Chapter 3

  The man is gone as soon as our interview ended. And by that I don't mean that he walked away... I mean he was gone! Disappeared out of thin air.

  But then he was a program of some kind and not real also?

  There was something otherwordly about him. He was quite possibly just masquerading as a human.

  OK...so what do I do?

  I look around.

  There's the field I'm in, and the trees at the edges of the meadow.

  Wow. This area is gorgeous. I reached down and can feel that the soil buried in the grasses of the mead is very rich and full of nutrients. Its good raw soil that you can build in. Not too much clay in it either, and the grass could grow tall if allowed to do so.

  I do need to check out the full area of the meadow. I think I might actually enjoy exploring it!

  But I should find water first. That's the most important priority now, plus making sure its good untainted clean water, and how much I'd have to sterilize it.

  Wait, why do I know that?

  What did I know before.

  My instinct is telling me that I should get tools and weapons. And there's the reminder also from that message to not go out of this area yet till I'm stronger.

  I know what weapons are...

  Who am I?

  OK, I should look in the black bag.

  When I pull the black bag out of the capsule, I find this bag hidden in a side pouch of the capsule.

  It seems like an ordinary bag when I look at it. The material is a rough kind of sturdy canvas.

  (And I know what canvas is. This means I must have some experience with a more advanced society before this. Plus, how do I know about metals and manufacturing processes? By that I don't know how to do it myself, but I'm aware that such things exist and that somewhere someone can make them, but maybe not on this world...)

  Regardless... I'm not a simpleton. And I came from an industrialized society. That much I can figure out. But no more.

  OK what else... the bag. Let's look in it. I pulled it over and opened it up.

  Opening the bag, there's several small black boxes inside. The boxes appear to be some kind of really hard plastic, but there's thumb print scanners on them. Wait no. Its not quite plastic, but seems to be an alloy of something like steel metal mixed with plastic?

  Interesting...

  Its an advanced material and looks cool. Almost... sci-fi like in design for the boxes. They look interesting. But there's not a lot of useful items here, though there are a few.

  There's also a normal water canteen of an advanced design, sturdy and of some kind of plasteel material. There's a canvas tarp also, with some cordage in the bag also.

  There's a sturdy hunting knife also with a hip hanging knee strap sheath.

  I find a rope kit also, but nothing else.

  This is good equipment. But I wish there were more things to work with here.

  !

  No food here? When I don't know where I am?!

  Holy cow that's messed up.

  OK, maybe there's something in the 3 black boxes I can use.

  Taking a second look at these, I find that each of them is about the size of a drill's battery pack.

  Why do I know what a power drill is?

  Headache...

  I put my finger on the scanner for the first black box. Its also marked with 'open first' in an attaching temporary label.

  A sticker label?

  Interesting.

  A negative sound shows I failed the scan.

  What?! But this is...

  Oh wait...

  So I retried with my other fingers, and then realized it wanted a thumb scan, not a finger scan. That's why I'd failed it. It wants only my thumb scan. So I tried it. The thumb scan opens the box right away.

  Whew!

  Its another crystal like the first one. But this one is a lighter blue than the previous one. But still a nice crystal. With different colors I can also tell to not mix them up.

  Crystals?

  They are pretty but...I'm sure they have a real purpose. They aren't ornaments either.

  When I squeezed the first blue cryistal, the hologram activated.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  A woman in a white business skirt appears. She appears to briefly look around until she sees me there. "Hello, welcome to the magitek activation portable emergency school projection training series. This pre-recorded simulation message is one of a longer series designed for world terraforming, self training, mental health, and other 'special' projects. Please see our company brochures for details, or contact one of our official representatives. We have a special for a full series set of crystals ongoing that you can buy for yourself, your family, or even for your company employees. Call us today!" She took a brief breath and then smiled. "This crystal comprises lessons 1 through 100 on how to activate your own personal magitek program chipset, otherwise known as a 'mage core'. Please make sure that this is kept out of the hands of children, also your local laws may have specifically tailored restrictions on magitek software, or vary in legal ages allowed to teach magitek principles. Please stay within the bounds of your world's laws to prevent legal problems. Also please be aware that our company isn't responsible for the user's inability to follow local laws and problems thereof. There are also..." she goes on basically on some kind of disclaimer that sounds like a corporation would run.

  The woman also looks like she's too serious and from some kind of corporation.

  Wow she's very good looking. The skirt is a bit tight around her well shaped narrow hips also, which gives her extra seductive appeal. Her blouse looks fairly normal however, with two buttons undone at the top but not yet on the level of looking like someone you couldn't introduce to your parents. Overall she looks clean cut also, and like a passable office worker.

  Hm...

  I did catch at the end, she says to not open the other two black boxes until I've fully gone through up to at least lesson 5 on this first disc set.

  'So am I here to learn magic?' I wondered as she's standing there. She's still listing off an extensively long disclosure statement similar to what some world's product warning labels might say in several pages of fine print too small to even read.

  Or...?

  No.

  There must be more to it than that. If I was only here for that, why would my identity be erased?

  So what happened?

  I don't look like I have any war wounds on me.

  And I don't look like I'm dressed as a prisoner. But my clothes look purposely plain and void of any kind of writing script also. Writing would be a clue.

