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Joisco
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RoyalRoad

Dataset card Data Studio Files
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Improvised Equipment
Powerful Blow
Mark Target
Draw Attention
Camouflage
Ambush
Accelerated Dodge
Hex
Fire Bolt
Ice Bolt
Healing Touch
Force Shield
Focusing on each option gave me a bit more information. Most did just what you’d expect. There were a few odd ones. Draw Attention forced enemies to train any focusable senses (like eyes) on you for up to a minute, but didn’t otherwise restrict their actions. Hex was a small damage-over-time ability. Ambush made your a...
Of course, we’d have to make it to the long term for that to matter.
95% dead, possibly. I shuddered. It was hard to focus.
“Mommy!” Cassie’s voice was shrill with delight as she entered the room holding up her favorite stuffed animal. “Pointy Turtle can talk to me!”
“That’s nice, honey,” I said, distractedly. Then, I thought a moment. “Wait, what? What do you mean, Pointy Turtle can talk?”
In her hands, the small plush turtle craned its little neck backwards, tiny embroidered eyes tilting questioningly. “Cassie, should I answer the questions of this Mommy?” The turtle’s voice was high and squeaky, a perfect mimicry of the voice Cassie always used to speak for the stuffed animal, but Cassie’s mouth wasn’t...
“Yes! This is MY Mommy.” Cassie rubbed her face against Pointy’s perfectly rounded and decidedly non-pointy shell, clearly having the best day of her entire life.
Gavin’s jaw dropped in awe. Micah looked irritated. “Cassie, you used your ability, didn’t you?”
“No!” Cassie shouted angrily. “I just wanted Pointy to talk, and she DOES.”
The tiny, adorable, turtle gave an embarrassed cough. “Actually, Cassie, getting me to talk did use your ability.”
Cassie’s eyes got wide. She looked up at me, slowly tilting her body away from me as she tried to hide Pointy behind her.
I sighed. “I’m not going to take Pointy, Cass. Just… no one else spend their ability, and let’s see what you’ve got here. Pointy… uh… is it alright if I call you that?”
“That is my name.”
“Right. Uh. Look, what can you do for Cassie? Can you protect her? Fight enemies for her?” If Cassie had opted into a pet class, that might not be the worst thing. It might let her help out without risking herself. Even if Pointy didn’t look very dangerous at the moment, she might be able to grow.
“No, I have no combat capability whatsoever.”
So much for that idea.
“I am... think of me as a very limited information and communication artificial intelligence.”
“Communication? Can you contact others for us? Cassie’s father is several thousand miles from here, and-”
Pointy cut me off, squeaking apologetically. “I’m afraid right now my communication abilities are limited to auditory range. I can, however, converse in over 100 Earth languages.”
Wow. Useful. I thought to myself sarcastically. Yes, okay, it was great to be able to speak multiple languages, yadda yadda, but the only person I knew of in our neighborhood who didn’t speak English was Grandma Chen, and her son and grandchildren were quick to translate for her. Still, that wasn’t all that Pointy had ...
“Information. What information can you give us?” The introductory message had told us almost nothing. If Pointy could give us a better gauge of what was coming, she might be worth taking up Cassie’s ability.
“I’m working on that.”
I raised my eyebrows. “What do you mean? If you can tell us something, tell us!”
Pointy raised her head, attempt at an air of dignity somewhat spoiled by her cute rounded feet and eight-inch profile. “I have existed for just under three minutes. I was brought into existence with an American cultural behavior pack, Earth language database, limited additional common-knowledge Earth information, and a...
“Do we even have time? What’s going to happen in the near future? Are we going to be attacked in our homes? What nature will these challenges take?”
My voice got a little loud and Cassie glared at me. “Mom! Be nice to Pointy! You are being mean.” She started patting the turtle’s shell and cooing. “You are a good Pointy. And I love you, and you love me.”
Pointy appeared to be frozen, processing. When she began moving again, she first turned her tiny head up at Cassie and smiled. “I do love you, Cassie. I will do everything I can to keep you safe.”
“And my family!”
Pointy nodded, taking the correction in stride. “And your family. Who are your family?”
“My Mommy an’ my Daddy and the brothers, Micah and Gavin! Silly Pointy.” Cassie laughed, like Pointy had made the best joke ever. Of course, from Cassie’s perspective, Pointy probably had.
Pointy had been “living” with the family since Cassie was only a few months old, and the pair had been inseparable. The fact that Pointy had not actually been a conscious entity until a few minutes ago wasn’t something Cassie had really internalized, and I was grateful the AI was playing along. Although, I would need t...
Pointy started speaking again. “If this Maffiyir follows the patterns of the past one, I would expect you to be safe in your home for a period of a few days to a week. I should be able to narrow that down better later, but for now, don’t expect immediate incursions.”
“Incursions?”
“Ah, by the aggressive artificial life forms that should be taking shape outside.” Pointy waved a rounded foreleg toward the window, and the kids dashed over to look. I wasn’t far behind.
In the street in front of my house was a strange tailless life-form about the size of a raccoon. It had four legs, and was covered in strange pliant outgrowths that seemed midway in between feathers and scales. It turned towards where we stood at the window and opened its mouth to reveal a sharklike maze of needle-like...
No doubt it had other weapons as well, and yet I couldn’t help but feel relieved. I’d read many books where people had been thrust into a mysterious world of magic and wonder, and all-too-often they were immediately pushed in way over their heads. I didn’t want to fight an alien rodent, but it at least seemed plausible...