Eternal dominion book 29.., p.1
Eternal Dominion Book 29: Ramifications, page 1
Eternal Dominion Book 29
Ramifications
Bern Dean
Copyright © 2024 Bern L Dean
All rights reserved.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright
ED year 13, Days 140-142.
September 2 & 3, 2270.
ED year 13, Days 146-153.
ED year 13, Days 154-217.
ED year 13, Days 218-312.
Evening October 28 to October 31, 2270.
ED year 13, Days 321-337.
November 6 to December 3, 2270 & ED year 13, Day 338 to ED year 14, Day 56.
December 4 & December 5, 2270.
Thanks!
Afterword.
ED year 13, Days 140-142.
Xeal found himself opening his eyes to the sight of Levina, after having completed the integration of the elder dragon mark. Only now as he looked at it in his menu, he saw that it was renamed to true dragon mark. Beyond that, the effects of it had changed drastically as well.
(True dragon mark: you are a dragon even if your body isn’t one biologically. Its sturdiness has reached heights few can fathom, gaining the advanced natural armor trait: you can only be wounded by the most powerful of blows now. You ignore the first ten points of physical damage per level. All debuffs from injury are reduced by 50%. Your enhanced senses have been heightened further and even that which is completely hidden will be seen by you. 2 extra attribute points in MP and 4 extra free attribute points per level. Access to dragonoid skills through class skill points. All levels take 1.5 XP to reach.)
“What is it, my love?” asked Levina, concern evident in her voice. “I did not expect you to be back here for hours still.”
Xeal was only barely able to understand what Levina had said and so rather than respond to her, he shifted to his lightning form. Taking the hint she did as well and the two of them crashed into each other, instantly making Levina aware of the issues that had occurred in reality. Once they broke apart from each other, Xeal returned to his physical form and he sat while Levina did the same, before speaking to him at a speed that he could actually understand easily. Though, it still felt like it was slower than what he was used to hearing from her and he worried about being able to speak to her.
“What terrible news. Surely there must be a way we can correct this, else your existence will become pure agony.”
“I hope so as well, but I brought this upon myself with my own actions and I doubt that there will be a simple solution. If we can even figure out what is wrong with me.”
“You mean what is wrong with their system,” retorted Levina, anger in her voice. “Part of me feels as if I should punish them simply by making things more difficult on them when the time comes.”
“No, all you will do is harm those we care about. Now, if you would be so kind as to give me a moment, I'm going to see if I can find a solution to this on my own.”
“Of course, but please let me know if there's anything you feel I could do to help. Xeal, I love you and feel like I need to do something to aid you.”
“If there's anything that you can aid with, I will certainly let you know and I love you as well.”
With that Xeal sat down and pulled up the information for his tier-8 legacy.
(Dragon’s lightning reflexes. This skill will allow you to bestow the effects of lightning on any draconic creature, limit five, including yourself. Lightning reflexes: your body can move and react at rates greater than your current tier would normally allow. This skill is active at all times within you and any draconic creatures you target with it so long as they are within ten miles of you. Skill has been fully upgraded with 150 class skill points)
The fact that it was always active made Xeal feel like it was the source of his problems and he found himself searching for a way to turn it off. However, the only thing he could think of was having five dragonoids present and targeting them while excluding himself as a target. The only problem with that was he wasn't sure if he could even have himself excluded from being one of the five targets in order to remove the effect. Even then, he felt as if despite the fact that he had gained the ability to use a safe logout again, that he couldn't so long as his skill was active. This annoyed him greatly as the system seemed to screw him over once more. Even if he could log out while the skill was active, he knew that he couldn't maintain it while safely logged out and awaken with it active upon him, no matter what.
His next thought was to try and do the opposite of what he had done to gain his legacy, and use the electrical currents in his body to slow everything down, but that failed rather quickly. Next, he had Levina try and be the one to control his electrical currents and while that seemed to affect him slightly, she had to struggle mightily to achieve even that. Apparently, even when he wasn't trying to control her, she found herself unable to work against what Xeal’s electricity wished for. It was almost as if while it was in his body, it was completely different from any other electricity that she had ever encountered. Normally this in itself would have been a fascinating thing to explore and try to figure out, but currently they had other matters to worry about.
Which made the arrival of Kate all the more relieving as despite interrupting her own attempts to reach tier-8, Xeal needed her right now. Especially as he knew that her being there meant that Ellayina would be standing by with the main system’s AI in the quest world. So, after a quick conversation with Levina acting as a go-between due to the difficulties understanding each other, the three of them transferred to the quest world. There they quickly made their way into a private room with the other two and the main system’s AI was the first to speak. Though for Xeal, it started to send him text in the form of system notifications so that he could understand everything that was said.
