World Sphere - 1 - The Failed Human Resources Liaison

Chapter 1: The Failed Human Resources Liaison (Prologue)

The sun’s glare made the day’s heat much more intense. As I walked along the mountain ridge, sweat beaded on my brow and stung my eyes. I was out for a ten-day hike, a 100-mile trek through the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. It was a reprieve from my endless hours working as a vagabond sous-chef. The terrain was very manageable, and the trail was well-marked. That was why I was shocked when the entire trail gave way beneath me, and I slid down the mountain in a rockslide. Fortunately, the pain didn’t last long as large boulders quickly crushed me to death.

I was now in a minimalist beige room with no doors or windows, basically a box. A large onyx desk with multiple screens facing away from me dominated the desktop. Behind the desk sat a middle-aged Asian man in a fashionable dark blue suit with a gray tie. 

He presented himself as the Next Life Specialist for my reincarnation. He explained I had accumulated enough positive karma that I would be able to have some input in my reincarnation. My emotions were flat, but I was still stunned. My agent seemed extremely bored with the process and kept glancing at the screen on the left like he was checking emails, watching a video, or something else that kept distracting him.

He explained I could go to another universe in his sphere of influence or stay in this one. After my shock subsided, I inquired about a universe with magic. He tapped away and then replied that there were two options with high aetheric content; that was what magic was evidently called: aether. I was immediately all in. He began tapping away and asked if I wanted to remain human, to which I replied in the affirmative. I didn’t want to be an animal, or maybe he was referring to elves, dwarves, and such? He was already past the screen and ignored my question when I inquired about my other choices.

With a few more taps on the keyboard, he checked his screen on the left again. Then, before we could continue, he swore and slammed his fist down on the table, rattling the screens and desk. The box room echoed from the strike. He quickly stood up and walked through the wall to his left.

I sat there puzzled and then walked cautiously around the desk. The screen had an open email saying the man had been fired, indicating that this was his last shift. The language was not English, but I could still read it without difficulty. I muttered to myself that I thought he left a little early as I was still in limbo for my reincarnation. I looked at the other screens with my information and was surprised I could also read it. The language was definitely not English. Was there some universal comprehension in this room? I felt my emotional state had been greatly muted as well, and I had no anxiety about my death or reincarnation.

I walked to the wall where the man had disappeared and found it solid after running my hands along it. Other than being slightly warm, I didn’t find any access. After a few minutes, I got bolder and took his chair to examine the screens in detail. I began delving into my file displayed on the monitor. It took a few minutes to figure out the navigation, but it was all very intuitive. 

My reincarnation status was clearly displayed before me, indicating that my race was human. As I explored the interface, I realized I had the ability to edit my physical appearance on the screen. It seemed harmless to tweak a few details while I awaited a new agent, right?

With a sense of purpose, I began crafting my new body. I envisioned a tall physique, solid and muscular like that of a linebacker, exuding strength and vitality. My new body boasted striking green eyes, standing out against a backdrop of deep, jet-black silky hair. The image reflected a version of myself that I remembered well, yet it was undeniably more athletic, embodying an idealized form that transcended my previous appearance of light brown eyes and a less defined build.

I slid the aging ‘expectation’ to the max for a human, giving me about 150 years of prospective life, according to the translator. Then, I got to the interesting parts with abilities, traits, and affinities for skills. The screen read like a game to me.

There were seven tiers of power of for abilities, with tier one being the lowest. If I selected random, I would be assigned two to eight points worth of abilities based on my karmic accumulator. The random generator clearly showed my chance of getting each value when I hovered over it. 

70%2 points

25%3 points

4%4 points

0.9%5 points

0.09%6 points

0.009%7 points

0.001%8 points

With these points, you could purchase abilities. The cost for the abilities was reflective of the tier.

TierPoint Cost

1. 1

2. 2

3. 3

4. 5

5. 7

6. 11

7. 13

I looked at the random generator for points and tried to enter a larger number in the output manually.

After some attempts, I found the largest number accepted was 23. That was much better than my chance of getting eight points, so I entered 23 and was prompted to confirm entry—yes. Next, I found I could select my abilities rather than use the random generator.

I was getting worried someone would show up soon, so I selected things that popped out to me from the massive lists. I didn’t delve too much into the full descriptions as I felt time-constrained. I was doing something I should not be doing and figured someone would come by and change my work anyway. My selections...

