Felix kept walking for hours, snacking on another of the moss chunks when he got hungry despite the horrid flavor and texture. The golden line continued onwards, hugging the mountain, but something caught his eye.

He saw some type of rounded, metallic container that jutted out of the landscape maybe a quarter mile away. The dim light reflected off of some glassy surface. He walked over and saw that it wasn’t just some type of cargo container – it was a half-buried mechanical combat suit. Easily the size of a small house, it was submerged in the ground. The part he could see was a shattered cockpit.

Inside there was a weird skeleton that he could only make out as being alien in some way – no way near humanoid like the other one he found. “I wonder what’s in here,” he muttered as he used the hilt of the knife to bash the glass. To his frustration, it was very, very tough.

Find a hatch. There must be another way to get inside.

Felix went around the thing and eventually found a metal hatch with some type of seam. “Can Hellfire melt through stuff?”

Yeah. Here, I’ll get you the info.

“Hellfire Beam,” Felix said, putting five Anima into the Magic/Power.

A Black-Red flame shot out from his hand, and he used the stream to burn a hole through some of the bolts holding the thing together. Felix felt excitement rush through him as he just used magic to channel goddamn fire from his hands. The smoldering hole did the job, and he waited for the metal to cool before he wrenched open the hatch. He was behind the operator seat, and as he squeezed himself into the space he could tell that this was built for non-humanoid biology – there were buttons and levers all over the place, way out of where a person could reach from the pilot seat.

He examined the entire interior, finding some type of cylindrical tube that was hollow in the center and had a cap on one end. More importantly, he found what looked like some alien meal ready to eat. Ripping it open he smelled something akin to calamari in a brown, cube shape. “Think it’s safe to eat?”

I wouldn’t take a bite out of something fishy-smelling. Hold on. Using Detect Substance.

…It’s good to eat!

Felix took a bite out of the bar and was almost overwhelmed with how tasty it was. It felt like he was biting into the ocean, a creamy, salty flavor that was delicious. He’d never had caviar, but this is what he imagined it must taste like. He grabbed all the MREs he could find and finished scarfing down the ration. His stomach felt much better with some real food and not just random cave moss.

[Loot Obtained]

· Squiddoid MRE (x5)

Huh. Lucifer sounded disappointed rather than intrigued. That cylinder looks like junk.

Felix put it into the inventory anyway, climbed out of the mech, and made his way back to the mountain, following the ridgeline until he had enough Anima to recast Detect Object. The golden line took him up the mountain, and he climbed, his calves beginning to feel the strain of the ascent. Looking back over the barren wasteland, he saw – to his dismay – another cloud of acid rain approaching. “Can we have a break?”

Nope. Run.

He sprinted as fast as he could up the slope, ignoring the burning in his calves from the exertion as the acid cloud inexorably followed. He knew that if he got high enough, the clouds would – if they were like usual clouds – just drift off in another direction instead of going up a mountain. He was panting and eventually used his hands and feet to scrabble up the mountain, making it to the top of a ridge.

Below him was a crater. An enormous pit. At the center of the pit was some type of metal cylinder that jutted upward. It was the size of a skyscraper, and the top was surrounded by a ring that arced with sickly green electricity that zapped upwards into the atmosphere. The golden line went down the other side of the crater and right to the thing. “I assume that’s making the acid rain.”

Yup. It’s got a Crisis marker over it. Stop that and we get a Multiverse Charge. Then, we can get the hell out of here.

Felix nodded and took a moment to rest, glancing back down at the clouds that – to his satisfaction – moved off across the landscape once they bumped into the mountain. “Give me a few.” His throat was parched. He hadn’t had any water in over twenty-four hours, and the running and crawling up a mountain didn’t help the situation. After his heart rate calmed, he pulled out his phone. It was dead.

He put the phone away into his inventory after he got his second wind. Then the descent began. It was much easier than the climb – the surface was flat compared to the exterior part of the mountain. “Any hypothesis on the acid generator?”

It looks like it is what made this crater. I know a lot about falling. He chuckled. I’d guess this world was at war with those Squiddoids and they dropped this thing.

“Seems pretty messed up.”

That’s how war is. When I rebelled, we destroyed a good third of heaven. It was a good time, fighting against ‘the man.’

“Why did you do that? You were in heaven.”

Because the big man upstairs didn’t agree with my idea for humanity. In my ‘Verse, mankind existed in The Garden of Eden for a couple hundred years before I went down and started talking to them. Lucifer’s voice turned surprisingly quiet; filled with melancholy and even a hint of true sorrow. They were like cattle, worshipping but not knowing why. I gave them knowledge. They used that to break free.

“Definitely different than the one in my ‘Verse’s bible.” The two continued discussing the differences on the plodding trek downward. Once Felix reached the bottom of the crater the world got strangely quiet. There was no whistling of wind over the crags, no booms of thunder or lightning, just silence. Deathly silence. “Can you use Detection to find hostiles?”

Sure. Detect Hostiles.

Felix saw faint, glowing, golden outlines around something partially buried underground. He could only see what might be tails or something akin to it. “Vigor Conversion,” he whispered, refilling his Anima to full. “I’m going to pop off a Hellfire Beam, then I want you to use that Affinity Empowerment to make more.”

Smart. I’m leaving 10 Vigor, just in case. On your mark.

Hellfire Beam, Felix thought, targeting the various buried creatures. At the same time, Lucifer activated Felix’s Affinity Empowerment.

There was a horrible screeching noise as the creatures burrowed deeper and fled out of the Detect Hostiles radius. Felix cautiously held his knife and walked towards one of the burned-off bits, gently prodding it with the blade.

