《Rock Riot》 Prologue In a certain dilapidated building on a certain human-infested world. A certain crazy scientist. "I-It''s done...!", limbs trembling, eyes swiveling in-a-frenzy, he held the culmination of his efforts, the pinnacle of his patience... ... a rock. "Finally... after all these years... those wizened grey-haired morons never realized it... the ultimate achievement... the new era of discovery... it was I who made it all true..." Holding the blackish mass of stone as he would an infant, he placed it beneath a convulated self-designed microscope. Shivering, he pressed his eyes against the viewing contraption. "They never believed me..." What he saw was beyond what any of his peers could ever imagine. Those that had disregarded him, called him a fool... if only they could see the fruit of his ''delusions''! For under his greatly magnified gaze, he could clearly discern it... the rock-it lived! "Reaction to changing frequencies of light... a rudimentary mineral network which can transport an alternative set of ''nutrients'' throughout its body... regeneration and growth by absorbing elements in the surrounding medium... locomotion by ''transferring'' its structure to surrounding rocks... check! check! check! It satisfies all of the conditions!" What could this discovery spell for the world? What new revolution would it bring? As he basked in the blinding afterglow of his discovery, his mind began to wander at all the implications of his actions. At that moment. A shock reverberated through the room. The ceiling shook, and pieces of plaster rained down the walls. An earthquake? Snatching the precious sample from the observation desk, he rushed outside... and stopped in stupefaction. A red sky. Countless fragments of fire rained down from the heavens. Shockwaves spread as they crashed into the earth in brilliant flashes of light.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! People screamed as they pointed at the sky above them. Looking up, he found a blazing column falling straight at him. Is that a meteorite!? If thosands of these were falling at the same time... The moment of shock gave way to anger. "Damn it! Is the world ending? Just HOW can it end before I made my discovery known!? All that EFFORT, all that STRUGGLE, how the FUCK can it end before I leave behind this knowledge!!!" Even amidst all this chaos, people turned to stare at the crazy man spewing strings of profanity at his impending doom. If they had lived, some of them could have sworn that even until his last breath he had not forsaken his scientific spirit.
Over the skies of a certain human-infested world. The 13th Reaper of Death looked on with a conflicted expression. The reason was simple. The death of this particular world had come too soon. *Sigh* What were the superiors thinking? Assigning me a job like this? With a weary smile, he waved a hand, summoning the next batch of souls from the surface of the planet. This was already the thousand-and-fifty-first one. If the world had suffered a normal meteor shower, the numbers would never have risen this much. Of course, nothing about this situation is normal. Just as he was about to pass the collected souls to the recycling module, something caught his eye. Hmm... this soul... is it a human''s? While the soul contained the faint traces of a human''s outer appearance, it seemed to be fused with a strange other life-form. A rock? Its a body design I have never seen before. But there is only a single soul... could it have been influenced by the human''s lingering thoughts from when it was alive? Strange cases like this weren''t that rare. Strong emotions and thoughts often warped a soul, and special care needed to be taken in order to set it straight before reassembling it. But a soul changed to this degree was definitely a first. Even as he watched, the soul''s ''humanity'' was rapidly detiorating and its inanimate nature becoming more prominent. If I send it off like this,I wonder what could happen? Even as he gave himself a wry chuckle at the thought, he started the process of reconfiguring the soul. However. As soon as he touched the strange soul, a force ripped it away from him. Before he could do a thing, the truant soul had disappeared into a Portal of Rebirth other than his own. When he turned to look at the culprit responsible, shock registered in his divine eyes. "YOU!" <> Chapter-1: The Essential Question A certain dark place. A certain extremely perplexed scientist. "Hmmm.... it certainly makes no sense at all." When he had first arrived here, he had been fuming, cursing, spitting and generally rampaging about in a rage. Or he would have been if not for the stark absence of his limbs, mouth and other bodily instruments. When he had finally calmed down, however, his methodical mind had sprung up