RID 0-0000-015
**Ground Base Alpha**
Karios stood behind the podium, looking at the crowd who had gathered for the very unscheduled meeting. After a few deep breaths she finally takes up the courage to speak.
"Ladies and gents, as everyone here is aware of, we all fell asleep for a period of three days out of the blue. This incident was not because of severe jet lag. But judging from your expressions you already know this and are probably aware of what i'm also dealing with. We are somehow in a world with skills, levels, titles and abilities. In short we're inside a game of sorts. Don't worry we are in reality and not hooked up to any chairs. On this planet there is an unidentified form of nanites that rewrote our genetic codes, and are also acting as our system to interact with the environment. If you have a dot or whatever on the bottom right hand corner of your view, your system is up and running. If this is the case I want you to report your level, stats and any titles with bonuses to medical staff. Medical staff will do the same after processing everyone else. If you need a breather it's fine, we'll be doing this process for the next several weeks. That is all." Karios would walk with her IPG to her personal chambers. Where she proceeds to flop onto the cushions and contemplate her next move.
RID 0-0000-036
Everyone gets processed, the average level outside the command team was level 7. Several had higher levels like level 16 but the highest was the command team, each one was a level 20. Stats and skills vary from person to person. Usually daily activities showcase what their stats are. Titles seem to be a rare occurrence to people only with high status or achievements who have acquired titles. As for physical checkups, all scars old and new have ceased to exist on all persons. Some personnel also have been sighted testing out their stats by introducing heavy exercise, this was mainly done by the army personnel. This provided promising results of increasing strength and dexterity statistics to near superhuman feats. Many of the 82nd corps now has strength and dexterity stats of 80, while Zero has obtained 130
There is an enigma with IES and AIR personnel having low 30 stats in everything but intelligence which is at 140 with the commanders reaching 320. IPG and IG have the title of [Empress's Guard] so their stats were not able to be recorded due to a system trait.
And then there is Karios, an Empress to the Reborn Imperium, with some interesting stats that are well rounded. She is also exploring the [Mother of machines] trait further to no avail.
"Stats are easy to build up since you just need time and effort, it's just levels that are not rising for anyone. Got any ideas?" Karios would be doing some core workouts as she held a conversation with Ryk-ard.
"Maybe we're not meeting a certain condition for levels. If we think about it like a game there are several ways to gain experience for levels. Finishing quests, exploring ruins, killing hostile entities." Ryk would go on while petting Ard's hair.
"Well i haven't seen any quests, we don't know of any ruins nor have working technology for that, so that leaves us with killing hostile entities. Guessing hunting doesn't count since I haven't heard of level progression from the army?" Karios would finally finish doing one hundred crunches upside down before leaping backwards and landing on both her feet without incident.
"Well we've learned of a few leveling up from killing enough game, but it's rare because of shift changes and a different killer gets the game." Ard would nudge Karios to pet her, which was granted to her delight.
"Guess we just gotta find a bigger game then. We've all been cooped up in this base for a while, lets see what this world has to offer." Karios would put on her Commander Cap and combat gear, walking out with eight of her IPG. She also checked her stats coming out to see any progression made within the few weeks of getting into shape.
[Lvl-020]
[Class-Empress]
[Stats]
[STR: 163] ~> [STR: 181]
[DEX: 142] ~> [DEX: 160]
[CON: 152] ~> [CON: 155]
[INT: 142] ~> [INT: 143]
[WIS: 173] ~> [WIS: 173]
[CHA: 163] ~> [CHA: 163]
"I can live with those changes, let's go hunting for something fun." Karios would wave at Beta to come over.
"Yes, my Empress? What do you require at this time?" Captain Beta was astounded she actually looked for him, for what reason he wondered could she ever want to search for him?
"I overheard Beta Company has the best hunters, i feel like hunting some big dangerous game outside this forest, care to assist?" Karios would pet the silver highlights on her combat gear, it would change shape to wrap around her fingers before she stopped to brush her hair back.
"But of course, those of Beta Company will hunt beasts of unparalleled terror for the thrill of the hunt!" Overjoyed he howls to the sun setting tonight, The entire company of four hundred came together to cheer on a real mission with the Empress.
"Once the sun is fully set we'll head out. pretty sure some interesting predators come out at night." At that time everyone a part of the operation was grabbing all the gear they needed from provisions to ammunition.
RID 0-0000-037
Night glazed over the lands, since there was no light pollution to speak of aside from the base. Once they marked the journey a few kilometers out a blueish purple haze covered the night skies, with millions of distant stars of different intensity bringing a calming feeling to the Empress. This is one of the reasons she became a Supreme Commander back in the Empire, to conquer all those beautiful stars. But now she's stuck conquering this planet. Karios would chuckle to this dilemma.
After eighteen kilometers were passed something caught the parties eye, a lone crystal in the distance glowing amongst the nights enveloping darkness. And near that crystal a moving shadow.
"Looks like we found a two for one boys, lets not throw caution in the wind just yet. Sigma pattern for four hundred meters then split off to secure flanking sectors of fire using myself as bait. Break." Everyone got into the loose arrowhead formation and marched quietly ahead to the four hundred meter mark, the smell of death reaching the nostrils of everyone present. Each team splits sixty degrees to their left and right of the Empress and her IPG setting up firing lines. After waiting two minutes for them to set up, she lights a flare and tosses it forward, rolling it up to one hundred twenty meters, which barely reaches the crystal, but gathers the attention of the shadow guarding it.
The beast roared at the direction where the fire came from, its body was glimmering against the bright light of the flare, but soon the flare extinguished itself by having the flame sucked out of it. The next moment the face of the large beast glowed a bright red, yellow then a plume of blue fire spewed out towards the Empress. She uses her living metal to form a shield ten meters in front of herself to disperse the heat. The blue flames light up the night disorienting some of the darkvisioned Beta Company. However they worked through it by firing at the source of the blinding light. The armored scales of the beast were able to deflect most laser shots, however when rail rounds were used it burrowed straight through its fleshing causing it to shriek in pain. One such round penetrated through his fire gland underneath its stomach, causing it to burn itself by the amount of flames that came out the entry and exit wound.
After the fire stopped Karios creates a spear with the now searing hot living metal glowing an ominous bright orange in the midst of night. And IPG with their war halberd hits the back of the spear with such for that the spear whistles forward crackling in the air before it skewers the beast in front, its shrieks echoed in the chilling night, until Karios walked up and had the living metal form into a liquid and metal the creatures brain from the inside out.
Karios lets the living metal cool off while she starts examining the crystal. She placed her hand against it and felt a strange sensation coming from it which gave her an idea.
"I call to you as your mother, return to me." Karios stood there for a few moments to silence, as she went to leave her hand was stuck to the crystal. As an IPG was about to shatter it she stopped him, and watched as the top of the crystal began to turn into carbon. Her veins on her right arm seem to be contracting a reddish white liquid from the crystal, this process was painful but she managed to stay up on her feet until she heard that voice again.
"Machine consumed, two more required for evolution."