Chapter 10: 10: New Powers, New Friends, New Troubles

Lash stood gobsmacked before the collection of ethereal beings with in the room of light and nothingness. He was standing on what appeared to be a floor piece made of starlight only to look past his feet to see the ocean of stars that he saw while in the grand hall. But his role had been reversed but much like a pool or an aquarium he could now look down at the hall. All of the audience seem to be...Frozen? No, they were just moving slowly. The light that spilled out of the room hadn't swallowed everyone like he thought, it had only swallowed him. Nor was the door even open. But a stream of light connected where he once stood towards the ceiling to his place now. Interesting...

“Not that I am complaining, having a conversation with a beautiful women is always nice, Dawn. But what are you doing here?” Lash turned back to....Dawn the cloaked figure of both white and black. The figure shook as it gave soft feminine laugh at him.

“User, as you know the The Dream Engine is still in Beta. Though the developers are essentially polishing the generated world at this point there are 'places' that are still in need of...Shall we say creation. What you see before you?” Dawn took their robed arms out gesturing to the 13 white, and 13 black. “These are Place Holders, until they can come up with a representation.” Dawn's cloaked figured never revealed their face or body shape as they returned to standing in front of Lash.

“PLACE HOLDERS?!” Lash, smiled wide then doubled over as he laughed! He laughed for what seemed like a good minute, even cleaned pretend tears from his eyes. Lash would often forget that besides the astounding world, realism, characters, and detail he was still indeed playing a Beta. If the game was already this awesome what was the finished product like?

“So, during this transition the developers thought the Generated worlds V.I. Would make a good stand in.” Dawn spoke softly, as if embarrassed by circumstances only to squeak in surprise as Lash walked forward and hugged her. She shook her head back and forth, confused about the exchange. Before slowly placing her place holder arms around Lash in return.

“You should send a note to the Developers that they should allow a representation of the V.I. To take shape. I don't know about the other Users, but I really appreciate you! I've wanted to hug you for a while.” Lash gave a good squeeze before letting go. Dawn, held for a bit longer before doing the same. When they parted the Robed figure coughed into their hand to help clear the air.

“Many other Users have stated something akin to what you just said. Though several Users seem to use the V.I. Rep. As a punching bag. A majority of them do not. Shall we send your positive feed back to the Developers on creating a representation of the V.I. To The Dream Engine?” Lash nodded his head then began to look around the ocean of stars captivated before the scene.

“So, any idea's on who is suppose to be here?” Lash raised his arms up, gesturing towards the twenty six robed figures. Lash's tux-Robe fluttered with a cosmic wind as a asteroid flew by. Lash could pick out the details of the giant rock. Impacts, holes, and the energy that cascaded in its wake.

“The Dream Engine is still trying to establish an idea. Should they use their creative element and make something new, or go with the original idea and have 'The Endless' place here. One of the representative's of 'The Endless' Would be who you refer to as Sand Man the ruler of the world of Dreams and Nightmares.” Dawn spoke softly following Lash with their generated eyes.

Lash froze in his place before trying to remember who that was...Wait! The pale guy with Einstein level of black hair? They have an entire comic book series based around him! That's right he had an entire family. They were the physical representation of the Earths feelings. They were not God's per-say, some of them may have been even greater then that. But there was Endless like death, life, joy, and hope?

“The Endless...Go with them! Personally having read a large portion of 'The Sand Man' Comic series not only would that be an epic scene. It would also push a lot of Users off balance because most would be expecting some grand Fae Court filled with fairies and such. Only to see an assorted of beings wearing from the traditional robes to skinny jeans and a t-shirt.” Lash grinned at the image, before standing right back before Dawn at the original light spot pedestal. Dawn nodded her head in affirmation.

“So, now that your input has been placed in the selection, we should give your perks.” Dawn waved her arm, and a floating book appeared in front of Lash. In the book were pages of perks, talents, abilities, skills, domains of magic, etc. “Please take note User, that after this process is complete you will now have access to the Generated worlds shop. Much like this book here the shop will allow you to obtain things previously didn't have with the use of Dream Points or D.P. Why you may ask? Simple after this you will have now completed the tutorial.” This revelation made Lash pause, then slowly look up at Dawn's figure.

“Wait, I was still doing the tutorial? What do you mean shop? What can I buy?” A grin was beginning to form on his face.

“The Dream Engine is not a standard 'Game' as many of you would call it. The Developers took great pains to create a living breathing world. However, the Alpha testers encouraged that things are fun not because they are real, but because they are not. Having a 98% realism generated world is great! But make sure you leave that 2% of the game in it to remind us of what we are playing. However, the actual math of whats real and whats not is far more complicated then that. But we feel you understand. The tutorial only ends when the User finds an establish base or makes a firm foundation to work from. Be it a Hero, or Villain. It's only when they have established a 'Character' to work from. To help you understand, User Erik Lash is the #00869th Beta Tester to exit the tutorial. While there are #99999 active Users in the D.C. Comics generated worlds.”