multiple questions. The most essential of them was naturally, where the heck was he? The last thing he recalled was a godawful METEOR crushing him to oblivion. And though he vividly remembered the dull *crunch* of the bone-shattering impact and a hellish, sizzling burn that had nearly cost him his sanity, his currently working mind clearly denied his death. Was he perhaps buried in debries due to the fallout of the meteor shower? Were his limbs crushed and his body numbed due to shock? The clarity of his thoughts however refuted this proposition. Being crushed was nothing new to him- it had happened several times on his amateur mineral-acqusition expeditions. As to why a scientist was also a budding miner... some things were better left unsaid. What mattered was that he had experienced being pummeled by falling matter countless times in his rather uneventful life. And it always left him in a daze until money-gobbling, coin-crazy shark- *ahem* doctors could direct their precious medical aid to him. (NOTE: For reasons rather not known, the poor man had gone on too many of those expeditions- nearly ALL of which had an unnaturally high chance of failure) So the first hypothesis was discarded. Was he in a coma then? While the intricacies of a vegetative life escaped him and his limited medical knowledge notwithstanding, he did hear tales of the comatose being perfectly conscious even though they were unable to twitch a finger. But living a life without his research- where the prospects of ever waking up itself were bleak, was so mentally traumatizing that he summarily dismissed it. Following a scientific train of thought, he even briefly considered if his brain had been frozen in stasis after most of humanity died off in order to preserve his immortal knowledge.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. While that was probably the most likely conclusion, for some reason he was ultimately unable to accept it. So here he was, back to square one, without a clue as to why he was still alive. Not that he regretted not dying... being alive was definitely a must if he were to refine the final results of his research. Not to mention that the world was currently unaware of it- a fact he must soon rectify. He wondered how many had even survived that cataclysm? However, that was when a sudden thought struck him. All the research materials that he had gathered over the years, the various tools and scientific instruments he had pioneered, all the notes and records he had accumulated- surely they still existed!!? Thosands of meteors striking down from the skies. Colossal earthquakes. Tall buildings crashing down to the ground. And then he thought of his unreasonably modest lab/dwelling that had been the heart of his research after he had been kicked out of his workplace. "DAMNIT!" With his anger and hoplessness boiling up again, he suffered yet another bout of metaphorical violence. Ultimately, he calmed himself down once more with a mildly pathetic reassurance- surely... SOME of it must have survived right? Collecting his thoughts once more, he reached a decision- wherever this place was, he must go back to gather whatever remained of his research. To return however, he must figure out where he was to begin with. Renewing his efforts in earnest, he tried to feel for his limbs once more. He didn''t know if it was because he had finally begun to acclimatize with his surroundings after all this time, but this time, his trials did yield some results. But the results were what surprised all the more. A feeling of crushing pressure- that was the first thing he felt. And strangely, it didn''t bother him one bit. Instead, as he tried flexing his arms for the upteenth time, and burning with the desire to dislodge whatever was suppressing him, thought "MOVE DAMNIT!", he felt the queerest of sensations. Ever felt your body dissipating as you pushed yourself down into a lake full of thick, viscous muck, only to somehow reform on its opposite bank? Yes, that was exactly how the disconcerted researcher felt. Non-existing eyes twitching, he tried to move sideways, with the very same result. Left. Right. Up. Down. With every time he moved, he felt a tiny bit of his sanity fading away. What the hell was happening to him!? He stopped and took a deep mental breath. He then tried to consolidate what his repeated experiments had yielded so far: 1. No matter how hard he tried, he could feel nothing other than an indeterminate amount of pressure 2. Trying to feel OR move his limbs yielded no results whatsoever- he could only choose to move in a particular direction 3. The feeling of pressure... in fact ALL sensations and thoughts disappeared for a moment as he ''moved'' 4. From his trial-and-error, he could now reasonably assert that he was moving through matter Up until point-2, he could control himself, but the with last two statements that summed up the absurd situation he was in, his breathing (metaphorical) began to hitch again. Ultimately it begged what he now realized was the most essential question: Not where... but WHAT was he!!? At the very next moment, a blinding flash lit up his consciousness. And that THING appeared before his eyes. <> Chapter-2: The Mythical STATUS
