---Maddy---
Inky blackness dulled her senses as soon as she stepped through the barrier.
Her companions were gone along with her sense of direction and touch and taste and feel.
Skimming through her information, Maddy stopped to review her choice.
Build wise…I don’t fully have a build yet. This is a choice to decide what I wish for the future. Body…my only options so far have been body. Mind doesn’t have a direct relationship with something useful.
But then again, if I have to pick between brains and brawns I’d like to believe I’m a 'brains'.
Does 'brains' have magic? There’s been hints at that and I haven’t seen a way to increase the closest thing to magic I’ve seen so far – my skill…will 'mind' help with that?
I didn’t get any information on 'soul', but if I had to guess souls are more likely to work with magic.
But I just don’t have enough information. In games, 'mind' is usually linked to magic right?
Maddy stood in nothingness for a long period of time before tentatively choosing mind.
“Alright, so…neither of these mention magic. I know I've been mentioning that alot but really if I have a goal it would be that. Everyone wants magic don't they? It's the ultimate childhood fantasy.”
Madison spoke softly.
Even as she expressed her disappointment, a flicker of her screen made Maddy pause.
New lines shoved into view making Maddy pause.
“So there’s a confirmation that magic does exist. Spells are different than skills right? Or are they the same thing?”
Maddy waited for a response, churning nothing before continuing.
“A response confirmed something is listening…so either you can’t or won't respond to that. It's either an intelligence or automated sort of update…”
“Can you list all the pro’s and cons of each option?”
Silence met her question and Madison sighed. “Worth a shot”
Just based on what it showed first there seems to be a bit of a bias towards 'focused'. The wording used makes it seem better…but when I asked about magic the first option is straight up better. Controlling more and subconsciously controlling more vs making a single stronger spell?
…but I don’t even know what spells are, so maybe that’s a dumb comparison to make.
“Which option is more popular?”
Once again there was a long pause before text slid in almost reluctantly…like Maddy had driven a hard bargain and the system box was finally giving in.
There's 2% missing? Oh, I guess picking neither. That's a unique one, but unique the same way that shooting yourself is unique – I'm not picking it.
“So…the system prefers focused to general actions…but it rewards unique and rare actions more than common ones and…the sense from the TOS tell me it will reward uniqueness more and more going forwards.
…That’s all the push I need to pick the first option.”
Confirming her choice by reaching out and jabbing the screen decisively, a flip of system boxes appeared and disappeared about her head.
Her viewpoint floated up and shifted and then twisted.
She felt strange but fully in control as a series of impressions appeared around her – she instantly knew these were her free stats.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Maddy pulled a single “amount” of stat out and pushed it about. Holding it towards her body she found it begin to get sucked in, holding it towards her mind a similar pull appeared.
Trying to keep it from locking into place became steadily more difficult as Maddison moved bits around trying to experiment with her situation. The “potential” could be squeezed out like a thread enhancing a long thin line of her body, or combined in her brain to push connections out into specific portions – like object recognition or language or long-term memory.
The stats were like drying playdough that became stiffer and stiffer the more she worked them – they pushed her to commit to something…but a faint wish held her back.
She had an incredible amount of control over these stats – she could use them to enhance nearly anything she cared about and yet…
Back in the tutorial, the ‘guides’ had mentioned the trifecta of body, mind, and soul.
'Soul'.
That seems like something more unique. I haven’t gotten or heard of a single person gaining a stat in that…so figuring out how to use my free stats that way should be a bonus right? And the world likes unique actions? And magic doesn’t seem linked with the mind, so if anything it's linked to the soul?
A part of me wants real magic more than anything else – especially when I can see it within my grasp.
Maddison tried figuring out where her skill was located, in the hopes of pushing the stats into that.
Mind seemed to be located in my brain, so soul should be somewhere on the body as well right?
She looked in her heart, wondering about some metaphysical relationship with love or something. She looked around the center of her body, trying to remember what little she knew of meridians or chakras or whatever.
Maddy tried to remember the feeling of casting her skill…it wasn’t really something she knew how to do, it was just something she did.
Like moving your ears up and down or some other non-normal uncommon-flexing.
Every minute or so Maddy had to shake her stats about to prevent them from solidifying fully. All of them had already set into their “leanings” – some defense, some power, some speed…but if they solidified she wouldn’t be able to push them into her soul once she figured out where it was.
They would be wasted!
…several minutes later she finally started to clue into something.
What am I holding these stats in?
How am I thinking if my mind is supposedly in my brain?
Maddy tried to look at herself. Not her body or ‘mind’ in front of her but whatever was actually looking at those abstract concepts.
She found she couldn’t.
There wasn’t a mirror and she didn’t have limbs she could focus on instead.
Taking a gamble Maddy stopped shaking the stats about and instead held them close – preventing them from sliding to either her mind or body.
Slowly but surely the potential crystalized and pulled into her spiritual self holding them.
Maddy’s consciousness faded.
