The initial wave of awe began to recede, snaped me back to my original regular mundane thoughts. Sunday's explanation was perfect, easy to understand, Kinda like the usual A.I experience that I had. But as a modern person, from earth with a lifetime of encountering shady microtransactions and data-mining EULAs had bred a deep-seated skepticism in me. I had to know just how, money hungry was my System were. And what my system truly is. One can never be to careful.
'Sunday, I want to see your data files… Can you produced an interface with my computer?'
"[Of course, Sir. Initiating interface with local terminal.]"
The monitor of my PC, which had been sleeping, flickered to life. The familiar desktop vanished, replaced by a black command prompt window. Text began scrolling at an incredible speed, lines of code flashing by too quickly for me to read. Then, a file tree directory materialized on the screen. It was clean, organized, and utterly alien. The root folder was simply labeled [SUNDAY_CORE].
"Whoa, okay. That was… a lot," I said and leaned forward and grabbing my mouse.
My programming knowledge was that of a hobbyist level only—I'd cobbled together my two indie games with tutorials and sheer stubbornness. I wasn't a master hacker, but I knew enough to recognize structure. I clicked through the folders.
There were directories for [SYSTEM_OS], [NEURAL_INTERFACE], [DATA_CACHE], and the one that made my heart skip a beat: [CORE_DATA_BANK].
I took a deep breath and opened it. It was exactly as she'd said. The contents were a mix of accessible files and encrypted archives. The names of the encrypted files were a punch to the gut for me, a catalog of my childhood and beyond, that is very familiar to me. "Final_Fantasy_VII.pak", "Akira.mkv", "Legend_of_Zelda_OoT.pak", "Star_Wars_EpIV.dat".
Each one had a small, red padlock icon on it. Hovering the mouse over one brought up a tooltip: "Data Locked. Purchase Required."
I spent the next ten minutes digging. I looked for hidden processes, outgoing network connections, strange executables. I checked the system registry for odd entries. It was all clean. Remarkably so. There was no evidence of her phoning home to some divine server. The architecture was complex but logical. She was, for all intents and purposes, an incredibly advanced piece of software running locally on my hardware ea. my soul, with a wireless connection to my brain.
I sat back, as the tension in my shoulders easing. The audit was over. I checked everywhere and know that she was clean. She had passed.
'Alright,' I thought, a final vestige of wariness melting away. 'I believe you.'
"[Thank you, Sir. I am here to serve.]" Her voice held no hint of annoyance at my suspicion, only placid acceptance.
With trust established, my curiosity flared anew. She came not by herself, but with a system as well and systems usually had features.
'Sunday, is this it? The data bank and the assistance? Or is there… more? Do you have a help menu? A settings page? Or anything like that?'
"[Understood…Accessing user profile….displaying profile.]"
A new window, different from the command prompt, bloomed into existence in the center of my vision. It was a sleek, transparent blue HUD, like something from a sci-fi game. It was superimposed over my view of the room, yet I could focus on it perfectly.
At the top, in a clean, modern font, was my name and my status attributes, easy enough for me to understand, everything.
Sael Hardcox
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STR: 2
DEX: 2
INT: 8
CHR: 5
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SKILLS: -
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I stared, my jaw going slightly slack. A status screen. An actual, honest-to-God character stat sheet. 'Heh… that is level 1 character, numbers… I kinda get' what these numbers do… but just so that I do not jump into my own conclusion stupidly… mind telling me what do these numbers mean?'
"[This is a quantitative analysis of your physical and mental attributes,]" Sunday explained. "[The baseline for a healthy human male of your biological age is 5 across all parameters.]"
My eyes immediately went to my Strength and Dexterity scores. A 2. The number seemed to mock me. I flexed my hand, looking at my skinny wrist.
'A 2? What does that even mean? How is this measured?'
"[The 'Strength' attribute correlates to musculoskeletal integrity, raw physical power, and endurance. A score of 2 indicates significantly underdeveloped muscle mass and low stamina,]". she stated, her tone devoid of judgment, which somehow made it worse. It was just a fact. "[The 'Dexterity' attribute pertains to neuromuscular coordination, reaction speed, and fine motor control. A score of 2 suggests poor coordination and slow reflexes.]".
I winced. It was one thing to feel weak; it was another to have it quantified. I looked at the 8 in Intelligence. 'And that?'
"[ 'Intelligence' encompasses memory retention, information processing speed, and cognitive flexibility. A score of 8 is notably above average, likely a residual effect of your original consciousness's maturity.]"
A small consolation. At least I had my brains. Then I saw the 5 in Charm.
"[ 'Charm' is a measure of physical appeal, social perception, and personal magnetism. A score of 5 is perfectly average for your age and appearance.]".
Average. Well, I couldn't complain about that. The old Sael had clearly focused his points all in the wrong places. The gamer in me immediately saw the next logical step.
'Can I increase these? How do I level up?'
"[There are two primary methods for attribute improvement,]" Sunday recited.
"[The first is organic development: targeted physical training for Strength and Dexterity, studying and problem-solving for Intelligence, social interaction for Charm. This method is effective but operates on a timescale of months and years.]"
I grimaced. I didn't have years. I had a month to deal with that GMRD stuff.
'And the second method?' I asked, already guessing the answer.
"[The second method is accelerated development via direct resource allocation. You can purchase stat points.]".
A menu appeared below my status, glowing in my vision:
Purchase Stat Point (Current Price: $10.00)- [STR] [DEX] [INT] [CHR] -
'Ten dollars? For one point?' My mind immediately started doing the math. To get my pathetic STR and DEX up to a normal level of 5, I'd need 3 points each.
That was 6 points, times ten… sixty dollars. Just to be a baseline, non-pathetic human. And that was just for two stats.
'Does the price ever change?'
"[The price is fixed at $10 per point until an attribute reaches the benchmark of 10. After that, the cost increases by a factor of ten, to $100 per point.]".
The numbers unfolded in my head like a terrifying spreadsheet. To get all my stats to a respectable 10…
STR: from 2 to 10 = 8 points = $80
DEX: from 2 to 10 = 8 points = $80
INT: from 8 to 10 = 2 points = $20
CHR: from 5 to 10 = 5 points = $50
Total: $230.
And after that, to push them to superhuman levels of 20? That would be another 10 points per stat at $100 each. Another $4000.
I let out a low, slow whistle, running a hand through my hair. The sheer, brutal capitalism of it was breathtaking. My very existence had become a free-to-play game.
'So,' I summarized, the reality of my situation crystallizing into perfect, frustrating clarity. 'Everything comes down to money.'
"[That is an accurate assessment, Sir,]". Sunday replied.
"[Financial capital is the primary resource required for accelerated development and data access.]"
I had $300. I needed $20 for Super MariX, and another $230 just to not be a physical weakling. And that was before rent, food, or saving my family from financial ruin.