NOVEL WEB Chapter 3: What happened to me?
Olivia groaned as she opened her eyes and slowly got up off the floor. The room was dark and quiet.
'How long was I out?' Olivia wondered.
Her eyes felt like and sandpaper and her mouth as dry as a desert.
There was still a dull throb in her head but it was manageable.
Olivia stumbled around the dark room until she found the light switch. Once she was able to see Olivia checked her data pad.
From the time that glowed on the screen Olivia figured she was out for about three hours. She also had about a dozen messages from Tori.
Hey Via! Are we still on for tomorrow? If so let me know is 1pm works for you.
Via?
Olivia!
Via are you ok? I haven't heard back from you yet.
Olivia please answer me!
That's it. I'm coming over to check on you.
The last message had been sent only 10 minutes ago, which meant Olivia was going to have a worried Tori banging on her door in about five minutes.
Olivia sighed as she plopped herself down on the couch. It was then that she spotted the wooden box and remembered the silver metal ball, but when she looked around she couldn't find it anywhere.
"Where did you go you stupid little ball?!"
Olivia shouted to the empty apartment.
[System online]
Olivia let out a startled little sqeak when she heard the robotic voice.
"What system?"
The moment the question left her lips a screen appeared in front of her. It looked similar to a status screen used in her mobile games.
It had all of Olivia's vitals listed along with a health bar and what she would consider character stats.
[Name: Olivia Chase]
[Blood type: O-]
[Race: Human]
[Level: 1]
[EXP 0/200]
[HP: 50/50]
[Strength: 5]
[Agility: 5]
[Stamina: 5]
"What is all of this?" Olivia asked as she read through everything.
[This system displays your current level and abilities. It will also keep track of your health and any damage you make take in the future.]
"Uh ok…. And why do I have this system? What is its purpose?" Olivia asked since this system had been answering her questions so far.
[This system is given to those that have matching DNA to its program. It is uploaded to its recipient to be used as a training tool and to eventually provide its user with combat and diplomatic knowledge.]
Once the system finished its brief answer another tab appeared on the screen. It was a quest tab.
[complete quests to gain experience in order to level. Higher levels can unlock greater stats and abilities.]
When Olivia focused on the quest tab it immediately opened. There was one quest.
[Quest: Walk 2 kilometres 10 xp]
'That should be easy enough.' Olivia thought. The closest transit portal was about that far away from her apartment.
Just as Olivia was going to ask another question there was an aggressive knock at her door. She turned and walked over to answer it and noticed the screen disappeared as soon as she was focused on something else.
Olivia opened the door to see a disheveled Victoria standing there.
"Are you ok? What happened? Did someone break in?" Tori was in a panic as she bombarded Olivia with all kinds of questions.
"Tori I'm fine. Will you get in here before you scare my neighbours." Olivia pulled her friend in the door and shut it behind them.
"If you are fine then why didn't you answer me? You always reply to my messages. Did I do something to make you angry at me?" Tori asked as she took her shoes off.
"Of course I'm not mad at you." Olivia went to the living room with Tori right behind her. "But something did happen. I got a package with a hand written letter from my parents."
Both Olivia and Tori sat down as Olivia passed over the letter so her friend could read it.
When Tori was finished she carefully put the letter down beside the box that it had come in. When she did she noticed the logo stamped on the box. She picked it up to get a better look.
"Do you recognize the logo?" Olivia asked.
"Actually I do. This is the the logo for the Earth's Records library. Every bit of knowledge and even some artifacts that could be saved are stored there." Tori explained.
Olivia sat quietly as she contemplated all of the information she had. This artifact had to have come from the records library, which meant it was an artifact that was found on earth. However this kind of technology did not exist when the earth had to be evacuated. But how did it end up in a package that was delivered to her with a letter from her parents?
"There is more isn't there?" Tori asked when Olivia hadn't said anything.
Olivia nodded and decided that she needed someone to help her figure out what was going on. Tori was very smart and Olivia trusted her to keep this information a secret for the time being. So she took a deep breath and recounted the events that took place when she had gotten home that afternoon.
"Where is this strange metal ball now?" Tori asked.
Olivia shook her head. "I don't know. It's like it just disappeared after all of it's contents were uploaded to my brain. Which really hurt by the way."
"Without the artifact we have no proof of its exsistance, but we could always take a trip to the archives tomorrow. There are some resources that are available to the public." Tori suggested.
Olivia thought it was a good place to start. So they made plans to meet at the transport station in the morning so they could walk to the library and upon Tori's insistence they would still have lunch and a small shopping trip.
"Okay I will see you tomorrow, and if you don't show up I won't be as nice as I was tonight." Tori smiled as she walked to the door and put on her shoes.
"I get it, you were worried. I will try to not pass out anymore when you are trying to contact me." Olivia also slipped on her shoes and grabbed here data pad. "Let me at least walk you to the transit portal so that I know you make it there safely." Olivia grinned when Tori rolled her eyes at her.
The two girls chatted and were both very excited to try to solve this mystery. When they got to the transit portal they bid each other good night and Olivia waited until the portal closed before she turned to head back home. As she turned and took a few steps she heard a ding followed by a message from her system.
[Quest complete 10 exp gained.]
Olivia couldn't help but smile. This was going to be an amazing adventure.