"I'm sitting in a university lecture, and somehow I look perfectly fine, even though I haven't slept since yesterday. And the reason for that is food. Food from Terraria, which I can pull out of the game and eat without any harm to my health. The sensations are incredible. A slice of cake, a bowl of soup, Thai food, cooked shrimp. The buffs seem to persist even in reality, which is why I still feel amazing."
"Software packages that allow you to create three-dimensional graphics, meaning to model virtual objects and create…"
I sat in the lecture, looking fresh as ever, even though I hadn't slept since yesterday. And the reason for that was food. Food from Terraria, which I could pull out of the game and eat without worrying about my health. The sensations were incredible. A slice of cake, a bowl of soup, Thai food, cooked shrimp. The buffs from them seemed to carry over into reality, which was why I still felt absolutely amazing.
And right now, I was browsing the game's wiki, studying how to obtain certain items. I had already tried using cheats to get what I wanted, but it didn't work. The items simply slipped away from my grasp, and the "static" seemed to reject them, as if it didn't like their unreality or the fact that they weren't earned fairly. At least, that was how I interpreted it.
Still, getting items wasn't that hard, especially if you followed instructions. Now everything depended on what I wanted… and that's where things got complicated. My eyes were literally darting around. There was too much to choose from, and I didn't know what to pull out next.
Potions were obviously valuable. Healing Potions, in theory, could do a lot. I just needed to understand how they worked in reality.
I briefly thought about helping seriously ill people in hospitals… but that idea was quickly shut down. I didn't grow up in a place where people blindly trust kindness. I always expect a catch, especially when something is free. Not that I don't believe in genuine kindness… I do. I just also believe that people like that often get used and walked all over.
***
Mary Bellstone, Field Agent, Level 3 Clearance, SCP
"Ma'am, the anomaly's location is still unknown," a voice said, pulling the woman out of her thoughts.
"I already know," she said, putting out her cigar and letting out a heavy sigh. "Call our eggheads. Maybe they'll come up with something useful for investigating this damn city where the anomaly was supposed to appear." Despite her words, not a single muscle moved on her face.
"Understood," her subordinate nodded and went off to carry out the order.
Mary wasn't a rookie. In twenty years of working for the Foundation, she had learned a lot—so much that, in her opinion, she was just one step away from receiving Level 4 clearance. Recently, one of the secret SCP objects, codenamed "The Seer," had reported a new strange anomaly within the city limits, so she had been assigned here to locate this "object." They all came in different forms, and she hoped this one wasn't particularly dangerous and, for example, wasn't capable of destroying the entire city.
"So far, that's not the case. That's good," the woman said.
Of course, the Foundation hadn't ignored such a report. They immediately began preparations and sent her team to search for traces of the anomaly. A response unit was ready to deploy at any moment on her command, and amnestics capable of erasing memories would be used if necessary.
But after a full day, they hadn't found anything.
Nothing strange. Nothing unusual. Nothing that stood out from the normal picture of the world.
And that… was troubling.
Either the anomaly was too subtle—which was bad—or it was intelligent—which was also bad. Or its abilities simply couldn't be detected by their instruments…
Still, they would find it and figure out how to deal with it. Humanity had always faced things like this, and it still survived—partly thanks to people like them. Let the public remain unaware of their work. Let no one ever know. What mattered was that they knew.
The Foundation had faced far worse.
And this anomaly would be no exception.
Secure. Contain. Protect.
***
"Dead Space… nah, better not touch that. Then Total War… I'm not really into strategy games," I muttered while scrolling through my games. "GTA… well, maybe money and weapons… Metro? Yeah… damn, tough choice," I exhaled.
There were so many games, but checking every single one I didn't know would take forever. I had options… but most of them were either childish or just for fun.
I was thinking about getting something to protect myself, but everything was either bulky—like power armor from Fallout—or just too noticeable, like the nanosuit from Crysis.
