221Disclaimer: I own neither Mass effect nor any series in this fanfiction, I would be rich otherwise.
« The gamer of change »
December 31 2109
It add been nearly ten years since my rebirth into the universe of Mass effect, with knowledge of what would happen, the gamer power and my recently acquired Haloverse tech knowhow I intended to change the course of not only mankind but the Galaxy at large, ambitious?, definitely, impossible?, yeah right, it took until last week thought to start with this plan.
Flashback
Using the sneak skill in the middle of the night I made my way to my father's study, the reason for this cloak and dagger was that my father add been working late as he usually does when he needs something done, it was the perfect chance to teach him something without him knowing I was the one who teached him.
As I enter the study(careful not to make the door creak) I see Dad sleeping with his face on the desk, perfect, still using the sneak skill I approach and place both my hands on his head, taking a deep breath I start with one of the Yamanaka's secret mind technique's, a secret jutsu that allows the user to implant false memories or knowledge on to a person.
Satisfied with my work I cancel the Jutsu and shake my dad awake, he wakes slowly and look's around confused for a second before his eyes widen in compression, " Fell asleep on the job again huh ? " he ask's more to himself than to any one else, " Yes Dad, it's almost noon, " I answer with a grin at his disheveled appearance.
He sakes his head of the cobwebs before stopping suddenly as he looks at the computer screen with a thoughtful expression, his eyes slowly widen and he starts typing away as a before unknown mathematical formula appears on screen, I have to keep a curious expression at his work, but on the inside I'm giddy.
Flashback end
I felt bad afterwards for using my father like that, but someone add to 'invent' Slipspace, besides I had already used it with volunteer's(read Bully's), it was quiet entertaining seeing them suddenly getting better grades.
My current location his a special created I.D. inside my closet, I know it his a little cliche but letting Mary find out what I am working on would spell disaster, so while she's looking after my shadow clone, I work on my first handmade weapon, " Perfect, now I only need to test it out ! " I mutter to no one in particular while loading a mag up and pulling the bolt back loading the first round.
The I.D. that I created here was not completely empty, it had a target range to test out weapons(both melee and ranged weapons) to great extent, I already had the Gun Mastery from Haloverse(their gun handling his superior) at level 36 from using the spas-12 for the last 2 years, the skill was hard to level up since it only increased when I actually shot a living or undead target.
Today thought I was testing the first gun I made myself the MA37, the gun from the game his made out of TA1(Titanium A1) of course the technology to reinforce the molecular structure of Titanium didn't exist yet so I was forced to use regular old Titanium, the result was a far less durable but still perfectly functional riffle as I unloaded five round bursts into each of the dummy targets until the the clip ran dry at which point the mag automatically ejected, I quickly reached at a seal on my belt and unsealed a full one and slapped it with practical ease and unloaded the full clip in two burst of fire.
Satisfied with the recoil dampener configuration I quickly cast Observe.
MA37 ICWS
Originally manufactured by Misriah Armory, this AR became the working horse of the UNSC in2437, now created by Max Winston to be the first of many new weapon's for the SA.
(While empty)AP: 0
BP: 30
(Fully Loaded)AP: 50
BP: 30
Picking up the two spent mag's from the floor I made way to a nearby table and started disassembling the riffle carefully testing the barrel and grinning at the fact that it was cool, " Look's like my modifications on the original model worked perfectly " I thought with glee, a piece of cheap tech created by the Ancient human for their KEW's, but thanks to enhancement to it was still in use to cool down their plasma and hardlight weaponry millennia later.
Other inventions of mine where going to take way longer to finish, I had the idea of uploading the information into other people's brain, for that thought finding the people that could make it work was not going to be easy, then there was the possibility of them using said information for their own ends or when some organization did not approve of such tech being released and hiring a hitman, sounded like paranoia of mine but there are cases such as those of tech that could have changed the world but disappeared when their creator mysteriously died or where placed in an asylum and actually tortured for it.
A good example was Paul Patone, the inventor of the GEET fuel processor which runned on water and was completely non polluting while at the same time he did it with a conventional gas engine meaning that to make the transition from oil to water would likely not cost more than 200 dollars for the individual, his invention never saw the light for because of the oil barons.