Name: N/A
Race: Rock (Unique)
Gender:N/A
Age:1 day
Attributes: INT: 190
Titles: A Living Rock Reincarnator
Skill List: Racial Skills: Phasing (F) Integration (F) Derived Skills: N/A
A floating blue box with white at the ends. The scientist stood in front of it in befuddlement. Well, not exactly in front of it, of course. But in his mindscape, he felt that he was standing with mouth (metaphorical) all agape before this utterly STRANGE new development. Rubbing his eyes (*sigh* METAPHORICAL, get it?), he mutely stared at it as he felt a tremble begin rising from his non-existing toes- all the way to place a mental strain on his mentally-envisioned head. And the reason for this shock? Well, let us just say that in a certain human-infested planet, wherein lay a certain human-infested town, there was a young boy almost universally recognized as a genius, boasting of true knowledge and a decent upbringing. And yet, he had the most terrible of secrets. At the end of his college years at the tender age of twelve, he found himself diseased with a terrifying affliction- one that would later be diagnosed to be the forerunner of some truly abject fantasies. In fact... ...How many times had envisioned himself standing before a similar blue box? How many times had he imagined himself in the shoes of the heroes constrained merely to the bound pages of books? How may times had he imagined himself to be similarly blesse-Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Forcibly derailing this train of thought, he let out a stream of curses. "AH SHIT!" Was he so terribly unhinged that he had left his mind prey to delusions!? Desparately trying to calm himself, he repeated a similar set of actions once more. He blinked his eyes, the THING disappeared, , and it appeared again. He took a series of deep breaths and considered his circumstances again. Was he perhaps in asimulation? A simulation that fed on his deepest scars and forced him to experience them all over again? Had the planet perhaps been invaded by aliens? Who, after an aerial bombardment of meteoric missiles, had found him, a survivor with incalculable knowledge and decided to subject him to a convulated virtual nightmare in order to wring him of it? It was at that point that he realized that he was only getting further and further from reality. Thus after another forced meditative practice, he came to a single conclusion. If aliens armed with meteors could be a plausible part of reality, why not the MYTHOLOGICAL STATUS SCREEN? The onslaught of rapidly piling up surprises seemed to have finally broken something deep in him. And at that very moment...
TheGod of The Realmhas been thoroughly intrigued by your actions. He wishes you a long and enjoyable life. On a side-note, he has decided to bestow suitable rewards upon you. Title obtained:A Rock that Thinks
"Haah... really..." While his mind was still recovering from the implications of what he had discovered, he could a mild sense of displeasure from the new message. But emboldened by his realization, he tried to focus on the last few words on the new box-screen, and lo and behold!
A Rock that Thinks While rocks are generally known to be inanimate, an exception to the iron-clad rule has been found! While it seems not much, andis a bit slow... it can still form proper and coherent thoughts! Effect:A slight increase in the rate at which the INT stat rises
Even though his hypothetical face scrunched in embarassment on reading the description of his positivelyabsurd new title, he could still feel his mind ripple as waves of elation surged through his non-existing veins. And yet, although his grand revelations had thrown open several previously sealed gates in his mind, he soon remembered the actual cause of his experiments! His research! This nagging concern was what finally succeeded in consolidating his wildly turbid thoughts and brought back a sense of reality. His mind somewhat overcame the absolute brilliance of the blue boxes and was able to focus on what he considered a more immediate problem. Fate, however, was not so lenient on his sanity. For at that very moment, he suddenly recalled a portion of his Status that he had forgotten about in all the ensuing chaos in his thoughts. The portion that detailed the <> he belonged to! With a shiver resuming its routine path along his imaginary spine, he re-summoned his Status Screen. And in it...
