The hallway Eyes found himself in was roughly 30 feet long, and had four doors to the right of the one he'd just stepped through. Glowing stones about the size of his fist were embedded in the ceiling, painting the hallway a dull yellow-orange. There were no windows, no markings of any sort to give Eyes a clue to where he was. Nothing but the pattern of the stonework. It reminded him of the default texture in Ikasi's level designer.
Eyes tried the closest door, and found that it was unlocked. The room beyond was dominated by a glass tube and a large tablet, faced by an enormous mirror. Strangely, the letters on the tablet were reversed, so as to be read normally when viewed in the mirror's reflection. The door Eyes had entered through was opposite the mirror, but so positioned that something in the tube would be blocked from seeing it by the aforementioned large tablet. The backside of the tablet was a small desk with a keyboard and terminal, displaying a far more detailed status template and menu than the one facing the mirror. Eyes set down the toiletpaper, which he'd been using to leave a trail, and started typing.
//New Character Template//
Status:
[Species:DragonkinMutant]
[Gender:Female]
[Age:21 maturity units]
[height: 6'2"]
[weight: 160lbs, inertia and density variable]
[pigmentation:Red scales and hair, Reddish brown face and hands, Green eyes(vertical slit)]
[body shape: slim but sturdy humanoid. Wings fold flat against back, retractable fins on calves enhance aerial maneuvering. Face has European features(conforming to Eyes idea of beauty) Scales cover all but face, scalp, and palms.]
[Biomechanical weapons:
Retractable blades in forearms and feet (like those of X-22)
Chemical breath weapon: flame, poison, and corrosion variants
Monofilament hair(Tensile strength of several thousand pounds, perfect for use as a garotte.)
Highly durable teeth and nails(can punch through quarter inch steel plate with ease)]
[Strength: five tons each limb]
[Speed: full range of motion in 20 milliseconds. Ludicrous speeds attainable.]
[Intelligence: level 10]
[Mana: 9999]
[Etherial durability: level 10]
Eyes checked over the script he'd written. It was totally outside the parameters of what the menu on the tablet allowed. By creating a mutant species with OP base stats and employing a few overflow errors, he'd created something with the potential to be a final boss in the "last dungeon" that Devon had made for Ikasi's endgame. Of course this menu didn't have access to the skills and gear that would have made this a true final boss, but Eyes was still proud of his creation. lookimg at the rotating model of the character he'd created, he smiled and pressed the [execute script] button on the terminal. With a faint gurgling, liguid started to flow through the tank beside him.
Eyes stepped around to the front side of the tank, and his jaw dropped. There, before his very eyes, the character he'd created was taking shape. First the glowing Ethereal form, with it's maxed out durability. Then the dragonbone skeleton, then muscle, and finally skin and scales. The girl wasn't wearing any clothes, but her scales covered enough to preserve her dignity. To Eyes, they looked almost like very well-tailored armor. The whole process only took a few minutes. And then she just floated there, the nameless girl born of Eyes's fancy and curiosity.
"A beautiful Rose," Eyes thought aloud.
Of course, now that there was a beautiful Dragonkin girl floating in front of him, Eyes very much wanted to get her out of the tank. To this end he carefully examined every inch of it, finally deciding to try breaking the seal of the lid. To this end he employed his pocketknife and a considerable amount of elbow grease. The lid turned out to be a sturdy material much like plastic, but it eventually yielded to his efforts, exposing a bubbling tank of gel. Taking care not to fall in, Eyes looped his belt under Rose's arms and heaved her up and out of the gel. Her natural buoyancy helped quite a bit. Eyes wasn't a weakling, but she did weigh as much as he did, and he didn't have much practice heaving people out of tanks.
While Eyes was making his laborious efforts to extract Rose from the the tube, he got quite a bit of the gel on his hands and arms. He didn't see it, but the terminal started automatically executing another script.
//Existing character file found//
//Initalizing Etherial template//
Status: self-possession
[Species: Wraith]
[Gender:N/A]
[Age:N/A]
[Dimensions: variable]
[weight:N/A, Inertia variable, Density N/A]
[pigmentation:N/A]
[body shape: formless. A presence which cannot be touched, but which can inhabit and puppeteer both inanimate and living matter.]
[Biological weapons:N/A]
[Strength: telekinesis of up to five tons, pinpoint precision. Maximum focus of ten points/planes.]
[Speed: 100mph]
[Intelligence: level 10]
[Manna: 9999]
[Etherial durability: immortal]
These were the values of the avatar that he used to test Dungeons for Devon. The two had cooked up the wraith species as a way to get around the fact that the software wouldn't let them trigger events without spawning a player entity. The wraith could easily shape Golems out of dust to test triggers, then appandon the physical plane to travel to the next testing site. The only place it wasn't a super-cheat was the Etherial maze, an event dungeon that was annoying, but not at all dangerous to the wraith, since it had no physical body to leave vulnerable while in the maze, and no form to become ensnared in the traps.
To Eyes's surprise, and subsequent relief, Rose was breathing normally. The gel seemed to allow airflow, and would either seep into the skin, or slough off and dissapear into whatever it landed on. Little did eyes know that this was in fact a form of pure Manna, the Etherial energy which powered Ikasi's fantastic elements.
After trying unsuccessfully to wake Rose, Eyes decided to see what was behind the next door.
###