Meaning that the people that I uploaded info into had to be well connected and having the best of intentions at heart, a daunting task but no one said that taking out the Reapers was going to be easy, technology was going to have to evolve fast but too quickly and society could come crashing from the so called Babel tower effect, you didn't suddenly replace a policeman's regular weapon for a plasma gun.
Placing the weapon in my inventory I steeped out of the I.D. closing the closet behind me as silently as possible, creating and dispelling a clone in order to warn my replacement downstairs, no point in freaking out Mari, my clone downstairs would get the the message and excuse itself for a few minutes without arousing suspicion.
" So Max how are your studies going, you ain't skipping out to play video games are you ? " asked Mari as I came downstairs and returned to my seat facing the ultra light plasma TV, " Of course not, I already finished all off the Christmas homework and even took a few tests from a home tutor with the my lowest score being a 17(0 to 20 scale) I still think it his pointless to learn Latin, " I answer with a smile while twisting to scowling, truly what was the point of learning the dead language.
" Don't say that, Latin is the Roman language, just like Greek, true that no one speak's it, but it is an important part of society, tallest that was what teacher's say, " she finish's on a lighter note, I smiled.
After the unification and forming of the Systems Alliance many things changed, some where overnight while other's took months to be implemented, one of the immediate changes was the one child birth Law to counteract the ever increasing population worldwide( Reason why I gave dad the knowledge of slipsace ) this law fortunately didn't include twins, economically speaking the Earth was in much better shape than in my original reality, food shortages where now a thing of the past since countries in Africa ad finally stabilized.
Even before that with the creation and practical application of fusion reactor's, energy shortage was avoided, on my off days I hacked and squired the blueprints to said reactors from a netcafé(still scratching their heads trying to catch me), the plans where solid but inefficient when compared to the deuterium reactors used by the UNSC, no one noticed the hack.
On the education level, teaching ad became a far more lucrative option than ever, and with it the rise of overhaul instruction level, although I still think that the Latin and Greek classes are noting but political harseholes throwing their weight around, whatever, no point in pissing of a teacher because of that.
On the rest of the system, Luna now had a growing colony the size of Manhattan with a population of 1.5 million, which considering the space limitations was huge, Mars add one as well but not as big yet while the Luna colony was a living habitat, the Colony on Mars was more on the scientific side, fortunately thought they were nowhere near the Prothean data cache, no way in hell I will allow that place to be discovered before Slipspace technology is well rooted in human culture.
A colony on Europa one of Jupiter's biggest moon's was on the drawing board but was ultimately scraped, not enough mining potential besides frozen water with that one, not sure about the other ones though, not enough info to go around.
The proverbial golden egg of the solar system his Titan, Saturn's biggest moon and the greatest source of any know and some previous unknown petrochemicals, the bloody place as methane Rain and a oil ocean for frack's sake.
Just because humanity as discovered fusion energy doesn't mean that there is no more need for the stuff.
Other than that, a few mining outposts across the system now supply the S.A. with raw material to for the small( compared to the Citadel) space station on Earth's orbit.
The more I thought about this the more I realized the differences between this reality and the Mass effect reality that I know of, for example the S.A. only formed in 2148 after the discovery of the Prothean archive, it was also around that time when humanity used fusion tech for the first time, it his undoubtedly that it's discovery a century earlier prevented a bloody war that destroyed Lady Liberty in New York.
Bottom line, this reality's humanity was somewhat more prepared for what the Reaper's have in store for us, not sure about the rest of the Galaxy thought, let's just hope they didn't decided to start opening Relay's and stumble on Earth as it his, that would be a disaster surpassing Armageddon and would essentially frack all my plan's to hell and back.
I didn't need those fracker's with their hollow promises of peace just for some Batarian getting bold and invade Sol in order to earn some quick buck by slavery, or law's forbidding anything that wasn't proper Mass effect tech, screw that noise, and screw their small minded and stagnant way of thinking.
