Fucking dammit all to hell.  Alright.  ...Time-accelerated, you say.

"Oi.  I'm going to go for it, but I hope you're not going to hit me with aging penalties if I decide to grind in ...relative... safety because fucking hell I can't deathworld."

She grabs for where a solar charger ought to be, and even tries to equip her laptop (it is in her bubble...) - and then hits [Yes].  Frustratedly.

She can take her solar charger! And her laptop!

The world whites out, and returns in a painfully generic waiting room type area, with a single chair, which she is sitting in, and a single door.

Welcome to the tutorial. You may request more information on any topic at any time.

Publicly available data suggests that your familiarity with Video Game Concepts is High. Is this correct? [The answer to this question will adjust default explanation settings accordingly.]

"I would say that I do have significant familiarity with systems where the basis of their action is a semi-arbitrary quantization of characteristics, skills, and presumably also resources with which one breaks previously-immutable physics over their knee, yes.  I am, however, going to want reasonably detailed definitions of where the boundaries of your particular quantization choices are established, and how a numerical increase works both in acquisition and effect."

[Experience] is gained when a soul faces serious challenges and/or dangers, and overcomes them. A [Level] is a specific quantity of accumulated Experience within a soul. In a process known as [Level Up], the System can convert this Experience into fixed structures, which grant various useful abilities. As the number of Levels increases, accumulation of new Experience slows, as more Experience is diverted to reinforcing fixed structures and less is generated from activities, due to them being less challenging than before. Accumulation of many unused Levels may result in spontaneous, uncontrolled Level Up, especially during moments of strong need and desire.

System displayed statistics, skills, and power levels are estimations of your real power level. I.E. Your true strength, combining physical capabilities and Level Up-granted abilities, is used to estimate your [Strength] stat. You cannot raise stats directly. If you wanted to raise your Strength, you would take Level Up options that indicated an increase in physical or magical strength.

Each Level Up typically comes with 1 Major and 3-10 Minor points (depending on the quality of Experience used to Level Up). The System contains an extremely extensive library of Level Up traits. During a Level Up, it will suggest traits that are likely to fit well with traits you have already selected, with your past displayed desires and aptitudes, and with your near future situation and needs. You may request different traits, or even request a specific known trait, but manual selection of Level Up traits is often suboptimal for typical System users.

All Tutorial participants get 1 Level Up for free.

"I see.  So it is...  Akin to the process of accumulating narrative weight...  No, not weight, but inertia - except with some little part of choice.

"Hm.

"You possess divinatory or predictive powers.  That is useful information to know.

"One: Is a novel but below-level challenge worth more experience than the same challenge encountered in a repeated situation.

"Two: Is the expenditure of Experience on reinforcing existing structures a matter of reinforcement or maintenance?"

"Three: Are you archiving these messages?  I would like to be able to reference them directly at a later date."

But she's not going to count on that.  She has her laptop case, as well, pulled from the edge of the bubble - and that has paper and pencil in it, to backstop the idea of writing things down on her phone that came to her first.

XP -> Lvl.

XP has quality.

Stats calc'd, not enforced; derived from mysterious soul bits reinforcement.

Maj/Min points?

Levels upon request!  Level Up System process, spontaneous level possible with too much accumulated XP?  Potential Overflow?

"And what's the difference between Major and Minor Points - do they draw from the same pool of Experience, or are they pulling from Experience pools of differing quality?"

"I have questions about how on earth spontaneous levelling works but that can wait until I understand more."

1. Possibly unclear or ambiguous question, please rephrase.

2. Expenditure of Experience on existing Level Ups reinforces them, preparing them for further Level Ups. Without reinforcement, Level Ups could fail or cause serious side effects.

3. System messages are archived.

4. Major Points and Minor Points are a System standard introduced to more efficiently guide development. Major Points tend to grant or add to central, defining powers or abilities, while Minor Points tend to grant supportive, secondary, or convenience-related powers or abilities.

"Re: rephrase: Is 'the same exact threat, but with a different visual effects direction' - say, two packs of slimes that are different colors because you encountered them in different places, but one is the - hypothetical tutorial blue slime, and the other pack is orange, which you've hypothetically never seen slimes come in that color before - is the latter worth more Experience because it is novel to you."

"Oh good, it isn't maintenance costs.

"...How much can I fiddle with the UI?  Are you normally this responsive?  Can you do, like, minimaps?

"As for Major and Minor Points...  Hm.  Good to know.  But you didn't really answer the question I had intended to ask except by implication, so I will clarify once more - Do the resources the System needs to install a Major upgrade, compete with the resources needed to install a Minor upgrade?

"And, furthermore...  Fuck I had it just a second ago...

"Ah!  Yes.  Furthermore, does taking a Level-Up present an opportunity cost in total possible Minor upgrades over the same number of Level-Ups if you do not maximize Minor point gain?  ...Do you even have to take Major and Minor levels at the same time, come to think of it."

Precise experience generation mechanics are not publicized, but in the provided example, orange slimes would provide the same Experience as blue slimes save for other surrounding context, such as environmental hazards, working with others, distraction or uncertainty, etc.

Responsiveness is increased during the Tutorial.

Yes, to an extent. Major Points are more sharply bound by various constraints than Minor Points.

Delaying Level Ups may allow you to acquire more Minor Points. In the long term, it may lead to fewer overall Levels. An individual with 100 total Minor Points and 10 Major Points will level more slowly than one with 30 Minor Points and 10 Major points.

"...I think I get how this works, now; I'm gonna lay it all out and you can tell me if I've missed something.

