice shooting. It is effective against undead creatures; able to channel mana to create eldritch arrows.

*What the…?* Did the Greek Gods know of my presence here?! But then again this was their domain, why wouldn't they know that someone who isn't one of their worshipers present. Hera, Artemis, Athena, Aphrodite and Hestia are the one who blessed the Amazons and the God of the forge, Hephaestus, his island was near Forbidden Island as well.

Turning to my Pixie, I looked at her meaningfully. “Cortana are they…?”

She nodded. Raising her little arm to the sky she said, “Yup, they are watching, congratulations, you’ve become part of their daily TV reality show.”

I cursed, “Fuck no!” This wasn't good news, those Gods are like children and treat you like a toy when you get their attention.

Cortana scowled at me. With a tone full of reprimand she said coldly, “Language! Please don’t anger any of our viewers… you know how they react when they are displeased.”

Oh right, I forgot that she was acting like the responsible person for us two. She's not my mom but she didn't care. I hated having a bedtime or listening to her make decisions for me. From what I discovered from how my version of the Gamer System worked, Pixie guides acted like parental figures for young gamers when they were a certain age.

Fuck my F Ranked luck. “Huh… how do I get into situations like this? Why couldn’t I be reborn somewhere like Marvel or Konosuba?” I lamented as I looked into the amethyst colored sky.

I sighed, only for Cortana to land on my head, lay on her belly on it and pat my head with her little hands on my forehead. “Céli let's be real, you know you’d be totally transmigrated into Rogue’s body if you were in Marvel, she’s your favorite heroine and if you were in Konosuba, you’d have killed Aqua after two minutes of interacting with her…”

I can see that happening… if I was sent to the Marvel universe, I'd live by avoiding every X-men or Brotherhood member and go suck dry Captain Marvel of her powers because she's a bitch. Oh and I would stab Aqua repeatedly if she used my money for getting booze. “Damn it, you are right.”

I felt Cortana move on my head, fly and appear before my face. “Huhu, and you get to be a Kryptonian, isn’t that good? You get to be an invincible flying brick. And who knows, maybe you'll get to go to Marvel later, don't forget how Gamers have their own multiverse.”

I liked the sound of that, I would get to have adventures and do whatever I wanted without being a bitch of course. “Fine, okay, you’re right.”

Cortana made the Ironbark bow materialize and I caught it. As I inspected it, I found that the bow was strangely familiar, as if I had seen it before. Shrugging, I will remember where later.

“Now, look at your nice bow and play with it.” Cortana said with a patronizing tone that made me grit my teeth. I wasn't  a kid. But it didn’t matter to my Pixie at all.

I let it go and analyzed my bow more in depth. “Observe.”

Ironbark: Ironbark is a unique substance that is stronger and lighter than steel, making it a good material from which to craft weapons.

This wasn't material that you could find in DC! This was from the Dragon Age world, I recognize the description as I remember questing in the game for this. So the Gamer System could reach through Dimensions and universe like Cortana hinted, but how did Artemis get it? What does she gain from making me a bow? Those were questions that Céleste of the future will have to think about, for now… “Well okay, I hope I can find a piece of this for other types of weapons, I like staves too.”

I placed my bow back into the inventory and decided to start eating breakfast as the water was sufficiently warmed. For the next five minutes I spent my time cooking a quick breakfast. Hmm, cheerios and milk, I had some Soldier Fuel bar and powdered orange juice to go with it. From all the food I’d found in the containers, I estimated that I had at least two years worth of sustenance. Already I planned to space them out to make the modern food last longer.

It was with relish that I ate as much as I could and proceeded to clean up after myself. I put the dirty saucepan in my inventory.

Doing the laundry had become something I usually did with my little hands. I had soap and could afford to look clean; I couldn’t wait to become more proficient with magic and be able to purify my body and my clothes. I’m sure I can find a Life Magic section in the Karma store… Speaking of the Karma store! I had forgotten that I had enough points to buy stuff! But Cortana had told me to wait for the truly interesting stuff. Apparently the list is updated every two weeks.

But first it was time to see the fruit of the training I reaped. “Status.”

Contribution Points: 2675
Karma Point: 900 Yang Points/0 Yin Points

Character Sheet
Name: Céleste
Race: Kryptonian
Title : The Gamer/Deadly Koala
Stats
EN: F+ (Solar Starved*)
CON: E (Solar Starved)
STR: F++ (Solar Starved)
DEX: F++ (Solar Starved)
MAN: F+
INT: F+ (Solar Starved)
WIS: E
LUK: F

*You are weakened by the lack of sunlight at your emergence point in the world

“It looks sexier than before. It was full of F, but now I reached E in Constitution and Wisdom. And Strength and Dexterity attributes are about to break through to E Rank. I need to work harder!” I raised a fist in the air, now I was fired up.

