The Arcade Series

Weeks went by quickly, though they felt like eternity in the moment. I didn't have much company for the first few days, but slowly and surely people started visiting my little arcade. Every time things went like the first two times, people asking about what an arcade was and me showing them videogames then them leaving soon after with a few tickets.

Most of the time they didn't come back afterwards, which made me a little nervous that I was doing something wrong, but apparently word was coming around the city about my little arcade because people saying they were told about Hope Arcade from friends who went here, so I was just mildly confused, not concerned.

It would be nice if I had some returnees though. It would be nice if I could find out if Terance is healing up, see how he is doing with the artifact.

But, other than that business is doing good. I actually crossed the two hundred dollar mark just yesterday and am at a total of two hundred and eighty six dollars. Most had been from drinks and snacks of parents as of late, with the children playing in the arcade. It was great that my name was getting out to these people like this, I hadn't expected children and parents to be coming all the way to where I had learned was a small street out of the way of pretty much everything.

Along with my income in the arcade, I was learning a bit more about mana every day. Mana was more esoteric than I thought it would be to say the least, but with my wealth of knowledge on fantasy books along with games and all the time in the world, I was getting some headway in my little experiments with mana.

It had been a rough start at first, just moving around the mana particles I could see with the monocle, but with the intake of customers I was starting to get a feel for how mana interacted with all sorts of things. People generate mana, and really any living being I have seen can do the same, except me. Though that wasn't very concerning when I wasn't from this world at all, with mana probably not even existing on Earth. But along with that, I also got a sense of how people's emotions caused the color and type of mana they made changed with their emotions.

After the first few days of frequent customers, it became obvious that they were affecting mana in some way subconsciously. But what it meant in terms of mood was… frustrating. Take the children playing in the arcade for example. I watched one kid playing pac-man and when he was shouting happily to his friends, the mana he made was yellow, and when he finally died it was red because he got upset. But when his friend played, his reactions and emotions were very, very close as far as I could tell, but the colors were green and purple.

It just didn't make sense. Some display of magic being used could have helped me out from my little mana study, but disappointingly no one has used any ability as far as I could see.

But, whatever. It wasn't very important anyway. The real fun happened after work hours.

The real project I have been working on, was to get a tier four artifact. I had been grinding my way through games like a madman after the store closed for every day I have been in business and it has paid off. I had saved up eight hundred and fifty tickets over the weeks, just over the price for a tier four artifact.

‘And now was the time that I finally got something for all my work.’ I thought to myself in satisfaction as I walked away from the window shutters I had just finished closing and to my sales counter. It had been pretty unlucky that I had gotten enough tickets just as the store had to open for the day yesterday, but now I could finally get my artifact.

When I reached my counter, I quickly crossed behind it and I pulled out one of my artifact generators that havent been used since the first time I had used them for my monocle and placed it on the counter heavily. The tier four generator was easily distinguishable from the other three, from the number carved into it as well as a notable change in the quality and quantity of the runic shapes in it.

Not wasting any time, I quickly pulled out my stash of tickets that I had been keeping near my artifact generators and I slid them in, one chain of tickets at a time until finally it was done.

My machine started glowing brightly, humming in a deep tone very suddenly and I stepped back, watching confused as every mana particle around the arcade started to be sucked into the generator and gathering inside it, along with the tingling, hair raising feeling of electricity in the air as the artifact was being created. “What is…” I wondered out loud, before realizing that I had not actually seen the generation process. “Does this happen every time?” I questioned before I heard a thump and the machine stopped suddenly.

“Now… Let's see what my new artifact is…” I said, forgetting all about my previous questioning with the excitement of a child getting a new toy. I popped open the little hatch in the artifact generator and I looked inside excitedly, before making a confused noise. In the generator, there was one thing that stood out from the black interior of the box. A bright blue gem. I took it out carefully, looking it over before putting it on the counter and inspecting it closer.