  So why is my memory not working?

  I tried to notice other things first. First, I'm dressed pretty well. The robe like uniform I'm wearing seems to be a type of matching color shirt and trousers. Well made but plain enough to blend in with a multitude of environments I believe.

  It looks like this robe I'm wearing...with its uniform like appearance does appear to be from a technological society that also has a lot of styles and artistic traits in such society. It doesn't look medieval either, but machine made, as its too good in its sewn precision to be done by hand, and the patterns of the edges too constant. But yet still retaining functional traits without compromising style.

  And it has an attached hood, very similar to what one would think of in terms of a mage.

  That's good. Probably for enduring the weather. And overall my clothes look good, stylish even though blending in as plain at the same time.

  By now the hologram woman has disappeared, after finishing the previous disclosures which were basically legal and introduction disclaimers that had no real purpose yet; which seem to imply that magic, or magitek can be dangerous.

  Hm...

  What else can I do here?

  I might as well listen to one of the lessons.

  It seems like that's why I've been brought here? To learn magitek?

  I opened up the first first lesson on the magitek disk.

  The hologram woman appears again. She elegantly starts off with a slight educated curtsey before continuing.

  "Welcome to the first lesson. In this lesson we'll learn about status screen magic and what it is. We'll also try using your own status screen magic. We'll try to see what our stats are, and what your health, mana bar, and stamina bar say. Try to not get too depressed when you see how low it is. As a starting level colony builder, its your job to know that you are starting off with a clean start at level 1, as a new administrator. Many people at first are depressed and face long term mental health when they see how challenging this world is and how low their stats are. If you are experiencing the following symptoms please see your local mental health coordinator immediately. Please also report more extreme symptoms, such as severe anxiety, depression, inability to work due to deep sadness, suicidal thoughts, feelings of extreme homicidal behavior, wrist cutting, or cutting of other extremities, feelings of wanting to choke loved ones..."

  OK, I don't need to listen to that. Apparently this tutorial system is written with the idea that people listening have a very simple basic mindset some of the time.

  ...

  I finally get to the good part.

  "Say 'status screen' right after me," the woman in the tutorial with a blank look on her face says.

  "Status screen," I said.

  There's a cool ping sound, since I'm activating it for the first time.

  Wow. This thing is amazing!

  Name; Javen

  Race; Administrator class (Censored)

  Job class; [?]

  Health; 100

  Mana; 500

  Stamina; 100

  Health regen; 10 per day

  Mana regen; 50 (hourly)

  Str 30

  Agi 30

  Con ** NA **

  Int 90

  Wis 90

  App 100

  Skills; Survival(bonus grant!)(new!), Mana Sensing, [Censored]

  Traits; Memories have been censored(discovered!)

  What?

  Something is very strange about my stats.

  They shouldn't have started that high. Even I know that. Although I'm not sure what the normal and average ranges should be.

  But why do my hands and limbs feel weaker than what I feel like they should?

  Huh?

  But when I try to identify the weakness it feels like nothing is afflicting me? What in the world is this mystery?

  And its not all developed in every way possible. I feel about as strong as a normal human guy in terms of what I can lift and carry. But somehow my body also feels like it could endure a lot and feels resilient.

  Somehow I have an idea I'm not human. But I could pass as a very handsome human young man, but adult age.

  But when I try to think about that I get a massive headache.

  Shit.

  I fell over on my back, it hurt so bad. I better not do that again. And then when I got back up I got that super headache again thinking about what I was.

  So am I being censored on that? The headaches aren't natural. I'm getting them to stop me from figur...

  I won't try that again. Note to self; don't think about forbidden censored topics.

  ...

  My mouth is full of dirt. I got back up.

  Yeah, a super headache passed me out. I guess I'm not supposed to think about certain things. The 'system' doesn't want me to know more about administrators right now. But it is OK with the idea that I'm supposed to be a higher calling, and not just a normal human.

  As long as I don't think about that in a probing sense, but just stay in a general idea it won't trigger.

  But then when the first lesson ends I caught the last bit of the wording, right before it shuts down.

  "For your first quest, we want to build a shelter. For now take your knife and search for materials to build a shelter. Be careful of your surroundings and conscious of your own safety while doing so please. Keep a look out for what resources you can find to eat also. But watch for what isn't edible or poison look alikes also. Chapter 2 of the magitek for dummies series goes into your first day on a new world. Also it will go over how to make a simple shelter, find water, and simple survival techniques if you don't have those already. Please also bear in mind that the tutorial system will lock you out at a certain point, if pre-requisite quests haven't been filled," she smiled and waved good bye.

  Then the disc shut down. The woman is missing now also.

  Shit. This is huge!

  "And what knife? I don't see a knife," I stammered while looking around.

  I'm not human! I'm some kind of powerful being that's more than human! This is so cool!

  I wonder what kinds of cool skills and abilities I have!

  Oh!

  I also realized the tutoring crystal that I have hasn't gotten to the skills section yet. I can hardly wait, I'm so excited! (The next chapter was 'survival and self sufficiency', not skills.)

  So what am I exactly if I'm not human also? Although I look like a young adult human.