Race:Rock(Unique)
With this last and almost-fatal blow to hisconsciousness, he nearly toppled over in his mind. His race was... a ROCK!!? <> Chapter-3: Aye, a Rock A Rock. The dark mindspace of a certain stupefied scientist. It''s only occupant was now trying to come to terms with his most recent mental blow. Mind it- he wasn''t sad, nor was he numb of emotions. In fact, his current state of shock was almost entirely due to an overburdening of enthusiasm. Several lines of thought were running in parallel through his mind. The fact that his long-forgotten *cough* dream was coming true, was definitely one of the most significant thought processes that was currently plaguing him. But his last revelation was by far, the most dominating concern amongst them. The series of events that he had been subjected to, could be summarised in the order: I can pass THROUGH matter. I have a STATUS SCREEN. My Status Screen tells me I am a ROCK. In order to understand as towhythis situation enthused our scientist to no small degree, let us attempt to take a small peek into the past.
A year in the 2nd millenium by the human calendar, on a certain human-infested planet. In a grand subterran lab. A lone youth stood in the centre of a meeting chamber, his eyebrows twitching in suppressed wrath. The chief reason behind this righteous anger soon resumed talking in a condescending tone. "...So you mean to say... that as a gifted member of our XYZ Labs, whose", at which point he seemed to rack his brain to come up with the memory of some obscure information," ah,remarkableachievments are widely known amongst the few of us...thisis what you have finally come up with?" The young man ground his teeth in frustration. As a part of a secretive research facility focused solely on achieving one of humanity''s greatest ambitions, the greatest feats, akin to miracles, were expected from them- the geniuses of the current era. And ironically, if only he had succeeded in his particular endeavor,thiswould have been one of those miracles. Not to mention that those that were currently ridiculing him, would, instead have been groveling at his feet. Shoving down his bitterness, he began speaking, "It''s true that this experiment was undoubtedly a failure, but in the future-" At this point, instead of the old scientist who had been sweet-talking him, the one to interrupt him was a researcher known for his permanent disdain for those he considered his ''lessers'' in knowledge. In what appeared to be genuine anger, he retorted, "In the future, you say! And how theHELL do you think whatever misguided quest made you cook up this UTTERLY ridiculous idea has ANY relevance to our future work!!?" "MISGUIDED!!". The recipent of his insults could no longer contain his anger. "Do you have any idea about the true potential of my work? If given enough time and resources, what it could actually achieve?" A tall scientist leaning against the wall snorted in contempt. "Yea, potential my ass", he muttered under his breath, just loud enough for the one the scorn was intended for to hear. The youth could feel himself shaking as he turned red with fury, his mouth opening and closing like a fish as he struggled to control himself. Several of those present in the room snickered when they saw his actions. Yes, this young man was our crazy scientist and the roomful of men hell-bent on mocking him, his previous colleagues. What they were discussing on this particular occassion was the new idea which the enterprising young researcher had stumbled upon- the one that he deemed was the best solution for their pimary goal- the question of human immortality. In the course of their work, several ideas had been put forward by various researcher teams. The wide plethora of plausible solutions included absolute adaptation, a theoretical approach to ''zombiefication'' and ''imprinting human minds'' onto supercomputers among many others. But what the relatively younger scientist had proposed was, however, radically different. He had envisioned a life-form that would be solely mineral-based- and by that he meant any elements that possessed a solid state. The ''true immortal vessel'' that he had envisioned would change itsvery compositionbased on the available resources, and frame suitable internal processes to fuel a suitable metabolism- essentially a ''living rock''. And his research had shown him that something so outlandish was actually plausible! And if not for the minor adjustments he still needed to figure out, he would have already succeeded in making it!The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. The idea had, of course, a truly glaring fault- one that his fellow scientists were to quick to grasp. "Haven''t you overlooked a most important point?", one of them questioned sarcastically, "What part of HUMAN immortality does your idea implement? It is a friggin'' ROCK that you are so obsessed with!" The young man, was, however, rather unwilling to accept his ''mistake''. Wasn''t it only natural to achieve immortality itself before they could think of bestowing it on their own race? That was how his reasoning ran. In truth, however, what his colleague had said was true. He was obsessed to a degree. That didn''t mean he had lost sight of his goal- he just honestly believed that his was, indeed, the correct approach. But now? While previously, his dream had devolved to ''merely'' creating an immortal being, wasn''t he, if the Status Screen was to be believed, currently inhabiting the body of a living rock himself? He currently possessed immortality in the form he had envisioned. And even though he had lost his research notes and materials, wasn''t he in the possession of the culmination of all his research in the form of his own body? Couldn''t he then, very well reach beyond what he had tried and tested as merely an observer? These were the thoghts that had nearly brought his mental processes to a screeching halt by the sheer expolsion of delight and excitement. It was ALL of these shocks and surprises bunched together that ultimately made him feel gratitude to whoever had given him this new life.