For all the world it just looked like a chunk of sapphire, but looking closer, I saw things inside it. Mana. Lots and lots of mana. Compressed and changed to fit inside the gem and flowing throughout the artifact in an almost systematic way, like electricity flowing through circuits.

As I inspected it, I heard a Pop! and I turned to the system screen that made the sound, reading the description of the artifact at once.

“Dungeon Core. This tier four artifact is a dungeon core with a primitive consciousness that was designed to obey verbal and mental directions from a linked user that has the capability to slowly shape the physical world within twenty feet of the core along with average mana control and several preset abilities that can be unlocked and created over time as the core grows from either improving its mind or a intake of mana. When a user is linked to the core, they gain the senses of the core along with being able to control all functions that the core has.” The system page read out, leaving me stunned at what I had just gotten.

“A dungeon core… Why does that sound- Oh! I remember what those are!” I said, remembering several books that I had read when I was younger. Dungeon cores had been fascinating to me, especially in my teens. There was just something interesting about them that pulled me in. But a dungeon core could be a really useful thing to have to study mana, change things in the shop, and defensive measures as well. Especially if my mind was connected to the core. I could see and feel every inch of the arcade if my dungeon core knowledge was correct.

The only problem is that the system didn't say how to link to the dungeon core. Well, there was a secondary problem of how ‘primitive’ its mind was, but that was not nearly as important right now.

I then proceeded to stare at the gem in my hand hopelessly for a few seconds, as if waiting for a button to appear on the surface of the core saying ‘press to link to core!’, but sadly nothing happened. “Looks like I need to do some experiments…” I sighed to myself. Well, first let's think. What is linking? It's some sort of connection. Could it be a physical connection? Or maybe a mental one? A mana connection? I think those are a good start anyway.

Now, a physical connection. What could be a physical link to the dungeon core… Well I could hold it… I leaned forwards and gripped the dungeon core in my hand, firmly holding the core in my palm, waiting to see if something would happen…

“Nothing.” I proclaimed in slight disappointment after a few moments, setting the gem back down onto the counter. “Now onto another test… a mental link… how could I make a mental link…” I pondered to myself, sitting down carefully on the chair behind the counter, looking at the dungeon core for a few minutes, thinking.

“Whatever.” I decided after a realization, “This is a new universe, anything could be real and I would have no idea.” Then came another thought ‘Guess I should just think of something? Anything could be possible, so trial and error is the only way I can really be sure something wont work and find what does work.’

And so trial and error was my motto for the next hour, failure after failure, nothing happened. Until I tried an old method from a fiction I had read a long time ago. “Project your mind.” I intoned to myself, “Feel your mind, it is yours and you are it. Expand your thoughts. Let the universe fade away, it is in your head and you are in control of yourself.”

At first, nothing happened and I was getting disheartened at my failure but soon I felt a spark. My eyes shot open just from the shock of the feeling. ‘Did it work? Did it actually work?!’ I thought to myself, wondering if it was my imagination or if I could feel the dungeon core in my mind, that spark. I quickly entered my meditation again, searching my mind before casting it out, projecting it, feeling my surroundings.

Strange sensations started, a seventh sense… I could see the world around me, I could see strange pulses of light, unimaginable colors, new lights that couldn't be seen with the eye. It wasn't mana, I was sure of that, but what it was I had no idea. But inside that new spectrum of pulsing colors and light, I saw a beacon light up in front of me, a crystalline ball of light, sending out pulses of energy to me. It was the dungeon core. I could feel it.

I reached out with my mind in this new state, grasping the energy and watching it grasp onto my tendril of thought right back, forming a connection. ‘Is this it?’ I thought to myself in bated breath, but then I knew it wasn't enough. We needed to be linked, not vaguely connected. Strong. Permanent. That is what I need. Something to really link us together. But what? How?

The core pulsed a little, sending something to me and I could feel it in my mind. The feeling of what to do, but it was vague, trying to make sense out of it was like looking through mud. There was something I could feel though, it was hard to put into words but I could feel it guiding me.

