18 Unnamed

Carl opened his eyes. He was once more in his bed in the warehouse between worlds. Carl stretched as he got out of bed, thinking about his time in the world of History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi.

After taking a shower, he moved downstairs to his kitchen and started fixing breakfast as he sipped his Root Beer. This morning he chose a hearty meaty breakfast. Several rashers of bacon, sausage, and hash browns alongside a 6 egg ham, cheese, and mushroom omelet.

With the Metavore body mod, alongside his Master Class body, he wouldn't even have to worry about cholesterol, let alone getting fat from eating so much in one meal. And he still looked like a runner or swimmer, not a bodybuilder.

After having some time to ponder his current mind and attitude now that Carl wasn't in the HSDK world, he had come to the conclusion that his mind, attitude, and behavior had been greatly affected by the philosophies he'd picked prior to world insertion and the fact that he knew about Kenichi's story line.

"I mean, even in my first world jump I was more than willing to kill enemies to make sure that my people were safe. I never even considered letting them go to get stronger. Was it because they were vampires and demons that I didn't hesitate to kill?"

Carl made himself comfortable on his couch in the entertainment room as he sipped his root beer and pondered the issue.

"But in the Pokemon world, one of the first things I bought when I had a chance were some firearms. And I didn't hesitate to kill Lysandre when he threatened to kill everyone who opposed him in the Kalos Region. I just couldn't take the chance that he would succeed. So it wasn't the fact that they were human that caused me to hesitate to use my more lethal abilities."

"But the moment I got into the HSDK world, because I chose the Life Giving Fist philosophy I never even considered killing people, not even as a preventative measure against anyone who was scum. So, I don't think it was because they were human. It must have been the influence of the world on my mind."

"So that's something else to watch out for. Being caught up in the world influence. Being caught up in thinking I need to not interfere in how the story goes. It was so insidious that I didn't even realize it was happening at the time, I just went with the flow. I hope the next world gives me something to shore up my mental defenses so I don't fall into the flow of the original world's story again."

Carl gulped as he thought about how much worse it could get if he didn't have the mental strength and fortitude to swim against the world currents in some of the worlds out there. Like the worm world, for example. The shards that give people their powers there encourage conflict. And that is coming from some multidimensional being planting said shards in people's brains. So the influence feels like its coming straight from their own brain.

If he were to lose himself in a world like that, he might go around being reckless and getting himself killed.

So he definitely needs some firmer mental defenses.

Carl paused his self reflective narrative as he pondered his next decision concerning his warehouse cp.

"After my first jump world in the BtVS universe, I got 150 cp for the Warehouse modification, and I spent all that. After each subsequent jump I've gotten 10 more cp, so now I have 30 cp. Spere 037 suggested I wait until after my 15th jump to spend anymore points, which makes me think I'll get something good that will allow me to recruit the people I want, since that was the concern most on my mind."

"Whether or not that will pan out that way, I don't know. But each Stasis Pod is 20cp, a return to a world I've visited before is 20 cp. So the minimum cp I need to recruit Cordelia, Harmony, Amy, Marcie, and Fred is 120 cp. And it would only be two more worlds after that until my 15th world, so I may as well wait before recruiting anyone to see what the 'big gift' is, since I decided I wouldn't recruit anyone until I could get my first girls in here."

"So, the question I need to ask myself is, if and when I get a chance to start recruiting people to my jump chain, should I recruit the people of the HSDK world? On the one hand, they are powerful martial artists and very smart people who I like a lot."

"On the other hand, killing enemies is sometimes very necessary in many of these jump worlds, and I don't know if they could adapt to that after living their whole life by the don't kill philosophy."

"In most of these worlds, the enemy doesn't care about the more noble ideals of life being sacred. They just want to kill or enslave anyone who doesn't follow them. And killing evil monsters that would kill innocents is the only way to stop them, sometimes. Punching the Reapers in the Mass Effect universe until they give in, for example, would just be a stupid idea that would get everyone killed."