Cortana flew around me at high speed leaving a trail of light and then she clapped her hands together. “That’s the spirit, Céli!” Then she continued to say with a serious tone, “I am now confident that you can take out some low ranked monsters from E to low D rank.”

I climbed to my feet in an instant and cried out, “I can finally get to kill things?!”

I’ve been cooped up to this empty Instant Dungeon for so long that I’ve almost forgotten what real nature is like. Sure, there’s wind, water, earth and the sun… but there was no animal noises and it was unnerving. I feel that I will have to get used to jungle noise all over again. *Oh and the mosquitoes, I’m sure that there will be mosquitoes in the real world.*

Cortana made me calm down with a glare… how could a tiny little thing like her could intimidate me like that? Oh, yeah she had control of the Gamer System because she was part of it…

“Not before you take some new skills from the Karma store, and you absorb the skill books you received from your story quest.” Cortana commanded, because yes this was a command.

We looked at each other for a long moment, me in defiance and her with a ‘Stop fighting and do it, you little girl’ expression on her face. I would get her one day for all of this… “Fine, I will do it.” I said with a whine.

My pixie snapped her fingers and the Karma store window opened. “Come on, now choose at least two skills.”

Karma store

Skills
Weapon Crafting (200 KP)
Colossal Strength (200 KP)
Superhuman Agility (200 KP)
Parallel Thinking (300 KP)
Poor Man’s Grimoire (100 KP) (200 KP for Kryptonian)
Juru Magic (500 KP) (Only for Kryptonian)
Rune Magic (450 KP) (850 KP for Kryptonian)
Primordial Runes (1500 KP) (3000 KP for Kryptonian)
Magecraft (2000 KP) (4000 KP for Kryptonian)
Magic Warfare (400 KP) (800 KP for Kryptonian)
Magical Causality Manipulation (900 KP) (1600 KP for Kryptonian)
Telekinesis (250 KP)
Spatial Maneuvering (100 KP)
Clairvoyance (400 KP)
Leadership (500 KP
Cooperation (100 KP)
Allspeak (100 KP)
...

There were a lot of choices, and I remember some of those skills were present when I created my body in the character creation part of the Gamer. Some of them made me want to choose them directly like the Superhuman Agility one, but it would be redundant when I got back under the sun proper. I ignored all the physical skills and focused on the magic ones.

Some were really interesting, like Rune Magic, but my eyes fell on Juru Magic and I frowned. “Observation.” And a window showing the description about the skill opened.

Juru Magic: Juru magic is the form of magic used by the Kryptonian-Magi from the Valley of Juru.

My eyes almost popped out of my skull when I read this. “Wait!! Really?” I think this was placed there because I was fated to have it.

However, I still needed to have more infos about this. “Observe.” This time, I used my skill on the term Kryptonian Magi as I didn’t know that they had magic at all, due to how sciency they’ve been for at least ten thousand years.

Kryptonian-Magi: Kryptonian-Magi like their Earth counterpoint Homo-Magi , were Kryptonians born into a Kryptonian sub-race with the ability to use magic as an innate talent instead of studying. The Kryptonian-Magi evolved in a parallel but separate line, alongside Kryptonians.

“Interesting.” So they were like Homo-Magi but for Kryptonian. But was I one too? That’s why the skill appeared on the store page? I looked at Cortana who nodded at my question. My body was now filled with excitement. *So What it is the Valley of Juru?*

“Observe.”

Valley of Juru: The Valley of Juru was a region on the planet Krypton which gave rise to a group of mystics known as the Wizards of Juru. These Kryptonians had learnt the arts of magick and were capable of great acts of sorcery. Even at the height of Kryptonian civilization, the Valley of Juru remained one of the few unexplored regions on the planet. It was for this reason that the Wizards remained largely unknown to the rest of the planet.

“Hmm… I’m going to take it for sure. This is the cheapest OP skill for me at the moment, and it really does sound OP.” I resolved and placed the skill in the basket icons.

For my second skill I wanted something super useful to me. “There’s some other skills that interest me but are too expensive, like Magecraft or Rune Magic but they are skills that will take time to master.”

Then my eyes fell on the All-Speak skills, and I remembered that the Asgardian in Marvel used it. “Observe.”

All-Speak: The user can speak, write, understand and communicate in any language, including computer codes, languages they have never heard before, sign language (even lip-reading), illegible words, and backwards speech and writing with little or no training. The user may even communicate with non-human animals or read body language. This ability works by any one or more of these faculties.

I didn’t think, and placed the skills directly in the basket and then I clicked on ‘Buy’ and the system made a jingle sound and a window that was green in color with blue text appeared before me saying:

Juru magic bought

All-Speak bought

There was a rush of information into my mind. I felt my body being changed as well, as if I was being remade, but it didn’t hurt or anything.

In my mind I saw the symbols for Fire: The personification of light and life.

