“Test subject number 451. The subject is stable. Administration of Odyssey is a success. Subject responding well, dormant DNA awakening.”
Why do I hear a voice? I should be the only one here, I was…
Ayna slowly opened her eyes, only to be blinded by an intense light. The familiar game development studio was no longer there; instead, she found herself staring up at a plain, seamless ceiling that was a metallic grey. The walls around her were similarly made of smooth, gleaming grey metal, reminiscent of a sci-fi setting. It resembled an advanced laboratory, with high-tech-looking equipment lining the surroundings.
Trying to move, Ayna found herself in constraints. Turning her head, she realised she was in some capsule, with metallic cuffs around her arms and legs. She wore little clothing and had a myriad of wires and tubes connecting her towards a multitude of machines.
Ayna noticed she was not alone; a group of people in white coats surrounded her, and they were looking at her with a mixture of excitement and trepidation.
I thought I was working on the latest update for ‘Intergalactic Glory’. I was coding the newest patch, so where am I?
Abruptly, Ayna felt an intense pain in her head as a large amount of data was transmitted into her mind. The last thing she could remember was being in the midst of updating ‘Intergalactic Glory’, a widely popular game, until she unwittingly drifted off to sleep after a sudden feeling of tiredness.
“Quickly, inform Stormflash the Test subject is awake!”
“Call the guards, we could be saved!”
Whilst the scientists started a commotion, Ayna realised not only could she understand them, but she also recognised the panicked words of ‘Test Subject’, ‘Call the guards!’, and ‘We could be saved!’-these terms did not bode well. Soon, she could hear the sound of rushing footsteps towards her.
Should I do anything? Ayna did not feel like waiting here; she felt that doing nothing was not the best course of action. However, she found that resistance was futile, as despite her panicked movements, the constraints were too secure. The scientists seemed worried about her frantic movements, and the lead one began to approach her. He was a middle-aged man with crazy white hair, seeming the picture of a mad scientist.
“Test Subject 451, can you understand me?” He said calmly in a familiar tone, Ayna, quickly realised his voice was the first she heard upon awakening.
She paused for a moment, contemplating whether to reply, while the lead scientist remained patient despite her silence. Nonetheless, she knew turning down an opportunity to get some answers was too good to ignore.
“Yes, I can understand you, what am I doing here? Where am I?” She asked, surprising herself at the unfamiliar melodious voice.
That does not sound like my voice…
“Firstly, my name is Dr Xavier Jekyll, now to explain…” Before the ‘mad scientist’ could explain himself, a dozen or so guards entered the room. In front was a particularly menacing man with dark blue hair and eyes that seemed to radiate electrical sparks.
Staring at the guards dressed in gleaming silver armour, she noticed they were armed to the teeth with advanced weaponry.
Ayna gasped when she saw the emblem on their armour. It depicted a planet with a silver corkscrew-like shape on top of it.
The Helixas Corporation, from Intergalactic Glory? Hadn’t they been eliminated? It can’t be them, since this entire organisation was the origin story of arguably the most monstrous and calamitous threat in the game.
Ayna felt her mind running swiftly as everything began to add up. Dr Xavier Jekyll? Stormflash? Helixas Corporation? Everything sounded alarmingly familiar. And as she began to contemplate her situation, the leading guard, whom she identified as Stormflash, began to generate crackling electricity from his palms, which he wielded dangerously as he approached her with malicious intent.
Turning pale with fright, Ayna found herself fortunately saved by Dr Xavier Jekyll, who intervened, “Stormflash! What do you think you are doing? I have everything under control!”
A sneer lined Stormflash's face. He was handsome in a rugged way and appeared to be a young man in his twenties, yet Ayna knew, like most metahumans, he was far older than he seemed.
“Your lack of control over your test subjects is how we have ended up like this, Dr Xavier! We continued with your project as a last resort. I will not let you create another disaster.” Stormflash retorted sharply before turning to leave, causing her to sigh in relief.
Ayna thought she was safe until suddenly, he turned with an evil glint in his eyes and sent a jolt of electricity flying towards her. Unconsciously, she tried to avoid the incoming projectile only to find herself wired in place as the ensuing current caused her entire body to spasm in intense pain. The pain felt so potent that she felt a deep stabbing sensation that coursed through her whole body.
What the hell was that? What happened to the pain calibration settings?