This piece of information blew Lash's mind, his eyes open, mouth open so wide he felt that his jaw might pop out of joint. That is crazy! Across the globe The Dream Engine Cube was released. Dozens of different Generated worlds were selected, not just D.C. Comics. But even then 99999 'active' as in they are playing right now!? And only 869 finished the tutorial. Lash considered himself a slow gamer. He didn't rush his way through a game he wanted to learn its mechanics, look around. He had read plenty of users that have died, tried new things, hero or villain. But only that many were out of the tutorial?

“As for what you can buy? The system calculates achievements, tasks, missions, objectives, even days played. Then counts them up and then Dream Points generated, or DP can be used to purchase things in the store. Please take note User that the store can only be used once every 24 hours real time. Used as in something was purchased, you can of course window shop as much as you like. The store is invisible to the generated worlds denizens. As well as the things you buy are not immediately available. Example; You buy an upgrade to your overall strength, the system will begin to slowly improve your abilities so you don't accidentally break a door handle when you open it up. Now, the User can not buy things like money, equipment, or a home base. Only skills, traits, abilities. What you can buy is limited to what the User has encountered in the world, as well as their Origin.” Dawn finished speaking.

Lash nodded his head, absorbing the information. He leafed through the pages of the book with a more critical eye. At the the top left corner of the book was his DP total. He had 2 points to spend. He could improve his over all Super Rating go from G+ to F+ with a single point, learn a skill, pick a magical domain. The domain would come with a collection of spells. These effects were temporary, but could be useful tools. Attack, defense, support, as well as grow and develop over time. The lists of skills were truly impressive! But as Dawn said they were definitely limited to his origin, and what he had encountered. So far he hadn't really done anything with gadgets, technology, etc, thus there were no skills based around that. The spell domains however only had a few to select from.

“Dawn do I have a time limit in here? Also may I ask questions about what is inside the book?” Lash looked up at Dawn, who was now smaller, before she towered above him as this robed figure. But now was about 5' 5”, and was clearly female as the robe hide her overall features her golden ratio hourglass figure was clear. “Looking good Dawn!”

“Thank you, User! The Developers have decided that the V.I. Rep would be based around the interaction and suggested ideal's of the User. You seem to love beautiful women so...” Dawn let that hang on the air for a bit. Lash blushed as he hid his face behind the book and coughed. Dawn's laughter made his face red like a tomato. As she politely covered her mouth area with a hand. He still couldn't see her face, or hands for that matter.

“As to your question User. Time here is relative, time continues to pass in the outside world. But the generated world has slowed to a crawl. This was meant to help represent the change with in the grand hall. As from their perspective a light has swallowed you, and only a few seconds have passed. Second question; The User can of course ask anything of the generated V.I. Rep of the world and will help to the best of its abilities.” Dawn walked forward, her hips swayed back and forth before she raised her hand into the air. For the first time the hand seem to come together from starlight to form a petite, feminine hand to...Softly karate chop right on top of Lash's head. “Mind out of the gutter, User”

To Dawns credit, Lash's facial expression did take on a...perverted grin when she said 'anything'. He coughed into his hand, and went back to reading the book. “So, may I assume that the magical Domains are like skills? They grow over time as I use them over and over, and experiment?” Lash looked up, only to see vague features of a women's face inside of the hood. Much like Dawns starlight skin on her hand, her face was the same. He didn't know how to describe a persons face when made from black ink, and light. But it was....Interesting.

“That is correct User. Spell domains are akin to Skills. As you use them they grow stronger, and take less energy to use. Combination of spells working together make new spells, each spell learned by the User is saved in a type of Grimoire. This book does not have a physical representation with in the generated world unless the User wishes to make their own. However, when you the User chooses a Domain an additional type is prompted. Apologies User I can not tell you what that prompt is until you purchase it.” Dawn maintained her vigil before Lash. Arms now crossed, hands inside the folds of their sleeves. But the vague star ocean of a face remained, peering at Lash waiting for his choice.

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Lash reached out and spent only one point of his DP. Selecting a magical domain. The book asked if he was sure for his purchase, once obtained there would be no refund. He selected yes....

Congratulations User! You've selected the Nature Spell Domain! Nature; is the art and study of the natural world, if it happens naturally in the known world. Then you as a student of the mystic arts can call upon it! Take note that you only have the power to ask of nature, not command it.

Congratulations User! You've obtained the Achievement; Guardian of the Green, 'Swamp thing!? Ya, me and him are best buds!'

Congratulations User! You've obtained a title. Druid, Active effects: Understanding the world of nature lets you speak to the aspects of nature. Note they tend to talk a lot once you get them going. Passive effects; All nature based spells take 10% less energy, all plant type or related entities sentient or otherwise like you 10% more.

Please take note; only one title may be active at one time. User can only swap titles every 12 in-game hours.