TheGod of The Realmis increasingly delighted by your actions. He truly looks forward to your adventures.
The message that popped in front of him only added to his growing enthusiasm. The whole ''fantasy world setting'' only served to add further flavour to the entire situation. To begin with, he checked his 2 <>. In fact, he already had an idea what those could be.
Phasing A basic characteristic of theRockrace, it allows the skill-holder to freely move through inanimate objects whose composition is extremely similar to the holder''s base composition. Requirements:Member of theRockrace Skill cost:N/A Skill Type:Active Skill Grade: F(evolvable)
The concept of < > was extremely similar to what he had considered to be the main means of locomotion for his ''living rock'' sample, i.e. the ability to ''transfer'' its distinct signature or structure through a reasonably uniform medium. Though the skill grade of ''F''- presumably the lowest grade for a skill, bothered him, the fact that it was ''evolvable'' probably meant that it would improve with practice. In fact, he was now sure that the strange sensation of ''movement'' that he had been experiencing was actually a result of this skill being triggered. Moving on to the next skill,
Integration A basic characteristic of theRockrace, it allows the skill-holder to supplement its body with compatible substances in its surroundings in order to grow and heal itself. Requirements:Member of the Rockrace Skill cost:N/A Skill Type:Passive/ Active Skill Grade:F (evolvable)
This skill was essentially the adaptive metabolism that allowed the ''living rock'' to absorb matter from its immediate environment and erect the necessary metabolic processes to utilize them. While the skill grade of ''F (evolvable)'' was understandable, that it was classified as both an active and passive skill was surprising. < > was necessarily active, since he would move in a direction only if he willed it. But why did <> have an additional ''active'' type? The fact that itdidhave a passive option was only common sense- in fact, even now, he could feel that at some level, his body was minutely interacting with his surroundings- this level of perception was truly beyond a human''s. But could this action also be triggered to a greater degree by forcibly willing it? To clarify his doubts, he tried to ''pull'' a portion of the material below him, into what he considered to be his ''self''. There was a jolt of ''phantom pain'' assaulting him, and only a small part of what he had initially tried to capture was forced into his body.
The Skill Proficiency ofIntegration (F)has grown by 0.01% Current proficiency: 0.01%
Following the new box that flashed before him, he felt a weird sensation pass through his mind- it was as if he could understand the ability of <> in an almost imperciptibly better fashion. So the secret to improving my skills is to use them continuosly after all, huh? Almost like a child with a new toy, the scientist, having completely forgotten about his earlier misgivings regarding the situation he was in, was now engrossed in exploring the intricacies of his fantastical new body. After an indeterminately long amount of time and his vast mental capacities now nearing depletion, he finally brought his endeavors to a close for the time being. This wasn''t merely a break, however. Rather, this was a time for pensieve thoughts- for what he now wished to address was a most stark and unsettling anomaly regarding his current constitution that he had encountered in the course of his experiments. <>