Waking up like it was the school trip day, Rune completed his morning routine in 5 minutes and became completely ready to face another day in this new era.

Motivation worked strangely once a human was tired, he remembered that when he went to sleep, he was demotivated and questioning his life plan, but now that he woke up, his motivation was totally renewed.

He was ready to just go gathering resources for 24 hours straight. If he had created his avatar of course, which wasn’t the case, his plan wasn’t complete yet.

It seemed, though, that Ether had other plans for him because after opening the global system, a disruptive element appeared.

Dimensions

Information Board

Ether Wiki

Event (1 pending)

Making a poker face and not blinking once, he opened the Event where the disruptive element was.

Event

Void Initiation

Gather a total of 100 ether-rich resources from the Void Dimension: 10 000 EP

Gather a total of 1 000 ether-rich resources from the Void Dimension: 100 000 EP

Gather a total of 10 000 ether-rich resources from the Void Dimension: 1 000 000 EP

Travel more than 100 kilometers in the Void Dimension: 10 000 EP

Travel more than 1 000 kilometers in the Void Dimension: 100 000 EP

Travel more than 10 000 kilometers in the Void Dimension: 1 000 000 EP

Survey the Void Dimension for 100 hours: 10 000 EP

Survey the Void Dimension for 1 000 hours: 100 000 EP

Survey the Void Dimension for 10 000 hours: 1 000 000 EP

Discover a special resource: 10 000 EP

Discover 10 different special resources: 100 000 EP

Discover 100 different special resources: 1 000 000 EP

Use 10 000 total energy in any way: 10 000 EP

Use 100 000 total energy in any way: 100 000 EP

Use 1 000 000 total energy in any way: 1 000 000 EP

Attain 100 in any individual stat: 100 000 EP

Attain 1 000 total stats: 1 000 000 EP

Completion Bonus: 10 000 000 EP

A little used to having his whole planning completely thwarted, Rune didn’t even allow frustration to cloud his mind and directly began to analyze this new variable.

‘Initiation? Like… Introduction? A tutorial?’ Dumbfounded, Rune stopped thinking for 5 seconds, before immediately realizing that it could be used as a key for his ambition.

‘Realistically, I think at least 10% of the IGS population has already created their avatar, so if I can exploit this tutorial… I can maybe start by directly belonging to the top 90%? It’s better than no advantage at all, and if the snowball effect is really possible then my efforts should be able to make up for the rest.’

Deep in thought, Rune only focused on what was before his eyes, and more precisely on one objective.

After hours of basic wiki research, his brain was full of plans for how to optimize his avatar stats and his future resource gathering, so he was very sharp on what was possible and even realistic.

‘Use 1 000 000 total energy in any way… I need to check my notes.’

His mind was reacting to this objective very strongly.

Opening his notes, he found what he summarized about energy.

‘There are 4 stats concerning energy, Energy, Energy Regeneration, Purity, and Affinity. I have to have a calculator!’ Just by thinking about having one appear, a calculator appeared before his eyes, it was normal.

‘Not bad Ether, not bad.’

Squinting his eyes in satisfaction at just having his wish realized by thinking about it, he went and did some calculations.

Rune already knew that doing an all-in on a stat was plain stupid, but the idea of rushing the third tier of energy use didn’t collide with any alarming knowledge he gathered the prior day, not even the death-related knowledge.

To suffer damages, there were currently 3 discovered possibilities, one was gravity because, for unknown reasons, gravity made you lose health if you didn’t have enough cohesion.

The second was the dangerous grounds, they were called that because not only were they extremely visible, but also because taking random damage at random intervals was common in them.

The wiki classified those 2 things under the “Anomaly” label, and the definition of an anomaly was that it shouldn’t be there, it wasn’t born in this dimension.

And lastly.

‘Collision with a passing asteroid, the greatest danger, responsible for 99% of deaths and what nearly everyone who lost their avatar complained about,’ Rune remembered.

In the Void, some asteroids were relatively still, just floating pieces of rock, some could even be assimilated for EP and were classified as “Ether-rich Asteroid”.

Some, however, were also moving at extreme speed, and with hundreds of billions of potential targets, it was not a surprise if thousands of them were hit and died, this minority made their voice heard as their death was so ridiculous and unjustified.

‘The majority still survive though, the board says that at 1 cohesion, speed relativity of 20 meters per second will cause 1 point of damage, but considering that asteroids going at 10 kilometers per second exist… It’s death assured if you’re on its trajectory.’

With a serious expression, Rune continued his calculation.

‘To reach 1 million energy… At 60 energy regeneration per minute, I’ll need 11 days and a half, at 70 energy per minute, I’ll need 10 days, hu-hum… And at 50? 14 days ok… Not forgetting that I’ll not use this stat after completing the energy goal, I have to limit the investment and reserve more EP for my perception-momentum mix…’

Trying to find the ideal distribution for his plan, Rune forgot the time. Between theory and application was the abyss of reality, and thinking about every detail was really hard.

Should he invest everything now and even the EP he’d gain at tier 1 and 2 of the energy use goals, reducing the time as much as he could, even knowing that 1 point of stats equaled 10 000 EP? And that gaining 10 000 EP using ether resources was not that simple?

