While Ian and Doug spoke with the AGSI Mavis had worked through the first parts of the trials. “Wow, that was fun!” Mav said to Arthur, a huge grin plastered on her face. She’d gone through each of the tests for her starting stats with the enthusiasm of an athlete and the focus of a scholar.

  Her physical stat evaluations had begun with the big three in weight training, squat, bench, and deadlift to gauge Brawn. Then came a brutal HIIT circuit for Fortitude. After that, she’d been dropped into a virtual matching challenge loaded with sound and environmental distractions for Intent, followed by games of Go and a Surge classic, Pandemic, against master tier NPCs to measure Insight and Reason.

  For Customize, they’d handed her a mishmash of blocks, platforms, and odd devices, then tasked her with getting a squad of digital lemmings safely across a deadly obstacle gauntlet. They wrapped things up with her chatting with various NPCs to gauge Presence and Allure. Fortune and Pandemonium, she’d been told, were wild cards, unpredictable, and impossible to measure in a controlled test.

  “I saved the best for last in your case,” Arthur said with a grin. He led her to a roped-off coral shimmering with a fuzzy light effect. With a wave of his hand, the barrier dissolved and Mav’s eyes lit up.

  “An obstacle course!” she gasped. “That is so fucking cool, Arthur, thanks for saving it for me!” She gave him a quick squeeze around the waist before letting go, zeroing in on the course layout. Mostly up and over or down and under rigs, peppered with balance and hanging challenges, more Ninja Warrior than Spartan Race, but still right up her alley.

  Jarvis stepped forward. “Miss Mavis, this final evaluation measures Grace and Quickness. Grace encompasses lightness of movement, fluidity, jumps, landings, and weapon handling. Quickness is your speed in all actions. Do your best to complete the course as fast and as elegantly as you can. Are you ready?”

  “Hell yeah I am. This is my wheelhouse, baby. Let me warm up for a moment and then let’s do this!” She shrugged off the long hoodie Arthur had lent her earlier, goosebumps rising as the cooler air touched her bare arms. Her tight shorts and sports top left her free to move without restriction.

  She rolled her shoulders, twisted her torso, loosened her joints, and dropped into a runner’s ready stance, eyes narrowing on the first obstacle, a set of offset platforms over water. “All set.”

  “In three… two… one… GO!”

  She exploded forward, legs eating up the space to the first platform. A light touch with her lead foot, feel the shift, ride it, push off. Again. Again. On the last jump she skipped two platforms entirely, landing in a crouch-roll that flowed into a low slide under a wall. She was up and onto an A-frame in a heartbeat, flipping over the top and rolling down the cargo net backside.

  “Will you look at her move,” Arthur said, awe creeping into his voice. “Just beautiful.”

  “Yes, sir. Beautiful. She is quite graceful and quick, her scores will be high,” Jarvis replied in his usual dry tone.

  Arthur barely heard him his focus locked on Mav as she dodged swinging medicine balls, vaulted a raised platform, flattened herself to avoid another, then nailed a perfect wall run before leaping across a water pit to land on a moving platform.

  ‘Yeah… beautiful,’ he thought. Then he bonked himself lightly on the head. ‘No, no, Arthur — she’s in the program. Enough of that.’

  “Are you quite alright, sir?” Jarvis asked, one brow arched.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Just… something in my head needs knocking back into place,” Arthur muttered. Turning away, he opened his virtual workspace and began assembling her starter kit, ‘with a few extra things…’ he thought with a sly smile.

  Arthur’s workspace shimmered as the last item in her starter kit locked into place. He closed the interface with a flick and glanced back at the course, where Mav was finishing her run with a vault, a roll, and a triumphant skid to a stop. She looked radiant, flushed, laughing, electric with the thrill of movement.

  He caught himself smiling. ‘Careful, Arthur! Nope, just nope!’ He berated himself.

  With a quiet sigh, he saved her kit to the scenario inventory and flagged it for delivery after the debrief. The system pinged his HUD with an incoming cross scenario priority message the kind that overrode scenario immersion for all operators on the network. A faint chime sounded through the testing bower’s ambient music; several NPCs paused mid-action, eyes flicking toward nothing as they received the same system-wide notice.

  He tapped to accept.

  Tzulau → Kamehameha: We’ve got a situation in Umbra. I may be late, please hold Miss Hudson if you can.

  Arthur’s jaw tightened. Umbra problems rarely stayed contained and if Doug was reaching across scenarios, it meant trouble big enough to drag him away from Penumbra’s calm. Mav jogging up drew him back to the present.