Intergalactic Glory had restricted settings for pain, as it had the potential to cause nerve damage in severe cases. The cutting-edge VR capsule the game utilised had multiple contingencies in place to prevent this, though, judging by the pain she was experiencing, it had clearly malfunctioned.
Our testing capsules are supposed to be state-of-the-art, yet this one is clearly faulty. I am going to be really upset with the stingy management later for this!
Dr Xavier seemed flabbergasted by Stormflash's actions, though that look was swiftly replaced with anger.
“What are you doing? Do you know how much time and resources we put into this?“ Dr Xavier hurriedly moved to check the machines for her vital signs, worryingly checking her for signs of damage.
Ayna almost felt touched by the gesture, if not for knowing exactly the type of monster Dr Xavier Jekyll is. He is the type of man who would sink to the most vilest acts if it were capable of furthering his research.
Ayna continued to grimace in pain, and the throbbing sensation in her head continued as she felt more information fill her mind.
It took her a moment to go over the oddness of her situation for her mind to propose an outlandish probable cause.
Have I seriously transmigrated into Intergalactic Glory?
Her eyes widened in amazement. Intergalactic Glory was a revolutionary VR game that ran worldwide on groundbreaking servers. Ayna was part of the game development team, working as a coder and tester for the game. She had always been proud of her work in the game, especially since it had broken the records of active players for an MMO, having hundreds of millions of users.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
The game was set in an impossibly vast universe with a world map far larger than any game of its kind in history. The scale of the game was so outrageous that, despite being out for over a decade, not a single player could claim to have explored the entirety of its map. It became outrageously popular and outperformed its competition significantly, leading to the formation of esports leagues worldwide for professional players. The game was so popular that elite professional players became more famous than many A-list celebrities.
Ayna herself played the game in her spare time, even outside of work, though not at the level of a professional player; nonetheless, she was more competent than most due to her lengthy time spent in the game.
‘The Helixas Corporation were not even present in the base game available to the players. They were only known from being the backstory of another, since the origin of the most powerful recognised Metahuman in the Universe was a result of the experiments held here. It means this predates the current version of the game by a long time.’ Ayna thought.
Before her transmigration, Intergalactic Glory had been operating for well over a decade and had undergone constant expansions and events to keep players engaged.
It means I am in grave danger. In the original game, Dr Xavier Jekyll's past comes to haunt him, and The Helixas Corporation suffers the same grisly fate.
It was then she realised she had apparently transmigrated as one of his very experiments, and didn’t he mention Odyssey? There was only one experiment of Dr Xavier Jekyll that came under that name, and the result produced the most potent known Esper ability in the Metahuman rankings. As her mind trailed at the very implications of this knowledge, Dr Xavier Jekyll had stopped fiddling with his machinery, once again meeting her directly to continue their conversation.
“I am genuinely sorry for the actions of a barbaric man undeserving of the gifts that exist in his DNA! You, though, are truly magnificent. Decades of pouring resources and my brilliance into a project … to strip the undeserving of the powers held in their DNA and bring it to oneself. You will be the closest thing to a God that humanity will ever see, the perfect Metahuman.” Said Dr Xavier, a manic glint in his eyes as she was reminded how insane the man truly was.
Though the one thing he is right about is Odyssey, it truly produced the ‘God among Metahumans’ Dr Xavier Jekyll envisioned, only it came far earlier than her, a young boy who was discarded as an imperfect failure, Test Subject Zero not only survived after they left him broken and forgotten, but also received an unstable version of the Esper ability that Dr Xavier hoped to create, one that left him with a constant hunger that was never truly sated.
“Why do you describe me as perfect?” Ayna asked suddenly, wanting to know more. There was a reason Subject Zero was deemed a failure. In the original game, Dr Xavier Jekyll never managed to create a flawless version of the ability he envisioned. Subject Zero was left a husk of a person, with no humanity to speak of, fuelled by a disdain for life.
Dr Xavier Jekyll eventually met his end at the hands of the young boy he deemed worthless and imperfect, and The Helixas Corporation ended alongside him, becoming distant history forgotten about.
Dr Xavier Jekyll had a surprised expression first to her question, yet a smile replaced that as he answered, “Why? I have corrected the past's wrongs; you are everything I envisioned. From these readings, you can do what the others before you could not, or should be able to theoretically. Either way, you are the most perfect version of my research to date.”