‘Currently, from what I can understand from the board, with the optimized perception-momentum avatar, only 1 to 2 ether resources are obtained per hour, with each averaging 70 EP gain…’

‘Wait, I forgot something!’ Thinking about the time needed, Rune realized it was only true if he could do it in one sitting without breaks, which was impossible unless he was augmented or taking specialized medicines. He didn’t.

Not even talking about augmentation, too expensive to not only install but also maintain, specialized medicines had big side-effects if not taken with lots of complementary treatments.

‘Doesn’t it mean that some people will have 24 hours while I only have 16 hours? Then isn’t it lost before even the starting line… No, I have to confirm if there’s no chance of changing that.’

Determined to find a solution, Rune dismissed his notes and calculator in favor of opening the wiki and the board.

Inputting ‘tiredness’ and ‘weariness’ he found a result in the wiki in energy use, but it was only a mention that by using energy, it was possible to revitalize the body without consequences for a period as long as one’s spirit could take it, but the method wasn’t there.

‘The board should already have people that succeeded if this information is here.’

Once again searching with keywords, Rune stumbled upon a forum intituled ‘Gamer Dream’, which was exactly what he was searching for.

By seeing the beginning of the forum he could probably find what he was looking for.

‘Yes! It’s here!’ He found someone who already created his avatar and used energy to do this “revitalization” thing. Reading the explanation, Rune became excited.

‘After becoming able to use energy, it is a must that you placed at least 10 points each in energy, energy regen, and purity because only like this will your original body have access to energy, you don’t need the affinity so forgo those 9 points for something else.

Now, you’ll have to actually use your energy, which I did by first sensing it and then releasing it, emptying my avatar’s energy pool as a result… But at least it works! No need for the affinity stat for precise manipulation, just do it big like a man!’

This explanation had everything Rune needed.

‘Hu, the expense in purity wasn’t expected, but if I can really make it happen I’ll gain 8 to 10 hours a day, really a new era, hehehe!’ Happy to have found an answer to his problem, he was ecstatic because now, it meant that only effort would distinguish him from the rest, and his motivation was burning!

Concluding his research 24 hours after avatar creation became available, Rune now had a solid plan in his mind.

First, investing 65 points into his energy regeneration, he’d only need 10 days and a half of uninterrupted effort to gain a sweet 1 million EP.

Doing it this way allowed him to save tens of points, representing hundreds of thousands of EP.

He also planned to bring his energy stat to 10, meaning he’d fill it every 10 seconds or so, he was nearly sure using energy wasn’t as simple as just “emptying” your energy pool as was said. So he took this buffer of having an energy pool of 10.

Then, he just had to become a cog in the machine called the brain.

At the same time, by investing 4 points into health, he’d be protected against hazardous asteroids, while not forgetting having his purity reach 10 to be able to execute the revitalization technique.

It was the perfect amateur plan.

As for the left-over EP, he’d reserve them for the second phase of his plan, bringing his perception and momentum stats to a level above those who already created their avatar with the reward of a million EP from the third tier of energy use.

‘Maybe everyone who didn’t create their avatar will do the same as me, but the earlier I start the better.’

With a burning determination, Rune was ready to create his avatar.

Yet, his indecisive, or cautious, personality still tried to act.

‘What if a new change comes tomorrow… If the debt can be increased… If EP can be traded…’

A spiral of worry started to form in his mind, but it dissipated after a moment.

‘In the end, even my so-called tutorial exploit will only give me a minimal advantage, and only compared to the stupid ones who created their avatar without enough information. They’re responsible for rushing headfirst to their current situation without any plan.’

Reassuring himself, Rune gradually hyped himself to ultimately create it.

Checking the board one last time, he searched for the top news forums and trending forums, he wasn’t going to search one by one the millions of discussions available, others were already doing that.

He wanted to find a complement of information on anything that could make his doubt become substantial, but after half an hour of delay, trying to find whether investing a bit in cohesion or health regeneration was worth it, he decided that it was time.

‘Once I’m done with that million energy use, I’ll feel a lot better,’ Rune absent-mindedly thought about this thorny subject of just maintaining focus for 24/24 during 10 days and a half.

It really was a chore from his point of view, but the chore meant some people would be reluctant to do it.

If he was able to do it while keeping precious EP from his 1 million debt, then he’d be at the forefront of the event, and with a good start.

Without further delay, Rune opened the avatar creation window and distributed the stats as he envisioned.

Avatar (Basic Rank) (Tier 1)

EP: 41 410

Stats Total: 96

Health: 5

Health regeneration: 1

Strength: 1

Cohesion: 1

Energy: 10

Energy regeneration: 65

Purity: 10

Affinity: 1

momentum: 1

Perception: 1

Warning: By creating your avatar you will receive a debt equal to the amount of EP used, with a maximum of 1 000 000 EP debt, refundable during the next 10 years, without interest.

Confirm Creation?

With each criterion he set respected and making sure he still got the excess 40 000 EP despite the warning saying something that could be interpreted differently, Rune finally confirmed the creation.

‘A new journey begins… Now!’

And the next moment, he found himself in the middle of nowhere.