13 points, Tier 7…create metal using aether

5 points, Tier 4…major aether core

5 points, Tier 4…metal shaping

Having finalized my selections, I felt a surge of confidence; I was now convinced that I could conjure silver and gold from aether like a genie. While some might consider it a questionable path, I had no desire to don the mantle of a hero, slaying fearsome monsters or rescuing fair maidens. Instead, my dreams were painted with visions of immense wealth.

The next screen was for traits, similar to abilities but apparently non-magical in nature. It seemed the number of points was typically between two and seven for a human, but I could not enter anything manually, and the value was set at zero. After a quick search, I found I maybe had maxed out my possible points on magical abilities, or maybe it was because I was human, the text was confusing legal jargon about equity and I didn’t have time to delve further. There was no override, at least none that I could find. I skipped to the next screen.

The last selection section was for skill affinities. It gave bonuses related to learning and using skills based on knowledge. There was a very long list of skills, and I skimmed them. I found 23 schools of magic on the list, which drew my attention immediately. Skill affinities ranged from 1 to 7. At tier 1 affinity, there was a 25% increase in the learning speed of a related skill. It doubled at tier 2 to 50%, at tier 3, it was 100% improvement, and at tier 4, it was 200%. Tier 5 was 250% but also gave a 25% increase in the effectiveness of the skill as well. Tier 6 was 300% to learning speed and 50% to skill effectiveness. Tier 7 was 300% and 100% more effective. Once again, I was locked out of editing the available points, but my default was 5 points based on my karmic accumulator. If I selected randomize, it would be 0 to 0, so I stuck with the 5 points. The costs mirrored the costs I noted for abilities.

I decided to choose the following skill affinity, using all my points:

5 points, tier 4, healing magic skill

I felt great about my decision in terms of setting myself up for a great, easy life. Learning healing magic three times faster than normal should be a good backup plan if my fantasies of swimming in a vault of gold coins failed. I also figured healing magic could help me extend my life span.

The screen progressed to the next phase of my reincarnation. I was now looking at the default world in the universe where I would be reincarnated. On the display was not a planet but, in fact, a Dyson sphere. The world’s magic stabilized the titanic shell and gave billions of square miles on the inner Sphere to live on.

The shell was thousands of miles thick with its own ecosystem as well, and if I understood everything properly, the shell hosted millions of dungeons within the magic aether ley lines, which were essentially the skeleton of the Dyson sphere. The outer surface of the shell, or Dark World, had its own civilizations, and it appeared some of them were space-faring. 

Crap, the magnitude of everything. I was not so sure anymore. Hundreds of billions, probably trillions of people, species, monsters, and threats, quickly passed in front of me as I promptly paged through a wiki. I thought to go back and change my race but feared I wouldn’t have enough time to redo everything.

I quickly refined my search, seeking specific information. Technology did not work well on the inside of the Sphere…well it needed specialized magi-tech to balance the technology in the aether-rich environment. I was uncertain how much time I had left, and the butterflies in my stomach were growing. Did I have some sixth sense? I risked having my selections reset if someone showed up to replace my liaison.

I tried to get as much information as possible. The Dyson sphere was called a World Sphere, or Sphere for short, by the inhabitants. These spheres were the origins of all magic in the universe, generating aether. The further from a World Sphere, the less dense the ambient aether was in the universe.

Taking aether from the World Spheres as aether crystals into the rest of the universe was a massive industry. Aether crystals could hold aether, like magic batteries. The easiest way to mine the crystals was through dungeons. Dungeon entrances were located across the Sphere, and adventurers were portaled to secure dungeon instances embedded inside the massive ley lines running through the shell. It all sounded like a complex video game.

The brightness of the room started dimming. Was my liaison’s shift over? Was someone coming? Were they coming for me? My mind was racing with numerous possibilities as the lights faded. I didn’t want to push my luck anymore even though I wanted to learn more. The monitors were fading slowly—like they were powering down.

I went quickly to the screen, which indicated where I would spawn in the Sphere. As I liked sunlight, I needed a stable civilization on the Sphere’s inner surface. I promptly filtered the search criteria and found a place called Skyholme. 

According to the brief notes, these humans lived on massive floating islands for almost 2,300 years. Without reading further, I selected the location and hit the complete button, finishing my reincarnation. A few errors popped up, but I dismissed them because the text on the screen was so dark I couldn’t read it anyway. My body slowly faded with my consciousness.

I awoke and found my mind and vision fuzzy. It took me a while to figure out I was a baby in a womb. I guessed I made a slight error as I had thought I would be reincarnated as a full-grown man, but this might be better as I could learn the idiosyncrasies of this fantastical new world as I grew up.