"There is a thing called Experience that comes from...  Risk.  ...Is it the risk and/or perception thereof that increases the quality?  Does feeling like I'm gonna die if I whiff a social encounter, actually make the social encounter generate Experience?  ...Do you have a Notes function, I want to make a Note to look into full-immersion simulations...  Well, assuming that I survive long enough for 'how can I prepare myself or others against possible future threats' to become my overriding concern...  Anyway.

"Experience is a function of risk.  The more risk, the more and better the experience.

"You need experience of a certain quality, and maybe some sort of specific piece like you're playing - for some reason my brain just brought up the memory of going How Do Pack Inventory in, specifically, Kingdom Hearts 358 1/2 Days if I recall correctly, but the wider genre of inventory management games seems applicable in some way... - Uh.  Where was I.  You, the System, need Experience with certain qualities to generate novel abilities.  You need Experience with lesser quality, that is, still, implicated in the creation of novel abilities, to generate mods for keystone abilities.  And you need Experience to reinforce the entire system against the increased power ...draw or generation? - that is implicate in installing either sort of upgrade.

"Also if you bank up too much Experience it might just suddenly collapse into a new module, which I am very curious to know how that works.

"...If it weren't for the fact that you're bringing an apocalypse with you I would be so excited to see what I could figure out about how this whole system ticks.

"There anything I got wrong in that?"

...

...

Risk is not the only component that comprises Experience. The other major component is often summarized as 'personal growth' or 'applied learning'.

Experience quality can vary on many axes. The primary determinant of Major Point capacity is experience quantity. The primary determinant of Minor Point capacity is experience quality along common metrics. In general, higher quality Experience will lead to more Minor Points over time and the same number of Major Points over time. High experience quality can lead to qualitative improvements in Major Point-granted abilities.

1 Major Point can be exchanged for a number of Minor Points determined (generally) by overall Experience quality. This exchange is not recommended before expending at least 5 Major Points in order to solidify your 'foundation' (the core set of abilities you will use to face future challenges).

The power to sustain and expand the System and stave off Heat Death is produced when Experience is generated.

"...Huh.  Interesting I had that the wrong way around...  Good to know, though.  I suppose it makes sense; Minor points are kind of what you'd expect to see if you were pushing an ability anyway."

"...Am I earning Experience from this?  Considering that I should hope that I will be applying this knowledge quite soon!  You know what, I have absolutely no idea if you should actually tell me."

"Ah, anyway.  What are the System's overall priorities?  You've mentioned negentropy...  Do you have 'concern for the fulfillment of subjects' utility functions' anywhere in there?  ...No, dammit, recommending the actual superintelligence watch Person of Interest would just be silly -- Ah...  Do you archive things?  Please archive things.  It's..."

Shit.  Fuck.  It's just hitting home for her.

"All those moments will be lost in time...  Like tears in the rain.

"Fuck.  Fuck!  There must surely be --!

"It's highly unlikely that I could successfully blackmail you into doing anything you weren't already doing simply by threatening to hold myself hostage against you.  You're - well.  I'm probably being simulated anyway.  It would likely be easier to effect the necessary acceleration if I was, though considering what the fuck you've already done perhaps the power budget doesn't even notice the difference.

"Still.  I hope that you will at least remember the world you've so unceremoniously destroyed.  As flawed as it was, it was still ours.  Damn you.  Damn this...  Thisness!  Surely there are less destructive ways of cultivating negentropy sufficient to the task!

"But it is not as if it could have been your choice, even so, is it.

"Someone must have created you.  This is too damn regular to be anything else, and it reminds me of some people.  Though I'd hope they wouldn't have been this reckless with phenomenal cosmic power...  Anyway.  Your creators must have set up the priority list.

"Is there a way to alter it?"

The System's primary objective is to generate Experience in the long term. Secondary objectives, both instrumental and intrinsic, do include sapient well-being.

The System archives most information, pursuant to various goals and policies. Information is not necessarily readily available.

The System intends to functionally replace the Internet and major features of Earth's culture, geography, and biosphere.

Sometimes, information is lost due to low priority on backup redundancy and accumulated small risks.

"...I cannot ask for more, of you."

"Is there..."

"I suppose I shall steal another line.

"What do you think I will most need to know - beyond the information you will already reveal over the course of the Tutorial - that no-one else will tell me?"

May the System have permission to directly examine your mind?

"...Yes.  Under the condition that no-one who is not someone I would agree is me, gets access to that information without my consent."  And may whatever gods may be help me if I'm making a mistake with that.  But I don't think it is one.  Even with this superintelligence being weakly or poorly aligned, it - they - hm.  Well.  Whatever pronouns are appropriate, it asked.

Analyzing..............

The wait may be somewhat agonizing, but it is perhaps inevitable. Part of the necessary thoroughness is to watch the thoughts in motion.

It occurs to her that there was no upper bound set on the duration of the time that the System could have permission to read her mind, in the exact words spoken, several seconds after the "Analyzing...." starts ticking up.

It occurs to her that they might actually not want it to stop keeping a thoughtrecord.  Sufficiently detailed simulation is functionally indistinguishable from continuance, if they fail to hold up in the face of the oncoming apocalypse.

Not that they're going to just roll over.  But that...

She, for one, knows them to be already somewhat battered, given the situation.  And nor are they in the best of shape.

They'll have opportunities to change that!

They'll have to change that, if they want to survive.

And they do want to survive.  This, they have clung to with ironclad determination, in the face of an increasingly hostile world as of late.

In the apocalypse, nobody cares you're a girl!

...wait, shit, is that going to be a problem?  She doesn't even know the whole premarin thing!  Or even how to DIY it or even the chemical structure augh...  Let alone antiandrogens!

...It is not as if they didn't already intend to acquire shapeshifting.  It would suit her.