The symbol for Water: Personification of essences.

Then the symbol of air: Personification of Purity, creativity.

Those symbols filled me with their meaning; and the boundless knowledge that were attached to them. To each of those symbols, a branch of magic was connected. I asked myself why there was no Earth symbol until the knowledge finished filling my head and now I knew why. Earth didn’t have any symbols because Kryptonians were obviously made of it as all life, creation and spirit are mixed with the symbols for Fire, Air and Water. A Wizard of Juru who was master of all three main elements might also be able to control Earth and life.

I was giddy, this was simply amazing! I could see the potential of the Kryptonian magic right away. Energy blast, healing and even teleportation wasn’t out of my grasp. I looked at the logs and saw important stuff had happened to me.

Race of the Gamer changed to Kryptonian-Magi.

Due to race change, the Gamer obtained several skills and abilities:

Skills obtained:

Elemental manipulation [Rank F]

Force-field generation (minor)

Magic Combat [Rank F]

Abilities obtained:

Healing (basic)

Magic Absorption (basic)

This was a momentous event for me. But a warning as well, whatever I choose from the Karma Store affects my whole being and I shouldn’t choose skills and perks without planning and reading their description thoroughly.

“Status.” I said the voice command and just like I expected it, my race. Nothing changed much, I had the same abilities but several things were added to my Power List.

Contribution Points: 2675
Karma Point: 300 Yang Points/0 Yin Points

Character Sheet
Name: Céleste
Race: Kryptonian-Magi
Title : The Gamer/Deadly Koala
Stats
EN: F+ (Solar Starved*)
CON: E (Solar Starved)
STR: F++ (Solar Starved)
DEX: F++ (Solar Starved)
MAN: F+
INT: F+ (Solar Starved)
WIS: E
LUK: F

*You are weakened by the lack of sunlight at your emergence point in the world

Abilities: [Gamer’s Mind] (Passive) - EX, [Gamer’s Body] (Passive) - EX, [Observe](Active) - S, [Inventory] (Active) - SSS, [Third Eye] - F, [Mana channeling] - F, [Mana Manipulation] - F, [Mana Perception] - F, [Healing] - Basic, [Magic Absorption] - (basic)

Perks: Cuh-Ray-Zee! Mana Adept, Metamorphmagus (minor), Mindscape, Enhanced Inventory

Skills:, [Writing] - F, [Gun Mastery] - F, [Sharpshooting] - F, [Climbing] - F, [Assassination] - F, [Tackle] - F, [Submarine Pilot Training] - MAX, [Focus] - F, [Meditation] - F, [ID Create] - D, Force-field generation - (minor), [Magic Combat] - F, [Elemental Manipulation] - F

“I think we will stop here, Céli. You took two big skills and you might not feel it, but they changed you on a fundamental level.” Cortana sounded worried suddenly.

I decided to listen to her wisdom and said, “Yeah, you’re right…”

This has shaken me more than I thought, and I had a bad feeling, as if something was in store for me. As if someone was walking on my grave.

Cortana giggled and decided to break me out of my thoughts by saying, “So why don’t we go do the dishes and some of the laundry?”

I emitted an unladylike whine as I heard this. “Urgh, damn it. I forgot about that. Okay let’s.” I turned heel and walked up toward the river bordering the cave and walked to my daily chore.

----D1V1N3----

The next day…
Entrance of the cave
09:05 AM

The sun was warm on my skin, the life-giving rays filled me with energy even though what I received was a pittance compared to the full power of the star. Even so, my cells that acted like batteries, metabolized the yellow sunlight radiation as fuel had a profound effect on me. I felt smarter, my senses sharper; smells became stronger, my vision was somehow better than before and I could hear more around me, but it wasn’t overwhelming me. After I took some time to focus and meditate last night, I realized this. It’s crazy how being in the body of a child made me not even notice those changes.

It wasn’t much of a boost, but I was going to milk it for all it’s worth. Cortana flitted before my face, her facial expression full of worry for me. “Are you ready?”

“As much as you could make me, Cortana.” I told her.

My training wouldn’t stop here, I would still continue my One punch man regimen everyday… but today, I needed to see if I could fight the lower ranked monster with my strength and my magic. If I stayed cooped up here forever, I would surely get crazy. Ok, crazier.

My Pixie nodded and went to sit on my head. I heard her say, “Good girl. Now create that ID Escape skill.”

I channeled mana through my raised right hand and focused on the tether linking me to the protected space. I wanted it to break and leave its confine. Magic was all about willpower and I had that in spades. “ID Escape!”

Space around me fissured and just like broken mirror shards, everything shattered; and then I heard the sounds of animals when the real world reasserted itself.

Skill Created:

Instant Dungeon Escape

“Another win for me.” I said as I watched my little base around me. I heard a noise behind me and turned only to see big yellow eyes staring at me.