"The Life Giving Fist philosophy of the HSDK world affected me more than I thought it did while I was there and let me fit in, but now that I'm no longer being affected by that world, I see things differently. I still don't think killing an opponent in a martial competition makes you stronger, but as for monsters that would kill with no remorse I have no problems with ending them."

"So…I guess I'll decide later whether or not to go back for the people of the HSDK world. I don't really have to make a decision right now, especially because I have no idea what I'll get after the 15th jump."

Once Carl's decision was firmly made to deter making a decision until later, he made his way back to his room. He opened up the terminal that Spere 037 had left him for modifying his base body.

"And select, select, select. I worked damned hard to get this Master Martial Arts body up to par. There's no way I'm losing it the next time I'm de-aged again." Carl commented as he selected the Master's Body, Sei Ki, Unarmed, Martial Arts – Jujutsu, Hidden Weapons, Probing Eye, Etiquette, Civilian Skills, Martial Art Medicine, Enhanced Ki perks to add to his base body.

Even those perks that were more about utilizing knowledge also had a bit of reflexes and physical aspects necessary to utilize them. So even if Carl's body was de aged, changed, or had any added on perks stripped away, the physical skills and reflexes should stay with him through the change.

After running through the double checks and finalizing his selections, Carl once more passed out as his perks were imprinted onto his body mod.

Waking up again in his bed, Carl chuckled at the thought that he spent more time in his Warehouse between worlds unconscious than he did awake.

Now that adjusting his body mod was taken care of, Carl decided he would relax for a few days before he went into the next world. Previously he had been somewhat anxious to get going and get his girls back. But now he knew he had at least another 11 jumps before he could get them. 110 years.

"What's a few days compared to a century? Thankfully I got that Savant perk for a perfect memory. If I started forgetting about them as the years go by I might start doing something crazy to try to fix it."

So Carl took his time, leisurely making himself a simple lunch of sandwiches. Sitting down in the entertainment center, he ate his lunch while watching a movie.

After the movie, Carl went on a tour of his Warehouse. According to the description, his Dojo should now be attached to his Warehouse as a place where he could go to get some exercise and training in.

Carl soon found the dojo, and spent a few minutes moving some of the training gear Akisame Sensei had made for him to the dojo. Before Carl had left, he had asked Akisame Sensei for some training gear to help him continue training, so he could go beyond Master Class to the Grand Master Class.

Once everything was settled, Carl enjoyed a light training afternoon on his newly placed equipment.

Once finished with his training, Carl wandered to his farms, and soon found his new additional farm. The reward he got from completing the Farmville world was that each jump he would receive a new additional farm. It started out at 100m x 100m, and would grow an additional 20m x 20m each year for the next ten years, maxing out at 300m x 300m.

Upon arriving at the new addition, Carl found that there was another artificial intelligence helper there that was already clearing the land and preparing it for planting crops. Carl checked the interface and saw the options he had for what to grow on the farm.

Since Carl had most of his basic foodstuff needs already met, he just had the farm grow an assortment of vegetables and grains that it would sell off after the stockpile accumulated. He left the A.I. farmer to take care of Carl's farm, and returned to his house to relax some more.

Carl spent the next few days in a relaxed manner, mentally adjusting himself from his last world as he prepared for the next. After three days, Carl felt it was time to go ahead.

Standing in front of the terminal next to his house with 2 days left on the countdown, Carl was ready for the next world. Pressing on the screen and accepting that he wanted to jump early, Carl finally found out what the next world was.

Sword Art Online

SETTING

[Sword Art Online is a world actively curated by Kayaba Akihiko and his subordinate AIs. By abusing a property of the Virtual Reality equipment, he is holding ten thousand players of the game - who will die if their HP reaches 0, or someone attempts to tamper with their VR equipment – hostage until such time as the one hundred dungeon bosses are killed.]

[It is his playground and fantasy come to life. He's running around as a player in secret, metagaming and using admin commands to prevent his own health from dropping below 50%. He is playing favourites, his designated heroes receiving special perks or advantages.]

