Project Seraphina [LitRPG, Magitech, GL]
2.68 The Power of 「The Anomaly」 V

Planet XSQ-1827, Substation 33, Year 16,369 A.I. (8 Weeks After Seraphina’s Awakening)

Today is the big day! After too many weeks, I’m finally able to leave this rusty, metal prison and get to explore the outside world! At least, that’s what I’ve been told. I swear to… uh, someone, that if Dr. Chotono or Madison or someone else reneges on that promise, I am going to… Going to… Probably mope about it in my room some more.

I am much, much more powerful than most of the researchers here, thanks to the power of 「The Anomaly」now coursing through me. Powerful enough to defend myself from whatever may befall me, or so I would like to believe. Madison has demonstrated in no uncertain terms that though I have great strength, I am far from insurmountable. Moreover, it is incumbent upon me to use my power responsibly, to demonstrate that the research that has led to my creation and existence was not in vain.

I am still concerned about their end goal. The System is… omnipresent. I don’t know if it can read my mind, but I would not be surprised if it could, or at least predict my thoughts with a high degree of accuracy and specificity. How can I hope to overcome a presence that knows everything I could or might do long before I even conceive of the idea?

「The Anomaly」 is supposed to resist the System, or so Madison and Dr. Chotono have explained to me. But they haven’t given many specifics on how I’m supposed to accomplish that. Only that I am supposed to learn and discover more by applying the power I do have in combat.

Which, yes, does mean that the outing isn’t going to be some trip to a beach on the other side of the planet. Fresh air, warm sunlight, cool, refreshing crystal-clear water, soft blonde sand between my toes. It sounds so luxurious, and were it my choice, we would definitely be heading there.

Instead, we are heading to something called an Excursion Area. Specifically, the XSQ-1827.199.128.05 Wild Steppe Excursion Area, located about a thousand kilometers away. As far as I understand from Madison’s explanations, these are special areas cordoned off from the rest of the planet. Within them, wild beasts run rampant. They are a lot like dungeons in that regard, only there are none of the spatial shenanigans and no random treasure spawns that sometimes appear within, courtesy of the System.

Some sixteen thousand years ago, when the System was new to humanity, dungeons and Towers were far more important than they are today. They were the only source of the gear and equipment that people equip to augment their battle capabilities. Those brave enough to venture into the depths and heights to claim their prize would be rewarded with greater physical might. And with physical might comes freedom, comes protection, comes opportunity to advance in all other fields.

Over time, however, [Researchers] and [Mechanists] and [Enchanters] and similar classes gradually learned about glyphs and what has since been dubbed ‘Ethertech’. We have advanced our scientific knowledge to such a state that we can reproduce all but the most powerful and unique items. Dungeon delving, as a result, is limited to either thrill seeking, the desperate hoping to make some money, or those looking to gain a lot of levels very quickly.

But instead of leaving the substation through the main door, we’re making our way into a new room. The teleporter room, specifically. I’m not even going to pretend I understand the mechanism by which it works. As best I understand, it takes a person’s registration information in the System, including the contents of their inventory and the gear they have equipped, converts it directly into information, and then beams that information to its destination. At that point, the object is reconstituted at the quantum level.

This was previously thought to be impossible due to quantum uncertainty, but the System seemed to take great pride in forcing us to disregard the so-called laws of physics as they existed in the before times. And since it’s the same System registration, it’s the same being, for all intents and purposes. Levels, stats, capabilities, even status conditions and the amount of [Ether] in one’s core. Even so, there are still outstanding philosophical questions on the matter.

I step into the teleporter module and close my eyes. One of the attendants for our station enters in the coordinates to the destination. I look at the module before me, which looks oddly similar to a System notification. Since the teleporter operates based on System-registered technology, I suppose that much makes sense. At least, as much sense as any of this stuff does, which isn’t saying much.

Before I know it, I’m whisked away, all in the flash of an eye. There’s a moment of disorientation as my body adjusts to being here and no longer being there, but I’m feeling good as new in a matter of seconds. Madison and a few other trainees appear out of their respective pods in short order, and before long, we’re out of the teleporter room and into a verdant field of green for miles and miles.

The cool wind, the warm light of what I have to assume is the planet’s twin suns high in the sky. The air is scented, but instead of the cool scent of metal and the rather unfortunate smell of human sweat and… other secretions, it smells of richness and vitality, of warmth, of comfort. Of nature, I have to assume and… Achoo!

My eyes start to water for a moment. I activate [Etheric Self-Repair] but it doesn’t do a lot of good. If anything, it’s only making things worse and… Achoo! Why am I sneezing so much?

Madison has the gall to laugh at me. I give her an indignant stare, glaring my eyes at her, but she just waves me off. “I suppose despite our best efforts, we weren’t able to give you an immunity to allergens.”

I sneeze again. “Can’t I just… obliterate them all and be done with it?”

“I’m afraid not. Consider acclimating to these new conditions as a part of your training. You cannot hope that every battle will take place in favorable circumstances. You will receive bad intelligence. You will be ambushed. You will have to fight in freezing cold and scorching heat and under clouds of toxic gas, in marshes and deserts and tundras and jungles alike. Not to mention the vacuum of space, but at least you will have a breathing apparatus for that.”