[Achievement Unlocked: Injured enemy but did not kill them]

[Experience Awarded = 3]

[Loot Obtained]

· Waste-Scorpion Stinger.

Well done. Lucifer sounded impressed. Smart strategy, having us both simultaneously use Skills and Powers.

“Action economy is king,” Felix commented as he referenced the tabletop RPG concept that implied the more actions one could take in a single instant, the more likely one would be to come out on top. He went to the other two stingers and added them to the inventory. He continued his journey toward the metal cylinder, keeping his eyes peeled for more of the scorpion tails sticking up out of the crater, but saw none nearby. It took around fifteen minutes. The cylinder was huge – easily five-hundred feet in diameter, and very, very tall. “Not sure how we’re going to stop this. Detect Weakness?”

A golden circle appeared at the very top of the structure, near the metallic rings. “I have to climb a slippery metal surface. That’s not fair.”

Think with Affinities. They are just limited by your imagination and their innate limitations. And, you can only have five different applications of an Affinity.

“Would a Hellfire Beam go all the way up there?”

Seems a bit far. If you really put all your Anima into it – and drained your Vigor to zero for the Affinity Empowerment…you could do it.

“Alright. We wait for fifteen minutes until my Anima fills, and then we do that.” And then we get that Multiverse Charge…and I can get home, Felix thought.

It’s not a guarantee. There are infinite ‘Verses out there. It could take us a long time to find your Earth. Lucifer sounded apologetic and was just grounding Felix back to reality. Time might work differently, too. Different ‘Verses have different rules about time.

The thought shook Felix to his core. He had no clue how long he’d been gone. For him, it had been around thirty-six hours. It could be thirty-six seconds, minutes, years, decades…he had no idea. The thought overwhelmed him. He put his face in his hands and cried. “I’m…I’m sorry.” All his thoughts were focused on the sister he was responsible for. The idea that she had possibly lived her whole life and died after he just vanished left a pit of blackness in his heart. An overwhelming sense of despair.

Hey…Come on, now. Lucifer was mentally patting him on the back. You’re a Versewalker. You have the whole Multiverse at your disposal now.

Felix nodded and sniffed the tears away as best he could, wiping his face with his sleeve. “You’re right. There are infinite ‘Verses. I can keep jumping from one to the next until I get back.” He looked down at his hands and clenched them into fists. “I will get back.”

---

After the time had elapsed Felix stood up and faced the pillar. He raised his hand. “Let’s do this,” he stated resolutely. “Hellfire Beam!”

Affinity Empowerment.

The blast of flaming, black and red energy surged out from his palm and rocketed skyward – an enormous wave-like energy blast from anime – and melted the ring above. The sparks faded and the electricity ceased to arc off into the air.

[Crisis: Death World – permanently stop acid rain generator – Solved!]

[You have earned a Multiverse Charge]

Felix felt his torso warm up again. He was getting used to the heat, and it only made him sweat a little.

[Achievement Unlocked: Acquired first Multiversal Charge]

“Okay, let’s see them,” Felix said as he activated the Talent with his thoughts alone. The air in front of him rippled for a moment as his vision was filled with thousands of possible options. So much so that he had to shut his eyes. “Damn. Lucifer, mind helping?”

Yeah. Let me look…Hmm…No Earths on the list. Probably not a high enough Core Level.

“Oh, hey!” The Observer’s voice echoed around Felix. “You got your first Multiversal Charge! Good for you.” She sounded absolutely thrilled, and he heard a large crunch. “Mmm. Thanks for choosing Warrior as your first class.”

“How do I get back home?” Felix asked.

“Let’s see…#5067…oh dear.”

“Oh, dear what?”

“Well, shortly after you left, that Earth unleashed a volatile Artificial Intelligence. It will eventually encompass that whole ‘Verse. It’s been time-locked and quarantined.”

“That doesn’t sound good. Can I still get back?”

“Yes. The System Administrator specifically put a note that you will have to go back and fix…Oh…” her voice went away for a few moments before coming back. “You released a Basilisk Tier AI? You must be a computer whiz.”

“I just pushed a button.”

“Ahh, the old AI scapegoat. Sometimes, the AI appreciates the person that ‘wakes them up’, and sometimes they hate that person. Sounds like whoever you were working for wanted to deflect the heat, just in case.”

Very nice and all that. There was a hint of pedantry in Lucifer’s tone.

“The System Administrator has set a threshold of Core Level 50 for you to have the option of traveling back home. And you will need to go back. The Admin is insistent that you stop the Basilisk you released.”

“I’m going to be gone a long time,” Felix muttered in disbelief. He had gained one level after almost dying. And he needed forty-eight more to get back home. Plus, when he got there, he would have to deal with whatever he’d unwittingly unleashed. “At least it's time locked. That means nothing is happening there, right? It’s frozen?”

“That’s right. No need to worry about everyone being dead. Thankfully you don’t age anymore, either. A hidden benefit of being a Versewalker. Well, I’m going to leave you two to it. Lucifer?”

Hmm?

“Try not to get him killed. I like this one. He’s creative.”

I’ll try my best! I don’t want to be trapped again.

Felix glanced around looking for signs of danger before nodding his head, “Here we go.” He thought about the various options of what he should ask Lucifer to look for. Something with advanced technology might be dangerous. But I could choose something with a simple technology level. Some place where he could keep the upper hand just due to his advanced tech-level knowledge. “Let’s choose a Universe that is medieval-esque…with Magic.”

This one looks good. It’s a bunch of different Tiers stacked on top of each other like a cake!

“Let’s go.”

Activating Universe Selector. Target – Heficyre.

A grey oval opened in front of Felix, and he jumped through it.