ALL NOVEL 1: Determinism
I'm Nathan Decker, and my job is to clean up messes.
Big messes... You'll need more than a mop to clean the things I do.
Sometimes my cleaning utensils are bleach and acid, other times it's a good old fashioned bullet.
This time the poor victim was a drug dealer working for a rival.
As usual, my work was flawless. My natural attention to detail made me perfect for this job.
But even though I was gifted, I had doubts whether this line of work was truly meant for me.
Sigh.
A job is a job, it doesn't matter what I feel.
This time, however, there was a complication.
I finished the work, but I could hear movement outside.
It shouldn't be the police... The others should still be running interference.
The only possibility I could think of, was that the organization of whoever I just cleaned up was approaching.
I readied my pistol at the door, suppressor and subsonic ammunition flaring to be used.
But when the door opened, it was indeed police. Undoubtedly a new recruit, too.
I was stupid, in the heat of the moment I chose to stand my ground instead of hiding.
Not only that, but I left the door slightly ajar, of all the stupid ways to fail!
This is fine, it can be salvaged, I'll just have to clean a couple more bodies in a rush.
They were barely starting to react, I can easily take them both if I shoot now.
But... why can't I pull the trigger?!
I've made cops 'disappear' plenty of times before, but-- For some reason I just can't bring myself to do it this time.
My previous targets were all orders I was given, they would have been taken care of regardless of if I was the one to do it or not.
But these guys would be dead because of my own mistake, what right do I have to value myself above them?
I don't even have anyone that would value me other than for my skills...
My hesitation took long enough that my window to take action was long gone.
And I felt burning pains in my chest.
I didn't even bother to return fire, I don't regret that.
But no matter how justified it is, a new officer being forced to use their gun for the first time is a mental stress I did regret that I was going to cause after my demise.
I started to forget about all that and wonder how long this whole dying thing takes.
That's when I heard a faint voice.
<Administrator candidate identified...>
<You have been selected as the top candidate... Initiating soul conversion...>
<Welcome to Laplace, administrator!>...
My consciousness faded, so I thought I was just hallucinating, but I woke up in a large palace that seemed to have went a little heavy on reflective materials.
"Where am I?" I uttered, disoriented.
<Answer: You are currently inside the Palace of Causality.>
"What the hell? Who was that?" I called out in surprise.
<Answer: These messages are provided by your skill, [Prompted Omniscience]>
What? I have skills?
-===-
Nathan Decker
HP: ∞
Plausibility: 10 pts
Faith: 0 pts
Skills:
[Prompted Omniscience]
[Apostle Selection]
[Manifestation]
[Probability Calculation]
[Simulation]
[Dimension Isolation]
[Laplace Authority]
-===-
Interesting. That's a lot of stuff I have no idea how to use yet.
I start walking through the reflective and glimmering halls until I eventually encounter two rooms of interest.
One is a large room filled with what I can only describe as holograms, including a display that shows a planet that definitely isn't Earth.
And another is a long hall containing more holograms of people I can only assume were past 'administrators'.
Some looked much more evil than others if appearances were anything to judge by.
I can't imagine what else you would be doing if you were dressing up like the devil in this setting.
Getting back to the other room, I realized the holograms were interactive, and that I could zoom in all the way down to the ground and even see what was going on there from a top down view.
I also noticed someone scratched words onto a wall near the entrance.
It seemed to be a tutorial of sorts for new administrators.
Apparently, finding an 'apostle' is the first thing I should do, and that they should be easy to convince into being loyal.
It also mentions that there's a list of good candidates to choose from somewhere in this room.
It takes a minute but I found the right place.
None of the options seem easy to convince or necessarily important.
Until I notice one of them seems to be on the verge of dying.
The planet hologram shifts to focus on their location.
It's still a little hard to see.
It's too bad I can't be there in person.
Suddenly, my surroundings change and I'm now witnessing the situation as if I was there.
None of them seem to be able to see or hear me, though.
"Let's go, we can bring back the body of a Sunviper if we keep going!" The woman I'm interested in calls to the rest.
"I think you misunderstand why we're here..." The handsome man wearing a red tunic speaks, "We're not here to bring back a trophy, we're here to dispose of a thorn in our path!"
"What are you talking about?" She responded in a state of shocked confusion.
"You! We're here to dispose of you, you dimwitted whore!" He snaps furiously.
"You wouldn't dare! Father will have your head!" She yells.
"He always has favored you, but he will never know what happened here. Don't try to follow us, or we'll cut you down ourselves. Farewell, Tianlei Zaki." The elegant man responded before shoving her down and turning to leave.
"Xu! I'll kill you! I swear on the stars that I won't let you get away with this!" She screams before they get too far away.
...
A truly pitiful scenario.
What are the chances she gets out of this on her own...
<Answer: Zaki Tianlei has a 0% chance of survival.>
This must be my probability calculation skill.
Can I even save her if she has no chance of living?
<Answer: Being made an apostle removes casuality restrictions for the apostle.>
Great.
These skills seem to activate just when I need them to, so I just focus on making her an apostle and the 'system'- if that's what you can call it- understands instantly.
<Appointed Zaki Tianlei as administrator's apostle.>
Now I just have to introduce myself in a flashy way that makes me look powerful and mysterious.
I don't want to make myself look like some angel.
I think I'm fine wearing my suit.
Now, what to say...
By using [Manifestation] I'm able to interact with the physical world, but it costs Plausibility, in this case I chose the cheapest option and that was a single point of Plausibility.
The result is that I appear mostly as a blur, though that might help me for now by giving me an aura of mystery.
I'm going to have to get used to saying family names first. Anyway, here I go.
"Tianlei Zaki, do you want to live?" I open with the lure of desire.
"Of course I do! But what point is there in just living? I need to erase that bastard from my family!" She replies, too shocked from betrayal to question what she must believe is a hallucination of her anger.
"I am no hallucination, what you are hearing is very much real." I clarify to her dismay.
<+1 Faith>
I guess she's really desperate for something to believe...
Suddenly, there's a large hiss behind me, as a giant snake comes barreling towards Zaki.
"Oh no! A Sunviper! I'm dead!" She cries.
[Manifestation] can also make objects.
So, for the price of two more points of Plausibility, I manifested a high caliber revolver.
"Watch closely. This is only the beginning of your story!" I state as I casually take aim.
BANG!