I sighted deeply at my morbid thought's and when to the fridge fishing out a Coca-cola can, but stopped by feeling a presence enter my sensor range, replacing the unopened cola can in the fridge I moved to the entrance lobby opening the door to meet with the now familiar mop of blood red hair and purple globes, " Yo Jane, how's it hanging ? ", I ask with a happy grin, she answer's with a hug( the both of us have became quite fluff with each other ), " Been well, Grampa says that my talent with the sword is prodigious ! ", she answer's happily.
Flashback/ 2 years ago
The sun rays broke on the horizon as Jane wearing trousers and a sports bra swinged a wooden sword(Boken) around in the small farm in the back of the Orphanage, it add became her morning ritual everyday for the last two years thought the sword swinging add only started 3 weeks ago, the other kids of the Orphanage(especially the female group's) called her weird, some of them add laughed saying that there was no point in learning to use a sword.
She just ignored them and beat them up when they attempted to rob her of the Boken, " Idiots " she thought as she kept on swinging until she reached two hundred and switched to jumping jacks for five minutes, she was about to pick her Boken once more when she felt a presence.
Quickly snatching her weapon and spining around she saw no one but her budding sensor skill told her otherwise, there was someone watching her from the top of a maple tree, " Come out !, I know your there ! " she called and received the answer in the form of a flying knife, " ( A Kunai ?! )" she realized and quickly ducked and caught the blade by the ring and tossing it back, there was a small thud as the Kunai it the tree and a tall figure jumped in front of her, in one word a Ninja from feudal times, he or she was clad from head to toe in a simple black cloth that with the exception of a small cut on the mask completely covered his/her body.
Holding your boken in a defensive stance Jane kept both purple globes on her opponent," So young and already a proficient sensor, let's see what else you got !", he spoke with the raspy voice of a old man.
Jane tensed at this, whoever he was knew of the existence and ability to sense chackra, Max add told her of this possibility, that just because people thought that Ninjas where a thing of the past(in this world atleast) didn't meant that it was the truth.
Further mussings were cut short when her unknown assailant charged her Kunai in his left hand and a trio of shuriken's came flying from his right, bending your knees in a crouch you dodged the flying blades while blocking the kunai with your bookend, there his the sound of metal stabbing into wood but the training sword withstands the blow.
" A metal bar within the training boken, you don't do things by the half I see ", pointed the old ninja and redoubled his efforts to overpower you, quickly channeling chackra you push back with a vengeance and the kunai goes flying out of his hand, not letting up you charge with your boken in slamming into your opponent's ribcage, with a 'pop' the ninja turn's into a log, " Kawarimi!? " you think alarmed, your senses scream at you from the back and you follow his example with a Kawarimi of your own.
Right on time as you see the log you replaced with being stabbed with another kunai, you grit your teeth in frustration, your opponent was clearly stronger than yourself, but was for some damn reason playing around with you, trying to tire you out? Likely trying to capture you, the thrown kunai was not even targeted at any of your vital points, you add to end this fast, jutsu was out of the question, the locals would hear the commotion not to mention the Matron at the orphanage, pulling such a flashy stunt, taijutsu was no good against a superior foe, and forget about even using Genjutsu, tried once and it blew on your face.
" Have to pull him into a I.D. just have to put enough mana in the air! ", I decide with grim determination, just add to get close enough, the barrier wouldn't pull him in otherwise.
I ready myself to clash with the old ninja when he suddenly stops and straights himself up in a neutral stance," I believe that this his quiet enough, ne Shigure-chan? ", he says casually as discussing the weather.
My mind on the other hand short-circuits, how in the name of all named and nameless Gods does he knows my name, just as I was about to demand a answer out of him( with a proper F bomb ), he reaches for his head pulling of his helmet, " Sorry for leaving you alone Shigure-chan, but it was not easy to find the rest of our scattered clan ", he says as he finally removes that last of his bandages.
I don't even realize that I dropped my boken after taking in my former opponent's feature's, a grizzly old face with a scar along the left side of his face, his eyes a similar shade of purple as your's with short red going grey hair, his expression was tired but happy, his chackra now that I focused on him was definitely familiar," Ji-Ji! ", I call with a running trackle.