Words came through with understanding, like a message of emotion that I could somehow understand yet not understand at all. “Surround me in your embrace, connect to my mind, the energy of the body must become yours through the soul and forge the connection into physicality and we shall be linked.” The core said, instructing me through what I need to do.

I slowly returned to my body, my mind leaving that realm of being as the core released me from its grasping tendril. I stood in shock at what had just happened to me, but my mind was quickly replaying and thinking in a speed I have never felt before, not ever. It was like finally waking up from a dream and my mind was finally returning to wakefulness. I felt good. Better than good, I felt like my mind had expanded and I had finally reached what I was meant to be.

I was awakened, and with that new feeling of being, I started to think. “The system said there were several other types of energy besides devine and body energy, is this one of them?” I asked quietly. I wasn't expecting a reply, but I heard a Pop! and I spun around in surprise at the loud sound. ‘It was just the system…’ I thought before sighing and reading the message written across the screen that had just appeared.

“You have connected to an unnamed energy and are now able to see ‘The mind scape’ and have been affected by its energy. New ability ‘Mental enlightenment’ has been gained. To see a description of your abilities, open the Current Abilities menu.” The system read out, leaving me stunned. I quickly opened the Current Abilities menu with a mental request to the system and I scanned the page that the screen shifted to at once, reading over the description of my new ability.

“You have gained the ability to see through The Mind Space and have seen the energy through this realm and they have seen you. Through the interaction with this energy you have gained mental enlightenment and have increased mental ability by sixty percent along with an increased connection with The Mind Space.” The system tells me, leaving me confused.

“They have seen me? What does that mean?” I pondered to myself, wondering at what exactly this Mind Space was. ‘Were the lights and colors that I saw a type of energy? One with a consciousness, a mind of its own?’ I thought in a moment of realization.

The description was vague on most points, but the system makes it sound like there is something alive that connected with me, along with gaining the increased mental ability this might be something that I don't want to mess with… However it appears that this might be a powerful thing to have, increasing my mental abilities can only be a good thing.

“Well, I might as well just keep on doing what I was doing. No point to change anything, except to maybe study The Mind Space a little.” I concluded to myself. “Now, let's get back on track. Linking to the core.” I decided and started replaying the message from the core in my mind, ‘Surround me in your embrace, connect to my mind, the energy of the body must become yours through the soul and forge the connection into physicality and we shall be linked.’

Let's dissect this a little. ‘Surround me in your embrace,’ first. “Seems pretty straight forward, I need to hold it and cover it with my body.” I said out loud, nodding to myself before moving on to the next line, ‘connect to my mind,’. “I think I know what that is, I just do the same thing I did in the mind space, send out a thought connection to the core.” I reminded myself quickly.

‘the energy of the body must become yours through the soul’ is going to be difficult… “What is the energy of the body…” I wondered, thinking back. “Ah! Mana, it's got to be mana! It comes from native human body’s, therefore it is the energy of the body.” I concluded soundly, before becoming introspective for a moment ‘I was never this quick at riddles before… Maybe it's the new ability?’ I thought, looking back at my thoughts and actions after I got the ability. ‘It must be.’ I reassured myself after a moment.

“But how do I make it ‘become mine through the soul’...” I wondered, thinking about the line, searching my mind for answers. “Hey, system! Do you know how to make the mana become mind through the soul?” I asked the air, hoping that the system would help me out a little. Apparently it didn't want to answer me though and it did not appear.

“Well, I can just figure it out myself.” I said, a little miffed. “Through the soul… become mine…” I muttered, thinking hard. “Let's do a test.” I decided, before looking around me. The arcade is darker than in the morning, so I can tell that I still have plenty of time to work on things before I have to open up. The counter still has the dungeon core and the artifact generator, along with the wrappers and trash scattered around the arcade made me sigh and wince at the mess so before I do my test I need to clean up. “A clean house makes a clean mind…” I chuckled to myself before starting to put my things away to do a house clean.