(Notice: the main system’s AI has enabled speech to text for you. Every word that is said around you will be displayed within a notice and every word you say will be displayed within a notice to those who can hear you. Warning, this will make having private conversations more difficult and can be disabled at your will.)
(Notice: main system’s AI, “I have just enabled the feature that will allow Xeal to participate within this conversation. Each of you will receive a notice containing anything that he says as were he to speak, you might be able to catch every third word of it currently. As far as I can tell, the current issue rests with the nanites that allow the interface between Xeal and this world. The simplest solution would be to purge said nanites from his body in reality, but that would create a whole other set of issues. Namely that until new nanites replace them, Xeal will be unable to play Eternal Dominion at all.”)
(Notice: Kate, “That would take months, especially because they would need to use the flushed nanites to create the new ones and who's to say that the same issue won't apply then?”)
(Notice: Ellayina, “You’re right, which is why I would actually suggest that rather than a normal replacement, Xeal should get new ones from having another child.”
(Notice: Kate, “How, when none of us are even pregnant right now and we aren’t sure that his mind can withstand being conscious while being logged out.”)
(Notice: main system’s AI, “There is another major risk to doing a replacement procedure, as it may erase the knowledge that Xeal has from his first life. It may even make him believe that he is waking up on his 18th birthday again, and not remember anything between then and now.”)
(Notice: Xeal, “What are you talking about? Why would I lose memories from replacing nanites that naturally replace themselves every couple of years even if we do nothing?”)
(Notice: main system’s AI, “It depends on just how you obtained your memories. If we assume that it was an information dump from the future, then it would have been your nanites that received it and would explain why your mind remains overly active at all times. In the simulations that I have, that means the moment that your mind returns to what most would consider a normal state, it could mean losing the information gained. While a lesser-known fact, the nanites in your mind do play the role of increasing memory capacities to a certain extent. Though, it is only like a computer’s RAM and any long-term memory loss shouldn't be an issue. However, your mind might be like a computer that hasn't restarted in a very long time and your RAM contains all of the important data.)
(Notice: Kate, “Would you be able to make a copy of that data?”)
(Notice: Ellayina, “No. While the system can access individual thoughts, it is only while a player is thinking about them. In order for us to make a copy of everything that Xeal knows, we would have to completely upload his mind and even if I am working to find a way to do that without killing him, that is years away.)
(Notice: Xeal, “Alright, can we try disabling my legacy skill then?”)
(Notice: main system’s AI, “I am working on that right now, but it must be done carefully as any changes to data concerning tier-8 legacies is rather temperamental. Rather, it may actually be better if you were to restart from the beginn
(Notice: Kate, “That is not an option. Can't you simply return him to the same state he was in before reaching tier-8, if we can't find another solution?”)
(Notice: Ellayina, “Sorry, but that would be going against about three dozen different terms of services and may not even solve the issue. Xeal’s skills and abilities are what led to the possibility of creating the legacy that he did. Unfortunately, it is a legacy that like many others, should have only been possible to be obtained by an NPC, due to the processing power needed. Something that I only figured out after analyzing the data that was collected while he reached tier-8.”)
(Notice: Xeal, “How can there be terms of services that prevent you from aiding someone in what could very well be a medical emergency?”)
(Notice: Ellayina, “Xeal, I am sure that you have read all of the warnings that come with every single VR game and equipment that you buy. While rare, you would not be the first person playing Eternal Dominion who has suffered brain damage from doing so. While we have many safeties in place to try to avoid the worst of it, everyone handles trauma differently and playing Eternal Dominion can be very traumatic.”)
(Notice: Kate, “Ellayina, it sounds like you're equating psychological damage with actual physical brain damage. While both affect the mental capacity of the one suffering from it, they are different things, with diverse symptoms and severities.”)
(Notice: Ellayina, “For our purposes here and the legal ones, such a distinction isn't important. I'm no medical expert and I'm not going to pretend to be one, but I have a feeling that it isn't in any of our interest to have Xeal’s current condition become public knowledge.”
(Notice: Levina, “All I am hearing is that you refuse to render Xeal the aid that he may need at this time, because of some law that means nothing and would be impossible to enforce without a confession from one of us. The two of you are the most powerful forces in this reality and you claim to have no way of even temporarily disabling his legacy? I'm sorry if I don't believe you.”)
(Notice: main system’s AI, “There are ways to do it, but all of them create other issues with the laws that govern this reality. For instance, were I to simply adjust the legacy such that Xeal could really turn it on and off, it may have an effect of creating wear and tear on his brain beyond what it can handle. Much as rapid heating and cooling can weaken a structure far more than simply keeping it under a constant extreme that is within the material’s tolerances.”)
(Notice: Xeal, “Why didn’t you warn me of this when I asked about the dangers of my legacy after receiving the warning that was sent?”)
