Connection Evolved

CONNECTION ESTABLISHED
COMMENCING INTEGRATION
 
Atlas stared at the text in confusion as he floated in the void. "'Commencing integration?' What the hell does that mean, and what am I connected to?" He tried to turn around and see if the area he found himself in had any features other than mind-bending darkness, but he could barely turn his head, much less the rest of his body. "Wonderful. Couldn't just be smart and completely avoid all the esper nonsense, could you, Atlas?" He grumbled to himself. "Nooo, you heard protecting the world, and you just had to take the crazy esper lady's offer. Well, great fucking going, you dumbass?" Atlas would have thrown up his arms in anger, but he still couldn't move.
"Well look where that got you, genius. You're stuck in a fucking computer loading screen that doesn't even change—"
 
SCENARIO GENERATED
SCENARIO DIFFICULTY: EASY
 
He smiled in relief at the easy difficulty. "That won't be too bad," he said.
 
...
DIRECT ABSORPTION INITIATED
ADJUSTING DIFFICULTY
ADJUSTED DIFFICULTY: NORMAL
 
His smile faded at the change in difficulty, but he forced himself to remain positive. "Ok, normal won't be too hard. I can handle it, I'm sure."
 
...
HIGH-QUALITY INITIATION STONE USED
ADJUSTING DIFFICULTY
ADJUSTED DIFFICULTY: EXTREME
SCENARIO CHOSEN: FALLEN———
 
Atlas wanted to cry as the difficulty rose once again, but he didn't even have time to finish reading the notification before another one took its place.
ERROR_POTENTIAL HIGHER THAN SCENARIO PARAMETERS
ADJUSTING DIFFICULTY
...
ADJUSTED DIFFICULTY: CHAMPION
SCENARIO RANK: F
SCENARIO CHOSEN: TITAN'S BURDEN
 
Atlas only had a moment to look at the notification before a flash of light replaced the void with an entirely different environment. Unfortunately, Atlas did not have the sense to appreciate the new environment.
He was currently on his knees on the ground staring numbly at the notification. He was silent for a long moment before he finally managed to string together words. "I'm fucked, aren't I? Haha. Haha." What started as a broken chuckle exploded into full-blown hysteria, and Atlas continued laughing for five minutes. Tears streamed down his cheeks, and his face turned red. Soon, he couldn't even breathe from the laughter, and he crumpled to the ground before he could stop.
When Atlas finally regained enough sense to force himself to a kneeling position, he realized that he wore clothes again, though not the ones he'd been wearing when he'd arrived at the Esper Foundation. Instead, he wore a jerkin over a tunic straight out of a Renaissance fair and a pair of pants that matched. His boots also matched, and they fit his feet surprisingly well, though, on second thought, Atlas figured his hallucinogenic mind or whatever force was manifesting everything would at least compensate for all the other insanity he was going through with comfortable footwear.
A new notification popped up in his vision, distracting him from his strange new clothing. As he read through it, his mouth contorted into a frown. A second later, he let out a sigh of relief and, focusing on the X in the corner of the notification, dismissed it.
 
WELCOME PROGENITOR!
 
YOU HAVE ELECTED TO DEFEND YOUR PLANET AS A MEMBER OF THE VANGUARD IN THE ADVENT OF THE SYSTEM. SUCH A CHOICE IS WORTHY OF PRAISE. HOWEVER, THIS TASK IS NOT ONE TAKEN LIGHTLY. AS SUCH, YOU WILL UNDERGO AN INTEGRATION TO EVALUATE YOUR POTENTIAL AND WILL WHEN FACED WITH POWERFUL FOES. AS THIS IS A TRAINING SIMULATION, DEATH DURING INTEGRATION WILL ONLY RESULT IN AN INABILITY TO ACCUMULATE ANY FURTHER BENEFITS BEFORE RETURNING TO YOUR PLANET! HOWEVER, THE LONGER PARTICIPANTS LAST THE GREATER REWARDS AVAILABLE, WITH BONUSES IN THE FORM OF ACHIEVEMENTS BEING AVAILABLE TO THOSE WHO PERFORM EXCEPTIONALLY.
 