  Her cheeks were flushed, sweat streaking her temple. Her grin was half triumph, half exhaustion. “How’d I do?” she panted. “I left it all out there.” She jabbed her thumb toward the obstacle course.

  Arthur’s smirk was instant, the kind that telegraphed both approval and trouble. He tossed her a towel, holding her gaze just a fraction too long as she mopped her face and neck, then deliberately down her arms and legs. One brow ticked upward when she caught him watching. She raised hers back, challenge accepted and he only shrugged before holding out her hoodie like it was an olive branch.

  “Truly exceptional, Miss Mavis,” Jarvis cut in, breaking the locked stare. “Grace and Quickness nearing professional, perhaps Olympic level. Would you like refreshments before we review your statistics?”

  In a shimmer of light, a table appeared, dressed in deep blues and reds, piled with food. The aromas, herby meats, something smoky-sweet, tangy pickled vegetables made her mouth water.

  “That is so cool,” Mav said, eyes flicking to Arthur as if to check if he was impressed too. ‘Did I just imagine that? No… too vivid.’ She wondered inwardly. “Food on demand? Yeah, I could get used to that. Oh and can we bring back the AVAs?”

  They had sent the AVA’s away for the testing as having them around could skew the results. Both dragonettes strafed over the table and arched up to land at the end, their serpentine necks twisting around as they took in the feast.

  “Can I have something?” she heard Goo ask in her ear. Smiling, she tossed a chunk of charred meat his way. He caught it in mid air and tossed his little head back, swallowing the chunk whole.

  She laughed at his expression as his tiny eyes went wide. ‘Maybe spicy charred meat wasn’t the best starting experience for him,’ she thought with a smile. Goo shook his head back and forth then looked at her meaningfully,

  “More!” he practically shouted in her mind. Laughing, she tossed him a second piece. Arthur had settled down across the table from Mav and grabbed the same fried chicken leg he had before and took a large bite into the lavender meat, peeling a strand off and tossing it to Mazor while nodding at Mav.

  Nodding in thanks to Jarvis, Mav took an oversized platter and speared a pickle with her fork. She lifted it toward the two… ‘men? beings? whatever-they-were,’ across from her and asked, “So, how’d I do?” ‘Beings,’ she decided as she popped the pickle into her mouth. The burst of salty-sweet dill hit her tongue with shocking clarity. ‘How the hell did they program pickles?’ she marveled.

  She dug into the lizken salad next, Jarvis’s proud “lizard chicken from Antumbra.” The lavender meat looked slightly suspect, but the first bite made her groan out loud. Celery, onion, and spice all perfectly balanced. ‘It really does taste like chicken,’ she admitted to herself, marveling again at the absurd fidelity of this world.

  Goo waddled across the table’s edge, plopped down beside her plate, and promptly passed out, two tiny meat drunk snores buzzing from his beak. “Well. Two pieces of meat for him and he’s in a full food coma,” Mav said warmly, brushing a fingertip over his tiny digital head.

  Arthur snorted and jerked a thumb to his left. Mazor was already upside down on the table, little legs twitching in the air like he was dreaming of parkour.

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  “Do you want to explain the stats,” Arthur asked, dropping a picked clean lizken bone to his plate and reaching for another, “or should I?”

  “Allow me, sir, while you enjoy your repast,” Jarvis replied smoothly. He turned to Mav. “Have you already discussed the scoring or value system with Miss Mavis?”

  Arthur froze mid-bite, “mmm, nope,” he mumbled around a mouthful of lavender poultry.

  “Right then,” Jarvis sighed with a hint of old-butler theatrical disappointment. With a gesture, he flicked a hovering holo-display into existence above the table. It angled itself perfectly toward Mavis, a polished, intuitive interface glowing in cool violet light. A column of statistics lined the left side; empty boxes waited beside each one.

  “Right, let's start with that then,” Jarvis said and pushed a hovering holographic over the table, angled at Mav to read. It had the statistics down the left hand side and empty boxes beside each one. “This is your character sheet,” he said mentally clicking on the first stat in the list, Brawn. The screen shifted and a description of Brawn shifted into view.

  316 Brawn – raw strength. Carrying capacity/blunt melee damage/climbing/jump distance & height.

  “Now, here is the Brawn statistic, like it says this is your raw strength. This was tested by the Big Three. Your score was 416, a very good score. The value system works like this, he said and the screen shifted again to a short list.

  1 – 300 average humans

  301– 600 Athletic/Gifted/Above average humans

  601 – 900 Olympian/Genius/Rare/Trained humans

  901 – 1000+ Super Humans

  “Wow, only 316?” Mavis asked slightly surprised, she always felt much stronger than her size belied.