That all sounds… entirely less than pleasant. I do not look forward to it in the slightest.

We continue down a path of dirt leading deeper into the compound. I want to stop and admire the trees and listen to the chirping of the birds, but I am chastised by Madison whenever I stop. Apparently ‘we have a job to do’ and ‘we can’t afford to waste time standing around’. I imagine saying the words in the most sarcastic manner right back at Madison, but I know that won’t end well for anyone. Especially me.

Instead I continue on in silence as we continue on, running for a good fifteen minutes and covering close to fifty miles. Well, mostly silence, the exception being the occasional sneeze. And far worse, the sneeze that builds and builds but never comes, denying me the sweet release that’s promised.

Eventually we reach our target. A massive dinosaur some fifty feet from toe to top and at least thrice that in length. It’s covered from head to toe in thick plates of bone and keratin, with a large, spiny tail. The tail is more akin to a morningstar as I’ve seen in my books, hundreds of sharp, jagged spikes on the end; I have no doubt that being attacked by that thing would be more than just a little painful.

“Alright, Seraphina,” Madison says. “Your task is to bring that creature down. I and the others will stay back to watch and step in if you get in over your head, but otherwise, it’s all on you.”

I pull out my [Energy Sword] and adjust it into the shape of a heavy, curved blade. A dao, I believe it is called. I activate my [Swift Foot] and [Stone Skin] both, charging forward as I calculate how best to bring this creature down. I doubt I’m going to exhaust its enormous [Health] pool down so quickly. Larger creatures tend to have more [Health], their larger size affording them both greater [Vitality] and allowing them to take a greater number of total wounds before they succumb.

I decide that the best way to approach the fight is to ground the creature. Its legs, though thicker than tree trunks, are a lot less armored than its back, its head, or especially its tail. And I suspect it’ll have weaker defenses on its underbelly. Most creatures do. Just some of the combat knowledge that I have installed into my… brain? Circuits? I don’t know for sure.

I charge forward, ignoring a stream of bony projectiles it spits out of its mouth. Each piece of bone or tooth or whatever is as large as my legs, a spray of needles that attempt to skewer me through the torso. But with over 200 [Speed], I’m able to dodge the barely subsonic attack with… not quite ease, but not extensive difficulty either.

Before long, I’m at the creature’s left forelimb. I hack my blade into the back of its leg, right where the heel tendon would be if it had humanoid anatomy. My attack connects, drawing just a hint of blood. But the creature’s [Vitality] is likely above my own. Three to four hundred. Not impervious to my attacks, especially with such a powerful weapon, but far from a simple matter to down it.

I get to work, hacking away. The creature does have defenses, though, and ones I quickly realize. It buckles its four legs at the knees I didn’t notice before, attempting to crush me under its massive belly. As the stinky mass of flesh bears down upon me, I deactivate my [Energy Sword] and channel my [Ether] into a rather weak [Ether Strike] aimed at the dirt beneath my feet. Given the ground lacks either a [Vitality] stat or a shielding barrier to resist my attack, it disintegrates on contact, forming a crevice that I’m able to jump inside.

The creature slams down upon me. It reeks to the substation and back, and now my bodysuit is covered in grass and dirt and other stench. But I am alive, and unharmed save for my pride. My [Health] remains at maximum. The creature sloshes about, rubbing itself on the ground more, releasing yet more noxious but thankfully nontoxic musk all over.

It stands back up, and I notice that it is hobbling just a bit. Not much, barely enough for me to notice it, but it’s proof that my attacks are having an effect. This encourages me, and I redouble my efforts, hacking away at the creature. This time, it twists its short, sinewed neck down and leans forward, trying to attack me with another spray of bony shrapnel. Unfortunately for it, I am so much smaller than the creature that I’m able to take cover behind its leg, ensuring that its attacks fail to connect.

My confidence swells. Despite my earlier concerns, I’m actually making progress against the creature. My attacks are sharper, my mind more focused, my every sense better attuned to the fight before me. And before long, I send the creature crashing down to the ground.

It tumbles, weakened, disoriented. But not dead. There’s no way that I had already dealt enough damage to kill it. The tumble might’ve done something, but I’m willing to bet this creature’s maximum [Health] is well in excess of a quarter million. It simply lacks the [Speed] and intellect to make proper use of its high [Strength] and [Vitality].

I leap onto one of the plates atop the creature’s back and then onto its side, which is now facing upward. I carry myself forward, [Energy Sword] again activated, and begin to cut at the relatively softer tissue of the underbelly. And I immediately wish I hadn’t, the cantankerous odor making the previous musk smell like the sweetest honey. It takes all of my willpower to suppress the desire to retch building from within my stomach. But I do, and I continue my assault, cutting and hacking away with each blow.

And slowly, bit by bit, the creature succumbs to my unrelenting assault. Its thrashing becomes weaker and more sluggish. Its attempts to swat me with its tail miss, and one time, it manages even to gash its own body with its spine, making my job that much easier. And soon it stops moving altogether. I turn around to face Madison, and immediately regret it.

