Los Angeles 1973
Awareness returned, and his senses quickly returned to him. But there was something odd about the moment. Yes, Mikael was aware that he had just been transported to his first random world, so that was something that did not confuse him. Added with the information given to him by Zoe, Mikael was quite prepared.
What had confused him was the lack of noise from the surroundings, the lack of movement as well as a strange lack of warmth. Mikael had only felt this way once, during the moment he had died, when the world had stopped and everything had suddenly loosed its color.
"Time stop huh." Mikael muttered looking around. Leaves at a sudden stop in the air while they were falling, trees in the motion of swaying and even the birds in their process of flight. And the lack of color in the surrounding, a truly eerie sight.
The only difference from that time when he had died was that Mikael could move this time, and he did so as he stood up from the wooden bench he was seated on, inspecting more in depth at the static world.
He grew bored soon after and his eyes turned back to the bench, at the glowing bundle of papers which he was obviously supposed to read.
"Okay." Mikael sat back down and picked the bundle up and a strange sight appeared in his sight. The once blank pages started to fill. Mikael had already seen to many mystical things for such a sight to impress him.
[
Dreamer White, congratulations on entering the Terminator random world.
As this is your first time entering a random world any queries you have will be addressed by the material you currently have.
]
Mikael continued and the next part of information was titled plot for the current random Terminator world. He had some info already from Zoe's 'Common sense talk, so Mikael was not very worried about it too much, but it wouldn't hurt to know more so he still went over the notes.
[
In an attempt to stop the Resistance from winning, Skynet sent a T- 1000 back in time to 1973 to kill a nine-year old Sarah Connor before she could grow up and give birth to Resistance leader John Connor.
In response, an unknown party sent back a T-800 known as the Pops to protect the young Sarah.
In the year 1973 at Big Bear Lake while young Sarah was out on the lake in a boat with her father, the T-1000 obliterated her parents' cabin, killing her mother. It then made its way into the lake in liquid form and entered the boat in that shape.
Sarah thought that it was water, at first, and the boat was sinking, but her father made her swim to safety. Then the T-1000 killed him. Sarah ended up under the docks where Pops, the Terminator sent back by an unknown party, had just arrived armed with a rocket launcher and rescued her. The two fled the scene, apparently without destroying the T-1000…
]
That was a summary of the entirely of what he had read, and to Mikael it was the most important part simply because it was what his mission was mainly focused on, the protection of Sarah Connor. There was more to the info, but the most important part was this bit.
But Mikael felt His nervousness grow the more he read, these all was wrong! This was not the script he was aware of.
What was this absurdity called the T-5000 that the entity Skynet had chosen to become. To his knowledge, Zoe had never mentioned a timeline where Skynet had taken on a physical form and chosen to interfere so directly in the progression of the 'plot'. The information on this timeline was completely different from the information he had.
'There was something extremely wrong. '
Mikael could immediately tell. This was not the plot of the story he was aware of. Why was Kyle Reese, the person who was sent to the past to offer protection to Sarah Conner alive at the end of the plot he was reading. What about the T-800, wasn't it the one that was supposed to be after Sarah Conner and not the T-1000. And even worse, how exactly was the supposed savior of the world suddenly switching sides and suddenly turning into a T-3000.
From what Mikael could understand. This extreme point of John Conner suddenly being ambushed by the T-5000 in the future was what brought a change to sequence of progression of event.
A drop in the future that somehow caused a ripple effect in the progression of events in the past. So, in short this Random Terminator world was an abnormality. Or maybe it was simply that Zoe had never heard of it. In the infinite number of random worlds that existed, finding one that went outside the normal plot was not that shocking.
What exactly was happening! Mikael could now somewhat understand why Zoe explained that any earlier information he though would be useful could turn useless in an instant. The system's Mission was too unpredictable for the Dreamers to think they could abuse their foreknowledge in the random worlds.
"Shit."
Mikael soon realized the great mistake he had made. The wording of the main mission. It had simply been said to protect Sarah Conner, nothing about what age she would be or in what year.
He realized that the information given to him by Zoe on the standard Terminator world was pointless in this altered timeline. Pointless that Mikael would be unable to abuse the information to generate other side missions and hidden missions.