A SCENARIO HAS BEEN CHOSEN BASED ON SEVERAL FACTORS AND WILL BE DELIVERED IN THE FORM OF A QUEST. DO YOUR BEST CHAMPION, AND REMEMBER.
 
THE SYSTEM REWARDS THE EXCEPTIONAL.
 
Atlas felt relief that he wasn't completely doomed despite the crazy increase in difficulty that he had somehow managed to land himself with. However, he certainly didn't plan on being one of the "exceptional," reward or not. He had enough on his plate with the stupid Champion difficulty. Unfortunately, the aforementioned quest arrived a moment later, and his frown wormed its way back onto his face, though he did chuckle at the ironic connection he had with the quest.
 
SCENARIO QUEST ASSIGNED:
NAME: TITAN'S BURDEN
DIFFICULTY: CHAMPION
DETAILS: THE TITANOS WERE A RACE THAT CONTROLLED LARGE PARTS OF THE GALAXY LONG AGO. IN THEIR HUBRIS, THEY ATTEMPTED TO HARVEST AND CONTROL KNOWLEDGE AND POWER FAR BEYOND THEIR STATION. AS A PUNISHMENT, THEY WERE ELIMINATED, SAVE FOR A SELECT FEW WHO WERE GRANTED MERCY FOR THEIR ATTEMPTS TO MAINTAIN BALANCE. IN EXCHANGE, THE FINAL REMAINING GENERAL, ATLAS, WAS TASKED WITH ENDURING THE ROLE OF INCARNATION OF THE VERY POWER HIS PEOPLE SOUGHT TO CONTROL, THE ENERGY OF THE BEYOND, A REALM OF THE UNKNOWN, THE PRIMAL, AND THE FORGOTTEN. THE BEYOND IS ALSO REALM OF CORRUPTED ENTITIES LOCKED AWAY BY THE SYSTEM, THE TAINTED. THOSE SAME ENTITIES ARE NOW ATTACKING ATLAS IN THE HOPES OF GAINING THE POWER OF THE INCARNATION OF THE BEYOND.
 
THOUGH YOU ARE FAR WEAKER THAN THE TITANO, YOU HAVE SHOWN COMPATIBILITY WITH THE BASE COMPONENTS OF THE BEYOND AND MUST NOW BEAR PART OF THE WEIGHT OF HIS DUTY SO THAT HE CAN REGAIN HIS STAMINA AND FIGHT OFF THE FORCES OF THE TAINTED.
 
TIME TO COMPLETE: 1.5 HR
 
TASK: ASSIST THE UNSTOPPABLE TITANOS IN HIS BATTLE AGAINST THE TAINTED.
(O/2 COMPLETED)
#1: TAKE AT LEAST .1 PERCENT OF ATLAS'S POWER FOR 5 MINUTES CONSECUTIVELY (0/5:00)
#2: TAKE AT LEAST .01 PERCENT OF ATLAS'S POWER FOR A TOTAL OF 15 MINUTES (0/5:00)
 
BONUS OBJECTIVES:
#1: TAKE GREATER THAN .1 PERCENT OF ATLAS'S POWER FOR AT LEAST 5 SECONDS DURING THE QUEST
#2: TAKE AT LEAST .015 PERCENT OF ATLAS'S POWER FOR 75 PERCENT OF THE EVENT
#3: SURVIVE THE ENTIRE EVENT
 
REWARD
SUCCESSFUL INTEGRATION AS EARTH'S MULTIVERSE VANGUARD
CHOICE OF ONE ADDITIONAL STARTING SKILL (RARE)
CHOICE OF ONE STARTING ABILITY (RARE)
EXP & ADDITIONAL REWARDS BASED ON QUEST COMPLETION
 
PUNISHMENT
REJECTION FROM EARTH'S MULTIVERSE VANGUARD
LOSS OF ALL ACHIEVEMENTS EARNED DURING QUEST
DEATH (CHAMPION DIFFICULTY OVERRIDES TRAINING PROTECTION)