  “316 is totally awesome for a starting stat,” Arthur said gesturing with another chicken leg, “hell, most mooks start out around 125 to 150 in Brawn, pretty weak for the most part. Anything over 301 is someone who puts in some time or has some great genetics, so take the 316 and enjoy it.” He finished plopping the chicken leg into a bowl of bright green sauce and taking a large bite.

  “Fine, fine...” Mav mumbled, still looking grumpy about it. Arthur grinned at her, gesturing for Jarvis to continue.

  “It is quite a respectable score for Miss Mavis.” The AGI said and then gestured at the holographic screen and it shifted back to screen showing the description of Brawn. He then flicked his fingers and the screen turned like a book page. The next one read;

  449 Fortitude – endurance. How long one can perform strenuous action/got without rest/main hit point modifier.

  “Again, a very respectable score. Your health will be calculated from this score as mentioned, this is simply how much damage you can take before you pass out or die in game.” Jarvis explained then added, “would you like me to show each one and explain, or simply show the list and answer any questions you may have?” He asked.

  “Let’s go through each one, even though I won't be actually playing, I am strangely interested in understanding your metrics and how I measured up.” Mavis said while piling a large lettuce like leaf with what she thought looked like shrimp salad, though the meats were soft emerald green in color.

  “Excellent,” the AGI said and continued, flicking his fingers to turn the holo ‘page’.

  267 Intent – focus. The ability to aim/stay calm in battle/hit a target/length of time to hold a shot steady/main perception modifier/secondary lockpick modifier.

  “Wait,” Mav said sputtering, “what the fuck is that all about? I’m super focused!” She fumed at the AGI, “I want to take that test again, which one was it?”

  “It was the virtual matching test with the distractions. You became quite agitated with the test and the administrator. You ended up smashing a decagon to fit it into a hexagonal spot.” he said in a dry tone.

  “Oh,” Mav began, her cheeks coloring, “that one. Ok, well then let's continue.” The AGI nodded and ‘turned’ the page.

  603 Grace – agility. Lightness of movement/fluidity of attacks/drawing and/or reloading/jump or fall landing/main dodge modifier/main lockpick modifier.

  “Now, this one was exceptional. Your grace is that of an Olympian or classically trained ballerina.” Jarvis said as Mav cheered and punched her arms into the air while shifting her hips in a seated victory dance. “Oh yes, and if you feel that was good then your...” and he flicked the page over to Quickness.

  607 Quickness – dexterity. Speed of movement/speed of attacks, drawing and/or reloading/secondary dodge modifier.

  “Damn!” Arthur exclaimed, slapping his hand down on the table and rattling the dishes, “that's freaking amazing! I knew you were fast on that last test, but shit, impressive lady!” he finished holding his fist out to Mav and she bumped it hard. Pulling her hand back with a mock ‘ouch’ she smiled at Arthur and nodded to Jarvis to continue.

  627 Insight – wisdom. (AU) Connection and depth of understanding of monastic studies/depth of monastic arcane energy/speed of monastic arcane energy replenishment. (PU) Physical variant understanding, alteration and application. (AU/PU/U) Strategic details/detailed memory/situational awareness/ability to understand schematic and plans/main hack modifier/main loot modifier/secondary perception modifier.

  “Insight and the next,” and he waved his hand to turn the page, “Reason will have slightly different applications in the different scenarios. In Antumbra, they are more focused on your ability to understand and cast arcane and your connection to a monastic source of arcane energy. In Penumbra they are balanced between the variant understanding and technical knowledge, and in Umbra they are all about the strategic details and purely technical.

  “So, these two are the only ones that have a different value in the various scenarios?” Mav asked, not quite understanding.

  Arthur answered before the AGI, “Yeah, because the three are so different, with magic being available in one, mutations in the second and none of that in the third. Doug, the guy in the intro, came up with that himself. This way your score would transfer easily between the scenarios. You’ll be quite a mage or monk in Antumbra if you want to be.” He finished turning his hand over and creating a small ball of flame in his palm, “like yours truly.” he smiled and pointed at the holo screen and laughed, “and look at that Reason score, shit lady, you’ll surpass me someday!”

  653 Reason – intelligence. (AU) Connection and depth of understanding of the arcane/depth of arcane energy/speed of arcane energy replenishment. (PU) Mental variant understanding, alteration and application. (AU/PU/U) speed of thought/strategic application/ability to implement schematics or plans/secondary hack modifier.