[If someone disturbs his 'story' too much, he will react unpredictably. Though he cannot kill players with his admin controls, he has control of game balance and through broad reforming of the world, and control of quest lines, the world serves as his weapon against elements that he can't tolerate.]

[All that said, he's weird. He might enjoy the unexpected element and what it does to his story – and part of that story is that he dies in the hundredth dungeon, as the final boss of Sword Art Online.]

"Great. It looks like I'll be in a video game for the next ten years." Carl commented sarcastically. "And if I accidently ruin the weirdo's fun time, he'll turn the world against me. Does it say who he role plays as so I can avoid him? No? Damn." Carl continued reading.

CARDINAL

[An AI that seeks to preserve game balance, managing quests, item drops, monster difficulty, and a thousand other things besides. Surprisingly canny – it is not unknown for it to turn player organized events into XP awarding quests. It also understands the idea that certain players are outliers, not to be used to judge the capability of the rest of the player base.]

"Wonderful, I'll have an AI looking over my shoulder for 10 years. And it said that the AIs are subordinate to that Kayaba jerk, so he'll probably have this Cardinal AI report to him. So right there it means I can't talk about the jump chain anywhere in the game. Can I even access my Warehouse while I'm stuck in a video game? Damn, probably not." Carl cursed.

STATS

[It's an RPG, but it only tracks two stats: Strength and Agility. Everything else is either a Skill – like regeneration (battle healing) – or simply not tracked by the system – like individual intelligence or sociability. Players start with a 5 in each stat and can eventually level up to the point that they can block the blows of towering monsters without losing ground, and toss those same enemies across rooms.]

"And all my advantages from having a Master's Body are gone, just like that. I never even considered that I would be stuck in the freaking Matrix and not even have my basic body mods available." Carl was liking this world less and less.

SKILLS AND THE SYSTEM ASSIST

[Sword Art Online tracks just about everything you can do in the game as Skills, and as your ratings increase, the game will guide your motions to meet the standards of your skill numbers. Displaying skill above your ratings is a sure way to get Critical Successes.]

"I sure hope it's not forceful with this 'assist'. After training with the Masters of Ryozanpaku, I'm pretty sure my skill will be high enough for crit hits."

OUTSIDE SYSTEM SKILLS

[What Sword Art Online can't track as skills are called Outside System Skills, emergent skills and techniques from the mechanics. Not quite exploits, these are minor exploits that arise from displays of pure skill.]

"That's nice and vague and yet it gives me hope that the matrix will let me use techniques from my own training."

HOW DO PERKS WORK?

[You have a special super duper Virtual Reality helmet. It will essentially allow you to Astral Project into Virtual Reality and use the full breadth of your powers.]

"You had me worried there!" Carl laughed. "I get all my powers inside the matrix? Hell yeah!" After feeling happy for a bit, Carl sobered up. "I'll still have to watch out for the stupid AIs and Kayaba though. If he sees me do something crazy or gets a report on it, I'll probably have a hard time as he tries to kill me."

[Be warned that part of Sword Art Online is functionally conceptual effects – there are 'Immortal Objects' that cannot be physically harmed (including Kayaba's player avatar, unless he should decide to deactivate that feature), objects with infinite weight, and most cities are no damage zones where players cannot accrue damage or die.]

"Well, there goes that idea of sleuthing out who is Kayaba and ganking him when he least expects it. He's functionally immortal until he chooses to not be." Carl snapped his fingers in disappointment.

"But wait a second? If he basically shanghais 10,000 people who die from the game or having their helmets messed with, and he's playing the game too, that means that his body will be sitting around. Even if he can go in and out of the game, I'm sure the government can track him down in the 10 years we'll be playing. Why wouldn't the government unhook him when they find him?"

"Are they afraid that if they mess with him, then all his hostages would die? Talk about a PR nightmare that no government official would touch with a 100 foot pole. No wonder he can get away with it for 10 years, even after they find him."

THE MIND IS ELSEWHERE

[You're going to be motionless for a long time. Outside forces will not conspire to harm you. Rehab post game will also be a rapid process, even before any perks you might apply. Expect it to 'naturally' take somewhere between a week and a month to regain any fitness you lost.]