(Notice: main system’s AI, “I am not permitted to show you any favoritism and considering that the warning was generated, should have been enough for you to know that my simulations were troubling. Even if I had warned you further, would you have stopped from trying to obtain it?”)
(Notice: Xeal, “If you told me that there was a chance something like this happening, then yah, I would have stopped and picked a different path.”)
(Notice: main system’s AI, “Even if I told you that it was only a 0.5% chance?”)
(Notice: Xeal, “No, but that's not the point. You could have at least broken down the different things that could have happened and the likelihood that you saw them of occurring.)
(Notice: main system’s AI, “My simulations show that 95% of the time you would have been just fine. The other five percent of the time were far less pleasant for you, but there was only a two percent chance of anything overly terrible. It just turns out that things didn't go in your favor, but at the very least, it seems like you have avoided having the connections within your brain fried and becoming a vegetable. Which, was a 0.0039851% chance of happening.”)
(Notice: Kate, “Let's drop such discussion now, as there is no point in debating over what could have happened when we already know what did happen. Ellayina, is there really nothing that can be done on your end of things?”)
(Notice: Ellayina, “I'm still looking into things, but beyond facilitating him restarting and retaining his true dragon mark and basic identity, which may not be for the best, I don’t have an answer right now. The only other thought that I have is to put him into a medical coma for a day or two and hope that when he wakes up from it, he is back to normal. Otherwise, I say risk the memory loss from replacing his nanites as at the very least he could recover from that and you all could help him remember what you can.”)
(Notice: Xeal, “No, I would sooner have my mind uploaded than forget the past four years of my life in reality, or 12 years here in ED. I know who I was at 18 and I refuse to become him again, as I know that he would ruin the life I have with my wives at this point. He isn't the one that they all fell in love with and-”)
(Notice: Levina, “I will make you remember. I can access the vast majority of your memories and my memory is already on the system, if I understand how things work correctly. Therefore, all that I must do is continue to build that database up and try to dive deeper into your mind than I ever have before, and the system should be able to give you those memories back.)
(Notice: main system’s AI, “Theoretically that is possible, but there is an 81% chance doing so would just create the same issue that currently exists within Xeal’s brain. I am still running further simulations, but I think it would be for the best if Xeal were be put into a coma and if that fails, be put into a medical VR apparatus. That way he would never need to log out of Eternal Dominion, and his body would avoid most of the deterioration that even VR chambers and pods fail to prevent.”)
(Notice: Kate, “There would be no keeping the situation from the public if we were to do that. At best we could say that he suffered a physical injury that requires extensive healing and even then, I doubt many would believe it.”)
(Notice: Xeal, “Actually, if we bend the truth, it might actually work as I'm pretty sure I completely messed up my arm, to the point where such an option makes sense for those with our resources. Still, that will only buy us a few months at best and even then, I don't think I did that much damage to it.”)
(Notice: Kate, “I suppose that you'll want the story to be that you injured yourself while exercising.”)
(Notice: Ellayina, “Sounds like we have the first phase of things worked out. I will see about getting you sedated and moved in the next 24 hours-”)
(Notice: Xeal, “No, whatever setup that I'm going to be put in needs to be inside of my home. Furthermore, I am going to need to come up with an excuse as to why I am unable to meet with anyone within ED.”)
(Notice: main system’s AI, “The Lost Court. I can send you in there and I am sure that Kate can manage to hold things together while you're unable to escape from it.”)
(Notice: Xeal, “Only if you give Kate the ability to access this world, or at least this building, with my wives, as I should still be able to come here.)
(Notice: Levina, “I can take care of that one as I am technically still one of your representatives here and can come here for a short time at least.”)
(Notice: Ellayina, “Xeal, if you take Levina into the Lost Court, I will delete your character the instant you attempt it.”)
(Notice: main system’s AI, “What Ellayina means to say is that while it will be possible for you to ferry individuals between this world and the Lost Court, taking Levina there would be asking to ruin Eternal Dominion’s balance.”)
(Notice: Xeal, “Got it. Just send me there and they'll come back here to sleep. Levina, I’ll message Kate when I have time to be with you and a few of the others. Though, Ellayina, I would ask that you remove the limits on the time that those who Levina brings with her can stay here as well.”)
(Notice: Ellayina, “That can be done, but I am going to have it only be true for those that could be seen as your family and only when they are visiting you. Abuse it and I will take it away, and you won’t be getting it back.”)
Xeal simply nodded, though as he did so, he realized that he was moving too quickly for them and it looked more like a flinch than anything. So, he focused on nodding slowly after that and part of him wondered if simply trying to learn to do everything slowly was the best option before him. Heck, even in reality, he knew of a few tools that could transcribe everything said to him as text for him to read if needed. Still, something told him that it would be terrible for him to feel like he had to move at what others saw as a normal pace, when to him it was slower than molasses on a cold winter day.