His response piqued Ayna's curiosity about something. Her memories were still jumbled, and the recollection of her past life was hazy, except for her knowledge of Intergalactic Glory. Though she knew what Odyssey represented, even she did not fully understand what the ‘perfect version’ of that ability looks like, as it never existed in the original game.
Either way, if it were even close to as potent as the version Subject Zero received, it would save her a great deal of trouble. Intergalactic Glory was a vivid game that offered constant conflict and calamitous disasters, requiring players to save the universe from interstellar-level threats. Whilst Ayna enjoyed this as a player, actually experiencing it was another matter.
‘I need to get out of here!’ She thought with urgency.
Yet, despite her desire to leave, the Helixas Corporation, though insignificant to the Intergalactic powers that inhabited the universe, was overwhelming to her current helpless self.
Deciding to take some initiative, she posed a question to Dr Xavier, “Will you release me from these bindings?”
Dr Xavier once again was surprised by her question before he chuckled, “You are seriously unique compared to the others, mentally you are beyond what I expected. Upon regaining consciousness, previous test subjects were far slower to respond to stimuli; to put it bluntly, you are mentally more advanced than my data anticipated. Subsequently, my actions will need to be modified.”
“Is that a positive thing?” Ayna replied, unsure if she unwittingly made her situation worse.
“Of course! It means we can move on swiftly, to answer your question, of course, these things are no longer necessary.” Dr Xavier said jovially as he gestured to the other scientists.
Quickly, Ayna found herself released from her bindings, assisted by the scientists, who had the wires and tubes removed before she slowly exited the capsule.
Feeling her feet touch the cold metal on the floor, she found her body was oddly limber despite presumably being laid down for an extended period.
Ayna was not foolish enough to make a run for it despite being tempted. She did not want to give Stormflash another excuse to fry her.
Dr Xavier Jekyll seemed satisfied with her response as he declared, “Now let us get you outfitted in proper dress! I can’t have you walking around the facility in such a state.”
Ayna found herself reminded of her half-dressed state and nodded in agreement. She would act obediently for now, but when…
Suddenly, a glowing line of blue text appeared before her eyes.
You have successfully integrated with the Odyssey solution.
Your cells have adapted and evolved.
+5 all attributes.
You have awakened the Esper Ability: Ability Absorption SSS
You have received the Trait: Robust Physique
You have unlocked the profession [Esper (Novice)]
Profession [Esper (Novice)] has automatically been assigned as your Main Class.
INT + 10, WP + 4, CHRM +4
You have acquired new class skills:
Basic Energy Manipulation.
Basic Energy Absorption.
Ayna couldn’t believe she had received a similar Esper Ability to one of the most powerful entities in the game.
Yet, seeing the familiar text in front of her, she discovered something just as significant, as wasn’t that the familiar interface she received as a player?
Deciding to test something, she realised her situation might not be as precarious as she had initially thought.
‘Interface’, Ayna thought mentally in anticipation as a status screen appeared before her.
Name: Ayna Reagan
Race: Metahuman
Main Class: Esper Lvl 1
Sub-class: Unselected.
Attributes: Strength 9, Dexterity 8, Constitution 12, Endurance 9, Intelligence 21, Willpower 11, Charm 14
Unassigned Stats: 0
Grade: F
Health points: 30/60
Energy: 105/105
Stamina: 45/45
Esper Ability: Ability Absorption SSS
Absorbed Abilities [0/2]: None.
Main Class Skills: Basic Energy Manipulation {Lvl 1}, Basic Energy Absorption {Lvl 1}
Sub-Class Skills: None.
Traits: Robust Physique
General Skills: None
A warmth surged through Ayna’s body as she felt newfound power. Suddenly, her posture straightened as she felt a newfound assurance that wasn’t there before.
With the capabilities of a player combined with such a powerful Esper Ability, Ayna not only had the tools to survive but to prosper.
I do not have to be afraid.
Dr Xavier seemed to notice her newfound stability as he said, “It is good you are adapting so quickly, now follow me.”
Ayna just smiled and nodded, following along. It was not yet the time to make a move; even now, she had to move swiftly. A calamity was going to appear here soon, one she wanted to be far away from. But for now, she had to bide her time, and she was confident it would come.