Flashback ends.
After that, a lot of tears and explanations by the Uzumaki Elder later, and Jane got adopted with a somewhat lame excuse from the old man that red heads should stick together, I shook my head at that one.
That was two years ago, Jane or Shigure if you prefer now lives with his grandfather Uzumaki Morio not to mention the remnants of the clan.
I was furious at what happened to them, out of a clan numbering the four thousand individuals, only a hundred managed to survive, most of them were children at the time of their escape, a few genins and a chuunin along with Elder Morio, Jane was separated from them and ended up a few hundred miles of target, they thought her death stumbling on her by pure chance.
They settled in a formally abandoned apartment complex, the place was haunted.
" What are you thinking Max ?", Jane asks as we made way to the backyard. " The haunted building! ", I answer and Jane scowls in remembrance of that particular fight.
"Don't remind me, add nightmares for a week after that piece of nastiness, even the enemy's from your ghost's I.D. were not that bad! ", she points while keeping the scowl on her face.
I keep from grinning, Jane add screamed like hell, which she denied to this day, the Tomboy, Ravenous Poltergeist, that ghost add been a out of dungeon rare mob, physically attack's did noting while the dickhead could punch through concrete, on the other hand Ninjutsu and my Mana bullet's made it scream and rage obscenities that made a sailor blush, not to mention the death and "I'm goanna eat you!" threats.
He dropped five thousand credits(5 grand), a great soul gem and the rare skill book 'Intangibility' which allowed me to phase through walls and make solid hits just past through me, on the other hand I took two times the damage from energy and chackra attack's.
Jane wanted the skill but it required mana on it's usage, so far only I had a mana bar, while everyone else had chackra.
" Ei red, visiting your boyfriend ?," came Mary's tease, I was already used to her sense of humor and hit back accordingly, Jane on the other hand blushed the color of her hair and made the impression of a fish out of water, " W-w-what the heck you weirdo, get your head out of the gutter !," she half-stuttered to her embarrassment, while I turned away with a grin at her reaction.
" Don't be shy Red, you two are made for each other!", she continues her relentless teasing while Jane beside me reaches crimson color, I shook my head, " Are you teasing her because you can't Tease your lover!? " I asked with a grin.
She immediately started fumbling at the accusation then leveled me with a glare, my grin just widens at that before exiting by the back.
Still a bit flush Jane followed me, " I swear she as no shame, we are too young for that kind thing! ",she hisses under her breath thinking that no one can hear her.
The corner of my lips twitched at her way of thinking, 'Too young huh ?' , she wasn't wrong about herself, if nothing else I was the one who was too old for her, shaking my head to get rid of such thought's, I focused on other matter's.
"Skills"
Calling up the skills menu I searched for my recently leveled up I.D. create.
Instant Dungeon create/escape LV: 25 Next Lv: 7/625 [As the name says, this skill allows the user
To create and escape a Dungeon either completely empty or filled with monster that you can
Fight to earn exp.
- Empty I.D.
- Zombie I.D.
- Ghost I.D.
- Ork I.D.
- Time Dilation I.D. 1/6 hours ( Applicable to all I.D. )
The ghost dungeon unlike the Zombie dungeon took Jane and me to a haunted house filled with the critters, Time dilation was gained at level 5 thought it started at 1/2, meaning one hour on the outside 2 inside, became 1/4 at 15 and now 1/6 along with the Ork dungeon.
" So we are going to the Ork dungeon today? ", asked Jane while stretching, you nodded in response while starting your own warm up, gamer ability or not cramps and or a pulled muscle were painful and somewhat embarrassing.
Quickly creating a shadow clone each to keep Mary occupied the pair slipped into they new dungeon unaware of the trial they were about to face the first time in the new dungeon.
First of big apology to everyone that fav. And follows this story, it was the combination of writer's block, life and thenearly losing interest altogether.
I'm not sure myself if this chapter is good or bad, a lot of story and background, Jane finding her clan and a fight with an earthbound ghost whose mouth needs a lot of soap.
Next chapter guaranteed to be action in hopes of making up.
Sechs signing off.