I already had a couple of healing potions in my piggy bank, but I hadn't tested them yet. There hadn't been a reason. I wouldn't notice any effect anyway since I wasn't injured, and I had no desire to hurt myself just to test it.
A lot of interesting items or abilities were tied directly to the main characters of games, like Mercer from Prototype. And his abilities… I didn't want to infect the world with a virus. Those kinds of powers… they disgusted me.
So, yeah, the choice seemed huge, but what I actually liked—something subtle, useful—wasn't that easy to find. And my knowledge of games wasn't perfect either, so I had to slowly dig through wikis for each one.
And I couldn't really have fun with this ability either. I was in a city. Sure, I could fly—Terraria had plenty of items for that—but where would I go? Into the woods?
I even had an idea to pull out some "Venom" from "Web of Shadows," but… how would I make it help me instead of getting eaten by it? And it was alive. I hadn't tried pulling living things yet…
"Sometimes I just don't have enough resolve…" I exhaled, overwhelmed by how much I was overthinking all of this.
On the other hand, games like Minecraft or Terraria already had plenty of useful things, more than enough for me. But there was always that "but." I wanted something… more exciting, something that made you go "wow." I just didn't fully understand what that meant for me.
So I went back to Terraria and started farming the items I needed. Cheats didn't work—I had already tested that.
"Wait a second…"
I exited the game and went to look for Terraria save files. After downloading and installing them, I saw the world I needed and opened it…
"Well, it was worth a try," I clicked my tongue in disappointment.
Those items also slipped out of my hands, as if I wasn't involved in their creation, and because of that, they were "unreal."
Anyway, I kept playing and gathering items the normal way. In a dungeon, I found a "Crystal Heart" and decided to experiment by pulling it out.
Now I was holding a mysterious object, glowing with a soft red light and shaped like a heart, just like in the game—but more real.
I squeezed it slightly…
It shattered like glass.
And then all the fragments started absorbing into me.
I flinched in surprise at first, but then a wave of euphoria washed over me.
"Uh… I think… I don't even know…"
I clearly felt better. Healthier. In the game, it increased health, so it must have increased mine too, but… how do you even measure that in real life?
No logical method came to mind, but even so, the effect was obvious. I could feel it. It even seemed like my skin had become healthier and more elastic—just a little, but still noticeable.
"Yeah, this will come in handy too…"
With excitement, I stuck my hand into the screen and pulled out a "Band of Regeneration," which restored one health point per second.
"I feel a bit safer now," I smiled.
"Son, I'm home."
There was a knock on the door, and I heard my mom's voice, pulling me away from the laptop.
"Mom, how was work?" I opened the door and hugged her. She smiled and hugged me back. Maria Kutsygina—that was her maiden name. I'd give her thirty-five at most. She had aged well. Probably why that French guy decided to marry her, which made getting visas much easier for both of us.
"Oh, it's hard to explain right away…"
Then my "father" came up from behind and slapped her, which made me feel a surge of disgust. She hesitated and slapped his hands away.
"Honey, I'll make something to eat, so come in about half an hour," she smiled at me. Then she added in English, "And keep your hands to yourself."
He just rolled his eyes.
She couldn't give me much time, but she always loved me…
I wanted to repay her somehow.
Maybe use a "Crystal Heart" on her without her noticing? And actually… could I even use it on someone else without them knowing?
Back in my room, I picked up my phone.
Zheka: "Did you watch the new Spider-Verse movie?! I can't wait for the third one, it ended at the best moment!"
"Of course I did…"
I froze for a moment…
Then suddenly got up and went to play the first animated movie.
An idea formed in my head. Why not try it?
I had been fixated on games, but what about movies, TV shows, anime, cartoons? I mean… why not try doing the same thing there?
And I remembered that spider. The one that was shown up close.
The one that could turn me into a "superhuman" without any risk to my health.
Miles wasn't supposed to become Spider-Man either. He was an anomaly.
Which meant…
That spider could do the same to me.
"I hope."