The planning session started with a basic overview. Profits were up, businesses were booming, complaints were low, and people were starting to realize that 'Variance' may be responsible for the global takeover of 'Classes' and the various new powers. Meh, can't win them all.
Adam gestured towards the text. "Now that we have some stability, let's talk about how to improve the System."
Narwhal was slouched in her chair, as work had ramped up these last few weeks. "Why bother? Won't you just declare 'Improve the System' when activating your trip?"
He sighed. "Too dangerous. This next trip will be... very risky." A small list showed up. "Did some research and some test queries first, and found that the type of Realm I will be visiting will be conceptual in nature."
A few images showed up. "Most Realms I visited so far were based on biology, or magic, or whatever. These places have something our System is lacking: A path forward, a procedural path from nothing to power."
He showed some images pulled from his investigation. "These worlds however have a process, from a normal mortal to immortal existences. Through drugs, meditation, rituals, surgery, and so on... you can transform yourself to represent ideals, social concepts, and martial legends. With the support of the local culture modifying reality, lethal actions can lead to fundamental improvements in health, lifespan, and abilities."
Adam glanced at the images and videos he had gathered. "Downside? Some of these Realms allow individuals to reach deity levels fairly consistently. So you get a lot of VERY petty people with huge power levels. Risky."
With a sigh, he pulled up his restriction list. "Simmy came up with this idea to help protect me during the next journey. Using what we learned from various Avatar abilities, like Scion's body and the Siberian projection, I will be sending a subsection of my existence into this Realm instead of visiting directly. It will take a week or two for me to recover here, and the copy of me over there will be... limited..."
Very limited.
He nodded. "But I as a whole will be safe. Anything learned by my Avatar will be returned to me when he finishes his trip or if someone manages to kill him, so there is no risk of this being a waste of time... and this will also protect me from various soul attacks, mind adjustments, mastering attempts, and so forth."
Narwhal frowned. "Is... is him dying a big possibility?"
Adam chuckled. "Well, technically yes. The whole culture there is based on betrayal, resource collection, exploiting graves and past heritages. Society groups together to defend itself, share resources to the most talented individuals, and create safe areas in a world where one person can theoretically become a God at any time. I plan on cheating all I can though... I will be using 'Research', 'Growth', and 'Purification' for my powers."
CD was still reviewing the data. "Will that have a significant impact?"
He nodded. "Immense. 'Research' will allow me to safely comprehend concepts, adjust cultivation methods and techniques, and hopefully find clever solutions to any problems. 'Growth' will improve my speed at growing in power, my ability to work with various plants and resources, and speed things up in general. 'Purification' will reduce the chances for bottlenecks in my progress, reduce corruption or cultivation deviance, and allow me to safely use resources others could not."
Narwhal tapped the table. "Maybe you should use 'Recovery', 'Consumption', and 'Tithe'? Should let you heal, absorb all kinds of stuff, and make your followers give you strength."
Adam sighed. "No, the Realm is conceptual. 'Demonic' and 'Evil' paths of cultivation exist, and the further down those you travel, the more it twists your personality and abilities. I need VERY positive natured abilities to help resist those issues, and while 'Recovery' would not cause a problem, both 'Consumption' and 'Tithe' could be used to absorb souls, drain followers, and so forth. Not worth the risk in my mind."
He gestured. "'Research' is more important than healing anyway. At high levels of understanding, it is possible to not just heal yourself, but to regenerate from a single drop of blood, to create living clones that you can use as a second body if someone kills you, to survive as a spirit and rebuild a body from scratch... and more. The world rewards self discovery and deep thinking... and I can't use the active parts of 'Recovery' anyway. Otherwise I would just scan a few people and change myself to use the best setup... assuming their body actually uses organics at all."
Seeing the confusion, he shrugged. "It is possible to replace flesh with conceptual materials, creating bodies that can transform into monsters or elements, adding metaphysical organs or potential energy sources... 'Recovery' would have issues with that. For now."
CD hummed. "Odd... the culture seems to have aspects of various myths and legends."
He nodded. "Yeah, this cluster of Realms are odd. Concepts are... literally the most important thing there. Mental ideas can be physically used to attack, planets exist for far too long and are far too large... gravity alone should crush everyone there if it followed our rules. Some planets are literal planes... infinite in each direction, infinite in depth, and so on."
Betty was tapping her notes. "Several species too. Beasts, Demonic Beasts, Demons, Monsters, Elves, Beastkin, various Human Half-breeds, Living Artifacts..."
Adam added some data. "Depends on the Realm. One was focused on gathering the souls of Demonic Beasts and using them as power and ability sources. Created a series of rings, where the older the Beast the more powerful the abilities. Another Realm gathered the energy refinement cores from these Beasts as a cultivation resource, or for potion and pill ingredients. This one over here is similar to Pokémon, where you bond to spiritual beasts and can summon them to and from your soul, enhancing them would enhance yourself."
CD hummed. "And not all these revolve around monsters or beasts. Some Realms have dungeons, or something similar to System's Quests. Not to mention the ones where their version of the System is physically viewable."
