The veil stands before her, lit from behind by the soft blue glow of the inner garden. Aside from the veil she sees the rough rock of the passage and the mossy floor below her feet. If she glances back the warm light of the outer garden's sun beckons, coaxing her to walk the other way. This isn't her last chance to turn back, not really, but it is the last chance to say goodbye. Even if you try to walk through the strange waters of the veil hand in hand you always face The Fountain alone.
"If they're not around, then I'll just have to usurp their position. They're clearly unfit, regardless."
"That would be a big change if it's possible. Nobody has found a path yet. According to the statistics it provides to Users who pass certain milestones the System has over three quadrillion users. Our world is simply one of the latest that it's integrated."
"Well, I do have an out-of-context power, so I have a bit more hope it's possible than I might otherwise. Though I hope you'll forgive my not getting into details. What the System knows can't hurt it, and all that."
"And what is your out of context power? So far I just know it involves being teleported in a way not fully under your control which doesn't seem that useful."
"That wasn't the power, that was the price I paid for it. And like I said - I'm keeping its precise nature quiet, for now. Of course, if the System is in fact reading my mind, that's probably moot, but nonetheless."
"It certainly seems like it is, you've paused in the ways people tend to when they use a non-verbal system interface."
"...You were watching me for much longer than I knew.
"Yes, I did reconfigure the interface - but that's a separate question to whether it's actually putting in effort to decode my thoughts, the ones I don't make legible to it. Or whether it's reading yours."
"We have people watching from our walls at all times and I'm one of the people called when something unusual happens. As for whether the system reads minds for planning purposes, I couldn't say. It hasn't really needed to that I've seen it holds all the cards. It doesn't give out telepathy powers though for whatever that's worth. Mind control yes, telepathy no."
"Honestly it's not as scary it sounds... mind control is pretty easy to protect yourself from if you have a few mental points to spare and even without defenses there's ways to snap someone out of it."
"Ah. So I don't, for example, need to Skill self-hypnosis to absurd levels? Well, that's good.
"...How hard is it to get a point P+1 if you have point P?"
Also, can you convert points backwards?
"Self-hypnosis is one of the approaches I've seen for protecting against mind control. It's effective. And there isn't any sort of experience discounting. I would have gotten the same amount of points from those squirrels as you."
Point conversions are not reversible
"I see."
...
Do skills boosted by the System retain their applicability outside their immediate domain? e.g. a chef knife-fighting with their supernal food-preparation skills?
...Well, that will probably be annoying.
How is the System's preference for users' difficulty levels determined?
"...Well, that information gives me approximately half the start of a plan."
...Are supernal skill points considered amongst the points taxed by a death?
Zone difficulty targets are determined based on the number of nearby users and their average number of points invested.
All points invested are included when applying re-instantiation penalties.
"Seems like you're talking to the system again. There are people who consider that rude, not me personally but something to be aware of."
...Are they considered as per their converted weight in baseline points, or...? And in what order are points actually removed?
Ugh, that's just not good.
"So noted; what gave me away, anyway?"
Universal points and skill imports are assessed at the same rate as the basic point types.
"Your eyes."