So, what did it mean for this world. Was it some sort of special timeline with its own hidden dangers or was it simply another possibility of events that could have happened in the infinite existence that was the Terminator Random world. It was up to him to explore and find out. Maybe this world wasn't even important at all and Zoe simply did not have information on it. That was the problem with the infinite number of random worlds. Mikael suddenly felt he understood why Mr. Knight had spoke as he did to the blonde haired youth.
But the strange thing about what was happening at the moment was the expression Mikael was making. There were no furrowed brows or a twitching in his jaw, not even a hint of annoyance passed through his blue eyes. In fact, there was great amusement. And a smile was struggling to reveal itself on his lips.
He continued to read.
[
The Dreamers should put to mind the following things when entering future and current random worlds
1. Knowledge of the Dream Main realm space, the status screen or the Tower of Dream should not be revealed to any in world characters by the Dreamer. A faith worse than death will fall upon those who break this rule.
2. The Dreamer is allowed to interact with any in world character and take generated mission born from those interactions.
3. The Dreamer is required to Absolutely complete the Main mission before the expiration of the Time limit given by the system. But, for a completion of up to 100%, the Dreamer is required to also complete the side missions generated along with the given Main mission.
4. Loot can be obtained by killing other Dreamers. But loot will not be obtained by killing of Dreamers in safe areas, or Dreamers in which you have formed a party with.
5. A Dreamer can form parties with other Dreamers allowing for unlocking of new system features. Forming a party requires completion of an assigned mission from the system.
6. Dreamers can generate hidden missions which will have a separate time limit and difficulty to their Main missions. Once a hidden mission is accepted, the Dreamer is required to accomplish both the Main mission and the hidden mission in the required time.
7. Dreamers can acquire certain titles from Random worlds by performing a set of specific actions or through certain interactions. These titles are very valuable, offering a variety of benefits
Note
1. When your HP falls to zero, the Dreamer will die
2. Being unable to complete a Main mission will result in a drop in Worth, a drop in worth up to zero results to death!
3. A Dreamer can decide not to accept any hidden mission and side mission and focus Soley on the Main mission. But this will affect the completion rate of the mission
4. Only items with Stats value can be stored within the storage
5. Once a Dreamer accepts to undertake a hidden mission or a side mission, they will face great danger, likewise the greater the danger the Dreamer faces the greater the rewards.
6. A Dreamer should be careful to not interfere to much in matters that do not involve their main mission such as random mass killing or acts of criminality.
]
"Huhh, Mikael breathed out deeply. He had fully memorized the dos and not's from the long list. You never know, it might one day prove to be a life saver. Or it might come in handy when he wanted to abuse the system.
What he did get extremely clearly from the list was the extreme secrecy he needed to maintain about the existence of the tower and the dream realm. It was like an extreme prickling went off on his head on reading the first rule. A warning, one which Mikael would not try to test its limits. He quite likes being alive. And whatever faith that was worse than death he cared not to know about.
And just as Zoe had told him, performing a set of actions in a random world had the possibility of granting him a title. And Mikael could also see why she had warned him about mainly focusing on the Main mission. She had even explained it further. How to much destruction or trying to change the plot would attract the displeasure of the Will of the world.
Wasting time focusing on completing side missions only to fail in completing the main mission would not only result to him failing the mission but it would also result to a decrease in his worth stat. And as Zoe had made it extremely clear, not everyone had as much worth as he did. A decrease of any kind would be a catastrophic event.
He quickly came to notice the slight alterations in his main mission, additional information that originally was not there. The system was quite vicious now that Mikael put some thought into it. How deeply would it have ruined him if he had chosen the Naruto Mission world.
[
MAIN MISSION: Protect Sarah Connor from the Terminator series sent by Sky Net
Mission pointer: Due to your acceptance of this mission, you will be bestowed with a special device or ability which will allow you to find terminator location. But this device will heavily rely on a Dreamer's perception.
Mission Pointer: You may be attacked during this mission.