LOCATION + TIME

[The Jump begins just as Kayaba teleports the players of Sword Art Online – including yourself – to the Official Tutorial, where he outlines the terms of his Death Game.]

Carl hummed to himself in thought. He would be jumping straight into the game, no chance to do anything else, like, not put the virtual reality helmet on. Carl shrugged in acceptance. Not like he could do anything about it.

The table and dice appeared again in front of Carl when he selected the option. He rolled a 7. "That's good, age 20 is the oldest I'll be in any of these jumps to start with. Being stuck as a 14 year old for 10 years in a game would be kinda…annoying."

Carl then looked at the origins available. Drop in 0 cp, Player 50 cp, Beta 50 cp, or Accomplice 50 cp. Each origin would give the discounts for the perks under that origin.

Carl first crossed out the Accomplice origin. The idea of being a party to Kayaba's sick game, and being a boss that killed people, just didn't appeal to Carl. Sure, he could just sit there and let the players kill him while pretending to attack them, but he was pretty sure Kayaba would be watching and might alter the deal to screw him over if he didn't play his part to the fullest.

Looking at the perks, to see which ones he wanted to purchase, Carl saw two in the Beta player section that he felt like he had to have.

Like Riding a Bike 300 cp – Your skills never deteriorate. Ever. Not for any reason, but especially not disuse. Further, you can easily adapt them to new circumstances: recreate your favourite spell in a different Jump's magic system, translate your sword style to hand to hand, etc.

APM Intensifies 600 cp – More than just god like reflexes, you're also able to process input fast enough to take calm, deliberate action at any speed.

With those two priceless perks, Carl chose to be a Beta player. That would discount them to 150 cp and 300 cp.

One of the issues that Carl had been pondering about his jumps was how to make sure that he never lost his martial arts skills if, in future jumps, he focused on magic, for example, for a decade. That would be a decade he would be getting rusty in his martial arts skills. But with this perk, he was guaranteed to not get rusty, as well as being able to use his old moves in new jump worlds easily.

And with his Master Class body, he already had godly reflexes. But Spere 037 had told him how adding more perks built up his power and skills even more in a linear progression. So adding another perk for amazing reflexes would keep boosting him higher.

With the Beta origin, Carl also got the perk My Quest Senses Are Tingling for free. You gain a supernatural sense for when someone needs something done. Further, you get a broad sense for what rewards there might be (major monetary reward, minor artifact reward, increased reputation, etc) and the danger of the task before you even suggest you'll do it for them.

Carl then chose Roleplay 100 cp: You may construct identities, effortlessly separating 'their' powers, knowledge, relationships, etc. Never again accidently use your water magic when you're pretending to be a fire mage, or slip up by mentioning knowledge your role could not have known.

And Environment PK 300 cp: The world around you is a weapon, make no mistake. Both the environment and the monsters that inhabit it. You have unnatural skill and luck at manipulating the world to kill your enemies for you. Unless caught in the act, it is vanishingly unlikely you will be held accountable – it will simply be an unfortunate accident.

Carl felt that those two skills could be useful in the future. Especially if he ran into Kayaba during his sojourn into the game world, with Roleplay he could make sure not to alert Kayaba to the fact he was on to him. It would help keep him from making him an enemy until it was time to kill him on the 100th floor.

And since Kayaba made use of the environment to kill players, having control of the environment as well would help Carl even the battlefield. Plus, if the Environment PK perk carried on to other worlds, Carl could only imagine where he might find a use for it.

With only 100 cp left, Carl chose to get a Teleport Crystal and a Healing Crystal that would respawn on him or in the warehouse 24 hours after use. After reading the description, Carl determined that he would have access to the Warehouse while in the game.

He wasn't sure how that all worked. He would be astrally projecting into a virtual reality game but have access to the physical warehouse and goods inside. Carl finally just shrugged. Jump Chain magic, what can you do?

With everything finalized, Carl accepted jumping into the world early. Right before blacking out, he heard an annoying voice say, "Link, start."