He nodded. "Yeah, worlds where you gain power by choosing classes, mastering them, then unlocking branching class paths. Those are interesting, as instead of gaining levels yourself you actually level up each class individually, gaining permanent bonuses upon mastery. On the other hand, this one has 'paths' that you can master instead, where you gain points for mastering skills and can spend them on various 'paths of development' to gain bonuses, extra abilities, or special effects."
Narwhal glared at the... MASSIVE list of options. "Are we going to be reviewing this stuff forever!?"
Adam chuckled. "Maybe, I guess. Haven't even talked about game related Realms where the System is silent and invisible while creating structure for society. Or the ones where System gives you an OP boost, like your own personal cultivation dimension or the farming system from a mobile application." He tapped the smaller list. "But I am probably going to enter one of these 'Cultivation' Realms. The real problem, and the reason I will be stuck there so long, is the cost of transfer."
She blinked, and looked back at the notes. "Huh? But... it doesn't seem that expensive."
He sighed. "The cost bump is due to me spending MOST of my points on the most important feature: I need a Cultivation Realm without a story line. A 'Slice of Life' fic is literally life saving."
Adam waved a hand, many stories showing on the table. "In most Cultivation stories, the main character rapidly grows in power... and meets equally dire consequences. You start off in a small town, then move up to a city... a state... a continent... a world... a solar system... a reality layer... and so forth. At several steps along the way, the possibility of a foe killing an entire region of people becomes an issue. Entire worlds can be lost during conflict."
He glared at the paperwork. "I do NOT want to put up with that shit. Why should I risk the planet blowing up because two upper level existences were arguing over who was showing too little respect to whom? So no, I am accepting several penalties and risks to ensure that my visit will occur during one of the many, MANY ten thousand year intervals where absolutely nothing interesting happens."
Narwhal blinked. "Ten... wait, how long?"
Adam shrugged. "Sects with thousands of years of cultivation history are considered 'new' and 'edgy'. Plants that take a hundred years to mature are common. Regions that have a million years of history are respected, but not uncommon. This kind of thing is a side effect of having conceptions be so vital to existence. Doesn't hurt that some families and Sects were founded by a person who grew so strong that they basically became immortal."
He sighed. "Honestly, the cost of preventing main character shenanigans was low compared to finding a place without constant war and invasions. Oh, they will still occur, but at least I won't be sent directly into a never ending war to build up contribution points or whatever. Death and murder is near constant, but by comparison to the alternatives I will practically be having a peaceful vacation."
He felt her arms wrap him in a hug. "Still... will you be alright?"
God he would miss her. Or to be more accurate, the him traveling will miss her. "Yeah, to be honest my emotions don't quite line up with normal humanity at this point. I won't go around torturing people or anything, but if you attempt to kill me then don't expect to get off scot-free."
He felt her frown into his neck. "He may be an Avatar of you, but I still want him to be careful."
Seriously, she was just wonderful.
Betty separated a page. "How are you going to handle this? You don't have enough points to learn the language, or gain a history, or anything."
He winced. "Right, that goes back to the long time investment issue. In return for safety and enough time to build up strength there... I am going to have to basically reincarnate there. As a baby."
Their eyes got large. And sparkly.
Adam sighed. "Yes, I will have Squishy save memories. And ensure that we can make pictures later."
To be honest, this particular 'drawback' wasn't a huge issue. He had no memories of being a kid, and there was a strong possibility that he had spawned here in Worm as an adult, memories needed just squished into his brain. So maybe the chance to have a family and all that would be a positive one? He could always help them cultivate as well, letting them live long enough until Adam got enough power to safely bring them back here.
He blinked when he felt his soul open, let a small pink cat inside, then slam shut again. "WHAT!?"
Seriously, when the hell had Mew LEFT his soul!?
His thoughts were distracted when a door in space opened up and Alexandria floated through. "Excuse me, normal man of not much importance. I was in pursuit of an artificial pink creature of very slight importance. Have you seen a floating cat pass through here?"
Everyone pointed at the door. Mew had been giggling as she hid inside his 'Grid of Confinement', which once again was locked from inside. Somehow.
She nodded. "Thank you for your time."
...And she was gone.
Adam frowned as Simmy and Sammy floated into the room. "Have... have you guys been messing with the Triumvirate?"
The red-eared Plusle cheered on Sammy's head, while the blue-eared Minun was sleeping on Simmy's lap.
Narwhal chuckled. "Dragon sent me some notes on that. Poor Eidolon has been chasing Mew around the continent all day. Didn't know Alexandria got in on the act though." She blinked. "Didn't know she could make that portal thing either, really."
He grumbled. "Wish I could travel like that. Whenever I use 'Transfer' I keep getting that giant metallic skull thing. It was cool, but not remotely subtle."
CD was still reading the massive amount of data Adam had provided. "Your flaming blue hair isn't subtle either. Or the spider bone limb thing. Honestly, I'm just happy you have been including flesh with your bodies... I guess my expectations have dropped a little, now that I reflect on it."
He winced. "I'll have you know, I had a human like body for the ENTIRE trip this time!"
Betty giggled. "And six spider bone limbs."
Narwhal nodded. "Don't forget him being on fire all the time. Seriously, people from the Pokémon Realm were FAR too accepting."
He was NOT pouting. Jerks.
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