Switch currently title for Druid? Y/N

Lash, kept his original title in place. He already heard animals talk, adding another to is already full plate would give him a head ache. But if he ever did meet swamp thing maybe he would swap it out. Or maybe when a natural disaster happened he could swap it and see if he could... Tame a tornado? Just thinking about it made him smile. He then turned back to Dawn. As a new window prompt appeared over the shop book.

“Now the User must choose there method of spell casting. Verbal, Somatic, Material, please take note User that all spell casters can use all three. At any time, the specification allows the system to grant strengths and weaknesses. An example of this is, The Hero Zatanna; She primarily uses Verbal for her spell casting. But because she has verbal component this is also her weakness. Take away her voice and she can't access her true magic. She can still cast spells that require somatic, and material. But that is not where her strength lies.” Dawn spoke softly to Lash, as she pointed out different parts of the description in the book. The details went further then that, but he appreciated the example. The book didn't have examples.

Lash flipped through the book again, containing new information. Something caught his eye, he read through it. With out thinking about it any more he selected it! A grin on his face! With a flash of light a type of Tribal tattoo was marked on his bald head, from brow to top, to back, all the way to meet his neck. He'd have to look at the design later.

“User, you have selected the casting type. Will. You will use your imagination, focus, and willpower to cast your spells. Though this can be limiting as it requires you to multi task, once mastered it will be much like the Green Lantern Core, this is considered the use of Material. But your material foci is the tribal mark on your body.” Dawns voice took on an amused tone. “Traditionally if the marks at any time would be damaged then your ability to use your spell method would break. But, with your future quest completing allowing your regeneration that shouldn't be a problem. Speaking of which!”

Congratulations User: You've completed one of the Grand Quests given to you by your Cosmic Patron. You've officially become a Warden! You've obtained the skill Minor Regeneration; Normal mortal wounds heal quicker. What would take years, turns to months, months to weeks, weeks, to hours, hours to minutes. With this its even possible to regrow limbs! Though very slowly! This skill effects both human and Saurian form.

Lash raised his hand, flipped through the book once more and then bought the skill...

Congratulations User! You've obtained the skill, Damage Resistance; If it be Mundane, or Magical you now have resistance to it. This skill grows with time, as well as...Use. So as long as it doesn't kill you? It makes you stronger, Or at least a better punching bag!

Lash smiled at his new acquisitions, looking up he saw that Dawn was smiling at him. As soon as he used his last point a cascading light flooded through the ocean of stars. He knew his time was coming to an end. He moved forward before Dawn could react, or least her physical representation. He then hugged her, picking her up and spinning her around. She let out an audible squeak, her laughter rang out! Before returning the embrace, burying her face into his neck and shoulder. Her laughter filled the room, then he set her down. Stepping back from her he made a dramatic flurry with his arms, bent from his waist, and then took a knee.

“Is there anything else that you will task this new Warden with?” Lash had a smile on his face as he looked up at Dawn. She took a pose, emphasizing her new found hour glass figure. Then began to tap her starlight finger to her lips. She gestured for him to stand, when he did she leaned in and kissed his cheek. Lash's eyes shot wide at the sudden action.

“That, That look is what I wanted to see! I hope you will keep playing User. Both your Cosmic Patron and I enjoy watching your efforts!” With a flurry of light! Lash was back in the great hall. From his perspective the light receded back behind the door, then closed. There was an audible gasp in the hall. Lash looked back up to see Li'Ana, Soluna, and Jessabell all with astonished looks on their faces. The Elder Fae Council were the same. Even grand old Torloth the Dragon sitting in his balcony had a raised brow.

“What?” Lash asked the grand hall, filled with over a thousand gawking people. Lash turned in a circle before finding Skaleg among the attending Wardens. They also were shocked so they were no help. “Did I do the ceremony wrong?” Lash was starting to get nervous now, thankfully a deep, base, gravely tone fell across the hushed hall. Lash looked up to see Torloth, he was conjuring what looked like an illusion image depicting what just happened.

“We....Are shocked by both your lack of propriety, as well as the fact that The Endless one did not punish you. But also returned the affection.” The illusion image showed that as the light was fading from where he was originally it took the shape of...Dawn.

Then it showed how he flew forward hugging her! Her laughter was recorded as it rang once more through out the hall. Then it showed how he was dramatically bowed and took a knee, as well as his statement about being a new Warden. Then it showed him standing and to him...Dawn kissing his cheek, but to the grand hall audience a Endless kissed his cheek. Not only did she not punish his disrespectful behavior, but even rewarded him with her favor in the form of a kiss. The image did not record what Dawn said about his Patron or herself which was good! Lash then felt all blood drain from his face. He then face palmed, the eerily silent hall made the sound deafening. He muttered under his breath.

“Thanks, Dawn.” He said softly.

“You are very welcome, User.” Said Dawn in a highly amused voice.

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