Madison’s mom was the smartest woman in the world.
“Listen Maddy, to build rapport with people, you have to first observe them. Some people react to direct questions poorly, others find roundabout methods fake seeming. Try and understand their personality – see things from their point of view and work based on that model.”
“Okay!”
“You’re going to kindergarten today, make sure to not try and be perfect – show flaws and call out what you have in common with people – if you don’t have anything in common it's fine to make something up! This is how you make friends.”
Maddy found herself floating in soft mist, surrounded by panes of glass depicting her at hundreds of points throughout her life. One showed her laughing with friends, one showed her crying at her pet's death. The majority of the panes were of her, however. Each begging to be looked at, each vying for her attention.
Madison’s Mom helped shape her childhood. Like a potter working with clay, she moulded her into the perfect daughter, the perfect person.
“Always find your friend's secrets if you have the option to, Try not to pry them out – that can create resentment, instead work to let them naturally tell you things about themselves. In good times they can let you gain massive amounts of favour by gifting them things relating to those secrets, in bad times you can use them as leverage. There’s never a negative to knowing someone’s secret! Now, what have you found out about that Abagail’s homelife? Her mother's been skipping town meetings frequently...”
Maddy found it hard to keep track of everything. All her thoughts were scattered and pulled in different directions. Times of heavy studying, times of fun.
Good and bad scenes were reasonably equally represented but…the bad seemed to hit so much harder.
“Yeah, he’s so weird. Have you heard his voice? He sounds like he picks kids up in vans.” Maddy laughed.
“I knowwwww. Why does he keep hanging out with us? Isn’t it obvious we don’t like him?”
Maddy was in high school cattily gossiping about their newest ‘friend’. She didn’t really believe anything she was saying – but the girls she was with loved it.
“Ouch. Poor Matt.” Maddy winced trying to focus on something else.
Flipping sideways she found her sight drawn to the continuation of that scene.
“Hick, Hick, They are all soo meannn. Did you know they thought I sounded like a pedophile? It's just because of my southern accent.”
“That’s awful” Maddy spoke, comforting Matt. She rubbed his back on the theatre stage – the only two left behind after drama practice.
"Do you know who said it? Who started the rumours?"
"Cathy did, She mentioned at lunch"
There was a pause as Matt internalized the lie.
“Th…thank you. You’re a good friend you know that? Probably my only friend in this school.”
“OUCH.” Maddy flung her hand out pushing the rest of the scene away.
In high school none of the double timing cattiness had bothered her, but now they raked deep into her guilty consciousness. She had hurt people with her words. She had lied for no other reason than because it had been fun to feel in control. She had gotten away with so many minor lies.
Maddison’s mom was not as smart as she liked to think she was, she was petty and narcissistic but she still meant a lot to her daughter.
“You should join the drama team, it's not a requirement but practicing acting will do you well in life. You know how much I want you to do well don’t you?”.
“Of course, acting sounds fun,” Maddy told her mom while making her elective selection.
“What do you think that person is thinking darling?” Maddy’s mom asked from the bench they were sitting on.
This was one of her favourite games – people watching and commenting.
“Uh…he seems rushed? Stressed out? I think he had a rough day at work.” Maddy guessed.
“His wife’s cheating on him. He found out a few minutes ago and is calling a cab to go confront her.” Maddy’s mom laughed – winking a moment later when a cab pulled up and the man got in.
"What about that women with the stroller? The one talking on her cellphone..."
Maddison’s mom was deeply flawed and constantly gaslit her. Nothing she said ever meant anything and her viewpoints poisoned everything.
Maddison’s mom was a superhero helping her survive school and socialize and dominate classroom politics.
-Back when she thought being popular in school meant something.
Maddison’s mom was a monster.
“You’ll do well, marrying him. Make sure to be passive. CEOs like him like to think they are in control. Oh, my darling daughter I’m so happy for you. You’ll do me proud.” Madison’s mom spoke while arranging her daughter's marriage to someone nearly twice her age.
She was 19 when she was given to him. Finishing top of her class but not going to higher schooling.
This was what her mom had been preparing her for. Becoming a goldigger. All that effort to become someone’s prize.
Maddy grimaced trying to find her way out of the maze of scenes. Of broken panes of glass. She didn’t want to be stuck here anymore.
The scenes got darker, flashes of her time with him. Each felt like mental damage, each memory an unpleasant experience.
Each scene seemed to want to pull her fully into it, but something…maybe her soul defense? –Let her resist the pull and as she moved, she was mostly able to ignore the flashes.
Batting scene after scene of her memories, Maddy finally found herself alone.
Free, her mind clear.
Not consenting to zone 1s rules will place you back in the tutorial with no means to progress (not advised).
Each player received a similar notice as soon as they attempted to continue on. All but two received this generic set of patch notes while an additional line floated in for Maddy.
A pause was felt before a second panel appeared.
Which do you personally believe is the best foundation shown. Which would you like to have the most?