I’m impaled in the back of the chest. Thankfully, it misses my heart or lungs, but the wound is grave nonetheless. The moment I feel the injury taking effect, I activate my [Etheric Self-Repair], which starts the far-too-slow process of repairing my damaged substructures. And I see the damage all-too-clear in my [Status]. My [Health] drops precipitously, from nearly 115,000 down to just over 7,500. And it continues to fall, thanks to the [Bleed] status the wound inflicted. My [Ether] is falling fast, but I’m only able to stem the damage inflicted by my status condition without actually repairing the root cause.

Dammit! I am such a damned fool, and I committed the gravest sin of all in the midst of battle. I got overconfident. I got so System-damned excited about facing a foe I could actually overcome that I let my arrogance get the best of me. And now I’m going to die for my mistake.

I collapse onto the ground, this field my final resting area. Everything grows cold, quiet, distant. My vision blurs and fades, all except for a dim glowing light in the center, one that stubbornly refuses to go out, even as my mind starts to shut down. In a dim attempt to save myself, I reach out for the light.

But just as I’m about to grasp it, the pain subsides. My vision returns to normal. The lightheadedness goes away. And I hear Madison’s voice, half angry, half… I don’t know. Concerned? Worried? It is very unlike her.

“Seraphina, you are such an idiot!” she says, but her anger is completely spent. “I thought I’ve told you a hundred times already. Until you see the System notification confirming that you have killed the enemy, you are to assume that the creature before you is still alive and still dangerous! Have I made myself clear?”

“Yeah. You did. You told me, and I was just too excited to pay attention.”

She shakes her head. “I’m sure you won’t make that mistake again.”

“Nope.” I smile.

Madison laughs, throwing a [Shining Blade] through the creature’s neck and ending its life once and for all.

[You have slain a Giant Plated Dinosaur (Level 124). You have gained 117,000 Experience. (Experience reduced considerably due to outside assistance.)]

[Current Experience: ??,???,???. To next: ???,???] [Error: Cannot establish baseline with…]

[「The Anomaly」effect activates. Converting Experience gain into stat parameter gains. [Vitality] +1, [Health] + 400, [Ether] + 50]]

[Current Stats: [Health]: 67,491 / 120,400; [Ether]: 7,212 / 25,050]

[Current Stats: [Strength]: 228; [Speed]: 204; [Vitality]: 225; [Mind]: 108]

A short while later, once I’m fully rested and have had a chance to replenish a substantial portion of my [Ether], I turn to Madison. The others are out, doing their own combat drills, leaving the two of us with some time just to ourselves. Sometimes I don’t like her very much. Usually during training. But she has become something of a friend to me. It makes me wonder if she feels the same way about me.

Some pain in my stomach builds, wondering if she dislikes me. Especially now after making such a boneheaded blunder that nearly cost me my life. Though, there’s still a lingering curiosity eating at me, one I feel I can abide by no longer.

“Madison, a question. When I had collapsed and had crumpled down, my vision went black, all except for a single light. Do you by any chance know what that light might have been?”

“I might have an idea, but what do you think it was?”

“I don’t know. It felt like it was somehow a part of me, deep, deep inside of me. But at the same time, it was something distant, like it didn’t want to fully be a part of me. Like it was something that was added to me after the fact, but still is supposed to be there. I’m not sure if that makes any sense. But I don’t really know any better way to try to explain it.”

Madison laughs. “That’s not a bad way to look at it. It is your power, in its barest, most fundamental form. And I’m glad I stopped you from using it.”

“Why?”

“It is your Overlimit. A special power we gave you to use when things are at their most desperate. You are able to break free from the bounds the System places upon you, and achieve a power far greater than anyone else.”

“That same power I unleashed during training that one time?”

“The very same.”

“But why shouldn’t I use it?”

“Well, it would defeat the entire purpose of your being here. Right now, we’re trying to train you to fight against the monsters you’ll be facing in the coming weeks and months and years. Not to mention the System itself. When you’re in your base state, using the powers granted to you by the System, you will gain Experience. You will grow stronger as you refine your body and will, connecting yourself with your [Ether] that little bit stronger.

“But when you are in your Overlimit state, separated from your System power, you will not gain Experience for any creatures you defeat. And it will take time before you can use it again. Think of it as a desperation ability. It is there as a last resort, for when the time is right. It will save your life. I trust that, knowing this, you will know when to use it.”

“I understand, Madison. And thank you for telling me this.”

Planet Earth, Year 1 A.I. (June 2023 C.E, 10 Weeks after System Integration)

My consciousness is fading. My [Health] trickles lower and lower. And everything is going dark. All except for that one spark of light that stubbornly shines against the rising of the tenebrous tide. I doubt I’m going to be healed by Chloe right now. Assuming she’s not in need of a healer herself, which, yes, she probably is.

Alright, Madison, I think this is the right time to use it. Here goes nothing.

I grasp the power before me, and the darkness is dispelled, replaced by a shining golden light that fills me to my very core.