Mission Pointer: You will receive help during this mission
Mission Pointer: By accepting this mission, a Dreamer will be able to achieve a variety of milestones as well as earn several titles
Machine Predator: Eliminate 10 Terminators
Machine ally: you must achieve a friendly relation with Skynet
Mechanic: Repair a Terminator fully to at least 90% functionality
Merciful: Absolutely not kill anyone within mission world
Butcher: Kill 100 citizens or eliminate 10 Dreamers
Avenger: Eliminate 3 Dreamers who have the title of Butcher
Lady's man: Seduce Sarah Connor and achieve affection points exceeding 50 points
Traitor: Betray members from your faction
]]
Something that would allow him to identify the Terminators would be quite useful, Mikael was unaware of how thorough their ability to hide was and if his sense would even act. But Mikael equally believed in his own sense to allow him to see through them. Mostly smell and noise. He was very sure a Terminator would not sound or smell the same as a normal human.
And seeing the possible Titles Mikael would be able to achieve in the Terminator world, other than Machine Predator and mechanic, the others looked to be impossible for him to accomplish. Merciful would require him to completely not Kill anyone and Mikael was unsure if that also counted for the Terminators themselves, Butcher was the complete opposite, requiring him to Kill a large number of people and Mikael had already decided this was the most dangerous option even with the warning from the system earlier.
It was just an instinct, but he was quite sure that taking this route would have unforeseen consequences. Avenger was also quite easy to accomplish but Mikael's problem with it was the fact that it was a time-wasting option. Mikael did not have the time to act as some kind of hero. And Lady's Man, well, maybe if Sarah Connor had been her normal mature self he would have been interested in the title but using normal calculations and it being the year 1973, this title was also a loss cause…
[
Note
1. A Pain limiting factor of 20% has been applied during this mission
2. The Dreamer is allowed a free service to change their facial features and other physical features.
Note [To be observed during change of physical features.]
A. A Dreamer is allowed to reduce their age by a maximum of 10 years and increase their age to a maximum of up to 10 years.
This will not affect the Dreamers' real age but will only be the physical appearance the Dreamer will appear as to other Dreamers, be aware that a change of appearance will only affect Dreamers and not in world characters.
B. A Dreamer is not allowed to change their gender while altering their physical appearance.
C. A Dreamer is also not allowed to drastically change a physical aspect about themselves. Such as removing a body part such as an eye or a hand.
3. The Dreamer will receive general knowledge applicable to the time period they arrive in and the common sense of that world.
4. The Dreamers' wounds will heal faster compared to normal people
5. The Dreamer will enter a certain death state when their HP falls below 10 points resulting to an impairment to body functions and a significant drop of perception.
6. Be careful of attacks of high damage fatal attacks as they might result into an instant death state for a Dreamer. Damages to vital functional organs such as the eye/nose or internal organs will cause a debuff to the Dreamer which will require special medicine or a character with medical abilities to treat or from using healing services offered back in the tower.
7. A random identity will be generated by the system for the Dreamer. This identity may be useful or useless and will depend on the luck of a Dreamer.
]
Mikael again memorized everything offered to him by the system. He made sure he could recall the information as he went over mentally what was important, and what to consider.
The pain limiter would be useful. With how chaotic his fighting style was, any reduction in pain was a thumbs up for him. The availability of the knowledge would also be quite helpful. Otherwise, Mikael would not know how to act in that world. What truly intrigued him was the random identity. He felt there was certain potential in this.
Mikael had noticed a timer that had appeared counting down from 5 minutes. He believed the world would unpause when this timer ran out.
"I would like to alter my appearance. "Mikael said as he rested the bundle of paper filled with words aside, and immediately after, a mirror appeared in his hands, large enough to showcase the entirely of his charming face, his white hair and equally blue eyes.
Mikael did not want to change much, but what was truly a bother was his hair color, which as he had already known was too eye catching.
He watched as his hair turned from the white, he was used to a jet black. It was strange but he would grow used to it.
He put the mirror aside, and for the rest of the time, he planned on what he would do. If everything went as planned, he would be able to achieve much in this world. He believed while the world was not the one he knew of, some similarities would still remain.
When the time was just about to run out, he noticed that the earlier words in the bundle of paper had disappeared, leaving only one sentence.
[Good Luck in your first Dream world Dreamer White]
A savage smile appeared on Mikael.
...….Dream of Infinite.....
A/N: Thank you for reading
For these Terminator arc, we will be following, the Terminator genesis movie, the Sarah Connor chronicles as well as the original terminators 1 and 2. Some bits will be borrowed from each show, so if you've seen the three you will understand the references.