  “Oh cool, guess that masters in creative and critical thinking helped out here too huh?” Mav asked with a small bit of sass in her voice aimed at Arthur. “Too bad being a bad ass mage won’t help me in the, how do you call it, the ‘real?” she snarked.

  “Hey now, some players are already making a damn good living on their Twitch feeds,” he held up his hand to stall her from talking, “I’ll not get into how that works now, its unimportant, let's just say there is a lot of money in playing as well as developing the games. Jarvis, please continue.” He finished while tossing the tiny fireball up and down in the air like a tennis ball.

  “Very good.” The AGI said and ‘turned’ the next page.

  602 Customize – adaptability. Out of the box thinking/ability to create schematics/spells/mutagens or modify existing ones/strategic creativity/ main scavenger modifier.

  “Wow,” Mav whistled, “that one I wasn’t expecting,” she beamed at Arthur who stuck his tongue out at him. He had told her to be serious during the lemming's game while she laughed and played with the small digital creatures. She had simply had fun and had not lost a single creature to the perils of their journey. Mav waved at Jarvis and he continued.

  393 Presence – charisma. Attractiveness/secondary modifier in loyalty. Mav simply nodded and waved for the next one. ‘I’m well aware I am not a supermodel or movie starlet, ‘and thankfully not!’ she thought with an inward smile.

  ~291~ Allure – Charm. Emotional attractiveness/ability to draw people in/ability to lead/main modifier in loyalty.

  “Ouch,” Mav said, “yep, saw that coming. I suppose I can be prickly at times, huh?” She laughed as Arthur simply pointed at her then tapped the side of his nose while nodding. ‘Good thing he put out that little flame, that may have been funny.’ She thought, grinning at him.

  “As stated before, the last two cannot be measured by a test and will begin to set themselves as time goes by. They are totally random and while they can grow, do so in a more sporadic manner than the other statistics.” Jarvis said ‘turning’ the page one last time to display the last two on the list.

  716 Fortune – luck. Increased chance of special ‘events’/chance to drop high level loot/increased dodge/increased chance to achieve perks or subclass automatically/reduction in wear of gear/weapons.

  ~815~ Pandemonium – chaos. Increased chance of rare and dangerous spawns, situations or challenges to occur around the player/chance for unique drops/decreased chance for any action to ‘land’ correctly/increased chance of action to produce unique effects.

  “Well shit, you have a superhuman level of Pandemonium,” Arthur laughed, “the Pandemonium player.” He roared with laughter. Mav threw a bright orange carrot like vegetable at him and he ducked, laughing the whole time.

  “Is that bad?” she asked with a touch of concern.

  “Bad is relative,” Jarvis began frowning at Arthur, “pandemonium is not so much the other side of Fortune, but the somewhat unpredictable brother to it. Fortune is also unpredictable, but Pandemonium gifts usually come in very strange wrapping paper shall we say.” He finished shrugging his shoulders in a very human like gesture.

  “Huh,” Mav said, “maybe like getting hit with a car to meet this asshat?” she asked, pointing at Arthur.

  With a chuckle Jarvis answered, “Quite.”

  “Hell, Mav, that is an excellent start,” Arthur said, flicking a carrot stick back at her and missing by a heroic margin. “This gives you a rock-solid base for your treatment.” He glanced at his HUD, frowned, then added, “We’ve been in-game for six hours and fifty minutes. That’s… thirty-nine minutes outside. We can take a break or push a few more hours.” The worry in his expression had crept in hard and fast.

  She caught the shift immediately. “Or,” she offered, grinning, “a tour of the tutorial area by the legendary Kamehameha might raise my street cred with the locals?”

  He snorted, tension cracking a little. “Nah. They all think I’m an asshole.” He stood, scooping up Mazor and giving the tiny dragonette a poke in the belly. “C’mon, gremlin. Up, work to do.” Mazor yawned like a cat inside a dragon’s body, rolled upright, and trilled.

  Across the table, Goo blinked awake, made a put-upon chirp, and stretched until his spine arched like a bow, wings fluttering in a sleepy protest. Both dragonettes launched into the air and spiraled lazily around the table.

  Arthur bowed low to Jarvis. “Master Jarvis, as always, it’s been a pleasure.” The sincerity in his voice surprised Mav.

  “And for me as well, Master Kamehameha.” Jarvis returned the bow with impeccable grace. Rising, he added, “Pleasant journeys and easy roads.” Then he turned to Mav and gave an elegant half-bow. “Miss Mavitsune, give ’em hell out there.” A flash of multicolored light erased him, the table, and the AGIs manning the corrals. Only the structures remained, silent now, hollow.